His fame led to his inclusion in Leonard Wilson's 1916 book series "Makers of America: Biographies of Leading Men of Thought and Action".

[1] His mother's genealogy contains North Carolina planters and one Revolutionary Veteran Robertson Goodwin permitting Babington entry into the Sons of the American Revolution while his maternal uncle was the sheriff of Lincoln County.

Holly's first telephone exchange, which he built, started with twenty subscribers and linked the cotton mills, the railroad, the post office, the drug store, etc.

Babington-Love Interests, his trademark, eventually absorbed the first telephone system of Gaston County built by Henry M. McAden in McAdenville, North Carolina.

[5] Commiserate with being a leading citizen, Babington bought the second automobile in Gastonia in 1904, a Locomobile Steamer, costing $675 (equivalent to $22,890 in 2023)[7] which he frequently toured around the town as pictured in one newspaper clipping in front of the Falls House, where crowds used to await trains.

[10] The project, presented to the Commercial Travelers Club of Charlotte and chartered on April 9, 1914, was ambitious because it would constitute the first orthopedic hospital south of Philadelphia and local subsidies were rare at the time.

After Babington studied orthopedics and lobbied the State for most of a decade, the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated $25,000 in 1917 (equivalent to $594,545 in 2023)[7] for the construction of the school provided a portion of the funds could be matched locally.

Babington brought the local fundraiser to fruition bringing in $10,000 from Gastonia and $5,000 from Charlotte businessmen and opened the North Carolina Orthopaedic Hospital (NCOH) on July 1, 1921, on 26 acres (11 ha) between the two urban zones.

The State pledged additional funds ($7,500 per year) for upkeep, Gastonia provided free water and electricity, and local business planned holiday celebrations for the patients.

Widowed by Buena Vista in 1897, he married again, this time to Hattie A. McLurd, and fathered Merle (died in infancy), Mary Love, Robin Benjamin (R.B.