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VIRGINIA 

REBIRTH  OF  THE  OLD  DOMINION 


Virginia  Biography 
By  Special  Staff  of  Writers 


Issued  in  Five  Volumes 


VOLUME  III 


ILLUSTRATED 


THE  LEWIS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
CHICAGO  AND  NEW  YORK 

1929 


VIRGINIA  BEACH  PU'^UC  LIBRARY 


0.3 


VIRGINIA 


BEACH  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  SYSTEM  -  DUP 


AiaaBO      0=16276 


Copyright,  1929 
The  Lewis  Publishing  Company 


HISTORY  of  VIRGINIA 


Harry  Flood  Byrd  was  barely  forty  years  old  when  elected 
governor  of  Virginia,  being  one  of  the  youngest  in  the  long  list 
of  executives  of  the  state  during  one  and  a  half  centuries.  As 
governor  he  at  once  instituted  a  large  number  of  constitutional 
reforms,  which  were  confirmed  by  popular  vote  in  June,  1927. 
Some  account  of  these  reforms  is  given  in  Volume  II  of  the 
present  history  of  Virginia. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  family  of  Colonial  Virginians  has  been 
more  persistently  productive  of  men  talented  for  professional, 
business  and  public  life.  Governor  Byrd  is  the  seventh  genera- 
tion from  the  first  William  Byrd  of  Westover,  whose  son,  William 
Byrd  II,  has  been  called  the  founder  of  Richmond. 

Governor  Byrd  was  born  in  Berkeley  County,  Virginia,  June 
10,  1887.  His  father,  Richard  Evelyn  Byrd,  was  born  in  Texas, 
August  13,  1860.  His  birth  in  Texas  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
his  father.  Col.  William  Byrd,  had  moved  to  Texas  a  short  time 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  between  the  states,  and  became  a 
colonel  in  the  Confederate  army.  After  the  war  he  returned 
to  Virginia  and  practiced  law  at  Winchester.  Richard  Evelyn 
Byrd,  Sr.,  was  reared  at  Winchester,  attended  the  University  of 
Virginia  and  the  University  of  Maryland,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1884,  and  for  over  forty  years  practiced  law  at  Winchester 
and  Richmond.  He  was  speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates  from 
1908  to  1914,  served  as  United  States  district  attorney  of  the 
Western  District  of  Virginia  from  1914  to  1920,  and  for  some 
months  following  that  was  special  assistant  to  the  attorney  gen- 
eral of  the  United  States.  He  also  served  as  a  member  of  the 
State  Tax  Commission  and  as  a  member  of  the  Educational  Com- 
mission of  Virginia  from  1908  to  1912,  was  a  member  of  the 
State  Commission  on  Efficiency  and  Economy  from  1916  to 
1918,  was  chairman  of  the  State  Industrial  Council  of  Safety 
in  1917. 

Richard  Evelyn  Byrd,  Sr.,  married,  September  15,  1886,  Miss 
Elinor  Boiling  Flood,  daughter  of  Maj.  Joel  W.  and  Ella  (Faulk- 
ner) Flood.  They  had  three  sons,  all  of  whom  have  become 
prominent,  Harry  Flood,  Richard  Evelyn,  Jr.,  and  Capt.  Thomas 
Boiling  Byrd.  All  the  world  knows  of  the  great  exploits  of 
Richard  Evelyn  Byrd,  Jr.,  who  by  special  act  of  Congress  in 
January,  1927,  was  promoted  from  lieutenant  commander  of  the 
United  States  Navy  retired  to  the  grade  of  commander  on  the 
retired  list,  and  was  also  presented  with  a  medal  of  honor  for 
his  achievement  in  making  a  successful  flight  across  the  North 
Polar  regions. 

Governor  Byrd  was  reared  in  Winchester,  attended  the  Shen- 
andoah Valley  Academy,  and  chose  a  business  rather  than  a  pro- 
fessional career.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  manager  of  the 
Winchester  Evening  Star,  subsequently  was  superintendent  of 
the  Southern  Bell  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  and  in  1907, 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  started  the  Martinsburg  Journal.  He 
turned  from  the  newspaper  business  to  become  one  of  the  out- 


4  VIRGINIA 

standing  fruit  growers  and  orchardists  of  the  Shenandoah  Val- 
ley, acquiring  by  planting  and  purchase  1,500  acres  containing 
65,000  trees,  one  of  the  largest  individually  owned  apple  orchards 
east  of  the  Mississippi.  He  became  president  of  the  Winchester 
Cold  Storage  Company  and  was  identified  with  a  number  of 
other  business  organizations  at  Winchester. 

It  was  his  qualifications  as  an  unusually  successful  business 
executive  that  gave  him  such  a  notable  influence  with  the  people 
of  Virginia  in  general.  For  a  number  of  years  he  has  been  a 
leader  in  politics  in  his  section.  In  1917  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Senate  and  was  reelected  without  opposition 
in  1921.  He  was  a  leader  in  good  roads  legislation,  becoming 
chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  roads.  In  1922  he  became 
chairman  of  the  State  Democratic  Central  Committee,  and  in 
that  year  for  the  first  time  in  twenty  years  Virginia  sent  a  solid 
Democratic  delegation  to  Congress. 

Governor  Byrd  married,  October  7,  1913,  Miss  Annie  Douglas 
Beverly,  daughter  of  J.  B.  Beverly,  of  Winchester.  Their  chil- 
dren are:  H.  F.  Byrd,  Jr.,  Beverly  Byrd,  Miss  Westwood  Byrd 
and  Richard  Evelyn  Byrd. 

Edwin  Anderson  Alderman  is  a  native  of  North  Carolina, 
and  that  state  recognizes  a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude  to  him  for 
his  pioneer  work  as  an  educational  statesman.  From  North 
Carolina  his  work  extended  to  other  states,  and  since  1904  he  has 
been  president  of  the  University  of  Virginia  and  has  long  been 
regarded  as  the  strongest  single  constructive  influence  in  the 
educational  progress  of  the  entire  South. 

He  was  born  at  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  May  15,  1861, 
son  of  James  and  Susan  J.  Alderman,  and  member  of  a  family 
that  has  been  in  North  Caroline  since  Colonial  times,  one  of  his 
forefathers  having  been  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution.  He  at- 
tended Bethel  Military  Academy  of  Virginia,  in  1878  entered  the 
University  of  North  Carolina,  and  graduated  in  1882  with  the 
Bachelor  of  Philosophy  degree  and  the  Mangum  Medal  in 
oratory.  His  first  intention  was  to  practice  law,  but  a  year  of 
teaching  gave  him  a  stronger  interest  in  education.  In  1885  he 
became  superintendent  of  the  city  schools  of  Goldsboro.  In 
1889  he  and  Charles  Duncan  Mclver  took  upon  themselves  the 
heavy  and  unpopular  responsibilities  of  leading  a  crusade 
throughout  Noi'th  Carolina  in  behalf  of  educational  reform,  in- 
volving primarily  the  fundamentals  of  popular  education  sup- 
ported by  general  taxation.  In  1892,  when  Doctor  Mclver 
founded  and  became  president  of  the  Normal  and  Industrial 
College  for  Women  at  Greensboro,  Mr.  Alderman  accepted  the 
chair  of  history,  but  in  1893  took  the  chair  of  education  in  the 
University  of  North  Carolina,  and  in  1896  was  elected  president 
of  that  institution.  In  April,  1900,  he  became  president  of 
Tulane  University  at  New  Orleans.  In  1897  Armistead  Gordon 
had  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  started  an  inquiry  into 
the  expediency  of  creating  the  office  of  president  for  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  and  after  some  years  such  an  office  was 
created  and  Edwin  A.  Alderman  was  invited  to  become  the  first 
incumbent.  Doctor  Alderman  was  installed  as  head  of  this  old 
and  famous  institution  of  learning  in  the  South  in  1904.  Dur- 
ing the  past  quarter  of  a  century  the  university  has  been  thor- 
oughly reorganized,  and  without  the  loss  of  any  of  its  splendid 
traditions  and  atmosphere  of  quiet  culture  the  various  schools 
and  departments  of  the  ijniversity  proper  have  been  so  strength- 


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VIRGINIA  5 

ened  and  improved  as  to  conform  to  the  highest  standards  of 
later  day  educational  classification,  and  the  opportunities  of  some 
of  the  departments  are  not  excelled  by  any  university  in  the 
country. 

In  his  native  state,  at  Tulane,  at  the  University  of  Virginia, 
over  a  period  of  forty  years,  the  labors  of  Doctor  Alderman  have 
been  directed  to  the  fulfillment  of  a  great  ideal,  and  the  measure 
of  that  fulfillment  is  the  real  basis  of  Doctor  Alderman's  great- 
ness as  an  educational  leader  and  builder.  The  definition  of  his 
ideal  of  education  he  gave  in  an  address  many  years  ago  in  the 
following  words:  "Humanism  produce  the  man  of  culture,  and 
his  peril  was  self-sufficiency  and  a  conception  of  culture  as  orna- 
ment. Applied  science  and  the  interior  demands  of  commerce 
have  produced  the  man  of  efficiency,  and  his  peril  is  personal 
barrenness  and  instinctive  greed.  Our  country  needs  the  ideal- 
ism of  the  one  and  the  lordship  over  things  of  the  other,  and  such 
a  blend  will  be  the  great  citizen  whose  advent  industrial  democ- 
racy has  so  long  foreshadowed.  The  kind  of  work  he  shall  do  in 
the  world  is  immaterial.  He  shall  be  an  upward  striving  man 
who  wants  the  truth  and  dares  to  utter  it,  who  knows  his  own 
need  and  the  need  of  his  age,  who  counts  adaptability  and  tolera- 
tion among  his  virtues,  who  insists  on  a  little  leisure  for  his 
soul's  sake,  and  who  has  a  care,  whether  amid  the  warfare  of 
trade  or  in  the  quiet  and  still  air  of  study,  for  the  building  of 
things  ever  better  and  better  about  him." 

Doctor  Alderman  has  not  neglected  the  manifold  agencies 
and  organizations  outside  of  his  immediate  sphere  of  duties  in 
order  to  give  full  expression  to  his  influence  and  usefulness.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  General  Educational  Board,  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Woodrow  Wilson  Foundation,  member  of  the 
Board  of  Governors  of  the  Institute  of  Economics,  the  Thomas 
Jefferson  Memorial  Foundation,  the  Board  of  Advisors  of  the 
Institute  of  Politics,  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Social 
Sciences  and  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Letters.  His  chief  writings  comprise  A  Brief  History  of  North 
Carolina,  Life,  of  William  Hooper,  Life  of  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  Obliga- 
tions and  Opportitnities  of  Citizenship,  Southern  Idealism,  The 
Spirit  of  the  South,  Sectionalism  and  Nationality,  The  Groiving 
Smith,  Can  Democracy  be  Organized?  Causes  of  European  War, 
Some  Tests  of  an  Educated  Man,  Function  and  Needs  of  Schools 
of  Education  in  Universities  and  Colleges,  Memorial  Address  on 
Woodroiv  Wilson,  The  Nation  Exalts  Jefferson.  He  was  editor 
in  chief  of  the  Library  of  Southern  Literature. 

The  degree  Doctor  of  Civil  Law  was  conferred  on  him  by 
the  University  of  the  South  in  1896,  and  that  of  Doctor  of  Laws 
by  Tulane,  Johns  Hopkins,  Columbia,  Yale,  University  of  North 
Carolina,  Williams  College,  Harvard,  University  of  Pennsylvania 
and  the  College  of  William  and  Mary. 

Doctor  Alderman  married,  in  1886,  Miss  Emma  Graves, 
whose  brother,  Ralph  Graves,  was  a  professor  in  the  University 
of  North  Carolina.  She  died  in  1896,  and  in  1904  he  married 
Bessie  Green  Hearn,  of  New  Orleans.  He  has  one  son,  Edwin 
Anderson,  Jr.,  born  in  1905. 


Carter  Glass  has  given  a  consecutive  service  to  the  Nation 
of  such  value  as  to  make  him  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men 
at  Washington.  That  service  began  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago  when  he  went  to  Congress.    He  resigned  his  seat  in 


6  VIRGINIA 

the  House  of  Representatives  to  become  secretary  of  the  treas- 
ury, and  that  cabinet  post  was  relinquished  to  iDecome  United 
States  senator  from  Virginia.  Senator  Glass'  home  community 
is  Lynchburg,  where  he  was  born  January  4,  1858.  His  father. 
Major  Robert  Henry  Glass,  was  born  in  Amherst  County,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1822,  son  of  Thomas  and  Lavinia  (Cauthorne)  Glass. 
Major  Glass  was  one  of  the  great  newspaper  men  of  Virginia,  a 
vigorous,  fearless  writer,  possessed  of  physical  and  moral  cour- 
age to  perform  his  duties  as  he  saw  them,  but  never  intention- 
ally or  carelessly  wounding  the  feelings  of  an  honest  man.  He 
was  for  many  years  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Daily  Repiibli- 
can  at  Lynchburg,  and  in  his  advanced  years  still  kept  in  touch 
with  newspaper  work  in  the  editorial  office  of  the  Lynchburg 
Advance.  He  died  May  6,  1896.  For  many  years  he  was  also 
postmaster  of  Lynchburg,  and  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  war  was 
offered  reappointment  by  President  Lincoln.  For  a  portion  of 
the  war  he  served  with  the  rank  of  major  on  General  Floyd's 
staff.  Major  Glass  married  Elizabeth  Augusta  Christian, 
daughter  of  Judge  Samuel  Christian  and  granddaughter  of  Capt. 
Henry  Christian,  a  Revolutionary  officer.  She  was  born  in  1826 
and  died  January  15,  1860,  Carter  Glass  being  one  of  her  five 
children. 

Carter  Glass  was  educated  in  public  and  private  schools  in 
Lynchburg,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  went  to  work  in  his  fath- 
er's printing  office.  He  served  in  the  mechanical  department 
of  a  printing  office  for  eight  years,  that  experience  being  the 
foundation  of  his  profession  as  a  newspaper  man.  He  was  with 
the  Lynchburg  Republican  and  also  with  the  Petersburg  Netvs 
while  his  father  was  editor  of  that  paper.  For  several  years  he 
had  some  experience  as  clerk  in  the  auditor's  office  of  what  is 
now  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railway. 

In  1880  he  became  local  reporter  on  the  staff  of  the  Lynch- 
burg News,  was  promoted  to  editor,  and  in  1888  acquired  the 
plant  of  the  News,  and  has  owned  that  influential  morning  news- 
paper of  Southwest  Virginia  for  forty  years.  In  1895  he  bought 
the  Lynchburg  Virginian  and  the  Evening  Advance,  merging 
the  Virginian  with  the  News,  and  has  continued  the  publication 
of  the  Advance  as  an  evening  daily. 

Carter  Glass  was  one  of  the  first  Virginia  newspaper  men  to 
achieve  some  of  the  highest  honors  of  leadership  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party  of  the  state  and  nation.  His  first  important  politi- 
cal service  was  in  making  the  nominating  speech  for  J.  Hoge 
Tyler  for  governor  in  1897.  In  1899  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  State  Senate,  served  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Con- 
stitutional Convention  of  1902-03,  and  wrote  the  suffrage  article 
in  the  new  constitution.  He  resigned  from  the  State  Senate  in 
1902,  when  elected  to  the  Fifty-seventh  Congress  as  successor 
to  Peter  J.  Otey,  deceased,  and  by  reelections  continued  to  repre- 
sent this  district  through  the  Fifty-eighth  and  Sixty-fifth  Con- 
gresses. He  resigned  his  seat  in  1918  to  accept  the  invitation  of 
President  Wilson  to  become  secretary  of  the  treasury  in  the 
Wilson  cabinet.  While  in  Congi-ess  Mr.  Glass  had  gained  great 
distinction  by  his  service  in  connection  with  the  passage  of 
the  Fedei-al  Reserve  Act,  and  his  close  study  of  banking  and 
financial  questions  made  him  an  authority  on  those  subjects, 
and  this  was  the  basis  of  his  appointment  to  the  cabinet.  Mr. 
Glass  in  February,  1920,  resigned  to  accept  the  appointment  of 


VIRGINIA  7 

United  States  senator  for  the  unexpired  term  of  Thomas  S. 
Martin.  He  was  subsequently  elected  for  the  remainder  of  the 
unexpired  term,  and  in  1924  was  elected  for  the  full  term  expir- 
ing in  1931. 

Senator  Glass  married,  in  1886,  Aurelia  Caldwell,  of  Lynch- 
burg.   He  is  the  father  of  four  children. 

Harris  Hart,  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction  at 
Richmond,  has  held  that  office  since  1918. 

He  was  formerly  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Examiners 
of  Teachers,  and  has  given  nearly  thirty  years  to  the  responsi- 
bilities of  teaching  and  school  administration.  Mr.  Hart  was 
teacher  and  principal  of  the  Roanoke  High  School  from  1900 
to  1909,  and  superintendent  of  Roanoke  schools  until  he  became 
state  superintendent.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Richmond  College 
and  has  been  a  graduate  student  at  the  University  of  Chicago 
and  Harvard  University. 

Mr.  Hart  was  born  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  Februai-y  24, 
1878,  son  of  John  and  Sallie  L.  (Coleman)  Hart,  the  father  a 
native  of  Louisa  County  and  the  mother  of  Spotsylvania  County, 
Virginia.  The  father  served  in  an  engineers  corps  in  the  Con- 
federate army.  He  then  became  an  educator  and  was  president 
of  Richmond  Female  Institute  and  later  of  Albemarle  Female 
Institute  and  co-principal  in  several  academies  for  boys.  He 
died  in  March,  1897,  and  the  mother  died  in  October,  1914. 

Harris  Hart  was  educated  in  Bowling  Green  Academy,  Caro- 
line County,  Virginia,  and  in  high  school  in  Bowling  Green, 
Virginia.  He  married  Miss  Mayola  Gillespie,  of  Tazewell,  Vir- 
ginia, in  June,  1922.  She  is  a  daughter  of  A.  P.  and  Mary  (Hig- 
ginbotham)  Gillespie,  natives  of  Virginia.  The  parents  are  de- 
ceased. The  father  was  a  member  of  the  State  Constitutional 
Convention  in  1901.  He  was  a  very  distinguished  attorney  and 
resided  at  Tazewell,  Virginia.  He  died  in  1913  and  the  mother 
died  in  1914. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hart  have  three  children,  namely:  Olivia 
Johnston,  born  in  June,  1923 ;  Helen  Lewis,  born  in  October, 
1925 ;  and  Harris  II,  born  in  April,  1928. 

From  1905  to  1909  Mr.  Hart  served  as  district  school  super- 
visor in  charge  of  Southwest  Virginia.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
Richmond  Trust  Company,  a  member  of  the  Westmoreland  Club, 
Hermitage  Club,  Richmond  Country  Club  and  is  a  teacher  of 
the  Young  Men's  Business  Class  in  the  Second  Baptist  Church 
of  Richmond.  Politically  he  is  a  Democrat  and  is  a  member  of 
the  Sons  of  Confederate  Veterans. 

LeRoy  Hodges,  managing  director  of  the  Virginia  State 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  is  both  a  scholar  and  a  practical  expert 
in  the  field  of  economics  and  commercial  administration. 

He  was  born  at  Tarboro,  North  Carolina,  July  12,  1888,  son 
of  Eli  Blucher  and  Rosa  Hammond  (Warringion)  Hodges.  Dur- 
ing 1905-06,  befoi'e  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  had  ex- 
perience in  railroad  and  topographical  surveying  which  took 
him  over  the  Southern  and  Southwestern  states  and  Mexico. 
During  1906-08  he  was  a  student  in  the  School  of  Commerce  of 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  and  subsequently  was  a  stu- 
dent in  the  department  of  political  economy  at  the  University 
of  Chicago  and  in  the  Law  School  of  Washington  and  Lee  Uni- 


8  VIRGINIA 

versity.  Mr.  Hodges  was  a  special  agent  of  the  United  States 
Immigration  Commission,  1908-1910,  was  commercial  geographer 
of  the  United  States  Tariff  Board,  1910-11,  commissioner  of 
immigration  for  the  Southern  Commercial  Congress  in  1911, 
field  secretary  of  the  National  Citizen's  League  for  Promotion 
of  a  Sound  Banking  System  in  1912.  He  served  as  secretary  of 
the  Winston-Salem  Board  of  Trade  in  1912-13,  and  in  1913  was 
chosen  Virginia's  representative  on  the  American  Commission 
for  the  investigation  in  Europe  of  cooperative  agricultural 
finance  and  other  subjects.  He  was  also  assistant  to  the  United 
States  commission  on  rural  credits.  During  1915-16  he  was 
director  of  the  Department  of  Municipal  Efficiency  and  Admin- 
istration in  the  Bureau  of  Applied  Economics  at  Washington, 
served  as  associate  editor  of  the  Petersburg  Daily  Index-Appeal, 
and  during  1916-17  as  a  member  and  secretary  of  the  Virginia 
Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency. 

Mr.  Hodges  in  1917  was  appointed  a  special  field  representa- 
tive of  the  United  States  Food  Administration,  and  was  director 
of  the  Petersburg  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research.  He  also 
engaged  in  private  practice  as  a  consulting  economist.  Mr. 
Hodges  had  charge  of  the  preparation  of  the  Virginia  State 
budget  from  1918  to  1924,  was  president  of  the  Virginia  Prison 
Board  from  1920  to  1926,  was  a  director  of  the  National  Budget 
Committee,  1922-24,  and  the  first  director  of  the  Budget  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Virginia,  1922-24.  He  has  been  managing 
director  of  the  Virginia  State  Chamber  of  Commerce  since 
February  1,  1924. 

He  served  as  secretary  and  personal  military  aide  to  the 
governor  of  Virginia  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  February  1,  1918- 
1922.  He  was  commissioned  major.  Ordnance  Department,  Vir- 
ginia National  Guard,  September  11,  1920,  and  assigned  to  duty 
as  state  ordnance  officer  and  on  September  29,  1921,  was  com- 
missioned major.  Ordnance  Officers'  Reserve  Corps,  United 
States  Army. 

Among  the  many  responsible  duties  with  which  he  has  been 
charged  he  acted  as  technical  advisor  to  the  Virginia  Commis- 
sion on  Simplification  of  State  Government,  as  chairman  of  the 
Committee  in  Allocation  of  Prison  Industries,  and  as  a  director 
of  the  National  Committee  on  Prisons  and  Prison  Labor,  and 
national  treasurer  of  the  Lower  Taxes — Less  Legislation  League. 

Major  Hodges  is  a  Fhi  Beta  Kappa,  a  Democrat  and  an 
Episcopalian.  He  is  an  officer  of  the  Order  of  the  Crown  of 
Italy,  and  an  officer  of  the  Order  of  the  White  Lion  of  Czecho- 
slovakia ;  and  a  member  of  the  Country  Club  of  Virginia  and 
Westmoreland  Club  at  Richmond,  the  country  clubs  at  Peters- 
burg and  Fredericksburg,  and  of  the  National  Press  Club  of 
Washington.  He  married,  January  18,  1911,  Almeria  Orr  Hill, 
of  Petersburg,  Virginia.  They  had  three  children,  LeRoy,  Rosa 
Batte,  and  Almeria  Hill  (deceased).  In  connection  with  his 
work  Major  Hodges  has  prepared  for  the  press  a  great  many 
bulletins  and  other  articles,  and  some  of  the  formal  publications 
which  attest  his  scholarship  and  experience  include:  Agricul- 
tural Credit  Systeyns  Abroad,  published  in  1913;  Petersburg, 
Virginia — Economic  and  Muni-cipal,  published  in  1917;  Post- 
war Ordnance,  published  in  1923.  He  was  editor  of  The  South's 
Physical  Recovery,  published  in  1911,  and  Agricultural  Coopera^ 
tion  and  Rural  Credit  in  Europe,  published  in  1913. 


'^.  H.rk^c 


^ot^<-^ 


VIRGINIA  .  9 

Francis  Howe  McGuire,  who  was  called  the  father  of  the 
Virginia  Bar  Association,  achieved  an  eminence  in  his  profession 
that  cannot  be  measured  by  the  comparatively  brief  period  of 
yeai's  allotted  him  by  the  destiny  of  life. 

He  was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County,  Virginia,  June  4,  1850, 
and  died  October  30,  1894,  at  the  age  of  forty-four.  The  name 
McGuire  brings  up  a  host  of  distinguished  associations  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  Virginia  McGuires  were  descended  from  the  Chiefs 
of  Fermanagh,  one  branch  of  which  was  established  in  County 
Kerry,  Ireland,  in  1641.  The  founder  of  the  Virginia  family 
was  Edward  McGuire,  a  native  of  County  Fermanagh,  who  came 
to  this  country  in  1754,  settling  at  Winchester  in  Frederick 
County.  Some  of  his  descendants  have  gained  great  distinction 
in  the  field  of  medicine  and  surgery,  others  in  the  law,  and  still 
others  in  the  educational  field  and  in  the  clergy.  One  of  the 
ancestors  of  the  late  Francis  Howe  McGuire  was  Col.  William 
McGuire,  of  Winchester,  who  enlisted  at  the  age  of  thirteen  for 
service  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution  and  became  a  lieutenant  of 
artillery.  At  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs  he  was  permanently 
disabled.  After  the  war  he  studied  law,  and  became  the  first 
chief  justice  of  the  Territory  of  Mississippi,  but  because  of  ill 
health  left  that  territory  and  removed  to  land  he  owned  on  the 
Ohio  River  near  Wheeling,  where  he  died  November  20,  1820. 
He  was  at  one  time  paymaster  at  Harpers  Ferry  and  was  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  Col.  William  McGuire 
married  Mary  Little,  daughter  of  William  Little.  She  died  in 
April,  1821.  Colonel  McGuire  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Legislature  during  1796-1799.  Part  of  his  education  was 
acquired  in  William  and  Mary  College.  One  of  his  grandsons 
was  the  noted  Richmond  educator,  John  P.  McGuire. 

A  son  of  Col.  William  McGuire  was  at  one  time  mayor  of 
Winchester  and  county  magistrate  for  many  years.  This 
McGuire  was  the  father  of  Rev.  Francis  H.  McGuire  and  grand- 
father of  the  Richmond  attorney  of  the  same  name.  Rev.  Fran- 
cis H.  McGuire  was  born  in  Virginia,  in  1809,  was  educated  at 
Kenyon  College  in  Ohio  and  in  the  Episcopal  Theological  Semi- 
nary of  Virginia.  He  was  ordained  in  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
1836,  preached  at  Christs  Church  at  Lancaster,  Virginia,  and 
subsequently  went  to  the  Mecklenburg  parish,  where  he  re- 
mained until  a  few  years  before  his  death  on  April  22,  1865. 
Rev.  Francis  H.  McGuire  married  Mary  Willing  Harrison,  of 
the  distinguished  Harrison  family  of  Virginia. 

Francis  Howe  McGuire  was  educated  in  private  schools,  in 
Randolph-Macon  College  and  the  University  of  Virginia,  enter- 
ing the  latter  institution  in  1871.  He  also  taught  school  at 
Huntsville,  Alabama,  and  in  Col.  Thomas  Carter's  School  in 
King  William  County,  Virginia.  He  completed  his  law  studies 
under  John  P.  Minor  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1874,  and  by  his  industry  and  good  character 
soon  established  the  reputation  his  abilities  so  justly  merited. 
In  1878  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Col.  Tazewell  Ellett,  and 
they  were  together  for  twelve  years.  Mr.  McGuire  was  a  stu- 
dent of  the  law,  and  always  regarded  it  as  a  profession  rather 
than  a  vocation.  Even  after  he  had  made  a  reputation  as  a 
lawyer  he  continued  to  take  summer  courses  at  the  university. 
He  was.  a  charter  member  of  the  Richmond  Bar  Association,  of 
which  he  was  at  one  time  president,  and  was  chairman  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association  from 


10  VIRGINIA 

its  inception  until  one  year  before  his  death.  Another  fact 
that  should  be  mentioned  to  his  credit  was  his  work  in  bringing 
about  the  establishment  of  the  Court  of  Law  and  Equity  at 
Richmond.  A  great  part  of  his  extensive  law  practice  was  in 
chancery  and  common  law  cases.  He  was  noted  for  his  thor- 
oughness, energy  and  tenacity.  One  of  his  best  known  cases 
was  that  of  Bosher  versus  the  Harrisburg  Land  Company,  and 
in  winning  this  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Appeals  the 
decision  of  the  court  established  a  new  principle  of  law  in  Vir- 
ginia. Mr.  McGuire  was  counsel  for  Colonel  Spottswood  in  the 
contested  primary  election  case  of  Spottswood  versus  Smith. 

He  was  always  a  loyal  friend  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 
He  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  member  of  the  Howitzer  Bat- 
tery at  Richmond  and  at  one  time  lieutenant  in  command.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  statistics  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  member  of  the  Society  of  Alumni  of  the  University 
of  Virginia,  was  director  of  the  Male  Orphan  Asylum,  and  the 
Board  of  Incorporators  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
Home,  a  director  of  the  Peterkin  Memorial  Association,  treas- 
urer of  the  church  fund  of  the  diocese,  member  of  the  Virginia 
Historical  Society,  and  was  on  the  board  of  the  Virginia  State 
Insurance  Company.  He  was  a  member  of  the  vestry  of  St. 
James  Episcopal  Church  and  prominent  in  the  Brotherhood  of 
St.  James,  which  he  founded. 

Mr.  McGuire  married  a  daughter  of  Emile  Otto  Knolting, 
who  was  Belgian  consul  at  Richmond  during  the  Civil  war  and 
became  president  of  the  National  Bank  of  Virginia.  After  his 
death  two  brothers  of  Mrs.  McGuire  served  successively  as  Bel- 
gian consul.  Mrs.  McGuire  is  a  member  of  the  Richmond 
Woman's  Club.  She  has  been  deeply  interested  for  a  number 
of  years  in  mountain  mission  work,  and  she  donated  the  cost  of 
a  house  at  Schiflets  Hollow,  made  as  a  memorial  to  Francis 
Howe  McGuire,  though  the  title  she  chose  for  the  building  was 
simply  the  Mission  Home. 

The  only  child  of  the  late  Francis  Howe  McGuire  is  Susie, 
now  Mrs.  Tazewell  Ellett,  Jr.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ellett  were  mar- 
ried December  14,  1917,  and  have  three  children,  Helen  McGuire, 
Tazewell  III  and  Josephine  Scott.  Mr.  Ellett  was  formerly  an 
official  of  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway  and  is  now  a  member 
of  the  State  Highway  Commission  of  Virginia.  Mrs.  Susie 
Ellett  is  a  member  of  the  Richmond  Woman's  Club. 

Andrew  Jackson  Montague  is  a  lawyer  and  scholar  whose 
services  have  done  much  to  enrich  Virginia's  distinctions  abroad, 
and  he  has  earned  notable  dignities  and  positions  in  his  own 
state  and  nation. 

He  was  born  in  Campbell  County,  Virginia,  October  3,  1862, 
son  of  Robert  Latane  and  Gay  (Eubank)  Montague.  Graduat- 
ing from  Richmond  College  in  1882,  he  took  his  law  degree  at 
the  University  of  Virginia  in  1885,  and  so  far  as  the  cares  and 
responsibilities  of  public  life  would  permit  has  practiced  law 
steadily  since  that  year.  Brown  University  and  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  have  honored  him  with  the  degree  Doctor  of 
Laws. 

He  was  United  States  district  attorney  for  the  Western  Dis- 
trict of  Virginia  from  1894  to  1898,  was  attorney  general  of 
Virginia,  1898-1902,  and  came  to  the  office  of  governor  in  1902, 
serving  four  years  and  one  month.  When  he  retired  from  this 
office  in  1906  he  accepted  the  position  of  dean  of  the  Law  School 


VIRGINIA  11 

of  Richmond  College.  Governor  Montague  in  1909  resumed  his 
private  law  practice  at  Richmond,  but  in  1912  again  accepted 
an  opportunity  to  serve  his  state  when  he  was  chosen  from  the 
Third  Virginia  District  a  member  of  the  Sixty-third  Congress. 
That  district  has  continued  his  representation  at  Washington 
and  in  1928  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Seventieth  Congress. 
He  is  now  the  senior  member  of  the  Virginia  delegation. 

Governor  Montague  was  a  United  States  delegate  to  the  Pan- 
American  Conference  at  Rio  de  Janiero  in  1906,  to  the  Third 
International  Conference  on  Maritime  Law  at  Brussels  in  1909- 
10,  in  1917  was  president  of  the  American  Society  for  the  Judi- 
cial Settlement  of  International  Disputes,  and  from  1920  to  1924 
was  president  of  the  American  Peace  Society.  In  1910  he  be- 
came a  trustee  for  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington  and 
the  Carnegie  Endowment  for  International  Peace.  William  and 
Mary  College  elected  him  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  fra- 
ternity in  1908.  Author,  Life  of  John  Marshall,  Secretary  of 
State  Tin  American  Secretary  of  State  and  Their  Diplomacy), 
Volume  II. 

Governor  Montague  married,  December  11,  1889,  Elizabeth 
Lyne  Hoskins. 

Henry  G.  Shirley,  chairman  of  the  State  Highway  Commis- 
sion of  Virginia,  has  had  a  successful  career  as  an  engineer,  in 
railroad  and  general  engineering  as  well  as  highway  building. 

He  is  a  native  of  West  Virginia,  born  at  Locust  Grove, 
Shenandoah  Valley,  Jefferson  County,  son  of  Robert  Vincent 
and  Julia  (Baylor)  Shirley.  His  maternal  grandfather  was 
Col.  R.  W.  Baylor,  a  Confederate  officer  of  the  Twelfth  Virginia 
Cavalry. 

Henry  G.  Shirley  was  educated  by  a  private  governess,  also 
in  public  schools,  preparing  for  college  at  the  Charles  Town 
Male  Academy  and  graduating  with  the  degree  Civil  Engineer 
from  the  Virginia  Military  Institute.  Then  followed  several 
years  of  practical  experience,  after  which  he  submitted  a  thesis 
and  received  a  formal  degi-ee  of  Civil  Engineer.  Since  then 
two  institutions  of  learning  have  seen  fit  to  recognize  his  service 
and  attainments,  Maryland  University  and  Hampden-Sidney 
College  having  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  Doctor 
of  Science.  For  a  time  Mr.  Shirley  was  commandant  of  Cadets 
at  Horner  Military  School  in  North  Carolina.  His  professional 
experience  includes  service  in  the  engineering  departments  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  New  York  Central  Railroad,  West 
Virginia  Central  Railroad  and  Baltimore  &.  Ohio  systems.  He 
was  formerly  road  engineer  of  Baltimore  County  and  chief 
engineer  of  the  State  Roads  Commission  of  Maryland.  During 
the  World  war  he  was  a  member  of  the  Highway  Transport 
Committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  and  secretary  of 
the  Federal  Highway  Council.  He  was  then  called  to  his  work 
as  state  highway  commissioner  of  the  Virginia  Highway  De- 
partment. 

Mr.  Shirley  is  a  member  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers,  is  a  past  president  and  member  of  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  American  Road  Builders  Association,  and  had 
the  honor  of  being  elected  the  first  president  of  the  American 
State  Highway  Officials  Association.  His  home  is  in  Richmond. 
Mr.  Shirley  married  Miss  Alice  Graham,  member  of  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  families  of  North  Carolina,  daughter  of 
Judge  A.  W.  Graham,  of  Oxford.    They  have  five  children. 


12  VIRGINIA 

Robert  Riddick  Prentis,  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Appeals  of  Virginia,  has  a  distinguished  ancestry,  and  his 
own  career  has  been  animated  by  the  spirit  of  service  which 
seems  inherent  in  the  name  and  hneage. 

Judge  Prentis  was  born  at  University,  in  Albemarle  County, 
May  24,  1855,  and  is  in  the  fifth  generation  from  William  Pren- 
tis, who  was  born  in  Norfolk  County,  England,  in  1701,  and  as 
a  young  man  came  to  America,  settUng  in  York  County,  Vir- 
ginia. He  was  a  merchant  of  the  firm  Blair  &  Prentis  at  Wil- 
liamsburg, where  he  died  August  4,  1765.  William  Prentis 
married  Mary  Brooke,  who  was  born  in  1710  and  died  April  9, 
1768,  daughter  of  John  and  Ann  Brooke,  of  York  County, 
Virginia. 

Their  son,  Joseph  Prentis,  of  Williamsburg,  born  January  24, 
1754,  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Convention  which  met  in 
December,  1775,  was  appointed  a  commissioner  in  admiralty 
in  1776,  was  a  member  of  the  first  House  of  Delegates  in  1777 
from  Williamsburg,  subsequently  serving  as  a  member  from 
York,  and  was  speaker  of  the  House  in  1788.  He  was  a  member 
of  Governor  Patrick  Henry's  Privy  Council  in  1779,  and  was 
judge  of  the  General  Court  from  1789  until  his  death  June  18, 
1809.  He  was  also  credited  with  an  important  share  in  the  ne- 
gotiations and  propositions  on  the  part  of  Virginia  which  led 
to  the  convention  for  the  drawing  up  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 
He  married,  December  16,  1778,  Margaret  Bowdoin,  who  was 
born  November  27,  1758,  and  died  August  27,  1801.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  John  Bowdoin  and  also  a  descendant  of  Sir  George 
Yeardley,  colonial  governor  of  Virginia. 

Their  son,  Joseph  Prentis,  Jr.,  of  Suffolk,  was  born  at  Wil- 
liamsburg January  24,  1783,  and  died  at  Suffolk  April  29,  1851. 
He  was  a  lawyer,  was  a  member  of  the  convention  of  1829-30, 
and  for  many  years  clerk  of  Nansemond  County.  He  married, 
January  10,  1810,  Susan  Caroline  Riddick,  who  was  born  in 
Nansemond  County  and  died  October  19,  1862,  being  a  daughter 
of  Col.  Robert  Moore  and  Elizabeth  Riddick,  she  being  a  daugh- 
ter of  Col.  Willis  and  Mary  (Foulke)  Riddick. 

Robert  Riddick  Prentis,  Sr.,  representing  the  fourth  genera- 
tion of  the  family,  was  born  at  Suffolk  April  11,  1818,  and  died 
at  Charlottesville  November  23,  1871.  He  was  educated  for  the 
bar,  but  spent  most  of  his  life  in  the  University  community  at 
Charlottesville,  serving  as  proctor  of  the  University  for  some 
years,  as  clerk  of  Albemarle  County,  and  during  the  Civil  war 
as  collector  of  internal  revenue.  He  married  Margaret  Ann 
Whitehead,  who  was  born  August  8,  1826,  and  died  February  16, 
1910,  daughter  of  Elliott  and  Catherine  Flynn  Whitehead. 

Judge  Robert  Riddick  Prentis  was  sixteen  years  old  when 
his  father  died.  He  had  attended  the  Oak  Grove  Academy  at 
Charlottesville,  but  after  the  death  of  his  father  had  to  make 
his  own  way  and  also  contribute  to  the  support  of  his  widowed 
mother  and  younger  children.  In  1874  he  graduated  from  the 
Eastman  Business  College  at  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  and 
after  one  session  at  the  University  of  Virginia  was  given  the 
Bachelor  of  Laws  degree  in  1876.  He  at  once  engaged  in  prac- 
tice at  Charlottesville,  remaining  there  until  1879,  during  that 
year  was  at  Norfolk,  and  in  1879  established  his  home  and  law 
business  at  Suffolk.  He  served  as  mayor  of  Suffolk  in  1883-85, 
and  gave  his  time  to  a  growing  law  practice  until  1895.  During 
the  past  thirty  years  his  attention  has  been  fully  taken  up  by 
judicial  and  other  official  duties.     He  was  judge  of  the  Virginia 


.A.^^ 


VIRGINIA  13 

Circuit  Court  in  the  Norfolk  Circuit  from  1895  until  he  resigned 
in  1907  to  become  chairman  of  the  State  Corporation  Commis- 
sion. Judge  Prentis  left  the  chairmanship  of  the  Corporation 
Commission  in  1916  to  become  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Appeals.  Since  March  10,  1925,  he  has  been  president 
or  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  His  offices  are  at  Rich- 
mond and  he  still  retains  his  residence  at  Suffolk. 

Judge  I  rentis  was  a  member  of  the  Democratic  State  Com- 
mittee from  1887  to  1892,  was  a  presidential  elector  in  1892,  a 
member  of  the  Virginia  State  Tax  Commission  in  1910,  member 
of  the  State  Advisory  Board  on  Taxation  in  1916,  and  during 
1915-16  was  president  of  the  National  Association  of  Railway 
Commissioners.  He  also  served  for  some  years  as  director  of 
the  Lee  Camp  Soldiers  Home,  the  state  institution  for  disabled 
Confederate  veterans.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State 
and  American  Bar  Associations,  Virginia  Historical  Society, 
Virginia  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  He 
is  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  is  a 
member  of  a  number  of  clubs  at  Richmond,  Norfolk  and  other 
communities.  In  1919  he  became  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
War  History  Commission.  He  was  given  the  LL.  D.  degree 
from  the  College  of  William  and  Mary  in  1925.  He  was  chair- 
man of  the  Judicial  Section,  American  Bar  Association,  1926 ; 
chairman  of  the  Commission  on  Revision  and  Amendment  of 
the  Virginia  Constitution,  1927;  chairman  of  the  Judicial  Coun- 
cil in  Virginia  in  1928. 

Judge  Prentis  married,  January  6,  1888,  Mary  Allen  Darden. 
She  died  in  1904. 

John  Archer  Coke.  It  is  well  that  this  publication  enter 
a  memoir  to  the  late  Capt.  John  Archer  Coke,  who  was  long  one 
of  the  leading  members  of  the  Virginia  bar,  who  stood  exponent 
of  the  patrician  regime  of  the  fine  old  Southern  school  of  culture 
and  refinement,  and  who  was  a  representative  of  a  Virginia 
family  whose  name  has  been  one  of  prominence  and  influence 
in  the  history  of  the  Old  Dominion  since  the  early  Colonial 
period.  Captain  Coke  was  long  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law 
in  the  City  of  Richmond,  and  was  here  the  senior  member  of 
the  representative  law  firm  of  Coke  &  Pickrell  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  on  the  27th  of  January,  1920. 

In  the  historic  old  city  of  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  the  birth 
of  Captain  Coke  occurred  July  14,  1842,  he  having  been  a  direct 
descendant  of  John  Coke,  who  was  born  in  England,  in  1704,  of 
patrician  ancestry,  and  who  thence  came,  from  Derbyshire,  to 
America  in  the  year  1724  to  become  a  member  of  the  original 
English  colony  founded  at  Williamsburg,  Virginia.  Representa- 
tives of  the  Coke  family  were  patriot  soldiers  in  the  War  of  the 
Revolution,  as  well  as  in  subsequent  wars  in  which  the  nation 
was  involved.  Captain  Coke  of  this  memoir  and  his  seven 
brothers  all  volunteered  for  service  in  defence  of  the  cause  of 
the  Confederate  States  when  the  Civil  war  was  precipitated  on 
a  divided  nation,  and  each  of  the  brothers  gained  in  this  service 
the  rank  of  captain.  One  of  the  number  was  Capt.  Octavious 
Coke,  who  later  served  as  secretary  of  state  in  North  Carolina, 
and  another  of  the  brothers  was  Capt.  Richard  Coke,  who  went 
to  Texas  after  the  close  of  the  war  and  who  there  had  a  long 
and  distinguished  career  in  public  life,  he  having  served  as  gov- 
ernor of  Texas  and  having  long  represented  the  Lone  Star  State 


14  VIRGINIA 

in  the  United  States  Senate.  Of  this  remarkable  group  of 
brothers  the  subject  of  this  memoir  was  the  last  survivor. 

Capt.  John  A.  Coke  v^^as  a  student  in  historic  old  William  and 
Mary  College  at  the  inception  of  the  Civil  war,  and  he  forth- 
with subordinated  all  other  interests  to  volunteer  for  service  in 
the  Confederate  army.  In  April,  1861,  he  initiated  his  service 
as  lieutenant  in  a  battery  of  artillery  that  became  a  part  of  the 
forces  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee.  In  the  reor- 
ganization of  his  battery  in  1862  he  was  made  its  captain,  and 
he  continued  in  service  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  until, 
in  1864,  he  was  assigned  to  special  recruiting  service  at  Rich- 
mond, where  he  was  thus  stationed  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
While  in  active  field  service  he  was  slightly  wounded  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Dahlgreen  raids  about  Richmond. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  Captain  Coke  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  study  of  law,  and  upon  gaining  admission  to  the  bar 
he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the  City  of  Rich- 
mond in  1866.  Here  he  continued  in  individual  practice  until 
1883,  when  he  formed  a  partnership  with  John  Pickrell,  under 
the  firm  name  of  Coke  &  Pickrell.  His  firm  gained  precedence 
as  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  influential  of  the  Virginia  bar, 
gave  special  attention  to  corporation  law,  and  was  retained  as 
counsel  for  the  Life  Insurance  Company  of  Virginia,  the  Vir- 
ginia-Carolina Chemical  Company,  the  Imperial  Tobacco  Com- 
pany and  numerous  other  corporations  of  major  importance. 
Captain  Coke  continued  as  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Coke 
&  Pickrell  until  his  death,  and  as  lawyer,  citizen  and  man  of 
exalted  integrity  he  ever  commanded  inviolable  place  in  popular 
confidence  and  esteem.  In  his  bearing  he  exemplified  the  best 
in  the  typifying  of  a  Southern  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  as  he 
was  courtly  and  dignified,  affable  and  considerate,  striking  in 
appearance  by  reason  of  his  superior  height,  his  patrician  face 
and  commanding  presence,  and  was  known  for  his  high  intellec- 
tual and  professional  attainments,  as  well  as  for  his  abiding 
human  sympathy  and  tolerance. 

April  17,  1867,  recorded  the  marriage  of  Captain  Coke  and 
Miss  Emma  Overby,  likewise  a  representative  of  an  old  and 
distinguished  Virginia  family,  she  having  been  a  daughter  of 
Robert  Y.  and  Mary  (Pool)  Overby,  both  natives  of  Mecklenburg 
County,  Virginia.  Mrs.  Coke  preceded  her  husband  to  the  life 
eternal,  as  her  death  occurred  October  5,  1917,  and  of  their  chil- 
dren one  son  and  one  daughter  are  living.  The  historic  old 
capital  city  of  Richmond  long  claimed  Captain  and  Mrs.  Coke  as 
leaders  in  its  social  and  cultural  life,  and  here  they  shall  long  be 
retained  in  gracious  memory  by  those  who  came  within  the 
sphere  of  their  benignant  influence. 

John  Archer  Coke,  Jr.,  is  well  upholding  in  his  native  city 
of  Richmond  the  high  civic  and  professional  honors  of  the 
family  name.  He  is  one  of  the  representative  members  of  the 
bar  of  Virginia's  fair  old  capital  city  and  is  here  attorney  for 
the  Life  Insurance  Company  of  Virginia.  Mr.  Coke  is  a  scion 
of  one  of  the  old  and  distinguished  families  of  Virginia,  and 
adequate  data  concerning  the  family  history  are  given  in  the 
preceding  sketch,  in  the  memoir  dedicated  to  his  father, 
the  late  Capt.  John  Archer  Coke. 

John  A.  Coke,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Richmond  on  the  15th  of 
January,   1877,  and  after  his  course  in  Richmond   College  he 


VIRGINIA  15 

continued  his  studies  in  the  historic  old  University  of  Virginia, 
in  the  law  department  of  which  he  was  graduated  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1898.  After  thus  receiving  his  degree  of  Bach- 
elor of  Laws  he  became  associated  with  his  father's  law  firm, 
that  of  Coke  &  Pickrell,  of  which  he  was  made  a  constituent 
member  and  with  which  he  continued  his  alliance  until  the  firm 
was  dissolved  by  the  death  of  his  father  in  1920.  Since  that 
year  Mr.  Coke  has  given  much  of  his  professional  attention  to 
his  service  as  counsel  for  the  Life  Insurance  Company  of  Vir- 
ginia, with  headquarters  in  the  company's  fine  building  in 
Richmond. 

Mr.  Coke  has  continued  unreservedly  in  the  ancestral  polit- 
ical faith,  that  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  his  pati'iotic  ante- 
cedents are  shown  in  his  afliliation  with  the  Society  of  the  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution  and  also  the  Society  of  the  Cincin- 
nati, his  eligibility  for  the  latter  being  through  his  ancestor  in 
the  maternal  line,  Capt.  Robert  Yancey  of  the  First  Continental 
Dragoons.  In  the  suburban  district  of  Westhampton  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Coke  have  their  beautiful  home,  named  "Trusley,"  after 
the  title  of  the  Coke  ancestral  estate  in  England. 

Mr.  Coke  wedded  Miss  Anne  Elizabeth  Harrison,  representa- 
tive of  the  historic  old  Virginia  family  of  that  name,  and  the  two 
children  of  this  union  are  daughters — Elizabeth  H.  and  Archer. 

Simon  H.  Rosenthal,  M.  D.  With  the  exception  of  a  short 
period  of  army  service  during  the  World  war  and  the  time  spent 
in  taking  post-graduate  work,  the  entire  career  of  Dr.  Simon  H. 
Rosenthal  has  been  passed  at  Lynchburg,  where  through  indus- 
try, close  application  and  natural  and  acquired  talent  he  has  risen 
to  a  recognized  position  among  the  leaders  of  his  profession. 
During  recent  years  Doctor  Rosenthal  has  found  his  greatest 
field  of  usefulness  in  the  special  field  of  urology,  a  department  in 
which  he  has  gained  a  widespread  reputation  and  which  he  fol- 
lows as  a  member  of  the  staff's  of  all  the  Lynchburg  hospitals. 

Doctor  Rosenthal  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  December  16,  1890, 
and  is  a  son  of  M.  and  Rebecca  (Tobac)  Rosenthal.  M.  Rosen- 
thal was  born  in  Russian  Poland  and  was  a  man  of  splendid  edu- 
cation, being  a  master  of  seven  languages.  This  knowledge  led 
him  to  become  an  interpreter,  which  vocation  he  followed  in  Rus- 
sia until  1880,  in  which  year  he  immigrated  to  the  United  States, 
feeling  that  here  he  could  find  better  opportunities  for  the 
achievement  of  success.  He  gathered  together  his  somewhat 
meager  capital  and  stai'ted  on  his  journey,  but  while  on  ship- 
board fell  in  with  bad  companions  and  was  robbed  of  all  his 
means.  Thus  he  arrived  at  Danville,  Virginia,  in  a  strange 
country,  without  means  or  friends,  and  the  next  eight  years  of 
his  life  were  ones  of  stern  struggle.  Eventually  he  became  the 
proprietor  of  a  small  furniture  store,  made  possible  by  his  work 
as  an  interpreter.  This  was  the  first  furniture  store  of  Lynch- 
burg and  was  built  up  to  important  proportions  by  Mr.  Rosen- 
thal, who  conducted  the  business  until  his  death  in  1919.  He  was 
a  man  of  excellent  ability,  great  industry  and  fine  judgment  and 
won  his  own  way  to  success  and  preferment.  Of  his  five  chil- 
dren four  are  living:  Louis  E.,  who  has  conducted  the  furniture 
business  since  the  death  of  his  father;  Simon  H.,  of  this  review; 
Mrs.  J.  Klots,  a  resident  of  Staunton ;  and  Mrs.  Maurice  Klots, 
also  of  Staunton.  Mrs.  Rosenthal  was  born  in  Russia,  and  she 
and  her  husband  were  orthodox  Jews.    He  was  a  member  of  the 


16  VIRGINIA 

Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
and  in  his  political  allegiance  was  a  stalwart  Democrat. 

Simon  H.  Rosenthal  attended  the  public  schools  of  Lynch- 
burg, including  high  school,  and  then  entered  Jefferson  Medical 
College,  from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1913,  receiving  the  degree  Doctor  of  Medicine. 
He  then  spent  eighteen  months  as  an  interne  in  the  Philadelphia 
General  Hospital,  but  at  the  end  of  that  period  returned  to 
Lynchburg,  where  he  engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  his  pro- 
fesssion.  He  was  called  into  the  army  in  February,  1918,  and  as 
a  member  of  the  Medical  Corps  served  at  the  Base  Hospital  at 
Camp  Lee  until  receiving  his  honorable  discharge  in  April,  1919. 
He  then  returned  to  Lynchburg,  but  in  1920  went  to  New  York, 
where  he  did  post-graduate  work  in  urology  at  the  New  York 
Post-Graduate  College  and  Hospital.  Upon  his  return  to  his 
home  city  he  became  a  specialist  in  urology  and  has  practically 
confined  himself  to  this  department  ever  since.  In  addition  to  a 
large  private  practice  Doctor  Rosenthal  is  a  member  of  the  staffs 
of  all  of  the  hospitals  at  Lynchburg,  and  is  held  in  the  highest 
esteem  by  his  fellow  practitioners,  who  have  realized  his  worth 
and  accorded  him  that  respect  due  those  who  have  achieved  dis- 
tinction in  any  line.  He  maintains  well  appointed  and  perfectly 
equipped  offices  at  1112  Church  Street,  and  is  a  member  of 
the  Campbell  County  Medical  Society,  Virginia  State  Medical 
Society,  South  Piedmont  Medical  Society  and  American  Medical 
Association.  He  is  a  Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Phi  Delta 
Epsilon  fraternity,  and  holds  membership  in  the  Jewish  Syna- 
gogue. He  has  never  been  sufficiently  interested  in  politics  to 
seek  preferment  at  the  hands  of  any  party,  but  is  a  good  citizen 
of  public  spirit. 

On  June  5,  1920,  Doctor  Rosenthal  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Bettye  Greenberg,  of  Danville,  Virginia,  who  was  edu- 
cated at  the  public  schools  of  Danville  and  at  Randolph-Macon 
Institute  at  Danville,  Virginia.  To  this  union  there  have  been 
born  two  children :  Macey  Herschel,  born  in  December,  1921 ; 
and  Ceevah  Miriam,  born  in  September,  1924. 

Edgar  L.  Sutherland,  M.  D.  The  broad  field  of  medical  en- 
deavor offers  much  to  the  conscientious  man  in  the  way  of  public 
service,  research,  teaching,  surgery,  public  health,  general  prac- 
tice, or  in  following,  perhaps,  some  particular  path,  and  through 
some  combination  of  methods  and  manners  which  are  individual 
and  distinctive,  prove  natural  ability  and  careful  training.  The 
physician  of  today  must  possess  a  wide  range  of  general  culture, 
must  be  an  observant  clinician  and  well  read  neurologist.  The 
stamp  of  an  original  mind  is  never  more  to  be  observed  than  in 
the  case  of  the  hard  worked  medical  man  whose  soul  has  often 
fainted  within  him  when  studying  the  mysteries  of  his  calling. 
Among  the  many  skilled  and  distinguished  medical  men  of  Vir- 
ginia, one  who  has  gained  special  notice  through  his  steady 
nerve,  patience,  technical  manual  skill  and  the  courage  which  are 
distinctive  of  his  profession  is  Dr.  Edgar  L.  Sutherland,  phy- 
sician and  surgeon  of  Lynchburg.  He  was  born  in  Hillsville, 
Virginia,  December  5,  1875,  a  son  of  William  Hamilton  and 
Rhoda  J.  (Cassell)  Sutherland,  he  born  in  Rockingham,  North 
Carolina,  and  she  in  Wythe  County,  Virginia,  and  both  are 
deceased.  They  had  five  children,  four  of  whom  survive :  Doc- 
tor Sutherland,  who  is  the  eldest ;  Alice,  who  married  Robert  M. 
Black,  cashier  of  the  Hillsville  Bank ;  Walter,  who  is  deceased ; 


VIRGINIA  17 

Mrs.  C.  E.  Lundy,  who  resides  in  Raleigii,  North  Carolina,  where 
her  husband  is  a  realtor;  and  Mrs.  J.  C.  Rutrouyh,  who  resides 
in  Willis,  Virginia,  where  her  husband  is  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  medicine.  The  mother  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  and  active  in  church  and  charitable  work.  An  active 
Democrat,  the  father  held  the  office  of  county  clerk  for  forty-two 
years,  from  1865  until  1907,  a  record  of  faithful  service  not  often 
found.  During  the  war  between  the  states,  which  brought  out 
all  of  the  valor  and  courage  in  human  nature,  he  served  as  cap- 
tain of  a  local  company,  and  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  but  recovered,  rejoined  his  regiment  and  was  pres- 
ent at  the  surrender  at  Appomattox  when  a  great  cause  was 
relinquished  at  the  word  of  the  immortal  leader  Gen.  Robert  E. 
Lee.  A  few  days  prior  to  the  surrender  he  had  been  elected 
county  clerk,  so  upon  his  return  home  from  the  army  he  had 
definite  work  to  do,  and  discharged  his  duties  so  admirably  that 
his  fellow  citizens  kept  him  in  office  for  the  longest  consecutive 
period  in  the  history  of  this  part  of  Virginia,  and  he  was  still 
in  office  when  claimed  by  death.  He  was  a  son  of  John  L. 
Sutherland,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  but  for  many  years  a 
resident  of  Saint  Joseph,  Missouri,  where  he  was  first  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  law,  and  later  served  on  the  bench,  in  which 
capacity  he  was  rendering  a  valuable  service  when  he  died.  The 
maternal  grandfather,  J.  F.  Cassell,  was  a  farmer  of  Carroll 
County,  Virginia. 

Doctor  Sutherland  grew  up  in  his  native  place,  attended  its 
schools,  and  early  decided  upon  a  professional  career.  He  there- 
fore entered  Roanoke  College,  where  he  was  prepared  for  the 
University  of  Virginia,  and  was  graduated  from  the  latter  in 
1898,  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine,  and  the  youngest 
man  in  his  class.  While  at  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Phi 
Delta  Theta.  For  several  years  thereafter  he  was  engaged  in  a 
general  practice  in  Pulaski  County,  Virginia,  but  then  took  post 
graduate  work  in  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  School  and  Hos- 
pital, New  York  City,  studying  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and 
throat.  With  this  country's  entry  into  the  World  war  he  offered 
his  services  through  enlistment,  but  was  rejected,  and  he  then 
made  himself  useful  by  serving  in  the  examining  of  the  recruits 
on  the  draft  board  in  Pulaski  County.  After  the  close  of  the  war 
he  was  engaged  with  a  partner  in  practice  at  Roanoke  for  a 
short  time,  going  from  there  to  Charlottesville,  and  finally  com- 
ing to  Lynchburg  in  May,  1927.  While  he  was  engaged  in  a 
general  practice  he  was  also  surgeon  for  the  Norfolk  &  Western 
Railroad,  the  Virginia  Iron,  Coal  and  Coke  Company  and  the 
Pulaski  Iron  Company.  He  belongs  to  the  Virginia  Society  of 
Opthalmology  and  Oto-laryngectomy,  ths  Campbell  County  Medi- 
cal Society,  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society,  the  Southern 
Medical  Association  and  the  American  Medical  Association.  His 
fraternal  affiliations  are  those  which  he  mantains  with  the 
Masonic  Order  and  the  Elks.  While  a  re-ident  of  Charlottesville 
he  belonged  to  the  Kiwanis  Club.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

In  October,  1898,  Doctor  Sutherland  married  Miss  Vera  Rob- 
inson, born  in  Fluvanna  County.  Virginia,  and  educated  in  the 
W'oman's  College,  Richmond,  Virginia.  She  is  a  consistent  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  continues  as  active  in  its 
good  work  as  she  has  always  been,  and  she  is  also  prominent  in 
social  life,  so  that  she  is  a  valuable  addition  to  Lynchburg. 


18  VIRGINIA 

Charles  W.  Brook  is  one  of  the  active  business  men  of 
Lynchburg,  owner  and  active  head  of  the  Harris  Carriage  Com- 
pany, manufacturers  of  bodies  for  automobiles. 

Mr.  Brook  was  born  in  Amherst  County,  Virginia,  July  9, 
1881,  son  of  George  H.  and  Mary  Elizabeth  (Jones)  Brook  and 
grandson  of  William  Nickolas  Brook  and  Thomas  Jones.  William 
Nickolas  Brook  brought  his  family  from  England  and  became 
a  farmer  in  Amherst  County,  Virginia.  Thomas  Jones  was  born 
in  Amherst  County  and  was  a  great  plantation  owner  before 
the  Civil  war,  using  the  labor  of  forty  slaves.  Two  of  his  sons 
were  Confederate  soldiers.  George  H.  Brook  was  born  in  Eng- 
land, while  his  wife  was  a  natve  of  Amherst  County.  He  was 
for  many  years  identified  with  merchandising.  They  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  They  had  six 
children:  William  N.,  a  jeweler  in  Georgia;  Annie  L.,  wife  of 
Edward  M.  Wright,  superintendent  of  the  Lynchburg  Foundry 
Company;  Miss  Ola,  of  Amherst;  Mary  and  Dora,  twins,  the 
former  the  wife  of  Charles  E.  Bell,  manager  of  the  R.  C.  Dunn 
&  Company  of  Lynchburg,  while  Dora  is  the  wife  of  Norvell 
N.  Holt,  a  Lynchburg  insurance  man ;  and  Charles  W. 

Charles  W.  Brook  was  educated  in  a  private  school  conducted 
by  an  aunt,  a  very  brilliant  woman,  well  known  in  educational 
circles.  He  also  attended  the  Lynchburg  High  School,  and  for 
fifteen  years  was  identified  with  the  tobacco  business  of  that 
city.  On  February  1,  1919,  he  acquired  the  plant  and  business 
of  the  Harris  Carriage  Company  and  has  greatly  extended  the 
facilities  and  service  of  this  organization  in  the  manufacture  of 
bodies  and  tops  for  automobiles.  He  is  a  director  of  Lynchburg 
Finance  Company. 

Mr.  Brook  married  in  June,  1920,  Miss  Emma  Berford,  a 
native  of  Marshall,  Texas,  who  was  educated  in  that  state  and 
in  Tennessee  and  Virginia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brook  are  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  he  is  a  steward  of  the 
Rivermont  Church  at  Lynchburg.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Lions 
Club  and  a  Democrat  in  politics. 

Walter  Frederick  Whately  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  Lynchburg  Lumber  Company.  Mr.  Whately  has  had  a 
widely  extended  experience  in  commercial  affairs,  and  is  one  of 
the  prominent  business  men  of  Lynchburg,  where  he  has  lived 
most  of  his  life. 

He  was  born  in  Campbell  County,  Virginia,  in  1876,  son  of 
W.  E.  and  Rosa  L.  (Fore)  Whately.  His  mother  was  born  in 
Campbell  County,  Virginia,  where  her  father  was  a  well-to-do 
farmer.  W.  E.  Whately  was  born  in  England,  son  of  George 
Frederick  Whately,  a  prominent  surgeon  who  spent  all  his  life 
in  England.  W.  E.  Whately  on  coming  to  America  located  in 
Campbell  County,  Virginia,  and  engaged  in  farming.  He  was  a 
Democrat  in  politics,  and  served  as  vestryman  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  He  and  his  wife  had  five  children,  four  of  whom  are 
living:  Walter  Frederick;  Lena,  wife  of  C.  A.  Tanner,  of 
Gladys,  Virginia ;  William  E.,  connected  with  the  C.  &  P.  Tele- 
phone Company  at  Roanoke;  and  C.  F.  Whately,  a  farmer  in 
Campbell  County. 

Walter  F.  Whately  attended  school  in  Lynchburg,  graduating 
from  high  school,  and  has  made  an  intensive  application  of  his 
energies  to  business  ever  since  leaving  school.  For  several  years 
he  was  employed  by  a  tobacco  company,  spent  four  or  five  years 
with  R.  C.  Scott  &  Company,  flour  millers,  and  for  three  years 


'^ 


/'^  xJoLuiAA 


—^- 


VIRGINIA  19 

was  with  the  Alkali  Works  at  Saltville,  Virginia.  Having  thus 
acquired  a  good  general  training  in  business,  he  became  identi- 
fied with  the  lumber  industry  with  C.  I.  Johnson  at  Wingina  in 
Nelson  County.  He  was  located  there  for  eleven  years  and  since 
then  has  made  his  headquarters  at  Lynchburg  as  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Lynchburg  Lumber  Company,  one  of  the  very 
prosperous  and  successful  organizations  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Whately  is  a  vestryman  in  Grace  Memorial  Episcopal 
Church  at  Lynchburg.  He  is  a  past  high  priest  of  the  Royal 
Arch  Chapter  of  Masonry  and  a  member  of  the  Lions  Club.  He 
married,  in  1907,  Miss  Bessie  Rosen,  a  native  of  Buckingham 
County,  Virginia,  daughter  of  Charles  R.  Rosen.  They  have  two 
children,  Mable  Elizabeth  and  Walter  Roy.  The  daughter  Mable 
has  completed  a  high  school  education. 

James  Taylor  Ellyson,  who  was  lieutenant  governor  of 
Virginia  from  1905  to  1917,  was  well  worthy  of  all  the  official 
distinctions  conferred  upon  him,  but  the  real  value  of  his  life 
could  not  be  measured  by  offices  and  titles.  He  was  a  man  of 
unusual  breadth  of  interest  and  varied  gifts,  and  his  activities 
and  positions  he  held  represented  a  steady  force  and  influence 
for  uplift  and  advancement  exerted  over  a  long  period  of  years 
and  characterized  by  a  completeness  of  devotion  and  a  fidelity 
to  high  ideals  unusual  even  in  the  great  commonwealth  of 
Virginia. 

James  Taylor  Ellyson  was  born  at  Richmond  May  20,  1847, 
and  died  in  that  city  March  18,  1919,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two. 
He  represented  the  seventh  generation  of  the  Ellyson  family 
in  America,  which  was  founded  by  Capt.  and  Dr.  Robert  Ellyson, 
who  first  came  to  Maryland  and  afterwards  to  Virginia,  where 
in  1656-1672  he  served  as  justice,  high  sheriff  and  burgess  of 
James  City  County.  He  was  the  father  of  Gerard  Ellyson, 
grandfather  of  Robert  Ellyson,  who  lived  in  Henrico  County. 
William  Ellyson,  of  Chesterfield  County,  was  a  son  of  Robert 
Ellyson  and  was  the  father  of  Onan  Ellyson,  who  married  Mary 
Huot,  of  French  Canadian  ancestry.  They  were  the  parents 
of  Henry  Keeling  Ellyson,  who  was  born  in  Richmond  in  1823 
and  died  in  1890.  Henry  Keeling  Ellyson  married,  in  1843, 
Elizabeth  Pinkney  Barnes,  and  they  reared  four  children:  The- 
odore Ellyson,  who  married  Elizabeth  Walker;  James  Taylor 
Ellyson,  who  married  Lora  Effie  Hotchkiss;  William  Ellyson, 
who  married  Mary  Morris  John.son ;  Miss  Bettie,  who  died  in 
1922,  the  last  of  her  family;  and  three,  Luther  Barnes,  who  was 
born  September  30,  1849,  and  died  November  7,  1864;  Nannie, 
who  was  born  December  6,  1857,  and  died  February  28,  1864; 
and  Sally,  who  was  born  February  13,  1853,  and  died  July  15, 
1853. 

James  Taylor  Ellyson  was  educated  in  Columbia  College, 
and  in  Richmond  College,  and  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Virginia  in  1869.  At  the  age  of  sixteen,  in  1862,  he  became 
a  member  of  the  Second  Company  of  the  Richmond  Howitzers. 
He  surrendered  with  that  company  at  Appomattox.  Mr.  Elly- 
son had  many  years  of  successful  activities  as  a  business  man 
at  Richmond,  but  the  greater  part  of  his  time  was  devoted  to 
civic  and  religious  service,  and  most  of  the  positions  he  held 
were  without  remuneration.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Common 
Council  of  Richmond  from  1881  to  1887,  being  president  of  that 
body  in  1884,  and  in  1888  was  elected  mayor,  serving  three 
terms.     He  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Senate  in  1885-87, 


20  VIRGINIA 

and  was  lieutenant-governor  three  terms,  a  period  of  twelve 
years.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  was  chairman 
of  the  Democratic  State  Committee  of  Virginia,  and  was  also 
national  committeeman  of  his  party.  He  was  for  sixteen  years 
president  of  the  Richmond  School  Board,  for  more  than  twenty 
years  represented  the  state  as  director  of  the  Richmond,  Fred- 
ericksburg and  Potomac  Railroad,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Richmond  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  was  lieutenant  governor 
when  the  Jamestown  Exposition  was  held  in  1907,  and  besides 
being  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Governors  of  the  exposition  he 
acted  as  governor  of  history  and  education  and  social  economy. 

Governor  Ellyson  was  a  member  of  Lee  Camp  and  Pickett 
Camp  of  Confederate  Veterans,  member  of  the  Richmond  How- 
itzer Association,  member  of  the  Jefferson  Davis  Monument 
Association  and  president  of  the  Confederate  Memorial  Associa- 
tion which  erected  the  Confederate  Memorial  Institute.  This 
remarkably  beautiful  building  and  institution,  one  of  the  finest 
in  the  South,  will  always  recall  to  those  who  know  of  its  incep- 
tion and  progress  the  important  services  rendered  by  the  late 
Mr.  Ellyson.  He  was  also  a  life  member  of  the  Confederate 
Memorial  Literary  Society,  was  a  memer  of  the  Virginia  His- 
torical Society,  life  members  of  the  Association  for  the  Preser- 
vation of  Virginia  Antiquities,  member  of  the  National  Geo- 
graphic Society,  and  on  the  executive  committee  of  the  American 
National  Red  Cross.  He  was  affiliated  with  Richmond  Lodge 
No.  10,  Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  Washington  Chapter 
No.  9,  Roj^al  Arch  Masons,  Commandery  of  St.  Andrew,  Knights 
of  Malta  No.  13,  member  of  the  Grand  Council  of  the  Royal 
Arcanum,  and  Richmond  Lodge,  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows. 

Governor  Ellyson  for  over  thirty  years  was  a  deacon  of  the 
Second  Baptist  Church  of  Richmond,  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Virginia  Baptist  Orphanage,  in  1908 
became  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Richmond  College, 
served  three  terms  as  president  of  the  Virginia  Baptist  General 
Association,  was  vice  president  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Con- 
vention in  1895,  and  for  forty-six  years  corresponding  secretary 
of  the  Virginia  Baptist  Education  Board.  Perhaps  no  better 
estimate  of  the  qualities  of  his  character  can  be  found  than  the 
following  sentences  taken  from  a  memorial  adopted  by  the  dea- 
cons of  the  Second  Baptist  Church :  "A  noble  spirit  has  gone 
from  us,  and  we  do  well  today  not  only  to  honor  his  memory  but 
to  catch  inspiration  from  his  life.  He  was  not  given  to  thinking 
too  highly  of  himself.  There  was  a  modesty  about  him,  almost 
a  shyness  at  times,  which  strangers  or  casual  acquaintances 
may  have  mistaken  for  coldness  or  indifference,  but  those  who 
knew  him  intimately  need  no  assurance  of  the  wealth  of  his 
nature,  the  strength  of  his  friendship  or  the  genuineness  of 
his  heart.  The  nobility  and  fineness  of  his  spirit  was  exhibited 
in  many  ways,  but  in  no  way  more  strikingly  than  in  his  attitude 
toward  those  who  were  unfriendly  to  him.  How  freely  he  for- 
gave them  and  how  unwillingly  he  was  to  cherish  in  his  heart 
anything  akin  to  hatred.  He  had  a  host  of  friends  who  loved 
to  come  to  him  for  counsel  and  who  never  came  to  him  in  vain. 


&.(^ou 


uM^c^dM^ 


VIRGINIA  21 

He  was  generous  and  unselfish  in  his  friendship  and  gave  it  to 
all  who  wished  it  and  who  would  be  even  half-way  worthy  of  it." 

James  Taylor  Ellyson  married,  December  2,  1869,  Lora  Effie 
Hotchkiss,  who  survives  him.  She  was  descended  from  the  New 
England  Hotchkiss  family  which  .settled  at  an  early  date  at  New 
Haven,  Connecticut.  Samuel  Hotchkiss,  of  Essex,  England,  in 
1642  married  Elizabeth  Cleverly,  and  died  in  1663.  His  fourth 
son,  Joshua,  Ensign,  born  in  Ssptember,  1651,  at  New  Haven, 
married  Hannah  Tuttle  in  1683,  r.nd  died  in  1722;  Deacon 
Stephen,  son  of  Ensign  Joshua,  married  in  1704  Elizabeth 
Sperry;  his  son,  Gideon,  married  Anna  Brockett.  Their  second 
son,  David,  born  in  1740,  married  Abigail  Douglass  in  1763. 
Amraphael  Hotchkiss,  son  of  David  and  Abigail,  married  Appa- 
lina  Hotchkiss,  and  had  a  son.  Stiles  Hotchkiss,  who  married 
Lydia  Beecher  in  1813.  They  were  the  parents  of  Nelson  Hill 
Hotchkiss,  who  married  Harriet  Russell  in  1845,  daughter  of 
Elmore  and  Betsy  (Griggs)  Russell,  and  these  were  the  parents 
of  Mrs.  Ellyson.  Her  ancestor,  Gideon  Hotchkiss,  was  a  captain 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  Stephen  Hotchkiss  was  also  a 
captain.  Captain  Gideon  was  deputy  to  the  Connecticut  General 
Court,  member  of  the  session  from  May  to  October,  1757,  and 
in  1777  at  Danbury,  Connecticut,  led  a  company  in  repulsing 
a  British  attack. 

Mrs.  Ellyson  is  a  member  of  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America 
in  the  State  of  Virginia,  the  Commonwealth  Chapter  of  the 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  Richmond  Chapter  of 
the  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  and  vice  regent  of  the 
Confederate  Memorial  Literary  Society,  member  of  the  Lady 
Board  of  Managers  of  the  Confederate  Memorial  Institute, 
president  of  the  Ladies  Hollywood  Memorial  Association,  and 
a  charter  member  of  the  Retreat  for  the  Sick  Hospital.  She  is 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Country  Club  of  Yorktown,  Virginia. 
She  was  commissioned  by  Governor  Harry  F.  Byrd  a  member 
of  the  Cape  Henry  Memorial  Commission.  She  was  elected 
president  of  the  Association  for  the  Preservation  of  Virginia 
Antiquities  January  4,  1911,  after  having  seiwed  seven  years 
as  acting  and  associate  president,  and  is  still  holding  that  office 
(1929).  She  appointed  and  w-as  a  member  of  the  committee  in 
charge  of  the  arrangements  for  erecting  and  unveiling  a  bronze 
tablet,  June  30,  1928,  on  the  wharf  at  Blackwall,  England,  mark- 
ing the  approximate  point  from  which  sailed  on  December  19, 
1606,  the  three  vessels  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Christopher 
Newport,  which  landed  May  13,  1607,  at  Jamestown  and  estab- 
lished the  first  permanent  colony  in  what  is  now  the  United 
States,  the  Jamestown  Colony  of  Virginia.  Dr.  Philip  Alexander 
Bruce  in  1913-14  had  received  permission  for  the  Association 
for  the  Preservation  of  Virginia  Antiquities  to  place  a  monu- 
ment to  commemorate  the  sailing  of  these  three  ships.  The  war 
stopped  the  effort  to  raise  the  fund  for  the  purpose.  The  tablet 
was  proposed  by  Lord  Richie,  of  Dundee,  who  was  chairman  of 
the  port  authority. 

Mrs.  Ellyson  has  one  daughter,  Nannie  Moore,  who  is  the 
wife  of  Frank  Thomas  Crump,  a  prominent  chui-chman  and 
business  man  of  Richmond,  Virginia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crump  have 
also  one  son,  James  Taylor  Ellyson  Crump,  who  has  a  position 
in  the  bond  department  of  the  American  Bank  &  Trust  Company, 
of  Richmond,  Virginia.  He  was  the  amateur  golf  champion  of 
Virginia  in  1926. 


22  VIRGINIA 

Joseph  Carter  Smith.  Although  he  is  still  numbered  among 
the  younger  members  of  the  legal  calling,  the  professional  inti- 
mates of  Joseph  C.  Smith  unhesitatingly  place  him  among  the 
most  able  young  general  practitioners  who  have  come  to  the  bar 
of  Lynchburg  in  recent  years,  as  he  seems  to  be  perfectly  at 
home  in  every  department,  whether  civil  or  criminal,  common 
law  or  chancery,  real  estate  or  corporation  law.  Because  of  this 
breadth  and  comprehensiveness  of  knowledge  he  has  earned  a 
place  as  a  splendid  lawyer  at  an  age  when  most  young  profes- 
sional men  are  struggling  for  recognition  and  going  through  a 
long,  arduous  and  disheartening  period  of  probation. 

Mr.  Smith  was  born  near  Galliopolis,  Ohio,  in  August,  1900, 
and  is  a  son  of  A.  J.  and  Myrtle  (Carter)  Smith,  residents  of 
Ohio  and  natives  of  that  state.  The  family  is  one  of  the  old 
and  distinguished  ones  of  the  Buckeye  State,  having  settled  in 
the  Western  Reserve  during  pioneer  days,  and  most  of  its  mem- 
bers there  have  been  agriculturists.  The  paternal  grandfather 
of  Joseph  C.  Smith  was  Brice  Smith,  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  who  at 
the  call  to  arms  during  the  war  between  the  states  enlisted  in 
the  Union  army  and  through  his  gallant  service  demonstrated 
how  fiercely  civilians  can  fight.  A.  J.  Smith  received  a  public 
school  education  and  was  reared  in  the  midst  of  agricultural 
surroundings,  so  that  it  was  but  natural  he  should  adopt  farming 
as  his  life  work.  For  a  number  of  years  he  carried  on  his  opera- 
tions in  his  native  state,  but  in  1907  came  to  Culpeper  County, 
Virginia,  where  he  purchased  a  farm  and  resided  thereon  for 
about  twenty  years.  Mr.  Smith  then  disposed  of  his  property 
and  went  back  to  Ohio,  where  he  is  now  spending  the  evening 
of  life  in  comfortable  retirement,  free  from  the  worries  of  busi- 
ness activities.  Mr.  Smith  is  a  Democrat  in  his  political  views 
and  one  of  the  strong  and  influential  men  of  his  community, 
where  he  has  served  capably  in  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace, 
as  well  as  in  other  local  capacities.  He  and  his  worthy  wife  are 
faithful  members  of  the  Baptist  Church,  which  both  joined  in 
their  youth.  They  are  the  parents  of  three  children :  Joseph  C. 
Smith,  of  this  review;  Mary  Louise,  the  wife  of  Dr.  B.  E.  Hunt, 
a  practicing  physician  of  Logan,  West  Virginia;  and  Helen  Car- 
ter, who  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  R.  S.  VanMetre.  The  maternal  grand- 
father of  Mr.  Smith,  Richard  Carter,  was  also  born  in  Ohio,  and 
served  as  a  Union  soldier  during  the  war  between  the  states. 
Like  the  paternal  grandfather,  also,  he  was  an  agriculturist, 
and  a  man  who  was  held  in  high  esteem  in  his  community. 

Joseph  C.  Smith  was  a  child  when  his  parents  came  to  Vir- 
ginia, and  attended  the  public  schools  of  Richmond  and  the 
University  of  Richmond,  and  at  the  same  time  was  employed 
by  the  Western  Electric  Company  in  order  to  keep  himself  in 
funds.  In  1924  he  completed  his  law  studies  and  at  once  com- 
menced the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Richmond.  After  two 
years  at  the  capital  he  removed  to  Lynchburg,  where  he  has  since 
remained,  having  well  appointed  offices  in  the  Law  Building. 
He  has  pressed  his  suits  with  ardor,  ability  and  success  in  many 
of  the  county  courts  and  has  been  connected  with  much  import- 
ant litigation.  For  so  young  a  man  Mr.  Smith  has  demonstrated 
much  hard-headed  common  sense  and  keen  insight  into  human 
nature,  while  his  personal  charm  and  magnetism  have  brought 
him  into  close  and  immediate  touch  with  juries,  so  that  every 
man  on  the  panel  feels  that  here  is  a  man  without  mysticism 
or  obscurity.  Thus  he  has  won  a  way  to  success  and  to  a  place 
in  the  esteem  and  respect  of  his  fellow  members  of  the  Camp- 


VIRGINIA  23 

bell  County  Bar  Association,  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association 
and  the  American  Bar  Association.  For  a  time  after  his  arrival 
Mr.  Smith  was  engaged  in  practice  with  Alfred  B.  Perry,  but 
since  the  latter's  death,  October  19,  1927,  has  practiced  alone. 

Mr.  Smith  married  Miss  Gladys  Millar  Reams,  daughter  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  G.  L.  Reams,  of  Lynchburg.  He  belongs  to  the 
Baptist  Church  and  the  Kappa  Sigma  and  Delta  Theta  Phi 
fraternities,  and  in  his  political  views  is  a  Democrat. 

Greenwood  H.  Nowlin,  Jr.,  of  Lynchburg,  is  a  prominent 
coal  operator  of  Southern  West  Virginia,  and  his  talents  have 
been  employed  in  the  exploitation  of  the  Pocahontas  and  other 
smokeless  coal  areas  of  West  Virginia  for  many  years. 

He  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  August  30,  1878,  son  of  G.  H. 
and  Lelia  (Pendleton)  Nowlin,  and  grandson  of  Peyton  Wade 
Nowlin  and  James  Shepherd  Pendleton,  the  former  a  native  of 
Virginia,  also  the  latter,  born  at  Clifford  in  Amherst  County. 
James  S.  Pendleton  was  a  doctor  and  farmer,  having  attended 
the  Virginia  Military  Institute  about  1836,  and  afterwards 
graduated  from  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia. 
Peyton  Wade  Nowlin  lived  near  Brookneal,  Virginia,  and  his 
ancestors  came  to  Virginia  from  County  Carlow,  Ireland.  G.  H. 
Nowlin,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Osage  County,  Missouri,  but  spent  most 
of  his  life  in  Virginia  and  died  in  1914.  He  was  on  detached 
duty  for  the  Confederate  government  during  the  Civil  war,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  war  had  only  fifteen  cents  in  money.  He  cut 
wood  and  hauled  it  to  town  as  a  means  of  supporting  himself 
and  getting  a  start,  and  for  several  years  was  in  the  leaf  tobacco 
business.  He  became  associated  with  the  coal  industry  on  the 
opening  up  of  the  Pocahontas  fields  in  West  Virginia,  and  became 
one  of  the  large  operators.  Through  all  the  years  he  retained 
some  connection  with  the  tobacco  business  and  was  a  director 
of  the  Lynchburg  and  Durham  Railway  Company.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  vestry  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church  of  Lynch- 
burg, was  a  Mason  and  a  Democrat.  His  wife  died  in  1899,  and 
of  their  five  children  four  are  living:  Greenwood  H.,  Jr.;  R.  P. 
Nowlin,  in  the  tobacco  industry,  Lynchburg,  Virginia;  R.  A. 
Nowlin,  associated  with  the  Crozer  Land  Association  and  the 
Crozer  Coal  &  Coke  Company  at  Elkhorn,  West  Virginia;  and 
James  Pendleton,  in  the  coal  business  at  Beckley,  West  Virginia. 

Greenwood  H.  Nowlin,  Jr.,  attended  school  at  Lynchburg, 
continuing  his  education  in  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute 
and  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  took  a  special  course  in 
steel  analyses  and  metallography  under  Dr.  Albert  Saveur  at 
Boston  in  1903.  He  was  an  assistant  metallurgist  for  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation,  assigned  to  duty  at  the  Illinois  Steel 
Works  at  Chicago,  and  later  with  the  Tennessee'  Coal,  Iron  & 
Railway  Company  at  Ensley,  Alabama.  He  was  taken  ill  at 
Ensley,  and  after  recuperating  he  engaged  in  the  coal  business, 
becoming  secretary  of  the  Killarney  Smokeless  Company.  He 
is  now  president  of  that  company  and  is  also  president  of  the 
Lynchburg  Coal  &  Coke  Company,  president  of  the  Eureka  Coal 
&  Coke  Company,  president  of  the  Lynchburg  Colliery  Company. 
The  source  of  production  of  coal  by  all  these  organizations  is  in 
West  Virginia,  and  Lynchburg  is  the  headquarters  of  the  busi- 
ness management  and  sales  agencies. 

Mr.  Nowlin  married,  in  1917,  Beulah  Terrell,  who  was  born 
in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  but  has  spent  all  her  life  in  Lynch- 
burg, attending  public  schools  there.     Her  father,  Charles  H. 

2— VOL.  3 


24  VIRGINIA 

Terrell,  was  a  farmer  in  Bedford  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nowlin 
are  members  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church  and  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  church  choir  for  over  thirty  years.  He  is  a  York 
Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  the  Pied- 
mont Club,  and  has  membership  in  the  American  Institute  of 
Mining  and  Metallurgical  Engineers,  the  American  Chemical 
Society,  and  not  only  enjoys  prominence  among  the  coal  opera- 
tors and  executives  of  the  industry,  but  also  with  the  technical 
and  engineering  side  of  the  industry. 

James  A.  Fix.  Among  the  building  contractors  who  have 
contributed  by  their  expert  labors  to  the  development,  upbuild- 
ing and  architectural  beauty  of  Lynchburg,  none  are  more 
worthy  of  mention  than  James  A.  Fix,  head  of  the  old  estab- 
lished firm  of  J.  A.  Fix  &  Sons.  Stai-ting  to  learn  the  trade  of 
carpenter  when  a  lad  of  but  fifteen  years,  by  industry,  honest 
workmanship  and  close  application  to  his  calling  he  has  worked 
his  way  to  a  leading  position  among  the  contractors  of  Campbell 
County,  where  numerous  commodious  and  attractive  structures 
of  various  kinds  stand  as  monuments  to  his  ability. 

Mr.  Fix  was  born  at  Staunton,  Virginia,  December  30,  1865, 
and  is  a  son  of  Joseph  H.  and  Barbara  (Snapp)  Fix.  His  father, 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  came  to  Virginia  in  his  youth  and 
learned  carpentry,  a  vocation  which  he  followed  until  the  out- 
break of  the  war  between  the  states,  when  he  enlisted  in  the 
Confederate  army  and  saw  active  service  until  the  close  of  hostil- 
ities. He  then  returned  to  Staunton  and  continued  to  follow 
his  trade  until  his  death,  at  which  time  he  was  also  the  owner 
of  a  valuable  farm.  He  was  a  man  of  integrity  and  one  who 
was  held  in  high  esteem  in  his  community,  was  active  in  the 
Methodist  Church,  and  a  Democrat  in  his  political  allegiance. 
He  married  Barbara  Snapp,  also  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  in  the  faith  of  which  she 
died.  They  were  married  in  Virginia  and  became  the  parents 
of  eleven  children,  of  whom  nine  are  living. 

The  second  in  order  of  birth  of  his  parents'  children,  James 
A.  Fix  received  only  a  common  school  education,  as  his  assist- 
ance was  needed  to  help  support  the  family,  and  when  he  was 
only  fifteen  years  of  age  he  began  to  learn  the  carpenter  trade 
under  the  preceptorship  of  his  father.  While  his  schooling  was 
not  extensive  in  his  youth,  in  later  years  he  has  attained  a  good 
practical  education  through  reading,  observation  and  constant 
contact  with  his  fellow  men.  For  a  number  of  years  he  worked 
as  a  journeyman,  but  finally  embarked  in  business  on  his  own 
account  at  Charlottesville  and  later  at  Staunton,  and  finally,  in 
1894,  settled  at  Lynchburg,  where  he  has  since  been  known  as 
one  of  the  city's  leading  contractors.  His  sons  are  now  associates 
in  the  firm  of  J.  A.  Fix  &  Sons,  and  this  concern  has  erected 
many  of  the  substantial  and  attractive!  residences,  business 
structures  and  public  buildings  of  this  and  adjacent  communi- 
ties. Mr.  Fix  is  a  member  of  the  Rivermont  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  as  a  fraternalist  belongs  to  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World.  He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  but  has  found  little  time  to 
devote  to  public  affairs  aside  from  those  which  affect  the  im- 
mediate welfare  of  his  community,  when  he  can  be  relied  upon 
to  support  measures  for  the  general  progress  and  advancement 
of  Lynchburg. 

In  1898  Mr.  Fix  married  Miss  Fannie  Dooms,  who  was  bom 
and  educated  in  Nelson  County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  daughter  of 


*Wm.f.. 


VIRGINIA 


25 


Henry  Dooms,  who  was  a  life  long  farmer  in  that  county.  ;  To 
this  union  there  were  born  six  children :  Henry  S.,  who  is 
associated  with  his  father  in  business;  Gussie  Elizabeth,  who 
resides  at  home;  George  W.,  who  is  associated  with  his  father 
in  business ;  Anna  Belle,  the  wife  of  Dr.  W.  C.  Adkinson,  a  prac- 
ticing physician  of  Lynchburg;  Gladys,  the  wife  of  Lloyd 
Rickets,  identified  with  a  mercantile  establishment  at  Lynch- 
burg; and  Mary  Frances,  attending  a  school  at  Farmville,  where 
she  is  preparing  for  a  career  as  an  educator.  Mr.  Fix's  offices 
are  located  in  the  Lynch  Building. 

Lawrence  H.  McWane.  Among  the  former  business  men 
of  Lynchburg  who  have  now  completed  their  labors  and  passed 
to  the  Great  Beyond,  one  who  left  the  impress  of  his  personality 
upon  his  community  and  generation  was  the  late  Lawrence  H. 
McWane.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1925,  he  was  still  a  young 
man,  being  but  forty-two  years  of  age,  but  already  had  accom- 
plished much  in  the  way  of  advancing  himself  in  public  con- 
fidence and  esteem  and  was  the  capable  and  energetic  presi- 
dent of  the  Lynchburg  Foundry  Company,  one  of  the  city's 
principal  manufacturing  industries.  Without  any  time  for  the 
activities  which  bring  men  before  the  public  as  molders  of 
thought  and  opinion,  he  nevertheless  was  accounted  a  good  and 
public-spirited  citizen  who  discharged  his  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities in  a  commendable  manner. 

Mr.  McWane  was  born  at  Wytheville,  Wythe  County,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1883,  and  received  a  public  school  education  at  Lynch- 
burg. A  complete  report  of  the  life  of  his  father  will  be  found 
on  another  page  of  this  work,  included  in  the  sketch  of  F.  W. 
McWane.  After  leaving  public  school  Mr.  McWane  entered  Mil- 
ligan  College,  Tennessee,  where  he  completed  a  full  course,  and 
then  enrolled  as  an  employe  of  the  McWane  Pipe  Works,  at 
Lynchburg,  of  which  his  father  had  been  the  founder.  He  was 
content  to  begin  his  work  in  a  humble  capacity  and  to  learn  the 
business  thoroughly,  with  the  result  that  at  the  time  of  his 
father's  demise  he  was  ready  to  step  into  the  elder  man's  place 
as  president  at  the  time  of  his  death  and  to  hold  this  position 
until  his  own  demise.  As  before  noted,  Mr.  McWane  was  a  man 
of  energy  and  sound  ability  and  one  who  was  achieving  an  envi- 
able success  when  called  in  death.  He  had  won  the  respect  and 
esteem  of  his  associates  and  of  the  employes  of  the  plant,  who 
found  him  a  man  who  was  fair-minded  and  possessed  of  a  sense 
of  justice.  The  bu-siness  profited  materially  under  his  adminis- 
tration of  its  affairs,  and  is  still  operated  as  the  Lynchburg 
Foundry  Company. 

In  1904  Mr.  McWane  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Car- 
rie Witt,  daughter  of  J.  F.  and  Dora  (Hurst)  Witt,  natives  of 
Virginia,  both  of  whom  survive  as  residents  of  the  southwest- 
ern part  of  the  state.  For  many  years  Mr.  Witt  was  a  mer- 
chant at  Pennington  Gap,  Virginia,  but  is  now  retired  from 
business  affairs.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Witt  there  were  born  seven 
children,  Mrs.  McWane,  of  this  review,  being  the  eldest.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Witt  are  active  members  of  the  Christian  Church,  and 
Mr.  Witt  is  a  Democrat  in  his  political  allegiance. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McWane  there  was  born  one  daughter, 
Maurine,  who  attended  the  public  schools  of  Lynchburg  and  the 
Holton-Arms  School,  Washington,  D.  C,  and  now  resides  with 
her  mother  in  their  home  on  Lee  Circle,  Lynchburg.  On  April 
7,  1928,  she  was  united  in  marriage  with  Garnett  Sowder,  of 


26  VIRGINIA 

Radford,  Virginia.  Mrs.  McWane  and  her  daughter  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  Church,  to  which  Mr.  McWane  belonged. 
He  was  appreciative  of  the  society  of  his  fellows  and  was  a 
member  of  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  at 
one  time  president  of  the  local  Lions  Club.  He  was  always  in- 
terested in  civic  affairs,  to  which  he  gave  of  his  time,  ability 
and  means. 

Richard  A.  Carrington,  the  chief  expression  of  whose  com- 
mercial energies  has  been  a  large  and  successful  wholesale  shoe 
business  at  Lynchburg,  is  a  member  of  the  distinguished  Car- 
rington family  of  Virginia  which  has  given  men  of  leadership 
in  the  professions,  business  and  military  affairs  for  generations. 

He  was  born  at  Rustburg  in  Campbell  County,  Virginia, 
August  17,  1869,  son  of  Dr.  George  W.  and  Mary  A.  (Alex- 
ander) Carrington,  and  his  grandfather  was  Dr.  Richard 
Carrington,  a  Virginian,  who  for  many  years  practiced  medicine 
at  Richmond,  where  he  owned  a  beautiful  home,  burned  during 
the  Civil  war.  The  maternal  grandfather  was  John  D.  Alex- 
ander, a  native  of  Campbell  County,  who  was  clerk  of  courts  in 
that  county  for  many  years.  One  of  the  Alexander  family  was 
the  first  clerk  of  courts  in  the  county.  Dr.  George  W.  Carring- 
ton was  born  at  Richmond,  was  educated  in  the  University  of 
Virginia,  had  hospital  training  in  New  York  and  practiced  in 
Richmond  and  Ashland,  and  in  his  later  years  lived  at  Rustburg. 
He  finally  gave  up  his  professional  practice  to  serve  as  grand 
secretary  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Masons  of  Virginia.  He  was  a 
Democrat  in  politics,  had  served  as  a  surgeon  in  the  Confederate 
army  during  the  Civil  war,  and  was  a  vestryman  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church.  He  and  his  wife  had  five  children,  the  three  now 
living  being  Richard  A. ;  Mary,  wife  of  L.  T.  Stanard,  connected 
with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway  at  Richmond ;  and  Louise, 
wife  of  P.  C.  Hubard. 

Richard  A.  Carrington  was  educated  in  common  schools  and 
began  work  at  an  early  age.  He  was  first  employed  in  a  tobacco 
factory,  for  five  years  was  with  the  Virginia  Nail  and  Iron 
Company,  and  his  first  connections  with  the  shoe  business  were 
as  a  traveling  salesman.  He  was  on  the  road  ten  years  and  in 
1905  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Lynchburg  Shoe  Com- 
pany, Incorporated.  He  was  president  of  this  company  for  some 
years,  and  the  "active  officers  today  are :  R.  A.  Carrington,  Jr., 
president,  and  E.  L.  Carrington,  vice  president,  with  Mr.  Car- 
rington still  on  the  Board  of  Directors.  This  is  one  of  the 
large  wholesale  shoe  houses  of  the  Southeast,  and  maintains 
a  staff  of  twenty-six  traveling  salesmen  covering  territory  in 
West  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Virginia  and  all  the  other 
Southern  states. 

Mr.  Carrington  began  work  at  the  age  of  sixteen  and  his 
well  directed  energies  brought  him  a  competence  at  a  compara- 
tively early  age.  Among  other  property  he  owns  the  old  estate 
of  the  late  John  W.  Daniel.  Mr.  Carrington  attends  St.  Paul's 
Episcopal  Church  at  Lynchburg  and  is  affiliated  with  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  B.  P.  O.  Elks. 

He  married,  November  8,  1893,  Miss  Katherine  Page  Lang- 
horne,  a  native  of  Lynchburg,  daughter  of  Charles  S.  and  Kath- 
erine Page  (Haller)  Langhorne,  the  former  of  whom  was  in 
the  milling  business.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carrington  have  two  sons. 
Edward  Langhorne  Carrington,  the  older,  vice  president  of  the 
Lynchburg  Shoe  Company,  was  educated  at  Bellevue,  Virginia, 


VIRGINIA  27 

and  the  Episcopal  High  School  at  Alexandria.  He  married 
Nannie  0.  Pettyjohn.  Richard  Alexander  Carrington,  Jr.,  was 
educated  in  the  Episcopal  High  School  at  Alexandria  and  the 
University  of  Virginia.  He  married  Miss  Harold  James,  who 
was  born  at  Danville.  Her  father,  Dr.  Bruce  James,  is  a  pro- 
fessor in  the  Virginia  Military  Institute.  Richard  A.  Carring- 
ton, Jr.,  and  wife  have  one  daughter,  Kate  Langhorne  Car- 
rington. 

John  Early  Jackson.  With  the  ever-expanding  need  for 
electricity  has  come  technical  training  for  the  various  phases 
of  the  industries  thus  created,  and  then  men  thus  prepared  are 
able  to  assume  vast  responsibilities  and  to  render  valuable  ser- 
vice, not  only  to  the  companies  employing  them,  but  to  their 
communities  as  well.  One  of  these  thoroughly  trained  and 
responsible  men  above  referred  to  is  John  Early  Jackson,  man- 
ager of  the  Appalacian  Electric  Power  Company  of  Lynchburg, 
whose  ability  is  unquestioned  and  whose  citizenship  is  pro- 
ductive of  great  constructive  results.  Mr.  Jackson  was  born 
in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  January  29,  1902,  a  son  of  Granbery 
and  Margaret  (Early)  Jackson,  he  born  in  Mount  Pleasant 
and  she  in  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  they  are  still  residing  in 
Nashville.  Although  a  civil  engineer  the  father  is  not  now 
practicing  his  profession  but  is  engaged  in  the  phosphate  bus- 
iness, in  which  he  was  a  pioneer  in  his  part  of  Tennessee.  He 
owns  considerable  phosphate  land  that  is  operated  by  different 
big  corporations.  Vanderbilt  University,  Nashville,  educated 
him,  and  he  is  a  worthy  product  of  that  great  instittuion.  Two 
children  wei'e  bora  to  him  and  his  wife,  of  whom  Mr.  Jackson  of 
this  review  is  the  elder,  the  other  being  Granbery,  Junior,  who 
is  studying  architecture  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
father  is  a  Presbyterian  and  the  mother  a  Methodist,  and  both 
are  devoted  church  workers.  The  Democratic  party  has  his 
staunch  support.  His  father,  paternal  grandfather  of  John 
Early  Jackson,  was  a  native  of  Virginia.  The  maternal  grand- 
father, John  F.  Early,  was  a  son  of  Right  Reverend  John  Early, 
the  Methodist  Bishop  so  long  a  resident  of  Lynchburg. 

Growing  up  in  his  native  city,  John  Early  Jackson  attended 
its  public  schools  and  Vanderbilt  University,  and  later  was  a 
student  of  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  in  1924.  For  a  year  thereafter  he  was  in 
the  employ  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  New 
York,  and  then,  in  1925,  he  came  to  Lynchburg  to  become  man- 
ager of  his  present  company,  in  which  connection  he  is  giving 
unqualified  satisfaction. 

In  June,  1926,  Mr.  Jackson  married  Miss  Elinor  Jones,  who 
was  born  in  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  and  was  educated  in  Farm- 
ington  College  and  the  Choate  School,  Brookline,  Massachusetts. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jackson  have  one  daughter,  Margaret  Early  Jack- 
son. They  are  members  of  the  different  social  organizations  of 
their  neighborhood,  and  have  a  delightful  home  life.  She  is  an 
Episcopalian  and  he  a  Methodist.  While  in  Vanderbilt  Univer- 
sity Mr.  Jackson  made  Kappa  Alpha,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Lynchburg  Rotary  Club.  All  of  his  time  is  taken  up  with  his 
responsibilities  as  manager  of  his  company  so  he  has  no  other 
business  connections.  Mrs.  Jackson  is  a  daughter  of  George  R. 
Jones,  a  native  of  Nashville,  and  a  shoe  merchant  of  that  city. 
At  one  time  he  had  a  shoe  factory  in  Saint  Louis,  and  it  was 
while  living  there  that   Mrs.   Jackson   was   born.     The   Jones 


28  VIRGINIA 

family  originated  in  Virginia,  and  it  is  claimed  that  Petersburg, 
this  state,  was  named  in  honor  of  Peter  Jones,  a  pioneer  of  the 
region,  from  whom  Mrs.  Jackson  is  directly  descended. 

Howell  C.  Featherston.  In  almost  every  case  those  who 
have  reached  high  position  in  public  confidence  and  esteem  and 
who  are  accounted  among  the  most  influential  in  business  and 
professional  lines  are  those  whose  lives  have  been  devoted  with- 
out cessation  to  deep  study  ai^d  close  application.  It  is  probable 
that  the  law  has  been  the  main  highway  by  which  more  men  of 
merit  have  advanced  to  prominence  and  position  in  this  country 
than  any  other  road,  and  it  is  not  unusual  to  find  among  the 
leading  citizens  of  a  community  a  legal  practitioner.  To  respond 
to  the  call  of  the  law,  to  devote  every  energy  in  this  direction,  to 
broaden  and  deepen  every  possible  channel  of  knowledge  and  to 
finally  enter  upon  his  chosen  career  and  find  its  rewards  worth 
while — such  has  been  the  happy  experience  of  Howell  C.  Feath- 
erston, one  of  the  leading  legalists  practicing  at  the  bar  of 
Lynchburg.  Mr.  Featherston  has  gained  honor  and  prestige  in 
his  profession  through  the  application  of  honesty,  energy,  per- 
severance, conscientiousness  and  self-reliance,  and  has  kept 
abreast  of  his  calling  in  its  advancement;  but  it  is  not  alone  as 
a  lawyer  that  he  is  known  to  the  people  of  Lynchburg,  for  he 
has  a  recognized  standing  as  one  who  understands  sound  invest- 
ments, and  is  the  owner  of  large  real  estate  holdings. 

Howell  C.  Featherston  was  born  in  Campbell  County,  April 
27,  1871,  a  son  of  John  C.  and  Letitia  Preston  (Floyd)  Feather- 
ston, he  born  in  Limestone  County,  Alabama,  and  she  in  Camp- 
bell County,  Virginia,  and  both  are  now  deceased.  The  father 
was  a  farmer  for  many  years,  and  for  a  long  period  he  served 
as  chief  of  the  business  bureau  of  the  State  Grange.  Active  in 
politics,  he  was  sent  to  represent  Campbell  County  in  the  Vir- 
ginia General  Assembly,  and  he  held  minor  local  offices  as  well. 
Two  children  were  born  to  him  and  his  wife,  namely :  N.  F. 
Featherston,  who  is  connected  with  the  United  States  Treasury 
Depai'tment,  Washington  City  and  Mr.  Featherston  of  this  re- 
view. Both  of  the  parents  were  active  workers,  he  as  a  Method- 
ist and  she  as  an  Episcopalian.  In  fraternal  affairs  he  was  a 
Mason  and  was  advanced  to  the  Chapter  in  his  order.  During  the 
war  between  the  states  he  served  as  a  first  lieutenant  and  later  as 
captain,  remaining  in  the  service  until  peace  was  declared,  al- 
though he  was  shot  through  the  body  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  he  wrote  a  description  of  the  battle  of 
the  "Crater"  at  Petersburg  which  Senator  Daniel  declared  was 
the  best  ever  written.  Captain  Featherston  delivered  it  before  a 
meeting  of  the  Grand  Camp  of  Confederate  Veterans  at  Peters- 
burg, and  later  delivered  it  before  a  meeting  of  the  Pottsville 
Camp  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  at  the  organization's 
annual  meeting  in  Pennsylvania,  and  among  his  audience  were 
veterans  who  had  blown  up  the  crater  July  31,  1864,  leaving  a 
hole  170  feet  long,  sixty  feet  wide  and  thirty  feet  deep,  into 
which  the  Union  forces  poured  before  they  could  be  stopped, 
and  were  engulfed  and  smothered.  It  was  generally  conceded 
by  both  sides  as  being  the  most  horrible  of  any  of  the  engage- 
ments of  the  war.  A  fine  portrait  of  Captain  Featherston  hangs 
in  the  Confederate  Battle  Abbey  at  Richmond,  Virginia.  The 
paternal  grandfather  of  Attorney  Featherston  was  Maj.  Howell 
C.  Featherston,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  who  moved  to  Ala- 
bama, and  there  became  an  extensive  cotton  planter.     The  ma- 


VIRGINIA  29 

ternal  grandfather  was  Nathaniel  Wilson  Floyd,  born  in  Ken- 
tucky, but  a  resident  of  Virginia  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life, 
and  a  very  large  cotton  planter,  not  only  of  Virginia  but  of 
Texas  as  well.  His  brother,  Charles  Floyd,  was  a  sergeant  on 
the  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition  into  what  became  the  North- 
west Territory. 

Howell  C.  Featherston  of  this  review  first  attended  the  schools 
of  Lynchburg,  New  London  Academy,  and  finally  the  University 
of  Virginia,  and  was  graduated  from  the  latter  in  1893,  with  the 
degree  Bachelor  of  Laws.  Immediately  thereafter  he  began  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Lynchburg,  and  here  he  has  since 
remained,  having  built  up  a  very  large  and  valuable  connection, 
and  handling  a  general  line  of  cases.  Like  his  father  he  is  deeply 
interested  in  politics,  and  served  in  the  Lower  House  in  1908, 
and  in  the  Senate  in  1912,  and  he  is  accepted  as  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Democratic  party  in  his  part  of  the  state. 

In  1909  Mr.  Featherston  married  Miss  Virginia  Carroll  Kelly, 
who  was  born  in  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Gilby 
C.  Kelly,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
Mrs.  Featherston  was  educated  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee,  and  Birmingham,  Alabama,  and  in  Randolph- 
Macon  College.  Reverend  Kelly  is  now  retired  and  is  residing 
in  Norfolk,  Virginia,  after  a  long  and  useful  ministerial  career. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Featherston  have  one  child,  Virginia  Kelly  Feather- 
ston, who  is  attending  school.  Both  Mr.  Featherston  and  his 
wife  are  Methodists,  and  he  is  a  steward  of  the  Court  Street 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Mason ; 
and  he  belongs  to  the  Piedmont  Country  Club,  the  Campbell 
County  Bar  Association,  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association  and 
the  American  Bar  Association.  Mr.  Featherston  is  a  man  who 
has  ever  lived  up  to  high  ideals  in  his  profession,  and  is  now 
reaping  the  rewards  of  his  years  of  faithful  service.  Standing 
high  among  his  associates,  he  earnestly  strives  to  prove  worthy 
of  his  responsibilities,  and  the  success  which  attends  him  proves 
that  his  skill  is  unquestioned  and  the  confidence  he  inspires  well 
merited.  Broad  in  his  sympathies,  he  has  always  given  liberally 
to  aid  worthy  charities,  and  his  support  can  be  depended  upon 
in  the  furtherance  of  measures  he  believes  will  work  for  the 
advancement  of  the  majority. 

Martin  L.  Brown.  Printing,  the  art  of  producing  impres- 
sions from  characters  or  figures  on  paper  or  any  other  sub- 
stance, is  of  comparatively  modern  origin,  only  about  four  and 
a  quarter  centuries  having  passed  since  the  first  book  was  issued 
from  the  press,  yet  there  is  to  be  found  proof  that  the  principles 
on  which  it  was  ultimately  developed  existed  among  the  ancient 
Assyrian  nations.  Printing  from  movable  types  was  practiced 
in  China  as  early  as  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century,  as  there 
are  Korean  books  printed  from  movable  clay  or  wooden  types 
in  1317.  The  great  discovery  was  that  of  forming  every  letter 
or  character  of  the  alphabet  separately,  and  the  credit  of  in- 
venting this  simple  yet  marvelous  art  is  contested  by  the  Dutch 
and  Germans.  Among  the  men  of  Virginia  who  have  made  the 
art  of  printing  their  life  work,  and  who  have  won  success  and 
position  in  this  line  of  endeavor,  one  of  the  best  known  is 
Martin  L.  Brown,  who  in  1909  founded  at  Lynchburg  the  pres- 
ent firm  of  Brown-Morrison  Company,  printers  and  engravers. 
Mr.  Brown  was  born  on  a  fami  in  Amherst  County,  Vir- 
ginia, August  13,  1877,  and  is  a  son  of  Martin  L.  and  Flora 


30  VIRGINIA 

(Higginbotham)  Brown,  natives  of  Amherst  County,  both  of 
whom  are  now  deceased.  Mr.  Brown  traces  his  ancestry  on 
the  paternal  side  directly  to  another  Martin  L.  Brown,  who  was 
a  soldier  of  the  Continental  forces  during  the  winning  of 
American  independence.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  Mr. 
Brown  was  Joseph  M.  Brown,  a  pioneer  of  Amherst  County, 
who  passed  his  life  there  in  agricultural  pursuits.  Martin  L. 
Brown,  the  elder,  father  of  Martin  L.  of  this  review,  grew  up 
in  a  tobacco  country  and  as  a  young  man  engaged  in  business 
as  a  tobacconist,  which  vocation  he  followed  for  some  years. 
During  the  war  between  the  states  he  enlisted  in  the  Confed- 
erate army,  with  which  he  served  until  the  close  of  the  strug- 
gle. During  his  service  he  contracted  consumption,  but  man- 
aged to  keep  the  dreaded  disease  at  bay  for  many  years.  On 
leaving  Amherst  County  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Lynchburg, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  grocery  business,  and  this  home  con- 
tinued to  be  his  place  of  residence  until  his  death  in  1893.  He 
and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of  ten  children,  of  whom  seven 
are  living:  James  R.,  a  traveling  salesman  of  Benefield,  West 
Virginia ;  William  T.,  a  woodworker  of  Washington,  D.  C. ; 
Martin  L.,  of  this  review;  Mrs.  J.  W.  Coleman,  of  Lynchburg; 
Miss  Lottie  K.,  secretary  to  the  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  of  Lynchburg;  Walter  W.,  who  is  engaged  in  business 
with  his  brother,  Martin  L. ;  and  Mrs.  James  T.  Spracher,  the 
vdfe  of  a  department  store  proprietor  of  Bluefield,  Virginia. 
The  parents  of  the  foregoing  children  were  honorable  God- 
fearing people  and  active  members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  He 
was  a  Mason  fraternally  and  a  Democrat  in  his  political  views, 
and  for  some  years  served  in  the  capacity  of  justice  of  the 
peace.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  Martin  L.  Brown  was 
James  A.  Higginbotham,  a  pioneer  farmer  and  sheriff  of  Am- 
herst County,  where  he,  his  father  and  his  grandfather  all  were 
born.  This  was  one  of  the  old  and  honored  families  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  and  its  members  were  highly  respected  and  esteemed 
people  of  high  character. 

Martin  L.  Brown  received  only  a  public  school  education, 
following  which  he  applied  himself,  when  only  a  youth,  to  the 
mastery  of  the  printer's  art,  in  which  he  has  been  engaged 
throughout  a  long,  active,  varied  and  ultimately  successful 
career.  For  an  extended  period  he  was  employed  by  others  in 
various  places,  and  for  three  years  he  was  the  manager  of  a 
printing  business  at  Canton,  China,  but  eventually  returned  to 
the  city  of  his  youth  and  in  1909  founded  the  present  business 
of  Brown-Morrison  Company,  which  has  been  developed  into 
one  of  the  best  in  the  state.  The  large,  modern  plant,  located 
at  718  Main  Street,  in  the  heart  of  the  business  district,  is 
equipped  with  the  latest  improved  machinery  of  every  char- 
acter, so  that  the  company  is  capable  of  turning  out  all  kinds 
of  work  in  printing,  engraving  and  lithographing.  Approxi- 
mately fifty-five  skilled  printers  are  given  employment  in  the 
various  departments  of  this  concern,  in  the  operation  of  which 
the  skilled,  guiding  hand  of  Mr.  Brown  can  everywhere  be  seen. 
He  bears  an  excellent  reputation  in  business  circles  as  a  man  of 
integrity  and  a  master  of  his  trade,  and  also  has  the  respect, 
esteem  and  loyalty  of  his  employes.  While  he  is  a  very  busy 
man  with  extensive  interests,  Mr.  Brown  has  been  active  in 
civic  and  other  afl:airs.  He  is  a  member  of  the  College  Hill 
Baptist  Church,  in  which  he  has  held  numerous  offices,  and  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  local  Young 


LA^A^'^i'  Ijla^9^.^.  4^4,^A% 


VIRGINIA  31 

Men's  Christian  Association.  He  ie  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
divan  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  and  also  belongs  to  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks. 

On  May  24,  1900,  Mr.  Brown  married  Miss  Annie  Yoder, 
who  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  a  daughter  of  Jacob  E.  Yoder, 
who  came  to  Lynchburg  with  the  Freedman's  Bureau  following 
the  close  of  the  war  between  the  states.  Her  father  married 
Anna  Frances  Whittaker,  who  came  to  Lynchburg  with  the 
North  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  and  was  a  descendant  of 
Roger  Williams,  the  founder  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  and 
nobly  distinguished  as  the  first  asserter  in  modern  Christen- 
dom of  the  sanctity  and  perfect  freedom  of  conscience.  To  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Brown  there  were  born  five  children:  Wayland  Y.,  of 
Hopewell,  Virginia,  who  is  identified  with  the  silk  company 
there  and  is  the  father  of  one  daughter,  Corinne  Wayland,  born 
in  1923;  Calvin  C,  who  is  superintendent  of  his  father's  print- 
ing plant  and  a  young  man  of  much  ability;  Mary  E.,  a  student 
at  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College ;  Martin  L.,  who  is  attend- 
ing high  school  at  Lynchburg;  and  Annie  Yoder,  a  pupil  in  the 
public  school. 

William  D.  Mount,  M.  E.  One  of  the  outstanding  figures 
of  Lynchburg,  William  D.  Mount,  with  offices  in  the  Peoples 
Bank  Building,  has  steadily  advanced  in  his  profession  of 
engineering  until  today  he  is  one  of  the  leading  consulting 
engineers  of  Virginia,  and  a  man  who  has  been  connected  with 
some  of  the  most  important  construction  operations  not  only 
of  private  corporations,  but  of  the  Government.  He  was  born 
at  Groton,  Tompkins  County,  New  York,  July  13,  1867,  a  son 
of  William  and  Lucretia  (Giles)  Mount,  both  of  whom  were 
natives  of  New  York  State,  and  are  now  deceased.  He  was  a 
carpenter  by  trade,  but  became  a  school  teacher  and  served  as 
local  magistrate.  Two  children  were  born  to  him  and  his  wife, 
Mr.  Mount  of  this  review  and  his  younger  brother,  Joseph 
Mount,  of  Tonawanda,  New  York,  where  he  is  superintendent 
of  a  pulp  mill.  The  father  belonged  to  the  Congregational 
Church.  In  politics  a  Prohibitionist  and  Republican,  he  lived 
up  to  his  convictions,  and  being  a  well  educated  man,  could 
always  give  cogent  reasons  for  his  actions.  During  the  war 
between  the  states  he  served  as  captain  of  Company  F,  One 
Hundred  and  Ninth  New  York  Volunteer  Infantry.  His  father, 
William  D.  Mount,  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  but  moved  to  New 
York  at  the  time  of  his  marriage,  settled  in  a  wilderness,  and 
became  a  tanner,  and  later  was  made  a  magistrate.  The  mater- 
nal grandfather  was  James  Giles,  a  native  of  New  York,  who 
pioneered  into  its  sparsely  settled  regions  and  became  a  very 
successful  farmer.  He  was  a  contemporary  and  personal  friend 
of  Ezra  Cornell,  whose  donations  of  $750,000  made  possible  the 
founding  of  Cornell  University  at  Ithaca,  New  York,  named  in 
his  honor. 

William  D.  Mount  attended  public  schools  and  Sibley  College, 
Cornell  University,  and  was  graduated  from  the  latter  with  the 
degree  of  Mechanical  Engineer  in  1890.  From  1890  to  1894 
he  was  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  Brown  University,  for  three 
years  being  an  instructor  in  physics  and  for  one  year,  assistant 
professor  of  mechanical  engineering. 

In  July,  1894.  Mr.  Mount  began  work  as  an  electrical  engineer 
for  the  Mathieson  Alkali  Works,  Saltville,  Virginia.  During 
1895  and  1896  he  was  in  charge  of  the  development  work  of 


32  VIRGINIA 

the  Castner  Process  for  electrolytic  production  of  caustic  soda 
and  bleaching  powder,  which  work  afterward  developed  into 
the  Castner  Electrolytic  Alkali  Company,  Niagara  Falls,  New 
York.  In  August,  1898,  he  was  made  general  superintendent 
of  the  Mathieson  Company,  in  entire  charge  of  all  operations 
as  well  as  all  engineering  work.  Later  he  was  made  general 
manager  and  a  director  of  the  company,  which  positions  were 
held  until  November,  1918,  since  which  date  he  has  been  in 
business  for  himself  as  consulting  mechanical  and  electrical 
engineer,  giving  special  attention  to  development  of  continuous 
gas  fired  vertical  lime  kilns,  continuous  causticizing  and  lime 
recovery ;  filtration  problems  and  chemical  plant  design.  During 
the  period  of  his  connection  with  the  Mathieson  Company  very 
extensive  changes  and  improvements  in  the  plant  and  processes 
were  planned  and  carried  through  under  his  supervision.  He 
also  had  charge  of  the  commercialization  of  the  Bucher  Process 
for  the  fixation  of  nitrogen,  which  process  was  taken  over  by 
the  Government,  and  he  served  in  a  consulting  capacity  during 
the  construction  of  Government  Chemical  Plant  Number  4. 

Since  1897  Mr.  Mount  has  been  a  full  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and  he  is  also  a  member 
of  the  American  Chemical  Society  and  an  honorary  member 
of  the  Alpha  Chapter  of  Sigma  Xi.  In  addition  he  is  a  member 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Chemical  Engineers  and  the  Tech- 
nical Association  of  the  Pulp  &  Paper  Industry. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  foreign  patents  which  have  been 
issued  in  the  name  of  William  D.  Mount:  Cmiadian  Patents — 
Methods  and  Apparatus  for  Handling  Foaming  and  Frothing 
Liquids,  Pat.  No.  246859,  February  17,  1925 ;  Causticizing  Units, 
Pat.  No.  249783,  May  19,  1925;  Continuous  Filters,  Pat.  No. 
257166,  January  12,  1926.  French  Patents — Improvement  in 
Kilns,  Pat.  No.  602729,  dated  August  28,  1925;  Continuous 
Filters,  Pat.  No.  610898,  dated  August  28,  1925;  Causticizing 
Unit,  Pat.  No.  608190,  dated  September  15,  1925;  Process  and 
Apparatus  for  Wood  Pulp  Production,  Pat.  No.  607726,  dated 
October  15,  1925.  Norway  Patents — Causticizing  Unit,  Pat.  No. 
43059,  dated  September  2,  1925;  Continuous  Filters,  Pat.  No. 
43784,  September  11,  1925.  Siveden  Patents — Causticizing 
Units,  Pat.  No.  62972,  dated  August  22,  1925.  Belgian  Patents 
—Continuous  Filters,  Pat.  No.  328924,  dated  August  29,  1925; 
Causticizing  Units,  Pat.  No.  328686,  dated  August  29,  1925; 
Kilns,  Pat.  No.  328652,  dated  August  29,  1925;  Process  and 
Apparatus  for  Wood  Pulp  Production,  Pat.  No.  329414,  dated 
October  17,  1925.  Finland  Parents— Causticizing  Units,  Pat. 
No.  11287,  dated  September  2,  1926;  Continuous  Filters,  Pat. 
No.  11454,  dated  September  7,  1925;  Method  and  Apparatus 
for  Handling  Foaming  and  Frothing  Liquids,  Pat.  No.  11526, 
dated  September  3,  1925;  Process  and  Apparatus  for  Wood 
Pulp  Production,  Pat.  No.  11527,  dated  November  3,  1925. 
English  Patents — Continuous  Filters,  Pat.  No.  265679,  dated 
August  12,  1925:  Causticizing  Units,  Pat.  No.  265669,  dated 
August  12,  1925;  Kilns,  Pat.  No.  265654,  dated  August  12,  1926; 
Process  and  Apparatus  for  Wood  Pulp  Production,  Pat.  No. 
269256,  dated  August  12,  1925.  United  States — Flakers,  No. 
1340732.  Patented  May  18,  1920;  Filters,  No.  1348036,  Patented 
.July  27,  1920;  Power-Ti-ansmission  Devices,  No.  1392348,  Pat- 
ented October  4,  1921 ;  Storage  Devices,  No.  1526171,  Patented 
February  10,  1925:  Filters  (Washers),  No.  1558038,  Patented 
October  20,  1925;  Methods  and  Apparatus  for  Handling  Foam- 
ing and  Frothing  Liquids,  No.  1560286,  November  3,  1925. 


VIRGINIA 


33 


Philip  W.  Payne.  Those  who  daily  see  the  thousands  of 
automobiles  which  crowd  every  street  and  highway,  passing  and 
repassing  in  countless  numbers,  find  it  hard  to  reconcile  them- 
selves to  the  fact  that  in  point  of  years  this  is  still  really  an 
infant  industry,  the  extent  of  whose  growth  in  the  future  cannot 
be  even  approximated.  Yet  the  fact  remains  that  the  automobile 
still  is  to  be  considered  as  only  in  its  first  growth  of  maturity. 
In  1902,  which  is  but  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  one  of  the  most 
authentic  encyclopedias  gave  the  following  somewhat  quaint 
description :  "Automobiles,  a  term  under  which  are  comprised 
horseless  carriages,  motor  vans,  motor  omnibus,  and  all  other 
motor  traction  vehicles  adapted  for  use  on  ordinary  roads  un- 
provided with  rails."  The  same  work  is  authority  for  the  fact 
that  in  the  summer  of  1898  there  were  not  thirty  automobiles  in 
use  in  the  United  States,  but  by  August,  1899,  at  least  eighty 
companies  had  been  organized  for  the  manufacture  of  motor 
cars.  By  1926,  according  to  the  number  of  cars  registered, 
there  were  19,237,171  passenger  cars  and  2,784,222  trucks  in  use 
in  this  country. 

One  of  the  men  who  had  the  vision  to  note  the  great  oppor- 
tunities which  the  future  held  out  in  this  business  was  Philip 
W.  Payne,  who  first  became  identified  with  the  industry  in  1910, 
and  since  1919  has  been  the  head  of  the  Phil  Payne  Motor  Com- 
pany of  Lynchburg,  dealers  in  Nash  and  Marmon  automobiles. 
Mr.  Payne  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  October  27,  1889,  and  is  a 
son  of  Elias  and  Belle  Stuart  (Walker)  Payne.  His  paternal 
grandfather,  Philip  W.  Payne,  was  born  in  Campbell  County, 
Vii'ginia,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  between  the  states 
enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army,  with  which  he  served  until  the 
close  of  hostilities.  He  then  located  at  Lynchburg,  where  for 
many  years  he  was  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business,  and  where 
he  was  known  as  a  substantial  business  man  of  high  character 
and  personal  probity. 

Elias  Payne  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  where  he  secured  a 
public  school  education,  and  was  in  the  coal,  lumber,  wood  and 
general  supplies  business  in  association  with  the  firm  of  Adams 
&  Brothers  &  Company,  being  with  that  concern  at  the  time  of 
his  death  in  1916.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Westminster 
Presbyterian  Church,  was  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  Order,  and 
his  political  convictions  made  him  a  Democrat.  He  married  Miss 
Belle  Stuart  Walker,  who  was  born  at  Richmond,  and  died  in 
1919  at  Lynchburg,  and  they  became  the  parents  of  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  three  survive :  Isabelle,  the  wife  of  J.  R. 
Wheeler,  a  druggist  of  Lynchburg ;  H.  A.,  who  is  connected  with 
the  Southern  Railway  at  Lynchburg;  and  Philip  W.,  of  this 
review.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  Philip  W.  Payne  was 
Lindsey  Walker,  a  native  of  Richmond,  who  was  a  noted  civil 
engineer  of  his  day  and  assisted  in  the  building  of  the  Chesa- 
peake &  Ohio  Railroad  from  Richmond  to  Lynchburg. 

The  public  schools  of  Lynchburg  furnished  Philip  W.  Payne 
with  his  educational  training,  and  following  his  high  school 
training  he  secured  a  position  as  clerk  and  bookkeeper  in  a 
retail  shoe  store.  From  this  position  he  advanced  to  that  of 
bookkeeper  for  an  insurance  company,  but  in  1910  resigned  his 
position  to  enter  the  employ  of  the  Apperson-Lee  Motor  Com- 
pany. Mr.  Payne  knew  immediately  that  he  had  found  the 
business  for  which  he  was  best  equipped,  and  set  about  learning 
its  every  detail.  In  the  meantime  he  conserved  his  financial 
resources,  and  in  1919  found  himself  in  a  position  to  establish 


34  VIRGINIA 

an  automobile  agency  under  the  style  of  the  Payne  and  Dillon 
Company,  at  first  handling  the  Chandler  car.  Later  he  took 
over  the  Nash  and  Marmon  agencies,  for  which  he  is  the  auth- 
orized agent  in  six  counties  surrounding  Lynchburg.  He  has 
built  up  a  large  and  successful  enterprise  and  maintains  a  com- 
modious and  modern  salesroom  and  service  and  filling  station  at 
815  Fifth  Street,  where  he  also  handles  all  kinds  of  automo- 
bile parts  and  accessories.  The  firm  is  now  known  as  the  Phil 
Payne  Motor  Company. 

Mr.  Payne  is  unmarried.  He  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
Shriner,  and  belongs  to  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks,  the  United  Commercial  Travelers  and  the  Travelers  Pro- 
tective Association.  As  a  citizen  he  has  always  been  public 
spirited  and  a  supporter  of  the  causes  of  education,  religion  and 
higher  morality. 

Edgar  Patton  Miller,  president  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Lynchburg,  was  born  in  that  city  December  12,  1861,  son  of 
John  M.  and  Mary  E.  (Norvell)  Miller.  His  great-grandfather 
was  a  teacher  at  Richmond,  and  the  grandfather,  Samuel  T. 
Miller,  who  was  born  at  Richmond  November  22,  1789,  gave 
practically  his  entire  life  to  educational  work,  and  for  many 
years  conducted  a  noted  boys  school  at  Cedar  Forest  on  the 
Staunton  River.  He  died  at  Lynchburg  March  30,  1870.  By 
his  marriage  to  Frances  Fitzpatrick  he  was  the  father  of  eight 
sons  and  six  daughters,  all  of  whom  were  educated  and  in  one 
way  or  another  continued  the  educational  tradition  and  interest 
of  the  family. 

John  M.  Miller,  one  of  the  sons,  was  born  October  5,  1827, 
left  school  at  the  age  of  sixteen  to  take  up  a  commercial  career, 
soon  located  at  Lynchburg,  and  was  teller  and  subsequently 
cashier  of  the  Exchange  Bank  of  Virginia  before  and  during  the 
Civil  war.  When  the  First  National  Bank  of  Lynchburg  was 
organized  in  1865  he  was  offered  but  declined  the  office  of  cashier. 
Subsequently  he  became  associated  with  James  Franklin  in  the 
private  banking  firm  of  Miller  &  Franklin,  and  was  active  in  this 
banking  house  until  his  death  on  January  25,  1881.  After  his 
death  the  interests  of  the  firm  were  taken  over  by  the  newly 
organized  National  Exchange  Bank,  which  subsequently  became 
the  Lynchburg  National  Bank. 

John  M.  Miller  was  for  many  years  a  prominent  official  in 
St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church  of  Lynchburg.  His  wife,  Mary  E. 
Norvell,  was  a  daughter  of  Lorenzo  and  Lucy  (Harrison)  Nor- 
vell, and  her  maternal  grandfather  located  at  Lynchburg  about 
1785  and  was  a  member  of  the  first  town  council  when  Lynch- 
burg was  incorporated  in  1805. 

Edgar  Patton  Miller  was  educated  in  private  schools,  in 
Doctor  Abbott's  Bellevue  School  in  Bedford  County,  and  in  1878 
became  a  junior  clerk  in  the  banking  firm  of  Miller  and  Franklin. 
After  his  father's  death  he  continued  with  the  National  Ex- 
change Bank  as  junior  clerk,  and  later  was  made  teller.  In 
September,  1890,  he  became  the  first  cashier  of  the  Lynchburg 
Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  and  in  June,  1895,  became  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Lynchburg,  an  institution  with  which  he 
has  been  identified  for  over  thirty  years.  Mr.  Miller  has  been 
continuously  in  the  banking  business  at  Lynchburg  for  just  half 
a  century.  He  has  been  president  of  the  First  National  Bank 
since  December  2,  1909.  He  is  a  former  president  of  the  Virginia 
State  Bankers  Association,  and  was  one  of  the  organizers  of 


VIRGINIA 


35 


the  Cooperative  Building  and  Loan  Association  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Lynchburg  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  attends 
the  Episcopal  Church  and  has  served  as  a  trustee  of  the  Lynch- 
burg Orphan  Asylum,  and  has  also  been  on  the  City  Council. 

He  married,  October  15,  1903,  Eleanor  Selden  Lucke.  They 
had  three  daughters:  Eleanor  Selden  and  Lucy  Harrison,  and 
Norvell  Harrison,  who  died  at  the  age  of  two  years. 

James  W.  Walters,  a  specialist  in  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat, 
is  a  native  of  Virginia  and  since  establishing  himself  at  Lynch- 
burg has  gained  a  reputation  that  has  extended  all  over  Cen- 
tral Virginia  as  a  man  of  acknowledged  skill  and  resourceful- 
ness. 

Doctor  Walters  was  born  in  Madison  County,  Virginia,  in 
1880,  son  of  John  P.  and  Anna  J.  (Walker)  Walters,  and  a 
grandson  of  Isaac  H.  Walters  and  Col.  James  W.  Walker,  all 
residents  of  Madison  County.  His  maternal  grandfather  was  a 
colonel  of  militia  before  the  Civil  war.  Isaac  H.  Walters  spent 
his  life  as  a  farmer.  John  P.  Walters,  who  died  in  1895,  was 
educated  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  was  a  civil  engineer  by 
profession,  but  devoted  most  of  his  active  years  to  farming  in 
Madison  County.  His  widow  died  June  19,  1928,  at  Orange. 
Both  were  active  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  and  John  P.  Walters  was  a  Confederate  soldier.  There 
were  four  children  and  the  three  now  living  are  Dr.  James  W., 
Annie  E.,  wife  of  E.  B.  Grimes,  of  Orange,  and  Charles,  a  resi- 
dent of  Orange,  who  is  interested  in  the  lumber  business  at 
Charlottesville. 

Dr.  James  W.  Walters  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
Madison  County,  in  the  Woodbury  Forest  School,  Randolph- 
Macon  College  at  Ashland,  and  in  1901  entered  the  Medical 
College  of  Virginia  at  Richmond,  graduating  in  1905.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Pi  Mu  medical  fraternity  at  Richmond.  Doc- 
tor Walters  distinguished  himself  for  his  scholarship  and  all 
round  ability,  and  after  taking  his  medical  degree  he  spent 
eighteen  months  as  an  interne  in  the  Memorial  Hospital  at 
Richmond,  and  for  three  years  was  on  the  adjunct  teaching 
staff  of  Cornell  University  of  New  York,  and  was  resident 
phj'sician  at  the  New  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary  in  New 
York  City.  With  this  exceptional  training  and  experience  he 
located  at  Lynchburg  in  1911,  and  has  since  limited  his  work 
to  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Lynchburg 
and  Campbell  County  and  South  Piedmont  Medical  Societies, 
the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  and  the  American  Medical  As- 
sociation. Doctor  Walters  is  a  Methodist,  a  Scottish  Rite 
Mason  and  Shriner,  and  member  of  the  Kiwanis  Club.  He  was 
a  captain  in  the  Medical  Corps  during  the  Woi'ld  war. 

He  married,  in  1914,  Miss  Kate  E.  Edmunds,  of  Lynchburg, 
who  was  educated  in  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  They  have  one  daugh- 
ter, Harriett  Prescott  Walters,  born  in  1919. 

Benjamin  Allen  Ruffin  was  born  in  Richmond,  Virginia, 
May  9,  1879.  He  is  a  son  of  George  Edwin  and  Ada  Cora 
(Harden)  RufRn  and  a  grandson  of  George  Edmund  Ruffin,  a 
relative  of  Judge  Thomas  Ruffin  of  North  Carolina. 

Mr.  Ruffin  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Chesterfield 
County,  Virginia,  the  Chester  Academy  and  Randolph-Macon 
College.    His  business  career  begun  in  Richmond  as  an  insurance 


36  VIRGINIA 

agent.  After  twenty-five  years  in  business  in  Richmond  and 
New  York  City  Mr.  Ruffin  is  today  president  and  principal 
owner  of  B.  A.  Ruffin  &  Company,  general  insurance  agents,  is 
a  partner  of  Charles  M.  Robinson,  architects,  and  vice  president 
of  W.  C.  Hill  Printing  Company. 

From  1914  to  1918  Mr.  Ruffin  served  on  the  Insurance  Com- 
mittee of  the  American  Bankers  Association  and  is  the  author 
of  various  copyright  insurance  policies  and  bonds  adopted  and 
used  by  member  banks  of  the  association.  He  is  a  past  grand 
chancellor  of  the  order  of  Knights  of  Pythias  and  at  this  writ- 
ing is  president  of  Lions  Interaational. 

He  is  also  lecturer  for  the  Greater  Men's  Bible  Class  of  Monu- 
ment M.  E.  Church  at  Richmond.  In  these  various  activities  he 
is  widely  known  as  a  speaker  and  author. 

Charles  S.  Adams,  president  of  the  Adams  Brothers-Paynes 
Company  of  Lynchburg,  is  with  the  lumber  organization  of  which 
his  father  was  one  of  the  founders,  and  has  had  a  very  successful 
experience  of  nearly  thirty  years  in  the  lumber  business  in 
Virginia. 

Mr.  Adams  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  November  28, 
1873,  son  of  Richard  H.  T.  and  Susan  (Scott)  Adams.  His 
grandfather,  Isaac  Adams,  was  a  farm  owner  in  Appomattox 
County,  Virginia.  The  maternal  grandfather,  Charles  Scott, 
was  a  railroad  contractor  of  Lynchburg  and  also  owned  a  large 
farm  in  Bedford  County.  Richard  H.  T.  Adams  grew  up  on  a 
farm,  and  as  a  young  man  was  in  the  grocery  business  at  Rich- 
mond until  the  war  broke  out.  He  then  joined  the  Home  Guard 
at  Lynchburg  and  served  throughout  the  war  under  the  com- 
mand of  Gen.  A.  P.  Hill.  He  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain.  After 
the  war  he  removed  to  Lynchburg,  where  he  joined  an  older 
brother,  I.  H.  Adams,  who  had  started  a  coal,  lumber  and  build- 
ing supply  business.  Still  another  brother,  W.  D.  Adams,  came 
into  the  partnership  and  finally  J.  G.  Payne  entered  the  business. 
In  1898  the  Adams  Brothers-Paynes  Company  was  incorpo- 
rated, and  that  name  has  been  retained  for  thirty  years.  It  is 
one  of  the  oldest  incorporated  lumber  firms  in  Southwest  Vir- 
ginia. The  original  officers  of  the  corporation  were:  I.  H. 
Adams,  president;  C.  I.  Johnson,  vice  president;  J.  G.  Payne, 
secretary  and  treasurer.  The  officers  of  the  company  today  are : 
Charles  S.  Adams,  president ;  J.  C.  Dabney,  vice  president ;  J.  G. 
Payne,  secretary  and  treasurer.  Richard  H.  T.  Adams  contin- 
ued active  in  this  organization  until  his  death  in  1901,  but  for 
some  years  had  also  given  much  of  his  attention  to  the  export 
tobacco  trade.  His  widow  is  still  living  in  Lynchburg.  Both 
were  active  members  of  the  Court  Street  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  and  Richard  H.  T.  Adams  was  a  Mason  and  a  Democrat 
in  politics.  There  were  nine  children,  eight  of  whom  are  living : 
Mrs.  H.  H.  Harris ;  R.  H.  T.  Adams,  Junior,  a  Lynchburg  attor- 
ney ;  Charles  S. ;  Jack  Adams,  connected  with  the  George  W. 
Helme  Snuff  Company ;  James  D.  Adams,  secretary-treasurer  of 
Harris  Woodson  Company ;  Susan  Scott  Adams,  who  lives  with 
her  mother;  Mrs.  D.  D.  Hull,  of  Roanoke;  and  H.  C.  Adams, 
proprietor  of  the  White  Star  Laundry. 

Charles  S.  Adams  attended  school  at  Lynchburg  and  was  a 
boy  of  seventeen  when  he  first  became  an  employe  of  the  Adams 
Brothers-Paynes  Company  in  1890.  However,  in  1896  he  left 
the  firm  to  become  associated  with  his  father  in  the  tobacco  busi- 


VIRGINIA 


87 


ness.  In  1903  he  returned  to  the  himber  business  and  for  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  has  had  a  prominent  part  in  its  growth  and 
development  as  one  of  the  largest  wholesale  lumber  and  building 
supply  firms  of  the  state.  Mr.  Adams  is  also  a  director  in  the 
Peoples  National  Bank  of  Lynchburg. 

He  married,  in  1905,  Miss  Lottie  Griifiin,  who  was  born  in 
Bedford  County  and  was  educated  in  the  Girls'  Seminary  at 
Bedford.  Her  father,  Samuel  Griffin,  was  a  lawyer  at  Bedford 
and  Roanoke.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams  have  three  children.  Char- 
lotte Russell  is  a  graduate  of  the  Cathedral  School  for  girls  at 
Washington.  Nancy  Scott  Adams  is  a  student  in  the  Gardner 
School  at  New  York.  Charles  S.  Adams,  Junior,  was  born  in 
1914  and  is  attending  the  Lynchburg  High  School.  The  family 
are  members  of  the  Saint  Johns  Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Adams 
is  a  York  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks, 
the  Piedmont  Club,  the  Oak  Wood  Country  Club  and  is  a  charter 
member  of  the  Rotary  Club. 

Robert  S.  Burruss.  The  successful  man  in  any  line  is  the 
one  who  first  determines  his  natural  abilities  and  the  occupation 
in  which  they  will  have  free  play,  and  then  operates  so  as  to 
provide  something  for  which  there  is  a  demand,  or  goes  about 
creating  such  a  demand.  In  spite  of  all  of  the  inventions  of 
substitutes,  and  the  discoveries  of  other  substances  to  take  the 
place,  lumber  remains  the  basic  need  for  countless  industries, 
and  its  production  is  of  vast  importance,  especially  in  those 
sections  adjacent  to  the  timberlands.  Virginia  still  has  large 
stores  of  timber  upon  which,  even  in  strict  compliance  with  con- 
servation laws  and  principles,  its  operators  in  the  industry  may 
still  draw,  and  so  has  its  sister  state  of  North  Carolina,  and  one 
of  the  men  who  is  doing  a  very  large  business  in  manufacturing 
lumber  and  wholesaling  it  is  Robert  S.  Burruss,  of  Lynchburg, 
one  of  the  city's  substantial  business  men. 

Robert  S.  Burruss  was  born  in  Campbell  County,  Virginia, 
August  6,  1884,  a  son  of  James  M.  and  Ida  F.  Pringle  Burruss, 
the  latter  of  whom,  a  native  of  Halifax  County,  Virginia,  is 
still  living  on  the  home  farm,  but  the  former,  born  in  Campbell 
County,  died  in  September,  1904.  He  was  a  farmer  and  lum- 
berrnan.  The  parents  had  six  children,  two  of  whom  survive, 
Mr.  Burruss  of  this  review,  and  W.  H.  Burruss,  the  two  being 
in  partnership  in  their  lumber  business.  W.  H.  Burruss  was 
also  born  in  Campbell  County.  He  married  Miss  Helen  Currell, 
and  they  have  three  children :  Sarah,  Helen  and  William  H., 
Junior.  The  parents  belonged  from  youth  up  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  which  he  was  a  leader,  and  she 
continues  to  be  active  in  it.  He  was  a  Mason  and  a  Democrat, 
and  zealous  in  behalf  of  fraternity  and  party.  His  father  was 
Thomas  Burruss,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  with  five  brothers 
served  in  the  Confederate  army.  The  paternal  great-grand- 
father was  an  Englishman  who  settled  in  Virginia  at  an  early 
day.  The  maternal  grandfather,  Richard  Pringle,  was  a  native 
of  Halifax  County,  Virginia,  and  a  physician,  and  he,  too,  was 
a  veteran  of  the  Confederate  army. 

Robert  S.  Burruss  attended  public  school  until  he  was  sixteen 
years  old,  at  which  time  he  began  working  in  his  father's  lum- 
ber business,  remaining  with  him  until  his  death.  In  1905  he 
and  his  brother  came  to  Lynchburg  and  established  themselves 
in  the  lumber  business  here,  and  have  built  up  very  wide  con- 
nections,  having  mills   in   Virginia   and   North   Carolina,   and 


38  VIRGINIA 

selling  their  product  at  wholesale.     Theirs  is  one  of  the  largest 
concerns  of  its  kind  in  this  part  of  the  state. 

In  1913  Mr.  Burruss  married  Miss  Ada  Moorman,  who  was 
bom  in  Campbell  County,  Virginia,  and  here  educated.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Burruss  have  one  child,  Robert  S.,  Junior,  a  schoolboy. 
Mrs.  Burruss  belongs  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
As  a  York  Rite  and  Shriner  Mason,  an  Odd  Fellow  and  Elk, 
and  as  a  member  of  the  Hoo  Hoos,  Mr.  Burruss  lives  up  to  high 
ideals,  and  he  has  served  the  last  named  order  as  vice  president 
since  moving  to  Lynchburg.  It  is  his  honest  belief  that  what 
he  has  accomplished  any  industrious  young  man  can  do,  espe- 
cially when  so  many  advantages  are  now  offered  that  never 
came  his  way.  He  is  never  satisfied  to  rest  upon  what  he  has 
done,  but  is  ever  working  for  something  just  beyond,  and  as 
he  has  great  ability  he  never  fails  to  grasp  firmly  what  he 
undertakes.  Having  worked  his  way  up  from  the  bottom  of  his 
business,  he  knows  what  to  expect  of  his  men,  how  to  make  due 
allowance  for  them,  and  is  greatly  respected  by  them  and  by  his 
whole  community,  in  his  neighborhood  and  in  his  fraternities. 

James  Morrison,  M.  D.  Medical  science  has  so  progressed 
that  advances  are  made  in  it  almost  hourly.  Specializing  ob- 
servations on  disease  have  worked  marvelous  changes  in  meth- 
ods of  treatment;  tireless  theoretic  experiments  have  proven 
the  truth  of  contentions,  and  only  after  results  have  been  dem- 
onstrated beyond  any  reasonable  doubt  are  discoveries  given 
to  the  public.  In  the  work  of  tTie  past  quarter  of  the  century 
are  to  be  noticed  such  practical  advances  as  the  development 
of  bacteriology,  the  partially  successful  effort  to  wipe  out  tuber- 
culosis, bubonic  plague,  cholera,  diphtheria,  typhoid,  spinal 
meningitis  and  similar  maladies.  This  marvelous  progress  has 
not  come  naturally,  but  is  the  outcome  of  the  tireless,  aggres- 
sive and  self-sacrificing  work  of  the  men  who  have  devoted 
themselves  to  the  profession  of  medicine.  One  of  the  men 
whose  name  is  connected  with  some  excellent  work  in  his  large 
practice  at  Lynchburg  is  Dr.  James  Morrison,  a  physician  who 
has  risen  through  his  own  efforts  to  a  high  position.  Having 
the  misfortune  to  lose  his  parents  while  still  small,  he  was  early 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  and  must  be  regarded  as  self- 
made  in  the  highest  conception  of  the  term. 

Doctor  Morrison  was  born  in  Lexington,  Rockbridge  County, 
Virginia,  November  2,  1871,  a  son  of  Dr.  Robert  Hall  and  Mar- 
garet (White)  Morrison,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in 
Rockbridge  County  and  the  latter  in  Lexington.  The  father 
was  a  physician,  educated  in  the  University  of  Virginia  and 
Jefferson  Medical  College,  and  when  he  had  received  his  degree 
he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Lexington.  With 
the  outbreak  of  war  between  the  states  he  ofi'ered  his  services 
to  the  Confederacy,  and  served  under  Gen.  Fitzhugh  Lee.  He 
and  his  wife  had  three  children  born  to  them,  but  Doctor  Mor- 
rison is  the  only  survivor.  Both  were  active  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  and  very  fine  people,  and  their  son  in- 
herits many  of  their  admirable  characteristics. 

From  childhood  he  resolved  upon  a  medical  career.  Doctor 
Morrison  struggled  to  secure  the  necessary  education,  first  along 
academic  lines,  and  later  in  medicine,  studying  the  latter  in  the 
medical  department  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  in  1898,  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine.    Later  he  took  work  in  the  New  York  Polyclinic,  and  had 


VIRGINIA 


39 


an  interneship  in  New  York  City.  After  several  years  devoted 
to  a  countiy  practice  he  did  post-graduate  work  in  diseases  of 
the  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat,  and  in  1901  came  to  Lynchburg, 
where  he  has  since  been  specializing  in  this  branch  of  the 
domain  of  medicine. 

In  1901  Doctor  Morrison  married  Miss  Elizabeth  McCulloch, 
a  daughter  of  Fred  McCulloch,  he  born  in  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana, 
a  son  of  Hugh  McCulloch,  who  served  in  the  cabinet  under 
President  Lincoln.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Morrison  have  had  two 
children  born  to  them:  Fred  McCulloch,  who  is  studying  medi- 
cine in  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  a  prominent  member  of 
Phi  Kappa  Psi,  and  Margaret  Carolyn.  Robert  Dabney  is  an 
adopted  son,  is  also  attending  the  University  of  Virginia.  Mrs. 
Morrison  is  an  Episcopalian,  and  he  is  a  Presbyterian.  His 
fraternal  aliiliations  are  with  the  Masonic  Order  and  the  Elks. 
He  belongs  to  the  Oakwood  Country  Club,  the  Campbell  County 
Medical  Society,  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society,  the  South- 
ern Medical  Association,  the  American  Medical  Association,  the 
State  Eye,  Ear,  Nose  and  Throat  Association,  and  he  is  a  Fellow 
of  the  American  College  of  Surgeons.  His  entire  time  is  de- 
voted to  his  practice  so  that  he  has  no  business  connections,  but 
he  is  interested  in  the  progress  and  continued  prosperity  of 
Lynchburg  and  its  vicinity,  and  willing  to  give  liberally  of  his 
means  to  forward  and  maintain  these  conditions. 


Richard  E.  White,  of  Bedford,  is  a  banker,  president  of  the 
Citizens  National  Bank,  one  of  the  strongest  financial  institu- 
tions in  that  section  of  the  state.  Its  otTicers  and  directors  in- 
clude some  of  the  outstanding  citizens  of  Bedford  County.  The 
Citizens  National  Bank  has  capital  and  surplus  of  $200,000,  and 
it  is  one  of  the  banks  whose  steady  growth  has  brought  its  re- 
sources above  a  million  dollars.  At  the  close  of  business  in  1927 
the  resources  stood  at  the  figure  of  over  one  million  six  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  White  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Bedford  County,  March  10. 
1870,  son  of  Henry  Milton  and  Louise  (Majors)  White  and 
grandson  of  Jacob  S.  White.  The  White  family  for  several 
generations  have  been  identified  with  farming  and  planting  in 
Bedford  County.  His  maternal  grandfather,  Howard  Majors, 
was  also  a  Bedford  County  farmer.  Henry  Milton  White  was 
reared  on  a  farm  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  engaged  in  mer- 
chandising at  Big  Island,  and  died  at  the  comparatively  early 
age  of  thirty-one.  His  widow,  who  was  educated  at  Hollins 
College,  died  in  1897,  having  married  a  Mr.  Smith.  By  the  first 
marriage  there  were  two  children,  Richard  E.  and  Samuel,  the 
latter  of  whom  died  at  the  age  of  eight  years.  The  three  chil- 
dren from  the  second  marriage  were :  Robei't  Fullerton  Smith, 
with  the  National  Stock  Yards  at  Saint  Louis;  Duncan  Smith, 
an  architect  at  Saint  Louis;  and  Harry  Pritchard  Smith,  also 
with  the  National  Stock  Yards  at  Saint  Louis.  Henry  Milton 
Vvhite  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Richard  E.  White  received  his  early  education  in  country 
schools  and  the  New  London  Academy,  and  had  his  first  business 
training  in  a  store  at  Bedford.  From  there  he  went  with  the 
Lynchburg  Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  and  was  with  that  institution 
nine  years,  gaining  a  tnorough  knowledge  of  banking.  He 
started  as  bookkeeper  and  was  assistant  cashier  when  he  left. 
Returning  to  Bedford,  he  was  made  cashier  of  the  Citizens  Na- 
tional Bank  in  1914,  and  has  been  president  of  the  institution 


40  VIRGINIA 

since  1921.  He  has  concentrated  his  business  energies  fully  on 
the  bank  and  personally  deserves  a  large  amount  of  credit  for 
its  steady  growth  and  prosperity. 

Mr.  White  married,  in  1898,  Magnolia  Pendleton  Wright, 
who  was  born  in  Nelson  County,  Virginia,  daughter  of  William 
H.  Wright,  who  moved  to  Bedford  County  about  1888  and  lived 
the  rest  of  his  life  on  the  Colonel  Davis  farm.  Mrs.  White  was 
educated  at  Bedford  and  in  the  Belmont  Seminary  there.  They 
have  two  children,  Marion  Louise  and  Isabelle,  the  former  a 
student  in  Hollins  College.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  White  are  active 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Bedford.  He 
has  been  on  the  Board  of  Stewards  of  the  church  for  twenty- 
seven  years,  chairman  of  the  financial  committee,  and  for  seven- 
teen years  has  taught  a  Bible  class  of  young  men.  He  is  affili- 
ated with  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

E.  Craige  Pelouze,  manager  of  Pelouze  Printers  Supply 
Company,  is  a  prominent  citizen  of  Richmond,  and  a  member  of 
a  family  of  famous  typefounders,  of  whom  the  best  known,  per- 
haps, was  the  late  Henry  L.  Pelouze,  father  of  E.  Craige  Pelouze, 
and  he  was  a  son  of  Edward  Pelouze,  the  first  of  the  name  to 
engage  in  typefounding.  Edward  Pelouze  was  born  in  West 
Windsor,  Connecticut,  March  22,  1799,  of  French  parents.  His 
father,  who  was  an  officer  in  the  French  army,  was  imprisoned 
at  the  time  of  the  French  Revolution,  but  made  his  escape  and 
came  to  America. 

In  1801  Edward  Pelouze  was  taken  by  his  parents.  Dr. 
Edmond  Pelouze  and  Sarah  de'Jean  Pelouze,  to  Charlestown, 
New  Hampshire,  where  the  Pelouze  home  remains  to  this  day 
in  an  excellent  state  of  preservation.  In  1794  Doctor  Pelouze 
was  employed  in  a  French  printing  office  in  Philadelphia  as 
translator.  During  the  interruption  of  his  practice  in  medicine 
Edward  was  reared  and  educated  in  Charlestown. 

From  boyhood  he  exhibited  a  taste  for  mechanics,  and  in 
1818,  leaving  his  old  home,  went  to  Boston,  Massachusetts,  seek- 
ing an  opportunity  to  develop  that  taste.  There  he  entered  the 
only  type  foundry  in  the  city,  that  had  just  been  opened  by 
Bedlington  &  Ewer,  and  in  it  he  soon  proved  his  ability.  One 
of  his  associates  was  Michael  Dalton,  and  these  two  formed  a 
warm  friendship.  Mr.  Dalton  married  the  sister  of  Mr.  Pelouze. 
The  latter  learned  typemaking  in  all  of  its  branches,  as  was  the 
custom  in  those  days,  but  became  especially  skillful  in  mold- 
making  and  matrix  fitting.  He  also  learned  punch-cutting,  and 
was  one  of  the  few  cutters  at  that  time. 

Not  long  after  he  came  to  Boston  Mr.  Pelouze  married  Har- 
riet Maria  Thompson,  of  New  York,  and  he  continued  to  make 
that  city  his  home  until  1829,  when  he  went  to  New  York  City 
and  was  employed  in  White's  foundry  as  punch-cutter  and 
matrix  fitter,  but  did  not  remain  there  long,  for  in  June,  1830, 
he  embarked  in  his  own  business,  corner  of  Fulton  and  Nassau 
streets.  While  there  his  three  sons,  Edward,  William  and  Henry, 
took  their  first  lessons  in  typefounding,  each  starting  as  a 
breaker  boy,  and  working  up  through  the  various  branches  as 
they  grew  older. 

In  1849,  like  so  many  others,  he  decided  to  go  to  California 
on  the  quest  for  gold,  and  therefore  sold  his  business,  but  did 
not  succeed,  as  he  had  expected,  so  returned  to  New  York  in  1850 
and  took  a  position  in  the  foundry  of  James  Conner,  with  whom 


t 


VIRGINIA  .  41 

he  continued  for  about  three  years,  going  then  to  Boston  once 
more,  and  with  John  K.  Rogers  and  David  Watson  purchased 
the  Boston  Typefoundry,  operating  it  under  the  name  of  John  K. 
Rogers  &  Company.  His  health  failing,  in  1864  he  sold  his 
interests  in  Boston  and  went  to  Camden,  New  Jersey,  where  he 
continued  to  reside  at  the  home  of  a  daughter  until  his  death, 
June  4,  1876. 

The  life  of  Edward  Pelouze  was  too  active  to  allow  him  to 
remain  idle,  and  much  of  his  time  in  his  later  years  was  spent 
with  his  brother  Lewis  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  continued  to 
assist  by  his  advice  and  experience  in  the  foundry  of  the  latter. 
During  the  many  years  he  was  connected  with  typefounding  he 
made  numerous  inventions  and  added  largely  to  the  improve- 
ments of  the  tools  of  his  trade.  He  was  the  inventor  of  a  type- 
casting machine  which  was  used  for  some  time,  until  superseded 
by  the  more  perfect  one  of  David  Bruce,  Jr.,  which  was  so  long 
in  use,  and  continues  as  the  only  practical  machine  for  hand 
casting.  He  is  also  given  credit  for  the  invention  of  the  electro- 
typed  matrix,  which  permitted  a  rapid  duplication  of  type  faces. 
As  a  moldmaker  he  had  no  superior  in  his  day,  and  but  few 
equals.  While  not  ranking  high  as  a  punch-cutter,  he  produced 
several  faces  which  were  used  extensively.  Belonging  to  a  period 
in  typefounding  when  rapid  changes  were  taking  place,  he  had 
an  oppoi'tunity  of  observing  and  aiding  in  the  wonderful  ad- 
vances. He  was  contemporary  with  Bruce,  White,  Conner, 
Hager,  Smith  and  Cortelyou,  and  shared  with  them  the  honors 
of  typefounding. 

While  Edward  Pelouze  was  making  a  name  for  himself  in 
New  York  City  in  connection  with  the  typefounding  industry, 
his  younger  brother,  Lewis  Pelouze,  was  gaining  a  strong  foot- 
hold in  Philadelphia.  He  was  born  in  North  Charlestown,  New 
Hampshire,  March  25,  1808,  and  he  too  learned  typefounding, 
passing  through  all  the  different  branches  and  became  proficient 
in  all  to  a  degree  seldom  attained  by  the  workmen  of  today.  For 
fifteen  years  he  was  with  Binny  &  Ronaldson,  later  the  Ronald- 
son  Type  Foundry,  and  then,  in  1841,  he  established  himself  in 
business  as  a  typefounder,  corner  of  Third  and  Chestnut  streets, 
Philadelphia,  and  there  he  continued  actively  in  business  until 
his  death,  March  5,  1876,  the  original  sign  bearing  the  name 
"Lewis  Pelouze"  being  a  landmark  to  the  printing  fraternity  of 
that  city  long  after  he  was  no  more.  He  soon  built  up  a  lucra- 
tive business,  having  among  his  life  long  patrons  such  news- 
papers as  the  Public  Ledger,  the  Philadelphia  North  American, 
the  Baltimore  Sun  and  the  Washington  Evening  Star.  His 
foundry  was  among  the  first  to  introduce  typecasting  machines, 
and  at  one  time  the  Lewis  Pelouze  Type  Foundry  gave  every 
indication  of  becoming  one  of  the  leading  concerns  of  the  coun- 
try. Ill  health  and  the  preference  of  the  two  sons  for  other 
pursuits,  the  elder  entering  West  Point  Military  Academy,  and 
afterwards  achieving  success  as  an  officer  in  the  Regular  Army, 
caused  his  foundi->'  to  fall  behind  in  the  race,  although  he  con- 
tinued to  retain  the  good  will  and  patronage  of  his  friends  and 
early  customers  as  long  as  he  lived. 

After  the  death  of  Louis  Pelouze  the  business  descended  to 
relatives,  and  was  conducted  under  the  old  name  until  1892, 
when  it  was  sold  to  the  American  Type  Founders  Company,  and 
by  them  closed  out.  Thus  passed  out  of  existence  one  of  the 
landmarks  of  Philadelphia,  and  a  business  which  had  been  hon- 


42  VIRGINIA 

orably  conducted  and  enjoyed  the  patronage  and  good  will  of 
so  many. 

Henry  L.  Pelouze,  son  of  Edward  Pelouze  and  nephew  of 
Lewis,  was  born  at  the  time  that  his  father  was  carrying  on  the 
business  of  typefounding  in  New  York  City  and  his  uncle  was 
engaged  in  the  same  business  in  Philadelphia,  and  he  grew  up 
in  the  business  and  mastered  all  of  its  branches  under  his 
father's  supervision.  When  he  was  eighteen  years  old  he  became 
foreman  of  his  uncle's  foundry  in  Philadelphia,  then  one  of  the 
leading  foundries  of  the  country.  In  1854  he  made  a  trip  to 
Chicago,  where  he  was  convinced  there  was  an  opening  for  a 
typefoundry,  and  he  received  so  much  encouragement  from 
printers  and  publishers  that  he  decided  to  locate  there,  and 
returned  to  Philadelphia  to  complete  his  arrangements.  His 
wife,  Eliza  Jane  Tuthill,  was  so  opposed  to  the  idea  of  leaving 
her  friends  and  old  associations  for  what  was  then  the  "far 
West"  that  he  was  forced  to  abandon  the  project.  Soon  there- 
after he  as  offered  an  opportunity  to  locate  in  New  York  City, 
and  he  and  S.  R.  Walker  founded  the  firm  of  Walker  &  Pelouze, 
and  their  foundry  was  located  corner  of  Fulton  and  Dutch 
streets,  then  in  the  heart  of  the  printing  district.  The  new  firm 
secured  the  business  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  and  among  the 
warm  personal  friends  of  Mr.  Pelouze  at  that  time  was  Thomas 
Rocker,  so  long  foreman  of  that  newspaper,  and  Robert  Bonner, 
a  compositor  on  the  same  paper,  and  they  greatly  aided  the 
new  firm. 

In  1859,  in  order  to  enlarge  the  business,  a  branch  was 
opened  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  by  Mr.  Pelouze,  Mr.  Walker  re- 
maining in  charge  of  the  New  York  business.  Before  his  plans 
were  completed,  however,  war  was  declared,  and  Mr.  Pelouze 
was  not  able  to  get  through  the  lines  until  1862,  when,  receiving 
permission,  he  returned  to  New  York  to  learn  that  because  of 
the  illness  of  his  partner  the  business  had  become  demoralized, 
and  a  fresh  start  had  to  be  made.  While  he  was  in  Richmond 
he  was  imprisoned  for  some  time  in  Libby  Prison  as  a  Northern 
sympathizer,  but  later,  through  the  intercession  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  Richmond  Whig  and  influence  of  Gen.  Harry 
Pelouze,  adjutant  under  General  Grant,  he  was  paroled  and 
engaged  in  typefounding,  as  the  whole  Confederacy  was  suffer- 
ing for  type.  Many  were  the  straits  he  experienced  to  get  the 
raw  material.  It  was  impossible  to  secure  antimony  and  tin, 
so  the  principal  ingredients  of  his  type-metal  were  lead  and 
what  little  old  type  could  be  secured.  One  dress  of  the  Richmond 
Dispatch  lasted  just  six  weeks  as  it  was  almost  entirely  of  lead. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  war  Mr.  Pelouze  returned  to  Rich- 
mond and  found  his  machinery  in  working  order.  With  the 
assistance  of  his  cousin,  Charles  E.  Pelouze,  and  his  nephew, 
H.  L.  Hartshorn,  he  began  to  rebuild  his  fortunes  under  the 
style  of  H.  L.  Pelouze  &  Company.  In  spite  of  adverse  circum- 
stances the  firm  prospered  fairly  well  and  in  1869  the  idea  was 
conceived  of  starting  a  branch  at  Washington  to  be  near  the 
Governmental  printing  office,  and  this  was  placed  under  the 
charge  of  the  nephew,  H.  L.  Hartshorn.  The  venture  was  suc- 
cessful until  1875,  when  the  nephew  retired  from  the  firm  to  go 
to  Philadephia,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  Frank  Pelouze,  and  the 
style  was  changed  to  H.  L.  Pelouze  &  Son. 

The  new  firm  purchased  the  old  Baltimore  Type  Foundry  in 
1879,  thus  establishing  a  chain  that  embraced  Baltimore,  Rich- 


VIRGINIA  43 

mond  and  Washing-ton,  the  head  of  the  firm  giving  the  most  of 
his  attention  to  the  Richmond  house,  while  Washington  and 
Baltimore  branches  were  managed  by  the  son.  The  Baltimore 
branch  was  sold  to  Charles  J.  Gary  about  1883,  and  the  firm 
concentrated  on  the  Richmond  and  Washington  branches.  In 
1895  Henry  L.  Pelouze  made  over  his  interests  to  his  youngest 
son,  E.  Graige  Pelouze,  who  reorganized  under  the  name  of  the 
Pelouze  Paper  and  Type  Company. 

In  the  meanwhile  Mr.  Pelouze  had  become  interested  in 
politics,  and  was  nominated  for  Congress  from  the  Richmond 
district  in  the  campaign  which  elected  Garfield  to  the  Presi- 
dency. The  situation  in  Virginia  was  very  much  mixed  up,  and 
in  the  interests  of  harmony  he  was  induced  to  withdraw  in  favor 
of  John  S.  Wise,  the  representative  of  what  is  known  as  the 
Mahone  wing.  Later  he  was  asked  to  accept  the  position  of 
postmaster  at  Richmond,  but  again  declined  in  the  interest  of 
harmony  in  his  party.  Dropping  politics,  he  gave  more  of  his 
time  to  social  and  other  duties,  and  served  for  two  terms  as 
worshipful  master  of  Lodge  Francais,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.  He 
also  served  Richmond  Gommandery  as  its  eminent  commander, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Ai-abic  Order  Nobles  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine. 

It  was  the  ambition  of  Henry  L.  Pelouze  to  see  opened  at 
Richmond  a  successful  hotel,  and  this  idea  became  so  absorbing 
that  after  he  had  disposed  of  his  business  he  purchased  the  Law 
Building  and  began  to  remodel  it  for  a  hotel.  This  occupied  his 
time  and  energies  until  the  time  of  his  death.  During  the  winter 
of  1895-96  he  was  attacked  with  Bright's  disease,  and  this 
malady  increased  until  August  11,  1896,  when  death  relieved 
his  sufferings. 

Henry  J.  Pelouze  was  a  very  active  man,  one  of  untiring 
energy,  but  of  a  nervous  temperament,  but,  while  at  times  his 
manner  was  brusque,  those  who  knew  him  admired  him  for  his 
many  excellent  qualties  of  mind  and  heart.  He  was  well  known 
to  the  old  school  of  typefounders— Dalton,  Bruce,  James,  Wil- 
liam Connor,  Hager,  MacKellar,  grandfather  of  Joseph  Her- 
gesheimer,  the  writer,  and  in  fact  all  of  those  engaged  in  the 
industry  during  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  That 
he  was  popular  in  the  city  of  his  adoption  is  shown  by  his 
election  and  appointment  for  several  years  to  the  City  Council 
of  Richmond,  where  he  ever  labored  for  the  development  and 
impro\ement  of  its  material  aff'airs.  He  also  served  as  director 
in  several  state  institutions  in  Virginia,  giving  his  time  and 
talents  to  their  cause.  While  always  an  avowed  LTnion  man, 
he  was  none  the  less  popular  with  his  neighbors,  who  were  almost 
unanimous  in  their  allegiance  to  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy, 
and  numbered  many  of  them  among  his  most  intimate  friends. 

E.  Graige  Pelouze  attended  Glaverack  College,  New  York, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1887.  He  had  grown  up  in 
the  typefounding  business,  as  had  his  father  before  him,  and 
has  always  been  identified  with  it.  As  above  stated,  in  1895, 
his  father  made  over  the  business  to  him,  and  he  reorganized 
as  the  Pelouze  Paper  and  Type  Company,  continuing  to  operate 
it  until  it  was  absorbed  by  the  American  Typefounders  Com- 
pany, he  continuing  as  manager  of  the  Richmond  branch  until 
February,  1928,  when  he  severed  his  connections  to  establish 
the  Pelouze  Printers  Supply  Company,  in  the  same  building  his 
father  started  the  type  founders  business  in  1859. 


44  VIRGINIA 

Although  he  has  never  cared  to  enter  politics,  E.  Craige 
Pelouze  has  always  been  active  in  civic  affairs,  and  he  accom- 
plished especially  effective  work,  covering  a  period  of  four  years, 
in  bringing  about  the  construction  of  the  Washington-Richmond 
Highway,  which  was  completed  in  June,  1927.  Among  other 
interesting  events  of  his  career  may  be  mentioned  that  he  was 
the  owner  and  driver  of  the  first  automobile  in  Virginia. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Pelouze  has  been  prominent  in  Masonry, 
and  belongs  to  Joppa  Lodge  No.  40,  A.  F.  and  A.  M. ;  Washington 
Chapter  No.  9,  R.  A.  M. ;  Richmond  Commandery  No.  2,  K.  T. ; 
and  Ancient  Arabic  Order  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  was 
the  originator  of  Samis  Grotto  of  the  Mystic  Order  Veiled 
Prophets  of  the  Enchanted  Realm  in  Richmond,  and  is  a  past 
grand  monarch  of  this  order  in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
At  the  annual  convention  of  the  order  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in 
June,  1927,  he  was  instrumental  in  having  Richmond  designated 
as  the  place  for  the  annual  gathering  in  1928. 

Mr.  Pelouze  married  Miss  Nannie  J.  Tillyer,  of  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  prominent  American 
families  of  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  history  through  inter- 
marriage of  the  Rapaley  family,  of  French  origin,  and  Hogeland 
family  of  Holland,  who  were  among  the  original  settlers  of  New 
Amsterdam,  New  York  City.  Mrs.  Pelouze  is  active  in  the 
affairs  of  the  local  chapters  of  both  the  Daughters  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  and  the  Colonial  Dames.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pelouze 
have  two  children :  Henry  L.,  who  is  a  graduate  of  the  Virginia 
Polytechnic  Institute ;  and  Lucile  Tillyer  Pelouze. 

Howell  A.  Robinson  is  a  prominent  Lynchburg  citizen  and 
business  man.  He  has  lived  in  that  locality  practically  all  his 
life,  started  his  career  without  financial  resources,  and  has  been 
instrumental  in  giving  widespread  distribution  to  one  of  the 
most  important  of  Virginia's  agricultural  products,  the  peanut. 
Mr.  Robinson  is  head  of  H.  A.  Robinson  &  Company,  Incorpo- 
rated, manufacturers  and  distributors  of  peanut  products. 

He  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  July  19,  1857,  son  of  James  A. 
and  Mary  V.  (Love)  Robinson,  his  father  a  native  of  Lynch- 
burg, while  his  mother  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia. 
His  grandfather,  Howell  Robinson,  was  born  in  Bedford  County, 
and  when  he  died  in  1855  was  the  first  person  buried  in  the 
Spring  Hill  Cemetery  at  Lynchburg  and  was  accorded  the 
honors  of  a  military  funeral.  The  maternal  grandfather, 
Charles  Love,  was  born  at  Lynchburg  and  through  his  life  was 
connected  with  the  tobacco  business.  James  A.  Robinson  was 
also  a  tobacconist.  He  was  in  the  provost  marshal's  office  dur- 
ing the  Civil  war.  He  began  voting  as  a  Whig  and  later  became 
a  Democrat,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  were  active  members  of 
the  Baptist  Church.  Of  their  seven  children  Howell  A.  is  the 
only  one  now  living. 

Howell  A.  Robinson  had  his  educational  advantages  in 
Lynchburg  and  Petersburg,  and  he  came  to  manhood  about  the 
close  of  the  reconstruction  era.  On  leaving  school  he  clerked 
in  a  tobacco  house,  and  it  was  in  1895  that  he  engaged  in  the 
peanut  business.  The  firm  of  H.  A.  Robinson  &  Company,  In- 
corporated, has  developed  an  extensive  business  in  the  roasting 
of  peanuts,  the  making  and  packing  of  peanut  butter  and  other 
peanut  products.  These  products  are  widely  distributed  under 
the  brand  Robinson  Crusoe  Salted  Peanuts  and  Glove  Kid  Pea- 
nut Butter.     The  output  is  sold  chiefly  through  brokers  and  job- 


VIRGINIA  45 

bers  over  twelve  states  of  the  Union,  and  the  firm  also  keeps  sev- 
eral traveling  representatives  on  the  road. 

Mr.  Robinson  married,  in  1883,  Miss  Nanie  Gresham,  who 
was  born  in  Chesterfield  County,  Virginia,  and  was  reared  and 
educated  at  Richmond.  Her  father,  Edwin  A.  Gresham,  was 
born  in  King  and  Queen  County,  was  a  lumberman,  and  in  his 
later  years  lived  at  Washington  and  was  in  the  insurance  busi- 
ness. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robinson  had  a  family  of  four  sons  and  one 
daughter :  James  Edward,  who  was  educated  at  Lynchburg  and 
is  now  a  traveling  representative  for  his  father's  firm;  Mary, 
wife  of  S.  B.  Fishel,  of  Lynchburg;  Charles  Eaton,  who  at- 
tended school  at  Lynchburg  and  the  University  of  Virginia,  is 
associated  with  his  father's  business;  William  G.  and  Joseph 
A.,  both  of  whom  are  in  business  with  their  father.  The  mother 
of  these  children  died  in  May,  1925.  Mr.  Robinson  is  a  member 
of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  a  past 
grand  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  was  treasurer  and  director  of  the  Odd  Fellows 
Home  at  Lynchburg. 

Jesse  L.  Davidson,  co-publisher  of  the  Bedford  Bulletin,  has 
been  interested  in  the  publishing  and  printing  business  since 
early  manhood  and  has  also  been  an  important  citizen  in  the 
aff'airs  of  his  home  locality. 

He  was  born  at  Bedford,  August  22,  1876,  son  of  Arch  V. 
and  Amanda  F.  (Sublett)  Davidson,  both  natives  of  Charlotte 
County,  and  grandson  of  Allen  Davidson  and  Benjamin  F.  Sub- 
lett, also  of  Charlotte  County,  farmers  of  that  locality.  Arch  V. 
Davidson  followed  the  trade  of  blacksmith  at  Bedford  for  a 
great  many  years,  and  died  in  1903,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine. 
His  widow  is  now  ninety-one  years  of  age,  living  at  Bedford. 
Both  were  active  members  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  Arch 
Davidson  was  a  Confederate  soldier  in  the  Civil  war.  Of  his 
seven  children  four  are  living. 

Jesse  L.  Davidson,  who  has  never  married,  was  educated  in 
public  schools  and  as  a  boy  learned  the  printing  trade.  That 
trade  has  given  him  his  chief  occupation  and  his  main  business 
for  over  thirty  years,  and  he  has  made  the  Bulletin  a  very 
strong  and  influential  newspaper.  Mr.  Davidson  sei^ved  some 
time  as  president  of  the  Rotary  Club,  is  active  in  Democratic 
politics  and  is  supervisor  of  game  wardens  in  the  Lynchburg 
District.  He  holds  stock  in  several  banks  and  has  employed  his 
personal  influences  as  well  as  the  power  of  his  newspaper  to 
promote  better  schools  and  other  organizations  connected  with 
community  welfare. 

Dice  Robins  Anderson  since  April,  1920,  has  been  president 
of  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  at  Lynchburg.  As  an  in- 
stitution for  the  higher  education  of  young  women  Randolph- 
Macon  has  had  a  splendid  history,  and  fortunately  its  modern 
equipment,  facilities  and  personnel  enable  it  to  take  advantage 
of  its  traditions.  According  to  the  exacting  standards  of  pres- 
ent day  classification  it  ranks  as  one  of  the  leading  colleges  for 
women  in  the  United  States. 

Dice  Robins  Anderson  is  a  native  Virginian,  born  at  Char- 
lottesville April  18,  1880,  son  of  Rev.  James  Madison  and  Mar- 
garet Olivia  (Robins)  Anderson.  His  father  was  born  in 
Amelia  County,  Virginia,  in  1837,  received  part  of  his  educa- 
tion in  Randolph-Macon  College,  then  located  at  Boydton,  Vir- 


46  VIRGINIA 

ginia,  was  ordained  in  the  Methodist  ministry  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  and  labored  in  the  Virginia  Conference  until  his  death 
in  1906.  He  was  chaplain  of  a  Virginia  regiment  during  the 
Civil  war.  Among  other  pastorates  he  was  located  at  Norfolk 
in  the  Cumberland  Street  Church,  at  Hertford,  North  Carolina, 
Blackstone,  Virginia,  and  for  four  years  each  was  presiding 
elder  of  the  Danville  and  Charlottesville  districts.  His  second 
wife,  Margaret  Olivia  Robins,  was  born  in  Accomac  County  in 
1842,  of  a  family  that  has  lived  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Virginia 
for  many  generations.  They  had  two  sons.  Dice  R.  and  Joseph 
E.,  the  latter  a  Methodist  minister  and  business  man. 

Dice  Robins  Anderson  was  educated  in  the  Hoge  Military 
Academy,  subsequently  known  as  the  Blackstone  Military  Acad- 
emy, took  his  A.  B.  degree  at  Randolph-Macon  College  for  Men, 
at  Ashland,  in  1900,  his  Master  of  Arts  degree  there  in  1901,  and 
the  Doctor  of  Philosophy  degree  at  the  University  of  Chicago  in 
1912.  William  and  Mary  College  in  1924  bestowed  upon  him 
the  Doctor  of  Laws  degree.  His  early  service  as  an  educator 
was  spent  with  a  number  of  institutions.  He  was  professor  of 
mathematics  at  the  Central  Female  College  of  Lexington,  Mis- 
souri, in  1901-02,  instructor  in  history  at  Randolph-Macon 
Academy  at  Bedford  City,  Virginia,  in  1902-03,  principal  of  the 
Chesapeake  Academy  at  Irvington,  Virginia,  from  1903  to  1906, 
and  president  of  the  Willie  Halsell  College  at  Vinita.  Oklahoma, 
in  1906-07.  During  1907-08  he  was  fellow  in  history  at  the 
Universitv  of  Chicago,  and  instructor  in  history  there  in 
1908-09. 

Doctor  Anderson  in  1909  took  the  chair  of  history  and  polit- 
ical science  at  Richmond  College,  and  for  ten  years  was  a  resi- 
dent of  the  capital  city.  During  1919-20  he  was  professor  of 
economics  and  political  science,  and  director  of  the  School  of 
Business  Administration.  From  1915  to  1920,  in  addition  to 
his  work  at  the  college,  he  was  executive  secretary  of  the  Rich- 
mond Civic  Association.  In  December,  1919,  he  was  elected 
president  of  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  and  took  up  his 
administrative  duties  there  in  April  of  the  following  year.  He 
was  a  lecturer  at  the  Richmond  School  of  Social  Economy  in 
1917,  at  the  Virginia  Mechanics  Institute  in  1919,  was  president 
of  the  Department  of  Colleges  of  the  Virginia  Educational  Con- 
ference in  1922-23,  president  of  the  Virginia  Association  of  Col- 
leges in  1923,  was  editor  of  the  Richmond  College  Historical 
Papei's  for  1915,  1916  and  1917,  and  has  prepared  and  delivered 
and  also  published  many  articles  on  historical  and  political  sub- 
jects. He  is  author  of  William  Branch  Giles:  A  Study  in  the 
Politics  of  Virginia  and  the  Nation.  1790-1815,  published  in 
1914,  and  Edmund  Randolph,  second  Secretary  of  State,  is 
in  the  Secretaries  of  State  Series. 

Doctor  Anderson  is  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  also  a  Tau  Kappa 
Alpha  and  Phi  Kappa  Sigma,  member  of  the  American  Histor- 
ical Association,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Annual 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  a 
number  of  sessions,  He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  the  church  at  Hot  Springs,  Arkansas,  and  was  recently 
elected  Lay  Leader  for  the  Virginia  Conference  of  the  Method- 
ist Church,  South.     He  is  a  Democrat. 

Doctor  Anderson  married,  June  24,  1903,  Miss  Ada  James 
Ash,  who  was  born  at  Somerset,  Perry  County,  Ohio,  daughter 
of  James  Ash.  She  graduated  from  high  school  at  Kansas  City, 
Missouri,  also  attended  Vassar  College,  and  is  a  graduate  in 


M 


^^^^^^^^^^.t^^^  >ir-c/ 


VIRGINIA  47 

music  from  Oberlin  College,  continuing  her  musical  studies  in 
Saint  Louis  and  Chicago.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Anderson  have  two 
children,  Dice  R.,  Jr.,  and  William  Dodd.  The  older  son  gradu- 
ated from  Randolph-Macon  College  at  Ashland  in  1925. 

Thomas  Jefferson  Hughes,  M.  D.  Success  in  life  along 
any  path  of  endeavor  demands  honesty,  energy,  proper  prepara- 
tion, conscientiousness  and  self-reliance.  Genius  may  also  be 
present,  but  for  permanency,  practical  qualities  and  the  homely 
virtues  are  necessary.  To  the  undoubted  possession  of  these 
may  we,  in  part,  attribute  the  success  that  has  crowned  the 
efforts  of  Dr.  Thomas  Jefferson  Hughes,  who  has  figured  promi- 
nently in  the  medical  profession  of  Roanoke  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  has  maintained  throughout  his  entire  career  a  high 
standard  of  professional  ethics  and  scientific  principles. 

Doctor  Hughes  was  born  in  Smyth  County,  Virginia,  Novem- 
ber 27,  1876.  He  was  the  second  son  of  William  Hector  Hughes, 
who  was  the  fifth  son  of  Jesse  Hughes.  Jesse  Hughes  was  in 
the  fourth  generation  of  descent  from  Robert  Hughes,  who  im- 
migrated to  Virginia  from  Toffe,  near  Cardiff  in  Wales,  Eng- 
land, and  who  was  a  direct  descendant  of  the  King  of  Gwent, 
Prince  of  Cardigan.  The  Hughes  family  belonged  to  the  Welsh 
nobility  and  had  their  coat-of-arms  and  motto.  Robert  Hughes 
on  coming  to  Virginia  settled  in  Powhatan  and  Cumberland 
counties,  reared  a  large  family,  members  of  which  intermarried 
with  the  well  known  Colonial  families  of  Randolph,  Jefferson, 
Woodson  and  Flemings. 

Through  his  father's  mother  Doctor  Hughes  is  descended 
from  William  Randolph  of  Yorkshire,  England,  who  settled  at 
Turkey  Island  on  the  James  River  in  Virginia,  and  afterwards 
acquired  Curies  Neck  just  across  the  river.  William  Randolph 
married  Mary  Isham,  of  Gloucester  County,  and  one  of  their 
children  was  Isham  Randolph,  who  settled  at  Dungeness,  a  splen- 
did estate  on  the  Upper  James  River  in  what  is  now  Goochland 
County.  His  eldest  daughter,  Jane,  married  Peter  Jefferson, 
from  which  union  sprang  the  immortal  Thomas  Jefferson,  third 
President  of  the  United  States.  A  sister  of  Mrs.  Peter  Jefferson 
was  Dorothes  Randolph,  who  married  Col.  John  Woodson.  Col. 
John  Woodson  was  a  son  of  Dr.  John  Woodson,  who  came  over 
with  Sir  George  Yeardly.  Mary  Royal,  daughter  of  Col.  John 
and  Dorothes  (Randolph)  Woodson,  married  Thomas  Cheadle, 
of  Cheadletown,  England.  Their  son,  John  Cheadle,  married 
Judith  Clarke,  of  Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  and  their  daugh- 
ter, Mary  Woodson  Cheadle,  became  the  wife  of  Jesse  Hughes. 
They  were  the  grandparents  of  Dr.  Thomas  Jefferson  Hughes. 
Thus  Doctor  Hughes  is  descended  from  families  whose  names 
and  deeds  have  gone  into  the  making  of  history  across  the  seas 
and  have  been  foremost  in  the  upbuilding  of  and  making  famous 
the  Old  Dominion  of  Virginia. 

William  Hector  Hughes,  father  of  Doctor  Hughes,  was  born 
in  Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia,  and  married  Mary  Davis, 
who  was  born  in  Smyth  County.  For  years  William  H.  Hughes 
was  secretai-y  of  what  is  now  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad 
Company,  holding  that  office  for  the  fourteen  years  immediately 
preceding  the  war  period  of  the  '60s.  He  entered  the  army,  but 
was  sent  back  to  the  railroad,  where  the  authorities  felt  he  was 
more  urgently  needed.  Four  sons  were  born  to  his  %\'ife  and 
himself:  Jesse  Martin  Hughes,  who  lives  near  Washington  City, 


48  VIRGINIA 

being  connected  with  the  Farm  Loan  Bank  there;  Doctor 
Hughes;  William  Hector,  Jr.,  a  farmer  in  Smyth  County;  and 
Dr.  Robert  E.  Hughes,  who  practices  medicine  at  North  Holston, 
Smyth  County.  Both  parents  were  active  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South.  His  father  was  a  York  Rite 
Mason,  being  a  past  master  of  the  lodge. 

The  early  educational  training  of  Doctor  Hughes  was  secured 
in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  county,  and  he  later  entered 
Sharron  College,  Bland  County,  Virginia,  and  he  took  his  pro- 
fessional work  in  the  Virginia  College  of  Medicine,  Richmond, 
and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1898,  with  the  degree  Doctor  of 
Medicine.  Later  he  did  post-graduate  work  in  the  New  York 
Polyclinic.  After  ten  years  practice  in  Smyth  County  he  spent 
eighteen  months  in  Europe  studying  surgery.  Upon  his  return 
home  he  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Roanoke,  in 
1910,  and  since  then  has  remained  in  this  city.  For  some  years 
he  was  a  general  practitioner,  but  is  now  specializing  in  surgery, 
in  which  he  is  a  recognized  expert,  and  he  is  serving  as  president 
of  Shenandoah  Hospital. 

In  1910  Doctor  Hughes  married  Florence  Preston  Starritt, 
born  in  Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  and  educated  in  Roanoke. 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Hughes  have  one  child,  Thomas  J.,  Jr.,  who 
was  born  December  12,  1911,  and  is  a  student  of  the  Augusta 
Military  Academy.  Doctor  Hughes  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  for  several  years  was  deacon  of  the  West  End 
Church  of  that  denomination.  He  is  a  York  Rite  and  Shriner 
Mason,  being  a  past  master  of  the  Blue  Lodge ;  and  belongs  to 
the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks  and  the  University  Club.  Dr.  Hughes  is  a  Democrat.  In 
addition  to  his  practice  he  has  other  interests  and  is  president 
of  the  Graham- White  Sander  Corporation,  and  a  director  of  the 
American  National  Bank,  the  Shenandoah  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany and  (General  Finance  Corporation.  Although  he  began 
life  with  very  little  he  has  now  an  extensive  and  lucrative  con- 
nection and  is  justly  numbered  among  the  leading  professional 
men  of  his  city,  which  is  distinguished  for  high  rank  in  the 
medical  profession.  The  spirit  of  progress  which  has  been  the 
dominant  factor  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  new  century  has 
been  manifest  in  no  connection  more  strongly  than  in  the  science 
of  medicine.  Investigation  and  research  have  brought  forth 
many  scientific  facts  and  established  principles,  and  Doctor 
Hughes  has  kept  pace  with  the  advance.  His  professional  serv- 
ice has  ever  been  discharged  with  a  keen  sense  of  conscientious 
obligation  and  his  skill  has  brought  him  to  a  prominent  position. 
He  is  intelligently  interested  in  all  that  pertains  to  modern 
progress  and  improvement,  not  only  along  professional  but  ma- 
terial and  moral  lines,  and  he  always  finds  time  to  study  great 
public  questions  and  is  ever  ready  to  lend  his  influence  for  the 
betterment  of  humanity. 

David  A.  Christian,  M.  D.,  descended  from  some  of  the  first 
families  to  settle  in  Appomattox  County,  is  a  highly  educated 
physician  and  surgeon,  a  man  of  leadership  in  his  profession  and 
has  also  been  a  positive  factor  in  the  good  citizenship  of  his 
locality. 

Doctor  Christian  was  born  in  Appomattox  County,  May  20, 
1880,  son  of  David  A.  and  Mary  A.  (Thornhill)  Christian.  His 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  Albert  T.  Thornhill,  a  native  of  Appo- 


VIRGINIA  49 

mattox  County,  son  of  Thomas  G.  Thornhill,  who  secured  a  deed 
to  attractive  land  in  that  county  from  King  George  of  England. 
Doctor  Christian  is  a  grandson  of  William  Diuguid  Christian,  a 
pioneer  physician,  who  graduated  in  medicine  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania  and  practiced  his  profession  in  Appomattox 
County  from  1832  until  his  death  in  1880.  Doctor  Christian's 
father  continued  the  tradition  of  the  family  for  important  serv- 
ice in  the  office  of  judge  of  the  County  Court  for  fifteen  years. 
He  graduated  in  law  from  the  University  of  Virginia  and  since 
1906  has  been  a  resident  of  Richmond,  where  for  a  number  of 
years  he  was  a  clerk  in  the  department  of  public  instruction. 
He  is  now  eighty-two  years  of  age.  For  two  years  he  was  a 
Confederate  soldier,  joining  the  army  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and 
was  in  the  Signal  Corps.     He  has  been  a  life  long  Baptist. 

Dr.  David  A.  Christian  was  the  oldest  in  a  family  of  eight 
children,  six  of  whom  are  living.  He  was  educated  at  the  South 
Side  Academy  at  Chase  City,  and  while  getting  his  higher  edu- 
cation and  preparing  himself  for  a  professional  career  he  did 
farm  work,  for  two  years  was  a  mail  carrier  and  was  also  census 
enumerator.  Doctor  Christian  graduated  from  the  Richmond 
Medical  College  in  May,  1908,  and  has  given  twenty  years  of 
service  in  his  profession  in  his  home  county.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia  and  since  1909  has  been  physi- 
cian to  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  He  is  on  the  medical  staff 
of  the  Southside  Community  Hospital  at  Farmville,  Virginia. 
During  the  World  war  he  was  a  member  of  Medical  Advisory 
Board  No.  36.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  conference  on  higher 
education  at  Richmond  in  February,  1927,  this  conference  hav- 
ing been  called  by  Governor  Byrd.  Doctor  Christian  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Baptist  Church  and  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

He  married,  in  1916,  Miss  Bessie  S.  Stratton,  who  was  bom 
in  Appomattox  County,  and  taught  school  there  two  years  be- 
fore her  marriage.  Her  father,  Chesley  Stratton,  is  a  farmer 
in  the  Stonewall  Community.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Christian  have 
six  children :  Agnes  Virginia,  bom  in  1918,  Bessie,  born  in  1920, 
Mildred,  born  in  1922,  David  A.  Ill,  born  in  1924,  Catherine 
Thornhill,  born  in  1926,  and  Chesley  Stratton  Christian,  born  in 
1928. 

William  Lyle  Ould,  physician  and  surgeon,  now  established 
in  his  professional  work  at  Appomattox,  was  a  brilliant  student 
when  in  school  and  college,  and  graduated  with  a  diploma  and 
other  qualifications  for  the  practice  of  medicine  when  he  was 
only  nineteen  and  one-half  years  old. 

Doctor  Ould  was  born  in  Bedford  Springs,  Campbell  County, 
Virginia,  November  3,  1874,  son  of  William  and  Ellen  (O'Drain) 
Ould.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Halifax  County,  was  a  lawyer 
with  an  extensive  practice  in  that  and  adjoining  counties  and 
held  the  oflice  of  commonwealth  attorney.  He  was  veiy  active 
in  politics.  He  served  as  a  captain  of  militia  before  the  war  and 
during  the  war  between  the  states,  but  most  of  his  time  was 
given  up  to  recruiting  duty.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  By  his  first  marriage  he  had  three  children,  and 
Ellen  O'Drain  was  his  second  wife.  She  was  born  in  Canada 
and  now  lives  at  Lynchburg,  being  the  mother  of  three  children. 
One  son.  Eugene,  now  deceased,  served  several  terms  in  the 
Legislature. 

Dr.  William  Lyle  Ould  was  educated  in  the  New  London 
Academy  and  in  the  University  of  Virginia  attended  four  ses- 

V^GINIA  BEACH  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


50  VIRGINIA 

sions  of  medical  lectures,  1891-93.  On  March  13,  1894,  he 
graduated  M.  D.  from  the  University  of  Louisville.  Doctor  Ould 
practiced  for  over  thirty  years  at  Concord  in  Campbell  County. 
In  1925  he  removed  to  Appomattox,  where  he  has  found  impor- 
tant responsibilities  of  a  professional  nature.  He  is  also  inter- 
ested in  local  real  estate,  in  a  hardware  store,  and  has  been 
prominent  in  Masonry,  being  a  past  district  deputy  and  now 
conducts  a  class  in  lodge  work  at  Appomattox.  He  is  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Doctor  Ould  married  in  1895  Florence  Ballou,  granddaugh- 
ter of  General  Ballou,  of  a  prominent  family  of  Halifax  County, 
where  she  was  reared  and  educated.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Ould 
have  three  children.  The  son  William  Carroll  is  a  salesman  at 
Roanoke  and  the  second  son,  L.  Herman,  is  in  the  automobile 
business  at  Appomattox. 

The  daughter,  Ruth  Ould,  has  had  a  distinguished  career  as 
a  scholar  and  teacher  and  is  the  wife  of  Robert  W.  Manton,  who 
is  head  of  the  department  of  music  in  the  University  at  New 
Hampshire.  Mrs.  Manton  graduated  from  Randolph-Macon 
Woman's  College  at  Lynchburg,  obtaining  an  A.  M.  degree,  also 
studied  at  Columbia  University,  where  she  received  her  B.  A. 
degree,  and  in  other  institutions,  including  Yale,  and  for  some 
time  held  the  chair  of  English  at  the  University  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, being  the  youngest  woman  head  of  a  department  in  any 
university  in  the  country.  She  was  the  assistant  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Corrective  Work.  She  has  always  been  interested  in 
athletics,  and  has  spent  much  time  in  encouraging  physical 
training  and  athletic  work  among  women  in  different  schools. 
Robert  W.  Manton,  her  husband,  served  with  the  United  States 
Marine  Corps  during  the  World  war.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard University,  and  while  overseas  with  the  Fifth  Regiment  of 
the  Marines  and  after  the  armistice  he  continued  his  musical 
studies  in  Paris.  He  was  a  volunteer,  and  was  at  the  front 
when  the  armistice  was  signed  and  was  one  of  the  first  Ameri'- 
cans  to  land  in  France.  He  has  held  the  chair  of  music  at  the 
University  of  New  Hampshire  since  June,  1903.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Manton  have  one  son,  Robert  W.,  Junior,  born  October  15,  1927. 

Edv/ard  C.  Glass.  Some  superintendents  of  schools,  old  in 
their  ways,  combat  the  application  of  modern  standards  to 
escape  disturbance  by  new  conditions.  They  do  not  wish  to 
bear  the  responsibility,  and  so  they  retard  progress  in  their 
systems  and  have  no  place  as  leadei's  any  longer.  However, 
"When  one  is  found  who  is  both  able  and  willing  to  take  up  every- 
thing calculated  to  advance  his  schools,  then  additional  power 
should  be  accorded  him.  To  such  a  man  all  the  phases  of  admin- 
istration should  be  left,  for  he  understands  the  needs  of  the 
pupils  and  how  to  meet  them.  Sucn  a  man  in  addition  to  being 
a  good  educator  would  be  one  who  would  not  bend  to  the  pressure 
of  political  or  other  vicious  influences,  whether  exerted  by 
school  boards  or  others.  The  superintendent,  with  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  teachers,  should  develop  an  educational  policy  to  fit 
the  local  conditions,  which  would  include  the  curriculum,  text- 
books, promotions,  salaries  and  similar  matters.  The  develop- 
ing of  policies  with  the  cooperation  of  the  teachers  is  necessary 
because  the  joint  wisdom  of  all  is  better  than  the  wisdom  of  one 
individual  or  of  one  working  with  a  hand-picked  group  of 
friends.  No  one  is  an  educational  automaton  and  no  one  super- 
intendent without  the  cooperation  of  the  teaching  force  can 


VIRGINIA  51 

accomplish  what  should  be  accomplished  in  the  system.  The 
policy  of  cooperation  is  for  growth.  One  of  the  very  able 
men  who  fully  measures  up  to  the  above  standards,  and  who  is 
securing  in  a  marked  degree  the  cooperation  of  all  with  whom 
he  is  associated,  is  Edward  C.  Glass,  superintendent  of  the 
schools  of  Lynchburg. 

Superintendent  Glass  was  born  in  Lynchburg,  September  7, 
1852,  and  he  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest,  in  point  of 
service,  of  the  school  superintendents  in  the  United  States.  He 
is  a  son  of  Robert  Henry  and  Betta  Augusta  (Christian)  Glass, 
she  born  in  Appomattox,  Virginia,  and  he  in  Amherst  County, 
Virginia.  A  very  prominent  citizen  of  Lynchburg,  Robert 
Henry  Glass  left  his  impress  upon  the  history  of  his  own  times. 
For  many  years  he  was  editor  of  the  Lynchburg  Republican,  and 
served  as  postmaster  of  the  city  from  1852  until  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  between  the  states,  and  throughout  that  great  conflict 
he  remained  in  office  in  spite  of  the  difficulty  in  getting  the  mails 
through  the  lines.  A  strong  Democrat  and  a  sesessionist,  he 
served  for  six  months  on  the  staff  of  .John  B.  Floyd,  and  partici- 
pated in  the  battle  of  Winchester.  For  years  he  took  a  leading 
part  in  the  work  of  the  Court  Street  Methodist  Church,  South. 
Of  the  twelve  children  born  to  him  and  his  wife  nine  are  now 
living,  and  of  them  all  Superintendent  Glass  is  the  third  in  order 
of  birth.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  Superintendent  Glass 
was  Thomas  Glass,  a  native  of  Virginia.  The  family  was  estab- 
lished in  Virginia  at  a  very  early  day,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  by  John  Glass. 

Superintendent  Glass  remembers  distinctly  the  troubled 
period  immediately  preceding  the  outbreak  of  war,  although 
then  but  a  mere  child.  His  father  was  a  spirited  defender  of 
State's  Rights,  and  bitterly  opposed  to  the  newly  organized  Re- 
publican party,  fighting  it  by  the  spoken  and  written  word. 
Because  of  a  trenchant  editorial  voicing  a  bitter  denunciation, 
true  in  every  contention,  of  the  dishonesty  of  certain  office  hold- 
ers of  the  new  political  faith,  he  was  shot  and  lost  an  eye  in  the 
affray.  After  the  close  of  the  war  his  friends  nominated  him 
for  Congress,  desiring  to  have  him  represent  their  district  in 
the  National  Assembly,  but  his  name  was  withdrawn. 

During  his  boyhood  Superintendent  Glass  attended  a  private 
school,  and  later  took  his  high  school  work  at  Norwood,  Nelson 
Ccuntj',  Virginia.  He  began  his  educational  work  in  Lynch- 
burg April  5,  1871,  the  first  day  the  public-school  system  began 
to  function  in  Lynchburg.  For  the  succeeding  five  years  he 
continued  teaching,  for  one  of  those  years  being  principal  of  the 
grammar  school,  and  on  January  9,  1879,  he  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  schools,  and  has  continued  to  hold  that  position 
ever  since  with  distinguished  capability. 

On  November  4,  1879,  Superintendent  Glass  married  Miss 
Susie  G.  Carter,  who  was  born  in  Appomattox  County,  Virginia, 
and  educated  in  the  preparatory  seminary  of  Lynchburg,  being 
a  member  of  its  first  graduating  class.  Ten  children  were  born 
of  this  marriage,  seven  of  whom  are  living:  E.  C,  Junior,  who 
is  in  the  Lynchburg  street  car  service;  Mary  C,  who  married 
W.  P.  Tyree,  a  tobacconist  of  Lynchburg;  Robert,  who  was  edu- 
cated in  Lynchburg  and  at  Washington  and  Lee  University, 
where  he  obtained  his  A.  B.  degree  and  who  is  now  the  editor  of 
the  Liinchbwg  Morning  News;  Nannie  G.,  who  married  Edward 
Mayfield,  and  is  now  a  widow  residing  in  Lynchburg;  Henry  B., 
who  is  an  attorney,  but  has  been  in  the  in:,uran;e  bucinass  at 


52  VIRGINIA 

Lynchburg  since  his  return  from  the  World  war,  in  which  he 
served  overseas,  was  gassed,  and  had  conferred  upon  him  for 
valor  the  Distinguished  Service  Medal;  EKzabeth  C,  who  was 
graduated  from  Randolph-Macon  College,  is  a  teacher  of  Latin 
in  the  Lynchburg  High  School;  Susie  Sanford,  who  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  Lynchburg  High  School  and  the  Washington  Nor- 
mal Training  School,  married  Richard  Henry  Lee,  an  Episcopal 
clergyman,  now  stationed  near  Norfolk,  Virginia.  The  children 
have  all  done  well,  and  are  a  great  credit  to  their  parents,  who 
have  reared  them  with  loving  watchfulness.  All  the  children 
and  their  parents  belong  to  the  Court  Street  Methodist  Church, 
South,  which  he  has  served  as  steward.  In  addition  to  his  long 
and  valued  service  to  Lynchburg  Superintendent  Glass  was  for 
sixteen  years  the  conductor  of  the  Virginia  Summer  School  of 
Methods,  was  a  member  of  the  first  board  of  William  and  Mary 
College,  and  of  the  first  State  Board  of  Education.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  present  state  board  of  education  from  Lynchburg.  A 
close  student,  he  has  not  only  perfected  himself  in  the  classics, 
but  kept  abreast  of  modern  thought  and  progress,  and  has  inaug- 
urated many  innovations  and  carried  them  out  most  successfully 
in  the  Lynchburg  schools.  During  his  entire  term  of  service  as 
superintendent  of  the  Lynchburg  schools  he  has  been  a  member 
of  the  National  Education  Association. 

George  Johnson  Tompkins,  physician  and  surgeon,  was  one 
of  the  first  members  of  his  profession  at  Lynchburg  to  limit  his 
practice  to  a  special  field.  In  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat  he  is 
not  only  one  of  the  oldest  in  point  of  service  in  that  city  but  one 
of  the  doctors  of  generally  recognized  ability  and  standing  in 
Central  Virginia. 

Doctor  Tompkins  was  born  in  Lexington,  Virginia,  March 
27,  1873,  son  of  J.  Fulton  and  Sallie  D.  (Pendleton)  Tompkins. 
His  grandfather,  Edmund  Giles  Tompkins,  was  a  commission 
merchant  at  Richmond  and  one  of  the  founders  of  Saint  James 
Episcopal  Church  in  that  city,  where  he  died.  He  married  a 
sister  of  the  mother  of  Senator  Thomas  Staples,  who  after  his 
death  moved  to  Lexington.  Both  are  buried  in  the  Hollywood 
Cemetery  at  Richmond.  Doctor  Tompkin's  maternal  grand- 
father was  Dr.  Micajah  Pendleton,  a  physician  who  practiced  at 
Buchanan,  Virginia,  and  was  a  splendid  type  of  the  old  time 
country  doctor,  riding  horseback  over  a  great  extensive  country 
in  his  own  and  adjacent  counties.  He  had  been  educated  for  his 
profession  in  the  University  of  New  York.  Doctor  Pendleton 
married  Louisa  Jane  Davis,  a  native  of  Amherst  County,  Vir- 
ginia and  a  member  of  the  old  family  of  that  name  there. 

J.  Fulton  Tompkins,  father  of  Doctor  Tompkins,  was  born  in 
Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  attended  common  schools,  and  as 
a  young  man  entered  the  employ  of  Percell  Ladd  &  Company,  a 
drug  house  at  Richmond.  He  left  that  city  in  1851  and  moved 
to  Buchanan,  where  he  was  in  the  drug  business.  For  a  short 
period  he  was  engaged  in  the  drug  business  at  Columbus,  Mis- 
sissippi. Then  returning  to  Buchanan  he  reentered  the  drug 
business.  Later  he  moved  to  Lexington,  Virginia,  and  engaged 
in  business  until  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  when  he  volunteered 
with  the  Richbridge  Artillery  and  fought  in  several  battles,  in- 
cluding the  first  battle  of  Manassas.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he 
returned  to  Lexington  and  in  1867  married  Sallie  D.  Pendleton, 
widow  of  George  W.  Johnson.  For  many  years  he  lived  at 
Lexington,  where  he  served  as  apothecary  to  the  Virginia  Mill- 


VIRGINIA  53 

tary  Institute.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Grace  Memorial 
(Episcopal)  Church  at  Lexin^on.  He  finally  located  on  a  farm 
near  Natural  Bridge,  Virginia,  where  he  lived  out  his  life.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church  there,  which  he  helped 
build,  and  served  as  vestryman  and  warden.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  for  a  number  of  years  held  the  of- 
fice of  justice  of  the  peace  in  Rockbridge  County.  He  was  the 
father  of  four  children :  Dr.  E.  Pendleton  Tompkins,  of  Lexing- 
ton; Sallie  Louise,  wife  of  W.  M.  McNutt,  of  Rockbridge  County; 
Dr.  George  Johnson,  and  Bertie  Lee. 

George  Johnson  Tompkins  attended  public  and  private 
schools,  the  Fishburne  Military  Academy  and  was  graduated 
from  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  in  1894.  He  had  hospital 
experience  at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  for  several  years  was  en- 
gaged in  general  practice  at  Roanoke.  He  spent  some  time  in 
New  York  City  in  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat  work,  and  after  this 
special  preparation  located  at  Lynchburg  in  1899.  Doctor 
Tompkins  is  a  member  of  the  staff  of  all  three  hospitals  at 
Lynchburg  and  has  charge  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat  clinic 
for  the  city.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Society  of 
Oto-Laryngology  and  Ophthalmology,  is  a  member  of  the  South 
Piedmont  Medical  Society,  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  the 
Lynchburg  and  Campbell  County  Medical  Society,  and  Ameri- 
can Medical  Associations. 

Doctor  Tompkins  married  in  December,  1904,  Miss  Elizabeth 
Haskins  Dillard,  who  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  daughter  of  James 
P.  and  Ellen  N.  (Woodroof)  Dillard.  They  have  a  family  of 
five  children :  Ella  Pendleton,  wife  of  John  M.  Robeson,  Jr.,  who 
with  her  husband  is  a  student  in  the  University  of  Virginia ; 
Miss  Margaret  Louise,  attending  the  Woman's  College  at  Farm- 
ville ;  Elizabeth  Dillard,  wife  of  William  J.  Paxton,  a  commer- 
cial artist  at  Roanoke ;  Sallie  Dudley,  member  of  the  class  of 
1928  in  Lynchburg  High  School ;  and  George  Johnson  Junior, 
bom  October  6,  1922. 

Doctor  Tompkins  has  given  many  years  of  faithful  service 
to  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Lynchburg,  having  served  as  vestry- 
man and  warden  in  Saint  Paul's  Church  and  in  1928  helped  re- 
organize and  build  the  new  Grace  Memorial  Church,  of  which  he 
is  vestryman  and  Vv^arden.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity. 

Wade  Hill  Adams,  vice  president  and  general  manager  of 
the  Southern  Biscuit  Company,  although  comparatively  a  new- 
comer in  Richmond,  has  been  signally  honored  in  this  city  by 
various  civic,  business  and  social  organizations.  He  is  president 
of  the  Sphinx  Club,  a  member  of  the  Rotary  Club,  active  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  a  director  thereof,  a 
member  of  the  Country  Club  of  Virginia  and  the  Commonwealth 
Club,  and  he  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason  and  a  Shriner.  He 
is  a  communicant  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Born  in  Mooresville,  Iredell  County,  North  Carolina,  Novem- 
ber 2,  1876,  he  is  a  son  of  James  Pinckney  and  Julia  (Proctor) 
Adams,  the  latter  being  a  daughter  of  Richard  and  Elizabeth 
(King)  Proctor,  of  Lincoln  County,  North  Carolina.  His 
branch  of  the  Adams  family  originated  in  South  Carolina,  and 
its  members  were  among  the  very  prominent  people  of  its  earlier 
history. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  had  to  work  his  way  through 
Trinity  College,  now  Duke  University,   Durham,   North   Caro- 


54  VIRGINIA 

lina,  Wade  Hill  Adams  had  the  highest  standing  in  his  class 
when  he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  1899.  In 
the  following  year  he  took  his  A.  M.  degree.  Having  in  view  a 
scholastic  career,  it  was  his  ambition  that  he  might  return  to 
Trinity  College  in  the  department  of  English.  He  attended  the 
Graduate  School  of  English  at  Harvard  University  in  1901-02. 
With  the  completion  of  his  education,  however,  he  decided  to 
enter  a  business  career  instead  of  taking  up  educational  work. 

In  1902  Mr.  Adams  entered  the  service  of  the  American 
Tobacco  Company  in  New  York.  There  he  gained  experience 
in  the  various  departments  of  this  great  corporation,  becoming 
acquainted  with  accounting,  financing,  production,  marketing 
and  sales  methods ;  in  fact  every  activity  of  a  modern  industrial 
corporation.  After  being  with  the  American  Tobacco  Company 
for  about  eight  years  he  became  affiliated  with  the  Durham  Du- 
plex Razor  Company,  whose  plant  is  at  Jersey  City,  New  Jersey. 
He  started  in  with  that  company  as  secretary  and  later  became 
vice  president  in  charge  of  sales  and  advertising.  While  with 
the  Durham  Duplex  Razor  Company  he  went  to  Paris,  France, 
where  he  established  and  put  in  operation  the  Paris  plant  of 
this  company,  and  remained  in  France  for  a  year.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  1918  he  was  commissioned  captain  in  the  United 
States  Army  and  assigned  to  the  Ordnance  Department,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.,  where  he  remained  until  after  the  Armistice. 

In  1925  Mr.  Adams  came  to  Richmond  and  took  over  the 
active  management,  as  vice  president,  of  the  Southern  Biscuit 
Company.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  with  his  wide  and  varied 
experience  with  two  great  industrial  concerns  Mr.  Adams  at 
once  inaugurated  modern  methods  in  every  department  of  the 
local  plant  and  began  to  build  up  an  organization  of  note.  In 
1927  he  began  the  preliminary  work  for  the  erection  of  a 
$500,000  plant  on  Terminal  Place  in  the  West  End  of  Richmond. 
In  addition  to  a  completely  modern  building,  the  plant  has  the 
latest  types  of  ovens  and  baking  equipment. 

The  new  building  conforms  to  the  classic  style  of  architec- 
ture, and  is  somewhat  patterned  after  Battle  Abbey  in  its  facade. 
This  type  of  architecture  was  more  expensive,  but  the  Board  of 
Directors  and  stockholders  preferred  to  invest  a  little  more 
money  in  order  to  erect  a  plant  that  would  serve  as  a  monu- 
ment to  the  industry  of  the  company  which  originated  in  Rich- 
mond, and  whose  stock  is  owned  by  local  people.  At  the  same 
time  it  was  their  intention  to  produce  an  artistic  building  for 
Richmond  and  depart  somewhat  from  the  old-time  conception 
of  an  industrial  plant. 

Seven  stories  in  height,  this  building  is  constructed  of  white 
concrete;  is  100  x  140  feet,  thus  giving  a  iioor  space  of  100,000 
square  feet.  The  same  architects,  Francisco  and  Jacobus,  who 
built  many  of  the  plants  for  the  American  Tobacco  Company 
and  those  for  many  other  tobacco  and  bread-baking  corpora- 
tions throughout  the  country,  designed  the  new  building  for  the 
Richmond  people. 

This  plant  is  not  only  a  beautiful  example  of  industrial  archi- 
tecture, but  it  is  also  the  exemplification  of  labor-saving  devices 
and  modern  conceptions  of  efficiency.    All  flour,  sugar  and  other 


VIRGINIA  55 

raw  materials  used  in  the  work  of  the  company  are  conveyed  to 
the  top  floor  by  elevators,  and  from  there  are  distributed 
through  gravity  conveyers  to  the  shipping  floor,  thus  saving 
much  operating  cost.  All  of  the  manufacturing  equipment  is 
motor-driven,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  baking  is  done 
with  gas. 

Refrigerating  and  humidifying  plants,  designed  by  the  most 
up-to-date  engineers  in  the  country,  have  been  installed  at  a 
cost  of  about  $30,000. 

The  company  was  established  in  1899  in  Richmond,  and  was 
from  the  start  a  successful  venture,  but  as  its  volume  increased 
those  in  charge  saw  that  a  large  expansion  was  necessary,  and 
therefore  looked  about  to  find  the  man  best  fitted  for  the  work 
of  carrying  on  these  improvements,  and  in  Mr.  Adams  found 
the  ideal  man.  Since  the  completion  of  the  new  building  there 
has  been  a  large  increase  in  the  output  as  compared  to  the 
previous  year.  The  company  manufactures  more  than  a  hun- 
dred varieties  of  soda  crackers,  saltines,  oyster  crackers,  cookies, 
plain  and  fancy  cakes.  Sales  in  Richmond  have  increased  more 
than  600  per  cent  under  Mr.  Adams'  management,  and  in  outside 
territory  more  than  300  per  cent. 

In  the  erection  of  this  handsome  building  the  company  has 
shown  to  the  world  its  faith  in  the  South,  and  followed  out  the 
suggestions  made  along  this  line  by  the  state  and  city  Chambers 
of  Commerce.  Associated  with  Mr.  Adams  in  this  work  are 
B.  M.  Gwathmey,  president;  W.  E.  Albus,  treasurer;  Harry  L. 
Stone,  secretary;  and  Ernest  G.  Gustafson,  superintendent  of 
the  plant. 

Mr.  Adams  married  Miss  Jane  Douglass  Cockrell,  a  daughter 
of  the  late  Judge  Joseph  E.  Crockrell,  an  eminent  lawyer  and 
jurist,  and  one  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  Dallas, 
whose  death  April  7,  1927,  removed  one  of  the  leading  men  of 
Texas,  who  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  president  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Southern  Methodist  University,  and  president 
of  the  Dallas  National  Bank.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams  have  four 
children,  namely:  Wade  Hill  Adams,  Jr.,  who  was  born  July 
24,  1911 ;  Joseph  Cockrell  Adams,  who  was  born  January  23, 
1915 ;  Mary  Jane  Adams,  who  was  born  July  6,  1919 ;  and  Julia 
Proctor  Adams,  who  was  born  June  19,  1925. 

Wade  Hill  Adams  is  a  man  who  carries  great  responsibilities 
and  is  deeply  engrossed  in  business,  but  not  so  much  so  that  he 
cannot  find  time  for  civic  betterment  work.  He  is  a  great  cap- 
tain of  industry,  all  who  know  him  readily  admit  this,  and  many 
men  earn  their  living  because  of  his  enterprise,  ability  and  com- 
mand of  resources.  Whatever  success  he  has  accomplished  is 
largely  due  to  himself,  and  one  of  his  most  marked  character- 
istics is  his  bravery  of  belief  in  himself.  He  adheres  in  action 
to  whatever  his  reason  brings  forth.  Under  the  strain  of  great 
business  operations  he  has  never  faltered  in  confronting  risks. 
His  whole  business  life  has  been  a  campaign  of  pluck,  per- 
severance and  principle.  To  extol  his  benevolence,  his  sympathy 
for  the  suffering  of  others,  his  never-sleeping  generosity,  his 
hand  ever  open  to  patriotic  causes  and  to  charity,  is  but  to 
repeat  a  well-known  tale.  That  the  people  of  Richmond  know 
all  this,  and  appreciate  the  man  and  his  character,  is  shown  by 
the  local  honors  which  have  been  bestowed  upon  him  from  the 
beginning  of  his  residence  here.     His  genial  manner,  magnetic 


56  VIRGINIA 

personality  and  dynamic  force  make  him  a  leader,  and  those 
following  him  in  different  lines  of  work  know  that  they  will 
reach  the  goal  of  their  endeavor,  for  he  has  never  learned  the 
meaning  of  failure. 

Duncan  Drysdale,  Lynchburg  attorney,  is  a  native  of  Scot- 
land, though  his  father  was  a  naturalized  American  citizen. 

He  was  born  at  Stiiiing,  Scotland,  January  13,  1861,  son  of 
Alexander  and  Janet  (Smart)  Drysdale,  both  natives  of  Scot- 
land. His  father  came  to  the  United  States  when  a  young  man, 
and  while  here  took  out  naturalization  papers.  He  went  back 
to  Scotland  to  visit,  married  while  there  and  never  carried  out 
his  intentions  of  returning  to  America.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  of  his  ten  children  Duncan  was 
the  oldest.  The  Drysdale  family  were  originally  members  of 
the  Douglas  family  or  clan.  The  tradition  is  that  members  of 
the  family  became  engaged  in  a  feud  with  their  neighbors,  the 
Johnstones,  over  water  rights  and  after  a  number  on  both  sides 
had  been  killed  this  branch  of  the  Douglas  clan  left  the  country, 
moving  many  miles  distant,  and  in  their  new  home  took  the 
name  of  a  Parish  known  as  Drysdale  in  their  old  locality. 

Duncan  Drysdale  was  reared  and  educated  in  Scotland,  at- 
tending common  schools  there.  In  1899  he  came  to  Virginia, 
locating  at  Norfolk,  and  for  three  years  was  in  the  confection- 
ery business  there.  While  in  business  he  studied  law,  took  his 
law  degree  at  Richmond  College  in  1903  and  began  practice  at 
Rustburg.  In  1906  he  located  at  Lynchburg,  and  has  had  a 
very  large  practice  in  that  city  and  section  of  the  state. 

Mr.  Drysdale  married  in  June,  1918,  Margaret  Pollock,  who 
was  born  in  Scotland.  Her  family  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1915  and  two  of  her  brothers  were  soldiers  in  the  World  war, 
John  Pollock  going  with  the  One  Hundred  Sixteenth  Regiment 
from  Lvnchburg  while  George  Pollock  enlisted  from  Philadel- 
phia. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Drysdale  have  two  children :  Jean,  now  in 
school,  and  Douglas,  born  in  1925.  They  are  members  of  the 
Unitarian  Church  at  Lynchburg  and  Mr.  Drysdale  is  chairman 
of  the  Church  Board. 

He  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  is  a  member  of 
the  City,  Virginia  and  American  Bar  Associations  and  has  been 
admitted  to  practice  before  the  United  States  Supreme  Court. 
He  handles  a  general  law  practice,  and  at  one  time  probably  no 
other  Lynchburg  attorney  had  so  large  a  practice  in  the  crim- 
inal branch  of  the  law. 

Hon.  Waller  J.  Henson,  former  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court, 
and  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  practicing  at  the  bar  of  Roanoke, 
has  been  general  counsel  for  the  Shenandoah  Life  Insurance 
Company  since  1914,  and  is  a  recognized  authority  in  all  matters 
pertaining  to  corporation  law.  He  exemplified  at  the  bar  before 
his  elevation  to  the  bench  a  quiet  exactness,  a  profound  knowl- 
edge of  the  law.  and  a  clear,  impartial  judgment,  which  char- 
acteristics are  invaluable  to  both  a  lawyer  and  judge.  When 
he  retired  from  the  bench  he  came  to  Roanoke,  and  here  he  has 
found  the  environment  for  which  his  abilities  fit  him,  and  is 
here  accorded  an  appreciation  to  which  he  is  justly  entitled. 

Judge  Henson  was  born  in  Buckingham,  Virginia,  November 
18,  1864,  a  son  of  John  Waller  and  Martha  A.  (Chambers) 
Henson,  both  natives  of  Virginia,  the  latter  born  in  Bucking- 
ham.   The  former  was  a  clergyman  of  the  Baptist  faith,  having 


VIRGINIA  57 

been  prepared  for  his  work  in  Richmond  College,  but  his  life 
was  terminated  by  death  in  1873,  when  he  was  only  thirty-five 
years  old.  She  survived  him  many  years,  passing  away  in  1920. 
Of  the  four  children  born  to  them,  three  are  now  living,  and  of 
them  all  Judge  Henson  was  the  first  born.  The  father  served 
all  through  the  war  between  the  states,  and,  being  captured, 
was  confined  in  a  Federal  prison.  He  was  a  zealous  Ma.son, 
and  lived  up  to  the  highest  ideals  of  church  and  fraternity.  The 
Henson  family  was  founded  in  Virginia  by  John  Henson,  an 
extensive  planter,  and  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  When  the 
capitol  building  collapsed  he  was  in  it,  and  only  saved  his  life 
by  his  quickness  in  clutching  a  window  sill,  to  which  he  held 
until  rescued.  The  maternal  grandfather,  William  A.  Chambers, 
was  a  native  of  Virginia. 

Judge  Henson  attended  private  schools,  in  which  he  was 
prepared  for  high  school,  and  he  took  his  high  school  work  in 
the  night  sessions  in  Lynchburg,  and  at  the  same  time  worked 
as  telegrapher  and  train  dispatcher.  From  1883  to  1888  he 
continued  in  that  work,  and  also  studied  law.  In  July,  1888, 
he  resigned  his  position,  took  a  course  in  the  summer  school  of 
the  University  of  Virginia,  took  the  state  bar  examinations,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  September,  1888.  He  began  his 
practice  in  Giles  County,  Virginia,  and  became  so  prominent 
and  generally  esteemed  as  an  able  lawyer  that  February  1,  1904, 
he  was  elected  Circuit  Court  judge,  and  so  served  until  1909. 
With  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  he  came  to  Roanoke, 
where  he  has  since  been  engaged  in  private  practice,  as  already 
noted.  All  his  life  he  has  been  very  active  in  Democratic  politics, 
and  served  as  commonwealth  attorney  in  Giles  County,  but  has 
not  been  willing  to  accept  nomination  since  coming  to  Roanoke. 
The  Baptist  Church  holds  his  membership.  He  is  a  York  Rite 
and  Shriner  Mason,  and  takes  great  interest  in  his  fraternal 
work. 

On  July  4,  1887,  Judge  Henson  married  Cornelia  Dulaney, 
who  was  born  in  Giles  County,  Virginia.  They  have  had  three 
children  born  to  their  marriage :  William  E.,  who  was  edu- 
cated in  Washington  and  Lee  University,  and  is  an  attorney 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  with  his  father ;  Mary  E.,  who 
is  a  resident  of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia;  and  Poin- 
dexter  S.,  who  was  educated  in  the  Universitv  of  Virginia,  and 
died  February  28,  1928. 

William  S.  MeGGINSON.  There  is  no  work  which  makes 
such  incessant  demand  upon  the  sympathies  of  those  engaged  in 
it  than  as  of  caring  for  the  children  orphaned  and  left  to  the 
mercy  of  an  unkind  world.  Parents  sheltering  their  own  loved 
ones,  tenderly  watching  over  them  with  brooding  thoughtfulness, 
seldom  spare  the  time  to  reflect  that  there  are  little  ones  lacking 
the  actual  necessities  of  life,  to  say  nothing  of  the  attention  to 
their  needs  from  a  moral  and  spiritual  standpoint.  Fortunately 
there  are  those  whose  minds  and  hearts  are  open  to  the  appeals 
of  these  unfortunates  and  some  noble  chai'acters  who  are  devot- 
ing themselves,  their  lives  and  their  talents  to  substituting  for 
the  parents  many  of  these  children  have  never  known.  Of  a 
verity  such  work  is  divine  in  its  scope  and  effects. 

One  of  the  men  whose  broad  sympathies  and  Christian  char- 
acter, as  well  as  his  ministerial  training,  fit  him  for  work  among 
the  orphans.  Rev.  William  S.  Megginson  is  now  rendering  a  won- 
derful service  as  superintendent  of  the  Presbyterian  Orphans' 


58  VIRGINIA 

Home  at  Lynchburg,  one  of  the  splendidly  managed  institutions 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Virginia. 

William  S.  Megginson  was  born  in  Greenville,  Tennessee, 
July  30,  1869,  a  son  of  John  Thomas  and  Sarah  Emily  (Smith) 
Megginson,  natives  of  Virginia  and  Tennessee,  respectfully,  both 
of  whom  are  now  deceased.  A  college  man,  John  Thomas  Meg- 
ginson took  up  engineering,  and  followed  that  profession  for 
many  years,  but,  retiring,  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  comforts  his  former  activities  had  provided. 
During  the  war  between  the  states  he  raised  a  company  and 
served  under  the  command  of  Gen.  John  Mosby.  Owing  to  the 
hardships  he  suffered  in  the  war  his  health  was  never  very  good 
thereafter,  and  this  in  part  led  to  his  retirement.  His  death 
occurred  in  1897,  but  his  wife  survived  him  until  1921,  she  pass- 
ing away  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years.  There  were  three  chil- 
dren :  Rev.  William  Megginson,  who  was  the  first  born ;  Edward 
T.,  who  lives  in  Northern  Georgia;  and  Henry  E.,  who  is  a  mer- 
chant of  El  Paso,  Texas.  The  parents  were  both  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  very  active  in  all  of  its  work.  The 
paternal  grandfather,  William  Cabell  Megginson,  married  Miss 
Amanda  Bocock,  of  Buckingham  County,  Virginia,  and  through 
her  Rev.  Mr.  Megginson  is  connected  with  another  very  promi- 
nent family  of  Virginia,  in  addition  to  the  Cabell  family.  The 
maternal  grandfather,  Jordan  Smith,  was  a  cattle  raiser  of  East 
Tennessee,  and  owned  a  large  plantation,  well-stocked  with  cattle 
and  horses,  and  he  was  also  an  extensive  slave  owner.  During 
the  war  between  the  states  he  suffered  heavy  losses  in  addition  to 
that  incurred  by  the  freeing  of  the  negroes. 

Rev.  Mr.  Megginson  first  attended  several  excellent  private 
schools,  but  at  the  same  time  had  to  work,  as  his  father  was  ill, 
and  he  was  the  eldest  child.  Later  he  secured  a  secretaryship 
with  the  Atlanta,  Georgia,  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
and  while  discharging  its  duties  he  secured  further  educational 
training.  Subsequently,  he  attended  the  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
Seminary,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1897,  and  continued  his 
ministerial  work  until  1900,  when  he  took  post-graduate  work  in 
the  same  seminary,  paying  his  own  way  through  at  the  time  he 
was  studying.  In  the  meanwhile,  in  1897,  he  had  gone  to  San 
Antonio,  Texas,  as  pastor  of  Utica  Presbyterian  Church,  re- 
turning to  Kentucky  to  carry  on  his  further  studies,  and  when 
that  course  was  completed  he  went  to  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky, 
and  was  engaged  there  in  ministerial  work  for  three  and  one- 
half  years,  and  when  he  left  it  was  to  spend  four  years  in  the 
General  Sunday  School  work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  From 
that  work  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  church  in  Biloxi,  Mississippi, 
for  six  years,  and  at  the  expiration  of  that  period  he  went  to 
Richmond  as  Dean  of  the  Assembly  Training  School,  which  he 
organized,  and  placed  the  institution  upon  a  solid  basis.  In 
that  work  he  displayed  executive  ability  of  such  a  high  order 
that  he  was  transferred  to  the  Presbyterian  Orphanage. 

The  Presbyterian  Orphanage  of  Lynchburg  has  165  children, 
and  conducts  a  school  in  connection  with  it  that  employs  nine 
teachers  and  carries  the  pupils  from  the  first  grade  through  the 
high  school  work.  The  moving  spirit  in  the  Home,  in  work  and 
play  is  Superintendent  Megginson,  and  that  he  encourages  whole- 
some activities  and  sports  may  be  gleaned  from  the  following 
excerpt  from  the  Bulletin  of  the  Presbyterian  Orphans'  Home : 

"Our  Football  Team:  Our  team  is  still  the  'Shoeless  Won- 
ders,' although  four  of  the  original  team  left  us  during  the  sum- 


VIRGINIA  59 

mer  and  some  lighter  boys  had  to  be  substituted.  They  hold  the 
title  for  three  reasons :  First,  because  they  play  barefooted,  sec- 
ond, because  they  really  are  the  most  agile,  smoothest  piece  of 
machinery  about  here,  and  third,  because  so  far  this  year  they 
have  maintained  the  record  of  the  last  two  years,  having  not  al- 
lowed an  opposing  team  to  score." 

In  1895  Reverend  Megginson  married  Miss  Amanda  Leonard 
Allen,  born  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  there  educated  a  daugh- 
ter of  David  H.  and  Mary  (Waters)  Allen,  and  a  direct  descend- 
ant of  Barthomew  Dupuy.  Mr.  Allen  was  a  manufacturer  and 
merchant,  but  is  now  deceased.  There  are  no  children  in  the 
Megginson  family,  and  therefore  Reverend  and  Mrs.  Megginson 
lavish  upon  their  little  charges  the  tender  parental  affection  and 
care  they  would  have  given  their  own  had  they  been  sent  into 
their  home.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  belongs  to  the 
Kiwanis  Club,  and  both  are  members  of  the  Pi-esbyterian  Church. 
Reverend  Megginson  is  admirably  fitted  for  his  present  labor  of 
love,  for  he  has  known  poverty  and  hardships  and  has  been  given 
a  wide  and  broadening  experience  since  he  entered  the  ministry. 
The  children  are  devoted  to  him  and  his  wife,  and  they  are  mak- 
ing splendid  progress  in  their  school  work. 

Thomas  Burton  Snead  of  Richmond,  descends  from  a  very 
old  family  in  England,  and  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  Robert 
Sneade,  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Virginia,  who  settled  in 
Elizabeth  City  County  in  1654.  The  name  Snead  is  very  ancient 
in  England  and  signifies  the  handle  of  a  scythe.  It  has  taken 
many  forms,  such  as  Sned,  Sneyd,  Sneed,  but  the  most  usual 
form  in  modern  times  is  Snead,  as  adopted  by  this  family.  Wil- 
liam Snead,  great-grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
served  in  the  Revolutionary  war  as  a  non-commissioned  officer, 
having  volunteered  for  service  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  his 
grandfather,  whose  name  was  also  William,  served  in  the  Con- 
federate army  throughout  the  entire  period  of  the  Civil  war. 

William  Snead  II,  who  was  born  in  1811  in  Nelson  County, 
afterwards  moved  to  Albemarle  County,  and  there  married 
Sarah  Elizabeth  Clark.  They  were  the  parents  of  Chapman 
Price  Snead,  born  July  25,  1850,  in  Albemarle,  died  October  7, 
1907.  His  wife,  Frances  Elizabeth  (Hutchinson)  Snead,  was 
a  daughter  of  Warner  Winston  and  Mary  Ella  (Harris)  Hutchin- 
son. Chapman  Price  Snead  was  a  farmer  in  King  William 
County,  and  in  political  alliance  a  Republican. 

Thomas  Burton  Snead,  a  son  of  Chapman  Price  Snead,  was 
born  March  10.  1878,  at  Etna  Mills,  King  William  County,  Vir- 
ginia, and  received  his  early  education  under  the  direction  of 
private  tutors  in  his  father's  home.  He  later  attended  the 
College  of  William  and  Mary,  and  was  a  student  there  in  1895-98. 
In  the  fall  of  1900  he  entered  the  law  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  from  which  he  received  the  degree  Bachelor 
of  Laws  in  the  class  of  1902.  He  was  immediately  admitted  to 
the  bar  and  begun  the  practice  of  law  at  Richmond.  On  January 
16,  1905,  he  was  appointed  referee  in  bankruptcy  by  the  District 
Court  of  the  United  States,  Eastern  District  of  Virginia,  for  the 
district  composed  of  the  City  of  Richmond  and  the  counties  of 
Henrico,  Chesterfield,  Powhatan  and  Goochland,  which  position 
he  has  held  continuously  since. 

In  his  position  as  referee  in  bankruptcy  during  the  past 
twenty-three  years  Mr.  Snead  has  rendered  decisions  in  hun- 


60  VIRGINIA 

dreds  of  cases,  some  of  them  involving  nice  questions  of  law  and 
important  interests.  Considering  these  facts  his  record  as 
referee  in  bankruptcy  has  been  quite  unusual.  Only  fourteen 
of  his  many  decisions  have  reached  the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals 
for  review,  and  in  only  three  of  these  was  he  reversed.  Only  two 
of  the  cases  decided  by  him  have  reached  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  for  review  and  in  both  of  these  his  decisions 
were  sustained.  Though  he  attends  to  the  bankruptcy  business 
for  a  population  of  some  300,000,  Mr.  Snead  also  practices  law, 
and  one-third  of  his  professional  work  consists  of  his  private 
practice. 

Of  modest  and  retiring  nature,  Mr.  Snead  has  never  sought 
to  mingle  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs,  and  devotes  most  of 
his  spare  time  to  his  family  and  home.  He  is  a  friend  of  educa- 
tion, and  is  ever  ready  to  lend  his  time,  influence  and  support 
to  those  higher  social  movements  which  are  calculated  to  develop 
the  best  in  man  and  promote  the  progress  and  welfare  of  the 
community.  He  is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  a  communicant 
of  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  served  his  enlistment  as  a  member 
of  Company  C,  Richmond  Blues,  one  of  the  finest  and  oldest  mil- 
itary organizations  in  the  United  States.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Richmond  Bar  Association,  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association, 
the  American  Bar  Association,  the  Commonwealth  Club,  Uni- 
versity Club,  Country  Club  of  Virginia  and  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution. 

Mr.  Snead  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife,  whom  he 
married  April  19,  1911,  was  Miss  Mary  Cooke  Branch,  the  only 
daughter  of  Col.  James  Ransom  and  Lilian  (Hubball)  Branch, 
and  a  lineal  descendant  of  Christian  Branch  of  "Arrowhattocks" 
and  "Kingsland,"  who  came  from  England  in  1620.  She  died 
December  31,  1921.  On  April  18,  1927,  he  married  Miss  Mary 
Ragan  Macgill  Bertrand,  daughter  of  Frederick  Olia  and  Minnie 
(Drewry)  Bertrand,  a  granddaughter  of  Dr.  Samuel  Davies 
Drewry,  and  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  great  Presbyterian  divine, 
Samuel  Davies,  first  president  of  Princeton  University. 

Col.  William  Richard  Phelps  is  principal  of  the  Randolph- 
Macon  Academy  of  Bedford,  a  boys'  preparatory  school,  one  of 
the  fine  institutions  comprised  in  what  is  known  as  the  Randolph- 
Macon  System,  including  several  academies  for  boys  and  girls 
and  culminating  in  the  Randolph-Macon  College  for  men  at 
Ashland  and  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  at  Lynchburg. 

Colonel  Phelps  is  a  cultured  Virginia  gentleman,  and  has 
a  thorough  understanding  of  the  spirit  and  traditions  of  the 
educational  institutions  with  which  he  has  been  identified.  He 
was  born  at  Keyton  Plantation,  in  Bedford  County,  August  2, 
1886,  and  is  a  descendant  of  the  Key  family  which  founded 
Keyton  Plantation.  His  people  have  been  in  Bedford  County 
since  early  Colonial  times.  One  of  his  ancestors,  John  Phelps, 
Sr.,  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  and  served  as 
lieutenant-colonel  of  militia  in  Bedford  County.  His  son,  John 
Phelps,  Jr.,  was  the  father  of  Thomas  Phelps  and  grandfather 
of  Thomas  J.  Phelps,  who  married  Malinda  Perkins  Key.  These 
latter  were  the  grandparents  of  Colonel  Phelps.  The  father  of 
Colonel  Phelps  was  Thomas  Key  Phelps,  who  was  born  Septem- 
ber 21,  1847,  and  married  Sarah  Elizabeth  Moulton,  who  was 
bom  in  Bedford  County  May  8,  1849,  and  died  in  1914.  Her 
father.  Dr.  Benjamin  H.  Moulton,  practiced  medicine  for  many 


VIRGINIA  61 

years  at  Davis  Mills  and  served  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Senate.  Thomas  Key  Phelps  was  one  of  the  cadets  called  out 
from  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  to  take  part  in  the  battle 
of  New  Market.  His  father,  Thomas  J.  Phelps,  was  also  a 
soldier  of  the  Confederacy. 

William  Richard  Phelps  was  one  of  a  large  family  of  eleven 
children.  These  children  were  educated  at  home  under  instruc- 
tors employed  by  their  father,  and  later  the  older  sons  and 
daughters  took  charge  of  the  instruction  of  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  household.  Education  has  been  an  essential  tradi- 
tion of  the  Phelps  family. 

Colonel  Phelps  completed  the  four-year  course  at  Randolph- 
Macon  College  at  Ashland  in  three  years,  graduating  second 
honor  man  of  his  class  in  1908.  Since  graduating  he  has  been 
connected  with  the  Randolph-Macon  System,  for  the  first  three 
years  as  instructor  of  mathematics  in  the  academy  at  Bedford, 
seven  years  as  assistant  principal  of  Randolph-Macon  Institute 
at  Danville,  and  in  1918  returned  to  the  academy  at  Bedford 
as  associate  principal,  and  since  June,  1922,  as  principal.  Colonel 
Phelps  has  the  degree  Master  of  Arts,  given  him  by  Columbia 
University  of  New  York,  where  he  spent  four  summers  in  resi- 
dence as  a  graduate  student.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Association  of  Preparatory  Schools  and  in  1925  was  made  its 
president.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Commission  of 
Southern  Association  of  Schools  and  Colleges. 

Colonel  Phelps  was  chairman  of  the  Red  Cross  Chapter  at 
Danville  and  member  of  the  Legal  Advisory  Board  during  the 
World  war.  He  has  been  a  steward  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  is  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Confederate  Veterans, 
the  Phi  Delta  Theta  college  fraternity,  and  Pi  Gamma  Mu  social 
fraternity.  He  married,  August  9,  1911,  Miss  Mildred  May 
Davis  of  Dinwiddie  County,  Virginia.  She  is  a  graduate  of  the 
State  Teachers  College  of  Farmville  and  taught  school  several 
years  before  her  marriage.  Their  children  are:  Rosa  King, 
William  Richard,  Jr.,  and  Moulton  Davis. 

Gordon  B.  Pace,  president  of  the  Pace  Construction  Com- 
pany, Incorporated,  is  connected  through  the  operations  of  his 
corporation  with  some  of  the  most  extensive  construction 
projects,  bridge  building,  the  installation  of  sewers,  waterworks 
and  similar  important  contracts,  in  this  part  of  the  country,  and 
has  built  up  a  reputation  that  is  second  to  none  for  carrying 
out  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter  of  his  agreements.  He  was 
born  in  Roanoke,  July  18,  1895,  a  son  of  Sidney  B.  and  Carrie 
(Backus)  Pace,  natives  of  Virginia  and  West  Virginia,  re- 
spectively. Coming  to  Roanoke  when  it  was  still  a  village, 
Sidney  B.  Pace  began  operating  in  real  estate,  in  which  line  he 
has  been  engaged  all  his  life,  and  subsequently  he  was  engaged 
in  organizing  the  Mountain  Trust  Bank,  was  its  first  president, 
and  is  now  its  vice  president.  Four  children  have  been  born 
to  him  and  his  wife:  Gordon  B.,  who  is  the  eldest;  Lloyd,  who 
is  in  the  real  estate  business  with  his  father;  Madeline,  who 
married  C.  R.  Wentworth,  of  Roanoke,  engineer  with  the  Vir- 
ginia Bridge  &  Iron  Company;  and  Dorothy,  who  married 
Everett  Richardson,  a  manufacturer  of  the  State  of  Massachu- 
setts. Mr.  Pace  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  his 
wife  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  both  are  active  in  church 
work.     He  is  a  Mason,  a  Shriner  and  an  Elk,  and  is  active  in 


62  VIRGINIA 

the  Rotary  Club.  In  political  faith  he  is  a  Democrat.  The 
paternal  grandfather,  Sidney  W.  Pace,  also  a  native  of  Virginia, 
served  in  the  Confederate  army  during  the  war  between  the 
states.  The  maternal  grandfather  was  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, but  was  living  in  Virginia  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and 
was  connected  with  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad. 

Growing  to  manhood  in  Roanoke,  Gordon  B.  Pace  was  given 
the  advantage  of  attending  its  excellent  schools  and  a  military 
institute,  and  was  graduated  from  the  latter  in  1915,  after 
which  he  took  two  years  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  but  his 
studies  were  interrupted  in  1917  by  this  country's  entry  into 
the  World  war,  and  he  entered  the  service  and  was  trained  in 
Camp  Lee,  Virginia ;  Camp  Taylor,  Kentucky,  and  Camp  Lewis, 
Washington,  near  Tacoma.  He  served  as  first  lieutenant  of  the 
Thirty-eighth  Field  Artillery.  In  January,  1919,  he  was  honor- 
ably discharged,  and  returned  to  Roanoke.  Here  he  organized 
the  Pace  Construction  Company,  of  which  he  is  president,  and 
his  father  vice  president.  The  company  is  incorporated  and  is 
a  close  corporation.  In  addition  to  private  contracts,  the  com- 
pany is  doing  a  large  amount  of  work  for  the  Norfolk  &  Western 
Railroad,  the  Virginia  Highway  Commission  and  the  Tennessee 
Highway  -Commission,  and  has  numerous  contracts  for  cities, 
towns,  counties  and  private  industrial  works. 

On  June  18,  1918,  Mr.  Pace  married  Miss  Louise  Vaughan, 
who  was  born  in  Roanoke,  where  she  attended  school,  later 
going  to  National  Park  Seminary,  Forest  Glen,  Maryland.  She 
is  a  daughter  of  L.  H.  Vaughan,  retired  railroad  contractor  and 
capitalist.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pace  have  one  son,  Gordon  Vaughan 
Pace.  Mrs.  Pace  belongs  to  the  Christian  Church,  while  Mr. 
Pace  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  While  in  college  he 
made  Delta  Tau  Delta,  and  he  belongs  to  the  Shenandoah  Club 
and  the  Roanoke  Country  Club,  but  aside  from  these  has  but 
little  contact  with  anything  but  his  business  affairs,  to  which 
he  is  devoting  himself  with  wholehearted  absorption. 

William  Thomas  McNamara,  Junior.  Within  the  memory 
of  those  now  only  middle  aged  has  come  what  amounts  to  a  revo- 
lution in  household  furnishings  and  methods  of  housekeeping. 
So  many  and  varied  are  the  inventions  to  make  easy  the  life  of 
the  homemaker,  and  assist  her  in  solving  the  many  times  bewil- 
dering problems  of  securing  adequate  assistance  in  her  house- 
hold tasks,  that  those  who  learned  to  keep  house  in  the  days 
when  servants  were  plentiful  and  could  be  secured  for  a  mere 
pittance  feel  that  an  era  of  great  ease  has  dawned,  and  many 
whose  means  would  justify  their  living  in  complete  idleness  have 
resumed,  of  their  own  fi'ee  will,  the  conduct  of  their  homes  to 
enjoy  the  many  comforts  and  conveniences  now  on  the  market. 
Perhaps  none  of  them  afford  such  comfort,  and  at  the  same  time 
gratify  the  inherent  love  of  the  beautiful,  as  the  floor  coverings 
now  manufactured  and  distributed  that  require  no  dusty  sweep- 
ing, but  can  be  easily  cleaned  with  a  damp  mop,  and  in  this  way 
the  problem  that  could  formerly  only  be  solved  by  hours  of  back- 
breaking  labor  has  practically  disappeared.  Another  feature 
that  attracts  many  v/omen  is  the  fact  that  they  can  secure  com- 
fortable sleeping  accommodations,  at  a  reasonable  price,  without 
extra  floor  space,  and  consequent  additional  rent.  While  the 
manufacturers  of  these  different  aids  to  the  housekeeper,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  inventors  of  them,  deserve  great  credit,  those  who 
distribute  them  play  an  important  part  in  the  business  life  of 


VIRGINIA  6S 

every  community  and  render  a  much  appreciated  service  to  its 
people.  One  of  these  men,  alert  and  progressive,  is  William  T. 
McNamara,  Jr.,  president  of  the  American  Beauty  Mattress 
Company  of  Lynchburg. 

William  T.  McNamara,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Lynchburg,  February 
3,  1874,  a  son  of  W.  T.  and  Johanna  (Martin)  McNamara,  both 
of  whom  were  born  in  Ireland,  from  whence  they  came  to  the 
United  States  in  childhood.  For  years  the  father  was  a  con- 
tracting plumber  and  steamfitter,  and  had  charge  of  the  steam- 
fitting  on  the  Nortolk  &  Western  Railroad  from  Lynchburg  to 
Bristol.  During  the  early  days  of  its  existence  he  was  a  captain 
of  the  Lynchbuig  Fire  Department,  and  he  also  owned  and  con- 
ducted a  heater  and  range  establishment.  He  put  in  the  city 
water  works  at  Dublin,  Virginia,  and  had  other  important  con- 
tracts, and  evinced  a  strong  interest  in  public  afi'airs.  After 
other  contractors  had  declared  it  impossible  to  fix  the  water 
works  in  the  Blue  Ridge  Springs  Hotel  he  took  the  contract  and 
carried  it  out  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner.  In  spite  of  all  he 
accomplished  he  was  only  twenty-nine  years  old  when  he  died  in 
1877,  and  his  prosperity  was  the  result  of  his  own,  unaided 
efforts,  for  he  began  lite  with  absolutely  nothing.  A  zealous 
Catholic,  he  was  very  active  in  the  church  and  various  Catholic 
societies.  He  and  his  wife  had  two  children :  William  T.  and 
Alice  J.,  the  latter  being  the  wife  of  Thomas  F.  Driscoll,  of 
Chicago,  who  has  charge  of  all  of  the  advertising  for  Armour  & 
Company  all  over  the  United  States.  At  the  time  of  her  mar- 
riage to  Mr.  McNamara,  Mrs.  McNamara  was  the  widow  of 
James  Byrne,  to  whom  she  had  borne  three  children,  one  of 
whom  survives,  Mary  T.  Byrne,  a  Sister  of  Charity  in  Washing- 
ton City.  The  paternal  grandfather  was  William  McNamara,  a 
native  of  Ireland,  who  settled  in  Lynchburg  upon  coming  to  this 
country,  and  became  an  officer  of  the  Lynchburg  Gas  Company. 
The  maternal  grandfather  was  also  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  set- 
tled in  Richmond,  Virginia. 

Vv^illiam  T.  McNamara  was  educated  in  the  parochial  schools 
of  Lynchburg,  in  Rock  Hill  College,  Maryland,  and  Eastman's 
Business  College,  Poughkeepsie,  New  York.  From  1893  to  1900 
he  was  engaged  in  work  as  a  bookkeeper  in  Roanoke,  Virginia, 
but  in  the  latter  year  he  returned  to  Lynchburg  and  tor  a  short 
time  continued  work  as  a  bookkeeper,  but  in  1901  became  secre- 
tary and  treasurer  of  the  Lynchburg  Lounge  Company,  manu- 
facturers of  lounges,  couches  and  parlor  furniture.  After  about 
eight  years'  connection  with  this  company  he  left  it,  in  1909,  to 
engage  with  the  National  Manufacturing  Company,  manufac- 
turers of  mattresses,  which  he  served  as  president  and  general 
manager  until  1911,  when  the  plant  was  destroyed  by  fire.  The 
following  year  he  organized  the  National  Mattress  Company, 
which  was  operated  under  that  name  until  the  spring  of  1926, 
when  it  was  reorganized  as  the  American  Beauty  Mattress  Com- 
pany, of  which  Mr.  McNamara  has  since  continued  president. 
The  company  employs  one  regular  mattress  man  and  two  com- 
mission men,  and  covers  Virginia,  parts  of  North  Carolina  and 
West  Virginia,  and  sells  mattresses  to  the  trade  in  other  places. 
The  principal  brand  is  the  American  Beauty,  a  very  fine  mattress 
made  from  the  best  material.  The  business  has  been  greatly 
increased,  and  the  sales  in  1927  were  greatly  in  excess  of  those 
of  previous  years.  The  company  manufacture  mattresses, 
pillows  and  awnings,  and  distributes  the  Simmons  beds  and 
springs,  and  Gold  Seal  Congoleum  and  Linoleum. 


64  VIRGINIA 

In  1901  Mr.  McNamara  married  Miss  Norah  Regina  Wholey, 
who  was  born  in  Staunton,  Virginia,  where  she  attended  the 
Mary  Baldwin  School.  She  is  a  daughter  of  William  Wholey, 
who  for  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  lived  retired.  During 
the  war  between  the  states  he  had  the  honor  to  serve  as  Ordi- 
nance Sergeant  under  Gen.  "Stonewall"  Jackson.  Mrs.  Mc- 
Namara is  active  in  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy, 
Old  Dominion  Chapter  of  Lynchburg,  having  served  as  secretary 
and  treasurer,  and  organized  its  Junior  Chapter.  She  is  an 
active  member  of  the  Carrie  Harper  Club  of  Lynchburg  and  is 
an  active  member  of  the  Travelers'  Aid  Society.  Four  sons 
have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McNamara,  namely:  William 
Francis,  who  was  educated  in  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  is 
in  his  father's  office  and  is  a  reserve  officer  in  the  United  States 
army;  Maurice,  who  was  also  educated  in  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute,  is  in  the  employ  of  the  Chesapeake  Telephone  Company 
as  office  manager  and  assistant  to  the  company  manager  at 
Lynchburg;  Charles  Edwin,  who  is  a  medical  student  in  the 
Georgetown  University,  Washington  City;  and  Richard,  who  is 
attending  the  high  school  at  Lynchburg.  The  family  all  belong 
to  the  Holy  Cross  Catholic  Church,  and  Mr.  McNamara  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  and  is  a  life  member  of  the 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks.  While  he  devotes 
himself  to  his  business  he  is  deeply  interested  in  civic  affairs,  and 
has  always  been  an  active  participant  in  them.  He  served  as 
secretary  of  the  Lynchburg  Woodrow  Wilson  Club. 

Thomas  X.  Parsons.  One  of  the  brilliant  young  attorneys 
practicing  at  the  bar  of  Roanoke,  Thomas  X.  Parsons  has 
attained  to  an  enviable  prestige  through  his  undoubted  talents, 
both  natural  and  acquired,  and  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  desirable  of  the  city's  citizens.  He  was  born  in  Inde- 
pendence, Virginia,  September  3,  1896,  a  son  of  John  M.  and 
Mary  Belle  (Bryant)  Parsons,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Vir- 
ginia, he  at  Potato  Creek  and  she  at  Fox.  Her  death  occurred 
in  1907,  but  he  survives  and  is  living  in  Independence,  where 
he  is  engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  he  is  representing 
his  district  in  the  Virginia  State  Senate.  A  strong  Republican, 
at  present  he  is  the  only  Republican  from  his  part  of  the  state 
in  the  Senate.  Several  years  ago  he  served  as  commonwealth 
attorney  of  Grayson  County,  and  at  one  time  he  was  his  party's 
candidate  for  Congress.  Although  defeated,  his  opponent  won 
by  only  sixty-two  votes,  so  personally  popular  is  he.  Of  the 
five  children  born  to  the  parents,  Thomas  X.  Parsons  is  the 
second  in  order  of  birth. 

Growing  up  in  Independence,  Thomas  X.  Parsons  attended 
the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in 
1915,  and  took  his  law  training  in  Washington  and  Lee  Uni- 
versity, from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1921.  After  leaving 
the  university  he  taught  law  for  one  year  as  associate  professor 
of  law.  Coming  to  Roanoke  in  1923,  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  Judge  Clifton  A.  Woodrum  and  John  W.  McCauley,  and 
they  enjoy  a  large  patronage  and  are  connected  on  one  side  or 
the  other  with  much  of  the  important  jurisprudence  of  this 
section.  Mr.  Parsons  is  unmarried.  Like  his  father,  he  is  an 
ardent  Republican,  and  was  appointed  in  1927  assistant  district 
attorney,  in  which  office  he  is  making  an  admirable  record.  At 
the  university  he  made  Phi  Delta  Phi,  the  honorary  law  fra- 
ternity, and  Phi  Kappa  Psi.     He  is  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason,  and 


I O . -A-l.rw;e«.,j^^lAJu(V«X*>-3 


VIRGINIA  65 

he  is  a  member  of  the  Shenandoah  Club,  the  University  Club, 
the  Country  Club,  the  Roanoke  German  Club,  and  the  Lions 
Club.  During  the  World  war  he  served  as  captain  of  infantry 
and  was  stationed  at  Fort  Myer  until  his  honorable  discharge 
September  8,  1919. 

B.  Morgan  Shepherd.  The  evolution  of  a  newspaper  is  a 
difficult  problem,  for  in  addition  to  the  physical  property  there 
is  that  something  which  is  of  much  greater  value,  the  vital  spark 
of  the  personality  of  those  who  have  established  and  developed 
it.  This,  of  course,  applies  in  some  degree  to  other  great  enter- 
prises. It  may  be  said  of  a  bank  or  railway  or  shop,  but  con- 
ducting a  newspaper  is  more  than  management,  it  is  an  entirely 
different  thing  in  essence  from  the  providing  of  public  transport, 
the  handling  of  moneys  or  the  sale  of  merchandise. 

When  this  country  was  ninety  years  younger  than  it  is  today 
The  Southern  Planter,  the  oldest  agricultural  paper  in  the  United 
States,  came  into  being.  It  was  founded  in  1840  by  Charles 
Tyler  Botts,  and  has  been  published  regularly  during  the  many 
years  which  have  passed.  At  the  evacuation  of  Richmond  pub- 
lication was  immediately  resumed,  and  not  an  issue  was  missed. 
It  is  the  recognized  authority  on  agriculture  throughout  the 
South,  and  a  most  helpful  journal  in  bringing  about  efficient 
organization  for  farmers,  constructive  legislation  for  the  agri- 
cultural interests.  B.  Morgan  Shepherd,  mayor  of  Ashland, 
and  one  of  the  outstanding  figures  in  this  part  of  Virginia,  is 
the  secretary  of  the  company  and  managing  editor. 

The  birth  of  Mayor  Shepherd  occurred  at  Berryville,  Clarke 
County,  Virginia,  in  1878,  and  he  is  a  son  of  J.  H.  and  Martha 
Elizabeth  (Morgan)  Shepherd,  and  grandson  of  Champe  Shep- 
herd, the  latter  of  whom  was  one  of  the  prominent  old-time 
citizens  of  Clarke  County.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  Mayor 
Shepherd  was  Col.  Benjamin  Morgan,  belonged  to  the  historic 
Morgan  family  of  Virginia,  whose  valorous  leadership  in  the 
American  Revolution  gives  all  bearing  the  name  a  distinguished 
place  in  the  history  of  the  Old  Dominion. 

Mayor  Shepherd  was  educated  inthe  public  schools  of  Berry- 
ville and  by  private  tutors.  When  only  sixteen  years  old  he 
began  working  for  himself,  and  came  to  Richmond,  the  mecca 
for  so  many  ambitious  youths  of  Virginia,  and  became  connected 
as  an  employe  with  The  Southern  Planter.  From  then  on  he 
has  continued  with  this  famous  publication,  and  gradually 
bought  stock  in  it  until  he  acquired  a  substantial  interest  in  the 
business.  For  many  years  he  has  been  vice  president  of  the 
pubhshing  company  issuing  the  paper  and  executive  manager 
of  it.  His  home  is  at  Ashland,  the  historic  town  of  Hanover 
County,  a  few  miles  noi'th  of  Richmond.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  has  served  as  mayor  of  Ashland  and  as  judge  of  the  Juvenile 
Court  of  Hanover  County,  striving  to  express  in  his  newspaper 
and  his  life  a  courageous  condemnation  of  what  he  believes  to 
be  wrong,  and  an  encouragement  of  what  is  proper  and  right, 
and  to  get  others  to  join  and  sympathize  in  his  work,  so  that 
the  tide  will  gather  volume  till  the  whole  of  public  opinion  is 
affected.  It  is  his  contention  that  there  is  as  much  good  in 
men's  heai-ts  as  there  is  evil,  but  selfishness  so  controls  the 
majority  that  it  is  difficult  to  awaken  public  condemnation  and 
arouse  a  better  spirit  and  an  ambition  toward  nobler  aims. 
Experience  has  taught  him  that  these  things  cannot  be  accom- 


66  VIRGINIA 

plished  by  standing  remote,  but  only  by  active  personal  labor. 
For  twenty-two  years  he  has  been  secretary  of  the  Virginia  State 
Farmers  Institute,  and  needless  to  say  he  is  vitally  interested 
in  everything  pertaining  to  the  agricultural  situation. 

Mr.  Shepherd  is  the  oldest  active  worker  in  agriculture  in 
the  state  in  point  of  service.  He  was  president  of  various  farm 
organizations  and  a  director  in  a  number  of  others,  and  is  a 
member  of  practically  all  farm  organizations  in  the  state. 

John  Brockenbrough  Newton,  president  of  the  Virginia 
Iron,  Coal  &  Coke  Company  of  Roanoke,  bears  the  name  of  his 
father,  who  was  a  bishop  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia, 
and  represents  the  ninth  generation  of  the  family  which  has 
given  many  distinguished  men  to  Virginia's  annals. 

Mr.  Newton  was  born  in  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia, 
son  of  Rt.  Rev.  John  Brockenbrough  and  Roberta  Page  (Wil- 
liamson) Newton,  grandson  of  Willoughby  Newton,  who  was  in 
the  seventh  generation  of  descent  from  Thomas  Newton,  a  resi- 
dent of  Yorkshire,  England.  Capt.  John  Newton,  son  of  Thomas, 
came  to  Virginia  about  1666,  establishing  his  home  in  Westmore- 
land County,  where  the  Newtons  have  lived  for  nearly  three 
centuries.  The  Newtons  intermarried  with  some  of  the  other 
distinguished  families  of  old  Virginia. 

Willoughby  Newton,  grandfather  of  the  Roanoke  business 
man,  was  born  in  1802  and  died  in  1875.  He  owned  the  "Linden" 
estate  in  Westmoreland  County.  He  was  a  member  of  Congress 
and  at  one  time  president  of  the  Virginia  State  Agricultural 
Society.  His  wife,  whom  he  married  in  1829,  was  Mary  Steven- 
son Brockenbrough,  whose  father,  Judge  William  Brocken- 
brough, was  a  judge  of  the  Virginia  Court  of  Appeals. 

Bishop  John  Brockenbrough  Newton  was  born  February  7, 
1840.  Before  the  war  he  had  graduated  from  the  Virginia  Medi- 
cal College  and  served  with  the  rank  of  major  and  surgeon  in  the 
Confederate  army.  Later  he  attended  the  Episcopal  Theological 
Seminary,  was  ordained  in  1871,  served  several  prominent 
churches  in  Norfolk  and  Richmond,  and  on  May  16,  1894,  was 
consecrated  Bishop  Coadjutor  of  the  Diocese  of  Virginia.  He 
had  filled  that  office  about  three  years  before  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1897.  His  wife,  Roberta  Page  Williamson,  was  a 
daughter  of  Joseph  A.  and  Mary  Mann  (Page)  Williamson,  her 
mother  being  a  daughter  of  Robert  Page,  who  served  with  the 
rank  of  captain  in  the  Revolutionary  army  and  was  a  member 
of  the  First  Congress.  Among  other  noted  names  in  her  an- 
cestry was  that  of  Col.  William  Byrd,  founder  of  Richmond. 

John  Brockenbrough  Newton,  Jr.,  was  one  of  a  large  family 
of  eleven  children.  He  was  educated  in  the  Norfolk  Male  Acad- 
emy, the  Episcopal  High  School  at  Alexandria,  and  had  the 
training  of  a  civil  engineer.  As  a  civil  engineer  he  became  inter- 
ested in  railroading,  particularly  construction  of  lines  for  the 
development  and  proper  utilization  of  the  rich  mineral  resources 
of  the  West,  and  finally  became  identified  with  and  active  head  of 
that  great  group  of  financial  and  industrial  interests  comprised 
under  the  corporate  title  of  Virginia  Iron,  Coal  &  Coke  Company. 
He  was  vice  president  and  general  manager  until  1907,  and  since 
that  date  has  been  president  of  the  corporation.  Since  1914  his 
home  and  the  home  offices  of  the  company  have  been  at  Roanoke. 
This  company  controls  and  directs  operations  covering  half  a 


VIRGINIA  67 

dozen  states,  including  the  ownership  of  great  tracts  of  mineral 
lands,  coal  mines,  iron  mines,  furnaces  and  factories. 

Mr.  Newton  has  served  as  senior  warden  of  St.  John's  Epis- 
copal Church  at  Roanoke.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Shenandoah 
and  Country  Clubs.  He  married,  in  1890,  Laura  Neal,  a  native 
of  Marion,  North  Carolina,  daughter  of  J.  G.  and  Rowena  Neal. 
They  have  a  son,  John  Brockenbrough  Newton  III,  who  on 
April  29,  1915,  married  Dorothy  Ball  Judkins,  of  Virginia,  she 
being  a  direct  descendant  of  Mary  Ball,  mother  of  George  Wash- 
ington. 

Garnett  Owen  Lee.  Among  the  far-sighted  business  men 
who  have  taken  advantage  of  the  opportunities  offered  by  the 
wonderful  growth  and  development  of  the  automobile  indu.stry 
is  Garnett  0.  Lee,  who  conducts  the  agency  for  Ford  automo- 
biles at  Lynchburg.  He  has  been  identified  with  his  present 
business  since  1910,  and  it  now  bears  the  name  of  the  Apperson- 
Lee  Motor  Company,  of  which  he  is  president,  and  which  is  one 
of  the  most  successful  concerns  of  its  kind  in  the  city.  During 
his  career  he  has  won  a  reputation  for  business  ability  and 
judgment,  as  well  as  for  public-spirited  cooperation  in  all  move- 
ments pertaining  to  the  welfare  and  progress  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Lee  was  born  March  14,  1881,  at  Lynchburg,  and  is  a 
son  of  James  I.  and  Nannie  B.  (Anthony)  Lee,  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia, who  are  both  deceased.  This  branch  of  the  Lee  family 
traces  its  ancestry  back  to  France,  whence  the  original  American 
ancestor  came  to  Colonial  Virginia  long  prior  to  the  war  of  the 
Revolution.  The  Town  of  Leesville,  in  Campbell  County,  was 
named  in  honor  of  the  great-gi-andfather  of  Mr.  Lee,  and  there 
was  born  his  grandfather,  John  Lee.  James  I.  Lee,  father  of 
Garnett  0.,  was  for  many  years  a  wholesale  grocer  at  Lynch- 
burg, where  he  was  the  owner  of  a  prosperous  business  and  the 
possessor  of  a  splendid  reputation  for  business  integrity  and 
straightforward  dealing.  He  and  his  worthy  wife  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Church,  in  the  work  of  which  both  were 
active,  and  Mr.  Lee  was  also  a  leading  public  figure,  serving  for 
many  years  as  a  member  of  the  City  Council  of  Lynchburg,  to 
which  he  was  elected  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  Fraternally 
he  was  a  Mason.  During  the  war  between  the  states  he  enlisted 
in  the  Confederate  army  under  Gen.  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  and  saw 
four  years  of  service  as  a  member  of  Company  F,  Second  Regi- 
ment, Virginia  Volunteer  Infantry,  during  which  time  he  sus- 
tained three  wounds.  At  the  close  of  the  struggle  he  returned 
to  Lynchburg  to  resume  his  business  activities,  in  which  he  con- 
tinued until  the  close  of  his  life.  He  and  his  wife  became  the 
parents  of  four  children :  James  I.,  Jr.,  who  is  identified  with 
the  Southern  Railway  of  Washington,  D.  C. ;  Garnett  0.,  of  this 
review;  Alice  Anthony,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Van  Swearingen,  who 
is  connected  with  the  Republic  Rubber  Company  of  Boston, 
Massachusetts;  and  Mary  Gill,  the  wife  of  Alfred  Farrar,  of 
Saint  Louis,  connected  with  the  International  Shoe  Company 
of  Saint  Louis,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  three  principal  owners, 
and  a  man  who  has  been  very  successful  in  his  business  career. 

Garnett  0.  Lee  acquired  his  education  in  the  public  schools 
of  Lynchburg,  and  after  graduating  from  high  school  his  first 
work  was  with  the  Oglesby  DeWitt  Company,  a  wholesale  dry 
goods  concern,  with  which  he  remained  for  five  years.  When 
he  started  he  was  first  employed  in  the  house,  but  later  was 


68  VIRGINIA 

advanced  to  traveling  salesman  and  thus  gained  much  valuable 
experience  and  a  wide  acquaintance.  Later  he  went  to  Boston, 
where  he  was  associated  with  the  Interstate  Chemical  Com- 
pany for  one  year,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  plant  of  the 
company  was  destroyed  by  fire  and  Mr.  Lee  returned  to  Lynch- 
burg, where  he  acquired  a  position  as  teller  in  the  American 
National  Bank.  Mr.  Lee  remained  in  this  bank  until  1910, 
when  he  saw  an  opportunity  to  embark  in  the  automobile  busi- 
ness as  representative  of  the  Palmer-Singer  car.  Four  years 
later  he  took  over  the  agency  for  the  Hudson  and  Haines  cars, 
but  at  the  end  of  four  years'  time  disposed  of  his  holdings  and 
took  over  the  Ford,  which  he  has  handled  ever  since  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Apperson-Lee  Motor  Company,  P.  D.  Winston  being 
vice  president.  This  company  does  a  large  and  profitable  busi- 
ness and  maintains  a  salesroom,  oflSce  and  service  station  at  516 
Main  Street,  Lynchburg,  as  well  as  branches  at  Rustburg, 
Amherst  and  Farmville.  Mr.  Lee  is  widely  and  favorably  known 
in  business  circles  and  has  numerous  friends. 

In  1910  Mr.  Lee  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Jessie 
Apperson,  who  was  born  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  and  edu- 
cated at  Mary  Baldwin's  School  at  Staunton.  Four  children 
have  been  born  to  this  union :  Jacqueline  Apperson,  born  in 
1912;  Geraldine  Anthony,  born  in  1914;  Garnett  Owen,  Jr.,  born 
in  1916;  and  Richard  Adams,  born  in  1918.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lee 
are  consistent  members  of  St.  John's  Episcopal  Church,  and 
Mrs.  Lee  has  been  particularly  active  in  religious  and  charitable 
work.  Mr.  Lee  is  an  ardent  fisherman  and  hunter,  and  possesses 
many  trophies  of  these  sports.  His  hobby  is  research  work  and 
investigation  along  the  lines  of  agricultural  activities,  and  he 
is  a  close  student  of  the  problems  of  the  soil. 

Blair  J.  Fishburn  in  his  individual  career  has  been  closely 
identified  with  the  rise  of  a  most  important  city  of  Southwest 
Virginia,  Roanoke.  He  was  born  at  what  was  known  in  local 
geography  as  the  village  of  Big  Lick,  the  site  of  which  long  since 
has  been  taken  into  the  City  of  Roanoke,  and  he  was  a  boy  during 
the  '80s  when  Roanoke  acquired  its  first  city  charter. 

The  Fishburns  have  been  a  family  of  pioneers  in  Virginia 
and  many  of  the  names  have  reached  positions  of  distinction  and 
success.  His  father,  Reuben  Harvey  Fishburn,  was  born  in 
Franklin  County,  Virginia,  February  27,  1835,  son  of  Samuel 
Washington  and  Frances  (Tyree)  Tinsley  Fishburn.  As  a  youth 
he  learned  the  business  of  farming  and  tanning.  He  volunteered 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  war,  joining  Company  A,  Thirty- 
seventh  Battalion,  Virginia  Cavalry,  participated  in  some  of  the 
early  campaigns  in  Southwestern  Virginia  and  West  Virginia, 
and  then  fought  up  and  down  the  Valley  of  Virginia  until  the  end 
of  the  war.  Afterwards  he  became  a  merchant,  and  in  1873 
moved  to  the  village  of  Big  Lick,  where  he  and  his  brothers,  Tip- 
ton T.  and  John  Robert  Fishburn,  engaged  in  tobacco  manufac- 
ture. They  gave  early  Roanoke  one  of  its  largest  commercial 
and  industrial  establishments.  Reuben  Fishburn  retired  from 
business  in  1905.  He  married,  April  27,  1873,  Emma  Virginia 
Phillips,  daughter  of  Joshua  and  Sallie  (Hughes)  Phillips,  of 
Campbell  County,  Virginia.  Of  their  five  children  the  only  son 
is  Blair  J. 

Blair  J.  Fishburn  was  educated  in  public  schools  at  Roanoke, 
in  Randolph-Macon  Academy  at  Front  Royal,  and  also  had  the 


VIRGINIA  69 

benefit  of  travel  and  study  abroad  in  Europe  and  the  Holy  Land. 
For  several  years  he  was  associated  with  R.  H.  Fishburn  &  Com- 
pany, manufacturers  of  smoking  tobacco,  who  sold  out  their 
business  in  1905,  but  the  business  which  has  absorbed  most  of 
his  energies  has  been  the  S.  P.  Hite  Company,  manufacturers  of 
drugs  and  flavoring  extracts.  He  acquired  a  financial  interest 
in  this  in  1905,  and  is  now  its  president  and  manager.  Mr. 
Fishburn  is  a  director  of  the  First  National  Exchange  Bank  of 
Roanoke,  Virginia  Bridge  &  Iron  Company,  Roanoke  Securities 
Corporation  and  Shenandoah  Life  Insurance  Company,  and, 
like  his  late  father,  his  financial  connections  would  comprise 
almost  a  directory  of  the  leading  commercial  and  industrial 
affairs  of  Roanoke. 

He  has  been  none  the  less  helpful  and  public-spirited  in  his 
citizenship.  He  was  a  member  of  the  City  Council  of  Roanoke 
from  1907  until  1918,  his  last  term  closing  at  the  time  Roanoke 
adopted  a  new  city  charter,  providing  for  a  city  manager.  In 
1922  he  was  elected  one  of  the  five  councilmen  of  the  city,  and 
was  president  of  the  council  and  mayor  of  the  city  from  then 
until  September  1,  1926.  He  is  now  president  of  the  Play- 
grounds and  Recreation  Association  of  Roanoke,  so  that  the  city 
is  not  without  his  wise  participation  in  its  continued  growth  and 
development. 

He  is  a  steward  of  the  Greene  Memorial  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  of  which  both  his  parents  were  members.  He  is  a 
thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  member  of  Kazim 
Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  belongs  to  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
B.  P.  0.  Elks,  Rotarj'  Club  and  for  many  years  was  a  prominent 
official  in  the  United  Commercial  Travelers.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Roanoke  Gun  Club,  Shenandoah  Club,  Roanoke  Country 
Club,  United  States,  State  of  Virginia  and  City  of  Roanoke 
Chambers  of  Commerce. 

Hon.  Joseph  Crockett  Shaffer,  United  States  District  at- 
torney, with  headquarters  in  Roanoke,  is  one  of  the  ablest  law- 
yers in  this  part  of  the  Old  Dominion,  and  a  man  whose  knowl- 
edge of  the  law  and  brilliant  attainments  are  recognized  by  the 
profession  and  public  as  well.  He  possesses  a  vigorous  mind  that 
seems  never  to  need  rest  or  to  become  dull.  His  memory  is 
phenomenal.  He  knows  not  dimly  or  hazily,  but  with  substantial 
accuracy,  the  law  and  how  to  interpret  it.  In  his  office  he  is 
utterly  indiff'erent  to  the  applause  of  the  multitude,  the  blandish- 
ment of  power,  as  well  as  the  bitterness  of  those  who  take  offense 
at  his  conduct,  and  with  these  characteristics  he  is  invaluable 
to  the  Government,  and  at  the  same  time  he  is  safeguarding  the 
rights  of  the  citizens  by  refraining  from  the  arbitrary  exercise 
of  the  powers  invested  in  him.  He  was  born  in  Wythe  County, 
Virginia,  January  19,  1880,  a  son  of  Joseph  B.  and  Elizabeth 
(Crockett)  Shaffer,  both  of  whom  were  also  born  in  Wythe 
County.  She  is  deceased,  but  he  is  living,  and,  after  a  lifetime 
of  farming,  is  residing  in  Wytheville.  There  were  two  children 
born  to  the  parents:  Edith,  who  married  J.  P.  Hert,  of  Wythe- 
ville, employed  by  a  West  Virginia  coal  company ;  and  Attorney 
Shaffer.  Both  parents  early  united  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  they  reared  their  children  in  that  faith,  to  which 
she  adhered  until  her  death,  and  to  which  he  still  subscribes. 
Fraternally  he  belongs  to  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 
A  strong  Republican,  he  has  held  several  county  offices,  and  has 

4— VOL.  3 


70  VIRGINIA 

always  been  interested  in  party  affairs.  The  paternal  grand- 
father of  Attorney  Shaffer  was  Joseph  Shaffer,  born  in  Virginia, 
but  the  great-grandfather  was  a  Pennsylvanian,  and  came  to 
Virginia  many  years  ago,  and  here  he  lived  and  died,  as  did  the 
grandfather.  The  maternal  grandfather  was  Montgomery 
Crockett,  a  native  of  Wythe  County,  Virginia,  and  a  member  of 
one  of  the  very  old  families  of  Virginia.  In  fact  on  both  sides 
of  the  house  Attorney  Shaffer  comes  of  fine  old  Virginian  stock, 
of  which  he  may  well  be  proud. 

After  the  usual  preliminary  schooling  Joseph  Crockett  Shaf- 
fer entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  was  graduated  there- 
from in  1904  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws,  and  he 
entered  at  once  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Wytheville, 
where  he  remained  until  he  was  appointed  United  States  district 
attorney  January  13,  1924,  and  took  charge  of  his  office  with 
characteristic  energj^  and  efficiency.  Prior  to  his  appointment 
he  had  already  demonstrated  his  fitness  for  the  office  he  now 
holds  by  serving  for  four  years  as  commonwealth  attorney  of 
Wytheville,  and  he  was  also  attorney  for  the  prohibition  admin- 
istrator for  a  short  period,  so  that  his  appointment  caused  no 
surprise.  Since  he  cast  his  first  vote  he  has  been  a  Republican, 
and  he  is  active  in  his  party. 

On  May  15,  1912,  Attorney  Shaffer  married  Miss  Ada  Hon- 
aker,  born  in  Bland  County,  Virginia,  and  educated  in  Sullivan  s 
College,  Bristol,  Virginia.  Five  children  have  been  born  to 
them,  namely:  Joseph  C,  Junior,  John  Scott,  Mary  Elizabeth, 
Edwin  Gray  and  Edwina  Gay,  the  last  two  being  twins.  The 
three  elder  children  are  attending  school  in  Roanoke.  Mr. 
Shaffer  is  a  Presbyterian,  while  Mrs.  Shaffer  is  a  Methodist, 
and  both  are  active  in  church  work.  Fraternally  he  has  been 
advanced  in  the  Scottish  Rite  in  Masonry,  and  he  also  belongs 
to  the  Mystic  Shrine.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  man  more 
generally  representative  of  the  best  ideals  of  his  learned  pro- 
fession and  of  good  citizenship  than  he,  and  further  advance- 
ment is  looked  for  him  by  his  many  friends. 

Isaac  Eldridge  Huff,  physician  and  surgeon  at  Roanoke, 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Maryland  in  1892,  and  for 
many  years  has  been  recognized  as  a  man  of  real  distinction  in 
his  profession,  with  a  wide  scope  of  service  for  his  talents. 

He  was  born  in  Floyd  County,  Virginia,  May  26,  1866,  and 
his  people  have  lived  in  that  section  of  Virginia  for  several  gen- 
erations. His  parents,  Isaac  and  Adeline  (Kitterman)  Huff, 
were  born  in  Floyd  County.  His  father  was  a  Confederate 
soldier,  a  farmer,  and  died  in  November,  1895. 

Doctor  Huff  finished  his  medical  education  in  what  was  then 
known  as  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  Baltimore, 
now  the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of  Maryland. 
He  was  an  interne  in  Mercy  Hospital  of  Baltimore,  and  for 
twelve  years  practiced  in  Floyd,  his  home  county.  His  home  has 
been  at  Roanoke  since  1904.  Doctor  Huff  has  offices  in  the 
Shenandoah  Life  Building,  and  for  a  number  of  years  has  been 
president  of  the  Shenandoah  Hospital.  He  has  conducted  a 
general  practice,  and  has  a  high  reputation  as  an  obstetrician. 
He  has  been  president  of  the  Roanoke  Academy  of  Medicine,  an 
active  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  the  South- 
west Virginia  Medical  Society,  Southern  and  American  Medical 
Associations.     He  became  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  Board  of 


VIRGINIA  71 

Health  upon  its  organization.  Doctor  Huff  has  been  active  in 
the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Roanoke,  serving  as  a  deacon  of 
the  church  and  a  teacher  in  the  Sunday  School.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  University  Club  and  Kiwanis  Club. 

He  married  at  Roanoke  Miss  Flora  Mclvor  Francis,  daughter 
of  Capt.  W.  H.  and  Eliza  A.  (Shelor)  Francis,  of  Floyd  County. 
Her  father  commanded  a  company  in  the  Confederate  army.  Of 
the  three  children  of  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Huff,  William  Banks  is  an 
A.  B.  graduate  of  Roanoke  College,  took  his  medical  degree  in 
1922  at  the  University  of  Maryland,  was  connected  with  the 
Walter  Reed  Hospital  at  Washington  during  the  World  war,  and 
began  practice  with  his  father.  The  daughter,  Doris,  graduated 
with  the  A.  B.  degree  from  Hollins  College,  and  married  D.  R. 
Hunt.  Francis  Eldridge,  the  second  son,  was  educated  in  Rich- 
mond College  and  Washington  and  Lee  University,  and  took  up 
a  business  career. 

Charles  G.  Lindsey.  Among  the  men  who  have  worked 
their  way  to  prominence  and  affluence  solely  through  the  medium 
of  their  own  efforts,  one  of  the  foremost  at  Roanoke  is  Charles 
G.  Lindsey,  president  of  Lindsey,  Robinson  &  Company,  whole- 
sale distributors ;  president  of  the  Victory  Specialty  Company ; 
president  of  Maddox  &  Jennings  Bakery  and  a  stockholder  or 
director  in  various  other  enterprises.  The  business  qualities 
that  are  essential  for  the  management  of  so  vast  and  intricate 
operations  are  obvious.  To  breadth  and  comprehensiveness  of 
mind,  quickness  to  perceive  opportunities  and  readiness  to  grasp 
them,  energy  and  push,  there  must  be  added  a  capacity  for  or- 
ganization, as  well  as  an  attention  to  detail,  that  every  part  of 
the  complicated  machinery  move  harmoniously.  The  difference 
between  profit  and  loss  in  a  great  industry  often  turns  on  nice 
calculations  of  cost  of  production  and  small  economies.  He  who 
neglects  little  things  often  fails  in  great  ones.  In  all  these 
qualities  Mr.  Lindsey  excels.  Under  his  quiet  but  efficient  con- 
trol the  diversified  operations  move  with  the  regularity  and 
power  of  one  of  his  great  machines,  he  himself  being  the  balance 
wheel  that  controls  and  steadies  the  action  of  all  the  parts. 

Mr.  Lindsey  was  born  in  Carroll  County,  Virginia,  February 
6,  1879,  and  is  a  son  of  Charles  Wesley  and  Margaret  Louise 
(Quesenberry)  Lindsey,  and  a  grandson  of  Henry  K.  Lindsey, 
also  a  native  of  that  county,  where  he  passed  his  entire  career  in 
agricultural  pursuits.  Charles  Wesley  Lindsey  was  born  in 
Carroll  County,  Virginia,  and  during  his  young  manhood  taught 
school  in  the  rural  districts.  Later  he  turned  his  attention  to 
farming,  which  he  followed  for  many  years,  but  at  present  is 
engaged  in  general  merchandising  in  Pulaski  County,  this  state. 
He  married  Margaret  Louise  Quesenberry,  daughter  of  Crockett 
Quesenberry,  who  was  born  in  Pulaski  County,  where  he  spent 
his  entire  life  in  farming  with  the  exception  of  the  duration  of 
the  war  between  the  states,  in  which,  as  a  soldier  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, he  saw  much  hard  fighting,  and  suffered  both  wounds  and 
capture.  Mrs.  Lindsey  was  reared  in  the  faith  of  the  Method- 
ist Church,  in  the  work  of  which  she  always  has  been  active. 
She  and  her  husband  have  had  eight  children,  of  whom  seven 
survive,  Charles  G.  being  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth. 

Charles  G.  Lindsey  received  his  education  in  Carroll  County, 
where  he  taught  school  for  two  years,  and  then  came  to  Roanoke, 
a  poor  but  ambitious  youth,  to  seek  his  fortune.  He  subse- 
quently became  cashier  of  the  Virginia  Iron  and  Coal  Company 


72  VIRGINIA 

at  Crosier  Furnace,  Roanoke,  and  remained  with  that  concern 
for  four  years,  resigning  to  accept  a  position  as  a  traveling  sales- 
man for  a  flour  milling  concern.  During  the  next  four  years  he 
traveled  through  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  North  Carolina  and 
South  Carolina,  learning  every  detail  of  the  business,  and  in 
1911  returned  to  Roanoke  to  join  the  firm  of  Davis,  Robinson  & 
Company.  Later  Mr.  Davis  sold  his  interest  and  the  firm  became 
Lindsey,  Robinson  &  Company,  under  which  style  it  was  incor- 
porated in  July,  1918.  This  has  grown  to  large  proportions  and 
Mr.  Lindsey  is  now  president  and  manager,  George  C.  Huff,  vice 
president,  J.  E.  Robinson,  secretary,  and  J.  M.  McGee,  treas- 
urer. This  concern  makes  certain  kinds  of  feeds,  including 
poultry  feed  and  meal,  and  does  a  general  jobbing  business  in 
flour  and  groceries.  In  addition  to  a  large  force  at  the  head- 
quarters, 365  Salem  Avenue,  Roanoke,  the  concern  keeps  six 
traveling  salesmen  on  the  road,  covering  Virginia,  West  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Lindsey  naturally  centers  his 
interests  in  this  enterprise,  but  also  has  other  important  con- 
nections. He  is  president  of  the  Victory  Specialty  Company, 
manufacturers  and  distributors  of  candies,  cigars,  cigarettes  and 
tobacco ;  and  president  of  the  Maddox  &  Jennings  Bakery,  Inc., 
and  is  importantly  interested  in  the  Roanoke  Ice  and  Cold  Stor- 
age Company  and  in  the  Griggs  Packing  Company.  He  has 
been  very  active  in  civic  affairs,  and  is  an  enthusiastic  member 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Booster  Club.  He  is  a 
Democrat  in  his  political  views,  but  not  a  seeker  for  public 
office,  and  is  a  consistent  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  which  he  is  an  elder.  He  likewise  belongs  to  the 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  Lions  Club,  the 
Country  Club  and  the  Shenandoah  Club,  in  all  of  which  he  is 
very  popular  and  has  numerous  warm  friends. 

In  1909  Mr.  Lindsey  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Annie 
Snyder  Huff,  who  was  born  at  Roanoke,  daughter  of  George  C. 
Huff  and  Blanche  Vinyard  Huff,  now  residents  of  Washington 
County,  Virginia.  To  this  union  there  have  been  born  two  chil- 
dren: Blanche  Vinyard,  born  in  1912,  who  is  in  third  year  of 
high  school;  and  Charles  Grattan,  Jr.,  born  in  1916,  who  is 
attending  public  school.  Mr.  Lindsey  had  been  previously  mar- 
ried, in  1904,  to  Miss  Lula  Belle  Smith,  of  Pulaski  County,  Vir- 
ginia, who  died  in  1905  without  issue. 

Robert  L.  McGuire.  For  a  number  of  years  Robert  L.  Mc- 
Guire  has  been  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business  in  Richmond, 
and  it  is  partially  due  to  his  efforts  that  Bellevue  Court,  Sum- 
merfield,  Wildwood,  Westover  Gardens  and  other  choice  resi- 
dential developments  have  been  successfully  carried  on,  both  in 
Virginia  and  other  Southern  States.  In  his  operations  he  has 
developed  into  a  financier  with  extensive  interests  in  the  states 
of  Florida,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  South  Dakota  and  Ten- 
nessee. He  is  now  president  of  the  National  Finance  &  Mort- 
gage Corporation,  the  National  Holdings  Corporation  and  the 
National  Securities  Corporation. 

Robert  L.  McGuire  was  born  in  Winchester,  Virginia,  May 
12,  1895,  a  son  of  Saint  George  and  Anna  Marie  (von  Boehm) 
McGuire,  and  a  member  of  the  historic  McGuire  family  of  Vir- 
ginia, of  which  Dr.  Hunter  McGuire,  distinguished  surgeon  of 
the  Confederacy,  was  a  notable  example,  and  a  direct  descendant 
of  the  Lord   McGuire,   Baron   of   Enniskillen,   of   Ireland   and 


I 


VIRGINIA  73 

France.  Saint  George  McGuire  had  a  distinguished  diplomatic 
career,  ending  with  the  inauguration  of  Woodrow  Wilson  to  the 
presidency  in  1913.  He  was  sent  on  various  diplomatic  missions 
of  importance  to  Germany,  South  America  and  Asia,  and  died 
of  yellow  fever  at  the  age  of  forty  years,  while  en  route  to 
Sumatra  from  China.  His  wife  was  born  in  Saxony,  Germany, 
a  daughter  of  Robert  von  Boehm,  of  an  Austrian  family,  who 
had  a  distinguished  record  in  the  German  army,  and  was  deco- 
rated by  the  former  Kaiser ;  and  was  a  near  relative  of  General 
von  Boehm,  who  commanded  a  German  division  in  the  World 
war. 

When  still  a  child  Robert  L.  McGuire  accompanied  his  father 
to  South  America,  where  he  studied  under  private  tutors,  and 
he  continued  his  studies  in  the  same  manner  in  Europe  and 
Asia,  completing  his  quite  extensive  education  with  a  legal  course 
in  the  University  of  Leipsic,  and  still  later  had  one  year's  work 
at  LaSalle  University.  He  was  later  a  junior  member  of  a 
German  expedition  into  the  interior  of  Brazil  and  subsequently 
was  present  at  one  of  the  earlier  revolts  in  Nicaragua,  Central 
America. 

In  August,  1917,  Mr.  McGuire  enlisted  for  the  World  war  in 
the  field  artillery,  was  commissioned  a  lieutenant,  and  went  over- 
seas, and  because  of  linguistic  ability  and  knowledge  of  the 
peoples  was  placed  on  duty  with  the  Headquarters  Staff  in 
France.  After  the  close  of  the  war  and  his  honorable  discharge 
Mr.  McGuire  returned  to  civilian  life  and  began  handling  real 
estate,  as  above  indicated,  in  Richmond,  becoming  treasurer  of 
the  Northside  Development  Corporation  and  later  vice  president 
of  Your  Home  Building  Corporation.  He  then  became  president 
of  the  Westover  Gardens  Corporation  and  in  July,  1927,  he 
organized  the  National  Finance  &  Mortgage  Corporation,  of 
which  he  is  president.  This  latter  corporation  has  a  unique 
method  to  finance  mortgages  and  developments  for  Richmond 
real  estate  men.  This  service  provides  the  opportunity  for  pub- 
lic participation  through  authorizing  the  issuance  of  six  and  one- 
quarter  per  cent  ten-year  accumulative  installment  certificates 
for  the  investment  of  savings ;  and  also  used  as  sinking  fund  by 
other  corporations,  that  wish  to  protect  their  stockholders  from 
loss.  The  funds  thus  received  will,  in  turn,  be  used  for  the 
purchase  of  superior  mortgages  and  other  negotiable  paper. 

Mr.  McGuire  married  the  Marchioness  Wilmina  Eleanora  de 
Bonneville,  of  Bonneville,  France,  a  daughter  of  the  Marquis 
Arthur  A.  de  Bonneville,  of  the  French  army,  and  a  descendant 
of  Cecelia  de  Treauneaux,  who  was  lady-in-waiting  to  the 
Empress  Josephine.  Colonel  de  Bonneville,  an  engineer  officer, 
representing  the  French  army,  came  to  America  during  the 
World  war  and  assisted  in  establishing  army  camps,  in  which 
he  was  an  instructor.  ' 

Through  his  financial  company  Mr.  McGuire  is  not  only  aid- 
ing others  in  their  development  work,  but  he  is  going  ahead  with 
some  enterprises  of  his  own  which  promise  to  be  more  than 
usually  successful.  He  has  lately  established  a  corporation  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  over  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  State  of 
Tennessee  and  will  form  the  Town  of  Bonneville,  an  industrial 
and  residential  enterprise.  While  not  a  native  son  of  Richmond, 
he  is  a  Virginian,  and  as  such  bears  a  deep  love  in  his  heart  for 
the  beautiful  Southern  city  of  such  historic  memories,  and  it  is 
a  source  of  great  pride  to  him  that  he  has  been  able  to  accom- 


74  VIRGINIA 

plish  so  much  for  it,  and  plans  to  greatly  increase  his  benefac- 
tions in  the  next  few  years.  He  has  contributed  articles  to  trade 
papers  on  phases  of  financing  and  promotions,  and  is  author  of 
an  extensive  work  on  salesmanship. 

Rev.  William  Arthur  Pearman  as  a  clergyman  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  began  his  service  in  his  native  state  of  Ohio, 
afterwards  was  in  Missouri,  and  on  coming  to  Virginia  first 
located  at  Richmond.  He  is  now  pastor  of  the  church  at  Bed- 
ford City. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Noble  County,  Indiana,  in  1868, 
son  of  Benjamin  F.  and  Adaline  (Wittmer)  Pearman,  and  a 
grandson  of  William  Pearman  and  John  Wittmer.  William 
Pearman  was  a  pioneer  farmer  of  Indiana.  John  Wittmer  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  became  a  miller  by  trade,  and  he  walked 
all  the  way  from  Niagara  Falls,  New  York,  to  Northern  Indi- 
ana, looking  for,  and  where  he  finally  found,  a  site  for  a  mill. 
Benjamin  F.  Pearman  was  born  in  Virginia  and  spent  his  active 
life  as  a  farmer  in  Indiana.  He  was  a  Methodist,  a  Democrat 
and  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  His  wife,  Adaline 
Wittmer,  was  born  at  Niagara  Falls,  New  York.  They  had  a 
family  of  seven  children  and  those  now  living  are:  Mrs.  Mary 
A.  Bowser,  of  Elkhart,  Indiana;  Levi  W.,  of  Nappanee,  Indiana; 
Chloe,  widow  of  W.  B.  Jacoby,  living  in  California;  Martha  J., 
wife  of  H.  S.  Funk,  of  California;  and  William  Arthur. 

William  Arthur  Pearman  was  reared  on  a  farm,  attended 
Indiana  public  schools  and  finished  his  literary  education  in  the 
old  Lutheran  College,  Wittenberg  College,  at  Springfield,  Ohio, 
graduating  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1896.  He  completed  his  course 
in  the  theological  seminary  in  preparation  for  the  Episcopal 
ministry  in  1899.  His  first  church  was  at  Mechanicsburg,  Ohio, 
where  he  remained  four  years.  Going  to  Missouri  he  was  rector 
of  a  church  at  Clinton  two  years  and  at  Warrenburg  two  years. 
Rev.  Mr.  Pearman  was  assistant  pastor  of  St.  Paul's  Church  at 
Richmond,  Virginia,  for  two  years.  He  was  at  Covington,  Vir- 
ginia, four  years,  and  on  October  1,  1918,  came  to  Bedford.  The 
church  at  Bedford  was  established  in  1847,  and  when  Mr.  Pear- 
man began  his  work  in  the  parish  the  congregation  was  still 
worshipping  in  a  very  small  building.  He  has  succeeded  in 
erecting  a  handsome  new  church  edifice  costing  approximately 
$100,000,  one  that  is  an  honor  to  the  town  and  the  parish.  This 
church  was  opened  for  worship  June,  1924.  St.  John's  Church 
has  over  two  hundred  communicants. 

Rev.  Mr.  Pearman  married  in  1900,  Edith  Keller  Schindler, 
a  native  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  where  she  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools.  Her  father,  Charles  Schindler,  was  an  under- 
taker. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pearman  had  five  children :  Carl  Schind- 
ler, born  in  1902,  now  with  a  motor  truck  company  at  San  Fran- 
cisco; Benjamin  Vincent,  a  graduate  of  high  school  and  of  the 
University  of  the  South  at  Sewanee,  Tennessee,  in  1926,  now 
with  the  American  Pigment  Corporation,  of  Bedford,  Virginia; 
Robert  William,  a  chemist  with  the  Frazer  Paint  Company,  of 
Detroit,  Michigan ;  Frederick  Keller,  a  student  in  Washington 
and  Lee  University ;  and  Edith  Adaline,  attending  the  Junior 
high  school  at  Bedford.  Rev.  Mr.  Pearman  is  a  Royal  Arch 
Mason,  member  of  the  Phi  Gamma  Delta,  and  all  his  sons  are 
members  of  the  same  fraternity  in  college.  He  also  belongs  to 
the  B.  P.  0.  Elks. 


^>crAy)ay  /v^'H^aA/C 


VIRGINIA  75 

John  Wright,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  identified  himself 
with  Richmond  a  few  years  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  war, 
and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  was  a  prominent  tobacco  manu- 
facturer, becoming  one  of  the  very  successful  men  in  an  age 
when  that  industry  was  largely  under  individual  ownership  and 
control. 

Mr.  Wright  was  born  in  Lancashire,  England,  November  19, 
1833,  son  of  Thomas  Anthony  and  Catherine  Elizabeth  (Knight) 
Wright,  both  of  whom  represented  the  substantial  landed  gentry 
of  England.    His  father  was  a  gentleman  farmer. 

John  Wright,  one  of  eight  children,  was  educated  by  private 
tutors  in  his  father's  home.  When  he  came  to  America  he 
traveled  on  a  sailing  vessel  and  for  a  number  of  years  made 
his  home  in  New  York  City.  On  coming  to  Richmond  in  1875 
Mr.  Wright  bought  a  country  home  in  Henrico  County.  He 
established  his  tobacco  factory  near  Nineteenth  and  Franklin 
streets,  and  for  twenty-seven  years  he  gave  his  close  personal 
supervision  to  his  growing  business  there.  He  retired  to  his 
farm  in  1902,  and  lived  quietly  there  until  his  death  in  1907. 
Mr.  Wright  was  a  member  of  the  Tobacco  Association  and  was 
counted  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and  public  spirited  citizens 
of  his  time.  He  and  all  his  family  were  members  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church. 

His  first  wife  was  Miss  Annie  Helpin,  who  died  shortly  after 
they  came  to  Richmond,  leaving  no  children.  On  November  17, 
1893,  Mr.  Wright  married  Margaret  Snell.  Mrs.  Wright,  whose 
home  is  now  at  1715  Grove  Avenue  in  Richmond,  is  a  member 
of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  Daughters  of 
the  American  Revolution,  and  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the 
guilds  and  societies  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Her  grandparents 
were  James  and  Millicent  (Archer  )  Snell.  Her  father,  James 
Archer  Snell,  was  born  in  Henrico  County  in  1818,  was  educated 
by  private  tutors,  and  as  a  young  man  entered  merchandising, 
which  he  continued  for  over  twenty  years,  and  then  retired. 
He  served  three  years  in  a  Virginia  regiment  with  the  Con- 
federate army.  His  business  was  located  at  Seventeenth  and 
Main  streets,  at  that  time  Richmond  being  a  comparatively  small 
city.  James  Archer  Snell  married  Nancy  Bibb  Rison,  of  Amelia 
County,  and  they  had  a  family  of  eight  children :  James  Archer, 
Sallie  Booker  Snell,  Millicent  Jane,  John  Reighley,  William 
Booker,  Nannie  Irvin,  Mrs.  Margaret  Ella  Wright  and  Coakley. 

To  the  marriage  of  Mr.  John  Wright  and  Margaret  E.  Snell 
were  born  three  children.  The  son  Thomas  Arthur,  a  distin- 
guished scholar,  was  educated  in  the  McGuire's  School  for  Boys 
at  Richmond,  took  his  Bachelor  of  Science  degree  at  William 
and  Mary  College,  his  Doctor's  degree  at  Harvard  University, 
and  for  twelve  years  was  principal  of  the  Baker  School  in  Rich- 
mond, and  for  the  past  ten  years  has  been  a  member  of  the 
faculty  of  Dartmouth  College  at  Hanover,  New  Hampshire.  He 
is  author  of  a  book  on  Principles  of  Vocational  Guidance. 
Thomas  Arthur  Wright  married  Minnie  Rowe,  of  Hampton,  Vir- 
ginia, and  has  two  children,  named  Mary  Morris  and  Margaret 
Elizabeth.  John  Halpin  Wright,  the  second  son  of  Mrs.  Wright, 
graduated  from  William  and  Mary  College  and  has  since  made 
a  great  success  in  the  real  estate  business,  being  one  of  the  lead- 
ing realtors  of  Washington,  D.  C.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Real 
Estate  Board  of  Washington  and  belongs  to  several  college  and 
other  fraternities  and  civic  organizations.    John  Halpin  Wright 


76  VIRGINIA 

married  Dorothy  Jones,  of  Washington,  and  their  chree  children 
are  Margaret  Madison,  John  Halpin,  Jr.,  and  Dorothy  Knowles. 
Nancy  Bibb  Wright,  the  only  daughter,  was  educated  in  Mrs. 
Morris'  School  at  Richmond,  and  takes  an  active  part  in  Sundav 
School  work  in  the  Episcopal  Church.  She  is  now  the  wife  of 
Louis  C.  Adair,  of  Richmond,  Mr.  Adair  being  a  brother  pf 
Cornelia  Adair,  president  of  the  Virginia  Teachers  Association 
and  one  of  the  outstanding  educational  leaders  in  the  state.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Adair  have  three  children,  Nancy  Bibb,  Cornelia  Stor- 
ris  and  Catherine. 

John  Nottingham  Upshur,  M.  D.,  by  his  own  life  of  ser- 
vice in  the  medical  profession  upheld  the  standards  of  a  very 
distinguished  Virginia  family  name. 

Doctor  Upshur  was  born  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  February  14, 
1848,  and  died  at  Richmond,  December  10,  1924.  He  was  a 
nephew  of  Abel  Parker  Upshur,  who  served  as  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  under  President  Tyler,  and  then  succeeded  Daniel 
Webster  as  Secretary  of  State. 

Doctor  Upshur  was  a  son  of  Doctor  George  Littleton  Upshur 
and  a  grandson  of  Colonel  Littleton  and  Anne  (Parker)  Upshur. 
Doctor  George  Littleton  Upshur  practiced  medicine  at  Norfolk, 
and  fell  a  victim  to  one  of  the  yellow  fever  epidemics  that  over- 
spread that  city.  Doctor  George  Littleton  Upshur  was  a  brother 
of  the  late  John  Henry  Upshur,  who  became  a  rear  admiral  of 
the  United  States  Navy  and  served  with  Commodore  Perry  in 
the  expedition  that  opened  Japan  to  commerce.  He  was  on  the 
Union  side  during  the  Civil  war  and  had  many  important  com- 
mands after  the  war,  retiring  after  forty-four  years  of  service. 

Doctor  John  Nottingham  Upshur  was  educated  at  Norfolk, 
attended  the  University  of  Virginia  and  gi'aduated  from  the 
Medical  College  of  Virginia  in  1869.  For  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury he  pursued  his  professional  routine  with  a  skill  and  devo- 
tion that  earned  the  admiration  of  thousands  who  Were  included 
at  one  time  or  other  in  his  private  practice,  and  he  also  reached 
eminence  in  the  opinion  of  his  professional  associates.  He  was 
at  one  time  president  of  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Association, 
and  was  founder  of  the  Tri-State  Medical  Society,  comprising 
the  states  of  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina.  He  was  also 
a  member  of  the  American  Medical  Association. 

Doctor  Upshur  at  the  age  of  sixteen  was  a  cadet  at  the  Vir- 
ginia Military  Institute  in  Lexington,  Virginia,  and  was  severely 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  New  Market.  He  was  always  a  staunch 
Democrat,  and  an  active  member  of  St.  James  Episcopal  Church. 
He  was  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Doctor  Upshur  married  Miss  Lucy  Whittle,  who  died  leav- 
ing one  son,  Doctor  Francis  Whittle  Upshur.  On  December  10, 
1879,  he  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Peterkin,  who  survives  him 
and  resides  at  1613  Grove  Avenue  in  Richmond.  Mrs.  Upshqr 
is  a  member  of  the  Richmond  Woman's  Club.  She  is  a  native 
of  New  Orleans,  daughter  of  William  S.  and  Emma  (Meeteer) 
Peterkin,  who  were  born  in  Baltimore  and  lived  for  many  years 
in  New  Orleans,  where  her  father  was  a  cotton  broker. 

Mrs.  Upshur  is  the  mother  of  three  children.  Her  son. 
Colonel  William  Peterkin  Upshur,  graduated  from  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute,  having  previously  attended  the  McGuire 
School  for  Boys  in  Richmond,  and  during  the  World  war  was  in 
France,  and  he  was  awarded  the  Congressional  Medal  of  Honor 
for  bravery  while  on  duty  at  Haiti.   Colonel   Upshur  married 


VIRGINIA  77 

Lucy  Munford.  The  daughter,  Elizabeth  Nottingham,  is  the 
wife  of  George  J.  Benson,  a  business  man  at  Charlottesville, 
Virginia,  and  they  have  three  children,  Elizabeth  Peterkin, 
Frances  Day,  and  John  Upshur  Benson.  The  youngest  child  is 
Doctor  Alfred  P.  Upshur,  of  New  York,  who  attended  the 
McGuire  School  at  Richmond,  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  at 
Lexington,  and  the  Virginia  Medical  College,  and  is  now  asso- 
ciated with  the  Life  Extension  Institute  of  New  York  City.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State  and  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciations. He  served  with  many  hospitals  during  the  war  as  com- 
mandant. 

Dr.  J.  N.  Upshur  was  professor  of  Materia  Medica  and 
Therapeutics,  and  of  the  Practice  of  Medicine  at  the  Medical 
College  of  Virginia.  He  was  also  chief  medical  examiner  in 
Richmond,  for  the  Equitable  Life  Insurance  Company.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Lee  Camp,  N.  C.  V.,  and  served  on  the 
staff  of  the  commanding  General  of  that  camp,  as  surgeon.  Dur- 
ing the  World  war,  he  was  active  as  a  speaker  in  behalf  of 
recruiting,  at  many  public  gatherings. 

Robert  B.  Griggs  was  born  and  grew  up  in  Roanoke  County, 
has  been  a  participant  in  the  development  of  the  important  city 
of  Roanoke,  and  is  founder  and  active  head  of  the  Griggs  Pack- 
ing Company,  one  of  the  large  and  important  industries  of  the 
city. 

Mr.  Griggs  was  born  in  Roanoke  County  in  1861,  son  of 
Samuel  and  Eva  (Kefauber)  Griggs,  his  father  a  native  of  Floyd 
County  and  his  mother  of  Roanoke  County.  Her  father,  Peter 
Kefauber,  was  a  pioneer  farmer  of  this  section  of  Virginia. 
Samuel  Griggs  spent  his  life  as  a  fai'mer  and  merchant,  and  was 
a  Confederate  soldier  throughout  the  Civil  war.  He  always 
voted  as  a  Democrat,  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and 
in  a  quiet,  unostentatious  way  achieved  a  great  deal  of  life's 
most  substantial  rewards.  He  and  his  wife  had  eight  children, 
six  of  whom  are  living. 

Robert  B.  Griggs  grew  up  on  a  Roanoke  County  farm  and 
attended  school  at  Big  Lick,  the  village  community  which  was  the 
nucleus  of  the  larger  city  of  Roanoke.  He  began  his  career  as  a 
farmer,  and  as  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  laid  the  substantial 
basis  of  his  larger  enterprises.  Mr.  Griggs  retained  large  land 
holdings  and  farming  interests  in  the  vicinity  of  Roanoke  until 
1912,  when  he  disposed  of  most  of  this  property. 

A  number  of  years  ago  he  started  a  small  packing  plant  lor 
hogs,  and  his  individual  push  and  enterprise  have  accounted  for 
the  remarkable  growth  of  this  industry,  which  now  kills  and 
packs  ten  thousand  hogs  annually,  making  a  specialty  of  the 
manufacture  of  Virginia  hams,  widely  sold  all  over  the  Roanoke 
territory.  The  great  packing  company  is  an  incorjjorated.  in- 
stitution with  Mr.  Griggs  as  president  and  active  manager,  and 
C.  M.  Griggs,  vice  president. 

Mr.  Griggs  married,  in  1891,  Miss  Hallie  Mead,  a  native  of 
Bedford  County,  daughter  of  Oliver  Mead,  and  her  maternal 
grandfather  was  Col.  Richard  Crenshaw,  one  of  the  extensive 
land  owners  of  his  day  in  Bedford  County,  and  who  gave  each 
of  his  grandchildren  a  large  farm.  Mr/  and  Mrs.  Griggs  have 
had  a  family  of  five  children :  Mrs.  Stewart  Barber,  whose  hus- 
band is  a  conti-actor  at  Roanoke,  and  mother  of  one  daughter, 
Lutitia,  born  in  1917 ;  Robert  C.  Griggs,  who  died  in  1926  at  the 
age  of  twenty-three ;  Evelyn,  who  married  Louis  Hock,  of  Char- 


78  VIRGINIA 

lottsville,  Virginia ;  Ruth  Griggs,  a  student  in  Virginia  College ; 
and  Hallie  Mead,  in  high  school.  The  family  are  members  of 
the  Trinity  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Mr.  Griggs  is 
a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. 

Branch  W.  Stonebraker.  The  career  of  Branch  W.  Stone- 
braker,  president  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Roanoke  Iron  Works,  possesses  all  of  the  elements  so  dear  to  the 
hearts  of  the  lovers  of  self-made  manhood.  Starting  life  with 
only  a  common  school  education,  his  first  experience  in  the  busi- 
ness world  was  in  a  humble  clerkship.  Hard  work,  constant 
application,  thorough  assimilation  of  the  details  of  the  job 
which  he  held  and  fidelity  to  the  interests  of  his  employers  car- 
ried him  up  the  ladder,  and  at  present  he  has  the  respect  and 
esteem  of  his  associates  in  one  of  the  largest  enterprises  of  its 
kind  in  Virginia. 

Mr.  Stonebraker  was  born  February  26,  1886,  in  Washing- 
ton County,  Maryland,  and  is  a  son  of  J.  C.  and  Sarah  W. 
(Dalby)  Stonebraker.  His  father,  a  native  of  the  same  county, 
was  given  good  educational  advantages  and  after  leaving  col- 
lege turned  his  attention  to  literature,  in  which  he  has  spent  the 
greater  part  of  his  life,  among  his  better  known  works  being 
"The  Unwritten  South"  and  "Puritan  and  Cavalier."  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  United  States.  A  Demo- 
crat in  politics,  he  served  one  or  more  terms  in  the  State  Legis- 
lature of  Maryland,  but  is  now  living  in  retirement  at  Hagers- 
town.  Mr.  Stonebraker  married  Sarah  W.  Dalby,  who  was  born 
near  Farmville,  Virginia,  and  graduated  as  salutatorian  of  her 
class  from  Farmville  College,  where  later  for  several  years  she 
served  as  a  teacher.  She  was  a  member  of  the  first  families 
of  Virginia,  being  a  descendant  of  the  Mayos,  Branchs,  Wor- 
shams  and  Cabells,  and  is  of  the  stock  of  the  early  French- 
Huguenots,  the  original  settlers  of  eastern  Virginia.  She  is  also 
a  direct  descendant  of  William  Mayo,  who  assisted  in  laying  out 
the  City  of  Richmond  and  surveyed  the  first  boundary  line 
between  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stone- 
braker there  were  born  eight  sons  and  two  daughters,  of  whom 
Branch  W.  was  the  third  in  order  of  birth,  and  five  sons  are  now 
living. 

Branch  W.  Stonebraker  received  his  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  Hagerstown,  Maryland,  and  was  seventeen  years  of 
age  when  he  started  work  as  a  clerk  in  the  oifices  of  the  Nor- 
folk &  Western  Railroad  at  Roanoke.  In  1908  he  purchased  an 
interest  in  the  Roanoke  Iron  Works,  Inc.,  of  which  he  became 
assistant  to  the  manager,  and  continued  in  that  capacity  until 
1913,  when  he  went  to  Chicago  to  become  erection  superintend- 
ent of  one  of  the  largest  ornamental  iron  works  plants  in  the 
United  States.  Returning  to  Roanoke,  he  became  superintend- 
ent of  the  Roanoke  Iron  Works,  and  in  1917  was  made  general 
manager  and  a  member  of  the  directorate.  On  January  1,  1928, 
he  became  president  of  the  company.  This  company  manufac- 
tures ornamental  iron  work  of  all  kinds  and  finds  a  ready  and 
eager  market  for  its  product  from  Maine  to  Florida  and  as 
far  west  as  Ogden,  Utah.  Mr.  Stonebraker,  who  devotes  his 
entire  time  and  energies  to  the  responsibilities  of  his  office,  is 
acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  best  informed  and  most  capable 
men  in  his  line  in  the  country.  He  has  won  his  way  to  his  pres- 
ent position  through  hard  and  conscientious  work,  which  has 


VIRGINIA  79 

met  with  well  merited  recognition  and  appreciation,  and  in  his 
labors  has  the  full  confidence  of  his  associates  and  the  friend- 
ship and  co-operation  of  the  men  under  his  management.  He 
has  found  no  time  for  public  life  or  political  activities,  but  gives 
his  support  to  movements  for  civic  improvement.  He  is  a  past 
president  of  the  local  Lions  Club  and  a  member  of  the  Loyal 
Order  of  Moose  and  the  Travelers  Protective  Association. 

In  1906  Mr.  Stonebraker  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Lula  F.  Via,  a  daughter  of  N.  W.  Via,  an  Albemarle  County 
farmer.  She  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Roanoke  and  is  an 
active  member  of  St.  Paul's  Reformed  Church,  in  which  Mr, 
Stonebraker  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Elders. 

Joseph  Wolfe  Bear.  One  ot  the  alert  and  enterprising 
business  men  of  Roanoke  who  has  made  his  mark  through  his 
own  efforts  and  who  stands  deservedly  high  with  all  classes  of 
people  is  Joseph  W.  Bear,  president  of  the  Double  Envelope 
Company,  and  interested  in  other  enterprises  of  the  city.  Mr. 
Bear  was  born  in  Rockingham  County,  Virginia,  February  26, 
1896,  a  son  of  Decatur  B.  and  Anna  Virginia  (Gibboney)  Bear, 
he  born  at  Elkton.  Rockingham  County,  where  he  died  in  1919, 
and  she  born  in  Wytheville,  Virginia,  survives  and  living  at  Elk- 
ton.  During  his  younger  life  the  father  was  a  farmer,  but 
retired  from  that  occupation  early  and  gave  his  attention  to 
private  matters  and  took  some  interest  in  politics,  working  in 
conjunction  with  the  Democratic  party.  Both  he  and  his  wife 
were  strictly  religious  people,  but  not  of  the  same  faith,  as  he 
was  a  Methodist  and  she  a  Presbyterian.  Of  their  eight  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  are  living,  Joseph  W.  Bear  is  the  second  in 
order  of  birth.  His  father's  father,  his  paternal  grandfather, 
was  Adam  Bear,  an  extensive  farmer  and  prominent  citizen  of 
Rockingham  County. 

Until  he  was  eleven  years  old  Joseph  W.  Bear  attended  the 
local  schools,  but  at  that  tender  age  he  left  home  and  began  to 
earn  his  own  living.  But  a  child,  with  no  backing  or  training, 
he  had  to  do  the  little  jobs  that  he  could  find  and  it  was  not  until 
he  was  sixteen  that  he  was  able  to  get  a  start.  At  that  time 
he  began  making  envelopes,  and  he  has  continued  in  this  line  of 
business  ever  since.  His  initial  work  was  done  in  Richmond,  but 
later  he  moved  to  Roanoke,  and  in  1917  organized  the  Double 
Envelope  Company,  of  which  he  is  president  and  manager.  The 
plant,  modern  in  every  respect,  is  conveniently  located  at  532- 
534  Luck  Avenue,  West,  and  the  product  is  shipped  all  over  the 
United  States.  The  company  specializes  in  double  envelopes 
for  church  collections  and  prints  them  in  eight  diff'erent 
languages. 

In  November,  1922,  Mr.  Bear  married  Miss  Jean  McDonald 
Franklin,  who  was  born  in  Roanoke,  a  daughter  of  M.  C.  Frank- 
lin, a  broker  of  Roanoke.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bear  have  two  children : 
Joseph  Wolfe,  Junior,  born  August  7,  1923,  and  Clay  Franklin, 
born  May  7,  1925.  Mr.  Bear  is  a  member  of  the  Second  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Roanoke,  and  Mrs.  Bear  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  of  Roanoke,  and  both  are  active  in  church  work.  Mr. 
Bear  belongs  to  the  Shenandoah  Club,  Roanoke  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  the  Country  Club.  His  political  convictions  make 
him  a  Democrat,  and  he  exerts  his  right  of  suffrage  but  does  not 
aspire  to  public  honors,  for  all  of  his  time  is  taken  up  with  his 
company's  affairs.     He   is   a   director   of   the   Mountain   Trust 


80  VIRGINIA 

Bank  and  of  the  Roanoke  Mutual  Building  &  Loan  Association. 
Recognized  as  one  of  the  really  self-made  men  of  Roanoke,  Mr. 
Bear  is  accorded  a  great  deal  of  credit  because  of  what  he  has 
accomplished.  Many  were  the  obstacles  that  stood  in  his  way, 
but  he  did  not  allow  them  to  keep  him  from  advancing;  he 
worked  long  and  faithfully  at  what  he  had  undertaken,  and  gave 
the  best  service  that  lay  in  his  power  from  the  very  inception 
of  his  business,  and  his  rewards  have  proven  that  industry, 
thrift  and  strict  integrity  are  valuable  assets  to  any  man  no 
matter  what  he  undertakes. 

Thomas  Elmer  Jamison,  president  of  Jamison's  Chain 
Stores  and  of  the  Roanoke  Grocery  &  Milling  Company,  is  easily 
one  of  the  leaders  in  the  business  life  of  his  city  and  county,  as 
he  is  along  other  lines,  for  his  is  a  nature  that  naturally  assumes 
control  of  affairs  and  carries  them  on  to  a  successful  completion. 
He  knows  exactly  what  he  is  aiming  for  and  does  not  deviate 
from  his  planned  course,  and  in  his  operations  carries  with  him 
others,  so  that  the  rewards  which  come  of  enterprising  industry 
and  efficient  thoughtfulness  are  not  shared  by  him  alone,  but 
are  also  participated  in  by  his  associates. 

The  birth  of  Thomas  Elmer  Jamison  took  place  in  Franklin 
County,  Virginia,  May  4,  1865,  and  he  is  a  son  of  John  and 
Christana  (Hartsell)  Jamison.  Growing  to  useful  manhood  in 
his  native  county,  he  attended  the  local  schools  and  in  them 
secured  a  solid  foundation  upon  which  to  erect  the  superstruc- 
ture of  his  after  life,  supplemented  as  this  instruction  was  by  the 
lessons  inculcated  in  the  home  circle  of  the  dignity  of  labor  and 
the  value  of  wise  economy. 

When  he  reached  his  majority  the  future  capitalist  left  the 
shelter  of  the  rooftree  of  his  parents  and  went  on  the  road  as  a 
traveling  salesman  for  the  Wrought  Iron  Range  Company  of 
Saint  Louis.  Missouri,  his  territory  being  the  eastern  part  of 
Virginia.  After  a  year  on  the  road,  in  1888  he  came  to  Roanoke, 
arriving  here  at  a  time  when  the  present  citv  was  little  more 
than  a  village.  However,  with  that  faculty  of  looking  into  the 
future  that  is  so  characteristic  of  him  he  realized  its  possibilities, 
and  commenced  at  once  to  plan  to  develop  them.  His  first  sten 
in  that  direction  was  to  ."secure  congenial  employment,  and  this 
was  obtained  with  the  P.  L.  Terrv  Milling  Company  as  shipping 
clerk,  and  he  continued  to  hold  it  for  a  couple  of  years,  and  while 
faithfully  performing  his  allotted  duties  he  was  also  learning  the 
business,  and  when  the  company  was  reorganized  as  the 
Roanoke  Grocery  &  Milling  Company  he  was  one  of  the  old 
employes  to  be  retained  by  the  new  management,  and  he  was 
sent  on  the  road.  For  the  succeeding  five  years  he  visited  the 
trade,  building  up  wide  connections  and  gaining  favor  for  his 
company,  and  when  he  was  recalled  from  the  road  it  was  to  take 
charge  of  the  sales  department.  Two  vears  later  he  was  elected 
vice  president  of  the  company,  and  after  he  had  held  that  office 
for  two  vears  he  was  elected  president  of  the  company,  and  still 
retains  that  office.  The  Roanoke  Grocery  &  Milling  Company 
controls  a  lartre  wholesale  trade  in  Roanoke  and  throughout  Vir- 
jrinia.  West  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee  and  a  part  of 
Kentucky. 

Not  content  with  what  he  had  accomplished  in  one  line.  Mr. 
Jamison  began  to  branch  out  and  organizing  the  Roanoke  Coffee 
&  Spice  Company,  of  Roanoke,  the  Salem  Grocery  Comnany, 
Salem,  Virginia,  and  the  Mullens  Grocery  Company,  Mullens, 


VIRGINIA  81 

West  Virginia,  he  carried  these  enterprises  on  as  president  of 
each  one  until  they  were  placed  upon  a  firm  foundation.  In  the 
meanwhile  he  became  impressed  with  the  value  of  the  chain 
store  system,  and  September  9,  1921,  established  a  chain  of 
grocery  stores  known  as  Jamison's,  there  being  at  the  opening 
of  business  seventy-six  of  these  stores,  but  since  that  time  the 
number  has  been  increased  to  eighty-one.  These  stores  are  con- 
veniently located  in  the  states  of  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  North 
Carolina  and  Tennessee,  and  it  is  the  hope  of  Mr.  Jamison  to 
have  the  territory  expanded  in  the  near  future  so  as  to  take  in 
many  other  states.  The  Jamison  Stores  are  conducted  as  sub- 
sidiaries to  the  Roanoke  Grocery  &  Milling  Company.  In  or- 
ganizing this  system  Mr.  Jamison  had  in  mind  the  plan  of  fur- 
nishing the  people  of  the  different  communities  in  which  his 
stores  are  placed  not  only  foodstuffs  at  a  much  lower  price,  but 
also  to  give  them  commodities  of  the  very  best  quality,  and  so 
rigidly  has  he  followed  this  plan  that  the  name  of  Jamison's  is 
now  indissolubly  connected  with  quality  and  fair  prices,  and  the 
stores  have  become  very  popular.  Through  his  parent  company, 
the  Roanoke  Grocery  &  Milling  Company,  he  is  able  to  buy  direct 
from  the  manufacturer  in  such  immense  quantities  that  neces- 
sarily he  can  place  his  goods  on  the  market  at  prices  that  always 
prove  attractive. 

With  the  market  furnished  by  the  chain  stores  the  Roanoke 
Grocery  &  Milling  Company  has  steadily  grown,  from  time  to 
time,  increasing  its  capital  until  it  is  now  capitalized  at  one-half 
million  dollars,  and  is  the  largest  distributor  of  foods  in  Roanoke, 
if  not  in  this  part  of  Virginia.  Not  only  does  the  Roanoke 
Grocery  &  Milling  Company  distribute  foodstuffs  to  the  general 
trade,  but  also  to  a  number  of  public  institutions  of  Virginia,  to 
colleges  and  to  hotels,  the  volume  of  business  done  annually 
being  greater  than  any  other  company  operating  between  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  and  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  The  work  entailed  upon 
Mr.  Jamison  is  tremendous,  but  he  not  only  attends  to  it  in  a 
most  capable  manner,  but  finds  time  to  give  considerable  thought 
and  attention  to  the  affairs  of  the  Magic  City,  and  has  succeeded 
in  bettering  conditions  in  a  most  remarkable  degree.  As  the 
principal  promoter  of  the  ordinance  which  provides  increased 
salaries  for  the  fireman,  he  secured  adequate  fire  protection,  and 
lowered  the  insurance  rate.  It  was  he  who  began  the  agitation 
that  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Roanoke  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  of  which  he  was  an  organizer  and  first  vice  presi- 
dent. In  all  matters  pertaining  to  improving  and  beautifying 
Roanoke  Mr.  Jamison  can  be  depended  upon  to  take  the  initia- 
tive, and  in  this  connection  special  mention  must  be  made  of  his 
work  in  purchasing  the  Terry  property  for  park  purposes.  Mr. 
Jamison  has  served  his  city  as  an  alderman,  and  while  a  member 
of  the  council  was  appointed  by  the  president  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  to  draft  a  plan  for  a  better  form  of  government  for 
the  city.  For  many  years  he  served  as  president  of  the  Whole- 
sale Grocers  Association,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Manufac- 
turers Association  that  was  later  absorbed  by  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  The  Presbyterian  Church  has  in  him  an  earnest 
and  generous  member.  His  fraternal  connections  are  those 
which  he  maintains  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

On  November  10,  1892,  Mr.  Jamison  married  Miss  Lillie 
Davidson,  of  Roanoke,  and  they  have  three  children :  Gladys 
Ann,  who  married  D.  R.  Carpenter,  a  teacher  in  Roanoke  Col- 
lege,  Salem,   Virginia;   Thelma   Virginia,   who   married   H.   K. 


82  VIRGINIA 

Adams,  who  is  with  the  First  National  Exchange  Bank  of 
Roanoke ;  and  Frank  Elmer,  who  has  charge  of  the  bakery  of  the 
Roanoke  Grocery  «&:  Milling  Company.  The  children  have  all 
been  well  educated,  Gladys  being  a  graduate  of  Hollins  College ; 
Thelma  was  also  educated  at  the  same  college,  and  Frank  is  a 
graduate  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  class  of  1926. 

John  William  Hancock,  division  manager  of  the  Appala- 
chian Electric  Power  Company,  is  also  president  of  the  Roanoke 
Public  Library.  This  latter  office  is  something  more  than  a 
casual  duty  of  a  successful  business  man.  Mr.  Hancock  for 
many  years  has  been  interested  in  books  and  the  things  they 
represent,  the  broad  range  of  literature,  arts  and  sciences.  The 
life  of  the  world  and  its  people  have  always  interested  him,  and 
he  has  made  one  of  the  best  private  collections  of  books  on  Vir- 
ginia history.  He  has  been  fond  of  hunting,  fishing,  moun- 
taineering, nature  study  and  amateur  photography. 

Mr.  Hancock  was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Virginia,  June 
17,  1870,  son  of  Benjamin  Peter  and  Sarah  Frances  (Hutchin- 
son) Hancock,  grandson  of  William  Thomas  and  Agnes  (Booth) 
Hancock.  His  ancestors,  the  Hancocks,  Booths,  Duncans  and 
Hollands,  have  been  in  Virginia  since  early  Colonial  times.  Ben- 
jamin Peter  Hancock  was  born  in  Franklin  County,  June  19, 
1842,  served  in  the  Confederate  army  in  Company  D,  Second 
Virginia  Cavalry,  under  Gen.  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  and  was  three 
times  wounded.  After  the  war  he  followed  farming  in  Frank- 
lin County  until  he  retired.  He  died  at  Washington,  February 
19,  1925.  His  wife  was  also  a  native  of  Franklin  County, 
daughter  of  John  C.  and  Lucy  (Meredith)   Hutchinson. 

John  William  Hancock,  oldest  of  the  four  children  of  his 
parents,  was  reared  on  a  farm,  had  a  common  school  and  aca- 
demic education,  and  acquired  a  sound  business  training  as 
clerk  in  stores  and  employe  of  banks  at  Rocky  Mount  and 
Roanoke. 

His  experience  in  the  electrical  public  utility  field  covers  a 
period  of  over  thirty  years.  From  1895  to  1899  he  was  account- 
ant and  cashier  of  the  Roanoke  Street  Railway  Company  and 
the  Roanoke  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company.  Upon  the  re- 
organization and  consolidation  of  these  companies  in  1899  as 
the  Roanoke  Railway  &  Electric  Company,  Mr.  Hancock  was 
made  general  manager  and  director,  and  in  1913  he  also  became 
general  manager  of  the  Lynchburg  Traction  &  Light  Company, 
which  position  he  held  until  the  formation  of  the  Appalachian 
Electric  Power  Company  in  1926.  He  is  president  of  the  State 
Association  of  PubKc  Utilities,  member  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  National  Electric  Light  Association 
and  American  Gas  Association. 

During  the  Spanish-American  war  he  was  second  lieutenant 
of  Company  G,  Second  Virginia  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  acted 
as  assistant  to  the  quartermaster  of  the  Second  Division,  Sev- 
enth United  States  Army  Corps,  at  Jacksonville,  Florida,  Mr. 
Hancock  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  mem- 
ber of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society,  Wisconsin  State  His- 
torical Society,  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  Sons  of  Con- 
federate Veterans,  member  of  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of 
Washington,  Shenandoah  Club  of  Roanoke,  Roanoke  Country 
Club  and  Oakwood  Country  Club  of  Lynchburg.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Grolier  Club  of  New  York  and  the  California  Book 
Club. 


VIRGINIA  83 

He  married  at  Roanoke,  April  30,  1898,  Miss  Mary  Carr 
Leffler.  Her  ancestor,  Joiin  Carr,  of  Loudoun  County,  was  an 
ensign  in  the  Revolutionary  army.  The  children  born  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hancock  were:  John  William,  Jr.,  who  graduated  as 
a  mining  engineer  from  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute,  took 
a  post  graduate  course  at  the  Wharton  School  of  Finance  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  is  now  with  an  investment 
banking  house  in  New  York  City;  Karl  Bulow,  now  a  student 
of  the  University  of  Virginia;  Mary  Alice,  who  graduated  from 
Wellesley  College;  Elizabeth  Dee;  and  Benjamin  Philip,  born  in 
1908  and  died  in  infancy. 

Edward  L.  Johnson  is  a  talented  physician  and  surgeon  at 
Bedford,  where  he  has  practiced  a  number  of  years,  always 
enjoying  a  large  professional  business,  and  has  also  established 
connections  in  a  business  and  civic  way  with  his  community. 

Doctor  Johnson  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Bedford  County,  Vir- 
ginia, December  19,  1879.  His  people  have  lived  in  Bedford 
County  for  several  generations.  His  parents,  Jason  and  Mary 
(Cottrell)  Johnson,  were  natives  of  the  same  county.  His 
grandfather,  John  T.  Johnson,  was  born  in  that  county,  as  also 
his  maternal  grandfather,  James  Cottrell.  Jason  Johnson  spent 
his  life  as  a  farmer  and  the  old  homestead  is  still  owned  by  the 
family.  He  was  physically  disqualified  for  service  during  the 
Civil  war,  but  rendered  good  service  by  helping  neighbors  who 
had  sons  or  husbands  in  the  war.  He  was  a  Democrat  and  both 
he  and  his  wife  members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Of  their  seven 
children  six  are  living. 

Dr.  Edward  L.  Johnson  was  educated  at  the  old  Jeter  School 
in  Bedford  County  and  from  early  manhood  learned  the  les- 
sons of  self  reliance.  He  had  to  earn  the  money  and  contrive 
the  means  to  complete  his  medical  education.  He  determined  to 
become  a  doctor  when  a  youth.  Going  to  New  York  City  he 
found  employment  in  the  City  Hospital  on  Blackwell's  Island, 
working  there  eighteen  months  and  taking  the  course  in  nursing 
at  the  same  time.  He  was  then  employed  as  a  nurse  in  another 
hospital  in  New  York,  and  had  a  certificate  as  a  graduate  nurse. 
This  work  gave  him  opportunities  for  study  and  observation, 
and  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  each  winter  studying  medi- 
cine. He  went  to  New  York  with  thirty-seven  dollars  and  when 
he  came  away  he  had  increased  that  capital  to  sixty  dollars  and 
had  made  large  progress  in  his  professional  education.  Doctor 
Johnson  graduated  in  medicine  from  the  Medical  College  of  Vir- 
ginia at  Richmond  in  1907.  He  has  since  practiced  in  Bed- 
ford County.  The  day  he  established  himself  as  a  doctor  he 
had  two  professional  calls.  Since  1911  his  home  has  been  in 
Bedford  City,  where  in  addition  to  his  general  private  practice 
he  is  surgeon  for  the  Bedford  Tire  Company. 

Doctor  Johnson  married  in  1909  Ella  Noell,  a  native  of  Bote- 
toui't  County,  Virginia,  who  was  educated  there  and  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  and  taught  school  for  a  number  of  years. 
She  is  very  active  in  the  Methodist  Church  and  teaches  the 
Philathea  class  in  the  Sunday  School.  She  is  also  matron  of 
Eastern  Star.  She  is  secretary  of  the  local  branch  of  the  Daugh- 
ters of  the  Confederacy.  Her  father,  John  Noell,  was  a  farmer. 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  have  one  daughter,  Eloise  Noell,  born 
June  5,  1916.  Both  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and 
Doctor  Johnson  is  a  past  master  of  the  Masonic  Lodge,  member 
of  the  Royal  Arch  Chapter,  Woodmen  of  the  World,  Benevolent 


84  VIRGINIA 

and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 
He  is  a  member  of  Bedford  County  Medical  Society  and  the  Med- 
ical Society  of  Virginia.  Doctor  Johnson  owns  a  farm  and 
orchard,  is  a  director  of  the  Citizens  National  Bank  of  Bedford, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  city  council.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the 
Bedford  Tire  &  Rubber  Company,  and  of  the  Nardin,  Armstrong 
Corporation.  He  is  the  owner  of  the  Johnson  Service  Station  at 
Bedford,  Virginia. 

Wilson  Miles  Cary  belonged  to  the  generation  that  fur- 
nished some  of  the  most  youthful  soldiers  to  the  Confederate 
armies,  and  in  the  half  century  after  the  war  he  became  a  prom- 
inent figure  in  the  tobacco  industry  at  Richmond. 

Colonel  Cary  was  born  at  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  in  1843 
and  died  at  Richmond  in  April,  1919.  He  was  the  only  son  of 
Lucius  Falkland  and  Anne  (Henley)  Cary,  his  father  a  mer- 
chant of  Williamsburg.  He  was  one  of  two  children,  his  sister, 
Hattie  Coke  Cary,  now  being  Mrs.  William  Christian,  of 
Richmond. 

Wilson  Miles  Cary  was  reared  in  the  classical  seat  of  learn- 
ing at  Williamsburg,  attending  William  and  Mary  College.  He 
left  college  to  enlist  in  the  Virginia  troops,  and  gave  four  years 
to  the  service  of  the  Southern  cause.  After  the  war  he  com- 
pleted his  college  education,  and  then  located  at  Richmond,  en- 
tering the  tobacco  business. 

He  served  with  the  rank  of  colonel  on  the  staff  of  two  gover- 
nors of  Virginia,  Governor  Philip  McKinney  land  Governor 
Fitzhugh  Lee.  Colonel  Cary  was  an  ardent  Democrat  and  for 
many  years  held  an  official  place  in  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Richmond.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Westmoreland 
Club. 

His  first  wife  was  Anne  E'.  Sublett,  and  by  that  marriage 
there  are  two  children,  Emily  Sampson  and  Hunsdon.  Emily 
married  Thomas  Marshall,  great  grandson  of  the  Chief  Justice 
Marshall,  and  has  two  children.  Hunsdon  married  Mary  Miller, 
daughter  of  George  D.  Miller,  of  Albany,  New  York,  and  a 
Richmond  attorney. 

Colonel  Cary  on  October  10,  1878,  married  Lilias  Blair 
McPhail,  who  survives  him  and  resides  at  19  North  Boulevard 
in  Richmond.  She  is  a  daughter  of  John  Blair  McPhail, 
who  was  educated  at  Yale  College  and  was  a  Norfolk  attorney, 
and  married  Ann  Cabell  Carrington.  Mrs.  Cary  was  educated 
by  a  private  tutor  at  Mulberry  Hill,  the  home  of  her  ancestor. 
Judge  Paul  Carrington. 

Mrs.  Cary  has  a  son  and  daughter,  Lucius  Falkland  Cary, 
and  Lilias  Blair  Cary.  The  son  was  educated  at  Hampden- 
Sidney  College,  graduated  in  law  from  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  is  now  assistant  city  attorney  of  Richmond.  He  mar- 
ried Alma  Cecil,  daughter  of  Rev.  Russell  and  Alma  (Miller) 
Cecil,  her  father  being  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Richmond,  while  her  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Dr. 
LaFayette  Miller,  a  surgeon  in  the  Confederate  army.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  L.  F.  Cary  have  three  children,  Lucius  F.,  Jr.,  now 
a  student  in  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  Elizabeth  Cecil,  and 
Miles  Fairfax.  Lilias  Blair  Cary  married  Rev.  T.  K.  Currie,  of 
Davidson,  North  Carolina,  and  now  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  and 
has  two  sons,  Thomas  Lauchlin  and  Albert  LaDoux. 


4  *  « 


VIRGINIA  85 

Thomas  E.  Payne,  D.  D.  S.  As  a  follower  of  one  of  the 
skilled  and  learned  professions,  Dr.  Thomas  E.  Payne,  of 
Roanoke,  has  achieved  that  success  which  comes  to  a  man  who 
finds  his  vocation  congenial  and  who  invests  it  with  determina- 
tion, enthusiasm  and  natural  talent.  The  modern  dental  prac- 
titioner has  ever  before  him  the  chance  of  making  himself  an 
enormously  important  factor  in  the  welfare  of  his  community, 
and  a  realization  of  this  possibility  has  come  to  Doctor  Payne 
at  Roanoke,  of  which  city  he  has  been  a  resident  for  about  nine- 
teen years. 

Doctor  Payne  was  born  December  9,  1883,  in  Westmoreland 
County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  John  T.  and  Ellen  Cushen 
(Jones)  Payne.  The  Payne  family  is  an  old  and  honored  one 
in  Virginia,  having  settled  in  the  colony  as  early  as  1620,  at 
which  time  the  original  ancestor  took  up  his  residence  in  what 
is  now  Northumberland  County.  John  T.  Payne  was  a  son  of 
Thomas  Eweil,  a  native  of  King  George  County,  Virginia,  who 
had  large  farming  interests  and  also  carried  on  an  extensive 
mercantile  business.  Mr.  Payne  was  likewise  a  nephew  and  an 
adopted  son  of  Bishop  John  Payne,  a  noted  dignitary  of  the 
Episcopal  diocese  of  Virginia.  John  T.  Payne  was  born  in  King 
George  County,  Virginia,  and  was  given  good  educational  advan- 
tages in  his  youth,  including  preparation  for  the  law.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  and  for  some  years  in  his  early  life  practiced 
with  a  measure  of  success,  but  eventually  disposed  of  his  prac- 
tice, gave  up  his  profession,  and  became  a  minister  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church.  For  thirty-five  years,  or  until  his  death 
in  1918,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Conference,  filling 
numerous  pulpits  and  becoming  widely  known  and  greatly 
beloved  for  his  many  good  works,  his  zeal,  piety,  and  humani- 
tarianism.  He  was  laid  to  rest  at  Charlottesville,  this  state, 
where  Mrs.  Payne,  likewise  a  native  of  King  George  County, 
still  makes  her  home.  Mr.  Payne  was  a  member  of  the  Masons 
and  the  Indei^endent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  was  a  Democrat 
in  his  political  allegiance,  although  he  never  sought  public  office. 
He  married  Ellen  Cushen  Jones,  a  daughter  of  James  Edward 
Jones,  a  native  of  King  George  County,  of  which  county  he 
served  ably  as  treasurer  for  many  years,  and  a  member  of  a 
family  that  settled  in  Virginia  during  Colonial  days. 

His  father,  John  T.  Payne,  furnished  Thomas  E.  Payne,  who 
was  one  of  eleven  children,  with  his  early  educational  training, 
following  which  he  pursued  a  course  at  the  New  London  Acad- 
emy in  Bedford  County  and  the  Bridle  Creek  Academy  in  Gray- 
son County.  His  dental  studies  were  prosecuted  at  the  Medical 
College  of  Virginia,  at  Richmond,  where  he  took  the  dental 
course,  and  in  1909  was  graduated  with  the  degree  Doctor  of 
Dentistry.  Doctor  Payne  commenced  practice  at  Lynchburg, 
but  in  1910  located  at  Roanoke,  where  he  has  since  attained 
prominence  in  his  profession  as  a  general  practitioner,  and  now 
occupies  well-appointed  and  perfectly  equipped  offices  in  the 
Shenandoah  Life  Building.  He  has  all  of  the  appliances  and 
instruments  known  to  modern  dental  science,  and  is  a  careful, 
kind,  considerate  and  highly  skilled  operator,  who  has  won  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  a  large  patronage,  which  has  been 
attracted  by  his  diligent  attention  to  his  work.  By  keeping 
himself  fully  abreast  of  all  current  developments  and  improved 
methods  in  his  art,  he  has  maintained  an  excellent  professional 
standing,  and  meanwhile  his  amiable  disposition  and  general 


86  VIRGINIA 

deportment  have  attracted  to  him  many  stanch  friends.  Doctor 
Payne  is  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  Dental  Society,  the  Virginia 
Dental  Society  and  the  National  Dental  Association,  and  his 
religious  connection  is  with  Green  Memorial  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  He  is  a  past  master  of  Lakeland  Lodge,  A.  F. 
and  A.  M.,  and  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  and  is  like- 
wise prominent  in  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  being  a  past  chan- 
cellor commander,  a  past  grand  chancellor  of  the  state,  a  past 
royal  vizier  of  the  D.  0.  K.  K.  and  present  imperial  representa- 
tive. He  belongs  to  the  Kiwanis  Club  and  is  an  enthusiastic 
supporter  of  all  worthy  civic  movements.  During  the  war  he 
served  as  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Dental  Corps,  was  overseas 
and  was  honorably  discharged  January  21,  1919,  at  Camp  Stuart, 
Virginia. 

In  October,  1920,  at  Roanoke,  Doctor  Payne  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Katherine  L.  Lowry,  who  was  born  at 
Lowry,  Bedford  County,  and  educated  at  Bedford  City,  and  they 
have  one  son,  John  Thomas,  born  March  19,  1922.  Mrs.  Payne 
is  a  member  of  the  First  Baptist  Church. 

Lee  R.  Gills  of  Bedford  has  had  a  remarkably  successful 
career.  He  grew  up  on  a  farm,  started  to  work  at  an  early  age, 
never  had  many  or  special  opportunities  conferred  upon  him  and 
from  his  own  industry  and  genius  for  handling  business  affairs 
has  made  himself  an  influence  in  a  number  of  communities  and 
cities  in  southwestern  Virginia. 

He  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  April  13,  1856,  son  of  Asa 
and  Caroline  E.  (Poindexter)  Gills,  grandson  of  Anthony  Gills 
and  Richard  Poindexter,  the  former  a  native  of  Nottaway 
County  and  the  latter  of  Bedford  County.  On  both  sides 
the  family  have  been  farmers  and  planters  for  a  number 
of  generations.  His  father  was  born  in  Nottaway  County, 
served  four  years  in  the  Confederate  Army,  and  in  June, 
1865,  returned  home  to  find  his  farm  devastated,  his  negroes 
gone,  but  he  adapted  himself  to  the  new  conditions  and 
gained  some  measure  of  substantial  prosperity  before  his  death. 
He  was  always  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  He  and  his  wife  had  eight  children  and  four  are  now 
living:  Eliza  A.,  wife  of  Joseph  Skinell  of  Bedford  City; 
Edward  Gills,  a  farmer  and  canner  of  Bedford  County ;  Lee  R. ; 
and  Munford  C,  who  is  in  the  real  estate  business  at  Bluefield, 
West  Virginia. 

Lee  R.  Gills  was  about  nine  years  old  when  the  Civil  war 
closed.  He  had  had  a  few  terms  of  common  schooling  and  after 
the  war  he  took  his  place  in  the  fields  working  as  his  strength 
permitted.  Afterwards  he  attended  a  private  school,  the  Hale 
Ford  Academy  in  Franklin  County,  and  qualified  himself  for 
teaching.  He  taught  seven  terms  of  school  during  winter 
months,  working  on  the  farm  in  the  summer.  He  early  became 
interested  in  saw  milling  and  merchandising,  and  these  two 
lines  have  accounted  for  most  of  his  years  of  energy  and  gave 
him  the  foundation  of  his  material  prosperity.  In  this  business 
he  was  associated  with  his  brother  C.  W.  Gills  and  Mr.  Johnson 
for  a  period  of  twenty-six  years.  It  was  a  very  unusual  part- 
nership, unbusinesslike  in  a  way,  since  each  of  the  firm  paid 
his  household  running  expenses  out  of  the  business  cash  drawer, 
but  in  other  respects  it  was  a  real  partnership  of  interest  and 
work  and  commended  its  methods  because  of  the  success  that 


VIRGINIA  87 

rewarded  the  members.  The  firm  had  different  titles  at  dif- 
ferent times,  Gills  Brothers,  Gills  &  Johnson,  at  Rocky  Mount, 
Gills  and  Holland,  again  Gills  and  Johnson  and  the  Gills  Grocery 
Company  at  Felicia.  Mr.  Gills  has  been  a  resident  of  Bedford 
for  over  thirty  years.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Peo- 
ples National  Bank  of  Bedford  in  1901  and  was  elected  the  first 
president  and  has  served  in  that  capacity  for  over  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  During  his  active  career  he  has  traded  in  timberlands 
and  bought  millions  of  feet  of  lumber.  His  business  operations 
extended  4;o  Roanoke  where  he  began  buying  and  building  in 
1907,  and  in  recent  years  he  has  made  a  gift  to  his  children  of 
several  pieces  of  property  in  that  city  but  still  owns  other  im- 
proved real  estate  there.  For  the  last  eighteen  years  he  has 
been  president  of  the  Grand  Piano  Company.  In  1925  he  organ- 
ized the  Bedford  Tire  &  Rubber  Company  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent to  January,  1S28.  This  is  a  corporation  capitalized  at  one 
million  dollars,  with  $400,000  stock  issued.  Mr.  Gills  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Bedford  and  is  on 
the  Board  of  Stewards.     He  is  a  Uemocrat  in  politics. 

He  married,  October  17,  1884,  Cora  M.  Dudley,  who  was 
born  in  Franklin  County,  Virginia,  daughter  of  William  R.  Dud- 
ley, a  farmer  and  ex-Confederate  soldier,  who  represented  his 
district  in  the  State  Senate.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gills  have  four  chil- 
dren. The  oldest  is  Dr.  W.  L.  Gills  who  was  educated  in  the 
high  school  at  Bedford,  graduated  from  the  academy  there  at 
the  age  of  sixteen,  took  the  regular  four  year  course  at  the 
Randolph-Macon  College  at  Ashland  in  three  years,  making  the 
best  grade  credited  to  any  student  in  a  period  of  twenty-eight 
years.  For  three  years  he  taught  in  the  academy  at  Bedford, 
then  entered  Johns  Hopkins  University  at  Baltimore,  taking  the 
four  years'  medical  course  and  winning  a  scholarship  every  year. 
On  graduating  he  was  offered  an  interneship  in  the  Johns  Hop- 
kins Hospital,  but  declined  to  accept  a  post  as  interne  he  had 
won  in  a  competitive  examination  with  forty  other  young  doctors 
at  a  hospital  at  Hartford,  Connecticut.  After  twenty  months 
there  he  was  licensed  to  practice  in  Virginia,  spent  two  and  one- 
half  years  in  general  practice  at  Roanoke  and  since  then  has 
specialized  in  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat  at  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
where  he  is  one  of  the  outstanding  physicians  and  surgeons.  The 
second  child,  Bessie  G.  Gills,  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  W.  P.  Jackson,  a 
physician  at  Roanoke.  Clara  E.  Gills,  married  Major  E.  R. 
Richardson,  an  instructor  in  the  Bedford  Academy.  Harry  A. 
Gills,  the  youngest,  a  marchant  at  Bedford,  married  Roberta 
Moncure  of  Stafford  Court  House,  member  of  the  distinguished 
Moncure  family  of  Virginia.  She  was  educated  at  Nashville, 
Tennessee. 

David  P.  Scott,  physician  and  surgeon  at  Lynchburg,  is  a 
member  of  the  Scott  family  that  settled  in  Caroline  County,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1690,  and  is  one  of  a  long  succession  of  physicians  in 
the  family. 

Doctor  Scott  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  October 
30,  1890,  son  of  Dr.  Hugh  Donald  and  Evelyn  (Davies)  Scott, 
grandson  of  Dr.  Samuel  Burks  Scott,  a  Bedford  County  physi- 
cian, and  great-grandson  of  Hugh  Roy  Scott.  The  founder  of 
the  Virginia  branch  of  the  family  was  James  Scott,  father  of 
Col.  Thomas  Scott,  who  came  from  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  in  1690. 
There  were  six  members  of  the  family  who  held  commissions 
under  General  Washington  in  the  Revolutionary  war.    Dr.  Hugh 


88  VIRGINIA 

Donald  Scott  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  was  educated  in  the 
Medical  College  of  Virginia  and  practiced  for  thirty-five  years 
in  Amherst  County.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
a  York  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  and  belonged  to  the  B.  P.  0. 
Elks.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Henry  Landon  Davies,  a 
native  of  Bedford  County. 

David  P.  Scott  is  one  of  a  family  of  three  children.  His 
brother  Stuart  Donald  lives  at  Johnstown,  Pennsylvania,  and 
his  brother  Samuel  Burks,  at  Andover,  New  York.  David  P. 
Scott  was  educated  in  the  Hoge  Military  Academy,  graduated 
from  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  in  1911,  was  an  interne  in 
the  Retreat  for  the  Sick  at  Richmond  and  the  Johnston-Willis 
Sanitarium  in  that  city.  Doctor  Scott  engaged  in  practice  at 
Ashland,  West  Virginia,  until  1915,  and  then  took  post-graduate 
work  in  New  York  and  at  Harvard  University  and  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital  in  Boston  until  1917. 

In  April,  1917,  he  volunteered  his  services  and  was  assigned 
active  duty  at  Washington  in  November.  He  was  given  various 
advancements,  and  for  a  time  acted  as  assistant  chief  medical 
examiner  at  Camp  Lee.  He  received  his  honorable  discharge  in 
March,  1919,  and  soon  afterward  located  at  Lynchburg,  where 
he  has  practiced  with  a  steadily  growing  reputation.  He  spe- 
cializes in  diagnosis.  He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  College  of 
Physicians,  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  the 
Lynchburg,  Southern  Piedmont  and  American  Medical  Associa- 
tions. 

Doctor  Scott  married,  February  14,  1914,  Miss  Beulah  Davis, 
who  was  born  at  Charlottesville  and  was  educated  there  and  in 
the  Blackstone  Girls  School.  They  have  one  daughter,  Judith 
Donald  Scott,  born  in  1922.  Doctor  Scott  and  wife  are  members 
of  St.  John's  Episcopal  Church. 

Forrest  W.  Whitaker  is  a  veteran  attorney  of  the  Lynch- 
burg bar,  having  practiced  there  for  Over  thirty-five  years.  In 
recent  years  he  has  also  taken  upon  himself  the  responsibilities 
and  honors  of  judicial  office,  being  a  judge  of  the  municipal 
court. 

Judge  Whitaker  was  born  in  Halifax  County,  North  Caro- 
lina, October  6,  1865,  son  of  Ferdinand  H.  and  Louise  (D'Berry) 
Whitaker,  both  natives  of  North  Carolina.  His  mother  was  a 
daughter  of  Lemuel  and  Elizabeth  (Staunton)  D'Berry.  The 
D'Berrys  came  from  France.  The  Whitakers  have  been  in 
America  since  Colonial  times.  His  Revolutionary  ancestor  was 
John  Whitaker,  who  served  under  General  Washington  and  was 
a  son  of  Richard  Whitaker.  John  Whitaker  was  the  father  of 
Wilson  Carey  Whitaker,  grandfather  of  Judge  Whitaker.  Fer- 
dinand H.  Whitaker  was  a  farm  owner  in  Halifax  County, 
North  Carolina,  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Church. 

Forrest  W.  Whitaker  was  the  eighth  in  a  family  of  eleven 
children,  four  of  whom  are  living.  He  attended  private  school 
in  North  Carolina,  completing  his  literary  education  in  the  Oak 
Ridge  Institute.  He  studied  law  in  the  famous  Dick  and  Dil- 
lard  Law  School  at  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  completing  his 
course  in  1887.  For  several  years  he  practiced  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  in  1892  removed  to  Lynchburg,  where  his  abilities  as 
a  lawyer  and  other  qualifications  have  made  him  an  important 
figure  in  the  community.  Since  October  1,  1922,  he  has  been  a 
judge  of  the  Municipal  Court,  assigned  to  juvenile  and  domestic 


(J_^^^?^<H^  /^ 


VIRGINIA  89 

relations  division,  and  in  that  capacity  has  rendered  a  service 
that  cannot  be  measured  by  any  financial  standard.  To  the 
examination  of  cases  involving  the  delicate  adjustments  of 
family  life  and  individual  development  he  has  brought  a  wide 
experience  of  humanity  as  well  as  a  thoroughly  seasoned  knowl- 
edge of  the  law. 

Judge  Whitaker  is  active  in  the  Democratic  party  and  has 
been  a  delegate  to  state  conventions.  He  is  a  steward  in  the 
Methodist  Protestant  Church,  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, and  the  Lions  Club. 

Judge  Whitaker  married  October  4,  1900,  Miss  Carrie  Kin- 
near,  who  was  born  at  Lynchburg  and  was  reared  and  educated 
there.  Her  father,  George  A.  Kinnear,  was  for  many  years  a 
merchant.  Judge  and  Mrs.  Whitaker  have  one  daughter,  Louise 
Kinnear,  who  attended  the  public  schools  and  Salem  College. 

J.  Frank  Payne,  D.  D.  S.  Included  among  the  various 
branches  of  professional  knowledge  on  which  civilized  humanity 
is  more  or  less  dependent  for  the  maintenance  of  healthful  con- 
ditions and  the  preservation  of  exemption  from  physical  distress 
is  the  science  of  dental  surgery.  Careless  habits  of  living  and 
indulgences  in  articles  of  food  and  drink  which  are  injurious  to 
the  teeth  have  become  so  general  that  in  all  communities  skilled 
dental  practitioners  are  indispensable  factors.  But,  as  in  med- 
icine and  surgery,  the  science  of  dentistry  is  constantly  develop- 
ing new  phases  of  usefulness,  and  in  order  to  insure  success 
the  dentist  of  today  must  keep  fully  abreast  of  the  latest  achieve- 
ments of  his  profession.  He  must  add  skill  to  thorough  research 
and  combine  close  application  to  his  task  with  the  ability  gained 
through  experience.  A  modern  practitioner  of  this  type  is  found 
in  Dr.  J.  Frank  Payne,  of  Roanoke,  who  while  carrying  on  a 
general  practice  is  somewhat  of  a  specialist  in  the  making  of 
plates  and  crowns  and  of  extraction. 

Doctor  Payne  was  born  November  15,  1877,  in  Westmore- 
land County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  John  T.  and  Ellen  Cushen 
(Jones)  Payne,  and  a  member  of  a  family  which  came  to 
Northumberland  County,  Virginia,  as  early  as  1620.  John  T. 
Payne  was  a  son  of  Thomas  Ewell,  a  native  of  King  George 
County,  Virginia,  who  followed  merchandising  throughout  his 
career,  and  a  nephew  and  adopted  son  of  Bishop  John  Payne, 
a  noted  Episcopal  divine.  John  T.  Payne .  was  born  in  King 
George  County,  Virginia,  where  he  was  educated  for  the  law, 
a  profession  with  which  he  was  identified  successfully  for  a 
number  of  years.  In  the  middle  part  of  his  life  he  became  a 
minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  for  thirty-five 
years,  or  until  his  death  in  1918,  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Conference.  He  was  buried  at  Charlottesville,  where  Mrs. 
Payne,  also  a  native  of  King  George  County,  still  makes  her 
home.  Mr.  PajTie  was  a  member  of  the  Masons  and  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  in  politics  was  a  Democrat. 
He  and  his  wife  became  the  parents  of  eleven  children,  of  whom 
Dr.  J.  Frank  was  the  second  in  order  of  birth.  The  maternal 
grandfather  of  Doctor  Payne  was  James  Edward  Jones,  a  native 
of  King  George  County,  who  was  treasurer  of  that  county  for 
many  years,  and  a  member  of  an  early  settled  family  of  Virginia. 

J.  Frank  Payne  attended  public  schools  of  Virginia,  spent 
three  years  at  Chesapeake  Academy  and  a  short  time  at  Bowling 
Green  Academy,  and  then  for  five  years  was  an  instructor  at 


90  VIRGINIA 

the  Gordonsville  Female  College  and  for  a  few  months  was  a 
teacher  in  the  public  schools,  and  then  prosecuted  his  dental 
studies  at  the  Virginia  Medical  College,  where  he  completed 
the  regular  three-year  course  in  two  years.  Eventually,  in  1911, 
he  settled  permanently  at  Roanoke,  where  he  has  since  been  in 
the  enjoyment  of  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  practice.  As 
before  noted,  he  practices  general  dentistry,  but  makes  a  spe- 
cialty of  crowns,  plates  and  extraction  work,  and  his  offices  in 
the  McBain  Building  are  fully  equipped  with  the  latest  appli- 
ances and  instruments  known  to  modern  dental  science.  Doctor 
Payne  is  a  skilled  operator  and  a  man  of  kindly  and  gentle 
personality.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  Dental  Society, 
the  Virginia  State  Dental  Society  and  the  National  Dental  Asso- 
ciation, and  fraternally  is  identified  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
and  the  Order  of  Owls.  He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  without 
political  aspirations,  and  a  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church. 

On  February  24,  1904,  Doctor  Payne  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Mary  J.  Mortimer,  of  Campbell  County,  Virginia, 
who  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and  at  New  London 
Academy.  They  have  two  children:  Caroline  Mortimer,  a 
teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  Roanoke ;  and  Ellen  Cushen, 
still  attending  school. 

Charles  A.  Metzgee.  The  name  of  Metzger  has  had  hon- 
ored associations  with  the  industrial  and  business  affairs  of 
Richmond  for  three  quarters  of  a  century.  One  of  its  repre- 
sentatives was  the  late  Charles  A.  Metzger,  whose  widow,  Mrs. 
Metzger,  resides  at  1  South  Boulevard  in  that  city. 

Charles  A.  Metzger  was  born  at  Richmond,  December  12, 
1862,  and  died  in  that  city  August  29,  1923.  His  father,  Harry 
Metzger,  came  from  Germany  and  settled  in  Richmond  about 
1850.  He  established  a  cooperage  business,  and  was  a  very 
thoroughgoing  business  man  and  also  much  interested  in  local 
politics,  serving  for  a  time  on  the  Richmond  City  Council.  He 
married  Caroline  Meyer,  of  Germany.  They  were  married  in 
Richmond  in  the  late  '50s,  and  of  their  six  children  Charles  A. 
was  the  second  son. 

The  late  Mr.  Metzger  attended  school  at  Richmond  and  as  a 
very  young  man  went  to  work  in  his  father's  establishment,  and 
after  about  six  years  was  appointed  manager.  He  had  the 
controlling  interest  in  H.  Metzger  &  Son,  cooperage  business, 
after  his  father's  death,  and  his  two  brothers,  Lewis  T.  and 
Edward  H.,  were  associated  with  him,  and  since  his  death  these 
brothers  have  continued  it.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  firms  of  its 
kind  in  Richmond  or  in  the  State  of  Virginia.  The  late  Mr. 
Metzger  was  a  Democrat. 

Mrs.  Metzger  is  an  active  worker  in  St.  John's  Evangelical 
Church  and  for  thirty-two  years  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Ladies  Aid  Society.  She  also  belongs  to  the  Kings  Daughters. 
Mr.  Metzger  and  Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Frick  were  married  at  Rich- 
mond, October  9,  1884.  She  was  reared  in  that  city,  attending 
St.  Joseph's  Academy.  Her  father,  Theodore  Frick,  came  from 
Germany  to  Richmond  in  1850  and  organized  the  Theodore  Frick 
Packing  Company,  one  of  the  early  meat  packing  houses  of  Vir- 
ginia. Theodore  Frick  married,  in  Richmond,  Miss  Christine 
Wunsch,  who  also  came  from  Germany.  They  had  six  children : 
Mrs.  Caroline  Oeters,  deceased ;  Theodore  F.,  now  deceased,  who 


VIRGINIA  91 

continued  the  packing  business  after  the  death  of  his  father; 
Emma,  whose  first  husband  was  Charles  Frommer,  and  she  is 
now  the  wife  of  William  H.  Essig;  Mrs.  Metzger;  Alvina  W., 
who  married  J.  H.  Leisfield  and  has  two  children,  J.  H.  Jr.,  and 
Marie,  wife  of  J.  Cunningham  and  mother  of  a  daughter,  Eliza- 
beth Cunningham ;  and  Pauline,  wife  of  W.  P.  Klein,  a  Richmond 
merchant,  and  they  have  two  daughters,  Mrs.  Robert  Waldbauer, 
who  has  a  son,  Robert,  and  Mrs.  H.  Waldbauer,  whose  two  sons 
are  Walter  and  Henry.  Mr.  H.  Waldbauer  is  a  member  of  the 
firm  Boedecker  Drug  Company  of  Richmond. 

Randolph  G.  Whittle.  Among  the  younger  members  of 
the  legal  fraternity  who  are  practicing  at  the  bar  of  Roanoke, 
one  who  has  made  rapid  strides  in  his  profession  and  is  gaining 
prestige  and  a  large  and  important  clientage  is  Randolph  G. 
Whittle.  While  his  career  has  not  been  as  lengthy  as  many 
others  of  his  fellow  practitioners  whose  biographies  appear  in 
this  volume,  he  has  made  such  good  use  of  his  opportunities  and 
has  brought  his  natural  abilities  into  play  so  energetically  that 
he  has  already  attained  a  place  in  his  profession  beyond  that  of 
many  men  who  are  his  senior  in  years  and  experience. 

Mr.  Whittle  comes  of  good  legal  stock,  and  was  born  May  4, 
1900,  at  Martinsville,  Virginia,  a  son  of  Judge  Stafford  G.  and 
Ruth  (Drewry)  Whittle.  His  father,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and 
a  member  of  a  fine  old  Southern  family,  received  excellent  edu- 
cational advantages  in  his  youth,  at  Washington  &  Lee  Uni- 
versity and  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  prosecuted 
his  legal  studies.  Judge  Whittle  commenced  practice  at  Mar- 
tinsville, where  almost  immediately  he  gained  a  position  at  the 
bar.  In  a  number  of  cases  that  attracted  widespread  interest 
and  attention  he  secured  recognition,  and  as  a  consequence  he 
soon  was  elevated  to  the  bench,  where  he  rendered  splendid 
service.  For  many  years  he  was  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Virginia,  retiring  in  December,  1919,  after  a  service  of  two 
decades,  during  the  last  five  years  of  which  he  was  president  of 
the  court.  He  is  now  living  in  comfortable  and  honored  retire- 
ment at  Martinsville,  where  Mrs.  Whittle  died  in  1923.  Few 
Virginia  judges  have  made  a  more  favorable  impression  upon 
the  people  of  their  day  than  Judge  Whittle.  A  man  of  profound 
learning  in  legal  lore,  he  was  possessed  of  the  judicial  tem- 
perament, and  was  wise,  temperate  and  at  all  times  fair-minded. 
His  retirement  from  the  Supreme  bench  removed  therefrom  one 
who  possessed  all  the  elementals  of  judicial  distinction. 

Randolph  G.  Whittle  attended  the  grammar  and  high  schools 
of  Martinsville,  following  which  he  entered  Washington  and  Lee 
University,  and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1924,  with  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Law.  Immediately  thereafter  he  engaged 
in  practice  at  Roanoke,  where  he  has  since  continued  with  con- 
stantly increasing  success.  He  has  specialized  in  no  subject,  his 
business  being  of  a  general  civil  character,  and  the  success  that 
he  has  gained  has  come  through  constant  industry  and  able 
application  of  the  knowledge  gained  through  thorough  prepara- 
tion. Mr.  Whittle  is  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  City  Bar  Associa- 
tion, the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association  and  the  American  Bar 
Association.  He  was  president  of  the  student  body  during  his 
last  year  at  college,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Phi  Kappa  Sigma 
academic  fraternity,  Phi  Delta  Phi  legal  fraternity  and  Omicron 
Delta  Kappa  honorary  fraternity.  Mr.  Whittle  is  likewise  a 
Scottish  Rite  Mason,  and  in  politics  is  a  Democrat.    While  he  is 


92  VIRGINIA 

greatly  interested  in  civic  affairs  and  is  a  modern  citizen  of  en- 
lightened views,  he  finds  his  practice  sufficiently  engrossing  and 
interesting  to  take  up  all  his  time.  He  is  unmarried  and  a  mem- 
ber of  St.  John's  Episcopal  Church. 

..  Prof.  Elbert  Murray  Coulter.  The  art  of  drawing  out  or 
developing  the  faculties,  or  the  training  of  human  beings  for 
the  functions  in  life  for  which  they  are  destined,  more  com- 
monly known  as  education,  means  the  imparting  or  gaining  of 
knowledge  of  every  kind,  good  as  well  as  evil,  but  specifically  it 
signifies  all  that  broadens  an  individual's  mind,  develops  his 
tastes,  corrects  his  manners  and  molds  his  habits.  In  a  still 
more  limited  sense  it  means  any  course  of  training  pursued  by 
parents,  teachers  or  a  whole  community  to  train  the  young 
physically,  morally  and  mentally.  In  recent  years,  in  answer 
to  a  constantly  growing  demand  for  training  along 'commercial 
lines,  there  have  come  into  existence  many  institutions  which 
fit  their  students  for  the  serious  business  problems  of  life. 
Among  the  leaders  in  this  field  is  the  National  Business  College 
of  Roanoke,  Virginia,  of  which  Prof.  Elbert  Murray  Coulter  is 
president.  Professor  Coulter's  own  life  is  an  inspiration  to  his 
students,  as  he  started  his  career  a  poor  youth  and  has  worked 
his  own  way,  unaided,  to  prosperity  and  position. 

Professor  Coulter  was  born  July  31,  1871,  at  Pittsfield,  Illi- 
nois, and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Jones)  Coulter.  His 
paternal  grandfather  was  John  Coulter,  who  was  born  in  Ireland 
and  as  a  young  man  came  to  the  United  States  and  settled  in 
Canada,  later  moving  to  Ohio  and  still  later  moving  to  Western 
Illinois,  where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  agricultural 
operations.  His  maternal  grandfather,  Isaac  Jones,  married 
Martha  Preble,  a  descendant  of  Commodore  Preble,  U.  S.  N.,  a 
hero  of  the  Tripolitan  war  between  the  United  States  and  Tripoli 
in  1801-1805,  which  was  caused  by  the  refusal  of  this  country 
to  increase  its  payment  for  immunity  from  the  depredations  of 
the  Tripolitan  Corsairs.  After  several  conflicts  by  sea  and  land 
peace  was  concluded  June  4,  1805.  John  Coulter,  the  father  of 
Professor  Coulter,  was  born  in  Ohio,  whence  he  removed  in 
young  manhood  to  Illinois  and  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits 
in  the  vicinity  of  Pittsfield.  He  later  moved  with  his  wife  to 
Missouri,  ancl  there  they  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives. 
Mr.  Coulter  was  a  Republican  in  his  political  views,  and  he  and 
his  wife  were  faithful  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Of  their  ten  children  only  two  are  living,  Elbert  Mur- 
ray being  the  second  in  order  of  birth. 

Elbert  Murray  Coulter  attended  the  public  schools  of  Illinois 
and  Missouri,  and  supplemented  this  by  a  course  at  a  normal 
school  in  Kansas.  He  entered  upon  his  career  as  a  teacher  at 
the  Saint  Joseph  Business  University,  Saint  Joseph,  Missouri, 
and  in  1896  came  to  Roanoke,  Virginia,  to  take  a  professorship 
in  the  National  Business  College  at  a  salary  of  sixty  dollars  per 
month.  Aside  from  his  meager  salary  he  possessed  nothing,  but 
was  thrifty  and  economical,  and  by  1898  had  saved  enough  to 
buy  a  half-interest  in  the  institution.  Two  years  later  he  became 
sole  owner  by  purchase  and  commenced  his  independent  opera- 
tions in  a  little  building  which  was  entirely  inadequate  for  his 
needs,  but  the  best  he  could  afford  in  the  circumstances.  At 
the  end  of  thirteen  years  he  found  himself  in  possession  of  suf- 
ficient capital  to  buy  a  lot  and  erect  a  building  on  Church  Street, 


VIRGINIA  93 

where  he  remained  for  ten  years,  and  then  bought  his  present 
quarters  from  the  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles  in  1919.  Later 
he  found  it  necessary  to  build  an  addition  to  this  structure,  and 
in  1928  another  addition  was  constructed,  so  that  at  the  present 
time  the  school  has  40,000  square  feet  of  floor  space.  Because 
of  the  able  manner  in  which  it  has  been  conducted  and  the  high 
standard  which  has  always  been  maintained  by  Professor 
Coulter  the  school  has  prospered  greatly,  and  is  now  one  of  the 
leading  institutions  of  its  kind  in  the  country,  having  an  average 
of  from  700  to  800  students  annually,  and  employing  a  teaching 
staff  of  fifteen  able  and  experienced  instructors.  Its  curriculum 
includes  all  of  the  regular  branches,  fitting  its  graduates  to 
take  well  salaried  positions  in  business  life  and  equipping  them 
in  a  modern  and  capable  manner  to  meet  and  solve  the  problems 
of  business  life  and  self-support.  Professor  Coulter  is  greatly 
interested  in  civic  aflTairs,  but  makes  his  home  in  the  country  on 
a  farm  located  five  miles  from  Roanoke,  where  the  family  enjoy 
the  rural  existence,  and  where  he  conducts  a  model  dairy  farm 
with  Holstein  cattle.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  of  the  Board  of  Deacons  thereof,  and  fraternally 
is  a  York  Rite  Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He 
is  a  stanch  Democrat  in  his  political  views,  but  has  not  cared 
for  public  office. 

In  1902  Professor  Coulter  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Mary  Elva  Keedick,  who  was  born  at  Mount  Vernon,  Iowa,  and 
educated  at  Cornell  College  in  that  community,  and  taught  in 
the  same  schools  where  her  husband  was  an  instructor.  To  this 
union  there  have  been  born  two  children :  Dorothy  Viola,  who 
attended  high  school  at  Roanoke,  spent  one  year  at  the  National 
Business  College  and  two  years  at  Hollins  College,  and  is  now 
completing  her  education  at  Columbia  University,  New  York ; 
and  Murray  Keedick,  who  is  attending'high  school  at  Roanoke. 

Hon.  Martin  A.  Hutchinson,  secretary  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Virginia,  is  truly  a  self-made  young  man,  and  through 
his  own  efforts,  aided  by  the  inspiration  and  helpfulness  of  his 
father  and  mother,  has  achieved  his  present  success  in  life. 
While  he  has  strong  personal  political  influence  at  Richmond 
and  throughout  Virginia,  he  may  justly  take  pride  in  the  fact 
that  his  elevation  to  the  important  position  he  now  holds  is 
due  solely  to  merit  and  as  a  reward  for  faithful  and  efficient 
service  rendered,  and  not  to  the  weight  of  this  influence.  As  the 
Richmond-Times  Dispatch  said  editorially  in  part  of  his  ap- 
pointment: 

"Prompt  elevation  of  Martin  A.  Hutchinson  from  chief  clerk 
to  secretary  of  the  Commonwealth  augurs  well  for  the  future 
appointments  to  be  made  by  Governor  Harry  F.  Byrd  under  the 
governmental  reorganization  plan  adopted  by  the  extra  session 
of  the  General  Assembly.  Without  permitting  politics  to  enter 
into  the  selection  of  a  successor  of  the  late  Colonel  B.  0.  James, 
the  Governor  made  an  appointment  which  was  a  recognition  of 
services  rendered  and  an  implied  promise  that  faithful  work 
will  be  rewarded  in  other  departments. 

"While  one  of  the  youngest  men  to  occupy  such  an  important 

post  as  secretary  of  the  Commonwealth,  Mr.  Hutchinson  is  well 

qualified  to  perform  the  duties.     He  first  came  into  the  service 

of  the  State  as  assistant  to  James  M.  Hayes,  Jr.,  then  chief  clerk 

•  to  Colonel  James.    He  soon  had  a  fine  grasp  of  the  duties  of  the 

5— VOL.  3 


94  VIRGINIA 

office,  and  on  the  elevation  of  Mr.  Hayes  to  the  post  of  Motor 
Vehicle  Commissioner,  Mr.  Hutchinson  stepped  into  his  shoes. 

"As  chief  clerk  Mr.  Hutchinson  has  been  carrying  the  bur- 
den of  the  office  for  many  months,  owing  to  the  physical  condi- 
tion of  Colonel  James,  who  could  give  little  more  than  a  cursory 
supervision  of  the  work.  In  addition  to  the  many  duties  of  the 
office  Mr.  Hutchinson  has  found  time  to  reorganize  the  Land 
Office,  where  untold  history  lies  concealed  in  musty  documents 
long  forgotten.  He  holds  the  position  of  secretary  to  the  State 
Democratic  Committee,  which  he  has  filled  with  credit  for 
several  years." 

Martin  A.  Hutchinson  was  born  near  Newport,  Giles  County, 
Virginia,  September  13,  1892,  a  son  of  Daniel  Mason  and  Theresa 
Viola  (Jones)  Hutchinson.  The  mother  passed  away  in  March, 
1928.  Mr.  Hutchinson,  Sr.,  still  makes  his  home  at  Newport, 
Giles  County.  The  Hutchinsons  are  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry, 
the  sturdy  race  that,  migrating  from  Pennsylvania,  founded  and 
continued  to  maintain  the  forces  of  civilization  in  the  Appala- 
chian region  of  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas. 

For  many  years  Daniel  Mason  Hutchinson  was  a  country 
school  teacher,  and  he  is  a  man  of  scholarship,  a  fine  type  of 
citizen  whose  concern  for  the  home,  the  church,  the  school  and 
the  state  develops  and  maintains  the  truly  Christian  and  civilized 
community.  The  home  life  of  the  Hutchinsons  has  been  always 
ideal,  and  this  ideal  has  been  transmitted  to  the  rising  genera- 
tion. The  paternal  grandfather  of  Mr.  Hutchinson  of  this  re- 
view was  George  W.  Hutchinson,  of  Craig  County,  Virginia,  a 
man  of  genuine  prominence  and  great  influence  in  his  day.  The 
maternal  uncle  of  Secretary  Hutchinson,  the  late  Judge  P.  V. 
Jones,  of  Newcastle,  Craig  County,  Virginia,  was  for  several 
years  judge  of  the  Court  of  Craig  County,  and  widely  known  in 
public  life.  Both  the  Hutchinson  and  Jones  families  in  fact  have 
been  for  many  years  very  active  factors  in  the  public  affairs  of 
the  Old  Dominion. 

Growing  up  in  his  native  community,  Martin  A.  Hutchinson 
attended  the  graded  and  high  schools  of  Newport,  after  which 
he  took  a  thorough  commercial  training  in  the  Roanoke,  Vir- 
ginia, Business  College.  Following  his  graduation  from  the 
last  named  institution  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Bank  of 
Pembroke,  Giles  County,  Virginia.  While  with  this  bank  he  was 
appointed  deputy  county  treasurer  of  Giles  County,  and  was 
serving  in  both  capacities  when  his  career  was  interrupted  by 
the  call  of  his  country,  and  he  resigned  from  both  to  enter  the 
service  for  the  World  war.  He  took  his  training  in  the  Officers 
Training  Camp,  Fort  Humphreys,  Virginia,  and  was  still  sta- 
tioned thei-e  when  the  armistice  was  declared.  Honorably  dis- 
charged from  the  army,  he  returned  to  Newport  and  civilian  life. 

In  1920  through  the  efforts  of  Governor  Trinkle,  then  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Virginia  State  Senate,  he  was  appointed  to  a  clerk- 
ship. During  the  regular  session  of  1922  and  the  extra  session 
of  1923  Mr.  Hutchinson  had  the  honor  of  serving  as  clerk  of 
the  Virginia  Senate.  Following  this  service  he  was  appointed  to 
a  position  in  the  office  of  the  late  Col.  B.  0.  James,  first  as  assist- 
ant to  the  chief  clerk  and  later  as  chief  clerk,  and  finally,  after 
the  death  of  Colonel  James,  he  was  appointed  secretary  of  the 
commonwealth,  as  already  stated.  As  may  be  gathered  from  the 
editorial  quoted  above,  this  appointment  met  with  general 
approval,  for  Mr.  Hutchinson  is  a  young  man  who  has  proven  his 


"^.. 


Zlu^c^^^ 


VIRGINIA  95 

worth  in  whatever  he  has  undertaken.  He  has  not  only  ability, 
but  initiative,  and  has  never  been  content  to  rest  upon  the  mere 
performance  of  the  duties  assigned  him,  but  is  ever  reaching  out 
for  more  opportunities  for  service,  and  a  man  is  never  doing 
better  service  than  when  he  is  trying  to  raise  the  standards  of 
commercial  or  political  morality.  The  condition  of  political 
morality  is  especially  important,  for  its  influence  works  down- 
ward through  all  the  grades  of  society,  and  a  country  that  is 
corrupt  at  the  top  cannot  expect  to  be  better  at  the  bottom. 
Public  service  means  that  every  department  of  public  life  shall 
be  conducted  in  the  best  possible  manner  for  the  welfare  of 
the  largest  number,  and  to  accomplish  this  and  to  inspire  others 
to  follow  his  example  Mr.  Hutchinson  is  devoting  his  time,  his 
ability  and  his  whole  heart. 

Mr.  Hutchinson  married  Miss  Mary  Estelle  Givens,  of  Craig 
County,  Virginia,  and  they  have  a  daughter,  Madge  Givens 
Hutchinson.  Mr.  Hutchinson  belongs  to  Newport  Lodge  No. 
261,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.  He  is  a  consistent  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South.  An  ardent  Democrat,  he  has 
given  his  party  loyal  support,  and  is  serving  it  as  secretary  of 
the  State  Executive  Committee. 

On  December  20,  1927,  Mr.  Hutchinson  passed  the  bar  exam- 
ination and  is  now  qualified  to  practice  law.  In  order  to  do  this 
he  studied  at  night,  and  he  has  gained  the  reputation  of  being 
specially  conversant  with  election  laws,  on  which  he  is  con- 
sidered an  expert.  His  office  handles  all  such  cases,  and  he  is 
therefore  well  qualified. 

Waller  Jameson,  M.  D.  The  opportunities  in  medicine  are 
are  attractive  to  a  certain  type  of  man  to  whom  they  give  an 
occupation  in  which  he  can  use  all  the  intellectual  energy  and 
faculties  he  has.  It  requires  technical  skill  based  on  scientific 
knowledge  to  be  a  physician,  but,  unlike  many  scientific  pursuits, 
does  not  take  a  man  out  of  contact  with  the  everyday  world.  On 
the  contrary  it  puts  him  in  contact  with  men  in  an  unusually 
intimate  way,  appealing  to  the  man  who  is  interested  in  his  fel- 
lows and  who  has  an  altruistic  bent.  Finally  it  gives  him  an 
honorable  opening  to  make  a  living.  The  material  rewards  of 
medicine,  however,  never  were  and  are  not  now  commensurate 
with  those  of  other  vocations  equally  exacting  and  responsible. 
But  the  rewards,  if  not  large,  are  dependable,  and  the  conscien- 
tious practitioner  has  also  the  gratification  that  comes  from 
a  sense  of  social  service  and  from  the  esteem  and  gratitude  of 
those  he  serves.  Such  facts  as  the  above  apply  directly  to  Dr. 
Waller  Jameson,  one  of  the  able  physicians  and  surgeons  of 
Roanoke,  a  man  of  the  highest  standing,  and  a  member  of  one 
of  the  old  and  honored  families  of  Virginia.  He  was  born  in 
Lynchburg,  Campbell  County,  Virginia,  April  15,  1878,  a  son  of 
Morton  Clifford  and  Marie  Frances  (Ferguson)  Jameson,  na- 
tives of  Stafford  County  and  Franklin  County,  Virginia,  respec- 
tively, both  of  whom  are  now  deceased.  For  thirty-five  years 
prior  to  his  death  in  1903  the  father  was  connected  with  the 
Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad,  and  rose  to  be  its  comptroller.  The 
mother  died  in  1892,  having  borne  her  husband  seven  children, 
five  of  whom  are  living,  and  of  them  all  Doctor  Jameson  is  the 
youngest.  The  father  was  an  Episcopalian,  and  a  vestryman  of 
the  church.  High  in  Masonry,  he  was  advanced  through  all  of 
the  bodies  of  the  Scottish  Rite  and  to  the  thirty-second  degree. 


96  VIRGINIA 

A  strong  Democrat,  he  worked  hard  for  his  party,  and  at  one 
time  was  city  collector  of  taxes  in  Lynchburg. 

Doctor  Jameson  had  the  advantage  of  attending  the  excellent 
public  schools  of  Philadelphia,  where  his  father  lived  for  twelve 
years,  and  he  took  his  preliminary  medical  course  in  Randolph- 
Macon  College,  and  his  regular  medical  training  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  being  graduated  therefrom  in  1903,  with 
the  degree  Doctor  of  Medicine.  For  a  year  thereafter  he  was 
abroad  studying  in  the  East  London  General  Hospital  and  the 
Rotunda  Hospital,  Dublin,  Ireland.  Returning  to  Virginia,  he 
established  himself  in  practice  in  Roanoke  in  1905,  and  here  he 
has  since  carried  on  a  general  practice,  building  up  a  large  con- 
nection and  winning  and  holding  the  confidence  and  affectionate 
respect  of  all  with  whom  he  is  associated. 

In  1905  Doctor  Jameson  married  Miss  Frances  Chalmers, 
who  was  born  in  Lafayette,  Kentucky,  and  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Danville,  Chatham,  and  in  Chatham  Institute. 
There  are  no  children.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Jameson  have  long  been 
members  of  Saint  John's  Episcopal  Church  of  Roanoke.  While 
in  college  he  made  Sigma  Chi,  Pi  Mu,  the  Tilka  Club  and  the 
Thirteen  Club,  an  honorary  organization.  He  maintains  mem- 
bership with  the  Roanoke  County  Medical  Society,  the  Virginia 
State  Medical  Society,  the  Tri-State  Medical  Society  and  the 
American  Medical  Association,  and  the  Shenandoah  Club  of 
Roanoke,  Virginia. 

Joseph  A.  Rucker,  M.  D.  has  a  professional  record  in  Bed- 
ford County  covering  a  third  of  a  century.  He  is  an  able  doctor, 
and  had  likewise  made  himself  indispensable  as  a  citizen  of  his 
community. 

Doctor  Rucker  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  June  27,  1871, 
son  of  M.  p.  and  Sallie  Fannie  (Parker)  Rucker.  The  Rucker 
family  came  from  France,  and  some  of  his  ancestors  were 
soldiers  in  the  Revolution.  His  grandfather  Anthony  Rucker 
was  a  farmer  in  Bedford  County.  The  maternal  grandfather 
Joseph  Parker  was  both  a  farmer  and  local  Baptist  Preacher. 
M.  p.  Rucker  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  spent  his  life  as  a 
farmer  except  for  the  four  years  he  was  a  soldier  in  the  Con- 
federate Army  and  died  in  1926.  His  wife  was  educated  in  the 
Roanoke  Institute  at  Danville  and  died  February  4,  1924.  They 
were  the  parents  of  six  children :  Annie  M.,  wife  of  William 
Southerland  of  Franklin  County;  David  H.  and  William  P., 
farmers  and  merchants  in  Bedford  County ;  Dr.  Joseph  A. ;  Dr. 
M.  P.,  a  physician  at  Bedford ;  and  Sallie  Margaret  wife  of  Ira 
P.  Dixon  of  Covington,  Virginia.  Doctor  Rucker's  father  was 
a  Methodist  and  his  mother  a  Baptist,  both  being  active  in  their 
Church.  He  served  for  a  number  of  years  as  superintendent  of 
the  Sunday  school,  and  was  also  on  the  School  Board  and  a 
justice  of  the  peace. 

Joseph  A.  Rucker  was  educated  in  the  Sunnyside  School  near 
Bedford,  the  New  London  Academy,  the  University  of  Virginia 
where  he  began  to  study  medicine  and  in  1893  graduated  from 
the  University  of  Louisville.  For  eighteen  months  he  practiced 
and  then  returned  to  Bedford,  where  he  has  carried  on  his  pro- 
fessional work  thirty-three  years.  He  is  local  surgeon  for  the 
Norfolk  &  Western  Railway,  physician  to  the  Elks  National 
Home  and  physician  to  the  Randolph-Macon  Academy,  while 
the  rest  of  his  time  is  taken  up  with  his  duties  as  a  general 


VIRGINIA  97 

practitioner.  He  is  now  County  Healtii  Officer  of  Bedford 
County  and  for  twenty  years  was  secretary  and  has  also  served 
as  president  of  the  Bedford  County  Medical  Society.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia  and  the  American 
Medical  Association.  Doctor  Rucker  is  a  director  of  the  Citizens 
National  Bank  of  Bedford,  is  Independent  in  politics,  is  Past 
Master  of  Liberty  Lodge  of  Masons  at  Bedford,  past  district 
deputy  grand  master  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks  at  Lynchburg. 

He  married  in  1901,  Miss  Eliza  Cauthorn,  a  native  of  Bed- 
ford, where  her  father  Dr.  George  Cauthorn  practiced  medicine 
for  many  years.  She  was  educated  in  the  Belmont  Seminary  at 
Bedford.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Rucker  have  four  children :  Joseph 
A.  Junior,  member  of  the  class  of  1928  and  William  Vincent, 
member  of  the  class  of  1929  in  Washington  and  Lee  University 
at  Lexington ;  Ambrose  A.  and  Virginia  Browning,  twins,  both 
attending  public  school  at  Bedford.  Doctor  Rucker  is  a  deacon 
in  the  Baptist  Church  and  teaches  an  adult  class  of  fifty  mem- 
bers. This  is  a  very  brief  statement  of  the  principal  activities 
and  services  of  one  of  the  best  known  citizens  of  Bedford  County. 

Walter  A.  Fitzpatrick  is  a  Bedford  City  banker,  a  native 
of  Bedford  County,  grew  up  on  a  farm,  has  contrived  his  own 
opportunities  and  has  made  an  important  success  of  his  career. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Bedford  County  in  1865,  son  of 
Hiram  A.  and  Lucinda  (Preston)  Fitzpatrick,  his  father  a 
native  of  Buckingham  County  and  his  mother  of  Bedford 
County.  Hiram  Fitzpatrick  was  a  tanner  and  harness  maker, 
and  during  the  war  between  the  North  and  South  employed  the 
resources  of  his  business  in  making  leather  for  the  Confederate 
government.  He  served  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  was  a  Demo- 
crat and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  while  his  first  wife, 
who  died  in  1868,  was  a  Baptist.  She  was  the  mother  of  five 
children,  the  two  now  living  being  Walter  A.  and  Mrs.  J.  S. 
Saunders.  By  a  second  marriage  there  was  a  son,  Burke  Fitz- 
patrick, who  is  now  an  instructor  in  the  State  Teachers  College 
at  Radford,  Virginia. 

Walter  A.  Fitzpatrick  while  a  boy  attended  one  of  the  old 
Field  schools  in  Bedford  County,  continuing  his  education  in 
the  Hales  Ford  College  in  Franklin  County,  and  spent  one 
session  at  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  at  Blacksburg.  Mr. 
Fitzpatrick  in  1886,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  began  clerking 
at  Bedford  in  the  Liberty  Woolen  Mills.  He  was  there  three 
years,  for  one  year  was  employed  in  the  county  clerk's  oilice, 
and  one  year  with  a  commission  house  at  Lynchburg.  He 
returned  to  Bedford  to  become  an  employee  of  the  Bedford 
branch  of  the  Lynchburg  Trust  &  Savings  Bank.  From  that 
time  to  the  present  his  best  energies  have  been  devoted  to  the 
banking  business.  In  1901  when  the  Peoples  Bank  was  organ- 
ized he  was  made  its  cashier.  In  1919  this  bank  became  the 
Peoples  National  Bank,  and  for  the  past  five  years  Mr.  Fitz- 
patrick has  been  the  active  vice  president  of  the  institution.  He 
has  other  business  interests  in  Bedford  and  conducts  an  insur- 
ance business. 

He  married  in  1893,  Mamie  Turner,  who  was  born  in  Bed- 
ford County  and  was  educated  there  and  at  Lynchburg,  and 
taught  school  for  a  time.  Her  father,  ]Milton  J.  Turner,  was  a 
well  known  resident  of  Bedford  County.  Mrs.  Fitzpatrick  died 
in  1896.  In  1907  he  married  Caroline  White  of  Pittsylvania 
County,  daughter  of  B.  S.  White.    Mrs.  Fitzpatrick  finished  her 


98  VIRGINIA 

education  in  the  Peace  Institute  at  Raleigh,  North  CaroHna. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  is  active  in 
the  Methodist  Church  at  Bedford,  being  a  steward  of  the  church 
and  has  been  a  regular  attendant  and  worker  in  the  Sunday 
school  for  a  number  of  years. 

Martin  P.  Burks,  Jr.  In  the  allotments  of  human  life  few 
individuals,  comparatively,  attain  to  true  eminence.  It  is  an 
interesting  and  curious  study  to  note  how  opportunity  waits  on 
fitness  and  capacity,  so  that  all  at  last  fill  the  places  for  which 
they  are  best  qualified.  In  the  profession  of  law  there  is  no 
royal  road  to  promotion.  Its  high  rewards  are  gained  by  dili- 
gent study  and  long  and  tedious  attention  to  elementary  prin- 
ciples, and  are  awarded  only  to  those  who  develop,  in  the  arena 
of  forensic  strife,  characters  of  integrity  and  moral  worth.  All 
men  generally  fall  into  the  niches  of  the  elaborate  edifice  of  life 
that  they  are  qualified  to  fill.  However  "natural  selection"  may 
work  in  the  production  of  species,  there  is  a  wondrous  selection 
in  the  sifting  out  of  the  fittest  from  the  mass  of  common  mate- 
rial that  crowds  all  the  avenues  of  the  law.  In  that  most  diffi- 
cult and  perplexing  vocation  the  very  occupation  of  superior 
position  argues  for  its  possessor  solid  ability,  signal  skill,  sound 
learning  and  untiring  industry.  These  are  characteristics  to  be 
noted  in  the  career  of  Martin  P.  Burks,  Jr.,  a  leading  member  of 
the  Roanoke  bar. 

Mr.  Burks  was  born  April  3,  1882,  at  Liberty,  Virginia,  now 
Bedford,  and  is  a  son  of  Prof.  Martin  P.  and  Roberta  (Gambrell) 
Burks,  natives  of  Liberty,  Virginia.  A  member  of  an  old  and 
honored  family,  Professor  Burks  was  given  the  best  of  educa- 
tional advantages,  and  after  graduating  from  Washington  and 
Lee  University  at  Lexington,  Virginia,  pursued  a  law  course  at 
the  University  of  Virginia.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Bedford,  this  state, 
appearing  in  litigated  cases  and  developing  an  aptitude  and 
capacity  for  forensic  practice.  Eventually,  in  1899,  he  was 
called  to  a  professorship  at  Washington  and  Lee  University, 
where  he  was  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  this  noted  institution 
for  many  years.  He  was  accounted  one  of  the  best  legists  in 
the  state  and  one  who  had  no  superior  as  an  instructor  of  young 
lawyers. 

Martin  P.  Burks  the  younger  seems  to  have  inherited  his 
father's  predilection  and  ability  for  the  law  and  was  given  every 
opportunity  to  develop  his  talents.  He  attended  Randolph- 
Macon  Academy  and  the  Episcopal  High  School  at  Alexandria, 
Virginia,  for  two  years,  following  which  he  completed  his  prepa- 
rations at  Washington  and  Lee  University  and  graduated  in 
1905  with  the  degree  Bachelor  of  Law.  Mr.  Burks  commenced 
the  practice  of  his  calling  at  Christianburg,  Virginia,  but  after 
a  short  time  went  to  Bristol  and  later  to  Big  Stone  Gap,  subse- 
quently returning  to  Bristol.  Eventually,  in  1912,  he  settled 
permanently  at  Roanoke,  where  he  has  since  been  engaged  in  a 
general  practice,  his  present  offices  being  located  in  the  Boxley 
Building.  He  has  attained  a  recognized  position  in  his  profes- 
sion, and  is  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  City  Bar  Association. 
While  at  the  Episcopal  High  School  he  was  a  member  of  the 
debating  society,  and  also  of  the  Sigma  Chi  fraternity  while  at 
Washington  and  Lee  University.  He  became  a  charter  member 
of  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose  at  Roanoke  when  that  order  was 
established  at  this  place,  and  has  a  number  of  civic  and  o+her 


VIRGINIA  99 

connections.  In  politics  Mr.  Burks  is  a  Democrat,  but  has  pre- 
ferred to  devote  himself  to  his  profession  rather  than  to  the 
doubtful  honors  of  public  hfe  or  the  constant  bickerings  and 
struggles  of  political  activities.  With  his  family  he  belongs  to 
Christ  Church,  Episcopal. 

On  February  4,  1908,  Mr.  Burks  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Laura  French  Mangum  Oglesby,  who  was  born'in  North 
Carolina  and  educated  at  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College,  and 
tau<i:ht  school  for  two  years  prior  to  her  marriage.  To  this 
union  there  were  born  four  children:  Martin  P.  Ill,  a  student  at 
Washington  and  Lee  University;  Albert  Oglesby,. who  graduated 
from  high  school  in  1929;  Laura  French  Mangum,  who  is  at- 
tending school;  and  Edward  Calohill,  who  commenced  school  in 
the  fall  of  1927.  ■  • 

Thomas  Fraser,  who  died  at  Richmond  March  10,  1925, 
was  prominent  not  only  in  that  city  but  over  the  state  as  a  doctor 
of  veterinary  medicine,  and  in  the  course  of  his  long  experience 
in  private  practice  he  did  much  to  improve  the  standards  of  the 
profession  throughout  the  state. 

He  was  of  pure  Scotch  ancestry  on  both  sides  and  was  born 
in  Inverness,  Scotland,  June  2,  1864.  His  father  was  Robert 
Fraser,  and  he  was  the  second  son  in  a  family  of  six  children. 

His  early  education  was  acquired  in  Inverness,  Scotland,  and 
several  years  later  he  came  to  America  and  located  at  Richmond 
in  1886,  entering  a  partnership  with  Mr.  F.  Finlayson  in  the 
latter's  blacksmith  shop.  He  was  made  a  member  of  the  firm 
of  Finlayson  and  Fraser,  and  when  Mr.  Finlayson  died  Mr. 
Fraser  continued  the  business,  finally'  selling  it  to  his  brother, 
who  died  in  1926.  In  the  meantime  Thomas  Fraser  turned  his 
attention  to  veterinary  medicine  and  in  1901  was  graduated 
from  the  Veterinary  College  of  Toronto,  Canada.  From  that 
date  until  his  death  he  carried  oil  an  extensive  practice  with 
headquarters  at  Richmond,  and  during  that  time  he  served  as 
secretary  of  the  Virginia  State  Veterinary  Medical  Association, 
and  was  also  a  member  of  the  legislative  committee  of  the  State 
Board  of  Examiners.  Doctor  Fraser  was  an  interested  student 
of  Masonry,  served  as  master  of  Amity  Lodge  No.  76,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  and  was  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
Shriner.     He  and  his  family  were  Presbyterians. 

He  married,  August  8,  1888,  Miss  Jessie  Anderson  Rankine, 
who  was  reared  and  educated  in  Lanark,  Scotland.  She  was  the 
seventh  of  the  twelve  children  of  Jahies  and  Jessie  (Anderson) 
Rankine.  Mrs.  Fraser  survives  her  husband  and  resides  at 
2623  Hanover  Avenue  in  Richmond. 

Robert  T.  Hubard.  Virginia  attorney,  is  a  residen,t  of  Salem, 
and  has  served  consecutively  for  over  three  terms  as  common- 
wealth attorney  of  Roanoke  County. 

He  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  July  7,  1881,,  son  of 
Rev.  E.  W.  and  Julia  L.  (Taylor)  Hubard.  His  father  was 
born  on  a  plantation  in  Buckingham,  Virginia,  in  1841.  and  when 
about  twenty  years  of  age  he  enrolled  in  the  Buckingham  Troop 
of  the  Fourth  Virginia  Cavalry.  He  was  wounded  early  in  his 
service  and  was  unable  to  rejoin  his  command  until  1863.  After 
the  war  he  studied  in  the  Episcopal  Seminary,  was  ordained  in 
1868,  and  for  nearly  half  a  century  was  active  in  the  ministry, 
serving  pastorates  in  Fincastle,  Brandon,  Lynchburg,  Washing- 


100  VIRGINIA 

ton,  Salem,  and  at  Owensboro,  Kentucky.  He  died  August  8, 
1915.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  at  Lynchburg. 
Rev.  E.  W.  Hubard,  whose  father  was  R.  T.  Hubard,  married 
Julia  L.  Taylor,  who  was  born  in  Caroline  County,  Virginia, 
daughter  of  Henry  Taylor,  a  Virginia  planter.  She  died  Novem- 
ber 16,  1918,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six.  They  had  three  chil- 
dren :  Julia  T.,  deceased,  E.  B.  Hubard,  a  civil  and  mining  engi- 
neer at  Livingston,  Montana,  and  Robert  T. 

Robert  T.  Hubard,  who  has  never  married,  was  educated 
under  his  parents  and  also  in  private  schools  at  Salem,  gradu- 
ated in  1901  with  the  A.  B.  degree  from  Roanoke  College,  and 
took  his  law  course  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  graduating  in 
1907.  During  the  four  years  between  his  college  course  and 
entering  law  school  he  worked  in  the  oil  fields  of  West  Virginia. 
Mr.  Hubard  since  1907  has  practiced  law  at  Salem.  In  1914  he 
was  appointed  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term  as  commonwealth 
attorney,  and  since  then  has  been  elected  for  three  successive 
terms. 

During  the  World  war  Mr.  Hubard  was  United  States  appeal 
agent.  He  has  interested  himself  in  various  movements  for 
public  improvement,  particularly  education  and  good  roads.  He 
is  a  past  master  of  the  Masonic  Lodge,  member  of  the  Independ- 
ent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  a  Democrat  in  politics.  His 
church  home  is  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church  at  Salem. 

Charles  Hilton  Weber  has  become  one  of  the  prominent 
figures  in  connection  with  public  utility  service  in  Virginia, 
maintains  his  executive  headquarters  in  the  City  of  Richmond, 
and  here  he  served  as  division  manager  of  the  Chesapeake  & 
Potomac  Telephone  Company  from  1913  until  May,  1927,  when 
he  was  advanced  to  his  present  office,  that  of  vice-president. 

Mr.  Weber  is  a  representative  of  one  of  the  old  and  influen- 
tial citizens  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  in  which  city  he  was  born 
January  7,  1879.  He  is  a  son  of  the  late  August  Weber,  who 
was  for  many  years  president  of  the  National  Central  Bank  of 
Baltimore,  an  institution  that  was  founded  by  his  father, 
Charles  Weber,  and  in  point  of  continuous  identification  with 
this  important  line  of  financial  enterprise  August  Weber  held 
rank  as  the  oldest  banker  in  Baltimore  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
in  October,  1926. 

The  earlier  education  of  Charles  H.  Weber  was  acquired  in 
private  schools  in  his  native  city  and  was  there  advanced  by  his 
attending  Baltimore  City  College  and  thereafter  Marston's  Uni- 
versity School,  he  having  been  graduated  from  the  Marston 
School  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1898. 

Interesting  data  relative  to  the  career  of  Mr.  Weber  are  to  be 
found  in  the  following  extracts  from  a  newspaper  article  that 
appeared  at  the  time  of  his  election  to  the  office  of  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  Chesapeake  &  Potomac  Telephone  Company : 

"Entering  the  service  of  the  telephone  company  as  chief 
clerk  in  Baltimore,  in  1902,  Mr.  Weber  has  progressed  steadily 
from  position  to  position  of  increasing  importance  in  the  tele- 
phone organization.  A  few  months  after  he  was  engaged  as 
chief  clerk  he  was  made  chief  collector,  and  in  1903  he  was 
appointed  cashier.  Shortly  after  this  he  was  made  manager  for 
the  City  of  Baltimore.  Successively  Mr.  Weber  was  division 
manager,  Baltimore  district,  and  then  division  manager  of  Mary- 
land, when  he  was  transferred  to  Richmond  in  1913.  In  the 
fourteen  years  that  Mr.  Weber  has  been  in  charge  of  the  tele- 


VIRGINIA  101 

phone  matters  in  Virginia  he  has  seen  the  company  make  sub- 
stantial gains  in  telephone  growth  until  today  the  system  serves 
every  section  of  the  state.  When  he  came  to  Virginia  in  1913 
there  were  only  45,000  telephones  connected  with  the  system. 
Today  the  Chesapeake  &  Potomac  Telephone  Company  of  Vir- 
ginia serves  about  130,000  stations. 

"Besides  being  a  director  of  the  Petersburg  Telephone  Com- 
pany at  Petersburg  and  the  Intermountain  Telephone  Company, 
whose  headquarters  are  at  Bristol,  Tennessee,  Mr.  Weber  is  con- 
nected with  a  number  of  important  financial  organizations  in 
Virginia.  Principal  among  these  are  the  Richmond  Trust  Com- 
pany, of  which  he  is  a  director,  and  the  Richmond  Trust  Building 
Corporation,  of  which  he  is  president." 

In  Virginia's  capital  city  Mr.  Weber  has  proven  himself  a 
most  loyal  and  progressive  citizen  and  man  of  affairs,  and  he  is 
here  actively  identified  with  various  civic  and  social  organiza- 
tions of  representative  order.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Governors  of  the  Westmoreland  Club,  and  has  membership  also 
in  the  Commonwealth  Club  and  the  Country  Club  of  Virginia. 

On  April  11,  1908,  in  New  York  City,  occurred  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Weber  and  Miss  Gladys  Vereen  McNair,  daughter  of  Col. 
John  Taylor  and  Mary  Charlton  (Strathy)  McNair,  of  South 
Carolina. 

Rev.  Francis  H.  Scott,  pastor  of  the  First  Christian  Church 
of  Roanoke,  is  one  of  the  eloquent  and  scholarly  divines  of  his 
communion,  and  a  man  whose  zeal  in  behalf  of  his  Master  may 
be  gleaned  from  the  fact  that  ever  since  he  was  eleven  years  old 
he  has  steadily  worked  to  become  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  and 
to  remain  faithful  to  his  obligations.  From  one  charge  to  an- 
other he  has  ascended  in  the  importance  of  his  labors  until  to- 
day he  is  ministering  to  a  membership  of  1,000  souls,  and  en- 
joying the  warm  support  of  his  community  in  his  efforts  to 
better  existing  conditions.  Rev.  Mr.  Scott  was  born  in  Essex 
County,  Virginia,  a  son  of  Francis  and  Kate  (Ware)  Scott,  na- 
tives of  Virginia,  he  born  in  King  William  County,  and  she  in 
Essex  County.  For  many  years  he  was  a  merchant  at  Dunns- 
ville,  Virginia,  and  a  consistent  member  of  the  Bapti.st  Church, 
but  she  was  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  One  of  the 
leading  Masons  of  his  locality,  he  held  membership  in  Arling- 
ton Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Essex  County.  The  following 
children  were  born  to  him  and  his  wife:  Anne  Elizabeth,  who 
married  R.  R.  Rice,  of  Richmond,  manager  of  the  Slive  .store: 
Reverend  Scott,  who  is  the  second  in  order  of  birth:  Jeanette 
Latane.  who  married  E.  M.  Lewis,  a  son  of  Dr.  Frank  Lewis, 
superintendent  of  education  of  Lancaster  County,  Virginia,  and 
himself  cashier  of  the  Chesapeake  Bank  of  Lively,  Virginia;  and 
Katherine  Holt,  who  married  J.  P.  Warren,  of  Richmond,  con- 
nected with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad.  The  paternal 
grandfather  of  Reverend  Scott  was  Rev.  Azariah  Francis  Scott, 
a  Baptist  minister  for  a  long  period.  The  maternal  grand- 
father was  Robert  Ware,  a  native  of  Essex  County,  and  a  farmer 
upon  an  extensive  scale. 

Reverend  Scott  attended  the  local  .schools  of  his  native  county 
and  Johnson  Bible  College  at  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  and  he  com- 
pleted his  theological  education  in  Lynchburg  College,  where  he 
took  special  studies,  but  he  returned  to  Knoxville  for  his  degree, 
which  he  received  in  1907.  His  first  charge  was  that  of  assistant 
to  Dr.  Peter  Ainslie,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  during  his 


102  VIRGINIA 

association  with  that  outstanding  figure  in  the  church  of  the 
Disciples  of  Christ  he  advanced  considerably.  After  ten  useful 
years  spent  in  Baltimore  he  came  to  Roanoke,  October  1,  1917, 
to  take  charge  of  his  present  church.  Under  his  inspirational 
leadership  this  church  has  made  rapid  progress,  and  has  a  mem- 
bership of  over  1,000. 

On  January  30,  1917,  Reverend  Scott  married  Imogene 
Welck,  born  in  Hagerstown,  Maryland,  and  educated  in  an  ex- 
cellent private  school  of  that  city.  Two  children  have  been 
born  of  this  marriage:  Francis  H.  Scott  III,  and  Kathryn  Vir- 
ginia Scott.  Rev.  Mr.  Scott  is  one  of  the  valued  members  of  the 
Kiwanis  Club  and  is  now  (1928)  its  president.  During  the 
past  ten  years  he  has  been  reaching  many  people  outside  his 
church  through  the  medium  of  his  lectures,  the  favorite  one  of 
which,  "An  Evening  in  Dixie,"  he  has  given  250  times,  and  it  is 
still  in  great  demand.  He  is  president  of  the  Virginia  State 
Conventon  of  Disciples  of  Christ,  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Managers  of  the  United  Christian  Missionary  Society.  During 
1928  he  served  as  president  of  the  Roanoke  Ministerial  Associa- 
tion. It  is  not  easy  to  overestimate  the  value  of  the  work  of  a 
man  like  Reverend  Scott,  for  it  is  so  far-reaching  and  compre- 
hensive in  its  scope  and  effect.  Deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit 
of  his  sacred  calling,  he  never  spares  himself,  but  works  con- 
tinuously to  convert  sinners  and  to  keep  Christians  who  are  try- 
ing to  live  according  to  their  vows  in  the  straight  and  narrow 
path.  In  all  that  he  undertakes  his  upright  honorable  life  is 
an  example  others  would  do  well  to  emulate,  and  Roanoke  can 
well  consider  itself  fortunate  in  having  him  in  its  midst. 

John  W.  McCauley.  Roanoke  has  no  more  brilliant  young 
attorney  than  John  W.  McCauley,  nor  a  man  who  devotes  more 
time  and  attention  to  his  professional  duties,  and  therefore  his 
undoubted  success  is  not  so  remarkable.  A  very  ardent  Demo- 
crat, he  has  received  recognition  at  the  hands  of  his  party's 
leaders,  and  in  1927  was  nominated  on  the  regular  Democratic 
ticket  for  the  office  of  state  representative  from  Roanoke 
County.  Mr.  McCauley  was  born  in  Sweetwater,  Texas,  March 
21,  1900,  a  son  of  Claud  and  Ora  May  (Ward)  McCauley,  both 
natives  of  Tennessee,  who  were  taken  to  Texas  in  childhood. 
In  addition  to  being  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in  Sweet- 
water, in  which  he  has  attained  to  distinction,  the  father  is  a 
banker.  Two  children  have  been  born  to  him  and  his  wife, 
namely:  John  W.,  whose  name  heads  this  review;  and  Ray,  a 
Texas  rancher,  residing  in  San  Antonio.  The  parents  belong  to 
the  Christian  Church,  in  which  they  are  very  prominent.  He  is 
a  Mason  and  a  Democrat,  and  at  one  time  served  as  district 
attorney  of  his  county.  His  father,  Jefferson  McCauley,  a  native 
of  Tennessee,  founded  the  family  in  Texas  not  long  after  the 
close  of  the  war  between  the  states,  in  which  he  served  as  a 
Confederate  soldier,  and  received  a  serious  wound  in  action, 
but  recovered  and  spent  his  life  in  farming.  The  maternal 
grandfather,  John  W.  Ward,  went  to  Texas  at  an  early  day,  and 
as  he  was  a  man  of  large  means  had  many  interests,  the  most 
of  them  centered  in  Waco. 

John  W.  McCauley  was  graduated  from  high  school  in  San 
Antonio,  and  from  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  Lexington, 
Virginia,  in  1917,  after  which  he  studied  law  at  home  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1921.  For  one  year  he  was  assistant 
professor  of  mathematics  in  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  and 


VIRGINIA  103 

at  the  same  time  was  captain  of  infantry  assigned  to  that  insti- 
tution during-  the  World  war,  being  honorably  discharged  there- 
from in  the  early  part  of  1919.  Upon  his  admission  to  the  bar 
in  1921  Mr.  McCauley  entered  upon  the  active  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Roanoke,  in  partnership  with  Bruce  Hunt,  but  a 
year  later  the  firm  of  Woodrum,  McCauley  &  Parsons  came  into 
existence  as  successor  to  Woodrum  &  McCauley. 

On  June  7,  1919,  Mr.  McCauley  married  Elisabeth  Sayers, 
born  in  Wytheville,  Virginia,  where  she  attended  school,  but 
she  completed  her  education  at  The  Castle,  New  York.  She  is 
a  daughter  of  Dr.  W.  S.  Sayers,  a  retired  physician  residing  in 
Roanoke.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCauley  have  two  sons,  William 
Sayers  McCauley,  who  was  born  May  27,  1921,  and  Claud  Ward 
McCauley,  born  February  22,  1928.  Mr.  McCauley  belongs  to  the 
Christian  Church,  and  Mrs.  McCauley  to  Saint  John's  Episcopal 
Church.  High  in  Masonry,  he  has  been  advanced  through  both 
the  Scottish  and  York  Rites,  and  he  also  belongs  to  the  Mystic 
Shrine.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Benevo- 
lent and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose  and 
the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  a  prodigious 
worker  and  he  is  making  a  most  enviable  record.  Recognition 
of  his  standing  has  been  given  by  his  appointment  to  the  staff 
of  Governor  Byard. 

George  E.  Markley.  The  advent  of  George  E.  Markley  at 
Roanoke  in  1884  was  not  a  pai'ticularly  auspicious  one,  as  shortly 
after  his  arrival  he  was  overtaken  with  ill  health  that  caused 
him  to  return  to  his  native  Keystone  State,  but  evidently  the 
community  had  made  a  strong  and  favorable  impression  upon 
the  young  man  who  was  then  just  entering  upon  his  career,  for 
the  year  1887  saw  him  again  a  resident  of  the  growing  city, 
ready  to  take  his  place  among  its  toilers  and  to  accept  such 
opportunities  as  came  to  his  hand.  By  virtue  of  the  possession 
of  the  homely  qualities  of  industry  and  determination,  overlying 
a  strong  strain  of  natural  ability,  he  has  since  made  a  place  for 
himself  among  the  substantial  and  highly  respected  business 
men  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Markley  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Juniata  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  January,  1866,  and  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Mary  J. 
(Harmon)  Markley,  natives  of  the  same  state.  Samuel  Markley 
came  of  a  long  line  of  agricultural  stock,  and  after  having 
secured  a  public  school  education  adopted  the  vocation  of  his 
forefathers  and  for  many  years  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil  in  Penn- 
sylvania. In  the  evening  of  life,  after  the  death  of  his  wife  at 
Altoona,  Pennsylvania,  in  1898,  he  retired  from  active  pursuits 
and  moved  to  Virginia,  where  he  died  in  1913.  They  were  con- 
sistent members  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and  highly  respected 
people  of  their  community. 

George  E.  Markley  was  given  the  advantages  of  a  public 
school  education  in  his  native  state,  where  his  boyhood  and 
youth  were  passed  on  the  home  farm.  Subsequently  he  was  a 
clerk  in  a  grocery  store  and  was  employed  otherwise  until  1884, 
at  which  time  he  first  came  to  Roanoke.  As  before  mentioned, 
not  long  after  his  arrival  he  was  taken  seriouslv  ill  and  forced 
to  return  to  his  Pennsylvania  home,  but  in  1887,  at  the  time  of 
the  attainment  of  his  majority,  he  left  the  parental  roof  and 
established  himself  in  one  of  the  largest  retail  grocery  busine.sses 
in  Roanoke  with  his  brother,  Chris  Marklev.     After  two  vears 


104  VIRGINIA 

he  left  this  business  to  accept  the  position  of  cashier  of  the 
Traders  Loan,  Trust  and  Deposit  Company,  an  institution  with 
which  he  continued  to  be  identified  for  seven  years,  and  in  1896 
embarked  in  the  plumbing-  business,  being  at  this  time  the  oldest 
plumber  in  point  of  consecutive  years  of  service  at  Roanoke. 
During  the  thirty-two  years  that  have  followed  the  business  of 
George  E.  Markley  &  Company,  contract  plumbers  and  jobbers, 
has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  largest  in  this  part  of  the  state  and 
has  built  up  a  reputation  for  high  integrity  and  straightfor- 
ward dealing.  Mr.  Markley  also  carries  on  an  extensive  roofing 
business,  and  some  of  the  largest  contracts  for  roofing  and 
plumbing  at  Roanoke  and  the  surrounding  cities  have  been  let 
to  his  concern.  He  is  a  Democrat  in  his  political  views,  but 
has  been  so  engrossed  in  business  that  politics  has  played  only 
a  small  part  in  his  career.  However,  as  a  public  spirited  citizen 
of  civic  pride  he  has  given  of  his  best  in  the  support  of  all  move- 
ments making  for  progress  and  advancement,  be  they  civic, 
educational  or  religious.  He  is  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church,  as  are  the  members  of  his  family.  Being  a 
genial  and  sociable  man,  and  one  who  enjoys  the  companionship 
of  his  fellows,  he  is  a  popular  member  of  the  Country  Club 
and  also  a  York  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner. 

In  1894  Mr.  Markley  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Flora 
B.  Hooge,  of  Martinsburg,  West  Virginia,  who  was  educated  at 
her  native  place,  a  daughter  of  George  H.  Hooge,  a  machinist 
in  the  employ  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railway  for  many  years. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Markley  are  the  parents  of  two  children:  Her- 
bert Ryneal,  an  electrician  by  trade,  who  is  at  present  in  the 
West ;  and  Margaret  Louise,  aged  fourteen  years,  who  is  attend- 
ing school. 

Charles  M.  Armes.  Among  the  self-made  men  of  Roanoke 
County  who  by  their  ability,  enterprise  and  industry  have 
reached  prominence  in  business  life  and  at  the  same  time  have 
contributed  to  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  their  several  com- 
munities, one  who  is  well  entitled  to  mention  in  any  hi-story  of 
Virginia  is  Charles  M.  Armes,  for  many  years  identified  with 
the  real  estate  business  at  Roanoke,  but  who  now  confines  his 
activities  to  the  business  of  real  estate  loans.  Mr.  Armes  com- 
menced his  career  when  still  a  lad,  and  without  financial  support 
or  friendly  influence  has  made  himself  a  leading  business  citizen, 
and  one  who  has  a  number  of  prominent  civic  connections. 

Charles  M.  Armes  was  born  in  Charlotte  County,  Virginia, 
March  6,  1866,  and  is  a  son  of  John  W.  and  Mary  A.  (Anderson) 
Armes,  natives  of  Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia,  both  of 
whom  are  now  deceased.  His  father  was  a  railroad  man  for 
many  years,  and  he  and  Mrs.  Armes  were  faithful  members  of 
the  Baptist  Church.  They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children, 
of  whom  six  are  living,  Charles  M.  having  been  the  fourth  in 
order  of  birth. 

Charles  M.  Armes  received  his  education  in  the  country 
schools  of  Charlotte  County,  and  was  only  eleven  years  of  age 
when  he  commenced  work  as  a  clerk  in  a  small  country  store. 
Although  his  school  attendance  was  decidedly  limited,  he  has 
always  made  the  most  of  his  advantages  and  opportunities,  and 
today  has  a  reputation  as  a  man  of  sound  and  practical  educa- 
tion. When  he  had  grown  to  sturdy  young  manhood  he  secured 
a  position  in  the  railroad  service,  and  was  thus  employed  for  a 


VIRGINIA  105 

number  of  years,  in  the  meanwhile  carefully  conserving  his 
savings.  When  he  gave  up  railroading  he  became  a  bookkeeper 
for  a  wholesale  house,  but  finally,  in  1901,  embarked  in  the  real 
estate  business,  to  which  he  subsequently  added  a  real  estate 
loan  department.  In  1906  Mr.  Armes  established  the  Columbia 
Savings  and  Loan  Corporation,  and  in  1917  retired  from  the 
real  estate  field  to  give  his  entire  attention  to  the  loan  business, 
in  which  he  is  now  engaged,  with  offices  in  the  Colonial  Bank 
Building.  Mr.  Armes  has  large  and  important  financial  inter- 
ests at  Roanoke  and  in  various  other  communities  and  stands 
high  in  the  confidence  and  estimation  of  his  business  associates. 
In  1916  he  established  the  Evergreen  Burial  Park,  known  as 
the  most  beautiful  cemetery  in  the  United  States,  of  which 
he  is  the  active  head,  holding  the  office  of  treasurer.  Recently 
Mr.  Armes  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustes  of 
Roanoke  College,  and  is  a  member  of  Green  Memorial  Methodist 
Church.  Fraternally  he  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
and  a  York  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  devoting  considerable 
of  his  time  to  the  work  of  the  Shrine.  Politically  a  Democrat, 
he  is  active  and  influential  in  the  ranks  of  his  party,  although 
not  as  a  seeker  for  personal  preferment  or  public  office.  All 
public  spirited  civic  movements  have  received  his  whole  hearted 
support  and  cooperation. 

In  1888  Mr.  Armes  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Belle 
Norman,  who  was  born  at  Mount  Airy,  North  Carolina,  but 
brought  as  a  child  to  Virginia,  where  she  received  her  education. 
They  have  no  children. 

JONATH.A.N  C.  Woodson  is  active  head  of  one  of  the  oldest  and 
largest  organizations  for  handling  real  estate  in  the  City  of 
Lynchburg.  Mr.  Woodson  has  been  in  the  real  estate  business 
thirty-five  years,  and  his  firm  has  developed  and  marketed  the 
finest  residential  subdivisions  in  the  community. 

Mr.  Woodson  was  born  in  Appomattox  County.  Virginia, 
January  30,  1853,  son  of  John  W.  and  Mary  Elizabeth  (Chris- 
tian) Woodson.  The  Woodson  family  came  from  Scotland.  His 
grandfather,  Drury  W.  Woodson,  was  a  planter  in  Appomattox 
County  and  also  a  tailor  by  trade.  He  married  Louisa  Hendrick. 
John  William  Woodson  was  born  in  1823,  learned  the  trade  of 
tailor,  taught  school  in  order  to  complete  his  education  at  the 
University  of  Virginia,  and  after  graduating  from  the  Law 
School  practiced  his  profession  until  the  Civil  war.  He  entered 
the  army,  was  in  the  Quarterma.ster's  Department,  and  died  of 
tvphoid  fever  Julv  4,  1864.  His  wife.  Mary  Elizabeth  Christian, 
was  horn  in  1827  and  died  in  1892.  Her  father,  Jonathan 
Christian,  was  a  native  of  Appomattox  County.  John  W.  Wood- 
son and  wife  had  five  children.  The  three  now  living  are: 
Mary  Elizabeth,  wife  of  L.  D.  Isbell,  judge  of  the  Relations 
Court  of  Huntington.  West  Virginia ;  Henry  P.,  of  Clearwater, 
Florida,  and  Jonathan  Christian. 

Jonathan  Christian  Woodson  grew  up  in  Appomattox 
County,  attended  the  common  schools  there,  and  ud  to  1877 
taught  school.  On  locating  in  Lynchburg  he  clerked  for  a 
tobacco  firm  and  was  in  the  tobacco  business  for  about  twenty 
years.  In  1893  he  took  up  real  estate,  and  since  1924  his  firm 
has  also  had  a  department  devoted  to  fire  insurance. 

Mr.  Woodson  married  in  May,  1885,  Miss  Fannie  C.  Binford. 
a  native  of  Appomattox  County.     She  died  in  1887,  leaving  one 


106  VIRGINIA 

son,  John  William  Woodson,  who  is  associated  with  his  father 
in  the  real  estate  business  and  was  educated  at  the  Lynchburg 
High  School.  He  served  four  years  on  the  Lynchburg  City 
Council.  He  married  second.  Miss  Agusta  Camm.  They  have 
two  sons,  Jonathan  Christian  II  and  Henry  Palmer.  Mr.  Wood- 
son in  1890  married  Miss  Bennie  M.  Gipson,  a  native  of  Buck- 
ingham County.  She  died  in  1911,  leaving  two  sons,  Thomas 
Gipson  and  Richard  Boatwright.  Thomas  Gipson  was  educated 
in  the  Lynchburg  High  School  and  Washington  and  Lee  Uni_- 
versity,  and  is  with  his  father,  in  charge  of  the  insurance  de- 
partment. Richard  Boatwright  is  now  studying  public  account- 
ing at  Atlanta.  Both  sons  were  in  the  World  war,  Thomas  G. 
in  the  Ambulance  Corps  until  taken  ill,  and  later  joined  the 
navy  on  the  V.  S.  S.  Pamlico.  He  was  honorably  discharged 
December  11,  1918.  The  other  son  was  on  transport  duty  during 
the  war. 

Mr.  Woodson  and  family  are  members  of  the  Rivermont 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  is  affiliated  with  the 
B.  P.  0.  Elks  and  is  a  Democi'at.  The  firm  of  J.  C.  Woodson  & 
Company  has  acted  as  brokers  for  city  and  farm  property. 
Some  years  ago  they  developed  the  Randolph-Macon  Heights 
property,  the  first  high  class  subdivision  at  Lynchburg,  and 
later  they  opened  the  Peakland  Division  and  also  the  Rivermont 
Subdivision. 

Frederick  M.  Davis.  No  profession  or  calling  has  ever 
presented  such  opportunities  for  the  really  capable  man  as  that 
of  the  law,  and  from  its  ranks  have  come  the  ablest  men  of  the 
country.  It  has  always  been  impossible  for  any  man  to  rise  to 
distinction  without  a  thorough  preparation,  even  if  self-earned, 
and  this  study  and  thought  naturally  develop  the  reasoning  fac- 
ulties and  broaden  the  understanding  and  character  so  that  other 
problems  are  more  easily  solved  as  they  arise  for  disposal  by 
every  public  spirited  citizen,  and  whenever,  as  is  often  the  case, 
a  lawyer  becomes  interested  in  business  as  well  he  succeeds  be- 
cause of  this  professional  training.  Such  training  has  brought 
out  in  marked  degree  the  varied  capabilities  of  Frederick  M. 
Davis,  able  attorney  and  successful  business  man  of  Lynchburg, 
well  known  to  the  people  of  his  city  and  county  because  of  his 
valuable  service  as  assistant  commonwealth  attorney  in  1924 
and  1925. 

Frederick  M.  Davis  was  born  in  Lynchburg,  February  28, 
1893,  a  son  of  Micajah  Preston  and  Maud  (Mathews)  Davis,  he 
born  in  Lynchburg  and  she  in  Rockingham  County,  Virginia. 
His  death  occurred  November  28,  1925,  but  she  survives  and 
still  resides  in  Lynchburg.  After  being  graduated  from  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute  the  father  went  into  the  insurance 
business,  which  he  built  up  to  large  proportions  and  through 
which  he  became  a  well  known  man  all  over  this  part  of  the 
state.  He  and  his  wife  early  united  with  the  Westminster  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  which  he  was  an  elder  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  and  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order.  In 
politics  he  was  a  Democrat.  His  father,  George  D.  Davis,  was 
born  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia.  The  maternal  grandfather, 
John  D.  Mathews,  was  born  in  Port  Republic,  Virginia,  but  for 
some  years  was  a  jeweler  of  Aberdeen,  Mississippi,  but  returned 
to  Virginia,  and  continued  to  farm  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  During  the  war  between  the  states  he  was  under  the  com- 
mand   of    Gen.    "Stonewall"    Jackson.     Both    the    Davis    and 


4M»^  ^,  //^d^ 


VIRGINIA  107 

Mathews   families   are   old    and   aristocratic   ones   of   the   Old 
Dominion. 

The  only  son  of  his  parents,  Frederick  M.  Davis  was  sent  to 
Washington  and  Lee  University  after  he  was  through  his  high 
school  work  in  Lychburg,  and  he  was  graduated  from  that  Uni- 
versity in  1914.  From  1914  to  1915  he  was  deputy  clerk  of  the 
Corporation  Court  of  Lynchburg,  Virginia.  He  returned  in  1915 
to  Washington  and  Lee  University  and  in  1917  he  graduated  in 
law,  but  his  service  in  the  United  States  Navy  during  the  World 
war  as  supply  officer,  with  rank  of  assistant  paymaster  on  board 
the  U.  S.  S.  Gulf  port,  prevented  his  entering  upon  his  practice  un- 
til 1919.  Since  then  he  has  resided  in  Lynchburg,  being  engaged 
in  the  activities  of  his  profession  until  the  death  of  his  father  in 
1925  when  he  took  over  his  father's  insurance  business,  con- 
ducting it  in  association  with  Norvell  N.  Holt.  Mr.  Davis  is  still 
a  member  of  the  legal  profession.  Unmarried,  he  resides  with 
his  mother.  He  belongs  to  the  Rivermont  Presbyterian  Church. 
High  in  Masonry,  he  has  been  advanced  through  the  Scottish 
Rite  to  the  thirty-second  degree.  He  belongs  to  Phi  Delta  Theta, 
and  Phi  Delta  Phi,  the  legal  fraternity,  and  is  the  national  his- 
torian of  Square  and  Compass,  was  president  of  Washington  and 
Lee  Square,  and  helped  to  organize  the  Square  and  Compass. 
At  present  he  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Lions  Club,  of 
Lynchburg.  He  is  service  officer  of  the  Lynchburg  Post  No.  16 
of  the  American  Legion.  He  has  been  scout  master  of  Troop 
No.  1  since  1921,  and  takes  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  the  Scout 
movement. 

Mrs.  Ellen  G.  Kidd  is  the  founder  of  the  Pin  Money  Pickle 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  while  her  home  all  her  life  has 
been  in  Richmond  both  she  and  her  business  have  been  given 
national  and  international  recognition.  Mrs.  Kidd  for  twenty- 
eight  years  was  the  only  woman  member  of  the  Richmond 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  for  fifteen  years  she  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
these  being  slight  tokens  of  the  respect  that  has  been  paid  her 
remarkable  achievements  as  a  woman  in  the  field  of  commerce. 

Ellen  Gertrude  Tompkins  was  born  at  Richmond,  and  her 
ancestry  includes  several  notable  families.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Edmund  William  and  Julia  Mosby  (Burton)  Tompkins,  and 
a  granddaughter  of  Harry  and  Fanny  (Taylor)  Tompkins. 
Through  her  mother  she  is  in  the  sixth  generation  of  descent 
from  John  Taylor,  who  came  from  Carlisle,  England,  and  settled 
in  Virginia.  Another  ancestor,  in  the  fourth  generation,  was 
Major  Day,  a  member  of  General  Washington's  staff  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary war.  Her  father  had  two  second  cousins,  one  of  whom 
became  the  wife  of  Carter  Lee,  a  brother  of  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee, 
and  the  other  married  a  sister  of  General  Grant.  Mrs.  Kidd's 
father  was  at  one  time  city  treasurer  of  Richmond. 

The  old  Tompkins  home  in  Richmond  was  at  706  East  Leigh 
Street,  and  it  was  m  the. kitchen  of  that  home  that  Ellen  Ger- 
trude in  the  years  following  the  Civil  war  made  pickles  according 
to  an  old  recipe  that  had  long  been  in  the  family.  An  old  recipe 
like  an  old  violin  needs  a  capable  performer  to  insure  a  perfect 
product,  and  the  millions  who  have  eaten  Pin  Money  Pickles 
would  pi-obably  agree  that  the  quality  and  flavor  are  due  at  least 
as  much  to  the  skill  and  artistry  of  the  woman  who  first  gave 
her  product  that  name  and  whose  phenomenal  ability  as  a  busi- 
ness organizer  has  made  possible  the  continuation  of  the  stand- 


108  VIRGINIA 

ard  of  quality  on  large  scale  manufacturing,  as  to  the  special 
virtues  of  the  original  recipe. 

It  is  said  that  Miss  Tompkins  only  yielded  after  much  urging 
to  sell  pickles  from  the  kettle  in  her  own  kitchen,  and  then  for 
the  sake  of  "pin  money,"  and  so  she  happened  upon  the  fortu- 
nate name  for  the  product.  She  started  the  business  on  a  very 
small  scale,  using  her  own  kitchen  as  her  plant,  about  1872. 
The  manufacture  of  Pin  Money  Pickles  at  Richmond  is  an  in- 
dustry that  has  been  in  existence  for  over  half  a  century,  and 
throughout  its  destiny  has  been  carefully  guided  by  Mrs.  Ellen 
G.  Kidd.  For  several  years  it  was  a  seasonal  occupation,  de- 
pending upon  custom  orders.  One  of  the  first  important  orders 
she  received  was  from  the  Pullman  Company  dining  car  depart- 
ment, for  the  sum  of  four  hundred  dollars.  For  many  years 
Pin  Money  Pickles  have  been  one  of  the  few  special  brands  of 
food  products  served  on  the  standard  menus  of  the  Pullman 
dining  cars,  and  this  alone  has  made  the  name  and  the  product 
familiar  to  the  traveling  public  throughout  America.  Pin 
Money  Pickles  are  served  in  hotels  and  other  fine  establishments 
in  many  foreign  countries.  From  the  small  business  that  started 
in  Ellen  Tompkin's  kitchen  the  business  has  been  developed 
until  it  utilizes  a  large  seven-story  factory  in  Richmond.  Be- 
sides this  factory  there  is  another  monument  to  the  business  at 
Richmond,  the  Shenandoah  Apartment  Building,  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  exclusive  and  luxurious  apartment  houses  in 
Virginia.     Mrs.  Kidd  has  her  own  home  in  that  building. 

Mrs.  Kidd  has  attended  many  national  conventions  of  the 
Business  and  Professional  Women's  Clubs  and  has  served  as 
vice  president  and  treasurer  of  the  League  of  Women  Voters, 
and  for  over  a  third  of  a  century  she  has  been  on  the  board  of 
the  Sheltering  Arms  Hospital.  She  has  traveled  extensively 
abroad,  and  many  articles  have  been  published  concerning  this 
remarkable  Richmond  business  woman  in  the  foreign  as  well  as 
the  American  press.  She  is  a  member  of  St.  James  Episcopal 
Church,  the  King's  Daughters  and  Musicians  Club.  Mrs.  Kidd 
completed  her  early  education  in  the  Pegram  School  for  Girls 
at  Richmond. 

A  source  of  constant  encouragement  to  her  in  the  early  years 
of  her  business  as  a  manufacturer  came  from  her  husband,  the 
late  John  Boulware  Kidd.  She  had  started  the  manufacture  of 
pickles  on  a  commercial  scale  before  her  marriage,  and  Mr.  Kidd, 
an  attorney  by  education,  did  everything  in  his  power  to  assist 
and  build  up  the  business.  John  Boulware  Kidd  was  born  in 
King  William  County,  Virginia,  February  28,  1836,  and  died  at 
Richmond  in  October,  1910.  He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Kather- 
ine  (Boulware)  Kidd,  of  King  and  Queen  County.  His  mother 
was  a  sister  of  William  Boulware,  who  was  United  States  min- 
ister to  Italy  under  President  Tyler.  John  Kidd  was  an  educator 
by  profession. 

John  Boulware  Kidd  was  educated  by  private  tutor,  gradu- 
ated in  law  at  Columbian  College  at  Georgetown,  D.  C,  but  never 
practiced  the  profession.  He  taught  school  for  some  years,  and 
his  chief  profession  was  insurance,  which  he  followed  until  his 
death.  He  had  studied  law  under  Hon.  James  Lyons.  The  late 
Mr.  Kidd  was  during  the  Civil  war  employed  in  the  treasury 
department  of  the  Confederate  Government.  He  was  a  thorough 
Greek  and  Latin  scholar. 

Mrs.  Kidd  is  the  mother  of  four  children.  Her  daughter 
Louise,  who  is  a  member  of  the  A.  V.  P.  A.,  Virginia  League  of 


VIRGINIA  109 

Fine  Arts,  Colonial  Daughters  of  America,  a  member  of  the 
board  of  the  Sheltering  Arms  Hospital,  the  League  of  Women 
Voters,  and  active  in  St.  James  Episcopal  Church,  is  the  wife 
of  E.  Henry  Meanley.  The  second  daughter,  Caroline,  married 
Thomas  J.  Foote,  of  Wilson,  North  Carolina,  and  they  have  three 
children,  named  Henry  A.,  John  Boulware  and  Ellen  Tompkins. 
The  son  Leo  Miller  Kidd  married  Lydia  Hamilton,  and  the 
younger  son  is  Hugh  Tompkins  Kidd. 

William  L.  Powell,  M.  D.  Many  of  the  biographies  ap- 
pearing in  this  publication,  illustrating  the  growth  and  progress 
of  the  grand  Old  Dominion  State,  are  those  of  early  settlers  or 
of  the  founders  of  great  business  enterprises,  or  of  leaders  in 
public  life  or  in  the  professions.  Such  men  through  the  circum- 
stances of  their  coming,  or  of  the  period  of  their  connection  with 
affairs,  possess  a  certain  factitious  advantage  quite  apart  from 
their  individual  and  intrinsic  characters.  Those  following 
these,  while  they  may  possess  equal  or  greater  endowments,  are 
in  a  measure  overshadowed  by  the  veneration  in  which  men  hold 
their  elders,  and  are  quite  submerged  in  the  vaster  multitudes 
who,  in  great  communities,  compete  with  one  another  for  prom- 
inence, crowding  every  avenue  of  business  and  filling  every 
opening  for  fame.  Nevei'theless,  the  life  of  the  state  cannot  be 
adequately  illustrated  without  taking  into  account  those  who 
have  assumed  the  work  of  their  fathers  and  carried  it  on  with 
success  quite  equal  to  and  often  exceeding  theirs. 

Dr.  William  L.  Powell,  a  leading  member  of  the  Roanoke 
County  medical  profession,  belongs  to  one  of  the  later  genera- 
tions of  citizens.  He  was  born  at  Winchester,  Virginia,  August 
31,  1876,  and  is  a  son  of  William  L.  and  Eva  C.  (Magill)  Powell, 
natives  of  Virginia,  both  of  whom  are  deceased.  His  paternal 
grandfather  was  Humphrey  Powell,  a  native  of  Loudoun  County, 
Virginia,  who  passed  his  life  on  a  large  plantation  which  he 
owned  and  which  was  worked  by  his  numerous  slaves  until  the 
misfortunes  of  the  war  between  the  states  swept  away  his  for- 
tunes. W.  L.  Powell,  the  father  of  Dr.  William  L.  Powell,  was 
born  in  Virginia  and  given  good  educational  advantages,  includ- 
ing a  course  at  the  Virginia  Military  Institute.  He  took  up 
civil  engineering  as  a  profession  and  was  thus  engaged  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  between  the  states,  when  he  entered  the 
Confederate  army  and  was  made  a  captain.  Following  the  close 
of  that  struggle,  in  which  he  established  an  excellent  record,  he 
again  applied  himself  to  his  profession,  in  which  he  won  prestige 
and  success,  and  was  engaged  on  many  important  improvements 
from  Virginia  to  Florida.  He  was  a  Democrat  in  politics,  al- 
though he  never  cared  for  public  office,  and  his  religious  faith 
was  that  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  work  of  which 
both  he  and  Mrs.  Powell  were  very  active.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Doctor  Magill,  for  many  years  a  prominent  physician  and  sur- 
geon of  this  state,  and  at  one  time  a  pi'ofessor  of  medicine  in 
the  University  of  Virginia. 

The  only  child  of  his  parents,  William  L.  Powell  received  his 
early  education  in  Washington  and  the  Miller  School  in  Albe- 
marle County,  following  which  he  entered  the  University  of 
Virginia,  from  the  medical  department  of  which  he  graduated 
with  the  degree  Doctor  of  Medicine  as  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1900.  For  the  next  six  years  he  was  variously  occupied  in  dif- 
ferent hospitals  at  Philadelphia,  Cleveland  and  other  cities,  and 
in  1906  took  up  his  permanent  residence  at  Roanoke.     For  the 


110  VIRGINIA 

first  two  years  he  was  in  charge  of  the  Roanoke  Hospital,  but 
since  then  has  been  engaged  in  a  general  practice,  his  present 
offices  being  located  in  the  Shenandoah  Building.  Doctor  Powell 
makes  something  of  a  specialty  of  surgery,  a  field  in  which  he 
has  gained  well  merited  prominence,  and  is  on  the  surgical  staff 
of  the  Roanoke  Hospital.  He  belongs  to  the  Roanoke  Medical 
Society,  of  which  he  formerly  was  president,  the  Virginia  State 
Medical  Society,  the  Southwestern  Virginia  Medical  Society,  the 
Southern  Medical  Society  and  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, and  attends  all  possible  meetings  of  these  bodies,  in  addi- 
tion to  which  he  has  done  much  post-graduate  work  in  various 
cities.  He  is  a  close  and  careful  student  of  his  profession  and 
keeps  fully  abreast  of  its  various  discoveries  and  inventions. 
Doctor  Powell  is  a  member  of  the  Alpha  Tau  Omega  fraternity, 
the  Pi  Mu  honorary  medical  fraternity.  During  the  World  war 
he  served  for  one  year  in  the  United  States  Medical  Corps,  being 
stationed  at  base  hospitals  at  Philadelphia,  Camp  Sherman  and 
Camp  Greenleaf.  He  belongs  to  the  Masons,  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  in  all  of  which 
he  has  numerous  friends,  and  his  religious  connection  is  with 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Deacons.  He  is  a  public  spirited  supporter  of  all 
worthy  civic  movements  and  a  contributor  to  charitable  and 
religious  enterprises. 

In  1908  Doctor  Powell  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Eleanor  Kerr,  who  was  born  at  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and 
educated  in  that  city,  where  she  was  equipped  for  employment 
as  a  trained  nurse,  a  vocation  which  she  followed  for  several 
years  prior  to  her  marriage.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Powell  are  the 
parents  of  one  son,  John  Randolph,  born  in  1911,  who  is  now 
attending  high  school  at  Roanoke. 

Hon.  Clifton  A.  Woodrum.  Three  generations  of  the  Wood- 
rum  family  have  been  identified  with  the  practice  of  law  in 
Virginia,  and  all  have  attained  high  places  in  their  profession, 
as  well  as  in  public  affairs.  It  would  seem  that  the  present 
representative  of  the  family,  Hon.  Clifton  A.  Woodrum,  had 
other  plans  in  his  youth,  for  he  studied  both  pharmacy  and 
medicine,  hut  evidently  the  magnetic  pull  of  hereditary  traits 
proved  too  strong.  In  any  case,  that  he  made  a  wise  choice 
finally  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  he  is  senior  member  of  one  of 
the  leading  law  firms  of  Roanoke,  that  of  Woodrum,  McCauley 
&  Parsons,  and  is  also  a  leader  in  public  life,  being  at  present 
a  member  of  the  national  House  of  Representatives  as  represent- 
ative from  the  Sixth  Congressional  District  of  Virginia. 

Judge  Woodrum  was  born  at  Roanoke,  April  27,  1887,  and 
is  a  son  of  Robert  H.  and  Anna  (Musgrove)  Woodrum.  His 
paternal  grandfather,  Jordan  Woodrum,  was  born  in  that  part 
of  Virginia  now  included  in  West  Virginia,  but  moved  to  Salem, 
Virginia,  where  for  many  years  he  was  engaged  successfully  in 
the  practice  of  law.  His  son,  Robert  H.  Woodrum,  was  born  in 
what  is  now  West  Virginia  and  received  good  educational 
advantages,  attending  Roanoke  College  and  the  law  department 
of  the  University  of  Virginia.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  was  also  the 
first  commonwealth's  attorney  at  Roanoke,  but  in  his  declining 
years  gave  up  his  law  practice  and  turned  his  attention  to  com- 
mercial pursuits,  to  which  he  was  devoting  his  activities  at  the 
time  of  his  demise  in  1914.    He  was  a  man  who  was  held  in  high 


VIRGINIA  111 

esteem  throughout  the  community,  and  during  the  period  of  his 
law  practice  was  connected  with  much  important  litigation.  He 
was  a  Democrat  in  his  political  allegiance,  and  a  strong  and 
active  worker  in  the  party,  and  his  religious  faith  was  that  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  Mr.  Woodrum  married  Miss  Anna  Mus- 
grove,  who  was  born  in  Texas,  a  daughter  of  Robert  Musgrove. 
who  for  many  years  was  a  prominent  stockman  of  Sweetwater, 
Texas.  Mrs.  Woodrum,  who  is  now  sixty-seven  years  of  age, 
survives  her  husband  and  I'esides  at  Roanoke,  where  she  is 
active  in  the  work  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Four  children  were 
born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Woodrum:  Clifton  A.,  of  this  review; 
Robert  J. ;  and  two  who  are  deceased. 

The  public  schools  of  Roanoke  furnished  Clifton  A.  Wood- 
rum with  his  early  educational  training,  following  which  he 
became  a  student  of  pharmacy  at  the  University  of  Medicine, 
Richmond.  Eventually  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  family 
profession  of  law  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  from  which  he 
was  graduated  with  the  degree  Bachelor  of  Laws  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1908.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  same 
year  and  at  once  commenced  practice  at  Roanoke,  where  he  is 
now  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Woodrum,  McCauley  &  Par- 
sons, general  practitioners,  with  offices  in  the  Shenandoah  Life 
Building.  Mr.  Woodrum  is  equally  conversant  with  all  branches 
of  his  profession,  and  therefore  has  made  a  specialty  of  none. 
He  is  accounted  a  forceful,  thorough  and  well-grounded  lawyer, 
and  bears  an  excellent  reputation  among  his  professional 
colleagues.  He  belongs  to  the  Roanoke  City  Bar  Association, 
the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association  and  the  American  Bar  As- 
sociation, the  Phi  Delta  Phi  law  fraternity  and  the  Sigma  Chi 
fraternity.  A  Democrat  in  his  political  views,  Judge  Woodrum 
long  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  public  affairs.  He  served 
as  commonwealth's  attorney  and  as  judge  of  the  Hustings  Court, 
and  in  1922  was  elected  to  represent  the  Sixth  Congressional 
District  of  Virginia  in  the  national  Congress.  He  was  again 
elected  to  this  body  in  1926,  and  his  work  has  been  of  a  highly 
valuable  and  constructive  character.  He  has  been  active  and 
sincere  in  his  support  of  all  public-spirited  measures  launched 
in  his  community,  and  in  every  way  has  shown  his  civic  pride 
and  far  sightedness  as  a  citizen.  Judge  Woodrum  is  well  known 
in  fraternal  circles,  being  a  thirty-third  degree  Mason,  and  a 
past  potentate  of  Kazim  Temple,  A.  A.  0.  N.  M.  S. ;  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  P>i:hias,  the  Benevolent  and  Protective 
Order  of  Elks  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 

In  1906  Judge  Woodrum  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Lena  Hancock,  who  was  born  at  Bedford,  Virginia,  and  educated 
in  the  public  schools  of  that  city  and  at  Jeter  Institute.  To  this 
union  there  have  been  born  two  children :  Clifton  A.,  Jr., 
attending  Virginia  Military  Institute  and  Martha  Anne,  in  the 
graded  schools.  The  family  belongs  to  the  Green  Methodi-st 
Episcopal  Church,  South. 

William  B.  Harris  is  active  head  of  one  of  the  largest  lum- 
ber manufacturing  organizations  in  the  Southeast,  the  Williams 
McKeitham  Lumber  Company  of  Lynchburg. 

Mr.  Harris,  who  has  earned  a  steady  succession  of  promo- 
tions and  important  attainments  in  the  commercial  field,  was 
born  in  Appomattox  County,  Virginia,  in  1882,  son  of  Tandy  and 
Reberta  Alice  (Marks)  Harris  and  grandson  of  John  A.  Harris, 


112  VIRGINIA 

a  native  of  Buckingham  County,  Virginia,  who  moved  to  Appo- 
mattox County,  where  he  acquired  a  farm  which,  passing  from 
son  to  son,  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the  family  for  three 
generations.  Tandy  Harris  was  born  in  Buckingham  County, 
was  two  years  of  age  when  the  family  went  to  Appomattox 
County  and  he  succeeded  to  the  ownership  of  the  old  homestead 
and  lived  on  it  until  his  death  in  June,  1927.  He  was  a  Confed- 
erate soldier,  joining  the  army  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  served 
four  years,  until  the  final  surrender.  The  homestead  farm 
which  has  been  in  the  family  for  three  generations  in  Appomat- 
tox County  is  known  as  Locust  Hill.  He  was  a  Democrat  in  poli- 
tics and  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  serving  as  superintendent  of  its  Sunday  School.  His  wife, 
Alice  Marks,  was  born  in  Botetourt  County,  Virginia,  and  died  in 
1919.  Her  father,  Hudson  Marks,  was  also  born  in  Botetourt 
County.  There  were  six  children,  three  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, William  B.  being  the  oldest  son  and  second  child. 

William  B.  Harris  attended  common  schools  while  a  boy  on 
the  home  farm,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  began  his  business 
career  with  C.  I.  Johnson,  a  prominent  merchant  and  lumber- 
man. He  was  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Johnson  for  seven  years 
and  then  located  at  Lynchburg  and  became  a  stenographer  for 
the  Williams  McKeitham  Lumber  Company.  In  the  consecu- 
tive service  of  this  one  organization  he  accepted  larger  respon- 
sibilities until  he  rose  to  the  presidency  of  the  company.  It  is 
a  large  manufacturing  organization,  owning  and  directing  a 
number  of  plants  in  the  two  Carolinas  and  Florida. 

Mr.  Harris  married  in  January,  1912,  Ruby  Smith,  a  native 
of  Tennessee.  Her  father,  Pryor  N.  Smith,  was  at  one  time 
president  of  the  Smith-Briscoe  Shoe  Company  of  Lynchburg. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harris  have  twin  sons,  William  Ballard,  Junior, 
and  Robert  Smith.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  Mr.  Harris  is  affiliated  with  the  Oak  Wood  and 
Piedmont  Clubs. 

Robert  Withers  Massie,  a  lumber  dealer  at  Lynchburg,  is  a 
member  of  an  old  Colonial  family  of  Virginia,  and  has  contrib- 
uted something  to  the  honorable  prestige  enjoyed  by  the  family 
in  this  state  for  several  generations. 

He  was  born  in  Campbell  County,  Virginia,  April  24,  1858, 
and  grew  up  in  Nelson  County.  He  is  a  son  of  Patrick  Cabell 
and  Susan  C.  (Withers)  Massie,  a  grandson  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Massie,  a  physician  and  surgeon  who  was  in  service  in  the  Ameri- 
can forces  as  a  surgeon  in  the  War  of  1812.  The  maternal 
grandfather,  Robert  Walter  Withers,  was  a  planter  and  physi- 
cian and  married  a  Miss  Alexander.  Patrick  Cabell  Massie  was 
born  in  Nelson  County,  Virginia,  and  died  in  1877.  His  wife 
was  born  in  Campbell  County  and  died  in  1903.  Of  their  eight 
children  two  are  now  living,  Robert  W.  and  Mrs.  L.  P.  Brown. 

Robert  Withers  Massie  was  given  good  home  educational 
opportunities  and  was  a  student  in  the  Virginia  Military  Insti- 
tute when  the  death  of  his  father  called  him  home  to  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  farm  and  head  of  the  family,  since  he  was  the 
oldest  child.  During  the  next  twenty  years  of  his  life  he  gave 
his  time  to  the  management  of  the  farm,  and  after  his  brothers 
and  sisters  were  all  educated  and  established  for  themselves  he 
located  at  Lynchburg,  in  1897,  and  since  that  year  has  been  in 
the  lumber  business.  He  has  made  the  Massie  Lumber  Com- 
pany, Incorporated,  one  of  the  largest  manufacturing  and  whole- 


sXu^^A£.^^c^J^-^ 


VIRGINIA  113 

sale  organizations  in  the  Southeast,  operating  mills  in  South 
Carolina  and  three  mills  in  Virginia.  Mr.  Massie  is  president  of 
the  lumber  company.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Lynchburg. 

He  married,  in  1885,  Miss  Mattie  W.  W.  Manson,  who  was 
born  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  C. 
Manson,  a  Lynchburg  attorney.  They  have  three  children. 
Robert  W.  Junior,  who  was  educated  in  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute,  is  associated  with  his  father's  lumber  business.  By 
his  marriage  to  Wayatt  McKinnon,  of  Red  Springs,  North  Caro- 
lina, he  has  one  son,  R.  W.  III.  N.  C.  M.  Massie,  the  second  son, 
a  business  man  at  Glasgow,  Virginia,  married  Agnes  Minne- 
garode.     Martha  W.  is  at  home. 

Mr.  Massie  and  family  are  members  of  Saint  Paul's  Epis- 
copal Church  at  Lynchburg.  He  belongs  to  the  Sigma  Nu  col- 
lege fraternity,  is  a  Democrat,  and  is  president  of  the  Board  of 
Visitors  of  Virginia  Institute.  For  three  years  he  was  elected 
president  of  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati.  He  has  membership  in 
this  organization,  made  up  originally  of  former  officers  of  the 
Revolutonary  war,  because  of  the  service  of  his  great-grand- 
father, Major  Thomas  Massie,  who  served  with  the  rank  of 
major  in  the  war  for  independence  and  was  in  service  from  the 
beginning  until  the  final  surrender  at  Yorktown.  He  was  given 
a  large  grant  of  land  for  his  military  services,  and  that  land  was 
located  near  Chilicothe,  Ohio,  where  the  Massies  were  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  families  in  the  early  political  history  of  that 
state. 

Ira  H.  Hurt,  M.  D.  One  of  the  brilliant  young  physicians 
and  surgeons  of  Roanoke  who  has  already  achieved  distinction 
in  his  profession,  Dr.  Ira  H.  Hurt,  holds  the  confidence  of  the 
public  and  the  commendation  of  his  associates  because  of  the 
able  manner  in  which  he  discharges  the  heavy  responsibilities 
of  his  calling.  Both  by  inclination  and  intensive  training  is  he 
fitted  for  his  work,  and  while  giving  it  every  possible  attention, 
he  does  not  neglect  his  obligations  as  a  good  citizen,  and  few 
men  stand  better  than  he.  Doctor  Hurt  was  born  in  Franklin 
County,  Virginia,  October  21,  1890,  a  son  of  Henry  A.  and  Julia 
(Huff)  Hurt,  natives  of  Virginia,  he  born  in  Franklin  County 
and  she  in  Floyd  County.  The  mother  is  deceased,  but  the 
father  survives  and  is  now  living  in  Roanoke.  Formerly  he  was 
a  farmer,  but  after  he  came  to  Roanoke  he  worked  in  the  car 
shops  for  several  years,  later  going  into  the  bus  business,  and 
finally  becoming  a  grocer,  in  which  line  of  business  he  is  now 
engaged.  Of  the  seven  children  born  to  the  parents  six  survive, 
and  of  them  all  Doctor  Hurt  was  the  first  born.  All  her  life 
the  mother  was  an  active  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  to 
which  the  father  belongs,  and  he  is  also  a  Mason.  In  political 
faith  he  is  a  Democrat.  His  father,  Ira  Hurt,  was  also  a  native 
of  Franklin  County,  Virginia,  and  at  one  time  he  was  one  of  its 
wealthiest  men,  and  a  very  extensive  planter.  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  South,  had  in  him  a  devout  member.  The 
maternal  grandfather,  Isaac  Huff,  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  he, 
too,  was  a  large  landowner  and  planter. 

Doctor  Hurt  attended  the  public  schools  of  Roanoke,  and 
following  his  graduation  from  the  high  school  course,  had  a  year 
of  work  in  Roanoke  College,  after  which  he  took  two  vears  in 
the  Medical  College  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina.     He 


114  VIRGINIA 

was  graduated  from  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1919,  and  interned  for  one  year  in  the  Presby- 
terian Hospital  of  the  same  city.  In  1920  he  established  himself 
in  general  practice  in  Roanoke,  where  he  has  since  remained 
with  admirable  results.  In  addition  to  his  private  practice  Doc- 
tor Hurt  is  an  assistant  at  the  Shenandoah  Hospital. 

In  1923  Doctor  Hurt  married  Miss  Edith  Jackson,  born  in 
Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  there  educated.  She  was  a 
trained  nurse,  in  practice.  One  child  has  been  born  to  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Hurt,  Phyllis  Julia,  born  December  23,  1925.  Doctor 
Hurt  belongs  to  the  Melrose  Baptist  Church,  and  he  is  a  York 
Rite  and  Shriner  Mason,  and  belongs  to  the  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks.  For  several  years  he  has  taken  an  active 
part  in  the  work  of  the  Roanoke  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He 
belongs  to  the  Roanoke  Academy  of  Medicine,  the  Virginia  State 
Medical  Society  and  the  American  Medical  Association.  During 
the  World  war  he  was  in  the  Students  Army  Training  Corps, 
and  he  now  holds  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  Medical  Corps  of 
the  Virginia  National  Guard  and  the  Officers  Reserve  Corps, 
U.  S.  A.  He  is  commanding  the  Medical  Detachment  of  the  Two 
Hundred  and  Forty-sixth  Coast  Artillery,  and  attends  its  en- 
campment every  year.  From  the  above  brief  review  can  be 
gathered  the  fact  that  Doctor  Hurt  measures  up  to  the  highest 
ideals  of  his  profession  and  good  citizenship,  and  that  his  future 
stretches  out  very  bright  before  him. 

Hon.  Robert  C.  Jackson.  For  more  than  forty-six  years 
Hon.  Robert  C.  Jackson  has  been  a  member  of  the  Virginia  bar, 
and  during  the  past  two  decades  has  been  engaged  in  practice  at 
Roanoke.  For  a  large  part  of  his  career  he  has  been  the  in- 
cumbent of  positions  of  honor  and  trust,  and  at  present  is  city 
attorney  of  Roanoke,  an  office  in  which  he  has  discharged  his 
duties  with  marked  ability  and  conscientiousness.  It  has  been 
his  fortune  to  have  attained  well  merited  distinction  in  his  pro- 
fession, and  to  have  been  identified  with  many  important  move- 
ments that  have  contributed  to  the  civic  and  general  welfare. 

Judge  Jackson  was  born  December  26,  1861,  at  Austinville, 
Wythe  County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Amanda 
(Porter)  Jackson,  and  a  grandson  of  Samuel  Porter,  a  native  of 
Wythe  County,  where  the  family  was  prominent  for  many  years, 
its  members  for  the  greater  part  being  planters.  Thomas  Jack- 
son was  born  in  England  and  came  to  the  United  States  in  young 
manhood,  settling  in  Wythe  County,  where  he  spent  the  remain- 
der of  his  life  in  agricultural  pursuits.  He  and  his  wife,  who 
was  born  in  Wythe  County,  were  the  parents  of  seven  children, 
of  whom  six  are  living,  Robert  C.  being  the  youngest.  Two  of 
the  sons  were  soldiers  of  the  Confederacy  during  the  war  be- 
tween the  states:  Samuel,  who  resides  in  Kansas,  and  John  C, 
of  Galax,  Grayson  County,  this  state.  The  parents  were  faith- 
ful members  of  the  Methodist  church. 

Robert  C.  Jackson  acquired  his  early  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  Wythe  County,  and  was  graduated  from  Emory  and 
Henry  College,  Emory,  Virginia,  as  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1879,  receiving  the  degree  Bachelor  of  Arts.  He  then  entered 
the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  spent  three  years,  and  in 
1882  was  graduated  with  the  degree  Bachelor  of  Laws.  Com- 
mencing practice  in  Grayson  County,  he  was  elected  county 
judge  when  he  was  only  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  held  that 


VIRGINIA  115 

office  for  four  years.  When  he  resigned  from  that  office  he  was 
elected  commonwealth's  attorney,  in  which  capacity  he  acted  for 
a  like  period,  and  continued  to  practice  in  Grayson  County  until 
1896,  when  he  moved  to  Wytheville.  That  community  continued 
to  be  the  scene  of  his  professional  labors  until  1898,  when  he  was 
elected  judge  of  the  Twenty-first  Judicial  Circuit,  comprising 
the  counties  of  Wythe,  Pulaski,  Giles,  Carroll,  Bland  and  Taze- 
well. Judge  Jackson  could  have  held  this  office  indefinitely  had 
he  so  desired,  but  resigned  and  moved  to  Roanoke  County  in 
1908,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home,  his  present  offices 
being  in  the  Shenandoah  Life  Building.  He  carries  on  a  gen- 
eral practice  and  has  attained  to  a  high  position  in  his  profession, 
being  the  legal  representative  of  a  large  and  important  clientage. 
In  addition  to  his  private  practice  he  has  served  for  several 
years  in  the  capacity  of  city  attorney.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Roanoke  County  Bar  Association,  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Asso- 
ciation and  the  American  Bar  Association,  and  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  fraternity  for  many  years,  having  passed 
through  the  chairs  of  the  York  Rite.  He  likewise  has  been 
active  in  civic  affairs  and  politics,  and  is  a  leading  member  of 
Trinity  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  which  he  is  a 
steward  and  has  been  a  Sunday  School  teacher  for  thirty  years. 
Judge  Jackson  married,  in  1886,  Miss  Lelia  Dickinson,  who 
was  born  in  Grayson  County,  Virginia,  and  to  this  union  there 
were  born  three  children:  Hurd,  who  resides  in  the  West;  Eliza- 
beth, who  married  a  Mr.  Anderson  and  resides  in  New  Jersey ; 
and  Lelia,  who  married  John  Dechert,  a  resident  of  Harrison- 
burg, Virginia.  The  mother  of  these  children  died  in  1893  and 
Mr.  Jackson  married,  in  1900,  Miss  Marian  R.  Early,  of  Hills- 
ville,  Carroll  County,  Virginia,  and  has  one  .son,  Ralph,  who  re- 
sides in  Florida. 

Charles  G.  Craddock.  Lessons  are  daily  brought  home  to 
us ;  tuition  is  ours  for  the  asking  in  the  various  fields  of  human 
endeavor ;  we  need  no  school  or  instructors  to  show  us  in  which 
direction  we  must  lay  the  course  of  our  energies  to  gain  position 
and  success.  It  is  true  that  study  is  needed,  but  the  careers  of 
the  men  who  have  tried  and  have  attained  furnish  better  instruc- 
tion than  can  be  gained  through  any  other  line.  One  of  these 
lessons  is  that  a  real  man  does  not  allow  himself  to  know  that  the 
word  "quit"  has  found  a  place  in  our  dictionary,  our  vocabulary 
or  our  personality.  We  may  take  a  case  in  this  connection  and 
illustrate  our  point.  Charles  G.  Craddock,  president  of  the 
Craddock-Terry  Company,  has  worked  his  way  up  in  his  present 
company  from  his  initial  position  of  clerk  to  that  of  president, 
and  his  thoughtful  interest  in  other  persons  and  things  and  his 
genial  social  qualities  have  well  earned  him  the  confidence  and 
high  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  all  who  know  him. 

Charles  G.  Craddock  was  born  in  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  No- 
vember 17,  1890,  a  son  of  John  W.  Craddock,  a  sketch  of  whom 
appears  elsewhere  in  this  work.  Reared  in  his  native  city, 
Charles  G.  Craddock  attended  its  graded  and  high  schools  and 
the  Episcopal  High  School  of  Virginia,  Alexandria,  and  had  one 
year  in  the  University  of  Virginia  and  another  year  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania. 

With  the  completion  of  his  educational  training  Mr.  Craddock 
entered  the  auditing  department  of  his  present  company,  and 
has  steadily  risen  until  today  he  is  its  president,  which  office  he 
has  held  since  1924.     Under  his  wise  and  aggresive  administra- 

6— VOL.  3 


116  VIRGINIA 

tion  the  volume  of  business  has  expanded,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  quality  of  the  product  has  been  maintained,  and  today 
the  company  has  a  very  high  rating  both  commercially  and  in- 
dustrially. 

In  1916  Mr.  Craddock  married  Miss  Katharine  Baker,  born  in 
Lynchburg,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  W.  H.  Baker,  the  first  eye,  ear, 
nose  and  throat  specialist  of  Lynchburg.  Mrs.  Craddock  at- 
tended the  schools  of  Lynchburg  and  Agnes  Scott  College,  and 
is  a  finely  educated  lady  of  social  graces.  Three  children  have 
been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Craddock:  Eliza  Deane  Craddock, 
Charles  G.,  Junior,  and  Frank  Baker  Craddock.  Mr.  Craddock 
is  a  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Lynchburg, 
and  one  of  its  most  active  workers.  He  belongs  to  the  Delta 
Tau  Delta  Greek  letter  fraternity,  the  Rotary  Club  and  the  Coun- 
try Club,  as  well  as  to  other  organizations  of  the  city.  In  close 
touch  with  the  progress  of  events  he  displays  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  public  and  business  conditions,  and  brings  it  to  bear  in 
his  skillful  and  systematic  conduct  of  his  affairs.  From  the 
start  he  has  shown  an  appreciation  of  those  traits  of  character 
which  insure  safe  and  sound  business  processes,  and  not  only 
has  endeavored  to  develop  them  in  himself,  but  to  surround 
himself  with  others  who  possess  them,  and  because  of  this  and 
other  reasons  already  enumerated  has  kept  his  concern  in  the 
forefront  of  progress.  Such  men  as  he  set  the  pace  for  others, 
and  encourage  development  and  expansion  along  all  lines. 

David  Hampton  Kizer  is  an  attorney,  has  practiced  law  at 
Lynchburg  since  finishing  his  course  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  has  made  a  good  record  in  his  profession  and  in  the 
affairs  and  relationship  of  a  citizen. 

He  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  November  12,  1876,  son  of 
Ellis  R.  and  Rosa  (Shuler)  Kizer,  also  natives  of  South  Caro- 
lina. His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Oliver  Shuler,  who  was 
born  in  South  Carolina  and  was  a  planter  and  slave  owner  be- 
fore the  war.  The  paternal  grandparents  were  David  Frederick 
and  Elizabeth  (Jackson)  Kizer,  the  latter  of  whom  died  Janu- 
ary 9,  1928,  in  her  native  State  of  South  Carolina  at  the  age  of 
103  years.  David  F.  Kizer  was  a  farmer.  He  and  his  wife 
reared  eleven  out  of  fourteen  children,  and  all  of  them  married 
and  had  sons  and  daughters.  Ellis  R.  Kizer  spent  his  life  as  a 
farmer,  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  a  Democrat  in  politics.  He 
was  born  December  27,  1853,  and  died  October  20,  1913,  while 
his  wife  was  born  in  1854  and  died  August  4,  1897.  They  had 
a  family  of  ten  children. 

David  Hampton  Kizer  attended  the  common  schools  in  South 
Carolina,  the  Carlisle  Fitting  School  at  Bamberg,  and  in  1907 
was  graduated  from  the  law  department  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,  having  had  several  terms  of  experience  as  a  teacher 
before  finishing  his  law  course.  Mr.  Kizer  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  January  11,  1907,  and  in  the  same  year  established  his 
offices  in  the  Law  Building  at  Lynchburg,  where  he  has  been  for 
twenty  years. 

Mr.  Kizer  married,  November  15,  1911,  Miss  Lucille  Bullock, 
who  was  born  in  Russellville,  Alabama,  and  was  educated  there 
and  in  the  State  Normal  School  at  Florence,  Alabama.  She 
taught  school  before  her  marriage.  Five  children  were  born 
to  their  union:  D.  H.  Junior,  Shuler  Anderson,  William  Bul- 
lock, Mildred  Lawler  and  Charles  Walter. 


VIRGINIA  117 

Mr.  Kizer  has  served  as  steward  of  the  Methodist  Church  of 
Lynchburg  fifteen  years,  also  as  superintendent  of  the  Sunday 
School  and  his  wife  takes  an  active  part  in  the  same  church  and 
its  social  and  charitable  agencies.  Mr.  Kizer  is  a  past  master  of 
Marshall  Lodge  No.  39,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  at  Lynchburg,  member 
of  Lynchburg  Chapter  No.  10,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  DeMolay 
Commandei-y  No.  4,  Knights  Templar,  Kazim  Temple  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine  at  Roanoke,  and  is  also  affiliated  with  Lynchburg 
Lodge  No.  17,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  is  a  past 
chancellor  of  Lynchburg  Courtney  Lodge  No.  11,  Knights  of 
Pythias,  and  for  the  past  twenty  years  has  been  treasurer  of 
the  Knights  of  Pythias  Lodge  and  is  a  member  of  the  D.  0.  K.  K. 
He  also  belongs  to  the  Junior  Order  of  the  American  Mechanics 
and  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men,  Tribe  No.  96.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Piedmont  Club,  the  Delta  Chi  legal  fraternity  and 
is  a  Democrat  in  politics. 

John  W.  Simmerman  is  an  accomplished  physician  and  sur- 
geon whose  most  successful  years  in  his  profession  have  been 
spent  at  Roanoke. 

Doctor  Simmerman  was  born  at  Ivanhoe,  Wythe  County, 
Virginia,  February  17,  1887,  son  of  S.  S.  and  Lula  (Painter) 
Simmerman,  natives  of  the  same  county.  His  parents  reside  at 
Wytheville,  where  his  father  is  a  farmer  and  banker.  He  is  a 
Methodist  and  his  wife  a  Presbyterian,  and  he  belongs  to  the 
B.  P.  0.  Elks.  There  were  three  children :  Dr.  John  W. ;  S.  S., 
Junior,  a  farmer  at  Wytheville;  and  Elizabeth,  wife  of  C.  P. 
Huff,  a  merchant  at  Pulaski,  Virginia. 

John  W.  Simmerman  was  educated  in  local  schools  in  Wythe 
County,  continued  his  education  in  the  Virginia  Polytechnic 
Institute  at  Blacksburg  and  was  graduated  in  1911  from  the 
Maryland  Medical  College  at  Baltimore.  He  had  his  training 
as  an  interne  at  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Hospital  at  Richmond 
and  for  two  years  practiced  at  McDonalds  Mill.  Doctor  Simmer- 
man in  1913  located  at  Roanoke,  and  has  achieved  a  very  excel- 
lent general  practice.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  Academy 
of  Medicine,  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  American  Medical 
Association. 

Doctor  Simmerman  is  a  director  of  the  Colonial  National 
Bank  of  Roanoke  and  the  Peoples  Bank  of  Vinton.  He  is  inter- 
ested in  community  affairs,  serving  as  a  member  of  the  School 
Board  and  is  a  York  and  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  its  social  adjuncts,  the  D.  0. 
K.  K.  He  and  his  family  are  members  of  Saint  Peter's  Epis- 
copal Church. 

He  married,  in  1910,  Mae  L.  Quarles  who  was  born  in  Hal- 
ifax, Virginia.  They  have  two  daughters,  Mary  Louise  and  Mae 
Morrison,  both  attending  school  at  Roanoke. 

Robert  T.  Lemmon,  M.  D.  Indelibly  inscribed  on  the  pages 
of  the  medical  history  of  Campbell  County  and  deeply  graven 
in  the  hearts  of  those  who  know  him  is  the  name  and  personality 
of  Dr.  Robert  T.  Lemmon,  of  Lynchburg,  whose  modest  deport- 
ment, kindness  of  heart  and  true  beneficence  mark  him  as  a 
gentleman,  while  his  strong  intellect  and  experience  directed  in 
the  channels  of  materia  medica  have  gained  for  him  distinction 
among  the  members  of  his  profession  in  this  part  of  Virginia. 
The  salient  features   in   the   life   of   Doctor   Lemmon   may   be 


118  VIRGINIA 

deduced  from  the  fact  that  he  is  beloved  by  all  who  know  him, 
as  much  in  professional  circles  as  by  those  with  whom  he  comes 
in  contact  in  social  relations.  He  has  figured  for  a  number  of 
years  as  a  prominent  member  of  the  medical  fraternity  of 
Lynchburg,  which  has  always  been  distinguished  for  high  rank 
in  the  profession,  and  he  has  not  shirked  his  duty  as  a  citizen, 
but  has  responded  gladly  to  whatever  calls  have  been  made 
upon  him. 

Doctor  Lemmon  was  born  in  Campbell  County,  Virginia, 
October  5,  1878,  a  son  of  Richard  H.  and  Elizabeth  (Maury) 
Lemmon,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  near  Charlottesville, 
Virginia,  and  the  latter  in  Campbell  County,  and  both  are  now 
deceased.  The  father  was  also  a  physician,  and  was  prepared 
for  professional  work  in  the  University  of  Virginia  and  the 
University  of  Maryland.  Beginning  his  practice  in  Charlottes- 
ville, he  later  went  to  New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  and  from  that 
far  away  city  of  the  South  he  came  to  Lynchburg,  and  here 
he  continued  in  active  practice  until  his  death  in  1885.  He  was 
one  of  the  old-time  physicians,  devoted  to  his  profession  and 
willing  to  sacrifice  everything  to  it.  For  many  years  he  was 
remembered  as  the  "beloved  physician"  of  Lynchburg,  and  there 
are  those  still  living  who  were  ministered  to  by  him.  The  excel- 
lent wife  and  mother  passed  away  in  1880,  five  years  before  her 
husband.  After  her  death  Dr.  Robert  Lemmon  was  taken  into 
the  home  of  Robert  Massie,  and  there  he  was  practically  reared. 
He  has  one  sister,  Ann  Maury,  now  the  wife  of  John  B.  Light- 
foot,  Jr.,  of  Richmond,  an  attorney,  the  two  constituting  the 
children  of  their  parents.  The  elder  Doctor  Lemmon  was  a 
Democrat  in  political  faith,  but  never  an  office  seeker.  A  man 
ahead  of  his  times,  he  realized  the  necessity  for  additional  train- 
ing and  did  post-graduate  work  in  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
Baltimore,  Maryland.  His  father,  Dr.  Robert  T.  Lemmon,  was 
also  a  physician,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  a  general  practitioner  of  Campbell  County,  so  that  Doctor 
Lemmon  of  this  review  is  the  third  in  direct  descent  to  practice 
medicine  in  Campbell  County.  The  great-grandfather  on  the 
paternal  side  was  Reverend  Lemmon,  a  minister  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  The  maternal  grandfather,  Jesse  L.  Maury,  was  born 
in  Albermarle  County,  Virginia,  and  in  addition  to  extensive 
operations  as  a  farmer  he  built  Piedmont,  Virginia,  and  lived 
to  be  ninety-two  years  old. 

Doctor  Lemmon,  of  whom  we  write,  first  attended  the  Cleve- 
land High  School  and  that  at  Woodbury  Forest.  Still  later  he 
attended  Kenmore  High  School,  and  in  1898  he  entered  the 
University  of  Virginia,  and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1902, 
with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  Going  then  to  Norfolk, 
he  was  the  first  to  serve  as  interne  in  the  Sarah  Lee  Hospital  of 
that  city,  and  while  there  he  took  a  six-months  course  in  the 
New  York  Polyclinic  Hospital.  From  there  he  went  to  Saint 
Joseph  Hospital,  Baltimore,  Maryland.  Entering  the  Medical 
Reserve  Corps  of  the  United  States  Army,  he  served  as  a  first 
lieutenant  in  it  for  eight  years,  and  for  two  years  was  in  the 
Philippines.  In  January,  1913,  he  came  to  Lynchburg,  and  here 
he  has  since  been  engaged  in  practice,  building  up  very  wide 
connections  in  the  city  and  county.  While  he  carries  on  a  gen- 
eral practice  he  specializes  to  a  certain  extent  in  genito-urinary 
diseases. 

On  November  5,  1918,  Doctor  Lemmon  married  Miss  Mary 
Bigbie,  a  native  of  Lynchburg  and  a  product  of  its  public  schools 


VIRGINIA  119 

and  seminary.  Two  children  have  been  born  to  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Lemmon:  Robert  T.,  Jr.,  and  Richard  H.  Mrs.  Lemmon  be- 
longs to  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  is  a  member  of  Phi  Kappa 
Psi,  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  Campbell 
County  Medical  Society,  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society  and 
the  American  Medical  Association,  and  at  one  time  he  served 
the  county  medical  society  as  secretary.  Doctor  Lemmon  is  a 
man  who  possesses  depths  of  feeling,  of  purpose,  of  high  resolve, 
that  lead,  when  occasion  demands,  to  virile  action,  and  his 
associates  know  that  he  will  devote  time  and  energy  to  plan  for 
and  accomplish  that  which  is  best  in  civic  life. 

William  C.  Stephenson.  In  the  broad  and  intricate  field 
of  insurance  success  is  the  portion  only  of  those  who  possess 
certain  qualifications  and  characteristics.  Contrary  to  ordinary 
belief,  insurance  is  a  highly  specialized  business,  and  its  devotees 
must  be  men  of  sound  character,  keen  knowledge  of  human  na- 
ture, self  confidence  and  untiring  persistence.  Diplomacy  and 
tact  are  desirable  concomitants,  and  above  all  the  insurance  man 
must  be  thoroughly  conversant  with  his  subject  in  its  every  de- 
tail, be  able  to  "think  on  his  feet"  and  one  ready  instantaneously 
to  grasp  an  opportunity.  Of  the  men  who  have  possessed  the 
above  characteristics  and  through  their  use  have  gained  success, 
one  of  the  best  known  at  Roanoke  is  William  C.  Stephenson,  who 
is  also  widely  known  in  other  business  activities,  particularly 
those  identified  with  the  coal  industry  and  with  finance. 

/Mr.  Stephengon  was  born  July  13,  1872,  at  East  Brady, 
Clarion  County,  cPennsylvania,  and  is  a  son  of  James  B.  and 
Katherine  G.  "(Cowell)  Stephenson.  His  father,  who  was  born 
in-  New  Jersey,  became  identified  with  the  coal  business  at  an 
early  age,  and  was-  a  pioneer  in  the  Pocahontas  fields  of  West 
Virginia,  where'  he-  opened  the  fifth.-mine  in  this  field  at  Bram- 
well,  West  Virginia.  He  eventually  secured  large  and  impor- 
tant interests  and  was  one  of  the  leading  men  in  the  trade  at 
the  time  of  his'  demi^,  which  occurred  at  Roanoke,  where  he 
maintained  offices  for  many  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and.  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order 
of  Elks,  and  in  his  political  convictions  was  a  Republican.  He 
belonged  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  while  Mrs.  Stephen- 
son, who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  held  membership  in  the 
Presbyterian  Churcl;?,jin  -the  work  of  which  she  was  very  active. 
.They  became  the  parents  of  five  children,  of  whom  three  are 
living;  William  C;.  of  thisireview;  H.  L.,  a  manufacturer  of 
Buffalo,  New  York;  and  N$lt' J.,  wife  of  Dr.  J.  O.  Boyd,  of 
Roanoke,  Virginia;..'-:  i.  •:■ 

The  early  educa^on  af  William  C.  Stephenson  was  acquired 
in  the  public-  schools  of  his- native  county,  following  which  he 
pursued  a  course  at  the  Clarion  State  Normal  School.  His  first 
Employment  wa-s-with  the  Second  National  Bank  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania.  In  1893 ihe  located  at  Roanoke,  where  he  became 
interested  in  the  various  big  business  operations  of  his  father. 
He  now  maintainsi  well  appointed  offices  at  112  Kirk  Avenue, 
South  West,  and  has  a  large  and  appreciative  patronage  which 
extends  to  all  parts  of  the  city  and  the  surrounding  countryside. 
Few  men  are  better  kno\vn^to  the  coal  trade  of  the  city  and 
state,  and  he  is  now  president  and  treasurer  of  the  Buckeye  Coal 
and  Coke  Company.  He  is  also  vice  president  of  the  firm  of 
Davis  &  Stephenson,  Jneorporated,  and  a  director  in  the  First 
National  Exchange  Bank  of  Roanoke  and  the  Virginia  Bridge 


120  VIRGINIA 

and  Iron  Company,  all  of  which  concerns  have  profited  mate- 
rially by  his  ability,  judgment  and  acumen.  In  his  political 
views  Mr.  Stephenson  is  a  stanch  Republican,  but  has  no  desire 
for  public  office.  However,  few  citizens  are  more  public  spirited 
or  have  contributed  in  greater  degree  to  the  welfare  of  their  city 
by  their  constructive  support  of  worth  while  measures.  He  has 
long  been  prominent  as  a  York  and  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  and 
served  as  hig-h  priest  of  his  Chapter  and  eminent  commander  of 
his  Commandery  at  the  same  time,  in  addition  to  which  on  an- 
other occasion  he  was  grand  commander  of  the  state.  With  his 
family  he  belongs  to  Christ  Episcopal  Church. 

In  1899  Mr.  Stephenson  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Elizabeth  M.  Greenland,  who  was  born  in  Clarion  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  educated  at  Wilson  College,  Chambersburg,  Penn- 
sylvania. To  this  union  there  have  been  born  four  children :  Wil- 
liam C,  Jr.,  a  medical  student  at  the  University  of  Virginia; 
Walter  G.,  a  traveling  salesman  for  Castner,  Currant  &  Bullitt, 
Incorporated;  James  B.  II,  and  Richard  C,  attending  school. 

H.  Herbert  Harris  has  given  the  best  years  of  his  life  to 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  City  of  Lynchburg,  where  under 
his  experienced  hand  the  Harris-Woodson  Company,  of  which 
he  is  president,  has  become  one  of  the  largest  manufacturing 
and  wholesale  confectionery  firms  in  the  South. 

Mr.  Harris  was  born  at  Charlottesville,  Virginia,  October  1, 
1869,  son  of  Henry  Herbert  and  Emma  (Bibb)  Harris.  His 
paternal  grandparents,  Henry  and  Susan  (Hart)  Harris,  were 
residents  of  Louisa  County,  Henry  Harris  being  a  farmer  and 
planter. 

Henry  Herbert  Harris,  a  scholar  and  educator,  for  many 
years  identified  with  Richmond  College,  was  born  in  Louisa 
County  December  17,  1836.  Much  of  his  early  education  was 
acquired  from  an  older  sister,  a  very  gifted  woman.  He  was 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  when  the  Civil 
war  came  on  he  served  with  the  Engineering  Corps.  After  the 
war  he  taught  in  a  female  seminary  at  Charlottesville,  and  left 
that  to  become  professor  of  Greek  in  Richmond  College,  a  chair 
he  filled  for  twenty-nine  years,  and  part  of  the  time  was  also 
professor  of  modern  languages  and  philosophy.  He  was  an  in- 
spiring teacher,  and  hundreds  of  graduates  of  Richmond  College 
have  a  most  grateful  memory  for  not  only  his  scholarship  and 
learning,  but  for  his  kindly  and  generous  character.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  for  many  years  taught  a 
Bible  class  in  the  Grace  Street  Baptist  Church  at  Richmond. 
He  resigned  his  position  at  Richmond  College  in  1895  to  become 
identified  with  the  Baptist  Theological  Seminary  at  Louisville. 
He  died  February  4,  1897,  at  Lynchburg  and  was  buried  in 
Hollywood  Cemetery  at  Richmond. 

He  married,  November  26,  1862,  Miss  Emma  Bibb,  daugh- 
ter of  William  A.  Bibb,  of  Charlottesville,  William  A.  Bibb  was  a 
merchant  and  clerk  of  court.  Professor  Harris  had  six  chil- 
dren :  William  A.,  who  succeeded  his  father  as  professor  of 
Greek  at  Richmond  College,  and  has  been  with  that  institution  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  having  been  educated  in  the  college  under 
his  father  and  also  at  Johns  Hopkins  University.  The  second 
son  is  H.  Herbert,  of  Lynchburg.  Janet  is  the  wife  of  R.  E. 
Gaines,  professor  of  mathematics  at  the  University  of  Richmond. 
Dr.  George  T.  Harris  is  a  Lynchburg  physician.  Isabelle  is  a 
graduate  of  Richmond  College  and  Columbia  University,  and 


VIRGINIA  121 

is  teaching  mathematics  in  the  West  Hampton  School  at  Rich- 
mond. The  youngest  of  the  family,  Emma,  married  James  H. 
Hancock,  a  coal  operator  at  Lynchburg. 

H.  Herbert  Harris  was  reared  in  Richmond,  attended  the 
McGuire  Boys  School,  and  graduated  A.  B.  from  Richmond 
College  in  1888.  For  three  years  he  clerked  in  a  wholesale 
grocery  store  at  Richmond,  for  two  years  was  in  the  brokerage 
business,  and  removing  to  Lynchburg  was  with  a  wholesale 
grocery  company  there  until  1901.  In  1901  he  established  the 
Harris-Woodson  Company,  candy  manufacturers,  and  during 
the  past  quarter  of  a  century  this  has  become  one  of  the  impor- 
tant commercial  institutions  of  Lynchburg.  The  company  main- 
tains a  force  of  fourteen  traveling  salesmen  covering  Virginia, 
West  Virginia,  Tennessee,  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Geor- 
gia, and  also  distribute  a  large  amount  of  their  confectionery 
products  through  brokers  in  other  places.  Mr.  Harris  is  presi- 
dent of  the  company,  T.  A.  Woodson,  vice  president,  and  R.  A. 
Harris,  vice  president. 

Mr.  Harris  is  vice  president  of  the  Lynchburg  City  Savings 
and  Loan  Corporation,  vice  president  of  the  Guaranty  Title  and 
Bond  Corporation,  and  is  a  director  in  the  First  National  Bank, 
the  Lynchburg  Mutual  Building  and  Loan  Association,  the  Pilot 
Building  and  Loan  Association  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  Atlantic  Life  Insurance  Company,  of  Richmond. 

For  many  years  he  has  taken  an  active  part  in  civic  affairs. 
He  is  treasurer  and  member  of  the  board  of  the  Baptist  Hos- 
pital, the  best  equipped  institution  of  its  kind  in  the  South.  He 
is  former  president  of  the  Lynchburg  Chamber  of  Commerce 
and  Lynchburg  Rotary  Club,  member  of  the  Virginia  State 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  is  a  member  of  the  City  School  Board, 
and  is  a  deacon  in  the  Rivermont  Baptist  Church  and  superin- 
tendent of  its  Sunday  School  and  chairman  of  the  church  build- 
ing committee.  Mr.  Harris  has  membership  in  the  United  Com- 
mercial Travelers,  the  Beta  Theta  Pi  college  fraternity,  and  is  a 
Democrat. 

He  married,  October  25,  1902,  Miss  Annie  Adams,  a  native 
of  Lynchburg.  They  have  three  children.  The  son,  Richard 
Adams  Harris,  was  educated  in  the  Episcopal  High  School  at 
Alexandria,  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Alpha  Tau  Omega  fraternity,  and  is  now  vice  president 
of  the  Harris- Woodson  Company.  He  married  Martha  Latham, 
of  Richmond,  daughter  of  Rev.  J.  N.  Latham,  a  Methodist  min- 
ister, and  has  one  son,  Richard  A.,  Jr.  The  two  daughters  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harris  are  Annie  Scott  and  Emma  Maxwell  Har- 
ris, who  were  educated  in  the  Mary  Baldwin  Seminary  at  Staun- 
ton and  Dana  Hall  at  Wellesley,  Massachusetts. 

James  V.  Ramos,  Jr.,  was  a  Richmond  pharmacist,  and  a  well 
known  member  of  a  well  known  family  in  Virginia. 

He  was  boi'n  at  Richmond  in  September,  1854,  and  died  in 
that  city  July  8,  1901.  His  father,  Jose  Ramos,  came  from  the 
Azores  Islands  to  Richmond,  and  married  in  that  city  Maria 
Kirby,  a  native  of  Virginia.  Of  their  six  children  one  was 
Miss  Essie  Ramos,  a  graduate  of  the  Richmond  Woman's  Col- 
lege and  a  well  known  educator  who  taught  for  many  years 
in  the  Richmond  High  School. 

James  V.  Ramos,  Jr.,  attended  Richmond  College  and  com- 
pleted his  course  in  pharmacy  in  the  Medical  College  of  Vir- 
ginia.    For  a  time  he  was  employed  by  the  Polk  Miller  Com- 


122  VIRGINIA 

pany  and  in  1881  engaged  in  the  drug  business  at  8  Main  Street 
under  the  firm  name  of  Thornbury  and  Ramos,  and  it  was  one 
of  the  leading  drug  stores  of  the  city  for  ten  years.  For  a  brief 
time  before  his  death  he  had  been  interested  in  a  drug  business 
at  Norfolk.  Mr.  Ramos  practically  all  his  life  was  a  member  of 
the  Second  Baptist  Church  of  Richmond. 

Mr.  Ramos  was  survived  by  Mrs.  Ramos  and  three  children. 
Mrs.  Lutie  Page  Ramos,  whose  home  is  at  2018  Gi'ove  Avenue, 
has  in  her  ancestry  some  of  the  distinguished  family  names  of 
old  Virginia.  Mr.  Ramos  and  Miss  Lutie  Page  were  married 
January  8,  1884,  at  the  St.  James  Hotel  in  Richmond,  in  the 
presence  of  her  father.  Major  John  M.  Page,  then  on  his  death- 
bed, it  having  been  his  expressed  wish  and  determination  that 
the  ceremony  should  take  place  before  his  death.  They  were 
married  by  Rev.  Dr.  James  G.  Armstrong,  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  assisted  by  Rev.  William  W.  Landrum,  of  the  Baptist 
denomination,  and  Rev.  J.  W.  Bledsoe.  Major  John  M.  Page, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  fifty  years,  was  born  in  Campbell  County, 
Virginia,  and  early  in  the  war  between  the  states  became  a  first 
lieutenant  in  the  Scottsville  Greys  commanded  by  Gen.  James  C. 
Hill.  His  company  became  a  part  of  the  Forty-sixth  Virginia 
Regiment  of  Infantry  in  Wise's  Brigade.  He  was  made  adju- 
tant of  the  regiment  and  was  conspicuous  for  his  coolness  and 
courage  as  well  as  for  his  qualities  as  a  drill  master.  After  the 
war  he  lived  at  Charlottesville,  and  several  years  before  his 
death  became  proprietor  of  the  St.  James  Hotel  at  Richmond. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Charlottesville  Lodge  of  Masons. 
Major  John  M.  Page  married  Lucy  Maria  Flanagan,  and  they 
were  the  parents  of  six  children :  William  Louis,  John  Leonard, 
cashier  of  the  Peoples  Bank  of  Charlottesville ;  James,  who  mar- 
ried Jennie  Frazier  and  had  three  children,  named  Almira,  John 
Leonard  and  Martha;  Thomas  L. ;  Fannie  L. ;  and  Mrs.  Luttie 
Page  Ramos. 

Through  her  mother  Mrs.  Ramos  is  a  descendant  of  the 
Payne  and  Flanagan  families.  George  P.  Payne,  who  died  in 
December,  1744,  was  a  justice  of  Goochland  County  in  1729-33, 
was  sheriff  of  the  county,  1734-37.  He  married  Mary  Woodson, 
daughter  of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  (Feris)  Woodson,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Doctor  John  Woodson,  who  came  from  England  to 
Virginia  in  1619.  A  son  of  George  P.  Payne  was  Josias  Payne, 
born  October  30,  1705,  and  died  in  1785.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses  from  Goochland  County  during  several 
sessions,  from  1761  to  1765.  He  married  Anna  Fleming,  daugh- 
ter of  Tarleton  Fleming,  Sr.  Their  son,  William  Payne,  born 
February  10,  1732,  and  died  March  2,  1822,  married  Mary  Bar- 
rett, and  of  their  nine  children  one  was  Col.  James  Payne,  born 
April  2,  1762.  Col.  James  Payne  married  Frances  Dix,  and  the 
fourth  among  their  eight  children  was  Frances  M.  Payne. 

Frances  M.  Payne,  born  February  8,  1791,  and  died  Decem- 
ber 14,  1873,  became  the  wife  of  Capt.  William  Flanagan,  of 
Fluvanna  County.  Their  daughter,  Lucy  Maria  Flanagan,  born 
February  1,  1830,  was  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Ramos.  William 
Payne,  the  great-great-grandfather  of  Mrs.  Ramos,  was  com- 
missioned a  first  lieutenant  in  Virginia  troops  March  22,  1776. 
Capt.  William  Flanagan  was  captain  of  Buford's  Company  of 
Militia  in  the  War  of  1812. 

Of  the  three  children  of  Mrs.  Ramos  the  oldest  is  John  Page, 
who  married  Pattie  Haskins,  of  Mecklenburg  County,  and  their 
two  children  are  John  Page,  Jr.,  and  Nathaniel  Haskins.     The 


VIRGINIA  123 

daughter  Maria  Vieria,  now  Mrs.  W.  R.  Jones,  is  a  graduate  of 
Miss  Coleman's  School  of  Richmond.  The  third  child  is  Jose 
Berrian  Ramos. 

The  records  of  the  Pension  Bureau  at  Washington  supply 
some  further  information  concerning  Captain  Flanagan.  He 
enlisted  October  28,  1814,  and  was  in  service  until  January  13, 
1815.  His  application  for  a  pension  was  allowed  January  18, 
1872,  when  he  was  ninety  years  of  age.  He  was  born  in  Louisa 
County,  Virginia,  son  of  James  Flanagan,  whose  first  wife  was 
Phoebe  Simpson,  and  his  second  wife  was  the  widow  Mary 
Bowles  Johnson.  William  Flanagan  married  in  December,  1809, 
Sarah  Curd  Johnson,  who  died  May  10,  1859,  and  his  second 
wife  was  Anne  E.  Hughson,  daughter  of  James  and  Mary 
Hughson. 

Edward  Roberts  Johnson,  president  of  the  Roanoke  Securi- 
ties Corporation,  has  made  his  home  at  Roanoke  almost  continu- 
ously since  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age,  at  which  time  his  father, 
the  late  Lucius  E.  Johnson,  located  at  Roanoke  to  begin  a  service 
of  more  than  twenty  years  as  general  superintendent  and  after- 
wards as  general  manager  and  president  of  the  Norfolk  &  West- 
ern Railway  Company.  In  transportation,  industrial  and  finan- 
cial affairs  hardly  any  name  in  the  present  century  has  been 
accorded  more  prestige  in  Virginia  than  that  of  Johnson. 

Lucius  E.  Johnson  was  born  at  Aurora,  Illinois,  April  13, 
1846,  son  of  J.  Spencer  and  Eliza  (Brown)  Johnson.  He  was 
educated  in  public  schools,  served  during  the  concluding  months 
of  the  Civil  war  in  Company  C,  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-second 
Illinois  Infantry,  and  in  1866  was  working  as  a  locomotive  fire- 
man, with  headquarters  at  Aurora,  the  division  point  of  the 
Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy  Railway.  He  was  with  that  com- 
pany, vdth  headquarters  at  Aurora,  for  twenty  years,  rising  to 
the  position  of  master  mechanic.  In  1886  he  was  made  superin- 
tendent of  the  Saint  Louis  Division  of  the  Burlington  System, 
two  years  later  became  superintendent  of  the  Chicago  Division, 
from  1890  to  1893  was  superintendent  of  the  Montana  Central 
Railway,  and  from  1893  to  1897,  superintendent  of  the  Michigan 
Division  of  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern,  New  York 
Central  Lines,  located  at  Toledo,  Ohio. 

On  July  10,  1897,  Lucius  E.  Johnson  became  a  resident  of 
Roanoke,  having  been  called  to  the  important  responsibilities 
of  the  office  of  general  superintendent  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western, 
which  at  that  time  was  in  its  formative  stage  of  development  as 
one  of  the  great  industrial  railway  systems  of  the  East.  As  a 
practical  railroad  executive  no  man  impressed  his  abilities  more 
thoroughly  on  this  system  than  Lucius  E.  Johnson.  In  1899  he 
became  vice  president  and  general  manager,  on  October  1,  1903, 
was  elected  president  of  the  company,  and  on  resigning  that 
office  January  1,  1918,  was  chosen  chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Directors.  From  June  1,  1918,  until  March  1,  1920,  during  the 
United  States  Railroad  administration,  he  was  again  president 
of  the  corporation,  after  which  he  resumed  his  post  as  chaii-man 
of  the  Board  of  Directors.  Lucius  E.  Johnson  died  February  11, 
1921. 

An  appreciation  of  what  he  did  as  a  railroad  man,  particu- 
larly for  the  Norfolk  &  Western,  is  contained  in  the  following 
paragraph :  "Mr.  Johnson  came  to  the  Norfolk  &  Western  with 
a  splendid  reputation  as  a  practical  railroad  executive.     That 


124  VIRGINIA 

reputation  was  greatly  enhanced  during  his  management  of 
the  Norfolk  &  Western.  His  administration  wrought  a  great 
improvement  in  physical  condition,  increase  of  equipment,  and 
betterment  of  its  general  transportation  facilities  and  service. 
His  mastery  of  the  many  technical  problems  involved  in  railroad 
operation  enabled  him  to  devise  and  put  in  force  plans  that 
placed  every  department  in  position  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
a  traffic,  the  continued  growth  of  which  has  been  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  in  the  railroad  history  of  the  country.  An  important 
direct  result  of  this  efficient  management  was  the  improvement 
of  the  financial  status  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western  from  year  to 
year  until  its  stock  came  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  rail- 
road securities  in  the  United  States.  The  Norfolk  &  Western 
was  rendering  efficient  service  not  only  from  the  technical 
operating  standpoint,  but  as  head  of  the  company  Mr.  Johnson 
succeeded  in  developing  a  most  cordial  feeling  between  the 
public  and  the  railway  management,  this  factor  of  good-will 
being  hardly  less  valuable  to  a  transportation  company  than  the 
more  tangible  asset." 

Lucius  E.  Johnson  married,  April  10,  1869,  Miss  Ella  Parker, 
of  Aurora,  Illinois,  and  they  both  lived  to  celebrate  their  golden 
wedding  anniversary.  The  two  sons  of  the  marriage  were 
George  P.  and  Edward  Roberts  Johnson. 

Edward  Roberts  Johnson  was  born  at  Aurora,  Illinois,  Sep- 
tember 10,  1882,  and  acquired  his  early  education  in  public 
schools  in  that  city,  in  Helena  and  Great  Falls,  Montana,  at 
Toledo,  Ohio,  and  after  coming  to  Roanoke  was  a  student  in  the 
Allegheny  Institute  of  that  city.  He  had  a  thorough  technical 
education  in  Purdue  University  at  Lafayette,  Indiana.  After 
his  university  career  he  was  with  the  traffic  department  of  the 
Norfolk  &  Western  Railway  at  Suffolk,  Virginia,  resigning  to 
engage  in  the  coal  business.  From  1906  to  1910  he  was  vice 
president  of  the  H.  T.  Wilson  Coal  Company  at  Detroit,  and 
from  1911  to  1913  was  president  of  the  Borderland  Coal  Sales 
Company  of  Cincinnati.  He  became  general  manager  of  the 
Virginia  Supply  Company  at  Roanoke  in  1914,  and  in  1917  was 
elected  president  of  the  company.  Mr.  Johnson  is  identified 
with  other  important  interests  and  is  a  director  in  the  Walker 
Machine  and  Foundry  Company,  the  Securities  Insurance  Cor- 
poration and  the  Johnson-Carper  Furniture  Company.  He  served 
as  president  of  the  Roanoke  Rotary  Club  from  July  1,  1927,  to 
June  30,  1928.  He  was  president  of  the  Roanoke  Chamber  of 
Commerce  for  1928. 

On  account  of  his  experience  as  a  practical  traffic  man  he 
was  in  a  position  to  render  special  service  of  great  value  to  the 
Government  during  the  World  war.  On  May  20,  1918,  he  was 
appointed  fuel  expert.  Quartermaster  Corps,  as  a  dollar  a  year 
man;  June  25,  1918,  was  commissioned  captain.  Quartermaster 
Corps,  in  charge  of  coal  procurement  branch,  raw  materials 
division;  August  1,  1918,  was  made  executive  officer,  raw  ma- 
terials division;  October  17,  1918,  was  commissioned  major. 
Quartermaster  Corps ;  December  14,  1918,  was  made  chief,  raw 
materials  division ;  and  was  given  his  honorable  discharge 
April  3,  1919.  In  the  early  months  of  the  war  he  was  employed 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
War  Council  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  and  Camp  Lee,  Virginia. 

Mr.  Johnson  organized  in  1921  Johnson,  Brown  and  Com- 
pany, which  subsequently  became  the  Roanoke  Securities  Corpo- 


VIRGINIA  125 

ration,  of  which  he  has  since  been  president.  He  is  also  a  direc- 
tor of  the  National  Exchange  Bank  of  Roanoke.  Mr.  Johnson 
is  a  Republican,  member  of  the  Phi  Delta  Theta  college  fra- 
ternity, is  a  Royal  Arch,  Council  and  Knight  Templar  York  Rite 
Mason,  also  a  Scottish  Rite  IMason  and  Shriner.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Shenandoah  Club,  Roanoke  Country  Club,  has  served  on 
the  Official  Board  of  the  Greene  Memorial  Methodist  Church  and 
as  president  of  the  Roanoke  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

He  married  at  Toledo,  Ohio,  January  16,  1905,  Miss  Edith 
Grace  Carson,  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  F.  Carson.  They 
have  two  children,  Lucius  C.  and  Ruth  Johnson. 

Rev.  William  Fred  Locke  is  a  gifted  minister  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  South,  known  and  loved  in  many  commu- 
nities, not  only  in  Virginia  but  in  Maryland  and  elsewhere. 

His  present  pastorate  is  the  Green  Memorial  Church  at 
Roanoke,  Virginia.  Rev.  Mr.  Locke  was  born  at  Charles  Town, 
West  Virginia,  in  1865,  son  of  Thomas  and  Esther  (Locke) 
Locke.  Both  parents  were  natives  of  Virginia  and  his  father 
was  a  merchant  and  later  a  farmer.  They  were  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  the  father  was  a 
Democrat  and  a  Mason.  Of  their  eight  children  one  son,  Wil-. 
liam  S.,  was  killed  at  Ashland  during  the  Civil  war.  Three  are 
now  living:  Dr.  T.  F.  Locke,  a  dentist  at  Woodstock,  Virginia; 
Mrs.  Sudie  E.  Lloyd,  of  Charles  Town,  West  Virginia;  and  Wil- 
liam F. 

William  F.  Locke  attended  the  Charles  Town  High  School, 
continued  his  education  in  an  academy  conducted  by  Captain 
Cabell,  and  was  also  under  the  instruction  of  his  brother,  Austin 
M.  Locke,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  At  an 
early  age  he  began  his  studies  preparatory  for  the  ministry  and 
was  ordained  in  1892.  His  first  church  was  in  the  Springfield 
Circuit.  For  three  years  he  was  pastor  at  Piedmont,  West  Vir- 
ginia, for  two  years  had  charge  of  St.  James  Church  at  Roanoke, 
and  for  four  years  was  at  Washington,  D.  C,  with  the  Marvin 
Church.  He  was  pastor  three  years  at  Front  Royal,  at  Rock- 
ville,  Maryland,  at  Mount  Vernon  Place  Church  in  Washington 
three  years,  spent  four  years  at  IMartinsburg,  West  Virginia, 
four  years  at  Lexington,  Virginia,  six  years  in  Baltimore,  and 
five  years  at  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  and  in  October,  1927. 
was  assigned  pastoral  duties  with  the  Green  Memorial  Church 
at  Roanoke,  Virginia. 

Rev.  Mr.  Locke  married,  in  1893,  Daise  E.  Jamesson,  who 
was  born  at  Westernport,  Maryland,  and  was  educated  in  the 
Western  Female  Institute  at  Staunton,  Virginia.  They  have  one 
daughter,  Dorothy  Jamesson. 

Rev.  Mr.  Locke  is  a  York  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  being  a 
past  master  of  the  lodge  at  Front  Royal.  He  also  belongs  to 
the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  is  a  Rotarian  and  a  member  of  the  Kiwanis 
Club. 

William  F.  Lawrence  in  his  business  career  belonged  to  the 
Richmond  of  both  ante-bellum  as  well  as  post-bellum  times.  He 
was  one  of  the  noteworthy  men  of  his  generation,  and  among 
other  services  to  his  credit  was  his  record  as  a  soldier  of  the 
Confederacy. 

He  was  born  in  Henrico  County  July  4,  1830,  and  died  at 
Richmond  December  28.  1908,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight.  His 
parents  were  William  and  Susanne  (Ford)  Lawrence,  his  father 


126  VIRGINIA 

having  been  identified  with  planting  and  farming  in  Henrico 
County. 

William  F.  Lawrence,  oldest  son  of  his  parents,  was  educated 
in  schools  in  Henrico  County,  grew  up  on  a  farm  and  plantation, 
and  worked  there  until  he  took  up  a  business  career  at  Rich- 
mond. As  a  clerk  he  learned  the  grocery  trade,  and  about  1858 
engaged  in  the  business  on  his  own  account.  He  left  this  when 
the  war  broke  out  and  had  three  years  of  service  with  the  Vir- 
ginia troops,  serving  in  a  regiment  of  cavalry. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Richmond  and  re- 
opened a  grocery  store  at  Graham  and  Broad  streets.  At  that 
time  Richmond  was  under  military  rule,  and  he  did  an  extensive 
business  with  the  Northern  soldiers  who  were  camped  in  Monroe 
Park,  across  the  street  from  his  store.  About  1874  he  retired 
from  merchandising,  and  gave  his  chief  attention  to  the  owner- 
ship and  management  of  valuable  parcels  of  real  estate  he 
owned  in  the  business  district,  much  of  it  on  Broad  Street,  his 
keen  knowledge  in  values  bringing  him  a  substantial  fortune. 
He  was  always  a  Democrat  in  politics  but  never  sought  political 
preferment. 

Mr.  Lawrence  first  married  Virginia  Schumaker,  who  died 
in  1885,  leaving  no  children.  On  March  6,  1895,  he  married 
Arlie  R.  Taylor,  who  survives  him  and  resides  at  22  North 
Boulevard.  Mrs.  Lawrence  is  a  daughter  of  W.  T.  and  Julia  R. 
(Ford)  Taylor.  Her  father  was  an  early  day  merchant  in 
Richmond,  conducting  a  general  store.  Mrs.  Lawrence  was  the 
oldest  child  of  her  parents.  Her  brother,  W.  T.  Taylor,  became 
a  Richmond  merchant  and  married  Hattie  Bowles.  Her  sister 
Kate  Jane  is  now  Mrs.  C.  M.  Waldrop.  Her  brother  Charles  L. 
is  deceased.  Mrs.  Lawrence's  father  served  as  a  courier  in  the 
Confederate  army  and  was  once  wounded  in  action. 

Mrs.  Lawrence  became  the  mother  of  four  children,  the  old- 
est, William  F.,  being  now  deceased.  Henry  J.  is  a  graduate  of 
the  University  of  Virginia  and  a  successful  architect  at  Hous- 
ton, Texas;  he  married  Helen  Brook.  Virginia  C.  Lawrence  is 
the  wife  of  J.  C.  Watson,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Fire  and 
Marine  Insurance  Company  of  Virginia,  and  has  a  daughter, 
Jeanne.  Walter  L.  Lawrence,  an  employe  of  the  State  of  Vir- 
ginia, married  Louise  Boschen,  daughter  of  Louis  Boschen,  a 
former  member  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates. 

John  E.  Topping  both  as  a  Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery  and  as 
a  business  man  and  citizen  has  made  himself  a  popular  and 
prominent  factor  in  the  citizenship  of  Roanoke. 

Doctor  Topping  was  born  in  Middlesex  County,  Virginia,  in 
1886,  son  of  F.  E.  and  Mary  F.  (Purcell)  Topping,  both  natives 
of  the  same  county,  and  grandson  of  Edward  Topping  and  John 
Purcell,  likewise  natives  of  Middlesex  County  and  farmers  and 
planters  of  that  region.  Doctor  Topping's  parents  both  died  in 
1925.  His  father  was  a  substantial  farmer  and  for  twelve 
years  held  the  office  of  sheriff  of  Middlesex  County.  They  were 
members  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  he  belonged  to  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity. 

John  E.  Topping  was  third  in  a  family  of  five  children.  He 
grew  up  on  the  home  farm  in  Middlesex  County,  attended  public 
schools  there  and  for  three  years  acted  as  quartermaster  on  a 
boat  on  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  He  left  that  to  study  dentistry, 
paying  most  of  his  expenses  while  he  studied.  He  took  his 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery  at  the  Baltimore  Medical 


C^<^i^&::^. 


VIRGINIA  127 

College,  which  is  now  the  Maryland  University,  in  1913.  Doc- 
tor Topping  for  several  years  practiced  at  Fincastle  and  in  1917 
located  at  Roanoke.  He  performs  the  general  service  of  a  well 
trained  and  capable  dentist.  In  addition  he  is  vice  president  of 
the  Rutrough-Gilbert  Motor  Company,  Incorporated,  one  of  the 
largest  and  finest  sales  and  service  stations  in  Southwest  Vir- 
ginia. 

Doctor  Topping  married,  in  1921,  Miss  Jamie  Arline  Wilhoit, 
who  was  born  in  Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  and  was  educated 
at  Bedford  and  in  North  Carolina  and  taught  before  her  mar- 
riage. Doctor  and  Mrs.  Topping  attend  the  Calvary  Baptist 
Church.  He  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner  and  is  direc- 
tor of  the  Degree  Team  of  the  Shrine.  He  belongs  to  the  Xi  Si 
Psi  dental  fraternity  and  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks. 

David  P.  Sites.  Strength  of  purpose,  intelligently  directed, 
results  in  almost  every  case  in  material  advancement.  The  man 
who  fluctuates  from  one  line  of  endeavor  to  another  seldom 
achieves  lasting  success.  It  is  the  man  who,  knowing  well 
what  he  desires  to  accomplish,  forges  ahead,  undeterred  by 
obstacles,  undismayed  by  the  chances  and  changes  of  life,  until 
he  reaches  his  ultimate  goal.  It  sometimes  happens  that  in  his 
enthusiastic  endeavors  he  sacrifices  health  and  strength  and  is 
gathered  to  his  forefathers  before  his  time,  but  even  then  in  the 
brief  span  of  years  he  has  accomplished  more  than  one  who  is 
content  to  sit  still  and  idly  watch  the  army  of  workers  pass  by. 
No  man  can  reach  heights  of  prosperity  through  his  own  efi'orts 
if  he  shirks  duty  or  seeks  to  lay  upon  other  shoulders  the  respon- 
sibilities belonging  to  him.  Centers  of  indu.stry  develop  men  of 
large  affairs,  for  competition  acts  as  a  stimulus  to  action  and 
brings  forth  the  best  in  a  man,  and  so  it  is  that  David  P.  Sites, 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  Caldwell-Sites  Company,  Incorpo- 
rated, wholesale  and  retail  booksellers,  stationers,  paper  dealers 
and  office  outfitters,  has  achieved  a  solid  success  in  the  work  for 
which  he  is  fitted  and  to  which  he  has  given  his  attention  since 
1897,  or  for  more  than  thirty  years. 

David  P.  Sites  was  born  in  Rockingham  County,  Virginia, 
April  20,  1870,  a  son  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  (Helbei't)  Sites, 
both  of  whom  were  born  in  Rockingham  County,  and  are  now 
deceased.  For  many  years  the  father  was  a  cabinet  maker  and 
farmer,  and  worked  very  successfully  at  his  trade.  During  the 
war  between  the  states  he  served  as  a  brave  and  valorous  soldier 
of  the  Confederacy.  Of  the  four  children  born  to  him  and  his 
wife  David  P.  Sites  is  the  third  in  order  of  birth.  Both  parents 
were  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and 
the  mother  was  always  active  in  its  good  work. 

After  he  had  attended  the  common  schools  of  his  native 
county  David  P.  Sites  became  a  student  of  Cedar  Grove  Semi- 
nary and  still  later  of  Dunsmore  College,  Saunton,  Virginia.  For 
a  time  he  worked  as  a  stenographer  for  the  general  passenger 
agent  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  in  Washington,  D.  C, 
until  he  could  get  a  start,  and  then,  in  1897,  coming  to  Roanoke, 
established  a  wholesale  and  retail  book  and  stationery  store, 
which  from  somewhat  small  beginnings  he  has  built  up  to  one 
of  the  largest  concerns  of  its  kind  in  this  part  of  the  state,  and 
gives  employment  to  forty  people.  The  business  is  conducted 
under  the  name  of  Caldwell-Sites  Company,  Incorporated,  of 
which  C.  R.  Caldwell  is  president  and  David  P.  Sites  is  secretary 


128  VIRGINIA 

and  treasurer.    Mr.  Sites  is  the  active  head  of  the  business,  as 
Mr.  Caldwell  is  a  resident  of  Staunton. 

In  1896  Mr.  Sites  married  Miss  Christine  Harman,  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Elizabeth  Harman.  Two  children  have  been 
born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sites,  namely:  Elizabeth,  who  married 
Gordon  B.  Macke,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  an  operator  in  tobacco; 
and  Henry  G.,  who  is  manager  of  the  wholesale  paper  depart- 
ment of  his  father's  company.  Mr.  Sites  is  an  Episcopalian,  and 
is  serving  his  church  as  a  vestryman.  He  belongs  to  the  Roanoke 
Rotary  Club,  of  which  he  is  a  past  president,  and  served  Rotary 
International  as  governor  of  the  Fourth  District,  consisting  of 
Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Roanoke  Country  Club,  and  he  has  been  president  of  the 
Roanoke  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  of  the  Retail  Merchants 
Association.  He  was  the  first  president  of  the  Lee  Highway 
Association  that  sponsored  Lee  Highway,  the  transcontinental 
highway  from  Washington,  D.  C,  to  San  Diego,  California.  Dur- 
ing the  World  war  he  served  as  chairman  of  Unessential  Indus- 
tries in  the  district  and  was  chairman  of  Virginia  State  Smileage 
Committee.  At  present  he  is  a  vice  president  and  chairman  of 
the  board  of  the  Mountain  Trust  Bank,  and  is  on  the  directorate 
of  several  other  banking  concerns.  Starting  out  in  life  as  a 
poor  boy,  his  advance  has  been  steady  and  has  come  as  a  result 
of  his  own  untiring  industry  and  good  management.  At  differ- 
ent times  he  has  held  the  office  of  chairman  of  committees 
appointed  to  advance  this  locality.  In  fact  it  would  be  difficult 
to  find  a  man  more  generally  representative  of  the  best  interests 
of  this  section  of  the  South  than  he. 

Daniel  Robert  Hunt.  One  of  the  most  important  offices  in 
the  government  of  any  large  and  growing  municipality  is  that 
of  the  city  commissioner  of  revenue.  This  is  a  post  that  de- 
mands the  utmost  accuracy,  the  highest  ability  and  the  strictest 
integrity  in  order  that  the  business  of  the  city,  as  pertaining  to 
this  department,  may  move  with  the  smoothness  of  well-oiled 
machinery.  The  City  of  Roanoke,  therefore,  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated as  possessing  for  the  incumbent  of  this  office  such  an  able, 
energetic  and  honorable  man  as  Daniel  Robert  Hunt,  a  resident 
of  the  city  for  thirty-three  years,  who  has  held  his  present  office 
since  1913,  it  being  a  notable  fact  that  he  has  had  no  opposition 
at  the  polls  during  the  last  four  elections. 

Mr.  Hunt  was  born  October  8,  1876,  at  Chatham,  Pittsylvania 
County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  Daniel  Robert  and  Emma 
(Mebane)  Hunt,  the  former  a  native  of  Pittsylvania  County  and 
the  latter  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina.  The  parents  of  Mr. 
Hunt  were  both  active  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  his  father,  who  was  a  merchant  at  Chatham  for  many  years, 
was  a  Mason  fraternally  and  a  Democrat  in  his  political  convic- 
tions. There  were  six  children  in  the  family,  of  whom  Daniel 
Robert  was  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth,  and  one  child  is  deceased. 

Daniel  R.  Hunt  attended  the  public  schools  of  Henry  County 
and  Ruffner  Institute,  but  was  only  eleven  years  of  age  when  he 
started  to  work  in  a  tobacco  factory.  Following  this  for  two 
years  he  worked  on  a  farm  in  North  Carolina,  where  he  lived 
with  an  elder  brother,  Frank  D.  Hunt,  a  preacher  of  the  Presby- 
terian faith.  Following  this  he  went  to  Charlotte,  North  Caro- 
lina, where  he  was  employed  on  a  farm  for  four  years,  and  in 
1895  came  to  Roanoke,  which  has  since  been  his  home  and  the 


VIRGINIA  129 

scene  of  his  unqualified  success.  At  the  time  of  his  arrival  he 
secured  a  modest  position  in  the  general  offices  of  the  Norfolk  & 
Western  Railway,  and  continued  with  that  company  for  a  period 
of  eighteen  years,  during  which  time  he  rose  steadily  by  reason 
of  ability,  great  industry  and  fidelity  until  finally  he  was  second 
in  charge  of  the  claim  department  of  the  auditor's  office.  He 
was  holding  this  position  in  1913  when  he  was  elected  city  com- 
missioner of  revenue,  a  position  which  he  still  retains  by  virtue 
of  four  reelections,  all  without  opposition  in  his  party.  Mr. 
Hunt  has  long  been  active  in  local  Democratic  politics  and  in 
movements  which  have  contributed  to  the  material  welfare  of 
his  adopted  community.  In  1926,  with  C.  H.  Morrissett  and 
J.  Vaughan  Gary,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Byrd  to  codify 
the  tax  laws  of  Virginia,  this  being  one  of  the  most  progressive 
features  of  Governor  Byrd's  administration.  Mr.  Hunt  is  a 
member  and  elder  of  the  Raleigh  Court  Presbyterian  Church  and 
teacher  of  a  class  in  the  Sunday  School.  Fraternally  he  is  a 
York  and  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  belongs  to  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  is  a  life  member  of  the  Benevolent  and 
Protective  Order  of  Elks.  He  likewise  holds  membership  in  the 
Improved  Order  of  Red  Men,  the  Shenandoah  Club,  the  Kiwanis 
Club  and  the  Billy  Sunday  Club,  and  is  a  sociable  man  who  en- 
joys the  companionship  of  his  fellows. 

In  1922  Mr.  Hunt  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Doris 
Huff",  who  was  born  in  Floyd  County,  Virginia,  and  educated  in 
the  public  schools  of  Roanoke  and  at  HoUins  College,  where  she, 
carried  off  high  honors.  Prior  to  her  marriage  Mrs.  Hunt 
taught  in  the  public  schools  of  Roanoke  for  several  years.  She 
is  active  in  the  social  life  of  the  city  and  a  helpful  member  of  the 
Raleigh  Court  Presbyterian  Church.  > 

Sylvester  K.  Bitterman.  The  wonderful  growth  in  realty 
values  in  Roanoke  during  the  past  decade  has  brought  to  the 
forefront  a  class  of  men  who  for  general  ability,  astuteness  and 
driving  force  are  unsurpassed  in  the  annals  of  trade  in  this  sec- 
tion. It  may  be  well  to  say  that  conditions  develop  men,  but  it 
is  better  to  say  that  men  bring  about  conditions.  Roanoke  owes 
what  it  is  today  to  the  men  who  have  had  the  courage  to  per- 
severe, to  act  wisely  and  keep  their  operations  clean  in  one  of 
the  most  difficult  fields  of  endeavor.  Each  section  of  the  city 
can  boast  of  a  business  man  who  has  been  practically  its  builder, 
and  in  the  Church  Avenue  neighborhood  is  to  be  found  Sylvester 
K.  Bitterman,  whose  name  is  nearly  as  familiar  as  the  proverbial 
household  word.  Since  1916  he  has  been  operating  in  real 
estate  with  remarkable  success.  Starting  out  in  life  a  poor 
boy,  conditions  of  their  own  accord  did  not  favor  him ;  he  made 
them  what  he  wished  them  to  be. 

Sylvester  K.  Bitterman  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  August  1, 
1864,  a  son  of  John  and  Harriet  (Kehler)  Bitterman,  both  of 
whom  were  born  in  Pennsylvania,  but  are  now  deceased.  For 
many  years  the  father  was  engaged  in  business  in  the  Mahan- 
tango  Valley,  but  died  in  1865.  The  mother  survived  him  for 
many  years,  passing  away  in  1926,  aged  eighty-four  years.  They 
had  two  children :  Ellsworth,  who  is  living  retired  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Sylvester  K.,  who  is  the  younger. 

The  parents  were  conscientious  members  of  the  Evangelical 
Church,  in  which  they  took  an  active  part,  and  they  were  held 
in  high  esteem  by  all  who  knew  them.  The  paternal  grand- 
father was  John  Bitterman,  a  native  of  Germany,  who  came  to 


130  VIRGINIA 

this  country  in  young  manhood,  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
there,  through  his  industry  and  thrift,  became  a  prosperous 
farmer  and  highly  respected  citizen. 

Sylvester  K.  Bitterman  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  early  taught  to  work  hard  and  save  a 
portion  of  what  he  earned.  His  first  business  life  came  through 
his  connection  with  the  butchering  industry,  first  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  later  in  McDowell  County,  West  Virginia,  and  later  in 
Roanoke,  to  which  latter  community  he  came  in  1886.  After  a 
short  time  spent  in  the  city  he  went  to  West  Virginia,  but  re- 
turned to  Roanoke  in  1889,  and  here  he  has  since  remained. 
From  1893  to  1916  he  was  in  the  retail  liquor  business,  but  in  the 
latter  year  he  went  into  the  real  estate  field,  in  which,  as  already 
stated,  he  has  been  so  strikingly  successful. 

In  1883  Mr.  Bitterman  married  Miss  Sallie  E.  Umlauf,  who 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  they  became  the  parents  of  seven 
children,  of  whom  five  survive,  namely :  Sylvia,  who  is  unmar- 
ried ;  Myrtle,  who  married  Henry  Scholz,  a  theatre  manager ; 
Edna,  who  married  J.  C.  Johnson,  Jr.,  of  Roanoke,  chief  clerk  in 
the  motor  power  office;  Virdie,  who  is  a  student  at  Beaver  Col- 
lege, Jenkintown,  Pennsylvania;  and  Margaret,  who  is  also  in 
the  same  college.  Mr.  Bitterman  belongs  to  Christ  Episcopal 
Church,  and  is  active  in  church  work.  He  is  a  life  member  of 
the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  of  the  Frater- 
nal Order  of  Eagles.  In  addition  to  his  extensive  real  estate 
operations  and  holdings  Mr.  Bitterman  has  other  interests,  and 
is  a  director  and  vice  president  of  the  Roanoke  Industrial  Loan 
Corporation.  A  man  of  many  charities,  he  seldom  lets  the  world 
know  his  benefactions,  but  his  kindly  heart  can  never  let  a  case 
of  destitution  go  unrelieved.  His  advice  is  oftentimes  sought, 
for  his  sound  judgment  and  knowledge  of  men  and  the  motives 
which  influence  them  are  recognized,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
find  one  who  is  more  closely  identified  with  the  progress  of 
events  than  he. 

Charles  M.  Broun.  It  is  sometimes  found  that  efi'orts  die 
away  and  enterprise  becomes  engulfed  in  inertia  when  the  in- 
dividual gains  his  desired  goal,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
chances  for  successful  attainment  continually  encourage  the 
exercise  of  perseverance  and  energy.  In  almost  every  case 
those  who  have  reached  the  highest  positions  in  public  confi- 
dence and  esteem  and  who  are  accounted  among  the  most  in- 
fluential in  business  and  professional  lines  are  those  whose  lives 
have  been  devoted,  without  cessation,  to  deep  study  and  close 
application.  It  is  probable  that  the  law  has  been  the  main  high- 
way by  which  more  men  of  merit  have  advanced  to  prominence 
and  position  in  the  United  States  than  any  other  road,  and  it 
is  not  unusual  to  find  among  the  leading  citizens  of  a  community 
a  legal  practitioner.  To  respond  to  the  call  of  the  law,  to  devote 
every  energy  in  this  direction,  to  broaden  and  deepen  every 
highway  of  knowledge,  and  finally  to  enter  upon  this  chosen 
career  and  finds  its  rewards  worth  while — such  has  been  the 
happy  experience  of  Charles  M.  Broun,  one  of  the  learned  legal- 
ists practicing  at  the  bar  of  Roanoke.  Mr.  Broun  has  gained 
honor  and  position  in  his  profession  through  the  application  of 
honesty,  energy,  perseverance,  conscientiousness  and  self- 
reliance,  and  has  kept  abreast  of  his  calling  in  its  constant  ad- 
vancement; but  it  is  not  alone  as  a  lawyer  that  he  is  known  to 


VIRGINIA  131 

the  people  of  his  city,  for  he  has  also  attained  to  distinction  in 
politics,  is  interested  in  business  enterprises,  and,  perhaps,  best 
of  all,  gives  freely  of  his  time  and  money  in  promoting  religious 
and  charitable  movements. 

Charles  M.  Broun  was  born  in  Middleburg,  Loudoun  County, 
Virginia,  July  14,  1862,  a  son  of  Dr.  James  Conway  and  Ann 
Rebecca  (McCormick)  Broun,  natives  of  Virginia,  he  born  in 
Loudoun  County  and  she  in  Clarke  County.  A  physician,  Doc- 
tor Broun  received  his  professional  training  in  the  University 
of  Virginia,  and  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  calling  in 
Middleburg  and  Alexandria,  Virginia.  During  the  war  between 
the  states  he  served  in  the  Confederate  army,  but,  contracting 
a  cold  because  of  exposure,  was  stricken  and  died  in  1864,  leav- 
ing two  children,  of  whom  Charles  M.  Broun  is  now  the  only 
survivor.  He  and  his  wife,  also  deceased,  were  members  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  he  was  a  Mason. 

First  attending  the  Shenandoah  Academy,  Charles  M.  Broun 
later  became  a  student  of  the  Kanawha  Military  Institute, 
Charleston,  West  Virginia,  and  took  his  professional  training  in 
the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  His  first 
experience  in  legal  practice  was  gained  in  Berryville,  Virginia, 
and  he  continued  a  resident  of  that  community  until  1908,  during 
which  period  he  steadily  advanced  in  public  confidence,  and  then 
came  to  Koanoke,  and,  forming  the  connection  he  now  maintains, 
is  engaged  in  a  very  large  practice  under  the  iirm  name  of  Broun 
&  Price,  with  offices  in  the  American  National  Bank  Building. 

In  1900  Mr.  Broun  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Rice  Page,  who 
was  born  in  Berryville,  Virginia,  and  there  educated.  Two  chil- 
dren have  been  born  of  this  marriage :  Charles  Conway,  and 
Elizabeth  Page,  the  son  attending  Roanoke  College  at  Salem  and 
the  daughter,  a  pri\ate  school  in  Roanoke  City.  Both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Broun  are  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  he 
was  a  vestryman  for  many  years  at  Berryville,  Virginia.  He  is 
a  past  master  of  Treadwell  Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Berry- 
ville, and  he  belongs  to  Pleasant  Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  of 
Roanoke.  Mr.  Broun  is  also  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men  and  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  tiie  Roanoke  Country  Club  and  the 
Shenandoah  Club.  For  some  years  he  served  as  commonwealth 
attorney  of  Clarke  County,  being  elected  on  the  Democratic 
ticket,  and  after  coming  to  Roanoke  he  served  as  president  of 
the  Board  of  Aiderman  and  mayor  of  the  city.  In  fact  he  has 
always  been  active  in  the  Democratic  party,  and  one  of  the  local 
leaders.  Several  years  ago  he  organized  the  National  Theati-e 
Corporation,  of  which  he  is  president.  He  is  vice  president  of 
the  Sun  Investment  Company  and  of  the  Consolidated  Ice  Com- 
panies, and  president  of  the  General  Finance  Small  Loan  Cor- 
poration. While  stid  living  in  Berryville  he  organized  the  First 
National  Bank  of  that  town,  and  was  its  first  president.  An- 
other enterprise  in  which  he  is  largely  interested  is  a  power  plant 
near  Roanoke  for  the  deve.opment  of  electric  powar,  and  his 
assistance  is  given  to  many  other  undertakings,  for  he  is  a  man 
who  believes  in  encouraging  local  enterprise,  and  proves  it  by 
investing  his  money  at  home.  Beginning  life  with  nothing,  all 
that  he  has  today  has  been  earned  by  him  in  a  legitimate  way 
and  his  material  success  has  been  accompanied  by  the  approval 
and  warm  friendship  of  all  with  whom  he  has  been  associated. 


132  VIRGINIA 

John  C.  Burks,  M.  D.  In  noting  the  representative  men 
of  Roanoke  County,  a  prominent  one  in  medical  science  is  found 
in  Dr.  John  C.  Burks,  able  and  experienced  physician  and  sur- 
geon at  Roanoke,  where  he  is  director  and  chief  surgeon  of  St. 
Charles  Hospital,  with  which  institution  he  has  been  identified 
for  sixteen  years.  Doctor  Burks  has  reached  high  place  in  his 
profession,  and  has  won  confidence,  consideration  and  esteem 
throughout  a  wide  area  of  his  native  state. 

Dr.  John  C.  Burks  was  born  in  1873,  in  Rockbridge  County, 
Virginia,  son  of  Dr.  Charles  Richard  and  Frances  (Stoner) 
Burks,  both  of  whom  were  born  also  in  Rockbridge  County, 
where  their  families  had  been  early  settlers  and  once  owners  of 
large  estates.  Dr.  Charles  Richard  Burks,  whose  memory  in 
Rockbridge  County  as  honorable  man  and  faithful  physician  is 
still  preserved  although  many  years  have  gone  by  since  he 
passed  away,  was  born  in  1833,  in  Rockbridge  County,  Virginia, 
where  he  received  his  early  schooling.  As  a  student  of  medicine 
he  spent  one  year  in  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  and  then 
entered  Jefferson  Medical  College  at  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  completed  his  course  and  from  which  he  was  gradu- 
ated with  his  degree.  His  life  was  one  of  faithful  devotion  to 
his  profession,  both  before  and  after  the  war  between  the  states, 
in  which  he  played  no  insignificant  part,  being  attached  during 
the  entire  period  to  the  command  of  Gen.  James  E.  Stuart,  Con- 
federate army,  and  took  part  as  a  cavalryman  in  the  first  battle 
of  Bull  Run,  and  participated  later  at  Chancellorsville  and  at 
Gettysburg.  For  some  years  he  resided  at  Buffalo  Forge  and 
then  moved  to  Natural  Bridge,  where,  until  his  death  in  1904, 
he  carried  on  a  large  practice,  both  local  and  beyond,  the  number 
of  his  patients  being  yearly  augmented  by  tourists  from  all  over 
the  world  who  came  to  view,  wonder  and  admire  one  of  Amer- 
ica's most  beautiful  and  picturesque  regions.  To  his  marriage 
with  Miss  Frances  Stoner,  who  survived  until  1916,  four  sons 
and  four  daughters  were  born,  John  C.  being  second  in  order  of 
birth,  and  all  were  reared  in  the  faith  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

John  C.  Burks  received  his  early  educational  training  in  the 
public  schools,  later  attended  Fancy  Hill  Academy,  and  then, 
whether  influenced  by  heredity  or  not.  Doctor  Burks  is  the  one 
qualified  to  decide,  he  needed  no  urging  to  enter  the  Medical 
College  of  Virginia  to  prepare  for  a  future  career.  From  this 
well  known  institution  he  was  most  creditably  graduated  in 
1897,  and  shortly  afterward  established  himself  in  medical 
practice  at  Glasgow,  Virginia,  and  practiced  there  and  at  Poca- 
hontas until  1900,  when  he  came  to  Roanoke,  his  object  being  a 
wider  field  of  professional  opportunity  and  the  scientific  advan- 
tages close  at  hand  in  a  large  city. 

Doctor  Burks'  judgment  was  not  at  fault.  Upon  locating  at 
Roanoke  he  entered  into  partnership  with  Dr.  C.  G.  Cannedy, 
with  whom  he  continued  until  the  latter's  death  in  1908,  after 
which  he  operated  the  Rebecca  Hospital  until  1912.  In  the 
meanwhile,  through  further  intensive  scientific  study,  together 
with  attendance  on  numerous  and  important  clinics  in  the  great 
medical  centers  of  the  country  and  Canada,  Doctor  Burks  had 
not  only  kept  thoroughly  abreast  of  the  times  in  medical  dis- 
covery, but  had  through  personal  investigation  of  many  hos- 
pitals, both  great  and  small,  been  able  to  plan  satisfactorily  the 
present  St.  Charles  Hospital  at  Roanoke,  which  he  built  in  1912, 
and  of  which  he  has  been  chief  surgeon  ever  since.     At  that  time 


Idy^c^ 


VIRGINIA  133 

considered  a  model  institution,  later  discoveries  in  mechanics 
have  been  taken  advantage  of  and  modern  conveniences  have 
been  increased,  and  perhaps  no  city  hospital  of  its  size  in  the 
state  offers  better  accommodation  to  the  ill  and  afflicted  or  more 
reasonable  expectancy  of  relief.  Doctor  Burks  maintains  thirty- 
three  beds  in  the  hospital  and  his  patients  come  from  all  over 
the  country. 

Doctor  Burks  married  Miss  Lelia  McCorkle,  daughter  of 
Dr.  George  B.  McCorkle,  a  physician  practicing  at  Covington 
and  Glasgow,  Virginia.  Mrs.  Burks,  beloved  by  all  who  knew 
her,  and  a  devoted  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  passed 
away  at  Roanoke  in  January,  1927,  leaving  no  issue. 

Professionally  connected  with  such  organizations  as  the  Vir- 
ginia State  Medical  Society  and  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, Doctor  Burks  has  a  wide  and  appreciative  acquaintance. 
He  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  a  Shriner,  belongs  to  the  Elks 
and  the  Shenandoah  Club,  and  since  boyhood  has  belonged  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Daniel  Sayler  Good.  To  succeed  as  a  member  of  the 
Roanoke  bar  requires  more  than  ordinary  ability  which  has  been 
carefully  trained  along  the  lines  of  the  legal  profession,  as  well 
as  a  vast  fund  of  general  information  and  keen  judgment  with 
regard  to  men  and  their  motives.  In  a  city  oijthe  size  of  Roan- 
oke there  is  so  much  competition ;  events  crqWd  each  other ; 
circumstances  play  so  important  a  part  in  the  shaping  of  events, 
that  the  lawyer  has  to  be  a  man  capable  of  grasping  affairs  with 
a  competent  hand  to  effect  satisfactory  results.  Among  those  who 
have  won  enviable  distinction  as  a  member  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession of  this  city  is  Daniel  Sayler  Good,  with  oflfcffes  "ah  the 
Mountain  Trust  Bank  Building.  He  was  born  in  ShenaiftloaH 
County,  Virginia,  January  16,  1865,  a  son  of  Samuel  and  S^^a^i 
(Wampler)  Good,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Rockirr£*:RSra 
County,  Virginia,  where  they  were  reared.  Mr.  H^ood  ;i^'t/f 
German  descent  but  nevertheless  tried  to  enlist  in  the  late  World 
war  but  was  rejected  on  account  of  age  limit.  He  did,  howev4^ 
enlist  and  served  in  Company  A  of  Joe  Lane  Stern  Battalion  bf 
Virginia  Volunteers,  Wm.  S.  Mounfield  captain  and  R.  F.  Taylor 
being  the  major  of  the  four  Roanoke  companies,  A,  B,  C  and  D, 
and  was  honorably  discharged  when  this  company  was  merged 
with  the  National  Guard. 

His  paternal  ancester  located  in  Pennsylvania  according  to 
a  strong  family  tradition  and  had  three  sons,  one  of  whom  re- 
mained in  Pennsylvania,  another  went  West  and  the  third  came 
to  Virginia. 

William  Good,  the  great-great-grandfather  of  the  subject  of 
this  review,  bought  land  in  Dunmore,  now  Shenandoah  County, 
Virginia,  as  early  as  May,  1772.  Said  William  Good's  eldest 
child  was  named  Jacob  and  his  youngest  child  was  named 
Susanna,  who  married  David  Kaufmann,  who  served  in  the  War 
of  1812.  The  said  Jacob  Good  has  a  number  of  children :  the 
younger  also  being  named  Jacob  was  the  grandfather  of  the 
subject  of  this  review.  He  married  a  young  widow  named 
Susanna  Silvius,  whose  maiden  name  was  Myers  (sometimes 
spelled  Moyers).  The  said  widow  had  one  son,  Jacob,  by  her 
first  marriage,  and  Samuel  Good,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  review  was  her  first  child  by  this  second  marriage.  The 
father  Samuel  was  a  farmer  all  of  his  life,  and  was  a  Democrat, 


134  VIRGINIA 

and  served  as  road  commissioner  of  Shenandoah  County,  to 
which  locality  he  and  his  wife  moved  after  their  marriage,  buy- 
ing a  farm  near  New  Market,  on  which  both  of  them  passed 
away.  They  are  buried  in  Cedar  Grove  Cemetery  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. For  many  years  they  were  members  of  the  German 
Baptist  Brethren  Church.  Of  their  twelve  children,  ten  lived 
to  reach  maturity,  and  of  them  all  Daniel  Sayler  was  the  eighth 
in  order  of  birth.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  Attorney  Good 
was  Jacob  Good,  a  farmer  and  wagonmaker,  who  married 
Susanna  Silvius,  as  above  stated.  Both  of  them  were  born  in 
Shenandoah  County,  Virginia.  The  maternal  grandparents, 
John  and  Mary  (Cline)  Wampler,  were  both  born  near  Timber- 
ville,  Rockingham  County,  Virginia,  and  he  was  also  a  farmer 
by  occupation. 

Daniel  Sayler  Good  attended  the  public  schools  of  Virginia, 
and  had  a  short  course  in  the  Polytechnic  Institute,  New  Market, 
Virginia.  Later  he  took  a  special  course  at  Woodstock  under 
J.  Monroe  Hottel  and  Worth  Logan,  as  well  as  several  courses 
at  different  normal  schools,  all  being  preparatory  to  entering 
the  George  Peabody  College  for  Teachers,  Nashville,  Tennessee, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Licentiate  of 
Instruction,  in  1887.  That  summer  he  taught  grammar  and  pen- 
manship in  the  State  Normal  school  of  Strasburg,  Virginia.  Dur- 
ing 1887  and  1888  he  was  principal  of  the  graded  schools  of  New 
Market,  and  during  the  summer  of  the  latter  year  he  conducted 
a  summer  normal  school  at  New  Market.  With  that  work  con- 
cluded, in  the  fall  of  1888  Mr.  Good  came  to  Roanoke,  and  en- 
tered the  law  offices  of  Griffin  &  Watts,  where  he  read  law,  and 
during  the  summer  session  of  1890,  attended  the  Law  School 
of  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  was  under  the  preceptor- 
ship  of  John  B.  Minor,  studying  to  such  purpose  that  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1890,  and  established  himself  in  a  prac- 
tice in  Roanoke  which  he  is  still  continuing  with  marked  success. 

Mr.  Good  is  unmarried.  He  is  a  member  of  Calvary  Baptist 
Church,  and  is  secretary  of  the  elementary  department  of  the 
Sunday  school.  For  years  he  has  belonged  to  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  Country  Club. 
Always  interested  in  politics,  he  is  a  staunch  Democrat,  and, 
although  never  aspiring  to  office,  preferring  to  work  in  behalf 
of  his  friends,  he  was  alternate  to  the  convention  that  nominated 
Charles  T.  O'Ferrell  for  governor  of  Virginia ;  and  a  delegate 
to  the  convention  that  nominated  Governor  Montague  and  Lieut.- 
Gov.  Joseph  E.  Willard,  the  latter  being  a  former  law  classmate 
of  Mr.  Good.  He  has  also  served  as  delegate  to  other  state  con- 
ventions, and  was  a  delegate  to  the  State  Convention  that  elected 
delegates  to  the  National  Convention  that  first  nominated  Wood- 
row  Wilson  for  the  presidency  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  State 
Convention  held  at  Norfolk,  that  chose  the  delegates  to  the 
National  Convention  of  1924.  Mr.  Good  has  real  estate  holdings, 
as  well  as  other  local  interests,  which,  together  with  his  law 
practice,  take  up  his  time  and  attention. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
the  Roanoke  and  the  American  Bar  Associations.  Essentially  a 
self-made  man,  Mr.  Good  has  every  reason  to  be  proud  of  what 
he  has  accomplished.  His  schooling  was  paid  for  by  him,  his 
course  at  George  Peabody  being  paid  for  in  part  by  a  scholar- 
ship he  won,  and  he  has  never  ceased  his  interest  in  that  body. 
Upon  the  occasion  of  its  fiftieth  anniversary  he  represented  his 


VIRGINIA  135 

class,  and  was  historian  of  his  class  in  1909,  when  a  directory 
of  the  alumni  was  published.  When  the  drive  for  $20,000,000 
endowment  was  made  in  1926  in  behalf  of  the  college,  he  was 
local  representative  in  Roanoke,  and  more  than  filled  his  quota. 
A  man  of  distinction,  learned,  able,  public-spirited,  the  personal 
friend  of  the  great  men  of  the  state,  Mr.  Good  occupies  a  high 
position,  not  only  at  the  bar,  but  in  his  community,  and  confers 
honor  upon  whatever  project  he  undertakes. 

Waddie  Pennington  Jackson  is  a  physician  at  Roanoke, 
specializing  in  internal  medicines,  and  his  attainments  and  serv- 
ice have  such  as  to  give  him  a  steadily  mounting  reputation  all 
over  Southwest  Virginia. 

Doctor  Jackson  was  born  at  South  Hill,  Mecklenburg  County, 
Virginia,  February  18,  1888,  son  of  Thomas  J.  and  Elva 
(Ogburn)  Jackson,  natives  of  the  same  county.  His  grand- 
father, William  Green  Jackson,  was  a  Mecklenburg  soldier  of  the 
Confederacy,  being  a  captain  and  later  colonel,  and  was  all 
through  the  war,  though  once  captured  in  battle.  The  maternal 
grandfather  of  Doctor  Jackson  was  Benjamin  W.  Ogburn,  of 
Mecklenburg  County.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Randolph-Macon 
College  and  for  several  years  president  of  the  Girls'  School  at 
Danville,  Virginia.  Doctor  Jackson's  parents  were  well-to-do 
farming  people  in  Mecklenburg  County,  members  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  South.  Of  their  four  children  three  are 
living:  William  Green,  a  merchant  at  Lawrenceville,  Virginia; 
Julian  A.,  a  farmer  at  Baskerville ;  and  Doctor  Jackson. 

Doctor  Jackson  attended  high  school  at  South  Hill,  graduated 
from  Randolph-Macon  Academy  at  Bedford  in  1907  and  from 
Randolph-Macon  College  at  Ashland  in  1910.  After  graduating 
from  college  he  had  to  earn  his  own  living,  and  during  the  sev- 
eral years  before  he  was  ready  to  enter  medical  college  he  en- 
gaged in  teaching.  He  began  his  medical  studies  in  Johns  Hop- 
kins University  at  Baltimore,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1917 
and  during  summer  vacations  had  also  taken  additional  work  at 
the  University  of  Michigan  and  Columbia  University.  After 
graduating  he  enrolled  in  the  United  States  Navy,  served  on  the 
U.  S.  S'.  Galveston  and  later  was  attached  to  the  Naval  Base 
Hospital  at  Hampton  Roads,  Virginia,  until  1919.  After  the 
war  and  after  being  put  on  the  inactive  list  Doctor  Jackson  spent 
a  year  in  post-graduate  work  at  Johns  Hopkins  University. 
Few  doctors  begin  their  careers  with  a  more  thorough  training 
and  ample  preparation  than  Doctor  Jackson.  He  located  at 
Roanoke  October  25,  1920.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Roanoke 
Academy  of  Medicine,  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  the  South- 
west Virginia,  Southern  and  American  Medical  Associations  and 
is  an  associate  member  of  the  American  College  of  Physicians. 
He  belongs  to  the  Phi  Chi  medical  fraternity. 

Doctor  Jackson  married,  September  16,  1918,  Bessie  Mae 
Gills,  who  was  born  at  Union  Hall,  Franklin  County,  Virginia, 
and  was  reared  and  educated  in  Bedford  County,  finishing  in 
Randolph-Macon  Institute  at  Danville,  where  she  was  graduated 
in  1909.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Jackson  have  two  children :  Eliza- 
beth Harwell,  born  November  2,  1919,  and  Dudley  Pennington, 
born  April  1,  1924.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Jackson  are  menibers  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  he  is  serving  as  a 
steward  of  the  church.  He  is  at  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity. 


136  VIRGINIA 

Walter  M.  Otey  is  a  capable  physician  and  surgeon  practic- 
ing at  Roanoke,  having  spent  all  the  twelve  years  of  his  active 
experience  in  the  medical  profession  in  that  city. 

Doctor  Otey  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  Febru- 
ary 8,  1891,  son  of  Frank  C.  and  Ossie  (Sheer)  Otey,  Iboth  na- 
tives of  Bedford  County.  His  grandfather,  Charles  C.  Otey,  was 
born  in  the  same  county,  became  a  captain  in  the  Confederate 
army  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines.  Frank  C. 
Otey  devoted  his  life  to  the  farm,  and  died  in  1925.  His  widow 
now  resides  with  her  son,  Doctor  Otey,  at  Roanoke.  He  was 
an  active  member  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  a  Democrat 
in  politics. 

Doctor  Otey  was  the  second  in  a  family  of  five  children,  four 
of  whom  are  living.  He  was  reared  in  a  rural  locality  in  Bed- 
ford County,  and  after  the  local  schools  attended  Randolph- 
Macon  College  and  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  at  Blacks- 
burg.  He  then  entered  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  at  Rich- 
mond, was  graduated  in  1916,  and  for  about  a  year  was  in  the 
hospital  at  Roanoke  under  Doctor  Sheer.  Since  1916  he  has 
engaged  in  a  general  practice  as  a  physician  and  surgeon  and  a 
high  degree  of  success  has  attended  his  efforts.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Roanoke  Academy  of  Medicine,  the  Medical  Society  of 
Virginia  and  the  American  Medical  Association.  In  addition 
to  his  medical  practice  Doctor  Otey  superintends  the  manage- 
ment of  the  old  homestead  farm  in  Bedford  County.  He  is  a 
Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks, 
Country  Club  and  Shenandoah  Club,  and  he  and  his  family 
belong  to  Saint  John's  Episcopal  Church. 

Doctor  Otey  married,  in  1914,  Mary  Hairston,  a  native  of 
Henry  County,  Virginia,  who  was  reared  and  educated  at  Dan- 
ville. They  have  two  children,  Mary  Elizabeth  and  Walter 
Maynard,  Jr.,  both  attending  school  in  Roanoke. 

Louis  A.  Scholz  is  a  veteran  Roanoke  business  man  and, 
having  been  identified  with  that  city  since  1889,  participating  in 
its  grow1;h  from  a  small  railroad  town  to  a  community  of  mani- 
fold industries  and  commercial  prestige  all  over  the  Southeast. 

Mr.  Scholz  was  born  at  Freiburg,  Germany,  November  28, 
1862,  and  spent  his  early  years  in  that  famous  university  town. 
His  parents,  Joseph  and  Pauline  (Teichler)  Scholz,  lived  all  their 
lives  in  Germany,  where  his  father  was  a  blacksmith.  They 
were  Catholics.  Of  their  seven  children  three  are  living,  two 
sons,  Louis  and  Fritz,  being  residents  of  Roanoke,  while  the  only 
living  daughter,  Anna,  is  the  wife  of  Martin  Baier  and  lives  in 
Germany. 

Louis  A.  Scholz  had  a  common  school  education  in  Germany 
and  when  fourteen  years  old  began  his  apprenticeship  to  learn 
the  brewing  and  malting  trade.  From  the  practical  standpoint 
he  was  given  very  thorough  instructions  in  every  branch  of  the 
industry.  When,  in  1882,  he  came  to  the  United  States,  a  young 
man  of  twenty,  he  was  thoroughly  skilled  in  the  brewing  profes- 
sion. His  first  six  months  in  America  were  spent  at  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  where  he  was  employed  by  Peter  Schwab,  after  which  he 
was  with  the  Green  Tree  Brewery  at  Saint  Louis  for  six  months, 
then  followed  a  journeyman  experience  in  Kansas  City,  Omaha, 
Seattle  and  in  San  Francisco.  At  San  Francisco  in  1884  he 
brewed  the  first  lager  beer  in  that  city  for  the  National  Brewing 
Company.  His  next  location  was  at  Baltimore,  and  in  Decem- 
ber, 1889,  he  arrived  at  Roanoke,  thus  ending  his  experience  of 


j^IV'^  ^^^t--*^^^^^*^ 


VIRGINIA  137 

travel.  Mr.  Scholz  was  in  the  brewery  business  at  Roanoke, 
active  manager  of  the  Virginia  Brewing  Company  Plant  from 
1889  to  1916.  In  connection  with  the  brewery  he  also  engaged 
in  ice  manufacture,  and  he  and  his  brother  Henry  became  in- 
terested in  quite  a  number  of  local  enterprises  and  acquired  a 
large  amount  of  real  estate. 

Mr.  Scholz  is  probably  best  known  over  Southwestern  Vir- 
ginia for  his  long  and  active  identification  with  the  Roanoke 
Fair  Association,  which  he  has  served  continuously  as  secretary 
since  the  fair  was  inaugurated  in  1903.  Mr.  Scholz,  a  self-made 
business  man,  has  prospered  through  his  industry  and  the  intent 
way  he  has  applied  himself  to  every  undertaking.  He  owns  an 
attractive  country  estate  fifteen  miles  from  Roanoke  and  makes 
his  home  there.  Mr.  Scholz  and  his  family  are  Lutherans.  He 
is  one  of  the  three  surviving  charter  members  of  Roanoke  Lodge, 
B.  P.  0.  Elks,  and  is  also  affiliated  with  the  Shenandoah  Club  and 
a  life  member  of  the  Order  of  Eagles. 

He  married,  in  1888,  Henrietta  Schaeffer,  who  was  born  at 
O'Fallon,  Illinois.  There  are  three  children :  Miss  Pauline ; 
Walter,  a  druggist  at  Roanoke;  and  Henrietta,  wife  of  Stanley  C. 
Weaver,  a  Roanoke  real  estate  man. 

Hon.  Jacob  H.  Frantz.  After  he  had  won  the  approval  of 
his  fellow  citizens  as  a  sound  business  man  of  undoubted  finan- 
cial ability  in  his  operation  of  large  real  estate  transactions, 
Hon.  Jacob  H.  Frantz  was  elected  city  treasurer  of  Roanoke,  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  is  handling  the  affairs  of  this  important 
office  proves  the  good  judgment  displayed  in  his  selection.  He 
was  born  in  the  vicinity  of  Roanoke,  June  17,  1869,  a  son  of 
Emory  J.  and  Clarinda  (Obenchain)  Frantz,  both  of  whom  were 
born  in  Virginia,  and  are  now  deceased.  The  father  was  a 
farmer  all  his  life,  and  was  a  substantial  citizen  of  Roanoke 
County  standing  well  with  his  neighbors,  voting  the  straight 
Democratic  ticket,  and  giving  a  splendid  support  to  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  which  work  he  was  actively 
assisted  by  the  mother.  His  fraternal  connections  were  those 
which  he  maintained  with  the  Masonic  Order.  During  the 
last  two  years  of  the  war  between  the  states  he  served  in  the 
Confederate  army,  in  which  he  enlisted  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
years.  Of  the  seven  children  born  to  the  parents  five  are  living, 
and  of  them  all  Jacob  H.  Frantz  is  the  eldest.  The  paternal 
grandfather,  Jacob  Frantz,  was  born  and  reared  on  Mason's 
Creek.  Early  in  life  he  was  a  farmer,  but  later  became  a 
tanner,  and  for  many  years  operated  a  large  tannery  on  Peters 
Creek.  The  maternal  grandfather  was  a  native  of  Botetourt 
County,  Virginia,  and  he  spent  his  life  as  a  farmer.  Both 
grandfathers  were  men  of  the  highest  standing,  and  gave  a  loyal 
support  to  progressive  movements  in  their  communities. 

While  his  educational  training  was  limited  to  the  common 
schools,  Jacob  H.  Frantz  has  since  added  much  to  his  store  of 
knowledge,  and  is  today  a  very  well  informed  man.  Until  he 
was  thirty-five  years  old  he  was  engaged  in  farming,  but  about 
190.5  he  moved  to  Roanoke  and  embarked  in  the  real  estate  busi- 
ness, conducting  it  until  in  1925  he  was  elected  city  treasurer. 
Since  then  he  has  been  devoting  himself  to  the  duties  of  his 
office. 

In  April,  190.3,  Mr.  Frantz  married  Miss  Mary  K.  Nelms. 
who  was   born   in   Bedford    County,   Virginia,    a   daughter    of 

7— VOL.  3 


138  VIRGINIA 

Charles  Dandridge  Nelms,  a  farmer  of  Bedford  County.  Mrs. 
Frantz  was  educated  in  Roanoke  County,  and  she  is  connected 
with  church  work  as  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  to  which  her  husband  also  belongs,  and  of  which  he  is  a 
steward.  They  have  had  four  children  born  to  them,  namely: 
Jacob  Henry,  who  graduated  from  William  and  Mary  College 
class  of  1928;  Mary  Dandridge,  attending  Randolph-Macon  Col- 
lege; Clarinda  Ellen  and  Eben  Nelms,  who  are  attending  the 
Roanoke  High  School.  Mr.  Frantz  belongs  to  the  Roanoke  Lions 
Club.  He  is  one  of  those  who  proves  that  the  influence  of  a  good 
and  capable  man  is  not  confined  to  his  own  personal  transactions, 
but  rather  is  reflected  in  the  lives  of  those  with  whom  he  be- 
comes associated,  and  through  them  filters  to  the  oncoming  gen- 
eration which  shall  contribute  to  the  community's  growth.  Lib- 
eral in  his  views  and  in  his  contributions  to  worthy  objects,  Mr. 
Frantz  has  long  been  a  decided  addition  to  the  citizenship  of 
Roanoke  and  proven  a  notable  increase  of  strength  to  the  cause 
of  public  progress. 

John  M.  Otey.  In  1878  the  late  Col.  Kirkwood  Otey  was 
made  city  auditor  of  Lynchburg.  When  he  died  in  1897  he  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  John  M.  Otey.  The  latter  is  still  serving, 
thus  making  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  service  of  father 
and  son  in  one  municipal  office  for  half  a  century.  This  is  a 
noteworthy  record  in  itself,  and  it  is  also  significant  of  the  citi- 
zenship of  the  Otey  family,  which  for  generations  has  expressed 
itself  in  terms  of  usefulness  and  self  sacrificing  devotion  to  com- 
munity and  state. 

There  have  been  many  distinguished  men  of  the  Otey  family 
in  Virginia.  At  the  corner  of  Eleventh  and  Federal  streets  in 
Lynchburg  is  the  old  Colonial  home  of  the  Otey  family.  The 
Revolutionary  ancestor  was  John  Otey,  who  had  a  son,  Major 
Isaac  Otey,  who  lived  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  and  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Matthews.  Major  Isaac  Otey  and  wife  had  a 
son,  John  M.  Otey,  who  in  turn  was  the  father  of  Col.  Kirkwood 
Otey.  Col.  Kirkwood  Otey  married  Lucy  Dabney  Norvell,  and 
of  their  four  children  John  M.  Otey  is  the  oldest.  His  sister 
Norvell  is  the  wife  of  James  A.  Scott,  of  the  insurance  firm  of 
Scott  &  Otey  at  Lynchburg.  The  second  son,  Kirkwood  Otey, 
Jr.,  is  in  the  automobile  business  at  Charleston,  West  Virginia. 
The  youngest  of  the  four  children  died  when  eighteen  years  of 
age.  John  M.  Otey  also  has  the  distinction  of  being  a  direct 
descendant  of  Sir  John  Pettus,  who  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Virginia  Colony  established  on  the  banks  of  the  James 
River  in  1607. 

Col.  Kirkwood  Otey  was  born  at  Lynchburg  October  19,  1829, 
graduated  from  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  and  before  Virginia  seceded  from  the  Union 
helped  organize  and  became  first  lieutenant  of  the  Lynchburg 
Home  Guard,  which  on  April  22,  1861,  was  mustered  into  the 
Confederate  service  as  Company  G  of  the  Eleventh  Virginia 
Volunteers.  He  soon  became  captain  of  the  company  and  under 
his  command  the  company  participated  in  thirteen  battles  and 
twenty-two  skirmishes.  Colonel  Otey  was  three  times  wounded. 
He  commanded  his  company  as  a  part  of  Pickett's  famous 
division  in  the  charge  at  Gettysburg,  and  after  that  battle  he 
was  promoted  to  colonel  in  command  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment. 
After  the  war  he  was  honorary  captain  of  the  Lynchburg  Home 


VIRGINIA  139 

Guard,  was  also  commander  of  the  local  camp  of  the  Confed- 
erate Veterans,  and  he  was  buried  with  the  Masonic  and  military 
honors  that  his  career  merited.  Like  many  other  prominent 
Virginians  he  was  impoverished  as  a  result  of  the  war,  and  his 
wounds  made  him  practically  an  invalid  for  a  number  of  years. 
During  this  time  his  talented  wife,  daughter  of  a  professor  of 
the  college  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  supported  the  family  by 
making  tobacco  bags.  His  mother  during  the  war  had  bought 
an  old  warehouse  at  Lynchburg  and  converted  it  into  a  Con- 
federate hospital.  Mrs.  Lucy  Dabney  Otey,  who  died  August 
25,  1903,  was  for  many  years  active  in  charitable  work,  bei'hg 
the  first  member  of  the  Salvation  Army  at  Lynchburg,  also  active 
in  the  Florence  Crittenden  Home.  Col.  Kirkwood  Otey  after 
recovering  from  his  wounds  engaged  in  the  insurance  business, 
and  in  connection  therewith  performed  the  duties  of  city  auditor 
from  1878  until  his  death.  He  and  his  wife  were  active  members 
of  the  Court  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  he  was  a 
member  of  Marshall  Lodge  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

John  M.  Otey  was  born  at  Lynchburg  February  5,  1866,  and 
was  educated  in  public  schools  and  also  in  the  academy  con- 
ducted by  Col.  Thomas  H.  Carter.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he 
went  to  work  in  his  father's  insurance  office,  and  has  been  in 
that  line  of  business  ever  since.  The  firm  is  now  known  as 
James  A.  Scott  and  John  M.  Otey,  Incorporated,  handling  a 
general  line  of  insurance. 

Mr.  Otey  married,  June  15,  1898,  Miss  Maggie  Marshall 
Murrell,  who  was  born  at  Lynchburg  and  was  educated  in 
public  schools  there  and  the  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College. 
Her  father,  Thomas  E.  Murrell,  was  a  prominent  tobacconist. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Otey  have  one  son,  John  M.  Otey,  Jr.,  who  was 
educated  ih  the  Augusta  Military  Academy  and  the  University  of 
Virginia,  and  is  now  in  the  insurance  business. 

Mr.  Otey  for  over  thirty  years  was  active  in  the  Lynchburg 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  its  treasurer.  He 
is  one  of  the  older  members  of  Acca  Temple  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine  at  Richmond,  and  has  membership  in  the  various  York 
Rite  bodies  of  Masonry  at  Lynchburg,  including  the  lodge  to 
which  both  his  father  and  grandfather  belonged.  He  is  also 
affiliated  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the 
B.  P.  0.  Elks.  He  is  a  member  of  Grace  Memorial  Episcopal 
Church. 

Albert  Sidney  Nowlin,  a  prominent  coal  merchant  of 
Lynchburg,  with  offices  in  the  Peoples  National  Bank  Building, 
is  a  member  of  one  of  the  best  known  families  of  that  city,  one 
that  has  been  closely  identified  with  the  history  of  Virginia  since 
early  Colonial  times. 

He  was  born  in  Appomattox  County,  September  8,  1878,  son 
of  Col.  John  H.  and  Sallie  Louise  (Woodson)  Nowlin.  He  is  a 
descendant  of  James  Nowlin,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who  came  to 
Virginia  about  1700  and  married  Catherine  Ward,  a  daughter 
of  Bryan  Ward.  Their  son  James  was  the  father  of  Abraham 
Nowlin,  who  married  Mildred  Watkins,  and  their  son,  Capt. 
Bryan  Watkins  Nowlin,  married  Mary  Spencer  and  was  the 
father  of  Col.  John  H.  Nowlin. 

Col.  John  H.  Nowlin  was  a  soldier  and  officer  in  the  Confed- 
eracy during  the  Civil  war  and  for  many  years  followed  plant- 
ing and  merchandising  in  Appomattox  County.     The  home  of 


140  VIRGINIA 

the  Nowlins  in  the  county  was  in  the  vicinity  of  Oakville. 
Colonel  Nowlin  married  Louise  Woodson,  daughter  of  John  W. 
Woodson,  of  another  prominent  Virginia  family  of  Appomattox 
County.  Of  their  six  children  Albert  Sidney  Nowlin  was  the 
oldest  son. 

Albert  Sidney  Nowlin  grew  up  and  received  his  early  educa- 
tional advantages  in  Appomattox  County.  He  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Lynchburg  for  thirty  years,  and  has  had  a  very  success- 
ful career  in  the  wholesale  coal  business,  handling  over  an  exten- 
sive territory  in  the  Southeast  the  output  of  a  number  of  coal 
companies. 

He  married,  February  28,  1915,  Miss  Annie  Mosely  Thorn- 
hill.  They  have  one  son,  Albert  Sidney,  Jr.,  born  January  30, 
1917,  and  a  daughter,  Helen  Thornhill,  born  November  21,  1924. 

John  0.  D.  Copenhaver,  a  resident  of  Roanoke,  is  president 
of  the  Evergreen  Cemetery  Association.  He  was  born  in  Taze- 
well County,  Virginia,  December  30,  1877,  and  is  a  son  of  An- 
drew J.  and  Eliza  (Barnes)  Copenhaver.  The  Copenhaver 
family  originated  in  Denmark,  and  the  original  immigrant  set- 
tled in  Pennsylvania,  whence  the  family  came  to  Virginia  at  a 
very  early  day.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  Mr.  Copenhaver 
was  Samuel  Copenhaver,  a  native  of  Virginia,  who  followed  the 
life  of  a  planter  throughout  his  career.  Andrew  J.  Copenhaver, 
the  father  of  John  0.  D.  Copenhaver,  was  born  in  Smyth  County, 
Virginia,  and  in  young  manhood  enlisted  for  service  in  the  Con- 
federate army  during  the  war  between  the  states,  at  the  close  of 
which  he  resumed  his  activities  as  a  farmer.  Later  he  removed 
to  Tazewell  County,  where  he  married  a  native  of  that  county, 
Eliza  Barnes,  a  daughter  of  Robert  Barnes,  a  Virginia  farmer 
whose  family  had  come  from  Ireland  at  an  early  date  and  set- 
tled in  the  Old  Dominion.  Andrew  Copenhaver  and  his  wife 
spent  the  remainder  of  their  lives  in  Tazewell  County,  where 
both  passed  away.  He  was  a  Republican  in  politics,  and  he  and 
his  wife  were  faithful  members  of  the  Methodist  Church,  in 
Vv-hich  he  served  as  steward  for  forty-one  years.  Of  their  seven 
children  five  are  living,  John  0.  D.  having  been  the  fifth  in  order 
of  birth. 

John  0.  D.  Copenhaver  attended  the  country  schools  of  Taze- 
well County,  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  and  Emory  and 
Henry  College  at  Emory,  Virginia,  and  after  he  finished  from  the 
latter  returned  to  the  home  place,  where  he  was  associated  with 
his  father  in  the  elder  man's  agricultural  activities.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years  he  went  to  Bluefield,  West  Virginia,  where 
he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Baldwin-Felts  Detective  Agency, 
with  which  he  continued  to  be  identified  for  more  than  a  (luarter 
of  a  century.  This  concern  did  much  work  for  the  Norfolk  & 
Western  Railway  Company,  and  Mr.  Copenhaver  was  really 
connected  with  the  railroad  company  through  the  agency.  In 
March,  1926,  Mr.  Copenhaver  resigned  his  position  and  took  up 
his  residence  at  Roanoke,  becoming  president  of  Evergreen 
Cemetery,  which  is  conceded  to  be  the  most  beautiful  as  well  as 
the  best  cared  for  cemetery  in  the  United  States.  He  has  con- 
tinued to  act  in  this  capacity  and  maintains  offices  in  the  Colonial 
Bank  Building.  Mr.  Copenhaver  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  which  he  has  been  a  steward  for  ten 
years.  He  is  a  thirty-third  degree  Mason,  and  in  addition  to 
having  been  master  of  all  bodies  in  the  Scottish  Rite  has  served 
as  potentate  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.     He  is  also  a  member  of  the 


VIRGINIA  141 

Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  th6  Kiwanis  Club, 
and  is  a  Republican  in  his  political  convictions. 

In  1907  Mr.  Copenhaver  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Letha  A.  Witten,  who  was  born  at  Graham,  Virginia,  and  re- 
ceived her  education  there  and  at  Bristol,  supplemented  by  at- 
tendance at  Madison  Hall,  Washington,  D.  C.  Two  children 
have  been  born  to  this  union :  John  Dresden,  attending  high 
school,  and  Martha  Jane,  attending  public  school. 

John  Garnett  Dew  was  admitted  to  practice  law  in  Vir- 
ginia in  1867,  and  from  that  time  until  his  death  his  career  added 
many  new  associations  and  distinctions  to  the  family  names  of 
Garnett  and  Dew.  Judge  Dew  was  a  descendant  of  William 
Dew,  who  came  from  England  in  Colonial  times  and  settled  in 
Maryland.  The  Garnett  family  came  from  Essex,  England,  and 
there  are  many  representatives  of  both  names  found  in  the 
military  and  professional  annals  of  Virginia. 

The  father  of  Judge  Dew  was  Benjamin  Franklin  Dew,  an 
attorney,  teacher  and  farmer  of  King  and  Queen  County,  who 
was  a  magistrate  and  a  member  of  the  County  Court  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  He  was  a  brother  of  the  notable  educator,  Thomas 
R.  Dew,  who  was  born  in  King  and  Queen  County  in  1802,  son 
of  Thomas  R.  and  Lucy  (Gatewood)  Dew.  Thomas  R.  Dew 
graduated  from  William  and  Mary  College,  and  in  1826  was 
elected  professor  of  history  and  political  law  in  William  and 
Mary  College,  and  in  that  capacity  he  developed  the  chair  of 
history  and  political  science  to  real  dignity  and  importance. 
He  was  elected  president  of  William  and  Mary  College  in  1836, 
and  the  college  enjoyed  an  unprecedented  era  of  prosperity  under 
him.  He  died  in  1846.  Benjamin  Franklin  Dew  married  Mary 
Susan  Garnett. 

She  died  when  her  son  John  Garnett  Dew  was  ten  years  of 
age.  The  latter,  with  his  brother,  James  Harvie,  who  later  be- 
came a  distinguished  physician  in  New  York  City,  attended 
school  under  Dr.  Gessner  Harrison.  He  was  not  yet  sixteen  when 
the  war  broke  out  between  the  states,  and  before  it  was  over 
he  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  Confederacy  for  two  years.  He 
resumed  his  work  at  the  University  of  Virginia  during  1865-67 
and  took  his  degree  Bachelor  of  Laws  there  in  1867.  Judge  Dew 
began  practice  in  King  and  Queen  County  in  1868,  and  for  over 
thirty  years  devoted  his  time  to  his  large  general  practice  and 
his  public  duties.  He  was  a  member  of  the  County  School  Board 
from  the  time  of  its  inception  until  1884,  and  from  1884  to  1900 
was  judge  of  the  County  Court  of  King  and  Queen.  In  1900 
he  became  second  auditor  of  State  of  Virginia  and  served  in  that 
office  two  term. 

Judge  Dew  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  belonged 
to  the  Virginia  State  and  American  Bar  Associations. 

He  married,  October  28,  1875,  Lelia  Fauntleroy,  descended 
from  the  distinguished  Fauntleroy  family  of  Virginia.  The 
Fauntleroys  have  been  prominent  in  their  own  name  and  many 
of  them  intermarried  with  other  distinguished  Virginia  lines. 
Lelia  Fauntleroy  was  born  in  King  and  Queen  County,  where 
her  father,  Dr.  S.  G.  Fauntleroy,  was  a  distinguished  phvsician. 
Doctor  Fauntleroy,  who  died  in  1899,  was  highly  educated  in 
medicine,  but  it  was  not  so  much  his  vocation  as  an  opportunity 
for  useful  service  to  his  community.    He  owned  three  large  plan- 


142  VIRGINIA 

tations  and  before  the  war  was  a  slave  owner,  and  much  of  his 
practice  was  among  his  own  people,  and  his  service  was  ren- 
dered without  compensation.  He  also  held  the  office  of  overseer 
of  the  poor.  Doctor  Fauntleroy  was  eighty-one  years  of  age 
when  he  died.  He  had  four  daughters  and  two  sons.  The  son 
Dr.  Claybrook  Fauntleroy  was  a  practicing  physician  and  fol- 
lowed the  worthy  example  of  his  father  in  his  extensive  char- 
itable work.  He  died  in  1924  after  having  practiced  for  forty 
years  in  King  and  Queen  County.  Dr.  Claybrook  Fauntleroy, 
his  father  and  grandfather  made  up  three  generations  who  are 
represented  on  the  list  of  alumni  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Mrs.  Dew,  who  resides  at  1520  Grove  Avenue  in  Richmond, 
is  the  mother  of  four  children :  Miss  Mary  Susan,  a  graduate 
of  Hollins  College;  S.  G.  Dew,  now  deceased,  who  married  Miss 
Nettie  Thompson;  B.  Frank  Dew,  vice  president  of  the  State 
Planters  Bank  of  Richmond,  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and 
Shriner  and  member  of  the  Commonwealth  Club,  married  Miss 
Gertrude  Clark  and  has  a  son,  B.  Frank,  Jr. ;  and  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Dew. 

Judge  Dew  was  born  at  Newtown,  King  and  Queen  County, 
Virginia,  July  23,  1845,  and  passed  away  at  his  home  in  Rich- 
mond in  January,  1920. 

John  William  Smith,  D.  D.  During  the  more  than  eight 
years  that  Dr.  John  William  Smith  has  served  as  pastor  of 
Greene  Memorial  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  of 
Roanoke,  he  has  vigorously  and  continuously  attacked  ignorance, 
sophistry  and  error  with  the  fearless  loyalty  to  his  honest  con- 
victions that  is  so  characteristic  of  him.  He  has  preached  as 
he  has  lived,  has  been  useful  in  all  good  works  as  a  citizen  and 
has  borne  himself  in  every  position  so  that  he  has  commended 
himself  as  an  example  for  both  young  and  old,  and  he  is  contin- 
uing in  this  work  along  the  same  lines  with  the  prospect  of  many 
years  of  usefulness  before  him. 

A  native  son  of  Virginia,  for  he  was  born  in  Loudoun  County, 
his  appointments  have  been  held  in  Fairfax  County,  Virginia, 
Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and 
Roanoke,  and  he  is  deeply  attached  to  the  Southland,  to  which 
he  so  essentially  belongs.  His  parents,  John  and  America 
Smith,  gave  him  a  wholesome  early  environment  in  the  home 
circle,  and  he  attended  the  public  schools  of  Washington  City  and 
Randolph-Macon  College  at  Front  Royal,  Virginia.  Upon  his 
graduation  from  the  latter  he  received  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts,  and  he  has  since  carried  on  post-graduate  work  in  George 
Washington    University    and    Johns    Hopkins    University.     In 

1920  Randolph-Macon  College  honored  him  by  conferring  upon 
him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  and  in  1925  he  was  given 
his  Phi  Beta  Kappa  key  from  the  same  institution  because  of  his 
outstanding  service  and  recognized  leadership  among  her  alumni. 
While  in  college  he  had  distinguished  himself  as  editor  of  the 
college  annual,  and  in  his  preparatory  school  he  won  a  medal  as 
being  its  best  debator. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  ministerial  work  Doctor  Smith 
has  proven  his  worth  to  his  church,  and  honors  have  been  con- 
ferred upon  him  with  increasing  frequency  as  he  has  become 
recognized  as  one  of  the  outstanding  figures  in  the  Southern  field, 
and  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  to  which  he  is  attached.     In 

1921  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  Fifth  Ecumenical  Method- 


VIRGINIA  143 

ist  Conference  held  in  London,  England,  where  he  delivered  the 
first  of  a  series  of  addresses  on  "The  Church  and  Modern  Indus- 
trial Problems."  From  London  he  went  on  a  trip  through  Eng- 
land and  the  continent,  Mrs.  Smith  accompanying  him.  In  1924 
he  and  Mrs.  Smith  made  their  second  trip  abroad,  visiting  Syria, 
Egypt,  Greece  and  the  Holy  Land,  and  upon  his  return  to  Ro- 
anoke Doctor  Smith  gave  many  lectures  upon  his  travels,  espe- 
cially those  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  brought  vividly  before  his 
audiences  conditions  in  these  countries.  However,  these  are 
not  the  first  lectures  he  has  delivered,  for  throughout  his  career 
he  has  appeared  frequently  upon  the  lecture  platform,  and  is  a 
very  popular  speaker.  One  of  his  lectures,  the  one  on  the  Psalms 
and  other  portions  of  the  Bible,  is  a  special  favorite,  and  he 
delivers  it,  and  others,  before  minister's  gatherings,  summer 
conferences,  young  people's  assemblies,  Sunday  School  Training 
Institutes  and  similar  church  and  lay  meetings,  his  powerful 
oratory  and  flaming  sincerity  being  particularly  convincing. 
Doctor  Smith  does  not  confine  his  activities  to  his  ministerial 
and  lecture  work,  but  branches  out  in  many  directions,  and  he 
is  president  of  the  Boy  Scout's  Council,  president  of  the  Chil- 
dren's Home  Society,  and  a  trustee  of  the  Roanoke  Hospital. 
For  two  years  he  was  president  of  the  Minister's  Conference, 
and  also  served  for  several  years  as  a  director  of  the  Roanoke 
Kiwanis  Club. 

Mrs.  Smith  belongs  to  an  old  and  honored  family,  she  being 
a  daughter  of  Dr.  W.  E.  Edwards,  at  one  time  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  her  grand- 
father, great-grandfather  and  brother  were  all  clergymen.  Doc- 
tor and  Mrs.  Smith  have  four  children:  Landon  E.,  who  is  a 
business  man  of  Roanoke;  Emory  E.  and  Ashby  W.,  both  of 
whom  are  attending  Emory  and  Henry  College;  and  Ethelbert 
Grake,  who  is  a  student  in  the  local  high  school. 

Rev.  Thomas  Kay  Young,  D.  D.  No  other  profession  makes 
such  demands  upon  its  members  as  does  that  of  the  ministry, 
and  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  these  "Men  of  God"  are  sus- 
tained by  a  power  higher  than  their  own  many  would  fall 
fainting  by  the  way.  The  intellectual  attainments  of  the  major- 
ity are  beyond  the  ordinary,  oratoiy  plays  an  important  part, 
and  business  acumen  is  frequently  a  necessary  requisite,  tact 
in  marked  degree  must  be  present,  but  above  all  there  must  be 
a  deep  sincerity  and  steadfast  belief  in  the  divine  origin  of  the 
call  in  order  that  the  best  results  be  obtained,  and  the  Master's 
work  be  properly  performed.  But  few  of  these  ministers  are 
adequately  recompensed  for  their  labors,  their  presence  in  times 
of  deep  sorrow  and  affliction,  their  influence  in  all  uplift  move- 
ments, and  their  example  of  godly  living  and  speech,  but  they 
work  on,  "sustained  by  an  unfaltering  trust"  and  great  must  be 
their  eternal  reward.  In  Rev.  Thomas  Kay  Young,  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Roanoke,  is  to  be  found  a  man  of 
the  above  described  type,  a  man  of  learning,  eloquence,  business 
acumen  and  unblemished  character,  who  is  not  only  sustaining 
his  church,  but  influencing  his  community  in  a  manner  that  is 
attracting  favorable  comment  from  outsiders  all  over  this  part  of 
the  state. 

Doctor  Young  was  born  in  West  Virginia,  Fayette  County, 
a  son  of  William  Wilsen  and  Elizabeth  (Kay)  Young,  natives  of 
Scotland,  he  born  in  Edinburgh  and  she  in  Lanark,  and  she 
survives  and  is  living  with  her  son.  Doctor  Young.     The  father 


1441  VIRGINIA 

was  a  miner,  and  was  engaged  in  operating  mines  for  big  coal 
companies  after  coming  to  this  country  in  1880.  He  met  his 
wife  in  Fayette  County,  West  Virginia,  although  she  had  lived 
in  Pennsylvania  for  some  years,  her  parents  having  settled  in 
that  state  upon  coming  to  the  United  States  in  1870,  and  they 
were  married  January  1,  1884.  They  had  six  sons  and  three 
daughters  born  to  them,  of  whom  five  are  living,  and  of  them 
all  Doctor  .Young  is  the  second  in  order  of  birth.  After  he  had 
secured  his  citizenship  papers  the  father  espoused  the  principles 
of  the  Democratic  party,  and  continued  to  vote  its  ticket  until 
his  death.  He  was  a  Mason,  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  Knight  of 
Pythias,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  early  united  with  the  Presby- 
terian Chui'ch,  to  which  she  still  belongs. 

Doctor  Young  attended  the  public  school  of  Royal,  West  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  West  Virginia  State  Normal  School  at  Athens, 
and  later  became  a  student  of  Hampden  Sidney  College,  Virginia, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1908,  with  the  degree  Bachelor 
of  Arts.  His  theological  training  was  taken  in  the  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  he  was  graduated 
therefrom  in  1911,  with  the  degree  Bachelor  of  Divinity.  His 
first  charge  was  a  mountain  mission  at  Holden,  West  Virginia, 
and  he  held  it  for  eighteen  months,  his  work  there,  diflScult  as  it 
was,  being  productive  of  a  real  spiritual  awakening,  and  a  sub- 
stantial increase  in  membership  to  the  church.  In  October, 
1912,  he  was  sent  to  Covington,  Virginia,  and  for  the  six  suc- 
ceeding years  he  labored  faithfully  and  well,  and  when  he  left, 
March  1,  1918,  he  was  followed  by  the  regrets  of  his  congre- 
gation. Sent  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Lexington,  Vir- 
ginia, he  repeated  his  good  work  there  for  six  years,  and  Janu- 
ary 1,  1924,  was  assigned  to  the  pa.storate  of  the  First  Presbyte- 
rian Church  of  Roanoke.  This  is  an  important  charge  with  a 
membership  of  1,100  souls,  and  the  responsibilities  are  weighty, 
but  Doctor  Young  is  discharging  them  with  inspired  capability. 

On  September  21,  1907,  Doctor  Young  married  Miss  Harriet 
Rebecca  Cox,  who  was  born  in  Farmville,  Virginia,  and  edu- 
cated in  the  Virginia  State  Normal  School.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Benjamin  Matthew  Cox,  for  thirty-eight  years  manager  of 
the  above  mentioned  school,  which  position  he  held  at  the  time 
of  his  death  in  1924.  Four  children  have  been  born  to  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Young:  Thomas  Kay,  Junior,  who  is  a  high  school 
student;  William  Benjamin,  who  died  in  1915,  at  the  age  of 
three  months;  Helen  Laing;  and  Mary  Elizabeth.  Doctor 
Young  was  made  a  Mason  in  Petersburg,  Virginia,  and  retains 
his  membership  with  that  lodge.  He  belongs  to  the  Lions  Club 
and  the  University  Club.  For  several  years  he  has  been  on  the 
Board  of  Stewards  of  Jackson  College,  and  for  nine  years  he  has 
been  a  trustee  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia. 

Joel  T.  Bandy.  It  is  said  that  the  keynote  of  salesman- 
ship, any  kind  of  salesmanship,  is  sincerity,  and  that  a  salesman 
should  not  ti-y  to  sell  goods  that  he  vvfould  not  buy  himself,  and 
at  the  same  price,  same  place  and  same  time,  and  if  it  is  true,  as 
it  is,  then  is  it  especially  applicable  to  the  real  estate  and  invest- 
ment business.  In  no  other  line  does  insincerity  and  lack  of 
confidence  prove  obstacles  as  they  do  in  that  dealing  with  the  sell- 
ing of  realty  and  the  making  of  investments.  These  facts  were 
long  ago  appreciated  and  approved  by  Joel  T.  Bandy,  and  in  the 
years  that  he  has  been  handling  real  estate  and  investments  in 


VIRGINIA  145 

Roanoke  he  has  been  guided  by  them  with  very  satisfactory 
results,  and  stands  today  in  the  fore  front  of  operators  in  these 
lines.  However,  if  a  man  is  going  to  build  up  a  profitable  sales 
business  in  real  estate  over  a  term  of  years  he  ought  to  be  more 
than  a  salesman;  he  ought  to  be  an  advisor  in  economics  to  the 
people  with  whom  he  deals.  When  a  salesman  has  sold  a  client, 
the  client  ought  to  be  so  well  pleased  that  he  will  go  out  and 
bring  in  his  friends.  The  neglect  of  such  suggestions  Mr.  Bandy 
has  found  will  nearly  always  work  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
salesman  himself,  and  is  simply  ruinous  to  the  house  which  he 
serves,  and  therefore  he  has  tried  to  train  his  men  to  accept 
them,  and  act  accordingly,  and  the  successful  ones  have  done  so. 
Starting  in  life  without  any  capital,  by  safeguarding  the  inter- 
ests of  his  clients  he  has  advanced  until  he  is  one  of  the  leading 
realtors  of  Roanoke. 

Joel  T.  Bandy  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Roanoke  County,  Vir- 
ginia, December  12,  1860,  a  son  of  Thomas  L.  and  Frances  J. 
(Huddleston)  Bandy,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Bedford- 
County,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farming  throughout  his  life. 
Throughout  the  entire  war  period  of  the  sixties  he  served  in 
the  Confederate  army.  In  political  faith  he  was  a  Democrat. 
Both  he  and  his  wife  were  active  members  of  the  First  Presbyte- 
rian Church  of  Roanoke.  Of  the  four  children  born  to  the  par- 
ents two  survive:  Mrs.  E.  S.  McNanel,  of  Roanoke,  where  Mr. 
McNanel  is  now  a  retired  railroad  man,  and  Joel  T.  The  pater- 
nal grandfather  was  George  Bandy,  born  in  Bedford  County,  a 
lifelong  farmer.  The  maternal  grandfather,  Joel  Huddieston, 
was  also  born  in  Bedford  County.  The  Bandys  are  of  Welsh 
extraction,  and  the  Hudd.estons  are  of  English  origin. 

Ihe  local  schools  and  Roanoke  College  educated  Joel  T. 
I2andy,  and  he  earned  his  first  money  by  farm  work.  Later  he 
taught  school,  and  after  he  located  in  Roanoke  he  was  in  the 
coal  and  feed  business  for  several  years.  It  was  not,  however, 
until  he  embarked  in  the  real  estate  busines  in  ISOO  that  he 
found  the  vocation  for  which  he  was  fitted,  and  in  it  he  has 
steadily  progressed  and  has  to  his  credit  some  of  the  best  of  the 
development  projects  carried  to  successful  completion  in  this 
region,  notably  that  of  Virginia  Heights.  He  bought  the  land, 
put  in  the  improvements,  and  buiit  up  what  is  recognized  to  be 
one  of  the  most  desirable  residential  suburbs  of  Roanoke.  Re- 
garding this  property  as  a  gilt-edged  investment,  he  has  retained 
ownership  of  several  houses.  Mr.  Bandy  is  a  director  in  the 
Colonial  National  Bank,  and  is  otherwise  interested  in  local  en- 
terprises. A  strong  Democi-at,  he  works  for  his  party's  suc- 
cess, and  served  for  twenty  years  as  a  member  of  the  school 
board. 

In  March,  1891,  Mr.  Bandy  married  Miss  Nannie  P.  Nelms, 
who  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  but  reared  in  Roanoke  County. 
After  being  graduated  from  Sufiivan's  College,  Bristol,  Virginia, 
she  taught  school  until  her  marriage.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bandy  have 
one  child,  Frances,  who  married  W.  M.  Denny  Taylor,  of  Ro- 
anoke, and  they  have  two  children  :  Nancy  E.  Taylor  and  Frances 
Taylor.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bandy  belong  to  the  Raleigh  Court- 
house Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  of  which  he  is  a 
steward.  A  high  Mason,  he  has  been  advanced  through  the 
Scottish  and  York  Rites,  and  he  also  belongs  to  the  Mystic 
Shrine.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the 
Roanoke  Kiwanis  Club,  and  is  popular  in  all  of  these  organiza- 
tions. 


146  VIRGINIA 

Robert  E.  L.  Abbott.  Like  many  men  who  have  won  suc- 
cess in  commercial  and  industrial  life,  Robert  E.  L.  Abbott,  sec- 
retary, treasurer  and  general  manager  of  the  Virginia  Lumber 
Manufacturing  Company  of  Roanoke,  commenced  his  career  as 
a  school  teacher.  His  experience  in  the  educational  profession 
lasted  for  ten  years,  but  his  inclinations  were  always  for  a  busi- 
ness career,  and  in  1906  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  firm  with 
which  he  is  now  connected,  and  in  which  he  has  gained  promo- 
tion and  success  through  the  application  of  sound  and  substan- 
tial abilities. 

Mr.  Abbott  was  born  May  4,  1868,  in  Craig  County,  Virginia, 
and  is  a  son  of  Sinclair  C.  and  Lucinda  Jane  (Williams)  Abbott, 
natives  of  the  same  county.  His  paternal  grandfather  was 
James  Abbott,  who  passed  his  entire  life  as  a  farmer  in  Virginia, 
principally  in  Craig  County,  where  he  was  held  in  high  esteem 
and  respect  by  his  fellow  citizens.  Sinclair  C.  Abbott  received 
a  public  school  education  and  as  a  youth  learned  the  trade  of 
cabinet  maker,  which  he  followed  until  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
between  the  states,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army 
and  subsequently  served  throughout  the  four  years  of  the  war. 
At  the  close  of  the  struggle  the  young  soldier  returned  to  Craig 
County,  having  recovered  from  a  slight  wound,  and  resumed  his 
activities  as  a  cabinet  maker,  in  which  he  was  engaged  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  For  some  years  he  served  as  post- 
master of  the  little  Town  of  Abbott  in  Craig  County,  which  was 
named  in  his  honor.  He  was  a  Democrat  in  his  political  views 
and  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  He  married  Lucinda 
Jane  Williams,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Philip  Williams,  a  native  of 
Virginia  and  a  minister  of  the  Christian  Church.  They  had  ten 
children,  of  whom  four  are  living,  Robert  E.  L.  having  been  the 
fourth  in  order  of  birth.  One  of  the  children.  Dr.  B.  A.  Abbott, 
a  prominent  minister  of  the  Christian  Church,  is  editor  of  the 
religious  publication,  the  Christian  Evangelist,  of  Saint  Louis, 
and  in  1927  went  to  Lausanne,  Switzerland,  to  attend  the  con- 
vention of  members  of  all  denominations  for  the  general  ad- 
vancement of  Christianity.  Some  ninety  churches  representing 
a  score  of  different  beliefs  sent  delegates  to  this  world  confer- 
ence on  faith  and  order. 

Robert  E.  L.  Abbott  attended  the  local  schools  of  Craig 
County,  following  which  he  pursued  a  course  at  Kentucky  Uni- 
versity (.now  Transylvania)  at  Lexington,  and  after  his  gradu- 
ation therefrom  began  teaching  school.  During  the  following 
ten  years  he  was  employed  as  a  teacher  in  various  schools  in 
Craig,  Henry  and  Tazewell  counties,  but  in  the  fall  of  1906  ac- 
cepted a  position  as  bookkeeper  for  the  Virginia  Lumber  Manu- 
facturing Company  of  Roanoke.  He  has  been  identified  with 
this  concern  for  twenty-three  years,  and  now  acts  as  secretary, 
treasurer  and  general  manager,  having  risen  to  these  posts  by 
industry  and  merit.  He  is  widely  and  favorably  known  in  busi- 
ness circles  and  particularly  in  the  lumber  trade,  and  is  known 
as  a  man  of  the  highest  integrity  and  of  broad  information.  Mr. 
Abbott  has  applied  himself  devotedly  to  his  business  affairs  and 
has  few  outside  interests,  although  he  is  a  Mason  of  the  Scottish 
Rite  and  a  member  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  has  cooperated 
willingly  and  energetically  in  worthy  civic  movements,  and  with 
his  family  belongs  to  the  Christian  Church. 

In  1904  Mr.  Abbott  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Bertie 
Shelburne,  who  was  born  in  Lee  County,  Virginia,  and  educated 
at  Milligan  College,  Tennessee,  and  to  this  union  there  have  been 


Q5J'Si/>^<£. 


VIRGINIA  147 

born  three  children:  Elizabeth  Christal,  who  resides  with  her 
parents;  Robert  Shelburne,  who  holds  a  position  with  the  Vir- 
ginia Lumber  Manufacturing  Company,  and  Edward  Lee,  who 
died  when  two  years  of  age.  The  pleasant  family  residence  is 
situated  at  210  Wasena  Avenue,  Roanoke. 

Henry  M.  Stowe,  postmaster  of  Bedford  City,  became  a 
Virginian  through  his  interest  in  the  National  Elks  Home  at 
Bedford.  Few  men  among  his  contemporaries  have  had  a  career 
of  greater  variety  of  experience  and  association  with  prominent 
men  than  Mr.  Stowe. 

He  was  born  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  September  10^  1854,  son  of 
Thomas  A.  and  Maria  (McKinzie)  Stowe,  and  grandson  of 
William  Stowe,  who  was  born  at  Middletown,  Connecticut,  No- 
vember 15,  1795,  and  was  an  early  settler  in  Ohio,  where  he 
married  Emily  Kelsey.  This  branch  of  the  Stowe  family  was 
established  in  America  by  John  Stowe,  a  native  of  England,  son 
of  John  Stowe,  the  historian.  John  Stowe,  the  American,  arrived 
in  the  United  States  April  9,  1734,  on  the  ship  Elizabeth,  bring- 
ing with  him  six  children.  Thomas  A.  Stowe  was  born  at  Hud- 
son, Ohio,  July  23,  1827,  was  educated  in  Western  Reserve 
College,  became  a  printer  and  was  connected  with  the  Cleveland 
Plain  Dealer  from  the  establishment  of  that  old  and  influential 
newspaper  at  Cleveland.  He  was  on  the  staff  of  the  Plain  Dealer 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  For  three  years  he  was  in  a  printing 
office  in  Iowa,  but  with  that  exception  lived  all  his  life  in  Ohio. 
He  was  a  leading  Democrat,  served  fifteen  years  on  the  board  of 
education  of  Cleveland,  and  was  president  of  the  board  when  he 
died  in  1877.  At  one  time  he  was  nominated  for  lieutenant- 
governor,  and  he  served  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Civil  war.  His 
wife,  Maria  (McKinzie)  Stowe,  was  born  January  1,  1834,  and 
is  still  living  at  the  age  of  ninety-four,  making  her  home  with  a 
daughter  in  Los  Angeles.  She  had  a  family  of  three  children: 
Henry  M. ;  Josephine  Maria,  a  widow  in  Los  Angeles ;  and 
Charles  Brown,  head  of  the  Stowe-Fuller  Corporation,  fire-brick 
manufacturers  at  Cleveland.  Thomes  A.  Stowe  was  an  active 
Presbyterian,  member  of  the  church  choir,  served  as  grand 
master  of  the  State  of  Ohio  in  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen. 

Henry  M.  Stowe  was  educated  at  Cleveland,  as  a  boy  sold 
newspapers  on  the  streets,  left  school  in  1871  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  to  become  a  chainman  with  a  surveying  party.  For 
five  years  he  was  in  the  news  room  of  the  Plain  Dealer,  but  in 
December,  1877,  left  the  printing  office  on  account  of  lead  poison- 
ing. Three  months  later  he  became  connected  with  the  Wors- 
wick  Manufacturing  Company,  manufacturers  of  plumbing  and 
steam  fitting  supplies.  He  went  to  work  for  this  company  at 
thirty  dollars  a  month. 

In  1875  Mr.  Stowe  had  married  Angelina  N.  Worswick, 
daughter  of  the  manufacturer.  Two  children  were  born  to  their 
union.  The  daughter,  Winifred  Olive,  is  the  wife  of  Stanley  L. 
Galpin,  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  Trinity  University  in  Con- 
necticut. The  daughter  Marjorie  is  an  art  teacher  living  in 
Cleveland.    The  mother  of  these  children  died  in  1922. 

While  with  the  Worswick  Company  Mr.  Stowe  acquired  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  pipe  fitting  and  plumbing  business. 
He  was  put  in  the  sales  department  and  in  January,  1880,  was 
offered  general  supervision  of  the  plant.     Instead  he  organized 


148  VIRGINIA 

the  Union  Machine  Works,  which  did  a  prosperous  business.  In 
1882  he  had  to  give  up  his  work  on  account  of  ill  health,  and 
spent  three  months  on  the  salt  waters  on  the  coast  of  Florida. 
He  then  became  a  traveling  salesman  for  the  Macintosh  Goode 
&  Company,  covering  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Michigan,  and  in  1886 
went  with  the  Continental  Tube  Works.  Mr.  Stowe  in  Septem- 
ber, 1888,  while  in  the  employ  of  its  Pittsburgh  Tube  Company, 
he  located  at  Marion,  Ohio,  where  he  organized  the  firm  of  Cun- 
ningham &  Stowe,  heating  engineers.  This  business  later  em- 
ployed about  twenty-five  skilled  workers.  Owing  to  the  panic 
of  1893  he  returned  to  his  plumbing  business  at  Marion.  He 
sold  out  in  1896,  and  for  a  time  was  identified  with  the  work  of 
the  Monarch  Cement  Company  in  establishing  a  plant  at  Bron- 
son,  Michigan.  Mr.  Stowe  in  1897  went  to  Alaska  in  the  gold 
fields,  but  this  was  an  experience  without  profit.  He  arrived 
in  Chicago  with  only  25  cents,  and  through  the  friendship  of 
a  conductor  was  able  to  get  back  to  Marion,  Ohio.  Mr.  Stowe 
in  February,  1899,  went  with  the  Forest  City  Electric  Company, 
for  nine  months  sold  insurance,  then  resumed  employment  with 
the  Forest  City  Company,  and  again  took  up  insurance,  a  busi- 
ness he  followed  until  1918,  when  faihng  eyesight  compelled  him 
to  seek  a  residence  in  the  Elks  National  Home  at  Bedford, 
Virginia. 

He  remained  there  until  he  was  appointed  postmaster  by  his 
friend  President  Harding  in  1918.  He  now  gives  all  his  time  to 
his  official  work.  Mr.  Stowe  in  1896  was  president  of  the  Bryan 
Silver  Club  in  Ohio,  but  while  living  at  Marion  became  interested 
in  Warren  G.  Harding  and  was  one  of  his  local  friends  and 
admirers  who  brought  him  into  politics. 

Mr.  Stowe  married  June  16,  1927,  Camille  Binnix  Houston, 
a  native  of  Philadelphia,  daughter  of  John  Binnix,  general  man- 
ager of  the  Central  Iron  Works  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania. 
Mrs.  Stowe  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Stowe 
has  been  actively  identified  with  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks  since  1888. 
For  twelve  years  he  was  secretary  of  Cleveland  Lodge  of  Elks, 
No.  18,  being  No.  5  on  the  membership  roll  and  now  the  oldest 
member  of  that  oraganization. 

Hugh  J.  Hagan,  M.  D.,  has  practiced  medicine  in  Roanoke 
since  1914.  He  was  born  in  Atlanta,  Georgia,  December  11, 
1888,  a  son  of  Hugh  and  Sallie  Cobb  (Johnson)  Hagan,  the 
latter  of  whom  was  born  in  Selma,  Alabama,  and  the  former  in 
Richmond,  Virginia.  He  studied  medicine  in  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  New  York  City,  and  in  Berlin,  Ger- 
many, and  Vienna,  Austria,  and  upon  his  return  to  the  United 
States  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  for  ten  years.  His  death  occurred  in  1898,  but  she 
survives  and  is  now  living  in  Roanoke.  They  had  two  children : 
Doctor  Hagan  and  Willis  Cobb,  the  latter  being  a  banker  of  Bir- 
mingham, Alabama.  The  parents  belonged  to  the  Episcopal 
Church  from  their  youth  up. 

Doctor  Hagan  of  this  review  attended  school  in  Atlanta  and 
Roanoke,  and  then  entered  Washington  and  Lee  University, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1910.  He  then  became  a  stu- 
dent of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  and  was  gi-aduated  therefrom 
in  1914,  after  having  completed  the  four-year  medical  course, 
with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  His  interneship  was 
taken  in  Jefferson  Hospital,  Roanoke.     During  the  World  war 


VIRGINIA  149 

he  served,  with  the  rank  of  captain,  in  the  Medical  Corps  from 
May  10,  1917,  to  January  30,  1919,  being  honorably  discharged 
on  the  latter  date.  He  was  stationed  at  Monroe,  Vale,  Forrest, 
Devens  and  Dix  camps,  his  service  being  entirely  performed  in 
this  country. 

On  July  14,  1917,  Doctor  Hagan  married  Miss  Barbara 
Fowle  Campbell,  who  was  born  in  Charles  Town,  West  Virginia, 
and  educated  in  that  city  and  in  a  finishing  school  of  New  York 
City.  Two  children  have  been  born  to  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Hagan: 
Hugh  Campbell  and  Robert  Cameron.  Doctor  Hagan  belongs  to 
the  Episcopal  Church.  He  is  a  member  of  Kappa  Alpha,  Phi 
Beta  Kappa,  the  Southwest  Virginia  Medical  Society,  the  Med- 
ical Society  of  Virginia,  the  Southern  Medical  Association,  the 
American  College  of  Physicians,  the  Shenandoah  Club,  the 
Roanoke  Country  Club,  the  Dinner  Dance  Club  and  other  local 
organizations,  in  all  of  which  he  is  deservedly  popular.  His 
practice  is  internal  medicine,  and  he  devotes  all  of  his  time  to 
it,  not  being  connected  with  any  business  concerns. 

Preston  Garnett  Hundley,  physician  and  surgeon  at 
Lynchburg,  comes  of  a  family  of  prominent  professional  people, 
being  a  brother  of  John  T.  T.  Hundley,  president  of  Lynchburg 
College,  and  his  father  was  also  an  educator,  though  his  out- 
standing service  was  in  the  upbuilding  and  extension  of  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Christian  Church  in  Virginia. 

Doctor  Hundley  was  born  at  Dunnsville,  Essex  County,  Vir- 
ginia, March  14.  1880,  son  of  John  T.  T.  and  Sarah  Elizabeth 
(Garnett)  Hundley,  both  natives  of  Essex  County,,  and  a  grand- 
son of  Andrew  Hundley,  a  planter  and  slave  owner  of  Essex 
County  who  served  as  sheriff  and  treasurer  of  his  county.  An- 
drew Hundley  married  Nancy  Trible.  John  Trible  Thomas 
Hundley,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Essex  County  and  was  educated  in 
Bethany  College  in  West  Virginia,  the  institution  founded  by 
Alexander  Campbell  of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples.  He  began 
teaching  in  Essex  County  when  little  more  than  a  boy,  and  kept 
up  the  work  of  teaching  for  over  thirty-nine  years  in  a  two-room 
school  known  as  the  Dunnsville  Academy,  and  his  personal 
scholarship  and  inspiring  influence  made  that  an  institution  of 
the  highest  service  in  preparing  young  men  for  college  en- 
trance. He  taught  higher  mathematics,  surveying,  Greek  and 
Latin  and  other  subjects.  Throughout  his  life  he  was  one  of 
the  most  prominent  laymen  of  the  Christian  Church  in  Virginia, 
and  probably  no  ordained  minister  of  the  church  did  more  for  it 
than  this  educator.  He  died  in  1890,  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine 
years.  His  wife,  Sarah  Elizabeth  Garnett,  was  a  daughter  of 
Judge  Muscoe  Garnett,  who  was  a  lawyer,  for  seventeen  years  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  and  an  elder  in  the  Christian 
Church.     Sarah  Elizabeth  Hundley  died  in  1895. 

Preston  Garnett  Hundley  was  the  youngest  son  in  a  family  of 
thirteen  children.  After  the  local  schools  he  attended  William 
and  Mary  College  during  1897-99,  and  completed  the  work  of  the 
Virginia  School  of  Pharmacy  in  1903.  From  1903  to  1905  he 
was  manager  of  the  Johnson  Pharmacy  at  Hampton,  and  then 
entered  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Maryland  at 
Baltimore  and  was  graduated  with  the  M.  D.  degree  in  1909. 
Doctor  Hundley  practiced  two  years  in  the  coal  fields  of  West 
Virginia,  for  seven  years  at  Pembroke,  Virginia,  and  since  1921 
has  had  his  home  and  a  busy  practice  at  Lynchburg,  a  large 
amount  of  his  work  being  in  gynecologj-  and  obstetrics.     Doc- 


150  VIRGINIA 

tor  Hundley  is  a  member  of  the  Lynchburg  Medical  Society,  Med- 
ical Society  of  Virginia  and  American  Medical  Association.  He 
is  affiliated  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Lions  Club,  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  is  a  deacon  in  the  First  Chris- 
tian Church. 

He  married,  November  24,  1909,  Miss  Maiy  E.  Lyell,  who 
was  born  in  Richmond  County,  Virginia,  and  was  educated  in 
Baltimore  College.  They  have  three  children:  Robert  Lyell, 
born  in  1914 ;  Preston  Booker,  born  in  1915 ;  and  Olivia  Ander- 
son, born  in  1917. 

Mrs.  Hundley  is  a  daughter  of  John  M.  and  Anna  (Booker) 
Lyell.  Her  father  served  in  the  Ninth  Virginia  Cavalry  in  the 
Civil  war  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  a  member  of  the  Legis- 
lature. He  was  a  merchant  in  Richmond  County,  and  owned  the 
first  automobile  in  the  North  Neck  of  Virginia. 

John  Otto  Boyd,  M.  D.  In  sketching  the  career  of  one  who 
has  impressed  himself  by  his  versatile  gifts  upon  the  passing 
generation,  one  is  pleased  to  find  the  unusual  union  of  high 
philanthropic  ends  with  such  practical  qualities  as  have  made 
him  a  successful  physician  and  surgeon.  However  rare  may  be 
such  a  combination  of  qualities,  that  they  are  not  altogether 
incompatible  is  illustrated  in  the  career  of  Dr.  John  0.  Boyd,  of 
Roanoke,  who  has  a  large  practice  and  high  standing  in  his  pro- 
fession, particularly  in  the  field  of  his  specialties,  gynecology 
and  obstetrics.  With  the  exception  of  the  period  of  his  military 
service  during  the  World  war  he  has  been  located  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his- professional  duties  at  Roanoke  since  1905,  and  dur- 
ing this  time  has  established  himself  firmly  in  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  the  people. 

Doctor  Boyd  was  born  March  12,  1881,  at  Winchester,  Vir- 
ginia, and  is  a  son  of  Dr.  P.  W.  and  Fredericka  (Schultz)  Boyd. 
His  paternal  grandfather  was  Rev.  Andrew  Hunter  Holmes 
Boyd,  a  well  known  early  Presbyterian  minister  of  Virginia,  who 
filled  many  pulpits  in  various  parts  of  the  state  and  was  a  man 
who  was  held  in  great  esteem  and  respect.  Dr.  P.  W.  Boyd  was 
born  in  Frederick  County,  Virginia,  where  he  received  his  early 
education,  and  as  a  youth  entered  Washington  and  Lee  Univer- 
sity, where  he  was  graduated,  and  later  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Maryland  with  the  degree  Doctor  of  Medicine. 
After  engaging  in  practice  for  a  few  years  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  hardware  business,  which  he  followed  for  many  years 
at  Winchester,  both  he  and  Mrs.  Boyd,  also  a  native  of  Frederick 
County,  dying  at  that  place.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Frederick 
Schultz,  a  native  of  Virginia  and  a  larger  planter,  whose  father, 
John  Schultz,  served  in  the  American  army  during  the  War  of 
1812.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Boyd  were  faithful  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  work  of  which  they  were  active,  and 
Doctor  Boyd  was  a  Confederate  soldier  during  the  war  between 
the  states,  serving  as  a  private  in  Chew's  battery.  They  had  a 
family  of  eight  children,  of  whom  seven  are  living.  Dr.  John  0. 
of  this  review  being  the  last  in  order  of  birth. 

John  0.  Boyd  received  his  early  education  at  Shenandoah 
Academy,  Winchester,  following  which  he  pursued  a  course  at 
the  University  College  of  Medicine  at  Richmond,  and  was  gi-adu- 
ated  with  the  class  of  1905,  receiving  the  degree  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine. For  a  short  time  he  served  as  an  interne  in  the  Virginia 
Hospital,  but  in  1905  located  permanently  at  Roanoke,  where  he 
since  has  achieved  remarkable  success  and  high  standing,  his 


VIRGINIA  151 

present  offices  being  located  in  the  Shenandoah  Life  Building. 
When  the  United  States  became  embroiled  in  the  great  Euro- 
pean struggle  Doctor  Boyd  offered  his  services  to  the  Medical 
Corps,  and,  being  accepted,  was  sent  to  Camp  Greenleaf,  where 
he  underwent  intensive  training.  He  was  then  assigned  to  Base 
Hospital  No.  45,  and  subsequently  was  sent  to  the  Base  Hospital 
at  Camp  Pike,  serving  in  surgical  work  in  all  its  branches  and 
also  as  acting  chief  surgeon.  He  finally  was  transferred  to  Hos- 
pital No.  23  at  Philadelphia,  whence  he  was  discharged  in  1919 
and  returned  to  his  practice  at  Roanoke,  after  doing  post-grad- 
uate work  at  Philadelphia  and  New  York.  Although  he  is 
equally  at  home  in  any  branch  of  his  profession.  Doctor  Boyd 
specializes  as  a  gynecologist  and  in  obstetrical  cases,  and  is  fre- 
quently called  into  consultation  by  his  fellow  practitioners  for 
advice.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Pi  Mu  honorary  medical  frater- 
nity, the  Roanoke  Medical  Society,  the  Virginia  State  Medical 
Society,  the  Southern  Medical  Society  and  the  American  Medical 
Association  and  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  College  of  Surgeons. 
He  belongs  also  to  the  local  Kiwanis  Club  and  takes  a  keen  inter- 
est in  all  that  affects  the  welfare  of  the  city,  its  institutions  and 
its  people.  While  he  is  an  exceptionally  busy  man,  he  is  much 
more  than  a  professional  drudge,  for  he  is  sociable  by  nature  and 
enjoys  the  companionship  of  his  fellows.  He  is  a  popular  mem- 
ber of  the  Shenandoah  Club  and  the  Country  Club,  and  his  prin- 
cipal hobby  and  pastime  is  tennis,  the  Doctor  being  known  as  a 
very  capable  performer  on  the  courts. 

In  1912  Doctor  Boyd  was  united  in  marriage  at  Roanoke  with 
Miss  Nellie  J.  Stephenson,  who  was  born  at  Doylestown,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  educated  in  the  schools  of  Roanoke  and  at  Wilson 
College,  Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania,  and  to  this  union  there 
have  been  born  four  children :  John  Otto,  Jr.,  Katharine  Cowell, 
William  Stephenson  and  Nellie  Stephenson.  The  family  belongs 
to  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  work  of  which  Mrs.  Boyd  is 
active  and  helpful. 

David  Denton  Hull,  Jr.,  during  a  law  practice  covering  a 
period  of  a  third  of  a  century  early  became  identified  in  a  pro- 
fessional capacity  with  the  great  iron  and  coal  industries  of  the 
South,  and  for  many  years  he  has  not  only  handled  the  legal 
affairs  but  has  also  served  in  an  executive  capacity  for  large  cor- 
porations. 

He  represents  the  tenth  generation  of  the  American  Hull 
family,  one  of  the  oldest  of  consecutive  record  from  the  time  of 
the  establishment  of  the  original  English  colonies.  His  first 
American  ancestor  was  George  Hull,  who  was  born  in  England 
in  1590  and  was  a  member  of  the  original  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony,  locating  at  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  (now  a  part  of 
Boston)  and  became  a  man  of  considerable  local  prominence,  and 
was  a  representative  in  the  first  General  Court  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Bay  Colony.  Members  of  successive  generations  of  the 
family  lives  in  New  England,  were  soldiers  in  the  Colonial  Wars, 
business  men  and  statesmen.  The  founder  of  the  Virginia 
branch  of  the  family  was  Samuel  Hull,  representing  the  sixth 
generation  of  the  American  family.  Samuel  Hull  came  from 
Ulster  County,  New  York,  to  Virginia  and  settled  in  Smyth 
County  in  1789.  His  son  Norton  Hull  was  born  in  Smyth  County 
in  1792,  and  the  only  child  of  his  first  marriage  was  Thomas  T. 
Hull,  who  was  born  in  Smyth  County,  February  23,  1811,  and 
died  September  30,  1851. 


152  VIRGINIA 

He  was  the  father  of  David  Denton  Hull,  Sr.,  who  was  born 
at  Marion,  Smyth  County,  December  26,  1837,  and  who  died 
June  19,  1919.  Before  the  Civil  war  David  Denton  Hull,  Sr.,  was 
a  merchant,  entered  the  Confederate  army  with  the  rank  of 
lieutenant,  and  later  was  a  captain  in  the  Sixty-third  Virginia 
Volunteer  Infantry,  General  Humphrey  Marshall's  Division,  and 
for  a  considerable  time  was  with  General  Morgan's  forces  in  Ten- 
nessee and  Kentucky.  After  the  war  he  became  a  man  of  ex- 
tensive business  enterprises  at  Marion,  engaged  in  merchandis- 
ing and  milling,  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  was  successively 
vice  president  and  until  his  death  president  of  the  Bank  of 
Marion.  He  also  served  on  the  county  board  of  supervisors,  was 
a  member  of  the  board  to  supervise  the  erection  of  the  South- 
western State  Hospital,  took  a  prominent  part  in  maintaining 
educational  facilities  for  Marion  and  his  section  of  the  state, 
being  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Marion  Female 
College  and  for  over  seventeen  years  chairman  of  the  board  of 
Emory  and  Henry  College.  He  was  a  steward  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  He  married  July  29,  1868,  Mary  A.  H. 
Graham,  of  Wythe  County,  Virginia.  Of  their  family  of  seven 
children  David  Denton,  Jr.,  was  the  second  child  and  second  son. 

David  Denton  Hull,  Jr.,  was  born  March  26,  1872,  and  grew 
up  in  the  attractive  home  which  his  father  had  established  on  a 
farm  west  of  Marion.  He  attended  private  schools,  and  in  1891 
was  graduated  valedictorian  of  his  class  at  Emory  and  Henry 
College  with  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  degree.  He  spent  about  two 
years  in  the  Law  Department  of  the  University  of  Virginia  and 
in  1894  began  practice  at  Pulaski.  In  1900  he  removed  to  Bris- 
tol and  since  1908  has  made  his  home  at  Roanoke.  Mr.  Hull  in 
1903  bceame  general  counsel  and  in  1917  also  vice  president  of 
the  Virginia  Iron,  Coal  and  Coke  Company;  a  corporation  that 
has  owned  and  operated  extensive  coal  and  iron  properties  in  the 
State  of  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Georgia  and  North  Caro- 
lina.    That  relationship  has  been  maintained  ever  since. 

Mr.  Hull  takes  an  active  part  in  the  civic  affairs  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  resides.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Roanoke, 
Virginia  State  and  American  Bar  Associations,  belongs  to  the 
American  Steel  and  Iron  Institute,  the  Trinity  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  at  Roanoke,  is  a  Kappa  Sigma,  a  Pi  Gamma  Mu,  a 
member  of  the  Shenandoah  Club  of  Roanoke,  of  the  Roanoke 
Country  Club  and  of  the  Westmoreland  Club  of  Richmond.  He 
served  a  term  as  president  of  the  Roanoke  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce; is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  of  the  University  of 
Virginia ;  and  is  president  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  Hollins  College  Corporation. 

He  married  June  16,  1923,  Miss  Elizabeth  Duval  Adams, 
daughter  of  Captain  and  Mrs.  Richard  Henry  Toler  Adams  of 
Lynchburg.  There  are  three  children  of  this  union  :  Annie  Max- 
well Hull,  Susan  Elizabeth  Hull  and  Mary  Graham  Hull. 

William  Wise  Boxley.  Prominent  among  the  citizens  of 
Roanoke  who  have  risen  from  obscurity  and  poverty  to  high  posi- 
tion and  affluence  solely  through  the  medium  of  their  own  abili- 
ties is  William  Wise  Boxley,  known  throughout  Virginia  and 
the  adjoining  states  as  one  of  the  foremost  railroad  contractors 
in  this  part  of  the  country.  When  he  commenced  his  connection 
with  railroad  work  Mr.  Boxley  was  fresh  from  the  farm,  and  his 
wage  earning  career  began  at  the  modest  salary  of  one  dollar 
per  day.     During  the  forty  years  that  have  passed  since  that 


VIRGINIA  153 

time  he  has  improved  every  opportunity  that  has  arisen,  and 
today  is  first  vice  president  of  the  Colonial  National  Bank,  an 
ex-mayor  of  the  city,  and  a  man  universally  looked  up  to  and 
admired. 

Mr.  Boxley  was  born  July  17,  1861,  at  the  ancestral  home, 
known  as  the  "Great  House,"  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  North 
Anna  River,  adjoining  Spotsylvania,  Louisa  County,  Virginia, 
and  is  a  son  of  James  and  Sallie  Ann  (Lipscomb)  Boxley.  His 
paternal  grandfather  was  Joseph  Boxley,  a  native  of  Boxley, 
England,  who  came  to  the  United  States  in  young  manhood  and 
settled  in  Louisa  County,  Virginia,  where  he  built  the  home  above 
mentioned  and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  as  a  planter. 
His  son,  James  Boxley,  was  born  in  his  father's  home,  and  fol- 
lowed in  his  father's  footsteps  as  to  the  matter  of  a  vocation, 
being  a  planter  all  of  his  life.  He  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Con- 
federacy during  the  war  between  the  states  and  was  active  in  se- 
curing food  supplies  for  the  army,  but  the  misfortunes  of  war 
practically  wrecked  the  family  fortunes.  Both  he  and  his  worthy 
wife  were  active  members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Mr.  Boxley 
married  Miss  Sallie  Ann  Lipscomb,  who  was  born  at  Spotsyl- 
vania, a  daughter  of  John  Lipscomb,  also  born  there,  a  farmer 
by  vocation  and  a  prominent  leader  in  the  Baptist  Church.  Five 
sons  and  three  daughters  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Boxley,  of 
whom  two  sons  survive :  C.  A.,  a  retired  capitalist  of  Charles- 
ton, West  Virginia ;  and  William  Wise,  of  this  review. 

William  Wise  Boxley  received  only  the  advantages  of  a  public 
school  education  and  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm,  where  he 
remained  until  the  age  of  twenty-seven.  In  1888,  tiring  of  agri- 
cultural work  and  being  attracted  by  the  glamor  and  romance  of 
railroading,  he  took  a  position  as  a  common  laborer  in  a  con- 
struction gang,  at  wages  of  one  dollar  per  day.  It  was  not  long 
before  his  employers  took  note  of  his  industry  and  intelligence, 
and  he  was  advanced  to  a  foremanship  and  later  to  a  superin- 
tendency.  It  was  while  thus  employed  that  he  embarked  on  a 
venture  of  his  own,  in  the  way  of  railroad  construction,  in  1892. 
At  first,  because  of  his  limited  capital,  his  operations  were  small, 
but  with  the  accumulation  of  a  larger  source  of  income,  as  well 
as  growing  confidence,  he  increased  and  broadened  his  scope,  and 
at  the  present  time  has  to  his  credit  many  miles  of  railroad  con- 
struction. He  still  continues  in  the  same  line  of  business  and  is 
interested  in  four  of  the  most  highly  improved  rock-crushing 
outfits  obtainable.  He  maintains  well  appointed  offices  in  his 
own  building,  bearing  his  name,  which  has  eight  stores  and 
numei'ous  offices,  and  was  erected  by  him  in  1923,  although  his 
headquarters  have  been  at  Roanoke  since  1906.  Mr.  Boxley  is 
first  vice  president  and  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  Colonial  National  Bank  of  Roanoke,  and  in  1926  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  A  Democrat  in  politics,  he 
has  been  prominent  in  public  aft'airs,  and  served  four  years  as 
mayor  under  the  first  term  of  the  city  manager  form  of  govern- 
ment. Mr.  Boxley  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  a  Noble  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine.  He  belongs  to  the  First  Baptist  Church  of 
Roanoke,  in  which  he  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Deacons,  while 
his  wife  belongs  to  St.  John's  Episcopal  Church. 

In  1884  Mr.  Boxley  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Fannie 
Haley,  who  was  born  in  Louisa  County,  Virginia,  and  to  this 
union  there  were  born  two  children:  William,  who  is  deceased; 
and  Littlebui-ry  James,  a  graduate  of  Washington  and  Lee  Uni- 
versity, who  is  associated  in  business  with  his  father.     Mrs. 


154  VIRGINIA 

Boxley  met  death  by  drowning  in  1893,  and  in  1903  Mr.  Boxley 
married  Miss  Willie  Saunders,  who  was  born  in  Louisa  County, 
the  marriage  ceremony  being  performed  at  Richmond.  Three 
children  have  been  born  to  this  union :  Abney,  a  graduate  of  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  in  1925,  degree  Bachelor  of  Science, 
who  is  now  engaged  in  the  contracting  business  with  his  father 
and  half-brother;  Mary  Wise,  a  graduate  of  the  National  Cathe- 
dral, Washington,  D.  C;  and  Cheyenne,  a  daughter,  attending 
school  at  Gunston  Hall,  Washington,  D.  C. 

J.  Burton  Nowlin,  who  has  had  a  broad  and  successful  ex- 
perience in  medical  practice,  now  specializing  in  internal  medi- 
cine at  Lynchburg,  is  a  member  of  an  old  Campbell  County  fam- 
ily, one  that  has  been  in  Virginia  for  a  number  of  generations. 

The  founder  of  the  family  was  James  Nowlin,  who  was  born 
in  Ireland  in  1655.  The  name  was  spelled  Nowlan  in  that  coun- 
try. James  Nowlin  on  account  of  participation  in  religious  wars 
came  to  America  about  1700,  and  died  in  1725.  In  order  to  pay 
his  passage  across  the  ocean  he  indentured  himself  to  a  Virginia 
planter  named  Bryan  Ward,  and  he  subsequently  married  Cath- 
erine Ward,  the  planter's  daughter.  One  of  their  sons,  Bryan 
Ward,  married  Lucy  Wade,  and  their  son,  James  Nowlin,  a 
native  of  Pittsylvania  County,  married  Rainey  Downey.  Mathew 
Bates  Nowlin,  son  of  James  and  Rainey  (Downey)  Nowlin,  was 
born  in  Pittsylvania  County,  was  a  farmer,  mill  owner,  and  a 
man  of  large  property  interests,  owning  a  hundred  slaves  before 
the  war.  At  an  early  date  he  located  on  a  large  plantation  in 
Campbell  County,  where  he  also  operated  a  store.  He  died  in 
1856.  He  had  served  in  the  State  Legislature.  Mathew  Bates 
Nowlin  married  Elizabeth  Preston,  and  they  were  the  grand- 
parents of  Doctor  Nowlin  of  Lynchburg. 

Doctor  Nowlin  was  born  in  Campbell  County  in  July,  1873, 
son  of  James  Bowker  and  Susan  Hamner  (Burton)  Nowlin. 
His  mother  was  born  near  Lynchburg  on  her  father's  plantation 
"The  Oaks."  Her  mother  was  Damaris  Cobbs.  Her  grand- 
father, John  Hudson  Burton,  who  married  Margaret  Macon,  was 
a  descendant  of  Thomas  Burton,  who  came  from  England  in 
1634  and  settled  in  Henrico  County,  Virginia,  being  one  of  the 
pioneer  planters  in  the  vicinity  of  Richmond.  James  Bowker 
Nowlin  spent  most  of  his  active  life  in  the  banking  business  at 
Lynchburg.  He  was  a  member  of  Kirkpatrick's  Battery  in  the 
Confederate  army.  He  was  a  Methodist,  while  his  wife  be- 
longed to  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church.  Of  their  four  chil- 
dren two  are  now  living,  Dr.  J.  Burton  and  J.  Graham,  of  Lynch- 
burg. 

Dr.  J.  Burton  Nowiin  was  educated  at  the  Lynchburg  High 
School  and  graduated  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons at  Baltimore  in  1896.  For  twelve  years  he  practiced  in 
Buckingham  County,  for  two  years  was  in  Richmond  specializing 
in  children's  diseases,  and  since  1910  has  practiced  at  Lynch- 
burg. 

Doctor  Nowlin  married.  September  21,  1898,  Roberta  Ellis 
Hall,  daughter  of  Thomas  B.  Hall,  a  farmer.  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Nowlin  have  two  children.  The  son,  Preston  Nowlin,  was  edu- 
cated at  the  University  of  Virginia,  graduating  in  medicine  in 
1924,  spent  twenty  months  as  an  interne  in  the  Boston  City  Hos- 
pital and  is  now  specializing  in  surgery.  The  second  child,  Ellis 
Nowlin,  is  the  wife  of  George  H.  Cosby,  Jr.,  a  special  insurance 
agent  and  insurance  inspector  at  Charlottesville.     Doctor  Now- 


VIRGINIA  155 

lin  and  family  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  is 
a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  member  of  the  Woodmen  of 
the  World,  and  belongs  to  the  Lynchburg  and  Campbell  County 
Medical  Society  and  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia. 

David  Halbert  Howard.  During  the  many  years  that  he 
was  identified  with  the  bar  of  Lynchburg,  the  late  David  Hal- 
bert Howard  demonstrated  the  possession  of  splendid  legal  abili- 
ties, in  the  exercise  of  which  he  gained  the  right  to  be  known  as 
one  of  the  leaders  of  his  profession  in  Campbell  County.  From 
the  time  that  he  left  college  in  young  manhood  until  his  death, 
in  1925,  he  led  an  active,  useful  and  successful  career,  and  as  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Kirkpatrick  &  Howard  was  identified 
with  much  litigation  of  a  highly  important  character.  While 
he  never  sought  office  that  would  bring  him  to  the  forefront  as 
a  public  figure,  in  a  quiet  and  unassuming  way  he  exerted  an 
influence  for  good  and  was  known  as  a  man  of  public  spirit  and 
civic  pride. 

Mr.  Howard  was  born  July  19,  1865,  in  Wythe  County,  Vir- 
ginia, a  son  of  J.  Milton  and  Rhoda  Jane  (Allison)  Howard.  His 
father,  who  spent  his  entire  life  in  Wythe  County,  was  an  agri- 
culturist, and  the  early  environment  of  David  H.  Howard  was 
that  of  the  home  farm.  After  attending  the  rural  schools  he 
took  an  academic  course  at  King's  College,  Bristol,  and  then 
became  a  law  student  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  from  which 
he  was  duly  graduated  with  his  degree  in  1890.  He  at  once  took 
up  his  residence  at  Lynchburg,  where  he  followed  his  profes- 
sion with  great  success  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association  and  the 
American  Bar  Association,  and  carried  on  a  civil  practice,  being 
at  all  times  an  upholder  of  the  ethics  and  amenities  of  his  calling. 
Mr.  Howard  was  an  elder  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
belonged  to  the  Masons,  the  Knights  Templar  and  the  Mystic 
Shrine,  and  the  Piedmont  and  Oakwood  Clubs.  Politically  he 
gave  his  allegiance  to  the  Democratic  party. 

In  1897  Mr.  Howard  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Nan- 
nie Vaughan,  who  was  born  at  Danville,  Virginia,  and  educated 
in  the  schools  of  Lynchburg.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Egbert 
G.  and  Lucie  Guinn  (Estes)  Vaughan,  the  former  a  native  of 
Amelia  County,  Virginia,  and  the  latter  of  Nelson  County,  Vir- 
ginia. Doctor  Vaughan  received  his  medical  degree  from  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  and  for  many  years  was  engaged  in 
practice  in  Halifax  County,  this  state,  where  he  became  greatly 
respected  because  of  his  skill  and  high  personal  character.  He 
is  now  deceased,  but  is  survived  by  his  widow,  who  resides  with 
Mrs.  Howard,  and  who,  although  now  at  the  advanced  age  of 
ninety-five  years,  is  in  good  health  and  both  mentally  and 
physically  active.  Of  the  six  children  in  the  Vaughan  family, 
four  are  living:  James  Oscar,  a  traveling  man,  who  resides  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia;  B.  Estes,  president  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Lexington,  Virginia,  and  also  president  of  three  other  bank- 
ing institutions  in  this  state;  Mrs.  Janie  V.  Hudson,  a  widow 
residing  at  Lynchburg;  and  Mrs.  Howard.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Howard  there  were  born  five  children :  Lucie,  who  completed 
her  education  at  the  Agnes  Scott  School,  at  Atlanta.  Georgia; 
Nannie  Vaughan,  a  graduate  of  Randolph-Macon  College,  who 
studied  art  at  New  York  City  for  one  year  and  completed  her 
education  at  Paris,  France,  where  she  received  the  degree  of 
Interior  Decorator  and  is  now  following  her  profession  in  New 


156  VIRGINIA 

York  City ;  Rhoda,  who  graduated  from  Hollins  College  with 
the  class  of  1927 ;  David  Halbert,  Jr.,  who  graduated  from 
Davidson  College  in  1928;  and  Estes  Vaughan,  who  graduated 
from  McCauley  Preparatory  School,  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  in 
1928  and  who  is  now  attending  the  University  of  Virginia.  Mrs. 
Howard  has  always  been  active  in  religious  affairs,  and  belongs 
to  the  Woman's  Auxiliary  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. 

Charles  W.  Womack  is  head  of  the  firm  C.  W.  Womack  & 
Company,  general  contractors,  whose  work  is  found  in  a  number 
of  the  prominent  public  buildings  in  Lynchburg. 

Mr.  Womack  learned  the  contracting  business  thoroughly 
from  a  beginning  as  a  building  mechanic,  and  has  long  been  one 
of  the  prominent  representatives  of  business  in  the  civic  affairs 
of  his  home  city.  He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Campbell  County, 
August  30,  1866,  son  of  James  and  Mildred  (Yancey)  Womack, 
natives  of  the  same  county.  His  father  spent  most  of  his  life 
as  a  contractor,  largely  in  rural  construction,  and  erected  a  num- 
ber of  the  fine  country  homes  ai'ound  Lynchburg.  He  was  quite 
active  until  his  death  at  the  age  of  eighty-one.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Church  and  a  Democrat  in  politics.  Of  ten 
children,  five  sons  and  five  daughters,  one  son,  Benjamin  L.,  was 
a  Confederate  soldier  in  the  Civil  war. 

Charles  W.  Womack  attended  public  schools  and  learned  the 
trade  of  carpenter  under  his  father.  He  was  associated  with 
his  father  until  the  latter's  death,  and  in  1887  removed  to  Lynch- 
burg and  there  became  associated  with  another  veteran  building 
contractor,  John  P.  Pettyjohn,  and  was  Mr.  Pettyjohn's  fore- 
man twenty  years.  Mr.  Womack  in  1907  engaged  in  business 
for  himself,  organizing  the  firm  of  C.  W.  Womack  &  Company. 
Most  of  the  important  contracts  handled  by  this  firm  have  been 
in  the  City  of  Lynchburg.  They  include  the  Market  House,  the 
Christian  Church,  John  Wyatt  School,  West  End  Shoe  Factory, 
Lynchburg  Hospital  and  many  others  involving  similar  amounts 
but  less  well  known  to  the  public. 

Mr.  Womack  married  in  1890  Miss  Ellen  A.  Luck,  who  was 
born  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  daughter  of  Marshall  Luck. 
She  attended  schools  in  Bedford.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Womack  are 
members  of  the  College  Hill  Baptist  Church.  He  is  a  York  Rite 
Mason  and  Shriner,  member  of  the  Grotto  of  Masons,  and  has 
filled  all  the  chairs  in  James  River  Lodge  No.  48,  Independent  Or- 
der of  Odd  Fellows.  He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  East- 
ern Star  and  Rebekahs,  and  Mrs.  Womack  has  filled  the  chairs  in 
the  Eastern  Star  Chapter.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Lions  Club,  a 
Democrat,  and  is  a  former  member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of 
Lynchburg. 

John  Hundley  Hoskins,  M.  D.,  is  a  native  Virginian,  grad- 
uated from  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  and  a  large  part  of 
his  professional  service  has  been  in  the  line  of  surgery,  in  con- 
nection with  hospitals.  He  is  one  of  the  leading  surgeons  in  the 
City  of  Lynchburg. 

Doctor  Hoskins  was  born  in  Essex  County,  Virginia,  April 
22,  1892,  son  of  Willard  Dunbard  and  Ella  Garnett  (Hundley) 
Hoskins,  and  grandson  of  William  Hoskins  and  John  T.  Hund- 
ley. William  Hoskins  was  born  in  King  and  Queen  County,  was 
a  physician  and  practiced  his  profession  in  his  native  county  for 
many  years.  John  T.  Hundley  was  born  in  Essex  County,  Vir- 
ginia, spent  most  of  his  life  as  an  educator,  and  was  a  Confed- 


VIRGINIA  157 

erate  soldier  in  the  Civil  war.  Willard  D.  Hoskins  was  born  in 
King  and  Queen  County,  and  his  wife,  in  Essex  County,  and  both 
died  on  the  same  day  and  were  buried  in  the  same  grave,  in 
1910.  He  was  a  merchant  at  Dunnsville,  a  member  of  the 
Christian  Church,  a  Mason  and  Democrat.  In  their  family  of 
eight  children,  five  sons  and  three  daughters,  Doctor  Hoskins 
was  the  second. 

Doctor  Hoskins  after  the  common  schools  attended  William 
and  Mary  College  for  two  years.  He  graduated  with  his  medi- 
cal diploma  from  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  in  1915  and 
had  some  special  training  at  the  Marine  Hospital  at  Buffalo, 
New  York.  He  began  practice  at  Beckley,  West  Virginia,  an 
important  industrial  community,  leaving  there  at  the  time  of 
the  World  war  and  was  with  the  colors  as  a  medical  oflScer  for 
nineteen  months.  He  was  stationed  at  Fort  Oglethorpe,  Geor- 
gia, and  Metuchen,  New  Jersey,  until  discharged.  After  leaving 
the  army  Doctor  Hoskins  had  post-graduate  work  in  the  great 
Bellevue  Hospital  of  New  York,  then  resumed  practice  at  Beck- 
ley,  and  in  1923  bought  a  hospital  at  Hazard,  Kentucky,  which 
he  conducted  until  1925.  Since  1925  he  has  practiced  at  Lynch- 
burg, his  work  being  almost  exclusively  in  general  surgery.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Lynchburg  and  Campbell  County  Medical 
Society,  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  the  Piedmont  and  the 
American  Medical  Associations. 

Doctor  Hoskins  married,  January  5,  1918,  Miss  Emma  Kelly, 
of  Culpeper,  Virginia.  She  was  educated  in  the  Cincinnati  Con- 
servatory of  Music  and  was  teaching  at  Beckley,  West  Virginia, 
when  she  met  Doctor  Hoskins.  They  have  one  daughter,  Emily 
Hume  Hoskins,  born  October  6,  1920,  and  they  lost  their  only 
son,  John  H.,  Jr.,  who  died  in  May,  1927.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Hos- 
kins are  active  members  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Lynch- 
burg, and  he  is  serving  on  the  Board  of  Trustees.  He  is  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  the  Pi  Kappa  Alpha 
fraternity  at  William  and  Mary  College,  and  the  Phi  Chi  medical 
fraternity. 

Frank  Scott  Cooper,  M.  D.  The  son  and  grandson  of 
physicians,  it  was  but  natural  that  Dr.  Frank  Scott  Cooper,  of 
Roanoke,  should  evidence  an  inclination  for  the  profession  of 
medicine  in  his  youth  and  that  he  should  apply  himself  thereto 
with  success.  However,  versatility  has  always  been  one  of  his 
strong  points,  and  as  he  is  possessed  of  a  degree  of  business 
judgment  and  foresight  not  always  to  be  found  among  strictly 
professional  men  he  has  gradually  drifted  away  from  the  moor- 
ings of  his  youth,  and  for  many  years  has  not  been  identified 
with  medical  or  surgical  science,  various  large  business  and 
financial  interests  having  claimed  his  attention  and  interest  to 
the  exclusion  of  other  activities.  At  present  he  is  widely  known 
in  the  automobile  business,  with  which  he  has  been  connected 
since  1914,  and  in  which  he  has  attained  an  unqualified  success 
and  prestige. 

Doctor  Cooper  was  born  at  Fayetteville,  Fayette  County, 
West  Virginia,  March  22,  1878,  and  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Calvin  S. 
and  Stella  (Jones)  Cooper.  His  paternal  grandfather.  Dr.  John 
Cooper,  was  born  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  West  Virginia,  and 
was  a  country  physician  of  the  old-time  type,  who  put  his  pro- 
fession far  above  any  emolument  he  might  secure  for  his  ser- 
vices, and  who  in  the  process  of  his  practice  covered  an  area  of 
many  miles  in  the  vicinity  of  Fayetteville.     His  son.  Dr.  Calvin 


158  VIRGINIA 

S.  Cooper,  was  born  at  Sewell,  West  Virginia,  and  received  his 
medical  education  principally  under  the  preceptorship  of  his 
father,  although  he  also  attended  a  medical  school  in  Tennessee. 
For  a  time  he  was  engaged  in  practice  in  West  Virginia,  but 
finally  located  at  Roanoke,  where  he  continued  to  follow  his  call- 
ing until  his  death  in  1888.  He  was  a  Mason  and  a  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  man  who  was  held  in  uni- 
versal esteem  in  his  community.  His  worthy  wife,  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  a  native  of  Amherst  County,  West 
Virginia,  died  in  1878,  shortly  after  the  birth  of  her  son.  There 
were  two  children :  Mrs.  Lottie  C.  Troegle,  of  Huntington,  West 
Virginia,  whose  husband  is  a  retired  business  man ;  and  Dr. 
Frank  Scott,  of  this  review. 

Frank  Scott  Cooper  was  but  twelve  years  of  age  when  he 
was  forced  to  become  partly  self-supporting,  his  mother  having 
died  about  the  time  of  his  birth  and  his  father  having  passed 
away  when  the  lad  was  only  ten  years  old.  He  acquired  a 
hardly-gained  common  school  education,  but  seems  to  have  in- 
herited a  heritage  of  love  of  learning  from  his  father  and  grand- 
father, and  spent  what  leisure  time  he  could  get  in  reading  and 
study,  when  he  was  not  employed  in  the  coal  mines  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  his  home.  He  received  some  support  from  his  maternal 
grandfather,  Llewellyn  W.  Jones,  who  was  born  in  Virginia  and 
became  a  pioneer  in  Fayette  County,  West  Virginia,  where  he 
acquired  10,000  acres  of  land  and  many  slaves,  but  met  a  tragic 
death  by  drowning  in  the  Mississippi  River.  Eventually  Frank 
Scott  Cooper  accumulated  sufficient  funds  with  which  to  pursue 
a  course  at  the  University  of  West  Virginia,  following  which 
he  spent  three  years  at  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  and  then 
entered  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  at  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  from  which  he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  Doctor 
of  Medicine  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1903.  Having  some 
knowledge  of  conditions  in  the  coal  regions.  Doctor  Cooper  com- 
menced his  practice  in  the  coal  fields  of  Giatto,  West  Virginia, 
where  he  remained  for  about  six  years,  and  in  1908  took  up  his 
permanent  residence  at  Roanoke.  Here  he  opened  an  office  and 
followed  his  profession  as  a  physician  and  surgeon,  and  con- 
tinued therein  until  1914,  building  up  an  excellent  practice  and 
becoming  recognized  as  a  capable,  thorough  and  reliable  practi- 
tioner. During  this  time  he  had  become  increasingly  interested 
in  the  automobile  industry,  and  in  1914  formally  gave  up  his 
practice  to  establish  an  agency,  handling  Overland,  Dodge,  Hud- 
son and  Essex  cars.  This  he  has  developed  into  one  of  the  larg- 
est enterprises  of  its  kind  in  the  state,  and  the  Virginia  Motor 
Car  Company,  Inc.,  of  which  he  is  the  owner,  now  controls 
thirty-six  successful  and  going  agencies  in  the  Old  Dominion. 
Its  remarkable  growth  may  be  attributed  to  Doctor  Cooper's 
good  business  judgment,  great  industry  and  absolute  integrity 
and  to  the  thorough  knowledge  which  he  has  gained  through 
study  and  experience  of  the  automobile  industry  in  all  its 
branches.  Doctor  Cooper  also  has  a  number  of  other  important 
business  connections  and  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors 
of  the  First  National  Exchange  Bank  of  Roanoke.  He  was  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  large  and  handsome  Patrick  Henry 
Hotel,  and  has  been  vice  president  of  the  corporation  since  its 
inception.  At  all  times  he  has  had  the  civic  welfare  of  the  city 
thoroughly  at  heart,  and  formerly  was  vice  president  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  As  has  been  noted,  his  career  has  been 
one  of  intense  industry  since  boyhood,  and  he  has  made  the  most 


VIRGINIA  159 

of  his  opportunities,  at  all  times  preserving  a  love  of  high  stand- 
ards and  ideals.  Politics  has  played  no  pai't  in  his  career  and 
he  maintains  an  independent  stand,  exercising  his  right  of  fran- 
chise by  voting  for  the  man  rather  than  for  the  party.  He  is  a 
York  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner  and  member  of  the  Benevolent  and 
Protective  Order  of  Elks,  and  his  religious  faith  is  that  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

In  1905  Doctor  Cooper  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Elizabeth  Williams,  who  was  born  in  Bland  County,  Virginia, 
and  educated  in  her  native  community,  and  to  this  union  there 
have  been  born  three  childi'en :  Flora,  attending  the  Flora  Mc- 
Donald School  in  North  Carolina ;  Frank  Scott,  Jr.,  a  graduate 
of  Mercersburg  (Pennsylvania)  Academy,  and  now  a  medical 
student  at  Princeton  University;  and  Paul  S.,  born  in  1916, 
who  is  attending  public  school  at  Roanoke. 

Moses  Peter  Rucker,  physician  and  surgeon,  is  a  profes- 
sional man  of  high  standing,  credited  with  many  years  of  service 
in  Bedford  County,  his  home  being  at  Bedford  City. 

He  was  born  on  a  farm  in  that  county  June  27,  1876.  The 
Rucker  family  came  from  France.  Doctor  Rucker  is  of  Revolu- 
tionary ancestry.  His  parents  were  M.  P.  and  Sallie  Fannie 
(Parker)  Rucker,  and  his  grandfathers  were  Anthony  Rucker 
and  Joseph  Parker.  M.  P.  Rucker  was  a  soldier  in  the  Confed- 
erate army,  and  otherwise  devoted  his  life  to  his  farm  in  Bed- 
ford County,  where  he  died  in  1926.  His  wife  passed  away 
February  4,  192.5.  Of  the  four  sons  two  became  farmers  and 
merchants  and  two  physicians. 

Moses  Peter  Rucker  was  educated  in  the  Bedford  High 
School,  the  New  London  Academy,  and  graduated  with  the 
M.  D.  degree  from  the  Maryland  Medical  College  in  1904. 
Since  that  year  he  has  practiced  steadily  in  Bedford,  handling  a 
general  practice  and  also  doing  work  as  general  surgeon  for  the 
Norfolk  &  Western  Railway.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Bedford 
County  Medical  Society,  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  and  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association. 

Doctor  Rucker  married  June  28,  1910,  Miss  Mary  Pryor 
Williams,  who  was  born  in  Essex  County,  Virginia,  descended 
from  one  of  the  first  families  in  that  county.  Her  father,  Wil- 
liam A.  Williams,  was  an  Essex  County  farmer.  Mrs.  Rucker 
finished  her  education  in  a  girls  school  at  Uniontown,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  for  two  years  taught  at  Norfolk.  They  have  one 
daughter,  Nancy  Williams,  now  attending  school.  Doctor  Rucker 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  is  affiliated 
with  the  Masonic  fraternity.  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows 
and  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks. 

Edward  L.  Stone.  While  the  art  of  producing  impressions 
from  characters  or  figures  on  paper  or  any  other  substance  is 
of  comparatively  recent  origin,  less  than  five  centuries  having 
elapsed  since  the  first  book  was  issued  from  the  press,  there 
is  proof  that  the  principles  on  which  it  was  ultimately  developed 
existed  among  the  ancient  Assyrian  nations.  Printing  from 
movable  types  was  probably  practiced  in  China  as  early  as  the 
twelfth  or  thirteenth  century,  as  there  are  Korean  books  printed 
from  movable  clay  or  wooden  types  in  1317.  The  first  book 
printed  from  cast,  movable  metal  type  was  the  Bible,  printed 
by  Gutenberg  at  Mainz,  1450-1455.  Printing  was  taken  to 
England   in    1476   or   1477   by   William   Caxton,  and   the   first 


160  VIRGINIA 

printing  press  set  up  in  America  was  introduced  by  the  Vicero 
of  Mexico,  Antonio  de  Mendoza,  in  1536.  The  earliest  press 
in  the  British-American  colonies  was  brought  over  for  Har- 
vard College  in  1638.  In  Philadelphia  a  press  was  set  up  in 
1685  and  in  New  York  in  1693,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present 
the  history  of  printing  has  been  one  of  constant  advancement  and 
marvelous  improvement.  In  this  connection  there  is  often  too 
much  stress  laid  upon  the  inventors  of  new  appliances,  who,  while 
undoubtedly  due  to  unqualified  credit  for  their  inventions,  had  to 
have  the  support  of  the  printing  concerns  themselves,  and  it  is 
in  the  latter  connection  that  Edward  L.  Stone,  president  of  the 
Stone  Printing  and  Manufacturing  Company,  past  president  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  business  man  and  book  lover,  of 
Roanoke,  should  be  given  extended  mention  in  any  history  of 
Virginia. 

Edward  L.  Stone  was  born  at  Liberty  (now  Bedford  City), 
Virginia,  September  15,  1864,  and  after  receiving  a  public 
school  education,  at  the  age  of  eleven  years  took  a  job  as 
an  apprentice  in  a  small  printing  office  located  in  his  home 
town.  Several  years  later  he  took  a  more  promising  position 
with  J.  P.  Bell,  at  that  time  the  most  progressive  printer  at 
Lynchburg.  When  the  Shenandoah  Valley  Railroad  was  com- 
pleted to  Roanoke  in  June  1882,  the  former  little  way-station 
took  on  new  life,  and  Mr.  Bell,  a  man  of  great  foresight  and  busi- 
ness judgment,  visioning  the  development  and  growth  that  was 
to  come,  determined  to  open  a  printing  office  in  the  embryo  city. 
He  arrived  in  July,  1883,  bringing  with  him  young  Stone,  and 
they  set  up  a  printery  in  a  small  frame  building  on  Commerce 
Street,  opposite  the  old  Trout  House.  The  mechanical  equip- 
ment of  the  plant  consisted  of  two  Gordon  presses,  a  few  cases 
of  body  type,  several  dozen  fonts  of  display  type  and  the  essen- 
tial tools  for  a  small  office.  There  had  been  two  other  small 
printing  offices  at  Roanoke,  but  these  were  soon  passed  by  the 
Bell  concern,  although  the  financial  returns  for  the  first  few 
years  were  far  from  satisfactory.  In  1885  Samuel  G.  Fields,  of 
Abingdon,  the  manager,  died,  and  Mr.  Bell  appointed  the  twenty- 
one-year-old  Ed  Stone  to  succeed  him.  By  1887  the  business  had 
expanded  to  such  an  extent  that  it  was  necessary  to  install  two 
new  presses,  a  large  amount  of  new  type  and  a  two  horse-power 
steam  engine  to  operate  the  machinery.  On  February  28,  1889, 
the  plant  was  entirely  destroyed  by  fire,  but  this  probably  was  a 
blessing  in  disguise,  for  the  firm  decided  to  build  more  substan- 
tially and  permanently,  upon  Mr.  Stone's  advice,  and  a  short 
time  after  the  conflagration  leased  the  second  and  third  floors  of 
the  Gale  Building,  located  on  Jefferson  Street,  where  new  presses, 
type  and  equipment  were  installed.  By  1890  a  working  force  of 
thirty-three  persons  was  essential  to  handle  the  business,  and  in 
1891,  when  J.  P.  Bell  retired  from  the  presidency,  the  controlling 
interest  was  purchased  by  Edward  L.  Stone,  J.  B.  Fishburn  and 
T.  T.  Fishburn.  At  this  time  the  capacity  of  the  plant  was 
practically  doubled,  and  Mr.  Stone  succeeded  to  the  presidency, 
under  whose  management  the  industry  was  developed  into  a 
national  business.  In  September,  1891,  the  reorganized  com- 
pany removed  to  its  own  three-story  brick  building  on  Jefferson 
Street,  and  in  1892  the  corporate  name  of  the  firm  was  changed 
to  The  Stone  Printing  and  Manufacturing  Company,  which  it 
retains  to  this  day.  Later  the  building  on  North  Jefferson  Street 
was  doubled  and  trebled  in  size  to  provide  for  the  constantly 
growing  business,  and  in  1907  the  present  building  was  erected> 


VIRGINIA  161 

this  being  two  stories  and  basement,  with  a  frontage  of  218  feet 
and  a  depth  of  110  feet.  At  present  the  company  employs  from 
150  to  200  skilled  workers  and  is  operating  one  of  the  best 
equipped  printing  plants  in  America.  For  many  years  the  com- 
pany has  been  specializing  in  such  lines  as  railroad  tariffs,  busi- 
ness stationery,  twelve-sheet  calendars  and  commercial  printing 
in  general.  Great  quantities  of  printed  matter  are  being  pro- 
duced for  railroads,  mining  companies,  banks  and  trust  compa- 
nies, and  for  big  business  concerns  in  general.  Recently  the  com- 
pany added  the  45-year  continuous-service  bar  to  Mr.  Stone's 
golcl  medal. 

The  company  has  long  been  noted  for  fine  typography  and 
excellent  quality  of  process  color  printing.  At  the  Jamestown 
Tercentennial  Exposition,  held  at  Hampton  Roads  in  1907,  the 
company  won  the  bronze  medal  for  its  exhibit.  At  the  Fourth 
District  Typothetae  Federation  Convention,  held  at  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  April  17  and  18,  1925,  the  company  was  awarded 
first  prize  for  booklets  and  catalogues,  and  second  prize  for 
printer's  own  advertising.  It  also  won  prizes  at  other  conven- 
tions of  this  organization  at  Winston-Salem  in  1923  and  at  Nor- 
folk in  1924. 

Mr.  Stone  is  an  enthusiastic  member  and  honorary  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Institute  of  Graphic  Arts  of  New  York 
City,  to  the  members  of  which  the  Stone  Company,  in  1926,  pre- 
sented "Keepsake  No.  21,"  which  consists  of  a  facsimile  of 
"Typographia :  an  Ode  on  Printing,"  one  of  the  earliest  books 
printed  by  William  Parks,  at  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  and 
dated  1730.  Mr.  Stone  with  his  own  hands  set  the  type  mat- 
ter for  the  introductory  pages  of  this  unique  keepsake.  Only 
one  copy  of  this  book,  which  some  authorities  claim  to  have 
been  the  first  printed  in  Virginia,  is  known  to  be  in  existence, 
this  being  in  the  John  Carter  Brown  Library  at  Providence.  By 
special  permission  from  this  library  Mr.  Stone  obtained  the 
photostat  prints  of  this  rare  book,  from  which  photoengravings 
were  made,  and  from  these  plates  the  keepsake  was  printed  in  the 
plant  of  the  company.  Mr.  Stone's  energetic  work  in  behalf  of 
Typothetae  and  similar  organizations  is  well  known,  he  having 
been  one  of  the  pioneers  in  perfecting  and  establishing  the  Stand- 
ard cost  system  in  the  printing  and  other  industries.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  executive  council  and  cost  commission  of  the 
United  Typothetae  and  Franklin  Clubs  of  America,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Better  Printing  Committee.  For  the  U.  T.  A.  he 
has  also  served  as  a  member  of  the  executive  committee,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  cost  commission  and  a  member  of  the  legislative  com- 
mittee. He  was  president  of  the  Virginia  Printers'  Cost  Con- 
gress, and  was  a  member  of  the  directorate  of  the  same  organi- 
zation. 

At  his  home  Mr.  Stone  has  a  collection  of  rare  books  which  is 
quite  unique  and  comprehensive.  The  library  is  already  famous 
and  is  bound  to  become  more  renowned  among  book  lovers.  IMr. 
Stone  knows  the  works  of  both  the  early  printers  and  the  great 
modern  printers  as  few  other  book  collectors  know  them,  and 
to  hear  him  talk  on  this  subject  is  a  pleasure  for  anyone  in- 
terested in  the  "Art  Preservative  of  all  Arts."  Mr.  Stone  is  a 
member  of  the  National  Geographic  Society;  a  life  member  of 
the  Virginia  Historical  Society.  Richmond :  Florida  Historical 
Society;  Westmoreland  Club,  Richmond;  Manufacturers'  Club, 
Philadelphia;  Huntingdon  Valley  Country  Club,  Philadelphia; 
American  Institute  of  Graphic  Arts  (honorary  vice  president), 

8— VOL.  3 


162  VIRGINIA 

New  York  City ;  Grolier  Club,  New  York  City ;  director  member 
(honorary),  University  Club,  Roanoke;  Roanoke  Country  Club; 
Roanoke  Dinner  Dance  Club;  Life  Member  Roanoke  Realtors 
Association  (honorary)  ;  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the 
World ;  Bibliographical  Society  of  London,  England ;  Miami  An- 
glers' Club,  Miami;  Roanoke  German  Club,  Roanoke;  Interna- 
tional Benjamin  Franklin  Society,  New  York  City;  a  charter 
member  of  the  Lee  Highway  Association,  Washington ;  Virginia 
Historic  Highway  Association,  Lynchburg;  Board  of  Trustees, 
Roanoke  Community  Fund;  Board  of  Trustees,  Committee  to 
Assist  the  Blind ;  The  Virginia  Academy  of  Science,  Richmond ; 
Past-President,  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Roanoke;  President, 
Secretary,  Treasurer,  "an'  everything,"  Quadraginta  Club,  New 
York  and  Roanoke ;  Southwest  Virginia  Historical  Society,  Roan- 
oke; Chairman  City  Planning  and  Zoning  Commissions, 
Roanoke. 

Mr.  Stone's  activities  are  not  confined  to  the  printing  com- 
pany. He  is  a  vice-president  and  director  of  the  First  National 
Exchange  Bank,  Roanoke,  the  Walker  Machine  and  Foundry 
Corporation.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the  Virginia  Bridge  and 
Iron  Company,  Roanoke;  the  Borderland  Coal  Corporation,  the 
Roanoke  Auditorium  Company,  and  many  others.  His  civic  ac- 
tivities are  numerous,  and  he  is  also  identified  with  several  civic 
and  fraternal  organizations. 

Stonewall  Jackson  Gill,  M.  D.  For  twenty-one  years  Dr. 
Stonewall  Jackson  Gill  has  carried  on  a  general  practice  in  Roan- 
oke, and  when  he  came  here  it  was  as  the  experienced  physician, 
ripened  by  years  of  experience  in  his  profession  and  service  to 
humanity.  During  the  long  period  he  has  ministered  to  the 
people  of  Roanoke  he  has  won  and  holds  their  warm  esteem  and 
approval,  and  there  are  very  few  men  held  as  high  as  he  by  the 
general  public.  He  was  born  in  Amherst  County,  Virginia, 
December  16,  1861,  a  son  of  Curtis  and  Elizabeth  (Martin) 
Gill,  both  natives  of  Amherst  County,  now  deceased.  During 
the  earlier  part  of  his  life  he  was  a  contractor,  and  in  addition 
to  erecting  the  first  houses  in  Rockbridge  and  Elm  Springs  he 
had  contracts  for  building  houses  and  milling  plants  all  over 
Virginia  and  West  Virginia.  After  he  married  he  bought  a 
farm  on  Indian  Creek,  and  the  remainder  of  his  life  was  devoted 
to  farming.  A  man  fond  of  outdoor  life,  during  the  last  fifteen 
years  he  lived  he  made  it  a  practice  to  spend  three  months  of 
each  year  camping  at  the  breakwaters  of  Big  Piney  River,  a 
number  of  his  friends  joining  him  in  the  outing.  Of  the  nine 
children  born  to  him  and  his  wife  five  are  living,  and  Doctor 
Gill  is  the  youngest  born.  Both  he  and  his  wife  were  long  very 
active  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and 
he  was  a  very  real  pillar  of  the  church,  and  carried  his  faith  into 
his  everyday  life.  Too  old  himself  for  military  service  during 
the  war  between  the  states,  his  son,  Thomas  Gill,  enlisted  at 
the  age  of  sixteen  years,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  war.  An 
ardent  Democrat,  he  took  part  in  politics,  although  not  an  office 
seeker.  His  father,  Jonas  Gill,  was  born  in  Chesterfield  County, 
Virginia,  and  became  a  prosperous  farmer.  The  maternal 
grandfather,  Lowe  Martin,  was  born  in  Amherst  County,  and 
was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  Although  he  owned  many  slaves, 
one  of  the  great-grandfathers  of  Doctor  Gill  was  so  impressed 
by  the  evils  of  slavery  that  he  set  free  100  and  sent  those  who 
wished  to  go  to  Liberia  at  his  expense. 


VIRGINIA  163 

Doctor  Gill  attended  school  in  Harrisonburg,  Virginia,  and 
took  his  degree  in  medicine  in  Vanderbilt  University,  Nashville, 
Tennessee.  Later  he  took  post-graduate  work  in  Georgetown 
University  of  Medicine,  Washington  City.  He  began  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  in  Lowesville,  Virginia,  but  after  three 
years  settled  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  and  there  he  remained 
in  active  practice  for  seventeen  years,  coming  then  to  Roanoke, 
where  he  has  found  congenial  surroundings  and  a  large  measure 
of  success. 

In  1887  Doctor  Gill  married  Miss  Lillian  Page,  who  was  born 
in  Nelson  County,  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  James  Page,  a  farmer. 
The  following  children  have  been  born  to  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Gill : 
Charlie  Briggs,  who  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years ;  Eliza- 
beth H.,  who  is  in  the  hospital  with  her  brother ;  Dr.  Elburne  G., 
a  practicing  physician  of  Roanoke ;  and  Fannie  Lou,  who  mai*- 
ried  Dr.  W.  H.  Stryker,  a  dental  surgeon  of  Williamsburg,  Vir- 
ginia. For  four  years  Mrs.  Stryker  taught  domestic  science  in 
William  and  Mary  College,  Williamsburg. 

Doctor  and  Mrs.  Gill  belong  to  Cavalry  Baptist  Church.  He 
is  a  Mason,  a  Knight  of  P>i:hias  and  an  Elk.  The  Roanoke 
County  Medical  Society,  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society  and 
the  Southern  Medical  Society  all  hold  his  membership.  During 
the  past  few  years  Doctor  Gill  has  become  veiy  much  interested 
in  horticulture  and  owns  an  apple  orchard  in  Bedford  County 
which  is  bearing  heavily,  in  1927  producing  about  18,000 
bushels.  When  he  bought  the  land  he  paid  S2.25  per  acre  for 
it,  and  during  the  thirty-five  years  he  has  owned  it,  it  has 
steadily  advanced  until  today,  with  all  his  improvements  upon 
it,  this  is  a  very  valuable  property. 

Elburne  Gray  Gill  graduated  from  medical  college  in  1916, 
and  has  enjoyed  a  steadily  growing  reputation  in  his  profession 
at  Roanoke,  and  has  also  been  active  in  the  club  and  civic  affairs 
of  that  city. 

Doctor  Gill  was  born  at  Sedalia,  Bedford  County,  Virginia, 
October  21,  1891,  son  of  Dr.  Stonewall  Jackson  and  Lillian  Gill, 
and  grandson  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Curtis  Gill  of  Amherst  County, 
and  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  W.  Page  of  Nelson  County. 

Doctor  Gill  attended  the  Roanoke  City  High  School  and  from 
1912  to  1916  was  a  student  in  the  medical  department  of  Vander- 
bilt University  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  he  obtained  the 
degree  Doctor  of  Medicine.  In  his  work  at  Roanoke  he  has 
largely  specialized  in  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat. 
In  1926  he  was  responsible  for  the  construction  of  the  Gill 
Memorial  Eye,  Ear  and  Throat  Hospital,  which  is  the  only  insti- 
tution of  its  kind  in  Virginia. 

Doctor  Gill  is  a  member  of  the  American  College  of  Surgeons 
and  in  1921  was  president  of  the  Virginia  Society  of  Ophthal- 
mology and  Oto-Laryngology. 

He  is  a  director  of  the  Liberty  Trust  Company  of  Roanoke, 
was  president  of  the  University  Club  in  1921  and  the  Roanoke 
Lions  Club  in  1925.  He  is  a  Democrat,  a  Mason  and  Shriner, 
member  of  the  Roanoke  Country  Club,  and  is  a  deacon  in  the 
Calvary  Baptist  Church  and  teacher  of  the  Young  Men's  Bible 
Class,  which  has  a  membership  of  one  hundred. 

Mr.  Gill  married  Miss  Ruth  Meals,  a  daughter  of  I.  J.  Meals, 
of  Roanoke.  She  is  a  graduate  of  the  Mary  Baldwin  Seminary 
at  Staunton,  Virginia.  They  have  two  daughters,  Edith  Page 
and  Martha  Vaughan  Gill. 


164  VIRGINIA 

Paul  C.  Hubard.  There  are,  unquestionably,  men  of  natural 
force  found  in  every  prosperous  community,  who  by  reason  of 
their  inherent  ability,  by  the  use  of  their  brains  and  the  sound- 
ness of  their  judgment,  attain  distinction  and  acquire  authority. 
They  are  men  who  industriously  work  for  an  end,  and  in  helping 
themselves  add  to  the  sum  of  comfort  and  happiness  for  all 
about  them.  These  quiet,  resourceful  men  are  the  dependence  of 
the  whole  social  fabric,  for  their  efforts  not  only  bring  into  being 
the  substantial  industries  that  support  commerce,  but  conduct 
along  the  safe  and  sane  channels  which  assure  public  prosperity 
and  general  contentment.  They  may  be  men  of  versatile  gifts 
and  talents  of  a  high  order  in  many  directions,  but  it  is  their 
soundness,  their  vitality  and  their  steadfastness  that  sum  up  the 
whole  and  make  them  such  important  factors  in  the  work  of 
their  communities.  Such  a  man  is  Paul  C.  Hubard,  proprietor 
of  the  Hubard  Foundry  &  Machine  Works,  Incorporated,  of 
which  he  is  president. 

Paul  C.  Hubard  was  born  in  Nelson  County,  Virginia,  Decem- 
ber 22,  1865,  a  son  of  William  B.  and  Eliza  (Callaway)  Hub- 
ard, natives  of  Buckingham  and  Nelson  counties,  respectively, 
and  both  are  deceased.  The  father  was  a  planter  and  a  man  of 
prominence  in  Nelson  County.  Both  he  and  his  wife  were  active 
members  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity.  In  political  faith  he  was  a  Democrat.  Of 
the  eleven  children  born  to  the  parents  three  survive,  those  in 
addition  to  Paul  C.  Hubard  being:  Mrs.  Sommerville,  a  widow, 
who  lives  on  a  farm,  is  the  relict  of  Rev.  George  S.  Sommerville, 
a  clergyman  of  the  Episcopal  Church ;  and  Anna,  who  is  unmar- 
ried, is  employed  in  the  Forestry  Department  in  Washington 
City. 

Paul  C.  Hubard  was  educated  in  a  local  normal  school  and 
college,  and  his  first  work  was  done  in  the  Glenmorgan  foundry, 
where  he  learned  draughting,  completing  his  work  in  this  line 
in  Franklin  Institute,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania.  Returning 
to  his  old  foundry,  he  remained  there  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
was  its  designer.  He  also  was  a  practical  machinist,  and  became 
so  adept  that  he  also  served  as  an  instructor  in  the  Virginia 
Polytechnic  Institute  for  several  years.  During  all  of  this  time, 
however,  he  was  steadily  working  toward  the  end  of  establishing 
his  own  business,  and  this  he  was  able  to  do  in  1896,  when  he 
opened  the  Hubard  Foundry  &  Machine  Worlvs  in  Lynchburg. 
From  the  start  the  business  was  a  success,  and  in  1904  he  incor- 
porated it,  and  is  now  president  and  general  manager ;  C.  W. 
Gooch,  vice  president;  and  A.  B.  Dabney,  secretary  and  treas- 
urer. A  general  line  of  machine  work  is  done,  and  the  quality 
is  rated  very  high. 

Mr.  Hubard  married  in  Richmond  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
last  century  Miss  Louise  Carrington,  a  native  of  that  city,  and 
a  daughter  of  Dr.  George  Carrington,  one  of  the  prominent 
physicians  and  surgeons  of  Richmond  and  Rustburg  until  his 
death.  Very  prominent  in  Masonry,  he  at  one  time  held  the 
office  of  grand  secretary  of  his  order.  Three  children  have  been 
born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hubard,  but  one  only  survives,  she  being 
Eleanor,  who  is  attending  school.  A  man  of  strong  religious 
convictions,  Mr.  Hubard  belongs  to  the  International  Bible  Stu- 
dents Association.  He  is  a  Mason  and  a  Knight  of  Pythias. 
While  he  votes  the  Democratic  ticket  and  supports  his  party's 
principles,  he  is  not  an  aspirent  for  political  honors.  A  man  of 
uncommon  ability,  kindly  disposition  and  broad  sympathies,  he 


C::;'Cl:^z^c-<^,.,-^^^     X>.    /^'^^yz.^^^ 


VIRGINIA  165 

knows  how  to  win  the  approval  of  men  and  earn  and  retain  their 
friendship.  His  interest  in  Lynchburg  and  its  development  is 
warm  and  sincere  and  he  has  ever  contributed  generously  toward 
the  advancement  of  those  measures  which  appeal  to  him  as 
worthy  ones.  His  success  in  life  is  all  the  more  noteworthy  in 
that  it  has  been  attained  entirely  through  his  own  efforts. 

LiNWOOD  Dickens  Keyser,  of  Roanoke,  took  his  A.  B.  degree 
at  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1914,  the  M.  D.  degree  at  Johns 
Hopkins  University  in  1918,  and  has  also  been  accorded  a  dis- 
tinction readily  recognized  by  all  members  of  the  medical  and 
surgical  profession,  the  degree  Master  of  Science  in  Pathology 
from  the  University  of  Minnesota  in  1921,  bestowed  in  recog- 
nition of  the  several  years  of  active  connection  with  the  Mayo 
Clinic. 

Doctor  Keyser  was  born  at  Victoria,  Texas,  September  26, 
1893,  but  is  a  member  of  an  old  and  well  known  family  of  Vir- 
ginia. His  great-grandfather,  Christopher  Keyser,  was  an  elder 
and  minister  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Doctor  Keyser's  grand- 
father, Henry  Marcellus  Keyser,  was  a  doctor  of  medicine  and 
was  born  in  Page  County,  Virginia,  January  22,  1835.  He  grad- 
uated from  the  Cincinnati  Medical  College,  later  attended  the 
Jefferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia,  and  in  addition  to 
practicing  medicine  was  superintendent  of  schools  in  Page 
County,  and  for  five  terms  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature. 
He  died  in  1898. 

The  father  of  Doctor  Linwood  Dickens  Keyser  is  Ernest  Lin- 
wood  Keyser,  a  well  known  business  man  of  Roanoke.  He  was 
born  in  Page  County  October  21,  1868,  attended  the  New  Mar- 
ket Polytechnic  Institute,  graduated  in  pharmacy  at  Chicago  in 
1892,  and  for  ten  years  was  in  the  drug  business  at  San  Antonio 
and  Victoria,  Texas.  In  1902  he  located  at  Roanoke,  and  in  re- 
cent years  has  given  most  of  his  time  to  drug  and  chemical 
manufacturing.  He  is  president  of  the  Keyser  Chemical  Com- 
pany and  has  also  been  president  of  the  Keyser-Warren  Drug 
Company,  and  an  official  in  the  Keyser-Holback  Drug  Company. 
Ernest  L.  Keyser  has  been  prominent  in  the  Democratic  party 
for  many  years,  having  been  a  delegate  to  the  National  Conven- 
tions of  1908  and  1912,  was  elected  to  the  Virginia  House  of 
Delegates  in  1910,  and  made  himself  especially  valuable  to  Roa- 
noke while  in  the  Legislature.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  thirty-second 
degree,  Knight  Templar  and  Shriner  Mason,  member  of  the 
B.  P.  0.  Elks,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  while 
his  wife  is  a  member  of  St.  John's  Episcopal  Church.  He  mar- 
ried, in  1889,  Lillie  Dickens,  daughter  of  M.  H.  Dickens,  of  Bee 
County,  Texas. 

Their  only  son,  Linwood  Dickens  Keyser,  has  spent  most  of 
his  life  at  Roanoke,  having  been  about  six  years  of  age  when 
his  parents  established  their  home  here  on  returning  from 
Texas.  Doctor  Kevser  graduated  with  the  A.  B.  degree  from 
the  LTniversity  of  Virginia  in  1914.  He  took  his  degree  at  Johns 
Hopkins  University  School  of  Medicine  at  Baltimore  in  1918, 
and  the  degree  Master  of  Science  in  Pathology  was  bestowed  by 
the  University  of  Minnesota  in  1921. 

During  the  World  war  Doctor  Keyser  was  commissioned  a 
first  lieutenant  in  the  Medical  Reserve  Corps,  but  was  not  called 
to  active  duty.  From  June,  1917,  to  March,  1918,  he  was  an 
interne  in  the  Church  Home  and  Infirmary,  Baltimore;  June, 
1918,  to  July,  1919,  was  an  interne  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hos- 


166  VIRGINIA 

pital  at  Baltimore,  and  from  July  to  December,  1919,  was 
assistant  resident  surgeon  at  the  Peter  Bent  Brigham  Hospital 
in  Boston.  He  was  resident  surgeon  at  the  New  York  Post- 
Graduate  Hospital  from  January  to  June,  1920,  and  on  Septem- 
ber 8,  1920,  entered  the  Mayo  Foundation  as  a  fellow  in  pathol- 
ogy. He  had  a  range  of  service  and  experience  with  the  Foun- 
dation lasting  several  years,  including  nine  and  a  half  months 
in  surgical  pathology,  nine  months  in  urology,  three  months  in 
general  diagnosis,  nine  months  in  operative  surgery,  three 
months  in  orthopedic  surgery,  and  twenty-seven  months  in  ex- 
perimental surgery  and  pathology,  this  last  work  being  carried 
en  in  connection  with  his  duties  in  other  special  departments. 

Doctor  Keyser  on  July  1,  1923,  left  the  Mayo  Foundation  and 
is  now  attending  surgeon  and  surgical  pathologist  at  the  Roa- 
noke Hospital.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Roanoke  Academy  of 
Medicine,  Southwest  Virginia  Medical  Society,  Virginia  State 
Medical  Society,  Tri-State  Medical  Society,  Southern  Medical 
Association  and  American  Medical  Association.  He  belongs  to 
the  Association  of  Resident  and  Ex-resident  Physicians  of  the 
Mayo  Clinics.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Urological  Society 
and  belongs  to  the  Sigma  Xi  honorary  iraternity  and  Phi  Chi 
medical  fraternity  and  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  College  of 
Surgeons.  Doctor  Keyser  is  one  of  the  brilliant  men  of  his  pro- 
fession in  Virginia  today.  In  addition  to  his  work  in  labora- 
tories, clinics  and  the  general  routine  of  his  service  he  has  con- 
tributed about  twenty-five  articles  to  various  medical  and  surgi- 
cal journals,  chiefly  on  surgery  and  urological  subjects. 

While  at  the  University  of  Virginia  Doctor  Keyser  was  a 
member  of  the  Raven  Society  and  acted  as  student  assistant  in 
chemistry  during  1912-14.  He  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and 
Shriner,  member  of  the  Lions  Club,  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Uni- 
versity Club,  Shenandoah  Club,  Country  Club  and  St.  John's 
Episcopal  Church.  He  is  also  assistant  surgeon-in-chief  to  the 
Sons  of  Confederate  Veterans. 

Howard  Seville  Hunt  for  many  years  was  in  the  railway 
train  service,  being  associated  with  some  of  the  great  trunk 
lines  of  railway  traversing  Virginia  and  other  eastern  states, 
was  prompt,  vigilant  and  efficient,  and  enjoyed  the  esteem  of 
both  his  associates  and  superiors. 

He  was  born  in  North  Carolina  August  2,  1866,,  and  lost  his 
life  while  in  the  line  of  duty  at  Okonoko,  West  Virginia,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1907.  His  father,  Samuel  H.  Hunt,  was  born  in  Alabama, 
entered  the  Confederate  army  when  young,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  war  was  mustered  out  in  North  Carolina,  met  his  wife  there, 
Frances  Ellerson,  and  after  a  few  years  in  that  state  moved  to 
Virginia  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  as  a  merchant  and  farmer. 
Howard  S.  Hunt  was  the  oldest  in  a  family  of  eight  children, 
seven  sons  and  one  daughter.  He  finished  his  education  in  the 
Fishburne  Military  Academy  at  Waynesboro,  Virginia.  As  a 
youth  he  learned  telegraphy  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Rail- 
way at  Lynchburg,  spent  two  years  there,  and  resigned  from 
that  branch  of  the  service  to  become  a  locomotive  engineer.  He 
was  an  engineer  for  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  several  years  and 
then  with  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  having  an  important  run  be- 
tween Cumberland  and  Brunswick,  Maryland,  and  lost  his  life 
in  a  wreck  on  that  division.  He  was  a  popular  member  of  the 
Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers,  belonged  to  the  Masonic 


VIRGINIA  167 

fraternity,  was  a  Democrat,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  were  active 
members  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

He  married  at  Crozet,  Virginia,  in  February,  1892,  Miss 
Dora  Lee  Wood,  who  survives  him  and  resides  at  1529  Morris 
Avenue  in  Norfolk.  Mrs.  Hunt  was  educated  in  the  Gordans- 
ville  Female  Institute  in  Virginia  and  the  Centi-al  Female  In- 
stitute at  Clinton,  Mississippi.  Her  father,  William  H.  Wood, 
was  a  merchant  at  Granada,  Mississippi,  and  had  served  in  the 
cavalry  in  the  Confederate  army  during  the  Civil  war.  Her 
mother  was  Mary  Elizabeth  Robertson,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and 
Mrs.  Hunt  is  one  of  two  living  children.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hunt  had 
five  children :  Samuel,  who  served  overseas  during  the  World 
war  in  the  Signal  Corps,  is  now  an  electrician  living  in  New 
Jersey,  and  by  his  marriage  with  Amy  Street  has  two  children, 
Russell  Hunt  and  Margarett  Hunt ;  Hai'vey  Lee,  a  chemi-st,  who 
served  two  years  in  the  Chemical  Warfare  Division  in  labora- 
tory work  during  the  World  war,  is  a  member  of  the  firm  Nor- 
folk Testing  Laboratories,  and  married  May  Hudson ;  William 
Hamilton,  assistant  manager  of  the  Monticello,  Norfolk's  largest 
hotel,  married  Reva  Hawkins,  of  Charlottesville,  Virginia,  and 
has  one  daughter,  Marcia ;  Miss  Eunice  May  lives  with  her 
mother,  and  James  Wood  is  a  student  of  aviation. 

H.  Hilton  Anderson.  Among  the  men  prominently  identi- 
fied with  the  real  estate,  loan  and  insurance  business  of  Fairfax 
County,  one  who  has  at  all  times  maintained  high  ideals  of  busi- 
ness integrity  is  H.  Hilton  Anderson,  of  the  firm  of  H.  H.  Ander- 
son &  Company  of  East  Falls  Church.  His  career  has  been  sig- 
nalized by  participation  in  a  number  of  large  and  important 
transactions  and  by  strict  adherence  to  the  ethics  and  amenities 
of  his  business,  and  as  a  result  he  has  not  only  won  personal 
success  and  prominence,  but  has  also  attracted  and  held  the  con- 
fidence and  esteem  of  the  people  of  his  community. 

Mr.  Anderson  was  born  March  11,  1875,  on  a  farm  in  Rappa- 
hannock County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  H.  B.  and  Eugenia 
(Griffin)  Anderson,  natives  of  the  same  county.  H.  B.  Ander- 
son was  reared  on  a  farm,  on  which  he  worked  until  the  out- 
break of  the  war  between  the  states,  at  which  time  he,  with  his 
brothers  Peji:on  and  Joseph,  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army 
and  went  almost  immediately  to  the  field  of  conflict.  Although 
Fort  Sumter  had  been  fired  upon  April  12,  1861,  and  the  first 
blood  had  been  shed  April  19  in  a  street  attack  on  the  Sixth 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  which  was  on  its  way  to  Washington, 
it  is  thought  that  Peyton  Anderson  was  the  first  soldier  wounded 
in  the  war  in  actual  conflict  between  forces  of  the  South  and 
North.  His  wound  was  not  a  fatal  one,  but  his  brother  Joseph 
later  met  a  soldier's  death  on  the  field  of  battle.  Following  the 
close  of  the  war  H.  B.  Anderson  returned  to  Rappahannock 
County,  where  he  resumed  his  farming  operations,  and  also  en- 
gaged in  the  operation  of  a  sawmill.  These  activities  he  con- 
tinued until  his  retirement  several  yeai's  before  his  death,  which 
occurred  February  17,  1909.  Mrs.  Anderson  had  passed  away 
years  before,  February  18,  1886. 

The  education  of  H.  Hilton  Anderson  was  acquired  in  the 
public  schools  of  Rappahannock  County,  and  he  was  reared  in 
a  rural  atmosphere.  It  was  natural  that  he  should  adopt  farm- 
ing in  his  youth,  and  he  remained  with  his  parents  until  reach- 
ing the  age  of  twenty-six  years,  at  which  time  he  moved  to 
Fairfax  County.     In   1902   he  took  up  his   residence   at  Falls 


168  VIRGINIA 

Church,  where  he  embarked  in  the  feed  and  lumber  business, 
and  continued  therein  for  about  twenty  years,  with  much  suc- 
cess. In  1922  he  received  his  introduction  to  the  real  estate 
loan  and  insurance  business  with  Garland  L.  Kendrick,  and  in 
January,  1923,  bought  out  the  business,  which  he  has  conducted 
with  much  success  to  the  present.  While  this  is  an  old  estab- 
lished business,  it  has  prospered  most  materially  since  Mr.  An- 
derson became  its  owner,  and  the  firm  of  H.  H.  Anderson  & 
Company  now  occupies  a  place  among  the  leaders  in  its  field  in 
Fairfax  County.  Mr.  Anderson  applies  himself  strictly  to  his 
business  and  has  few  outside  interests,  not  being  a  club  or 
fraternity  man.  He  is  a  staunch  Democrat  in  his  political  con- 
victions and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  while 
the  members  of  his  family  are  Baptists. 

On  February  21,  1905,  Mr.  Anderson  married  Miss  Lulu 
Wileorbin,  daughter  of  W.  B.  and  Emma  N.  (Spillman)  Wile- 
orbin,  natives  of  Rappahannock  County.  Mr.  Anderson's  father- 
in-law  has  always  been  a  farmer,  and  is  now  eighty-four  years 
of  age,  his  worthy  wife  also  surviving.  He  is  a  Confederate 
veteran  of  the  war  between  the  states.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ander- 
son there  has  come  one  son,  E.  James,  born  May  16,  1913,  who 
is  attending  school. 

William  Power  Tyree.  Although  unknown  to  the  present 
generation  of  business  men  of  Virginia,  his  death  having  oc- 
curred in  1906,  the  late  William  Power  Tyree  was  one  of  the 
strong  and  forceful  men  of  his  day  at  Danville,  where  he  was 
engaged  for  a  number  of  years  in  the  wholesale  brokerage  busi- 
ness. His  career,  cut  short  by  death  when  he  was  only  forty- 
five  years  of  age,  was  an  active,  varied  and  useful  one,  and  in 
each  of  his  several  avenues  of  activity  he  won  the  respect  of 
men  who  admire  and  appreciate  the  abilities  of  others. 

Mr.  Tyree  was  born  at  Danville,  Virginia,  in  April,  1861,  and 
was  a  son  of  David  and  Hannah  (O'Brien)  Tyree.  His  parents 
were  born  and  married  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  where  David  Tyree 
was  a  merchant,  and  following  their  union  immigrated  to  the 
United  States  and  settled  at  Danville,  where  Mr.  Tyree  continued 
his  business  as  a  merchant  until  his  death.  William  Power 
Tyree  was  the  fourth  child  in  a  family  of  eight  children,  among 
whom  was  a  son  Tom,  who  rose  to  a  captaincy  in  the  Confederate 
army  during  the  war  between  the  states,  and  another  son,  David, 
who  was  engaged  in  business  affairs  at  Danville  for  many  years. 

The  public  schools  of  Danville,  as  well  as  a  private  school, 
furnished  William  Power  Tyree  with  his  educational  training, 
following  which  he  became  teacher  of  mathematics  at  the  Bap- 
tist College  of  Danville,  a  position  which  he  retained  for  two 
years.  He  then  entered  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Danville,  with 
which  he  remained  until  elected  city  tax  collector  of  Danville. 
When  he  left  that  office  four  years  later  he  embarked  in  the 
wholesale  grocery  business  as  a  broker,  and  continued  therein 
until  his  death  May  2,  1906.  Although  he  was  a  Democrat  in 
his  political  views,  Mr.  Tyree  was  a  life  long  fighter  in  the  cause 
of  temperance  and  for  many  years  was  the  head  of  the  prohibi- 
tion party  at  Danville.  Fraternally  he  was  a  popular  member 
of  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  As  a  man  of  civic  pride  and 
public  spirit,  he  was  one  of  the  enthusiastic  workers  in  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  his  asso- 
ciates in  the  business  world  frequently  came  to  him  for  counsel 
and  guidance.     He  belonged  to  Epiphany  Episcopal  Church  of 


%. 


/^1, 


VIRGINIA  169 

Danville,  in  which  he  was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school 
and  missed  onlv  one  Sunday  in  thirteen  consecutive  years. 

On  July  2,  1891,  in  Halifax  County,  Virginia,  Mr.  Tyree  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Jennie  C.  Clarke,  of  that  county, 
daughter  of  E.  H.  Clarke,  a  prominent  plantation  owner.  The 
Clarke  family  is  descended  from  an  ancestor  who  sat  in  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  and  the  family  resided  in  Cumberland 
County,  Virginia,  prior  to  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  E.  H. 
Clarke  was  a  member  of  the  Home  Guards  stationed  at  Rich- 
mond during  the  war  between  the  states,  and  he  and  his  wife, 
Mary  Robinson,  of  Campbell  County,  Virginia,  were  the  parents 
of  three  sons,  Frank,  Thomas  and  Samuel,  all  of  whom  were 
soldiers  of  the  Confederacy,  and  all  now  farmers  of  Halifax 
County.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tyree  there  was  born  one  son,  William 
Power,  who  was  educated  at  Danville  and  Norfolk  and  since 
his  twenty-first  year  has  been  manager  of  the  tractor  depart- 
ment of  the  Ford  Motor  Company  at  Norfolk.  He  married  Mary 
Elizabeth  Fritchard,  of  Pantego,  Beaufort  County,  North  Caro- 
lina. Since  the  death  of  her  husband  Mrs.  Tyree  has  resided  at 
Norfolk,  where  she  has  an  attractive  home  at  533  Maryland 
Avenue.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  has  been 
active  and  helpful  in  its  work. 

Charles  Lee  Robinson.  To  the  civic  and  industrial  advance- 
ment and  prestige  of  the  City  of  Winchester,  judicial  center  of 
Frederick  County,  the  late  Charles  L.  Robinson  made  splendid 
contribution.  He  was  a  business  man  of  remarkable  initiative 
and  executive  ability,  and  had  the  courage  to  carry  forward 
important  industrial  enterprises  to  success  in  the  face  of  objec- 
tive predictions  of  his  failure.  He  developed  two  of  the  leading 
industries  of  Winchester  and  was  one  of  the  most  valued  and 
honored  citizens  of  this  historic  old  city  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  April  1,  1922.  It  is  obvious  that  a  tribute  to 
his  achievement  and  to  his  memory  will  be  a  fitting  contribution 
to  this  publication. 

Mr.  Robinson  was  born  in  the  State  of  Indiana,  January  1, 
1855,  and  was  a  boy  when  the  family  home  was  established  at 
Fairmont,  Marion  County,  West  Virginia,  which  state  was  at  the 
time  still  a  part  of  Virginia.  His  father,  Francis  Harrison 
Robinson,  came  to  West  Virginia  as  a  representative  of  the 
construction  and  service  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  with 
which  he  long  continued  his  alliance,  both  he  and  his  wife  hav- 
ing continued  their  residence  to  Fairmont  until  their  death. 

To  the  public  schools  of  Fairmont  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
was  indebted  for  his  early  education,  and  even  as  a  boy  he  mani- 
fested exceptional  mental  alertness,  self-reliance  and  tenacity 
of  purpose — attributes  that  distinctly  marked  and  conserved 
the  success  of  his  later  business  career.  His  early  experience 
in  business  affairs  was  gained  at  Fairmont,  and  there  he  initi- 
ated his  independent  activities  by  engaging  in  the  retail  coal  and 
ice  business  on  a  modest  scale.  He  made  this  venture  a  success, 
but  he  constantly  was  on  the  outlook  for  broader  opportunities, 
with  the  result  that  eventually,  in  1902,  he  removed  with  his 
family  to  Winchester,  Virginia,  and  entered  upon  the  vigorous 
and  constructive  business  career  that  led  to  his  advancement 
to  the  status  of  one  of  the  leading  figures  in  the  industrial  and 
commercial  life  of  this  community.  He  came  to  Frederick 
County  before  the  apple  industry  of  this  section  of  the  state 
had  developed  to  its  present  large  and  important  proportions. 


170  VIRGINIA 

Though  discouraged  in  such  action  by  other  men  of  affairs  at 
Winchester,  Mr.  Robinson  here  purchased  a  small  ice  manufac- 
turing plant  that  had  been  operated  with  negligible  success.  In 
his  initial  stage  of  developing  this  enterprise  he  encountered 
many  perplexities  and  discouragements,  but  he  had  faith  in  him- 
self and  his  judgment  and,  as  ever,  refused  to  be  baffled  or  dis- 
mayed by  adverse  conditions.  He  built  up  a  prosperous  ice  and 
storage  business  and  likevv^ise  turned  his  attention  to  developing 
other  enterprises  that  had  been  semi-failures  under  previous 
control.  He  believed  in  Winchester  and  its  great  future,  and 
proved  that  he  had  a  reason  for  this  faith.  In  1907  Mr.  Rob- 
inson bought  the  Winchester  Steam  Laundry,  and  under  his 
resourceful  and  vigorous  policies  this  likewise  was  made  a  suc- 
cess. The  Snapp  Foundry  next  attracted  him  as  an  investment. 
This  likewise  had  proved  a  waning  industrial  enterprise,  but 
he  promptly  infused  his  characteristic  energy  and  progressive- 
ness  into  its  management,  with  the  ultimate  result  that  it  now 
stands  as  one  of  the  leading  industrial  concerns  of  this  section 
of  Virginia.  He  purchased  this  property  in  1910,  and  in  the 
upbuilding  of  the  business  he  had  the  effective  co-operation  of 
his  sons,  under  whose  control  the  business  has  been  successfully 
continued  since  his  death. 

It  was  in  April,  1902,  that  Mr.  Robinson  made  his  initial 
business  venture  in  Winchester,  by  purchasing  the  modest  ice 
plant  that  as  to  prove  the  nucleus  around  which  has  been 
developed  the  substantial  and  important  enterprise  now  con- 
ducted under  the  corporate  title  of  the  C.  L.  Robinson  Ice  &  Cold 
Storage  Corporation.  The  original  manufactory  of  this  con- 
cern had  a  production  capacity  of  only  ten  tons  of  ice  daily,  and 
the  output  was  used  almost  exclusively  in  local  consumption. 
The  capacity  of  the  present  modern  plant  in  100  tons  of  ice 
daily.  In  connection  with  the  enterprise  Mr.  Robinson  pro- 
ceeded with  the  development  also  of  a  cold-storage  plant,  to 
meet  the  demands  of  apple-growers  of  this  section  of  the  state. 
In  1905  he  established  a  cold-storage  plant  with  a  capacity  of 
20,000  barrels,  and  this  was  used  almost  entirely  for  the  stor- 
age of  apples  for  market  demands.  By  subsequent  expansions 
the  capacity  of  the  Winchester  storage  plant  has  been  increased 
to  200,000  barrels,  and  the  scope  of  the  business  has  been 
increased  through  the  operation  of  a  well  equipped  storage  plant 
at  Berryville,  Clarke  County,  Virginia,  and  another  at  Charles 
Town,  West  Virginia.  In  1912  Mr.  Robinson  and  his  sons 
assumed  control  of  the  Berryville  Ice  &  Refrigerating  Com- 
pany, and  later  developed  the  prosperous  ice  and  storage  busi- 
ness at  Charles  Town,  both  of  these  plants  being  of  modern 
equipment  and  large  capacity.  In  1911  was  effected  the  incor- 
poration of  the  business  under  the  present  title  of  C.  L.  Rob- 
inson Ice  &  Cold  Storage  Corporation,  the  stock  of  which  is 
retained  entirely  by  the  Robinson  family.  Of  this  corporation, 
the  service  of  which  has  been  of  inestimable  value  in  affording 
market  outlet  for  the  great  apple  industry,  Mr.  Robinson  con- 
tinued the  president  until  his  death,  and  its  operations  are  based 
on  a  capital  stock  of  $150,000.  In  1917  Mr.  Robinson  bought 
the  entire  capital  stock  of  the  business  at  Berryville  and  also  of 
the  holdings  at  Winchester  and  Charles  Town.  The  association 
of  the  Robinson  family  with  the  apple  industry  became  still 
closer  when,  in  1910  the  subject  of  this  memoir  acquired  his  first 
orchard,  and  since  that  year  the  family  holdings  of  bearing 
orchards   have   been    increased   to    1,200   acres, — in    Frederick 


VIRGINIA  171 

County,  Virginia ;  Jefferson  and  Berkeley  counties,  West  Vir- 
ginia; and  Washington  and  Allegany  counties,  Maryland.  In 
these  splendid  orchards  are  produced  the  finest  types  of  apples, 
including  New  Town  Pippins,  Grimes  Golden,  Golden  Delicious, 
Stark's  Delicious,  King  David,  Jonathans,  Stayman  Wine  Saps, 
York  Imperials,  Ben  Davis,  Yellow  Transparent,  Dutchess, 
Wealthy,  Mcintosh,  Rome  Beauty,  etc. 

In  1910  Mr.  Robinson  purchased  the  Snapp  Foundry,  which 
is  now  incorporated  under  this  title  and  the  stock  of  which  is 
owned  by  his  family.  The  Snapp  Foundry  was  established  in 
1865,  by  F.  R.  Snapp,  and  the  original  plant  stood  on  the  site 
of  the  present  large  and  modern  plant.  Mr.  Robinson  acquired 
the  property  from  the  heirs  of  the  founder  of  the  business,  and 
as  owner  he  entrusted  the  operations  of  the  foundry  to  eflficient 
managers,  this  arrangement  having  continued  until  his  death. 
From  a  run-down  status  he  developed  the  business  into  a  sub- 
stantial and  important  industry,  and  the  work  of  progress  has 
been  effectively  carried  forward  by  his  sons  since  he  himself 
passed  away.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Robinson  the  business  of  the 
Snapp  Foundry  was  reorganized  and  incorporated,  and  his 
widow  became  its  president,  his  daughter  Mary  E.  was  made 
vice  president,  and  his  son  Charles  A.  became  secretary  and 
treasurer.  The  capital  stock  of  the  Snapp  Foundry  is  S15,000, 
and  the  son  Frank  B.  is  now  president  of  the  corporation,  while 
the  son  Charles  A.  continues  not  only  as  secretary  and  treasurer 
but  also  as  general  manager.  The  major  development  of  this 
enterprise  has  occurred  within  the  past  eight  years,  and  the 
foundry  now  maintains  a  corps  of  thirty  employes,  most  of 
whom  are  skilled  workmen.  The  establishment  manufacturers 
gray-iron  castings,  and  these  are  shipped  over  a  wide  territory, 
from  Albany,  New  York,  to  New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  and  as  far 
west  as  Butte,  Montana.  In  the  machine  shop  are  maintained 
the  best  of  modern  facilities  for  the  handling  of  general  repair 
work  for  the  industries  of  this  section  of  the  state,  and  the  cor- 
poration has  also  provision  for  the  fabrication  and  erection  of 
structural  steel,  in  which  connection  it  has  executed  important 
contracts  and  provided  service  that  previously  had  required 
recourse  to  concerns  in  outside  cities.  The  company  figures 
likewise  as  jobbers  of  machine  supplies  and  material,  and  this 
effective  service  obviates  former  expenditure  of  time,  with  inci- 
dental financial  losses,  in  connection  with  providing  supplies 
that  formerly  had  to  be  shipped  from  distant  points. 

The  late  Charles  L.  Robinson  is  survived  by  his  widow,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Marie  Elizabeth  Barnes  and  who  was  born 
and  reared  at  Fairmont,  West  Virginia,  she  being  still  a  resident 
of  Winchester  and  being  a  loved  figure  in  the  social  life  of  this 
community.  Of  the  five  children  the  eldest  is  Frederick  A.,  who 
is  now  vice  president  of  both  the  Snapp  Foundry  and  the  C.  L. 
Robinson  Ice  &  Cold  Storage  Company;  Frank  B.  is  president 
of  these  companies  and  maintains  his  home  at  Charles  Town, 
West  Virginia;  Harry  D.  is  treasurer  of  both  corporations; 
Charles  A.  is  secretary,  treasurer  and  general  manager  of  the 
Snapp  Foundry;  and  Miss  Mary  Elizabeth  remains  with  her 
widowed  mother  in  the  attractive  home  at  Winchester.  All  of 
the  children  were  born  at  Fairmont,  West  Virginia.  Frederick 
A.  married  Miss  Mamie  Brown,  of  Winchester;  Frank  B.,  mar- 
ried Miss  Blanch  Boxwell,  of  the  same  city ;  and  Harry  D.  mar- 
ried Miss  Louise  Hall,  of  Fairmont,  West  Virginia.  Charles  A., 
youngest  of  the  sons,  is  familiarly  kno^vn  by  his  second  personal 


172  VIRGINIA 

name,  Arthur,  and  he  married  Miss  Reba  Beam,  of  Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania,  in  which  city  he  and  his  brother  Harry  D. 
attended  Dickerson  College.  All  of  the  sons  are  affiliated  with 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  including  the  Mystic  Shrine. 

The  late  Charles  L.  Robinson  was  a  zealous  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  as  is  also  his  widow,  and  he  was  a 
Knight  Templar  Mason,  besides  being  a  Noble  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine.  He  was  affiliated  also  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Improved  Order  of 
Red  Men.  He  was  a  business  man  of  exceptional  ability,  was 
loyal  and  public-spirited  as  a  citizen,  and  his  sterling  character 
found  expression  in  kindly  and  generous  human  helpfulness, 
ever  extended  in  an  unostentatious  way.  His  genial  and  buoy- 
ant personality  gained  to  him  the  high  regard  of  all  who  came 
within  the  sphere  of  his  influence. 

Hon.  Wilson  Mahone  Farr,  commonwealth's  attorney  of 
Fairfax  County,  and  one  of  the  ablest  men  practicing  at  the  bar 
of  Fairfax,  is  a  man  fortunate  in  his  choice  of  a  profession.  Its 
employments  are  congenial  to  him,  and  he  follows  them  with 
unflagging  interest  and  zest.  To  him  the  work  of  the  law  is  not 
drudgery,  but  a  source  of  keen  intellectual  pleasure,  and  its  con- 
troversies aflford  him  frequent  opportunities  to  show  his  ability 
to  meet  his  opponent  upon  any  ground.  It  is  his  rare  good  for- 
tune to  be  a  man  in  love  with  his  work  and  to  find  in  it  adequate 
and  satisfying  occupation  for  all  his  faculties.  So  generally 
recognized  are  his  unusual  capabilities,  his  uprightness  and  his 
unflinching  courage  that  he  is  regarded  as  the  ideal  man  for 
the  important  office  he  holds,  a  fact  attested  by  his  election  and 
reelection  to  it  during  a  period  of  over  six  years. 

Mr.  Farr  was  born  in  Henrico  County,  Virginia,  October  17, 
1884,  while  his  parents  were  residing  there  temporarily,  but  his 
family  belongs  to  Fairfax  County.  He  is  a  son  of  Richard  Rat- 
cliffe  Farr,  born  at  Farr's  Crossroads,  Fairfax  County,  Virginia. 
During  the  second  year  of  the  war  between  the  states,  when  only 
a  little  over  sixteen  years  old,  his  father  enlisted  in  Company  B, 
of  General  Mosby's  command.  Seriously  wounded  in  the  Blazer 
fight,  he  was  paroled  at  the  close  of  the  war,  at  the  time  being 
only  in  his  eighteenth  year.  After  the  close  of  the  war  he  took 
a  prominent  part  in  local  aff'airs,  was  active  in  politics,  and 
served  in  the  State  Legislature  for  a  number  of  terms.  Another 
honor  was  his,  that  of  being  one  of  the  early  state  superinten- 
dents of  public  instruction,  holding  that  important  office  for  the 
term  beginning  January  1,  1882,  and  ending  January  1,  1886. 
He  married  Miss  Margaret  E.  Malone,  born  in  Buncombe 
County,  North  Carolina,  a  daughter  of  John  and  Ann  Rebecca 
(Gooding)   Malone  of  Fairfax  County. 

Growing  up  in  Fairfax,  Wilson  M.  Farr  attended  its  public 
schools,  and  later  the  Central  High  School,  Washington  City, 
after  which  he  entered  Roanoke  College,  Salem,  Virginia,  and 
remained  there  through  the  sophomore  year.  His  legal  educa- 
tion was  taken  in  Georgetown  University  of  Law,  Washington, 
and  he  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1907,  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Laws.  For  the  term  of  1906-07  Mr.  Farr  taught 
school  in  the  town  of  Fairfax,  and  in  1906,  he  passed  the  state 
bar  examinations  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  From  then  on  he 
has  been  engaged  in  a  general  practice  with  offices  in  Fairfax, 
with  increasing  success.  In  1922  he  was  appointed  common- 
wealth's attorney  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term,  was  reelected 
without  opposition  in  1924,  and  again  reelected  in  1927,  and  is 
the  present  incumbent  of  the  office. 


VIRGINIA  173 

On  November  24,  1915,  Mr.  Farr  married  Miss  Edith  Wiley, 
a  daughter  of  Robert  Wiley  (a  member  of  Jackson's  Corps)  and 
Mary  E.  (Lee)  Wiley,  and  they  have  two  daughters:  Edith 
Malone  Farr,  who  was  born  September  7,  1923;  and  Ann  Rat- 
cliffe  Farr,  who  was  born  November  22,  1924.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Farr  maintain  their  home  in  Fairfax,  and  here  they  welcome 
their  many  friends  with  true  Southern  hospitality.  Mr.  Farr 
belongs  to  the  Belle  Haven  Country  Club,  the  Fairfax  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  the  Sons  of  Confederate  Veterans,  the  Virginia 
State  Bar  Association  and  is  a  director  of  the  National  Bank  of 
Fairfax. 

Robert  Lee  Strange.  The  late  Robert  Lee  Strange  was 
given  but  a  little  more  than  half  a  century  in  this  world,  but 
during  that  time  he  accomplished  much,  and  left  behind  him  the 
memory  of  a  life  well  spent,  of  duty  faithfully  discharged,  and 
of  good  citizenship  proved  and  sustained.  He  was  born  in  Flu- 
vanna County,  Virginia,  in  1866,  and  died  in  Richmond,  Virginia, 
in  November,  1923.  He  was  a  son  of  William  George  Strange, 
a  commission  merchant,  saw-mill  owner  and  prominent  business 
man  of  Richmond  for  many  years.  Descended  in  direct  line  from 
Gen.  John  Bony  Strange,  of  Revolutionai-y  fame,  Robert  Lee 
Strange  was  proud  of  the  connection  and  that  other  members  of 
the  family  were  notable,  one  of  them  more  nearly  in  his  genera- 
tion being  his  father's  cousin,  who  was  clerk  of  the  County 
Court  of  Fluvanna  County  for  many  years. 

Educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  county,  Robert 
Lee  Strange  grew-  up  to  useful  manhood,  and  when  old  enough 
for  its  responsibilities  went  into  the  saw-mill  business  with  his 
father  in  Dinwiddle  County,  Virginia,  maintaining  that  connec- 
tion until  after  the  death  of  his  father,  when  he  went  to  Gooch- 
land County  and  engaged  in  farming  for  himse'f.  He  also 
bought  and  .sold  and  fattened  cattle  for  market.  Still  later  he 
reentered  the  saw-mill  business  and  remained  in  it  for  ten  years, 
and  then  he  and  H.  S.  Holland  began  quarrying  stone  from  the 
quarry  in  Goochland  County,  and  in  this  occupation  he  com- 
pleted his  business  career,  retiring  in  1922  and  locating  in  Rich- 
mond. While  he  was  in  the  last  named  line  he  served  as  post- 
master and  freight  agent  for  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad 
at  the  station  adjacent  to  his  quarry.  In  political  faith  he  was  a 
Democrat,  and  quite  active  locally.  However,  he  was  not  a  man 
who  sought  publicity,  but  rather  tried  to  do  his  duty  as  privately 
and  unostentatiously  as  possible.  His  home  and  his  family  came 
first  with  him,  and  with  his  loved  ones  he  found  his  greatest  hap- 
piness. A  devoted  husband,  a  careful  father  and  a  kind  friend, 
he  was  a  man  whose  loss  was  deeply  felt  when  death  removed 
him  from  the  midst  of  those  who  knew  and  appreciated  him. 

On  December  28,  1899.  Mr.  Strange  married  Miss  Kathrine 
Tillman,  a  daughter  of  P.  R.  and  Sarah  Virginia  (Brown)  Till- 
man, and  granddaughter  on  her  mother's  side  of  James  Dabney 
Brown,  a  private  courier  for  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee  during  the  war 
between  the  states,  an  honor  his  descendants  deeply  appreciate. 
Mrs.  Strange  was  educated  in  public  and  private  schools  in 
Goochland  County,  and  she  is  a  lady  deeply  interested  in  current 
events,  a  good  mother  and  neighbor.  Four  children  were  born 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Strange :  Virginia,  who  married  Elmer  Kiser, 
of  Tazewell,  Virginia ;  Bernice,  who  is  a  registered  nurse,  grad- 
uated from  the  Retreat  of  the  Sick  Hospital,  Richmond,  class  of 
1925,  and  engaged  in  the  practice  of  her  profession ;  Catherine, 
who  is  in  the  employ  of  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad;  and 
Robert  Lee,  Junior,  at  home,  aged  ten  years. 


174  VIRGINIA 

Henry  Louis  Smith  since  1912  has  had  the  distinction  of 
presiding  over  one  of  the  South's  finest  institutions  of  learning, 
Washington  and  Lee  University  at  Lexington. 

Doctor  Smith  was  born  at  Greensboro,  North  Carolina, 
July  30,  1859,  son  of  Jacob  Henry  and  Mary  Kelly  (Watson) 
Smith  and  a  great-grandson  of  Henry  Louis  Smith,  a  pioneer 
of  the  Shenandoah  Valley  of  Virginia,  Jacob  Henry  Smith  was 
born  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  and  his  wife  was  a  daughter  of 
Judge  Egbert  R.  Watson,  long  a  member  of  the  bar  of  Charlottes- 
ville. Jacob  Henry  Smith  gave  his  life  to  the  Presbyterian  min- 
istry in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  He  was  the  father  of  five 
sons  who  gained  eminence  in  the  ministry  and  in  the  learned 
professions,  all  five  listed  in  "Who's  Who  in  America."  One  of 
them  was  Dr.  Samuel  M.  Smith,  of  Columbia,  South  Carolina, 
who  was  known  as  a  scholar,  preacher  and  orator  in  the  South- 
ern Presbyterian  Church ;  another  was  the  late  Dr.  Charles 
Alphonso  Smith,  at  one  time  professor  of  English  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia  and  in  the  United  States  Naval  Academy, 
who  died  in  1924 ;  another  is  Dr.  Egbert  Watson  Smith,  secre- 
tary of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  since  1911 ;  and  a  fourth  is  Dr.  Hay  Watson 
Smith,  of  Little  Rock  Arkansas. 

Henry  Louis  Smith  was  reared  in  a  home  of  high  ideals  and 
of  religious  influences,  and  learned  to  appreciate  the  qualities  of 
intellectual  culture  when  a  boy.  He  also  had  the  interests  of  a 
normal  boy,  participating  in  all  outdoor  sports  both  in  school 
and  college.  He  received  his  early  education  at  Greensboro,  en- 
tered Davidson  College  of  North  Carolina  in  1877,  and  was 
graduated  in  1881  with  the  A.  B.  degree  maxima  cum  laude  and 
winning  gold  medals  for  his  work  in  Greek,  mathematics  and 
English  essay.  For  five  years  he  was  principal  of  a  classical 
academy  at  Selma,  North  Carolina,  and  in  1886  Davidson  Col- 
lege bestowed  upon  him  the  Master  of  Arts  degree  and  called 
him  to  the  chair  of  physics  and  geology.  He  held  that  chair 
until  1901.  From  1898  to  1901  he  was  vice  president  of  the  col- 
lege, and  from  1901  to  1912,  president.  In  the  meantime  he  had 
continued  his  post-graduate  studies  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, which  awarded  him  the  Doctor  of  Philosophy  degree  in 
1891,  his  major  work  being  in  physics  and  geology.  He  is  cred- 
ited with  being  the  first  scientist  in  the  United  States  to  use 
the  X-Ray  in  medical  and  surgical  cases,  and  made  the  first 
X-Ray  photograph  ever  taken  in  the  South.  He  did  laboratory 
work  at  Cornell  and  Harvard  Universities  in  1893  and  1894.  He 
was  president  of  the  North  Carolina  Teachers  Assembly  in  1889, 
and  of  the  Association  of  Virginia  Colleges  in  1914-15.  The 
University  of  North  Carolina  awarded  him  the  honorary  LL.  D. 
degree  in  1906.  He  has  been  vice  president  of  the  American  Col- 
lege Association,  is  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Political  and  Social  Science,  American  Society  for  Broader  Edu- 
cation, American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
and  is  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  Phi  Delta  Theta  and  Omicron  Delta 
Kappa. 

In  the  closing  months  of  the  World  war  much  influence 
was  credited,  in  the  weakening  of  the  German  popular  morale, 
to  the  widespread  distribution  of  pamphlets  behind  the  lines, 
dropped  from  balloons.  This  device  was  originated  by  Doctor 
Smith,  who  for  it  was  awarded  the  prize  offered  by  the  Na- 
tional Security  League  for  the  best  means  of  distributing  among 
the   German   people   such   propaganda.      Doctor   Smith   is   the 


'ZJ 


SO...-^^    'v^.'^ 


VIRGINIA  175 

author  of  many  articles  and  bulletins  on  educational  and  scien- 
tific subjects  and  a  widely  known  lecturer  on  educational  and 
scientific  subjects.  He  has  for  many  years  been  a  ruling  elder 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  1921,  representing  the  governor 
of  Virginia,  he  headed  the  delegation  which  formally  presented 
to  the  government  and  people  of  Great  Britain  in  Trafalgar 
Square,  a  bronze  duplicate  of  Houdon's  statue  of  Washington. 

He  married  at  Davidson,  North  Carolina,  August  4,  1896, 
Julia  Lorraine  Dupuy,  a  descendant  of  Bartholomew  Depuy  and 
his  wife,  the  Countess  Susanne  Lavillon,  Huguenots,  who  came 
to  Virginia  from  France  during  the  era  of  religious  persecution. 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Smith  had  the  following  children :  Jacob 
Henry,  deceased ;  Helen  Lorraine,  Raymond  Dupuy,  Julia  Dupuy, 
Louise  Watson,  Opie  Norris  and  Francis  Sampson. 

William  Lewis  Schafer,  M.  D.  Were  all  the  good  deeds 
of  the  members  of  the  medical  profession  to  be  published  the 
pages  of  this  work  would  be  crowded  with  nothing  else,  for  no 
class  of  men  are  so  innately  charitable  and  self-sacrificing  as 
those  who  take  upon  themselves  the  responsibilities  of  this  most 
exacting  as  well  as  noble  calling.  No  physician  lets  his  charities 
be  known  to  the  general  public.  Where  the  need  exists,  he  gives 
of  his  care,  experience  and  knowledge  without  thought  of  a 
return,  and  a  very  few  of  the  profession  rise  to  great  wealth 
through  their  practice.  The  requirements  of  the  profession  are 
such  as  to  demand  the  highest  class  of  characteristics,  and  the 
development  of  character  is  very  pronounced.  In  many  com- 
munities the  medical  men  are  the  leading  factors  in  municipal 
life,  and  always  they  give  their  support,  usually  taking  the 
initiative,  in  inaugurating  sanitary  reforms  and  improvements. 
Such  a  man  is  Dr.  W.  Lewis  Schafer,  one  of  the  brilliant  young 
physicians  of  Alexandria,  whose  success  is  marked,  and  who  has 
wen  and  holds  the  confidence  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

Doctor  Schafer  is  not  only  carrying  on  a  large  private  prac- 
tice, with  offices  at  511  Prince  Street,  but  he  is  serving  as  city 
bacteriologist  with  exceptional  capability.  He  was  born  in 
Alexandria,  February  22,  1899,  a  son  of  W.  Lewis  and  Effie  L. 
(McCracken)  Schafer,  natives  of  the  same  city.  The  father  is 
manager  of  the  Doremus  Machine  Company,  having  charge  of 
the  company's  electric  plating  shop  in  Washington  City,  a 
responsible  position. 

Fcllcwing  his  graduation  from  the  Alexandria  High  School 
in  1916  Doctor  Schafer  entered  George  Washington  University, 
Washington,  and  had  been  there  but  a  year  when  he  enlisted, 
in  1917,  as  a  private  in  the  regular  army,  and  was  assigned  to 
the  Medical  Corps.  He  served  for  ten  months  overseas,  was 
gassed  twice,  and  was  invalided  for  six  months  on  account  of 
his  injuries  from  the  gassing,  but  upon  his  recovery  and  honor- 
able discharge  he  returned  to  the  University,  and  was  graduated 
therefrom  in  1925,  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  For 
the  subsequent  year  he  interned  in  Stuart  Circle  Hospital,  Rich- 
mond, and  in  the  latter  part  of  1926  came  to  Alexandria  and 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession,  in  which  he  has 
succeeded  so  wonderfully.  Almost  immediately  he  was  made 
bacteriologist,  and  has  since  continued  to  so  serve  the  city. 
He  is  unmarried.  Doctor  Schafer  belongs  to  the  Alexandria 
Medical  Society,  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society  and  the 
American  Medical  Association.  On  January  1,  1929,  he  was 
appointed  to  the  position  of  city  health  officer.     He  still  holds 


176  VIRGINIA 

the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  in  the  Six  Hundred  and  Ninth  Coast 
Artillery  Reserve  Corps.  The  Masonic  Order,  the  American 
Legion,  the  40  and  8,  and  the  Old  Dominion  Boat  Club  hold  his 
membership.  He  is  numbered  among-  the  stalwart  Democrats 
of  Alexandria,  although  his  various  professional  responsibilities 
prevent  his  participating  as  actively  in  politics  as  he  might 
otherwise.     The  Episcopal  Church  is  his  religious  home. 

Hon.  Bryan  Gordon.  Among  the  men  who  have  contrib- 
uted to  the  dignity  and  stability  of  public  affairs  at  Clarendon, 
few  have  rendered  more  valuable  and  capable  service  than  Hon. 
Bryan  Gordon,  justice  of  the  peace  and  assistant  police  juage  at 
Clarendon,  with  offices  at  the  Arlington  County  Court  House. 
For  more  than  thirty-two  years  a  member  of  the  bench  and  bar 
of  Virginia,  West  Virginia  and  Oklahoma,  his  experience  had 
been  broad  and  varied,  and  he  has  been  successful  in  building  up 
a  substantial  reputation  for  legal  ability  and  personal  probity. 

Judge  Gordon  was  born  August  7,  1873,  in  Albemarle  County, 
Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  Dr.  John  C.  and  Mary  (Pigram)  Gor- 
don. His  father,  a  native  of  Orange  County,  Virginia,  was 
educated  for  the  profession  of  medicine,  which  he  followed 
throughout  his  life  in  Albemarle  County,  with  the  exception 
of  his  service  with  the  Confederate  army  as  a  surgeon  during 
the  war  between  the  states.  He  was  a  man  of  high  standing  in 
his  calling,  who  won  respect  no  less  by  his  high  character  than 
by  his  professional  ability,  and  was  an  honored  member  of  the 
Albemarle  County  Medical  Society,  the  Virginia  State  Medical 
Society  and  the  American  Medical  Association.  He  also  had 
several  business  connections,  and  in  his  death  in  1919  his  com- 
munity lost  a  valuable  member  of  society.  Mrs.  Gordon,  who  is 
also  deceased,  was  a  native  of  Norfolk,  this  state. 

In  his  boyhood  Bryan  Gordon's  parents  took  up  their  resi- 
dence at  Charlottesville,  where  the  youth  received  his  early  edu- 
cational training  at  Major  Jones'  University  School.  He  then 
entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  in  the  law  department  of 
which  institution  he  took  the  three  year  course  with  the  excep- 
tion of  C.  and  T.,  and  immediately  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession  at  Charlottesville.  Subsequently  he  went  to 
Morgantown,  West  Virginia,  where  he  remained  for  five  years, 
removing  to  Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma,  and  this  was  followed 
by  twelve  years  of  practice  at  Manassas,  Virginia.  On  leaving 
Manassas  Judge  Gordon  accepted  a  position  in  the  United  States 
Internal  Revenue  Department  at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  at  the 
end  of  six  years,  in  1924,  took  up  his  residence  at  Arlington 
County  Court  House,  where  he  has  since  become  a  prominent 
figure  in  his  profession.  For  several  years  Judge  Gordon  served 
very  capably  as  justice  of  the  peace,  a  position  which  he  still 
holds,  and  January  1,  1928,  was  appointed  assistant  police  judge. 
He  is  able,  courageous  and  thoroughly  learned  in  all  depart- 
ments of  the  law,  and  is  a  member  of  the  local  bar  association 
and  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association.  He  belongs  to  the  Blue 
Lodge  of  Masonry  and  the  Monarch  Club  and  politically  is  a 
Democrat.  In  his  youth  Judge  Gordon  joined  the  Baptist 
Church,  and  at  present  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Deacons  and 
also  teaches  a  class  of  boys  in  the  Sunday  School.  He  has  always 
been  a  staunch  supporter  of  all  measures  fostered  for  the  benefit 
of  the  community,  and  has  the  reputation,  well  earned,  of  being 
a  public  spirited  and  constructively  inclined  citizen. 


VIRGINIA  177 

In  December,  1913,  Judge  Gordon  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Elise  Stevens,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  William  L.  and  Eloise 
P.  (Gibson)  Stevens,  of  Orange  County,  Virginia.  Doctor  Ste- 
vens served  as  a  contract  surgeon  during  the  Spanish-American 
war,  and  for  many  years  was  successfully  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  at  Orange,  where  his  death  occurred  in 
1921.  To  Judge  and  Mrs.  Gordon  there  have  been  born  two 
children:  Bryan,  Jr.,  born  in  1916  and  Julia  Lindsay,  born  in 
1920.  By  a  former  marriage  Judge  Gordon  has  one  daughter : 
Mary  Frances,  who  is  a  student  at  the  University  of  Pittsburgh. 

Kenneth  H.  Gayle  was  born  shortly  before  the  inception  of 
the  great  Civil  war  that  brought  much  of  distress  and  devasta- 
tion to  his  native  state  of  Virginia,  and  the  period  of  his  boy- 
hood was  marked  by  the  depressed  and  inconsistant  conditions 
that  prevailed  during  the  so  called  period  of  reconstruction  after 
the  close  of  the  war.  He  passed  his  entire  life  in  Norfolk 
County,  Virginia,  was  long  and  actively  concerned  with  business 
affairs  in  the  City  of  Norfolk,  and  was  one  of  the  sterling  and 
honored  citizens  of  Norfolk  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  October, 
1926. 

Mr.  Gayle  was  born  at  Portsmouth,  judicial  center  of  Norfolk 
County,  June  7,  1860,  and  thus  was  sixty-six  years  of  age  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  was  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth  in  the  fam- 
ily of  eight  children  born  to  Robert  F.  and  Sarah  B.  Gayle.  The 
public  schools  of  Portsmouth  afforded  Kenneth  H.  Gayle  his 
early  education,  and  after  having  been  employed  about  two  years 
in  a  grocery  store  he  formed  the  business  association  that  was 
to  continue  during  the  remainder  of  his  earnest  and  worthy  life. 
He  was  still  little  more  than  a  boy  when  he  entered  the  employ 
of  C.  C.  Billups  &  Son,  engaged  in  the  agricultural  implement 
business  in  Norfolk,  and  with  this  representative  concern  he 
continued  his  alliance  fully  half  a  century,  that  alliance  having 
been  terminated  by  his  death.  In  his  inviolable  loyalty  and  effi- 
ciency Mr.  Gayle  contributed  much  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  large 
and  important  business  of  this  concern,  and  every  stage  of  his 
career  was  marked  by  his  retention  of  the  confidence  and  the 
esteem  of  his  business  associates,  the  while  his  circle  of  friends 
in  his  native  county  and  state  was  limited  only  by  that  of  his 
acquaintances. 

Mr.  Gayle  was  loyal  and  public  spirited  in  his  civic  attitude, 
was  a  staunch  supporter  of  the  cause  of  the  Democratic  party, 
but  he  never  manifested  any  ambition  for  political  office.  In  his 
youth  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  Old  Dominion  Guards  of 
Portsmouth,  in  which  military  organization  he  was  a  member 
of  Grimes'  Battery.  He  was  long  and  actively  affiliated  with 
the  Royal  Arcanum,  and  was  an  earnest  member  of  the  Method- 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  as  is  also  his  widow-.  The  subject 
of  this  memoir  was  a  member  of  the  Gayle  family  that  was 
founded  in  Mathews  County,  Virginia,  many  years  ago,  and  it 
may  be  noted  that  he  was  a  brother  of  Rev.  Finley  Gayle,  D.  D., 
a  distinguished  clergyman  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1885,  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  Gayle  and  Miss  Irene  R.  Young,  who  was  born  and  reared 
in  Portsmouth,  where  she  received  the  advantages  of  the  public 
schools.  She  is  a  daughter  of  the  late  Joseph  L.  and  Caroline  E. 
Young,  she  having  been  the  third  in  their  family  of  eight  chil- 
dren.   Joseph  L.  Young  long  gave  service  as  a  clerk  in  the  United 


178  VIRGINIA 

States  Navy  Yards  at  Portsmouth  and  was  one  of  the  honored 
and  public  spirited  citizens  of  that  city,  where  he  was  for  a 
number  of  years  a  valued  member  of  the  Board  of  Education. 
The  Young  family,  of  French  and  Welsh  lineage,  made  settle- 
ment on  the  Slashes  plantation,  near  Richmond,  Virginia,  prior 
to  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  The  father  of  Mrs.  Gayle  was  a 
gallant  young  soldier  of  the  Confederacy  during  virtually  the 
entire  period  of  the  Civil  war,  and  in  that  service  his  brother 
George  was  killed  in  battle.  Joseph  L.  Young  in  his  earlier 
career  followed  the  printing  trade  and  was  for  a  number  of 
years  employed  in  the  office  of  the  Richmoyid  Enquirer,  in  the 
fair  old  capital  city  of  Virginia.  After  the  close  of  his  service 
in  the  Civil  war  he  was  for  many  years  manager  of  the  Old 
Landmark  Publishing  Company  at  Norfolk,  and  it  was  after  his 
experience  that,  under  civil-service  regulations,  he  initiated  his 
effective  clerical  service  with  the  United  States  Navy  Yards  at 
Portsmouth,  where  he  and  his  wife  passed  the  remainder  of  their 
lives. 

Mr.  Gayle  is  survived  by  his  widow  and  their  two  children. 
Irene  Y.,  elder  of  the  children,  is  a  graduate  in  music  and  is  a 
popular  figure  in  the  social  and  cultural  circles  of  her  home  city 
of  Norfolk,  where  she  was  born  and  reared  and  where  she  re- 
ceived the  advantages  of  the  public  schools,  including  high 
school.  She  now  is  retained  as  an  efficient  private  secretary  in 
Norfolk.  Kenneth  H.  Gayle,  Jr.,  younger  of  the  two  children, 
was  graduated  fi'om  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  with  the 
degree  of  Civil  Engineer,  and  is  now  executive  head  in  the  New 
York  City  office  of  the  Ingall's  Iron  Works.  He  married  Miss 
Mary  Jackson,  of  Montgomery,  Alabama. 

Frederick  Ridings  Savage.  One  of  the  very  sound  financial 
institutions  of  James  City  County  is  the  Peninsula  Bank  &  Trust 
Company,  and  its  patronage  and  high  standing  is  sustained  by 
the  character  of  the  men  associated  with  its  management.  Of 
them  none  is  of  more  moment  in  the  world  of  business  and 
finance  than  Frederick  Ridings  Savage,  its  vice  president  and 
treasurer. 

The  birth  of  Mr.  Savage  occurred  in  Berlin,  Maryland,  Oc- 
tober 7,  1884,  and  he  is  a  son  of  Thomas  T.  and  Emma  (Ridings) 
Savage,  he  born  in  Accomac  County,  Virginia,  and  she  born  in 
Maryland.  The  father  was  a  hotel  proprietor  of  Berlin,  Mary- 
land, all  of  his  life,  and  for  years  he  was  a  well  known  figure  to 
the  traveling  public,  for  his  hotel  was  noted  for  its  excellent 
accommodation.  His  death  occurred  in  April,  1916,  but  he  is 
survived  by  the  mother,  who  makes  her  home  with  a  daughter 
in  Dover,  Delaware. 

His  boyhood  and  youth  passed  in  Berlin,  Maryland,  Fi-ederick 
Ridings  Savage  went  into  the  local  bank  when  he  left  school,  and 
was  also  in  one  of  Accomac  County,  and  in  these  connections  he 
learned  the  banking  business  from  the  bottom  up.  In  1903  he 
came  to  Williamsburg  and  organized  a  branch  of  the  banking 
house  of  L.  L.  Dirickson  &  Company  that  is  now  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Williamsburg.  Although  at  that  time  he  was  but 
eighteen  years  old,  he  was  made  its  first  cashier,  and  discharged 
his  duties  in  a  most  satisfactory  manner.  The  bank  was  incor- 
porated in  1909  and  nationalized  in  1916,  and  during  these 
changes  Mr.  Savage  continued  with  it.  On  May  1,  1917,  he  re- 
signed and  February  11,  1918,  was  made  secretary  and  ti'easurer 
of  the  Peninsula  Bank  &  Trust  Company  of  Williamsburg,  and 


VIRGINIA  179 

in  1928  was  made  its  vice  president  and  treasurer.  This  bank 
was  organized  in  1897  and  reorganized  in  1917  by  William  A. 
Bozarth.  In  1918  the  present  modern  banking  home  was  erected, 
which  furnishes  every  facility  for  the  conduct  of  a  general  bank- 
ing business.  The  bank  is  capitalized  at  $100,000 ;  has  a  surplus 
of  $55,000,  and  deposits  of  $1,500,000.  Within  the  last  year  the 
deposits  have  been  doubled  in  proportion  to  the  growth  of  the 
bank  in  public  confidence.  At  the  time  Mr.  Savage  came  into  it 
the  bank  was  in  bad  condition,  and  its  deposits  were  only 
$260,000.  A  level-headed  business  man  and  experienced  banker, 
Mr.  Savage  knew  just  how  to  build  up  his  institution  and  win 
and  retain  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  this  section,  and  that 
he  has  done  so  the  financial  statement  last  issued  proves.  Mr. 
Savage's  fellow  officers  are :  George  P.  Coleman,  president ; 
F.  R.  Savage,  first  vice  president ;  H.  M.  Clements,  second  vice 
president;  A.  D.  Jones,  secretary  and  assistant  treasurer.  Some 
of  the  leading  business  men  of  Williamsburg  are  on  the  direc- 
torate of  this  bank. 

On  July  11,  1912,  Mr.  Savage  married  Miss  Lorna  Daley,  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  R.  and  Minnie  (Cole)  Daley,  he  born  in  the 
State  of  Wisconsin  and  she  born  in  the  State  of  Maine.  They 
are  now  residents  of  Leesburg,  Florida.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Savage 
have  two  children :  Minnie  Cole,  who  was  born  in  July,  1913 ; 
and  Thomas  Daley,  who  was  born  in  December,  1917.  A  Demo- 
crat both  by  inheritance  and  conviction,  Mr.  Savage  has  always 
given  his  party  loyal  support,  and  has  been  honored  by  being  its 
successful  nominee  for  the  City  Council  a  number  of  times,  his 
period  of  service  with  that  body  covering  some  years,  during 
which  he  has  given  an  excellent  account  of  himself.  Active  in 
Masonry,  he  has  served  several  times  as  master  of  his  lod:?e,  and 
he  is  a  member  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  also  of  the  Odd  Fellows, 
and  is  a  life  member  of  the  Elks.  Interested  as  he  is  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  city,  he  cooperates  with  the  Rotary  Club,  of  which  he 
is  a  member,  in  forwarding  public  spirited  movements,  and  is  a 
valuable  citizen  in  many  ways.    He  is  an  Episcopalian. 

Charles  C.  Bowe  is  now  the  senior  member  of  the  repre- 
sentative Richmond  real  estate  firm  of  N.  W.  Bowe  &  Son,  and 
in  this  connection,  as  well  as  in  his  civic  loyalty,  he  is  well 
upholding  the  high  honors  of  the  family  name.  This  business 
was  established  by  his  father  in  Virginia's  capital  city  nearly 
sixty  years  ago,  and  the  firm  now  has  prestige  as  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  important  in  the  domain  of  real  estate  operations 
in  this  section  of  the  Old  Dominion. 

Mr.  Eowe  was  born  in  Richmond,  July  2,  1884,  and  is  the 
son  of  Nathaniel  Woodson  Bowe  and  Emma  Lewis  Bowe,  the 
former  of  whom  died  March  14,  1914,  at  his  home  in  Richmond. 

Nathaniel  W.  Bowe  was  born  in  Hanover  County,  Virginia, 
and  received  in  his  youth  excellent  educational  advantages. 
When  the  Civil  war  was  precipitated  on  a  divided  nation  he 
gave  loyal  and  gallant  service  as  a  soldier  of  the  Confederacy,  as 
a  member  of  the  First  Virginia  Infantry,  which  became  a  part 
of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  commanded  by  the  revered 
Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee.  After  the  war  he  did  well  his  part  in 
reviving  the  depressed  civic  and  industrial  affairs  of  "\'irginia 
and  in  overcoming  the  chaotic  conditions  that  resulted  from  the 
misrule  of  the  so-called  reconstruction  period.  After  the  war 
he  served  one  term  as  sheriif  of  Hanover  County,  and  upon 
removal  to  Richmond  he  here  assumed  a  clerical  position  in  the 


180  VIRGINIA 

office  of  Grubbs  &  Williams,  a  leading  real  estate  firm  of  that 
period.  Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Grubbs  he  was  admitted  to  part- 
nership in  the  business,  which  thereafter  was  conducted  under 
the  title  of  Williams  &  Bowe.  Later  Mr.  Bowe  operated  as  N.  W. 
Bowe  until  1902,  when  his  son  Bruce  was  taken  into  partnership 
under  the  title  of  N.  W.  Bowe  &  Son.  In  1914,  after  Mr.  Bowe, 
Sr.,  died,  the  business  was  incorporated  with  Bruce  Bowe  as 
president  and  Charles  C.  Bowe  vice  president. 

Nathaniel  W.  Bowe  was  a  man  whose  life  was  ordered  on 
the  highest  plane  of  integrity  and  honor  in  all  its  relations,  and 
thus  it  was  that  he  brought  to  his  real  estate  firm  not  only  con- 
structive service  but  also  a  reputation  for  inviolable  fidelity 
to  trust,  he  having  insisted  that  at  all  times  the  interests  of  the 
buyer  must  be  held  on  a  parity  with  those  of  the  seller.  His 
careful  and  honorable  policies  gained  to  his  firm  a  large  and 
representative  clientage,  and  year  after  year  he  had  charge  of 
properties  and  investments  of  many  of  the  oldest  and  most  in- 
fluential families  in  Richmond.  He  thus  functioned  in  connec- 
tion with  the  historic  Ravensworth  and  Whitehouse  estates  of 
the  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee  family,  and  since  his  death  his  sons  have 
continued  the  same  safeguarding  of  all  of  these  varied  interests. 
The  sons  were  by  their  honored  father  thoroughly  schooled  in 
the  business  and  in  the  sterling  policies  he  had  adopted  therefor. 
There  has  continued  to  be  a  close  and  mutually  appreciative 
social  and  business  relationship  between  the  Lee  and  the  Bowe 
families,  and  in  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Charles  C.  Bowe,  immediate  subject  of  this  review,  was  chosen 
to  act  as  godfather  at  the  baptism  of  Robert  E.  Lee  IV  in  1924, 
the  youngster  who  thus  perpetuates  for  his  generation  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  names  in  American  history,  being  a  son 
of  Dr.  George  Boiling  Lee  of  New  York  City,  who  is  a  son  of 
William  Fitzhugh  Lee  and  a  grandson  of  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee. 

Bruce  Bowe,  son  of  the  late  Nathaniel  W.  Bowe,  was,  as 
previously  stated,  the  first  of  the  number  to  be  admitted  to 
partnership  in  the  old  established  real  estate  business,  and  he 
continued  his  close  executive  connection  with  the  firm  until  his 
death  March  26,  1923.  Like  his  father,  he  was  uniformly  re- 
spected and  trusted  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  his  death  was  a 
distinct  loss  to  the  business  circles  of  the  Virginia  capital,  as 
well  as  a  source  of  sorrow  to  his  host  of  friends.  Since  his  death 
the  business  has  been  conducted  by  the  younger  sons,  Charles  C. 
and  Nathaniel  W.,  Jr. 

Charles  C.  Bowe  was  graduated  from  Richmond  College  as 
a  member  of  the  class  of  1901,  and  received  therefrom  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  His  entire  active  career  has  been  marked 
by  close  and  efi'ective  association  with  the  real  estate  business 
of  N.  W.  Bowe  &  Son,  and  he  is  now  senior  member  of  the  firm, 
which  has  membership  in  the  National  Association  of  Real  Estate 
Boards,  in  which  Mr.  Bowe  is  a  member  of  the  committee  on 
code  of  ethics.  Governor  Trinkle  appointed  Mr.  Bowe  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Virginia  Real  Estate  Commission  at  the  time  of  its 
organization  in  1924,  and  subsequently  advanced  him  to  the  posi- 
tion of  chairman  of  this  commission.  He  was  reappointed  by 
Governor  Byrd,  and  continued  his  service  as  chairman  until 
1926,  when  he  resigned  the  post,  owing  to  the  insistent  demands 
placed  upon  him  by  his  private  business  interests.  Mr.  Bowe 
is  secretary  of  the  Union  Stockyards  Company  of  Richmond,  his 
father  having  having  held  this  office  many  years  and  having  been 
the  incumbent  of  the  same  at  the  time  of  his  death. 


VIRGINIA  181 

Henry  Phineas  Thomas.  Efficiency  is  the  keynote  of  suc- 
cess in  every  profession,  along  all  lines  of  endeavor.  It  is  the 
symbol,  the  co-related  sign  and  working  feature  of  the  marvel- 
lous accomplishments  of  every  age  and  of  all  people.  Without 
it  civilization  today  would  never  have  passed  beyond  the  state 
of  the  cave  man.  None  of  the  learned  professions  would  have 
been  developed  from  the  faint  beginnings  of  people  striving  for 
mental  advancement,  nor  would  the  air,  the  earth,  the  water 
and  even  the  Heavens  above  all  be  bound  together  to  produce 
power  and  place  for  each  generation.  Half-way  methods  can- 
not succeed  in  anything.  To  raise  anything  beyond  the  low 
level  of  mediocrity  requires  skilled  and  carefully  trained  knowl- 
edge and  the  power  to  use  this  to  the  highest  degree.  In  nothing 
is  this  truer  than  in  the  practice  of  the  law.  The  attorney  with- 
out efficiency  is  a  dead  letter;  his  progress  is  measured  by  his 
lack  of  this  important  quality,  and  his  failure  is  a  foregone  con- 
clusion from  the  beginning.  Among  those  who  have  forged  to 
the  front  among  the  members  of  the  bar  of  Alexandria  none 
deserves  higher  praise  than  Henry  P.  Thomas,  for  he  is  a 
man  who  has  always  striven  to  develop  his  natural  and  acquired 
talents  and  add  to  his  store  of  knowledge  until  he  has  reached 
the  highest  degree  of  efficiency  in  each  line,  and  this  policy, 
inaugurated  at  the  beginning  of  his  professional  career,  still 
continues  to  animate  his  actions. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  born  in  Leesburg,  Loudoun  County,  Vir- 
ginia, May  22,  1894,  a  son  of  William  Phineas  and  Sallie  (Bite- 
cor)  Thomas,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Loudoun  County. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  between  the  states  the  father,  who 
had  been  a  soldier  of  the  Confederacy,  engaged  in  farming,  and 
following  that  occupation  the  remainder  of  his  life,  became  one 
of  the  well  known  agriculturists  of  his  county,  and  he  died  in 
Loudoun  County  in  July,  1915,  aged  sixty-nine  years.  The 
mother  died  in  November,   1919,  aged  sixty-nine  years. 

Reared  in  Leesburg,  Henry  P.  Thomas  was  graduated  from 
High  School  in  1915,  after  which  for  two  years  he  was 
a  student  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  In  1917  he  enlisted 
in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  served  in  that  branch  of  the 
country's  forces  until  May,  1919,  when  he  was  honorably  dis- 
charged. With  his  return  to  civilian  life  Mr.  Thomas  entered 
the  National  University  of  Law,  Washington,  District  of  Colum- 
bia, and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  June,  1923,  with  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Laws,  and  the  following  year  received  his  degree 
of  Master  of  Laws  from  the  same  institution.  In  1923  he  came 
to  Alexandria  and  became  associated  with  Judge  C.  E.  Nicol  in 
the  practice  of  law,  continuing  with  him  until  Judge  Nicol  died 
two  years  later,  since  which  time  he  has  practiced  alone,  and 
has  built  up  a  very  large  clientele,  and  has  been  markedly  suc- 
cessful. In  addition  to  attending  to  his  law  practice  Mr.  Thomas 
has  other  interests  and  is  president  of  the  Alexandria  Realty, 
Investment,  Finance  Corporation.  He  is  an  officer  in  George 
Washington  Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  he  has  been  advanced 
to  the  Mystic  Shrine  in  the  Masonic  order.  The  Alexandria 
Bar  Association  and  the  Virginia  Bar  Association  hold  his  mem- 
bership, and  he  belongs  to  the  American  Legion  and  the  Belle 
Haven  Country  Club.  As  a  director  of  the  Alexandria  National 
Bank  he  is  becoming  well  known  in  banking  circles.  For  several 
years  he  has  been  an  enthusiastic  member  of  the  Kiwanis  Club, 
and  he  has  also  had  charge  of  the  Boy  Scouts  of  Alexandria 
for  about  the  same  length  of  time.     His  support  in  politics  is 


182  VIRGINIA 

given  to  the  Democratic  ticket,  but  he  is  not  one  who  seeks  public 
honors.  Long  a  consistent  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
he  is  active  in  its  different  bodies,  and  is  now  treasurer  of  the 
Men's  Bible  Class.  Mr.  Thomas  is  unmarried.  He  resides  at 
428  North  Washington  Street,  and  maintains  his  office  at  115 
North  Fairfax  Street,  Alexandria.  A  public-spirited  man,  and 
one  who  has  the  welfare  of  his  fellow  citizens  at  heart,  he  is 
always  ready  and  glad  to  assist  them  as  far  as  lies  in  his  power. 

Hon.  Richard  C.  L.  Moncure.  During  the  past  several  dec- 
ades there  has  been  undoubtedly  no  single  factor  that  has  played 
such  an  important  part  in  the  advancement  and  success  of  young 
business  men  of  ambition  and  energy  as  the  automobile  industry. 
The  marvelous  growth  of  this  business,  which  still  is  going  for- 
ward to  such  an  extent  that  no  man  can  predict  the  size  of  its 
future,  has  furnished  the  opportunity  for  young  men  from  all 
walks  of  life  to  secure  positions  which,  in  proportion  to  their 
importance,  were  formerly  held  only  by  men  many  years  their 
senior.  In  this  relation  mention  should  be  made  of  Hon.  Rich- 
ard C.  L.  Moncure,  mayor  of  Falls  Church,  Fairfax  County,  and 
president  of  the  Moncure  Motor  Company,  Inc.,  who  is  the 
authorized  Ford  dealer  for  his  community  and  who  has  already 
achieved  a  success  that  many  men  would  consider  desirable  if 
gained  only  after  a  lifetime  of  effort. 

Mr.  Moncure  was  born  at  Macon,  Georgia,  March  30,  1903, 
and  is  a  son  of  R.  C.  L.  and  Irene  (Winship)  Moncure.  His 
father,  a  native  of  Stafford,  Virginia,  was  given  good  educational 
advantages,  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  engaged  in  the  suc- 
cessful practice  of  law  at  Arlington  County  Court  House  and 
Washington,  D.  C.  He  made  his  home  at  Falls  Church  for  a 
number  of  years,  and  was  a  man  of  high  ability  in  his  profession, 
whose  promising  career  was  cut  short  by  death  at  the  age  of 
forty-three  years,  April  23,  1918.  Mrs.  Moncure,  who  was  born 
at  Macon,  Georgia,  now  lives  at  Falls  Church. 

The  education  of  Richard  C.  L.  Moncure  was  thorough  and 
comprehensive,  including  attendance  at  the  public  schools  of 
Falls  Church  and  the  high  schools  of  Macon,  Georgia,  and  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  After  studying  French  abroad  he  entered  New 
York  University,  and  then  returned  to  Washington  and  entered 
George  Washington  University,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  in  1925.  Mr.  Moncure 
commenced  his  career  as  a  lawyer  and  was  well  on  his  way 
toward  the  attainment  of  a  large  and  representative  practice 
when  he  decided  to  enter  the  automobile  industry  as  a  dealer. 
He  accordingly  secured  the  Ford  agency,  in  March,  1926,  taking 
over  the  Moses  Motor  Company,  which  he  renamed  the  Moncure 
Motor  Company,  Inc.,  of  which  he  has  since  been  president.  He 
deals  in  Ford  and  Lincoln  cars  and  Fordson  trucks  and  in  addi- 
tion maintains  an  up-to-date  service  station  and  repair  depart- 
ment and  deals  in  equipment  and  accessories  of  all  kinds.  Mr. 
Moncure  has  made  a  success  of  his  business  and  is  accounted 
one  of  the  successful  young  men  of  his  community.  In  local 
affairs  he  has  also  taken  an  active  part,  and  March  1,  1927,  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  mayor  of  Falls  Church.  Although  prob- 
ably one  of  the  youngest  mayors  in  the  United  States,  he  has 
given  his  city  a  splendid  administration,  which  has  included  the 
installing  of  a  number  of  improvements. 

Mr.  Moncure  is  unmarried.  He  is  treasurer  of  the  Falls 
Church  Fire  Department,  and  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order, 


VIRGINIA  183 

the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star,  the  Washington  Golf  and  Coun- 
try Club  and  the  Episcopal  Church.  His  mother,  with  whom  he 
makes  his  home  on  Brown  Avenue,  is  a  Christian  Scientist. 

William  Aaron  Gaylord,  Jr.,  passed  his  entire  life  in  Nor- 
folk and  gained  status  as  one  of  its  progressive  business  men, 
he  having  for  many  years  represented  in  this  seaboard  section 
a  large  English  concern  and  having  had  supervision  of  the  load- 
ing and  unloading  of  tramp  steamers  in  the  interests  of  this 
English  corporation.  He  became  widely  and  favorably  known 
in  ocean  navigation  circles,  and  as  citizen  and  business  man  in 
his  native  county  he  commanded  unqualified  popular  confidence 
and  esteem. 

Mr.  Gaylord  was  born  in  Norfolk  on  the  23d  of  January, 
1875,  and  here  his  death  occurred  in  October,  1919,  his  early 
education  having  been  received  mainly  in  St.  Mary's  Academy 
in  this  city.  He  was  the  second  of  the  seven  children  born  to 
William  Aaron  Gaylord,  Sr.,  and  Anna  Theresa  (Farrell)  Gay- 
lord, his  father  having  here  given  many  years  of  service  as 
foreman  of  the  Reid  Bakery,  one  of  the  leading  concerns  of  this 
kind  in  Norfolk.  The  original  American  representatives  of  the 
Gaylord  family  came  from  France  and  settled  in  Virginia  in 
the  Colonial  era.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  the  subject  of 
this  memoir  was  a  loyal  soldier  of  the  Confederacy  in  the  Civil 
war.  Reuben  Nicholls  Farrell,  an  uncle  of  Mr.  Gaylord  on  the 
maternal  side,  served  many  years  as  high  constable  of  Norfolk 
County.  Richard  Gaylord,  a  brother  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  a  loyal  and  efficient  member  of  the  Norfolk  fire  department 
and  as  such  sacrificed  his  life  at  the  post  of  duty  in  the  great  fire 
that  swept  the  city  in  1918.  He  was  killed  while  on  duty  in 
that  conflagration,  his  death  having  occurred  June  30,  1918. 
Edward  T.  Smith,  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Gaylord,  is  likewise  a  brave 
and  honored  member  of  the  Norfolk  fire  department,  at  Station 
No.  2,  on  Battle  Street,  and  while  on  duty  at  the  fire  that  de- 
stroyed the  Monticello  Hotel  he  was  so  severely  burned  he  was 
for  many  months  incapacitated  and  in  the  care  of  physicians. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  Mr.  Gaylord  found  employment 
in  the  bakery  of  which  his  father  was  the  foreman,  and  he  was 
thus  enga^'ed  about  two  years.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  years 
he  entered  upon  an  apprenticeship  to  the  trade  of  wheelwright, 
which  he  followed  until  he  was  nineteen.  At  the  age  of  twenty 
years  he  initiated  his  service  with  the  English  concern  previously 
mentioned,  and  With  this  service  he  continued  to  be  identified 
during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  had  supervision  of  the 
unloadng  of  tramp  steamers  from  all  parts  of  the  world  and 
laden  with  all  manner  of  cargoes,  his  activities  in  this  connec- 
tion having  gained  to  him  a  wide  acquaintanceship  among  those 
engaged  in  the  shipping  trade  touching  the  maritime  ports  of 
America's  Atlantic  coast. 

Mr.  Gaylord  was  a  Democrat  in  political  allegiance,  was 
affiliated  with  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men  and  the  Fra- 
ternal Order  of  Eagles,  and  his  widow  is  a  member  of  the  Ladies 
of  the  Maccabees. 

On  the  12th  of  February,  1895,  was  solemnized  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Gaylord  and  Miss  Susie  Smith,  who  was  born  and  reared 
in  Norfolk.  Of  the  children  of  this  union  five  survive  the  hon- 
ored father :  William  James,  who  is  a  city  employe  of  Norfolk ; 
Myrtle  Louise,  who  is  the  wife  of  Henry  Lewis  Farrell,  a  civil 
engineer  in  the  service  of  the  Virginian  Railway ;  Edward  L., 


184  VIRGINIA 

who  is  a  printer  by  trade  and  vocation ;  James  L.,  who  likewise 
resides  in  Norfolk ;  and  Seabright,  who  is  the  wife  of  Thomas 
0.  Downing.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Downing  reside  in  Norfolk,  where 
Mr.  Downing  is  connected  with  the  American  Oil  Company,  and 
their  one  child  is  a  son,  Thomas  0.,  Jr. 

Mrs.  Gaylord  is  a  daughter  of  James  L.  and  Maria  (Warren) 
Smith,  both  natives  of  Virginia,  where  they  were  reared  and 
educated  and  where  the  father  became  a  substantial  business 
man  in  Norfolk.  The  first  American  representative  of  this 
Smith  family  came  from  Ireland  and  settled  in  Virginia  prior 
to  the  Revolution,  and  five  generations  have  lived  in  the  Norfolk 
community.  Settlement  was  here  made  more  than  200  years 
ago,  and  members  of  the  family  were  patriot  soldiers  in  the  War 
of  the  Revolution.  Andrew  J.  Smith,  an  uncle  of  Mrs.  Gaylord, 
was  wounded  while  he  was  serving  as  a  soldier  of  the  Confed- 
eracy in  the  Civil  war,  as  were  also  two  of  her  maternal  uncles, 
William  and  Major  Warren.  Mrs.  Gaylord  still  resides  in  her 
native  city,  where  her  attractive  home  is  at  428  Twentieth  Street, 
and  where  her  circle  of  friends  is  limited  only  by  that  of  her 
acquaintances. 

John  W.  Moore,  one  of  the  leading  realtors  of  Richmond, 
and  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Real  Estate  Commission,  was  for 
many  years  a  member  of  the  Common  Council  of  Richmond,  and 
an  active  figui'e  in  politics  and  civic  affairs.  He  has  the  honor 
at  present  of  being  state  president  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hi- 
bernians, and  he  belongs  to  other  fraternal  organizations,  in 
all  of  which  he  is  highly  regarded.  Mr.  Moore  was  born  at 
Richmond,  in  1874,  a  son  of  Michael  and  Catherine  (Kane) 
Moore,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Ireland. 

Growing  to  useful  manhood  in  his  native  city,  John  W.  Moore 
attended  the  parochial  schools,  and  when  old  enough  went  into 
a  grocery  business,  later  leaving  it  to  engage  in  handling  real 
estate,  in  which  he  found  his  fife  work.  For  some  years  he 
has  been  senior  member  of  the  old  and  reliable  realty  firm  of 
Moore  &  McGranighan. 

Always  a  Democrat,  Mr.  Moore  has  been  for  many  years  a 
forceful  figure  in  local  politics,  and  for  twenty-two  years,  ending 
in  1928,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Common  Council  of  Richmond, 
first  of  the  City  of  Manchester  on  the  South  Side  of  the  James 
River  from  Richmond,  and  following  the  consolidation  of  the 
two  cities  in  1910  he  continued  a  member,  representing  after 
that  the  Madison  Ward  in  the  Richmond  Common  Council.  He 
has  always  been  a  progressive  in  municipal  aff'airs,  and  was 
among  those  who  brought  about  the  city  manager  plan  for 
municipalities,  which  originated  in  Virginia.  For  several  years 
Mr.  Moore  was  also  president  of  the  Virginia  League  of  Munici- 
palities, and  he  is  still  carrying  on  the  same  line  of  work,  for 
his  heart  is  centered  in  his  home  city,  and  he  is  deeply  interested 
in  continuing  its  prosperity  and  advancing  still  further  its 
progress. 

In  addition  to  his  other  interests  Mr.  Moore  is  a  director  of 
the  Mechanics  &  Merchants  Bank.  In  May,  1927,  he  was  sig- 
nally honored  by  appointment  by  Governor  Byrd  to  membership 
in  the  Virginia  State  Real  Estate  Commission.  He  belongs  to  the 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  Fraternal  Order 
of  Eagles,  whicli  he  formerly  served  as  state  president  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  of  which  he  is  state 
president  in  Virginia,  having  held  the  oflice  since  1922. 


VIRGINIA  185 

Mr.  Moore  married  Miss  Annie  M.  Kain.  They  maintain 
their  residence  at  1509  Porter  Street,  where  they  have  a  very 
pleasant  home,  one  of  the  most  desirable  in  Richmond.  Mr. 
Moore's  business  address  is  18  North  Seventh  Street,  and  here 
he  has  been  located  for  some  years.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
find  a  man  more  thoroughly  representative  of  the  best  interests 
of  Richmond  and  Henrico  County  than  Mr.  Moore,  and  his  per- 
sonal popularity  is  at  its  height  and  his  commercial  standing  is 
unquestioned.  All  that  he  today  possesses  has  been  won  through 
his  own  efforts,  and  great  credit  is  due  him  for  what  he  has 
accomplished. 

Aylett  Bauder  Nicol.  The  legal  profession  is  one  that 
demands  much  and  requii-es  of  its  devotees  implicit  and 
unswerving  devotion  to  its  exactions.  Long  and  continued 
study,  natural  ability  and  keen  judgment  with  regard  to  men 
and  their  motives  are  all  required  in  the  making  of  a  successful 
lawyer.  That  so  many  pass  beyond  the  line  of  the  ordinary 
in  this  calling  and  become  figures  of  note  in  political  life  demon- 
strates that  this  profession  brings  out  all  that  is  best  and  most 
capable  in  a  man.  For  ages  the  most  brilliant  men  of  all  coun- 
tries have  turned  their  attention  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and 
especially  is  this  true  in  the  United  States,  where  the  form  of 
government  gives  opportunity  for  the  man  of  brains  to  climb 
even  into  the  very  highest  position  within  the  gift  of  the  people, 
and  it  is  a  notable  fact  that  from  among  the  lawyers  have  more 
of  our  great  men  come  than  from  all  the  other  callings  combined. 
One  of  the  men  who  is  already  giving  promise  of  great  things 
in  his  part  of  the  state,  Aylett  B.  Nicol,  of  Alexandria,  is  measur- 
ing up  to  the  highest  ideals  of  his  profession,  and  is  enjoying 
a  very  large  and  constantly  augmenting  practice.  He  was  born 
in  Prince  William  County,  Virginia,  August  5,  1883,  a  son  of 
Charles  Edgar  and  Mary  Louise  (Bauder)  Nicol,  natives  of 
Prince  William  and  Port  Royal,  Caroline  County,  Virginia, 
respectively.  The  father  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law 
in  Brentsville,  Virginia,  and  in  Manassas  until  1908,  when  he 
moved  to  Alexandria,  and  here  he  continued  in  his  law  practice 
until  his  death.  He  was  elected  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  Sixteenth  Circuit  in  1894,  and  served  in  that  capacity  until 
1907,  when  he  resigned  to  become  a  candidate  for  Congress. 
While  he  made  an  excellent  running,  he  was  defeated,  and 
resumed  his  law  practice,  in  which  he  continued  until  October 
21,  1924,  when  he  was  claimed  by  death,  at  the  age  of  seventy 
years.  His  prominence  was  not  confined  to  the  domain  of  the 
law,  however,  for  he  served  for  two  or  three  terms  in  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  and  he  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  political 
party.     The  mother  died  December  31,  1901. 

Growing  to  manhood  in  his  native  state,  Aylett  B.  Nicol 
attended  the  public  schools  of  Manassas,  and  had  some  instruc- 
tion in  an  excellent  private  school,  and  attended  the  high  school 
of  that  city  and  also  Richmond  College.  His  professional  train- 
ing was  gained  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1905,  and  that  same  year  entered  upon 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Alexandria.  After  the  retire- 
rnent  of  his  father  from  the  bench  he  practiced  with  him.  After 
his  father's  death  he  continued  the  work  of  the  firm  alone,  and 
has  never  taken  another  associate.  In  all  of  his  practice  he  has 
been  eminently  successful.  A  man  of  unusual  capabilities,  Mr. 
Nicol  is  a  valued  addition  to  the  legal  fraternity  and  to  the 


186  VIRGINIA 

City  of  Alexandria,  and  is,  without  doubt,  one  of  the  best  types 
of  a  Virginia  gentleman  and  professional  man. 

On  June  16,  1926,  Mr.  Nicol  married  Miss  Mary  Prudence 
Terry,  a  daughter  of  Frank  F.  and  Mary  Terry,  natives  of 
Massachusetts,  the  former  of  whom  is  retired  and  a  resident 
of  Assonet,  Massachusetts.  The  latter  died  in  February,  1926. 
On  September  4,  1928,  Mrs.  Nicol  died.  There  are  no  children. 
Mr.  Nicol  is  substitute  civil  and  police  justice  of  Alexandria, 
and  he  belongs  to  the  Virginia  and  Alexandria  Bar  Associations. 
Fraternally  he  maintains  membership  with  the  Fraternal  Amer- 
icans and  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men.  He  belongs  to  the 
Belle  Haven  Country  Club  and  the  Alexandria  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  During  the  World  war  he  was  in  training,  but  was 
not  sent  overseas  as  the  armistice  was  signed  before  he  was 
fully  prepared.  In  political  faith  he  is  a  Democrat.  The  First 
Baptist  Church  of  Alexandria  holds  his  membership,  and  he  is 
one  of  its  trustees.  His  father  left  a  large  estate,  principally 
in  real  estate,  and  Mr.  Nicol  as  one  of  the  five  children  inherited 
some  very  valuable  residential  and  business  properties,  and  he 
has  invested  in  others.  All  of  the  father's  six  children  are  now 
living  with  the  exception  of  one.  Mr.  Nicol  has  a  most  desirable 
residence  at  112  Myrtle  Avenue,  and  possesses  one  of  the  finest 
law  libraries  in  the  state,  which  reflects  his  originality,  profound 
grasp  of  the  law  and  his  studious  habits. 

J.  Franklin  McLaughlin  has  been  since  May,  1927,  the 
vice  president  in  charge  of  operations  of  the  Virginia  Electric 
&  Power  Company,  of  which  important  corporation  more  specific 
record  is  given  on  other  pages  of  this  work,  in  the  personal 
sketch  of  its  president,  William  E.  Wood,  so  that  a  repetition 
of  the  data  is  not  here  required. 

Mr.  McLaughlin  claims  the  historic  old  Bay  State  as  the 
place  of  his  nativity,  as  he  was  born  at  Hingham,  Massachusetts, 
his  early  education  having  been  acquired  in  public  schools  and 
having  been  supplemented  by  his  special  courses  in  Brown  Uni- 
versity, Providence,  Rhode  Island.  In  1912  he  initiated  his 
association  with  the  Stone  &  Webster  Management  Corporation, 
the  headquarters  of  which  are  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  and 
with  this  great  corporation  he  has  since  continued  his  alliance. 
He  won  successive  promotions  and  was  finally  assigned  by  this 
corporation  to  take  charge  of  the  Norfolk  division  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Electric  &  Power  Company,  and  he  thus  continued  his 
residence  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  until  May,  1927,  when  he  was 
elected  vice  president  of  the  company  and  assigned  to  take 
charge  of  operations  at  the  company's  headquarters  at  Richmond. 
Prior  to  coming  to  Norfolk,  Virginia,  in  the  interest  of  the 
Stone  &  Webster  Management  Corporation,  which  assumed  con- 
trol of  the  Virginia  Electric  &  Power  Company  at  that  time, 
Mr.  McLaughlin  had  represented  the  corporation  in  efifective 
service  in  Boston,  Massachusetts ;  Providence,  Rhode  Island ;  El 
Paso,  Texas;  and  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana.  Concerning  his  loyal 
civic  attitude  while  he  was  a  resident  of  Norfolk  the  following 
estimate  has  been  written :  "He  accomplished  much  progressive 
work  in  Norfolk.  He  was  chairman  of  the  industrial  commis- 
sion, a  vice  president  and  director  of  the  Norfolk-Portsmouth 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  was  a  director  of  the  Rotary  Club, 
the  Maritime  Exchange,  the  Norfolk  National  Bank  of  Com- 
merce &  Trusts,  and  of  the  Boys  Club  of  that  city." 


VIRGINIA  187 

In  the  period  of  the  nation's  participation  in  the  World  war 
Mr.  McLaughlin  made  a  record  of  loyal  and  efficient  service  in 
the  aviation  department  of  the  United  States  Army,  in  which 
he  won  the  rank  of  captain.  His  initial  training  for  this  service 
was  gained  at  Kelly  Field,  San  Antonio,  Texas,  and  thereafter 
he  was  sent  to  England  as  a  staff  officer  with  a  squadron  of 
army  flyers,  he  having  there  continued  on  staff  duty  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  came  to  Norfolk,  Virginia,  June  30,  1925, 
and  there  remained  until  his  transfer  to  Richmond  in  May,  1927. 
as  previously  noted  in  this  review.  In  the  historic  old  capital 
city  of  Virginia  Mr.  McLaughlin  has  become  a  member  of  the 
Commonwealth  Club,  the  Westmoreland  Club,  the  Hermitage 
Club  and  the  Country  Club  of  Virginia.  He  is  a  progressive  and 
popular  accession  to  the  civic,  business  and  social  circles  of  the 
iair  old  capital  city. 

Frank  St.  Clair  in  the  later  years  of  his  life  was  identified 
with  Norfolk,  a  prominent  figure  in  real  estate  circles  there. 
The  foundation  of  his  successful  life  had  been  laid  as  a  journalist 
in  Southwest  Virginia,  particularly  at  Wytheville,  where  he  and 
his  father  were  in  the  newspaper  business  for  a  long  period  of 
years. 

Frank  St.  Clair  was  born  at  Wytheville  May  15,  1857,  son 
of  David  and  Sarah  V.  .  (Walker)  St.  Clair.  His  father  for 
many  years  was  a  newspaper  publisher  at  Wytheville.  Frank 
St.  Clair  was  the  oldest  of  seven  children  and  was  reared  and 
educated  in  Wytheville.  As  a  boy  he  worked  in  his  father's  news- 
paper office,  learned  the  trade  of  printer  and  had  experience  in 
all  departments.  In  1885  he  established  the  Wytheville  Eyiter- 
prise,  and  that  newspaper  has  now  had  a  continuous  existence 
for  forty-three  years.  It  has  been  one  of  the  most  popular 
newspapers  in  Southwest  Virginia,  and  today  it  exemplifies  the 
progressive  policy  given  it  by  its  former  publisher,  Frank  St. 
Clair.  Mr.  St.  Clair  about  1888  also  established  the  Farmers 
Alliance,  a  newspaper  for  the  rural  population  and  expressing 
the  doctrines  of  the  Farmers  Alliance  organization.  It  con- 
tinued to  be  printed  for  several  years.  Mr.  St.  Clair  sold  both 
newspapers  in  1903  and  at  that  time  moved  to  Norfolk,  where 
he  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business.  He  spent  his  last  years 
in  retirement  and  died  September  21,  1925.  He  was  as  success- 
ful in  the  real  estate  field  as  he  had  been  as  manager,  editor 
and  owner  of  the  Wytheville  Enterprise. 

He  married  at  Norfolk  October  2,  1889,  Miss  Alice  Genevieve 
Smith,  who  was  reared  and  educated  in  that  city,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Mary  Jane  Smith.  Mrs.  St.  Clair,  who  resides  at 
400  Raleigh  Avenue  in  Norfolk,  is  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Her  grandfather  came  from  Ireland  and  settled  in 
Virginia.  Her  father  was  in  the  wholesale  dry  goods  business 
for  many  years  at  Norfolk.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  St.  Clair  had  two 
children,  Frank,  Jr.,  and  Robert. 

Randall  Davisson  Taylor  Elliott  was  born  in  Loudoun 
County,  Virginia,  August  30,  1897.  After  completing  his  pri- 
mary schooling  in  the  public  schools  and  the  Western  High 
School  of  Washington,  D.  C,  he  attended  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, where  he  took  one  year  of  academic  work,  followed  by  a 
law  course,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1923  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Laws  (LL.  B.).  Mr.  Elliott  is  the  son  of  Henry- 
Randall  and  Elizabeth   (Taylor)   Elliott. 


188  VIRGINIA 

Mr.  Elliott  is  admitted  to  practice  before  all  of  the  courts 
of  Virginia  and  the  District  of  Columbia  and  before  the 
Court  of  Claims.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  State  of 
Virginia  in  1922  and  to  the  bar  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in 
1925.  He  maintains  his  offices  at  1331  G  Street  and  at  119  South 
Fairfax  Street,  Alexandria,  Virginia.  From  1925  until  1928 
Mr.  Elliott  was  senior  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Elliott  & 
Nelms,  being  associated  with  Henning  C.  Nelms,  of  Washington. 

Mr.  Elliott  has  specialized  in  the  practice  of  corporation  law, 
having  gained  prominence  through  his  representation  of  cor- 
porations which  have  retained  him  as  general  counsel,  among 
which  may  be  mentioned :  Washington — Shenandoah  Valley 
Motor  Lines,  Inc.,  a  subsidiary  of  the  Eastern  Public  Service 
Corporation ;  the  National  Biographical  Society,  Inc. ;  Lee  Jack- 
son Caverns,  Inc. ;  Automatic  Railroad  Inspector  Corporation ; 
Battlefield  Crystal  Caverns,  Inc. ;  Allied  Brokerage  Corporation 
and  the  Hotel  Development  Corporation. 

On  November  16,  1926,  Mr.  Elliott  married  Miss  Gladys 
Mary  Berry,  daughter  of  William  Wallace  and  Gladys  (Kelsey) 
Berry,  natives  of  Bedford,  Virginia.  Mrs.  Elliott  is  a  graduate 
of  Columbia  University  of  New  York.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elliott 
have  one  child,  Randall  Davisson  Taylor  Elliott,  Jr.,  born  Octo- 
ber 24,  1927. 

During  the  World  war  Mr.  Elliott  served  in  the  United  States 
Railroad  Administration  as  Assistant  to  the  Title  Examiner. 

Mr.  Elliott  belongs  to  the  International  Association  of  Cos- 
mopolitan Clubs,  the  City  Club  of  Washington,  the  University  of 
Virginia  Club  of  New  York  City,  and  the  Board  of  Trade  of 
Washington.  He  holds  the  rank  of  Assistant  Deputy  Commis- 
sioner of  the  District  of  Columbia  Council  of  the  Boy  Scouts  of 
America.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elliott  reside  at  3315  Garfield  Street, 
N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Charles  Frederick  Petrie  for  forty  years  was  a  resident  of 
Norfolk,  and  in  his  profession  as  a  civil  engineer  had  an  ex- 
tensive practice  that  kept  him  in  touch  with  many  of  the  great 
landed  and  industrial  interests  of  the  Atlantic  Seaboard. 

Mr.  Petrie  was  born  in  Dundee,  Scotland,  May  24,  1860,  and 
died  at  Norfolk  May  13,  1928,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight.  His 
father,  David  R.  Petrie,  was  a  broker  in  the  jute  business  at 
Dundee,  Scotland.  The  only  son  of  the  family  now  living  is 
Dr.  Reginald  0.  Petrie,  a  physician  in  England.  One  other  son, 
Alexander,  was  a  shipping  agent  at  Calcutta,  India,  and  another, 
David,  was  a  ship  owner  in  Scotland. 

Charles  Frederick  Petrie  was  educated  at  Dundee,  graduated 
from  a  technical  school  as  a  civil  engineer,  and  after  some  years 
of  experience  in  his  native  country  came  to  New  York  City  in 
1888,  and  in  1889  established  his  home  at  Norfolk.  At  Norfolk 
he  was  associated  with  the  firm  of  W.  D.  Murray  Company  as 
a  partner  for  six  years.  After  selling  his  interest  in  this  firm 
he  established  himself  in  practice  under  his  own  name,  and  for 
thirty  years  looked  after  an  extensive  business  as  a  civil  engineer 
and  surveyor.  He  retired  from  Business  in  1927.  Mr.  Petrie 
was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

He  married  Helen  Williamson,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  who 
died  at  Norfolk  in  1908.  At  Norfolk  October  27,  1910,  he  mar- 
ried Ella  Landrum  Rice,  daughter  of  W.  L.  and  Sallie  C.  (Wing- 
field)  Landrum.  Her  father  was  a  carriage  manufacturer  for 
many  years  and  served  in  the  Confederate  army.    The  Landrum 


VIRGINIA  189 

family  came  from  England  and  settled  in  Albemarle  County, 
Virginia,  before  the  Revolutionary  war.  The  Wingfields  were 
also  a  distinguished  Colonial  Virginia  family.  Sallie  C.  Wing- 
field's  father  was  a  captain  in  the  Confederate  army.  Mrs. 
Petrie,  who  resides  at  112  West  Twenty-eighth  Street  in  Norfolk, 
by  her  first  marriage  had  two  children,  Lillian  May  and  Edward 

A.  Rice.  Lillian  May  is  the  wife  of  James  R.  Guy,  superintendent 
of  the  Southern  Transportation  Company,  and  his  two  children, 
Laluce,  wife  of  Irving  H.  Dwyer,  and  Louis  Lee.  Edward  A. 
Rice,  assistant  superintendent  of  the  Richmond  office  of  the 
Otis  Elevator  Company,  married  Mamie  G.  Bransford  and  has 
two  sons,  Adolph  and  Ralph  E.  Rice. 

Hon.  Paul  Morton,  city  manager  of  Alexandria,  is  a  civil 
engineer  by  profession,  and  served  for  two  and  one-half  years 
overseas  during  the  World  war,  so  that  he  is  a  man  of  broad 
vision,  wide  experience  and  trained  ability,  and  in  his  present 
office  in  rendering  an  excellent  account  of  himself.  He  was  born 
in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  December  24,  1894,  a  son  of  Thomas 

B.  and  Margaret  (Williams)  Morton,  natives  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee,  respectively.  The  father  is  president  of  the  Armored 
Car  Company  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  a  man  of  considerable 
prominence  in  that  city. 

Reared  and  educated  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  Paul  Morton 
was  graduated  from  the  Dupont  Training  School  of  that  city  in 
1913,  and  for  the  succeeding  year  was  a  railroad  engineer  on 
the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad  in  Alabama,  where  he  was 
connected  with  Railway  construction.  In  1914  he  came  to  Vir- 
ginia and  was  engaged  in  building  double  tracks;  for  the  South- 
ern Railroad  from  Charlottesville  to  Orange.  Later  he  went 
with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad  in  West  Virginia,  and  was 
stationed  in  different  parts  of  the  state,  during  the  last  two 
years  having  his  headquarters  in  Richmond.  In  January,  1922, 
he  came  to  Alexandria  as  director  of  public  safety,  and  in  May, 
1925,  was  made  city  manager,  in  which  office  he  has  since  con- 
tinued with  eminently  satisfactory  results.  While  serving  as 
city  manager  he  still  looks  after  the  public  safety,  and  his  time 
is  fully  occupied. 

In  December,  1919,  Mr.  Morton  married  Miss  Elizabeth  R. 
Smith,  a  daughter  of  Russell  and  Mamie  (English)  Smith, 
natives  of  Virginia  and  New  Jersey,  respectively.  Mr.  English 
was  an  admiral  in  the  United  States  Navy  for  many  years.  For 
the  past  thirty-five  or  forty  years  Mr.  Smith  has  served  as 
treasurer  of  Culpeper  County,  Virginia.  Two  children  have 
been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morton,  namely :  Paul,  Junior,  and 
Earlena  English,  the  former  born  in  November,  1920,  and  the 
latter  in  February,  1923.  Mr.  Morton  is  a  member  of  Wash- 
ington Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  No.  22  and  of  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks. 

In  June,  1917,  Mr.  Morton  volunteered  for  the  World  war, 
and  was  sent  overseas  with  the  unit  commanded  by  General 
Dawes,  now  vice  president  of  the  United  States.  He  enlisted 
as  a  civil  engineer,  and  served  overseas  until  the  month  of  May, 
1919,  when  he  was  returned  to  the  United  States  and  honorably 
discharged.  The  American  Legion,  the  Belle  Haven  Country 
Club  and  the  Kiwanis  Club,  of  which  he  is  a  director,  and  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  hold  his  membership.  His  political 
convictions  make  him  a  Democrat,  but  he  has  never  aspired  to 
public  honors.     In  religious  faith  he  is  an  Episcopalian.     Mr. 


190  VIRGINIA 

Morton  maintains  his  residence  at  122  Walnut  Street.  With 
his  enHghtened  mind  and  strong  intellect,  coupled  with  his 
knowledge  upon  many  subjects,  Mr.  Morton  is  a  valuable  asset 
to  his  community,  a  fact  that  is  heartily  appreciated  by  his  fel- 
low citizens. 

William  Wallace  Wills  is  a  Fluvanna  County  farmer  who 
has  had  a  prominent  part  in  promoting  the  planting  industry 
in  this  section  of  Virginia.  Mr.  Wills  lives  at  Palmyra  on  a 
farm  a  mile  south  of  town.  The  property  has  been  in  the  family 
for  generations.  Originally  it  comprised  a  great  estate,  but 
has  been  reduced  until  the  property  now  owned  by  Mr.  Wills 
consist  of  464  acres. 

Mr.  Wills  was  born  there  August  11,  1860.  The  farm  for 
many  years  was  called  "Falling  Gardens,"  but  in  later  years 
has  borne  the  name  "Solitude."  Mr.  Willis  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Al- 
bert J.  and  Martha  (Coodington)  Wills.  His  grandfather  was 
John  Wills.  His  mother  was  born  in  Cumberland  County  on  the 
old  Hatcher  estate,  being  a  descendant  of  the  prominent  Hatcher 
family.  Dr.  Albert  Wills  was  born  at  Chatham,  practiced  med- 
icine for  many  years  at  Palmyra,  and  when  he  died  left  his 
estate  to  his  children,  and  it  subsequently  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  William  Wallace  Wills.  Doctor  Wills  was  on  the  medical 
board  of  the  Confederate  army.  He  was  a  Democrat  but  not 
active  in  politics.  In  his  later  years  he  removed  to  Texas  for 
his  health,  and  one  or  two  of  his  sons  also  went  out  to  that  state. 
There  were  five  children  in  the  family:  Virginia,  wife  of  Pen- 
brook  Pettit,  of  Palmyra;  Albert,  now  deceased;  William  Wal- 
lace; John;  and  Mattie  Q.  The  son  John  in  1884  went  to  the 
Panhandle  of  Texas  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  what  is  now 
the  outstanding  city  of  the  Panhandle,  Amarillo.  He  was  con- 
nected with  the  United  States  Government  survey  in  laying  out 
a  route  for  express  and  mails  across  the  southwest  plains. 

William  Wallace  Wills  attended  school  at  Palmyra,  and  prac- 
tically all  his  life  has  bean  spent  on  the  old  homestead.  He 
early  took  part  in  the  management  of  the  property,  and  has 
been  one  of  the  progressive  and  far-seeing  farmers  who  have 
sought  to  develop  good  markets  for  the  products  of  this  rich 
section.  He  was  instrumental  in  having  numerous  canning 
factories  established  over  Fluvanna  County  and  owned  and 
operated  three  of  his  own.  For  many  years  he  shipped  canned 
tomatoes  to  midwest  centers  such  as  Chicago,  Omaha,  Kansas 
City,  but  of  late  years  the  local  canneries  have  been  compelled 
to  develop  other  markets  partly  through  the  competition  of  the 
western  state  canneries  and  also  on  account  of  the  high  freight 
rates  from  Virginia. 

Mr.  Wills  has  been  quite  active  in  the  Democratic  party, 
though  never  seeking  a  public  office.  He  is  a  steward  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  for  many  years  was 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School.  He  belongs  to  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  married,  October  1,  1890, 
Miss  Alice  B.  Bell,  of  Fluvanna  County,  daughter  of  Askley  and 
Hardenia  (Leslie)  Bell.  Her  parents  are  still  living,  her  father 
being  a  planter.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wills  had  three  children,  Askley, 
now  deceased,  Cora  and  John.  Cora  is  the  wife  of  W.  N.  Han- 
nah, of  Palmyra,  and  her  three  children  are  William  N.,  Jr., 
Askley  Bell  and  Alice  Rebecca.  John  Wills,  connected  with  the 
Virginia  State  Highway  Department  at  Richmond,  married  Miss 
Jessie  Campbell,  of  Wellington,  Vii'ginia. 


VIRGINIA  191 

James  Hatton  Watters.  The  late  James  Hatton  Waiters, 
president  of  the  wholesale  hardware  house  of  Watters  &  Martin, 
the  only  concern  of  its  kind  in  Norfolk,  was  a  public  spirited 
man,  active  in  political  and  civic  affairs,  and  prominent  in  finan- 
cial circles.  Very  charitable,  he  gave  generously  wherever  he 
saw  the  need  of  assistance,  and  he  was  a  zealous  church  worker 
and  popular  with  all  classes.  He  was  born  in  Norfolk,  Virginia, 
July  13,  1840,  and  died  at  Virginia  Beach,  Virginia,  July  9,  1918. 

James  Hatton  Watters  was  a  descendant  of  William  Wood- 
house,  the  father  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Princess  Anne 
County,  who  died  in  1774.  His  son,  Jonathan  Woodhouse,  was 
a  soldier  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  for  his  services  in  that 
war  was  commissioned  a  major  in  the  Virginia  State  Militia  by 
the  governor.  The  parents  of  Mr.  Watters  of  this  review  were 
James  and  Georgiana  (Martin)  Watters.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Alexander  Martin,  of  Norfolk,  and  a  member  of  the  oldest 
family  of  that  name  in  Norfolk. 

When  war  was  declared  between  the  states  James  Hatton 
Watters  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army  and  served  for  four 
years  with  the  Norfolk  Light  Artillery  Blues.  While  he  was 
wounded  in  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville,  he  recovered,  rejoined 
his  regiment,  and  was  with  General  Lee  at  the  time  of  the  sur- 
render at  Appomattox. 

Returning  to  Norfolk  at  the  close  of  the  war,  he  entered  the 
wholesale  hardware  business  under  the  name  of  Taylor,  Martin 
&  Company,  which  firm  was  composed  of  Walter  H.  Taylor,  S. 
Martin  and  Thomas  Elliott.  Mr.  Watters  later  bought  Mr.  Mar- 
tin's interest  and  the  name  was  changed  to  that  of  Taylor, 
Elliott  &  Watters.  Still  later  the  firm  became  Watters  &  Martin, 
was  incorporated,  and  Mr.  Watters  continued  to  serve  it  as 
president  until  his  death.  His  son  James  Watters  is  general 
manager  of  the  business,  and  it  is  located  at  110  Water  Street, 
Norfolk.  A  Mason,  Mr.  Watters  belonged  to  Owens  Lodge, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.  He  belonged  to  Epworth  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  of  Norfolk,  and  served  it  as  steward  for  many 
yeai's.  Banking  also  attracted  his  attention  and  for  a  long 
period  he  was  a  director  of  the  Marine  Bank  of  Norfolk.  The 
city  benefited  by  his  work  in  its  behalf  and  he  served  at  difl^erent 
times  as  chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee,  chairman  of  the 
Waterworks  Committee  and  chairman  of  the  Police  Commission. 

After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  who  bore  the  maiden  name 
of  Margaret  Garrett,  Mr.  Watters  married  Miss  Mattie  Lee 
Watts,  who  was  born  in  Richmond,  Vii'ginia,  a  graduate  of  Nor- 
folk College,  the  ceremony  taking  place  Januaiy  21,  1893.  She 
is  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Cranberry  Watts,  a  prominent  business 
man  of  Norfolk,  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
brick  in  Richmond  prior  to  moving  to  Norfolk.  The  following 
children  were  born  to  Mr.  Watters :  Garrett,  who  was  graduated 
from  the  Law  School  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  is  connected 
with  his  father's  hardware  business,  and  is  a  prominent  Elk ; 
James  H.,  who  is  vice  president  of  the  New  York  Air  Brake 
Company  of  New  York  City,  married  Miss  Pearl  Luthy ;  Martha, 
who  married  William  C.  Griffiths,  a  business  man  of  Narberth, 
Pennsylvania;  and  Elizabeth,  who  for  two  years  was  a  student 
of  Goucher  School,  after  which  she  entered  Teachers'  College, 
Farmville,  Virginia,  and  w^as  graduated  therefrom.  Mrs.  Wat- 
ters still  resides  in  Norfolk,  her  home  being  at  315  Fairfax 
Avenue,  and  here  she  and  her  daughter  are  enjoying  life  sur- 


192  VIRGINIA 

rounded  by  the  comforts  provided  for  them  by  Mr.  Watters,  and 
the  companionship  of  their  many  friends.  They  are  active 
church  workers,  and  continue  many  of  the  charities  of  the  good 
husband  and  father. 

Edmond  Gary  Lindsay.  During  the  more  than  forty  years 
that  the  late  Gapt.  Edmond  Gary  Lindsay  followed  the  sea  he 
passed  through  many  experiences  and  vicissitudes  of  fortune, 
but  when  his  life  ended  at  his  home  at  Norfolk  in  September, 
1921,  it  could  be  said  of  him  that  his  career  had  been  a  worthy 
and  useful  one,  characterized  by  a  high  sense  of  Christian  obli- 
gation and  featured  by  numerous  instances  of  sheer  bravery 
and  indomitable  courage.  The  life  of  the  captain  of  a  sea-going 
tug  or  United  States  revenue  cutter  is  necessarily  a  hard  one, 
tending  to  coarsen  many  men's  nature,  but  Gaptain  Lindsay 
always  preserved  the  manner  and  actions  of  a  gentleman,  while 
at  no  time  allowing  the  finality  and  sternness  of  his  discipline 
to  be  abated. 

Gaptain  Lindsay  was  born  March  19,  1858,  in  York  County, 
Virginia,  a  son  of  William  J.  and  Martha  Ann  (Elliott)  Lind- 
say. His  father  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  who  came  to  the 
United  States  and  settled  in  York  County,  where  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  life  in  agricultural  operations.  Edmond  Gary 
Lindsay  acquired  his  education  in  the  country  schools  of  York 
County,  and  his  early  boyhood  v/as  passed  in  an  agricultural 
atmosphere  and  environment,  but  he  had  inherited  an  adven- 
turous nature  and  a  natural  love  for  the  sea.  Accordingly,  when 
he  was  still  a  young  lad  he  shipped  as  a  mess  boy,  and  in  the 
years  that  followed  visited  many  ports  of  the  world.  He  grad- 
ually worked  his  way  upward  until  when  only  twenty  years  of 
age  he  secured  his  master's  papers  and  took  the  title  of  captain. 
For  the  greater  part  of  his  life  he  was  captain  of  a  tug  boat, 
but  during  his  later  years  was  captain  of  a  United  States  revenue 
cutter,  and  held  this  position  at  the  time  of  his  retirement  from 
active  service  in  1919.  As  before  noted,  he  had  many  experi- 
ences. On  one  occasion  he  was  captain  of  a  tug  stationed  at 
Old  Point  Comfort,  where  he  saved  the  life  of  a  small  girl  from 
drowning,  and  at  another  time,  when  he  was  captain  of  the 
tug  Matt  White  and  that  vessel  blew  up,  he  saved  a  man  from 
drowning,  these  two  being  the  only  survivors  of  the  ill-fated 
vessel.  Captain  Lindsay  was  a  popular  and  highly  respected 
member  of  the  Captains  and  Pilots  Association,  and  in  his 
political  convictions  was  a  stanch  Democrat. 

On  November  14,  1878,  Captain  Lindsay  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Mary  R.  Conkle,  of  Richmond,  daughter  of 
Gottlieb  and  Fredericka  Conkle,  natives  of  Germany.  Ten  chil- 
dren were  born  to  this  union :  William  Lee,  captain  of  a  tug- 
boat, who  married  Gertie  Harrington ;  Bessie  May,  the  wife  of 
Edward  William  Winder,  a  farmer  of  Norfolk  County,  who  has 
two  daughters,  Mary  and  Elizabeth ;  Francis  Edwai'd,  who  fol- 
lows the  profession  of  a  marine  engineer ;  Lottie  Pearl,  the  wife 
of  Ed  Smith,  a  locomotive  engineer ;  Edmond  Cary,  a  command- 
ing officer  in  the  United  States  Navy  during  the  World  war, 
who  was  in  the  coast  service  for  twenty-six  months,  and  is  now 
a  captain  in  the  service  of  the  Old  Dominion  Steamship  Com- 
pany, who  married  Mary  Petty ;  John  Laurence,  an  ensign  in  the 
United  States  Naval  Reserves  for  twenty-two  months  during 
the  World  war,  in  which  he  made  many  trips  between  the  United 
States,  England  and  France,  and  is  now  engaged  in  business  at 


t}- 


VIRGINIA  193 

Norfolk  as  a  flour  miller,  married  Eugenia  Manuel  and  has  three 
sons,  Charles  Vernon,  John  Laurence  and  Gary ;  Glaudius  May- 
nard,  Ralph  Stewart  and  Allen  Earleston,  all  members  of  the 
Norfolk  police  department ;  and  Annie  Madeleine,  who  married 
Howard  Lambert  and  has  one  child,  Beverly  Ann.  Mrs.  Lind- 
say, who  survives  her  husband  and  resides  at  327  Poole  Street, 
Norfolk,  is  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

Reese  Charles  Bowton  is  giving  a  most  constructive  and 
progressive  administration  as  city  superintendent  of  schools  in 
Alexandria,  and  has  been  the  incumbent  of  this  office  since  1923. 

Mr.  Bowton  is  able  to  advert  to  the  staunch  old  Hoosier 
State  as  the  place  of  his  nativity,  his  birth  having  occurred  at 
Lawrenceburg,  Indiana,  April  28,  1876.  He  is  a  son  of  James 
and  Eleanor  (Reese)  Bowton,  both  of  whom  were  born  and 
reared  in  Indiana,  the  parents  of  James  Bowton  having  come 
to  the  United  States  from  London,  England,  and  having  gained 
pioneer  prestige  in  Indiana.  The  father  of  Mrs.  Eleanor  (Reese) 
Bowton  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  her  mother  was  born 
in  Virginia.  James  Bowton  became  and  long  continued  one  of 
the  substantial  exponents  of  farm  industry  in  his  native  state, 
but  passed  the  closing  years  of  his  life  in  Illinois,  where  he  died 
in  March,  1925,  his  birth  having  occurred  August  19,  1844.  His 
widow,  now  (1929)  seventy-eight  years  of  age,  is  a  loved  mem- 
ber of  the  family  circle  of  her  son  Reese  C.,  subject  of  this 
review. 

The  childhood  and  early  youth  of  Reese  C.  Bowton  were 
compassed  by  the  influences  of  the  old  home  farm  in  Dearborn 
County,  Indiana,  and  in  the  public  schools  of  that  county  he 
continued  his  studies  until  he  was  graduated  from  the  high 
school  at  Lawrenceburg.  Thereafter  he  completed  a  course  in 
the  University  of  Indiana,  in  which  he  was  graduated  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1911  and  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Ai'ts.  Through  his  post-graduate  work  in  the  University  of 
Wisconsin  he  received  from  the  latter  institution  in  1915  the 
supplemental  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  and  in  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, New  York  City,  he  has  thus  far  taken  eighteen  months 
of  the  work  that  will  lead  to  his  reception  of  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Philosophy.  Mr.  Bowton  taught  his  first  term  of 
school  when  he  was  twenty  years  of  age,  in  1896,  and  he  con- 
tinued his  pedagogic  service  at  intervals  while  he  was  pursuing 
his  university  courses.  Mr.  Bowton  is  an  enthusiast  in  all  that 
pertains  to  the  work  of  his  profession,  and  his  service  therein 
has  been  cumulative  in  its  success.  He  has  taught  in  the  public 
schools  of  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Missouri,  and  has  been  in  active 
educational  work  in  Virginia  during  a  period  of  ten  years.  He 
gave  five  years  of  service  as  superintendent  of  the  public  schools 
of  Clifton  Forge,  Alleghany  County,  Virginia,  and  since  July, 
1923,  he  has  been  superintendent  of  the  city  schools  of  Alex- 
andria. He  is  a  member  of  the  National  Education  Association, 
is  affiliated  with  the  Phi  Delta  Kappa  college  fraternity,  is  an 
active  member  of  the  Kiwanis  Club  in  his  home  city,  is  a  Demo- 
crat in  his  political  allegiance,  and  his  religious  faith  is  that  of 
the  Methodist  Church,  of  which  he  has  been  a  member  since 
his  boyhood  and  in  which  he  and  his  wife  now  maintain  active 
affiliation  with  the  local  organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  He  has  valuable  farm  interests  in  Iroquois 
County,  Illinois,  where  his  father  passed  the  closing  years  of 
his  life.     The  one  other  child  of  the  family  was  Alma  T.,  who 


194  VIRGINIA 

likewise  became  a  successful  and  popular  teacher,   her   death 
having  occurred  November  13,  1903. 

In  July,  1918,  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Bowton 
and  Miss  Edna  Iddings,  who  likewise  was  born  and  reared  in 
Indiana,  as  were  also  her  parents,  Charles  and  Martha  (Wil- 
son) Iddings,  who  there  passed  their  entire  lives.  Mr.  Iddings 
was  long  and  successfully  engaged  in  farm  enterprise  in  Indiana, 
and  there  his  death  occurred  in  March,  1922,  his  widow  having 
survived  him  about  three  months,  as  her  death  occurred  in  June 
of  the  same  year.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bowton  have  four  children, 
Reese  C,  Jr.,  Forrest  Lowell,  James  Russell,  and  Virginia  Elder. 
Mr.  Bowton  purchased  from  the  City  of  Alexandria  the  fine  and 
historic  old  home  now  occupied  by  him  and  his  family  at  323 
South  Fairfax  Street.  The  house  was  erected  more  than  a 
century  ago,  and  this  venerable  residence  has  as  its  popular 
chatelaine  a  gracious  and  cultured  woman,  Mrs.  Bowton,  who 
is  well  upholding  the  social  prestige  that  has  attached  to  it  for 
many  years. 

William  Otis  Bailey,  specialist  in  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat, 
is  a  resident  of  Leesburg  and  has  had  an  interesting  career  in 
his  profession,  and  particularly  as  an  officer  in  the  Medical 
Corps  of  the  United  States  Navy  during  and  subsequent  to  the 
World  war. 

He  was  born  September  12,  1889,  at  Charleston.  South  Caro- 
lina, son  of  Ephraim  Mikell  and  Helen  (Trenholm-Prentiss) 
Bailey,  his  father  a  native  of  Edisto  Island  and  his  mother  of 
Cheraw,  South  Carolina.  His  father,  for  several  years  a  pros- 
perous hardware  merchant  of  Charleston,  died  in  that  city  in 
February,  1910.    The  mother  lives  with  her  son  at  Aldie. 

After  attending  public  schools  in  Charleston  and  Washington, 
D.  C,  William  Otis  Bailey  entered  Emerson  Institute  at  Wash- 
ington, graduating  with  the  class  of  1907.  In  1912  he  gradu- 
ated from  the  medical  department  of  George  Washington  Uni- 
versity, was  an  interne  in  the  public  health  service  at  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  and  at  the  Providence  and  Casualty  Hospitals  at 
Washington.  He  took  post-graduate  work  in  the  Army  Medical 
School  in  1914  and  at  the  Naval  Medical  School  in  1917  and 
1920.  Doctor  Bailey  during  1914-15  was  on  active  duty  with 
the  Medical  Reserve  Corps,  U.  S.  A.,  and  following  that  spent 
six  months  in  the  Indian  service  in  Arizona  and  Minnesota. 
During  1916-17  he  practiced  as  an  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat 
physician  at  Washington.  In  1917  he  joined  the  Medical  Re- 
serve Corps  of  the  navy,  with  which  he  was  connected  for  about 
two  months,  and  upon  America's  entrance  into  the  World  war 
was  commissioned  a  lieutenant,  junior  grade,  later  becoming 
a  lieutenant  commander  (T.). 

Capt.  C.  S.  Butler,  of  the  United  States  Naval  Medical  School 
at  Washington,  has  furnished  an  interesting  account  of  Doctor 
Bailey's  World  war  service.  He  was  on  duty  in  connection  with 
the  naval  establishment  in  the  Virgin  Islands  from  September, 
1917,  to  about  the  same  date  in  1920.  Shortly  after  reporting 
at  St.  Thomas  in  September,  1917,  he  was  ordered  to  assume 
charge  of  the  medical  work  of  the  Island  of  St.  Croix,  as  chief 
municipal  physician.  As  he  was  the  senior  naval  medical  officer 
on  the  island  he  was  responsible  for  all  medical  work  and  sani- 
tation for  the  entire  island  and  its  population,  about  16,000 
souls.  This  is  the  largest  of  the  three  islands  purchased  from 
Denmark  and  officially  transferred  to  the  United  States  in  Feb- 


VIRGINIA  195 

ruary,  1917.  He  found  at  St.  Croix  two  run-down  municipal 
hospitals,  a  poorly  equipped  leper  asylum,  an  insane  asylum,  and 
everywhere  ordinary  sanitary  provisions  neglected.  With  the 
trained  personnel  furnished  him  by  the  naval  government  Doctor 
Bailey  during  the  three  years  of  his  stay  in  St.  Croix  accom- 
plished results  that  make  Americans  proud.  The  municipal 
hospitals  and  other  institutions  were  organized  along  modern 
lines,  brought  to  a  high  degree  of  working  efficiency,  the  natives 
were  taught  in  the  training  schools  how  to  care  for  their  sick, 
and  sanitation  as  a  whole  was  perfected  so  that  the  entire  popu- 
lation experienced  benefits.  These  constructive  measures  re- 
sulted in  a  great  decrease  in  infant  mortality,  in  the  better  care 
of  women  in  child-bed,  in  the  treatment  of  internal  disease,  in 
the  establishment  of  the  means  to  carry  out  modern  procedures 
in  surgery  as  well  as  the  actual  work  of  surgery,  and  in  sani- 
tation and  prophylaxis.  To  this  work  Doctor  Bailey  took,  in 
the  words  of  Captain  Butler,  an  honesty  of  purpose,  a  desire  to 
serve,  a  disarming  ap'proachableness  and  a  happy  disposition, 
and  consequently  he  at  all  times  enjoyed  the  esteem  of  his  subor- 
dinates and  made  great  headway  in  winning  the  afl'ection  of 
the  natives. 

Doctor  Bailey  resigned  his  commission  in  March,  1924,  and 
then  took  up  his  residence  at  Leesburg,  where  he  has  since  car- 
ried on  the  routine  of  his  private  practice  as  a  specialist  and 
has  charge  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat  work  at  the  Loudoun 
County  Hospital  and  the  Fauquier  County  Hospital.  He  also 
has  offices  at  Warrenton  and  Charles  Town,  West  Virginia, 
Manassas  and  Culpeper. 

Doctor  Bailey  is  a  member  of  the  District  of  Columbia  Med- 
ical Society,  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Medical  Societies,  the 
Loudoun  County  and  Fauquier  County  Societies,  and  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association.  During  the  fall  of  1928  he  was  abroad 
studying  at  Vienna  and  Budapest.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Lou- 
doun County  Golf  and  Country  Club,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Associated  with  him  in  charge  of 
the  offices  at  Warrenton,  Culpeper  and  Manassas  is  his  brother, 
Dr.  M.  Prentiss  Bailey. 

Doctor  Bailey  married,  March  24,  1917,  Miss  Mary  Hardin 
Parker,  daughter  of  Edwin  Pearson  and  Mary  Lillington  (Har- 
din) Parker,  her  father  a  native  of  Portsmouth,  Virginia,  and 
her  mother  of  Hickorj',  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Parker  is  now 
in  the  insurance  business  at  Washington,  D.  C.  Doctor  and 
Mrs.  Bailey,  whose  home  is  at  Aldie,  have  three  children :  Wil- 
liam Otis,  Jr.,  born  December  28,  1917,  Mary  Lillington,  born 
August  10,  1923,  and  Edwin  Pearson,  born  May  7,  1928. 

The  Portsmouth  Star,  a  newspaper  that  has  reflected  the 
modern  spirit  in  the  Virginia  Tidewater  country,  bringing  daily 
to  its  readers  the  life  of  the  outside  world  and  at  the  same  time 
providing  a  medium  for  the  expression  of  the  views  and  inter- 
ests of  the  home  people,  and  using  its  influence  first  and  last  and 
all  the  time  for  a  better  and  greater  Portsmouth  and  Eastern 
Virginia,  was  founded  September  3,  1894,  just  a  century  after 
the  first  beginnings  of  journalism  in  Norfolk  County. 

The  founders  of  the  Star  were  Paul  C.  Trugien  and  William 
B.  Wilder.  They  made  the  Star  a  modern  newspaper  from  the 
start,  publishing  the  full  afteimoon  report  of  the  old  Southern 
Associated  Press.  After  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Wilder,  Mr. 
Trugien  carried  on  for  many  years,  steadily  building  a  news- 


196  VIRGINIA 

paper  of  power  and  influence.  In  1900  he  incorporated  the 
Portsmouth  Star  Publishing  Company,  enlarged  and  modernized 
the  plant,  putting  in  the  first  typesetting  machines  and  the  first 
perfecting  press  used  by  any  newspaper  in  Tidewater,  Virginia. 
He  brought  into  business  and  financial  cooperation  with  him 
many  of  the  prominent  men  of  Portsmouth  of  that  day.  Mr. 
Trugien  in  1906  sold  the  majority  stock  in  the  company  to 
A.  McK.  Griggs,  who  had  been  associated  with  the  paper  since 
1900.    He  was  its  editor  and  publisher  for  twenty  years. 

Early  in  1917  the  Portsmouth  Star  Corporation,  with  Nor- 
man R.  Hamilton  as  president,  acquired  the  business  and  inter- 
ests of  the  Portsmouth  Star  Publishing  Company.  Norman  R. 
Hamilton  was  one  of  the  first  .subscribers  to  the  original  Star 
while  he  was  a  student  in  the  Portsmouth  High  School  and  for 
Messrs.  Trugien  and  Wilder  secured  its  first  subscription  lists. 
Later  he  became  the  Star  representative  in  Norfolk,  and  it  may 
be  said  he  has  had  an  interest  in  the  Sta.r  throughout  the  third 
of  a  century  of  its  history.  Under  the  new  ownership  in  1917 
improvements  and  developments  were  inaugurated  to  give  the 
Star  increased  influence  and  power  among  Virginia  newspapers. 
One  was  the  establishment  of  the  Sunday  Star.  Mr.  Hamilton  in 
1924  acquired  the  controlling  ownership  of  the  Star,  and  during 
the  past  five  years  the  equipment  and  the  facilities  of  the  paper 
have  been  steadily  enlarged  and  improved. 

In  addition  to  realizing  its  primary  function  as  a  daily  news- 
paper circulated  throughout  Tidewater,  Virginia,  the  Star  has 
also  adhered  to  a  notable  tradition  of  public  service  and  public 
duty.  The  achievements  standing  to  its  credit  comprise  a  chap- 
ter in  constructive  journalism.  It  was  instrumental  in  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Kings  Daughters  Hospital  while  Mr.  Trugien 
was  in  charge ;  in  the  formation  of  the  original  Business  Men's 
Association  of  Portsmouth,  in  establishing  the  Home  for  the 
Aged,  and  twice  used  the  full  power  of  its  public  influence  in 
preventing  the  removal  of  the  general  offices  of  the  Seaboard 
Air  Line  from  Portsmouth.  It  has  given  valuable  publicity  to 
the  work  of  the  Navy  Yard,  to  the  city  in  campaigns  for  physical 
betterment  and  moral  improvement,  to  schools,  churches  and 
other  institutions,  and  a  number  of  years  ago  it  did  much  to 
arouse  sentiment  for  the  construction  of  the  George  Washington 
Highway  between  Portsmouth  and  Eastern  North  Carolina.  The 
Portsmouth  Star  is  an  independent  newspaper,  published  every 
afternoon  and  Sunday  morning,  devoted  to  the  interest  and  wel- 
fare of  the  people  it  serves.  It  is  the  people's  paper,  standing 
feai'lessly  for  that  which  it  believes  to  be  right,  independent  of 
influences  of  every  kind,  except  those  of  the  best. 

Norman  R.  Hamilton.  In  the  history  of  Portsmouth's  only 
newspaper,  the  Portsmouth  Star,  brief  reference  was  made  to 
its  owner  and  publisher,  Norman  R.  Hamilton.  Mr.  Hamilton 
was  born  at  Portsmouth  November  13,  1877,  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools  of  that  city  and  has  had  practically  a  life  long 
experience  and  contact  with  newspaper  work.  His  early  train- 
ing was  at  Norfolk  and  for  a  number  of  years  he  has  figured 
in  the  history  of  the  Portsmouth  Star. 

Mr.  Hamilton  is  a  son  of  Richard  Dabney  Hamilton,  printer 
and  journalist,  and  the  great-grandson  of  Rev.  William  Hamil- 
ton, who  with  Rev.  Gideon  Ousley  was  one  of  the  earliest  pioneer 
Methodist  missionaries  sent  out  to  Northern  Ireland  by  John 
Wesley,  founder  of  Methodism.   Mr.  Hamilton's  ancestors  fought 


VIRGINIA  197 

in  the  Revolutionary  war,  in  tlie  Mexican  war,  in  the  Seminole- 
Indian  wars  in  Florida,  and  were  in  the  Confederate  ai-my  and 
navy. 

Mr.  Hamilton  in  addition  to  being  a  publisher  has  a  note- 
worthy record  in  politics  and  public  affairs.  In  1912  he  was 
Democratic  presidential  elector  from  Virginia.  In  1914  Presi- 
dent Wil'-on  appointed  him  collector  of  customs  for  the  district 
of  Virginia,  and  he  served  two  terms  in  that  position.  Before 
America  entered  the  war  Mr.  Hamilton  as  collector  of  customs 
at  Norfolk  and  Newport  News,  was  charged  with  the  enforce- 
ment of  American  neutrality  in  the  waters  of  Virginia,  and  it 
became  his  duty  to  handle  difficult  diRlomatic  problems  in  con- 
nection with  the  arrival  in  Hampton  Roads,  first,  of  the  German 
raider  T^rinz  Eitel  Frederick,  next,  the  Krom  Prinz  Wilhelm  and 
later,  the  German  prize  ship  Appam.  All  of  these  shins  he  in- 
terned, along  with  other  enemy  vessels  that  had  taken  haven  in 
Vireinia  waters  and  which  were  there  when  the  United  States 
entered  the  World  war. 

For  this  and  other  conspicuous  service  rendered  the  Govern- 
ment as  collector  of  customs  and  as  representative  of  the  treas- 
ury and  state  department  at  Hampton  Roads  Mr.  Hamilton  re- 
ceived the  commendation  of  President  Wilson,  and  at  the  close 
of  his  term  as  collector  was  similarly  commended  by  President 
Harding. 

Mr.  Hamilton  in  1924  was  a  delegate  from  Virginia  to  the 
Democratic  National  Convention  at  New  York.  The  Demo- 
ci-atic  State  Convention  at  Roanoke  June  21,  1928,  named  him 
delegate  to  the  Houston  convention.  As  a  result  of  automobile 
injuries  received  while  attending  the  state  convention  at  Roa- 
noke he  was  unable  to  go  to  Houston  and  the  Virginia  State  Con- 
vention named  as  alternate  in  his  stead  his  son,  Richard  Douglas 
Hamilton,  a  .student  at  Washington  and  Lee  University,  just  of 
voting  age,  who  in  consequence  served  as  the  youngest  member 
of  the  National  Democratic  Convention  at  Houston. 

Mr.  Hamilton  and  Miss  Adelaide  Etheredge  were  married 
October  10,  1901,  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ports- 
mouth. Among  Mrs.  Hamilton's  ancestors  were  members  of  the 
Madison  family  of  Virginia.  The  two  sons  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hamilton  are  Norman  Etheredge,  a  young  Norfolk  business  man, 
and  Richard  Douglas  Hamilton. 

James  Hoge  Tyler,  member  of  a  family  that  has  conferred 
so  many  distinctions  upon  old  Virginia,  was  in  his  long  career  a 
soldier  of  the  Confederacy,  a  business  man  and  farmer,  and 
climaxed  his  service  to  the  State  as  governor  from  1898  to  1902. 

He  was  born  at  his  father's  old  home  "Blenheim"  in  Caroline 
County,  August  11,  1846.  He  died  at  East  Radford,  Virginia, 
January  3,  1925,  when  in  his  seventy-ninth  year.  Blenheim, 
his  birthplace,  had  been  the  home  of  the  Tyler  family  for  170 
years.  His  parents  were  George  and  Eliza  (Hoge)  Tyler,  his 
mother  a  daughter  of  Gen.  James  Hoge.  His  mother  dying  at 
his  birth,  James  Hoge  Tyler  was  reared  by  his  grandparents. 
General  and  Mrs.  James  Hoge,  at  their  home  "Belle  Hampton"  in 
Pulaski  County.  There  at  an  early  age  he  'became  assistant  to 
his  grandfather,  who  was  stricken  with  paralysis.  He  was  in- 
structed by  private  tutors  and  by  his  grandfather,  and  after  the 
death  of  General  Hoge  in  1861  he  joined  his  father  in  Caroline 
County  and  attended  the  school  of  Franklin  Minor  in  Albemarle 
County.     He   also  attended   Schooler's  Academy.      He  enlisted 


198  VIRGINIA 

as  a  private  in  the  Confederate  army  and  served  throughout  the 
vi^ar  with  characteristic  courage  and  fidelity.  After  the  war  he 
engaged  in  farming  in  Pulaski  County,  and  through  his  writings 
for  the  press  and  his  individual  influence  had  much  to  do  with 
awakening  the  need  of  the  country  to  manufacturing  and  mining 
development  and  the  bringing  in  of  necessary  capital  for  that 
purpose.  In  1877  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State  Senate 
and  in  the  Senate  urged  the  reduction  of  state  taxes  and  made 
another  early  contribution  to  economy  as  a  member  of  the  com- 
mission which  settled  the  state  debt.  He  also  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Public  Buildings  at  Blacksburg  and  Marion, 
and  was  made  rector  of  the  Virginia  Agricultural  and  Mechan- 
ical College,  now  the  Virginia  Pol>i;echnic  Institute  at  Blacks- 
burg. This  position  he  resigned  to  become  lieutenant  governor, 
having  been  elected  in  1889.  He  was  a  member  of  the  commis- 
sion to  examine  into  the  disputed  Virginia-Maryland  boundary 
line,  and  was  elected  chairman  of  the  joint  committee  of  the  two 
states. 

Governor  Tyler  from  early  youth  was  affiliated  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  being  chosen  a  deacon  at  the  age  of  eigh- 
teen and  an  elder  at  twenty-three,  and  for  three  times  was  dele- 
gate to  the  General  Assembly,  attending  the  Pan-Presbyterian 
Council  at  Toronto,  Canada,  and  at  Glasgow,  Scotland,  where  he 
presided  over  the  session. 

In  1897  he  was  given  the  nomination  for  governor  by  accla- 
mation and  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  more  than  52,000.  His 
administration  was  a  triumph  in  its  combination  of  economy 
with  constructive  progress.  The  state  debt  was  reduced  by  more 
than  a  million  dollars  without  hampering  any  important  public 
interest,  and  at  the  same  time  the  public  school  fund  was  in- 
creased, and  at  the  close  the  public  treasury  contained  more  than 
$800,000. 

In  the  words  of  an  editorial  in  the  Norfolk  Ledger-Dispatch : 
"Assuming  the  governorship  of  Virginia  when  the  common- 
wealth was  just  recovering  from  the  transitory  stages  following 
the  reaction  to  the  reconstruction  regime,  James  Hoge  Tyler 
was  a  chief  executive  of  the  State  who  set  a  pace  which  may 
have  well  been  followed  by  some  of  his  successors.  A  young 
man,  virtually  a  youth  coming  out  of  the  Confederate  army,  he 
entered  business  life  and  was  the  last  governor  of  Virginia  who 
had  seen  service  under  the  stars  and  bars,  and  in  that  way  in 
particular  may  be  designated  as  the  connecting  link  between  the 
old  and  the  new  Virginia.  It  was  during  Governor  Tyler's  ad- 
ministration that  the  call  for  a  constitutional  convention  was 
submitted  to  the  people  and  the  document  of  the  1902-03  was 
the  result.  He  urged  many  reforms  in  the  operation  of  the 
State  government  which  failed  of  adoption,  but  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Bureau  of  Labor  was  one  achievement,  while  the 
State  tax  rate  was  reduced  and  appropriations  for  State  institu- 
tions increased,  an  accomplishment  that  is  almost  paradoxical. 
Governor  Tyler  was  perhaps  not  a  brilliant  executive,  but  of  all 
of  Virginia's  leaders  past  and  present  no  man  stands  higher  for 
rugged  honesty,  integrity  and  fidelity  to  the  State's  interests,  and 
displayed  a  desire  to  put  his  administration  on  the  road  to  sub- 
stantial constructive  achievement.  Perhaps,  judged  by  modern 
ideas,  he  did  not  go  as  far  as  he  might  have  done,  but  neverthe- 
less he  initiated  ideas  that  have  been  accepted  since  the  time  of 
his  active  participation  in  State  affairs  and  have  been  taken  up 


■^ 


"^^^ii^^t-^^^f^^-i^y^^/^^v^^^^ 


VIRGINIA  199 

by  his  successors  with  more  or  less  credit  to  themselves.  Nor- 
folk feels  that  it  has  been  linked  with  Governor  Tyler's  family 
for  many  years.  His  son,  the  present  mayor  of  the  city,  ex- 
emplifies many  of  the  qualities  that  characterized  the  public  life 
of  the  father." 

Governor  Tyler  was  in  a  great  measure  a  representative  of 
the  agriculture  side  of  Virginia's  life.  He  was  interested  in 
farming  and  served  as  president  of  the  Virginia  State  Farmers 
Institute  and  as  president  of  the  Southwest  Virginia  Live  Stock 
Association.  He  was  a  trustee  of  Hampden-Sidney  College,  was 
on  the  board  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  and  the  Synod- 
ic'al  Orphans  Home  at  Lynchburg. 

Governor  Tyler  married,  November  16,  1868,  Miss  Sue  M. 
Hammet,  of  East  Radford.  His  children  were :  S.  Heth  Tyler, 
of  Norfolk;  E.  H.  Tyler,  of  Pulaski  Countv;  James  Hoge  Tyler, 
Jr.,  of  Roanoke ;  Hal  C.  Tvler,  of  East  Radford ;  Mrs.  Frank  P. 
McConnell,  of  East  Radford;  Mrs.  Robert  W.  Joplin,  of  Lan- 
caster, South  Carolina ;  and  Mrs.  Henry  Wilson,  of  Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania. 

Thomas  Brooke  Howard,  one  of  the  brilliant  young  attor- 
neys practicing  at  the  bar  of  Alexandria,  has  achieved  a  dis- 
tinction that  has  brought  his  name  into  favorable  notice  all 
over  Virginia  and  at  the  national  capital,  and  he  is  not  only 
recognized  because  of  his  professional  attainments,  which  are 
somewhat  remarkable,  but  also  because  of  his  high  personal 
character  and  pleasing  personality.  He  was  born  in  Alex- 
andria, Virginia,  September  28,  1902,  a  son  of  Thomas  Clifton 
and  Minnie  (Stansbury)  Howard,  natives  of  that  part  of  Alex- 
andria County  that  is  now  Fairfax  County.  While  he  is  in 
business  as  a  merchandise  broker  in  Washington  City,  Thomas 
Clifton  Howard  still  maintains  his  residence  in  Alexandria, 
where  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  this  his- 
toric city. 

Growing  up  in  Alexandria,  T.  Brooke  Howard  attended  the 
local  schools,  including  the  high  school,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  1919,  and  even  thus  early  displayed  abilities  that 
led  his  teachers  to  advise  his  developing  them  along  the  line  of 
professional  training.  Encouraged  by  his  wise  and  helpful 
parents,  he  took  a  course  in  law  in  the  University  of  Virginia, 
and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1924.  In  October  of  the  suc- 
ceeding year  he  established  himself  in  practice  in  Alexandria, 
his  offices  being  at  10.5  South  Royal  Street,  and  his  residence  at 
207  South  Washington  Street.  He  is  a  young  man  who  from 
the  start  has  deeply  impressed  others  with  his  unshakable  hon- 
esty as  well  as  his  ability  to  lay  hold  of  the  essentials  of  a 
situation,  and  has  won  and  holds  the  respect  too  often  withheld 
from  beginners  in  any  line.  His  influence  is  and  has  been  in- 
variably for  enlightened  progress,  for  his  sympathies  are  true 
and  his  judgment  sound.  He  represents  in  character  and  accom- 
plishment the  qualities  which  raise  and  dignify  democratic 
citizenship  and  are  the  foundation  of  our  best  leadership.  In 
addition  to  his  careful  and  masterly  professional  services  he  is 
ever  ready  to  give  the  best  that  lies  within  his  unusual  powers, 
his  qualities  of  heart  and  brain. 

Mr.  Howard  is  unmarried.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
State  Bar  Association  and  of  the  Alexandria  Bar  Association. 
One  of  the  social  leaders,  he  finds  relaxation  and  congenial  com- 


200  VIRGINIA 

panionship  as  a  member  of  the  Belle  Haven  Country  Club  and 
the  Old  Dominion  Boat  Club.  While  he  has  not  entered  public 
life,  he  is  a  staunch  Democrat,  and  gives  his  support  to  his 
party's  principles  and  candidates.  The  Presbyterian  Church 
has  in  him  a  consistent  member. 

Henry  Wood  Campbell,  Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery,  F.  A. 
C.  D.,  who  has  practiced  dental  surgery  at  Suffolk  since  1889, 
was  born  at  Amherst,  Virginia,  July  9,  1866,  son  of  an  old  and 
prominent  Virginia  family. 

His  father,  Rev.  Thomas  Horace  Campbell,  a  native  Virgi- 
nian, was  born  December  18,  1838,  and  was  a  soldier  of  the  South 
in  the  Confederate  army,  being  in  the  command  under  Gen. 
George  E.  Pickett.  A  bullet  received  in  the  battle  of  Gaines 
Mills  he  carried  to  his  grave.  After  the  close  of  the  war  he 
entered  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  was  distinguished  by  his  eloquence,  his  devotion  to  the 
church  and  humanity,  and  for  thirty-two  years  carried  on  his 
labors  as  a  pastor,  from  1874  until  his  death  on  July  14,  1906. 
Rev.  Thomas  Horace  Campbell  married  Miss  Henry  Virginia 
Wood,  whose  father.  Rev.  Henry  D.  Wood,  was  a  Methodist 
minister  who  died  in  Georgia.  Henry  Virginia  Wood  was  born 
April  12,  1843,  in  Buckingham  County,  Virginia,  was  married 
at  "Spring  Garden,"  Amherst  County,  Virginia,  April  16,  1864, 
and  died  January  5,  1920,  at  her  home,  "The  Oaks,"  in  Amherst 
County.     She  was  interred  at  Lynchburg,  Virginia. 

After  completing  his  early  education  in  the  schools  of  Am- 
herst and  under  private  tutors  Henry  Wood  Campbell  entered 
the  University  of  Maryland,  from  which  he  was  graduated  with 
the  degree  Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery  in  1889.  In  the  same  year 
he  established  an  office  at  Suffolk,  Virginia.  His  professional 
work  has,  always  had  a  broader  range  than  that  of  routine  prac- 
tice. He  has  been  influential  in  setting  higher  standards  in  the 
profession  generally.  From  1896  to  1918  he  was  president  of 
the  Virginia  State  Board  of  Dental  Examiners,  retiring  in  that 
year  from  the  board.  He  was  reappointed  to  the  state  board 
in  1920  by  Governor  E.  Lee  Trinkle  of  Virginia,  and  was  re- 
elected its  president,  in  which  capacity  he  still  serves.  He  was 
honored  with  election  as  president  of  the  Virginia  State  Dental 
Association  for  the  year  1894-95,  and  was  chairman  of  its  legis- 
lative committee  from  1909-11.  It  was  largely  through  his  in- 
fluence that  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  passed  a  bill  recog- 
nizing dentistry  as  a  specialty  of  medicine  in  the  same  class 
with  the  other  specialties  of  medicine  which  required  the  degree 
of  M.  D.  This  bill  was  passed  in  1910,  and  became  effective  in 
1914.  This  standard,  if  continued,  would  have  required  a  com- 
plete medical  education  for  all  dentists  practicing  in  Virginia. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Dental  Association,  and  has  the 
honorary  degree  of  "Fellow  of  the  American  College  of  Den- 
tists." He  is  a  member  of  the  committee  of  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Dental  Examiners  in  conjunction  with  the  Carnegie 
Educational  Foundation  working  to  create  a  National  Board  of 
Dental  Examiners.  He  served  as  president  of  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Dental  Examiners  in  1905-06.  He  also  is  an  honorary 
member  of  the  North  Carolina  Dental  Society,  the  South  Side 
Virginia  Dental  Society,  and  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Tide- 
water Dental  Association,  and  for  many  years  he  has  been  a 
contributor  to  periodicals  and  journals  of  his  profession. 


VIRGINIA  201 

Aside  from  his  profession  Doctor  Campbell  is  president  of 
the  Suffolk  Mutual  Building-  &  Loan  Association,  a  director  of 
the  American  Bank  &  Trust  Company,  Inc.,  and  from  1903  to 
1919  he  was  a  member  of  the  Suffolk  City  Council,  being  its 
president  from  1914-16,  and  chairman  of  the  finance  committee 
in  1918.  During  the  World  war  he  was  appointed  a  member 
of  the  Medical  Advisory  Board,  and  was  secretary  of  this  board 
during  its  existence.  Doctor  Campbell  is  affiliated  with  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  is  a  member  of  the  Country  Club,  former  presi- 
dent of  the  Lions  Club,  a  member  of  the  Association  for  the 
Preservation  of  Virginia  Antiquities,  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
State  Chamber  of  Commerce,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  Methodist. 

On  June  4,  1895,  he  married  Miss  Emmeline  Eley,  of  Suffolk, 
daughter  of  Richard  Seth  and  Eliza  Priscilla  (Riddick)  Eley. 
Her  parents  were  native  Virginians,  and  her  father  was  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  Confederate  'army,  and  was  imprisoned  upon 
Johnson's  Island.  Afte¥'"'tfi^^VW-' Itfe'-Hvas  a  retail  merchant  in 
Suffolk  until  the  tirtfe^\3f  ^if^'tJeErtli  irfl^^B^"''  flfei<  ffli^tjl.er  died  in 
1.924,  at  the  age  of  gighty^se%iiv'  BbtH^aW  iflfet^ife^-if^S^lk, 
Virginia.  Doctor  and  ; Mrs;  'Campbell  havfe 'a'fitttiftT^  ^f'^our 
children:     Seth  Ele/,  "an  felectrical  ehgineer  with' the*'&eneral 


■     CLAtJDE  L?-Yt5WEifct^Wlrft%1^6f'^*^;_Wa-%^  g?;hool, 

Hampsteaid,  M'arvland,  is  a  ■member'^'6~P%n'^'6ld*-cii^^^^fffilient 
family  of  Madisbn  Coiirfty,  Virginia.^  >'  '-  •■"^^T  s^s^r  -^i^ 

Mr.  Yowell  was  born'  in  Madison  County,  March  7,  iSS^STson 
of  Casper  and  MSry  (-Weaver)  Yowell.  The  Yowells  came'from 
England  and  the''We^\'^ei3i;^from  Germany,  settling  in  Virginia 
in  Colonial  tirnes.'-Md  feoth-fJfeiMi^^'ftere'i'epi'esented  by^  soldiers 
in- the  War  of  th^-lt-e.\'^Hiti5K  -The  Weavers  Were 'Elitfergns  and 
helped  establish  the "fiVM  Llitheran  Churehln  th>  stMe'^'frt  1-726. 
Mr.  Yowell's  grandfather 'Weaver  enlisted  at  the  age'io'Pseven- 
teen  in  the  Confederate  army,  serving'with' the  Reserves.  'His 
grandfather  Yowell  served  in  the  Madison  cavalry  under  Gen- 
eral Lee.  Casper  Yowell  has  been  a  noted  stock  farmer  and 
breeder  in  Madison  County,  having  a  farm  specializing-  in  Black 
Angus  cattle,  Poland  China  hogs  and  Shropshire  sheep.  He  is 
a  deacon  in  the  Baptist  Church  and  active  in  the  Sunday  School. 
Casper  Yowell  and  wife  had  two  sons,  Claude  L.  and  Russell  W. 
Russell  was  born  March  23,  1908,  and  is  a  student  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vii'ginia. 

Claude  L.  Yowell  grew  up  on  the  home  farm  in  Madison 
County,  attended  local  schools  and  in  1922  graduated  Bachelor 
of  Science  from  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  took  the  Mas- 
ter of  Science  degree  at  the  University  in  1927,  and  is  now  doing 
work  on  a  Doctor  of  Philosophy  degree  in  the  summer  sessions 
at  Johns  Hopkins  LTniversity.  He  has  been  teaching  for  the 
past  six  years,  two  years  at  the  Handley  High  School,  Winches- 
ter, Virginia ;  three  years  as  principal  of  the  Stanardsville  High 
School.  For  his  theses  in  taking  the  Master's  degree  he  wrote 
a  history  of  Madison  County  which  is  now  on  the  market  and 
is  the  first  work  of  this  nature  finished  on  the  history  of  this 
county.  The  publication  of  this  book  led  to  his  becoming  a 
member  of  the  Pi  Gamma  Mu,  honorary  social  science  fraternity, 
of  which  he  is  now  an  active  member. 

Mr.  Yowell  married,  June  30,  1925,  Miss  Grace  T.  Yowell, 
of  Rappahannock  County,  daughter  of  Weldon  A.  and   Mazie 


202  VIRGINIA 

(Leathers)  Yowell.  Her  father  is  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser 
in  Rappahannock  County.  Mrs.  Yowell  is  one  of  five  children, 
Gladys  R.,  Susie  G.,  Kelsey  A.,  Grace  T.  and  Hugh  A.,  being 
the  only  one  of  these  now  married.  Mrs.  Yowell  graduated  from 
the  Harrisonburg  Teachers  College  in  1925,  and  was  engaged 
as  a  teacher  in  the  Stanardsville  High  School  for  the  next  three 
sessions.    Mrs.  Yowell  is  active  in  the  clubs  of  her  adopted  town. 

John  W.  Darden.  No  better  illustration  of  the  value  of 
industry,  perseverance  and  determination,  guided  by  integrity 
and  probity  and  directed  by  natural  and  developed  ability,  could 
be  found  than  the  career  of  the  late  John  W.  Darden.  Left  an 
orphan  at  a  tender  age,  he  faced  life  with  but  a  meagre  educa- 
tion and  without  the  aid  of  friendly  alliances  or  other  adventi- 
tious circumstances  worked  his  way  to  a  position  among  the  sub- 
stantial men  of  his  community,  being  long  a  well  known  figure 
in  railway,  mercantile  and  agricultural  circles  in  Nansemond 
and  Southampton  counties.  He  was  a  man  of  high  character 
and  public  spirit,  and  in  his  death,  which  occurred  in  October, 
.1914,  his  community  lost  one  of  its  reliable  and  valued  citizens. 

Mr.  Darden  was  born  at  Southampton,  Virginia,  July  16, 
1847,  the  oldest  of  six  children  of  John  Wilson  Darden,  a  farmer, 
and  his  wife,  Nannie  (Norfleet)  Darden.  He  was  descended 
from  a  family  which  urigxBSked  in. Scotland,  whence  the  Ameri- 
can jjragenitor  immigrated  to  iixis  country  during  the  early 
{^lonial  period  «nd  settled  in  Virginia.  John  W.  Darden  was 
«lily  twelve  years  of  age  when  his  parents  died  and  he  was 
forced  to  leave  school  at  Southampton  to  face  life's  responsibili- 
ties on  his  own  account.  He  was  variously  employed  at  such 
honorable  employment  as  he  could  find  until  he  reached  the  age 
of  seventeen  years,  and  then  enlisted  in  a  regiment  of  Virginia 
volunteer  infantry,  with  which  he  served  bravely  until  the  close 
of  the  war  between  the  states,  seeing  much  active  service  and 
receiving  a  wound  in  the  arm,  the  scar  of  which  he  carried  until 
his  death.  At  the  close  of  his  military  service  he  sought  rail- 
roading as  a  means  of  livelihood,  and  through  industry  and 
fidelity  rose  to  be  section  master  of  the  Seaboard  Airline  Rail- 
way in  Southampton  County.  Later  he  held  a  like  position 
with  the  Southern  Railway,  and  during  its  construction  was  in 
charge  of  the  leveling  of  rails.  Resigning  from  this  position, 
Mr.  Darden  embarked  in  mercantile  affairs  and  for  several  years 
was  the  proprietor  of  an  establishment  at  Franklin  and  subse- 
quently at  Southampton,  but  following  his  marriage  sold  his 
business  interests,  purchased  a  farm  in  Nansemond  County,  and 
from  that  time  forward  until  his  demise  was  successfully  en- 
gaged in  agricultural  pursuits.  Mr.  Darden  was  a  man  of  high 
character  and  a  consistent  member  of  the  Baptist  Church.  While 
he  took  much  interest  in  public  affairs,  he  never  sought  office, 
but  supported  generously  the  movements  that  his  good  judgment 
told  him  would  benefit  his  community. 

In  November,  1874,  Mr.  Darden  married  Miss  Margaret  Jane 
Edney,  a  descendant  of  a  family  which  originated  in  England 
and  settled  in  Virginia  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  war.  She  was 
educated  at  private  schools  and  is  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  and 
Margaret  (Spence)  Edney,  her  father  being  originally  an  in- 
ventor and  manufacturer  of  machinery  in  Camden  County, 
North  Carolina,  who  later  moved  to  Franklin,  Virginia,  and 
spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  the  lumber  and  grain  milling  business. 
Mrs.  Darden  was  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth  in  a  family  of  ten 


VIRGINIA  203 

children.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Darden  there  were  born  ten  chil- 
dren :  Junius  Willard,  who  is  deceased ;  John  W.  H.,  a  merchant 
of  Branchville,  Virginia,  who  married  May  Taylor  and  has  one 
son,  John  Taylor ;  Nancy  Norfleet,  who  married  Thomas  Ewre,  of 
Camp  Mill,  Franklin,  and  has  three  children,  Oretha,  Margue- 
ritte  and  Thomas ;  Lucy  Emma,  who  is  deceased ;  Margaret  In- 
diana, the  wife  of  Robert  L.  Harper,  of  Raleigh,  North  Carolina, 
and  has  one  child,  Darden ;  William  Mosby,  of  California,  who 
has  two  children,  Sarah  and  William  Mosby,  Jr. ;  Wallace  Alex- 
ander, who  is  deceased ;  Annie  Asenath,  the  wife  of  John  E. 
Coggin,  a  lumberman  of  Philadelphia ;  Dr.  St.  Clair,  a  medical 
college  graduate  and  specialist  in  tuberculosis,  in  charge  of  the 
Healthwin  Sanitarium  at  South  Bend,  Indiana,  who  has  two 
children,  Thomas  and  Robert ;  and  Sarah  Mabel,  who  married 
Rochelle  Harrell,  of  Suffolk,  Virginia,  and  has  two  children, 
Sarah  and  Rochelle.  Mrs.  Darden,  who  survives  her  husband 
and  resides  at  615  Colonial  Avenue,  is  one  of  the  highly  esteemed 
ladies  of  Norfolk,  and  is  active  in  the  work  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

Carter  Perkins,  D.  D.  S.,  was  one  of  the  veteran  and 
honored  representatives  of  his  profession  in  his  native  state  of 
Virginia  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the  city  of 
Newport  News  December  7,  1926.  Not  only  his  professional 
skill  and  precedence  but  also  his  sterling  character  and  high 
communal  standing  make  specially  consistent  the  memorial 
tribute  here  accorded  to  him. 

Doctor  Perkins  was  born  in  Middlesex  County,  Virginia, 
August  13,  1832,  and  thus  he  had  attained  to  the  patriarchal  age 
of  ninety-four  years  when  his  earnest  and  worthy  life  came  to 
its  close.  Aside  from  the  marked  success  that  he  gained  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  Doctor  Perkins  became  a  leader  in 
real  estate  development  and  exploitation  after  he  had  estab- 
lished his  residence  in  Newport  News,  and  as  a  young  man  he 
gave  loyal  service  in  defense  of  the  cause  of  the  Confederate 
states  in  the  Civil  war. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  was  a  son  of  Col.  Carter  Perkins 
and  Mary  Ann  (Humphrey)  Perkins,  of  whose  six  children  he 
was  the  fourth  in  order  of  birth.  Colonel  Perkins  was  owner 
and  operator  of  a  fine  plantation  estate  in  Middlesex  County, 
and  he  made  a  record  of  gallant  service  as  a  soldier  in  the  War 
of  1812,  in  which  he  held  the  rank  of  colonel. 

Doctor  Perkins  gained  his  early  education  mainly  in  private 
schools  and  under  the  direction  of  private  tutors.  In  fortifying 
himself  for  the  work  of  his  chosen  profession,  before  the  era  of 
regular  dental  colleges,  he  was  favored  in  gaining  technical  and 
practical  instruction  under  the  preceptorship  of  Doctor  Cowlen, 
of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  who  was  one  of  the  eminent  dental 
practitioners  and  authorities  -of  that  period.  After  completing 
his  through  course  in  dentistry  Doctor  Perkins  returned  to  Vir- 
ginia, and  thereafter  he  continued  in  the  active  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Middlesex  and  Lancaster  counties  until  1858,  when 
he  removed  to  Charles  City  County,  where  he  continued  in 
practice  until  the  inception  of  the  Civil  war,  when  he  promptly 
subordinated  all  personal  interests  and  enlisted  for  service  in  the 
Confederate  army.  On  the  5th  of  July,  1861,  when  he  was 
twenty-nine  years  of  age,  he  enlisted  at  Jamestown  in  Company 
K,  Fifty-third  Virginia  Infantry,  and  soon  afterward  he  was 
detailed  to  duty  as  quartermaster  clerk.  In  September,  1861, 
he  was  assigned  to  a  clerkship  in  the  commissary  department, 
and  in  1862  he  was  placed  in  hospital  service,  supply  department, 


204  VIRGINIA 

in  the  city  of  Richmond.    Before  the  close  of  1862  he  was  hon- 
orably discharged,  by  reason  of  physical  disability. 

After  the  close  of  the  Civil  war  Doctor  Perkins  engaged  in 
the  lumber  business  in  Charles  City  County,  and  there  he  con- 
tinued operations  on  an  extensive  scale  until  1889,  when  he 
sold  his  interests  in  the  lumber  business  and  removed  to  New- 
port News,  where  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In 
1894  the  Doctor  retired  from  practice  and  turned  his  attention 
to  the  real  estate  business.  He  became  president  of  the  Newport 
News  Development  Company,  which  promoted  the  development 
of  the  east  end  of  the  city,  and  after  a  few  years  of  association 
with  this  line  of  enterprise  he  became  associated  with  his  son 
Robert  W.,  in  the  furniture  business,  under  the  title  of  Newport 
News  Furniture  Company.  He  sold  his  interest  in  this  business 
in  1901,  and  for  the  ensuing  five  yeai's  he  was  cashier  and  a 
substantial  stockholder  of  the  Newport  News  Savings  Bank. 
In  190f)  the  Doctor  here  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
from  which  he  did  not  retire  until  1920,  when  he  was  eighty- 
eight  years  of  age.  He  thereafter  lived  in  gracious  and  well 
earned  retirement  in  Newport  News  until  his  death  at  the 
venerable  age  of  ninety-four  years.  Doctor  Perkins  long  held 
meTibership  in  the  American  Dental  Association  and  the  Vii'- 
ginia  State  Dental  Association,  and  as  author  he  made  valuable 
contributions  to  the  .standard  and  periodical  literature  of  his 
profession.  He  was  a  stalwart  advocate  of  the  principles  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  City  Coun- 
cil of  NewDort  News,  as  well  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation H'^  WPS  an  earne.st  member  of  Trinity  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  as  is  also  his  widow,  who  continues  a  gra- 
cious figure  in  the  social  and  cultural  circles  of  Newport  News, 
whei-e  she  is  a  member  of  the  Woman's  Club  and  also  of  the 
American  Legion  Auxiliary. 

In  May,  1858,  Doctor  Perkins  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Mai'y  Minge  Graves,  of  Charles  Citv  County,  and  of  this 
union  were  born  five  children :  Robert  W.  became  one  of  the 
representative  business  men  of  Newport  News  and  served  as  a 
member  of  the  Virginia  Legis'ature.  Carter,  William  C,  and 
John  Freeman  likewise  became  actively  identified  with  business 
enterprises,  and  the  only  daughter  was  Mary  Minge.  The  death 
of  Mrs.  Perkins  occurred  prior  to  the  removal  of  the  Doctor  to 
Newport  News,  and  he  was  still  a  resident  of  Charles  City 
County  when  his  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Sue  Richardson  was 
there  solemnized  in  Charles  City  Chapel  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  November  25,  1885.  Mrs.  Perkins  is  a  daughter  of 
the  'ate  Dr.  Pryor  Richardson  and  William  America  (Christian) 
Richardson,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  New  Kent  County 
and  the  latter  of  whom  was  a  member  of  the  influential  Christian 
family  that  was  founded  in  Virginia  in  the  Colonial  days.  Dr. 
Pryor  Richardson  was  graduated  from  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1837,  and  thereafter  he  took 
a  course  in  a  leading  medical  college  in  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
He  became  one  of  the  leading  physicians  and  surgeons  in  Charles 
City  County,  where  he  likewise  owned  a  large  and  valuable 
plantation  estate,  and  he  was  influential  in  the  councils  of  the 
Democratic  party  during  the  course  of  many  years.  Ann,  eldest 
of  the  children  of  Dr.  Carter  Perkins  and  Mary  S.  (Richardson) 
Perkins,  is  the  wife  of  William  E.  Scruggs,  a  Government 
employe  at  Newport  News,  and  they  have  one  child,  Ann  Carter. 
Pryor  Richardson  Perkins,  second  of  the  children,  sacrified  his 
life  in  the  World  war,  he  having  been  killed  in  action  while  with 
his  command  at  the  Argonne  front  in  France,  October  3,  1918. 


VIRGINIA  205 

He  held  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  in  the  Twentieth  Aerial 
Squadron.  This  gallant  young  Virginian  had  received  prelimin- 
ary training  at  the  University  of  Ohio,  Columbus,  and  was  of 
the  first  contingent  of  Americans  to  receive  training  with  the 
school  of  the  Royal  Air  Force  at  Oxford  University,  England, 
where  he  was  graduated  as  a  technical  expert  in  air  service 
early  in  1918,  his  commission  as  first  lieutenant  having  been  re- 
ceived by  him  in  May  of  that  year.  Margaret,  next  younger  of 
the  children,  is  the  widow  of  Benjamin  C.  Flannagan,  who  was 
in  the  service  of  the  Norfolk  Southern  (electric)  Railway,  and 
their  two  children  are  Margaret  Perkins  Flannagan,  and  Rich- 
ard Perkins  Flannagan.  Elizabeth,  youngest  of  the  children, 
is  the  wife  of  Frank  E.  Kuhn,  an  employe  of  the  Chesapeake  & 
Ohio  Railroad,  and  their  one  child  is  Frank  E.,  Jr. 

Lemuel  Cornick  Shepherd,  M.  D.,  was  through  a  period  of 
forty  years  one  of  the  able  representatives  of  his  profession  in 
the  City  of  Norfolk.  He  was  a  doctor  of  broad  and  liberal  cul- 
ture, of  progressive  ideas,  enjoyed  not  only  a  successful  private 
practice,  but  was  also  a  leader  in  public  health  work. 

He  was  born  at  Petersburg,  Vii'ginia,  January  26,  1864,  son 
of  Jchn  Camp  and  Susan  (Land)  Shephei'd.  At  the  time  of  his 
birth  his  mother  was  living  as  refugee  from  Norfolk,  which  was 
the  home  of  the  family.  After  the  war  John  Camp  Shepherd 
became  a  merchant  in  Princess  Anne  County,  Virginia,  and  was 
also  a  farmer.  He  served  in  the  Confederate  cavalry  through- 
out the  period  of  the  war. 

Doctor  Shepherd  was  one  of  a  family  of  six  children  and  was 
educated  in  country  schools  in  Princess  Anne  County,  attended 
the  Episcopal  High  School  at  Alexandria,  and  was  graduated 
from  the  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College  of  Long  Island  in 
1888.  A  few  years  later  he  interrrupted  his  private  practice  to 
JO  abroad  and  spent  portions  of  the  years  1892-93  in  study  at 
Vienna  and  Berlin.  For  several  years  Doctor  Shepherd  was  a 
member  of  the  Norfolk  Board  of  Health  and  also  served  as  city 
bacteriologist.  He  was  a  mem^^er  of  the  Norfolk  and  American 
Medical  Associations  and  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia.  Doc- 
tor Shepherd  was  a  Democrat  in  pohtics,  and  he  and  his  wife 
were  active  members  of  St.  ^aul's  Episcopal  Church. 

Doctor  Shepherd  was  still  a  comparatively  young  man  when 
he  died  April  4,  1926.  He  married,  September  6,  1894,  Emma 
Cartwright.  Mrs.  Shepherd,  whose  home  is  at  1219  Westover 
Avenue,  f  orfolk,  was  born  in  Nantucket,  Massachusetts,  and 
was  i-eired  and  educated  in  that  state,  attending  the  State  Nor- 
mal School  at  New  Britain,  Connecticut.  Her  father,  Benjamin 
Cartwright,  was  an  old  time  whaling  captain  who  sailed  out  of 
the  Port  of  New  Bedford.  Her  mother  was  Agnes  Hamilton, 
and  Mrs.  Shepherd  was  one  of  four  children.  Mrs.  Shepherd  is 
an  active  member  of  the  Norfolk  Society  of  Arts.  She  is  the 
mother  of  three  children.  Her  son  Lemuel  C.  II  was  educated 
in  the  Norfolk  Academy  and  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  and 
is  a  captain  in  the  United  States  Marine  Corps.  Captain  Shep- 
herd married  Virginia  Tunstall  Driver,  of  Norfolk,  and  has  two 
sons,  Lemuel  III,  and  Wilson  Driver.  Edith  Shepherd,  who  was 
educated  in  the  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  at  Lynchburg, 
is  the  wife  of  James  Vass  Brooke,  a  civil  engineer,  and  they 
have  two  daughters,  Mary  Goode  Brooke  and  Edith  Shepherd. 
The  youngest  child.  Miss  Virginia  Hamilton,  attended  school  at 
Norfolk  and  Skidmore  College  at  Saratoga  Springs,  New  York. 


206  VIRGINIA 

Adam  Addison  Wendel,  sheriff  of  Norfolk  County,  is  a 
prominent  type  of  the  new  Virginian,  a  western  man  who  was 
attracted  to  this  section  of  Tidewater,  Virginia,  many  years  ago. 
He  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  development  of  its  indus- 
trial resources,  and  has  given  an  administration  of  the  office  of 
sheriff  which  has  been  approved  three  times  by  the  votes  of  the 
people. 

Mr.  Wendel  was  born  at  Washington  Court  House,  Fayette 
County,  Ohio,  July  8,  1869.  His  people  were  early  settlers  in 
Ohio.  Mr.  Wendel  was  reared  and  educated  in  that  locality,  and 
as  a  young  man  became  interested  in  the  lumber  industry.  It 
was  his  connections  with  lumbering  which  brought  him  to  Nor- 
folk County  in  1901  as  superintendent  and  manager  of  an  or- 
ganization which  had  secured  ten  thousand  acres  of  timber  land 
in  the  famous  Dismal  Swamp  region.  He  and  his  associates  put 
up  a  saw  mill  which  had  a  daily  cut  of  sixty  thousand  feet  of 
lumber.  This  inaugurated  the  production  of  lumber  in  a  region 
which  for  centuries  had  been  practically  waste  land,  and  for 
twenty  years  Mr.  Wendel  gave  his  time  and  energies  to  this 
business.  Besides  clearing  away  the  timber  and  utilizing  it  for 
lumber,  some  eight  hundred  acres  were  turned  into  valuable  and 
productive  farming  land.  For  this  drainage  was  essential,  and 
this  was  secured  through  the  formation  of  a  drainage  district. 
Besides  its  possibilities  for  farming  the  region  is  a  natural  game 
preserve,  abounding  in  deer,  bear  and  other  prizes  of  sports. 
All  these  advantages  have  made  Mr.  Wendel  very  much  attached 
to  the  region,  and  he  spends  a  considerable  part  of  the  year  in 
that  recreation  ground. 

He  has  never  been  a  seeker  for  office,  but  the  possibilities  of 
a  real  public  service  led  him  to  become  a  candidate  for  sheriff 
in  1919.  He  was  elected,  was  reelected  in  1923,  and  in  the 
August  primaries  of  1927  was  nominated  by  a  large  margin  of 
votes.  The  three  hundred  square  miles  of  territory  in  Norfolk 
County,  with  six  hundred  miles  of  road,  demand  utmost  vigi- 
lance on  the  part  of  the  sheriff  and  his  nine  full-time  deputies 
in  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  providing  for  peace  and  good 
order. 

Mr.  Wendel  is  a  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks  and  the  Izaak 
Walton  League,  and  is  deeply  interested  in  the  fish  and  game 
conservation  work  with  a  view  to  making  the  Dismal  Swamp  a 
nationally  known  game  preserve.  Mr.  Wendel  married  Olive 
Durnell,  of  Washington  Court  House,  Ohio.  She  is  active  in 
church  and  social  life  at  Portsmouth. 

Luther  Spurgon  Ballard  was  for  many  years  well  known 
in  business  circles  in  Portsmouth,  a  leader  in  the  insurance  field 
there,  and  had  a  great  many  friends  and  business  associates  who 
keenly  felt  his  loss  when  he  died  December  15,  1925. 

He  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  in  1875,  one  of  the  thirteen 
children  of  Stephen  Ballard,  a  planter  of  the  old  North  State. 
Luther  S.  Ballai'd  was  educated  in  public  schools,  and  learned 
the  insurance  business  by  several  years  of  active  experience  at 
Philadelphia.  From  there  he  removed  to  Portsmouth,  and  built 
up  a  large  business  as  general  agent  for  the  Mutual  Insurance 
Company  of  Richmond.  He  always  voted  as  a  Democrat  and  was 
a  member  of  the  Court  Street  Baptist  Church  at  Portsmouth. 

He  married  in  September,  1909,  at  Port-smouth,  Mrs.  Ella 
(Scott)  Savage,  widow  of  William  Savage  and  daughter  of  David 
and  Sarah  (Bunting)  Scott.     Her  father  was  a  Norfolk  County 


U  A-<-«J:     ot-^J^vt^      iyjJ(U.-riJ^ 


VIRGINIA  207 

farmer  and  Mrs.  Ballard  was  reared  and  educated  in  that  county. 
She  was  left  a  widow  with  one  small  child,  Russell  Scott  Savage, 
who  also  took  the  name  of  his  step-father,  and  is  now  continuing 
in  the  insurance  business  in  Virginia,  being  one  of  the  leaders 
in  that  field.  He  married  Minnie  Allen  and  has  two  children, 
David  Savage  and  Jack  Allen. 

Mrs.  Ballard,  who  resides  in  Portsmouth,  at  225  North  Elm 
Avenue,  is  a  member  of  the  Central  Methodist  Church,  is  presi- 
dent of  its  aid  society  and  treasurer  of  the  Earnest  Workers 
Society.  She  is  also  a  member  of  Stonewall  Chapter,  United 
Daughters  of  the  Confederacy. 

Martin  Donohue  Delaney,  M.  D.,  has  been  established  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the  City  of  Alexandria  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  his  unqualified  success  offers 
the  best  evidence  of  his  professional  skill  as  well  as  of  his  secure 
place  in  popular  confidence  and  esteem  in  the  community  that 
has  profited  by  his  earnest  and  able  ministrations.  He  gives 
special  attention  to  the  surgical  branch  of  his  profession,  and 
in  the  same  has  attained  to  high  reputation.  He  maintains 
both  his  residence  and  office  headquarters  at  131  North  Wash- 
ington Street. 

Doctor  Delaney  was  born  in  the  City  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  April 
28,  1874,  and  is  a  son  of  Dennis  William  and  Josephine  (Dono- 
hue) Delaney,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Ireland  and  both  of 
whom  were  young  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  respective 
families  to  the  United  States.  They  lived  in  Philadelphia  and 
he  served  three  years  under  General  McClellan.  During  the 
greater  part  of  his  active  career  Dennis  W.  Delaney  was  a  suc- 
cessful contractor  and  builder  in  Prince  William  County,  Vir- 
ginia, and  there  his  death  occurred  Februaiy  5,  1911,  his  wife 
having  passed  away  on  the  12th  of  January  of  the  following 
year  and  both  having  been  devoted  communicants  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Doctor  Delaney  is  a  direct  descendant  on  his  mother's 
side  of  Commodore  Barry,  the  father  of  the  old  American  Navy. 
On  his  father's  side  he  is  descended  from  the  nobility  of  France. 

As  a  boy  and  youth  Doctor  Delaney  attended  the  Christian 
Brothers  School  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and  thereafter 
continued  his  studies  in  St.  John's  Academy  in  his  present  home 
City  of  Alexandria.  His  higher  academic  education  was 
acquired  in  Mount  St.  Mary's  College  at  Emmettsburg,  Mary- 
land, from  which  he  received  the  degrees  of  both  Bachelor  and 
Master  of  Arts.  His  technical  education  for  his  chosen  calling 
was  gained  in  the  medical  department  of  Georgetown  University, 
District  of  Columbia,  from  which  he  was  graduated  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1898.  After  thus  receiving  his  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine  he  gained  fortifying  experience  by  serving  two 
years  as  an  interne  in  Columbia  Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C, 
and  he  then,  in  1900,  established  himself  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Alexandria,  where  he  has  since  continued  his 
ministrations  with  marked  success  and  where  he  specializes  in 
surgery,  with  many  delicate  operations  to  his  credit,  both  of 
major  and  minor  order.  Recognition  of  his  special  skill  as  a 
surgeon  is  attested  by  his  being  a  fellow  of  the  American  Col- 
lege of  Surgeons,  the  representative  national  organization.  He 
has  membership  also  in  the  American  Medical  Association,  the 
Virginia  State  Medical  Society,  the  Northern  Virginia  Medical 
Society  and  the  Alexandria  Medical  Society.  He  is  surgeon  for 
the  Southern  Railway,  Richmond,  Fredericksburg  &  Potomac 


208  VIRGINIA 

Railroad,  and  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad.  Doctor  Delaney 
is  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Governing  Committee  of  the  Gorgas 
Memorial  Institute  of  Tropical  and  Preventive  Medicine.  He 
is  also  a  life  member  of  the  Service  Veterans  of  the  United 
States. 

The  political  allegiance  of  Doctor  Delaney  is  given  to  the 
Democratic  party,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  are  zealous  com- 
municants of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  Doctor  is  affiliated  with 
the  Knights  of  Columbus  and  the  Benevolent  and  Protective 
Order  of  Elks,  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Washington  Society, 
and  in  his  home  community  is  a  member  of  the  Belle  Haven 
Country  Club.  Ancestors  of  Doctor  Delaney  were  gallant 
soldiers  in  the  War  of  the  American  Revolution,  though  his  par- 
ents were  natives  of  Ireland,  and  he  is  thus  eligible  for  affilia- 
tion with  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  while  by  similar 
ancestral  heritage  Mrs.  Delaney  has  eligibility  for  membership 
in  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  and  also  the 
Colonial  Dames,  she  being  a  descendant  of  Col.  John  Fitzgerald, 
who  served  as  an  aide-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  George 
Washington  in  the  great  struggle  that  gained  American  Inde- 
pendence. 

On  the  4th  of  June,  1906,  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of 
Doctor  Delaney  and  Miss  Catharine  O'Donoghue,  a  daughter  of 
Martin  and  Margaret  (Lyne)  O'Donoghue,  of  Georgetown,  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  where  her  father  was  a  wholesale  merchant, 
both  he  and  his  wife  having  been  born  in  Ireland.  Mr. 
O'Donoghue  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-two  years,  June  28,  1888, 
and  his  widow  attained  to  the  age  of  seventy-five  years,  she 
having  passed  to  the  life  eternal  on  the  9th  of  September,  1917. 
Martin  O'Donoghue  was  descended  from  the  O'Donoghues  of 
Ross  Castle,  Ireland.  Martin  Donohue,  eldest  of  the  children 
of  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Delaney,  was  born  June  5,  1907,  and  is  now 
(1928)  a  student  in  the  Virginia  Military  Institute;  Paul  Lyne 
was  born  April  5,  1909,  and  is  attending  Georgetown  Univer- 
sity, where  he  is  pursuing  studies  in  both  the  literary  and  law 
departments ;  Catharine,  the  only  daughter,  was  born  Novem- 
ber 28,  1913,  and  is  a  student  in  the  Alexandria  High  School ; 
William  Morgan,  youngest  of  the  children,  was  born  February 
20,  1916,  and  is  attending  school  in  his  home  city. 

Eugene  Marcellis  Pollard.  A  veteran  of  the  Confederate 
service  and  a  business  man  of  unquestioned  ability,  the  late 
Eugene  Marcellis  Pollard,  after  years  of  faithful  service  as  a 
railroad  man  and  druggist  retired  to  Richmond,  and  here,  in  the 
capital  city  of  the  South,  he  passed  away  in  1913,  beloved  and 
honored  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  born  in  Chesterfield 
County,  Virginia,  July  27,  1845,  and  was  educated  in  its  schools 
up  to  the  age  of  sixteen  years.  He  was  a  son  of  Joseph  and 
Lydia  Frances  (Bottom)  Pollard,  who  had  five  children. 

The  school  days  of  Eugene  Marcellis  Pollard  were  inter- 
rupted by  the  tocsin  of  war,  and  in  spite  of  his  youth  he  en- 
listed in  the  Confederate  army,  and  remained  in  the  service 
for  four  years,  during  which  period  he  was  wounded  in  action, 
and  rose  to  the  rank  of  sergeant.  After  the  close  of  the  war  he 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad,  and 
remained  with  that  company  for  three  years,  leaving  to  go  into 
the  drug  store  of  Dr.  W.  B.  Conway,  and  rose,  during  the  fifteen 
years  he  remained  with  him,  to  be  manager  of  the  business. 
Never  very  strong  as  a  result  of  his  war  experience,  he  then 


VIRGINIA  209 

retired,  and,  coming  to  Richmond,  here  passed  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  He  was  a  member  of  Virginia  May  Lodge,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  and  Stonewall  Jackson  Post,  Confederate  Veterans.  He 
and  all  his  family  were  Presbyterians,  and  earnest  church  work- 
ers and  supporters.  ' 

On  December  13,  1871,  Mr.  Pollard  married  Miss  Virginia 
M.  Jones,  a  daughter  of  David  T.  and  Martha  Ann  (Beville) 
Jones,  and  granddaughter  of  John  Archer  Beville,  a  French 
Huguenot  who  came  from  France  to  Virginia.  For  several 
generations  the  Jones  family  has  resided  in  Chesterfield  County, 
Virginia.  David  T.  Jones  was  a  planter,  and  served  as  a  cap- 
tain of  a  company  of  Virginia  militia  in  the  ante-bellum  days. 
He  and  his  wife  had  two  children,  Mrs.  Pollard's  brother,  Ulysses 
Boiling  Jones,  being  her  senior.  Mrs.  Pollard  was  educated  in 
the  Masonic  Female  Institute  in  Blacksburg,  Virginia.  Of  the 
children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pollard  eight  lived  to  reach  ma- 
turity, namely :  Maude,  who  is  the  owner  of  the  Poe  Court 
Book  Shop  and  an  authority  on. antiques,  married  Joseph  Kelly 
Hull,  a  railroad  man  connected  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio 
Railroad ;  Mrs.  Virginia  May  Wright,  widow  of  the  late  John 
Wright,  formerly  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad,  and 
mother  of  five  children,  John  Caskie,  Randolph,  Evelyn,  David 
and  Charles ;  Stella  Frances,  who  is  cashier  of  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph Company  and  lives  in  Richmond ;  Parke  P.,  an  electrical 
contractor  of  Richmond,  who  married  Eva  Lee  Russel,  of  Meck- 
lenburg County,  Virginia,  and  has  two  children,  Parke  P.,  Junior, 
and  Dorothy  Elizabeth;  Lulu,  who  is  the  wife  of  T.  W.  Graves, 
manager  of  the  Wilson  Packing  Company,  Danville,  Virginia; 
Edith  Argyle,  who  is  the  wife  of  Howard  Mann  Morecook,  trav- 
eling freight  agent  for  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad,  and 
mother  of  Howard  Mann  Morecook,  Junior ;  Glenna  Leville 
Pollard,  who  is  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad ;  and  Eu- 
genia Minon  Pollard,  who  resides  in  Richmond. 

William  Edward  Reese.  In  recalling  the  life  and  activities 
of  those  who  once  trod  the  old  familiar  ways  with  ourselves  but 
have  now  passed  from  the  scene  of  life,  their  characteristics  are 
remembered,  their  generous  impulses  are  recollected  and  the 
real  value  of  their  influence  is  determined.  In  such  a  review  a 
loving  and  appreciative  light  shines  on  the  life  and  personality 
of  William  Edward  Reese,  who  for  many  years  was  one  of  the 
honored  citizens  of  Richmond,  where  his  widow  is  still  residing. 
He  was  born  in  Virginia,  September  23,  1868,  and  died  in  Rich- 
mond April  15,  1924.  His  father,  William  Reese,  was  a  farm 
owner  and  planter  of  Halifax  County,  Virginia,  a  man  well  and 
favorably  known  throughout  a  wide  region,  and  his  mother's 
first  name  was  Rebecca.  They  had  thi-ee  children:  Albert,  who 
is  a  truck  farmer  upon  an  extensive  scale ;  Mrs.  Eliza  Dawson ; 
and  William  Edward,  who  was  the  youngest  of  the  family. 

The  public  schools  of  Halifax  County  educated  William  Ed- 
ward Reese,  and  when  he  completed  his  education  he  became 
a  clerk  in  a  hardware  store  at  Cody,  Halifax  County,  but  after 
several  years  he  left  that  employment  to  enter  the  sawmill  busi- 
ness. Selling  his  mill  later  on,  he  engaged  in  the  wholesale  lum- 
ber business  in  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  and  at  the  same  time  he 
was  interested  in  a  stone  quarry.  When  he  sold  these  interests 
he  located  permanently  in  Richmond,  and  for  two  years  handled 
scrap  iron,  and  for  two  years  more  he  was  in  the  bag  business. 
He  was  also  interested  in  a  fertilizer  plant  in  Ellerson,  Virginia, 


210  VIRGINIA 

that  is  still  in  operation.  However  his  health  failing,  he  found 
it  necessary  to  dispose  of  all  his  holdings,  and  for  several  years 
prior  to  his  death  lived  retired.  He  w^as  an  enthusiastic  member 
of  the  North  Side  Baptist  Church,  but  outside  of  that  connection 
his  interests  were  centered  in  his  family.  A  public  spirited 
citizen,  warm  hearted  and  generous,  anxious  to  help  others  and 
to  sustain  through  his  contributions  the  higher  things  of  life,  his 
influence  lives  on. 

In  November,  1900,  Mr.  Reese  married  Miss  Dollie  McDaniel, 
a  daughter  of  James  W.  and  Dolly  (Ridgeway)  McDaniel,  who 
had  seven  children,  of  whom  Mrs.  Reese  was  the  third  in  order 
of  birth.  She  was  educated  in  Halifax  County,  and  is  a  very 
fine  lady,  a  good  mother  and  kind  neighborhood  visitor,  no 
trouble  or  calamity  coming  to  those  in  her  vicinity  without  her 
offering  her  sympathy  and  material  help.  One  child,  Dr.  Clyde 
Bishop  Reese,  was  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reese.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  of  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  and  the  Vir- 
ginia Military  Institute,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1923 
with  the  degree  .of  Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery,  and  since  then  has 
been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  dentistry  in  Richmond.  Doctor 
Reese  married  Miss  Vernesse  Cecelia  Batterfield,  of  Virginia. 
His  fraternal  connections  are  with  the  Masonic  order  and  the 
Odd  Fellows,  and  his  professional  ones  are  with  the  Virginia 
State  Dental  Association.  A  young  man  of  undoubted  ability, 
well  trained,  he  has  forged  ahead,  and  is  today  one  of  the  leading 
dentists  of  the  city,  and  a  man  of  whom  the  best  is  spoken,  for 
he  stands  well  with  the  public. 

John  0.  Gamage  was  born  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  in  January, 
1837,  and  here  he  maintained  his  home  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  February,  1910.  He  was  an  honored  representative 
of  one  of  the  sterling  and  influential  pioneer  families  of  Norfolk, 
here  succeeded  to  the  control  of  a  large  and  important  wholesale 
merchandise  business  that  had  been  founded  by  his  father  fully 
ninety-five  years  ago,  and  here  he  continued  as  a  leading  citizen 
and  business  man  until  the  close  of  his  long  and  worthy  life. 
The  business  founded  by  his  father,  Elisha  Gamage,  nearly  a 
century  ago  is  still  continued  under  the  family  name  and  its  ex- 
ecutive head  at  the  present  time  is  Miss  Nancy  C.  Gamage,  who 
is  a  daughter  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir  and  who  provided  the 
data  on  which  this  tribute  to  her  honored  father  is  based. 

John  0.  Gamage  was  reared  and  educated  in  Norfolk  and 
was  the  first  of  three  generations  of  the  Gamage  family  to  be 
educated  at  the  Norfolk  Academy.  He  was  a  son  of  Elisha  and 
Mary  Ann  (Fulton)  Gamage,  of  whose  seven  children  he  was 
the  third  in  order  of  birth.  The  Gamage  family  was  founded  in 
America  in  the  early  Colonial  period,  and  its  lineage  is  one  of 
ancient  and  distinguished  order  in  France  and  England.  The 
French  branch  spelled  the  name,  De  Gamache.  The  family  rec- 
ord traces  back  to  900,  A.  D.,  and  it  was  one  of  royal  status  in  one 
of  the  minor  kingdoms  of  ancient  France,  whence  representa- 
tives went  into  England  with  William  the  Conqueror.  It  was 
from  England  that  came  the  original  representatives  of  the  fam- 
ily to  America,  where  settlement  was  made  in  the  Massachu- 
setts colony  long  prior  to  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  members  of 
the  family  having  later  been  established  in  the  State  of  New 
York. 

Elisha  Gamage,  the  pioneer  merchant  of  Norfolk,  Virginia, 
was  born  and  reared  in  the  State  of  New  York  and  was  a  son 


VIRGINIA  211 

of  Samuel  Gamage  II,  who  was  a  large  landowner  in  that  com- 
monwealth and  whose  father,  Samuel,  Sr.,  went  forth  from 
Massachusetts  as  a  patriot  soldier  in  the  Revolution,  he  having 
been  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  troop  commanded  by  Col. 
Thomas  Croft,  and  another  member  having  been  Paul  Revere, 
whose  historic  ride  has  made  him  a  famed  figure  in  American 
history.  Subsequently  this  first  Samuel  Gamage  became  a  lieu- 
tenant of  marines  on  the  frigate  Demi,  and  on  this  war  vessel 
he  served  under  Capt.  Samuel  Nicholson  in  the  naval  arm  of  the 
Continental  service  in  the  Revolution.  Samuel  Gamage  II  was 
a  gallant  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812. 

It  was  in  the  year  1833  that  Elisha  Gamage  established  him- 
self in  the  wholesale  general  merchandise  business  in  Norfolk, 
and  the  business  has  been  continued  under  family  name  and 
control  to  the  present  time,  though  changing  conditions  in  the 
passing  years  have  brought  both  modification  and  expansion  of 
its  varied  functions.  It  was  about  1834  that  Elisha  Gamage 
became  executive  head  of  the  Farmers  Bank  of  Norfolk,  and  he 
continued  the  president  after  the  reorganization  under  the  title 
of  Merchants  &  Mechanics  Bank.  He  was  long  one  of  the  most 
progressive  and  influential  business  men  of  Norfolk  and  was  a 
citizen  who  commanded  unqualified  popular  esteem  and  confi- 
dence, the  high  prestige  of  the  family  name  having  here  been 
maintained  by  his  son  John  0.  after  he  himself  had  passed 
from  the  stage  of  his  mortal  endeavors. 

As  a  young  man  John  0.  Gamage  became  actively  associated 
with  his  father's  wholesale  mercantile  business,  and  his  diversi- 
fied experience  well  fitted  him  for  assuming  eventual  control. 
The  enterprise  is  now  conducted  under  the  title  of  John  0.  Gam- 
age, and  its  present  functions  are  the  handling  of  lime,  cement 
and  other  building  supplies  and  accessories.  The  business  is 
one  of  substantial  order  and  representative  character,  and  is  the 
oldest  business  in  this  line  in  Norfolk  to  be  continuously  con- 
ducted by  one  family.  Since  the  death  of  her  father  in  1910 
Miss  Nancy  C.  Gamage  has  been  active  president  of  the  company 
and  has  directed  the  business  with  marked  ability  and  success. 

John  O.  Gamage  was  a  man  of  fine  character,  loyal  and 
public  spirited  as  a  citizen,  and  progressive  and  resourceful  in 
the  handling  of  business  interests  of  importance.  He  was  sig- 
nificantly loyal  to  the  cause  of  the  Democratic  party,  though 
never  a  seeker  of  public  office,  and  was  a  valued  member  of  the 
Norfolk  Board  of  Ti'ade  and  the  local  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
His  original  religious  affiliation  was  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  but  he  later  became  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  was  a  member  of  that  splendid 
old  organization,  the  Norfolk  Light  Artillery  Blues,  which  was 
founded  in  1828,  and  with  this  command  he  served  as  a  loyal 
soldier  of  the  Confederacy  in  the  Civil  war,  as  a  member  of 
Capt.  C.  R.  Grandy's  Battery,  Garnett's  Battalion  of  the  army 
corps  commanded  by  Gen.  A.  P.  Hill.  Mr.  Gamage  was  wounded 
and  captured,  and  was  for  some  time  held  as  a  Federal  prisoner 
of  war  at  City  Point,  near  Petersburg,  Virginia. 

In  1859  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Gamage  and 
Miss  Bell  Sarah  Williams,  daughter  of  Rev.  Peter  Williams,  of 
Northampton  County,  Virginia,  her  father  having  been  a  clergy- 
man of  the  Methodist  Church  and  having  been  a  descendant  of 
Henry  Williams,  who  settled  on  the  Dale  Gi-ant  in  Northamton 
County,  he  having  been  a  brother  of  Roger  Williams,  the 
founder  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island.     Mrs.  Gamage,  venerable 


212  VIRGINIA 

in  years,  continues  to  maintain  her  home  in  Norfolk  and  was 
long  a  gracious  figure  in  its  social  and  cultural  activities,  besides 
being  a  devout  member  of  the  Methodist  Church.  She  is  a  grand- 
daughter, on  the  maternal  side,  of  Thomas  Clay,  who  bought 
part  of  the  historic  Arlington  estate  from  the  Custis  family. 

John  W.  Gamage,  eldest  of  the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
John  0.  Gamage,  married  Miss  Fannie  Camp,  of  Petersburg, 
Virginia,  and  he  continued  as  a  representative  business  man 
of  Norfolk  until  his  death.  Albert  E.,  the  second  son,  was  asso- 
ciated with  his  father  in  business  and  was  about  forty  years 
of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death.  Mary  Bell,  eldest  of  the  daugh- 
ters, died  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years.  Miss  Nancy  Clay 
Gamage  assumed  control  of  the  business  interests  of  her  father 
at  the  time  of  his  death  and  is  now  president  of  the  John  0. 
Gamage  business,  which  was  established  many  years  ago,  and 
is  engaged  in  the  building  material  business  of  wholesale  order. 
Miss  Gamage  has  proven  herself  amply  able  to  maintain  the 
honors  of  the  family  name  in  both  civic  and  business  affairs  and 
is  a  popular  figure  in  both  social  and  business  circles  in  her 
native  city,  where  she  is  a  member  of  the  Woman's  Club  and 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  besides  being  a  zealous  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Ida  B.,  next  younger  of 
the  daughters,  was  graduated  from '  the  Maryland  Institute 
of  Art  and  was  twenty-three  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her 
death.  Miss  Edna  Sue,  youngest  of  the  children,  was  graduated 
in  1916  from  the  training  school  for  nurses  maintained  by  the 
Protestant  Hospital  in  Norfolk,  and  as  a  nurse  she  served  with 
the  University  of  Virginia  Corps  in  the  World  war  period.  She 
and  her  sister  Nancy  C.  maintain  a  home  in  Norfolk,  Virginia. 

Samuel  Horace  Hawes,  whose  record  as  one  of  the  leading 
merchants  and  business  men  of  the  City  of  Richmond  for  over 
fifty  years  is  recalled  by  all  the  older  residents  of  the  city,  was 
a  fine  example  of  Virginia  citizenship  and  a  man  of  distinguished 
family  connections. 

He  was  born  in  Powhatan  County,  Virginia,  June  5,  1838, 
and  died  at  Richmond  February  13,  1922,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
four.  His  father,  Samuel  Pierce  Hawes,  was  born  in  Dorchester, 
Massachusetts,  in  1799,  and  was  sixteen  years  of  age  when  he 
came  to  Richmond  in  1815.  In  1845  he  established  a  coal  busi- 
ness in  the  city,  and  was  active  in  that  line  of  commercial  work 
until  his  death.  Samuel  Pierce  Hawes  married  Judith  Ann 
Smith,  of  Virginia.  They  had  a  family  of  eight  children.  One 
of  these  was  Rev.  Dr.  Herbert  H.  Hawes.  Another,  Mary  Vir- 
ginia, was  one  of  the  most  widely  known  American  women  of 
letters,  under  the  pen  name  Marion  Harland.  She  married  the 
Rev.  Edward  Payson  Terhune. 

Samuel  Horace  Hawes  was  educated  in  public  schools  in 
Richmond  and  as  a  youth  became  associated  with  his  father's 
coal  business.  He  took  active  charge  of  the  business  at  his 
father's  death.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  war  he  enlisted  in 
the  Richmond  Howitzers,  and  was  in  the  service  four  years. 
During  the  last  thirteen  months  of  the  war  he  was  a  prisoner  at 
Fort  Delaware  and  later  at  Morris  Island,  South  Carolina.  He 
held  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant.  After  the  war  he  returned  to 
Richmond  and  thereafter  gave  his  active  attention  to  his  busi- 
ness affairs. 

He  was  a  director  of  the  State  Planters  Bank  of  Richmond 
for  many  years  and  for  two  terms  president  of  the  Chamber  of 


ayr~eSy'^^(^-<^<^^^c£hl^ 


VIRGINIA  213 

Commerce.  He  was  on  the  Police  Benevolent  Association  board 
and  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  board  of  the  Male  Orphan 
Asylum.  Mr.  Hawes  used  the  prosperity  gained  in  business  in 
many  ways  for  the  benefit  of  the  community  in  which  he  lived. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Westmoreland  Club  and  of  Lee  Chap- 
ter No.  1,  United  Confederate  Veterans. 

On  October  3,  1867,  he  married  Miss  Martha  C.  Heath,  of 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  where  she  was  born  and  educated.  She 
died  February  13,  1897.  Her  father,  S.  R.  W.  Heath,  was  a  mer- 
chant and  president  of  the  Firemen's  Insurance  Company  of 
Newark.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hawes  had  three  children.  Horace 
Sterling  Hawes,  the  oldest,  was  educated  in  Rutgers  College  at 
New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  and  is  a  merchant  at  Richmond. 
He  married  Mary  McCaw,  daughter  of  William  McCaw,  of 
Richmond,  and  has  two  children:  Mary  McCaw,  wife  of  Ran- 
dolph Cai'ter  Harrison  and  mother  of  two  children,  Randolph 
Carter,  Jr.,  and  Mary  Ann ;  and  Ann  Sterling,  wife  of  A.  E. 
Willson  Harrison  and  mother  of  a  son,  Horace  Hawes.  The  sec- 
ond son.  Heath  Woodruff  Hawes,  is  deceased.  The  daughter, 
Miss  Katharine  H.  Hawes,  who  resides  at  3211  Chamberlayne 
Avenue  in  Richmond,  was  educated  in  the  Ely  School  in  New 
York  City.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Richmond  Woman's  Club,  is 
a  life  member  of  the  Association  for  the  Preservation  of  Virginia 
Antiquities,  and  for  seven  years  was  president  of  the  Richmond 
Y.  W.  C.  A. 

Samuel  Horace  Hawes'  second  wife  was  Mrs.  Mary  Mayo 
Blair  Fitts,  widow  of  James  Henry  Fitts. 

Charles  McCulloch,  physician  and  surgeon,  is  one  of  the 
prominent  citizens  of  Lexington  and  has  practiced  medicine  in 
the  state  nearly  thirty  years. 

Doctor  McCulloch  is  a  grandson  of  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished figures  in  American  finance,  Hugh  McCulloch,  who 
was  a  native  of  Maine  and  in  1833  located  at  Fort  Wayne,  Indi- 
ana, where  he  soon  became  cashier  and  manager  of  the  Fort 
Wayne  branch  of  the  State  Bank  of  Indiana.  In  1856  he  was 
made  president  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  from 
that  post  resigned  in  May,  1863,  to  become  comptroller  of  the 
currency  under  Secretary  of  Treasury  Chase,  and  had  the  task 
of  enormous  responsibility  of  organizing  the  newly  created 
bureau  and  putting  into  operation  the  National  Banking  System. 
He  was  given  the  chief  credit  for  making  that  transition  without 
friction  or  delay,  and  he  was  also  given  high  credit  for  funding 
the  national  debt  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  war.  In  March,  1865, 
he  was  appointed  secretary  of  the  treasury  by  President  Lincoln, 
serving  until  March,  1869,  and  in  October,  1884,  was  again 
appointed  secretary  of  treasury  at  the  close  of  President 
Arthur's  term,  being  the  only  man  who  ever  held  that  oflRce  by 
two  appointments.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  Hamilton 
National  Bank  of  Fort  Wayne,  and  his  son  Charles  succeeded 
him  in  the  bank,  and  his  grandson,  Ross  McCulloch,  is  still  head 
of  the  institution. 

Dr.  Charles  McCulloch  was  born  at  Fort  Wavne,  Indiana, 
June  2,  1873,  son  of  Frederick  H.  and  Caroline  (Riddle)  McCul- 
loch, his  father  a  native  of  Fort  Wayne  and  his  mother  of  Cin- 
cinnati. Her  father,  Adam  Riddle,  was  also  born  at  Cincinnati 
and  was  a  leading  lawj'er  of  that  city.  Frederick  McCulloch  was 
in  business  as  a  merchant  at  Fort  Wayne  and  after  coming  to 
Virginia  followed   farming  for   over  forty  years.     He   was  a 


214  VIRGINIA 

vestryman  in  the  Episcopal  Church  and  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  Order.  Of  his  three  children  two  are  hving:  Doctor 
Charles  and  Elizabeth,  the  latter  of  whom  is  the  wife  of  Dr. 
James  Morrison,  of  Lynchburg. 

Charles  McCulloch  was  given  liberal  educational  advantages. 
He  was  a  student  in  the  University  of  Virginia  during  1891-92, 
and  while  there  became  a  member  of  the  Phi  Kappa  Psi  fra- 
ternity. His  first  call  to  a  professional  career  was  in  veterinary 
surgery,  and  he  graduated  in  that  subject  in  New  York  in  1894. 
He  practiced  for  a  short  time  and  then  entered  the  medical 
department  of  George  Washington  University,  taking  his 
diploma  in  1897.  He  first  practiced  at  Howardsville,  Virginia, 
and  after  two  years  became  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  the 
Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  at  Blacksburg,  where  he  remained 
three  years.  From  1901  to  1922  he  was  busy  with  a  very  exten- 
sive country  practice,  with  home  at  Howardsville,  his  profes- 
sional work  taking  him  over  three  counties.  Doctor  McCulloch 
in  1922  retired  from  his  profession  and  during  the  next  five 
years  lived  on  a  farm  near  Lexington.  He  resumed  general 
practice  in  1928.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Rockbridge  County, 
Virginia  State  and  American  Medical  Associations. 

Doctor  McCulloch  married  Rosa  Bruce  Anderson,  of  Rich- 
mond, Virginia.  They  have  two  children,  the  son  Hugh  McCul- 
loch, a  graduate  of  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute,  being  a 
salesman  for  the  Frigidaire  and  Delco  Light  products.  The 
daughter,  Nancy  B.,  is  a  student  in  St.  Hilda's  Hall  at  Charles- 
ton, West  Virginia.  The  mother  of  these  children  died  in  1914, 
and  Doctor  McCulloch  later  married  Ruth  Floyd  Anderson,  of 
Lexington,  daughter  of  Major  William  A.  Anderson,  former 
attorney-general  of  Virginia. 

John  Thomas  White.  The  late  John  Thomas  Wliite,  of 
Norfolk,  was  a  well  known  figure  in  its  business  and  civic  life, 
and  in  addition  to  managing  his  large  oyster  planting  and  pack- 
ing business,  he  was  concerned  with  other  matters  of  general 
importance,  in  all  of  his  operations  showing  keenness  of  per- 
ception, excellent  judgment  and  cooperation  in  public  eff'ort.  He 
was  a  man  of  broad  and  abundant  sympathies,  always  working 
for  better  conditions  wherever  public  need  was  recognized,  and 
his  memory  is  tenderly  cherished  by  those  who  knew  and  appre- 
ciated him. 

John  Thomas  White  was  born  in  Mathews  County,  Virginia, 
December  4,  1845,  and  died  in  Jacksonville,  Florida,  March  7, 
1919.  He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Sarah  (Bohanon)  White,  grand- 
son of  Capt.  James  White,  captain  of  a  company  in  the  War  of 
1812-,  and  great-grandson  of  John  C.  White,  who  was  a  Revo- 
lutionary soldier.  Through  his  mother  John  Thomas  White 
descended  in  a  direct  line  from  Ambrose  Bohanon,  who  settled 
in  Virginia  in  1660,  taking  up  a  land  grant  in  Kingston  Parish, 
now  Mathews  County.  Ambrose  Bohanon,  a  son  of  the  above, 
was  quartermaster  in  General  Washington's  army  during  the 
American  Revolution.  Joseph  Bohanon  held  the  rank  of  colonel 
in  the  Continental  army.  He  and  his  wife  had  eight  children 
born  to  their  marriage. 

Growing  to  manhood  in  his  native  county,  John  Thomas 
White  attended  its  schools,  and  after  his  education  was  completed 
he  went  to  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland  and  was  there  engaged 
in  merchandising  until  1886,  when  he  sold  his  interests  and, 
coming  to  Norfolk,  engaged  in  the  oyster  planting  and  packing 


VIRGINIA  215 

business,  in  which  he  continued  until  hia  retirement  in  1918, 
although  he  retained  an  interest  in  the  business  until  his  death. 
He  was  long  a  member  of  the  City  Council,  and  never  lost  his  in- 
terest in  the  city's  progress,  nor  in  the  success  of  the  Democratic 
party,  of  which  he  was  a  loyal  supporter  all  his  life.  A  high 
Mason,  he  was  a  past  master  of  the  Blue  Lodge  and  was  advanced 
through  the  various  bodies  of  the  Scottish  Rite  to  the  thirty- 
second  degree.     He  was  a  member  of  the  Disciples  Church. 

On  May  29,  1873,  Mr.  White  married  Miss  Rebecca  Jane 
Furniss,  born,  reared  and  educated  in  Somerset  County,  Mai-y- 
land.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Ephraim  and  Amanda  Furniss,  the 
former  being  a  brick  mason  by  trade.  Mrs.  White  is  the  young- 
est of  the  nine  children  born  to  her  parents.  The  following 
children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  White:  Scotia  Ann,  \Yho 
married  Crawford  Nottingham,  a  retired  business  man  of  Nor- 
folk, was  educated  in  Princess  Anne,  Maryland ;  Ernest  Floyd, 
now  deceased,  who  was  educated  in  the  private  schools  of  Nor- 
folk, married  Mary  Hundley;  Rooker  John,  a  practicing  physi- 
cian, at  Keller,  Virginia,  was  graduated  in  medicine  at  the 
Medical  College  of  Virginia  at  Richmond  and  is  taking  a  post- 
graduate course  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore, 
Mai'yland,  was  active  in  the  World  war,  and  married  Fairy 
Mapp ;  Harry  Fletcher,  who  attended  the  medical  school  of  the 
University  of  Virginia,  was  active  in  the  World  war,  is  now 
major  in  the  United  States  Public  Health  Service  of  the  Regular 
Army,  married  Mrs.  Jean  Holmes ;  Eunice  Virginia,  who  was 
educated  in  Blackstone  College,  married  H.  H.  Johnson,  an 
insurance  man.  Although  Mr.  White  has  been  dead  for  some 
years  the  force  of  his  example  remains  and  helps  to  make  better 
the  lives  of  those  among  whom  he  once  moved. 

William  John  Matroni,  who  lived  his  life  at  Lynchburg, 
was  a  popular  merchant  and  business  man  and  citizen  of  that 
community.  Since  his  death  Mrs.  Matroni  has  moved  to  Norfolk, 
where  she  has  her  home  at  308  East  Twenty-sixth  Street,  and 
some  of  her  children  also  reside  in  that  city. 

Mr.  Matroni  was  born  at  Lynchburg  in  June,  1865,  and  died 
in  that  city  April  23,  1919.  He  was  the  second  son  of  nine 
children  of  Thomas  and  Levinia  Matroni.  His  father  was  born 
in  Italy,  came  to  America  and  settled  at  Lynchburg  just  before 
the  Civil  war,  and  spent  his  active  life  as  a  merchant. 

William  J.  Matroni  was  educated  in  Lynchburg  schools  and  at 
the  age  of  nineteen  took  up  a  business  career  as  a  general  mer- 
chant with  a  store  at  the  corner  of  Salem  and  Jackson  streets. 
To  a  general  stock  of  merchandise  he  subsequently  added  coal 
and  wood,  and  had  a  continually  expanding  business  in  those 
lines  for  over  thirty  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Retail 
Merchants  Association  and  Retail  Coal  Dealers  Association,  and 
was  a  man  of  marked  charity,  liberal  with  the  use  of  his  means 
and  influence. 

He  married  at  Lynchburg  December  28,  1893,  Ellen  Nora 
Monahan,  of  that  city,  where  she  was  reared  and  educated.  She 
was  the  oldest  of  eight  children  of  Patrick  and  Nora  (O'Con- 
nell)  Monahan.  Her  father  was  born  in  Limerick,  Ireland,  and 
settled  in  Lynchburg  in  1852,  spending  many  years  of  his  life 
in  the  railroad  service.  Mrs.  Matroni  had  a  family  of  seven 
children.  Mary  Ethel,  the  oldest,  is  the  wife  of  L.  F.  White,  of 
Noi'folk,  and  their  three  children  are  Leroy,  Mary  and  Annie; 
Miss  Annie  resides  with  her  mother ;  Millie  married  Curley  Han- 


216  VIRGINIA 

son,  of  Norfolk,  and  has  a  son,  Ernest ;  Virginia  married  Hugh 
Hamilton,  of  Norfolk,  and  has  one  son,  Hugh,  Jr.;  Ruth  is  the 
wife  of  Mack  M.  Lee,  a  railroad  man ;  Louise  Margaret  married 
Clarence  Brimer,  a  business  man  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  they 
have  one  son,  Clarence,  Jr.;  and  the  youngest  of  the  family  is 
George.  The  late  Mr.  Matroni  was  affiliated  with  the  Fraternal 
Order  of  Eagles,  was  a  Democrat,  and  Mrs.  Matroni  and  her 
children  are  members  of  St.  Mary's  Catholic  Church.  Her  son- 
in-law,  L.  F.  White,  is  a  veteran  of  the  World  war  and  was 
gassed  while  overseas. 

Bernard  Clifton  Rhea  was  a  scion  of  a  sterling  Scotch 
family  that  was  founded  in  Virginia  in  the  early  Colonial  period, 
its  representatives  having  given  loyal  support  to  the  Colonies 
in  that  great  struggle  for  independence  that  is  recorded  in  history 
as  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

Bernard  Clifton  Rhea  was  born  in  Norfolk,  January  1,  1874, 
was  here  reared  and  educated,  and  here  he  passed  his  entire 
life,  his  death  having  occurred  February  20,  1927.  He  was  a 
son  of  John  Thomas  and  Virginia  (Tulane)  Rhea  and  his  father 
was  long  and  successfully  engaged  in  mercantile  enterprise  in 
Norfolk.  The  Tulane  family  was  founded  in  America  by  a  wid- 
owed mother  and  her  two  sons,  her  husband  having  been  a 
magistrate  in  Ireland  and  having  there  been  killed  by  enemies 
who  were  in  ambush.  It  was  a  member  of  this  family  that 
founded  the  great  Tulane  University  in  New  Orleans,  and  of 
this  distinguished  citizen  the  mother  of  the  subject  of  this  me- 
moir was  a  niece. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  years  Bernard  C.  Rhea  entered  the 
service  of  the  municipal  government  of  his  native  city  by  as- 
suming a  position  under  the  late  John  M.  Broughton,  who  for 
the  long  period  of  thirty-three  years  was  the  efficient  and  hon- 
ored superintendent  of  the  cemeteries  maintained  under  direct 
supervision  of  the  city  government.  Mr.  Rhea  eventually  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  Mr.  Broughton,  and  he  continued  his  service 
with  the  cemetery  department  until  the  close  of  his  life.  He 
proved  a  loyal  and  capable  executive  in  this  connection,  and  in 
his  native  community  his  circle  of  friends  was  co-extensive  with 
that  of  his  acquaintances.  Mr.  Rhea  was  public  spirited  as  a 
citizen  and  was  a  Democrat  in  political  adherency. 

June  16,  1903,  recorded  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Rhea  and  Miss 
Eleanora  Lee  Broughton,  who  was  born,  reared  and  educated 
in  Norfolk,  and  who  is  a  daughter  of  John  Manning  and  Susan 
Rogers  (Taylor)  Broughton,  the  latter  a  daughter  of  Beverley 
Kennon  Taylor,  who  served  the  Confederacy  as  a  lieutenant 
in  the  Atlantic  Coast  Artillery  during  the  period  of  the  Civil 
war  and  whose  father  had  served  as  a  midshipman  in  the 
United  States  Navy,  under  Commodore  Beverley  Kennon  in 
the  War  of  1812.  Mrs.  Rhea's  mother,  Susan  Rogers  Taylor, 
was  direct  in  descent  of  William  Clayton  Rogers,  who  married 
Priscilla  Valentine.  Arthur  Tulane,  an  uncle  of  Mr.  Rhea  on 
the  maternal  side,  was  a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Confederacy  in 
the  war  between  the  states  of  the  North  and  the  South. 

John  M.  Broughton  continued  to  maintain  his  home  in  Nor- 
folk until  his  death,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years,  and  it  has 
already  been  noted  that  he  gave  fully  a  third  of  a  century  of 
service  as  superintendent  of  the  city's  cemetery  department. 
In  earlier  years  he  had  here  been  a  prominent  contractor  and 
builder,  and  in  the  period  of  1892-94  he  served  with  characteris- 


VIRGINIA  217 

tic  loyalty  as  a  member  of  the  City  Council.  He  was  a  stalwart 
in  the  local  ranks  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  was  affiliatsd 
with  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  Independ- 
ent Order  of  Odd  P'ellows  and  the  Royal  Arcanum.  Mr.  Brough- 
ton  was  a  son  of  William  Broughton,  who  was  born  in  Princess 
Anne  County,  Virginia,  in  ISOi,  and  whose  father  was  one  of 
four  brothers  who  came  from  England,  and  one  ssttling  in 
Georiiia,  one  in  North  Carolina  and  two  made  ssttlsrncnt  in 
Virginia  prior  to  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  His  mother's 
maiden  nama  was  Penelops  Jarvis.  Since  the  deatJi  of  her  hus- 
band LIrs.  Rhea  has  continued  to  maintain  her  home  in  her 
native  city,  where  she  has  ever  been  a  popular  factor  in  social 
circles,  and  bar  residenco  is  at  119  West  Eleventh  Streot.  The 
subjecc  of  this  memoir  is  survived  also  by  one  child,  Virginia 
Lroughton,  who  is  the  wife  of  Fran:;  ±  orter  Lavdar,  her  husband 
being  employed  in  the  Norfolk  National  Bank  of  Commerce  and 
Trust,  lur.  and  Mrs.  Lawler  have  a  son,  Beverley  Rhea,  born 
November  3,  1925. 

RoLERT  Lee  May,  vital  and  progressive  business  man  and 
loyal  ciui^en  of  Alexandria,  has  shov/n  exceptional  initiative 
ability  and  versatile  resourcefulness  in  the  development  of  the 
virlua,  lAibiic  utility  service  represented  in  the  Alexandria- 
Bareroit-Washiniiton  Rapid  Transit  Company  and  the  Rich- 
monu-V'/a  h.ngton  Motor  Ccaihas,  Inc.  Of  the  former  modern 
line  of  motor-coach  transports  Mr.  May  is  the  owner,  and  of  the 
latcer  ociijoration  he  is  tne  president.  Throu:ih  the  admirable 
suvice  iji.en  by  the  t.,'o  concerns,  thus  founded  and  developed 
by  Mr.  ..-.ay,  Alexandria  and  Barcroft  are  given  direct  motor 
ti.an„pOrcat.on  facilities  to  the  national  capital  and  similar  ser- 
vice is  e.vtanded  betvv^een  the  nation's  capital  city  and  the  historic 
old  cit^  tiic»t  is  the  capital  of  Virginia. 

L.r.  May  was  born  in  Spotsylvania  County,  Virginia,  i^Iarch 
13,  Ih^k,  and  is  a  son  of  i.. arcin  Luther  and  Susie  A.  (Clore) 
May,  b  cli  ;L;ewise  natives  oi  the  county.  Martin  L.  May  was 
engaged  a  number  of  years  in  the  work  of  his  trade,  that  of 
Cc*rp.,ncor,  priOr  to  enttr.ng  service  as  a  member  of  the  police 
force  in  the  City  of  V.  ashingt^n,  D.  C,  and  after  his  retirement 
from  tii-3  constabulary  service  he  resumed  work  at  his  trade. 
He  was  ui  the  Dominion  of  Canada  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and 
his  wiaow  died  in  1.^20. 

Robort  Lee  May  was  a  lad  of  twelve' years  at  the  time  of  the 
family  removal  to  Washington,  D.  C,  and  in  the  schools  of  that 
city  he  received  the  major  part  of  his  youthful  education.  As 
a  young  man  he  there  gave  hve  years  of  service  as  car  conductor 
on  the  lines  of  the  Capital  Traction  Company,  and  he  then 
joined  the  metropolitan  police  department  in  Washington,  his 
service  with  which  continued  e.even  years.  He  resigned  his 
pcs.tion  at  the  time  of  the  nation's  entrance  into  the  World  war, 
joined  the  secret-service  departmant  of  the  Government  and  had 
the  distinction  of  serving  as  bodyguard  to  President  Woodrow 
Wilson  during  the  period  of  the  war,  his  resignation  having 
occurred  after  the  armistice  had  brought  the  great  conflict  to  a 
close.  It  was  while  he  was  thus  engaged  that  a  sequence  of 
circumstances  led  to  his  initiation  of  the  motor-transport  enter- 
prise through  the  medium  of  which  he  has  since  gained  splendid 
success  and  prestige.  While  engaged  in  Washington  he  had 
shown  his  loyalty  to  his  native  state  by  retaining  his  residence 
at  Barcroft,  a  little  Virginia  hamlet  about  five  miles  distant  from 


218  VIRGINIA 

the  White  House,  and  in  making  his  daily  trips  between  his 
home  and  the  capital  he  utilized  a  motorcycle.  A  casual  accident 
to  the  somewhat  decrepit  Ford  automobile  used  by  his  wife  led 
him  to  the  train  of  thought  that  brought  him  to  a  decision  to 
establish  and  operate  a  motor-bus  line  between  Barcroft  and 
Washington  for  the  accommodation  of  the  people  of  the  village 
and  those  residing  along  the  Columbia  turnpike.  Mr.  May,  with 
a  Reo  chassis,  fitted  up  a  sort  of  rudimentary  transport  that 
would  accommodate  about  twenty  persons  when  crowded,  and 
this  he  placed  in  commission  on  the  route,  while  he  himself 
officiated  as  driver.  The  first  trip  was  made  June  27,  1921, 
and  thus  was  given  inception  to  what  has  become  a  large  and 
important  enterprise  in  the  field  of  interurban  motor  trans- 
portation. The  year  1928  finds  five  motor  busses  in  operation 
on  the  Barcroft-Washington  line,  and  July  1,  1924,  Mr.  May 
expanded  his  business  by  estabhshing  his  line  between  Wash- 
ington and  Alexandria,  fine  de  luxe  cars  being  operated  on  this 
line  and  express  service  provided  during  rush  hours.  Mr.  May 
encountered  opposition  in  the  latter  project,  but  popular  senti- 
ment was  with  him,  as  the  pioneer,  and  he  eventually  gained 
control  of  the  interests  of  his  competitors  and  is  now  sole  owner 
of  the  Alexandria-Barcroft-Washington  Rapid  Transit  Com- 
pany, the  service  of  which  is  maintained  at  the  best  modern 
standard.  The  service  of  the  line  is  used  by  fully  3,000,000 
persons  annually. 

It  was  in  1926  that  Mr.  May  effected  the  organization  of 
the  Richmond-Washington  Motor  Coaches,  Incorporated,  and  the 
de  luxe  service  given  by  this  admirable  line  between  the  national 
capital  and  the  Virginia  capital  has  met  with  unqualified  popular 
approval  and  support,  the  while  it  constitutes  a  valuable  public 
utility  for  the  communities  through  which  the  line  passes.  Of 
this  corporation  Mr.  May  has  been  president  from  the  beginning, 
and  his  progressive  policies  have  been  the  force  through  which 
the  service  has  been  developed  and  perfected.  Mr.  May  has  been 
able  to  translate  his  thoughts  into  constructive  action  and  has 
made  an  outstanding  record  in  the  domain  of  national  motor 
transportation.  He  is  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  Virginia  Motor  Bus  Association,  at  the  time  of  this  writing, 
in  the  summer  of  1928,  and  is  a  member  of  the  transportation 
committee  of  the  Alexandria  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  main- 
tains his  home  in  Barcroft  and  his  busses  activities  have  con- 
tributed much  to  the  remarkable  development  and  progress  of 
that  place.  His  executive  headquarters  are  established  at  127 
North  Pitt  Street  in  the  City  of  Alexandria. 

Mr.  May  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  is  a  member  of  the  Rotary 
Club  of  Alexandria,  as  well  as  of  the  Old  Dominion  Club,  is 
affiliated  with  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  and  he  and  his  wife 
are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church,  though  he  was  reared  in 
the  faith  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  is  a 
stockholder  in  the  American  Fidelity  and  Casualty  Company  of 
Richmond. 

The  two  transportation  concerns  of  which  Mr.  May  is  the 
executive  head  maintain  at  Alexandria  a  monster  garage,  with 
a  floor  space  of  20,000  square  feet,  and  this  is  equipped  with  all 
facilities  for  the  repairing  of  the  motor  coaches  of  the  two  lines, 
more  than  fifty  busses  being  now  in  operation,  employment 
being  given  to  seventy  persons,  and  a  smaller  garage  being  main- 
tained in  the  City  of  Washington. 

October  12,  1904,  marked  the  marriage  of  Mr.  May  and  Miss 
Lulu  Jackson  Barr,  daughter  of  Lewis  J.  and  Virginia   (Jack- 


VIRGINIA  219 

son)  Barr,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Virginia  and  the  latter 
of  whom  was  a  descendant  of  Gen.  Stonewall  Jackson.  Mr. 
Barr  is  now  a  member  of  the  A.  B.  &  W.  Rapid  Transit  Com- 
pany, his  wife  having  died  in  November,  1887.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
May  have  two  children:  Beverly  Cornell,  who  was  born  in 
November.  1905,  is  now  associated  with  his  father's  business  in 
the  capacity  of  traffic  manager  and  as  vice-president  of  the  Rich- 
mond-Washington Motor  Coaches,  Inc.  He  married  Miss 
Margaret  Louise  Curtis,  and  they  have  two  children,  Robert 
Marshall,  born  October  15,  1925,  and  Martha  Lou,  born  Novem- 
ber 4,  1926.  Sidney  Alice,  younger  of  the  two  children  of  the 
subject  of  this  review,  was  born  January  1,  1907,  and  is  the  wife 
of  Virgil  Gaines,  who  is  a  director  and  second  vice-president  of 
the  Richmond-Washington  Motor  Coaches,  Inc. 

George  Allison,  Jr.,  was  one  of  the  valued  local  executives 
of  the  Virginia  Electric  &  Power  Company  in  the  City  of  Nor- 
folk at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  here  occurred  in  September, 
1912.  He  had  been  long  and  prominently  concerned  with  public 
utility  service  in  Virginia  and  had  made  a  record  of  successful 
achievement  in  this  connection,  the  while  his  sterling  charac- 
teristics gave  him  a  strong  hold  upon  the  confidence  and  good 
will  of  all  who  knew  him. 

Mr.  Allison  was  born  in  the  City  of  Knoxville,  Tennessee, 
in  November,  1870,  the  Allison  family  having  been  established 
at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  prior  to  the  Civil  war  and  the 
ancestral  line  having  been  marked  by  kinship  with  the  dis- 
tinguished Harrison  family  that  gave  two  Presidents  to  the 
United  States,  Gen.  William  Henry  Harrison  and  Benjamin  Har- 
rison. The  subject  of  this  memoir  was  a  son  of  George  and 
Margaret  (Parham)  Allison,  his  father  having  been  a  skilled 
electrician  and  having  been  for  a  long  period  in  navy  yard 
service. 

Mr.  Allison  received  most  of  his  early  educational  discipline 
in  the  City  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  where  the  family  home  was 
maintained  in  the  period  of  his  boyhood  and  early  youth.  His 
father  was  for  some  time  a  construction  foreman  for  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company,  and  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
gained  practical  experience  by  assisting  his  father  in  this  con- 
nection. Thereafter  he  was  for  ten  years  in  the  employ  of  the 
Southern  Bell  Telephone  Company,  his  next  connection,  with 
the  Southern  States  Telephone  Company,  was  of  about  equal 
duration,  and  finally  he  entei'ed  the  service  of  the  Virginia  Elec- 
tric &  Power  Company,  with  which  he  continued  his  association 
until  the  time  of  his  death. 

Mr.  Allison  gained  high  reputation  as  a  technical  and  prac- 
tical expert  in  the  various  phases  of  applied  electricity,  and  his 
service  in  this  connection  was  ever  marked  by  loyalty  and  effi- 
ciency. He  had  no  ambition  for  the  activities  of  practical  poli- 
tics, iDut  was  a  staunch  supporter  of  the  cause  of  the  Democratic 
party.  He  was  a  communicant  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  his  widow,  who  still  resides  in  Norfolk,  is  a  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  faith  of  which  she  was 
reared. 

In  June,  1892,  Mr.  Allison  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Minnie  Martin  Davis,  who  was  born  and  reared  in  Prince  Ed- 
ward County,  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  John  W.  and  Sarah  Eliza- 
beth Davis,  her  father  having  been  a  substantial  farmer  of 
that  county  and  a  scion  of  a  family  that  was  founded  in  Vir- 


220  VIRGINIA 

ginia  in  the  early  Colonial  period,  the  lineage  tracing  back  to 
sterling  Scotch  origin.  Prior  to  the  Civil  war  members  of  the 
Davis  family  held  large  landed  estates  and  were  extensive  ex- 
ponents of  plantation  industry  in  Charlotte  County.  The  father 
of  Mrs.  Allison  gave  loyal  service  in  support  of  the  Confederacy 
during  the  period  of  the  Civil  war,  his  assignment  having  been 
to  the  commissary  department  of  the  Confederate  army.  Con- 
cerning the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Allison  the  following  brief 
data  are  available :  Percy  E.  is  in  the  service  of  the  Virginia 
Electric  &  Power  Company,  as  is  also  the  next  younger  son, 
George  L.,  who  likewise  maintains  his  home  in  Norfolk,  the 
maiden  name  of  his  wife  having  been  Mildred  Dillon  and  their 
two  children  being  daughters,  Mildred  and  Jane.  Robert,  who 
is,  like  his  older  brothers,  associated  with  the  same  utility  com- 
pany, as  v/as  the  honored  father,  married  Miss  Rae  Lipschutz, 
and  their  one  child  is  Frank.  Minnie,  older  of  the  two  daughters, 
is  the  wife  of  Vincent  Thomas,  who  is  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business  in  Norfolk,  and  they  have  two  children,  Vincent,  Jr., 
and  William.  Margaret,  the  younger  daughter,  is  the  wife  of 
Erskine  Blackburne,  who  is  in  the  service  of  the  Norfolk  Loan 
&  Bank  Company.  Frank,  youngest  of  the  sons,  likewise  is 
connected  with  the  Virginia  Electric  &  Power  Company. 

Luther  Paul  Baum.  The  knowledge  that  a  man  is  judged 
for  what  he  accomplishes  and  the  effect  his  work  has  on  others, 
not  alone  with  reference  to  himself,  should  encourage  the  average 
American  to  put  forth  his  best  efforts  so  that  when  he  has 
passed  from  this  earthly  sphere  he  will  be  remembered  with 
kindly  interest  and  respectful  regard.  Many  opportunities  are 
within  the  grasp  of  every  man  who  is  determined  to  live  an 
honest  and  upright  life,  and  among  the  men  of  Norfolk  who 
during  his  lifetime  set  an  example  to  his  fellow  citizens  not 
only  as  a  private  citizen,  but  also  as  an  able  public  official  was 
the  late  Luther  Paul  Baum.  For  some  years  he  was  connected 
with  the  Norfolk  County  engineer's  office,  and  his  service  in 
this  particular  is  sufficient  evidence  of  his  ability  and  fidelity 
to  duty,  but  it  is  but  due  to  his  memory  to  state  that  he  in  his 
public  capacity  displayed  only  the  same  traits  which  charac- 
terized his  private  life — strict  attention  to  the  details  of  his 
work  and  thoughtful  and  intelligent  management,  qualities  which 
could  not  fail  to  bring  about  satisfactory  results. 

Luther  Paul  Baum  was  born  in  Princess  Anne  County,  Vir- 
ginia, in  October,  1861,  and  died  in  Norfolk  in  April,  1904.  He 
WES  educated  in  Reynoldson  College,  Gates  County,  North  Caro- 
lina, but  he  did  not  complete  his  collegiate  course,  as  he  returned 
home  and  began  farming  on  the  portion  of  his  father's  estate 
that  he  had  inherited  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death.  There 
he  remained  until  1887,  and  in  that  year  came  to  Norfolk  County, 
Virginia,  and  here  he  continued  his  farming,  but  subsequently 
moved  to  the  City  of  Norfolk  to  assume  the  duties  assigned  him 
in  the  office  of  the  county  engineer,  and  it  was  while  he  was  in 
office  that  he  died. 

In  February,  1884,  Mr.  Baum  married  Miss  Penelope  Jack- 
son, of  Norfolk  County,  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  William  A.  and 
Penelope  (Pendleton)  Jackson.  Mr.  Jackson  was  a  landowner 
and  lumberman  of  Norfolk  County,  and  one  of  the  leading  cit- 
izens of  this  section  of  the  state.  Eight  children  were  born  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Baum,  namely :  Renan  C,  who  is  an  electrical  en- 
gineer, married  Miss  Emma  Patterson,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl- 


VIRGINIA  221 

\ania,  and  they  have  two  children,  Elizabeth  and  Marjory;  Mary 
Pendleton,  who  married  Temple  L.  Gatewood,  of  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, an  extensive  drayman  and  transfer  man,  owning  his  own 
business,  has  no  children ;  Harvey  A.,  who  is  vice  president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Atlantic  Commission  Company,  married 
Miss  Gladys  Lanning,  and  they  have  three  children,  John  Minch, 
Harvey  A.,  Junior,  and  Phyllis  Matilda ;  Lillie,  who  married 
John  Plant,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  has  two  children,  John 
and  Elizabeth ;  Christie,  who  is  a  business  man  of  Norfolk,  is 
a  veteran  of  the  World  war,  during  which  he  served  overseas 
with  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixteenth  Infantry,  A.  E.  F.,  was 
wounded  and  gassed  in  the  Argonne  offensive,  married  Miss 
Carolyn  Rapeltz,  and  they  have  one  child,  Carolyn  Penelope ; 
Nellie  Bryan  Baum ;  Luther  Paul,  who  is  a  business  man,  married 
Miss  Hattie  Schultz ;  and  William  A.  Jackson  Baum. 

Mr.  Baum  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Arcanum  and  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  For  years  he  belonged  to 
the  Baptist  Church,  of  which  his  wife  is  still  a  member.  She 
is  very  active  in  the  Woman's  Club  and  the  Art  Club  Society. 
The  Baum  family  is  of  German  origin,  and  was  established  in 
Virginia  when  it  was  still  a  colony  of  England.  The  Pendletons 
came  to  Virginia  from  England  at  a  very  early  day,  and  took 
possession  of  a  grant  of  12,000  acres  of  land  in  New  Kent  County. 
From  that  time  to  the  present  those  bearing  the  name  have  been 
active  factors  in  the  professions  and  public  life,  and  all  of  them 
have  been  honorable  and  upright  gentlemen.  The  Jackson  fam- 
ily was  early  established  in  Norfolk  County,  and  its  members 
have  also  been  in  the  public  eye  ever  since,  holding  positions 
of  importance  and  acquitting  themselves  most  creditably.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  months  Mrs.  Baum  maintains  her  residence  at 
204  Nineteenth  Street,  Virginia  Beach,  but  after  October  1  of 
each  year  she  lives  at  1017  Colonial  Avenue,  Norfolk.  Her 
position  in  society  is  well  established  and  she  is  most  highly 
regarded  by  all  with  whom  she  is  associated.  The  children  are 
a  credit  to  her  and  her  husband,  and  she  is  naturally  very 
proud  of  them  and  what  they  are  accomplishing. 

Rev.  John  Willi.^mson  Daugherty.  Both  at  Richmond  and 
in  Norfolk  County  the  name  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Williamson 
Daugherty  is  held  in  affectionate  memory  for  the  zeal  and  earn- 
estness of  his  ministry  and  the  work  he  did  in  building  up  the 
institutions  of  organized  Christianity. 

Doctor  Daugherty  was  born  at  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  in 
January,  1856,  and  died  at  Richmond  in  April,  1909.  His  grand- 
father was  a  native  of  Ireland  and  came  to  America  and  settled 
in  Maryland  after  the  Revolutionary  war.  The  Daughertys  were 
for  several  generations  identified  with  the  sea.  Doctor  Daugh- 
erty's  father,  John  Fenton  Daugherty,  was  a  sea  captain.  The 
mother  of  Rev.  Doctor  Daugherty  was  Lucy  Bassett,  member 
of  the  old  Colonial  family  of  Bassetts  of  Williamsburg,  a  family 
that  gave  soldiers  to  the  Revolution  and  men  high  in  poltical 
station. 

John  Williamson  Daugherty  was  the  oldest  of  three  children. 
For  several  years  he  clerked  in  stores,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  engaged  in  the  commission  business.  He  followed  an  active 
business  career  until  he  was  thirty  years  of  age,  when  he  left 
commercial  pursuits  to  enter  the  ministry,  and  was  ordained 
and  had  as  his  first  charge  the  Court  Street  Baptist  Church  of 
Portsmouth.    Later  he  was  assigned  to  the  South  Street  Baptist 


222  VIRGINIA 

Church  for  six  years.  While  in  those  pastorates  he  was  able 
to  raise  practically  all  of  the  donation  for  the  addition  to  the 
Court  Street  Baptist  Church  Sunday  School  building  and  secured 
most  of  the  fund  for  the  original  building  of  the  South  Street 
Baptist  Church.  On  leaving  Portsmouth  he  became  pastor  of 
the  Fulton  Baptist  Church  at  Richmond.  In  1896  Doctor 
Daugherty  withdrew  from  the  Baptist  communion  and  organized 
the  Apostolic  Chui'ch  at  Fulton,  in  Richmond,  and  devoted  his 
full  time  and  energies  to  this  denomination  until  his  death.  He 
was  a  Democrat  in  politics. 

Doctor  Daugherty  first  married  Margaret  Guy,  of  Ports- 
mouth. She  died  leaving  five  children  :  Lucius ;  John  Williamson, 
Jr.,  now  a  physician  at  Flushing,  Long  Island ;  Thomas  B.,  a 
physician  engaged  in  practice  at  Fayetteville,  West  Virginia; 
Elizabeth  B.,  wife  of  Frank  B.  King,  of  Orlando,  Florida ;  and 
Margaret  H.,  wife  of  Fred  Bates,  of  Richmond.  The  son,  John 
W.,  Jr.,  served  with  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  in  the  Medical 
Corps  of  the  United  States  Navy  during  the  World  war,  con- 
tinuing in  the  service  altogether  for  three  and  a  half  years. 

Doctor  Daugherty  married  in  January,  1894,  at  Portsmouth, 
Miss  Minnie  Lee  Fulford,  of  Portsmouth,  her  father  being  a 
descendant  of  Sir  John  Celestus  Fulford,  who  was  with  the 
King's  Court  of  James  II,  and  who  later  settled  on  the  Virginia 
coast,  acquiring  a  grant  of  land.  Capt.  John  C.  Fulford  was 
captain  of  the  Portsmouth  Grays  in  the  Confederate  army,  and 
married  Virginia  C.  Davis.  Mrs.  Daugherty  was  the  oldest  of 
four  children.  Mrs.  Daugherty,  who  now  makes  her  home  at 
Portsmouth,  at  1055  Ann  Street,  is  the  mother  of  six  children : 
Richard  F.,  who  served  as  a  chief  yeoman  with  the  United  States 
Navy  during  the  World  war,  is  now  an  employe  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  at  Norfolk,  married  Ruth  Wainwright  and  they 
have  one  daughter,  Ann  Lee ;  Paul  C,  a  dental  technician  at 
Norfolk,  married  Percy  Ethel  York ;  Emily  J.  is  the  wife  of 
Malcolm  F.  Beazley,  a  railway  engineer,  and  has  a  son,  Mal- 
colm F.,  Jr.,  Mary  P.  is  the  wife  of  W.  T.  Beck,  a  railway  em- 
ploye, and  they  have  two  sons,  W.  T.,  Jr.,  and  Richard  Edward ; 
Daniel,  with  the  Burrow  &  Martin  Drug  Company,  married 
Mary  R.  Unser ;  and  James  B.,  dental  technician  at  Portsmouth, 
married  Isabel  Hooks  and  has  one  daughter,  Jane  Lee. 

John  Gary  Curling  was  a  prominent  business  man  of  Nor- 
folk County,  winning  his  own  way  from  an  early  age  and  in  a 
comparatively  brief  lifetime  secured  more  than  a  normal  prestige 
and  degree  of  success. 

He  was  born  in  Norfolk  County  in  October,  1886,  and  died 
at  Portsmouth  in  July,  1921,  son  of  J.  W.  and  Virginia  F. 
(Grimes)  Curling.  He  was  four  years  old  when  his  father  died 
and  had  to  face  the  prospect  of  working  to  make  his  own  oppor- 
tunities. He  attended  the  schools  in  Norfolk  County  and  for 
several  years  he  and  his  brother  operated  the  home  farm  for 
their  mother.  From  seventeen  to  nineteen  years  of  age  Mr. 
Curling  was  with  the  Roper  Lumber  Mill.  At  Portsmouth  for 
several  years  he  was  in  the  furniture  business  and  also  in  the 
fish  business,  leaving  that  to  become  associated  with  J.  E.  Nor- 
man in  a  merchant  tailoring  business  known  as  the  Silver  Dollar 
Tailoring  Company.  From  one  shop  this  business  steadily  grew 
until  they  were  operating  stores  in  twelve  cities  of  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Curling  gave  all  his  time  to  this  busi- 
ness for  ten  years,  when  he  sold  out  to  his  partner  and  then 


VIRGINIA  223 

concentrated  his  attention  on  a  clothing  store  at  Portsmouth. 
He  was  also  interested  in  the  fish  business  during  his  later  years. 
Mr.  Curling  married  Rosa  Hanrahan,  of  Portsmouth,  daugh- 
ter of  J.  W.  and  Sarah  Frances  Hanrahan.  Her  father  was  a 
Portsmouth  business  man  and  was  descended  from  a  family  that 
settled  in  this  section  of  Virginia  shortly  after  the  Revolutionary 
war.  Mrs.  Curling  is  a  Methodist.  Her  brother,  Frank  C.  Han- 
rahan, is  a  prominent  Portsmouth  business  man,  now  serving  his 
second  term  as  city  manager  of  Portsmouth.  Mrs.  Curling,  who 
resides  at  415  Webster  Street  in  Portsmouth,  has  one  daughter, 
Ruth  Elizabeth,  now  deputy  city  collector. 

Howard  Malcolm  Smith  is  one  of  the  progressive  young 
business  men  of  the  City  of  Alexandria,  metropolis  of  Arlington 
County,  where  he  is  engaged  in  the  real  estate  and  general  insur- 
ance business  and  is  regional  superintendent  for  the  Provident 
Relief  Association  of  Washington,  D.  C.  His  office  headquarters 
are  at  624  King  Street,  in  the  Smith  Building. 

In  the  picturesque  little  mountain  city  of  Staunton,  Virginia, 
Howard  M.  Smith  was  born  January  15,  1896,  and  he  is  a  son  of 
Howard  M.  and  Margaret  (Bacon)  Smith,  the  former  of  whom 
was  born  in  Nelson  County,  this  state,  and  the  latter  at  Waynes- 
boro, Augusta  County.  Wilson  Smith,  grandfather  of  the  sub- 
ject of  -this  review,  operated  wagon  trains  between  the  City  of 
Richmond  and  the  Shenandoah  Valley  prior  to  the  Civil  war. 
Howard  M.  Smith,  Sr.,  was  long  and  successfully  identified  with 
the  insurance  business,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  deputy 
superintendent  of  the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company  at 
Staunton,  Virginia,  where  he  died  January  15,  1924,  and  where 
his  widow  still  maintains  her  home. 

Howard  M.  Smith  of  this  sketch  was  reared  and  educated  in 
his  native  city  and  there  gained  his  youthful  experience  in  the 
insurance  business  as  an  associate  of  his  father.  In  1916,  as 
a  member  of  a  Virginia  regiment  of  the  National  Guard,  Mr. 
Smith  entered  military  service  on  the  Mexican  border,  where  his 
command  was  inducted  into  the  United  States  Army  and  where 
he  held  the  rank  of  sergeant  until  he  received  his  honorable  dis- 
charge in  May,  1917.  Thereafter  he  continued  his  as3ociation 
with  the  insurance  business  in  his  native  city  of  Staunton  until 
May,  1920,  when  he  established  his  headquarters  in  Alexandria, 
where  he  has  built  up  a  substantial  real  estate  and  insurance 
business  and  is  superintendent  for  the  Provident  Relief  Associa- 
tion of  Washington,  D.  C,  which  issues  health,  accident  and 
life  insurance.  As  a  general  underwriter  of  insurance  Mr. 
Smith  likewise  represents  other  important  insurance  corpora- 
tions in  the  various  lines  of  indemnification.  In  his  real  estate 
operations  Mr.  Smith  has  figured  as  manager  of  development 
and  exploitation  for  all  of  the  Alexandria  subdivisions  of  F.  C. 
Gcodnow,  has  given  similar  service  in  connection  with  the  Wash- 
in:  ton  &  Kane  subdivisions  and  also  has  a  most  attractive  sub- 
division of  his  own,  called  Westwood  and  situated  near  Mount 
Vernon,  the  historic  George  Washington  estate.  He  is  a  director 
of  the  Alexandria  Realty  Investment  Corporation,  of  which  he 
served  as  secretary  three  years.  His  political  allegiance  is  given 
to  the  Democratic  party,  he  and  his  wife  are  communicants  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  he  is  afiiliated  with  the 
American  Legion. 

February  3,  1916,  recorded  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Smith  and 
Miss  Mary  L.  Smith,  daughter  of  John  D.  and  Ida  V.   (Clem- 


224  VIRGINIA 

ents)  Smith,  the  latter  of  whom  died  at  the  birth  of  her  daughter 
Mary  L.,  who  was  doubly  orphaned  by  the  death  of  her  father 
when  she  was  a  child  of  three  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  have 
two  children :  Dorothy  Ann,  born  January  18,  1917,  and  Nancy 
Lee,  born  February  2,  1919. 

James  Iredell.  Probably  no  family  has  played  a  more  prom- 
inent or  conspicuous  part  in  the  history  of  North  Carolina  than 
that  which  bears  the  name  of  Iredell.  It  has  not  been  alone  in 
public  and  miltary  life  that  it  has  shone  brightly  ever  since  the 
birth  of  the  nation,  but  in  the  professions  and  arts  and  sciences, 
in  finance  and  in  business.  Among  the  brilliant  men  of  this  dis- 
tinguished family,  one  who  chose  banking  and  the  marts  of 
commerce  and  trade  as  the  medium  through  which  to  attain 
success  was  the  late  James  Iredell  of  Norfolk,  long  identified 
with  banks  and  railways,  but  at  the  time  of  his  death  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  business  of  nitrate  shipping. 

Mr.  Iredell  was  born  in  1868,  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina, 
and  was  a  son  of  Cadwallader  James  and  Martha  (Southgate) 
Iredell.  He  was  a  direct  descendant  of  the  historical  character. 
Justice  James  Iredell,  who  held  his  office  under  President  George 
Washington,  and  who  was  his  great-grandfather,  while  his 
grandparents  were  Governor  James  and  Frances  (Tredwell) 
Iredell.  A  complete  review  of  the  career  of  Governor  Iredell 
will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  work.  Cadwallader  Iredell  was 
for  many  years  a  banker  of  South  Carolina,  making  his  home 
for  the  most  part  at  Columbia,  although  he  also  resided  for 
some  years  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina.  He  was  a  man  of  high 
character  who  upheld  the  best  traditions  of  the  family.  During 
the  war  between  the  states  he  held  the  rank  of  captain  of  a 
company  of  North  Carolina  volunteer  infantry. 

James  Iredell  was  a  child  when  taken  by  his  parents  to  South 
Carolina,  and  there  acquired  his  early  education  in  public  schools. 
Following  this  he  went  to  Columbia  College,  from  which  insti- 
tution he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and 
not  long  thereafter  entered  the  Bank  of  Columbia,  South  Caro- 
lina, where  he  arose  to  the  position  of  cashier.  He  remained 
with  that  well  known  banking  house  in  the  same  capacity  for  a 
period  of  fifteen  years,  during  which  time  he  formed  a  wide 
acquaintance  among  men  high  in  finance  and  prominent  in  other 
lines  of  industry.  In  1903  Mr.  Iredell  resigned  his  position  and 
changed  his  scene  of  operations  to  Norfolk  to  become  treasurer 
and  auditor  of  the  Norfolk  Street  Railway  Company,  and  re- 
tained this  position  until  1917,  in  which  year  he  became  inter- 
ested extensively  in  the  shipping  of  nitrate.  He  was  engaged 
in  this  line  of  business  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  July,  1919.  Mr.  Iredell  was  a  Democrat,  but  did  not  seek 
public  office  or  political  preferment.  He  was  a  citizen  of  public 
spirit  and  civic  pride,  however,  and  always  a  supporter  of  worthy 
movements  for  the  betterment  of  his  community.  He  had  a 
number  of  social  and  fraternal  connections,  and  his  business 
interests  were  many  and  varied. 

In  September,  190.5,  Mr.  Iredell  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Laura  Merle  Higgs,  of  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  who  was 
educated  at  St.  Mary's  College  and  is  a  daughter  of  Jacob  and 
Laura  (Sorrel)  Higgs,  both  the  Higgs  and  Sorrel  families  being 
well  known  in  North  Carolina,  where  they  are  of  worthy  pioneer 
stock.  Jacob  Higgs  was  for  many  years  a  merchant  at  Raleigh, 
where  he  had  an  excellent  reputation  for  integrity  and  good 


VIRGINIA  225 

citizenship.  Mrs.  Iredell  survives  her  husband  and  resides  at 
5A  Weynoke  Apartment,  Colley  and  Princess  Anne  avenues, 
Road  W.  She  is  a  consistent  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
and  has  been  active  in  its  work.  There  were  three  children 
born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Iredell,  James  Iredell  IV,  born  July  15, 
1906,  connected  with  the  Texas  Oil  Company  at  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia ;  Martha  Southgate  Iredell,  born  August  4,  1909,  and  Ann 
Stith  Iredell,  born  September  22,  1918. 

Ira  Jefferson  Brooks  II.  Practically  the  entire  career  of 
the  late  Ira  J.  Brooks  II,  of  Portsmouth,  was  passed  in  connec- 
tion with  railroad  work,  and  from  1900  until  his  death  in  1919 
he  was  car  inspector  for  the  Norfolk  &  Portsmouth  Belt  Line 
Railway.  During  his  life  he  depended  solely  upon  his  own 
ability  and  resources  to  win  promotion  and  success,  and  it  was 
his  fortune  so  to  conduct  himself  as  to  win  the  esteem  and  respect 
of  his  associates  and  fellow  citizens. 

Mr.  Brooks  was  born  in  Dinwiddle  County,  Virginia,  Jan- 
uary 23,  1856,  a  son  of  Ira  W.  and  Sarah  (Mays)  Brooks.  His 
father,  a  native  of  Petersburg,  this  state,  enlisted  in  the  Con- 
federate army  during  the  war  between  the  states,  in  which  he 
suffered  a  wound  while  in  the  cavalry  service,  but  fought  until 
the  close  of  the  great  struggle.  Following  his  return  to  the  pur- 
suits of  peace  he  took  up  the  business  of  contracting,  and  fol- 
lowed that  line  with  success  until  the  time  of  his  demise.  He  and 
Mrs.  Brooks,  who  was  a  native  of  Dinwiddle,  were  the  parents 
of  nine  children,  of  whom  Ira  J.  was  the  eldest. 

Ira  J.  Brooks  received  his  education  under  private  teachers 
in  Dinwiddle  County,  and  as  a  young  man  was  employed  for  a 
time  at  Petersburg.  In  1877,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
he  secured  a  position  with  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad,  and 
remained  with  that  line  for  a  period  of  twenty-three  years.  In 
1900  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Portsmouth  to  accept  the  posi- 
tion of  car  inspector  for  the  Norfolk  &  Portsmouth  Belt  Line 
Railway.  As  before  noted,  he  continued  with  this  concern  until 
his  death  June  10,  1919,  when  he  was  sixty-three  years  of  age. 
Mr.  Brooks  was  a  thorough  master  of  every  detail  of  his  busi- 
ness, and  at  all  times  had  the  full  confidence  and  respect  of  his 
associates  and  fellow  citizens.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  the  Woodmen  of  the  World,  the  Junior  Order  United 
American  Mechanics,  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men  and  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  all  of  which  orders  he 
had  many  friends  and  took  a  profound  interest  in  the  work.  He 
was  a  stalwart  Democrat  in  his  political  allegiance  and  was 
active  in  his  support  of  the  principles  and  candidates  of  his 
party.    His  religious  connection  was  with  the  Methodist  Church. 

On  June  30,  1896,  in  Nansemond  County,  Mr.  Brooks  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Rosa  Saunders,  who  was  reared 
and  educated  in  that  county  and  was  a  daughter  of  Benjamin 
Saunders,  a  farmer  and  lumberman,  and  a  Confederate  veteran 
of  the  war  between  the  states,  in  which  he  was  wounded.  He 
was  a  son  of  Edward  Saunders,  a  plantation  owner,  and  the 
latter  was  a  son  of  George  Saunders,  a  soldier  of  the  War  of 
1812,  while  the  latter's  father  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
troops  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution  and  was  present  at  the 
surrender  of  Yorktown.  The  men  of  the  Saunders  family  have 
been  planters  almost  without  exception.  The  mother  of  Mrs. 
Brooks  was  Emily  Hunter,  and  she  and  Mr.  Saunders  were  the 
parents  of  fourteen  children.     To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brooks  there 


226  VIRGINIA 

were  born  four  living  children :  George  Henry,  who  is  employed 
by  P.  D.  Guathmey,  of  Smithfield,  Virginia ;  Miss  Florence  Cath- 
erine, who  is  preparing  for  a  career  as  a  professional  nurse,  and 
will  graduate  from  the  Provident  Hospital  of  Norfolk  in  the 
class  of  1929 ;  Miss  Ida  Laurine,  who  has  a  position  with  the 
Seaboard  Air  Line  Railway ;  and  Ira  Guy,  who  is  attending 
school.  Mrs.  Brooks,  who  survives  her  husband  and  resides  at 
459  Maryland  Avenue,  Portsmouth,  belongs  to  the  ladies'  auxil- 
iary of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  the  Pythian  Sisters,  and 
is  also  active  in  the  work  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

Johnston  Pettigrew  Coffield.  From  the  time  of  his  ar- 
rival at  Portsmouth  in  1898  until  failing  health  necessitated  his 
retirement  in  1919,  the  late  Johnston  Pettigrew  Coffield  was 
one  of  the  substantial  citizens  of  his  community  and  was  widely 
known  in  the  risk  and  indemnity  field  as  the  capable  manager 
of  the  Portsmouth  office  of  the  Virginia  Life  Insurance  Company. 
His  career  was  one  in  which  he  engaged  in  a  variety  of  pursuits, 
in  all  of  which  he  displayed  ability  and  versatility,  and  while 
his  connection  with  civic  affairs  was  only  that  of  a  good  citizen, 
he  so  comported  himself  in  all  walks  of  life  as  to  be  remembered 
as  a  man  whom  his  community  could  ill  afford  to  lose. 

Mr.  Coffield  was  born  at  Edenton,  Chowan  County,  North 
Carolina,  August  18,  1864,  and  was  a  son  of  William  Henderson 
Coffield,  the  owner  of  "Green  Hall,"  one  of  the  largest  planta- 
tions of  the  Old  North  State,  which  was  conducted  with  all  the 
hospitality  that  characterized  the  pre-war  South.  This  planta- 
tion comprised  thousands  of  acres  of  land,  and  was  worked  by 
slave  labor,  while  its  owner  was  a  true  type  of  the  old  Southern 
gentleman.  A  large  part  of  his  wealth  was  swept  away  by  the 
misfortunes  of  war,  but  up  to  his  death  he  always  maintained 
"open  house"  and  was  known  far  and  wide  for  his  generosity 
and  benefactions. 

Johnston  Pettigrew  Coffield  attended  private  school  at  Eden- 
ton, although  his  education  was  somewhat  curtailed  by  the  early 
death  of  his  father.  He  was  still  little  more  than  a  youth  when 
he  was  called  upon  to  take  charge  of  the  great  plantation,  which 
consisted  of  land  extending  for  eight  miles  on  each  side  of  the 
road  to  Edenton.  After  a  few  years  the  plantation  was  sold  and 
the  estate  settled,  and  Mr.  Coffield  engaged  in  the  fish  packing 
business  at  Edenton,  an  industry  to  which  he  applied  himself 
for  six  years.  In  1895  he  removed  to  Norfolk,  where  he  entered 
the  employ  of  the  Virginia  Life  Insurance  Company,  and  several 
years  later  was  sent  to  the  Portsmouth  office  in  the  capacity  of 
superintendent.  Here  he  greatly  increased  the  volume  of  the 
company's  business  and  built  up  a  substantial  reputation  as  a 
capable  and  energetic  insurance  man.  Failing  health  caused  his 
retirement  in  1919,  and  from  that  time  forward  until  his  death, 
December  12,  1922,  he  lived  quietly  at  his  home,  although  still 
superintending  the  details  of  his  large  interests.  Mr.  Coffield 
was  a  Democrat,  but  in  no  sense  a  politician.  His  religious  faith 
was  that  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

In  November,  1888,  at  Petersburg,  Virginia,  Mr.  Coffield  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Roberta  Powell,  the  youngest  of 
the  nine  children  of  John  H.  and  Mary  (Wescott)  Powell.  Mr. 
Powell,  who  was  born  at  Edenton,  North  Carolina,  moved  to 
Petersburg,  Virginia,  where  he  spent  a  long  and  successful 
career  in  merchandising.  Four  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Coffield :  Mary  Louise,  who  died  unmarried ;  Minnie  Petti- 


TUM-^-y^. 


VIRGINIA  227 

grew,  the  wife  of  Fletcher  Smith,  a  business  man  and  Mason  and 
Elk  of  Petersburg,  who  has  twin  children,  John  Fletcher  and 
John  Newsome ;  Dr.  John  Albert,  a  practicing  dental  surgeon  of 
Portsmouth,  who  served  in  the  hospital  service  during  the  World 
war ;  and  Roberta  Powell,  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of 
Portsmouth,  and  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Teachers' 
Association.  Mrs.  CofReld,  who  survives  her  husband  and  re- 
sides at  200  Florida  Avenue,  is  an  active  member  of  the  Woman's 
Club  and  the  Monumental  Methodist  Church. 

Alexander  M.  Nelson,  president  of  the  Nelson  Hardware 
Company,  and  connected  in  an  official  capacity  with  a  number  of 
other  important  business  enterprises  of  Roanoke  and  its  vicinity, 
has  achieved  a  really  great  success.  As  a  poor  boy,  without  re- 
sources except  his  clean  hands,  high  ideals,  strong  purpose  and  an 
ability  to  make  friends,  he  began  his  business  career.  From  the 
first  he  put  such  vision,  understanding  and  fidelity  into  his  work 
as  to  attract  the  favorable  attention  of  those  engaging  him.  Soon 
he  was  by  himself,  beginning  in  a  small  way,  but  an  independent 
merchant.  There  were  years  of  hard  struggle ;  there  were  criti- 
cal periods,  and  there  were  moments  when  his  courage  almost 
failed,  but  always  there  was  a  definite  policy  reaching  into  the 
years  ahead ;  there  was  a  clearly  defined  program,  and  there  was 
a  magnificent  purpose  always  pushing  behind  policy  and  pro- 
gram, and  this  condition  still  prevails.  For  fifty-two  years  Mr. 
Nelson  has  been  engaged  in  the  hardware  business,  and  out  of 
the  20,000  hardware  stores  in  the  United  States  he  is  one  of  the 
eighty-nine  that  has  been  continuously  in  operation  for  half 
a  century. 

The  subject  of  this  review  was  the  second  born  of  one  of 
those  fine,  prolific  unions  so  popular  before  birth  control  propa- 
ganda became  a  factor  in  the  domestic  life  of  the  country.  His 
parents,  William  J.  Nelson  and  Sally  Harrison  (Rodes)  Nelson, 
respectively  of  Port  Republic  and  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  settled 
and  reared  their  children  a  few  miles  south  of  Staunton,  in 
Augusta  County.  Virginia.  Both  parents  and  seven  of  the 
twelve  children  are  now  deceased.  William  J.  Nelson  and  his 
wife  were  life  time  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the 
former  being  an  elder  in  the  church  that  Woodrow  Wilson's 
father  served  as  pastor.  After  an  academic  course  at  Washing- 
ton and  Lee  University  he  graduated  in  law  at  the  University 
of  Virginia,  leaving  his  profession  to  accept  a  lieutenancy  in  the 
Confederate  army.  After  Appomattox  he  returned  to  Staunton 
and  the  practice  of  law,  serving  for  a  number  of  years  as  a 
member  of  the  City  Council.  His  wife's  father  marched  under 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  Mexico,  but,  later  on,  her  brother.  Gen. 
Robert  Rodes.  was  killed  fighting  against  this  emblem  at  the 
battle  of  Winchester  in  the  Civil  war. 

Alexander  M.  Nelson  attended  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
place,  and  was  graduated  from  its  high  school  in  1875.  When 
only  sixteen  years  old.  however,  he  had  begun  working  in  a 
hardware  store,  receiving  fifty  cents  a  day  at  Lexington,  Vir- 
ginia, and  in  1883  was  able  to  go  into  business  for  himself  at 
Culpeper,  Virginia.  In  1888  he  came  to  Roanoke  and  estab- 
lished a  retail  hardware  store  under  the  name  of  Nelson  & 
Myers,  and  the  partners  continued  to  operate  as  retail  merchants 
until  1902,  when  Mr.  Nelson  took  over  the  business  and  estab- 
lished a  wholesale  hardware  store  which  he  operates  as  the 
Nelson  Hardware  Company.     Associated  with  him  in  this  busi- 


228  VIRGINIA 

ness,  of  which  he  is  president,  are  John  M.  Nelson,  vice  presi- 
dent ;  Robert  R.  Nelson,  secretary-treasurer,  and  Alexander  M. 
Nelson,  Jr.,  purchasing  agent.  This  is  a  close  corporation,  the 
stockholders  being  members  of  the  Nelson  family,  each  of  the 
six  sons  being  stockholders  and  actively  engaged  in  the  business. 
Mrs.  Stout,  sister  of  Mr.  Nelson,  and  widow  of  the  late  Judge 
Stout  of  Augusta  County,  and  Mrs.  Sublett,  another  sister  of 
Mr.  Nelson,  and  widow  of  the  late  Ed  Sublett,  a  former  whole- 
sale produce  dealer,  are  the  only  others  owning  stock  in  the 
company.  Mr.  Nelson  is  also  vice  president  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Exchange  Bank,  and  a  member  of  its  executive  committee, 
and  he  is  president  of  the  Nelson  Coal  Corporation.  The  Nelson 
Hardware  Company  covers  Virginia  and  portions  of  West  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina,  keeping  four  men  on  the  road  all  the 
year.  It  is  capitalized  at  8400,000  and  is  the  largest  and  oldest 
house  in  Roanoke,  and  one  of  the  leading  ones  of  the  state.  The 
name  of  Nelson  was  connected  with  Washington  and  Lee  Uni- 
versity for  many  years,  as  Prof.  Alexander  L.  Nelson,  an  uncle 
of  Alexander  M.  Nelson,  held  the  chair  of  mathematics  in  that 
institution  of  learning  for  fifty  years. 

In  1888  Alexander  M.  Nelson  married  Miss  Sallie  Hart,  who 
was  born  in  Charlottesville,  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  the  late 
John  Hart,  a  prominent  educator.  Eight  of  their  ten  children 
are  living:  John  M.,  who  was  educated  in  Washington  and  Lee 
University ;  Alexander  M.  Nelson,  Jr.,  who  attended  the  Roanoke 
High  School ;  Coleman  H.,  who  was  educated  in  the  Roanoke 
schools  and  the  University  of  Virginia;  William  J.,  who  was 
educated  in  the  Roanoke  schools ;  Robert  R.,  who  attended  Vir- 
ginia Polytechnic  Institute ;  Katherine,  who  married  Junius  P. 
Fishburn ;  Elizabeth,  who  is  unmarried,  and  her  twin  brother, 
Charles  L.  The  family  was  well  represented  in  the  World  war, 
three  of  the  sons  serving  in  combat  divisions  of  the  A.  E.  F., 
while  a  fourth  was  on  guard  duty  in  this  country.  His  family 
all  belong  to  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  he  has 
been  a  trustee  for  many  years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Shenan- 
doah Club  and  the  Roanoke  Country  Club.  Very  active  in  the 
local  Democratic  party,  he  served  for  several  years  as  a  member 
of  the  Roanoke  City  Council,  and  has  been  useful  to  his  city 
in  many  other  capacities.  The  success  Mr.  Nelson  has  achieved 
is  no  little  thing.  It  is  in  no  sense  the  fortuitous  result  of  a 
combination  of  favoring  circumstances,  but  the  working  out  of 
a  policy  long  held  and  definitely  followed,  often  against  great 
difficulties  and  discouragement,  and  such  a  success  is  the  mark 
of  a  big  man. 

Joseph  H.  Faber.  From  1880  until  his  death  in  May,  1922, 
the  late  Joseph  H.  Faber  was  identified  with  the  photographic 
business  at  Norfolk,  where  through  his  high  character  and  great 
integrity  he  won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens. 
In  no  department  of  human  activity  have  greater  strides  been 
made  in  recent  years  than  in  photography.  The  man  who  suc- 
ceeded several  decades  ago  would  find  himself  hopelessly  in  ar- 
rears should  he,  with  no  additional  equipment,  attempt  to  cope 
with  the  conditions  of  the  present.  Photographic  portraiture 
is  an  art  which  admits  of  infinite  conception  and  requires  varied 
knowledge  and  great  painstaking  in  its  development.  The  men 
who  maintain  its  highest  artistic  methods  necessarily  have  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  are  artistic  and  schol- 


VIRGINIA  229 

arly  in  their  inclinations,  and  it  was  to  this  class  that  the  late 
Mr.  Faber  belonged. 

The  Faber  family  originated  in  Germany,  whence  came  the 
first  American  progenitor  at  an  early  day,  the  family  taking 
up  its  residence  in  the  vicinity  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
where  they  became  large  planters  prior  to  the  war  between  the 
states.  Joseph  H.  Faber  was  lorn  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
and  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  home  community.  In  young 
manhood  he  removed  to  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  where  he  and 
his  brother  established  themselves  in  business  as  the  proprietors 
of  a  photographic  studio.  After  a  few  years  Mr.  Faber  married 
and  in  1880  moved  to  Norfolk,  where  he  passed  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  He  was  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  senior  member 
of  the  photographic  firm  of  Faber  &  Son,  and  a  man  who  was 
held  in  the  highest  esteem. 

Mr.  Faber  married  Miss  Emma  J.  Freeman,  and  they  liecame 
the  parents  of  three  children :  George  Lewis,  of  whom  more 
later ;  Thomas  L.,  a  commercial  photographer  and  member  of 
the  Masonic  fi-aternity ;  and  Fred,  a  graduate  of  the  University 
of  Virginia,  who  was  on  the  staff  of  engineers  who  built  the 
Mount  Royal  tunnel  in  Canada,  and  now  a  consulting  engineer 
of  Crowley,  Louisiana,  married  Tillie  Ficklin  and  has  two  chil- 
dren, Ann  and  Jane. 

George  Lewis  Faber  was  born  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1886,  and  received  his  education  at  Norfolk  and  Rich- 
mond College.  At  the  close  of  his  college  career  he  returned  to 
Norfolk  to  join  his  father  in  the  firm  of  Faber  &  Son,  of  which 
he  became  the  owner  at  the  elder  man's  death,  and  which  he 
conducted  successfully  until  his  own  demise  in  December,  1925. 
He  was  a  good  business  man  and  one  who  enjoyed  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  and  his 
death  lost  to  his  community  a  reliable  and  public  spirited  citizen. 
He  belonged  to  the  Rotary  Club  and  the  Princess  Anne  Country 
Club  and  was  a  Mason  and  Shriner.  For  several  years  he 
taught  a  class  in  the  Sunday  School  of  the  Freemason  Baptist 
Church. 

In  July,  1914,  George  L.  Faber  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Emily  Sheri'er  LaBlanc,  who  was  born  at  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, a  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Sadie  LaBlanc,  and  a  member 
of  a  family  which  originated  in  France  and  settled  at  Phila- 
delphia prior  to  the  war  between  the  states.  Samuel  LaBlanc 
fought  as  a  soldier  in  a  Pennsylvania  volunteer  infantry  regi- 
ment during  that  struggle,  following  which  he  followed  the  pro- 
fession of  a  construction  engineer  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life,  his  death  occurring  in  1907.  He  married  Sarah  (Sadie) 
Sherrer,  of  Reading,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mrs.  Faber  is  the  oldest 
living  child  of  this  union.  Her  brother,  Charles  Wesley  LaBlanc, 
was  district  manager  in  Westchester  County,  New  York,  for  the 
Hoover  Vacuum  Cleaner  Company,  is  a  veteran  of  the  World 
war,  in  which  he  enlisted  as  a  private  and  rose  to  a  lieutenancy 
in  France.  In  July,  1929,  he  was  appointed  to  the  ofiice  of 
assistant  general  manager  of  the  same  company  at  Philadelphia. 
He  married  Anne  Dobson,  of  New  York  City,  and  they  have  one 
son,  Charles  Wesley,  Jr.  Another  brother,  Samuel  LaBlanc.  Jr., 
was  in  the  engineering  department  at  the  NewiDort  News  Ship- 
building Company,  was  a  well  known  baritone  singer  and  in 
1906  he  died  in  the  height  of  his  career. 

Mrs.  Emily  Faber,  one  of  Norfolk's  most  talented  women, 
attended  school  at  Norfolk,  and  began  her  musical  education  in 

11— VOL.  3 


230  VIRGINIA 

New  York  City,  where  she  took  organ  and  piano  under  Gaston 
Detheir.  She  then  went  abroad,  where  she  studied  organ  under 
Alexander  Guilmont  in  France  and  Dr.  Varley  Roberts  in  Eng- 
land. She  also  attends  the  studio  of  Frank  La  Forge  of  New 
York  City.  She  is  now  organist  and  choir  director  of  the  Free- 
mason Baptist  Church  and  organist  and  director  of  Ohef  Sholom 
Temple  of  Norfolk,  and  conducts  a  musical  studio.  She  was  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  Mifane  Trio,  a  musical  organization  con- 
sisting of  violin,  Marian  Carpenter  Miles ;  piano,  Emily  LaBlanc, 
and  'cello,  Philip  0.  Nelson,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Norfolk 
Country  Club,  the  Princess  Anne  Country  Club,  the  Norfolk 
Society  of  Arts,  and  the  Freemason  Street  Baptist  Church.  She 
is  a  past  secretary  of  the  Virginia  Music  Teachers  State  Asso- 
ciation and  is  a  member  of  the  National  Federation  of  Music 
Clubs,  representing  the  Emily  LaBlanc  Faber  Junior  Club.  She 
is  also  a  member  of  the  American  Guild  of  Organists. 

Wills  Cowper  was  a  merchant  before  the  Civil  war,  having 
a  reputation  all  over  the  Norfolk  district.  Members  of  his  family 
still  reside  in  that  city. 

He  was  born  in  Gates  County,  North  Carolina,  son  of  Thomas 
Cowper,  also  of  Gates  County,  and  grandson  of  John  and  Louise 
(Godwin)  Cowper. 

Dr.  Thomas  Cowper  acquired  a  thorough  education  and  in 
his  youth  was  sent  abroad,  studying  and  completing  his  medical 
course  in  France.  He  remained  abroad  five  years  and  after 
returning  to  the  United  States  settled  at  Portsmouth,  Virginia, 
where  he  took  up  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  carried 
the  routine  work  of  a  physician  there  until  he  fell  a  victim  to 
a  scourge  of  the  yellow  fever  in  1858,  dying  in  the  line  of  duty. 

Wills  Cowper  married  Dizer  Saunders,  who  was  born  in 
Nansemond  County,  Virginia,  daughter  of  Robert  and  Sarah 
(Hedges)  Saunders,  natives  of  the  same  county,  and  of  English 
and  Scotch  ancestry.  Mrs.  Cowper  became  the  mother  of  thir- 
teen children :  Thomas,  John  G.,  Walter  G.,  Elizabeth  Ann, 
Emma  Frances,  Clarence,  Laura,  Anna,  Virginia,  Wills,  Richard, 
Louise  and  James  P. 

Of  these  children  Laura  Cowper  became  the  wife  of  John  N. 
Dewell,  who  was  born  at  Garysburg,  North  Carolina,  and  from 
early  manhood  was  a  merchant  at  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth, 
where  he  lived  until  his  death  at  the  age  of  seventy-two.  Mrs. 
Dewell  and  her  sister  Anna  now  reside  at  314  East  Free  Mason 
Street  in  Norfolk.  Their  brothers,  John  Gilbert,  Clarence  and 
Walter  G.,  were  all  soldiers  in  the  Confederate  army.  Clarence 
lost  a  finger  in  one  battle.  John,  though  participating  in  fifty- 
two  battles  and  in  the  war  from  beginning  until  the  surrender 
at  Appomattox,  was  never  wounded  or  captured. 

Armistead  Plummer  Pannill,  commissioner  of  revenue  for 
the  City  of  Norfolk,  is  descended  from  an  old  Colonial  Virginia 
family.  The  Pannills  have  been  active  in  the  public  life  of 
Norfolk  for  a  great  many  years. 

Mr.  Pannill  was  born  at  Petersburg,  Virginia,  a  great-grand- 
son of  William  Pannill,  who  was  born  in  Orange  County,  Vir- 
ginia, February  1,  1768,  and  married  Martha  Ann  Morton,  who 
was  born  at  Greenville,  North  Carohna,  December  12,  1762. 

Their  son.  Col.  William  Pannill,  was  born  at  Oxford,  North 
Carolina,  July  6,  1794,  located  at  Petersburg,  was  educated  in 
William  and  Mary  College,  and  during  the  war  between  the  states 


VIRGINIA  231 

was  provost  marshal  at  Petersburg.  He  became  the  first  presi- 
dent of  what  is  now  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railway.  Colonel 
Pannill  married  Eliza  Binns  Jones,  who  was  born  at  Petersburg 
July  3,  1804.  Her  father,  George  Hamilton  Jones,  was  born 
at  Petersburg,  May  1,  1775,  being  a  lineal  descendant  of  John 
Jones,  who  represented  Brunswick  County  in  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses. George  Hamilton  Jones  married  Elizabeth  Binns,  of 
a  family  that  settled  in  Sus.sex  County  as  early  as  1652. 

Capt.  Thomas  Pannill,  father  of  Armistead  P.  Pannill,  was 
born  at  Petersburg  March  8,  1834,  and  enlisted  in  the  Third 
Regiment  of  Virginia  Infantry,  commanded  by  Roger  Prior. 
This  regiment  was  attached  to  Pendleton's  Brigade.  The  bri- 
gade held  a  position  on  the  south  side  of  the  James  River  at  the 
time  of  the  McClellan  raid  on  Richmond,  and  members  of  the 
brigade  witnessed  the  battle  between  the  Merrimac  and  the 
Monitor  in  Hampton  Roads.  Captain  Pannill  participated  in 
the  battle  of  the  Crater  in  the  siege  of  Petersburg.  After  the 
war  he  engaged  in  business  handling  real  estate,  was  an  auc- 
tioneei",  and  died  in  1919.  He  and  his  wife  reared  the  following 
children :  Henry ;  Eliza  Otey,  who  married  George  M.  Pollard ; 
James  Knox ;  William ;  Robert  Houston ;  Armistead  Plummer ; 
Samuel  Weisiger ;  Louise  Barlow,  who  married  James  H.  Johns- 
ton ;  and  Charles  Jackson,  who  married  Ethel  World. 

Armistead  Pannill  was  educated  in  public  schools,  and  as  a 
young  man  became  identified  with  the  real  estate  business.  In 
1898  he  was  appointed  assistant  health  officer  and  in  1917  be- 
came commissioner  of  revenue  for  the  City  of  Norfolk,  an  office 
he  has  filled  for  eleven  years.  He  is  affiliated  with  Atlantic 
Lodge  No.  2,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  John  Waters  Chapter  No.  1,  Royal 
Arch  Masons,  Grice  Commandery  of  the  Knights  Templar,  Khe- 
dive Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  Norfolk  Lodge  No.  38,  B.  P.  0. 
Elks,  and  Norfolk  Lodge  No.  39,  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows. 

Ml".  Pannill  married  in  1901  Lillian  Burke  Archer.  They 
have  a  daughter,  Martha  Archer,  who  is  the  wife  of  Robert  W. 
Ribble  and  has  a  son,  Robert  W.,  Jr. 

Rev.  Edw^ard  Turner  Dadmun.  A  gentle  spirit,  a  splendid 
intellectual  equipment,  a  deep  and  abiding  human  sympathy  and 
tolerance,  and  a  significant  consecration  to  human  service  were 
expressed  in  the  personality  and  achievement  of  the  honored 
subject  of  this  memoir.  Mr.  Dadmun  was  a  leader  in  the  work 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  Virginia,  served  in  this  splendid  organiza- 
tion in  its  overseas  activities  in  the  World  war,  and  as  a  clergy- 
man of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  he  made  his 
powers  a  force  in  advancing  Christian  work  and  the  aiding  and 
uplifting  of  his  fellow  men.  Mr.  Dadmun  was  sixty  years  of 
age  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the  City  of  Nor- 
folk, Virginia,  December  5,  1923.  and  a  tribute  to  his  memory 
consistently  finds  place  in  this  publication. 

Mr.  Dadmun  was  born  at  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  in  May, 
1863,  and  was  the  eldest  of  the  three  children  of  William  Henry 
and  Charlotte  (Turner)  Dadmun,  the  former  of  whom  was 
born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  and  the  latter  in  Ontario,  Can- 
ada. William  Henry  Dadmun  was  long  and  prominently  con- 
cerned with  the  lumber  industry,  and  both  he  and  his  wife 
continued  to  reside  in  Massachusetts  until  their  death. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  gained  his  earlier  education  in 
the  public  schools  of  Massachusetts  and  under  the  private  pre- 


232  VIRGINIA 

ceptorship  of  Prof.  Henry  Loomis.  He  early  became  animated 
with  the  spirit  of  constructive  service  in  connection  with  the 
finer  ideals  of  human  thought  and  action,  and  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  of  age  when  he  came  to  Virginia  to  enter  service  as 
the  first  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  City  of  Norfolk.  He 
acted  as  a  general  supervisor  in  the  erection  of  the  first  building 
of  the  association  in  this  city,  and  made  a  trip  to  the  North  to 
purchase  furniture  and  other  accessories  for  the  new  instiution. 
He  here  continued  his  faithful  and  constructive  service  about 
four  years,  and  thereafter  he  served  a  few  years  as  secretary 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  City  of  Staunton,  this  state.  He  was 
next  advanced  to  the  position  of  assistant  secretary  of  the  Vir- 
ginia state  organization  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  about  five  years 
later  he  resigned  this  office  to  enter  active  work  in  the  ministry 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  which  he  was  duly 
ordained  a  clergyman.  His  work  as  a  minister  and  evangelist 
was  principally  in  the  tidewater  region  of  Virginia,  and  he 
served  some  time  as  presiding  elder  of  the  Farmville  district 
of  his  conference.  Sincere,  earnest  and  loyal,  a  strong  and 
brilliant  pulpit  orator,  Mr.  Dadmun  labored  zealously  and  effec- 
tively and  brought  many  converts  into  the  fold  of  the  Divine 
Master  whom  he  served. 

When  the  nation  entered  the  World  war  Mr.  Dadmun  re- 
sumed his  active  association  with  the  work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  was  assigned  to  service  at  Camp  Johnson,  Florida,  where 
he  remained  six  months  as  camp  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
As  an  overseas  secretary  of  his  organization  he  made  one  voyage 
to  France,  and  upon  his  return  he  was  assigned  to  duty  at  Ho- 
boken.  New  Jersey,  where  he  had  supervision  of  selecting  men 
for  Y.  M.  C.  A.  overseas  service.  Later  he  became  port  secre- 
tary of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  Newport  News,  Virginia,  and  there 
he  did  valuable  work  in  connection  with  assigning  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
workers  to  the  transports  that  bore  them  to  overseas  service. 
After  the  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a  close  Mr.  Dadmun 
resumed  his  work  in  his  conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  he  held  a  pastorate  at  Lynchburg  one  year, 
he  having  then  been  assigned  to  the  pastorate  of  the  church  at 
Hampton,  where  he  continued  his  labors  until  he  suffered  the 
health  impairment  that  resulted  in  his  death.  He  was  virtually 
a  pioneer  in  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work  in  Virginia,  and  did  much  to  infuse 
in  the  organization  that  vitality  and  usefulness  that  have  con- 
tinued to  characterize  it  in  the  intervening  years.  He  was  an 
implacable  adversary  of  the  liquor  traffic  and  a  resolute  worker 
in  behalf  of  the  prohibition  cause.  His  widow  continues  a 
zealous  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and 
also  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  In  a  basic  way  Mr.  Dadmun  gave  al- 
legiance to  the  Democratic  party,  and  he  was  affiliated  with  the 
Improved  Order  of  Red  Men  and  the  Junior  Order  United 
American  Mechanics.  His  unfailing  kindliness  and  his  perfervid 
zeal  in  human  service  gained  to  him  the  affectionate  regard  of 
those  who  came  within  the  sphere  of  his  benignant  influence. 

On  the  21st  of  July,  1891,  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  Dadmun  and  Miss  Olive  Leigh  Morgan,  daughter  of  Olive 
Branch  and  Hope  Alice  (Davis)  Morgan,  of  Petersburg,  Vir- 
ginia, where  the  father  was  a  representative  business  man. 
Since  the  death  of  her  husband  Mrs.  Dadmun  has  maintained 
her  residence  in  Norfolk,  where  her  home  is  at  418  West  Nine- 
teenth Street.  Of  the  five  children  of  this  union  the  eldest  is 
Miss  Hope  Alice,  who  was  educated  in  the  City  of  Richmond 


I 
I 


VIRGINIA  233 

and  who  remains  with  her  widowed  mother,  as  does  also  the 
next  younger  daughter,  Charlotte,  whose  education  was  acquired 
in  the  Norfolk  schools.  Edward  Henry,  the  eldest  son,  attended 
the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  and  he  entered  World  war  service 
with  the  Norfolk  Light  Artillery  Blues  when  that  fine  organiza- 
tion was  mustered  into  the  United  States  Army,  he  having  been 
in  active  service  in  France  one  year  and  having  reecived  his 
honorable  discharge  after  the  armistice  brought  the  great  conflict 
to  a  close.  He  and  his  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Julia 
Whitmore,  maintain  their  home  in  Richmond.  Branch  Morgan, 
next  younger  of  the  sons,  received  the  advantages  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Militarj'  Institute,  is  a  civil  engineer  by  profession  and 
maintains  his  home  in  Norfolk.  Robert,  youngest  of  the  children, 
is  associated  with  business  in  this  city. 

Alvin  T.  Dulaney.  Emerson  said  "I  cannot  even  hear  of 
personal  vigor  of  any  kind,  great  power  of  performance,  with- 
out fresh  resolution.  This  is  the  moral  of  biography."  Measured 
according  to  that  standard  how  inspirational  is  the  life  of  Alvin 
T.  Dulaney,  who  in  the  short  span  of  his  mature  years  has  made 
himself  the  wealthiest  man  in  Greene  County,  and  while  thus 
gaining  large  material  rewards  he  has  not  failed  to  win  and 
hold  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  associates.  Accounts  of 
achievements  like  his  encourage  the  disheartened  to  hold  on 
when  they  are  ready  to  let  go ;  they  induce  them  to  persevere 
when  they  had  decided  to  go  back ;  they  give  them  fresh  help  and 
renewed  confidence  in  themselves.  Ambition  requires  a  great 
deal  and  a  great  variety  of  food  to  keep  it  vigorous,  and  perhaps 
one  of  the  reasons  for  Mr.  Dulaney's  success  has  been  that  he 
has  branched  out  and,  not  resting  content  ^\^th  his  progress  in 
merchandising,  entered  the  oil  industiy,  in  both  rising  to  high 
position. 

Alvin  T.  Dulaney  was  born  in  Greene  County,  Virginia,  June 
8,  1881,  a  son  of  James  Fillmore  and  Lou  Alice  (Wilhoit) 
Dulaney,  and  grandson  of  John  G.  Dulaney,  a  native  of  Greene 
County,  and  Ezekiel  F.  Wilhoit,  a  native  of  Albemarle  Countj'. 
Both  grandfathers  were  farmers,  and  that  was  also  the  occupa- 
tion of  James  Fillmore  Dulaney,  who  was  born  in  Greene 
County  and  who  through  his  efforts  developed  a  valuable  prop- 
erty in  his  home  farm.  He  died  March  14,  1914,  and  his  widow, 
who  survives  him,  was  born  in  Albemarle  County.  James  Fill- 
more Dulaney  was  a  Democrat  in  politics.  They  had  five  chil- 
dren :  Charles  Q.,  who  owns  and  opei-ates  the  home  farm ; 
Alvin  T. ;  Mrs.  E.  D.  Ott,  wife  of  a  practicing  attorney  at  Har- 
risonburg, Virginia ;  John  E.  F..  associated  ^\^th  the  State  High- 
way Department  at  Richmond,  Virginia ;  and  Gary  B.,  with  the 
Sanitary  Grocery  Company  at  Washington,  D.C.  Both  parents 
were  strong  church  members,  the  father  a  Methodist  and  the 
mother  a  Baptist,  and  they  took  their  religion  into  their  every 
day  lives,  and  the  influence  they  exerted  among  their  children 
and  in  their  communitj-  was  of  an  uplifting  character. 

Alvin  T.  Dulaney  acquired  his  education  in  local  public  and 
private  schools  and  in  several  excellent  academies.  At  the  age 
of  eighteen  he  left  home  and  secured  a  position  as  salesman  in 
the  dry  goods  and  notion  store  of  Charles  E.  Hughes  at  Char- 
lottesville. In  the  fall  of  1900,  going  to  Covington,  Virginia,  he 
and  his  brother,  C.  Q.  Dulaney,  and  F.  M.  Beale  opened  a  small 
dry  goods  and  notion  store  under  the  name  Covington  Bargain 
House.     This  business  was  sold  out  the  following  year,  when 


234  VIRGINIA 

Mr.  Dulaney  and  his  brother  opened  at  Ruckersville,  Virginia,  a 
general  merchandise  store  under  the  firm  name  of  Dulaney 
Brothers.  This  was  operated  as  a  partnership  until  1919,  and 
since  then  Mr.  Alvin  T.  Dulaney  has  been  sole  owner,  operating 
a  department  store  carrying  everything  reciuired  for  the  home, 
farm  and  automobile.  Realizing-  the  market  that  existed  for 
certain  lines  not  then  handled,  the  partners  in  1903  established 
the  Ruckersville  Implement  Company,  handling  a  general  line  of 
farm  implements,  machinery,  wagons,  buggies,  harness,  et  cetera. 
After  the  death  of  T.  B.  Jennings,  a  partner  in  1912,  the  bus- 
iness was  incorporated  in  the  general  business  of  Dulaney  Broth- 
ers. In  1908  they  established  a  firm  at  Barboursville,  compris- 
ing C.  Q.  Dulaney,  Alvin  T.  Dulaney  and  M.  H.  Williams,  under 
the  name  Dulaney,  Williams  &  Company,  handling  a  general 
line  of  machinery,  vehicles  and  farm  supplies  of  all  kinds.  In 
1913  the  interest  of  Dulaney  Brothers  was  sold  to  M.  H.  Wil- 
liams, who  later  sold  it  to  his  nephews,  Williams  &  Company, 
under  which  title  the  business  is  still  operated. 

In  1914  the  Dulaney  Brothers  added  to  their  Ruckersville 
business  a  Ford  agency.  At  that  time  there  was  one  car  in 
Greene  County.  They  continued  the  operation  of  the  agency 
until  the  fall  of  1925,  and  during  the  twelve  years  it  became 
the  outstanding  country  automobile  agency  in  Virginia.  The 
success  they  had  with  the  Ford  business  at  Ruckersville  caused 
the  Ford  Motor  Company  to  request  the  Dulaney  Brothers  tc 
establish  another  agency  at  Gordonsville,  Virginia.  This  vv^as 
started  as  the  Gordonsville  Motor  Company,  Incorporated,  in 
1921,  and  the  business  was  a  success  from  the  start.  Mr.  Alvin 
T.  Dulaney  was  vice  president  and  principal  stockholder  of  the 
Gordonsville  business  until  1924,  when  he  sold  his  interest  to 
the  remaining  stockholders,  who  still  carry  it  on.  The  first 
venture  in  oil  made  by  Alvin  T.  Dulaney  was  the  Gordonsville 
Gas  &  Oil  Company  at  Gordonsville,  a  small  distributing  com- 
pany formed  in  1923  and  continued  until  1926,  at  which  time  Mr. 
Dulaney  sold  out  to  his  partners  and  then  formed  the  Shenan- 
doah Park  Oil  Company,  of  which  he  is  the  manager.  He  is 
also  a  director  in  the  Peoples  National  Bank  of  Charlottesville. 

On  June  10,  1910,  Mr.  Dulaney  married  Buford  J.  Stephens, 
born  in  Standardsville,  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  Doctor  Stephens, 
one  of  the  beloved  physicians  of  Standardsville.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Dulaney  have  three  sons :  James  Fillmore,  who  is  attending 
school  in  Standardsville,  and  Alvin  T.,  Jr.,  and  Albert  Stephens, 
who  are  attending  the  Ruckersville  schools.  Mrs.  Dulaney  is 
a  valued  member  of  the  local  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
V/hile  Mr.  Dulaney  votes  the  Democratic  ticket,  he  has  not  had 
the  time  or  inclination  to  go  into  politics,  his  business  interests 
absorbing  all  of  his  energies,  but  he  is  interested  in  the  advance- 
ment of  his  home  city  and  county,  in  which  he  takes  great  pride. 

Denham  Arthur  Kelsey  is  a  prominent  Norfolk  attorney, 
with  offices  at  111  East  Main  Street  in  that  city.  He  came  to 
Norfolk  from  the  Piedmont  section. 

He  was  born  at  Bedford,  son  of  Oswald  W.  Kelsey  and  grand- 
son of  Alfred  Kelsey.  His  father  was  born  in  the  Cathedral 
Close  near  Salisbury,  England.  Alfred  Kelsey  spent  all  his  life 
in  England,  a  very  devout  member  of  the  Established  Church. 
Oswald  W.  Kelsey  was  educated  in  Christ  Church  School  and 
about  1872  came  to  the  United  States,  being  the  only  representa- 
tive of  his  family  to  come  to  America.    He  bought  a  farm  near 


VIRGINIA  235 

Bedford,  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  but  did  not  find  farming 
profitable  and  subsequently  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business 
at  Bedford.  He  died  at  the  age  of  forty-seven.  He  married 
after  coming  to  Virginia,  Rosalie  Bell,  who  was  born  at  Bed- 
ford, which  at  that  time  went  under  the  name  of  Liberty.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  Alfred  and  Mary  (Lowry)  Bell,  of  English 
ancestry.  D.  Arthur  Kelsey  was  one  of  two  children.  His  sister, 
Gladys  is  the  wife  of  William  W.  Berry  and  has  two  children. 

D.  Arthur  Kelsey  attended  public  schools,  including  the  Bed- 
ford High  School,  and  was  a  young  man  when  he  came  to  Nor- 
folk. He  was  deputy  clerk  in  the  Federal  Court  until  1907,  and 
while  in  that  position  studied  law.  After  being  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1907  he  engaged  in  practice  and  later  was  appointed  chief 
deputy  clerk  of  the  Norfolk  District  Court.  He  resigned  this 
office  in  1920  and  has  since  engaged  in  a  genei'al  law  practice,  to 
which  he  gives  all  his  time. 

Mr.  Kelsey  married  in  1919  Nelle  Buchanan,  who  was  born 
at  Richmond,  daughter  of  H.  L.  and  Elizabeth  Buchanan.  Mr. 
Kelsey  by  a  previous  marriage  has  two  sons,  D.  Arthur,  Jr.,  a 
student  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  Sidney  Harrison,  a 
student  at  William  and  Mary  College.  Mr.  Kelsey  is  a  member 
of  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church,  and  in  politics  is  a  Republican. 

SiGMUND  MiTTELBORFER  BRANDT,  Norfolk  lawyer,  member  of 
a  family  that  has  been  identified  with  the  commercial  interests 
of  Eastern  Virginia  for  many  vears,  was  born  at  Norfolk  in 
1880. 

His  parents  were  Henry  and  Pauline  (Mitteldorfer)  Brandt. 
Henry  Brandt,  in  1876  established  at  Norfolk  the  foreign  bank-, 
ing  business  which  is  yet  in  successful  operation.  The  late  Jo- 
seph Brandt,  brother  of  Sigmund  M.,  was  admitted  to  partner- 
ship in  1906.  Henry  Brandt  was  born  in  Neustadt,  Germany, 
son  of  Joseph  Brandt,  of  the  same  city,  and  grandson  of  Herman 
Brandt,  also  of  Nuestadt.  The  first  of  this  family  to  come  to 
America  was  Leon  Brandt,  who  built  up  a  name  and  reputation 
in  American  journalism,  and  died  shortly  before  the  Civil  war, 
being  buried  at  Albany,  New  York.  It  was  through  the  influence 
of  Leon  Brandt  that  Henry  Brandt,  his  brother,  came  to  this 
country  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  Henry  Brandt  finished  his  educa- 
tion in  schools  in  Noi'th  Carolina,  living  in  Fayetteville,  that 
state,  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  war.  As  a  member  of  the 
North  Carolina  Militia  he  entered  the  Confederate  army  with 
his  brother  George  Brandt,  who  had  come  to  Fayetteville  at  the 
instance  of  Leon  Brandt  several  years  earlier,  and  who  also 
served  in  the  Confederate  army.  Prior  to  the  war  George 
Brandt  was  connected  with  cotton  mills  in  the  vicinity  of  Fay- 
etteville, and  also  was  intei'ested  in  sailing  vessels  operating  be- 
tween the  ports  of  Wilmington  and  Liverpool. 

Henry  Brandt's  wife,  Pauline  IMitteldorfer,  was  born  in  the 
City  of  Nuremberg,  Bavaria,  and  was  a  very  young  girl  when 
her  father  died.  She  came  to  Richmond,  Virginia,  living  with 
her  uncle,  Moses  Mitteldorfer,  who  had  settled  in  Richmond 
many  years  earlier.  She  was  followed  by  her  mother,  Jlrs. 
Cecilia  Mitteldorfer.  The  first  Mitteldorfer  located  at  Richmond 
about  1840.  Henry  Brandt  and  wife  were  married  in  Norfolk, 
and  they  lived  to  celebrate  their  golden  wedding  anniversary 
April  3,  1921.  They  were  married  in  what  is  known  as  Olaf 
Sholem  Temple,  and  they  held  membership  in  that  temple  for 


236  VIRGINIA 

half  a  century.  Henry  Brandt  was  a  member  of  Ruth  Lodge, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  forty  years. 

Sigmund  M.  Brandt  was  educated  in  Norfolk  Academy,  spent 
one  year  in  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute,  and  in  1901  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Appeals  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  qualified  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
April  25,  1913.  Mr.  Brandt  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State 
and  American  Bar  Associations.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Croatan 
Country  Club. 

He  married,  April  10,  1918,  Miss  Juliette  Heller,  of  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  daughter  of  Max  and  Clara  (Kaufman)  Heller.  They 
have  one  daughter,  Claire  Pauline  Brandt,  born  June  17,  1919. 

Claude  Eugene  Herbert.  The  Herbert  family  have  lived 
in  and  around  Norfolk  for  generation  after  generation.  The 
family  were  established  in  this  section  of  Virginia  in  the  early 
Colonial  period. 

As  early  as  1659  John  Herbert  was  a  resident  of  Norfolk 
County.  His  will  was  probated  in  Norfolk  in  1675.  His  son, 
John  Herbert,  was  born  at  Norfolk  and  was  a  landed  proprietor. 
His  will  was  probated  in  1679.  He  left  two  children.  One  of 
them,  Thomas  Herbert,  was  born  at  Norfolk  in  1679,  and  mar- 
ried Margaret  Dale,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Frances  (Ballen- 
tine)  Dale.  He  was  a  ship  builder  and  owned  and  operated  a 
ship  yard,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  local  affairs,  bearing 
the  title  of  captain.  He  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine,  his  will 
being  probated  in  1749.  Of  his  family  of  six  sons  and  one 
daughter  the  son  Henry,  born  at  Norfolk  about  1715,  married 
Abigail  Carson,  daughter  of  Jonas  Carson,  of  Accamac  County, 
Virginia.  Henry  succeeded  to  the  ownership  of  the  ship  yard 
and  conducted  it  as  a  successful  business.  He  was  a  vestryman 
of  St.  Brides  Parish.     His  will  was  probated  in  1778. 

His  son,  Caleb  Herbert,  one  of  nine  children,  was  born  in 
Norfolk  about  1745  and  was  the  chief  representative  of  the 
family  in  this  generation  in  the  Revolutionary  war  period.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  committee  of  safety  during  the  war  and 
was  listed  on  the  committee  as  a  master  ship  builder,  owning 
a  .ship  yard.  He  married  Ann  Nicholson,  daughter  of  James 
Nicholson.  His  will  was  probated  in  1796,  and  he  reared  five 
children. 

His  son  Maximilian  Herbert  was  born  in  Norfolk  about  1772, 
succeeded  to  the  ownership  of  the  ship  yard  and  also  conducted 
a  large  plantation.  He  died  in  1828.  By  his  first  marriage  he 
had  four  children  and  one  by  his  second  marriage.  A  son  of 
his  first  marriage  was  Maximilian  II,  born  at  Norfolk  in  1806, 
and  who  followed  planting,  employing  slave  labor  on  his  farm. 
He  organized  a  company  for  service  in  the  Confederate  army 
and  was  commissioned  a  captain,  serving  in  General  Mahone's 
Brigade.  He  died  in  the  camp  at  Petersburg  in  1862.  His  wife 
was  Lydia  Herbert  Nash,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  Nash. 
He  was  survived  by  five  children. 

His  son  Maximilian  Herbert  III  was  born  in  Norfolk  March 
18,  1834,  and  became  a  farmer  in  Southampton  County,  but  later 
returned  to  Norfolk  and  died  there  in  1903.  He  married  Mrs. 
Eugenia  (Briggs)  Pace,  daughter  of  Bennett  and  Louise  Pace. 
They  reared  a  family  of  eight  children,  one  of  whom  was  Claude 
Eugene  Herbei't. 

Claude  Eugene  Herbert  was  born  in  Southampton  County, 
October  18,  1869.     He  attended  a  one-room  schoolhouse  in  his 


1 


VIRGINIA  237 

native  county  and  since  1895  has  been  a  resident  of  Norfolk. 
He  learned  the  wholesale  grocery  business  by  several  years  of 
experience  as  a  clerk,  and  later  he  and  J.  W.  Hough  formed  a 
firm  handling  wholesale  groceries.  Later  the  Southern  Distrib- 
uting Company  was  organized  and  he  became  its  secretary  and 
treasurer,  and  is  now  president  of  that  successful  Norfolk  busi- 
ness. 

Claude  Eugene  Herbert  married  Eva  Parrish  Beale,  who 
was  born  in  Norfolk.  Her  father,  Cype  Beale,  came  from  Hert- 
ford County,  North  Carolina,  to  Norfolk  County,  and  for  a 
number  of  years  was  in  the  dairy  business  and  later  a  wholesale 
grocer.  Cype  Beale  married  Julia  Ann  Raboteau,  who  was 
born  in  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  daughter  of  John  Samuel 
and  Esther  (Barclay)  Raboteau.  Claude  E.  Herbert  and  wife 
reared  two  sons,  Eastwood  Davidson  and  Claude  Page.  Mr. 
Herbert  is  a  member  of  Corinthian  Lodge  No.  266,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  has  membership  in  the  various  Scottish  Rite  bodies  and 
Khedive  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Park  Place  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  has  always 
been  keenly  interested  in  the  public  affairs  of  Norfolk  and  has 
been  a  member  of  the  City  Council  continuously  since  1918. 

His  son  Eastwood  Davidson  Herbei"t,  a  prominent  young 
Norfolk  attorney,  with  offices  in  the  Bank  of  Commerce  Build- 
ing, was  born  at  Norfolk,  was  educated  in  public  schools  in  that 
city,  attended  the  Episcopal  High  School  at  Alexandria,  and 
in  1917  entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  took  his 
A.  B.  degree  in  1920  and  his  degree  in  law  in  1922.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  and  at  once  engaged  in  practice  at  Norfolk, 
where  he  has  made  himself  an  attorney  of  recognized  ability  and 
with  a  splendid  practice.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Park  Place 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  of  Corinthian  Lodge  No.  266, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M. 

Wilbur  Curtis  Hall  has  practiced  law  at  Leesburg  since 
1915.  and  for  ten  years  has  been  a  representative  of  Loudoun 
County  in  the  Virginia  Legislature. 

He  was  born  at  Mountain  Gap,  Loudoun  County,  February 
5,  1892,  descended  from  a  family  of  Halls  that  settled  in  Vir- 
ginia shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  His 
grandfather,  James  M.  Hall,  was  a  native  of  Loudoun  County, 
spending  his  life  there  as  a  farmer.  John  W.  Hall,  father  of 
the  Leesburg  attorney,  was  born  in  1857,  and  was  engaged  in 
farming  until  he  retired  in  1917.  He  married  Annie  E.  Holli- 
day,  who  was  born  in  Loudoun  County  in  1869.  Their  two  sons 
are  Wilbur  Curtis  and  Stilson  Hutchins,  both  prominent  citizens 
of  Leesburg. 

\\'ilbur  C.  Hall  attended  a  two-room  school  at  Mountain 
Gap,  graduated  in  1910  from  the  Leesburg  High  School,  and 
as  a  means  of  financing  himself  in  law  school  he  worked  in  a 
printing  office.  He  was  a  student  in  Washington  and  Lee  Uni- 
versity during  1913-14.  was  licensed  to  practice  in  1914,  and 
in  1915  took  his  law  degree  at  Georgetown  University. 

During  most  of  the  time  since  he  started  his  law  practice 
he  has  engaged  in  some  form  of  civic  or  patriotic  service.  July 
10,  1918,  he  joined  the  colors,  being  honorably  discharged  De- 
cember 4,  1918.  He  held  the  rank  of  petty  officer  in  the  navy 
and  later  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  American  Legion  of 
Virginia,   serving   on   the   State   Executive   Committee   and   as 


238  VIRGINIA 

delegate  at  large  to  national  conventions.  He  served  as  colonel 
on  the  staff  of  Governor  Davis. 

He  was  elected  to  represent  Loudoun  County  in  the  House 
of  Delegates  in  November,  1917,  and  has  been  regularly 
reelected,  his  increasing  experience  making  him  one  of  the  most 
influential  members  of  the  Lower  House  of  the  Virginia  Legis- 
lature. Among  other  measures  he  has  been  actively  identified 
with  legislation  in  behalf  of  soldiers  of  the  World  war  and  the 
enforcement  of  the  prohibition  laws.  He  is  the  author  of  Vir- 
ginia insurance  code,  having  instigated  the  fire  insurance  inves- 
tigation and  wrote  the  bill  providing  for  revocation  of  the 
license  of  any  driver  of  an  automobile  convicted  of  driving 
while  intoxicated. 

Mr.  Hall  is  unmarried.  He  is  a  member  of  St.  James  Epis- 
copal Church  at  Leesburg,  Ohve  Branch  Lodge  No.  114,  A.  F. 
and  A.  M.,  of  which  he  is  a  past  master,  Loudoun  Chapter  No. 
25,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  of  which  he  is  a  past  high  priest,  Pied- 
mont Commandery  No.  26,  Knights  Templar,  Acca  Temple  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Richmond,  Loudoun  Lodge  No.  26,  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  of  which  he  is  a  past  grand, 
Hamilton  Council  No.  24,  Junior  Order  United  American 
Mechanics.  He  is  a  member  of  the  University  Club  of 
Washington. 

Hugh  Caperton  Preston.  Among  the  men  of  Virginia  who 
wielded  with  equal  energy  and  ability  the  implements  of  peace 
and  the  weapons  of  war,  the  late  Hugh  Caperton  Preston,  of 
East  Radford,  was  a  striking  example.  Coming  of  a  long  line 
of  distinguished  ancestors  who  had  established  splendid  records 
as  patriots,  soldiers  and  statesmen,  it  was  natural  that  he  should 
inherit  military  ability,  while  in  no  less  a  degree  did  he  rank 
high  as  a  real  estate  dealer  at  East  Radford,  where  his  death 
occurred  January  3,  1905. 

Mr.  Preston  was  born  at  "Elmwood,"  the  old  Caperton 
estate  in  West  Virginia,  September  5,  1856,  and  was  a  son  of 
Col.  James  Francis  and  Sarah  (Caperton)  Preston.  Old  records 
show  the  fact  that  one  John  Preston  came  from  England  to 
Virginia  in  1745  and  settled  on  a  land  grant  at  Tinkling  Springs, 
Augusta  County.  His  son,  William  Preston,  after  taking  part 
in  the  Indian  wars  as  a  captain,  became  a  colonel  in  the  Colonial 
army  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  following  the  close  of 
which  he  became  the  founder  of  Smithfield  Plantation,  a  tract  of 
some  7,000  or  8,000  acres  on  a  part  of  which  is  located  the  Vir- 
ginia Polytechnic  Institute.  James  Patton  Preston,  son  of  Wil- 
liam Preston  and  grandfather  of  Hugh  Caperton  Preston,  was 
a  colonel  during  the  War  of  1812,  and  afterward  became  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia.  Among  his  sons  was  Hon.  William  Ballard 
Preston,  a  famous  lawyer  and  statesman,  who  in  1849  was  secre- 
tary of  the  navy  in  President  Taylor's  cabinet,  and  during  the 
war  between  the  states  a  member  of  the  Confederate  Senate. 
Another  son,  Robert  Taylor  Preston,  served  as  a  colonel  in  the 
Confederate  army. 

Col.  James  Francis  Preston  was  born  in  Virginia  and  as  a 
youth  secured  a  commission  to  West  Point  Military  Academy, 
from  which  institution  he  was  duly  graduated.  During  the 
Mexican  war  he  volunteered  for  service,  equipped  and  organized 
a  complete  company  at  his  own  expense,  was  commissioned  a 
captain,  and  after  the  close  of  that  struggle  he  returned  to  his 
estate,  "White  Home,"  in  Montgomery  County,  Virginia.    When 


VIRGINIA  239 

the  trouble  broke  out  between  the  forces  of  the  North  and  South 
he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy  and  became  colonel 
of  the  Fourth  Virginia  Infantry,  a  part  of  the  great  "Stonewall" 
Brigade,  which  won  deathless  fame  on  many  a  hard-fought  field. 
Colonel  Preston  did  not  live  to  see  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy, 
his  death  occurring  in  1862,  caused  by  the  exposure  incidental 
to  his  military  service.  He  married  Sarah  Caperton,  of  Elm- 
wood,  Monroe  County,  Virginia  (now  West  Virginia).  One  of 
their  sons,  William  Ballard  Preston,  enlisted  for  service  in  the 
Spanish-American  war  under  his  brother,  Hugh  C,  and  received 
a  commission  as  first  lieutenant.  Later  he  went  to  the  Philip- 
pines, where  he  was  commisisoned  a  captain  on  the  Island  Panay 
at  Iloilo,  and  then  was  appointed  governor  of  one  of  the  group 
of  islands,  but  died  before  assuming  ofl[ice.  He  married  Eliza- 
beth Scott. 

The  education  of  Hugh  Caperton  Preston  was  completed  at 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  from  which  he  was  graduated  as 
a  senior  captain  and  adjutant  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1877. 
As  a  young  man  he  became  head  and  master  of  his  mother's 
estate,  known  as  "White  Thorn"  in  Montgomery  County,  Vir- 
ginia, but  sold  this  in  1892  and  went  to  East  Radford,  where 
he  entered  the  real  estate  and  insurance  business,  also  serving 
two  terms  in  the  capacity  of  mayor.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
Spanish-American  war  he  lived  up  to  the  family  traditions  by 
enlisting  as  a  captain  in  the  volunteers.  Company  M,  Fourth 
Virginia  Volunteer  Infantry,  under  Colonel  Petit,  and  saw  one 
year  of  service  in  Cuba.  One  month  after  his  return  the  regiment 
was  mustered  out  of  the  service,  but  he  secured  a  commission  in 
the  Thirty-first  United  States  Volunteers,  and  with  the  rank  of 
first  lieutenant  went  to  Mindanao,  Philippine  Islands,  where  for 
two  years  he  served  as  captain  of  the  post.  In  1901  Mr.  Preston 
returned  to  the  United  States  and  again  took  up  the  real  estate 
business  at  East  Radford,  in  which  he  continued  to  be  engaged 
until  his  death.  He  also  had  various  other  business  connections, 
was  widely  and  favorably  known  in  business  circles,  and  served 
as  secretary  of  the  Southwest  Virginia  Live  Stock  Association. 
He  was  a  Democrat  in  his  political  convictions,  was  fraternally 
affiliated  with  the  local  lodge  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

On  April  30,  1878,  at  Staunton,  Virginia,  Mr.  Preston  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Cary  Marx  Baldwin,  of  Winches- 
ter. Virginia,  who  was  educated  at  Dunbar  Institute  and  Mary 
Baldwin's  School  at  Staunton,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Robert  Fred- 
erick and  Cary  (Barton)  Baldwin,  the  former  of  whom  was  a  dis- 
tinguished surgeon  of  his  day  who  held  the  rank  of  colonel  in 
the  Confederate  army  during  the  war  betw'een  the  states.  Seven 
children  were  born  to  ^Ir.  and  Mrs.  Preston :  James  Francis,  who 
died  in  infancy ;  Robert  Baldwin,  county  engineer  of  Norfolk 
County,  who  married  Merle  Page  and  has  three  children,  Rob- 
ert Baldwin,  Jr.,  Edwin  Page  and  John  Baldwin ;  Cary  Baldwin, 
the  wife  of  Hartwell  Henry  Gary,  a  mechanical  engineer  of 
Norfolk  and  president  of  the  Norfolk  Tank  Corporation,  and  has 
two  children,  Cary  Preston  and  Hartwell  Henry,  Jr. ;  Sarah 
Caperton,  president  of  the  Preston  School  of  Dancing  and  di- 
rector and  owner  of  the  Camp  Carybrook  for  Girls;  William 
Ballard,  who  enlisted  for  service  on  patrol  duty  on  the  Mexican 
border  and  served  as  sergeant  until  the  United  States  entered 
the  World  war,  when  he  was  appointed  first  lieutenant  and  sent 
to  Camp  Lee,  and  in  May,  1918,  went  to  France,  where  he  was 


240  VIRGINIA 

promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain  of  a  machine  gun  company  on 
the  battlefield,  and  who  married  Lelia  Harrison  Dew  and  has 
two  children,  Bettie  Harrison  Braxton  and  William  Ballard  IV; 
Hugh  Caperton,  identified  with  the  National  Highway  Commis- 
sion, who  married  Ann  Cahill  and  has  one  child,  Hugh  Caperton 
III ;  and  Katherine  Stuart,  a  registered  nurse,  who  is  a  member 
of  the  McGuire  clinical  staff  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital  at  Richmond. 

John  Henry  Niningeris  a  Norfolk  attorney,  has  practiced 
law  there  a  number  of  years  and  represents  one  of  the  prominent 
families  of  Southwestern  Virginia. 

He  was  born  at  Hollins  in  Roanoke  County,  son  of  Christ 
Nininger  and  grandson  of  Peter  Nininger.  Peter  Nininger  was 
a  farmer  in  Botetourt  County  and  also  a  preacher  in  the  German 
Baptist  Church.  He  married  Lydia  Gish,  member  of  an  old 
Virginia  family.  She  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine  and  he 
passed  away  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven. 

Christ  Nininger  was  born  at  Daleville,  Botetourt  County, 
Virginia,  in  1835,  grew  up  on  a  farm,  and  from  Botetourt  moved 
to  Roanoke  County,  where  he  acquired  a  plantation  of  650  acres. 
He  engaged  in  general  farming  and  also  established  and  con- 
ducted a  cannery  for  fruits  and  vegetables.  He  was  a  lay 
preacher  of  the  Progressive  German  Baptist  Church  and  died 
at  the  age  of  seventy-three.  Christ  Nininger  married  Nannie 
Frantz,  who  was  born  near  Salem  in  Roanoke  County,  daughter 
of  Jacob  Frantz.  She  was  reared  a  Methodist.  She  died  at  the 
age  of  seventy-two,  having  reared  nine  children,  named  Rosa  B., 
Letcher,  George  M.,  Lula  G.,  Frank  P.,  John  H.,  Staples  V., 
Harry  C.  and  Charles  M. 

John  H.  Nininger  grew  up  on  a  farm  in  Roanoke  County, 
attended  a  one-room  country  school,  and  afterwards  entered  the 
National  Normal  University  at  Lebanon,  Ohio.  He  received  a 
thorough  academic  training  in  that  splendid  school  and  subse- 
quently for  two  years  attended  the  law  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia.  Mr.  Nininger  was  admitted  to  practice  in 
1894  and  first  established  his  law  offices  at  Bluefleld,  West  Vir- 
ginia. In  1898  he  went  to  Washington  to  become  a  clerk  in  the 
treasury  department,  but  after  one  year  resigned  and  located 
at  Norfolk,  where  he  has  become  permanently  established  as  a 
citizen  and  attorney,  engaged  in  a  general  law  practice.  He 
is  a  man  of  wide  experience,  learned  in  the  law,  resourceful  in 
the  handling  of  his  professional  work,  and  has  been  deservedly 
successful. 

He  married  in  1903  Emily  L.  Eggleston,  who  was  born  in 
New  Kent  County,  Virginia,  daughter  of  William  T.  and  Sarah 
(Williams)  Eggleston.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nininger  have  three  chil- 
dren, Mary  Eggleston,  Louise  Fisher  and  John  Henry,  Jr.  Mary 
is  a  student  in  William  and  Mary  College.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nininger 
are  members  of  the  Park  Place  Baptist  Church  of  Norfolk. 

William  Brooks  Smith.  In  those  sections  where  the  agri- 
cultural interests  are  important,  many  of  the  men  who  serve  in 
public  office  come  from  the  farming  class,  and  rightly  so,  for  it 
is  their  work  and  their  property  which  support  the  machinery 
of  the  law,  and  they  are  the  logical  officeholders.  There  is  an- 
other reason,  and  it  is  that  they,  living  as  they  do  close  to  the 
soil,  know  the  needs  of  the  people,  their  resources  and  possibili- 
ties, and  they  can  therefore  give  a  better  and  more  comprehen- 
sive service  than  an  outsider  no  matter  how  capable  or  experi- 


VIRGINIA  241 

enced  he  might  be  along  other  lines.  As  a  case  in  question  at- 
tention is  called  to  William  B.  Smith,  one  of  the  leading  agricul- 
turists of  Mathews  County,  now  serving  as  county  clerk.  In 
his  office  he  is  rendering  a  service  that  is  appreciated  by  all  who 
have  reason  to  call  upon  him,  and  his  fellow  citizens  are  satis- 
fied that  in  him  they  have  a  friend  and  able  representative,  one 
who  will  safeguard  their  interests. 

William  B.  Smith  was  born  at  Mathews  Court  House,  Vir- 
ginia, February  27,  1888,  a  son  of  Sands  and  Carrie  W.  (Diggs) 
Smith,  natives  of  Mathews  County.  Vvhen  war  was  declared 
between  the  states  Sands  Smith  was  one  of  the  gallant  young 
men  who  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy,  and  served 
with  the  famous  Black  Horse  Cavalry  throughout  the  war  period, 
winning  distinction  for  his  intrepid  bravery.  After  the  close  of 
the  war,  and  his  return  to  IVIathews  County,  he  served  it  as 
sheriff  for  a  number  of  years,  or  until  1886,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed clerk  of  the  county,  and  at  the  following  election  was 
elected  to  the  office.  From  then  on  he  was  continued  as  county 
clerk  through  successive  elections  until  his  death  November  10, 
1914.    The  mother  died  September  23,  192.3. 

Reared  and  educated  in  Mathews  County,  William  B.  Smith 
attended  its  public  schools  and  Randolph-I\Iacon  Academy,  Bed- 
ford City,  Virginia.  Returning  home,  he  became  deputy  clerk  of 
Mathews  County,  and  November  16,  1914,  after  his  father's 
death,  was  appointed  his  successor  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term. 
With  its  expiration  he  was  elected  to  the  office,  and  has  been 
reelected  every  eight  years  since  that  time.  This  is  a  somewhat 
remarkable  case,  as  for  forty-two  years  the  office  of  county  clerk 
of  Mathews  County  has  been  filled  by  a  father  and  son.  Jlr. 
Smith  is  unmarried.  He  resides  in  ]\Iathews  County,  where  he 
has  COO  acres  of  valuable  farming  land,  150  acres  of  which  he 
operates  himself,  and  is  a  scientific  farmer.  His  fraternal  con- 
nections are  numerous  and  include  membership  with  Oriental 
Lod.e  Ni.  20,  A.  F.  and  A.  M. ;  the  local  lodge  of  the  Junior 
Order  United  American  Mechanics ;  and  Naoman  Tribe,  Im- 
proved Order  of  Red  Men.  In  political  faith  he  is  a  Democrat, 
and  he  is  very  active  in  the  local  party.  While  he  is  not  a  mem- 
ber of  any  religious  organizations,  he  was  reared  by  parents  who 
were  zealous  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  is  a  liberal  donor  to  different  churches  in  his  neighborhood. 

Hon.  L.  Sumter  Davis.  When  Newport  News  was  but  a 
small  town  of  no  special  impoi-tance,  Hon.  L.  Sumter  Davis 
came  into  its  midst,  and  from  thenceforward  until  his  death, 
July  21,  1920,  he  continued  to  take  a  most  important  part  in  its 
development.  On  the  day  of  his  death  the  following  appeared 
editorially  in  the  local  press : 

"Newport  News  has  sustained  a  genuine  bereavement  in  the 
death  of  Sumter  Davis,  one  of  its  pioneer  citizens  and  a  man 
devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  the  community.  As  citizen  and 
member  of  the  common  council  he  discharged  his  duties  with 
fidelity  and  he  enjoyed  the  respect  and  good  will  of  his  fellows. 
We  chronicle  this  record  in  the  public  print  as  a  mark  of  respect, 
and  we  point  to  his  character,  his  cai'eer  and  the  esteem  in  which 
he  was  held  as  an  incentive  to  good  citizenship  in  others." 

L.  Sumter  Davis  was  born  in  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  in 
1861,  a  son  of  Philip  and  Rosa  Davis,  the  former  of  whom  was 
a  farmer  and  Confederate  veteran.  The  parents  had  ten  chil- 
dren, of  whom  L.  Sumter  Davis  was  the  youngest  child.     As  a 


242  VIRGINIA 

boy  he  assisted  his  father  on  the  farm,  and  at  the  same  time 
attended  school  in  Newmarket,  Virginia.  When  he  was  eighteen 
years  old  he  came  to  Newport  News,  entering  the  employ  of 
the  ship  yards,  and  he  maintained  that  connection  the  remain- 
der of  his  life,  and  when  he  died  was  manager  of  one  of  its 
important  departments,  a  position  he  held  for  many  years. 

In  September,  1891,  Mr.  Davis  married  Miss  Cora  Puckett, 
a  daughter  of  Walter  and  Virginia  (Lee)  Puckett.  Mr.  Puckett 
was  a  resident  of  Richmond,  and  later  of  Newport  News,  and 
while  living  in  the  former  city  he  served  on  the  school  board. 
He  was  a  Confederate  veteran,  having  served  in  the  Southern 
army  during  the  war  between  the  states.  Of  the  four  children 
born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Puckett,  Mrs.  Davis  is  the  third  in  order 
of  birth. 

Five  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis,  namely: 
Horace,  who  is  a  draughtsman  in  the  ship  yard ;  Sumter,  who 
is  instructor  of  apprentices  in  the  ship  yard ;  Emerson,  who  is 
timekeeper  in  the  ship  yard ;  Evelyn,  who  is  the  wife  of  Russel 
Cooper,  a  business  man  of  Newport  News ;  and  Lois,  who  i'-^ 
attending  the  public  schools  of  Newport  News. 

Mr.  Davis  was  a  charter  member  of  Newport  News  Lodg«» 
No.  92,  I.  0.  0.  F. ;  an  energetic  and  helpful  member  of  the 
Junior  Order  United  American  Mechanics,  and  for  years  he 
was  in  the  City  Council,  practically  serving  from  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  city  until  his  death. 

The  funeral  of  Mr.  Davis  was  held  in  his  late  residence, 
Rev.  W.  P.  Stuart  of  the  Hampton  Baptist  Church  officiating, 
and  his  remains  were  interred  in  Greenlawn  Cemetery.  The 
active  pallbearers  were  two  members  of  the  Odd  Fellows  Lodge, 
Dr.  F.  B.  Longan  and  H.  B.  West,  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen, 
R.  W.  West  and  A.  E.  Lowder.  The  honorary  pallbearers  were 
D.  S.  Jones,  R.  Lee  Davis,  E.  F.  Piland,  Floyd  Hudgins,  C.  C. 
Smith,  Dr.  R.  B.  Gary,  W.  B.  Yost,  Arthur  Davis  and  Minor 
Manning.  The  floral  tributes  were  numerous  and  beautiful,  at- 
testing the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held.  A  multitude 
attended,  many  more  people  than  could  be  accommodated  in  the 
house  in  East  End,  where  for  many  years  he  had  made  his  home. 

The  following  is  quoted  from  a  local  newspaper  after  the 
death  of  Mr.  Davis : 

"L.  Sumter  Davis  was  one  of  those  pioneer  citizens  of  middle 
age  who  are  peculiar  to  a  young  city. 

"He  will  be  missed  acutely  because  though  a  pioneer  in  resi- 
dence, he  was  one  of  the  men  who  kept  step  in  the  march  of 
village  to  city,  who  put  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel,  gave  himself 
unselfishly  to  the  service  of  his  town  and  was  never  surprised 
at  the  good  and  development  that  came  because  he  believed  in 
his  city  and  in  himself. 

"It  is  citizenship  of  that  character  which  will  remain  the 
hope  of  the  city,  however  much  it  grows  and  develops  with  the 
years." 

At  the  regular  meeting  following  the  death  of  Alderman 
Davis,  the  City  Council  of  Newport  News  appointed  the  follow- 
ing as  a  committee  on  resolutions :  Guy  P.  Murray,  H.  B.  West 
and  James  D.  Bohlken.  The  following  resolutions  were  drawn 
up  by  the  committee  and  approved  by  the  Council : 

"Whereas,  God,  in  His  infinite  wisdom,  saw  fit  to  call  from 
our  midst  to  His  eternal  reward,  Mr.  L.  Sumter  Davis,  one  of 
the  most  active,  faithful  and  conscientious  members  of  the  Board 
of  Aldermen  of  Newport  News ;  therefore,  be  it  resolved. 


1 


Qj  ^"^ ,  CUU^-ii^....^^ 


VIRGINIA  243 

"First,  That  the  city  has  sustained  a  great  loss  in  the  death 
of  our  fellow  alderman. 

"Second,  That  we  extend  to  the  bereaved  wife  and  children 
our  deepest  sympathy,  and  pray  that  they  may  be  comforted  by 
Him  who  doath  all  things  well. 

"Third,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to  the  fam- 
ily, a  copy  to  the  press,  and  a  copy  be  spread  on  the  minutss  of 
the  board  of  aldermen. 

"Guv  P.  Murray, 
"H.  B.  West, 
"J.  D.  Bohlken." 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  of  Mr.  Davis  that  he  peacefully, 
honorably  and  capably  met  and  discharged  all  of  the  obligations 
of  life ;  honored  and  beloved  he  passed  avi^ay,  sincerely  mourned 
by  all  who  knew  him.  As  a  successful  business  man  he  was 
honorable,  prompt  and  true  to  every  engagement ;  he  was  al- 
ways a  warm  friend  of  education,  and  the  supporter  of  all  worthy 
movements  which  have  their  root  in  unselfish  devotion  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  country.  As  an  alderman  he  left  his  impress 
indelibly  inscribed  upon  the  history  of  Newpoi't  News,  and  to 
his  friends  and  family  his  memory  will  ever  remain  enshrined 
in  a  hab  of  gracious  presence  and  kindly  spirit. 

Hon.  Eugene  Silvester  Adrian.  The  man  who  honorably 
discharges  the  duties  of  the  office  of  sheriff  in  these  days  of 
many  perplexities  and  danrerous  criminals  must  possess  more 
than  an  ordinary  amount  of  personal  courage,  and  be  a  man  of 
unflinching  honesty.  Within  the  past  decade  so  many  problems 
have  arisen  which  must  I  e  handled  by  the  sheriff  of  a  county 
that  the  office  carries  with  it  onarous  duties,  and  the  qualifica- 
tions are  of  necessity  much  higher  than  formerly.  In  Eugene 
S.  Adrian,  Loudoun  County  possesses  one  of  the  best  men  to 
serve  as  its  sheriff  it  has  ever  had,  and  each  day  adds  to  the 
prestige  he  enioys.  The  lawless  element  understand  that  in  him 
they  have  a  relentless  enforcement  officer,  and  that  his  bailiwick 
is  not  a  desirable  field  for  operations  of  a  criminal  character. 
However,  on  the  other  hand  he  is  a  man  who  insists  on  a  fair 
deal  for  everyone,  and  protects  the  rights  of  his  charges  no 
matter  what  ma.v  be  the  crime  of  which  they  are  accused.  All 
of  these  qualities  are  appreciated  by  his  fellow  citizens,  and 
they  intend  to  keep  him  in  his  present  office. 

Sheriff  Adrian  was  born  near  Ashburn,  Loudoun  County. 
Virginia,  September  6.  1878,  a  son  of  James  Alexander  and 
Olivia  E.  (Havner)  Adrian,  he  born  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  she  in  Loudoun  County.  During  the  war  between 
the  states  he  served  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  after  peace 
was  declared  he  returned  to  Loudoun  County,  from  which 
locality  he  had  enlisted  in  the  artillery  branch  of  the  service, 
and  was  engaged  in  farming  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  May,  1915.  The  mother  survives  and  resides  with  her 
children. 

Reared  and  educated  in  Loudoun  County.  Sheriff  Adrian 
remained  on  the  farm  with  his  parents  until  he  reached  his 
majority,  at  which  time  he  went  into  pump  and  well  work, 
drilling  wells  all  over  this  neighborhood,  and  this  continued  to 
occupy  him  for  twenty-six  years.  He  then  became  deputy  sheriff 
of  Loudoun  County,  and  after  serving  in  that  capacity  for  seven 
years  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  the  county,  taking  office  January 
1,   1924.     So   admirable  was   his   administration   that   he   was 


244  VIRGINIA 

elected  to   succeed  himself,   taking  office  for  his   second  term 
January  1,  1928. 

On  August  6,  1902,  Sheriff  Adrian  married  Miss  Mary  Lil- 
Han  Hummer,  a  daughter  of  Maurice  A.  and  Catherine  (Brown) 
Hummer,  natives  of  Loudoun  County.  After  serving  as  post- 
master for  many  years,  Mr.  Hummer  is  now  living  retired  in 
Sterling,  Virginia,  and  receives  a  pension  from  the  United  States 
Government.  Sheriff  and  Mrs.  Adrian  have  had  thirteen  chil- 
dren born  to  them,  namely:  Keith  F.,  who  is  in  the  employ  of 
the  Washington-Potomac  Electric  &  Power  Company  of  Wash- 
ington City ;  Allen  M.,  who  is  with  the  Roberts  Construction 
Company,  Falls  Church,  Virginia;  Helen  C,  who  is  in  the 
employ  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Company ;  Alma  and  Elsie,  both 
of  whom  are  attending  Leesburg  High  School ;  and  Etta,  How- 
ard, Ruth,  Dorothy,  Nellie,  Alice,  James  and  Fred.  Sheriff 
Adrian  is  a  Mason,  and  he  belongs  to  the  International  Sheriffs 
Association,  the  Business  Men's  Association  of  Leesburg,  the 
Rotary  Club  and  the  Sons  of  Confederate  Veterans,  and  Mrs. 
Adrian  belongs  to  the  Daughters  of  Confederate  Veterans  and 
the  order  of  the  Eastern  Star.  He  is  a  staunch  supporter  of 
the  Democratic  party.  In  religious  faith  he  is  a  Presbyterian. 
Sheriff  Adrian's  office  is  in  the  courthouse  at  Leesburg,  and  he 
lives  at  the  county  seat,  his  home  being  one  of  the  comfortable 
ones  of  the  city.  Both  he  and  Mrs.  Adrian  have  many  friends 
throughout  the  county  and  enjoy  a  pleasant  social  life.  It  can 
be  truly  said  of  him  that  no  man  ever  had  cause  to  regret  his 
faith  in  him,  nor  has  anyone  any  reason  to  feel  that  his  con- 
fidence is  misplaced,  for  Sheriff  Adrian  is  an  admirable,  upright 
and  conscientious  official  and  true  Christian  gentleman  of  the 
highest  personal  character. 

Junius  Francis  Lynch,  Norfolk  physician  and  surgeon,  is 
a  former  surgeon  general  of  Virginia  and  was  a  division  surgeon 
with  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  in  the  World  war. 

Doctor  Lynch  has  had  many  ancestors  who  served  with  dis- 
tinction in  the  army  and  navy.  His  people  on  both  sides  have 
lived  in  Virginia  for  a  number  of  generations.  However,  Doctor 
Lynch  himself  was  born  in  Alabama,  December  2,  1865,  son  of 
Col.  Francis  Edward  and  Mary  Knox  (Buford)  Lynch.  The 
founder  of  the  Lynch  family  was  Francis  Lynch,  who  came  to 
this  country  about  1790,  settling  at  Petersburg,  Virginia.  He 
acquired  a  fortune  as  a  tobacco  exporter.  The  old  Lynch  home 
is  still  standing  on  High  Street  in  Petersburg. 

Doctor  Lynch's  grandfather  was  William  F.  Lynch,  a  captain 
in  the  United  Staes  Navy  and  later  a  commodore  in  the  Confed- 
erate States  Navy.  As  a  captain  and  under  the  auspices  of  the 
United  States  Government  he  made  the  first  and  only  authentic 
exploration  of  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan  in  1848.  His  book, 
Lynch's  Expedition  to  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan,  was  pub- 
lished shortly  after  this  and  attracted  wide  attention  and  was 
the  source  of  most  of  the  reliable  information  published  in  differ- 
ent accounts  of  these  features  of  the  Holy  Land.  The  French 
Geographical  Society  awarded  him  a  medal  for  the  work.  As  a 
commodore  of  the  Confederate  States  Navy  he  commanded  the 
Confederate  naval  forces  in  the  battle  of  Roanoke  Island  Feb- 
ruary 2,  1862.  Commodore  Lynch  married  Virginia  Shaw,  a 
daughter  of  Capt.  John  Shaw  of  the  United  States  Navy.  Cap- 
tain Shaw  came  from  Ireland,  and  was  also  an  officer  of  high 
standing  in  naval  circles. 


VIRGINIA  245 

Francis  Edward  Lynch,  who  attained  the  rank  of  colonel  in 
the  Confederate  army,  was  a  physician  by  profession.  He  was 
born  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard,  was  educated  in  Georgetown 
University  and  the  College  of  Physicans  and  Surgeons  at  Balti- 
more. At  the  time  of  the  war  between  the  states  he  entered  the 
Confederate  army  as  a  captain  and  before  the  close  was  a  colonel 
in  Wheeler's  Cavalry  Corps.  His  wife,  Mary  Knox  Buford,  was 
a  daughter  of  William  Knox  Buford,  of  Virginia.  The  oldest  son 
of  their  marriage  is  Dr.  Junius  Francis  Lynch. 

Doctor  Lynch  graduated  from  the  Medical  College  of  Vir- 
ginia in  1888.  He  has  always  been  a  leader  in  his  profession. 
For  twenty-five  years  he  was  on  the  staff  of  Saint  Vincent's  Hos- 
pital at  Norfolk.  He  was  the  founder,  is  a  former  president  and 
now  an  honorary  member  of  the  Seaboard  Medical  Association 
of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  He  is  a  member  of  a  number 
of  other  professional  societies  and  in  the  course  of  his  work 
covering  forty  years  has  used  his  experience  and  research  as 
the  source  of  a  number  of  articles  he  has  contributed  to  medical 
journals.  He  is  former  vice  president  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  Virginia. 

Doctor  Lynch  continues  the  tradition  of  the  family  in  the 
military  affairs  of  his  home  state  and  nation.  For  twenty-five 
years  he  has  been  identified  with  the  Virginia  National  Guard, 
in  service  all  the  way  from  enlisted  man  to  surgeon  general  of 
Virginia.  In  1910  Governor  William  Hodges  Mann  commis- 
sioned him  surgeon  general,  and  he  held  that  position  at  the 
time  of  the  World  war.  He  entered  the  Federal  service  as  major, 
was  made  assistant  division  surgeon  in  the  Twenty-ninth  Di- 
vision at  Camp  McClellan,  Alabama,  was  transferred  to  the 
Ninety-third  Division  as  division  surgeon  at  Camp  Stuart,  Vir- 
ginia, in  December,  1917,  and  shortly  afterward  sailed  for 
France.  In  France  the  Ninety-third  Division  was  broken  up  and 
Doctor  Lynch  was  attached  to  the  Forty-second  or  Rainbow  Di- 
vision until  July,  1918,  when  he  was  put  in  command  of  a  hos- 
pital at  Saint  Maixent,  France.  After  the  armistice  he  was 
ordered  to  Paris  as  chief  of  surgical  service  in  the  United  States 
Army  Hospital  No.  57,  the  largest  American  hosiptal  in  Paris. 
He  was  discharged  in  Hoboken,  New  Jersey,  in  the  fall  of  1919. 
He  went  into  the  army  as  a  major  in  the  Medical  Corps,  was 
promoted  to  lieutenant  colonel  in  France  and  was  commissioned 
a  colonel  in  the  Medical  Reserve  Corps  shortly  after  his  return 
from  service  abroad. 

Colonel  Lynch  is  a  past  department  commander  of  the  Ameri- 
can Legion,  a  past  national  executive  committeeman  of  that 
organization,  and  founder  and  commander  of  Post  No.  35.  He 
is  president  of  the  Department  of  Virginia  Reserve  Officers'  As- 
sociation of  the  United  States  and  member  of  its  executive  coun- 
cil. Doctor  Lynch  has  never  held  a  political  office,  though  deeply 
interested  in  the  Democratic  party.  During  the  campaign  of 
1924  he  was  president  of  the  local  Davis-Bryan  Club. 

He  married  at  Orange,  Virginia,  in  1891,  Miss  Lucy  Virginia 
Kemper,  who  died  in  1915.  She  was  a  daughter  of  James  L.  and 
Belle  (Cave)  Kemper.  Her  father  for  many  years  prior  to  the 
Civil  war  was  speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates  in  the  Virginia 
Legislature,  and  is  best  known  in  Virginia  history  as  governor 
of  the  state  from  1874  to  1878.  He  was  the  first  Democratic 
governor  of  Virginia  after  the  Civil  war.  He  was  one  of  Vir- 
ginia's sons  to  reach  the  rank  of  major-general  in  the  Confed- 
erate army.    While  commanding  a  brigade  in  Pickett's  memor- 


246  VIRGINIA 

able  charge  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  he  was  desperately 
wounded  at  the  head  of  his  men  and  was  left  on  the  field  for 
dead.  He  survived,  and  was  commissioned  a  major-general.  He 
died  in  Orange  County  in  1895.  Doctor  Lynch  in  1921  married 
Mary  Shield,  of  Hampton,  Virginia,  widow  of  Harvey  L.  Wilson 
and  daughter  of  Dr.  Mallory  Shield,  of  "Little  England,"  Hamp- 
ton. Doctor  Shield  entered  the  Confederate  army  at  an  early 
age,  was  severely  wounded  in  action,  and  after  the  war  took  up 
the  study  of  medicine,  graduating  from  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia. Doctor  Shield  married  Florence  Winder  Booker,  a  woman 
of  rare  charm  and  beauty,  whose  life  was  devoted  to  good  works. 
Doctor  Lynch's  only  child  is  a  daughter  by  his  first  marriage, 
Virginia  Kemper  Lynch,  who  was  married  in  1916  to  Lyman 
Millard,  of  Norfolk.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Millard  have  two  children, 
Lyman  Millard,  Jr.,  and  Virginia  Kemper  Millard. 

Milton  Benjamin  Ames,  well  known  in  life  insurance  circles 
at  Norfolk,  represents  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  prominent 
families  of  the  eastern  shore  of  Virginia-. 

Mr.  Ames  himself  is  a  native  of  that  section  of  Virginia.  He 
was  born  in  the  Village  of  Pungoteague  in  Accomac  County. 
His  father,  Samuel  W.  Ames,  was  born  in  the  same  village 
August  25,  1862.  The  grandfather,  Leonard  H.  Ames,  was  born 
in  the  same  locality,  son  of  Levin  Sneed  Ames,  grandson  of 
Joseph  Ames.  Joseph  Ames  was  a  son  of  Levin  Ames,  grandson 
of  Joseph  Ames.  The  Ames  family  came  from  England  and 
settled  in  Accomac  County  in  early  Colonial  times,  and  through 
every  generation  since  then  they  have  played  a  prominent  part 
in  the  civic,  business,  professional  and  social  life  of  that  section. 
The  family  was  represented  by  soldiers  in  the  Revolutionary 
war,  the  War  of  1812  and  in  the  Confederate  army.  Mr.  Ames' 
great-great-grandfather,  Capt.  Joseph  Ames,  commanded  a  com- 
pany in  the  War  of  1812.  His  grandfather,  Leonard  H.  Ames, 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army,  rising  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant.  Leonard  Ames  married  Virginia  Joynes,  another 
name  of  distinction  in  the  eastern  shore.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Edward  Joynes,  granddaughter  of  William  R.  Joynes,  great- 
granddaughter  of  Reuben  Joynes.  The  Joynes  family  is  of 
Scotch  ancestry.  Reuben  Joynes  was  a  planter  and  land  owner 
who  served  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Ninth  Virginia  Regiment  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution.  He  married  Margaret  Dunton.  William 
R.  Joynes  was  a  life  long  resident  of  Accomac  County,  a  planter 
and  slave  owner,  and  married  Hester  Rogers.  Edward  Joynes, 
father  of  Virginia  Joynes,  was  a  planter  and  merchant,  conduct- 
ing a  business  at  Old  Warehouse  Point  in  Accomac  County.  He 
married  Catherine  Scott. 

Samuel  W.  Ames  was  liberally  educated,  but  chose  a  business 
rather  than  a  professional  career.  As  a  young  man  he  was  a 
merchant  at  Pungoteague,  and  subsequent  years  brought  an 
accumulation  and  enlargement  of  his  commercial  interests.  At 
the  present  time  he  is  president  of  the  Accomac  Farm  Land  As- 
sociation of  the  Federal  Land  Bank,  is  vice  president  of  the 
Eastern  Shore  Banking  Company,  vice  president  of  the  Eastern 
Shore  Agricultural  Association,  the  oldest  agricultural  society  in 
the  United  States,  and  he  individually  owns  a  large  amount  of 
land  in  that  rich  section  of  Virginia. 

Samuel  W.  Ames  married  Nannie  Edmonds  Mears.  She  was 
born  at  Keller  in  Accomac  County.  Her  father,  Benjamin  W. 
Mears,  was  a  son  of  William  Mears,  grandson  of  William  Mears, 


VIRGINIA  247 

great-grandson  of  John  Mears,  and  great-great-grandson  of  John 
Mears,  whose  father  was  William  Mears.  The  records  of  the 
Mears  family  in  Accomac  County  run  back  to  1755,  and  they 
have  constituted  a  long  line  of  planters  and  business  men.  Ben- 
jamin W.  Clears  was  a  planter  and  merchant,  a  Confederate  sol- 
dier, and  always  deeply  interested  in  educational  matters,  serv- 
ing as  a  member  of  the  local  school  board.  He  married  Emma 
S.  Mapp,  daughter  of  George  B.  Mapp  and  granddaughter  of 
George  Thomas  Mapp,  great-granddaughter  of  Howson  Mapp, 
who  was  a  son  of  Howson  Mapp  and  grandson  of  John  Mapp, 
the  earliest  representative  of  this  well  known  family  in  Accomac 
County.  Ann  Edmonds,  the  mother  of  Emma  S.  Mapp,  was  a 
daughter  of  James  and  Nannie  (Wharton)  Edmonds.  Nannie 
Wharton  was  a  daughter  of  James  and  Susanna  Wharton,  grand- 
daughter of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Bagwell)  Wharton  and  great- 
granddaughter  of  Francis  W.  Wharton. 

Samuel  W.  Ames  and  wife  reared  the  following  children : 
Milton  B.,  Susie  M.,  Virginia  Emma,  Nannie  Wharton,  Lucy 
Mears,  and  Cora  Byrd. 

Milton  Benjamin  Ames  attended  the  Accomac  High  School, 
continued  his  education  in  Randolph-Macon  College,  taught  one 
year  in  Accomac  County,  then  entered  Lehigh  University  in 
Pennsylvania  and  graduated  from  the  Eastman  Business  College 
of  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  in  1907.  Mr.  Ames  had  the  benefit 
of  an  e.xtended  experience  in  banking  in  New  York,  clerking  in 
a  Fifth  Avenue  Bank,  and  during  the  two  years  he  was  there 
he  also  attended  night  classes  of  New  York  University. 

After  returning  to  Accomac  County  he  engaged  in  banking. 
For  several  years  he  had  been  a  student  of  life  in=iurance,  and  he 
took  up  that  business  on  the  conviction  that  a  much  larger  per- 
centage of  young  people  should  invest  in  life  insurance,  not  only 
for  the  protective  feature,  but  in  order  to  secure  a  competency 
for  old  age.  ]\Ir.  Ames  after  taking  up  life  insurance  removed 
to  Norfolk  and  for  many  years  has  represented  the  Mutual  Bene- 
fit Life  of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  in  this  district. 

He  married  in  1912  Miss  Mabel  Jordan  Roberts,  a  native  of 
Norfolk,  daughter  of  Leonard  P.  and  Ruth  (Handy)  Roberts. 
Mr.  and  I\Irs.  Ames  have  three  sons,  I\Iilton  B..  Jr.,  William  Jor- 
dan and  Samuel  Roberts.  Mr.  Ames  is  a  member  of  the  Colonial 
Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  for  several  years  he 
was  on  its  Official  Board  and  superintendent  of  the  Sunday 
School.  Mrs.  Ames  is  a  member  of  the  First  Baptist  Church. 
Fraternally  he  is  affiliated  with  Atlantic  Lodge  No.  2,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  Norfolk,  United  Royal  Arch  Chapter  No.  1.  Grice  Com- 
mandery  No.  16,  Knights  Templar,  and  Khedive  Temple  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine. 

Richard  Buckner  Spindle,  Jr..  judge  of  the  City  Police 
Court  of  Norfolk,  has  had  a  very  successful  career  as  a  lawyer 
since  beginning  practice.  He  is  a  native  son  of  Virginia  and 
member  of  a  family  that  has  been  in  this  state  since  Colonial 
times. 

Judge  Spindle  was  born  at  Christiansburg,  Montgomery 
County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  descendant  of  Robert  Spindle,  a  native 
of  England,  who  came  to  America  in  the  period  of  Colonial  set- 
tlement and  located  in  Virginia.  He  was  the  father  of  William 
Spindle,  who  married  Elizabeth  Alsop,  and  they  were  the  parents 
of  Benjamin  Spindle,  a  nativ'e  of  Spotsylvania  County,  Virginia, 


248  VIRGINIA 

where  he  Hved  out  his  life  as  a  planter.  Benjamin  Spindle  was 
twice  married ;  first  to  Maria  Claiborne  Wigglesworth,  daughter 
of  Thomas  and  Matilda  (Foster)  Wigglesworth,  granddaughter 
of  John  and  Philadelphia  Claiborne  (Fox)  Wigglesworth,  and 
great-granddaughter  of  John  Wigglesworth,  who  came  from 
England  when  a  young  man  and  settled  in  Virginia ;  and,  second, 
to  Sarah  Hill  Buckner,  a  daughter  of  Col.  Richard  Buckner,  of 
Hazel  Grove,  Caroline  County,  and  a  descendant  of  Richard 
Buckner,  of  Essex  County,  planter  and  clerk  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses  in  1714. 

Richard  Buckner  Spindle,  Sr.,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Sarah 
Hill  (Buckner)  Spindle,  was  born  near  Spotsylvania  Court  House 
in  1854.  The  ancestral  home  was  burned  during  the  battle  of 
Spotsylvania  Court  House,  and  he  was  only  a  boy  when  both  his 
parents  died.  He  was  educated  by  his  uncle,  Cuthbert  Buckner, 
principal  of  a  boys'  school  at  Fredericksburg,  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  went  to  Christiansburg  and  entered  the  service  of  his 
older  brother,  Capt.  Thomas  Wigglesworth  Spindle,  a  merchant. 
He  afterwards  entered  business  for  himself,  in  which  he  re- 
mained until  his  death  in  September,  1928.  He  married  Bessie 
Gertrude  Wardlaw,  who  was  born  in  Oglethorpe,  Georgia.  Her 
father.  Rev.  John  Wardlaw,  was  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  Her  aunt,  Mrs.  0.  S.  Pollock,  was  the 
principal  of  the  Montgomery  Female  College  in  Christiansburg, 
and  Bessie  Gertrude  Wardlaw  attended  that  school,  acquiring  a 
thorough  culture  and  education,  and  she  herself  for  several  years 
conducted  a  private  school  in  Christiansburg.  She  and  her  hus- 
band reared  seven  children,  named  Gertrude,  Daniel  H.,  now  de- 
ceased, John  W.,  William  Henry,  Katherine,  deceased,  Theodore 
and  Richard  Buckner,  Jr.  The  daughter  Gertrude  is  the  wife  of 
Alfred  Randolph  Wilson,  president  of  the  Amicable  Life  Insur- 
ance Company  of  Waco,  Texas. 

Richard  Buckner  Spindle,  Jr.,  received  his  preparatory  train- 
ing in  his  mother's  school.  He  graduated  with  the  A.  B.  degree 
at  Washington  and  Lee  University  in  1906,  then  was  an  instruc- 
tor for  two  years  at  the  Augusta  Military  Academy.  In  1910  he 
took  his  law  degree  at  Washington  and  Lee,  acting  as  instructor 
in  English  while  pursuing  his  studies  in  the  law  school.  In  the 
same  year  he  located  at  Norfolk,  and  has  been  busy  with  his  gen- 
eral practice  and  his  official  duties.  He  was  assistant  city  attor- 
ney from  1918  to  1922,  and  was  elected  judge  of  the  City  Police 
Court  in  1923,  and  reelected  in  1927.  He  has  been  particularly 
interested  in  the  traffic  problem,  inaugurated  the  first  distinct 
Traffic  Court  in  Norfolk,  was  a  member  of  the  National  Confer- 
ence of  State  and  Highway  Safety,  popularly  known  as  the 
Hoover  Conference,  which  promulgated  the  Uniform  Traffic 
Code  subsequently  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia 
and  the  Model  Municipal  Traffic  Ordinance.  He  is  a  director  of 
the  National  Highway  Traffic  Association  sponsored  by  the 
Automobile  Club  of  Am.erica,  and  of  the  Tidewater  Automobile 
Association. 

Judge  Spindle  married,  October  20,  1914,  Lettie  Mae  Mc- 
Roberts  who  was  born  at  Lancaster,  Kentucky,  daughter  of 
Robert  E.  and  Annie  (Ware)  McRoberts.  She  is  of  old  Virginia 
ancestry  and  has  membership  in  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution.  Judge  and  Mrs.  Spindle  have  two  children,  Marjory 
Ware  and  Richard  Buckner  III.  Successful  as  lawyer  and  judge, 
he  has  found  time  to  be  interested  in  varied  outside  activities. 
He  is  a  Mason  and  a  Shriner,  a  member  of  the  local  and  state  bar 


VIRGINIA 


249 


associations,  president  of  the  Norfolk  Saddle  Club,  one  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Norfolk  Public  Library,  vestryman  of  Christ 
Church,  and  has  membership  in  the  Virginia  Historical  Society. 


Francis  Patterson  Landon.  A  man  of  sterling  integrity 
and  worth,  possessing  in  a  high  degree  the  esteem  and  confid- 
ence of  the  entire  community,  Francis  P.  Landon,  the  genial 
and  accommodating  postmaster  at  Hopewell,  is  well  worthy  of 
representation  in  this  biographical  volume.  A  true  Virginian, 
he  was  born  in  Salem,  Roanoke  County,  Virginia,  a  descendant, 
several  generations  removed,  of  one  of  three  Landon  brothers, 
James,  John  and  William,  who  immigrated  from  England  to 
America  in  early  Colonial  days  and  settled  in  Virginia.  His 
father,  George  Hopkins  Landon,  was  a  son  of  Alvin  Landon,  a 
life  long  resident  of  the  "Old  Dominion." 

Alvin  Landon,  who  possessed  not  only  good  business  ability, 
but  keen  foresight,  owned  and  operated  stages  along  the  bound- 
ary line  between  Virginia  and  Tennessee,  the  line  extending 
from  Lynchburg  to  Bristol.  This  stage  route  was  well  patronized 
by  people  on  business  or  pleasure  bent,  among  the  passengers  of 
prominence  having  been  Andrew  Johnson,  who  frequently 
travelled  over  it,  both  as  vice  president  of  the  United  States 
and  as  president  of  our  country.  Alvin  Landon  married 
Candace  Rogers,  and  into  their  household  three  sons  were  born, 
namely :     James  M..  Thomas  and  George  Hopkins. 

As  a  youth  George  Hopkins  Landon  served  an  apprentice- 
ship in  a  printing  establishment,  becoming  familiar  while  thus 
em.ployed  with  the  art  preservative  of  all  arts.  During  the  Civil 
war  his  sympathies  were  with  the  Southern  people,  and  during 
the  last  years  of  the  conflict  he  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  serv- 
ice, took  part  in  several  engagements,  and  when  Lee  surrendered 
was  doing  guard  duty  at  New  River  Bridge.  Soon  after  his 
return  to  Virginia  he  embarked  in  the  drug  business  at  Salem. 
He  met  with  good  success,  and  continued  as  a  druggist  the 
remainder  of  his  active  life.  Lie  far  outlived  the  allotted  period 
of  three  score  and  ten  years,  dying  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight 
years.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  J.  Acton,  was 
born  in  I  hiladelphia,  Pennsylvania,  a  daughter  of  James  and 
Elizabeth  (Wood)  Acton,  well  known  families,  both  the  Woods 
and  Actons  having  been  among  the  early  settlers  of  Virginia. 
She,  too,  attained  a  ripe  old  age,  passing  away  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two  years. 

One  of  a  family  of  seven  children,  Francis  P.  Landon 
obtained  his  elementary  education  in  the  public  schools  of  Salem, 
Virginia,  in  the  meantime  sjjending  his  leisure  hours  as  a  clerk 
in  his  father's  store.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  having  a 
decided  taste  for  pharmaceutics,  he  entered  the  Philadelphia 
School  of  Pharmacy,  from  which  in  1892  he  was  graduated  ■\\ith 
the  degree  of  Phar.  D.  Locating  then  in  Richlands,  Virginia, 
Mr.  Landon  was  there  associated  with  Doctor  Roberts,  a  physi- 
cian and  druggist,  for  a  few  years.  He  was  afterward  engaged 
in  the  drug  business  in  different  places,  including  Bluefield,  West 
Virginia,  Tazewell  and  Pocahontas,  both  in  Virginia.  Keystone, 
West  Virginia,  and  Charlottesville,  and  Lynchburg,  Virginia. 

In  1916  Mr.  Landon  located  in  Hopewell,  Prince  George 
County.  Virginia,  where  he  remained  in  the  employ  of  a  leading 
druggist  until  1922.  In  that  year  he  was  appointed  postmaster 
at  Hopewell,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service  was 
reappointed  to  the  same  responsible  position  by  Calvin  Coolidge. 


250  VIRGINIA 

Mr.  Landon  has  been  twice  married.  He  married  first,  in 
1892,  Lata  Frances  Tuttle,  who  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  a  daughter  of  Charles  and  Elizabeth  Tuttle.  She  died  in 
1907,  leaving  four  children,  as  follows:  Bertha  Groge,  Ger- 
trude Acton,  George  Kemlo  and  Francis  P.  Bertha  G.,  wife  of 
J.  C.  Walters,  has  four  children,  all  boys,  Jesse  C.,  Frank,  Wil- 
liam and  Douglas.  Gertrude  Acton,  who  married  Theodore  Ben- 
ning,  has  four  children.  George  Kemlo  married  Mary  Taylor 
Eggleston,  and  they  are  the  parents  of  two  children,  Ann  Taylor 
and  George  K.,  Jr. 

While  a  resident  of  West  Virginia  Mr.  Landon  was  appointed 
by  Governor  Dawson  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Examing 
Pharmacists,  and  was  one  of  the  organizers,  and  a  charter  mem- 
ber of  the  West  Virginia  State  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
Prominent  in  public  affairs,  he  was  vice  president  and  secretary 
of  the  Keystone  Board  of  Trade  and  vice  president  of  the  West 
Virginia  State  Board  of  Trade.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  of  the  Kiwanis  Club,  and  is  a  thirty-second 
degree  Mason  and  a  Noble  in  the  Mystic  Shrine,  Potentate 
representative  for  Hopewell,  Virginia,  a  past  Master  Mason,  a 
past  chancellor  commander  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  a 
past  noble  grand  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  National  Geographic  Society  and  is  author 
of  the  Woman  of  the  Clan.  Mr.  Landon  has  one  of  the  finest 
reference  libraries  in  the  state.  He  is  building  a  fine  home 
at  Broadway  and  Wilson,  opposite  Abbott  Park. 

William  Marvin  Minter  is  an  attorney  practicing  at 
Mathews,  and  was  born  in  Mathews  County  November  26,  1886, 
son  of  J.  Willie  and  Lillian  Ethelyn  Minter. 

Mr.  Minter  finished  his  education  in  the  College  of  William 
and  Mary,  and  has  been  practicing  law  since  1916.  He  was  also 
a  newspaper  man,  having  been  proprietor  of  the  Mathetvs  Jour- 
nal from  1908  to  1923.  In  November,  1917,  he  was  commissioned 
a  second  lieutenant  in  the  Ofl^cers  Training  School  at  Fort  Myer 
and  served  in  home  camps  until  his  discharge  in  December,  1918. 

He  married,  December  5,  1917,  Eva  M.  Armistead,  daughter 
of  A.  L.  and  Mary  Virginia  Armistead. 

George  Edward  Pickett.  Far  back,  even  to  Colonial  days, 
reach  authentic  records  of  a  notable  Virginia  family,  the  Pick- 
etts,  one  that  has  contributed  much  to  the  state's  prestige,  par- 
ticularly along  military  lines.  The  name  of  Col.  William  Pickett, 
once  owner  of  a  great  estate  in  Farquier  County,  is  memorialized 
for  his  valor  and  activity  in  the  early  Colonial,  French  and  In- 
dian wars,  and  no  less  distinction  is  accorded  Col.  Robert  Pickett, 
of  the  next  generation,  who  was  a  member  of  General  Washing- 
ton's stafl"  in  the  Revolutionary  war  and  later  identified  with 
military  affairs  in  the  War  of  1812.  That  same  spirit  of  personal 
courage  and  determined  independence  has  prevailed  uninter- 
ruptedly in  the  family  ever  since.  A  worthy  member  of  this 
old  family  is  found  in  George  Edward  Pickett  III,  of  Wash- 
ington, District  of  Columbia,  lawyer,  business  man,  historian 
and  honored  overseas  veteran  of  the  World  war. 

George  Edward  Pickett  was  born  October  23,  1893,  at  Wash- 
ington, District  of  Columbia,  second  son  of  Maj.  George  Edward 
and  Ida  (Christiancy)  Pickett,  and  grandson  of  Maj-Gen. 
George  Edward  Pickett,  a  distinguished  officer  both  in  the  Mexi- 
can war  and  later  in  the  Civil  war.    Maj.  George  Edward  Pickett 


VIRGINIA  251 

was  born  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  as  was  his  father,  whom  he 
greatly  resembled.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute,  and  in  1898  entered  military  life  as  a  major  in  rank 
in  the  United  States  Regular  Army,  and  went  to  the  Philippine 
Islands,  where  he  remained  until  1911,  when  he  started  on  his 
return  to  the  United  States  but  did  not  survive  to  reach  his  home, 
his  death  occurring  in  mid-ocean  on  April  18,  1911.  He  married 
Miss  Ida  Christiancy,  who  was  born  in  Monroe  County,  Michi- 
gan, and  is  now  a  resident  of  the  City  of  Detroit.  Their  two 
sons  survive :  Christiancy  and  George  Edward,  both  of  whom 
are  overseas  veterans  of  the  World  war. 

Christiancy  Pickett  served  in  France  as  a  member  of  the 
13th  Field  Artillery,  Fourth  Division,  and,  although  in  imminent 
danger  throughout  the  entire  period,  was  fortunate  enough  to 
escape  all  injury  and  returned  at  the  end  of  the  war  practically 
unharmed.  He  is  now  a  captain  in  the  Regular  Army,  stationed 
at  Fort  Sill,  Oklahoma,  and  as  a  specialist  on  tractors  and  trucks 
has  compiled  valuable  statistics  on  army  motor  transportation. 
He  married  Miss  Eula  Mae  Cherry,  and  they  have  two  children : 
Christiancy,  Jr.,  and  Marguerite,  aged  four  and  two  years,  re- 
spectively. 

George  Edward  Pickett  enjoyed  superior  educational  advan- 
tages during  boyhood  and  youth,  not  only  in  Washington  and 
Richmond,  but  also  in  San  Franci.sco,  California,  in  which  city 
he  was  graduated  from  high  school.  He  then  accompanied  his 
parents  to  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  while  there  attended  Bish- 
op Brent's  Boys  School,  and  after  returning  to  America  entered 
the  Virginia  Military  Institute  at  Lexington,  from  there  going 
to  Hai'vard  University  and  taking  a  classical  course.  For  some 
time  he  then  was  a  student  in  Hobart  College  at  Geneva,  New 
York. 

Thus  well  equipped  educationally  for  the  future,  Mr.  Pickett 
turned  his  attention  to  the  business  field,  accepting  a  clerkship 
in  the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York  in  1916,  and  received 
rapid  promotion,  filling  the  position  of  an  assistant  manager 
when  in  May,  1917,  he  hastened  to  Washington  City  in  order  to 
enlist  for  service  in  the  World  war.  In  this  he  was  sadly  disap- 
pointed, as  a  disability  of  color  blindness  cau.sed  his  rejection 
by  army,  navy  and  Marine  Corps  officials.  Although  he  did  not 
permit  himself  to  be  entirely  discouraged,  he  returned  tempo- 
rarily to  the  banking  business,  with  the  Riggs  National  Bank  at 
Washington.  In  the  meanwhile  the  great  war,  in  which  his 
heredity  and  instinct  constantly  urged  his  taking  part,  developed 
into  more  and  more  of  a  calamity,  and  when  an  opportunity  came 
in  December,  1917,  to  enlist  as  a  private  in  the  20th  Engineers 
he  took  advantage  of  it  gladly,  attended  the  Officers  Training 
School  at  Camp  Johnson  and  was  graduated  ninth  in  a  class  of 
350.  After  serving  as  sergeant  and  seargeant-major  he  re- 
ceived his  commission  as  second  lieutenant,  and  on  April  6,  1918, 
when  Company  H,  Quartermaster  Supply,  set  sail  from  Newport 
News,  Virginia,  he  accompanied  this  body,  as  second  in  com- 
mand, for  France,  and  after  reaching  Depot  No.  1  was  assigned 
as  personal  officer,  mess  officer  and  semi-court  officer,  the  duties 
of  which  he  performed  with  the  utmost  efficiencj',  and  largely 
because  of  this  unremitting  attention  to  duty  he  met  with  his 
first  serious  war  injury.  In  his  official  capacity  it  was  his  custom 
to  frequently  visit  the  front  lines,  and  on  one  of  these  dangerous 
trips  he  received  a  bullet  in  his  arm.  He  did  not  permit  this 
painful  wound  to  limit  his  activities  materially,  but  a  subsequent 


252  VIRGINIA 

injury  ended  his  military  service  in  France  and  almost  closed 
his  brave  young  life.  It  occurred  when  he  was  on  duty  as  a 
mess  officer,  when  his  truck  ran  into  a  tree  and  was  demolished, 
causing  permanent  injury  to  the  bones  of  his  knee.  He  was  not 
able  to  leave  France  until  July  18,  1919,  when  he  returned  to 
the  United  States  and  immediately  went  under  treatment  in 
Walter  Reed  Hospital,  Washington  City,  from  which  he  was 
honorably  discharged  from  military  service  on  August  18,  1921, 
with  the  surgical  dictum  of  permanent  total  disability.  This 
opinion,  however,  has  been  proved  faulty,  for  since  then  he  has 
improved  seventy-five  per  cent. 

Upon  his  release  from  the  hospital  and  with  marked  evidence 
of  returning  health,  Mr.  Pickett  put  into  operation  a  business  en- 
terprise in  which  he  is  still  interested,  this  being  an  information 
brokerage  business,  by  which  reports  were  prepared  for  clients 
on  any  desired  subject.  It  was  not  until  1924  that  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  and  applied  himself  so  closely  that  in  1926  he  was 
graduated  from  the  National  University  at  Washington  with  his 
LL.  B.  degree,  and  in  June,  1927,  received  his  LL.  M.  and  his 
M.  P.  L.  degrees.  He  maintains  his  law  office  in  the  Interna- 
tional Building  on  F  Street,  Washington  City,  and  was  also 
licensed  to  practice  in  North  Carolina  on  January  .30,  1928.  As 
resident  manager  in  Washington,  Mr.  Pickett  is  identified  with 
the  Blackstone  Institute,  Chicago,  Illinois,  an  institution  of  merit 
that  prepares  and  sells  law  courses  to  non-resident  students. 
Along  additional  lines  Mr.  Pickett  is  successfully  engaged  in 
literary  work,  as  he  is  department  historian  of  the  Disabled 
Amei'ican  Veteran  organization. 

Mr.  Pickett  married  on  August  10,  1920,  Miss  June  D.  Ogles- 
by,  daughter  of  Capt.  Milton  Landis  and  Ella  (Drewhl)  Oglesby, 
the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Kentucky  and  the  latter  in 
Illinois.  Captain  Oglesby  is  a  captain  in  the  Army  Reserve 
Corps  and  formerly,  during  the  World  war,  was  a  captain  in  the 
Ordnance  Department.  His  present  headquarters  are  in  New 
York  City,  he  being  special  repi-esentative  and  lecturer  for  the 
Bureau  of  Explosives  for  the  American  Railway  Association. 
Mrs.  Pickett  is  a  highly  educated  lady  and  a  member  of  the 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution.  The  two  little  children 
of  the  family  are :  George  Edward,  fourth,  born  in  1921 ;  and 
Virginia,  born  in  1924. 

Mr.  Pickett  belongs  to  a  number  of  clubs  and  organizations, 
including  such  bodies  as  the  American  Legion,  the  American  War 
Veterans  Club,  Sons  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  Sons  of  the  Confeder- 
acy and  the  Military  Order  of  the  Aztecs.  He  is  a  member  of 
St.  Stephen's  Episcopal  Church  and  teaches  the  boys'  class  in 
the  Sunday  School.     In  political  life  he  is  independent. 

Clifford  William  Banks  has  for  many  years  been  asso- 
ciated with  one  of  the  greatest  organizations  in  the  world  for 
the  handling,  transportation  and  marketing  of  fruit  products, 
the  American  Fruit  Growers  Association.  Mr.  Banks  is  sales 
manager  for  that  association,  and  as  such  has  his  business  offices 
at  Norfolk  and  also  at  Rural  Retreat,  he  and  his  family  spending 
the  greater  part  of  the  j'ear  at  Norfolk. 

Mr.  Banks  is  a  native  Georgian,  and  comes  of  a  family  that 
has  been  prominent  in  the  state  for  a  number  of  generations, 
and  several  communities  cari-y  the  family  name.  Mr.  Banks  was 
born  at  Macon  October  28,  1881,  son  of  James  A.  and  Lula 
(Asbury)   Banks.     His  father  was  born  and  reared  in  Macon, 


VIRGINIA  253 

graduated  from  Emory  College,  now  Emory  University,  of  At- 
lanta, and  at  the  age  of  thirteen  was  accepted  as  a  soldier  of 
the  Confederacy.  Three  of  his  brothers  were  killed  in  action 
during  the  war.  Following  the  war  he  became  a  farmer  and 
fruit  grower  and  merchant.  He  was  interested  in  military 
affairs,  being  a  captain  in  the  Georgia  State  Militia,  and  while 
attending  an  encampment  at  Chickamauga  he  exposed  himself 
and  contracted  pneumonia,  from  which  he  died.  He  is  buried 
at  Forsyth,  Georgia.  His  wife,  Lula  Asbury,  was  born  and 
reared  at  Forsyth,  was  educated  in  the  Monroe  Female  College, 
now  the  Bessie  Tift  College,  and  has  been  distinguished  by  some 
unusual  accomplishments,  has  been  an  artist,  musician,  a  fine 
singer,  and  has  used  her  talents  in  music  in  the  Baptist  Church 
for  many  years.  She  is  now  eighty-one  and  lives  at  Macon.  Her 
family  has  been  closely  identified  with  the  cause  of  female  edu- 
cation in  Georgia.  Her  parents  were  Richard  T.  and  Katie 
(Peteet)  Asbury.  Richard  T.  Asbury  was  a  splendid  type  of 
the  old  time  southern  gentleman,  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and 
after  the  Civil  war  was  in  the  same  law  oflSce  with  the  great 
southern  statesman,  Alexander  H.  Stephens.  He  turned  from 
the  law  to  educational  work,  and  he  donated  many  acres  and 
founded  the  Monroe  Female  College  at  Forsyth,  and  for  many 
years  served  as  president  of  the  institution,  now  the  Bessie  Tift 
Female  College.  He  died  in  1914  and  his  wife  in  1919.  James 
A.  Banks  and  wife  had  five  children :  Mattie  Lou,  Clifford  W., 
James  A.,  Bessie  and  Richard  T.  James  A.  is  head  of  the  St. 
Johns  River  Terminals  of  Jacksonville,  Florida. 

Clifford  W.  Banks  attended  public  school  at  Macon,  Mercer 
University  of  Georgia,  and  after  his  college  career  was  in  the 
service  of  the  American  National  Bank  of  Macon  for  about  eight 
years.  He  was  assistant  cashier  when  he  left.  As  a  financier 
and  business  man  he  has  long  made  a  study  of  conditions  effect- 
ing the  marketing  of  the  great  volume  of  fruit  grown  in  the 
southeastern  states.  He  left  the  bank  to  become  associated  with 
the  Georgia  Fruit  Exchange  as  sales  manager.  For  ten  years 
he  was  instrumental  in  providing  adequate  and  profitable  mar- 
keting facilities  for  the  hundreds  of  carloads  of  choice  Georgia 
peaches  and  other  fruit.  Mr.  Banks  for  seven  years  was  in  the 
fruit  and  produce  business  for  himself,  with  headquarters  at 
Saint  Louis.  In  1921  he  became  associated  with  the  American 
Fruit  Growers  Association  as  sales  manager,  with  head  offices 
at  Norfolk  and  with  branch  offices  at  Staunton,  Winchester, 
Rural  Retreat  and  Cheriton,  Virginia,  and  Martinsburg,  West' 
Virginia.  This  organization  probably  handles  more  fruit  in  the 
course  of  a  year  than  any  other  similar  organization  in  the  world. 

Mr.  Banks  is  a  member  of  the  Norfolk  Kiwanis  Club,  is  affili- 
ated with  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  member 
of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

He  married  at  Macon,  Georgia,  September  17,  1907,  Miss 
Marion  Lane,  who  was  reared  and  educated  at  Macon  and  at- 
tended the  Wesleyan  Female  College  there.  She  is  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Colonial  Dames,  Daughters  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution and  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  but  her  chief 
interest  is  in  her  home  and  her  two  talented  daughters.  She  is 
a  daughter  of  Gen.  Jeff  and  Marion  (Reese)  Lane.  Her  grand- 
father was  a  general  in  the  Confederate  army  and  for  many 
years  after  the  war  a  leading  figure  in  railroad  transportation 
in  the  South,  being  at  the  time  of  his  death  general  manager  of 

12— VOL.  3 


254  VIRGINIA 

the  Georgia  Southern  &  Florida  Railway,  part  of  the  Southern 
Railway  System.  He  died  in  1905,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  are 
buried  at  Macon.  The  original  Reese  family  home  is  still  stand- 
ing at  Athens,  Georgia,  and  every  American  is  interested  in  that 
home  because  it  was  there  that  John  Howard  Payne  wrote  his 
immortal  song  "Home  Sweet  Home,"  and  the  copy  in  his  own 
handwriting  was  in  the  hands  of  the  family  until  recent  years. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Banks  had  four  daughters,  two  of  whom  died  in 
infancy.  The  two  now  living  are  Lillian  Williams  and  Marion 
Lane,  both  attending  school  at  Norfolk.  Lillian  is  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1929  in  the  Maury  High  School,  and  is  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  Maury  Ne^vs. 

Albert  Micou  Sneed,  M.  D.,  chief  surgeon  for  the  Peninsula 
Transit  Corporation,  coroner  of  James  City  County,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  County  Board  of  Health,  is  one  of  the  ablest  members 
of  his  profession  in  this  region,  and  he  maintains  his  residence 
and  office  at  Toano,  Virginia.  He  is  a  man  who  has  always 
placed  professional  ethics  above  personal  convenience,  and  who 
has  given  freely  of  his  skill  and  time  to  the  furtherance  of  public 
health  measures  and  the  treatment  of  those  unable  to  afford 
proper  care.  As  a  result  he  stands  deservedly  high  in  public 
esteem,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  record  that  since  he  took  charge 
of  the  affairs  of  the  coroner's  office  are  in  better  condition  than 
ever  before. 

Doctor  Sneed  was  born  in  Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  July 
9,  1889,  a  son  of  Dr.  Edgar  Morris  and  Stella  Virginia  (Stark) 
Sneed,  natives  of  Albemarle  County.  Dr.  Edgar  Morris  Sneed 
has  been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Stafford  County, 
Virginia,  since  1902,  having  previously  practiced  in  Albemarle 
County  from  1889,  and  is  one  of  the  eminent  members  of  his  pro- 
fession in  that  neighborhood.  His  father  was  a  Confederate 
veteran,  having  served  in  the  Southern  army  throughout  the 
war  between  the  states.    The  mother  is  also  living. 

The  early  education  of  Dr.  Albert  Micou  Sneed  was  secured 
in  several  private  schools  of  Albemarle  County  and  Stafford 
County,  and  he  later  became  a  student  of  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege, and  while  there  became  a  member  of  Pi  Kappa  Alpha  fra- 
ternity. Upon  leaving  William  and  Mary  College  he  entered 
the  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  Richmond,  and  was  graduated 
therefrom  in  1912,  after  taking  the  full  course,  with  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Medicine,  and  as  a  member  of  Phi  Chi,  the  medical 
Greek  letter  fi-aternity.  For  the  subsequent  two  years  he  was 
one  of  a  staff  of  eight  doctors  connected  with  the  hospital  main- 
tained at  Stonega,  Virginia,  by  the  Stonega  Coke  &  Coal  Com- 
pany. When  he  left  that  company  Doctor  Sneed  went  to  New 
York  City  and  for  one  year  was  associated  with  Dr.  H.  L.  Winter, 
nervous  diseases.  In  December,  1915,  Doctor  Sneed  came  to 
Toano,  James  City  County,  where  he  has  since  been  very  suc- 
cessfully engaged  in  practice. 

On  October  9,  1912,  Doctor  Sneed  married  Miss  Lucy  Harri- 
son Wade,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  William  and  Annie  F.  (Powers) 
Wade,  natives  of  Virginia,  the  father  born  in  Albemarle  County; 
and  the  mother  in  Richmond.  Doctor  Wade  was  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  dentistry  in  Richmond  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
June  11,  1918.  Mrs.  Wade  followed  him  in  October  of  the  same 
year.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Sneed  have  three  children :  Ann  Harri- 
son, who  was  born  in  January,  1914;  Emily  Gresham,  who  was 
born  in  February,  1916 ;  and  Mary  Micou,  who  was  born  in  Jan- 


g^f^^^.  x^ 


i 


VIRGINIA  255 

uary,  1920.  He  is  a  member  of  the  University  Club  of  Rich- 
mond, and  he  and  his  wife  belong  to  the  Williamsburg  Cotiiion 
Club.  Professionally  he  maintains  membership  with  the  Vir- 
ginia State  Medical  Society,  the  American  Medical  Association, 
the  Walter  Reed  Medical  Society  and  the  James  City  County 
Medical  Society.  A  very  active  Democrat,  he  is  a  member  of 
the  James  City  County  Central  Committee  of  his  party.  For 
years  an  Episcopalian,  he  is  now  serving  as  vestryman  of  Hick- 
ory Neck  Episcopal  Church.  During  the  World  war  he  served 
as  a  member  of  the  Medical  Advisory  Board  of  James  City 
County.  Mrs.  Sneed  is  the  first  of  her  sex  to  be  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  James  City  County  School  Board,  and  she  is  also 
motor  vehicle  agent  for  James  City  County  and  the  City  of 
Williamsburg.  For  several  terms  she  has  served  as  president 
of  the  Toano  Woman's  Club ;  she  is  president  of  the  Guild  of  the 
Episcopal  Church ;  State  chairman  of  illiteracy,  for  the  Parent- 
Teachers  Association  and  is  a  past  vice  president  of  the  State 
Parent-Teachers  Association.  Both  Doctor  Sneed  and  his  wife, 
as  will  be  seen  from  this  brief  review,  are  very  potent  factors 
in  the  life  of  James  City  County,  and  they  are  accomplishing  a 
vast  amount  of  good  along  many  lines  of  endeavor. 

George  Harrison  Musgrave,  M.  D.  A  member  of  the  med- 
ical profession  of  Virginia  for  eighteen  years,  it  is  not  at  all 
unlikely  that  Dr.  George  H.  Musgrave,  of  Leesburg,  owes  the 
selection  of  his  profession  and  much  of  his  success  therein 
largely  to  heredity,  inasmuch  as  both  his  grandfather  and  great- 
grandfather were  physicians.  However  that  may  be,  he  has 
honestly  earned  his  present  position  as  a  skilled,  conscientious 
and  reliable  practitioner  through  industry  and  faithful  fidelity 
to  the  highest  ethics  of  his  calling,  while  his  success  in  the  care 
of  his  large  practice  has  won  him  universal  confidence  and 
esteem. 

Doctor  Musgrave  was  born  July  12,  1884,  in  Southampton 
County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  R.  N.  and  Sallie  H.  (Pope) 
Musgrave.  His  great-grandfather  was  Dr.  Robert  T.  Musgrave, 
one  of  the  pioneer  physicians  of  this  section  of  Virginia,  and  his 
old  ledger,  showing  his  accounts  from  the  years  1825  until  1832, 
inclusive,  are  not  only  kept  by  his  great-grandson  as  a  keep- 
sake, but  as  a  valuable  historical  record  of  those  early  days 
and  as  matter  indicative  of  the  activities  of  the  pioneer  devotees 
of  medicine.  The  grandfather  of  Doctor  Musgrave,  Dr.  George 
N.  Musgrave,  was  likewise  an  early  country  practitioner,  whose 
practice  extended  over  an  area  of  many  miles  of  territory  and 
who  was  beloved  and  respected  during  his  day. 

R.  N.  Musgrave  was  born  in  Southampton  County,  Virginia, 
and  in  young  manhood  adopted  the  lumber  business,  which  he 
followed  for  a  long  period  of  years  in  his  native  locality.  At 
this  time  he  has  an  office  at  Norfolk,  whence  he  conducts  his 
numerous  activities  in  this  line  of  business.  He  has  been  suc- 
cessful in  his  operations  and  is  known  as  one  of  Norfolk's  sub- 
stantial business  men  and  reliable  citizens.  Mrs.  Musgrave 
passed  away  at  Norfolk  August  17,  1926. 

George  H.  Musgrave  acquired  his  early  education  in  the 
public  schools  of  Southampton  County,  following  which  he  pur- 
sued courses  at  Bedford  Academy  and  Randolph-Macon  College. 
He  matriculated  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  from  which  insti- 
tution he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine 
as  a  member  of  the  class  of  June,  1908,  and  then  served  his 


256  VIRGINIA 

interneship  at  the  Norfolk  Protestant  Hospital.  Doctor  Mus- 
grave  commenced  practice  at  Capron,  Virginia,  January  1,  1910 
this  being  contract  lumber  practice,  and  then  went  to  Boykins, 
Virginia,  where  he  had  his  headquarters  until  he  enlisted  in  the 
Medical  Reserve  Corps  in  April,  1917,  for  service  during  the 
World  war.  Securing  a  first  lieutenant's  commission,  he  saw 
twenty  months  of  service  overseas,  and  was  honorably  dis- 
charged with  the  rank  of  major  in  April,  1919.  He  then  re- 
turned to  Boykins  and  resumed  practice,  continuing  until  Janu- 
ary, 1924,  when  he  became  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State 
Department  of  Health,  and  was  identified  therewith  until  Octo- 
ber, 1926,  since  when  he  has  been  engaged  in  general  practice 
at  Leesburg,  his  well  appointed  offices  being  located  in  the  Orr 
Building.  Doctor  Musgrave  has  a  splendid  practice  and  has 
acquired  a  substantial  reputation  for  reliability  as  a  diagnosti- 
cian, skill  as  a  practitioner  and  ability  as  an  operator.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Loudoun  County  Medical  Society,  the  Virginia 
State  Medical  Society  and  the  American  Medical  Association, 
and  is  a  conscientious  student  of  his  profession,  keeping  fully 
in  advance  of  its  discoveries  and  developments.  He  is  affiliated 
with  the  Masonic  Order  and  belongs  to  the  American  Legion. 
Politically  he  is  a  Democrat,  and  his  good  citizenship  is  evi- 
denced by  his  willing  support  of  civic  movements  of  a  worth- 
while nature.     He  belongs  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

In  June,  1919,  Doctor  Musgrave  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Bessie  D.  Ridley,  daughter  of  John  W.  and  Bettie  (Good- 
win) Ridley,  natives  of  Southampton  County,  where  Mr.  Ridley 
resides  as  a  retired  agriculturist,  Mrs.  Ridley  having  passed 
away  in  1920.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Musgrave  have  had  three  chil- 
dren: Bettie  Goodwin,  born  April  26,  1920;  George  Harrison, 
Jr.,  born  February  5,  1927,  who  died  January  4,  1928,  and 
Nancy  Harrison,  born  February  7,  1929. 

Isaac  Talbot  Walke,  proprietor  of  an  insurance  agency  at 
Norfolk  which  has  been  in  existence  and  under  the  ownership 
and  management  of  the  Walke  family  for  six  decades,  is  de- 
scended from  one  of  the  very  first  families  to  establish  homes 
in  what  is  now  Norfolk  County. 

He  is  a  direct  descendant  of  Thomas  Walke,  a  native  of  Eng- 
land, who  first  went  to  the  Barbadoes  in  1622  and  later  moved 
to  Virginia,  estabhshing  himself  at  Fairfield  in  Princess  Anne 
County.  He  married  Mary  Lawson,  whose  father.  Col.  Anthony 
Lawson,  was  one  of  the  eminent  lawyers  of  Virginia  Colony. 
Thomas  Walke  held  the  rank  of  colonel  of  militia  under  King 
Charles  II.  He  was  a  vestryman  in  the  Lynnhaven  Parish 
Church,  one  of  the  famous  churches  of  old  Colonial  Virginia. 

His  son,  Anthony  Walke,  married  Anna  Lee  Armistead,  a 
granddaughter  of  Capt.  Hancock  and  Mary  (Kendell)  Lee.  Mary 
Kendell  was  a  daughter  of  Col.  William  Kendell,  who  served  as 
collector  of  revenues  at  Accomac  in  1660.  Hancock  Lee  was  a 
son  of  Col.  Richard  Lee,  the  ancestor  of  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
known  as  the  champion  of  American  Independence.  In  William 
Forest's  sketches  of  Norfolk  the  statement  is  made  that  Anthony 
Walke  purchased  150  acres  of  land  on  which  at  a  later  date  the 
City  of  Norfolk  was  laid  out,  the  first  plat  of  the  city  being  made 
in  1682.  Anthony  and  Anna  (Armistead)  Walke  had  as  one  of 
their  children  Anthony  Walke,  who  married  Jane  Randolph,  and 
they  were  the  parents  of  William  Walke,  who  married  Mary  Cal- 
vert.    The  next  generation  was  represented  by  William  Walke, 


VIRGINIA  257 

who  married  Elizabeth  Nash,  and  they  in  turn  were  the  parents 
of  Richard  Walke,  who  married  Diana  Talbot.  Richard  and 
Diana  were  the  grandparents  of  Isaac  Talbot  Walke. 

Mr.  Walke  was  born  at  Norfolk.  His  father,  William  Talbot 
Walke,  was  also  a  native  of  that  city,  where  he  was  reared  and 
educated,  and  served  in  the  Confederate  government  during  the 
Civil  war.  Afterwards  he  took  up  the  insurance  business  and 
followed  it  until  his  death.  His  wife  was  Sally  Gary,  born  at 
Garysburg,  North  Carolina.  They  reared  the  following  children, 
William  Talbot,  Richard  Gray,  James  Newsom,  Mary  Diana, 
Sally  Willoughby,  Isaac  Talbot  and  Herbert  Nash. 

Isaac  Talbot  Walke  after  completing  his  course  at  Norfolk 
Academy  entered  Eastman's  Business  College  at  Poughkeepsie, 
New  York,  and  with  this  training  became  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  insurance  business.  In  later  years  he  acquired 
that  business.  This  insurance  agencv  was  established  bv  his 
father  in  1869.     It  is  located  at  203  Granby  Street  in  Norfolk. 

Mr.  Walke  married  Linda  Harrell,  a  native  of  Murfreesboro, 
North  Carolina.  They  have  three  children,  Isaac  Talbot,  Jr., 
Linda  Harrell  and  Gertrude  Willoughby.  The  family  are  mem- 
bers of  Christ  Episcopal  Church  in  Norfolk. 

WILLI.4M  Thomas  Ellett.  The  late  William  Thomas  Ellett, 
long  one  of  the  substantial  business  men  of  Richmond,  and  an 
active  factor  in  the  furniture  industry,  had  a  career  typical  of 
the  period  in  which  he  lived  when  the  South  was  recovering 
from  the  disastrous  effects  of  over  four  years  of  warfare,  and 
he  participated  in  much  of  the  constructive  work  of  his  city. 
His  youth  and  young  manhood  spent  on  a  Virginia  farm,  he 
came  to  Richmond  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  years,  and  followed 
the  path  of  ambition  and  gave  his  native  qualities  of  character 
and  practical  ability  to  assist  in  whatever  came  to  hand.  It  is 
upon  such  men  as  he,  their  accomplishments  and  their  strong 
faith,  do  those  of  the  rising  generation  build  their  confident 
hope  of  the  American  future. 

\^'illiam  Thomas  Ellett  was  born  in  New  Kent  County,  Vir- 
ginia, in  February,  1861,  and  he  died  in  Richmond,  Virginia, 
July  7,  1922,  a  son  of  Cornelius  and  Mary  Ann  (Lacey)  Ellett, 
the  former  of  whom  was  a  farmer  and  planter.  Mrs.  Ellett  was 
a  lady  of  superior  education  and  in  the  absence  of  adequate 
schools  taught  her  children,  of  whom  there  were  ten,  not  only 
the  lessons  to  be  found  in  books,  but  those  which  come  from  the 
heart  of  a  loving  mother  and  good  Christian  woman. 

Farming  in  his  native  county  until  he  was  twenty-two,  the 
ambitious  young  man  sought  a  wider  horizon  in  the  capital  city 
of  the  South,  and  here,  in  Richmond,  he  learned  the  carpenter 
trade,  followed  it  for  a  few  years,  and  then  became  a  contractor 
and  builder.  The  strenuous  character  of  his  work  brought  about 
a  breakdown  and  he  was  forced  to  seek  a  change  of  occupation, 
returning  to  farming,  and  was  engaged  in  that  occupation  for 
ten  years,  when  once  more  he  came  to  Richmond,  entered  the 
furniture  business,  and  continued  in  it  until  1920.  He  retired 
from  it,  and  later  entered  the  grocery  field,  but  a  few  months 
later  his  death  occurred. 

On  April  27,  1887,  Mr.  Ellett  married  Miss  Evelyn  Thomas 
Long,  a  daughter  of  Andrew  Jackson  and  Martha  Ann  (Blake) 
Long.  Her  father  was  a  farmer  and  carpenter,  and  he  and  the 
mother  had  ten  children  born  to  them,  of  whom  she  was  the 


258  VIRGINIA 

eighth  in  order  of  birth.  Mrs.  Ellett  was  educated  in  King 
William  County.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  war  between 
the  states  Andrew  Jackson  Long  served  in  the  Confederate  army. 
The  Long  family  came  to  the  United  States  from  Ireland  and 
settled  in  Caroline  County,  Virginia.  The  Ellett  family  settled 
in  King  William  County,  Virginia,  just  after  the  close  of  the 
American  Revolution,  so  that  both  it  and  the  Long  family  are 
old  ones  in  the  state. 

Of  the  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ellett  there  are  five 
now  living,  namely:  Pearl  Blake,  who  married  Joseph  Alexan- 
der Barlow,  a  farmer  and  planter,  and  they  have  two  children, 
Joseph  Alexander,  Junior,  and  William  Edward ;  Chastine  Clyde, 
who  married  Annie  Laurie  Gordon,  and  has  two  children,  Mary 
Evelyn  and  Lester  Earle ;  William  Wyatt,  who  is  engaged  in  the 
plumbing  business  in  Richmond,  married  Elizabeth  Ruby  Thorpe, 
and  they  have  two  children,  William  Wyatt,  Junior,  and  Lowell 
E. ;  Andrew  Cornelius,  who  is  an  automobile  salesman,  married 
Lelia  E.  Anderson,  and  they  have  one  child.  Gay  Nelle;  and 
Evelyn  Inez,  who  married  Walter  Dewitt  Smith,  a  Government 
employe.  Of  the  above  children  William  Wyatt  is  the  veteran 
of  the  World  war,  for  which  he  voluntered,  and  served  in  the 
United  States  Navy  for  eighteen  months,  and  had  nine  months  of 
active  service  on  the  sea. 

Mrs.  Ellett  is  a  consistent  mem.ber  of  the  East  End  Baptist 
Church,  to  which  Mr.  Ellett  belonged  in  line.  He  was  a  Mason 
and  belonged  to  the  Shrine  in  that  order,  and  to  the  Owls,  Junior 
Order  United  American  Mechanics,  and  the  Odd  Fellows. 

John  Walker  Down  was  well  known  as  a  lumberman  in 
Virginia,  manufacturing  large  quantities  of  timber  products  that 
entered  extensively  into  the  coastwise  trade  and  also  went  to 
foreign  markets. 

Mr.  Down  was  born  in  Gloucester  County,  New  Jersey,  April 
21,  1840,  and  died  in  Mathews  County,  Virginia,  in  November, 
1917.  His  father,  John  Walker  Down,  Sr.,  was  in  the  lumber 
industry  in  New  Jersey  for  many  years.  The  Down  family 
came  in  Colonial  times  to  New  Jersey.  A  town  in  Gloucester 
County,  Downstown,  was  named  for  one  of  the  family.  Several 
monuments  in  that  county  refer  by  name  or  otherwise  to  the  con- 
spicuous services  rendered  by  members  of  the  Down  family 
in  the  Revolutionary  war  and  Colonial  affairs. 

John  Walker  Down  was  the  youngest  in  a  family  of  five  chil- 
dren. He  attended  common  schools  and  at  the  age  of  twelve 
years  was  driving  a  team  for  his  father.  When  he  was  twenty- 
three  years  old  he  engaged  in  general  merchandising,  but  after  a 
few  years  left  that  to  continue  in  the  lumber  business.  From 
New  Jersey  he  extended  his  interests  down  inlo  Virginia,  in 
Mathews  County,  and  at  one  time  had  three  mills  in  operation  in 
this  state,  shipping  lumber  by  the  shipload  to  New  Jersey  and 
Philadelphia  markets,  and  also  large  quantities  to  Europe.  He 
retired  four  years  before  his  death.  He  was  a  Democrat,  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  he  and  his  wife  were 
Methodists. 

His  first  wife  was  Matilda  Miller,  of  New  Jersey,  who  died 
five  years  after  their  marriage.  Of  the  two  sons  born  to  this 
marriage  the  one  now  living  is  Everett,  a  banker  at  Atlanta  City. 
His  second  wife  was  Miss  Anna  McGonigall,  who  died  twenty 
years   later.     Two   of   their   three   children   are   living.     Lena 


I 


<' 


KX:L^^<y7^>U 


VIRGINIA  259 

Hester  is  the  wife  of  Harry  L.  Nelson  and  has  three  children, 
Harry,  Jr.,  William  W.,  and  Anna  M. ;  and  Hannah  R.  married 
Herbert  Ingram,  of  Hagerstown,  ]Maryland,  who  was  killed  in 
action  in  France  in  the  early  part  of  the  World  war. 

Mr.  Down  in  1893  married  Nannie  Simpson  Cromwell,  of 
Petersburg,  Virginia,  who  was  reared  and  educated  at  Norfolk 
and  who  resides  at  701  West  Thirty-eighth  Street  in  that  city. 
Mrs.  Down's  father,  John  A.  Simpson,  was  a  farmer,  and  served 
all  through  the  Civil  war  in  the  Confederate  army.  He  was 
captured  and  was  a  prisoner  when  the  war  ended.  Her  mother 
was  Sarah  Hendren,  and  Mrs.  Down  was  the  third  in  a  family  of 
nine  children.  Mrs.  Down  has  two  daughters,  Bessie  Vernon 
and  Sarah  Louise.  Bessie  Vernon  is  the  wife  of  William  Waugh, 
of  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  and  her  four  children  are  named 
Vernon,  Lester,  Merlyn  and  Elizabeth.  Miss  Sarah  Louise 
Down  is  in  the  employ  of  the  state  government  at  Norfolk,  with 
the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children. 

Hon.  Charles  Robert  Fawley.  sheriff  of  Rockingham 
County,  is  one  of  the  substantial  men  of  that  region,  and  has 
served  not  only  as  sheriff  but  as  deputy  under  four  other 
sheriffs.  He  has  lived  a  life  of  action  and  responsibility  and 
has  proven  his  courage  and  resourcefulness  innumerable  times. 
His  administration  as  sheriff  has  been  one  in  keeping  with  the 
strength  and  integrity  of  his  character,  and  has  been  attended  by 
strict  law  enforcement  and  reduction  of  criminal  activities. 

Sheriff  Fawley  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Rockingham  County, 
Virginia,  May  8,  1875,  son  of  George  W.  and  Sarah  J.  (Fulk) 
Fawley.  Both  the  Fawley  and  Fulk  families  have  been  in  Vir- 
ginia for  many  generations.  The  Fawleys  were  of  Irish  de- 
scent, and  first  established  homes  in  Pennsylvania  and  then 
moved  down  into  Virginia,  into  Loudoun  County.  His  grand- 
father, Jacob  Fawley,  was  a  native  of  Loudoun  County  and  spent 
all  his  life  as  a  farmer. 

George  W.  Fawley  was  for  many  years  a  farmer  and  black- 
.smith.  He  served  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  was  the  first  post- 
master at  Fulk's  Run,  when  the  office  was  established  in  1870, 
and  he  taught  in  the  Fulk's  Run  district.  He  was  a  local  leader 
in  the  Democi-atic  party,  and  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
while  his  wife  belonged  to  the  Church  of  the  Brethren. 

Sarah  J.  (Fulk)  Fawley  was  a  descendant  of  Matthew  Fulk, 
who  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent  and  came  to  America  about 
1735.  He  was  with  Colonel  Lewis  in  an  expedition  to  treat  with 
the  Indians  and  he  married  an  Indian  woman.  Not  long  after 
the  Indians  were  removed  from  Rockingham  County  he  also 
went  west,  but  left  a  large  family  of  boys  and  some  girls  who 
settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Broadway  in  Rockingham  County. 
Sarah  J.  Fulk  was  a  daughter  of  John  G.  Fulk,  who  was  a  son 
of  Daniel  Fulk  and  a  grandson  of  John  Fulk.  John  Fulk,  a  son 
of  Matthew,  was  born  in  1760,  and  married  a  Miss  Bible.  He 
moved  to  Brock's  Gap  in  1785. 

Sheriff  Fawley  was  the  youngest  of  ten  children,  seven  of 
whom  are  living.  He  grew  up  in  a  rural  neighborhood,  attended 
school  there,  and  farming  was  the  business  he  first  learned  and 
the  occupation  he  followed  until  1912.  For  twelve  years  he  was 
in  the  employe  of  the  Virginia  State  Highway  Commission  and 
for  years  was  district  supervisor  of  the  Seventh  Congressional 
District  for  the  Virginia  State  Game  Commission.     Mr.  Fawley 


260  VIRGINIA 

in  November,  1927,  was  elected  sheriff  by  a  majority  of  over 
1,400  votes  and  assumed  the  duties  of  his  office  in  January, 
1928.  He  had  been  a  deputy  sheriff  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
In  December,  1899,  he  married  Augusta  V.  Siple,  who  was 
born  in  Pendleton  County,  West  Virginia,  and  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  her  home  neighborhood.  Sheriff  and  Mrs. 
Fawley  have  one  daughter,  Lucile  Virginia,  attending  the  Junior 
High  School.  He  is  a  member  of  the  United  Brethren  Church, 
while  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  Mr.  Fawley  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  ovnis  a  farm  in  Rock- 
ingham County,  and  is  interested  in  its  operation.  A  man  of 
high  principles,  upright  and  honorable  in  everything  he  under- 
takes, he  is  making  an  excellent  record  as  sheriff,  and  law 
breakers  have  recognized  his  sturdy  qualities  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws. 

Hon.  Bathurst  Daingerfield  Peachy,  commonwealth's  at- 
torney of  James  City  County,  and  one  of  the  most  brilliant  of 
the  able  attorneys  practicing  at  the  bar  of  Williamsburg,  al- 
though still  in  the  full  flush  of  vigorous  manhood,  has  a  remark- 
able record  of  achievement  behind  him,  and  holds  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  his  professional  associates  as  well  as  the  public 
generally.  He  was  born  in  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  July  5,  1893, 
a  son  of  Bathurst  Daingerfield  and  Mary  Garnett  (Lane)  Peachy, 
natives  of  Williamsburg. 

The  elder  Bathurst  Daingerfield  Peachy  was  also  an  attor- 
ney, and  was  engaged  in  practice  in  Williamsburg,  and  his 
father,  Samuel  Peachy,  was  a  member  of  the  same  learned  pro- 
fession. For  a  number  of  years  the  office  of  commonwealth's 
attorney  was  filled  by  the  older  Bathurst  Daingerfield  Peachy, 
and  he  attained  to  a  distinguished  position  among  his  associates 
in  the  law.  His  death,  which  occurred  July  23,  1916,  when  he 
was  fifty-eight  years  old,  removed  from  Williamsburg  one  of  its 
most  distinguished  citizens,  and  from  his  family  a  devoted  hus- 
band and  father.  Mrs.  Peachy  survives  her  husband  and  is  still 
living  in  Williamsburg. 

The  younger  Bathurst  Daingerfield  Peachy  grew  up  in  Wil- 
liamsburg, and  enjoyed  the  normal  life  of  any  lad  of  his  locality 
while  attending  the  local  schools,  and,  being  an  apt  pupil,  he  was 
graduated  from  the  high  school  in  1908,  when  he  was  but  fifteen 
years  old.  Entering  William  and  Mary  College,  Williamsburg, 
he  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1914  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts.  For  the  succeeding  year  he  was  an  instructor  in  his 
alma  mater,  and  then  took  legal  training  in  the  law  department 
of  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  that 
same  year,  in  1916.  Establishing  himself  in  practice  in  Wil- 
liamsburg, Mr.  Peachy  showed  from  the  beginning  of  his  career 
the  same  admirable  qualities  which  had  advanced  both  his  father 
and  grandfather  at  the  bar,  and  has  built  up  a  very  large  and 
lucrative  practice.  For  four  years  he  served  as  judge  of  the 
Juvenile  Court  and  the  Domestic  Relations  Court,  handling  the 
difficult  problems  brought  before  him  with  masterly  tact  and 
kindly  authority.  On  January  1,  1928,  he  assumed  the  duties  of 
the  office  of  commonwealth's  attorney,  to  which  he  had  been 
elected  the  preceding  fall,  and  already  has  proven  his  courage, 
his  thoroughness  and  his  unflinching,  uncompromising  attitude 
toward  offenders  against  the  law.  He  has  as  one  of  his  most 
cherished  possessions  the  splendid  law   library  of  his  grand- 


VIRGINIA  261 

father,  and  this,  in  addition  to  his  own  large  collection  of  law 
books,  gives  him  one  of  the  best  law  libraries,  of  a  private  char- 
acter, in  the  state. 

On  June  16,  1919,  Mr.  Peachy  married  Miss  Grace  Bozarth,  a 
daughter  of  William  A.  and  Flora  (Weeks)  Bozarth,  native  of 
New  Jersey.  Mr.  Bozarth  is  a  lumber  dealer  and  president  of 
the  Peninsula  Bank  &  Trust  Company  of  Williamsburg,  and  he 
has  been  a  resident  of  Williamsburg  for  thirty  years.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Peachy  have  two  children :  Grace  Monro,  who  was  born 
February  14,  1922 ;  and  Bathurst  Daingerfield,  Junior,  who  was 
born  December  30,  1924. 

For  some  years  Mr.  Peachy  has  been  a  valued  member  of  the 
Virginia  State  Bar  Association  and  the  American  Bar  Associa- 
tion. He  belongs  to  the  Williamsburg  Rotary  Club  and  the 
American  Legion.  His  fraternal  connections  are  those  which  he 
maintains  with  the  Masonic  Order  and  Kappa  Sigma.  In  polit- 
ical faith  he  is  a  Democrat,  and  he  is  one  of  the  leaders  of  his 
party  in  this  section.  He  is  an  Episcopalian.  During  the  World 
war  Mr.  Peachy  enlisted  in  the  Aviation  Corps  of  the  Marine 
branch  of  the  service  and  was  stationed  at  the  Boston  Institute 
of  Technology.  His  honorable  discharge  bears  the  date  of  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1919.  When  he  was  released  from  military  service  he 
returned  to  Williamsburg  and  resumed  his  practice.  Judge 
Peachy  maintains  his  office  in  the  First  National  Bank  Building. 

Rev.  Theodore  Whitfield,  D.  D.,  an  eminent  Baptist  divine, 
whose  last  years  in  the  ministry  were  spent  in  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, was  born  in  Hinds  County,  Mississippi,  January  31,  1834, 
and  died  at  Richmond  May  28,  1894. 

The  Whitfields  came  from  England  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  settling  in  Elizabeth  City  and  Nansemond 
counties,  Virginia.  They  intermarried  with  the  Bryan  and 
Hatch  families.  His  parents,  Rev.  Benjamin  and  Lucy  (Hatch) 
Whitfield,  were  natives  of  North  Carolina,  from  which  state 
they  moved  to  Mississippi.  Theodore  was  the  eighth  in  a 
family  of  twelve  children. 

"Rev.  Theodore  Whitfield,  D.  D.,  was  converted  in  the  church 
next  to  his  father's  home  'Magnolia,'  Hinds  County,  Mississippi, 
when  thirteen  years  of  age.  *  *  *  Reared  in  a  lovely  South- 
ern home,  he  was  educated  in  the  fine  arts  as  well  as  in  the  more 
substantial  sciences  and  classics;  entered  the  University  of 
North  Cai-olina  1852,  A.  B.,  1854;  entered  the  Baptist  ministry, 
studied  at  the  Theological  Seminary,  Newton  Center,  Massachu- 
setts. *  *  *  jjjg  pastorates  were  in  Danville,  Kentucky, 
Aberdeen  and  Meridian,  Mississippi,  Charlotte,  Goldsboro  and 
Newbern,  North  Carolina,  and  Fulton,  near  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, where  he  served  for  seven  years  before  his  death.  He 
received  the  degree  of  D.  D.,  from  Wake  Forest  College,  North 
Carolina,  1878.  While  in  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  at  the 
time  of  the  war  between  the  states,  he  preached  for  the  Baptist 
Church  and  did  local  services  for  the  Confederate  States.  While 
ministering  to  soldiers  of  both  armies  in  Goldsboro,  North  Caro- 
lina, he  contracted  camp  fever,  from  which  he  was  desperately 
ill  for  a  long  time.  Later  he  was  superintendent  of  the  State 
Institute  for  the  Blind  at  Jackson,  Mississippi,  until  removed 
when  General  Ames  of  Boston  became  governor  of  Mississippi. 

"Born  of  wealthy  and  distinguished  parents,  he  was  a  gen- 
tleman both  by  breeding  and  culture.  *  *  *  jjis  life  was 
devout.     *     *     *     As   a   theologian   he   stood   without   a    rival 


262  VIRGINIA 

among  the  Baptist  ministers  of  Richmond  and  was  called  by 
them  'the  Sage'  of  their  Conference.  For  some  years  he  served 
as  North  Carolina  vice  pi'esident  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Board 
of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention.  Singularly  guileless,  he 
wras  courteous  and  dignified  in  deportment.  A  concise  preacher, 
indefatigable  pastor,  a  facile  writer,  a  beloved  friend,  he  be- 
queathed to  his  wife  and  children  the  priceless  legacy  of  an 
unsullied  name  and  saintly  memory.  He  died  May  28,  1894." 
(Extract  from  a  memorial  volume  published  at  the  time  of  his 
decease.) 

Doctor  Whitfield  married  into  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
distinguished  families  of  North  Carolina,  the  Moreheads.  He 
and  Miss  Annie  Eliza  Morehead  weer  married  at  Greensboro, 
North  Carolina,  October  11,  1859.  Mrs.  Whitfield  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Hon.  James  Turner  and  Mary  Teas  (Lindsay)  Morehead. 
Charles  Morehead,  founder  of  the  Morehead  family  in  the  South, 
settled  in  the  Northern  Neck  of  Virginia  about  1630.  Joseph 
Morehead  married  Elizabeth  Turner,  a  daughter  of  James  Tur- 
ner and  Keren-Happuch  Norman,  of  Spotsylvania  County,  Vir- 
ginia. Their  son,  John  Morehead,  married  Obedience  Motley, 
of  Amelia  County,  and  settled  in  Rockingham  County,  North 
Carolina.  John  Morehead  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution.  John 
Morehead  and  his  wife.  Obedience  Motley,  had  two  distinguished 
sons.  One  of  them,  John  Motley  Morehead,  born  in  1796  and 
died  in  1886,  became  governor  of  North  Carolina. 

The  other  son,  James  Turner  Morehead,  was  born  in  Rock- 
ingham County,  North  Carolina,  January  11,  1799,  and  died  at 
Greensboro  May  5,  1875.  He  was  a  lawyer,  served  in  the  State 
Senate  1935-42,  and  the  United  States  Congress,  1851. 

Doctor  and  Mrs.  Whitfield  had  three  children :  James  More- 
head  Whitfield,  George  H.  Whitfield  and  Miss  Emma  M.  Whit- 
field. 

James  Morehead  Whitfield  graduated  from  the  University 
of  Virginia  with  the  degree  of  M.  D.  He  became  a  medical 
chemist  and  for  some  years  served  as  city  chemist  and  coroner 
of  Richmond.  He  married  Mary  Graham  Mathews,  of  Virginia, 
and  has  three  living  children:  James  M.,  Jr.,  a  physician  now 
practicing  in  Richmond ;  Theodore  M.,  a  graduate  Ph.  D.,  of 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  a  teacher;  and  Philip  Whitfield,  ^ 
lawyer.  All  these  sons  were  born  in  Richmond  and  all  graduated 
at  the  University  of  Richmond. 

George  H.  Whitfield,  at  present  director  of  the  Department 
of  Public  Utilities  of  the  City  of  Richmond,  graduated  at  Rich- 
mond College  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  and  at  Cornell  University, 
New  York,  1896,  as  a  mechanical  and  electrical  engineer.  Dur- 
ing the  World  war  he  was  for  several  years  connected  with  the 
International  Arms  &  Fuze  Company,  Bloomfield,  New  Jersey, 
part  of  this  time  as  manager  of  the  shell  factory.  Previous  to 
this  he  was  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Virginia  Railway  &  Power 
Company  of  Richmond.  He  married  Laura  Merryman  Crane, 
of  Baltimore,  and  has  two  daughters,  Clare  Merryman  and  Anne 
Morehead,  both  born  in  Richmond. 

Miss  Emma  Morehead  Whitfield,  of  Richmond,  was  born  at 
Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  graduated  at  the  Woman's  College 
of  Richmond,  studied  at  the  Art  Students'  League  of  New  York 
and  in  Paris.  Examples  of  her  work  as  a  portrait  artist  are 
to  be  found  in  the  Confederate  Battle  Abbey  and  the  Governor's 
Mansion  at  Richmond ;  the  Supreme  Court  Building  at  Raleigh, 
and  at  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  etc.     Miss  Whitfield  is  a 


VIRGINIA  263 

member  of  the  Woman's  Club,  Society  of  Colonial  Dames  of 
America  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  United  Daughters  of  the  Con- 
federacy, Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  is  historian 
of  the  Baptist  Woman's  Missionary  Union  of  Virginia. 

Sidney  Thompson.  In  the  thriving  town  of  Middleburg, 
Loudoun  County,  is  a  financial  instituticn  that  gives  the  mosc 
effective  of  service  in  safeguarding  and  advancing  communal 
interests  along  all  lines,  and  of  this  substantial  and  well  ordered 
institution,  the  Middleburg  National  Bank,  Sidney  Thompson  is 
the  cashier. 

Mr.  Thompson  w^?.s  born  in  Washington,  D.  C,  on  the  13th 
of  October,  1893,  and  is  a  son  of  John  L.  and  Anne  (Price) 
Thompson,  the  former  a  native  of  North  Carolina  and  the  latter 
of  Maryland,  and  both  representatives  of  old  and  influential 
famines  that  were  early  established  in  these  respective  common- 
wealths. Dr.  Jacob  Thompson,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of 
this  review,  was  a  loyal  surgeon  of  the  Confederacy  during  the 
course  of  the  Civil  war,  and  was  a  son  of  Sidney  Thompson,  an 
influential  citizen  and  extensive  exponent  of  plantation  indus- 
try in  North  Carolina.  Jacob  Thompson,  like  his  father,  was 
also  a  tobacco-grower  on  an  extensive  scale  on  his  plantation 
estate  in  North  Carolina.  On  the  maternal  side  Sidney  Thomp- 
son of  this  review  is  a  scion  of  the  Price  family  that  was  long 
one  of  prominence  and  influence  in  Southern  Maryland. 

John  L.  Thompson  was  born  and  reared  in  North  Carolina 
and  received  his  education  in  that  state.  He  finally  e.stablished 
his  residence  in  Washington,  living  there  until  he  met  his  death 
in  a  railroad  wreck  at  Danville,  Virginia,  in  September,  1903, 
his  widow  having  not  long  survived  him,  as  her  death  occurred 
in  August,  1905. 

Sidney  Thompson  was  reared  in  the  capitol  city  of  the  na- 
tion and  there  received  his  early  education,  and  after  his  gradu- 
ation from  a  military  academy  he  was  employed  in  the  Pooles- 
ville  National  Bank,  Poolesville,  Maryland,  the  attractive  little 
town  in  which  he  now  maintains  his  home  and  from  which  he 
makes  trips  to  and  from  Middleburg,  Virginia,  for  the  discharge 
of  his  executive  duties  as  cashier  of  the  ]\Iiddleburg  National 
Bank. 

Mr.  Thompson  has  devoted  his  career  to  bank  work  since  he 
graduated  from  school  and  in  1914  assumed  his  present  execu- 
tive office,  that  of  cashier  of  the  Middleburg  National  Bank. 
Mr.  Thompson  has  made  a  close  study  of  financial  affairs  per- 
taining to  practical  banking,  and  his  advancement  has  come 
through  his  own  ability  and  loyal  service.  He  is  also  now  the 
financial  advisor  for  the  Foxcroft  School  for  Girls,  one  of  the 
exclusive  girls'  schools  in  America,  located  near  the  town  of  Mid- 
dleburg. 

The  Middleburg  National  Bank  was  established  and  char- 
tered in  1924.  When  the  bank  was  organized  Mr.  Thompson 
became  its  cashier  through  the  recommendation  given  by  E.  F. 
Rorebeck,  then  the  chief  national  bank  examiner  of  the  Fifth 
Federal  Reserve  District. 

The  political  allegiance  of  Mr.  Thompson  is  given  to  the 
Democratic  party,  and  he  and  his  wife  are  communicants  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

In  September,  1915,  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Thompson   and   Miss   Katherine   Walling,   who   was   born   and 


264  VIRGINIA 

reared  in  Maryland  and  who  is  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Byron  W. 
Walling,  for  fifty  years  a  representative  physician  at  Poolesville, 
Maryland,  where  he  is  now  living  retired  from  active  practice, 
he  having  been  born  in  Maryland,  as  was  also  his  wife,  whose 
family  name  was  Poole  and  who  was  a  representative  of  the 
family  in  honor  of  which  Poolesville  was  named.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Thompson  have  two  fine  sons,  Byron  Walling  and  Sidney,  Jr. 

Reginald  L.  Nixon.  Among  the  men  who  have  contributed 
to  the  good  government  of  Virginia  during  recent  years,  through 
faithful  and  conscientious  service  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  the  oflSces  to  which  they  have  been  elected 
by  their  fellow  citizens,  Reginald  L.  Nixon,  of  Leesburg,  is 
worthy  of  more  than  passing  mention.  His  career  has  been 
typical  of  the  self-made  man,  and  the  success  he  has  gained  is 
another  exemplification  of  the  fact  that  industry  and  fidelity  find 
their  just  rewards.  For  the  last  five  years  Mr.  Nixon  has  been 
before  the  people  of  his  community  as  a  public  servant,  and  dur- 
ing this  period  has  won  the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  fellow 
citizens  in  a  marked  degree,  his  present  activities  being  carried 
on  in  the  capacity  of  commissioner  of  revenue  of  Loudoun 
County. 

Mr.  Nixon  was  born  at  Leesburg,  December  26,  1881,  and  is 
a  son  of  George  H.  and  Virginia  E.  (Milbourne)  Nixon,  the  lat- 
ter a  native  of  Hamilton,  Virginia.  George  H.  Nixon  was  born 
at  Leesburg,  where  he  received  a  public  school  education,  and 
when  a  mere  lad  volunteered  for  service  in  the  Confederate  army 
during  the  war  between  the  states.  He  came  through  that  strug- 
gle unscathed  and  returned  to  his  native  place,  where  after  sev- 
eral other  ventures  he  established  himself  in  the  hotel  business. 
He  became  well  known  to  the  traveling  public  as  the  popular  host 
of  a  modern  hostelry,  and  bore  an  excellent  reputation  among 
his  fellow  townsmen  for  high  character  and  good  citizenship. 
He  passed  away  in  1903,  and  is  survived  by  his  widow,  who  still 
makes  her  home  at  Leesburg. 

Reginald  L.  Nixon  was  given  good  educational  opportunities 
in  his  youth,  first  attending  the  public  schools  of  Leesburg,  later 
pursuing  a  course  at  Randolph-Macon  Academy,  and  finally 
being  a  student  at  a  military  academy  at  Danville,  Virginia. 
He  began  his  career  as  a  bookkeeper  in  the  employ  of  Chapin  & 
Sacks  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  later  was  with  Golden  &  Com- 
pany, also  of  the  capital,  then  becoming  identified  with  the  bank- 
ing business  as  a  bookkeeper  for  the  Loudoun  National  Bank  of 
Leesburg.  He  remained  with  this  institution,  gaining  steady 
promotion,  for  seven  years,  or  until  1924,  when  he  was  elected 
commissioner  of  revenue  of  Leesburg.  During  his  two-year 
term  of  office  he  discharged  his  duties  in  such  a  capable  and  ex- 
peditious manner  that  in  1926  he  was  elected  commissioner  of 
revenue  for  Loudoun  County,  and  is  still  acting  in  that  capacity. 
Mr.  Nixon  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows 
and  the  Rebekahs,  and  in  his  political  allegiance  supports  the 
candidates  and  principles  of  the  Democratic  party.  A  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  since  his  youth,  he  is  active 
in  its  work,  and  is  now  lay  leader  and  teacher  of  the  Men's  Bible 
Class  in  the  Sunday  School. 

In  February,  1920,  Mr.  Nixon  was  united  in  marriage  wtih 
Miss  Naomi  Galleher,  a  daughter  of  W.  R.  and  a  Miss  (Webb) 
Galleher,  both  natives  of  Loudoun  County.     Mr.  Galleher  has 


VIRGINIA  265 

been  a  traveling-  salesman  all  of  his  life  and  makes  his  home  at 
Leesburg,  where  he  and  his  wife  are  held  in  high  esteem.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Nixon  have  no  children.  Mrs.  Nixon  is  active  in  the 
work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Cecil  Connor,  Leesburg  attorney,  is  the  present  representa- 
tive of  the  Twenty-ninth  Senatorial  District  in  the  Virginia 
State  Senate.  He  has  practiced  law  thirty  years,  and  few  men 
have  be3n  more  diligent  in  makin<?  use  of  the  opportunities  for 
individual  accomplishment  and  public  service. 

Mr.  Connor  was  born  at  Philomont,  Loudoun  County,  Vir- 
ginia, February  4,  1871.  His  grandfather,  John  T.  Connor, 
was  also  a  Virginian,  a  farmer,  and  married  Susan  A.  Lyne, 
representative  of  another  well  known  family  name  in  Loudoun 
County.  John  T.  Connor,  father  of  Senator  Connor,  was  born 
in  Loudoun  County  in  1844,  was  a  shoemaker,  farmer,  shoe 
merchant  and  postmaster  at  Philomont  and  Faxon.  He  died  at 
Bluemcnt,  Virg-inia,  in  May,  1916.  His  wife,  Mary  E.  Brown, 
was  born  near  Lincoln,  in  Loudoun  County,  in  1847. 

Cecil  Connor,  one  of  the  children  of  these  parents,  grew  up 
on  his  father's  farm  in  Loudoun  County,  attended  rural  schools, 
and  beyond  those  advantages  had  to  contrive  his  own  oppor- 
timities.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  became  a  teacher,  and  teach- 
ing gave  him  the  financial  means  and  also  some  of  the  leisure 
required  for  his  pi'ivate  law  studies.  Later  he  spent  a  year  in 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  graduating  from  the  Law 
School  in  1896.  He  was  licensed  to  practice  in  June,  1898,  and 
since  that  year  has  been  a  busy  member  of  the  bar  at  Leesburg, 
handling  a  general  practice,  and  has  also  represented  several 
banks  and  other  corporations  in  his  clientage. 

Mr.  Connor  prior  to  his  election  to  the  State  Senate  served 
four  consecutive  terms  in  the  office  of  commonwealth  attorney 
of  Loudoun  County.  He  was  in  that  position  during  the  World 
war,  which  brought  a  large  addition  of  responsibilities  to  his 
official  routine.  He  also  served  as  counsel  and  appeal  agent  of 
the  Local  Draft  Board.  Senator  Connor  is  a  member  of  the 
Leesburg  and  Virfinia  Bar  Associations,  and  is  a  member  of 
the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

He  married  at  Washington,  D.  C,  November  8,  1905.  Miss 
Edna  F.  Fadeley,  daughter  of  Henry  J.  and  Mary  Estelle  (John- 
son) Fadeley.  They  have  one  son,  Cecil  Fenton,  born  May  6th, 
1907.  He  is  now  practicing  law  in  the  law  office  of  Charles 
Henry  Smith  at  Alexandria,  Virginia. 

George  Mason  Dillard  is  a  member  of  the  Norfolk  bar,  and 
has  brought  to  his  profession  a  ripe  scholarship,  integrity  of 
character  and  a  resourcefulness  that  have  stood  the  test  of  many 
years  of  successful  practice. 

He  was  born  at  Charlottesville,  Virginia.  His  father,  George 
Walden  Dillard,  was  born  in  Caroline  County  in  1812  and  at  an 
early  age  was  left  an  orphan,  being  reared  in  the  family  of  an 
uncle.  He  had  a  fair  education  and  at  Scottsville  became  a 
merchant,  invested  in  farm  land  in  that  vicinity  and  owned  a 
country  home  four  miles  from  Scottsville.  He  died  in  1896,  at 
the  advanced  age  of  eighty-four.  George  Walden  Dillard  mar- 
ried Lucy  Jane  Dillard,  who  was  born  in  Spotsylvania  County, 
daughter  of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Mason)  Diliard.  In  a  local 
history  of  Henry  County,  Virginia,  the  statement  is  made  that 
George  Dillard  of  Wiltshire,  England,  settled  at  Jamestown  in 


266  VIRGINIA 

1660,  being  then  twenty-six  years  of  age.  He  had  a  son,  James 
Stephen,  two  years  old.  This  George  Dillard  was  granted  250 
acres  for  services  in  fighting  Indians,  and  later  25,000  acres 
were  granted  to  James  Stephen  Dillard,  his  son,  and  the  Carys, 
Wises  and  Pages,  a  tract  that  became  known  in  history  as  the 
Williamsburg  Plantation. 

George  Walden  Dillard  reared  a  family  of  nine  children : 
Alice  E.,  James  Daniel,  JuHa  B.,  William  B.,  Mary  E.,  Martha 
F.,  Benjamin  L.,  George  Mason  and  Nora  L. 

George  Mason  Dillard  was  educated  at  Scottsville,  and  grad- 
uated in  law  at  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1882.  Soon  after- 
ward he  moved  to  Norfolk,  where  he  has  practiced  law  for  over 
forty-five  years,  being  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  bar  of 
that  city. 

Mr.  Dillard  married,  in  1904,  Elizabeth  Allyn,  who  was  born 
at  Norfolk,  daughter  of  Joseph  T.  and  Mary  R.  (Bell)  Allyn. 
They  have  four  children,  Allyn,  George  Mason,  Mary  Walden 
and  Elizabeth  Allyn.  The  son  Allyn  was  educated  in  the  Wood- 
bury Forest  School,  graduated  in  law  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia and  is  now  practicing  in  New  York  City.  The  son  George 
Mason  graduated  from  the  Maury  High  School  at  Norfolk, 
attended  the  Woodbury  Forest  School  and  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute,  and  is  now  associated  with  the  Cleveland  Illuminating 
Company  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  The  members  of  the  family  that 
remain  at  Norfolk  are  communicants  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal 
Church. 

William  Frederick  Low.  The  really  useful  men  of  a  com- 
munity are  those  on  whom  their  fellow  citizens  can  rely  in  mat- 
ters of  import,  especially  those  of  finance ;  men  who  have  won  this 
confidence  by  the  wisdom  of  their  own  investments  and  by  the 
honorable  lives  they  have  led  in  every  field  of  effort  and  as  neigh- 
bors and  friends.  Such  a  man  in  every  particular  is  William  F. 
Low,  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Williamsburg,  a 
prominent  representative  of  the  financial  interests  of  his  city 
and  James  City  County. 

William  F.  Low  was  born  April  1,  1891,  in  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, a  son  of  Fred  and  Mary  Alice  (Day)  Low,  natives  of 
Richmond.  During  a  large  portion  of  his  mature  life  the  father 
was  with  the  city  fire  department,  and  was  a  man  highly  re- 
spected by  all  who  knew  him.  His  death  took  place  December 
18,  1903.    The  mother  is  still  living  and  resides  in  Williamsburg. 

Growing  up  in  Richmond,  William  F.  Low  attended  its  public 
schools,  but,  as  there  was  necessity  for  him  to  become  self-sup- 
porting, he  did  not  plan  for  a  collegiate  training,  but  entered  the 
American  Locomotive  Company  as  a  mechanical  draughtsman, 
and  held  that  position  for  about  five  years.  When  he  left  that 
company  it  was  to  enter  the  banking  business,  first  as  runner  for 
the  Broad  Street  Bank.  His  faithfulness  and  reliability  brought 
about  promotions,  and  during  the  ten  years  he  was  connected 
with  this  bank  he  rose  to  be  assistant  manager  of  the  savings  de- 
partment. In  March,  1918,  he  left  Richmond  and  the  Bi'oad 
Street  Bank  and  came  to  Williamsburg  to  assume  the  duties  of 
assistant  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank,  and  one  month 
later  was  made  cashier,  which  position  he  still  holds.  The  bank 
was  organized  about  1903,  and  has  a  capital  of  $30,000,  a  sur- 
plus of  $30,000,  and  total  resources  of  over  a  million  dollars. 
Mr.  Low  is  a  stockholder  in  the  bank.    His  associates  are :    L.  W. 


VIRCxINIA  267 

Lane,  president ;  J.  \V.  Jones,  vice  president ;  and  T.  L.  Sheppard, 
assistant  cashier. 

An  active  Democrat,  Mr.  Low  is  a  member  of  the  City  School 
Board,  and  a  friend  of  education.  He  is  a  thirty-second  degree 
Meson,  and  belongs  to  the  Rotary  Club.  Long  an  Episcopalian, 
he  is  now  connected  with  Bruton  parish,  and  is  one  of  its  vestry- 
men. Mr.  Low  is  unmarried.  Few  men  in  banking  circles  in 
this  section  of  the  state  have  established  a  reputation  broader 
and  more  striking  than  has  he;  few  have  gained  a  higher  reputa- 
tion for  efficiency,  fidelity  and  faithfulness,  and  as  a  man  of 
marked  intellectual  activity  his  labors  have  given  an  impetus 
to  business  life  and  educational  progress. 

George  Schley  DeShazor,  Jr.,  is  clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court 
and  county  clerk  of  Warwick  County,  with  home  and  headquar-' 
ters  at  Denbigh. 

His  family  have  been  identiiied  with  Virginia  since  Colonial 
times.  Mr.  DeShazor  was  born  at  Newport  News,  Virginia, 
September  19,  1899,  son  of  George  S.  and  Mary  A.  (Dugan) 
DeShazor.  His  father  was  born  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  a 
year  after  his  birth  his  parents  returned  to  Virginia.  He  was  a 
son  of  John  A.  DeShazor,  a  native  Virginian,  who  during  the 
Civil  war  was  a  contractor  for  the  Confederate  government, 
building  fortifications  and  other  military  works.  Two  of  the 
brothers  of  George  S.  DeShazor,  Sr..  were  soldiers  in  the  Con- 
federate army.  Mary  A.  Dugan  was  born  in  Philadelphia  and 
her  father  was  a  L'nion  soldier  in  the  war. 

George  S.  DeShazor,  Jr.,  attended  school  at  Newport  News, 
graduating  from  high  school  in  1916.  This  was  followed  by  a 
business  course  at  Newport  News,  and  his  first  employment  there 
was  clerk  in  the  postoffice.  After  a  year  and  a  half  he  was  made 
deputy  clerk  of  Warwick  County,  January  9,  1924,  and  on  August 
2,  1927,  was  elected  to  the  office  of  Circuit  Court  clerk  and  clerk 
of  the  county  for  a  term  of  eight  years. 

Mr.  DeShazor  is  unmarried.  He  is  affiliated  with  Lodge  No. 
1514  of  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  and  is  a  Democrat  in  politics. 

D.wiD  Minor  McDonald.  Leesburg  has  its  full  representa- 
tion of  men  who,  starting  on  their  independent  careers  without 
financial  resources  or  other  adventitious  aids,  have  forced  their 
way  through  sheer  energy  and  native  business  talent  to  posi- 
tions of  independence  and  prestige,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  a  better 
illustration  could  be  found  than  David  Minor  McDonald,  pro- 
prietor of  the  McDonald  Auto  Service.  Losing  his  father  when 
he  was  but  nine  years  of  age,  his  education  was  necessarily  cur- 
tailed by  the  need  of  his  assistance  in  contributing  to  the  family 
support,  but  this  proved  no  hindrance  to  the  ambitious  and 
determined  youth,  whose  energies  have  since  carried  him  so  far. 
At  present  he  is  accounted  one  of  the  substantial  citizens  of  the 
younger  generation,  and  is  contributing  to  the  civic  welfare  of 
Leesl  urg  in  the  capacity  of  vice  president  of  the  Rotary  Club. 

Mr.  McDonald  was  born  July  22,  1892,  in  Loudoun  County, 
Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  Capt.  John  B.  and  Virginia  C.  (Lyon) 
McDonald.  His  father,  a  native  of  Scotland,  came  to  the  United 
States  in  young  manhood  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Loudoun 
County.  Eventually  he  became  captain  of  a  tusrboat  plving  the 
waters  of  Alexandria  Bay,  and  there  lost  his  life  by  drowning 
during  a  storm  in   1901.     Mrs.   McDonald,   who  was  born   in 


268  VIRGINIA 

Loudoun  County,  survived  him  until  April,  1922,  and  passed 
away  at  Leesburg. 

David  Minor  McDonald  received  a  public  school  education 
in  Loudoun  County,  and  was  still  a  youth  when  he  started  solicit- 
ing insurance.  TJhis  business  he  followed  with  a  measure  of 
success  for  some  years,  but  he  did  not  feel  that  he  was  making 
the  progress  that  he  should,  and  in  1918  took  a  position  as  an 
automobile  mechanic  for  the  Lambert  Motor  Company.  During 
the  six  years  that  followed  he  applied  himself  to  the  fullest 
extent  in  learning  every  detail  of  the  business,  and  in  the  mean- 
time saved  hisj  earnings  carefully  and  added  to  them  by  several 
well  placed  investments.  Finally  he  decided  that  he  was  equipped 
and  ready  to  embark  upon  a  venture  of  his  own,  and  in  1924 
he  founded  the  McDonald  Auto  Service,  of  which  he  has  since 
been  the  proprietor.  So  successful  was  this  business  under  his 
direction  and  management  that  from  practically  nothing  it  had 
grown  within  four  years  to  an  enterprise  valued  at  $160,000. 
Mr.  McDonald  handles  Chevrolet  automobiles,  and  maintains  a 
commodious  salesroom  and  service  station,  making  a  specialty 
of  repair  work  and  the  recharging  and  repairing  of  batteries. 
He  also  handles  tires,  equipment  and  accessories,  and  has  one 
of  the  most  modern  establishments  of  its  kind  in  this  section  of 
the  state,  his  present  building,  erected  in  1927,  being  100  by 
50  feet,  and  his  accessory  building  36  by  16  feet.  He  now  gives 
employment  to  ten  people,  including  skilled  mechanics.  Mr. 
McDonald  has  an  excellent  reputation  in  business  circles  and  is 
vice  president  of  the  Rotary  Club  and  master  of  the  Leesburg 
Hunt  Club.  He  votes  the  Democratic  ticket,  and  he  and  Mrs. 
McDonald  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

On  January  17,  1917,  Mr.  McDonald  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Pauline  Lambert,  daughter  of  J.  D.  and  Sallie  B. 
(Weeden)  Lambert,  natives  of  Virginia.  Mr.  Lambert  is  a 
retired  merchant  of  Ashburn,  this  state,  where  Mrs.  Lambert 
died  in  1925.  Four  children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
McDonald :  Marie  Louise,  born  December  20,  1917  ;  Ann  Eliza- 
beth, born  November  19,  1921 ;  Eda  Lee,  born  January  20,  1926; 
and  David  Minor,  Jr.,  born  November  1,  1928. 

Hon.  John  Pendleton  Leachman,  treasurer  of  Prince  Wil- 
liam County,  is  one  of  the  substantial  farmers  of  the  county, 
his  finly  developed  property  lying  near  Manassas,  and  there 
he  resides,  although  he  has  his  oflfices  in  the  Farmers  Bank 
Building,  Manassas.  He  was  born  in  Prince  William  County, 
Virginia,  December  18,  1853,  a  son  of  John  Thomas  and  Eliza- 
beth Ann  (Lewis)  Leachman,  also  natives  of  Prince  William 
County.  Although  not  an  enlisted  man,  the  father  served  as 
a  guide  during  the  first  battle  of  Manassas,  and  he  continued 
farming  after  the  close  of  the  war,  being  so  engaged  at  the  time 
of  his  death.  His  father  was  John  Leachman,  for  many  years 
sheriff  of  Prince  William  County  and  owner  of  the  farm  now 
owned  and  operated  by  Treasurer  Leachman.  The  father  passed 
away  in  December,  1912,  and  the  mother  in  1902,  and  both  were 
most  excellent  people,  highly  esteemed  by  all  who  knew  them. 

While  he  remained  with  his  parents  on  the  farm  until  he  was 
twenty-five  years  old,  John  Pendleton  Leachman  attended  the 
local  schools  and  Bethel  Military  Academy  near  Warrenton,  Vir- 
ginia. When  he  left  the  homestead  it  was  to  begin  operating 
his  present  farm  of  160  acres,  and  here  he  raises  pure  bred 
Shorthorn  cattle.     During  the  period  he  was  getting  his  farm 


VIRGINIA  269 

in  good  shape  he  served  for  ten  years  as  sheriff,  and  when  he 
left  office  it  was  to  become  assistant  cashier  of  the  National 
Bank  of  Manassas.  In  1911  he  was  elected  treasurer  of  the 
county,  and  has  continued  to  serve  in  this  office  ever  since,  his 
present  term  expiring  in  1931,  at  which  time  he  will  have  been 
county  treasurer  of  Prince  William  County  for  twenty  con- 
secutive years.  In  1897  he  had  a  little  preliminary  experience 
in  his  office,  as  he  served  at  that  time  as  deputy  treasurer. 

I\Ir.  Leachman  married  Mary  Virginia  Strother  in  October, 
1884.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Mildred  (Childs) 
Strother,  natives  of  Fauquier  County,  Virginia.  He  died  in 
1861,  but  she  survived  him  many  years  and  passed  away  in 
1916.  Ten  children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leachman, 
namely :  Mildred,  who  is  the  wife  of  D.  B.  Smith,  of  Warrenton, 
Virginia;  Edith  May,  who  is  the  wife  of  Robert  H.  Smith,  of 
Manassas,  Virginia;  Olivia,  who  is  the  wife  of  Allen  L.  Oliver, 
of  Cape  Girai'deau,  Missouri;  Lillian,  who  is  the  wife  of  J.  L. 
Hinson,  of  Manassas ;  Marie,  who  is  the  wife  of  Douglas  Janney, 
of  Clarksburg,  West  Virginia ;  William  H.,  who  is  a  traveling 
salesman,  residing  in  Manassas ;  John  P.,  who  died  in  New 
Mexico  when  he  was  twenty-three  years  old ;  Thomas  Keith, 
who  was  accidentally  killed  in  New  York  City  by  a  railroad 
when  he  was  twenty-one  years  old ;  James  Lewis,  who  died  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  months ;  and  one  child,  who  was  boim  dead. 
Mrs.  Leachman  died  in  1918.  In  November,  1925,  Mr.  Leach- 
man married  Miss  Emma  Shisler,  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
a  daughter  of  John  Shisler,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  who  with 
his  wife  resides  in  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Leachman  is  a  thirty- 
second  degree  Mason,  and  belongs  to  Acca  Temple,  A.  A.  0.  N. 
M.  S.,  Richmond.  He  belongs  to  the  Manassas  Kiwanis  Club, 
is  active  in  the  local  Democratic  party,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church.  His  farm  four  miles  southwest  of  Manassas 
is,  as  already  stated,  a  magnificent  property,  and  is  interesting 
historically  as  having  been  in  the  Leachman  family  for  many 
generations,  and  on  it  is  buried  the  paternal  great-grandfather 
and  great-grandmother  of  Mr.  Leachman  of  this  review.  It 
was  from  Prince  William  County  that  his  uncle,  William  Leach- 
man, enlisted  for  service  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  others  bearing 
the  name  have  been  prominent  in  both  war  and  peace  in  this 
and  other  regions  of  the  state. 

Horace  Bluford  effectively  upheld  in  all  the  relations  of 
life  the  honors  of  a  family  name  that  has  been  worthily  linked 
with  the  annals  of  Virginia  history  since  the  Colonial  era.  He 
passed  his  entire  life  in  Norfolk  and  was  one  of  the  representa- 
tive business  men  and  influential  citizens  of  this  community  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  April  6,  1905.  Through 
his  wide  and  constructive  activities  in  fraternal  circles  Mr. 
Bluford  became  specially  well  known  throughout  his  native  state, 
and  his  circle  of  friends  was  limited  only  by  that  of  his 
acquaintances. 

Horace  Bluford  was  born  at  Norfolk  September  6,  1861,  and 
was  a  son  of  George  A.  and  Margaret  Ann  (Cooke)  Bluford, 
both  representatives  of  old  and  honored  Virginia  families. 
George  A.  Bluford  likewise  was  born  and  reared  in  Norfolk,  and 
he  became  one  of  its  most  progressive  and  influential  citizens, 
many  of  the  streets  of  the  city  having  been  laid  out  by  him 
and  his  other  contributions  to  civic  and  material  advancement 
having  been  of  noteworthy  order,  besides  which  he  here  built 


270  VIRGINIA 

up  an  important  hide  and  leather  business  that  received  his  close 
attention  many  years. 

The  schools  of  his  native  city  afforded  Horace  Bluford  his 
youthful  education,  and  his  initial  business  experience  was 
acquired  by  his  serving  a  short  time  as  clerk  in  a  local  mer- 
cantile establishment.  He  finally  engaged  independently  in  the 
produce  commission  business,  and  in  this  connection  he  de- 
veloped one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  enterprises  of 
the  kind  in  Norfolk.  At  the  time  of  his  death  the  business  was 
conducted  under  the  title  of  H.  Bluford  Company,  and  since  he 
passed  away  the  business  has  been  eifectively  carried  forward 
under  the  control  of  his  son  Vernon,  while  the  title  of  the  con- 
cern has  been  changed  to  Crocker-Bluford  Corporation. 

Mr.  Bluford  served  as  a  gallant  soldier  in  the  Spanish- 
American  war,  he  having  been  a  member  of  Company  B,  Fourth 
Virginia  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  having  been  with  this  com- 
mand in  active  service  in  Cuba.  His  company  was  commanded 
by  Captain  Higgins.  The  political  allegiance  of  Mr.  Bluford  was 
given  unreservedly  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  his  religious 
faith  was  that  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  his  widow 
likewise  is  a  zealous  member.  Mr.  Bluford  was  specially  prom- 
inent in  fraternal  circles  and  was  the  organizer  and  first  presi- 
dent of  the  Virginia  Grand  Aerie  of  the  Fraternal  Order  of 
Eagles.  He  organized  also  the  Norfolk  Lodge  of  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  and  he  was  prominently  affiliated 
also  with  the  Royal  Arcanum  and  the  Improved  Order  of  Red 
Men.  He  took  deep  interest  in  all  that  concerned  the  civic,  social 
and  material  welfare  of  his  native  city  and  was  one  of  its 
progressive  and  public  spirited  citizens.  His  fraternal  relations 
included  his  membership  in  the  Virginia  organization  of  the 
veterans  of  the  Spanish-American  War,  and  he  was  one  of  the 
loyal  and  influential  members  of  the  Norfolk  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

On  the  13th  of  June,  1883,  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  Bluford  and  Miss  Annie  Lee  Fowler,  who  was  born  at 
Petersburg,  this  state,  but  who  was  educated  in  the  schools  of 
Norfolk.  Mrs.  Bluford  is  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Henry  and 
Elizabeth  V.  (Bolsam)  Fowler,  the  former  of  whom  was  born 
in  Maryland  and  the  latter  of  whom  was  born  and  reared  in 
Norfolk,  Virginia,  the  Bolsam  family  having  been  founded  in 
Norfolk  County  prior  to  the  War  of  the  Revolution  and  having 
given  patriot  soldiers  to  the  Continental  Line  in  that  great 
struggle  for  national  independence.  Thomas  Henry  Fowler  gave 
loyal  service  to  the  Confederacy  in  the  Civil  war  period,  and 
for  a  time  was  in  a  hospital  at  Petersburg.  He  was  active  as  a 
representative  of  the  drug  business  for  some  time  after  the  close 
of  the  war  and  later  was  an  executive  with  the  Old  Dominion 
Steamship  Company,  with  headquarters  at  Norfolk,  in  which 
city  he  and  his  wife  continued  to  reside  until  their  death.  Mrs. 
Bluford  is  the  gracious  and  popular  chatelaine  of  one  of  the 
attractive  and  hospitable  homes  of  Norfolk,  where  she  resides 
at  323  West  Fourteenth  Street.  Mr.  Bluford  is  survived  also 
by  three  children,  the  eldest  of  whom  is  Vernon,  who  is  his 
successor  in  business  as  president  of  the  Crocker-Bluford  Cor- 
poration. Vernon  Bluford  received  the  advantages  of  the  Nor- 
folk public  schools  and  also  those  of  a  business  college.  He  is 
one  of  the  popular  and  progressive  business  men  of  his  native 
city,  his  Masonic  affiliations  include  his  membership  in  the  local 
Commandery  of  Knights  Templar  and  also  the  Mystic  Shrine, 


VIRGINIA  271 

and  he  is  a  member  also  of  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order 
of  Elks  and  the  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Lillian  Ellis,  was  born  and  reared  in  Mary- 
land, and  their  one  child  is  a  daughter,  Jean  Ellis.  Horace, 
Jr.,  the  second  son,  is  likewise  a  representative  business  man 
of  Norfolk,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the  local  lodge  of  Elks.  He 
married  Miss  Capitola  M.  Prince,  and  they  have  five  children: 
Marguerite,  Doris  K.,  Gloria  Lee,  Barbara  A.  and  Frances  Eliza- 
beth. Nellie  Virginia,  the  only  daughter,  is  the  wife  of  Robert 
M.  Boyd,  who  is  president  of  the  Twin  City  Tobacco  Company, 
with  his  residence  and  executive  headquarters  in  Norfolk,  where 
he  has  served  two  terms  as  city  treasurer.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Boyd 
have  two  children,  Robert  M.,  Jr.,  and  Patricia  Lee.  Mr.  Boyd 
is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  including  the  Ancient 
Arabic  Order  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine. 

J.  Green  Carter  has  become  one  of  the  influential  and  pro- 
gressive representatives  of  the  real  estate  and  insurance  bus- 
iness in  the  county  in  which  he  was  born  and  reared,  and  at  the 
county  seat  of  which,  the  thriving  city  of  Warrenton,  he  main- 
tains his  residence  and  business  headquarters. 

The  birth  of  Mr.  Carter  occurred  at  Casanova,  Fauquier 
County,  Virginia,  February  11,  1876,  and  he  is  a  son  of  Cassius 
and  Frances  (Scott)  Carter,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in 
Prince  William  County  and  the  latter  in  Culpeper  County,  this 
state.  When  the  Civil  war  was  precipitated  on  a  divided  nation 
Cassius  Carter  loyally  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Confederacy,  and 
his  service  in  that  conflict  was  with  a  fine  black-horse  company 
of  cavalry  that  was  recruited  at  Warrenton.  He  took  part  in 
the  vai'ious  engagements  in  which  his  command  was  involved 
and  made  a  record  of  gallant  and  faithful  service.  After  the 
close  of  the  war  he  engaged  in  farm  enterprise  in  Fauquier 
County,  and  he  continued  to  give  his  supervision  to  his  well 
improved  farm  estate  near  Casanova  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life,  his  death  having  occurred  December  2.5,  1914,  and  his 
wife  having  passed  to  the  life  eternal  October  10,  1893.  Cassius 
Carter  was  one  of  the  substantial  and  honored  citizens  of 
Fauquier  County,  was  a  stalwart  supporter  of  the  cause  of  the 
Democratic  party,  was  affiliated  with  the  United  Confederate 
Veterans,  and  he  held  the  faith  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  Both  were  representatives  of  sterling  families  that 
were  early  founded  in  Virginia. 

The  public  schools  of  Fauquier  County  were  the  medium 
through  which  J.  Green  Carter  acquired  his  earlier  education, 
and  this  discipline  was  supplemented  by  his  course  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Polytechnic  Institute  at  Blacksburg,  where  he  studied  civil 
engineering  and  became  skilled  in  its  various  phases.  This  pro- 
fession he  followed  a  number  of  years,  during  a  portion  of  which 
he  was  in  government  service,  and  in  the  period  of  1910-1.5  he 
was  assistant  manager  of  the  Fellsmere  Farms  Company  at 
Fellsmere,  Florida,  in  which  locality  the  corporation  controlled 
a  large  and  valuable  landed  property.  During  the  period  of 
the  nation's  participation  in  the  World  war  Mr.  Carter  did  his 
part  in  patriotic  service,  as  he  was  retained  as  supervisor  of 
the  Bartlett-Hayward  munition  plant  at  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
Since  1918  he  has  been  successfully  established  in  the  real  e.state 
business  at  Warrenton,  and  he  has  handled  both  city  and  farm 
properties  in  such  degree  and  such  manner  as  to  make  his  opera- 
tions count  much  in  furtherance  of  civic  and  material  progress 


272  VIRGINIA 

in  his  native  county.    In  connection  with  his  real  estate  business 
he  maintains  a  well  ordered  insurance  department. 

The  political  allegiance  of  Mr.  Carter  is  given  loyally  to 
the  Democratic  party,  he  is  a  communicant  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  and  in  his  home  city  he  has  membership  in  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Rotary  Club  and  the  Fauquier  Club, 
besides  being  a  popular  and  appreciative  member  of  the  War- 
renton  Country  Club.  Mr.  Carter  still  permits  his  name  to 
appear  on  the  roster  of  eligible  bachelors  in  his  native  county, 
where  his  circle  of  friends  is  limited  only  by  that  of  his 
acquaintances. 

James  Louis  Early  graduated  from  medical  college  in  1901 
and  has  had  a  progressive  record  in  the  work  of  his  profession, 
with  a  steadily  increasing  range  of  responsibilities  and  profes- 
sional honors.  For  many  years  he  practiced  at  Saltville,  but  is 
now  one  of  the  leading  men  of  his  profession  at  Radford. 

Doctor  Early  was  born  at  Woodlawn  in  Carroll  County,  Vir- 
ginia, September  14,  1876.  His  people  have  been  in  Southwest 
Virginia  for  a  number  of  generations.  His  grandfather, 
James  W.  Early,  was  born  in  Wythe  County  in  1806,  and  for 
many  years  followed  farming  in  Carroll  County,  where  he  died 
in  1889.  The  father  of  Doctor  Early  was  William  Kenny  Early, 
who  was  born  in  Carroll  County  in  1847  and  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen entered  the  Confederate  army,  serving  with  the  cavalry 
until  the  end  of  the  war.  After  the  war  he  graduated  from 
Roanoke  College,  was  a  farmer  in  Carroll  County  until  1908, 
and  then  moved  to  Galax,  where  he  became  a  lumber  manufac- 
turer. Both  he  and  his  wife  are  now  deceased.  His  wife, 
Mary  Louise  Belo,  was  born  at  Salem,  Virginia,  in  1853.  Dr. 
James  L.  Early  had  a  brother,  George  B.,  who  for  many  years 
was  in  the  service  of  the  Newport  News  Ship  Building  &  Dry 
Dock  Company  and  another  brother,  Charles  William,  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  United  States  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis  and 
was  a  commander  in  the  navy  during  the  World  war.  Harry 
Edward  Early  is  an  electrical  engineer. 

James  Louis  Early  was  educated  in  private  and  public  schools 
in  Carroll  County,  graduated  from  the  Woodlawn  Normal  Insti- 
tute in  1895,  and  in  1901  graduated  from  the  University  College 
of  Medicine  at  Richmond.  For  several  years  he  practiced  at 
Woodlawn  and  Galax,  and  for  a  time  was  surgeon  for  the  Caro- 
lina, Clinchfield  &  Ohio  Railroad  while  it  was  in  course  of  con- 
struction. Doctor  Early  in  1905  located  at  Saltville,  where  in 
addition  to  a  general  practice  acted  as  surgeon  and  physician  to 
the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad  and  several  industrial  organiza- 
tions. In  October,  1926,  Doctor  Early  moved  to  Radford,  and 
has  a  fine  suite  of  offices  in  the  Farmers  &  Merchants  Bank 
building.  For  a  number  of  years,  up  to  January,  1929,  he  was 
a  director  in  the  Mountain  Trust  Bank  of  Roanoke.  He  is  a 
director  of  the  Peoples  State  Bank  of  Radford. 

Doctor  Early  is  a  member  of  the  Southwest  Virginia,  the 
Southern  and  American  Medical  Associations,  the  Medical  So- 
ciety of  Virginia  and  the  Association  of  Norfolk  &  Western 
Railway  Surgeons.  During  the  World  war  he  was  chairman  of 
the  Examining  Board  of  Smyth  and  Grayson  counties.  He  is  a 
director  of  the  Kiwanis  Club  of  Radford,  a  Royal  Arch  and 
Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Shriner,  having  filled  a  number  of 
offices  in  Masonic  bodies,  and  is  also  affiliated  with  the  Indepen- 


VIRGINIA  273 

dent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  B.  P.  0.  Elks.     He  is  a  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Doctor  Early  married,  June  29,  1910,  Miss  Melita  Rorer  Wil- 
son, daughter  of  Dr.  William  A.  and  Mary  (Miller)  Wilson,  of 
Radford.  Mrs.  Early  finished  her  education  in  the  State 
Teachers  College  at  Farmville. 

George  Franklin  Simpson,  M.  D.,  D.  D.  S.  In  the  case  of 
Dr.  George  Franklin  Simpson,  of  Purcellville,  is  shown  the 
effects  of  determination,  hard  work  and  aspiring  ambition,  for 
he  worked  his  way  through  college  and  later  on  attended  night 
classes  while  practicing  dentistry  during  the  daytime,  for  he 
is  a  graduate  dental  surgeon  as  well  as  a  physician  and  surgeon. 
The  fact  that  he  was  without  money  or  influence  did  not  dis- 
courage him,  rather  it  braced  him  and  enabled  him  to  overcome 
obstacles  and  achieve  success  where  one  less  persistent  might 
have  failed.  This  hard  and  intensive  training  has  brought  out 
admirable  characteristics,  broadened  his  viewpoint  and  made 
him  a  most  desirable  citizen,  and  one  always  willing  to  assume 
civic  responsibilities. 

Doctor  Simpson  was  born  at  Woodgrove,  Loudoun  County, 
Virginia,  June  19,  1869,  a  son  of  John  Thomas  and  Rose  Anna 
Agnes  (Allder)  Simpson,  natives  of  the  same  county  as  their 
son.  During  the  war  between  the  states  John  Thomas  Simpson 
fought  in  the  Twelfth  Virginia  Cavalry  under  the  command  of 
General  Ashby.  At  one  time  he  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Charleston,  West  Virginia,  Militia.  After  the  close  of  hostilities 
he  settled  down  to  farming  in  Loudoun  County,  where  he  died 
on  his  ninetieth  birthday.  The  mother  and  wife  died  at  the 
age  of  eighty-three  years,  February  6,  1912. 

Doctor  Simpson  was  reared  in  Loudoun  County  and  went 
to  school  held  in  a  one-room  schoolhouse.  However,  during  that 
period  he  had  been  able,  at  different  times,  to  get  a  little  school- 
ing in  the  public  schools  of  Washington  City,  and  was  also  under 
a  private  tutor.  Beginning  his  studies  for  a  professional  career, 
he  took  dentistry  and  medicine,  and  was  graduated  in  the  former 
June  6,  1900,  and  was  licensed  to  practice.  In  August,  1901,  he 
was  graduated  in  medicine,  his  courses  having  been  taken  in 
the  National  University,  Washington.  He  was  president  of  his 
graduating  class.  He  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  dentistry 
in  Washington  for  a  year  and  taught  dentistry  during  1901, 
1902  and  1903  in  his  alma  mater  and  had  charge  of  the  dental 
infirmary  of  that  institution.  Until  1908  he  was  £ngaged  in 
the  practice  of  both  dentistry  and  medicine  in  Washington,  but 
in  the  latter  year  came  to  Loudoun  County,  first  locating  in 
Hillsboro,  but  coming  to  Purcellville  January  26,  1916,  and  here 
he  has  built  up  a  very  large  and  valuable  medical  practice. 

WTiile  a  resident  of  Washington,  Doctor  Simpson  married 
Miss  Maude  Evelyn  Garner,  of  Washington,  a  daughter  of 
George  Thomas  and  Mary  C.  (Claggett)  Garner,  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland,  respectively.  For  a  good  many  years  Mr. 
Garner  was  in  the  Government  employ,  but  is  now  deceased. 
He  is  survived  by  Mrs.  Garner,  a  lady  seventy-nine  years  old, 
and  a  resident  of  Norwood,  Massachusetts.  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Simpson  have  no  children. 

Doctor  Simpson  has  served  on  the  Town  Council  of  Purcell- 
ville, as  he  did  on  that  of  Hillsboro.  He  is  an  e.x-president  of 
the  Purcellville  Chamber  of  Commerce,  having  held  the  office 
for  two  successive  terms.     He  is  a  director  of  the  Loudoun 


274  VIRGINIA 

Light  &  Power  Company  and  vice  president  of  Loudoun  Hos- 
pital. During  the  World  war  he  was  chairman  of  the  Medical 
Advisory  Board  of  Loudoun  County.  In  Masonry  he  is  a  past 
master  and  a  past  district  deputy  grand  master  of  the  Blue 
Lodge ;  belongs  to  Leesburg  Chapter  No.  55,  R.  A.  M. ;  Pied- 
mont Commandery,  K.  T.,  of  Plains,  Virginia ;  and  Acca  Temple, 
A.  A.  0.  N.  M.  S.,  and  the  Shrine  Club,  of  Alexandria,  Virginia. 
He  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Loudoun  County  Golf  and  Coun- 
ti\v  Club,  and  belongs  to  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Association, 
the  District  of  Columbia  Medical  Association,  the  Northern  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland  Medical  Society,  the  Loudoun  County  Med- 
ical Society,  and  the  American  Medical  Association.  He  is  local 
surgeon  for  the  Washington  &  Old  Dominion  Raih'oad.  In 
politics  he  is  a  Democrat.  A  very  zealous  Methodist,  he  is  chair- 
man of  the  building  committee  now  constructing  the  new  church 
edifice,  and  is  a  steward  of  the  church.  Lee  Camp,  Sons  of 
Confederate  Veterans,  at  Leesburg,  holds  his  membership,  he 
being  eligible  because  of  his  father's  military  service  in  behalf 
of  the  Confederacy.  The  beautiful  Simpson  residence  and  office, 
one  of  the  finest  in  Purcellville,  was  built  by  Doctor  Simpson 
in  1915,  and  here  he  and  his  wife  welcome  their  many  friends 
on  all  occasions. 

Charles  Adams  Hubbard,  of  Denbigh,  is  commissioner  of 
revenue  of  Warwick  County,  and  has  performed  the  duties  of 
that  responsible  position  for  a  period  of  twenty  years. 

He  was  born  at  Yorktown,  Virginia,  January  20,  1874,  son  of 
Judge  James  Filmer  and  Emily  C.  (Adams)  Hubbard.  His 
mother  was  born  in  Massachusetts,  while  his  father  was  a  native 
of  James  City  County,  Virginia,  and  was  an  able  and  successful 
lawyer.  For  thirty-five  years  he  served  in  the  office  of  common- 
wealth's attorney  of  York  County,  and  just  prior  to  his  death 
had  been  appointed  circuit  judge,  dying  before  taking  office. 
His  death  came  in  December,  1903,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four.  He 
had  been  a  lieutenant  in  the  Confederate  army  during  his  youth, 
was  in  the  cavalry  and  served  during  the  entire  conflict.  The 
wife  of  Judge  Hubbard  died  in  1882. 

Charles  A.  Hubbard  was  reared  and  educated  at  Yorktown, 
attended  Lee  Hall  and  William  and  Mary  College  at  Williams- 
burg. After  his  college  training  he  managed  his  father's  farm 
until  1902,  in  which  year  he  took  employment  with  S.  R.  Curtis, 
the  county  treasurer,  a  railway  contractor,  and  was  identified 
with  that  line  of  business  until  1908,  when  he  accepted  appoint- 
ment as  commissioner  of  revenue,  the  office  in  which  he  has 
served  continuously.  He  has  made  a  splendid  record  in  handling 
the  finances  of  Warwick  County. 

Mr.  Hubbard  married,  April  23,  1909,  Miss  Georgia  Eller 
Garrow,  daughter  of  James  Toomer  and  Cornelia  Nelson 
(Wright)  Garrow,  the  former  a  native  of  Warwick  County  and 
the  latter  of  Surry  County.  Her  grandfather,  John  Toomer 
Garro\y,  was  at  one  time  sheriff  and  a  justice  of  the  peace  of 
Warwick  County,  and  died  as  a  result  of  his  service  in  the  Civil 
war.  Mrs.  Hubbard's  father  served  as  deputy  sheriff  and  for 
many  years  was  a  merchant  in  Denbigh,  being  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  February  3,  1929,  the  oldest  business  man  of  the  com- 
munity, dying  at  the  age  of  eighty  years.  Mrs.  Hubbard's 
mother  died  in  November,  1922,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three. 

Mr.  Hubbard  is  affiliated  with  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks.  He  has 
been  a  practiced  rider  since  a  small  child,  and  for  forty  or  forty- 


VIRGINIA  275 

five  years  has  kept  fox  hounds  and  has  indulged  In  the  sport 
of  fox  hunting.  He  Iinows  and  is  known  by  all  the  followers 
of  that  sport  in  Eastern  Virginia.  The  Hubbards  are  active  in 
the  Methodist  Church,  Mrs.  Hubbard  teaching  an  intermediate 
class  in  the  Sunday  School.  She  is  a  member  of  the  United 
Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  is  secretary  of  the  local 
chapter,  Comte  de  Grasse.  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  Ladies  Auxiliary  of  the 
Veterans  of  Foreign  Wars.  Mr.  Hubbard's  father  was  a  leading 
Mason.  Mrs.  Hubbard  was  a  teacher  for  several  years  before 
her  marriage.  Recently  they  have  completed  one  of  the  fine 
homes  in  Denbigh. 

Jeremy  Pate  Whitt  is  a  prominent  educator  whose  work 
for  a  number  of  years  has  been  familiarly  associated  with  the 
Radford  State  Teachers  College  and  through  that  institution  a 
large  body  of  active  school  workers  have  learned  to  appreciate 
his  ability  and  his  fine  personal  character. 

He  was  born  near  East  Radford,  September  2-5,  1879,  son 
of  Hezekiah  and  Ellen  (Cecil)  Whitt.  His  great-grandfather 
was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Montgomery  County.  His  grand- 
father was  also  named  Hezekiah  Whitt.  His  father  was  born 
and  reared  in  the  Meadow  Creek  settlement  near  East  Radford, 
attended  private  schools,  was  a  Confederate  soldier,  and  after 
the  war  followed  farming  and  stock  raising  until  his  death.  He 
owned  and  operated  one  of  the  first  flour  and  corn  mills  in  his 
community,  known  as  Whitt's  Mill.  He  was  eighty-two  years 
of  age  when  he  died  in  1913,  and  is  buried  in  the  old  Laurel  Hill 
Church  Cemetery.  His  wife,  Ellen  Cecil,  was  born  and  reared 
in  Pulaski  County,  and  was  one  of  the  first  students  of  Martha 
Washington  College  at  Abingdon.  Her  father,  J.  G.  Cecil,  had 
much  to  do  with  early  educational  afi'airs  in  Pulaski  County, 
serving  as  the  first  county  superintendent  of  schools,  and  w'as 
one  of  the  founders  of  Emory  and  Henry  College.  He  was  in  the 
Virginia  Legislature  during  the  Civil  war.  The  mother  of 
Jeremy  P.  Whitt  taught  school  before  her  marriage.  She  was 
a  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  Her  death  occurred  March 
26,  1906.  Both  of  these  parents  had  been  married  previously. 
The  first  wife  of  Hezekiah  Whitt  was  Miss  Mollie  Harman,  of 
Montgomery  County,  and  the  two  children  of  that  marriage  were 
Walter  Whitt,  of  Lockney,  Texas,  and  Minnie,  wife  of  A.  H. 
Finks,  of  Roanoke,  Virginia.  Professor  Whitt's  mother  first 
married  Alford  Goodykoontz,  of  Floyd  County,  Virginia,  and 
her  one  son  of  that  marriage,  John,  died  in  1897. 

Jeremy  Pate  Whitt  was  the  only  child  of  his  parents'  second 
marriage.  He  attended  public  schools  in  Montgomery  and 
Pulaski  counties,  and  in  1902  was  graduated  with  the  degrees 
A.  B.  and  A.  M.  from  Milligan  College  of  Tennessee.  For  twenty 
years  he  taught  school  in  North  Carolina.  Tennessee,  Kentucky, 
Florida  and  Virginia,  being  superintendent  of  the  Radford  city 
.schools  from  1911  until  1920.  During  1920-21  he  spent  a  year 
in  post-graduate  study  in  the  Peabody  Normal  College  at  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee,  and  then  came  to  the  Radford  State  Teachers 
College  as  registrar  and  director  of  the  training  school  of  the 
depai'tment  of  education. 

Mr.  Whitt  is  a  member  of  the  Pi  Gamma  Mu  fraternity,  is 
a  Democrat,  and  an  elder  in  the  Christian  Church,  a  teacher  in 
the  Sunday  School  and  chairman  of  the  Official  Board  of  the 
church.     He  married  at  Milligan  College,  Tennessee,  March  26, 

13— VOL.  3 


276  VIRGINIA 

1904,  Miss  Jaynie  Clyde  Shumate,  of  Danville,  Kentucky.  She 
was  educated  in  private  schools  in  Kentucky,  graduated  from 
girls'  college  in  that  state,  and  afterwards  attended  the  Uni- 
versity of  Tennessee.  She  taught  in  public  schools,  was  in- 
structor in  English  in  Sullins  College  in  Bristol,  Virginia,  and 
in  Milligan  College.  Tennessee,  and  from  191]  to  1920  was  prin- 
cipal of  the  Radford  High  School  and  instructor  in  English.  For 
several  years  she  has  taught  in  the  summer  schools  of  the  Rad- 
ford State  Teachers  College.  Mrs.  Whitt  is  active  in  church, 
and  has  been  secretary  and  president  of  the  Radford  Woman's 
Club.  She  is  a  member  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Con- 
federacy, an  associate  member  of  the  American  Association  of 
University  Women,  and  is  eligible  to  membership  in  the  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution.  Her  parents  were  Francis 
Marion  and  Elizabeth  (Higginbotham)  Shumate,  of  Danville, 
Kentucky.  He  and  his  wife  after  retiring  moved  to  California, 
and  he  now  resides  at  Glendale,  where  his  wife  died  in  1924. 

Wilson  R.  Bowers,  head  of  the  department  of  mathematics 
in  the  Radford  State  Teachers  College,  had  as  the  background 
of  his  experience  before  coming  to  the  college  many  years  of 
work  as  a  teacher  in  country  and  town  schools  over  Southwest- 
ern Virginia. 

Mr.  Bowers  was  born  near  Galax,  in  Carroll  County,  Virginia, 
March  3,  187F>.  son  of  William  and  Sarah  (Gallimore)  Bowers. 
He  is  a  grandson  of  William  Bowers  and  a  great-grandson  of 
George  Bowers,  who  came  from  Germany  and  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers  in  Carroll  County,  Virginia.  William  Bowers,  his 
father,  was  born  and  reared  in  Carroll  County,  attended  private 
schools  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  was  drafted  for  service  in  the 
Civil  war,  but  the  war  closed  before  he  was  called  to  active  duty. 
He  spent  his  active  career  as  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  and  died 
May  10,  1917,  being  buried  in  the  family  cemetery  near  Galax. 
His  widow,  who  survives  him  at  the  age  of  seventy-four,  has 
always  been  a  regular  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  She 
was  born  and  reared  near  Austinville,  Virginia,  and  attended 
private  schools.  She  lives  with  a  daughter  at  Hopewell,  Vir- 
ginia. 

Wilson  R.  Bowers  was  the  oldest  in  a  family  of  eleven  chil- 
dren. He  attended  public  schools  and  private  schools  in  Carroll 
County,  the  Stuart  Normal  School  and  Woodlawn  Institute,  and 
in  1900  graduated  with  the  degrees  Bachelor  of  Science  and  later 
Bachelor  of  Arts  from  Milligan  College  of  Tennessee.  Lynch- 
burg College  gave  him  the  honorary  degree  Master  of  Arts.  For 
three  summers  he  did  graduate  work  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia and  for  one  and  a  quarter  years  at  Columbia  University 
of  New  York,  where  he  won  his  Master  of  Arts  degree  in  1919. 
He  has  since  done  one  and  a  quarter  years  work  toward  his 
Ph.  D.  degree.  Mr.  Bowers  for  eighteen  years  was  engaged 
in  grade  and  high  school  work  in  Virginia,  all  except  the  first 
three  years  as  principal  of  high  school.  For  several  years  he 
was  head  of  the  schools  at  Rural  Retreat,  and  while  there  was 
instrumental  in  securing  the  erection  of  a  handsome  new  high 
school  building.  Mr.  Bowers  in  1919  came  with  the  Radford 
State  Teachers  College  as  head  of  the  department  of  mathema- 
tics. He  owns  his  home  in  Radford,  other  real  estate  and  a  farm 
in  Carroll  County. 

He  is  affiliated  with  Virginia  May  Lodge  No.  38,  A.  F.  and  A. 
M.,  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  Knights  of  the  Mystic  Chain, 


(^l^i^j^--ei^ .  /J  '  W^ 


VIRGINIA  277 

is  a  member  of  the  Kiwanis  Club,  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
the  Southwestern  Virginia,  incorporated.  He  is  independent 
politically  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  Since  1921  he  has  been  superintendent  of  the  Grove 
Avenue  Sunday  School,  Radford. 

He  married  at  Rural  Retreat  Miss  Nannie  Brown  Eiffert, 
who  attended  public  school  there  and  the  Hawkins  Institute 
and  Milligan  College.  She  was  a  teacher  of  music  in  the  Rural 
Retreat  High  School  for  several  years  before  and  after  her  mar- 
riage, and  she  took  an  active  part  in  choir  work  at  East  Rad- 
ford. She  is  a  daughter  of  Henry  A.  and  Susan  (Brown)  Eif- 
fert. Her  father  for  many  years  was  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser 
at  Rural  Retreat  and  then  engaged  in  business  as  a  merchant 
there.  After  retiring  he  moved  to  Cleveland,  Tennessee,  where 
he  died  in  1927  and  where  his  widow  lives  with  her  youngest 
daughter,  Mrs.  Max  Fouts.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bowers  have  two  chil- 
dren, Eleanor  Randolph  and  Warren  Brown  Bowers,  the  former 
a  member  of  the  class  of  1929  and  the  latter  in  his  first  year  in 
the  Radford  High  School.  Mr.  Bowers  is  author  of  the  following 
pamphlets  and  articles:  America's  Discontent,  A  Factor  in  Her 
Development ;  Martin  Luther's  Contribution  to  Modern  Educa- 
tion ;  School  Hygiene ;  Principles  and  Methods  in  Teaching  Pri- 
mary Arithmetic ;  The  Relationship  of  the  Practical  and  the  Cul- 
tural in  Modern  Education.  He  is  now  beginning  to  write  a 
book  on  the  "Teaching  of  Elementary  Mathematics." 

Hon.  Eppa  Sherman  Cox,  county  treasurer  of  Fauquier 
County,  has  a  long  and  honorable  career  behind  him  in  the 
service  of  his  county,  and  has  built  up  a  reputation  second  to 
none  for  faithful  performance  of  duty  and  strict  adherence  to 
high  ideals  of  good  citizenship.  He  was  born  near  Elk  Run, 
Fauquier  County,  Virginia,  January  6,  1869,  a  son  of  James  W. 
and  Alvernon  T.  (Lake)  Cox,  natives  of  Virginia.  During  the 
war  between  the  states  James  W.  Cox  served  as  a  clerk  in  the 
commissary  department  at  Richmond,  and  after  the  war  was 
over  he  returned  to  Fauquier  County  and  for  thirty  years  was 
a  teacher  of  the  county  and  at  the  same  time  he  was  engaged 
in  farming.  His  death  occurred  when  he  was  fifty-seven  years 
old,  in  1889,  but  he  was  survived  by  the  mother  until  1902. 
Through  his  mother  Treasurer  Cox  belongs  to  the  Lake  Clan, 
which  has  a  membership  of  300  in  the  difi'erent  states  of  the 
Union,  all  of  whom  trace  back  to  three  brothers  by  the  name  of 
Lake  who  came  to  the  American  colonies  prior  to  the  Revolu- 
tion, in  this  hemisphere,  and  in  the  Old  World  to  forebears  for 
1,000  years.  The  clan  holds  annual  meetini^s,  and  it  is  a  source 
of  interest  and  pleasure  to  those  belonging  to  it  to  have  the 
privilege  of  keeping  in  touch  with  those  of  common  family  ties 
and  connections.  The  pride  of  race  is  something  that  lies  very 
close  to  the  heart  of  everyone,  and  when  the  family  record  is 
as  honorable  as  that  of  the  Lakes,  then  those  allied  to  it  ought 
to  give  every  assistance  in  keeping  it  up  to  the  high  standards 
already  reared,  and  this  Treasurer  Cox  is  doing. 

Reared  and  educated  in  Fauquier  County,  Eppa  S.  Cox  had 
his  father  for  his  teacher  during  the  greater  portion  of  his 
school  days.  Subsequently  he  took  a  correspondence  school  busi- 
ness trainino:  course,  but  he  continued  on  the  farm  with  his 
parents  until  he  was  thirty-three  years  old,  after  which  he 
farmed  on  his  own  account  for  two  years.  In  1899  he  was 
elected  commissioner  of  revenue  for  the  Cedar  Run  District,  and 


278  VIRGINIA 

held  that  office  for  twelve  years,  at  the  termination  of  that  period 
receiving  appointment  as  deputy  county  treasurer,  and  holding 
the  office  from  1911  to  1915.  In  1923  he  v^^as  elected  county 
treasurer  and  reelected  to  the  same  office  in  1927,  without  oppo- 
sition, and  is  still  the  incumbent  of  the  office. 

On  September  25,  1901,  Mr.  Cox  married  Miss  Carrie  May 
Lee,  a  daughter  of  James  E.  and  Sarah  Virginia  (Lee)  Lee, 
natives  of  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  and  Missouri,  respectively. 
Mr.  Lee  was  a  Confederate  veteran,  and  a  distant  relative  of 
Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  served  with  the  rank  of  sergeant.  Re- 
turning home  after  the  close  of  the  war,  he  was  engaged  in 
farming  in  Bedford  County  the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  died 
there  in  1899.  Mrs.  Lee  survived  him  until  1901,  when  she, 
too,  passed  away.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cox  have  had  four  children 
born  to  them :  Virginia  Alvernon,  who  was  born  January  15, 
1903,  is  a  trained  nurse,  and  is  now  superintendent  of  a  hospital 
at  Sheridan,  Wyoming;  Gilbert  Lee,  who  was  born  March  2, 
1906,  is  a  graduate  of  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute,  class 
of  1928 ;  James  Edwin,  who  was  born  October  5,  1908,  is  a 
student  of  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute ;  and  Ida  Louise, 
who  was  born  December  25,  1912,  is  a  student  of  Calverton 
High  School.  Mr.  Cox  belongs  to  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  of  which  he  has  been  a  member  for  thirty  years, 
and  to  Black  Horse  Camp,  Sons  of  Confederate  Veterans.  His 
political  views  make  him  a  Democrat,  and  he  is  a  strong  sup- 
porter of  his  party's  principles.  For  years  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  he  is  a  trustee  of  the  church 
at  present,  and  also  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school.  While 
his  office  is  in  Warrenton,  he  continues  to  reside  at  Calverton, 
and  he  is  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  the  people  of  both  com- 
munities and  throughout  Fauquier  County.  The  welfare  of  the 
county  is  dear  to  him  and  he  has  worked  hard  both,  as  a  public 
official  and  private  citizen  to  do  everything  within  his  power  to 
keep  things  abreast  of  the  times,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find 
anyone  more  universally  respected  or  more  highly  honored. 

Adam  Monroe  Turner,  whose  home  is  at  Broadway,  Rock- 
ingham County,  was  born  on  the  top  of  the  Shenandoah  Moun- 
tains in  the  same  county  March  2,  1859.  His  career  has  been 
made  up  of  commendable  industry  and  honorable  relations  with 
his  fellowmen. 

He  is  a  descendant  of  James  Turner  who  came  from  Sweden 
and  settled  at  Greencastle,  Pennsylvania,  about  1790.  He  was 
a  very  successful  farmer,  and  while  never  in  politics  he  wielded 
an  important  influence  in  the  promotion  of  schools  and  churches. 
He  was  of  the  Dunkard  faith.  In  1803  he  removed  to  Rocking- 
ham County,  Virginia,  settling  about  two  miles  above  Brock's 
Gap  on  a  little  stream  known  as  Lambs  Run,  a  tributary  of  the 
north  branch  of  the  Shenandoah.  He  married  a  Fronkfodder, 
and  among  their  children  were  John  Turner,  born  in  1798, 
Jacob,  born  in  1800;  Andrew,  born  in  1803;  Joseph  and  James 
and  also  four  daughters.  Of  the  sons  John  married  a  Pear, 
Jacob,  a  Cherryholes,  Andrew,  a  Zetty,  Joseph,  a  Bible. 

James  Turner,  who  was  born  on  Lambs  Run  after  his  par- 
ents settled  in  Rockingham  County,  grew  up  with  a  farm  train- 
ing and  a  fair  education  so  that  he  qualified  for  teaching  school. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church,  a  Republican  and  in 
1861  served  with  the  Virginia  Militia.  He  married  Mary  Fulk, 
a  daughter  of  John  G.  Fulk  and  a  descendant  of  Mathew  Fulk, 


VIRGINIA  279 

who  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent  and  came  to  America  about 
1735.  He  was  with  Colonel  Lewis  in  an  expedition  to  treat  with 
the  Indians,  and  he  married  an  Indian  woman.  Not  long  after- 
ward the  Indians  were  moved  from  Rockingham  County  and 
he  also  went,  but  left  a  large  family  of  boys  and  some  girls, 
who  lived  or  settled  about  two  miles  west  of  Broadway  in  Rock- 
ingham County,  at  a  place  called  Trissels  Church.  John  Fulk, 
a  son  of  Mathew  Fulk,  was  born  in  1760  and  married  a  Miss 
Bible.  He  moved  to  Brock's  Gap  in  1785.  One  other  member  of 
the  family  was  Adam  Fulk,  who  moved  to  Ohio  when  it  was  still 
the  Northwest  Territory,  and  Adams  County  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  state  of  Ohio  was  named  for  him,  and  he  became 
prominent  in  county  affairs.  Another  member  of  the  family, 
Jacob  Fulk,  was  an  early  settler  near  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  and 
George  Fulk  figured  in  the  early  settlement  of  the  South  Branch 
Valley  of  West  Virginia.  John  Fulk  had  a  son,  Daniel  Fulk,  who 
was  the  father  of  John  G.  Fulk  and  grandfather  of  Mary  (Fulk) 
Turner. 

Another  descendant  of  Mathew  Fulk  is  Charles  R.  Fawley 
the  present  sheriff  of  Rockingham  County.  The  sheriff's  father, 
George  W.  Fawley,  married  Sarah  J.  Fulk,  a  daughter  of  John 
G.  Fulk.  George  W.  Fawley  was  a  school  teacher  and  for  many 
years  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  1860  as  a  Union  man  voted 
for  Douglas  of  Illinois  and  died  a  Democrat.  He  was  a  son  of 
Jacon  Fawley,  who  married  a  Minnick  and  settled  at  Brock's 
Gap  about  1800  from  Loudoun  County,  having  come  originally 
from  Pennsylvania. 

Adam  Monroe  Turner,  a  son  of  Adam  Monroe  Turner,  a  son 
of  James  and  Mary  (Fulk)  Turner,  derived  his  education  from 
the  common  schools  and  as  a  young  man  took  up  farming  and 
lumbering.  He  owns  about  800  acres  of  farming  land,  mostly 
in  Rockingham  and  Shenandoah  counties,  besides  several  thous- 
and acres  of  mountain  land. 

Mr.  Turner  in  his  public  relations  with  the  community  has 
always  been  guided  by  a  desire  to  better  the  conditions  of  the 
people,  providing  better  schools,  churches  and  good  roads.  One 
of  his  outstanding  services  was  his  work  in  bringing  about  the 
construction  of  the  Brock  Gap  State  Highway  for  the  purpose 
of  developing  the  northwestern  section  of  Rockingham  County, 
the  greater  part  of  which  lies  within  Brock's  Gap.  He  devised 
a  plan  by  which  this  road  could  be  built  and  paid  for  by  the 
traffic,  and  this  was  the  plan  followed  in  its  construction.  In 
promoting  this  plan  Mr.  Turner  was  under  the  handicap  of  being 
a  Republican,  while  the  legislative  board  of  supervi.sers  of  the 
county  and  district  were  all  Democratic  and  the  officials  them- 
selves opposed  to  the  project.  In  spite  of  all  this  Mr.  Turner 
persisted  until  his  ideas  were  adopted  and  the  plan  carried  out, 
and  the  result  has  more  than  justified  all  his  expectations,  the 
highway  having  paid  for  itself  and  given  revenue  to  the  rest 
of  the  county.  The  road  is  about  seventeen  miles  long  and  has 
since  been  taken  over  by  the  state  as  a  part  of  the  national  sys- 
tem of  highways  leading  into  West  Virginia.  It  was  Mr.  Turn- 
er's motion  that  put  the  Valley  Pike  in  the  hands  of  the  state 
and  he  cast  the  first  vote  to  that  end. 

Mr.  Turner  taught  seven  terms  under  the  free  school  system, 
and  of  the  eleven  children  in  his  father's  family  eight  became 
school  teachers.  In  after  years  he  built  a  house  which  he  turned 
over  to  the  county  for  a  public  school,  and  this  has  been  the 


280  VIRGINIA 

means  of  giving  a  large  number  of  men  and  women  the  funda- 
mentals of  an  education. 

Mr.  Turner  since  early  boyhood  has  been  an  enthusiastic 
sportsman.  He  has  enjoyed  hunting  as  a  pastime  for  over  half 
a  century,  and  during  that  time  has  killed  154  bears  besides 
many  deer  and  other  wild  animals  and  wild  fowl.  The  deer 
became  extinct  about  1900,  and  about  six  years  ago  he  restocked 
a  part  of  the  mountain  with  deer  and  these  are  now  accumulat- 
ing fast.  In  politics  Mr.  Turner  has  always  been  a  Republican 
in  national  affairs,  and  also  in  the  state  except  once  when  he 
supported  and  helped  nominate  Governor  Byrd.  He  votes  a 
mixed  ticket  in  the  county.  He  was  twice  elected  to  the  Board 
of  Supervisors,  serving  eight  years,  was  twice  appointed  land 
assessor,  holding  that  office  until  the  law  was  changed,  and  only 
by  a  small  majority  was  defeated  for  the  House  of  Delegates, 
carrying  the  county  but  losing  the  city  of  Harrisonburg.  Mr. 
Turner,  his  friends  declare,  is  a  thorough  practical  Christian, 
though  not  a  member  of  any  denomination.  He  has  helped  build 
every  church  in  the  western  part  of  his  district,  and  has  given 
his  time  and  means  generously  in  behalf  of  other  worthy  institu- 
tions and  charities. 

He  married,  December  25,  1879,  at  Fulks  Run  in  Rocking- 
ham County,  Miss  Mary  Catherine  Ritchie.  Her  father,  Jona- 
than Ritchie,  was  a  fai-mer  and  served  in  the  Confederate  army 
from  1861  to  1865.  This  branch  of  the  family  is  distantly  re- 
lated to  that  of  Governor  Ritchie  of  Maryland.  Her  mother  was 
a  Sprinkle,  descended  from  Peter  Sprinkle,  a  soldier  in  the  War 
of  1812,  and  a  niece  of  John  C.  Sprinkle,  a  Confederate  officer. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Turner  are  the  parents  of  two  daughters.  Hallie 
Hester,  born  September  27,  1881,  near  Fulks  Run  in  the  Brock's 
Gap  community,  is  well  educated,  taught  in  public  schools  and 
is  now  the  wife  of  Lahone  Clutteur,  a  farmer  living  near  Broad- 
way. Alice  Virginia  Dare,  the  second  daughter,  was  born  on 
Shenandoah  Mountain  in  December,  1883,  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  and  is  the  wife  of  John  W.  Fulk,  a  farmer  near 
Singers  Glen  in  Rockingham  County. 

ErvvIN  Grover  Hall,  physician  and  surgeon,  since  locating 
at  East  Radford,  has  specialized  in  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat,  and 
is  one  of  the  outstanding  specialists  in  that  field  in  Southwest 
Virginia. 

He  was  born  at  Willis  in  Floyd  County,  Virginia,  December 
18,  1886,  son  of  Isaac  Thomas  and  Leah  (Young)  Hall.  His 
father  was  born  and  reared  in  the  same  locality,  attended  private 
schools,  and  spent  his  life  as  a  farmer.  He  died  in  1912  and  is 
buried  in  Rockingham  County.  His  wife,  Leah  Young,  was  born 
and  reared  in  Floyd  County,  attended  private  schools,  and  now 
lives  with  her  son,  Doctor  Hall,  at  Radford.  She  is  an  earnest 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Of  the  ten  children  born  to  the 
parents  of  Doctor  Hall  six  died  in  childhood  from  diphtheria. 
Another,  William,  died  at  East  Radford  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  and  Luther  was  drowned  at  East  Radford  when  eleven 
years  old.  The  two  surviving  children  are :  Addie,  wife  of  A.  H. 
Jennings,  of  East  Radford ;  and  Doctor  Erwin. 

Erwin  Grover  Hall  attended  public  schools  at  East  Radford, 
spent  one  year  in  the  University  of  Richmond,  and  this  was 
followed  by  the  full  four  years  course  in  the  University  College 
of  Medicine  at  Richmond.  He  was  graduated  in  1911  and  for 
ten  years  conducted  a  general  practice  in  medicine  and  surgery 


VIRGINIA  281 

in  Rockingham  County.  On  giving  up  his  work  there  he  went 
to  Baltimore,  and  for  a  year  devoted  his  time  to  post-graduate 
work  with  the  Presbyterian  Eye,  Ear,  Nose  and  Throat  Hos- 
pital. With  this  special  training  and  his  years  of  general  medi- 
cal practice  he  located  at  East  Radford  in  1922,  and  his  office 
hours  have  been  crowded  with  work  in  his  special  line.  Doctor 
Hall  is  a  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia  and  the 
Southwest  Virginia  Medical  Association.  He  was  for  a  number 
of  years  a  member  of  the  Rotary  Club,  and  is  affiliated  with 
Virginia  May  Lodge  No.  38,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.  He  is  a  Democrat 
and  is  on  the  Board  of  Deacons  in  the  Baptist  Church  and 
teacher  of  a  men's  Bible  class. 

He  married  at  Eclipse,  Virginia,  September  23,  1911,  Miss 
Clara  Earle  Harrison,  of  Nansemond  County,  where  she  was 
reared  and  educated.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church 
and  the  Woman's  Club  of  Radford.  Her  parents  were  William 
Allen  and  Lelia  (Sweeney)  Harrison.  Her  father,  who  died  in 
1914,  was  for  many  years  engaged  in  the  oyster  industry  at 
Eclipse.  Her  mother  is  a  resident  of  Eclipse.  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Hall  have  three  sons,  Stewart  Harrison,  Robert  Allen  and  E.  G., 
Jr.,  all  attending  the  public  schools  of  East  Radford. 

John  Calvin  Hopkins  is  associated  with  his  brother,  Robert 
S.  Hopkins,  as  joint  owners  of  the  Hopkins  Pharmacy  at  East 
Radford,  and  both  brothers  are  graduate  pharmacists,  masters 
of  that  profession  and  very  capable  and  energetic  young  busi- 
ness men. 

John  C.  Hopkins  was  born  at  Tazewell,  Virginia,  March  14, 
1890,  son  of  0.  E.  and  Rebecca  W.  (Peery)  Hopkins,  and  grand- 
son of  John  Calvin  Hopkins,  who  spent  many  years  of  his  life 
as  a  merchant  at  Tazewell.  0.  E.  Hopkins  was  born  in  Taze- 
well, attended  public  schools  there,  and  for  many  years  has 
been  engaged  in  farming  and  stock  raising.  He  and  his  wife 
live  at  Tazewell  and  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  His  wife,  Rebecca  Peery,  was  born  at  Taze- 
well Court  House  and  is  a  graduate  of  the  Martha  Washing- 
ton College  of  Abingdon.  Her  parents  were  Albert  and  Sarah 
(Smith)  Peery.  Her  father  was  a  merchant  at  Tazewell  and 
died  about  thii'ty  years  ago.  Her  mother  is  now  eighty-six  years 
of  age.  0.  E.  Hopkins  and  wife  had  seven  children :  Alice, 
wife  of  M.  Zeigler;  Elizabeth,  wife  of  A.  S.  Greybeal;  Albert; 
John  C. ;  Robert  S. ;  Martha,  wife  of  J.  A.  Stimson ;  and  Edward. 

John  Calvin  Hopkins  attended  public  schools  in  Tazewell 
and  took  his  degree  in  pharmacy  at  the  Medical  College  of  Vir- 
ginia in  1919.  For  the  past  ten  years  he  has  been  associated 
with  his  brother  in  the  drug  business  at  East  Radford,  and  the 
Hopkins  Pharmacy  there  is  a  very  popular  trading  place,  and 
especially  enjoys  the  confidence  of  the  medical  profession  be- 
cause of  the  skill  in  pharmacy  of  both  the  proprietors.  Mr. 
Hopkins  is  also  a  director  of  the  Peoples  Bank.  He  is  affiliated 
with  Virginia  May  Lodge  No.  38,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Rotary  Club,  and  is  serving  on  the  local  school  board. 
He  is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. 

He  married  at  Tazewell,  February  21,  1912,  Miss  Stella  Ver- 
million, of  Tazewell,  who  finished  her  education  in  Martha  Wash- 
ington College  at  Abingdon.  For  a  number  of  years  she  has 
been  a  teacher  of  art  and  holds  a  position  as  art  instructor  in 
the  Radford  State  Teachers  College.    She  is  a  Methodist,  a  mem- 


282  VIRGINIA 

ber  of  the  Music  and  Art  Clubs,  and  is  very  popular  in  the 
college  community.  Her  parents  were  W.  I.  and  Elizabeth 
(Williams)  Vermillion,  residents  of  Tazewell.  Her  father  has 
carried  on  an  extensive  business  as  a  road  and  stone  contractor. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hopkins  have  one  daughter,  Elizabeth,  who  gradu- 
ated in  1929  from  the  Radford  High  School. 

Robert  S.  Hopkins  was  born  at  Tazewell  October  27,  1892, 
was  educated  in  public  schools  and  Randolph-Macon  College,  and 
graduated  from  the  School  of  Pharmacy  of  the  Medical  College 
of  Virginia  at  Richmond  in  1917.  He  has  a  war  record,  having 
enlisted  in  January,  1918,  in  the  United  States  Marine  Corps. 
He  was  trained  at  Paris  Island,  South  Carolina,  and  at  Quantico, 
Virginia,  and  in  April,  1918,  went  overseas  with  the  Third  Re- 
placement Battalion,  Second  Division,  and  joined  the  Marine 
Headquarters  in  France.  In  September,  1918,  he  was  invalided 
home,  was  honorably  discharged  on  January  14,  1919,  and  soon 
afterwards  removed  to  Radford,  and  in  April  joined  his  brother 
in  the  drug  business. 

Robert  S.  Hopkins  is  affiliated  with  Virginia  May  Lodge  No. 
38,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Peyton  Coles  Chapter  No.  27,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  Bayard  Commandery  No.  15.  Knights  Templar  at  Roan- 
oke, and  Kazim  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Roanoke.  He 
is  a  member  of  Harvey  Howe  Post  No.  30  of  the  American 
Legion,  the  Kiwanis  Club,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  Baptist. 

He  married  at  Radford,  October  24,  1919,  Miss  Agnes  John- 
son, daughter  of  Albert  Sidney  Johnson,  and  member  of  a  very 
prominent  family  in  this  section  of  the  state.  Mrs.  Hopkins 
attended  high  school  at  Radford  and  is  a  graduate  of  the  State 
Teachers  College,  after  which  she  taught  school  for  several 
years  before  her  marriage.  She  is  a  Baptist  and  a  member  of 
the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution. 

Charles  H.  Stimpson  throughout  his  residence  in  Virginia 
was  identified  with  some  phase  of  the  maritime  interests  center- 
ing around  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth.  He  lived  all  his  life  close 
to  and  in  touch  with  the  affairs  of  the  sea. 

He  was  born  at  Bath,  Maine,  in  1831,  and  died  at  Berkeley, 
Norfolk,  in  1885.  The  Stimpsons  were  of  English  ancestry. 
His  mother  was  a  Lamont,  of  French  Huguenot  extraction. 
Charles  H.  Stimpson  attended  school  at  Bath,  Maine,  and  as  a 
young  man  came  to  Virginia,  working  in  ship  yards,  but  for  the 
greater  part  of  his  active  life  was  associated  with  Captain  Baker 
in  the  business  known  as  the  Baker  Ship  Salvage  &  Wrecking 
Company,  one  of  the  largest  organizations  of  its  kind  on  the 
Virginia  coast. 

Mr.  Stimpson  married,  December  19,  1877,  Ann  J.  Simpson, 
of  Toronto,  Canada,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Mary  Simpson. 
The  Simpsons  were  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  coming  to  Canada 
from  Ireland.  Her  father  was  a  pioneer  lumberman  in  Canada, 
where  the  family  settled  about  1830.  He  did  an  extensive  bus- 
iness in  exporting  lumber  to  the  United  Kingdom.  Mrs.  Stimp- 
son now  resides  at  309  Dinwiddle  Street  in  Portsmouth.  She 
is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and  her  husband  was  a 
Mason.  She  has  two  children,  Harry  L.  and  Miss  Mary.  Harry 
L.  is  mate  of  a  steamship  on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  married  a 
western  girl.  Miss  Mary  Stimpson  has  become  well  known  in 
educational  and  social  service  work,  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
State  Teachers  Association,  and  is  a  graduate  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity of  New  York  City. 


VIRGINIA  283 

Walter  Gordon  Trow,  M.  D.,  has  been  engaged  in  the  suc- 
cessful practice  of  his  profession  at  Warrenton,  judicial  center 
of  Fauquier  County,  since  1911,  save  for  the  interval  of  his 
service  in  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  United  States  Army  in  the 
World  war  and  the  subsequent  period  of  his  recuperation  from 
the  effects  of  being  gassed  while  with  his  command  at  the  front 
with  his  unit  in  France. 

Doctor  Trow  was  born  in  the  City  of  Washington,  D.  C, 
December  16,  1879,  and  is  a  son  of  Gordon  Winthrop  Trow  and 
Fidelia  Harriet  (Bundy)  Trow,  who  were  born  in  the  State  of 
Vermont,  of  Colonial  American  ancestry.  For  a  long  term  of 
years  Gordon  W.  Trow  was  in  Government  service  in  the 
national  capital,  and  there  his  death  occurred  in  1903,  his 
venerable  widow  being  now  a  loved  member  of  the  family  circle 
of  her  son.  Dr.  Walter  G.,  of  this  review. 

After  his  graduation  from  the  Eastern  High  School  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  Doctor  Trow  soon  initiated  his  preparation  for 
the  exacting  profession  of  his  choice,  and  in  1905  he  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  medical  college  of  George  Washington  University. 
After  thus  receiving  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  he  forti- 
fied himself  further  by  devoting  much  of  the  ensuing  year  to 
post-graduate  work  at  the  Hahnemann  Hospital  in  the  City  of 
Philadelphia.  Thereafter  he  was  engaged  in  practice  in  his 
native  city  one  year,  and  during  the  ensuing  four  years  the 
stage  of  his  professional  activities  was  at  Hallwood,  Accomac 
County,  Virginia.  He  then,  in  1911,  removed  to  Warrenton, 
where  he  has  since  continued  in  active  and  successful  general 
practice  save  for  the  period  of  his  World  war  service,  and  where 
he  has  been  retained  since  1916  as  local  surgeon  for  the  Southern 
Railway.  When  in  the  spring  of  1917  the  nation  became  in- 
volved in  the  World  war.  Doctor  Trow  soon  volunteered  for 
service  in  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  United  States  Army,  gained 
therein  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant,  later  was  promoted  to  cap- 
tain and  finally  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  major.  He  was 
with  his  unit  in  overseas  service  from  April,  1918,  until  the 
following  December,  and  in  the  meanwhile  the  armistice  had 
brought  the  great  conflict  to  a  close.  He  suffered  a  severe  gas 
attack  while  at  the  front,  and  after  his  return  home  he  went 
to  Camp  Lee  and  then  received  treatment  at  the  Walter  Reed 
Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C,  where  he  was  confined  until  July, 
1919.  He  has  not  as  yet  recovered  fully  from  the  effects  of  the 
gas  attack,  and  February  9,  1929,  he  was  retired  under  the 
Emergency  Officers  Retirement  Act  with  the  rank  of  major. 

After  measurably  recuperating  in  a  physical  way  and  after 
receiving  his  honorable  discharge.  Doctor  Trow  resumed  his 
professional  ministrations  at  Warrenton,  where  he  controls  a 
large  and  representative  practice  and  has  standing  as  one  of  the 
representative  physicians  and  surgeons  of  this  section  of  the 
Old  Dominion  State. 

Doctor  Trow  has  membership  in  the  Northern  Virginia 
Medical  Society,  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society,  the  Vir- 
ginia, Maryland  and  District  of  Columbia  Medical  Societies,  the 
American  Medical  Association,  the  Southern  Railroad  Surgeons 
Association,  besides  being  an  influential  member  of  the  Fauquier 
County  Medical  Society.  He  is  affiliated  with  the  American 
Legion,  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Royal 
Arcanum,  and  in  his  home  city  is  a  member  of  the  ChamlDer 
of  Commerce  and  the  Community  League.  He  and  his  wife  are 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  Mrs.  Trow  is  eligible 


284  VIRGINIA 

for  affiliation  with  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 
and  also  the  Colonial  Dames.  The  Doctor  has  had  neither  time 
nor  desire  to  enter  the  arena  of  practical  politics,  but  he  is  a 
staunch  advocate  and  supporter  of  the  cause  of  the  Democratic 
party. 

In  November,  1910,  Doctor  Trow  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Elizabeth  Edmonds  Harper,  who  was  born  near  Lees- 
burg,  Virginia,  and  who  is  a  daughter  of  Robert  and  Roberta 
(Parrott)  Harper,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Stafford 
County,  and  the  latter  of  whom  was  born  in  Petersburg.  For 
a  long  term  of  years  Robert  Harper  was  engaged  in  the  dry 
goods  business  in  Alexander,  and  thereafter  he  was  long  engaged 
in  the  same  line  of  enterprise  at  Leesburg,  Loudoun  County. 
He  finally  retired  to  his  farm  in  Loudoun  County,  and  he  died 
in  May,  1908,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  years.  His  widow 
attained  to  the  same  age,  and  her  death  occurred  in  February, 
1926.  Mr.  Harper  served  as  a  member  of  the  Confederate  Home 
Guard  in  the  Civil  war  period,  he  was  a  lifelong  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  and  in  the  same  served  many  years 
as  an  elder,  an  office  of  which  he  was  still  the  incumbent  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  besides  which  he  had  served  a  long  period 
as  Sunday  school  superintendent.  He  was  twice  married  and 
became  the  father  of  fourteen  children.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Trow 
have  five  children:  Walter  Gordon,  Jr.,  and  Robert  Harper 
(twins) ,  born  September  26,  1911 ;  Randolph  Edmonds,  born 
March  7,  1914;  William  Newi;on,  born  April  20,  1916;  and 
Roberta  Parrott,  born  May  13,  1922.  At  the  time  of  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  review  Robert  H.  is  a  student  in  the  military 
academy  at  Danville,  Virginia  (summer  of  1929),  and  his  twin 
brother,  Walter  G.,  Jr..  is  a  student  in  the  Warrenton  High 
School,  as  is  also  Randolph  E. 

Ambrose  Wilson,  senior  member  of  the  firm  Wilson 
Brothers,  druggists  at  East  Radford,  was  born  in  that  Southwest 
Virginia  community  September  6,  1893.  Both  he  and  his  brother 
are  World  war  veterans,  and  Mr.  Wilson  has  had  a  wide  and 
diversified  experience  in  business. 

The  Wilsons  have  long  been  prominent  in  and  around  Staun- 
ton, Virginia,  and  they  are  of  the  same  stock  as  that  from  which 
was  descended  the  World  war  president,  Woodrow  Wilson.  Mr. 
Wilson's  grandfather  was  a  pioneer  circuit  riding  Presbyterian 
minister.  John  A.  Wilson,  father  of  Ambrose,  was  born  near 
Staunton,  attended  public  schools  and  spent  many  years  in  the 
service  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railway  Company.  He  was 
foreman  at  Radford,  general  foreman  at  Roanoke,  then  was 
made  master  mechanic  of  the  Radford  Division,  and  after  his 
health  failed  so  that  he  was  unable  to  keep  up  with  the  heavy 
responsibilities  of  this  position  he  was  made  foreman  in  the 
shops  at  Radford  and  held  that  position  when  he  died,  April  1, 
1910.  He  is  buried  in  the  Central  Cemetery  at  East  Radford. 
His  vdfe,  Mary  Catherine  Locke,  was  born  and  reared  in  Vir- 
ginia. Her  parents,  Frederick  and  Wilhelmina  Locke,  came 
from  Darmstadt,  Germany,  living  for  a  time  at  Baltimore,  later 
at  Fredericksburg,  then  near  Staunton,  and  made  their  final 
home  near  Lynchburg  and  Radford.  Mrs.  Mary  Catherine  Wil- 
son attended  school  at  Lynchburg.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church.  Of  her  twelve  children  the  daughters  Ethel 
and  Sue  are  deceased;  Frederick;  Louise,  wife  of  E.  Demming 
Lucas,  a  Petersburg  attorney;  Robert  L.,  of  Radford,  foreman 


VIRGINIA  285 

in  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railway  shops,  married  Stella  Ross,  a 
descendant  of  the  famous  Betsy  Ross ;  Rev.  John  A.,  Jr.,  an 
Episcopal  minister  at  Richland,  Virginia,  married  Bess  Gilles- 
pie ;  Henry  R.,  general  foreman  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Shops 
at  Shenandoah,  married  Bessie  Lucas,  of  Radford ;  Frank  S.,  of 
Detroit,  Michigan,  married  Margaret  Fink,  of  Radford ;  Louis  L., 
district  manager  at  Huntington,  West  Virginia,  for  the  Reliance 
Life  Insurance  Company,  married  Lillian  Dorsey,  of  Hurricane, 
Putnam  County,  West  Virginia ;  Ambrose ;  Edward,  with  the 
Foster  Sumner  Corporation  at  Radford,  married  Addie  Painter; 
and  Hugo  L.  Wilson.  Hugo  L.  Wilson  is  the  junior  member  of 
the  firm  of  Wilson  Brothers.  He  was  born  in  East  Radford  in 
1898,  graduated  from  high  school  and  was  with  the  colors  three 
years,  going  with  the  First  Virginia  Field  Hospital  Corps,  which 
subsequently  was  made  a  part  of  the  Twenty-ninth  Division.  He 
returned  from  overseas  in  July,  1919,  and  at  that  time  became 
associated  with  his  brother  in  business.  He  is  a  charter  member 
of  Harvey  Howe  Post  of  the  American  Legion  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Ambrose  Wilson  attended  the  grade  and  high  schools  at  Rad- 
ford, leaving  school  to  take  work  as  a  clerk  with  the  Goodykrantz 
Drug  Company.  Later  he  was  with  Scott  Brothers  at  Charles- 
ton, West  Virginia,  for  two  years  with  the  Frederick  Pharmacy 
at  Huntington,  a  year  and  a  half  with  the  Dow  Drug  Company  at 
Cincinnati,  for  two  years  with  the  Van  Lear  Drug  Store  in 
Roanoke,  two  years  with  the  Pearisburg  Pharmacy  and  a  year 
and  a  half  with  the  Gus  Washington  Drug  Store  at  Logan,  West 
Virginia,  and  a  year  with  the  Covington  Pharmacy  at  Covington, 
Virginia. 

In  June,  1916.  he  enlisted  and  was  sent  to  the  Mexican  border 
at  San  Antonio,  Texas.  In  March,  1917,  he  returned  home,  but 
was  almost  immediately  recalled  for  service  in  the  World  war. 
He  was  in  training  at  Camp  McClellan,  Alabama,  until  June, 
1918,  when  he  sailed  for  overseas,  landing  at  Cherbourg,  France, 
as  a  member  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifteenth  Field  Hospital, 
Twenty-ninth  Division.  He  was  in  the  Haute  Alsace  Sector  and 
in  the  Meuse  Argonne  campaigns  and  received  his  honorable  dis- 
charge at  Camp  Meade,  Maryland,  June  19,  1919. 

It  was  shortly  after  his  return  from  overseas  that  he  and 
his  brother  established  the  firm  of  Wilson  Brothers  in  East  Rad- 
ford. Both  of  them  are  very  competent  business  men,  and  have 
given  the  town  a  very  up-to-date  establishment,  affording  a 
splendid  service  and  also  carrying  a  varied  stock  of  goods  that 
makes  their  store  a  very  popular  center  of  trade.  Besides  the 
regular  stock  of  a  drug  store  they  handle  the  Atwater  Kent, 
Fada  and  Kolster  radio  sets  and  equipment,  and  also  phono- 
graphs and  records. 

Mr.  Ambrose  Wilson  took  the  lead  in  organizing  the  Rad- 
ford Kiwanis  Club,  and  was  secretary  and  director  four  years. 
He  is  a  director  and  secretary  of  the  Retail  Merchants  Associa- 
tion, and  in  1926-27  was  on  the  executive  committee  of  the  State 
Department  of  the  American  Legion.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch 
Mason,  member  of  Harvey  Howe  Post  of  the  American  Legion, 
belongs  to  the  Kiwanis  Club,  and  is  a  Democrat  in  politics.  He 
is  a  vestryman  in  the  Radford  Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Wilson  married  at  Winston-Salem,  North  Carolina, 
March  7,  1922,  Miss  Epsie  Celina  Rike,  of  Randleman,  Ran- 
dolph County,  North  Carolina.  She  attended  public  schools  and 
the  North  Carolina  Woman's  College  of  Greensboro.     Mrs.  Wil- 


286  VIRGINIA 

son  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  the  Music  Club  and 
Woman's  Club,  and  the  American  Legion  Auxiliary.  Her  father, 
Samuel  R.  Rike,  has  for  many  years  been  a  leading  farmer  and 
tobacco  grower  in  Randolph  County,  North  Carolina,  where  both 
her  parents  reside. 

John  B.  Spiers  is  an  attorney,  a  World  war  veteran  and 
since  locating  at  Radford  has  accumulated  a  very  satisfactory 
business  and  is  enjoying  a  high  degree  of  prestige  in  his  pro- 
fession and  as  a  public  official. 

He  was  born  at  Newport  News,  Virginia,  June  29,  1897,  son 
of  Louis  H.  and  Nora  (Belcher)  Spiers.  The  Spiers  and  Bel- 
cher families  lived  in  North  Carolina  and  over  the  line  in  South- 
ern Virginia.  His  maternal  grandfather,  John  E.  Belcher,  was 
a  Confederate  soldier.  Louis  H.  Spiers  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  for  many  years  was  a  lumber  inspector,  being  employed 
by  the  Newport  News  Ship  Building  and  Dry  Dock  Company. 
In  1920  he  was  held  up  and  robbed  and  killed  by  a  highwayman. 
His  wife,  Nora  Belcher,  was  born  and  reared  in  Chesterfield 
County,  Virginia,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 
She  died  in  1907.  The  five  childi-en  of  these  parents  were: 
Helena  0.,  wife  of  W.  G.  Avery,  of  Newport  News ;  Anna  P., 
wife  of  Fred  L.  Brucker,  of  Gary,  Indiana ;  John  B. ;  Louis  J., 
of  Greenville,  South  Carolina ;  and  Norma,  wife  of  Ernest  Fisher, 
of  Norfolk,  Virginia. 

John  B.  Spiers  passed  his  boyhood  days  at  Newport  News, 
attended  the  grade  and  high  schools  there  and  eno'aged  in  some 
self-supporting  activities  before  he  entered  the  University  of 
Virginia.  In  October,  1917.  he  resigned  his  position  in  Rich- 
mond to  join  the  colors,  and  wps  trained  nt  Fort  Monroe  with 
the  Sixtieth  Regiment  of  the  Coast  Artillery  Corps.  In  the 
spring  of  1918  he  was  commissioned  a  second  lieutenant,  went 
overseas  with  the  Fifty-fourth  Coast  Artillery  Corps,  and  while 
in  the  Officers  Training  School  at  Saumur,  France,  was  in- 
jured, sustaining  a  broken  foot,  and  during  the  remaining 
month'^  of  the  war  he  was  in  Ba^-e  Ho^-pital  No.  2'7  and  other 
hospitals  in  France  and  finally  was  s-^nt  home  and  given  his 
honovab'e  discharge  at  (^amo  Lee  in  March,  1919.  For  a^^out 
six  months  after  leaving  the  armv  he  was  employed  at  Rich- 
mond and  in  the  fall  of  1919  began  his  studies  at  the  University 
of  Virginia.  He  is  a  member  of  Harvey  Howe  Post  of  the 
American  Legion. 

Mr.  Spiers  graduated  from  the  law  department  of  the  uni- 
vei'sitv  in  1922.  He  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1921  and 
he  first  practiced  at  Lynchburg.  In  March.  1923,  he  re-no^'ed  to 
Radford,  where  he  opened  an  office  and  quickly  made  his  abilities 
recognized  in  his  profession  and  was  accorded  a  larore  general 
practice.  His  law  offices  are  now  in  the  First  National  Bank 
Building.  In  1923  he  was  appointed  commonwealth's  attorney 
of  the  city  of  Radford  and  in  1924  was  elected  to  that  office. 
His  administration  as  commonwealth's  attorney  has  been  one 
highly  satisfactory  to  the  good  people  of  the  county  and  has 
brought  increased  prestige  to  him  both  as  a  lawyer  and  man. 

Mr.  Spiers  is  a  director  of  the  Radford  Veneering  Lumber 
Company,  Inc.,  is  president  of  the  Radford  Kiwanis  Club,  is  a 
member  of  the  Virginia  Bar  Association  and  a  Democrat  in 
politics.  He  is  affiliated  with  Ginter  Park  Lodge,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  at  Richmond,  Virginia;  May  Lodge  of  the  fraternity  at 
Radford,  Chapter  No.  27  of  the  Royal  Arch  Masons,  and  the 


VIRGINIA  287 

Order  of  the  Mystic  Chain,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  He 
belongs  to  the  college  fraternities  Delta  Upsilon  and  Delta  Theta 
Phi.    He  is  a  deacon  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Mr.  Spiers  married  in  Orange  County,  Virginia,  June  7,  1924, 
Miss  Maxine  Graves,  of  Liberty  Mills,  Virginia,  where  she  grew 
up  and  where  she  attended  public  schools  and  later  continued 
her  education  in  the  Episcopal  School  at  Chatham  and  is  a 
graduate  of  West  Hampton  College  of  Richmond  in  the  class  of 
1923.  She  taught  in  the  high  schools  at  Gordonsville,  Virginia, 
and  Danville,  West  Virginia,  before  her  marriage.  Mrs.  Spiers 
is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church,  is  a  member  of  the  Music 
Club  at  Radford  and  belongs  to  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution.  Her  father,  L.  W.  Graves,  was  for  over  four  years 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  representing  Orange  and 
Madison  counties.  He  was  one  of  the  leading  farmers  of  Orange 
County,  was  president  of  the  Gordonsville  National  Bank  and 
president  of  the  Charlottesville  Lumber  Company.  Mrs.  Spiers' 
mother  died  in  1923.  To  the  marriage  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Spiers 
was  born  one  son,  John  B.,  Jr.,  in  1925. 

Col.  Frank  P.  McConnell.  prominent  banker  at  Radford, 
is  a  native  of  Alabama,  son  and  grandson  of  two  distinguished 
citizens  of  that  state,  but  in  his  home  at  Radford  is  closely  asso- 
ciated with  that  section  of  Virginia  where  his  earlier  ancestors 
lived  for  several  generations.  One  of  his  first  ancestors  in  South- 
western Virginia  and  on  the  border  country  in  Eastern  Tennes- 
see was  John  McConnell,  who  married  Martha  Campbell.  Their 
son,  Major  John  P.  McConnell,  was  born  at  Fayetteville,  Tennes- 
see, and  married  Martha  Campbell  Kennedy.  Major  John  P. 
McConnell  was  the  great-grandfather  of  Frank  P.  McConnell  of 
Radford.  Major  John  P.  McConnell's  mother  was  a  sister  of 
General  Lewis  of  Virginia. 

Felix  Grundy  McConnell.  the  grandfather,  was  born  at  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee,  April  1,  1809,  and  moved  to  Talladega  County, 
Alabama,  in  1834.  He  rose  to  prominence  as  a  lawyer,  served 
in  both  Houses  of  the  Alabama  Legislature,  and  in  1843  was 
elected  to  represent  the  Fourth  Alabama  District  in  Congress. 
He  was  reelected  and  died  while  still  a  member  of  Congress  at 
WaFhington,  September  10,  1846.  He  married  in  183.5  Elizabeth 
Jennings  Hogan,  who  was  a  great-granddaughter  of  William 
Jennings,  a  captain  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  Felix  Grundy 
McConnell  had  two  daughters,  Kathleen  and  Olivia,  who  were 
respectively  the  first  and  second  wives  of  Gen.  Charles  M. 
Shel'ey.  a  brigadier  general  in  the  Confederate  army  and  a 
member  of  Congress. 

Col.  William  Kennedy  McConnell,  father  of  Col.  Frank  P. 
McConnell,  was  born  in  Talladega  County,  Alabama,  March  25, 
1841.  He  left  LaGrange  College  to  join  Company  B  of  the 
Sixteenth  Alabama  Infantry  as  a  private,  was  made  color  bearer, 
drill  master,  and  later  transferred  to  the  Thirtieth  Alabama 
Infantry  and  participated  in  a  long  list  of  well  known  battles 
of  the  war  and  became  a  colonel  of  infantry  in  the  Confederate 
service.  After  the  war  he  spent  two  years  in  Mexico,  then 
located  at  Selma,  was  appointed  commandant  of  the  University 
of  Alabama,  for  seven  years  was  tax  collector  of  Dallas  County, 
and  in  1884  became  agent  for  what  is  now  a  branch  of  the 
Southern  Railway  Company  at  Talladega  and  served  in  that 
capacity  until  his  death,  January  16,  1891.  He  married.  May  7, 
1868,  Martha  Ellen  Smith,  of  Columbia,   Tennessee,  who  was 


288  VIRGINIA 

educated  in  the  Columbia  Female  College,  graduating  with  high 
honors  in  1867.  She  died  January  25,  1914.  She  possessed  a 
decided  literary  talent  and  contributed  a  number  of  short  stories 
and  other  articles  to  magazines.  She  was  active  in  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South,  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Con- 
federacy and  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution.  Of  her 
children  the  oldest  is  Felix  G.  McConnell,  of  Oklahoma  City,  and 
Col.  Frank  P.  is  the  second  son.  William  K.,  Jr.,  died  in  infancy. 
Dr.  Ray  M.  McConnell  became  a  noted  scholar,  a  graduate  of 
Southern  University  of  Greensboro,  Alabama,  of  Vanderbilt 
University  of  Tennessee,  and  the  University  of  Chicago,  took  his 
Master  and  Doctor  of  Philosophy  degrees  at  Harvard  University, 
and  won  a  traveling  fellowship  at  Heidelberg,  Leipsic  and  Bonn, 
Germany,  and  at  the  University  of  Paris,  Paris,  France.  He 
traveled  extensively  abroad  and  was  professor  of  philosophy  in 
Harvard  University  when  he  died  in  June,  1911,  being  buried  in 
the  Professors  Plat  in  Mt.  Auburn  Cemetery  at  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts.  The  daughter  Lena  married  Capt.  Clifton  L. 
Sitton,  a  captain  in  the  Spanish-American  war,  who  died  about 
1900,  and  she  is  now  engaged  in  missionary  work  as  matron  of 
the  Methodist  Orphanage  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina. 

Col.  Frank  P.  McConnell  was  born  at  Union  City,  Tennessee, 
July  1,  1870.  He  attended  public  and  private  schools  at  Selma 
and  Talladega,  graduated  in  1890  from  the  Alabama  Polytechnic 
Institute  at  Auburn,  and  later  attended  the  Law  School  at  the 
University  of  Richmond.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  became  asso- 
ciated with  his  uncle,  Houston  Isbell,  in  the  Isbell  National  Bank, 
and  he  was  cashier  of  that  institution  in  1908,  when  he  married. 
For  several  years  he  was  actively  associated  with  a  group  of 
banking  interests  in  Oklahoma  and  Arkansas,  and  still  has 
large  holdings  in  the  banks  of  those  states.  In  1911  Colonel 
McConnell  removed  to  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  became  presi- 
dent of  the  Manchester  National  Bank,  president  of  the  South 
Richmond  Bank  and  vice  president  of  the  Bank  of  Commerce  and 
Trust.  In  1920  he  took  up  with  the  State  Banking  Depart- 
ment as  state  bank  examiner,  but  in  1922  resigned  to  become 
associated  in  the  organization  of  the  Peoples  Bank  of  Radford, 
of  which  institution  he  has  since  been  president  and  cashier  and 
a  director.  A  number  of  prominent  Virginia  men  are  associated 
with  this  bank,  including  Hon.  Hal  C.  Tyler  as  vice  president, 
Judge  R.  L.  Gardner,  vice  president,  and  another  vice  president 
is  Harry  S.  Walker.  Colonel  McConnell  is  a  director  in  the  Rad- 
ford Real  Estate  and  Insurance  Corporation. 

He  derived  his  military  title  from  his  service  of  four  years 
as  colonel  in  command  of  the  Third  Regiment  of  the  Alabama 
National  Guard.  Colonel  McConnell  is  a  Royal  Arch  and  Knight 
Templar  and  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  member 
of  Acca  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Richmond,  is  a  past 
exalted  ruler  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  member  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  for  fifteen  years  was  grand  purser 
of  the  Kapna  Alpha  Fraternity.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  Club  of  New  York.  He  is  a  Democrat  and  an  elder  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Radford. 

One  of  the  interesting  news  dispatches  published  in  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  newspapers,  in  the  fall  of  1908,  may  be  quoted 
as  the  introduction  to  Colonel  McConnell's  family  life:  "Cul- 
minating a  romance  which  had  its  origin  at  Virginia's  executive 
mansion  years  ago  will  be  the  wedding  of  Miss  Belle  Norwood 
Tyler,  daughter  of  ex-Governor  and  Mrs.  J.  Hoge  Tyler,  to  Col. 


VIRGINIA  289 

Frank  P.  McConnell  of  Talladega,  Alabama,  at  the  Tyler  home 
in  East  Radford,  on  November  16,  1908.  The  happy  romance 
had  its  origin  at  a  notable  gathering  of  distinguished  members 
of  the  Kappa  Alpha  fraternity  in  the  executive  mansion  in  1901. 
The  social  affair  was  a  reception  given  at  the  mansion  to  the 
Kappa  Alpha  convention  and  the  naval  hero,  Capt.  Richmond 
Pearson  Hobson,  by  the  Governor  and  his  wife.  The  bride-to-be 
is  one  of  the  most  prominent  young  ladies  of  Virginia  society. 
She  is  a  fine  type  of  that  queenly  beauty  which  made  Virginia 
famous." 

Mrs.  McCcnnell  as  a  girl  lived  at  Governor  Tyler's  country 
home.  Belle  Hampton,  and  was  educated  by  private  tutors  and 
governesses  at  Radford.  She  is  an  active  member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  and  is  well  known  in  social  circles  in  South- 
west Virginia.  She  is  a  member  of  the  United  Daughters  of 
the  Confederacy  and  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 
Colonel  and  Mrs.  McConnell  have  one  son,  J.  Hoge  Tyler  Mc- 
Ccnnell, now  attending  the  Radford  High  School. 

Daniel  Cox  Sands,  president  of  the  Middleburg  National 
Bank  at  Middleburg,  Loudoun  County,  is  not  only  one  of  the 
substantial  capitalists  and  loyal  and  progressive  citizens  of  the 
historic  Old  Dominion,  but  is  also  doing  a  splendid  service  in 
maintaining  Virginia's  prestige  in  the  breeding  and  exploiting 
of  fine  track  horses.  He  has  in  this  section  of  Virginia  a  splendid 
landed  estate  of  3,000  acres,  given  over  primarily  to  the  raising 
of  thoroughbred  horses  and  fine  Guernsey  cattle. 

Mr.  Sands  was  born  in  New  York  City,  in  November,  1875, 
and  is  a  son  of  Daniel  C.  and  Martha  (Titus)  Sands,  both  like- 
wise natives  of  the  old  Empire  State  of  the  Union.  Daniel  C. 
Sands  became  a  successful  manufactui'er  of  woolen  goods,  but 
lived  virtually  retired  for  many  years  prior  to  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  March,  1917.  his  widow  having  passed  awav  in 
February,  1923. 

I'he  public  schools  of  New  York  City  afforded  Daniel  C. 
Sands  his  early  education,  which  was  there  supplemented  by 
his  attendin-:;:  Columbia  University.  After  leaving  the  univer- 
sity he  gave  two  years  of  service  as  a  civil  engineer  and  he 
then  turned  his  attention  to  farm  industry  and  incidentally 
initiated  his  activities  in  the  raising  of  turf  horses  of  the  best 
type.  In  March,  1908,  Mr.  Sands  established  his  residence  in 
Loudoun  County,  Virginia,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  give 
supervision  to  his  valuable  landed  estate,  which  he  has  made 
one  of  the  finest  of  American  stock  farms,  and  his  civic  loyalty 
was  further  shown  when  he  became,  in  1924,  one  of  the  organ- 
iz?rs  and  incorporators  of  the  Middleburg  National  Bank,  of 
which  he  has  since  continued  the  president.  He  is  likewise 
president  of  the  Goose  Creek  Lime  Grinding  Works,  and  his 
influence  and  tangible  aid  are  always  to  be  counted  upon  in  the 
furtherance  of  measures  and  enterprises  tending  to  advance 
th?'  communal  welfare.  Mr.  Sands  is  an  enthusiast  in  hunting 
and  also  in  the  game  of  polo,  and  at  the  time  of  this  writing,  in 
1928,  he  is  the  popular  master  of  the  Middleburg  Hunt  Club. 
In  New  York  City  he  has  membership  in  the  Union  League  Club 
and  the  Riding  Club,  besides  being  an  influential  member  of  the 
Turf  and  Field  Club.  In  his  home  community  in  Loudoun 
County  he  is  a  popular  figure  in  both  business  and  social  circles, 
and  at  Warrenton,  Fauquier  County,  he  has  membership  in  the 
Country   Club  and  the  Fauquier  Country  Club.     His  political 


290  VIRGINIA 

allegiance  is  given  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  though  he  is  a 
birthright  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  he  attends  and 
supports  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  his  home  town  of 
Middleburg,  his  wife  being  an  active  communicant  of  this  parish. 
In  the  World  war  period  Mr.  Sands  was  a  zealous  worker  in 
behalf  of  patriotic  activities  and  served  as  chairman  of  the 
various  committees  in  charge  of  war  work  in  Loudoun  County. 

Mr.  Sands  is  a  prominent  figure  in  leading  turf  circles  and 
has  exploited  many  of  his  fine  horses  on  the  American  turf.  He 
is  the  owner  of  "Playfellow,"  who  has  made  a  splendid  track 
record,  and  is  associated  with  Admiral  Grayson,  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  in  the  ownership  of  "My  Own,"  another  famous 
race  horse.  On  his  Loudoun  County  estate  he  has  a  stable  of 
twenty  selected  brood  mares  of  the  best  lineage  and  type,  and 
maintains  also  a  herd  of  purebred  Guernsey  cattle,  representa- 
tives of  which  have  been  prize  winners  at  local  stock  shows. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sands  maintain  their  residence  on  their  ideal 
rural  estate  four  miles  north  of  Middleburg,  and  the  beautiful 
home  is  known  for  its  gracious  hospitality. 

In  October,  1908,  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Sands 
and  Miss  Edith  M.  Kennedy,  daughter  of  the  late  David  Ken- 
nedy, who  was  born  in  England  and  whose  wife  was  born  in  the 
State  of  New  York.  David  Kennedy  was  a  successful  contractor 
and  builder,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  were  residents  of  New 
York  City  at  the  time  of  their  death.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sands  have 
no  children. 

John  Jacob  Giesen,  physician  and  surgeon,  in  the  Hopkins 
Building  at  East  Radford,  is  a  native  of  Southwest  Virginia, 
and  is  a  man  of  splendid  equipment  for  his  profession.  He  com- 
pleted his  medical  course  just  in  time  to  go  into  training  and 
service  with  the  Government  during  the  World  war. 

Doctor  Giesen  was  born  at  Roanoke,  Virginia,  October  26, 
1891,  son  of  Anthony  and  Emilia  (Rossa)  Giesen.  His  father 
was  born  and  reared  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  attended  public 
schools  there  and  from  early  manhood  worked  in  and  followed 
the  business  of  ice  manufacturing.  About  1890  he  became 
interested  in  an  ice  plant  at  Roanoke  and  in  1900  moved  to  Rad- 
ford, where  he  established  the  Radford  Ice  Corporation  and 
was  active  head  until  1928,  when  he  sold  the  plant  to  the  Cen- 
tral Atlantic  States  Service  Corporation.  He  has  not  entirely 
retired  from  business,  being  associated  with  his  sons  in  the 
automobile  business  at  Radford.  He  is  an  active  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church,  and  his  wife  was  also  identified  with  that 
church.  She  was  born  in  Germany  and  attended  school  there, 
and  came  to  this  country  with  her  parents,  who  located  at  Balti- 
more, where  she  finished  her  education.  She  died  in  1926.  Of 
their  eight  children  one  died  in  infancy,  and  the  others  are: 
Dr.  John  T. ;  W.  L.  A.  Giesen,  of  Radford ;  Catherine,  wife  of 
H.  H.  Lowman,  of  Radford ;  Dr.  Andrew  F.,  now  practicing 
medicine  at  Konowa,  Oklahoma ;  Anthony  Jr.,  of  Radford ; 
Arthur  R.,  of  Radford;  and  Virginia,  wife  of  J.  L.  Sharp,  of 
Pottsville,  Pennsylvania. 

John  Jacob  Giesen  attended  public  schools  at  Roanoke  and 
also  at  Radford,  took  his  preparatory  course  at  St.  Albans 
Academy  and  was  also  in  the  National  Business  College  at  Roan- 
oke. In  1913  he  received  the  A.  B.  degree  from  Roanoke  College 
of  Salem  and  followed  that  with  his  professional  studies  in  the 
University  of  Maryland  at  Baltimore.    The  university  conferred 


VIRGINIA  291 

upon  him  the  M.  D.  degree  in  1918.  In  the  meantime  he  had 
enlisted  with  the  115th  Field  Hospital,  Twenty-ninth  Division, 
and  was  in  training  at  Fort  Oglethorpe,  Georgia,  and  at  Camp 
McClellan,  Alabama.  On  July  1,  1918,  he  was  commisioned  a 
first  lieutenant  in  the  Medical  Corps,  was  assigned  duty  with 
the  Maryland  General  Hospital  and  remained  there  until  Janu- 
ary 1,  1919. 

After  leaving  the  service  of  the  Government  Doctor  Giesen 
became  a  member  of  the  staff  of  the  St.  Albans  Sanatorium  at 
Radford,  and  his  work  was  with  that  institution  from  June  1, 
1919,  until  April  1,  1925.  For  two  years  his  health  was  such 
that  he  retired  from  the  active  work  of  his  profession,  and  on 
June  1,  1927,  opened  his  private  offices  in  the  Hopkins  Building 
at  East  Radford,  and  a  large  volume  of  practice  has  come  to 
him. 

Doctor  Giesen  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Chapter  of  the 
medical  fraternity  Chi  Zeta  Chi,  is  a  member  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  Virginia,  the  Southwest  Virginia,  Southern  and  Amer- 
ican Associations.  He  is  a  past  secretary  and  now  president  of 
the  Rotary  Club,  is  an  Independent  Republican,  and  is  president 
of  the  council  of  the  Lutheran  Church  at  Radford.  He  is  also 
affiliated  with  Virginia  May  Lodge  No.  38,  A.  F.  and  A.  M., 
and  a  lodge  of  Elks  at  Baltimore. 

Doctor  Gie=;en  married  at  Elkton,  Maryland,  May  5,  1919, 
Miss  Goldie  Mae  Miles,  of  Mathews  County,  Virginia,  where 
she  grew  up  and  attended  school.  She  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Nurses  Training  School  at  the  Maryland  General  Hospital.  Mrs. 
Giesen  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
Her  father,  James  A.  Miles,  was  for  many  years  active  in  the  fish 
and  oyster  business  in  Mathews  and  Westmoreland  counties, 
and  is  now  retired  at  Mathews  Court  House.  Her  mother  died 
about  1903.  The  three  children  of  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Giesen  are 
Jane  Miles,  Ann  Elizabeth  and  John  Williams,  Jane  being  a 
student  in  the  grade  schools  of  Radford.  Doctor  Giesen  is  the 
present  commander  of  Harvey  Howe  Post  No.  30  of  the  Amer- 
ican Legion. 

Frank  Y.  Caldwell,  city  treasurer  of  Radford,  was  born 
in  that  city,  where  he  is  a  member  of  a  family  that  has  been 
long  and  prominently  identified  with  business  and  public  affairs. 
In  his  official  career  he  continues  the  traditions  of  public  service 
set  by  his  father. 

His  father  is  Milton  M.  Caldwell,  now  retired,  who  was  born 
in  Craig  County,  Virginia,  attended  public  schools  and  the  Vir- 
ginia Polytechnic  Institute  at  Blacksburg,  and  in  early  years 
was  a  merchant  at  Radford.  For  seventeen  years  he  held  the 
office  and  performed  the  duties  of  clerk  of  courts  and  for  twelve 
years  was  city  treasurer.  He  has  lived  retired  since  1921.  His 
father,  George  C.  Caldwell,  served  in  the  Confederate  army  four 
years.  Milton  M.  Caldwell  married  Carrie  Yingling,  who  was 
born  and  reared  at  Radford,  attended  school  there,  and  was  al- 
ways a  devoted  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  She  died  October  24,  1926,  and  is  buried  in  the  East 
Radford  Cemetery.  Her  parents  were  George  W.  and  Sallie 
(Cofer)  Yingling.  George  W.  Yingling  for  many  years  was 
employed  as  a  machinist  with  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad. 
Milton  M.  Caldwell  and  wife  had  five  children :  Frank  Y. ;  Paul 
R.,  a  Norfolk  &  Western  Railway  employe  at  Bluefield,  West 
Virginia ;   Miss   S.   Lorena,   a  teacher   at   Radford ;   Katherine, 


292  VIRGINIA 

widow  of  T.  W.  Lawford,  and  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools 
of  Radford ;  and  Wilda  May,  who  died  in  infancy. 

Frank  Y.  Caldwell  was  born  at  Radford  February  23,  1895, 
and  was  educated  in  the  errade  and  high  schools,  graduating  from 
high  school  in  1914.  That  was  followed  by  four  years  at  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  where  he  was  a  member  of  the  class 
of  1918,  but  on  June  12,  1917,  he  answered  the  call  to  the  colors 
and  went  for  training  to  Fort  Myer,  Virginia,  for  two  months, 
and  on  August  15,  1917,  was  commissioned  a  second  lieutenant 
and  transferred  to  Camp  Lee.  He  remained  there  until  May 
25,  1918,  when  he  went  overseas  with  the  317th  Infantry, 
Eightieth  Division,  in  Company  F.  He  was  put  with  the  British 
and  French  troops  south  of  Calais,  France,  until  August  8, 
1918,  when  he  was  returned  home  and  given  duties  in  the  train- 
ing camp  at  Greenville,  South  Carolina,  and  Charlotte,  North 
Carolina,  and  received  his  honorable  discharge  at  Camp  Greene 
at  Charlotte  on  March  15,  1919. 

Mr.  Caldwell  after  his  return  home  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business  in  April,  1920,  and  on  January  1,  1922,  began  his  term 
of  service  as  city  treasurer  of  Radford.  He  was  reelected  to 
this  office  in  1925.  Mr.  Caldwell  is  a  Democrat,  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  the  Kiwanis  Club,  and  is 
affiliated  with  Virginia  May  Lodge  No.  38,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  East 
Radford  Chapter  No  27,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  and  Harvey  Howe 
Post  No.  30  of  the  American  Legion. 

He  married  at  Belspring,  Virginia,  January  9,  1926,  Miss 
Pauline  Perfater,  who  attended  public  school  there  and  is  a 
graduate  of  the  Radford  State  Teachers  College  with  the  class 
of  1921.  Prior  to  her  marriage  she  taught  in  schools  at  Ports- 
mouth, Virginia,  and  in  Pulaski  County.  Mrs.  Caldwell  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  the  Amer- 
ican Legion  Auxiliary,  and  takes  a  helpful  part  in  the  life  of 
her  community.  She  is  a  daughter  of  A.  T.  and  Dora  (Sifford) 
Perfater.  Her  parents  reside  at  East  Radford,  her  father  for 
many  years  having  been  a  locomotive  engineer  with  the  Nor- 
folk &  Western  Railway.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Caldwell  have  one  son, 
Frank  Y.,  Jr.,  born  May  3,  1928. 

James  A.  Painter  is  a  native  of  Southwest  Virginia,  and 
has  given  the  years  of  his  manhood  to  merchandising,  the  real 
estate  business,  and  in  later  years  to  his  duties  as  clerk  of  the 
Corporation  Court  of  the  city  of  Radford,  where  he  and  his 
family  reside. 

He  was  born  in  Wythe  County,  Virginia,  August  23,  1875, 
son  of  James  Bell  and  Sallie  (Gillespie)  Painter,  and  grandson 
of  Isaac  Painter,  who  was  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  in  Wji:he 
County.  James  Bell  Painter  grew  up  in  Wythe  County,  served 
four  years  as  a  Confederate  soldier,  taking  part  in  many  of  the 
great  battles  of  the  war,  part  of  the  time  as  a  member  of  the 
Stonewall  Jackson  Brigade.  After  the  war  he  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  stock  raising,  and  finally  sold  his  property  in  Wythe 
County  and  moved  to  a  farm  in  Tazewell  County,  where  he  lived 
until  his  death.  His  first  wife,  Sallie  Gillespie,  was  born  and 
reared  in  Tazewell  County,  daughter  of  Reese  Gillespie,  who  for 
many  years  was  clerk  of  the  County  Court  there.  .Mrs.  Sallie 
Painter  attended  public  schools  and  private  schools  in  Tazewell 
County,  and  was  always  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  She  died  in  1880.  The  second  wife  of  James  Bell 
Painter  was  Mary  Jane  Davis,  of  Rural  Retreat,  Virginia.  There 


VIRGINIA  293 

were  six  children  by  each  marriage,  those  of  the  first  union  be- 
ing: Warren  G.,  of  Harrisonburg,  Virginia;  Jesse  H.,  of  Dallas, 
Texas ;  Lina  Belle,  who  married  Sidney  Brown  and  is  deceased ; 
Temple  E.,  of  Hopewell,  Virginia;  James  A.,  of  Radford,  Vir- 
ginia, and  Charles  S.,  of  Kingsport.  Tennessee.  The  children  of 
the  second  marriage  were :  Ida,  wife  of  Tyler  Witten,  of  Pearis- 
burg;  William  L..  of  Tazewell;  Francis  Neal,  of  Bristol,  Vir- 
ginia :  Gary,  of  Bluefield,  Virginia ;  Mrs.  Lillian  Brown,  de- 
ceased ;  and  George  Whitefield.  of  Pearisburg. 

James  A.  Painter  grew  up  in  Tazewell  County  on  his  father's 
fai-m  and  had  the  advantages  of  public  schools  there.  His  first 
work  after  leaving  school  was  clerking  in  a  store  at  Tazewell 
for  the  firm  of  Britten  and  Greaver.  This  experience  and  that 
of  five  or  six  years  with  W.  W.  Jeter,  of  Pocahontas,  Virginia, 
gave  him  a  fundamental  knowledge  of  business,  and  he  then 
embarked  his  experience  and  capital  in  a  general  store  at  Nar- 
rows, Virginia,  and  was  a  merchant  in  that  town  for  ten  years. 
After  selling  his  business  he  removed  to  Newport  News,  lived 
there  about  six  years  and  was  in  the  furniture  business.  On 
selling  out  he  returned  to  Southwest  Virginia  and  located  at 
Radford  in  1906,  and  for  four  years  was  a  furniture  merchant, 
and  since  then  has  conducted  a  real  estate  business,  chiefly 
operating  with  his  own  properties.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
Peonies  Bank  of  Radford. 

Mr.  Painter  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  Corporation  Court 
of  Radford  on  January  31,  1910,  and  has  performed  the  duties 
of  that  position  consecutively  for  nineteen  years,  having  been 
three  times  elected  without  opposition.  Mr.  Painter  is  a  past 
master  of  Glencoe  Lodge  No.  148,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  member  of 
Royal  Arch  Chapter  No.  27  at  Radford,  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America  and  the  Order 
of  the  Mystic  Chain.     He  is  a  Democrat  and  a  Presbyterian. 

He  married  in  Giles  County,  Virginia,  December  2,  1893, 
Carrie  Morrison  Priddy.  She  attended  school  at  Narrows.  She 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  South,  the 
United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution,  her  ancestors  having  been  in  Virginia 
since  Colonial  times.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Frank  Nelson  and 
Melvina  (Stanley)  Priddy.  Her  mother's  people  as  well  as  her 
father's  were  Colonial  Virginians.  Her  father  spent  most  of 
his  life  as  a  merchant  at  Narrows  and  was  a  soldier  of  the 
Confederacy.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Painter  had  a  family  of  eight 
children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Eileen  A.,  who  was 
educated  in  the  Radford  High  School,  is  the  wife  of  B.  C. 
Addington,  a  commercial  traveler  living  at  Bluefield,  West  Vir- 
ginia. James  Frank  Painter  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  Radford,  in  1917  enlisted  in  the  navy,  and  was  in  training 
at  the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard  until  honorably  discharged  because 
of  disability  in  1918,  and  has  been  more  or  less  an  invalid  ever 
since,  though  for  four  years  he  carried  on  an  insurance  busi- 
ness and  was  deputv  clerk  under  his  father  until  1925.  He 
married  Catherine  DuBay,  of  Mount  Clemens,  Michigan,  and 
they  have  two  children,  Jane  Morrison,  born  in  1925.  and  James 
F.,  born  in  1927.  Miss  Mary  Belle  Painter  graduated  in  1928 
from  the  Radford  High  School.  Miss  Virginia  Wilson  finished 
high  school  work  in  1927,  Miss  Evelyn  Elizabeth  was  a  member 
of  the  high  school  class  of  1929,  and  the  youngest  of  the  family, 
Thomas  Wesley,  is  still  in  high  school. 


294  VIRGINIA 

Leo  S.  Howard,  city  judge  of  East  Radford,  is  representative 
of  the  younger  group  of  attorneys  and  citizens  of  Southwest 
Virginia,  and  his  career  so  far  has  been  in  line  with  the  many 
distinguished  attainments  of  the  Howard  family  running  back 
through  the  various  generations. 

This  is  a  family  connection  equally  well  known  in  England 
,and  America.  The  Howards  of  Virginia  were  a  branch  of  a 
very  wealthy  family  of  England,  and  the  Virginia  descendants 
today  are  among  the  claimants  to  a  great  estate  which  for  many 
years  has  been  a  subject  of  prolonged  chancery  adjudication, 
and  in  the  meantime  is  held  in  trust  by  the  Bank  of  England. 
The  founder  of  the  Howard  family  in  Montgomery  County,  Vir- 
ginia, was  a  Presbyterian  minister  who  came  from  England. 
At  one  time  the  sum  of  25,000  pounds,  English  money,  was  sent 
to  New  York  for  the  Virginia  relatives,  and  a  son  of  the  Presby- 
terian minister  rode  all  the  way  on  horseback  to  that  city  for 
the  money,  but  so  much  time  had  been  consumed  in  prepara- 
tions for  the  journey  and  the  journey  itself  that  the  money  had 
in  the  meantime  been  sent  back  to  England. 

Judge  Howard's  grandfather,  William  Howard,  was  a  mer- 
chant, farmer  and  stock  raiser  in  Pittsylvania  and  Floyd  coun- 
ties, and  he  and  his  wife  are  buried  in  the  Floyd  Court  House 
Cemetery. 

Leo  S.  Howard  was  born  at  Floyd  Court  House,  September 
23,  1901,  son  of  B.  G.  and  Katherine  (Sutherland)  Howard. 
His  father  was  born  and  grew  up  in  Floyd  County,  attending 
public  schools  and  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  and  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  bar  for 
thirty-five  years,  practiced  at  Floyd  Court  House,  at  Stewart  and 
Hillsville,  Virginia,  and  has  had  business  in  all  the  courts.  For 
a  number  of  years  he  has  been  president  of  the  Peoples  Bank 
of  Floyd  County,  and  has  done  a  great  deal  in  promoting  good 
road  building  in  that  county.  He  and  his  family  reside  at 
Floyd  Court  House.  He  is  owner  of  two  farms,  one  comprising 
250  acres  near  the  Court  House  and  partly  within  the  corpora- 
tion limits,  and  another  of  250  acres  of  blue  grass  grazing  land 
on  the  top  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  His  wife,  Katherine 
Sutherland,  is  a  daughter  of  Capt.  W.  H.  Sutherland,  who  was 
an  officer  in  the  Confederate  army  and  served  for  thirty-six 
years  as  clerk  of  Carroll  County.  Mrs.  Katherine  Howard  at- 
tended public  schools  in  Carroll  County  and  a  girls'  school  at 
Wjd;heville.  She  is  a  member  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the 
Confederacy  and  is  active  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  There  are  two  sons  in  the  family,  B.  G.  Howard,  Jr., 
and  Leo  S.,  both  of  whom  have  followed  the  law  as  a  profes- 
sion. B.  G.,  Jr.,  was  educated  in  the  Virginia  Polytechnic 
Institute  and  Washington  and  Lee  University,  is  associated  in 
practice  with  his  father,  married  Miss  Alice  K.  Smith,  of  Floyd 
Court  House,  and  has  two  children,  Katherine  and  William 
Joseph. 

Leo  S.  Howard  graduated  in  1919  from  the  high  school  at 
Floyd  Court  House,  but  from  August,  1918,  had  been  with  the 
Students  Army  Training  Corps  at  the  Virginia  Polytechnic 
Institute  until  the  armistice.  For  two  and  a  half  years  he  was 
a  student  in  Roanoke  College,  took  the  three  years  law  course 
at  Washington  and  Lee  University,  graduating  in  1925,  but  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  December,  1923.  Mr.  Howard  has  been 
in  practice  at  East  Radford  since  February,  1926,  associated 
with  the  well  known  attorney  Hal  C.  Tyler,  a  son  of  the  late 


<^  <^-  G^A  (^"^T^ 


VIRGINIA  295 

Governor  Tyler.  Mr.  Hov/ard  in  October,  1928,  was  appointed 
city  iud^e,  and  gives  most  of  his  time  to  hi.s  Judicial  functions. 
He  is  a  member  of  Floyd  Lodge  No.  329,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  is  a 
m.ember  of  the  Knights  of  the  Mystic  Chain,  the  Rotary  Club, 
is  a  Democrat  and  a  Presbyterian. 

He  married  at  Christiansburg,  Virginia,  January  14,  1929, 
Jliss  Evelyn  Gerald.  Mrs.  Howard  graduated  from  the  Chris- 
tiansburg High  School,  and  afterwards  attended  the  Marion 
Female  College,  the  Lynchburg  College,  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia and  the  Radford  State  Teachers  College,  and  was  a  teacher 
for  about  a  year  before  her  marriage.  She  is  active  in  the 
Christian  Church.  Her  parents  are  Walter  Crockett  and  Mary 
(Hawley)  Gerald.  Her  father  is  one  of  the  leading  farmers  and 
stock  men  at  Christiansburg. 

Oliver  Allison  Ryder,  physician  and  surgeon  at  115  South 
Columbus  Street,  Alexandria,  located  in  that  city  for  private 
practice  shortly  after  the  close  of  his  military  service  as  a  medi- 
cal officer  during  the  World  war. 

Doctor  Ryder  is  a  descendant  of  Isaac  Ryder,  who  was  given 
a  grant  of  land  from  the  King  of  England  in  Orange  County, 
New  York.  His  descendant,  Oliver  Ryder,  was  born  in  Rock- 
land County,  New  York,  in  1827,  was  a  successful  building  con- 
tractor, and  died  in  1917.  He  married  a  Miss  Van  Voort,  of 
Holland  Dutch  ancestry.  Their  son.  Rev.  Oliver  Ryder,  v/as 
born  at  Fort  Montgomery,  New  York,  May  5,  1860,  and  on 
account  of  his  health  when  a  boy  was  sent  to  Yadkin  College  in 
Yadkin,  Noi'th  Carolina,  where  he  graduated.  He  became  a 
minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  holding 
pastorates  in  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  and  died  at  Norfolk 
May  21,  1912.  He  married  Martha  Allison  Russell,  who  was 
born  in  Union  County,  North  Carolina,  January  26,  1864. 

Oliver  Allison  Ryder,  one  of  a  family  of  three  sons,  was 
born  at  Siler  City,  Chatham  County,  North  Carolina,  September 
3,  1887.  He  was  educated  in  private  schools,  graduated  from 
the  Richmond  High  School  in  1906,  was  clerk  in  the  Richmond 
office  of  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway  for  three  years,  for 
two  years  attended  the  University  of  Richmond,  and  in  191. '3 
took  his  M.  D.  degree  from  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia. 
He  had  his  interneship  in  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway  Hos- 
pital at  Huntington,  West  Virginia,  and  in  1914  located  for  prac- 
tice at  Cambria,  Virginia. 

Soon  after  America  declared  war  on  Germany  he  ^v'as  com- 
missioned a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Army  Medical  Corpd,  was 
called  to  active  duty  September  20,  1917,  and  for  six  months 
was  in  the  Lhiited  States  Army  X-ray  School  at  Richmond,  one 
month  in  the  Officers'  Training  School  at  Fort  Oglethorpe,  two 
months  at  Camp  Forest,  Georgia,  and  one  month  near  Allen- 
town,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  himself  in  a  hospital  for  two 
months  recovering  from  appendicitis,  and  was  then  put  in 
charge  of  the  X-ray  Department  of  the  Attending  Surgeons' 
Office  at  Washington.  On  May  1,  1919,  he  was  commissioned 
a  captain. 

After  leaving  the  army  Doctor  Ryder  did  work  in  the  New 
York  Children's  Hospital,  and  during  the  summer  of  1919  was 
in  the  New  York  Post  Graduate  School  specializing  in  children's 
diseases  and  X-ray  work.  In  his  general  practice  at  Alexandria 
since  October,  1920,  Doctor  Ryder  has  given  the  community 
the  benefit  of  his  unusual  training  and  early  experience.     He  is 


296  VIRGINIA 

a  member  of  the  American  X-Ray  Society,  Medical  Society  of 
"Virginia,  Northern  Virginia  and  District  of  Columbia,  and 
Alexandria  Medical  Societies,  and  the  Southern  and  American 
Medical  Associations. 

Doctor  Ryder  is  a  member  of  Andrew  Jackson  Lodge  No. 
20,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Mount  Vernon  Chapter  No.  14,  Royal 
Arch  Masons,  Virginia  Consistory  No.  2  of  the  Scottish  Rite  at 
Alexandria,  and  is  also  a  Shriner.  He  has  affiliations  with  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Knights  of  Pythias,  B.  P.  O. 
Elks,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America  and  Woodmen  of  the  World. 

He  married  at  Portsmouth,  Virginia,  October  8,  1921,  Miss 
Anne  Elizabeth  Potts,  daughter  of  Rev.  Reginald  H.  and  Anne 
(Moore)  Potts.  Her  father  was  at  one  time  pastor  of  the  Monu- 
mental Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  at  Lynchburg.  Mrs. 
Ryder  was  a  graduate  of  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  of 
Lynchburg.  She  died  at  Alexandria  April  14,  1927.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ryder  had  two  children,  Oliver  Allison  Ryder  IV,  born 
December  12,  1922,  and  Oscar  Potts  Ryder,  born  June  18,  1925. 

Roy  Watson  Arthuk,  city  manager  of  Radford,  came  to  his 
present  position  after  a  long  and  varied  experience  with  some 
of  the  great  industrial  organizations  operating  in  Virginia.  He 
possesses  a  great  knowledge  of  technical  details,  has  an  able 
executive  record,  and  has  done  a  great  deal  of  valuable  work 
for  the  community  of  Radford. 

Mr.  Arthur  was  born  at  Motleys  in  Pittsylvania  County, 
Virginia,  November  6,  1878,  son  of  William  C.  and  Theresa  Wat- 
son (Laughon)  Arthur.  The  Arthur  family  came  from  England 
about  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  William  C.  Arthur  was  born 
and  reared  in  Bedford  County,  attended  private  and  public 
schools  there,  and  was  a  Confederate  soldier  in  the  war  between 
the  states.  For  many  years  he  was  an  employe  of  the  Southern 
Railwav  Company,  both  in  construction  work  and  in  train  opera- 
tion. He  died  in  January,  1925,  and  is  buried  at  Lynchs  Station. 
His  wife,  who  died  in  August,  1926,  and  is  buried  in  the  same 
place,  was  born  and  reared  in  Campbell  County,  near  what  is 
known  as  Lynchs  Station.  Both  she  and  her  husband  were 
active  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
The  Laughon  family  has  been  in  Virginia  for  a  number  of 
generations  and  some  of  her  ancestors  were  in  the  Revolution. 
Her  father  was  John  Edward  Laughon.  William  C.  Arthur 
and  wife  had  a  family  of  seven  children :  Ernest  L.,  deceased ; 
William  K.,  deceased;  James  S. ;  Lillian,  who  died  in  infancy; 
Roy  W. ;  Esther  B. ;  and  Lizzie  M. 

Roy  Watson  Arthur  acquired  his  early  education  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Campbell  County,  attended  the  Piedmont  Business 
College  at  Lynchburg  and  the  University  College  of  Medicine 
at  Richmond  for  two  and  a  half  years.  Ill  health  caused  him  to 
leave  medical  school  and  give  up  the  training  for  a  professional 
career.  Soon  afterward  he  found  the  opening  opportunity  that 
brought  him  many  successive  relationships  with  the  great  min- 
ing and  industrial  organizations  of  the  state.  For  three  years 
he  was  employed  as  cashier  of  the  Cranes  Nest  Coal  &  Coke  Com- 
pany at  Toms  Creek.  From  1906  to  1914  he  was  with  the  Lane 
Brothers  Company,  contractors  of  Alta  Vista  and  their  subsidi- 
aries companies,  part  of  the  time  in  clerical  duties,  later  in 
charge  of  operations.  He  left  that  to  go  with  the  Boyd-Smith 
Mines,  Incorporated,  at  Mineral,  Virginia,  and  when  these  prop- 
erties were  sold  to  the  Dupont  Company  Mr.  Arthur  remained 


VIRGINIA  297 

and  eventually  was  made  superintendent  of  operations,  serving 
in  that  capacity  until  1919,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the  Du- 
pont  plant  at  Hopewell.  Virginia,  becoming  assistant  power 
supervisor  and  later  shipping  supervisor  during  the  dismantling 
of  the  plant.  He  was  at  Hopewell  until  1922  and  for  two  years 
remained  there  with  the  Gibson  Appliance  Company  as  manager. 
For  about  a  year  Mr.  Arthur  was  in  the  real  estate  business  and 
in  192.5  accepted  the  call  to  Radford  as  city  manager,  in  charge 
of  the  practical  operations  of  the  city  government. 

Mr.  Arthur  is  interested  in  two  farms,  one  in  Campbell 
County  and  the  other  in  Louisa  County.  He  is  a  member  of 
Orange  Chapter  No.  47.  Royal  Arch  Masons,  the  Kiwanis  Club, 
is  a  Democrat  and  a  Methodist. 

He  married  near  Christiansburg,  Virginia,  March  16,  1907, 
Miss  Verna  Mae  Pelter,  of  Montgomery  County.  Mrs.  Arthur 
was  educated  in  public  schools,  attended  the  Concord  State 
Teachers  College  at  Athens,  West  Virginia,  and  was  a  teacher 
before  her  marriage,  in  Montgomery  County.  Mrs.  Arthur  is 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  the  United 
Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  the  Woman's  Club.  Her  par- 
ents were  J.  E.  and  Josephine  (Childress)  Pelter.  Her  father 
was  a  Confederate  soldier  and  after  the  war  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  stock  raising.  He  had  acquired  part  of  his  early  educa- 
tion in  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  always  took  a  keen  in- 
terest in  politics.  He  died  in  1874  and  is  buried  in  Franklin 
County,  Virginia.  Her  mother  passed  away  in  1917  and  is 
buried  in  Montgomerj^  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Arthur  have  a 
family  of  three  children.  Audrey  Mae,  Lucille  Pelter  and  Roy 
William.  Audrey  was  educated  in  high  school  in  Louisa  County 
and  Hopewell,  graduated  in  1929  from  the  Radford  State  Teach- 
ers College  and  is  teacher  of  English  and  mathematics  at  War, 
West  Virginia.  Lucille  attended  school  in  Louisa  County,  the 
high  school  at  Hopewell  and  Radford,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1930  in  the  Radford  State  Teachers  College.  The  son 
Roy  is  a  seventh  grade  pupil  at  Radford. 

Gordon  McNeely  Roberts  is  one  of  the  active  business 
leaders  of  the  Radford  community  of  Southwestern  Virginia, 
active  manager  of  the  M.  L.  Harrison  Tie  &  Lumber  Company. 

He  was  born  at  Stoneville,  North  Carolina,  March  16,  1885, 
of  old  Southern  antecedents  and  a  son  of  William  M.  and  Louise 
(McNeely)  Roberts.  His  grandfather,  George  W.  Roberts,  was 
a  farmer  in  North  Carolina  and  married  a  Miss  Strong.  Wil- 
liam M.  Roberts  was  born  and  reared  in  North  Carolina,  at- 
tended private  schools  and  spent  his  active  career  as  a  farmer. 
He  died  in  1923  and  is  buried  in  the  McNeely  Cemetery.  By 
an  unusual  coincidence  he  was  born,  was  married  and  was 
buried  on  the  14th  of  April.  His  wife,  Louise  McNeely,  was 
born  and  reared  near  Stoneville,  North  Carolina,  and  attended 
private  schools  in  Caswell  County.  She  also  died  in  1923.  Her 
father,  Rev.  George  W.  McNeely,  was  a  minister  of  the  Primi- 
tive Baptist  denomination,  preaching  in  North  Carolina  and  in 
Southwestern  Virginia.  The  children  of  William  M.  Roberts 
and  wife  included  one  that  died  in  infancy ;  Jesse  Howard,  who 
died  in  Texas  in  1910:  Myrtle,  wife  of  t.  P.  Poole,  of  Stone- 
ville. North  Carolina;  and  Gordon  M. 

Gordon  M.  Roberts  attended  public  schools  in  North  Carolina, 
the  Massey  Business  College  at  Richmond  and  after  leaving  col- 
lege in  1906  spent  two  years  with  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Rail- 


298  VIRGINIA 

way  Company  as  a  clerk.  Since  1908  he  has  been  in  the  cross 
tie  and  kimber  business,  associated  with  the  M.  L.  Harrison 
Tie  &  Lumber  Company.  He  started  as  bookkeeper  for  the  or- 
ganization and  since  1912  has  been  general  manager  of  this 
business  at  the  Radford  headquarters.  He  is  financially  inter- 
ested in  the  company  and  is  also  a  director  of  the  Taylor-Col- 
quitt Company  of  Spartanburg,  South  Carolina,  and  is  inter- 
ested in  several  other  business  enterprises  in  Southwestern  Vir- 
ginia. 

Mr.  Roberts  is  a  past  president  of  the  Radford  Rotary  Club, 
is  a  Thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner, 
being  a  member  of  Kazim  Temple  at  Roanoke.  He  is  a  Demo- 
crat, and  is  on  the  board  of  deacons  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
He  married  at  Radford  November  26,  1912,  Miss  Willie  Trol- 
inger  Harvey.  She  was  educated  by  private  instructors  and 
in  Hollins  College,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Pi-esbyterian  Church. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Lewis  and  Bettie  (Trolinger)  Harvey, 
residents  of  Radford,  her  father  being  a  well-to-do  farmer  and 
stock  raiser.  There  were  eight  children  in  the  Harvey  fam- 
ily:  Mrs.  Roberts;  Robert  B.  Harvey,  of  Radford;  Henry  M. ; 
James  of  Blneield.  West  Virginia ;  Margaret  M.,  wife  of  Emory 
Mit-'he'l,  of  Bluefield,  West  Virginia;  Lieutenant  Fred  who  was 
killed  in  action  in  France  during  the  World  war ;  Miss  Eliza- 
beth and  Miss  Frances,  both  of  Radford.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Roberts 
have  two  daughters,  Margaret  McNeely  and  Bettie  Gordon. 

James  Samuel  Branch,  Sr.,  a  descendant  of  Col.  John 
Branch,  governor  of  two  states.  North  Carolina  and  Florida, 
was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  became  a  well  known  figure  in 
the  lumber  business  in  the  southeastern  states,  and  Mrs.  Branch 
and  some  of  her  children  reside  at  Norfolk,  her  home  being  at 
643  West  Thirty-fourth  Street. 

Mr.  Branch  was  born  at  Enfield,  Halifax  County,  North  Caro- 
lina, April  17,  1863,  and  died  at  Florence,  South  Carolina,  Janu- 
ai'y  26,  1917.  He  was  a  son  of  John  Richard  and  Josephine 
(Hunter)  Branch.  His  father  was  a  merchant  and  planter  at 
Enfield,  North  Carolina,  and  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army. 
Mrs.  Josephine  Branch  is  now  living  in  Rocky  Mount,  North 
Carolina.  Her  father.  Doctor  Hunter,  was  a  Florida  planter. 
Col.  John  Branch,  governor  of  North  Carolina  and  Florida  and 
also  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate  from  Florida,  was 
the  great-grandfather  of  the  late  James  Samuel  Branch. 

James  Samuel  Branch  was  a  boy  when  his  father  died  and 
he  early  assumed  responsibilities  in  assisting  his  mother  in  the 
management  of  the  home  farm.  He  was  educated  at  Wake  For- 
est Preparatory  School  and  Bingham  College  in  North  Carolina. 
On  leaving  the  farm  he  became  associated  with  the  Cape  Fear 
Lumber  Company  at  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  as  a  lumber 
inspector,  and  after  the  plant  was  burned  in  1906  he  went  with 
the  Camp  Lumber  Manufacturing  Company  at  Marion,  South 
Carolina.  He  retired  from  business  about  six  years  before  his 
death.  He  attended  the  Methodist  Church,  was  a  Democrat, 
and  Mrs.  Branch  is  an  active  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

Mr.  Branch  married  at  Franklin,  Virginia,  in  August,  1893, 
Alice  Eliza  Wiggins,  who  was  reared  and  educated  at  Suffolk, 
Virginia.  Her  parents  were  John  Bowers  and  Mary  Sarah 
(Parker)  Wiggins,  of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia.  Her  father 
was  a  merchant.  Her  great-grandfather,  Thomas  Oliver,  was 
sent  by  the  King  of  England  on  a  special  mission  to  the  Colonies. 


I 


VIRGINIA  299 

Her  uncle,  Capt.  Irvin  C.  Wills,  was  an  officer  in  the  Confederate 
army.  Mrs.  Branch's  brother,  Jasper  L.  Wiggins,  is  now  in  his 
third  term  as  mayor  of  Edenton,  North  Carolina,  and  also  served 
in  the  Spanish  American  War.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Branch  had  four 
children.  The  son  John  Richard,  now  connected  with  the  Texas 
Asphalt  Company  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  was  in  France  two 
years  during  the  World  war  and  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity.  Samuel  C.  Branch,  an  employe  of  the  city  of  Nor- 
folk in  the  water  department,  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
Order,  married  Elsie  Burns  and  has  a  daughter.  Norma.  Lin- 
wood  0.  B.  Branch,  in  the  service  of  the  Seaboard  Air  Line  Rail- 
way, was  for  four  years,  1922-26,  city  assistant  purchasing 
agent,  served  eighteen  months  in  the  navy  during  the  World 
war,  and  by  his  marriage  to  Iris  Godfrey  has  a  son,  Linwood 
0.  B.,  Jr.  James  S.  Branch,  Jr.,  the  youngest  of  the  four  sons 
of  Mrs.  Branch,  was  secretary  to  Col.  Charles  Borland  in  the 
city  safety  department,  served  as  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Nor- 
folk Home  Guard,  and  is  now  connected  with  the  Virginian  Rail- 
way. 

Walter  Adgate  Vv'^abfield,  M.  D.  The  City  of  Alexandria, 
metropolis  of  Arlington  County,  has  its  due  quota  of  able  and 
successful  physicians  and  surgeons,  and  among  the  number  is 
Doctor  Warfield,  whose  technical  skill  and  personal  popularity 
have  conspired  to  gain  to  him  a  substantial  and  important  gen- 
eral practice  and  give  him  rank  among  the  leading  representa- 
tives of  his  profession  in  his  native  city  and  county. 

Doctor  Warfield,  who  maintains  his  office  at  908  Cameron 
Street  and  his  residence  at  910  that  thoroughfare,  was  born  in 
Alexandria  on  the  4th  of  February,  1884,  and  is  a  son  of  Frank 
and  Cora  M.  (Smith)  Warfield,  the  former  of  whom  was  born 
at  Alexandria  and  the  latter  in  the  City  of  Richmond,  this  state. 
Frank  Warfield  was  reared  and  educated  in  Alexandria  and  in 
his  native  city  he  has  been  actively  identified  with  the  drug 
business  during  virtually  his  entire  career,  as  has  also  his  uncle, 
Edgar,  who  is  still  actively  engaged  in  this  line  of  enterprise, 
though  he  celebrated  in  1928  the  eighty-seventh  anniversary  of 
his  birth,  his  being  the  distinction  of  having  been  a  gallant 
young  soldier  of  the  Confederacy  in  the  Civil  war. 

In  the  Alexandria  High  School  Doctor  Warfield  was  grad- 
uated as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1898.  and  thereafter  he  was 
a  student  in  the  National  School  of  Pharmacy,  Washington, 
D.  C.  until  he  decided  to  broaden  the  scope  of  his  studies  and 
pi'epare  himself  for  the  medical  profession.  With  this  ambition 
in  view  he  attended  the  George  Washington  University  for 
three  years,  then  entered  the  medical  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  the  South  at  Sewanee,  Tennessee,  and  in  that  institu- 
tion he  was  graduated  in  1905.  In  the  year  that  thus  marked 
his  reception  of  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  he  opened  an 
office  in  Alexandria,  and  here  he  has  continued  in  successful 
general  practice  during  the  intervening  period  of  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  save  for  the  interval  of  his  service  on  the 
Mexican  border  during  the  troubles  that  there  occurred  in 
1916-17.  In  this  military  service  the  Doctor  went  forth  as  a 
member  of  a  Virginia  regiment  in  which  he  was  accorded  the 
rank  of  first  lieutenant  in  the  Medical  Corps,  this  rank  having 
been  retained  by  him  after  the  regiment  was  mustered  into  the 
United  States  Army,  from  which  he  resigned  and  was  accorded 
honorable  discharge  in  January,  1917.     The  Doctor  has  mem- 


300  VIRGINIA 

bership  in  the  American  Medical  Association,  the  Virginia  State 
Medical  Society,  the  District  of  Columbia  Medical  Society  and 
the  Alexandria  Medical  Society.  His  political  allegiance  is  given 
to  the  Democratic  party,  he  and  his  wife  are  communicants  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Kappa 
Sigma  college  fraternity,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Belle  Haven 
Country  Club.  His  home  in  Alexandria  is  one  of  the  beautiful 
places  of  the  city,  and  he  maintains  also  a  fine  summer  home  on 
Belmont  Bay,  where  he  erected  a  beautiful  residence,  which 
with  its  surrounding  estate  of  more  than  500  acres  makes  the 
place  rank  well  with  historic  Mount  Vernon  in  beauty.  The 
ancestral  lineage  of  Doctor  Warfield  traces  back  to  both  Eng- 
land and  Sweden. 

On  the  19th  of  March,  1919,  was  solemnized  the  marriage  of 
Doctor  Warfield  and  Miss  Ruth  Barkley,  who  was  born  at  Wel- 
don.  North  Carolina,  the  daughter  of  James  E.  and  Sarah 
(Parker)  Barkley.  Her  father  was  born  at  Tallahassee,  Florida, 
while  her  mother  was  born  at  the  "Meadows"  in  Northampton 
County,  North  Carolina.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Warfield  are  prom- 
inent figures  in  the  representative  social  and  cultural  circles 
of  their  home  city,  and  both  the  city  and  country  homes  are 
known  for  their  gracious  hospitality  under  the  regime  of  Mrs. 
Warfield  as  the  popular  chatelaine  thereof. 

Hon.  James  M.  Barker.  Whether  considered  from  the 
standpoint  of  his  professional  attainments  or  from  the  viewpoint 
of  progressive  citizenship,  Hon.  James  M.  Barker  is  a  young  law- 
yer of  pronounced  character.  For  four  years,  from  1923  until 
1927,  he  occupied  the  office  of  commonwealth's  attorney  of  Wash- 
ington County,  and  established  a  record  for  sterling  accomplish- 
ments that  would  have  assured  his  retention  in  that  capacity  as 
long  as  he  desired,  but,  preferring  to  return  to  private  practice, 
he  refused  to  stand  for  reelection.  He  now  has  an  excellent  prac- 
tice at  Abingdon,  where  he  is  a  prominent  factor  in  all  civic 
movements  and  enterprises. 

Mr.  Barker  was  born  at  Turkey  Cove,  Lee  County,  Virginia, 
November  6,  1888,  and  is  a  son  of  John  B.  and  Susan  (Slemp) 
Barker,  and  a  grandson  of  Charles  Barker,  a  native  of  Washing- 
ton County,  who  for  many  years  was  engaged  in  planting  in  Lee 
County,  where  his  death  occurred.  John  B.  Barker  was  born  in 
Lee  County,  where  he  received  a  public  school  education,  and 
during  the  war  between  the  states  enlisted  in  the  Confederate 
army,  with  which  he  fought  valiantly  until  the  close  of  the 
struggle.  He  then  returned  to  his  home,  where  he  followed  the 
life  of  a  planter  until  his  death  in  March,  1926.  In  addition  to  be- 
ing a  successful  agriculturist  he  was  active  in  Democratic  pol- 
itics, and  was  a  man  of  high  character  and  considerable  influence 
in  his  community.  Mrs.  Barker,  who  was  also  born  in  Lee 
County,  died  in  1925.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Hugh  Alley  Slemp, 
who  had  a  plantation  at  Turkey  Cove,  and  was  a  first  cousin  of 
Congressman  Slemp,  the  elder,  and  a  second  cousin  of  Hon.  Bas- 
com  Slemp,  for  many  years  a  member  of  Congress  and  subse- 
quently private  secretary  to  President  Coolidge. 

James  M.  Barker  was  given  excellent  educational  advantages 
in  his  youth,  attending  the  grammar  and  high  schools  of  Cleve- 
land, Virginia,  and  Emory  and  Henry  College  of  Emory,  this 
state,  from  which  he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts  in  1910,  winning  the  Robertson  medal  for  oratory.  Mr. 
Barker  has  always  been  a  good  speaker,  and  is  well  known  for 


VIRGINIA  301 

his  work  on  the  stump-  during  political  campaigns,  his  services 
as  a  speaker  also  being  in  constant  demand  on  all  public  occa- 
sions. After  leaving  Emory  and  Henry  College  he  pursued  his 
professional  studies  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  in  1913, 
and  immediately  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  at 
Hazard,  Kentucky.  While  there  he  had  a  large  practice  and  also 
served  as  a  member  of  the  school  board.  At  the  end  of  six  years, 
during  the  greater  part  of  which  time  he  was  attorney  for  the 
Virginia  Iron  and  Coke  Company,  doing  their  title  and  abstract 
work,  he  moved  to  Abingdon,  which  has  since  been  his  home  and 
the  scene  of  his  really  remarkable  success.  Soon  after  his  arrival 
at  Abingdon  he  entered  Democratic  politics,  and  in  1923  was 
elected  commonwealth's  attorney  for  Washington  County,  an 
oflice  in  which  he  established  a  record  of  securing  about  90%  of 
convictions  out  of  all  persons  indicted,  being  at  all  times  an  ac- 
tive, vigorous  and  fearless  prosecutor.  He  was  urged  to  accept 
the  nomination  for  reelection  in  1927,  but  his  private  practice 
had  grown  to  such  proportions  he  felt  that  he  owed  it  his  entire 
attention.  He  still  is  a  leading  member  of  the  Democratic  party, 
was  manager  for  the  national  committee  in  Washington  County 
during  the  last  presidential  election,  and  on  several  occasions  has 
been  a  delegate  to  congressional  conventions.  He  maintains  of- 
fices at  Abingdon,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Bar  Associa- 
tion. Mr.  Barker  is 'active  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  wel- 
fare and  advancement  of  his  community,  and  he  and  his  family 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

On  June  3,  1916,  Mr.  Barker  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Olletha  May  St.  John,  of  Washington  County,  daughter  of 
D.  S.  and  Annie  St.  John,  members  of  old  and  distinguished  Viiv 
ginia  families,  and  residents  of  Washington  County,  where  Mr. 
St.  John  is  engaged  in  extensive  operations  as  a  planter.  Mrs. 
Barker  was  educated  at  Martha  W^ashington  College,  Abingdon, 
and  is  active  in  club  circles  at  Abingdon,  and  in  the  various 
charities  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Mr.  .and 
Mrs.  Barker  are  the  parents  of  two  children:  James  M.^-Jr;, 
born  February  16,  1917;  and  Joseph  Kelly,  born  November  10; 
1919.  .1 

Joseph  A.  McGuire,  surgeon,  founder  and  proprietor  of  the 
Norton  Hospital  at  Norton  in  Wise  County,  has  enjoyed  a  dis- 
tinguished service  in  his  profession  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury. During  that  time  he  has  lived  in  his  native  locality  of 
Southwe.st  Virginia,  and  for  some  years  also  practiced  on  the 
other  side  of  the  state  line  in  West  Virginia. 

Doctor  JMcGuire  was  born  at  Cedar  Bluff,  Tazewell  County, 
Virginia,  March  17,  1876,  son  of  James  M.  and  Maggie  (Hurt) 
McGuire,  and  grandson  of  James  McGuire.  James  M.  McGuire 
was  born  in  1839,  was  a  farmer  and  merchant,  and  died  in  1893. 
His  wife.  Maggie  Hurt,  was  born  in  1857. 

Dr.  Joseph  A.  McGuire  is  a  graduate  of  Emory  and  Henry 
College,  taking  the  Bachelor  of  Science  degree  there  in  1896. 
He  was  graduated  in  medicine  from  the  University  of  Virginia 
in  1900  and  began  practice  in  Wise  County.  After  four  years  he 
went  to  Texas,  and  for  six  years  made  his  home  at  Dallas,  where 
he  enjoyed  a  favorable  professional  record.  In  1910  he  located 
at  Princeton,  West  Virginia,  and  in  connection  with  his  private 
practice  became  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  Virginian  General 
Hospital  and  served  as  surgeon  for  the  Virginian  Railway. 


302  VIRGINIA 

Doctor  McGuire  disposed  of  his  hospital  and  other  profes- 
sional interests  at  Princeton  in  1920  and,  locating  at  Norton, 
Virginia,  erected  the  Norton  Hospital.  This  is  a  three-story 
brick  structure,  with  a  thirty-five  bed  capacity,  and  in  its  general 
equipment  comprises  practically  every  facility  found  in  a  modern 
standard  hospital.  Doctor  McGuire  since  its  founding  has  been 
manager  of  the  hospital  and  chief  of  its  surgical  staff. 

An  honor  that  is  significant  of  his  high  standing  in  the  surgi- 
cal profession  of  Southwest  Virginia  came  with  his  appointment 
as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Board  of  Health.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Wise  County  Medical  Society,  Medical  Society  of 
Virginia,  American  Medical  Association,  Southern  and  Clinch 
Valley  Medical  Associations.  Doctor  McGuire  is  a  member  of  the 
Kiwanis  Club,  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Shriner,  member 
of  the  Elks,  and  is  a  Methodist. 

He  married,  June  5,  1907,  Miss  Gertrude  Flanary,  who  was 
born  at  Wise  Court  House  February  26,  1885.  Her  father,  C.  F. 
Flanary,  was  a  business  man  and  state  senator  of  Virginia,  and 
died  in  1910.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  McGuire's  children  were:  Joseph 
A.,  Jr.,  born  September  14,  1909,  and  died  in  1918 ;  and  Ruth 
Flanary,  born  October  23,  1912. 

Robert  Swanson  Kyle,  M.  D.  Prominent  among  the  lead- 
ing members  of  the  younger  generation  of  physicians  and  sur- 
geons of  Wise  County  is  Robert  Swanson  Kyle,  M.  D.  who  is  en- 
gaged in  the  successful  practice  of  his  profession  at  Big  Stone 
Gap.  Prior  to  taking  up  the  active  duties  of  his  calling  he  pre- 
pared himself  thoroughly,  having  a  full  realization  of  the  re- 
sponsibilities as  well  as  the  opportunities  devolving  upon  the 
devotees  of  medicine  and  surgery,  and  has  continued  to  be  a 
faithful  student  of  his  vocation,  with  the  result  that  he  is  rapidly 
becoming  one  of  the  skilled  practitioners  of  his  section. 

Doctor  Kyle  was  born  in  Carroll  County,  Virginia,  June  14, 
1898,  and  is  a  son  of  S.  D.  and  Mary  J.  (Howard)  Kyle.  The 
Kyle  family  is  of  Scotch  origin  and  came  to  America  at  an  early 
date,  having  been  for  many  years  well  known  in  Carroll  County, 
where  was  born  Madison  Kyle,  the  grandfather  of  Doctor  Kyle. 
Madison  Kyle  was  a  successful  planter  of  his  locality  and  an  ac- 
tive Democrat,  as  well  as  a  devout  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  S.  D.  Kyle,  the  father  of  Doctor  Kyle, 
was  born  in  Carroll  County,  where  he  received  a  public  school 
education,  and  as  a  young  man  adopted  the  vocation  of  planter, 
which  he  has  followed  with  industry  and  success  to  the  present. 
He  is  a  Democrat  without  political  aspirations,  and  he  and  his 
wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in 
the  work  of  which  both  are  active. 

Robert  Swanson  Kyle  was  graduated  from  Woodlawn  High 
School  in  Carroll  County  in  1917,  following  which  he  was  a 
student  in  William  and  Mary  College  for  two  years,  and  then 
enrolled  as  a  medical  student  in  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia, 
Richmond.  He  was  graduated  from  that  institution  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1923,  receiving  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine, 
and  served  his  interneship  of  one  year  at  the  Lewis-Gale  Hospi- 
tal, Roanoke.  In  1924  he  commenced  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession at  Galax,  Virginia,  where  he  remained  for  two  years,  and 
then  settled  permanently  at  Big  Stone  Gap,  where  he  has  since 
built  up  an  excellent  practice  in  general  medicine  and  surgery. 
Combined  with  his  skill  and  learning  is  a  pleasing  personality, 
which  has  made  him  many  friends,  and  in  addition  to  his  regu- 


^y^^ 


VIRGINIA  303 

lar  practice  he  is  acting  as  medical  examiner  for  all  of  the  lead- 
ing life  insurance  companies  represented  at  Big  Stone  Gap.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Wise  County  Medical  Society,  the  Virginia 
Medical  Society  and  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  as 
a  fraternalist  belongs  to  Clinch  Valley  Blue  Lodge,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  and  the  Phi  Beta  Pi  fraternity.  He  is  a  Democrat  in 
his  political  convictions  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church.  As  one  of  the  rising  young  men  of  his  community 
he  takes  an  active  part  in  all  worthy  civic  movements,  and  dur- 
ing the  World  war  attended  the  Army  Students  Training  Camp. 
In  June,  1926,  Doctor  Kyle  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Vera  Sue  Hampton,  of  Grayson  County,  Virginia,  a  member  of 
an  old  and  distinguished  Virginia  family  and  a  daughter  of 
Kemper  and  Annie  Hampton,  residents  of  Grayson  County, 
where  Mr.  Hampton  is  a  leading  figure  in  the  lumber  industry. 
Mrs.  Kyle,  a  woman  of  superior  attainments  and  accomplish- 
ments, was  educated  at  Martha  Washington  College  and  the 
Atlanta  Conservatory  of  Music  of  Atlanta,  Georgia.  She  is  a 
leader  in  the  club  and  social  life  of  Big  Stone  Gap  and  an  active 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Kyle  are  the  parents  of  one  daughter,  Mary  Ann,  who  was  born 
March  18,  1927. 

Anthony  Giesen  has  for  years  been  one  of  the  leaders  in 
business  and  public  aff'airs  in  the  community  of  Radford,  where 
he  is  president  of  A.  Giesen  &  Sons. 

Mr.  Giesen  was  born  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  November  28, 
1869,  son  of  Andrew  F.  and  Katherine  (Nobb)  Giesen.  His 
parents  were  natives  of  Germany,  and  on  coming  to  the  United 
States  in  1845  settled  in  Buffalo,  and  in  1888  moved  to  Balti- 
more, Maryland,  where  both  of  them  are  buried.  After  the 
death  of  the  father  the  widowed  mother  spent  her  last  years  at 
Roanoke.  There  were  fourteen  children  in  the  family,  and 
twelve  of  them  grew  up :  Mary,  John,  Anthony,  Adam,  three 
deceased  sons,  Andrew,  Conrad  and  George,  Annie,  Gertrude, 
and  three  other  children  are  deceased,  Jacob,  Katherine  and 
Christine. 

Anthony  Giesen  attended  public  schools  in  Bufi'alo  and 
learned  the  machinist's  trade  there.  He  followed  the  trade  of 
machinist  with  various  companies  and  organizations  until  1901, 
in  which  year  he  established  an  ice  factory  and  bottling  plant 
at  Radford.  He  has  been  prominently  identified  with  the  com- 
mercial life  of  the  city  ever  since.  In  1928  the  ice  plant  was 
sold,  but  the  bottling  business  is  still  carried  on,  making  a  spe- 
cialty of  the  manufacture  and  distribution  of  the  King  Cola 
drinks.  Mr.  Giesen  branched  out  into  another  line  in  1923  when 
he  established  A.  Giesen  &  Sons,  automobile  dealers,  having  the 
distribution  over  this  locality  for  the  Chrysler  and  Plymouth 
cars.  The  company  owns  and  operates  a  modern  garage  and 
shop,  with  repair,  oil  and  gas  service.  Mr.  Giesen  has  numer- 
ous other  investments  in  the  city  and  for  a  number  of  years  was 
an  active  stockholder  in  the  Peoples  Bank.  He  owns  local 
real  estate. 

Both  he  and  his  sons  are  popular  citizens  and  take  a  keen 
interest  in  local  politics.  Mr.  Giesen  was  for  two  and  a  half 
terms  a  member  of  the  City  Council.  In  the  last  election  he  ran 
for  city  commissioner,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  was  away 
from  the  city  during  the  campaign,  he  was  defeated  by  only 
eleven  votes.    Mr.  Giesen  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order 


304  VIRGINIA 

of  Odd  Fellows,  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men, 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  He  is  a  Republican  and  for 
many  years  was  a  member  of  the  council  of  the  Lutheran 
Church. 

He  married  at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  July  19,  1892,  Miss 
Emelie  Rossa,  of  Baltimore.  She  was  born  and  spent  her  early 
years  in  West  Poland,  being  sixteen  years  of  age  when  her 
parents  came  to  America  and  located  at  Baltimore.  She  regu- 
larly attended  the  Lutheran  Church,  but  was  all  in  all  devoted 
to  her  home  and  children.  She  died  August  20,  1926,  and  is 
buried  in  the  Radford  Cemetery.  Her  parents  were  Carl  and 
Elizabeth  Rossa,  who  settled  at  Baltimore  in  1887,  and  both  are 
buried  in  the  Forest  Lawn  Cemetery  of  that  city.  Her  father 
was  an  employe  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Giesen  were  the  parents  of  eight  children,  one 
of  whom  died  in  infancy.  The  oldest  son  is  Dr.  John  J.  Giesen, 
a  well  known  physician  at  Radford.  William  L.  A.  Giesen,  asso- 
ciated with  his  father  in  the  A.  Giesen  &  Sons,  is  an  aviator, 
owning  his  plane  at  Cooks  field,  and  married  Miss  Grace  French, 
of  Radford.  The  daughter  Katherine  is  the  wife  of  H.  H.  Low- 
man,  of  Radford,  and  has  two  children,  Robert  Anthony  and 
Rebecca.  Dr.  Andrew  Giesen  was  educated  in  Roanoke  College, 
spent  one  year  in  the  University  of  Virginia  and  finished  his 
medical  studies  in  the  University  of  Oklahoma,  and  is  now  prac- 
ticing in  that  state.  He  married  Virginia  Vaughan,  of  Rad- 
ford, and  has  a  son,  Andrew  F.,  Jr.  Anthony  G.  Giesen  attended 
high  school  at  Radford,  graduated  from  Roanoke  College  in  1925, 
is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  A.  Giesen  &  Sons,  and  is  one  of  the 
prominent  young  business  men  of  the  city,  being  a  Rotarian,  a 
member  of  the  Pi  Kappa  Phi  and  Modern  Woodmen  of  America. 
Arthur  Rossa  Giesen,  the  next  son,  graduated  from  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute  in  1927,  holds  a  commission  as  second  lieuten- 
ant in  the  Reserve  Officers  Training  Corps,  and  is  with  his  father 
and  brothers  in  the  automobile  business.  The  youngest  child, 
Virginia  Gertrude,  is  the  wife  of  Jack  Lee  Sharp,  who  is  con- 
nected with  the  coal  industry  at  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania. 

Henry  C.  Rolling.  Occupying  a  position  of  prominence  in 
his  profession  in  Wise  County,  and  a  specialist  in  real  estate  and 
corporation  law  at  Norton,  Virginia,  Henry  C.  Boiling  is  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  ablest  younger  members  of  the  bar  in  active 
practice  in  Southwest  Virginia.  He  worthily  bears  an  old  and 
nationally  distinguished  family  name,  one  that  is  linked  to  cen- 
turies of  American  history  and  to  Virginia's  earliest  Colonial 
.settlements.  From  the  founding  of  Jamestown  in  1607  has  come 
down  the  beautiful  story  of  Pocahontas,  one  that  still  thrills  the 
.school  children  over  the  entire  country,  and  a  romantic  story 
that  is  seldom  in  after  life  entirely  forgotten.  The  Boilings  of 
Wise  County  are  in  the  ninth  generation  of  descent  from  Poca- 
hontas, who  became  the  wife  of  the  Virginia  planter,  John  Rolfe, 
and  was  the  grandmother  of  the  maiden  espoused  by  Robert 
Boiling,  the  only  Englishman  by  that  name  to  come  to  America, 
and  from  whom  all  the  Boilings  in  America  have  sprung.  Henry 
C.  Boiling's  direct  line  of  descent  is  traced  to  the  Boiling  who 
married  Martha,  sister  of  President  Thomas  Jeff'erson,  while  the 
John  Randolphs  of  Virginia  were  also  kindred. 

Henry  C.  Boiling  was  born  at  Flat  Gap,  Wise  County,  Vir- 
ginia, September  21,  1902,  son  of  George  Washington  and  Ellen 
(Kiser)  Boiling,  and  grandson  of  Amos  Boiling  and  of  Abednego 


VIRGINIA  305 

Kiser.  The  maternal  grandfather  was  a  native  of  Virginia  but 
of  German  parentage.  At  one  time  he  was  an  extensive  planter 
in  Russell  County,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army 
during  the  Civil  war.  The  paternal  grandfather,  Amos  Boiling, 
was  born  at  Wytheville,  Virginia,  and  from  there  came  to  the 
Big  Sandy  River  in  Wise  County,  where  he  owned  much  land  and 
operated  large  plantations  before  the  war  between  the  states.  He 
was  active  in  the  Democratic  party,  served  in  local  offices  and 
with  his  family  belonged  to  the  Baptist  Church. 

George  Washington  Boiling,  father  of  Attorney  Boiling,  has 
practically  spent  his  entire  life  at  Flat  Gap,  where  he  was  born 
and  where  he  has  always  had  important  business  interests.  For 
many  years  he  was  the  leading  merchant  at  Flat  Gap,  and  now 
gives  attention  ond  oversight  to  agricultural  affairs.  He  is  a 
Confederate  veteran  of  the  Civil  war,  and  has  always  been  active 
in  Democratic  politics  in  Wise  County,  and  a  supporter  of  the 
Baptist  Church.  He  married  Miss  Ellen  Kiser,  who  also  survives, 
and  they  had  a  family  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters 
born  to  them,  Henry  C.  being  sixth  in  order  of  birth.  All  survive 
except  the  eldest.  Pearl,  who  was  the  wife  of  Floyd  Caldwell,  of 
Kentucky,  and  Mary,  the  fourth  child,  who  died  in  infancy ; 
Samuel  A.,  the  eldest  son,  who  served  on  the  military  police 
force  at  Camp  Lee,  Petersburg,  Virginia,  during  the  World  war, 
resides  at  Esserville,  Virginia,  and  is  deputy  sheriff  of  Wise 
County;  Rufus  A.  and  Walter  D.  who  are  in  the  Government 
mail  service  and  lives  at  Flat  Gap ;  Ethel  E.,  who  is  the  wife  of 
Will  Riddle,  of  Jenkins,  Kentucky ;  and  Luther,  who  resides  with 
his  parents.  Another  highly  considered  close  relative  is  that 
beautiful  and  gracious  lady,  Mrs.  Woodrow  Wilson,  formerly 
Boiling,  with  similar  descent  from  Pocahontas. 

After  completing  his  course  in  the  Flat  Gap  High  School 
Henry  C.  Boiling  attended  the  Virginia  State  College  at  Rad- 
ford for  a  time  and  then  taught  school  in  Wise  County  for  five 
months.  Even  then  he  had  commenced  to  cherish  an  ambition 
to  study  for  the  law,  but  circumstances  were  not  favorable  just 
then  and  he  bravely  turned  his  attention  in  another  direction  and 
accepted  a  clerkship  in  the  store  of  the  Blackwood  Coal  &  Coke 
Company  at  Blackwood  in  Wise  County,  and  three  and  a  half 
years  later  was  advanced  to  the  position  of  store  superintendent, 
in  which  capacity  he  continued  with  the  company  for  two  years 
longer.  During  this  time,  in  addition  to  attending  to  his  business 
duties  most  satisfactorily,  he  had  advanced  himself  intellectu- 
ally by  taking  correspondence  courses  in  business  administration, 
photo  and  play  writing,  business  english,  and  business  psychol- 
ogy, and  when  he  resigned  the  position  with  the  Blackwood  Com- 
pany, which  he  had  won  and  retained  through  personal  merit,  it 
was  in  order  to  enter  the  University  of  Richmond  to  secure  high- 
er educational  advantages.  There  also  he  neglected  no  oppor- 
tunities, during  his  first  year  attending  classes  in  general  litera- 
tui'e  in  the  evening  and  law  classes  during  the  daytime,  neces- 
sarily making  rapid  progress  through  such  diligence,  and  subse- 
quently spent  two  years  as  a  student  of  law  in  the  University  of 
Richmond  and  a  general  review  course  on  all  the  subjects  of  law 
at  the  University  of  Virginia.  On  passing  his  bar  examination  in 
June,  1927,  Mr.  Boiling  located  at  Norton,  Virginia,  as  a  general 
law  practitioner,  and  has  made  real  estate  and  corporation  law  a 
specialty.  His  unusual  legal  talent  and  his  thorough  knowledge 
have  been  recognized  and  he  has  a  satisfactory  number  of  im- 
portant clients  throughout  the  city  and  county  already  showing 


306  VIRGINIA 

confidence  in  his  professional  judgment.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Wise  County  and  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Associations,  and  a 
member  of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of  America. 

Mr.  Boiling  married  at  Norton,  Virginia,  February  29,  1925, 
Miss  Nell  Elizabeth  Mann,  daughter  of  Robert  L.,  and  Ellen 
(Osdorne)  Mann,  the  former  of  whom  is  interested  in  the  furni- 
ture business  at  Norton.  The  Mann  family,  of  which  Governor 
Mann  of  Virginia  is  also  a  member,  is  an  old  and  distinguished 
one  of  the  state.  Mrs.  Boiling  is  a  graduate  of  the  Norton  High 
School,  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  in  which  he  is  a  Sunday  school  teacher,  and  has  a  wide 
and  appreciative  social  circle  in  her  native  city.  Mr.  Boiling  be- 
longs to  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Modern  Woodmen  of 
America,  and  is  very  active  in  Democratic  political  circles. 

Hon.  Embree  W.  Potts.  Among  the  men  of  notable  pro- 
fessional achievement  at  Abingdon,  Virginia,  none  are  held  in 
higher  personal  regard  than  Hon.  Embree  W.  Potts,  a  leader 
of  her  bar  and  formerly  judge  of  the  Juvenile  and  Domestic 
Relations  Court  of  Washington  County.  Additionally,  he  has 
long  been  an  influential  factor  in  Democratic  politics  in  Wash- 
ington County,  and  both  in  public  affairs  and  professional  ef- 
fort is  numbered  with  the  worth-while  citizens  of  Southwest 
Virginia. 

Judge  Potts  was  born  at  Gainesville,  Texas,  October  21, 
1886,  son  of  Hugh  Frank  and  Lura  (Hagy)  Potts.  His  paternal 
ancestry  came  from  North  Carolina  and  his  maternal  ancestry 
from  Virginia,  but  during  the  life  of  the  paternal  grandfather 
the  Potts  family  removed  to  Alabama,  and  in  that  state  the  late 
Hugh  Frank  Potts  was  born  and  reared.  Later  he  became  es- 
tablished at  Gainesville,  Texas,  as  a  banker  and  merchant,  and 
he  is  credited  with  being  one  of  the  early  clear-headed  business 
men  to  make  practical  the  idea  of  chain-store  merchandising. 
He  was  a  faithful  supporter  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Lura  Hagy,  whose  father.  Judge  Pleasant  Hagy,  and 
whose  grandfather,  Martin  Hagy,  were  both  born  in  Washington 
County,  Virginia.  The  latter  was  an  extensive  planter  at  one 
time,  and  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Judge  Pleasant  Hagy,  maternal  grandfather  of  Judge  Potts, 
was  a  man  of  remarkable  character,  and  the  occurrences  of  his 
eventful  life  linked  him  with  both  Virginia  and  Texas.  Early  in 
the  war  between  the  states  he  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army, 
in  an  organization  called  the  Glade  Springs  Rifles,  in  Washing- 
ton County,  Virginia,  in  which  he  proved  the  possession  of  sol- 
dierly qualities  including  daring,  which  probably  brought  about 
his  capture  by  a  Federal  force.  Shortly  afterward,  however,  he 
was  exchanged,  when  he  made  his  way  to  Texas  and  reenlisted 
there  and  served  until  the  close  of  the  conflict  as  captain  of  his 
company.  He  then  joined  the  Texas  Rangers  and  assisted  with 
that  brave  organization  in  preserving  peace  and  safety  on  the 
frontier.  Some  years  later  he  lead  important  land  surveys  over 
the  country,  and  still  later  was  called  to  the  Circuit  bench,  be- 
cause of  his  upright  character  and  sound  judicial  qualifications. 
Until  the  close  of  his  life  he  was  active  also  in  Democratic  polit- 
ical circles  in  Cooke  and  other  counties  of  Texas. 

Embree  W.  Potts  received  his  early  educational  training  in 
the  public  schools  of  Gainesville.  In  1903  he  was  graduated  from 
the  Webb  School   at  Bellbuckle,   Tennessee,   and  later  entered 


VIRGINIA  307 

Vanderbilt  University  at  Nashville,  from  which  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1908  with  his  A.  B.  degree,  continuing  in  the  study  of 
law.  While  there  Mr.  Potts  was  not  only  a  satisfactory  student 
and  unusually  proficient  in  many  of  his  studies,  but  took  an  ac- 
tive interest  in  the  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  Greek  letter  fraternity, 
and  in  such  interests  as  represented  by  the  Commodore  Club,  of 
which  he  was  made  president  and  also  president  of  the  Senior 
Class. 

Upon  leaving  Vanderbilt  University  Mr.  Potts  entered  upon 
the  practice  of  law  at  Abingdon,  Virginia.  In  the  years  that 
have  followed  he  has  built  up  a  large  civil  and  corporation  prac- 
tice, has  taken  an  important  part  in  notable  cases  of  litigation 
and  has  won  legal  victories  that  have  brought  him  well  deserved 
professional  distinction.  He  was  appointed  the  first  judge  of  the 
Juvenile  and  Domestic  Relations  Court  in  Washington  County, 
and  served  three  years,  but  then  retired  in  order  to  resume  his 
private  practice. 

In  1915  Judge  Potts  married  Miss  Victoria  Ayers  Eaton,  of 
Bristol,  Virginia,  daughter  of  A.  B.  and  Ann  J.  Eaton,  the  late 
Mr.  Eaton  having  been  a  prominent  business  man  at  Bristol  and 
Big  Stone  Gap  for  many  years.  Mrs.  Potts  is  a  niece  of  Attor- 
ney-General Rufus  A.  Avers  of  Virginia,  and  a  direct  descen- 
dant of  Governor  Wingfield,  the  first  governor  of  the  Virginia 
colony.  She  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Bristol  and  at  SuUins 
College,  is  a  member  of  the  D.  A.  R.,  and  is  interested  in  the  so- 
cial life  at  Abingdon.  Judge  and  Mrs.  Potts  have  one  daughter 
and  one  son,  Mary  Victoria  and  Embree  William,  Jr.,  aged  re- 
spectively ten  and  eight  years. 

Judge  Potts  grew  up  under  Democratic  political  training,  and 
old  party  principles  have  always  governed  his  convictions  and 
received  the  approval  of  his  judgment.  He  has  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sinking  Fund  Committee  of  Washington  County  and 
on  the  Abingdon  City  Council.  He  belongs  to  the  Virginia  State 
Bar  Association  and  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  a  Shriner. 
and  is  a  pa.st  master  of  his  lodge  at  Abingdon,  and  belongs  also 
to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  to  the  Civitan  Club,  of  which  he 
is  a  past  president.  Both  the  Judge  and  Mrs.  Potts  are  active 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  which  he 
is  both  church  and  district  steward. 

William  A.  Baker,  M.  D.  Not  only  is  Dr.  William  A.  Baker, 
of  Big  Stone  Gap.  a  well-known  figure  as  a  general  practitioner, 
but  he  is  also  achieving  a  wide  reputation  in  pediatrics,  his  suc- 
cess in  the  disease  of  children  fast  making  him  a  specialist  in 
that  branch  of  his  profession.  His  broad  sympathy,  his  thorough 
understanding  of  children,  and  his  deep  .study  of  the  maladies 
with  which  they  are  stricken,  all  combine  to  make  him  the  ideal 
children's  doctor,  and  it  will  not  be  long  before  he  will  become 
one  of  the  leaders  in  pediatrics  in  Virginia. 

Doctor  Baker  was  born  in  Jonesville,  Virginia.  April  4,  1863, 
a  son  of  W.  A.  M.  and  Ellen  A.  (Hamblin)  Baker.  Mr.  Baker  is 
deceased,  and  Mrs.  Baker  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  in  Dal- 
las, Te.xas.  During  his  life  time  he  was  a  farmer,  and  a  very 
active  Democrat.  During  the  war  between  the  states  he  served 
most  bravely  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  for  some  years  he 
was  deputy  sheriff"  of  Lee  County,  Virginia.  The  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  held  his  membership.  The  Baker  family  is 
of  English  descent.    The  Hamlin  family  descent  is  traced  from 


308  VIRGINIA 

the  Hamblin  who  established  Fort  Blackburn  in  Scott  County, 
Virginia,  a  man  of  historical  fame. 

From  Jonesville  Institute  Doctor  Baker  went  to  the  Univer- 
sity of  Maryland,  and  still  later  to  the  Louisville  Medical  College, 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1891  with 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  He  returned  to  Jonesville  and 
established  himself  there  in  a  general  practice,  which  he  con- 
tinued to  carry  on  for  fifteen  years,  but  then  went  to  Pennington 
Gap,  Virginia,  for  a  year,  after  which  he  located  permanently  at 
Big  Stone  Gap,  where  he  has  enjoyed  a  large  and  lucrative  prac- 
tice and  become  one  of  the  very  prominent  men  of  his  profession 
in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  belongs  to  the  Wise  County  Medical 
Society,  which  he  has  served  as  president,  the  Clinch  Valley 
Medical  Society,  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society,  Southern 
Railroad  Surgeons  Association  and  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation. For  two  years  he  has  been  surgeon  for  the  Southern 
Railroad,  and  he  is  examiner  for  all  the  leading  insurance  com- 
panies for  this  district.  He  has  been  advanced  to  the  Chapter  in 
Masonry,  and  is  a  past  master  of  the  Blue  Lodge  and  a  past  high 
priest  of  the  Chapter,  and  he  also  belongs  to  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America.  During  the  World  war  he  served  on  the  Volun- 
teer Medical  Board  and  the  Medical  Advisory  Board.  For  many 
years  he  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  Jonesville  Institute.  Not 
only  does  he  frequently  read  papers  before  the  different  medical 
societies  to  which  he  belongs,  but  he  has  had  many  of  them  pub- 
lished in  the  medical  journals  of  the  country,  and  is  regarded  as 
an  authority  upon  numerous  subjects.  He  sponsored  a  bill  before 
the  Legislature  to  place  student  nurses  in  this  state  on  an  eight 
hour  shift,  but  it  failed  of  passage,  although  his  idea  has  been 
adopted  by  all  the  hospitals  and  schools  in  Virginia.  Like  his 
father,  he  is  an  active  Democrat,  and  served  as  health  officer  for 
Big  Stone  Gap  until  the  county  system  was  adopted.  A  man  who 
appreciates  the  value  of  keeping  abreast  of  the  progress  that  is 
being  made  in  his  profession  all  the  time,  he  makes  it  a  practice 
to  attend  clinics  at  frequent  intervals,  usually  going  to  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  for  that  purpose.  Whenever  the  opportunity  of- 
fers he  lectures  before  civic  bodies,  taking  these  openings  to 
bring  before  the  public  his  progressive  ideas  with  reference  to 
health  conservation,  sanitation  and  the  care  of  children.  Long  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  he  is  now 
serving  the  local  church  as  steward. 

Doctor  Baker  married  Miss  Elizabeth  D.  Duncan,  of  Jones- 
ville, a  daughter  of  Col.  C.  T.  Duncan,  one  of  the  distinguished 
men  of  Lee  County,  a  noted  attorney,  commonwealth  attorney, 
judge  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and  in  later  life  counsel  for  the 
Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad.  During  the  war  between  the 
states  he  served  under  Gen.  "Stonewall"  Jackson  with  the  rank 
of  colonel.  Mrs.  Baker  was  educated  in  the  Female  College  of 
Asheville,  North  Carolina,  and  the  Female  College  of  Lynch- 
burg, Virginia,  and  she  is  now  one  of  the  valued  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  of  Big  Stone  Gap,  and  very 
active  in  its  missionary  work.  Of  the  children  born  to  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Baker,  two  died  in  infancy,  Fanchi  and  Billy  Baker. 
Thelma.  who  was  graduated  from  the  high  school  of  Big  Stone 
Gap,  married  R.  H.  Engel,  of  the  same  place;  Mary  E.,  who  was 
graduated  from  the  high  school  of  Big  Stone  Gap,  died  in  1918, 
while  a  pupil  nurse  of  the  University  of  Maryland ;  Eleanor,  who 
was  graduated  from  the  high  school  of  Big  Stone  Gap,  is  a  pro- 


I 


f^^.f?^^^:L^ 


VIRGINIA  309 

fessional  nurse;  Duncan  McLaurin  is  an  engineer  with  tiie  State 
Highway  department  at  Richmond,  and  Margaret,  who  was 
graduated  from  the  high  school  of  Big  Stone  Gap,  is  a  stenog- 
rapher. 

Francis  Burke  Fitzpatrick,  who  holds  the  chair  of  educa- 
tion in  the  Radford  State  Teachers  College,  came  to  that  insti- 
tution with  a  record  of  successful  work  as  a  teacher  and  admin- 
istrator, and  educators  all  over  Virginia  know  him  as  the  author 
of  numerous  text  books  and  educational  bulletins,  and  as  a 
pioneer  in  the  introduction  of  improved  efficiency  methods  in 
school  work. 

Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  who  holds  the  degrees  A.  B.  and  M.  A.,  was 
born  at  Fancy  Grove  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  March  15, 
1872.  His  grandfather.  Thomas  Fitzpatrick,  moved  from  the 
vicinity  of  Scottsville,  Virginia,  to  Bedford  County,  where  he 
lived  out  his  life.  Hiram  A.  Fitzpatrick,  the  father,  was  born 
in  Rockingham  County,  Virginia,  was  fifteen  years  of  age  when 
the  family  settled  in  the  Goose  Creek  Valley  of  Bedford  County, 
and  during  the  Civil  war  he  was  employed  as  a  saddle  maker 
by  the  Confederate  government.  After  the  war  he  became  iden- 
tified with  an  extensive  establishment  as  a  merchant  at  Kaseys, 
Virginia,  and  was  also  postmaster  there,  and  operated  a  tannery 
and  saw  mill.  He  died  about  1907  and  is  buried  in  Fairview 
Cemetery  at  Roanoke.  By  his  first  marriage  he  was  the  father 
of  five  children :  W.  T.  Fitzpatrick,  deceased ;  B.  N.  Fitzpatrick, 
deceased ;  W.  A.  Fitzpatrick,  a  banker  at  Bedford  City :  Celia, 
deceased ;  and  Minerva,  of  Goodview,  Bedford  County,  widow  of 
J.  S.  Saunders,  who  died  in  1928.  The  second  wife  of  Hiram  A. 
Fitzpatrick  was  Frances  Johnson,  daughter  of  Beniamin  and 
Fannie  (Preston)  Johnson,  a  family  of  farming  people  in  Bed- 
ford County.  Frances  Johnson  was  born  and  reared  in  that 
countv,  near  Fancy  Grove,  and  was  educated  in  private  schools. 
She  died  in  1872,  at  the  birth  of  her  son  Francis  Burke. 

Francis  Burke  Fitzpatrick  was  educated  in  public  schools  in 
Bedford  and  Pittsylvania  counties,  graduated  from  Randolph- 
Macon  Academy  of  Bedford  City,  and  took  his  A.  B.  degree  at 
Randolph-Macon  College  at  Ashland  in  1898.  During  the  past 
thirty  years  he  has  been  a  constant  student,  and  has  come  in 
contact  with  eminent  educators  in  various  institutions.  For 
several  summers  he  pursued  research  work  in  Columbia  Uni- 
versity of  New  York,  and  in  1919  took  his  Master  of  Arts  degree 
at  the  University  of  Chicago.  Practically  all  of  his  residence 
work  has  been  completed  preparatory  to  the  Doctor  of  Philos- 
ophy degree,  the  only  requirement  being  the  preparation  of  his 
thesis.  Mr.  Fitzpatrick  for  several  years  taught  in  grammar 
and  high  schools  in  Bedford  and  Pittsylvania  counties.  For  six 
years  he  was  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Gate  City,  formerly 
known  as  Shumaker  College,  for  two  years  was  high  school 
principal  at  Pulaski,  and  for  three  years  principal  of  the 
Roanoke  High  School.  In  1913  he  was  elected  superintendent 
of  schools  at  Bristol,  Virginia,  resigning  in  1919  to  become  pro- 
fessor of  education  in  the  Radford  State  Teachers  College. 

Mr.  Fitzpatrick  in  1908  was  honored  with  election  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Virginia  State  Teachers  Association,  and  has  been 
vice  president  for  a  number  of  years  and  one  of  the  active 
leaders  in  the  organization.  Some  of  his  text  books  include 
Present  Day  Standards  for  Teaching.  Present  Day  Standards 
for  Supervision   and   Teachinrj.     As   principal   of   schools   and 


310  VIRGINIA 

through  his  influence  at  the  State  Teachers  College  he  has  done 
much  to  bring  about  the  use  of  standard  tests.  He  made  thor- 
ough surveys  of  the  schools  of  Bristol,  Lynchburg,  and  in  Page 
County,  and  the  results  of  his  researches  have  been  issued  in  a 
number  of  bulletins,  one  of  the  most  important  being  Present 
Standard  and  Practices  of  Virginia  School  Superintendents, 
published  by  the  Radford  State  Teachers  College.  His  text 
books  are  published  by  the  F.  A.  Owen  Company  of  Dansville, 
New  York.  Mr.  Fitzpatrick  for  many  years  was  a  member  of 
the  State  Board  of  Examiners. 

During  the  World  war  he  was  a  director  of  the  Red  Cross 
work  in  Southwestern  Virginia  and  has  been  president  of  the 
Radford  Chapter.  He  is  a  member  of  the  National  Education 
Association,  the  Southwestern  Virginia,  Incoi'porated,  the 
Knights  of  the  Mystic  Chain,  is  a  Pi  Gamma  Mu,  member  of  the 
Kiwanis  Club.  He  is  a  Democrat,  and  for  years  has  taught  in 
the  Sunday  School  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  is  a  lay  leader  of  the  church,  frequently  filling  pulpits  for 
pastors  of  different  churches. 

He  married  at  Christiansburg,  Virginia,  December  24,  1903, 
Miss  Mary  Douglas  Wade,  daughter  of  Col.  Hamilton  and  Bettie 
(Earhart)  Wade.  Her  father  was  a  colonel  in  the  Confederate 
army  under  Lee,  and  after  the  war  for  many  years  filled  the 
office  of  county  clerk  of  Montgomery  County.  He  died  in  1907 
and  his  wife  in  1914,  and  both  are  buried  at  Christiansburg. 
Mrs.  Fitzpatrick  was  educated  in  the  grade  and  high  schools  of 
Christiansburg,  was  a  member  of  the  class  of  1900  in  Marion 
College  at  Marion,  Alabama,  and  taught  in  public  schools  in 
Virginia,  for  several  years  before  her  marriage  teaching  art  in 
the  Jeter  Institute  at  Bedford.  She  finds  a  diversity  of  interests 
in  church  work,  is  a  former  president  of  the  Woman's  Club  of 
Radford,  former  president  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Con- 
federacy, and  also  of  the  Chapter  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fitzpatrick  have  three 
children:  Frances  Elizabeth  was  educated  in  the  Radford  High 
School,  graduated  in  1926  from  the  State  Teachers  College,  and 
is  now  teacher  in  a  public  school  at  Richmond ;  Hamilton  Doug- 
las graduated  from  the  local  high  school,  from  Randolph-Macon 
College  at  Ashland  in  1927,  and  is  teacher  and  athletic  director 
of  the  high  school  of  Pocahontas,  Virginia ;  and  Evelyn  Margaret 
graduated  from  Radford  High  School  and  is  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1929  in  the  Radford  State  Teachers  College. 

Nicholas  F.  Hix,  physician  and  surgeon,  graduated  from 
medical  college  in  1900,  and  during  the  greater  part  of  his  pro- 
fessional career  has  been  a  resident  of  Wise.  His  thorough 
training,  natural  gifts  and  long  experience  have  brought  him 
well  deserved  leadership  in  his  profession. 

Doctor  Hix  was  born  in  Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia, 
December  8,  1876,  son  of  Dr.  Thomas  W.  and  Bettie  (Gough) 
Hix.  His  father  was  born  in  Appomattox  County,  Virginia,  in 
1832,  grew  up  there  on  a  farm,  served  all  through  the  war  as  a 
Confederate  soldier,  graduated  from  Jefferson  Medical  College 
of  Philadelphia,  and  practiced  for  some  years  at  Appomattox 
and  later  in  Prince  Edward  County.  He  was  at  the  height  of 
his  career  of  usefulness  when  he  died  in  1884.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Baptist  Church  and  the  Masonic  fraternity.  The  wife 
of  Dr.  Thomas  W.  Hix  was  born  in  Campbell  County,  Virginia, 
in  1834  and  died  in  1915.   Their  children  were:   William  G.,  an 


VIRGINIA  311 

educator,  who  died  at  Greensboro,  Alabama,  in  June  1929,  Jen- 
nie, who  married  W.  R.  Bracy;  Mary  A.,  who  married  Benjamin 
Hooper  and  died  at  Sheppards,  Virginia,  in  1926;  Thomas  B.,  a 
farmer;  John  W.,  a  business  man  of  Roanoke;  Elizabeth,  de- 
ceased ;  Lucv  A.,  deceased  wife  of  Charles  Garden ;  and  Nicholas 
F. 

Nicholas  Flood  Hix  attended  public  school  in  Prince  Edward 
County,  continuing  his  education  in  Randolph-Macon  Academy 
at  Bedford,  and  in  1894  graduated  from  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege. For  two  years  he  was  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Rust- 
burg  in  Campbell  County,  and  then  entered  the  medical  depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  was  graduated  with  the 
M.  D.  degree  in  1900,  and  from  1900  to  1904  practiced  at  Gate 
City,  Alabama.  He  returned  to  Virginia  and  since  1904  has  made 
his  home  and  professional  residence  at  Wise.  Doctor  Hix  has 
kept  in  touch  with  professional  interests  by  post-graduate  study, 
having  attended  the  Chicago  Fost-Graduate  College  of  Medicine 
in  1916  and  has  frequently  attended  clinics  at  Louisville  and  else- 
where. He  is  a  member  of  the  Wise  County  Medical  Society, 
Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  and  during  the  World  war  was  med- 
ical examiner  for  the  Wise  County  Draft  Board. 

Doctor  Hix  has  been  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Welfare  of 
Wise  County,  and  is  interested  in  the  coal  industry  and  owns  and 
operates  several  farms  in  the  county.  He  is  a  Democrat,  member 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  is  a  deacon  in  the 
Baptist  Church  at  Wise. 

Doctor  Hix  married,  February  9,  1908,  Miss  Ethel  Mae  Ful- 
ton, daughter  of  Judge  Elbert  and  Sophronia  (Dotson)  Fulton. 
Mrs.  Hix  was  educated  in  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  at 
Lynchburg.  They  have  three  daughters,  Elizabeth  Jacquelin, 
Margaret  Fulton  and  Ethel  Mae. 

Eugene  P.  Cox,  physician  and  surgeon  at  Norton,  is  a  na- 
tive Virginian,  was  a  medical  officer  overseas  during  the  World 
war,  and  had  had  a  very  interesting  range  of  service  and  expe- 
rience since  getting  his  medical  degree. 

He  was  born  in  Scott  County,  Virginia,  September  27,  1887. 
His  great-grandfather,  David  L.  Cocke,  settled  at  Foi't  Black- 
more  during  the  time  of  Daniel  Boone.  Doctor  Cox's  grand- 
father, Robert  K.  Cocke,  was  born  at  Fort  Blackmore,  became  a 
physician  and  surgeon,  doing  a  great  deal  of  country  practice  in 
the  early  days  around  Fort  Blackmore,  where  he  lived  until  his 
death  in  April,  1887.  His  wife,  Nancy  Buster,  died  in  1896.  Jo- 
seph N.  Cox,  father  of  Doctor  Cox,  was  born  at  Fort  Blackmore 
December  8,  1854,  grew  up  and  married  there,  and  in  1887  moved 
to  Wood,  Scott  County,  where  he  was  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser 
until  his  death  on  December  19,  1913.  He  served  three  terms  as 
county  supervisor.  He  was  a  Mason  and  member  of  the  Free 
Will  Baptist  Church.  His  wife  was  Victoria  McClelland,  a  native 
of  Scott  County,  born  October  1,  1854. 

Eugene  P.  Cox  was  one  of  a  large  family  of  children  and 
grew  up  with  his  brothers  and  sisters  on  the  home  farm  at  Wood. 
He  attended  public  school  there,  and  in  1911  graduated  with  the 
A.  B.  degree  from  Emory  and  Henry  College.  With  a  substan- 
tial literary  education  he  entered  the  University  College  of  Medi- 
cine at  Richmond.  This  college  two  years  later  was  combined 
with  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  and  in  1915  he  was  given 
his  M.  D.  degree  by  this  institution,  completing  four  years  work. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Kappa  Psi  medical  fraternity.   Doctor  Cox 


312  VIRGINIA 

spent  most  of  the  year  1915  as  an  interne  in  the  Lewis  Gale 
Hospital  at  Roanoke.  He  began  practice  at  Clinchport,  soon  lo- 
cating at  Rye  Cove,  Virginia,  and  was  there  at  the  time  of  the 
World  war. 

Doctor  Cox  volunteered  in  October,  1917,  was  commissioned 
a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Medical  Corps  December  8,  and  in  Jan- 
uary, 1918,  was  called  to  the  colors  at  Fort  Oglethorpe  and  six 
weeks  later  was  transferred  to  Camp  Wadsworth,  Spartanburg, 
South  Carolina.  In  August,  1918,  he  went  overseas  as  assistant 
regimental  surgeon  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Pioneer  Infantry.  He 
landed  at  Brest  September  12,  was  sent  to  the  Argonne  sector 
in  the  same  month  and  remained  there  until  after  the  armistice. 
During  several  months  after  the  armistice  he  was  with  the  Amer- 
ican forces  at  Coblentz,  Germany.  On  June  26,  1919,  he  re- 
turned home,  and  received  his  honorable  discharge  at  Camp 
Lee  July  18,  1919. 

Doctor  Cox  resumed  his  practice  at  Rye  Cove,  remaining 
there  until  September,  1922,  when  he  removed  to  Norton,  and 
has  become  one  of  the  recognized  leaders  of  his  profession  in  that 
community  of  Wise  County.  He  has  his  office  in  the  Kemmerer 
Building.  Doctor  Cox  is  a  member  of  the  Wise  County,  Virginia 
State  and  American  Medical  Associations.  He  is  a  Democrat  in 
politics,  and  a  member  of  Norton  Post  No.  143,  American  Legion. 

He  married,  February  8,  1916,  Miss  Myrtelle  Mitchell,  daugh- 
ter of  William  and  Venus  (Fugate)  Mitchell.  Her  father  was  a 
farmer  and  Hereford  cattle  breeder.  Mrs.  Cox  finished  her  edu- 
cation in  Sullins  College  at  Bristol,  Virginia.  Thev  have  a  son, 
.Joe  Mitchell  Cox,  born  April  28,  1918. 

William  R.  Culbertson,  M.  D.,  was  for  a  number  of  years 
successfully  engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  medicine  in 
Southwestern  Virginia.  Then  came  the  World  war,  he  became 
a  medical  officer,  and  at  its  close  he  entered  the  United  States 
Public  Health  Service,  and  as  county  health  officer  of  Wise  Coun- 
ty he  has  for  sevei-al  years  devoted  all  his  professional  expe- 
rience and  ability  to  the  tasks  and  responsibilities  of  leadership 
in  one  of  the  broadest  and  most  salutary  movements  in  our  na- 
tion's history. 

Doctor  Culbertson  was  born  in  Scott  County,  Virginia,  July 
21,  1879,  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (McConnell)  Culbertson.  His 
father  spent  his  active  life  as  a  merchant  in  Western  Virginia. 
Doctor  Culbertson  grew  up  in  the  home  of  a  business  man,  had 
the  advantages  of  the  public  schools  of  Scott  County,  and  as  a 
young  man  taught  there  for  three  years.  His  preparation  for  a 
career  in  life  came  as  the  result  of  his  own  earnings  and  efforts. 
Doctor  Culbertson  for  two  years  attended  the  Medical  College  of 
Virginia  at  Richmond  and  in  1904  he  was  graduated  from  the 
Baltimore  University  College  of  Medicine  at  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land. 

After  graduating  Doctor  Culbertson  located  at  Coeburn,  Vir- 
ginia, and  had  all  the  routine  service  of  a  village  and  country 
doctor  there  for  a  number  of  years.  He  was  commissioned  a  first 
lieutenant  in  the  Army  Medical  Corps  and  in  1918  was  sent  for 
duty  to  Camp  Wadsworth,  South  Carolina,  remaining  until  after 
the  armistice. 

He  was  honorably  discharged  in  December,  1918,  and  was 
then  assigned  under  the  United  States  Pubhc  Health  Service  to 
duty  at  Norton,  Virginia,  having  charge  of  the  campaign 
against  venereal  diseases  in  this  section  of  Virginia.    A  year 


I 


ft 


VIRGINIA  313 

later  he  was  appointed  county  health  officer  of  Wise  County 
under  the  State  Board  of  Health,  and  at  the  same  time  was  put 
on  the  reserve  list  in  the  United  States  Public  Health  Service. 
Since  becoming  county  health  officer  he  has  totally  reorganized 
the  work  of  his  office,  placing  it  on  a  basis  of  efficiency,  measured 
not  only  by  his  individual  capacity  and  zeal  in  the  work,  but  he 
has  set  in  motion  the  routine  of  work  which  coordinates  with  the 
State  Public  Health  Service  and  affords  Wise  County  a  remark- 
able degree  of  protection  and  at  the  same  time  giving  the  people 
the  constant  influence  of  health  and  sanitary  propaganda. 

Doctor  Culbertson  is  a  member  and  secretary  of  the  Wise 
County,  Southern,  Clinch  Valley  and  American  Medical  Associa- 
tions, the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  is  former  president  of  the 
County  Society,  member  of  the  American  Public  Health  Service 
Association.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Shriner,  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Legion  and  Kiwanis  Club,  and  is  a  Pres- 
byterian. 

Doctor  Culbertson  married  Miss  Mazela  Dingus,  of  Scott 
County,  daughter  of  Philip  Dingus,  a  well  known  planter.  Mrs. 
Culbertson  finished  her  education  in  Sullins  College  at  Bristol. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  Civic  Club  of  Norton,  the  Eastern  Star 
Chapter,  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  They  have 
three  children:  Joseph,  born  August  10.  1907,  a  graduate  of 
the  Norton  High  School,  now  attending  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia; Leon,  born  May  14,  1910,  member  of  the  class  of  1928  in 
the  Greenbrier  Military  School  at  Louisburg,  West  Virginia ; 
and  William,  born  May  16,  1916. 

Victor  Levin  Floyd.  One  of  the  few  i-etail  commercial 
houses  that  have  had  a  continuous  existence  and  service  since  the 
close  of  the  Civil  war  is  the  V.  L.  Floyd  Grocery  Company  of 
Richmond,  a  business  that  was  founded  by  the  late  Victor 
Levin  Floyd,  and  which  remains  today  a  growing  concern  con- 
ducted by  members  of  his  family. 

Victor  Levin  Floyd  was  born  in  Northampton  County,  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia,  December  7,  1837,  and  died  at  Rich- 
mond in  February  13,  1911,  when  in  his  seventy-third  year.  This 
branch  of  the  Floyd  familj'  came  from  England,  there  being 
two  brothers  who  arrived  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  one  of 
whom  fettled  on  the  Eastern  Shore.  His  father  was  Captain 
Berry  Floyd,  a  plantation  owner  and  sea  captain,  who  owned 
and  operated  a  boat  from  Cape  Charles  to  Boston  IMassachu- 
setts,  making  a  great  number  of  voyages  up  and  down  the  coast, 
until  finally  he  lost  his  life  at  sea.  Captain  Berry  Floyd  married 
Lavinia  Nottingham,  of  Virginia,  and  of  their  seven  children 
Victor  L.  was  the  third. 

Victor  L.  Floyd  attended  private  schools  in  Accomac  County 
was  a  farmer  for  several  years,  and  before  the  war  owned  a 
large  plantation  and  a  number  of  slaves.  When  the  War  between 
the  States  came  on  he  joined  the  Hampton  Grays,  and  was  in 
the  war  from  beginning  to  end,  a  period  of  four  years.  Twice 
he  was  wounded  in  battle  and  once  was  taken  prisoner.  He  was 
finally  released  after  the  end  of  hostilities.  Before  the  war  he 
had  sold  his  plantation  and  his  slaves  and  for  two  years  was  in 
business  as  a  wheelwright.  In  186.5  he  established  a  retail 
grocery  business  in  Richmond,  located  on  Brook  Road,  and  he 
made  his  store  an  important  institution  of  a  prosperous  city 
community  and  gave  to  it  the  most  active  years  of  his  life. 


314  VIRGINIA 

However,  not  all  his  time  was  taken  up  with  business.  He 
served  two  terms,  eight  years,  as  a  local  magistrate,  was  influen- 
tial in  the  Democratic  party,  was  a  member  of  the  Robert  E.  Lee 
Camp  of  Confederate  Veterans,  and  he  and  all  his  family  be- 
longed to  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  and  his  sons  became  Ma- 
sons and  the  daughters  joined  the  United  Daughters  of  the 
Confederacy. 

Mr.  Floyd  married,  December  1,  1869,  Miss  Lucy  Dabney 
Walton,  of  Henrico  County,  Virginia,  who  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated there,  attending  private  schools.  Her  father,  Robert  G.  W. 
Walton,  was  a  land  owner  in  Henrico  County  and  had  served 
as  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812.  Her  mother  was  Frances  Black- 
burn.   Mrs.  Floyd  was  the  ninth  in  a  family  of  twelve  children. 

Mrs.  Floyd,  whose  home  is  at  5016  New  Kent  Road  in  Rich- 
mond, is  the  mother  of  eight  children.  Her  son  James  Herbert, 
a  city  employe,  married  Lulu  Harris  and  had  two  children.  Ruby 
Camille,  who  is  the  wife  of  J.  N.  Bowen,  and  Henry  Page,  a 
postal  employe.  Victor  Levin,  Jr.,  died  in  1905.  He  married 
Inez  Vaughan  and  had  two  children.  Walker  Bryan  and  Victor 
Levin  III.  Harry  Lee  Floyd  and  his  next  younger  brother,  Gar- 
nett  Floyd,  are  merchants  at  Richmond,  being  associated  in 
carrying  on  the  grocery  business  of  V.  L.  Floyd  Grocery  Com- 
pany, founded  by  their  father  in  1865.  Harry  Lee  married 
Emma  Foster  and  has  three  children,  Emily  Florence,  now  Mrs. 
W.  Moore,  Harry  Lee,  Jr.,  and  Lavinia  Louise.  Garnett  mar- 
ried Jennie  Pyper,  and  they  had  six  daughters,  the  oldest,  Lil- 
lian Frances,  being  the  wife  of  J.  E.  Lindsey  and  the  mother 
of  a  daughter,  Dorothy  Keith,  while  the  other  children  are 
Marion  Hope,  Vera  Belle,  Lucy  Virginia,  Jeanne  Garnett  and 
Elizabeth  Keith.  Marion  Edward  Floyd  is  a  city  employe  at 
Richmond,  and  by  his  marriage  with  Mrs.  Marie  Lystand  has 
two  children,  Marion  Edward,  Jr.,  and  Eleanor  Belle.  Miss 
Lulu  Belle  Floyd  and  Miss  Winnie  Davis  Floyd  both  reside  in 
Richmond.  The  youngest  of  the  family  is  Nannie  Estelle,  wife 
of  W.  W.  Buran,  a  merchant  at  White  Sulphur  Springs,  West 
Virginia,  and  they  have  two  children,  Wilburn  Wright  and  Lucy 
Floyd. 

Avery  Bryan  Graybeal,  physician  and  surgeon,  is  a  resident 
of  Marion,  Smyth  County,  where  he  conducts  a  general  practice 
and  also  acts  as  physician  to  several  industrial  organizations  in 
that  section. 

Doctor  Graybeal  was  born  at  Clifton,  North  Carolina,  Decem- 
ber 31,  1895,  and  he  grew  up  and  began  his  professional  career 
in  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  mountainous  districts  of 
Western  North  Carolina.  His  grandfather,  John  Graybeal,  was 
a  farmer  and  slave  owner  in  Ashe  County,  North  Carolina.  David 
Graybeal,  father  of  Doctor  Graybeal,  was  born  in  Ashe  County 
September  11,  1845,  and  was  member  of  a  North  Carolina  Regi- 
ment of  Infantry  during  the  last  three  years  of  the  Civil  war, 
and  in  after  years  was  affiliated  with  the  United  Confederate 
Veterans.  He  spent  his  active  career  as  a  farmer  in  Ashe  Coun- 
ty, and  died  March  8,  1925.  He  was  a  Democrat  and  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  married  Bethana 
Ashley,  who  was  born  at  Warrensville,  North  Carolina,  May  21, 
1853,  and  died  February  9,  1926.  They  had  a  large  family  of 
children:  Martha,  who  married  Marion  F.  Miller;  Mary  Ann, 
who  married  Scott  Genry;  Joseph,  who  died  in  1897;  Evelyn, 
who  died  in  infancy;  James  M.,  who  became  an  eye,  ear,  nose 


VIRGINIA  315 

and  throat  specialist  in  Montana;  William  Reece;  Charles  E.; 
Minnie  Ethel,  who  married  Guy  Eller;  Albert;  and  Avery  B. 

Avery  B.  Graybeal  was  reared  in  Ashe  County,  attended  lo- 
cal schools  and  graduated  in  1912  from  the  Appalachian  Train- 
ing School  at  Boone.  During  1913-14  he  was  a  student  at  the 
North  Carolina  Medical  College  at  Charlotte  and  in  1917  took 
his  medical  degree  from  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  at  Rich- 
mond. Doctor  Graybeal  practiced  at  Clifton,  North  Carolina, 
two  and  a  half  years,  and  then  two  years  at  Grassy  Creek  in  his 
old  home  neighborhood.  During  the  World  war  he  was  medical 
examiner  of  the  Draft  Board  of  Ashe  County.  In  1922  he  lo- 
cated at  Grant  in  Grayson  County,  Virginia,  and  since  Septem- 
ber, 1925,  has  practiced  at  Marion  in  Smyth  County.  He  is  a 
well  trained  physician  and  surgeon  and  also  has  the  facilities 
for  the  practice  of  electro  therapy.  He  acts  as  examiner  for  life 
insurance  companies  and  is  physician  to  the  Virginia  Table 
Company,  the  Lincoln  Company,  Knight  Brothers  Brick  and 
Tile  Company.  Doctor  Graybeal  is  a  member  of  the  Southwesi 
Virginia  Medical  Society,  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia  and 
the  American  Medical  Association. 

Fraternally  he  is  affiliated  with  the  Lodge  and  Royal  Arch 
Chapter  of  Masonry,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  Methodist,  and  in  the 
Kiwanis  Club  is  chairman  of  the  committee  on  child  welfare. 
He  married  at  Boone,  North  Carolina,  August  21,  1917,  Miss 
Mary  Frances  Payne.  Her  father.  James  JI.  Payne,  was  a  Bap- 
tist minister.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Graybeal  have  two  children : 
Averv  Brvan,  J.,  born  March  8,  1919,  and  Kent  Payne,  born  May 
15,  1922. 

Chester  Arthur  Hutchinson,  physician  and  surgeon  at 
Appalachia,  Wise  County,  was  born  in  that  section  of  Virginia, 
and  in  his  professional  career  and  as  a  private  citizen  has  done 
honor  to  one  of  the  old  and  prominent  names  in  the  Virginia 
Highlands. 

The  Hutchinson  family  was  transplanted  from  Ireland  to 
Virginia  in  the  early  Colonial  period.  Doctor  Hutchinson's  great- 
grandfather, Emanuel  Hutchinson,  was  a  native  of  Scott  County, 
Virginia,  but  as  a  minister  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
went  about  over  a  large  section  of  Southwestern  Virginia,  and 
died  in  Wise  County.  He  married  Nancy  Carter,  a  native  of 
Scott  County.  Their  sen,  Francis  Hutchinson,  was  born  in  Scott 
County  in  1825.  in  early  life  was  a  school  teacher,  later  a  farmer, 
and  was  a  Union  soldier  during  the  Civil  war,  enlisting  in  1861 
in  Kentucky  and  saw  service  under  General,  after  President, 
Garfield.  He  was  in  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  He  died  in  Wise 
County  February  14,  1907.  His  wife,  Matilda  Howell,  was  born 
in  North  Carolina  in  1837,  and  died  in  April.  1887. 

They  were  the  grandparents  of  Doctor  Hutchinson.  The  lat- 
'ter's  father  was  Peter  F.  Hutchinson,  who  was  born  in  Wise 
County  May  4,  1860,  and  throughout  his  active  career  was  a 
farmer  and  fruit  grower.  He  has  voted  as  a  Republican,  is  a 
member  of  the  ^lethodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  Peter  F.  Hutchinson  married  Jane  Free- 
man, who  was  born  in  Wise  County  June  26,  1857,  and  died  Octo- 
ber 11,  1920.  The  Freeman  family  is  of  German  ancestry,  was 
established  in  Virginia  in  Colonial  times,  and  her  father,  Joseph 
Freeman,  was  born  in  Wise  County  in  1832  and  died  in  1899, 
having  been  a  farmer  and  shoemaker.  He  was  a  Confederate 
soldier  in  the  last  two  years  of  the  Civil  war.   Joseph  Freeman 


316  VIRGINIA 

married  Sarah  Powers,  who  was  born  in  1828  and  died  in  1906. 
Her  father,  Jeremiah  Powers,  was  one  of  the  prominent  old  time 
citizens  of  Wise  County,  a  farmer,  was  the  first  justice  of  the 
peace  and  held  the  first  court  convened  in  the  county.  Peter  F. 
Hutchinson  and  wife  had  the  following  children:  Mary,  who 
married  Stephen  Davis ;  Elizabeth,  who  married  Calvin  B.  Stal- 
lard;  Joseph  Francis,  who  became  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Church ;  Chester  A. ;  Charles  Wesley ;  Julia,  wife  of  Alvin  Mul- 
lins;  Pearl  Adeline,  who  married  Stewart  Jessee;  Ava,  wife  of 
Emory  Davis;  Maude,  who  married  David  Davis;  Mrs.  Manilla 
Davis ;  Thomas ;  and  Troy  Howell  who  graduated  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia  in  Medicine  in  1929. 

Chester  Arthur  Hutchinson  was  born  in  Wise  County,  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1887,  graduated  from  high  school  at  Clintwood  in 
1906,  spent  two  years  in  the  University  of  Chattanooga  and  in 
1912  graduated  Doctor  of  Medicine  from  the  Atlanta  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons.  As  a  graduate  of  this  school  he  is  an 
alumnus  of  Emory  University.  Doctor  Hutchinson  has  had  a 
wide  experience  in  surgery  and  general  medicine,  and  in  addi- 
tion to  the  opportunities  presented  by  his  practice  he  has  at- 
tended various  clinics  and  post-graduate  courses,  spending  some 
time  with  the  Mayo  Brothers  at  Rochester,  Minnesota.  After 
graduating  from  college  he  practiced  one  year  at  Athens,  Ten- 
nessee, one  year  at  Pittsburg,  Georgia,  for  four  years  was  sur- 
geon for  the  Stonega  Coal  &  Coke  Company  in  Wise  County, 
Virginia,  and  for  four  years  chief  surgeon  for  the  Blackwood 
Coal  &  Coke  Company  at  Blackwood.  His  home  and  professional 
connections  have  been  established  at  Appalachia  since  January 
1,  1923.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Wise  County,  Virginia  State 
and  American  Medical  Associations. 

Doctor  Hutchinson  is  aflflliated  with  Appalachia  Lodge  No. 
229,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Stevenson  Chapter  No.  19,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  Cyrene  Commandery  No.  21,  Knights  Templar,  Acca 
Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Richmond,  Roanoke  Consistory 
of  the  Scottish  Rite,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias.  He  is  a  Republican  and  member  of  the  First  Presby 
terian  Church  at  Appalachia. 

Doctor  Hutchinson  married,  September  6,  1909,  Miss  Viola 
Hamilton,  daughter  of  J.  Hopkins  and  Sallie  Ann  (Neal)  Hamil- 
ton. Mrs.  Hutchinson  graduated  from  the  Clintwood  High 
School  and  for  several  years  taught  in  Wise  County.  They  have 
three  children :  Joseph  Newell,  born  June  14,  1910,  Georgia 
Leigh,  born  October  20,  1915,  and  Claudia,  born  July  8,  1919. 

Capt.  Abel  L.  Huntley  is  one  of  the  veterans  of  the  mari- 
time transportation  interests  who  have  found  home  and  business 
connections  in  the  Norfolk  section  of  Virginia.  Captain  Huntley 
is  a  New  Englander,  but  married  his  wife  in  Virginia,  and  he 
represents  some  of  the  old  and  prominent  lines  of  Virginia 
descent.    Their  home  is  at  714  Reservoir  Street  in  Norfolk. 

Captain  Huntley  was  born  at  Black  Hall,  Connecticut.  His 
father  was  a  Connecticut  farmer  and  a  veteran  of  both  the  Mexi- 
can and  Civil  wars.  His  mother  was  Jane  (Waters)  Huntley. 
Captain  Huntley  was  educated  in  the  Black  Hall  schools  and  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  began  employment  with  the  Thames  Tow 
Boat  Company,  and  remained  in  the  service  of  that  organization 
forty-four  years.  Later  he  joined  the  Thomas  J.  Howard  Com- 
pany of  New  York  City,  and  is  now  master  and  captain  of  their 
tow  boat,  William  G.  Howard,  which  claims  Norfolk  as  its  home 


V^^^'^K>^^>^K<SJ-JOoO^^SlP 


VIRGINIA  317 

port.     Captain  Huntley  is  a  member  of  the  Master  Mates  and 
Pilots  Association. 

He  married,  August  23,  1911,  at  Norfolk,  Mrs.  Bettie  Frances 
(Dabney)  Johnson.  She  was  born  in  Albemarle  County,  Vir- 
ginia, daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  Elizabeth  (Proffitt)  Dabney. 
Both  the  Proffitt  and  Dabney  families  have  been  in  Virginia  since 
Colonial  times.  The  Proffitts  were  of  French  Huguenot  origin. 
The  Dabneys  were  early  settlers  around  Richmond,  and  many 
of  them  have  been  prominent  in  business  and  professional  life. 
Mrs.  Hunt'ey  was  the  seventh  child  in  a  lai-ge  family  of  twenty- 
five  children  of  her  father.  She  was  first  married,  December  27, 
1891,  to  John  Walter  Johnson,  of  Louisa  County,  Virginia.  By 
that  marriage  she  had  three  children :  Albert  Mason  Johnson,  a 
Government  employe,  married  Edna  Lee  Dobbs,  of  Norfolk,  and 
has  a  son,  Albert  Mason,  Jr. ;  Daisy  Pleasents  is  the  wife  of  Dr. 
James  L.  Carmony,  of  Baltimore,  who  served  as  first  lieutenant 
in  the  army  during  the  World  war ;  and  Roy  Dabney  Johnson, 
married  Virginia  Cutler,  of  Newport  News.  Mrs.  Huntley  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Hon.  William  Robertson  McKenney.  A  student  by  nature, 
taking  an  especial  interest  in  educational  and  political  affairs, 
Hon.  William  Robertson  McKenney,  late  of  Petersburg,  held  an 
assured  position  in  legal  circles,  and  while  a  member  of  Congress 
did  much  to  promote  the  healthy  growth  of  city,  county  and 
state.  A  son  of  Robert  Armstrong  McKenney,  he  was  born 
December  2,  1851,  in  Petersburg,  of  substantial  Scotch  and  Eng- 
lish ancestry.  For  a  few  generations  prior  to  locating  in  Vir- 
ginia the  McKenney  family,  it  is  said,  resided  in  Maryland,  and 
were  citizens  of  prominence. 

Robert  Armstrong  McKenney  married  Virginia  Robertson,  a 
great-great-great-granddaughter  of  Ale.xander  Spotswood,  who 
served  as  governor  of  the  Colony  of  Virginia  for  a  number  of 
years.  On  the  maternal  side  she  was  of  distinguished  lineage, 
her  father.  William  Robertson,  having  married  Ann  Spotswood, 
a  daughter  of  Capt.  John  and  Sallie  (Rowzie)  Spotswood,  and 
granddaughter  of  John  and  Mary  (Dandridge)  Spotswood,  the 
said  Mary  Dandridge  having  been  a  daughter  of  William  Dand- 
ridge. who  served  as  a  captain  in  the  English  navy.  After  leav- 
ing the  navy  he  came  to  this  country,  locating  in  Virginia,  where 
he  was  subsequently  appointed  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to 
locate  the  boundary  lines  of  Virginia. 

Receiving  excellent  educational  advantages  when  young, 
William  Robertson  McKenney  was  a  pupil  in  the  first  class 
organized  after  the  establishment  of  McCabe's  Preparatory 
School.  Entering  the  University  of  Virginia  in  the  fall  of 
1872,  he  studied  there  a  year,  after  which  he  taught  for  a  year 
in  the  McCabe  School.  Returning  then  to  the  university,  he 
completed  the  academic  cour.se  and  subsequently  entered  the 
law  department  of  the  ITniversity  of  Virginia,  from  which  he 
was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  LL.  B.  in  1876. 

Immediately  beginning  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Petersburg,  Mr.  McKenney  met  with  good  success  in  his  labors, 
his  practice  widening  year  by  year,  his  counsel  being  sought 
not  only  in  his  native  city,  but  in  surrounding  communities. 
Becoming  active  in  public  affairs,  he  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Common  Council  many  years,  a  part  of  the  time  being  its  presi- 
dent, and  was  also  for  many  terms  a  member  of  the  local  Board 
of  Education.     In   1895  he  had  the  honor  of  being  elected  to 


318  VIRGINIA 

represent  the  Fourth  Virginia  Congressional  District,  and  while 
there  performed  the  duties  devolving  upon  him  most  faithfully. 
Physically  and  mentally  alert  and  strong,  his  sudden  death  on 
January  2,  1916,  from  that  dread  disease  pneumonia  was  a 
shock  to  the  entire  community,  and  deeply  deplored  by  old  and 
young. 

Mr.  McKenney  married,  December  2,  1878,  Miss  Clara  Jus- 
tine Pickrell,  who  was  born  in  New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Addison  and  Justine  (Lockett)  Pickrell,  and  granddaugh- 
ter of  Henry  and  Amelia  (Fontenelle)  Lockett.  Having  been 
a  young  child  when  her  parents  died,  Mrs.  McKenney  was 
brought  up  by  her  paternal  grandparents.  She  is  a  woman  of 
culture  and  refinement,  practical  and  generous  in  the  expenditure 
of  her  money,  placing  it  where  it  will  be  of  the  greatest  benefit 
to  the  general  public.  In  1924  Mrs.  McKenney  presented  the 
McKenney  home  on  Sycamore  Street  to  the  city,  said  home  to 
be  used  as  a  Free  Libi'ary  Building,  for  which  it  is  admirably 
adapted,  the  library  itself  being  now  known  as  the  William 
Robertson  McKenney  Free  Library. 

At  this  writing,  in  1927,  Mrs.  McKenney  still  resides  in 
Petersburg,  where  she  has  the  love  and  respect  of  the  entire 
community.  Of  her  marriage  with  Mr.  McKenney  five  children 
were  born,  namely :  Anne  Pickrell,  William  Robertson,  Jr.,  Vir- 
ginia Spotswood,  Clara  Justine  and  Robert  Armstrong,  of  whom 
a  brief  account  appears  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

Robert  Armstrong  McKenney.  A  man  of  excellent  char- 
acter, and  a  most  congenial  companion,  Robert  Armstrong  Mc- 
Kenney has  followed  the  professional  footsteps  of  his  father,  the 
late  William  R.  McKenney,  and  is  rapidly  gaining  a  stable  posi- 
tion among  the  active  and  able  attorneys  of  Petersburg.  He 
was  born  in  Petei'sburg,  Virginia,  August  9,  1893,  coming  on 
both  sides  of  the  house  of  honored  ancestry. 

His  paternal  grandfather,  Robert  A.  McKenney  I,  married 
Virginia  Robertson,  a  daughter  of  Williaim  and  Ann  (Spots- 
wood)  Robertson.  Through  this  grandmother  he  is  a  direct 
descendant  of  William  Dandridge,  who  served  for  a  time 
as  captain  of  a  vessel  belonging  to  the  English  Navy,  but  subse- 
quently immigrated  to  America,  becoming  a  pioneer  settler  of 
Virginia.  Taking  an  active  part  in  the  public  afi'airs  of  the  new 
colony,  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  establish 
the  boundary  line  between  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 
Further  ancestral  history  may  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  volume, 
in  connection  with  the  sketch  of  the  late  William  R.  McKenney. 

Fitted  for  college  in  Hall  and  Arrington's  Academy  in  Peters- 
burg and  in  the  Woodbury  Forest  School  at  Orange,  Virginia, 
Robert  Armstrong  McKenney  studied  for  a  time  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia.  He  subsequently  entered  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege at  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  and  was  there  graduated  in 
1917,  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  On  March  28,  1917,  Mr.  McKen-  ' 
ney  enlisted  for  service  in  the  World  war,  and  was  assigned 
to  the  navy,  which  was  then  making  strenuous  efforts  to  clear 
the  ocean  of  mines  and  destroyers.  Much  of  his  time  was  there- 
fore spent  on  foreign  waters,  serving  first  as  a  third  class 
quartermaster,  but  later  being  promoted  to  the  first  class,  a  rank 
he  maintained  until  his  honorable  discharge  from  the  service  on 
June  6,  1919. 

Very  soon  after  his  return  to  Petersburg  Mr.  McKenney  be- 
came assistant  secretary-treasurer  of  the  Banking  Trust  and 


VIRGINIA  319 

Mortgage  Company,  a  position  he  retained  until  1924.  In  that 
year,  having  a  decided  inclination  for  legal  work,  he  entered 
the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  in  1927.  Immediately  opening  an  office  in 
Petersburg,  he  met  with  encouraging  success  from  the  start,  his 
unsparing  pains  and  patience  in  behalf  of  his  clients  being  sure 
to  win  him  an  extensive  patronage. 

Mr.  McKenney  married,  in  1920,  Miss  Katherine  Friend 
Jones,  who  was  born  in  Petersburg,  a  daughter  of  William  Bland 
Pryor  and  Mary  Nowlen  (Meacham)  Jones.  One  child,  Ann 
Pickrell  McKenney,  has  blessed  their  union.  Fraternally  Mr. 
McKenney  belongs  to  two  college  fraternities,  the  Phi  Alpha 
Delta  and  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  (honorary).  He  is  also  a  Mason, 
and  a  member  of  the  American  Legion.  Both  he  and  his  wife 
are  faithful  members  of  Saint  Paul's  Episcopal  Church. 

Joseph  B.  Wolfe,  Jr.,  physician  and  surgeon,  with  home  at 
Coeburn,  Wise  County,  is  an  eminent  representative  of  his  pro- 
fession in  Southwestern  Virginia.  He  has  practiced  over  thirty- 
five  years.  He  brought  to  his  work  a  thorough  education,  natural 
gifts,  and  also  the  traditions  of  a  family  many  of  whose  members 
have  been  doctors  in  the  previous  generations. 

Doctor  Wolfe  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  but  his  family  has 
lived  in  Virginia  for  many  years.  His  grandfather,  Ezra  M. 
Wolfe,  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  of  German  ancestry,  and 
for  many  years  was  in  business  as  a  merchant  at  Chai'lottes- 
ville,  Virginia.  His  wife,  Lucy  Bishop,  was  a  daughter  of  Dr. 
Joe  Bishop,  a  physician  at  Patrick  County,  Virginia. 

The  father  of  Doctor  Wolfe  of  Coeburn  was  Joseph  B.  Wolfe, 
Sr.,  who  was  bom  at  Charlottesville,  Virginia,  February  18, 
1832.  He  took  the  degree  in  medicine  from  the  University  of 
Virginia,  practiced  in  Scott  County  until  1862,  and  from  that 
year  until  1870,  in  Wolfe  County.  Kentucky.  He  then  resumed 
his  professional  connections  with  Scott  County,  Virginia,  and 
had  practiced  fully  half  a  century  when  he  retired  in  1903.  He 
lived  in  Joplin,  Missouri,  until  his  death  on  June  19,  1906.  He 
was  for  twelve  years  superintendent  of  schools  of  Scott  County, 
was  a  staunch  Democrat,  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
the  Christian  Baptist  Church.  Doctor  Wolfe,  Sr.,  married  Sarah 
Horton  Wilson,  who  was  born  in  Russell  County,  Virginia,  De- 
cember 25,  1841.  There  were  nine  children  in  the  family:  Dr. 
Thomas  J.,  who  graduated  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  of  Baltimore ;  Lucy,  \\  ho  married  Logan  L.  Banner,  a 
physician;  Mollie,  who  married  James  0.  Kennedy;  Ezra  M.,  of 
Lebanon,  Virginia ;  Joseph  B.,  Jr. ;  Lindsay  C,  who  became  a 
Baptist  minister;  John  J.,  a  lawyer  at  Joplin,  Missouri;  Dr. 
Isaac  E..  a  physician  at  Coeburn ;  and  Annie,  who  died  in  child- 
hood. 

Joseph  B.  Wolfe,  J.,  was  born  in  Wolfe  County.  Kentucky, 
March  7,  1869.  He  was  reared  in  Scott  County,  Virginia,  at- 
tended a  private  school  in  Tennessee  for  a  time,  and  in  1891 
was  graduated  from  the  Louisville  Medical  College.  In  the  same 
year  he  began  practice  at  Coeburn,  and  for  many  years  that 
community  has  learned  to  rely  upon  him  for  his  professional 
skill,  his  rich  experience  in  diagnosis,  his  resourcefulness  in 
emergencies,  and  his  boundless  sympathy  and  kindliness.  For 
many  years  he  has  enjoyed  a  great  reputation  as  a  surgeon, 
though  his  practice  is  of  a  general  nature.  He  has  frequently 
absented  himself  for  brief  periods  of  time  to  come  in  touch  with 


320  VIRGINIA 

the  eminent  physicians  and  surgeons  of  the  great  medical  cen- 
ters. He  did  post-graduate  work  at  the  Philadelphia  Polyclinic 
in  1908,  1910,  1912  and  1914,  and  at  the  New  York  Polyclinic  in 
1900.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia  and 
the  Southern  and  American  Medical  Associations. 

Doctor  Wolfe  is  prominent  in  the  Masonic  fraternity,  being 
affiliated  with  Coeburn  Lodge  No.  97,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Craig 
Chapter  No.  31,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  Cyrene  Commandery  No. 
21,  Knights  Templar,  Acca  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at 
Richmond.  He  is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South. 

He  married  at  Coeburn,  September  22,  1892,  Miss  Julia 
Carico,  daughter  of  William  A.  and  Sarah  (Minton)  Carico.  Her 
father  was  a  Coeburn  merchant.  Mrs.  Wolfe  attended  Tazewell 
College  of  Virginia.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Wolfe  have  four  children : 
Annie,  who  married  Willard  Kilgore;  William,  who  became  a 
druggist;  Mary,  who  married  Burney  H.  Body;  and  Louise,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  two  years. 

Claude  B.  Bowyer  is  an  eminent  surgeon,  and  for  many 
years  has  specialized  in  industrial  practice  for  some  of  the  great 
coal  mining  organizations  of  Southwestern  Virginia.  His  home 
is  at  Stonega  in  Wise  County,  where  he  is  surgeon  in  charge  of 
the  local  hospital  and  the  general  medical  and  surgical  facilities 
of  the  Stonega  Coal  &  Coke  Company. 

Doctor  Bowyer  comes  of  a  long  line  of  professional  men,  and 
his  family  has  been  one  distinguished  by  personal  attainments 
and  services  in  many  fields  of  effort.  The  Bowyers  have  been  in 
Virginia  since  Colonial  times.  His  grandfather.  Dr.  Henry  Quin- 
cy  Adams  Bowyer,  was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Virginia,  was 
a  graduate  in  medicine  from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  at 
Philadelphia,  and  served  as  a  surgeon  in  the  Confederate  army. 
After  the  war  he  practiced  at  Rural  Retreat  in  Wythe  County 
until  his  death  at  the  age  of  sixty-five. 

The  father  of  Dr.  Claude  Bowyer  was  Dr.  Henry  L.  Bowyer, 
who  was  born  in  Franklin  County  October  8,  1853.  He  was 
reared  in  Wythe  County,  attended  local  schools  and  after  the 
war  began  preparation  for  the  medical  profession.  He  attended 
Roanoke  College  at  Salem,  graduated  Doctor  of  Medicine  from 
the  University  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  first  practiced  in 
Grayson  County.  He  subsequently  located  at  Emory,  and  was  an 
outstanding  member  of  his  profession  in  that  community  until 
his  death  on  January  28,  1927.  For  many  years  he  was  physi- 
cian and  surgeon  to  Emory  and  Henry  College,  and  during  the 
World  war  had  charge  of  the  Students  Army  Training  Camp  of 
the  college.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  a  Democrat  in  politics.  Dr.  Henry  L.  Bowyer  mar- 
ried Mary  Catherine  Painter,  a  native  of  Wythe  County,  Vir- 
ginia, where  she  was  born  in  1861.  There  were  ten  children  in 
the  family,  Claude  B.  being  the  oldest;  Helen  M.;  Warren  H. ; 
Clarence  P.,  Henry  L.  and  W.  Roscoe  were  all  in  service  during 
the  World  war,  and  the  latter  two  died  as  a  result  of  their  serv- 
ice; Miranda  married  Robert  M.  McKinney;  Mamie  J.;  Thomas; 
and  Douglas.  Thomas  Bowyer  is  a  graduate  of  the  Medical  Col- 
lege of  Virginia  and  is  now  an  interne  in  St.  Agnes  Hospital  at 
Baltimore. 

Claude  B.  Bowyer  was  born  in  Grayson  County,  Virginia, 
December  25,  1880.  He  grew  up  in  a  home  of  culture  and  re- 
finement, and  had  every  incentive  for  a  professional  career  in 


I 


VIRGINIA  321 

the  dignified  character  and  usefulness  exemplified  by  his  father. 
He  was  reared  in  the  scholastic  atmosphere  of  Emory  and  Henry 
College,  graduated  with  the  A.  B.  degree  from  that  institution 
in  1902,  and  in  1906  took  his  degree  in  medicine  at  the  Medical 
College  of  Virginia  at  Richmond.  He  was  in  New  York  in  1911 
and  1914,  in  the  Post-Graduate  Medical  School,  and  specialized 
in  industrial  medicine  at  Harvard  University  in  1921  and  1922. 
He  was  an  interne  in  the  Memorial  Hospital  of  Richmond  during 
1909-10.  Practically  all  his  professional  service  has  been  given 
to  the  community  at  Stonega,  and  for  several  years  he  acted  as 
surgeon  for  the  Stonega  Coal  &  Coke  Company,  for  the  Inter- 
state Railroad  Company  and  the  Southern  Railroad  Company, 
and  he  now  has  charge  of  all  the  collieries  operated  by  the 
Stonega  Company,  and  as  chief  of  the  medical  and  surgical  serv- 
ice has  eleven  physicians  acting  under  him  in  Virginia  and  West 
Virginia.  He  has  given  the  Company  Hospital  at  Stonega  an 
enviable  reputation. 

Doctor  Bo^^'>'er  for  six  years  was  secretary  of  the  Wise  Coun- 
ty Medical  Society,  is  a  member  of  the  Southern,  Virginia  State 
and  American  Medical  Associations,  and  is  a  charter  member  of 
the  Industrial  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  American  Medi- 
cal Association.  Besides  his  professional  connection  he  is  a 
stockholder  in  the  Stonega  Coal  &  Coke  Company  and  is  a  direc- 
tor of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Appalachia,  president  of  the 
Lonesome  Pine  Country  Club,  and  on  the  board  of  trustees  of 
Emory  and  Henry  College.  On  account  of  the  importance  of  his 
connections  with  the  essential  coal  industries  his  application  for 
active  military  service  was  declined  during  the  war.  Doctor 
Bowyer  is  a  Democratic  voter,  and  has  served  as  steward  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  at  Stonega. 

Charles  Lee  Morriss.  No  profession  to  which  man  can 
devote  his  time,  thought  and  attention  requires  more  dignity, 
kindness  of  spirit  and  genuine  sympathy  than  that  of  funeral 
director,  and  with  these  essential  qualities  Charles  Lee  Morriss, 
of  Petersburg,  is  amply  supplied,  his  kindly  attention  to  the 
minor  details  of  the  last  services  to  the  dead  alleviating  in 
great  measure  the  sorrow  of  relatives  and  friends.  A  son  of 
James  Tollerson  Morriss,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Petersburg,  Vir- 
ginia, of  Welsh  ancestry,  being  a  lineal  descendant  of  Charles 
Julius  Morriss,  a  native  and  life  long  resident  of  Charles  City 
County.  Virginia. 

James  Tollerson  Morriss,  Sr.,  grandfather  of  Charles  Lee 
Morriss,  was  born  January  10,  1797,  on  a  plantation  in  Charles 
City  County,  Virginia,  and  there  the  birth  of  his  son,  James 
Tollerson  Morriss,  Jr.,  occurred  on  April  7,  1836.  James  Tol- 
lerson Morriss,  Sr.,  owned  an  extensive  plantation,  which  he 
operated  with  the  help  of  his  many  slaves.  The  maiden  name 
of  his  first  wife,  grandmother  of  Charles  Lee  Morriss,  was 
Sarah  Ann  Howie.  She  was  born  in  Charles  City  County,  Vir- 
ginia, May  12,  1793,  a  daughter  of  Charles  and  Ann  Howie.  She 
died  in  middle  life,  and  her  husband  married  again. 

Quite  young  when  his  mother  died,  James  Tollerson  Morriss, 
Jr.,  left  home  after  the  advent  of  his  stepmother,  and  from  the 
age  of  sixteen  years  was  self-supporting.  Going  first  to  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  he  was  employed  as  a  pattern  maker  in  a  foun- 
dry. Locating  in  Petersburg  in  1848,  he  served  as  an  apprentice 
at  the  cabinet  maker's  trade  under  James  Caldwell,  in  whose 
employ  he  continued  until  1856.    He  then  engaged  in  the  furni- 


322  VIRGINIA 

ture  and  undertaking  business  on  his  own  account  on  Boiling 
Street.  Subsequently  enlarging  his  operations,  Mr.  Morriss  estab- 
lished the  business  of  funeral  director,  which  he  continued  until 
his  death,  June  8,  1890. 

The  maiden  name  of  the  wife  of  James  Tollerson  Morriss,  Jr., 
was  Parthenia  Lee  Ladd.  She  was  born  in  Dinwiddie  County, 
Virginia.  February  9,  1853,  a  daughter  of  William  LeRoy  Ladd, 
who  was  born  in  New  Kent  County,  Virginia,  where  his  father, 
LeRoy  Stith  Ladd,  the  son  of  David  Ladd,  a  Quaker,  who  owned 
a  plantation  which  he  managed  with  slave  help.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  war  William  LeRoy  Ladd  enlisted  in  the  Con- 
federate service  and  while  in  camp  was  stricken  with  typhoid 
fever  and  there  died.  To  James  T.  Morriss  and  his  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Parthenia  Lee  Ladd,  five  children  were  born, 
Charles  Lee,  Ella  Gale  Humphreys,  Martha  Lee  Bell,  Alice  Ran- 
dolph Hood  and  Annie  Rebecca  Guthrie.  Ella  Gale,  the  oldest 
daughter,  is  the  wife  of  Charles  Gilbert  Humphreys,  and  Martha 
Lee  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  Haney  Hardy  Bell.  Alice  Randolph  was 
the  wife  of  W.  M.  Hood  and  Annie  Rebecca  was  the  wife  of 
C.  L.  Guthrie. 

Charles  Lee  Morriss  obtained  his  first  knowledge  of  books 
in  the  Anderson  School,  afterwards  attending  the  old  high  school 
on  North  LTnion  Street.  When  seventeen  years  old  he  began 
working  with  his  father  who  had  established  an  undertaking 
business  in  1856,  and  subsequently  succeeded  to  the  business, 
which  he  is  carrying  on  very  successfully.  He  has  made  rapid 
progress  in  his  profession,  keeping  abreast  of  the  times  in  every 
respect,  having  one  of  the  most  complete,  up-to-date  funeral 
director  establishments  to  be  found  in  all  Virginia. 

Mr.  Morriss  married,  January  3,  1912,  Sarah  Grant  Triplett, 
who  was  born  in  Chester  County,  South  Carolina,  a  daughter 
of  Grover  and  Claudia  (Grant)  Triplett,  and  granddaughter  of 
Amzi  Triplett  of  Chester  County,  South  Carolina.  Both  the 
Triplett  and  Grant  ancestors  were  pioneer  settlers  of  Virginia, 
some  of  them  coming  from  England,  settling  in  South  Carolina 
rather  than  in  Virginia. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morriss  have  two  children,  James  Tollerson 
Morriss  IV  and  Sarah  Triplett  Morriss.  For  upwards  of  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  he  has  served  on  the  Official  Board  of  Trinity 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  he  and  his  family  are 
active  members.  Mr.  Morriss  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and 
a  member  of  the  Rotary  Club,  local  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
Country  Club. 

Samuel  H.  Yokley,  M.  D.  Standing  high  in  medical  science 
in  Southwest  Virginia  and  foremost  among  his  professional 
brethren  in  Washington  County  is  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Yokley,  physi- 
cian and  surgeon  at  Meadow  View,  Virginia,  and  formerly  health 
officer.  He  is  a  veteran  of  the  World  war,  and  since  its  close  a 
captain  in  the  United  States  Medical  Reserve  Corps.  Doctor 
Yokley  is  of  Revolutionary  stock.  The  Patriot  soldier  and  the 
founder  of  his  family  in  America  came  from  France  in  1770  and 
settled  in  what  was  then  Rowan  County,  North  Carolina,  and 
here  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Guilford  Court  House  under  Gen. 
Nathaniel  Greene  against  Lord  Cornwallis. 

Dr.  Samuel  H.  Yokley  was  born  at  Thomasville,  North  Caro- 
lina, October  15,  1879,  son  of  Judge  Samuel  and  Janie  Catherine 
(Tackett)   Yokley,  and  grandson  of  Lewis  Yokley.    The  grand- 


VIRGINIA  323 

father  acquired  an  extensive  tract  of  land  in  what  is  now  David- 
son County,  North  Carolina,  and  under  the  old  regime  before  the 
Civil  war  was  a  wealthy  planter  and  a  local  magistrate. 

Samuel  Yokley,  father  of  Doctor  Yokley,  justice  of  the  peace 
and  a  member  of  the  County  Court,  was  a  prominent  man  in 
North  Carolina  all  his  active  life.  He  owned  large  plantations  in 
Davidson  County,  where  he  reared  a  family  that  had  many  social 
connections  of  worth.  He  was  active  in  the  old  Whig  party  and 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Republican  party  in  his  section, 
which  many  times  called  him  to  positions  of  public  responsibil- 
ity. Throughout  his  life  he  was  a  faithful  member  of  the  German 
Reformed  Church.  He  married  Miss  Janie  Catherine  Tackett, 
who  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  her  Irish  ancestors  having  been 
early  settlers  there. 

Samuel  H.  Yokley  received  his  early  educational  training  at 
Thomasville  and  then  took  a  counse  in  the  Yadkin  Valley  Insti- 
tute at  Boonville,  which  prepared  him  for  college,  and  in  1904 
he  was  graduated  from  Wake  Forest  College  at  Wake  Forest, 
North  Carolina,  with  his  A.  B.  degree,  and  in  1905  he  won  his 
A.  M.  degree.  Of  versatile  talents  and  well  prepared  for  a  pro- 
fessional future,  Mr.  Yokley  entered  upon  the  study  of  law,  but 
after  a  year  of  application  and  more  mature  thought  he  came  to 
the  realization  that  another  profession,  medicine,  rather  than 
the  law,  appealed  to  him  more  urgently.  Later  he  completed  his 
medical  course  with  credit  in  the  University  College  of  Medicine 
at  Richmond,  Virginia,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1909, 
and  spent  one  and  a  half  years  as  an  interne  in  the  Sheltering 
Arms  Hospital  at  Hansford,  W'est  Virginia. 

Doctor  Yokley  first  established  himself  in  medical  practice  at 
Buena  Vista,  Virginia,  but  one  year  later  came  to  Meadow  View, 
where  he  has  continued  active  ever  since  with  the  exception  of 
his  period  of  war  service,  during  which  he  was  attached  to  Base 
Hospital  at  Camp  Custer,  Michigan,  entering  as  a  first  lieutenant 
and  emerging  with  the  rank  of  captain. 

In  1911  Doctor  Yokley  completed  a  post-graduate  course  in 
Tulane  University,  New  Orleans,  and  has  attended  important 
clinics  and  conventions  in  many  other  medical  centers.  Well  read 
and  experienced  in  every  branch  of  medical  science,  he  has  al- 
ways been  a  general  practitioner.  For  fifteen  years  he  has  been 
surgeon  for  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railway,  and  belongs  to  this 
sy.stem's  Railway  Surgeons  Association,  and  also  to  the  Southern 
Railway  Surgeons  Association,  and  is  examiner  for  twenty-three 
life  insurance  companies. 

In  June,  1922,  Doctor  Yokley  married  Miss  Marie  Layman, 
of  Botetourt  County,  Virginia,  daughter  of  George  W.  and  Mary 
(Moomaw)  Layman,  prominent  residents  of  Troutville,  Vir- 
ginia, ;\Ir.  Layman  being  a  retired  banker.  Mrs.  Y'okley  was  edu- 
cated at  Daleville  College  and  Brandon  Hall,  is  talented  in  music 
and  a  member  of  the  Meadow  View  Music  Club,  belongs  to  the 
American  Legion  Auxiliary,  and  is  a  leader  in  the  social,  club 
and  cultural  movements  that  promote  enjoyment  and  benefit  in 
community  life.  She  is  active  also  in  the  religious  body  in  which 
she  was  reared,  the  Church  of  the  Brethren. 

Doctor  Yokley  has  never  been  unduly  active  in  political  life, 
but  formerly  he  served  as  health  officer  at  ]\Ieadow  View.  He  is  a 
past  commander  of  American  Legion  Post  No.  12,  Abingdon,  be- 
longs to  the  Masonic  fraternity,  leading  medical  bodies  and  the 
Baptist  Church. 


324  VIRGINIA 

Robert  W.  Holley,  M.  D.  There  is  no  period  in  the  world's 
history  which  fails  to  demonstrate  that  exceptional  ability  and 
knowledge  rightly  applied  are  invariably  triumphant  and  last- 
ing, and  live  in  further  achievement  long  after  poor  finite  clay 
has  returned  to  its  original  elements.  In  medicine,  that  noble 
science  to  which  men  of  the  finest  and  best  on  earth  have  de- 
voted their  lives,  wonderful  progress  has  been  made,  but  each 
marvelous  discovery  and  surprising  achievement  have  been  the 
result  of  the  intelligent,  scientific  study  and  experiment  of  the 
physicians  and  surgeons  who,  each  one  during  his  span  of  life, 
added  to  the  sum  of  knowledge  to  a  greater  degree  as  circum- 
stances permitted.  Beyond  the  time  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  a 
knowledge  of  medicine  was  considered  essential.  In  the  Mosaic 
law  we  find  medical  and  sanitary  advice.  The  Greeks  defied  JEs- 
culapius  as  the  Father  of  Medicine,  and  on  down  through  the 
ages  to  the  present  day  there  have  been  men  of  renown  whose 
lives  and  abilities  have  been  given  over  unselfishly  to  wresting 
from  nature  the  secrets  so  necessary  to  the  general  preserva- 
tion of  health.  A  distinguished  member  of  the  medical  profession 
of  Virginia,  honored  and  beloved,  whose  useful  and  well  rounded 
life,  rich  in  good  deeds  and  high  endeavor,  measures  up  to  the 
above  mentioned  standards  is  Dr.  Robert  W.  Holley,  of  Appa- 
lachia. 

Doctor  Holley  was  born  in  Mendota,  Virginia,  June  14,  1877, 
a  son  of  Henry  C.  and  Martha  J.  (Hamilton)  Holley,  natives 
of  Virginia,  he  born  in  Franklin  County  and  she  in  Mendota,  and 
she  is  still  living,  but  he  died  in  1901.  For  years  he  was  a  farmer 
and  lumberman,  and  for  a  time  he  was  in  the  Government  serv- 
ice. During  the  war  between  the  states  he  served  in  the  Con- 
federate army.  The  Baptist  Church  had  in  him  a  devout  member 
and  faithful  worker.  The  maternal  grandfather,  John  M.  Hamil- 
ton, was  in  the  cattle  business  in  Mendota  for  many  years,  was 
an  active  Democrat,  and  postmaster  there  during  several  presi- 
dential administrations.  He  was  a  Mason  and  a  Methodist,  and 
one  of  the  well  known  men  of  his  times  and  locality. 

Doctor  Holley  attended  the  Mendota  High  School,  the  Medi- 
cal College  of  Virginia,  Richmond,  from  which  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1899  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine,  and  the 
New  York  Lying  In  Hospital,  where  in  1925  he  took  post-gradu- 
ate work  in  obstetrics.  For  two  years  after  securing  his  degree 
Doctor  Holley  was  engaged  in  a  general  practice  in  Mendota,  but 
then  became  contract  surgeon  for  the  Virginia  Iron  and  Coal 
Company,  and  was  located  at  Toms  Creek,  Virginia,  for  a  short 
time,  but  was  later  sent  to  Inman,  Virginia,  where  he  continued 
for  fifteen  years.  When  he  was  elected  treasurer  of  Wise  Coun- 
ty he  resigned  his  position  as  surgeon  and  held  his  elective  office, 
to  which  he  had  been  elected  as  the  regular  Republican  nominee, 
for  four  years.  Upon  the  completion  of  his  four  years  he  came  to 
Appalachia,  and  here  he  has  since  remained  in  private  practice, 
having  become  one  of  the  really  great  men  in  his  profession. 
Doctor  Holley  belongs  to  the  Wise  County  Medical  Society,  the 
Clinch  Valley  Medical  Society,  having  been  president  of  the 
former  at  one  time,  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society,  and  is 
physician  for  the  Standard  Oil  Company  and  examiner  for  all 
of  the  leading  insurance  companies  for  this  district.  He  is  a 
director  of  the  First  National  Bank,  the  Appalachia  Hotel  Cor- 
poration, president  and  director  of  the  Appalachia  Realty  Cor- 
poration, president  and  director  of  the  Old  Dominion  Drug 
Corporation,  a  director  of  the  Wise  County  Mutual  Building  & 


VIRGINIA  325 

Loan  Association,  and  a  trustee  and  member  of  the  staff  of  the 
Appalachia  Masonic  Hosjiital.  He  is  a  thirty-second  degree  and 
Shriner  Mason,  is  a  past  master  of  the  Blue  Lodge,  and  deputy 
grand  master  of  Virginia.  A  staunch  Republican,  in  addition  to 
the  office  already  mentioned  he  has  been  elected  to  the  City 
Council,  of  which  he  is  now  a  member,  and  to  the  office  of  school 
trustee.  For  two  years  he  was  chairman  of  the  Republican 
Central  Committee  of  Wise  County,  and  he  is  a  recognized  leader 
of  his  party.  Reared  a  Methodist,  he  has  continued  in  that  faith, 
and  is  now  a  steward  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
of  Appalachia. 

Doctor  Holley  married  Miss  Nila  Williams,  of  Cumberland 
Gap,  Tennessee,  a  daughter  of  Marion  Williams.  Mrs.  Holley 
was  educated  in  Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  and  is  a  cultured  lady  of 
many  social  graces,  an  ardent  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Holley  have  two  children :  Marian,  who  was 
graduated  from  Interment  College,  Bristol,  Virginia,  in  1926, 
married  J.  Frank  Richmond,  of  Gate  City,  Virginia;  and  Ruth, 
who  is  also  married. 

Hon.  Luther  E.  Fuller.  In  the  biographies  of  men  who 
have  attained  merited  distinction  in  American  law  there  are  com- 
bined charm  and  force  that  commend  them  to  every  sound  think- 
er. It  is  but  natural  to  feel  an  intei'est  in  tracing  the  footsteps 
of  those  who  have  reached  high  positions  in  public  confidence, 
and  who  have  wielded  their  influence  for  public  good ;  who,  lov- 
ing truth  and  integrity  for  their  own  sakes,  have  undeviatingly 
followed  their  dictates,  no  matter  what  the  personal  conse- 
quences might  be.  Records  of  this  character  are  calculated  to 
be  important  factors  in  the  raising  of  the  ministrations  of  law 
in  public  estimation,  and  should  serve  as  plain  guide  posts  tor 
the_  junior  members  of  the  profession  in  their  pursuit  of  reputa- 
tion, position  and  distinction.  Although  yet  in  the  very  heyday 
of  life,  Hon.  Luther  E.  Fuller,  commonwealth's  attorney  of  Rus- 
sell County,  has  already  made  just  such  a  record,  and  his  life 
has  been  a  succession  of  honors  and  he  may  look  forward  to 
many  more,  for  he  is  not  only  a  very  able  lawyer,  but  a  popular 
man,  and  the  only  Republican  to  be  elected  to  any  county  office 
for  twenty  years  in  Russell  County. 

Luther  E.  Fuller  was  born  in  Council,  Buchanan  County, 
Virginia,  January  15,  1897,  a  son  of  James  M.  and  Louisa  Grace 
(Woosley)  Fuller,  the  latter  of  whom  is  deceased,  but  the  former 
survives,  being  a  retired  merchant  of  Honaker,  and  one  of  the 
most  active  Republicans  of  the  county.  For  years  he  has  been 
one  of  the  moving  spirits  in  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, of  which  he  is  a  past  grand,  and  he  is  a  valued  member 
of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church.  The  paternal  grandfather, 
James  Harvey  Fuller  was  a  Russell  County  planter,  an  active 
Republican,  and  collector  of  taxes  in  his  part  of  Virginia  during 
the  war  between  the  states.  His  church  was  the  Missionary 
Baptist.  The  Fuller  family  was  established  in  the  American 
colonies  by  Sir  Edward  Fuller  and  his  wife.  Rose,  who  were 
among  the  passengers  of  the  Mayflower.  The  maternal  grand- 
father, Thomas  Woosley,  although  now  eighty-three  years  old, 
is  still  active  in  the  ministry  of  the  Christian  Church,  resides  in 
Buchanan,  and  is  beloved  by  all  who  know  him.  From  its  organ- 
ization a  member  of  the  Republican  party,  he  has  always  worked 
for  its  success  and  is  stifl  one  of  its  leaders  in  his  home  com- 
munity.    He  is  of  Scotch-Irish   descent.     Few  men   have  any 


326  VIRGINIA 

better  background  than  Attorney  Fuller,  and  he  is  proud  of  his 
forebears,  and  it  has  always  been  his  desire  to  live  up  to  their 
standards  and  prove  himself  worthy  of  them. 

Luther  E.  Fuller  was  educated  along  very  liberal  lines,  for 
after  he  had  completed  his  high-school  work  in  Buchanan  County 
he  attended  the  Mission  School  at  Council,  Virginia,  and  later 
William  and  Mary  College,  and  was  graduated  from  the  latter. 
His  law  training  was  taken  in  the  University  of  Richmond,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1923  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Laws.  For  one  year  thereafter  he  was  engaged  in  private 
practice  by  himself  at  Honaker,  but  in  1924  he  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Hon.  A.  T.  Griffith,  and  this  association  continued  for 
eighteen  months,  and  was  then  severed,  Mr.  Griffith  going  to 
Lebanon,  and  Mr.  Fuller  continuing  alone.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Russell  County  Bar  Association,  Virginia  Bar  Association, 
Delta  Theta  Pi,  the  Quill  and  Scimitar,  the  Commercial  Law 
League  of  America  and  the  Civitan  Club,  of  which  he  is  presi- 
dent. He  is  a  Blue  Lodge  Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Missionary 
Baptist  Church.  Like  his  father  and  grandfather,  he  is  a  zeal- 
ous Republican  and  served  for  four  years  as  chairman  of  the 
Republican  County  Central  Committee,  resigning  from  that  office 
when  he  became  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  the  office  of 
commonwealth's  attorney  in  1927.  At  the  time  he  was  mayor 
of  Honaker,  but  resigned  to  take  office  January  1,  1928,  as  com- 
monwealth's attorney,  to  which  he  was  elected  in  the  fall  of  1927. 
He  has  also  served  as  a  member  of  the  City  Council  of  Honaker. 
A  speaker  of  power  and  eloquence,  he  has  been  in  great  demand 
in  party  campaigns,  and  is  a  forceful  pleader  at  the  bar  and 
noted  as  a  criminal  lawyer.  Mr.  Fuller  is  attorney  for  the  Poto- 
mac Joint  Land  Bank  of  Washington  City,  and  is  also  actively 
engaged  in  the  insurance  business  in  partnership  with  his  uncle, 
owners  of  the  Honaker  Insurance  Agency.  He  owns  large  trjjcts 
of  coal  land  in  Dickenson  County,  has  large  holdings  of  timber 
land  in  Buchanan  County,  and  owns  a  big  farm  in  Russell 
County,  which  he  has  cultivated. 

On  July  16,  1927,  Mr.  Fuller  married  Miss  Jennie  Wood 
Warren,  of  Lancaster  County,  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  Thomas 
F.  and  Ethel  May  (Wood)  Warren,  the  latter  being  a  native 
of  New  Jersey  and  the  former  of  Virginia,  he  being  a  member 
of  one  of  the  very  famous  families  of  the  Old  Dominion.  Mr. 
Warren  is  engaged  in  the  furniture  and  real  estate  business  in 
Lancaster  County  and  New  Jersey,  and  is  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a 
Baptist.  J.  C.  Warren,  the  paternal  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Fuller, 
was  an  officer  in  the  Confederate  army  during  the  war  between 
the  states,  and  both  before  and  after  the  war  was  a  planter 
upon  an  extensive  scale.  The  maternal  grandfather,  Auley  B. 
Wood,  moved  from  New  Jersey  to  Virginia,  and  in  the  latter 
state  located  at  Ottoman,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  medicine,  and  was  a  prominent  Odd  Fellow  and  Baptist.  The 
Warren  and  Wood  families  are  of  English  origin. 

Mrs.  Fuller  was  educated  in  the  Ottoman  High  School,  White- 
stone  High  School  and  William  and  Mary  College,  and  prior  to 
her  marriage  she  taught  in  the  Honaker  public  schools.  She  is 
a  member  of  Kappa  Kappa  Gamma,  the  Honaker  Literary  Soci- 
ety, Young  Woman's  Christian  Association's  Student  Council, 
R.  N.  P.  Club,  and  the  Baptist  Church.  In  the  latter  connection 
she  is  a  Sunday  School  teacher  and  leader  in  the  Baptist  Young 
People's  Union.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fuller  are  social  leaders, 
and  deservedly  popular  with  all  classes.     As  a  man  Mr.  Fuller 


'^  /9r<^.^-.^,9^./9r 


VIRGINIA  327 

is  upright  and  straightforward  in  all  his  transactions  in  life ; 
as  a  lawyer  he  is  capable,  discerning  and  trustworthy,  and  a 
convincing  pleader,  gifted  with  talents  that  make  for  success. 
In  political  affairs  he  depends  largely  upon  his  inborn  friendli- 
ness of  nature,  being  successful  without  being  bitterly  partisan, 
and  strangely  and  admirably  free  from  that  venom  which  char- 
acterizes so  many  in  public  life.  While  he  has  a  just  desire  for 
office  and  power,  he  cannot  be  tempted  by  the  glitter  of  gold. 
In  the  truest  sense  of  the  word  Mr.  Fuller  is  a  gentleman,  just 
as  he  is  an  able  lawyer  and  honest  public  official. 

Philip  D.  Stout.  M.  D.  Although  one  of  the  younger  medi- 
cal practioners  well  established  at  Bristol,  Virginia,  Dr.  Philip 
D.  Stout,  specialist  in  internal  medicine,  and  a  veteran  of  the 
World  war,  is  recognized  as  unusually  able  i^rofessionally,  com- 
manding the  confidence  and  high  regard  of  many  scientific  or- 
ganizations and  other  learned  bodies.  Doctor  Stout  belongs  to 
an  old  Southern  family  of  English  extraction,  the  founder  of 
which  came  to  the  United  States  very  many  years  ago,  and  the 
Stouts  in  several  adjoining  Southern  States  are  direct  descen- 
dants of  his  six  worthy  sons,  all  men  of  industry,  thrift,  religion 
and  conspicuous  good  citizenship. 

Dr.  Philip  D.  Stout  was  born  October  19,  1894,  in  Johnson 
County,  Tennessee,  son  of  David  and  Martha  (Norris)  Stout, 
third  born  in  their  family  of  seven  children,  four  of  whom  sur- 
vive, his  one  sister  and  two  brothers  being:  Emma,  who  is  the 
wife  of  J.  Frank  Stout,  of  Mountain  City.  Tennessee;  George 
W.,  who  is  now  operating  the  family  estate  in  Johnson  County, 
Tennessee ;  and  J.  Blaine  Stout,  who  is  a  merchant  at  Doeville, 
Tennessee. 

David  Stout,  father  of  Doctor  Stout,  was  born  in  Johnson 
County,  Tennessee,  son  of  Godfrey  Stout,  farmer  and  dealer  in 
lumber  and  produce,  and  grandson  of  Major  Stout,  who  was  an 
extensive  farmer  and  stock  dealer  there.  David  Stout  was  both 
farmer  and  merchant  during  his  active  years,  but  now  lives  com- 
fortably retired  in  Johnson  County,  Doeville,  Tennessee,  where 
both  he  and  wife  have  long  been  faithful  members  and  liberal 
supporters  of  the  Baptist  Church.  The  maternal  grandfather  of 
Doctor  Stout  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  but  spent  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  as  a  farmer  in  Eastern  Tennessee. 

The  excellent  public  schools  provided  Philip  D.  Stout's  early 
educational  training  preparing  him  for  Wautega  Academy  at 
Butler,  Tennessee,  and  upon  completing  his  academic  course  he 
entered  the  East  Tennessee  State  Normal  College  at  Johnson 
City,  where  his  diligence  in  study  and  versatility  of  talent  great- 
ly pleased  his  instructors.  It  was  about  this  time,  perhaps,  that 
he  began  to  think  seriously  of  a  future  medical  career,  although 
he  determined  that  decision  could  wait  until  after  he  had  won 
several  coveted  college  degrees. 

Before  entering  Wake  Forest  College,  Wake  Forest,  North 
Carolina,  for  more  advanced  instruction.  Doctor  Stout  found 
time  to  complete  a  commercial  course  in  Piedmont  Business  Col- 
lege at  Lynchburg,  Virginia.  In  due  course  of  time  he  was  grad- 
uated from  Wake  Forest  College  with  his  A.  B.  degree,  and  sub- 
sequently through  post-graduate  work  there  earned  his  A.  M. 
degree,  and  had  also  been  exceedingly  prominent  in  the  Euze- 
lian  Literary  Society  at  Wake  Forest  College. 

With  intelligence  thus  quickened  and  mind  broadened.  Doc- 
tor Stout  now  turned  his  attention  to  what  he  had  decided  his 


328  VIRGINIA 

real  business  in  life,  the  knowledge  and  practice  of  medicine. 
Entering  Vanderbilt  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  he  soon  found  ab- 
sorbing interest  in  his  studies,  but  this  was  a  memorable  period 
of  change,  and  as  the  menacing  war  clouds  came  closer  and 
closer,  the  change  came  to  himself,  the  student  becoming  the 
soldier.  Early  enlisting  for  service  in  the  World  war  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Medical  Reserve  Corps,  he  enlisted  additionally,  in 
May,  1918,  in  the  Medical  Division  at  Fort  Oglethorpe,  Camp 
Greenleaf,  Georgia,  w^ere  he  remained  three  and  a  half  months, 
when  he  was  sent  to  the  non-commissioned  officers  training 
school  with  the  rank  of  corporal,  but  shortly  afterwards  was 
recommended  for  the  R.  0.  T.  C.  at  Camp  Hancock,  Augusta, 
Georgia,  and  on  completing  his  training  was  offered  a  rating  of 
second  lieutenant  or  an  honorable  discharge,  and  as  the  war  had 
ended  he  accepted  the  latter,  which  was  made  official  on  Decem- 
ber 6,  1918. 

In  January,  1919,  Doctor  Stout  returned  to  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity to  continue  his  medical  studies,  some  time  later  removing 
to  the  University  of  Maryland  at  Baltimore,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  with  his  medical  degree  in  1922.  Then  followed  one 
year  of  service  as  interne  and  house  surgeon  in  St.  Thomas 
Hospital  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  a  post-graduate  course  at 
Harvard  University  in  internal  medicine.  Since  then  he  has 
been  engaged  in  active  practice,  first  for  a  few  months  at  Bluff 
City,  Tennessee,  then  at  Bristol,  Tennessee,  and  since  1927  has 
been  established  at  Bristol,  Virginia,  with  convenient  offices  in 
the  Reynolds  Arcade  Building,  this  city. 

The  soundness  and  extent  of  his  professional  knowledge  has 
made  Doctor  Stout  widely  acceptable  as  a  medical  writer  and 
speaker.  He  is  attached  to  Kings  Mountain  Hospital  as  clinical 
pathologist  and  lectures  on  clinical  pathology  before  the  Nurses' 
Training  Class,  and  belongs  to  the  medical  societies  of  Sulli- 
van, Johnson  and  Carter  counties,  Tennessee,  the  Tennessee 
State  Medical  Society,  the  Southern  Medical  Society  and  the 
American  Medical  Association  and  lesser  bodies.  He  is  exam- 
iner for  many  leading  life  insurance  companies  and  many  fra- 
ternal organizations,  is  a  member  of  the  local  Federal  Pension 
Examining  Board,  belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  to  the 
Elks,  Kiwanis  Club,  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  is  a  member  of 
the  Bristol  Country  Club.  He  takes  a  good  citizen's  interest  in 
civic  affairs  and  is  identified  with  Republican  politics  but  is  not 
an  active  partisan. 

Dr.  Philip  D.  Stout  was  united  in  marriage  June  20,  1928, 
with  the  charming  daughter  of  Mrs.  Margaret  McAllister  Bar- 
ron, of  Huntsville,  Alabama.  They  lived  happily  together  until 
his  wife,  Elizabeth  Barron  Stout,  was  fatally  injured  in  an  aero- 
plane accident  May  31,  1929,  while  visiting  her  family  at  Hunts- 
ville, Alabama.   No  children  were  boi'n  to  this  union. 

Charles  N.  Davidson.  Among  the  early  settlers  in  South- 
west Virginia  of  pure  Irish  extraction  were  the  Davidsons,  the 
McClellans  and  the  McConnells,  a  vigorous,  sturdy  group  that 
proved  industrious,  reliable  and,  when  occasion  arose,  intensely 
loyal  to  the  state.  From  such  an  honorable  ancestral  background 
came  one  of  Wise  County's  prominent  men  of  today,  Hon.  Charles 
N.  Davidson,  commander  of  revenue  for  Wise  County.  Although 
for  a  number  of  years  Mr.  Davidson  has  been  serving  in  public 
office,  he  is  also  an  experienced  business  man  and  has  important 
banking  interests  at  Appalachia,  Virginia,  his  home  city. 


VIRGINIA  329 

Charles  N.  Davidson  was  born  on  the  old  home  plantation  in 
Scott  County,  Virginia,  November  25,  1882,  son  of  William  M. 
and  Mary  L.  (McClellan)  Davidson,  both  of  whom  were  born 
in  Scott  County  and  passed  their  lives  there.  They  were  faithful 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  which  William 
M.  Davidson  was  a  steward  for  many  years.  During  the  war 
between  the  states  he  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army 
as  a  member  of  Company  C,  25th  Virginia  Volunteers,  of  which 
organization  his  father,  Hiram  Davidson,  and  his  two  brothers 
were  also  members. 

The  maternal  grandparents  of  Commissioner  Davidson  were 
Andrew  Jackson  and  Susanna  (McConnell)  McClellan,  the  for- 
mer of  whom  was  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army  all  through 
the  war.  He  was  a  planter  and  later  deputy  sheriff  of  Scott 
County,  and  all  his  life  active  in  Democratic  politics.  The  father 
of  his  wife  was  the  first  sheriff  of  Scott  County,  and  both  of  her 
two  bi'others  were  distinguished  men  in  their  day.  Major  S.  P. 
and  Dr.  A.  D.  McConnell.  During  the  early  part  of  the  war  be- 
tween the  states  the  elder  brother  served  as  a  major  in  the  Con- 
federate army,  but  later,  when  urged  to  accept  the  office  of  clerk 
of  the  court  of  Scott  County,  resigned  his  military  office  and  it  is 
related  that  shortly  afterward,  when  the  near  approach  of  the 
Federal  troops  caused  apprehension  concerning  the  safety  of  the 
countyseat,  it  was  through  the  strategy  of  Major  McConnell  that 
none  of  the  papers,  books  or  county  records  were  lost  or  en- 
dangered, for  he  kept  guard  over  them  in  a  mountain  fastness. 
The  other  brother.  Dr.  A.  D.  McConnell,  a  prominent  physician, 
represented  Scott  County  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates  for 
two  terms. 

Charles  N.  Davidson  received  his  educational  training  in 
the  schools  of  his  native  county,  assisted  his  father  and  remained 
with  his  parents  until  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  since  which 
time  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Wise  County.  Inclined  toward  a 
commercial  life,  he  came  to  Wise  and  accepted  a  clerkship  with 
the  firm  of  Head  and  Sloan,  changing  three  years  later  to  the 
Stonega  Coal  and  Coke  Company,  where  he  filled  a  responsible 
position  for  seven  years,  during  which  time  he  had  become  so 
well  and  favorably  known  to  the  citizens  of  Stonega  that  they 
petitioned  and  in  June,  1914,  he  was  appointed  postmaster  there. 
This  office  he  continued  to  fill  until  February  1,  1922. 

Since  early  manhood  Mr.  Davidson  has  taken  a  deep  and  in- 
telligent interest  in  public  affairs  and  has  participated  in  local 
politics,  seldom  accepting  political  preferment  for  himself,  but 
ever  loyal  to  his  party  and  helpful  to  his  friends.  Since  1910 
he  has  been  recognized  as  a  leader  in  the  Democratic  party  and 
practically  ever  since  has  been  a  member  of  the  Wise  County 
Democratic  Committee.  In  1923  he  was  nominated  for  the  office 
of  commissioner  of  revenue  from  this  district,  was  elected  by  a 
large  majority  over  his  opponent,  and  served  in  that  office  for 
the  next  four  years,  under  the  old  law  that  provided  for  four 
commissioners.  In  the  meanwhile  the  law  was  changed,  and 
when  he  was  reelected  in  1927  and  entered  upon  his  duties  on 
January  1.  1928,  it  was  with  heavier  responsibilities  than  before, 
for  he  is  now  sole  commissioner  of  revenue  for  Wise  County,  his 
long  experience  in  this  office  making  his  services  of  inestimable 
value  to  the  public. 

In  1908  Mr.  Davidson  married  Miss  Zoie  Quillin,  who  was 
born  in  Scott  County,  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  James  M.  and 
Virginia  (Frazier)  Quillin,  the  former  of  whom  for  many  years 


330  VIRGINIA 

was  a  leading  minister  in  the  Primitive  Baptist  Church  in  South- 
west Virginia.  Mrs.  Davidson  is  a  well  educated  lady,  compan- 
ionable, understanding  and  sympathetic,  and,  with  her  husband, 
has  a  wide  circle  of  friends.  They  both  are  active  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Commissioner  Davidson 
belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  other  representative  or- 
ganizations. He  has  business  interests  at  several  points,  and  a 
leading  one  is  the  Peoples  Bank  of  Appalachia. 

Kenneth  Cartright  Patty  is  an  attorney  and  former 
mayor  of  Bluefield,  Tazewell  County,  one  of  the  prominent 
younger  men  in  the  professional  and  civic  affairs  of  that  impor- 
tant industrial  locality  of  Southwest  Virginia. 

Mr.  Patty  was  born  at  Parrottsville,  Cocke  County,  Tennes- 
see, and  some  four  or  five  generations  of  the  Patty  family  have 
lived  in  East  Tennessee.  William  Patty  was  born  there,  of  Irish 
ancestry,  and  was  a  pioneer  Methodist  minister.  He  was  the 
father  of  Rev.  Raphael  W.  Patty,  a  minister  of  the  same  church. 
Elbert  S.  Patty,  son  of  Raphael  W.,  enlisted  for  service  in  the 
Confederate  army  and  and  died  of  typhoid  fever  while  in  the 
service.  His  wife,  Mattie  Robeson,  was  born  in  1842  and  died 
in  1918.  These  were  the  grandparents  of  the  Bluefield  attorney. 
The  father  was  Rev.  William  M.  Patty,  who  was  born  in  Bun- 
combe County,  North  Carolina,  July  2,  1862,  but  was  reared  in 
East  Tennessee,  and  as  a  young  man  entered  the  Methodist 
ministry,  as  a  representative  of  the  third  generation  of  the  fam- 
ily in  that  calling  in  East  Tennessee.  He  is  now  retired.  He 
married  Minnie  Bushong,  who  was  born  at  Knoxville,  Tennessee, 
January  20,  1866.  Their  oldest  son,  Graydon  K.  Patty,  became 
a  Methodist  minister. 

Kenneth  Cartright  Patty  received  his  early  schooling  under 
his  aunt,  Lena  Bushong,  and  later  attended  high  school  at  Clint- 
wood,  Virginia,  and  Tazewell,  graduating  from  the  latter  in 
1910.  For  several  years  he  clerked  in  a  store  at  Tazewell,  stud- 
ied law,  and  was  a  student  in  the  law  department  of  Washington 
and  Lee  University  until  he  answered  the  call  to  the  colors  in 
February,  1918.  He  was  licensed  to  practice  law  in  Virginia 
December  27,  1917.  He  was  assigned  duty  with  the  University 
of  Virginia  Base  Hospital  No.  41,  spent  four  months  at  Camp 
Sevier,  South  Carolina,  embarked  for  overseas  July  5,  1918,  and 
was  with  the  Base  Hospital  near  Paris  until  after  the  armistice. 
He  received  an  honorable  discharge,  with  the  rank  of  sergeant, 
May  1,  1919. 

In  June,  1919,  Mr.  Patty  began  the  practice  of  law  at  Graham 
in  Tazewell  County.  On  September  1,  1924,  he  was  elected 
mayor  of  Graham,  and  served  until  August,  1926.  It  was  during 
his  administration  and  with  him  as  the  leader  that  the  campaign 
was  made  to  change  the  name  Graham  to  Bluefield,  Virginia. 
He  also  led  the  fight  to  annex  more  territory  to  the  city,  increas- 
ing the  population  by  over  a  thousand.  More  concrete  sidewalk 
construction  is  credited  to  his  administration  than  to  all  the  pre- 
vious ones  combined  in  the  history  of  the  town.  During  these 
years  Mr,  Patty  has  carried  on  a  general  law  practice,  and  has 
served  as  officer  and  director  of  local  industrial  and  banking  cor- 
porations. 

He  is  a  Democrat,  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  is  affiliated  with  Harman  Lodge  No.  222,  A.  F. 
and  A.  M.,  at  Bluefield,  is  a  past  high  priest  of  the  Royal  Arch 
Chapter  No.  28  at  Bluefield,  and  a  past  district  deputy  grand 


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VIRCxINIA  331 

high  priest  of  District  No.  12.  He  is  also  a  past  chancellor  of 
Graham  Lodge  No.  150  of  Knights  of  Pythias.  He  is  a  member 
of  Graham  Commandery  No.  22,  Bluefield,  Virginia. 

He  married  at  Scottsburg,  Halifax  County,  Virginia,  October 
15,  1921,  Miss  Ruth  Friend  Lacy,  daughter  of  James  T.  and  Ada 
(Crews)  Lacy.  Her  father  is  a  retired  farmer  and  banker  and 
former  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Senate.  Mrs.  Patty  at- 
tended the  Richmond  Woman's  College  and  graduated  from  the 
New  England  Conservatory  of  Music  at  Boston.  They  have  one 
daughter,  Ann  Holman  Patty,  born  March  2,  1928. 

Mrs.  Judith  A.  (Riddick)  Smith.  Left  a  widow  with  two 
small  children  to  care  for,  Mrs.  Smith  bravely  faced  the  problem, 
and  having  selected  the  educational  field  as  one  of  promise  has 
met  with  such  success  in  the  various  departments  of  the  public 
schools  of  Petersburg  that  she  eventually  became  the  supervisor 
of  drawing  for  all  of  the  schools  of  that  city,  serving  ably  and 
creditably  until  resigning  the  position. 

Mrs.  Smith  was  born  in  Nottaway  County,  Virginia.  Her 
father,  the  late  Rev.  James  A.  Riddick,  inherited  in  a  large 
measure  the  characteristics  of  his  thrifty  Scotch  ancestors.  He 
acquired  a  good  education,  and  having  been  converted  in  his 
youth  became  a  preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  Joining  the  Virginia  Conference,  he  held  pastorates  in 
various  places,  and  during  one  term  served  as  presiding  elder 
of  the  Norfolk  District.  Subsequently  as  a  circuit  rider  he 
established  churches  in  both  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  In 
1861  he  bought  a  i-esidence  at  Stony  Creek,  Sussex  County,  where 
during  the  Civil  war  that  section  of  the  state  was  invaded  by 
both  armies,  and  all  of  the  houses  in  the  village,  with  but  two 
exceptions,  were  burned.  At  the  close  of  the  conflict  he  returned 
with  his  family  to  Petersburg,  and  there  resided  until  his  death 
at  the  ripe  old  age  of  nearly  ninety  years. 

Rev.  James  A.  Riddick  married  Judith  A.  Gregory,  who  was 
born  in  Amelia  County,  Virginia,  a  sister  of  Maj.  W.  F.  C.  and 
Crab  Gregory,  both  of  whom  served  during  the  Civil  war  on 
the  staff  of  Governor  Wise.  She  died  at  the  comparatively 
early  age  of  fifty-nine  years,  leaving  seven  children. 

Born  in  1850,  Mrs.  Judith  A.  Smith  gleaned  her  first  knowl- 
edge of  books  in  private  schools,  later  advancing  her  education 
at  Kittrells,  near  Oxford,  North  Carolina.  In  1872,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-two  years,  she  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  Joseph  W. 
Smith,  who  was  born  in  1827  in  Chesterfield  County,  Virginia, 
a  son  of  Jabez  Sidney  Smith,  who  was  a  native  of  New  York  and 
of  English  ancestry. 

As  a  young  man  Joseph  W.  Smith  decided  to  enter  the  med- 
ical profession,  and  after  being  graduated  from  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College  in  Philadelphia,  with  the  degree  of  M.  D.,  he 
located  at  Petersburg,  Virginia.  Meeting  with  well  earned  suc- 
cess from  the  first,  he  continued  there  until  his  death,  when  but 
fifty-two  years  of  age.  As  a  physician  and  surgeon  the  Doctor 
held  a  position  of  note,  his  services  both  before  and  after  the 
Civil  war  having  been  in  much  demand,  especially  in  severe  and 
critical  cases.  His  brother,  Jabez  Sidney  Smith,  was  a  prom- 
inent lawyer  and  Mason  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Doctor  Smith 
was  an  uncle  of  Oscar  W.  Underwood,  United  States  senator 
from  Alabama.  In  1872  Doctor  Smith  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Judith  A.  Riddick,  and  into  their  pleasant  home  two 
children  were  born,  Jabez  Sidney  and  Joseph  W. 


332  VIRGINIA 

Left  a  widow  when  young,  with  two  small  children  to  care 
for,  Mrs.  Judith  A.  (Riddick)  Smith  bravely  faced  the  problem 
by  entering  the  educational  field,  the  need  therefor  having  arisen 
from  the  fact  that  her  husband's  entire  fortune  had  been  swept 
away.  Securing  a  position  as  a  teacher  in  the  Petersburg  public 
schools,  she  met  with  such  merited  success  that  she  was  subse- 
quently made  principal  of  the  Anderson  School,  which  stood  on 
the  site  now  occupied  by  the  City  High  School.  Her  artistic 
tastes  and  ability  becoming  recognized,  she  was  elected  super- 
visor of  drawing  in  all  of  the  schools,  a  position  she  filled  most 
acceptably  to  all  concerned  until  her  resignation  which  she  re- 
quested at  the  close  of  her  thirty-three  years  of  service  in  the 
Petersburg  schools.  She  is  now  living  retired  from  active  pur- 
suits at  her  attractive  home  on  West  Washington  Street.  For 
fifty  years  she  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

Mrs.  Smith's  oldest  son,  Jabez  Sidney  Smith,  who,  like  his 
brother,  served  in  the  Spanish-American  war,  lost  his  health 
while  in  the  army,  and  for  three  years  prior  to  his  death,  when 
but  twenty-seven  years  old,  was  an  invalid.  The  younger  son, 
Joseph  Walworth  Smith,  is  well  established  in  business  at 
Petersburg.  Joseph  W.  Smith  was  educated  in  public  schools  at 
Petersburg.  At  an  early  age  he  became  identified  with  the  hard- 
ware business,  starting  at  its  very  bottom.  Through  industry 
and  application  he  has  risen  to  the  position  of  member  of  the 
firm  of  Charles  Leonard  Hardware  Company,  Inc.,  one  of  the 
largest  firms  of  its  kind  in  the  South.  He,  like  his  mother,  is 
a  consistent  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  has  had  nu- 
merous opportunities  to  engage  in  similar  business  elsewhere, 
but  refuses  to  leave  his  home  and  his  mother.  He  served  in  the 
Spanish-American  war  and  is  unmarried. 

Talented  and  accomplished,  Mrs.  Smith  is  a  gifted  artist, 
noted  for  her  pencil,  landscape  and  portrait  work,  and  having 
an  excellent  command  of  the  English  language  tells  many  in- 
teresting and  thrilling  incidents  of  the  Civil  war.  Although  she 
has  outlived  the  Psalmist's  prescribed  three  score  years  and  ten, 
her  physical  health  and  mental  faculties  are  seemingly  unim- 
paired, a  visit  with  her  being  a  pleasure  to  both  the  old  and 
young. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Buchanan,  of  Marion,  is  a  lawyer 
with  the  prestige  of  over  forty  years  of  active  and  successful 
practice,  and  the  position  of  leadership  he  early  acquired  in  his 
home  community  has  been  extended  over  the  state  at  large,  par- 
ticularly through  his  many  terms  in  the  State  Senate  and  as 
former  lieutenant  governor.  In  the  alignment  of  political  honors 
and  responsibilities  in  the  year  1928  Senator  Buchanan  is  re- 
garded as  the  next  successor  to  the  office  of  governor  of  the  great 
commonwealth  of  Virginia. 

The  Buchanan  family  has  lived  in  Smyth  County,  Virginia, 
since  Colonial  times.  Senator  Buchanan  is  a  descendant  of  James 
Buchanan,  a  native  of  County  Donegal,  Ireland,  who  on  coming 
to  America  settled  in  the  Cumberland  Valley  of  Pennsylvania. 
Senator  Buchanan  is  a  descendant  in  the  fifth  generation  from 
this  ancestor.  John  Buchanan,  his  son,  was  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  as  a  young  man  moved  down  to  the  Valley  of  Virginia 
to  the  locality  known  as  Rich  Valley  in  Smyth  County,  where  he 
acquired  and  began  the  development  of  large  holdings.  He 
married  a  distant  relative,  named  Martha  Buchanan.   John  Bu- 


VIRGINIA  333 

chaiuin  was  killed  while  serving  as  captain  of  a  company  in  the 
Continental  Army  during  the  Revolution,  having  previously  par- 
ticipated in  the  important  battle  of  Kings  Mountain.  His  son, 
Patrick  Buchanan,  was  born  in  Rich  Valley  and  spent  his  life 
there  as  a  farmer.  He  married  Elizabeth  Haytor,  a  native  of 
Tazewell  County,  Virginia. 

Their  son,  Patrick  Campbell  Buchanan,  was  born  at  Rich 
Valley  December  12,  1818,  and  died  July  7,  1877,  having  lived 
all  his  life  on  the  same  farm,  fifteen  miles  north  of  Marion.  He 
was  an  A.  B.  graduate  of  Emory  and  Henry  College,  and  for  five 
years  was  assistant  professor  of  methematics  in  his  alma  mater. 
During  the  Civil  war  he  was  collector  of  internal  revenue,  and 
also  served  as  treasurer  of  Smyth  County  and  for  several  terms 
as  sheriff.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  Patrick  Campbell  Buchanan  married  Virginia  Copen- 
haver,  who  was  born  in  Smyth  County  May  21,  1830,  and  died 
July  2,  1871. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Buchanan,  the  oldest  of  the  children  of 
Patrick  Campbell  Buchanan  and  wife,  was  born  at  Rich  Valley 
October  4,  1859.  He  attended  private  schools,  and  graduated 
with  the  A.  B.  degree  from  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1880. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  honorary  scholastic  fraternity  Phi  Beta 
Kappa,  also  the  Phi  Delta  Theta  social  fraternity.  He  graduated 
with  the  law  degree  from  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1884,  and 
since  1885  has  given  attention  to  an  extensive  private  law  prac- 
tice. 

His  first  service  in  the  State  Senate  as  representative  of  the 
First  Senatorial  District  was  from  1893  to  1897.  He  was  again 
elected  to  the  Senate  in  1915,  and  during  1915-17  was  one  of  the 
members  of  the  Virginia  Tax  Commission,  revising  the  tax  laws 
of  the  state.  He  was  lieutenant  governor  of  Virginia  from  1917 
to  1921,  and  in  recognition  of  his  service  to  the  state  in  that  posi- 
tion and  also  his  legal  scholarship  Hampden-Sidney  College  made 
him  an  honorary  Doctor  of  Laws  in  1921.  Since  the  close  of  his 
term  as  lieutenant  governor  he  has  been  in  the  State  Senate  by 
repeated  reelections,  the  last  time  having  been  chosen  to  office 
without  opposition. 

Senator  Buchanan  owns  a  farm  near  Marion,  is  director  of 
sevei'al  banks,  and  during  the  World  war  was  general  counsel 
for  the  comptroller  of  currency  at  Washington.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Virginia  Bar  Association,  the  American  Bar  Association, 
and  has  long  been  prominent  in  Masonic  circles,  being  a  past 
master  of  Marion  Lodge  No.  31,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  a  past  high 
priest  of  Marion  Chapter  No.  54,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  a  past 
commander  of  Lynn  Commandery  No.  9,  Knights  Templar,  a 
past  grand  commander  of  the  Grand  Commandery  of  Virginia, 
and  a  member  of  Kazim  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Roan- 
oke.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Marion  Rotary  Club. 

He  married,  March  2,  1887,  Miss  Eleanor  F.  Sheffey,  daugh- 
ter of  Judge  John  Preston  and  Josephine  (Spiller)  Sheffey.  Her 
father  was  at  one  time  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court,  a  successful 
lawyer,  merchant  and  farmer.  Mrs.  Buchanan  is  a  graduate  of 
Marian  College  and  of  Stonewall  Jackson  College  at  Abingdon. 
They  have  five  children :  John  Preston,  who  was  educated  in  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  Washington  and  Lee  University  and 
the  University  of  Virginia,  after  which  he  became  associated 
with  his  father  in  law  practice ;  Josephine,  who  graduated  A.  B. 
from  Hollins  College;  Virginia  Campbell,  who  became  the  wife 
of  Major  Guy  B.  Dent,  of  the  United  States  Army,  a  World  war 


334  VIRGINIA 

veteran ;  Eleanor  Fairman,  who  graduated  with  the  A.  B.  de- 
gree from  Agnes  Scott  College  at  Decatur,  Georgia ;  and  David 
Haytor,  a  graduate  of  the  Greenbrier  Military  School  at  Lewis- 
burg,  West  Virginia,  and  West  Point  Military  Academy. 

Orrin  K.  Phlegar,  M.  D.  In  these  days  of  wonderful  me- 
chanical inventions  the  world  at  large  is  learning,  as  never 
before,  how  brave,  courageous  and  determined  a  spirit  dwells 
oftimes  beneath  a  quiet  and  inconspicuous  exterior.  This  spirit, 
however,  is  not,  of  itself,  either  a  new  or  modern  development, 
although  its  daily  manifestation  in  a  public  way  has  become  so 
phenomenal.  Every  individual  who  has  achieved  success  in  life 
through  his  own  efforts  has  possessed  this  indomitable  spirit,  a 
gift  of  Nature  that  he  seldom  parts  with.  Such  a  spirit  enabled 
one  of  Tazewell  County's  prominent  men  of  medical  science.  Dr. 
Orrin  K.  Phlegar,  physician  and  surgeon  at  Bluefield,  Virginia, 
to  overcome  hindering  circumstances  in  early  life,  and  to  finally 
reach  the  goal  of  his  ambition,  high  standing  in  the  medical 
profession. 

Orrin  K.  Phlegar  comes  of  old  and  substantial  families  of 
German  extraction,  long  settled  in  Floyd  County,  Virginia.  His 
birth  took  place  at  Newbern,  Virginia,  May  5,  1876,  son  of 
Tazewell  T.  and  Flora  (Overstreet)  Phlegar,  and  grandson  of 
Jacob  Phlegar  and  Tillman  Overstreet,  all  natives  and  life  long 
residents  of  Floyd  County,  the  only  survivor  being  the  mother  of 
Doctor  Phlegar.  His  father,  the  late  Tazewell  T.  Phlegar,  was 
a  cabinetmaker  and  wheelwright  in  early  business  life,  having 
learned  these  trades  under  his  father,  who  was  known  far  and 
wide  for  his  mechanical  skill,  and  maintained  large  shops  of  his 
own  at  Jacksonville.  Later  Tazewell  T.  Phlegar  became  inter- 
ested in  telegraphy,  and  became  a  skilled  telegraph  operator,  a 
position  he  filled  at  the  time  of  his  death.  All  his  life  he  was  an 
industrious,  practical  man  and  worthy  citizen,  a  Democrat  in 
politics  and  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

Orrin  K.  Phlegar  received  his  early  educational  training  in 
the  public  schools  of  Pearisburg,  Virginia,  where  he  qualified  as 
a  satisfactory  student,  with  talents  indicating  success  in  profes- 
sional life  if  properly  developed,  but  just  at  that  time  the  subject 
of  higher  education  could  not  be  considered  in  the  family,  and, 
taking  his  father's  advice,  Mr.  Phlegar  learned  the  art  of  teleg- 
raphy, and  for  thirteen  years  was  a  telegraph  operator  for  the 
Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad.  Although  his  early  hopes  of  a 
medical  education  had  to  be  given  up,  they  were  in  no  wise  aban- 
doned, and  as  soon  as  practicable,  in  relation  to  his  other  work, 
he  began  the  study  of  medicine  by  himself,  found  opportunity  to 
continue  his  reading  under  local  practitioners,  and  at  length, 
with  capital  earned  and  prudently  saved,  felt  free  to  resign  his 
telegraphic  position  and  enter  the  University  College  of  Medicine 
at  Richmond,  and  from  this  institution  he  was  graduated  in 
1906  with  his  degree.  For  one  year  afterward  he  was  physician 
for  the  Boxley  and  Carpenter  Railroad  Contractors  at  Gladys  in 
Campbell  County  and  then  for  nine  months  in  Scott  County,  and 
then  embarked  in  a  general  medical  practice  at  Crandon  in 
Bland  County,  where  he  remained  three  years,  removing  then  to 
Radford,  and  one  year  later,  in  1912,  to  Graham,  Virginia,  now 
the  city  of.  Bluefield. 

In  1903  Doctor  Phlegar  married  Miss  Bertha  May  Collins,  of 
Pearisburg,  Virginia,  daughter  of  John  Collins,  a  descendant  of 
one  of  the  early  Colonial  families  of  the  state.     She  was  care- 


VIRGINIA  335 

fully  reared  and  liberally  educated,  and  is  active  in  the  Baptist 
Church.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Phlegar  have  one  daughter,  Thelma, 
who  is  not  only  known  and  beloved  at  Bluefield  for  her  beautiful 
character  and  social  graces,  but  is  sincerely  admired  for  her 
unusual  intellectual  achievements.  Although  she  has  but  just 
passed  her  twenty-fourth  birthday,  she  tills  a  high  position  as  an 
educator  in  the  Concord  State  Normal  School  at  Athens,  West 
Virginia,  and  since  childhood  has  won  scholastic  honors  in  every 
institution  she  has  attended.  She  is  a  graduate  of  the  Graham 
High  School ;  a  graduate  of  Intermont  College  at  Bristol,  Vir- 
ginia; an  A.  B.  graduate  of  West  Hampton  College,  Richmond, 
Virginia ;  and  won  her  A.  M.  degree  at  Columbia  University. 

In  the  sixteen  years  that  have  passed  since  Doctor  Phlegar 
came  to  Bluefield  his  life  has  been  a  busy  and  beneficent  one, 
devoted  entirely  to  his  profession.  He  has  so  demon.strated  not 
only  his  scientific  knowledge  and  skill  but  the  other  qualities 
that  belong  to  a  physician  that  Nature  sets  apart  at  birth,  that 
possibly  no  other  practitioner  in  the  county  enjoys  greater  confi- 
dence and  personal  esteem.  He  is  assistant  surgeon  for  the 
Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad  and  physician  for  the  New  York 
Life,  the  Metropolitan,  the  Jefferson  Standard  and  other  leading 
insurance  companies.  He  belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
to  both  State  and  County  Medical  Societies.  Politically  in  na- 
tional matters  he  is  a  Democrat. 

Edward  A.  Bain.  Among  the  enterprising  men  associated 
in  some  manner  with  the  manufacturing  and  mercantile  interests 
of  Petersburg  the  name  of  Edward  A.  Bain,  bottler  of  temper- 
ance drinks,  may  well  be  mentioned.  He  and  his  father,  James 
Bain,  were  both  born  in  Petersburg,  while  his  paternal  grand- 
father. Rev.  George  Bain,  was  a  native  of  Dinwiddle  County, 
and  a  well  known  Methodist  Episcopal  minister. 

As  a  young  man  James  Bain  was  a  clerk  in  William  Spots- 
wood's  drug  store,  a  position  he  filled  until  after  his  marriage. 
Settling  then  on  land  that  had  come  to  his  wife  by  inheritance, 
he  operated  her  large  plantation  with  slave  labor.  During  the 
period  of  the  Civil  war  he  made  a  specialty  of  raising  food  stuff 
for  the  Confederate  army.  He  continued  his  agricultural  work 
until  his  death,  when  but  sixty-three  years  of  age.  His  wafe, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Nannie  Greenway,  was  born  on  a  plan- 
tation in  Dinwiddle  County,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Robert  Greenway, 
a  large  and  prosperous  landowner,  and  a  successful  physician. 
She  died  ere  the  infirmities  of  age  overtook  her. 

One  of  a  family  of  six  children,  Edward  A.  Bain  began  the 
battle  of  life  on  his  own  account  as  a  clerk  in  the  Moore  Ware- 
house, a  position  he  held  some  time.  Going  then  to  North  Caro- 
lina, he  remained  there  a  year.  Returning  to  Petersburg  in  1887, 
Mr.  Bain  established  himself  in  business  as  a  bottler  of  temper- 
ance drinks,  beginning  in  a  small  way,  with  a  very  limited 
capital.  Succeeding  in  his  venture  from  the  start,  he  gradually 
enlarged  his  operations,  investing  his  savings  in  desired  improve- 
ments. In  1927  at  an  expense  of  several  thousand  dollars,  Mr. 
Bain  installed  in  his  plant  the  latest  improved  and  approved 
machinery  for  bottling,  at  the  same  time  making  sure  that  the 
sanitary  conditions  are  all  that  can  be  desired  in  any  establish- 
ment of  the  kind. 

On  July  22,  1882,  Mr.  Bain  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Josephine  D'Alton,  who  was  born  in  Petersburg,  Virginia, 
a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Julia  (Karney)  D'Alton,  both  of  whom 


336  VIRGINIA 

were  born  in  Ireland,  of  honored  French  ancestry.  Six  children 
have  been  born  of  the  union  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bain,  as  follows : 
Irene,  wife  of  William  P.  Atkinson,  has  one  child,  Josephine 
Nash,  by  her  first  marriage  to  George  Templeton ;  Edwin,  asso- 
ciated in  business  with  his  father;  Theresa  June,  who  married 
Webster  Whitten,  has  two  sons,  James  Webster  and  Edward 
Bain ;  Charles  Leonard  married  Bess  Chick,  and  they  have  one 
child,  Elizabeth  Ormond ;  Willis  Robinson  married  Susie  Chieves 
Smith,  and  their  only  child,  a  daughter,  is  named  Anne  Green- 
way,  in  honor  of  her  paternal  grandmother ;  and  Eugene  Anthony 
was  recently  graduated  from  the  medical  department  of  the 
University  of  Virginia. 

Patrick  Henry  Drewry,  Petersburg  attorney,  is  promi- 
nently known  as  an  able  and  successful  lawyer  all  over  southern 
and  eastern  Virginia,  where  he  has  practiced  for  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  also  has  one  of  the  names  best  known  over  the 
state  as  a  public  man,  chiefly  due  to  his  important  service  in  the 
Virginia  Senate  and  as  representative  of  the  Fourth  Virginia 
District  in  Congress. 

Mr.  Drewry  was  born  at  Petersburg  May  24,  1875.  The 
consecutive  record  of  his  ancestors  goes  back  unbroken  to  Sam- 
uel Drewry,  of  Southampton  County,  living  there  at  the  time 
Southampton  was  formed  in  1748.  In  England  the  Drewry  fam- 
ily has  been  distinguished  by  many  honors  and  achievements 
since  the  first  Drewry  went  over  from  Normandy,  France,  with 
William  the  Conqueror  in  1066.  He  was  knighted  on  the  battle- 
field of  Hastings  and  granted  land  in  the  south  of  England,  at 
Drakelowe  and  Thurston,  where  the  Drewrys  lived  for  over  six 
hundred  years.  Two  members  of  the  Drewry  family  were  char- 
ter members  of  the  London  Company,  to  whom  Virginia  was 
originally  granted.  Mr.  Drewry  is  probably  a  descendant  of 
Robert  Drewry,  who  came  to  Virginia  in  1635,  when  he  was 
sixteen  years  of  age,  settling  in  York  County.  Samuel  Drewry, 
a  son  of  the  Samuel  named  above,  was  a  soldier  in  the  American 
Revolution.  His  son,  Humphrey  Drewry,  a  soldier  in  the  War 
of  1812,  was  a  great-great-grandfather  of  the  Petersburg 
attorney. 

His  father,  Emmett  Arrington  Drewry,  was  born  in  1837 
and  died  in  1891.  His  home  was  at  Drewrysville  in  Southampton 
County.  He  was  educated  under  private  tutors,  graduated  from 
Randolph-Macon  College,  from  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia, 
and  Jefferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia.  His  medical  edu- 
cation was  completed  just  before  the  war  between  the  states, 
and  he  became  an  oflScer  in  the  Confederate  army,  at  first  in  the 
line  and  later,  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  in  the  Medical 
Corps.  He  entered  as  a  lieutenant,  coming  out  with  the  rank 
of  major.  He  practiced  medicine  at  Drewrysville  and  otherwise 
had  a  prominent  part  in  the  affairs  of  Southampton  County, 
helping  get  the  Atlantic  and  Danville  Railroad  built  through 
the  county,  and  was  at  one  time  superintendent  of  county 
schools.  He  was  a  charter  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
Virginia.  Dr.  E.  A.  Drewry  married  first  Miss  Laura  Roney, 
daughter  of  Major  Roney,  of  Dinwiddie  County,  by  whom  he 
has  one  son  living.  Dr.  Herbert  R.  Drewry,  of  Norfolk,  Virginia. 
After  her  death  he  married  Alta  Laughton  Booth,  by  whom  he 
had  two  sons,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  and  Hunter  Leigh 
Drewry  of  Martinsburg,  West  Virginia.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  P.  H.  Booth,  granddaughter  of  Col.  Samuel  Booth,  of  Surry 


VIRGINIA  337 

County,  whose  father,  Beverly  Booth,  was  a  soldier  in  the  War 
of  the  Revolution  and  a  Baptist  minister.  Rev.  Beverly  Booth 
was  a  son  of  Robert  Booth,  Jr.,  and  a  grandson  of  Robert  Booth, 
Sr.,  who  in  1653  represented  York  County  in  the  House  of 
Burgesses. 

In  passing  from  this  brief  account  of  his  forefathers  there 
is  no  diminution  in  intellectual  vigor,  in  the  spirit  of  high  ideal- 
ism, in  forceful  action  and  in  public  spirit  as  manifested  in  the 
career  of  Patrick  Henry  Drewry.  He  had  an  excellent  ground- 
work of  preparation  in  school  and  the  experiences  of  his  young 
manhood.  He  attended  McCabe's  University  School  at  Peters- 
burg, took  his  A.  B.  degree  at  Randolph-Macon  College  at  Ash- 
land and  for  a  time  held  the  chair  of  English  and  Greek  at  Cen- 
tenary College  at  Palmyra,  Missouri.  He  was  graduated  from  the 
law  department  of  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1899,  and  while 
teaching  in  Missouri  passed  the  bar  examination  in  that  state. 
Subsequently  he  (lualified  for  practice  in  Virginia,  and  in  1902 
began  his  individual  work  as  an  attorney  in  Petersburg.  In 
1907  he  became  associated  with  one  of  the  able  lawyers  of  the 
city,  C.  T.  Lassiter,  in  the  firm  of  Lassiter  &  Drewry.  Their 
partnership  was  discontinued  in  1921.  Since  1923  Mr.  Drewry 
has  practiced  with  William  Old  as  senior  member  of  the  firm 
Drewry  &  Old.  These  firms  in  corporation  practice  as  well  as 
in  general  practice  before  courts  and  juries  enjoyed  unqualified 
leadership  and  distinction  among  the  law  firms  in  their  section 
of  the  state. 

Mr.  Drewry  became  a  participant  in  politics  when  a  young 
man,  not  for  rewards  and  honors  of  office,  but  through  a  sincere 
conviction  that  every  properly  qualified  citizen  should  make  his 
influence  felt  in  public  affairs  and  government.  When  he  finally 
accepted  the  responsibilities  of  office  he  brought  to  his  service 
the  accomplishments  of  a  successful  lawyer  and  a  mature  judg- 
ment and  large  familiarity  with  public  men  and  public  interests. 
In  1911  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  State  Senate,  and  was 
elected  and  entered  that  body  in  1912,  serving  continuously  until 
1920.  The  outstanding  feature  of  his  record  in  the  Senate  was 
in  connection  with  the  change  in  the  financial  system  of  the 
state.  He  originated  the  measure  known  as  the  Budget  Bill,  a 
bill  that  was  largely  the  product  of  the  Economy  and  Efficiency 
Commission,  of  which  he  was  chairman,  and  afterwards  by 
appointment  of  the  governor  he  served  as  chairman  of  the  Ad- 
visory Board  on  the  Budget  and  as  chairman  of  the  State 
Auditing  Committee. 

Mr.  Drewry  was  elected  April  27,  1920,  to  fill  the  unexpired 
term  in  Congress  of  Walter  A.  Watson.  He  was  elected  for  the 
regular  term  in  1920  and  has  been  reelected  without  opposition 
to  each  succeeding  Congress.  He  represents  one  of  the  im- 
portant agricultural  districts  of  Virginia,  and  has  interested 
himself  primarily  in  matters  aff'ecting  agriculture,  particularly 
the  agriculture  of  the  southeastern  states.  He  voted  for  the 
cooperative  marketing  bill,  the  bill  to  relieve  depression  in  agri- 
cultural sections,  the  Muscle  Shoals  legislation,  and  various  other 
bills  and  amendments  affecting  the  farm  section  of  the  country. 
Mr.  Drewry  is  a  member  of  the  Naval  Committee  and  was  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  of  the  Naval  Academy  at 
Annapolis  in  1926.  He  has  also  served  on  such  important  com- 
mittees as  insular  affairs,  territories  and  naval  expenditures. 
He  succeeded  Hal  Flood  as  a  member  of  the  Democratic  National 
Congressional  Committee  and  became  a  member  of  the  Executive 


338  VIRGINIA 

Committee  of  that  organization.  Mr.  Drewy  was  a  delegate  to 
the  National  Democratic  Convention  of  1916  at  Saint  Louis,  and 
has  been  a  delegate  to  all  state  conventions  since  1912,  and  was 
chairman  of  the  Resolution  Committee  in  the  State  Convention 
of  1924. 

Mr.  Drewry  during  the  World  war  served  on  the  committee 
of  preparedness,  was  director  for  the  Fourth  District  of  the 
Minute-Men  and  worked  in  behalf  of  the  Liberty  Bond,  Red 
Cross  and  other  campaigns.  He  was  Government  appeal  agent 
for  the  Petersburg  District  during  the  World  war.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Stewards  of  the  Washington  Street 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  at  Petersburg,  member  of 
the  Petersburg  Country  Club,  Westmoreland  Club  of  Richmond, 
is  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  also  belongs  to  the  Sigma  Chi  fraternity 
and  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks. 

He  married  at  Palmyra,  Missouri,  April  18,  1906,  Miss  Mary 
E.  Metcalf,  daughter  of  Judge  J.  Q.  A.  and  Harriet  (Hanley) 
Metcalf,  her  father  a  native  of  Virginia,  of  a  Maryland  family, 
while  her  mother  was  a  member  of  the  well  known  Philadelphia 
Hanleys.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Drewry  had  three  children,  Patrick 
Henry,  Jr.,  John  Metcalf  and  William  Emmett.  Patrick  Henry, 
Jr..  was  born  at  Petersburg  March  21,  1907,  attended  high  school 
there,  graduated  in  1928  from  Randolph-Macon  College  with  the 
Bachelor  of  Science  degree,  and  then  entered  Johns  Hopkins 
University  at  Baltimore  for  the  study  of  medicine.  At  Randolph- 
Macon  he  was  assistant  instructor  in  biology.  The  other  two 
sons  are  attending  the  Petersburg  High  School. 

William  V.  Birchfield,  Jr.  Only  a  mind  of  unusual 
strength,  persistent  grasp  and  broad  sweep  of  abilities  can  earn 
signal  success  in  a  special  field  already  crowded  with  keen  com- 
petitors, and  at  the  same  time  retain  fresh  and  balanced  faculties 
for  the  consideration  and  advancement  of  public  and  social  prob- 
lems. The  character  of  William  V.  Birchfield,  Jr.,  is  cast  in  no 
ordinary  mold,  for  he  not  only  stands  among  the  leading  lawyers 
of  Southwestern  Virginia  in  the  construction  and  application  of 
corporation  law — a  legal  domain  surcharged  with  countless  de- 
tails and  of  such  vast  importance  to  the  ingenious,  practical 
American — but  has  also  obtained  much  more  than  a  local  repu- 
tation as  a  clear  and  broad  exponent  of  the  most  vital  questions 
of  industrial  and  social  reform. 

Mr.  Birchfield  w^as  born  August  24,  1884,  at  Marion,  Smyth 
County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  William  V.  and  Ollie  M.  (Bon- 
ham)  Birchfield,  of  Marion,  the  former  a  native  of  Washington 
County,  Virginia,  and  the  latter  born  in  Smyth  County.  William 
V.  Birchfield,  Sr.,  died  in  1927.  He  was  identified  with  the  Rey- 
nolds Tobacco  Company,  and  in  his  younger  days  was  broadly  in- 
fluential in  Democratic  politics.  He  was  a  Mason  and  an  active 
and  generous  supporter  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He 
and  his  wife  had  two  sons :  William  V.,  Jr.,  of  this  review ;  and 
James  F.,  who  is  attending  the  Virginia  Military  Institute. 

William  V.  Birchfield,  Jr.,  attended  public  schools  in  Marion 
County,  and  was  graduated  frorfi  Marion  High  School  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  of  1910.  He  then  entered  Randolph-Macon  Acad- 
emy, but  in  1911  left  that  institution  to  enter  Emory  and  Henry 
College  at  Emory,  Virginia,  where  he  remained  two  years.  He 
became  a  student  of  law  at  Washington  and  Lee  University, 
from  which  he  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1916,  and  immediately  thereafter  went 


I 


mm: 


VIRGINIA  339 

to  Roanoke,  where  he  became  identified  with  the  law  firm  of  Hall, 
Wingfield  &  Apperson,  with  which  he  continued  to  be  connected 
for  three  years.  For  the  four  years  that  followed  he  practiced 
alone  at  Roanoke,  where  he  also  did  a  large  abstract  and  loan 
business,  and  in  1924  settled  permanently  at  Marion,  where  he 
now  occupies  commodious  offices  on  Main  Street.  Since  locating 
at  Marion  Mr.  Birchfield  has  been  successful  in  building  up  a 
large  corporation  practice  and  is  now  accounted  one  of  the 
leaders  in  the  field.  He  represents  the  Knight  Brick  and  Tile 
Company,  the  Maryland  Casualty  Company  and  the  Federal 
Land  Bank  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  has  also  done  a  large 
business  in  loaning  money  to  agriculturists.  In  addition  to  great 
erudition  in  his  profession  Mr.  Birchfield  is  a  fine  speaker,  and 
his  services  are  much  in  demand  as  an  orator  during  the  cam- 
paigns of  the  Democratic  party,  of  which  he  has  been  a  leader  in 
Southwest  Virginia.  In  1927  he  was  his  party's  candidate  for  the 
office  of  commonwealth's  attorney  of  Smyth  County  and  met 
with  defeat  by  only  a  few  votes.  He  belongs  to  the  Roanoke  Bar 
Association  and  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association,  is  promi- 
nent in  the  Kiwanis  Club,  and  also  hold  membership  in  the  Phi 
Kappa  Alpha  and  Phi  Alpha  Delta  fraternities,  in  which  he  was 
very  active  while  at  college. 

In  1922  Mr.  Birchfield  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Vir- 
ginia Semple,  a  member  of  an  old  and  distinguished  Virginia 
family,  and  a  daughter  of  R.  B.  Semple,  of  Roanoke.  Mrs.  Birch- 
field was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Roanoke  and  is  one  of  the 
leaders  in  the  club  and  social  life  of  Marion.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Birchfield  are  the  parents  of  one  child,  Bettie  B.,  who  was  born 
in  1924. 

William  Henry  Frey.  A  man  of  sterling  integrity  and 
worth,  possessing  from  early  boyhood  a  decided  mechanical  in- 
clination, probably  inherited,  William  Henry  Frey  devoted  his 
talents  to  the  study  of  medicine  and  pharmacy.  A  son  of  Andrew 
Frey,  he  was  born  in  1869  at  Georgetown  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  the  family  home  having  been  located  on  Washington 
Street.  Since  that  time  the  city  limits  have  been  extended,  street 
names  and  numbers  have  been  changed,  his  birthplace  now  being 
found  at  1224  Thirtieth  Street. 

John  Jacob  Frey,  Mr.  Frey's  paternal  grandfather,  was  a 
well  known  and  successful  building  contractor,  working  in  dif- 
ferent cities  and  spending  the  later  years  of  his  life  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia.  He  reared  a  large  family,  and  two  of  his  sons, 
Andrew  and  John  William,  succeeded  to  his  business. 

Andrew  Frey,  in  company  with  his  brother,  became  a  suc- 
cessful contractor,  and  at  one  time  owned  considerable  valuable 
real  estate  in  Washington,  D.  C,  where  he  resided  for  some  time. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine  years,  and  his  wife,  at  the  age 
of  forty  years,  leaving  three  sons,  John  J.,  William  H.  and 
Andrew  R. 

After  graduating  from  the  Western  High  School  in  Washing- 
ton William  Henry  Frey  spent  a  year  in  the  medical  department 
of  Columbia  University,  New  York  City,  after  which  he  com- 
pleted a  full  course  in  pharmacy,  being  graduated  in  1889.  Re- 
turning to  Washington,  he  located  at  the  corner  of  Seventh  and 
B  streets,  in  a  building  belonging  to  his  father.  Subsequently 
removing  to  the  corner  of  Ninth  Street  and  New  York  Avenue, 
he  continued  there  until  the  death  of  his  father  in  1902,  when 
he  came  to  Dinwiddle  County,  settling  in  Petersburg,  on  the 


340  VIRGINIA 

south  side  of  West  Washington  Street.  He  soon  bought  property 
on  the  north  side  of  West  Washington  Street,  remodeled  the 
buildings,  and  there  built  up  a  prosperous  business,  which  he 
conducted  until  his  death,  November  28,  1920. 

William  Henry  Frey  married  Miss  Laura  Polk  Nalle,  who 
was  born  on  a  large  plantation  located  on  Bethel  Pike,  quite  near 
the  Bethel  School,  and  five  miles  from  Warrenton,  Fauquier 
County,  Virginia.  Her  father,  James  Polk  Nalle,  was  born  in 
Culpeper  County,  Virginia,  where  he  grew  to  manhood.  John 
William  Nalle,  Mrs.  Frey's  grandfather,  operated  his  plantation 
with  slave  labor,  residing  upon  it  until  his  death,  at  the  vener- 
able age  of  ninety  years.  His  wife,  whose  name  before  marriage 
was  Caroline  Jeffress,  was  a  member  of  one  of  the  old  and 
honored  Virginia  families. 

James  Polk  Nalle  inherited  a  plantation,  but  as  a  young  man 
he  acquired  a  wide  knowledge  of  architecture  and  moved  to 
Washington,  D.  C,  where  he  drew  plans  for  and  superintended 
the  erection  of  many  residences,  apartment  houses  and  public 
buildings,  including  among  others  the  Evans  House.  He  spent 
the  later  years  of  his  life  in  Washington,  dying  there  at  the  age 
of  sixty-one  years.  He  married  Mary  Virginia  Nalle,  who  was 
born  in  Fauquier  County,  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  Robert  and 
Elizabeth  (Keyes)  Nalle  and  a  very  distant  relative  of  John 
William  Nalle.  She  died  at  the  age  of  four  score  years,  her  body 
being  laid  to  rest  in  the  Blandford  Cemetery.  To  her  and  her 
husband  eight  children  were  born,  namely:  William  Walter,  who 
died  in  infancy.  Norman  Nicholas,  Laura  Polk,  John  Robert, 
Arthur  James,  Bertha  Mary,  Lillian  Estelle  and  Leila  Grace. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frey  have  two  children,  William  Henry,  Jr., 
and  Florence  Elizabeth  Frey.  William  H.  Frey  received  the 
degree  of  A.  B.  at  Hampden-Sidney  College  and  that  of  M.  A. 
at  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  married  Elizabeth  Sullivan, 
and  with  his  wife  and  two  children,  Nancy  Polk  Frey  and  Betty 
Ann,  resides  at  La  Jolla,  California.  Florence  E.  Frey  married 
Bernard  A.  Davey,  who  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty  years. 
Mr.  Davey  was  educated  in  the  Northwestern  University,  Chi- 
cago, where  he  took  a  course  in  journalism,  and  for  a  while 
was  advertising  manager  for  the  Washingto7i  Times,  later  being 
associated  with  the  Chicago  Tribune.  Removing  from  Chicago 
to  Birmingham,  Alabama,  he  was  connected  with  a  leading  daily 
paper  of  that  city  until  his  death  at  the  age  of  thirty  years. 
Mrs.  Davey  and  her  son,  Bernard  Frey  Davey,  are  now  living 
with  her  mother,  Mrs.  Frey.  Mrs.  Davey,  who  took  lessons  in 
vocal  music  at  the  Baltimore  Conservatory  of  Music,  is  now  an 
accompanist  at  Petersburg,  Virginia,  and  is  soloist  at  Grace 
Episcopal  Church  at  Petersburg,  Virginia. 

Max  John  Alexander,  M.  D.  Tazewell  County,  Virginia, 
can  lay  claim  to  many  men  of  high  merit  and  definite  achieve- 
ment in  both  professional  and  business  life,  and  an  interested 
visitor  is  not  long  left  in  doubt  concerning  the  confidence  and 
esteem  reposed  in  Dr.  Max  John  Alexander,  physician  and  sur- 
geon at  Pocahontas,  formerly  mayor  of  this  city,  and  member 
of  the  County  Board  of  Health. 

Dr.  Max  John  Alexander  was  born  at  Darlington,  in  Darling- 
ton County,  South  Carolina,  March  28,  1887,  son  of  C.  and 
Minnie  Carrie  (Hymes)  Alexander,  the  latter  of  whom  still  re- 
sides at  Darlington,  where  her  father,  Henry  Hymes,  was  a 
leading  merchant  for  many  years.      The  father  of  Doctor  Alex- 


VIRGINIA  341 

ander  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  his  father, 
Henry  Alexander,  had  settled  when  he  had  come  from  Germany, 
and  continued  to  make  his  home  there.  C.  Alexander  received 
his  schooling  and  early  business  training  in  New  Yox'k  but  later 
removed  to  South  Carolina,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the  mer- 
cantile business  until  his  death  at  Darlington  in  1924. 

JMax  John  Alexander  grew  up  in  a  home  of  family  affection, 
plenty  and  morality,  and  was  afforded  liberal  educational  advan- 
tages. After  completing  his  course  in  the  Darlington  High 
School  he  continued  his  studies  in  St.  John's  Academy  at  Dar- 
lington, subsequently  entering  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1910  with  his  degree.  After 
serving  one  year  as  an  interne  in  the  Johnston-Willis  Hospital 
at  Richmond  he  became  a  member  of  the  Hospital  Staff,  where 
during  his  service  of  over  two  years  he  made  a  line  record  pro- 
fessionally. 

Doctor  Alexander  then  established  himself  in  medical  prac- 
tice at  Pocahontas,  where  he  has  maintained  his  headquarters 
ever  since,  although  he  is  a  licensed  practitioner  over  a  large 
area,  including  Virginia,  West  Virginia  and  South  Carolina.  He 
is  physician  for  the  Pocahontas  Fuel  Company,  which  operates 
with  a  labor  force  of  5,500  employes,  an  especially  responsible 
position,  not  only  including  his  caring  for  the  general  health  of 
this  large  body,  but  he  also  is  the  absolute  authority  in  cases 
of  accident  when  hospital  treatment  is  necessary.  Through  his 
efforts  many  of  the  Fuel  Company's  worthy  men,  during  periods 
of  illness,  have  been  given  an  opportunity  to  recuperate  in  the 
famous  sanitarium  at  Bluefield,  West  Virginia.  Additionally,  a 
large  private  practice  demands  constant  attention.  He  is  sur- 
geon for  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad  Company,  is  examiner 
for  all  the  leading  life  insurance  companies,  and  for  an  extended 
period  has  been  a  member  of  the  County  Board  of  Health. 

In  1910,  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  Doctor  Alexander  married 
Miss  Margaret  Palmer,  daughter  of  Charles  and  Alice  (Cavel) 
Palmer,  of  that  city,  of  a  well  known  family  of  the  Old  Dominion. 
Mrs.  Alexander  completed  her  education  in  the  Virginia  State 
Normal  School  at  Farmville,  and  has  many  social  and  cultural 
interests  both  at  Pocahontas  and  Richmond.  She  is  a  member  of 
the  Episcopal  Church.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Alexander  have  two 
sons:  Charles  Palmer,  born  May  12,  1914;  and  John  McConnell. 
born  August  12,  1923. 

Doctor  Alexander  has  attended  many  clinics  in  leading  med- 
ical centers,  including  the  Mayo  Brothers  at  Minneapolis,  has  an 
extensive  library  and  occasionally  finds  time  to  contribute  to 
medical  literature.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Tazewell  County,  the 
Clinch  Valley,  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Societies,  being  an 
official  of  the  Clinch  Valley  body  and  of  the  American  Medical 
Association.  During  the  World  war  he  was  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Medical  Reserve  Corps,  but  was  never  called  into 
active  service.  With  his  versatile  talents,  both  politics  and  busi- 
ness claim  some  attention,  and  in  1914,  on  the  Democratic  ticket, 
he  was  elected  mayor  of  Pocahontas,  in  which  office  he  served 
with  marked  efficiency  for  two  years.  It  has  always  been  his  aim 
as  a  loyal  and  faithful  citizen  to  lend  support  to  substantial  local 
enterprises,  and  his  influence  has  not  been  without  result.  At 
present  he  is  a  director  of  the  Citizens  Drug  Company  of  Poca- 
hontas, and  is  also  one  of  the  directing  board  of  the  White  Phar- 
macy at  Bluefield,  West  Virginia.  In  addition  to  belonging  to 
scientific  research  bodies  that  are  giving  an  added  interest  to 


342  VIRGINIA 

modern  medical  science,  he  has  membership  in  such  fraternal 
organizations  as  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Benevolent  and 
Protective  Order  of  Elks. 

James  Clyne  Honaker.  Anywhere  in  the  district  around 
Rocky  Gap  in  Bland  County  the  name  of  Honaker  is  immediately 
identified  by  the  family  of  that  name,  which  for  over  a  hundred 
years,  through  four  generations,  has  been  active  in  the  commer- 
cial life  of  the  community  as  merchants.  No  other  one  family 
has  supplied  such  a  consecutive  service  in  one  field  of  business 
in  Bland  County. 

James  Clyne  Honaker  was  born  near  Princeton  and  Bluefield, 
West  Virginia,  March  2,  1869.  The  Honakers  came  at  a  very 
early  date  to  Southwestern  Virginia,  and  his  great-grandfather 
was  Abe  Honaker,  who  moved  to  Bland  County  from  Pulaski 
County.  Abe  Honaker's  son,  Peter  C.  Honaker,  was  for  many 
years  a  merchant  at  Rocky  Gap,  and  also  owned  and  operated 
a  farm  there.  The  father  of  James  C.  Honaker  was  James  D. 
Honaker,  who  was  born  at  Rocky  Gap,  attended  a  private  school, 
and  carried  on  the  family  business  as  a  merchant,  and  was  also  a 
farmer.  He  represented  Bland  and  Smyth  counties  in  the  Lower 
House  of  the  State  Legislature  in  1881,  being  at  that  time  the 
youngest  member  of  the  Legislature,  and  later  he  was  a  member 
of  the  session  of  1900.  He  died  May  17,  1919,  and  is  buried  in  the 
Rocky  Gap  Cemetery.  He  married  Sally  B.  Bailey,  who  was 
born  near  Princeton,  West  Virginia,  was  well  educated  and 
taught  school  before  her  marriage.  She  was  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  She  died  August  3,  1903. 
Of  her  four  children  two  died  in  infancy,  and  the  two  now  living 
are  James  C.  and  John  D.  The  latter  was  for  a  number  of  years 
in  the  mercantile  business  and  is  now  an  automobile  dealer  at 
Bluefield,  West  Virginia.  He  married  Edna  Nottingham,  of 
Cape  Charles,  Virginia,  and  their  three  children  are  James 
Luther,  Thomas  H.  and  Clara  Belle. 

James  C.  Honaker  attended  the  public  schools  of  Rocky 
Gap  and  was  a  student  in  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  until 
1887,  when  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  became  associated  with  the 
family  business  at  Rocky  Gap  and  has  carried  it  on  for  forty 
years,  though  much  of  the  active  management  now  devolves  upon 
his  son,  representing  the  fourth  generation  of  this  family  as 
merchants.  This  son  is  James  Eugene  Honaker.  They  have  a 
large  store,  supplying  an  extensive  territory  around  Rocky  Gap. 
Mr.  Honaker  also  owns  several  fine  blue  grass  farms  and  is  ex- 
tensively engaged  in  stock  raising  in  Bland  County.  He  is  a 
director  of  the  Bank  of  Rocky  Gap  and  for  some  years  was 
director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Narrows,  Virginia.  For 
five  years  he  was  treasurer  of  Bland  County. 

Mr.  Honaker  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0. 
Elks  at  Bluefield,  West  Virginia,  is  a  Republican  and  a  trustee 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

He  married,  April  20,  1890,  at  Ingleside,  West  Virginia,  Miss 
Sallie  Jarrell,  who  was  educated  in  Marion  Female  College  and 
taught  school  for  several  years  before  her  marriage.  She  is 
active  in  church  and  community  affairs.  Her  parents  were 
George  W.  and  Elizabeth  (Harman)  Jarrell,  of  Ingleside.  Her 
father  was  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  in  Augusta  County,  Vir- 
ginia, and  Mercer  County,  West  Virginia,  and  was  killed  by 
lightning  in  1881.    Her  mother  subsequently  became  the  wife  of 


-X^itkjLL  ^i^7l^aAA/XL(r>vo 


VIRGINIA  343 

John  B.  Hern,  who  died  at  Salem,  Virginia,  in  1927,  and  she 
survives  at  the  age  of  eighty-three. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Honaker  are  the  parents  of  eight  children.  The 
daughter  Eula  Lee  is  the  wife  of  H.  G.  Helvey,  of  Rocky  Gap, 
and  their  eight  children  are  named  William,  James,  Sallie,  Vir- 
ginia, Henry,  Lucille,  Dorothy  and  Wayne.  Ga.ston  S.,  the  sec- 
ond child,  was  drowned  at  the  age  of  twelve  years  in  Wolfe 
Creek.  James  E.  Honaker,  the  active  associate  of  his  father  in 
the  general  mercantile  business  at  Rocky  Gap,  was  educated  in 
Emory  and  Henry  College,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  of  Bland  County.  He  married  Miss  Seretna  Gra- 
ham. Miss  Eloise  Honaker,  living  at  home,  was  educated  in  the 
Marion  Female  College.  Miss  Mary  is  also  at  home.  Juanita 
is  deceased.  Elizabeth  C.  is  the  wife  of  Raymond  D.  Williams, 
of  Pembroke,  Virginia.  John  B.,  the  youngest,  attended  the 
Rocky  Gap  schools  and  is  at  home. 

John  Williams  Harrison  belonged  to  an  active  generation 
of  Richmond  business  men  who  broadened  and  extended  the  in- 
fluence of  Richmond  as  a  great  wholesale  and  distributing  center 
for  the  Southeast.  He  was  a  native  Virginian,  a  descendant  of 
the  famous  family  of  Harrisons  whose  lives  are  so  intimately 
identified  with  the  state  in  every  generation  since  the  founding 
of  the  colony.  His  great-great-grandfather.  Carter  Harrison, 
was  a  son  of  Benjamin  Harrison  of  Berkeley  and  a  brother  of 
Benjamin  Harrison,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence and  later  governor  of  Virginia. 

John  Williams  Harrison  was  born  at  Elkora,  Cumberland 
County,  February  13,  1857,  and  died  at  Richmond  in  August, 
1918.  His  father  was  Maj.  Carter  Henry  Harrison,  and  his 
grandfather,  Randolph  Harrison,  whose  home  was  Clifton  Plan- 
tation.   Randolph  Harrison  married  Janetta  Fisher. 

Maj.  Carter  Henry  Harrison  was  a  planter  and  slave  owner, 
and  during  the  Civil  war  rose  to  the  rank  of  major  in  the  Con- 
federate army  and  I'ecruited  a  company  of  the  Black  Hawk  In- 
fantry. He  was  mortallv  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Bull  Run 
July  18.  1861,  and  died  July  19,  1861,  aged  thirty  years.  He 
married  Alice  Burwell  Williams,  of  the  Orange  County  family 
of  that  name. 

John  Williams  Harrison  was  educated  by  private  tutors  in 
Cumberland  County  and  finished  his  education  in  the  Virginia 
Polytechnic  Institute.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  working 
in  the  wholesale  grocery  house  of  his  uncle,  Robert  F.  Williams, 
at  Richmond,  and  at  Richmond  began  his  independent  career 
as  a  coffee  broker.  After  fifteen  years  in  the  brokerage  business 
he  became  an  importer  of  coffee,  and  handled  a  business  of 
steadily  increasing  volume  year  after  year,  building  up  an  or- 
ganization and  a  trade  which  are  still  in  existence.  He  had  a 
number  of  traveling  salesmen  covering  all  of  the  southeastern 
states. 

Not  all  his  life  was  taken  up  with  business.  He  enjoyed  a 
wide  association  with  men  of  affairs,  belonged  to  the  Wholesale 
Grocers'  Association,  the  Richmond  German  Club,  was  a  charter 
member  of  the  Commonwealth  Club,  and  belonged  to  the  Country 
Club.  He  and  his  wife  and  children  were  all  members  of  St. 
Paul's  Episcopal  Church. 

He  married  at  UniontowTi,  Pennsylvania,  September  17,  1890, 
Miss  May  Kennedy  Willson,  who  was  reared  in  Pennsylvania 
and  finished  her  education  at  Baltimore,  Maryland.    Her  father, 


344  VIRGINIA 

Alpheus  Evans  Willson,  was  a  distinguished  Pennsylvania  law- 
yer and  jurist,  graduated  from  Princeton  University  in  1847, 
and  in  1873  was  appointed  judge  of  the  Fourteenth  Judicial  Dis- 
trict of  Pennsylvania  and  served  on  the  bench  for  twelve  years 
by  appointment  and  election,  and  finally  refused  a  seat  on  the 
Supreme  bench  of  the  state.  Judge  Willson  married  Catherine 
Harrison  Dawson,  of  Brownsville,  Pennsylvania.  They  had 
three  children :  Eliza  Evans,  who  married  R.  H.  Lindsey,  of 
Uniontown,  Pennsylvania;  Catherine  Dawson,  who  married 
Harry  W.  Hazard,  of  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey ;  and  Mrs.  Harrison. 
Mrs.  Harrison's  mother  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Governor 
Stone  and  Verlinda  Cotton,  the  latter  a  sister  of  Rev.  William 
Cotton  of  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  while  Governor  Stone  was 
the  first  Protestant  governor  of  Maryland. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harrison  had  a  family  of  three  children.  Their 
daughter,  Eliza  (Elsie)  Willson,  is  the  wife  of  Anthony  C. 
Adams,  a  Richmond  banker,  and  he  has  two  children,  Catherine 
Dawson  Willson  and  Anthony  Crease,  Jr.  Randolph  Carter 
Harrison,  vice  president  of  the  State  Planters  Bank  of  Rich- 
mond, married  Mary  McCaw  Hawes,  of  Richmond,  and  has  two 
children,  Randolph  Carter,  Jr.,  and  Mary  Anne.  Alpheus  Evans 
Willson  Harrison,  in  the  trust  office  of  the  First  and  Merchants 
National  Bank.  He  married  Anne  Sterling  Hawes  and  has  two 
children,  Horace  Hawes  and  Anne  Willson. 

Randolph  Carter  Harrison  graduated  with  the  A.  B.  degree 
from  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1916,  and  during  the  World 
war  was  a  lieutenant  of  military  observation  in  the  Aviation 
Corps,  at  first  with  French  troops  and  later  with  the  American 
forces.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Richmond  German,  Common- 
wealth and  Country  Clubs.  The  second  son,  A.  E.  Willson  Har- 
rison, was  also  educated  at  the  University  of  Virginia  and  spent 
two  years  with  the  colors  during  the  war,  being  captain  of  a 
machine  gun  company.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Commonwealth 
Club,  German  Club  and  Country  Club  and  the  Deep  Reed  Hunt 
Club.  Mr.  Adams  belongs  to  the  Commonwealth  Club,  German 
Club  and  Country  Club.  He  was  a  lieutenant,  being  on  duty  on 
the  Mexican  border  as  well  as  in  France  during  the  World  war. 
Mrs.  Randolph  Harrison  and  Mrs.  Willson  Harrison  are  members 
of  the  Junior  League  and  of  the  Country  Club.  Mrs.  Adams 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Country  Club. 

John  G.  Gillespie.  A  prominent  family  of  Tazewell  County 
that  can  trace  its  ancestral  line  many  generations  back  in  South- 
west Virginia  bears  the  name  of  Gillespie,  for  many  years  a 
name  familiar  in  the  professions,  in  military  and  commercial  life 
and  agriculture,  and  in  the  political  field.  The  Gillespies  were 
people  of  wealth  and  importance  long  before  the  war  between  the 
states,  and  today,  as  of  old,  they  are  active  in  business  and  public 
affairs.  A  worthy  and  highly  esteemed  member  of  this  old  Taze- 
well County  family  is  found  in  John  G.  Gillespie,  postmaster  at 
Bluefield,  Virginia. 

John  G.  Gillespie  was  born  in  Tazewell  County,  Virginia,  Sep- 
tember 5,  1866,  son  of  Rev.  James  Harrison  and  Mary  E.  (Crock- 
ett) Gillespie,  and  grandson  of  Thomas  H.  Gillespie  and  John  I. 
Crockett,  all  of  whom  were  born  and  practically  spent  their  en- 
tire lives  in  Tazewell  County.  Both  grandfathers  of  Postmaster 
Gillespie  were  men  of  large  possessions  before  the  Civil  war. 
Grandfather  Crockett  owning  many  acres  of  valuable  coal  lands. 


VIRGINIA  345 

and  Grandfather  Gillespie  being  a  leading  banker,  but  both  lost 
heavily  in  the  war.  Grandfather  Gillespie  later  became  a  planter, 
and  subsequently  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Legisla- 
ture from  Tazewell  County. 

Rev.  James  Harrison  Gillespie,  father  of  Postma.ster  Gilles- 
pie, was  an  exceptional  man  both  in  war  and  peace.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  he  was  a  vigorous,  robust  youth  of  sixteen  years  when 
the  war  between  the  states  came  on,  and  probably  due  to  his 
physical  fitness,  despite  his  youth,  he  was  accepted  as  a  soldier 
in  the  Confederate  army  and  served  throughout  the  war  under 
Capt.  D.  B.  Baldwin,  his  soldierly  qualities  bringing  him  promo- 
tion to  a  first  lieutenancy.  Later  for  forty  years  he  served  in  the 
ministry  of  the  Christian  Church.  He  was  widely  known  for  his 
Christian  zeal  and  benevolence,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Mason- 
ic fraternity. 

Although  John  G.  Gillespie  was  not  reared  under  circum- 
stances that  afforded  him  educational  advantages  beyond  those 
of  the  common  schools,  these  in  combination  with  an  alert  mind 
and  natural  inclination  and  interest  in  public  events  and  business 
enterprises  have  brought  him  a  large  measure  of  business  suc- 
cess and  have  made  him  acceptable  and  valuable  to  his  fellow 
citizens  in  public  positions  of  responsibility.  He  remained  at 
home  giving  his  father  assistance  until  he  was  twenty-one  years 
old,  and  then  went  into  business  for  himself  as  a  merchant  at 
Tip  Top,  Virginia.  He  continued  there  until  public  interests  de- 
manded his  entire  time,  when  he  removed  his  business  to  Blue- 
field,  where  it  is  still  carried  on  by  his  sons,  under  the  style  of 
R.  P.  Harman  Mercantile  Corporation,  of  which  corporation 
Mr.  Gillespie  is  vice  president. 

In  1887  John  G.  Gillespie  married  Miss  Sallie  McMullin, 
daughter  of  James  H.  McMullin,  of  an  early  settled  family  of 
Tazewell  County,  and  Postmaster  and  Mrs.  Gillespie  have  a  fam- 
ily of  five  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  useful  members  of  society 
and  highly  esteemed  in  their  several  communities.  The  eldest, 
James  H.,  who  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Tazewell 
County,  and  Lynchburg  College,  is  a  traveling  salesman,  with 
home  at  Bluefield ;  Jesse  S.,  who,  like  all  his  brothers,  attended 
public  schools  of  Tazewell  County  and  Lynchburg  College,  is 
manager  of  the  Harman  Mercantile  Corporation  at  Bluefield ; 
Thomas  W.,  who  completed  his  course  in  pharmacy  in  Richmond, 
is  a  druggist  at  Oak  Hill,  West  Virginia ;  Robert  G.,  is  manager 
of  the  stores  of  the  Leckie  Colleries  Company  at  Aflex,  Ken- 
tucky; Henry  B.,  the  youngest  son,  is  a  student  in  Graham 
High  School;  Sallie  E.,  who  attended  the  Graham  High  School 
and  the  State  Teachers  College  at  Lynchburg,  is  an  instructor  in 
the  Bluefield  High  School ;  Elma  F.,  who  is  a  graduate  of  the 
State  Teachers  College  at  Lynchburg,  is  the  wife  of  Robert 
Peirle,  a  druggist  at  Holden,  West  Virginia;  and  Elizabeth  is 
now  a  student  in  the  State  Teachers  College  at  Harrisonburg, 
Virginia.  During  the  World  war  Jesse  S.  served  one  year  in  the 
United  States  Navy ;  Thomas  W.  spent  thirteen  months  with  the 
A.  E.  F.  in  France ;  and  Robert  G.,  when  the  war  closed,  was  in 
a  military  training  camp. 

For  many  years  Postmaster  Gillespie  has  been  active  in  Re- 
publican politics  in  the  Ninth  Congressional  District.  While  still 
a  resident  of  Tip  Top,  Virginia,  he  was  elected  commissioner  of 
revenue  for  the  Graham  District  of  Tazewell  County,  and  was 
continued  in  that  important  oflice  twenty  years,  and  it  is  worthy 
of  note  as  indicative  of  the  confidence  and  personal  esteem  in 


346  VIRGINIA 

which  he  is  held  that  his  elections  to  office  have  been  outside  of 
partisanship,  as  his  district  has  been  normally  and  unchangeably 
Democratic.  In  March,  1927,  he  was  appointed  postmaster  at 
Bluefield,  and  his  time  is  now  entirely  devoted  to  the  duties  of 
his  office,  for  Mr.  Gillespie  is  one  who  regards  a  public  office  as 
a  public  trust  and  acts  accordingly.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason, 
and  while  residing  at  Tip  Top  served  six  terms  as  master  of 
Keystone  Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.  He  has  membership  also  in 
other  fraternal  bodies,  including  the  Odd  Fellows  and  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  and  in  civic  bodies  that  work  for  the  sub- 
stantial welfare  of  the  city.  Both  he  and  wife  belong  to  the 
Christian  Church,  in  which  he  is  an  elder. 

Fred  H.  King.  As  far  as  lies  in  the  power  of  this  age  to 
trace  back  into  the  misty  records  of  the  past  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  peoples  of  all  ages  have  been  brought  to  light, 
and  in  every  instance  there  is  to  be  found  definite  traces  of  the 
respect  paid  to  the  dead.  The  countries  of  Asia  and  Africa  show 
countless  instances  of  the  care  taken  to  preserve  the  bodies  of 
the  dead,  and  to  hand  down  to  future  generations  a  record  of 
their  deeds ;  while  in  the  New  World  the  same  evidences  prevail. 
However,  never  before  in  the  history  of  man  has  such  care  been 
given  the  dead  as  that  afforded  by  the  modern  undertaker.  He 
is  a  professional  man  of  skill,  carefully  trained,  licensed  under 
the  state  in  which  he  operates,  and  in  many  instances  he  pos- 
sesses artistic  ability  of  a  high  order,  and  a  proper  comprehen- 
sion of  the  dignity  of  the  occasion.  There  are  many  men  of  this 
high  class  in  Virginia,  and  one  of  them  worthy  of  much  more 
than  passing  mention  is  Fred  H.  King,  of  Norton,  whose  funeral 
parlors  are  conveniently  located  at  927  Virginia  Avenue. 

Fred  H.  King  was  born  in  Barrackville,  West  Virginia,  Sep- 
tember 29,  1884,  a  son  of  John  W.  and  Helen  (Toothman)  King. 
The  father  died  January  2,  1929,  but  the  mother  is  still  living  and 
residing  in  West  Virginia.  For  years  the  father  was  a  master 
mechanic,  but  later  living  retired.  He  was  an  active  Republican, 
and  a  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
The  paternal  grandfather,  William  King,  was  born  in  Wales,  but 
he  was  brought  to  the  United  States  by  his  father,  William  King, 
who  also  brought  his  eleven  other  sons,  twelve  in  all.  They  set- 
tled in  Virginia,  and  from  them  have  descended  the  majority  of 
those  in  this  country  bearing  the  name  of  King.  When  West 
Virginia  was  formed  during  the  war  between  the  states  the 
Kings  found  themselves  in  the  new  division. 

The  public  schools  of  West  Virginia  grounded  Fred  H.  King 
in  the  fundamentals  of  an  education,  and  when  he  left  the 
schoolroom  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Consolidated  Coal  Com- 
pany, and  for  the  following  fifteen  years  was  in  the  mercantile 
department  of  this  corporation  in  West  Virginia  and  Kentucky, 
and  had  charge  of  their  store  and  undertaking  in  different  places. 
Leaving  the  company,  he  went  with  the  Seattle  Hardware  Com- 
pany, which  he  represented  in  Alaska,  and  then  for  a  time  he 
was  with  the  Seattle  Mercantile  Association.  His  experience  in 
undertaking  led  him  to  decide  to  go  into  that  line  for  himself, 
and  after  he  had  taken  a  course  in  embalming  in  the  Hohenschuh 
College  of  Embalming,  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  he  came  to  Norton 
and  opened  his  present  parlors.  Here  he  has  one  of  the  finest 
establishments  in  the  state,  his  equipment  being  of  the  latest 
design,  and  motorized.  His  chapel,  parlors  and  stock  of  goods 
are^such  as  to  enable  him  to  offer  the  most  satisfactory  and  dig- 


»? 


I 


VIRGINIA  347 

nified  service.  As  an  embalmer  he  is  accepted  as  one  of  the  best 
in  the  demo-surgery  line,  and  makes  this  work  one  of  his  spe- 
cialties. He  has  been  treasurer  of  the  Virginia  State  Funeral 
Directors  Association,  is  a  member  of  the  National  Funeral  Di- 
rectors Association,  and  is  vice  president  of  the  Southwest  Vir- 
ginia Funeral  Directors  Association,  which  embraces  all  the 
counties  we.st  of  Roanoke,  Virginia.  High  in  Masonry,  he  has 
been  advanced  through  all  of  the  bodies  of  the  York  Rite,  and  is 
treasurer  of  the  Blue  Lodge,  Chapter  and  Commandery,  is  a  past 
high  priest  of  the  Chapter  and  a  past  commander  of  the  Com- 
mandery, and  he  also  belongs  to  the  Mystic  Shrine.  For  two 
years  he  was  a  director  of  the  Norton  Kiwanis  Club,  of  which  he 
is  still  a  member.  Active  in  politics,  he  is  now  a  member  of  the 
City  Council  of  Norton.  The  Christian  Church  holds  his  mem- 
bership, and  his  wife  also  belongs  to  this  church. 

On  March  29,  1904,  Mr.  King  married  Miss  Viva  Riblett,  of 
West  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  Jackson  F.  and  Gertrude  (Nay) 
Riblett,  both  of  whom  are  living  and  residents  of  Centralia, 
Washington,  where  Mr.  Riblett  is  a  ranchman,  but  they  were 
born  in  West  Virginia.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  Mrs.  King 
was  Daniel  Riblett,  who  served  in  the  Union  army  during  the 
war  between  the  states.  Mrs.  King  was  educated  in  the  high 
school  of  Shinnston,  West  Virginia.  One  child,  Pauline  King, 
has  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  King,  and  she  is  now  attending 
school  in  Norton. 

Margaret  Buchanan  Jarratt  is  a  resident  of  311  South 
Jefferson  Street,  Petersburg,  and  represents  some  old  and  hon- 
ored Virginia  families,  both  those  from  whom  she  is  descended 
and  those  with  whom  she  is  related  by  marriage. 

She  was  born  in  Greensville  County,  Virginia,  daughter  of 
John  and  Richetta  (Peter)  Cole  and  granddaughter  of  William 
and  Elizabeth  (Cocke)  Cole.  John  Cole  inherited  large  tracts 
of  land  in  Prince  George  and  Greensville  counties,  and  also 
plantations  in  the  State  of  Mississippi,  and  it  was  his  practice 
once  a  year  to  visit  these  plantations,  which  were  operated  by 
overseers.  He  died  in  Greensville  County  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
one.  John  Cole  married  Richetta  Peter,  daughter  of  John  and 
Martha  Peter.  Mrs.  Jarratt  was  one  of  seven  children,  the 
others  being  named:  William  Herbei't,  John  Peter  (who  died 
when  thirteen  years  old),  Richetta  P.,  Thomas  Everad,  James 
Edward  and  Francis  Walter. 

Mrs.  Jarratt  was  educated  in  Saint  Marys  College  at  Bur- 
lington, New  Jersey.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  she  was  married 
to  Mr.  James  Dunlop,  a  son  of  David  and  Anna  Mercer  (Minge) 
Dunlop.  Mr.  Dunlop  was  born  at  Petersburg,  and  after  com- 
pleting his  education  in  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  engaged 
in  the  tobacco  business  at  Owensboro,  Kentucky,  and  in  1876 
removed  to  Covington,  Kentucky.  In  1877  he  returned  to  Peters- 
burg, Virginia,  and  died  there  the  same  year.  Mrs.  Jarratt  by 
her  first  marriage  has  one  daughter,  Anna  Mercer,  a  gifted 
artist,  who  studied  under  Whistler  in  Paris.  Mrs.  Dunlop  was 
married  to  Walter  Jeflferson  Jarratt,  who  was  born  at  Peters- 
burg, son  of  Thomas  Jefferson  Jarratt,  a  feed  and  produce 
dealer  in  Petersburg,  who  served  six  years  as  mayor  of  that  city. 
Walter  Jefferson  Jarratt  succeeded  to  the  business  of  his  father 
and  conducted  it  until  his  death  in  1893.  The  Jarratt  family  was 
in  Virginia  in  Colonial  times.  Rev.  Devereaux  Jarratt  came 
from  England  and  was  rector  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  Bath 


348  VIRGINIA 

Parish  from  1762  to  1801.  Tradition  is  that  four  of  his  brothers 
also  came  to  Virginia. 

Mrs.  Jarratt  had  three  children,  Walter  Jefferson,  James 
Herbert  and  Margaret  Buchanan.  Her  son  Walter  J.  married 
Ruth  Jones.  James  H.  married  Rebecca  Michie,  and  their  two 
children  are  James  Herbert  and  Emily  Norwood.  Margaret  B. 
is  the  wife  of  C.  Langfitt  and  has  a  daughter,  Margaret  Jarratt. 

Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jarratt  took  an  active  part  in  St.  Paul's 
Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Jarratt  was  vestryman  and  lay  leader 
and  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School,  and  also  a  member  of 
the  St.  Andrews  Brotherhood. 

Theodore  Franklin  Kidd.  Inheriting  the  family  traits  of 
industry,  economy  and  thrift  that  ever  win  success  in  worldly 
affairs,  Theodore  Franklin  Kidd  easily  acquired  when  young  a 
stable  position  among  the  noteworthy  citizens  of  Petersburg, 
where  he  is  now  living  retired  from  business  cares  and  worries. 
He  was  born  August  4,  1854,  in  Petersburg,  coming  on  the 
paternal  side  of  English  ancestry.  His  father,  Stith  Jones  Kidd, 
and  his  grandfather,  James  Kidd,  were  both  born  in  Dinwiddle 
County,  Virginia,  on  a  plantation  located  in  the  near  vicinity  of 
Harpers  Home. 

James  Kidd  was  a  successful  agriculturist,  operating  his 
well  yielding  plantation  vdth  slave  labor.  He  was  a  man  of 
magnificent  physique,  six  feet  and  nine  inches  in  height,  well 
proportioned,  and  retained  in  a  remarkable  degree  his  mentality 
until  his  death  at  the  venerable  age  of  one  hundred  and  four 
years. 

Stith  Jones  Kidd  learned  the  trade  of  a  coach  maker  when 
young,  that  having  been  before  the  time  of  railroads  and  air- 
planes, when  stage  coaches  were  used  for  traveling  from  place 
to  place,  even  long  journeys  being  made  in  them.  Quite  success- 
ful in  his  business,  he  carried  it  on  in  Petersburg  until  acci- 
dentally killed  when  but  sixty  years  of  age.  His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Minnie  H.  Clatte,  was  born  in  Germany,  and 
came  with  her  father  to  America  in  1850.  Mr.  Clatte  was  a  fine 
musician,  and  for  a  number  of  years  served  in  that  capacity  in 
the  German  Army.  In  a  hard  fought  battle,  when  the  German 
troops  were  on  the  losing  side,  he  was  commanded  to  sound  a 
retreat.  Explaining  that  he  did  not  know  how  to  do  so,  he  played 
a  funeral  march.  The  German  soldiers  immediately  rallied, 
charged  and  won  the  battle.  The  quick-witted  musician  for  this 
action  was  subsequently  decorated  by  the  Kaiser.  Upon  retiring 
from  the  army  he  came  to  Virginia,  in  1850,  as  above  stated,  and 
after  living  for  a  time  in  Richmond  located  in  Petersburg, 
where  he  spent  his  remaining  years.  Mrs.  Stith  Jones  Kidd  died 
at  her  home  in  Petersburg  at  the  age  of  four  score  and  four 
years.  To  her  and  her  husband  ten  children  were  born,  and 
all  were  given  good  educational  advantages. 

A  boy  of  seven  years  when  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  war 
occurred,  Theodore  Franklin  Kidd  well  remembers  many  inci- 
dents connected  with  the  conflict.  Plantations  were  devastated, 
live  stock  taken,  contents  of  the  family  smoke  houses  seized,  and 
people  of  wealth  were  stripped  of  their  riches.  For  several  years 
thereafter  oxen  were  used  in  place  of  horses  and  mules,  produce 
often  being  brought  to  Petersburg  by  an  ox  in  shafts.  The 
people,  however,  with  true  Virginian  spirit  began  the  reconstruc- 
tion, not  only  of  city  and  state,  but  of  the  entire  South,  and  many 


VIRGINIA  349 

of  the  events  connected  with  it  are  still  vivid  in  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Kidd. 

Until  nineteen  years  of  age  Theodore  Franklin  Kidd  per- 
formed any  kind  of  labor  he  could  secure.  Ambitious  to  estab- 
lish himself  in  a  permanent  position,  he  served  an  apprentice- 
ship at  the  plumber's  trade,  which  he  conducted  most  successfully 
until  compelled  by  an  unfortunate  accident  to  relinquish  that 
work.  On  recovering  his  health  and  strength  Mr.  Kidd  was  for 
several  years  prosperously  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business, 
but  is  now  living  retired  from  active  pursuits,  devoting  his  time 
and  attention  to  his  family  and  friends,  and  thoroughly  enjoying 
his  well  earned  leisure. 

In  1884,  at  the  age  of  thirty  years,  Mr.  Kidd  married  Lucy  J. 
Alley,  who  was  born  in  Prince  George  County,  Virginia,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Abram  and  Cornelia  Ann  Alley.  Mrs.  Kidd  died  January 
17,  1926.  Seven  children  were  born  of  the  union  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kidd,  as  follows:  Robert  H.;  Flora  L.,  wife  of  Linwood  A. 
Andrews,  has  five  children ;  Blanche  T.,  wife  of  Edison  P.  Phil- 
lips, has  two  children ;  Bessie,  wife  of  W.  Gray  Andrews,  has 
five  children ;  Leonard  W. ;  Willard  C. ;  and  Grace  A.,  the  wife 
of  Rev.  J.  Ernest  Gibson,  pastor  of  Monumental  Baptist  Church 
at  Petersburg,  Virginia. 

Mr.  Kidd  has  always  taken  an  intelligent  interest  in  public 
affairs,  more  especially  in  local  matters.  Both  as  an  alderman 
and  as  a  member  of  the  City  Council,  in  which  he  served  con- 
tinuously for  a  period  of  thirty  years,  he  was  a  strong  advocate 
of  all  measures  conducive  to  the  advancement  of  the  city's  high- 
est interests  and  prosperity.  Mr.  Kidd  from  his  youth  up  was 
very  active  in  the  work  of  the  Wesley  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  was  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Stewards  for 
many  years,  and  a  heavy  contributor  toward  the  support  of  the 
church.  He  was  largely  instrumental  in  the  erection  of  the  new 
church  building.  He  was  a  strong  advocate  of  prohibition  and 
contributed  largely  to  the  cause  in  his  home  city. 

George  Wright  was  a  Virginian  who  gave  all  the  years  from 
early  manhood  to  the  close  of  his  life  in  railroading,  and  was 
honored  for  length  of  service  and  efficiency  throughout  the 
Chesapeake  and  Ohio  System.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was 
the  oldest  conductor  of  that  great  transportation  system,  with 
its  headquarters  at  Richmond. 

Captain  Wright,  as  he  was  always  known,  was  born  in  Essex 
County,  Virginia,  June  6,  1852,  and  died  at  Richmond  April  13, 
1923,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two.  His  father  was  a  physician, 
and  enjoyed  an  extensive  practice  in  Essex  County,  where  he 
lived  and  worked  until  his  death  at  the  age  of  forty-five.  The 
mother  of  Captain  Wright  was  Mary  Anne  Jones,  a  descendant 
of  Peter  Jones,  who  came  to  Virginia  in  1620. 

George  Wright  was  one  of  ten  children,  and  he  grew  up  in  Es- 
sex County,  getting  his  education  in  local  schools.  He  was  quite 
young  when  his  father  died,  and  for  several  years  he  remained 
with  his  mother,  assisting  on  the  farm.  It  was  in  1870  that  he 
moved  to  Richmond  and  began  his  long  con.secutive  service  for 
the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad.  His  first  position  was  clerk  in 
the  maintenance  department.  Later  he  rose  to  conductor  in  the 
transportation  department,  and  from  1901  to  1913  had  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  trainmaster.  Ill  health  compelling  him  to  give 
over  some  of  these  heavy  responsibilities,  he  once  more  resumed 
his  position  as  a  conductor,  having  a  run  between  Richmond  and 
Newport  News,  and  when  death  came  to  him  he  had  completed 


350  VIRGINIA 

fifty-two  years  as  a  railroad  man.  He  was  very  popular  in  rail- 
way organizations,  was  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  and  Shriner  and 
a  member  of  the  Holy  Comforter  Episcopal  Church  at  Richmond. 
His  wife  belongs  to  the  Tabernacle  Baptist  Church. 

Mr.  Wright  first  married  Lulie  Stanard,  of  Goshen,  Indiana, 
who  died  three  years  after  their  marriage,  the  mother  of  two 
sons,  Robert,  now  deceased,  and  Beverly.  Captain  Wright  on 
October  7,  1890,  married  Loulie  Evans,  of  Middlesex  County, 
where  she  was  reared  and  educated,  being  a  graduate  of  the 
Teachers  College  at  Farmville.  Mrs.  Wright,  who  resides  at 
2408  Hanover  Street  in  Richmond,  is  a  daughter  of  Doctor  and 
Mrs.  J.  Mason  Evans.  Her  father  graduated  in  medicine  from 
the  old  Columbian  University  at  Washington  and  spent  many 
years  in  practice  in  Middlesex  County.  Her  mother  was  Ellen 
Bagby,  of  King  and  Queen  County,  the  Bagbys  being  a  promi- 
nent Virginia  family.  Mrs.  Wright  was  seventh  in  a  family  of 
nine  children. 

Mrs.  Wright  has  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  Her  son, 
George  Wright,  Jr.,  was  educated  in  the  University  of  Virginia 
and  married  Lorraine  Ruffin,  of  Richmond,  of  the  well  known 
Ruffin  family.  Her  daughter,  Laura  M.,  is  the  wife  of  W.  S. 
Street,  assistant  cashier  of  the  Commerce  and  Trust  Bank  of 
Richmond,  and  has  two  children,  named  Walter,  Jr.,  and  Lou 
Evans.  Richard  Bagby  Wright  is  a  young  business  man  of 
Richmond. 

John  Harrison  Lambert  is  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Rocky 
Gap  in  Bland  County.  He  was  born  and  reared  in  that  county, 
and  his  people  have  lived  there  since  pioneer  times. 

Mr.  Lambert  is  a  son  of  Thomas  S.  and  Clara  G.  (Helvey) 
Lambert.  His  father  was  a  great-grandson  of  one  of  two  broth- 
ers who  settled  at  what  is  Lamberts  Point  near  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia. Thomas  S.  Lambert  was  born  and  reared  in  Bland  Coun- 
ty, and  followed  farming  and  stock  raising  until  his  death  on 
May  7,  1900.  He  is  buried  in  the  Lambert  Cemetery  at  Round 
Bottom.  His  wife,  Clara  G.  Helvey,  was  born  on  Kimberling 
Creek  in  Bland  County,  and  has  always  been  an  active  worker 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  She  lives  at  the  old 
homestead  at  Round  Bottom.  She  was  the  mother  of  three  chil- 
dren: John  H. ;  Ida  E.,  who  died  April  23,  1907,  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  years ;  and  James  M.,  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  at 
Round  Bottom  who  married  Linnie  Bivens  and  has  one  child, 
Virgie  C. 

John  Harrison  Lambert  was  born  at  Round  Bottom  October 
16,  1888,  and  supplemented  his  advantages  in  the  public  schools 
there  by  attending  Emory  and  Henry  College.  He  left  college 
in  1913  and  for  several  years  his  time  and  energies  were  fully 
taken  up  with  farming  and  stock  raising.  During  the  World 
war  he  was  classified  and  assigned  limited  military  service  as  a 
ship  carpenter  for  the  New  York  Ship  Building  Corporation  in 
the  yards  at  Camden,  New  Jersey. 

Mr.  Lambert  since  1924  has  been  cashier  of  the  Bank  of 
Rocky  Gap.  The  bank  was  organized  in  1922,  with  Mr.  John  M. 
Tuggle  as  president,  and  it  is  an  organization  that  affords  ade- 
quate banking  facilities  to  a  very  prosperous  farming  and  cattle 
raising  section  in  Bland  County.  Mr.  Lambert  has  been  a  direc- 
tor of  the  bank  since  its  organization.  He  is  also  a  director  of 
the  Valley  Park  Land  Company  of  Elizabethton,  Tennessee, 
handling  an  extensive  development  project  in  that  locality. 


I 


EDWARD   WILSON   GARDNER 


VIRGINIA  351 

Mr.  Lambert  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He 
served  four  years  as  supervisor  of  the  Rocky  Gap  District,  from 
January  1,  1923,  to  January  1,  1927.  He  is  a  Democrat  in  pol- 
itics, a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and 
for  several  years  was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School. 

Mr.  Lanabert  married  at  Camden,  New  Jersey,  September  9, 
1925,  Miss  Edna  Black,  who  was  educated  in  public  schools  in 
Camden  and  attended  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  was  a 
teacher  up  to  the  time  of  her  marriage,  her  work  having  been 
done  in  the  public  schools  at  Camden.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Church  and  is  a  daughter  of  Clinton  and  Emma 
(Peak)  Black.  Her  father  for  many  years  was  an  engineer  with 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  and  died  February  22,  1898,  being 
buried  at  Camden.  Her  mother  is  .still  living,  a  resident  of  Col- 
lingswood,  New  Jersey. 

Edvv^ard  Wilson  Gardner  was  for  many  years  identified 
with  the  mechanical  department  of  the  Southern  Railway  Com- 
pany, lived  at  Richmond,  and  while  this  service  constituted  a 
valid  claim  for  his  consideration  among  representative  Vir- 
ginians of  his  generation,  he  is  also  remembered  as  a  man  of 
popularity  among  his  fellow  citizens  and  a  valuable  man  in  the 
community  of  Richmond. 

He  was  born  in  Richmond  October  28,  1864,  and  died  in  that 
city  May  31,  1926,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two  years.  He  was  the 
oldest  of  the  ten  children  of  Cornelius  and  Sarah  Gardner,  and 
as  a  boy  attended  schools  in  his  native  city.  His  apprenticeship 
as  a  machinist  was  served  with  the  John  Tolbert  Machine  Works 
in  Richmond.  From  there  he  went  with  the  Southern  Railway 
Company  and  had  successive  promotions  until  he  was  made 
foreman  of  the  machine  department.  He  gave  an  uninterrupted 
service  until  1917,  when  with  America's  entry  into  the  World 
war  he  accepted  a  position  where  his  experience  and  skill  would 
be  of  greater  value  to  the  country,  in  connection  with  the  New- 
port News  Ship  Building  Works.  He  returned  to  Richmond  in 
1925,  where  he  lived  in  retirement  until  his  death.  He  completed 
a  record  of  twenty-nine  years  with  the  Southern  Railway,  and 
that  company  gave  him  a  medal  as  a  token  of  twenty-five  years 
of  service. 

He  was  an  active  Democrat  and  served  for  a  time  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Democratic  committee.  He  was  several  times  elected 
president  of  the  Richmond  Machinists  Union.  He  belonged  to 
the  Masonic  order  and  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  First  Baptist  Church. 

Mr.  Gardner  married  in  August,  1892,  Miss  Ellen  Bethel,  of 
Richmond,  daughter  of  Thomas  C.  and  Ellen  Bethel.  She  was 
the  fifth  of  eleven  children  and  was  reared  and  educated  in 
Richmond.  Mrs.  Gardner  resides  at  Richmond,  Virginia.  Her 
father  was  in  the  service  of  the  Confederate  government  during 
the  Civil  war. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gardner  had  a  family  of  six  children :  Sarah 
Lillian  is  a  teller  in  the  savings  department  of  the  State  Planters 
Bank  and  Trust  Company  at  Richmond.  Thomas  Carter,  who 
married  Adele  Inge  and  has  a  son,  Thomas  Carter,  Jr.,  is  now 
in  the  printing  business.  During  the  war  he  was  in  France 
vdth  the  One  Hundred  and  Forty-third  Company,  Signal  Corps, 
in  the  First  Division,  and  was  gassed  at  the  battle  of  Cantigny. 
Edward  Wilson,  Jr.,  is  in  the  plumbing  business,  and  by  his 
marriage  with  Ruth  Masenberg  has  a  daughter,  Ruth  Virginia. 


352  VIRGINIA 

Albert  Bethel  Gardner  is  an  interior  decorator  at  Richmond. 
He  married  Katherine  Brooks,  of  Richmond.  The  two  youngest 
of  the  family  are  Francis  Ellyson,  who  married  Ruth  Evelyn 
Darne,  of  Washington  County,  and  John  Stuart. 

Benjamin  William  Beach,  Danville  business  man,  has 
found  the  royal  road  to  success  one  of  hard  work  and  close 
application.  He  started  life  without  money  or  superior  educa- 
tion, but  has  long  enjoyed  a  position  of  marked  esteem  among 
his  associates.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  has  been  identified 
with  the  Danville  Ice  Company,  of  which  he  is  manager. 

Mr.  Beach  was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Virginia,  May  6, 
1869,  son  of  Richard  Robert  and  Sallie  Ann  (Dyer)  Beach.  His 
great-grandfather  was  one  of  three  brothers  who  came  from 
England  in  the  1700s,  two  of  the  brothers  locating  in  Prince 
Edward  County,  Virginia,  while  the  other  went  out  West  and 
was  never  heard  from  again.  Mr.  Beach's  grandfather  was 
William  Branch  Beach,  who  was  born  and  reared  in  Prince 
Edward  County,  and  after  his  marriage  moved  to  Franklin 
County,  where  he  was  a  farmer.  Richard  Robert  Beach  was 
born  and  reared  in  Franklin  County,  and  served  all  through  the 
four  years  of  the  Civil  war  in  the  regiment  commanded  by 
Colonel  Kemper  and  in  Pickett's  division.  He  was  wounded 
during  the  famous  charge  of  that  division  at  Gettysburg.  After 
the  war  he  was  a  farmer  in  Franklin  and  later  in  Montgomery 
County,  and  died  in  1905.  He  is  buried  at  Christiansburg. 
Richard  Robert  Beach  married  Sallie  Ann  (Dyer)  Patrick, 
widow  of  John  Hughes  Patrick,  who  lost  his  life  as  a  Confed- 
erate soldier  at  the  battle  of  Antietam.  She  was  born  and 
reared  in  Henry  County,  Virginia,  and  after  the  war  became 
the  wife  of  Richard  Robert  Beach.  She  was  an  invalid  several 
years  before  her  death,  in  1876.  She  was  the  mother  of  two 
children,  a  son,  John  H.  Patrick,  by  her  first  marriage,  and 
Benjamin  W.  Beach  by  her  second  husband.  John  H.  Patrick 
was  for  many  years  in  the  wholesale  commission  business  at 
Hickory,  North  Carolina,  where  he  is  living  retired.  He  mar- 
ried Mattie  Bailey,  of  Halifax  County,  Virginia,  and  they  have 
three  children,  Grace,  a  teacher  of  music ;  Sam  Bailey  Patrick, 
a  graduate  of  Columbia  University,  now  practicing  law  at 
Hickory,  North  Carolina,  and  Jessie,  wife  of  Edward  Hodnett, 
professor  of  English  in  Columbia  University. 

Benjamin  W.  Beach  was  seven  years  of  age  when  his  mother 
died.  His  advantages  were  limited  to  the  district  schools  in 
Franklin  County  and  for  several  years  he  lived  in  the  home  of 
an  aunt.  He  was  fifteen  when  he  came  to  Danville  and  went  to 
work  in  the  Brown  &  Stovall  tobacco  factory  for  three  years. 
For  six  or  seven  years  he  was  employed  by  T.  B.  Fitzgerald,  a 
contractor  and  builder.  After  a  course  in  the  Danville  Busi- 
ness College  he  became  local  agent  for  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany in  1895,  and  represented  that  business  at  Danville  for 
seven  years.  For  two  years  he  resumed  work  in  the  building 
trade  and  in  1904  came  with  the  Danville  Ice  Company,  at  first 
as  clerk  and  bookkeeper  and  since  January,  1919,  as  manager  of 
the  business  and  plant. 

Mr.  Beach  is  one  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  of  Southern  Virginia.  He  is  an  honorary  member 
of  Roman  Eagle  Lodge  No.  122,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  a  member 
of  Euclid  Chapter  No.  15,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  Dove  Com- 
mandery  No.   7,   Knights  Templar,  and  was  grand  master  of 


VIRGINIA  353 

Virginia  from  February  26,  1926,  to  February  26,  1927.  He 
is  also  affiliated  with  Acca  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  and 
the  Junior  Order  United  American  Mechanics.  Mr.  Beach  is  a 
Democrat  and  for  two  terms  was  a  member  of  the  Danville  City 
Council.  He  is  on  the  board  of  Stewards  of  Calvary  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  South. 

He  married  at  Pelham,  North  Carolina,  October  10,  1901. 
Miss  Pattie  Moore,  of  Danville.  She  was  educated  in  public 
schools  at  Richmond,  attended  high  school  and  the  State  Normal 
School  and  was  engaged  in  educational  work  for  thirty-three 
years,  before  and  after  her  marriage.  Mrs.  Beach  is  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  the  Home  and  Mis- 
sionary societies  of  the  church,  the  Eastern  Star  chapter.  Her 
parents  were  Reuben  C.  and  Sallie  (Harris)  Moore,  of  Danville. 
Her  father  was  a  wheelwright  and  miller. 

Hon.  Robert  Bolling  Willcox.  Possessing  a  wide  and  in- 
telligent knowledge  of  the  law  and  its  precedents,  Hon.  Robert 
Boiling  Willcox  maintains  a  noteworthy  position  among  the  fore- 
most attorneys  of  Petersburg,  where  he  has  won  an  exceedingly 
large  and  lucrative  patronage.  A  native  of  Prince  George  County, 
Virginia,  he  was  born  at  Flower  de  Hundred,  which  was  like- 
wise the  birthplace  of  his  father,  Robert  Bolling  Willcox,  Sr. 
He  comes  of  honored  Virginian  stock,  his  paternal  grandfather, 
John  P.  Willcox,  having  been  a  native  of  Petersburg,  while  his 
great-grandfather,  John  V.  Willcox,  was  born  and  reared  in 
Charles  City  County,  Virginia,  on  the  old  home  plantation. 

John  V.  Willcox  located  in  early  life  in  Petersburg,  Virginia, 
where  he  was  for  many  years  profitably  engaged  in  raising 
tobacco  and  exporting  it  to  countries  across  the  sea.  There  his 
son,  John  P.  Willcox,  was  born,  but  as  a  young  man  he  moved 
to  Flower  de  Hundred,  where  he  operated  a  large  plantation  with 
the  aid  of  his  slaves,  residing  there  until  his  death  at  a  venerable 
age. 

Born  at  Flower  de  Hundred  October  6,  1847,  Robert  Bolling 
Willco.x,  Sr.,  received  excellent  educational  advantages,  and  as 
a  young  man  was  graduated  from  the  law  department  of  the 
University  of  Virginia.  Beginning  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  Paducah,  Kentucky,  he  remained  there  a  few  years,  but  pre- 
ferring life  in  the  Old  Dominion  State,  he  returned  to  Flow^er  de 
Hundred,  where  he  managed  a  large  plantation  during  the 
remainder  of  his  years.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Martha  Theodora  Dodson,  was  born  in  Petersburg,  Virginia,  a 
daughter  of  Capt.  Daniel  Dodson.  During  the  Civil  war  Capt. 
Daniel  Dodson  commanded  the  Petersburg  Riflemen,  a  body  of 
thoroughly  organized  soldiers.  He  married  Elizabeth  Romaine 
Mason,  who  lived  to  the  good  old  age  of  seventy-two  years. 
Seven  children  were  born  into  their  household. 

Hon.  Robert  Boiling  Willcox,  the  special  subject  of  this  brief 
sketch,  was  prepared  for  college  under  private  tutorship.  Enter- 
ing the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1898, 
he  was  there  graduated  in  1901,  and  has  since  been  actively 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  chosen  profession,  his  decisions 
being  almost  invariably  just  and  satisfactory  to  all  concerned. 

A  Democrat  in  his  political  affiliations,  Mr.  Willcox  cast  his 
first  presidential  ballot  in  favor  of  William  J.  Bryan,  who  was 
of  Virginia  ancestry.  Mr.  Willcox  takes  an  active  interest  in 
local  and  state  affairs,  and  has  served  very  acceptably  as  presi- 


354  VIRGINIA 

dent  of  the  City  Council.  He  was  among  the  first  to  advocate 
the  commission  form  of  government  for  Petersburg,  and  has 
served  as  city  attorney  since  its  adoption  in  1921. 

Mr.  Willcox  married,  November  3,  1915,  Lucy  Landon  Harri- 
son, who  was  born  in  Danville,  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  James 
and  Mary  (Davis)  Harrison,  and  a  direct  descendant  of  Dr.  John 
Staige,  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Willcox 
have  five  children,  namely:  Robert  Boiling,  James  Harrison, 
Elizabeth  Mason,  Donald  Skipwith  and  Lucy  Landon.  Mr.  Will- 
cox is  a  valued  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  has  served 
as  a  vestryman  therein. 

William  Goodwin  Cosby.  There  are  some  men  whose 
careers  are  outlined  by  circumstances  and  many  others  who 
overcome  circumstances  and  shape  their  own  lives.  To  the  latter 
class  undoubtedly  belonged  the  late  William  Goodwin  Cosby,  of 
Richmond.  Tens  of  thousands,  starting  life  as  he  did  dependent 
upon  his  own  resources,  never  emerged  from  the  rut  of  medioc- 
rity. From  his  parents,  however,  he  inherited  the  best  of 
legacies,  birth,  health,  industry  and  integrity.  These,  united  to 
thrift,  temperance  and  native  business  shrewdness,  were  the 
equipment  with  which  he  won  his  way  to  a  prominent  position 
among  his  fellow  citizens. 

Mr.  Cosby  was  born  in  Albemarle  County,  Virginia,  Novem- 
ber 12,  1851,  and  was  a  son  of  William  Harris  and  Sarah  Fran- 
ces (Goodwin)  Cosby.  His  father,  a  native  of  Virginia,  was  a 
large  landowner  in  Albemarle  and  Hanover  counties.  Though 
the  heir  of  three  fortunes,  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  war  he  was 
left  practically  without  property  and  a  family  of  five  children. 
He  married  Sarah  Frances  Goodwin,  a  member  of  the  distin- 
guished family  of  that  name,  and  a  direct  descendant  of  Col. 
George  Reade  and  Elizabeth  Martian. 

The  eldest  of  the  children,  William  Goodwin  Cosby,  acquired 
a  public  school  education  in  Albemarle  County,  and  as  a  young 
man  took  up  his  residence  in  Richmond,  where  he  secured  a 
position  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad.  While  his  salary 
was  small,  he  exercised  thrift  and  economy,  and  established  a 
business  of  his  own.  All  of  the  money  he  could  earn,  aside  from 
that  which  he  needed  for  the  bare  necessities  of  life,  was  put 
into  this  business,  and  as  the  years  passed  his  equipment  grew 
and  developed,  while  his  patronage  increased  in  proportion.  He 
never  shirked  his  duties  with  the  railroad,  but  his  great  energy 
and  industry  enabled  him  to  carry  on  his  own  enterprise  in  an 
able  and  expeditious  manner.  He  remained  in  the  employ  of 
the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad  for  twenty-five  years,  as  one 
of  its  valued  and  trusted  men,  but  by  1900  his  own  business  had 
expanded  to  such  a  size  that  he  found  it  necessary  to  resign.  He 
continued  as  president  of  his  warehouse  and  storage  company 
until  his  death,  at  which  time,  through  his  able  management, 
intelligence  and  shrewdness,  he  had  developed  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  prosperous  enterprises  of  its  kind  in  the  capital.  Mr. 
Cosby  was  one  of  Richmond's  reliable  business  citizens,  and  at 
all  times  took  a  keen  and  helpful  part  in  movements  which  added 
to  the  city's  greatness.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  religious  faith 
and  feeling,  was  superintendent  of  the  Overbrook  Presbyterian 
Church  Sunday  School  for  nineteen  years,  and  for  twenty-five 
years  was  clerk  of  the  session.  In  his  death  Richmond  lost  a 
man  who  had  led  a  useful  and  honorable  life  and  contributed  not 
a  little  to  its  business  and  civic  prestige. 


(J^oMcdG  j^i 


OL^i^i-CKf 


VIRGINIA  355 

On  October  20,  1880,  Mr.  Cosby  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Mary  Archer  Royall  Briggs,  who  was  born  in  Stafford 
County,  Virginia,  the  fifth  of  eleven  children  born  to  James 
McDonald  and  Louise  Ann  (Smith)  Briggs,  a  granddaughter  of 
James  McDonald  Briggs,  the  elder,  and  a  great-granddaughter 
of  David  Briggs,  a  native  of  Scotland,  who  immigrated  to  the 
United  States  in  young  manhood  and  settled  on  land  in  Stafford 
County,  Virginia,  where  the  family  have  resided  for  five  genera- 
tions, still  owning  the  original  property.  Mrs.  Cosby,  who  died 
on  June  5,  1929,  received  her  education  at  West  Middlesex, 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  one  of  the  highly  respected  women  of 
Richmond,  where  she  had  been  active  for  many  years  in  the 
work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  Woman's  Club.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Cosby  became  the  parents  of  three  children :  Edith 
Marshall  Kieth,  the  wife  of  John  Brown  Wintersmith,  a  leading 
manufacturing  chemist  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  who  has  two 
children,  Edith  Cosby  and  John  Brown ;  Robert  Cullen,  an  enter- 
prising and  successful  business  man  of  Richmond,  who  succeeded 
his  father  as  president  of  the  storage  company  and  has  a  num- 
ber of  other  connections;  and  Wi'Ham  Randolph,  who  attended 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Laws  at  Tallahassee,  Florida,  mawipri  T,orraine  Johnson,  of  Chi- 
cago, Illinois,  and  is  now  a  broker  for  Halsey,  Stuart  &  Company, 
Chicago,  at  Decatur,  Illinois. 

Miss  Pattie  Elizabeth  Harris.  Talented  and  cultured,  with 
an  inherent  love  for  good  literature,  which  necessarily  includes 
the  daily  newspapers.  Miss  Pattie  E.  Harris  keeps  w^ell  informed 
on  the  local,  county,  state,  national  and  foreign  affairs  of  the 
day,  and  expresses  her  opinions  thereon  most  clearly  and  intel- 
ligently. A  daughter  of  James  Harris,  she  was  born  on  October 
31,  1852,  in  Southampton  County,  Virginia,  of  early  Colonial 
ancestry. 

James  Harris,  a  life  long  resident  of  Southampton  County, 
was  born  in  1809,  and  died  in  1855,  while  yet  in  manhood's  prime. 
His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  Elizabeth  Ryland,  was 
born  in  Greensville  County,  Virginia,  September  14,  1822,  the 
descendant  of  a  family  of  prominence  in  both  public  and  pri- 
vate affairs.  Her  father,  Edward  Ryland,  was  a  native  of 
Brunswick  County,  Virginia,  a  son  of  Iverson  Ryland,  who  was 
born  and  reared  in  England. 

Iverson  Ryland  immigrated  to  America  when  young,  settling 
in  Brunswick  County,  Virginia,  where  he  bought  much  land, 
which  he  cultivated  with  slave  labor.  He  married  a  Miss  Dorch, 
and  they  reared  a  fine  family  of  boys  and  girls. 

Edward  Ryland,  the  maternal  grandfather  of  Miss  Harris, 
purchased  a  tract  of  land  in  Greensville  County,  Virginia,  and 
was  there  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  His  wife,  whose  name  before  her  marriage  was  Martha 
Patsy  Williamson,  was  born  in  Greensville  County,  a  daughter 
of  Col.  Person  Williamson,  and  granddaughter  of  Rev.  Joseph 
Williamson,  an  Episcopalian  minister,  who  was  born  in  Scotland, 
and  spent  the  last  years  of  his  life  in  Sussex  County,  Virginia. 

Col.  Person  Williamson,  the  great-grandfather  of  Miss  Har- 
ris, on  the  matei-nal  side,  who  owned  and  operated  a  plantation 
in  Sussex  County,  married  Mary  Mason,  a  daughter  of  Col. 
David  Mason,  and  a  granddaughter  of  George  Mason,  widely 
known  as  the  author  of  the  "Bill  of  Rights,"  which  consisted  of 
ten   important   amendments  to   the   Constitution.      During  the 


356  VIRGINIA 

Revolutionary  war  Col.  David  Mason  had  command  of  the  Fif- 
teenth Virginia  Regiment,  which  was  on  the  firing  line  in  several 
important  engagements.    He  married  a  Miss  Turner. 

Mrs.  Mary  Elizabeth  (Ryland)  Harris,  the  mother  of  Miss 
Harris,  was  left  a  widow  when  young,  with  three  children  to 
care  for.  She  was  exceedingly  faithful  to  the  duties  falling  upon 
her,  administering  wisely  to  their  physical  needs,  and  carefully 
attending  to  their  mental  training.  She  survived  her  husband 
many  long  years,  passing  to  the  life  beyond  in  November,  1898. 
They  were  the  parents  of  three  children,  James  Edward,  Pattie 
Elizabeth  and  Mary  Jane.  In  1900  they  moved  to  Petersburg, 
and  there  in  1903  James  Edward's  death  occurred,  and  in  1925 
his  sister  Mary  answered  death's  summons.  Thus  left  without 
parents,  sister  or  brother,  Miss  Pattie  E.  Harris  is  busily  em- 
ployed in  looking  after  her  private  affairs,  bravely  facing  the 
trials  and  troubles  that  come  to  every  one,  young  or  old,  rich 
or  poor,  in  this  land  of  freedom  and  promise. 

John  Warwick  Rust,  attorney  and  counsellor  at  law  at  Fair- 
fax, has  had  a  very  extensive  law  practice,  and  also  numerous 
business  interests  for  his  supervision,  and  has  been  an  active 
participant  in  the  public  affairs  of  his  community. 

He  was  born  in  Warren  County,  Virginia,  November  8,  1881, 
and  is  a  descendant  of  William  Rust,  an  English  cavalier  who 
settled  in  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia,  in  1650.  His  wife, 
Anne  Gray,  was  a  daughter  of  Francis  Gray,  who  came  from 
England  in  1634,  living  for  a  time  in  Maryland  and  moving  to 
Westmoreland  County,  Virginia,  in  1647.  For  generation  after 
generation  the  Rust  family  lived  in  Westmoreland  and  adjoining 
counties.  John  W.  Rust  is  a  descendant  of  Samuel  Rust,  son  of 
William,  and  Matthew,  son  of  Samuel.  Matthew  was  the  father 
of  Benedict  Rust,  who  was  born  October  25,  1743,  and  died 
September  18,  1829.  There  is  a  family  tradition  that  he  was  a 
Revolutionary  soldier.  There  were  many  other  names  of  the 
Rust  family  who  participated  in  the  war  for  independence,  and 
the  Rusts  have  done  their  part  in  practically  every  war  in  which 
this  country  has  been  engaged.  Benedict  Rust  about  the  close 
of  the  Revolution  established  his  home  in  Frederick  County. 
He  married  Jane  Middleton,  and  two  of  their  sons,  John  and 
Matthew,  were  soldiers  in  the  War  of  1812.  The  record  of 
John  is :  Member  of  Capt.  Daniel  Matthews'  Company  of  Rifle- 
men of  the  McDowell's  Flying  Camp  of  Virginia  Militia  to 
September  28,  1813 ;  private  in  Captain  Daniel  Matthews'  Com- 
pany of  Infantry  of  the  same  regiment,  attached  to  the  Fourth 
Militia  from  September  29,  1813,  to  January  10,  1814. 

John  Rust  was  born  February  8,  1769,  and  died  April  17, 
1851.  He  ovvTied  a  beautiful  manor  house  on  the  Shenandoah 
River  in  Warren  County,  and  for  many  years  was  judge  of  the 
County  Court  of  Warren,  and  also  senior  justice  of  the  peace. 
He  married  Elizabeth  Marshall,  daughter  of  William  Marshall 
and  member  of  the  noted  Marshall  family  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland. 

Their  son,  Charles  Buckner  Carroll  Rust,  was  born  Decem- 
ber 26,  1816,  and  died  December  17,  1904.  He  married,  Sep- 
tember 12,  1839,  Mary  Ann  Ashby,  who  was  born  October  19, 
1817,  and  died  April  18,  1885.  Her  grandfather,  Benjamin 
Ashby,  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Revolutionary  war  and  the 
Ashbys  have  been  noted  as  military  heroes  since  early  Colonial 


VIRGINIA  357 

times,  one  member  of  the  family  having  been  the  distinguished 
Gen.  Turner  Ashby,  of  the  Confederate  Army. 

Capt.  John  Robert  Rust,  son  of  Charles  Buckner  Carroll 
Rust,  was  born  June  14,  1840,  and  died  June  2,  1920.  He  left 
Piedmont  College  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  joined  the  com- 
mand of  his  cousin.  Gen.  Turner  Ashby,  as  a  private,  enlisting 
April  18,  1861,  the  day  after  Virginia  seceded.  He  became  cap- 
tain of  Company  I,  Twelfth  Virginia  Regiment  of  Cavalry,  and 
was  in  active  service  except  for  forty-nine  days  of  imprisonment 
at  Fort  McHenry.  He  had  six  horses  shot  while  under  him  in 
battle,  was  wounded  twice,  and  as  a  member  of  Ashby's  and 
Jackson's  cavalry  was  in  almost  continuous  action  and  service. 
He  had  seven  first  cousins  in  the  war,  four  of  them  killed  in 
battle,  another  cousin  being  Gen.  Albert  B.  Rust.  Capt.  John 
Robert  Rust  made  his  home  in  his  later  years  at  Haymarket, 
Prince  William  County.  He  married,  December  22,  1873,  Nan- 
nie Antrim  McKay,  daughter  of  Joshua  and  Esther  Ann  (Hay- 
cock) McKay.  Her  ancestor,  Robert  McKay,  was  one  of  the 
grantees  with  Joist  Hite  of  a  great  tract  of  land  in  Warren 
County  in  1732,  and  built  the  first  house  in  the  Valley  of  Vir- 
ginia, at  Cedarville,  Warren  County. 

John  Warwick  Rust,  youngest  of  the  four  children  of  Capt. 
John  Robert  Rust,  was  reared  in  W^arren  County,  attended  East- 
ern College  at  Front  Royal,  studied  law  at  Fairfax  and  was 
licensed  to  practice  at  Richmond  in  June,  1907.  Besides 
responding  to  the  demands  upon  his  time  and  talents  in  a  general 
law  practice  he  has  served  as  attorney  for  the  Federal  Land 
Bank  at  Baltimore,  has  supervised  large  land  and  real  estate 
holdings  of  his  own,  has  been  vice  president  of  the  Vienna 
National  Bank  at  Vienna,  Virginia,  and  served  as  mayor  of 
Fairfax.  During  the  war  he  was  county  director  of  the  National 
War  Savings  Committee.  He  has  been  a  commander  of  the  local 
camp  of  Sons  of  Confederate  Veterans,  is  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  and  a  Democrat. 

He  married,  September  27,  1911,  Miss  Anne  Hooe,  of  Long- 
wood,  Fauquier  County.  She  is  a  descendant  of  Rice  Hooe,  who 
was  among  the  first  settlers  of  Virginia  and  one  of  the  early 
burgesses  of  the  colony.  His  grandson,  Rice  Hooe,  married 
Anne  Howson,  daughter  of  Robert  Howson.  Mrs.  Rust  is  a 
daughter  of  Howson  and  Henrietta  (Daniell)  Hooe.  Her  father 
was  a  Confederate  soldier,  and  the  Howson  and  Hooes  among 
her  ancestors  furnished  many  names  in  the  military  and  civic 
affairs  of  the  colony  and  state  of  Virginia.  The  children  born 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rust  are :  Katharine  Warwick,  Eleanor 
McLean,  John  Howson  and  Anne  Hooe. 

William  Henry  Painter,  mayor  of  Radford,  has  made  an 
enviable  record  both  as  a  business  man  and  citizen.  He  has 
been  well  known  in  several  communities  of  Southwestern  Vir- 
ginia, and  his  chief  business  activities  since  locating  at  Rad- 
ford have  been  as  a  building  contractor  and  real  estate  operator. 

Mr.  Painter  was  born  in  Wvthe  County,  Virginia,  September 
21,  1869,  son  of  William  M.  and  Sallie  (Hatcher)  Painter.  His 
great-grandfather  Painter  was  killed  by  Indians  in  the  Valley 
of  Virginia  in  early  pioneer  times.  His  grandfather,  Abraham 
Painter,  was  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  in  Wythe  County,  and 
both  he  and  his  wife  are  buried  at  Ivanhoe.  William  M.  Painter 
was  born  in  Wythe  County,  was  educated  in  private  schools  and 
was  in  Confederate  service  during  the  Civil  war,  being  detailed 


358  VIRGINIA 

for  work  in  the  lead  mines.  After  the  war  he  followed  farming 
and  general  merchandising,  and  when  he  died  in  1915  was  one 
of  the  oldest  merchants  in  Wythe  County.  His  wife,  Sallie  Hat- 
cher, was  born  and  reared  in  Rockbridge  County,  Virginia,  was 
educated  in  private  schools  and  was  a  Methodist,  while  her  hus- 
band was  a  Presbyterian.  She  died  in  December,  1915.  They 
had  a  family  of  five  children :  Walter  T.,  deceased ;  D.  M.  Painter, 
also  deceased;  Lula  M.,  wife  of  S.  S.  Simmerman,  of  Wytheville; 
Minnie,  wife  of  W.  E.  Miller,  of  Herndon,  Virginia ;  and  Wil- 
liam H. 

William  H.  Painter  attended  public  schools  in  Wythe  County 
and  after  completing  his  education  in  Roanoke  College  returned 
home  and  became  associated  with  his  father  in  the  store  at 
Ivanhoe  and  later  became  a  member  of  the  firm  W.  M.  Painter 
&  Son.  After  five  years  he  sold  out  his  interest  and  for  three 
years  was  engaged  in  buying  and  selling  farms  in  Greenbrier 
County,  West  Virginia,  and  for  a  time  was  also  a  real  estate 
operator  in  the  country  around  Washington,  D.  C.  He  returned 
to  Ivanhoe  to  take  the  management  of  the  store  there,  remain- 
ing another  five  years,  and  from  there  came  to  Radford,  where 
he  has  been  a  contractor  and  builder,  operating  largely  with  his 
own  property  and  capital. 

The  community  of  Radford  has  given  him  repeated  evidences 
of  its  esteem  for  his  leadership.  For  eight  years  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  City  Council,  and  while  living  in  Wythe  County  served 
on  the  Board  of  Education  about  fifteen  years.  For  one  year 
he  was  president  of  the  Radford  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  in 
1928  was  elected  mayor  of  the  city.  He  has  been  a  director  of 
banks  and  other  public  enterprises,  although  in  recent  years  he 
has  given  over  many  of  his  connections  with  business  affairs. 
In  1928  Mr.  Painter  erected  a  beautiful  home  on  the  hills  above 
Radford,  at  Sixth  and  Harvey  streets,  a  house  corresponding  to 
its  beautiful  location  in  architecture.  This  home  represented 
many  of  the  artistic  ideals  and  the  plans  for  convenience  and 
comfort  made  by  his  good  wife,  who  unfortunately  did  not  live 
to  see  the  home  completed.  Mr.  Painter  was  formerly  active  in 
the  Kiwanis  Club,  he  is  a  Democrat  and  a  trustee  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South. 

He  married  at  Ivanhoe,  Virginia,  in  October,  1896,  Miss 
Mattie  L.  Mitchell.  After  attending  public  schools  she  was  edu- 
cated in  Sullins  College  at  Bristol.  She  was  identified  with  the 
work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Woman's  Club  of  Radford.  Mrs.  Painter  died  August  8, 
1928,  and  is  buried  in  the  West  View  Cemetery  at  Radford.  Her 
parents  were  Rev.  W.  D.  and  Mary  Rebecca  (Burkey)  Mitchell. 
Her  father  for  half  a  century  was  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  widely  known  all  over  the  Holston 
Conference.  He  and  his  wife  spent  their  declining  years  at 
Radford  and  are  buried  in  the  West  View  Cemetery  there.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Painter  were  the  parents  of  five  children,  two  of  whom 
died  young.  The  living  daughters  are  Ruth,  Mary  and  Lois. 
Ruth  was  educated  at  Ivanhoe,  in  a  private  girls  school  at 
Wytheville,  and  was  married  to  Ernest  Bullard,  of  Radford,  who 
died  leaving  two  children,  William  P.  and  Barbara.  Mrs.  Bul- 
lard subsequently  married  Blackman  Garner,  of  Dover,  North 
Carolina,  where  they  reside,  and  by  this  marriage  there  are  two 
children,  Janice  Blackman  and  Jean  Carolyn.  The  daughter 
Mary  was  educated  at  Radford,  graduating  from  the  high  school 
there  in  1916  and  also  attended  the  National  Business  College  at 


JOHN    FREDERICK   BLACK 


VIRGINIA  359 

Roanoke.  Lois  Painter  graduated  from  the  Radford  High  School 
in  1920.  spent  two  years  in  Martha  Washington  College,  one 
year  in  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  and  in  1924  gradu- 
ated from  Emory  and  Henry  College.  She  taught  three  and  a 
half  years  in  the  public  .schools  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina, 
and  in  January,  1928,  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  James  E.  Dooley, 
of  Monita.  Virginia.  Mr.  Dooley  attended  high  school  at  Mon- 
ita  and  Roanoke  College,  and  his  business  is  road  construction 
work  in  North  Carolina.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dooley  have  one  son, 
James  Beverly. 

John  Frederick  Black  was  a  building  contractor  long  and 
familiarly  known  in  Richmond,  where  his  individual  skill  and 
the  skill  of  the  organization  which  he  built  up  and  directed  were 
impressed  on  many  of  the  finer  public  buildings,  as  well  as 
homes. 

Mr.  Black  was  born  at  Petersburg,  Virginia,  October  19,  1859, 
and  was  a  small  child  when  his  parents  moved  to  Richmond, 
where  he  lived  practically  all  his  life  and  where  he  died  January 
27,  1917.  His  widow  now  resides  at  3300  Park  Avenue.  His 
father  was  Maj.  B.  J.  Black,  a  prominent  Virginia  architect 
who  made  the  designs  and  supervised  the  construction  of  a  great 
many  buildings  in  Richmond  and  elsewhere  over  the  state.  He 
was  colonel  of  Virginia  troops  in  the  Civil  war.  Major  Black 
married  Lettie  Hawkins.  Their  children  were :  Molly,  who  mar- 
ried Joe  Myers ;  Katie ;  John  Frederick,  the  oldest  of  three  sons ; 
Willie ;  Agnes,  who  married  William  Beattie ;  Nellie,  whose  first 
husband  was  John  Murphy  and  the  second  Harry  Welch ;  Annie, 
and  Wilson. 

John  Frederick  Black  attended  school  at  Richmond,  and  from 
school  began  learning  the  carpenter's  trade.  He  had  a  very 
thorough  training  in  woodworking  and  other  branches  of  build- 
ing mechanics,  and  was  well  equipped  when  he  entered  the  con- 
tracting business.  The  work  he  did  as  a  contractor  from  that 
time  until  his  death  could  not  be  enumerated  in  detail.  In  the 
construction  of  the  Sacred  Heart  Cathedral  he  made  the  form  for 
many  of  the  fine  architectural  figures,  and  he  did  all  the  special 
finishing  work  on  the  building.  A  number  of  the  fine  homes  on 
Monument  Avenue  were  put  up  by  him,  and  he  also  erected 
several  office  buildings  in  the  business  quarter. 

Mr.  Black  was  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  the  Maccabees.  The  family  were  members  of  St.  Benedict 
Catholic  Parish  and  Mrs.  Black  is  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
Woman's  Club  of  Richmond. 

Mr.  Black  was  twice  married.  By  his  first  marriage  he  had 
one  daughter,  Mary,  who  finished  her  education  in  the  Sacred 
Heart  Academy  and  is  now  the  wife  of  Joseph  Amrhein.  Mr. 
Amrhein  for  a  number  of  years  was  with  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Richmond  and  is  now  a  state  bank  examiner.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Amrhein  have  three  children,  Mary  Catherine,  Joe,  Jr.,  and 
John. 

On  April  3,  1890,  at  Richmond,  John  Frederick  Black  mar- 
ried Kate  O'Brien,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Mary  Ann  O'Brien. 
Her  father  was  for  over  forty  years  employed  in  the  locomotive 
works  at  Richmond,  now  a  branch  of  the  American  Locomotive 
Works.  Mrs.  Black  was  one  of  a  family  of  eight  children  and 
was  the  oldest  of  the  five  that  grew  up.  Her  sister  Ellen  T.  mar- 
ried J.  H.  Duggan,  of  Richmond;  Mamie  married  Tom  Carroll, 
of  South  Richmond ;  Margaret  became  the  wife  of  R.  T.  Collins, 


360  VIRGINIA 

of  St.  Petersburg,  Florida;  and  Miss  Agnes  is  a  Government 
employe. 

Mrs.  Black  was  educated  in  St.  Joseph's  Academy  at  Rich- 
mond. The  following  children  were  born  to  her  marriage: 
Joseph  F.  married  Sarah  Burnett  and  had  four  children,  Joseph, 
John  F.,  Sarah  and  Mary;  Bernard,  the  second  son  is  married; 
Madeline,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  L.  S.  Jewett  and  left  two 
children.  Jack  and  Ann ;  Katherine  is  the  wife  of  James  Woot- 
ton,  of  Detroit ;  Margaret  is  the  fifth  in  age ;  John  A.  is  an  em- 
ploye of  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad ;  Thomas  O'Brien  is  an 
architect;  and  Wilson  is  in  school.  These  children  were  all 
educated  in  the  Sacred  Heart  Academy  except  Wilson  and  Mar- 
garet, who  attended  Saint  Benedict  Academy. 

Edward  Franklin  Cobb,  who  for  many  years  was  in  the 
service  of  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway,  was  a  member  of 
the  Cobb  family  which  settled  in  Virginia  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. The  Cobbs  were  English,  and  the  record  of  the  family  in 
England  runs  back  into  earliest  recorded  history. 

Edward  Franklin  Cobb  was  born  in  Caroline  County,  Vir- 
ginia, April  6,  1869,  and  died  at  Richmond  March  25,  1919.  His 
father,  Montgomery  Terrell  Cobb,  was  a  farmer  and  contractor 
in  Caroline  County,  and  served  in  the  Confederate  army.  He 
married  Margaret  Faulkner,  of  Spotsylvania  County.  Their 
family  of  children  consisted  of  the  following :  John  L.,  a  con- 
ductor with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway;  Mary,  deceased; 
Edward  Franklin;  Virginia,  deceased;  George  M.,  a  Chesa- 
peake &  Ohio  Railway  conductor;  Jesse  Thomas,  a  fai'mer  in 

Edward  Franklin  Cobb  attended  schools  in  Caroline  County, 
worked  with  his  father  on  the  home  farm,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two  moved  to  Richmond  and  went  to  work  for  the  Chesa- 
peake &  Ohio  Railroad.  He  was  then  apprenticed  one  year,  then 
was  transferred  to  the  transportation  department,  and  alto- 
gether spent  twenty-six  years  in  the  railway  service,  being  a 
conductor  for  twelve  years.  He  was  a  loyal  and  efficient  em- 
ploye, and  had  a  widely  extended  acquaintance  among  railroad 
men  over  the  state. 

He  was  a  Democrat,  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  a 
Baptist,  and  belonged  to  the  Brotherhood  of  Railway  Trainmen. 
His  wife  is  a  member  of  the  auxiliary  of  that  organization,  be- 
longs to  the  Travel  Club,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Woman's  Bene- 
ficial Association  and  the  Eastern  Star. 

Mr.  Cobb  married  at  Washington,  D.  C,  October  18,  1899, 
Miss  Eva  A.  Terrell.  Mrs.  Cobb,  whose  home  is  at  2908  A.  Park 
Avenue,  Richmond,  is  a  descendant  of  the  Terrell  family  which 
has  had  many  distinguished  members  in  Virginia  history,  run- 
ning back  for  two  centuries  or  more.  Her  parents  were  John  T. 
and  Ella  A.  (Cobb)  Terrell.  John  T.  Terrell  was  a  planter, 
lumber  mill  operator,  and  for  a  number  of  years  served  as 
deputy  county  tax  collector.  He  and  his  wife  had  six  children : 
Mrs.  Eva  A.  Cobb;  Aubin  Cobb  Terrell,  who  died  while  a  student 
at  Richmond  University;  Mrs.  Louise  Terrell  Campbell,  of  Caro- 
line County,  mother  of  four  children,  named  Durward  C,  who 
married  Beatrice  Chenault,  Aurelett,  now  Mrs.  Crawford  Ginn, 
of  Delaware,  Preston  Terrell  and  Leon;  John  T.  Terrell,  Jr.,  an 
engineer  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway,  has  one  daugh- 
ter, Grace;  Conway  Elle  Humphries  lives  in  Caroline  County; 
William  L.  Terrell  married  Maude  Long,  and  their  children  are 


VIRGINIA  361 

Marion,   Kedith,  Ravena,  Childress,   Doris,   Cora  Lee,   Conway 
Ella,  Maude  and  John  Thomas. 

Mrs.  Cobb  is  the  mother  of  three  children :  Russell  Terrell 
Cobb,  who  graduated  Bachelor  of  Science  from  Richmond  Uni- 
versity;  Aubin  Terrell  Cobb;  and  Beatrice  Cobb,  who  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  John  Marshall  High  School.  Both  sons  are  members 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  the  daughter  and  mother  belong 
to  the  Eastern  Star. 

Neal  Bunts.  A  resident  of  Pulaski  since  1908,  Neal  Bunts 
has  been  connected  during  this  entire  period  with  what  is  now 
a  part  of  the  General  Chemical  Company,  of  the  plant  of  which 
he  has  been  general  superintendent  since  1916.  Mr.  Bunts  has 
followed  the  same  line  of  industry  all  of  his  life,  but  of  more 
recent  years  has  extended  his  activities  and  abilities  to  various 
other  concerns  and  is  an  official  and  director  of  a  number  of 
successful  enterprises.  He  is  likewise  prominent  and  active  in 
civic  affairs,  and  for  a  number  of  years  has  been  one  of  most 
energetic  members  of  the  City  Council. 

Mr.  Bunts  was  born  May  16,  1877,  in  Wythe  County,  Vir- 
ginia and  is  a  son  of  John  M.  and  Lucinda  (Carnal)  Bunts.  The 
Bunts  family  is  of  German  descent,  and  the  paternal  grand- 
father of  Mr.  Bunts  was  a  sea  captain,  being  master  of  a  steam- 
ship traveling  between  the  United  States  and  Germany.  He  had 
settled  his  family  in  old  Virginia,  and  his  death  occurred  at  sea 
on  one  of  his  many  voyages.  John  M.  Bunts,  the  father  of  Neal 
Bunts,  was  born  and  reared  in  Wythe  County,  Virginia,  where 
he  received  his  education  in  a  private  school.  Following  his 
graduation  he  embarked  upon  a  career  as  an  educator,  and  was 
thus  engaged  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  war  between  the 
states,  when  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  South  and  enlisted  in 
the  Confederate  army.  During  the  four  years  that  followed  he 
took  part  in  many  of  the  major  engagements  of  that  great  strug- 
gle, including  the  great  battle  of  Gettysburg,  and  toward  the 
close  of  the  conflict  was  captured  and  spent  some  time  in  a  Fed- 
eral war  prison.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  the 
pursuits  of  peace,  resuming  his  work  as  an  educator,  and  during 
the  painful  period  of  reconstruction  did  much  to  alleviate  the 
worries  and  discomforts  of  his  troubled  community.  He  became 
widely  know'n  for  his  work  as  an  educator,  and  was  also  a  man 
of  the  strictest  honor  and  integrity,  serving  with  distinguished 
ability  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  a  period  of  twenty-eight 
years.  In  his  death,  which  occurred  about  1902,  his  community 
lost  a  valued  citizen,  and  he  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  old  family 
cemetery  in  Wythe  County.  Mr.  Bunts  married  Miss  Lucinda 
E.  Carnal,  who  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  and  was  a  child 
when  brought  by  her  parents  to  Virginia,  where  she  received 
her  education  in  public  schools  in  Wythe  County.  She  and  her 
husband  were  always  active  in  the  work  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South.  She  died  in  1916,  and  was  laid  to  rest  at 
the  side  of  her  husband.  Seven  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Bunts:  Robert,  Jr.,  deceased;  Neal,  of  this  review;  M.  L., 
of  Saltville,  Virginia;  Rev.  W.  M.,  of  Bristol,  this  state;  J.  E.. 
of  the  Pulaski  Foundry  at  Pulaski;  R.  S.,  also  of  Pulaski;  and 
Margaret,  who  died  in  1922.    ■ 

Neal  Bunts  attended  public  and  private  schools  in  Wythe 
County,  and  afterwai'd  became  identified  with  the  foundry  de- 
partment of  the  New  River  Mineral  Company  at  Ivanhoe,  Vir- 
ginia, where  he  remained  four  years.     He  was  then  connected 


362  VIRGINIA 

with  the  Mathieson  Alkali  Works,  of  Saltville  for  about  five 
years  as  foundry  superintendent,  subsequently  going  to  Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania,  vi^ith  the  Westinghouse  Foundry  and  Ma- 
chine Company,  where  he  was  assistant  foreman  for  three  years. 
Mr.  Bunts  went  then  to  the  Pacific  Coast  and  joined  the  Union 
Iron  Works  of  San  Francisco  as  foreman  of  the  foundry  depart- 
ment, but  after  one  year  returned  to  Virginia  in  1904  and  again 
was  employed  by  the  Mathieson  Alkali  Works,  in  charge  of  the 
foundry.  He  remained  at  Saltville  for  four  years  and  in  1908 
located  at  Pulaski,  where  with  his  brother,  Robert  Bunts,  Jr.,  he 
organized  the  Pulaski  Foundry  and  Machine  Company,  of  which 
his  brother  was  manager  and  Neal  Bunts,  assistant  manager 
and  treasurer.  The  business  was  operated  under  this  firm  name 
until  1916,  when  it  was  sold  to  the  General  Chemical  Company 
of  New  York,  and  following  this  sale  Robert  Bunts,  Jr.,  with 
others,  organized  the  Pulaski  Foundry  Manufacturing  Corpora- 
tion of  Pulaski,  but  he  died  in  1925,  although  the  company  still 
continues  in  operation.  Since  the  Pulaski  Foundry  and  Machine 
Company  was  sold  in  1916  Neal  Bunts  has  continued  with  the 
General  Chemical  Company  of  New  York  in  the  capacity  of 
general  superintendent,  for  the  duties  of  which  office  he  is  ad- 
mirably equipped  by  nature,  training  and  experience.  Mr.  Bunts 
is  also  interested  in  a  number  of  other  enterprises,  being  a 
director  in  the  Pulaski  Trust  Company,  president  and  a  dii'ector 
of  the  Pulaski  Building  and  Loan  Association,  a  director  in  the 
Blue  Grass  Hardware  Company,  and  a  stockholder  in  numerous 
other  business  and  financial  enterprises.  A  Democrat  in  his 
political  views,  he  has  long  been  interested  in  public  affairs,  and 
has  served  capably  in  the  capacity  of  councilman.  He  is  a 
thirty-second  degree  Mason  and  member  of  Kazim  Temple,  A.  A. 
0.  N.  M.  S.,  and  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks, 
and  for  years  was  active  in  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  is  a  charter  member  of 
the  Pulaski  Rotary  Club  and  also  a  member  of  the  Pulaski 
Country  Club.  Mr.  Bunts  belongs  to  the  vestry  of  Christ  Epis- 
copal Church,  of  which  he  is  junior  warden. 

At  Saltville,  August  29,  1905,  Mr.  Bunts  married  Miss  Lillie 
S.  Rodefer,  of  that  place,  who  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  Abingdon  and  Saltville,  in  Martha  Washington  College  and 
Emory  and  Henry  College.  For  a  few  years  prior  to  her  mar- 
riage she  was  engaged  in  teaching  school  at  Saltville,  and  is  an 
active  member  of  the  Woman's  Club,  the  Episcopal  Church 
Ladies'  Guild  and  the  Garden  Club,  of  which  she  is  secretary. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  J.  B.  Rodefer,  of  Saltville,  who  was  for 
many  years  connected  with  the  Mathieson  Alkali  Works,  and 
died  in  1912,  being  buried  in  the  Radford  (Virginia)  Cemetery. 
His  widow  still  survives  him  as  a  resident  of  Pulaski. 

Raymond  Lipscomb  Smith  had  to  his  credit  a  veteran's 
service  as  a  railroad  man,  giving  practically  all  of  his  lifetime 
after  his  education  was  completed  to  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio 
System. 

He  was  a  native  Virginian,  born  in  1869,  and  died  at  Rich- 
mond October  17,  1926.  His  father,  George  Smith,  was  one  of 
the  early  employes  of  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway.  George 
Smith  married  a  member  of  the  well  known  Lipscomb  family  of 
Virginia,  and  Raymond  L.  was  the  second  of  their  four  children. 

The  late  Mr.  Smith  had  a  private  school  education  and  then 
went  to  work  in  the  transportation  department  of  the  Chesa- 


TitTmwrtimi 

WILLIAM    JORDAN    WINSTON 


VIRGINIA  363 

peake  &  Ohio.  Aft:er  various  promotions  he  was  made  an  engi- 
neer on  the  James  River  Division,  and  was  forty  years  in  the 
service,  being  at  the  time  of  his  death  one  of  the  oldest  men  in 
that  department,  and  as  a  token  of  respect  for  his  faithfulness 
and  his  abilities  the  company  draped  his  locomotive  in  mourning. 
In  later  years  he  was  called  upon  for  important  duties  as  an 
inspector,  and  was  a  specialist  in  all  matters  connected  with  the 
efficient  operation  of  the  large  type  locomotive  introduced  by  the 
Chesapeake  &  Ohio  in  recent  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers  and  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Smith  married,  August  17,  1907,  Mrs.  Louise  (Humph- 
ries) Barnes.  Mrs.  Smith,  who  survives  him  and  resides  at  22 
South  Boulevard  in  Richmond,  by  a  previous  marriage  had  a 
daughter,  Louella  G.  Barnes  Smith,  who  is  a  registered  nurse 
and  has  done  work  for  the  health  board  in  connection  with  the 
public  schools  of  Richmond.  Mrs.  Smith's  father,  Thomas  P. 
Humphries,  came  from  Liverpool,  England,  to  Virginia  about 
1889.  Her  mother,  Fannie  E.  Baker,  was  a  native  of  Hamburg, 
Germany.  Mrs.  Smith  was  the  oldest  of  four  living  children  of 
her  parents.  Her  sister  Gilmer  is  the  wife  of  Nicholas  Holt,  who 
is  connected  with  the  Duke  family  of  Durham,  North  Carolina. 
Elizabeth  is  the  widow  of  C.  H.  Rowland,  of  Norfolk,  Virginia. 
Her  brother,  John  T.  Humphries,  volunteered  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  World  war,  was  assigned  to  Company  K  of  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Division,  Maryland  Regiment,  becoming  a  sergeant,  and 
he  married  Marie  A.  Bushman  of  Baltimore,  Maryland. 

William  Jordan  Winston.  The  Winston  family  was  estab- 
lished in  Virginia  in  Colonial  times,  and  through  the  successive 
generations  members  of  the  family  have  appeared  worthily  iden- 
tified with  substantial  work,  and  have  made  honorable  records  as 
patriots  and  citizens. 

The  late  William  Jordan  Winston,  for  many  years  well  known 
in  the  building  trades  at  Richmond,  was  born  in  Henrico  County 
October  12,  1869,  and  died  in  the  City  of  Richmond  in  November, 
1918.  His  great-grandfather  was  a  physician,  served  in  the  War 
of  the  Revolution,  and  was  a  hard  working,  kindly  and  devoted 
member  of  his  profession  in  his  rural  district.  The  grandfather 
was  William  Jordan,  a  Methodist  minister.  William  Patrick 
Winston,  the  father,  was  a  planter  in  Henrico  County,  and  mar- 
ried Louise  Binford,  of  the  old  Colonial  Binford  family. 

William  Jordan  Winston  was  the  oldest  of  seven  children 
and  was  educated  in  public  schools  at  Richmond.  As  a  young 
man  he  served  his  apprenticeship  as  a  carpenter,  and  he  found 
the  best  means  of  expressing  himself  and  his  talents  through 
this  trade  and  spent  many  years  in  work  as  a  master  carpenter 
in  Richmond.  He  was  a  Democrat,  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  and  belonged  to  the  Junior  Order  United  American  Me- 
chanics. His  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Re\'olution. 

Mr.  Winston  married  in  April,  1903,  Miss  Mamie  Florence 
Tiller,  of  Richmond,  who  resides  at  2106  Stuart  Avenue.  She 
is  a  descendant  of  the  Tiller  family  that  came  from  England  to 
Virginia  before  the  Revolutionary  war.  Her  parents  were 
George  W.  and  India  Tiller,  and  her  father  for  many  years  was 
an  employe  of  the  City  of  Richmond.  Mrs.  Winston  was  the 
fourth  in  a  family  of  seven  children  and  vras  reared  and  educated 


364  VIRGINIA 

at  Richmond.     Her  father  served  in  the  Confederate  army  and 
was  wounded  in  one  battle. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Winston  had  a  family  of  five  children,  and  the 
four  now  living  are  William  Alton,  Miss  Mamie  Louise,  Margaret 
Lucile,  wife  of  John  0.  Schaich,  and  they  have  a  son,  William 
Winston  Schaich,  and  Miss  Dorothy  Evelin. 

William  Donbar  Evans.  Foremost  among  the  men  of 
prominence  in  his  profession  in  Middlesex  County  stands  Wil- 
liam Dunbar  Evans,  ex-member  of  the  Virginia  State  Legis- 
lature, formerly  commonwealth's  attorney,  and  for  thirty  years 
a  I'ecognized  leader  at  the  bar  at  Saluda,  Virginia. 

Mr.  Evans  comes  of  old  Virginia  stock,  the  family  ancestral 
lines  tracing  back  to  early  Colonial  settlement  and  notable 
achievements.  He  was  born  in  Middlesex  County,  Virginia, 
March  29,  1875,  son  of  Judge  Andrew  Browne  and  Alice  (Dew) 
Evans,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  King  and  Queen  County, 
Virginia.  Prior  to  the  war  between  the  states  Judge  Evans 
was  already  eminent  at  the  bar.  He  served  in  the  office  of  com- 
monwealth's attorney,  and  later  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  Legislature.  After  the  war  period,  on  completing  a 
term  as  circuit  judge  of  Middlesex  County,  he  devoted  himself 
to  his  private  law  practice  at  Church  View,  Virginia,  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  April,  1912.  The  mother  of  William 
D.  Evans  was  the  daughter  of  John  M.  Dew,  of  King  and  Queen 
County,  Virginia,  and  niece  of  Thomas  R.  Dew,  early  president 
of  William  and  Mary  College  at  Williamsburg,  Virginia.  She 
passed  away  in  February,  1907.  They  were  lifelong  members  of 
the  Baptist  Church. 

William  Dunbar  Evans  was  reared  in  a  home  atmosphere 
that  did  much  to  urge  and  encourage  ambition  toward  a  worth- 
while life.  He  attended  local  schools  during  boyhood  and  then 
completed  a  literary  course  in  Bowling  Green  Academy  in  Caro- 
line County  and  in  Richmond  College.  Upon  deciding  to  enter 
his  father's  profession,  he  took  a  preliminary  course  in  law  at 
the  University  of  Virginia,  and  then  entered  Richmond  College 
of  Law,  now  Richmond  University,  from  which  institution  he 
was  graduated  in  the  class  of  1896,  with  his  degree  of  LL.  B. 

In  the  above  year  Mr.  Evans  established  himself  in  law  prac- 
tice at  Saluda,  and  at  the  same  time  centered  his  permanent 
citizenship  interests  here,  which  have  since,  on  many  occasions, 
proved  of  paramount  importance  in  promoting  the  welfare  of 
the  county.  In  the  passing  years  he  not  only  has  built  up  a 
substantial  business  and  an  enviable  local  professional  reputa- 
tion, but  is  widely  known  and  esteemed  over  a  large  territory, 
practicing  extensively  in  the  courts  of  Middlesex,  Essex, 
Gloucester,  Mathews  and  King  and  Queen  counties.  In  addition 
to  his  professional  activity  and  high  standing  Mr.  Evans  for 
years  has  been  interested  and  influential  in  county  and  state 
Democratic  politics,  and  at  times  has  been  his  party's  choice  for 
responsible  public  offices.  For  eight  years  he  served  with  the 
utmost  efficiency  as  commonwealth's  attorney  of  Middlesex 
County,  and  during  his  term  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State 
Legislature,  1908-1910,  he  was  honorably  identified  with  impor- 
tant legislation. 

Mr.  Evans  married,  December  7,  1905,  Miss  Virginia  Mc- 
Candlish,  daughter  of  Robert  and  Nannie  M.  (Eubank)  McCand- 
lish,  and  they  have  three  children:  Virginia  Montague,  born 
February  19,   1908;  William  Dunbar,  Jr.,  born  November  20, 


VIRGINIA  365 

1912;  and  Robert  McCandlish,  born  July  21,  1916.  All  have 
been  given  educational  advantages,  opportunities  to  develop  spe- 
cial talents,  and  a  refined  home  environment  that  assures  happi- 
ness and  content.  Mrs.  Evans  is  an  educated,  accomplished  lady, 
an  active  member  of  "Old  Christ'  Church,"  Episcopal,  near 
Saluda,  and  intelligently  interested  in  public  affairs.  She 
belongs  to  the  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  and  to  various 
social  organizations. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Evans  has  been  attorney  for  the  Bank 
of  Middlesex,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  In 
addition  to  his  pleasantly  located  private  residence  at  Saluda  he 
has  valuable  farm  interests  in  Middlesex  County.  He  has  long 
been  a  member  of  advanced  bodies  in  Masonry,  and  formerly, 
when  he  had  more  leisure  at  command,  was  identified  with  sev- 
eral other  fraternities,  and  still  preserves  an  interest  in  his  old 
Greek  letter  college  society,  the  Phi  Kappa  Sigma.  He  was 
reared  in  the  Baptist  Church. 

Judge  Benjamin  Wilson  Coleman  is  a  native  Virginian 
who  has  attained  high  distinction  outside  his  home  state.  His 
career  as  a  lawyer  and  jurist  has  identified  him  with  the  far 
West,  and  he  is  now  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  of  Nevada. 

Judge  Coleman  was  born  at  Ballsville  in  Powhatan  County, 
Virginia,  July  1,  1869.  His  first  Virginia  ancestor  was  Richard 
Coleman,  who  came  from  England  during  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury and  located  in  the  Northern  Neck  of  Virginia.  The  parents 
of  Judge  Coleman  were  John  and  Arabella   (Smith)    Coleman. 

Benjamin  Wilson  Coleman  finished  his  law  course  and  re- 
ceived his  Bachelor  of  Laws  degree  from  Richmond  College, 
now  the  University  of  Richmond,  in  1892,  and  soon  afterward 
went  west.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Colorado  bar  in  1893,  and 
for  three  years  practiced  at  Denver.  From  1897  to  1906  his 
home  was  at  Cripple  Creek,  then  the  throbbing  center  of  the 
dent  of  Nevada  since  1906,  and  first  located  at  Ely.  Since  1911 
he  has  been  on  the  bench,  at  first  as  judge  of  the  District  Court 
in  the  Ninth  Nevada  District  from  1911  to  1915,  and  since  1915 
mining  activities  of  the  West.  Judge  Coleman  has  been  a  resi- 
on  the  Supreme  bench.  He  was  an  associate  justice  from  Janu- 
ary, 1915,  to  1919,  and  since  the  latter  year  has  been  chief 
justice. 

Many  of  the  opinions  he  has  written  are  expressed  not  only 
with  his  experience  as  a  western  lawyer,  but  his  broad  legal 
scholarship.  His  work  as  a  jurist  has  attracted  attention  out- 
side his  home  state,  and  one  interesting  illustration  of  this 
resulted  in  Judge  Coleman  going  to  Chicago  to  lecture  at  the 
summer  session  of  the  law  school  of  Northwestern  University 
in  1925.  This  invitation  proceeded  from  Col.  John  H.  Wigmore, 
dean  of  the  Northwestern  University  Law  School,  who  had  be- 
come interested  in  some  of  the  decisions  rendered  by  Judge  Cole- 
man. Judge  Coleman  has  been  a  regular  attendant  at  the  annual 
meetings  of  the  American  Law  Institute  and  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Bar  Association  and  has  recently  been  elected  to  mem- 
bership in  Pi  Gamma  Mu.  national  honor  society,  of  which  Dean 
William  A.  Hamilton,  of  William  and  Mary  College  of  Williams- 
burg, Virginia,  is  secretary.  Judge  Coleman  is  a  pa.st  sovereign 
of  Joan  of  Arc  Conclave,  Red  Cross  of  Constantine,  of  which 
society  George  W.  Warvelle.  LL.  D.,  the  learned  legal  author  of 
Chicago,  is  the  grand  recorder.    He  is  also  a  life  member  of  the 


366  VIRGINIA 

Association  of  Virginia  Antiquities.  He  was  honored  with  the 
post  of  grand  master  of  the  Masonic  Grand  Lodge  of  Nevada  in 
1915.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  Shriner  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sagebrush  Club  of  Carson  City. 

Judge  Coleman  married;  June  6,  1906,  Miss  Martha  L.  Attle- 
ton,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts.  They  have  four  children,  Eliza- 
beth, Virginia,  Margaret  and  John  Attleton. 

Charles  Stuart  Habliston  was  a  banker  and  insurance 
man,  and  in  a  comparatively  brief  life  span  earned  a  high  place 
among  his  Richmond  associates,  and  was  a  type  of  business  man 
and  citizen  whose  example  might  well  be  emulated  by  future 
generations. 

Mr.  Habliston  was  born  at  Richmond,  May  29,  1874,  and  died 
in  that  city  March  12,  1912.  He  was  reai'ed  in  a  home  of  modest 
wealth  and  sound  culture  and  had  the  excellent  advantages  of 
the  McGuire  Academy  for  Boys,  whei'e  he  completed  his  educa- 
tion. In  1894  he  entered  the  banking  business  with  his  cousin, 
William  H.  Habliston,  in  the  National  Bank  of  Virginia,  and 
remained  with  that  institution  until  1910.  He  gave  up  his  bank 
work  on  account  of  ill  health,  and  from  that  time  until  his  death 
looked  after  a  growing  insurance  business.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Bankers  Association,  was  a  Democrat,  member  of  Grace 
Trinity  Church,  and  had  membership  in  all  the  leading  social 
clubs  of  Richmond. 

His  father  was  Frederick  H.  Habliston,  a  Pennsylvanian, 
who  came  to  Richmond  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  war 
and  was  for  many  years  in  the  furniture  business  there.  Fred- 
erick H.  Habliston  married  Kate  Barron,  and  there  were  three 
children :  Sadie  married  Allen  Lyon,  now  deceased,  a  lumber 
merchant  of  Richmond ;  Frederick  married  Mattie  Turner,  of 
New  Kent  County,  Virginia,  and  they  have  a  daughter,  Sadie, 
who  is  now  Mrs.  Charles  Shields;  and  Charles  S. 

Charles  Stuart  Habliston  married  at  Richmond,  March  16, 
1904,  Miss  Emily  Terrell,  who  survives  him  and  resides  at 
1118  Grove  Avenue.  She  was  reared  and  educated  in  Hanover 
County,  Virginia,  attending  private  schools  and  finishing  her 
work  in  the  Woman's  College  at  Waynesboro.  In  1895  she  grad- 
uated as  a  nurse  from  Virginia  Hospital.  Mrs.  Habliston  is 
a  member  of  Grace  Holy  Trinity  Church. 

Her  grandparents  were  Dr.  Nicholas  and  Maria  (Doswell) 
Terrell,  whose  two  chi'dren  were  Dr.  Charles  James  and  Mai. 
Lewis  Frank  Terrell.  Major  Terrell  was  educated  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  was  a  lawyer,  and  during  the  Civil  war 
raised  an  artillery  company,  was  made  lieutenant,  afterwards 
promoted  to  captain,  and  eventually  commissioned  a  major. 

Dr.  Charles  James  Terrell,  father  of  Mrs.  Habliston,  was 
also  a  Confederate  soldier.  He  was  born  on  a  large  plantation 
in  Hanover  County,  Virginia.  1834,  was  educated  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  graduated  from  Jefferson  Medical  College 
at  Philadelphia,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven  located  in  Han- 
over County,  where  he  carried  on  an  extensive  practice  until 
1887.  He  died  in  1891.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  organ- 
ized the  Ashland  Artillery,  was  a  lieutenant  for  two  years  and 
then  served  as  a  surgeon  until  the  end  of  the  war.  He  was 
active  in  the  United  Confedei^ate  Veterans  and  at  one  time  held 
the  rank  of  brigadier-general.  Doctor  Terrell  married  Betty 
Trevillion  Anderson,  of  Hanover  County.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  eight  children :     Lewis  Nicholas,  now  deceased,  married 


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VIRGINIA  367 

Florence  V.  Dandridge  and  had  two  children,  Lewis  Frank  and 
Bessie  Dandridge ;  Dr.  Edmond  Anderson  Terrell  married  Lulu 
Atkinson,  who  died  leaving  three  children,  Edmond  Anderson, 
William  Amonett  and  Louise,  and  he  afterward  married  her 
sister,  Eva  Atkinson,  and  had  one  daughter,  Marjory  Terrell; 
Maria  Doswell  Terrell  married  William  H.  Walker  and  was  the 
mother  of  a  son,  Terrell  H. ;  Charles  James  Terrell  is  deceased ; 
Alice  Lee  is  the  wife  of  Andrew  Lewis,  her  four  sons  being 
George  F.,  Charles  T.,  Allen  Leslie  and  Terrell;  Frank  is  de- 
ceased ;  Mrs.  Habliston  was  the  seventh  child ;  Elizabeth  Walker 
married  Rev.  Thomas  Green  Faulkner,  and  had  two  sons, 
Thomas  Green  and  Donald  Terrell. 

Bertrand  Gordon  Benton.  It  has  been  the  fortune  of  Bert- 
rand  G.  Benton  during  an  active  and  varied  career  to  have  been 
identified  with  a  number  of  lines  of  activity  and  to  have  demon- 
strated his  versatility  by  making  a  success  of  each  of  his  opera- 
tions. Not  satisfied  with  gaining  prosperity  along  one  line  of 
enterprise,  he  has  extended  his  operations  to  include  several 
vocations,  but  of  more  recent  years  has  applied  himself  princi- 
pally to  a  real  estate  and  general  brokerage  business  at  Claren- 
don, operating  under  the  name  of  the  B.  G.  Benton  Realty  Com- 
pany. This  concern  has  grown  to  large  proportions,  and  one 
of  its  latest  developments  is  the  charming  subdivision  known  as 
Waverly  Hills,  adjoining  Clarendon,  where  the  concern  is  build- 
ing and  developing,  and  establishing  one  of  the  most  pleasant 
residential  districts  of  the  community. 

Mr.  Benton  was  born  in  Loudoun  County,  Virginia,  Decem- 
ber 19,  1883,  and  is  a  son  of  William  H.  and  Nannie  B.  (Gordon) 
Benton.  His  father  was  born  in  Loudoun  County,  where  he  was 
reared  to  agricultural  pursuits,  and  during  his  young  manhood 
and  for  some  years  thereafter  followed  the  vocation  of  tilling 
the  soil  in  Loudoun  and  Clarke  counties,  this  state.  Subse- 
quently he  turned  his  attention  to  contracting  and  building,  and 
for  about  fifteen  years  the  family  home  was  located  at  Charles 
Town,  West  Virginia,  but  eventually  he  returned  to  Virginia, 
where  his  death  occurred  in  July,  1926.  Mrs.  Benton,  who  was 
born  in  Clarke  County,  survives  her  husband  and  is  one  of  the 
highlv  esteemed  residents  of  Hyattsville,  Maryland. 

Bertrand  G.  Benton  was  a  child  when  taken  to  Charles  Town, 
West  Virginia,  where  he  was  reared  and  received  his  education 
in  public  schools.  Upon  his  graduation  from  high  school  as  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1906  he  secured  a  position  with  the  Page 
Fence  Company  of  Adrian,  Michigan,  as  a  traveling  salesman  in 
the  territory  which  included  Maryland,  Virginia  and  the  District 
of  Columbia.  He  was  successful  in  his  salesmanship  and  at  the 
end  of  three  years  had  accumulated  sufficient  means  to  buy  a 
grocery  store  at  Washington,  D.  C,  of  which  he  continued  to  be 
the  proprietor  for  two  years.  Disposing  of  his  holdings,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  farming  in  Loudoun  County,  where  he 
still  has  farm  interests,  these  being  carried  on  by  tenants.  Sub- 
sequently Mr.  Benton  again  engaged  in  the  grocery  business, 
this  time  at  Pleasant  Valley,  adjoining  his  farm,  and  this  he 
carried  on  for  four  years.  In  1921  he  established  his  family  at 
Clarendon  and  embarked  in  the  real  estate  business  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  in  partnership  with  Dave  E.  Berry,  but  at  the  end 
of  one  year  this  business  was  dissolved  and  Mr.  Benton  became 
sales  manager  for  Ruby  Lee  Minar,  a  position  which  he  retained 
two  years.     His  next  connection  was  as  manager  for  the  Lyon 


368  VIRGINIA 

Park  Realty  Corporation,  with  which  he  remained  one  year,  and 
then,  with  R.  P.  Hutchison,  organized  the  Lyon  Park  Realty 
Company,  the  name  of  which  was  changed  to  its  present  style, 
the  B.  G.  Benton  Realty  Company,  in  October,  1927.  Mr.  R.  P. 
Hutchison  died  in  October,  1927,  and  Mr.  S.  F.  Hutchison  is 
now  a  member  of  the  firm.  This  firm,  with  headquarters  in  the 
Jones  Building  at  Clarendon,  owns  Waverly  Hills  subdivision 
adjoining  Clarendon,  where  they  are  building  and  selling 
homes,  and  also  carry  on  a  successful  brokerage  business.  In 
addition  to  his  realty  business  Mr.  Benton  still  operates  his  farm 
of  175  acres,  and  has  a  modern  dairy,  with  up-to-date  machinery 
and  a  large  patronage.  Fraternally  Mr.  Benton  is  affiliated  with 
the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  holds  membership  in  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  the  Business  Men's  Club  and  has  an  excellent 
reputation  in  business  circles  as  a  man  of  integrity  and  ability. 
Politically  he  is  a  Democrat,  and  his  religious  faith  is  that  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

In  October,  1908,  Mr.  Benton  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Bessie  Hutchison,  of  Fairfax,  Virginia,  daughter  of  Joshua 
and  Mattie  (Mankin)  Hutchison,  natives  of  Fairfax  County. 
Mr.  Hutchison  has  spent  his  entire  life  in  Fairfax  County,  where 
he  is  now  living  in  comfortable  retirement  after  a  long,  active, 
useful  and  honorable  life  passed  in  agricultural  pursuits.  Al- 
though he  is  now  eighty  years  of  age  he  is  in  remarkable  health, 
and  is  one  of  the  greatly  respected  men  of  his  community.  He 
enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army  during  the  war  between  the 
states,  in  which  he  saw  much  active  service.  Mrs.  Benton  is 
active  in  the  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Claren- 
don, and  the  pleasant  family  home,  505  Oak  Street,  is  the  scene 
of  frequent  social  activities. 

John  Llewellyn  Tucker,  who  is  head  of  the  largest  tobacco 
warehousing  organization  in  this  country,  is  a  native  Virginian, 
and  has  been  in  the  tobacco  business  practically  all  his  life. 
His  father  for  many  years  was  a  successful  figure  in  the  tobacco 
industry  of  Southern  Virginia. 

Mr.  Tucker  was  born  in  Lunenburg  County,  Virginia,  August 
29,  1880,  and  is  descended  from  a  long  line  of  Tucker  ancestors. 
This  family  has  been  in  the  state  since  the  early  years  of  the 
1600s.  The  earliest  historic  figure  of  the  name  was  William 
Tucker,  who  came  to  Virginia  in  1610,  was  one  of  the  sub- 
scribers of  the  Charter  of  1612,  and  sat  in  the  first  House  of 
Burgesses,  in  1619.  In  subsequent  generations  there  were  other 
Tuckers  who  were  elected  burgesses  and  were  otherwise  promi- 
nent in  Colonial  affairs.  From  tidewater  Virginia  George 
Tucker,  an  ancestor  of  John  Llewellyn  Tucker,  moved  to  Lunen- 
burg County  as  one  of  the  first  settlers.  He  was  the  father  of 
Llewellyn  Tucker  and  grandfather  of  Henry  Tucker,  who  was 
the  grandfather  of  John  Llewellyn  Tucker. 

Mr.  Tucker's  father  was  the  late  Henry  Williamson  Tucker 
oldest  son  of  Henry  Tucker  and  Selina  Skipwith  Burwell, 
who  was  born  and  reared  in  Mecklenburg  County,  was  edu- 
cated in  private  schools  and  business  college  at  Richmond, 
and  was  in  business  as  a  merchant  and  farmer  until  1891,  when 
he  moved  from  Brunswick  County,  where  he  then  lived,  to 
Danville  and  became  associated  with  the  leaf  tobacco  warehouse 
business,  and  was  after  that  a  prominent  factor  in  the  tobacco 
industry  of  South  Virginia  until  his  death.  He  passed  away 
December  11,  1914,  and  is  buried  in  Green  Hill  Cemetery  at 


VIRGINIA  369 

Danville.  For  upwards  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  was  one 
of  the  best  known  members  of  the  tobacco  interests  in  this  part 
of  the  state.  His  wife  was  Louisa  Scott  Nelson,  a  daughter  of 
Ur.  Robert  Carter  Nelson,  of  Mecklenburg  County,  Virginia,  a 
direct  descendant  of  "Secretary"  Thomas  Nelson,  Colonial  sec- 
retary for  Virginia  and  also  for  many  terms  secretary  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses;  also  a  direct  descendant  of  Robert 
("King")  Carter,  of  Corotoman,  from  whom  he  derived  his 
name.  Mrs.  Tucker's  mother  was  Mary  Scott  Watkins,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Samuel  Venable  Watkins,  of  Petersburg,  and  a  grand- 
daughter of  William  Morton  Watkins,  whose  ancestral  home, 
"Do-Well,"  is  still  standing  in  Charlotte  County,  Virginia,  and 
is  still  occupied  by  direct  descendants.  Mrs.  Tucker  was  edu- 
cated in  private  schools  at  Petersburg,  Virginia,  and  was  always 
active  in  church  and  social  life.  She  died  October  27,  1915,  and 
is  buried  beside  her  husband  in  Green  Hill  Cemetery  at  Danville 

Henry  William.son  Tucker  and  Louisa  Scott  Nelson,  his  wife, 
were  the  parents  of  six  children.  One,  a  girl,  died  in  infancy. 
Their  oldest  son,  Robert  Henry  Tucker,  was  born  in  Lunenburg 
County.  September  27,  1875,  is  professor  of  business  administra- 
tion at  Washington  and  Lee  University,  and  one  of  the  ablest 
educators  in  the  state.  In  1918  he  married  Miss  Evelyn  Page 
Edmunds.  He  is  chairman  of  the  tax  committee  of  the  State 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  his  work  along  lines  of  political 
economy  and  government  has  attracted  much  attention.  The 
next  child,  Mary  Louise  Nelson  Tucker,  is  the  wife  of  Harry  C. 
Ficklen,  of  Danville,  at  the  present  time  (1928-30)  representing 
the  city  of  Danville  in  the  State  Legislature.  The  fourth  child 
is  John  Llewellyn  Tucker,  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  The 
daughter  Page  Estelle,  who  died  in  1912,  was  married  in  1907 
to  Frank  B.  McFall.  of  Anderson.  South  Carolina,  and  is  sur- 
vived by  one  child,  Henry  Tucker  McFall,  a  1929  graduate  of 
Virginia  Military  Institute  and  now  engaged  in  business  in 
Washington.  D.  C. 

Their  sixth  and  youngest  child,  Miss  Annie  Ursula  Tucker. 
was  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  Danville  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  recently  engaged  in  missionary  work  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Episcopal  Church  for  the  western  diocese  of  Vir- 
ginia. 

John  Llewellyn  Tucker  as  a  boy  attended  public  school  in 
Brunswick  County,  also  at  Danville,  and  finished  his  education 
in  William  and  Mary  College.  After  his  college  career  he  went 
west  and  for  fifteen  years  was  a  traveling  salesman  over  an 
extensive  territory.  On  returning  to  Danville  he  became  associ- 
ated with  his  father  in  the  warehouse  business,  and  has  been 
a  prominent  factor  as  a  tobacconist  since  that  time.  He  suc- 
ceeded his  father  in  business  and  since  1925  has  been  president 
and  general  manager  of  the  Danville  Warehouse  (Company. 
This  company,  operating  four  large  tobacco  warehouses,  has  the 
distinction  of  being  the  largest  tobacco  warehousing  concern 
anywhere. 

Mr.  Tucker  is  a  director  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  is  a 
past  president  of  the  Tuscarora  Club,  for  several  years  was 
active  in  Rotary  Club  work,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  former  vestry- 
man in  the  Episcopal  Church. 

He  married  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  December  26,  1918,  Miss 
Florence  McCallum.  of  that  city,  where  she  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated, graduating  from  the  University  of  Louisville.  Before 
her  marriage  she  taught  in  public  schools  in  Fredericksburg  and 


370  VIRGINIA 

Danville,  Virginia.  Mrs.  Tucker  has  found  many  duties  in  the 
Episcopal  Church  work  and  the  guilds.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Shakespeare  Club.  Her  father,  Harry  McCallum,  was  active  in 
business  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  until  his  death  in  July,  1929. 
Her  mother,  Minnie  (Smith)  McCallum,  died  some  years  ago. 
Both  are  buried  in  Cave  Hill  Cemetery  at  Louisville. 

John  Llewellyn  Tucker  and  his  wife,  Florence  McCallum 
Tucker,  have  four  children :  Louisa  Nelson,  Margaret  McCal- 
lum, Nancy  Burwell  and  Harry  McCallum  Tucker. 

Otway  Giles  Bailey,  Jr.,  division  superintendent  of  schools 
of  Cumberland  County,  has  had  several  variations  of  experience 
since  boyhood,  having  for  a  time  been  identified  with  mercan- 
tile pursuits,  and  then  came  the  World  war,  in  which  he 
answered  the  call  to  the  colors,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  time 
since  the  war  has  been  spent  in  educational  work. 

Mr.  Bailey  was  born  at  Pedlar  Mills,  Amherst  County,  Vir- 
ginia, January  20,  1895,  son  of  Otway  Giles  and  Ellen  B.  (Pres- 
ton) Bailey.  His  father  was  born  in  Amherst  and  his  mother 
in  Washington  County,  Virginia.  His  father  was  a  graduate  of 
the  Virginia  Military  Institute  and  spent  many  years  in  the 
profession  of  civil  engineering.  In  1910  he  was  made  collector 
of  internal  revenue  at  Lynchburg,  served  four  years,  and  now, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  lives  retired  at  Waugh,  Virginia.  In 
1875  he  was  elected  and  served  four  years  as  superintendent  of 
schools  of  Amherst  County.  His  wife  died  March  3,  1923,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-seven. 

Otway  Giles  Bailey,  Jr.,  was  reared  in  Amherst  County, 
attended  the  elementary  schools  of  Amherst  and  the  secondary 
schools  of  Lynchburg,  after  which  he  was  a  student  for  two 
years  in  the  Virginia  Christian  College,  at  Lynchburg,  now 
known  as  Lynchburg  College.  After  his  college  career  he  was 
employed  for  two  years  in  a  wholesale  dry  goods  house  at  Lynch- 
burg. 

He  enlisted  in  1917  for  service  in  the  navy,  and  for  a  term 
of  four  years.  He  was  made  a  petty  officer,  and  part  of  the 
time  was  in  the  Medical  Corps,  having  taken  a  course  in  Phila- 
delphia in  a  school  of  pharmacy  and  serving  as  pharmacist  mate. 
He  was  released  from  service  May  19,  1919,  and  after  returning 
home  pursued  a  course  in  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute, 
where  he  was  graduated  with  the  Bachelor  of  Science  degree 
in  1923.  He  has  also  attended  several  summer  sessions  at  the 
University  of  Virginia.  Mr.  Bailey  with  this  preparation  be- 
came agricultural  instructor  in  the  Cumberland  High  School, 
and  on  June  20,  1924,  was  made  division  superintendent  of 
schools  for  the  county,  an  office  which  he  has  filled  with  credit 
to  the  present  time. 

He  married,  September  5,  1928,  Miss  Ella  DeFord.  of  Nor- 
folk, Virginia,  daughter  of  Willoughby  C.  and  Emma  (Halstead) 
DeFord,  natives  of  Norfolk  County.  Her  father  is  a  retired 
lumber  man  living  at  3014  McLemore  Street  in  Norfolk.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bailey  have  two  children :  Otway  Giles  III,  born  Sep- 
tember 5,  1924,  and  Ellen  Olivia,  born  October  10,  1926. 

Mr.  Bailey  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  belongs 
to  the  Virginia  Education  Association  and  the  National  Educa- 
tion Association,  the  American  Legion,  is  a  Democrat,  and 
teaches  a  class  of  men  in  the  Presbyterian  Sunday  School.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Jefferson  Graveyard  Association,  made 
up  of  the  descendants  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 


VIRGINIA  371 

Augustus  James  Pyle.  The  name  Pyle  has  had  many  years 
of  honorable  connection  with  the  business  and  civic  life  of  Rich- 
mond. Augustus  James  Pyle,  Sr.,  a  native  of  Richmond,  where 
he  w'as  reared  and  educated,  became  an  extensive  land  owner  in 
Virginia.  He  married  Mary  Courtney.  There  were  two  children 
by  that  marriage,  Sarah  Frances  and  Augustus  James,  Jr.  After 
the  death  of  Mr.  Pyle,  Mrs.  Pyle  married  Mr.  Robinson  and  they 
had  one  son.  Jefferson  Davis  Robinson,  who  is  now  prominent 
at  Toledo,  Ohio,  being  a  partner  and  manager  of  the  Libby 
Glass  Works  of  that  city.  He  married  Mamie  Hahn,  of  Toledo, 
and  has  two  children,  Joseph  and  Jefferson.  The  daughter 
Sarah,  now  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  Joseph  B.  McKinney,  and 
had  eight  children. 

Augustus  James  Pyle,  Jr.,  was  also  reared  and  educated  in 
Richmond,  and  after  leaving  school  at  the  age  of  seventeen  en- 
tered the  Confederate  army.  After  the  war  he  became  identi- 
fied with  the  Religious  Herald  and  finally  gave  up  his  connection 
with  that  Richmond  publication  to  engage  in  the  dyeing  and 
cleaning  business,  which  he  followed  until  his  death. 

He  married  Loretta  Alice  Adrienne  Jones,  a  daughter  of 
Charles  Edmond  and  Martha  Anne  (Smith)  Jones,  and  grand- 
daughter of  William  Jones,  also  a  native  of  Virginia.  Mrs.  Pyle 
since  the  death  of  her  husband  has  continued  to  reside  at  Rich- 
mond and  owns  a  business  of  her  own  at  213  East  Grace  Street. 
Mrs.  Pyle  is  a  descendant  of  the  famous  Terrell  family  of  Vir- 
ginia, a  family  that  has  been  here  since  early  Colonial  times 
and  whose  descendants  have  been  people  of  distinction  in  many 
other  states.  The  Terrell  family  history  has  been  fully  recorded, 
and  the  connections  run  back  into  medieval  times  in  France  and 
England,  where  they  were  inter-married  with  royal  lines,  and 
many  of  them  were  people  of  rank,  able  soldiers  and  statesmen. 
The  Terrells  had  their  coat-of-arms  and  other  insignia  of  their 
high  rank.  The  parents  of  Mrs.  Pyle  had  the  following  children : 
James  Buckner  Jones,  who  became  a  circuit  judge  in  Missouri, 
married  Kate  Lupton ;  Mrs.  Loretta  Pyle ;  Martha  Susan  mar- 
ried Benjamin  Crenshaw  and  they  had  a  family  of  tw'elve  chil- 
dren ;  Charles  Henry  and  Emma  Lee  Jones  are  both  deceased ; 
Cortez  Valesco;  and  Edna  Terrell  is  now  Mrs.  John  B.  Mac- 
Dowall  and  has  five  children,  named  Loretta,  Mary  Elizabeth, 
John,  Martha  and  Douglas. 

Mrs.  Pyle  is  the  mother  of  four  children.  Her  daughter 
Martha  Augusta  is  the  widow  of  Sydney  Putnam  Owens,  a 
native  of  Virginia,  who  for  many  years  w-as  in  the  service  of  the 
R.  G.  Dun  Company,  later  conducted  a  business  in  women's 
ready-to-wear  garments  and  conducted  that  until  his  death.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Owens  had  two  children.  Dr.  William  Irving,  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  who  completed  his  train- 
ing in  the  Lenox  Hill  Hospital  at  New  York  and  now  practicing 
at  Pulaski,  Virginia,  married  Gertrude  Emberson,  daughter  of 
Dr.  W.  S.  Emberson,  of  New  Rochelle,  New  York,  and  has  one 
son,  William  Emberson ;  and  Sydney  Willard  Owens,  who  grad- 
uated from  Columbia  University,  New  York,  married  Ruth 
Pulliam.  He  is  connected  with  the  American  Audit  Company 
of  Richmond.  Wade  Hampton  Pyle,  the  oldest  son  of  Mrs.  Pyle, 
married  a  Miss  Slaughter,  of  Richmond,  and  subsequently  Miss 
Laura  Crenshaw,  of  Albemarle  County,  having  one  child  by  his 
first  wife,  Robert  Augustus,  who  married  Ruth  Farr,  and  is  in 
business  at  Richmond.  Robert  E.  Lee  Pyle,  a  business  man  of 
Washington,  D.  C,  married  Mrs.  Mae  Kinney,  and  Ashbv  Barnes 


372  VIRGINIA 

Pyle,  a  Richmond  business  man,  married  Miss  Nannie  Pittman, 
of  Richmond. 

Mrs.  Pyle  had  two  grandsons  in  the  World  war.  William 
Irving  Owens  was  first  lieutenant  in  the  Fifteenth  Machine  Gun 
Battalion  and  saw  active  service  in  the  Meuse-Argonne  sector 
and  the  St.  Mihiel.  He  later  served  in  the  Army  of  Occupation 
after  the  armistice  was  signed.  Sydney  Willard  was  an  ensign 
in  tne  ivaval  Aviation  Service  and  had  the  hnor  of  being  in  the 
convoy  of  plains  escorting  the  George  Washington  with  Presi- 
dent vVilson  a  passenger  on  each  of  his  two  visits  to  France, 
both  grandsons  received  diplomas  from  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute  upon  their  return  irom  the  war. 

Mrs.  Pyie  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  takes  a 
prominent  part  in  the  missionary  circle  of  the  Grace  Baptist 
Ohurcn.  She  is  the  oldest  memoer  of  the  Richmond  Board  for 
Neeuy  Goniederate  Women. 

JOHN  Thomas  West,  who  made  a  long  and  honorable  service 
recoru  in  tne  United  btates  navy,  was  a  resident  of  Portsmouth, 
ana  was  born  m  that  city  November  6,  1852.  He  died  at  Nor- 
toiK  dune  14,  lalY. 

ixis  lather,  John  Thomas  West,  Sr.,  was  a  farmer  and  mer- 
chant, fie  entered  the  Confederate  army  and  in  tne  early  part 
of  the  war  was  captured  and  held  a  prisoner  until  the  final  sur- 
render. His  iirst  marriage  was  with  Eliza  Ann  Weatherley,  and 
John  Thomas  West  was  the  only  child  by  this  marriage. 

John  'f  homas  West  attended  school  at  Portsmouth,  had  sev- 
eral years  of  clerical  experience,  and  learned  the  trade  of  ma- 
chinist in  the  Norfolk  Navy  Yard.  He  was  twenty-five  years  of 
age  when  he  entered  the  Government  service  as  a  machinist's 
mate,  and  was  in  the  navy  a  quarter  of  a  century,  until  he  was 
put  on  the  retired  list  in  1903.  During  the  last  fourteen  years 
he  was  a  warrant  officer.  During  his  first  enlistment  he  went 
to  the  African  coast  on  the  U.  S.  S.  Concord,  and  was  also  in 
Cnmese  waters  beiore  the  Spanish-American  war.  He  was  on 
tne  battleship  Texas  in  the  war  with  Spain,  and  participated  in 
the  great  running  encounter  with  the  Spanish  fleet  off"  Santiago, 
which  was  the  outstanding  naval  battle  of  the  war.  Later  he 
was  on  the  Puritan  and  the  Ampherite.  He  was  awarded  a 
medal  for  his  part  in  the  naval  campaign  of  1898,  and  in  1889 
was  given  a  medal  for  his  service  on  the  U.  S.  S.  Kearsarge. 

On  July  15,  1896,  he  and  Miss  Mary  Mallory  Dye  were  mar- 
ried by  Rev.  Robert  Gatewood  in  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church 
at  Berkeley,  Virginia.  Mrs.  West  is  a  daughter  of  James  Dye, 
of  Hampton,  Virginia,  a  brick  contractor,  who  also  studied  law. 
He  entered  the  Confederate  army  early  in  the  war,  and  was 
killed  in  action  at  Sharpsburg,  Maryland,  in  September,  1862, 
while  serving  as  captain  of  cavalry  under  General  McGruder. 
Mrs.  West's  mother  was  Jean  Sinclair  Armistead,  member  of 
the  distinguished  Armistead  family  of  Virginia.  Mrs.  West  is 
a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and  the  United  Daughters 
of  the  Confederacy.  The  late  Mr.  West  served  as  a  vestryman 
in  St.  Paul's  Church  at  Berkeley.  He  was  a  Democrat,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  Knights  of  Pythias. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  West  had  two  children:  Phillip  Bevington 
West  and  Jean  Sinclair  Weatherley  West,  who  graduated  from 
the  Virginia  Teachers  College  at  Farmville  in  1925,  and  who 
now  resides  in  Norfolk. 


VIRGINIA  373 

Charles  Wade  Crush,  the  present  commonwealth's  attorney 
of  Montgomery  County,  is  a  World  war  veteran,  and  has  had 
an  experience  in  business,  in  his  profession  and  as  a  soldier 
that  has  taken  him  a  great  deal  about  the  world. 

However,  his  present  home  is  the  progressive  town  of  South- 
west Virginia  where  he  was  born,  April  14,  1893,  and  his  people 
have  been  in  Southwest  Virginia  for  several  generations.  His 
grandfather.  James  E.  Crush,  was  born  near  Fincastle,  Virginia, 
and  during  the  Civil  war  served  as  a  member  of  Capt.  John  C. 
Wade's  Company  G  in  the  Fourth  Virginia  Regiment,  his  com- 
pany being  known  as  the  Montgomery  Fencibles.  After  the  war 
he  was  sheriff,  jailer  and  deputy  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
prior  to  his  death  in  1908  had  been  a  clerk  in  the  treasury 
department  at  Washington.  He  is  buried  at  Christiansburg. 
Charles  H.  Crush,  father  of  the  commonwealth's  attorney,  was 
born  and  reared  in  Montgomery  County,  attended  public  school, 
was  a  merchant  in  West  Virginia,  and  prior  to  that  had  lived 
in  Texas  and  Arkansas  for  a  time.  He  was  deputy  sheriff  at 
Dallas,  Texas,  in  the  crude  and  primitive  times  of  that  city. 
After  returning  to  Christiansburg  he  resumed  a  business  career 
and  was  a  merchant  at  Coopers,  West  Virginia,  for  two  years. 
He  died  shortly  after  his  return  to  Christiansburg,  in  July,  1893. 
His  wife,  Mary  Wade,  was  born  and  reared  at  Christiansburg. 
attended  public  schools  and  the  Montgomery  Female  College, 
and  she  acted  as  deputy  clerk  under  her  father  before  her  mar- 
riage, and  after  the  death  of  her  husband  carried  on  a  mercan- 
tile business  with  a  great  deal  of  skill  and  energy  at  Christians- 
burg from  1895  to  1915.  She  is  now  living  retired  and  is  an 
active  worker  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Capt.  John  C.  and  Jane  (Edie)  Wade.  Capt.  John  C.  Wade 
was  the  captain  of  Company  G  of  the  Fourth  Virginia  Regiment 
of  Volunteers,  and  after  the  war  was  agent  for  the  railroad,  and 
held  the  oflice  of  county  clerk  until  a  short  time  before  his  death. 
Captain  Wade  was  a  son  of  William  Wade,  who  for  years  rep- 
resented his  county  in  the  Lower  House  of  the  Virginia  Legis- 
lature. Mrs.  Mary  Crush  is  also  a  granddaughter  of  Dr.  Joseph 
S.  Edie,  a  pioneer  of  Christiansburg  and  one  of  the  first  physi- 
cians to  practice  in  that  community.  Doctor  Edie  married  Eliz- 
abeth Randolph  White,  a  cousin  of  the  famous  John  Randolph 
of  Roanoke. 

Charles  Wade  Crush  was  the  only  child  of  his  parents.  He 
attended  public  school  at  Christiansburg,  Washington  and  Lee 
University,  and  in  January,  1915,  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He 
carried  on  a  law  practice  at  Christiansburg  and  Roanoke  until 
November,  1917,  when  he  joined  the  colors,  going  for  training 
to  Camp  Lee,  Virginia.  On  May  26,  1918,  he  was  sent  overseas 
in  Company  A  of  the  Three  Hundred  and  Fourteenth  Machine 
Gun  Battalion,  Eightieth  Division.  This  was  known  as  the 
Suicide  Battalion,  and  he  held  the  rank  of  corporal.  He  was  in 
service  in  the  Artois  Sector,  at  St.  Mihiel  and  the  Meuse- 
Argonne,  and  his  Victor  medal  shows  four  bars,  indicating  his 
participation  in  four  major  engagements.  He  returned  to  the 
United  States  June  7,  1919,  and  received  his  honorable  discharge 
June  19,  1919,  at  Camp  Lee. 

After  his  release  from  military  service  Mr.  Crush  was  for 
some  months  in  the  advertising  business  at  Oklahoma  City  and 
then  moved  to  Garland,  Dallas  County,  Texas,  where  he  prac- 
ticed law  and  handled  real  estate.  He  also  attended  the  Univer- 
sity of  Texas,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  that  state.     He 


374  VIRGINIA 

was  secretary  of  the  Garland  City  Council  during  the  two  years 
he  was  located  there. 

In  November,  1921,  he  returned  to  Christiansburg  and  was 
assistant  postmaster  until  the  spring  of  1923,  when  he  made 
the  successful  race  for  the  office  of  commonwealth's  attorney. 
By  reelection  he  holds  that  office  at  the  present  time.  Mr,  Crush 
is  also  a  second  lieutenant  with  the  Two  Hundred  and  Forty- 
sixth  Coast  Artillery  Corps,  Virginia  National  Guard.  He  was 
invited  to  attend  the  staff  of  former  Gov.  E.  Lee  Trinkle  at  the 
inauguration  of  President  Coolidge,  and  was  with  Governor 
Byrd  at  the  Hoover  inauguration  in  1929. 

Mr.  Crush  is  vice  president  and  trustee  of  the  Cohee  Country 
Club,  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason,  being  affihated  with  McDaniel 
Lodge  No.  86,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Kazim  Temple  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine,  is  treasurer  of  John  Gardner  Post  of  the  Veterans  of 
Foreign  Wars,  and  member  of  Montgomery  County  Post  No.  59, 
American  Legion,  of  which  he  is  vice  commander.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  the  Patriotic 
Order  Sons  of  America,  the  University  Club  of  the  Virginia 
Polytechnic  Institute  and  the  University  Club  of  Richmond.  He 
also  belongs  to  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  Presby- 
terian. 

Mr.  Crush  married  at  Christiansburg,  May  1,  1924,  Miss 
Eliza  Clay  Allen,  formerly  of  White  Gate,  Bland  County.  She 
attended  school  in  Bland  County  and  the  Montgomery  County 
High  School  at  Christiansburg,  and  also  had  a  business  college 
course.  For  several  years  before  her  marriage  she  was  in 
stenographic  and  clerical  work  for  the  Phoenix  Furniture  Cor- 
poration at  Christiansburg.  She  is  a  Presbyterian,  member  of 
the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution.  Her  parents  are  J.  C.  and  Florence  (Rich- 
ardson) Allen.  The  Aliens  are  an  old  family  of  Southwest  Vir- 
ginia. Her  father  formerly  lived  in  Bland  County  and  is  now 
retired  at  Christiansburg.  He  carried  on  farming  and  stock 
raising  on  a  large  scale  in  Bland  County,  and  was  also  in  the 
lumber  business  with  the  Ritter  Lumber  Company  until  retiring 
in  1928.  Her  mother  died  several  years  ago  and  is  buried  in 
Bland  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crush  have  one  daughter,  Jane 
Allen  Crush. 

Stephen  L.  Farrar,  clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Amelia 
County,  is  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and  his  work  has  continued 
the  traditional  association  of  his  family  name  with  the  bench 
and  bar  and  public  affairs  of  Amelia  County  through  a  long 
period  of  years. 

He  was  born  at  Mohican,  Amelia  County,  December  13,  1862, 
son  of  Judge  F.  R.  and  Nannie  (Austin)  Farrar,  his  father  a 
native  of  Prince  Edward  County  and  his  mother  of  Cumberland 
County.  His  father  was  a  captain  in  the  Confederate  army,  was 
liberally  educated,  having  attended  Hampden-Sidney  College, 
and  was  a  student  of  law  at  the  University  of  Virginia  and  also 
attended  Princeton  University.  He  was  an  able  lawyer,  and 
served  as  judge  of  the  County  Court  of  Amelia  County  for 
twenty-seven  years,  practicing  law  at  the  same  time.  He  was 
also  widely  known  as  a  teacher  and  lecturer,  and  was  called  to 
many  distant  localities  for  special  addresses.  He  died  in  August, 
1898,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one,  while  his  wife  passed  away  in 
1870,  at  the  age  of  forty-five. 


VIRGINIA  375 

The  son  Stephen  L.  Farrar  was  reared  and  educated  in 
Amelia  County,  and  had  steadily  before  him  from  boyhood  the 
life  and  ideals  of  his  honest  father.  He  attended  private  schools, 
the  Worsham  Academy,  took  his  law  course  at  the  University 
of  Virginia  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1883.  Judge  Farrar 
has  had  a  professional  and  public  career  of  forty-fi\e  years.  He 
practiced  law  at  Amelia  Court  House,  and  when  his  father  died 
succeeded  him  as  county  judge,  holding  the  office  seven  years.  In 
1906  he  was  appointed  circuit  clerk  to  fill  an  unexpired  term,  and 
has  been  continued  in  that  office  by  regular  election  for  twenty- 
three  years.  No  other  man  at  the  courthouse  has  enjoyed  such 
honors,  responsibilities  and  mai'ks  of  esteem  as  Judge  Farrar. 

He  married  in  November,  1908,  Miss  Clay  Holland,  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  J.  L.  T.  and  Emma  (Walton)  Holland,  her  father  a 
native  of  Fluvanna  County,  Virginia,  ancf  her  mother  of  Prince 
Edward  County.  Her  father  gave  his  active  life  to  the  ministry 
of  the  Christian  Church,  and  was  a  Confederate  soldier.  He 
died  in  1897.  Judge  and  Mrs.  Farrar  have  three  children : 
Stephen  L.,  Jr.,  born  August  30,  1909,  now  deputy  clerk  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Amelia  County;  Clay  H.,  born  in  October,  1911, 
a  student  in  Intermont  College  at  Bristol,  Tennessee;  and  Lilly 
Virginia,  born  in  October,  1915.  Judge  Farrar  is  a  member 
and  a  past  master  of  Amelia  Lodge  No.  101,  A.  F.  and  A.  M., 
is  a  Democrat,  is  lay  leader  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  teaches  a  Bible  class  in  Sunday  School. 

Joseph  Anthony  Peters  during  a  residence  at  Richmond 
of  more  than  forty  years  gained  a  wide  acquaintance  in  the  city 
and  over  the  state,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  was  prominent 
in  the  insurance  business. 

He  was  born  in  Bedford  County,  Virginia,  in  December,  1859, 
and  died  at  his  home  in  Richmond  November  22,  1927.  He  was 
the  second  of  nine  children  born  to  Robert  Henry  and  Ann 
Elizabeth  Peters.  His  father  was  a  tobacco  grower  in  Bedford 
County.  The  surviving  sisters  and  brothers  of  the  late  Mr. 
Peters  were:  E.  E.  Peters,  of  Washington,  D.  C. ;  Mrs.  A.  F. 
Crenshaw  and  Mrs.  Lynwood  Peters,  of  Saint  Louis,  Missouri ; 
H.  D.  Peters,  of  Keysville,  Virginia ;  Mr.  John  C.  Williams,  of 
Dillw^'n,  Virginia;  Mrs.  W.  0.  Saunders  and  R.  L.  Peters,  of 
Richmond. 

Mr.  Peters  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm  in  Bedford 
County,  w'as  educated  in  private  schools,  and  for  several  years 
had  employment  with  an  uncle  who  was  a  leading  building  con- 
tractor in  Prince  George  County.  In  1886  he  located  at  Rich- 
mond, for  several  years  was  with  a  grocery  house,  and  left  that 
to  take  up  insurance  work.  He  was  in  the  active  service  of  the 
Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
finally  being  retired  on  the  pension  roll  of  that  corporation  in 
1923.  During  the  World  war  he  had  spent  much  of  his  time 
.doing  work  under  the  auspices  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  great 
munition  plant  in  Hopewell,  Virginia.  Mr.  Peters  during  the 
last  three  years  of  his  life  also  had  employment  with  the  First 
and  Merchants  National  Bank  of  Richmond.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Junior  Order  United  American  Mechanics  and  the  Second 
Presbji;erian  Church. 

He  married,  October  25,  1887,  Miss  Missouri  Pearman, 
who  was  educated  at  Charles  City,  Virginia,  where  her  father 
was  a  planter.  She  was  next  to  the  youngest  in  a  fam- 
ily  of   eight   daughters,    her    parents    being    William    H.    and 


376  VIRGINIA 

Elizabeth  (Gill)  Pearman.  Mrs.  Peters  continues  to  reside  at 
3100  Stuart  Avenue  in  Richmond.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peters 
had  six  children :  William  Malcolm,  connected  with  the  freight 
department  of  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad,  married 
Gertrude  Brothers,  and  has  two  children,  named  Margaret 
Lois  and  Grace  Ann;  Leroy  Edward,  assistant  auditor 
and  paymaster  for  the  Packard  Automobile  Company  at 
the  factory  at  Detroit,  married  May  Tolbert,  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  has  an  adopted  daughter,  Ilene ;  Joseph  Anthony,  Jr.,  a 
business  man  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  married  Cordia  Wigle; 
Linwood  McCray ;  Robert  Eugene,  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio 
Railway ;  and  Miss  Idella  Ann.  The  son  Joseph  Anthony,  Jr., 
was  a  sergeant  with  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fourth  Infantry 
during  the  World  war  and  spent  eleven  months  on  the  battle 
front  in  France,  wherS  he  was  gassed. 

Alfred  Washington  Drinkard,  Jr.,  director  of  the  Agri- 
cultural Experiment  Station  at  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute, has  been  an  important  contributor  to  the  advancement  of 
horticulture  and  agriculture  in  Virginia,  has  served  on  numer- 
ous boards  and  commissions,  and  is  an  alumnus  of  the  Virginia 
Polytechnic  Institute,  his  Doctor  of  Philosophy  degree  coming 
from  Cornell  University. 

He  is  a  member  of  one  of  the  old  families  of  Virginia  and 
was  born  in  Appomatox  County,  January  10,  1883.  He  is  a  de- 
scendant of  John  Drinkard,  a  planter  and  slave  owner  of  Halifax 
County,  who  in  the  years  immediately  following  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  war  purchased  upwards  of  1,000  acres  of  land  in 
Halifax  County.  This  land  he  developed  into  a  great  plantation, 
worked  by  his  numerous  slaves,  and  the  plantation  provided  a 
home  and  opportunity  for  his  family  of  ten  children.  A  son 
of  John  Drinkard  was  Archibald  Drinkard,  who  served  as  a 
soldier  in  the  Revolution  and  was  a  farmer  and  planter  in  Appo- 
mattox County.  He  married  Judith  Pendleton  about  1818.  Their 
son,  James  Drinkard,  the  grandfather  of  Dr.  Alfred  W.,  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Confederate  army  and  devoted  his  life  after  the 
war  to  a  farm  in  Campbell  County,  Virginia.  He  and  his  wife 
are  buried  in  the  Drinkard  family  cemetery  eight  miles  from 
Lynchburg. 

Charles  M.  Drinkard,  the  father  of  Doctor  Drinkard,  was 
born  and  reared  in  Campbell  County,  attended  private  schools, 
was  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  in  Appomattox  County,  and  for 
eight  years  served  as  county  supervisor.  He  died  December  2, 
1925.  His  wife,  Mary  Ann  Martin,  was  a  daughter  of  Capt. 
John  Wellington  and  Amanda  Harriet  (Neighbors)  Martin. 
Captain  Martin  was  an  officer  in  the  Confederate  army  and  a 
farmer  in  Campbell  County.  Mary  Ann  Martin  was  educated 
in  a  private  school  conducted  by  Major  Evans,  who  is  still 
livino:  at  the  age  of  more  than  ninety  years.  Mary  Ann  Drink- 
ard is  now  seventy-six  years  of  age  and  lives  in  Appomattox. . 
She  was  the  mother  of  eleven  children :  Lucy,  wife  of  C.  W. 
Beasley,  of  Williamson,  West  Virginia;  Lawrence  M.,  who  occu- 
pies the  old  homestead  in  Appomattox  County ;  Dr.  Alfred  Wash- 
ington ;  Hattie  Aleen,  wife  of  D.  E.  Turnes,  of  Appomattox ;  Lula 
Belle,  wife  of  W.  J.  LeGrand  of  Appomattox ;  Charles  Milton,  Jr., 
who  was  drowned  at  the  age  of  two  years;  Sallie  Wellington, 
wife  of  D.  R.  Green,  of  Raleigh,  North  Carolina;  Miss  Mary 
Estelle,  a  high  school  teacher  at  Roanoke;  Judith  Lobelia,  de- 
ceased, the  wife  of  M.  P.  McNeely,  of  Monroe,  North  Carolina; 


VIRGINIA  377 

Mattie  Cathleen,  wife  of  Owen  Carson,  of  Appomattox  County ; 
and  Miss  Nettie  Fiorene,  of  Appomattox. 

Alfred  Washington  Urinkard  attended  public  schools  in 
Appomattox  County  and  in  1902  entered  Virginia  Polytechnic 
Institute,  where  he  was  graduated  Bachelor  of  Science  in  1906. 
He  remained  as  a  graduate  student,  taking  his  Master  of  Science 
degree  in  1908.  From  1910  until  1912  he  continued  studying  in 
Cornell  University  at  Ithaca,  New  York,  and  was  awarded  his 
Doctor's  degree  in  1913. 

In  the  same  year  he  returned  to  the  Virginia  Polytechnic 
Institute  as  associate  horticulturist  in  the  Agricultural  Experi- 
ment Station,  and  since  1916  has  been  director  of  the  experi- 
ment station.  He  also  has  a  farm  of  his  own  in  Appomattox 
County.  Doctor  Drinkard  is  a  member  of  the  honorary  frater- 
nity Phi  Kappa  Phi,  is  a  Sigma  Xi,  fellow  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  member  of  the 
American  Society  for  Horticultural  Science,  and  was  director 
of  the  Virginia  State  Horticultural  Society  for  the  years  1917- 
1918-1919-1920-1922-1923.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Farmers 
Union,  the  Farm  Bureau  and  the  Grange,  and  was  president  of 
the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  Science  Club  in  1919-20. 

Doctor  Drinkard  is  affiliated  with  Hunters  Lodge  No.  156. 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Royal  Arch  Chapter  No.  65  at  Blacksburg, 
Knights  Templar  Commandery  No.  32,  and  Kazim  Temple  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Roanoke.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Indepen- 
dent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men, 
and  in  politics  is  a  Democrat. 

In  1924  Gov.  E.  Lee  Trinkle  appointed  him  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  Water  Power  and  Development  Commission  and  he 
was  reappointed  by  Governor  Byrd  in  1926,  serving  until  this 
commission  was  merged  with  the  State  Conservation  and  Devel- 
opment Commission.  Doctor  Drinkard  was  president  of  the 
Blacksburg  Board  of  Trade  1916-1919.  He  is  a  deacon  and 
chairman  of  the  finance  committee  in  the  Baptist  Church. 

Frank  B.  Beazley  is  an  attorney  at  law,  formerly  engaged 
in  practice  at  Richmond,  now  at  Bowling  Green,  and  he  divides 
his  time  between  his  law  offices  and  his  farm  in  Caroline  County, 
where  he  has  gained  .something  out  of  the  ordinary  distinction  as 
a  pure  bred  cattle  and  poultry  man. 

Mr.  Beazley  was  born  at  Sparta.  Caroline  County,  Septem- 
ber 3,  1897,  son  of  William  F.  and  Emma  (Alsop)  Beazley,  who 
were  also  natives  of  Caroline  County.  His  mother  resides  with 
her  son  on  the  home  farm.  The  father  died  August  11,  1925. 
Mr.  Beazley  through  his  mother  is  descended  from  an  old  family 
which  runs  back  in  English  history  to  the  time  of  King 
Henry  III.  The  Beazleys  were  also  an  old  English  family,  and 
among  other  well  known  names  in  the  early  generations  was  a 
dean  of  Oxford  University.  The  first  Beazleys  in  America  set- 
tled on  Beazley's  Island  in  North  Carolina. 

Frank  B.  Beazley  grew  up  on  the  home  farm  in  Caroline 
County,  graduated  from  the  Sparta  High  School  in  1916,  and 
he  took  the  course  of  the  liberal  arts  department  at  Richmond 
College,  now  the  University  of  Richmond.  He  graduated  in  law 
at  Washington  and  Lee  University  in  1923.  He  passed  the  bar 
examination  in  June,  1923,  and  in  the  same  year  began  practice 
at  Richmond,  forming  a  partnershio  with  his  brother.  J.  Henry 
Beazley.  The  firm  was  Beazley  &  Beazley  for  three  years,  and 
after  they  dissolved  partnership  Mr.  Beazley  continued  an  indi- 


378  VIRGINIA 

vidual  practice  in  the  city  until  1927,  when  he  opened  his  law 
office  at  Bowling  Green  and  has  concentrated  his  attention  on 
his  law  practice. 

The  farm  which  he  operates  comprises  four  hundred  acres 
and  is  situated  ten  miles  southeast  of  Bowling  Green.  He  makes 
his  home  on  the  farm  and  specializes  in  pure  bred  Jersey  cattle 
and  pure  bred  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  chickens. 

Mr.  Beazley  married,  September  25,  1927,  Miss  Kate  Rucker, 
daughter  of  D.  Henry  and  Lulu  (Harrison)  Rucker.  She  is  a 
great-granddaughter  of  President  Henry  H.  Harrison.  Her 
father  was  born  in  Fauquier  County,  Virginia,  and  her  mother 
at  Richmond.  Her  father  is  a  professor  in  the  William  Fox 
School  at  Richmond. 

During  the  World  war  Mr.  Beazley  was  a  member  of  the 
Students  Army  Training  Corps  at  Richmond.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Delta  Theta  Phi  legal  fraternity,  and  Theta  Chi,  social 
fraternity,  the  Caroline  County  and  Richmond  Bar  Association, 
and  was  affiliated  with  the  American  Legion  at  Richmond.  He 
is  eligible  to  membership  in  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  a  member  of  the  Caroline  County 
Democratic  Committee,  and  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
Mrs.  Beazley  is  a  member  of  the  Richmond  Woman's  Club  and 
the  Country  Club  of  Virginia.  Mr.  Beazley's  brothers  and  sis- 
ters all  graduated  from  college  with  degrees.  His  brother  Wil- 
liam Oswald  died  October  20,  1918.  His  brother  J.  Henry  is 
still  practicing  law  at  Richmond.  Lura  Beazley  married  War- 
ren Wright,  a  resident  of  Alexandria,  Virginia,  and  West  Palm 
Beach,  Florida.  Blanche  E.  Beazley  married  John  Rhodes  and 
lives  in  Baltimore. 

Thomas  Nathaniel  White  was  a  Confedei-ate  soldier,  and 
after  the  war  for  many  years  was  prominent  in  the  business  life 
of  Weldon,  North  Carolina. 

Descended  from  the  Masons  and  the  Trotters  of  Brunswick 
County,  Virginia,  he  was  born  at  Danville.  Virginia,  in  1841, 
died  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  in  February,  1894,  and  was  buried 
at  Weldon,  North  Carolina.  His  father,  George  White,  from 
Tyrone  County.  Ireland,  married  Anne  Mason,  a  daughter  of 
Col.  Nathaniel  Mason,  in  1830.  The  four  children  of  this  mar- 
riage were :  Mary,  who  married  Claiborne  Sturdivant ;  Anne, 
w^ho  married  Dr.  Thomas  Yandell  Green  Wynn ;  Capt.  George 
D.,  who  married  Delia  Pope ;  and  Thomas  N.,  who  married 
Laura  Parker. 

Thomas  was  educated  in  private  schools  and  in  Red  Oak 
Academy  in  Brunswick  County.  At  nineteen  he  entered  the  Con- 
federate army,  and  served  bravely  in  the  cavalry  under  his 
brother,  Capt.  George  D.  White,  of  Company  A,  Third  Virginia 
Regiment,  Stuart's  Brigade,  until  the  end  of  the  war. 

After  the  war  he  located  at  Weldon,  North  Carolina,  where 
he  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  with  his  brother.  He 
developed  one  of  the  largest  general  merchandise  stores  in  the 
state,  and  handled  a  great  deal  of  raw  cotton.  In  1891  he  moved 
to  Richmond,  Virginia.  He  was  a  Democrat  in  his  political 
affiliations  and  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

On  October  25,  1871,  Thomas  Nathaniel  White  married 
Laura  A.  Parker,  who  is  a  descendant  of  the  Bishop  family, 
which  was  established  in  North  Carolina  in  Colonial  times.  She 
finished  her  education  at  Warrenton  College  under  the  Greens- 
boro College  faculty,  the  latter  school  having  been  burned  by  the 


4V/t.-*-^- 


VIRGINIA  379 

Union  army.  Her  father,  Richard  Bishop  Parker,  was  a  very- 
able  and  scholarly  man,  an  educator,  editor  and  newspaper  man, 
and  served  as  a  magistrate  and  was  a  special  member  of  Hali- 
fax County  Court.  He  was  identified  with  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  The  mother  of  Mrs.  White  was  Sarah  Ann  Pris- 
cilla  Sledge. 

Born  of  the  union  of  Thomas  N.  and  Laura  A.  White  were 
six  children.  Thomas  N.,  Jr.,  died  in  infancy.  Anne  Mason 
married  Blake  W.  Corson,  of  Cumberland  County,  Virginia,  a 
civil  engineer.  They  have  three  children,  named  Blake  W.,  Jr., 
Judith  Parker  and  Georgia  White.  Richard  Trotter  White  is  an 
inventor.  David  Meade  White  is  an  attorney  practicing  at  the 
Richmond  bar.  He  married  Bessie  Turner,  who  is  descended 
from  the  Eppeses  and  the  Randolphs  of  Virginia.  They  have 
one  son,  David  Meade,  Jr.  Thomas  Obed  White  is  in  the  coal 
business  at  Richmond.  George  Bonner  White  is  an  attorney, 
also  practicing  at  the  Richmond  bar.  He  married  Martha  Four- 
qurean,  a  descendant  of  William  Byrd  I,  the  founder  of  Rich- 
mond. 

Vernon  Meredith  Geddy  is  a  native  son  and  grew  up  in  the 
classic  environs  of  the  old  Town  of  Williamsburg,  and  has  made 
a  notable  record  there  during  the  past  ten  years  as  a  member 
of  the  bar,  commonwealth  attorney  and  judge. 

Judge  Geddy,  who  has  his  offices  in  the  Peninsula  Bank  and 
Trust  Company  Building,  was  born  at  Williamsburg  November 
11,  1897,  son  of  Thomas  Henley  and  Mattie  (Piggott)  Geddy, 
and  grandson  of  Capt.  George  E.  Geddy.  His  grandfather  or- 
ganized a  company  of  militia  in  James  City  County  and  became 
its  captain,  and  during  his  service  was  captured  and  during  the 
last  two  years  of  the  war  between  the  states  was  held  a  prisoner. 
Thomas  Henley  Geddy  was  born  in  James  City  County  and  for 
several  years  was  a  merchant  at  Toano.  In  July,  1893,  he  was 
elected  County  and  Circuit  Court  clerk  of  James  City  County, 
being  the  first  Democrat  chosen  to  that  office  since  reconstruc- 
tion. He  gave  thirty-five  years  and  the  most  loyal  and  efficient 
service  to  that  office,  remaining  by  election  and  reelections  until 
his  death,  which  occurred  May  9.  1928,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
one.  His  widow  still  resides  at  Williamsburg  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy. 

Vernon  M.  Geddy  attended  William  and  Mary  Academy  with 
the  class  of  1913  and  graduated  A.  B.  from  William  and  Mary 
College  in  1917.  He  also  attended  the  University  of  Chicago 
and  for  one  year  taught  in  the  Woodberry  Forest  School  for 
Boys  in  Orange  County.  In  the  spring  of  1918  he  enlisted,  was 
trained  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  was  discharged  November  22, 
1918,  eleven  days  after  the  armistice,  with  the  rank  of  second 
lieutenant.  During  1919  Mr.  Geddy  was  director  of  athletics 
at  the  College  of  William  and  Mary.  He  took  his  law  course  at 
the  University  of  Virginia  and  passed  the  bar  examination  in 
June,  1920.  Since  that  date  he  has  been  a  busy  attorney  at 
Williamsburg.  He  was  appointed  and  served  as  judge  of  the 
Juvenile  and  Domestic  Relations  Court  in  1923.  From  January, 
1924,  to  December  31,  1927,  he  was  commonwealth  attorney  of 
James  City  County.  In  January,  1928,  he  was  again  appointed 
judge  of  the  Juvenile  and  Domestic  Relations  Court. 

Judge  Geddy  married,  October  24,  1923,  Carrie  Cole  Lane, 
daughter  of  Col.  L.  W.  and  Lizzie  (Jordan)  Lane,  her  father  a 
native  of  James  City  County  and  her  mother  of  Smithfield.    Her 


380  VIRGINIA 

father  for  several  years  has  been  treasurer  of  William  and  Mary 
College.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Geddy  have  one  son,  Vernon  Meredith, 
Jr.,  born  April  12,  1926. 

Judge  Geddy  is  also  a  member  of  the  WiUiamsburg  City 
Council.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Peninsula  Bank  &  Trust  Com- 
pany, member  of  the  Virginia  State  and  American  Bar  Associa- 
tions, belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity,  the  American  Legion, 
the  Kappa  Sigma,  is  secretary  of  the  Rotary  Club,  member  of  the 
Williamsburg-  Cotillion  Club.  His  home  is  on  Scotland  Street  at 
Williamsburg.  He  is  active  in  one  of  the  historic  churches  of 
Virginia,  Bruton  Parish  Church,  Episcopal,  and  is  a  trustee  of 
the  church  and  superintendent  of  its  Sunday  School. 

Julius  Dreher  Willis,  M.  D.  An  unobtrusive  man  has 
been  for  years  one  of  the  forceful  figures  in  the  medical  pro- 
fession of  Roanoke.  Early  training  fitted  him  for  a  busy  life, 
and  he  knows  but  little  of  idle  waste.  He  firmly  believes  that 
expression  of  sympathy  for  the  misfortunes  of  others  is  right 
and  proper,  and  he  also  believes  that  a  practical  demonstration 
of  that  sympathy  calls  for  material  assistance  at  a  time  when  it 
is  needed.  This  phase  of  his  character  manifests  itself  in  the 
many  charitable  acts  which  he  performs. 

Doctor  Willis  was  born  in  Hylton,  now  Willis,  Virginia, 
August  10,  1886,  a  son  of  George  Augustus  and  Venie  Anna 
(Brumbaugh)  Willis,  both  of  whom  are  natives  of  Virginia,  and 
now  residing  in  Bel  Air,  Maryland.  For  a  number  of  years  his 
father  served  as  superintendent  of  public  instruction  in  Floyd 
County,  Virginia.  He  was  also  engaged  in  merchandising  and 
farming.  A  man  of  education,  educated  at  Roanoke  College,  he 
has  always  been  a  leader  among  his  associates.  Five  children 
were  born  to  him  and  his  wife:  Eula,  who  is  married  to  John 
M.  Bell,  who  operates  a  telephone  company  and  lives  at  Chester, 
South  Carolina ;  Doctor  Willis,  who  was  the  second  in  order  of 
birth ;  Peter  Archer,  who  is  a  tobacco  buyer  for  Liggett  &  Myers 
Tobacco  Company,  and  resides  in  Reidsville,  North  Carolina; 
George  Armand,  who  is  a  dental  surgeon  at  Havre  de  Grace, 
Maryland ;  and  Lena  F.,  who  married  J.  S.  McDonald,  a  farmer 
of  Rocks,  Maryland.  The  parents  belong  to  the  Lutheran 
Church,  in  which  they  are  active,  and  the  father  is  a  Democrat. 

Doctor  Willis  attended  both  the  public  and  private  schools 
of  his  native  county  and  Roanoke  College,  and  he  took  his  pro- 
fessional training  at  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  Richmond, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1909,  with  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine.  He  interned  in  the  Johnson-Willis  Hospital  of 
Richmond,  and  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  man  to  serve 
the  hospital  in  that  capacity.  He  was  also  supply  interne  in  the 
Roosevelt  Hospital,  New  York  City,  for  six  months.  From  1912 
to  1918  he  was  internist  to  the  Lewis-Gale  Hospital,  Roanoke, 
and  since  that  time  has  been  internist  to  the  Shenandoah  Hos- 
pital. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  staff  of  the  Roanoke  Hospital. 
Doctor  Willis  belongs  to  Pi  Mu,  medical  Greek  letter  fraternity, 
the  Shenandoah  Club,  the  Country  Club,  the  Roanoke  County 
Medical  Society,  the  Southwest  Virginia  Medical  Society,  the 
Virginia  State  Medical  Society,  the  Southern  Medical  Associa- 
tion, the  American  Medical  Association,  and  is  a  fellow  of  the 
American  College  of  Physicians.  His  practice  is  confined  to 
internal  medicine,  in  which  branch  he  is  a  recognized  expert. 
During  the  World  war  he  served  as  a  first  lieutenant  in  the 
Medical  Corps  of  the  United  States  army. 


VIRGINIA  381 

In  1915  Doctor  Willis  married  Miss  Mary  Butler  Evans,  a 
native  of  South  Carolina,  but  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
Roanoke  and  National  Park  Seminary,  Washington,  D.  C.  Doc- 
tor and  Mrs.  Willis  have  two  children :  Margaret  Evans  Willis 
and  Jean  Dreher  Willis.  Doctor  Willis  is  a  Lutheran  and  his 
wife  is  an  Episcopalian. 

Sylvester  A.  Ratcliffe.  Perhaps  no  public  official  in  Wise 
County  commands  more  confidence  and  respect  or  enjoys  greater 
personal  esteem  than  Sylvester  A.  Ratcliffe,  postmaster  at  Nor- 
ton, Virginia.  This  important  office  he  has  so  efficiently  tilled 
for  the  past  seven  years  that  irrespective  of  partisan  political 
sentiment  his  administration  has  met  with  universal  public 
approval. 

Postmaster  Ratcliffe  belongs  to  an  old  Virginia  family  that 
has  branches  in  different  sections  of  the  state,  and  for  many 
years  identified  with  its  agricultural  and  business  development 
as  well  as  public  affairs.  He  was  born  at  Shacks  Mill,  Buchanan 
County,  Virginia,  May  9,  1871,  son  of  Capt.  M.  S.  and  Lucinda 
(Ratcliffe)  Ratcliffe,  the  latter  of  whom  was  born  in  Tazewell 
County,  Virginia,  where  her  father.  Shade  Ratcliffe,  was  an 
extensive  planter  before  the  war  between  the  states. 

Capt.  M.  S.  Ratcliffe,  father  of  Postmaster  Ratcliffe,  was 
born  and  reared  in  Russell  County,  Virginia,  and  acquired  his 
title  as  an  officer  in  the  Confederate  army  during  the  Civil  war. 
A  planter  previously,  he  afterward  became  interested  in  politics 
and  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Legislature,  on  the 
Republican  ticket,  and  so  great  was  his  personal  popularity  that 
but  one  vote  was  registered  against  him  in  the  entire  county. 

Sylvester  A.  Ratcliffe's  boyhood  was  spent  in  Tazewell 
County,  where  he  received  his  early  schooling,  which  was  sup- 
plemented by  two  years  in  Abingdon  Academy  at  Abingdon, 
Virginia,  and  one  year  in  Milligan  College  at  Milligan,  Tennes- 
see. He  then  embarked  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Richlands, 
Virginia,  his  mother's  old  home,  where  he  continued  for  about 
eight  years,  when  he  removed  to  Saint  Paul  in  Wise  County, 
where  he  remained  in  the  mercantile  line  for  almost  two  years. 
He  came  then  to  Norton  to  enter  the  employ  of  the  Norton  Hard- 
ware Company,  and  remained  with  that  business  house  for  thir- 
teen years,  retiring  then  to  accept  a  position  as  salesman  with 
the  big  packing  firm  of  Swift  &  Company,  where  he  continued 
for  four  years. 

In  the  meanwhile  Mr.  Ratcliffe's  marked  business  efficiency 
and  fidelity  to  the  interests  with  which  he  was  concerned  did  by 
no  means  go  unnoticed,  and  the  appreciative  word  of  comment, 
trustworthy,  was  often  heard,  and  on  many  occasions  tenders 
of  favorable  business  opportunities  came  to  him.  His  circle  of 
friends  grew  with  the  passing  years,  and  the  time  came  when 
in  his  stalwart  qualities  they  saw  just  the  qualifications  that  are 
so  essential  in  public  life  but  not  always  found  there,  and  then 
followed  the  movement  that  brought  about  his  appointment  on 
November  1,  1921,  as  acting  postmaster  of  Norton.  This  was 
followed  on  April  10,  1922,  by  his  appointment  as  postmaster  of 
this  city,  which  was  endorsed  by  all  of  his  fellow  citizens  prac- 
tically, for  whatever  fault  his  Democratic  neighbors  might  have 
found  with  President  Harding's  appointments,  Republicans  and 
Democrats  were  united  in  approving  of  this  one,  and  the  same 
public  sentiment  prevailed  when  on  April  8,  1926,  he  was  re- 
appointed by  President  Coolidge,  it  being  a  tribute  to  the  man 


382  VIRGINIA 

irrespective  of  party.  His  fellow  citizens  realize  that  however 
strong  his  personal  political  convictions  may  be,  and  he  has 
always  been  an  outspoken  Republican,  he  considers  himself  as 
an  official,  at  the  service  of  the  entire  public,  and  faithfully, 
tirelessly  and  unselfishly  performs  his  duties,  maintaining  a 
high  degree  of  efficiency  and  courtesy  in  every  departmt  nt,  and 
carefully  guarding  the  public  revenues. 

Mr.  Ratcliffe  married  on  September  29,  1892,  Miss  Helen 
McGuire,  of  Cedar  Bluff,  Virginia,  who  was  educated  at  Martha 
Washington  College,  Abingdon,  Virginia.  Her  family  is  an  old 
and  substantial  one  of  Tazewell  County,  and  her  father,  the  late 
J.  Marion  McGuire,  was  for  many  years  a  prominent  merchant 
and  woolen  manufacturer  there.  During  the  war  between  the 
states  he  served  in  the  Sixteenth  Cavalry,  Brackenridge  having 
been  his  general,  Ferguson  his  colonel,  W.  L.  Graham  his  lieu- 
tenant-colonel and  Jonathan  Hawkins  his  captain.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ratcliff e's  family  include  two  daughters  and  one  son : 
Irene,  who,  like  her  mother,  enjoyed  superior  educational  ad- 
vantages at  Martha  Washington  College  and  later  at  Millersburg 
College,  is  the  wife  of  E.  M.  Patton,  civil  engineer  at  Norton, 
and  they  have  two  children,  Billie  Lois  and  Anna  Lowery.  Virgil 
Allen,  who  was  educated  at  Emory  and  Henry  College,  filled  a 
position  as  auditor  in  the  Treasury  Department  at  Washington, 
D.  C,  for  six  years,  served  in  a  similar  capacity  at  Miami, 
Florida,  and  is  now  back  in  Washington.  He  married  Miss 
Mattie  Effinger,  of  Blacksburg,  and  they  have  one  son,  Virgil 
Allen,  Jr.    Marion  is  a  student  in  the  Norton  High  School. 

Virgil  Allen  Ratcliffe,  only  son  of  Postmaster  Ratcliffe,  is  an 
overseas  veteran  of  the  World  war.  He  enlisted  in  the  navy  at 
an  early  date  and  was  a  member  of  that  courageous  body  of 
American  Marines  that  by  their  bravery  and  sacrifice  won  vic- 
tory on  the  French  battlefields,  in  the  memorable  offensives  at 
Belleau  Woods,  Argonne  Forest  and  St.  Mihiel.  Although  Mr. 
Ratcliffe  survived  through  his  two  years  of  war  zone  and  battle 
exposure,  it  was  only  because  of  a  strong  constitution  and  his 
sturdy  Virginia  spirit,  for  after  being  gassed  at  Belleau  Woods 
and  confined  for  two  months  in  a  hospital  at  Paris,  he  returned 
to  his  command  only  to  receive  the  five  wounds  at  St.  Mihiel  that 
kept  him  in  a  Bordeaux  hospital  long  after  he  should  have  had 
his  face  happily  turned  toward  home. 

Postmaster  Ratcliffe  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and  belongs 
to  the  Blue  Lodge  at  Norton.  Both  he  and  wife  are  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  the  entire 
family  gives  earnest  attention  to  those  sterling  community  in- 
terests that  promote  social  welfare. 

Robert  Emory  Blackwell  has  a  distinction  due  not  only  to 
the  length  but  to  the  importance  of  his  service  as  an  educator, 
having  for  over  half  a  century  been  identified  with  one  of  the 
chief  institutions  for  the  higher  education  of  men  in  Virginia, 
the  Randolph-Macon  College. 

Doctor  Blackwell  was  born  in  Warrenton,  Virginia,  Novem- 
ber 14,  1854,  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  Davenport  and  Julia  Anna 
(Butts)  Blackwell.  He  is  an  alumnus  of  Randolph-Macon  Col- 
lege, where  he  took  the  A.  M.  degree  in  1874.  He  has  studied 
abroad,  having  attended  the  University  of  Leipsic  during 
1875-76.  In  recognition  of  his  scholastic  attainments  and  serv- 
ices as  an  educator  several  institutions  have  conferred  upon  him 
the  Doctor  of  Laws  degree,  including  Washington  and  Lee  Uni- 


(J.V/e^ 


^tv 


VIRGINIA  383 

versity.  Doctor  Blackwell  in  1876  became  a  professor  in  the 
faculty  of  Randolph-Macon  College.  He  was  vice  president  and 
acting  president  from  1900  to  1902,  and  since  1902  has  filled  the 
office  of  president.  He  is  author  of  several  text  books,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Modern  Language  Association  of  America,  and  is  a 
Phi  Beta  Kappa. 

Doctor  Blackwell  has  long  been  a  prominent  figure  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  represented  the  church 
in  the  joint  commission  working  for  unification  of  the  northern 
and  southern  branches  of  the  church.  He  has  also  served  as 
state  chairman  of  the  Virginia  Inter-Racial  Commission  from  its 
organization  in  1919,  and  for  twelve  years  has  been  a  member 
of  the  General  Educational  Board  of  the  church.  Doctor  Black- 
well  married,  August  28,  1877,  Theela  Epia  Duncan,  of  Ashland, 
Virginia.  They  have  one  daughter,  Epie  Duncan,  who  married 
J.  F.  Messick. 

Oscar  Netll  Wev  was  a  Virginian,  had  a  brief  and  heroic 
career,  and  was  with  the  United  States  Navy  for  fourteen  years. 

He  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  August  18,  1877,  and 
died  November  18,  1907.  His  parents  were  Walter  and  Eliza- 
beth (Neill)  Wev.  His  mother  was  born  in  Virginia.  Oscar 
Neill  Wev  attended  public  schools  at  Lynchburg,  and  as  a  youth 
enlisted  for  service  in  the  United  States  Navy.  He  was  with  that 
branch  of  the  American  military  establishment  fourteen  years, 
and  was  raised  to  the  grade  of  chief  petty  officer.  A  high  mark 
in  his  career  while  afloat  came  while  on  the  cruiser  Olympia,  the 
flagship  of  Admiral  Dewey,  in  the  great  naval  battle  in  Manila 
Bay  in  May,  1898.  Later  he  was  transferred  to  the  navy  yard  at 
Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  met  his  death  by  accident  at  Bremerton 
Navy  Yard,  Washington. 

At  Washington,  D.  C,  January  9,  1902,  he  married  Miss 
Nellie  Bosquet,  a  native  Virginian,  who  now  resides  at  Rich- 
mond at  1639  West  Grace  Street.  She  was  reared  and  educated 
in  Virginia.  Her  father,  Michael  Bosquet,  came  from  Bordeau, 
France,  to  America,  and  was  a  merchant  at  Richmond  for  many 
years.  He  married  Kate  Baughn,  of  Louisa.  Virginia,  and  of 
an  old  Virginia  family.  The  children  in  the  Bosquet  family 
were:  F.  M.,  deceased;  Mrs.  Nellie  Wev;  Bessie,  Mable  and 
Felix,  all  deceased ;  and  Katherine.  Michael  Bosquet  served 
under  Napoleon  III  in  the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870-71.  Mrs. 
Wev's  mother  was  a  descendant  of  Dr.  Thomas  Triplett  and  Rev. 
Thomas  Neill. 

The  two  sons  of  Mrs.  Wev  are  Basquet  Neill  and  Oscar  C.  B. 
These  boys  are  the  great-grandson  of  Dr.  Thomas  Triplett,  who 
was  a  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Navy  under  Commodore 
Decatur  when  that  great  American  made  war  against  the  Bar- 
bary  pirates,  and  he  distinguished  himself  for  heroism  at  Tunis 
and  Algiers.  Mrs.  Wev's  sons  are  also  great-grandsons  of  Rev. 
Doctor  Thomas  Neill,  of  Cooperstown,  New  York,  who  was 
president  of  Dickinson  College  of  that  state,  and  also  president 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publications,  and  was  minister  and 
pastor  of  a  large  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia  in  1865. 

Mrs.  Wev's  son  Bosquet  Neill  was  educated  at  Richmond,  is  a 
graduate  of  the  United  States  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis, 
and  is  now  an  ensign  in  the  navy.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Robinson,  of  Baltimore.  The  other  son,  Oscar,  spent  two  years 
in  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  joined  the  U.  S.  Army  to 
obtain  an  appointment  to  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy  at  West 

18— VOL.  3 


384  VIRGINIA 

Point  as  a  candidate-at-large.  He  passed  the  entrance  examina- 
tion, but  was  barred  from  entrance  to  West  Point  due  to  age 
limitation.  He  is  now  a  cadet  at  the  United  States  Coast  Guard 
Academy  at  New  London,  Connecticut. 

Levin  Nock  Davis  is  practicing  law,  performing  the  duties 
of  commissioner  of  accounts,  and  representing  other  business 
interests  at  his  home  town  of  Accomac,  and  on  the  6th  of  August, 
1929,  in  the  Democratic  primaries,  was  nominated  to  the  House 
of  Delegates  from  Accomac  County.  Mr.  Davis  was  born  on  the 
Eastern  Shore  of  Virginia,  and  has  exhibited  a  high  degree  of 
sagacity  and  fidelity  in  all  the  relationships  of  a  very  busy  and 
useful  career. 

He  was  born  in  Accomac  County,  October  3,  1887,  son  of 
George  Edward  and  Maggie  (Nock)  Davis,  who  were  also  born 
in  that  section  of  the  Eastern  Shore.  His  father  was  a  carpenter 
and  wheelwright  by  trade,  and  followed  those  occupations  all 
his  life,  together  with  farming.  He  died  December  1,  1911,  and 
the  mother  died  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  March  15,  1929. 

Levin  Nock  Davis  was  reared  and  educated  in  Accomac 
County,  graduating  from  the  high  school  at  Painter  in  1906, 
and  then  attended  a  business  college  at  Baltimore,  and  in  June, 
1917,  took  his  law  degree  from  the  University  of  Maryland.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  Maryland  bar  in  July,  1917,  and  remained  in 
Baltimore  until  April,  1918. 

Then  came  his  military  experience  during  the  World  war. 
By  appointment  of  secretary  of  war  he  was  made  an  army  field 
clerk,  stationed  at  the  Port  of  Embarkation  at  Hoboken,  New 
Jersey,  and  later  at  Camp  Merritt,  New  Jersey.  He  was  with 
the  colors  about  a  year,  getting  his  honorable  discharge  April 
19,  1919.  He  then  remained  in  the  Government  service  at  Wash- 
ington as  a  claim  examiner,  and  from  October,  1921,  to  October, 
1923,  was  district  manager  in  charge  of  the  Norfolk  office  of  the 
United  States  Veterans  Bureau. 

Mr.  Davis  resigned  this  position  to  resume  the  practice  of 
law  in  his  home  county  of  Accomac.  He  has  a  large  volume  of 
business  both  as  a  counselor  and  trial  attorney,  is  filling  the 
office  of  commissioner  of  accounts  for  Accomac  County  and  is 
local  representative  for  the  Fidelity  &  Deposit  Company  of  Bal- 
timore and  the  United  States  Fidelity  and  Guaranty  Company. 
For  a  year  and  a  half  he  was  auditor  and  adjuster  for  the  Fidel- 
ity &  Deposit  Company  at  Baltimore. 

Mr.  Davis  married,  April  24,  1918,  Miss  Lela  Ames,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  John  S.  and  Lottie  (Downing)  Ames.  Her  par- 
ents were  born  in  Accomac  County,  where  her  father  spent  his 
life  as  a  farmer.  He  died  in  November,  1926,  and  her  mother 
now  resides  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis.  The  latter  have  two  chil- 
dren :  Eleanor  Ames,  born  November  8,  1920,  and  Levin  Frank- 
lin, born  March  10,  1923. 

Mr.  Davis  is  adjutant  of  the  Accomac  Post  of  the  American 
Legion.  He  owns  some  farming  properties  on  the  Eastern  Shore. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Accomac  County,  Maryland  State  and 
Virginia  State  Bar  Associations,  is  affiliated  with  Ocean  Lodge 
No.  116,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  the  Royal  Arch  Chapter  at  Onancock, 
Virginia,  is  a  Democrat,  is  charge  lay  leader  and  trustee  of  the 
Drummondtown  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  president  of 
the  Men's  Bible  Class.  While  at  Baltimore  he  was  for  two  years 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School.  Mrs.  Davis  is  a  member 
of  the  Accomac  Woman's  Club. 


VIRGINIA 


385 


S.  Vernon  Strickler,  whose  people  were  among  the 
earliest  settlers  of  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  is  a  doctor  of  dental 
surgery  who  first  practiced  in  the  Valley,  and  since  1916  has 
been  a  prominent  representative  of  his  profession  at  Charlottes- 
ville. 

He  was  born  in  Rockingham  County,  Virginia,  July  10,  1884, 
son  of  B.  F.  and  Susan  Virginia  (Cline)  Strickler.  His  grand- 
father, Benjamin  Strickler,  was  born  in  Shenandoah  County, 
and  his  maternal  grandfather,  David  Cline,  in  Rockingham 
County.  B.  F.  Strickler  was  born  in  Shenandoah  County,  spent 
his  active  life  as  a  farmer,  and  was  a  Confederate  soldier  in  the 
Civil  war.  On  account  of  wounds  he  was  out  of  service  for  some 
time,  but  returned  and  was  one  of  the  troops  under  Lee  at  the 
final  surrender  at  Appomattox.  After  the  war  he  became  a  Re- 
publican in  politics,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  were  members  of 
the  Church  of  the  Brethren.  On  his  paternal  side  Doctor 
Strickler  is  a  direct  descendant  of  the  Massanutton  family  of 
Stricklers,  Massanutton  being  the  first  settlement  in  the  Valley 
of  Virginia,  near  Luray,  Virginia. 

S.  Vernon  Strickler  was  the  youngest  in  a  family  of  seven 
boys.  He  attended  public  schools  and  the  West  Central  Acad- 
emy, the  Bridgewater  College  at  Bridgewater,  Virginia,  and  in 
1910  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Maryland  at  Baltimore.  Doctor  Strickler  practiced 
for  six  years  at  Shenandoah  and  in  1916  removed  to  Charlottes- 
ville, where  he  performed  the  general  service  of  a  capable  den- 
tist. He  is  a  member  of  the  Charlottesville,  Shenandoah  Valley, 
Virginia  State  and  American  Dental  societies. 

Doctor  Strickler  married  in  1914  Miss  Beatrice  Frances 
Elliott,  who  was  born  in  Rockingham  County  and  attended  high 
school  at  Shenandoah.  Her  father,  Benjamin  M.  Elliott,  was 
in  the  railroad  service  for  many  years.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Strick- 
ler have  one  son,  Elliott  LeRoy,  born  in  1916,  now  attending 
school  at  Charlottesville.  Doctor  Strickler  is  a  deacon  in  the 
First  Baptist  Church,  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  the  Young  Men's  Business  Club. 


Gilbert  Raymond  Repass,  clerk  of  courts  of  Bland  County, 
followed  his  father  in  that  office,  and  the  office  has  not  been  out 
of  the  family  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century. 

Mr.  Repass  was  born  in  Bland  County  April  12,  1893,  son  of 
R.  C.  and  Julia  E.  (Kitts)  Repass,  and  a  descendant  of  Rev. 
Stephen  Repass,  who  came  to  America  from.  Germany  and  was 
one  of  the  early  German  settlers  in  Western  Virginia.  His 
grandfather,  Elias  Repass,  was  from  an  early  date  identified 
with  Bland  County,  where  he  was  a  farmer,  stock  raiser  and 
merchant.  Both  he  and  his  wife  are  buried  at  Ceres  in  Bland 
County. 

The  late  R.  C.  Repass  was  born  in  Wythe  County,  Virginia, 
had  a  private  school  education,  and  was  a  man  of  sound  knowl- 
edge and  varied  accomplishments.  For  a  number  of  years  he 
held  the  office  of  county  surveyor.  For  six  years  he  was  deputy 
county  clerk  and  served  twenty-eight  years  as  clerk  of  the  courts. 
During  the  last  year  of  his  life  he  was  elected  without  opposition 
for  another  term.  He  died  February  19.  1928.  His  widow  is 
still  living  at  Bland,  and  she  was  reared  in  Bland  County.  She 
is  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  South. 
There  w^ere  six  children :  Gilbert  R. ;  Bessie,  wife  of  M.  Muncey, 
of  Bland;  Robert  G.,  of  Bland;  Stella,  wife  of  J.  M.  Honeycutt, 


n&j 


386  .  VIRGINIA 

of  Charlotte,  North  Carolina;  Catherine  C,  a  teacher  in  the 
public  schools  of  Richmond;  and  James  C,  of  Bland. 

Gilbert  Raymond  Repass  was  educated  in  public  schools,  in- 
cluding the  Bland  High  School,  attended  the  National  Business 
College  at  Roanoke  until  1913,  in  which  year  he  went  to  work 
under  his  father  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  courts.  He  helped 
his  father  four  years,  then  spent  three  years  in  farming  and 
stock  raising,  and  for  seven  years  was  a  rural  mail  carrier.  In 
February,  1928,  he  was  appointed  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term 
of  his  father,  and  has  brought  to  the  office  the  same  care  and 
systematic  attention  which  distinguished  the  administration  of 
the  elder  Repass  in  handling  the  records  of  the  county.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Eastern  Star,  is  a 
Republican  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 

He  married  at  Bland,  May  6,  1916,  Miss  Hazel  Bruce,  of 
Bland  County.  She  was  educated  in  the  county  and  in  Sullina 
College,  and  is  an  active  worker  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  the  Eastern  Star.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Rev.  J.  E.  and  Edna  (Harris)  Bruce.  Her  father  gave  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  to  his  duties  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel 
in  the  Holston  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  He  died  in  1915  and  is  buried  in  Bland  County.  Mrs. 
Repass'  mother,  who  now  lives  in  the  Repass  home  at  Bland,  is 
a  sister  of  former  Governor  Nathaniel  Harris,  of  Georgia,  who 
was  born  in  Tennessee,  member  of  an  old  and  distinguished 
family  of  that  name.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Repass  have  two  children, 
David  Edward  and  Edna  Elizabeth,  both  attending  school  at 
Bland. 

Dr.  Heath  A.  Dalton,  physician  and  surgeon,  now  prac- 
ticing at  Bland,  was  born  and  reared  in  Southwest  Virginia, 
and  his  people  have  lived  in  Carroll  and  adjacent  counties  since 
about  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

The  founder  of  the  family  was  the  great-grandfather,  John 
Dalton,  who  came  with  three  brothers  to  America.  Two  of  these 
brothers  settled  in  North  Carolina  and  another  in  Eastern  Vir- 
ginia. One  brother  sought  a  home  in  the  western  wilderness, 
in  what  is  now  Carroll  County.  He  settled  down  on  a  farm, 
cleared  some  land  and  like  many  other  pioneers  supplied  much 
of  his  meat  from  wild  game.  He  and  his  wife  are  buried  at 
Hillsville.  His  son,  Martin  Dalton,  owned  3,200  acres  of  land 
in  Carroll  County,  and  was  one  of  its  outstanding  citizens.  He 
represented  the  county  in  the  Legislature  for  two  terms  in  the 
early  '80s.    He  died  in  1893  and  is  buried  at  Hillsville. 

The  parents  of  Doctor  Dalton  were  James  and  Hannah 
(Gardner)  Dalton.  His  father  was  born  and  reared  at  Hillsville, 
attended  private  schools  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate 
army,  seeing  active  service  at  Saltville  and  as  far  east  as  Lynch- 
burg the  last  year  of  the  war.  He  was  active  as  a  farmer  and 
stock  raiser  until  he  retired,  and  he  died  February  12,  1929,  aged 
eighty-three  years.  He  is  buried  at  Hillsville.  His  wife  was 
born  and  reared  at  Hillsville,  attended  school  there,  and  she  was 
an  active  member  of  the  Primitive  Baptist  Church.  She  died 
in  1908.  There  were  nine  children :  Tabitha,  now  Mrs.  G.  G. 
Montgomery,  of  Hillsville ;  Laura,  who  died  in  1926,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-five;  Ada,  who  died  in  1918,  at  the  age  of  forty-six;  Dr. 
Martin  L.,  a  practicing  physician  at  Floyd,  Virginia ;  Miss  Alice, 
of  Hillsville;  Lulu,  who  died  in  1915,  the  wife  of  T.  L.  Cox; 


Q^^U^     d^     ^rX). 


VIRGINIA  387 

Berta,  now  Mrs.  Walter  Stillwell,  of  Wytheville;  Dr.  James  B., 
of  Richmond ;  and  Dr.  Heath  A. 

Dr.  Heath  A.  Dalton  was  born  at  Hillsville.  April  21,  1889, 
attended  public  schools,  including  the  Hillsville  High  School, 
and  continued  his  education  in  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute. He  was  graduated  from  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia 
in  the  class  of  1914,  having  his  interne  experience  in  The  Re- 
treat for  the  Sick  at  Richmond.  Doctor  Dalton  in  1914  opened 
an  office  at  Galax,  and  was  in  practice  there  until  1928,  when 
he  removed  to  Bland  and  established  his  office  in  the  Newberry 
Building.  He  has  a  large  professional  business,  and  is  a  man 
who  enjoys  friendships  not  only  in  Bland  County  but  over  Car- 
roll and  Grayson  counties  and  other  sections  of  Virginia.  He 
has  an  interest  in  his  father's  farming  properties  at  Hillsville. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Virginia,  the  Carroll 
and  Gray.son  Counties  Medical  Society  and  is  affiliated  with  Old 
Town  Lodge  No.  72.  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Kazim  Temple  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine  at  Roanoke,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  Presbyterian. 

He  married  at  Washington,  D.  C,  September  27,  1913,  Miss 
Hattie  Burnette,  of  Willis,  Virginia.  She  was  educated  in  public 
schools,  in  Sullins  College  at  Bristol,  Tennessee,  and  Marion  Col- 
lege in  Virginia.  She  is  a  Presb>'terian.  Her  parents  were 
Abram  and  Lina  (Cox)  Burnette.  Her  father  was  a  farmer  and 
cattle  buyer  in  Floyd  County,  owning  a  large  amount  of  land 
and  being  regarded  as  one  of  the  wealthy  and  influential  resi- 
dents of  that  community.  He  died  in  1907  and  her  mother  in 
1899.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Dalton  have  two  children.  Heath  A.,  Jr., 
and  Harold  C,  both  attending  school  at  Bland. 

John  Bl.\ir  Fitts,  M.  D.,  is  well  fortified  for  the  special 
branch  of  his  profession  to  which  he  gives  his  major  attention, 
that  of  orthopedic  surgery,  and  is  established  in  the  successful 
practice  of  his  profession  in  the  City  of  Richmond,  with  office 
headquarters  at  917  West  Franklin  Street. 

Doctor  Fitts  was  born  at  Blacksburg,  Montgomery  County, 
Virginia,  in  1890,  and  is  a  son  of  James  H.  and  Mary  (Blair) 
Fitts.  James  H.  Fitts,  whose  death  occurred  in  1893,  was  a  rep- 
resentative of  an  old  and  honored  Southern  family,  and  the  fam- 
ily name  has  appeared  as  one  of  special  prominence  in  the 
hi.story  of  North  Carolina  and  also  that  of  Alabama.  James  H. 
Fitts  was  graduated  from  the  United  States  Naval  Academy, 
Annapolis,  and  thereafter  gave  several  years  of  service  as  an 
officer  in  the  United  States  Navy.  He  gained  distinction  also  in 
educational  work,  he  having  been  for  some  time  a  member  of 
the  faculty  of  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  at  Blacksburg, 
and  having  subsequently  established  a  school  of  his  own  at  Hop- 
kinsville,  Kentucky.  His  death  occurred  when  his  son  John  B., 
of  this  review,  was  a  child  of  about  three  years.  Doctor  Fitts 
was  named  in  honor  of  his  maternal  grandfather,  John  Blair, 
and  the  annals  of  Virginia  show  that  the  Blair  family  has  here 
been  one  of  prominence  and  influence  for  many  generations, 
especially  in  professional  and  public  life. 

The  public  schools  of  Richmond  aflForded  Doctor  Fitts  the 
major  part  of  his  preliminary  education,  and  thereafter  he  con- 
tinued his  studies  in  historic  old  Hampden-Sidney  College.  In 
the  Medical  College  at  Richmond  he  was  graduated  as  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1914,  and  after  this  received  his  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine  he  engaged  in  the  general  practice  of  his  profession 
in  Richmond.     He  eventually  turned  his  attenion  to  orthopedic 


388  VIRGINIA 

surgery  as  a  specialty,  and  in  this  interesting  field  of  practice 
he  has  since  gained  marked  success  and  prestige.  The  Doctor 
was  pursuing  a  post-graduate  course  in  orthopedic  surgery  in 
leading  institution  in  the  City  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  at  the 
time  the  nation  became  formally  involved  in  the  World  war,  and 
soon  thereafter  he  volunteered  for  service  in  the  Medical  Corps 
of  the  United  States  Army.  After  receiving  preliminary  train- 
ing at  Camp  Greenleaf,  Fort  Oglethorpe,  Georgia,  he  was  as- 
signed with  his  unit  to  overseas  service.  For  several  months  he 
was  stationed  at  Base  Hospital  No.  114  in  France,  and  there 
gave  special  service  in  orthopedic  surgery.  He  remained  over- 
seas for  some  time  after  the  armistice  brought  the  war  to  a  close, 
returned  to  the  United  States  in  March,  1919,  and  after  receiving 
his  honorable  discharge  resumed  his  professional  activities  in 
Richmond  as  a  specialist  in  orthopedic  surgery.  He  is  a  popular 
member  of  the  Richmond  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  has  mem- 
bership also  in  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society  and  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association  and  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  College 
of  Surgeons.  He  continues  his  deep  interest  in  the  national 
military  organization,  and  in  the  Virginia  National  Guard  he  is 
surgeon  of  the  First  Regiment  Infantry,  with  the  rank  of  major. 
In  March,  1919,  he  married  Miss  Marion  Mantius,  of  Fairhaven, 
Massachusetts.  The  following  children  were  born  to  the  union : 
Marietta  Moylan,  John  Blair,  Jr.,  Ruth  Morton  and  James  Henry. 

Wythe  G.  Waddle,  whose  home  is  near  Ceres  in  Bland 
County,  has  had  an  experience  covering  six  decades  in  farming 
and  the  live  stock  business  in  this  section  of  Virginia,  and  he 
probably  ranks  as  the  oldest  active  trader  in  live  stock  in  this 
part  of  the  state.  He  has  bought  and  sold  cattle  all  over  the 
southwestern  counties,  and  is  familiar  with  the  market  and 
other  conditions  in  the  live  stock  industry  since  nearly  the  close 
of  the  Civil  war. 

Mr.  Waddle  was  born  near  Bland  Court  House  August  16, 
1848,  son  of  James  and  Nancy  (Steel)  Waddle.  His  grandfather, 
James  Waddle,  came  from  Ireland  and  was  an  early  settler  on 
Walker's  Creek,  near  Bland  Court  House,  and  he  and  his  wife 
are  buried  in  the  old  family  cemetery  there.  Mr.  Waddle's 
father,  James  Waddle,  was  born  and  reared  in  Bland  County, 
had  his  education  in  private  schools,  was  a  farmer  and  stock 
man,  and  died  in  1854.  His  wife,  Nancy  Steel,  was  born  and 
reared  on  a  farm  adjoining  the  Waddle  farm  on  Walker's  Creek. 
She  was  a  very  devout  Methodist.  Her  death  occurred  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1880.  These  parents  had  nine  children :  Elcain,  Rosana, 
Cosby,  Pemelia,  Charlotte,  Newton,  Kate,  James  and  Wythe  G. 
Three  of  the  sons,  Elcain,  Newton  and  James,  were  soldiers  in 
the  Civil  war. 

Wythe  G.  Waddle  attended  private  schools  in  Bland  County, 
but  had  little  education  after  the  Civil  war  broke  out.  No  one 
has  a  better  knowledge  of  live  stock  than  this  veteran  grower, 
shipper  and  trader,  and  it  has  been  his  constant  occupation  and 
business  since  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Mr.  Waddle  is 
still  active  on  his  farm  near  Ceres.  His  farm  is  improved  with 
one  of  the  most  attractive  country  homes  in  that  vicinity.  He 
is  a  Democrat  and  for  two  years  was  commissioner  of  revenue 
for  Bland  County.    He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

He  married  at  Clear  Fork  in  Bland  County,  August  29,  1894, 
Miss  Bettie  Stowers,  of  Bland  County,  where  she  was  educated. 


VIRGINIA  389 

She  is  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Russell  and  Arminta  (Robinette) 
Stowers.  Her  father  was  a  well-to-do  farmer  and  stock  man  of 
Bland  County,  and  both  her  parents  are  buried  in  the  family 
cemetery  in  Bland  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Waddle  had  five  chil- 
dren. William  Wayne,  the  oldest,  now  living  in  Kentucky,  mar- 
ried Nellie  Davis,  of  Bland  County,  and  of  their  five  children 
four  are  living.  Rosalee  became  the  wife  of  Walter  Mergler,  of 
Carmel  County,  Virginia,  and  has  two  children,  William  W.  and 
Clara  E.  Gilbert  C.  Waddle  is  married  and  lives  in  Detroit, 
Michigan.  Gobel  Waddle,  connected  with  the  Firestone  Rubber 
Company  at  Akron  and  now  city  policeman,  married  Golda 
Smith,  of  Smyth  County,  Virginia.  Charles  Waddle,  the  young- 
est child,  associated  with  his  father  on  the  farm  and  stock  ranch 
near  Ceres,  married  Alees  Wilson,  of  Bland  County. 

Kenneth  Howe  Farrier  is  one  of  the  younger  group  of 
agricultural  leaders  in  Southw^estern  Virginia,  being  manager  of 
the  Farmers  Exchange  at  Pembroke,  and  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  at  Blacksburg. 

He  is  a  son  of  Robert  Henry  Farrier,  county  superintendent 
of  schools  of  Giles  County.  Robert  Henry  Farrier  was  born  in 
Craig  County,  Virginia,  son  of  Jacob  and  Harriet  (Pence)  Far- 
rier. Both  the  Fences  and  Farriers  represent  the  older  families 
and  older  traditions  of  Virginia.  Jacob  Farrier  was  born  in 
Craig  County,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army  and  after- 
wards a  merchant  and  farmer.  He  finally  moved  to  the  vicinity 
of  Newnort  in  Giles  County,  and  lived  there  until  his  death  in 
1889.  He  is  buried  in  Clover  Hollow  Cemetery.  His  widow  sur- 
vived him  until  1914.  Robert  Henry  Farrier  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools  of  Ci'aig  County,  in  Roanoke  College  at  Salem, 
and  began  teaching  as  a  young  man.  His  work  has  brought  him 
active  relations  with  the  schools  of  Giles  County  for  mqny  years, 
and  since  1912  he  has  been  county  superintendent  of  schools.  He 
lives  on  his  farm  near  Newport,  owning  a  beautiful  nlace  there, 
where  he  specializes  in  orcharding.  He  is  active  in  the  Virginia 
Education  Association  and  is  a  loyal  mini.ster  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  Robert  Henry  Farrier  married  Min- 
nie Howe  Porterfield,  who  was  born  near  Newport  on  a  farm, 
attended  a  girls'  school  at  Princeton.  We.st  Virginia,  and  has 
always  taken  an  active  part  in  church  and  missionary  work. 
One  of  her  daughters,  Helen  Mae,  is  now  a  missionary  in  the 
Congo  of  Africa.  In  all  there  were  eight  children,  two  of  whom 
died  in  infancy.  Kenneth  Howe  is  the  oldest ;  Paul  Henry  lives 
at  Winchester,  Kentucky :  Nancy  Lou  is  the  wife  of  W.  M. 
Phipps,  of  Honewell,  Virginia;  Harriet  Pence  died  when  twelve 
years  old ;  Helen  Mae  is  the  missionary  previou.sly  mentioned ;, 
and  Robert  Henry.  Jr.,  lives  at  Newport. 

Kenneth  Howe  Farrier  attended  grade  and  high  schools  at 
Newnort.  had  two  years  in  Roanoke  College,  and  two  years  in. 
the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute,  where  he  completed  a  special 
course  in  agriculture  in  1912.  After  leaving  the  institute  he 
was  for  two  years  eneaged  in  work  with  the  Bureau  of  Forestry 
and  Plant  Life  in  Virginia,  for  two  years  engaged  in  farming 
and  orcharding  and  was  in  the  rural  mail  service,  following 
which  he  gave  his  full  time  and  energies  to  his  farm  and 
orchards  until  1926,  in  which  year  he  joined  the  Farmers  Ex- 
change of  Giles  County  as  manager  of  the  Pembroke  store.     He 


390  VIRGINIA 

is  also  interested  in  the  home  farm  and  orchard,  his  youngest 
brother,  Robert  Henry,  now  having  active  control  there. 

Mr.  Farrier  is  a  member  of  Newport  Lodge  No.  261,  A.  F. 
and  A.  M.  He  is  a  Democrat,  a  Methodist,  and  a  man  who  is 
keenly  interested  in  the  development  of  a  wholesome  community 
program. 

He  married  at  Grundy,  Virginia,  September  19,  1917,  Miss 
Josephine  Hamilton,  who  was  educated  in  public  schools  in  Wise 
County,  is  a  graduate  of  the  Cincinnati  Conservatory  of  Music, 
and  before  her  marriage  taught  music  in  high  schools  in  Giles 
County,  and  has  continued  keen  interest  in  musical  affairs,  doing 
some  teaching  and  also  taking  her  part  in  musical  organizations. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy. 
Mrs.  Farrier  is  a  daughter  of  Harve  and  Mary  Caroline 
(Smyth)  Hamilton.  She  is  a  descendant  of  that  branch  of  the 
old  Smyth  family  of  Virginia  which  gave  its  name  to  Smyth 
County.  Her  father  was  one  of  the  leading  attorneys  of  South- 
western Virginia,  practicing  for  many  years  at  Mendota  in 
Wise  County,  where  he  died  in  1914.  Her  mother  passed  away 
in  1916,  and  both  are  buried  at  Mendota. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Farrier  are  the  parents  of  two  children,  Gra- 
ham Hamilton  and  Kenneth  Howe,  Jr.,  the  former  a  pupil  in  the 
public  schools  at  Newport. 

Elmer  E.  Conner,  principal  of  the  Pembroke  schools,  is  a 
native  of  Southwestern  Virginia,  and  one  of  the  prominent 
younger  leaders  in  the  educational  affairs  of  the  state. 

He  was  born  at  Simpsons  in  Floyd  County  February  11, 
1897,  son  of  George  B.  and  Wilmoth  Jane  (Martin)  Conner. 
His  great-grandfather  was  one  of  three  brothers  who  came  to 
America  from  Ireland.  The  original  spelling  of  the  name  was 
O'Conner.  Mr.  Conner's  grandfather,  Nathan  Conner,  was  born 
and  reared  in  Floyd  County,  combined  farming  with  school 
teaching,  and  died  about  1877.  George  B.  Conner  was  born  and 
reared  in  Floyd  County,  was  educated  in  public  schools,  and  has 
spent  his  active  life  as  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser.  He  resides 
on  his  farm  near  Simpsons.  He  has  been  twice  married.  His 
first  wife  was  Ellen  Iddings,  and  the  children  of  that  marriage 
were :  Annie,  Waller,  Elbert  L.,  Guy,  and  a  daughter  Mary  who 
died  in  infancy.  His  second  wife,  Wilmoth  Jane  Martin,  was 
born  and  reared  in  Floyd  County,  and  she  and  her  family  are 
members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  Her  parents  were  John  W. 
and  Cynthia  (Martin)  Martin,  farmers  and  stock  raisers.  Her 
father  died  in  1899  and  her  mother  still  lives  at  the  old  Martin 
home  in  Floyd  County.  George  B.  Conner  and  his  second  wife 
had  a  family  of  ten  children :  Elmer  E..  Mamie,  Willard  A., 
Ernest  R.,  Bessie,  Clarence  M.,  Carl  N.,  Claude  S.,  Vergie  and 
Posie. 

Elmer  E.  Conner  attended  public  schools  in  Floyd  County, 
the  high  school  at  Floyd  Court  House,  after  which  he  was  a 
student  for  one  year  in  William  and  Mary  Academy,  and  fol- 
lowed that  with  the  four  years  classical  course  in  the  College  of 
William  and  Mary,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1921  with 
the  Bachelor  of  Science  degree.  Since  then  he  has  had  one  year 
of  post-graduate  work  in  the  George  Peabody  Normal  College  at 
Nashville,  Tennessee.  Mr.  Conner  taught  for  one  year  as  prin- 
cipal of  the  high  school  at  Chick.  Virginia,  for  three  years  was 
principal  of  the  high  school  at  Denby  and  one  year  at  Peters- 
town.     He  took  charge  of  the  Pembroke  schools  in  1924,  being 


'i^^^yjZ^^r^ 


VIRGINIA  391 

principal  of  the  high  school  and  also  has  supervision  over  the 
grade  school.  Mr.  Conner  is  a  member  of  Warwick  Lodge 
No.  336,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  belongs  to  the  County  Teachers  and 
State  Education  As.sociations,  is  a  Democrat  in  politics  and  has 
always  been  active  in  the  Baptist  Church,  interesting  himself  in 
the  Sundav  School  work. 

He  married  at  Talcott,  West  Virginia,  August  29,  1925,  Miss 
Jenia  Johnson  McGhee,  of  Peterstown,  West  Virginia.  She 
attended  public  schools  in  Giles  County  and  high  school  at 
Homer  City.  Pennsylvania,  and  for  several  years  before  her 
marriage  was  assistant  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Peterstown.  For 
several  years  she  was  a  steward  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  teaches  a  class  in  the  Sunday  School.  She 
has  membership  in  the  Parent-Teachers  Association  and  is 
deeply  interested  in  the  professional  and  community  work  of 
Mr.  Conner.  She  is  a  daughter  of  L.  J.  and  Roberta  Pendelton 
(French)  McGhee,  of  Penvir,  Virginia,  where  her  father  is  still 
carrying  on  his  work  as  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Conner  have  one  son,  Wayne  Johnson  Conner. 

Since  Mr.  Conner  took  charge  of  the  schools  at  Pembroke  a 
great  advance  has  been  made  in  the  educational  program  and  in 
the  material  equipment  for  the  schools.  The  new  Pembroke 
High  School  Building  of  brick  and  stone  was  completed  in  1926. 
There  is  a  large  auditorium,  with  thirteen  class  rooms  and 
library,  and  nearby  is  the  grade  school  building,  a  stucco  and 
concrete  structure  affording  seven  class  rooms  and  library.  The 
total  enrollment  of  scholars  in  the  grade  and  high  schools  is 
453,  and  the  staff  of  teachers  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Conner 
are  fifteen.  Mr.  Conner  enlisted  for  service  in  the  World  war 
September  5,  1918,  and  was  in  training  at  Camp  Lee,  later  was 
transferred  to  General  Hospital  No.  41  on  Staten  Island,  rank- 
ing as  a  private  of  the  first  class.  He  spent  nine  months  at 
Camp  Lee  and  seven  months  on  Staten  Island,  and  was  honor- 
ably discharged  December  13,  1919. 

Alexander  Cameron  was  a  Virginia  tobacco  manufacturer, 
and  his  name  is  one  that  held  a  high  importance  in  the  old  days 
of  individual  management  in  the  tobacco  industry,  when  the 
master  and  the  worker  were  on  close  terms  of  relationship,  and 
when  the  owner  of  the  factory  came  into  daily  contact  with  not 
only  the  personnel  of  the  operating  force,  but  with  the  producers 
of  the  leaf. 

He  was  born  at  Grantown,  Scotland,  in  November,  1832, 
and  was  a  small  child  when  his  parents  came  to  America.  His 
father  died  in  Scotland,  and  subsequently  the  widowed  mother 
moved  to  Virginia  and  located  in  Petersburg,  Virginia. 

Alexander  Cameron  had  most  of  his  educational  advantages 
in  public  schools  in  Petersburg.  He  was  only  thirteen  when 
he  came  up  from  Petersburg  to  Richmond  to  go  to  work  in  a 
tobacco  firm.  He  learned  the  business  from  the  ground  up,  and 
came  to  know  every  process  of  tobacco  manufacture.  When 
the  Civil  war  came  on  his  business  as  a  shipper  was  utilized  for 
the  direct  benefit  of  the  Confederate  government,  and  he  did  a 
great  deal  of  blockade  running  through  the  Federal  fleet.  Mr. 
Cameron  in  1866  entered  the  tobacco  business  for  himself  under 
his  individual  name,  and  for  many  years  that  name  was  known 
in  both  the  domestic  and  foreign  tobacco  markets.  Like  many 
others,  the  business  he  developed  as  Alexander  Cameron  even- 
tually was  consolidated.    It  was  in  1906  that  he  sold  his  industry 


392  VIRGINIA 

to  the  British  Australian  Company,  and  at  that  time  he  retired, 
being  then  seventy-four  years  of  age.  He  died  at  Richmond 
in  1915. 

Mr.  Cameron  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
For  many  years  he  was  known  as  Colonel  Cameron  because  of 
his  service  on  the  staff  of  a  Virginia  governor.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Westmoreland  Club  and  the  Tobacco  Association.  As 
a  prominent  American  business  man  he  and  his  wife  while  tour- 
ing abroad  were  presented  at  the  Court  of  St.  James  before 
Queen  Victoria. 

Colonel  Cameron  married  in  1868  Miss  Mary  Haxall,  of 
Richmond.  Her  father,  Richard  Barton  Haxall,  came  to  Rich- 
mond from  Petersburg,  where  his  father,  Phillip,  had  lived,  and 
engaged  in  the  flour  mill  business.  He  was  one  of  the  early 
leaders  in  the  flour  mill  industry  at  Richmond,  building  up  one 
of  the  largest  milling  plants  in  the  state,  and  from  these  mills 
flour  was  shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  especially  to  South 
America.  The  mills  were  known  as  the  Haxall  Mills.  Richard 
Barton  Haxall  was  one  of  the  bondsmen  of  Jefferson  Davis  after 
the  Civil  war. 

Colonel  and  Mrs.  Cameron  had  eleven  children,  and  the  eight 
now  living  are :  Mary  Haxall,  Alexander,  Barton  Haxall,  Eliza- 
beth Grant,  Janet  Gordon,  Flora  MacDonald,  James  Blackwood 
and  Ewan  Donald. 

John  W.  Miller  is  a  member  of  the  firm  Miller  Brothers, 
merchants  at  Newport,  carrying  on  a  business  that  was  estab- 
lished many  years  ago  by  their  father  and  has  been  under  their 
direction  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

John  W.  Miller  was  born  at  New^jort  June  25,  1871,  son  of 
Adam  P.  and  Martha  Ann  (Reynolds)  Miller.  His  grandfather 
was  John  Miller,  of  Midway,  Craig  County,  Virginia,  a  farmer. 
Adam  P.  Miller  was  born  in  Craig  County,  attended  private 
schools,  and  after  his  marriage  moved  to  Newport,  buying  a 
farm  near  that  town,  and  also  carried  on  merchandising.  In 
1892  he  founded  the  firm  of  A.  P.  Miller  &  Sons,  general  mer- 
chants, and  was  active  in  the  business  until  his  death  on  March 
13,  1900.  His  wife,  Martha  Ann  Reynolds,  was  born  and  reared 
at  Midway  in  Craig  County,  was  also  educated  in  private  schools, 
and  she  and  her  husband  were  members  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South.  She  died  in  July,  1920.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  eight  children :  Laura  V.,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of 
A.  H.  Price,  of  Newport ;  Anna  M.  is  the  wife  of  L.  D.  Snapp, 
of  Burkes  Garden,  Virginia ;  Mason  J.  and  John  W.  comprise 
the  firm  of  Miller  Brothers;  Sallie  is  the  wife  of  C.  P.  Logan, 
of  Blacksburg ;  Dr.  W.  P.  Miller,  who  married  Frances  Easley,  of 
Pearisburg,  Virginia,  practiced  medicine  for  many  years  at 
Newport,  where  he  died  in  September,  1910:  J.  D.  Miller  is  a 
farmer  and  stock  raiser  at  Newport;  and  Dr.  Frank  B.,  who 
married  Maud  C.  Prichett,  of  Newport,  Virginia,  was  a  dentist, 
and  died  in  Pearisburg  in  September,  1928. 

John  W.  Miller  grew  up  at  Newport,  attended  public  schools 
there,  and  after  leaving  school  had  two  years  of  experience  clerk- 
ing in  a  store  at  Blacksburg,  Virginia,  for  the  firm  of  Black  & 
Payne.  For  two  years  he  was  with  Johnson  &  Moseby  of  Chris- 
tiansburg,  and  then  returned  to  Newport  to  take  his  place  as  a 
member  of  his  father's  mercantile  firm.  In  1902  he  and  his 
brother  took  over  the  business  as  Miller  Brothers.  Theirs  is  one 
of  the  largest  stores  in  this  section  of  Giles  County.     They  are 


VIRGINIA  393 

also  partners  in  the  ownership  of  some  farming  land.  Mr.  Miller 
is  a  director  of  the  Sinking  Creek  Valley  Bank.  He  is  a  member 
of  Newport  Lodge  No.  261,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  is  a  Democrat  and 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  on  its 
Board  of  Stewards. 

He  married  near  Norton,  Virginia,  June  19,  1919,  Mrs.  Bet- 
tie  Irene  (Fowlkes)  Roberts.  She  was  educated  in  high  school 
at  Roanoke  and  taught  school  before  her  marriage.  Two  chil- 
dren were  born  to  their  marriage,  one  dying  in  infancy,  and  the 
other  is  John  Williams  Miller,  Jr.,  born  April  6,  1923. 

Leitch  L.  Miller  is  a  member  of  a  well  known  and  promi- 
nent family  of  the  Newport  section  of  Giles  County,  and  has 
been  a  leading  merchant  of  that  community  for  over  twenty 
years. 

Mr.  Miller  was  born  at  Newport  August  25,  1879,  son  of 
John  C.  and  Lizzie  (Vermillion)  Miller,  and  grandson  of  John  B. 
and  Susan  (Sibold)  Miller.  His  grandfather  moved  from  Ro- 
anoke County  to  Giles  County,  and  was  a  farmer  and  stock 
raiser  near  Newport.  He  and  his  wife  are  buried  in  the  old 
family  cemetery  at  Clover  Hollow  near  Newport.  John  C.  Miller 
was  born  and  reared  in  Giles  County,  attended  private  schools, 
and  spent  his  active  life  as  a  farmer  and  stock  man.  He  died 
November  27,  1916,  and  is  also  buried  in  the  Clover  Hollow 
Cemetery.  His  widow,  Lizzie  (Vermillion)  Miller,  lived  to  the 
age  of  seventy-two  years,  making  her  home  at  Roanoke,  and 
she  died  April  6,  1929.  She  was  born  in  Washington  County, 
daughter  of  Capt.  John  Vermillion,  a  Confederate  soldier  and 
officer  who  lost  his  life  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  Mrs.  Miller 
finished  her  education  in  Martha  Washington  College  at  Abing- 
don. She  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Of  her  ten  chil- 
dren one  died  in  infancy,  and  the  others  are :  Leitch  L. ;  Kate, 
wife  of  E.  T.  Cook,  of  Idaho;  Rose,  wife  of  I.  A.  Dillard,  of 
Roanoke;  Paul  M.,  of  Idaho;  George,  of  Salem,  Virginia;  Fan- 
nie, wife  of  L.  M.  Dunham,  of  Roanoke;  John  K.,  who  entered 
the  World  war,  went  overseas,  was  wounded  at  Chateau  Thierry 
and  died  in  France  in  December,  1918,  his  body  still  resting  on 
Fi-ench  soil;  Trigg  Miller,  of  Roanoke;  and  Bertha  Sue,  who 
married  N.  C.  Dillard  and  died  in  April,  1920. 

Leitch  L.  Miller  had  the  advantages  of  the  public  schools  of 
Giles  County,  and  after  completing  a  course  in  the  Roanoke  Busi- 
ness College  took  up  farming  and  the  lumber  business.  These 
were  the  lines  he  followed  until  1908,  when  he  started  a  general 
store  at  Newport,  and  has  built  that  up  to  be  one  of  the  chief 
trading  centers  of  the  county.  He  carries  a  large  stock  of 
goods,  meeting  all  the  requirements  and  demands  of  the  terri- 
tory which  he  serves. 

Mr.  Miller  has  been  deputy  treasurer  of  Giles  County  since 
1924.  He  is  affiliated  with  Newport  Lodge  No.  261,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  Lutheran. 

He  married  at  Newport  in  January,  1902,  Miss  Belle  Puckett, 
of  Newport,  where  she  was  educated  in  the  public  schools.  She 
is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Her  parents  were  P.  R. 
and  Elizabeth  (Barnett)  Puckett,  of  Montgomery  County.  Her 
father  was  a  merchant.  He  was  born  December  29.  1847,  and 
died  January  10,  1911,  while  her  mother  was  born  July  30,  1846, 
and  died  March  30,  1914.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miller  have  a  family  of 
three  children.  Mary  Elizabeth,  born  February  26,  1903,  was 
educated   at   Newport  and   in   Martha   Washington   College   at 


394  VIRGINIA 

Abingdon,  and  is  now  the  wife  of  V.  E.  Deering,  an  employe  of 
the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railway  Company,  living  at  Roanoke, 
Margaret  C,  born  August  20,  1904,  was  educated  in  the  Rad- 
ford State  Teachers  College  and  is  now  teaching  in  the  public 
schools  of  Glenlyn,  Virginia.  Annabel  Miller,  born  July  13, 
1909,  attended  public  schools  in  Newport,  spent  two  years  in 
Virginia  Intermont  College  at  Bristol,  and  is  now  attending  the 
State  Teachers  College  at  Harrisonburg. 

Harvey  B.  Shelton  is  easily  identified  in  Giles  County  as 
the  head  of  the  H.  B.  Shelton  Company,  one  of  the  oldest  and 
largest  mercantile  organizations  at  Pearisburg.  He  has  been  in 
business  since  early  manhood,  and  his  business  career  has 
steadily  reflected  his  personal  integrity  and  a  public  spirit  that 
has  been  characteristic  of  the  family  in  Southwest  Virginia. 

Mr.  Shelton  was  born  at  White  Gate,  Virginia,  February  21, 
1862,  son  of  Langston  C.  and  Elizabeth  (Bane)  Shelton.  The 
Sheltons  are  English  and  settled  in  Virginia  in  Colonial  times. 
His  grandfather,  William  Shelton,  was  a  soldier  of  the  American 
Revolution,  and  the  daughters  of  Harvey  B.  Shelton  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution.  William 
Shelton  was  a  private  in  Capt.  William  Sanford's  Company, 
Second  Virginia  Regiment,  commanded  by  Col.  Alexander 
Spotswood. 

Langston  C.  Shelton  was  born  in.  Pittsylvania  County,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1810,  was  educated  in  private  schools,  taught  school  in 
early  life,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army,  his  oldest 
son,  William  J.  Shelton,  being  with  him  in  the  war.  They  were 
through  the  four  years  of  fighting,  were  soldiers  in  Stonewall 
Jackson's  Brigade,  and  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Cloyd's  Moun- 
tain as  well  as  many  other  engagements.  After  the  war  Lang- 
ston C.  Shelton  lived  on  a  farm  and  also  followed  the  business  of 
Brick  mason  and  building  contractor,  putting  up  a  number  of 
the  brick  houses  at  Pulaski  and  in  other  towns  of  Southwest 
Virginia.     He  died  in  1882  and  is  buried  at  White  Gate. 

Langston  C.  Shelton  married,  January  21,  1841,  Elizabeth 
Bane,  member  of  another  notable  family  in  the  Valley  of  Vir- 
ginia. She  was  born  October  11,  1820,  daughter  of  Jesse  and 
Anna  (Carr)  Bane.  Jesse  Bane  was  born  November  23,  1791, 
and  his  wife,  October  24,  1796,  and  they  were  married  Octo- 
ber 24,  1819,  their  daughter  Elizabeth  Havens  being  the  oldest 
of  ten  children.  Jesse  Bane  was  a  son  of  James  and  Elizabeth 
(Havens)  Bane,  and  James  was  a  son  of  James  Bane,  who 
settled  in  the  Virginia  Valley  about  1748  and  married  in  1754 
Rebecca  McDonald,  a  granddaughter  of  Bryan  and  Mary 
(Combs)  McDonald.  There  is  a  lai-ge  relationship  of  the  Bane 
family  in  Southwestern  Virginia. 

Elizabeth  (Bane)  Shelton  was  born  at  White  Gate,  was  edu- 
cated in  private  schools,  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church 
and  died  in  1889.  She  was  the  mother  of  nine  children :  Ann, 
who  married  George  Surface ;  William  J.,  who  married  Jennie 
Surface ;  Eliza  Jane,  who  married  Sam  Williams ;  Adolphus ; 
Mary,  who  died  in  early  life ;  Sallie,  who  married  John  Johnston ; 
Mrs.  Emma  Broyles;  Hattie,  who  married  Joe  Surface;  and 
Harvey  Bane. 

Harvey  Bane  Shelton  attended  private  schools  and  White 
Gate  Academy,  and  in  the  fall  of  1889  moved  to  Bluefield,  West 
Virginia,  where  for  nineteen  years  he  was  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness.   In  1907  he  located  at  Pearisburg  and  for  twenty-one  years 


MRS.  WM.   E.  BARRETT 
JAMES  ALBERT  ROBERTSON                 MRS.  MARY  L.  BRAY 
FRANCES  LIGHTFOOT  BARRETT                  DOROTHY  LEE  BARRETT 
FOUR  GENERATIONS  


VIRGINIA  395 

has  been  a  business  man  of  that  community.  For  two  years  he 
was  associated  in  partnership  with  Will  Strader  and  about  1916 
the  H.  B.  Shelton  Company  was  incorporated  with  Mr.  Shelton 
as  president,  A.  D.  Gerberich,  secretary  and  treasurer,  and 
John  H.  Givens,  vice  president.  The  company  owns  a  large  and 
well  stocked  department  store.  Mr.  Shelton  for  a  number  of 
years  has  also  been  active  in  the  lumber  business. 

He  o\\Tis  one  of  the  beautiful  homes  of  Pearisburg,  located 
on  the  hill  above  the  town.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason, 
formerly  was  active  in  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  is  a  Democrat,  and 
while  living  at  Bluefield  was  treasurer  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
He  married  at  Bane  in  Giles  County,  July  3,  1889,  Miss  Sallie 
Ann  Strader,  who  was  educated  in  the  old  Pearisburg  Academy 
and  taught  for  two  years  in  the  public  schools  before  her  mar- 
riage. She  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church  and  the 
United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy.  Her  parents  were  Josiah 
and  Barbara  (Johnston)  Strader.  Her  father  was  a  farmer 
and  cattle  raiser.  The  Strader  family  came  into  Southwest  Vir- 
ginia from  North  Carolina.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shelton  had  seven 
children :  Harriett,  died  aged  eight  years ;  Frederick,  died  when 
one  year  old ;  Elizabeth  Havens  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  L.  D.  Whita- 
ker,  of  Farmville,  Virginia,  and  has  two  children,  Lloyd  Durham 
and  Harvey  Shelton;  Mary  Barbara  married  F.  N.  Chisholm, 
of  San  Francisco,  California,  and  their  two  children  are  Rachael 
Barbara  and  Patricia  Ann ;  Sallie  Catherine  is  the  wife  of 
Martin  Williams,  Jr.,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  has  a  son, 
Martin  Shelton ;  Eva  Frances  is  Mrs.  D.  H.  Matson,  of  Miami, 
Florida,  and  they  have  a  daughter,  Sallie  Ann ;  Miss  Willie  Mae, 
the  youngest  child,  is  a  graduate  of  the  Pearisburg  High  School 
and  also  attended  the  Farmville  State  Teachers  College. 

Robert  T.  Bray  during  an  all  too  brief  lifetime  was  a  dis- 
tinguished teacher  of  engineering,  and  in  later  years  was  a  resi- 
dent of  Danville  as  a  merchant. 

He  was  born  in  Virginia  November  6,  1861,  and  lacked  two 
months  of  being  forty  years  of  age  when  he  died  September  6, 
1901.  He  was  a  small  child  when  his  parents,  John  Bray  and 
wife,  died.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Halifax  County.  Robert 
T.  Bray  attended  the  old  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College 
at  Blacksburg,  now  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute.  He  grad- 
uated in  mechanical  engineering  and  then  for  several  years 
remained  at  the  college  as  an  instructor  on  the  subject.  The 
college  sent  him  for  post-graduate  work  to  the  Stevens  Institute 
in  New  York,  and  after  completing  several  courses  he  returned 
to  Blacksburg  and  resumed  his  teaching  for  two  years.  He 
then  accepted  a  call  to  the  Texas  Agricultural  and  Mechanical 
College  at  College  Station,  where  he  held  the  chair  of  mechanical 
engineering  two  years.  Mr.  Bray  then  gave  up  teaching  and 
returning  to  Danville,  Virginia,  was  in  the  mercantile  business 
until  his  death.  He  was  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Blacks- 
burg Christian  Church.  He  also  belonged  to  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity.   His  wife  is  a  Methodist. 

Mr.  Bray  married,  September  5,  1894,  Miss  Mary  L.  Robert- 
son. She  was  born  and  educated  in  Halifax  County,  attending 
the  College  for  Women  at  Greensburg.  Her  father,  James 
Albert  Robertson,  was  a  farmer  in  Halifax  County  and  one  of 
the  best  known  and  most  respected  citizens  of  that  locality  be- 
cause of  his  public  service.  He  was  for  thirty  years  a  school 
trustee  in  the  county,  serving  without  pay,  and  for  twenty  years 


396  VIRGINIA 

was  a  county  magistrate.  He  married  Frances  Lightfoot  Mason, 
a  native  of  Halifax  County,  whose  father  was  a  large  land  owner 
and  planter  before  the  war.  James  A.  Robertson  and  wife  had 
five  children :  Mary,  now  Mrs.  Bray ;  Sue  J.,  a  graduate  of  the 
Averett  School  for  Girls,  who  has  been  a  teacher  in  Halifax 
County  for  thirty  years ;  Lucy ;  Sally,  now  Mrs.  Sally  F.  Thomp- 
son ;  and  Caleb  J.  Caleb  J.  Robertson  was  educated  in  Halifax 
and  became  one  of  the  foremost  business  men  of  Danville.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-one  he  became  a  general  merchant  at  Christie, 
later  was  a  bank  director  and  president  of  the  Farmers  Mutual 
Insurance  Company  of  Danville  and  held  the  office  of  magis- 
trate. He  never  married,  and  at  his  death  his  sisters  were  called 
upon  to  act  as  executors  of  his  large  estate. 

Mrs.  Bray  since  the  death  of  her  husband  has  established 
her  home  in  Richmond,  residing  at  2203  West  Grace  Street. 
She  is  the  mother  of  one  daughter,  Evelyn  Lightfoot.  Evelyn 
married  William  Evans  Barrett,  a  business  man  at  Richmond, 
and  has  two  children,  Frances  Lightfoot  and  Dorothy  Lee. 

Charles  William  Shannon.  The  history  of  the  Shannon 
family  in  Giles  County,  where  Charles  William  Shannon,  one  of 
its  representatives,  a  prominent  farmer  and  stock  raiser  at 
Poplar  Hill,  began  before  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

The  Shannons  came  originally  from  Ireland.  They  were 
settlers  during  the  early  Colonial  period  in  Amherst  County, 
Virginia.  The  founder  of  the  family  in  the  New  River  Valley 
was  Samuel  Shannon,  who  moved  his  family  over  the  Alle- 
ghanies  in  1774  and  located  at  what  is  now  Poplar  Hill.  This 
was  then  part  of  Fincastle  County,  now  Giles  County.  After 
a  residence  there  of  ten  years  and  after  the  marriage  of  his 
oldest  son,  Thomas,  Samuel  Shannon  in  the  spring  of  1784 
moved  with  the  other  members  of  his  family  to  the  new  colony 
known  as  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

Thomas  Shannon,  the  representative  of  the  family  who  re- 
mained at  the  old  Poplar  Hill  locality,  married  Agnes  Crowe. 
The  property  acquired  more  than  a  century  and  a  half  ago  is 
still  in  the  possession  of  the  descendants  of  Thomas  Shannon 
and  wife.  He  became  a  man  of  much  prominence  during  and 
after  the  Revolutionary  peiiod.  He  was  magistrate  and  sheriff 
of  Giles  County,  also  represented  his  district  in  the  State  Legis- 
lature. In  the  month  of  February,  1781,  the  British  army 
started  its  last  advance  northward  through  the  Carolinas  toward 
Virginia.  Col.  William  Pi'eston,  military  commandant  of  the 
Montgomery  troops,  with  Joseph  Cloyd,  his  major,  called  out 
the  local  forces  to  go  to  the  aid  of  the  Americans  under  General 
Greene.  Thomas  Shannon  became  captain  of  the  New  River 
company,  with  Alexander  Mars,  lieutenant,  and  other  members 
of  the  company  were  Thomas  Farley,  Isaac  Cole,  Mathew 
French,  John  French,  Joseph  Hare,  Edward  Hale,  the  Clays  and 
others.  Captain  Shannon  and  his  company  joined  the  battalion 
at  the  New  River  Lead  Mines  about  the  middle  of  February, 
and  on  the  eighteenth  day  of  the  same  month  the  command 
under  Colonel  Preston  and  Major  Cloyd,  350  strong,  marched 
to  the  Haw  River  section  of  North  Carolina,  and  being  in  a 
strange  country  and  not  advised  of  the  positions  of  the  opposing 
armies  they  camped  between  the  American  and  British  forces. 
On  the  next  day  ensued  a  sharp  skirmish  between  Preston's 
battalion  and  Tarleton's  British  cavalry,  and  on  March  6th 
occurred  a  similar  engagement  at  Wetzel's  Mills  between  Pickens 


VIRGINIA  397 

command,  inehuliiiK  Preston's  forces,  and  the  British  advance. 
General  Piclcens  retreated  toward  Guilford  Court  House,  and 
the  troops  commanded  by  Preston  were  located  on  the  American 
left  wing  in  the  Rreat  battle  of  Guilford  Court  House,  which 
ended  the  British  invasion  of  the  Carolinas  and  marked  the 
beginning  of  the  withdrawal  and  loss  of  most  of  the  British 
posts  in  the  South,  and  l)efore  the  end  of  the  year  the  surrender 
of  Cornwallis  himself  and  the  virtual  conclusion  of  the  war. 
After  Guilford  Court  House  the  Virginia  troops  under  Preston 
inflicted  severe  damage  on  Colonel  Tarleton's  men.  Captain 
Shannon  lived  to  be  ninety  years  of  age.  His  son  Thomas  mar- 
ried Julia  Allen,  and  their  children  were  Thomas,  Joseph, 
James  R.,  William  R.,  Nancy,  who  married  John  Henderson 
Bane,  Eliza,  who  married  James  B.  Miller,  and  Samuel  B.,  who 
lived  for  many  years  at  the  old  homestead.  The  second  Thomas 
Shannon  served  as  a  magistrate  in  his  county  and  also  as  a 
member  of  the  County  Court  for  many  years,  and  several  times 
was  elected  to  the  Virginia  Legislature.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  War  of  1861  he  was  said  to  have  been  the  wealthiest  man  in 
Giles  County.  His  sons  proved  brave  and  faithful  soldiers  of 
the  Confedei-acy.  He  was  the  grandfather  of  Charles  William 
Shannon. 

Charles  William  Shannon  was  born  at  Poplar  Hill  in  Giles 
County  February  9,  1869,  son  of  William  Reed  and  Lucy  (Bush) 
Shannon.  William  Reed  Shannon  was  also  born  at  Poplar  Hill, 
was  educated  in  private  schools,  and  was  a  soldier  of  the  Con- 
federacy, acting  as  courier  and  dispatch  bearer.  After  the  war 
he  followed  farming  and  stock  raisin?,  and  died  in  November, 
1904,  being  buried  at  Poplar  Hill.  His  wife,  Lucy  Bush,  was 
born  in  P^ranklin  County,  Virginia,  and  died  in  November,  1916. 
Both  are  i:  resbyterians.  Their  three  children  were  T.  B.  Shan- 
non, of  Roanoke,  C.  W.  Shannon,  and  Juliet  Allen,  who  is  the 
wife  of  F.  C.  Whaling,  living  in  Harford  County,  Maryland. 

Charles  William  Shannon  attended  private  schools,  and  from 
the  time  he  finished  his  studies  his  time  and  energies  have  been 
taken  up  with  farming  and  stock  raising.  He  has  about  700 
acres  of  blue  grass  land,  including  part  of  the  property  acquired 
by  his  ancestor  before  the  Revolutionary  war.  He  and  his 
family  enjoy  the  beauties  and  comforts  of  a  country  home  near 
Poplar  Hill.  Mr.  Shannon  is  a  director  of  the  Peoples  Bank  of 
Giles  County  and  is  a  member  of  the  school  advisoi-y  board.  He 
was  formerly  active  in  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
is  a  Democrat,  a  deacon  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  a 
worker  in  the  Sunday  School. 

He  married  at  Washington,  D.  C,  October  21,  1916,  Miss 
Roberta  Frances  Weaver,  of  Poplar  Hill.  She  was  educated  in 
private  schools  and  the  Tazewell  Seminary  for  Girls  at  Tazewell 
Court  House.  She  is  a  Presbyterian.  Her  parents  were  Z.  T. 
and  Harriet  Arminta  (McDonald)  Weaver,  her  father  for  many 
years  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  and  for  eight  years  sergeant  at 
arms  of  the  Virginia  State  Senate.  He  served  in  the  Confed- 
erate army  with  General  Mosby's  troops  during  the  last  three 
years  of  the  war.  He  died  September  1,  1926,  and  Mrs.  Shan- 
non's mother,  in  August,  1904.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shannon  have  no 
children  of  their  own,  but  they  took  into  their  home  E.  Richard 
Sibley  at  the  age  of  seven  years,  who  had  recently  lost  his 
mother,  and  this  adopted  boy  was  given  the  advantages  of  the 
high  school  at  Eggleston  and  has  come  to  the  promise  of  a  most 
useful  career. 


398  VIRGINIA 

Rev.  Charles  Albert  Brown  has  been  an  ordained  minister 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  a  great  many 
years,  but  the  outstanding  service  of  his  life  has  been  as  an 
educator.  A  number  of  educational  institutions,  both  public 
and  denominational,  in  Southwestern  Virginia  and  in  West 
Virginia  have  had  the  benefit  of  his  active  guidance  and  control. 

Since  retiring  from  the  main  work  of  his  life  Mr.  Brown  has 
lived  at  Narrows  in  Giles  County.  He  was  born  in  Monroe 
County,  West  Virginia,  January  31,  1858,  son  of  Lewis  and 
Malinda  (Shiers)  Brown.  His  grandfather,  Anderson  Brown, 
was  a  pioneer  of  Monroe  County,  where  he  combined  farming 
with  hunting.  Lewis  Brown  was  born  and  reared  in  Monroe 
County,  and  served  four  years  in  the  Confederate  army  in  the 
Civil  war,  and  after  the  war  was  a  farmer  and  stock  man  until 
his  death  on  May  5,  1919,  when  eighty-seven  years  of  age.  His 
wife,  Malinda  Shiers,  was  born  and  reared  in  Monroe  County, 
and  was  a  very  devout  Methodist.  She  died  September  17,  1903. 
Of  their  twelve  children  one  died  in  infancy,  and  the  others 
were :  Rev.  H.  A.  Brown,  who  for  many  years  was  a  minister  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  died  in  1927 ;  Minerva 
C,  deceased ;  Rev.  Charles  A. ;  Madora  J. ;  Floyd  J.,  deceased ; 
Lewis  Allen,  deceased ;  Flora  A. ;  Robert  L.,  deceased ;  Minnie 
B. ;  Hugh.  B. ;  John  E.,  deceased. 

Charles  Albert  Brown  grew  up  in  Monroe,  Mercer  and  Giles 
counties,  had  the  advantages  of  public  and  private  schools,  and 
in  1890  was  graduated  from  Emory  and  Henry  College.  He 
soon  afterward  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  and  entered  the 
Holston  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Church.  He  has  also  been 
a  member  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  and  has  carried  on  work 
as  a  minister  locally  in  the  different  communities  where  he  has 
been  a  teacher.  For  three  years  he  taught  in  public  schools 
and  for  six  years  was  principal  of  the  Hillsboro  Female 
Academy  in  West  Virginia,  for  three  years  was  principal  of  the 
Alleghany  Collegiate  Institute,  was  associate  principal  of  Ran- 
dolph-Macon Academy  at  Front  Royal  two  years,  for  five  years 
was  principal  of  the  Princeton  Collegiate  Institute,  four  years 
principal  of  the  Jonesville  Collegiate  Institute  of  Lee  County, 
Virginia,  and  five  years  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Narrows. 
Virginia.  Mr.  Brown  retired  from  the  work  of  teaching  in  1914, 
and  since  then  has  given  his  attention  to  his  property  at  Nar- 
rows and  answers  calls  for  preaching  in  different  pulpits.  He 
has  been  an  encouraging  presence  in  many  educational  gather- 
ings. Mr.  Brown  owns  a  beautiful  home  located  on  the  hiii  over- 
looking Narrows  and  has  a  small  farm  near  the  town.  For 
several  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Town  Council,  is  a  Demo- 
crat and  is  a  deacon  in  the  local  Methodist  Church. 

Rev.  Mr.  Brown  married  at  Hillsboro,  West  Virginia, 
August  6,  1890,  Miss  Lillian  M.  Overholt,  of  Hillsboro.  daughter 
of  William  H.  and  ]Mary  (McNeal)  Overholt.  Her  father  was  a 
merchant,  lumberman  and  farmer  at  Hillsboro.  and  died  there 
in  1927.  His  wife  passed  away  in  1912,  and  both  are  buried  in 
Princeton.  Mrs.  Brown  attended  public  schools  in  West  Vir- 
ginia and  the  Valley  Female  College  of  Winchester,  Virginia, 
and  was  constant  in  her  response  to  service  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  Mrs.  Brown  died  July  21,  1928,  and 
is  buried  in  Fairview  Cemetery  in  Narrows.  She  was  the 
mother  of  two  children,  Edna  Gertrude  and  William  H.  Edna 
Gertrude  Brown  attended   private  and  public   schools,   Sullins 


I 

I 


^  aI'  X<^i9-Ky 


VIRGINIA  399 

College,  the  New  York  Musical  Institute,  and  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful as  a  music  teacher,  having  a  private  studio  at  Roanoke. 
The  son,  William  H.  Brown,  was  liberally  educated,  is  a 
graduate  of  Emory  and  Henry  College,  and  in  1917  joined  the 
colors,  being  in  training  with  the  Artillery  Corps,  later  was 
transferred  to  the  Medical  Corps,  went  overseas  with  Colonel 
McGuire's  command,  with  a  commission  as  second  lieutenant, 
and  while  in  France  served  with  the  heavy  artillery  until  the 
armistice.  He  received  his  honorable  discharge  late  in  the  fall 
of  1918,  and  then  continued  his  graduate  studies  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia  until  he  won  his  Bachelor  of  Philosophy 
degree.  He  was  an  instructor  in  West  Virginia  University  and 
in  Lafayette  College  of  Pennsylvania,  and  is  now  professor  of 
economics  in  the  University  of  Southern  California  at  Los 
Angeles. 

Col.  Elvin  Seth  Ligon  is  president  and  owner  of  Black- 
stone,  a  Military  School  for  Boys,  an  institution  that  has  given 
training  to  hundreds  of  youths  not  only  from  Virginia  but  from 
many  other  states,  and  has  a  well  earned  prestige  among  the 
boys'  preparatory  schools  of  the  South. 

Its  owner.  Colonel  Ligon,  is  a  native  Virginian,  born  in 
Appomattox  County  June  4,  1878,  son  of  Willis  H.  and  Nannie 
M.  (Cunningham)  Ligon.  His  father  was  born  in  Appomattox 
County  and  his  mother  in  Prince  Edward  County.  His  father 
was  a  farmer,  merchant,  for  thirty  years  county  supervisor  and 
for  two  terms  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  and  in  many 
ways  an  outstanding  citizen  of  his  county.  He  died  February  4, 
1925,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  and  the  widowed  mother  now 
resides  in  Pamplin,  Virginia. 

Elvin  S.  Ligon  was  reared  and  received  his  early  education 
in  Appomattox  County.  For  one  year  he  attended  an  academy 
at  Chase  City  and  in  1898  was  graduated  with  the  A.  B.  degree 
from  the  University  of  Richmond  and  took  the  M.  A.  degree 
at  the  same  school  in  1899.  He  took  post-graduate  work  at  the 
University  of  Chicago  in  1902.  He  has  been  a  teacher  and  en- 
gaged in  educational  administration  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury. He  spent  one  year  at  Dothan,  Alabama,  one  year  at  Hali- 
fax, Virginia,  one  year  at  Blakely,  Georgia,  for  five  years  was 
principal  of  the  Newport  News  Academy,  Virginia,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  faculty  of  instruction  at  the  University  of  Richmond 
two  years  and  three  years  head  master  with  the  Fork  Union 
Military  Academy. 

Colonel  Ligon  purchased  the  Blackstone  Military  Academy 
in  1912.  He  continued  under  the  old  name  until  in  recent  years 
he  has  changed  the  name  to  Blackstone,  a  Military  School  for 
Boys.  aflFording  a  general  academic,  commercial  and  preparatory 
curriculum,  combined  with  the  wholesale  discipline  of  militry 
regulations.  The  school  has  a  wonderful  plant,  including  twenty- 
one  acres  of  ground.  There  is  a  faculty  of  twelve  instructors 
and  the  regular  enrollment  is  125  boys. 

Colonel  Ligon  married  August  18,  1907,  Miss  Virginia  Dickey, 
daughter  of  Dr.  John  R.  and  Sarah  E.  (James)  Dickey.  Her 
parents  were  born  in  Grayson  County,  Virginia,  and  her  father 
was  a  manufacturing  druggist  at  Bristol.  Virginia.  He  died 
October  12.  1923,  and  her  mother  on  June  12,  1892.  Colonel 
and  Mrs.  Ligon  have  three  children :  William  Arthur,  born  Au- 
gust 18,  1908,  is  a  member  of  the  class  of  1930  in  the  University 


400  VIRGINIA 

of  Richmond;  Elvin  Seth,  Jr.,  born  January  9,  1911,  is  a  student 
at  the  University  of  Richmond,  and  in  July,  1930,  enters  West 
Point  Military  Academy  as  a  cadet;  and  John  Dickey,  born 
January  29,  1913,  is  attending  the  Blackstone  School. 

Colonel  Ligon  is  a  member  and  at  one  time  was  treasurer 
of  the  Co-operative  Teachers  Association,  is  a  member  of  South- 
ern Association  of  Schools  and  Colleges,  of  the  Association  of 
Military  Schools  and  Colleges  of  the  United  States.  He  is  a 
Mason,  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and 
Owls,  the  Blackstone  Golf  Club  and  the  University  Club  of 
Richmond.  Colonel  Ligon  is  a  Democrat.  He  is  a  deacon  in  the 
Baptist  Church  at  Blackstone  and  assistant  superintendent  of 
the  Sunday  School,  teaching  the  Men's  Bible  Class.  Mrs.  Ligon 
is  a  member  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  and 
the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy. 

Hon.  Percy  M.  Moir.  One  of  the  most  forceful  citizens  of 
Roanoke,  Hon.  Percy  M.  Moir  has  always  used  his  fine  legal 
talents  in  the  furtherance  of  what  he  has  conceived  to  be  for  the 
best  interests  of  his  country,  merging  the  two  characters  of 
citizen  and  lawyer  into  a  high  personal  combination  which, 
despite  differences  of  intellectual  opinion,  has  been  generally 
recognized  as  an  example  well  worthy  of  emulation.  Honors  of 
a  high  class  have  been  bestowed  upon  him,  and  he  has  discharged 
the  responsibilities  connected  with  them  with  dignified  capabil- 
ity. His  record  as  a  district  judge  and  as  a  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Virginia  alone  entitles  him  to  the  lasting 
gratitude  of  the  people  of  this  state,  but  he  has  accomplished 
even  more,  for  he  served  the  Government  in  the  Philippines,  and 
he  has  made  valuable  contributions  to  agriculture,  to  legal  liter- 
ature, and  to  the  advancement  of  his  home  city. 

Judge  Moir  was  born  in  Stuart,  Patrick  County,  Virginia, 
February  24,  1870,  a  son  of  William  W.  and  Caroline  Virginia 
(Martin)  Moir,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Virginia,  and  are 
now  deceased.  For  forty  years  the  father  served  as  deputy 
county  clerk  of  Patrick  County,  and  during  the  war  between 
the  states  he  served  as  superintendent  of  iron  mines.  In  political 
faith  he  was  a  Democrat.  While  both  he  and  his  wife  belonged 
to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  only  she  was  active 
in  church  work.  Of  the  nine  children  born  to  the  parents  seven 
are  living,  and  Judge  Moir  was  the  seventh  child  in  order  of 
birth.  The  paternal  grandparents  were  Alex  A.  and  Mary  Moir, 
he  being  a  native  of  Scotland  who  was  brought  to  Virginia  in 
childhood  by  his  parents.  The  maternal  grandfather  was  a 
native  of  Virginia,  so  that  on  both  sides  of  the  house  Judge  Moir 
has  the  distinction  of  coming  from  families  long  established  in 
the  Old  Dominion. 

Judge  Moir  was  educated  in  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute and  Washington  and  Lee  University,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1892,  and  from  then  until  1898,  was  engaged  in  a 
general  practice  of  his  profession  in  Roanoke.  With  the  declara- 
tion of  war  with  Spain  he  enlisted  in  the  Second  Virginia  In- 
fantry, and  remained  in  the  army  for  nine  months,  when  he  was 
honorably  discharged.  He  was  then  appointed  to  the  Census 
Bureau,  Washington,  under  civil  service,  and  was  sent  to  the 
Philippines,  where  for  two  years  he  served  as  treasurer  of  the 
Cavite  Province.  In  all  he  was  in  the  Census  Bureau  for  nine- 
teen years,  during  that  period  serving  as  district  attorney  for 
three  and  one-half  years.     From  1906  to  1918  he  was  judge  of 


VIRGINIA  401 

the  District  Court,  and  from  1918  to  1920  he  was  on  the  Supreme 
bench  of  Virginia,  but  resigned  to  resume  private  practice  in 
Roanoke. 

In  March,  1902,  Judge  Moir  married  Miss  Maude  Kirtland, 
born  in  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  who  died  in  1925,  leaving  no  chil- 
dren. Judge  Moir  is  a  Scottish-Rite  Mason,  and  belongs  to  the 
Shenandoah  Club.  He  owns  a  valuable  farm  near  Roanoke  and 
resides  on  it,  but  manitains  his  office  in  the  MacBain  Building, 
Roanoke.  Always  a  strong  Democrat,  he  was  the  alternate  dele- 
gate from  the  Philippines  to  the  national  convention  of  his  party, 
and  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  one  held  in  New  York  City  in  1924. 
As  a  lawyer  Judge  Moir  has  few  equals,  his  sound  judgment,  his 
profound  knowledge  of  the  law,  and  his  wide  experience  making 
him  well  fitted  to  handle  the  most  intricate  cases,  and  his  practice 
is  a  large  and  very  important  one,  his  clients  coming  to  him 
from  a  wide  territory.  The  people  of  Roanoke  are  very  proud 
of  him,  and  feel  that  his  selection  of  the  city  as  a  permanent 
place  of  residence  confers  an  honor  upon  the  community  and  hia 
fellow  citizens. 

Hon.  Nicholas  P.  Oglesby.  The  name  of  Oglesby  is  a  well 
known  one  in  Wythe  County,  and  is  associated  with  much  of 
its  history,  both  past  and  present,  and  those  bearing  it  have 
always  displayed  those  homely  traits  of  character,  rugged  hon- 
esty, faithful  industry  and  thoughtful  economy  which  make  for 
good  citizenship,  combined  with  business  ability  and  in  some 
cases  statesmanship  as  well.  One  of  those  who  bore  the  name 
with  dignity  and  added  to  its  distinction  was  the  late  Hon. 
Nicholas  P.  Oglesby,  born  in  Wythe  County,  Virginia,  September 
12,  1837,  a  son  of  N.  P.  and  Jane  C.  (Sayers)  Oglesby,  and 
grandson  of  John  Thompson  Sayers,  of  Revolutionary  war  fame. 

On  June  19,  1867,  Nicholas  P.  Oglesby  married  Miss  Sallie 
A.  Crockett,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  S.  and  Rachael  L.  (Cecil) 
Crockett,  also  of  Wythe  County,  and  they  had  eight  children: 
John  T.,  who  was  born  April  4,  1868;  Samuel  C,  who  was  born 
April  1,  1870;  Jennie  L.,  who  was  born  September  13,  1872; 
N.  P.,  who  was  born  September  2,  1874 ;  Mary  S.,  who  was  boro 
April  16,  1876;  Albert  C,  who  was  born  February  25,  1878; 
Frank  S.,  who  was  born  July  14,  1880 ;  and  William  B.,  who  was 
born  September  12,  1883. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Nicholas  P.  Oglesby's  maternal 
grandfather,  already  mentioned,  John  Thompson  Sayers,  during 
his  service  in  the  American  Revolution  was  wounded  in  the 
lungs  at  the  battle  of  Guilford  Court  House,  it  was  thought 
fatally,  but  owing  to  his  most  remarkable  constitution  he  re- 
covered and  lived  to  reach  the  age  of  sixty  years.  His  brother, 
Robert  Sayers,  held  a  colonel's  commission  in  the  same  great 
war,  and  was  several  times  elected  to  represent  his  county  in 
the  State  Legislature.  Col.  Robert  Sayers  was  a  man  of  great 
business  ability,  and  owned  the  Anchor  and  Hope  estate  in 
Wythe  County,  and  a  large  estate  in  Burkes  Garden,  Tazewell 
County,  Virginia.  The  father  of  these  two  brothers,  William 
Sayers,  the  great-grandfather  of  Hon.  Nicholas  P.  Oglesby,  was 
one  of  the  early  and  very  prominent  settlers  of  Wythe  County. 

Hon.  Nicholas  P.  Oglesby  enlisted  for  service  in  the  Southern 
army  during  the  war  between  the  states,  and  was  with  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia.  He  participated  in  the  battles  of  Spotsyl- 
vania Court  House,  the  Wilderness  and  those  about  Richmond, 
including  that  of  Mine  Run.     After  the  close  of  the  war  he 


402  VIRGINIA 

resumed  his  peaceful  occupations,  and  in  1877  and  1878  repre- 
sented Wythe  County  in  the  State  Legislature.  He  owned  one 
of  the  largest  blue  grass  farms,  the  old  ancestral  homestead, 
where  for  many  years  he  was  active  in  the  raising  of  Shorthorn 
cattle.  While  a  member  of  the  Legislature  he  was  greatly  in- 
terested in  legislative  work  in  behalf  of  the  public  school  system 
of  Virginia,  and  was  prominent  in  framing  the  bill  for  the 
system.  On  his  homestead  is  the  old  John  Thompson  Sayers 
orchard  farm,  from  which  the  Old  Dominion  Nurseries  obtained 
their  first  grafts  of  the  Virginia  Beauty  apple.  These  nurseries 
were  first  known  as  the  Franklin-Davis  Nursery.  While  the 
now  famous  Virginia  Beauty  apple  is  indigenous  to  Grayson 
County,  it  was  introduced  to  the  public  under  its  present  name 
from  the  Sayers  orchard. 

The  death  of  Hon.  Nicholas  P.  Oglesby  occurred  on  his  estate, 
Elmwood,  in  Fort  Chiswill  District,  February  15,  1892,  and  he 
is  buried  in  the  old  Sayers  family  cemetery,  now  known  as  the 
Oglesby  Cemetery.  His  widow  survives  him,  although  now 
eighty  years  old,  residing  near  Max  Meadows,  with  her  son, 
William  Bowen  Oglesby,  and  her  daughter,  Mary  S.  Oglesby. 
They  are  interested  in  cattle  and  sheep  raising  upon  an  extensive 
scale.  To  complete  the  military  service  of  the  Oglesby  family 
it  must  be  added  that  Dr.  Nicholas  P.  Oglesby,  son  of  Hon. 
Nicholas  P.  Oglesby,  now  deceased,  served  in  the  Spanish- 
American  war;  and  that  Nicholas  E.  Oglesby  and  Richard  B. 
Simmerman,  grandsons  of  Hon.  Nicholas  P.  Oglesby,  served  in 
the  World  war,  the  former  in  the  Chemical  Warfare  Corps  and 
the  latter  with  the  Third  Division,  A.  E.  F.,  in  which  he  volun- 
teered, was  sent  to  France  and  participated  in  the  Chateau 
Thierry  off'ensive  and  that  of  Argonne  Forest. 

The  Oglesby  family  has  in  its  possession  the  original  grants 
for  the  land  on  which  they  live,  and  a  receipt  from  Daniel  Boone 
to  Major  Quirk  for  surveying  the  place  for  Maj.  Thomas  Quirk, 
dated  June  11,  1785.  Another  valuable  family  document  in  the 
Oglesby  collection  is  a  plat  of  the  place  drawn  by  Ezekiel  Cal- 
houn, grandfather  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  which  bears  the  date  of 
"April  ye  2nd.,  1754;"  autographs  of  John  Montgomery  and 
Col.  Joseph  Crockett  witnessing  a  deed  of  one  Will  Rogers  td 
William  Sayers  of  that  period ;  and  another  paper,  dated  October 
8,  1771,  issued  during  a  court  held  for  Botetourt  County. 

That  some  of  the  talents  of  the  older  Oglesbys  have  been 
transmitted  to  the  rising  generation  is  shown  in  the  following 
poem  written  by  Miss  Jenny  Lou  Oglesby,  granddaughter  of 
Hon.  Nicholas  P.  Oglesby: 

"The  Call  of  the  Alleghanies." 

"Come  ye  West  to  the  Alleghanies, 
Where  the  towering  mountains  rise, 
Like  the  billows  of  the  ocean. 
Towering  upward  toward  the  skies. 
Where  the  earth  comes  nearest  Heaven ; 
And  God's  handiwork  is  seen 
In  the  crimson  pall  of  sunset 
O'er  the  valleys  cool  and  green. 
Where  the  crystal  river  surges 
Westward,  westward  to  the  sea. 
Foaming  at  the  reefs  and  rapids. 
Or  moving  deep  and  silently. 


VIRGINIA  403 

Stand  ye  in  the  purple  shadows 
Of  the  lofty  mountain  peaks. 
In  the  stillness  learn  the  language 
That  the  God  of  Wisdom  speaks. 
Here  the  thoughts  of  men  are  lifted 
By  the  stable  mountain  range, 
What'er  skies  may  bend  above  them, 
They,  the  mountains,  never  change. 
But  like  truth  are  ever  standing, 
Though  oft  hid  in  mist  or  clouds, 
They  emerge  in  radiant  sunshine 
From  the  false,  deceiving  shrouds. 
Enter  ye  this  Hall  of  learning, 
Where  ideals  are  great  and  pure. 
Modeled  after  majestic  mountains 
Full  of  beauty  and  power  secure. 
Here  learn  the  worth  that  is  in  life. 
Of  things  that  are  not  bought  or  sold. 
Join  ye  not  in  selfish  yearnings, 
Nor  struggle  after  tarnished  gold. 
But  come,  oh  come  ye  to  that  Virginia 
Where  the  light  and  shadows  meet. 
Mingled  with  the  laughing  waters 
At  the  Alleghanies'  feet." 

Henry  Gibson  Houston  was  a  physician  and  surgeon,  ex- 
ceptionally gifted,  and  whose  career  as  a  man  of  medicine  came 
to  a  close  long  before  he  had  attained  the  prominence  and  suc- 
cess his  talents  and  industry  would  have  enabled  him  to  realize. 

He  was  born  in  Rockbridge  County,  Virginia,  July  29,  1855, 
and  died  at  Richmond,  March  16,  1884.  He  was  a  descendant 
of  Scotch  ancestors,  the  Houstons  having  come  from  Scotland 
and  settled  in  Virginia  in  the  Colonial  period.  For  a  number 
of  generations  Rockbridge  County  has  been  the  home  of  the 
Houstons  of  Virginia.  The  father  of  Doctor  Houston  was  a 
cousin  to  Gen.  Sam  Houston,  the  Tennessee  governor,  whose 
greatest  fame,  however,  was  gained  as  leader  of  the  Texas  army 
in  the  war  for  independence  from  Mexico.  Doctor  Houston  was 
a  son  of  Dr.  Mathew  Hale  Houston,  who  throughout  the  war  be- 
tween the  states  was  in  the  service  of  the  Confederate  army  as 
a  surgeon,  and  who  practiced  his  profession  at  Wheeling,  West 
Virginia,  and  at  Richmond.  He  lived  in  Richmond  after  the 
war,  but  his  home  was  at  Ashland  when  he  died.  Mathew  Hale 
Houston  was  twice  married,  and  the  mother  of  Henry  Gibson 
Houston  was  Eleanora  Gibson.  By  this  union  eight  children 
were  born,  Henry  Gibson  Houston  being  the  oldest  son.  Of 
the  fir.st  marriage.  Rev.  William  Houston  and  Rev.  Mathew 
Hale  Houston  were  born.  Harry  Houston,  a  cousin,  is  present 
commissioner  of  fisheries  of  Virginia,  appointed  by  Governor 
Byrd. 

Henry  Gibson  Houston  attended  private  schools  and  gradu- 
ated in  medicine  from  the  University  of  Maryland  in  1880.  In 
the  same  year  he  engaged  in  practice  at  Richmond,  and  con- 
tinued the  work  until  his  death.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Vir- 
ginia State  and  American  Medical  Associations.  He  was  at  one 
time  editor  of  the  Atlantic  Journal  of  Medicine. 

He  married  at  Richmond  in  June,  1882,  Miss  Josephine 
Dooley,  who  attended  the  St.  Joseph  School  in  Richmond  and  fin- 
ished her  education  in  the  Mount  de  Chantal  Academy  of  Wheel- 


404  VIRGINIA 

ing,  West  Virginia.  Mrs.  Houston  is  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Sarah  Dooley,  who  came  from  Limerick,  Ireland,  and  settled  in 
Alexandria,  Virginia,  in  1833,  and  at  Richmond  in  1836.  John 
Dooley  was  a  hat  manufacturer,  and  during  the  Civil  war  served 
in  the  Confederate  army  with  the  rank  of  captain  and  later  as 
major.  Mrs.  Houston's  brother,  Major  James  H.  Dooley,  was  at 
one  time  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Legislature,  and  has  been 
prominent  in  Richmond  financial  circles.  Mrs.  Houston  was 
the  youngest  of  nine  children.  She  has  one  daughter,  Eleanora 
Clare  Houston,  and  their  home  in  Richmond  is  at  416  West 
Franklin  Street.  Miss  Houston  is  a  very  capable  artist,  and  is 
finance  chairman  of  the  League  of  Women  Voters,  of  which 
both  she  and  her  mother  are  members.  They  belong  to  the 
Catholic  Woman's  Club.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Houston  and  their 
daughter.  Miss  Eleanora,  were  members  of  the  St.  Peters  Catho- 
lic Church,  which  was  the  first  cathedral  at  Richmond. 

Claude  W.  Hopper,  regional  director  of  the  National  Relief 
Organization,  with  jurisdiction  comprising  the  Southern  States, 
maintains  his  executive  headquarters  in  the  fine  old  capital  city 
of  Virginia,  and  in  his  official  capacity  he  has  achieved  a  note- 
worthy service  in  providing  consistent  relief  and  care  for  those 
suffering  from  their  service  in  foreign  wars.  In  the  World 
war  he  was  in  active  overseas  service  for  some  time.  He  now  has 
the  rank  of  captain  in  the  Virginia  National  Guard,  and  he  is 
serving  as  aide-de-camp  on  the  military  staff  of  Governor  Byrd. 

Captain  Hopper  was  born  at  Evansville,  Indiana,  in  the  year 
1892,  and  was  still  a  mere  boy  when  his  parents  died,  he  having 
soon  become  almost  entirely  on  his  own  resources  and  his  sin- 
cerity of  purpose  having  been  shown  in  the  advancement  he 
has  since  won  through  his  own  ability  and  efforts.  His  father, 
the  late  William  F.  Hopper,  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  was  a 
resident  of  the  city  of  Evansville,  Indiana,  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

As  a  boy,  after  the  death  of  his  parents.  Captain  Hopper 
made  his  way  to  Missouri,  and  the  public  schools  of  that  state 
afforded  him  the  greater  part  of  his  youthful  education.  Later 
he  was  for  two  years  a  student  in  Ouachita  College  in  the  State 
of  Arkansas,  he  having  subsequently  become  superintendent  of  a 
large  lumber  mill  at  Helena,  that  state.  In  that  state  also  he 
initiated  his  military  career,  as  a  private  in  the  Arkansas 
National  Guard.  In  the  summer  of  1916  his  command  enlisted 
for  service  on  the  Mexican  border  and  became  a  part  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Fifty-third  United  States  Infantry,  attached 
to  the  Thirty-ninth  Division.  He  was  mustered  out  a  few  days 
prior  to  the  nation's  formal  entrance  into  the  World  war.  and 
with  his  regiment  was  forthwith  called  back  to  active  service, 
he  having  at  this  juncture  won  commission  as  second  lieutenant. 
His  regiment  was  stationed  in  turn  at  Camp  Pike,  Camp  Gordon 
and  Camp  Beauregard,  and  he  served  as  an  instructor  in  the 
Officers'  Training  School  at  Camp  Gordon.  From  Camp 
Beauregard,  Louisiana,  in  the  summer  of  1917,  Captain  Hopper 
was  sent  to  Paris,  France,  in  an  important  secretarial  capacity, 
and  he  remained  overseas  during  a  period  of  five  months,  he 
having  thereafter  served  as  an  instructor  at  Camp  Gordon. 
Georgia,  as  previously  noted,  and  having  there  been  advanced 
to  the  office  of  captain  of  his  company.  He  received  his  honor- 
able discharge  March  31,  1919,  and  it  was  shortly  before  this 
that    he    was    tendered    a    position    with    the    National    Relief 


VIRGINIA  405 

Organization  for  foreign  war  sufferers.  He  was  made  an 
organizer  in  this  connection  and  later  was  made  regional 
director  for  the  Southern  States,  the  position  of  which  he  has 
since  continued  the  loyal  and  efficient  incumbent.  In  1921  the 
National  Relief  Organization  honored  him  with  membership 
in  the  commission  sent  into  the  Near  East  for  the  purpo.se  of 
studying  conditions  and  making  thereafter  a  report  to  the  United 
States  Congress.  On  this  assignment  he  visited  every  country 
in  the  near  Orient,  including  those  in  both  Europe  and  Asia. 

In  the  national  campaign  of  1924  Captain  Hopper  was  acting 
director  of  the  Democratic  national  finance  campaign  in  Vir- 
ginia, with  headquarters  in  Richmond,  and  at  the  conclusion 
of  that  campaign  Hon.  John  W.  Davis,  the  Democratic  standard- 
bearer,  stated  that  the  conducting  of  the  Democratic  finance 
campaign  in  Virginia  surpassed  in  efficiency  that  of  any  similar 
organization  in  all  the  states.  In  the  Democratic  primaries  of 
Virginia  in  1927  Captain  Hopper  appeared  as  candidate  for 
nomination  to  the  position  of  representative  of  the  Richmond 
district  in  the  House  of  Delegates  of  the  State  Legislature,  he 
having  been  at  this  time  assistant  secretary  of  the  Democratic 
State  Central  Committee  and  a  member  of  the  City  Democratic 
Committee  of  Richmond. 

Captain  Hopper  has  completed  the  circle  of  York  and  Scot- 
tish Rites  in  the  Masonic  fraternity,  has  received  in  the  latter 
the  thirty-second  degree,  and  he  is  also  a  Noble  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine.  On  the  fair  old  city  of  Richmond  he  and  his  wife  have 
membership  in  Ginter  Park  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Since  the  close  of  the  World  war  Captain  Hopper  has  main- 
tained his  residence  in  Richmond,  and  here  was  solemnized  his 
marriage  with  Miss  Lucy  Terrell,  a  sister  of  Rev.  G.  Tyler  Ter- 
rell, who  is  here  pastor  of  Immanuel  Baptist  Church.  Captain 
and  Mrs.  Hopper  are  popular  factors  in  representative  social 
activities  in  their  home  city. 

Alexander  Bear,  M.  D.,  was  a  native  Virginian,  saw  service 
in  the  Confederate  cause,  but  after  the  war  went  west  and  for 
many  years  was  an  honored  and  respected  citizen  as  well  as  an 
indispensable  professional  man  in  Nebraska.  When  he  retired 
from  the  work  of  his  profession  he  returned  to  Virginia  and 
established  his  home  in  Richmond,  where  he  lived  until  his  death 
and  where  his  widow  and  children  still  reside.  Mrs.  Bear's 
home  is  at  2032  Monument  Avenue. 

Dr.  Alexander  Bear  was.  born  in  Fauquier  County,  Virginia, 
February  4,  1841,  and  died  at  Richmond  in  April,  1924,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-three.  His  father,  Emanuel  Bear,  was  born  in 
Germany  and  settled  in  Virginia  when  a  young  man.  He  mar- 
ried Caroline  Bachrach,  also  a  native  of  Germany,  who  had 
come  to  Richmond  when  a  child.  Ale.xander  Bear  grew  up  in 
Fauquier  County,  attended  schools  there  and  completed  his  med- 
ical education  in  the  Maryland  Medical  College  at  Baltimore. 
He  was  only  nineteen  years  of  age  when  he  was  granted  his 
medical  diploma.  About  a  year  later  the  war  broke  out  between 
the  states  and  he  enlisted  in  Smith  Blues  Regiment  at  Marion, 
Smith  County,  Virginia.  In  the  early  part  of  the  war  he  was 
assigned  duty  as  a  surgeon  in  the  field,  but  for  the  last  two 
years  had  charge  of  the  Marion  Hospital  for  wounded  soldiers 
at  Marion,  Virginia.  He  was  promoted  to  official  rank.  After 
the  war  he  practiced  for  a  time  in  Virginia  and  then  went  to 
Nebraska,  living  for  a  time  at  Fremont  and  West  Point.     In 


406  VIRGINIA 

1872  he  located  at  Norfolk,  Nebraska,  then  a  small  village,  and 
for  thirty-seven  years  his  time  and  talents  were  in  demand  by 
an  increasing  patronage,  and  he  not  only  gave  the  community 
the  best  of  his  professional  service,  but  in  many  ways  was  closely 
identified  with  its  material  growth  and  civic  upbuilding.  Nor- 
folk when  he  left  there  in  1909  was  one  of  the  important  cities 
of  Central  Nebraska. 

Doctor  Bear  in  1909  returned  to  Richmond,  and  during  the 
last  fifteen  years  of  his  life  lived  in  quiet  retirement,  enjoying 
many  friendships  in  his  native  state.  While  in  Nebraska  he 
served  as  mayor  of  Norfolk,  as  president  of  the  school  board, 
was  elected  and  served  in  the  Nebraska  State  Senate,  and  was 
a  member  of  the  United  States  Pension  Board.  He  was  a  director 
and  vice  president  of  the  Norfolk  National  Bank.  He  was 
always  a  staunch  Democrat  in  politics,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  and  Elks  fraternities. 

Doctor  Bear  married,  September  12,  1887,  Miss  Amelia  Levy, 
a  native  of  Virginia,  who  was  reared  and  educated  in  Richmond. 
Her  father,  Leopold  Levy,  was  born  in  Germany  and  when  a 
young  man  came  to  America  and  settled  at  Amelia  Court  House, 
Virginia.  He  was  a  merchant  in  that  city,  and  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  war  enlisted  in  Stonewall  Jackson's  Brigade.  He 
was  captured  and  after  a  term  in  prison  was  exchanged  and 
rejoined  his  command.  After  the  war  he  located  at  Richmond 
and  eventually  became  one  of  the  city's  leading  commission  mer- 
chants. Leopold  Levy  married  Rosena  Hutzler,  who  was  born 
at  Richmond,  member  of  an  old  family  of  that  city.  The  Levy 
children  were:  Joseph  L.,  of  Richmond,  who  married  Lenora 
Straus  and  has  three  children ;  Edwin  L.,  Florence  and  J.  Leo ; 
Isaac  Levy,  of  Baltimore,  who  married  Emma  Bachrach,  and 
after  her  death  married  again,  having  one  son  by  his  first  wife, 
named  Irving;  and  Mrs.  Amelia  Bear. 

Doctor  and  Mrs.  Bear  have  had  three  children,  one  of  whom 
is  deceased.  The  daughter,  Robinette,  is  the  wife  of  Leo  Green- 
tree,  a  business  man  of  Richmond,  and  has  two  children,  named 
Jeanette  Virginia  and  Meyer.  Alexander  L.  Bear,  the  son,  is 
in  business  at  Richmond. 

John  W.  Daniel  left  college  to  learn  the  printing  trade  in 
the  plant  of  the  Northampton  Times  at  Cape  Charles.  His 
father  owned  the  paper  at  the  time,  and  John  W.  Daniel  has 
been  actively  identified  with  that  newspaper  and  business  for 
ten  years,  is  manager  of  the  Times  Publishing  Company,  and 
he  has  been  instrumental  in  making  the  Times  a  paper  of  sub- 
stantial circulation  and  influence  throughout  Northampton 
County. 

He  was  born  in  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  February  5,  1894, 
son  of  John  T.  and  Henrietta  (Barlow)  Daniel,  his  father  a 
native  of  Middlesex  County  and  his  mother  of  Williamsburg. 
John  T.  Daniel  is  an  attorney  by  profession,  has  practiced  law 
and  been  identified  with  business  and  civic  affairs  at  Cape 
Charles  for  many  years,  and  is  now  the  editor  of  the  Northam,p- 
ton  Times. 

John  W.  Daniel  was  reared  and  educated  in  Cape  Charles, 
graduated  from  high  school  in  1911,  and  for  two  years  attended 
Randolph-Macon  College  at  Ashland.  He  acquired  his  knowledge 
of  printing  and  the  newspaper  business  by  an  apprenticeship 
in  the  mechanical  department  and  the  business  office  of  the 
Northampton  Times,  and  worked  there  steadily  until  1917,  when 


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VIRGINIA  407 

he  enlisted  in  the  navy.  He  was  on  shore  duty  at  Washington, 
D.  C,  until  January  6,  1919,  when  he  was  released  from  active 
duty,  but  was  kept  on  the  reserve  list  until  the  full  four-year 
time  of  his  enlistment  had  expired. 

Since  the  war  he  has  had  the  business  management  of  the 
Times  Publishing  Company.  The  company  has  a  plant  well 
equipped  for  commercial  printing.  The  Northampton  Times 
now  enjoys  a  circulation  of  2,500  copies. 

Mr.  Daniel  married.  June  24,  1918,  Martha  Fleet,  daughter 
of  Rev.  Alexander  and  Josephine  (Jeffries)  Fleet,  the  former 
a  native  of  King  and  Queen  County  and  the  latter  of  Essex 
County.  Her  father,  who  was  a  Baptist  minister,  died  in  1911, 
and  her  mother  in  1923.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daniel  have  one  child, 
Rawley  Fleet,  born  August  1,  1919. 

Mr.  Daniel  and  his  father  are  also  engaged  in  the  fire  insur- 
ance business  at  Cape  Charles.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  Junior  Order  United  American  Mechanics,  the  Sigma 
Phi  Epsiion  college  fraternity.  Cape  Charles  Rotary  Club,  North- 
ampton Country  Club.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Con- 
federate Veterans,  the  American  Legion,  is  a  Democrat,  is  active 
in  the  Baptist  Church,  and  for  many  years  served  as  secretary 
of  the  Sunday  school. 

William  Edward  Hogg,  commonwealth's  attorney  for  York 
County,  has  in  his  career  exemplified  the  qualities  and  talents 
that  have  long  distinguished  the  Hogg  family  in  Virginia. 

Mr.  Hogg  is  a  descendant  of  George  Hogg,  who  with  six 
brothers  came  to  America  from  Scotland  in  1650.  George  Hogg 
in  1686  located  in  York  County,  Virginia,  and  that  has  been  the 
home  of  one  branch  of  this  well  known  family  for  more  than 
two  hundred  years.  William  Edward  Hogg  was  born  in  York 
County  March  3,  1890,  son  of  William  Henry  and  Frances 
Elizabeth  (Winder)  Hogg.  Both  his  grandfathers,  Samuel 
Hogg  and  Edward  Thomas  Winder,  were  Confederate  soldiers 
in  the  Civil  war.  His  great-great-grandfather,  John  Hogg, 
acquired  in  1814  land  in  York  County,  a  part  of  which  has  been 
continuously  occupied  by  some  of  his  descendants,  a  part  of  said 
land  being  devised  to  Lewis  Hogg,  father  of  Samuel  Hogg,  and 
on  a  part  of  which  is  now  the  home  of  William  Henry  and 
Frances  Elizabeth  Hogg.  John  Hogg  was  a  son  of  Richard 
Hogg,  who  as  a  lieutenant  of  Marines  was  present  at  the  sur- 
render of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown  at  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  William  Henry  Hogg  has  spent  his  active  life 
as  a  farmer  and  fisherman,  and  the  old  homestead  where  he 
resides  is  five  miles  from  Yorktown.  He  and  his  wife  were 
both  born  in  1867. 

William  Edward  Hogg  grew  up  and  received  his  education 
in  York  County,  completing  a  high  school  course  under  his 
cousin  and  had  business  training  in  the  seminary  at  West  Point, 
Virginia,  and  in  the  Smithdeal  Business  College  at  Richmond, 
where  he  graduated  in  June,  1905.  For  three  years  he  studied 
law  by  correspondence  with  the  Sprague  Correspondence  School 
of  Law  at  Detroit,  and  he  also  attended  the  law  department  of 
Washington  and  Lee  University.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  June,  1915,  beginning  practice  at  Hampton,  and  since  Janu- 
ary 1,  1920,  has  had  his  law  offices  at  Yorktown,  where  he  now 
has  his  home.  While  getting  started  in  his  profession  he  sup- 
plemented his  income  by  work  at  the  carpenter's  trade  and  for 


408  VIRGINIA 

seven  years  before  entering  the  law  department  of  Washington 
and  Lee  University  assisted  his  father  in  the  fishing  business. 

Mr.  Hogg  was  elected  commonwealth's  attorney  of  York 
County  in  1919  and  has  twice  been  reelected  to  that  office.  At 
the  present  time  he  is  engaged  in  compiling  a  digest,  to  be  called 
the  Virginia  Criminal  Annotations,  a  brief,  condensed  state- 
ment of  facts  with  quotations  from  the  opinions  beginning  with 
the  latest  decisions  and  working  backward.  It  is  a  unique  legal 
hand-book,  and  will  comprise  about  eleven  hundred  pages. 

Mr.  Hogg  married.  May  12,  1917,  Gertrude  Virginia,  only 
daughter  of  J.  J.  and  Sarah  Elizabeth  (Sparrer)  Ironmonger, 
natives  of  York  County.  Her  father  is  a  farmer  living  at  Sea- 
ford.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hogg  have  one  daughter,  Mildred  Virginia. 
Mrs.  Hogg  also  has  a  son,  Charles  James,  by  a  former  marriage. 
Mr.  Hogg  is  affiliated  with  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men, 
is  a  Democrat,  for  several  years  a  steward  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  a  substitute  teacher  in  the  Sun- 
day School. 

Thomas  E.  Simmerman,  Jr.,  cashier  and  executive  officer 
of  the  Bank  of  Max  Meadows,  is  a  native  of  Wythe  County,  and 
represents  one  of  the  younger  generations  of  a  family  that  has 
been  identified  with  the  agricultural  and  stock  raising  industry 
in  this  Blue  Grass  region  of  Southwest  Virginia  for  a  number 
of  generations. 

Mr.  Simmerman  was  born  in  Wythe  County,  May  18,  1896, 
son  of  Thomas  E.  and  Mary  (Hanson)  Simmerman.  His  grand- 
father was  Thomas  H.  Simmerman,  who  in  turn  was  a  son  of 
Thomas  Q.  Simmerman.  Thomas  E.  Simmerman,  Sr.,  was  born 
and  reared  in  Wythe  County,  was  educated  in  public  schools,  in 
Hampden-Sydney  College,  and  in  the  Eastman  Business  College 
at  Poughkeepsie,  New  York.  He  devoted  his  active  life  to  farm- 
ing and  stock  raising,  was  also  a  dealer  in  cattle,  was  a  director 
in  the  Bank  of  Max  Meadows  and  the  Farmers  Bank  of  South- 
west Virginia  at  Wytheville,  and  was  otherwise  a  man  of  in- 
fluence and  distinction  in  his  community,  serving  one  term  as 
supervisor  of  the  Wytheville  district.  He  died  in  1926.  His 
wife,  Mary  Hanson,  was  born  and  reared  in  Wythe  County,  and 
was  likewise  descended  from  an  old  family  of  Virginia.  She 
was  a  member  of  Stewart  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution.  She  and  her  husband  were  active  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  which  he  served  as  an  elder.  She  died 
in  November,  1926,  and  both  are  buried  at  Wytheville.  They 
were  the  parents  of  eight  children :  Thomas  E.,  Jr. ;  Miss  Sidney 
Major,  a  resident  of  Wytheville,  a  graduate  of  the  Mary  Baldwin 
Seminary  of  Staunton,  Virginia,  and  now  a  teacher  at  Winston- 
Salem,  North  Carolina;  Elbert  L.,  who  died  in  October,  1917,  at 
the  age  of  seventeen ;  William  H.,  assistant  cashier  of  the 
Farmers  Bank  of  Southwest  Virginia  at  Wytheville,  who  fin- 
ished his  education  in  Hampden-Sydney  College;  George  B.,  a 
farmer  on  the  old  homestead ;  Henry  P.,  a  farmer  and  cattle 
man ;  Mary  H.,  attending  the  Virginia  State  Normal  School  for 
Women  at  Farmville ;  and  Ellen  Virginia,  a  student  at  Villa 
Maria  Convent  at  Wytheville. 

Thomas  E.  Simmerman,  Jr.,  attended  public  schools  and  fin- 
ished his  education  in  Hampden-Sydney  College  with  the  class 
of  1920.  In  the  meantime,  in  May,  1917,  he  joined  the  colors, 
spent  nine  months  in  training  at  Fortress  Monroe,  attended  the 
Third  Officers'  Training  School  at  Camp  Lee,  Virginia,  for  three 


VIRGINIA  409 

months,  and  was  commissioned  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  Thirty- 
second  Field  Artillery.  Following  that  he  had  four  months  of 
intensive  training  in  the  School  of  Fire  at  Fort  Sill,  Oklahoma, 
and  was  then  transferred  to  Camp  Meade,  Maryland,  and  with 
the  Eleventh  Brigade,  Thirty-second  Artillery,  was  in  readiness 
to  go  overseas  when  the  armistice  was  signed.  He  received  his 
honorable  discharge  at  Camp  Meade  December  15,  1918. 

For  about  a  year  after  the  war  Mr.  Simmerman  was  in  the, 
garage  business.  In  1920,  on  the  organization  of  the  Bank  of 
Max  Meadows,  he  took  the  post  of  cashier,  and  has  had  the 
chief  responsibilities  of  managing  that  institution,  of  which 
he  is  also  a  director.  He  owns  a  fine  Blue  Grass  farm  near  Max 
Meadows,  specializing  in  the  raising  of  beef  cattle,  and  he  keeps 
himself  in  close  touch  with  the  spirit  and  the  enterprise  of  the 
community. 

Mr.  Simmerman  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Pi  Kappa  Alpha  fraternity, 
is  a  Democrat,  is  deacon  and  treasurer  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Max  Meadows  and  also  one  of  the  church  trustees. 

He  married  at  Max  Meadows,  June  8,  1923,  Miss  Miriam 
Robinson,  daughter  of  John  W.  and  Nannie  (Counselman) 
Robinson.  Her  father  for  many  years  has  been  a  leading  farmer 
and  cattle  man  in  Wythe  County.  The  Robinsons  have  been  in 
Southwest  Virginia  since  very  early  times.  Mrs.  Simmerman 
finished  her  education  in  Sullins  College  at  Bristol,  Tennessee. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
They  have  four  children,  Thomas  E.  Ill,  John  Robinson,  Nancy 
and  Graham  Hanson. 

Newton  Floyd  Burge,  Jr.,  is  associated  with  one  of  the 
prominent  industrial  organizations  of  the  little  city  of  Galax, 
on  the  line  between  Carroll  and  Grayson  counties.  Galax  has 
become  noted  as  a  wholesale  and  jobbing  center  and  also  as  a 
manufacturing  center  for  the  hard  wood  resources  of  this  section 
of  Virginia.  Mr.  Burge  is  assistant  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  Vaughan-Bassett  Furniture  Company,  which  is  one  of  the 
large  furniture  manufacturing  enterprises  of  this  section  of  the 
state. 

Mr.  Burge  was  born  at  Martinsburg,  Virginia,  June  26,  1892, 
son  of  Newton  F.  and  Mary  Jane  (Hundley)  Burge.  His  father, 
now  living  retired  at  Martinsville  at  the  age  of  seventy-four, 
was  born  in  Henry  County,  Virginia,  in  1854,  was  educated  in 
private  schools,  and  spent  many  years  in  the  mercantile  business 
at  Martinsville,  retiring  in  1925,  after  he  had  passed  the  age  of 
three  score  and  ten.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Capt.  Hiram 
B.  Hundley,  who  was  born  near  Martinsville  in  1817  and  died 
in  1905,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight.  He  represented  a  prominent 
family  of  that  section,  and  though  too  old  for  active  duty  as  a 
soldier  he  served  as  a  recruiting  and  training  ofiicer  near  Dan- 
ville, with  the  rank  of  captain,  in  the  Confederate  army.  Newton 
F.  Burge,  Sr.,  and  wife  had  a  family  of  six  daughters  and  two 
sons:  Ada,  wife  of  J.  F.  Floyd,  of  Martinsville;  Etta,  wife  of 
F.  R.  Brown,  of  Galax ;  Nannie,  Mrs.  L.  H.  Shumate,  of  Johnson 
City,  Tennessee;  William  B.,  in  the  wholesale  bakery  business 
at  Martinsville  ;  Hepsie,  wife  of  B.  C.  Vaughan,  of  Galax ;  Fannie, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  four  years ;  Newton  F. ;  and  Jessie,  wife 
of  D.  V.  Carter,  of  Clinton,  North  Carolina. 

Newton  F.  Burge,  Jr.,  attended  the  grade  and  high  schools 
at  Martinsville  and  in   1912  graduated  from  the  Fork  Union 


410  VIRGINIA 

Military  School.  With  this  educational  training  he  entered  the 
mercantile  business,  and  applied  all  his  efforts  during  the  next 
five  years  to  his  business  affairs.  In  1917  he  enrolled  in  the 
National  Guard  in  Virginia,  and  on  June  28,  1917,  was  mustered 
in  at  Danville,  Virginia.  He  was  assigned  duty  with  the  Coast 
Artillei'y  Corps  and  spent  two  years  at  Fortress  Monroe.  He 
was  promoted  to  sergeant  September  1,  1917,  to  plotter  Decem- 
ber 2,  1918,  and  to  first-class  gunner  March  20,  1918.  He  re- 
ceived his  honorable  discharge  December  3,  1918. 

After  leaving  the  army  he  took  a  course  in  the  Eastman- 
Gaines  Business  College  at  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  and  was 
an  accountant  for  the  Banner  Grocery  Company,  a  wholesale 
business  at  Martinsville,  for  one  year.  He  then  removed  to 
Galax,  taking  charge  of  the  books  and  as  general  office  manager 
for  the  Vaughan-Bassett  Furniture  Company,  and  since  1925 
has  been  assistant  secretary  and  treasurer  of  that  business. 

Mr.  Burge  is  a  Scottish  Rite  Mason,  member  of  Kazim 
Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Roanoke,  is  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  Galax  Country  Club,  and  the  Baptist  Church. 

He  married  at  Bristol,  Tennessee,  September  .5,  1924,  Miss 
Maye  Roberts,  of  Old  Town,  Grayson  County,  Virginia,  daughter 
of  T.  F.  and  Florence  (Cox)  Roberts.  Her  father  was  a  farmer 
and  stock  man.  Mrs.  Burge  was  reared  a  Methodist,  but  she  and 
her  husband  are  now  active  in  the  Baptist  Church  at  Galax. 
She  graduated  from  the  Galax  High  School  and  the  State  Normal 
at  Radford,  and  was  a  teacher  in  the  Galax  Grammar  School 
during  1922-23. 

Mrs.  Charles  Davenport,  who  died  January  26,  1928,  was 
one  of  the  distinguished  women  of  her  generation  in  Richmond. 
Her  husband,  Charles  Davenport,  was  a  well  known  Richmond 
merchant,  and  her  own  people  contributed  some  of  the  greatest 
names  to  the  medical  profession  in  Virginia. 

Her  father  was  Dr.  James  Brown  McCaw,  who  was  born  at 
Richmond,  July  12,  1823.  Her  ancestor,  James  Drew  McCaw, 
was  a  nephew  of  Dr.  James  McClurg.  Doctor  McCIurg,  son  of 
an  English  army  surgeon,  was  born  in  1747,  graduated  from 
William  and  Mary  College  in  1762,  and  took  his  degree  in  medi- 
cine at  Edinburgh,  Scotland.  He  lived  for  some  years  at  Wil- 
liamsburg, and  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution  located  at  Rich- 
mond. Doctor  McClurg  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  when  Patrick  Henry  declined  that  honor,  but 
the  Doctor  was  not  present  when  the  Federal  Constitution  was 
finally  voted  upon,  and  did  not  sign  the  document.  James  Drew 
McCaw  grew  up  in  the  home  of  his  uncle,  Doctor  McClurg,  was 
sent  by  him  to  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  gradu- 
ated in  1792,  and  on  returning  he  located  at  Richmond.  In 
1799  he  was  pronounced  "one  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  pro- 
fession in  America."  Dr.  James  Drew  McCaw  was  the  hero 
of  the  famous  theater  fire  of  1811  in  Richmond,  when  he  stood 
at  a  window  in  the  theater  and  passed  the  frantic  women  and 
children  one  by  one  to  a  negro  slave  standing  just  below.  This 
slave  subsequently  for  his  bravery  was  given  his  freedom. 

William  R.  McCaw,  father  of  Dr.  James  Brown  McCaw, 
v/as  also  a  physician,  and  married  Anne  Ludwell  Brown,  whose 
father,  James  Brown,  Jr.,  was  state  auditor  of  Virginia  forty 
years. 

James  Brown  McCaw  graduated  in  1844  in  medicine  from 
the  University   of  New   York.     During  the  war   between   the 


t 


k 


f (L)On'^  \3u!fe  l('iVfl>,«j.wi.& 


VIRGINIA  411 

states  he  was  chief  surgeon  of  Chimborazo  Hospital,  the  largest 
of  all  the  hospitals  on  the  Southern  side,  where  it  was  estimated 
75,000  patients  were  treated  during  the  war.  He  was  a  pro- 
fessor and  dean  in  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  and  editor 
of  the  Virginia  Medical.  Journal.  Dr.  James  Brown  McCaw 
married  Delia  Patteson,  whose  father.  Dr.  William  A.  Patteson, 
was  also  a  prominent  Richmond  physician.  Two  of  their  sons, 
brothers  of  the  late  Mrs.  Davenport,  were  eminent  in  the  field 
of  medicine  and  surgery,  David  and  Walter  Drew.  Walter  Drew 
McCaw,  who  was  born  at  Richmond  in  1863,  was  commissioned 
an  assistant  surgeon  of  the  United  States  Army  in  1884,  and  on 
March  5,  1919,  was  given  the  rank  of  brigadier-general  as 
assistant  surgeon  general  of  the  United  States  Army.  He  was 
with  the  volunteers  during  the  Spanish-American  war,  and  was 
chief  surgeon  of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  from 
October,  1918,  to  July  15,  1919,  and  was  awarded  the  distin- 
guished service  medal  by  the  United  States,  besides  honors  from 
all  the  allied  governments. 

Ellen  McCaw  Davenport  was  seventy-four  years  of  age  when 
she  died  at  her  home,  1637  Monument  Avenue,  in  Richmond. 
Throughout  her  life  she  was  a  part  of  the  cultured  society  of 
Virginia,  and  had  many  activities  in  Richmond,  being  a  member 
of  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  the  Daughters  of  the  Revo- 
lution, the  Musicians  Club,  and  was  a  charter  member  and 
former  president  of  the  Woman's  Club.  She  was  a  member  of 
St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church. 

Her  husband,  Charles  Davenport,  was  also  a  native  of  Rich- 
mond, where  he  spent  his  life  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  Davenport  had  two  daughters:  Delia, 
now  Mrs.  Richard  Watkins  Carrington,  of  Richmond ;  and  Ellen, 
wife  of  Dr.  Henry  Wiseman  Cook,  of  Minneapolis,  Minnesota. 

Edward  Butts  Kilby,  Ph.  G.,  M.  D.  James  City  County  is 
noted  for  the  skill,  learning  and  high  character  of  the  men  who 
make  up  its  medical  practitioners,  and  the  profession  here  num- 
bers some  whose  attainments  are  far  beyond  the  ordinary. 
Among  them  one  whose  career  is  typical  of  modern  advance- 
ment, his  being  a  broad  field  of  medical  service,  is  Dr.  Edward 
B.  Kilby,  physician  and  surgeon  of  Toano.  He  was  born  in 
Nansemond  County,  Virginia,  February  28,  1890,  a  son  of  Wal- 
ter G.  and  Susannah  (Parr)  Kilby,  natives  of  the  same  county 
as  their  son.  Walter  G.  Kilby  was  a  general  contractor  of  New- 
port News,  Virginia,  and  a  man  of  considerable  consequence. 

Doctor  Kilby  grew  up  in  Newport  News,  and  was  graduated 
from  its  academy  in  1907.  He  then  entered  the  Medical  College 
of  Virginia,  Richmond,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  phar- 
macy in  1909,  and  in  medicine  from  the  same  school  in  1915. 
For  the  following  two  years  he  was  attached  to  Marine  Hospital, 
Detroit,  Michigan,  where  he  gained  a  very  valuable  experience, 
and  when  he  left  that  institution  he  established  himself  in  prac- 
tice in  Southampton  County,  Virginia,  and  remained  there  for 
five  years,  or  until  January  6,  1923,  when  he  came  to  Toano, 
James  City  County,  and  here  he  has  since  remained  with  en- 
viable success. 

On  January  25,  1917,  Doctor  Kilby  married  Miss  Jean  Camp- 
bell Moody,  a  daughter  of  Rosser  L.  and  Bertha  (Robinson) 
Moody,  natives  of  Petersburg,  Virginia.  Mrs.  Moody  died  in 
1920,  and  Mr.  Moody  is  also  deceased.  For  a  good  many  years 
he  was  a  druggist  of  South  Richmond.     Doctor  and  Mrs.  Kilby 


412  VIRGINIA 

have  two  children:  Edward  Butts,  Junior,  who  was  born  August 
23,  1918 ;  and  Patricia  Jean,  who  was  born  March  16,  1921.  The 
Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society,  the 
Southern  Medical  Society  and  the  Walter  Reed  Medical  Society. 
A  strong  believer  in  fraternities,  he  belongs  to  a  number  of 
them,  is  a  Mason,  and  also  holds  membership  in  Samis  Grotto, 
Richmond ;  a  member  of  the  Junior  Order  United  American  Me- 
chanics, and  others.  For  several  years  he  has  been  local  surgeon 
for  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad.  Doctor  Kilby  votes  the 
Democratic  ticket,  but  aside  from  exercising  his  right  of  suf- 
frage he  takes  but  little  part  in  politics.  The  Baptist  Church  is 
his  religious  home.  The  personal  impression  given  by  Doctor 
Kilby  is  quieting  and  satisfying,  inspiring  confidence  and  com- 
manding respect. 

J.  Edward  Williams.  Self  help  has  accomplished  about  all 
of  the  great  things  in  the  world,  and  the  door  of  opportunity 
has  generally  been  opened  by  the  men  who  have  found  success 
awaiting  them  within.  In  every  city  every  year  there  are  young 
men  who  cherish  ambitions  in  one  direction  or  the  other,  but 
how  few  ever  reach  the  top  of  the  ladder.  It  requires  a  brave 
heart  to  fight  one's  way  through  discouragements,  temptations 
and  momentary  failures,  but  that  many  have  succeeded  is  proven 
by  the  long  list  of  names  honored  in  the  business  world  through 
life  and  recalled  with  respect  and  admiration  after  their  work 
in  life  is  over.  These  remarks  are  particularly  applicable  to  the 
late  J.  Edward  Williams,  who  was  for  many  years  prominently 
identified  with  Government  service,  whose  loss  to  his  depart- 
ment, to  his  city,  let  alone  to  his  family  and  friends,  is  irrepa- 
rable. 

J.  Edward  Williams  was  born  in  Northwest,  Norfolk  County, 
Virginia,  November  11,  1867,  and  died  in  Newport  News,  Vir- 
ginia, in  December,  1920.  When  he  was  but  a  little  child  he 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  mother,  and  his  father  died  when 
he  was  eleven  years  old.  His  uncle,  who  was  his  guardian,  also 
died  when  the  youth  was  but  sixteen  years  of  age.  At  this  time 
Edward  was  a  student  of  the  Gatewood  School  of  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia. From  then  until  his  death  J.  Edward  Williams  was  self- 
supporting.  His  first  position  was  with  the  Crawford  Furniture 
Company,  which  he  served  for  five  years,  after  which  he  came 
to  Newport  News  and  entered  the  furniture  business  for  himself, 
conducting  it  for  four  years,  during  that  period  building  up  a 
large  and  valuable  trade,  but  owing  to  a  disastrous  fire  he  was 
obliged  to  close  his  store,  and  then  entered  the  customs  depart- 
ment of  the  Federal  Government  at  the  port  of  Newport  News. 
Two  years  later  he  was  appointed  first  immigration  ofiicer  of 
the  Hampton  Roads  District.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was 
inspector  in  charge  of  the  district  embracing  the  ports  of  Hamp- 
ton Roads.  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  and  Charleston,  South 
Carolina. 

In  January,  1894,  Mr.  Williams  married,  in  Portsmouth,  Vir- 
ginia, Miss  Hattie  Weaver,  of  Portsmouth,  Virginia,  a  daughter 
of  Joseph  F.  Weaver,  a  pharmacist,  a  member  of  the  harbor 
commission  and  of  the  City  Council.  J.  F.  Weaver  married 
Harriet  Morgan,  and  they  became  the  parents  of  five  children 
that  are  now  living,  and  several  who  are  deceased.  Of  these 
children  Mrs.  Williams  is  the  second,  the  others  being:  J.  F. 
Weaver,  Jr.,  city  engineer  of  Portsmouth,  a  brother  and  two 
sisters.    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williams  had  three  children  born  to  their 


VIRGINIA  413 

marriage :  Geraldine,  who  is  deceased ;  Dorothy,  who  is  also 
deceased;  and  Gray,  who  is  a  practicing  attorney  of  New  York 
City,  married  Eleanor  Fishburne,  a  daughter  of  Judge  John  W. 
Fishburne,  of  Charlottesville,  Virginia.  Mr.  Williams  was  a 
past  exalted  ruler  of  the  local  lodge  of  the  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks,  and  was  its  secretary  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  In  political  faith  he  was  a  Democrat,  and  at  all  times 
he  was  faithful  to  party  precedents.  Trinity  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  was  his  religious  home,  but  Mrs.  Williams 
is  a  Presbyterian.  During  1895  and  1896  Mr.  Williams  was 
on  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Warwick  County,  and  during 
1897  and  1898  he  was  captain  of  the  Huntington  Rifle  Club  of 
Newport  News. 

The  Williams  family  came  from  Wales  and  England,  and  its 
representatives  came  to  the  United  States  not  long,  after  the 
organization  of  the  present  government,  settling  in  Virginia. 
The  Weaver  family  was  established  in  Virginia  in  a  period  ante- 
dating the  American  Revolution,  in  which  great  struggle  it  was 
represented  by  patriots  bearing  the  name,  one  of  whom  was  asso- 
ciated with  the  campaign  in  the  vicinity  of  Hampton  Roads. 

Although  some  years  have  passed  since  the  death  of  Captain 
Williams,  he  is  remembered  as  a  man  who  lent  his  influence  to 
every  good  and  worthy  cause  as  a  citizen,  and  every  enterprise 
with  which  he  was  connected  benefited  because  of  his  association 
with  it.  In  the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  his  office  he  was  recog- 
nized as  a  just  man,  honorable,  incorruptible  and  capable,  and 
he  had  a  wide  acquaintance  with  men  of  moment  throughout 
the  state  and  in  the  national  capital. 

Ward  Martin,  M.  D.  To  win  the  unqualified  trust  and  con- 
fidence of  his  fellowmen  is  something  to  live  for,  and  this  has 
been  honorably  achieved  by  one  of  Tazewell  County's  well  known 
physicians.  Dr.  Ward  Martin,  chiropractic  practitioner  at  Blue- 
field,  Virginia.  Doctor  Martin  well  illustrates  the  general  char- 
acter of  that  body  of  noblemen  who  for  ages  have  devoted  them- 
selves, often  with  great  unselfishness,  to  the  healing  art,  a  guard 
constantly  on  the  defense  line  protecting  humanity  from  its 
subtle  disease  foes.  It  may  follow  diflferent  paths  and  favor 
different  systems,  but  the  object  is  ever  the  same. 

Doctor  Martin  belongs  to  an  old  Virginia  family,  of  Scotch 
extraction,  that  has  many  notable  representatives  in  this  and 
adjacent  Southern  states.  He  was  born  on  the  old  family  home- 
stead in  Floyd  County,  Virginia,  May  28,  1895,  son  of  J.  A.  and 
Amelia  (Moore)  Martin,  and  grandson  of  William  Martin  and 
Noah  Moore,  all  natives  of  Virginia.  Before  the  war  between 
the  states  both  grandfathers  were  extensive  planters  in  Floyd 
County,  Grandfather  Moore  also  owning  slaves  and  serving 
many  years  as  a  justice  of  the  peace.  Grandfather  Martin 
served  hrough  the  above  war  as  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate 
army.  The  father  of  Doctor  Martin  followed  agricultural  pur- 
suits all  his  life,  was  somewhat  active  in  local  politics  as  a. 
Republican,  and  both  he  and  wife  were  members  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  His  death  occurred  in  1915,  but  the  mother  of  Doctor 
Martin  survives  and  makes  her  home  at  Wythesville,  Virginia, 
where  she  is  well  known  and  esteemed. 

Ward  Martin  received  his  early  educational  training  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  county,  after  which  he  entered  the 
high  school  at  Christiansburg,  in  Montgomery  County,  from 
which  he  was  creditably  graduated.     Ready  then  to  make  him- 


414  VIRGINIA 

self  useful  and  independent,  he  accepted  a  clerkship  in  a  local 
shoe  store,  but  six  months  later,  seeking  wider  opportunity,  he 
went  to  Chicago,  Illinois,  where  he  soon  found  a  position  in  the 
great  business  house  of  Montgomery  Ward  &  Company,  where, 
although  he  had  practically  no  previous  business  training,  he 
gave  entire  satisfaction  in  the  department  to  which  he  was 
assigned,  and  one  year  later  went  on  the  road  as  a  traveling 
salesman. 

In  the  meanwhile  Doctor  Martin  had  lost  his  father,  and 
when  the  United  States  entered  the  World  war  he  hastened  back 
to  Virginia  and  attempted  to  enlist  for  service  in  the  navy,  but 
was  not  accepted  on  account  of  being  under  the  prescribed 
weight.  Not  discouraged,  however,  he  went  on  to  Washington, 
but  when  he  sought  to  enlist  in  the  aviation  service  he  met  with 
the  same  refusal  on  the  same  ground.  Intensely  loyal  and  deter- 
mined to  be  of  use  to  his  country,  he  then  proceeded  to  Newport 
News  and  went  to  work  in  the  Government  Navy  Yard  there, 
and  continued  to  work  there  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

Perhaps  in  his  close  association  with  this  vast  army  of 
workers  germinated  that  beneficent  urge  of  helpfulness  that 
inspires  every  true  physician,  for  Mr.  Martin  could  not  help 
but  be  impressed  by  the  many  injuries  suffered  by  his  fellow 
workers  in  the  way  of  sprains,  wrenches  and  even  spine  dis- 
locations, that  were  regarded  as  only  temporary,  but  neverthe- 
less in  many  cases  were  disfiguring  for  life  if  not  fatal.  He  sud- 
denly found  himself  interested  as  never  before,  and  the  more 
he  observed  and  the  closer  he  investigated,  the  greater  became 
his  interest  in  that  medical  system  known  as  chiropractic,  as 
especially  adapted  to  this  class  of  disability. 

The  proven  virtues  of  this  great  system,  described  by  one  of 
its  eminent  expounders  as  "a  philosophy,  science  and  art  of 
things  natural"  are  as  old  as  Doctor  Martin  himself,  for  it  was 
in  1895  that  the  marvelous  discovery  was  made  that  many  of 
the  diseases  from  which  men  suffer  can  be  completely  cured  by 
proper  adjustments  of  the  spine.  As  soon  as  he  was  relieved 
from  duty  at  Newport  News  Mr.  Martin  enrolled  as  a  student 
in  the  Eastern  College  of  Chiropractic  at  Newark,  New  .Jersey, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1924,  and  after  a  course  in 
dissecting  in  Bellevue  Hospital,  New  York,  he  was  ready  to  enter 
into  practice.  In  the  meanwhile  the  science  of  thirty  years  ago 
is  no  longer  new,  but  is  accepted  and  practiced  in  all  parts  of 
the  world,  Doctor  Martin  being  but  one  of  8,000  chiropractic 
physicians  in  the  United  States  alone.  Before  locating  at  Blue- 
field  he  practiced  for  a  few  months  at  Narrows,  in  Giles  County, 
and  is  now  the  only  chiropractor  registered  in  Tazewell  County. 
His  professional  success  has  been  marked  and  he  can  number 
grateful  patients  in  both  large  and  small  communities  all  through 
Southwest  Virginia  and  even  beyond. 

On  August  2,  1924,  Doctor  Martin  married  Miss  Thelma 
Cook,  daughter  of  Earl  H.  and  Daisy  Cook,  of  Wythesville,  Vir- 
ginia, members  of  one  of  the  old  established  families  of  that 
section.  Mrs.  Martin  is  a  graduate  of  the  Wythesville  High 
School,  and  both  she  and  the  Doctor  are  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South,  at  Bluefield,  in  which  she  is  a 
teacher  in  the  Sunday  school.  Not  only  as  a  man  of  science 
but  as  a  good  citizen.  Doctor  Martin  endeavors  to  promote  the 
social  welfare  and  civic  progress  of  Bluefield,  belongs  to  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity and  of  the  Chiropractors  Association. 


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VIRGINIA  415 

Melville  Lyle  Morrison.  From  the  earliest  settlement  of 
Virginia  the  great  and  fertile  plantations  have  been  a  source 
of  wealth,  and  their  owners  have  occupied  positions  of  prom- 
inence in  whatever  community  they  were  located.  Prior  to  the 
war  between  the  state  these  estates  were,  in  many  instances, 
princely,  and  the  leading  men  and  women  of  the  country  were 
made  welcome  with  a  lavish  hospitality  never  before,  or  since, 
equaled.  In  spite  of  changes  these  plantations  are  still  very 
valuable  assets,  and  Southern  hospitality  lives,  although,  neces- 
sarily, upon  a  less  expansive  scale.  One  of  the  men  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  now  deceased,  who  for  many  years  gave  his  life  to 
the  supervision  of  the  lordly  Mount  Vernon  plantation  in  King 
William  County,  Melville  L.  Morrison  was  typical  of  the  best 
element  of  the  South,  a  thorough  gentleman  of  the  old  school, 
and  a  man  who  numbered  his  warm  personal  friends  by  the . 
hundreds.  He  was  born  on  that  same  plantation  July  27,  1874, 
and  died  there  in  June,  1917. 

Mr.  Morrison  was  a  son  of  George  B.  and  Sarah  Thornton 
Black  Morrison,  the  former  of  whom,  also  a  Virginia  gentleman, 
descended  from  Scotch  forebears,  but  of  a  family  established  in 
Virginia  during  its  Colonial  epoch,  owned  and  operated,  with 
slave  labor,  the  Mount  Vernon  estate.  With  the  declaration  of 
war  between  the  North  and  the  South  he  cast  his  lot  with  the 
Confederacy,  and  continued  to  serve  as  a  cavalryman  until 
peace  was  declared.  Returning  home,  he  bravely  took  up  the 
problems  of  the  Reconstruction  period  and  brought  his  planta- 
tion back  to  something  of  its  former  value.  Seven  children  were 
born  to  him  and  his  wife,  of  whom  Melville  L.  Morrison  was 
the  sixth  in  order  of  birth. 

Following  the  completion  of  his  educational  training  in  sev- 
eral excellent  private  schools  of  King  William  County  Melville 
L.  Morrison  assisted  his  father  in  the  management  of  Mount 
Vernon,  which  property  has  been  in  the  family  for  five  genera- 
tions. In  1898,  in  response  to  President  McKinley's  call  for 
troops,  he  went  to  Newpoi't  News,  Virginia,  where  he  was 
assigned  to  service  in  the  shipyards  in  an  official  capacity,  and 
continued  there  during  the  Spanish-American  war,  and  for 
several  months  following  the  declaration  of  peace,  being  in 
the  service  for  one  year.  Honorably  discharged,  he  returned 
to  Mount  Vernon,  and  buying  the  interests  of  the  other  heirs, 
gave  himself  up  to  the  management  of  the  estate,  and  continued 
to  reside  there  until  claimed  by  death  while  still  in  the  very 
prime  of  life. 

On  December  17,  1901,  Mr.  Morrison  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Maude  Atkins,  a  daughter  of  Alvey  V.  and  Myrtle  (Guthridge) 
Atkins,  and  a  member  of  a  family  established  in  Virginia  after 
the  close  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  of  English  origin. 
Mrs.  Morrison  is  proud  of  her  family  and  its  long  connection 
with  the  history  of  the  state.  Her  father  was  a  planter,  con- 
tractor and  road  supervisor  of  King  William  County,  where  she 
was  born  and  reared.  Like  her  husband  she  was  educated  in 
private  schools,  and  is  a  lady  of  unusual  mentality  and  charm. 
She  is  the  eldest  of  the  three  children  born  to  her  parents. 

Three  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morrison :  Theresa 
Elizabeth,  who  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  King  William 
County  and  Richmond  College,  is  now  assistant  cashier  of  the 
Home  Benefit  Insurance  Company ;  Grace  Evelyn,  who  is  the 
wife  of  James  L.  Prince,  of  Richmond ;  and  Ryland  Maxey,  who 
is  a  student  in  High  School  in  King  William  County.     After 


416  VIRGINIA 

the  death  of  Mr.  Morrison  the  family  moved  to  Richmond,  and 
Mrs.  Morrison  maintains  her  home  at  617  Bancroft  Street.  She 
and  her  children  are  earnest  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  of  which  Mr.  Morrison  was  long  a  member,  and 
to  which  he  always  gave  an  active  and  generous  support. 
Although  some  years  have  passed  since  his  death  Mr.  Morrison 
still  lives  in  the  hearts  of  his  family  and  friends  and  his  memory 
is  cherished  with  tender  faithfulness. 

Harry  D.  McWhirt  is  a  native  Virginian,  and  has  become 
well  known  in  the  business  and  civic  affairs  of  the  Milford 
community  of  Caroline  County.  He  is  cashier  of  the  Milford 
State  Bank  and  one  of  the  stockholders  and  directors  of  that 
prosperous  institution. 

Mr.  McWhirt  was  born  in  Spotsylvania  County,  Virginia, 
October  31,  1886,  son  of  Julian  D.  and  Annie  F.  (Hicks) 
McWhirt,  his  father  a  native  of  Spotsylvania  and  his  mother  of 
Caroline  County.  Julian  D.  McWhirt,  a  farmer  and  merchant, 
died  in  July,  1925,  and  his  wife  passed  away  in  August,  1911. 

Harry  D.  McWhirt  was  reared  and  educated  in  Spotsylvania 
County,  attended  private  school  at  Fredericksburg,  and  in  the 
way  of  preparation  for  a  commercial  career  had  several  years 
of  employment  as  a  clerk  in  his  father's  store.  Mr.  McWhirt 
for  about  one  year  was  a  clerk  in  the  Metropolitan  Hotel  at 
Washington  and  then  took  up  the  life  insurance  business.  For 
two  years  he  was  located  at  Ashland,  Virginia,  and  he  also  held 
the  office  of  postmaster  of  Spotsylvania  and  for  four  years  was 
commissioner  of  revenue  of  that  county. 

Since  1915  his  home  has  been  at  Milford,  in  Caroline  County, 
and  he  became  cashier  of  the  Milford  State  Bank  three  years 
after  it  was  organized  in  1912.  The  Milford  State  Bank  has 
capital  of  $22,500,  surplus  of  $16,000,  and  average  deposits  of 
$175,000.  The  president  of  the  bank  is  Dr.  E.  C.  Cobb,  and 
Walter  Wilson  is  the  vice  president. 

Mr.  McWhirt  married  in  December,  1911,  Bertha  E.  Mussey. 
Her  parents,  F.  C.  and  Ellen  (Reed)  Mussey,  came  from  Eng- 
land, and  her  father  settled  in  Virginia  and  is  still  operating  a 
farm  in  Spotsylvania  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McWhirt  have 
three  children :  Arthur  D.,  born  in  1914 ;  Harry  Marvin,  born 
in  1916;  and  Walter  Reed,  born  in  1921.  Mr.  McWhirt  is  a 
past  master  of  the  Masonic  Lodge,  member  of  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America,  is  an  independent  voter  and  takes  an  active 
part  with  his  family  in  the  Baptist  Church  at  Milford,  being 
church  treasurer  and  a  teacher  in  the  Sunday  school. 

Thomas  Letcher  Stone  was  a  prominent  figure  in  the  com- 
mercial life  of  Richmond  for  many  years.  He  was  a  native 
Virginian,  and  his  people  on  both  sides  have  been  in  the  state 
for  many  generations. 

He  was  born  in  the  City  of  Richmond,  May  24,  1859,  and 
died  there  November  11,  1922.  He  was  the  fifth  of  the  seven 
children  of  Ellis  Ware  and  Lucy  Jane  (Nunn)  Stone.  The  Nunn 
family  lived  in  King  and  Queen  County.  Thomas  Letcher  Stone 
was  educated  at  Richmond,  and  his  first  business  experience 
was  as  an  employe  of  the  T.  P.  Campbell  Lumber  Company.  A 
few  years  later  he  went  with  Robert  F.  William  &  Company, 
and  acquired  an  interest  in  that  business.  The  enterprise  with 
which  his  name  and  work  were  most  intimately  associated,  how- 


VIRGINIA  417 

ever,  was  the  Southern  Biscuit  Company  of  Richmond.  He 
became  its  general  manager  in  1900,  and  during  the  next  twenty- 
two  years  built  up  a  remarkable  business  for  the  house,  con- 
tinuing active  therein  until  his  death. 

Mr.  Stone  was  a  Democrat,  a  Baptist,  and  was  affiliated  with 
the  Masonic  fraternity  and  Royal  Arcanum. 

He  married,  June  13,  1881,  Miss  Roberta  A.  Smith,  of  Rich- 
mond, only  child  of  Robert  J.  and  Cornelia  A.  Smith.  Her  father 
served  during  the  last  year  of  the  Civil  war  in  Company  R  of 
the  First  Virginia  Regiment,  and  was  in  Pickett's  Division. 
Mrs.  Stone,  who  resides  at  1021  West  Main  Street,  in  Richmond, 
is  the  mother  of  two  sons.  Robert  Ware  Stone,  who  graduated 
from  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute,  married  Adela  Brooks, 
of  Chesterfield,  and  has  four  children,  named  Dorothy,  Mar- 
garet, Joseph  and  May  Frances.  John  L.  Stone,  the  younger 
son,  an  employe  of  the  City  of  Richmond,  married  Blanche 
Puryear,  and  they  also  have  four  children,  J.  Letcher,  Thomas 
William,  Herbert  Milton  and  Eugenia  Mariam. 

Tyler  McCall  Frazier,  of  Wythesville,  district  chairman  of 
the  Democratic  party  of  the  Ninth  Virginia  District,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  an  old  and  prominent  family  of  Southwest  Virginia. 

He  was  born  at  Graham,  April  30,  1900,  son  of  Dr.  Henry 
B.  and  Florence  (McCall)  Frazier.  His  grandfather.  Rev.  Tay- 
lor Frazier,  is  in  point  of  service  the  oldest  member  of  the 
Holston  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
He  is  now  eighty-eight  years  of  age  and  a  resident  of  Chilhowie. 
Virginia.  He  is  also  one  of  the  two  surviving  chaplains  of  the 
Confederate  army.  Dr.  Henry  B.  Frazier  was  born  and  reared 
at  Graham,  attended  public  schools  and  Emory  and  Henry  Col- 
lege, and  was  educated  for  the  profession  of  medicine  in  Vander- 
bilt  University  and  the  University  of  Maryland.  For  several 
years  he  practiced  at  Bramwell,  West  Virginia,  and  for  over 
thirty  years  has  been  a  leading  physician  and  surgeon  at  Graham. 
He  has  interested  himself  in  the  life  of  that  community,  is  a 
past  master  of  Harman  Lodge  No.  222,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and 
a  member  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  His  wife,  Florence  McCall. 
was  born  and  reared  in  Tazewell  County,  Virginia,  attended 
public  and  private  schools  and  Martha  Washing-ton  College.  She 
and  Doctor  Frazier  have  five  children :  Tyler  McCall ;  Henry 
B.,  attorney  at  Bluefield,  West  Virginia ;  Virginia,  a  public  school 
teacher;  Lucian,  twin  of  Virginia,  who  died  at  the  age  of  eleven 
years;  and  Louise,  a  student  in  the  Graham  High  School. 

Tyler  McCall  Frazier  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
Graham,  in  Roanoke  College,  and  graduated  in  1922  from  the 
University  of  Virginia.  For  a  young  man  he  has  had  unusual 
opportunities  for  political  experience  and  service.  After  leaving 
the  university  he  became  private  secretary  to  Congressman 
George  B.  Peery,  of  the  Ninth  Virginia  District,  and  was  with 
Mr.  Peery  at  Washington  until  February  1,  1928,  when  he  was 
made  chairman  of  the  Ninth  District  Democratic  Committee, 
and  is  also  a  member  of  the  State  Democratic  Central  Committee. 
He  is  the  youngest  man  ever  made  a  district  chairman  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  is  also  the  youngest  member  of  the  State  Central 
Committee. 

Mr.  Frazier  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0. 
Elks  and  the  American  Legion.  He  enrolled  for  service  in 
Augu.st,  1918,  and  was  on  special  duty  at  Roanoke  and  Salem 


418  VIRGINIA 

until  honorably  discharged  in  December,  1918.     He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Mr.  Frazier  married  in  Washington,  D.  C,  April  1,  1922, 
Miss  Lillian  Bowman,  of  Charlottesville,  Virginia,  where  she 
was  reared  and  educated,  attending  public  schools  and  St.  Anne's 
School  for  Girls.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Louis  M.  and  Lillian 
(Childs)  Bowman,  of  Charlottesville,  and  her  father  for  many 
years  has  been  a  wholesale  dealer  in  marble,  granite  and  bronzes, 
now  making  his  home  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Julian  Newton  Harris.  At  New  Kent,  judicial  center  of 
the  county  of  the  same  name,  Mr.  Harris  is  to  be  found  busily 
engaged  in  his  official  duties  at  the  courthouse,  where  there  is 
ample  demand  for  his  time  and  attention,  in  that  he  is  serving 
not  only  as  county  clerk  but  also  as  the  New  Kent  County  clerk 
of  the  Circuit  Court. 

Mr.  Harris  was  born  at  New  Kent,  January  9,  1905,  and  is 
a  son  of  Thomas  Newton  Harris  and  Mamie  Perkins  (Robert- 
son) Harris,  of  whom  more  specific  mention  will  be  found  in 
later  paragraphs  of  this  review.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  in 
connection  with  the  service  of  Julian  N.  Harris  as  county  clerk 
of  his  native  county  that  his  father  had  served  in  this  office 
during  the  long  period  of  twenty-seven  years,  while  his  grand- 
father, the  late  John  N.  Harris,  held  the  office  about  twenty- 
seven  years,  so  that  the  record  of  the  Harris  family  in  this  par- 
ticular office  has  now  covered  a  period  of  about  12.5  years. 

After  having  duly  profited  by  the  advantages  of  the  public 
schools  of  New  Kent  Julian  N.  Harris  continued  his  studies  in 
the  high  school  in  the  city  of  Richmond  until  he  was  graduated 
therein  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1920.  At  the  age  of  eleven 
years  he  began  to  assist  his  father  in  the  office  of  county  clerk, 
and  he  gained  such  proficiency  that  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years 
he  was  made  deputy  county  clerk  of  New  Kent  County.  In  June, 
1924,  he  was  appointed  deputy  clerk  of  Cumberland  County, 
and  in  March  of  the  following  year  he  became  deputy  clerk  of 
Prince  Edward  County.  Of  this  latter  position  he  continued 
the  incumbent  until  the  death  of  his  father  in  November,  1927, 
when  he  was  appointed  the  latter's  successor  as  county  clerk  of 
New  Kent  County,  he  having  subsequently  been  reappointed  for 
the  full  term  of  eight  years.  In  this  important  office  he  is  well 
upholding  the  prestige  and  honors  of  the  family  name,  as  is 
he  also  in  all  other  relations  of  life.  Mr.  Harris,  fortified  by 
his  experience  as  county  clerk  and  clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court, 
is  giving  close  attention  to  the  study  of  law,  and  the  year  1929 
will  record  his  examination  for  admission  to  the  bar  of  his  native 
state. 

Mr.  Harris  is  a  stalwart  in  the  local  ranks  of  the  Democratic 
party,  his  religious  faith  is  that  of  the  Baptist  Chuixh,  he  is 
affiliated  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  he  is 
a  popular  and  appreciative  member  of  the  Holtz  Creek  Fishing 
and  Hunting  Club.  His  name  still  appears  on  the  roster  of 
eligible  young  bachelors  in  his  native  county. 

Thomas  Newton  Harris,  father  of  the  subject  of  this  review, 
was  one  of  the  most  honored  citizens  of  New  Kent  County  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  November  11,  1927,  when  he  was  forty- 
eight  years  of  age.    His  widow  still  resides  at  New  Kent. 

Thomas  N.  Harris  had  become  deputy  county  clerk  in  1896, 
and  in  1900  became  clerk  as  successor  to  his  father,  John  N. 
Harris.     The  wife  of  John  N.  Harris  was  Octavia  Dandridge 


I 


^ 


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I 


VIRGINIA  419 

Christian,  whose  father  and  grandfather,  Bartholomew  D. 
Christian  and  John  D.  Christian,  respectively,  had  consecutively 
served  as  county  clerk  for  many  years,  and  the  office  prior  to 
that  had  been  held  by  members  of  the  Dandridge  family,  includ- 
ing Bartholomew  Dandridge,  father  of  Mrs.  John  D.  Christian, 
and  William  Clayton,  father  of  Mrs.  Bartholomew  Dandridge. 
Thus  this  office  has  been  practically  in  one  family  since  the 
period  of  the  Revolutionary  war. 

Joseph  Francis  Woodson  for  over  forty  years  was  identified 
with  Richmond's  industrial  affairs,  his  career  having  been  one 
of  substantial  usefulness  and  service,  and  bringing  him  a  wide 
acquaintance  and  friendship. 

He  was  born  in  Richmond  January  3,  1855,  and-  died  in  that 
city  in  April,  1918.  He  was  the  only  son  of  the  three  children 
of  Alexander  R.  and  Mary  Virginia  (Foulkes)  Woodson.  His 
father  located  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1856  perma- 
nently settled  at  Richmond,  where  for  many  years  he  was  in 
business  as  a  contractor. 

Joseph  Francis  Woodson  was  educated  in  schools  at  Rich- 
mond and  as  a  young  man  took  employment  in  the  Palmer  Har- 
sock  Company.  He  was  with  that  firm  twenty  years,  until  it 
went  out  of  business,  being  cashier  when  he  retired.  The  re- 
mainder of  his  active  business  career  was  spent  with  the  great 
Tredegan  Iron  Works  and  the  Portner  Brewing  Company  of 
Richmond. 

Mr.  Woodson  was  a  Democrat,  and  he  and  his  wife  were 
members  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  married  in  September, 
1880,  Miss  Magdalena  Keller,  who  was  reared  and  educated  in 
Richmond.  She  was  one  of  ten  children  of  Charles  and  Magda- 
lena Keller.  Her  father  was  a  manufacturer  of  cabinet  work  in 
Richmond.  The  Keller  family  came  originally  from  Frankfort 
on  the  Rhine  in  Germany. 

Mrs.  Woodson,  who  resides  at  2106  Lakeview  Avenue,  was  the 
mother  of  four  children,  and  the  two  now  living  are :  Josephine 
Pearl,  wife  of  Robert  R.  Danforth,  of  Richmond,  and  mother  of 
two  sons,  named  Nicholas  Allen  and  Robert  R.,  Jr.,  and  Robert 
A.  Woodson,  who  is  connected  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Potomac 
Telephone  Company. 

Sydna  L.  Johnson  is  a  Virginia  newspaper  man,  publisher 
and  owner  of  the  Free  State  News  at  Kenbridge,  in  Lunenburg 
County. 

Mr.  Johnson,  who  was  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the 
printing  art  at  a  very  early  age,  was  born  in  Brunswick  County, 
Virginia,  December  3,  1887,  son  of  N.  E.  and  Madora  E.  (Ben- 
nett) Johnson,  who  were  also  natives  of  Brunswick  County.  His 
father  was  in  the  Confederate  army  for  a  short  time,  and  after 
the  war  followed  farming  until  his  death  in  1907.  The  mother 
passed  away  in  1915. 

Sydna  L.  Johnson  was  reared  and  educated  in  Brunswick 
County,  and  served  a  thorough  apprenticeship  in  the  printing 
trade  and  in  the  work  of  a  newspaper  office.  He  has  come  in 
contact  with  the  printing  and  business  departments  of  a  number 
of  newspapers.  Mr.  Johnson  has  been  associated  with  the  Free 
State  Neivs  at  Kenbridge  since  1912,  at  first  as  an  employe,  and 
in  1917  he  bought  the  paper. 

His  personal  time  and  attention  have  been  given  to  the  Netvs 
ever  since  except  for  eighteen  months  while  he  was  with  the 


420  VIRGINIA 

colors  during  the  World  war.  He  was  overseas  and  also  with 
the  Army  of  Occupation  in  Germany.  He  received  his  honorable 
discharge  in  May,  1919,  and  at  once  resumed  the  active  manage- 
ment of  the  Free  State  News.  This  paper  has  a  circulation  of 
1,200  copies,  and  the  plant  also  handles  a  large  volume  of  job 
business. 

Mr.  Johnson  married,  November  12,  1919,  Miss  Lucy  May 
Andrews,  daughter  of  J.  E.  and  Betty  (Smith)  Andrews,  natives 
of  Mecklenburg  County,  where  her  father  is  a  well-to-do  farmer. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  have  two  children :  Jack  Clayton,  born 
December  12,  1924,  and  Ann  Harris,  born  September  12,  1926. 
Mr.  Johnson  is  town  clerk  of  Kenbridge,  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  is  a  Democrat 
and  a  Baptist. 

Hon.  Vincent  L.  Sexton.  A  member  of  the  Virginia  bar 
for  more  than  thirty-five  years,  Hon.  Vincent  L.  Sexton,  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Sexton  &  Sexton  of  Bluefield,  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  large  and  important  interests,  and  during  his  long 
and  distinguished  career  has  been  the  recipient  of  a  number  of 
honors,  admittedly  earning  the  right  to  be  accorded  a  position 
of  leadership  among  the  talented  and  thoroughly  reliable 
attorneys  of  the  county  of  Tazewell. 

Mr.  Sexton  was  born  in  Smyth  County,  Virginia,  September 
1,  1868,  and  is  a  son  of  Thomas  K.  and  Freelove  Elizabeth 
(Thomas)  Sexton.  He  traces  his  ancestry  back  to  his  great- 
great-great-great-great-great-grandfather,  James  Sexton,  of 
Limerick,  Ireland,  who  moved  to  Great  Britain  and  there 
resided  during  the  rest  of  his  life.  The  son  of  James  Sexton  was 
George  Sexton,  Sr.,  who  was  born  in  Great  Britain  and  came 
to  this  country  in  1662,  being  related  to  Thomas  Sexton,  a  well 
known  figure  in  the  early  life  of  Boston,  Massachusetts.  George 
Sexton,  Sr.,  purchased  land  on  the  Warranoke  River  at  West- 
field,  Connecticut,  from  Thomas  Cowper,  and  the  deed,  dated 
June  10,  1663,  is  recorded  on  p.  33,  vol.  1,  of  the  records  of 
deeds  at  Springfield,  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Sexton,  who  is  called 
George  Sexton,  Sr.,  of  Windsor  in  the  History  of  the  Colonies 
of  Connecticut,  first  went  to  Westfield,  Connecticut,  but  did  not 
take  up  his  abode  there  until  1668.  His  time  was  divided  be- 
tween Windsor,  Hartford  and  Boston,  and  it  is  thought  that  his 
business  was  that  of  a  trader.  He  held  the  office  of  "public 
viewer,"  shown  by  the  records  February  5,  1677,  and  again 
March  5,  1678-79,  and  December  9,  1686,  was  chosen  by  Select- 
man Thomas  Noble  to  appraise  the  buildings  of  the  town.  He 
was  a  good  citizen  and  highly  educated  man,  and  died  intestate  in 
1690,  his  fourth  son,  Joseph  Sexton,  being  appointed  admin- 
istrator of  his  estate.  The  records  show  that  his  wife,  Catherine, 
was  connected  with  the  church  in  1690. 

George  Sexton,  Jr.,  son  of  George  Sexton,  Sr.,  and  great- 
great-great-great-grandfather  of  Hon.  Vincent  L.  Sexton,  was 
born  in  England  in  1656,  and  was  about  six  years  of  age  when 
brought  to  America  by  his  parents.  His  wife,  Hannah,  was 
born  at  Westfield,  Connecticut,  September  19,  1658.  He  moved 
with  his  father  to  Huntington,  Long  Island,  and  signed  a  quit- 
claim deed  to  his  father's  estate  January  25,  1689.  It  is  evident 
that  he  either  returned  to  England  or  was  lost  at  sea,  as  he  was 
never  heard  from  afterward.  The  great-great-great-grand- 
father of  Vincent  L.  Sexton,  Charles  Sexton,  was  born  Septem- 
ber 9,   1680,  at  Westfield,  Connecticut,  subsequently  moved  to 


VIRGINIA  421 

Huntington,  Long  Island,  and  later  to  Hopewell,  New  Jersey, 
where  he  became  the  owner  of  a  very  large  estate  and  died  in 
1752.  In  his  will,  made  in  1751,  he  mentions  his  wife,  Sarah, 
but  her  last  name  is  unknown.  Their  son,  Joseph  Sexton,  the 
great-great-grandfather  of  Vincent  L.  Sexton,  was  born  at  Hunt- 
ington, Long  Island,  January  4,  1730,  and  February  4,  1754, 
married  Phebe  Campbell,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Campbell,  of 
Long  Island.  She  was  born  May  5,  1734,  and  died  in  Wythe 
County,  Virginia,  February  14,  1830. 

The  first  of  the  Sexton  family  to  move  to  Virginia  was 
Thomas  Campbell  Sexton.  He  was  born  June  8,  1764,  in  New 
Jersey,  in  which  state  he  married  Charity  Current,  and  th^n 
settled  in  Smyth  County,  Virginia,  where  he  became  a  successful 
planter  and  reared  a  family  of  nine  children.  Among  these  was 
Aaron  Sexton,  who  was  born  in  that  county  April  3,  1793,  spent 
his  life  as  a  planter,  and  died  October  16,  1851.  On  January 
11,  1816,  he  married  Mai'garet  Ann  Feely,  of  Frederick  County, 
Virginia,  who  was  born  in  July,  1795,  but  the  date  of  whose 
death  has  been  lost.  Thomas  K.  Sexton,  the  father  of  Vincent 
L.  Sexton,  was  born  in  Frederick  County,  Virginia,  April  11, 
1821,  and  during  his  career  was  engaged  in  general  merchandis- 
ing and  agricultural  operations  in  Frederick  and  Smyth  counties, 
in  the  latter  of  which  he  died  November  21,  1891.  He  was  a 
Democrat  in  his  political  convictions,  was  fraternally  affiliated 
with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  his  religious 
connection  was  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Elders.  On  December  15,  1847,  Mr. 
Sexton  married  Freelove  Elizabeth  Thomas,  who  was  born  about 
1829,  and  died  in  January,  1874. 

Vincent  L.  Sexton  attended  public  schools,  following  which 
he  became  a  student  in  Emory  and  Henry  College.  His  educa- 
tional career  was  interrupted  at  this  time  by  the  final  illness 
of  his  father,  and  he  returned  to  his  home,  where  he  remained 
in  charge  of  the  elder  man's  estate  until  about  two  years  prior 
to  the  Jatter's  death.  Going  then  to  Marion,  he  took  up  the  study 
of  law  in  the  ortice  of  Capt.  Preston  Sheft'y,  and  in  1892  attended 
the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  studied  under  Hon.  John 
B.  Minor,  professor  of  law  at  the  university.  In  1893  he  was 
admitted  to  practice  after  examination  before  Hon.  John  A. 
Kelly,  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  at  Marion,  and  Hon.  Robert 
A.  Richardson  of  the  Supi-eme  Court  of  Virginia,  and  in  the 
same  year  took  up  his  residence  at  Tazewell,  where  he  remained 
until  1901.  The  following  two  years  were  passed  at  Pocahontas, 
and  he  then  sent  his  family  back  to  Tazewell,  although  con- 
tinuing to  maintain  his  office  at  Pocahontas  until  1918.  In 
1907  he  took  his  nephew  into  partnership,  and  in  1907  moved 
his  family  to  Graham,  this  state.  Three  years  later  he  opened 
an  office  at  Bluefield,  West  Virginia,  although  continuing  his 
office  at  Pocahontas.  This  latter  was  changed  to  Bluefield  in 
1918,  and  here  he  has  since  been  in  charge.  For  a  time  his 
nephew,  Mr.  Roberts,  was  in  charge  of  the  office  at  Bluefield, 
West  Virginia,  but  in  1926  the  partnership  was  dissolved,  and 
Mr.  Sexton  took  in  his  son,  Vincent  L.  Se.xton,  Jr.,  the  firm  since 
having  been  located  at  Bluefield,  Virginia,  engaged  in  the  general 
practice  of  law  as  Sexton  &  Sexton. 

As  one  of  the  strong  and  capable  lawyers  of  the  state  Mr. 
Sexton  has  been  identified  with  much  important  litigation  and 
is  attorney  for  the  Graham  Land  and  Improvement  Company, 
of  which  he  is  also  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors;  the 


422  VIRGINIA 

Graham  Manufacturing  Company;  and  the  Bluefield  (West  Vir- 
ginia) Office  Building  Company,  of  which  he  is  also  vice  presi- 
dent and  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  Since  becoming 
a  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association,  in  1903,  he  has 
been  a  member  of  many  important  committees,  and  belongs  also 
to  the  American  Bar  Association,  the  Sigma  Alpha  Epsilon  and 
the  Virginia  Omicron  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  since 
1895.  An  active  Democrat  in  his  political  affiliation,  he  served 
as  chairman  of  the  County  Central  Committee  for  several  years, 
in  1897  was  elected  mayor  of  Tazewell  and  in  1910  was  elected 
mayor  of  Graham  (now  Bluefield).  With  his  family  he  belongs 
to  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

On  April  23,  1895,  Mr.  Sexton  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Leola  Alderson,  of  Tazewell,  a  member  of  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  distinguished  families  of  Virginia,  and  a  daughter  of 
Col.  Henry  C.  and  Mary  (Chapman)  Alderson,  the  former  of 
whom  is  deceased.  Mrs.  Sexton,  who  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  of  Tazewell  and  under  private  instructors,  has  always 
been  active  in  the  work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  To  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sexton  there  have  been  born  seven  children.  Henry,  the 
eldest,  is  a  graduate  of  the  high  school  at  Bluefield.  In  July, 
1918,  he  enlisted  in  the  Marine  Corps  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
and  was  sent  overseas  as  a  corporal  in  the  Eleventh  Regiment, 
U.  S.  M.  C,  with  which  he  saw  service  in  France  and  was  with 
the  Army  of  Occupation  in  Germany.  Upon  his  return  to  the 
United  States  he  married  Miss  Margaret  Lammers,  of  Bram- 
well.  West  Virginia,  and  then  studied  law  at  the  University  of 
Richmond,  graduated  and  was  admitted  to  practice.  For  about 
one  year  he  was  located  at  Bluefield,  Virginia,  and  then  moved 
to  Bluefield,  West  Virginia,  where  he  has  since  been  engaged 
successfully  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Thomas  Kennedy 
Sexton,  the  second  son,  graduated  from  high  school,  and  volun- 
teered for  service  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years  in  the  same  com- 
pany as  his  brother,  Henry  A.  Sexton.  They  enlisted  about  five 
days  apart  and  were  assigned  to  different  regiments,  but  their 
father  was  able  to  get  them  into  the  same  command  through  the 
aid  of  U.  S.  Senator  Swanson  of  Virginia,  and  the  brothers,  both 
athletes,  played  on  the  army  football  team  while  in  France. 
While  there  Thomas  K.  Sexton  enjoyed  a  course  of  study  at 
Berne  University,  and  upon  his  return  entered  the  University 
of  Virginia,  after  his  graduation  from  which  he  married  Miss 
Nellie  Estes,  of  Roanoke,  Virginia,  and  they  now  reside  at 
Cornice,  West  Virginia,  where  Mr.  Sexton  has  a  position  with 
the  Pocahontas  Coal  Company.  Vincent  L.  Sexton,  Jr.,  third 
son  and  child,  is  a  graduate  of  the  Graham  High  School  and 
took  his  law  degree  at  the  University  of  Virginia  and  William 
and  Mary  College.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  July  1,  1925, 
and  now  is  junior  member  of  the  firm  of  Sexton  &  Sexton,  with 
his  father,  at  Bluefield,  Virginia.  Miss  Mamie  Loise,  eldest 
daughter  and  fourth  child,  is  a  graduate  of  the  high  school  at 
Graham  and  the  State  Normal  School  at  Farmville,  Virginia, 
and  is  now  engaged  in  teaching  school  at  Rocky  Mount,  North 
Carolina.  Miss  Nancy  Elizabeth  Sexton  is  a  graduate  of 
Graham  High  School  and  a  member  of  the  senior  class  at  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  College ;  and  William  Chapman  Sexton  and  Free- 
love  Katheryn  Sexton  are  members,  respectively,  of  the  junior 
and  sophomore  classes  in  high  school. 


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WILLIAM    CHARLES   SMITH 


VIRGINIA  423 

William  Charles  Smith.  From  a  period  before  the  Civil 
war  until  recent  years  one  of  the  most  important  industries  of 
the  city  of  Richmond  was  the  carriage  manufacturing  establish- 
ment carried  on  by  members  of  the  Smith  family. 

One  of  the  active  men  in  this  business  was  the  late  William 
C.  Smith,  who  was  born  at  Richmond  in  1841  and  died  in  that 
city  in  January.  1917.  He  was  one  of  the  four  children  of  W.  C. 
and  Mary  (Scott)  Smith.  His  father  was  a  carriage  manufac- 
turer, founder  and  proprietor  for  many  years  of  the  W.  C.  Smith 
Carriage  Manufacturing  Company,  and  was  also  one  of  the 
prominent  citizens  of  Richmond  in  his  time. 

William  C.  Smith,  Jr.,  was  educated  in  private  schools  at 
Richmond  before  the  war,  and  as  a  young  man  became  associated 
with  his  father's  manufacturing  business.  After  the  death  of 
his  father  he  carried  it  on  individually  and  subsequently  estab- 
lished a  similar  business  of  his  own. 

He  married,  October  12,  1866,  Maria  Louisa  Locknane,  of 
Richmond,  where  she  was  reared  and  educated.  Her  parents 
were  John  Marshall  and  Margaret  (McNivin)  Locknane,  her 
father  a  planter.  She  had  one  brother,  John  Marshall  Locknane, 
who  became  a  well  known  Richmond  contractor. 

Mrs.  Smith,  who  resides  at  2515  Fifth  Avenue  in  Richmond, 
is  the  mother  of  two  children.  Her  son,  Howard  Marshall,  was 
educated  in  Richmond  and  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Maryland.  He  married  Edith  Damon,  of  Connecticut,  and  has 
two  children.  Miss  Norma  Elizabeth  and  Miss  Edith  Marshall. 
Mrs.  Smith's  daughter,  Lelia  Scott,  is  the  wife  of  Horace  G. 
Buchanan,  a  Richmond  attorney.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Buchanan  have 
two  sons:  Horace  G.  II,  who  married  Miss  Michaux  Frances 
and  has  two  sons,  Horace  G.  Ill  and  William  Michaux ;  and 
William  Tazwell,  who  is  now  commonwealth  attorney  of  Gooch- 
land County,  Virginia,  secretary  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  and 
affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  Knights  of  Pythias. 

Benjamin  Thomas  Fisher  grew  up  on  the  Eastern  Shore, 
learned  the  printing  trade  when  a  boy,  and  since  1912  has  been 
editor  and  publisher  of  the  Eastern  Shore  Herald  at  Eastville. 

He  was  born  at  Locustville,  in  Accomac  County,  May  15, 
1879,  son  of  James  A.  and  Sue  E.  (Addison)  Fisher,  both  natives 
of  Northampton  County.  His  father  was  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Confederate  army.  He  owned  and  operated  a  farm  in  Accomac 
County,  and  for  many  years  was  in  the  lighthouse  service  in 
both  Accomac  and  Northampton  counties,  and  held  the  office  of 
commissioner  of  revenue  for  Northampton  County  and  also 
served  as  sheriff  of  the  same  county.  He  died  April  2,  1892, 
and  his  wife  in  March,  1924. 

Benjamin  Thomas  Fisher  was  reared  and  educated  in  North- 
ampton County,  attended  public  and  private  schools,  and  left 
school  to  learn  the  printing  trade.  He  had  a  journeyman's 
experience  on  a  number  of  newspapers  prior  to  1912,  when  he 
acquired  the  Eastern  Shore  Herald.  The  Herald  is  a  member 
of  the  Virginia  Press  Association,  and  approximately  2,500 
copies  of  every  issue  are  distributed  throughout  Northampton 
and  adjacent  counties.  Mr.  Fisher  also  does  a  large  amount  of 
commercial  printing. 

He  married,  in  June.  1910,  Miss  Ruth  A.  Tyler,  daughter  of 
John  S.  Tyler,  who  was  born  in  Accomac  County  and  was  a 
Confederate  soldier,  and  after  the  war  was  in  business  as  a 
merchant,  and  at  one  time  was  candidate  for  governor  of  Vir- 


424  VIRGINIA 

ginia  on  the  Prohibition  ticket.  He  died  in  1924.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Fisher  have  four  children:  Ann  Walston,  Mary  Rose,  James 
Tyler  and  Nora. 

Mr.  Fisher  is  a  citizen  who  has  been  alive  to  his  responsi- 
bilities in  the  community.  He  takes  an  active  part  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  is  owner  of  some  farming  interests,  and  for  some 
time  served  as  commissioner  of  wrecks.  He  is  a  Baptist,  and 
Mrs.  Fisher  is  a  member  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Con- 
federacy. 

James  Henry  Fitts,  who  died  July  24,  1893,  was  a  well 
known  Virginian.  He  served  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  United  States 
Navy,  and  after  resigning  from  the  navy  he  spent  a  number  of 
years  as  member  of  the  faculty  of  the  Virginia  Polytechnic 
Institute  at  Blacksburg. 

Mr.  Fitts  married,  June  7,  1883,  Mary  Mayo  Blair,  who  sur- 
vives him  and  resides  in  Richmond,  at  3216  Hawthorne  Avenue. 
She  is  now  the  widow  of  Samuel  H.  Hawes.  By  her  marriage 
with  Lieutenant  Fitts  there  are  two  children. 

The  son,  John  Blair  Fitts,  was  educated  in  Richmond  schools, 
graduated  from  Hampden-Sidney  College,  the  Medical  College 
of  Virginia,  the  Boston  Children's  Hospital  and  the  Massa- 
chusetts General  Hospital.  He  is  an  orthopedic  surgeon  of  high 
attainments.  He  was  a  first  lieutenant  in  France  for  twenty- 
two  months  during  the  World  war.  Doctor  Fitts  married  Marion 
E.  Manthius,  of  Massachusetts,  and  has  four  children,  Maryetta. 
John  Blair  Jr.,  Ruth  Morton  and  James  Henry  V. 

The  second  son,  Francis  Moylan  Fitts,  was  educated  in 
Hampden-Sidney  College,  the  Richmond  School  of  Medicine, 
spent  some  time  in  the  Roosevelt  Hospital  at  New  York,  and 
in  1916  enlisted  in  a  French  Ambulance  Corps.  In  1917,  on 
returning  home,  he  joined  the  Regular  Army  with  the  rank  of 
first  lieutenant  in  the  Medical  Corps  and  subsequently  was 
promoted  to  major  and  remained  in  the  service  until  1922.  He 
was  sent  to  Poland  on  typhus  relief  and  for  a  time  was  with  the 
Army  of  Occupation  at  Coblentz,  Germany.  He  married,  April 
11,  1922,  at  Nancy,  France,  Marie  Janet  Crousier. 

John  H.  Cole  commonwealth's  attorney  of  Sussex  County, 
is  a  member  of  the  law  firm  Cocke  &  Cole  at  Stony  Creek.  His 
partner  is  his  uncle,  William  B.  Cocke,  former  state  senator 
and  member  of  a  family  that  has  been  prominent  in  the  legal 
profession  in  Virginia  for  several  generations. 

John  H.  Cole  was  born  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  August  25, 
1895,  son  of  Frank  W.  and  Sue  (Cocke)  Cole,  his  father  a 
native  of  Greenville  County  and  his  mother  of  Sussex  County. 
Both  the  Cocke  and  Cole  families  came  to  Virginia  about  1732. 
His  grandfather,  John  Cole,  operated  the  first  hotel  at  Peters- 
burg, Virginia,  known  as  the  old  Jarratt  Hotel.  This  hotel 
occupied  part  of  the  site  of  the  present  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railway  Station.  John  Cole  also  conducted  a  stage  coach  line 
between  Petersburg  and  Richmond.  Frank  W.  Cole  was  in  the 
insurance  business  at  Richmond  for  a  number  of  years,  he  died 
in  November,  1917,  and  his  wife  passed  away  in  December, 
1907.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Judge  Charles  L.  Cocke,  of  Sus- 
sex County. 

John  H.  Cole  was  reared  and  educated  in  Sussex  County, 
graduating  from  high  school  in  1914.  In  order  to  support  him- 
self while  preparing  for  the  law  he  learned  stenography  and 


VIRGINIA  425 

was  employed  in  an  office  at  Richmond  while  atending  night 
classes  in  law.  He  also  studied  at  the  University  of  Virginia 
and  also  had  instruction  in  law  from  his  grandfather.  Judge 
Cocke,  and  his  uncle,  Senator  William  Cocke.  Mr.  Cole  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  December,  1920,  and  since  that  date  has 
been  in  practice  at  Stony  Creek.  The  firm  has  a  very  extensive 
practice  in  all  the  courts. 

Mr.  Cole  was  elected  commonwealth's  attorney  for  Sussex 
County  August  2,  1927.  For  several  years  he  was  judge  of  the 
Juvenile  and  Domestic  Relations  Court  of  Sussex  and  Surry 
counties  and  for  several  years  was  recorder  and  treasurer  for 
the  town  of  Stony  Creek.  During  the  World  war  period  he  was 
deputy  clerk  of  court  in  Surry  County.  He  enlisted  for  service 
during  the  war  but  was  rejected  on  account  of  weight  and 
heighth. 

Mr.  Cole  married,  October  9,  1925,  Miss  Louise  T.  Clements, 
daughter  of  Rev.  P.  H.  and  Cora  (Coffee)  Clements,  both  natives 
of  Amherst  County,  Virginia.  Her  father  is  a  mini.ster  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  has  completed  a  four 
year  pastorate  at  Stony  Creek  Church.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cole  have 
one  daughter,  Harriett  Louise,  born  November  12,  1926.  Mr. 
Cole  is  worshipful  master  of  Edwards  Lodge  No.  308,  A.  F.  and 

A.  M.,  at  Stony  Creek  and  a  member  of  the  Modern  Woodmen 
of  America,  is  a  Democrat  in  politics  and  belongs  to  the  Episco- 
pal Church. 

James  Noah  Greear,  physician  and  surgeon  at  Saint  Paul, 
has  been  in  that  community  of  Wise  County  nearly  all  his  life. 
His  diploma  as  a  doctor  of  medicine  was  not  merely  a  key  to 
unlock  the  door  of  material  prosperity,  but  did  unlock  a  door 
of  gi'eat  service  to  his  fellow  men,  and  the  riches  and  honors 
of  service  have  been  more  important  than  material  rewards 
with  this  good  and  kindly  doctor,  who  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine  is 
still  constant  and  diligent  in  his  chosen  woi-k.  He  is  going  and 
coming  night  and  day  in  the  performance  of  his  duties  through- 
out the  country  around  Saint  Paul. 

Doctor  Greear  was  born  near  Coeburn,  Wise  County,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1859,  and  is  a  descendant  of  William  Greear,  an 
Englishman  who  settled  in  Loudoun  County,  Virginia,  in  Colonial 
times.  He  was  named  for  his  grandfather,  Noah  Greear,  a 
native  of  Grayson  County,  Virginia,  a  farmer  in  that  county  and 
in  Scott  County.  Doctor  Greear's  father,  Francis  B.  Greear, 
was  born  in  Grayson  County,  June  22,  1819,  and  as  a  youth 
came  under  the  influence  of  a  famous  educator,  James  Hagan. 
He  himself  became  a  teacher,  working  in  private  schools  in 
Scott  and  Grayson  counties  until  1851,  and  then  took  up  farm- 
ing. For  many  years  he  lived  in  the  Coeburn  community,  divid- 
ing his  time  between  his  farm  and  a  school.  During  the  Civil 
war  he  was  a  Union  Democrat,  and  afterwards  became  a  Repub- 
lican.   For  many  years  he  held  the  oflice  of  magistrate.    Francis 

B.  Greear  died  February  21,  1908.  He  married,  in  1851,  Miss 
Sarah  Mullens,  who  died  in  1852,  and  in  1854  he  married  Pris- 
cilla  Stallard.  She  was  born  in  Scott  County  in  1828,  and  died 
March  31,  1905. 

James  Noah  Greear  was  one  of  a  family  of  eight  children. 
He  grew  up  on  the  homestead  farm  near  Coeburn,  attended 
private  and  public  schools,  graduated  from  the  Abingdon  Dis- 
trict High  School  in  1880  and  pursuvd  his  medical  studies  at 
the  University  of  Virginia.     He  was  graduated  with  the  class 


426  VIRGINIA 

of  1883,  and  during  1884-85  continued  his  training  in  the  New 
York  Polyclinic  School  of  Medicine,  to  which  he  later  returned 
as  a  student  in  1890-91.  Doctor  Greear  first  practiced  at  Bickley 
Mills,  later  known  as  Castlewood,  from  1892  to  1895  had  his 
home  at  Toms  Creek  in  Wise  County,  and  since  1895  has  been 
at  Saint  Paul.  He  has  conducted  a  general  practice,  and  in  point 
of  continuous  service  is  now  one  of  the  oldest  physicians  in  this 
section  of  Virginia.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  Virginia. 

Doctor  Greear  is  a  Democrat,  has  been  a  trustee  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity.  He  married,  June  17,  1886,  Miss  Bessie  E.  Earnest, 
daughter  of  Isaac  and  Victoria  (Burts)  Earnest.  She  was 
educated  in  Martha  Washington  College  at  Abingdon  and  the 
Asheville  Female  College  at  Asheville,  North  Carolina.  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Greear  had  ten  children,  and  two  of  the  sons  were  with 
the  colors  at  the  time  of  the  World  war.  Gertrude  Gerster,  the 
oldest  child,  married  Howard  Martin,  a  civil  engineer.  Dora 
Cabell  married  N.  D.  Spinedon,  an  electrical  engineer.  Ashby 
Virginia  became  the  wife  of  Clifford  McCall,  a  cotton  buyer. 
Frances  Norvell  married  Berkeley  S.  Gillespie,  a  civil  engineer 
and  road  contractor.  James  Noah,  Jr.,  the  oldest  son,  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Virginia  School  of  Medicine  in  1920, 
during  the  World  war  was  in  the  Medical  Reserve  Corps  while 
a  student  at  the  university,  and  has  specialized  in  eye,  ear,  nose 
and  throat  practice.  Helen  Louise,  the  sixth  child,  died  at  the 
age  of  two  years  and  one  month.  Frederick  Bonham  volunteered 
in  April,  1918,  was  in  training  with  the  Tank  Corps,  went  to 
France  in  August,  1918,  and  received  his  honorable  discharge 
in  May,  1919.  He  took  the  law  course  at  the  University  of 
Virginia.  The  younger  children  are:  Lynn  Earnest,  Burton 
Mayre  and  Mary  Elizabeth. 

Hon.  Richard  Mason  McCarty,  commissioner  of  revenue  of 
Fauquier  County,  had  an  honorable  business  record  behind  him 
when  he  was  elected  to  his  present  office  which  showed  earnest 
effort,  useful  endeavor  and  constructive  accomplishment.  A 
man  of  stainless  character,  upright  and  able,  he  is  well  fitted 
to  handle  the  problems  of  his  present  position,  and  the  interests 
of  his  constituents  are  in  safe  hands.  He  was  born  in  Loudoun 
County,  Virginia,  February  19,  1879,  a  son  of  Richard  C.  and 
Martha  (Megeath)  McCarty,  both  of  whom  were  born  in 
Loudoun  County.  During  the  war  between  the  states  the  father 
served  in  Company  K,  Sixth  Virginia  Cavalry,  and  when  peace 
was  declared  he  returned  home  and  patiently  took  up  the  burdens 
of  the  reconstruction  period,  and  was  engaged  in  farming  the 
remainder  of  his  useful  and  honorable  life,  dying  in  Fauquier 
County,  to  which  section  he  had  moved  in  1881,  the  date  of  his 
death  being  April,  1921.  The  mother  died  many  years  before 
him,  passing  away  in  1897. 

Given  the  advantages  offered  by  the  local  schools  of  Fauquier 
County  and  the  Cleveland  High  School,  a  private  institution 
where  he  spent  two  years,  Richard  Mason  McCarty  is  well  edu- 
cated, and  has  added  to  this  early  training  by  close  observation 
and  contact  with  men  of  affairs.  Until  he  was  of  age  he  re- 
mained on  the  farm  with  his  parents,  but  after  he  reached  his 
majority  he  went  to  Delaplane,  Virginia,  and  for  seven  years 
was  bookkeeper  for  Delaplane  Brothers,  and  when  he  left  their 
employ  he  remained   in  the   place  for   seventeen   years   more, 


I 


I 


VIRGINIA  427 

engaged  in  the  mercantile  business.  In  1920  he  came  to  Warren- 
ton,  and  for  seven  years  thereafter  successfully  conducted  a 
flourishing  automobile  business,  but  when  he  was  elected  in 
November,  1927,  commissioner  of  revenue  for  Fauquier  County, 
for  a  term  of  four  years,  he  disposed  of  those  interests  so  as 
to  devote  all  of  his  time  to  the  duties  of  his  office. 

On  October  20,  1917,  Mr.  McCarty  married  Miss  Katherine 
McCarty,  a  daughter  of  Dennis  and  Katherine  (Blackmore) 
McCarty,  natives  of  Fauquier  County.  Dennis  McCarty  was  a 
life  long  farmer  of  Farquier  County  until  his  retirement,  since 
which  time  he  has  lived  at  Delaplane.  His  wife  died  in  1917. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCarty  of  this  review  have  one  child,  Katherine, 
who  was  born  March  19,  1919.  While  at  Delaplane  Mr.  McCarty 
served  on  the  school  board,  having  been  elected  to  it  on  the 
Democratic  ticket,  and  he  was  a  regular  candidate  of  his  party 
when  he  was  elected  to  his  present  office.  He  belongs  to  Ashby 
Lodge  No.  232,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Markham,  Virginia;  Fauquier 
Chapter  No.  25,  R.  A.  M. ;  Piedmont  Commandery  No.  26,  K.  T., 
the  last  two  connections  being  maintained  at  The  Plains,  Vir- 
ginia ;  and  Acca  Temple,  A.  A.  0.  N.  M.  S.,  Richmond.  Through 
his  father's  gallant  service  in  the  cavalry  he  holds  membership 
in  the  Sons  of  Confederate  Veterans.  In  religious  faith  he  is 
an  Episcopalian.  The  McCarty  residence  in  Warrenton  is  one 
of  the  most  desirable  homes  of  the  city,  and  here  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
McCarty  entertain  their  many  friends  with  true  Southern 
hospitality. 

Edward  Warren  Powell  was  a  successful  business  man  of 
Richmond  who  began  taking  an  active  part  in  the  commercial 
affairs  of  the  city  about  the  close  of  the  war  and  recon-struction 
era,  and  gave  the  city  its  business  leadership  during  the  last 
quarter  of  the  past  century. 

He  was  born  in  Henrico  County.  February  23,  1851,  and  died 
at  Richmond,  November  5,  1901,  a  son  of  George  Warren  and 
Mary  (Allen)  Powell. 

The  late  Mr.  Powell  attended  school  in  Henrico  County,  and 
his  first  training  in  commercial  lines  was  in  the  grocery  business. 
He  was  identified  with  the  grocery  business  more  or  less  actively 
the  greater  part  of  his  life,  and  also  for  many  years  was  inter- 
ested in  the  ice,  wood  and  coal  business.  He  became  prosperous, 
but  did  not  give  all  his  time  exclusively  to  trade.  He  was  much 
interested  in  local  politics  as  a  Democrat  and  served  three  term.? 
as  county  supervisor.  Mr.  Powell  was  for  forty-three  years  a 
member  of  the  Grace  Sti'eet  Baptist  Church  at  Richmond.  He 
was  a  charter  member  of  the  Chosen  Friends,  and  belonged  to 
the  Knights  of  Honor. 

His  first  wife  was  Woody  C.  Walton,  and  by  that  union  there 
were  eight  children.  On  February  10,  1886,  he  married  Mary 
Hood  Joynes,  of  Richmond,  where  she  was  educated  in  the  Miss 
Griffin's  School.  Mrs.  Powell,  who  survives  him  and  resides  at 
2016  West  Main  Street,  is  a  daughter  of  John  L.  and  Catherine 
S.  (Floyd)  Joynes.  Her  father,  John  L.  Joynes,  served  four 
years  in  General  Lee's  army  during  the  war  between  the  states, 
and  died  in  1871.  For  many  years  he  was  in  business  as  a 
grocer.  Mrs.  Powell's  uncle,  Joseph  Walker  Floyd,  was  a  South 
Carolina  planter,  and  during  the  war  lost  his  right  arm  in  action. 
After  the  war  he  became  a  lieutenant  governor  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  lived  at  Liberty  Hill,  South  Carolina.  J.  Walker  Floyd 
married  Hattie  Pittis  and  had  five  children.     Mrs.  Powell  is  a 

20— VOL.  3 


428  VIRGINIA 

sister  of  William  Henry  Joynes,  chief  of  the  fire  department  of 
Richmond,  and  another  brother  is  Joseph  Berry  Floyd  Joynes,  a 
merchant  at  Newport  News.  Mrs.  Powell  has  six  children: 
Bessie  L.  is  the  wife  of  G.  F.  Burton,  of  Richmond,  and  has  two 
children,  named  G.  F.,  Jr.,  and  Mary  Elizabeth ;  the  second 
daughter  is  Miss  Ruby  B. ;  Margarette  F.  married  Robert  C. 
Toler,  and  has  a  son,  Robert  Warren ;  Louis  Ayres  Powell,  con- 
nected with  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  is  married 
and  has  two  sons,  Louis  A.,  Jr.,  and  Joseph  Mann ;  Violet  E. 
Powell  married  Arthur  E.  Christian,  and  their  children  are 
Arthur  E.,  Jr.,  and  Nell  Winfry;  Grace  Elizabeth,  the  youngest 
of  the  family,  is  the  wife  of  Terry  V.  Snow. 

Cora  Stanwood  Darden.  Darden's  Preparatory  School  in 
Portsmouth  has  for  its  principal  a  woman  who  has  given  her 
life  to  educational  work — Cora  Stanwood  Darden.  Mrs.  Darden 
has  had  remarkable  success  in  preparing  youth  for  higher  insti- 
tutions of  learning. 

Her  father,  Robert  Stanwood,  a  beloved  and  honored  citizen 
of  Portsmouth,  was  the  grandson  of  Deacon  Samuel  Stanwood, 
of  Brunswick,  Maine. 

Samuel  Stanwood,  the  son  of  Deacon  Samuel  Stanwood  and 
father  of  Robert  Stanwood,  was  a  navigator  and  captain  of 
merchant  vessels  which  sailed  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Sophie  Anne  Edwards,  the  mother  of  Robert  Stanwood,  was 
the  daughter  of  Oney  Edwards,  of  Portsmouth. 

Ephraim  Stanwood,  a  great-great-uncle,  of  Brunswick, 
Maine,  was  a  veteran  of  the  War  of  1812. 

Mrs.  Darden's  mother,  Martha  Vaughan,  was  the  daughter 
of  Jack  Vaughan  and  Martha  Lee,  of  Nansemond  County.  The 
Vaughans  were  among  the  early  Colonial  settlers.  Martha  Lee 
was  the  daughter  of  Henry  Lee  and  Betsy  Pipkin,  of  Gates 
County,  North  Carolina.  Henry  Lee  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary war. 

The  twelve  sons  and  daughters  of  this  family  grew  to  be 
men  and  women  of  outstanding  ability. 

No  descendant  of  more  real  worth  came  from  the  Lee  family 
than  the  granddaughter,  Martha  Vaughan  Stanwood,  who  lived 
to  honor  her  family  until  her  eighty-fifth  year.  A  woman  of 
magnificent  spirit  and  courage !  A  real  heritage  to  her  descend- 
ants is  the  life  of  this  splendid  woman. 

Samuel  James  Stanwood,  the  only  surviving  son  of  Robert 
and  Martha  Vaughan  Stanwood,  is  a  veteran  of  the  Spanish- 
American  war. 

Mrs.  Darden  was  educated  in  Mrs.  Jenkins'  Classical  School 
in  Portsmouth.  She  has  taken  extension  work  from  Harvard 
University,  Wake  Forest  College,  William  and  Mary  College 
and  the  University  of  Virginia.  She  taught  in  the  public  schools 
of  Nansemond  and  Norfolk  counties,  Virginia,  and  Hertford 
County,  North  Carolina.  Later  she  taught  mathematics  in  the 
following  schools :  Franklin  Seminary,  Virginia ;  Martin  Col- 
lege, Tennessee ;  Logan  College,  Kentucky ;  Grenada  College, 
Mississippi. 

Paul  Fisher  Darden  and  Cora  Lee  Stanwood  were  married  at 
the  home  of  her  brother-in-law  and  sister,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richard 
Beaman,  in  Nansemond  County  June  28,  1905. 

The  Dardens  came  in  Colonial  times  and  settled  in  the  forks 
of  the  Nottoway  and  Blackwater  rivers,  now  a  part  of  South- 
ampton County. 


VIRGINIA  429 

Paul  Fisher  Darden,  who  was  born  near  Murfreesboro,  North 
Carolina,  in  1865,  was  a  great-grandson  of  Jacob  Darden,  one 
of  the  pioneer  Baptist  preachers  of  Virginia.  Jacob  Darden 
represented  his  people  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Assembly 
and  was  the  founder  of  two  Baptist  Churches — prosperous 
churches  today — the  Meherrin  and  the  Murfreesboro  churches. 

Paul  Darden  was  the  grandson  of  William  Darden  and  Jane 
Jenkins  and  the  son  of  George  Darden  and  Missouri  Eley,  of 
Hertford  County,  North  Carolina.  George  Darden  was  a  Con- 
federate veteran. 

Paul  Darden  was  educated  at  Coal  Spring  Academy,  Hertford 
County.  He  worked  for  the  Camp  Manufacturing  Company  for 
many  years.  He  received  his  training  in  civil  engineering  in 
North  Cai-olina  State  College.  As  an  engineer  his  work  for 
the  Camp  Manufacturing  Company  continued  throughout  his 
life.  He  served  as  city  engineer  of  Suffolk  and  county  engineer 
of  Southampton. 

During  the  World  war  Paul  Darden  served  his  country 
loyally  by  the  work  he  performed  daily  in  the  Norfolk  Navy 
Yard.     He  died  in  San  Angelo,  Texas,  in  December,  1920. 

After  her  marriage  Mrs.  Darden  retired  from  formal  edu- 
cational work  but  later  she  began  individual  instruction  in 
mathematics  and  English. 

During  the  World  war  Mrs.  Darden  instructed  two  hundred 
young  men  in  mathematics — these  men,  who  represented  twenty- 
three  states,  were  enlisted  in  the  United  States  Navy.  Because 
of  the  skill  shown  in  training  these  men  Mrs.  Darden  received 
the  highest  commendation  from  the  secretary  of  the  navy. 

Mrs.  Darden  has  splendid  success  in  training  young  men  for 
the  annual  entrance  examinations  to  the  United  States  Naval 
Academy  at  Annapolis,  Maryland. 

Mrs.  Darden  is  a  member  of  the  City  School  Board,  the  Bus- 
iness and  Professional  Woman's  Club,  League  of  Women  Voters, 
Housewives  League,  National  Education  Association,  League  of 
Administrative  Women  in  Education,  Park  View  W.  C.  T.  U. 
and  Court  Street  Baptist  Church. 

A.  Berkeley  Carrington,  an  outstanding  representative  of 
the  gi'eat  tobacco  interests  centered  at  Danville,  is  a  descendant 
of  the  distinguished  Carrington  family,  which  in  various 
branches  and  through  the  services  of  individuals  has  exerted  a 
continuous  influence  in  the  aff"airs  of  the  state  since  early 
Colonial  times. 

He  was  born  in  Farmville,  Virginia,  January  27,  1862,  son 
of  Rev.  A.  B.  and  Fannie  (Venable)  Carrington,  and  grandson 
of  Paul  S.  Carrington,  all  native  Virginians.  His  father  was 
educated  at  Washington  College ;  served  four  years  as  chaplain 
in  Gen.  Stonewall  Jackson's  Corps ;  gave  almost  a  lifetime  to  the 
service  of  the  Presbyterian  Church ;  and  died  in  1912,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-seven. 

A.  Berkeley  Carrington  lived  in  Charlotte  County  Virginia, 
from  his  infancy  until  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  obtaining  a 
public  school  education. 

In  1878,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  came  to  Danville  to  live 
with  his  uncle,  the  late  Paul  C.  Venable,  who  was  engaged  in 
the  tobacco  business  at  that  time.  He  has  made  a  notable  suc- 
cess in  business  through  his  industry  and  persevering  attention 
to  a  rising  scale  of  responsibilities.  Since  1890  he  has  been  with 
Dibrell  Brothers,  Inc.,  and  president  of  that  corporation  since 


430  VIRGINIA 

1915.  This  is  one  of  the  largest  of  Virginia's  great  tobacco 
companies.  Colonel  Carrington  is  president  of  the  Tobacco 
Association  of  the  United  States. 

He  is  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Danville,  is  a 
former  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  of  the  City 
Council  of  Danville,  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Hampden-Sidney  College,  is  a  York  and  Scottish  Rite  Mason 
and  Shriner,  and  was  president  of  the  Masonic  Building  Cor- 
poration when  the  Masonic  Temple  was  erected  at  Danville.  He 
is  a  Presbyterian. 

He  married,  in  1891,  Mary  Taylor,  daughter  of  Albert  G. 
and  Eliza  (Burks)  Taylor.  They  have  three  children,  A.  Berke- 
ley Jr.,  Charles  Venable  and  Mary  Taylor.  Colonel  Carrington 
held  the  rank  of  colonel  on  the  staff  of  Governor  Montague. 

Harry  Burns  Trundle,  general  manager  of  the  Danville 
Register  and  Bee,  has  been  a  newspaper  man  practically  all  his 
life  and  has  had  thirty  years  of  active  connection  with  the  daily 
press  of  Danville. 

He  was  born  in  Frederick  County,  Maryland,  December  26, 
1875,  and  is  descended  from  a  family  that  came  to  America  from 
England  during  the  1700s,  settling  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Mary- 
land, but  chiefly  at  Carroll's  Manor,  in  Frederick  County,  Mary- 
land. Mr.  Trundle's  great-grandmother  was  Mary  Burns,  a 
niece  of  the  Scotch  poet,  Robert  Burns.  Mr.  Trundle  is  a  son 
of  Joseph  H.  and  Emily  Baker  (Thomas)  Trundle.  His  father 
was  reared  and  educated  in  Frederick  County,  was  a  soldier  of 
the  Confederacy  with  the  Thirty-fifth  Virginia  Cavalry  and  Col. 
Elijah  B.  White  of  Loudoun  County,  and  participated  in  battles 
in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  at  Gettysburg  and  elsewhere  during 
the  last  three  years  of  the  war.  After  the  war  he  became  a 
Maryland  farmer  and  subsequently  was  in  the  passenger  service 
of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railway  Company  until  he  retired.  He 
died  in  August,  1925,  and  his  widow  is  now  seventy-six  and 
resides  at  Frederick.  He  was  born  and  reared  in  that  county, 
attended  private  schools  and  has  been  a  lifelong  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church.  Her  parents  were  Charles  Edward  and  Eliza- 
beth (Dutrow)  Thomas.  Harry  Burns  Trundle  was  the  second 
in  a  family  of  three  children.  Her  sister  Emily  Maud  is  the 
widow  of  John  Wood,  Jr.,  who  was  an  attorney  at  Frederick, 
Maryland.  The  other  sister.  Miss  Bertha  Thomas  Trundle,  lives 
in  Frederick. 

Harry  Burns  Trundle  was  educated  in  public  and  private 
schools  at  Frederick,  and  immediately  after  leaving  school  took 
up  newspaper  work,  spending  several  years  with  the  Frederick 
Daily  News.  In  1899,  when  he  was  twenty-four  years  of  age, 
he  ioined  the  office  of  the  Daily  Bee  at  Danville,  then  published 
by  Col.  Al  Fairbrother.  In  May,  1900,  the  late  R.  A.  James 
acquired  the  Bee,  having  previously  acquired  the  Register,  and 
since  that  date  Mr.  Trundle  has  been  associated  with  these  two 
publications,  and  for  many  years  has  been  general  manager. 
The  only  intervals  to  his  service  with  these  papers,  the  only 
daily  publications  in  Danville,  was  one  year  while  he  was  in  the 
advertising  business  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  and  six  months  while 
he  was  publishing  the  Journal  at  Manassas,  Virginia. 

Mr.  Trundle  is  a  director  of  the  Danville  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, is  a  director  of  the  Mutual  Building  &  Loan  Association 
and  is  a  past  exalted  ruler  of  the  Danville  Lodge  of  Elks  and  a 
member  of  the  Grand  Lodge.     For  several  years  he  was  also 


» 


I 


J^  ' 


r/v. 


VIRGINIA  431 

much  interested  in  the  work  of  the  Kiwanis  Club.  In  Masonry 
he  is  afHliated  with  Marotock  Lodge  No.  210,  A.  F.  and  A.  M., 
and  Euclid  Chapter  of  Royal  Arch  Masons.  He  is  a  director 
from  the  Fifth  Congressional  District  to  the  Virginia  Press  As- 
sociation and  is  a  member  of  the  Southern  Newspaper  Pub- 
lishers Association.  Mr.  Trundle  is  a  Democrat,  and  for  a 
number  of  years  was  a  member  of  the  vestry  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  and  a  teacher  in  Sunday  school. 

He  married  at  Danville,  September  19,  1900,  Miss  Eloise 
Redd  Arrington.  She  attended  public  school  at  Danville  and 
Chatham  Episcopal  Institute.  She  has  an  active  part  in  church 
work,  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Society  of  Colonial  Dames 
and  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  and  is  former 
historian  of  the  local  chapter  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the 
Confederacy.  Her  father,  Christopher  Arrington,  was  a  mer- 
chant in  Danville,  where  he  died  at  a  comparatively  early  age. 
Her  mother,  Ann  Marshall  (Dillard)  Arrington,  resides  at  Dan- 
ville. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Trundle  had  four  children:  Wilson  Burns, 
Dillard  Arrington  (who  died  in  infancy),  Joseph  White  and 
Ann  Dillard  Trundle.  Wilson  Burns  Trundle  was  educated  at 
Danville  and  in  1923  graduated  from  the  United  States  Naval 
Academy  at  Annapolis,  was  commissioned  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Marine  Corps  and  later  was  attached  to  the  Aviation  Corps. 
In  January,  1929,  he  resigned  to  become  chief  pilot  of  the  United 
States  Air  Transport  at  Washington.  Joseph  White  Trundle 
attended  private  and  public  schools  at  Danville,  and  is  now 
taking  the  pre-law  course  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  The 
only  daughter  is  a  senior  in  the  George  Washington  High  School 
at  Danville. 

Mr.  Trundle  was  elected  president  of  the  Virginia  Press  As- 
sociation at  the  forty-first  annual  convention  held  at  Danville 
July  18-20,  1929. 

Thomas  Overton  Moss  is  one  of  the  representative  younger 
members  of  the  bar  of  Richmond,  the  fair  old  capital  city  of 
his  native  state,  has  the  rank  of  lieutenant  commander  of  the 
Reserve  Corps  of  the  United  'States  Navy,  was  in  overseas 
service  in  the  World  war,  and  is  now  an  aide-de-camp  on  the 
military  staff  of  the  governor  of  Virginia. 

Mr.  Moss  was  born  in  Hanover  County,  Virginia,  in  1893, 
and  in  this  state  likewise  were  born  his  parents,  Thomas  0. 
and  Nina  (Wood)  Moss.  After  having  completed  higher  aca- 
demic studies  in  Hampden-Sidney  College,  Mr.  Moss  became  a 
student  in  the  law  department  of  Richmond  College,  in  which 
he  was  graduated  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  bar.  After 
receiving  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  he  was  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Richmond  until  the  nation  entered 
the  World  war,  in  the  spring  of  1917.  He  forthwith  volunteered 
for  service  in  the  Lhiited  States  Navy,  in  which  he  rose  from  the 
rank  of  seaman  to  that  of  ensign  and  finally  won  promotion  to 
a  junior  lieutenancy.  He  was  in  active  service  on  the  French 
coast,  and  after  i-emaining  overseas  nine  months  he  was  assigned 
to  the  United  States  Naval  Academy  as  a  student.  After  the 
close  of  the  war  he  received  his  honorable  discharge  and  was 
made  a  reserve  officer  of  the  United  States  Navy,  in  which  he 
now  has  the  rank  of  lieutenant  commander,  he  having  been  the 
youngest  officer  of  this  rank  in  the  reserve  body  of  the  navy 
at  the  time  he  was  advanced  to  the  office.  By  appointment  by 
Governor  Byrd  he  is  now  a  member  of  the  military  staff  of 


432  VIRGINIA 

Virginia's  chief  executive.  After  receiving  his  honorable  dis- 
charge Mr.  Moss  resumed  his  law  practice  in  Richmond,  and 
his  ability  and  personal  popularity  have  enabled  him  to  build 
up  a  very  substantial  and  representative  law  business  in  the 
capital  city. 

Mr.  Moss  has  received  the  thirty-second  degree  of  the  Scottish 
Rite  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  besides  being  a  Noble  of  the 
Mystic  Shrine,  and  he  is  a  popular  member  of  the  University 
Club  in  his  home  city,  besides  which  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  State  Board  of  Accountancy.  He  married  Miss  Vir- 
ginia Johnson,  of  Halifax  County,  this  state,  and  they  reside 
at  205  South  Boulevard.  The  law  office  of  Mr.  Moss  is  main- 
tained in  the  building  of  the  State-Planters  Bank. 

Rev.  William  Jackson  Morton,  D.  D.,  has  for  twenty- 
seven  years  been  pastor  of  the  church  at  Alexandria  in  which 
George  Washington  worshiped,  and  which  for  this  and  many 
other  associations  has  become  one  of  the  patriotic  shrines  in 
the  district  around  Washington.  Doctor  Morton  is  admirably 
qualified  for  this  pastorate,  a  man  of  thorough  learning,  a 
zealous  church  man,  and  descended  from  and  related  to  some 
of  the  oldest  and  most  distinguished  families  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia. 

He  was  born  at  "Soldier's  Rest,"  in  Orange  County,  Vir- 
ginia, May  8,  1867,  only  son  of  Dr.  Charles  Bruce  and  Caroline 
May  (Dickenson)  Morton.  His  grandfather.  Dr.  George  Morton, 
was  one  of  four  brothers,  all  of  whom  achieved  more  than 
ordinary  distinction,  William  Morton  serving  for  many  years  in 
the  Virginia  Legislature,  Jackson  Morton,  one  of  the  outstanding 
men  of  Florida  in  the  territorial  and  statehood  periods,  repre- 
senting Florida  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  Jeremiah 
Morton  represented  Virginia  in  Congress  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Secession  Convention  of  Virginia.  Dr.  George  Morton  grad- 
uated from  William  and  Mary  College,  from  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  School  of  Medicine  in  1823,  and  practiced  his  pro- 
fession in  Orange  County,  where  he  married  Elizabeth  Williams, 
whose  ancestry  included  the  Bruces  of  Orange. 

Their  son.  Dr.  Charles  Bruce  Morton,  was  born  in  Orange 
County  September  3,  1835,  and  is  now  in  his  ninety-third  year. 
He  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  graduated  from 
the  Jefferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia  in  March,  1860, 
and  during  the  war  was  senior  surgeon  of  Kemper's  Brigade, 
Pickett's  Division.  He  practiced  his  profession  for  many  years 
after  the  war,  and  then  retired  to  his  farm,  "Nottingham  Farm," 
near  Fredericksburg,  where  he  resides  today. 

Dr.  Charles  Bruce  Morton  married,  in  1866,  Caroline  May 
Dickenson.  She  was  born  May  19,  1840,  daughter  of  William  I. 
and  Jane  Richard  (Buckner)  Dickenson,  granddaughter  of 
James  and  Sallie  Dickenson,  and  through  her  mother  a  descend- 
ant of  John  Buckner,  whose  descendants  have  been  distinguished 
in  the  history  of  the  Colony  and  State  of  Virginia  and  in  several 
southern  and  western  states. 

William  Jackson  Morton  was  prepared  for  college  by  private 
tutors,  attended  Richmond  College  in  1882-84,  for  two  years 
assisted  his  father  on  the  farm,  and  then  entered  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  Virginia,  near  Alexandria,  graduating  in  1891.  He 
was  ordained  a  deacon  June  26,  1891,  and  to  the  priesthood  June 
24,  1892.  For  nine  months  he  was  rector  of  St.  George's  Chapel 
at  North  Danville,  was  assistant  rector  of  St.  James  at  Rich- 


VIRGINIA  433 

mond  from  June,  1892,  to  February,  1894,  was  rector  of  Epi- 
phany Church  at  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  until  October  1,  1896, 
rector  of  South  Farnham  Parish  in  Essex  County,  Virginia, 
1896-1900,  and  rector  of  Emanuel  Church  at  Harrisonburg  until 
1902.  Doctor  Morton  accepted  the  call  to  the  historic  Christ 
Church  at  Alexandria  in  1902,  and  to  the  service  of  his  parish 
and  its  people  he  has  given  the  best  years  of  his  life. 

Outside  of  his  home  parish  he  has  acted  as  a  trustee  of  Stuart 
Hall  at  Staunton,  trustee  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Education 
Society  of  Virginia,  trustee  of  the  Diocesan  Missionaiy  Society, 
chaplain  of  the  National  George  Washington  Memorial  Asso- 
ciation. He  has  been  chaplain  of  Alexandria-Washington  Lodge 
No.  22,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  Mount  Vernon  Chapter,  Koyal  Arch 
Masons.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  is  a 
Phi  Delta  Theta  and  a  Democrat. 

He  married,  April  11,  1893,  Dorothea  Ashby  Moncure,  daugh- 
ter of  Powhatan  and  Dorothea  (Ashby)  Moncure,  of  Stafford 
County,  Virginia,  and  a  niece  of  Gen.  Turner  Ashby,  a  famous 
Confederate  cavalryman  who  was  killed  June  6,  1862,  and  whose 
brother.  Col.  Richard  Ashby,  also  gave  up  his  life  for  the  South- 
ern cause.  Mrs.  Morton  is  a  descendant  of  Capt.  Thomas  Ashby, 
who  settled  in  Fauquier  County  in  the  early  seventeen  hundreds. 

Doctor  and  Mrs.  Morton  had  five  children.  Charles  Bruce 
Morton,  born  January  10,  1900,  is  now  assistant  professor  of 
surgery  in  the  University  of  Virginia.  William  Jackson  Morton, 
Jr.,  born  September  2,  1902,  graduated  from  West  Point  Mili- 
tary Academy  in  1923,  is  now  first  lieutenant  of  the  Field  Artil- 
lery and  assigned  duty  as  an  instructor  in  the  military  academy 
at  West  Point.  Powhatan  Moncure,  born  December  10,  1903, 
graduated  from  West  Point  Military  Academy  in  June,  1928. 
The  two  daughters  are  Dorothea  Ashby,  born  November  22, 
1905,  and  Caroline  Fitzhugh,  born  April  11,  1910.  Dorothea 
attended  Stuart  Hall  at  Staunton  and  is  now  the  wife  of  John 
Armistead  Deming,  of  Baltimore,  a  Baltimore  realtor.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Deming  were  married  December  3,  1927.  Caroline  Fitz- 
hugh was  educated  in  Saint  Catherine's  School  at  Richmond. 

Henry  S.  Grogan.  It  is  no  mere  idle,  flippant  curiosity  that 
prompts  men  to  wish  to  learn  the  private  as  well  as  the  public 
lives  of  their  fellows.  It  is  true,  rather,  that  such  anxiety  tends 
to  prove  universal  brotherhood,  and  the  interest  in  biography 
is  not  confined  to  men  of  any  particular  vocation  or  caste.  The 
roll  of  those  whose  lot  it  is  to  play  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
dramas  of  national  or  civic  life  is  comparatively  short.  Yet 
communities  are  made  up  of  individuals,  and  the  aggregate  of 
achievements,  no  less  than  the  sum  total  of  human  happiness,  is 
made  up  of  the  deeds  of  those  men  and  women  whose  primary 
aim  through  life  is  faithfully  to  perform  the  duty  nearest  at 
hand.  Individual  influence  upon  human  affairs  will  be  con- 
sidered potent  or  insignificant  according  to  the  standpoint  from 
which  it  is  viewed.  The  lives  of  some  men  are  so  intimately 
connected  with  important  affairs  that  a  faithful  narrative  of 
their  acts  might  furnish  the  recital  of  much  that  is  valuable  in 
the  history  of  their  country  during  a  particular  period,  and  in 
this  connection  there  is  herewith  set  forth  the  salient  points  in 
the  career  of  Henry  S.  Grogan,  a  native  Virginian,  who  left 
the  estate  of  his  birth  to  achieve  prominence  and  success  in  the 
real  estate  business  in  Washington,  D.  C. 


•  434  VIRGINIA 

'.Henry  S.  Grogan  was  bom  on  his  father's  farm,  located  near 
Efnory,  in  Washington  County,  Virginia,  July  23,  1891,  and  is 
a  son '(if  Isaac  Clifton  and  Rhoda  Ellen  (Rhoton)  Grogan,  the 
former  of  whom  died  in  September,  1926,  and  the  latter  in  1916. 
The  parents  were  born  in  Scott  County,  Virginia,  and  both  were 
descended  from  first  families  of  the  Old  Dominion.  Isaac  Clifton 
Grogan  was  a  farmer  by  natural  vocation  and  a  skilled  tiller  of 
thfe' soil,  but  was  a  man  of  versatile  talents  and  for  some  years 
foll^'wed  the  business  of  building  contractor,  erecting  a  number 
of  fitie'liomes  in  Washington  County.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  as  was  his  worthy  wife,  and  both  were  active 
workers  in  the  church,  lived  their  faith  daily  and  had  the  love 
and  esteem  of  those  who  knew  and  appreciated  their  many  ster- 
ling qualities  of  heart  and  mind.  They  were  the  parents  of  the 
following  children :  Effie,  educated  in  Emory  High  School  and 
Schttemaker  College,  Gate  City,  Virginia,  who  married  John  G. 
Montgomery,  one  of  the  wealthy  planters  of  Washington  County, 
and  resides  on  a  beautiful  country  estate  near  Meadow  View, 
Virginia;  Abner,  a  trusted  employe  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western 
Railway,  who  makes  his  home  at  Bluefield,  West  Virginia; 
Lake  G.,  educated  in  Emory  and  Henry  College  and  Martha 
Washington  College,  who  married  Branch  Worsham,  a  wealthy 
hardware  merchant  of  Bluefield,  West  Virginia;  Henry  S.,  of 
this  review;  Maurice  E.,  who  was  in  the  World  war  and  saw 
eighteen  months  of  overseas  service  and  is  now  a  prominent 
optician  of  Tampa,  Florida ;  Gael,  a  trusted  employe  of  the 
Washington  Street  Railroad  Company,  who  makes  his  home  in 
Washington,  D.  C. ;  and  Miss  Lollie  M.,  educated  in  Emory  and 
Henry  College  and  Martha  Washington  College,  who  has  been 
in  the  employ  of  the  United  States  Government  at  Washington 
for  several  years. 

Henry  S.  Grogan  was  reared  in  the  midst  of  agricultural 
surroundings  and  under  the  influence  of  people  of  breeding,  and 
those  who  know  him  will  unite  in  bearing  testimony  that  he 
never  has  departed  from  the  gentleness,  the  simplicity  of  life 
and  character  and  the  truthful  habits  which  were  inculcated  in 
the  earliest  lessons  of  his  home.  As  in  the  case  of  so  many 
farmers'  sons,  his  boyhood  was  divided  between  attendance  at 
the  district  school  and  working  on  the  home  farm  in  summer, 
but  subsequently  he  was  sent  to  Emory  and  Henry  College  at 
Emory,' Virginia,  and  then,  expressing  a  desire  for  a  business 
career,  supplemented  his  education  by  attendance  at  the  Na- 
tional Business  College.  After  his  graduation  from  the  latter 
institution  he  was  for  two  years  connected  with  the  Shenandoah 
Hotel  of  Roanoke,  Virginia,  and  then  accepted  a  call  to  the 
Jefferson  Hotel  at  Richmond,  where  he-  served  as  bookkeeper 
and  auditor  for  about  eig^hteen- months,  i' He  was-then  asked  to 
become  connected  with  the  Raleigh  HoKifel,  Washihgton,.  D.  C,  in 
the  capacity  of  bookkeeper,  and'<his  next  step  upward  was  to  the 
assistant  managership  of  the  Lafayette  Hotel,  Washington. 
About  one  year  later  he  severed ^this  connection  to  go  to  the  Con- 
gress Hotel  as  auditor  and  bookkeeper  for  three  years,  and  then 
left  Ihfe  hotel  business  to  becdriie  an  accountant  for  the  Unitesd 
States  Shipping  Fleet  Corporation,  with  which  he  was  identified 
for  two  and  one-half  years.    ••  '    '  '■         ""';  <;H 

M'ri  Grogan  at  this  time  decided  to  enter  upon  an  imJepen- 
dent  career  of  his  own,  and  accordingly  embarked  in  the  real 
estate  business  at  Washington,  flarstr^as  general  manager  of  the 
Apartment  and  Room-Seekers'  Aid.  Subsequently  he  established 


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VIRGINIA  435 

the  Grogan  Realty  Company,  of  which  he  is  now  the  sole  pro- 
prietor. He  has  since  built  up  an  extensive  business  and  has  a 
large  clientage  among  the  wealthy  and  prominent  residents  of 
Washington,  where  he  maintains  offices  at  201  McGill  Build- 
ing. Without  being  its  slave,  Mr.  Grogan  has  been  diligent  in 
business,  which  has  prospered  under  his  hand.  One  of  his  most 
marked  characteristics  has  been  his  detestation  of  whatever  is 
base  or  ignoble.  He  has  an  intuitive  perception  of  character 
and  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  those  whom  he  regards  as 
deficient  in  integrity.  Mr.  Grogan  is  an  enthusiastic  citizen  who 
has  studied  his  community  and  its  resources  and  has  unbounded 
faith  in  its  future.  Throughout  his  career  he  has  been  highly 
reputed  for  honesty,  integrity  and  ability, — virtues  which,  how- 
ever homely,  bring  a  higher  reward  than  wealth  or  civic  honor. 
Mr.  Grogan  is  alert  to  the  welfare  of  his  home  town  of  Falls 
Church,  Virginia,  where  he  owns  a  beautiful  home  and  stands 
high  in  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens,  and  is  also  the  owner 
of  considerable  property  at  the  capital.  Fraternally  he  is  affili- 
ated with  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose  and  the  Junior  Order  United 
American  Mechanics.     Mr.  Grogan  is  a  Christian  Scientist. 

On  July  16,  1916,  Mr.  Grogan  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Anne  Catherine  Swetnam,  of  Burke,  Fairfax  County. 
Virginia,  a  daughter  of  Charles  and  Jennie  Swetnam,  the  former 
a  well  known  merchant  of  Fairfax  and  a  first  cousin  of  Daniel 
Willard,  the  family  being  an  old  and  distinguished  one.  Mrs. 
Grogan  was  educated  in  the  Alexandria  High  School  and  the 
State  Normal  School  at  Farmville,  Virginia,  is  a  member  of 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  and  the  Order  of 
the  Eastern  Star,  and  a  leader  in  club  and  social  circles  of  Wash- 
ington and  Falls  Church.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grogan  are  the  parents 
of  two  children :  Charles  Henry,  born  July  3,  1918 ;  and  Edward 
Berry  Swetnam,  born  July  30,  1925. 

TA2EWELL  Taylor  Hubard  was  an  attorney  and  public  offi- 
cial, lived  most  of  his  life  at  Norfolk,  and  enjoyed  a  reputation 
for  fine  social  qualities  and  a  cultured  mind,  as  well  as  abilities 
in  his  profession. 

He  was  born  at  Norfolk,  October  20,  1867,  and  died  in  that 
citj'  February  15,  1918.  He  was  a  son  of  Rev.  James  R.  and 
Sallie  (Taylor)  Hubard.  His  grandfather,  James  R.  Hubard, 
Sr.,  was  a  prominent  early  lawyer  of  Norfolk.  Rev.  James  R. 
Hubard  was  a  minister  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  The  Hubards 
were  of  French-Huguenot  stock,  and  on  coming  to  Virginia  first 
settled  in  Gloucester  County.  His  grandfather  on  the  maternal 
side,  Tazewell  Taylor,  was  also  a  noted  lawyer  of  Norfolk, 
Virginia. 

Tazewell  Taylor  Hubard  was  educated  in  private  schools, 
in  the  Shenandoah  Academy  at  Winchester,  graduated  in  1887 
from  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  and  then  remained  at 
the  institute  two  years  as  an  instructor  in  French  language 
and  as  a  tactical  officer.  In  1890  he  graduated  from  the  law 
department  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  after  which  he 
returned  to  Norfolk  and  throughout  his  professional  career  was 
associated  with  his  brother,  James  Leighton  Hubard.  This  was 
a  firm  which  handled  a  large  volume  of  general  practice,  but 
Mr.  Hubard  also  gave  a  great  deal  of  his  time  to  his  duties  as 
commissioner  of  accounts  for  the  city  of  Norfolk. 

Mr.  Hubard  while  in  college  became  a  member  of  the  Kappa 
Alpha   fraternity   and   for   twenty   years   served   as   its   grand 


436  VIRGINIA 

historian.  He  was  elected  a  Knight  of  its  Council  of  Honor  in 
1893,  and  in  1915  the  Richmond  Convention  of  the  fraternity 
elected  him  Chief  Alumnus,  but  he  was  unable  to  accept  the 
honor.  He  was  a  staunch  Democrat,  and  he  and  his  family 
were  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  was  on  the  staff 
for  a  numbers  of  years  of  the  Norfolk  Blues. 

Mr.  Hubard  married  at  Norfolk,  November  12,  1895,  Miss 
Elizabeth  Mallory  Cannon,  who  was  born  in  Norfolk,  daughter 
of  Dr.  Douglas  C.  and  Elizabeth  Mallory  (King)  Cannon.  Her 
ancestors,  the  Cannons,  were  of  French  Huguenot  stock.  Her 
mother  was  a  descendant  of  the  Boutwell  and  Curie  families, 
early  and  prominent  settlers  around  Hampton,  Virginia.  Mrs. 
Hubard's  father  served  as  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  Signal  Corps 
in  the  Confederate  army,  after  the  war  took  up  the  study  of 
medicine,  was  graduated  at  the  University  of  Virginia  with  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  and  Master  of  Arts  and  was  the 
youngest  graduate  in  the  M.  A.  degree  up  to  the  time  he  grad- 
uated. He  spent  two  years  at  Bellevue  Hospital  in  New  York, 
and  then  practiced  for  many  years  at  Norfolk.  Mrs.  Hubard 
was  the  fifth  in  a  family  of  twelve  children.  She  was  educated 
in  the  Leachwood  Female  Seminary  and  in  the  Philip  West  Acad- 
emy. Mrs.  Hubard,  whose  home  is  at  17  Pelham  Place  in 
Norfolk,  has  two  sons.  The  older,  Tazewell  Taylor,  Jr.,  was 
educated  in  the  Norfolk  Academy,  the  Episcopal  High  School  at 
Alexandria,  graduated  in  the  electrical  engineer  course  from 
the  Virginia  Military  Institute  in  1922,  and  is  now  associated 
with  the  Chesapeake  &  Potomac  Telephone  Company.  The 
second  son,  James  Douglas,  is  a  student  in  the  Episcopal  High 
School  at  Alexandria. 

Elijah  Monroe  Webb  was  a  Prince  George  County  farmer, 
and  while  a  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army  married  Sarah 
Jane  Shands,  who  with  her  mother  was  a  refugee  at  Petersburg. 

The  home  of  the  Shands  family  is  the  historic  "Hickory 
Hill"  homestead  in  Dinwiddle  County.  Sarah  Jane  Shands' 
father,  grandfather  and  great-grandfather  all  bore  the  name 
William.  Her  great-grandparents,  William  and  Priscilla 
Shands,  wei'e  the  first  of  the  family  in  Virginia,  settling  in 
Sussex  County.  Her  grandfather,  William,  married  Lucy  Oliver, 
daughter  of  William  Oliver.  Her  father,  William  Shands,  mar- 
ried Sarah  Bee  Rives,  of  the  distinguished  Rives  family  connec- 
tions in  Virginia,  and  their  five  children  were  named  Aurelias 
Rives,  Elverton  Adolphus,  William  Briggs,  Cordelia  Oliver  and 
Sarah  Jane  Cureton,  who  became  the  wife  of  Elijah  Monroe 
Webb.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb  have  five  children :  Annie  and  Willie, 
both  of  whom  died  in  infancy ;  Sarah  Isabelle,  Julia  Amanda, 
wife  of  B.  Thomas  Meacham,  and  Mary  C. 

Mrs.  Webb's  grandfather,  William  Shands,  was  a  farmer, 
and  at  one  time  represented  Prince  George  County  in  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly.  He  owned  a  large  farm  in  Prince  George  County 
and  on  it  erected  a  house  which  was  destroyed  during  the  Civil 
war.  This  farm,  "Hickory  Hill,"  comprised  a  hundred-fifty 
acres  of  land.  Near  the  center  is  the  simple  white  cottage  which 
was  erected  after  the  war  and  in  which  Mrs.  Webb  lived  for 
many  years  and  where  her  daughters.  Miss  Belle  and  Miss  Mary, 
now  spend  their  summers.  Hickory  Hill  farm  adjoins  Fort 
Stedman,  scene  of  one  of  the  great  battles  in  connection  with 
the  siege  of  Petersburg  during  1864-65.  To  the  rear  of  the  cot- 
tage is  a  famous  spring,  marking  the  site  of  the  encampment 


VIRGINIA  437 

of  the  209th  Regiment  of  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  during  the 
siege  of  Petersburg.  It  is  further  memorable  for  the  fact  that 
nearby  President  Lincoln  sat  on  his  horse  watching  the  prog- 
ress of  General  Grant's  army  in  the  battle  of  Fort  Stedman. 

Mrs.  Webb  was  living  in  the  old  house  there  when  the  siege 
of  Petersburg  started,  but  in  time  the  place  became  untenant- 
able and  the  family  had  to  seek  refuge  in  Petersburg,  where  her 
mother  and  one  of  the  other  daughters  died.  After  the  war, 
when  the  family  went  back  to  Hickory  Hill,  the  barren  land  was 
left,  and  many  years  were  required  in  replanting  and  making 
possible  the  beauty  which  now  adorns  the  spot. 

Mrs.  Webb  outlived  her  husband  many  years.  During  the 
World  war  she  saw  Camp  Lee  constructed  around  her  property, 
and  part  of  her  land  was  rented  to  the  Government  for  use  as 
a  Veterinary  Training  School.  Her  home  was  a  favorite  ren- 
dezvous for  soldiers  from  the  cantonment,  and  Mrs.  Webb  was 
fond  of  relating  Civil  war  scenes  to  these  youthful  soldiers,  some 
of  whom  were  descendants  of  the  veterans  of  the  Civil  war. 
While  the  Eightieth  Division  was  at  Camp  Lee  she  kept  open 
house  for  officers  and  enlisted  men,  and  almost  daily  she  could 
be  seen  on  the  porch  of  her  little  home  surrounded  by  men  from 
the  camp  as  she  described  the  fighting  she  had  witnessed  fifty 
years  before.  A  young  corporal  of  the  Eightieth  Division 
erected  a  rustic  bridge  across  the  ravine  in  which  the  spring  is 
located  in  order  that  the  present  day  military  establishment 
might  be  linked  up  with  the  older  history.  Mrs.  Webb  during 
her  lifetime  gave  permission  to  a  commision  of  veterans  of  the 
Civil  war  to  make  improvements  for  the  spring  as  a  memorial 
to  the  members  of  the  209th  Pennsylvania  who  had  died  during 
the  siege  of  Petersburg.  Concrete  steps  were  erected  down  to 
the  level  of  the  spring,  and  the  spring  itself  was  incased  in 
concrete.  A  bronze  plate  on  the  slab  covering  the  spring  con- 
tains the  following  inscription :  "Spring  used  by  the  209th 
Pennsylvania  Regiment  during  the  Siege  of  Petersburg,  1864-65. 
Erected  by  M.  A.  Embick,  F.  H.  Barker,  Seward  Jones."  Both 
Captain  Barker  and  Colonel  Embick  fought  in  the  Civil  war, 
and  the  father  of  Seward  Jones  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Fort 
Stedman.  During  the  World  war  a  loving  cup  was  presented 
to  the  spring  by  Captain  Boher,  son  of  a  Confederate  veteran 
and  an  officer  in  the  Medical  Corps  of  the  United  States  Army. 

Hickory  Hill  is  now  owned  by  Mrs.  Webb's  three  daughters, 
Miss  Belle  Webb,  who  is  principal  of  the  Rives  School  in  Din- 
widdle County;  Miss  Mary  Webb,  a  talented  musician,  and  Mrs. 
Thomas  Meacham. 

Caleb  W.  Williams  was  born  in  the  City  of  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia, July  17,  1849,  and  in  this  city  his  death  occurred  May  15, 
1917,  about  two  years  after  he  had  retired  from  active  business, 
with  rank  as  the  oldest  and  most  influential  contractor  in  brick 
construction  work  in  his  native  community.  He  made  his  life 
count  in  large  and  effective  achievement,  was  unassumingly 
loyal  and  progressive  as  a  citizen  and  business  man,  and  his 
kindliness  and  human  helpfulness  brought  to  him  the  fullest 
measure  of  popular  confidence  and  esteem. 

Mr.  Williams  was  the  youngest  of  the  three  children  of  Caleb 
and  Lydia  (Connor)  Williams,  and  his  brother,  John  James, 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness  while  serving  as  a 
gallant  young  soldier  of  the  Confederacy  in  the  Civil  war.  Caleb 
Williams,  father  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  was  bom  in 


438  VIRGINIA 

Princess  Anne  County,  Virginia,  where  he  was  reared  to  adult 
age,  and  he  was  for  many  years  in  Government  service  in  Vir- 
ginia, after  which  he  engaged  in  the  wheelwright  business  in 
Norfolk,  where  he  and  his  wife  passed  the  closing  years  of 
their  lives. 

As  a  boy  and  youth  Caleb  W.  Williams  attended  private 
school  in  Norfolk,  and  thereafter  he  profited  by  the  advantages 
of  the  old  Norfolk  Academy.  He  was  a  young  man  when,  after 
learning  the  trade  of  brick  mason,  he  engaged  independently  in 
the  contracting  business  along  this  line.  He  continued  to  center 
his  activities  in  Norfolk  until  1873,  when  he  went  to  Philadel- 
phia as  a  contractor  on  buildings  there  erected  for  the  great 
Centennial  Exposition,  and  he  in  due  course  resumed  his  con- 
tracting business  in  Norfolk,  where  he  continued  his  successful 
and  important  operations  nearly  forty  years  thereafter — until 
his  retirement  in  1915,  as  the  dean  of  brick  contractors  in  this 
section  of  the  state.  He  was  concerned  in  the  erection  of  many 
of  the  leading  business  blocks  of  Norfolk,  and  was  the  brick 
contractor  in  the  construction  of  many  of  the  finest  residences 
in  the  Ghent  district  and  other  sections  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Williams  had  no  desire  for  political  activity  or  public 
office,  but  was  a  loyal  supporter  of  the  cause  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  his  civic  progressiveness  was  never  known  to  fail. 
In  a  quiet  way  he  was  instant  in  works  of  charity  and  benevo- 
lence, and  he  was  a  zealous  member  of  the  First  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  as  is  also  his  widow.  Mr.  Williams  served 
three  terms  as  president  of  the  Bricklayers  Association  of  Nor- 
folk, and  he  was  affiliated  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men  and  the  Junior  Order 
United  American  Mechanics. 

October  27,  1881,  recorded  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Williams  and 
Miss  Emily  Katharine  Douglas,  who  was  born  at  Elizabeth  City, 
North  Carolina,  the  third  of  the  six  children  of  Smith  Cox 
and  Sophia  (Seeley)  Douglas.  Mr.  Douglas  was  a  skilled 
ship  carpenter,  and  served  as  a  foreman  in  the  Joseph 
Lawrence  shipyards  at  Elizabeth  City,  North  Carolina.  Prior 
to  this  he  had  owned  and  operated  the  steamboats  Eagle  and 
John  C.  Calhoun,  which  were  in  active  commission  in  advancing 
Confederate  interests  in  the  Civil  war,  both  having  been  sunk  in 
Roanoke  harbor  to  block  the  entrance  of  enemy  vessels  into  the 
river  and  thence  attacking  Elizabeth  City.  A.  B.  Seeley,  ma- 
ternal uncle  of  Mrs.  Williams,  was  three  times  wounded  while  in 
service  as  a  soldier  of  the  Confederacy.  The  Seeley  family  was 
founded  in  the  eastern  part  of  North  Carolina  within  a  short 
time  after  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 

Since  the  death  of  her  husband  Mrs.  Williams  has  continued 
her  residence  in  Norfolk,  where  her  attractive  home  is  at  703 
West  Princess  Anne  Road.  Of  the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Williams  the  eldest  is  Annie  Seeley,  who  is  the  wife  of  John 
Dod  Ward,  a  retired  business  man  of  Norfolk.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ward  have  two  children :  Margaret,  who  is  the  wife  of  Eugene 
Scott  and  who  has  one  child,  Margaret  Ward  Scott ;  and  John 
Frederick,  who  is  active  in  business  in  Norfolk.  Caleb  W.  Wil- 
liams, Jr.,  is  the  successor  of  his  father  in  the  brick  contracting 
business  in  Norfolk.  He  married  Miss  Nellie  Minor,  of  Niagara 
Falls,  New  York,  and  they  have  six  children :  Marion  M.,  Caleb 
W.  Ill  and  John  Randolph  (twins),  Carroll,  Beverly  and  Jane. 
John  A.,  next  younger  of  the  children  of  the  subject  of  this 
memoir,  likewise  resides  in  his  native  city.     Hazel  G.  remains 


I 


VIRGINIA  439 

w'iffi'her  widowed  mother  and  is  a  popular  figure  iti  educational 
service  in  her  native  city.  Grace  May  likewise  remains  with  her 
mother,  and  is  in  the  employ  of  the  Pender  Company.  Helen, 
youngest  of  the  children,  is  the  wife  of  Livingston  Trump,  who 
resides  at  Crewe,  Nottaway  County,  and  is  in  the  employ  of 
the  United  States  Government. 

Claude  Jenkins  Ives.  The  entire  absence  of  competition 
in  his  line  of  activity  at  Clarendon  does  not  explain  the  success 
of  Claude  J.  Ives,  who  since  August,  1911,  has  been  the  pi'opri- 
etor  of  a  well  established  and  perfectly  equii)ped  funeral  direct- 
ing and  undertaking  business.  Mr.  Ives  was  only  a  lad  when 
he  started  out  to  make  his  own  way  in  life,  and  what  he  has 
accomplished  in  the  way  of  success  has  been  gained  entirely 
through  his  own  initiative,  resource  and  natural  ability.  From 
small  beginnings  he  has  built  up  a  solid  business  structure  and 
a  secure  reputation,  and  few  men  of  his  community  are  more 
greatly  entitled  to  the  esteem  in  which  they  are  held. 

Mr.  Ives  was  born  at  Falls  Church,  Virginia,  December  19, 
1874,  and  is  a  son  of  Albert  H.  and  Theodora  (Jenkins)  Ives. 
His  father,  a  native  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  left  his  New 
England  home  in  youth  and  came  to  Prince  William  County, 
Virginia,  and  later  to  Fairfax  County,  where  he  met  and  married 
a  native  of  that  state.  In  his  youth  Mr.  Ives  had  learned  the 
old  established  trade  of  wagon-making,  and  following  his  mar- 
riage he  set  himself  up  in  business  at  Falls  Church,  where  he 
carried  on  a  wagon-making  factory  until  the  time  of  his  death 
in  June,  1920.  Mrs.  Ives  passed  away  at  the  same  place  in 
1887. 

Claude  J.  Ives  was  reared  at  Falls  Church,  where  he  attended 
the  public  schools,  and  was  only  sixteen  years  of  age  when  he 
graduated  from  high  school.  Shortly  thereafter  he  secured 
employment  in  the  undertaking  establishment  of  John  R.  Wright 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  remained  with  him  for  eight  years, 
during  which  time  he  learned  the  business  in  all  its  details. 
During  this  period  he  attended  the  Prof.  F.  A.  Sullivan's  Col- 
lege of  Embalming  at  Washington,  D.  C.  He  then  resigned  and 
went  to  Sunbury,  Pennsylvania,  in  the  capacity  of  manager  of 
the  E.  S.  Weimer  Funeral  Home,  where  he  worked  at  the  same 
line  of  business  for  eight  years,  and  eventually  established  him- 
self in  the  furniture  and  undertaking  business  at  Sunbury,  where 
he  conducted  a  successful  establishment  for  five  years.  During 
the  time  he  was  located  at  Sunbury  he  had  attended  the  Massa- 
chusetts College  of  Embalming,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
in  1899.  During  this  course  he  was  one  of  the  instructors  at 
the  College,  under  Professor  Dodge.  In  August,  1911,  Mr.  Ives' 
wife's  health  failed  and  her  physician  advised  her  to  seek  a 
different  climate.  Accordingly  the  family  came  to  Clarendon, 
where  Mr.  Ives  established  himself  in  the  hardware  and  under- 
taking business,  but  at  the  end  of  five  years  disposed  of  the 
former  business  in  order  to  give  his  entire  time  to  his  activities 
as  a  funeral  director  and  mortician.  He  now  has  a  beautiful 
funeral  home,  office  and  chapel,  situated  at  the  corner  of  Wilson 
Boulevard  and  Spruce  Street,  and  as  the  only  undertaker  at 
Clarendon  has  every  modern  facility  for  the  proper  and  dignified 
care  of  the  dead.  He  is  a  man  of  infinite  judgment  and  has 
made  himself  a  friend  in  countless  homes  which  have  been 
visited  by  the  grim  reaper.  Mr.  Ives  is  a  past  vice  president  and 
one  of  the  directors  of  the  Arlington  Hall  Association  of  Arling- 


440  VIRGINIA 

ton,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Monarch  Club,  the  Masons, 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Junior  Order 
United  American  Mechanics.  He  maintains  an  independent 
stand  in  politics,  and  although  a  good  citizen  of  public  spirit, 
has  had  no  desire  for  the  honors  of  office.  He  is  a  Presbyterian 
in  his  religious  faith,  while  Mrs.  Ives  belongs  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church. 

In  January,  1898,  Mr.  Ives  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Annie  Elizabeth  Pearson,  daughter  of  John  S.  and  Virginia 
Catherine  (Sanders)  Pearson.  Her  father,  who  was  a  sub- 
stantial agriculturist  of  Fairfax  County,  this  state,  served  in 
the  capacity  of  member  of  the  Board  of  County  Supervisors  for 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  and  wielded  much  influence  in  his 
community,  where  his  death  occurred  in  1919,  Mrs.  Pearson  pass- 
ing away  August  21,  1925.  Four  children  have  been  born  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ives :  Amy  Gertrude,  born  in  1900,  who  is  now  the 
wife  of  W.  H.  Jordan,  a  resident  of  Clarendon ;  William,  who 
died  when  two  weeks  old ;  Claude  Pearson,  born  in  1904,  who 
was  in  the  employ  of  the  local  telephone  company  at  Clarendon 
and  is  now  associated  with  his  father  in  business ;  and  Gladys 
Elizabeth,  born  in  1915,  who  is  attending  high  school. 

Horatio  C.  Woodhouse,  who  had  a  highly  successful  career 
and  became  one  of  the  outstanding  citizens  of  Norfolk,  achiev- 
ing prominence  and  distinction  in  a  brief  lifetime  of  less  than 
forty-eight  vears,  was  born  in  Princess  Anne  County,  Virginia, 
September  23,  1879,  and  died  at  Norfolk.  April  8,  1926. 

Nine  generations  of  the  Woodhouse  family  have  lived  in 
Princess  Anne  County,  and  for  over  two  centuries  consecutively 
his  ancestors  were  vestrymen  in  Eastern  Shore  Chapel.  That 
famous  church  edifice,  still  standing,  was  erected  in  1754.  One 
of  his  ancestors  was  Henry  Woodhouse,  a  governor  of  the  Ber- 
mudas. His  great-great-grandfather,  Jonathan  Woodhouse, 
fought  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  His  father,  Jonathan  Wood- 
house,  who  served  as  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion of  Virginia  in  1901,  has  for  many  years  been  a  prominent 
business  man  of  Norfolk.  Jonathan  Woodhouse  married  Clara 
Cornick,  and  of  their  six  children  H.  Cornick  was  the  oldest. 

The  late  Mr.  Woodhouse  at  the  age  of  fourteen  was  sent  to 
the  Delaplane  School  in  Fauquier  County.  Later  he  graduated 
from  Randolph-Macon  College.  When  he  was  a  young  man  of 
twenty  years  he  went  out  to  Cripple  Creek,  Colorado,  with  his 
cousin,  Harry  Shepherd,  and  had  two  years  of  experience  in  that 
then  most  famous  mining  district  of  the  West.  After  returning 
to  Virginia  he  was  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Princess  Anne 
Telephone  Company,  spent  a  few  years  in  the  Norfolk  office  of 
Swift  &  Company,  meat  packers,  then  was  with  the  Hardy 
Wholesale  Merchandise  Compan.y  and  for  about  five  years  was 
associated  with  his  father  in  the  electrical  business. 

Mr.  Woodhouse  in  1909,  with  his  father  and  his  brother 
John,  established  the  Woodhouse  Electrical  Company  on  Com- 
mercial Place.  Two  years  later  they  removed  to  a  new  three- 
story  building  on  Bank  Street.  During  the  war  boom  this  build- 
ing was  sold  and  a  large  and  more  ornate  structure  was  then 
built  on  Court  Street.  Mr.  Woodhouse  was  secretary,  ti-easurer 
and  active  head  of  this  successful  business,  which  since  his  death 
has  been  continued  by  his  father,  Jonathan,  and  his  brother, 
Thomas  L.  Woodhouse.  Mrs.  Woodhouse  still  retains  an  interest 
in  the  business. 


VIRGINIA  441 

Mr.  Woodhouse  was  a  member  of  the  Electrical  Club,  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Old  Colony  Club,  the  Rotary  Club, 
and  as  a  Mason  was  affiliated  with  Ruth  Lodge  No.  89  of  Nor- 
folk. He  was  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  St.  Andrews  Epis- 
copal Church.  He  had  a  great  many  friends,  who  admired  him 
for  his  business  success  and  his  personal  integrity. 

He  m.arried,  April  19,  1910,  Miss  Virginia  May  Macon.  She 
was  educated  in  the  old  Norfolk  High  School.  Mrs.  Woodhouse 
is  a  member  of  the  Norfolk  Society  of  Arts  and  St.  Andrews 
Episcopal  Church.  Her  father,  James  Barbour  Macon,  was  for 
thirty-five  years  in  the  railway  and  steamship  business  of  the 
Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad  and  the  Old  Dominion  Steamship 
Company.  He  married  May  Fanny  Malbon,  whose  father, 
David  Malbon,  was  a  large  plantation  holder  in  Princess  Anne 
County.  Mrs.  Woodhouse's  grandfather  was  Edgar  Barbour 
Macon,  a  quartermaster  in  the  64th  Virginia  Regiment  in  the 
Civil  war.  She  is  a  descendant  of  the  famous  Macon  family, 
including  one  of  North  Carolina's  greatest  statesmen  in  the 
Colonial  period,  Nathaniel  Macon,  also  Gideon  Macon  of  New 
Kent  County,  Virginia.  Mrs.  Woodhouse  is  a  great-great-great- 
great-niece  of  James  Madison,  the  fourth  president  of  the  United 
States.  This  comes  through  her  descent  from  Rev.  James  Madi- 
son (1749-1812),  who  was  president  of  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege and  the  first  Episcopal  bishop  of  Virginia.  Bishop  Madison 
was  a  son  of  John  Madison. 

Mrs.  Woodhouse  is  the  mother  of  four  children :  Horatio 
Cornick,  Jr.,  Frances  Macon,  and  Mary  Conway  and  Barbara 
Know,  twins.  All  are  being  given  the  advantages  of  a  liberal 
education.  They  are  all  members  of  the  Children  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  and  the  three  daughters  are  members  of  Hope 
Maury  Chapter  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  of 
which  Miss  Frances  is  president.  Mrs.  Woodhouse  resides  at 
709  W.  Princess  Anne  Road  in  Norfolk. 

George  J.  Oliver,  educator,  at  present  division  superintend- 
ent of  schools  of  Northampton  County,  was  born  at  Berryville, 
Clarke  County,  Virginia,  April  26,  1898,  the  son  of  Dr.  George  H. 
and  Kate  (Cunningham)  Oliver,  and  third  of  a  family  of  four 
children. 

His  grandfather,  Capt.  William  A.  Oliver,  of  Essex  County, 
was  a  physician,  having  received  his  training  in  medicine  at  the 
Jeflferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia.  Captain  Oliver  mar- 
ried Ellen  Douglas  Jeffries,  a  daughter  of  a  prominent  family  in 
Virginia.  In  the  war  between  the  states  Captain  Oliver  was  in 
command  of  the  Essex  County  Cavalry,  part  of  the  Fifth  Vir- 
ginia Cavalry,  and  was  killed  in  the  fighting  around  Amelia 
Courthouse  during  the  third  year  of  the  war. 

Mr.  Oliver's  father.  Dr.  George  Hansford  Oliver,  was  born  in 
Essex  County,  and  was  educated  for  the  profession  of  dentistry 
at  the  Baltimore  College  of  Dental  Surgery.  He  practised  his 
profession  for  forty  years,  until  he  entered  the  ministry,  an 
ambition  with  him  of  long  standing.  At  the  age  of  sixty-two 
he  entered  the  Baptist  Theological  Seminary  at  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, and  began  the  study  of  theology.  He  was  later  ordained 
a  minister  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  preached  at  Newsoms, 
Virginia,  until  his  death  on  September  22,  1928,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-six.  His  wife,  Kate  Cunningham,  was  born  in  Frederick 
County,  Maryland,  of  a  family  well  known  and  of  distinguished 


44?  VIRGINIA 

record  in  that  state.  Mrs.  Oliver  now  resides  at  Irvi^i^ton, 
Virginia. 

George  J.  Oliver  was  reaped  and  educated  at  Irvington,  the 
family  having  moved  to  that  place  in  May,  1904,  when  he  was  six 
years  old.  He  at  first  attended  private  school,  later  entered  the 
high  school,  and  graduated  in  1913,  when  fifteen  years  of  age. 
For  two  years  he  worked  in  the  local  newspaper  office  and  in 
1916  entered  Richmond  College.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  second 
year  in  college  he  went  to  Penniman,  near  Williamsburg,  and 
for  about  two  months  was  employed  in  the  munitions  plants 
there  as  a  government  inspector.  While  there  he  was  selected 
as  one  of  ten  students  of  Richmond  College  to  enter  the  First 
Students  Army  Training  Camp  at  Plattsburg  Barracks,  New 
York.  He  remained  there  until  September,  1918,  when  he  was 
commissioned  second  lieutenant  of  field  artillery,,  being  only 
nineteen  years  and  ten  months  of  age  when  thus  commissioned, 
becoming  thereby  one  of  the  youngest  men  ever  to  hold  a  com- 
mission in  the  army.  He  was  sent  to  the  Field  Artillery  Central 
Ofiicers  Training  School  at  Camp  Zachary  Taylor,  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  and  was  held  on  duty  there  until  December  19,  1918, 
when  he  was  honorably  discharged. 

After  returning  to  Virginia  he  became  principal  of  the  Stev- 
ensville  High  School  in  King  and  Queen  County,  finishing  the  re- 
mainder of  the  school  year  1918-19  and  remaining  for  another 
year.  In  1920  he  became  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Capeville, 
remaining  there  until  1927,  when  he  was  made  acting  division  su- 
perintendent of  schools.  In  May,  1928,  he  was  appointed  divi- 
sion superintendent.  His  offices  are  at  Cape  Charles  and  his 
residence  at  Capeville.  During  the  past  eight  years  his  efforts 
on  behalf  of  the  school  ^f  which  he  was  principal  and  of  the 
schools  of  Northampton  County  have  met  with  unusual  success. 

He  married,  February  3,  1923,  Miss  Clara  Ellen  Bell,  daugh- 
ter of  Theron  P.  and  Nellie  (Mapp)  Bell,  both  natives  of  North- 
ampton County.  Her  father,  who  resides  at  Machipongo,  is  one 
of  the  leading  farmers  and  business  men  of  the  Eastern  Shore. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Oliver  have  one  child,  George  J.,  Jr.,  born  Novem- 
tjer  10,  1923.  Mr.  Oliver  is  a  member  of  the  Cape  Charles  Ro- 
t|ary  Club,  belongs  to  the  Pi  Kappa  Alpha  social  fraternity,  and 
to  the  Northampton  Country  Club.  He  has  attended  summer 
sessions  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  the  University  of  Rich- 
mond and  the  College  of  William  and  Mary.  He  is  a  Democrat,  a 
baptist,  and  teaches  a  class  of  young  women  in  the  Baptist  Sun- 
(iay  School.  Mrs.  Oliver  is  a  member  of  the  Mothers'  Club  of 
P'r^jikton,  Virginia,  the  Woman's  Club  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  and 
isjprq^jdent  of-  the  Hollins  College  Alumnae  Association. 

Carver  V.  Williams  is  one  of  the  younger  members  of  the 
Viifginia  bar,  and  has  made  a  promising  beginning  of  his  pro- 
fessiojial  career. at  South  Hill,  where  he  first  established  his 
office.  '   i..;  -la      :  '.i 

n  Mr,,  Williams  Was  born  at  Chase  City,  Virginia,  November,  5, 
1901,  son  0$  H..kT.  and  M^ry  (Savage)  Williaras.(  His  parents 
are  natives  of  North, Cajiolina,  his  father  born  in  Gates  County 
fend  his  mother  in  Hertford  County.  H.  T.  Williams  has  given 
his.  active  life  tofthe  ministry  of,  the  Baptist  Church  and  is  now 
pastor  of- the  ctiurch  of  that  denomination  at  Ghase  City. 
>!•  Carver  V. : Williams  was  reared  and  educated  in  Chase- Cite 
graduating  from  .high;  school  in  1920V  and  took:;hJs  BachelorKOf 


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VIRGINIA  443 

Science  degree  at  Wake  Forest  College  in  North  Carolina  in 
1924.  His  law  studies  were  pursued  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  June,  1928,  at  once 
locating  at  South  Hill. 

Mr.  Williams  is  unmarried.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Bar  Association,  is  a  Democrat,  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church 
and  teaches  a  class  in  Sunday  School. 

Thomas  Somerville  Southgate  gave  his  name  and  enter- 
prise to  some  of  the  most  noteworthy  of  the  commercial  organi- 
zations of  the  city  of  Norfolk.  In  business  he  was  always  thor- 
oughly constructive,  in  citizenship  enlightened  and  broad 
minded,  and  there  were  few  Virginians  who  did  not  know-  some- 
thing of  the  activities  associated  with  his  name. 

He  was  born  at  Richmond,  February  7,  1868,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 27,  1928,  when  in  his  sixty-first  year.  He  was  a  son  of 
Capt.  Thomas  M.  and  Mary  E.  Southgate.  His  father,  master 
of  a  steamer  of  the  Old  Dominion  Line,  took  the  boy  at  the 
age  of  four  aboard  ship,  and  that  was  his  home  for  some  five 
years.  At  the  age  of  nine  he  entered  the  elementary  schools, 
but  three  years  later  entered  upon  his  business  career  as  a 
messenger  boy  at  twelve  dollars  a  month.  His  important  edu- 
cation came  to  him  in  the  intervals  of  work  and  was  perhaps 
the  more  valuable  for  that  reason.  He  attended  night  school 
for  five  years.  Ships,  railways  and  manufacturing  were  phases 
of  industry  in  which  he  was  most  keenly  interested,  and  he  made 
a  study  of  those  activities  at  every  successive  point  of  his  con- 
tact with  commercial  afi'airs.  He  was  first  in  the  commission 
business,  and  on  October  10,  1892,  in  a  small  oflice  room  with 
one  desk  and  one  chair  started  T.  S.  Southgate  &  Company, 
which  at  the  time  of  his  death,  with  its  subsidiaries  and  allied 
corporations,  constituted  one  of  the  largest  industrial  establish- 
ments of  its  kind  in  the  country.  As  a  result  of  the  tireless 
energy  of  the  promoter  the  Southgate  business  by  1898  had  its 
own  oflSce  building,  and  three  years  later  was  constructed  the 
first  unit  of  what  are  now  the  great  Southgate  Terminals,  the 
original  structure  being  a  warehouse  affording  24,000  square 
feet.  These  terminals  today  have  400,000  square  feet  of  floor 
space,  with  frontage  of  900  feet  on  water  and  over  1,000  feet 
on  land,  representing  a  total  investment  of  over  a  million  dollars 
and  affording  facilities  for  thirty-six  firms. 

In  addition  to  being  president  of  T.  S.  Southgate  &  Company 
the  late  Mr.  Southgate  from  1915  had  been  president  of  the 
Southgate  Terminal  Corporation,  president  of  the  Southgate 
Packing  Company,  president  of  the  Southgate  Export  Coal  Com- 
pany, the  Southgate  Produce  Company,  Southgate  Molasses 
Company,  Southgate  Import  and  Export  Company.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  executive  board  of  the  Norfolk  National  Bank 
of  Commerce  &  Trust,  a  director  of  the  Industrial  Finance  Cor- 
poration of  New  York,  a  director  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western 
Railway  Company,  and  financially  interested  in  a  number  of 
other  enterprises. 

Throughout  his  business  career  he  was  actuated  by  a  strong 
faith  in  the  potentialities  of  Norfolk  and  in  Hampton  Roads. 
The  president  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railway  Company  in 
deploring  his  death  referred  to  his  wide  and  complete  experience 
and  knowledge  of  transportation  and  maritime  aflfairs,  and 
called  him  a  great  constructive  force  in  the  progress  and  develop- 
ment of  Hampton  Koads.     For  a  number  of  years  he  was  vice 


444  VIRGINIA 

president  of  the  Norfolk  Chamber  of  Commerce,  for  eight  years 
was  a  member  of  the  Norfolk  Common  Council,  and  president 
of  that  body  four  years  of  the  time.  He  served  as  a  member 
of  the  City  Port  Commission  and  was  a  member  of  the  com- 
mission which  revised  the  city  charter  and  worked  out  the  plan 
under  which  Norfolk  is  operating  its  government.  He  was  a 
member  and  first  vice  president  of  the  Southern  Commercial 
Congress,  and  in  1913  was  vice  president  of  the  American  com- 
mission which  went  to  Europe  to  study  rural  credits.  A  report 
of  this  commission  was  the  basis  for  the  present  Farm  Loan 
Bank  System.  Governor  Byrd  in  a  tribute  referred  to  some  of 
his  public  activities,  particularly  the  work  he  did  as  a  member 
of  the  commission  on  simplification  of  Virginia's  government. 
He  had,  said  Governor  Byrd,  "a  thorough  grasp  of  the  relation- 
ship which  the  state  should  bear  toward  business,  and  vice  versa. 
It  was  my  privilege  to  rely  upon  him  for  advice  and  counsel  in 
recommendations  affecting  the  business  and  transportation 
interests  of  Virginia." 

Mr.  Southgate  was  from  1904  to  1907  one  of  the  four  men 
who  built  and  operated  the  Jamestown  Exposition.  He  served 
as  director  of  the  campaign  in  Norfolk  for  the  purchase  of  the 
Shenandoah  National  Park.  He  was  one  of  the  prominent  lay- 
men of  the  Methodist  Church,  for  nineteen  years  being  lay  leader 
of  the  Virginia  Methodist  Conference,  was  president  of  the 
Southern  Methodist  Laymen's  Association,  and  from  early  man- 
hood had  been  a  consistent  worker  in  his  church.  He  was  a  plat- 
form speaker  of  ability  and  personality,  and  appeared  many 
times  before  audiences  in  behalf  of  religious  and  civic  enter- 
prises. He  was  much  interested  in  the  cause  of  Christian  Mis- 
sions and  education,  and  was  state  chairman  for  Virginia  in 
the  campaign  of  his  church  to  raise  $3,500,000  for  missions  and 
over  a  million  dollars  for  Christian  education. 

Mr.  Southgate  married  Miss  Nettie  D.  Norsworthy,  who 
survives  him.  The  three  children  are  Nettie  Virginia,  Mary 
Portlock  and  Herbert  Somerville  Southgate,  all  of  Norfolk. 

The  Norsworthy  family,  of  which  Mrs.  Southgate  is  a  de- 
scendant, is,  as  the  name  indicates,  derived  from  the  stock  of 
Norsemen  who  settled  in  England.  Representatives  of  the  family 
were  in  Virginia  soon  after  the  establishment  of  Jamestown. 
The  pioneer,  Tristram  Norswoi'thy,  settled  in  about  1610  across 
the  river  from  Newport  News,  having  a  land  grant  to  that 
section  of  marsh  land  and  small  islands  known  as  "Ye  Ragged 
Islands."  Early  records  show  the  family  to  have  been  planters, 
chiefly  tobacco  growers.  Many  of  their  homes  were  in  Nanse- 
mond  and  Isle  of  Wight  counties,  where  county  records  fre- 
quently have  been  destroyed  by  fire,  and  fire  and  time  have 
also  reduced  many  of  their  homes  to  ashes.  Tristram  Nors- 
worthy and  his  son.  Major  (afterwards  colonel)  George  Nors- 
worthy, were  both  members  of  the  First  and  Second  House  of 
Burgesses  from  Upper  Norfolk  County.  A  later  descendant 
was  Tristram  Norsworthy,  captain  and  afterwards  colonel  in 
the  Revolution.  The  old  residence  of  the  family  burned  many 
years  ago.  Early  in  the  nineteenth  century  the  foundation  of 
the  house  and  the  well  were  several  feet  under  water  and  some 
distance  from  the  shore,  showing  the  inroads  the  water  had 
made  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  river. 

The  Revolutionary  soldier,  Tristram  Norsworthy,  was  the 
father  of  Joseph  Norsworthy,  born  in  1777.  Joseph  Norsworthy 
built  his  home  on  land  deeded  him  bv  his  father.    He  deeded  land 


VIRGINIA  445 

east  of  his  own  i)lantation  to  his  son, 'Nathaniel  W.,  who  was 
born  in  1804.  NathanieF  W.  had  a  l&rge  family,  but  only  three 
sons  and  one  dauy:hter  married.  One  son,  Joseph  Chapman. 
Norsworthy,  born  in  1881,  was  a  valiant  soldier  in  the  Confed- 
erate army.  His  children  consisted  of  one  son  and  two  daugh- 
ters, one  of  whom  is  Mrs.  Nettie  Norsworthy  Southgate.  The 
lands  of  the  Norsworthys  passed  entirely  out  of  the  family 
about  the  time  of  the  Civil  war,  when  &\\  of  the  sons  moved  to 
Norfolk.  In  crossing  from  Isle  of  AVight  County  to  Newport 
News  the  road  approaching  the  James  River  Bridge  pa'^ses 
within  a  hundred  feet  of  the  burying  ground  of  the  family  of 
Joseph  Norsworthy,  son  of  the  Revolutionary  ancestor,  Tristram. 

Robert  Carson  Gilmer,  member  of  a  family  widely  and 
prominently  connected  in  Southwest  Virginia,  is  a  resident  of 
Pembroke,  where  he  is  local  agent  for  the  Norfolk  &  Western 
Railway  Company  and  owns  and  conducts  the  Gilmer  Hotel,  one 
of  the  most  popular  hotels  in  Giles  County  for  commercial 
travelers  and  tourists. 

He  was  born  at  Abingdon,  Virginia,  September  23,  1885,  son 
of  W.  R.  and  Maggie  C.  (Cecil)  Gilmer,  and  grandson  of  George 
Gilmer,  an  early  farmer  and  cattle  raiser  of  Russell  County,  who 
is  buried  in  the  cemetery  near  Hansonville  in  that  county.  W.  R. 
Gilmer  was  born  in  Hansonville,  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Con- 
federate army,  and  was  wounded  in  a  skirmish  near  Richmond 
about  two  hours  before  the  surrender  at  Appomattox.  He  rode 
a  mule  into  Richmond,  then  got  on  a  train  for  Abingdon,  and 
from  there  went  to  his  home  in  Russell  County,  where  he  recov- 
ered from  his  wound  and  entered  with  courage  and  indomitable 
energy  into  the  tasks  of  farming  under  the  new  conditions  after 
the  war.  After  his  marriage  he  moved  to  Washington  County, 
and  lived  there  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  was  a  justice  of  the  peace 
and  road  commissioner  and  road  supervisor,  and  for  several 
years  bail  commissioner.  He  held  the  post  of  steward  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  was  accounted  one  of 
the  best  loved  citizens  of  his  community.  He  died  April  10, 
1916,  and  is  buried  at  Bristol.  His  wife,  Maggie  C.  Cecil,  was 
born  and  reared  in  Pulaski  County,  attending  public  school 
there  and  the  Martha  Washington  College  at  Abingdon.  She 
was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Her 
death  occurred  November  1,  1928,  and  both  she  and  her  husband 
are  buried  at  Bristol.  Her  parents  were  Thomas  and  Priscilla 
(Buckingham)  Cecil.  The  Cecils  have  been  in  Virginia  from 
Colonial  times.  W.  R.  Gilmer  and  wife  had  five  children :  How- 
ard C.  Gilmer,  a  prominent  attorney  at  Pulaski ;  Bessie  G.,  wife 
of  Mr.  Nicar,  of  Bristol ;  Margaret  C.,  wife  of  G.  H.  Gilmer,  who 
is  president  of  the  Interstate  Railway  Company  at  Big  Stone 
Gap,  Virginia;  Robert  Carson  Gilmer;  and  A.  Gray  Gilmer,  a 
leading  member  of  the  bar  of  Oklahoma  City. 

Robert  Carson  Gilmer  attended  public  schools  and  Abingdon 
Academy,  and  from  the  time  he  left  school  down  to  the  present 
time  has  been  with  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railway  Company, 
at  first  as  a  telegraph  operator,  in  which  capacitv  he  worked 
from  October  4.  1903,  until  February  7,  1912.  On  February  7, 
1912,  he  became  station  agent  at  Pembroke,  and  has  given  a 
continuous  and  efficient  service  in  that  capacity  for  seventeen 
years.     It  was  in  1922  that  he  built  the  Gilmer  Hotel. 

Mr.  Gilmer  is  a  trustee  and  member  of  the  Board  of  Stew- 
ards of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.     A  Republican, 


446  VIRGINIA 

he  was  candidate  for  the  Lower  House  of  the  Legislature  from 
Bland  and  Giles  counties  in  1925,  being  defeated  by  a  margin  of 
215  votes  by  George  T.  Bird,  of  Bland  County.  Mr.  Gilmer  is 
one  of  the  able  representatives  of  his  party  in  this  section  of  the 
state.  He  is  affiliated  with  Castle  Rock  Lodge  No.  334  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Order  of  Railway  Telegraphers. 
He  married  at  Pembroke,  September  19,  1905,  Miss  Virginia 
Catherine  Price,  who  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Giles 
County.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Ladies  Aid  Society  and  its 
secretary  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Her  par- 
ents were  Henry  D.  and  Nannie  (Albert)  Price,  her  father  a 
farmer  and  stock  raiser  near  Pembroke,  and  both  her  parents 
are  members  of  the  Christian  Church.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gilmer 
have  two  sons :  Eugene  Hoge,  born  in  1909,  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1929  in  the  Pembroke  High  School ;  and  Robert  C,  Jr., 
born  in  1913,  a  member  of  the  class  of  1930  in  the  Pembroke 
High  School. 

Winston  Oneida  Martin.  The  late  Winston  Oneida  Mar- 
tin, of  Richmond,  a  direct  descendant  of  Alexander  Hamilton, 
set  an  example  in  his  frugal,  painstaking,  useful  career  that  the 
rising  generation  would  do  well  to  follow,  and  it  is  well  to  give 
a  brief  review  of  his  life  and  character  in  these  days  of  abun- 
dance, free  expenditure  of  money,  and  the  too  prevalent  neglect 
of  the  prosaic  tasks  of  local  government.  Comparatively  speak- 
ing, he  was  a  young  man  when  he  died,  for  he  was  born  in  Pow- 
hatan County,  Virginia,  September  24,  1887,  and  died  in  Rich- 
mond February  25,  1926,  but  he  left  behind  him  a  record  of  self- 
denial,  self-control,  thrift  and  practical  idealism,  and  the  warm 
friendship  of  the  man  with  whom  he  was  associated  in  the 
American  Locomotive  Works  for  so  many  years. 

The  private  schools  of  his  native  county  gave  Winston  Oneida 
Martin  his  educational  training,  and  when  he  had  completed 
his  schooldays  he  went  into  a  saw-mill  for  a  year  or  two,  leaving 
that  employment  in  Powhatan  County  for  similar  work  in 
Lunenburg,  Virginia.  In  1909  he  came  to  Richmond  and  en- 
tered the  locomotive  works,  rising'  during  fifteen  years  to  the 
position  of  assistant  manager  of  the  locomotive  tank  department, 
and  he  was  holding  it  when  death  claimed  him.  A  stalwart 
Democrat,  he  suppoi'ted  his  party,  but  never  sought  office  him- 
self, his  work  occupying  him  to  the  exclusion  of  outside  matters. 
He  was  a  sincere  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  but  his  family 
are  Methodists.  In  fraternal  life  he  formed  connections  with 
the  Junior  Order  United  American  Mechanics  and  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  and  both  organizations  mourned  his  loss,  as  did  all 
who  knew  him. 

In  March,  1911,  Mr.  Martin  married  Matie  Poulson,  who 
was  educated  in  Wisconsin.  She  is  a  daughter  of  James  and 
Kristine  (Jacobson)  Poulson,  and  one  in  a  family  of  five  chil- 
dren. Mr.  Poulson  was  born  in  Denmark,  but  came  to  the 
United  States  and  settled  in  Wisconsin  in  1870,  and  there  be- 
came a  successful  farmer  and  prominent  citizen.  He  married 
in  Chicago,  and  his  wife  was  also  a  native  of  Denmark.  Two 
children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Martin,  Woodley  Kristine, 
a  graduate  of  John  Marshall  High  School  and  of  Mrs.  L.  E. 
Spencer's  School  of  Music,  and  Blanche  Oneida,  a  student  in  the 
public  schools  of  Richmond. 

Mr.  Martin  belonged  to  the  type  of  men  who  have  built  this 
nation.     In  everything  he  did  he  lived  up  to  American  tradi- 


VIRGINIA  447 

tions.  He  was  a  plain-spoken,  law-abiding,  hard-working,  up- 
right man,  with  common  sense  and  character.  Practicing  as 
he  did  the  elementary  virtues,  it  never  occurred  to  him  that 
success  worthy  the  name  could  be  achieved  by  speculation.  As 
a  faithful  and  devoted  husband  and  watchful  father  he  provided 
for  the  needs  of  his  family  through  his  own  industry  and  fru- 
gality, and  in  such  homes  as  his  have  been  reared  some  of  the 
finest  people  this  country  has  produced.  The  nation  cannot 
afford  to  forget  such  men  as  he  or  belittle  their  influence  and 
the  social  and  political  atmosphere  they  created — an  atmosphere 
of  austere  thinking,  rational  living  and  faithful  performance  of 
private  duty. 

William  Philip  Mathews,  M.  D.  From  1891  until  his 
death  the  late  Dr.  William  Philip  Mathews  was  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  medicine  and  sm-gery  at  Richmond  and  in  the 
more  important  work  of  medical  education.  His  specialty  was 
orthopedic  surgery,  and  his  knowledge  and  skill  were  such  as 
to  put  him  in  the  lead  among  his  professional  brethren,  and  to 
manifest  the  beneficent  influence  which  professional  acquire- 
ments, guided  by  high  motives,  have  and  exert  upon  the  welfare 
of  the  community. 

Doctor  Mathews  was  born  in  Prince  Edward  County,  Vir- 
ginia, June  30,  1868,  a  son  of  Dr.  Thomas  Philip  and  Bettie 
Boiling  (Marshall)  Mathews,  and  a  descendant  of  an  ancient 
Virginia  family  who  were  among  the  first  settlers  of  that  county. 
His  great-grandfather  was  Rev.  Philip  Mathews,  a  minister  of 
the  Baptist  faith,  who  passed  the  entire  ninety  years  of  his 
life  in  that  section,  and  his  grandfather  was  Capt.  William 
Mathews,  a  valiant  officer  of  the  War  of  1812.  Dr.  Thomas 
Philip  Mathews  was  born  in  Prince  Edward  County,  August 
21,  1835,  and  completed  his  medical  education  at  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  as  a  member  of  the 
class  of  1855.  He  immediately  returned  to  the  community  of 
his  birth  and  was  engaged  in  practice  there  until  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  between  the  states,  when  he  promptly  enlisted  i-n 
the  Confederate  army  and  became  captain  of  Company  H,  Four- 
teenth Regiment,  Virginia  Infantry,  with  which  he  served  gal- 
lantly until  the  second  battle  of  Manassas,  in  which  he  was 
severely  wounded.  When  he  recovered  he  was  placed  in  charge 
of  a  hospital  at  Farmville,  Prince  Edward  County,  and  subse- 
quently became  a  surgeon  under  the  great  Gen.  A.  P.  Hill, 
serving  in  that  capacity  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  then 
returned  to  his  private  practice,  and  in  1874  located  at  Rich- 
mond, where  he  became  a  leader  in  his  profession  and  continued 
as  such  until  his  death  January  12,  1905,  interment  being  made 
in  Hollywood  Cemetery.  On  December  24,  1856,  Doctor  Mathews 
married  Miss  Bettie  Boiling,  daughter  of  Thomas  R.  Marshall, 
of  Hampden-Sidney  College,  and  they  had  the  following  cliil- 
dren:  John  D.,  Thomas  Gibson,  Col.  W.  Kirk  and  Dr.  William 
and  five  other  children  who  are  deceased. 

After  attending  the  public  schools  of  Richmond,  including 
high  school,  William  Philip  Mathews  pursued  a  course  at  Rich- 
mond College,  and  then  spent  some  time  studying  medicine 
under  the  able  preceptorship  of  his  distinguished  father.  In 
1890  he  graduated  from  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  with 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  and  subsequently  served  his 
interneship  at  Charity   Hospital,   New  York  City.     Returning 


448  VIRGINIA 

to  Richmond  in  1891,  from  that  time  forward  until  his  death, 
July  25,  1918,  he  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
specializing  in  orthopedic  surgery.  He  was  professionally  con- 
nected with  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  for  many  years. 
In  1891  he  was  elected  adjunct  professor  of  surgery,  in  which 
capacity  he  served  four  years ;  in  1895  was  elected  professor  of 
anatomy  and  in  1905  professor  of  orthopedic  surgery.  He 
served  as  president  of  the  Board  of  Health  at  Manchester  (Rich- 
mond) for  one  year,  and  was  a  director  of  the  Manchester 
Light,  Heat  and  Power  Company.  Doctor  Mathews  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Henrico  County  Medical  Society,  the  Virginia  State 
Medical  Society,  the  American  Medical  Association  and  was  a 
fellow  of  the  American  College  of  Surgeons.  He  was  identified 
with  every  important  movement  which  interested  the  medical 
and  surgical  faculty  or  concerned  the  public  health.  In  spite 
of  the  onerous  and  never-ending  duties  of  his  profession.  Doctor 
Mathews  found  the  time  and  inclination  to  engage  with  great 
activity  and  usefulness  in  religious  matters.  He  was  one  of 
the  pillars  of  the  Second  Baptist  Church  of  Richmond,  president 
of  the  Inter-Denominational  Sunday  School  Association  for  five 
years,  president  of  the  Baptist  Sunday  School  Association,  and 
a  member  for  many  years  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  General  Baptist  Convention  and  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  appointments  thereof,  a  position  which  had  been  held 
by  his  father  for  twenty-one  years  prior  to  the  latter's  death. 
Fraternally  Doctor  Mathews  was  a  member  and  an  honored  past 
master  of  Meridian  Lodge  No.  284,  A.  F.  and  A.  M. 

On  October  17,  1893,  Doctor  Mathews  married  at  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  Miss  Annie  Sanborn  Graham,  who  was  born  at  Burning 
Springs,  West  Virginia,  August  21,  1869,  and  is  a  daughter  of 
David  L.  and  Martha  Jane  (Watt)  Graham,  of  Scotch  and  Irish 
parentage,  formerly  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  He  enlisted 
and  served  as  a  soldier  of  the  Union  army  during  the  war  between 
the  states.  Four  children  were  born  to  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Math- 
ews :  Margaret  Spencer,  a  graduate  of  the  Woman's  College, 
class  of  1913,  and  the  Richmond  Normal  School,  class  of  1917, 
who  has  been  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of  Richmond  for 
eleven  years,  and  is  popular  and  distinguished  as  an  educator ; 
David  Graham,  of  Richmond,  who  entered  the  United  States 
Army  for  the  World  war  as  a  member  of  the  famous  Richmond 
Blues,  was  later  transferred  to  the  Munitions  Corps,  saw  active 
service  in  France  and  attained  the  rank  of  second  lieutenant, 
and,  returning  to  the  United  States,  married,  October  9,  1919, 
Miss  Ada  Long,  of  Richmond ;  Thomas  Philip,  Jr.,  who  volun- 
teered for  service  when  the  United  States  entered  the  World 
war,  was  first  in  training  with  the  Ambulance  Corps  at  Camp 
Lee  and  subsequently  at  Camp  Meade,  whence  he  went  to  Camp 
Worgert,  England,  where  he  finished  training,  saw  active  serv- 
ice on  the  battlefields  of  France,  where  he  was  wounded,  was 
made  a  sergeant  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and,  returning 
to  the  United  States,  married,  October  17,  1922,  Miss  Elizabeth 
Bagby,  and  they  have  two  children,  Elizabeth  Bagby  and 
Thomas  Philip  III. ;  and  William  Watt,  a  graduate  of  John  Mar- 
shall High  School,  who  has  a  position  in  the  offices  of  the  Loril- 
lard  Tobacco  Company  of  Richmond.  Mrs.  Mathews,  who  sur- 
vives her  husband  and  resides  at  3115  Edgewood  Avenue,  is  a 
graduate  of  Richmond  Female  Institute.  She  is  active  in  the 
work  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  of  the  American  Legion 
Auxiliary. 


VIRGINIA  449 

James  Basil  Keesling  was  a  newspaper  man  in  Tennessee 
for  a  number  of  years,  but  eventually  returned  to  his  ancestral 
home  in  Southwest  Virginia,  where  he  has  been  a  farmer  and 
pure-bred  stock  breeder,  and  more  recently  has  become  identified 
as  cashier  with  the  Peoples  Bank  of  Rural  Retreat  in  Blythe 
County. 

Mr.  Keesling  owns  the  Meadow  Brook  Farm,  comprising 
part  of  a  grant  of  land  made  to  his  ancestor,  his  great-grand- 
father, George  Kisling,  as  the  family  name  was  spelled  up  to 
1850.  This  George  Kisling  acquired  an  extensive  area  of  land 
in  the  vicinity  of  Cedar  Springs,  Virginia,  from  William  Bus- 
tard, who  in  turn  had  received  it  as  a  grant  in  1785.  The  old 
grant  was  signed  by  Governor  Patrick  Henry,  and  James  B. 
Keesling  has  in  his  possession  the  old  document  with  the  signa- 
ture of  the  great  Virginia  orator  and  statesman,  and  has  all 
the  other  transfers  that  have  been  made  since  the  time  of  his 
great-grandfather,  George  Kisling. 

James  Basil  Keesling  was  born  at  Cedar  Springs  in  Smyth 
County,  Virginia,  January  17,  1869,  son  of  Emory  Sullins  and 
Emeline  Francis  (Button)  Keesling.  His  father  was  born  and 
reared  in  the  same  house,  was  educated  in  private  schools,  and 
entered  the  Confederate  army  and  was  a  soldier  during  the  last 
year  of  the  war.  He  was  a  miller  both  before  and  after  the  war. 
Part  of  the  old  homestead  comprises  the  Keesling  Mill.  Henry  S. 
Keesling  died  April  29,  1916,  and  is  buried  in  the  old  Asbury 
Church  Cemetery  near  the  old  Asbury  camp  ground.  His  wife 
was  born  near  Blue  Spring,  Virginia.  Both  were  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  She  died  in 
1907.  Of  the  six  children  born  to  them  two  died  in  infancy,  and 
the  other  four  are :  Peter  P. ;  Clara  Virginia,  wife  of  J.  W. 
Lantz;  James  B.,  of  Cedar  Springs,  Virginia;  and  Minnie  Sul- 
lins, wife  of  Leon  C.  Cornett,  of  Fresno,  California. 

James  B.  Keesling  after  public  schools  continued  his  educa- 
tion in  Emory  and  Henry  College,  graduated  from  the  Knoxville 
Business  College  in  1891,  and  for  fifteen  years  gave  his  full  time 
to  newspaper  work,  the  first  three  years  with  the  Knoxville 
Tribune,  and  for  about  twelve  years  with  the  Knoxville  Sentinel. 

The  death  of  his  father  caused  him  to  return  to  Southwest- 
ern Virginia  in  order  to  take  charge  of  Meadow  Brook  Farm, 
his  fine  property,  comprising  a  great  deal  of  blue  grass  land,  an 
ideal  spot  for  cattle  raising.  His  home  is  one  of  the  beauty 
spots  of  this  section  of  Southwestern  Virginia. 

On  July  1,  1927,  Mr.  Keesling  became  cashier  of  the  Peoples 
Bank  at  Rural  Retreat.  He  is  also  a  director  and  stockholder 
of  the  same,  and  vice  president  and  director  of  the  Marion 
Handle  Mills  at  Marion.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Smyth  County 
National  Farm  Loan  Association  and  a  member  of  the  Smyth 
County  School  Board.  He  takes  an  active  interest  in  public 
affairs,  and  none  of  his  people  have  ever  sought  political  office. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Knights  of 
Pvthias,  is  a  Democrat,  and  belongs  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. 

Mr.  Keesling  married  at  Moberly,  Missouri,  November  7, 
1894,  Miss  Jessie  Lee  Briney,  of  Moberly.  Her  father.  Rev.  John 
Benton  Briney,  was  one  of  the  outstanding  ministers,  writers 
and  debaters  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  died  in  1927  at  Cedar 
Springs,  being  buried  in  Cave  Hill  Cemetery  in  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, beside  his  wife.  Mrs.  Keesling  was  educated  at  Memphis 
and  at  Louisville,  and  since  early  girlhood  has  been  a  leader  in 

21— VOL.  .3 


450  VIRGINIA 

her  church,  being  an  accomplished  singer  and  a  choir  worker. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Keesling  had  two  children,  one  son,  Emory  Basil, 
dying  at  the  age  of  thirteen  months.  The  daughter,  Edith 
Holbert,  was  educated  in  public  schools  at  Knoxville,  in  the 
Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College,  and  the  Mary  Baldwin  Semi- 
nary. She  is  now  the  wife  of  Lee  M.  Cole,  a  resident  of  Marion, 
where  he  is  president  and  manager  of  the  Marion  Handle  Mills. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cole  have  a  son,  Lee  Marion,  Jr.,  attending  public 
school. 

Norman  Clarence  Smith,  commonwealth's  attorney  of 
Tazewell  County,  has  achieved  a  great  reputation  in  South- 
western Virginia  as  a  brilliant  lawyer,  excelling  in  the  resource- 
fulness which  characterizes  the  successful  man  in  criminal  prac- 
tice. He  is  a  resident  of  Pocahontas,  and  has  practiced  there 
since  the  close  of  the  World  war,  in  which  he  took  an  honorable 
part. 

He  was  born  at  Joliett,  Schuylkill  County,  Pennsylvania, 
April  15,  1891.  His  grandfather,  William  Smith,  a  native  of 
England,  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  active  life  as  a  miner  in 
Schuylkill  County.  He  married  in  Pennsylvania  Esther  Bowles, 
also  a  native  of  England.  George  B.  Smith,  father  of  the  Poca- 
hontas attorney,  was  born  at  Tremont,  Pennsylvania,  December 
23,  1869,  and  devoted  many  years  to  the  mining  industry,  start- 
ing as  a  miner  underground.  In  1890  he  located  at  Keystone, 
West  Virginia,  was  superintendent  of  the  Keystone  Coal  &  Coke 
Company,  and  in  1912  became  superintendent  of  the  Big  Vein 
Pocahontas  Coal  &  Coke  Company  at  Pocahontas,  Virginia.  He 
retired  from  active  business  in  1921.  He  was  prominent  in  fra- 
ternal affairs,  being  a  member  of  the  various  York  Rite  bodies 
of  Masonry,  the  Beni  Kedem  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at 
Charleston,  West  Virginia,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  and  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  was  a 
Republican.  George  B.  Smith  married  at  Tremont,  Pennsylvania, 
Elizabeth  Roberts,  who  was  born  January  9,  1872.  They  had 
two  sons,  Norman  Clarence  and  George  Emmerson. 

Norman  Clarence  Smith  was  educated  in  public  schools  at 
Tremont,  Pennsylvania,  and  Keystone,  West  Virginia,  gradu- 
ating from  high  school  at  the  latter  place  in  1906.  In  1908  he 
graduated  from  Emory  and  Henry  Academy  and  in  1912  took 
the  A.  B.  degree  at  Emory  and  Henry  College.  Mr.  Smith  com- 
pleted his  law  course  at  Columbia  University,  New  York,  in 
1915,  was  admitted  to  the  Virginia  bar  in  June  of  that  year, 
and  for  two  years  practiced  at  Grundy  in  Buchanan  County, 
Virginia. 

In  August,  1917,  he  volunteered  and  attended  the  Second 
Officers  Training  Camp  at  Fort  Myer,  Virginia,  where  he  was 
commissioned  first  lieutenant  of  infantry  December  15,  1917. 
His  first  assignment  of  duty  was  with  the  Forty-eighth  Infantry 
at  Camp  Hill,  Newport  News.  On  August  15,  1918,  he  was  pro- 
moted to  captain,  became  acting  adjutant  of  the  Fortieth  Brig- 
ade, Twentieth  Division,  Camp  Sevier,  South  Carolina,  and  was 
under  orders  to  go  overseas  when  the  armistice  was  signed.  He 
received  his  honorable  discharge  April  23,  1919. 

On  leaving  the  army  Captain  Smith  established  his  law 
offices  at  Pocahontas. 

Few  men  achieve  more  of  the  substantial  honors  of  real 
accomplishment  than  Mr.  Smith  has  attained  in  less  than  ten 
years.    He  has  had  a  crowded  program  of  general  practice  and 


/^^^ze-ti^ 


VIRGINIA  451 

has  been  remarkably  successful  in  the  criminal  cases  he  has 
handled.  He  has  defended  a  number  of  men  on  trial  for  murder. 
He  was  attorney  for  and  instrumental  in  securing  the  largest 
award  ever  given  in  a  damage  suit  in  Tazewell  County.  This 
was  the  case  of  Lumpkins  versus  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Rail- 
road.   The  judgment  was  for  $25,000. 

Mr.  Smith  has  served  as  attorney  for  the  City  of  Pocahontas. 
He  has  been  a  leader  in  the  Democratic  party  of  the  county 
since  beginning  practice,  and  his  sterling  merits  as  a  lawyer  and 
his  character  as  a  citizen,  together  with  his  convincing  powers 
as  a  public  speaker,  have  brought  him  a  most  exceptional  dis- 
tinction in  being  the  first  Democrat  elected  commonwealth's 
attorney  in  Tazewell  County  in  forty  years.  Also  he  broke  a  cus- 
tom in  that  no  other  attorney  has  been  elected  to  this  office  who 
lived  outside  the  county  seat  of  Tazewell.  In  1923  he  was  a 
candidate  for  the  office  and  was  defeated  by  894  votes.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1927,  he  was  elected  on  the  Democratic  ticket  by  a  margin 
of  353  votes.  Mr.  Smith  is  a  member  of  the  County  Democratic 
Central  Committee  and  has  done  much  effective  campaign  work 
for  the  party  in  the  Ninth  Congressional  District. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  lay  leader  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  at  Pocahontas,  and  assistant  district  lay  leader  of  the 
church  for  the  Tazewell  district.  He  teaches  a  class  of  boys  in 
the  Sunday  School.  He  is  junior  warden  of  Pocahontas  Lodge 
No.  240,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  member  of  W.  G.  Bottimore  Chapter 
No.  28,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  at  Bluefield,  Bluefield  Commandery 
No.  22,  Knights  Templar,  Kazim  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at 
Roanoke,  and  a  member  of  Pocahontas  Lodge  No.  60,  Knights  of 
Pythias. 

He  married  at  Crockett,  Virginia,  June  17,  1917,  Miss  Bessie 
Wampler,  who  was  a  graduate  of  Emory  and  Henry  College  and 
of  Columbia  University.  She  died  January  31,  1919.  Her  par- 
ents were  Lefrich  P.  and  Tabitha  (Fielder)  Wampler.  On  June 
16,  1922,  Mr.  Smith  married  Miss  Lucille  Hanna,  daughter  of 
William  and  Mollie  (Bennett)  Hanna.  They  have  two  children, 
Bess  Lucille,  born  June  13,  1923,  and  Robert  Norman,  born 
December  10,  1925. 

Junius  Edgar  West,  lieutenant  governor  of  the  common- 
wealth of  Virginia  from  1922  to  1930,  has  for  many  years  been 
a  Suffolk  business  man,  and  was  born  at  Waverly,  Sussex 
County,  July  12,  1866,  son  of  Henry  T.  and  Sue  T.  (Cox)  West. 
His  father  was  a  Virginia  planter  and  farmer. 

Mr.  West's  first  active  contacts  with  his  home  state  were  as 
a  teacher.  He  attended  public  schools,  was  a  student  in  the  Suf- 
folk Collegiate  Institute,  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  and 
studied  law  in  Washington  and  Lee  University  and  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia.  However,  most  of  his  business  career  has  been 
devoted  to  insurance  rather  than  the  law.  For  nearly  two  years 
he  was  county  superintendent  of  schools  for  Sussex  County. 

His  home  has  been  in  the  city  of  Suffolk  since  1890,  when  he 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Harper  West,  general  insurance, 
and  since  that  time  he  has  expended  much  time  and  effort  in  the 
development  of  proper  commercial  facilities,  in  the  raising  of  the 
standards  of  education  and  in  directing  the  attention  of  Virginia 
and  the  nation  at  large  to  the  proper  utilization  of  the  great 
advantages  and  resources  of  Tidewater  Virginia.  He  was  at  one 
time  one  of  the  owners  of  the  Suffolk  Herald,  and  since  1906  has 
been  head  of  the  general  insurance  firm  of  West  &  Withers. 


452  VIRGINIA 

His  friends  have  referred  to  him  as  Colonel  West,  since  he 
served  as  a  member  of  the  staff  of  Governor  Swanson.  He  was 
elected  to  the  House  of  Delegates  in  1909,  and  after  one  term  in 
the  House  served  two  and  a  half  consecutive  terms  in  the  senate. 
Colonel  West  was  author  of  the  West  Fee  Bill,  and  author  of  the 
act  providing  for  medical  and  dental  inspection  of  school  chil- 
dren, known  as  West  Health  Law.  He  was  a  patron  of  the  State 
Purchasing  Act,  and  he  has  been  one  of  the  constructive  advo- 
cates of  tax  reform,  health  and  educational  legislation. 

It  was  largely  on  the  basis  of  his  known  constructive  attitude 
in  legislative  and  public  affairs  that  he  was  chosen  lieutenant 
governor  in  1921.  As  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate  he  was  dis- 
tinguished by  his  parliamentary  skill,  and  was  always  dignified 
and  fair  in  directing  the  deliberations  of  the  body.  During  1928 
he  was  looked  upon  as  a  leading  candidate  of  the  Democratic 
party  for  the  office  of  governor,  but  withdrew  his  candidacy  in 
1929.  Colonel  West  was  at  one  time  chairman  of  the  Democratic 
committee  of  Nansemond  County,  has  been  a  member  of  the 
State  Central  Committee  and  State  Democratic  Executive  Com- 
mittee, president  of  the  Democratic  clubs  of  Suffolk,  and  was  a 
delegate  to  the  National  Democratic  Convention  of  1896.  He 
has  served  as  president  of  the  Suffolk  City  Council. 

He  is  a  trustee  of  Elon  College  of  North  Carolina,  was  on 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  State  Teachers  College  at  Farmville, 
and  during  the  World  war  was  chairman  of  the  United  War 
Work  campaign  in  Suffolk  and  Nansemond  counties  and  a  four 
minute  speaker.  He  is  a  past  president  of  the  Suffolk  Rotary 
Club,  is  a  Mason,  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution and  is  also  affiliated  with  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks.  He  is  a  promi- 
nent layman  of  the  Christian  Church,  having  served  for  many 
years  as  chairman  of  the  mission  board  of  the  Eastern  Virginia 
Conference  and  chairman  of  the  mission  board  of  the  Southern 
Christian  Convention,  and  has  long  taught  a  class  of  women  in 
the  Suffolk  Christian  Church  Sunday  School.  Colonel  West  has 
been  honored  with  the  office  of  vice  president  of  the  Virginia 
Insurance  Agents  Association,  and  is  a  member  of  the  West- 
moreland Club  of  Richmond. 

He  married,  February  17,  1903,  Miss  Ollie  Beale,  of  Suffolk. 
They  have  one  daughter,  Margaret  Beale  West. 

Francis  R.  Payne  is  a  member  of  a  firm  of  brothers  prom- 
inently identified  with  the  business  life  of  Newport  in  Giles 
County,  and  he  has  lived  in  that  locality  most  of  his  life. 

He  was  born  at  Newport  December  7,  1895,  son  of  R.  Y.  and 
Flora  C.  (Puckett)  Payne,  and  grandson  of  John  R.  Payne  and 
great-grandson  of  Charles  Payne.  Charles  Payne  was  a  pioneer 
of  Southwest  Virginia,  a  farmer  and  hunter  in  the  early  days  of 
Giles  County.  The  Payne  family  have  been  in  Virginia  since 
early  Colonial  times.  R.  Y.  Payne  was  born  and  reared  in  Giles 
County,  received  advantages  in  private  schools  and  spent  his 
early  years  as  a  farmer.  In  1908  he  moved  to  the  coal  fields  of 
West  Virginia,  but  in  1929  returned  to  Newport,  where  he  and 
his  wafe  reside.  He  has  always  voted  the  Republican  ticket,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  His  wife.  Flora  C.  Puck- 
ett, was  born  in  Giles  County,  grew  up  at  Newport,  where  she  at- 
tended public  school,  and  for  about  twenty  years  held  the  office  of 
postmaster  there,  serving  until  the  advent  of  the  Wilson  admin- 
istration. She  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.    These  parents  had  a  family  of  seven  children :    W.  C. 


^A-^-^-iMzyHT'^,  y/<^-^»t.e^  ^^^T" 


VIRGINIA  453 

Payne,  now  in  the  lumber  business  at  Welch,  West  Virginia, 
was  in  training  at  Camp  Lee  during  the  World  war,  getting  his 
honorable  discharge  December  1,  1918;  ?''rancis  R.,  of  Newport; 
Harry  W.,  of  Widemouth,  West  Virginia;  James  M.,  of  Newport; 
Helen,  who  died  at  the  age  of  nine  years;  Miss  Grace,  a  teacher 
in  the  public  schools  of  Narrows,  Virginia;  and  Miss  Tootsie, 
who  is  attending  the  State  Teachers  College  at  Harrisonburg. 

Francis  R.  Payne  attended  public  schools  in  Newport,  getting 
his  high  school  work  there.  When  he  left  school  he  went  to  Kay- 
ford,  West  Virginia,  and  for  eight  years  clerked  in  stores  in  that 
vicinity,  and  for  several  years  was  postmaster  of  a  West  Vir- 
ginia community.  During  the  World  war  Mr.  Payne  joined  the 
colors  at  Fort  Hamilton,  New  York,  where  he  was  in  training 
with  the  Motor  Transport  Corps  until  honorably  discharged  on 
December  15,  1919. 

Mr.  Payne  in  1924  returned  to  Newport  and  has  since  been 
associated  with  his  brother  in  the  automobile  and  garage  bus- 
iness. They  operate  the  Newport  Service  Station,  are  distributing 
agents  for  the  Standard  Oil  Company  products,  and  handle  the 
Chevrolet  cars.  Mr.  Payne  has  always  interested  himself  in 
community  affairs  and  is  very  public  spirited.  He  is  affiliated 
with  Newport  Lodge  No.  261,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.  He  is  a  Repub- 
lican and  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Stewards  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Chui'ch,  South. 

He  married  at  Buchanan,  Virginia,  April  10,  1918,  Miss  Dora 
Ellen  Kelly.  She  attended  public  schools  in  Pulaski  and  the 
Harrisonburg  State  Teachers  College,  and  was  a  teacher  for 
several  years  before  her  marriage,  being  thus  engaged  at  New- 
port and  also  in  Russell  County  and  Smyth  County.  Mrs.  Payne 
is  active  in  the  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  John  P.  and  Mary  (Groseclose)  Kelly,  of 
Marion.  Her  father  is  now  living  on  a  farm  at  White  Gate, 
Virginia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Payne  have  two  children,  Frank  R.  and 
Mary  Camelia,  both  attending  the  Newport  public  schools. 

Andrew  F.  Horne,  M.  D.  When  in  1884  Dr.  Andrew  F. 
Home  located  at  Glade  Springs  he  was  newly  graduated  from  a 
medical  college,  and  was  contented  to  take  his  place  among  the 
citizens  of  a  growing  community  and  to  accept  such  opportun- 
ities for  professional  advancement  that  came  his  way.  He  was  en- 
terprising and  ambitious,  and  his  skill  in  diagnosis  and  success- 
ful treatment  of  several  complicated  cases  of  long  standing  al- 
most immediately  created  a  gratifying  demand  for  his  services, 
thus  laying  the  foundation  for  what  has  been  a  career  of  ex- 
ceptional breadth  and  usefulness.  During  the  more  than  forty- 
four  years  that  have  followed  he  has  risen  to  acknowledged  lead- 
ership in  his  community,  not  alone  along  the  lines  and  duties  of 
his  profession,  but  in  every  avenue  of  advancement.  Today  he  is 
one  of  the  most  influential  and  best  beloved  citizens  of  his  part 
of  Washington  County. 

Doctor  Horne  was  born  in  November,  1856,  near  Emory, 
Washington  County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  John  E.  and  Mary 
Buchannon  (Fullen)  Horne,  natives  of  Virginia,  both  of  whom 
are  now  deceased.  His  father,  who  was  of  German  descent,  was 
a  farmer  in  Washington  County,  where  he  passed  his  entire  ca- 
reer, and  was  a  man  of  influence  and  prominence,  serving  for 
many  years  as  justice  of  the  peace  and  member  of  the  Board  of 
County  Supervisors.   He  and  his  worthy  wife  were  devout  mem- 


454  VIRGINIA 

bers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  did  much  for 
the  betterment  of  their  community. 

The  boyhood  and  youth  of  Andrew  F.  Home  were  passed  on 
his  father's  farm  in  Washington  County,  where  he  assisted  the 
elder  man  in  his  operations  while  acquiring  his  primary  educa- 
tion in  the  country  schools.  The  finding  of  a  groove  in  life  in 
which  one's  heart  and  mind  are  emphatically  enlisted  assures 
success  to  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  toilers  of  the  earth.  The  farm  is 
the  largest  and  most  beneficent  camping  ground  for  the  survey 
of  life's  possibilities,  and  it  was  among  these  fortunate  if  not 
congenial  surroundings  that  Doctor  Home  determined  upon  his 
humanitarian  career.  After  completing  his  public  school  educa- 
tion he  entered  Emory  and  Henry  College  at  Emory,  where  he 
obtained  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  following  which  he  en- 
rolled as  a  student  in  the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  Virginia.  This  course  was  supplemented  by  attendance  at  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  at  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1884. 

In  the  same  year  Doctor  Home  settled  at  Glade  Springs, 
where  he  has  since  been  located,  and  which  community  has 
watched  with  sincere  interest  his  constantly  growing  fortune. 
He  early  won  the  confidence  of  the  people  by  his  skill  in  diagnosis 
and  his  successful  treatment  of  disorders  of  all  kinds,  and  he  has 
always  been  a  student  who  has  recognized  no  end  to  the  road  of 
science  and  who  forges  ahead  patiently  and  conscientiously.  At 
an  age  when  most  men  are  content  to  retire  upon  their  laurels 
he  continues  to  go  about  his  daily  round  of  duties,  just  as  he  did 
in  the  early  years  when  it  was  a  necessity  for  him  to  work  con- 
stantly to  keep  body  and  soul  together.  During  the  World  war  he 
offered  his  services  to  his  country  as  a  member  of  the  Medical 
Corps  and  served  as  a  volunteer  in  that  body,  and  at  present  is 
acting  in  the  capacity  of  health  officer  of  Glade  Springs.  He  be- 
longs to  the  Southwest  Virginia  Medical  Society,  the  Virginia 
Medical  Society  and  the  American  Medical  Association.  He  is  a 
Democrat,  and  while  not  active  in  politics,  is  a  man  of  great  in- 
fluence in  his  community  and  active  in  all  of  its  affairs.  He  be- 
longs to  the  Masonic  Blue  Lodge  and  to  the  Board  of  Stewards  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Doctor  Home  married  Miss  Laura  M.  Lincoln,  of  Marion, 
Virginia,  daughter  of  the  late  Charles  Lincoln,  who  was  en- 
gaged in  manufacturing  at  Marion  until  his  death.  She  was  edu- 
cated at  Marion  Female  College  and  is  a  consistent  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  To  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Home  there  have 
been  born  the  following  children:  Charles  Lincoln,  educated  at 
Emory  and  Henry  College,  and  now  engaged  in  the  automobile 
and  radio  business  at  Glade  Springs ;  Mary,  a  graduate  of  Sullins 
College,  Bristol,  Virginia,  and  now  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools 
of  Sparta,  North  Carolina.  Andrew,  a  graduate  in  electrical 
engineering  of  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute,  who  is  identi- 
fied with  the  Appalachia  Power  Company  of  Bluefield,  West  Vir- 
ginia; H.  A.,  a  student  at  Emory  and  Henry  College;  Margaret, 
a  graduate  of  Marion  Female  College,  Marion,  who  took  special 
courses  in  music  at  Martha  Washington  College,  Abingdon,  and 
the  Chicago  Conservatory  of  Music,,  Chicago,  Illinois,  and  is  now^ 
teaching  music  in  the  schools  of  Sparta,  North  Carolina;  and 
John,  who  attended  the  Glade  Springs  High  School  and  is  a 
graduate  of  the  Bliss  Electrical  College  of  Washington,  D.  C, 
class  of  1929. 


VIRGINIA  455 

John  Baker  Roller  is  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Pear- 
isbiirg,  and  is  a  director  of  vocational  agricultural  education  for 
all  the  high  schools  of  Giles  County.  Mr.  Roller,  who  was  with 
the  Coast  Artillery  Corps  during  the  World  war,  has  had  a  very 
interesting  experience  and  career  as  an  educator. 

His  people  have  been  Virginians  for  a  number  of  genera- 
tions, but  he  was  himself  born  at  Oxford,  North  Carolina,  May 
8,  1895,  son  of  John  B.  and  Sallie  (Easley)  Roller.  The  Rollers 
are  of  remote  German  ancestry,  and  some  of  them  served  as 
burgomasters  of  their  home  town  in  Prussia.  The  family  came 
to  America  at  an  early  date,  and  one  of  the  relics  in  the  family 
carefully  preserved  is  a  rolling  pin  made  from  the  limb  of  the 
tree  under  which  the  Rollers  camped  the  first  day  they  were  on 
American  shores.  In  Germany  the  family  had  a  coat  of  arms. 
John  B.  Roller  was  born  and  reared  in  Ohio  and  as  a  young 
man  moved  to  Virginia  where  his  father  owned  a  large  interest 
in  the  Mecklenburg  Hotel.  He  attended  a  private  school  in  Ohio 
and  the  Virginia  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  now  the 
Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute.  After  his  marriage  he  moved  to 
Oxford,  North  Carolina,  and  engaged  in  the  insurance  business, 
establishing  what  is  still  known  and  operated  as  the  J.  B.  Roller 
&  Son  Company.  He  was  a  man  of  prominence  in  that  locality, 
a  deacon  in  the  Baptist  Church,  and  at  one  time  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Taylor-Cannady  Buggy  Company  and  later  the 
Oxford  Buggy  Company.  He  died  in  1909  and  is  buried  at  Oxford. 
His  wife,  Sallie  Easley,  born  and  reared  in  Halifax  County,  Vir- 
ginia, and  educated  at  Hollins  College,  taught  school  for  several 
years  before  her  marriage,  is  a  resident  of  Richmond  with  her 
only  daughter,  and  for  years  has  been  active  in  the  Baptist 
Church.  The  Easleys  are  a  family  readily  identified  with  prom- 
inent connections  in  old  Virginia,  particularly  in  Halifax  and 
other  eastern  counties.  Among  other  descendants  of  the  family 
is  John  W.  Craddock,  a  prominent  shoe  manufacturer.  John  B. 
Roller  and  wife  had  five  childi'en.  Frank,  the  youngest,  died  in 
infancy.  Joseph  Rose  is  an  operator  with  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company,  a  resident  of  Ontario,  Canada,  and  is  mar- 
ried, but  his  only  child  died  in  infancy.  Charles  Easley  Roller 
is  in  the  tobacco  sales  and  manufacturing  business  at  Oxford, 
North  Carolina,  married  Louie  Mitchell,  a  widow  with  a  son, 
John,  by  her  first  husband,  and  two  children  have  been  born 
to  them,  William  and  Charles,  Jr.  Miss  Hallie  Hall  Roller,  the 
only  daughter,  is  connected  with  the  Virginia  Industrial  Com- 
mission at  Richmond. 

John  Baker  Roller  attended  public  schools  at  Oxford,  North 
Carolina,  the  Cluster  Springs  Academy  in  Virginia,  and  in  1916 
graduated  with  the  Bachelor  of  Science  degree  from  the  Virginia 
Polytechnic  Institute.  In  1924  advance  credits  gave  him  the 
Master  of  Science  degree.  For  one  year  after  leaving  the  insti- 
tute he  taught  in  the  Appomattox  High  School. 

In  June,  1917,  he  joined  the  colors,  in  the  Regular  Army,  in 
training  with  the  Coast  Artillery  Corps  on  Chesapeake  Bay, 
and  later  was  commissioned  a  provisional  second  lieutenant.  He 
went  overseas  with  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  in  the  Seventy- 
fifth  Regiment,  Coast  Artillery  Corps,  in  October,  1918,  and  was 
at  St.  Nazaire  and  was  moving  up  with  the  artillery  at  the 
headquarters  at  Mailly  Le  Camp  at  the  time  of  the  armistice.  He 
remained  with  the  Army  of  Supply  until  June,  1919,  and  came 
back  in  charge  of  a  company  of  casuals,  discharging  them  at 
Camp   Mills,   New  York,   and  then   reported   to   Fort  Scriven, 


456  VIRGINIA 

Georgia,  where  his  resignation  was  accepted  and  he  was  honor- 
ably discharged  with  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant.  He  is  now  a 
captain  in  the  Field  Artillery  Officers  Reserve  Corps. 

Captain  Roller  after  being  relieved  of  military  duty  became 
teacher  of  agricultui-e  and  for  three  years  was  principal  of  the 
Apple  Grove  High  School  in  Virginia.  While  he  was  there  the 
efficiency  of  the  school  was  improved  to  a  point  where  the  school 
was  placed  on  the  accredited  list.  Mr.  Roller  came  to  Pearis- 
burg  in  1923  as  principal  of  the  high  school.  He  takes  deserved 
pride  in  the  fine  physical  plant  and  the  personnel  of  the  teaching 
and  student  body.  The  high  school  is  a  large  two-story  brick  and 
concrete  building  with  basement  and  six  rooms,  providing  quar- 
ters for  the  agricultural  class,  while  on  the  second  floor  is  an 
auditorium  with  seating  capacity  of  about  six  hundred.  He  has 
fourteen  teachers  under  his  supervision  and  about  350  students. 
The  Pearisburg  High  School  is  held  in  high  respect  in  this  part 
of  Virginia  for  the  achievements  of  its  athletic  and  other  repre- 
sentative teams.  It  has  won  many  trophies  in  competition,  in 
basketball,  baseball,  and  other  sports.  In  1925  the  basketball 
team  won  the  championship  of  District  E,  and  in  the  state  con- 
test at  the  University  of  Virginia  stood  fourth  in  its  class.  In 
1924,  25  and  26  the  school  won  the  county  silver  cup  for  best 
literary  and  athletic  work.  In  1927  a  new  cup  was  provided  by 
the  county,  and  it  is  now  held  by  the  Pearisburg  High  School, 
which  has  won  one  leg  on  that  cup,  three  years  of  winning  being 
necessary  for  permanent  possession.  Near  the  high  school  build- 
ing is  the  elementary  school,  a  brick  Colonial  building,  with  ac- 
commodations for  seven  grades  and  three  rooms  for  domestic 
science  department.  The  eight  teachers  there  are  under  the  grade 
supervisor.  Miss  Annie  Brotherton.  Captain  Roller,  in  charge 
of  the  insti-uction  in  vocational  agi'iculture  for  the  county,  has 
supervision  of  departments  in  the  high  schools  at  Newport, 
Eggleston  and  White  Gate,  his  assistant  in  this  work  being  W.  L. 
Hargis,  one  of  the  teachers  in  the  Pearisburg  High  School. 

Captain  Roller  owns  his  home  at  Pearisburg  and  is  inter- 
ested in  the  Pearisburg  Hatchery.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Pi 
Gamma  Mu  fraternity,  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  a  Democrat,  and  is  active  in  the  Baptist 
Church,  being  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School  and  a  leader 
in  the  Baptist  Young  People's  Union. 

He  married  at  Fort  Moultrie,  South  Carolina,  September 
10,  1918,  Miss  Mai-garet  Boiling  Atkinson,  of  McKinney,  Vir- 
ginia, where  she  attended  public  schools.  She  graduated  in  1916 
from  the  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  at  Lynchburg  and 
taught  for  several  years,  being  assistant  principal  of  the  high 
school  at  Waverly,  Virginia.  She  is  a  Presbyterian  and  a  member 
of  the  Alpha  Omicron  Pi  sorority.  Her  parents  were  John  Pryor 
and  Sallie  (Jones)  Atkinson.  Her  father  was  a  farmer  in  Din- 
widdle County  and  died  in  1909.  Her  mother,  who  still  occupies 
the  old  homestead  near  McKinney,  has  had  much  to  do  with  com- 
munity aflfairs  there.  She  is  a  sister  of  Dr.  J.  Boiling  Jones,  a 
prominent  physician  and  surgeon  of  Petersburg,  Virginia.  Her 
father  was  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  the  Jones  family  has 
had  many  representatives  in  educational  work.  They  deeded  the 
land  and  were  instrumental  in  the  foundation  of  the  Sunnyside 
High  School,  an  accredited  high  school  near  McKinney.  Captain 
and  Mrs.  Roller  have  three  children:  John  Baker,  Jr.,  and  Sallie 
Jones,  both  attending  public  schools  at  Pearisburg,  and  Roger 
Pryor. 


diT,  loUu<iMi  U  ulua  /5?,^ 


VIRGINIA  457 

William  B.  Peters,  M.  D.  One  of  the  widely  known  medical 
men  of  Wise  County,  who  has  long  contributed,  both  profession- 
ally and  personally,  to  the  prestige  of  Southwest  Virginia,  is  Dr. 
William  B.  Peters,  prominent  citizen  of  Appalachia,  Virginia, 
eminent  surgeon,  health  officer  for  fifteen  years,  house  surgeon 
of  the  Appalachia  Masonic  Hospital,  a  veteran  officer  of  the 
World  war,  and  a  past  post  commander  of  the  American  Le- 
gion. 

Dr.  William  B.  Peters  belongs  to  an  old  Virginia  family  of 
German  descent  that  many  years  ago  was  established  here  by 
one  Jacob  P.  Peters,  who  settled  first  in  Shenandoah  County  but 
later  removed  to  Scott  County,  where  he  is  recorded  as  a  large 
planter  and  citizen  of  local  importance.  Doctor  Peters  genera- 
tions later,  in  1882  was  born  in  Scott  County,  Virginia,  son  of 
Rev.  William  B.  and  Elizabeth  (Templeton)  Peters,  and  grand- 
son of  William  Peters  and  W.  F.  Templeton,  all  natives  of  Scott 
County.  The  Templetons  were  of  English  ancestry  and,  like  the 
Peters  came  early  to  Virginia,  and  both  grandfathers  were  ex- 
tensive planters  before  the  war  between  the  states.  In  this  war 
two  uncles  of  Doctor  Peters,  Joseph  and  Abel  Peters,  were  sol- 
diers in  the  Confederate  army.  His  father,  however,  was  a  man 
of  peace,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  filling 
many  important  charges  during  his  eminently  useful  life. 

William  B.  Peters'  early  schooldays  were  passed  in  Scott 
County,  Virginia,  and  at  Bristol,  Tennessee.  He  then  entered 
Shoemaker  College  at  Gate  City,  Virginia,  where  he  completed 
the  prescribed  course  and  in  1904  was  graduated  with  the  degree 
of  A.  B.  His  medical  education  followed  as  an  alert  and  ambi- 
tious student  in  the  Central  University  of  Kentucky  at  Louis- 
ville, from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  in  1907  with  the 
degree  of  M.  D.  Subsequently  he  took  an  exhaustive  course  on 
surgery,  a  branch  of  his  profession  in  which  he  has  become  dis- 
tinguished, in  the  New  York  City  Post-Graduate  School,  and 
throughout  his  professional  life  has  continued  to  take  advantage 
of  opportunities  for  further  study  in  many  other  leading  medical 
centers. 

Upon  entering  medical  practice  Doctor  Peters  selected  Appa- 
lachia, Virginia,  as  his  home  and  field  of  professional  eflfort,  and 
has  never  found  reason  to  change  his  first  favorable  impressions, 
while  the  hearty  welcome  he  then  received  would,  today,  be  of 
still  greater  emphasis,  as  his  fellow  citizens  now  recognize  his 
worth  and  accord  him  universal  confidence  and  esteem.  He  early 
began  to  show  an  interest  in  civic  matters,  and  through  this  spir- 
it of  general  helpfulness  became  so  well  and  favorably  known 
that  general  approval  was  expressed  when  President  Taft  ap- 
pointed him  to  the  office  of  postmaster.  He  served  with  complete 
efficiency  for  one  year  and  then  retired,  as  by  that  time  his  prac- 
tice was  demanding  all  of  his  attention,  particularly  as  he  had 
been  appointed  health  officer,  in  which  office  he  has  continued 
ever  since. 

Like  many  another  medical  man.  Doctor  Peters  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  World  war  found  himself  so  heavily  engaged  profes- 
sionally in  work  at  home  that  he  could  not  feel  free  to  set  aside 
his  work,  but  later,  when  the  Government's  call  became  urgent 
for  experienced  medical  aid,  he  hesitated  no  longer  but  enlisted 
in  December,  1917,  for  either  home  or  foreign  service,  in  the 
United  States  Medical  Corps.  For  five  weeks  he  was  under  mili- 
tary training  at  Fort  Oglethorpe,  Georgia,  and  for  eight  weeks 
at  the  Mitchell  Aviation  Field,  New  York,  and  then  was  assigned 


458  VIRGINIA 

to  Manhattan  Camp  as  camp  surgeon,  where  he  remained  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  That  his  professional  services  were  faith- 
ful and  appreciated  is  indicated  by  his  promotion  in  rank  from 
a  lieutenancy  to  a  captaincy,  the  signing  of  the  armistice  taking 
place  before  his  recommendation  for  major  had  passed  through 
the  necessary  official  channels.  He  was  honorably  discharged  in 
December,  1918. 

As  house  surgeon  of  the  Appalachia  Masonic  Hospital  Doctor 
Peters  fills  a  most  responsible  position,  being  practically  at  the 
head  of  this  thoroughly  eciuipped  institution.  It  was  established 
in  1906,  has  fourteen  beds  and  also  conducts  a  training  school  for 
nurses,  its  maintenance  being  provided  for  by  the  Masonic  fi'a- 
ternity,  Doctor  Peters  himself  being  a  Knight  Templar  and  a 
Shriner.  He  is  physician  for  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Rail- 
road, and  examiner  for  all  the  leading  life  insurance  companies, 
a  pleasing  natural  personality,  inspiring  trust  and  confidence  in 
young  and  old,  always  having  been  a  professional  asset. 

Doctor  Peters  married  in  1911  Miss  Georgia  Harmon,  who 
was  born  in  North  Carolin-a,  where  her  father,  Rev.  George  Har- 
mon, was  a  prominent  minister  in  the  Baptist  Church.  She  was 
mainly  educated  at  Bristol,  Tennessee,  is  a  member  and  a  past 
worthy  matron  of  the  Eastern  Star,  and  president  of  the  Ladies 
Auxilliary  to  the  American  Legion.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Peters  have 
four  sons:  Carl,  Herbert,  William  B.,  Jr.,  and  George,  aged  re- 
spectively, fifteen,  thirteen,  six  and  one  year.  The  family  home 
is  very  pleasantly  located  with  congenial  friends  all  about  them, 
and  they  are  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Doctor  Peters  is  a  member  of  the  Wise  County  Medical  So- 
ciety and  its  secretary  in  1917;  the  Clinch  Valley  Medical  Soci- 
ety; the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society;  and  the  American  Medi- 
cal Association.  He  still  preserves  membership  in  his  old  college 
Greek  letter  fraternity,  the  Phi  Chi,  belongs  to  the  American  Le- 
gion at  Appalachia  Post,  of  which  he  is  a  past  commander,  and 
additionally  is  Legion  state  executive  for  the  Ninth  District  of 
Virginia.  He  has  always  given  encouragement  to  substantial  lo- 
cal enterprises,  frequently  has  consented  to  lecture  before  civic 
bodies,  and  is  on  the  directing  board  of  the  Appalachia  Hotel 
Corporation. 

William  Leonard  Hargis,  professor  of  agriculture  in  three 
of  the  high  schools  of  Giles  County,  is  a  representative  of  the 
enthusiastic  twentieth  century  generation  of  Virginians.  He  is 
member  of  an  old  well  known  Russell  County  family. 

He  was  born  at  Lebanon  in  Russell  County,  November  4, 
1903,  son  of  George  J.  and  Henrietta  (Buckles)  Hargis,  and 
grandson  of  Leonard  Hargis,  also  of  Russell  County,  George 
Hargis  was  born  and  reared  in  Russell  County,  attended  public 
schools  and  Lebanon  Academy,  and  has  made  his  life  work 
farming  and  stock  raising.  He  owns  a  fine  blue  grass  farm  near 
Lebanon  and  was  one  of  the  first  men  in  that  section  to  use 
improved  methods  and  pure  bred  livestock.  His  present  hobby  is 
pure  bred  Hampshire  sheep  and  he  has  some  of  the  finest  speci- 
mens of  that  strain  in  Southwest  Virginia.  He  is  treasurer  of 
his  Masonic  Lodge  at  Lebanon  and  has  been  clerk  of  the  Camp 
of  the  Modern  Woodmen  since  its  organization.  His  wife,  Hen- 
rietta Buckles,  is  a  daughter  of  Rev.  William  and  Sallie  (Pile) 
Buckles.  Her  father  was  an  early  Baptist  minister  in  South- 
western Virginia.  Henrietta  Buckles  was  born  and  reared  at 
Lebanon,  attended  the  Lebanon  Academy  and  taught  in  public 


pa-^      LyjUi 


VIRGINIA  459 

schools  for  several  years  before  her  marriage.  She  and  her  hus- 
band are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church.  They  had  four  chil- 
dren: Miss  Nannie  B.,  who  was  educated  in  the  Lebanon  High 
School,  in  Carson  and  Newman  College,  and  lives  at  Lebanon ; 
William  Leonard ;  Miss  Margaret  Buckles,  a  graduate  of  the 
Lebanon  High  School,  attended  the  Radford  State  Normal  Col- 
lege and  is  now  a  teacher  at  Wi.se  Court  House,  Virginia ;  and 
Miss  Henrietta,  in  the  third  year  of  the  Lebanon  High  School. 

William  Leonard  Hargis  after  graduating  from  the  Lebanon 
High  School  in  1922  entered  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute, 
where  he  completed  his  work  in  the  class  of  1926.  His  early 
training  as  well  as  his  college  work  gave  him  decided  qualifica- 
tions for  his  duties  as  agricultural  instructor  for  the  three  high 
schools  at  White  Gate,  Eggleston  and  Newport  in  Giles  County. 
His  home  is  at  Pearisburg,  from  which  point  he  supervises  the 
work  in  connection  with  the  high  schools. 

Mr.  Hargis  is  also  associated  as  a  partner  with  his  father  in 
the  cattle  and  sheep  business  at  Lebanon.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  a  Democrat,  a  Missionary  Baptist,  and  has 
taken  much  part  in  both  church  and  Sunday  School  work.  Mr. 
Hargis  is  well  known  in  college  and  university  athletic  circles, 
having  been  the  undefeated  state  champion  and  the  champion 
of  the  South  Atlantic  and  Southern  Intercollegiate  group  in 
1926,  and  was  placed  on  the  All  Southern  wrestling  team.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  football  team  in 
1926. 

John  L.  Crist.  The  history  of  chemistry,  taken  as  a  whole, 
is  a  decidedly  interesting  one.  The  Egyptians,  of  all  nations  of 
antiquity,  appear  to  have  had  the  greatest  amount  of  chemical 
knowledge,  although  the  Chinese  were  very  early  acquainted 
with  the  processes  of  dyeing  and  the  preparation  of  metallic  al- 
loys. From  the  Egyptians  the  Greeks  and  Romans  derived  what 
chemical  knowledge  they  possessed,  but  added  little  or  nothing; 
and  at  the  migration  of  the  northern  tribes  and  the  overthrow  of 
the  Roman  Empire  a  stop  was  put  for  a  time  to  the  advancement 
of  all  science  in  Europe.  The  first  germs  of  the  real  science  of 
chemistry  appear  about  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  and  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  after  this  chemistry  has  been  con- 
tinuous and  rapid  in  its  advancement.  One  of  the  most  important 
branches  of  chemistry  is  that  which  has  to  do  with  the  manu- 
facture of  dyestuffs,  in  which  connection  mention  is  made  of  the 
Beaver  Chemical  Corporation  of  Damascus,  the  only  concern  of 
its  kind  in  the  southern  states.  This  has  been  developed  to  large 
proportions  under  the  direct  supervision  and  management  of 
John  L.  Crist,  a  practical  chemist  and  capable  business  man, 
who  is  also  an  important  factor  in  the  civic  life  of  his  adopted 
community. 

Mr.  Crist  was  born  at  Vesuvius,  Rockbridge  County,  Vir- 
ginia, August  30,  1890,  and  is  a  son  of  William  McClung  and 
Nancy  (Bryan)  Crist.  His  paternal  great-grandfather  was  a 
native  of  Holland,  who  immigrated  to  the  American  colonies  and 
settled  in  Virginia,  where  the  family  has  since  made  its  home  and 
has  contributed  many  of  its  members  to  leading  positions  in 
business,  agricultural,  political,  military  and  civil  life.  John  F. 
Crist,  the  grandfather  of  John  L.  Crist,  was  born  in  Virginia, 
where  he  passed  his  entire  life  as  a  planter.  William  McClung 
Crist  was  born  in  the  Old  Dominion,  and  spent  the  greater  part 
of  his  life  at  Vesuvius,  where  he  followed  planting  and  died  in 


460  VIRGINIA 

1904.  He  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  between  the  states,  and  was  assigned  to  the  artillery 
division,  with  which  he  served  valiantly.  He  received  several 
minor  wounds  before  being  completely  disabled  at  the  battle  of 
Petersburg  by  the  loss  of  one  of  his  legs,  and  thus  throughout 
the  remainder  of  his  life  was  handicapped  in  his  various  opera- 
tions, although  always  a  man  of  industry  and  good  judgment. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and 
was  devout  in  his  adherence  to  the  faith  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South.  His  widow  still  survives  him.  Both  great- 
grandfather Bryan  and  wife,  who  was  a  Campbell,  came  to 
America  from  Scotland  and  located  in  Augusta  County  Virginia, 
where  was  born  their  son,  Elisha  Bryan,  an  iron  manufacturer, 
who  was  one  of  the  first  to  open  iron  furnaces  in  Augusta  Coun- 
ty. He  was  a  man  who  was  widely  and  favorably  known  in  his 
community  for  his  high  character,  integrity  and  good  citizenship. 

John  L.  Crist  acquired  his  early  education  in  the  country 
schools  of  Rockbridge  County,  Virginia,  and  then  pursued  a 
course  at  the  high  school  at  Woodstock,  and  graduated  in  chem- 
istry with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  from  Washington 
and  Lee  University  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1912.  For  three 
years  thereafter  he  served  as  chemist  at  the  plant  of  the  Mathei- 
son  Alkali  Works  at  Saltsville,  leaving  this  concern  to  become 
identified  for  six  months  with  the  Hooker  Electro  Chemical 
Company  of  Niagara  Falls,  New  York.  His  next  position  was 
with  the  Federal  Dye  Stuff  and  Chemical  Company  of  Kingsport, 
Tennessee,  in  the  capacity  of  chemical  engineer  in  charge  of  the 
chlorine  department,  and  retained  this  important  post  during 
the  entire  period  of  the  World  war  in  the  manufacture  of  war 
supplies  and  munitions.  Late  in  the  fall  of  1918  Mr.  Crist  was 
called  to  Damascus,  Virginia,  where  he  supervised  the  building 
the  plant  of  the  Beaver  Chemical  Corporation  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  dyes,  the  only  concern  of  its  kind  in  any  of  the  southern 
states.  This  has  been  carefully  developed,  step  by  step,  new  addi- 
tions being  constantly  made,  until  it  is  now  an  enterprise  of  large 
and  important  proportions  and  one  that  adds  considerably  to  the 
manufacturing  prestige  of  the  state.  Mr.  Crist  is  also  president 
of  a  new  corporation  which  has  recently  been  formed  under  the 
corporate  name  of  the  Calcium  Sulphide  Corporation,  which  is 
now  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and  distribution  of  a  new  fun- 
gicide for  the  control  of  fungus  diseases  on  apples,  peaches  and 
kindred  fruits,  as  well  as  fungus  appearing  on  many  plants  and 
flowers.  This  is  an  enterprise  which  appears  to  have  much  prom- 
ise of  filling  a  needed  place  in  the  industry  of  the  common- 
wealth. Mr.  Crist  is  a  wide-awake  and  properly  progressive 
young  man  who  is  thoroughly  up  to  the  minute  in  his  knowledge 
of  his  specialty.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Chemical  Engineers,  The  American  Association  of  Textile  Color- 
ists  and  Chemists,  and  enjoys  a  broad  and  well-merited  reputa- 
tion in  his  difficult,  complicated  and  interested  calling.  In  his 
political  convictions  Mr.  Crist  is  a  stanch  and  unwavering  Demo- 
crat, but  has  had  no  time  in  his  busy  career  to  devote  to  office 
seeking.  He  is  president  of  the  Citizens  Club  of  Damascus,  an 
organization  of  business  men  that  has  the  same  status  as  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce  in  most  cities,  and  his  religious  con- 
nection is  with  the  Episcopal  Church. 

In  1914  Mr.  Crist  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Bess 
Rector,  of  Saltville,  Virginia,  daughter  of  Leland  W.  and  Linda 


VIRGINIA  461 

(Branson)  Rector,  both  of  whom  are  now  deceased,  Mr.  Rector 
having  passed  his  life  as  a  planter  in  Washington  County.  Mrs. 
Crist  was  educated  at  the  grammar  and  high  schools  of  Salt- 
ville,  Smyth  County,  and  is  an  active  member  of  the  United 
Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  the  Community  League  and  the 
Episcopal  Church.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crist  there  has  come  one 
son,  John  L.,  Jr.,  who  was  born  at  Damascus,  May  20,  1923. 

Gary  Laughon.  During  a  long,  active  and  useful  career  Gary 
Laughon  has  been  identified  with  a  number  of  lines  of  business 
activity,  in  all  of  which  he  has  met  with  success.  A  man  of  high 
character  and  strict  integi'itj',  he  has  the  full  confidence  of  those 
who  have  been  associated  with  him  in  any  line  of  endeavor,  and 
it  has  been  his  fortune  to  have  surrounded  himself  with  many 
close  and  sincere  friends.  At  present  he  is  devoting  his  attention 
principally  to  the  Pulaski  Motor  Car  Company,  of  which  he  is 
half  owner. 

Mr.  Laughon  was  born  May  26,  1863,  in  Bedford  County, 
Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  Joshua  and  Elizabeth  (White)  Laughon, 
and  a  member  of  a  family  of  Scotch-Irish  origin  which  was 
founded  in  Virginia  by  the  grandfather  of  Mr.  Laughon,  a 
Scotchman,  who  came  to  America  in  young  manhood  and  became 
a  pioneer  agriculturist  of  Bedford  County.  Joshua  Laughon  was 
born  in  Bedford  County,  where  he  was  reared  and  educated  in  a 
private  school  and  prepared  for  the  vocation  of  teaching,  which 
he  took  up  in  young  manhood.  He  was  thus  engaged  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war  between  the  states,  when  he  enlisted  in  General 
Watts'  command,  which  was  attached  to  che  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  commanded  by  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  rose  to  a  cap- 
taincy. During  the  four  years  of  his  service  he  participated  in  a 
number  of  major  engagements,  and  at  all  times  showed  himself 
a  brave  and  faithful  soldier.  At  the  close  of  hostilities  he  re- 
turned to  the  duties  of  peace  and  carried  on  agricultural  pursuits 
during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  his  death,  hastened  by  the 
hardships  and  privations  of  army  life,  occurring  in  1877,  and  he 
was  buried  in  the  old  family  cemetery  in  Bedford  County.  Mr. 
Laughon  married  Miss  Elizabeth  White,  who  was  born  and 
reared  in  Bedford  County,  where  she  received  a  private  school 
education.  She  and  her  husband  were  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  the  faith  of  which  she  died  and  she 
was  buried  in  the  old  family  cemetery.  There  were  seven  children 
in  the  family :  One  who  died  in  infancy ;  Alonzo,  Walter  and 
Lavenia,  who  are  deceased ;  Oscar,  of  Pulaski,  president  of  the 
Laughon  Lumber  Company,  a  review  of  whose  career  will  be 
found  elsewhere  in  this  work ;  Gary,  of  this  review ;  Beauregard, 
who  is  engaged  in  the  sand  and  gravel  business  at  Pulaski,  with 
offices  over  the  Pulaski  Trust  Company;  and  Joshua,  who  is 
deceased. 

Gary  Laughon  attended  one  of  the  many  private  schools  that 
flourished  in  the  vicinity  of  his  boyhood  home,  and  his  first  em- 
ployment was  with  the  firm  of  Jones,  Watts,  Brothers  &  Com- 
pany, as  a  clerk,  at  a  salary  of  twenty  dollars  per  month.  He 
remained  with  this  concern  for  six  years  and  then  came  to  Pul- 
aski, where  he  joined  his  brothers,  O.scar  and  Beauregard,  in  the 
hardware  business,  first  in  a  store  near  the  old  depot  and  then 
in  the  first  store  built  north  of  Peak  Creek,  in  Pulaski.  This 
partnership  continued  for  about  four  years,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  Gary  Laughon  sold  his  interests  to  his  brothers  and  em- 


462  VIRGINIA 

barked  in  the  cattle  business  and  farming,  and  continued  in  that 
line  for  twenty  years.  In  1908  he  retui-ned  to  Pulaski  and 
embarked  in  the  coal  and  stone  business,  with  which  he  was  iden- 
tified for  about  fourteen  years,  or  until  1923.  In  the  meantime 
his  eldest  son,  Fred  J.  Laughon,  had  engaged  in  the  automobile 
business,  as  the  Pulaski  Motor  Car  Company,  in  partnership 
with  H.  W.  Steger.  When  Mr.  Laughon's  son  died  he  took  over 
the  latter's  interest  in  the  business  and  is  now  conducting  it 
with  Mr.  Steger,  who  acts  as  manager.  Mr.  Laughon  is  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Peoples  National  Bank,  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Pulaski  Trust  Company  and  president  of  the  City 
Improvement  Company,  and  is  also  the  owner  of  much  valuable 
city  property.  He  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason  and  belongs 
to  Marion  Chapter,  R.  A.  M.,  Acca  Temple,  A.  A.  0.  N.  M.  S., 
the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  and  the  Rotary 
Club.  He  is  a  Democrat  in  his  political  convictions,  and  his  reli- 
gious faith  is  that  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

On  May  27,  1886,  in  Pulaski  County,  Mr.  Laughon  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Mollie  Hage  Jordan,  of  that  county,  who 
was  educated  in  public  schools  and  at  Martha  Washington  Col- 
lege, and  is  active  in  church  and  social  life,  although  more  a  home 
maker  and  home  lover.  She  is  a  daughter  of  William  T.  and 
Letitia  (Simmerman)  Jordan,  the  former  of  whom  for  many 
years  was  a  prominent  farmer  and  cattle  man  of  Pulaski  County. 
Mr.  Jordan  died  in  1890  and  his  wife,  in  1908,  and  both  were 
laid  to  rest  in  the  Thorn  Spring  Cemetery.  Both  the  Jordan  and 
Simmerman  families  are  prominent  in  Virginia,  and  Mrs. 
Laughon  is  a  granddaughter  on  the  maternal  side  of  John  P.  M. 
Simmerman,  of  Wythe  County.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Laughon  there 
have  been  born  six  children :  Fred  J.,  deceased ;  Willie  J. ;  Lettie, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  three  and  one-half  years ;  Mary  Elizabeth, 
Gary,  Jr.,  and  Lavenia. 

Fred  J.  Laughon  received  his  education  at  the  Virginia  Mil- 
itary Institute  and  Emory  and  Henry  College,  following  which 
he  returned  to  Pulaski  and  embarked  in  the  electrical  business, 
having  a  general  repair  and  supply  shop  at  Pulaski  for  some 
time.  Recognizing  the  future  of  the  automobile  business,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  H.  W.  Steger  in  organizing  the  auto- 
mobile and  garage  business,  which  was  conducted  as  the  Pulaski 
Motor  Car  Company.  Under  the  able  management  of  the  part- 
ners the  company  soon  outgrew  its  original  quarters  and  moved 
to  the  present  establishment  near  the  center  of  Pulaski's  bus- 
iness district,  but  later  it  was  found  necessary  to  add  several 
additions  to  the  structure,  which  made  it  finally  a  two-story 
brick  building,  175  by  110  feet.  The  company  handles  Ford  and 
Lincoln  automobiles  and  Fordson  trucks,  as  well  as  all  acces- 
sories, and  its  large  repair  shop,  capable  of  handling  any  order, 
is  said  to  be  one  of  the  best  in  the  state.  Fred  J.  Laughon  was 
identified  with  this  business  until  his  demise  July  16,  1923,  when 
he  was  buried  in  the  Pulaski  Cemetery.  Willie  J.  Laughon,  who 
now  resides  with  her  father  at  Pulaski,  is  the  widow  of  the  late 
H.  W.  Thaxton,  of  Bedford  County,  who  was  engaged  in  the  real 
estate  business  until  his  death  in  1918.  Mary  Elizabeth  Laughon 
married  M.  E.  Bowman,  of  Pulaski,  treasurer  and  auditor  of  the 
Pulaski  Iron  Company,  and  formerly  of  Roanoke,  this  state,  and 
has  two  children,  M.  Edwin  and  Mary  Elizabeth.  Gary  Laughon, 
Jr.,  a  graduate  of  the  public  schools,  is  engaged  in  the  junk  bus- 


VIRGINIA  463 

iness  at  Pulaski.    He  married  Miss  Lois  Caldwell,  of  Pulaski 
County,  and  they  are  the  parents  of  one  child,  Peggy. 

Sam  N.  Hurst,  of  Appalachia,  Wise  County,  is  one  of  the 
most  versatile  and  gifted  men  among  his  contemporaries.  In  an 
active  career  of  a  little  more  than  thirty  years  he  has  been  teach- 
er, preacher,  lawyer,  author  and  publisher,  and  in  his  career  he 
has  lived  up  well  to  his  motto  of  living  not  for  himself  alone,  but 
for  his  brother,  his  country  and  his  God. 

Mr.  Hurst  was  born  in  Pulaski  County,  Virginia,  February 
16,  1867,  one  of  a  large  family  of  children  born  to  Allen  and  Nan- 
cy (Cook)  Hurst.  Allen  Hurst  was  born  in  Pulaski  County 
March  2,  1825,  son  of  Thomas  and  Jemima  (Breeding)  Hurst, 
Thomas  Hurst  being  a  son  of  John  Hurst,  who  was  a  son  of  Ab- 
salom Hurst,  the  pioneer  of  the  family  in  Pulaski  County,  Vir- 
ginia. In  all  the  generations  the  Hursts  were  pioneers,  and  pion- 
eei'ing  was  the  lot  of  Allen  Hurst,  who  after  his  marriage  went 
with  his  young  wife  and  took  up  a  tract  of  raw  land,  cutting 
down  trees  and  building  a  log  cabin  home,  and  while  he  was  in 
the  Confederate  army  his  wife  proved  herself  a  heroine  by  re- 
maining at  home  and  looking  after  her  children  and  at  times  tak- 
ing the  youngsters  to  the  field  with  her,  where  they  would  lie  on 
a  blanket-pallet  while  she  herself  followed  the  plow  to  earn  a 
living  for  her  family. 

Sam  N.  Hurst  has  shown  much  of  the  spirit  and  disposition 
of  the  pioneer,  possessing  an  intellectuality  of  a  wide  range  and 
willing  to  venture  into  new  ways  and  methods  of  serving  human- 
ity. He  had  a  very  limited  education  in  the  rural  community 
where  he  grew  up,  and  was  fourteen  years  old  before  he  began 
his  real  education.  He  attended  Snowville  Academy  in  1883-84, 
the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  in  1884-85,  won  a  Peabody 
scholarship  which  enabled  him  to  attend  the  University  of  Nash- 
ville during  1885-87,  concluding  with  his  gi'aduation  and  a  diplo- 
ma qualifying  him  for  teaching.  In  the  meantime  he  had  studied 
law  privately,  took  a  summer  course  under  John  B.  Minor  at  the 
University  of  Virginia  in  1888,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
April  24,  1889.  He  taught  in  Snowville  Academy,  held  a  chair  in 
a  college  at  Terrell,  Texas,  and  also  taught  in  the  Wytheville  Male 
Academy  in  Virginia,  and  did  some  teaching  in  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky.  Soon  after  beginning  the  practice  of  law  he  discov- 
ered the  necessity  for  a  magistrate's  guide,  and  that  was  respon- 
sible for  the  first  of  his  many  law  books,  now  comprising  nine 
works,  twenty-five  volumes,  all  well  known  to  the  legal  profes- 
sion throughout  Virginia.  Some  of  the  better  known  are :  Hurst's 
J.  P.  Guide  and  Manual,  Hurst's  Digest  of  Virginia  Decisions, 
Hurst's  Pocket  Code  of  Virginia,  Hurst's  Annotated  Virginia 
Constitution,  Hurst's  Encyclopedia  of  Virginia  Law.  His  law 
books  have  been  endorsed  and  have  received  many  high  commen- 
dations from  lawyers,  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  governors 
and  attorney-generals.  Mr.  Hurst  printed  and  published  his 
books,  and  as  a  publisher  was  also  his  own  advertising  and  sales 
manager.  Mr.  Hurst  recently  published  his  first  novel,  "The 
Mountains  Redeemed,"  a  story  of  life  and  love  in  Southwest  Vir- 
ginia, a  work  which  is  receiving  strong  reviews  by  the  press  of 
the  country,  and  is  specially  sponsored  by  Southwestern  Vir- 
ginia, Inc. 

From  the  outset  of  his  career  as  a  lawyer  Mr.  Hurst  was  also 
deeply  interested  in  religious  teaching  and  preaching.   He  joined 


464  VIRGINIA 

the  Primitive  Baptist  Church  in  1889,  and  in  1903  was  ordained 
to  the  full  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry.  In  June,  1909,  he  and 
his  wife  united  with  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Roanoke,  and 
in  that  year  he  gave  up  the  law  for  the  ministry.  After  being 
ordained  in  the  Baptist  ministry  he  spent  a  year  at  Louisville  in 
the  Southern  Baptist  Seminary  and  for  fifteen  years  gave  most 
of  his  time  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  serving  many  pastorates 
and  circuits.  On  leaving  his  last  regular  charge  as  a  minister  he 
located  at  Appalachia,  where  he  has  built  up  a  very  favorable  rep- 
utation and  connections  in  the  law.  While  in  the  ministry  he 
withdrew  from  the  Baptist  Church  and  became  a  minister  of  the 
Virginia  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
He  withdrew  from  the  itinerant  ministry  November  15,  1926, 
and  returned  to  the  law. 

Mr.  Hurst  through  all  the  years  has  continued  his  literary 
work.  One  of  his  notable  productions  was  "Biographical 
Sketches  of  all  Supreme  Court  Judges  of  Virginia  from  1779- 
1896,"  and  "Lincoln  from  the  Standpoint  of  the  Southern 
Lawyer." 

Mr.  Hurst  married,  February  18,  1890,  Anna  Louise  Evans, 
whom  he  lost  July  23,  1893,  leaving  one  daughter,  Virginia  L., 
born  August  13,  1892.  On  March  6,  1895,  Mr.  Hurst  married 
Ida  May  Hopson,  daughter  of  J.  W.  and  Nancy  D.  (Ward)  Hop- 
son,  her  father  having  been  a  prominent  Kentucky  attorney.  Her 
father's  mother  was  a  Newberry  of  the  Virginia  Newberrys, 
while  her  mother's  mother  was  a  Clay  of  the  Kentucky  Clays. 
The  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hurst  were:  Erskine,  born 
July  12,  1897;  Elsie  and  Ressie,  twins,  born  January  31,  1899; 
Aubrey,  born  August  13,  1901;  Evangeline,  born  June  15,  1903; 
Vivian,  born  June  15,  1905 ;  Evelyn,  born  August  26,  1907 ;  Sam- 
uel N.,  Jr.,  born  February  8,  1912 ;  and  Alliene,  born  September 
2,  1918. 

Rudolph  B.  Felthaus.  For  about  fifteen  years  the  late 
Rudolph  B.  Felthaus  was  engaged  in  the  building  and  contrac- 
ting business  at  Richmond,  and  this  period,  comparatively  short 
as  it  was,  served  to  gain  him  a  recognized  position  among  the 
leaders  of  his  calling  and  to  establish  for  him  a  reputation  of 
being  a  material  contributor  to  the  development  and  architectural 
beautification  of  his  native  city.  While  his  activities  were  cut 
short  by  death  when  he  was  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  he  had  led 
an  active  and  useful  career,  and  the  many  beautiful  residences 
and  other  structures  that  grew  under  his  skillful  direction  still 
stand  as  monuments  to  his  ability  and  substantial  workmanship. 

Mr.  Felthaus  was  born  in  Richmond,  March  3,  1867,  and  was 
a  son  of  William  and  Anna  (Wotte)  Felthaus,  natives  of  Stein- 
wild,  Germany.  His  parents  were  married  in  their  native  land 
and  soon  thereafter  immigrated  to  the  United  States  and  settled 
in  Virginia,  whence  William  Felthaus  enlisted  in  the  Confed- 
erate army  during  the  war  between  the  states.  At  the  close  of 
that  struggle  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Richmond,  where  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  as  a  merchant  tailor.  He  and 
his  worthy  wife  were  the  parents  of  seven  children,  of  whom 
Rudolph  B.  was  the  third  in  order  of  birth. 

Rudolph  B.  Felthaus  had  the  advantages  of  an  excellent 
educational  training,  attending  the  Richmond  public  schools, 
the  Mechanics  Institute  of  Richmond  and  Belmont  College  of 
Belmont,  North  Carolina.  Following  his  graduation  as  a  young 
man  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Montroy  Manufacturing  Com- 


c?S^^^  ^'  t^2i-.,,.«^j^ 


VIRGINIA  465 

pany,  but  after  a  few  years  turned  his  attention  to  the  contract- 
ing and  building  business,  with  which  he  was  identified  until  his 
death,  February  9,  1909.  Mr.  Felthaus,  as  before  noted,  made  a 
name  and  reputation  in  his  field  of  activity  and  had  the  esteem 
and  sincere  admiration  of  his  business  a.ssociates,  who  appre- 
ciated his  high  character  and  sterling  integrity  no  less  than  his 
skill  and  mastery  of  his  business  aff'airs.  During  his  career  in 
addition  to  remodeling  beautiful  St.  Mary's  Church  he  contracted 
for  and  built  more  than  one  hundred  of  Richmond's  finest  homes. 
He  was  one  of  the  city's  most  public  spirited  citizens,  and  at  all 
times  could  be  depended  upon  to  contribute  to  worthy  enterprises 
and  movements.  Fraternally  he  was  affiliated  with  the  Benevo- 
lent and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  and  also  was  a  member  of 
St.  Mary's  Social  Club. 

On  June  5,  1894,  Mr.  Felthaus  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Ryan, 
who  was  educated  in  private  schools  at  Richmond,  and  is  a 
daughter  of  James  and  Helen  M.  (Finigin)  Ryan,  and  a  grand- 
daughter of  Thomas  Ryan,  a  professor  at  Carlow,  Ireland. 
James  Bryan  was  born  at  Carlow,  Ireland,  whence  he  came  in 
young  manhood  to  the  United  States,  prior  to  the  war  of  seces- 
sion, and  settled  at  Richmond,  where  he  carried  on  merchandis- 
ing for  many  years.  His  wife  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  and 
they  were  the  parents  of  twelve  children,  of  whom  Elizabeth 
was  the  seventh  in  order  of  birth.  Mrs.  Felthaus,  whose  mother 
was  an  educator  for  some  years,  is  a  woman  of  education  and 
refinement  and  an  active  member  of  St.  Mary's  Church.  She 
resides  in  an  attractive  home  at  1614  Pope  Avenue.  Of  the  five 
children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Felthaus  three  lived  to  maturity : 
Helen,  who  was  private  secretary  to  one  of  the  oflficials  of  the 
Richmond,  Frdericksburg  &  Potomac  Railroad  for  ten  years, 
now  a  social  worker  for  the  betterment  of  the  poor  of  Richmond 
in  a  quiet  and  unostentatious  way,  and  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Profession  of  Faith ;  William  John,  who  was  educated  at 
private  schools  and  the  Junior  Polytechnic  Institute  at  Blacks- 
burg,  Virginia,  enlisted  in  the  World  war  as  a  member  of  the 
famous  Richmond  Blues,  saw  active  service  with  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Division  in  France  for  one  year,  and  is  now  a  member  of 
the  American  Legion  and  successfully  engaged  in  the  automobile 
business  at  Richmond ;  and  Elizabeth,  the  wife  of  Ernest  L. 
Martin,  who  is  identified  with  the  American  National  Bank  of 
Richmond. 

LoRENZA  John  Ham  mack  is  senior  member  of  the  Lawrence- 
ville  law  firm  of  Hammack  &  Harrison.  He  is  one  of  the  strong 
and  resourceful  members  of  the  bar  in  Southern  Virginia,  has 
to  his  credit  a  service  record  in  the  World  war  and  is  a  member 
of  one  of  the  old  families  of  Brunswick  County. 

He  was  born  in  that  county  February  16,  1895,  son  of  P.  T. 
and  Alice  E.  (Palmer)  Hammack.  His  father  was  born  in 
Brunswick  County  and  his  mother  in  Northampton  County, 
North  Carolina.  P.  T.  Hammack  spent  all  his  active  life  as  a 
merchant  at  Gasburg,  Brunswick  County,  where  he  died  in  Sep- 
tember, 1923. 

Lorenza  J.  Hammack  after  the  common  schools  spent  three 
years  in  college  at  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  and  had  his  law  work 
at  Washington  and  Lee  University.  He  was  graduated  with  the 
LL.  B.  degree  in  June,  1917. 

He  at  once  located  at  Lawrenceville,  and  so  far  as  the  dis- 
tractions of  the  war  permitted  made  some  attempt  to  build  up 


466  VIRGINIA 

a  practice.  Then  in  January,  1918,  he  himself  joined  the  colors, 
becoming  a  chief  yeoman  in  the  navy,  and  spent  most  of  his 
time  in  transport  duty.  He  made  six  round  trips  to  France 
before  getting  his  honorable  discharge  in  April,  1918. 

After  being  relieved  of  service  in  the  navy  he  returned  to 
Lawrenceville  and  started  anew  to  build  up  a  law  practice.  In 
his  profession  he  has  enjoyed  wonderful  success  and  in  June, 
1928,  he  took  into  partnership  Mr.  A.  S.  Harrison,  Jr.,  in  order 
to  handle  more  expeditiously  the  large  volume  of  law  work  of 
the  firm. 

Mr.  Hammack  married  in  August,  1921,  Miss  Mary  Heath 
Raney,  daughter  of  L.  H.  and  Bessie  (Watkins)  Raney,  natives 
of  Brunswick  County.  Her  father  is  a  real  estate  operator  and 
banker  at  Lawrenceville.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hammack  have  two 
children,  Lx)renza  John,  Jr.,  born  October  3,  1922,  and  Elizabeth 
Lewis,  born  January  6,  1924. 

Mr.  Hammack  in  addition  to  his  law  practice  has  farming 
interests  and  is  a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates  of  the 
Virginia  Legislature,  representing  Brunswick  County.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Virginia  Bar  Association,  the  Masonic  fraternity. 
Lions  Club,  American  Legion,  Knights  of  Pythias,  Delta  Theta 
Phi  legal  fraternity.  He  is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Paul  Vinton  Dalton  is  a  native  of  Southwestern  Virginia, 
comes  of  a  family  of  merchants  and  business  men,  and  at  the  age 
of  thirty  has  become  president  and  general  manager  of  the  Dal- 
ton Grocery  Company  at  Galax. 

He  was  born  near  Hillsville  in  Carroll  County,  Virginia,  Sep- 
tember 27,  1897.  His  great-grandfather,  Tom  Dalton,  came 
from  England  and  settled  in  Southwestern  Virginia.  The  grand- 
father, Jonathan  Dalton,  was  born  in  1839,  and  spent  all  his 
active  career  as  a  merchant  at  Dugspur  in  Carroll  County,  where 
he  died  in  1926,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven.  He  was  a  Confed- 
erate soldier  in  the  Fourteenth  Virginia  Regiment  of  Cavalry, 
his  name  being  one  of  those  recorded  on  the  Confederate  Monu- 
ment at  Hillsville.  Jonathan  Dalton  married  Anis  McGrady, 
who  came  from  Wales  with  her  parents.  Gordon  Dalton,  father 
of  Paul  Vinton  Dalton,  was  born  at  Dugspur,  September  10, 
1871,  attended  public  school  there,  and  as  a  young  man  engaged 
in  retail  merchandising.  He  was  a  retail  merchant  until  1917, 
at  which  time  he  established  a  wholesale  business  at  Sylvatus, 
Virginia.  He  closed  this  out  in  1924  and  resumed  business  as  a 
wholesale  merchant  at  Radford,  where  he  now  resides.  Gordon 
Dalton  married  Lucy  A.  Hurst,  daughter  of  G.  M.  and  Jane 
(Branscome)  Hurst.  Her  father  spent  a  number  of  years  in 
educational  work,  teaching  about  twenty  terms  of  school.  He  is 
now  living  retired  at  Dugspur.  Jane  Branscome  was  a  daughter 
of  Burts  Branscome,  who  owned  several  thousand  acres  of  land 
and  many  slaves  in  Carroll  County.  Gordon  Dalton  and  wife 
had  a  large  family  of  children :  Minnie  M.,  wife  of  Harley  Dal- 
ton, of  East  Radford;  Claudie  H.,  now  Mrs.  D.  C.  Jennings,  of 
Sylvatus;  Paul  Vinton;  Violet,  wife  of  Ed  Jennings,  of  Foster 
Falls,  Virginia;  Pansy  F.,  wife  of  Ray  Richardson,  of  East 
Radford;  Miss  Averill,  born  in  1911,  at  home;  Darrell  Willard, 
born  in  1916,  attending  school  at  East  Radford;  Phyllis,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  two  years,  Clyne,  who  died  when  two  years 
old,  and  another  who  died  in  infancy,  all  of  whom  are  buried 
in  the  McPeak  Cemetery  at  Dugspur. 


^-Cl.^^mi^' 


VIRGINIA  467 

Paul  Vinton  Dalton  was  educated  in  public  schools  and  as  a 
boy  learned  the  retail  business  with  his  father.  He  spent  three 
years  in  the  store  at  Dugspur,  was  with  his  father  in  the  whole- 
sale grocery  business  at  Sylvatus  until  1924,  and  in  that  year 
moved  to  Galax  and  established  the  Dalton  Grocery  Company, 
with  capital  of  $100,000.  He  has  built  up  this  business  until  it 
now  supplies  a  large  part  of  the  retail  trade  in  Southwestern 
Virginia. 

Mr.  Dalton  is  a  member  of  the  United  Commercial  Travelers, 
is  affiliated  with  Fulton  Lodge  of  Masons  at  Hillsville,  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America,  Galax  Country  Club,  and  is  a  Democrat. 

He  married  at  Laurel  Fork,  April  23,  1917,  Miss  Lula  A. 
Jett,  daughter  of  Burro  Monroe  and  Lurenda  (Short)  Jett.  Her 
father  was  a  merchant  at  Hillsville  and  formerly  lived  at  Willis 
in  Floyd  County.  Mrs.  Dalton  attended  public  school  at  Hills- 
ville. She  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  Dora 
Green  Chapter  of  the  Eastern  Star  at  Hillsville.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Dalton  have  two  children,  Cecil  Vinton,  born  May  23,  1918,  and 
Paul  Lynton,  born  April  10,  1923.  The  older  child  is  in  school 
at  Galax. 

Richard  Alvin  Siewers  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  century 
before  his  death,  which  occurred  June  18,  1909,  was  one  of  the 
outstanding  building  contractors  of  the  city  of  Richmond,  and 
through  his  business  contributed  in  a  large  measure  to  the 
constructive  progress  of  the  city  in  its  most  bustling  modern 
period. 

Born  on  January  3,  1859,  at  Hoexter,  in  the  province  of 
Westphalia,  Germany,  Richard  A.  Siewers  was  the  third  of  five 
children  of  Adolph  and  Elizabeth  Siewers.  His  father  was  an 
educator,  most  of  whose  career  was  engaged  in  the  duties  of 
superintendent  of  a  college  in  his  home  province. 

After  pas.sing  through  the  elementary  schools  Richard  A. 
Siewers  received  a  liberal  education  in  the  Arts  and  Crafts  Col- 
lege in  his  native  city,  whei-e  he  graduated  with  high  honors, 
being  proficient  especially  in  structural  designing.  Subsequently 
he  chose  the  latter  for  his  life's  work,  combining  with  it  the 
practical  work  of  a  builder. 

A  few  years  after  the  death  of  his  parents  he  came  to  Amer- 
ica and  settled  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  in  1880.  For  a  time  he 
was  employed  as  an  architect  in  the  offices  of  the  Chesapeake  & 
Ohio  Railroad.  One  of  his  characteristics  was  tremendous 
energy  for  work,  and  in  those  early  years  he  employed  his  night 
time  in  studying  English  and  otherwise  perfecting  himself  for 
the  career  of  an  American  citizen  and  business  man.  Constant 
application  and  careful  thrift  soon  enabled  him  to  take  up  the 
contracting  business  in  association  with  Henry  Miller,  under 
the  firm  name  of  Siewers  &  Miller.  When,  some  time  afterward, 
he  acquired  the  interest  of  his  partner,  he  continued  the  busi- 
ness, including  the  mill  and  lumber  department,  under  the  firm 
name  of  R.  A.  Siewers  until  his  death. 

Some  of  the  notable  buildings  in  Richmond  and  vicinity 
which  stand  today  as  good  examples  of  the  substantial  work  of 
the  Siewers  contracting  firm  are  the  Shenandoah  Apartments, 
the  Bishop's  Residence  and  the  Rectory  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
Cathedral,  the  Knights  of  Columbus  Home,  the  Jewish  Club, 
the  Merchants  Cold  Storage  Plant,  and  a  great  number  of  fine 
residences  besides. 

22— VOL.  3 


468  VIRGINIA 

The  late  Mr.  Siewers  was  chief  fire  inspector  for  the  German 
American  Loan  Association,  and  held  an  honorary  membership 
in  both  the  Police  Association  and  Fire  Association.  He  was  a 
Democrat,  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  and,  with 
his  wife  and  children,  belonged  to  the  congregation  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  Cathedral. 

Mr.  Siewers  on  February  19,  1885,  married  Miss  Sabina  Rup- 
pert,  the  youngest  of  the  four  children  of  John  E.  and  Barbara 
Ruppert.  She  was  educated  in  St.  Benedict's  Academy  at  Rich- 
mond. Her  father  was  a  linen  manufacturer  in  Germany,  and 
died  shortly  after  settling  in  Virginia  in  1860.  Mrs.  Siewers' 
grandfather  was  a  flour  miller  in  Hessen,  Germany,  and  at  one 
tim?  was  burgomaster  of  that  town. 

Mrs.  Siewers  has  her  home  in  Richmond,  at  609  West  Gary 
St'-ect,  the  residence  designed  and  built  by  her  late  husband. 
Of  her  family  of  children  one  is  dead.  The  oldest  son,  John 
Chvistian,  is  now  manager  of  the  R.  A.  Siewers  Planing  Mill 
and  Lumber  Yard,  and  is  affiliated  with  the  Knights  of  Colum- 
bus. Rose  Elizabeth  Siewers  married  George  J.  Hulcher,  a 
Richmond  druggist,  and  thev  have  three  children,  George,  Jr., 
Ro3e  Elizabeth  and  Sabina  Siewers.  Emil  Richard  Siewers,  the 
second  son,  is  assistant  manager  of  the  R.  A.  Siewers  Mill  and 
Lumber  Comnany,  and  is  a  dire-^tor  of  the  Germin-A"^erican 
Loan  Association.  The  Mioses  Sabina  .Tosephi"°  and  r"pcilia  Ida 
ar-"  unmarried  and  live  with  their  mother.  Helen  Julia  is  the 
wife  nf  James  E.  Foster,  chief  clerk  in  the  Richmond  offices  of 
the  Chesaneake  &  Ohio  Railwav,  and  with  their  three  children, 
jiotv)':>r|  H^len  Siewens,  Anne  Cecilia  and  Jean  Marie,  live  in 
Richmond.  Frederick  W.  Siewers,  youngest  of  the  three  sons 
who  carry  on  the  business  fonnded  bv  their  father,  is  office 
manager  of  the  R.  A.  Siewers  Mill  and  Lumber  Company. 

JoT'N  Franklin  Calffe  renresented  one  of  the  old  families 
of  the  Draners  Valley  community,  where  representatives  of  the 
Calff^a  fnmily  still  reside,  owning  land  and  other  property  in 
th^it  historic  section  and  keeps  up  a  keen  interest  in  all  civic 
affairs. 

John  Franklin  Calfee  was  born  at  Draners  Valley.  April  8, 
1850.  s'^n  of  James  Davis  and  Nan'^y  (Sayers')  Calfee.  His 
father  was  born  and  reared  in  the  Draper  Valley  section,  at- 
tended p  private  school  and  was  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  until 
his  death  in  188.^.  He  is  buried  in  the  Reed  Island  Cemetei-y. 
He  was  a  fon  of  John  Franklin  Calfee,  the  pioneer  of  the  Calfee 
familv  i^  Drapers  Valley,  and  who  took  up  and  developed  land 
at  Re"d  Island. 

John  Franklin  Calfee  attended  a  private  school  in  Wvthe 
Countv  pnd  h^d  the  distinction  of  teaching  the  first  nublic  school 
in  the  Fort  Chiswell  District.  He  married  Elizabeth  Savers, 
a  daup^hter  of  John  G.  and  Rachael  Savers,  of  Draners  Valley. 
After  his  marriaee  he  ens-a'^ed  in  merchandising,  at  first  as  a 
hardware  merchant  and  later  as  a  dealer  in  boots  aid  shoes  at 
Pnla'^i-i.  where  he  remained  for  many  vears.  He  died  November 
14,  1001.  and  is  brried  at  Pine,  Virginia,  where  he  had  served 
as  postmaster  until  his  death.  His  widow  snrvi^pd  him  and 
pas=!'^d  awav  September  28,  1917,  and  is  b'iried  beside  him. 

The'-e  parents  had  a  lar^re  familv  of  children,  a  brief  record 
of  them  b-^ing  as  follows:  Ma^v  Blanche,  deceased,  who  married 
W't'^r  rv^fkett  mavnr  of  Dublin,  Vi'^Tinia.  r"en+ioned  else- 
where in  this  publication ;  Susan  Jane,  wife  of  J.  H.  Koger ;  Miss 


VIRGINIA  469 

Cynthia  Helen,  of  Drapers  Valley;  Sallie,  wife  of  James  Bayless; 
Rachael  Grayson,  who  died  in  infancy ;  Nancy  Hamilton,  wife  of 
W.  T.  Laprod,  a  professor  at  Duke  University,  Durham,  North 
Carolina;  Ruby  Frances,  widow  of  A.  C.  Oglesby,  of  Drapers 
Valley,  and  mother  of  four  children ;  Anna  Elizabeth,  of  Drapers 
Valley;  Ellen  Tapscott,  of  Drapers  Valley;  John  Franklin,  who 
is  secretary  with  the  Brown-Williamson  Tobacco  Company  at 
Winston  Salem,  North  Carolina. 

William  Bane  Snidow,  of  Pearisburg,  has  probably  gained 
as  many  of  the  substantial  elements  of  professional  success  as 
any  of  his  contemporaries  at  the  bar  of  Southwestern  Virginia. 
Mr.  Snidow  has  won  an  enviable  record  for  himself,  and  has  con- 
tributed to  the  distinctions  of  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  this 
part  of  the  state. 

He  was  born  at  White  Gate  in  Giles  County,  Virginia,  March 
2,  1877,  and  is  a  descendant  of  Christian  Snidow,  who  was  one 
of  the  colonists  who  came  from  the  Palatinate  of  Germany  and 
settled  in  Pennsylvania  in  1727.  The  family  lived  for  a  number 
of  years  in  Lancaster  County.  His  son,  John  Snidow,  moved 
from  Lancaster  County  in  1765  to  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  John 
Snidow  was  the  father  of  Col.  Christian  Snidow,  a  lieutenant 
in  the  Revolutionary  forces,  and  who  was  a  native  of  Lancaster 
County.  Col.  Christian  Snidow  was  the  father  of  John  Snidow, 
whose  son,  James  Harvey  Snidow,  was  grandfather  of  the  Pear- 
isburg attorney.  James  Harvey  Snidow  was  a  Confederate 
soldier  in  the  early  years  of  the  war,  was  at  the  battle  of  New 
Market,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  war  was  engaged  in  the 
performance  of  civil  duties  as  official  of  the  County  Coui't.  He 
was  a  farmer,  land  and  slave  owner,  and  died  in  1883.  John  D. 
Snidow,  father  of  William  Bane,  was  born  November  17,  1847, 
and  was  a  youthful  Confederate  soldier  in  the  final  year  of  the 
war,  being  a  member  of  French's  Battery,  Stark's  Battalion. 
William  B.  Snidow,  his  son,  has  in  his  possession  his  father's 
parole  signed  by  Captain  Stark.  John  D.  Snidow  served  for 
many  years  in  the  office  of  sheriff  of  Giles  County,  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  died  September  29,  1927.  He  and  his  wife 
are  buried  at  White  Gate.  His  wife,  Jane  Bane,  was  a  daughter 
of  Capt.  William  Bane,  granddaughter  of  Col.  James  Bane, 
whose  father  and  grandfather  also  bore  the  name  James.  The 
Banes  were  early  established  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  near 
Staunton.  The  first  James  Bane  married  Rebecca  McDonald,  a 
granddaughter  of  Brian  McDonald,  who  was  massacred  at  Glen- 
coe,  Scotland,  in  1680,  and  who  was  a  lineal  descendant  of 
Donald  Bane,  who  succeeded  his  brother  Malcolm  III  as  King 
of  Scotland  in  the  eleventh  century.  Mi-s.  (Bane)  Snidow  was 
educated  in  a  private  academy  at  White  Gate  under  Professor 
James  M.  Humphreys.  She  was  a  devout  Presbyterian.  She 
died  August  9,  1884.  There  \vere  three  children.  "The  son  James 
H.  Snidow  enlisted  in  the  Spanish-American  war  in  the  Third 
Vii'ginia  Volunteers,  and  after  it  was  disbanded  joined  the 
Fourth  Virginia  Regiment.  He  spent  a  winter  in  Cuba,  and 
after  the  disbanding  of  the  Fourth  Regiment  joined  the  Third 
United  States  Regular  Infantry,  was  sent  to  the  Philippines,  de- 
tailed for  special  service  as  an  aid  to  Captain  Nichols  in  Com- 
pany L  of  the  Third  Infantry.  After  his  discharge  he  returned 
to  the  United  States,  became  a  messenger  for  the  Southern 
Express  Company,  and  w^as  killed  in  a  railroad  wreck  at  Wil- 
liamson, West  Virginia,  November  9,  1902.     The  only  daughter 


470  VIRGINIA 

of  the  family,  Janie,  is  the  wife  of  Wharton  O'Keefe,  an  employe 
of  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad  at  Biuefield,  West  Virginia. 

William  Bane  Snidow  was  educated  in  private  schools  at 
White  Gate,  attended  the  College  of  William  and  Mary,  and 
studied  law  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  Virginia  bar  in  July,  1901,  and  has  had  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  for  working  out  an  unusually  successful  profes- 
sional career.  He  has  offices  in  the  Law  Building  at  Pearisburg. 
Mr.  Snidow  in  1903  was  elected  commonwealth's  attorney  of 
Giles  County,  serving  four  years.  In  1911  he  was  again  elected 
commonwealth's  attorney  and  reelected  in  1915.  During  1916  a 
case  arose  involving  a  contest  over  taxes  on  the  Union  Tanning 
Company,  which  Mr.  Snidow  for  several  years  had  represented 
as  counsel.  There  being  a  conflict  between  his  private  clientage 
and  his  official  duties  he  resigned  as  commonwealth's  attorney 
and  handled  the  tanning  company's  litigation  through  the  Court 
of  Appeals,  a  case  recorded  in  123  Va.  610.  For  his  work  in  that 
case  he  received  a  fee  of  five  thousand  dollars,  up  to  that  time 
the  largest  fee  ever  paid  an  attorney  by  any  client  in  Giles 
County.  About  the  same  time  Mr.  Snidow  was  retained  by  the 
Byrnes  heirs  to  recover  certain  lands  in  Bland  County,  these 
lands  having  become  very  valuable  because  of  the  deposits  of 
manganese  ore,  a  metal  that  was  indispensable  during  the  World 
war.  In  that  case  he  was  associated  with  Senator  Roland  E. 
Chase,  of  Dickenson  County.  They  won  the  case,  and  again  he 
received  a  fee  of  five  thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  Snidow  in  1919  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
General  Assembly,  serving  one  term.  By  appointment  of  Judge 
Fulton  Kegley  he  was  examiner  of  records  from  1909  to  1916. 
Probably  the  most  famous  of  all  the  cases  in  which  Attorney 
Snidow  has  participated  was  that  originally  known  as  Johnson 
versus  Day,  involving  the  construction  of  the  will  of  John  How- 
ard Wilburn.  Mr.  Snidow  represented  the  illegitimate  child  of 
Ada  Wilburn,  the  only  daughter  of  the  testator,  John  Howard 
Wilburn.  The  case  will  be  found  in  the  Supreme  Court  Report, 
145  Va.  721,  where  it  is  entitled  Snidow  versus  Day.  Mr.  Sni- 
dow secured  a  decision  favorable  to  his  client,  who  was  awarded 
all  the  Wilburn  property.  The  court  fixed  the  fee  of  eight 
thousand  dollars  for  the  services  of  Mr.  Snidow  in  this  instance. 

Mr.  Snidow  is  deeply  versed  in  the  law  and  for  many  years 
ha.s  been  an  enthusiastic  student.  His  law  library  comprises 
about  three  thousand  volumes,  and  he  also  has  a  library  of  equal 
size  of  general  and  historical  work.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  and  American  Bar  Associations,  belongs  to  the  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution,  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason,  and 
a  Republican  in  politics. 

He  married  at  Barboursville,  Orange  County,  Virginia,  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1905,  Miss  Sadie  Patton  Slaughter,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Alfred  E.  and  Eugenia  (Taylor)  Slaughter.  Her  great-grand- 
father, Capt.  Phillip  Slaughter,  was  a  captain  of  the  Culpeper 
minute  men  in  the  Revolution.  Her  grandfather.  Dr.  Thomas 
Towles  Slaughter,  married  Jane  Chapman,  daughter  of  Rey- 
nolds Chapman,  who  married  the  daughter  of  Gen.  William 
Madison,  brother  of  President  James  Madison.  Mrs.  Snidow 
was  educated  in  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College  at  Lynch- 
burg and  taught  for  several  years  before  her  marriage.  She  is 
a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Four  children  were  born 
to  the  marriage  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Snidow:  William  Bane,  Jr., 
was  educated  in  the  College  of  William  and  Mary,  is  a  Kappa 


VIRGINIA  471 

Alpha,  and  is  now  at  Brooks  Field,  San  Antonio,  Texas,  studying 
aviation ;  Eugene  Tilghman  graduated  from  Stuai't  Hall  at 
Staunton  in  1925,  later  attending  Randolph-Macon  Woman's 
College ;  John  Temple  is  in  his  second  year  at  the  College  of 
William  and  Mary,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Kappa  Alpha;  and 
Carroll  is  attending  the  Pearisburg  High  School. 

Levin  James  Houston,  Jr.,  city  manager  of  the  City  of 
Fredericksburg,  has  many  qualifications  for  the  technical  and 
administrative  duties  in  connection  with  that  office.  He  is  a 
prominent  consulting  engineer,  and  has  done  a  vast  amount  of 
work  in  the  field  of  civil  engineering,  in  connection  with  railroad 
building  and  maintenance,  and  has  been  employed  on  many  proj- 
ects involving  problems  of  municipal  and  sanitary  engineering. 

Mr.  Houston  was  born  at  Stockton,  Worcester  County,  Mary- 
land, October  22,  1881.  Both  his  paternal  and  maternal  ancestors 
have  lived  in  Worcester  County,  Maryland,  for  eight  generations. 
His  parents  were  Levin  J.  and  Sarah  (Mezick)  Houston.  His 
father  during  the  Civil  war  was  captain  of  a  Flag  of  Truce 
steamer  engaged  in  the  exchange  of  prisoners  between  the  North 
and  South.  After  the  war  he  was  in  business  as  a  merchant  at 
Stockton,  also  operated  a  mill,  oyster  plant  and  two  farms.  He 
was  born  in  1841  and  died  in  November,  1906.  His  wife  was 
born  in  1846,  and  is  still  living  at  Stockton. 

Levin  J.  Houston,  Jr.,  was  reared  and  educated  in  the  town 
where  he  was  born  in  Maryland,  and  had  a  liberal  education. 
He  graduated  with  the  Bachelor  of  Arts  degree  from  the  Mary- 
land Agricultural  College  of  the  University  of  Maryland  at  Col- 
lege Park  with  the  class  of  1898.  He  continued  his  technical 
training  in  Cornell  University  of  New  York,  where  he  took  the 
degree  in  civil  engineering  in  1901. 

On  leaving  Cornell  Mr.  Houston  went  with  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway,  beginning  as  transit  man.  Within  a  few  months 
he  was  assigned  to  experimental  work  in  connection  with  utiliz- 
ing the  momentum  stored  in  a  train  in  ascending  grades,  and 
subsequently  published  in  the  transactions  of  the  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers  of  Cornell  a  thesis  on  the  subject  "Momentum  Grades 
on  Railroads,"  and  this  publication  has  ever  since  been  used  for 
textbook  purposes  at  Cornell.  During  the  next  two  years  he  had 
charge  of  new  construction  work  and  the  maintenance  of  way 
from  Lake  Superior  to  Winnipeg.  He  next  became  division  en- 
gineer of  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railway  on  the  old  Kentucky 
Division,  with  headquarters  at  Ashland,  Kentucky,  for  one  year. 
Leaving  that  and  going  to  Baltimore,  he  was  one  of  the  con- 
struction engineers  for  the  city's  sewerage  commission  six  years, 
and  during  the  next  year  was  assistant  city  engineer  and  assis- 
tant chief  engineer  of  the  paving  commission. 

Mr.  Houston  since  1913  has  had  an  extensive  pi'ivate  prac- 
tice in  engineering,  largely  of  a  consulting  natui-e.  In  1916,  in 
addition  to  this  practice,  he  was  made  chief  engineer  of  the  Poto- 
mac Ship  Building  Company  at  Quantico,  Virginia,  and  in  1917 
was  made  assistant  manager  as  well  as  engineer.  In  October, 
1918,  he  accepted  his  present  post  as  city  manager  of  Freder- 
icksburg, and  has  been  the  engineering  and  administrative 
authority  in  practical  charge  of  all  the  city's  business  during  the 
past  eleven  years.  Mr.  Houston  in  1927  was  honored  with  elec- 
tion as  president  of  the  League  of  Virginia  Municipalities.  In 
addition  to  the  heavy  routine  of  his  work  as  city  manager  Mr. 
Houston  prepared  the  interesting  pamphlet  on  "Historical  Fred- 


472  VIRGINIA 

ericksburg,"  and  he  also  prepared  the  map  of  the  city  showing 
the  location  of  its  many  points  of  historical  interest. 

He  married,  December  17,  1903,  Miss  Mary  Wilmer  of  Bal- 
timore, who  was  born  in  that  city  February  12,  1884,  daughter 
of  Lemuel  and  Henrietta  (Robertson)  Wilmer.  Her  parents 
were  born  in  Charles  County,  Maryland,  and  her  father  for  many 
years  was  a  Government  official  in  Baltimore.  He  died  in  1884, 
and  her  mother  is  now  eighty-nine  years  of  age,  residing  with 
her  daughter,  Mrs.  Houston.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Houston  have  three 
children :  Levin  James  III,  born  January  30,  1905,  who  gradu- 
ated from  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  remained  as  an  in- 
structor there  one  year,  and  is  now  an  art  student  in  New  York. 
The  second  son,  Lemuel  Wilmer,  born  February  14,  1909,  also 
attended  Virginia  Military  Institute  and  is  now  engaged  in 
newspaper  work  at  Fredericksburg.  The  youngest  child  is  Mary 
Wilmer,  born  December  3,  1911,  and  now  a  student  attending 
Westhampton  College,  of  the  University  of  Richmond  at  Rich- 
mond, Virginia. 

Mr.  Houston  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  member  of  the  B.  P.  0. 
Elks,  the  Mansfield  Hall  Country  Club,  is  a  Democrat  and  mem- 
ber of  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  is  a  vestryman  in  Trinity 
Church.  He  is  eligible  to  membership  in  the  Sons  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  and  his  wife  has  qualifications  for  being  enrolled 
as  a  daughter  of  the  American  Revolution.  While  at  the  univer- 
sity of  Maryland  he  was  manager  of  the  baseball  team.  Mr. 
Houston  was  a  member  of  the  Gamma  Alpha  fraternity  and 
president  of  his  Chapter,  and  was  president  of  the  Maryland 
Club  at  Cornell  University. 

George  A.  Allen,  the  chairman  of  the  Bland  County  Demo- 
cratic Committee,  is  one  of  the  popular  native  sons  of  that  section 
of  Virginia,  is  a  member  of  families  that  have  lived  there  for 
several  generations,  and  his  own  career  has  been  devoted  to  the 
livestock  and  farming  industry. 

He  was  born  at  Ceres,  Virginia,  February  19,  1893,  son  of 
W.  B.  and  Maggie  T.  (Hudson)  Allen.  His  grandfather  was 
William  Allen,  son  of  the  Scotch  founder  of  this  branch  of  the 
family  in  Southwestern  Virginia.  William  Allen  was  born  at 
Poplar  Hill  in  Giles  County  and  spent  all  his  life  there.  W.  B. 
Allen  was  a  farmer  and  dealer  in  livestock,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  held  the  office  of  commissioner  of  revenue  in  Bland  County. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  died  in  1926 
and  his  wife,  on  March  8,  1901,  and  both  are  buried  in  the  Ceres 
Cemetery.  His  wife  was  a  teacher  before  her  marriage.  W.  B. 
Allen  and  wife  had  five  children :  William,  a  farmer  on  the  old 
homestead  at  Ceres ;  George  A. ;  Rev.  James  L.,  a  minister  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  at  Ceres;  A.  B.  Allen,  of 
White  Gates,  Virginia ;  and  Elizabeth,  a  teacher  in  the  public 
schools  at  Rocky  Gap. 

George  A.  Allen  attended  public  schools  in  Bland  County, 
completed  a  course  in  the  National  Business  College  at  Roanoke 
in  1916,  and  immediately  thereafterwards  joined  his  father  in 
the  cattle  business.  In  October,  1917,  he  answered  the  call  to  the 
colors,  going  into  training  at  Camp  Lee  for  three  months,  was 
then  transferred  to  the  Veterinary  Corp  of  Camp  Greene,  North 
Carolina,  and  remained  until  after  the  armistice.  He  was  hon- 
orably discharged  at  Camp  Greene,  February  7,  1919. 

Mr.  Allen  after  the  war  followed  farming  and  the  business 
of  livestock  dealer  at  White  Gates,  Virginia,  until  February, 
1923,  when  he  retui-ned  to  Bland  County  and  bought  a  large 


JAMES   HAYES.  I 


VIRGINIA  473 

blue  gi'ass  farm  of  over  800  acres,  using-  this  for  general  farm- 
ing and  cattle  raising. 

Mr.  Allen  was  elected  county  chairman  of  the  Democratic 
partj'  in  Bland  County  in  February,  1928,  and  very  systematic- 
ally organized  the  county  for  the  campaign  of  that  year.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Legion  and  the  Methodist  Church.  At 
Bland,  Virginia,  June  25,  1919,  he  married  Miss  Ethel  Newberry, 
who  was  educated  in  public  schools  in  Bland  County,  in  Sullins 
College,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Her  parents  were  L.  M.,  Sr.,  and  Louise  (Bird)  Newberry.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Allen  have  three  children,  Donald,  George  A.,  Jr.,  and 
Edwin,  Donald  being  a  student  in  public  schools. 

James  Hayes  was  a  business  man  whose  cai-eer  was  identi- 
fied with  Fredericksburg,  and  he  represented  a  family  that  has 
been  in  Virginia  for  several  generations.  He  was  born  at  Rich- 
mond, and  died  there  in  1908. 

His  grandfather,  a  wealthy  planter  and  business  man  of  the 
state,  also  named  James  Hayes,  was  born  in  England  in  1760 
and  died  October  6,  1804,  at  the  age  of  forty-four.  This  James 
Hayes  married  Mrs.  Ann  Bent  Hardiman,  the  daughter  of  a 
well-to-do  Scotchman,  William  Black,  who  had  owned  the  Falls 
Plantation  or  Aberdeen,  as  it  was  sometimes  called,  just  below 
Manchester.  Ihe  date  of  that  marriage  is  not  known,  as  the 
family  register  was  destroyed  by  the  British  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  James  Hayes  succeeded  to  the  ownership  of  that 
property,  and  he  is  also  remembered  as  having  been  publisher 
of  the  Virginia  Gazette.  He  figured  in  an  episode  interesting  to 
recall  as  showing  the  general  dread  of  the  recurring  epidemics 
of  smallpox  a  century  or  more  ago.  Such  an  epidemic  broke 
out  in  1793-94,  and  James  Hayes  moved  his  family  into  Rich- 
mond, but  attempted  to  visit  his  Falls  River  Plantation  every 
day.  In  doing  so  he  violated  the  quarantine  and  the  residents 
and  his  neighbors  near  the  plantation  objected  to  his  visits,  and 
for  a  time  he  was  confined  at  the  Chesterfield  courthouse,  and 
he  and  his  friends  gathered  a  large  number  of  armed  men  about 
them  with  a  view  to  resisting  forcibly  the  quarantine,  but  even- 
tually the  matter  was  peaceably  settled. 

William  Black,  of  Scotland,  lived  at  Falls  Plantation,  which 
he  called  Aberdeen,  opposite  Richmond,  Virginia.  He  married 
Ann  Dent,  of  Maryland.  Their  daughter,  Ann  Dent  Hardiman 
(widow),  married  James  Hayes,  of  England.  James  Hayes, 
born  in  1760,  died  October  6,  1804.  Ann  Dent  Hardiman  Hayes, 
his  wife,  died  November  13,  1831.  Their  son.  Dr.  John  Hayes, 
died  October  22,  1834.  Delia  Hayes,  daughter  of  James  Hayes, 
died  August  2,  1842.  Dr.  John  Hayes  married  Ann  Sommer- 
ville  Knox,  of  Fredericksbure,  Virginia.  They  left  two  sons 
and  two  daughters,  James  Hayes,  Mary  Ann  Hayes,  Sarah 
Stuart  Hayes  and  John  Hayes.  Delia  Hayes  married  Herbert 
A.  Claiborne.     They  left  several  sons  and  one  daughter. 

Ann  Dent  Hayes  married  Alexander  McRae,  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia  and  prosecuting  attorney  in  the  Aaron  Burr 
trial.  He  studied  law  with  Chief  Justice  John  Marshall  and 
was  the  devoted  friend  of  President  James  Monroe.  Their  chil- 
dren were  Amanda  Pamela,  James  Hayes,  Alexander,  Richard 
and  Ann  Dent.  The  sons  never  married.  Amanda  married 
John  J.  Werth.  Their  children  were:  John  .James  Rhodes, 
Henry  Hobai'd  and  Ann  Dent.  James  Rhodes  married  Mary 
Herndon    Maury,    daughter   of   Commodore    Mathew    Fontaine 


474  VIRGINIA 

Maury.  Ann  Dent  married  James  Dunlop.  They  left  James  N., 
Ann  Dent,  Margaret  Carlisle,  Richard  Alexander  II,  Amanda 
Pamela  and  Frank  Deane. 

A  son  of  this  wealthy  planter  and  publisher  was  Dr.  John 
Hayes,  who  became  a  prominent  physician.  Doctor  Hayes  mar- 
ried Anne  Somerville  Knox,  of  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  daugh- 
ter of  Mary  McBryde  Rieley.  The  Knox  family  are  direct 
descendants  of  the  Earl  of  Ranfurly,  Ireland.  Dr.  John  Hayes 
was  the  father  of  the  late  James  Hayes,  of  Fredericksburg. 
Doctor  Hayes,  with  his  grandmother  Hayes,  his  grandfather 
Black,  his  sisters  and  a  twin  brother  of  Delia  Claiborne,  are 
buried  at  Falls  Plantation.  Dr.  John  Hayes  died  of  Asiatic 
cholera  October  22,  1834. 

James  Hayes  spent  all  his  active  business  career  in  the 
wholesale  grain  trade.  He  married  at  Richmond  in  June,  1861, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Travers  Green,  member  of  the  distinguished 
Green  family  of  Virginia.  Mrs.  Hayes  died  May  18,  1929,  and 
is  buried  in  the  Green  section,  Hollywood  Cemetery,  Richmond, 
Virginia. 

Elizabeth  Travers  Green  was  a  descendant  of  William  Green, 
who  served  as  a  soldier  to  King  William  of  Orange.  His  son, 
Robert  Green,  born  in  1695,  came  to  Virginia  when  about 
twenty-two  years  old  with  his  maternal  uncle,  William  Duff,  a 
Quaker,  and  settled  in  King  George  County.  They  were  asso- 
ciated as  partners  with  Joist  Rite  and  Robert  McKay  in  the 
settlement  of  those  wonderfully  rich  tracts  of  land  in  what  is 
now  known  as  Shenandoah  Valley.  Lord  Fairfax  claimed  these 
lands  by  nominal  grant,  and  this  was  the  origin  of  a  famous 
lawsuit  which  was  contested  before  the  courts  for  many  years 
and  which  was  finally  settled  in  1786  in  favor  of  the  Joist  Rite 
claimants.  George  Washington  was  the  surveyor  who  ran  the 
lines  for  Lord  Fairfax. 

Col.  John  Williams  Green,  of  Green  Wood,  Culpeper  County, 
fourth  of  the  seven  sons  of  Robert  Green  and  his  wife,  Eleanor 
Dunn  Green,  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  participating  in 
the  battles  of  Brandywine,  Monmouth  and  Guilford  Court 
House.  He  was  a  member  of  George  Washington's  staff  and  a 
friend  of  General  La  Fayette,  whom  he  entertained  at  Green 
Wood  in  1825.  He  married  Sussana  Blackwell,  daughter  of 
William  Blackwell.  They  were  the  parents  of  William  Green, 
who  married  Lucy  Clayton  Williams.  A  son  of  this  marriage 
was  John  Williams  Green,  born  November  9,  1781,  and  who  died 
in  1834.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812,  having  risen  to 
the  rank  of  colonel.  He  equipped  a  company  in  Fredericksburg 
and  carried  them  to  Norfolk  at  his  own  expense.  He  served  as 
a  chancellor  of  the  commonwealth,  member  of  the  Legislature 
and  as  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Appeals.  Judge  Green 
married  in  1805  Mary  Browne,  a  greatniece  of  Mary  Washing- 
ton and  a  direct  descendant  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  and  the  oldest 
of  their  four  sons  was  William  Green.  By  a  second  marriage 
he  was  the  father  of  Thomas  Claiborne  Green,  who  also  had  a 
long  career  as  a  judge  and  president  of  the  Court  of  Appeals. 

William  Green,  son  of  Judge  John  Williams  Green,  was  born 
at  Fredericksburg  November  10,  1806,  and  finished  his  law 
studies  under  his  father.  He  practiced  law  in  Culpeper,  Rappa- 
hannock, Orange  and  Louisia  counties,  and  in  1855  moved  to 
Richmond,  there  better  to  look  after  his  extensive  business  in 
the  courts  of  the  state.  He  lived  out  his  life  there,  dying  July  27, 
1880,  and  is  buried  in  Hollywood  Cemetery.     He  became  pro- 


ELIZABETH   TRAVERS   GREEN    HAYES 


VIRGINIA  475 

fessor  of  law  in  Richmond  College  in  1870,  and  he  was  vice 
president  of  Virginia  Historical  Society  and  for  a  long  time 
chairman  of  its  executive  board.  During  the  Civil  war  he  was 
in  the  treasury  department  of  the  Confederate  states,  and  after 
the  war  became  judge  of  the  tribunal  known  as  the  Court  of 
Conciliation. 

William  Green  married,  April  6,  1837,  Columbia  Elizabeth 
Slaughter,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Virginia  (Stanard)  Slaugh- 
ter, of  Western  View,  the  latter  a  daughter  of  William  and  Eliza 
(Carter)  Stanard.  Betty  Washington  Lewis,  while  visiting 
Elizabeth  Carter,  her  daughter,  wife  of  Charles  Carter,  owner 
of  Western  View,  died  there  in  1797  and  is  buried  there.  Slaugh- 
ter, Stanard  and  Carter  are  all  names  of  distinguished  families 
of  Virginia.  William  Green  by  this  marriage  had  two  children, 
one  being  Elizabeth  Travers  Green  Hayes  and  the  other,  John 
Williams  Green,  a  gallant  soldier  of  the  Confederacy  who  was 
killed  while  gallantly  leading  his  chai'ge  at  the  battle  of  Liberty 
Mills  in  ]\Iadison  County,  Virginia,  September  22,  1863. 

Jlr.  and  Mrs.  James  Haj'es  had  a  family  of  eleven  children: 
John  Green  Hayes,  a  tobacco  merchant,  married  Mildred  Boyd 
and  has  a  son,  John  Green  Hayes,  Jr. ;  William  Green  Hayes  is 
a  state  department  employe  at  Richmond ;  Etta  is  the  widow  of 
John  Hyatt  Wight,  who  was  vice  president  of  the  Fidelity  Trust 
Company  of  Baltimore,  and  her  home  is  in  Richmond,  at  817 
Floyd  Avenue ;  Anne  Somerville  married  Ewing  Eaches,  a  stock 
and  bond  broker  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  had  two  children, 
Katherine  Ewing,  wife  of  Robert  Coleman  Walker,  a  Philadel- 
phia attorney,  and  mother  of  two  sons,  Robert  Coleman,  Jr.,  and 
James  Ewing  Walker,  and  Miss  Elizabeth  Travers  Green 
Eaches;  Columbia  Stanard  is  the  widow  of  William  James 
Walker;  IMiss  Elizabeth  Travers  Hayes  was  the  fifth  child;  Mary 
Stuart  married  Axel  Gustave  IMathiason,  a  chemist  and  experi- 
mental engineer;  Virginia  Carter  married  Frank  Wheatley 
McCullough,  of  Norfolk,  and  has  two  children,  Virginia  Carter 
and  A'an:  and  Lucy  Green  is  the  wife  of  Thomas  Stokes,  of  Elk 
Hill,  Virginia. 

Rev.  H.  Guthrie  Allen  was  a  soldier  overseas  during  the 
World  war,  is  a  native  son  of  Virginia,  a  graduate  of  old  Hamo- 
den  Svdney  College,  and  after  the  war  he  took  up  study  for  the 
ministry,  and  his  present  assignment  is  as  pastor  of  the  Presby- 
terian congregation  at  Max  Meadows. 

Rev.  Mr.  Allen  was  born  in  Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia. 
January  6,  1892,  son  of  Frank  E.  and  Mary  Belle  (Ander.-on) 
Allen,  grandson  of  Joseph  Allen,  and  great-grandson  of  Sims 
Allen.  His  paternal  line  goes  back  to  James  Allen  of  Hanover,  as 
follows:  Rev.  H.  Guthrie  Allen;  Frank  E.  Allen;  Jos3ph  Watson 
Allen ;  Sims  Allen ;  John  Allen,  sergeant  in  Virginia  Conti- 
nentals in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  died  in  1816 ;  James  Allen, 
Sr.,  Cumberland  and  Prince  Edward  Counties;  Jamss  Allen,  of 
Hanover  County,  Virginia.  The  maternal-paternal  ancestry  line 
includes:  Rev.  H.  Guthrie  Allen,  Mary  (Anderson)  Allen, 
Charles  T.  Anderson,  Francis  Anderson,  Thomas  Anderson,  who 
died  before  1806,  and  James  Anderson  who  died  before  1782. 
Sims  Allen  was  a  farmer  in  Prince  Edward  County  and  married 
a  niece  of  the  famous  South  Carolina  statesman,  John  C.  Cal- 
houn. The  Allen  family  has  lived  in  Virginia  since  early  Colonial 
times.  Joseph  Allen  was  a  Confederate  soldier,  and  after  the  war 
lived  out  his  life  on  his  plantation  in  Prince  Edward  County.  He 


476  VIRGINIA 

married  Letitia  McDearmon,  and  both  are  buried  in  the  Douglass 
Church  Cemetery.  Frank  E.  Allen  was  born  and  reared  in 
Prince  Edward  County,  attended  public  schools  there,  and  up  to 
the  age  of  thirty-two  followed  business  as  a  contractor  for  the 
building  of  bridges  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad  and 
the  Yadkin  Valley  Railroad.  Since  giving  up  contracting  work 
he  has  been  a  farmer,  and  he  and  his  wife  now  reside  at  Darling- 
ton Heights.  His  wife  was  born  and  reared  in  Prince  Edward 
County,  was  educated  in  school  there,  and  both  she  and  her  hus- 
band are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Her  parents 
were  Charles  T.  and  Mary  Etta  (Guthrie)  Anderson,  well-to-do 
Prince  Edward  County  farmers.  Charles  T.  Anderson  was  a  son 
of  Frank  Anderson,  grandson  of  Thomas  Anderson  and  great- 
grandson  of  James  Anderson,  of  Cumberland  County,  Virginia. 
Frank  E.  Allen  and  wife  had  five  children ;  H.  Guthrie ;  Charles, 
who  died  in  infancy ;  Miss  Mary  Margaret,  who  is  a  graduate  of 
the  Farmville  State  Teachers  College  with  the  class  of  1920,  now 
teaching  in  the  public  schools  at  Max  Meadows ;  Francis 
Anderson,  who  died  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  while  a  student  at 
Hampden  Sydney  College;  and  Marietta  Letitia,  who  was  edu- 
cated in  public  schools  and  the  Farmville  Teachers  College, 
taught  a  year  or  two,  then  took  up  the  work  of  the  Presbyterian 
Assembly  School  at  Richmond,  in  preparation  for  home  mission- 
ary work,  for  about  two  years,  and  is  now  the  wife  of  J.  W. 
Elliott,  a  farmer  and  postal  employe  at  Darlington  Heights. 

H.  Guthrie  Allen  was  educated  in  public  schools  in  Prince 
Edward  County,  graduated  from  the  Cluster  Springs  Academy 
in  1913,  and  took  his  A.  B.  degree  at  Hampden-Sydney  College 
in  1917. 

In  December,  1917,  he  joined  the  colors,  receiving  his  first 
training  at  Fort  Thomas,  Kentucky,  then  at  Camp  Hancock, 
Georgia,  until  April,  1918,  was  at  Camp  Greene,  at  Charlotte, 
North  Carolina,  until  July,  1918,  when  he  went  overseas  with 
Company  Eighteen  of  the  Fourth  Regiment,  Motor  Mechanics, 
in  the  Aviation  Corps.  He  landed  at  LeHavre,  France,  was  at 
St.  Jean  De  Monts  until  Christmas,  1918,  and  then  at  St.  Nazaire, 
France,  and  from  March,  1919,  to  August  was  a  student  with  the 
American  Expeditionary  Forces  at  Cambridge  University  in 
England.  He  enlisted  as  a  private,  was  promoted  to  sergeant, 
and  was  a  second  lieutenant  when  honorably  discharged  at  Camp 
Meade,  Maryland,  in  September,  1919. 

Mr.  Allen  after  his  return  from  overseas  spent  three  years 
in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  at  Richmond,  graduating  in 
1922  with  the  Bachelor  of  Divinity  degree.  In  June  of  that  year 
he  was  ordained  in  the  Presbyterian  ministry  and  at  once  ac- 
cepted the  call  to  the  pastorates  at  Max  Meadows  in  Wythe 
County,  and  has  enjoyed  a  most  profitable  relationship  with  this 
community,  having  a  loyal  congregation,  accepting  the  oppor- 
tunities for  disinterested  service  to  the  people  of  his  church,  and 
for  four  years  of  this  time  he  has  also  combined  the  duties  of  the 
ministry  with  the  principalship  of  the  Max  Meadows  High 
School. 

Rev.  Mr.  Allen  is  a  member  of  Theta  Chi  fraternity  of  Ham- 
den  Sydney  College,  is  a  member  of  the  Max  Meadows  Business 
Men's  Club,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Abingdon  Pres- 
bytery. 

He  married  at  Charlotte  Court  House,  Virginia,  June  28, 
1922,  Miss  Carrie  Anderson,  daughter  of  Frank  and  Mary  (Car- 
son) Anderson,  residents  of  Charlotte  Court  House.   Mrs.  Allen 


/^^^^In^X^-^Z^^ 


VIRGINIA  477 

was  educated  in  public  schools,  in  the  Williamsburg  Institute 
and  the  State  Teachers  College  at  Farmville,  and  taught  for 
about  two  years  before  her  marriage.  She  was  a  very  de\out 
Presbyterian.  Mrs.  Allen  died  November  19,  1927,  and  is  buried 
in  the  Douglas  Church  Cemetery  in  Prince  Edward  County. 

Albert  Pendleton  Strother.  With  thirty-five  counties 
under  his  supervision  as  division  chief  of  the  Internal  Revenue 
Department,  Albert  Pendleton  Strother,  of  Roanoke,  is  one  of 
the  very  important  figures  in  governmental  work  in  Virginia, 
and  is  handling  the  affairs  of  his  office  with  great  capability. 
For  years  prior  to  his  appointment  to  his  present  office  he  had 
proved  his  worth  as  a  business  man  and  good  citizen,  and  his 
selection  met  with  the  approval  of  his  district.  i\Ir.  Strother 
was  born  in  Giles  County,  Virginia,  in  1873,  a  son  of  Philip  and 
Nannie  (Pendleton)  Strother,  natives  of  Virginia,  he  born  in 
Culpeper  County  and  she  in  Giles  County,  both  of  whom  are 
deceased,  having  passed  away  at  a  ripe  old  age.  The  father 
was  a  distinguished  law-yer,  educated  in  Columbia  College, 
Washington,  District  of  Columbia.  During  the  latter  part  of  his 
life  he  was  engaged  in  practice  in  West  Virginia,  where  he  had 
as  his  clients  some  of  the  largest  coal  operators  of  that  state. 
Seven  children  were  born  to  the  parents,  those  living  being: 
Hon.  James  French  Strother,  who  served  in  the  National  Con- 
gress from  the  Fifth  Congressional  District  of  West  Virginia, 
and  resides  in  Welch,  that  state;  Mrs.  Joseph  G.  Barnes,  who 
resides  in  Tazewell  County,  Virginia,  where  her  husband  is 
engaged  in  farming  and  merchandising:  Elizabeth  R.,  who  lives 
in  Pearisburg,  Giles  County,  Virginia ;  Albert  Pendleton,  whose 
name  heads  this  review ;  Mrs.  Ira  C.  Hale,  who  resides  in  Giles 
County,  Virginia,  Avhere  her  husband  has  business  interests:  and 
Lucy,  who  married  G.  L.  Morris,  of  Botetourt  County,  Virginia, 
a  farmer  and  cattleman.  The  father  was  an  Episcopalian  and 
a  Republican.  During  the  war  between  the  states  he  served  in 
the  Confederate  army  as  a  lieutenant,  and  was  very  serious'y 
injured  in  the  battle  of  Spotsylvania,  May  12,  1864.  His  father, 
James  F.  Strothers,  was  also  a  lawyer,  and  served  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Legislature  for  many  years,  and  for  tw-elve  years  was 
speaker  of  the  House.  Subsequently  he  was  a  member  of  the 
National  Congress  for  two  terms.  The  paternal  great-grand- 
father, George  French  Strother,  was  still  another  member  of 
the  fam.ily  to  go  to  Washington,  he  having  been  a  member  of 
the  National  Congress  in  1817,  but  resigned  the  office  to  go  to 
Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  in  the  interests  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. 

Albert  Pendleton  Strother  attended  the  public  schools  in 
Tazewell  County  and  Tazewell  College  at  Williamsburg,  Vir- 
ginia. He  began  his  life  career  as  a  farmer,  and  continued  in 
that  occupation  for  twenty  years,  and  then  relinquished  it  to 
become  assistant  cashier  of  the  sergeant-at-arms  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  for  three  years.  On  July  9,  1921,  i\Ir. 
Strother  came  to  Roanoke  to  assume  his  present  duties,  and  has 
remained  here  ever  since,  becoming  one  of  the  city's  highly  val- 
ued residents. 

In  1903  Mr.  Strother  married  Miss  Alice  Williams,  who  was 
born  in  Giles  County.  Virginia,  a  sister  of  John  W.  Williams, 
clerk  of  the  House  of  Delegates.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Strother  have 
two  children :  Philio  William,  who  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  W^ashington,  D.  C,  and  is  now  living  at  Washington,  D.  C.; 


478  VIRGINIA 

and  James  William,  who  attended  the  Roanoke  and  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  public  schools,  the  Greenbrier  Military  School  at 
Lewisburg,  West  Virginia,  Virginia  Military  Institute  and  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  College,  and  is  in  the  employ  of  the  Virginia 
Railroad  Company.  Mr.  Strother  is  an  Episcopalian,  while  his 
wife  is  a  Methodist.  He  is  a  Republican,  and  very  active  in 
party  affairs.  From  1908  to  1912  he  served  as  a  member  of 
the  Virginia  Senate;  was  an  elector-at-large  on  the  ticket  with 
William  Howard  Taft,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  very  astute 
politicians  of  this  part  of  the  state.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
since  he  assumed  control  of  his  division  the  business  has  in- 
creased many  times  over,  his  administration  has  been  marked  by 
the  promptness  and  accuracy  of  its  operation,  and  he  is  regarded 
as  the  very  best  man  that  could  be  found  for  the  place  in 
question. 

Randolph  Marshall  Graves.  A  progressive  young  business 
man  and  a  native  son  of  the  busy  and  beautiful  city  of  Bristol, 
Virginia,  is  found  in  Randolph  Marshall  Graves,  realtor,  mine 
manager,  veteran  of  the  World  war,  and  officer  in  the  United 
States  Reserve  Corps.  Lieutenant  Graves  is  a  worthy  represen- 
tative of  old  and  distinguished  Virginia  families  that  for  gener- 
ations have  been  identified  with  the  history  and  substantial 
development  of  this  state. 

Randolph  Marshall  Graves  was  born  at  Bristol,  Washington 
County,  Virginia,  August  30,  1897,  son  of  Herbert  Elgin  and 
Patsy  (Cochran)  Graves,  and  has  one  sister  and  one  brother: 
Susie  Katherine,  who  is  the  wife  of  Ralph  W.  Ealand,  a  mine 
operator  at  Santa  Barbara,  California;  and  Benjamin  Conway, 
who  is  assistant  superintendent  of  the  High  Rock  Knitting  Com- 
pany at  Bristol. 

The  late  Herbert  Elgin  Graves  was  born  in  1858  in  Halifax 
County,  Virginia,  and  came  to  Bristol  in  1878,  where  his  death 
occurred  on  September  17,  1924.  He  had  been  a  very  active 
business  man  here,  having  large  real  estate  and  mine  interests 
during  all  this  interval  with  the  exception  of  five  years  when  he 
was  in  the  cattle  trade  in  Liverpool,  London  and  Paris  as  business 
representative  of  his  step-father,  Col.  James  Byers,  an  extensive 
dealer  at  that  time.  His  father,  Capt.  Henry  Vinson  Graves, 
grandfather  of  Randolph  Marshall  Graves,  was  a  noted  civil 
engineer  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  connected  with  railroad 
construction  prior  to  the  Civil  war,  during  which  period  he 
served  with  distinction  as  an  officer  in  the  Confederate  army. 
The  founder  of  the  Graves  family  in  Virginia  was  born  in  Eng- 
land and  when  he  came  to  the  United  States  was  accompanied 
by  two  brothers,  one  of  whom  settled  in  Connecticut  and  the 
other  in  Louisiana.  In  political  sentiment  the  late  Herbert  Elgin 
Graves  was  a  Republican,  and  he  was  a  faithful  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  His  marriage  with  Miss  Patsy  Cochran 
brought  the  Graves  family  into  kinship  with  another  prominent 
old  Virginia  connection,  the  Cochrans,  of  Scotch-Irish  extraction, 
having  come  to  the  American  colonies  in  Colonial  days  and 
many  later  proving  heroic  qualities  as  patriot  soldiers  in  the 
Revolutionary  war.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  Randolph 
Marshall  Graves,  Col.  James  Cochran,  was  born  at  Staunton, 
Virginia,  and  became  eminent  in  the  law  and  influential  in 
Republican  politics  in  the  state.  For  many  years  he  published 
a  newspaper  at  Culpeper  and  also  served  as  postmaster,  was 


nl« 


1 


VIRGINIA  479 

very  active  in  Masonic  affairs  and  liberal  in  his  support  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

Randolph  Marshall  Graves,  with  his  sister  and  brother,  was 
afforded  exceptional  educational  advantages.  After  completing 
his  course  in  the  Virginia  High  School  at  Bristol  Mr.  Graves 
entered  Bingham  Military  School  at  Mebane,  Accomac  County, 
North  Carolina,  then  moved  on  to  Riverside  Military  Academy 
at  Gainesville,  Georgia,  and  then  became  a  student  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia.  His  military  school  training,  without  his 
knowledge,  partly  prepared  him  for  a  later  period  of  his  life,  for 
in  1917  he  enlisted  for  real  soldiering,  and  with  a  contingent 
from  Bristol  was  sent  to  Fortress  Monroe  to  be  prepared  for 
overseas  service  in  the  World  war,  but  before  the  unit  to  which 
he  was  attached  was  called  to  activity  the  need  for  further 
transportation  of  troops  to  a  foreign  land  was  over,  and  he 
received  his  honorable  discharge  November  21,  1918. 

Upon  his  return  to  Bristol  Mr.  Graves  became  interested  in 
the  real  estate  business,  in  which  his  father  had  so  long  and 
successfully  been  engaged,  and  has  continued  in  this  line  ever 
since,  and  under  his  wise  and  intelligent  methods  and  manage- 
ment large  and  desirably  situated  sections  of  land  have  been 
developed  and  highly  improved  recently,  including  such  choice 
residential  additions  to  Bristol  as  Lee  Heights  and  Highland 
Park.  Since  the  death  of  his  father  the  latter's  extensive  mining 
properties  have  been  under  his  control,  a  heavy  business  respon- 
sibility. These  Feldstar  mines  are  of  great  value,  providing  the 
minei'al  clay  the  kaolin,  that  is  the  essential  element  in  the 
making  of  fine  pottery,  an  industry  of  large  importance  here 
and  elsewhere. 

Earnest  and  hard-working,  every  civic  interest  of  Bristol  is 
dear  to  him  as  his  native  city,  and  he  not  only  commands  the 
confidence  of  his  fellow  citizen  but  also  their  esteem.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  belongs  to  the  Bristol 
lodge  of  Elks  and  to  the  Country  Club. 

Harry  Eugene  Ould.  One  of  the  largest  and  most  pros- 
perous mercantile  establishments  in  Giles  County  is  the  W.  T. 
Ould  Store  at  Glenlyn,  now  under  the  active  management  of 
Harry  Eugene  Ould,  who  became  associated  with  the  business 
at  an  early  age  and  was  well  qualified  to  carry  on  the  active 
responsibilities  after  the  death  of  his  father,  the  late  Walter 
T.  Ould. 

Walter  T.  Ould  was  a  highly  regarded  citizen  of  Giles  County 
and  a  most  capable  business  man.  He  was  born  in  Campbell 
County,  Virginia,  November  22,  1860,  son  of  John  Thomas  Ould, 
a  native  of  the  same  county,  and  grandson  of  John  Thomas 
Ould,  who  came  from  Ireland.  Walter  T.  Ould  was  reared  and 
educated  in  Campbell  County,  and  as  a  young  man  learned  the 
trade  of  shoemaker.  He  followed  that  occupation  until  1888. 
It  was  in  that  year,  forty  years  ago,  that  he  moved  to  Glenlyn 
and  .started  a  store  carrying  a  general  stock  of  merchandise. 
He  kept  the  business  steadily  growing  and  increasing  its  scope 
of  service  throughout  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  was  also  deeply 
.interested  in  the  welfare  of  his  community  and  was  mayor  of 
Glenlyn  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  April  16, 
1927.    He  was  buried  in  the  Fairview  Cemetery  at  Narrows. 

Walter  T.  Ould  married  Lula  Tiller,  who  was  born  and 
reared  in  Mercer  County  and  was  educated  in  public  schools 
there.     She  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 


480  VIRGINIA 

South,  and  is  affiliated  with  the  Union  Church  at  Glenlyn. 
Of  her  five  children  one  died  in  infancy.  The  daughter  Etta 
Carrene  is  Mrs.  George  C.  Moore,  of  Parkersburg,  West  Vir- 
ginia, and  has  a  daughter,  Madeline  Carrene.  Harry  Eugene 
Ould  is  the  secontl  in  age.  Eula  Earline  is  Mrs.  Emory  Johnson, 
of  Pearisburg,  Virginia,  and  has  a  son,  Thomas  Eugene.  Miss 
Blanche  Evelyn  Ould  is  a  graduate  of  the  Pearisburg  High 
School  and  is  at  home. 

Harry  Eugene  Ould  was  born  at  Glenlyn,  attended  public 
schools  there  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  was  helping  his  father 
in  the  store.  The  business  is  still  conducted  as  the  W.  T.  Ould 
Estate,  of  which  he  is  the  active  administrator.  He  is  unmar- 
ried and  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  Templar  Masons  and  Kazim 
Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Roanoke.  He  is  a  Democrat,  a 
Methodist  and  a  member  of  Southwestern  Virginia,  Incorpo- 
rated. 

Rev.  Clyde  Jones  Walsh.  The  clergy  of  today  face  prob- 
lems more  serious  than  have  come  before  those  of  their  profes- 
sion for  many  years.  The  latitude  of  the  post-war  period  and 
distractions  of  modern  life,  the  tendency  of  the  age  toward  a 
disregard  of  the  principles  of  the  older  generation,  all  are  grave 
matters  for  anyone  to  handle,  and  especially  for  the  men  whose 
lives  are  devoted  to  religious  work.  That  all  are  not  influenced 
by  the  above  mentioned  conditions  is  fortunately  true,  but  there 
are  enough  of  them  to  create  a  serious  state  of  afi'airs,  and  one 
that  requires  the  continued  efforts  of  these  "Men  of  God,"  if  a 
betterment  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  near  future.  One  of  these 
men  who  is  accomplishing  much  in  the  good  cause  is  Rev.  Clyde 
Jones  Walsh,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Dublin,  Pu- 
laski County,  and  a  vital  force  in  his  community. 

Reverend  Walsh  was  born  in  Charlotte,  North  Carolina, 
January  17,  1888,  a  son  of  Thomas  D.  and  Rose  (Williamson) 
Walsh.  Thomas  D.  Walsh  was  born  and  reared  in  Charlotte, 
and  attended  several  excellent  private  schools  of  that  city.  Later 
he  entered  Andersonville  College,  and  was  graduated  therefrom. 
With  the  outbreak  of  war  between  the  states  he  enlisted  in  the 
Southern  army,  and  served  as  a  brave  soldier  until  peace  was 
declared.  After  the  close  of  the  war  he  went  on  the  road  as  a 
traveling  salesman,  and  continued  in  that  line  of  work  until  his 
death  in  1908.  He  is  buried  in  the  cemetery  in  Charlotte.  His 
father  was  Rev.  Tracy  D.  Walsh,  one  of  the  pioneer  Methodist 
ministers  of  Charlotte  and  that  section  of  North  Carolina,  and 
for  many  years  served  as  president  of  Andersonville  College. 
The  family  came  to  Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  from  South  Caro- 
lina and  became  prominent  in  its  affairs. 

Mrs.  Rose  (Williamson)  Walsh  was  born  and  reared  at  Pine- 
ville,  North  Carolina,  and  she  was  educated  in  its  private  schools 
and  those  of  Statesville,  and  the  Statesville  Female  College.  Her 
father.  Dr.  Eldred  Williamson,  was  a  practicisg  physician  of 
Pineville,  North  Carolina,  for  many  years.  Mrs.  Walsh  is  a  zeal- 
ous member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  she  still  resides  in 
Charlotte.  Six  children  were  born  to  her  and  her  husband  who 
lived,  and  two  who  died  in  infancy.  Those  living  are :  Edna, . 
Walter,  Tom,  Robert,  Reverend  Walsh  and  Rose. 

Reverend  Walsh  first  attended  the  public  schools  of  Char- 
lotte and  later  Charlotte  Military  Institute,  and  was  graduated 
therefrom  in  1907.  For  the  subsequent  eleven  years  he  was  in 
the  hotel  business,  but  during  all  of  that  period  he  cherished  the 


^^   /V,  v^i:^L-c^.^^c.4-t-ot_^>^»^,^^ 


VIRGINIA  481 

hope  of  entering  the  ministry,  and  in  iyi6  entered  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary  and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1919.  Follow- 
ing his  graduation  he  was  assigned  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Elon,  Amherst  County,  Virginia,  and  remained  there 
for  six  years,  during  which  time  he  accomplished  some  very 
effective  work,  and  when  he  left  his  people  were  loath  to  let  him 
go.  In  October,  192.5,  he  came  to  Dublin,  Virginia,  as  pastor  of 
the  Dublin  group  of  Presbyterian  Churches,  which  includes  the 
church  at  Dublin,  the  one  at  New  Dublin  and  the  one  at  Bel- 
spring.  Here  he  has  a  splendid  field  for  work,  and  he  is  put- 
ting into  it  strength,  talent,  zeal  and  consecrated  work,  with 
results  that  are  most  encouraging.  He  is  a  Master  Mason,  be- 
longing to  Henry  Clay  Lodge,  Dublin,  Virginia;  and  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  local  lodges  of  the  Modern  Woodmen  and  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  In  1928  he  served  as  vice  president  of 
the  Business  Men's  Club  of  Dublin.  He  is  now  attached  to  the 
Appalachian  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  political 
faith  he  is  a  Democrat. 

On  October  1,  1919,  Reverend  Walsh  married  in  Greensboro, 
North  Carolina,  Miss  Alma  Louise  Henley,  of  that  city,  who 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  her  mother  in  early  childhood,  and 
she  was  reared  by  Judge  T.  J.  Shaw,  of  Greensboro.  Mrs.  Walsh 
attended  the  public  schools  of  her  native  city  and  Greensboro 
College,  and  is  a  well  educated  highly  cultured  lady,  very  active 
in  all  church  work.  Reverend  and  Mrs.  Walsh  have  one  son, 
Clyde  Jones  Walsh,  Junior.  While  he  is  a  scholarly  man,  deeply 
imbued  with  the  doctrines  of  his  church,  he  is  broad-minded 
enough  to  realize  that  all  work  for  the  betterment  of  humanity 
is  of  value,  and  so  does  not  neglect  his  civic  responsibilities,  but 
assumes  them  and  discharges  them  intelligently  and  effectively. 
It  is  men  like  Reverend  Walsh  who  are  checking  the  tide  of  ir- 
religious thoughtlessness  and  positive  crime,  and  bringing  home 
to  parents  the  grave  necessity  for  stricter  living  and  religious 
observance  on  their  part  so  that  they  may  in  this  way  influence 
for  good  the  children  growing  up  about  them. 

Sidney  Warner  Ironmonger,  chief  of  police  of  the  City  of 
Norfolk,  is  a  World  war  veteran  and  is  a  member  of  one  of  the 
old  and  interesting  families  of  Virginia. 

The  Ironmongers  came  from  England  and  settled  in  Virginia 
in  Colonial  times.  A  brother  of  Mr.  Ironmonger's  grandfather 
was  said  to  have  been  the  youngest  drummer  boy  in  the  Con- 
federate army.  The  grandfather  owned  and  occupied  a  farm 
in  Norfolk  County  located  eight  miles  from  the  courthouse. 

Chief  Ironmonger's  father  was  Sidney  Bailey  Ironmonger, 
who  was  born  in  Norfolk  County,  inherited  part  of  his  father's 
estate  and  spent  a  number  of  years  as  a  farmer,  but  is  now  living 
retired  at  Norfolk.  He  married  Katherine  Elizabeth  Warner, 
who  was  born  in  Baltimore,  daughter  of  Andrew  E.  and  Barbara 
Warner.  They  reared  three  children,  Sidney  Warner,  Edith 
Elizabeth  and  Charles  Grayson. 

Sidney  Warner  Ironmonger  was  born  at  Norfolk,  attended 
the  Patrick  Henry  School  and  the  Maury  High  School,  the  Davis 
Wagner  Business  College,  and  for  some  years  was  an  accountant 
in  the  offices  of  the  Virginia  Electric  Power  Company. 

Mr.  Ironmonger  as  a  young  man  joined  Battery  B  of  the 
Norfolk  Light  Artillery  Blues  and  in  1916  went  with  his  battery 
to  the  Mexican  border.  In  1917  he  was  trained  with  the  National 
Guard,  and  in  July,  1918,  went  overseas.     He  was  sent  to  the 


482  VIRGINIA 

front  and  later  put  on  detached  duty  and  saw  many  different 
points  in  France  and  also  in  England.  He  returned  to  the 
United  States  with  his  command,  and  received  his  honorable 
discharge  at  Newport  News  May  25,  1919. 

Soon  after  leaving  the  military  service  of  the  Government 
he  was  appointed  deputy  United  States  marshal.  He  was  in 
the  marshal's  office  until  January  26,  1924,  when  he  was 
appointed  chief  of  police  of  the  City  of  Norfolk.  Mr.  Iron- 
monger is  commander  of  Old  Dominion  Post  No.  67  of  the 
American  Legion  at  Norfolk,  Virginia.  He  is  active  in  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  being  affiliated  with  Atlantic  Lodge  No.  2, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  John  Walter  Chapter  No.  68,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  Grice  Commandery  No.  16,  Knights  Templar,  and 
Khedive  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  and  his  wife  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

He  married.  May  18,  1918,  Ruth  Mae  George,  who  was  born 
in  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  daughter  of  William  and  Eliza 
George.  They  have  two  children,  Sidney  Warner,  Jr.,  born 
August  15,  1920,  and  Nancy  Elizabeth,  born  March  26,  1927. 

J.  Paul  Campbell.  The  art  of  embalming,  or  preserving 
the  human  body  after  death,  which  is  one  of  the  chief  functions 
of  the  modern  mortician,  was  probably  invented  by  the  Egyp- 
tians. The  custom  seems  to  have  originated  in  the  idea  that  the 
preservation  of  the  body  was  necessary  for  the  return  of  the 
soul  to  the  human  form,  and  is  as  old  as  4000  B.  C.  Chaussier's 
discovery,  in  1800,  of  the  preservative  power  of  corrosive  sub- 
limate introduced  new  means  of  embalming,  and  the  discovery 
of  the  action  of  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  acetate  and  chloride 
of  alumina,  in  1834,  by  Gannal,  and  of  arsenic  by  Tranchini, 
pyroxilic  spirits  by  Babington  and  Rees  in  1839,  and  of  the 
antiseptic  nature  of  chloride  of  zinc,  added  much  to  the  sum 
total  of  the  knowledge  of  the  art  of  embalming.  Later  develop- 
ments have  made  this  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  the  callings, 
and  the  modern  undertaker  must  undergo  a  long  and  careful 
training  before  he  can  consider  himself  as  fully  qualified  to  prac- 
tice. One  of  the  men  who  has  kept  himself  fully  abreast  of  all 
the  developments  in  this  difficult  and  important  vocation  is  J. 
Paul  Campbell,  a  substantial  business  man  and  respected  citi- 
zen of  Abingdon. 

Mr.  Campbell  was  born  at  Lebanon,  Virginia,  June  16,  1897, 
and  is  a  son  of  T.  W.  and  Laura  (Carpenter)  Campbell,  natives 
of  that  place,  but  at  present  residents  of  Abingdon.  The  Camp- 
bell familj'  has  been  prominent  in  Virginia  for  many  years, 
and  the  grandfather  of  Mr.  Campbell,  Wesley  J.  Carpenter,  was 
likewise  a  Virginian  and  served  as  a  soldier  of  the  Confederacy 
during  the  war  between  the  states.  T.  W.  Campbell  was  en- 
gaged in  the  furniture  business  at  Lebanon  for  many  years,  but 
when  his  son's  business  grew  to  large  proportions  at  Abingdon 
he  disposed  of  his  Lebanon  business  and  moved  to  Abingdon, 
where  he  has  since  acted  as  his  son's  assistant. 

J.  Paul  Campbell  attended  the  public  schools  of  Bristol,  and 
after  his  graduation  from  high  school  embarked  in  the  under- 
taking business  as  manager  for  the  firm  of  Sterchi  Brothers. 
Subsequently  he  came  to  Abingdon  as  manager  of  the  same 
concern's  establishment  at  this  point,  and  at  the  end  of  about 
four  and  one-h?.lf  years  he  and  a  Mr.  Huff  purchased  the  Sterchi 
Brothers'  two  houses  at  Bristol  and  Abingdon,  continuing  them 
under  the  style  of  Huff  &  Campbell.     In   1925  Mr.   Campbell 


c^C^J-^9f(/P^ 


VIRGINIA  483 

bought  his  partner's  interest,  disposed  of  the  Bristol  establish- 
ment, and  has  since  been  sole  proprietor  of  the  establishment  at 
Abingdon,  which  is  one  of  the  most  complete  in  Southwestern 
Virginia,  located  opposite  the  court  house.  Mr.  Campbell  main- 
tains a  beautiful  chapel,  and  his  business  is  motorized  through- 
out, no  detail  being  overlooked  for  the  proper  and  dignified 
care  of  the  dead.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  Cincinnati  College 
of  Embalming,  class  of  1920,  is  very  progressive  in  his  views, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Southern  Funeral  Dii-ectors  Association, 
the  Virginia  Funeral  Directors  Association  and  the  National 
Funeral  Directors  Association,  and  attends  all  meetings  and  con- 
ventions of  these  bodies.  Fraternally  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  which  he  is  a  past  grand 
three  times,  and  is  also  an  active  member  of  the  Civitan  Club. 

In  1915  Mr.  Campbell  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Margaret  Musgrove,  of  Bristol,  Virginia,  daughter  of  Sam  and 
Emma  Musgrove,  both  of  whom  are  now  living  at  Clayton,  North 
Carolina,  where  Mr.  Musgrove  is  engaged  in  the  livestock  busi- 
ness. Mrs.  Campbell  was  educated  at  Pineville,  Kentucky,  and 
is  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
She  is  a  graduate  embalmer,  and  is  of  great  assistance  to  her 
husband  in  his  business  activities.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Campbell 
there  have  been  born  two  children :  Samuel,  aged  eleven  years ; 
and  June,  aged  nine  years. 

Thomas  Griffin  Hardy,  M.  D.,  is  a  native  of  Lunenburg 
County,  and  since  graduating  in  medicine  has  found  his  oppor- 
tunities for  useful  service  in  his  profession  at  Farmville,  where 
he  is  busy  with  a  surgical  and  obstetrical  practice,  and  is  also 
associated  with  the  splendid  South  Side  Community  Hospital 
there. 

Doctor  Hardy  was  born  in  Lunenburg  County  December  19, 
1889,  son  of  Louis  Atkins  and  Sallie  (Matthews)  Hardy.  His 
family  has  been  in  Virginia  since  1750.  His  grandfather,  Grif- 
fin 0.  Hardy,  was  a  farmer  in  Lunenburg  County,  and  died  there 
in  1898,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.  Griffin  Hardy  married 
Lucy  Bridgeforth,  who  died  in  1905.  Louis  Atkins  Hardy  was 
a  lawyer  by  profession,  also  followed  farming,  and  took  a  keen 
interest  in  politics,  though  never  seeking  public  office.  He  was 
a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  Virginia  in  1901. 
He  died  in  1915,  and  is  survived  by  his  widow  and  four  of  eight 
children. 

Doctor  Hardy  was  liberally  educated,  and  graduated  from 
the  Medical  College  of  Virginia  in  1914.  After  one  year  of 
hospital  training  he  began  practice  at  Farmville.  He  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Prince  Edward  County  Medical  Society,  is  vice 
president  of  the  Virginia  State  Medical  Society  and  councillor 
of  the  Fourth  District  of  the  Medical  Council  of  Virginia. 

Doctor  Hardy  held  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  Medical  Re- 
serve Corps  during  the  World  war.  He  was  sent  overseas  and 
attached  to  the  British  Army  Medical  Corps,  and  was  at  the 
front  both  in  France  and  Belgium.  He  returned  to  the  United 
States  February  11,  1919. 

Doctor  Hardy  is  visiting  surgeon  to  the  South  Side  Com- 
munity Hospital  at  Farmville.  This  hospital  was  opened  No- 
vember 9,  1927.  Erected  at  a  cost  of  $200,000,  one-third  of  the 
cost  being  furnished  by  the  Commonwealth  Fund  of  New  York 
City,  it  has  been  pronounced  one  of  the  best  equipped  institu- 
tions for  its  size  in  the  United  States.     It  provides  adequate 

23— VOL.  3 


484  VIRGINIA 

hospital  care  partly  on  a  free  and  partly  on  a  paid  basis.  In 
addition  to  this  service  it  has  a  well  developed  educational 
branch  as  a  health  center  in  Southern  Virginia,  and  is  the  first 
of  valuable  health  and  sanitary  propaganda.  The  head  of  the 
institution  is  Dr.  J.  L.  Jarman.  The  hospital  has  equipment  of 
fifty  beds. 

Doctor  Hardy  is  a  member  of  the  Kappa  Sigma  social  fra- 
ternity and  Phi  Chi  medical  fraternity,  and  belongs  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  married,  July  28,  1917, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Parker  Jarman,  of  Farmville.  Her  father  is 
Dr.  J.  L.  Jarman,  president  of  the  State  Teachers  College  of 
Farmville.  Her  mother  is  Mrs.  Mary  H.  (Wiley)  Jarman. 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Hardy  have  four  children :  Elizabeth  Jarman, 
born  December  10,  1919;  Helen  Wiley,  born  October  19,  1922; 
Sarah  Matthews,  born  October  5,  1923;  and  Thomas  Griffin,  Jr., 
born  February  25,  1927. 

Roy  W.  Sexton  is  president  and  manager  of  a  manufac- 
turing business  at  Wytheville,  and  is  one  of  the  native  sons  of 
that  section  of  the  state,  where  the  Sextons  have  lived  for  several 
generations. 

Mr.  Sexton  was  born  at  Wytheville,  August  10,  1880,  son  of 
George  Stuart  and  Elizabeth  (Williams)  Sexton  and  a  grandson 
of  John  Sexton  and  great-grandson  of  Joseph  Sexton.  Joseph 
Sexton  was  born  in  Ireland  and  was  brought  by  his  parents  to 
America,  his  father  dying  on  the  way,  while  the  widowed  mother 
continued  with  her  children  to  Wythe  County,  Virginia,  where 
members  of  the  family  have  lived  ever  since.  George  Stuart 
Sexton  was  born  and  reared  in  Wythe  County,  attended  private 
schools  and  gave  his  active  life  to  the  lumber  business.  For  a 
number  of  terms  he  was  mayor  of  Wytheville.  He  died  in  1925. 
His  wife,  Elizabeth  Williams,  was  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Wil- 
liams and  granddaughter  of  Thomas  Williams.  She  was  born 
and  reared  in  Wythe  County,  attended  private  schools,  and  both 
she  and  her  husband  were  active  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  She  died  in  1904.  In  the  family  were  five  children: 
Annie,  wife  of  Thomas  Ford,  of  Morton,  Virginia;  J.  Garland, 
of  Wytheville ;  Roy  W. ;  Charles  Stuart,  with  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  Company  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania;  and  George  N., 
of  Wytheville. 

Roy  W.  Sexton  had  private  school  training  at  Wytheville  and 
attended  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  entering  the  class  of 
1900,  and  has  been  one  of  the  most  loyal  alumni  of  the  school, 
being  now  a  member  of  its  Board  of  Visitors.  After  completing 
his  education  he  traveled  for  several  years.  In  1909  he  estab- 
lished at  Wytheville  The  Initial  Company,  Inc.,  manufacturing 
dry  goods  specialties,  and  has  developed  it  to  a  veiy  valuable 
business,  occupying  a  plant  with  floor  space  of  7,500  square  feet. 
The  output  of  the  company  is  sold  and  distributed  all  over  the 
world.  Mr.  Sexton  is  president  and  manager  of  this  business. 
He  is  a  life  member  of  the  B.  P.  0.  Elks  and  is  active  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  having  served  as  superintendent  of  its 
Sunday  School. 

He  married  at  Abingdon,  Virginia,  December  12,  1905,  Miss 
Katherine  Kahle,  who  was  educated  in  Martha  Washington 
College  with  the  class  of  1902,  and  taught  for  several  years 
before  her  marriage.  She  is  a  Presbyterian  and  a  member  of 
the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy.  Her  parents  were 
Rev.  E.  F.  and  Eva    (Gillette)    Kahle,  her  father  a  native  of 


VIRGINIA  485 

Virginia  and  her  mother  of  Texas.  Her  father  spent  his  active 
life  as  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sexton  have  had  six  children :  F'letcher  died 
when  three  years  old.  Elizabeth  Gillette,  who  was  educated  in 
public  schools  in  Wythe  County,  in  the  Mary  Lyons  School  at 
Swarthmore,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Chatham  Episcopal  Insti- 
tute at  Chatham,  Virginia,  in  Sweetbrier  College  of  Virginia, 
in  May,  1929,  married  Richard  la  Cour,  of  Flushing,  Long  Island, 
New  York.  Roy  W.,  Jr.,  who  attended  school  at  Wytheville, 
the  Swarthmore  Preparatory  School,  the  Virginia  Episcopal 
School  at  Lynchburg  and  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  since 
1927  has  been  connected  with  the  American  Telephone  and  Tele- 
graph Company  at  New  York  City.  This  son  married  Francis 
Clark,  of  Lynchburg,  and  has  a  daughter,  Anne  Clark.  G. 
Stewart  was  educated  in  public  schools  in  Wytheville  and  the 
Swarthmore  Preparatory  College,  and  is  now  with  the  American 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company  at  New  York.  Patricia 
Alson  and  Katherine  McLean  are  the  two  youngest  children. 

Arthur  Kyle  Davis  is  eminent  among  the  present  genera- 
tion of  Virginians  for  his  work  in  the  field  of  higher  education 
and  also  as  a  literary  and  historical  scholar.  In  the  educational 
life  of  the  state  it  has  been  well  said  that  no  one  has  exerted  an 
influence  finer  in  quality  and  purpose,  an  influence  deriving 
from  a  character  of  quiet  strength,  sanity  and  disinterestedness. 
As  president  of  Southern  College  at  Petersburg,  a  non-sectarian 
junior  college  for  women,  Mr.  Davis  is  carrying  on  an  institu- 
tion that  was  founded  by  his  father  and  is  still  operating  under 
the  charter  granted  by  Virginia  when  Virginia  was  one  of  the 
states  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America. 

His  family  record  includes  many  honored  Virginia  names. 
Arthur  Kyle  Davis  was  born  at  Petersburg,  Virginia,  July  16, 
1867,  son  of  Williams  Thomas  and  Carolina  Virginia  (Robin.son) 
Davis.  The  Davis  family  came  from  Wales  to  Colonial  Virginia. 
His  paternal  grandfather.  Rev.  William  Edward  Davis,  was  born 
in  Gloucester  County,  Virginia,  where  he  spent  the  greater  part 
of  his  life  as  a  planter  and  as  a  clergyman  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  He  died  in  Petersburg  and  was  buried  in  old 
Blandford  Cemetery  in  the  family  square,  where  the  obelisk 
marking  his  grave  was  chipped  by  a  Federal  shell  during  the 
siege  of  Petersburg. 

Williams  Thomas  Davis  was  born  in  Gloucester  County  in 
1816.  He  graduated  from  Randolph-Macon  College,  then  located 
at  Boydton,  Virginia,  with  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  For 
five  years  he  was  head  of  the  preparatory  department  of  Ran- 
dolph-Macon College,  then  became  professor  of  mathematics  and 
Latin  in  the  Petersburg  Female  College,  and  was  president  of 
that  college  until  1863.  He  then  founded  and  became  president 
of  the  Southern  Female  College,  an  office  he  filled  until  his  death 
in  1888.  The  activities  of  Williams  Thomas  Davis  were  not 
confined  to  the  school  room.  He  was  a  member  of  the  City 
Council  many  years,  active  in  all  civic  aff"airs.  In  the  Washing- 
ton Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Stewards  and  teacher  of  the  Men's  Bible  Class,  and 
represented  his  church  in  the  sessions  of  the  Virginia  annual 
conference  and  was  prominent  in  the  conference  boards  of  edu- 
cation, of  Sunday  schools,  of  home  and  foreign  missions.  He 
was  a  delegate  from  Virginia  to  the  Baltimore  Centennial  Con- 


486  VIRGINIA 

ference  of  Methodism  in  1884,  when  he  read  a  special  paper  on 
"The  Mission  of  Methodism  to  the  People,"  recognized  as  one 
of  the  ablest  papers  read  before  that  body  and  later  published 
in  the  Centennial  Conference  volume. 

Williams  Thomas  Davis  was  opposed  to  secession  until  Vir- 
ginia was  called  on  for  its  quota  of  troops  to  force  South  Caro- 
lina back  into  the  Union.  Thereupon  he  became  an  advocate 
of  secession,  and  he  and  his  three  sons  and  two  sons-in-law  all 
volunteered  for  service  in  the  Confederate  army.  As  an  edu- 
cator he  was  exempt  by  reason  of  both  age  and  occupation,  but 
when  Petersburg  was  suddenly  besieged  on  June  9,  1864,  he, 
as  one  of  the  125  Home  Guards,  halted  1,300  Federal  cavalry 
until  reinforcements  could  be  sent  up  by  General  Lee,  thus  help- 
ing to  preserve  the  Confederacy  for  ten  months  longer.  Locally 
the  battle  of  the  9th  of  June,  when  many  of  the  old  men  and 
boys  belonging  to  the  leading  families  of  the  city  were  killed 
or  wounded,  and  when  the  ten  months'  siege  of  Petersburg  prac- 
tically began,  has  become  so  identified  with  the  sentiments  and 
recollections  of  its  people  that  it  is  annually  observed  as  a 
special  memorial  day. 

The  first  wife  of  Williams  Thomas  Davis  was  Elizabeth 
Tayloe  Corbin  Beale,  sister  of  Gen.  Richard  Beale,  of  Westmore- 
land County.  She  died  and  was  buried  at  Petersburg,  leaving 
six  children.  The  oldest  son,  William  Hoomes  Davis,  a  college 
graduate  and  a  member  of  the  Petersburg  Riflemen,  Twelfth 
Virginia  Infantry,  Mahone's  Brigade,  A.  P.  Hill's  Division,  in 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  was  in  active  service  from 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  became  captain  of  infantry,  A. 
N.  V.  Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville  he  died  of 
typhoid  fever.  The  oldest  daughter,  Mattie,  married  William 
Arthur  Shepard,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard University,  who  came  to  Virginia  as  professor  of  chemistry 
in  the  Southern  Female  College  and  there  met  his  future  wife. 
Later  he  was  for  many  years  professor  of  chemistry  in  Randolph- 
Macon  College  at  Ashland,  where  he  died  in  the  1890s.  Alice 
married  Maj.  Olive  Branch  Morgan,  a  veteran  of  the  war  be- 
tween the  states,  who  afterwards  became  manager  of  the  bag 
department  of  the  Virginia  Carolina  Chemical  Company  of 
Richmond. 

Richard  Beale  Davis,  the  second  son,  graduated  from  Ran- 
dolph-Macon College  and  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  served 
throughout  the  entire  Civil  war  in  the  Petersburg  Riflemen, 
Twelfth  Virginia  Infantry,  Mahone's  Brigade,  A.  P.  Hill's  Divi- 
sion. With  that  company  he  participated  in  many  of  the  chief 
battles,  and  was  wounded  twice  in  the  Battle  of  the  Crater. 
After  the  war  he  practiced  law  at  Petersburg  until  his  death, 
about  1900,  being  associated  as  a  law  partner  about  fifteen  years 
of  the  latter  part  of  his  life  with  his  youngest  half-brother, 
Charles  Hall  Davis.  He  served  repeatedly  in  the  Legislature, 
was  one  of  the  committee  appointed  to  recommend  changes  in 
the  Code  in  order  to  make  it  conform  to  the  Constitution  of 
1902,  and  for  many  years  was  assistant  attorney  general  of  the 
state. 

Joseph  Claiborne  Davis,  the  third  son,  who  continued  in 
active  business  at  Portsmouth  until  advanced  years,  entered  the 
Confederate  army  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  was  wounded  twice, 
was  captured  and  carried  to  Governor's  Island,  and  was  released 


VIRGINIA  487 

only  on  the  termination  of  hostilities.     He  was  a  member  of  the 
Richmond  Howitzers,  an  organization  still  in  existence. 

The  daughter  Emma  became  the  wife  of  T.  H.  H.  Young, 
who  just  after  the  Civil  war  started  a  manufacturing  plant  at 
Petersburg.  That  being  unsuccessful,  he  subsequently  went  into 
the  timber  business,  and  in  later  life  moved  to  North  Carolina, 
becoming  a  traveling  salesman. 

The  second  wife  of  Williams  Thomas  Davis  was  Carolina 
Virginia  Robinson,  daughter  of  Clark  Robinson,  owner  of  an 
extensive  plantation  on  the  Roanoke  River,  North  Carolina,  on 
which  plantation  she  was  born.  Her  mother  was  Anne  Johnson, 
a  descendant  of  John  Johnson,  who  came  to  this  country  as  a 
political  refugee,  and  thereby  forfeited  his  claim  to  the  Annan- 
dale  estates.  He  built  a  home  on  Tanner's  Creek,  then  outside 
of  Norfolk,  but  since  embraced  within  the  city's  limits,  where 
its  avenue  of  magnolia  trees  and  the  family  burying  ground 
give  it  notable  prominence.  The  old  homestead  is  still  occupied 
by  descendants  of  John  Johnson.  Carolina  Virginia  Robinson 
Davis  died  in  Petersburg  in  1912,  leaving  the  following  children : 
Sannie  Robinson,  who  became  the  wife  of  Clarence  Preston 
Ehrman,  a  retired  capitalist  of  Lynchburg.  A  second  daughter, 
Carolina  Robinson,  died  at  Petersburg  of  typhoid  fever  at  the 
age  of  twenty.  Arthur  Kyle  Davis  was  the  oldest  son  of  the 
second  marriage.  Williams  Thomas  Davis,  the  second  son,  was 
for  many  years  special  attorney  for  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Rail- 
road at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  Savannah,  Georgia,  and 
Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  Charles  Hall  Davis,  the  youngest 
member  of  the  family,  has  practiced  law  at  Petersburg  since 
he  came  to  the  bar  in  1893,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one. 

Arthur  Kyle  Davis  was  educated  during  his  childhood  by  his 
father,  who  had  the  gift  of  teaching  and  who  recognized  the 
necessity  for  thoroughness.  As  a  boy  he  attended  McCabe's 
University  School  in  Petersburg — a  school  conspicuous  for  its 
Honor  System  and  for  its  insistence  upon  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  Latin  and  Greek.  Leaving  McCabe's  School,  Mr.  Davis  went 
to  Randolph-Macon  College,  Ashland,  Virginia,  in  which  his 
father  had  many  years  before  been  head  of  the  preparatory 
department  for  five  years.  From  Randolph-Macon  College  he 
graduated  with  the  degrees  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  and  Master  of 
Arts  in  the  class  of  1886,  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  For  two  years 
thereafter  he  taught  in  the  Southern  Female  College  under  the 
direction  of  his  father,  and  in  the  summer  of  1888  went  to  the 
University  of  Virginia  to  take  the  summer  law  course  under 
Prof.  John  B.  Minor,  with  the  idea  of  entering  the  legal  profes- 
sion. But  the  death  of  his  father  during  that  summer  ended 
these  plans,  and  in  the  fall  of  1888  he  was  elected  president  of 
the  Southern  Female  College,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  and  has 
held  this  position  ever  since. 

Doctor  Davis  had  a  prominent  part  in  the  Junior  College 
movement  in  Virginia.  The  college  at  Petersburg  was  one  of  a 
number  of  institutions,  chartered  as  colleges  but  without  the 
equipment  and  resources  to  measure  up  to  the  strict  standards 
of  modern  educational  classifications,  and  Doctor  Davis  shared 
fully  in  the  ideas  of  prominent  educational  leaders  all  over  the 
country  that  such  institutions  should  be  denominated  Junior 
colleges,  performing  the  service  of  a  school  giving  the  first  two 
years  of  a  standard  college  course.  In  line  with  this  idea  Mr. 
Davis  changed  the  name  to  the  Southern  College,   Junior,  of 


488  VIRGINIA 

Petersburg.  The  college  affords  a  thorough  preparatory  and 
two  years'  standard  college  course,  also  finishing  courses  in 
music,  art,  expression,  home  economics  and  other  subjects. 

Doctor  Davis  was  twice  honored  with  election  as  president 
of  the  Virginia  Association  of  Colleges  and  Schools  for  Girls,  has 
been  president  of  the  Virginia  Association  of  Junior  Colleges, 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  Archaeo- 
logical Institute  of  America,  Southern  Association  of  Colleges 
and  Schools,  Virginia  Classical  Association,  Southern  Socio- 
logical Congress,  is  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Confederate 
Veterans,  Kappa  Alpha,  Westmoreland  Club  of  Richmond,  Uni- 
versity Club  of  Richmond,  Country  Club  of  Petersburg. 

He  was  founder  and  for  two  years  lecturer  of  the  Shake- 
speare Club  of  Petersburg  and  is  a  member  of  the  Authors  Club 
of  London.  For  many  years  he  has  been  well  known  in  literary 
circles  in  Virginia.  He  has  written  verse,  but  is  best  known 
as  an  historian.  A  small  book  which  he  wrote  a  number  of  years 
ago  has  been  printed  and  reprinted,  and  is  one  of  the  most  read- 
able of  concise  histories  of  historic  Virginia  communities.  Its 
title  is  "Three  Centuries  of  an  Old  Virginia  Town,"  telling  the 
story  of  Petersburg.  He  is  also  author  of  "Education  in  Vir- 
ginia," "Virginia  and  the  Methodist,"  "Virginia's  War  History," 
and  has  been  editor  of  quarterly  supplements,  calendars  and 
reports  in  the  Virginia  Historical  Magazine. 

During  the  World  war  he  made  an  address  in  which  he  out- 
lines a  plan  for  preserving  Virginia's  war  history.  The  Vir- 
ginia War  History  Commission  was  created  in  1918,  and  it 
seemed  natural  that  Mr.  Davis  should  be  selected  to  direct  the 
effort,  and  accordingly  in  January,  1919,  was  appointed  by  the 
governor  as  chairman  of  the  commission.  In  that  capacity  he 
brought  together  a  body  of  distinguished  scholars  and  others 
prominent  in  state  and  locality  to  carry  out  his  plan  for  pre- 
serving the  war  history  of  Virginia,  and  gave  almost  unlimited 
time  and  effort  to  this  patriotic  work,  a  service  which,  needless 
to  say,  carries  with  it  no  compensation  in  monetary  terms. 
Doctor  Davis  is  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  and  was 
awarded  tne  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Letters  by  Hampden 
Sydney  College  in  recognition  of  his  decade  of  work  as  chairman 
of  the  War  History  Commission  of  Virginia  and  as  editor  of 
the  Seven  Source  Volumes  of  Virginia  War  History,  including 
Virginia's  Distinguished  Service  in  the  World  War,  Virginia 
War  Letters,  Diaries  ayid  Editorials,  Virginia  War  History  and 
Newspaper  Clippings,  Virginia  War  Agencies,  Selective  Draft 
and  Volunteers,  Virginia  Military  Organization  in  the  World 
War,  Virginia  Committees  in  War  Times  (first  and  second 
series).  Doctor  Davis  is  vice  president  of  the  National  Associa- 
tion of  State  War  Historians,  and  read  a  paper  recounting  some 
phases  of  his  work  at  a  meeting  of  the  American  Historical 
Association  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Ihis  paper  was  later  published 
by  the  association  in  its  quarterly. 

Doctor  Davis  married,  November  12,  1890,  Lucy  Pryor  Mcll- 
waine,  daughter  of  Robert  B.  and  Lucy  (Pryor)  Mcllwaine, 
her  mother  being  the  only  sister  of  Gen.  Roger  A.  Pryor,  who 
for  many  years  was  a  judge  in  New  York  City  and  who  attained 
an  enviable  position  at  the  bar  of  that  city.  Mrs.  Davis  gradu- 
ated from  St.  Paul's  School  at  Petersburg  and  for  six  years  was 
state  historian  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 
of  Virginia,  and  later  became  state  registrar.     She  is  a  member 


VIRGINIA  489 

of  the  Colonial  Dames,  formerly  one  of  its  Board  of  Governors, 
belongs  to  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  has 
been  state  historian  of  the  Woman's  Auxiliary  of  the  American 
Legion  of  Virginia.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Davis  have  three  children, 
Lucy  Mclhvaine,  Caroline  Robinson  and  Arthur  Kyle,  Jr.  The 
daughter  Lucy  M.  married  Ralph  Harvey  Jones,  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  and  has  one  daughter,  Lucy  Mcllwaine  Jones.  Caroline 
Robinson  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  Wright  Clarkson,  X-ray  specialist 
of  Petersburg,  and  they  have  a  son,  Julian  Wright  Clarkson. 

Arthur  Kyle  Davis,  Jr.,  was  born  in  1895,  attended  the  Tome 
School  tor  i^oys  in  Maryland,  graduated  with  the  Bachelor  of 
Arts  and  Master  of  Arts  degrees  from  the  University  of  Virginia, 
was  a  Rhodes  scholar  from  Virginia  to  Oxford,  and  was  awarded 
the  degree  Lift.  B.  by  Balliol  College,  and  later  took  the  Doctor 
of  Philosophy  degree  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  then 
became  an  associate  professor  of  English  at  the  University  of 
Virginia.  He  is  author  of  a  volume,  Virginia  Ballads,  issued 
by  the  Harvard  Ir'ress.  During  192t),  with  leave  of  absence  from 
the  Univei-sity  of  Virginia,  he  was  Sterling  Research  teilow  in 
English  at  lale  University,  where  he  prepared  for  publication 
his  forthcoming  volume  on  Poets  and  Politics  of  the  Victorian 
Era. 

William  Wadley  Appler.  During  the  comparatively  short 
career  of  the  late  William  Wadley  Appier,  who  died  when  less 
than  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  September  9,  1919,  his  activities 
had  invaded  varied  fields  of  enterprise,  including  i-ailroading, 
insurance  and  cigar  manufacturing,  in  all  of  which  he  showed 
the  possession  of  marked  ability,  adaptability  and  great  energy. 
A  resident  of  Richmond  for  some  years,  he  had  become  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  rising  young  men  of  the  community,  but  at 
the  time  of  his  sudden  death  was  located  at  Norfolk,  where  he 
had  intended  entering  business. 

Mr.  Appier  was  born  at  Columbus,  Georgia,  October  6,  1881, 
a  son  of  David  Weaver  and  Emma  Rebecca  (Thornton)  Appier, 
the  latter  being  a  descendant  of  the  great  American  statesman, 
Henry  Clay.  The  Appier  family  is  of  English  origin  and  the 
American  ancestor  came  to  this  country  just  after  the  close  of 
the  War  of  the  Revolution,  settling  at  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
David  Weaver  Appier  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  during  the 
war  between  the  states  was  employed  as  a  train  dispatcher  in 
this  state.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  went  to  Georgia,  and  for 
fifty-four  years  served  as  freight  agent  for  the  Central  Rail- 
road of  Georgia,  his  home  being  at  Columbus.  He  and  his  wife 
were  the  parents  of  three  children. 

William  Wadley  Appier  received  his  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  Atlanta,  Georgia,  and  in  young  manhood  became 
cashier  and  later  traveling  passenger  agent  for  five  years  of  the 
Mexican  National  Railroad.  Subsequently  he  went  to  Chicago, 
Illinois,  where  he  was  chief  clerk  for  the  Sun  Insurance  Com- 
pany, and  also  was  identified  with  his  brother  in  the  insurance 
agency  business.  In  September,  1914,  Mr.  Appier  came  to  Rich- 
mond, Vii-ginia,  where  he  became  connected  with  the  Straus 
Cigar  Company,  but  severed  his  connections  therewith  in  1919 
and  went  to  Norfolk,  where  he  intended  embarking  in  business 
on  his  own  account.  Not  long  after  his  arrival  in  that  city  he 
was  taken  ill  and  died.  He  was  a  young  man  of  much  promise 
and  ability  and  his  death  caused   universal  mourning  among 


490  VIRGINIA 

countless  friends  in  all  of  the  communities  in  which  he  had  re- 
sided.    He  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

On  March  20,  1904,  Mr.  Appier  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Emily  J.  Oberweiser,  who  was  educated  in  Wisconsin  and 
was  a  daughter  of  Pauline  and  Michael  Oberweiser.  Mr.  Ober- 
weiser was  a  leading  contractor  and  builder  of  his  day,  as  well 
as  an  architect,  and  erected  the  first  bridge  across  the  Chicago 
River  at  Chicago.  Later  he  located  at  Richmond,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  a  place  among  the  leaders  of  his  profession  until 
his  death.  Five  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Appier: 
Florence  Estelle,  who  was  educated  at  a  college  at  Bristol,  Ten- 
nessee, and  is  now  employed  in  a  secretarial  capacity  with  one 
of  the  large  concerns  of  Richmond ;  Misses  Marjorie  Elizabeth 
and  Ruth  Emily,  who  reside  with  their  mother ;  and  David 
Weaver  and  William  Howard,  who  are  still  attending  school. 
Mrs.  Appier,  who  resides  at  2808  Fendall  Avenue,  is  one  of  the 
highly  esteemed  ladies  of  Richmond  and  has  been  active  in  the 
work  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Henry  Jackson  Rippon.  The  late  Henry  Jackson  Rippon 
was  a  resident  of  Richmond  from  1889  until  1909,  during  which 
time  he  formed  as  large  an  acquaintance  and  made  as  many 
friends  as  any  other  man  in  the  city.  Although  he  died  at  the 
early  age  of  forty-five  years,  his  career  had  been  a  decidedly 
successful  one,  and  he  was  particularly  well  known  to  the  travel- 
ing public,  having  been  for  almost  all  of  his  residence  at  Rich- 
mond clerk  of  the  Jefferson  Hotel.  A  man  of  warm  impulses 
and  open-handed  generosity,  his  presence  was  welcomed  in  any 
circle,  and  while  he  passed  away  in  January,  1909,  there  are  still 
many  who  mourn  his  death. 

Mr.  Rippon  belonged  to  a  family  which  had  its  origin  in 
France  and  found  settlement  on  the  east  coast  of  Virginia  dur- 
ing the  early  Colonial  period  of  this  country's  history.  His 
father  was  Thomas  Rippon,  a  sea  captain,  who  traveled  on  many 
waters,  and  his  mother  was  Elizabeth,  there  being  eight  children 
in  the  family,  of  whom  Henry  Jackson  was  the  youngest.  The 
public  schools  of  Brambleton,  Norfolk  County,  furnished  Mr. 
Rippon  with  his  educational  training,  he  having  been  born  at 
that  place  October  10,  18(:>4.  In  his  boyhood  he  went  to  Norfolk, 
where  he  was  employed  by  several  firms  in  various  capacities, 
and  then  embarked  in  the  cafe  business  at  Tenth  and  Broad 
streets,  Richmond,  although  he  also  had  five  years  of  experience 
as  a  clerk  in  the  Murphy  Hotel.  After  two  years  in  the  cafe 
business  he  was  offered  the  position  of  clerk  in  the  .Jefferson 
Hotel,  which  had  just  been  completed  and  was  ready  to  open, 
and  he  accordingly  sold  his  cafe  business  to  accept  the  post.  He 
was  the  first  clerk  of  that  establishment,  and  was  holding  this 
position  when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  During  its  rebuilding 
he  was  manager  of  the  Virginia  Club  for  two  years,  and  then 
returned  to  the  Jefferson  Hotel  to  resume  his  old  position,  which 
he  held  until  a  few  days  before  his  early  death.  As  before  noted, 
Mr.  Rippon  was  a  man  of  many  friendships.  He  was  possessed 
of  strict  integrity  and  probity  and  had  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  all  with  whom  he  was  connected.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  Cathedral,  and  in  his  political  views  was  a  Demo- 
crat. While  he  was  very  public  spirited  and  took  an  honest 
pride  in  his  adopted  city,  he  never  cared  for  the  honors  of  public 
life. 


VIRGINIA  491 

On  October  7,  1892,  Mr.  Rippon  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Katherine  Nowlan,  who  was  educated  at  St.  Joseph's 
Academy,  Richmond,  and  was  a  daughter  of  James  and  Mar- 
guerite (Redmond)  >sOwlan,  both  families  having  originated  in 
Ireland.  James  Nowlan  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and 
blasting  of  stone  at  Richmond  for  many  years,  and  furnished 
the  majority  of  the  cut  stone  for  the  city  hall,  the  postotiice  and 
many  other  public,  business  and  financial  structures.  During 
the  war  between  the  states  he  served  as  a  cavalryman  in  a  Vir- 
ginia regiment  of  the  Confederate  army,  and  at  one  time  was 
taken  prisoner  by  Northern  troops,  but  made  his  escape  and 
returned  to  his  regiment.  Of  the  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Rippon,  four  grew  to  maturity:  Ethel  Elizabeth,  who  is  now 
deceased ;  Eileen,  the  wife  of  Jackie  E.  Creery,  who  is  connected 
with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad;  Grace,  deceased,  who 
was  the  wife  of  J.  Leo  O'Brien,  and  left  one  child.  Jack,  Jr. ; 
and  Nelda,  the  wife  of  Lawrence  J.  DelPaka,  who  has  two  chil- 
dren, Lawrence,  Jr.,  and  Charles.  All  of  the  daughters  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Rippon  received  their  education  at  Sacred  Heart  School. 
Mrs.  Rippon  survives  her  husband  and  resides  at  1407  Clare- 
mont  Avenue,  where  she  has  a  wide  acquaintance  and  is  held  in 
high  esteem. 

Charles  Q.  Counts.  Perhaps  the  Virginia  bar  offers  no 
more  interesting  example  of  personal  effort  abundantly  rewarded 
than  is  revealed  in  the  encouraging  life  story  of  Charles  Q. 
Counts,  attorney  at  law  at  Coeburn,  Virginia,  an  honored  citizen 
and  distinguished  lawyer,  who  for  many  years  has  been  both 
commissioner  of  accounts  and  commissioner  in  chancery  for 
Wise  County.  In  our  great  country  it  is  not  unusual  to  discover 
self-made  men  in  all  walks  of  life,  but  not  so  often  is  found 
one  who,  entirely  through  his  own  efforts,  has  reached  high 
place  in  a  professional  field  in  which  great  qualifications  are 
essential  and  competition  is  strong. 

Charles  Q.  Counts  was  born  on  his  father's  plantation  in 
Scott  County,  Virginia,  in  October,  1862,  son  of  Noah  W.  and 
Harriett  (Quillin)  Counts,  and  grandson  of  James  Counts  and 
Elisha  Quillin.  The  mother  of  Commissioner  Counts  spent  her 
entire  life  in  Scott  County,  but  her  father,  Elisha  Quillin,  in 
his  later  years  moved  to  Tennessee.  He  was  a  musician  and  a 
well  known  singing  master  in  his  day.  The  father  of  Commis- 
sioner Counts  was  born  in  Russell  County,  Virginia,  where  his 
father,  a  native  of  Eastern  Virginia,  had  settled  early,  but  died 
on  his  own  estate  in  Scott  County.  They  were  all  Virginia 
people  of  sturdy  chai'acter  and  religious  lives,  and  it  is  impossible 
not  to  believe  that  such  upbringing  had  influence  in  moulding 
the  character  of  their  children. 

Educational  opportunities  in  Scott  County  were  not  as  they 
are  today  when  Charles  Quillin  Counts  began  to  go  to  school  in 
boyhood,  and  he  easily  recalls  the  little  old  log  schoolhouse  nearby 
in  which  he  received  his  primary  instruction.  Later  he  was  able 
to  attend  Holston  Institute  in  Tennessee  for  a  few  months,  where 
he'applied  himself  closely  to  his  studies  and  made  such  headway 
that  he  was  accepted  as  a  teacher  in  the  country  schools,  first 
in  Scott  County  and  afterward  in  Tennessee.  Although,  per- 
haps, not  generally  known,  but  during  this  teaching  period  Mr. 
Counts  could  have  undoubtedly  won  the  medal,  had  any  been 
offered,  for  being  the  most  industrious  and  ambitious  of  the 


492  VIRGINIA 

students,  for  he  had  undertaken  the  responsibility  of  preparing 
himself  for  the  law,  alone  and  unaided,  this  undertaking  requir- 
ing prodigious  mental  and  physical  effort  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

Later  in  life  courage  and  determination  have  been  his  win- 
ning factors  in  many  a  legal  contest,  and  Mr.  Counts  made  them 
his  close  companions  through  the  long  struggle,  and  when,  at 
last,  he  presented  himself  before  the  State  Examining  Board 
he  found  it  all  had  been  well  worth  while,  for  he  was  one  of  the 
twenty  accepted  petitioners  of  a  class  of  forty-two.  He  had 
located  at  Wise  in  1894,  and  after  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1898,  maintained  his  law  office  in  the  courthouse  there  for  ten 
years.  He  removed  then  to  Coeburn,  of  which  city  he  has  been 
a  resident  ever  since. 

In  1899  Mr.  Counts  was  made  commissioner  of  accounts  for 
Wise  County,  and  in  1900  was  appointed  commissioner  in 
chancery,  and  during  this  long  period  has  had  some  very  im- 
portant and  difficult  cases  in  chancery,  in  all  of  which  the  Wisdom 
shown  by  his  findings  have  been  comirmed  by  the  County  Court. 
His  general  practice  has  been  eminently  successful,  and  tie  enjoys 
an  established  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  aoiest  legists  in 
Southwestern  Virginia  and  a  citizen  deserving  both  profes- 
sionally and  personally  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is  held.  In 
political  sentiment  he  is  a  Democrat  and  to  some  extent  is  active 
in  county  and  city  public  matters,  and  tor  a  number  oi  years 
was  a  member  of  the  Coeburn  bchool  Board,  interest  in  stnoois 
and  educational  matters  generally  having  been  urgent  since  his 
youth. 

Mr.  Counts'  first  marriage  took  place  October  9,  1895,  to 
Miss  Harriet  Carico,  daughter  of  Joseph  M.  Carico,  of  a  lamily 
of  prominence  in  Wise  County.  Mrs.  Counts  died  March  12, 
190^,  tne  devoted  mother  of  three  children:  Inez,  wno  was 
educated  at  Sulims  College,  Bristol,  Virginia,  and  is  talented  in 
music,  teaching  the  same  before  her  marriage  in  Scott  and  Wise 
counties,  Virginia,  and  at  Blueheld,  West  Virginia,  is  the  wife 
of  i.  hi.  JenKins,  of  Klizabethtown,  'lennessee,  and  they  have 
a  daughter,  Dorothy  Ann;  Ada,  who  died  when  two  years  old; 
and  Joseph  Bruce,  who  is  an  employe  of  the  Virginia  State  High- 
way Department.  Mr.  Counts  married,  on  October  5,  1902,  Miss 
Luia  Bruce,  of  Big  Stone  Gap,  Virginia,  daughter  of  Hoge  Bruce. 
Like  the  tormer  Mrs.  Counts,  she  was  a  sincere  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  served  as  district  secre- 
tary of  the  I3ig  Stone  Gap  Woman  s  Missionary  Society.  Jrrior 
to  her  marriage  she  was  highly  esteemed  as  a  school  teacher 
in  Wise  County.  She  passed  away  on  January  27,  iyz3,  survived 
by  all  but  two  of  her  eleven  children :  Lenette,  who  was  educated 
in  the  Coeburn  High  School  and  Hiawassee  College,  'lennessee, 
is  the  wife  of  Pearson  Clark,  of  Coeburn,  and  they  have  one 
daughter,  Virginia  Lee;  Robert  Carl,  who  completed  his  educa- 
tion at  Emory  and  Henry  College,  is  now  a  traveling  salesman 
in  Georgia  and  Florida  for  large  business  houses ;  Bernice,  who 
is  a  graduate  of  the  Coeburn  High  School,  fills  the  office  'of 
assistant  postmaster  at  Wilder,  in  Russell  County,  Virginia; 
Ruth,  who  on  completing  her  high  school  education  entered  a 
hospital  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  for  training  as  a  nurse ;  Glenn, 
Louise  and  Gean,  all  of  whom  are  in  school  at  Coeburn ;  Christie 
and  Christine,  twins,  who  died  in  infancy;  and  Ralph  and 
Charles  Q.,  Jr.,  who  are  at  home.     Mr.  Counts'  third  marriage 


lA^.  (L.AJIJ 


VIRGINIA  493 

took  place  October  25,  1925.  to  Mrs.  Nellie  G.  (Richmond) 
Carico,  widow  of  James  Carico,  and  daughter  of  David  and  Jane 
Richmond,  a  lady  of  education  and  social  prominence,  a  member 
of  the  local  lodge  of  Rebekahs,  and  very  active  in  the  work  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

No  record  of  Commissioner  Counts'  life  of  worth-while 
achievement  would  be  complete  without  dwelling  on  his  con- 
tinuous devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  great  religious  bo:ly,  the 
faith  of  which  was  instilled  in  childhood.  For  the  greater  part 
of  thirty  years  he  has  served  as  steward  and  church  trustee; 
formerly  was  district  lay  leader  for  the  Big  Stone  Gap  District; 
for  thirteen  successive  years  has  attended  the  annual  church 
conferences  and  was  a  member  of  the  General  Conference  which 
met  at  Oklahoma  City  in  1914;  for  many  years  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  either  the  Finance,  Commissions  or  Sunday  School  Con- 
ference Board,  of  which  general  board  he  is  now  vice  president. 
He  has  always  been  foremost  in  promoting  the  many  charitable 
movements  of  this  great  Christian  organization,  and  his  sound, 
practical  advice  concerning  chui'ch  policy  in  relation  to  many 
modern  public  questions  has  been  acceptable  and  acted  upon. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Wise  County  Bar  Association,  and  belongs 
to  the  Kiwanis  Club  and  the  fraternal  order  of  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America. 

Walter  Cleveland  Caudill  is  a  physician  and  surgeon  who 
has  gained  distinction  and  rank  in  his  profession  and  has  made 
his  skill  a  source  of  comfort  and  indispensable  service  to  hun- 
dreds of  people  and  families  in  Giles  and  adjacent  counties.  He 
is  president  of  St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital  at  Pearisburg  and  is 
also  vice  president  of  Elizabeth's  Hospital  at  Elizabethton, 
Tennessee. 

Doctor  Caudill  was  born  in  Ashe  County,  North  Carolina, 
June  9.  1888,  and  represents  some  of  the  sturdy  and  sterling  peo- 
ple of  the  mountain  country  of  Western  North  Carolina.  His 
parents  were  Tyrell  R.  and  Caroline  (Fender)  Caudill,  and  his 
grandfather,  Jesse  Caudill,  was  a  prominent  land  owner,  planter 
and  stock  man  in  Alleghany  County,  North  Carolina,  where  he 
died  and  is  buried.  Jesse  Caudill  was  twice  married,  and  had 
eleven  children  by  each  wife,  twenty-two  in  all.  Tyrell  R. 
Caudill  was  born  and  reared  in  Western  North  Carolina,  at- 
tended private  schools,  was  a  farmer  and  stock  man,  and  widely 
known  for  his  strength  of  character  and  sound  judgment.  He 
held  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  for  over  twenty  years,  and 
in  all  that  time  never  had  one  of  his  decisions  reversed  by  a 
higher  court.  He  died  in  1919  and  is  buried  at  Whitehead,  North 
Carolina.  His  wife,  Caroline  Fender,  was  born  and  reared  in 
Alleghany  County,  North  Carolina,  attended  private  schools, 
and  is  still  living  at  the  old  homestead  at  Whitehead.  For  many 
years  she  has  been  a  member  of  the  Primitive  Baptist  Church. 
She  was  the  mother  of  thirteen  children.  Two  of  them  died  in 
infancy  and  one  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  Those  to  grow  up  were : 
Rev.  Shade  G.  Caudill,  an  elder  in  the  Baptist  Church,  Mrs. 
Nannie  C.  Waddell,  Mrs.  Mattie  C.  Greene,  Mrs.  Candace  Ed- 
wards, Mrs.  Florence  C.  Edwards,  Oscar  Caudill,  Dr.  Walter  C. 
Dr.  E.  L.  Caudill,  Muncy  Edwin  Caudill  and  Mrs.  Blanche 
Edwards. 

Walter  Cleveland  Caudill  was  educated  in  public  schools  in 
Alleghany  County,   North   Carolina,   attended  the  Appalachian 


494  VIRGINIA 

Training  School  at  Boone,  that  state,  and  the  Elk  Creek  Training 
School  at  Elk  Creek,  Virginia.  He  completed  his  professional 
preparation  at  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  graduating  M.  D. 
in  1913,  and  was  an  interne  in  the  Lewis  Gale  Hospital  at  Roan- 
oke and  in  St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital  in  Richmond.  Doctor  Caudill 
in  1914  located  at  Pearisburg,  and  soon  established  a  promising 
general  practice  in  medicine  and  surgery.  He  opened  his  office 
in  the  Law  Building.  His  work  as  a  local  physician  came  to  a 
temporary  interruption  when  in  1917  he  enlisted  for  service  in 
the  Army  Medical  Corps,  and  in  September,  1917,  was  assigned 
immediate  service  at  Newport  News,  and  on  December  1,  1917, 
left  for  France  with  the  Three  Hundred  and  Second  Stevedore 
Regiment.  On  arriving  in  France  he  was  detached  and  put  in 
Camp  Hospital  No.  2  near  Bordeaux.  On  October  1,  1918,  he 
was  again  transferred,  to  the  Twenty-third  Engineers,  and 
accompanied  that  famous  regiment  to  the  Verdun  Sector,  and 
was  in  the  drive  through  the  Argonne  Forest  to  Stenay.  After 
the  armistice  he  was  sent  home  and  received  his  honorable  dis- 
charge at  Camp  Lee,  Virginia,  with  the  rank  of  captain,  in  July, 
1919.  He  was  in  the  service  nearly  two  years,  going  in  with  the 
rank  of  first  lieutenant. 

After  the  war  he  resumed  his  work  at  Pearisburg,  and  he 
and  his  brother,  Dr.  Estill  L.  Caudill,  founded  St.  Elizabeth's 
Hospital,  a  twenty-bed  general  hospital  with  excellent  equip- 
ment and  well  planned  for  service  to  the  growing  community. 
In  January,  1928,  his  brother.  Dr.  E.  L.  Caudill,  moved  to 
Elizabethton,  Tennessee,  and  subsequently  he  and  his  brother 
Walter  and  Dr.  J.  0.  Woods,  of  Elizabethton,  formed  a  partner- 
ship and  founded  St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital  there.  They  put  up 
a  building  costing  $60,000,  of  brick  and  stone  construction  and 
of  Colonial  architecture,  a  very  handsome  and  attractive  build- 
ing and  affording  the  facilities  of  a  high  class  hospital.  There 
are  fifty-five  rooms.  Dr.  W.  C.  Caudill  is  a  third  owner  of  this 
hospital  and  serves  as  vice  president.  He  is  a  director  in  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Pearisburg  and  is  a  member  of  the 
County,  State,  Tri-State,  Southern  and  American  Medical 
Associations. 

Doctor  Caudill  during  1928  was  chairman  of  the  Giles  County 
Democratic  Committee.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Primitive  Bap- 
tist Church,  the  American  Legion,  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  Kazim  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine  at  Roanoke. 

He  married  at  Bluefield,  West  Virginia,  June  30,  1920,  Miss 
Mary  Ring  Cornett,  of  Bluefield.  She  was  reared  in  Grayson 
County,  Virginia,  attended  public  schools  there  and  the  Elk* 
Creek  'Training  School,  and  graduated  in  1911  from  the  State 
Teachers  College  at  Farmville,  Virginia.  She  taught  in  grade 
and  high  schools  for  several  years  before  her  marriage,  and  has 
always  taken  part  in  the  working  organizations  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  She  is  a  daughter  of  F.  A.  and  Hester 
(Ring)  Cornett,  of  Grayson  County,  Virginia,  who  later  moved 
to  Bluefield.  Her  father  was  a  farmer  and  stock  man,  owning 
a  farm  four  miles  from  Bluefield,  toward  Princeton,  and  after 
selling  that  lived  at  Graham,  Virginia,  and  finally  at  Pearisburg, 
Virginia,  where  he  died  in  September,  1927,  and  her  mother  died 
in  June  of  the  same  year.  Both  are  buried  in  Elk  Creek  Ceme- 
tery in  Grayson  County.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Caudill  had  two  sons. 
Carrel  Mayo  and  Walter  C,  Jr.  The  latter  died  at  the  age  of 
five  months  and  the  older  is  attending  school  at  Pearisburg. 


VIRGINIA  495 

Prof.  Zelma  Talmage  Kyle.  Looking  backward  through 
the  records  of  many  generations,  the  family  name  of  Kyle  is 
found  a  familiar  and  respected  one  in  Southwest  Virginia,  at 
all  times  representing  a  substantial  group  in  which  thrift  and 
industry  prevail,  and  education  and  morality  encouraged.  A 
prominent  member  of  this  old  Virginia  family  who  is  now 
claimed  by  Tazewell  County  is  Prof.  Zelma  T.  Kyle,  superin- 
tending principal  of  the  schools  of  Bluefield,  Virginia,  a  man  of 
marked  personality,  great  executive  ability  and  widely  and 
favorably  known. 

The  Kyle  family  is  of  Irish  extraction  and  was  founded  in 
America  by  two  brothers,  both  of  whom  settled  in  the  South, 
one  in  Georgia  and  the  other  in  Tennessee,  and  of  the  latter, 
his  great-great-grandfather,  Professor  Kyle  is  a  direct  descend- 
ant. He  was  born  at  Woodlawn,  in  Carroll  County,  Virginia,  in 
1892,  son  of  Henry  F.  and  Sallie  Jane  (Walker)  Kyle,  both  of 
whom  still  reside  at  Woodlawn,  his  father  owning  a  valuable 
farm  in  Carroll  County.  He  was  born  in  Carroll  County,  son  of 
James  Madison  Kyle,  a  prominent  farmer  and  Democratic  politi- 
cian in  Botetourt  County,  and  died  in  1901,  a  brother  of  Judge 
William  Kyle,  who  served  many  years  on  the  county  bench.  The 
great-grandfather  of  Professor  Kyle,  James  Kyle,  was  born  after 
his  parents  moved  from  Tennessee  to  Virginia.  He  lived  and 
died  on  his  estate  in  Botetourt  County,  near  Fincastle.  Both  he 
and  his  sons  were  active  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  conscientious  men  in  both  public  and  private  life. 

Henry  F.  Kyle,  father  of  Professor  Kyle,  is  a  leading  citizen 
of  Carroll  County,  where  he  has  served  on  the  election  board 
and  the  school  board,  a  trustworthy  man  in  every  capacity.  In 
his  religious  belief  he  is  a  Quaker,  a  member  of  the  Friends 
Church  at  Woodlawn,  and  one  of  its  Board  of  Overseers.  The 
mother  of  Professor  Kyle  was  also  born  in  Carroll  County,  Vir- 
ginia, daughter  of  John  Walker,  and  great-granddaughter  of 
John  Walker,  who  was  born  in  Ireland.  He  founded  the  Walker 
family  in  Kentucky,  and  the  maternal  grandfather  of  Professor 
Kyle  was  born  in  Boone  County.  About  the  time  of  the  war 
between  the  states  he  came  to  Carroll  County,  Virginia,  where 
he  engaged  in  farming  until  he  was  accidentally  killed  by  a 
falling  tree.  In  politics  he  was  a  Republican,  and  in  religious 
faith  was  identified  with  the  Primitive  Baptist  body,  in  which 
he  was  a  deacon  and  moderator  and  frequently  served  as  a  local 
preacher. 

Zelma  Talmage  Kyle  can  easily  call  to  memoiy  the  one-room 
log  schoolhouse  near  .his  father's  farm  in  which  he  received  his 
early  educational  training,  but,  to  one  like  himself,  eager  to 
learn,  his  surroundings  were  more  or  less  immaterial,  as  he 
had  an  earnest  and  competent  teacher  who  soon  prepared  him 
for  the  Woodlawn  High  School,  from  which  he  was  creditably 
graduated  in  1911.  He  then  entered  William  and  Mary  College 
for  a  preparatory  course,  after  which  he  taught  school  for  a 
time  and  then  returned  to  William  and  Mary  College,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1917,  as  president  of  his  class,  with 
the  degree  of  A.  B.  Since  then  he  has  attended  Peabody  Normal 
College,  Nashville,  Tennessee,  preparing  for  his  A.  M.  degree. 

Upon  his  graduation  from  William  and  Mary  College  Pro- 
fessor Kyle  became  principal  of  the  Woodlawn  High  School,  and 
during  the  two  years  he  continued  there  gave  evidence  of  the 
progressive  spirit  that  has  since  assisted  him  in  the  accomplish- 


496  VIRGINIA 

ment  of  so  much  for  higher  education  in  the  communities  with 
which  he  has  been  identified.  While  at  Woodlawn  he  established 
there  the  first  Smith  Hughes  Agricultural  School  in  Virginia, 
which  was  the  first  to  receive  an  appropriation  from  the  Federal 
funds.  On  retiring  from  the  Woodlawn  High  School  he  went 
to  Appalachia,  Virginia,  as  principal  of  its  city  schools,  and 
during  the  six  years  he  remained  there  brought  about  remark- 
able changes.  He  found  one  eieven-room  school  building  and 
about  500  pupils  in  attendance.  When  he  left  one  building  had 
been  erected  at  a  cost  of  $75,000;  a  new  high  school  building, 
costing  $750,000;  an  athletic  field  secured  tor  $15,000;  and  had 
further  oDtained  a  bond  issue  of  another  $150,000  for  the  schools. 

Professor  Kyle  then  accepted  the  call  to  Ulueiield,  Virginia, 
as  supervising  school  principal.  He  has  here  four  buildings 
under  his  direction:  ihe  Graham  High  School,  witn  twem,/ 
teachers;  the  Logan  Street  School,  with  live  teachers;  the  West 
Graham  School,  with  one  teacher ;  and  the  colored  school,  with 
five  teachers.  Since  taking  charge  he  has  caused  a  fine  gym- 
nasium to  be  built  and  many  large  and  desirable  improvement 
propositions  are  being  considered.  His  heart  is  in  his  woi'k,  and 
seemingly  no  details  can  weary  him  or  obstacles  discourage  him. 

At  Woodlawn,  Virginia,  on  February  15,  1919,  Professor 
Kyle  married  Miss  Mary  Elizabeth  Kenny,  of  that  city,  daughter 
of  John  A.  and  Florence  (Beamer)  Kenny.  The  late  John  A. 
Kenny  was  a  prominent  and  substantial  citizen  of  Carroll  County, 
a  farmer  and  lumber  dealer.  He  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  and 
active  in  Democratic  politics,  served  many  years  on  important 
county  boards,  and  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
at  Woodlawn,  was  a  steward,  church  treasurer  and  superin- 
tendent of  the  Sunday  school.  Mr.  Kenny  was  born  in  Carroll 
County,  son  of  William  Kenny,  a  native  of  Grayson  County, 
Virginia,  but  later  a  farmer  in  Carroll  County,  and  a  grandson 
of  William  Kenny,  who  was  born  in  Ireland.  The  mother  of 
Mrs.  Kyle  was  born  in  Carroll  County,  and  still  resides  at  Wood- 
lawn. Her  father,  Harden  Beamer,  was  born  in  Carroll  County, 
of  Tennessee  parentage  and  Irish  extraction.  He  was  a  very 
prominent  man  in  Carroll  County,  a  member  of  the  school  board 
for  twenty  years  and  deputy  county  treasurer.  He  was  engaged 
in  farming  all  his  life,  was  a  Democrat  in  politics,  and  a  faithful 
member  and  liberal  supporter  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 

Mrs.  Kyle,  an  educated,  accomplished  lady,  who  is  fully  in 
sympathy  with  her  husband  in  his  aim  to  further  educational 
opportunities  and  advantages  in  the  public  schools,  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  Woodlawn  High  School  in  1916,  attended  Leesburg 
College  for  two  years,  and  was  graduated  from  Radford  State 
Teachers  College  in  1925.  She  received  her  teacher's  diploma 
in  1923  from  this  college  and  then  took  a  course  in  the  Peabody 
Normal  School  at  Nashville,  Tennessee.  For  two  years  she  was 
an  instructor  in  the  Appalachia  High  School,  and  for  the  past 
three  years  has  been  teacher  of  home  economics  in  the  Bluefield 
schools.  She  is  a  member  of  the  State  Teachers  Association 
and  of  the  American  Home  Economics  Association,  is  active  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  belongs  to  the 
Eastern  Star. 

A  man  of  Professor  Kyle's  sterling  character,  inspiring 
energy  and  agreeable  personality  finds  confidence  and  esteem 


VIRGINIA  497 

awaiting  him  in  many  important  lines  of  community  life.  He  is 
active  as  a  member  of  the  Bluefield  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
is  interested  in  all  worthwhile  public  movements  here.  A  Demo- 
crat in  politics,  he  has  frequently  attended  state  conventions  of 
his  party  as  a  delegate  and  is  considered  a  wise  and  safe  party 
adviser.  He  is  a  Chapter  Mason  and  was  senior  warden  of  the 
Masonic  Lodge  at  Appalachia,  is  worthy  patron  in  the  Order  of 
the  Eastern  Star,  and  belongs  to  the  State  Teachers  Association 
and  the  National  Education  Association,  as  well  as  to  the  old 
fraternal  organizations  in  which  he  took  a  deep  interest  while 
in  William  and  Mary  College.  He  frequently  lectures  on  educa- 
tional subjects.  Like  his  father,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Friends 
Church,  never  having  departed  from  the  simple  faith  in  which 
he  was  reared. 

William  George  Waring  with  the  exception  of  one  year 
since  he  left  college  has  been  engaged  in  bankmg.  He  is  cashier 
of  the  Farmers  and  Mechanics  Bank  of  West  Point,  one  of  the 
prosperous  and  successful  banking  institutions  of  King  William 
County.  The  bank  operates  on  capital  and  surplus  of  over  fifty 
thousand  dollars  and  has  total  resources  of  over  $350,000. 

Mr.  Waring  was  born  in  King  William  County,  April  11, 
1894,  son  of  Thomas  Bromley  and  Elmira  Gertrude  (Hill)  War- 
ing. His  father  was  born  at  Liberty  Hall  in  King  William 
County,  and  his  mother  was  born  in  the  house  where  history 
states  George  Washington  and  his  bride  first  met  at  Poplar 
Grove,  in  New  Kent  County.  Thomas  B.  Waring  served  as  a 
Confederate  soldier,  running  away  from  home  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  to  join  the  army.  In  one  battle  he  was  shot  from  his 
saddle.  After  the  war  he  engaged  in  farming  in  King  William 
County,  was  also  a  county  otiicial,  and  died  in  January,  1900, 
as  the  result  of  being  thrown  from  his  horse.  His  widow  sur- 
vived him  until  February  16,  1914.  They  had  a  family  of  nine 
children,  and  after  the  death  of  the  father  the  oldest  son,  Rob- 
ert Payne  Waring,  assumed  the  responsibility  of  rearing  the 
younger  children,  and  performed  that  duty  with  a  high  degree 
of  credit  for  a  young  man. 

William  George  Waring  was  reared  and  educated  in  King 
William  County,  attended  college  at  Lynchburg  three  years,  and 
after  leaving  college  spent  a  year  with  Lane  Brothers,  con- 
tractors, while  this  firm  was  engaged  in  the  construction  of  the 
disposal  plant  at  Baltimore,  Maryland.  Mr.  Waring  in  1915  be- 
came bookkeeper  in  the  State  Bank  of  West  Point  and  in  1920 
was  chosen  cashier.  He  was  in  charge  of  the  executive  details 
of  the  bank  until  January  31,  1927,  when  it  was  sold  to  the 
Farmers  and  Mechanics  Bank,  and  he  became  cashier  in  the 
latter  institution. 

Mr.  Waring  married  April  26,  1924,  Jessie  Carter  Lewis, 
daughter  of  Herbert  Iverson  and  Mattie  (Parks)  Lewis.  Her 
mother  is  living  at  West  Point.  She  was  born  at  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia. Herbert  R.  Lewis,  a  native  of  King  William  County,  was 
a  distinguished  member  of  the  bar  at  West  Point  and  held  the 
oftice  of  commonwealth  attorney  of  the  county  forty-three  and 
a  half  years,  until  his  death  on  May  5,  1928.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  War- 
ing have  three  children,  Betty  Carter,  Burnet  Lewis  and  Robert 
Lawrence.  Mr.  Waring  is  affiliated  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
Junior  Order  United  American  ilechanics,  Kiwanis  Club, 
Cypress  Park  Club,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church. 


498  VIRGINIA 

Hon.  Joseph  Graham,  ex-sheriff  of  Pulaski  County,  and  a 
farmer  upon  an  extensive  scale,  is  one  of  the  best  examples  of 
the  modern  farmer  the  county  possesses.  His  home  farm  is  a 
model  one,  and  his  experiments  are  watched  with  great  interest 
by  his  neighbors.  In  his  office  of  sheriff  he  gave  to  Pulaski  a 
clean  administration,  entirely  free  from  graft  or  sinister  influ- 
ences, and  succeeded  in  driving  out  and  keeping  out  of  his  domain 
those  who  would  not  conform  to  the  laws,  both  Federal  and  local. 

Mr.  Graham  was  born  in  Pulaski  County,  Virginia,  December 
9,  1870,  a  son  of  Dr.  Joseph  D.  and  Mary  (Currin)  Graham,  the 
former  of  whom  was  born  and  reared  in  Pulaski  County.  He 
first  attended  the  private  schools  of  this  locality,  and  later  took 
his  medical  training  in  a  college  of  Baltimore,  Maryland.  Enlist- 
ing at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  between  the  states,  he  served 
with  the  Pulaski  Guards,  Fifty-fourth  Virginia  Infantry,  and 
was  a  brave  soldier  of  the  Confederacy.  During  his  service  he 
participated  in  a  number  of  the  major  engagements,  and  was 
wounded  in  action  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  After  the  close 
of  the  war  he  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and 
was  an  active  practitioner  at  the  time  of  his  death,  May  1,  1896. 
He  was  one  of  the  old-time  physicians,  traveling  over  long  dis- 
tances, in  all  kinds  of  weather,  giving  of  his  skill,  his  time  and 
his  sympathy  without  thought  of  remuneration,  and  was  long 
held  to  be  the  "beloved  physician."  His  remains  are  interred 
in  Oglesby  Cemetery,  Pulaski  County.  His  father  was  Joseph 
Graham,  a  native  of  Wythe  County,  Virginia,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation, a  calling  he  followed  all  his  life.  Both  he  and  his  wife 
are  deceased,  and  they  lie  side  by  side  in  the  Oglesby  Cemetery. 
Robert  Graham,  father  of  Joseph  Graham,  and  great-grand- 
father of  former  Sheriff  Graham,  was  born  in  Scotland  and  came 
to  this  country  at  an  early  day,  settling  in  Wythe  County,  where 
he  was  a  farmer  and  stockman,  and  he  and  his  wife  are  also 
buried  in  Oglesby  Cemetery.  During  the  years  that  have  fol- 
lowed the  settlement  in  Virginia  of  Robert  Graham  those  bear- 
ing the  name  have  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  history  of  the 
state  and  have  been  law-abiding,  self-respecting  men  and  women 
worthy  of  the  confidence  and  esteem  they  have  always  inspired. 

Mrs.  Mary  (Currin)  Graham,  mother  of  Joseph  Graham, 
was  born  February  7,  1844,  in  Montgomery  County,  Virginia, 
but  early  in  life  was  taken  to  Newburn,  Virginia,  by  her  parents, 
Lynch  A.  and  Elizabeth  (Haller)  Currin.  Mr.  Currin  was 
county  clerk  during  the  war  between  the  states.  Mrs.  Graham 
was  educated  in  Mrs.  McGavock's  School  for  Young  Ladies, 
Wytheville,  Virginia.  She  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  until  her  death  July  17,  1929,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-five  years,  she  made  her  home  with  Mr.  Graham  and  a 
married  daughter,  Mrs.  Painter,  of  Draper,  Virginia.  There 
were  five  children  born  to  her  and  her  husband :  C.  S.  Graham, 
a  farmer,  who  is  now  deceased ;  Elizabeth,  who  married  A.  S. 
Painter,  lives  at  Draper;  Joseph  Graham,  who  is  the  third  in 
order  of  birth ;  C.  F.  Graham,  who  died  when  one  year  old ;  and 
Wilhe  Sue,  who  married  B.  T.  Gilmer,  a  rural  mail  carrier  of 
Draper. 

Growing  up  in  Pulaski  County,  Joseph  Graham  attended 
public  schools  and  a  private  school,  and  when  old  enough  began 
farming.  From  then  on  until  the  present  he  has  been  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock  raising,  owning  the  old  Graham  homestead 


VIRGINIA  499 

of  200  acres  of  fine  blueKrass  land.  Part  of  the  house  is  over 
100  years  old,  and  is  in  splendid  condition,  so  well  was  it  built 
in  the  beginning-.  Upright,  honorable,  knowing  the  people  of 
Pulaski  County  as  he  does,  Mr.  Graham  was  honored  by  his 
fellow  citizens  by  election  to  the  office  of  sheriff  in  1906,  and  he 
continued  in  it  from  May  of  that  year  to  December  31,  1915.  He 
is  an  active  Democrat,  and  one  of  the  local  leaders  of  his  party. 
Fraternally  he  is  a  Royal  Arch  Ma.son,  and  he  belongs  to  the 
Benevolent  and  Pi-otective  Order  of  Elks  and  the  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America.  He  is  a  Presbyterian,  and  is  serving  the  local 
church  as  deacon. 

On  November  11,  1889,  Mr.  Graham  first  married  at  Bristol, 
Tennessee,  Miss  Berta  L.  Graham,  of  Draper,  Virginia,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Thompson  and  Ellen  (Grills)  Graham,  first  of  Mercer 
County,  West  Virginia,  but  later  of  Draper.  Seven  children  were 
born  to  this  marriage :  Mary  Ellen ;  Lucy  Jane,  who  is  the  wife 
of  A.  F.  Clark;  Joseph  Thompson;  Virginia  Berta,  who  died  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one  years;  Elizabeth,  who  is  the  wife  of  John 
T.  Sayre,  of  Roanoke,  Virginia;  Nell  M.,  who  is  the  wife  of  0. 
H.  Buchanan,  of  Tazewell,  Virginia ;  and  Gertrude,  who  lives  at 
home. 

On  April  3,  1916,  Mr.  Graham  married  in  Draper's  Valley 
Miss  Janie  H.  Draper,  of  Draper's  Valley.  An  extensive  account 
of  the  Draper  family  is  given  elsewhere  in  this  work.  Mrs. 
Graham  was  educated  in  a  orivate  school,  Montgomery  Hall, 
Christiansburg,  Virginia.  While  she  is  a  member  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church,  she  is  active  in  the  work  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Draper's  Valley.  Sheriff  and  Mrs.  Graham  have  had 
two  children  born  to  them:  Joseph,  Jr.,  and  Jane  Draper,  both 
of  whom  are  attending  the  Di'aper's  Valley  public  school. 

Chester  Claude-  Shelburne,  countv  suoerintendent  of 
schools  of  Montgomery  County,  has  been  prominentlv  identified 
with  educational  work  in  Virginia  for  a  number  of  years  and 
has  won  a  verv  favorable  renutation  as  a  school  man. 

He  was  t-orn  at  Riner,  Virginia.  Mav  14,  1891.  ;;on  of  Wil- 
liam J.  and  Milinda  J.  (Altizer)  Shelburne.  The  Shelbu^'ne 
familv  came  to  America  from  Wales  in  Colonial  ti-nes,  first 
settlinp-  in  Lunenburg  County.  Mr.  Shelburne's  grandfather, 
John  Thomas  Shelburne,  was  a  Confederate  soldier  all  through 
the  four  vears  of  the  war  and  afterwards  follon'ed  farming  and 
stock  i-aising.  He  and  his  wife  are  buried  in  the  Shelburne 
family  cemeterv.  William  J.  Shelburne  was  born  and  reared  in 
Montgomery  County,  and  is  a  farmer  and  .stock  rai'^er.  His 
wife.  Milinda  J.  Altizer,  was  born  and  reared  in  Floyd  County. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  Of  their  three  chil- 
dren one  di^d  in  infancv.  Mr.  Shelburne  has  a  sister,  Juanita, 
wife  of  W.  B.  Whitt.  a  farmer  and  stock  man  at  East  Radford. 

Chester  Claude  Shelburne  attended  public  schools  in  Mont- 
gomerv  Countv.  and  in  the  intervals  of  teaching  and  other  work 
continued  his  higher  education  through  Milligan  College  in  Ten- 
nessee, Daleville  College,  and  in  1927  graduated  Bachelor  of 
Science  from  the  Lhiiversity  of  Virginia.  While  he  owns  a  farm 
and  is  engaged  in  farming  and  stock  raising  in  Montgomerv 
Countv.  his  chief  hobby  for  many  years  has  been  teaching  and 
educational  work. 

An  interruption  to  his  career  as  an  educator  came  when  he 
joined  the  colors  on  September  21,  1917,  for  service  in  the  World 


500  VIRGINIA 

war.  He  was  in  training  at  Camp  Lee  until  May,  1918,  and  went 
overseas  with  Company  H  of  the  ol7th  Infantry  in  the  Eightieth 
Division.  He  was  on  duty  in  the  Artois  Sector,  in  the  St.  Mihiel 
and  Meuse  Argonne  campaigns,  and  after  returning  home  fol- 
lowing the  armistice  received  his  honorable  discharge  at  Camp 
Lee  June  13,  1919.  After  the  armistice  he  was  assigned  duty 
for  three  months  as  an  inspector  in  a  post  school  at  Planay, 
France,  and  he  also  had  the  opportunity  of  attending  the  Uni- 
versity of  Beaune  in  France  for  one  term. 

Mr.  Shelburne  was  principal  of  the  Showsville  High  School 
in  Montgomery  County  for  nine  years  and  was  principal  of  the 
high  school  at  Blacksburg  during  1927-29.  On  March  9,  1929, 
he  was  elected  superintendent  of  schools  for  Montgomery 
County.  He  is  well  qualified  for  the  responsibilities  of  this  office, 
his  teaching  experience  having  given  him  a  thorough  familiarity 
with  school  conditions  in  the  county. 

Mr.  Shelburne  is  a  member  of  the  State  Education  Associa- 
tion, the  Lions  Club,  the  Phi  Delta  Kappa  and  Pi  Gamma  Mu 
fraternities,  the  American  Legion  and  Veterans  of  Foreign 
Wars. 

Moses  P.  Lawrence  is  an  electrical  engineer  with  a  wide 
experience  in  public  utility  management,  and  is  now  superin- 
tendent of  the  Electric  Power  Plant  at  Glenlyn,  in  Giles  County. 
He  comes  of  an  old  Virginia  family  but  is  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  born  at  Tarboro,  February  12,  1882,  son  of  Louis  H. 
and  Carrie  C.  (Knight)  Lawrence.  His  great-grandfather,  Rev. 
Joshua  Lawrence,  was  the  son  of  a  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary 
war,  and  at  that  time  the  Lawrence  family  lived  in  Virginia. 
The  grandfather  of  Mr.  Lawrence  also  bore  the  name  of  Joshua, 
and  lived  at  Tarboro,  North  Carolina.  Louis  H.  Lawrence  was 
born  at  Tarboro,  attended  Oxford  College,  in  North  Carolina, 
and  served  four  years  in  the  Confederate  army,  in  Company  C, 
Thirty-third  North  Carolina  Regiment.  After  the  war  he  was 
a  farmer  and  cotton  planter  until  1908,  and  is  now  retired  at 
the  age  of  eighty-seven,  living  with  his  son  in  Glenlyn.  His 
wife,  Carrie  C.  Knight,  is  a  daughter  of  John  C.  and  Martha 
(Cromwell)  Knight,  and  her  grandfather,  Elisha  Cromwell,  was 
a  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  Mrs.  Carrie  C.  Lawrence 
died  November  20,  1920.  Of  her  eleven  children,  two  died  in 
infancy.  Those  now  living  are  Bessie,  Joshua,  Carrie,  Moses 
P.,  Cleveland,  Harvey,  Rosa  and  Douglas. 

Moses  P.  Lawrence  was  educated  in  North  Carolina  public 
schools,  and  was  on  his  father's  farm  until  the  age  of  sixteen. 
In  1898  he  went  with  the  Norfolk  &  Ocean  View  Railway  Com- 
pany, spending  two  years  with  that  electric  line  and  then  four 
years  was  located  at  Norfolk  for  the  same  company.  For  one 
year  he  was  connected  with  the  Trenton  &  New  Brunswick  Rail- 
way Company  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  and  the  same  interests 
sent  him  out  to  Erie,  Pennsylvania,  for  one  year  as  power  house 
engineer.  In  1904  he  was  located  at  Hampton,  Virginia,  in 
the  service  of  the  Newport  News  and  Old  Point  Railway  & 
Electric  Company,  remaining  there  until  1907,  and  was  then 
transferred  to  the  new  plant  of  the  company  at  Norfolk.  From 
1909  to  1918  he  was  chief  engineer  of  the  power  house  at  Chatta- 
nooga, Tennessee,  for  the  Tennessee  Power  Company. 

Mr.  Lawrence  has  been  plant  superintendent  at  Glenlyn 
for  the  Appalachian  Power  Company  since  April,  1918.  He  is 
a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Narrows  and  is  a  stock- 


n 


-WS' 


VIRGINIA  501 

holder  in  a  number  of  business  corporations  in  this  part  of 
Southwest  Virginia.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason  and 
Shriner,  member  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers, is  a  Democrat  and  an  Episcopalian. 

He  married  at  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  January  17,  1912, 
Miss  Ella  Risley,  who  was  reared  and  educated  at  Cincinnati, 
Ohio.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Henry  Risley,  who  was  prominent 
in  business  and  politics  in  Chattanooga,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  sheriff  of  Hamilton  County,  Tennessee.  Her  mother 
is  still  living  at  Chattanooga. 

Creed  Columbus  Semones,  commissioner  of  revenue  of  Car- 
roll County,  has  given  nearly  all  his  active  years  to  public  service 
in  his  home  county  or  to  the  banking  business. 

Mr.  Semones  was  born  at  Hillsville,  Virginia,  in  1872,  son  of 
Louis  Pleasant  and  Martha  (Pendleton)  Semones.  This  family 
has  been  in  Southwest  Virginia  for  several  generations.  His 
father  was  born  near  Hillsville  January  1,  1839,  was  educated 
in  private  schools  and  saw  four  years  of  service  in  the  Confed- 
erate army.  He  was  in  Pickett's  famous  division  at  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg.  After  the  war  he  returned  to  Hillsville,  and 
became  a  stock  raiser  and  farmer  on  his  father's  land,  and  later 
bought  part  of  the  Semones  estate,  where  he  lived  until  his  death 
in  February,  1926.  The  Semones  family  came  originally  from 
Ireland.  His  wife,  Martha  Pendleton,  was  a  daughter  of  John 
Pendleton,  who  was  born  in  Patrick  County,  Virginia,  where 
his  father  settled  on  coming  from  England.  Martha  Pendleton 
was  born  in  Patrick  County,  near  Meadows  of  Dan  Post  Office, 
in  1843,  and  was  educated  in  private  schools,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church. 

Louis  P.  and  Martha  (Pendleton)  Semones  had  a  family  of 
eight  sons,  the  eldest,  John,  dying  at  the  age  of  three  years. 
The  second,  Joel  Wilson,  born  in  1869,  now  a  retired  teacher 
living  at  Hillsville,  married  Mary  Karris,  and  they  have  four 
children :  Harney  Forest,  an  attorney  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana, 
married  Miss  Blankenship,  of  Carroll  County ;  Mrs.  Rosa  Hoskin 
lives  at  War,  West  Virginia;  Mrs.  Eppie  Brewster  is  also  a 
resident  of  War ;  and  Claude,  unmarried,  is  a  civil  engineer 
living  in  Wyoming.  Noah  Burton  Semones,  the  fourth  child, 
born  in  1875,  whose  home  is  three  miles  from  Hillsville,  married 
Elva  Bolen  and  has  two  sons.  Ray,  born  in  1907,  and  Buster, 
born  in  1905.  Wiley  Albert  Semones,  born  in  1878,  a  teacher  in 
the  Hillsville  High  School,  married  Ida  Beamer,  and  their  sons 
are  Marlie,  born  in  1906,  and  Carlos,  born  in  1910.  Armstead 
Ellis  Semones,  boim  in  1881,  a  resident  on  the  old  homestead, 
married  Ada  Horton.  George  E.  Semones,  born  in  1884,  a 
merchant  three  miles  southeast  of  Hillsville,  is  the  seventh  son 
in  the  family.  The  youngest,  Norman  Ernest,  died  when  three 
years  old. 

Creed  Columbus  Semones  was  educated  in  public  schools,  and 
life  has  brought  him  a  sound  training  in  business,  farming  and 
public  administration.  In  1903  he  was  elected  county  treasurer 
of  Carroll  County,  and  served  in  that  office  eight  years,  retiring 
in  1912.  Following  that  he  was  cashier  of  the  Farmers  Bank 
of  Hillsville  until  1917.  For  several  years  he  was  in  business 
as  a  brick  manufacturer  at  Galax,  Virginia,  selling  his  interest 
in  the  business  in  1926  to  B.  C.  Lineberry.  He  then  resumed 
his  residence  at  Hillsville  and  in  1927  was  elected  commissioner 
of   revenue  for   a  term  of  four   years,   ending   in    1932.     Mr. 


502  VIRGINIA 

Semones  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  at  Hillsville  and 
is  a  Baptist. 

He  married  in  February,  1897,  Miss  Hattie  C.  Webb.  Her 
father  was  L.  F.  Webb,  sheriff  of  Carroll  County,  one  of  the 
county  officials  who  were  killed  in  the  well  remembered  Hills- 
ville tragedy  in  1912.  The  second  wife  of  Mr.  Semones  was 
Miss  Lillian  Reeves.  Her  father,  Horton  Reeves,  moved  from 
Alleghany  County,  North  Carolina,  to  Llano,  Texas,  where  he 
was  a  merchant.  Miss  Lillian  Reeves  met  Mr.  Semones  while 
visiting  in  Carroll  County,  Virginia.  To  Mr.  Semones  first 
marriage  were  born  six  children.  Ila,  born  December  5,  1900, 
graduated  from  the  Hillsville  High  School  in  1920,  and  in  1925 
completed  the  work  of  the  State  Teachers  College  at  Radford. 
She  taught  at  Red  Bank  in  Patrick  County.  Virginia,  in  1920, 
at  Shelton,  North  Carolina,  in  1921,  at  Brim,  North  Carolina, 
1922-23,  in  the  Mills  school  of  Patrick  County  in  1924,  at  Amelia 
Court  House  in  1925-27.  She  was  married,  April  6,  1922,  at 
Hillsville,  to  Mr.  Edgar  T.  Anderson,  and  since  their  marriage 
they  have  carried  on  their  educational  work  together.  Mr. 
Anderson  is  a  graduate  of  the  Red  Bank  High  School  and  also 
attended  the  State  Teachers  College  at  Radford.  He  is  a  son 
of  Robert  Marion  and  Eva  Frances  (Thompson)  Anderson,  of 
Patrick  County. 

Mr.  Semones  second  child,  Lewis  Raymond,  born  April  21, 
1903,  graduated  from  the  Hillsville  High  School  in  1919  and 
from  the  dental  department  of  the  Medical  College  of  Richmond 
in  1924,  and  is  now  practicing  at  East  Radford,  Virginia.  He 
is  a  member  of  Fulton  Lodge  No.  93  of  Masons  at  Hillsville. 
Howard  Everett  Semones,  born  in  July,  1905,  is  a  graduate  of 
the  Hillsville  High  School,  and  for  the  past  six  years  has  been 
employed  as  a  machinist  in  Illinois.  Norman  Ernest  Semones, 
born  February  4,  1907,  is  a  graduate  of  the  high  school  at  Galax, 
and  now  deputy  commissioner  of  revenue,  Carroll  County,  Vir- 
ginia. Lena,  born  July  1,  1909,  graduated  from  the  Galax  High 
School,  and  is  the  wife  of  Ernest  Kirby,  who  is  employed  in  the 
office  of  the  Vaughn  Furniture  Company,  Galax.  Mrs.  Kirby 
is  now  taking  the  nurses  training  course  at  Galax  Hospital. 
Hallie,  the  youngest  child,  born  August  21,  1911,  is  a  graduate 
of  the  Galax  High  School  and  is  in  training  in  the  Jackson 
Memorial  Hospital  at  Lexington,  Virginia.  She  is  the  wife  of 
James  C.  Hutton,  of  Lexington,  who  is  in  the  oil  business. 

Bentley  Hite,  one  of  the  active  younger  members  of  the  bar 
at  Christiansburg,  is  a  descendant  of  that  historic  character  Joise 
Hite,  who  left  Pennsylvania  and  went  down  into  the  Valley  of 
Virginia  about  1732,  squatting  on  lands  that  were  claimed  by 
Lord  Fairfax,  and  it  was  largely  to  protect  these  claims  against 
the  sturdy  settlers  led  by  George  Hite  that  George  Washington 
went  out  to  the  West  as  a  land  surveyor. 

Bentlev  Hite  was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  Virginia,  De- 
cember 26,  1900,  a  son  of  W.  B.  and  Martha  Jane  (Scott)  Hite, 
and  a  grandson  of  William  Ballard  Preston  Hite,  who  moved 
from  the  Valley  of  Virginia  to  Montgomery  County  about  1832, 
settling  at  Price's  Fork.  He  was  overseer  of  the  Ballard  Plan- 
tation there  and  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  for  many  years. 
W.  B.  Hite  was  born  and  reared  at  Price's  Fork,  near  Blacks- 
burg,  attended  public  schools,  and  has  given  his  life  to  the  farm 
and  stock  ranch.  His  wife  was  born  and  reared  at  Charlottes- 
ville.   She  is  a  Methodist,  while  he  is  a  member  of  the  Christian 


VIRGINIA  503 

Church.  There  were  five  children,  the  daughter  Bessie  dying  at 
the  age  of  eight  years.  The  others  are :  Shirley,  a  Radford  busi- 
ness man,  married  Lena  Talbert  and  has  two  children, 
Shirley,  Jr.,  and  Margaret;  Guy,  a  farmer  in  Pulaski  County, 
married  Stella  Hedge  and  has  three  children.  Merle,  Gwendolyn 
and  an  infant ;  Maggie  is  Mrs.  R.  D.  Weeks,  wife  of  a  merchant 
at  Snowville,  Virginia,  and  has  three  children,  Earlynn,  Ray- 
mond and  Billy  Van;  and  Bentley. 

Bentley  Rite  attended  public  schools  in  Montgomery  County, 
had  his  high  school  course  in  Milligan  Academy  at  Milligan  Col- 
lege, Tennessee,  was  graduated  with  the  A.  B.  degree  from 
Roanoke  College  in  1923,  and  pursued  his  law  studies  in  the 
University  of  Virginia.  He  was  graduated  in  1928,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  that  year,  and  soon  afterward  opened  his  law 
office  in  the  First  National  Bank  Building  of  Christiansburg  and 
has  come  into  very  favorable  recognition  and  a  successful  busi- 
ness as  a  lawyer. 

Mr.  Hite  is  unmarried.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Students 
Army  Training  Corps  while  at  Milligan  College  during  the  war. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  firm  Hite  &  Weeks,  general  merchants  at 
Snowville.  Mr.  Hite  is  affiliated  with  Snowville  Lodge  No.  159, 
A.  F.  and  A.  M.  After  graduating  from  Roanoke  College  he  was 
principal  of  the  high  school  at  Bowling  Green,  Virginia,  for  the 
.year  1923-24,  and  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Willis  in  1924- 
25.    He  is  a  Republican  and  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Andrew  Jackson  White  was  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  a 
prominent  business  man  of  Richmond.  He  was  a  native  Vir- 
ginian, was  a  boy  soldier  of  the  Confederacy,  and  lived  a  life 
in  keeping  with  the  high  standards  of  citizenship  of  the  Old 
Dominion. 

Mr.  White  was  born  in  Lunenburg  County,  Virginia,  March 
12,  1847,  and  died  at  Richmond,  January  25,  1912,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-five.  His  parents  were  Cephas  Allen  and  Mary  (Winn) 
White,  the  former  of  Lunenburg  County  and  the  latter  of  Meck- 
lenburg. Their  children  were:  Ann;  Richard,  who  was  killed 
in  battle  in  the  Confederate  army ;  Maiy,  Alice,  Andrew  Jackson 
and  Fanny. 

Andrew  Jackson  White  had  the  advantages  offered  by  the 
schools  of  Lunenburg  County.  He  was  only  fourteen  v/hen  the 
war  broke  out,  and  before  it  was  ended  he  was  in  the  ranks 
doing  what  he  could  as  a  soldier  of  the  Confederacy.  After  the 
war  he  assisted  his  father,  who  was  a  brick  contractor,  and 
among  other  w^ork  he  helped  build  the  Lunenburg  County  court- 
house. Following  that  he  moved  to  Richmond  and  from  1886 
until  his  death  was  engaged  in  business  as  a  brick  contractor. 
In  that  capacity  he  and  his  organization  had  a  reputation  among 
the  best  for  finished  work,  and  there  are  some  buildings  in  Rich- 
mond today  which  exemplify  his  skill,  some  of  them  being  the 
Jefferson  Hotel,  the  brick  work  on  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
Building  and  the  Richmond  City  Hall. 

Mr.  White  was  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  Knights  of  Pythias  and  Junior  Order  United  American 
Mechanics.    He  was  a  Baptist  and  a  Democrat. 

He  married,  November  19,  1876,  Miss  Josephine  Cornelia 
Marable.  She  was  reared  and  educated  in  Lunenburg  County, 
where  her  people  were  among  the  first  settlers.  Mrs.  White 
attended  the  first  public  school  in  Lunenburg  County,  a  school 
that  was  opened  March  6,  1871.    Her  father.  Champion  Marable, 


504  VIRGINIA 

was  a  saddler  by  trade  and  in  later  years  was  a  traveling  sales- 
man for  saddlery  and  harness.  Her  mother,  Cornelia  Ann  Kee- 
ton,  of  Lunenburg  County,  had  four  children :  Isabella,  John, 
Martha  Lucretia  and  Cornelia.  Champion  Marable  was  a  Con- 
federate soldier  throughout  the  four  years  of  the  war,  and  in 
one  battle  was  severely  wounded. 

Mrs.  White,  whose  home  is  at  3311  Grove  Avenue,  at  Rich- 
mond, had  a  family  of  six  children,  and  she  also  has  several 
grandchildren.  Her  oldest  child,  Eldon  Sanders,  died  in  1923. 
Andrew  Eugene  is  a  traveling  salesman.  The  third  is  Miss 
Isabella,  and  the  fourth,  Lumlie  Lee.  Josephine  is  the  wife  of 
George  R.  Langston,  of  Richmond,  and  has  a  daughter,  Frances 
Josephine.  Cephas  Alexander  White  married  Abdiel  Linebeek, 
of  North  Carolina,  and  their  three  children  are  Isabelle  May, 
Louise  and  Nancy. 

Stuart  C.  Cottrell  is  superintendent  of  public  schools  for 
Goochland  County,  an  office  he  has  held  for  the  past  seven  years, 
and  in  that  time  has  accomplished  some  important  results  in 
the  advancement  of  the  county's  facilities  and  standards  of 
public  education. 

Mr.  Cottrell  was  born  at  Cardwell,  in  Goochland  County, 
August  21,  1890,  and  is  a  descendant  of  Richard  Cottrell,  who 
arrived  in  Goochland  County  in  1697  and  acquired  a  lai'ge  tract 
of  land  on  both  sides  of  the  James  River.  The  successive  genera- 
tions of  the  family  have  continued  to  live  in  that  community  for 
over  two  centuries.  Mr.  Cottrell's  grandfather,  John  W.  Cot- 
trell, was  a  Confederate  soldier  and  developed  and  operated  one 
of  the  early  gold  mines  in  Goochland  County.  Mr.  Cottrell's 
father,  S.  H.  Cottrell,  has  given  his  life  to  the  farming  industry. 
He  married  Harriet  Bowles,  who  was  born  in  Goochland  County 
and  died  in  November,  1910. 

Stuart  C.  Cottrell  was  well  educated  in  schools  in  Virginia, 
and  has  carried  on  advanced  work  in  intervals  of  his  teaching, 
having  taken  an  extension  course  with  William  and  Mary  College 
at  Williamsburg,  and  during  the  summer  of  1928  was  in  the 
School  of  Business  Administration  at  Columbia  University,  New 
York.  He  began  teaching  in  1913,  and  was  principal  of  schools 
at  Carrollton  in  Isle  of  Wight  County.  He  served  fourteen 
months  with  the  colors  during  the  World  war  and  was  wounded 
in  battle  while  overseas.  Before  returning  home  he  took  a 
special  course  in  Bordeaux  University.  He  was  honorably  dis- 
charged in  August,  1919. 

He  has  been  county  superintendent  of  schools  since  Septem- 
ber 19,  1922.  At  that  time  the  county  had  only  one  high  school, 
with  a  total  enrollment  of  only  thirty-five  students,  while  there 
are  now  three  high  schools  for  Avhite  pupils  and  one  training 
school  for  colored,  and  the  enrollment  in  the  high  schools  are 
three  hundred  white  students  and  fifty  colored.  The  enrollment 
of  scholars  in  the  public  schools  of  the  entire  county  is  2,900. 

Mr.  Cottrell  married  Miss  Edna  Kent,  daughter  of  George 
Henry  and  Florence  (Wood)  Kent,  natives  of  Fluvanna  County. 
Her  father  is  a  druggist  at  Kent  Store,  Virginia.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Cottrell  reside  in  the  Crozier  community,  Lee  Post  Office.  They 
have  one  son,  Stuart  Guy,  born  March  28,  1921. 

Mr.  Cottrell  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  in  which 
he  has  attained  the  thirty-second  degree  of  the  Scottish  Rite, 
with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Woodmen  of  the 


VIRGINIA  505 

World,  American  Legion,  is  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Edu- 
cation Association  and  the  National  Education  Association,  and 
is  a  director  of  the  Goochland  Chamber  of  Commerce.  At  his 
home  he  has  thirty  acres  of  fine  land  and  uses  this  country  estate 
to  specialize  in  purebred  Plymouth  Rock  chickens.  He  is  a 
stockholder  in  the  Morris  Plan  Bank.  Mrs.  Cottrell  is  a  member 
of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  of  the  local 
Woman's  Club  and  the  Community  Welfare  Association.  She 
was  a  teacher  before  her  marriage.  Mr.  Cottrell  was  appointed 
by  Governor  Trinkle  delegate  from  Goochland  County  to  the 
National  Literary  Council  at  Washington,  D.  C,  where  Governor 
Byrd  appointed  him  a  delegate  to  the  National  Institute  of 
Public  Affairs. 

Seth  G.  Hobart  holds  the  ofiice  of  district  forester  for  South- 
western Virginia,  his  jurisdiction  covering  seventeen  counties. 

Mr.  Hobart  is  well  qualified  for  his  official  duties.  He  was 
born  at  Friendship,  New  York,  June  8,  1892,  son  of  Manley  W. 
and  Mary  E.  (Guilford)  Hobart.  The  Hobart  family  came  from 
England  about  1640,  settling  in  New  England  and  afterwards 
moving  to  New  York.  His  father,  Manley  Hobart,  was  born 
and  reared  at  Friendship,  New  York,  was  a  farmer  and  dairy- 
man and  for  a  number  of  years  supervisor  of  his  township.  He 
is  now  living  retired  at  Friendship.  His  wife,  Mary  E.  Guilford, 
represented  the  Guilford  family  that  came  from  England  and 
settled  in  Massachusetts  about  1660.  Mary  E.  Guilford  was 
born  in  Belfa.st  Township,  New  York,  and  both  she  and  her 
husband  attended  the  old  Friendship  Academy  and  both  of  them 
taught  school  before  their  marriage.  They  have  been  devout 
Baptists.  Seth  G.  Hobart  is  one  of  three  children.  His  sister, 
Miss  Lotta  Hobart,  is  supervisor  of  English  in  the  Olean  High 
School,  New  York,  and  his  other  sister,  Ruth  E.,  is  the  wife  of 
Clarence  R.  Martin,  of  Detroit,  Michigan. 

Seth  G.  Hobart  was  educated  in  Friendship  High  School, 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Michigan  in  1916,  and  for 
several  months  was  employed  by  the  Conservation  Commission 
of  New  York  State.  In  December,  1916,  he  became  an  employe 
of  the  Gaulav  Coal  Land  Comnany  at  Rupert,  West  Virginia,  and 
remained  with  that  corporation  for  ten  years,  until  March  31, 
1926.  At  that  date  he  was  appointed  district  forester  for  South- 
west Virginia.  His  duties  at  first  were  in  the  department  of 
the  State  Geological  Commission.  In  November,  1926,  that  com- 
mission was  taken  over  by  the  State  Conservation  and  Develop- 
ment Commission,  and  since  then  Mr.  Hobart  has  been  respon- 
sible to  this  department  of  state  government.  In  the  seventeen 
counties  comprising  his  district  about  500  chief  or  local  forest 
wardens  report  to  him. 

Mr.  Hobart  is  a  Mason,  is  independent  in  politics,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  of  American  Foresters  and  is  a  Baptist.  He 
married  at  Cuba,  New  York,  August  1,  1917,  Miss  Hazel  B. 
Keller,  who  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Friendship  and 
in  Alfred  University  of  New  York.  She  taught  school  before 
her  marriage,  is  active  in  church,  in  the  Daughters  of  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution  and  the  Eastern  Star  Chapter.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  M.  Cicero  and  Nellie  (Blossom)  Keller.  Her  father  for  many 
years  was  active  as  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser  at  Cuba,  New 
York.  Her  mother  died  in  April.  1917.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hobart 
have  four  children :     Seth  G.,  Jr. ;  Keith  Keller,  Helen  Blossom 


506  VIRGINIA 

and  William  Lansing.  Mr.  Hobart  has  his  home  at  Bristol,  Vir- 
ginia, and  his  two  older  children  are  attending  the  public  school 
of  that  city. 

Junius  Booker  Mosby  was  one  of  "Mosby's  Men"  in  the  Con- 
federate army,  being  a  youthful  follower  of  his  great  kinsman. 
Gen.  John  S.  Mosby,  and  after  the  close  of  the  war  he  rose  to 
distinction  and  success  in  the  mercantile  field  at  Richmond, 
being  founder  of  what  is  today  the  great  department  store  of 
J.  B.  Mosby  Company. 

He  was  born  in  Powhatan  County,  Virginia,  October  18, 
1843,  and  died  at  Richmond  September  20,  1915.  The  Mosby 
family  originated  in  England,  and  is  widely  dispersed  in  Vir- 
ginia, the  early  Colonial  records  of  four  or  more  counties  show- 
ing settlements  by  them.  The  founder  of  this  branch  of  the 
family  was  Junius  Booker  Mosby,  who  came  to  America  in 
1538  and  became  a  man  of  great  landed  possessions.  One  other 
member  of  the  family  was  Edward  Mosby,  who  in  1655  was  a 
member  of  the  vestry  of  the  Westover  Parish  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

Junius  Booker  Mosby  was  a  son  of  Benjamin  and  Rachael 
Nevirah  (Cardozo)  Mosby,  being  their  only  child.  The  Cardozos 
were  a  prominent  family  of  planters  in  Powhatan  County.  Ben- 
jamin Mosby  was  also  a  soldier  under  General  Mosby  during  the 
war. 

Junius  Booker  Mosby  attended  private  schools  in  Powhatan 
County  and  was  seventeen  and  a  half  years  old  when  the  war 
broke  out.  A  large  part  of  "Mosby's  Men"  were  recruited  in 
Powhatan  County,  and  he  enlisted  in  Company  E  of  the  Fourth 
Virginia  Regiment.  He  had  four  years  of  arduous  service, 
participating  in  some  of  the  notable  exploits  of  Mosby's  Men. 
After  the  war  he  returned  to  Richmond,  began  his  career  as  a 
bookkeeper,  later  bought  an  interest  in  the  firm  of  his  employer, 
and  through  many  years  remained  steadfast  in  close  and  suc- 
cessful application  to  his  work,  eventually  retiring  from  bus- 
iness in  1913  and  leaving  a  house  which  continues  to  this  modern 
time  as  one  of  the  great  department  stores  of  the  city,  known  as 
the  J.  B.  Mosby  Company.  He  was  also  a  director  of  the  Ameri- 
can National  Bank,  the  First  National  Bank  and  the  Virginia 
Trust  Company. 

He  married,  November  11,  1897,  Mrs.  Louise  (Burwell) 
Cardozo.  She  was  the  daughter  of  John  Lewis  Burwell  and  Ann 
Washington  Womack  (named  for  her  grandmother,  Ann  Wash- 
ington Stith),  and  through  her  mother  is  connected  with  the 
Washington  family,  from  which  descended  George  Washington. 
Mrs.  Burwell,  mother  of  Mrs.  Mosby,  was  the  daughter  of 
Louisa  Stith  and  John  Pernell  Womack,  Louisa  Stith's  sister, 
Arianna,  was  the  aunt  of  George  Washington  through  her  mar- 
riage with  Warner  Washington,  brother  of  Augustine,  who  was 
the  father  of  George  Washington,  the  first  president  of  the 
United  States.  Mrs.  Mosby's  father  was  John  Lewis  Burwell, 
son  of  Peyton  Randolph  Burwell,  of  Mecklenburg  County,  and 
Jane  Sewell,  of  Gloucester  County. 

Mrs.  Mosby  by  her  first  marriage  had  two  children,  Lewis 
Burwell  Cardozo  and  Randolph  Burwell  Cardozo.  Lewis  Bur- 
well died  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years.  The  surviving  son, 
Randolph  Burwell  Cardozo,  now  in  the  railway  supply  business, 
under  the  name  Fleming  and  Cardozo,  at  Richmond,  married 


VIRGINIA  507 

Constance  Gooding,  of  London,  England,  whom  he  met  while 
overseas  during  the  World  war.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cardozo  have 
four  children,  Mosby  Gooding,  Randolph  Burwell,  Jr.,  Lewis 
Burwell  and  Thomas  Clow  Gooding  Cardozo.  Mrs.  Mosby 
resides  at  1800  West  Grace  Street,  Richmond. 

Mack  Evans.  No  profession  or  calling  has  ever  presented 
such  opportunities  for  the  really  capable  man  as  that  of  the  law, 
and  from  its  ranks  have  come  the  ablest  men  of  the  country. 
However,  it  has  always  been  impossible  for  any  man  to  rise  to 
distinction  in  the  law  without  a  thorough  preparation,  and  the 
study  and  thought  thus  required  naturally  develop  the  brain 
and  character  and  make  it  possible  to  solve  the  many  problems 
which  arise  in  the  lives  of  all.  Coeburn  is  proud  of  the  fact  it 
has  assisted  in  swelling  the  long  list  of  Virginia's  distinguished 
lawyers,  and  especially  so  of  Mack  Evans,  whose  reputation  as 
a  criminal  and  civil  lawyer  far  outruns  local  boundaries.  He  is 
a  man  of  delightful  personality,  pleasing  address,  and  he  is  not 
only  learned,  but  acutely  capable,  an  able  speaker  and  advocate, 
and  his  practice  is  fast  assuming  very  large  proportions. 

Mack  Evans  was  born  in  McDowell  County,  West  Virginia, 
February  27,  1887,  a  son  of  E.  M.  and  Elizabeth  (Puckett) 
Evans.  The  family  was  established  in  Virginia  by  the  great- 
grandfather of  Mack  Evans,  a  native  of  Wales,  and  for  many 
years  a  very  extensive  planter  and  prominent  citizen  of  the  Old 
Dominion.  His  son,  Hiram  Evans,  was  the  grandfather  of  Mack 
Evans,  and  he  was  a  veteran  of  the  Confederate  army,  having 
served  with  great  valor  during  the  war  between  the  states. 
For  years  he  was  an  active  Democrat,  holding  local  offices  and 
wielding  considerable  influence.  He,  too,  was  a  planter,  and 
went  to  Welch,  Virginia,  where  he  was  a  pioneer.  E.  M.  Evans 
is  a  noted  minister  of  the  Primitive  Baptist  faith,  now  living  at 
Honaker,  Virginia,  and  has  been  very  active  in  his  denomination 
in  West  Virginia  and  Southwest  Virginia.  In  former  years  he 
was  extensively  engaged  in  coal  mining  as  an  operator  in  West 
Virginia  and  Southwest  Virginia,  but  more  recently  has  leased 
his  mines  and  is  now  giving  all  of  his  attention  to  his  ministerial 
duties.  A  loyal  Republican,  he  is  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  party 
in  his  district,  and  could,  probably,  have  any  office  within  the 
gift  of  the  people  did  he  care  to  accept  nomination.  The 
maternal  grandfather  of  Mack  Evans  was  Malichi  Puckett,  and 
he  lived  in  McDowell  County,  West  Virginia,  where  he  was  a 
planter  and  an  active  Republican.  During  the  war  between  the 
states  he  served  in  the  Union  army,  and  because  of  injuries 
received  in  the  service  received  a  pension  from  the  Government 
until  his  death. 

•  Mack  Evans  attended  the  public  schools  of  McDowell  County, 
and  there  proved  himself  an  apt  and  ambitious  student.  Later 
he  entered  Concord  State  Normal  School,  Athens,  West  Virginia, 
from  which  institution  he  went  to  Valparaiso  University,  Indi- 
ana, and  was  graduated  therefrom  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts,  and  subsequently  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws 
from  the  same  university.  In  1916  he  was  admitted  to  practice 
at  the  bar  of  Indiana,  and  in  the  Federal  Courts  of  Indiana  that 
same  year,  and  later  in  the  Supreme  Court.  From  1916  to 
1917  he  was  engaged  in  practice  in  Hammond,  Indiana.  With 
this  country's  entry  into  the  World  war  he  returned  to  the  South 
and  took  charge  of  his  father's  mines  so  as  to  speed  up  coal  pro- 

24— VOL.  3 


508  VIRGINIA 

duction,  and  continued  to  serve  in  that  capacity  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  was  then  admitted  to  practice  in  the  courts  of 
Virginia,  located  in  Coeburn,  and  here  he  has  attained  to  the 
prominence  already  noted.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Wise  County 
Bar  Association.  One  of  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  party 
in  Wise  County,  he  has  served  Coeburn  as  mayor  since  June. 
1926,  and  the  city  has  prospered  under  his  able  administration. 
His  fraternal  connections  are  those  which  he  maintains  with 
the  Blue  Lodge  in  Masonry  and  the  Improved  Order  of  Redmen. 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  holds  his  membership. 
On  November  2,  1917,  Mr.  Evans  married  Miss  Vera  Dilley, 
of  Hebron,  Indiana,  a  daughter  of  John  M.  and  Cotolia  Dilley, 
both  of  whom  survive  and  are  living  in  Hebron,  Indiana,  being 
farming  people.  The  family,  however,  is  of  Virginian  sto;;k, 
and  Mrs.  Evans  is  a  direct  descendant  of  the  forebears  of  Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddle.  She  was  educated  in  Valparaiso  University, 
is  a  member  of  the  Eastern  Star,  to  which  her  husband  also 
belongs,  and  is  a  social  leader,  club  worker,  and  a  valued  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Evans  have  one  of  the  finest  sons  in  the  county,  John  Mack 
Evan^,  who  v/as  awarded  the  gold  medal  prize  by  the  Wise 
County  Fair  Association.  He  was  born  November  2,  1926,  on 
the  anniversary  of  his  parents'  wedding  day.  Mr.  Evans  is  an 
ardent  student  and  owns  a  very  valuable  law  library,  and  is 
recognized  as  an  authority  on  all  matters  pertaining  to  his 
profession  and  also  to  cour;ty  and  state  history.  It  would  be 
dii'icult,  perhaps,  to  find  a  man  more  generally  respected  or  hon- 
ored than  he.  or  one  who  is  more  representative  of  the  hi.^hest 
ideals  of  his  honorable  profession. 

Fayetta  Henry  Laighton,  who  died  in  New  York  City 
Easter  Monday,  April  1,  1929,  gave  the  best  years  of  her  life 
to  the  noble  work  of  education  in  her  home  City  of  Petersburg, 
Virginia.  Her  life  work  did  not  lack  appreciation.  To  quote 
from  one  of  the  resolutions  drawn  up  by  her  school  workers,  "she 
showed  great  wisdom,  heartfelt  interest  and  devotion  to  those 
in  her  care ;  holding  the  position  of  principal  of  D.  M.  Brown 
School,  she  proved  her  right  to  lead  others  of  her  profession  and 
won  their  devotion  and  respect  thereby ;  she,  the  faithful  citizen, 
served  her  city,  state  and  nation  with  great  distinction  and 
honor." 

Her  grandfather,  John  Laighton,  was  a  life  long  resident  of 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  He  took  an  active  part  in  civic 
affairs,  serving  as  mayor  of  that  city  several  terms,  his  ability 
and  integrity  having  been  recognized  and  appreciated.  Miss 
Laighton's  father.  Octave  Laighton,  was  born  and  reared  in 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  remaining  thare  until  1849.  Suc- 
cumbing in  that  year  to  a  severe  attack  of  the  gold  fever,  he 
went  in  a  sailing  vessel  by  way  of  Cape  Horn  to  San  Francisco, 
the  Golden  Gateway  to  the  mines.  His  quest  proving  unsuccess- 
ful, he  returned  east  by  the  overland  route,  crossing  mountains, 
rivers  and  plains,  almost  in  daily  sight  of  countless  buff'alo  and 
other  wild  animals  and  occasionally  coming  close  to  bands  of 
hostile  Indians.  After  weeks  of  travel  he  arrived  at  Fulton, 
Illinois,  then  a  place  of  considerable  importance,  and,  locating 
there,  he  took  up  newspaper  work,  publishing  the  Fulton 
'Advertiser  until  1859.  Retui'ning  then  to  Dinwiddle  County, 
Virginia,  he  located  on  a  farm  one  mile  from  Petersburg.     At 


VIRGINIA  509 

the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  war  he  was  exempt  from  military 
duty  on  account  of  ill  health  and  partialblindn.'sS-i.  He  lived 
throu'.'h  th3  conflict,  passing  to  the  life  beyond  in  186G. 

Octave  Laighton  married  Lucy  Dorothea  Henry,  of  very  dis- 
tinguished, Virginia  ancestry.  She  was  born  in  Charlotte  County, 
a  daughter  of  Edward  Winston  Henry  and  a  granddaughter  of 
the  famous  Patrick  Henry,  the  inspiring  orator  of  the  Revolution 
and  twice  governor  of  Virginia.  Patrick  Henry  married 
Dorothea  Dandridge,  while  his  son,  Edward  Winston  Henry, 
married  Jane  Yuille.  After  the  death  of  her  husband  Mrs. 
Octave  Laighton  moved  to  Petersburg,  where  she  lived  until  her 
death  in  1899.  She  was  the  mother  of  two  children:  Fayetta 
Henry  Laighton  and  Alberta  Winston  Laighton.  The  younger 
daughter  at  the  age  of  seventeen  began  teaching  in  one  of  Peters- 
burg's primary  schools,  later  becoming  assistant  principal  in 
the  high  school.  She  is  now  living  retired  at  Quaker  Hill, 
Dutchess  County,  New  York. 

Fayetta  Henry  Laighton  was  born  in  Dinwiddie  County,  on 
a  farm  about  a  mile  from  Petersburg.  After  graduating  from 
the  Petersburg  High  School  she  began  her  career  on  November 
11,  1886  as  special  teacher  of  reading.  She  held  this  position 
until  September,  1889,  when  she  became  a  grade  teacher  in  the 
East  Ward  School  (later  D.  M.  Brown  School).  She  continued 
as  grade  teacher  until  the  summer  of  1893  when  she  was 
appointed  principal,  which  position  she  held  until  her  death 
in  1929. 

She  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Educational  Associa- 
tion and  the  National  Education  Association,  and  in  her  religious 
altiliations  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

After  being  taken  ill  on  October,  1928,  she  gave  up  her  school 
work  and  went  to  New  York  City  for  medical  treatment  and  to 
be  near  her  sister  in  her  winter  home.  In  appreciation  of  the 
great  loss  her  absence  meant  to  the  school  the  superintendent, 
Mr.  Henry  G.  Ellis,  wrote :  "Miss  Laighton's  work  and  per- 
sonality have  made  an  indelible  impression  on  the  school  system 
of  1  etersburg  and  on  the  entire  city.  It  has  been  a  genuine 
pleasure  to  me,  personally  and  professionally,  to  be  associated 
with  her  in  recent  years  and  to  be  helped  in  my  own  life  and 
work  by  her  devotion  to  the  cause  of  education,  by  her  original 
and  incisive  thinking,  and  her  rich  personality." 

Her  funeral  service  with  the  ritual  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
was  held  in  Old  Blandford  Church  on  the  afternoon  of  a  lovely 
Virginia  spring  day  of  the  Easter  season.  The  members  of 
the  choir  were  men  and  women  former  pupils  of  the  D.  M. 
Liown  School,  the  organist  was  one  of  Miss  Laighton's  teachers, 
a  c  ose  associate  of  many  years.  The  church  was  filled  with 
her  friends  and  many  others  flowed  out  into  the  sunlit  paths 
.e.Kiin.;  10  the  church.  Among  them  were  many  children,  present 
D.  M.  Brown  school  pupils,  also  parents  of  the  children  whom 
she  had  taught  in  more  than  forty  years  of  educational  service. 
She  was  buried  in  the  family  plot  in  Blandford  cemetery  as  a 
mockingbird  sang  its  evening  song  from  a  nearby  cedar  tree. 
"Never  have  I  witnessed  in  my  long  life  here,"  said  one  of  her 
friends,  "such  an  outpouring  of  respectful  admiration,  sincere 
grief  and  spontaneous  aff'ection  on  the  part  of  so  large  a  group 
of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people  as  are  here  today." 

Ihis  brief  sketch  may  properly  be  concluded  with  some  other 
quotations  from  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  Teachers'  Club 
and  the  Parent-Teachers  Association. 


510  VIRGINIA 

"We  are  truly  thankful  for  the  example  of  her  life  and  for 
the  privilege  of  a  knowledge  of  and  association  with  her.  Firm 
in  her  friendships,  possessing  a  masterful  mind  and  memory 
stored  with  gems  of  a  lifetime  of  application,  a  keen  discrimina- 
tion in  matters  of  justice  and  honor,  and  occupying  a  position 
in  which  these  qualities  were  daily  manifested,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  any  individual  has  made  a  more  profound  impression 
upon  the  present  generation  of  this  community.  Truly  in  her 
was  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  the  poet:  'Those  about  her 
From  her  shall  read  the  perfect  ways  of  honour.'  " 
"Miss  Laighton  without  thought  of  self  gave  all  of  her 
splendid  powers  of  heart  and  intellect  to  the  upbuilding  of  the 
school  whose  welfare  she  sought  so  zealously;  and  under  whose 
guidance  and  magnetic  and  forceful  personality  the  highest 
ideals  of  life  and  conduct  were  impressed  upon  all  who  came 
within  the  sphere  of  her  influence;  the  memory  of  her  noble 
character  will  remain  graven  upon  the  hearts  of  those  to  whom 
was  given  the  privilege  of  serving  under  her  leadership,  and 
who  will  ever  be  mindful  of  her  unfailing  consideration  and 
kindly  assistance  at  all  times.  We,  the  Faculty  of  the  D.  M. 
Brown  School,  deeply  regret  the  death  of  Miss  Laighton,  who 
'yet  speaketh'  through  her  example  of  an  unselfish  life  of  service, 
as  a  principal  whose  devotion  to  duty  was  unsurpassed,  whose 
ideals  were  an  incentive  to  the  attainment  of  all  that  was  noble 
and  good;  and  as  a  friend  whose  love  it  was  a  benediction  to 
serve." 

"Nothing  is  here  for  tears,  nothing  to  wail 

Or  knock  the  breast,  no  weakness,  no  contempt 

— Nothing  but  well  and  fair, 

And  what  may  quiet  us  in  a  death  as  noble." 

Hugh  Goodwin  Bonham,  general  manager  of  the  Pulaski 
Foundry  &  Machine  Manufacturing  Corporation,  is  a  native  of 
Virginia,  received  his  technical  education  at  Blacksburg,  and 
since  early  manhood  has  been  identified  with  his  profession  as 
a  mechanical  engineer. 

He  was  born  at  Chilhowie,  Virginia,  October  28,  1884,  son 
of  A.  F.  and  Lina  (Goodwin)  Bonham.  His  grandfather,  Joseph 
Bonham,  and  his  great-grandfather,  Hezekiah  Bonham,  lived  in 
Smyth  County,  in  Southwest  Virginia,  and  both  of  them  were 
wagon  and  gun  smiths.  Mr.  Hugh  Bonham  at  his  home  has  an 
old  rifle  made  by  his  great-grandfather.  Both  these  ancestors 
are  buried  in  the  Baptist  Church  Cemetery  at  Sinklers  Bottom, 
in  Smyth  County.  A.  F.  Bonham  was  born  and  reared  at  Chil- 
howie, attended  private  schools,  and  for  a  number  of  years  did 
work  as  a  surveyor  and  civil  engineer.  He  is  still  living  on  his 
farm  near  Chilhowie  at  the  age  of  eighty  years.  His  wife,  Lina 
Goodwin,  was  born  and  reared  in  Louisa  County,  attended  pri- 
vate schools  and  for  a  year  or  two  after  the  Civil  war  was  a 
teacher.  She  was  a  regular  attendant  at  the  services  of  the 
Baptist  Church.  She  died  October  26,  1927,  and  is  buried  at 
Chilhowie.  There  were  five  children:  Mary,  of  Chilhowie; 
Hugh  G. ;  Nicie,  wife  of  John  Snavely,  of  Chilhowie ;  Joseph,  of 
-Chilhowie,  an  employe  of  the  State  Road  Commission ;  and  Daisy, 
wife  of  Dr.  0.  G.  McConnell,  a  physician  at  Blair,  West  Virginia. 

Hugh  G.  Bonham  attended  public  schools  in  Chilhowie  and 
was  a  member  of  the  class  of  1908  at  the  Virginia  Polytechnic 
Institute.     During  the  following  year  he  was  employed  in  the 


VIRGINIA  511 

testing  department  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  and  then 
located  at  Pulaski,  where  he  spent  nine  years  as  a  mechanical 
engineer  with  the  Virginia  Iron,  Coal  &  Coke  Company.  Since 
1918  he  has  been  with  the  Pulaski  foundry  &  Machine  Manu- 
facturing Corporation,  at  lirst  as  mechanical  engineer  and  since 
1928  as  reneral  manager  of  the  plant  and  business. 

Mr.  Bonham  for  a  number  of  years  has  Leen  active  in  the 
B.  P.  0.  Elks.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Rotary  Club  and  a  Demo- 
crat. At  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  May  12,  1917,  he  married 
Miss  Alice  Blocksidge,  of  1  ulaski.  She  was  educ.ited  in  a  private 
school  and  takes  part  in  the  various  organizations  of  tr.e  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Garden  Club.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Elizabeth  (Simkiss)  Blocksidge,  who 
came  to  America  from  Walverhampton,  England,  about  1880, 
locating  at  Pulaski,  where  her  father  for  over  forty  years  was 
auditor  for  the  Pulaski  Iron  Company.  Her  parents  still  reside 
at  Jb ulaski.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bonham  have  one  daughter,  Elizabeth, 
attending  the  Pulaski  public  schools. 

Robert  Augustus  McIntyre.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  is 
the  oldest  son  of  Colonel  Robert  Charles  Mclntyre,  and  Martha 
Louisa  (Murdoch)  Mclntyre,  his  wife,  of  South  Carolina.  He 
was  born  February  5,  1862,  at  Albany,  Georgia,  while  his  par- 
ents were  visiting  in  that  city.  Robert  Charles  Mclntyre  was 
a  son  of  Captain  Archibald  J\lclntyre,  of  Maiion,  Soutn  Caro- 
lina, of  Clan  ilclntyre,  from  Argyleshire,  Scotland,  a  Clan 
aistinguiched  in  letters  and  in  war.  The  Arir.s  of  tne  family 
bear  testimony  to  their  achievements  in  the  Crusades;  the  great- 
est of  Gaelic  poets  was  Duncan  Ban  Maclntyre.  His  mother  was 
of  the  Cian  IMacLachian,  descended  from  Conn  of  Tne  Hundred 
Battles  Nine  Hundred,  A.  D. 

Captain  Mclntyre  married  Sophia  Eliza  Howard,  a  daughter 
of  Colonel  Richard  Howard,  of  the  Effingham  Branch  of  the 
Howard  tami  y,  and  lineal  descendant  of  Thomas  Howard,  Duke 
of  Norfolk,  victor  of  Flodden  Field.  Colonel  Howard  owned  a 
large  estate  and  many  slaves  in  West  Marion,  where  he  lived  the 
life  of  an  English  Gentleman,  had  his  private  race  track,  and  ran 
his  thoroughbreds  at  Charieston,  in  the  "good  old  days."  This 
representative  couple  of  the  old  aristocracy,  had  nine  children, 
five  sons  in  the  Confederate  Army,  four  cf  whom  were  severely 
wounded,  and  the  fifth  killed,  at  Sharpsburg. 

The  Mclntyres  for  generations  have  placed  the  highest  value 
on  education,  and  each  of  these  children  received  the  best  edu- 
cational advantages.  Robert  Charles,  father  of  Robert  Augus- 
tus, was  a  graduate  of  Mt.  Zion  (Military)  College,  and  of  South 
Carclina  College  under  Dr.  Thernweil ;  a  lawyer  by  education 
and  profession,  a  well  kno\vii  literatus  and  classical  scholar,  and 
an  eloquent  speaker. 

Robert  Charles  Mclntyre  married  Martha  Louisa  Murdoch, 
daughter  of  Alexander  Murdoch,  a  son  of  John  JIurdoch  of 
Beauty  Spot,  and  his  wife,  Janet  MacGreggor.  John  IMurdoch 
was  scion  of  the  Murdochs  descended  from  Muredach.  King  of 
Scotland  in  7-33.  Janet  IMacGreggor  was  of  the  famous  MacGreg- 
gor Clan. 

Alexander  Murdoch,  father  of  Mrs.  Robert  Charles  Mclntyi'e, 
married  Martha  Louisa  Wayne,  a  daughter  of  Major  Francis  A. 
Wayne,  sen  of  William  Wayne,  who  was  a  grandson  of  Captain 
Anthony  Wayne,  distinguished  as. a  captain  of  Dragoons  under 
William  of  Orange  at  the  battle  of  The  Boyne.     Captain  An- 


512  VIRGINIA 

thony  Wayne  was  the  grandfather  of  William  Wayne  and  Gen- 
eral Anthony  Wayne  of  Revolutionary  fame.  General  Wayne 
was  William's  Guardian,  and  carried  his  ward  to  South  Carolina 
during  the  Revolution,  where  he  remained  after  the  Revolution, 
and  married  Elizabeth  Trezevant,  a  great  granddaughter  of 
Daniel  Trezevant,  one  of  the  first  Huguenots  that  settled  in 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  1689,  after  the  Revocation  of  The 
Edict  of  Nantes,  Mrs.  Mclntyre's  father  and  mother  having  died 
when  she  was  twelve  years  old.  General  William  Evans,  her 
uncle,  acted  as  her  guardian,  and  directed  her  education.  She 
entered  Wesleyan  Female  College,  Macon,  Georgia,  at  thirteen 
years  of  age,  where  she  was  known  as  the  "Little  Giant,"  and 
afterwards  finished  her  education  at  LaGrange  College,  La- 
Grange,  Georgia.  She  was  a  great  reader,  and  had  a  quick,  re- 
tentive memory.  She  was  an  accomplished  writer,  and  her  let- 
ters were  models  of  epistolary  composition.  She  was  her  son's 
first  teacher  and  directed  his  earlier  education. 

Robert  Augustus  Mclntyre,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
through  his  father  and  mother,  received  an  excellent  education 
independently  of  the  opportunities  that  were  given  him  in  the 
schools  of  the  day.  It  was  his  father's  influence  that  inspired 
in  him  a  life-long  love  for  classic  learning.  It  was  contact  with 
his  father  and  mother  that  directed  him  to  high  aspirations  and 
purposes  in  life,  and  stimulated  his  ambition. 

When  young  Robert  Mclntyre  was  entered  as  a  cadet  in 
Bethel  Classical  and  Military  Academy,  near  Warrenton,  Vir- 
ginia, where  many  young  Southerners  were  educated,  the  su- 
perintendent paid  him  the  compliment  of  informing  him  that 
he  was  the  best  prepared  student  that  had  ever  entered  the 
Academy  from  the  South. 

Having  finished  his  academic  studies  and  his  full  course  in 
law,  he  was  admitted  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  before  the 
County  Court  of  Fauquier,  in  the  State  of  Virginia ;  but  shortly 
afterwards  returned  to  Bennettsville,  South  Carolina,  and  was 
licensed  to  practice  his  profession  in  that  state,  by  the  Supreme 
Court  sitting  in  Columbia,  in  1883.  He  was  successful  in  prac- 
tice from  the  start ;  but  having  received  an  offer  of  a  position  in 
the  faculty  of  Bethel  Classical  and  Military  Academy,  of  which 
his  father-in-law.  Major  Albert  G.  Smith  was  superintendent 
and  founder,  he  accepted  and  continued  to  hold  the  position  until 
the  death  of  Major  Smith,  when  he  was  advanced  to  the  position 
of  superintendent.  While  connected  with  the  academy  he  was 
at  the  head  of  the  department  engaged  in  the  preparation  of 
students  for  the  law  course  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  which 
he  conducted  with  unusual  success.  While  a  member  of  the  fac- 
ulty, Major  Mclntyre  wrote  a  text  book  on  Bookkeeping,  on  Eng- 
lisn  Grammar  and  on  English  Composition.  He  also  contributed  to 
the  press  and  wrote  other  works  on  different  subjects.  He  was 
a  very  hard  student  and  seized  every  opportunity  to  extend  his 
knowledge  by  original  research  in  letters,  and  in  the  sciences. 

His  interest  in  education  has  never  ceased.  He  was  for  sev- 
eral years  chairman  of  the  School  Board  of  Center  District,  has 
been  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Teachers  Colleges  of  Vir- 
ginia for  almost  two  terms,  having  been  first  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Trinkle,  and  re-appointed  by  Governor  Byrd.  He  is  in 
demand  as  a  speaker  at  commencement  exercises,  and  takes  a 
lively  interest  in  the  local  public  schools. 

Having  retired  from  the  position  of  superintendent  of  Bethel 
Military  Academy,  he  opened  an  office  and  resumed  the  practice 


VIRGINIA  513 

of  his  profession  in  Warrenton,  Virginia,  in  June,  1902.  Since 
that  time  he  has  }?iven  his  life  to  the  profession  to  which  his 
parents  had  dedicated  him  upon  the  day  of  his  birth.  He  had 
practiced  but  a  few  months  before  he  had  many  clients  and  had 
earned  a  place  among  the  leading  members  of  an  able  bar.  Few 
important  cases  are  heard  in  ths  local  courts,  either  criminal  or 
civil  that  Mclntyre's  name  does  not  appear  as  counsel  on  one 
side  or  the  other.  His  practice  has  grown  and  spread,  until 
few  lawyers  in  the  Eighth  Congressional  District  are  better  or 
more  favorably  known.  He  is  counsel  for  the  Peoples  National 
Bank,  The  International  Harvester  Company,  Virginia  Public 
Service  Company,  Standard  Oil  Company,  The  United  States 
Fidelity  and  Guaranty  Company. 

He  has  been  a  member  of  the  State  Bar  Association  and  held 
official  position  in  it,  from  the  second  year  of  its  organization. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  American  Bar  Association  for 
many  years,  he  is  vice  president  of  the  local  Bar  Association, 
practices  in  the  Federal  Courts,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Bar  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  A  vacancy  having  oc- 
curred on  the  Circuit  Bench  in  his  county  in  1929,  he  received 
the  unanimous  endorsement  of  the  bar  for  the  judgeship,  but 
declined  to  consider  the  honor. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  University  Club  of  Richmond,  of  the 
Country  Club  of  Warrenton,  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  a  member 
of  the  Patriotic  Order  Sons  of  America,  lieutenant  comman- 
der of  the  Sons  of  Confederate  Veterans,  an  active  supporter 
of  the  Warrenton  Horse  Show,  having  presided  at  its  organiza- 
tion thirty  years  ago,  has  been  an  active  director  in  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  a  director  in  the  Peoples  National  Bank,  and 
is  a  Vestryman  of  St.  James  Episcopal  Church  of  Warrenton, 
Virginia. 

During  the  World  war,  Major  Mclntyre  was  chairman  of 
The  Legal  Advisory  Board,  chairman  of  the  United  War  Work 
Campaign,  chaiiinan  of  The  Four  Minute  Men,  speaker  on  the 
Propaganda  Committee  of  the  Red  Cross,  and  his  name  is  re- 
corded in  the  history  of  Virginia's  part  in  the  World  war  as  one 
of  the  te7i  77iost  distinguished  uien  for  service  from  Fauquier 
County. 

In  public  life  of  his  county  and  state,  he  has  taken  an  active 
part  since  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age.  He  was  generally 
endorsed  for  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1902,  but  de- 
clined in  favor  of  an  old  Confederate  soldier.  He  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  State  Democratic  Committee  from  the  Eighth 
Congressional  District,  and  served  for  twelve  years,  during 
which  time  he  performed  a  number  of  most  important  duties. 
He  was  chairman  of  the  Special  Committee  named  to  investi- 
gate the  Second  Congressional  District  Primary,  in  the  contro- 
versy between  Maynard  and  Young,  which  led  to  cleaning  up 
conditions  in  the  politics  of  Norfolk  City.  He  was  named  chair- 
man of  a  committee  to  prepare  a  Primary'  Law  for  the  State 
of  Virginia,  and  secure  its  adoption.  He  did  all  of  the  work, 
no  other  member  of  the  committee  having  appeared,  and  the 
present  Primaiy  Law  of  the  State  is  the  result  of  his  service. 
He  has  been  one  of  the  speakers  in  every  Presidential  Campaign 
for  the  past  twenty-five  years,  for  the  Democratic  Party.  When 
the  historic  and  supreme  effoi-t  of  the  people  of  Virginia  swept 
the  Commonwealth  into  the  dry  column,  Mclntyre  was  chair- 
man and  led  the  fight  in  the  Eighth  District,  including  the  ten 
counties  of  Northern  Virginia,  and  the  City  of  Alexandria.     He 


514  VIRGINIA 

was  a  candidate  for  the  nomination  as  member  of  the  House 
of  Delegates  before  the  Democratic  Primary  of  August  6,  1929, 
and  was  nominated  by  an  overwhelming  majority;  while  the 
Republicans  offer  no  opposition  to  his  election  in  November. 

He  has  been  one  of  the  most  active  advocates  and  supporters 
of  road  improvement  in  his  county,  and  has  given  of  his  means 
freely.  He  was  attorney  for  the  first  Bond  Issue  in  Center  Dis- 
trict, contributed  largely  to  the  building  of  the  Bethel  Road, 
which  was  the  first  example  of  hard  surface  road  construction 
in  Fauquier;  represented  all  of  the  counties  from  the  Potomac 
River  to  the  City  of  Winchester,  in  securing  the  adoption  by 
the  Legislative  Committee,  of  the  "project"  then  unnamed,  but 
now  known  as  the  Lee-Jackson  Memorial  Highway,  from  the 
Key  Bridge  to  Winchester.  For  his  services  before  the  Legisla- 
tive Committee  in  assisting  to  locate  the  "project"  from  Raleigh, 
North  Carolina,  to  Frederick,  Maryland,  he  was  rewarded  by 
having  the  same  routed  through  Fauquier  County,  and  was 
elected  it's  first  vice  president.  He  opposed  the  Fifty  Million 
Dollar  Bond  Issue  when  that  question  was  before  the  people, 
and  advocated  the  Pay  As  You  Go  Plan.  Few  men  in  Northern 
Virginia  have  taken  a  livelier  interest  in  a  rational  road  build- 
ing and  improvement  policy,  than  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Major  Robert  Augustus  Mclntyre,  married  Elizabeth  Black- 
well,  daughter  and  only  child  of  Major  Albert  G.  Smith,  a  son 
of  Col.  William  R.  Smith  of  Alton,  and  member  of  the  dis- 
tinguished Smith  family  of  Fauquier.  Major  Smith  was 
founder  of  Bethel  Classical  and  Military  Academy,  and  enjoyed 
the  well  earned  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  greatest  edu- 
cators of  his  day.  He  was  especiaUy  distinguished  for  his  gal- 
lantry in  the  Charge  of  Pickett's  Division  at  Gettysbui'g,  where 
he  went  through  the  enemy's  lines,  recovered  the  colors  of  his 
Regiment,  and  succeeded  in  escaping  untouched.  Mrs.  Mcln- 
tyre's  Mother,  was  Elizabeth  Carter  Blackwell,  a  daughter  of 
Mr.  James  Blackwell  of  The  Meadows,  and  a  lineal  descendant 
of  Robert  Carter,  generally  known  as  "King"  Carter.  Five 
children  were  born  of  this  union :  Albert  Galatin,  who  died  in 
childhood,  Louisa  Murdoch,  Elizabeth  Carter,  Robert  Charles, 
and  Agnes  Conway. 

Major  Mclntyre  has  been  from  early  manhood,  one  of  the 
most  prominent  and  successful  business  men  in  his  county.  He 
owned  and  managed  Bethel  Military  Academy  with  patronage 
from  twenty-two  states  and  foreign  countries,  and  the  Fau- 
quier White  Sulphur  Springs,  which  brought  more  foreign  cap- 
ital into  the  county  than  any  other  enterprises  in  it.  He  is  one 
of  the  large  land  owners  of  his  section,  among  which  holdings 
are  the  Bethel  Academy  property,  "Springfield,"  and  "Argyle," 
his  home  place  near  Warrenton. 

Homer  King  Bowen,  executive  secretary  of  the  Southwestern 
Virginia,  Incorporated,  with  headquarters  at  Wytheville,  comes 
of  a  family  highly  connected  in  this  part  of  the  state,  and  the 
Bowens  were  among  the  first  families  of  Virginia. 

Mr.  Bowen  was  born  at  Pembroke,  in  Giles  County,  Novem- 
ber 15,  1897,  son  of  A.  M.  and  Sarah  Etta  (Scott)  Bowen.  His 
father  was  born  in  Alleghany  County,  Virginia,  was  educated  in 
public  schools,  studied  law,  and  practiced  that  profession  for  a 
number  of  years  in  Allerhany  and  Giles  County.  The  last  ten 
or  fifteen  years  of  his  life  were  devoted  to  farming  and  stock 
raising.    He  died  February  28,  1928,  and  is  buried  in  the  Hoge 


VIRGINIA  515 

Chapel  Cemetery  in  Giles  County.  His  wife,  Sarah  Etta  Scott, 
was  born  and  reared  in  Scott  County,  Virginia.  She  is  a  member 
of  the  Christian  Church,  and  her  husband  also  joined  that 
church,  though  reared  a  Methodist.  There  were  eight  children 
in  the  family:  R.  J.  Bowen,  of  Bluefield,  West  Virginia;  1'.  C. 
Bowen,  of  Christiansburg,  Virginia;  Alonzo  Pembroke;  M.  M. 
Bowen,  of  Columbus,  Ohio;  L.  B.  Bowen,  of  Narrows,  Virginia; 
Hallie  Payne,  wife  of  R.  L.  Carico,  of  Patoaka,  West  Virginia; 
Homer  King;  and  J.  Porter  Bowen,  of  Rock,  West  Virginia. 

Homer  King  Bowen  attended  public  schools  in  Giles  County, 
and  for  several  years  he  used  the  equipment  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion in  the  profession  of  teaching.  He  was  graduated  Bachelor  of 
Arts  from  Roanoke  College  in  1919,  and  did  post-graduate  work 
in  Cclumliia  University  of  New  York  and  in  the  George  Peabody 
Normal  College  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  he  received  the 
Master  of  Arts  degree  in  1923.  For  five  years  he  was  with  a 
private  school  for  boys,  the  Gallatin  Institute,  near  Nashville. 
Mr.  Bowen  spent  two  years  as  an  instructor  in  the  Augusta  Mili- 
tary Academy  at  Fort  Defiance,  Virginia,  and  one  year  in  the 
Woodbury  Forest  School. 

In  July,  1927,  he  located  at  Wytheville  as  executive  secretary 
of  the  Southwestern  Virginia,  Incorporated.  Under  this  title 
is  carried  on  a  notable  work  of  publicity  and  in  other  lines  for 
a  regional  Chamber  of  Commerce,  representing  nineteen  counties 
in  Southwest  Virginia.  Mr.  Bowen  and  one  of  his  brothers 
operate  the  home  farm,  and  he  is  also  owner  of  the  Haynes  Motor 
Company  at  Winchester,  Tennessee. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  Knights  of 
Pythias,  Modern  W'oodmen  of  America,  Rotary  Club,  is  an  inde- 
pendent Republican,  and  is  active  in  the  Christian  Church,  teach- 
ing a  class  in  the  Sunday  school.  Mr.  Bowen  married  at  Lynch- 
burg, Virginia,  September  3,  1927,  Miss  Beatrice  Margaret 
Watts,  of  Sweet  Briar  College,  Virginia,  a  graduate  of  that  splen- 
did woman's  college  with  the  class  of  1925.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Robert  W.  Watts,  for  many  years  a  leading  contractor  at 
Sweet  Briar,  where  he  and  his  wife  still  reside. 

Frederick  Albert  Whittaker,  who  represents  a  family 
with  residence  in  Giles  County  for  four  generations,  lives  at 
Eggleston,  and  has  a  varied  and  important  connection  with  the 
civic  and  business  afli'airs  of  that  locality. 

He  was  born  at  Staffordsville,  Virginia.  March  22,  1888.  His 
grandfather,  Jim  Whittaker,  was  also  born  and  reared  in  Giles 
County,  and  was  a  private  soldier  in  the  Confederate  army.  He 
and  other  members  of  his  family  are  buried  in  Rye  Hollow 
Cemetery.  David  Lewis  Whittaker,  father  of  Frederick  Albert, 
was  born  and  reared  at  Staffordsville.  attended  private  schools, 
and  spent  his  active  life  as  a  farmer,  cattle  raiser  and  dealer. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Christian 
Church.  He  died  in  March,  1928.  He  married  Margaret  Jane 
Albert,  whose  father,  Riley  Albert,  was  a  Confederate  soldier,  a 
farmer  and  stock  raiser  in  the  Rye  Hollow  communitv.  Ihe 
farm  where  she  was  born  and  reared  is  now  owned  by  her  son, 
Frederick  A.  She  attended  public  schools,  and  for  manv  years 
has  been  a  faithful  member  of  the  Christian  Church.  She  was 
born  July  4,  1856.  and  still  lives  at  the  old  home.  Of  her  eleven 
children,  one,  Charles,  died  in  infancy ;  Cora,  deceased,  was  the 
wife  of  Robert  Meadows ;  Elliot  lives  at  Trigg,  Virginia ;  \'ert 


516  VIRGINIA 

is  the  wife  of  A.  J.  Munsey,  of  Staff ordsville ;  Bent  lives  at 
Staff ordsville ;  Ada  is  at  home;  Clayton  S.  is  a  merchant  at 
Eggleston ;  Frederick  Albert  is  the  next  in  age ;  Tracy  is  a 
farmer  and  cattle  raiser  at  the  old  home  place  at  Staffordsville ; 
Blanche  is  the  wife  of  Ophus  Agee,  of  New  River ;  and  Clara  is 
the  wife  of  Reece  Ross,  of  Lynchburg. 

Frederick  Albert  Whittaker  attended  public  schools  in  Giles 
County,  and  since  leaving  school  his  business  has  been  farming, 
cattle  raising  and  trading  cattle,  at  first  associated  with  his 
father  and  now  independently.  He  is  also  a  director  in  the 
Peoples  Bank  of  Giles,  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Eggleston  Motor 
Company,  in  the  State  National  Bank  of  Roanoke  and  in  the 
Shenandoah  Life  Insurance  Company.  For  some  time  he  served 
as  deputy  agent  of  the  Internal  Revenue  Bureau.  He  is  a  Re- 
pubhcan,  member  of  the  Christian  Church  and  a  Master  Mason. 

Mr.  Whittaker  married  at  Eggleston,  July  14,  1915,  Miss 
Annie  Laurie  Walker,  of  Eggleston.  They  were  married  in  the 
Baptist  Church  by  Rev.  H.  E.  Bailey,  a  Lutheran  minister.  Mrs. 
Whittaker  is  a  daughter  of  John  F.  and  Maggie  (Jones)  Walker. 
Her  father  was  a  Confederate  soldier,  and  after  the  war  a 
farmer  and  cattle  man.  More  details  concerning  the  Walker 
family  are  published  on  other  pages.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whittaker 
have  three  children,  Frederick  Albert  Jr.,  Wilmet  Walker  and 
Margaret  Virginia,  all  attending  public  school  at  Eggleston. 

J.  Horace  Luster  is  a  Blacksburg  business  man,  and  has 
achieved  a  successful  career  in  that  community,  where  his  name 
is  associated  with  business  success  and  the  public  spirited 
activities  of  a  citizen  of  fine  integrity  and  reliability. 

Mr.  Luster  was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  Virginia,  Sep- 
tember 26,  1891.  His  grandfather,  Edwin  B.  Luster,  was  the 
son  of  an  early  Baptist  minister  in  Virginia.  Edwin  B.  Luster 
spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  as  a  merchant  at  Fincastle, 
Virginia,  where  he  died  in  1910.  James  0.  Luster,  father  of 
the  Blacksburg  business  man,  was  born  and  reared  in  Botetourt 
County,  attended  school  there  and  for  many  years  conducted  a 
hardware  business  at  Fincastle.  After  selling  his  interests  there 
he  moved  to  Blacksburg  and  became  interested  with  his  son  in 
a  hardware  business  in  that  city.  He  and  his  wife  reside  in 
Blacksburg,  and  are  active  members  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
James  0.  Luster  married  Bettie  Ross,  who  was  born  and  reared 
in  Botetourt  County,  and  attended  school  there.  She  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Mary  Alexander  Ross,  the  former  from  Scotland 
and  the  latter  from  Union,  West  Virginia.  J.  Horace  Luster 
was  one  of  four  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  His 
sister.  Miss  Kathleen,  was  educated  in  the  Virginia  Intermont 
College  and  the  Peabody  Conservatory  at  Baltimore,  and  is  a 
very  talented  vocalist,  well  known  in  concert  work  and  in  church 
choirs  at  Richmond. 

J.  Horace  Luster  attended  public  schools  at  Fincastle,  the 
West  Virginia  Wesleyan  College,  and  on  leaving  school  he  went 
to  work  for  his  uncle,  A.  W.  Luster,  a  hardware  merchant  at 
Blacksburg.  He  has  remained  there  through  the  years,  and 
after  the  death  of  his  uncle  he  took  over  the  hardware  store 
and  has  given  his  chief  attention  to  this  business.  He  is  also  a 
director  in  the  National  Bank  of  Blacksburg  and  a  director  and 
stockholder  in  a  number  of  other  commercial  enterprises  in  that 


VIRGINIA  517 

part  of  the  state.    Mr.  Luster  is  a  former  president  of  the  Blacks- 
burg  Rotary  Club,  is  a  Democrat  and  a  Methodist. 

He  married  at  Blacksburg,  December  6,  1916,  Miss  Mary 
Louise  Black,  who  was  educated  in  Hollins  College.  She  was  an 
adopted  daughter  of  Alexander  Black,  the  well  known  Blacks- 
burg  banker  and  business  man.  She  died  November  24,  1918, 
and  is  buried  in  the  Blacksburg  Cemetery.  On  July  21,  1928, 
Mr.  Luster  married  at  Blacksburg  Mrs.  Mary  (Powell)  Burr. 
Her  father,  William  Powell,  was  a  leading  attorney  of  Emporia, 
Virginia.  Mrs.  Luster  by  her  first  husband,  Charles  Gilbert 
Burr,  has  two  children,  Charles  Gilbert,  Jr.,  and  Sue  Macklan 
Burr.  Mrs.  Luster  is  a  church  worker,  being  identified  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution. 

Hon.  John  C.  Smith,  A  member  of  the  bar  of  Southwestern 
Virginia  for  thirty-three  years,  during  his  long  and  active  career 
at  Clintwood  Hon.  John  C.  Smith  has  been  engaged  in  work  of 
the  highest  professional  character,  and  through  the  exercise  of 
native  and  acquired  talent,  comprehensive  knowledge  of  legal 
lore  and  great  industry  has  gained  and  held  a  position  of  lead- 
ership among  his  contemporaries.  He  has  likewise  been  a  lead- 
ing figure  in  public  and  political  affairs,  and  on  various  occasions 
has  been  the  recipient  of  high  honors  at  the  hands  of  his  appre- 
ciative fellow  citizens  in  Dickenson  County. 

Mr.  Smith  was  born  November  12,  1870,  at  Nora,  Dickenson 
County,  Virginia,  and  is  a  son  of  Elexius  and  Margaret  (Counts) 
Smith.  The  Smith  family  is  of  English  descent  and  settled  early 
in  Russell  County,  Virginia,  where  was  born  the  grandfather 
of  John  C.  Smith,  George  W.  Smith.  He  was  a  lifelong  planter 
and  stockman,  a  man  of  high  character  and  of  influence  in  his 
community,  an  unswerving  Democrat  and  a  faithful  member  of 
the  Primitive  Baptist  Church.  Elexius  Smith  was  born  in  Rus- 
sell County,  and  was  still  a  youth  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Con- 
federate army  for  service  during  the  war  between  the  states. 
Following  that  struggle  he  settled  in  Dickenson  County,  where 
he  passed  the  rest  of  his  life  as  a  planter.  He  and  his  worthy 
wife  were  members  of  the  l^rimitive  Baptist  Church.  The  ma- 
ternal grandfather  of  John  C.  Smith,  William  Counts,  was  born 
in  what  was  then  Wise  County,  but  is  now  a  part  of  Dickenson 
County,  where  he  passed  his  life  to  the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety- 
five  years  as  a  planter  and  a  pioneer  grower  of  orchids  for 
the  market. 

The  public  schools  of  Dickenson  County  furnished  John  C. 
Smith  with  his  early  educational  training,  and  like  many  of  the 
lawyers  who  have  risen  to  success  in  this  part  of  the  state  entered 
upon  his  career  as  a  school  teacher.  For  four  years  he  instructed 
the  young,  including  a  term  as  principal  of  the  institution  known 
as  Clintwood  College,  and  then  pursued  a  course  at  the  Pike 
County  Academy  at  Dorton,  Kentucky.  In  1895  he  graduated 
from  the  Northern  Indiana  Normal  School  at  Valparaiso,  Indi- 
ana, with  th':  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws,  and  located  immedi- 
ately at  Clintwood  to  engage  in  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
For  the  f'St  two  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of 
Evans  &  Smith,  but  since  then  has  practiced  alone  and  has  a 
large  and  lucrative  general  practice,  with  offices  on  Main  Street. 
Mr.  Snath  is  a  Republican  in  his  political  views,  and  served  for 


518  VIRGINIA 

twenty  years  as  a  member  of  the  State  Republican  Executive 
Committee,  representing  the  Ninth  Congressional  District,  of 
which  district  he  was  supervisor  of  the  census  in  1910.  In 
1898  he  was  elected  commonwealth's  attorney  for  a  four  year 
term,  being  the  first  Republican  ever  elected  to  that  office  in  the 
county.  He  was  sent  back  to  that  office  in  1914  and  again  in 
1918,  and  established  a  splendid  record  for  efficiency  and  con- 
scientious attention  to  dutv.  During  the  World  war  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  War  Savings  Stamp  committee  of  Dickenson  County, 
and  put  over  the  county's  quota. 

Mr.  Smith  married  Miss  Lillie  Jane  Compton.  of  Scott 
County,  Virginia,  a  daughter  of  Berry  and  Susan  Compton,  the 
former  a  farmer  and  stockman  and  of  an  old  and  distinguished 
Virginia  family.  She  completed  her  education  in  Shoemaker 
College,  Gate  City,  Virginia,  and  taught  school  in  Scott  and 
Dickenson  counties  for  a  number  of  years  prior  to  her  marriage. 
She  is  a  popular  member  of  the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star  and 
an  active  worker  in  the  activities  of  the  Missionary  Baptist 
Church.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  have  been  born  the  following 
children :  Stella  Richmond,  educated  in  Clintwood  High  School, 
Virginia  Interment  College  at  Bristol  and  Hollms  College,  who 
took  a  course  in  music  at  Hood  College,  Maryland,  married  Law- 
rence T.  Long,  now  deceased,  a  mine  inspector  for  the  United 
States  Coal  and  Coke  Company  of  Gary,  West  Virginia,  with 
headquarters  at  Dante,  Virginia,  and  has  one  child,  Lucile  Tier- 
ney;  Mamie  Fulton,  who  died  in  infancy;  and  Lucile  Marrison, 
her  twin,  who  lived  to  be  fourteen  .\ears  of  age.  This  was  the 
first  pair  of  twins  to  be  born  in  Dickenson  County. 

Isaac  H.  Looney,  purchasing  agent  and  commissary  manager 
of  the  Virginia  Hardwood  Lumber  Company  at  Bastian,  is  repre- 
sentative of  one  of  the  old  families  of  Southwestern  Virginia. 

His  great-grandfather,  Joseph  Looney,  at  a  very  early  time, 
accompanied  by  his  brother,  moved  out  of  Botetourt  County, 
where  the  Looneys  had  lived  for  a  long  time,  and  settled  in 
Buchanan  County,  in  Northwestern  Virginia,  when  that  di.sti'ict 
was  well  out  on  the  frontier.  It  was  in  Buchanan  County,  near 
Grundy,  tnat  Isaac  H.  Looney  was  born  September  25,  1898.  He 
is  a  son  of  Rev.  Birdine  and  Rosa  C.  (Boyd)  Looney.  His 
father  was  born  and  reared  in  the  same  county,  and  is  a  farmer 
and  local  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
still  carrying  on  the  work  of  his  farm  and  church  at  Leemaster, 
Virginia.  His  wife,  Rosa  C.  Boyd,  was  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Isaac 
Newton  and  Nancy  Boyd,  her  father  having  been  one  of  the 
early  Methodist  ministers  in  Southwestern  Virginia.  She  was 
reared  and  educated  in  Buchanan  County,  and  all  her  life  has 
been  a  devoted  worker  in  the  Methodist  Church.  The  six  chil- 
dren of  these  parents  were :  Isaac  H.,  Nancy  Rosa,  Elihu  Hol- 
land, Leah,  Carl  and  Webster. 

Isaac  H.  Looney  was  educated  in  public  schools  in  Buchanan 
County,  attending  high  school,  and  when  he  left  school  his  first 
work  was  with  I.  C.  Boyd  &  Company,  a  mercantile  firm.  He 
clerked  in  their  establishment  until  1918,  and  then  for  a  few 
months  was  at  home.  In  1917  he  resumed  his  service  with 
I.  C.  Boyd  &  Company  at  Putnam,  but  since  1920  has  been  with 
the  Virginia  Hardwood  Lumber  Company  as  manager  of  the 
commissary,  at  first  at  South  Clinchfield  and  in  1927  the  company 
moved  its  band   mill   operations  to  Bastian   in   Bland   County, 


VIRGINIA  519 

where  Mr.  Looney  is  located  as  manager  of  the  commissary  and 
as  purchasing  agent.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Pocahontas  Fire 
Creek  Coal  Company. 

Mr.  Looney  is  one  of  the  public  spirited  men  of  his  com- 
munity and  is  active  in  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  took  his  first 
degree  in  Masonry  at  Honaker,  Virginia,  and  is  a  member  of 
the  Scottish  Rite  body  and  Kazim  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine 
at  Roanoke.  Mr.  Looney  is  a  Democrat,  is  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Stewards  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  teaches  a  class  of  young  people  in  the  Sunday  School. 

He  married  in  Tazewell  County,  Virginia,  June  15,  1921,  Miss 
Lucille  Edith  Boyd.  She  was  educated  in  public  schools  in 
Russell  County  and  in  the  class  of  1918  in  the  Stonewall  Jack- 
son College  at  Abingdon,  Virginia,  and  also  attended  a  business 
college  in  Kentucky.  For  about  a  year  before  her  marriage  she 
was  bookkeeper  with  the  I.  C.  Boyd  Mercantile  Company,  where 
Mr.  Looney  was  also  employed.  She  is  a  member  ot  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Looney  have  one 
son,  William  Boyd  Looney,  now  in  public  school  at  Bastian. 

Mrs.  Looney  is  a  daughter  of  C.  W.  and  Vina  (l-hillips)  Boyd. 
Her  mother  died  a  number  of  years  ago  at  Kichland,  Virginia. 
C.  W.  Boyd  has  for  many  years  been  one  of  the  outstanding 
lumber  operators  in  Southwestern  Virginia.  About  1920  he 
organized  the  Virginia  Hardwood  Lumber  Company,  and  is  the 
active  head  of  that  business,  with  main  offices  at  Tazewell.  This 
company  has  operated  mills  in  a  number  of  hardwood  districts, 
formerly  at  Fort  Blackmore,  then  at  South  Clinchfield,  and  since 
i9zv  at  Bastian,  where  the  company  owns  34,000  acres  of  timber 
land.  The  business  is  one  that  employs  about  300  people  and 
the  daily  cut  is  70,000  feet. 

Paul  L.  Comer  is  one  of  the  organizers  and  is  cashier  of  the 
Farmei-s  &  Mercliants  Bank  of  Kicn  Creek,  Ciles  County.  He  is 
a  very  able  and  popular  business  man  and  citizen,  and  is  well 
known  through  his  connections  on  both  sides  ot  the  state  line  in 
West  Virginia  as  well  as  in  Virginia. 

He  was  born  at  Wikel,  West  Virginia,  Augu.st  17,  1903,  son 
of  J.  A.  and  Minnie  (Mann)  Comer.  His  great-great-grand- 
iather,  Frederick  Comer,  was  one  of  three  brothers  who  came 
from  France  to  America,  and  he  settled  in  what  is  now  West  Vir- 
ginia in  pioneer  times.  J.  A.  Comer  was  born  in  1868,  and  has 
spent  his  active  life  in  Monroe  County,  West  Virginia.  He  has 
been  a  farmer  and  for  many  years  in  the  lumber  business,  and 
still  occupies  his  homestead  at  Wikel.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  His  wife,  Minnie  Mann, 
was  born  and  reared  in  West  Virginia,  and,  like  her  husband, 
had  the  advantages  of  public  schools,  and  both  are  members  of 
the  Baptist  Church.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Rebekahs.  They 
were  the  parents  of  six  sons :  Carl  A.,  a  lumberman  and  truck 
farmer  at  Wikel;  Samuel  H.,  who  died  at  the  age  of  fifteen; 
Paul  L. ;  Howard  E.,  in  the  automobile  business  at  Lmdside,  Mon- 
roe County,  West  Virginia;  Thurman  H.  and  Eugene  E.,  both 
attending  high  school  at  Greenville. 

Paul  L.  Comer  was  educated  in  public  schools  at  W^ikel.  For 
four  years  he  was  a  teacher  in  West  Virginia,  and  he  received 
one  of  the  first  life  certificates  granted  by  the  State  Educational 
Department  of  West  Virginia.  After  giving  up  teaching  he  en- 
tered the  National  Business  College  at  Roanoke,  and  completed 
the  work  required  for  a  diploma  in  the  shortest  time  of  any 


520  VIRGINIA 

graduate,  this  being  largely  due  to  his  exceptional  proficiency 
in  mathematics.  After  graduating  he  was  bookkeeper  for  the 
American  National  Bank  at  Roanoke  for  a  time. 

Mr.  Comer  in  1924  was  associated  with  J.  S.  Taylor  in  the 
organization  of  the  Farmers  &  Merchants  Bank  of  Rich  Creek, 
Mr.  Taylor  becoming  the  first  cashier  and  Mr.  Comer,  book- 
keeper and  assistant  cashier.  Since  January  1,  1926,  Mr.  Comer 
has  performed  the  duties  of  cashier  of  this  bank.  He  is  also 
secretary,  treasurer  and  promoter  of  the  Rich  Creek-Peterstown 
Power  Company,  which  buys  and  sells  electric  current  in  the 
Rich  Creek  and  Peterstown  community.  He  is  a  half  owner  of  the 
Comer  Chevrolet  Company  at  Lindside,  West  Virginia. 

Mr.  Comer  is  an  independent  Republican,  a  Baptist,  and  is 
affiliated  with  Camp  No.  10004,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America. 
He  married  at  Peterstown,  West  Virginia,  May  27,  1925,  Miss 
Thelma  Dickson,  who  is  a  graduate  of  the  Peterstown  High 
School  and  taught  in  Monroe  County  before  her  marriage.  She 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Her  parents 
are  R.  L.  and  Juda  (Dillon)  Dickson,  who  live  on  a  farm  near 
Lindside.  Her  father  is  a  farmer  and  for  four  years  was  sheriff 
of  Monroe  County  and  is  now  one  of  the  county  commissioners. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Comer  have  one  daughter,  Betty  Grey. 

William  H.  Newberry,  former  commissioner  of  revenue  of 
Bland  County,  is  a  nephew  of  Senator  Samuel  H.  Newberry,  one 
of  the  four  members  of  the  Virginia  State  Senate  whose  services 
in  reconstruction  times  were  of  such  importance  that  they  have 
been  always  referred  to  as  "the  Big  Four." 

Mr.  William  H.  Newberry  was  born  in  Bland  County,  Oc- 
tober 26,  1889.  This  Newberry  family  has  had  many  prominent 
members  not  only  in  Virginia  but  in  other  states.  His  great- 
grandfather, Samuel  Newberry,  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Bland  County.  His  grandfather's  name  was  Allen  T.  Newberry. 
William  H.  Newberry  is  a  son  of  Dunn  B.  and  Jane  (Harmon) 
Newberry.  Dunn  B.  Newberry  was  the  youngest  son  of  the  dis- 
tinguished Senator  Samuel  H.  Newberry.  Dunn  B.  Newberry 
was  born  January  9,  1842,  in  Bland  County,  was  educated  in 
private  schools,  was  a  Confederate  soldier  in  Company  F  of  the 
Forty-fifth  Virginia  Regiment,  and  saw  active  service  in  twenty- 
three  battles  and  skirmishes,  including  the  fight  at  Cloyd's  Moun- 
tain and  also  the  great  battle  of  Sharpsburg.  After  the  war  he 
followed  farming  and  stock  raising,  and  died  April  13,  1918, 
being  buried  in  the  Newberry  Cemetery  near  Bland.  His  wife, 
Jane  Harmon,  represented  another  family  that  has  lived  from 
earliest  times  in  Bland  County.  She  was  educated  in  private 
schools,  and  was  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.    She  died  in  1890. 

William  H.  Newberry  was  the  only  child  of  his  parents.  His 
educational  opportunities  were  provided  by  public  schools,  and 
when  he  left  school  he  had  experience  in  the  mercantile  business 
as  clerk  with  the  firm  of  Newberry  Brothers. 

On  September  4,  1917,  he  joined  the  colors  and  was  in  train- 
ing at  Camp  Lee,  Virginia,  until  taken  ill  with  pneumonia,  and 
was  in  the  hospital  for  some  time,  being  disabled  for  further 
active  service,  and  received  his  honorable  discharge  on  July  18, 
1918.  Mr.  Newberry  in  1919  was  elected  commissioner  of  reve- 
nue for  Bland  County  and  served  two  full  terms,  until  January 
1,  1928.  Since  leaving  public  office  he  has  been  an  automobile 
salesman  with  the  Central  Garage  Company  of  Bland. 


VIRGINIA  521 

Mr.  Newberry  is  affiliated  with  Lodge  No.  206,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  Wythe  Chapter  No.  51,  Royal  Arch  Ma.sons,  Lynn  Com- 
mandery  No.  9.  Knights  Templar,  Kazim  Temple  of  the  Mystic- 
Shrine  at  Roanoke,  and  is  a  msmber  of  the  American  Legion 
Post  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

He  married  at  Bland,  July  3,  1920,  Miss  Bertha  Thompson, 
of  Point  Pleasant,  Virginia,  where  she  was  reared  and  educated 
and  also  attended  the  Sidney  Lanier  School  at  Baltimore.  She 
was  in  service  during  the  World  war  as  a  yeomanette  in  the  navy. 
Mrs.  Newberry  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the 
Eastern  Star.  Her  parents  were  M.  H.  and  Mollie  (Ashworth) 
Thompson,  of  Point  Pleasant,  Virginia,  where  her  father  is  still 
acti\e  in  business  as  a  merchant,  farmer,  miller  and  lumberman. 
Up  to  1928  he  had  served  fourteen  years  as  democratic  chair- 
man of  Bland  County.  Mrs.  Newberry's  mother  died  in  1922. 
The  two  daughters  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Newberry  are  ilary  Cath- 
erine and  Harriet  Ellen,  both  attending  public  school  at  Bland. 

James  William  B.ane,  farmer,  stock  raiser  and  banker  at 
White  Gate,  is  one  of  the  sterling  representatives  of  the  Bane 
family  which  traces  its  descent  from  Donald  McBane,  one  time 
King  of  Scotland.  The  family  coat-of-arms  is  a  shield,  one- 
quarter  having  the  figure  of  a  lamb,  another  a  glove,  and  the 
lower  quarters  contain  a  sword  and  ship  of  commerce.  The 
motto  is  "Touch  not  a  cat — but  a  glove." 

The  pioneer  of  the  family  in  Southwest  Virginia  was  James 
Bane,  who  married  Betty  Haven.  James  Bane  settled  at  Walkers 
Creek,  Virginia,  in  1793,  and  acquired  a  large  amount  of  land 
around  what  is  now  White  Gate,  extending  up  and  down  the 
valley  for  several  miles.  The  father  of  James  W.  Bane  was 
Lieut.  James  Edward  Bane,  who  was  born  and  reared  at  White 
Gate,  attended  private  schools,  and  was  a  first  lieutenant  in  Com- 
pany I  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Virginia  in  General  McCausland's 
Brigade  during  the  war  between  the  states.  After  the  war  he 
followed  farming  and  stock  raising,  and  died  December  17,  1886, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-seven.  His  wife,  Mary  Olive  Miller,  was  born 
and  reared  at  White  Gate,  attended  Walker  Creek  Academy 
there,  and  she  was  a  Presb\i:erian,  while  her  husband  was  a 
Missionary  Baptist.  She  died  January  7,  1916,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-two,  and  both  are  buried  in  the  Bane  family  cemetery  at 
White  Gate.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Tobias  and  Betsy  (Bane) 
Miller.  Her  father  settled  at  White  Gate  in  1827  and  was  a  son 
of  Jacob  Miller,  who  came  from  Germany  and  moved  from 
Franklin  County  to  Montgomery  County,  settling  in  the  portion 
subsequently  made  into  Giles  County.  James  Edward  Bane 
and  wife  had  a  familv  of  nine  children,  and  those  to  grow  up 
were :  Rev.  Tobias  Miller,  of  Pulaski,  Virginia ;  Laura  Elizabeth, 
who  died  in  1890,  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  wife  of  C.  T.  ^Moore. 
now  of  Bristol,  Tennessee,  and  left  a  daughter,  Barbara  B. 
Moore,  who  is  the  wife  of  William  T.  Allen,  of  Ceres,  Bland 
County,  Virginia;  Miss  Annie  W.  Bane,  of  White  Gate; 
James  W. ;  Mary  Jane,  who  is  the  wife  of  Rev.  G.  H.  Broyles,  a 
Baptist  minister  at  Roanoke,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  nine 
children,  Bessie  dying  at  eleven  months  and  Olive  dying  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  and  Lacy,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  while  the  others 
are  Annie  May,  Wilma.  James  Bane,  Paul,  Frank  and  Gordon; 
Miss  Nannie,  of  White  Gate,  who  lives  with  her  sister  Annie. 

James  William  Bane  was  educated  in  public  schools  at  White 
Gate,  and  his  father's  death  made  him  the  head  of  the  family  and 


522  VIRGINIA 

threw  upon  him  unusual  responsibilities,  so  that  since  an  early 
age  he  has  been  in  the  full  swing  of  a  busy  career,  engaged  in 
farming  and  cattle  raising  at  the  old  homestead.  The  place  he 
occupies  is  property  bought  by  his  father  in  1876  and  on  which 
the  family  have  made  their  home  since  1877.  The  mother  of 
James  W.  Bane  built  a  beautiful  home  there.  His  farm  com- 
prises 377  acres,  blue  grass  land,  much  of  it  under  cultivation. 
Mr.  Bane  is  also  a  director  and  vice  president  of  the  Peoples 
Bank  of  Gile  County  and  in  1925  served  as  land  assessor.  He  is 
a  Democrat,  a  deacon  in  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  and  for 
a  number  of  years  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School. 

He  married  at  Tazewell,  Virginia,  December  26,  1908,  Miss 
Bessie  Rose  Davidson,  who  attended  the  grade  and  high  schools 
at  TazeweU  and  was  born  near  Rocky  Gap  in  Bland  County. 
She  taught  two  years  in  that  Gounty  before  her  marriage.  She  is 
a  Methodist.  Mrs.  Bane  is  a  member  of  some  of  the  older  fami- 
lies in  Southwest  Virginia.  Her  parents  were  John  A.  and  Mat- 
tie  (Harmon)  Davidson.  Her  father  was  a  farmer  and  stock 
raiser  in  Bland  County  and  for  one  term  represented  the  county 
in  the  State  Legislature.  He  died  in  1896.  His  father  was 
James  Davidson,  a  farmer  and  cattle  man  of  Bland  County.  The 
Davidson  family  in  its  various  members  in  this  part  of  Virginia 
and  West  Virginia  have  a  common  ancestor,  John  Goolman  Dav- 
idson, who  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  was  a  cooper  by  trade, 
and  came  to  America  about  1755,  settling  at  Beverly  Manor, 
Augusta  County,  Virginia.  Subsequently  he  moved  with  his 
family  to  the  famous  Drapers  Meadows  settlement  and  in  1780 
to  the  head  of  Beaver  Pond  Creek,  in  what  is  now  Mercer 
County,  West  Virginia.  During  the  same  year  he  was  joined  by 
Richard  Bailey,  and  they  erected  a  block  house  or  fort  below 
the  head  of  Beaver  Pond  Springs.  A  portion  of  the  present  city 
of  Bluefield  comprises  lands  originally  settled  by  John  Goolman 
Davidson,  and  one  of  his  great-grandsons  was  the  late  Hon. 
A.  C.  Davidson  of  Mercer  County. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bane  had  five  children :  James  Edward,  born 
October  2,  1907,  is  a  graduate  of  the  White  Gate  High  School, 
spent  two  years  in  Washington  and  Lee  University,  taught  dur- 
ing 1927-28  in  the  Boys  Latin  School  at  Baltimore,  and  is  now 
finishing  his  education  in  the  Columbia  University  Teachers  Col- 
lege at  New  York;  John  D.  Bane,  born  February  28,  1909, 
graduated  from  the  White  Gate  High  School  in  1927,  and  is 
associated  with  his  father  on  the  farm ;  Eugene  M.,  born  Janu- 
ary 18th,  1911,  is  a  member  of  the  class  of  1929  in  the  White 
Gate  High  School;  Mary  Harmon,  born  June  21,  1917,  is  in 
grade  school;  and  Wilham  Doak  was  born  January  19,  1923. 

Theodore  Willis  Knote,  founder  and  head  of  the  School  of 
Business  Administration  at  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  at 
Blacksburg,  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  but  is  member  of  an  old  Virginia 
Colonial  family  in  the  paternal  line. 

The  Knote  family  settled  in  Virginia  in  the  vicinity  of  Rich- 
mond about  1732.  Mr.  Knote's  father,  John  William  Monroe 
Knote,  was  born  in  Virginia  and  in  1859  went  from  there  to 
what  is  now  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  and  later  to  the  State  of 
Ohio,  and  for  many  years  was  a  merchant  at  Springfield,  where 
he  died  February  19,  1918,  and  is  buried.  John  William  Monroe 
Knote  married  Lillian  McBride,  who  was  born  in  Logan  County, 
Ohio,  and  attended  private  schools  in  Springfield,  and  during 
the  year  before  her  marriage  taught  in  a  private  seminary  at 


VIRGINIA  ■  523 

Sprinprfiold.  She  was  always  active  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
being  the  daughter  of  a  Presbyterian  minister,  Rev.  Jacob  Copen- 
haver  McBride.  John  W.  M.  Knote  and  wife  had  three  children: 
Alice  Rosetta,  wife  of  W.  K.  Shilling;  John  McBride,  deceased; 
and  Theodore  Willis,  who  was  born  at  Springfield,  Ohio,  Novem- 
ber 22,  1885. 

Theodore  Willis  Knote  was  educated  in  private  schools  at 
Springfield  and  in  1906  graduated  from  Wittenburg  College, 
Springfield,  Ohio,  with  the  A.  B.  degree.  For  a  number  of  years 
after  leaving  college,  Mr.  Knote  was  engaged  in  commercial 
work  at  New  York,  and  for  three  years  his  business  required 
his  residence  abroad  in  Europe.  He  has  traveled  extensively, 
in  this  country,  in  Europe,  and  also  in  the  Orient. 

In  1920  Mr.  Knote  completed  a  course  in  the  College  of  Busi- 
ness of  the  University  of  New  York,  receiving  the  degree  M.  R. 
S.,  and  at  that  time  he  accepted  the  invitation  to  come  to  Blacks- 
burg,  Virginia,  and  establish  the  Department  of  Business  Ad- 
ministration at  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute.  Since  it  was 
established  he  has  been  head  of  the  department. 

Mr.  Knote  is  a  member  of  the  Beta  Theta  Pi,  Pyramid  Lodge 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  at  New  York  City,  Mecca  Temple  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine  at  New  York,  Roanoke  Consistory  at  Roanoke, 
Virginia,  the  Cohee  Country  Club  at  Blacksburg,  Virginia,  and 
the  Beta  Theta  Pi  Club  of  New  York  City.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Management  Association,  the  National  Economic 
League,  and  the  American  Association  of  University  Professors. 
Mr.  Knote  is  an  independent  Democrat,  a  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church,  and  is  unmarried. 

James  Merritt  Thomas  has  had  a  very  constructive  part  in 
the  wholesale  commercial  activities  of  Danville  for  many  years. 
He  has  been  a  factor  in  the  growth  of  two  very  prosperous  or- 
ganizations of  the  city,  one  of  which  is  the  J.  M.  Thomas  Com- 
pany, of  which  he  is  president  and  owner. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  born  in  Halifax  County,  Virginia,  August 
22,  1873.  His  ancestors  have  been  in  Virginia  for  many  genera- 
tions. His  father,  W.  H.  Thomas,  was  born  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  state,  was  educated  in  some  of  the  private  schools  and 
served  all  through  the  four  years  of  struggle  between  the  North 
and  South.  He  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  and 
participated  in  many  of  the  great  battles  of  the  war.  When  the 
war  was  over  he  returned  to  his  farm  and  followed  planting  and 
agriculture  in  Halifax  County  until  his  death  in  1904.  He  is 
buried  in  the  home  cemetery  at  Cluster  Springs.  His  wife, 
Patty  Merritt,  was  born  and  reared  near  Cluster  Springs,  was 
educated  in  private  .schools  and  was  interested  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  She  died  in  1889.  There  were  six 
children  :  James  M. ;  J.  D.  Thomas,  of  North  Carolina ;  Fannie, 
widow  of  C.  L.  Loftus;  Miss  Maud,  of  Cluster  Springs;  Mary, 
wife  of  Robert  Loftus ;  and  J.  D.  Thomas,  who  died  at  the  age 
of  forty-four. 

James  Merritt  Thomas  was  educated  in  public  schools  in 
Halifax  County,  also  attended  the  Danville  Business  College  un- 
der Professor  Cook,  and  with  this  education  and  with  his  natural 
abilities  followed  a  career  that  has  been  one  of  eminent  useful- 
ness. For  one  year  he  was  a  clerk  in  the  establishment  of 
E.  S.  Arnett,  of  Danville,  following  which  he  spent  five  years 
with  Booth  Brothers,  general  merchants.     Mr.  Thomas  has  been 


524  •         VIRGINIA 

identified  with  the  wholesale  business  since  1901.  He  became 
associated  with  Mr.  James  R.  Tate  in  the  wholesale  grocery 
business,  in  what  is  known  as  the  Tate  &  Thomas  Company, 
and  he  is  still  president  of  this  corporation.  Since  1923,  how- 
ever, he  has  given  his  chief  attention  to  dry  goods.  In  that 
year  he  established  a  wholesale  dry  goods  house  under  the  name 
of  J.  M.  Thomas  &  Company,  specializing  in  a  line  of  dry  goods 
and  notions,  and  represented  by  six  traveling  salesmen.  Both 
firms  are  well  established  in  the  wholesale  trade  and  do  a  splen- 
did business  over  half  a  dozen  or  more  counties  in  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina.  Mr.  Thomas  is  sole  owner  and  manager  of  the 
dry  goods  house. 

He  is  a  business  man  with  well  developed  public  spirit  and 
a  willingness  to  do  his  part.  He  is  a  trustee  of  Averitt  College, 
for  several  years  was  a  director  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  is  a 
former  director  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  is  a  thirty- 
second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason  and  Shriner,  and  has  mem- 
bership in  Roman  Eagle  Lodge  No.  122,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  Euclid 
Chapter,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  Dove  Commandery,  Knights 
Templar  and  Acca  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Rotary  Club  and  for  several  years  has  been  especially 
interested  in  the  promulgation  of  the  splendid  principles  of  Ro- 
tary. He  is  a  member  of  the  Danville  Golf  Club,  votes  for  the 
Democrats  and  for  about  twenty-five  years  was  a  deacon  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church. 

Mr.  Thomas  married  at  Danville,  September  21,  1904,  Miss 
Florence  Swain,  of  Danville.  She  was  educated  in  public  schools 
there,  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church  and  the  Daughters  of 
the  American  Revolution.  Her  parents  were  E.  L.  and  Ada 
(Norburn)  Swain.  Her  father  for  many  years  was  a  tobac- 
conist in  Danville,  and  served  for  a  time  as  president  of  the 
City  Council  and  was  also  a  member  of  the  school  board.  He 
died  about  1919  and  is  buried  in  Green  Hill  Cemetery.  Mrs. 
Swain  makes  her  home  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas. 

Guy  G.  Johnson,  proprietor  of  the  Alleghany  Hotel  of  East 
Radford,  was  on  the  road  as  a  traveling  salesman  for  a  number 
of  years,  and  his  associations  with  the  traveling  public  has  given 
him  unusual  qualifications  for  his  present  work.  Mr.  Johnson 
is  a  member  of  one  of  the  old  families  of  Southwest  Virginia. 

He  was  born  at  East  Radford,  February  8,  1891,  son  of 
Albert  Sidney  and  Ilia  James  (Stone)  Johnson  and  grandson 
of  Dr.  Elijah  Johnson.  His  grandfather  lived  in  Campbell  and 
Tazewell  counties,  practiced  medicine  during  and  after  the  Civil 
war,  and  spent  his  later  years  in  Montgomery  County.  He  mar- 
ried EHzabeth  Holland,  and  both  are  buried  in  the  Fairview 
Cemetery  at  Radford.  Elizabeth  Holland  had  seven  brothers 
in  the  Confederate  army  under  General  Lee,  and  three  of  them 
were  killed  in  Pickett's  famous  charge  at  the  battle  of  Gettys- 
burg. 

Albert  Sidney  Johnson  was  born  in  Tazewell  County  in  1865, 
and  was  ten  years  of  age  when  his  parents  moved  to  Montgomery 
County.  He  was  educated  in  public  schools  in  both  counties, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  was  a  commercial  salesman  and  for 
the  past  fifteen  years  has  conducted  a  real  estate  business  at 
.Radford.  He  is  also  financially  interested  in  the  Alleghany 
Hotel  and  other  Radford  property.  His  wife.  Ilia  James  Stone, 
was  born  at  Green  Bay,  Virginia,  attended  public  schools  there 
and  Holland  College.     She  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church, 


VIRGINIA  525 

the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  and  the  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution.  Her  parents  were  Dr.  James  L. 
and  Mattie  (Wooten)  Stone. 

Her  father  moved  from  Radford  to  Roanoke  about  1880,  being 
one  of  the  early  physicians  in  that  town,  and  practiced  medicine 
and  surgery  there  until  his  death  in  1908.  His  wife  died  in 
1912.  Albert  Sidney  Johnson  and  wife  had  a  family  of  seven 
children:  Frank  Taylor,  a  merchant  at  Radford;  Miss  Maud  E.; 
Agnes  M.,  wife  of  R.  S.  Hopkins,  of  Radford;  Guy  G. ;  Albert 
Sidney,  a  member  of  the  bar  at  Radford ;  William  Thomas,  who 
was  with  the  colors  during  the  World  war,  was  gassed  during 
the  Argonne  oiTensive  and  after  returning  to  America  developed 
tuberculosis  and  died  in  the  Mount  Alto  Hospital  at  Washing- 
ton in  1922  and  is  buried  at  Radford;  and  James  E.  Johnson,  a 
student  of  medicine  in  the  Medical  College  at  Richmond. 

Guy  G.  Johnson  was  educated  in  public  schools  at  Radford, 
attended  Roanoke  College  at  Salem  and  on  leaving  college  in 
1912  became  a  commercial  representative  in  the  Virginia  and 
West  Virginia  territories  for  John  E.  Hurst  &  Company  of  Bal- 
timore. He  was  on  the  road  for  this  house  seven  years  and  for 
six  years  was  with  Richardson  Brothers  &  Fickling  of  New 
York,  commission  agents.  Mr.  Johnson  in  1925  leased  the  Alle- 
ghany Hotel  at  East  Radford,  and  has  made  that  hotel  a  good 
business  and  an  institution  known  far  and  wide  to  the  traveling 
public.  Mr.  Johnson  is  a  member  of  the  Phi  Kappa  Phi  fra- 
ternity, is  a  Democrat  and  is  of  Methodist  affiliations. 

He  married  at  Stewart,  Virginia,  October  20,  1920,  Miss 
Caroline  Virginia  Moir,  who  was  educated  in  public  schools  in 
Patrick  County,  Virginia,  and  the  Radford  State  Teachers  Col- 
lege, and  taught  a  year  in  Patrick  County  before  her  marriage. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and 
the  Radford  Music  Club.  Her  parents  were  Harry  M.  and 
Blanche  (Chilton)  Moir,  of  Patrick  County,  her  mother  being 
a  member  of  the  noted  family  of  Chiltons  of  Lynchburg.  Her 
father  is  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser,  and  for  twenty  years  has 
been  treasurer  of  Patrick  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  have 
one  daughter,  Jane  Moir  Johnson. 

James  M.  Lea,  pharmacist,  has  been  a  factor  in  the  com- 
mercial life  of  Danville  for  many  years,  and  is  a  director  and 
manager  for  the  Park  Place  Mercantile  Company  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Lea  was  born  in  Caswell  County,  North  Carolina,  July 
12,  1878.  One  of  the  communities  of  Caswell  County  is  Leas- 
burg,  named  for  one  of  the  early  members  of  the  Lea  family. 
John  Greenleaf  Lea  come  from  England  during  the  1700s  and 
secured  a  land  grant  of  land  in  North  Carolina  comprising  the 
site  of  the  present  town  of  Leasburg.  James  M.  Lea  is  a  son  of 
Thomas  L.  and  Sallie  (King)  Lea  and  a  grandson  of  Thomas  L. 
Lea,  who  for  many  years  was  sheriff  of  Caswell  County  and  oth- 
erwise prominent  in  that  locality.  Thomas  L.  Lea,  Jr.,  was 
born  and  reared  in  Caswell  County,  attended  private  schools,  and 
during  the  Civil  war,  after  completing  his  military  training  in 
what  is  now  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute  at  Blacksburg,  en- 
tered the  ranks  and  became  captain  of  Company  G  in  the  71st 
North  Carolina  Infantry,  participating  in  several  major  en- 
gagements and  was  with  the  coast  defenses  in  North  Carolina. 
After  the  war  he  followed  farming  in  Caswell  County  until  his 
death.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church.  He  died  in 
1904.    His  wfe,  Sallie  King  Lea,  was  born  and  reared  in  Hali- 


526  VIRGINIA 

fax  County,  Virginia,  and  was  reared  by  her  aunt  and  uncle, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sidney  S.  Lea,  in  Caswell  County,  North  Carolina. 
Her  parents  died  when  she  was  an  infant.  She  attended  public 
school,  the  Yancyville  School  for  Girls,  Roanoke  Female  College, 
and  Averett  College,  of  which  her  uncle,  Sidney  Lea,  was  a 
trustee.  She  died  in  1914  and  is  buried  in  Green  Hill  Cemetery 
at  Danville.  These  parents  had  twelve  children,  three  of  whom 
died  in  infancy  and  all  the  others  are  still  living:  Sidney  S., 
a  tobacconist  of  Danville ;  James  M. ;  Hunter  Y.,  a  Danville 
tobacconist ;  Alice  N.,  wife  of  Irley  Stokes,  of  Kentridge ; 
Sus'ie  K.,  wife  of  Dr.  William  I.  Pritchard,  of  Petersburg,  Vir- 
ginia; Fay  Belle,  Mrs.  Fred  Norton,  of  East  Orange,  New 
Jersey;  Thomas  L.,  a  tobacconist  at  Louisville  who  has  charge 
of  the  Dark  Belt  Tobacco  Market  for  the  Export  Leaf  Tobacco 
Company;  Walter  Clark,  superintendent  of  the  Durham  branch 
of  the  American  Tobacco  Company  at  Durham,  North  Carolina; 
and  Inza,  wife  of  L.  C.  Manson,  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri. 

James  M.  Lea  grew  up  in  Caswell  County,  attended  public 
schools  there,  and  finished  his  literary  education  in  Wake  Forest 
College,  North  Carolina.  In  1898,  when  he  was  twenty  years  of 
age,  he  came  to  Danville,  and  for  three  years  was  employed  as 
clerk  in  the  drug  store  of  Thomas  G.  Moore.  In  1902  he  gradu- 
ated in  pharmacy  from  the  University  College  of  Medicine  at 
Richmond,  being  an  honor  member  of  the  Rho  Chi  fraternity. 
The  four  years  following  were  spent  as  pharmacist  in  the  drug- 
store of  Paul  Massey  at  Roanoke,  and  in  1908  he  returned  to 
Danville  and  for  twenty  years  has  been  associated  with  the  busi- 
ness known  as  Park  Place  Mercantile  Company,  Inc.,  as  man- 
ager of  the  Park  Place  Pharmacy  and  one  of  the  partners  and 
in  the  corporation,  which  operates  four  stores,  the  pharmacy, 
a  market  and  grocery  and  the  Schoolfield  Furniture  Company. 
Mr.  Lea  is  also  a  director  of  the  American  National  Bank  of 
Danville. 

He  is  affiliated  with  Roman  Eagle  Lodge  No.  122,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  Euclid  Chapter.  Royal  Arch  Masons,  Dove  Commandery, 
Knights  Templar,  is  a  thirty-second  degree  Scottish  Rite  Mason 
and  Potentate's  representative  for  Danville  in  the  Mystic  Shrine. 
He  also  is  past  exalted  ruler  of  Danville  Lodge,  B.  P.  O.  Elks, 
is  president  of  the  Kiwanis  Club,  a  member  of  the  Danville  Golf 
Club,  and  Tuscarora  Club.  He  is  one  of  the  very  popular  and 
progressive  men  in  the  metropolitan  community  of  Danville.  In 
politics  he  supports  the  Democratic  ticket,  and  is  a  member  of 
the  First  Baptist  Church. 

Thomas  Washington  Hunter.  The  time  and  place  of  the 
career  of  Thomas  Washington  Hunter  was  the  quarter  of  cen- 
tury after  the  Civil  war  and  the  locality  made  famous  by  the 
concluding  scene  of  that  war,  Appomattox  County. 

He  was  born  there  in  January,  1856,  and  died  April  15, 
1893.  He  attended  school  in  Appomattox  County,  took  up  teach- 
ing as  a  profession,  but  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  his  father 
presented  him  with  a  farm  as  a  wedding  gift,  and  from  that 
time  until  his  death  he  was  occupied  with  his  duties  as  an  agri- 
culturist. Outside  of  his  home  and  farm  his  chief  interest  was 
in  the  Reddy  Springs  Baptist  Church  in  Appomattox  County, 
and  he  was  not  only  clerk  of  the  church  but  superintendent  of 
the  Sunday  School. 

He  married,  December  8,  1883,  Isabella  D.  Coleman,  of  Ap- 
pomattox  County,   where   she   was  reared   and  educated.    Her 


VIRGINIA  527 

father,  Capt.  William  G.  Coleman,  served  four  yeai\s  in  the  Con- 
federate army  and  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Petersburg. 
After  the  war  he  was  a  merchant,  lumberman  and  farmer.  Cap- 
tain Coleman  married  Mary  D.  W.  Abbott,  and  Mrs.  Hunter  was 
one  of  nine  children. 

Mrs.  Hunter  now  resides  in  Richmond,  at  2317  Rosewood 
Avenue.  She  is  the  mother  of  four  children.  Her  daughter  Miss 
Mary  W.,  attended  school  in  Appomattox  County,  the  Normal 
School  at  Charlottesville,  and  is  now  an  assistant  secretary  in  a 
Richmond  business  house.  Miss  Mabrie,  who  was  educated  in 
the  same  schools  as  her  sister,  is  assistant  secretary  with  another 
Richmond  firm.  Miss  S.  Ethel  was  educated  with  opportunities 
similar  to  those  of  her  sisters ;  John  Washington,  the  only  son, 
is  in  business  at  Richmond,  and  by  his  marriage  to  Louise  Sowel 
has  a  son,  John  Washington,  Jr. 

Andrew  Johnston  Francis,  representative  of  Giles  and 
Bland  counties  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  is  a  resident 
of  White  Gate.  He  is  a  man  of  college  training,  and  has  made 
a  success  of  his  business  as  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser,  being  a 
recognized  leader  in  one  of  the  most  progressive  agricultural 
communities  in  Southwest  Virginia. 

He  was  born  at  White  Gate  June  9,  1873,  son  of  Miles  A. 
and  Cynthia  M.  (Bane)  Francis.  The  Francis  familj'  came  to 
America  from  Ireland  in  1768,  settling  near  Norfolk,  and  the 
family  was  represented  in  the  American  forces  in  the  War  of 
1812.  Miles  A.  Francis  was  born  and  reared  at  Christiansburg, 
Virginia,  educated  in  private  schools  and  the  Christiansburg 
Academy,  and  in  the  Civil  war  served  as  color  sergeant  of  Com- 
pany F,  Eleventh  Virginia  Infantry,  Kemper's  Brigade,  Long- 
street's  Division,  until  seriously  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Seven 
Pines.  After  a  long  stay  in  a  hospital  at  Richmond  he  was  made 
captain  of  Company  K,  Twenty-second  Virginia  Cavalry,  and 
later  was  promoted  to  colonel  but  the  war  ended  before  he  re- 
cei\  ed  his  commission.  Captain  Francis  after  the  war  located 
at  White  Gate,  where  he  bought  a  farm  and  married,  ana  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  cattle  raising  until  his  death  on  March  6, 
1915.  He  is  buried  in  White  Gate  Cemetery.  His  wife,  Cynthia 
M.  Bane,  was  born  at  Pearisburg,  was  educated  in  private 
schools  and  the  White  Gate  Academy  under  Rev.  J.  M.  Hum- 
phries. She  is  now  eighty  years  of  age,  living  with  her  son,  An- 
drew J.  One  of  her  great  interests  all  her  life  has  been  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  She  is  a  daughter  of  Henderson  and 
Nancy  (Shannon)  Bane.  Her  father  was  a  prominent  and 
wealthy  farmer  and  stock  raiser.  He  is  a  descendant  of  Donald 
Bane,  a  son  of  Malcolm  Bane,  one  of  the  early  kings  of  Scotland. 
Miles  A.  Francis  and  wife  had  four  children:  Nannie  Shannon, 
wife  of  Dan  P.  ]\IcMullen,  of  Cheboygan,  Michigan ;  Andrew  J. ; 
T.  B.,  a  farmer  at  White  Gate;  and  Julia  Adair,  wife  of  Rev. 
Benjamin  K.  Hay,  a  minister  of  the  Reformed  Church  at  Wood- 
stock, Virginia. 

Andrew  Johnston  Francis  was  reared  at  White  Gate,  attend- 
ing private  schools  and  the  White  Gate  Academy,  and  finished 
his  education  in  Roanoke  College.  While  in  college  he  was  cap- 
tain of  the  football  team  during  1895-98.  In  the  thirty  years 
since  he  finished  his  college  education  Mr.  Francis  has  given  his 
chief  time  to  cattle  raising  and  is  owner  of  blue  grass  farms  in 
the  vicinity  of  White  Gate.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  per- 
formed the  duties  of  tax  collector  under  Jesse  Woodrum.     He 


528  VIRGINIA 

is  director  and  vice  president  of  the  Bank  of  Mechanicsburg. 
Mr.  Francis  was  elected  to  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates  in 
i927,  and  is  the  nominee  of  his  party  to  succeed  himself  in  the 
Virginia  Legislature,  session  of  1930.  He  is  a  Master  Mason, 
a  Democrat,  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  has  been 
teacher  or  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School  for  many  years. 
He  mai-ried  at  Poplar  Hill,  Virginia,  March  1,  1904,  Miss 
Jeanie  Shannon,  of  Poplar  Hill.  She  attended  private  schools 
at  Pearisburg  and  taught  school  there  and  at  Bluefield,  West 
Virginia,  and  Jessamine  Institute  in  Nicholasville,  Kentucky. 
She  is  a  Presbyterian.  Her  parents  were  Samuel  B.  and  Nancy 
(King)  Shannon,  both  members  of  prominent  families  of  Giles 
County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Francis  have  five  children:  Mary  Fair- 
fax, was  educated  at  Stonewall  Jackson  College,  and  in  Columbia 
University,  is  the  wife  of  Charles  Tate  Graham,  farmer  and 
cattle  man  at  Grahams  Forge,  and  has  one  son,  Charles  Tate,  Jr. ; 
Samuel  M.  Francis  is  a  member  of  the  class  of  1930  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia;  Jean  Shannon  is  in  the  class  of  1929  at 
Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College,  Lynchburg;  Andrew  J.,  Jr., 
is  a  member  of  the  class  of  1929  in  the  White  Gate  High  School 
and  will  pursue  the  electrical  engineering  course  in  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute ;  and  David  Woodrum  is  a  student  in  the  grade 
school  at  White  Gate. 

Plumer  Wiseman,  an  engineer  and  contractor,  has  been  a 
very  useful  and  influential  figure  in  the  life  of  his  native  City 
of  Danville  for  many  years. 

He  was  born  at  Danville  September  8,  1881,  son  of  Henry  A. 
and  Willie  A.  (Yager)  Wiseman  and  grandson  of  John  and 
Mary  A.  (Downs)  Wiseman.  His  great-grandfather  came  from 
England  and  his  great-grandmother  from  Ireland.  John  Wise- 
man was  born  and  reared  at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  spent  his 
active  career  as  a  planter  in  Pittsylvania  County,  Virginia. 
Henry  A.  Wiseman  was  born  and  reared,  at  Danville,  attended 
private  schools  and  an  academy,  and  during  the  Civil  war  was  a 
soldier  in  Longstreet's  Division  and  later  with  the  Medical  Corps. 
He  served  under  Captain  Wooding,  the  venerable  mayor  of  Dan- 
ville. Henry  A.  Wiseman  after  the  war  became  a  pharmacist 
and  druggist,  and  for  a  number  of  years  held  the  office  of  city 
treasurer.  He  was  one  of  the  highly  honored  and  influential  men 
of  the  city,  where  he  died  in  1902.  His  wife,  Willie  A.  Yager, 
was  born  and  reared  in  Orange  County,  Virginia,  and  attended 
Roanoke  College  for  Girls  at  Danville.  She  has  been  a  lifelong 
Presbyterian  and  is  now  eighty-three  years  of  age.  Her  great- 
great-grandfather,  Isaac  Davis,  was  a  colonel  in  the  Revolution- 
ary war.  Henry  A.  Wiseman  and  wife  had  a  family  of  four 
children:  Mary  W.,  wife  of  H.  E.  Kendall,  of  Shelby,  North 
Carolina;  Dr.  H.  A.  Wiseman,  a  physician  and  surgeon  at  Dan- 
ville ;  Plumer  Wiseman,  and  Willie  A.,  wife  of  Lee  B.  Weathers, 
of  Shelby,  North  Carolina. 

Plumer  Wiseman  grew  up  at  Danville,  attended  public 
schools,  graduated  from  the  Danville  Military  Institute  in  1899 
and  completed  his  engineering  course  in  Purdue  University  at 
Lafayette,  Indiana,  in  1907.  For  the  past  twenty-two  years  he 
has  been  engaged  in  engineering  and  contracting  work,  and  since 
1912  has  had  his  permanent  business  headquarters  at  Danville. 
He  has  been  employed  as  engineer  in  designing  a  number  of  in- 
dustrial and  municipal  undertakings.  He  is  treasurer  of  the 
Masonic  Building  Corporation  and  in  charge  of  the  manage- 


VIRGINIA  529 

ment.  He  is  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank,  a  director  of 
the  Hughes  Memorial  School  and  a  director  of  the  Memorial 
Hospital  and  Jefferson  Avenue  Improvement  Company.  He  is 
also  a  director  of  the  Mechanics  Loan  &  Savings  Company,  the 
Perpetual  Building  &  Loan  Association  and  the  Danville  Mili- 
tary Institute. 

Mr.  Wiseman  has  always  enjoyed  social  contact  with  his  fel- 
low men  and  is  a  member  of  a  number  of  organizations  that 
express  the  fraternal  spirit  and  give  him  opportunity  for  effective 
influence  as  a  citizen.  He  was  a  Sigma  Alpha  Epsilon  in  college, 
and  in  Masonry  is  senior  warden  of  Roman  Eagle  Lodge  No. 
122,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  member  of  Euclid  Chapter,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  Dove  Commandery,  Knights  Templar,  Danville  Lodge 
of  Perfection,  Dalcho  Consistory  of  the  Scottish  Rite  at  Richmond 
and  Acca  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  is  a  past  president  of 
the  Danville  Rotary  Club,  is  a  past  senior  councellor  of  the  United 
Commercial  Travelers  of  America,  is  an  independent  voter  and 
is  a  deacon  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  was  treasurer  of  his  church. 

Mr.  Wiseman  married  at  Danville,  October  19,  1910,  Miss 
Nora  Mosely,  of  Danville.  She  finished  her  education  in  Ran- 
dolph-Macon Institute  at  Danville  and  is  a  leader  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  and  Woman's  Club.  Her  parents  were  Beverly  E. 
and  Florence  L.  (Millner)  Mosely.  Her  father  was  a  leading 
tobacconist.  Her  mother  is  still  living  in  Danville.  The  Moselys 
were  a  prominent  Virginia  family,  whose  original  seat  was  in 
Buckingham  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wiseman  had  a  family  of  four 
children,  one  of  whom,  Nora  M.,  died  in  infancy.  The  three  sons 
are:  Edward,  who  graduated  from  the  Danville  Military  In.sti- 
tute  in  1929  and  is  now  a  student  in  Davidson  College  at  David- 
son, North  Carolina ;  William  Plumer,  a  student  in  Danville 
Military  Institute;  and  Robert  Whitelaw,  attending  public 
school. 

ROBY  Calvin  Thompson.  Among  the  forceful  and  progres- 
sive young  lawyers  of  Washington  County  who  are  making  their 
influence  felt  in  the  interests  of  better  citizenship,  Roby  Calvin 
Thompson  is  deserving  of  more  than  passing  mention.  The  ener- 
getic city  attorney  of  Abingdon  has  been  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession  since  1922,  and  during  the  short  space  of  less 
than  seven  years  has  built  up  a  large  and  lucrative  practice, 
specializing  to  some  extent  in  corporation  law.  Although  still  a 
young  man  in  years,  he  is  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Republican 
party  in  Washington  Coianty,  and  in  1924  made  a  strong  bid  for 
the  oflice  of  mayor  of  Abingdon. 

Mr.  Thompson  was  born  in  Washington  County,  Virginia, 
March  30,  1898.  and  is  a  son  of  John  Harvey  and  Minnie  Ger- 
trude (Moore)  Thompson,  both  of  whom  ai'e  now  living  at  Salt- 
ville,  this  state,  where  John  H.  Thompson  is  master  mechanic  for 
the  United  States  Gypsum  Company.  He  is  a  member  of  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the 
Improved  Order  of  Red  Men,  and  with  his  family  belongs  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  South.  He  and  Mrs.  Thompson  have 
had  the  following  children :  Roby  Calvin,  of  this  review ;  Thomas 
Moore,  a  machinist  in  the  employ  of  the  United  States  Gypsum 
Company  at  Saltville ;  William  P.,  who  is  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising at  that  place ;  Lena  Gertrude,  the  wife  of  Lee  Gillenwater, 
an  electrician  employed  at  the  Mathieson  Alkali  Works  at  Salt- 
ville ;  and  John  Harvey,  Jr.,  who  is  attending  high  school  at  Salt- 


530  VIRGINIA 

ville.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  Roby  Calvin  Thompson,  Cal- 
vin Thompson,  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  whence  he  came  as 
a  young  man  to  Virginia  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  as 
a  planter  in  Washington  County.  The  maternal  grandfather  of 
Mr.  Thomp:on,  James  Mcore,  was  born  in  Washington  County, 
and  passed  his  life  as  a  carpenter  and  building  contractor. 

The  country  schools  of  Washington  County  furnish  3d  John 
Calvin  Thompson  with  his  early  educational  training,  following 
which  he  attended  the  Glade  Springs  High  School  and  the  Salt- 
ville  High  School,  and  graduated  from  the  latter  as  a  member  of 
the  class  of  1917.  On  July  5  of  that  year  he  entered  the  service  of 
the  United  States  Navy,  during  the  World  war,  and  was  sta- 
tioned at  Newport  News  until  September,  when  he  was  sent  to 
the  \Jm\  ersity  of  Virginia  Officers  Training  School  and  e  /entu- 
ally  commissioned  a  seaman  of  the  second  class  in  the  United 
States  Na\  al  Re  erves.  In  the  meantime  he  had  continued  his 
education  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  received  his 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1920,  and  in  June,  1922,  when 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Laws  from  the  same  institution. 

At  the  time  of  his  graduation  Mr.  Thompson  commenced  the 
practice  of  his  profession  at  Abingdon,  in  partnership  with  Hon. 
H.  H.  Honaker,  which  connection  was  mutually  severed  one 
year  later,  since  which  time  Mr.  Thompson  has  carried  on  an 
independent  practice  of  a  civil  and  corporation  character,  his 
offices  being  opposite  the  courthouse.  He  has  formed  a  number 
of  important  connections,  and  is  attorney  for  the  Beaver  Chem- 
ical Corporation  of  Damascus,  Virginia ;  attorney  and  secretary 
of  the  Smithfort  Extract  Company  of  Damascus,  of  which  he  is 
also  a  msmber  of  the  Board  of  Directors ;  attorney  for  the  Dear- 
bow  Hassinger  Corporation;  associate  counsel  for  the  Has^jnger 
Li^mber  Company  of  Kilmarnock,  Virginia ;  and  attorney  for  the 
Clinchburg  (Virginia)  Bank.  He  is  acsounted  a  lawyer  of  abil- 
ity and  sound  learning,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Washington 
County  Bar  Association  and  the  Virginia  State  Bar  Association, 
and  of  the  Delta  Theta  Phi  legal  fraternity.  A  Republican  in  his 
political  convictions,  Mr.  Thompson  is  one  of  the  leaders  of  his 
party,  secretary  of  the  County  Central  Committee  and  a  s:3eaker 
of  note,  force  and  eloquence  during  political  campaigns.  At  pres- 
ent he  is  ser\  ing  as  city  attorney  of  Abingdon,  an  oiilce  in  which 
he  has  established  an  excellent  record,  and  in  1924  was  the  Re- 
publican candidate  for  the  mayoralty.   . 

Mr.  Thom'ison  is  senior  warden  of  Abingdon  Lodge,  A.  F.  and 
A.  M.,  and  belongs  to  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellow3.  He 
is  adjutant  of  Washington  County  Post  No.  12,  American  Legion, 
and  a  member  of  the  Abingdon  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  the 
work  of  which  he  has  taken  an  active  and  helpful  part.  Having 
joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  his  youth,  he 
is  now  a  steward,  and  has  served  as  secretary  of  the  board.  He 
was  a  charter  member  of  the  Civitan  Club  of  Abingdon,  and  in 
1924  was  delegate  to  the  National  Civitan  Convention  held  at 
Miami,  Florida.  His  interests  have  touched  many  sides  of  life, 
and  for  two  years  he  was  scoutmaster  of  Troop  No.  1  of  Abing- 
don, Boy  Scouts  of  America.   Mr.  Thompson  is  unmarried. 


VIRGINIA  531 

Junius  Parker  Fishbukn  is  one  of  the  prominent  younger 
men  in  the  citizenship  of  Virginia,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four 
engrossed  in  a  broad  range  of  business  and  public  re- 
sponsibilities. 

A  son  of  Junius  Blair  and  Grace  (Parker)  Fishburn,  he  was 
born  at  Roanoke  September  30,  1895.  He  was  graduated  from 
the  Mercersburg  Academy  of  Pennsylvania  in  1914,  took  his 
Bachelor's  of  Arts  degree  at  Princeton  University  in  1919  and 
the  Master  of  Arts  degree  from  Columbia  University  in  1923. 
He  left  college  at  the  time  of  the  World  war  and  in  1917  was 
chief  petty  officer  and  later  ensign  with  the  United  States  Xaval 
Reserve,  and  was  commissioned  an  ensign  in  the  United  States 
Navy  in  1918. 

Mr.  Fishburn's  chief  interest  in  a  business  way  has  been  in 
the  newspaper  field.  In  1919  he  became  vice  president  and  since 
1923  has  been  president  of  the  Timss-World  Corporation,  pub- 
lishers of  the  Roanoke  Times  and  the  Roanoke  World-Neivs,  of 
which  he  has  been  active  editor  since  1920.  He  is  also  a  director 
of  the  Federal  Reserve  Bank  of  Richmond,  a  director  of  the 
Virginia  Bridge  &  Iron  Company  and  the  Old  Dominion  Fire 
Insurance  Company,  all  of  Roanoke. 

Mr.  Fishburn  in  1924  became  president  of  the  Virginia  His- 
toric Highway  Association.  From  1926  to  1929  he  was  presi- 
dent of  tne  Virginia  State  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  State  Conservation  and  Development  Commission, 
Roanoke  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  is  a  member  of  tha  board 
of  regents  of  Mercersburg  Academy.  He  was  president  of  the 
Rotary  Club  of  Roanoke  in  1929,  and  among  other  afnliations 
belongs  to  such  organizations  as  the  American  Newspaper  Pub- 
lishers Association,  American  Society  of  Newspaper  Editors, 
Southern  Newspaper  Publishers  Association,  American  Histor- 
ical Association,  American  Economics  Association,  Amarican 
Association  of  Political  Science,  the  Roanoke  Country  and  Shen- 
andoah Club  of  Roanoke,  the  Commonwealth  and  Country  of  Vir- 
ginia Clubs  of  Richmond,  the  University  and  Pre:s  Clubs  of 
Washington,  and  the  Princeton  Club  of  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia.  He  is  a  Democrat  and  a  Presbyterian. 

Mr.  Fishburn  married  January  14,  1926,  Katherine  Rodes 
Nelson  of  Roanoke. 

Andy  S.  Lawson,  Sheriff  of  Grayson  County,  is  a  public 
official  whose  service  has  won  repeated  commendation  from  the 
psople  of  that  county.  Mr.  Lawfon  has  distinguished  himself  by 
his  promptness  and  fidelity  to  duty  at  all  times.  He  has  lived 
in  Grayson  County  practically  all  his  life,  and  for  many  years 
has  been  a  farmer  and  farm  owner  there. 

He  was  born  in  Grayson  County  in  1870,  son  of  Dotson  and 
Agnes  (Shaffer)  Lawson.  His  grandfather,  James  Lawson,  was 
a  minister  of  the  Primitive  Baptist  Church,  preaching  in  North 
Carolina  for  many  years.  His  last  years  were  spent  as  an  invalid 
in  the  home  of  his  son  Dotson,  near  Bayw^ood.  Dotson  Lawson 
was  born  at  Danbury.  North  Carolina,  in  1830,  was  educated  in 
private  schools,  and  during  the  Civil  war  was  in  the  service  of 
the  Confederate  government,  detailed  on  duty  at  a  forge  in  Vir- 
ginia. He  married  in  Wythe  County,  \urginia,  and  then  settled 
on  a  farm  near  Baywood,  Grayson  County,  where  he  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock  raising  until  his  death  in  1884  at  the  age 
of  fifty-four.  His  wife,  Agnes  Shaffer,  was  born  in  Wythe  Coun- 
ty, near  Wji:heville,  attended  private  schools,  and  was  a  daughter 


532  VIRGINIA 

of  James  Shaffer  of  Wythe  County.  Dotson  Lawson  and  wife 
had  seven  children.  James  Alexander,  born  in  August,  1860,  a 
farmer  and  stock  man  in  Colorado,  owns  a  ranch  of  about  a 
thousand  acres  near  Telluride;  he  married  Marjorie  Ison  of 
Grayson  County,  Virginia,  who  died,  and  later  he  married  Miss 
Hattie  Adams  of  Delta,  Colorado,  and  has  a  son,  Edward,  born  in 

1916.  Julia  Ann  Lawson,  born  in  1861,  is  the  widow  of  Wilburn 
Wilson  and  resides  near  Baywood,  and  has  one  son,  Jacob,  born 
in  1902.  Joseph  Dotson  Lawson,  born  in  1864,  a  farmer  and 
stock  raiser  near  Wytheville,  married  Florence  Shaffer,  who 
died  in  1900,  and  later  he  married  Minerva  Blair  of  Wytheville; 
the  children  of  his  first  marriage  are:  Edith,  wife  of  John 
Poston,  near  Wytheville ;  Mrs.  Bertha  Blair,  near  Wytheville ; 
Jacob,  of  Wythe  County ;  and  Charles,  in  the  laundry  business  in 
Tennessee.  The  children  of  his  second  marriage  are:  Blair,  a 
student  at  Emory  and  Henry  College ;  James,  in  high  school ; 
Annie,  a  teacher  in  Wythe  County ;  and  Sam  and  Nellie,  attend- 
ing public  school.  Martha  Florence  Lawson,  born  in  1867,  is  the 
widow  of  Robert  Cox  and  a  resident  of  Alleghany  County,  North 
Carolina.  John  William  Lawson,  born  in  1874,  living  near  Bay- 
wood,  Grayson  County,  married  Fannie  Robinson  and  has  three 
children,  Ray,  attending  high  school,  Kate  and  Nellie.  Sophrania 
Lawson,  the  youngest  of  the  children,  is  the  wife  of  Alexander 
Austin,  of  Independence,  Virginia,  and  has  a  son,  Glen,  born  in 
1907,  now  living  at  Akron,  Ohio,  and  a  daughter.  Vera,  born  in 

1917,  a  pupil  in  the  public  school  at  Independence. 

Andy  S.  Lawson  was'  educated  in  public  schools  near  Bay- 
wood  and  for  seven  years  lived  with  his  brother  on  the  ranch  in 
Colorado,  near  Telluride.  After  returning  to  Virginia  he  ac- 
quired a  farm  at  Baywood  in  Wythe  County,  and  later  bought 
a  second  farm  in  the  same  locality.  His  present  place  of  resi- 
dence is  a  county  estate  a  mile  southwest  of  Galax. 

Mr.  Lawson's  first  public  service  was  in  the  office  of  justice 
of  the  peace.  He  was  elected  in  1904  and  served  eight  years.  In 
1912  he  was  chosen  county  commissioner  of  revenue  and  filled 
that  office  eight  years,  until  1920.  This  was  followed  by  his 
election  as  sheriff,  and  he  has  been  the  incumbent  of  that  impor- 
tant office  for  two  terms. 

Mr.  Lawson  is  a  Republican  in  politics.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch 
Mason  and  member  of  the  Baptist  Church.  He  married  in  1900, 
Miss  Mattie  Higgins,  of  Baywood.  Three  children  were  born  to 
them:  Myrtle  Ollie,  born  in  1904,  is  a  graduate  of  high  school 
and  attended  the  State  Normal  College  at  Radford,  is  the  wife 
of  T.  W.  Williams  of  Galax,  and  is  a  teacher  in  the  high  school 
there.  Earl  Higgins  Lawson,  born  in  1906,  graduated  from  the 
Galax  High  School,  attended  a  business  college,  and  is  now  an 
employee  of  the  county  of  Grayson.  Andy  Jacob  Lawson,  born 
in  1907,  graduated  fi-om  the  Galax  High  School  in  1928,  and  is  a 
student  of  medicine  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  The  mother 
of  these  children  died  in  1923  and  is  buried  at  Baywood.  Subse- 
quently Sheriff  Lawson  married  Miss  EfRe  McGee.  daughter  of 
Richard  and  Martha  (Mabe)   McGee,  of  Galax. 


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