NVPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES
3 3433 08254600
THE
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
PRESENTED BY
MAKERS OF AMERICA SERIES
LIC LIBRARY
ASTQR, LRNOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
R 1 9 i 7 L
Copyrighted, 1915
by
B. F. Johnson
PRINTED BY THE
MCQUEEN PRESS
WASHINGTON
FOREWORD
EVERY scholar and every reader recognizes the fact that biog-
raphy occupies an important place in literature, and is absolutely
essential to the completeness of history.
It has been the great aim of the editors and publishers of
"Makers of America" to render this collection of biographies
educational as well as entertaining and instructive by embodying
with sufficient fullness the result of much historical research, thus
making it a reference work of the highest order.
Among the life sketches herein portrayed of men in every
walk of life who by their energy, industry, wisdom, learning or
writings have become influential and useful citizens, will be
found a large number of an exceedingly instructive character,
calculated to form incentive examples to young and ardent minds ;
records of men who have risen from humble circumstances and
attained to high position; and of those who have succeeded in
the pursuit of knowledge in spite of the greatest hardships and
difficulties. By virtue of his high office it is fitting and proper
that a biographical sketch of the President of the United States,
a Virginian by birth, should introduce this series of biographies
of men in the South Atlantic States.
"Makers of America'' are not necessarily "celebrities" in the
usual acceptance of the phrase. The title was chosen by the
editors as giving a wider scope than is embraced in many biog-
raphical reference books, and as enabling them to bring into
focus interesting details of the lives of many men, who, though
Statesmen, financiers and educators realize the value of the
marching in the ranks, comprise the real sinews of the nation.
[5]
6 FOREWORD
every-day man, who is not striving for reputation or glory, but
is doing the day's work according to his ability, and who after
twenty, thirty or forty years' labor often discovers to his own
amazement that he has really contributed something to the better-
ment of conditions and to the advancement of civilization.
Critics who expect to find this work devoted solely to that
class of men who have achieved distinction through the enjoy-
ment of superior advantages will be disappointed.
Usefulness is the only correct yardstick with which to meas-
ure worth and greatness and none should deny that the really
useful man is entitled to some measure of appreciation shown him
in life by recording in a permanent manner his progress in the
various branches of activity dependent on the exercise of human
effort. The man who can make two blades of grass grow where
one grew before is truly a Maker of America.
Investigators declare that the ancestry of many of the
mountaineers of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee can be traced
to a noble band of Scottish highlanders whom the old planters
from time to time forced back into the mountains and valleys
of these States until they formed a community separate and apart
from the great body of the State. Although ignorant in letters
the law of heredity has endowed the descendants of these high-
landers with a keen sense of a code of social ethics which is
indeed amazing. A few noteworthy and interesting examples of
mountain life will be found in "Makers of America."
The materials which have been wrought into the foundations
of this work have been accumulated from numerous, and in many
instances, far distant sources. To the Library of Congress and its
librarian and assistant custodians we are grateful debtors; no
book or manuscript however rare or precious has been denied
our use, and the freedom of personal ownership would have
served us no better than this great public storehouse of reference.
Equally are we indebted to many State and historical libraries
for information contained in old newspaper files.
FOREWORD 7
Although it is manifestly impossible within the limits and
purpose of this work to supply all the information that might
be desired by students of genealogy, yet it is confidently believed
that the data given will be found sufficient and satisfactory.
The portraits accompanying the biographies add a peculiar
value to the publication by conveying to the reader a better idea
of the subject than would be otherwise possible. They are the
very best product of the engraver's art, and will endure for
centuries.
The volume now presented shows the style and plan of the
undertaking, and we believe that it will meet the reasonable ex-
pectations of those for w^hom the compilation is intended to serve
as a useful and valuable reference work.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ADAMS, WALTER JONES 150
BALDWIN, ROBERT ARCHER 512
BECK WITH, JAMES FRANCIS 147
BELL, JAMES RANDALL KENT 523
BEVERLEY, JAMES BRADSHAW 117
BILL, DAVID SPENCER 165
BIRD, WILLIAM WALLACE 466
BOLTON, CHANNING MOORE 171
BOUTWELL, WILLIAM ROWE 179
BOXLEY, JAMES GARLAND 142
BROWN, WILLIAM WALLACE 90
CARPENTER, JAMES CLUVERIUS 187
CHANCELLOR, SAMUEL CLEVELAND 201
CHEW, ROGER PRESTON 206
COLE, GEORGE HENRY PHILLIP 61
COOPER, THOMAS HENRY 375
CORLEY, JOHN GREENE 216
COVER, JESSE REESE 529
COWART, SLATER 532
DICKENSON, JAMES HATLER 540
DOBYNS, THOMAS MITCHELL 551
DUNSMORE, JAMES GASTON 222
EARLY, SAMUEL HENRY 381
EBERWIXE, JOHN GEORGE 233
EGGLESTON, JOSEPH DUPUY 236
ELLIOTT, KEMP BERNARD 243
FAULKNER, CHARLES JAMES 81
FITZGERALD, HARRISON ROBERTSON 329
FLETCHER, ROBERT 317
FORREST, WILLIAM MENTZEL 334
GLASCOCK, THOMAS 323
HAMILTON, WILLIAM WISTAR 474
[9]
10 TABLE OF CONTENTS
HANCOCK, RICHARD 341
HARGRAVE, JESSE HAMLIX 366
HICKS, R. RANDOLPH 389
HOUSTON, MARTIN 452
HUFF, BALLARD PRESTON 249
HUTCHESON, HERBERT FARRAR 441
KENT, CHARLES WILLIAM 55
KING, DOCTOR FRANKLIN 393
LAWRENCE, LLOYD JENNINGS 97
LEEDY, ROBERT FRANKLIN 254
LONG, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 588
LUCAS, DANIEL BEDINGER 28
LUTTRELL, HUGH MONTGOMERY 555
MAPP, GEORGE RICHARD 263
MEADE, JULIAN 75
MEARS, OTHO FREDERICK 266
MOFFETT, JOHN DANIEL 129
MOFFETT, JOHN ROBERTS 135
MOFFETT, WILLIAM WALTER 123
PAGE, ROBERT NEWTON 483
PERROW, CHARLES MATTHEW 449
PITTMAN, REDDEN HERBERT 346
POLK, TASKER 565
POWELL, FILMORE MADISON 401
QUICK, SPENCER RECORD 404
QUICK, WALTER JACOB 411
RAGLAND, JOSEPH EDWARD 573
RANDOLPH, VIRGIL PATRICK 414
REESE, EMMETT FRANCIS, JR 422
REESE, WILLIAM PENN 488
SEBRELL, JAMES EDWARDS 428
SELLERS, THEODORE NAPOLEON 363
SETTLE, THOMAS LEE 87
SHEAHAN, JOHN JOSEPH 357
SHEPHERD, JAMES LEFTWICH 497
SLATER, GEORGE M 309
SMITH, CHARLES ALPHONSO 66
SMITH, HENRY Louis 458
SOUTHGATE, THOMAS SOMERVILLE 434
TABLE OF CONTENTS 11
STEARNES, ORREN LEWIS 301
STEDMAN, MALVERN VANCE 49
STONED ERNEST LOVE 295
SURRATT, ISAAC WEBB 159
SWEARENGEN, JAMES 500
THOMAS, DsLos 289
THORNTON, WILLIAM ERNEST MELVILLE 280
UPSHUR, WILLIAM MAJOR 578
WALKER, JAMES ERNEST 506
WALLACE, ALEXANDER WELLINGTON 41
WHITFIELD, THOMAS JAPHETH 274
WILSON, WOODROW 19
WINGFIELD, J. RICHARD 103
WOOD, DANIEL POLLARD 585
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
ADAMS, WALTER JONES 150
BALDWIN, ROBERT ARCHER 512
BELL, JAMES RANDALL KENT 523
BEVERLEY, JAMES BRADSHAW 117
BILL, DAVID SPENCER 165
BIRD, WILLIAM WALLACE 466
BOLTON, CHANNING MOORE 171
BOUTWELL, WILLIAM Rows 179
BOXLEY, JAMES GARLAND 142
BROWN, WILLIAM WALLACE 90
CARPENTER, JAMES CLUVERIUS 187
CHANCELLOR, SAMUEL CLEVELAND 201
CHEW, ROGER PRESTON 206
COLE, GEORGE HENRY PHILLIP 61
COOPER, THOMAS HENRY 375
CORLEY, JOHN GREENE 216
COVER, JESSE REESE 529
Co WART, SLATER 532
DICKENSON, JAMES HATLER 540
DOBYNS, THOMAS MITCHELL 551
DUNSMORE, JAMES GASTON 222
EARLY, SAMUEL HENRY 381
EBERWINE, JOHN GEORGE 233
ELLIOTT, KEMP BERNARD 243
FAULKNER, CHARLES JAMES 81
FITZGERALD, HARRISON ROBERTSON 329
FLETCHER, ROBERT 317
FORREST, WILLIAM MENTZEL 334
GLASCOCK, THOMAS 323
HANCOCK, RICHARD 341
HAMILTON, WILLIAM WISTAR 474
HARGRAVE, JESSIE HAMLIN 366
[13]
THE
3 LIC
-LI.
ASTQR
Til
WOODROW WILSON
WOODROW WILSON, President of the United States of
America, has reached that exalted station, by a path so
distinct and a progress so gradual, that, viewed from the
end of achievement, both path and progress illustrate
the doctrine of formal predestination in which his ancestors were
firmly grounded. His career, not clearly foreseen or explicitly
predicted, seems, in review, normal and natural and largely devoid
of the elements of surprise. In fact, his early friends did declare
that he was destined for greatness, and some, I know, foresaw, in
his college days, his fitness for the Senatorial toga.
His ancestors on both sides were British, tracing back to Scot-
land, recalling rather the Scottish than the Irish element in their
composite make-up. Where they came from in Scotland is not
revealed, but it would be easy to associate them with such a rock-
ribbed city as granite Aberdeen, a stronghold of orthodox Presby-
terianism. In Great Britain the Wilsons and the Woodrows were
at home in distinct sections, the former in County Down and the
latter at Paisley, Scotland. While there is no evidence of their
meeting in the flesh in the homes of their first migrations, they
were already one in spirit.
The second migration came when young James Wilson, at the
beginning of last century (1808), came to this country to better
his fortune and found his entrance into public life through the
open door of a printing shop. Two coincidences may be noted:
That the shop was in Franklin Court where Benjamin Franklin
had entered upon his versatile career, and the town was Phila-
delphia, where that other James Wilson had rendered distin-
guished services to his adopted country and crowned an honorable
career by patient and sane performance of duties on the bench of
the Supreme Court of the United States. Nothing is known of the
kinship of these two Jameses, but it does not strain one's credulity
to hold that the judicial temper of that able and poised justice has
in due time entered into the descendant of his namesake.
Young Jiminie Wilson "met his fate" in the ship that brought
him over and challenged fortune by marrying her a few months
after landing in Philadelphia. To be more explicit and exact,
James Wilson and Anne Adams, an Irish girl from the north of
Ireland, perhaps from the County Down, were married in Phila-
delphia on November 1st, 1808. Following the trend of coloniza-
tion the young couple set out about 1815 for the pioneer west and
made their first sojourn in the infant village of Pittsburgh.
[19]
20 WOODROW WILSON
Enticed by a little town on the other side of the river, he settled
temporarily in Lisbon, but finally came to rest in Steubenville, the
county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio. Perhaps the name of the
county was itself an attraction to him, for had not Jefferson be-
friended "Colonel" William Duane, the Philadelphian editor to
whom James Wilson owed his early start and rapid rise?
By 1835, James Wilson alone, or with the aid of one of his
seven sons, all of whom were expert compositors, was editing and
publishing two papers, one in Steubenville and the other in Pitts-
burgh, and through these organs had become a powerfully con-
trolling force in this unorganized borderland. In this same year,
1835, there was a staid and successful Scottish dominie in Carl-
isle, England, who in a thrill of missionary zeal felt the challenge
of the New World. He had been born in Paisley, educated in Glas-
gow and "doctored" somewhere for his attainments and ability as
a Presbyterian divine. The fame of this Dr. Thomas Woodrow
had crossed to England and he had followed it to Carlisle, where
his services were highly valued.
Under the impulse of his new enthusiasm, Dr. Thomas Wood-
row set out for America with his good wife, Marion, and their
seven children, ranging from three to fifteen years. On the voyage
over, little Janet was almost miraculously saved from sudden
death, for she literally went down into the ocean when the bow
of the vessel was buried under a big wave and was providentially
preserved by the fact that she was clutching a rope at the time.
But this disaster averted, another assailed and well-nigh over-
whelmed the tender-hearted minister, for his "faithful and affec-
tionate" companion, the wife of his youth, was the victim of a
sudden stroke.
Leaving this first great sacrifice in the soil of his adopted
land, he pushed on to Canada, but soon surrendered his wide cir-
cuit in response to a call from Chillicothe. Remaining there from
1837 to 1849, he assumed his last charge in Columbus, where he
died in 1877. But our story has run forward too rapidly; let us
return to 1847.
In that year two young people met in Steubenville, the one
a young Presbyterian minister, though not yet ordained, and the
other a young girl from Chillicothe. The young minister was
teaching in the Steubenville Male Academy, and the young lady
was a pupil in the Steubenville Seminary. These two young
people in whom our interest centers were Joseph Ruggles Wilson
and Janet (Jessie) Woodrow.
Of Janet's thrilling adventure we have heard, but nothing
else. She was the fifth child of Dr. Thomas Woodrow and his
wife, Marion Williamson. Of English birth, Janet Woodrow was
of Celtic temperament, with a "gleeful laugh and an eye for fun."
She was now away from home adding a finishing touch to her
education.
WOODROW WILSON 21
Joseph Ruggles Wilson was the youngest son of James Wil-
son's ten children, seven boys and three girls, all of whom brought
satisfaction to their parents; the sons, all of them, by gaining
distinction and the daughters by marrying well. Joseph was
born in Steubenville on February 28th, 1822, and became, as all
of the brothers, a "typesetter" and got his preparatory education
at the academy where he afterwards taught. He graduated in
1844 from Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson Col-
lege), and then taught for a session in an academy at Mercer, Pa.
However, he was not teaching to find himself, for after uniting
with the church in his native town, he had made up his mind to
become a minister. To this end he spent a year in the Western
Theological Seminary in Allegheny, Pa., and went for another
session to Princeton Seminary. Nursed in academic life by almost
as many "kind mothers" as his distinguished son, he was waiting
for his day of larger service, when Janet Woodrow passed the
Wilson home that afternoon. The romance then begun culminated
in their marriage on June 7th, 1849. The officiating minister was
the bride's father, Thomas Woodrow, with whose name in full
the subject of our sketch was christened. Joseph Ruggles Wilson,
benedict, was soon the Rev. Joseph R. Wilson, but the class room
drew him more strongly than the pulpit, so that he served one
year as Professor of Rhetoric in Jefferson College, and for four
years as Professor of Chemistry and Natural Sciences in Hamp-
den-Sidney College, Virginia. He had, during the terms of these
professorships, supplied small churches in the neighborhood, but
his first regular pastorate was in Staunton, Virginia. When he
moved there his family consisted of his wife and two daughters.
On the twenty-eighth day of December, 1856, was born the first
son of this union, duly christened, as noted above, Thomas Wood-
row Wilson.
Now our storv has drawn in from wider circles to the central
gj
focus, and is to follow the history of this favored son. We have
obeyed the injunction of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes to begin with
the grandparents in studying the child. At his cradle, sturdiness,
strength, moral fiber, religiousness, mental capacity, determined
tenacity, thrift, and progressiveness ought to be predicted, if not
proclaimed, as endowments. Before the child was old enough to
remember his Virginian home, he was whisked away to Augusta,
Ga., where the family lived during the formative years of young
Wilson's life. For many lads in the South, born in the late fifties,
the years that measured their childhood proved thrillingly and
lastingly memorable because of experiences they could count their
own. For young Wilson, this was not true, since Augusta lay well
without the wide track of devastating war, and knew little of the
hardships that other Southern cities were doomed to suffer.
Perhaps it was this fact that accounts for his freedom from
the fierce prejudices touched with wrath and pain that marred the
22 WOODROW WILSON
lives of so many young Southerners and converted these prospec-
tive patriots into uncompromising provincials. In these days
afire with unpardonable war, he may recall that his earliest
memory was of two men talking in the street, when one excitedly
exclaimed : "Lincoln is elected ; we shall have war." Perchance
on some other street, a child may hear two men talking, and both
shall agree, "Wilson is President. We shall have peace and
national unity."
Tornmie Wilson was a normal whole-hearted boy with a love
of play and pleasure tempered by a certain sense of self-protecting
prudence, and a trifle sobered by the household dignity. His
education in these early days was not the artificial education of
imposed tasks in books or repressed activities in restraining school-
houses, but that natural education of life lived much out of doors,
sometimes under the informative guidance of his wise father, but
more frequently in care-free companionship with playmates and
cousins. When he was indoors there was opportunity to hear
reading aloud from Dickens and many another author of assured
repute, and opportunity to hear talking in a literary style not too
bookish but intolerant of slip-shod vernacular and marked by a
preserved preference for the older rather than the newer word.
In his day young Wilson had many a good teacher, but it
was not merely filial affection that compelled him to count his
father as his greatest in the dignified and virile use of his mother
tongue. He learned this language as an oral medium before he
learned his letters at nine, and was well supplied with words and
forms before he essayed the forbidding task of scrawling toilsome
sentences. Professor Derry recalls him as a quiet, studious boy,
and boasts that "Tommie Wilson and Joe Lamar, two playmates,
have done him proud."
In 1870, Dr. Wilson, always by studious habit and gift of
exposition a teacher, accepted a professorship in the Theological
Seminary in Columbia. The course of young Wilson's training
wras not seriously deflected, for his principal teacher was his
father, and for Professor Derry of Augusta, was substituted Mr.
Barnwell of Columbia. The significant change of this period, if
we may trust his chief biographer, was his exercise of imagination.
If up to this time his mind had been largely cultivated by the
reception of information, and the process of assimilating it and
further strengthened by the routine of school discipline and by his
gift of talking, now it was aglow with imagination, kindled in part
by reading Marryat and Cooper, but more by his own tendency
to withdraw from actual companionship and to live in the realm
of the feigned. There was, however, an orderliness in his imagina-
tive processes that precluded mere lawless and unregulated fancy ;
on the contrary, he was given to subjecting his imagined situations
and characters to the test of reasonableness. In other words, he
was unceasingly cultivating that type of imagination which, as a
WOODROW WILSON 23
historian, he has used in making the past real, and as a statesman
has needed in conceiving that which has not yet happened in the
form it will probably take.
At seventeen, he was in Davidson College, a staunch Presby-
terian college, that had once wanted Dr. Wilson as its president,
and had further commended itself by its attention to the moral
and religious life of its students. In the primitive college where
the students performed for themselves such menial services as
making up their own beds, bringing in wood and water, and kind-
ling fires, the student must perforce learn self-dependence. David-
son has from the first had a reputation for honest teaching by
well trained men, and the reputation was maintained in Wilson's
year. His own career was so normal that it was totally devoid of
high contrasts or exciting episodes by which his college mates
could single him out. Ex-Governor Glenn and other friends of
that day recall that he was generally liked because, in spite of his
long, lonely walks, he was sociable and talkative. Did he recall
when recently planting an elm in the White House grounds that
there is now standing at Davidson an elm that he planted some
forty years ago? His session was not filled out for he was taken
sick and withdrew to Wilmington, N. C., where his father had
accepted a pastorate. Even this sickness seemed providential for
it enabled him to spend more than twelve months in making good
some of the deficiencies of his training up to that time. His body
had grown too rapidly and he needed rest ; he needed play, too, to
prevent him from becoming sombre and prematurely grave; he
needed social life, too, for he was too young for it in Augusta,
averse to it in Columbia and separated from it during his first
year in college. He had never seen the sea nor caught the odor of
sea breezes, which one never gets out of his nostrils, nor seen a
ship, though in his imagination he had multiplied them into pirate
fleets and conquering squadrons commanded by himself. He
needed, moreover, the companionship and advice of his wise
parents in this crucial period. All of this, and more, he had in old
Wilmington, with its charming social life and its romantic tradi-
tions of daring blockade-running and strenuous war experiences
with its tantalizing touch with the outside world through the ves-
sels that occasionally came to its port.
Moreover, it had been decided by the father, in those days of
parental authority, that his son should not return to Davidson
but matriculate at Princeton. For this promotion extra work by
way of preparation, particularly in Greek, must be done, and these
few hours of study, no doubt, lent zest to the numerous ones of
social pleasure. With a "brush to his manners," a maturer mind
and, perhaps, a closer weave to his moral fiber, he entered Prince-
ton College in 1875. Attractive he must have been with his pol-
ished manners, his dignity and readiness of speech, his firm con-
victions unalloyed by unreasoning prejudices, and his loyalty
24 WOODROW WILSON
without irritating sectionalism. He entered upon his work with
freshness and soon found himself absorbed in various college en-
terprises. He was always interested in too many things to devote
himself exclusively to any one, and could never buy highest class
honors by surrendering the time due to the large and varied inter-
ests of college life. Nevertheless, he was one of the honored grad-
uates of the distinguished class of '79.
Intellectually the greatest contribution made by Princeton to
Wilson's growth did not come through curriculum requirements,
but through library privileges. It was his accidental discovery
of the Gentleman's Magazine, with its interesting articles on Eng-
lish public men, that proved a veritable turning point in his career,
setting the whole current of his thought toward contemporary
English politics and the study of constitutional questions. It was
because the English literary prize would require him to turn away
from this reading to the old dramatists that he decided to forego
his excellent opportunity to win it. His mental honesty was
attested by his refusal to take part in the competitive debate,
where victory would have probably been easy, because in drawing
for sides his lot fell upon fwotection in a tariff discussion. Of
course, he took an active part in the old Whig Society and as-
sumed editorial duties on the Princetonian. Through this appren-
ticeship he found his name in a big magazine, The International
Review, as the author of an article on "Cabinet Government in the
United States."
He was probably trying to wean himself from his absorption
in political studies of a more or less abstract character, when he
entered the University of Virginia in the fall of 1879 to study law
and prepare himself for the practice of a profession. Upon us,
his associates in the University of Virginia, he soon made the im-
pression of scholarship, clear thought, sound reasoning supported
by a maturity of powers beyond that of most of his fellow-stu-
dents. But the maturity was not inconsistent with a frank cor-
diality of companionship, a genuine interest in the simple, but
sincere, social life of the community, and a hearty participation
in the varied college interests. A good student, he was never a
mere grind, but made the impression rather of a man fitted for
large public affairs. This is not an afterthought provoked by
noted achievement, but at the time his fellows spoke of him as one
who would some day be a Senator. It is not surprising that in his
calm dignity, his thoughtful habits, and his unusual gifts as a
speaker, they found the qualities of legislative rather than execu-
tive leadership. He won a medal for oratory, came within one of
winning the coveted magazine medal, and was considered by the
students as the best speaker and writer in the University. Yet,
he is better remembered by his friends for his genial friendship,
his persistent humor, his love of music, and his general cleverness.
When he went home for Christmas in 1881, his second session,
WOODROW WILSON 25
he was worried about his health, and for that reason did not re-
turn. He passed the bar examination in Georgia and offered for
practice in Atlanta. As the days passed, largely clientless, he
became convinced that the law was no longer a profession, but a
trade for which he had neither stomach nor heart. He was writing
a book, thereby reviving his latent interest in constitutional and
congressional government, and was enthusiastic over the prospects
of turning away from dull court rooms to the exhilaration of
chosen studies.
But he carried with him to Johns Hopkins another happiness
as well, for he had wooed and won in the summer days of 1883,
Miss Ellen Louise Axson. Between him and marriage lay his
career at Johns Hopkins, a-tingle with incitements to scholarship
and inspiring in the congenial friends of like maturity with him-
self. By 1885 his dissertation, the well-known first study of our
Constitution at work, entitled "Congressional Government: A
Study of Government by Committees," was presented.
Before he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, he ac-
cepted a professorship at Bryn Mawr and the responsibilities of
husband. In the fall Mr. and Mrs. Wilson settled at the new Col-
lege for Women. Space does not permit a detailed account of his
professorial career. In 1888 he accepted a call to the Wesleyan
University at Middletown, Conn., where he made friends as usual
and excited admiration. He had gone from Princeton by way of
the University of Virginia to Atlanta, a sort of northern town in
the far South. By way of Hopkins and Bryn Mawr he had now
reached a point in the far North, and the time for his southward
journey had come again. By 1890 he was settled in his profes-
sorship at Princeton. Years of popularity and influence led in-
evitably, but apparently with no sense of awareness on his part, to
the Princeton presidency. It was but a few years before his elec-
tion, when he was approached with reference to a position of honor
and responsibility in the University of Virginia, that he noted for
the first time that the hopes of Princeton were centered in him.
It seemed to others entirely natural that in 1902, when Dr. Patton
resigned, Dr. Wilson should be elected without ostensible opposi-
tion. During his presidency he converted his old college into a
significant teaching institution, and fought other battles in behalf
of college democracy and humanized learning. Throughout the
country he was recognized as an educational statesman of sagac-
ity, sanity, and clear-eyed idealism with a peculiar power in giv-
ing suggestive utterance to his enlightened views.
Though defeated in some of his cherished plans for Princeton,
his defeats proved his triumph, for they attracted attention to his
staunch democracy of mood and method. No one doubted his
ability, but some of the short-sighted counted him a wilful icono-
clast; others of shallow judgment thought him an unpractical
academician. They were sure he had knowledge, but did he know
how to use it?
26 WOODROW WILSON
This was the conundrum when he was nominated for the gov-
ernorship of New Jersey. His campaign was convincing and com-
pulsive. Men believed at last what they would not believe at first,
that a man who talked so wisely and so well actually meant what
he said. They waited until after his election to learn that what
he said, that he would do. His friends did not doubt what his
enemies and lukewarm supporters would not easily believe, that
this highly trained student, the versatile scholar, would be a prac-
tical, effective leader of men.
Suddenly the governorship of the little State of New Jersey
became the cynosure of all thoughtful men. Old-line politicians
became aware that a new force was in action with which they
would have to reckon. Of course, they did not wish him as leader ;
why should they? But the people did, the people of his State, of
other States, of all States. Nominated after a long session of the
Baltimore convention, in which his young and new managers
proved far more sapient and consistent than the acknowledged
party leaders, he was elected President of the United States by
the largest electoral vote ever cast for o'ne man.
His administration is still too brief, much less than two years,
for right appraisement, even if this were the place, but some things
seem certain.
A very distinguished citizen on the platform with the Presi-
dent when he was inaugurated declared that the circumstances
attending his induction into office were far less the crowning of a
statesman than the consecrating of a priest. There was about it a
solemn dignity, or, better, a dignified solemnity as he slowly re-
peated by his own choice the oath of office. This consecration of
himself, time, talents, and temper, to the duties of his lofty office
was reaffirmed in his recent letter declining to leave Washington
for a political campaign. The people have approved his decision,
but, perhaps, they have not realized how much of silent heroism
there was in this act of self-sacrificing abnegation, for the Presi-
dent has always found pleasure in talking with the people face
to face.
This period of consecration in which he has unceasingly em-
ployed his power and privilege has been marked by signally inter-
esting and important achievements. In the realm of constructive
legislation more has been accomplished than in any administra-
tion in the same number of months. In all of this legislation he
has had a significant and, sometimes, a directing part. Yet, those
who are closest to him attest that this directing leadership has
not been exercised by any of the cheap methods of brow-beating
threats or fault finding, but by commanding knowledge of the
matter in hand, convincing reasoning, and the persuasive utter-
ance of a resolute will. His inclination is to accord honor for
achievement rather than arrogate it to himself.
In the midst of raging war, continental in its territory and
WOODROW WILSON 27
universal in its consequences, he stands to-day as the pre-eminent
representative of peace. If he were not so wholly human and
tender there would be something colossal in his unshaken stand.
Escaping by diplomacy complications with Japan, enacting a new
policy in averting war with Mexico, and emphasizing by his own
prudence and his proclamations absolute neutrality in the great
European trouble, he has commanded the confidence of the people,
who trust him whole-heartedly to protect them from like disaster.
Without regard to party, section, or nationality, all the world can
well thank God for such a President in such a perilous time.
All the more remarkable is the serene strength of this man in
view of the fact that while obligations and responsibilities were
heaping upon him, the very foundations of his domestic life were
shaken by the death of his wife, who had attended him through all
his career with a full partnership in his failures and triumphs.
Driven by the publicity of his life into a sort of reticence that in
a way forbade the intimacies of many personal and private friends,
he more than otherwise needed and nourished the confidences of
the inner home. But in all the sacredness of his personal grief,
he held his duties higher than himself and gave to them the care
he might well have craved.
Out of the exigencies of the war abroad, our country is called
upon to make new adjustments to changed business conditions and
to enter upon new and far-reaching policies. In all of this the
country needs and has the wise guidance of a thoughtful and
business-like President. At no time has he shown in considering
legislation or in executing his plans that academic unfamiliarity
with things as they are, which many wiseacres predicted as his
fate. His academic training has but re-enforced his regnant com-
mon sense and his keen acumen so that his rightful leadership has
been recognized and acknowledged.
It is probable that no President has ever more fully met the
expectations and hopes of the people at large than Wilson. They
see in him a manly man, surrendering with good cheer his conveni-
ence to the strenuous tasks of his exacting position, thinking so
sanely and talking so frankly that they understand him, uttering
himself with such effective grace that they yield him deepest ad-
miration, and deporting himself so consistently as to avoid any
sign of insincerity, and giving to his sincerity eternal worth by
his simple and sustaining faith in a God of Power and Love.
rr^HE
1 n
JL a
DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS
late Judge Daniel B. Lucas was born in the old "Ken-
nedy House," Charles Town, Va., on March 16, 1836,
and died at Rion Hall on the 24th of July, 1909.
The seventy years of his life covered the most eventful
period of our national history, up to the present, and in his genera-
tion he played an important part.
His father, William Lucas, was a lawyer by profession and a
member of Congress in the 40's of the last century. His mother,
Virginia A. Bedinger, was a daughter of Daniel Bedinger, a noted
Revolutionary soldier, and his wife, Sarah (Rutherford) Bedinger.
The Bedinger name, variously spelled, Biidinger, Budingen,
Beidinger, originated in Germany, and is found there surviving
in the two villages of Budingen, in Alsace, and once again, in
Hesse-Cassel. Of the German family, at least one branch was
noble. Of the American branch, nothing definite is known, until
Adam Beidinger, from Dorschel, Alsace, with Anna Margarthe
Hansknecht, his wife, and several children, sailed from Rotter-
dam, in the good ship "Samuel," and landed in Philadelphia on
the 30th of August, 1737. Adam's son Henry, the first of the Vir-
ginia Bedingers, married Magdalene Von Schlegel, a relative of
the Schlegel brothers, poets and philosophers. It is a matter of
record that three of Henry Bedinger's sons, then living in Shep-
herdstown, Berkeley County (now Jefferson), Va., were Revolu-
tionary soldiers. The two older brothers, George Michael and
Henry, were members of the famous company, commanded by
Capt. Hugh Stevenson, which, with Daniel Morgan's, was the first
of the Southern troops to reach General Washington at the siege
of Boston in 1775. Daniel Bedinger, a younger brother, ran off
at the age of fifteen to join his brothers in the army. He was cap-
tured and confined in one of the old prison ships ; was exchanged,
rescued in an almost dying condition, and promoted. After the
war he was made paymaster of the Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk,
Va. He was a man of ability and poetic gifts, and wrote the
famous "Cossack Celebration," a Hudibrastic satire on the British
sympathizers, in the days of 1812. Daniel Bedinger married Sarah
Rutherford, whose father, "Robin" Rutherford, was a member of
the Virginia Assembly for twenty-five years, and afterwards repre-
sented the Valley in Congress. Of the daughters of Daniel Bed-
inger and Sarah Rutherford, one married William Lucas; one,
Edmund Jennings Lee, and another John Thornton Augustine
[28]
THE
PUBLIC L
DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS 31
Washington, all of Virginia. Cornwall, Ellsworth, Foster, Law-
rence and Berry were other family alliances.
The Lucas family is credited to three countries, Germany,
France and England. The name, dating back to the Beloved Phy-
sician, is common to all romance languages. The ancient English
coat of arms of the Lucas family, which comes down from the fif-
teenth century, is described as "argent chevron gules between
three hurts."
In England, as early as the fifteenth century, the family oc-
cupied an honorable station and had become numerous. When the
civil war broke out between Charles First and Parliament, the
Lucas family were stout Royalists, and one of the most noted
figures of that bloody war was Gen. Sir Charles Lucas, who com-
manded at the heroic defense of Colchester, and immediately after
the fall of the city, was shot by the enraged Cromwellians upon
whom he had inflicted tremendous losses. Before the outbreak of
the civil war in England, the Lucas family had already become
represented in America. The first authoritative record that we
have shows one Richard Lucas, who came over in 1635. He was
followed by Robert and Roger in 1636. In the year 1654, twenty-
seven members of the Lucas families had established themselves
in Virginia. Favorite names among them were William, Thomas,
Edward, Samuel, Richard and Robert.
Daniel Bedinger Lucas traces his descent direct from Robert
Lucas, who came over from Deverall, Lingbridge, Wiltshire, on the
4th of the fourth month, 1679, in the good ship "Elizabeth and
Mary," and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In 1683 he
was a member of the Assembly, and again in 1687 and 1688. His
son, Edward Lucas, was Supervisor of Falls Township in the year
1730. Two years later, Edward Lucas, surveyor, with his wife,
Elizabeth Corn, migrated to Mecklenburg, Frederick County,
Virginia. The boundary stone marked "E. L. 1732," still remains
on land taken up by him.
A second marriage united him with Mary Darke, sister of the
noted Revolutionary and Indian fighter, Gen. William Darke.
There is, in General Washington's handwriting, a paper still ex-
tant, certifying that "Edward Lucas, Gentleman, is First Lieuten-
ant of Volunteers in the company commanded by Gen. William
Morgan" in 1777.
During the Revolution, the Virginia records show that forty-
five members of the Lucas families served in various Virginia com-
mands. These range from private to colonel, about half of them
being officers, the remainder privates. It is probable that no
other family in Virginia of equal numbers furnished so many
soldiers to the Revolutionary armies. Later, they were great
Indian fighters, and in the Confederacy, from one family, there
were five Lucas brothers in the army.
There are two traditions of this branch particularly to be
32 DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS
recorded : One, that they kept hounds and always delighted to
follow the hunt; the other, that this was athat noble family of
which it has always been said that 'all the sons were brave and all
the daughters virtuous,' ' an inscription in Westminster recorded
with admiration by Hume and by Irving in his English sketch.
From this brief statement it will be seen that Judge Lucas
had a creditable ancestry on both sides of the family; and this
ancestry was to him, as it should be to every one, an inspiration,
inciting him to live well and conduct himself in all ways as a good
and patriotic citizen.
Virginia Bedinger, his gifted and beautiful mother, died in
1840, and his boyhood was spent largely in boarding schools; his
brother and sisters were scattered and the home life broken up.
A constant reader, he kept midnight vigils over his books, thus
impairing an already frail constitution. He attributed his im-
proved health in later life, which always characterized him, and
that vast capacity for work, to his faculty for sleeping at all times
and to his life in the open air.
A man of great attainments and the widest information,
Judge Lucas was not a classical scholar in the strict sense of the
term. He knew "little Latin and less Greek," but was versed in
English and French literature. The turn of his mind was towards
literary works, rather than science. He revelled in the humor of
«/
Cervantes, and imagination of the Arabian Nights. The English
poets were his daily companions; Poe and Tennyson he consid-
ered the great poets of their generation. An able lawyer he was
also profoundly trained in political science.
When Judge Lucas was not quite sixteen years old, in 1851,
he entered the University of Virginia where he remained four years
as a student. He graduated in a number of subjects, but his health
failed, and he did not secure the ten diplomas necessary to win the
title of "Master of Arts."
Leaving the University in 1856, he entered the famous law
school at Lexington, Va., maintained by Judge John W. Brocken-
brough, and from that school was graduated a lawyer in 1858.
Returning home, he began the practice of his profession at
Charles Town in the spring of 1859. He remained there about a
year, and in the spring of 1860 moved to Richmond, where he was
established when the Civil War broke out. A Virginian, and loyal
to the State, as his forebears had always been, he accompanied
General and ex-Governor Henry A. Wise on his campaign in the
Kanawha Valley in the summer and fall of 1861, acting in the
capacity of aide and private secretary. The first of the many
poetical compositions of Daniel Bedinger Lucas were written dur-
ing the war. They have the true martial ring and are rated as,
perhaps, his most perfect work.
In the latter part of the war, his neighbor and classmate,
Capt. John Yates Beall, had been captured by the Federals near
DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS 33
the Canadian border and was to be tried by court martial on the
charge of being a spy and guerilla. Judge Lucas determined to
run the blockade with a view of assisting in the defense of his
old friend.
On January 1st, 1865, he left Richmond, carrying on his per-
son BealFs commission and other official papers. Beginning this
dangerous undertaking by cutting his way through the ice-bound
Potomac in a small skiff, at a point where the river was nine miles
wide, Mr. Lucas made his way to Montreal. Sad to relate, his
efforts for Beall, however, proved futile, as General Dix, the com-
mander in New York, would not permit him to return to the
United States to take part in the defense. Captain Beall was de-
fended by James T. Brady, the ablest lawyer at that time, but in
vain, his fate had already been decided. He was convicted by
court martial, condemned and executed on January 4th, 1865.
Once in Canada, Mr. Lucas remained there for several months,
and at Chamblis, after the surrender of General Lee, was written
his celebrated poem, "The Land Where We Were Dreaming."
This was first published in the Montreal Gazette ; it was copied in
many papers in our own country and England and everywhere
called forth most flattering notice. A little later, he brought out a
memoir of John Yates Beall, giving a dramatic and official report
of the trial (John Lovell, Montreal, 1865).
The men who fought secession previously did not hesitate
to violate all law in order to create the new State of West Vir-
ginia; and so when Judge Lucas returned home he found himself
a resident, not of Virginia, but of West Virginia, to which Jef-
ferson County had been attached. The extreme radical Republi-
cans of that day had West Virginia completely under their domina-
tion. Among other things a political "test oath" was formed to
exclude all ex-Confederates from professional practice or official
position. Five years passed before the sober second thought of
the people began to prevail, and in 1870 a more conservative ele-
ment in the legislature was able to defeat the Radicals and sweep
away the obnoxious and unjust "test oath."
Judge Lucas then formed a law partnership with the late
Judge Thomas C. Green, who also was an ex-Confederate, and had
a distinguished career in West Virginia, first as a member of the
legislature, and later as presiding judge of the Court of Appeals,
but all this was much later.
In 1869 and 1870, just before taking up his professional work,
Judge Lucas served as co-editor of the "Southern Metropolis," a
weekly paper published in Baltimore, owned and conducted by J.
Fairfax McLaughlin, LL. D. Of this paper the celebrated Alex-
ander H. Stephens said : "I have read the Southern Metropolis
from its first appearance, and have often said, and now repeat,
that it comes nearer filling the place of the 'London Saturday Re-
view' than any other paper on this continent."
34 DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS
The hindrances which had kept Judge Lucas from the active
practice of his profession finally proved helpful to him when the
time came to enter upon it seriously, because all these years had
been years of preparation and experience ; so that when, at the age
of 34, he settled down to law he became within a short while not
only an able, but, fortunately, a successful lawyer. Many strong
lawyers are not fortunate in getting results ; but the West Vir-
ginia reports which record a great many of Judge Lucas's cases,
show that he won decisions on an average of two out of three.
Judge Lucas took that keen interest in politics that one might
expect from such a man. He was twice defeated in Democratic
primaries for Congressional nomination ; first in 1876 by Hon.
John Blain Hoge and again by a political combination which
landed the Hon. William L. Wilson in the National House of Rep-
resentatives. In 1872 he was a Democratic Presidential elector
from his Congressional district, and again in 1876. In 1884, he
was elector-at-large for West Virginia on the Cleveland ticket.
He was very active during these campaigns, and his preaching was
always of Jeffersonian Democracy, for to the Jeffersonian stand-
ard he had pinned his faith.
Judge J. Fairfax McLaughlin of New York, brother-in-law
and intimate friend, said of Judge Lucas : "Wendell Phillips dur-
ing the days of the abolition movement, never displayed more reso-
lute purpose or inflexible devotion to his cause than Daniel B.
Lucas has shown in his rigid adherence, both in practice and in
oratorical appeals, to the Jeffersonian Democracy." The young
lawyer again won prestige when, after six years at the bar, in July,
1876, he was unanimously elected Professor of Law in the Uni-
versity of West Virginia, an honor which he felt moved to decline
because of the demands made upon his time by his practice which
he did not care to sacrifice. For the same reason, in the same year,
he also declined to accept the position of judge of the Circuit Court
tendered him bv Governor Matthews to fill the vacancv caused by
ft/ t> t/
the resignation of Judge John Blair Hoge.
In 1884 the university of West Virginia conferred upon him
the degree LL. D., and never was an honor more worthily be-
stowed. It was indeed creditable to the institution that the men
in charge of it were able to recognize the notable abilities and at-
taiments of Judge Lucas. Judge Lucas had declined such political
honors as had been tendered him, but in 1884, when the oppor-
tunity came to enter the legislature, he became a member of that
body, and there made a most notable record. He combined two
qualities which do not always go together — a profound thinker of
logical mind, he was imbued with poetical sentiment and had the
gift of poetical expression. Such men are always dangerous to
their opponents in the forum of debate.
Judge Lucas became one of the most forceful leaders of the
legislature. He opposed sumptuary laws and the co-education of
DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS 35
the sexes in the State University. He favored high license as re-
lating to the liquor business and the equalization of taxes on all
property, whether real or personal, corporate or individual. He
maintained that inequality of taxes in various forms had been the
bane of all republics, and proved it by history.
His first term proving satisfactory to his constituents, he was
re-elected to the House of Delegates in the fall of 1886. So long
had he borne the standard of the people's rights, that by this time
his sincerity, gifted eloquence and ardent enthusiasm received
recognition. It was apparent that he was not to be drawn from
his conviction by any specious argument; a reformer who could
not be driven nor led, and a man to be feared by those dangerous
elements which are always seeking legislative favors.
In his second term he led the fight against railway privileges
and domination with wonderful persistency and force. He intro-
duced a bill against the issuance of free passes to legislators and
officials. He succeeded in passing a bill compelling railroads to
fence their tracks. Naturally all this put him in opposition to
Johnson N. Camden, the United States senator, who was a candi-
date for re-election.
There were five candidates. Besides Camden, S. C. Burdett,
W. H. Flick, Nathan Goff and James H. Brown had each con-
siderable strength. The contest which followed was one of the
most exciting and dramatic in the political history of the State.
The balloting extended from the 25th of January to the 25th of
February, with no result, and the legislature adjourned. On Feb-
ruary 28th, Governor Wilson appointed Judge Lucas as senator
ad interim. Judge Lucas resigned as a member of the House on
March 3d, and accepted the appointment. Two days later, the
governor called an extra session of the legislature, which assem-
bled April 20th and recommended balloting and continued voting
until May 5th, when Judge Charles James Faulkner of the Third
District was elected senator. On the ground that a called legis-
lative session could not elect, Lucas contested the seat. In view
of Judge Faulkner's longer tenure of office, six years as against
the two years' appointment of Judge Lucas, the United States
Senate decided the case on the question of expediency, refusing
to take it up on its own merits.
In the meantime, Mr. Lucas's former partner, Judge Thomas C.
Green, who had been serving as a member of the Supreme Court of
Appeals, died in November, 1889. Judge Lucas, as his nearest
friend, prepared a biography and address upon his career, which
was read before the Bar Association of West Virginia. The gov-
ernor appointed Judge Lucas as the successor to Judge Green.
In 1890 Judge Lucas was nominated for the Supreme Court
of Appeals, and in November of that year was elected by an over-
whelming majority. On January 1st following (1891), he was
elected president of the court.
36 DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS
He had never been a strong man physically. He had led a life
of strenuous activities in many ways. His health had become im-
paired, and so in 1893 he resigned his position as presiding judge
of the Court of Appeals, and never again entered public life. His
remaining fifteen years were spent in the privacy of his home
near Charles Town.
In 1869, Judge Lucas married Miss Lena T. Brooke, daughter
of Henry Lawrens and Virginia (Tucker) Brooke of Richmond.
His wife was a great-niece of John Kandolph of Koanoke, and of
Governor Eobert Brooke of Virginia. Of this marriage two chil-
dren were born. One daughter, Virginia Lucas, is the surviving
member of the family at this time (1913).
Judge Lucas's affiliations have already been shown. His tem-
perament did not lead him into the joining of societies, although
he was eligible to all the patriotic societies of the country. The
Protestant Episcopal Church and the Delta Kappa Epsilon col-
lege fraternity covered the extent of his membership in church
and society. He loved chess, whist, horseback riding, fishing,
travel and was a moderate smoker. In the latter vears of his life
t-
he enjoyed an evening game of cards.
His literary work has been slightly touched upon, and yet it
was a very important part of his work in life. Busy early and
late as he was, he found or made time to do an amount of literary
work that would be creditable to a professional man of letters.
His Memoir of Captain Beall has been mentioned and one of his
poems. There were also "The Wreath of Eglantine" (Kelly, Piett
& Co., Baltimore, 1869), a volume of poems written by him, and
also containing the beautiful pastoral poetry of his deceased sis-
ter, Virginia Bedinger Lucas ; "The Maid of Northumberland," a
drama of the Civil War (Putnam's Sons, New York, 1879), dedi-
cated to his friend, Henry Kyd Douglas, of Maryland; "Ballads
and Madrigals" (Pollard & Moss, New York, 1884) ; "Fisher Ames,
Henry Clay," a collaboration with James Fairfax McLaughlin,
LL. D. (Charles L. Webster & Co., 1891) ; "Nicaragua" (B. F.
Johnson Co., Richmond, Va., 1896) ; and there were also numer-
ous addresses and poems composed for special occasions or patri-
otic meetings, and delivered by him on such occasions. The
greatest of these was his oration on Daniel O'Connell. O'Con-
nell was so powerful and unique a figure that in order to prepare
such an address it was necessary for the author to have a thorough
and complete grasp of the character of the Irish liberator, and
also of the day in which he lived and the forces with which he had
to contend. It was prepared originally upon an invitation from
the Parnell Club of Wheeling, and was delivered at the opera
house in that city on the evening of August 6th, 1886. He was
invited to repeat it at the Norwood Institute, Washington, D. C.,
April 30, 1888, and again in the room of the House of Delegates
in the State capitol at Charleston, W. Va., January 20, 1889.
DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS 37
Judge William Matthew Merrick of the Supreme Court of the Dis-
trict of Columbia, who heard the lecture on O'Connell when he
delivered it in Washington, declared that "for power of statement,
originality of thought, and gift as an orator, Mr. Lucas was sur-
passed by no one that he had ever heard."
Judge Lucas generously lent his great ability to his fellows,
and thus was in constant demand for poems and orations for spe-
cial occasions. Among some of his notable poems of this class may
be mentioned the one at the dedication of the Confederate Ceme-
tery at Winchester in 1865 ; at the semi-centennial of the Univer-
sity of Virginia in 1879 ; at the unveiling of the Confederate monu-
ment at Charles Town in 1882; at the convention of the Delta
Kappa Epsilon Literary Society for the Northwest, Chicago, Oc-
tober 19, 1887, and at the annual banquet of the New York South-
ern Society, February 22, 1888. At Winchester in 1865, and at
New York in 1888, the poems he read were unusually happy and
are among his best productions.
Among his lectures may be mentioned that on John Brown at
Winchester in 1865; that on John Randolph at Hampden-Sidney
College in 1881 ; his study of Henry Clay in Louisville in 1891, and
the one on Daniel O'Connell above referred to. All of these are
admirable specimens of American learning and eloquence.
Very inadequate would be any sketch which should fail to do
justice to Judge Lucas's personal charm. Men who knew him in
his college and early days speak of him as a singularly bright per-
sonality, the pure soul full of high ideals and rare mental and
spiritual qualities. And so in later years it was his genial humor
of a peculiarly gentle and lovable nature that, adding grace to
rich mental endowments, made him beloved of all acquaintances
and the idol of his family circle.
To quote an intimate acquaintance and relative in the intro-
duction of his poems (complete WTest Virginia edition, published
recently from the Gotham Press, Boston, U. S. A.) :
"Readers fortunate enough to remember Judge Lucas from
actual association will doubtless feel the impress of his rare mind
and personality — less in the handling of plot and incident, clever
as these sometimes are, than in the lofty poetry of many speeches
and in the comic matter w^hich he has introduced with a luxuri-
ance and variety almost Elizabethan — there is hardly a line of
comedy wrhich seems to have come slowly from the author's pen.
Even when most fantastic, it is hardly less spontaneous or more
brilliant than was his table talk."
Perhaps no honor ever attained by Judge Lucas gave him
more real happiness than his selection as valedictorian of the
University of Virginia in 1856. Even then the bright youth was
foreshadowing that oratorical power which made him such a no-
table figure in later years. Living all his life in one county, he
was yet a citizen of two states. Descended from honored families
38 DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS
of the "Mother of States and Statesmen/' he represented in his
own person the qualities that had made the old State great, and
to the new State of which by the fortunes of war he became a citi-
zen he contributed the best service that his strength and abilities
permitted.
Judge Lucas's title to eminence does not rest so much upon his
distinction in any one direction as upon the significance of his
whole life. Great as was his eminence at the bar, important and
distinguished as were his services to pure politics, and popular
rights, brilliant as were his achievements as an orator, all taken
together are inadequate to account for the affection in which he
was held by many of those of the younger generations who cherish
high ideals and who hope for the attainment of a purer and a
higher public life. He constantly furnished to such men faith and
strength, in the face of discouragement and doubt which every-
day experience spread about them by the inspiration of his un-
wavering devotion to the noble ideals of the fathers of the repub-
lic. The very ideal of the "scholar and gentleman," he was an
example of a type that has been rare at all time, and which is
becoming rarer than ever in our day of hurry and rapid material
progress. The presence of such a man was an elevating influence
to the thousands who had not the privilege of his acquaintance.
The modest simplicity of his life, the total lack of ostentation with
which he devoted himself to the welfare of his country, the steady
pursuit of duty, whether in public or private life; all these traits
distinguished Judge Lucas from many of his contemporaries.
PUBLIC LJ
ASTOP, L
TILDFN F^U
ALEXANDER WELLINGTON WALLACE
IN every age, and in every nation, there stand out conspicuous
examples of unselfish patriotism. History does not record
more exalted characters than Timoleon, of Syracuse, a product
of Pagan Greek civilization. In line with him are such fig-
ures as Cincinnatus of Rome, and Herman of Germany. The Greek
and Roman civilizations are now merely memories, while the pres-
ent German standards do not date from Herman, the great patriot
of early time, but from Martin Luther, the preacher. In England,
Alfred the Great, of the ninth century, and Cromwell, of the sev-
enteenth, the greatest figures in English history, were both pro-
foundly influenced by their Christian faith, and the same thing is
true of Joan of Arc, the greatest figure in French history. In
Scotland, we come upon the heroic figure of William Wallace, of
the thirteenth century, and in America, of George Washington, of
the eighteenth century. Consider for a moment the different po-
sitions in life occupied by these colossal figures. Timoleon was a
soldier. Cincinnatus was a farmer by profession and a soldier
from necessity. Herman was the chief of a German tribe. Alfred
the Great was a king. Cromwell was a brewer by occupation. He
became a soldier as a result of the disjointed times in which he
lived. Wallace was a small landed proprietor driven to arms by
the wrongs of his country. Washington was a country gentle-
man who took up arms in defense of the liberty of his country.
Joan of Arc was a peasant girl. None of these were self-seekers.
None of them were trying to build up great names or great posi-
tions for themselves, and it is noticeable in the group that belonged
to the Christian era, that every one of them possessed not only
the altruistic spirit but a strong belief in the Christian faith,
which is a breeder of the altruistic spirit. We see, therefore, to-
day, the highest average of citizenship in those nations which have
produced those great characters — for, while Pagan nations did
bring forth great men and splendid patriots, the altruistic spirit
was lacking, without which the average grade of citizenship cannot
be raised.
Descended from the same stock as one of these heroic char-
acters is Judge Alexander Wellington Wallace, of Fredericksburg,
who is in the sixteenth generation from Sir Malcolm Wallace,
father of Sir William Wallace, being descended from the younger
brother of Sir William Wallace, John Wallace, of Riccarton, and
[41]
42 ALEXANDER WELLINGTON WALLACE
later of Ellerslie. This branch of the Wallace family, now ex-
tinct in Scotland as to the male line, was founded in Virginia by
Doctor Michael Wallace, who was born at Galrigs, Scotland, on
May 11, 1719, and died in Virginia in January, 1767. He was a
son of William Wallace, of Galrigs, who died before 1734, who was
a son of Thomas Wallace, of Cairnhill, who was directly de-
scended from Wallace, of Ellerslie.
Dr. Michael Wallace settled in King George County, Vir-
ginia, and called his place there "Ellerslie," after the old home
place in Scotland. He was educated, in a medical way, by Dr.
Gustavus Brown, of Charles County, Maryland, who had married
Frances Fowke. Dr. Brown was the father of nine daughters —
the most famous women of their generation for beauty, and from
him are descended a number of leading families in America-
notably the Bullits, of Kentucky; the Keys, of Maryland; the
Wallaces, Moncures and Robinsons, of Virginia; the Claggetts,
of Maryland; Douglas H. Thomas's family, of Baltimore; the
Homers, of Virginia; Judge John Scott's descendants, of Vir-
ginia, and other families which have furnished a number of strong
men in the building up of these United States.
Dr. Michael Wallace married, on April 27, 1747, Elizabeth
Brown, Avho was born on October 5, 1723, and was one of the
famous daughters of Dr. Gustavus and Frances (Fowke) Brown.
They had nine children. Of these, John Wallace, born 1761, and
who died in 1829, married Elizabeth Hooe.
Dr. John Hooe Wallace, son of John and Elizabeth (Hooe)
Wallace, married Mary Nicholas Gordon, and of this marriage
Judge Alexander Wellington Wallace was born in Fredericks-
burg, Virginia, on August 20, 1843. His maternal line, the
Gordons, was also of Scotch extraction ; and the Gordon name in
Scotland has been famous in that country for nearly seven hun-
dred years. The best Scottish authors agree that it was not an
original Highland Clan, but was founded by an Anglo-Norman,
who became the head of such a following in the North of Scotland
that the family became to all intents and purposes one of the
Scottish Clans. So extended were their possessions, and such
notable fighters were they, that in time the Chief of the Gordons
came to be known as "The Cock of the North." The Hon. Armis-
tead Gordon, of Staunton, Virginia, is authority for the state-
ment that young Lochinvar, who came out of the West, was a
member of the Gordon Clan. However that may be, certain it is
that the Gordons have a long and splendid history in Scotland,
and the reputation of the family (or Clan) has not been dimin-
ished in the United States.
Judge Wallace's education was begun in Fredericksburg and
continued at Brookland School in Albemarle County, where in
1860, then only seventeen, he was awarded the Gold Medal given
ALEXANDER WELLINGTON WALLACE 43
to the best orator. The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 found
him a student in the Law Class at the University of Virginia
taught by the celebrated Prof. John B. Minor. No Virginia boy
of his age, at the time, could be expected to tamely submit to the
confinement of the lecture-room when his State was being in-
vaded by multitudinous armies; and so, in the Spring of 1862,
young Wallace left the University to enter as a private of Com-
pany C of the Thirteenth Virginia Regiment of the Confederate
Army, in which he served until the surrender at Appomattox,
when as Fourth Corporal in command of his company he surren-
dered three men.
In his twenty-second year he returned home from the army
with his three brothers — all of whom had fortunately escaped the
perils of battle and hardship, to find that his father's residence,
through the fidelity of a faithful slave (Fielding Grant), had been
saved from destruction when the town had been bombarded bv
i>
the Federal Army under Burnside. Nothing, however, was left
beyond the mere shell of the building; the contents were gone.
His parents were then both over sixty, and his grandmother,
nearly ninety, with a faithful old colored mammy, were keeping
life in their bodies on the most meagre fare. Dr. Wallace had been
a wealthv man at the outbreak of the war. He was President of
«/
the Farmers Bank, of Fredericksburg ; owned a country seat
known as "Liberty Hall" in Stafford County, and was one of the
substantial men of the county.
The problem that confronted the four young men was how
best to make a living for themselves and care for their parents
and grandmother. They were in rags, without money and without
occupation. They laid aside all foolish pride, if they had ever
been possessed of such, and buckled down to strenuous work.
The oldest brother, Wistar, who was an educated lawyer, and had
been in practice before the war, returned to his practice. The next
brother, Charles, stood on a street corner in Fredericksburg and
sold by the plug to General Sherman's soldiers, as they marched
through Fredericksburg on their way North, two boxes of tobacco
which his father had bought the year before, and from these two
boxes of tobacco he realized the sum of seventy-five dollars, with
which he began a mercantile business. He died in 1893, President
of the National Bank of Fredericksburg. Howson, youngest of
the four brothers, sold lunches of corn bread and herrings to
Sherman's soldiers, and realized enough to go in partnership with
his brother Charles. He, too, became President of the National
Bank of Fredericksburg. Judge Wallace took the old cavalry
horse which his brother Charles had brought back from the army,
drummed up a little school, taught from nine to two, read law six
hours daily, and at the end of nine months had enough money to
make himself presentable before the examining judges, and was
44 ALEXANDER WELLINGTON WALLACE
duly qualified to practise law, entering at once upon his profes-
sion in May, 1866. For many years thereafter his life was that of
a hard-working lawyer. While building character so substantially
he built up a large clientele, and finally was elected Judge of the
Corporation Court for a term of six years. He was afterwards
twice re elected. In his third term he had been made a member
of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, and though
this is an honorary position, he yet felt that, under his construc-
tion of law, it was not right for him to hold two official positions.
In addition, he had long before determined that, at the age of
sixty, he would retire from active pursuits. Therefore, he re-
signed his judgeship with the intention of giving what time he
could to the University and of spending the remainder of his life
in ways most pleasant to himself, as he had acquired a competency
and it was not necessary for him to further pursue his profession.
It is given to few men to meet with such a measure of apprecia-
tion of their services as Judge Wallace received upon his resigna-
tion. Not only the bar, but the press and the citizenship, rose up
in arms and plead with him to recall his resignation. His long
service on the bench had been so satisfactory and the scales of
justice had been held so evenly poised that the people did not want
to part with him as long as he was able to render service. The
Business Men's Association, of Fredericksburg, tendered him the
most complimentary resolutions. A great mass meeting was held,
participated in by a large number of citizens, urgently requesting
that he would withdraw his resignation. In a brief statement
made at that meeting, Judge Wallace, in the kindest and most
courteous manner, declined to withdraw his resignation, and
stated his reasons. He is now (1914) past the three score and
ten limit, and at this time holds the position of President of the
National Bank of Fredericksburg, with which his family have
been identified for a hundred years, the present bank having
grown out of the old Farmers Bank, more than a hundred years
old, and of which Judge Wallace's father, Dr. John H. Wallace,
was President in 1812. As will be noticed, he is the third one of
his brothers to serve in this capacity, and this family has prac-
tically controlled the old bank during all its history. It is doubt-
ful if a similar case could be found in the United States. This
bank is a monument both to their business capacity and their
fidelity to sound principles of finance.
Judge Wallace is an earnest member of the Episcopal Church,
having served for many years as Senior Warden of St. George's
Church, Fredericksburg.
He was married on April 30, 1883, to Victoria B. Stevens,
born in Philadelphia on June 18, 1859, daughter of Captain
Charles K. and Susan Stevens.
Judge Wallace is a fine type of the good citizen who seeks not
ALEXANDER WELLINGTON WALLACE 45
personal preferment. When he was besought to be a candidate to
the last Constitutional Convention in Virginia, he issued a card
declining and stating that k'the ephemeral glamour of political
preferment" had no charm for him. On the other hand, he believes
that it is the duty of the citizen to take his share of public work
when he is drafted into the service; and so, when called upon to
represent his county in the General Assembly, he served two terms.
Feeling then that he had done his share, he declined a re-election.
He represented the First Congressional District of Virginia in two
National Democratic Conventions (Tilden and Hancock). While
serving as a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of
Virginia, he was made Chairman of the Committee on Finance,
and it was during his term of service that the Board revolutionized
the management and elected Dr. Alderman as President of the
University. His service to the local Episcopal Church has been
mentioned. In addition to this, he has represented his church in
the State Diocesan Councils and in the General Convention. He
has spent much of his time in travel, having crossed the Atlantic
Ocean a half-score of times and traveled the greater part of
Europe. A very clear and attractive writer, he summed up his
observations of Europe in a paper entitled "America by Compari-
son," in which he shows that, while Europe is our ancestral
mental home, and from it we have inherited our civilization,
nevertheless the conditions existing in this country are much more
favorable to man's development along all lines — material, intel-
lectual and spiritual. Another little paper of his, which is a gem
measured by any standard, and which would take perhaps five
minutes to read, was an address delivered in 1898 in honor of Rev.
Dr. Thomas S. Dunaway. The title of this is: "A Good Man is
a Good Citizen." A more elaborate address was one delivered
to the Virginia Bar Association on the Life and Character of
Lord Brougham. It makes about thirty-five small pages of print.
It would take perhaps forty-five minutes to deliver. It dealt with
the greatest of English lawyers who lived to the extreme old age
of ninety, and whose active life covered that crucial period of
English history running from 1790 to 1850. It is a marvel of
condensation and yet sufficiently elaborate and detailed to give to
the reader a correct appreciation of a very great and just man
who did not meet with due appreciation at the hands of Eng-
land, simply because, at the urgent call of justice, he stood up,
ninety-four years ago, against a dissolute king in defense of a
persecuted woman. If ever a man deserved Westminster Abbey,
that man was Lord Brougham, and surely some day England, as
a matter of justice, will have his ashes transferred from the sunny
coasts of Riviera to that great mausoleum which is an epitome of
English history.
46 ALEXANDER WELLINGTON WALLACE
Judge Wallace has always been a very close student of public
affairs, and he puts in a few sentences some conclusions that are
worthy of thought by every patriotic man. He says, "This nation
needs few great measures ; it needs many great men to guide the
people in the paths of patriotism and guard them from the delu-
sions of the demagogue. The evil of the day is the inordinate love
of gain, extravagance and selfishness." With regard to his own
profession he believes that members of the bar should be educated
and cultured men, and taught to practice law as a service and not
merely for commercial gain. He has been a wide reader and a
discriminating one. He thinks that for style, information and
language, Macaulay, Lecky and Shakespeare are most beautiful ;
for philosophy, Plato, Cicero and Lord Bacon; for poetry, Sir
Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Longfellow, and last but not least,
Homer.
That he is an able man, his career demonstrates. That he is
a faithful man, his long service on the bench proves. But what
of the personal qualities of the man? What manner of man is
this outside of his work? To tell that one must go to those who
know him best, and a paragraph written by a friend of long years
standing so thoroughly sums up the personal side of the man that
it is given here verbatim, as a measure of justice to those who
read and who draw inspiration from good work well done :
"Nature did much for him, she moulded him all of that clay
of which she is most sparing. To him she gave fine presence and a
countenance lighted up with the mingled luster of intelligence and
benevolence, strong reason, a quick relish for every physical and
intellectual enjoyment, constitutional intrepidity and that frank-
ness by which it is generally accompanied ; spirits which nothing
could depress ; temper easy, generous and placable, and that gen-
eral courtesy which has its seat in the heart and of which artificial
politeness is only a faint imitation."
The Wallace Coat of Arms is as follows : "Gules, a lion ram-
pant argent within a bordnre compony of the last and azure.
"Crest : An ostrich holding in his beak a horseshoe proper.
"Motto : Libertas Optima Berum."
NOTE. — In the early paragraphs of this sketch, Ellerslie is
mentioned as a Scottish locality; but the early form of this ap-
pears to have been "Elderslie," or, as Mackenzie gives it, "Elders-
ly." The modern form, however, is written "Ellerslie."
ICN.3
MALVERN VANCE STEDMAN
COLONEL MALVERX VAXCE STEDMAX, of Stuart, one
of the most enterprising of the present-day business men
of southwestern Virginia, was born in Bel Air, Leon
County. Florida, on September 3, 1863, son of Andrew
Jackson and Susan Cathline i Staples i Stedman.
Colonel Stedman is a leading orchardist of his section, which
fits in well with the family name. In the old Anglo-Saxon tongue
"the stead,'? or "the sted" meant "the homestead," and from that
"the sted man," or "the homestead man," became synonymous
with the farmer. Colonel Stedman's horticultural work, there-
fore, is strictly in line with the occupation of his ancestors.
Though Stedman is a Saxon name, the family divided in
England, one branch settling in Wales and building up a strong
family in the counties of Brecknock and Cardigan. This family,
though Welsh now for centuries, was originally English.
There have been three distinct migrations of the Stedmans to
America : the first, about 1635, was to New England, composed of
English Stedmans who were Puritans. From this family was
descended Edmund Clarence Stedman, the banker-poet, a great
financier, and one of the finest literary characters of our day.
The second movement was made by Alexander Stedman. who
espoused the cause of the Pretender to the British throne, and
after that cause was destroyed in the crushing defeat at Culloden
in 1746, to save his life he migrated to America, settling in Phila-
delphia, where he rose to be a judge and was a leading citizen.
He married Elizabeth Chancellor, which is a familiar name to
Virginians, and their second son, Charles, was educated at Wil-
liam and Mary College. When the Revolutionary War began.
Alexander Stedman espoused the Royal cause, returned to Wales,
and died at Swansea at the age of ninety-one. His son Charles
became a distinguished British soldier on the Continent, and after
retiring from the army wrote the family history which is so
mingled with the Barton family that it is difficult to separate the
two families. Other prominent members of the family in Great
Britain were : Charles Stedman. military historian ; Gen. John
Andrew Stedman, who served with distinction in the Dutch Army ;
Col. John Gabriel Stedman, soldier and author, and the Rev.
Rowland Stedman (1630-1673), a leading non-conformist divine,
who evidently belonged to that branch of the family which settled
in New England.
[491
50 MALVERN VANCE STEDMAN
The third migration was that of M. V. Stedman's great-grand-
father, who came from Wales about 1800, and settled in North
Carolina. His son, the grandfather of our subject, was a pros-
perous business man who died early in life leaving three sons — one
a banker, one a physician, and one a lawyer, who was the father
of Col. M. V. Stedman.
Andrew J. Stedman, though a lawyer by profession, was a
man of brilliant literary qualities. He published at Raleigh,
N. C., the Stedman Magazine, which was the first magazine ever
published in the South. He served as Solicitor of the Fifth
North Carolina District. In 1871, he moved to Virginia, settling
in Patrick County, where he lived until his death in 1884. During
his residence in Patrick County he served as Commonwealth's
Attorney.
Colonel Stedman's mother belonged to the Staples family of
Virginia, two members of which, John and Joseph Staples, served
as Eevolutionary soldiers from Virginia. Among Col. Stedman's
near relatives in the maternal line, were the late Judge John
Henry Dillard, of North Carolina, and Judge Walter K. Staples,
of Virginia, both of whom were for many years the leading jurists
of their respective sections.
Colonel M. V. Stedman was educated in the Stuart graded
schools and, completing his school work, he entered upon the
serious business of life literally at the bottom. He worked as a
laborer, as a clerk, as a printer, and later as editor and founder
of the first newspaper published in Patrick County. He branched
out into mercantile pursuits, into farming, and finally into apple
growing, and now controls six large commercial orchards in his
county, aggregating more than a hundred thousand trees.
It will be remembered by those who have kept up with the
agricultural and horticultural interests of the country, that some
twenty years back our people began to realize that the old hap-
hazard method of growing apples (each farmer having a small
orchard) had to such a great extent failed that there was an in-
adequate supply of this most healthful fruit. Far-seeing men
grasped the fact that the business had to be put on a better foot-
ing if the American people were to be adequately served in this
direction. Virginia has always had a great reputation for its
apples, and deservedly so. The northern end of the Piedmont
Belt in Virginia had largely controlled the apple growing in that
State. Colonel Stedman, who is a man of most alert mind, was
one of the first to grasp the possibilities of southwestern Virginia,
which it is now claimed grows apples of better color, flavor and
eating qualities than those of the more northern section. His
varied business experiences had qualified him for almost any enter-
prise, and he threw himself into this work with tremendous
energy.
He is now President of eight corporations, and interested in
MALVERN VANCE STEDMAN 51
some way in a total of twenty different concerns. The variety
of his talents may best be understood by reference to some of
these corporations, which show the different lines in which he is
active: The Koger Fuel Company, the Stuart Orchard Company,
the Blue Ridge Printing Company, the Patrick County Milling
Company, the Beach Hardware and Supply Company, the Via-
Stedman Land and Loan Company, the Patrick County Telephone
Company, the J. D. Blackard Stave and Cooperage Company-
all of which give the reader some idea of the versatility of the
man. He is Vice-President of the Virginia State Horticultural
Society, has served as Clerk of the Patrick County School Board,
and for fourteen vears was a member of the Board of Town Trus-
i/
tees of Stuart, and has been ever ready with hand and tongue
and pen to do whatever might appear necessary for the building
up of the section in which his life has practically been spent. He
has his reward in seeing his section prospering more and more
as the years pass by, and in the knowledge that he has contributed
his full share towrard that prosperity.
He was married at Colesville, North Carolina, to Sallie
Wharton Wool wine, who was born in Patrick County, Virginia,
daughter of Captain Kufus J. and Belle (Brown) Woolwine.
Captain Woolwine served Patrick County as its sheriff for twenty
years. They have a fine family of seven children. Their eldest
son, Beirne Stedman, is a practicing lawyer in Charlottesville.
The second son, Vance Stedman, is a student at William and Mary
College. The third son and three daughters are now in the Stuart
High School, and a little daughter of five completes the family.
Colonel Stedman is not only a progressive in business, but
also in politics, which shows that he does his own thinking in
public matters as well as in business, and it would be well for
his State if his tribe could increase. He stands for closer and
more cordial relations, and for less antagonism between capital,
on one hand, and the masses on the other. He believes in uni-
versal temperance and universal education as the things which
will best promote the interests of the State and Nation.
Colonel Stedman, early in life, grasped the fundamental truth
that excellence is the price of success, and in speaking of what
has been his principal interest, he says that the orchardist, like
the professional man, must grow in knowledge and keep abreast,
if not ahead, of the times, as he says "the best is the cheapest,"
and poor service is dear at any price.
One can readily believe his statement that he has been too
busy in life to find much time for reading outside of those things
directly connected with his duties and interests, but he has found
some time to give to the study of political economy and history.
Colonel Stedman has the enthusiasm wThich always goes with
conviction. Having first satisfied himself that Patrick County had
ideal climatic conditions for the growing of the best apples in the
52 MALVERN VANCE STEDMAN
world, he threw himself into the work with the proverbial zeal
of the successful man, and it has been given to him in larger meas-
ure than it has to many men to see his efforts fructify and his
plans work out. The County has not within its borders a more
valuable citizen, if indeed it has another who has contributed so
largely to its general welfare; and it is not surprising, therefore,
to know that his standing in all ways is of the best, and that he
is held in high esteem by his neighbors.
The Coat of Arms of the Welsh family of Stedmans is thus
described by Burke, the British authority:
"Chequy, or and gules a chief ermine."
TTT TT"
, LrNGX
CHARLES WILLIAM KENT
CHARLES WILLIAM KENT, professor in the University
of Virginia, and author and editor of many volumes of
distinction, is descended through six generations of Kents,
localized in the eastern Virginia counties of Hanover,
Goochland, Fluvanna and Louisa. He was born at Louisa Court
House on the 27th day of September, 1860. His father was the
late Robert Meredith Kent, of Louisa County, and his mother was
Sarah Garland Hunter.
His paternal grandmother belonged to the widely-spread Per-
kins family, and his immigrant ancestor of the Kent name was
James Kent, who came from England and settled in Hanover
County as a planter.
On his mother's side he is descended from the prominent fam-
ilies of Macon, Douglas, Jerdone, Pottie, Thompson and Hunter.
His mother was the daughter of John Hunter, who was named
after the famous British surgeon of that name and family, and of
his wTife Isabella Pottie, daughter of George Pottie II, who was
educated in Scotland, and whose wife was Sarah Jerdone Thomp-
son. With Dr. Charles Pottie, son of the second George, that
family died out in America. George Hunter, one of Dr. Kent's
ancestors, was a surgeon in the Continental Navy in the War of
the American Revolution (1776-1783).
Dr. Kent's maternal grandmother, Sarah Jerdone Thompson,
was the daughter of Charles Thompson and his wife, Anne Jer-
done. The parents of Charles Thompson were Sir Charles
Thompson and Joanna Douglas ; and the parents of his wife, Anne
Jerdone, were Francis Jerdone and Sarah Macon. Sarah Macon
was the daughter of William Macon and Marv Hartwell ; and this
c5 &
William Macon was the son of Gideon Macon, a pewholder of
Bruton Parish, Williamsburg, Virginia, and the founder of the
Virginia family of Macon. Gideon Macon was the grandfather
of Martha Dandridge, who was the wife of George Washington.
Robert Meredith Kent, the father of Dr. Charles William
Kent, was a merchant in Louisa until about 1850, when he retired
from business to his country home, where he spent the rest of his
life. Duric^ the period of the war between the States (1861-
1865) Mr. Kent, who was incapacitated for active military service
by having passed the military age, served the Confederate govern-
ment in a civil capacity. Two of the elder brothers of Dr. Charles
William Kent, both now dead, were Linden Kent, of Washington,
[55]
56 CHARLES WILLIAM KENT
D. C., and Henry Thompson Kent, of St. Louis. Linden Kent
was a distinguished lawyer, serving during the war between the
States as regimental adjutant to the Virginia regiment com-
manded by Col. R. T. W. Duke, of Charlottesville, Virginia, and
was captured just before Lee's surrender at Appomattox and con-
fined as a prisoner of war on Johnson's Island. Henry Thompson
Kent, after a brilliant career as student and speaker at the Uni-
versity of Virginia, practised law with eminent success and
distinction up to the time of his death in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dr. Charles William Kent received his primary and early
academic education in private schools in Louisa County and at
Locust Dale Academy. In 1878 he matriculated as a student in
the Academic Department of the University of Virginia, from
which he graduated four years later with the degree of Master
of Arts. During his career at the University he illustrated the
immediate family characteristic of marked ability as a speaker of
eloquence and force and rounded out a notable family record in
winning the debater's medal of the Jefferson Literary Society,
his brothers, Linden and Henry Thompson, having before him,
when students at the University, won similar medals in the Wash-
ington and Jefferson Literary Societies, respectively.
After his graduation from the University of Virginia in 1882
he became the joint founder and head master of the University
School at Charleston, South Carolina, where he continued two
years. After this time, from 1884 to 1887, he pursued advanced
work in English, German and Philosophy in the Universities of
Goettingen, Berlin and Leipsic, receiving from the last-named
University in June, 1887, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
magna cum laude. Upon his return to America in that year he
was appointed Licentiate in the schools of French and German in
the University of Virginia, and held this position for one year. He
was then elected to the professorship of English and Modern
Languages in the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville, where
he continued until his election in 1893 to the chair of English
Literature, Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the Linden Kent Me-
morial School of English Literature in the University of Virginia,
which position he has continued to occupy with marked ability
and success to the present time (1914).
Dr. Kent, in addition to his unusual capacity as a teacher
and professor, has been long recognized as a brilliant lecturer
and speaker, and as an accomplished man of letters. His ad-
dresses on Literature before the classes of the Summer School of
the University of Virginia have attracted many teachers to that
School ; and his lectures on literary subjects have been much
sought after by other institutions of learning. He has been among
the prominent lecturers at Monteagle, Tennessee ; Salt Springs,
Georgia ; Madison, Wisconsin ; New York University ; Tulane
University; the Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Blacks-
CHARLES WILLIAM KENT 57
burg; the various female colleges in Virginia, and at many
other prominent educational institutions of the country. His
literary work, both as an author and editor, is as distin-
guished for its variety and quantity as for the marked gracefulness
and charm of its style and the breadth of its scholarship. Among
his many works may be mentioned "Teutonic Antiquities in
Andreas "and Elene" (1887), Cynewulfs "Elene" (in the Library
of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, 1888), "Idyls of the Lawn" (1889), "A
Study of Lanier's Poems" (1891), "Outlook for Literature in the
South" (1892), "Literature and Life" (1893), and the "Shakes-
peare Notebook" (1897). In 1901 he edited a volume of "Selected
Poems from Burns," Tennyson's "Princess," and the "Poe Memo-
rial Volume." In 1902, appeared his "Poe's Poems" (vol. 2, of the
Virginia edition), and in 1904 "Poe's Poems" in "The Pocket
Classics." These were followed in 1909 by the "Book of the Poe
Centenary," and in 1912 by his "Southern Poems" and the "Poems
of Daniel Bedinger Lucas."
The limits of this essay do not admit more than a mere men-
tion of the admirable work that is illustrated in these various
publications. They cover, as may be seen at a glance, a broad
field and indicate a catholicity of scholarship no less remarkable
than the versatility of taste which inspired and the unusual
industry which produced them. Varied as they are in theme and
in subject, for it is "a far cry" from Cynewulfs "Elene" to the
"Idyls of the Lawn," it may be said of them all that they are in-
forming, interesting, and done in the attractive and facile manner
of the accomplished scholar and editor.
In 1909-1910 he completed what may be regarded as his
masterwork as an editor, "A Library of Southern Literature" in
fifteen volumes, which will probably always remain the definitive
work on the subject.
This publication is unique in that it represents the first at-
tempt to represent in a comprehensive way the literary life of
the Southern people; and covering as it does a period of three
centuries and including practically all the significant authors of
the South, it constitutes a monument to the zeal, the industry and
the scholarship of Dr. Kent, its literary editor, and of those who
were his assistants. In addition to the well-selected extracts from
the various writings of Southern authors, which are accompanied
by adequate critical sketches of each writer, the "Library" con-
tains a general bibliography of Southern Literature, far more
complete and accurate than any theretofore compiled, together
with a biographical dictionary of Southern authors, and a classi-
fied index of the whole series of volumes. This biographical
dictionary consists of brief notices of the life and works of about
twenty-five hundred Southern writers; and the classified index
constitutes an invaluable key to the contents of the whole
"Library." If Dr. Kent had not achieved distinction in any other
58 CHARLES WILLIAM KENT
direction his accomplishment of this remarkable work would
serve to keep his name in enduring remembrance in the story of
American literature.
Dr. Kent has always evinced a special interest in his study
of Poe; and his contributions to the literature of the poet's life
and works are notable and of much value. He has been the Presi-
dent of the Poe Memorial Association, and collaborated with the
late Dr. James A. Harrison in the monumental "Virginia Edition"
of Poe's "Complete Works.'7
He has been three times offered presidencies of prominent
institutions of learning in America, and has had the degree of
Doctor of Laws conferred on him by the University of Alabama
(1906), and that of Doctor of Letters by Colgate University, New
York (1914).
His prominence in the literary and educational world has
brought to him many offices of honor and distinction. He belongs
to a number of literary and educational associations, in all of
which his abilities and acquirements have given him unique posi-
tion. He has represented the University of Virginia on the State
Board of Education, and has been for years a member of the
Executive Committee of the Virginia Historical Society and of
the Executive Committee of the Virginia Young Men's Christian
Association, of which latter body he has served as President, and
in the work of which he has taken a profound and abiding interest.
He is also a member of the Modern Language Association of
America, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Ameri-
can Dialect Society, and of the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi
Beta Kappa.
He is a member of the Colonnade Club of the University of
Virginia, of the Business Men's Club and the Westmoreland Club,
of Richmond, Virginia, and of the Authors' Club, of London. In
politics he is a Progressive Democrat, and his religious affiliation
is with the Christian Church.
Dr. Kent married on June 4, 1895, Mrs. Eleanor S. Miles,
daughter of Professor Francis H. Smith, of the University, and
their daughters are Mrs. George L. Forsyth, of Sheridan, Wyo-
ming, and Miss Eleanor Douglas Kent.
THE K
PUBLIC II
A3TOR
TILD
GEORGE HENRY PHILLIP COLE
F
the last fourteen years Dr. George H. P. Cole has been
a conspicuous figure in the business and social life of the
City of Roanoke. Though of Virginia stock, Dr. Cole was
born in Northampton County, North Carolina, on Decem-
ber 15, 1856, son of John Hartwell Phillip and Ann Cobb (Bryant)
Cole.
Dr. Cole's father was a farmer, born in Sussex County, Vir-
V "
ginia, in 1812, son of William Cole. From Sussex he moved to
Southampton, and in 1852 moved to Northampton County, North
Carolina.
Cole is an ancient family name in England and Ireland.
coming down from the Anglo-Saxon period. The Irish branch of
the family, which was descended from English ancestors, rose to
great distinction in Ireland, attaining in one branch of it to the
title of Earl of Enniskillen.
The branch of the family to which Doctor Cole belongs was
founded in Virginia by William Cole, who came from County
Fermanagh. Ireland, during the colonial period and settled in
Warwick County.
Doctor Cole's early education was obtained in neighborhood
schools, supplemented later by courses at Murfreesboro (N. C.)
Academy and Jackson (N. C.) Academy. Almost as soon as he
began to think, he was obsessed with the idea that he must be a
doctor, and after finishing his academic course, he studied for a
year under a private instructor and then entered the Medical
College of Virginia at Richmond. After a short time there, he
was appointed resident student at the Church Institute Hospital,
and the next year was appointed resident student at the Central
Lunatic Asylum, near Richmond. After one year in this position,
he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore,
from which he was graduated on March -4, 1879.
He entered upon the practise of his profession at Boykins,
Southampton County, Virginia, and was successful from the start.
In the beginning of the year 1885, he moved to Norfolk, where
he soon built up a good practice. In 1886, by the death of a rela-
tive, he inherited a considerable estate. Then he showed his
sound judgment ; realizing that he could not care for this estate
successfully while in the active practise of medicine, he gave up
the profession to which he was attached, and in which he was
making a success, to become a business man. The particular inter-
161]
62 GEORGE HENRY PHILLIP COLE
est to which he turned his attention was banking, and in the fall
of 1887 he established the private banking house of George H. P.
Cole at Hendersonville in western North Carolina. The result
shows that he had not mistaken his calling. The bank was a suc-
cess from the day it was opened, and in two years was succeeded
by the State Bank of Commerce, of which Dr. Cole became Presi-
dent. Later he established the Bank of Waynesville, at Waynes-
ville, North Carolina, and the Bank of Brevard, at Brevard, North
Carolina, becoming also President of this latter bank.
After twelve years in that section of North Carolina, looking
afield for wider opportunities, he was impressed by the possibil-
ities of Roanoke. In 1899 he disposed of his interests in the North
Carolina banks and moved to Roanoke, investing heavily in real
estate. His investments were wisely made and have proven very
profitable. In 1903 he organized the People's National Bank of
Roanoke, of which he was made President. After serving in that
capacity for one year, he became impressed with the necessity for
a savings bank in Roanoke, and in order to establish one he re-
signed the Presidency of the People's National Bank and in 1904
organized the American Savings Bank. Like all of his other
enterprises, this bank was successful from the start. On Septem-
ber 3, 1912, he organized, and was elected President of, the Bank
of Commerce, at Roanoke, Virginia ; but he soon realized that the
pressure of his affairs was so great that it would not be wise for
him to retain this position, and on July 1, 1913, he resigned the
Presidency and was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors.
In 1890, while a resident of North Carolina, Dr. Cole was ap-
pointed a Director of the Western Insane Asylum, of that State,
serving in that capacity for six years.
He is now President and Director of the American Trust
Company, of Roanoke, Virginia, and Chairman of the Board of
Directors of the American National Bank.
In politics he has always been an independent, usually voting
the Democratic ticket, but he does not belong to the party — when
he affiliates with it, a small section of it belongs to him. He has
for many years been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, being Chairman of the Board of Stewards and
Sunday School Superintendent of the local church with which he
is identified. Active in the church, he has no club affiliations.
Doctor Cole has traveled extensively. His favorite reading
being of an historical character, it is very natural that he should
desire to see for himself the countries in which great events have
taken place; so for many years past he has never lost an oppor-
tunity to travel, both in his own country and in foreign lands.
In the United States he has visited every State except four. He
has been to Mexico, Canada, Ireland, England, France, Germany,
Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Holland, Turkey, Palestine,
Egypt and Cuba. After his trip to the Holy Land, Egypt and
GEORGE HENRY PHILLIP COLE 63
Italy, he delivered a series of lectures on those countries — giving
special attention to the Pyramids of Egypt, to the buried City of
Pompeii and to the Volcano of Vesuvius. An attractive speaker,
thoroughly well informed by personal observation, these lectures
were received with the greatest favor by the public.
He prepared a memorial volume of the Graduating Class of
1879 of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore. A
member of this class himself, and moved by the friendships which
he had formed there, he spent a long time and much patient labor
in procuring information about his classmates who were scat-
tered over the world. He succeeded in making an admirable
volume, illustrated in a majority of cases by photogravures, and
giving detailed information of members of the class, both living
and dead. The book, handsomely bound, was sent as a souvenir
to each of the living members. The motives which actuated him
in this labor of love can be best stated in his own words which
appear in the foreword of the volume : "Remembering the ambi-
tious young doctors who left the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons in 1879, with their lives stretching before them with all
sorts of possibilities, we shall grieve when we learn of those whose
careers are ended, of the tragedies that marked the fate of a few,
and of the dimness and brevity of the days allotted to some of
them. Beyond the shadows that rest between them and us, we
cannot penetrate, but we can let their memories live, we can
cherish pleasant, kind and honorable thoughts of them, and give
to them the tribute of our love and esteem. And we shall enter-
tain the hope that in the ultimate plans of Providence we shall
come to a time when classmates can greet each other again and
clasp hands in happy recognition. Those of us whom God is
blessing with abundant years and a share of prosperity will, I
know, read these sketches with deepest interest, and in each of
them find something to touch our hearts, to awaken us to a live-
lier care for friends of other days, and to teach us that old
associations should not be forgotten."
For many years he has made his winter home in Florida,
where he has a handsome residence at Bradentown. He has spent
twenty-nine of the last thirty-three winters in Florida.
One of the notable honors which have been conferred upon
him was his election, while a resident of North Carolina, as a
delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Church,
South, which met in Memphis in 1894. This is the highest honor
which the Methodist Church can confer upon a layman, and is
given only to those who are the most active in the work of the
Church.
Doctor Cole was married on May 11, 1881, in Northampton
County, North Carolina, to Mary Elizabeth Harrell, born January
19, 1857, daughter of John and Susan Clifton (Lyles) Harrell.
They have a most interesting family of seven children — six daugh-
64 GEORGE HENRY PHILLIP COLE
ters and one son. The oldest child, Nannie Susan, was graduated
from the Southern Female College, of Petersburg, Virginia, with
the A. B. degree. Alice George attended the Southern Female
College at Petersburg, and took the art medal there. The only
son, John Monroe, attended Randolph-Macon Academy at Front
Koyal, Virginia, and Washington and Lee University at Lexing-
ton. He is now Secretary and Treasurer of the American Trust
Company, of Roanoke. Elizabeth Harrell attended the Southern
Seminary, of Buena Vista, Virginia, and the Virginia College at
Roanoke, from which latter institution she is a graduate in mathe-
matics. Pearl Christian attended the Southern Seminary at
Buena Vista, Virginia, the Salem College and Conservatory at
Winston- Salem, North Carolina, and is now a student at Sullins
College, Bristol, Virginia, from which she will graduate this year
(1914). Florence Virginia is also a student of Sullins College,
taking the regular course. Agnes Bynum is now attending the
grammar school of the public school system in Roanoke.
The second daughter, Alice George, was married to Jesse
Berry Vaughan in 1909.
George H. P. Cole is a well-rounded man, a physician of
ability, and a financier of unusual strength. He has never allowed
himself to become absorbed in any pursuit to such an extent that
it would result in narrowing him ; therefore, he has made liberal
expenditure of time and money in traveling, wThich broadens one's
mental horizon perhaps more than any other one thing can do. In
the communities in which he has lived, he has been a useful citi-
zen— taking full part in the activities and the developments of
these communities, both in the moral and material sense. He is
of the constructive type, and everything to which he turns his
attention is made to move and grow. A wealthy man, he yet
retains Democratic ideas and principles, and sets an example to
other wealthy men by giving his children their early education in
the public schools of the country, which are today the most demo-
cratic institutions of America. Inheriting a goodly estate, he has
added to it largely, and while doing that has contributed
freely to all those interests which mean the building up of
good citizenship.
The coat of arms used by Col. William Cole, of Warwick
County, the founder of the Virginia family, is described as follows :
"Argent, a cross lozengy.
"Crest : Out of a ducal coronet a dexter hand proper."
[Extract from Times Dispatch, Richmond, Va., Sunday, Feb. 17, 1907.]
The name Cole, Colin, Coles, Colson (son of Coles) is found in early
English history, as originating soon after the conquest of England. The
name since has combined with many other forms, such as Colling, Col-
lingsworth, Coleridge, Coleman, etc. ; but the simple name of Cole was found
in the early "Hundred Rolls" of 1300, even to the present time. There
GEORGE HENRY PHILLIP COLE 65
were two families settled very early in Virginia, about the same time,
one was Cole, and the other Coles, but they were entirely distinct, coming
from different parts of the old country, and with different arms. Both
families rose to great prominence in the Colony, and some have placed
them as being nearly connected.
Col. William Cole, the first of the family in Virginia, emigrated from
Fermanagh, Ireland, previous to 1650, and settled in Warwick County, where
he at once enlisted in the Colonial militia, being in command of a regi-
ment of "horse and foot soldiers," and serving gallantly in the French
and Indian wars. Henning in his "Statutes" speaks much of him, as
being also in the Colonial Council and House of Burgesses. Mention is
also made of his sons, James, John, Thomas, William and Walter King
Cole, his grandson.
William, like his father, was a colonel in the army, and was also called
"Honorable," serving in the Colonial Council; he married Martha ,
by whom there was no issue. His wife died in 1704. It is said that
Colonel Cole figured in the royal court of Virginia, when Bacon was ar-
raigned before Sir William Berkley.
James Cole, his brother, it seems, went early to North Carolina, and
settled in one of the eastern counties.
Colonel William Cole evidently at one time lived in Westmoreland
County, as his lands are mentioned as lying on the "Matchoactoke" River,
in the County, in 1653, when Westmoreland was cut off from Northumber-
land County. But how long he lived there is not known. The Rev. Roscoe
Coles, of Warwick County, 1654, and of Lancaster and Middlesex Counties,
1657, was of this family as recorded by Bishop Meade in his "Old Churches
and Families of Virginia."
Rev. John Coles, of the Albemarle Coles family, officiated first in Surry,
and Prince George, and then in Madison, Culpeper and Orange Counties.
The Cole family remained in Virginia up to 1800, as we find one of the
descendants — Jesse Cole — living in Williamsburg, from 1785 to 1821. He
married a Miss Travis, of Williamsburg, and had a son, Robert Cole.
Some of the Cole family of Warwick moved to the southwestern part of
the State. Joseph Cole was a resident of Montgomery County (now Floyd)
and wyas a soldier in the Revolution. Tradition says he was connected
with the Jersey Colony, which afterwards settled in western North Caro-
lina, and originally came from New Jersey, to which State they are said
to have emigrated from Hartfordshire, England, 1640.
Many members of the Cole family were in the southern rank of the
Civil War and Spanish War, and are now to be found occupying high posi-
tions of trust and prominence in the government service.
CHARLES ALPHONSO SMITH
CHARLES ALPHONSO SMITH, A. M., Ph. D., LL, D.,
Edgar Allan Poe Professor of English in the University
of Virginia, was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, May
28, 1864, and is one of a family which has been highly dis-
tinguished in the ecclesiastical and literary history of the country.
His ancestry goes back to a German origin in the persons of his
paternal grandparents, Henry Louis Smith and Margaret Runckle,
who spoke only the German language, and who moved shortly
after their marriage from the South Branch of the Potomac
River, in what is now Hampshire and Hardy counties in West
Virginia, to Augusta County, Virginia, settling on Jennings
Branch northwest of Staunton. His father was the Reverend
Jacob Henry Smith, D. D., an eminent divine of the Presbyterian
Church, whose life has been written in an interesting volume
printed for private circulation among his family and friends in
1900 ; and his mother was Mary Kelly Watson, daughter of the
late Judge Egbert R. Watson, a prominent and successful member
of the bar of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The parents of the Rev. J. Henry Smith were Samuel Runckle
Smith and Margaret Fuller, and he was born in the Scotch-Irish
Presbyterian environments of Lexington, Virginia, August 13,
1820, and died in Greensboro, North Carolina, full of years and
honors, November 22, 1897.
His fourth son, Charles Alphonso Smith, was educated in the
public and private schools of his native place, and after obtaining
the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, at Davidson
College, North Carolina, he taught for several years in that State ;
and in 1889 entered the Johns Hopkins University. Here he was
appointed instructor in English, and here laid the broad founda-
tions of his subsequent achievements in this department of study
and investigation, graduating from the University in 1893 with
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
In that year he was elected Professor of English in the Lou-
isiana State University at Baton Rouge, where he remained until
1902, when he went to the University of North Carolina, at Chapel
Hill, to fill the chair of English in that institution and to become
the Dean of its Graduate Department. In the meantime, as oppor-
tunity offered, he had studied abroad in the year 1900-1901, and
had been a lecturer in English in the Summer School of the South,
[66]
lO^WLs&^/
^_ ^ 0 00
CHARLES ALPHONSO SMITH 69
continuing these lectures until 1908. In 1909, upon the recom-
mendation of President Edwin A. Alderman, he was unanimously
elected by the Eector and Visitors of the University of Virginia,
Edgar Allan Poe Professor of English, and in the year following
he went to Berlin as Roosevelt Professor of American Literature
in the University of Berlin, where he made an especially marked
impression by his lectures upon the American Short Story.
During his connection with the University of North Carolina
he received various calls to high position in other institutions of
learning. Among the more noteworthy or these may be mentioned
that to the Presidency of the University of Tennessee in 1904, that
to the Presidency of the University of South Carolina in 1908,
and that to the headship of the Department of Comparative Lit-
erature in the University of Cincinnati in 1907. He declined these
K)
proffered positions for the reason that they did not seem to offer
the opportunity of development in the particular field where he
wished to do his life-work; and this opportunity he found in the
invitation by the University of Virginia to its chair of English.
The fruits of his accomplishment are illustrated in the notable
number and character of his published volumes. He is the author
of "The Order of Words in Anglo-Saxon Prose" (1893), "Repeti-
tion and Parallelism in English Verse" (1894), "Anglo-Saxon
Grammar and Exercise Book" (1896), "Our Lansjuage" (Nos. 2
and 3, 1906 and 1908), "Studies in English Syntax" (1906), "The
Library of Southern Literature," vol. xiv (1910), "Die Ameri-
kanische Literatur" (1911), and "What Can Literature Do for
Me?" (1913).
His volume on "Die Amerikanische Literatur" contains the
lectures delivered at the University of Berlin and is number two
of the "Bibliothek der Amerikanischen Kulturgeschichte" ; and
"What Can Literature Do for Me?" has met with a wide and
favorable reception, having gone into a third edition.
In addition to the books above mentioned, Dr. Smith has
contributed to many literary and philological journals and maga-
zines. A bibliography of these contributions would be too long
to be included within the limits of this article ; but their character
is indicated in the names of some of the publications containing
them — namely, "Modern Language Notes," "The Publications of
the Modern Language Association of America," and the German
philological reviews "Anglia" and "Englische Studien" ; while his
excursions from the abstruse philological field into the more genial
paths of English literature are illustrated in his popular lectures
and papers on literary topics.
Indeed, it seems hard to complete the roster of his major
works that deserve attention. His "Old English Grammar and
Exercise Book" which first appeared in 1896, has gone through
a number of editions, and continues to be esteemed one of the most
useful text-books on the subject.
70 CHARLES ALPHONSO SMITH
Of his "English Grammar for Common Schools," President
Alderman, of the University of Virginia, has written :
"I have seen nothing better in the twenty years that I have
given thought to school and college books"; and "The Outlook,"
during the publication of the "Library of Southern Literature,"
said that his most noteworthy contribution to pure literature had
been made as one of its editors. Some of his more interesting and
important literary reviews have been of Van Noppen's "Transla-
tion of Vondel's Lucifer," Sweet's "New English Grammar," Sid-
ney Lee's "Shakespeare's Life and Work," and Weber's "Selections
from the Southern Poets." He published in 1901 an edition of
Macaulay's Essays on "Milton" and "Addison," and during the
same year was associate editor of "The World's Orations." From
1906 to 1909 he served as editor of "Studies in Philology" and of
various other publications of the University of North Carolina;
and in 1912 he edited and published a volume of "Selections from
Huxley." His facility as a speaker and writer of the German
language is unusual ; and in this connection "The Outlook" said
of him, at the time of his appointment to the Roosevelt Professor-
ship at Berlin :
"He will be an admirable representative of the universities
of this country. With his gift of enthusiasm, his talent as a
raconteur, his scholarship and personal charm, he will be an
exponent of the higher American character and culture."
Doctor Smith's intellectual versatilitv is as great as his in-
*/ fj
dustry is indefatigable. He is a public speaker and lecturer of dis-
tinction, and is in constant demand in each capacity. Though he
has usually chosen for such occasions subjects of literary interest,
he has often entered the fields of history, philosophy, religion and
education as well ; and his audiences have been those of schools,
colleges, learned and philanthropic organizations, and educational
and religious societies, both at the North and South.
Many well-deserved marks of honor have come to Dr. Smith
as rewards of the work of his industrious and active life. He is a
member of many distinguished and learned organizations both in
Europe and America, such as the German Shakespeare Society
and the American Dialect Society; and he has shown to an un-
usual degree a talent for associated effort and for leadership in
organized movements. He was President of the Central Division
of the Modern Language Association of America from 1897 to
1899, of the Literary and Historical Association of North Carolina
from 1903 to 1904, and for years of the Modern Literature and
Philological Clubs of the University of North Carolina. The latest,
and what promises to be one of the most valuable of his achieve-
ments in this direction, is his founding of the Virginia Folk-Lore
Society on April 17, 1913, the object of which is the revival and
reproduction from oral tradition in America of the old ballad-lore
of Great Britain. This society has already attained a large mem-
CHARLES ALPHONSO SMITH 71.
bership that includes many of the most scholarly men and women
of the Commonwealth ; and in the brief period of its existence it
has already reproduced twenty-seven English and Scottish bal-
lads, a larger number than any other State in the American Union
can show. Its organization and work under his enthusiastic and
capable leadership illustrate the first attempt to nationalize the
quest of the ballad; and so interesting and important are its ac-
complishments regarded that it has enlisted the sympathy and
active interest of the Federal Bureau of Education and of the
State Department of Education of Virginia.
Doctor Smith (1914) has recently accepted appointment as
one of the seven American Delegates to the International Con-
ference on Education which meets at The Hague September 7-12,
1914, and is now engaged, at the request of the widow of "O.
Henry" and of the publishing house of Doubleday, Page & Co.,
of wThich the present Ambassador to Great Britain is a member,
in writing the life of UO. Henry" (Sidney Porter), of whom he
was an intimate personal friend from boyhood.
Doctor Smith's abilitv and charm as teacher and lecturer have
«/
commanded attention wherever he has filled the office of professor,
and his school is one of the most popular in the University of
Virginia. To his philological writings and lectures he adds a
talent of lucid and convincing expression and a synthetic power
of reasoning which impart at once to the subject under his hand
an interest and an appeal which are excelled by few, if any, in this
field. It has been said of him that 'kThe same gifts of mind and
spirit that vitalize his scholarship in philology lend him unusual
power in the class room. 'The most valuable quality a college
professor can have,' said President Hadley at the Yale commence-
ment in 1909, 'is the instinct and power which express themselves
in sound research.' One reason for Dr. Smith's success as a
teacher reveals itself in the constant and enthusiastic investiga-
tions of the language and literature which he has always carried
forward contemporaneously with his teaching."
Doctor Smith is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
In 1905, upon the occasion of his delivery of an address upon
"Individuality" at the University of Mississippi, he was honored
by that institution with the degree of Doctor of Laws, and a like
honor was conferred upon him by the University of North Caro-
lina in 1913.
Like his father and other members of his immediate family,
he has been for a long time prominently identified with the Pres-
byterian Church, of which he is an elder.
On November 8, 1905, he married Miss Susie McGee Heck,
of Raleigh, North Carolina, and of their marriage have been born
three children — two girls and a bov who has his father's name.
O t/
The tendency to scholarship and letters inherited by Dr.
Smith from his distinguished father has been further illustrated
72 CHARLES ALPHONSO SMITH
in the careers of his brothers, Dr. Henry Louis Smith, who, having
served from 1901 to 1912 as President of Davidson College, North
Carolina, accepted the Presidency of the Washington and Lee Uni-
versity at Lexington, Virginia, in January, 1912 ; the Rev. Egbert
Watson Smith, who was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry
in 1886, became superintendent of evangelistic work in the North
Carolina Synod in 1891, and after having served as pastor succes-
sively of the First Church, of Greensboro, North Carolina, and
of the Second Church, of Louisville, Kentucky, was elected the
General Assembly's Secretary of Foreign Missions in the United
States in July, 1911, and is prominently known as a writer on
religious and ecclesiastical subjects; and the Rev. Hay Watson
Smith, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Little Rock,
Arkansas.
LIBRARY
ASTOR
|R, L£N©x
Til re*.
^ ^* r *** I J W ^\ A - - *
JULIAN MEADE
JULIAN MEADE, one of the most popular lawyers of Dan-
ville, Virginia, is by birth a Virginian of the Valley, a not
unworthy representative of that race which has been sung
by the poet Ticknor as "the knightliest of the knightly." Mr.
Meade was born on November 4, 1865, in Augusta County, Vir-
ginia. His father, a beloved and respected physician whose mem-
ory is still fresh in the city of Danville, was Hodijah Baylies
Meade. The maiden name of the mother of Mr. Meade was Mary
Opie. Upon both the paternal and maternal sides of his house
Mr. Meade can count among his ancestors some of the noblest
names in Scotland, England and Virginia ; upon both sides of his
house Mr. Meade's lineage may be traced in a direct line for hun-
dreds of years and there is royal blood upon both sides of his
house.
The founder of the Meade family in America was Andrew
Meade, who landed a few years prior to 1700 in New York, mar-
ried in New York, came to Virginia, settled in Nansemond County,
and took an active part in the affairs of the colony. His son
David Meade, who settled near the head of navigation on the
Nansemond (Virginia) River, was an extremely prominent col-
onist and enjoyed the honor of serving as the representative of his
county in the House of Burgesses. He married Susanna Everard,
daughter of Sir Richard Everard, fourth baronet of that name,
and Governor of the Colony of North Carolina. Richard Kidder
Meade and Everard Meade, the two sons of David, were extremely
active and influential leaders in the struggle of the American
Colonies for the achievement of independence. During the War
of the Revolution, Richard Kidder Meade was a member of Gen-
eral George Washington's own staff. Among the many exploits
with which Richard Kidder Meade is accredited in the pages of
history, it may here be mentioned that he was one of the twenty-
four persons who, on June 24, 1775, daringly removed the arms
from Lord Dunmore's house and placed them in the magazine at
Williamsburg, Virginia. He was the father of Bishop William
Meade, of the (Virginia.) Protestant Episcopal Church, author
among other books, of that classic genealogical and historical
work, "Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia." Ever-
ard Meade, brother of Richard Kidder, served during the Revolu-
tion on the staff of General Lincoln, and bore the commission and
title of General. He was a member of the Virginia Convention
[75]
76 JULIAN MEADE
which ratified the United States Constitution. He married first
Mary, daughter of John Thornton, of North Carolina, and second
Mary, widow of Benjamin Ward and daughter of Joseph Eggle-
ston, of Amelia County, Virginia. Hodijah Meade, a son of
General Everard Meade, served as an officer in the War of 1812
with England. He married Jane Rutherfoord, daughter of Thomas
Eutherfoord, of Richmond, Virginia. His eighth child was Hodi-
jah Baylies Meade, born March 2, 1838, died at Danville, Virginia,
in 1875, who married Mary, daughter of Hiram Opie, and was the
father of Julian Meade, the subject of our sketch.
It may be remarked in passing that numerous ancestors of
Mr. Meade are mentioned in that most interesting, rare and
learned book entitled : "The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal.
Being a Complete Table of All the Descendants Now Living of
Edward III, King of England." By the Marquis of Ruvigny and
Raineval, author of "The Blood Royal of Britain, the Jacobite
Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage (the Clarence volume, con-
taining the descendants of George, Duke of Clarence)." Pub-
lished by T. C. and E. C. Jack at London (34 Henrietta Street,
WT. C.) and Edinburgh, in 1905. The pedigree, though extremely
interesting, is much too long to be quoted in full in our limited
space. Suffice it to say that by that pedigree the lineage of this
branch of the Meade family is carried back through the ancestry
of Sir George Everard (whose daughter, Susanna, it will be re-
membered, married David Meade, of Nansemond) through Tables
LXIII, LVII and II, to George Plantagenet, the famous Duke of
Clarence, who married Lady Isabel Nevill, daughter of and heiress
to the greatest Earl of Warwick, "the King-Maker." Table I of
the same volume traces the line back to King Edward III, of
England, the most glorious of the Angevin kings, the victor of
Crecv and Poitiers.
c/
The ancestry of the family of Opie, of which Mr. Julian
Meade's mother was a member, runs back by perfectly authentic
evidence in a direct line to King Robert III, of Scotland.
Certainly it may be truthfully said, not only that few Ameri-
cans can lay claim to so ancient, so proud, or so distinguished a
lineage, but also that Mr. Meade is a representative who will be
declared by all who know him to be well worthy in character,
personality and integrity of the high line of noble and world-
famous men from which he is descended.
The early education of Mr. Meade was received at the private
and public schools of Danville. He attended both the preparatory
schools and the High School of that city, making an excellent
record at both institutions, and graduating honorably from that
last-mentioned. Mr. Meade next entered the University of Vir-
ginia at Charlottesville, where he took the University Law Course
in all its branches.
Immediately upon concluding his course at the LTniversity,
JULIAN MEADE 77
he returned to Danville and started upon the practise of his pro-
fession. In the active pursuit of that profession he has remained
from that time to the present one. There is no man who has given
himself with more zealous attention to the affairs of his chosen
work. The first duty of a lawyer, according to Mr. Meade, is
conscientious devotion to the service of his clients. The subject
of our sketch is a man of decided personal popularity, but he has
never cared to embark upon the stormy seas of politics, to engage
in the struggle for public office, or indeed to make himself con-
spicuous in any way except by honest devotion to his professional
work.
"My whole business life," says Mr. Meade, in answer to a ques-
tion on this subject, "has been in the continuous practice of law,
and has been marked more by steady application than by any
special or eventful incidents. My first object has always been to
render honest and faithful services to my clients for only com-
pensatory fees." This statement illustrates Mr. Meade's charac-
teristic modesty. It is to others than himself that we must go for
an impartial estimate of his career, and it is from others that we
must learn that he is one of the most honored, popular, and above
all, one of the most implicitly trusted members of the bar, not
only in his native town, but wherever the course of his practice
has led him throughout his native State.
Perhaps a hint for the ambitious, the earnest-minded, who
would hold such a position as that Mr. Meade holds among his
fellow-men may be discovered in Mr. Meade's own words, which
we quote below :
"In times of peace I have always preferred to avoid leader-
ship or publicity of any kind, and to pursue my private life and
profession as unobtrusively as possible, in order to be free to
follow a course of Truth, along which might be found content-
ment, self-respect and happiness. The result of such a life is an
inspiration of independence and courage which will enable you to
face all actualities and contingencies of human existence boldly,
calmly, and without fear. You will not only be sensible of strength
in yourself, but will be a support for those around you. Without
specially-directed effort and without display, you will thereby
best serve your home, society, State, and nation. If you are
needed as a leader, you are ready."
These words are representative of the character that has been
called "the diamond that scratches every other stone."
On September 4, 1896, at Danville, Mr. Meade married Miss
Bessie Edmunds Bouldin, daughter of Mr. Edwin E. Bouldin, of
that citv. The maiden name of the mother of Mrs. Meade was
«/
Miss Lucy Lyne Edmunds.
Mr. and Mrs. Meade have one child, a son, Edwin Baylies
Meade. He is at the present time (1914) a student at "The Dan-
ville School for Boys."
78 JULIAN MEADE
Mr. Meade is a member of the Epiphany Church at Danville,
and was for many years vestryman of that church. He was also
for a considerable time Superintendent of its Sunday School.
Politically, Mr. Meade adheres to the tenets of the Democratic
Party. He is a member of the Danville Country Club and also of
the Tuscarora Club, of the same city. In both clubs he is an
officer.
Mr. Meade is a man of extremely cultivated and literary
tastes. Historical and biographical works have always afforded
him great pleasure, and he has devoted much time to that study of
law which is necessary to a truly conscientious worker who would
put his best into the field of general practice. That fascinating
science, genealogy, has claimed something of his attention at spare
moments and more than one person interested in tracing the
ancestry of the houses of Meade and Opie has been indebted to
him for names and dates necessary to the thorough knowledge of
family history.
The home address of Mr. Meade is Danville, Pittsylvania
County, Virginia.
CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER
CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER, lawyer, jurist and states-
man, was born in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, Virginia
(now West Virginia), on September 21, 1847, son of
Charles James Faulkner, Sr., and Mary Wagner (Boyd)
Faulkner. Judge Faulkner is the distinguished son of a distin-
guished father.
The family name, which has been known in Virginia since
1622, like many others, is derived from an occupation ; the falconer
of the Middle Ages was a person of consequence in the households
of royalty and the nobility. From falconer is derived the family
name, which is found under a half dozen spellings, such as Fal-
coner, Faulconer, Faulkner, Falkner, Fauconer and Faukner.
All of these spellings appear both in the English and American
records, but the two which seem to have survived as permanent
names are Falconer and Faulkner.
Judge Faulkner is the usual composite American. In his
veins run English, Irish, Welsh and Scotch blood. His father,
the Hon. Charles James Faulkner, who was born in 1806 and died
in 1884, was a conspicuous figure of his generation in Virginia,
which State he served for a number of years as a member of
Congress, and was appointed in 1859 as Minister to France, in
which capacity he was serving at the outbreak of the Civil War,
in 1861. He was an able man of strong convictions, and was one
of a small number of other able men who became convinced, twenty
years before the Civil War, that Virginia ought to make some pro-
vision for the emancipation of slaves. But when the war came,
like the vast majority of loyal Virginians, he resigned his commis-
sion and returned to take part as a Virginian in the great struggle.
The Hon. Charles James Faulkner, the elder, was the son of
Major James Faulkner (1776-1817), who married, in 1803, Sarah
Mackey. Sarah Mackey (17- -1808) was the daughter of Captain
William Mackey (1738-1819) and Ruth Cromwell, his wife. Ruth
Cromwell was the daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth (Murray)
Cromwell. Elizabeth Murrav, who married secondlv Samuel
*/ / t/
Chenowith, was the daughter of Josephus Murray by his second
wife, Ruth Hawkins. Josephus Murray was the son of James
Murray, of Baltimore County, Maryland, and his wife, Jemima
Morgan, who married secondly Thomas Cromwell. Jemima Mor-
gan was the daughter of Captain Thomas Morgan.
Judge Faulkner's mother, Mary Wagner Boyd, was a daugh-
ter of Gen. Elisha and Ann (Holmes) Boyd. Ann Holmes was the
[81]
82 CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER
daughter of Joseph and Rebecca (Hunter) Holmes. Joseph
Holmes was the sou of Hugh Holmes. Rebecca Hunter was the
daughter of Paul Hunter. Paul Hunter was the son of William
and Martha Hunter. William Hunter was the son of Andrew
Hunter, of Cloffhaiu Farm, in County Londonderry, Ireland, born
<j «. *
in 1640 and died in 1733. He was descended from the Hunters of
Ayrshire. Scotland.
i/
When Judge Faulkner's father was appointed Minister to
France, he accompanied him to Europe, and attended schools in
Paris and Switzerland until their return to America in 1861, when
the son. then in his fifteenth year, was entered as a student at the
Virginia Military Institute at Lexington. When, during the des-
perate fighting of 1S64, the little battalion of cadets was rushed
into the service and rendered such heroic service in the battle of
yew Market, there was no further talk of schooling, and from
that time until the end of the war. Mr. Faulkner, a mere youth,
was in active service, first as an aid on the staff of Gen. John C.
Breckenridge. and later on the staff of Gen. Henry A. Wise, being
with General Wise when Lee's army was surrendered at Appo-
mattox. Returning home at the end of the struggle, he studied
under the direction of his father until October, 1866, when he
entered the Law Department of the University of Virginia, was
graduated in June, 1868. and admitted to the bar on the following
September, being then just twenty-one years of age.
While a student at the University, Judge Faulkner gave
presage of a brilliant future record, being recognized even then
as a man of most unusual promise and of marked ability for so
young a man. Entering upon the practise of his profession in
his native town, he made a marked success as a lawyer from the
very beginning, and after twelve years of general and most suc-
cessful practice he was elected judge of the Thirteenth Judicial
Circuit of West Virginia, composed of the counties of Jefferson,
Morgan and Berkeley.
In 1887. Judge Faulkner, then a man in his early prime, with
his reputation thoroughly established not only as a strong lawyer,
but as one of the able jurists of the country, was elected to the
United States Senate to succeed Johnson X. Camden, who had
lost strength with the people of his State because of the belief
that he was too closely affiliated with certain monopolistic in-
terests. In selecting his successor, they departed from custom and
chose a man from the bench who was in the prime of his physical
and intellectual strength, and in whose integrity they had unlim-
ited confidence. He entered the Senate at a time when party
feeling ran high, and speedily made a reputation as one of the
strong men of the Democratic side. He served his six years with
distinction, and in 1893 was honored with a re-election. In this
second term, his party was in the majority in the Senate, and
he was made Chairman of the Committee on Territories. During
CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER 83
his twelve years in the Senate. Judge Faulkner served on many
of the most important committees, such as the Judiciary, Appro-
priations, District of Columbia, Pacific Railroads. Territories,
Indian Depredations. Claims, and others. He took a leading part
in some of the great contests which came up during his period of
service — notably the one upon the Blair Educational Bill, in
which he organized and led the contest in the Senate against its
passage, and was successful in securing the defeat of one of the
most obnoxious measures ever presented to the Senate. He was
one of the most active leaders in the defeat of the iniquitous
Force Bill — the late Senator Gorman, of Maryland, being floor-
leader of the Democrats, with Judge Faulkner as one of his ablest
lieutenants. At one time during that arduous contest, at the
request of his party associates, he kept the floor, speaking from
ten p. m. on one evening until ten a. m. of the next day, this being
necessary to meet a move of the Republicans, which would have
forced a vote on the main question which, if it had" succeeded at
the time, would have carried the bill.
Since his retirement from the Senate, in 1899, Judge Faulk-
ner has devoted his time to the practise of his profession and to
the management of his large agricultural interests in West Vir-
ginia. He has not, however, entirely retired from the public serv-
ice, and has given a great deal of time and attention to matters
pertaining to the public welfare.
He is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United
States, a member of the American Society of International Law, of
the National Geographic Society, of the Committee of One Hun-
dred, of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci-
ence, a Trustee of the Alumni Endowment Fund of the University
of Virginia. During the more active years of his political career,
he was permanent chairman of the Democratic State Convention
of West Virginia in 1S88 ; was both temporary and permanent
chairman of the State convention of 1892 : was chairman of the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1894 and 1896.
He was appointed a member of the joint commission of the two
houses of Congress to investigate the question of the price of rail-
way mail transportation and postal car service, and all sources of
revenue and expenditures of the Post Office Department, under
act of Congress approved June 13. 1898. He was appointed a
member of the International Joint High Commission of the United
States and Great Britain for the adjustment of differences in re-
spect to the Dominion of Canada, on September 19, 1898. He was
initiated into the societv of "The Ravens" of the University of
«. i
Virginia, in 1909 (no small honor, by the way'), and into the
society of the Phi Beta Kappa, of Virginia, on June 12, 1912. He
holds membership in the Metropolitan and Cosmos Clubs of Wash-
ington. D. C.
Judge Faulkner was married in November. 1869. to Sallie
Winn, daughter of John and Ann Winn, of Charlottesville, Va.
84 CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER
Of this marriage five children were born. Mrs. Faulkner died in
March, 1891, and on the 3d of January, 1894, he married Virginia
Fairfax Whiting, daughter of W. C. and Martha Whiting, of
Hampton, Va., of which marriage there is one child.
Reference has been made earlier in this sketch to the first
Faulkners in Virginia. Judge Faulkner does not belong to one
of these families, but it is of interest to note what fighters they
have been. In the Revolutionary struggle, John Faulkner, of
Halifax, was a captain ; Ralph Faulkner entered the army as a
lieutenant, went up through all the grades to colonel, in which
capacity he commanded a regiment under Gates and Greene in
the Southern campaign; he was from Chesterfield County; John-
son Faulkner, of Caroline, was a first lieutenant; Peter, Richard,
Samuel and Spencer Faulkner appear to have been privates.
Taking Judge Faulkner's immediate family, his great-grand-
father was a native of County Armagh, Ireland, to which section
his family had come from England during the reign of William
and Mary. Major James Faulkner, Judge Faulkner's grand-
father, was born on April 2, 1776. He served as a major of ar-
tillery in the War of 1812, and was in command of the fortifica-
tions and American forces that defeated the British at Craney
Island, near Norfolk, Va. He was a merchant by occupation, and
spent his last years in Martinsburg, where he died in 1817, a com-
paratively young man. His father-in-law, William Mackey, com-
manded a regiment in the Revolution at the battle of Brandy-
wine ; was a member of the famous Order of Cincinnati, and his
membership diploma is now in possession of Judge E. Boyd Faulk-
ner, his great-grandson the oldest male descendant. Judge Faulk-
ner's father was verging on the sixties when the Civil WTar broke
out. Though exempt by law on account of age, he entered the
army as a member of the staff of General Stonewall Jackson, rank-
ing as senior adjutant general and lieutenant colonel. General
Jackson referred to him as being of great service to him in the
making of his reports. There are only twenty of these reports
now in existence and they were all written by Colonel Faulkner.
Judge Charles James Faulkner has led an active, useful and
laborious life. A brilliant man, he combines with his brilliancy
the logical mind and the judicial spirit. Resulting from this un-
usual combination, he has made a marked success as an advocate,
as a judge on the bench and as a senator. A great number of able
men make notable careers in one of these directions, but the num-
ber able to make a mark in their generation in these different di-
rections, requiring such a diversity of attainments, is very small ;
and in that small number belonging to our generation Judge
Faulkner is a conspicuous figure.
A coat of arms of that branch of the family settled in Ireland
is thus described by Burke, the standard authority :
"Or, three falcons close proper belled gules.
Crest — A falcon's lure proper between two wings azure."
-TK I'EV7 YORK
3LIC LIBRA'
UNDATI
^
THOMAS LEE SETTLE
DR. THOMAS LEE SETTLE, of the picturesque little town
of Paris, in the county of Fauquier, was born in the town
where he now resides, on February 12, 1836, son of Abner
Humphrey Settle and Isabella Lee (Hixon) Settle.
His father was a merchant and a successful man of affairs in
his day when the getting of millions was not a prerequisite either
of success or happiness. According to the family tradition, Dr. Set-
tle's paternal great-grandfather came from Scotland, married a
Miss Morgan, and lived near Fauquier Springs on the Rappahan-
nock River. This family tradition may be true, but the records
in Great Britain show that the Settle family originated in York-
shire, England, where there is a Parish of the same name, and
where the Settle family has been domiciled certainly since the
year 1379, and probably before that time, for in that year appear
the names of Alicia de Settle, Johannes de Setle, and Johannes de
Setill. Here may be noted the same man's name spelled two
different ways in the same year.
A branch of the family moved over into Lancashire, and here
we come upon Hugh Settle, of Cartniell, in 1594. James Settle
appears at Tatham in 1671, and Elizabeth Settle's name appears
in Lincolnshire in 1689. Before that date, however, there were
Settles in Virginia, for Frances Settle appears as a witness to the
will of Sarah Walker in Rappahannock County in 1668. The
name of Settle is found in Richmond County wills in 1701, when
Rice Williams leaves a part of his estate to his grandson, Francis
Settle, evidently not the same Francis Settle who was a witness
to a will in 1668.
In 1707 appears the will of Francis Settle. This was prob-
ably the first Francis, who was then an old man, for he speaks
of his son John, his son Thomas, his grandson Francis, son of
Francis, deceased; his grandson Henry, son of Henry, deceased;
another grandson Francis, son of Henry, deceased, and divers
sons-in-law.
In 1756 we come upon the name of Isaac Settle as a foot
soldier of the old French and Indian War, credited to Prince Wil-
liam County. On the same list appears the name of Martin Sut-
tle and William Suttle. Whether this was a totally different
family or merely one of the divagations so common in the old
rendering of names, cannot now be stated.
In 1797 Reuben Settle is recorded as obtaining a land grant
of three hundred and twenty acres. In the list of Revolutionary
soldiers from Virginia are the names of Benjamin Settle, Strother
[87]
88 THOMAS LEE SETTLE
Settle and Captain Strother G. Settle. On the same list appears
Strother Suttle with the rank of ensign, followed by Nicholas,
James, Francis and Benjamin. The re-occurrence of this Strother,
an unusual name, in these two spellings, leads to the reasonable
supposition that they were the members of the same family, but
the spelling simply was confused on the old rosters.
In the old country, the Settle families seemed to adhere rather
tenaciously to the localities in which they were originally found,
for in 1(301 they were found settled at Connistone, Yorkshire, in
the West Riding, where they had been settled since 1379 and
earlier. A branch of the family, which had gone from Lancashire,
was still at Cartmell.
Dr. Settle's long life has been one of unpretentious useful-
ness. If he has a fault, it is that of too much modesty.
He attended the local country schools and the R. L. Brocketts
Academy at Alexandria, and. after clerking for a short while in a
country store, he read medicine under Dr. A. S. Payne, of Paris,
as his preceptor. Dr. Payne prepared him for the medical col-
lege, and he was graduated in 1850 as M. D. from Castleton
Medical School at Castleton. Vt. From there he went to the Ken-
tucky School of Medicine, from which he was graduated in 1857,
and then served in the Louisville Hospital until May, 1858. In
that month he was sent by the hospital as a delegate to the Ameri-
can Medical Association, which convened at Washington, D. r.
Shortly afterward he settled in his native town to practice
his chosen profession. When John Brown made his raid upon
Harper's Ferry in 1859, Dr. Settle was a member of Captain
Turner Ashby's cavalry company, which went to Harper's Ferry
as a part of those Virginia State troops which overwhelmed the
invader. After John Brown's trial and condemnation, Dr. Settle
was called upon to attend at the gallows and take his pulse.
Shortly after, what Dr. Settle calls "The Uncivil War" broke
out. His characterization of it is very just. There was never in
history a greater or bloodier war, and yet, as is now known, it was
avoidable if men had only been willing to be reasonable and just.
He became a Confederate soldier, and served the full four
years of the war as a surgeon in the Confederate Army. He re-
calls that he was captured early in 1865 by the Federals, and cele-
brated George Washington's birthday by entering Ft. McHenry in
Baltimore Harbor as a prisoner of war. He remained a prisoner
until May, 1865, when he returned home and resumed his practice
in which he has been actively engaged for the intervening forty-
eight years.
In his modesty, he underrates his own career. He says he
hopes that he has done more good than harm, but that he does not
think that he has done anything either bad enough or good enough
to be recorded. His neighbors do not agree with him in that. In
the wide extent of country surrounding the village in which his
life has been spent, he is universally esteemed as a man of the
THOMAS LEE SETTLE 89
highest character, of integrity, of genuine unselfishness, and of
love for his fellow-man. Surely, if any class in the world deserves
mention, it is that class of men who spend their lives in channels
of unpretentious usefulness, seeking no meritorious distinction,
and having no greater ambition than to be of service to others.
Dr. Settle is a thoughtful man. He realizes, as all thoughtful
men now do, that the greatest need of our country to-day is for
more workers and producers, fewer middlemen, loafers and pen-
sioners. He believes the best service we can render the next gen-
eration is to inculcate habits of industry, self-reliance and inde-
pendence, and he is convinced that our schools could do a good
service by graduating fewer and better men.
Apart from his medical studies, he prefers historical litera-
ture to any other. Politically he is affiliated with the Democratic
party.
He was married at Paris on January 3, 1861, to Louise Hamp-
ton O'Rear, daughter of Enoch and Catherine O'Rear, of Clarke
County. The children of this marriage were ten; six are living
and four died under eight years of age. Living are Mary Turner,
Isabel Maude, Pauline, Betty E., Lee Hampton and Tacey H.
Settle.
His grandchildren are Thomas Gales, Frederick L.. Virginia
A., children of Mary Turner, and Thomas S. Moore, son of Pauline.
Dr. Settle, as it happens, is the only male member of his im-
mediate family in his native State. His paternal great-grand-
father who lived near Fauquier Springs, migrated with his entire
family to Kentucky. His son, Dr. Settle's grandfather, after
reaching his majority, returned to Virginia, and engaged in busi-
ness with his maternal uncle, Billy Morgan, of Lynchburg. On a
business trip through Fauquier and Loudoun Counties, he met and
afterwards married Mary Humphrey, of Loudoun, established him-
self in business at Paris, and was reasonably successful.
After his death, his son Abner Humphrey Settle was the only
male member of his immediate family in the State. Abner Hum
phrey Settle had six sons. Five of these sons scattered over the
continent, from New York to San Francisco, Dr. Settle being the
only one who remained in the old home.
On the maternal side, Dr. Settle's great uncles all went west,
save one. It is a family tradition that his great uncle, David
Humphrey, was an aide on Washington's staff. David Humphrey
was an officer in the Revolutionarv armies, and it mav be that at
f / */
some time during the eight years of the war he served on Wash-
ington's staff; but of that no definite statement can be made, as
during the period of the war there probably, first and last, served
on Washington's staff one hundred or more men, many of them
only for a brief period, and not more than two for any length of
time. These two were Tilghman, of Maryland, who served through
the war, and Hamilton, of New York, who was on the staff for
about three vears.
WILLIAM WALLACE BROWN
IN the earliest records the name of Brown is usually spelled
Browne; but now the final e is usually omitted. The name
is of Saxon derivation, from Brim. In Germany it is usually
spelled Brawn, while the French spell it Brune or Le Brun.
Even in America there are numerous variations, such as Broun,
Browne and Brown. Among the first of the name of whom we
have any record is Sir Anthony Browne, who was Standard
Bearer of England, and ancestor of the Viscounts Montague.
Henry VIII gave the famous "Battel" Abbey to him. Sir Anthony
Browne died in 1568, and was succeeded in the title by his son,
who was created the first Viscount of Montague. At this time
the family is widely distributed throughout the British Isles.
In America the Browns came over with the very first settlers,
and from that good day to this have borne an important part in
the history of our country. Peter Brown was one of the signers
of the Mayflower compact, and the name appears frequently in
the early records of Virginia and the older colonies. When the
first census of the United States was made in 1790, there were
nearly four thousand Brown families, more than two hundred and
fifty of whom were in Virginia. Keference to any cyclopedia of
biography will show the large part the members of the family
have played in the political, professional and industrial life of the
nation.
William Wallace Brown, of Warrenton, in Fauquier County,
Virginia, is a native of the county in which he now lives, where he
was born just after the close of the war, on July 6, 1866. He is
a son of John William and Maria (Downing) Brown. His father,
who was a farmer, was a man of liberal education, broad culture,
having graduated from the University of Virginia in 1858 with
the degree of A. B. In 1862 he entered the Army of Northern Vir-
ginia, and took active part under Longstreet in the campaigns of
that intrepid leader. He was surrendered with his command at
Appomattox. A brother of John W. Brown, Virginius Brown, en-
tered the Forty-ninth Virginia Infantry at the age of eighteen, and
was made sergeant; he was distinguished by this promotion for
bravery. His young life was cut short at the Battle of the Wil-
derness, and he was buried at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.
Another brother, James Marshall Brown, fought under Price in
Missouri, and after the war became probate judge in Saline
County, Missouri. He was at one time associated with the late
[90]
I"
TILDE I mATlON3
WILLIAM WALLACE BROWN 93
Senator George G. Vest of that State. John William Brown was
a son of William P. Brown, who was connected with the family
of Colonel Thomas Marshall, of Fauqnier County, who was the
father of John Marshall, the celebrated Chief Justice of the United
States Supreme Court. The seat of the Marshalls in Fauquier
County was known as "Oak Hill." William Wallace Brown's
grandmother was Mary Ball, and was a member of the family of
Balls who came into upper Virginia in colonial times. At an
earlier day another Mary Ball of the same family was the mother
of George Washington. The first settler of the name was Colonel
William Ball, who came from England with his family about 1650
and settled at the mouth of Corotoman River, in Lancaster County,
Virginia, and died in 1669, leaving two sons, William and Joseph.
It is from such an ancestry as this, dating back on both sides to
the earliest history of Virginia, that William Wallace Brown is
descended.
At the age of five years he was taken to Missouri, and lived
there with his parents and brothers and sisters for six years. At
this time the family returned to Virginia, moving into Bedford
County. The trip was made by private conveyance, and Mr.
Brown remembers distinctly many of the incidents of the journey.
After reaching Bedford County, young Brown attended school at
New London Academy for three sessions, after which he entered
Bellevue High School. The Brown family was not wealthy at
that time, and there being a number of other children to be sup-
ported and educated, young Brown, at the age of sixteen, took
charge of his own education. He went to the principal of the
school, Professor W. R. Abbott, told him his situation frankly,
and made arrangements to continue in school and pay his tuition
after reaching maturity.
After some minor business ventures in which he demonstrated
his capacity, Mr. Brown was employed in 1894 by the Craddock-
Terry Company as a traveling salesman, and has from that day to
this been identified with the firm in one capacity or another. The
character of his work is shown clearly by the fact that only five
years later, in 1899, he became a member of the firm, serving as
director for six years, since which time he has been promoted to
the chairmanship of the advisory board. His progress and devel-
opment as a business man has been steady and rapid. His active
identity with the Craddock-Terry Company, which finds outlet
for its products in such a large part of the country, is an evidence
both of his ability and application.
Mr. Brown is a Democrat in politics ; and while he is a man
whose personal standards are high and whose moral standards are
clean, he has not identified himself with any church, though he is
ready to lend a hand to every good word and work. He is a
member of the Marshall Lodge F. and A. M., the Lynchburg Chap-
ter, R. A. M., the De Molay Commandery, K. T.
94 WILLIAM WALLACE BROWN
On October 17, 1894, Mr. Brown was married to Miss Florence
Moore Halley, of Washington, D. C. Four children were born to
them: William Wallace, Jr., April 19, 1896; Virginius Downing,
October 22, 1899, died July 17, 1900; Florence Blair, April 26,
1902; Henry Hampton, March 15, 1905. On July 20, 1912, Mr.
Brown was bereaved of his wife, and has not since married. Just
prior to the death of Mrs. Brown, he purchased Antrim, one of the
most beautiful and delightful country estates in Virginia, where
he lives with his children, surrounded by every comfort.
Just as this book was going to press we are advised that on
April 18th, 1914, the subject of this sketch was united in marriage
to Miss Effie Mae Halley, sister of his former wife, and that they
and children by the former wife now reside at Antrim.
LLOYD JENNINGS LAWRENCE
LAWRENCE is an ancient English family name which can
be traced back to the year 1150, and goes back even further,
though authentic information is lost beyond that point.
Of this ancient family comes the Hon. Lloyd Jennings Law-
rence, of Murfreesboro, N. C., who was born in that place on Sep-
tember 24, 1871, son of James N and Mary Elizabeth (Pruden)
Lawrence.
The history of this family in America goes back to 1635, in
which year three brothers, John, Richard and William, came to
the colonies. John settled in Massachusetts, William on Long
Island, and Richard in Virginia.
John settled first at Watertown, moved thence to Groton, and
thence to Ipswich, finally to Long Island, where his last years
were spent. He was a highly respected citizen, acquired much
land, and served as a selectman of Groton.
William, of Long Island, settled at Flushing, of which he was
one of the original patentees, became the largest landed proprietor
of that place, and left what was in that day a very large estate, ap-
praised at about twenty-five thousand dollars. He married, late
in life, Elizabeth Smith, by whom he had children, and who (sub-
sequent to his death) married Sir Philip Carteret, Governor of
New Jersey, who named the city of Elizabeth (N. J.) for her.
Richard settled near South Quay, Virginia, and became the
ancestor of the Virginia and North Carolina Lawrences.
Each of these pioneers was the progenitor of a numerous
family, and the distinguished Lawrence families of New England
and the Middle States are descended from the first two mentioned.
The list includes great merchants, soldiers, diplomats, church-
men, jurists, statesmen, capitalists, and that gallant naval officer,
Captain James Lawrence, who, when fatally wounded in a battle,
gave as his last command to his lieutenant, "Don't give up the
ship."
Of Richard Lawrence, the Virginian, and his descendants,
much less is known than of the New England Lawrences, who have
taken the trouble to trace out their ancestral line, and found that
it goes back to Sir Robert Lawrence, of Ashton Hall, Lancashire,
born about 1150, who followed King Richard Coeur de Lion to the
War of the Crusades, was knighted at the siege of Acre, and ob-
tained for his coat of arms, in the year 1191, "Argent, a crown
raguly gules."
[97]
98 LLOYD JENNINGS LAWRENCE
Sir Robert was succeeded by Robert (2), he by Robert (3), he
by James, who (incidentally, it may be mentioned) married in
1252 Matilda de Washington, daughter of John de Washington.
He was succeeded by John, he by John (2), he by Sir Robert, he
by a second Sir Robert, he by a Nicholas, he by a John, he by
Thomas, he by another John, he by another Robert, he in turn by
a John. He was followed by a second John. He was followed by
a third John. He was followed by Henry. He was followed by the
John who came to America. It is now figured that the Lawrences
of the present day are in the eighth generation from the first
American ancestors, which, added to the sixteen English genera-
tions that have been figured out, makes twenty -four from Sir Rob-
ert of the Crusades.
The Hon. Lloyd Jennings Lawrence, the subject of this sketch,
belongs to the Virginia family. His father was the son of John V.
and Hannah Peck (Rea) Lawrence. John V. Lawrence was the
son of Elisha and Polly (Vaughan) Lawrence. Hannah Peck
(Rea) was a daughter of James and Mourning (Norfleet) Rea.
James Rea was born in Boston, Mass., on October 9, 1779, moved
in early life to North Carolina, settled at Winton, the county seat
of Hertford County, where he engaged in the mercantile business.
In another line, that of Mr. Lawrence's mother, his maternal
grandfather was Captain Nathaniel E. Pruden, who married Ann
Elizabeth Darden. Captain Pruden's parents were Nathaniel E.
and Mary (Cowling) Pruden. The parents of his wTife were Mills
William and Ann (Jordan) Darden. The Prudens and Bardens
were among the early settlers of the Counties of Isle of Wight and
Nansemond in the State of Virginia.
L. J. Lawrence attended the local public schools, including
the high school and academy, until seventeen years of age, when
he entered the State University at Chapel Hill, N. C., and gradu-
ated in the School of Law at the age of eighteen, a rather remark-
able performance. Being under age, he could not practice law,
and had to wait two years before he could stand his examination,
which he did before the Supreme Court, and was licensed by the
Supreme Court in February, 1892.
Mr. Lawrence tells a very amusing story about his first
fee, which is too good to be lost. In the spring of 1892 he was
called upon to defend a client arrested for assault and battery. A
few weeks prior to this time he had passed his examination, but
still being slightly under age, his law license had been withheld
by the court, to be delivered to him when he came of age. A com-
parative stranger had committed an assault upon a citizen of the
town, and was arraigned before a local justice of the peace. He
employed the young lawyer to defend him, which he admits he did
with fear and trembling. His client admitted his guilt, which
took all the wind out of the young attorney's sails, and then, in
order to do something to justify his first fee and to please his
LLOYD JENNINGS LAWRENCE 99
client, he shifted from the position of attorney for the defense to
that of prosecuting attorney for the State, and in his plea before
the justice, took the State's witnesses to task for "pernicious in-
terference." The client appeared to be satisfied with the effort of
his attorney, for he paid him a two-dollar fee for his services,
which Mr. Lawrence thinks that he either considered to be value
received, or else paid it out of generosity, because he had the
young lawyer "on the hip," as he was not legally entitled to make
any charge. He says he invested this two dollars in a law book,
an edition of Browne on "Domestic Relations." Mr. Lawrence
does not himself say this, but it is a fair inference that he got as
much pleasure out of that fee as out of any other that he has since
earned. Certainly he had to work for it.
In January, 1893, he formed a partnership with Judge B. B.
Winborne, under the firm name of Winborne and Lawrence, which
partnership continued more than sixteen years, until July, 1909,
since which time Mr. Lawrence has practiced alone. He made
character as a lawyer from the start. During the years of his
partnership with Judge Winborne, the firm ranked as one of the
leading law firms of eastern North Carolina. He gained favor
with the people of his section from the very beginning of his prac-
tice, and such was his personal popularity that, in 1893, he was
elected mayor of the town, at the early age of twenty-two, and
served continuously until 1900, when he resigned. In 1896, he was
elected chairman of the County Democratic Executive Committee
and served for two years. In 1898 he was nominated as a Demo-
cratic candidate for representative in the State legislature. The
county was largely Republican, the Republican majority in 1896
having been about seven hundred. He was defeated, but reduced
the Republican majority. In 1900, the Democrats again nomi-
nated him as a candidate for the legislature. His opponent was
Sheriff James S. Mitchell, the strongest and most popular Repub-
lican in the county. He defeated Mr. Mitchell by a majority of
nine hundred and eighty-four votes, the largest majority ever
given in the county to any Democrat since the Civil War. In the
legislature he took high rank. Conscientious in the discharge of
his duty, courageous, able and just, his uniform courtesy, com-
bined with resistless energy, made him many friends in the general
assembly, and from the first day of his service he ranked as an
influential member of that body. He served on important com-
mittees with fidelity to his people and with credit to himself. He
did not seek a re-election, and has not since been a candidate for .
legislative position.
In 1902 he was elected county attorney and served for two
years. In 1903 he was elected a member of the State Central
Democratic Committee and served for tw^o years. In 1904 he at-
tended the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis as an al-
ternate delegate when Judge Alton B. Parker was nominated for
100 LLOYD JENNINGS LAWRENCE
President. In 1911, he was again elected mayor of Murfreesboro,
and held this office until 1913, when he resigned, having been
elected chairman of the County Board of Elections, which office
he is at present (1914) holding.
Now in the very prime of life, Mr. Lawrence is recognized as
one of the strong lawyers of his section. He is also an able busi-
ness man, interested in various directions, being, at this writing,
president of the Citizens' Bank, president of the United Telephone
Company, and treasurer of the Chowan Motor Company.
He has found his time, he says, too much occupied to become
affiliated with any clubs, social or secret societies, but is an active
member of the Methodist Church, of which he is a steward and
Sunday School superintendent.
He was married at Murfreesboro on Julv 10, 1895, to Eva
•^ / /
Alberta Eldridge, who was born in Northampton County, North
Carolina, on September 10, 1873, daughter of Dr. John T. and
Maria (Turner) Eldridge. His married life was very brief, his
wife passing away on June 20, 1897, leaving him a little daughter,
Eva Jennings Lawrence, now a young lady of seventeen, and a
student at Greensboro College for Women at Greensboro, N. C.
Mr. Lawrence evidently believes that the liquor traffic is the
greatest evil to-day in the United States, for he says he hopes to
live to see the day when the sale of intoxicants, as a beverage, will
be made illegal in all parts of the United States. From present
indications, considering his age and his health, it appears to be
likely that he will live to see that day.
Aside from his law studies, Mr. Lawrence's reading takes a
wider range, all of it of high class : Shakespeare, Bulwer Lytton,
Walter Scott, Tennyson, Longfellow, Keats, Marcus Aurelius,
Epictetus, Emerson and other classic authors, modern and ancient,
appeal to him. Over and above all this, he puts in unrivalled
place the Bible as the best of all reading.
Lloyd J. Lawrence is a successful lawyer and business man,
but he has made a very much greater success than in either of these
departments. He is a successful citizen, which means very much
more than either reputation as a lawyer or as a financier, for
it is to these men who are "good" citizens, and who are therefore
successful citizens, that our country must look for every forward
movement tending to the common welfare. His personal popu-
larity is evidenced by the story already told, and that personal
popularity is based upon the fact that, himself a prosperous and
cultivated man, he does not forget his fellow-men and stands
alwavs ready to serve.
i/ t/
The Lawrence coat of arms is thus described by Burke, the
English authority:
"Argent, a cross raguly gules.
Crest — A demi turbot argent tail upwards."
A3TOr?, LTN5-X
ILD E N F3UNDA I ION?
J. RICHARD WINGFIELD
Senator Martin, who is informed about men and affairs in
Virginia, has written as follows about the subject of this sketch :
AMONG the able and patriotic sons of Albemarle few have
rendered better service to the county or brought to it
more distinction than Hon. J. Richard Wingfleld. Since
he attained the age of twenty-one years there have been
few contests in the State affecting the material or political wel-
fare of the country in the determination of which he has not been
a potential factor. His course in all the responsible representa-
tive duties undertaken by him has been characterized by great
research and careful thought in reaching his conclusions, and by
independence, fidelity and courage in making effective his honest
convictions.
The son of Edward C. Wingfield and Eliza Mildred Wingfield
(nee Simms), he was born in Albermarle County, Virginia, on the
14th day of December, 1845. He was a cadet at the Virginia Mil-
itary Institute from July, 1863, to March, 1864, when he left the
institute to enter the Confederate Army. The Board of Visitors
of the Virginia Military Institute conferred on him the full V. M.
I. degree of War Graduate. In April, 1864, he entered the Con-
federate Army as a private in Company E, commanded by Cap-
tain Thomas Whitehead, in the Second Virginia Cavalry.
Soon after his enlistment General Grant crossed the river
near Fredericksburg and fighting commenced on the 4th day of
May, 1864. On the 7th day of May, Mr. Wingfield was seriously
wounded, a minie ball passing entirely through his right lung, in-
flicting a wround from which he has never completely recovered.
In the latter part of February, 1865, he rejoined his regiment,
which was then stationed in Orange County and which was soon
thereafter ordered to Mechanicsville, near Richmond, and later
on to the vicinity of Petersburg. He was in the battle of Five
Forks, and on the retreat from Richmond in the spring of 1865, he
was in several skirmishes, one at Amelia C. H. and another at
High Bridge near Farmville.
In September, 1881, when Mr. Wingfield was a candidate for
the State senate, Captain Thomas Whitehead, who was then the
editor of the Lynchburg Advance, published in his paper a sketch
of Mr. Wingfield as a soldier in the Second Virginia Cavalry. That
article, written by Captain Whitehead, is here inserted :
[103]
104 J. RICHARD WINGFIELD
"A BRAVE SOLDIER TO THE FRONT.
"About the 1st of May, 1884, a tall, handsome boy from the
Virginia Military Institute joined Company E (my company),
Second Virginia Cavalry. He was a game-looking boy — had been
well drilled — inarched well, and had a good eye. We went into the
Wilderness and commenced fighting the 4th of May, and fought
every day in the tangled woods. On the 7th of May we were fight-
ing heavy odds. We had the left of the line, a long one, in the
woods, Colonel Munford the right. The woods were on fire from
the shells of the enemy. Some fought the fire while others fought
the enemy. Colonel Munford told us to pick a bold, cool, active,
intelligent man to keep up communication between us (the enemy
were pressing both flanks). We selected this boy, J. Richard
Wingfield, of Albemarle. We had tried him three times in battle
and thought we knew 'our man.' He mounted his horse, and all
that day, under fire of shot and shell, rode between us fearless and
undaunted. The time came for retreat in the evening, and Com-
pany E was the rear of the regiment. As it turned through the
tangled woods it came to the body of the gallant Wingfield on his
back, the purple blood oozing from his mouth and a bullet hole in
his chest, apparently dead. There was hardly time to drop a tear.
No ambulance corps ; no time to carry the body of a dead com-
rade; time only to 'fire and fall back.' After the fight was over,
by the camp fire that night (we had had a desperate fight till
dark), we wrote his father that his young, gallant boy had met
the fate of many a hero and patriot — 'left dead on the field.' We
were hurried to other fields. His devoted father came and searched
the neighborhood and found that his "dead was alive again,' car-
ried him home and he was saved. We have felt peculiar interest
in this 'game boy' ever since, for that morning he asked for the
first place at the head of the line on going into the fight, and we
noticed that he was always bright, cheerful and cool. We have
watched him since this 'cruel war was over'- -glad to see that he
rose in his profession (the law), and was, as we knew he would
be, esteemed and respected. Such a boy soldier was bound to make
a man. We notice now that he has been nominated for the senate
of Virginia. There is not a truer man in the countv. It will
C 7 t/
honor itself by electing 'Dick' Wingfield. Such men are hard to
find in war or peace, and he is made of the material which will
always rise in a community where talent, courage, honor and high
character are valued."
After the war ended Mr. Wingfield resumed his studies, en-
tering the University of Virginia in October, 1865, and graduating
with the degree of M. A. in June, 1869. In October, 1871, he re-
turned to the university, where he entered the law school, from
which he graduated with the degree of B. L. in June, 1872. After
J. RICHARD WINGFIELD 105
graduating in law from the university he engaged in practice for
about five years, when he was compelled to retire from active prac-
tice because of impaired health, assuming the active management
of his farm in Albemarle County.
He was elected a member of the board of supervisors of Albe-
marle County in May, 1881; was elected to the State Senate in
November, 1881, and re-elected in 1885. He was an able and con-
spicuous member of the State Senate, taking an active part in all
of its deliberations. Among the important matters in which he
was a conspicuous factor during his service in the State Senate
especial mention should be made of the memorable contest waged
at that time to break the dictatorial power of General Mahone
and his associates in Virginia politics. Owing to differences grow-
ing out of the settlement of the State debt of Virginia, General
William Mahone in coalition with a number of able and ambitious
young men had formed a party in Virginia known as the "Re-
adjuster Party." With the large negro vote as a nucleus they
waged battle against the Democratic party and undertook to
dominate the State on lines of policy obnoxious to the great body
of intelligent Virginians. At the election held in the fall of 1881
they elected the governor of the State and a majority of both
branches of the legislature. In the House of Delegates they had
a large majority, but in the Senate they secured a majority of
only eight. Serious alarm was felt in the State at the policies
undertaken by this coalition headed by General Mahone, who was
a distinguished Confederate general and a man of exceptional abil-
ity. General Mahone was backed in his policies by President
Arthur and the national Republican party. It seemed that his
purpose was to put Virginia permanently in the Republican party.
In carrying out that plan on his part he undertook to pass through
the legislature a large number of measures which alarmed the
thinking people of the State, especially in view of the fact that in
his movement General Mahone was compelled to rely on the negro
vote, and. relying on them, of course, had to concede much to that
element.
To thwart these plans of General Mahone. an organization
was perfected in the State Senate, composed of Democrats, Re-
adjuster Democrats and Independent Republicans. Mr. Henry T.
Wickhain and his distinguished father. General Williams C. Wick-
ham, not only influenced and brought into this organization the
senator from Hanover, but otherwise were potential factors in
the contest in this crisis of the State's history. Without their co-
operation the fight could not have been successfully made to pre-
vent General Mahone from carrying out his plans, and in the gen-
eral election of 1883 General Wickhain consented to be the candi-
date for the State senate because he was the only man who could
carry that senatorial district. In spite of a special effort made by
the coalition to defeat him, he was triumphantly elected.
I'.' :. RICHARD WINGFIELD
Mr. H. T. Wlokham. a son of General Williams C. Wickhani,
and himself a distinguished lawyer and public man. Thoroughly
familiar with this period of Virginia's history, has written a letter
which is inserted here as it gives a concise and clear statement of
th.i> m veroent :
-Richmond. Va.. March 20. 1914.
"My Dear Sir:
"I I eg to say that no sketch of the Hon. J. Richard Wingfield
uld. in my judgment, be complete without a detailed reference
I the jreat service he rendered the State of Virginia at the time
the coalition power was broken.
"Mr. Wingneld was one of the sixteen Democrats in the Sen-
ate of Virginia at that time. The lieutenant governor, elected upon
the re-adjusted ticket, in case of a tie. could give the decisive vote.
- that it was necessary at all times to command a clear majority
of twenty-one vote-. Mr. Wingfield represented the County of
Albemarle and was well acquainted with the Hon. John E. Mas-
. a very potential factor in the State at that time, also a crri-
- <f that county. Much work and responsibility devolved upon
the man who was charged with the duty of organizing and holding
together these twenty-one vote-. The high character of the Hon.
J. Richard Wingfield, his acquaintance with Mr. Massey. and the
esteem in which he was held by many other influential citizens of
Virginia, caused him to be selected as the representative of the
Democratic >eL. g . nd to be given a very wide latitude of dis-
cretion.
••It was very generally believed that the State was in great
nger from a very determined and powerful effort TO concentrate
to the hands of a single man political power in Virginia by the
enactment of a number of very radical measures which had been
adopted by the coalition caucus. Some of these were as follows:
To remove the board of visitors of every public institution in the
State; all county and city school superintendents: all school trus-
tees; all no?. e& public, and all commissioners in chancery; to
re-arrange and legislate out of office all circuit judges: to redis-
trict the State for members of Congress : to create a State com-
missioner 01 sales under judicial decree: to establish an official
newspaper in each county and city of the State and require all
public printing and official notices of sales and proceedings to be
given TO them for publication, and thereby establish a subsidized
jan in each county and city of the State: and. finally, a bill to
fce the office of railroad commissioners, to have authority to
remove at discretion any officer or employee of any railroad in
Virginia, a copy of the bill to be posted in every passenger car
moving in Virginia. To Thereby notify all railroad officers and em-
ployee that they held their places by suffrage. See 'Autobiog-
raphy of John K. Massey/ pages 21 0-220. i
"It must be remembered that these measures were not simply
J. RICHARD WIXGFIELD 107
bills introduced by individuals, but had been made caucus meas-
ures by a party in full control of both Houses, and that the gov-
ernor and lieutenant governor had just been elected in full accord
with the prevailing sentiment of the general assembly. The
thoughtful citizen will at once appreciate the full scope of the
danger that threatened the State, and can form some idea of the
work and responsibility devolved upon the man who had been
selected by the Democrats of the Senate, with whom alone there
was the opportunity to break the coalition.
"In looking back upon those times it seems to have been an
almost hopeless undertaking, and yet for the full period of five
months, three during the regular and two during the special ses-
sion, at every crisis, the twenty-one votes, composed of elements
which to a considerable extent were antagonistic and subject to
pressure which cannot now be appreciated by people who were
not in the struggle, stood firmly together.
"Xor was this all, but at the close of the special session Mr.
Wingfield organized a conference, at which the conclusion was
reached that the contest in the lecrislature of 1881-8- was onlv a
* — mi
preliminary skirmish, and that it was necessary to formulate and
carry out a program to present to the people of the State for their
determination in the great contest of 1883. At this conference it
was deemed wise to suggest Mr. Massey as a candidate for the
State at large upon the Democratic ticket. The work of enlisting
the co-operation of the great Democratic leaders at that time de-
volved upon Mr. Wingfield. and though Mr. Massey himself was
defeated, the Democrats carried the State and won the battle in
the congressional election of 1882. which led up to the great con-
test in the fall of 1883, resulting in the complete control of the
legislature by the Democratic party, and also to the victory of
1885, by which, in addition to electing the general assembly, the
Democrats also elected the governor, thereby regaining complete
control of the State.
"Very truly yours.
(Signed) "H. T. Wickham."
It would be very difficult indeed to do justice to the immense
service rendered the State of Virginia in connection with this
matter by Hon. J. Richard Wingfield. When Mr. Wingfield was
elected to the State Senate in the fall of 1885 it was understood
that he would be free to resign at the end of the session, 1885-86,
and he did so. He was appointed consul to Costa Rica by Presi-
dent Cleveland, and served from July. 1886, to November. 1889,
when he resigned.
In May. 1891, he was elected treasurer of Albemarle County,
in which office he served for thirteen years, when he declined to
offer for re-election again.
In March. 1910. he was nominated bv Governor William H.
108 J. RICHARD WINGFIELD
Mann as State Corporation Commissioner for the unexpired term
of Hon. Joseph E. Willard, who had resigned. Governor Mann
nominated him again for the full term in 1912. Both nominations
were unanimously confirmed by the legislature of Virginia, and
Mr. Wingneld is now in discharge of the duties of that office. In
this position he is rendering the State valuable service and adding
to his already useful record of public services.
Another event in the history of Virginia in which Mr. Wing-
field was a conspicuous factor was the election of the late John W.
Daniel to the United States Senate in the very sharp contest with
the late Hon. John S. Barbour.
In that contest Mr. Wingfield gave to Major Daniel the benefit
of all his influence and energy, and in recognition of the potential
part taken by him, Senator Daniel asked him to make the nomina-
tion speech in the State Senate. The following letter, written im-
mediately after his election by the Virginia legislature, shows
Senator Daniel's appreciation of Mr. Wingfield's services and his
high esteem for him as a man :
"Lynchburg, Va., December 16th, 1885.
"My Dear Mr. Wingfield :
"As you are witnessing the closing scene in the drama where
you have acted so notable and so effective a part — how could it
be with me save to think of you with thankfulness. Let me not
heap upon your efforts the mere homage of words. But I must —
I say must — for a colder heart than mine would thrill with grati-
tude— I must say to you that I feel all that a true man should
feel at this hour and I render to you my devoted thanks.
"The words with which you closed your participation in the
event were worthy of the deeds that preceded them ; and to prove
myself not wholly unworthy of them — I could not hope to be fully
so — will be the ambition and heart's desire of my future.
"I am, your friend and obedient servant,
(Signed) "John W. Daniel."
"J. K, Wingfield, Esq."
The close friendship and mutual regard between Senator
Daniel and Mr. Wingfield continued as long as Senator Daniel
lived. One of the last letters written by Senator Daniel in 1910,
the day before he left for Florida, in the vain effort to re-establish
his health, shows the beautiful friendship that existed between the
two men.
Mr. Wingfield also took a very conspicuous part in the elec-
tion of Senator Thomas S. Martin to the United States Senate in
his memorable contest with General Fitzhugh Lee in 1893. His
ability, tireless energy, and fidelity to the ties of friendship made
him a conspicuous factor in that contest. Indeed, throughout
Mr. Wingfield's active life he has never identified himself with
J. RICHARD WINGFIELD 109
any campaign or any movement of any sort without becoming a
conspicuous agency in it and going to the front as a potential
and controlling factor. Though a hard fighter, he never made
any permanent antagonisms. He always treated his opponents
with courtesy and justice. Even the men whom he defeated were
ever afterwards warm friends.
FAMILY HISTORY.
Wingfield or Winfield (which is a corruption of the same
name), is an exceedingly ancient name, with an honorable and
even an illustrious history in Great Britain. It is certain the
family was in Suffolk as early as 1087, as the line of descent has
been traced from the head of the family in that day (de Wing-
field) to the present time.
In England, the elder branch of the family was known as of
Letheringham, Suffolk, for centuries, but the male line of that
family became extinct; the present head of the family is Mervyn
Richard Wingfield, Seventh Viscount Powerscourt, whose seat is
in Ireland, and who holds several minor titles.
Cainden, an English authority, speaks of the Wingfield family
of Suffolk as "famous for their Knighthood and ancient nobility,"
and this claim was borne out by old Thomas Wall's (fifteenth
century) "Book of Crests," in which the description of the arms
of the Duke of Suffolk (which he spells as "Sofoke," by the way)
is as follows : "Azure a fesse and three leopards' heads gold
(Pole). Quartering silver a bend gules with three pairs of wings
of silver (Wingfield)." This means that the Duke of Suffolk, of
that period, was descended from the Pole and Wingfield families-
the leopards' heads being the crest of the Poles, and the three
pairs of wings being the crest of the Wing-fields.
In the fourteenth century, the Wingfield farnih had grown
powerful, and the Sir John Wingfield, of the first half of the
fourteenth century, was the intimate personal friend and con-
fidential adviser of Edward, the Black Prince, accompanied him
in his warlike expeditions to France, and was counted one of the
first soldiers of his time. The family prospered for the next hun-
dred vears. After this Sir John Wingfield, we come to another Sir
tt
John, of Letheringham, who was created a Knight of the Bath in
1461. This Sir John left three daughters and twelve sons. Four
or five of these sons gained such distinction in their generation as
to gain them a place in the great English Cyclopaedia of Biog-
raphy. Among these were Sir Richard Wingfield, of Kinibolton
Castle, soldier and diplomat (1469-1525) ; Sir Robert Wingfield,
diplomat (1464-1539) ; Sir Anthony, soldier, died in 1552. Sir
Humphrey, who died in 1545, was Speaker of the House of
Commons.
Another Sir John, a famous soldier, grandson of the Sir John
110 J. RICHARD WINGFIELD
just mentioned, was killed at the capture of Cadiz in 1596. This
brings us down nearly to the settlement in Virginia. When the
little shipload of colonists landed in Jamestown, the first name on
the list was that of Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, born in
1560, who had been a gallant soldier in the Low Countries, and
who was chosen by his fellow-colonists as first Governor of the
infant settlement. Governor Edward Wingfield was a son of
Thomab Maria Wingfield, who was the second son of Sir Richard
of Kimbolton, who was son of Sir John, of Letheringham.
Mr. Alexander Brown, in his "Genesis of the United States,"
says:
^Edward Maria Wingfield was one of the original grantees
named in the patent dated April 10, 1606, to the London Com-
pany, and was the only one of the grantees to come over with the
first colony to Jamestown. After two years in Virginia, he re-
turned to England, where he died in 1613, unmarried. The settle-
ment by the English under the auspices of The London Company
was watched with jealousy by Spain and France, and the Company
forbade their officers and employees from making public the affairs
of the Company ; hence all of the current history was based upon
the statements of Captain John Smith. But almost in our own
day (that is about sixty years back) original documents from
the archives of the London Company and also of the Governments
of England, France and Spain were examined and published.
These documents show that the administration of Wingfield has
been unjustly condemned."
Richard and Sir Robert Wingfield, of this same family, had
interests in Virginia, possibly acquired from their relative the
Governor ; and possibly acquired later — certainly within ten years
from the first settlement they were the holders of these interests.
The next Wingfield that we come upon in the Virginia records
is of Thomas, who was settled in York County in 1636. Going
back a little. Sir Richard Wingfield, of Kimbolton Castle, mar-
ried Bridget, daughter of Sir John Wiltshire. Charles Wing-
field, son and heir of Sir Richard, married Jane, sister of
Sir Francis Knollys, and his grandson, Edward Wingfield, came
to Virginia at a date now uncertain, but certainly within the first
thirty years after its settlement. There is a family tradition that
there were four of the Wingfields who came in these early vears,
*/ */
but there is nothing to sustain this but the tradition, and appar-
ently all the Virginia Wingfields are descended from these two :
Thomas and Edward.
Between 1636 and 1720 is a barren field in the records as to
the Wingfields; but in 1720 wre come upon John Wingfield, who
married Mary Hudson, daughter of Charles Hudson, of Hanover
County. Charles Hudson was one of a family in Hanover — how
J. RICHARD WINGFIELD 111
large cannot be stated, but certainly it consisted of Charles,
Henry and Robert; Henry and Robert being possibly over the
line in Henrico, for certainly they owned lands in that county.
In this same period we come upon the Wingfields — Edward being
in 1727 in Spottsylvania County, appearing as a witness in im-
portant transactions, and apparently closely identified with the
Wallers and Lewises. In 1726 John and Jarvis appear as pat-
entees of lands in Brunswick County. John Wingfield, who mar-
ried Mary Hudson, never moved from Hanover County. His
father-in-law was one of the largest patentees of Albemarle County,
taking up between 1730 and 1735, fifty-six hundred acres of land.
Charles Hudson died in 1748, and his son-in-law, John Wingfield,
was his executor. On one of the tracts in Albemarle, Charles
Wingfield, son of John, settled; and in 1762 the tract of land
upon which he was residing was conveyed to him by his mother.
Charles Wingfield died in 1803. The maiden name of his wife
Rachel is said to have been Joyner. He left a number of children,
among them John, who died in 1814, and the maiden name of his
wife Robina is believed to have been Lankford. John left a num-
ber of children, among them John, who was born in 1764 and died
in 1849. His wife was Ann, daughter of John Buster. John
Buster was an Augusta County man, noted as an Indian fighter
and soldier in the Revolutionary War. Among the children of
this last John were Richard, born in 1800, and Edward C., born in
1820. Edward C. was the father of the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Wingfield's father, Edward C. Wingfield, married Eliza
M. Simms, daughter of Richard Durrett Simms and of the chil-
dren of that marriage three are now living : Mr. Wingfield and his
two sisters, Mrs. James B. Morris and Mrs. J. Muscoe Garnett.
John, a brother of Charles Wingfield, the first of the name to
settle in Albemarle, and son of John and Mary of Hanover, mar-
ried Margaret McFarland, a descendant of John Lewis, the pioneer
settler of Augusta. Lewis Wingfield, a son of said John and
Margaret, married Elizabeth Parberry. Of this union were born
the following children : Gustavus Adolphus, who resided in Lynch-
burg, Virginia, and was a distinguished judge ; James F. ; John
Graves; Ann Eliza; Susan Lewis, who married Maston J. Ayres;
Sarah J. ; Paulina and William A.
Ann, daughter of John and Mary Wingfield, of Hanover,
married Lieutenant Garland, who was an officer of the Guard in
charge of the Hessian prisoners near Charlottesville, and was
accidentally killed at "The Barracks" in 1781. He left three
sons, and his family moved to Amherst County. Among his de-
scendants were Judge James Garland, of Lynchburg; General
John Garland, of the United States Army, whose daughter was the
first wife of General Longstreet; Langdon Garland, late Chancel-
lor of the Vanderbilt University; and the wife of Prof. W. M.
Humphreys, late Professor of Greek in the University of Vir-
112 J. RICHARD WINGFIELD
ginia. Christopher Hudson, son of Charles Hudson, of Hanover,
and brother of Mary Wingfield, wife of John, owned some five
thousand acres of land in Albemarle. His daughter Elizabeth
married George Gilmer and their son, Thomas W. Gilmer, was
Governor of Virginia, member of Congress and Secretary of the
Navy.
Mr. Wingfield's mother, Eliza Mildred Simms, was the daugh-
ter of Richard Durrett and Elizabeth (Clarkson) Simms. Her
father, Richard D. Simms, was the son of Major James Simms,
who was the son of Captain William Simms, who moved to Albe-
marle prior to 1779, was Captain in the Sixth Virginia Regiment,
and was present at the battles of Guilford Court House, Carnden
and Eutaw Springs in the Revolutionary War.
Major James Simms married Mildred, daughter of Richard
Durrett. Richard Durrett married Elizabeth, daughter of Cap-
tain Isaac Davis. Both of these were residents of Albemarle prior
to 1769, the owners of large landed estates, and served with credit
in the Revolutionary War. Frances, daughter of this Richard
Durrett, was the wife of Archibald Buckner, grandfather of the
late General Simon Bolivar Buckner, of Kentucky, the last sur-
viving Lieutenant General of the Confederacy. Another daughter
of Richard Durrett, Susan, married Thomas Garth, of Albemarle
County; and yet another, Elizabeth, married James Watts, of
Botetourt County, from whom is descended the distinguished
surgeon. Prof. Stephen H. Watts.
Mr. Wingfield has been twice married : first, on July 7, 1870,
to Elizabeth Jane Watts, daughter of Rev. R. W. and Cornelia
(Simms) Watts. After her death, he married on August 8, 1870,
Ida Ross Vest, born at Green Springs, Louisa County, Virginia,
daughter of James Murray and Martha (Burnley) West. He has
five children, all children of the second marriage. Elizabeth Jane
was graduated from Hollins Institute in 1909; John Richard
Wingfield, Jr., is a Bachelor of Science in the University of Vir-
ginia (1913), and is now in his second year in the Law School
of the University. His third child, Charles Vest Wingfield, was
for two years a student at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
Blacksburg. The fourth child, Martha Eliza, is now a student in
the Woman's College at Richmond. The fifth child, Burnley Ma-
gruder Wingfield, is a student in McGuire's University School.
The present Mrs. Wingfield, as we have said, was a Miss Vest ;
she comes of a family that was related to President James Madi-
son and to the late Senator George Vest, of Missouri. Dr. Vest,
of Richmond (Va.), and the Rev. Mr. Vest, of Norfolk (Va.), were
near relatives of her father.
One of the most worthily distinguished of these Virginia Wing-
fields was Bishop John Henry Ducachet Wingfield, first Protestant
Episcopal Bishop of Northern California, born in Portsmouth,
Virginia, in 1833, son of Rev. John Henry Wingfield, who was
J. RICHARD WINGFIELD 113
for fifty years Rector of Trinity Church, Portsmouth. It would
be hard to find a man whose life was richer in hard work and
good works than Bishop Wingfield. That he met with some rec-
ognition is proven by the fact that, during his active career, he
received calls from forty parishes and was tendered four bishop-
rics, eventually taking the one which had in it the hardest work
and the least remuneration.
From the two known ancestors in Virginia, the Wingfields
multiplied, and though nothing like a permanent record can be
obtained, twenty families could be located in the Revolutionary
period. The heads of these families were : In Albemarle, Charles,
Charles, Jr. ; Christopher, John and William ; in Hanover, two
Johns, John, Jr., two Thomases; in Amherst, John and Josias;
in Powhattan, Nathan ; in Fluvanna, Samuel ; in Mecklenburg,
Peter. In Sussex appeared John, Peter, Robert and William, who
had dropped the g and spelt the name Winfield. This Sussex
family sent three soldiers to the Revolutionary War in the per-
sons of Harris, Jarvis and Curtis Winfield. The names that
adhered to the other form, shown upon the roster preserved in the
Library at Richmond (and in various authentic publications),
are as follows: Charles, John, John, Jr., Matthew, Thomas and
James. Charles and John, of this list, certainly belonged to the
Albemarle family. This first Charles who came to Albemarle was
evidently a dissenter on religious questions. On a petition which
went up to the Virginia Legislature in 1776, signed by several
hundred persons, was the name of Charles Wingfield — this peti-
tion having been fathered in Albemarle and Amherst, and being
a very strong protest against the Government's stand about re-
ligion. They stood for freedom of religious opinion. The Charles
of Albemarle, who is registered as a lieutenant under - - Jones,
in 1783, w^as evidentlv the son of this Charles, the dissenter. The
V
younger Charles was following his father's example, only he was
a dissenter in politics.
One branch of the Hanover family moved to Georgia, and a
descendant, Edward H. WTingfield, appears as a Master of Arts in
the Class of 1825 in the University of Georgia. There is another
connection between the Albemarle Wingfields and a Mississippi
family which seems to have been lost sight of- -Walter Leake,
born in Albemarle in 1762, son of Captain Mask Leake, served as
a Revolutionary soldier at the age of sixteen, and later married
Elizabeth Wingfield. He moved to Mississippi, became Governor
of that State, had a county named in his honor, and had a very
cordial meeting with Lafayette in 1825, when he visited the United
States, who remembered Governor Leake, and recalled that (at
his father's request) he had given the boy soldier a "soft job."
There is another very interesting Wingfield connection, which
dates from a very ancient day, and that is with the Bade family.
The Bade family was founded in Virginia by Francis Dade, who
J. RICHARD WIXGFIELD
was a son of William Dade, of Tannington, Suffolk County, Eng-
land, who married Mary, daughter of Henry Wingfield, of Crofield,
Suffolk. She died in 1624, and some twenty years later Francis
Dade came to America. So, though a good many degrees removed,
the Dades and the Wingfields are cousins.
The distinguishing feature of all the Wingfield coats of arms
is the three pairs of wings on a bend, which, in the case of that
branch of the family settled in Xorfolkshire, England, is given in
the simplest fashion without any crest; but the Letheringham
family — which was the parent family — adds a crest, and the de-
scription for that family is given by Burke as follows :
"Argent on a bend gules cotised sable three pairs of wings
conjoined in lure, of the field.
"Crest: A cap per pale ermines and argent charged with a
fesse gules between two wings expanded, the dexter of the second,
the sinister of the first."
-v-
JAMES BRADSHAW BEVERLEY
OF the many great colonial families which made Virginia
famous in the early days of our country, and whose de-
scendants so enriched and enlightened the nation after
the colonies had become free, not one has a longer or more
honorable pedigree than the family of Beverley, to which James
Bradshaw Beverley, of "The Plains," Fauquier County, the sub-
ject of this sketch, belongs. The great antiquity of this family
is attested by the fact that it was distinguished in England as
far back as the time of King John and established the town of
Beverley in England; also in the fifteenth century the name of
Thomas de Beverley appears as Superintendent of Fortifications.
About 1662 Robert Beverley, of Beverley, England, sold his
English estate to the Pennyman family and removed to Virginia,
settling in what was then Middlesex County. In 1670 he became
Clerk of the House of Burgesses and seems to have held that office
through his life. He was one of the most influential men in the
colony, took sides with Governor Berkley in the uprising known
as "Bacon's Rebellion-' of 1676, and, owing to the horrible cruel-
ties practised by Berkley after the suppression of the uprising,
Beverley, in common with other supporters of the Governor, suf-
fered the unpopularity which attached to that side in the minds
of the people. He seems, however, to have been a very independent
character, and this attachment of his to the Governor was prob-
ably due to conviction, for later he appears as occupying another
attitude on a different occasion.
Major Robert Beverley had three sons : Peter, who was
Speaker of the House of Burgesses in 1708 and later Treasurer
of Virginia; Robert, author of Beverley's "History of Virginia,"
who married a daughter of the first William Byrd, of Westover,
Ursula by name; and third, Colonel Harry Beverley, who was a
noted soldier of the colony, both on land and sea, from 1700 to
1725.
Robert left an enormous estate estimated at fifty thousand
acres and valued, even at that early date, at about one hundred
and sixty thousand dollars.
His grandson, William Beverley, having married a daughter
of the Bland family, gave his country estate in Essex the name
of "Blandfield" in honor of his bride. He built upon this estate
of four thousand acres a manor house about 1760, one of the most
stately mansions in Virginia; this was sadly ravaged by the
Federal soldiers during the Civil War.
[117]
118 JAMES BRADSHAW BEVERLEY
Back in the Revolutionary period we find Robert Beverley
marrying a daughter of Colonel Landon Carter. He had a son
who married a daughter of Colonel John Tayloe. The estate then
passed to William Beverley, who never married, and later to
Robert Beverley, his nephew, son of James Bradshaw Beverley
and Jane Peter, of Georgetown, D. C. Robert Beverley married
Jane Elizabeth Carter, of Prince William County ; these were the
parents of James Bradshaw Beverley, the subject of this sketch.
Next in line, however, appears to be Robert Beverley, the sixth of
the name and the present owner and occupant of "Blandfield."
And so, from the founding of the family by the first Robert Bev-
erley to the establishment of one of his sons at Blandfield, there
has been an unbroken line of succession.
James Bradshaw Beverley's father, Colonel Robert Beverley,
was one of the famous farmers of his generation, and his son
appears to have inherited a double portion of the father's spirit.
Mr. Beverley was first educated by a family tutor, followed
by training in the Episcopal High School, from which he went to
the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington, where he graduated
third in class, after only a three years' stay, when not quite
eighteen years old, being the youngest graduate of the institute
up to that time, 1879.
Mr. Beverley at once entered upon his life's work as a farmer.
In 1884 he bought his present home of nine hundred acres, which
by successive purchases has been enlarged to a total of sixteen
hundred and forty acres. A capable business man, as well as one
of the best farmers of the country, he settled upon a policy to
which he has adhered and which has made his operations exceed-
ingly profitable. He grows all of his farm crops for seed, selling
them either to other farmers or seedmen at top prices, and thus
not coming in competition with other farmers raising crops for
direct consumption. This policy of course requires a much higher
order of ability than ordinary farming, because it calls for ex-
ceeding great care and the most persistent attention to minute
detail.
Captain Beverley has rendered much public service. He has
seen nine years of service in the State militia, rising to the rank
of a first lieutenant in 1897, and to captain in 1908, which rank
he now holds in the Second Virginia Infantry.
Though now acting with the Democratic party, he was some
years back a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor on the Populist
ticket. That party, which, though it never won an election nor
was able to place its candidates in office, is more justified in the
minds of the American people than any other party organization
this country has ever known, for everyone identified with it has
lived to see the policies advocated by the Populist party the com-
mon belief of every progressive man in the country.
Captain Beverley's other public services have been of the
JAMES BRADSHAW BEVERLEY 119
most valuable sort. He is President of the Farmers' Institute of
Northern Virginia, a member of the Fauquier Fair Committee, a
member of the Fauquier County Board of Trade, a member of the
State Farmers' Institute, and a member of the State Horticultural
Society.
His religious affiliation is with the Protestant Episcopal
Church.
Captain Beverley has been twice married. His first marriage
on October 30, 1889, was in Columbia, South Carolina, to Annie
Maxwell Sloan, who was born in Pendleton, South Carolina, about
1870. She was the daughter of Major Benjamin Sloan, since then
President of the University of South Carolina. The young wife
did not survive two years, dying on April 17, 1891 ; and on No-
vember 9, 1898, Captain Beverley was married to Miss Amanda
Madison Clark, of "The Plains," who was born about 1871. His
second wife is the daughter of Dr. Edwin P. and Judith Taliaferro
Clark, her father, Dr. E. P. Clark, being a descendant of an uncle
of the brothers, Generals George Rogers and William Clark ; her
mother, Judith Taliaferro, a lineal descendant of Governor Alex-
ander Spottiswood.
The children of Captain Beverley 's marriages were : By his
first wife one son, Benjamin Sloan Beverley, who is a graduate
of the University of South Carolina, attended Columbia Uni-
f> s
versity, New York, for one year, and is now a cadet in the United
States Military Academy at West Point ; and, by his second wife,
Ursula Byrd Beverley, aged seven, and Julian Taliaferro Beverley.
aged four.
A clear thinking man, Captain Beverley readily sees that the
solution of all public problems lies in the practical application
of that ethical code laid down in the Bible, and he believes we
should impress upon youth the truth that there are higher aims
in life than the mere acquisition of wealth.
For his fellow farmers he has given some rules which are
full of truth and wisdom. He believes that the bedrock upon
which a successful system of farming must be built is the adoption
of system in farm work analogous to systems which prevail in
other occupations, such as mercantile life and manufacturing. To
do this would require, however, something like organized effort
on the part of the farmers, because, as Captain Beverley clearly
sees, farm labor would not submit to discipline at the hands of
one farmer alone. To literature he is inclined and has written
some verse and prose, not always with a view to publication.
His "Firelight Reflections," written in verse, have been put into
print, though not published for sale.
Now in the prime of life, with a handsome estate, largely of
his own making, giving freely of his time to public services,
enjoying the respect and confidence of his fellow men, he reflects
credit on his long line of ancestry and is rendering, in his day,
120 JAMES BRADSHAW BEVERLEY
to the "Old Dominion" the same patriotic service which his fore-
bears have given for two hundred and fifty years.
An appropriate close to this brief sketch is the selection from
Captain Beverley's "Firelight Reflections" :
"And, too, the lives of nations differ from
The life of one man only in the length
Of time they live. From nothing both must come,
By growth and work attain their wealth and
strength.
And some there are of men and nations both
Who, fated, seem to fall before their prime ;
And some, of stronger or of healthier growth,
Hold life and strength beyond the average time.
Both bear the curse of sin and must
Spend all their lives in toil and fierce contending,
Constructing from creative dust,
Preserving from the moth and rust,
To their own needs the powers of nature bending.
Either stopping thieves or thieving;
Either crushing or relieving.
Throughout the story of the human race
This inconsistent difference is made
Between the man and nation,
If I should want my weaker neighbor's place,
And while he on his knees for mercy prayed,
I slew and robbed him — without other cause —
The penalty of death must then be paid
With my own life, according to the laws
Of man since the creation.
Death to the man who kills his weaker brother
But glory when one nation kills another !
And history condensed to brief narration
Is international assassination."
WILLIAM WALTER MOFFETT
JUDGE WILLIAM WALTER MOFFETT, of Salem, Vir-
ginia, was born in Culpeper County on July 19, 1854, son
of John and Sarah William (Brown) Moffett. His father
was a school teacher and farmer.
The founder of this family in Virginia was Henry Moffett,
born in 1705, and who came to Virginia as a young man. He mar-
ried first Mary Anderson, daughter of Walter Anderson, also an
immigrant from Great Britain; and after her death, married as
a second wife her sister Elizabeth.
Henry Moffett settled at Carter's Run, in what is now
Fauquier County. Henry Moffett's son, the Rev. Anderson Mof-
fett, was a Baptist minister who took an active part in the
establishment of religious liberty in Virginia, and was imprisoned
at Culpeper, along with other Baptist ministers. Another son of
Henry Moffett was Daniel, who lived in Culpeper. Horatio G.
Moffett, son of Daniel, was a lawyer of high standing and marked
ability. He served as Commonwealth's Attorney for Rappahan-
nock County for more than twenty-five years, and also served as
a member of the Secession Convention of Virginia. Another son
of Daniel, Walter Newman Moffett, went to Alabama, practised
law with great success for a few years, but died in his twenty-
ninth year. Yet another son of Daniel was John, the father of
our subject. He was educated liberally for that day, was a cul-
tured Virginia gentleman who taught school in his early manhood,
and subsequently was a successful farmer in Culpeper County,
Virginia.
This family, though coming to Virginia much later than some
others, has had its full share of strong men in the State. Rev.
Anderson Moffett has been already mentioned. Rev. J. R. Moffett
was another strong man. Hon. S. H. Moffett, of Bell Punch fame,
was a notable man. Samuel E. Moffett, editor of Collier's, one of
the greatest journals of the world, stands deservedly high. W. D.
Moffett was a gallant officer in the Civil War, who surrendered
the Forty-Ninth Virginia Regiment at Appomattox.
The Moffett family is of Scotch extraction and there is a
parish of that name in Annandale. It was a very ancient border
family, influential and powerful as far back as the time of Wal-
lace, and conspicuous for the deadly feud which existed between
them and the Johnstones. DeMoffat was Bishop of Glasgow early
in the twelfth century. Armorial bearings of all the different
branches seem to indicate connection with the Church. The
[123]
124 WILLIAM WALTER MOFFETT
Scotch spelling was Moffat. A branch of the Moffats, of Lauder,
settled at Chipping Barnet, County Hertford, England, certainly
prior to 1585, and changed the Scotch spelling to Moffett, which
was the beginning of the present form of the name.
Judge Moffett has had an interesting career — reared upon the
farm, in his early boyhood he went to an old field school four miles
away. Later he became a student of the Rappahannock Male
Academy, of which C. H. Barksdale, an A. M. of the University of
<j 7 / c
Virginia, was principal. He then taught school for several years,
after which he entered the law office of his uncle, Horatio C.
Moffett, who was reckoned as one of the great lawyers of northern
Virginia. In 1877 he began the practise of his profession in
Rappahannock County. In 1878, in conjunction with his cousin,
Horace G. Moffett, later State Railroad Commissioner, he estab-
lished and edited "The Blue Ridge Echo" until 1885. Those were
seven stormy and aggressive years. The two young men made of
it one of the most aggressive Democratic papers of the State, and
its influence was so great that Rappahannock came to be one of
the stand-bys of the Democratic party, and could always be de-
pended on for a big majority. In 1883 John S. Barbour became
Chairman of the State Central Committee and called for young
men to come to his support. Among the men who rallied to him
was William Walter Moffett, who became then, and remained for
a number of years, a member of the Committee. In that same
i/ /
year his party nominated and elected him to the General As-
sembly, after a hot contest in which he defeated one of the strong-
est men in the county.
In 1891 Mr. Moffett removed to Roanoke County, locating at
Salem, and formed a partnership with the Hon. A. B. Pugh, which
firm stepped at once into a good practice. In June, 1893, he was
made Judge of Roanoke County Court without opposition, and
served in that capacity for eleven years, being re-elected again
and again without ever having opposition. The collapse of the
real estate boom in that section led to an enormous amount of
litigation, and many cases of great importance had to come before
his court. Judge Moffett's ability as a judge is best evidenced by
the fact that, during those eleven years, he was never reversed by
the Circuit Court, and was only once reversed by the Court of
Appeals, upon a point which had never been passed upon in the
State before. Judge James Keith said of him, when he was yet a
very young lawyer, that he had the judicial mind and made a most
excellent commissioner in chancery. Colonel G. W. Hansbrough
frequently said that W. W. Moffett was the best commissioner in
chancery he had ever known.
In 1902 Judge Moffett's name was presented to Governor
Montague for appointment to the position of Corporation Com-
missioner. At that time his friends from all over the State rallied
to his support in the most remarkable manner, and presented to
WILLIAM WALTER MOFFETT 125
the Governor a series of endorsements such as it seldom falls to
the lot of any man to get. These endorsements were signed by
the editors of his two home papers; the Deputy Clerk of the
Court ; Hon. A. M. Bowman, Chairman of the Finance Committee
of the House of Delegates ; Judge Galloway Brown, of the Bedford
County Court; Judge W. L. Jeffries, of Culpeper County Court;
Hon. George W. Settle, Representative, Rappahannock County;
Judge C. E. Nichol, Judge of the Fauquier Circuit ; Judge Henry
E. Blair, of Roanoke City Circuit; W. T. Younger, Mayor of
Salem; Hon. John F. Rixey, Member of Congress; President
Julius D. Dreher, of Roanoke College; and a large number of
business and professional friends. This appointment was not
made by the Governor, and Judge Moffett continued his profes-
sional work until 1906, when he came before the Legislature for
election to the position of Judge of the Twentieth Judicial Cir-
cuit. In this campaign he had an even larger and more generous
support than he had received four years before, and was elected
by an overwhelming majority, one of his competitors having with-
drawn and the other one securing less than one-fifth of the vote
of the General Assembly. When he came up for re-election in
1908, he was endorsed by every bar in the circuit. He was re-
elected without opposition, and it is, perhaps, no undue praise to
say that no circuit judge in Virginia has ever met with a more
general commendation by all the people of the district served. His
friends include every class, from the humblest (both white and
black) up to the most exalted. This personal popularity, or
rather it should be said, affection, goes out to Judge Moffett, not
because he is merely a just judge, but because he is a man of the
finest humanitarian instincts — because, like Abou Ben Adhem,
he loves his fellow-man. This is evidenced, not only in his daily
conduct with his fellows, but by the generous contribution of time
and service which he has given to every charity and educational
work.
When the late Col. Tayloe died, at the instance of Prof.
Charles L. Cocke, Judge Moffett was made President of the Board
of Trustees of Hollins Institute, which position he held until
the school was reorganized as Hollins College.
An earnest and consistent member of the Baptist Church,
he has held many positions of honor and trust in that great or-
ganization ; and has served with credit as a member of the Baptist
Educational Commission. As an illustration of the esteem in
which he is held by the brethren of his church, it may be men-
tioned that he served two terms as President of the Baptist Gen-
eral Association of Virginia; and twelve years as Moderator of
the Valley Baptist Association. At the present time, he is Chair-
man of the Executive Board of Trustees of the Baptist Orphanage
of Virginia. He has served as President of the Florence Critten-
ton Home, of Roanoke.
126 WILLIAM WALTER MOPFETT
After the collapse of the real estate boom, which threw so
many people in that section into destitute circumstances, Judge
Moffett's heart being moved by the conditions, he wrote a series of
letters to "The Times-Register," of Salem, advocating the organi-
zation of an Association of Charity. A number of the leading
men, realizing the need and moved by his arguments, at once fell
into line with this suggestion, and the association was organized
with Judge Moffett as President. During that trying period,
when the country was recovering from the effect of over-specula-
tion, this association rendered splendid and effective service,
relieving the distress of worthy people. It will be seen from this
that he has never spared himself — either as to time, labor or
money, when his people needed him.
Judge Moffett was married in Rappahannock County, Vir-
ginia, on February 22, 1883, to Jessie Mary Dudley, born January
4, 1857, daughter of William T. and Achsah (Miller) Dudley.
They have a fine family of children : Willie Gates, who is an A. B.
of Roanoke College and an A. M. of Intermont College, married
Jesse Frank Jones; Fannie Dudley is an A. M. of Roanoke Col-
lege; Sarah A. is a full graduate of Harrisonburg (Va.) State
Normal School ; Mary Lois is the youngest child. One son, John
Daniel Moffett, is deceased.
Although once a newspaper editor for seven years, since that
time Judge Moffett has seldom written for the press, and then
only on occasions of pressing need to benefit his fellows. In his
reading (outside of the law) his taste would now, perhaps, be
called old-fashioned — Scott's novels, Dickens's novels, Shakespeare
and history; but we observe that the men whose literary style
has been formed through the reading of such men's works have
a style which none of the moderns can surpass.
With regard to the best way to develop humanity, he says:
"Aim at the mark, get a sight on the object before you pull the
trigger ; do not becloud the supreme purpose to be attained. Keep
it ever in view." Following out this same line of thought as to
how best to promote the public interest, he says, "The development
of the individual, encouraging each to aspire to loftier achieve-
ments, regardless of the occupation or profession." From his
standpoint as a lawyer and a judge, he believes it would be help-
ful to have a greater uniformity in our laws. With this last view
of his, he will find the general public very willing to agree — for
certainly if there ever was a hodge-podge on the face of the earth
our American law systems in forty-eight different States and the
Federal Union make a mixture that Macbeth's witches, with a
double-sized caldron, could never have brewed.
Judge Moffett's life has been one of active labor. He has been
a useful man to his generation. He has been faithful to his fellow-
men and to his own conscience, and today he holds a place in the
esteem of the men among whom his sixty years of life have been
spent second to that of no other man in the State.
TJ.
JOHN DANIEL MOFFETT
JOHN DANIEL MOFFETT, son of William Walter Moffett
and Jessie Mary (Dudley) Moffett, was born in Midway,
Rappahannock County, Virginia, at the home of his grand-
father, William T. Dudley, on December 14, 1886, and died
at his father's home in Roanoke County on September 6, 1913.
His birthday fell upon the same day as that of his grandfather,
John Moffett, but just eighty-one years later.
A question might naturally arise in the mind of the reader
as to what a young man of tweny-seven could have accomplished
that would justify placing him in a volume of sober biography.
In this case, the answer would be — character. One must not,
however, come to the conclusion that only those of mature age are
eligible to place in the pages of history and biography. History
teems with the deeds of young men. Alexander the Great was the
foremost figure in the world at twenty-five, and after over-running
the then civilized world, was dead at thirty-two. Pitt was Premier
of England at twenty-six. Napoleon was the foremost figure in
France at twenty-six, and his marvelous career was all compassed
in fifty-two brief years. Our great Civil War illustrated, in a re-
markable manner, what young men can do. Mosby and John
Morgan, Pelham and Chew, Breathed, Stuart and Hoke, with
countless others which our space does not permit the enumeration
of, all won immortality while in their early youth. The immortal
Washington was himself one of these wonderful young men, for
he was a Colonel at twenty-two and the bulwark of the Virginia
frontier against its savage foes.
John Daniel Moffett's father is Judge William Walter Mof-
fett, whose sketch appears in this volume, and who is the honored
Judge of the Roanoke Circuit. He named his son after two of
his uncles : The Rev. John R. and Daniel A. Moffett, and the fact
that this connection recalled Virginia's great Senator and Orator,
the late John Daniel, who was one of the best-loved men of his
day, was a source of pleasure to his friends and relatives.
In the earliest years of John Daniel Moffett's life, his father
lived in Washington. In 1891 the family moved to Salem. In his
seventh year he entered a private school conducted by Mrs. Cam-
den, now Mrs. H. B. Rockhill. He was a good scholar, highly
esteemed by his teacher, and very susceptible to words of praise.
Even in these early years he displayed a diligence and a con-
scientiousness which was a forecast of his future career. In 1894,
[129]
130 JOHN DANIEL MOFFETT
during a great revival of religion in Salem, although such a little
fellow, he was so deeply impressed that he asked his parents'
permission to unite with the church, and though they were dubious
at the time, they finally consented ; and the remainder of his too
short life proved that, even at that early age, he had grasped the
meaning of the religious life. In 1900 he was entered as a student
at Roanoke College, where he remained for two sessions, and where
he became very popular with the students by reason of his sunny
disposition and his strong common sense. His father tells an
incident which occurred about that time which illustrated the
lad's character. The real estate boom at Salem collapsed, and
incidental with that collapse certain lots were added to his
father's home place. These lots were covered with small stones.
John undertook the removal of these, and did his work so well
that, to this day, a rock cannot be found on this piece of land.
Another illustration — his father had a piece of land some four
miles distant, upon which there was an orchard and on which he
wanted the corn plowed. The ground was so rough that no one
wanted to undertake the job of plowing it. John wanted to pay a
visit to his friends and relatives in Culpeper and Rappahannock.
His parents had not been immune from the consequences of the
hard times following the collapse of the boom, and John was in-
formed that the expense of the trip could not be afforded. He
submitted without complaint, but proposed to his father that, as
he wanted to hire somebody to plow that rough piece of land
four miles away, he would undertake the job, and thus make the
money with which to pay his expenses. His father consented, and
every morning he arose at daybreak, rode to the orchard, and
accomplished the task.
John had the mathematical mind and business talent. His
Uncle Daniel was a successful merchant of Baltimore, being a
member of the wholesale dry goods firm of Tregellas, Hertel &
Company. The lad was seized with the desire to go to Baltimore
and follow in his uncle's footsteps. The family, averse to this,
endeavored to dissuade him, but finally yielded to his wishes,
thinking that he would soon tire of his venture. He went to
Baltimore and began at the bottom literally — for he was placed
in the cellar to open boxes and assort goods. He put his whole
mind upon his work, and very soon became thoroughly familiar
with all the classes and the quality of the goods which be expected
to sell upon the road as soon as he was qualified for a road posi-
tion. At the age of sixteen the firm offered to put him upon the
road, offering him a promising territory. Although satisfied that
he could make a success in that direction, he thought he was too
young and so advised his parents, who advised him to remain
under the care of his uncle, in whose home he lived. A few
months later the firm again made him the offer, urging him to
accept the territory composed of central North Carolina and
JOHN DANIEL MOFFETT 131
northern South Carolina. He yielded to its wishes and made a
success from the very beginning, though he was said to be the
youngest man traveling from Baltimore. His genial and sunny
disposition and sterling character made for him fast friends of
his customers, and many leading men of his territory looked for
his coming with pleasure, and many of them formed for him a
profound attachment. John (as they all knew him) came to be
a figure in the territory in which he traveled. Mr. Hertzel, the
head of the firm for which he worked, said of him: "John was a
success from the very beginning. He had energy, tenaciousness
and ambition ; besides these qualities he had personality and
good sense. He knew what to say, and what not to say. He had
many friends and was making his mark in life." He remained
with Tregellas, Hertel & Company from the autumn of 1902 to
the spring of 1910, when they retired from business. He then
became associated with Hughes, Dove & Turner, of Baltimore,
retaining his old territory and in addition several places in Vir-
ginia, including Roanoke City. In the new position he made a
success quite as conspicuous as in the old. In the fall of 1912 he
retired from the last-named firm, and associated himself with
A. M. Crigler for the purpose of conducting a wholesale drygoods
business in the City of Baltimore. So well regarded were the two
men that friends who knew them intimately agreed to take all
the stock not taken by the two partners. The charter was pre-
pared, signed, and sent to Annapolis for approval. Before it
could be issued, the young man collapsed with the dread disease
that ended his promising life. The disease to which he succumbed
had its beginning in the spring of 1912 in what appeared to be a
severe cold accompanied with a cough. He went ahead with his
work, placing himself in the care of a specialist in Baltimore,
who repeatedly told him that he had no indication of tuberculosis,
and that he would shortly be well. Encouraged by this, he kept
up the heavy strain of business, with only one or two short rests
during all that year up to December — when he was compelled to
give up his work, and diagnoses by several competent physicians
demonstrated that his lungs were dangerously involved. From
that time on to the end everything that affection could dictate, and
that the best medical ability could do, was done without avail.
It will be seen from this brief sketch that this young man of
twenty-seven had already so far progressed in his business as to be
planning a large business of which he would have been joint head.
He had gained the confidence of sober men of business, both in
his ability and in his character. He had a host of devoted friends,
who were almost measured by the number of his acquaintances.
His life was absolutely clean. He was without vices. The coarse
pleasures which appealed to some young men never touched him.
His profound religious faith at all times made him immune from
the small and coarse things of life. He loved good reading and
132 JOHN DANIEL MOFFETT
became a man of wide information. That he was thoughtful even
beyond his years is evidenced by one of his remarks in connection
with the loss of the great ship Titanic. He said: "It is strange
men do not know that they cannot build indestructible ships. God
alone is infinite and supreme."
He loved innocent recreation — was fond of the tennis court,
and two of his chosen friends were the Rev. John Scott Meredith,
Eector of the Episcopal Church of Salem, and the Rev. LeRoy
Gresham, Pastor of the Salem Presbyterian Church, whom he first
met upon the tennis court. Mr. Meredith said of him : "I esteem
it a privilege to have known John. There is a priceless heritage
in the memory of such a son."
He was a devoted home boy, and no young man away from
home could possibly have been more attentive, or could have kept
in closer touch with home people than he did throughout his life.
As stated in the beginning, the life of this young man is worthy
of record because of good character. It is an inspiring life for
other young men to read. It shows that the man who will, can
lead an absolutely clean life, and yet retain the friendship of all
classes, and that without other influence than his own industry,
persistence and righteous dealing, he can place himself in a com-
paratively short space of time in a position of standing and in-
fluence in the business community.
TIT
[PUB]
FL - M OFFE TT
JOHN ROBERTS MOFFETT
JOHN ROBERTS MOFFETT was born in Culpeper County,
Virginia, October 16, 1858. He came of Scotch stock.
Henry Moffett, the immigrant, a scion of the Scotch family,
was born in 1705. He located in the valley of Carter's
Run, Fauquier County, and was the father of Rev. Anderson Mof-
fett and Daniel Moffett. Rev. Anderson Moffett was for more
than fifty years the pastor of Smith's Creek Baptist Church,
Shenandoah County, Virginia. He was imprisoned in the Cul-
peper jail for preaching as a Baptist and, while there, was almost
suffocated by the fumes of burning red pepper and sulphur.
Daniel Moffett was married twice; of his three sons who reached
manhood, one emigrated to Alabama ; the second, Horatio G., was
for years a lawyer in Rappahannock County, being Common-
wealth's Attorney and a member of the Virginia Secession Con-
vention of 1861 ; the third, John, was the father of the subject of
this sketch. John Moffett was married twice, his second wife
being Miss Sarah William Brown, a woman of indomitable energy
and rare piety. Her forebears were the Browns, the Ficklens, the
Robertses, who at an early date had located in the "Little Fork"
and its vicinity in Culpeper County. To John Moffett and his
wife, Sarah, four children, William Walter, Sallie F., Daniel
Anderson and John Roberts, were born. The home of this family
is a comfortable and typical Virginia country mansion, some ten
miles from Culpeper. Such an ancestry, such a mother, and such
a county as a birthplace, were fine assets with which to set out
in life. Let us pursue the story of the boy who had this good
beginning. He heard the roar of war. Later in life he wrote
concerning these days: "We have often gone out on the hills to
listen to the booming of the cannon on some hard-fought field.
Lee and his army passed right by our gate on his way to and
from Pennsylvania. I remember how anxious the family were
that I should see him. My father held me up on his shoulder.
There he is — yonder he goes — he has turned the corner — is out of
sight. Did you see him, son ?' 'Yes, Pa ; it was that man with the
oilcloth cap on, wasn't it?' Just to think, so close to the noble
old hero and never to have seen him! Our own soldiers, how
pretty they looked in their new suits of gray, with brass buttons,
as they galloped by our house in the beginning. I wished then
that I was one of them, but I don't recollect making any such
[135]
136 JOHN ROBERTS MOFFETT
wish some months later when they came straggling in, tired, foot-
sore, ragged, dirty and sick or desperately wounded. My mother
nursed many through various kinds of sickness and dressed many
wounds. Sometimes she would take buckets of iced milk out on
the road to give to those who appeared to be especially hot and
tired."
John Moffett, the father, died December 25, 1867, when his
youngest son was about nine years old. Soon afterwards, one
Sunday, the mother gathered the children into her room and read
to them a sermon by Spurgeon on "Heaven and Hell." This
made a deep impression on John, and he went to his room and
wrote these resolutions:
First. Resolved to be kind and gentle to my mother, brothers,
and sister, and to everyone, and to be loved by all.
Second. Resolved that I will help my mother all I can and
make her think she has a blessing in her son.
Third. Resolved that I will pray night and morning and at
10 o'clock and 3 o'clock. May the Lord help me to keep these
resolutions. Amen.
As to his conversion, the light gradually dawrned, though he
finally realized that he was a Christian at a Methodist camp-
meeting. In his fourteenth year he was baptized into the fellow-
ship of the Gourdvine Baptist Church by the venerable Barnett
Grimsley. The boy's first teacher was his father, who laid great
stress on spelling. Next he sat at the feet of "Cousin Pocahontas
Reid," and then went to Miss Roberta Crigler, afterwards to G. R.
Crigler, walking four miles to school. Subsequently he attended
a private school taught by Miss Edna Tyler. In 1873 he went to
the Academy at Washington, Virginia, where Rev. Mr. Warden,
a Presbyterian minister, and Mr. Berkely, later a lawyer, were
his teachers. After a year in this school he returned home and
superintended the farm until the fall of 1881. During these years
he read widely, was active in church work, taking part in the
sessions of the Shiloh Association, and was aggressive in temper-
ance effort in the Good Templar lodges of Culpeper and Rappa-
hannock counties. He was licensed to preach by the Gourdvine
Church on August 20, 1881, and a few days later set out for the
Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
He went to the Seminary knowing little Latin and no Greek.
Yet he decided to take in four sessions the course a man with
college training may complete in three. Fortunately, his room-
mate was John H. Boldridge, an excellent student and trained at
Richmond College. With such a tutor Moffett did splendid work
and graduated in 1885 in an unusually brilliant class. During
his seminary life he was pastor for a season of the New Salem,
Kentucky, Church, where his energy led to the erection of a new
house of worship. On June 29, 1884, at his old home church, he
was ordained to the gospel ministry, these ministers comprising
JOHN ROBERTS MOFFETT 137
the presbytery : C. F. James, B. Grimsley, R. H. Stone, W. J.
Decker, T. P. Brown and T. F. Grimsley.
His first pastorate, after graduation at the Seminary, was in
King William County, Virginia. Here was a typical Virginia
country field, with t\vo churches, each having preaching twice a
month. With characteristic energy, Mr. Moffett soon added to
this work an afternoon appointment at Mount Hermon Church,
across the Mattaponi River, in Caroline County. See this young
pastor, preaching Sunday mornings where honored men of God
had for many years proclaimed the gospel, going in the afternoon
through heat and cold on his long cross-country trips, helping
brother pastors in protracted meetings, baptizing in the waters
of the Mattaponi, taking an active part in temperance work,
quickening in a remarkable degree the missionary and benevolent
zeal of his churches and ministering in most loving and liberal
fashion to the necessities of the poor. One Christmas, in a letter
to his mother, he wrote : "Besides, there are several poor and sick
persons in my congregation to whom I thought all the money I
could spare for Christmas presents ought to go, believing that it
would do more good than being sent even to you. The conse-
quences are I have not made a single Christmas present."
On July 3, 1887, he began his work as the first pastor of the
North Danville Baptist Church, an organization that had grown
out of a Sunday School established the previous January through
the labors and prayers of a number of faithful women. As the
little flock had no meeting-house, the recognition service for the
pastor was held in the Methodist Church. While it was plain
that a house of worship was the pressing need of the new church,
the pastor called first for a collection for missions and then three
days later made his appeal for the house of worship. In six
months Moffett and his people were meeting in a chapel of their
own ; at the end of the first year the membership had grown from
30 to 163, and already the chapel was too small and steps had been
taken for a larger building. When Mrs. Berryman put her name
down for the first f 500 towards the new church, Moffett "felt like
shouting, 'Glory.' On December 1, 1889, the new edifice, costing
$15,000, was dedicated, the last cent, before the day was over,
being paid. On this occasion the chief speakers were Rev. J. R.
Harrison and Rev. Dr. A. E. Dickinson. The North Danville
Baptist Church soon came to be one of the best organized bands
of workers in the State. This was largely due to the energy and
systematic work of the pastor. He carried a map of the city in
his mind. Each section called for definite work. He believed in
visiting. He knew the cry of the poor ; some one met him at eleven
o'clock one night with a bundle of provisions on his back going to
some home where hunger dwelt. He was popular among other
denominations. The Virginia Woman's Missionary Society of the
Methodist Church elected him a life member of their society be-
13S JOHN ROBERTS MOFFETT
cause once in an emergency he had. upon short notice, come to
their aid and preached their anniversary sermon. Once, when the
Methodist preacher had returned to his old pulpit. Moffett took
his own congregation one Sunday morning and went to do honor
to his brother pastor. >~o wonder that later the ladies of this
same Methodist Church one Wednesday night invaded Moffett 's
.iyer meeting and through their spokesman. Mr. J. J. Flippin,
presented him with a handsome silver service. Moffett insisted on
systematic giving to missions and was especially enthusiastic as
foreign missions. In his preaching he seemed to keep ever
before his mind the fact of a great sinner and that Jesus was a
great Saviour. He had an humble opinion of himself. At the
x 1 his first Sunday in Danville he wrote: "I went home feel-
ing that everything done by me was below mediocrity" : while his
meeting-hu'.>~ was being erected, one day he and the carpenter
haviL_ •"isagreed about some matter, his record concerning the
incident was : "I got mad and said some things I ought not. I
am ashamed of myself. I do not think a Christian ought to show
temper." o May 7. 1SSO. in the second year of his Xorth Dan-
ville pastorate. Mr. Moffett was united in marriage to Miss Pearl
Bruce, the youngest daughter of Thomas Bruce. Esq.. of Halifax
' \inty.
With all the work he had in his own church. Moffett was a
leader in two movements that were statewide. He was the first
one in the rank> of Virginia Baptists to advocate organized effort
in behalf of the orphan. By his invitation and at his expense,
John H. Mills, of North Carolina, the great friend of the orphan,
visited and addressed on August 15. 1SSS. the Roanoke Association
at Oak Grove Church. Pittsylvania County. This address was fol-
lowed by a resolution calling for the appointment of a committee
to confer with other associations in regard to the establishment
of an orphana.L The General Association met that fall in Bris-
tol. J. R. Moffett and a few others at his instance, gathered in the
basement of the church to deliberate as to the matter of an or-
phanage. ( Tie of their number. Rev. Dr. George Cooper, was
asked to present the matter to the Association. This he did and,
after discussion participated in by Dr. Cooper. J. R. Moffett and
others, a committee was appointed to receive bids for the location
of the orphanage. The following year the Orphanage Board was
established. While Moffett was not appointed uii the committee
named at Bristol, nor on the Board when it was organized, still
his inters* in the great work never flawed.
In the general temperance movement in the State and in the
Good Templars. Moffett was very active. As a boy he had pre-
pared a temperance pledge and called on his companions to sign
it. He had been influential in getting his mother church and the
Shiloh Association to pass -tronsr temperance resolutions. With
a serninarv friend he held a tabernacle meeting in Norfolk which
JOHN ROBERTS MOFFETT 139
greatly aroused temperance people. He paid a visit to southwest
Virginia and so exposed the "blind tiger" men in Salem as to lead
to over one hundred arrests for violation of the local-option law.
In the general gatherings of the Good Templars he was called
on to speak and his paper, "Anti-Liquor." was endorsed. Xor
was his temperance work only public ; he would follow the tempted
young man into the saloon and persuade him not to drink and take
his own money and furnish the drunkard's family with food. At
the General Association of 1890 he offered an amendment to the
constitution providing for the appointment annually of a com-
mittee of five to "inquire concerning the needs of and stimulate
interest in the cause of temperance throughout the Association.'*
This resolution was referred to a committee of five. Moffett being
one of the five. A report signed by four of the committee was
adverse to the standing committee on temperance and this report
was adopted. Moffett, however, stood to his guns and presented
a minority report. It is interesting to observe that for the past
two years the General Association has appointed a committee of
five to report on temperance.
In 1891 Moffett worked out a plan to bring together in Rich-
mond during the session of the Legislature all the temperance
workers of the State of all shades of opinion. The plan was suc-
cessfully carried out. Some 250 temperance workers came to-
gether, John E. Massey, the Superintendent of Public Instruction,
presiding over the body. A bill embodying the principles of the
Anti-Saloon League of today was drawn, presented to the Legisla-
ture and promptly by reference to a committee buried forever.
His paper, the "Anti-Liquor." at the end of a year, the subscription
list having gone to 5.000. was changed from a monthly to a weekly
publication. Gradually Moffett was drawn into the field of
politics. When he became convinced that neither of the two great
national political parties was willing to help the temperance
cause, his sympathy went to the Prohibition Party, or the Third
Party, as it was then called. Before long it was evident that
Moffett had arrayed against him the political organizations and
the newspapers of his city. In a local-option election a half-drunk
man placed a pistol at his breast and pulled the trigger. For-
tunately, the pistol hung fire, otherwise Moffett must have been
instantly killed. Hatred to him among the politicians grew. He
was misrepresented and threatened. One of the party organs
said : "Woe be to you, Mr. Moffett, if McKinney should be defeated
by votes taken from the white ranks and thrown away on Taylor."
He was accused of wanting negro rule and a petition was circu-
lated among the liquor men to buy a lot and build a house for
a negro next to Moffett's house, by way of retaliation for his work
in the local-option fight.
Election day came on in November . 1892. The Democrats
were in the habit of handing out tickets to Democrats from a cer-
140 JOHN ROBERTS MOFFETT
tain window. From no one else could Democratic tickets be se-
cured. This amounted to intimidation. Mr. Moffett decided to
print a fac-simile of the Democratic ticket to be distributed freely
among Democrats, so as to break the ticketholder's power. A
ticket was printed, an exact copy of the ticket as given by the
"Chatham Tribune." Through a mistake on the morning of the
election, some of these tickets were given out by the printer of
the "Anti-Liquor," contrary to Mr. Moffett's direction, before they
had been compared with the regular ticket. An unimportant var-
iation in the ticket printed in the "Anti-Liquor" office at once
gave rise to a report on the part of Moffett's enemies that he was
circulating bogus tickets. Mr. J. T. Clark mounted the steps and
warned the people of bogus tickets that were being circulated by
J. R. Moffett. J. R. Hill quickly appealed to the crowd to know
if they thought Moffett would do such a thing and received a
chorus of "Noes." About this time Moffett appeared on the scene,
on his way to his office, it being still an early morning hour.
Clark rushed on him and. waving some of the tickets in his hand,
accused him of fraud and of scattering bogus tickets to deceive
the people. Moffett dealt his accuser a stunning blow and then,
mounting the steps, explained what he had done.
The fight was over. Moffett had done nothing during the
election that he regretted save the blow he had given Clark and
now the session of the General Association to be held in Danville
was at hand. He met his kinspeople at the station and started
with them towards the First Church (Danville), where the Asso-
ciation was to hold its sessions. On the wav to the church he
t/
went into the office of the paper to leave a communication, as the
newspaper controversy over the ticket episode was not yet over.
While in this office Clark came into the front, saw Moffett and
went out and on up the street towards the church. A little later
Moffett came out and walked rapidly towards the church. He
had not gone far before a man met him, there was the report of a
pistol, and Moffett was mortallv wounded. This was Fridav night.
•*- / t/ 9; G7
Early Sunday morning the spirit of John Moffett passed from
earth to heaven. The shooting and then his untimely death cast
a gloom over the city and over the General Association. During
the last hours of his life, it being conceded by the physicians that
death was near at hand, many friends and loved ones were allowed
to see him. He spoke words of forgiveness for Clark, the man who
had shot him, having previously made deposition that Clark had
made the assault and that he, himself, had had no pistol. The
crowd that attended the funeral on Mondav overflowed the church
•
and jammed the square in front of the church. Addresses on this
sad occasion were made bv Rev. Dr. W. W. Landrum and Rev. Dr.
i/
W. E. Hatcher, numerous other ministers taking part in the
services. Memorial services were held later at Gourdvine Church
and at Beulah Church. From all parts of the country there came
JOHN ROBERTS MOFFETT 141
expressions of sorrow and dismay at his sudden and shocking
taking-off. The result of the trial, a verdict of manslaughter
with a sentence of five years in the penitentiary, was a surprise
and disappointment to the general public, even the Court of Ap-
peals saying: "In short, there is no element of self-defense in the
case, and the verdict, so far from being without evidence to sup-
port it, is remarkable for its mildness." Eesolutions setting forth
his work and expressing sorrow at his death were passed not only
by his church and by the Roanoke Association, but also by numer-
ous Good Templar lodges and by the Prohibition Gubernatorial
Convention, which met September, 1893, in Richmond. Temper-
ance papers all over the land and others, too, spoke in no uncertain
language as to his death and concerning the verdict rendered
against Clark. So wide had been the interest awakened by Mof-
fett's death that the temperance people of Ohio employed Olin J.
Ross, a rising young lawyer, and sent him to Danville to assist in
the prosecution of Clark.
The church which Mr. Moffett built in North Danville is now
known as the Moffett Memorial Church. His name is forever
linked with the cause of temperance in Virginia, nor ought we to
forget that he first moved among Virginia Baptists to establish
the orphanage of which they are now so proud.
JAMES GARLAND BOXLEY
DOCTOR JAMES GAEL AND BOXLEY, of Louisa, was
born in that county seventy years ago, son of Joseph
Cluverius and Annie Ladd (Vaughan) Boxley. His father
was a Louisa County farmer, and his mother was a native
of Hanover County.
Doctor Boxley is descended from an ancient English family
long settled in the County of Kent, England, where Boxley Abbey,
Boxley Manor and Boxley Hall still perpetuate the name. His
early Virginia ancestors came from Kent, England, in the latter
part of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenth century,
and settled in Gloucester, New Kent and Louisa counties.
His grandfather, George Boxley, was one of three brothers,
who held a royal land grant for fifteen thousand acres of land
in the Colony of Virginia, and they settled in Louisa and Spottsyl-
vania counties. This old royal charter was signed by King
George III, and was on record in Louisa County until lost or
destroyed by the enemy during the Civil War. The descendants
of these old pioneers are now quite numerous, widely scattered
over the State of Virginia, and are prominent citizens of the
localities in which they reside.
Doctor Boxley was educated, first by private tutors at home,
and then for four sessions was at the Hanover Academy under
Prof. Lewis Minor Coleinan, a distinguished educator, who was
the principal of that school. He was a student there, in his
seventeenth year, at the outbreak of the Civil War, and like
most boys of that age was eager to enter the army as a member
of a local infantry company, but could not secure the consent of
his father on account of his being under age.
In the fall of 1861 he became a student in the Medical College
of Virginia at Richmond, and was graduated with his medical
degree in March, 1863. He went before the Naval Examining
Board for the purpose of securing a commission in the Confederate
States Navy. He passed his examination successfully, was com-
missioned an Assistant Surgeon, and assigned for duty to the
James River Squadron on the ironclad Richmond.
At the close of the war, he entered upon the practise of his
profession, to which he added farming, a very common combina-
tion in many of the country districts of the South, and has had a
useful and successful career. Now retired from active work, and
his wife having passed away, he spends his time with his five
[142]
frZjt^l^
JAMES GARLAND BOXLEY 145
sons, all of whom have cheerful homes and agreeable families — so
that his declining years, after a life of steady labor, have drifted
into pleasant ways.
He was married on February 11, 1868, at Mansfield, Louisa
County, Virginia, to Fenton Bruce Mansfield, a native of that
place, born in August, 1845, daughter of William Day and Anne
F. (Taylor) Mansfield. Her father was a native of Louisa County,
and her mother of Stafford. Of his marriage there are five sons :
The oldest, Philip Seddon Boxley, married Florence Mullan,
of Lynchburg, Virginia. Their children are Virginia Winn, Philip
Seddon, Jr., Bruce Vaughan. Xancy Marshall and Bettie Mullan
Boxley.
The second son, Bruce Vaughan Boxley, married Ethel Glas-
gow Whyte, of Richmond, Virginia. Their children are Bruce
Vaughan, Jr., Taylor Mansfield, Seddon Glasgow Whyte and St.
George Tucker Boxley.
The third son, William Clivie Boxley, married Elvira Cabell
Wills, of Louisa County. Their children are Fenton Lyle, Martha
Cabell, Virginia Mansfield, Emma Wills, Agnes McClung, Elvira
Cabell, William Clivie, Jr., and Frederick Peters Boxley.
His fourth son, Frank Mansfield Boxley, married Georgia
Shannon Griffith, of Kentucky. They have one child, Louise Grif-
fith Boxley, and their home is in Richmond, Virginia.
His fifth son, James Garland Boxley, Jr., married Frances
Ashby, of Stafford County, Virginia. Their children are James
Ashby, Richard Garland, and Fenton Bruce Boxley.
With his five sons and their twenty-one children, Dr. Boxley
has a truly patriarchal family. He is almost a lifelong member
of the Baptist Church, which he has served as Deacon, as Sunday
School Superintendent, and as President of the Goshen Baptist
Sunday School Convention of Louisa and Orange counties.
When the public school system was organized in Virginia,
after the Civil War, Dr. Boxley was one of the first appointees of
the then Governor as School Trustee for the Louisa Court House
District, and in that capacity served for eight years.
His political affiliation through life has been with the Demo-
cratic party, and he is what might be classed as an Old School
Democrat — or putting it in another fashion, he believes in the
fundamental doctrine of Democracy as promulgated in our coun-
try by Jefferson, and believes in a Democratic life by the citizen.
He does not believe in any newfangled propositions for the better-
ment of the world. From his standpoint, the application of the
ethical principles of Christianity to our public affairs, accom-
panied by a clean, honest life on the part of the individual, is all
that any country needs to make its political institutions safe, its
civic life righteous and its material prosperity abundant.
He has occasionally contributed, through life, to the news-
paper press and the medical journals; and once, for a period of
146 JAMES GARLAND BOXLEY
two years, he was editor and manager of a weekly paper in Louisa
County, known as the "Mineral Mirror." He reads with particu-
lar interest at the present time, Sunday School literature and
the standard magazines.
Of his sons, the eldest lives in Lynchburg, the second in
Louisa, the third in Salem, Virginia, the fourth in Richmond, and
the fifth in Stafford County.
Doctor Boxley comes of a family which, in one respect at
least, is peculiar. In England it belonged to what is known as
the gentry, or more properly, as the country gentry; and on that
account the family confined itself to the duties which devolved
upon that class in England. These duties are not understood by
many people, who think that they lead dull lives. As a matter of
fact, the maintenance of the law, the building of roads, the caring
for the necessary charitable institutions, the improvement of the
country, make busy and useful lives. In Virginia the Boxleys
have not changed their manner of living very much, and have been
quiet, good citizens, helping to build up the country as sober,
industrious, God-fearing men and women, seeking neither public-
ity nor notoriety.
James G. Boxlev has given nearlv fiftv vears of useful labor
C' C_7 *. t- tf
to his State, and has reared a splendid family, which without
doubt will contribute its part to the further upbuilding of the
nation.
The original form of this name was Boxle. When the y was
added cannot be stated, but it was evidently centuries ago. The
old Abbey in Kent, England, a long-established religious founda-
tion, has a coat of arms of its own as a corporate body.
Burke, the English authoritv, describes the Boxlev coat of
/ CJ V • Is
arms as follows :
"Or, two bars engrailed,
below and inverted above."
JAMES FRANCIS BECKWITH
AMONG the strong men of the present day in West Vir-
ginia, Judge J. Frank Beckwith, of Charles Town, occu-
pies a deservedly high position.
He was born at Middleway, Jefferson County, Virginia
(now West Virginia), on July 26, 1848, son of George Hite Jen-
nings and Annie Lloyd (Scollay) Beckwith. His father was a
farmer in good circumstances, and he had the usual rearing of
a Virginia farmer's boy. His early education was obtained in
the local county schools, and later he became a student at the
Roman Catholic College on the Niagara River in the State of
New York. Leaving school, he studied law and was admitted to
the bar.
In 1887 he established himself in Charles Town, the county
seat of his native county, for the practise of his profession. He
has been most successful in his practice, and is reckoned as one
of the strongest lawyers of his section.
When Judge Charles J. Faulkner was elected to the United
States Senate, Governor Wilson tendered Mr. Beckwith the ap-
pointment of judge for Judge Faulkner's unexpired term. He
accepted and served out that term with credit. In addition to
being an able lawyer and representing several corporations as
attorney, Judge Beckwith is a capable business man and is identi-
fied with various industrial enterprises.
A life-time Democrat in his political affiliations, he has served
two terms in the General Assembly — the first in 1881-1882, the
second in 1887-1888 ; and his record there was marked by his usual
ability and gave entire satisfaction to his constituents. From
1881-1885 he served on the staff of Governor Jackson.
In fraternal circles he is affiliated with the Masonic Order
in all of its degrees from Blue Lodge to Temple. He is a church-
man; an active and zealous member of the Zion Protestant
Episcopal Church at Charles Town, being a vestryman of the Church
and Senior Warden of his parish. His family, throughout all
generations in America, have been noted for church loyalty, and
in the church have won great distinction. Judge Beckwith's
career, in every relation of life, has been both clean and strong.
As lawyer, legislator, churchman, fraternalist and individual citi-
zen, he has illustrated the highest standard of American life.
He was married in 1886 to Annie Leacy McDonald, born in
1858 at Romney, Hampshire County, West Virginia, daughter of
Major Angus William and Elizabeth Morton (Sherrard) Mc-
Donald.
Judge and Mrs. Beckwith have had four children: Angus
[147]
148 JAMES FRANCIS BBCKWITH
McDonald, born June 13, 1887, at Berryville, died November 21,
1906; Eloise Lloyd, born in 1889; Francis Jennings, born in
1892; Elizabeth Morton, born in 1895.
Judge Beckwith is a member of a very ancient English family
distinguished for centuries in the old country, and one which has
occupied a very high place among Virginia families since the
first of the name came to Virginia in 1700.
There followed William the Conqueror to England one Sir
Hugh de Malbie or de Malbysse. For his services in the conquest
of the country he received grants of land. In 1226, one hundred
and sixty years later, a descendant of the Norman knight, Sir
Hercules de Malbisse, married Lady Beckwith Bruce, daughter of
Sir William Bruce, Lord of Uglebarby, which title and other
lands he had inherited from his ancestor, Sir Robert Bruce, of
Skelton Castle, who was the progenitor of the Royal Bruces of
Scotland. In the marriage contract between the Norman knight
and Lady Beckwith Bruce, the knight was required to take the
name of Beckwith. The story is told that she owned an estate
called Beckwith, which in the old Anglo-Saxon was Beckworth,
the name being derived from "beck" (a brook) and "worth"
(an estate) ; and it was with a view to the perpetuation of this
name that the change was made.
There is another explanation given of the name Beckwith.
"Beck" meant a brook in the old Anglo-Saxon, and "with," in
the old Norse, meant a wood, while "worth" in the Saxon meant
an estate.
The family in England had a long and distinguished record
down to the latter part of the seventeenth century, when Sir
Marmaduke Beckwith, born in 1687 at Aldborough, Yorkshire,
England, emigrated to Virginia in the year 1700. From 1708 to
1748 Sir Marmaduke served as Clerk of Richmond County. He
was succeeded by his son, Sir Jonathan Beckwith, who was born
in Richmond County, Virginia. He married Rebecca Barnes, and
must have lived to a great old age, as he was living in Westmore-
land County, Virginia, in 1835. In Bishop Meade's monumental
book "Old Churches and Families of Virginia" there appears a
verbatim copy of what is known as the "Northern Neck Declara-
tion," of 1765, which was a protest against the Stamp Act. In the
list of signers there appears the name of Jonathan Beckwith,
which shows that he had thrown his lot in with the patriots and
had practically renounced his title.
Jennings Beckwith, son of Sir Jonathan and his wife, Re-
becca (Barnes) Beckwith, was born in 1764 in Richmond County,
Virginia, and died in 1835 in Westmoreland County. He had
fully developed the sporting tastes of his generation — was a great
hunter and spent many years among the Indians of the Far West.
He married Elizabeth Kill.
In the fourth generation from the emigrant appears Richard
Marmaduke Barnes Beckwith, son of Jennings, who was born in
JAMES FRANCIS BECKWITH 149
Jefferson County, Virginia (now West Virginia), and was the
owner of an estate called "The Retreat" in Frederick County. In
1813 he enlisted in the United States army, serving until 1816
in Captain Wells's company. He married, September 13, 1813,
Sarah Hite, born in 1796, daughter of Captain George Hite, a Revo-
lutionary soldier, who was wounded and pensioned, and who was
a grandnephew of James Madison, President of the United States.
In politics, he was a conservative, that is, a Whig, and he and his
wife were both members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He
died in 1818 at St. Louis, Mo., while on his way to visit his father,
who was then hunting among the western Indians. His widow
survived him for more than sixty years, dying in 1879 at the age
of eighty-four.
Richard Marmaduke Beckwith left a son, George Hite Jen-
nings Beckwith, born in 1816 at "The Retreat," and educated in
the local country schools. He was a farmer and owned an estate
called "Shady Side." He married in 1843 Annie Lloyd Scollay,
born at Smithfield, daughter of Dr. Samuel and Harriet (Lloyd)
Scollay. Dr. Scollay was a graduate of Harvard University and
practiced medicine in three counties. He was a large landowner,
and died at Smithfield at the age of seventy-seven. Mrs. Beckwith
died in 1868 at "Shady Side," and Mr. Beckwith survived her
until 1883, when he died in Charles Town. These were the parents
of Judge J. Frank Beckwith. He is, therefore, in the sixth genera-
tion from Sir Marmaduke Beckwith, the founder of the Virginia
family.
Bishop Meade speaks of the Beckwiths as devoted churchmen
in Richmond, in Westmoreland, and as far west as the Ohio River,
in what is now West Virginia. He speaks specifically of Jonathan
Beckwith as a prominent churchman in Westmoreland.
Two members of this family have won great distinction in the
church in our own day. Bishop John W. Beckwith was bishop of
the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia from 1868 to 1890. His nephew,
Bishop Charles Minnigerode Beckwith, has been Bishop of Ala-
bama since 1902. Both of these bishops have been men of unusual
strength as preachers, and with an unusual share of the missionary
spirit. The Diocese of Georgia prospered under the first-named
bishop and the Diocese of Alabama is now taking on new strength
from the hard and effective work of his nephew, who is one of the
best loved men of the southern church.
A curious error was made in a recent publication as to the
Beckwith coat of arms, when the coat of arms of two different
branches of the family became mixed and appeared in another
distinct form. The correct coat of arms of the main branch of the
Beckwith family, to which the Beckwiths of Virginia belong, is
given by Burke, the great English authority, as follows :
"Argent, a chevron between three hinds' heads erased gules.
"Crest — An antelope proper, in the mouth a branch vert.
"Motto : Joir en bien."
^
-RY
TOR,
ON3-
WALTER JONES ADAMS 153
of his descendants were to preside over the destinies of the new
republic.
But the real credit belonging to this family lies not so much
in the fact of its having given to the country a number of eminent
citizens, as in the fact that the small army of men and women who
are and have been the lineal descendants of Henry Adams have, in
every generation, exemplified in the highest degree the virtues of
good citizenship.
Dr. Adams was born at his father's plantation home of Kings-
ton in Matthews County, Virginia, on December 16, 1865, son of
Stephen and Elizabeth Cowdrey (Keele) Adams. Dr. Adams
possesses two or three quaint documents which he treasures highly,
handed down to him by his father. One of these is an old receipt
of the year 1813 for the discharge of a mortgage held against an
estate of which John Adams was administrator ; this John Adams
evidently having been Dr. Adams's grandfather. The receipt is
beautifully written with a quill pen.
Next appears a very precise and dignified letter written by
Justice of the Peace Henry TV. Tabb to Stephen Adams on Sep-
tember 3, 1832, in view of Stephen Adams's impending departure
for Alabama. This testimonial of good character is endorsed by
a half dozen other neighbors of Stephen Adams. Stephen was
evidently at that time a very young man, and did not want to go
into the new State of Alabama without carrying his credentials
to show his standing at home.
The third of these interesting old documents was written by
Mr. T. F. Poindexter in 1839, from his residence near Lynchburg,
Virginia, to his friend Stephen Adams, who was then a cotton
planter in Alabama. Mr. Adams had evidently loaned Mr. Poin-
dexter a horse which he had ridden all the way from Alabama to
Virginia and which Mr. Poindexter was then to sell and remit the
proceeds to Mr. Adams. This was the principal subject of the
letter.
In 1849. Stephen Adams returned to Virginia, and there spent
the remainder of his life.
His son, Walter, was educated at Gloucester Academy, Vir-
ginia, Baltimore City College and the Medical Department of the
University of Maryland, in 1891 and 1892. He then entered the
«/ V
Medical College of Virginia, and was graduated from that school
in 1895. He entered the U. S. Marine Hospital and Public Health
Service in that same year for the benefit of the hospital practice,
and in 1896 became an assistant surgeon. After two years in that
service, he made his home in Norfolk where he has since been in
active practice, and has become one of the most successful phy-
sicians of that city.
Dr. Adams has been strictly a physician. He has not engaged
in any other enterprises or business, and has been a close student
of his profession, while retaining an active interest in all things
154 WALTER JONES ADAMS
bearing upon the welfare of the country. He takes great pleasure
in letters of gratitude written to him by patients whose lives he
has saved, and who have since scattered all over the world, one of
these letters being from New Zealand, one from Australia, three
from South Africa, one from Japan, several from England and
Germany, and one from remote Singapore. He is visiting phy-
sician and surgeon at the Protestant and St. Vincent Hospitals of
Norfolk. In 1902, he served as Norfolk City Physician. In 1905,
he was acting Marine Hospital and Public Health Surgeon. In
1912, he was appointed as a representative from Virginia by Gov-
ernor Mann to the Southern Sociological Congress at the conven-
tion at Nashville, which marked an epoch in the history of the
Southern States along sociological lines.
During the time he was a student at Baltimore, he was con-
nected with the famous Fifth Maryland Regiment, serving for five
years as a corporal, and during that period took part in all the
activities of the famous old regiment. He is now having his papers
put in shape with a view to becoming a member of the "Sons of
the American Revolution," and of the society known as "The
Founders and Patriots of America." He holds membership in the
"Norfolk Country Club," the "Virginia Society of the Study and
Prevention of Malaria," the "Virginia State Medical Society," the
"Seaboard Medical Society," the "Norfolk Medical Society," and
the "American Medical Association." As a public-spirited citizen
he holds membership in the Board of Trade and the Chamber of
Commerce at Norfolk. His religious affiliation is with the Christ
Episcopal Church of Norfolk, of which he is a pew holder, and is
also a member of St. Andrew's Brotherhood.
Dr. Adams was married on April 18, 1898, at Southport,
North Carolina, to Pauline Vesey (Forstall) Colclough. who was
born in 1874 at Dublin, Ireland, but the most of whose earlv life
/ / t/
was spent in New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Chicago.
Her father, Henry Vesey Colclough, was a practising lawyer, first
in Dublin, and later in New York and Chicago. Her mother,
Catherine Forstall, was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a
direct descendant of Sir Richard Forstall, who was living in 1359.
Mrs. Adams's father was a direct descendant of Sir Anthony Col-
clough, of Tintern Abbey, who was living in 1542.
The children of this marriage are Walter Paul, born in Nor-
folk, Virginia, February, 1899 ; Howard Keele, born in Norfolk,
Virginia, August 20, 1900, died January 24, 1901; and Edward
Forstall Adams, born in Norfolk, Virginia, January 16, 1902. The
two living boys have in their honor a large colonial mirror given
to the Adams Chapter of the D. A. R. by Dr. Adams, and placed in
a room in the home of President John Adams, who was born at
Quincy, Massachusetts. This room is known as the "Darling Room"
in honor of Mrs. Flora Adams Darling, the original founder of the
D. A. R., and who, it is interesting to note, was the widow of a
WALTER JONES ADAMS 155
Confederate general, killed while leading his troops during the
Civil War. The acknowledgment of the presentation of this mir-
ror is in the shape of a very graceful letter from the Adams
Chapter, addressed to Dr. Adams.
Among Dr. Adams's other possessions is a letter from Charles
Francis Adams, written in 1912, in which the veteran statesman
shows a certain quaintness and humor, and, though the signature
is faltering because of weight of years, evidently his mental acu-
men had not diminished.
Among other valued possessions of Dr. Adams are two an-
tique portraits, one of Samuel Adams, who is often spoken of as
the "Father of America," and is a copy of the one in Faneuil Hall,
Boston. It is three-quarter life size. The second is a copy of the
famous Copley portrait of President John Quincy Adams, made
while he was minister at the Court of the Netherlands, and which
is now at the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston.
Dr. Adams has very pleasant recollections of his father's civic
activities. He says of him, that he was supervisor of the schools
and of the roads (at times). The last phrase is very happily put,
because in those days the roads only got attention "at times" in
Virginia. It was mostly a "lick and a promise."
Dr. Adams was too old to enter the army when the war broke
out, but wishing to be represented, he sent a younger man to take
his place as a substitute.
Mr. Charles M. Talbott, of Richmond, a life-long friend, had
made his escape from the Federals and was closely pursued by
them. For several months Dr. Adams kept his old friend in hiding,
which resulted in the saving of his life, as Mr. Talbott had been
outlawed by the Federals on account of making firearms for the
Confederates at his iron foundry in Richmond.
Politically, Dr. Adams classes himself as a Progressive Demo-
crat. He has very pronounced convictions upon public questions.
He believes in the passage of strict eugenic laws pertaining to all
constitutional, chronic and contagious diseases. He believes that
physicians and chemists should be permitted to experiment upon
criminals when necessary. He is in favor of strict segregation
laws, as sanitary measures and as possibly necessary to moral
conditions also. He has become convinced that women should be
given the ballot. Naturally he favors the recent reduction in our
tariff rates, and he would restrict immigration. In the line of his
profession, he believes that all criminals and all persons constitu-
tionally ill should be sterilized ; he believes in the free use of bac-
teria serums, which may yet be improved and become the universal
treatment for diseases. He believes the public should be educated
to select foods which contain the same substances as the tissues of
our bodies ; this, regardless of the taste of the food, in order that
the waste may be repaired.
These views clearly indicate that Dr. Adams is in the front
ts
rank of the medical scientists of the day.
156 WALTER JONES ADAMS
Outside of his profession, his reading has taken a wide range.
He is partial to the study of biographical works, to dramatic au-
thors, such as Shakespeare and Shaw, and to poets, such as Burns,
Longfellow and Browning. A few historical novels appeal to him.
Naturally, the Bible has had a high place, and he has found the
Koran of interest. Haeckel's "Riddle of the Universe," "The Evo-
lution of Man," and Max Nordau's "Degeneration," have also
interested him.
In brief, Dr. Adams has lived up to the best traditions of a
splendid family. He is well informed and very learned, of pro-
gressive thought and belief, and, in every relation of life, a good
and patriotic citizen.
'HE NEW
[C LI.
A5TOR
ISAAC WEBB SURRATT
THE Surratt family name is said to be of Huguenot origin,
which is probably true, as no trace of the name in its pres-
ent form can be found among English family names. There
was a considerable immigration of Huguenots to Virginia
and the Carolinas in the last years of the seventeenth and the early
years of the eighteenth centuries. It is a tradition in the Surratt
family that some of these Carolina Surratts were the ancestors of
the Virginia family of this name, now domiciled in Carroll County.
This is undoubtedly true, for the census of 1790 only gave five
heads of Surratt families in the country. Of these, Joseph lived
in Caswell County, North Carolina; wiile John, Allen and two
Samuels lived in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The tra-
dition in the Virginia family is that one of these Carolina families
migrated to the southwestern part of Virginia about 1812, settling
in Carroll County. This family is said to have consisted of father,
mother and four sons. One of the sons married and moved to
Wythe County. A second moved to southwestern Kentucky; a
third to the Northern Neck of Virginia, just south of Washing-
ton, and the fourth remained in Carroll County. From this one
who moved to the Northern Neck was descended John H. Surratt,
who, with his mother, Mary Eugenia Surratt, became conspicuous
in our history at the time of the assassination of President Lin-
«/
coin. This tragic incident in the history of the Surratt family
deserves more than passing mention. The judicial murder of Mrs.
Surratt is one of the blackest stains upon our annals. Keeping a
boarding house in Washington during the Civil War, her house
became a sort of headquarters for John Wilkes Booth (the man
who killed Lincoln), and certain of his friends. After the assassi-
nation Mrs. Surratt was arrested as a party to the alleged con-
spiracy. Her son, John H. Surratt, made his escape. A military
commission was created for the trial of those alleged to have been
parties to the conspiracy, Booth (the actual assassin) being already
dead. This court found the prisoners guilty and sentenced them to
be executed. There was a widespread feeling that Mrs. Surratt
had no part in the plan to murder Lincoln, that she had no knowl-
edge of it (as she herself alleged). It is claimed that the commis-
sion which rendered the verdict recommended to the administra-
tion that clemency be extended to Mrs. Surratt, and it is also
claimed that this recommendation was suppressed by Edwin M.
Stanton, the then Secretary of War, and the most vindictive man
[159]
160 ISAAC WEBB SURRATT
who ever held public office in the United States. Mrs. Surratt
went to her death proclaiming her innocence. Mark the sequel.
Two years later, the son, John H. Surratt, alleged to have been
one of the active spirits in the conspiracy, was captured in Egypt,
brought back and tried before a civil court and discharged. The
facts are that Mrs. Surratt was murdered under form of law, at a
period of intense stress and excitement, though a large number of
sober-minded and thoughtful men realized then that she was being
put to death on insufficient evidence. Two years later, when the
popular passion had cooled, and when the evidence upon which
the mother had been convicted by the military commission was
brought to bear upon the case of her son in the civil court, it was
shown to be inadequate, and the young man secured his liberty.
Instead of being a bad woman, as the verdict of the military court
made her out to be, Mrs. Surratt was simply a martyr to her
Southern sympathies.
One of the leading citizens of Carroll County of to-day is Dr.
Isaac Webb Surratt, of Sylvatus, who was born at that place on
December 27, 1873, son of Isham and Eva Susan (Marshall) Sur-
ratt. His father was a farmer by occupation, and his mother's
maiden name recalls one of the most honored of the many splendid
names which illustrate Virginia annals. His boyhood days were
spent upon his father's farm, in the pleasant foothills of pic-
turesque southwestern Virginia. He attended the district schools
of his native county, went thence to the Woodlawn Academy, and
closed his scholastic training at the Mountain Normal College,
located at Willis, Virginia. Before reaching his majority he be-
came a school teacher and passed several years in the school-room,
meeting with a very considerable measure of success, and showing
himself thoroughly well equipped for that work had he elected to
make it a lifetime vocation.
At the outbreak of the Spanish- American War, he was prin-
cipal of the Fairview Normal School, Hillsville, Va. He resigned
his position there to enlist in the volunteer service, and served as
a member of Company H of the Second Virginia Volunteer Regi-
ment until the close of the war, receiving an honorable discharge
as a soldier who had fulfilled the measure of duty.
At the close of the war, he went West, and became identified
with wholesale firms as bookkeeper and traveling salesman.
But the lure of the West could not hold him, and after a year or
two, he found himself again in his native section engaged in com-
mercial pursuits. In 1904, he entered the Medical College of Vir-
ginia, at Richmond, as a student of medicine, and was graduated
in due course in 1907. Then in the early prime of life, he had al-
ready become thoroughly well known throughout his country as a
man of strong sense, a thinker and of diverse attainments.
Always actively interested in politics as a Republican, he
was nominated by his party for a place in the House of Delegates
ISAAC WEBB SURRATT 161
of the General Assembly. Of pleasant address, courteous and af-
fable, he rapidly made friends, and on a very simple platform in
which he stressed better educational facilities and better roads,
he was elected on a handsome majority and served during the ses-
sion of 1907-'08. He has since been engaged in the active practice
of his profession in his home county, and has steadily increased
in personal popularity to such an extent that it is now a practic-
ally settled matter that he will be the Republican nominee for the
Sixth Senatorial District in the coming year (1915). Should this
be the case, it is almost a foregone conclusion that he will be
elected. His service in the general assembly, in 1907-08, was
marked by his earnest effort to get through a bill to compel the
stopping of the practice of hazing in the schools and colleges of the
State, and by an earnest effort to uphold every measure looking to
the promotion of the educational interests of the State.
He has found time from his professional duties to serve as
president of the Reed Island Telephone Company in 1912-13. He
is a member of Fulton Lodge, No. 193, of the Masonic fraternity,
and of Sylvatus Lodge, No. 120, of the Order of Odd Fellows. He
holds membership in the Southwestern Virginia Medical Society,
the Medical Society of Virginia, and the American Medical Asso-
ciation. He is active in church work, being a trustee of the Syl-
vatus Missionary Baptist Church.
Dr. Surratt was married in Richmond on October 7, 1908, to
Edna Stover Gordon, born in Richmond on January 12, 1887,
daughter of William H. and Molly (Herpst) Gordon. Mrs. Sur-
ratt's maiden name is also one highly honored in Virginia, where
the offshoots of the great Scottish clan of Gordon have made for
themselves a most distinguished name.
Dr. and Mrs. Surratt have two sons: Bernard Carl Surratt
and John Cleveland Surratt.
Dr. Surratt has been a very considerable reader of Shakes-
peare; in fact, he passes really beyond the ordinary reader and
may be classed as a student of Shakespeare. Aside from that, he
naturally keeps in touch with his profession through the medical
journals, with public affairs and the world's work through the
daily papers and the standard magazines.
He has been a frequent contributor to the press, his writings
covering a wide range, including such periodicals as the Carroll
Journal of Hillsville ; the Southwest Times of Pulaski, Virginia ;
the News Leader of Richmond, Virginia, and the Charlotte Med-
ical Journal of Charlotte, North Carolina.
The newspaper reports of his work, while a teacher and as a
legislator, show him to have been active and energetic in all his
undertakings. He possesses a very strong vein of humor and
knows how to use it in a telling fashion, as is illustrated by a little
incident. A Jerseyite wrote a parody on Virginia, quite amusing
and with a pleasant jingle, to which the Doctor retorted with a
162 ISAAC WEBB SURRATT
parody on New Jersey of exactly the same length and same sort of
jingle, and then went his Jersey man one better by writing another
of equal length, extolling Virginia.
In the very prime of life, Dr. Surratt has, by his energy and
capacity, won for himself a strong position in the community
which he serves, and built up a character for good citizenship
second to that of no man of his section.
'
'
"
DAVID SPENCER BILL
CONSIDER the sober Puritans of New England, the stead-
fast Dutchmen of New York, the industrious and thrifty
Germans of Pennsylvania, and the hardy and enterprising
Scotch-Irish of the Appalachians, as well as the gallant
Cavaliers of Virginia or the God-fearing Huguenots of Virginia
and South Carolina, and one is compelled to admit that these vari-
ous splendid pioneer stocks handed down to their descendants a
great estate in the courage, industry, thrift and resourcefulness
which made them the greatest colonizers the world has ever
known. So, though many of American people sneer at or ridicule
those who attach importance to their ancestral lines, no people in
the world owe more to their ancestors than do the Americans.
We are sometimes accused by other nations of being brag-
garts, but they must at least admit that we have a foundation for
our self-praise, a foundation due to the men who, during the last
thousand years, have been breeding children who, in each genera-
tion, have gone a little ahead of the preceding one.
A young man, not yet thirty, who has already made his mark
in the community, descended from one of these pioneer stocks, the
New England Puritans, is David Spencer Bill, of Spencer, Henry
County, Virginia, who was born at Snowville, Pulaski County, Vir-
ginia, on October 25, 1886, son of Castilla Snow and Lucy (Spen-
cer) Bill. His father combined the occupations of merchant and
farmer. His paternal grandfather came from Upton, Massachu-
setts, and settled in Snowville, Pulaski County, Virginia, in 1853.
Castilla S. Bill was a son of David Bissell Bill, who was son
of Chester Bill, who was son of Eleazer, who was son of Jonathan,
who was son of John (3), who was son of John (2), who was son
of Philip, who was son of John and Dorothy Bill, the immigrants,
who came to Massachusetts in 1638.
Though Mr. Bill is Virginia born, as his father was be-
fore him, for eight generations preceding his father the family was
distinctly of New England. D. S. Bill is in the tenth generation
from the immigrant. His grandfather before leaving New Eng-
land married Harriet M. Snow, of Snowville, Va., and his two
elder children were born in New England. His two younger chil-
dren were born in Virginia, to which State he moved in 1853.
David S. Bill was educated in the local country schools, the
Woodberry Forest School and the Martinsville Military Academy.
He has been engaged in the mercantile and tobacco business since
[165]
166 DAVID SPENCER BILL
he was old enough to enter upon a business career, and has de-
veloped a marked degree of ability, which has made him a con-
spicuous figure in his section, holding offices in the concerns with
which he is connected and carrying forward successfully his pri-
vate enterprises. He is a member of the Commonwealth Club of
Richmond : of the Knights of Pythias : of the Order of Elks ; of
the Travelers Protective Association, and is a deacon in the Chris-
tian Church.
Mr. Bill's grandfather was the first of the family to become
identified with the South. He was for some years a merchant at
Columbia. Conn., removing thence to Upton. Mass.. and thence to
Virginia. In Virginia he was engaged in planting and in manu-
facturing, accumulated property, a part of which consisted of
slaves, and was a heavv loser bv the Civil War.
«. «.
The history of this family, which was published by Ledyard
Bill in 1867. makes the statement that, at that time, there were a
thousand living descendants of John and Dorothy Bill in the
United States, and the consecutive numbers dealt with in the
family history run up to much larger figures, a majority of these,
however, having long since passed away.
The family has an authentic history running back for hun-
dreds of years in England, scattered over several counties, the
family in Shropshire being apparently the most ancient. The
name is not derived, as has been hastily assumed by some, from
the given name of William, for this family name is more ancient
than the given name of William, William being of Welsh origin
and comparatively modern. A theory advanced by Mr. Ledyard
Bill, derived from his study of the family, is that it is of Norman
origin, the argument being that it was drawn from that class of
soldierv known as bill-men. The bill-men carried a battle-axe of
me
peculiar shape, to the back of which was attached a hook. The
purpose of the hook was to pull down an enemy and then use the
battle-axe to dispatch him. But there is an older derivation even
than that in the Angrlo-Saxon. Bill meant a sword, and it is evi-
dent, therefore, whether we accept the Norman or the Saxon deri-
vation, that the name had a military origin.
In the first half of the sixteenth century appears the figure of
Dr. Thomas Bill, born about 1490 in Bedfordshire, who was a
Bachelor of Arts in 1524 ; later elected Fellow of Pembroke Hall,
and in 1558. when he was an old man. received the honorary degree
of Master of Arts. Being a medical student, in 1530, he went to
the Continent and spent over three years, and finally won his
medical degree from the celebrated University of Pavia, in Italy,
which was founded by the Emperor Charlemagne. He was one of
the physicians to Henry VIII and Edward VI, and from the latter
received on the 26th of March, 1546, a grant of one hundred
pounds per annum. In 1549, Princess Elizabeth wrote a letter to
the Duke of Somerset, thanking him for the valuable services
DAVID SPENCER BILL 167
which Dr. Bill had rendered her in a serious illness, the Duke hav-
ing sent the Doctor to her.
Next in the English family we find William Bill, LL. D., who
was born about 1505. He was one of the most conspicuous figures
of his generation, and a strong upholder of the Protestant faith.
No other person ever held at the same time the three important
positions of Master of Trinity College, Provost of Eton and Dean
of Westminster. He was a man of vast learning, was one of the
six chaplains of Edward VI, and was Master of Trinity when
Bloody Mary came to the throne. He was immediately ejected in
a very insolent way, and during her brief reign was compelled to
remain in retirement. He was fortunate in the fact that he es-
caped being put to death. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth,
he was immediately called from his retirement, preached at St.
Paul's Cross, was soon after made her Majesty's chief almoner
and wTas restored to the mastership of Trinity. On the 30th of
June, 1560, he was installed as the first dean of Westminster. He
drew the statutes of the College of Westminster, which, however,
did not receive the royal sanction until after his death, when they
were approved and adopted. Dr. Bill's daughter, Mary, married
Francis Samwell, and their son, Sir William Samwell, married
Jane, daughter of Sir Henry Skipworth, which recalls a family
known in the early history of Virginia as SkipwTith.
Charles Bill, said to have been a son of Dr. Bill, born about
1550, became also a famous scholar. He was recommended to Sir
Michael Hicks, on the death of Sir Thomas Smith, for the appoint-
ment to the office of Latin Secretary to the King. A little incident
like this illustrates the continuity of English history; thus, in
1609, we come upon Sir Michael Hicks as a principal figure in the
administration. Nearly three hundred years later, we have Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach as one of the eminent statesmen of England.
Then we come upon John Bill, the publisher, who, in 1613,
figures as "Publisher to James I. Most Excellent Majestic." This
John was succeeded by his son Charles, and one comes upon old
Bibles and Prayer Books of as late as the year 1700 bearing their
imprint. John Bill printed the first London Gazette in the time of
Charles II, the firm name being then Bill and Barker, and prior
to that they had published the first news sheet ever issued, which
was known as "English Mercuric."
Mr. Ledyard Bill believes that the John Bill who came to
America with his wife Dorothy was the eldest son of John Bill,
the king's printer, and gives certain strong reasons for that belief.
However that may be, the immigrant was evidently one of those
who believed in the Puritan form of the Protestant faith. They
had sons : James, Thomas and Philip.
John Winthrop, the younger, had received a grant of land in
the old Pequot Indian country (now New London, Conn.), and he
persuaded Philip Bill to move to that section. This Philip, who
168 DAVID SPENCEE BILL
was the father of five sons and three daughters, was the progenitor
of a large majority of the present Bill families of the United
States.
The Bill family history shows through these ten generations
in the United States a large number of men who have been con-
spicuous for good citizenship, and for the service which they have
rendered in their respective generations. In the first half of the
eighteenth century, we come upon the figure of Hon. Richard Bill,
of Boston, a notable figure in his day. Captain Ephraim Bill, who
married into the Huntington family, was a zealous patriot during
the Revolutionary period. Lieutenant Thos. Bill was another
gallant soldier during that period. Major John Redd and Major
George Waller, two splendid Revolutionary soldiers, were mem-
bers of the Bill family of the half-blood. To this same period be-
longs Captain Gurdon Bill, a sea captain, who later (in 1798) was
a lieutenant of marines in the United States Navy. Captain Syl-
vester Bill commanded the sloop of war "Hornet" in the War of
1812.
One branch of the family moved to Nova Scotia, where Caleb
Rand Bill was one of the first twelve senators appointed from
Nova Scotia when the Dominion Parliament was organized. Dr.
Earl Bill, who died at the age of ninety-four in Ohio, an able phy-
sician, was noted for his practical philosophy and evenness of
temper. His son said of him that, in fifty years, he had never seen
him lose control of his temper but on one occasion, and then under
extreme provocation.
Enough has been said to illustrate the character of this pa-
triotic American family. For ten generations they have been con-
tributing to the moral and material growth of the country, and
notwithstanding the more complex conditions which now obtain,
the younger generations are showing the same virile qualities of
the elder.
David Spencer Bill is doing his part worthily, and as his
familv has a record of long life, he will leave behind him much in
«/ o
the way of practical achievement.
The coat of arms which Ledyard Bill believes to be that which
pertains to the branch of the family settled in America, is thus
described :
"Ermine two wood-bills (battle-axes) sable with long handles
proper in saltire, on a chief azure a pale or, charged with a rose
gules between two pelicans' heads erased at the neck argent."
ASTO-, I
ILDEN F®UNDAT1CN3_J
CHANNING MOORE BOLTON
HE Bolton family is one of ancient lineage. Its pedigree
has been traced to a period immediately following the Nor-
man Conquest, at which time the family was in possession
of large estates, both in Yorkshire and Lancashire in Eng-
land. The antiquity of the Bolton family has been demonstrated,
and its genealogical history traced in detail, in a privately printed
volume, entitled "The Family of Bolton in England and America,"
by two of its distinguished members, Henry Carrington Bolton,
Ph. D., and Reginald Pelham Bolton, M. Inst. C. E., who have em-
bodied in their work, which appeared in 1895, the "'Genealogical
and Biographical Account of the Family of Bolton," a scholarly
work, published in 1862 by the Rev. Robert Bolton, A. M.
Since the earliest years of its history the Bolton family ap-
pears to have had a conspicuous prominence in the service of the
church, and the Bolton history above referred to gives a most in-
teresting account of Boltons who have been ministers from 1190
down to the present time. As illustrative of the antiquity of this
connection we find in the history of English religious foundations
the name attached, at a very early date, to the world-renowned
priory known as Bolton Abbey, in Yorkshire.
The Boltons have been Lords of Hutton and Carleton in
Yorkshire, of Water-ford in Ireland, of the City of York in Eng-
land, and of Suffolk and of Staffordshire, and an interesting in-
cident in the family story is that a member of the Yorkshire
branch, Thomas Bolton, who was born in 1752, married Susanna,
the sister of Admiral and Viscount Horatio Nelson, the illustrious
hero of Trafalgar, at whose decease the title was confirmed to her
son, Thomas Bolton and his heirs, who thereupon assumed the sur-
name Nelson.
Channing Moore Bolton's father was Dr. James Bolton, of
Richmond, Virginia, and his mother was Anna Maria Harrison.
Dr. Bolton was born in Savannah. Georgia, June 5th. 1812,
was graduated from Columbia College. New York, in 1831, and
took the degree of Master of Arts in 1835. In 1836 he was gradu-
ated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York
City with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and was afterwards,
for several years, associated with the famous Dr. Valentine Mott
of New York. Dr. Bolton later studied theology and was ordained
as an Episcopal minister, but after a short experience in the min-
istry, returned to the practice of medicine in Richmond. Virginia,
[171]
172 CHANNING MOORE BOLTON
where for twenty-five years he was eminent as a physician and
surgeon. He was commissioned a surgeon in the Confederate
Army in the War between the States, and rendered valuable serv-
ice on the field and in hospitals. He died May 15, 1869, at his
country estate, Branchland, Albemarle County, Virginia, where
he had gone from Richmond, on account of ill-health.
Dr. Bolton married October 3rd, 1838, Anna Maria Harrison,
daughter of Philip and Anne Maria Lawson Harrison, of Fred-
ericksburg, Virginia, who survived him, dying at Branchland,
January 19th, 1880. The children of their marriage were ten in
number, of whom Channing Moore Bolton was the fourth child,
and is the eldest surviving son.
Channing Moore Bolton was born in Richmond, Virginia, Jan-
uary 24, 1843. After attending several private primary schools,
he entered the preparatory school conducted in Richmond by Mr.
Wm. D. Stuart, later a colonel of the Fifty-sixth Virginia Infan-
try, who was killed at Gettysburg. From this school young Bol-
ton went in 1860 to the University of Virginia, entering the aca-
demic department, and studying Latin, French and mathematics.
In the spring of 1861, he joined one of the two student companies
that entered the Southern service from the University, and some
months later was engaged in the construction of the fortifications
around Richmond, having already determined to follow the pro-
fession of engineering, and having been assigned to this fortifica-
tions work by Colonel George Talcott, Engineer in Chief for the
State. In the course of this work he had charge of the building of
three forts near the Brooke Turnpike. After these were completed,
he reported to Captain E. T. D. Myers, then in charge of the con-
struction of a railroad to fill a gap between Danville, Virginia, and
Greensboro, North Carolina. Between the date of entering upon
the construction of this piece of road, in February, 1862, to 1863,
he continued in the railway engineering service, holding the suc-
cessive positions of rodsinan, transitman and resident engineer
in the army of the Confederate States, and was, in the spring of
the last-named year, commissioned lieutenant of engineers, in the
First Regiment of Engineer Troops, commanded by Colonel T. M.
Talcott, and ordered to report to Major General Fender of A. P.
Hill's Army Corps to act as engineer officer on his staff. Joining
General Pender at Winchester, Virginia, he went with him on the
campaign into Pennsylvania, and participated in the battle of
Gettysburg. General Pender was wounded in this battle, and hav-
ing been brought back to Virginia in an ambulance, died soon af-
terwards from the effect of his wound. Lieutenant Bolton, under
the command of General James H. Lane, who succeeded Pender,
assisted in the construction of the pontoon bridge across the Po-
tomac, which was used to bring the Confederate Army back to
Virginia, the army itself resting at Hagerstown, Maryland, during
the three days required to get the bridge ready. When the time
CHANNING MOORE BOLTON 173
came for crossing, Lieutenant Bolton was in charge of the bridge
which was built in two sections, the first from the Maryland shore
to an island in the river, and the second thence to the Virginia
side. After the troops had passed, he had the first section of the
bridge cut loose at the Maryland end, causing it to swing round to
the island, and then cut the island end of the southern section,
which swung round in a similar manner to the Virginia side.
While the bridge was thus drifting, he caused the pontoon boats
supporting it to be perforated with holes so as to permit the water
to enter and sink them. Just as the Maryland end was cut loose,
the Northern troops appeared in the Maryland hills and opened
fire, but the army was safely over, the bridge destroyed, and the
enemy unable to follow. He participated in most of the battles of
the Army of Northern Virginia to the end of the war.
After the close of the war in 1865, like many others who were
engaged in it, Mr. Bolton encountered severe difficulties and priva-
tions. He had continued in the service to the verv end, onlv termi-
t/ t/
nating his adventurous and courageous career as a soldier upon
learning of the immediate surrender of General Joe Johnston's
army in North Carolina. It is to be regretted that the limits of
this sketch do not permit the telling in detail of his military re-
cord. It must suffice to say here that it was one of which any
soldier might well be proud.
After a residence of some months in one of the mountain
counties of southwest Virginia, where he underwent various hard-
ships, he returned to Richmond and practiced his profession. In
1866 he surveyed, located and constructed the Clover Hill Rail-
road, in Virginia. In the latter part of 1866 and in 1867 he was
engaged in constructing the tunnel at Richmond for the Rich-
mond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, and from 1867 to
1869 he was resident engineer of the Louisville, Cincinnati and
Lexington Railroad. From 1876 to 1879 he served as United States
assistant engineer in charge of the canal around the Cascades of
the Columbia River in Oregon, designing all the plans for this
large undertaking, and during the years of 1879 and 1880 he was
division engineer of the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad. In
1880-81 he was engineer and superintendent of the Greenville
(Mississippi), Columbus and Birmingham Railroad, and from
1882 to 1895 he was chief engineer of the Richmond and Danville
Railroad and of the Southern Railway.
In addition to the other and varied work accomplished by Mr.
Bolton during the years 1879 to 1889, he was for that decade pres-
ident and manager of the Richmond City Street Railway, of which
he eventually became sole owner, and he continued with great
success to operate this line, which included all the street railways
then in Richmond, until it was sold by him to parties who were
seeking to develop an electric system, and at a figure more than
five times its original cost. It should also be mentioned here that
174 THAN XING MOOUE BOLTON
during his incumbency of the office of division engineer of the
Richmond and Alleghany Railroad he took charge of the location
and construction of that road from Richmond to Lynchburg, which
involved the changing of the old James River and Kanawha Canal
into a railroad.
In 1895 Mr. Bolton resigned his position as chief engineer of
the Southern Railway, and removed from Washington, 1). 0.,
where he then resided, to his farm, "Brauchland," in Albemarle
('onnry. Virginia, which he had acquired from his father's estate,
and the mansion house, which he had remodeled and recon-
structed in 180:2. Since then he has done a considerable amount
of consulting engineering work, and has been engaged in a num-
ber of enterprises in and about Charlottesville, the county seat of
Albemarle County.
In May. U»07. under contract, he undertook the building of
two tunnels near Garrison, Montana, one a double-track tunnel
for the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the other for the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. He completed these tunnels in
a very satisfactory manner in two years, and returned to "Branch-
land" in May. 1909,
Among the various business positions of prominence that Mr.
Bolton has held may be mentioned those of president of the Char-
lottesville Si reet Railway Company, charter member and director
of the Jefferson National Bank, and director of the Charlottesville
Ice Company. He has also tilled the offices of president of the
Meadow Creek Country Club, trustee of public schools for Albe-
marle County, trustee of the Miller School Board, member of the
Miller Board of the University of Virginia, and member of the
executive committee of the University of Virginia Alumni Asso-
ciation.
In 1910 Mr. Bolton disposed of his interests in the Jefferson
National Bank and became a director of the Peoples' Bank of
Charlottesville. in 1911. In 1913 he was elected president of the
Miller Board of the University of Virginia, which is composed of
a body of trustees chosen from among the most prominent men
of the State, whose duty it is to administer the trust established
by the will of the late Samuel Miller for the development of the
science of agriculture in the University of Virginia.
In 1913 Mr. Bolton was elected president of the board of
trustees of St. Anne's School, a diocesan Episcopal school for the
education of girls and young women, located at Charlottesville,
and in June of the last named year he was elected chairman of the
highways committee of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of
Charlottesville.
He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers,
and is well and favorably known as a writer upon subjects con-
nected with his profession. He published in the Reports of the
Chief of Engineers of the United States Army for the years 1877,
CHANNIXG MOORE BOLTON 175
1878 and 1879, papers and reports on the Cascades Canal, con-
structed according to his design and direction in Oregon, and in
the same publication, reports on the improvement to the entrance
to Coos Bay and the Coquille River, in southern Oregon. From
1869 to 1874 he was engineer of Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and
had charge of the construction of a portion of the road between
Coving-ton and White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., one of the heaviest
pieces of railroad work of that day. After completion of this, he
organized and took charge of a party of engineers and located the
road down New River, West Virginia, a very difficult and intricate
piece of work.
After locating the line of road from Richmond, Va., to New-
port News, he located and constructed a double track tunnel,
three-fourths of a mile long under Church Hill, Richmond, Vir-
ginia. In this he had great difficulty in both location and con-
struction, but finished it in a most satisfactory manner. He con-
tributed the article on the construction of this work to Drinker's
''Tunnelling'' (New York, 1878), and he is known as an inventor
who has developed and taken out patents for various inventions
by himself of practical value and importance to railroads.
It has been said of the Bolton familv that from their earliest
v
beginnings they have been distinguished for their zeal and loyalty
as churchmen, and this family characteristic has been illustrated
in the case of Mr. Bolton, who, though pursuing the profession of
a layman through his career in life, has devoted himself with pe-
culiar interest and uninterrupted fidelity to the cause of the
church of which he has long been a prominent member. He has
served on the vestries of several congregations, in which he has
held membership, in Richmond, Va., in Greenville, Miss., in Wash-
ington, D. C., and in Charlottesville, Va. He was confirmed in
1863 in the Episcopal Church in the historic Monumental Church
in Richmond, erected as a memorial to those who lost their lives
in the burning, in 1811, of the Richmond Theater, that stood on
the site upon which the church now stands. He became a vestry-
man of the Monumental Church in 1882, resigning from this office
upon his removal to Washington, D. C. In the last named city he
was elected a member of the vestry of Ascension Church about
1890, and remained a member of that body until he left Washing-
ton in 1896. After 1896 he became a vestryman of Christ Church,
*- /
Charlottesville, a position which he continues to hold.
Becoming interested in the building of an Episcopal Church
at Rio, in Albemarle County, and in the vicinity of his home,
"Branchland," Mr. Bolton drew the plans for the church that has
been erected there, known as "The Church of Our Saviour," and
supervised and carried through its construction, and he is now one
of its trustees.
A similar interest induced him to become connected with the
movement to establish an Episcopal Church in the environs of the
176 CHANGING MOORE BOLTON
University of Virginia, a movement that in the short time of its
existence has already (1914) resulted in the purchase of a hand-
some and valuable site near the University Rotunda, and the con-
struction of a temporary chapel for use until the plans shall have
been fully completed and the fund established for the building
on this location of a notably spacious and handsome church edi-
fice. Mr. Bolton is also a trustee for this church.
In June, 1913, Mr. Bolton attended the historic gathering at
Gettysburg of the survivors of the two armies who contended with
• cr*
each other in the war between the States (1801-1865), that was
held there on the fiftieth anniversary of the tremendous and fa-
mous battle in which he had been a participant.
Mr. Bolton married, first, on February 17th, 1874, Lizzie Cal-
houn Campbell, daughter of Mr. Parker Campbell of New Orleans,
Louisiana, and his wife. Belle Sprigg. Mrs. Bolton was born Sep-
tember 14th, 1847. and died October 6th, 1889. They had issue:
1. Belle Campbell Bolton. who was born November 30th, 1874.
She married on the 25th November. 1896, J. Thompson Brown,
Jr.. and they have had issue :
(1 1 Channiug Boltou Brown, born November 27, 1897.
<2 i Elizabeth Caldwell Brown, born May 8, 1900.
(3) John Thompson Brown, Jr.. born November 21, 1903.
(4) Belle Bolton Brown, born August 24, 1907.
2. Lizzie Hazelhurst Bolton. who was born December 18th.
1881. She married on the first day of June, 1900, William Allan
Perkins, and they have had issue:
(1) Hazelhurst Bolton Perkins, born June 12th, 1911.
Mr. Bolton's second wife, whom he married June 6th, 1894,
was Alma Ann Baldwin, who was the daughter of William Owen
Baldwin. M. D.. and his wife. Mary Martin, both of Montgomery.
Alabama. Mrs. Bolton was born in Baltimore, August 3rd, 1868,
and the issue of her marriage with Mr. Channing M. Bolton were
1. Cecile Baldwin Bolton. born September 14, 1897.
2. Channing Moore Bolton. Jr.. born May 13th, 1903.
'//} / s-\
WILLIAM ROWE BOUTWELL
APTAIN WILLIAM ROWE BOUTWELL, of Norfolk, Vir-
ginia, president of the Virginia Pilot Association, one of
the most important and influential of the pilotage societies
in the United States, is a native of Virginia, born in Surry
County on November 25, 1860, son of William Rowe and Sarah
(Crittenden) Boutwell.
Mr. Boutwell was educated in the public schools of Baltimore
from eight to eleven years of age, and in those of Norfolk from
eleven to fifteen years of age. Like all really well-informed or
well-educated men, his real education has come since he left school,
and he is now a man of wide information, of many interests, and
of the highest standing.
Notwithstanding his private occupation as a pilot and his
subsidiary one as an inventor and manufacturer of a new propel-
ler, his favorite reading runs neither to the sea nor to invention,
but to law, physiology and psychology. He is a many-sided
character.
The familv name is one of those verv numerous familv names
•- t. ft
which in Great Britain and in America have gone through an
evolution which renders the original form unrecognizable. The
first-known ancestor of this family was one Le Botville, a Norman
who followed William the Conqueror to England. In the course
of a century or so, the English dropped the "Le'' and the name
became Botville, and, sometimes, Botvil. The next change was
Bothwell, which form appears to have been confined largely to
Scotland. We then come upon the name of Boutelle, and then
upon the form of Boutwell. Every bearer of any one of these
names who is entitled to it by birth, and not by merely assuming
it, is a lineal descendant of the old Norman freebooter who fol-
lowed his freebooter master to England and helped to make him
King.
The history of the Boutwell family in America is very diffi-
cult to state with any degree of accuracy. Our unfortunate habit
of keeping no vital statistics, coupled with carelessness in family
records, deprives us of an enormous amount of knowledge perti-
nent to our history and biography. It seems reasonably certain
that the Boutwell family in America originated with James Bout-
well, who was certainly a resident of Massachusetts in the early
colonial period as he was admitted a freeman of Lynn in 1638.
Somewhat later a branch of the family appears in Hancock
[179]
180 WILLIAM ROWE BOUTWELL
County, New Hampshire, under the form of Boutelle ; in fact, these
two forms appear in that earlier period to have been inextricably
mixed, the name appearing one time under one spelling and an-
other time under the other. So that the Boutelles, the Boutwells,
the Bothwells, the Botvilles and the Botfields are all descended
from the same old Norman family. In England today some of
these forms have almost disappeared, Boutelle and Botfield being
the preferred forms.
The family traditions of the American family are to the effect
that three brothers originally came and that two returned to
England ; the Virginia family is apparently an offshoot from the
Massachusetts family, because the earlier records of Virginia,
prior to the vear 1700, do not show the name at all. That thev
*/ t-
came in prior to the Revolutionary War is certain as, in the
records of the Virginia State Library, Samuel Boutwell is named
as a Revolutionary soldier, and John Boutwell as a lieutenant in
*/ /
the Caroline County militia in May, 1778. This proves definitely
that the family was in Virginia prior to that date.
In the nineteenth century there appear to have been two
officers in the navy; both of these apparently belonged to the
Virginia family. Edward Brown Boutwell, commander in the
navy, died in 1855 of yellow fever and was buried in Norfolk
Cemetery. He had a brother, Lewis Warrenton Boutwell ; their
mother was a sister of Commander Warrenton and their father
was Captain W. R. Boutwell's great uncle. Lewis Warrenton
Boutwell married Miss Emma Dickson, of Portsmouth. Com-
modore Samuel Barron and Captain Boutwell's paternal grand-
father were first cousins and their mothers were sisters whose
maiden name was Rowe, an old Virginia name; and it is from this
connection that Captain Boutwell derives his middle name.
The Massachusetts family contributed to the country in the
Civil War period a most notable figure in the person of George
Sewell Boutwell, LL. D., of Boston, who was the first Commis-
sioner of Internal Revenue, Secretary of the Treasury under
President Grant, member of the United States Senate, who lived
to the great age of 87, and, though not admitted to the bar until
he was thirty-five years of age, was for forty years a conspicuous
international lawyer. He was the son of Sewell and Rebecca
Marshall Boutwell, was a lineal descendant from the James Bout-
well of 1638 and from John Marshall who came to Boston in the
ship Hopewell in 1634.
According to the family tradition in Massachusetts one of
these Boutwells received a grant of land for service in the King
Philip War. George Sewell Boutwell's maternal grandfather,
Jacob Marshall, was the inventor of the cotton press, the inven-
tion having originally been made for pressing hops.
In the maternal line Captain Boutwell comes from two very
distinguished families — the Carters, who go back to that very
WILLIAM ROWE BOUTWELL 181
unique old cavalier ''King" Carter and the Crittendens, first of
Virginia and later of Kentucky. Georgia and Missouri. His ma-
ternal grandfather was George Crittenden, whose wife was Nancy
Crittenden. This Crittenden family is a very remarkable one;
they have not only been conspicuous figures in every community
where they have lived, but patriots of the purest type. Had the
advice of the venerable Senator Crittenden, of Kentuckv, been
*/ s
followed in 1861, there would have been no Civil War and no bet-
ter epitaph could be put upon any man's monument than that he
was a wise preacher of a peaceful and righteous settlement, when
all others had gone mad.
Captain Boutwell began his career in 1882 in his twenty-
second year. Just twenty years later, in 1902, he became Presi-
dent of the Virginia Pilot Association, which position he has held
continuously for eleven years, and yet retains. Of this useful
and influential organization, as well as of other similar associa-
tions of the country, it would, perhaps, not be extravagant to
say that they contain within their membership the finest body of
men in the country. Every man of necessity has to be a picked
man, fearless of storm or tempest and cool in the discharge of
duties which involve the safe-guarding of lives and property under
their exclusive care. Such must be men of character, sobriety,
profound skill and of the most rigid courage. To have success-
fully conducted for over a decade the affairs of such an important
body establishes the fact that the subject of our sketch is a man
of mark in an extremely difficult profession.
He was married to Mary Elizabeth Cocke, of Surry County,
Virginia, on June 26, 1889. Mrs. BoutwelFs maiden name recalls
another famous Virginia family which has given some notable
soldiers to the Old Dominion.
Captain Boutwell has a long and distinguished record of pub-
lic service, rendered not only to his own community but to other
seaboard sections. He was Chairman of the Quarantine Commis-
sion of Newport News from 1904 to 1907. In 1907 and 1908 he
was Chairman of the Harbor Improvement Committee of Norfolk
and Portsmouth, Virginia, in the interest of a thirty-foot channel
to the sea, and secured in that interest an appropriation of
$1,169,000. In 1909-1910 he was Chairman of the Harbor Im-
provement Committee of Norfolk and Newport News, Virginia, in
the interest of a thirty-five-foot channel to the sea, and secured in
that connection an appropriation of two and a half million dollars.
Since 1906 he has been activelv interested in the erection
t/
of fortifications at Cape Henry. He is a member of the executive
committee of the American Pilotage Association ; he is a member
of the Board of Pilot Commissioners of Virginia; and he was a
prominent opponent of the "Littlefield Anti-Pilotage Bill" in
1906-1908, and has been a factor in the defeat of several anti-
pilotage bills in the Virginia Legislature of 1909 and 1910.
182 WILLIAM ROWE BOUTWELL
Captain Boutwell is affiliated with many clubs, the Virginia
Club, of Norfolk ; the Westmoreland and Business Men's clubs, of
Richmond; the New York Press Club; the National Press Club,
of Washington, and the Board of Trade of Norfolk. In fraternal
orders he is a Thirty-second Degree Mason. Politically he is
affiliated with the Democratic party.
The moving impulse with Captain Boutwell may be gathered
from the following paragraph taken from a private letter, and
which is hereby reproduced to show the real man :
"I am exceedingly anxious to make some suggestion for the
betterment of humanity. To do so, however, involves considerable
thought, while the recommendation itself might seem raw. As
a prime basis of betterment we want for one thing more sanity.
Ninety per cent seem tainted with the insanity of affectation,
unrestrained impulses, intemperance along temperamental lines,
and megalomania. A cure for some of these conditions might be,
in simple terms stated, though a full digest of the plan, and argu-
ment for same could only be presented by one whose mind is fresh
with physiological and psychological facts." (Italics ours.)
Here it will be seen that Captain Boutwell has sensed the real
trouble with our people, which is the first step in the way of find-
ing a remedy. In common with all thoughtful men he fully
realizes that there lies ahead a tremendous work for those able to
think sanely and clearly and to mold their ideas into practicable
working form. To these men will belong the highest degree of
credit for unselfish patriotism, for their work will be done not
in the glare of the footlights, not behind flaunting banners with
roll of drum and blast of bugle, but in their quiet libraries and in
a majority of cases they will go to their graves as comparatively
unknown men — but their work will abide. In this, now small,
but increasing, army of sane lovers of humanity, Wm. Rowe
Boutwell is a pioneer member.
Outside of the honorable record which Captain Boutwell has
made and faithfully endeavored to maintain in his occupation,
his keenest interest is in the "Gyro Propeller," a new and highly
efficient principle of propulsion, and a description of which, writ-
ten by a competent person, follows :
THE GYRO PROPELLER.
When Elias Howe realized that the eye was in the wrong end
of the needle, he encountered a fact that enabled him to revolu-
tionize all industries in which sewing was a factor. The same may
be said of Captain W. R. Boutwell, wrho has qualified as a marine
expert in many useful directions. For many years in his capacity
as a practical seaman, directing all kinds of craft, he gave thought
and study to the propulsion of vessels. Suddenly it dawned upon
him that the helical-spiral form of propeller had reached the
WILLIAM ROWE BOUTWELL 183
climax of its utility and that such form was not the last word in
the science of propulsion. His mind then evolved an entirely
new system, the basic principle of which is embodied in a pro-
peller whose blades are in the form of annular grooves. By this
means he got away from the screw principle altogether. The
history of the progress of mechanical science is full of such in-
stances of sudden inspiration.
Having visualized the idea, Captain Boutwell proceeded to
work it out to its ultimate conclusion and devoted years to the
development of propeller experiments with, and tests of, which
have amply justified his splendid optimism. He has reason to be-
lieve that his labor has fructified and that he has finally evolved
the fastest and, in most cases, best propeller for vessels yet devised
by man. This is no mean accomplishment in view of the fact that
the subject lies in the realm of exact science, and thousands of
alert minds are constantly focused upon it. Fascinating as the
study is to an inventive or mathematical mind, it is difficult for
a layman to grasp the radical change in principle involved in
Captain Boutwell's discovery. The spiral or screw propeller has
been of vast service to mankind. The new Boutwell device sub-
stitutes annular grooves for the screw. An annular groove is a
ringlike groove or closed curve, symmetrical with reference to a
straight line when rotated about a parallel line. It is difficult
to describe in non-technical language. Let us hear Captain Bout-
well explain his "wheel."
"My propeller is called 'Gyro,' said he. "That is, it is a
combining form, undulatory and ringlike. It is the only propeller
that is of uniform thrust and its efficiency lies in the accurate
application of the principle I hit upon. The groove forming the
driving face is turned on a lathe, insuring evenness of surface
and avoiding irregularities inherent in the helical type of wheel.
The Gyro sustains a uniform containing pressure and has little
or no centrifugal discharge, thus possessing pull or push against
solid water — if I may use the term — with no loss of duty in
overcoming resistance.
"I have demonstrated the correctness of my principle by re-
sults obtained during years of practical experiment and develop-
ment and scrupulous comparison with the smartest and most
popular wheels extant. The tests show the following desiderata
for power boats : Speed, economy, backing power, minimum vibra-
tion and cavitation and a wake at high speed smooth and clean as
a hound's tooth.
"The Gyro is adaptable to infinite models and various condi-
tions. It is suitable for the lean or full lines of heavy hulls, for
racing craft of little weight and much power and especially valu-
able for light draft, twin propellers and tunnel stern use.
"There is little difference in the performance — duty value —
of leading propellers now in use. They are exploited by reputable
184 WILLIAM ROWE BOUTWELL
manufacturers and each naturally claims superiority. But so
slight is the variance among them that the logical course for a
power vessel owner seeking improvement, is to drop the old school
and try the type based on my newly discovered principle which
may fit the case exactly.
"The Gyro form has a distinct advantage over the helical, or
old style, surface, as the principle remains the same at any angle
at which the blades are set; adapting itself to any pitch, while
the helical form becomes less efficient when moved from its true
generatrix, or motor center."
This invention is of such a notable character that it is sufficient
in itself to mark the inventor as a man of unusual qualities, and
when this is coupled with a long and honorable career in a difficult
profession and the most diversified talents in other directions, it
shows that Captain Boutwell would have made his mark any-
where, at any time, under any circumstances, and in any sort of
pursuit. He is simply one of those men who does with all his
might what his hands find to do.
U »i I ,
T
JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER
A HE man who amasses a large fortune and yet remains so
unspoiled as to retain the friends of his youth, and to be
mourned by an entire community when he passes away,
has in his composition certain qualities worthy of study
and imitation. Such a man was the late James Cluverius Car-
penter, of Clifton Forge, commonly known during life as J. Clivie
Carpenter. He was born near Frederick Hall, Louisa County,
Virginia, on May 4, 1853, and died at his home in Clifton Forge
on November 7, 1910. His parents were Caius Marcellus and Mar-
garet Ellen (Boxley) Carpenter.
The family has been identified with Virginia for two hundred
and seventy-five years. Between 1630 and 1656 a round dozen
Carpenters came from Great Britain to Virginia — of these, two,
Jonathan and Richard, settled in York County in 1637. Though
there are breaks in the record, it is probable that Jonathan and
Richard were brothers, and were progenitors of the family to
which the late J. C. Carpenter belonged. The reason for assuming
that they were brothers was that they were both young men and
both settled in the same county. From York County their de-
scendants drifted up rivers, as was the case with all the old
settlers ; and in the first half of the eighteenth century we find the
head of the family in King William County was Jonathan. Of
this Jonathan, who died in 1763, whose wife bore the given name
of Jane, we only know positively the name of one son — John ;
though Nathaniel and Jesse, who were Revolutionary soldiers, and
Jonathan (2), who married Elizabeth Montague, daughter of
Clement Montague, and who died in 1798, were probably also sons
of Jonathan, of King William.
Nathaniel, the soldier, had a son, James, born in 1782, who
died on June 17, 1865, and who married Susannah G. McGehee on
December 21, 1809. The children of this marriage were Charles
F., born September 21, 1810; James M., born March 13, 1812;
Lydia A., born December 13, 1814; Judith, born September 4,
1817; Richard, born January 19, 1820; Caius Marcellus, born
March 31, 1822; Susan R., born May 20, 1825.
Caius Marcellus, the youngest son, married on November 21,
1848, Margaret Ellen Boxley. The children of this marriage were
Eloise A., Lucy Dora, James Cluverius, Susan, Virginia and Clara
Garland.
The Jonathan who died in 1763 we know was a resident of
[187]
188 JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER
Spottsylvania, because on January 3, 1764, Thomas Moore, of
King William County, and Joanna, his wife, deeded five hundred
acres of land in Spottsylvania to John Carpenter, then of King
William County, son of Jonathan, deceased, late of Spottsylvania
County. The wife of John Carpenter, who bought this land, was
Mary (her maiden name we do not know). This same John, in
1774, deeded land in Spottsylvania, and on that deed appears the
name of Jonathan Carpenter as a witness. This was the second
Jonathan of that period and confirms the supposition that they
were brothers. Two of the family moved to Kentucky — when
cannot be stated, but after the death of Jonathan Carpenter in
1798, Jesse Carpenter joined with Thomas Duval in giving a
power of attorney to Zaccheus Carpenter, in Virginia, to recover
the shares of Jesse Carpenter and three orphans, Frances, Nancy
and Jonathan Carpenter, who had chosen Thomas Duval as their
guardian, in the estate of Jonathan Carpenter, lately deceased.
This power of attorney was dated June 4, 1799, in Fayette County,
Kentucky. We get at the reason of the selection of Thomas Duval
as guardian of these orphan children by the record of the mar-
riage, in Caroline County, on July 18, 1795, of John Carpenter
to Pollv Duval.
»/
Spottsylvania County appears to have been the center of this
branch of the Carpenter family, in the period between 1760 and
1800, for on the records of that period appear the names of Eliza-
beth, Frances, George, Hugh, Jane, Jesse, John, Jonathan, Mary,
Matthew, Nancy, Susanna, William and Zaccheus Carpenter.
The members of the Carpenter family who served as soldiers
in the Revolutionary War, so far as known, were Adam, Chris-
topher, Conrad, George, Jesse, John, Joseph, Nathaniel, Samuel
and William. The indications are that Jesse, John, Nathaniel
and William belonged to this Spottsylvania and King William
branch of the family.
f
Apparently the majority of these early Carpenters were plain
Virginia farmers, or, as they were known in that day, "planters" —
each plantation being a little principality complete in itself, the
owners living peaceable, industrious, orderly lives, giving pains-
taking attention to all the duties of citizenship.
James C. Carpenter in his youth was a boy of restless energy.
He abhorred books. The utmost efforts of his parents could not
instil in him any love of learning. He was content with the three
R's, and persistently besieged his father for permission to leave
school and take up the active duties of life. When he was seven-
teen his father yielded to the lad's importunities, and the ambi-
tious vouth found work as a water bov for a railroad contractor
t/ *J
who was building the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. This was
literally starting at the bottom. In a very little time he was pro-
moted to be cart boy, and writhin a few months he was made fore-
man over a squad of four men. His friends say that Mr. Carpenter
JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER 189
used to tell of this promotion, with a twinkle in his eye, as to
what it meant to him. He was a good water boy, a good cart boy
and a good foreman. His skill and judgment in managing men
was so great that he was rapidly advanced by his employers, and
was soon earning a fair salary — all of which, above the needs of
an economical life, he sent to his father to assist him in his affairs,
and more especially in the education of his two younger sisters.
He cared nothing for display, and nothing for the expenditure of
money in the gratification of transient pleasures. His frank
truthfulness and his incorruptible integrity made him strong, both
with young and old. At the age of twenty-three he returned to
his farm. Possibly this move was made entirely from a sense
of filial duty, but in the light of his after career we cannot fail to
see that his clear business judgment had taught him that he could
put his capacity into that farm and get from it results greater
than had yet been obtained. This certainly proved to be the case.
He pinned his faith to grass, cattle and tobacco. He put his
sound judgment into the operations of the farm, introducing new
economies and building up the fertility of the soil. In a short
time he became recognized as a leader among the agriculturists
of his section.
For seven or eight years, between 1878 and 1886, he was
interested in Richmond in the commission and tobacco business.
These years may have been said to have formed an interlude be-
tween his farming and the beginning of his real career, which was
so monumentally successful.
In 1886 he formed a co-partnership with C. R. Mason, Jr.,
and entered the business of railroad construction. Their first
contract was a success, and during the remainder of his life, Mr.
Carpenter was one of the great railroad builders of the country.
His work covered the Southern and Middle Atlantic States, and
his contracts for one year (1906) amounted to one hundred
miles, — involving more than three and a half million dollars. It
would be practically impossible for any man, covering so wide
an extent of territory in such large operations, to make a profit
on every venture — but Mr. Carpenter had born in him peculiar
qualifications for this work, which he had developed to a very high
degree, and though he occasionallv made an error and sustained
^j Cj t-
loss his judgment was almost unerring. Resulting from this, he
accumulated money rapidly.
In 1893 he moved to Clifton Forge, and from that time until
his demise was easily the leading citizen of that enterprising
community. Looking around to see how to be most helpful, he
promptly substituted for the old pumping plant a gravity system,
which gives the town an unlimited supply of pure water, contrib-
uting greatly to the health and comfort of the people. He found
the electric lighting plant in the hands of a receiver. He took it
into his own hands, put it in good condition, made of it a valuable
190 JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER
asset, and retained it until the public service corporation was
ready to take it over, which occurred in 1909. He became Presi-
dent of the First National Bank, as successor to Mr. J. R. Gilliam,
of Lynchburg, and the bank greatly prospered under his leader-
ship. The money which he made in building railroads he largely
spent in Clifton Forge ; and among his monuments are the splen-
did buildings occupied by the First National Bank and other
concerns, that occupied by the Clifton Forge Water Company, and
a new Masonic Temple, which \vas made possible by his advancing
the money to build it. In every way possible, he contributed his
share to the betterment of the community in w^hich he had made
his home. He was prominent in Masonry and was for many years
a deacon in the Baptist Church. In both lodge and church he
took a profound interest, contributing liberally both in time and
money. He joined the Baptist Church at the age of twenty-nine,
and for the remainder of his life no man could have given more
of himself than he did to the work of that church. His liberality
seemed to know no bounds, and in the early years of his member-
ship, while his means were comparatively small, he was known
to borrow from friends in order to give considerable sums to some
church enterprise which commended itself to his judgment. In his
will he left ten thousand dollars to the Orphan Asylum at Salem,
Virginia.
In an editorial published in "The Daily Review," of Clifton
Forge, at the time of his death, the statement was made that, in
addition to all the efforts already referred to for the general bet-
terment, Mr. Carpenter had been the means of helping directly
scores of young men now scattered over the country in such ways
as to put them on the road to success, so that his kindly deeds
and his love for his fellow-men became known far and wide. His
last illness was a long one.
In the summer of 1909 his physician and family thought a
trip to Europe might possibly be beneficial, and so he decided to
make the venture. On June 12, 1909, the pastor and deacons of
the Baptist Church in Clifton Forge, having learned of this, wrote
the letter here appended, which is an indication of the personal
esteem in which he was held by those who knew him most inti-
mately :
..
Mr. J. C. Carpenter,
On Board Konig-Albert, Sailing for Europe.
DEAR MR. CARPENTER:
"We have become accustomed to your being absent from
Clifton Forge ; hitherto we have known of your return at the
completion of a successful business tour. We rejoice now that
you are to take a well-earned rest, and hope that each day shall
be filled with joy for you and yours on your journey.
JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER 191
"This letter is prompted by our love and esteem for you not
only as a friend but as a brother in the church.
"Whatever the Baptist Church has been able to accomplish
in Clifton Forge, you have done a man's full part, and we are
enjoying the reward of your labors, — your sacrifice. So now while
you are enjoying the hours on God's great sea, remember that you
are being borne along by the love of your brethren.
"We take this occasion to express to you our love and grati-
tude for all you have done for our church. We hope this expres-
sion will help you to rest, knowing that you have accomplished
great things in the past, not that we are expecting that you shall
never be able to work hard again, but that you shall rest now in
order that longer years may be left to you for work with us for
the advancement of the Kingdom and building up of Christ's
church.
"You will have opportunities to see the monuments that other
men have erected as an expression of their devotion to God, and
as you pass through the corridor of the great cathedral and listen
to the music from the great organ and hear the singing of the
great choir, all the expressions of souls' worship to God, we want
you to remember the church in Clifton Forge, used by us for our
place of worship to our God.
"Each of the Deacons of the Church and the Pastor hereto
subscribe their names to this that you have done, because you
love Jesus.
"May every day of your voyage and every day of your vaca-
tion remind you of His love and the esteem of your brethren.
"Sincerely,
(Signed) GEORGE GREEN,
Pastor.
(Also signed by the following Deacons:)
R. B. Paxton, L. F. Alley, F. B. Westerman,
E. R. Smith, J. N. Karius, H. M. Newcomb,
W. A. Haley, J. R. Payne, W. F. Powell,
Thos. E. Gibbs, W. L. Wood, W. T. Hansbarger."
E. D. Foster, E. A. Snead,
On December 23, 1879 (1 p. in.), Mr. Carpenter was married
at Spring Valley, the home of the bride's parents, in Louisa
County, Virginia, to Sarah Lewis Herring, born in Louisa County,
on April 22, 1855, daughter of Oscar and Mary Elizabeth (Wal-
ton) Herring. The children of this marriage are:
Mary Ellen, a graduate of Rawlings Institute, Charlottes-
ville, Virginia, who married Bernard Carlyle Goodwin. Their
children are: J. C. Carpenter Goodwin, Bernard Carlyle Good-
win, Jr., and Margaret Ellen Goodwin.
The second, Caius Hunter Carpenter, a graduate of the Vir-
ginia Polytechnic Institute, is a construction contractor, who
192 JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER
at present has the Brooklyn Subway Contract in New York. He
married Anne Reiley, and they have one child, Hunter Carpenter.
The third, Eloise. a graduate of Hollins Institute, married
Bernard Fav Donovan. Their children are: Sarah Donovan,
•
Clivie Carpenter Donovan and Dorothy Virginia Donovan.
The fourth, James Cluverius Carpenter, Jr., educated at
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Washington and Lee Univer-
sity, is a railroad contractor at present engaged upon railroad
work in Kentuckv. He married Alma Williamson.
v
The fifth, Lallie Lee Carpenter, a graduate of Hollins Insti-
tute, married Walter Gardner Kennedy. They have one child:
Lallie Lee Kennedy.
The sixth. Lucy Dora Louise Carpenter, is a graduate of
Hollins Institute.
J. C. Carpenter was an energetic, broad-minded, enterprising,
far-seeing, liberal, fair-minded and forceful man. At the time
of his death there was no dissenting opinion that Clifton Forge
had lost its most valuable citizen. As an illustration of that fact,
every religious denomination in the city participated in his
funeral. This was so noticeable an incident that a daily paper
as far awav as Danville made mention of it.
•i
The directors of the bank of which he was President passed
the following resolutions :
"Whereas, James Clivie Carpenter, for five years President
of the First National Bank of Clifton Forge, Virginia, departed
this life, after a protracted illness, on the 7th day of November,
1910, and
"Whereas, in his death this community has lost its foremost
citizen and benefactor; his widow a faithful and loving husband;
his children a devoted and indulgent father ; his associates a
true and loyal friend ; his employees a kind and generous master,
and this bank an intelligent and efficient officer; therefore, be it
resolved :
"1. That the officers and directors of the First National Back
of Clifton Forge, express through these resolutions the profound
sorrow that overwhelms them by reason of the taking away of
their beloved associate, and that they further express the sincere
sympathy they feel for those nearest to him, who have been so
sadlv bereaved.
t/
"2. That in the demise of James Clivie Carpenter, this bank
has lost an officer who embodied all the virtues of honesty in busi-
ness, wisdom in council, perception in initiative, power in plan-
ning, ability in execution, honor in association, tolerance in
differences of opinion, and a Christian spirit in all of his dealings.
"3. That a copy of these resolutons be spread upon the minute
book of the Board of Directors of this bank, that a copy be sent
JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER 193
to the bereaved family of the deceased, and that a copy be sent for
publication to each of the newspapers published in Clifton Forge.
JAMES K. GILLIAM,
E. A. SNEAD,
W. F. TINSLEY,
D. E. SMITH,
W. W. BOXLEY,
JOHN DONOVAN,
J. G. FRY,
Directors"
His brethren in the church also expressed their feelings in
similar resolutions.
All these, however, fail to strike the personal note, which can
only be expressed by those who were intimately associated with
him ; and in this connection we give the addresses delivered at his
memorial services by his intimate friends. Andrew Frazer Stewart
and Hon. Floyd W. King. Mr. Stewart said :
"I have been requested to perform a very pleasant duty :
Pleasant from the fact that it is always a pleasure to say or do
something for those you admire, respect and love. The only regret
I have is that I have not the tongue or language to do justice to
our departed friend.
"To say a few words on the subject of J. C. Carpenter as a
man and business gentleman, is a subject that covers so much
ground that you might talk about it for any reasonable length
of time and then it would be far, very far, from being exhausted.
"Mr. Carpenter's business was so extensive that his reputa-
tion as a railroad contractor extended throughout the length and
breadth of our beloved country.
"I first met Mr. Carpenter about nineteen years ago. What
little business transactions we had were always of such a pleasant
character that I learned to admire him for his honesty, singleness
of purpose and sterling worth as a Christian gentleman.
"About twenty years ago Mr. Carpenter moved to Clifton
Forge. Those of you who remember the conditions then, as com-
pared with now, can better appreciate his foresightedness. He
invested his money here when his most intimate friends advised
him not to do so, but his abiding faith in the future of Clifton
Forge dictated to him that this was the place to invest his money,
and you can see for yourselves the result. His vast business was
conducted from this point, and whatever success he made was with
few exceptions felt here. He contributed to every enterprise
brought here, and has done more for the upbuilding of Clifton
Forge than any other person. Our public schools, water system,
electric lights, fire department, magnificent buildings, and our
194 JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER
splendid banking system can all be attributed to the business
foresight of our departed friend.
"The good people of the City of Clifton Forge owe Mr. Car-
penter a debt of gratitude that they never can repay, and right
here let me remind you that of all the sins the human being is
heir to, the sin of ingratitude is most odious.
"No man has ever been in closer touch with the people of the
city, and I doubt whether in the near future any other will so
endear himself to them. His frank and manly greetings, his un-
daunted courage and unswerving integrity, his liberality and
unselfishness all unite in a personality representing the most
perfect specimen of manhood, and made him the idol of many and
caused him to be respected, admired and beloved by all.
"His death is not only a calamity but a personal bereavement
to the good people of the city.
"In his youth, as in his manhood, one of his most striking
characteristics was his firmness and unconquerable determination
of purpose.
"Oh ! It is so easy to speak of our departed friend in words
of loving eulogy and praise, that there is need to moderate rather
than to give full vent to the impulse of affection and admiration.
"He was a strong man among men, made in a large mould.
Nothing petty or mean found lodgment in his nature. He was a
man of strong and positive conviction, but not harsh in his judg-
ment of others. He craved the affection that it was his royal
nature to bestow. Simple in his tastes, as all great souls are apt
to be, he loved the woods and the fields, the azure of the sky, and
at nature's altar he worshipped nature's God.
"His demonstrative but unaffected devotion to his family
may not be dwelt upon here further than to complete the circle
of his character and crown his life, as we would all wish it should
be crowned, with love.
"The Angel of Death, whose wings have shadowed our little
city, never summoned to its last account a truer, more knightly,
or more lovable spirit, than that of our late friend and business
gentleman. Mr. J. C. Carpenter.
"I loved him while he lived and I sincerely mourn his death.
"He fell in the pride of his manhood ; his sun went down when
it was yet high noon.
"To our finite view there seemed much of life yet to be lived
by him. Much he had to do. So many things depended on him.
So many for him to live for — for the good people of this city who
delighted to honor him — for the wife and children whom his death
has made desolate.
" 'May the faith be theirs that,
The dark vale once trod,
Heaven lifts its everlasting portals high
And bids the pure in heart behold their God.' "
JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER 195
Hon. Floyd W. King said :
"I don't know whether I shall be able to get through with
what I want to say or not, for to me our departed brother was
indeed a friend, and the fragrant memory of him comes crowding
back upon me when I attempt to recall his virtues, and speech fails
nie. But if I am able to conclude my feeble remarks, I shall be
grateful for this opportunity to pay my humble tribute to the
memory of James Clivie Carpenter.
"The world is forced to recognize two kinds of friendship :
the friendship that exists because of what it may be able to get
from those for whom it is professed — this is hypocrisy; and the
friendship which exists for what it may contribute in the way of
encouragement and blessing and uplift — this is the exemplification
of our departed brother. In that close and intimate relationship
that must exist between an attorney and his client, I have for the
past several years been where I could look into the inmost soul
of him whom we mourn today, and from that look and that con-
tact, I can say that J. C. Carpenter was a real friend — to his
friends, to his enemies, to the poor and to the city.
"In all the days of his life he met and came into contact
with many men. He was, himself, a man who lived an intense life,
and those who were friendly to him he loved with that intensity
which characterized all his actions and which led him to the suc-
cess he achieved. He was not a fortune-favored man, and many is
the time, before he attained that success which crowned the last
years of his life, that his soul was tried by failures and reverses
that would have sent a heart less stout and a will less determined
into the very 'slough of despond.' It was in these days of ad-
versity, when the tried and the true stood by him, that the fires
of love for them were kindled in his heart, and burned there until
the very last ember of his life was consumed.
"I have never in all my experience seen a man more generally
appreciative of a favor or a kindness than Mr. Carpenter. His
life was broad, and hungered for a broad friendship, and no token
of appreciation, no expression of regard, no word of commenda-
tion, no act of kindness, however slight, ever failed to secure his
sincere appreciation or to kindle his glowing friendship. He had
friends — tried, true and loyal, and upon those friends he lavished
his love. To them he spoke the word of encouragement. For them
he had a hand-clasp of brotherhood. And upon them he poured
with generous hand the oil of his unpurchasable friendship.
"But J. C. Carpenter went further than this. He was a friend
to his enemies. That he had enemies cannot be denied. No man
of strength and character can walk through this world aright and
not have enemies. When a man is upright and the enmity of
people is engendered on that account, they are the greatest monu-
ments to his righteousness. And in speaking in this connection
196 JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER
of our departed friend, we may well say, as was said of a late
President of this country, 'We love him for the enemies he has
made.'
"If a tiny bullet were forced through the bore of one of our
great guns of defense that frown above the ramparts that guard
the ports of our beloved land, it would, perchance, never come in
touch with the wonderful sides of the mighty gun, or if it touched,
it would merely be repulsed by its own velocity as it dashed itself
into space. So with men. There are men of large caliber and
men of small caliber, and if the life of one of the latter is forced
through the life of one of the former, they never touch, or if
they touch, the lesser is repulsed and becomes at enmity with the
greater, which, calm and dignified, remains unmoved.
"It has been scarcely six months since I, as counsel for Mr.
Carpenter in a matter involving many thousand dollars, repre-
sented him in a conference with those opposing his interests, and
while thev were debtors to him, and while I was authorized to
ts /
make, and did make, to them a proposition too liberal in its terms
to have issued from a heart less wTarm than that of the friend of
whom I speak, it was curtly declined with a suggestion that he
should do better. I shall never forget the hour when I reported
this answer and saw the tears start to the eyes of my client. I
expected him to grip his opponents with the power which I knew
the situation gave him over them, but instead he quietly turned
away and said he would give them yet thirty days longer to con-
sider the matter. He was a friend, even to his enemies.
"He was also a friend to the poor. It made no difference to
him whether he knew or was known to those in need. It was suf-
ficient that they were in need, and he opened his heart in sym-
pathy and his purse in helpfulness. When the tale of disaster and
suffering in San Francisco a few years ago was flashed over the
wire, you and I saw this friend of the poor stand in this church
and, having headed the list with a liberal subscription, plead with
tears streaming down his cheeks and voice choking with emotion,
that those whom the Lord had spared might help to put bread into
the mouths of those who had it not.
"The poor of this city have more than once felt his generous
touch, and there be those writhin the sound of my voice wrho have
seen his carriage in the poorer districts at times of Thanksgiving
or Christmas, from which his devoted wife and daughters, touched
with the same spirit that dominated the departed head of their
home, handed out fowls and meats and dainties to bring good
cheer into the homes darkened by the gaunt shadow of poverty.
"Here it is from Holy Writ : 'A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves which stripped him
of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half
dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way ;
and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. And likewise
JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER 197
a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and
passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had com-
passion on him, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pour-
ing in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast and brought
him to an inn and took care of him. Which now of
these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among
thieves? And he said, he that shewed mercy unto him.'
"In the last few days an incident has been brought to my at-
tention, which illustrates so clearly this side of the character of
our friend. A present had been received by a minister of this town
at the Christmas season from one of the stores of the city, with
no card to indicate the sender. A few days later he was going to
the post office with letters of appreciation for remembrances he
had received. He met the proprietor of the store I have men-
tioned and handed him one of the letters. The proprietor opened
it and at a glance saw its contents. He called him back and said :
'This letter is intended for Mr. Carpenter. It is he who for years
has directed us to send you this present at Christmas, and he who
has always paid for it.' 'Surely,' said the minister, 'his right
hand knoweth not what his left hand doeth/ And the poor of this
city shall miss and mourn the friendship of him who has come into
his reward.
"J. C. Carpenter was likewise a friend to this city, in which
he spent so much of his life ; and to him more than to any ten other
men does the city owe its rapid advancement, its attractiveness
to outside people, its general air of prosperity. Going into dis-
tant parts of the country, he pushed with his characteristic energy
and skill, his gigantic business propositions, and when success
crowned his efforts and thousands came into his possession, he
brought his money here and put it into enterprises that quickened
the business pulse of the city, and into buildings that are alike
ornaments to the city and monuments to his memory.
"His faith in Clifton Forge was strong and enduring, and his
works justified his faith. He took over the town's water supply,
when sore was its need and when no one else dared to venture
their holdings in the enterprise. For years he put his money into
the betterment of the plant, the increase of the flow of water, the
purifying of the supply and the extension of the mains ; and this
when each year showed a loss. But hanging on with a persis-
tency that conquers, he has built up a system of waterworks
second to none in this land.
"For years he has been in unquestioned control of every drop
of water available for use to the people of Clifton Forge, and the
greatest monument that exists, or that could be erected to his
justice and fair dealing, is the fact that in all those years there
has not been an appeal to the courts, so far as my knowledge goes,
by any citizen, complaining that the charges for water were exces-
198 JAMES CLUVERIUS CARPENTER
sive. Power in some people breeds tyranny, but not so with J. C.
Carpenter. His love and his friendship for the city tempered his
judgment so that he was never known to use power for oppression.
Upon the contrary, while not generally known, it is none the less
true, that while President of the Light and Water Company, of
this city, the subject of these remarks gave to the widowed and the
poor the use of water without charge, and upon that list were
more names than upon the entire pauper list of this city.
"It is not every man who lives in a community and accumu-
lates a fortune there, whose business never lapses into something
intended for his own welfare without thought or care as to the
effect thereof upon his neighbors.
"A few days ago I stood in a sheltered spot on the deck of a
great transatlantic liner and watched the inspiring beauty and
majesty of a storm at sea. The heavens had opened their flood-
gates, and the wind whipped up the spray from the deep until it
looked as if the rain from below came up to meet the rain from
above. A dense fog wrapped itself about the vessel and every few
seconds the foghorn shrieked out its warning. I thought then
that that call through the mist was not so much for the protection
of the mighty vessel, able to take care of herself under almost any
circumstances, but was for the protection of smaller craft that
might be enveloped in the blinding storm.
"That illustration is applicable now. In all the actions of
our friend during his life, there was not an ever-present, inward,
self-centered look, reckless of the welfare of others who might be
injured, but a kindly regard for his neighbors, and a careful or-
dering of his own affairs so as not to injure the affairs of others.
The signal of his presence he sounded not alone for his own safety
and advancement, but for the good of those with whom he lived.
He made his investments here, not solely with a view to his own
revemie, but for the advancement of his city's interest. And while
today his friends, his enemies, the poor and this city will mourn
his loss, we can all be assured that his soul has entered into his
eternal rest and is reaping the reward of the great and the good."
The story of the lifework of this splendidly useful man can
be no more fittingly closed than by the beautiful verses here ap-
pended, which so truly characterize the man.
"Not myself, but the truth that in life I have spoken,
Not myself, but the seed that in life I have sown,
Shall pass on to ages — all about me forgotten,
Save the truth I have spoken, the things I have done.
"So let my living be, so be my dying;
So let my name be emblazoned, unknown,
Unpraised and unmissed, I shall still be remembered,
Yes, but remembered by what I have done."
THE KEW
3L1C LI3I?AhY
v-
SAMUEL CLEVELAND CHANCELLOR
SAMUEL C. CHANCELLOR, of University, a prominent figure
in the business life of his section, was born at the University
of Virginia on December 30, 1859, son of Dr. James Edgar
and Dorothea (Anderson) Chancellor.
Doctor J. Edgar Chancellor was as good a citizen as the
Old Dominion, in all its splendid history, ever had within its
borders. Of high attainment in his chosen profession, he served
with distinction as a surgeon in the Confederate Army during
the Civil War, and was later Demonstrator of Anatomy in the
University of Virginia for a number of years. He was twice mar-
ried, and S. C. Chancellor is the youngest of the four sons by his
first marriage.
S. C. Chancellor was educated first under private tutors —
later attended the public high school, from which he graduated,
and also the Locust Dale Academy, in Orange County. He is a
graduate of the Pharmaceutical College in Baltimore, Maryland.
He entered upon the study of medicine, but on account of impaired
eyesight had to discontinue and abandon the idea of being a
physician.
S. C. Chancellor has worked out a remarkable measure of
success in a business way, considering his environment, and per-
haps that measure of success is due as much to the quality of
patience which he seems to possess in his business life as it is
to financial ability. He began his career as an extra clerk in the
old mercantile firm of Smith and Norman, in Charlottesville. He
assisted them after school hours, as well as all day on Saturday
and on court days (which come monthly in that section). During
vacations he gave his whole time to that work, and for three years
in this way earned money. From that place he went to F. M.
Wills, a druggist in Charlottesville, with whom he remained for
fifteen months, and then took a position with R. C. A. Seiburg, a
druggist at University. He put in his spare time preparing him-
self for entrance to the College of Pharmacy, and after two years
accepted a position with R. T. Petzol, a druggist of Baltimore
(Md.), with the privilege of attending lectures at the College of
Pharmacy. He graduated at the end of his second year, and then
entered the service of R. G. Cabell, Jr., and Company, a drug
firm of Richmond, Virginia, with whom he remained one year and
then returned to Baltimore, where he took a position with M. S.
Kahn, corner of Lexington and Liberty Streets, where he remained
[201]
202 SAMUEL CLEVELAND CHANCELLOR
for three years. He had, during all these years, thoroughly mas-
tered his business and accumulated a modest capital. In June,
1890, then in his thirty-first year, he bought out the drug store of
R. C. A. Seiburg at University, which he conducted successfully
for twenty-three years, selling out in 1913 to look after other
interests which had grown to large proportions.
That S. C. Chancellor possesses unusual financial ability is
evidenced by the fact that, conducting a drug store in a small
town, he was able to so wisely invest his modest surplus, from time
to time, as to accumulate in little more than twenty years a large
capital. He is now recognized as one of the most substantial and
prudent business men of his section — serving as a director of the
Jefferson National Bank of Charlottesville, as Secretary and
Treasurer of the Piedmont Lumber Company, and holding other
positions in institutions where he has investments.
S. C. Chancellor is a strong fraternalist, holding membership
in the old Widow's Son Lodge (of Charlottesville) of the Masonic
Order, and being affiliated with the Royal Arch Masons, Knights
Templars, Mystic Shriners and the Order of Elks. He is an
active member of the Methodist Church, of which he has been for
twenty years a steward, and has served on numerous important
committees for his church, including building committees, finan-
cial committees, etc.
He was married on June 29, 1905, at the residence of Dr. and
Mrs. John B. Turpin, by the Rev. George E. Booker, to Clarissa
Lynn Rodes, born August 4, 1879, in Richmond, Virginia, daughter
of Thomas Layton and Florence (Christian) Rodes. Of this
marriage no children were born, and S. C. Chancellor had the
misfortune to lose his wife bv death within less than a year after
marriage.
An active Democrat in his political affiliations, he has served
as a cornmitteeman for his party, but has never been a candidate
for public office, as his personal affairs have fully absorbed his
time. His reading is mainly confined to keeping himself in touch
with all questions of interest through current literature.
The family history of the Chancellors has some very interest-
ing features connected with it. Samuel C. Chancellor is in the
sixth generation from the founder of the family in America.
Richard, the immigrant, born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, came to
Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1682. The line of descent is
from Richard to John, the youngest son of Richard; John (II),
youngest son of John (I) ; George, eldest son of John (II) ; James
Edgar, youngest son of George ; Samuel C., youngest son of James
Edgar.
Richard Chancellor, the founder of the family in Virginia,
was the youngest son of Robert Chancellor, of Scotland, who
married Jean, daughter of Sir James Lockhart. Robert Chancel-
lor was a noted cavalier, devoted to the cause of Charles I and
SAMUEL CLEVELAND CHANCELLOR 203
Charles II. He was the son of John Chancellor, who was the son
of William Chancellor, a devoted adherent to Mary Queen of
Scots, and fought at the decisive battle of Langside as one of her
champions. William Chancellor was a cousin of Richard Chan-
cellor, who commanded the naval expedition sent out by Mary,
of England, in 1559, to explore Russia. This William Chancellor
was the first man to assume the present spelling, and was a son of
William "Chanceler" (the original spelling). This William was
son of John, who was son of George (II), who was son of Alex-
ander, who was son of George, who was the first of his name in
Scotland, and had grants of land in County Lanark confirmed to
him in the reign of Henry IV. This first Scottish Chancellor
wTas descended from a Norman, who came to England with Wil-
liam the Conqueror, by name Gaultier. This Gaultier held the
office of Chancellor under the King, and later (when the people
began to take surnames) the office became a family surname—
which is illustrated in many other names, like Bishop, Duke,
Carpenter, etc.
Richard, the immigrant, was a Captain in the English Army,
was a stout Whig and a devoted adherent to the Protestant relig-
ion. His associates were such men as Monmouth, Essex, Russell
and Sidney. It is claimed that these men entered into a conspiracy
against Charles II, because of his leaning to Roman Catholicism.
That there ever was any conspiracy is doubted by certain histo-
rians. Macaulay, on page 200 of volume I of his "History of
England," says :" "The Duke of Monmouth threw himself at his
father's feet and found mercy. The Earl of Essex perished by his
own hand in the Tower of London. Russell and Sidney were
beheaded in defiance of law and justice, for high treason. Some
of less rank were sent to the gallows, and others cleared the
country." Captain Chancellor's own account of his escape was
that he "laid concealed for some days under London Bridge, and
finally, through the aid of female administrations and generosity,
was enabled to board a vessel bound for America." In a sketch of
the family prepared some years back, the statement is made that,
while this account of the Captain's is no doubt correct as far as
it goes, it is more than probable that his escape was effected
through the leniency of Charles II and the connivance of the
officers, on account of his father's loyalty to both Charles I and
Charles II and the valuable service that he (Richard) had ren-
dered the Royalist cause. Captain Chancellor's total possessions,
when he landed in America, were a sword and a small treatise on
military tactics, which were preserved by his descendants, and
handed down as heirlooms until destroyed by the burning of Rev.
Melzi S. Chancellor's house during the battle of Chancellorsville
in 1863. Incidentally, it may be noted that this place, which
was the scene of the crowning victory of the lamented Stonewall
Jackson's heroic career, took its name from this Chancellor family.
204 SAMUEL CLEVELAND CHANCELLOR
The Scottish Royalist became the founder of a very numerous
family in Virginia, which has since scattered widely over the
country. He married Catherine Cooper, daughter of William and
Catherine (Fitzgerald) Cooper, and by her had three sons: Wil-
liam Cooper, who is supposed to have moved to Pennsylvania;
Richard, who moved to what is now Fauquier County, Virginia;
and John, the founder of the branch of the family with which we
are dealing. The mother of Richard Chancellor's wife, Catherine
Cooper, was Catherine Fitzgerald, who married William Cooper.
Her story is a very romantic one. She was a member of the great
Irish Fitzgerald family, known in history as the "Geraldines,"
and which divided with the Ormond-Butlers the supremacy among
Irish families. She was the only child of Edmond Fitzgerald,
Knight of Glin. He possessed large estates entailed by his grand-
father, Gerald Fitzgerald. Edrnond had two brothers, Richard
and Thomas. These two brothers were named in the deed of settle-
ment as successive inheritors of the estate if Edniond died without
issue. But Edmond left issue in the person of this Catherine, a
little child when he died. The cupidity of her uncle Richard led
him into a conspiracy to make away with the young heiress, and
through his machinations she was kidnapped while on her way to
school and sent to America when about twelve years of age. All
communication with her friends in Ireland was denied her, and
an effort was made to cover up her birth and early life. But
her identity was established in later life by a Bible and a small
lace frame which she had with her when kidnapped, and these
articles are still in the possession of her descendants. She was
indentured, as was the custom of the time, to Richard Cooper, a
planter, who had emigrated to America in 1634, and about 1670
she married his son William, and had issue one daughter, Cather-
ine, who married Captain Richard Chancellor, the immigrant.
This Cooper family was known in England under the form
of Cowper. It was originally founded in Sussex and moved to
Cheshire in 1377. Richard Cooper, who emigrated to America in
1634, at the age of eighteen, was a younger brother of John
Cowper (or Cooper), of Bosden, who was then the head of the
family. The line of descent from Richard Chancellor down to the
subject of this sketch is as follows : John, youngest son of Richard
and Catherine (Cooper) Chancellor, married Jane Monroe, sister
of Andrew and Spence Monroe, and aunt of President James Mon-
roe. He had three daughters and four sons. His youngest son,
John, married in 1781, Elizabeth Edwards, and had issue four
sons and three daughters. His eldest son George, born in 1783,
married in 1814, Ann (Lyon) Pound, widow of Richard Pound,
and had issue three sons and two daughters. James Edgar Chan-
cellor, youngest son of George, was born on January 26, 1826,
married Nov. 18, 1853, Dorothea Josephine Anderson. By this
marriage there was issue: Eustathius Anderson Chancellor, born
SAMUEL CLEVELAND CHANCELLOR 205
August 29, 1854 ; Euodia Livingston Chancellor, born October 9,
1855; Alexander Clarendon Chancellor, born February 8, 1857;
Thomas Sebastian Chancellor, born May, 1858; Samuel Cleveland
Chancellor, born December 30, 1859; Josephine Anderson Chan-
cellor, born February 23, 1862. The two daughters passed away in
early life, and the father died at the University of Virginia on
September 11, 1896. The four sons are all living. The oldest son,
Eustathius, is one of the most prominent physicians of St. Louis.
The second son, Alexander Clarendon, is a successful business
man of Columbus, Georgia, identified with every interest of that
city that contributes to the public welfare, and is one of the most
influential men in his community. The third son, Thomas Sebas-
tian, is connected with the largest department store in Atlanta,
Georgia, and the youngest son, Samuel C., is the subject of this
sketch.
The Edwards family, which came into close connection with
the Chancellor family by the marriage of John Chancellor (II),
in 1781, to Elizabeth Edwards, is also a notable Virginia family.
It was founded by four brothers : John, Thomas, Robert and
William Edwards. John, the oldest, came to Virginia in 1623,
and William, the youngest, in 1635. Their family history shows
a long and numerous line of splendid citizens widely scattered
over the country. One of these Edwards descendants, Ninian
Edwards, born in 1785, was one of the leaders of his generation.
He graduated from Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, and at the
age of eighteen removed to Kentucky, and was elected to the
Legislature before he was twenty-one. He was Judge of the Court
of Appeals, in Kentucky, at an age when most young men are just
entering upon the practise of law. He was Territorial Governor
of Illinois from 1809 to 1818 ; United States Senator from Illinois
from 1818 to 1824; Governor of Illinois in 1826; and was ap-
pointed Minister to Mexico by President Monroe. This Edwards
family was of Welsh origin, and it has a long history in that
country, being related to many leading Welsh families whose
names cannot be pronounced by an English tongue.
The coat of arms of the Chancellor family, of Lanark, Scot-
land, from which the Virginia family is descended, is described
as follows :
Or, a lion rampant sable, armed and langued gules, on a
chief of the last three mullets of the first.
Crest : An eagle displayed sable.
Motto : Que je surmonte.
ROGER PRESTON CHEW
COLONEL ROGER PRESTON CHEW, of Charles Town,
West Virginia, has during his seventy years of life illus-
trated in the highest degree the virtues of patriotism and
good citizenship, both as a distinguished soldier in war
and as a progressive citizen in peace.
He is in the eighth generation from John Chew, who came to
Virginia with the ship Charitie between 1620 and 1622, and was
followed within a year by his wife Sara, who came over in the
Seafloure.
John Chew belonged to the ancient family of that name,
settled at Chewton, Somersetshire, England. That he was a man of
some means is evident for he brought with him three servants ;
and it is a tradition that he built the first brick house at James-
town. In 1623 he was a member of the Virginia House of Bur-
gesses, or General Assembly.
Those familiar with our history will recall that in 1619 the
first Virginia House of Burgesses met and this was the first
legislative assembly to meet in America, so that John Chew,
coming in about four years after, was truly one of our pioneer
legislators.
He was the common ancestor of several distinguished Chew
families in Virginia, in Maryland, in Delaware, and in Pennsyl-
vania. One of these Pennsylvania Chews built the old stone
mansion at Germantown, which, in 1777, turned what promised
to be a brilliant victory for the patriots into a bloody repulse.
In the Narratives of Old Virginia there appears under the
date of 1624 the tragic account of the Virginia Assembly, which
was an indictment of Sir Thomas Smith's administration of the
colony. The reading of it now touches one's sense of humor very
sharply, but it was truly a tragedy to the signers. One paragraph
is worthy of reproduction :
"To what growth of perfection the colony hath attained at
the end of those twelve years we conceive may easily be judged by
what we have formerly said ; and rather than to be reduced to live
under the like government we desire his Majesty that commis-
sioners may be sent over with authority to hang us."
However quaint and even comical the ancient spelling and
phraseology may appear to us, it is evident that these men were
in deadly earnest.
John Chew was one of the thirty signers of that document.
[206]
YCftK
vn
,£•22.
ROGER PRESTON CHEW 209
He was evidently a notable man in his day. He was regarded as
one of the ablest merchants in Virginia. His earlier terms in the
House of Burgesses were as a representative of Hogg's Island.
From 1642 to 1644 he represented York County. From 1634 to
1652 he was a Justice of the Peace for York County. Apparently
he moved to Maryland after something more than thirty years'
residence in Virginia. He is known to have had several sons,
among whom are mentioned Samuel, Joseph and John.
Our space will not permit a detailed history of Colonel Chew's
ancestry, all of which is set forth with essential accuracy in the
third volume of the "'History of West Virginia and Its People,"
on pages 1085 to 1088. Suffice it here to say that the line of de-
scent was from John Chew to his son Samuel Chew to his son
Joseph Chew, to his son Joseph (2), to his son - - Chew, to his
son John Chew, to his son Roger Chew. Roger Chew (1) was
born July 13, 1797, in Loudoun County, Virginia, and died in
Jefferson County in 1863. He was a farmer, a substantial citizen,
a leader in his community, and most highly respected.
He married Sara West Aldridge, daughter of John and
Harriet (West) Aldridge, of "The Glebe," Loudoun County, Vir-
ginia. Of this marriage there were six children, of whom Roger
Preston was the second son and the second child.
Colonel Chew was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, April
9, 1843. When he was four years of age his father moved to
Jefferson County. When he became of suitable age, the lad at-
tended the Charles Town Academy and in 1859 became a cadet at
the Virginia Military Institute.
He was in the second class at the Institute at the outbreak of
the Civil War. In April, 1861, he went with the Confederates to
Richmond, Virginia, under Major Thomas J. Jackson, and for a
while was engaged there in drilling volunteers from the Southern
States. Though only a little past eighteen, he had the advantage
given by a military education. In a short time he was ordered
to Harper's Ferry in charge of a squad of eleven cadets, and re-
ported to Col. T. J. Jackson, under whom he acted as a drill-
master for a short time. He then began his career as a soldier in
the Army of the Confederacy as Acting Lieutenant of Doshler's
Battery in Greenbrier County, Virginia. After about two months
of service there, he, with Milton Rouss and James W. Thomson
(both fellow ex-cadets of the Virginia Military Institute), at the
request of General Turner Ashby, organized a company of ar-
tillery. Chew was made Captain, Rouss First Lieutenant, James
W. McCarthy, Virginia Military Institute, Second Lieutenant,
and Thomson, Jr., Second Lieutenant. Upon the suggestion of
General Ashby the men were all mounted. This, the first battery
of "flying artillery" in the Confederate service, was attached to
General Ashby's brigade; served under that gallant officer with
Ashby's cavalry during his life, and was near him when he was
210 EOGEE PRESTON CHEW
killed at Harrisonburg on June 6, 1862. It led the advance and
covered the retreat of Jackson's army in his famous campaigns in
the Valley.
In 1863 General Stuart's famous Horse Artillery came into
existence. It consisted of a battalion of five batteries, commanded
by Major Beckham; and one of those batteries was commanded
by the boyish Captain Chew. Chew's battery and Stuart's Horse
Artillery soon won renown.
In 1864 the Major commanding was transferred to the West ;
and Captain Chew succeeded to the command with the rank of
Major. Later a reorganization took place, resulting in the form-
ing of five battalions of two batteries each, each battalion having
a Major as commander, with Chew promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel as commander of the whole. He was assigned
to General Hampton's cavalry corps, as Chief of the Artillery, and
served in that capacity until the close of hostilities.
The young soldier of twenty-one, with his twelve hundred
artillerymen and his forty guns made a record which the oldest
veteran might envy. In this connection it is eminently fit to
reproduce extracts from his superior officers, referring to the
service and ability of the young soldier, who, though little more
than a boy in years, so conducted himself and so handled his com-
mand as to win the highest commendation from General Lee, the
greatest American soldier, and others including his immediate
chief, General W. N. Pendleton, who was commander of all the
artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia.
In a letter from General Jackson to General Lee, referring to
the general question of promotion of officers, occurs the following
paragraph :
"In my opinion the interests of the service would be injured
if I should quietly consent to see officers with whose qualifications
I am not acquainted promoted to my command to fill vacancies,
regardless of the merits of my own officers, who are well qualified
for the positions. The same principle leads me, w^hen selections
have to be made outside of my command, to recommend those (if
there be such) whose former service with me proved them well
qualified for filling the vacancies. This induced me to recommend
Captain Chew, who does not belong to this army corps, but whose
well-earned reputation when with me has not been forgotten."
General Thomas T. Munford, for four years a cavalry officer,
who knew Jackson and Chew both intimately, in a letter written
on January 12, 1906, to Mr. W. McVicar, in speaking in the
highest terms of General Turner Ashby, under whom he had
served, said:
"Chew's battery was Ashby's pet ; and it was under the
ROGER PRESTON CHEW 211
gallant Chew, as much Ashby's right arm as Ashby was the right
arm of Stonewall Jackson, and no man or men in his whole com-
mand and in his whole career did more to bring out his glory.
"I don't believe any army ever had a better battery of horse
artillery than Captain Chew, in the campaign of 1862. Chew
had the dash; and he was educated as a soldier at the Virginia
Military Institute under Jackson, and was greatly admired by
Jackson.
"I mention this simply to show that I had an opportunity
to know his opinion (Jackson's) of Chew's horse artillery. He
told me more than once that he never knew a better battery."
On April 6, 1864, General J. E. B. Stuart, then a corps com-
mander, wrote General Pendleton, Chief of Artillery, the follow-
ing letter :
"GENERAL :
"Your note concerning Bearing is just received. Major Chew,
the officer now in charge of the Stuart Horse Artillery, is doing
so well that I am disinclined to put any one over him, although I
have a high appreciation of the officer you propose. I think Chew
will answer as the permanent commander, and being identified
with the horse artillery, is therefore desirable to others.
Most respectfully yours,
(Signed) J. E. B. STUART,
Major General."
On March 13, 1888, in a letter written by Lieutenant General
Wade Hampton to his friend Senator John E. Kenna, of West
Virginia, occurs the following paragraph :
"Chew was here a year or two ago, and I was delighted to
see him. I always regarded him as the best commander of the
horse artillery, though that gallant body of men had been under
the command at different times of very able and efficient officers.
"Should you see Chew, give him my best regards."
Major General M. C. Butler, in a letter written March 7,
1904, to Mr. Thornton T. Perry, of Charles Town, West Virginia,
said :
"I beg to say that I first met Chew in the Army of Northern
Virginia when he was a Captain of a battery of horse artillery,
and from that time to the end he was a conspicuous figure in that
dashing branch of the service. I was with him on many trying
occasions, and he was one of the coolest men in battle I was ever
associated with. He was then a very young man, boyish in appear-
ance; but no veteran in any army stood the shock of battle with
more courage and composure than Chew. Young and handsome,
212 ROGER PRESTON CHEW
a superb horseman, always cool and self-possessed, he was the
beau ideal of a battery commander, and later as a commander
of a battalion of horse artillery.
"He was the most companionable, agreeable comrade in
camp, and as dashing a dare-devil in battle as ever drew a sword.
"I can scarcely find words to express my admiration and
regard for Colonel Chew as a soldier and a man. Our relations
have always been of the most pleasant character, and I am grati-
fied that you give me this opportunity to pay this inadequate
tribute to his character.
"What a splendid lot of young fellows of the horse artillery
in that incomparable army — Pelham, Chew, Breathed, Hart, Mc-
Gregor and others ! I can pay Chew no higher compliment than
to say he was the peer of the best of them."
General Thomas L. Rosser, in a letter written March 16, 1904,
said:
"I will say that Colonel R. Preston Chew commanded the
Horse Artillery of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Northern
Virginia after the death of the 'Immortal' Pelham; and there
was not an officer of his rank who stood higher in the estimation
of our higher officers, in point of courage, military ability and
enterprise than he; and there was no one of greater popularity
or influence among our generals, or one who commanded greater
respect or inspired greater confidence among the fighting men
than Chew; and I regard him as one of the very best artillery
officers that I ever knew ; and indeed one of the very best officers
of his rank in the Confederate Army."
General M. L. Lomax, under date of March 22, 1904, wrote :
"I knew Colonel Chew well during the War, and I can truth-
fully say that he was one of the best officers I ever knew. He was
especially cool under fire, and through the discipline of his com-
mand made his battery always effective and reliable.
"He was a universal favorite with his commanders, who
strived to have the battery attached to their commands.
"My admiration of him as a soldier is only equalled by that
as a gentleman."
In a personal letter written by General Thomas T. Munford
to Chew, under date of October 1, 1903, too long for reproduction
here, he recalls many of the incidents of the War, notably one
where he used this language :
"It was the dogged determination of Ashby with his ubiqui-
tous battery of Chew that kept back Fremont's pressing column.
As our rear guard with that battery and the cavalry fought every
ROGER PRESTON CHEW 213
step of the way from Strasburg to Cross Keys where glorious
Ashby yielded up his life."
Later on, he says :
"I do not believe the Confederate Army ever had two bat-
teries equal to Breathed's and Chew's."
General Munford had formed a very strong personal attach-
ment for Colonel Chew during the period in 1862 when he was
commander of the cavalry brigade to which Chew's battery was
attached.
On July 1, 1861, S. Crutchfield, Acting Commandant of the
Virginia Military Institute, wrote a letter highly recommending
Colonel Chew, who had just finished his course as a student there,
and stating that he believed that Chew would make a most capable
and efficient officer. Colonel Crutchfield was a true prophet.
In a letter written by General Thomas L. Rosser, October 13,
1904, to Mr. Charles W. McVicar, of Newport News, Virginia,
appears a remarkable paragraph. It must be borne in mind that
Rosser and Chew were intimately associated during the War, and
that in the history of Rosser's Brigade, Chew and his battalion
come in for frequent mention, always of a complimentary char-
acter. In view of that fact, and this personal knowledge of Gen-
eral Rosser, the statement in this letter carries with it remarkable
force. It is in these words :
"The Horse Artillery of the Confederate Army was by far the
most gallant organization in it, and its history, if correctly writ-
ten, would be the mere recounting of daring episodes and heroic
achievements. The names of Pelham, the two Chews (John and
Preston), Breathed, Thompson, McGregor, and others I could
mention, are immortal ; and, if I were financially able, I would
erect a monument in our Capital City (Richmond) with those
heroic men standing at the guns."
General Jackson, in writing to General Lee, February 19,
1863, says :
"These remarks are applied to Captain R. P. Chew, who
commands the Ashby battery, which is with Brigadier General
W. E. Jones. Captain Chew has seen comparatively much artil-
lery service in the valley, and is a remarkably fine artillery officer,
and I recommend that he be promoted and assigned."
General Hampton, at Burgess' Mill, November 21, 1864, says :
"Major Chew as in all previous fights of the command behaved
admirably and handled his artillery to great advantage. I beg to
recommend him for promotion."
214 ROGER PRESTON CHEW
The day before General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court
House, Colonel Chew with some of his batteries, made his escape
around the flank of Grant's army, and marched to Greensboro,
North Carolina, with the intention of joining General Joseph E.
Johnston ; and was included a little later in the surrender of
Johnston's army to Sherman.
Colonel Chew appears to have met in his military record with
the commendation of every officer under whom he served. No
apology is needed for introducing these extracts into a work which
is of historic as well as biographic value, for the great deeds per-
formed by the Army of Northern Virginia, from now on, will be
held as a priceless heritage by all the people of the United States,
South and North ; and it is important that the facts should be
accurately stated.
Aside from these letters, which speak for themselves, mention
has been made in a great many places of Colonel Chew and his
famous battalion; as in Miss Mary Johnston's "The Long Roll,"
"Surry of Eagle's Nest," and Neese's "History of Chew's Bat-
tery," beside incidental mention in numerous other works.
When the war ended, Colonel Chew, still a very young man,
took up the duties of peace. He retired to his farm and settled
down to the occupation which had been followed by his father and
grandfather. But the reputation which he had made as a soldier
had made of him a marked man, while his personal qualities and
his good citizenship made of him a popular man.
In 1885, his people sent him to the general assembly of his
State, re-elected him in 1887 and in 1889. During these six years
of service he became the leader of the House, and for a part of the
time was chairman of the finance committee. A Democrat in his
political affiliations, he has never been much enamored of politics,
and his service in the general assembly was more in the nature of
a performance of civic duty than of any political ambition or
partisan activity.
Colonel Chew was selected to deliver the main address on the
occasion of the dedication of the Stonewall Jackson statue by Sir
Moses Ezekiel at the Virginia Military Institute, June 19, 1912,
and it was a worthy effort.
He has been interested from time to time in various enter-
prises, especially of real estate concerns. His operations have
carried him as far west as Chicago and into coal land deals in
southern West Virginia. He has been interested in the Land Im-
provement Company, the Charles Town W7ater Company, and is
now a director in the Northern Virginia Power Company, and sev-
eral other enterprises.
His business career in peace has been as successful and as
creditable to him as was his distinguished record in war.
Colonel Chew married at Blakely, Jefferson County, West
Virginia, Louisa Fontaine Washington, born at Mt. Vernon, Feb-
ROGER PRESTON CHEW 215
ruary 19, 1814, daughter of John Augustine Washington, one of
the descendants of a brother of General George Washington, and
the last owner of Mt. Vernon, where all of his children were born.
John Augustine Washington, born May 30, 1820, joined the
Confederate Army on the outbreak of the war, and, while serving
as an aid to General Robert E. Lee, was killed at Valley Moun-
tain, West Virginia, September 15, 1881.
The children of Colonel Chew's marriage:
Christine Washington, born September 19, 1872 ; attended
Powell School at Richmond, Va. ; married February 2, 1905,
Brantz Mayer Roszel, born March 16, 1868, Ph. D., of Johns Hop-
kins University, and now principal of the Shenandoah Military
Academy, at Winchester, Va.
2. Roger, born May 3, 1874; was graduated at Stephens' In-
stitute in 1897, and is now chemist of the Standard Oil Company's
laboratory at Bayonne, N. J.
3. John Augustine, born October 27, 1876, died in 1882.
4. Virginia, born May 29, 1878, died December 25, 1894.
5. Wilson Selden, born September 28, 1880, died 1881.
6. Margaret Preston, born February 1, 1884, educated at
Powhatan College.
Any one who has followed this brief sketch will agree with
the opening statement.
The coat of arms of the Chew family, which is descended
from John Chew, the immigrant, is thus described:
Gules, a chevron argent, on a chief azure, three leopards'
faces or.
JOHN GREENE CORLEY
JOHN GREENE CORLEY, of Richmond, Virginia, head of
the great music house, known as the Corley Company, In-
corporated, is a native of Tennessee, and is descended from
an English family, which Barber (an English authority)
says was of Norman origin.
The Corley family of Tennessee was founded by two "Caw-
ley" brothers, who came to America just prior to the Revolution-
ary period. These brothers differed as to the proper spelling of
the name, and William Cawley (or Corley) claimed that the
proper way to spell the name was "Corley," his brother, however,
spelled the name "Colley" and settled in middle Tennessee.
William Corley, the great-grandfather of John Greene Cor-
ley, served in the Revolutionary Army under the command of
General Wayne, and after the conclusion of the war married Miss
Roundtree, of Kentucky, and settled in Smith County, Tennessee.
By this marriage there were five boys and six girls, namely : R.
Dudley Corley, John J. Corley, Larkin Corley, Seth Corley, Wil-
liam Corley, Patsy Corley, Rebecca Corley, Bettie Corley, Mary
Corley, Nancy Corley and Fannie Corley. He lived to be an old
man and drew a pension as a Revolutionary soldier.
John Greene Corley was born in Nashville, Tenn., on June 20,
1863, and was the son of John Buchanan and Harriet (Lowe)
Corley. His grandfather, John J. Corley, was a prominent farmer
and stock raiser of Davidson County, Tennessee, and as a young
man bought property in Davidson County, near Nashville, and
married Ellen Newhouse. Of this marriage there were three sons
and one daughter: John Buchanan, Joseph W., Seth D., and
Elizabeth Corley.
Mr. Corley's maternal grandfather wras Pinkney E. Lowe,
Esq., of Hartsville, Tenn. His mother's brother, Major John
Greene Lowe, for whom Mr. Corley was named, entered the Con-
federate Army in the spring of '61. He was second lieutenant of
Company "C," of the Twenty-third Regiment of Tennessee Vol-
unteers, and he served as lieutenant until after the battle of Shiloh
and after that battle he was made captain of the company. In
June, '62, he was elected major of the Twenty-third Regiment on
the battlefield of Farmington, Miss. At the reorganization of the
army of General Bragg he was unanimously elected major, which
position he held until the surrender at Appomattox.
John G. Corley received his education through private tutors,
and in 1887, as a young man of twenty-four, he located in Rich-
mond, becoming an employe of the music house of Sanders and
Stayman, who had established a piano wareroom at No. 1217 East
Main Street. It was the small beginning of what is now the largest
[216]
JOHN GREENE CORLEY 219
music house in the Southern States. In 1890, the firm name was
changed to the Richmond Music Company, and the location to No.
7 East Broad Street. It was the pioneer music house on Broad
Street. The business grew steadily and rapidly, necessitating
larger quarters, and a move was then made to the present loca-
tion, at No. 213 East Broad Street. Mr. Corley had, during these
years, been steadily growing in knowledge of the business and
had developed marked capacity. When, in 1885, the Cable Com-
pany, of Chicago, said to be the world's largest manufacturers of
pianos, took over the business of the Richmond Music Company,
establishing a branch under the name of the Cable Company, cov-
ering the territory of the two Virginias, North Carolina and part
of South Carolina, it naturally followed that Mr. Corley became
the general manager of this business. He conducted it so success-
fully for a number of years that, in October, 1911, he was able to
organize a local stock company, with a capital of two hundred
thousand dollars, which took over the business of the Cable Com-
pany, and now the Corley Company, which continues to control
the Cable pianos in this territory, has built up a wridely extended
wholesale and retail trade. The company does business as far
south as Jacksonville, Fla., and New Orleans, La., as far west as
St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., and even goes to the northwest as
far as Minneapolis. It has recently acquired property on Grace
Street, in the rear of its present location, which it proposes to
improve in the near future, and which will give them a building
with two street frontages and a depth of three hundred and fifteen
feet. The sales of this company have reached an annual volume of
more than five hundred thousand dollars, which in that particular
business is a very large figure. In a recent article published in a
Richmond newspaper, it is stated that the Corley Company, dur-
ing its quarter century of history, has done more for the develop-
ment of the musical taste of Richmond than all other agencies
combined, and that its great success is a striking illustration of
what can be accomplished by a strict adherence to sound business
principles, undeviating courtesy to patrons, and everlastingly go-
ing after business. The success of the business, which has been
due primarily to its head (Mr. Corley being president of the com-
pany), is all the evidence needed as to John Greene Corley's busi-
ness ability.
He has not, however, narrowed himself within the walls of
his own business establishment. He has been a useful citizen in
the community, being at this time vice-chairman of the Richmond
Citv School Board; member of the Board of Trustees of the Wo-
«/
man's College; member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber
of Commerce; President of the Wednesday Club; President of
the Rotary Club, and member of the Country Club of Virginia.
He inclines to the Baptist Church, and his political affiliation is
with the Democratic party.
Mr. Corley was married in Richmond, on December 24, 1889,
220 JOHN GREENE CORLEY
to Lillian Gray Towles, of Orange County, Virginia, daughter of
Thomas Reveley and Bettie Cave (Gray) Towles. The only sur-
viving child of this marriage is a son, Frank Winston Corley, now
a young man, an alumnus of Richmond College. Another son.
Alec McKenzie Corley, died in infancy. Mrs. Corley is in the sev-
enth generation from Henry Towles, the immigrant. In Great
Britain this is a very rare name and appears under the form of
Towle. It is apparently of Scottish origin, though it is certain
that the name was known in Derbyshire, England, in 1600.
Henry Towles came to Virginia certainly prior to 1670, and
married, in what was then Accomac County (now Northampton),
Ann Stockley, or Stokely, daughter of Francis Stockley, whose
will is recorded in Eastville, Northampton County, Virginia, un-
der date of 1655. This Francis Stockley was a very prominent
figure in his day. The name appears more often than otherwise
under the form of Stokely, and Burke, the standard English au-
thority, gives both names as correct. The issue of the first mar-
riage was Henry Towles, born in 1670, died in 1734. Henry Towles
(2), son of Henry (1), moved across the bay and settled in Lan-
caster County, where he built the old Towles homestead, at Towles
Point, Millenbeck. He was a planter by occupation, and by his
marriage with Hannah Therriott had five children : Stockley,
Judith, Ann, Elizabeth and Jane Towles. Stockley, born in 1711,
died in 1765, was a planter, clerk of the Lancaster County court
and a vestryman in old Christ Church Parish. He married, on
July 26, 1736, Elizabeth Martin, daughter of Thomas and Cath-
erine Martin. They had six children : Henry, Stockley, Thomas,
Elizabeth, Ann and Nancy. Henry, the oldest son, married Judith
Haynes ; Stockley married Elizabeth Downman ; Thomas married
Mary Smith ; Elizabeth married Robert Currell ; Ann married a
Mr. Revelev.
*/
Keeping to the direct line, Stockley, in the fourth generation
from the immigrant, the second son of Stockley, moved from Lan-
caster County to Goochland, and thence to Spottsylvania. He was
an attorney-at-law, a Revolutionary soldier, and served on the staff
of General Washington with the rank of captain. He was born on
February 21, 1752, married Elizabeth Downman, daughter of Rob-
ert and Elizabeth (Porters) Downman. The children of Major
Stockley Towles were Elizabeth, Mildred, Nancy, Catherine, Port-
ers, Thomas, Stockley (III), William and Raleigh Downman
Towles. Thomas Towles, son of Major Stockley, was married
twice. His second wife was Keturah George, daughter of William
and Elizabeth (Arms) George. His first wife was Ann Stubble-
field, and his five children were all born of the first marriage.
These children were Thomas Reveley, Frances, Mary Catherine,
Julia and Robert Towles.
Thomas Reveley Towles was the son of Thomas Towles and
his wife, nee Ann Stubblefield. He was born in 1820, died in
1864, was a merchant by occupation, married in 1859 Bettie Cave
JOHN GREENE CORLEY 221
Gray, who was born in Culpeper in 1836. They wTere married at
Madison Court House, though Thomas R. Towles lived in Orange
County. Bettie Cave Gray was the daughter of Thomas and Sallie
(Lucas) Gray. Lillian Gray Towles, daughter of Thomas R.
Towles, was married on December 24, 1889, to John Greene Cor-
ley. The direct line of descent is thus: Henry (1), Henry (2),
Stockley (1), Stockley (2), Thomas, Thomas Reveley and Lillian
Grav.
i/
Mrs. Corley is a Daughter of the American Revolution by two
lines of descent. Major Stockley Towles has already been men-
tioned. In the maternal line, her great-grandfather was Gabriel
Gray, a Scotchman born. He located in Culpeper, Va., was a mem-
ber of the Episcopal Church, enlisted in the Revolutionary Army
with the Culpeper Minute Men and was quartermaster sergeant.
In the southern campaign he fought at the battle of Guilford,
where he was wounded, and later at Eutaw Springs. He was pen-
sioned in 1832 and died about 1844. He married Rebecca Wilson,
of Amelia County, Virginia. They had ten children. Their ninth
child was Thomas Wilson Gray, who married Sallie Withers
Lucas, of Fredericksburg, Va. They had seven children. Their
third child, Bettie Cave Grav, married Thomas Revelev Towles.
€/ J I/
Mrs. Corley is the only surviving child of this marriage.
Not in her direct line, but a descendant of Henry Towles, the
immigrant, was Colonel Oliver Towles, of Spottsylvania, who was
made a captain in the Continental Army on January 29, 17TG,
and served unbrokenly until January 1, 1783, rising to the rank
of lieutenant-colonel.
That Henry Towles had a coat of arms is demonstrated by
the impression on an old deed of a wax seal showing a lion pass-
ant. This imperfect description is all that can be given, because
in no English publication can be found a more complete one.
It is evident that, from a very ancient period, there has been
a disagreement as to the form of the Corley name among its hold-
ers. Also there is a difference of opinion among the genealogists
as to its derivation. One authority says that it is of Norman or-
igin, derived from the locality of "Cuilly" in Normandy. Another
says it is from the Irish "Macauley" or "Macawley." It is, of
course, impossible, at this time, to be certain of the derivation of
a name eight hundred years old, about which the doctors differ.
The Cawleys seem to have been established in County Sussex, Eng-
land, in 1600, and it is probable that the Tennessee family came
from that county. In Cheshire, England, three spellings were
found in 1600 — Corley, Cawley and Colley. It will be seen from
this that the difficulties existed in England before they were
transferred to Tennessee.
The Cawley coat of arms (which is the original form of this
name) is thus described:
"Sable a chevron ermine betwen three swans' heads, erased at
the neck argent.'7
r ^HE
m<
St
JAMES GASTON DUNSMORE
Dunsmore Business College, of Staunton, one of the
most successful institutions of its kind in the United
States, and one which has a nationwide reputation for the
thoroughness of its work, is the product of the faith and
ability and persistence of one man. That man, James Gaston
Dunsmore, was born at Sinks Grove, Monroe County, Virginia
(now West Virginia), on October 22, 1848, son of George Wash-
ington and Amanda Melvina (Crews) Dunsmore.
His father was a farmer, the grandson of James Dunsmore
(1), who settled at Sinks Grove in the earlier years of 1700, and
belonged to a family originally Scotch, but then located in Ire-
land. James Dunsmore (1) had three sons: James (2), Joseph
(2) and William (2). James (2) was twice married. Of the first
marriage there was only one child, who died in infancy. He mar-
ried secondly Margaret Reed, and of this marriage were born :
Elizabeth (3), John (3), Margaret (3), Hannah (3), George
Washington (3), Andrew Lewis (3) and Mary Ann (3). The sons
were all farmers, and the daughters all became farmers' wives.
The entire family connection being settled in the immediate
neighborhood where James (1) located.
George Washington Dunsmore (3) married Amanda Melvina
Crews, and they were the parents of two children : James Gas-
ton (4) and Mary Martha (4). The latter married James W. Ellis
of Wolf Creek, W. Va., and of this marriage there were two chil-
dren: Lula Elner (5) and Mabel (5). Mrs. Ellis died in 1892.
The Dunsmore family name is of Scotch origin. The first
form of the name is stated to have been ^Dinsmoor," then we come
upon the variations, "Dinsmore," "Dinsmuir," "Dunsmore," and
vet another variation, sometimes found in Scotland, "Dunmure."
b
The Dunsmore family history, in so far as it is known, dates
back to about 1600. Rev. Dr. John W. Dinsmore, D. D., of Blooin-
ington, 111., gives as the probable origin of the patronymic: "I
have no doubt but that the original ancestor wrote (if he could
write) 'Dunsemoor' (dunse, a little hill, and moor, heath). He
probably lived on, or by, a little hill at the edge of the heath or
moor." The first known man to whom reference can now be made
lived in the south of Scotland, near the River Tweed, bore the
name Dinsmoor, and was known as the Laird of Achenmead. This
was a courtesy title given to land owners in Scotland w^ho farmed
out their land to tenants. This man had certainly two sons. The
[222]
C/ *_ -<_-/>
r
JAMES GASTON DUNSMORE 225
younger of these two sons, when seventeen or eighteen years old,
being ordered to stand uncovered and hold the off-stirrup of his
elder brother's saddle when he mounted his horse, became offended
with his father and brother for trying to put such a humiliation
upon him, ran away from home and went to Ireland. This younger
son, John Dinsmoor (2), became the ancestor of the family set-
tled in the Parish of Ballywattick, Ballymoney, County Antrim,
Ireland, from whom all the American families of Dinsmore and
Dunsmore are descended. This original Irish settler lived to the
great age of ninety-nine. He was fifty years married and twenty-
nine years a widower. He gained high standing in his com-
munity as a man of good morals, strong sense and a pious life.
A description of the coat of arms, written by Robert Dins-
more, of Ballywattick, on August 12, 1794, to his kinsman, John
Dinsmoor, in Windham, New Hampshire, is given as follows : "A
farm laid down on a plate, of a green color, with three wheat
sheaves set upright in the center, of a yellow color," all emblemat-
ical of husbandry and agriculture. In all the generations they
have adhered very closely to the land, and it was but natural
that thev should choose such a shield as this for the familv colors.
V •/
This founder of the Irish family, John Dinsmoor (2), was
born about 1650, and the date of his leaving his father's home is
set at about 1667. Going to the north of Ireland, where thousands
of Scotchmen were already settled in the Province of Ulster, he
located in the Parish of Ballywattick.
John (3), son of John (2), born in Ballywattick about 1671,
came to America in 1723. He was then well advanced in middle
life and had a family. After going through long hardships, being
taken prisoner by the Indians, and having numerous adventures,
he located in the Scottish settlement of Londonderry, New Hamp-
shire, being acquainted with many of the settlers there. Being a
stone mason, he built for himself a stone house in that part of the
town which is now known as Windham.
Kobert (4), son of John (3), born in Ireland in 1692, married
Margaret Orr in Ireland, and with his wife and four children came
to New Hampshire in 1730. He was prominent in the town, filled
various public positions, and his last years were spent upon the
farm owned in 1891 by Edwin O. Dinsmoor, a descendant four
generations removed. Robert (4) died October 14, 1751, and his
wife died June 2, 1752.
This New Hampshire branch of the Dinsmoor (or Dinsmore)
family has furnished many strong men to the country — Colonel
Silas Dinsmoor, for example, one of the notable Indian agents of
our earlier period, a man of great versatility and marked ability,
born in Windham in 1766 and died at Bellevue, Kentucky, in 1847.
In the sixth generation from the common ancestor appears Robert
Dinsmoor, known as "the rustic bard," whose poems (written in
the Scotch dialect) were published. This Robert had a brother
226 JAMES GASTON DUNSMORE
Samuel, who was a graduate of Dartmouth College. He married a
daughter of General Reid, of Revolutionary fame, became a mem-
ber of Congress and governor of New Hampshire. His son, Samuel,
also became governor of New Hampshire. Margaret Dinsmoor, a
sister of "the rustic bard," and the elder governor, married Deacon
Samuel Morrison, and their son, Jeremiah Morrison, was the
father of the Hon. Leonard Allison Morrison, who served in both
houses of the New Hampshire legislature, and was the author of
"The History of the Dinsmoor Family in Scotland, Ireland and
America," which history included the story of the sixteen first set-
tlers of Londonderry, New Hampshire. Then there was the Rev.
Cadford M. Dinsmoor, of Exeter, New Hampshire, a prominent
Methodist clergyman. Next is the Hon. James Dinsmoor, of Ster-
ling, 111., who was born in Windham in 1818, graduated at Dart-
mouth in 1841, settled in Lowell, Mass., served in the Massachu-
setts legislature, moved to Sterling, 111., in 1856, and for four
years was a member of the Illinois legislature. He is the author
of a brief history of the Dinsmoor family, of seventy-five pages,
which is embodied in "The History of Windham, New Hampshire."
It is one of the most valuable family histories extant, and is a
monument to the great industry and love of kindred possessed by
its honored author. The Hon. Albert E. Pillsbury, a brilliant
«/ 7
lawyer, and Attorney General of Mississippi, was the son of Eliza-
beth Dinsmoor, who was a sister of the Hon. James Dinsmoor.
Last, but not least, we come to William B. Dinsmoor, long-time
president of the Adams Express Company, the largest express
company in the world. He was a man of massive physique, great
mental powers, a marvelous capacity for business and an inex-
haustible fund of wit and humor.
The New Hampshire family and its descendants comprise the
largest branch of the family in America. Next in numbers comes
the Pennsylvania family, which had two founders, Adam Dins-
moor, who was in the third generation from the original Laird
Dinsmoor, who was born in Ireland in 1675, and spent his life
there, but his three sons emigrated to America, settling in eastern
Pennsylvania, and have numerous descendants, a number of whom
were notable men in their generations, but whom we have not
space here to mention. The other branch of the Pennsylvania
family is descended from Robert, also born in the north of Ireland,
and who was in the fourth generation from Laird Dinsmoor. The
Mississippi family was founded by Adam Dinsmoor, who was
born in Ireland, and who was probably in the fourth generation
from Laird Dinsmoor. His children changed the spelling of their
name to Dinsmore. A conspicuous figure in Mississippi in our
own generation is John Robert Dinsmore, of Macon, Mississippi,
a successful lawyer and prominent in the political life of the State.
The Virginia Dunsmores, and their line, have already been referred
to.
JAMES GASTON DUNSMORE 227
James Gaston Dunsmore received his early educational train-
ing in the local country schools and later attended the Rocky Point
Academy at Sinks Grove, W. Va. This was prior to the Civil War.
During the war his schooling was limited to a few months of the
winter time in each year. Determined, however, upon an educa-
tion, while working on the farm he studied at home, and at night
walked a mile to the little village of Rocky Point where he recited
his lessons and received instruction from Professor A. A. Nickell,
a capable and scholarly teacher. After the Civil War, Mr. Duns-
more attended the Rocky Point Academv, and in 18G7 was made
t/ 1/7
assistant teacher by Professor Nickell, who was principal. He
continued to study under him until the summer of 1868, when he
took a teacher's examination from the County Superintendent of
Public Instruction, and enlisted as a teacher. He did not, how-
ever, discontinue his studies. He worked hard over his books in
his boarding house. A farmer's boy himself, it came to him during
these years of hard work that there were many farmers' boys,
like himself, who, on account of lack of means and their environ-
ment, would never be able to go further than a public school. Then,
as now, he had a great interest in the farmer's boy and his prepa-
ration for life's battle. He believed that he was capable of being
more than "a hewer of wood and a carrier of water." Even then
his mind had been made up to make teaching his life work. He
cast about him to see in what way he could be most useful in the
largest sense. There were but few commercial colleges in the
country at that time, except in the very large cities. He decided
that a commercial education would fit young men, in less time and
at less expense, for the duties of life than any other kind of train-
ing. Having come to this conclusion, he left his home and his
young wife and went to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he enrolled
himself on July 22, 1871, in the Eastman National Business Col-
lege, and went through their full course of commercial training,
with a view to becoming himself a teacher in this line. He was
graduated December 18, 1871, with the degree of Master of Ac-
counts. On December 23, 1871, he returned home, and after a
few weeks' rest took charge of the public school connected with
the Rocky Point Academy at Sinks Grove, W. Va.
On February 22, 1872, he founded (in that remote country
place) the Dunsmore Business College, which he successfully con-
ducted in connection with the public school for eight years, until
March, 1880, when he moved to Staunton and connected his col-
lege with the Hoover Select High School for Boys and Young Men.
Two years later, in 1882, at the solicitation of his friends, he cut
loose from the Hoover School and founded a school which was
purely commercial in all of its branches. For five years of his
earlier life in Staunton, while maintaining his own school, he
taught classes at the Augusta Female Seminary (now the Mary
Baldwin Seminary), in the Virginia Female Institute (now Stuart
228 JAMES GASTON DUNSMORE
Hall), in the Wesleyan Female Institute (now discontinued),
and in Staunton Female Seminary (now discontinued). But
his business college was growing, and the pressure from that di-
rection became so great that, in 1887, he was compelled to abandon
this outside teaching. In the meanwhile, his college had been in-
corporated by the legislature and its charter approved by the
Governor on November 29, 1884.
It will be seen that Professor Dunsiuore has been engaged in
educational work for about forty-five years, and in the commercial
side of educational work for forty-two years. His school ranks
now as one of the oldest in the country. The thoroughness of his
work, and the splendid record made by his students, won for him
outside recognition, and on January 15, 1891, he was made a mem-
ber of the Institute of Accounts in New York City. On June 15,
1891, he took the degree of Certified Accountant. On April 21,
1896, he took the degree of Fellow of the Institute of Accounts
(New York City). On March 15, 1901, he became a member of the
National Association of Accountants and Bookkeepers, at Detroit,
Michigan. On September 1, 1903, he became a member of the Com-
mercial Teachers' Federation at its convention then being held in
Cincinnati, Ohio. On March 4, 1907, he affiliated with the Na-
tional Geographic Society, Washington, D. C.
By the charter granted his school in 1884, the president of it
was authorized to confer upon worthy graduates the degree of
Master of Accounts. During the thirty-four years of his work in
Staunton, his school has received recognition as one of those main-
taining the highest standard. Of his graduates, thousands of
young men and women are now holding positions of trust and
honor in the largest financial and business concerns of the country.
Professor Dunsmore has a rather unique motto for his college.
The Latin word "Negotium," which is generally accepted to mean
'"business,'' has been divided into the two original words, "Nego-
otium," the liberal translation of which means: "I deny myself
all pleasure and self-indulgence for the sake of business."
In his church relations, he is a Presbyterian, which is but
natural for one of his descent. He is a Master Mason in Staunton
Lodge, No. 13, a member of the Union Royal Arch Chapter, No. 2,
of Stephenson Commandery, No. 8, of Staunton, and of A. A. O.
N. M. S. Acca Temple, Richmond, Va.
Professor Dunsmore has been twice married; first, on Febru-
ary 8, 1871, at Second Creek, W. Va., to Sarah Ellen Nickell, born
at Pickaway, W. Va., in 1854, daughter of George Washington and
Caroline B. Nickell. Of this marriage were born : Lawrence East-
man Dunsmore, a graduate of Dunsmore Business College, sales-
man for the Pettit Company, Richmond, Va., who married Estelle
H. Hiter. They have three children : Lawrence Eastman, Henry
Hiter and James Gaston Dunsmore. The second son, Homer
Washington Dunsmore, is a farmer at Fishersville, Va., who mar-
JAMES GASTON DUNSMORE 229
ried Sarah Hart Humphreys. They have one child, Ruby Juanita
Dunsmore. The third son, James Walter Dunsmore, is a farmer
and stock man at Oliver Gulch, Montana, who married Henrietta
-, and has no children. The next son, George Gilbert Duns-
more, is a graduate of the Dunsmore Business College and a mer-
chant at Rolla, Augusta County, Virginia. He married Julia Sut-
ton. They have five children : Leroy, Lacy, Julius Raymond, Gen-
evieve and Madeline Dunsmore. The next son, Stuart Baldwin
Dunsmore, is a graduate of the Dunsmore Business College, and is
cashier and bookkeeper for the Albemarle Telephone Company at
Charlottesville, Va. He married Ethel Hiserman, and they have
/ / t/
one child. The next son, Frederick Henkel Dunsmore, died in
infancy. The only daughter, Bessie Melvina Dunsmore, is a grad-
uate of the Dunsmore Business College, unmarried and at home.
The youngest child, Cecil Clay Dunsmore, died in his eighteenth
year.
Professor Dunsmore was married a second time, on Septem-
ber 8, 1892, at Lewisburg, West Virginia, to Mrs. Mary Julia Mc-
Clung, daughter of John W. and Nannie (Littlington) Alexander.
She was born at Deerfield, Augusta County, Virginia, on May 14,
1857. She married first John Stephenson, of Highland County,
Virginia, and after his death, Samuel Kyle McClung, of Green-
brier County, West Virginia. After Mr. McClung's death, she
married Professor Dunsmore, as stated. There are no children
by this marriage.
Professor Dunsmore has been a man of one work. His life
has centered around the schoolroom, and like all successful school-
masters, his heart has been in his work. He has tried to teach the
young men and women to lead pure lives and to become Christian
citizens, but he has no nostrum to present for the benefit of hu-
manity beyond the proper home training of our boys and girls,
and giving them the best educational advantages available. These
will fit them for the duties of life, and that is all that can be done
for them.
Never active in a political way, his affiliation, in that sense,
has always been with the Democratic party.
He has a creed, and this sketch of the life-work of a most use-
ful man can be concluded in no better words than the statement
of his creed : "Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your love and
tenderness sealed up until your friends are dead. Fill their lives
with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words while their
ears can hear them, and while their hearts can be thrilled and
made happier by them; the kind things you mean to say when
they are gone, say before they go. The flowers you mean to send
for their coffins, send to brighten and sweeten their homes before
they leave them. If my friends have alabaster boxes laid away,
full of fragrant perfumes of sympathy and affection, which they
intend to break over my dead body, I would rather they would
230 JAMES GASTON DUNSMORE
bring them out in my weary and troubled hours, and open them,
that I may be refreshed and cheered by them while I need them.
I would rather have a plain coffin without a flower, a funeral
without a eulogy, than a life without the sweetness of love and
sympathy. Let us learn to anoint our friends beforehand for
their burial. Post mortem kindness does not cheer the troubled
spirit. Flowers on the coffin cast no fragrance backward over
life's weary way."
Iprjr
5L2i2£ATIOj»9
JOHN GEORGE EBERWINE
a thousand years the Teutonic strain of blood has been
the greatest moving force in the world. Prior to that time,
what we call the Latin races, were the dominant force.
Rome, the ruler of the world down to the beginning of the
fourth century, had Latinized all of the more civilized portions
of the world, and had never met with serious check until she came
in conflict with the Teutonic races inhabiting what we now call
Germany. The Angles and Saxons, two of these Teutonic tribes,
followed the Romans into England, to which the Angles gave its
present name, and laid the foundation of England's greatness.
When the English Saxons went down before William the Con-
queror, they were neither destroyed nor absorbed, but in the end
absorbed the conquerors and gained additional strength by the
new strain of blood.
From England, America was the next step, and every student
of American nationality knows that the Teutonic or Saxon blood
is the dominant force.
The subject of this sketch, John George Eberwine, of Deans,
Virginia, is but one generation removed from the Fatherland.
His father, Jacob Eberwine, was born in the Kingdom of Wurtem-
burg, Germany, and came to America when a young man, in April,
1852. A year later he was followed by his sweetheart, Dorothy
Maish, and a month after her coming, in May, 1853, they were
married, and settled in Camden, New Jersey, where Jacob Eber-
wine worked at his trade of wheelwright. After five years in the
north, he moved to Virginia, in 1858, and settled at Churchland,
Norfolk County. He moved from Norfolk to Nansemond County,
and there John G. Eberwine was born on May 26, 1871.
He had country rearing and not very much schooling. He
attended the Yeates Free School in Nansemond County for a few
terms, and, as he himself says, ''was not very far advanced when
he quit."
In 1886, a boy of fifteen years, he commenced as a truck farmer
in a small way. He evidently developed exceptional capacity in
his chosen occupation, for after twenty-seven years of steady
labor, he is the owner of an estate of eight hundred and forty-nine
acres of land in one of the best trucking sections of the United
States. That his farming has been profitable is shown by the fact
that, in addition to developing his landed property, he has become
an investor in other lines of business, such as banks and rnanu-
[233]
234 JOHN GEORGE EBERWINE
facturing enterprises, and in several of these concerns is now a
director.
His inability to get as good an education as he would like to
have had has made of him a very strenuous friend of education.
He has for ten years been a member and vice-president of a literary
club; he is serving now as a member of the school board of the
Sleepy Hole District of Nansemoud County, and he has seen to it
that his children are getting the best in the way of educational
advantages.
Not a member of any church, but a believer in churches and
religion, he lives up in a practical way to the highest expression
of the Christian religion, and his friendship to the cause is so pro-
nounced that in the year 1912, he was called upon to serve on the
building committee of a new church erected in his section.
On March 25th he was elected to the Board of Directors of the
Peoples' Bank and Trust Company, of Norfolk, Virginia.
On November 8, 1893, Mr. Eberwine was married to Annie
Mildred Gaskins, born December 5, 1873, at Bennett Creek, Nanse-
mond County, daughter of John Richard and Fannie (Kittrell)
Gaskins.
Mrs. Eberwine?s family name has gone through a considerable
evolution. It was originally Gascoigne, was of Norman French
origin, and the name was borne by that intrepid judge who put
Henry the Fifth in jail, when he was the Prince of Wales, for dis-
orderly conduct. When the Prince became King, he sent for the
honest judge and made him chief justice. The English corrupted
the pronunciation of the name until finally it became Gaskins.
Of Mr. Eberwine's marriage there are four children. The
eldest, Vernon Gaskins Eberwine, born February 4, 1896, was
graduated in 1912 from the Agricultural High School at Driver,
Nansemond County, and is now (1913) in his second session in the
Randolph Macon College at Ashland, Virginia.
The second son, Earl Tourtellot Eberwine, born September 15,
1897, is in his third year in the High School.
The third son, George Kittrell Eberwine, born March 7, 1899,
is now in his first year at the High School.
The youngest son, Fred Bruce Eberwine, born September 8,
1903, is now in the fourth grade of the Grammar School.
Mr. Eberwine's standing as a farmer may be gauged by the
fact that he is the crop reporter in his section for the Agricultural
Department in Washington.
He reads, with special interest, the newspapers and excellent
magazines of our day, w^hich keep him in touch with all questions
of current interest, and also are of high educational value. Mr.
Eberwine belongs to that thoughtful class of citizens which has
grasped the great fundamental truth that cooperative action and
absolutely equal treatment of citizens is the only foundation upon
which a permanent nation can be built. This logically and easily
JOHN GEORGE EBERWINE 235
leads him up to another one of his beliefs, which is that it is one's
duty to live for the good he can do to others and not for himself
alone. For the individual he has no further suggestion to offer
than to so educate his conscience as to know the sharp line of
cleavage between right and wrong, and then to be man enough
to stand by the right.
Though his immediate family was founded by his father in
the eastern section of the United States, near relatives of his are
now becoming numerous in the middle west and the far west. His
grandfather, Jacob Eberwine, had other children. Among these
was his uncle, Adam Eberwine, born in 1827, who lived at Nelson,
Wis., and who left sons, Adam, born in 1863 ; Louis, born in 1866 ;
William J., born in 1869, and Albert, born in 1872. Adam is in the
lumber business and Louis is a steamship captain, both living at
Hoquian in the State of Washington. Albert is farming in the
old homestead in Wisconsin, and William J. is secretary of the
Laursen Automatic Pump Company at Eau Glair, Wisconsin.
The Eberwine coat of arms is as follows :
Wappen : In 5 mal von Schwartz und Rotgeteiltem Schild ein
aufgerichteter goldener Luchs oder Wolf.
This in English reads :
Arms : A shield divided five times into black and red stripes
and an erect Lynx or Wolf.
|
A
JOSEPH DUPUY EGGLESTON
^HE technical school is a comparatively modern develop-
ment, which has grown out of the enormous expansion in
the industrial life of the world during the last century.
The purpose of these schools is, while not neglecting a suf-
ficient literary foundation, to give to the student technical train-
ing in such fashion that he can profit by the accumulated experi-
ences of others, that when he enters upon his life work, he may be
saved the years of hard struggle which are always the price of
experience. No sane man expects these schools to do more than
give a good foundation, or (to put it in another fashion) to give
the student a thorough understanding of the basic principles of
the profession or occupation which he has elected to follow, and
the building which he then puts on that foundation will be in ac-
cordance with his natural ability and industry. These schools
have done a great work in America, especially during the last fifty
years, the majority of them indeed having commenced operations
within that period, and as men grasp more and more quickly
what education means their work will be more and more valuable.
The Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the agricultural and me-
chanical college of the State, at Blacksburg, has, despite the fact
that it has never had enough money, done a great work. It has as
its head now one of the most accomplished and widely experienced
teachers in the country in the person of Joseph Dupuy Eggleston.
He is a native Virginian, born at "Marble Hill," Prince Edward
County, on November 13, 1867, son of Dr. Joseph Dupuy and Anne
Garrington (Booker) Eggleston.
President Eggleston's father was a physician, descended from
one English family identified with Virginia since 1635, and one
French family settled in the State since 1700. There were two
distinct migrations of Egglestons from England to America. The
first was Bagot Eggleston, who came from Exeter, England, in
1630, settled in Massachusetts, and was the founder of the New
England and New York families. Those who came to Virginia
all came in one year — 1635. The first of w^hom there is anv record
«/ f
is Richard, aged twenty-four, who sailed from London on the ship
"Transport" on July 4, 1635. A second Richard, aged sixteen,
sailed from London on the ship "Paule" on July 6, 1635. These
were followed by Arthur and Jonathan in the same year, date not
given. These were the progenitors of the Virginia Egglestons.
There is no certain record as to any of them except Richard, and
the Amelia County family, to which President Eggleston belongs,
[236]
JOSEPH DUPUY EGGLESTON 237
appears to be descended from Richard. There is a tradition that
the family is of Irish extraction, but English records do not bear
this out. The oldest form of the name was probably "Eccleston,"
which is still in use in England, and the probabilities are that the
present form of the name was originated by some branch of the
family that desired to soften it.
t/
The French family, from which President Eggleston is de-
scended, was founded by Bartholomew DuPuy, who was a dis-
tinguished French soldier, a Huguenot in religion who made his
escape from France at the time of the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes under very thrilling circumstances, and a little later set-
tled in Virginia, where he was the founder of a family. There
appear also in the Eggleston ancestral lines the Langhornes, the
Reads, the Jamiesons, the Cabells, the Carringtons and the Book-
ers, all of which families ranked among the best in the State.
Joseph Eggleston was one of the brilliant soldiers of his time, ris-
ing to the rank of major in "Light Horse" Harry Lee's Legion, and
winning laurels in the hard-fought Southern campaigns of the
Revolution. William Eggleston also served with the rank of lieu-
tenant. Major Joseph Eggleston, here referred to, was a most ac-
complished man. Born in 1754, he graduated from William and
Marv College and entered the Revolutionary Army when but little
t/ CJ 9s ts
past twenty-one, coming out a veteran soldier with a distinguished
record. He served in the Virginia Assembly, was in the Federal
Congress from 1798 to 1801, and then for ten years was a justice
of the peace in his native county. His services as a justice of the
peace for the last ten years of his life illustrates the fact that
Major Joseph Eggleston had a correct appreciation of the duties
of citizenship.
In our own generation, the Virginia Egglestons have been rep-
resented by two distinguished men of national reputation. George
Gary Eggleston, born in Vevay, Indiana, of a Virginia father, was
a gallant Confederate soldier. After the war, he entered journal-
ism, and became one of the most widely-known and influential
editors and authors in the country. His elder brother, the Rev.
Edward Eggleston, won even a greater reputation than his younger
brother. Of frail physique and handicapped by ill-health, he be-
came a fine scholar, a distinguished clergyman, one of the great
editors of the country, and finally, turning his attention purely to
literary work, because of his physical limitations, an author whose
books are as popular to-day as when they were first written, and
some of which will live as long as the country lasts. His "Hoosier
Schoolmaster" has been translated into four languages, and is one
of the best pieces of work ever done by an American author.
President Eggleston has a full share of the literary and ad-
venturous qualities of his family. He attended the Prince Edward
Academy and Hampden-Sidney College, both in his native county.
He graduated from the college in 1886, and holds the A. B. and
238 JOSEPH DUPUY EGGLESTON
A. M. degrees. Then, a mere youth, he entered upon his work
as a teacher, and for three years was engaged in the schools of
Virginia and Georgia. From 1891 to 1893, he taught in the High
School at Asheville, North Carolina. In the last-named year, he
became superintendent of schools for that city, which position he
held until 1900. In 1902, he became editor and secretary of the
Bureau of Information and Publicity of the Southern Education
Board at the University of Tennessee. In 1903, he took the super-
intendency of the public schools of his native county, serving until
1905, in which year he was elected State superintendent of public
instruction (for Virginia). From February 1, 1906, to January 1,
1913, he served as State superintendent. When he entered upon
his duties, he found the work in bad shape. Professor Hudnall, in
a sketch of President Eggleston, goes so far as to say that there
was no real system of high schools in the State of Virginia at that
time. Mr. Eggleston threw himself into the work with tremendous
energy. He secured the passage, by the general assembly, of many
important laws tending to the betterment of the school system;
traveled over the Eastern and Middle Western States and studied
educational conditions, and as a result of his seven years' work, he
left the school system of the State thoroughly co-ordinated, with
better school buildings, longer terms, more efficient teachers, in-
creased salaries, more school libraries, with abundant high schools
in every section. Every feature of the work was carefully thought
out and every improved idea put into effect. Where needful,
schools were consolidated, and transportation provided for pupils.
Normal schools were established, summer sessions were inaugu-
rated, manual training schools encouraged, domestic science
taught; in fact, every phase of the school problem secured atten-
tion, with the result that he left a thoroughly developed school
system. His reputation had grown apace, and he was called to
the position of chief of the Division of Rural Education for the
United States Bureau of Education. He only served in this ca-
pacity six months — from January 1, 1913, to July 1, 1913, for
having been elected to the presidency of the Virginia Polytechnic
Institute, he entered upon the duties of that office. Doubtless
there was a strong feeling of local patriotism and an earnest de-
sire to serve his native State which induced him to give up his
pleasant work for the Federal government to take over the burdens
of the administration of the State school. In fact, Mr. Eggleston
has often said that the great purpose of his life since his childhood
has been the development of agriculture and the development of
the rural schools of Virginia. He was one of the inaugurators of
the demonstration work for farmers and started the boys' and girls'
corn and garden clubs in his State. That he will be successful
in his new field cannot be questioned, for he has never failed in
anything that he has undertaken.
Aside from his teaching and administrative work he has had
JOSEPH DUPUY EGGLESTON 239
a wide range of experience as an editor and lecturer. For a time
he was editor of the publishing house of B. F. Johnson & Co., of
Richmond, Virginia, which house has for many years been a large
publisher of school text books. Professor Eggleston has contrib-
uted largely as editorial writer for leading papers in Virginia,
North Carolina and Tennessee, and to school and other magazines.
He is joint author with Robert W. Bruere of "The Work of the
Rural School," published by Harper Bros., New York. He has
delivered innumerable addresses to every class of the people,
covering farmers' institutes, county and state fairs, etc., for as
Superintendent of Public Instruction he made it his business to
go into every section of the State, and to reach people by the
spoken as well as the written word. He has been in constant
demand in other States, speaking before college and university
students, teachers' associations, summer normal schools ; and lec-
turing in Memphis, Des Moines, New York and other large cities.
President Eggleston brings to his present work as large a
practical experience as it is possible for any man of his years to
have. While he has faith in technical training, and will put his
school upon a high plane in that direction, he has an ideal which
goes beyond that, for he believes in the well-trained, well-rounded,
educated citizen rather than the narrow specialist. He is a man
of great energy as well as great versatility — indeed, very much
alive. Here and there a chance phrase gives an insight into his
character. He says of himself: "My education is a constant and
continuing process, a life process; any person's is unless he is
dead." Again : "I have, since leaving college, had thorough courses
in the School of Life, the College of Experience and the Univer-
sity of Hard Knocks." No better idea of the views which he
entertains can be gathered than from his book referred to, in
which he collaborated with Mr. Bruere. Locke once summed up
the purpose of government in one line: "The end of government
is the good of mankind." If Mr. Eggleston were to sum up educa-
tion in one line, it would probably be: "The end of education is
the making of good citizens." Incidentally it may be said that his
ideal of good citizenship is very high, and that ideal does not
spell "money."
It would not, perhaps, be far from the truth to say that he
considers the greatest weakness in our schools to be their failure
to inculcate, or to train the children into, a higher view of citizen-
ship ; and this feature of educational work is of surpassing impor-
tance (from his standpoint), and he never loses an opportunity
to stress it with all his energy.
Professor Eggleston is an active member of the Presbyterian
Church, of which he is an Elder. He is an omniverous reader and
a systematic one, his reading covering every department of litera-
ture except trash ; which means that he has to cut out about three-
quarters of modern publications.
240 JOSEPH DUPUY EGGLBSTON
He was married on December 18, 1895, at Farmville, Virginia,
to Julia Johnson, daughter of William Tucker and Elizabeth
Carrington Johnson. Mrs. Eggleston was born at "Tremont,"
Cumberland County, and her mother at "Sunnyside," Mecklen-
burg County. They have two children : Elizabeth Carrington
Eggleston, now fifteen years old, and Joseph Dupuy Eggleston
(III), ten years old.
Mr. Eggleston is a member of Beta Theta Pi and Phi Beta
Kappa College fraternities ; of the Westmoreland Club, Richmond ;
of the National Educational Association; of the Conference for
Education in the South; of the Virginia State Education Asso-
ciation ; of the Southern Commercial Congress, and the Southern
Education Association.
Though he is now a staunch Presbyterian, the earlier genera-
tions of his family appear to have been Episcopalians. Bishop
Meade says of this family that the first comer settled on the
eastern shore, but he is not entirely correct in this, for certainly
one of the original four settled in Gloucester. About a hundred
years after the first corners, William and Joseph Eggleston,
brothers, moved to Amelia County, where the family was very
influential in the Revolutionary period, having as neighbors the
Falks, Bookers, Archers, Rovalls and Meades. In the records of
€/
old Grubhill Church, of Raleigh, Virginia, appear the names of
Richard, Joseph and Charles Eggleston as vestrymen and church
wardens. The Egglestons, the Falks and the Bookers had a pri-
vate gallery in this old church which Bishop Meade says was
very uncomfortable, and he states that, when some of the moderns
wanted to change the name to something more euphonious the
ancients stoutly resisted the innovation, and "Grubhill" it
remained.
Joseph D. Eggleston has had a very strenuous career, and
it may be said a most useful one. He has lived up to the best
traditions of a family which has been noted for good citizenship.
He is, himself, a teacher of righteous and patriotic citizenship,
who lives up to his creed. Now in the prime of life, he occupies a
position with opportunities for usefulness second to that of no
man in the State, and that he will live up to these opportunities
no one who knows him will for a moment question.
The Eggleston Coat of Arms is described as follows :
"Argent, a cross sable, in the first quarter a fleur-de-lis of the
second.
"Crest: A talbot's head erased sable collared argent."
This is the description given by Burke. To this the New
England family has added a motto which Burke does not give, and
is as follows :
"In cruce salus."
U
T
KEMP BERNARD ELLIOTT
^HE tidewater section of Virginia has been very properly
classed by Dr. Lyon G. Tyler as "The Cradle of the Re-
public." It is not an exaggeration to say that that small
section of the Old Dominion has furnished to this republic
more men of the first rank than any other equal territory, or equal
number of men, in the history of the world. Not only has it
furnished these men directly from its own soil, but it has sent
out multiplied thousands of their children to every section of our
country ; and in every section they have duplicated the work done
by their forebears in the old home State. It would take a volume
to even recount, in the briefest fashion, the names and the deeds
of these men.
From this soil, and from these men, came the late Kemp
Bernard Elliott, who was born near Yorktown, Virginia, on Octo-
ber 28, 1838, and died in Norfolk, Virginia, on December 16, 1908.
His parents were Seaton and Ann Gary (Curtis) Elliott.
At the age of fourten, Mr. Elliott moved to Norfolk, and the
remainder of his life was spent in that city. He entered business
life, in which he developed marked capacity, and rose to be one of
the prominent figures in the life of his city. His enterprise took
quite a wide range, and during his active business career, which
covered a period of nearly fifty years, he filled many positions of
honor and trust.
In 1895 he became President of the Virginia Peanut Associa-
tion and retained this office until the dissolution of this organiza-
tion. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the
Norfolk National Bank and as Vice-President of the National
Bank of Commerce.
He never engaged in political life, in the ordinary sense of
that word, but was verv active in the civic life of his community —
*/ *'
serving for quite a long period as President of the City Council.
Possessed of a large measure of public spirit, he was one of the
largest contributors, during his active career, to the growth and
prosperity of the city.
A man of pronounced religious views, he was through life
an exemplary member of the Presbyterian Church, which he served
for many years as Deacon and Trustee of the congregation known
as the First Presbyterian Church.
He had an apoplectic stroke in 1899, which led to his retire-
ment from active life, but he survived this stroke some nine years.
His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Ann Nicholson, died
[243]
244 KEMP BERNARD ELLIOTT
February 27, 1907, twenty-two months prior to his demise. They
were survived by three daughters, all of whom live in Norfolk:
Mrs. Henry Anne Savage, Miss Martha Ellen Elliott and Mrs.
James Everett Booth.
K. B. Elliott belonged to a class probably larger in Virginia
than in any other State in the Union — strong men, well descended,
of intense convictions, and thoroughly leavened with the sense
of duty. These men do not seek their own preferment — they are
content to discharge with fidelity the duties which devolve upon
them, and they invariably command the profound respect of the
communities in which they live. Thoroughly self-respecting, these
men do not find it necessary to use the meretricious arts of the
politician or the notoriety seeker. It is recognized that they are
really the great men who have made these United States, because
they are developers in the proper sense, and always constructive.
Mr. Elliott's ancestral line shows some of the strongest of
the pioneer names of Virginia. His mother was descended from
Miles Gary, who came to Virginia in 1620, and was one of the
strongest men of the colony's earliest years. Mr. Elliott is a
direct descendant of Thomas, son of Miles Gary.
In the Kemp line Mr. Elliott was descended from Matthew
Kemp, whose daughter, Elizabeth, born in 1722, married in Middle-
sex County, in 1742, Robert Elliott. The Kemp family goes back
to Richard Kemp, who came to Virginia in 1634, and was made
Secretary of the colony, which office he held for fourteen years;
he was Acting Governor in 1644. After accumulating a large
estate, he died in 1656. Richard Kemp left no children. He was
a son of Sir Robert Kemp, of Gissing, Norfolkshire, England. He
was followed to Virginia by his nephew Edmund about 1650. Ed-
mund received large grants of land and settled in Lancaster
County, where he died about 1665 and left sons who were the
ancestors of this branch of the Kemp family in Virginia. Mat-
thew was a favorite name with them, and there were in succession
three Matthews very prominent in the colony. The first Matthew
received a land grant in Lancaster in 1663. He was a member of
the Council in 1681, Speaker of the House of Burgesses in 1679,
and died in 1683. He was succeeded by a second Matthew, who
was in the House of Burgesses in 1685. The third Matthew was
equally prominent, and there was a fourth Matthew who was
living in 1770.
In the Elliott line, the family goes back to Lieutenant-Colonel
Anthony Elliott, who was one of the most conspicuous figures in
the early colonial period. He was in the House of Burgesses in
1647 and at other times, was a member of the Council in 1657,
and died in 1666, leaving three sons, certainly, and possibly
daughters. These sons were all leading figures in that section
which now includes the counties of Middlesex, Lancaster, York
and adjacent territory.
KEMP BERNARD ELLIOTT 245
The Robert Elliott who married Elizabeth Kemp in 1742 left
three children : Mary Matthew Kemp, John Kemp and Robert
Kemp. This son, Robert, was Clerk of Middlesex from 1762 until
1767.
The Elliotts, the Kemps, and the Carys were all of good
blood, and were leaders in the colonial period.
There is a Seaton connection. The Seatons were another
good family, of Scotch origin. The general supposition is that
the first of the Seatons was Henry, a Scotch Jacobite of the famous
family of Seton, who, after the downfall of the Stuarts came to
Virginia in 1690, and founded the family in King William County,
of which William Winston Seaton, for fifty years a conspicuous
figure in Washington as one of the owners of "The National In-
telligencer," was a member. But Henry Seaton was not the first
settler. George Seaton came to Virginia in 1662 and obtained a
land grant in that section of the State of six thousand acres. He
was a leading man in that part of the country, but at this dis-
tance, and in the absence of complete records, it is not possible to
say definitely that he was a relative of Henry, though this is
probable. Apparently, George Seaton left no children — certainly
Henry Seaton did, because he had a son, George, who was named
as his heir, and Henry Seaton's widow later married Augustine
Moore, of King William, and she, with her husband and others,
were guardians of this young son George. Where the Seaton line
and the Elliotts converge is uncertain, but apparently it was
about 1750.
As will be seen from this brief statement, K. B. Elliott was a
strong man, descended from strong men. One of his family lines,
the Cary family, is especially well worthy of note, from the fact
that the celebrated Viscount Falkland, who fell in an obscure skir-
mish during the Civil War in England, is reckoned with Sir
Philip Sidney as the two finest specimens of English gentlemen
that history records, and thoughtful men have always accorded
them place in the small class so splendidly illustrated by the
Chevalier Bayard. Viscount Falkland belonged to the same Cary
family of which Miles Cary was a representative.
The Elliott family name, commonly believed to be Scotch,
because of the strength of the Elliott clan on the borderland of
Scotland and England, is in fact not Scotch but Norman. The
name comes from one Aliot, who followed William the Conqueror
to England, and received for his services a grant of land. From
this Aliot were descended all the English Elliotts on the one hand
and all the Scotch Elliotts on the other. The family, therefore,
has an authentic history which goes back to the year 1066, and
during that period has contributed a very large number of men
to the making of the far-flung British Empire.
There is an impression that General Roger Elliott, whose
picture hangs in the State Library at Richmond, and who was
246 KEMP BERNARD ELLIOTT
half-brother of Governor Alexander Spottiswood, one of the best
governors the colony ever had, was one of the founders of the
Virginia Elliott family. This is an error. General Roger Elliott
never settled in Virginia, though he may have visited it. He rose
to the rank of Major-General in the British Army, and served as
Governor of Gibraltar. The fact that General Elliott's picture
hangs in the State Library at Richmond can easily be accounted
for by his near relationship to Governor Spottiswood.
Burke, the great English authority, describes the Elliott Coat
of Arms as follows :
"Or, a fesse gu. between four bars gemelles wavy sa.
'Crest : An elephant's head or, eared and armed gu."
lit
V
A
BALLARD PRESTON HUFF
MONO the men who have contributed most largely to the
c? «/
upbuilding of the City of Roanoke, Ballard Preston Huff,
merchant, banker and landed proprietor, is a prominent
figure.
He was born near Copper Hill, Floyd County, Virginia, on
January 28, 1853, son of Isaac Henry and Lucinda (Kefauver)
Huff. His paternal grandfather was Henry Huff, and his imme-
diate family has been settled in Floyd and Henry Counties for
several generations.
Mr. Huff was one of the first students to matriculate at the
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical School at Blacksburg, Oc-
tober 1, 1872. He began his business career in April, 1875, as a
clerk in the hardware firm of Watts & Co., in Lynchburg. After
a period of service with them, he moved to the little town known
as Big Lick, which has since grown into the city of Roanoke, and
was employed by Samuel Griggs. It will be noticed that he had
the foresight to throw in his lot with Roanoke before there was
any Roanoke — for men, not yet old, can remember (when travel-
ing over the railroad from Lynchburg to Bristol ) the insignificant
village of Big Lick, when the City of Roanoke was not even
dreamed of.
Ballard P. Huff's business experience has covered a very wide
range. He combined with a strong and clear mind qualifications
which enabled him to fit into all sorts of conditions. The record
shows that in 1877 he was a traveling man with the firm of Turner,
Trout & Co. After one year of that, he became an employee of
P. L. Terry, a general merchant, with whom he was first a clerk
and later a partner, this connection lasting for ten years. In 1888,
even then in the early prime of life, he was an experienced busi-
ness man and had accumulated some capital. He then made a
forward move by organizing the firm of Huff, Andrews and
Thomas, wholesale grocers. This business has grown to enormous
proportions, doing an immense volume of business over a wide
territory. At one time his firm had as many as eight different
branches in operation. They did not maintain that system per-
manently, however, but sold out several of these branches, and
have concentrated the management into a narrower range, though
with a constantly increasing business. Not content with the
measure of success won in the grocery business, Mr. Huff assisted
[249]
250 BALLARD PRESTON HUFF
in organizing the wholesale drygoods house of F. B. Thomas and
Company, which also does a large and profitable business.
The standing of Mr. Huff in the community, and his contribu-
tion to the city may be best appreciated by the fact that, when
Roanoke grew sufficiently large to organize a Chamber of Com-
merce, he was elected as the first President of the Chamber. This
was in 1904. From that time to the present he has maintained
his position as one of the business leaders of the city. His in-
terests now cover a very wide range, he having investments in
many business houses and corporations, and is an extensive land-
owner.
In 1906 he assisted in organizing the City National Bank
of Roanoke, which is now one of the most prosperous financial
institutions in that section, of which Mr. Huff is Vice-President.
To this interest he gives much of his personal attention.
Unlike some other men of means, he has learned to get some
enjoyment outside of his business successes. He has a handsome
home at Crystal Springs, a suburb of Roanoke ; here he dispenses
a generous and cordial hospitality. His home life is charming,
and he with his family contribute to the best of the social activities
of the community.
On September 16, 1884, Mr. Huff was married to Florence
Jane Thomas, daughter of Charles M. and Jane (Crawford)
Thomas, of Roanoke County. Mrs. Huff's grandmother was a
Deyerle, a member of one of those excellent German families
which, about 1740, settled in the Valley of Virginia, some of them
coming from Pennsylvania, and some of them direct from Ger-
many. Colonel Deyerle, a member of this family, led the first
company out of Roanoke to the Confederate Army.
Mr. Huff's mother was a Kefauver, of that same German
stock.
There are at least five distinct Huff families in the United
States. Taking them in the order in which they came to the
country, we find that Francis Huff, a youth of twenty, came to
Virginia on the ship Sic an in 1624. He settled at Nutmeg Quarter,
a parish in Warwick County, Virginia, and eight years later rep-
resented that parish in the Virginia Assembly, or House of Bur-
gesses. This man's name was spelled indifferently, Huff and
Hough. On the record of his coming on the ship it is spelled
Huff; and as a member of the General Assembly it is spelled
Hough. The old spelling in England was Hough, and many of
the families still adhere to that. Cheshire was the home county
in England of the Virginia Huffs. The next in order was William
Hough, who came over about 1638. He was the only child of
Edward Hough, of Westchester. After several moves, he finally
settled in New London, Connecticut, and was the progenitor of
the New England family of that name, now widely scattered.
The next was Richard Hough, who came from Macclesfield,
BALLARD PRESTON HUFF 251
Cheshire, England, and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania,
in 1638. His family was intimately connected with the Janney
family of that section, leading Quakers, a descendant of which
family settled in Virginia, and one of his descendants was Presi-
dent of the Virginia Convention in the secession period. Richard
Hough married and left children in Pennsylvania, but was himself
drowned in the Delaware River in 1705, while in middle age.
John Hough, who was either a son or grandson of Richard Hough,
the immigrant, moved to Loudoun County, Virginia, and his de-
scendants in Virginia and other States are said now to number
over two thousand. The probabilities are that B. P. Huff is de-
scended from this John Hough, because some of his children moved
across the mountain into the Lower Valley, and in the earlier
days there was a steady movement from the Lower Valley towards
the Upper Valley and Southwestern Virginia. While this Bucks
County (Penn.) family always spelled the name Hough, and Emer-
son Hough (the noted author of the present day ) , who is descended
from this John Hough, uses the old form, those who went over
into the Lower Valley adopted the modern form of Huff.
The family was well represented in the Revolutionary struggle
under both spellings. Under the old spelling we find Bernard,
of Loudoun ; Joseph ; Samson, of Kentucky ; Thomas and William.
Under the more modern spelling we find Charles, Elijah, John, of
Franklin ; John, of Pittsylvania ; Joseph, who moved to Ohio ;
Samuel and Stephen. In the Low^er Valley, we come upon still
another spelling — Hoff; and Philip, of this name, was a member
of a Frederick County company in the War of 1812; while Isaac
was a substantial citizen of Winchester, Virginia, in 1832.
In the Dunmore Indian War of 1774, in Captain John Lewis's
Volunteer Company from Botetourt County appear the names of
Peter Huff, Sergeant, Samuel Huff and Thomas Huff, privates.
The company took part in the fierce battle of Point Pleasant, in
which Thomas Huff was wounded. Three years later, in 1777,
appears in Henry County the name of Samuel Huff, as furnishing
supplies to the patriot armies. This was probably the same
Samuel, who had moved from Botetourt.
What lends probability to Mr. Huff's being descended from
the John Hough, of Loudoun, is the fact that the Kefauvers appear
to have been first settled in Loudoun and Fauquier.
A very distinguished member of this Loudoun family was
Warwick Hough, a gallant Confederate officer who, after the war,
rose to the position of Chief Justice of Missouri.
Genealogists have figured out that the family name is Flem-
ish in origin, and that it was originally De la Houghe. Then in
Flanders and Holland appear the variations of De Hoogh or
Van der Hoogh. From that country they drifted to England,
where the first form of the name was De Hough. The De was
eliminated, and the English form of the name became Hough;
252 BALLARD PRESTON HUFF
and it was probably in the earlier years of the seventeenth cen-
tury that the modern form of Huff began to take shape.
Ballard P. Huff is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and
the Masonic Fraternity. Politically he is identified with the
Democratic party. Of his marriage there is one daughter, Miss
Alice Huff, who has just reached womanhood.
The Huff families of German descent in America have not
been touched upon here, because there is no reason to believe that
Mr. Huff is in any way connected with them. They came to cen-
tral New York and eastern Pennsylvania after 1700 direct from
Germany, where the name was Von Hoff, which was promptly
Americanized into Huff.
It does not make any difference as to which of the early immi-
grants the Virginia house may be descended from, as in tracing
back we always converge at Cheshire. Apparently Francis Huff,
of Virginia, was a native of London, and a member of a family
descended from the Cheshire family. On the other hand, Kichard
Hough, the Pennsylvanian, was also of the Cheshire family, com-
ing direct from that county to America. Francis Huff, the Vir-
ginian, remained in Virginia until 1647. He married a widow,
whose maiden name is unknown but whose married name was
Windmill, and he had (by her) at least two sons: William and
John.
He was a member of the Council of War in the Indian troubles
of 1645, and accumulated a considerable landed estate. Returning
to London in 1647, he entered mercantile business there, but died
rather suddenly in 1648 — being then about forty-five years of age.
In his will he provided that his elder son, William, should be
educated in London, but in such a way as to qualify him for
plantation management, and was then to return to Virginia and
manage the plantation for the joint benefit of himself and his
younger brother, John. William Huff evidently returned to Vir-
ginia, for in 1667 we find his plantation in the James City District
referred to in the Randolph manuscript, and it was provided that
a fort should be built on his land — probably at the place known
as Huff's Point.
These old pioneers were great land-grabbers. It will have
been noted how this first one secured a handsome landed estate.
Now the John Hough, who came down from Pennsylvania to
Loudoun, accumulated in the Loudoun section, in five different
grants, over three thousand acres of land. Either this John
Hough, of Loudoun, or another (perhaps his son) was interested
in the Ohio Company, as appears by a letter from him to James
Mercer, written in 1790, and which was found amongst the
Mercer papers, bearing upon the operations of that company.
Going back to the Old Country, we find that one of the great
historic controversies of England raged around the person of a
member of this family. One John Hough, born in 1651, died in
BALLARD PRESTON HUFF 253
1743, at the extreme age of ninety-two. He was a son of John
Hough, a citizen of London, who was descended from the Houghs,
of Leighton, in Cheshire. Splendidly educated at Oxford, he took
Holy Orders and was a Fellow of Magdalen College. He was a
man of remarkable purity of character, a rather retiring disposi-
tion, much learning, and beloved by the Fellows of the College. In
1687, the President of Magdalen died. James II, who was trying
to transform Oxford into a Romanist Institution, sent down
orders for the Fellows of Magdalen to elect a certain man as
President. They refused, and elected John Hough. Then the
King went out for war in much haste. He went down to Oxford
in person, and addressed the Fellows in the vilest language, de-
manding that they rescind their action, and accept his appointee.
The retiring and modest Hough came before the King, and in
calm but firm language declined positively to retire, as the King
was violating the statutes of the realm. The King had him
ejected by force, but a year later (recognizing that he had made a
mistake and that his throne was tottering) he repudiated his own
action, and ordered that Hough be reinstated as President of
Magdalen. In that some year William of Orange ran James out
of England, and in 1690 Hough was made Bishop of Oxford, re-
taining his Presidency of the College also. In 1699 he was trans-
ferred from Oxford and made Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry,
and he resigned the Presidency of Magdalen that year. In 1715
the Primate of England died, and the King tendered Hough the
appointment, which he declined. In 1717 he was translated to
Worcester on the death of the Bishop of that see, and spent the
last twenty-five years of his life as Bishop of that diocese. He
died without anv illness whatever but extreme old as:e. His life
*/
has been written in extenso by a competent English biographer,
who rates him very high as an able and courageous man of very
pure life and retiring disposition. His generosity knew no bounds.
The great income which flowed in upon him as Bishop was dis-
tributed wisely and generously in building churches, schools,
assisting poor clergymen and relieving the needy. In his day he
was not only a prominent figure, but his courage in refusing to
fall in with the commands of the King was one of the large factors
in precipitating the revolution which drove James from power.
The Huff (or Hough) coat of arms, as used by Richard
Hough, of Pennsylvania, and which is confirmed by Burke, the
great English authority, is described as follows :
Argent, a bend sable.
Crest : A wolf's head erased sable.
Motto: Memor esto majorum.
ROBERT FRANKLIN LEEDY
IN THE first thirty years of the eighteenth century there came
to America something like fifty thousand Germans, probably
thirty thousand of these settling in eastern Pennsylvania.
The Valley of Virginia was then unknown country. The
Germans, always good judges of land, continually prospected in
advance of settlement, and in 1722, one of these Pennsylvania
Germans rode through what is now the Valley of Virginia. In
the meantime, a young man had come from Germany by the name
of Adam Mueller (now Miller). This Adam Mueller is said to
have been born in Schreisheim, Germany, about 1700. With his
young wife and an unmarried sister, he came to Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, probably about 1725. Looking around for a choice
bit of ground on which to settle, he heard of a location in Vir-
ginia between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, and this led
him to visit Williamsburg, Virginia. The reports he received
there were so favorable that he went on into the Valley, and in
1726 or 1727 settled on the Shenandoah River, and was the first
white settler in the Lower Valley of Virginia.
Mueller was followed by Jacob Stover, a Swiss, who was one
of the most enterprising land agents of his generation. Stover
would have made a stirring real estate agent in our owrn day. On
June 17, 1730, he secured a grant of ten thousand acres of land
on the South Fork of the Shenandoah. He took this up in two
tracts of five thousand acres each — one between Luray and Elkton,
and the other higher up betwen Elkton and Port Republic. In
these grants the location is defined as being in Massanutting
town. Mueller had secured no title to his land, being merely a
squatter, so probably in 1730, and even before Stover had secured
his title, he bought land from Stover. The condition of Stover's
grant was that he was to put at least one family on each one
thousand acres inside of two years.
On May 15, 1732, William Beverley, son of Robert Beverley
(the historian), of Virginia, secured a grant of fifteen thousand
acres on Shenandoah River at Massanutting, which, however, was
not to conflict with any previous grants. On December 12, 1733,
Beverley took out a caveat against Stover, claiming that the lands
held by Stover of right belonged to him. Prompt action was had
upon this case, and in the same month Stover's title to his ten
thousand acres of land was confirmed. This was probably largely
due to the petition of Adam Mueller and seven associates, which
[254]
r-~- ,
IPU
TOR, t
ROBERT FRANKLIN LEEDY 257
recited that they had bought five thousand acres in Massanutting
from Stover about four years before, paying him four hundred
pounds sterling for the land, and naturally if Beverley's claim
was sustained they would be homeless. These men were all Ger-
mans, and presumably all Germans from Pennsylvania.
Among these early settlers was the Harnsberger family, of
which family Robert Franklin Leedy, of Luray (the subject of
this sketch), is descended in one line, and which family, among
numerous other prominent families of that section, claimed partial
descent from Jacob Stover.
Colonel Robert Franklin Leedy was born at Leedy's Pump,
near Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, on July 28, 1863, son of
John and Sarah Ann (Mauck) Leedy. John Leedy was a farmer,
son of Daniel, who also was a farmer and son of Samuel. The
Leedy family came to the Valley from Pennsylvania at a date
which cannot now be definitely stated — but it was prior to the
Revolutionary War. According to the family tradition, the origi-
nal immigrant was a German Baron, who came over with Baron
Steigle, and that a son or nephew of this first immigrant served
in the Revolutionary War as a Lieutenant-Colonel.
Daniel Leedy, Colonel Robert F. Leedy's grandfather, was
born in Virginia in 1795 on a part of the "Dutch Lord" tract in
Rockingham County, which tract of land is said to have been
granted by George III. This, however, does not appear on the
records, though several small tracts in Rockingham County are
described as having been parts of the "Dutch Lord" tract. Colonel
Leedy thinks, and this is probably the true explanation, that the
turbulent conditions existing in the early Revolutionary period
caused individuals to lose sight of the importance of having their
titles recorded in Williamsburg, as the records there show none
after 1774.
The Leedys were among these old German immigrants to
Pennsylvania. The correct spelling of the name was probably
"Leidy," but on the old records which we have we find four or five
different spellings. The first census of 1790 shows in Franklin
County, Pennsylvania, Daniel and Andrew Ledy, as heads of
families; in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Leonard Lidy;
in Montgomery County, Conrad and Jacob Leyde; and again in
Montgomery County, Jacob, Jacob, Jr., and John Leydey. This
was after the Virginia branch of the family had migrated from
Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania family has given to America one of its
greatest (if not its greatest) naturalists in the person of Dr.
Joseph Leidy, born in Philadelphia in 1823, and died there in 1891.
He was a graduated physician, but after two years of practice
he resigned to devote himself to teaching. He was Professor of
Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, and later at the
Franklin University. He resigned to go abroad, and for several
258 ROBERT FRANKLIN LEEDY
years was engaged in foreign travel and the collection of speci-
mens. In 1853 he was again elected Professor of Anatomy in the
University of Pennsylvania, and in 1871 was elected Professor
of Natural History in Swarthmore College. He became one of
the greatest authorities in his line of work, was honored by two
scientific societies, and left behind him some very valuable works
which had been published during his lifetime. Another member
of this family was Paul Leidy, of Pennsylvania, school teacher,
lawyer, district attorney and a Democratic member of the Thirty-
fifth Congress. A much later figure than this was John W. Leedy,
of Kansas, who served in the Congress during the last decade of
the nineteenth century, and was later Governor of the State.
Colonel Robert F. Leedy comes of that all-conquering German
race which is fastening its ideas upon the modern world, and
which, in its beginning points in our country, eastern Pennsyl-
vania and the Valley of Virginia, has set an example of improved
farming which has made garden spots of these sections and been
of priceless value to the whole country.
Robert F. Leedy 's schooling was obtained in the common
schools of his native county, followed later by a course in the
summer law school carried forward by the distinguished Dr.
Minor at the University of Virginia. In his early youth Col.
Leedy farmed on the old home place where three generations of
his family had been born and reared, including himself, remain-
ing there until he was twenty-two years of age. He spent the
next three years mining and railroading, returning to the farm
when he was about twenty-five and remaining there two years,
when he went to Basic City, which was one of the boom towns
which sprang up in Virginia in the early nineties of the last
century. He engaged in the business which was absorbing every-
body at Basic City — real estate, combined with mercantile pur-
suits, and read law at the same time that he was prosecuting
these interests actively. He was admitted to the bar in 1893, and
has been in the active practise of his profession from that time
to the present — the last nineteen years of that period having been
spent in Luray, of which place he is now one of the foremost
citizens.
While a resident of Basic City he served as a Commissioner
of the Revenue. In 1892 he was elected Mayor of the town, and
re-elected in 1894. He resigned when he moved to Luray in 1895.
At the present time he is serving as a member of the House of
Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia, representing Page
and Rappahannock counties. A successful lawyer, he is almost
as keenly interested in military matters as he is in the legal pro-
fession. He has been identified with the Virginia Volunteers
(National Guard) for fifteen years. In September, 1902, he was
made a Captain. In June, 1905, he was promoted to Lieutenant-
Colonel of the Second Infantry, and in August, 1905, was pro-
ROBERT FRANKLIN LEEDY 259
moted to Colonel of the same regiment, which position he is
filling at the present time. He is a keen student of military af-
fairs, and regards "Henderson's Science of War," which is in-
cluded in his preferred reading, as the greatest military book
ever written. His religious affiliation is with the Baptist Church.
He is a Free Mason, having gone through all degrees to and in-
cluding the "Shrine."
He was married on March 27, 1890, in Rockingham County,
to Emma Cathrine Keister, who was born in Pendleton County,
West Virginia, on November 25, 1870, daughter of Martin and
Elizabeth Keister. Their children are Nina Coleman Leedy, who
is a graduate of the Woman's College of Richmond, Virginia;
Thelma Hudson Leedy, now in the High School ; John Robert
Leedy and Lillian Dare Leedy, the next two, are also in the High
School ; Rolfe Miller Leedy and Beverley Berrey Leedy, the
younger children, have not yet entered school.
Colonel Leedy's reading takes a wide range. He delights in
Washington Irving, Dickens, "The World's Best Oratory" (by
Brewer), "The World's Best Classics (by Lodge), the Roxburgh
Classics, Jefferson's Papers and Writings, the Messages of the
Presidents, Gibbon's "Rome," Henderson's "Life of Stonewall
Jackson," and above all the Bible. This by no means exhausts
his reading, but it gives an idea of the diversity of his tastes,
though it is quite evident from this list that governmental ques-
tions appeal strongly to him.
To those not familiar with the Valley of Virginia it would
be a surprise to travel there, and to see to what extent the German
blood is in evidence. Colonel Leedy's paternal grandmother was
Eve Brower, daughter of Daniel Brower, of Augusta County. His
maternal grandmother was Margaret Harnsberger, a daughter of
Conrad Harnsberger. She was a great-granddaughter of Robert
Harnsberger and of Adam Mueller, both of whom were associated
in the transactions with Jacob Stover — Adam Mueller being the
first settler in that section.
Colonel Leedy has a very interesting heirloom in his posses-
sion in the shape of an old family clock which is eight feet high
and still running. The lettering has become quite indistinct from
great age, but when he was a boy he made out the inscription upon
it to be "Elisha Burk" (the maker's name) "York Town" (mean-
ing York, Pennsylvania). The date was either 1785, 1765, or 1735.
Some twenty years ago Col. Leedy had it repaired, and the clock-
maker, in enameling the face over made it read "Elijah Birk,
1735." He knows that the name of the maker is wrong, and he
believes that the date is wrong, and that 1785 is correct, which
looks more reasonable. It is a very interesting relic of the old
times and shows the quality of the work done by our forefathers.
Colonel Leedy has strong convictions on governmental ques-
tions. He classes himself as a Democrat. He believes that repre-
260 ROBERT FRANKLIN LEEDY
sentative democracy is the best form of government, and in so
far as we have wandered away from that, in his judgment, it is
necessary for us to retrace our steps. As he sees it, we have set
up false standards, and we must educate our people to that degree
of intelligence that they will be willing to dethrone these falla-
cious ideas, and must more and more impress upon our people
the honorable character of all honest work. In governmental
affairs, he thinks that discriminatory laws have made us cowards
in the conduct of government, and that to be fearless and crush
every tendency to anarchy a government must be just.
His ideas about the practise of law are so very commendable
that he could probably get a unanimous vote on the part of the
laymen of the country in support of them, and this brief sketch
can be concluded in no better words than his own, in this con-
nection, when he says : "I believe we have outgrown the distinction
between law and equity practice, and further that the judges
should prescribe a uniform practice and procedure for all juris-
dictions which should be enacted into law in each State and by
the United States.
Coat of Arms, Leedy (Holland) :
D'azur & la fasce d'or. Cinder : un vol, aux armes de 1'ecu. —
Rietstap Armorial General.
Azure, a fesse or. Crest: Arms of the escutcheon, winged.
PUI
ASTOR, LEU IX
TILDE r; F3 ;DAT|ON3
264 GEORGE RICHARD MAPP
large landed estate in Northampton and at one time his daughter
Kate was said to be the richest woman in the county. Mr. Mapp
remembers well this daughter, as she was a frequent visitor at
his father's home and always called him "Cousin Victor." This
would seem to establish his idea that her mother and Robins Mapp
were brother and sister.
In the maternal line, Mr. Mapp's people were evidently from
the great Scottish clan of Scott, from which all the Scotts in the
world are descended. His mother's people were apparently
among the early settlers in Northampton and Accomac, for James
Scott came to Accomac in 1635, and he was followed by Nicholas
in 1640. Then came Thomas in 1649, who settled in Northampton,
and Richard in 1665, who also settled in Northampton County.
These were evidently the progenitors of the Scotts of the eastern
shore.
In the meantime, other Scotts had settled in other sections
of Virginia ; and in the Revolutionary period the Virginia Scotts
furnished to the armies eighty soldiers, ranging from private to
Brigadier General. Few families in Virginia could show such a
record as that.
Mr. Mapp's boyhood was before the time of the present public
school system, but he attended in his youth such private and
semi-public schools as were in his neighborhood, and later the
Williamsburg, Norfolk, and Hanover Academies.
Upon leaving school, he began his manhood career as a teacher
for one term in the public school, and then taught two terms in
the Margaret Academy in Accomac County. He then retired from
school teaching and engaged in mercantile business, which he fol-
lowed until the outbreak of the Civil War.
After the war he engaged in farming, and, after several
years, added to it a mercantile interest which he finally closed out
in 1879, and bought the old homestead of "White Hall," where
he was born, adding to his farming a sawmill business.
Though now past the three score and ten years allotted to
man, he is yet active and vigorous, and for many years has held
the position of Superintendent of Public Schools for his county,
and also has acted as one of the supervisors of the county for a
long time. This means that he enjoys an unusual degree of esteem
from the people among whom his life has been spent.
Mr. Mapp was married at Waverly, Northampton County,
March 2, 1865, to Ellen Barley Trower, who was born at Frank-
town, Northampton County, November 22, 1843, daughter of Dr.
Robert Smith and Sally Ann (James ) Trower.
Of Mr. Mapp's children, a son, Dr. James Harmanson Mapp,
was educated at Norfolk and in the College of Physicians and
Surgeons in Baltimore, and is now a practising physician in
Buena Vista, Virginia. George R. Mapp, Jr., a second son,
educated at William and Mary College, is engaged in farming and
GEORGE RICHARD MAPP 265
milling. He married Miss Lucie Rodgers, and has two children,
George R. (Ill), and Jennie Scott Mapp. Mr. Mapp's daughter
Clara Ellen, married Theron P. Bell. She was educated at
Hollins Institute, and her husband is engaged in mercantile busi-
ness, farming and milling. They have a daughter Clara Ellen and
a son Theron P. Bell.
Another daughter, Bertha Elizabeth, married Frank B. Bell,
who is engaged in farming, operates a sawmill, and is also a
dealer in fruit and produce. Mrs. Frank B. Bell was also educated
at Hollins Institute.
Another daughter, Florence May, was educated at the
Woman's College at Richmond, and married Dr. P. W. Tankard
who is engaged in farming and operates a sawmill. They have two
children : Philip B. and Barclay. Mr. Mapp's youngest son,
Claude Milton Mapp, was educated at the Eastville Academy and
the William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. He is
now engaged in farming, and was married on October 15, 1913,
to Marguerite Susan Wilkins, daughter of Henry Houston
Wilkins, of Northampton.
Mr. Mapp has had a useful career. He has contributed to
the welfare of his section by a life of good citizenship, and has
had the satisfaction of rearing and seeing settled in life a fine
family of children, to all of whom he has given the best educa-
tional advantages.
OTHO FREDERICK MEARS
OTHO FREDERICK MEARS, one of the most popular and
prominent lawyers on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, was
born June 4, 1862, in the height of the stormiest days that
ever swept his native State. The birthplace of Mr. Mears
was his father's home near Keller, on the Eastern Shore in Ac-
comae County, one of the most beautiful of the rural districts of
the Old Dominion.
The family of Mears, as readers of Virginia Colonial History
know, is one of the most ancient to be met with in the annals
of the State. Like most of the cavalier settlers of the Tidewater
section of Charles IPs "Old Dominion," this family is of English
origin.
As early as the year 1654 we find "Mr. William Mears, who
cometh from the Barbadoes with Mr. Munoiye," who was a brother
of Edward Prescott (that fiery Northampton Justice, removed
from office on account of his "mutinous and seditious words"
against the Assembly — see Hening) and who figures in the early
Virginia records. Students partial to threading the mazes of
genealogical research may be interested to observe how often
thereafter the name appears and reappears both in the files of
the Virginia Historical Magazine, and more especially in the
volumes of the William and Mary College Quarterly.
But, though branches of the Mears family have been promi-
nent throughout the State for so many years, it is along the
Eastern Shore of Virginia that the family has been most numer-
ously represented and most eminently distinguished. Among the
lists of the very first colonists of that waterside section the name
of Mears may to this day be read. Through generations, from
Colonial days to the Revolution, and thence to the War between
the States and through a thousand more silent revolutions of
peace, members of this family have held such positions of civic
distinction and social eminence as their forebears held in the
days of Governors Digges and Berkeley. The history of Lan-
caster County is the history of the Carters. The name of Page
shows most conspicuously in the records of old Gloucester. Al-
most every county in that vanished Virginia had its leading
family — some family whose name, to a Southerner certainly, is
almost too well known to need mention. The history of the
family of Mears and the history of the Eastern Shore of Virginia,
it has often and truthfully been said, are identical.
[266]
^- >^^vv
X?
TH1
PU.
TOR,
T1LDEN F NB
OTHO FREDERICK MEARS 269
The maiden name of the mother of Mr. Otho F. Mears was
Emma S. Mapp. His father was Benjamin W. Mears. Both
parents were a part of that elegant and gracious Virginia which
reached its fairest flower in the days just preceding the dark
years of the sixties. This Virginia has been charmingly and
truthfully portrayed for the eyes of later generations by Thomas
Nelson Page, Mary Johnston, Ellen Glasgow, and other writers.
Accomac County has been called "The Hunter's Paradise";
and not only in hunting, but in sailing, fishing, dancing, dining,
horseback riding and each of the outdoor and indoor gaieties of
hospitable Virginia of "Auld Lang Syne," the society that dwelt
within its borders on such places as the Mears' home was known
to excel.
As was the case with the typical Virginian of that generation
and period, Mr. Benjamin W. Mears was a farmer. He was pos-
sessed of a large county estate in Accomac. Like the subject of
our sketch, the father of Mr. Mears was interested in the impor-
tant contemporaneous questions of public life. The "Good Roads"
movement was an unformulated thing at that time. But the
elder Mr. Mears toiled for it in truth as devotedly as many of
the workers who today receive distinction and reward for their
labors, for he was road surveyor during some time for his county ;
and the evidence of his endeavor remains in that district to this
time. The education of the rising generation was likewise a
subject very near his heart. The many problems that confronted
the free schools, which were in those years just starting upon the
difficult commencement of their service, were presented to Mr.
Mears in his capacity of public school trustee ; and were solved by
him with scrupulous conscientiousness, ability, and warm desire
to give assistance.
By all who knew him, the elder Mr. Mears was known to be
a man of high integrity. He was distinguished by an extraor-
dinary power of application and industry in his work, no matter
how difficult or disagreable that work might be. But his most
strongly marked characteristic, — the characteristic which shines
through the warp and woof of the events of his busy and useful
life, — was his unfaltering constancy to truth. "Many love truth,"
in ways that vary according to their natures, it has been said,
but love for truth was the strong passion of this man's life.
The youth of Otho F. Mears was spent on his father's farm.
It was a boyhood rich in all the pleasures and attractive tasks of
a Southern child in the country; and its influence is easily seen
in the man of today. Among other characteristics Otho F. Mears
inherited his father's industry; and this quality displayed itself
in his instance surprisingly early in life. He first attempted
outdoor work on the home farm when he was only ten years old,
a noticeable promise of the courage with which he was to meet
the world in later days. His progress was excellent, as might
270 OTHO FREDERICK HEARS
have been inferred from so early a beginning. At the age of
twelve, the boy literally lived in his father's fields. The plow,
at that time, could be handled by him as cleverly as any full-
grown farmer. He was an expert also at many other duties, small
and great, about his family place, and was, in brief, a typical
American country boy in that he showed no reluctance in the face
of any work required to be done by the hands. In his infancy the
health of Mr. Mears had been frail, and throughout his early
childhood it had remained delicate. But the strenuous outdoor
days of his boyhood changed all this. The hours behind the plow,
and in the fresh, sweet sea air of the Accomac breezes, gave him,
among other gifts, the strength that the country keeps for those
who love to toil in her open spaces.
Mr. Mears's education was begun at the public school of which
his father was Trustee. This school (such were the obstacles
presented by the period and the country) was taught each year for
only five or six months. It will be readily imagined that under
such circumstances it must have demanded a real effort on his
part to acquire an education. However, Benjamin W. Mears later
sent his son to Onancock Academy, Onancock, Virginia, when the
lad was fifteen and a half years old ; and the foundations laid by
his early public school training must have been strong, for Otho
F. Mears continued to pursue his studies at that excellent old
academy for well-nigh four years. From Onancock Academy Mr.
Mears advanced to Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia.
At Randolph-Macon he remained for two years. It had always
been the intention and hope of his father to make a lawyer of
this son. The boy had read and enjoyed the biographies of many
great men. With especial interest he perused those of brilliant
lawyers. From a very early day there had been to him a glamour
and enchantment cast over legal scenes. This charm had drawn
his fascinated attendance upon courts wherever possible. It had
enlisted his keen interest in the processes and intricacies of the
law — minutiae that seem dry as dust to any save the lawyer. It
had come upon him, moreover, at an age when most boys care most
for marbles, rabbit traps, and hare-and-hounds. Perhaps it was
the thrill of those biographies, perhaps the lure of the courts that
first kindled in Mr. Mears the spark of ambition to be himself a
lawyer. Perhaps his principal motive was the gratification of
his father. It cannot positively be said which was the impelling
motive. Certain it is, howrever, that the ambition was there. The
two years of study at Randolph-Macon College successfully fin-
ished, young Mears returned to the Eastern Shore. Money was
now necessary to pay the expenses of a law course, the prelude to
the fulfilment of this long-cherished ambition. But that was a
comparatively slight obstacle to a man of his industry and energy ;
and for two years (the sessions from 1883 to 1885) he taught
school at Accomac Courthouse. These were two extremely busy
OTHO FREDERICK MEARS 271
years. His time, in the first place devoted to his teaching, was
crowded at odd moments with extra work. He helped on his
father's place in sundry ways during vacation, did ordinary farm
labor, and performed, in fact, with his customary vigor, any
work that came his way. But his reward was speedy and suffi-
cient to satisfy his wishes. The necessary sum of money was
earned, and the goal toward which he had been struggling gained.
In 1885 Mr. Mears entered the law school at the University of
i/
Virginia, then taught by Professor John B. Minor and Professor
James H. Gilmore. This institution was, and is, justly celebrated
throughout North and South for the thoroughness and ability
of its professors, and for the unusually high percentage of suc-
cessful and prominent men among its graduates. Mr. Mears
completed his course as speedily as it was possible for a student
to complete it. He remained at the University for one session,
and, on June 4, 1886, he graduated from the Law School of the
University of Virginia, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
Immediately after his graduation Mr. Mears entered upon the
active practise of his profession in Accomac. The struggles of
so many young lawyers seem to have fallen to his lot in very
slight, if in any, degree. It was not long before he formed a part-
nership with the late Thomas C. Walston, located in what has been
his home from that time to the present- -Eastville, Northampton
County, Virginia. In 1887 Mr. Walston died. His practice was
continued by his young partner. At that time, just one year after
his graduation from the University of Virginia, Mr. Mears may be
said to have attained the position of one of the leading lawyers
in the whole of his native district, the Eastern Shore. This posi-
tion has been, to say the least, maintained by him ever since.
The almost universal popularity and confidence which is his
portion throughout his home State is witness to the care which
he has expended upon all this work which has fallen in his path-
way, even to the smallest detail.
Mr. Mears is one of the most deservedly popular Eastern
Shore men of the day. Personally, there is no more genial and
companionable man. All ranks and ages, wherever he may go,
testify to the charm of his manner and personality.
It is now over twenty years that Mr. Mears has practised law
in Northampton. On the fourth Thursday in May, 1895, he was
first elected to the office of commonwealth's attorney. After four
years he was again elected for another term to the same office.
There was not the slightest vestige of opposition raised against
him at either election — an unusual and significant tribute. It is
intensified by the fact that he would have been elected common-
wealth's attorney a third time, under perfectly similar conditions,
except that he declined to receive the nomination. Since 1904
his private affairs as a lawyer have engaged his attention to its
fullest extent.
272 OTHO FREDERICK MEARS
Mr. Mears is noted for his ability as a speaker. This talent
has contributed much to his success at the bar. He is a capital
debater, fluent, eloquent, ready on the spur of the moment for
any occasion, and of impressive and agreeable presence; an
example of the worthiest traditions of a State that has, from the
days of Patrick Henry to those of John Warwick Daniel, contrib-
uted to society no small quota of men of marked forensic power.
In compliance with the demands of his friends, and at the
urgent request of the voters from every section of the Eastern
Shore, a few years ago, Mr. Mears opposed the Hon. Wm. A.
Jones, the present incumbent (1914), in the race for the election
to Congress from the Third District. Mr. Mears's candidacy was
due, in fact, to pledges of support unsolicited by him, and practi-
cally unanimous in Northampton County and in many parts of
Accomac County. This campaign was pitched and waged upon
the very highest plane known to the art of campaigning among
Virginia gentlemen. From the characters of the two candidates,
it is inconceivable that any other method of strife could by any
possibility have been pursued. The campaign was one of the
most strenuous witnessed in that or any other district in the
State in many years, and resulted in the re-election of Mr. Mears's
opponent.
Whether in office or out, it can be declared as Mr. Mears's just
due, say those who know him, that he has measured up uniformly
to every requirement, however exacting, that has ever been made
upon him.
Mr. Mears is a man of great native modesty and inbred
aversion to obtrusiveness in any form. It is probable that neither
the distinctions he has gained from the law, the laurels he has
won in public life and office, his reputation as an orator, nor his
personal popularity are to Mr. Mears himself a source of as much
pleasure as the knowledge of the sincere and often-repeated com-
ments of his community in praise of his strict business reliability.
Public opinion in such matters, it is well known, is an almost
infallible guide. "He is one in whom the greatest confidence
can be placed" ; "It is idle to suggest that any man ever enter-
tained a loftier conception of duty in all relations of life" — are
remarks that have been made about him, both in print and by men
in ordinary conversation, not once but many times.
Mr. Mears is very fond of books; and despite the numerous
duties heaped upon him by his profession, manages to do a not
inconsiderable amount of reading. In particular he owns himself
indebted for much that he values as valuable to the Bible, to
Shakespeare, and biographical lives of various eminent men.
Mr. Mears has never deserted the colors of his political party ;
and his loyal Democracy may well be held up as an example to his
fellow-citizens within whatever political fold. In church relations
his affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
OTHO FREDERICK MEARS 273
Mr. Mears is a director of the L. E. Mumford Banking Com-
pany. He is also a director of the Eastern Shore of Virginia
Fire Insurance Company. He is a member of the Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons Lodge 234; and he is affiliated with the
prominent Greek Letter College Fraternity, Beta Theta Pi.
The agricultural training of Mr. Mears's boyhood and youth
has influenced his later life decidedly. The chief relaxation from
mental work which he enjoys to this day is farming. Athletic
games have given him much entertainment; and there are few
people who derive more hearty pleasure than he from an afternoon
spent in witnessing a scientific exhibition of the National game
of baseball.
Mr. Mears's ideals of life are those of the Old South, high and
un tinged by the commercial spirit permeating American life. In
the sordid struggle which drops and loses things of higher impor-
tance than money, he has taken but little part. The saying that
"Honesty is the best policy" may be described as the foundation
of his political and professional creed, and the love of Mammon
has always held but small place among the things near and dear
to his spirit. ''What, from your own experience," he was asked
a few years ago, in "Men of Mark in Virginia," " would you de-
scribe as the virtues most to be cultivated, and, in fact, from a
standpoint merely commercial, most profitable? What virtues
would you recommend that young men and women, who are just
starting in business, and who may be inspired by the perusal of
this article, should most assiduously seek to put into practice?"
Mr. Mears replied : kk Strict regard for truth, hard work, stick-to-
itiveness, and square dealing." Later still, in the same interview,
he is quoted as saying in much the same practical yet idealistic
strain : UI would advise that one should not be too anxious to
obtain wealth, and should by all means avoid get-rich-quick
schemes. The attainment of the greatest wealth does not mean
the greatest success."
Mr. Mears married on November 19, 1890, Miss Florence R.
Holland, daughter of N. L. Holland. Seven children have been
born to him, six of whom are today living (1914).
The post-office address of Mr. Mears is Eastville, Northampton
County, Virginia.
THOMAS JAPHETH WHITFIELD
a name that seems perfectly simple, the family name of
Whitfield shows most remarkable differences in spelling.
In the English records we find Whitfeild, Whitfeilds,
Whitfeld, Whitfelde, Whitfyeld, Whitfyelde, Whytfeld,
Whytfield, and Whitefield. We must credit the various branches
of the Whitfield family with real ingenuity.
The family has won immortal reputation through one man.
Generations of good citizens have come and gone, but one great
man has filled the world with the fame of the W^hitfield name.
This man, George Whitfield, was perhaps the greatest preacher
that the English-speaking race has ever known; and as long as
our records endure, the fame of George Whitfield will go down
the ages ; and as long as the commonwealth of Georgia lasts the
countv named in his honor will stand as a monument to the most
V
eloquent and brilliant pulpit orator of the eighteenth century, if
not of all the centuries.
The Whitfield family has been identified with Virginia since
an early period, and in England the family name can be traced
back to the fourteenth century, and possibly a hundred years
further with a closer inspection.
A present-day representative is Thomas Japheth Whitfield, of
Suffolk, Virginia, whose principal occupation is that described by
the great Washington as being the most ancient, the most hon-
orable and useful occupation known to man. Combined with his
general farming, Mr. Whitfield is engaged in the cotton business.
He is a truck grower and a specialist in horticulture.
From a business standpoint he has made a success of life.
He ranks as one of the most substantial and highly-respected
citizens in the county in which he now lives.
He was born in Southampton County, son of Cordy Clifton
and Lucy Jane (Saunders) Whitfield. His father was by occupa-
tion a farmer.
The history of the Whitfield family in Virginia has some
special features of interest. There were, it seems, three different
periods in which members of this family came into the colony.
The first record we have of Whitfields in Virginia was of Gilbert
Whitfield, a young man of twenty-three, who came over on the
ship Flying Hart, in the year 1621, was a member of "Danniel
Gookine's" muster and was alive in 1623 after the great Indian
massacre of 1622.
[274]
. •
•
L
A
THOMAS JAPHETH WHITFIELD 277
The next Whitfield was John, a young man of twenty, who
sailed for Virginia on August 7, 1635, on the ship Globe of London.
Next comes Kichard, who in that same year of 1635 came over
and settled in Charles City County; William, who came over in
1636 and settled in Elizabeth City County ; a second Gilbert, who
came over in 1637 and settled in New Norfolk County.
All these were probably related, and this covers the first
period.
The second period begins with Matthew Whitfield, who sailed
from Barbadoes for Virginia in the ketch Prosperous, May 2, 1679.
At this same time Roger Whitfield was Captain of the ship
Lixloa Merchant, trading between Barbadoes and Virginia.
The next Whitfields were three brothers, Cordy, Reuben and
Benjamin, who came from England, and settled on James River,
either in 1692 or 1702, and it is from this family that Thomas J.
Whitfield is descended.
Evidently the early immigrants of this name had left sons,
for in Elizabeth City County there was probated on November 18,
1694, the will of Thomas Whitfield, leaving his estate to his sons
John and Thomas, and his daughters Mary and Elizabeth.
Of this last installment, Cordy and Reuben Whitfield remained
in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, while Benjamin went to Hali-
fax, North Carolina. Reuben Whitfield was the great-great-
grandfather of Thomas J. Whitfield. These early Whitfields were
Quakers, and their settlement in Isle of Wight County is easily
understood by the fact that there was at Smithfield for many
years a flourishing body of Quakers with a meeting house.
Here and there in the old records one comes upon the Whit-
field name showing that the family had at least grown to some
extent and had become distributed over the State.
John Whitfield was a resident of Fredericksburg in 1758.
Willis Whitfield lived in Norfolk in 1792. Haynes Whitfield
served as a sailor in the Virginia State Navy for three years
during the Revolutionary War. Edward and Harris Whitfield
were Revolutionary soldiers.
Thomas J. Whitfield's maternal line, the Saunders family, is
believed by most people to be of Scotch origin, when as a matter
of fact it is a very ancient English name derived from the Norse
Sandi, which had its equivalent in the Anglo-Saxon Sandir and
Sandi, which meant a messenger. Three forms of the name appear
in England; Sandys, Sanders, and Saunders. All three of these
forms appear in the early history of Virginia ; but the last named
seems to have been more general.
The first record we find of them in the colonial period was
when Richard Saunders came to Virginia in 1636. He was fol-
lowed by Jonathan Saunders in 1637, who settled in New Norfolk.
This was probably the Reverend Jonathan Saunders, who with his
wife Mary were among the pioneers, he being one of the earliest
278 THOMAS JAPHETH WHITFIELD
clergymen in any of the colonies. In 1654 William Saunders
came over, and, in that same year, Edward Saunders, rated as
a gentleman, settled in Westmoreland County. Apparently
these were the progenitors of the numerous members of this
family in the State. One finds them everywhere in the
records. In 1755 Thomas Saunders was a member of a company
of rangers commanded by Captain William Preston in the old
French and Indian War. In that same war, in 1756, appears
George Saunders as a trooper in Captain Lewis Ellzey's Company
from Fairfax County. Evidently George's example had some in-
fluence, for some years later from the same county, in 1758,
Thomas Saunders is mentioned as a member of Captain Nicholas
Minor's Company. Fighting was the main work in those days.
A little later we come upon Robert Saunders, who was a corporal
in the Frontier Battalion with the notation after his name that
he served as a corporal until the battalion was disbanded. The
date is not given but it is likely that he remained in the service
until after the close of the old French and Indian War, in which
Washington first began to make reputation. In the Revolutionary
War there were over fiftv members of the various branches of
v
the Saunders family in the Revolutionary armies, ranging in rank
from ensign to field officers. One of these, Daniel Saunders, of
Fairfax, appeared upon the United States Pension Roll in 1840,
being then ninety years of age. Another one of them served for
three years in the Virginia State Navy with the rank of midship-
man. This was Richard Saunders ; and it is only when we come
upon an entry like this in the old records that we learn that there
was a State navy.
In the English Cyclopedias of Biography few names have
a longer list of illustrious members than the Saunders family.
They make a creditable appearance also in the American works,
where we find great educators, lawyers, judges, naval officers,
manufacturers, governors, statesmen, historians, librarians, and
at least one great horticulturist.
Thomas J. Whitfield evidently does not interest himself in
politics. His religious affiliation is with the Baptist Church.
He was married December 6, 1887, in Gates County, North
Carolina, to Annie A. Benton, a native of that county, daughter
of Seth and Martha Benton. This North Carolina Benton family
was the same family to which Thomas Hart Benton, the famous
Missouri Senator who was such a power in the last century,
belonged.
The children of this marriage are Davis Andrew Whitfield,
who was given a business education ; Marjorie, who completed
her education at Peace College at Raleigh, North Carolina:
Gladys, a graduate of the Suffolk High School ; and three younger
children, Quitsna, Thomas J., Jr., and Otho Kermit, who are now
in the public schools.
THOMAS JAPHETH WHITFIELD 279
The Whitfield coat of arms is described as : Sable, five fusils
in bend, betwen six crosses, crosslet or.
The coat of arms of the Middlesex, England, Saunders family,
from which the Virginia family most probably comes, is described
as : Argent a chevron between three elephants' heads erased sable,
on a chief gules a broken sword proper, hilt and pommel or, the
point hanging down, between two plates.
Crest: Out of a mural coronet, an elephant's head argent,
eared sable, charged on the breast with an ogress.
WILLIAM ERNEST MELVILLE THORNTON
•ILLIAM E. M. THORNTON, at the present time (1914)
serving as Mayor of Altavista, Campbell County, Vir-
ginia, is a member of a family which has been identified
with Virginia since 1(546 certainly, and possibly a year
or two before that. He is in the eighth generation from William
Thornton, the immigrant, who came to Virginia from Yorkshire,
England, certainly not later than 1646, as his name first appears
on the records in that year. In Volume V of Virginia County
Records, on page 99, appears information about this first Thorn-
ton. It gives a description of his coat of arms, which corresponds
with that used by the family then located at "The Hills," York-
shire, which justifies the statement that he came from Yorkshire-
Mentioned first in 1646, in 1665 he received a grant of land
in Gloucester County; and was vestryman of Petsworth Parish
in 1677. He had issue three sons : William, Francis and Rowland.
The eldest son, William, was born on the 27th of March, 1649,
and died on the 15th of February, 1727. Like his father, he was a
vestryman of Petsworth Parish. He married three times and had
sixteen children, and the record is preserved where he made
entries of these sixteen children in his own hand. It did not
seem to occur to the old gentleman to mention their mothers.
The second son of William the immigrant was Francis Thornton,
who was born November 5, 1651, and died in 1726. He settled in
Stafford County and was twice married. His first wife was Alice,
daughter of Captain Anthony Savage, of Gloucester, and by her
had issue seven children. He had no issue by his second wife.
The third son, William Rowland Thornton, married Elizabeth,
daughter of Alexander Fleming. He was dead in 1701, and at
his death is believed to have left no issue.
For a period of two hundred and fifty years this family has
ranked among the best families of the State, and the members of
it have been conspicuous for their services in Church and State,
both in peace and war.
Burke, the greatest of English authorities, says that the North
of England Thornton family was a very ancient and eminent one,
distinguished in the wars of York and Lancaster, and for loyalty
to the Crown during the civil wars in the time of Charles I. The
Yorkshire and Northumberland Thorntons represent this northern
group; while there is a Scotch family of the same name, after
which a parish was named.
[280]
PU
. A
TILDtN NS
WILLIAM ERNEST MELVILLE THORNTON 283
The origin of the name is said to have come from a custom
which prevailed in the early centuries of a settler surrounding
his cottage with a thorn fence to keep out intruders. Such an
enclosure was known as a "ton," or "tun" -surrounded by the
thorn fence, it became a "thorn-ton." In process of time, someone
living under such conditions found himself designated by the
name of his enclosure. Many of our family names have been
derived in that way.
W. E. M. Thornton was born in Sussex County, Virginia, on
July 1, 1852, son of Richard Edward and Vaidenia Alice (Par-
sons) Thornton. His father was sheriff of the countv for a number
e/
of years.
After passing through the hands of private teachers and a
local academy, Mr. Thornton served, from the ages of fifteen to
twenty-one, as a deputy sheriff. He was then for two years com-
missioner of revenue, for three years tax collector, and for four
years overseer of the poor. The next twenty years was spent in
a mercantile business in which he was successful. Retiring from
business, he moved to Altavista on September 10, 1911, and was
shortly thereafter elected mayor of the town, which position he
now holds. Mr. Thornton also gives some time to the business
management of a farmers' institution.
He was married on December 16, 1875, to Maude Alice Thorn-
ton, daughter of William Stith and Mary Rebecca (Eldridge)
Thornton. They had three children : Maud Ernestine, Vaiden
Aubrey and William Edward. Maud and William died young.
The only living child, Dr. Vaiden Aubrey Thornton, is a graduate
of the University College of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia, the
University of Maryland and the Maryland Medical College, of
Baltimore, and now practices his profession in Altavista. He
married Miss Bessie Edna Carr, of West Virginia, and they have
two children : William Carr Thornton and Mary Vaidenia
Thornton.
W. E. M. Thornton has led an active life, and now (having
passed the sixty mark) he is serving his people in positions which
do not too greatly tax upon his strength. Like all the generations
of his family, he is an ardent churchman, having been vestryman
and senior warden in Albemarle Parish, Sussex County, the
county in which he formerly resided for twenty years. He is now
vestryman and senior warden in St. Peter's Church, Moor Parish.
t> / «
Altavista.
The Thornton family history in Virginia is one of more than
usual interest. The first record we have of William Thornton (1)
is a document signed in York County on May 11, 1646, in which
he pledged himself to the care of the cattle of John Liptrot until
the said John Liptrot should come of age. It is rather singular
that a little instrument of this kind should have outlasted so many
matters of seemingly great importance. Twenty years after this
284 WILLIAM ERNEST MELVILLE THORNTON
William Thornton took up land in Gloucester County. His son
William, father of the sixteen children, has been referred to. We
have the names of these sixteen children. They were Elizabeth,
Margaret, Mary, Esther, Sarah, Jane, Judith, Anna, William,
Susan, Francis, Seth, another William, Prudence (the second
William and Prudence being twins), John and Johanna. Evi-
dently the first child which was named William, died, and a son
born later was given the favorite family name.
Francis, the eldest surviving son of William (2), also was a
vestryman of Petsworth Parish. Apparently William (2) was the
member of the family who figured as representative of King
George County in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1722 to
1726. From 1742 to 1776, continuously, this family was repre-
sented in the House of Burgesses. Francis Thornton represented
Spottsylvania County from 1742 to 1747. Presley Thornton repre-
sented Northumberland from 1748 to 1761. William Thornton
represented Brunswick from 1756 to 1765. Then we come upon
Peter Presley Thornton, who succeeded Presley Thornton of
Northumberland, he having in 1760 been promoted and made a
member of the Council, was succeeded temporarily by a man of
another name ; shortly after, Peter Presley Thornton conies on the
scene as the representative of Northumberland, which position he
held until 1775; then the Revolutionary War having broken out,
Peter Presley Thornton became Lieutenant-Colonel Thornton, and
the House of Burgesses knew him no more. In 1776, Spottsylvania
is represented by George Thornton. In 1759, Brunswick was rep-
resented by William Thornton and John Clack, a connection of
William Thornton by marriage. Francis Thornton, of the third
generation (previously referred to) was the father of William,
who removed to Brunswick, and whose legislative record has just
been given. He married Jane, said to have been a daughter of
Sterling Clack, sometime clerk of Brunswick County. They had
seven children : James, John, Francis, William, Sterling Clack,
Reuben and Peter Presley. Of these sons, William had two sons :
Sterling Clack and William — the last-named William having been
born in Brunswick, Virginia, on April 19, 1778, and moved to
Sussex County, where he married Mary Parham, daughter of Seth
Parham, and they had eight children : William, Richard, Douglas,
Sterling, Martha, Ella Ann, Belle and Indiana. Richard married
Vaidenia Alice Parsons, and they had two sons : William Ernest
Melville Thornton and Richard Douglas Thornton. W. E. M.
Thornton is therefore in the eighth generation from the immi-
grant— the line being William (1), William (2), Francis, Wil-
liam (3), WTilliam (4), William (5), Richard and W. E. M.
Thornton.
Mr. Thornton's grandfather, William Thornton, fifth of the
name, was an architect by profession, served as sheriff of his
county, and was a large landowner. He is probably the William
WILLIAM ERNEST MELVILLE THORNTON 285
Thornton who planned a large portion of President James Madi-
son's home mansion of "Montpelier." In the seventh generation,
William, Richard and James Thornton were teachers by profes-
sion, all of them serving as county officials, William becoming
surveyor; Richard, sheriff, and James, clerk in Sussex County,
which positions they held for years.
Our space will not permit dealing to any extent with the col-
lateral lines in this family. There are some things, however, that
cannot be permitted to pass without mention. Jane Clack, whose
family name is perpetuated in so many of the children, was a de-
scendant of Rev. James Clack, who came from England in 1678,
and was rector of Ware Parish from 1679 to 1723, the year of his
death. A black marble tomb, with a lengthy inscription, com-
memorates his long service and his virtues.
The church record of this family is too notable to be allowed
to pass without at least a word of mention. Dates are difficult to
secure because the old records are very imperfect, but in St.
George's Parish, Spottsylvania County, appear as vestrymen,
Francis, Francis Jr., George and John Thomas Thornton. Up
in the Madison and Rappahannock country, one of the old churches
bears the name of the F. T. Church, from Frank Thornton, who
carved his initials on a tree standing near the spring. In the Am-
herst Parish, after 1779, is found the name of James Thornton,
vestryman in St. Paul's Parish, Alexandria, In 1810, appears
Joseph Thornton as a vestryman. Northumberland House, a
famous mansion, was owned by Col. Presley Thornton, and he
lies buried there. In the year 1749, he was vestryman of St.
Stephen's Parish, which included his home place. In King George's
County we find William and Rowland Thornton, vestrymen of the
Parish. Rev. Thomas Thornton, who died in 1791, aged seventy-
six, was at one time in the Brunswick section, and was rector of
St. George's Parish, Spottsylvania County, at the time of his
death. In Caroline Countv, in 1785, Anthonv Thornton was very
»/ 7 «/ «/
active in securing some legislation necessary to the welfare of the
church. A famous old lawsuit went up from the York-Hampton
Parish to the Privy Council in London — the suit being brought
by Mr. Camm, a former rector. Mr. Camm lost his suit, and one
of the Thorntons (possibly William (2) ) was a member of the
vestry and very much opposed to Mr. Camm in this transaction.
Francis Thornton, of "Fall Hill," married Anna Thomson,
and served as justice of the peace for Essex from 1700 to 1720.
Among the Thorntons who served Petsworth Parish as vestrymen
were William (1), William (2), Francis, Seth, Sterling and Meaux.
About 1775, William Thornton was vestryman of St Paul's, in
Stafford County. While their names cannot always be given,
Bishop Meade says that these Thorntons were powers of strength
to parishes in Richmond County, Stafford County, Prince William
County and New Kent County.
286 WILLIAM ERNEST MELVILLE THORNTON
Finally, we come upon them as late as 1850, where they had
crossed the Alleghanies in the effort to organize a parish along the
Kanawha, near Coalsmouth; the names of Alfred A. and George
W. Thornton, as vestrymen.
It is, perhaps, within the bounds of strict accuracy to say that
no one immigrant to Virginia ever left a more numerous posterity
so active in the church and in affairs of government. During these
generations, they have intermarried with the Carters, Washing-
tons, Brokenbroughs, Meriwethers and numerous other leading
families. In the Revolutionary War they were well represented
by twelve or fifteen soldiers, having an unusual number of officers
of rank in the total number. There were at least three colonels,
one lieutenant-colonel and other officers of lower rank.
A complete and most interesting history of the descendants
of William Thornton can be found in several volumes of the Wil-
liam and Mary Quarterly, beginning with the fourth volume and
running forward. The lines are there traced out through all their
ramifications, and one is rather surprised to come upon the figure
of Sir Wade Thornton, who became a British soldier, rose to the
rank of lieutenant-general, and was knighted for his services. He
was in the fourth or fifth generation from William Thornton, the
immigrant. Prof. William M. Thornton, one of the brilliant schol-
ars of our generation, and sometime chairman of the faculty at the
University of Virginia, is a member of this family.
The Thornton coat of arms is as follows :
"Argent, a chevron sable between three hawthorn trees
proper.
"Crest — Out of a ducal coronet or, a lion's head proper/'
A
id Patent,
an Tb<
c
"-% *
5.
n.
flies. Their
le Carr, and
:
290 DE LOS THOMAS
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the early part of the last century.
These two lived at or near Richmond, Virginia.
The name of Carr is very familiar in Virginia where the fam-
ily has been a conspicuous one for two hundred years or more. It
is a very interesting name. The genealogists do not agree as to
its derivation. One school claims that it comes from the Celtic
word "caer," which meant a camp, and the other that it came from
the Norse "karr," which meant curly haired. Probabilities are
that both sides are right, and that some families had one origin
and some another, some being of old British stock, and some of
Norse stock.
The English form of the name is usually Carr, though Karr is
rarely found. The Scotch form of it is Keir and Kerr.
Mr. Thomas has in his possession a very interesting old letter
written on January 22, 1831, by his great-grandfather, John Rob-
inson, to his brother in Virginia. In this is much information as
to family matters of that time. This letter was dated at Smael-
burns. This Smaelburns was a farmstead of one hundred and
thirty-three acres, and is a short distance from Carr-shield, which
is a very small village.
In 1908 two children of John Robinson were then living, be-
ing in the eighties.
This Thomas family in America dates back to 1795, when
Richard ap Thomas, with his wife, settled in Steuben, Oneida
County, New York, bringing with them eight of their nine children.
The other son, Evan ap Thomas, remained in Wales where his
descendants are now living. He was called "Evan Predyth" (Evan
the Poet), and enjoyed some fame for his poetical gifts. When
the rest of his family left Wales, Evan was so moved with grief
at their departure, that he wrote a "Lament," as it is called. This
"Lament" was of a most touching character, and is still treasured
in Wales.
Thomas Thomas, son of the immigrant, and grandfather of
DeLos Thomas, had one very remarkable experience. He made
several trips back to his native land, and once, while returning to
America, during the War of 1812, was captured on the high seas
by the British, forced into their naval service and lost a leg. After
the war, he made a claim against the British government, and,
though an American citizen, received an English pension which he
enjoyed until his death at the age of eighty-six.
DeLos Thomas went through the public schools, including the
high school of his native place, and, arriving at manhood, entered
the railwav service, with which he has been identified during his
t/
entire business life.
He began his career at Utica, New York, with what is now a
part of the New York Central line. His first work in 1880 was as
a telegraph operator, and later he became a train dispatcher. In
1886, he moved to Oswego, New York, and entered the traffic
DE LOS THOMAS 291
department, and, shortly thereafter, was made chief clerk of that
department, which position he left in 1890, to accept the chief
clerkship in the traffic department of the Norfolk and Western
Railway, at Roanoke, Va. His work there gained him promotion,
and in 1896, he was transferred to Winston-Salem, N. C., as divis-
ion freight agent, in which capacity he served until 1908, when he
returned to Roanoke as assistant general freight agent. In 1912,
he met with still further promotion, being appointed general
freight agent of the road.
It will be noted that Mr. Thomas has steadily adhered to the
railroad business, and for twenty-three of his thirty-three active
years he has been identified with one railroad. He has gained
well-merited promotion and enjoys high standing in the commu-
nity where so large a part of his life has been spent.
He is affiliated with all the branches of Masonry from the
Blue Lodge to the Shrine. He is a member of the Shenandoah
Club and the Country Club, both of Roanoke. He is a communi-
cant of St. John's Episcopal Church of Roanoke.
Mr. Thomas has never been active in a political way. He says
of himself in that connection that he was a Democrat while in the
North, and is still grounded in that faith. It can easily be un-
derstood that a man whose convictions made him a Democrat in
the North during the dark years of the Democratic party, would
certainly not be liable to "change his colors" after entering Demo-
cratic territory.
Mr. Thomas was married in St. Paul's Church in Chatta-
nooga, Tenn., on October 15, 1895, to Ria Green Binford, who was
born at Wilmington, N. C., daughter of Walter Blair Binford of
Richmond, Va., and Caroline Haigh Anderson of Wilmington,
N. C.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have a family of four bright children.
DeLos Thomas, Jr., and Ria Binford Thomas are twins, and are
now seventeen (1913). William Stephenson Thomas is fourteen,
and Helen Gordon Thomas is nine.
Mrs. Thomas has a most illustrious Virginia ancestry. The
family name of Binford is very rare, both in the old country and
in America. Just when they came to Virginia cannot be stated,
but it is known that James Binford was a land owner in Prince
George County, as early as 1714.
Among the notable Virginia ancestors may be mentioned the
colonial governor, Richard Bennett, who enjoyed the unique dis-
tinction of having served as governor of both Virginia and Mary-
land; William Mayo, civil engineer and member of the House of
Burgesses; Colonel Samuel Jordan, Capt. Francis Poythress and
Peter Poythress of the House of Burgesses ; Richard Bland, mem-
ber of the House of Burgesses and of the First Continental Con-
gress; John Mayo, member of the House of Burgesses and of the
Virginia convention, and Richard Bradley, colonial commissioner
292 DE LOS THOMAS
of the port of Wilmington, N. C. ; also the Randolphs, Flemings,
Winstons, Tabbs, Merediths, Perrots, Howards and Dabneys —
all notable families in the colonial history and many of them in
the later history of the State.
The Thomas family of Wales has in the General Cyclopedia
of British Biography a most notable record, there being over fifty
men of that name, Welshmen, who in the last six hundred years
have been distinguished in every line of human endeavor, in the
making of the British Empire. They have had an unusual num-
ber of bishops of the church and clergymen of marked distinction,
but like other Welshmen they were hard-headed, and many of them
were dissenters; one of the most famous was a Calvinistic Meth-
odist preacher.
In our own history they have made an almost equally famous
record. Two especially are entitled to mention. These two are
Major General John Thomas, born in Massachusetts, who was
characterized as one of the best officers in the Army of 1775, and
who, after rendering splendid service in the first year of the war,
died of smallpox just at the beginning of the second year of the
war. The second was Gen. George H. Thomas of Virginia, who
adhered to the Federals in the Civil War, and is believed by many
competent authorities to have been the ablest soldier in the Fed-
eral armies during that great struggle.
The Maryland Thomas family has also been greatly distin-
guished.
The coat of arms of the Thomas family to which DeLos
Thomas belongs is :
Argent, on a chevron engrailed azure, two griffins rencon-
trant, combatant, of the field, gorged with two bars gules; on a
chief of the second three cinquefoils pierced or.
Crest : Out of a ducal coronet, a demi-sea-horse salient sable,
maned or.
MONO the leading citizens of Boanoke no n
higher than Ernest Love Stone, who was bori
1L Montgomery County, Virginia, on March 25, 1
Dr. James Lov* Mattie Agnes (Woo ton) S
. Stone is d • <»u both sMe? of his famil;
pd in VI d fn»m
land, on at Kw
I, on December i-tv-iive ii
stands
-c Ut
lard Wooton, who set tied
d William Wooton, who settled in
i were the founders of the Vir-
y often appears spelled "Wooten."
the • of tbt: Revolu-
Wootons. IQ very <
is and Turner Wooton app<
y soldiers from Virginia.
he origin of the Stone family name
: 'ume man who lived by a stone or in a stone house, and
of the original name is yet preserved in the family of
use, a name known both in England and America. In one
ndent English records appears in the year 1470 as witness
l the name of Simon Stone, whose profession is given as
ning that he was a learned man.
and tone contributed ons**. of the 1
•y soldiors ic the person of Colonel John
el of the of Co
>ref! r, rhe army.
s of -
296 ERNEST LOVE STONE
pears what is perhaps the oldest Stone coat of arms in existence.
The description is as follows, the spelling being given verbatim:
"Stonne hath for his arms party gold and azure with a rampant
leopard countercoloured."
In the colonial period in Virginia, according to Bishop Meade,
the Stones were among the leading families, Colonel John Stone
having been a vestryman in the Parish of Richmond County be-
tween 1680 and 1695, and his family being probably the leading
family of that county at that time as his name appears first on
the list of vestrymen. William was a vestryman in King George's
County, probably about 1780. William I. Stone appears as a ves-
tryman in St. George's Parish, Spottsylvania County. Samuel
appears as a vestryman in Stafford County.
The Wooton family appears to have derived its family name
from a locality in England, as there was, centuries ago, a parish
of that name in that country.
Mr. Stone's grandfather, Frank Taylor Wooton, was a large
land and slave owner in Prince Edward County, Virginia. In ad-
dition to being a very wealthy man, he exercised great influence
in the State, in society and in the church. Mr. Stone's great-grand-
father, Rudd, was also a large land owner and a prominent citizen
of his day.
Dr. James L. Stone was born in Lunenburg County, Virginia,
and his wife in Prince Edward County, Virginia, which shows
clearly that their descent was from the original immigrants be-
fore mentioned.
Mr. E. L. Stone is a member of a family of remarkable broth-
ers. One brother, the Rev. E. W. Stone, has been pastor of Baptist
churches at Paterson, N. J. ; at New Haven, Conn. ; at Richmond,
Va., and other places. Another brother is Dr. E. B. Stone, phy-
sician of Roanoke, Va. A third brother is Professor William B.
Stone, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan.
Another, James L. Stone, is an electrical engineer. Still another
is a druggist at 1210 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C.,
while the last, Samuel W. Stone, is a druggist and banker at Du-
rant, Oklahoma. It would be hard to duplicate in one family such
a number of capable and good citizens. Evidently there is a strong
inclination to the medical profession in the Stone families, for Dr.
Robert King Stone, formerly of Virginia, who married Margaret
Ritchie, daughter of Thomas Ritchie, one time editor of the "Rich-
mond Enquirer," was the first physician to reach President Lin-
coln after he was shot.
Mr. Stone had the usual advantages of a common school and
collegiate education. His life, up to the age of twenty, was spent
upon a farm. Since that time, for the last twenty-five years, he
has been engaged in the service of the U. S. government, his present
position being that of superintendent of mails at Roanoke, Va.
Aside from his official position he is engaged in real estate
ERNEST LOVE STONE 297
transactions, having done considerable building both in a resi-
dential and business way in Roanoke. He is also a director in sev-
eral corporations and financial institutions.
Capable in his business and a successful man, Mr. Stone's
great interest in life lies in his church work. He is a deacon in the
Calvary Baptist Church and a teacher of the largest Bible class
in the city of Roanoke, which now has one hundred and sixty-five
members enrolled. A constant and close reader of religious and
historical matter, he has been for many years a very frequent con-
tributor to both religious and secular papers, such as "The Baptist
Times/' the "Religious Herald," of Richmond, Va., and the "World
News" of Roanoke, though this by no means exhausts the list. Any
subject of public interest and relating to the public welfare can
command the support of his fluent and trenchant pen. For some
time he conducted a Sunday School Department, or rather, an ex-
position of the Sunday School lessons in the "Baptist Times," and
also in the "Industrial Era" and "Evening World," and no Doctor
of Divinity could have surpassed him in the strength and clarity
of his work. His articles in the "Religious Herald" have all of
them been clear and some of them unusually powerful. One of his
articles entitled, "A Layman's Statement of the Belief of Baptists"
is as clear an expression of the belief of the church to which he
belongs as has ever been put into print by anybody. Another one,
which ran through two numbers of the "Religious Herald" on
"How to Improve the Spiritual Condition of the Church," would
be most interesting and profitable reading for a great many other
people besides the Baptists.
He is first vice-president of the Baptist General Association of
Virginia. The white Baptists number about 155,000. The white
and colored Baptists of Virginia number as many as all the other
denominations of the State combined.
His whole heart is in his church and everything else that
tends to good citizenship. It is not surprising, therefore, that his
standing in his community is of the highest, for, during the past
fifteen years, Sunday after Sunday, his lessons have found their
way to the largest number of adults reached by anybody in his
city. The result of his teaching is shown in the works of his
class, which supports two missionaries, one in China and one in
Japan, beside other works of a benevolent character.
Mr. Stone has some unique ideas as to the best way to pro-
mote the general good. He thinks conventions of fathers and
mothers should be held in every town and city of the country for
the purpose of suppressing vice and immorality, to protect the
people against vile literature, low grade theatres, vaudeville and
picture shows, certain forms of dancing and many of the post-
cards and pictures ; everything which is degrading in tendency,
especially to those whose moral character is as yet unformed.
He is a firm believer in that education which begins at home.
298 ERNEST LOVE STONE
He thinks that in every home children ought to be instructed in
principles of government, taught love of country, love of home,
love of morality, and trained in such a way as to interest them in
state, nation and religion.
Mr. Stone was married in Baltimore, Maryland, September
9, 1896, to Maude Duvall, of Prince George County, Maryland.
Her father was Hobart Duvall, and her mother was Miss Hume, a
sister of Frank Hume, of Washington, D. C. The family of which
Mrs. Stone conies is an old and distinguished family of Mary-
land and is of French origin.
The children of Mr. Stone's marriage are Virginia Duvall
Stone, James Love Stone and Eleanor Stone. The two eldest are
now (1913) in the high school at Roanoke, and the youngest is in
the graded school-
e
the far; ; te •: ihe ^orid has reached
e of enlightenment, we are yet
like a true knowledge of human
nal soldier in bis brilliant uniform,
ever clamoring about his efforts *o
e. is only after
o of a proper pers
A rs of
n, Yir -sa liigh p
of their work.
Orren Lewis Steam
is a : norn at L'n
~ 17- .iSt<-;, HOU. cjf J.'L. JohiA Lewis
e
oration. (
•r nearly tv
gh the usual evolution of Eng
les's line of descent is tracea
1), Archbishop of York, who
ce Sterne, the author (171
ie of the most brilliant and
books. "Tristram Shan
-d y«ars. No more d«
Tnci
nrul
302 ORREN LEWIS STEARNES
beautiful sentiment so often quoted as being taken from the Bible,
"God tempers the wind to the shorn larnb."
The family was founded in America by Charles Stearns, who
came over on the "good ship Arabella" with Governor Winthrop
in 1630, and settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, on the Charles
Eiver, which was named in honor of Charles Stearns.
Orrin Lewis Stearnes is in the ninth generation from Charles
Stearns. Charles Stearns married Rebecca Gibson. Their son,
John Stearns, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, January
24, 1657. His son, George Stearns, was born in Lexington, Massa-
chusetts., in 1688. His son, Jonathan Stearns, was born at
Milford, Massachusetts, December 26, 1713. His son, George
Stearns, was born April 16, 1741, in Milford, Massachusetts, and
his son, Captain Darius Stearns, of Conway, Massachusetts, was
born May 12, 1770. His son, Lewis Patrick Stearns, was born
at Conway, Massachusetts, November 12, 1801, moved to Virginia
when a young man, and settled in Franklin County, near Taylor's
store, where he entered the mercantile business, and married Miss
Sarah Cabaniss. Lewis Patrick Stearns's son was Dr. John Lewis
Stearnes, who was born near Taylor's store on December 15, 1834.
He was graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from the University
of Pennsylvania in 1858. He settled at Dublin, Pulaski County,
in that year, married Miss Phoebe Rogers McDermed, who was
born in Bedford County, Virginia. In 1861 Dr. Stearnes entered
the Confederate service as Surgeon of the Post and Examiner of
Conscripts, in which capacity he served until 1864, first under
General W. E. Jones and then under General John C. Brecken-
ridge, who was in command at the time of the battle of Cloyd's
Farm, which was fought near Dublin, May 9, 1864. General
Breckenridge then returned to Kentucky and was succeeded by
General Loring, who, shortly afterwards, abandoned the post and
gave Dr. Stearnes a certificate of discharge from the service with
the statement that his medical services were necessary at Dublin
for the care of the wounded Confederate soldiers and their wives
and children left there.
Doctor Stearnes had an older brother, Lieutenant Orren
Darius Stearnes, born September 10, 1827. Upon the outbreak of
the war, he promptly joined the army under Captain DeWitt C.
Booth, and was made an Orderly Sergeant of a company which
was commonly known as the "Franklin Tigers." In the reorgani-
zation which took place during the first year of the war his com-
pany became Company D of the 58th Virginia Infantry, under the
command of Captain Thomas H. Franklin, and Orren D. Stearnes
became Second Lieutenant. He served under General Edward
Johnston at the battle of McDowell. The day after that battle
he was taken ill, was moved in an army ambulance to a Confed-
erate hospital at Staunton, Virginia, where he died of typhoid
fever in October, 1862 (about two weeks later). His remains
ORREN LEWIS STEARNES 303
were carried to Franklin County and buried at his home. He was
the father of the Honorable L. P. Stearnes and T. F. Stearnes, of
Newport News, Virginia.
Lieutenant O. D. Stearnes was the first one of his name to
insert the final "e," and after his death the rest of the family
adopted that spelling and all of them now use it.
Barber and Baring-Gould, learned Englishmen, who have
made a study of the origin of family names, agree that the family
name of Stearnes comes down from the Saxon period and is,
therefore, of Teutonic origin. The pronunciation was "Starn,"
and there was a bird in England known as the stern bird, which
is now known as the English meadow lark or starling.
Burke, the greatest English authority on coats of arms, gives
us the description of the Stearns coat of arms used by Kichard
Sterne, Archbishop of York, which is as follows :
Or, a chevron between three crosses flory sable.
Crest: A cock starling proper.
He also says that there is sometimes used another crest, which
is:
A falcon rising proper.
He gives the preference in the crest to the cock starling,
which commemorates the origin of the name.
Orren Lewis Stearnes went through the Wysorton High
School near Dublin, Virginia, then under the supervision of Pro-
fessor George W. Walker. In 1881 he entered the Richmond (Va.)
College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor
of Arts in 1884; but, not content with that, he continued his
studies until he obtained the degree of Master of Arts in 1886.
From 1886 to 1889 he was Superintendent of the newly-
established Alleghany Institute at Roanoke, Virginia. In the
early part of 1890, he moved to Salem, wrhere he has since resided,
and where he has been during his entire period of residence a
conspicuous figure in the development of that section.
He had hardly settled in his new home before he organized
the Salem Development Company of wrhich he was made Vice-
President. Later he organized the Creston Land Company and
the Salem Club Land Company, both of which he served as Presi-
dent; and these various companies have largely built up the
immediate country around Salem.
An active member of the Baptist Church, he follows the
injunction of the Apostle and whatever he finds to do he does with
all his might. So, as chairman of a committee of his church, in
1891, he entered upon a contest which proved to be a very spirited
one, the purpose of which was to secure the location of the Baptist
Orphanage of Virginia at Salem. He was successful, and has been
a member of the Board of Trustees from that time to the present,
and is Secretary of its Executive Committee.
In 1900 Governor Tyler appointed him as a member of the
304 ORREN LEWIS STEARNES
Board of Trustees of the State Female Normal School at Farm-
ville, as successor of Judge Hundley, of Amelia County. Mr.
Stearnes took an active part in the reorganization of the school
in 1901, the result of which was that it became recognized as one
of the standard normal schools of the country.
In that same year Dr. Robert Frazer resigned as President
of the Normal School, and Mr. Stearnes resigned from the Board
in order to become a candidate for Dr. Frazer's position. It will
be noted here that he was willing to sacrifice a great business
career in order to do educational work, which bears out a point
made earlier in this sketch. In the election for this position there
was a tie vote between Professor Jarman and Mr. Stearnes ; but
the deadlock was finally broken and Professor Jarman was made
President of the school.
All of these things were but the preparation for the great
work of Mr. Stearnes's life. He had been a teacher, a business
man, and always a student. His horizon had constantly widened
and he was among those wise enough to grasp the potentialities
of the unused water powers of the South. So in 1910 he turned
his attention to the development of the great water power going
to waste in the New River, which runs through southwestern Vir-
ginia and southern West Virginia, and being a bold stream with
a large flow and many rapids, offered every advantage possible for
hydro-electric plants. It was in reach of Roanoke and a number
of other flourishing towns and cities. But it is interesting to
note here that the output of these great water-driven electric
plants when completed were to be largely used in the coal fields
of southwest Virginia and of southern West Virginia, and in his
plans to this end Mr. Stearnes was very earnest and enthusiastic.
In fact, he was a pioneer in the revolutionary movement of
utilizing water power by "carrying (white) coals to Newcastle,"
i. e., the employment of water-power-made electricity for large
and general use in operating the coal mines of the country.
Finally ready for a forward move, he organized the New River
Project Syndicate out of which has grown the Appalachian Power
Company, an enormous fifty-million dollar enterprise which al-
ready has two large developments in operation in Carroll County,
Virginia, and is planning other large developments in Pulaski
and other counties in southwest Virginia in 1914. This company
was organized by some great Chicago financiers ; the control of it,
however, has recently passed into the hands of a strong syndicate
of New York and Boston capitalists. Mr. Stearnes has also pro-
moted the Tri-State Power and Milling Company of West Vir-
ginia, and the Tri-State Power Company of Virginia, affiliated
companies, of which companies he is President.
When these developments are completed they will mean the
utilizing of from ninety to a hundred thousand horse power fur-
ther along down the New River in Giles County, Virginia, and in
Summers, Mercer and Monroe counties, West Virginia.
ORREN LEWIS STEARNES 305
Mr. Stearnes's energies have largely been devoted to this work
for the past three years, and it is now well advanced toward com-
pletion. When completed it will put the section of country which
these companies will serve on a par with the best manufacturing
sections of the United States when it comes to the matter of
cheap power for manufacturing purposes.
However much money Mr. Stearnes may make from these
enterprises for himself, he will have the satisfaction of knowing
that he has made an hundredfold more for the communities to be
served.
But neither teaching, nor land exploitation, nor water power
development has absorbed all his energies. He is an earnest
student of public affairs, and has been an active member of the
Democratic Party for the last twenty years, giving freely of his
time and his money and serving in many capacities — as Chairman
of his County Committee, as Chairman of the Sixth District Com-
mittee, as President of numerous campaign clubs, delegate to
district and State conventions, and member of the State Com-
mittee.
During these years of active political effort and study he
saw clearly that the time had come for some progressive legislation
in Virginia, and so, when the veteran representative from Roanoke
County retired and Mr. Stearnes let his willingness to enter the
Legislature be known, he was in November of the current year
(1913) elected to the General Assembly without opposition. In
view of the fact that this county was, a few years ago, a Repub-
lican county and that there have been many hard-fought battles
over this position, it speaks volumes for the standing of Mr.
Stearnes in his county, for his qualifications and his personal
popularity.
He goes into the General Assembly with definite ideas, espe-
cially along lines of taxation ; and he modestly says that when it
meets in the beginning of the new year, unless some other member
has some better plan to present, he will, in a series of bills, present
one that, he believes, will result in the segregation and equaliza-
tion of taxable values in Virginia, making for a substantial reduc-
tion in taxation in general and enabling the State to do away
with all direct taxation on the real and personal property of the
Commonwealth for State purposes. If he succeeds in this, he will
have served his State more effectually than in all else he has ac-
complished in life so far, because in no other one thing is our
State so far behind as in this matter of taxation, and no other
one thing is pressing so insistently for a solution as this.
Mr. Stearnes is a member of the Finance Committee, also of
Schools and Colleges and the Currency and Commerce Committees
of the House. To all who have followed this sketch, it will be
clear that Orren Lewis Stearnes has served his generation well,
that he is a man not only of great mental resources but of great
306 ORREN LEWIS STEARNES
physical energy, imbued with a high sense of patriotism and an
earnest desire to be useful to his fellow-man.
Mr. Stearnes married, on February 10, 1892, Miss Margaret
Buchanan, of Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Mrs. Stearnes's
mother, nee Mary Flood Bocock, born in Appomattox County,
Virginia, was the youngest sister of Thomas S. Bocock, who was
Speaker of the Confederate Congress in Richmond. Her father
was Captain John Rice Buchanan, of Rockbridge County, Vir-
ginia. He was a grandson of James Buchanan, who emigrated
from Scotland and settled in Rockbridge County, Virginia, where,
at the old Buchanan homestead, Mrs. Stearnes was born. Buchan-
an's father was a first cousin of President James Buchanan.
Captain Buchanan served in the Confederate Army as Captain of
one of the Rockbridge companies, participating with his company
in many of the important battles of the war, and made a splendid
record for gallantry and faithful service.
It will be seen that Mr. Stearnes's children have a double
strain of Scotch blood in them. The McDermeds, his mother's
family, were, of course, members of a famous Scottish clan,
known as "The Children of Diarmid," while Mrs. Stearnes's peo-
ple, the Buchanans, of course, were descended from the Scotch
clan of that name.
Of this marriage three children have been born, two of whom
are living : May Constance, born November 26, 1892, now a member
of the Senior Class at Hollins College, Virginia, and Margaret
Lewis Stearnes, born May 1, 1906. Their second child, Elsie
Margaret Stearnes, born July 18, 1894, died November 20, 1894.
THE KEY/ "V
PUBLIC LIB
ASTO?,
TIL D
IONS
ler of Virginia has long been a nursery
f of strong men and brilliant women. It
t its sons and daughters by multiplied tbou-
$ waste places of the South and West :
k, the United £•
111 u :iic
•
>re City.
f the lfc
t to
a i r^q
wi
'
.. ..,..
-
• \ •'
or \vi
w York Y>Tho came »own for the hunting and
im Slater was a Presbyterian, he was very par
and high living, and was entirely a different type of n
brother, George (the merchant), who was of a ni
•amect.
ter was a generous ani public-spirited man n
er. His nephew, George M. Slater, the .subjpi:-; <rf t
•
•Mo • a ^'
310 GEORGE M. SLATER
rated the lad, who (being of the same caliber) retorted in kind,
with the result that he left his uncle's house never to return. It
is said that later the elder man forgave him and wanted him back,
which is very probable, as the old can forgive the young easier
than the young can forgive the old.
He was then taken into his father's business in Baltimore;
but upon the outbreak of the Civil War, and the march of the
Federal troops into Baltimore, George M. Slater, a Southerner in
every fiber, but little past twenty years of age, imbued with a full
share of the enthusiasm of youth, ran away with other like-minded
young men, went South, and joined the Confederate Army as a
private in an infantry regiment. Later on he came in contact
with Col. Gaither, a Baltimorean, then in command of a company
of cavalry. He procured for young Slater a horse, and when the
young man informed the colonel that he had no money to pay
for the horse, the colonel gave the reply : "George, that is all right.
I know your father and I want his son in my company." In this
way he became a member of Stuart's Cavalry, and was in the
original detail of fifteen men picked out by the famous partisan
officer, Col. John S. Mosby — and this was the beginning of that
famous battalion known as "Mosby's Men." Of this original
detail of fifteen, George M. Slater and one other are the sole
survivors. The adventures of "Mosby's Men" have been told in
story and song and history; and in the coming years it will be
reckoned as a great honor that one's ancestor served under the
most famous partisan officer of the Civil War in that little bat-
talion, the reputation of which has gone all over the civilized
world. Despite the adventurous life which Mosby led during the
war, he was singularly fortunate in escaping injury, and was only
once seriously wounded. On December 21, 1864, in the course of
his excursions around the country, Mosby was accidentally cap-
tured by a squad of Federal troops one night in the house of one
Mr. Lu dwell Lake, where he had stopped for temporary refresh-
ment. At the moment of his capture, a Federal soldier in the
yard shot into the room without orders, and that bullet inflicted
upon Colonel Mosby a very serious wound, which at first looked
fatal. The Federals, thinking him dying, and believing him to
be merely a lieutenant, left him in the house, and he was then
taken out by his friends, put in a cart, and carried to "Rockburn,"
the home of the Glascocks, where he found one of his own men,
the George M. Slater of this sketch, who, at the time that General
J. E. B. Stuart was fatally wounded at Yellow Tavern, in the
Spring of 1864, had the mournful privilege, in conjunction with
Robert Bruce, of carrying the dying General off the field.
When Mosby found Slater there, he said : "George, I believe
I am wounded like General Stuart was." Slater replied: "No,
Colonel, I don't think the bullet went directly in, but passed
around you." These are the words of Mosby himself in telling of
GEORGE M. SLATER 311
the incident. Of course, Mr. Slater and Mosby's friends and sol-
diers saw that he had the best of attention, and his own surgeon,
Dr. William Dunn, the next day relieved him of the bullet, and in
due season he recovered.
Mr. George M. Slater himself was wounded four times during
his service. He was left for dead on the battlefield at the second
battle of Manassas.
Serving through the war with gallantry and fidelity, at the
close of the struggle Mr. Slater became a farmer in Fauquier
County, in which occupation he has continued to the present time
(1914) — he and his son, George H. Slater, being among the large
landowners of Fauquier County.
He was married in November, 1866, to Ellen Glascock, daugh-
ter of George and Maria Glascock. The only living issue of that
marriage is his son, George H. Slater.
George M. Slater and Colonel Mosby, now both past the
allotted three score and ten, maintain the friendship begotten
during the toils and terrors of Civil War; and Colonel Mosby's
son, John, now a newspaper man, is a constant, if not frequent,
visitor to his father's old friend.
The Slater and Glascock families have been connected by
marriage in generations far distant from each other. The old
English records show a bill filed on April 27, 1630, by Henry
Glascock, Gent., of Farneham, County Essex, against Edmund
Slater and George Jacob. This suit grew out of the marriage of
Edmund Slater, Gent., of Stortford, with Grace Glascock, daugh-
ter of Henry Glascock, Gent., the bringer of the suit. The suit was
not brought until after the marriage of a child, and grew out of
a dispute as to the marriage settlement.
George M. Slater's wife has been referred to. She was Ellen
Glascock, daughter of George and Maria Glascock. His son,
George EL Slater, married Tacie (Glascock) Fletcher, who was a
daughter of Robert Fletcher and his wife Tacy Glascock, daughter
of Thomas Glascock and Emily Fletcher. From this it will be
seen how intricately joined together are the Slater and Fletcher
families.
The Slater family name is of Danish origin. It will be remem-
bered that the Danes overran a large part of England about one
thousand years ago. Among the Danish family names was that
of "Schlytter." The name meant "striker." It is very easy to
understand how, in those warlike days, the man who was a hard
striker would acquire that as a family name. The Dutch have an
equivalent in the name of "Sluyter." In the amalgamating process
the Danish form of the name became anglicized into "Slater,"
often spelled "Slater." The County of Essex appears to have been
the original home of the family, with a branch in Sussex. An-
other branch of the family went to Ireland in the seventeenth
t/
century, was settled at White Hill House, in County Longford,
312 GEORGE M. 'SLATER
and the spelling of the name of that branch is often found
"Slator," though even there a majority adhere to the present form
of the name.
George M. Slater belongs to the Irish branch of the family.
The given name of the founder of this branch of the family is not
certain, but is believed to have been Alexander. There is some
confusion in these earlier generations, both as to the given names
and as to the marriages. It is represented, in the one case, that
this founder of the Irish Slater family had two sons — the given
name of the elder unknown, and of the younger William, and that
this William had a son, Bevan Slater. According to this account,
Bevan Slater had two sons : William and Alexander, of whom
William was a Captain in the English Army, and both the sons
died unmarried. Of the three daughters, two died unmarried, and
the third daughter, Mary, married Dr. Thomas Wilson, of Cavan.
But the present holder of White Hill House estate is Henry
Bevan Wilson-Slator ; and according to the standard authority
over there, his grandmother, Mary Slator, was a daughter of
Alexander Slator, and not Bevan Slater, and her son, Henry Bevan
Wilson, succeeding to the estate upon the death of his uncle with-
out direct heirs, assumed the name and arms of Slator, in addition
to his own, from which we get the present form of the name,
"Wilson-Slator." The younger son of the founder of the White
Hill House family was William Slater, and from him is derived
the American family of which George M. Slater is a member.
This William Slater had a son, William Alexander Slater, who
lived at Athlone, on the border line of the counties of Roscommon
and West Meath. WTilliam Alexander Slater married and reared
a family, but approaching middle life, it is stated that he got into
some trouble with the British officials or soldiers, and suddenly
took ship for the American colonies with the intention of settling
in Maryland. The ship, its crew and its passengers were never
again heard of, and later on, his wife and daughter (Ann Slater)
came to Baltimore, hoping to get some trace of the husband and
father. She left behind in Ireland her two sons, William and
George Slater. These two brothers had become estranged over
some difference of opinion, but each, about the same time, resolved
that they also would come to Maryland, and without saying
anything to each other, acted upon that decision. Resulting from
this, when the younger brother, George, knocked upon the door of
his mother's house in Baltimore, it was opened by his brother
William, and the two brothers then and there became reconciled.
William Slater, the elder of the two brothers who came to
America, and who settled on Carroll's Island, as above related,
was of the opinion that the White Hill House estate had been
entailed and would therefore follow the direct male line, the elder
son of the younger brother thus being the heir, rather than the son
of a daughter. He asserted his claim to the estate in Ireland,
GEORGE M. SLATER 313
but did not win his case. There is a long and interesting story
about these claims and family history now in the possession of
George M. Slater, the subject of this sketch, who was a nephew of
William Slater.
George Slater, the father of George M. Slater, was a very
successful merchant, a man of strict honor and integrity, rather
stern in appearance but kindly in disposition. He had three sons
and six daughters. All three of the sons served in the Southern
Army, though George M. Slater saw the most arduous service.
One of them, William Slater, was editor, at one time, of the
"Chicago Times," and the other was a lawyer. Of the daughters,
three married. Mary Slater married a Grenwell, of St. Mary's
County, Maryland, and of her children there is now surviving
one son : Benjamin Grenwell. Another, James Grenwell, who was
a State Senator in Maryland, is dead. Her sister, Elizabeth
Slater, married a Mr. Root, of Maryland, and the third and only
surviving sister, is Mrs. Isabel Combs. These families with which
they intermarried — the Combs and Grenwells, of St. Mary's
County, are among the distinguished old Catholic families of that
section.
George M. Slater's father, the merchant, fell into ill health
during his latter years, and having an intimate knowledge of
Cuba through his long business relations with that island, went
there with the hope of restoring his health, while the Civil War
was raging, and died there.
The Slater family in Great Britain was an armigerous one,
and Burke, the great English authority, gives them two coats of
arms, one of which would pertain to the Essex and Middlesex
branch of the family, and which shows on a silver ground an azure
saltire, having as a crest a walking lion. The other coat of arms
belongs to the Derbyshire branch, founded by John Slater, born
in 1536, in Derbyshire, who in all reasonable probability was a
descendant of the old Essex familv. His coat of arms showed on
f
a golden ground a red chevron between three green trefoils. The
crest was an armored right arm, grasping a sword with a golden-
hilted pommel. The motto is "Crescit sub pondere virtus." The
Slaters, of White Hill House, were undoubtedly descended from
the Essex and Middlesex family, of England.
As George M. Slater was a good soldier in war, so he has been
a good citizen in peace. The virtues which he inherited from a
line of strong ancestors have been transmitted untarnished to an
equally virile generation. He is one of that small number of men
of whom it can be truthfully said that his word is as good as his
bond. He has given faithful service to his county in that most
important capacity of school trustee, and largely due to his
efforts a new school building has been erected in the beautiful
little village of Paris.
He is a constant reader of good books and the current periodi-
314 GEORGE M. SLATER
cals, and thoroughly well informed in all matters of public inter-
est. Notable for a quick eye when, as a young man, he had so
much of picket duty to do, he has not lost his keenness of vision
in one direction at least, for he is ever ready to see the needs of
anyone in his vicinity upon whom the hand of misfortune has
been laid, and his kindly temper may be judged by the fact that
young children love him at sight and are partial to his lap.
This particular branch of the Slater family was not the first
in Virginia. In the year 1639, Leonard Slater, a member of the
English family, came there and settled in Elizabeth City County.
He was followed, in 1655, by Arthur Slater (also English), who
settled in York County. That these men left descendants is proven
by the fact that the Revolutionary War records show, from Vir-
ginia, Edward, John and William Slater serving as soldiers in
the army and being discharged with credit. These early Slaters
were of the English branch, while George M. Slater's family was
from the Irish branch, which in turn was descended from the
English family — so they are all remotely kin.
THE NEW
PUBLIC LI
TILDc
FLO BE FIT FLETCHER
OBERT FLETCHER was born at "The Maples/' near
Upperville, Fauquier County, on January 1. 1839, and
died at "Rosehill," on April 20, 1911. He was the son of
J- r, a tanner and landowner, who had
his first cousin, who wan the
».r of I y (Gibson) I ?r.
.er.
.
- he Le was twice u -1.
;--
a &
:
'
g to this same i, Robert
i in New York, and .Jo.shsia in
rgini a. He was the father or grandfather of
a Deacon iu the old school Baptist
DO uie latter nan or cne
of Henry II of England to
-
constant for two
It of tl a steady stream of meu, old
>g from France to England; and these men of French
ting under an j -?h master, introduced into England
'•ench family names.
he arrowmaker" in French was "Le Flechier," and Flechier
e a family name in France, derived from the occupation.
of this'two family names- -one Fletcher and
rh.
:>s ro ; [•• -odlgtously and they ;
'
318 ROBERT FLETCHER
Robert Fletcher's immediate family was not the first of the
name in Virginia.
The first of whom we have any record in the new country was
of William and James Fletcher, who, coming over in 1635, settled
down in the low country. Then came Valentine in 1636, Sylvester
in 1638, Sylvester settling in Isle of Wight County, and Valentine
in Henrico County.
John came in 1639, and settled in Henrico; Michael in 1642,
aod settled in James City County; Thomas, Anthony and Peter
came in 1643. Anthony settled in Accomac; where Thomas and
Peter settled is not stated. In 1646 came John, who settled in
Charles Elver County ; in 1649 Ryon, location unknown ; Isaac in
1651, settled in York County; Robert in 1652, location unknown;
and, finally, Nathan in 1653, settled in Northumberland County.
These were the ancestors of a numerous progeny; and the
Revolutionary records show upon the roster of soldiers of that
war, the names of Fletcher as follows : George, James, John,
Joshua, Nathan, Richard, Simon, Stephen, William and three
Thomases.
Robert Fletcher was the great-great-grandson of the immi-
grant Joshua Fletcher, whose line of descent went back to his
father Joshua, who married his first cousin Eliza, who was the
daughter of Dr. John Fletcher, who was the son of Joshua. Robert
Fletcher was the third of fourteen children. He married Tacy
Glascock, daughter of Emily Fletcher (sister of Eliza, who mar-
ried Thomas Glascock).
Of the marriage of Robert Fletcher to Tacy Glascock, on June
7, 1877, the only child was Tacy Glascock Fletcher, now Mrs.
George H. Slater.
Robert Fletcher lived at "The Maples," near Upperville, and
was educated at the neighboring military academy known as
"Armstrong's." The outbreak of the Civil War found him a young
man but little past his majority. Like all the southern youth of
sound physique and proper age, he made haste to become a sol-
dier, and enlisted as a member of Captain Welby Carter's Com-
pany, being "Company A" of the First Virginia Cavalry.
He had two other brothers in the war, John and Clinton,
both his elders. His elder brother John was Second Lieutenant
in Captain Turner Ashby's original company. When Ashby was
made Colonel, early in 1862, John Fletcher became Captain of
the old company. In the meantime, Robert Fletcher had been
desperately wounded at the first battle of Manassas, having his
right arm shot, but returned to duty upon recovering in part his
health.
In a fight at Bucktown Station his brother, Captain John
Fletcher, in leading a charge against the enemy, was shot dead
inside of the enemy's line, and his body was carried off the field
by his brother and men of his own company, Robert being at that
time temporarily with his brother's company.
THOMAS
< 1]
13T
ned to "The
i. antl !;
on at Wash-
•t of a year
rivate in his
succeeded is a i
section,
s business
illy a jus^
of
fcn
alities were of a very hi]
ded man, of profound reli
r of the Baptist Church f<
n and of few words, his p
g, and, when he did spes
T -* • "= ' ) 1 !
he was
•d by -t
oino, and the Jand of h
to him a sacred spot,
f-ady to die for it
!v" to live for it.
320 ROBERT FLETCHER
in thought and action, assisting in every public move made in his
section, without ever seeking position or prominence, he became
a leader, and that leadership was always along right lines.
He loved books of travel and occasionally was interested in
a good novel; but his mind was of the mathematical sort which
preferred matters of exact knowledge rather than the vagaries of
a lively imagination. He loved a gaited saddle horse, and, until
he was past seventy, constantly rode over the large estate which
he had accumulated, and kept a watchful eye on his great landed
interests. He had a favorite Kentucky mare, splendidly gaited,
that gave him a string of fine saddle mares ; and besides these, he
raised many other fine horses. In the opinion of the cattlemen
of that section, he was the finest judge of a steer in the county;
and that is very high praise because the men of that section have
always taken peculiar pride in their knowledge of horses and
cattle.
He was treasurer of his church for many years; and it was
said of him that his pocket-book had been "converted." This is
one point at which conversion does not touch many other rich
church members throughout our country.
Robert Fletcher freely gave up his own preferences in life for
the sake of his younger brothers and sisters and his widowed
mother. The young man who has that sense of responsibility is
very certain to develop into the sort of man that he became. He
lived up to his convictions in everything, — politically, in religion
and socially. A clean, strong, consistent, conscientious man, a
friend of Christian education, he gave generously to Richmond
College and to the Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville,
Kentucky. He lived to a ripe age, and when he passed on he left
a vacancy not only in his immediate family but in his community,
which all agreed would be hard to fill, for everyone realized that
it would be long before another of equal worth would do the work
in the community which he had done so faithfully and well for
more than forty years.
T
THOMAS GLASCOCK
^HE first record that we have of the Glascocks in Virginia
was Richard Glascock, who came over in 1635, and who
was followed by Thomas and his wife, Jane Glascock, in
1643.
Thomas Glascock, the subject of this sketch, was the son of
Aquila, who was the son of George, who was son of John, who was
probably the grandson of the Thomas who came over in 1643.
The Glascock family name has an authentic history since the
year 1365, the Thirtieth of Edward III. The family was located
at High Estre in the County of Essex. The origin of the name
is not that commonly supposed by many people. There has been
a common idea that the terminal "cock" to family names was
derived from the French "coq," meaning a "cook/' The English
turned this French form into the names of Cook and Cocke. Then
they put the prefixes and suffixes and get a great number of names.
But there are some exceptions.
Glascock is not one of these derived names, as one might
easily suppose, but is derived from Glascote, in the Parish of
Tarnworth. "Cote" or "cott" in time became evoluted into "cock."
"Woodcock" is really "Woodcott." Cottswold" as a surname has
become "Coxwold," and "Cottswell" has turned into "Coxwell."
This John Glascock, who was living at High Estre in Essex
in 1365, was followed from father to son for many generations.
Thus he was succeeded by Edward, Edward by Thomas, Thomas
by William, William by Richard, Richard by John, John by
Richard, Richard by William, William by John (who became a
Lieutenant-Colonel in the army), John by John (2), and so on.
This brings us down to the period of the civil wars in England,
when William Glascock went to Ireland as Captain of a troop of
horse in 1649. They were rewarded for their services by grants
of land in County Wexford. William purchased from the rest
of the troop the debentures of Alderton, then called by the Irish
name of Bally-feamoge. They had all kinds of troubles in the
time of James II, who naturallv felt a bitter hostilitv to these
*/ «/
ex-parliamentary soldiers.
The Irish family fell back upon the original name of Glascott,
and called themselves by that name for many generations.
The history of the English and Irish families of Glascock, or
Glascott, is told in extenso in Burke's "Dictionary of the Landed
/ f
Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland." The Coat of Arms is thus
described :
[323]
324 THOMAS GLASCOCK
"Ermine on a chevron sable between three cocks azure legged
and combed or, a bezant.
"Crest: An antelope's head argent attired or, gorged witk a
belt sable beaked and rimmed of the second."
The Glascocks prospered in Virginia, and though they did
not multiply to the same extent that some other families did,
they furnished five soldiers to the Revolutionary armies: B. K.,
George, Spencer, Thomas and Robert Glascock.
But in the meanwhile, a branch of these Virginia Glascocks
had, prior to the Revolutionary War, migrated to the new colony
of Georgia. This family consisted of William and his son Thomas.
William moved to Georgia with the reputation of an able lawyer,
and instantly took a prominent place in that colony. He had been
preceded a year or two by his son Thomas, who was born in Vir-
ginia about 1750, and to whom he had given an excellent education.
Both were patriots to the core.
When the Revolutionary War came on, William Glascock
became eminent in the legislative work of the new colony, and his
son Thomas made a brilliant soldier. He served as a Captain in
the famous legion commanded by the Polish nobleman, Count
Pulaski, and by the Fall of 1780, being then only in his thirty-
first year, had risen to the rank of Brigadier General.
He held important positions after the war, was a man of
great enterprise for that time, and left large estates. He died at
his home, "The Maples," in Richmond County, at the age of
fifty-four.
While he was making military reputation, his father was
making civil reputation. He served as Speaker of the House of
Assembly of the State of Georgia in 1780. He was one of the
commissioners appointed to plan for the improvement and enlarge-
ment of Augusta ; and the work they did is a standing monument
to them to this day. He was a trustee for the establishment of
the "Richmond County Academy" in Augusta. He was one of the
trustees for the foundation of the "University of Georgia."
He died in 1793 and was buried on his plantation below
Augusta, called "Glascock's Wash."
General Thomas Glascock (2) was born in Augusta, Georgia,
in 1790, and died in Decatur, Georgia, in 1841. At the age of
twenty-two he entered the army in the War of 1812, and was a
Captain of Volunteers. In the Seminole troubles in 1817, he
served under General Andrew Jackson with the rank of Briga-
dier General, and was then a young man of twenty-seven only.
When the troubles were settled, he returned to his law prac-
tice; in 1835 he was elected to the Twenty-fourth Congress; in
1837 re-elected without opposition; and at the close of that term
retired from public life, settling in Decatur, Georgia, intending
to lead the peaceful life of a country gentleman ; but a few months
later was thrown from his horse and killed.
THOMAS GLASCOCK 325
He was a man of fine qualities and very popular.
The names of this branch of the Glascock family have been
perpetuated in Georgia by Glascock County, which was formed in
1858. It is proper here to say that the two original Glascocks in
Virginia, Kichard and Thomas, were brothers.
Thomas Glascock, the subject of this sketch, was born at Lake-
land, near Rectortown, Virginia, on April 22, 1814, and died at
"Kosehill," near Upperville, on July 23, 1885. His parents were
Aquila and Susanna (Lake) Glascock. His mother was born on
November 15, 1790, and died in December, 1836. His father,
Aquila, who was the son of George and Hannah (Rector) Glas-
cock, was born on the 4th of November, 1786. George was the son
of John Glascock.
Aquila Glascock was a farmer, a surveyor and a large land-
owner. He was a reticent man, dignified, of strong will power,
very cogent in his statements, of unusual business capacity, as
may be judged by the fact that when he died he left each of his
seven children an estate of thirty thousand dollars. Judged by
standards of the present day, this would more than equal a for-
tune of a million dollars; and when one considers that this was
done in the quiet country places of Virginia, it would seem to be
indeed a remarkable testimonial to his business capacity.
A war story is told of Aquila. Sitting on his porch, he was
ordered by Union soldiers to shut a gate of his own which they
had left open. He did not move or reply — whereupon a soldier
advanced and said : "Old man, if you don't shut that gate I will
kill you-'7 He never moved. Coming closer, the soldier saw "the
old man" unconcernedly twirling his thumbs. He did not shoot.
The home place was (and is) known as "Rockburn," near
Rectortown, Virginia, where, during the Civil War, Aquila Glas-
cock kept open house for the Southern soldiers ; and Mosby, when
wounded, was brought to "Rockburn."
Arriving at manhood, and the West at that time being a sort
of "Mecca" for the enterprising young Virginians, Thomas Glas-
cock went to Missouri. There he acquired land, paid taxes during
the war and directly after the war sold his tract of land for
|48,000. He was about the only man in the neighborhood who had
enough money to buy stock cattle after the war. While in Mis-
souri he married a Miss Dodd. He taught school in Missouri until
his eyes began to trouble him. In the meantime, a child had been
born to him, and both his wife and child were taken from him by
death. He then returned to the old home place and became a
farmer and school teacher.
His second marriage was to Emily Fletcher (not a relative),
a daughter of Tacy and Dr. John Fletcher; and to them six or
seven children were born, of whom, at this writing, only one son
survives — Bedford Glascock.
Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he was too old for mili-
326 THOMAS GLASCOCK
tary duty, and his sons were too young; but he strongly sympa-
thized with his native State, and, like all other Virginians who
were debarred by age from military service, did what he could to
maintain the men in the field and contributed in that way his
share towards maintaining that great struggle.
He suffered a good deal from dyspepsia and was a frequent
visitor to the springs for the benefit of his health.
A thoughtful man and a lover of knowledge, he cared for the
Bible above all books and was a constant student of it, though
never a church member.
He had what was termed by an old lady in Georgia the "Glas-
cock faculty," and was so successful in his business operations
that at the time of his death he was one of the largest landowners
in his county. The "Glascock faculty1' referred to is business
qualification. In England, in Ireland, in Virginia, and in Georgia
the Glascock family has been noted for business success, and
combined with this soldierly qualities which do not often go with
business ability.
Like his father before him, Thomas Glascock lived to become
one of the prominent men of his county, respected and looked up to
for his strong and good qualities; and the family credit lost
nothing at his hands.
The ancient Slater and Glascock marriage of 1630 has been
referred to in the George M. Slater sketch. In this generation,
Thomas Glascock marries Emily Fletcher; their daughter Tacy
Glascock, marries her cousin, Robert Fletcher; and Robert and
Tacy Fletchers daughter, Tacy Glascock Fletcher, marries
George H. Slater. So, after nearly three hundred years, we come
around to a renewal of the old alliances.
Among the papers in the possession of Mrs. George H. Slater,
is a will of John Glascock, of the County of Fauquier, dated the
27th of November, 1774, which impresses upon the reader two
things : first, the gross partiality of our ancestors in the disposi-
tion of their estates among their children, especially in the way in
which they preferred the sons to the daughters; and, secondly,
the little familiar details into which they entered by bequeathing
such things as a "great pot" and "feather bed."
'-] vr
•
cv
JL ! T <
o fir;?
in the eonquesi
ice tht-v-:; '
round nothing m<
ing than the
iN
1* «
of i
h
U
1
;ai
in
fi Of
v the Fitz-
boy from that
urished a,i -vver.
Te than one E i King has been driven to cry out in
and despair, "Those Geraldines, those Geraklines !' No
ot it Irish family has produced such a long list or dis-
tir. 'names, and has borne so many splendid titles. The
•«.er of this great family appears to have been John
I of Decies and Desmor
the second son of this
a and the Knights of K
C.7
? the American colonies, t
d in the various <
id V a. It v
Ki
Ir se1
to
330 HARRISON ROBERTSON FITZGERALD
family in America — but of the Virginia branch, we know that it
ranked with the best people in the State. It intermarried with
the Thorntons, the Tazewells, the Eldridges (descended from the
Meades), the Halls (descended from the Andersons), and others
too numerous to mention.
In Ireland apparently the members of the Clan were all
devoted Roman Catholics. It is interesting to note that in
America they have very much divided, and the Fitzgerald families
have furnished to the Roman Catholic Church in America one
Bishop, to the Northern Methodist Church one Bishop, and to
the Southern Methodist Church one Bishop. They have made
brilliant records in other directions, and one of the leading Con-
gressional figures of the present day is Fitzgerald, of New York.
A present-day representative of this great family who is doing
a large work, and doing it well, is Harrison Robertson Fitzgerald,
of Danville, a young man but little past forty, who was born in
Danville on February 27, 1873, son of Thomas Benton and Martha
Jane (Hall) Fitzgerald.
Thomas B. Fitzgerald, yet living, but now retired from active
business, was a very successful architect and building contractor
and was the first President of the great corporation of which the
son is now one of the active managers.
H. R. Fitzgerald's educational training was received first in a
private school, from which he went to the public schools of Dan-
ville, and finally to the Mount Welcome High School in Culpeper
County. Upon leaving school, a mere youth, he entered the office
of the Riverside Cotton Mills (of which his father was President)
as office boy. The father was evidently a wise man, and left the
lad to fight his way up on his own merits. In the twenty years and
more that he has been identified with this enterprise, he has risen
steadily from one position to another, and now, for ten years, has
filled the dual office of Secretary and Treasurer of the great
Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mills, one of the greatest cotton
manufacturing concerns in the world.
This great enterprise, which has grown up in a comparatively
small town, deserves more than passing mention. It dates back
to the year 1882, when the Riverside Mills were established — the
moving spirits being T. B. Fitzgerald, J. H., J. E. and R. A.
Schoolfield. Mr. Fitzgerald was the first President, continuing
in that capacity until his retirement from active business. During
the latter part of his administration the Riverside Mills had taken
over the business and plant of the Morotock Mills, of which Mr.
F. X. Burton was a large stockholder. After the retirement of
Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Burton became President. He died on April
3, 1904, and then Mr. R. A. Schoolfield, who had been Secretary
and Treasurer of the Company from the beginning, became Presi-
dent, and Mr. H. R. Fitzgerald was promoted to Mr. Schoolfield's
position. In 1895 the Dan River Mills were organized, but did
HARRISON ROBERTSON FITZGERALD 331
not begin active operations until 1903, and later these two great
enterprises were combined in one under the title of Riverside and
Dan River Cotton Mills, Incorporated. The future historian will
note that the most striking feature of the period extending from
1870 up to date was the development of the most remarkable in-
dustrialism which the world has ever known. The only period in
all history which shows any parallel was that succeeding the
conclusion of the Napoleonic wars in England, when petty manu-
facturers by hundreds developed their plants from small individual
enterprises into colossal corporations.
This great plant, in which the subject of this sketch is a
central figure, is one of the marked examples of our industrial
age. It has today a capital stock of $8,500,000 and a surplus of
$1,500,000. It is hard to grasp the magnitude of it without actu-
ally seeing it, but one can gain some idea when it is stated that
the floor space covered by this enormous plant is over fifty-five
acres. When the present additions are completed, it will take
6,000 people to keep it in active operation. More than three
hundred thousand spindles and 10,000 looms turn out each year
one hundred million (or more) yards of woven fabrics, including
plaids, cheviots, chambrays, fancy dress ginghams, bleached and
brown sheetings, sheets and pillow cases in all sizes. Their trade
extends over the whole United States, with an export trade to
foreign countries. The village of Schoolfield, just outside of
Danville, which is the property of this corporation, has a popula-
tion of between four and five thousand, with an excellent equip-
ment of schoolhouses, churches, kindergartens, a fire company, and
all the things needed for the comfort and training of its citizens.
No account of the magnitude of this enterprise signifies as much as
does the fact that, from the day it started up to the present day,
it has never shut down, has never run on short time, has never had
any labor troubles ; these things speak for the humane side of its
managers just as its great business success speaks for their
capacity.
With a full share of the burdens of a great business on his
shoulders, Mr. Fitzgerald has yet found time to consider much
besides the material side of life. As a good citizen, he has natu-
rally taken some interest in politics, voting with the Democratic
party, but has never held any political office or taken a very
active part in the campaigns. He has contributed a full share
to those things which look to the betterment of the community.
He is a director of the Danville Boys School, a director of the
Young Men's Christian Association, an active member of the
Kappa Sigma Fraternity — but his best work (aside from his
business) has been done in connection with the Mount Vernon
Methodist Church, of which he is a steward. He has a Bible class
of some two hundred men, and into this work he puts the best
that is in him. He sums up his ideas in this connection in one
332 HARRISON ROBERTSON FITZGERALD
short sentence, when he says, "I believe in trying to make this
a better world to live in here and now, as the best preparation for
the next." He is in full sympathy with the progressive and con-
structive ideas advanced by President Wilson, and hopes to see
them all concreted into the fixed policies of the country.
Mr. Fitzgerald was married in Danville on November 9, 1892,
to Ida L. Flippin, born in Lunenberg County, Virginia, on January
20, 1873, daughter of John James and Lucy (Haskins) Flippin.
Of this marriage five daughters have been born. The oldest,
Louise, died February 12, 1907, at the age of thirteen. The second
daughter, Lucy Lee, now seventeen, is a student at Stuart Hall,
Staunton, Virginia, and is due to graduate in June, 1914. The
next, Martha, now thirteen, is in attendance at the Randolph-
Macon Institute, Danville, Virginia. The two younger, Harriet,
aged nine, and Ida, aged seven, are under the care of a private
tutor at home.
Mr. Fitzgerald has found his preferred reading and study
through life in the Bible and its commentaries, and this accounts
for the very effective work he is doing in the splendid Bible class
which he is conducting.
We see the fruit of a man's life in his deeds, but that does
not mean that we know the inner man. That knowledge comes
only from intimate association. An unknown friend of Mr.
Fitzgerald, who signs himself "a member of the Phi Delta Theta,"
has published in the Caduceus of the Kappa Sigma a sketch of
Mr. Fitzgerald (which was published without his knowledge) and
which was written from the standpoint of an intimate friend.
This sketch deals with the personality of the man rather than with
his business successes. It is so beautifully written that no apology
is made for closing this brief sketch of a useful man with liberal
extracts from this pen portrait, drawn not by the hand of a pro-
fessional author, but by a friend of many years' standing who
knows the real man just as he is :
"The secret of his success lies, as has been suggested, partly
in the inheritance of sterling qualities of capacity and character,
but perhaps more in the development of these natural endow-
ments through intelligent and persistent application. He has
been and will always be a hard worker. He has no patience with
the dawdler, the dilettante, the ease-lover and pleasure-seeker.
There is mixed in his make-up a sense of duty and obligation
together with an untiring energy that compel him to give himself
to his task, whatever the task may be, with earnestness and enthu-
siasm. He has the soul of a conqueror and will not be lured
away nor swerved aside until the task is done and the victory is
won. He has always fulfilled more than the measure of mere
obligation and, having shown himself larger than what place he
held, has steadily risen until he holds the highest position in his
company in co-ordinate authority with his associate, the presi-
HARRISON ROBERTSON FITZGERALD 333
dent. Native ability, intelligent development and persistent appli-
cation are the three factors that have given H. R. Fitzgerald
conspicuous success.
"It is the man himself, who commands the affection and
confidence of the community even more than he, as the head of a
great corporation, commands their admiration and respect.
Wonderfully magnetic and engaging in his personality; sincere
and transparent in his character; simple in taste and democratic
in spirit; as sympathetic and tender as a woman in the presence
of sorrow or suffering; great and enduring in his capacity for
friendship ; generous to the point of prodigality in his giving and
serving, he moves in the midst of his people a man universally
loved by all classes. Like Abou Ben Adhem it may truthfully
be said of him, "He loves his fellow-men." Because this love finds
constant practical expression in gracious ministry and generous
gift many love him. There are many others, however, who know
him better, who have discovered that his heart holds richer
treasures of affection and sympathy than ever his tongue could
tell or his hand bestow, who love him for himself. Those who
have come close to his life find in him the modern personification
of the ancient spirit of chivalry — a twentieth century knight sworn
to the defense of truth and righteousness, and consecrated to the
relief of need and the service of the needy. He absolutely refutes
the assertion of Edmund Burke that the spirit of chivalry is
dead.
"The three high places in the life of Harry Fitzgerald are
his business, of which we have spoken and which he regards as a
real opportunity of service; his home and his church. He is
intensely social in his disposition, but he cares nothing for the
frivolities and pastimes of modern society. He prefers a more
sincere and sympathetic fellowship with his family and his friends
around his own fireside. The quiet, delightful conversation and
the simple recreations of the family circle he finds more engaging
than the small talk of the drawing room. He prefers mingling
with men in the services of the sanctuary to the games and gossip
of the club. In his home he is the affectionate and indulgent
husband and father, the hospitable host and the delightful com-
panion. In his church he is a brother indeed, concerned for the
well-being, material and spiritual, of those about him."
The original coat of arms of the Fitzgerald Clan had as its
distinguishing feature a Saint Andrew's Cross. It is one of the
plainest coats of arms found on the pages of heraldry. The
description is:
"Ermine, a saltire gules.
"Crest : A boar passant gules bristled and armed or."
There are numerous other coats of arms used by various
branches of the family — but the one described is the original and
ancient one used by the head of the Clan.
WILLIAM MENTZEL FORREST
IN 1608 there came to Jamestown, Virginia, with Captain New-
port, one Thomas Forrest, with his wife, and his wife's maid,
Anne Buras. Mrs. Forrest was the first English gentlewoman
to come to America, and her maid was the first English
woman to marry in America. Thomas Forrest was the uncle of
Sir Anthony Forrest, and both were members of the Second
London Company for the colonization of Virginia.
The Forrest family is a very ancient one in England. There
were two parent branches of the Forrest stock — one at Trout-
beck, County Westmoreland; and the other in their own manor
house at Morborne, County Huntingdon, England. How long
they had been settled at Morborne is unknown, but it was an old
family when the Forrest coat-armor "argent, a chevron between
three hinds' heads erased gules ; crest, three oak trees all proper,"
was recorded in the Herald's College of England, which was in
the times of Miles Forrest, who died in 1558 and was in occupation
of the old home and a purchaser of adjoining church lands when
the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII. During Crom-
well's areign of terror" in Henry's days, Father John Forrest,
an observant friar, was burned as a heretic, for denying the
King's supremacy in the church. He is celebrated in Foxe's Acts
and Monuments and recorded in the family genealogy as the
"Blessed John."
It was to this branch of the Forrest family that Thomas
Forrest, founder of the Virginia and Maryland families, belonged.
The American family, founded by Thomas Forrest through his
son Peter and the five sons of the latter, has contributed many
useful citizens to our republic and, in the person of Gen. Nathan
Bedford Forrest, one of the greatest soldiers of any age.
To this family belongs the Rev. William Mentzel Forrest,
present holder of the John B. Gary Memorial Professorship of
Biblical History and Literature in the University of Virginia,
which position he has held since 1909. Professor Forrest was
born in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 19, 1868, son of Andrew
Jackson and Emily Louisa (Dorsey) Forrest. His father was an
engineer by profession, yet living, but retired from the active
pursuit of his profession. His mother came from the old Dorsey
family of English and Norman ancestry, some branches of which
have long been prominent in Maryland, and scions of which have
won eminence in Georgia,
By reason of their prominence, in the early days in Virginia,
[334]
.
•
D
•
N',
I
.•>
I
WILLIAM MENTZEL FORREST 337
the Forrests were very conspicuous, and in a notable painting,
which now hangs in the Capitol at Washington, known as "The
Baptism of Pocahontas," Thomas Forrest, with his wife and
young son Peter are all portrayed — Mrs. Forrest acting as god-
mother (the family can easily be identified by key).
The descendants of Thomas Forrest living in Virginia became
involved in what was known as the Bacon Rebellion in 1676, and
the family left Jamestown, some of them settling in Mathews
County, Virginia, then a part of Gloucester, and some going to
St. Mary's, Maryland, where they prospered and became men of
wealth and prominence. It was to that branch of the family that
Gen. Uriah Forrest, who served for a time on Washington's staff,
belonged; and it was from the branch left in Virginia that Gen.
N. B. Forrest was descended-
Professor Forrest's ancestors belonged to the branch which
remained in Virginia, but his great-grandfather, John Forrest,
left Mathews County soon after his marriage to Polly Taylor and
went to Baltimore, where Prof. Forrest's grandfather, father and
himself, were all born.
William Mentzel Forrest has had the advantages that accrue
from scholastic education. He went to the public schools of
Baltimore; the Transylvania University, in Kentucky; the College
of the Bible at Lexington, Kentucky; Hiram College, of Ohio,
from which he won the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1894 ; and the
University of Chicago. In the meantime, and prior to the comple-
tion of his college education, he had other experiences. From
1882-1884, he was a messenger and clerk for the Maryland Bible
Society. From 1885-1887, he was a chemist in the Baltimore and
Ohio Laboratory. After the completion of his course at Hiram
College, and his ordination to the ministry of the Christian
Church, commonly known as "The Disciples," he was from 1894-
1896 pastor of a church at Medina, Ohio. From 1896-1899 he
served in the same relationship to the church in Ann Arbor,
Michigan. In the meantime, from 1897-1899, in addition to his
pastoral work, he was a lecturer of the Ann Arbor Bible Chairs.
Then he took a cast very far afield, and became lecturer for the
Calcutta (India) Bible Lectureship from 1900-1903. Returning
to America in 1903, he became lecturer for the University of Vir-
ginia Bible Lectureship, which position he held until 1906, when
he became Associate Professor of Biblical Literature, which he
held until 1909, when he was elected to his present position.
He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, of the Colonnade Club,
of the Philosophical Society of the University of Virginia, and of
the Religious Education Association ; and Director of the Univer-
sity of Virginia Y. M. C. A. He retains his ministerial relation-
ship in the Church, and does a considerable amount of preaching
as opportunity offers.
Professor Forrest was married at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky,
on August 31, 1893, to Maude Mansfield Clark, daughter of Rev.
338 WILLIAM MENTZEL FORREST
Henry Dickerson and Melissa M. Clark. To them three children
have been born : Henry Clark Forrest, a youth of eighteen, now
in college ; Robert Mansfield Forrest, who died in India ; and Jean
Huntingdon Forrest.
Aside from his professional studies, Prof. Forrest has found
biographies and reminiscences of great men (especially literary
and religious leaders) to be both a most interesting and most
helpful line of reading. He is a frequent contributor to the relig-
ious press, and the author of a book published in 1910 under the
title of "India's Hurt," which was begotten of his experiences in
that far-off country.
William M. Forrest is a man of remarkable gifts. He has
been blessed with a commanding figure and a striking personality.
A profound student, widely traveled, he has lectured over a great
section of the United States and India. He has preached in
churches of all kinds and lectured in various places. He has had
a diversified career and in every place has won golden opinions.
He owes nothing to the meretricious arts of the orator — his
strength lies in a remarkably clear, succinct and pleasant presenta-
tion of the subject which he may be discussing. From the youngest
college student to the gray-haired professors, he commands most
intense interest, — everywhere that he lectures or preaches, the
press indulges in almost extravagant laudation. His real strength
consists in the fact that he is master of his subject. Possessing
a mind of the first order, he has devoted many years of careful
study to everything he undertakes to discuss. He is a brilliant
man, — yet that is not the quality which arrests attention. Per-
haps it would be fair to say that what holds his audience and his
classes is the simplicity and earnestness of the man. He is easily
understood and yet his language is of the highest literary quality.
His natural eloquence appeals to the young; the soundness of
his argument catches the ear of the old and carries conviction. He
is an evangelical man — the minister is never swallowed up in the
college professor. He believes in Christian unity and stands for
it. From Virginia to Michigan, from Michigan to California,
from California to Alabama, and from Alabama back to Virginia,
he is known as one of the commanding figures in both the religious
and educational fields.
He has an elder brother, J. D. Forrest, a resident and promi-
nent business man of Indianapolis; also three other brothers,
Edwin Forrest, principal of one of the Baltimore schools ; Charles
N. Forrest, Chief Chemist of the Barbour Asphalt Company, and
Kobert Lee Forrest, of Philadelphia, who retired three years ago
from the private banking house of Forrest & Co., and has since
been traveling abroad.
The old mother State of Virginia, which has contributed so
much to the manhood of the American Republic, in securing the
services of Prof. Forrest, has but taken its own from another
State, as interest upon the principal which it has loaned.
I American annals no name skints with brigh
n that of Hancock. Every school boy is faroi
iilO.1 WilJJ.
<?al and virile signature which heads the list
rs of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock,
atts.
; v» has been an honorable one in Great
the T. and entitled by reason of old
ere is a en ce of opinion between
<-i one most sfr
.
is t £\-
in Vit.
was John
a J<
a ('
er of t>
«, line yi no
» our time, the :d Scott Haiicock,
leral of the Federal Army :» the Civil War, one of
jst soldiers during that tragic period. Conteniporar
'^rn branch produced Judge John Hancock of Te>
ist, and leading congressman, who was born in Tennes
iiia, family- was founded by Richard, Edward,
Hancock. Richard came in 1650, and settled in Cha
v . Edward came in 1651, and settled in York Coui
me in 1654? and settled in lower Norfolk County.
';* brothers, bnr • u ..t <.
v i u
342 RICHARD HANCOCK
Henry, James, Samuel, Slaver, Stephen and William. Austin is
credited to Louisa; James to Halifax; Edward and Samuel to
Bedford County, and the counties of the others are not given,
though Colonel George Hancock's residence was at Fotheringay.
To this old Virginia family belongs Richard Hancock of
Lynchburg, who was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on March
23, 1864, son of John Hancock and Martha A. (Waller) Hancock.
John Hancock was a farmer, an honorable man, most scrupulous
as to the truth, and he was a man of unusual piety.
Mr. Hancock's paternal grandfather was Justus Hancock,
who married Harriet Walden. Their children were Amnion G.,
Samuel, John H., Daniel B., Francis H., Mary J. Shelton, Martha
A. and Lucy V. Hancock.
Harriet Walden, the grandmother, was the daughter of John
Walden, who married Martha (or Patsy) Hopkins, daughter of
Francis Hopkins. Some interesting notes about the Walden fam-
ily, found in the Norfolk Virginian, follow :
"The family of Walden in England is one of the oldest and
most prominent in the United Kingdom, and is descended from
ancestors who were conspicuous in the early Italian wars and men
who fought with the Black Prince at Cressy. Bishop Walden, one
of the best known divines of the established church, was a nephew
of the last Lord Walden.
"The last lord holding the title was John. His eldest son,
also John, came to America in the latter part of the last century,
and settled at a beautiful seat known as Walden Towers, eight
miles from Bowling Green, in Caroline County, Virginia. This
John Walden was one of the most prominent men in the Revolu-
tionary period, and was intimate with all the great spirits of the
day. When his father in the old country died he took no steps to
claim the title or property saying that nothing could induce him
to cross the ocean again.
"He was the father of ten children, four boys and six girls.
"The boys were John, William, Thomas, Ambrose, and the
girls Elizabeth, Sally, Lucy, Polly, Nancy and Rachel. John Wal-
den of Virginia, was one of the largest landholders of early days,
and held vast tracts of ground in the Old Dominion, as well as in
Kentucky.
"The will of the last Lord Walden is now on file in England
and it left a vast estate to his two sons. The younger son got his
portion, no doubt, but that of John Walden, of Virginia, has never
been claimed.
"The property was left in the care of trustees, so has not been
outlawed by want of claimants or confiscated by the crown.
"These possessions are said to consist of very valuable land
in the city of London, an estate outside of the town, and a big sum
of cash in bank. This amount is stated to be at least $40,000,000,
RICHARD HANCOCK 343
while among the real estate may be numbered the Castle of Ravens-
croft."
Captain Ammon Hancock, the eldest son of Justus Hancock,
who married Harriet, the daughter of John Walden, was a prom-
inent man of Lynchburg for about fifteen or twenty years preced-
ing his death, which occurred in May, 1847.
Justus Hancock was the son of Colonel Samuel Hancock of
Bedford County, previously referred to as one of the Revolutionary
soldiers of Virginia, and whose wife's given name was Anne.
The Edward Hancock, also referred to as a Revolutionary
soldier, and known in the family as Captain Ned Hancock, was a
brother of Colonel Samuel Hancock.
On the maternal side, Mr. Hancock's grandmother was the
sister of Captain Nelson Tucker, of Pittsylvania County, Virginia,
and his grandfather was Robert Waller, who was a farmer in
Pittsylvania County, Virginia. The Waller name instantly brings
to the mind of anyone familiar with English history the period of
the Commonwealth of England and the struggle between Charles
I and the Parliament, for in that struggle certain members of the
Waller families were conspicuous.
Robert Waller married Patsy Johns, who must have been of
that family which gave to Virginia the distinguished and much
loved Episcopal Bishop, Johns. The children of Robert WTaller
and his wife were Hampton, Richard, Sarah, Emily, Martha A.
(Mrs. Hancock) and Sadie (?).
Mr. Hancock's parents had a fine family of eight children.
Aside from the subject of this sketch, there were William D., S. E.,
Robert J., Benjamin F., John, Ammon, Emma B. (now Mrs. S. N.
Burroughs) and James H. Hancock, seven sons and one daughter.
It will be seen that Mr. Hancock had every advantage that
accrues to one from a good ancestry.
Mr. Hancock had the usual rearing of a farmer's boy. He
went to school during the winter, did light work on the farm in
summer, until his father died, when the lad was about thirteen
years old- From fourteen to eighteen he worked in a nearby
country store during the summer, and went to school during the
winter. At the age of eighteen, he settled in Lynchburg, living
with his uncle, Ammon G. Hancock, a tobacco manufacturer, and
at the end of five years bought an interest in the business which is
now owned by his brother, Robert J. Hancock, and himself, the
business being conducted under the title of "Hancock Brothers &
Co., Inc.," Richard being the Vice-President. It is a very large
factory and the business dates back to 1851, when it was estab-
lished by the elder Hancock.
In a business wav Mr. Hancock has met with an unusual de-
t/
gree of success, and he attributes this to his early home training ;
this (besides contact with other men in active life) has been the
344 RICHARD HANCOCK
greatest factor which has influenced his career. But he has done
something of much greater importance than the making of money,
however important that may be. He has made himself one of the
most useful citizens of his city. As an illustration of this we may
cite some organizations with which he is connected. He is a di-
rector of the Y. M. C. A., of the Presbyterian Orphans' Home, and
of the Associated Charities. He is also a member of the City
Council, elected in 1907 for four years, and was re-elected in 1911
for a second term of four years. For several years he was a mem-
ber of the Democratic Executive Committee of Lynchburg ; he was
a commissioner to the General Assembly of the Southern Presby-
terian Church at the session which met in Greensboro, N. C., sev-
eral years ago ; he was appointed by Governor Mann as a delegate
to the Child Welfare Convention in Richmond in 1911. He is a
Director of the Lynchburg National Bank, and Vice-President of
the Mutual Savings Bank and Trust Company; Director of the
Citizens Savings and Loan Corporation, and of the Lynchburg
Foundry Company, manufacturers of cast iron pipe and plows;
he is Director and Vice-President of J. R. Milner Co., Retail Dry
Goods & Notions, and Vice-President and Secretary of Hancock
Bros. £ Co., Inc., manufacturers of tobacco, and Director of the
Guyandotte Coal Company.
One will at once be struck in this list, not only with the num-
ber of Mr. Hancock's activities, but with the fact that outside of
the purely beneficent organizations, two of the financial institu-
tions with which he is connected were primarily organized for the
purpose of helping the small man, and this, which is indeed one of
the greatest needs in our country, is evidence not only of his busi-
ness ability, but of his humanitarian instincts.
Mr. Hancock finds his chief interest in church work, in the Y.
M. C. A. and in welfare work. He is an active member of the West-
minster Presbyterian Church, one of its officials, and Superintend-
ent of the Sunday School. In addition to having been a commis-
sioner to the General Assembly in May, 1908, he has represented
his church a number of times in the Presbyterian Synod, having
been a delegate on various occasions to the State conventions of
the Y. M. C. A., and to the International Convention of that body,
which was held in May, 1913, at Cincinnati, Ohio.
He makes a "full hand" in everything with which he is con-
nected, except social clubs, for while he holds membership in the
Oakwood Club, he is seldom there.
He is a man of fixed religious convictions and of fixed prin-
ciples, politically and socially. One knows always where to find
him. When asked what he would give in the nature of advice to a
young man, he replied in these words : "Attend church regularly.
Be scrupulously truthful and honest. Do not take the first drink
of anything that is intoxicating. Make it a rule of your life to be
RICHARD HANCOCK 345
prompt in filling engagements. Save a portion of your earnings
each month. Devote some of your leisure hours to the reading of
good books. Endeavor to give your employer more and better
service than you are being paid for."
Mr. Hancock has lived up to the creed which he lays down, and
has traveled far in the esteem and confidence of his fellowmen.
Mr. Hancock's uncle, Frank H. Hancock, one of the pioneers
of the Pacific Coast, but who returned to Virginia in 1892 and
resided there until his death on February 4, 1904, at the advanced
age of seventy-eight, was one of the best loved and most highly
respected men of his day. His entire life was a model example of
Christian citizenship.
Richard Hancock seems to be following in his footsteps, for
aside from his business activities, he is giving a full share of his
time and thought and labor to those things w^hich mean public
betterment along the higher lines of life.
Perhaps no one thing that he has ever done is more to his
credit than his active co-operation as a director of the Citizens
Savings & Loan Corporation, which was founded for the benefit
of helping the small borrowers. It is a fact that many men not in
active business as merchants or manufacturers, many of them em-
ployees, have just as legitimate need for small sums as the large
manufacturer or merchant has for large sums, and they are just
as much entitled to that moderate credit based on character as
the large merchant or manufacturer has to large credit based on
the needs of his business. In all of our cities this is a crying need,
and in most of them, these worthy borrowers have no recourse
except the loan sharks — one of the foulest excrescences of our mod-
ern civilization. These vile men cannot be eliminated by legisla-
tion. They can only be put out of business by means of clean,
legitimate competition at the hands of upright business men, who
will not exact blood money.
The Hancock family in America is believed to be descended
from the family of the same name in Devonshire, England. This
family was granted a coat of arms in 1588, which is described as
follows: Gules, a plate, on a chief argent three cocks of the first.
Crest: A cock's head erminois, combed, wattled, beaked and du-
cally gorged gules.
Motto : Honor, Justitia et Candor.
REDDEN HERBERT PITTMAN
WHEN the Pittman family first came to America cannot
be definitely stated, but it was certainly in the colonial
period, far antedating the American Revolution, for at
that period there were several families in eastern Vir-
ginia and a much larger number in eastern North Carolina — Edge-
combe County in that State having quite a number of families at
the close of the Revolutionary War.
A noticeable feature of these families in eastern North Caro-
lina was the prevalence of Biblical given names, and a further
noticeable feature of this family, both in England and America,
has been the number of men in it who have been clergymen. In the
last century, a very distinguished English clergyman bore the
name. John Pittman, a prominent New England jurist of the first
half of the last century, was the son of Rev. John Pittman, a prom-
inent Baptist minister of his generation. He served churches
ranging from Massachusetts to New Jersey.
The Pittman family name originated centuries ago in an oc-
cupation— the "pit" man was a miner, and so we get the family
name. Some of them in Great Britain seem to have prospered and
risen in life to a position which obtained for them from the Crown
grants of the right to use coat armor, which means that they
were among the gentry of the country.
The subject of this sketch, the Rev. Redden Herbert Pittman,
of Luray, preserves the tradition of the family by his ministerial
labors, to which he adds the qualifications of an able business man.
He was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, on August 20,
1870, son of Redden Edgar and Sarah Eliza (Pitt) Pittman. His
father was a farmer who in his early manhood enlisted in Com-
pany F, Thirtieth North Carolina Regiment, under Col. F. M.
Parker, in 1861, and faithfully gave four years of heroic service
to the Southern cause. Though serving most of the time as private
and later in the struggle as corporal and other minor positions his
loyalty never wavered nor did his fighting qualities fail. Except
when absent on wounded furlough, once after the battle of Cold
Harbor and again after the battle of the Wilderness, he never
missed but one roll-call during the war. That was on one of
"Stonewall" Jackson's forced marches ; when not well he dropped
out of rank late one evening, slept in a fence corner all night, rose
early the next morning and overtook his regiment the same day.
[346]
•
.:. His
- Tom-
-
'
I
1
-:
-
REDDEN HERBERT PITTMAN 349
Our subject's mother's maiden name is that borne by one of
the most illustrious families of Great Britain — a family name
which is endeared to all Americans by the splendid defense made
for the American colonies by the elder Pitt, who became Earl of
Chatham, and which gained added lustre in the person of his son,
known as the younger Pitt, one of the greatest statesmen ever pro-
duced by England, and the man who, more than all others, was
responsible for the downfall of Napoleon.
Mr. Pittrnan's grandfather, the Rev. Wiley Pittman, was born
in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, on July 27, 1815. His edu-
cational advantages were of the most limited sort. He was mar-
ried as a very young man in 1838, and in 1842 he became a mem-
ber of the Primitive Baptist Church in his neighborhood. Not-
withstanding his lack of higher education and the infirmities of a
frail body, he began preaching in 1854, and this was his chief work
up to the end of his life, in 1861. He never ceased to regret his
lack of learning, and for years held back from the work of preach-
ing the gospel because of that fact. This, however, was no draw-
back to those who knew him. The clean, earnest, simple Christian
life which he led, the patience with which he bore protracted bodily
suffering, covering a period of years, his resignation to narrow cir-
cumstances enforced by the conditions of the time and place, all
these endeared him to a very wide circle of friends, who gave him
not only their unlimited confidence but a deep affection.
His grandson, the subject of this sketch, under more favorable
conditions, is doing the work that the grandfather would have
loved to do.
R. H. Pittman was educated in the public schools of Edge-
combe County, at Whitaker Academy and the University of North
Carolina. His university work only covered one year. He re-
signed a business proposition with the Atlantic Coast Line Rail-
way in order to attend the university, but after one year felt that
he was not able financially to take the complete course, so returned
to business. He entered the railway service in his eighteenth
year, serving as baggage agent, conductor, station agent and tele-
graph operator.
An incident in his early life which affords a splendid illustra-
tion of his character deserves a detailed recital. His father, as
before stated, had followed the fortunes of Robert E. Lee four
years. He returned from the army a much poorer man than when
he entered it. Being the oldest of a family of nine children, and
his own father having died the first year of the war, he felt that the
responsibility of his widowed mother and these younger children
were upon him. To this responsibility was added the rearing of
his own family. The struggle, in these hard years after the war,
was a desperate one, as all the men of that period can testify. He
purchased a farm soon after the war, mainly on time. R. H. Pitt-
350 REDDEN HERBERT PITTMAN
man had picked up such education as could be obtained from the
local schools, and in his seventeenth year, realizing the hard strug-
gle which his father was making, he secured his permission to leave
home, took a course in the academy, for which he gave his note for
board and tuition, entered the railroad service, and between the
time of his leaving home and his arriving at the age of twenty-
one, paid his school debt and returned to his father a monthly
statement of his receipts and expenses, remitting him monthly all
above actual expenses, those being of the most economical sort.
That total amounted to f 519.38. He felt that he owed his father
service until he was twenty-one years of age, and he took this
method of paying the debt. Before his father died, a few years
ago, he told him that these monthly payments had been the means
of ''pulling him through seasons of business depression without
special embarrassment, and the final lifting of the mortgage on his
home." In his will, he desired that this assistance (given by the
son) be refunded to him, which Mr. Pittman declined to take ad-
vantage of, as he felt that he had only done his duty. This story
is related here, not to magnify the subject of this sketch, but as an
object lesson for other young men, and as proof of the fact that,
even in this practical and materialistic age, there are yet men who
believe in the Fifth Commandment.
It did not need a prophet to foresee that the man starting in
life upon that basis would meet with business success. He met
with promotion from his employers, who stationed him at Bishop-
ville, South Carolina. The people of that town, appreciating the
strong character of the young man, made him Town Warden, and
he was later Acting Mayor. Ten years or more back, there was a
strong feeling of distrust in the minds of the people towards rail-
way employees, and it was a rare thing that one of these was elected
a member of a legislative body, yet so thoroughly had the people
of his section become convinced of Mr. Pittman's absolute integ-
rity and courage, that they elected him a member of the South
Carolina Legislature for the sessions of 1904-05, and strange to
say, in spite of existing prejudices, he made a record satisfactory
both to his constituents and the railway company which he served
in a business capacity. So creditable was his record there that
when, after serving his term, he became a candidate for the State
senate, there was no doubt of his election to that position until,
prompted by the call of duty, he decided to drop his candidacy and
move to Virginia. The attachment which the people had formed
for him is evidenced by the fact that the man whom he had recom-
mended to them as a candidate in his place was elected without
difficultv.
V
Mr. Pittman classes himself as a Democrat. His idea of Dem-
ocracy will be dwelt upon a little more largely later on. During
his residence in South Carolina, he was a political friend and sup-
porter of Senator B. R. Tillman and Congressman Lever — both
REDDEN HERBERT PITTMAN 351
very prominent members of the Congress of the United States at
the present time, where for many years they have held high po-
sition. For a time, while a resident of Bishopville, Mr. Pittman
was connected with a militia company, of w^hich he was a charter
member, and served a few years as lieutenant under a commission
from Governor Tillman.
Going back to the earlier period of his life, as a very young
man, he had an idea of becoming a lawyer, and took up the study
of law, but becoming aroused in a religious way, he discontinued
that, believing that his duty lay in another direction.
He was baptized into the Primitive Baptist Church on the 1st
of January, 1893, by Elder A. J. Moore, was licensed to preach in
the same year, and was ordained in 1900. Like so many of the
ministers in that church, he did not separate his business life from
his ministerial work. He carries both forward at the same time.
He took a keen interest in the moral, intellectual and business up-
building of his town, and while at Bishopville served as a Director
in the People's Bank, and as President of the Bishopville Oil Mill.
In 1906, there came to him from certain churches of his faith
in the Luray District of Virginia a call to come and serve them.
This meant sacrifice. He had already made a successful career
and was a growing man. He had a young family coming on, and
these people in Virginia asked him to sacrifice his prospects to
come and serve them without any guarantee that they could or
would make good to him the monetary loss which he must incur.
After debating the matter in his mind solely from the standpoint
of duty, Mr. Pittman decided that it was his duty to go to Virginia,
and he gave up all his interests in South Carolina and moved to
Luray. In his eight years of residence there, he has developed a
wide field of usefulness as a minister, and in a business sense has
made good all that he lost by leaving South Carolina, being at the
present time President of the Luray Canning Company and di-
rector in the Shenandoah River Light and Power Company. The
same civic principles which governed him in South Carolina gov-
ern him in Virginia. He is rendering most effective service now
as a school trustee of the Luray Corporation District.
Yet in the very prime of life, Mr. Pittman has become a leader
in his church. He is serving four churches as pastor — the Luray
Church, two in Page County and one in Rockingham County, giv-
ing to each church two days of regular preaching service each
month. He is Moderator of the Ebenezer Old School Baptist As-
sociation, elected immediately after his arrival in Virginia, and
has served continuously since. He is Associate Editor of "Zion's
Advocate," published at Washington, D. C., and Associate Editor
of "The Primitive Baptist," published at Martin, Tenn. It will be
seen that Mr. Pittman has his time fully occupied. In addition to
his business occupations and his ministerial work, he has man-
aged somehow to find time to prepare a most valuable publication
352 REDDEN HERBERT PITTMAN
in the shape of "A Biographical History of the Primitive or Old
School Baptist Ministers of the United States," containing nearly
one thousand sketches of Baptist ministers and much other useful
information. Conjointly with S. B. Luckett he has prepared a
revised and abridged edition of "Theodosia Ernest, the Heroine of
Faith," and also of "Ten Days in Search of the Church." These
two latter books having been published as one volume in 1913 by
Mr. Pittman.
He was married on November 11, 1896, at Wilson, N. C., to
Eunice Elizabeth Barnes, born September 28, 1875, at Elm City,
N. C., daughter of Hickman David and Janie (Willeford) Barnes.
They have four children : Dalton Pittman, aged fifteen, now a page
in the House of Representatives; Leland Pittman, aged twelve;
Eunice Virginia Pittman, aged ten, and Sarah Groveen Pittman,
aged five.
A distinguishing trait in the character of K. H. Pittman is a
devotion to his duty as he sees it. Once convinced that a thing is
his duty nothing can turn him from it. He has other characteris-
tics which are worthy of note. A very active man in ministerial
work, he says that his labors for the good of others have been done,
not so much through organized channels, as in a personal way as a
citizen and as an individual member of the church. The apostolic
admonition that "whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the
name of Jesus" carries great weight with him, and the plan of the
Good Samaritan in helping the man in distress without stopping
to consider whether he be an enemy or a friend appeals very
strongly to Mr. Pittman. He is too clear-minded not to grasp the
purpose of the demagogue in enlarging upon "equal rights to all
and special privilege to none ;" but he says that if instead of using
this for campaign purposes we could apply it in practical business
life, it would mean marvelous things for our country. He is un-
alterably committed to the doctrine of the entire separation of
church and state, to the preservation and fostering of our public
school systems, and to the denial of citizenship to anyone who
would deny to others religious liberty, freedom of conscience or
freedom of the press- He believes that the Protestants of the
United States are in a lukewarm condition and that they should
be awakened by the press and the ministry. He believes that im-
migration should be restricted by the proper placing of educational
and ethical qualifications; that we should have more home mis-
sions and fewer foreign missions; that we should talk less about
the theory of Jefferson's simplicity of government and apply it
more in practice. He is in hearty sympathy with President Wil-
son's construction of the Monroe Doctrine — that we shall acquire
no more territory by conquest.
The reader who has followed this sketch so far will have ob-
tained a fair idea of the man, but it is not amiss to add a few lines
bearing upon the church of which he is a distinguished exponent.
REDDEN HERBERT PITTMAN 353
It is a most Democratic institution. It believes that the call of
God for men to preach the gospel comes to the unlearned as well
as the learned, and that God can use the unlearned man to the ad-
vantage of his fellow-men just as well as the man of classical
training. It is perhaps the one Protestant body which is not col-
ored by Arminian theories in theology. It emphasizes morality,
honesty and truth. It is indeed a very rare thing to find a member
of the Primitive Baptist Church who would ever fail to pay a debt.
Their virtues are strong and positive. Call them narrow, if you
will ; certainly within their limitations they live up to the doctrine
which they profess. It is the one church which has not fallen into
line in the matter of Sunday Schools, and their argument is that
the Sunday School is of human origin and therefore not binding
upon the churches ; that its advocates no longer follow the purpose
for which it was originally intended, viz : to teach poor children
to read and write, but have made the school purely a sectarian, a
religious one, manifestly to train children for membership in the
respective churches as the one object in view. And any such sys-
tem, they hold, fills churches with worldly minded, unregenerated
people and furnishes parents an excuse for neglecting the Bible
injunction to bring up their own children in the nurture and ad-
monition of the Lord. Their position on missions is another illus-
tration of their peculiar views. They are home missionaries rather
than foreign, and it cannot be denied that we lack much of having
done our full duty in the home field. They are also much misun-
derstood on the question of a paid ministry. The idea has gone
abroad that they do not believe at all in paying their ministers.
This is not a proper representation of their position. They refuse
to hire a minister. From their standpoint, it is wrong to make
God's ambassador a hireling, but it is not of record that one of
their ministers has ever suffered for the necessities of life ; in other
words, they believe that the laborer should be provided for, and
they see that this is done, but they do it in their own way. Not
only is this done in his active years of service, but in old age he is
cared for. With them it is on the part of the minister a service
of love freely bestowed, and on the part of the members a giving
of their carnal things to him who has sown unto them spiritual
things. "The Christian Herald" in its 1914 report of the religious
bodies of the United States, after giving statistics, etc., has this
to say of the Primitive Baptist: "They have no central or State
organization. They are strictly congregational, believing that
every church should govern itself according to the laws of Christ
as found in the New Testament and that no minister, association
or convention has any authority over the churches. They oppose,
religiously, every organization or practice not authorized by scrip-
ture and are earnest advocates of religious liberty. Their min-
isters, refusing the title 'reverend' are called 'elders.' Their
service, consisting of prayer, singing and preaching, is conducted
in simplicity and free from any instrumental music.
354 REDDEN HERBERT PITTMAN
"In doctrine they are Calvinistic, emphasizing God's sover-
eignty and foreknowledge, man's fall and total depravity, predes-
tination, election, particular redemption, special atonement, ef-
fectual calling or regeneration, and the final perseverance of every
child of God unto eternal glory through his free and ever reigning
grace."
One may not agree with these good people in all their ideas?
but they compel respect; to eliminate them and their deeds from
history would mean a loss of much that is strong and true, good
and beautiful. To say that among these people Mr. Pittman is a
leader means that he is a good, true man, serving his generation
well and discharging his obligations with fidelity.
IDT]
,
most su<
ut the S<
>f Frecler
Jc
ctiv<
4.1
at Al-
ii*3 -
s — Or, a saltier between four boars'
-; of the family bear, barry wavy
le three boars' heads of the f
ve the wrist erect holding a swore
the jaw of a boj
358 JOHN JOSEPH SHEAHAN
in the year 1863, and settled near the old town of Winchester in
the Shenandoah Valley.
Mr. Sheahan's father was a private in the Confederate Army,
where it may be truthfully said that he fully sustained the reputa-
tion of the Irish people as a race of fighters, dauntless alike in suc-
cess and in defeat. He served in Major Wheat's battalion, the
famous "Louisiana Tigers," so-called from the courage and hardi-
hood which they displayed in various Southern campaigns. The
record of the elder Mr. Sheahan's services in this celebrated com-
mand extends from the battlefield of Manassas to that of Gettys-
burg. At the close of the war between the States it is said that
there were living but three survivors of all those soldiers who had
composed the original organization of the "Louisiana Tigers," a
fact which is in itself a tribute than which few higher ones could
be paid to the men of Wheat's command Of this trio of survivors
the elder Mr. Sheahan was one.
Mr. John Sheahan, in 1902, forty years after the war, died in
Batavia, Illinois, aged sixty-seven years. His funeral was at-
tended by the entire Grand Army of the Republic Post of the city
in which his death took place, a compliment not often paid to a
soldier of the Confederacy in the North or West, and one which
proves the honor in which any survivor of Wheat's battalion of the
"Louisiana Tigers" should be most deservedly held.
The education of Mr. John Joseph Sheahan was chiefly ac-
quired through his attendance at the public schools. Like many
of America's foremost business men, Mr. Sheahan has attended
neither college nor university ; but, going forth early into the bat-
tle of life, has gained from association with other men and from
contact with the world itself an education broader, deeper, more
practical than the mere knowledge which may be obtained from
the study of the printed page.
Mr. Sheahan's life has been an extremely varied one, both in
scene and in numerous quite dissimilar varieties of work. His rail-
road experience first commenced in the Hatfield-McCoy district,
in what was then the wildest part of West Virginia. It was in
1890 that he first went to this section, and he remained in it for
two years. The condition of the country at that time may be easily
imagined when it is observed that his post was fifty-five miles from
the nearest railroad station. The positions filled by Mr. Shea-
han at this period of his life, included those of time keeper and
bookkeeper. His two years in West Virginia completed, he moved
to Illinois, and settled in Chicago. At Chicago he held the po-
sition of master mechanic on the eight-track Panhandle Bridge.
It may be stated at this point that some time after his Chicago ex-
perience, Mr. Sheahan also filled the place of master mechanic in
Richmond, Virginia, in the course of the construction of the canal
and power house in that town, which are located near the site of
the Haxall Mills.
JOHN JOSEPH SHEAHAN 359
Mr. Sheahan's first experience in construction work fell to his
hands in Chicago. He spent six years as machinist and engineer
on the Drainage Canal of that city. Another interesting change
of the frequently shifting scenes of his life occurred very near the
same time, when he served as operator of the first suspension cable-
way built in Canada. This cableway was erected at Prescott, in
the province of Ontario. It will be observed that Mr. Sheahan
possesses an uncommon amount of practical and personal experi-
ence in sundry departments which, though differing very decidedly
from each other, are, one and all, more or less closely connected
with the profession of railroad construction.
Since the year 1900, he has devoted his attention solely to his
work in the business of railway contractor, and during these years
has taken a prominent and active part in the construction of many
important railways. The field of his work has covered an un-
usually wide and varying surface of country in the West, East,
and South.
Among the noteworthy contracts for railway development in
the far West which Mr. Sheahan has received, may be mentioned
that which provided for the construction of the Big Horn exten-
sion of the C. B. and R. Railroad, in Wyoming. Some of the other
States of the Union in which he has occupied the place of a leader
among men engaged in extremely important works of railroad con-
struction are those of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Caro-
lina, Alabama, West Virginia, and Tennessee.
The line of work specialized in by Mr. Sheahan comprises the
two departments of railroad construction : steam-shovel work, and
heavy concrete work.
Mr. Sheahan is the possessor of interests in various firms well
known in the fields of railroad construction. He is the owner of
the Purcell Construction Company, and of E. Purcell and Com-
pany, which two firms are now engaged in the execution of rail-
road work on the L. and N. Railway in the States of Tennessee and
Alabama. Mr. Sheahan also owns a one-half interest in the firm of
A. and C. Wright and J. J. Sheahan, Railroad Contractors.
Mr. Sheahan has attained a noticeably high position in the
field to which he has for the last twelve years devoted his time and
energy, and he may be spoken of without the least exaggeration as
one of the very foremost men in his own peculiar department of
business throughout the entire Southern section of the United
States.
He is a director in the Bank of Commerce of Roanoke, Vir-
ginia, and is likewise a director in the Allison Avenue Improve-
ment Company of the same city.
Mr. Sheahan's political tenets are those of the Democratic
party. He has held public office as the Township Clerk and as the
Clerk of the Highway Commissioners of Sharon Township in Fay-
ette Countv, Illinois.
t/ 7
360 JOHN JOSEPH SHEAHAN
Mr. Sheahan served for seven years in the position of first
lieutenant of Company "I," in the Eighth Infantry of the Illinois
National Guard, and holds commissions for that office from Gov-
ernor Richard J. Oglesby of Illinois, and from Governor Joseph
W. Fifer of the same state.
He is a member of the Catholic Church, and is a member of the
order of the Knights of Columbus, and of the M. W. A. He is also
a member of the Shenandoah Club and the Koanoke Country Club
of Roanoke, Virginia.
On August 4th, 1892, in the city of Vandalia, Illinois, Mr.
Sheahan married Miss Mary E. Speece, daughter of John and
Mary Ellen Speece. Mrs. Sheahan is a Kentuckian by birth, her
birthplace being located not far from Columbia, Kentucky.
They have four children, none of whom is at present (1914)
married, and whose ages range from four to seventeen. These are,
in the order of their birth, (1) Helen Speece Sheahan, a student at
the Georgetown Visitation Convent of Washington, D. C.; (2)
Paul Revere Sheahan, a pupil of the Roanoke, Virginia, Gram-
mar School; (3) Hugh Parke Sheahan, who attends the Interme-
diate Department of the school last mentioned, and (4) John
Joseph Sheahan, Jr., the fourth of his name.
The home address of Mr. Sheahan is Roanoke, Virginia.
The following is a description of the Sheahan coat of arms :
Azure, on a mount vert, a dove argent, holding in its beak an
olive branch ppr.
Crest : On a spear, sable with blue cross marks and two blue
spear heads, a dove argent, holding in its beak an olive branch ppr.
</.
•i.e Maryland line soutkwestwardly
e, between the Blue Ridge and i
, lies a tract of country ab<
and forty r?ules w;
•
1 wonde
iot and colv
niu f
'
try far i.
7
yt blood, cam
tn nf this
:ii-lrisn, with Cierman i
these; cast into the America
of the valley a notable p
•f hostile Indians broke upon the western i
lor to the Revolution, burning and murder;
rdy valley men organized, under the lei
Lewis, a brave old £'•• man, chased the Indi,
ad <
.;
the Scotch and
rn the Father-
pot, have made
he savage
;iers of Vir-
iya in ev
364 THEODORE NAPOLEON SELLERS
period which was so rich in the making of strong and heroic
character.
Of this valley stock comes the subject of this sketch, Dr.
Theodore Napoleon Sellers, who was born in Rockingham County
on May 12, 1830, son of John and Catherine (Brown) Sellers. His
father was a farmer, descended from a Swiss immigrant — that
sturdy stock which, surrounded by hostile nations for long centu-
ries, has maintained its independence and its republican institu-
tions for nearly six hundred years.
In the maternal line his ancestry was of that German stock
so prevalent in the valley. His immediate ancestors came into
the valley just before the War of Independence. They settled on
the banks of the Shenandoah River, in what is now Rockingham
County, and like most of that stock, they remained on the spot
where they first settled.
His maternal grandfather, Rev. Dr. John Brown, was a promi-
nent minister of the German Reformed Church in the United
States, and in Volume III of Harbaugh's "History of the Fathers
of the Reformed Church in the United States" he is given honor-
able mention as one of the pioneer preachers and builders.
Doctor Sellers's boyhood was spent on his father's farm, and
he had the usual rearing of boys of his section, the result of which
was a strong and sturdy manhood. He attended a classical school
at Churchville, Augusta County. Electing to become a physician,
he entered the Medical Department of the University of Virginia,
from which he was graduated as a physician in 1854. It almost
staggers one to think of a man yet active who graduated sixty
years ago.
He entered upon the practise of his profession in the neighbor-
hood where he was born and where his entire life has been spent.
He followed it for many years until, finding that his health was
failing, he retired from active practise and resumed the useful
occupation of farming, which has been his pursuit now for many
years.
He has given a considerable measure of public service to his
people. For many years he was a justice of the peace; and prior
to the Civil War, and during that struggle, when the magistrates
held the County Court, he was a member of the Rockingham
County Court. His profession as a physician excused him from
active service during the war, as physicians could not be spared
from the communities in which they were rendering such valuable
service.
From 1873 to 1875 he represented his county in the Virginia
House of Delegates, during the administration of Gen. James L.
Kernper as Governor.
Doctor Sellers, during his long life, has been affiliated with
very few societies of any kind. An alumnus of the University of
Virginia for nearly sixty years, he still retains an interest in that
THEODORE NAPOLEON SELLERS 365
splendid old school, and keeps in touch with it through his mem-
bership in the Society of Alumni. He is an elder in the Reformed
Church of the United States, of which his grandfather was one
of the founders in his section.
He was married on August 22, 1855, in Albemarle County,
Virginia, to Jane Rawls Dunkum, who was born on August 20,
1829, and who walked by his side for nearly fifty-five years, passing
away about four vears ago. She was a daughter of John and
v f *^j fj
Margaret Ann (Rawls) Dunkum.
Doctor Sellers has six children. His eldest son, John Dun-
kum Sellers, is a farmer. He married Lula Shaver, and they have
one daughter : Mary Catherine Sellers. His second son, Edgar
Brown Sellers, married Mary Mauzy. They have two children :
Edgar Brown and Napoleon Mauzy Sellers. Another son, Theo-
dore Norton Sellers, married Louisa Yates. They have two chil-
dren : Theodore Yates and Margaret Louisa Sellers. His fourth
child was a daughter, Margaret Catherine, who married James D.
Sipe. His fifth and sixth children are Ada Lee Sellers and Wil-
liam Wirt Sellers — both unmarried and living at home with their
father.
Doctor Sellers is a connecting link between the early days of
this Republic and the present day. He has seen, in his long life,
greater changes than have ever been seen in any other equal period
of the world's history. He has seen the Republic of which he is
a citizen grow from comparative insignificance to the greatest of
the world's nations both in power and in resources. He has seen
corruption fastened upon the people until it looked as though the
great Republic would be throttled and destroyed by the inhuman
greed of the few, and he has seen the beginning of the reformation.
During all this period he has been like the rank and file of our
people, a good citizen, performing faithfully the duties which
have fallen to his lot, and living a virtuous and upright life. He
may not live to see all of our problems worked out, but he has
lived to see (and he is fortunate in the fact) the good citizens
of the country facing resolutely its tremendous problems, and
putting on their harness for the struggle with the forces of evil,
resolved to work out for their children a better civilization, just
as their pioneer fathers worked out for them better conditions.
There is a Sellers coat of arms, which is described as follows :
"Gules a chevron between three covered cups argent.
"Crest : A demi swan, with wings endorsed argent."
JESSE HAMLIN HARGRAVE
NO STATE in this Union has been richer in the quality of
its citizenship than Virginia. This has been true from
the earliest colonial period down to the present; and a
peculiar quality of that citizenship, when taken as a
whole, is that the citizens of Virginia have been as little seekers
after notoriety, and have possessed as little desire for public
place, as any other equal number of people in all history. It is
true that Virginia has had some politicians in every period of its
history, but notwithstanding that fact, the statement made above
is literally true. The actual percentage of seekers after political
place has been smaller than in any other community of equal
numbers and equal intelligence. Washington never desired public
place. In the great Lee family, with its brilliant statesmen and
great general, not one of them was ever a seeker after place.
George Mason, one of the greatest of Virginians, abhorred office
and public notoriety. The list could be lengthened indefinitely,
but these examples illustrate the statement. For three hundred
years the average Virginian has been a lover of his State, of his
county and of his town. The vast majority of them have been
content to do their duty in their home places, and to assist in a
quiet way in the building up of the Commonwealth. Multitudes
of these men, whose names do not appear upon the pages of his-
tory, have been the equals of the men who are down upon the
records as great soldiers and statesmen.
To this class of home-loving and home-building Virginians
belongs the venerable Jesse Hamlin Hargrave, of Chatham, now
(1914) in his ninety-third year. Mr. Hargrave's long life has
covered a most eventful period of our history. He was born in
Sussex County on April 2, 1822, son of George and Margaret
(Bain) Hargrave. His father was a farmer, and his mother was
usually known by the old-fashioned name of Peggy.
He comes of a very ancient family in England, which has a
history at least six hundred years old. In the ancient English
records we come upon the name of William de Hargrave, as a
witness to a deed in Cheshire, England, in 1349. Later the family
was found in Yorkshire, in Suffolk, in Hampshire, in Northumber-
land and in Lincolnshire. In 1601 and 1602 there was one family
of the name in Yorkshire, but the main family seems to have been
in Norfolkshire and Lincolnshire.
The connection of the family with Virginia dates back to
[366]
land
ten
•
;
•
•
' -
JESSE HAM LIN HARGRAVE 369
1619, or perhaps a year or two earlier, when among the names of
the seven English clergymen in the colony appears the Rev. Mr.
Hargrave who, in 1619, gave his library toward the establishment
of a school. Next in order appears the name of Richard Hargrave,
aged twenty, who came over in the ship Bonaventure, which sailed
from London on January 2, 1634. The name of Christopher ap-
pears in 1637, as having been brought over by James Harrison, of
James City County; and in 1639 appears another Christopher,
brought over by William Barker, of York County. The last of
this early batch of Hargraves was Peter, who came over in 1654,
under the auspices of Col. Humphrey Higginson and Abraham
Moore, of Westmoreland County. How many of these left chil-
dren cannot be stated, but from these evidently were descended
the present Virginia Hargraves.
During the Revolutionary War Hezekiah Hargrave appears
as a soldier credited to Nelson County, which was then a part
of Amherst. In 1782 they seem to have been largely concentrated
in Surry. Anselm was the head of a family of six white persons
and six slaves; Hinchey, or Hinckey, was the head of a family of
four white persons; John, an unmarried man, owned one slave;
Lucy, probably a widow, was the head of a family of six white
persons; Robert was the head of a family of four white persons
and owned twenty slaves. Two years later, in 1784, all of these
appear on the Surry records except Robert, and there are two
additional families — one headed bv Hartwell, who was the head
*/ /
of a family of four white persons, and one headed by Mary, whose
family consisted of six white persons.
Baring-Gould, the English authority on the derivation of
names, classes it as one of those names derived from the villages.
Burke, the standard English authority on family history, classes
the family as among the landed gentry of Great Britain.
The parents of Jesse H. Hargrave died when he was a very
small boy, and at the age of eight, then an orphan, he went to live
with his uncle, David Hargrave, of Surry County, a noted edu-
cator of his day, who represented his county in the General
Assembly. Mr. Hargrave grew up under the guardianship and
training of this uncle, and received at his hands a good common
school education. Another of Mr. Hargrave's uncles represented
Sussex County in the General Assembly. Two other uncles moved
to Kentucky, and one to Illinois. Mr. Hargrave recalls that the
earlier generations of his family were Quakers, and that his
grandfather, from conscientious scruples, set free his slaves. Ac-
cording to the family tradition, they came from Liverpool,
England; that, however, probably indicates that Liverpool was
the point of embarkation.
While in his teens Mr. Hargrave went to Petersburg, Virginia,
and entered a mercantile establishment as a clerk. His energy,
application and capacity attracted the attention of his employer,
370 JESSE HAM LIN HARGRAVE
with whom he steadily grew in favor. From Petersburg he went
to Richmond, where he embarked in business on his own account.
While engaged in business in Richmond, Mr. Hargrave became
anxious about his health and, satisfied that a country life would
/ c/
be more conducive to his physical well-being and casting about for
a suitable location, he decided to move to Pittsylvania Court
House (now Chatham) ; and in 1846 moved to that place, where
he opened up a mercantile business in the face of strong competi-
tion. The struggle was a hard one for several years, but by unre-
mitting energy, industry, perseverance and strict fidelity to every
duty, he finally passed the dividing line between failure and suc-
cess, and in a few years was the leading merchant of the village
with a trade drawn from many miles.
In 1850 he married Ruth Thomas Hunt, daughter of Captain
John and Sallie (Tate) Hunt, of Pittsylvania County. Mrs.
Hargrave's father, Captain John Hunt, lived near Staunton River,
and was one of the most honored and prominent citizens of his
section. The children born of this marriage were Sallie Tate,
John Hunt, Almeyda and Margaret Hargrave, who are all living.
His business continued to grow steadily during the next ten
years, and the outbreak of the Civil War found him a man of
wealth, as wealth was counted in those days. At the call for
volunteers, he arranged his affairs as best he could and went to
the front. While he was on the battle line his cherished wife was
taken ill and died on April 3, 1862. He secured a furlough, spent
a short time at home arranging for the care of his bereaved little
children, and went back to the front, where he served (as he has
always done in every capacity) faithfully and well until the end
of that Homeric struggle. Returning from the army, he found
himself utterly ruined in fortune and had to begin life anew.
Again he embarked in the mercantile business on a small scale,
and again he built up a successful and lucrative business.
In 1867 he contracted a second marriage with Susan F. Payne,
daughter of John L. Payne, of Campbell County, Virginia. Of this
marriage there was no issue. Since her death, on December 27,
1901, he has remained a widower.
In the year 1882, having then been a merchant for more than
forty years, he decided to change his occupation and became a
manufacturer of tobacco. His success in this new business was
commensurate with his success in the mercantile business, and in
a few years his products were sold over the larger part of the
South. His rigid integrity in dealing with his customers made
friends of them, with the result that every customer was an adver-
tising agent. His long residence in Chatham, his strong integrity,
his devotion to the welfare of the community, and his liberality in
dealing with all public affairs, had made him so conspicuous a
figure that he could not escape a certain measure of public service.
At one time he was captain of a military company. He served
JESSE HAMLIN HAEGRAVE 371
as trustee for several schools, and as an officer or director of
various corporations. For more than ten years he was President
of the Chatham Savings Bank, which prospered greatly under his
management. Later he became President of the Planters Savings
Bank, which likewise prospered, and both of these institutions
are yet in successful operation, though he retired from the active
management years ago.
Enough has been said to show that Mr. Hargrave was and is
a successful business man. But he was successful in a much
higher sense than in the mere making of money. A man naturally
strong-minded, a great reader of history and biography, a student
of men and affairs, he has been (notwithstanding natural modesty
and aversion to public praise) a leader in all the good works of
his town. For thirty years a Deacon of the Baptist Church at
Chatham, the handsome brick church occupied by the people of
that faith is a monument to his liberality. A great friend of edu-
cation, he has been a liberal contributor to Richmond College,
Koanoke College at Danville, and other educational institutions.
His later years have been specially devoted to the interest of the
Chatham Training School, of which in a larger measure than any
other, he has been the promoter and benefactor. This school, now
in successful operation, with a capacity for sixty boarders and
every room full, is another of his monuments, and one of its best
buildings is known as "Hargrave Hall." Always charitable in
the personal sense, he is as modest as he is charitable, and his
benefactions have never been paraded before the public. What-
ever he has undertaken through life has been undertaken zealously.
Of unusually sound judgment, once embarked upon an enterprise
he refuses to consider failure possible, and always succeeds.
He has for some years been retired from active business, but
he is in full possession of all his mental faculties and is keenly
interested in the affairs of State and nation, being a constant
reader of the daily papers, and keeping himself in touch with
every matter of common interest. He was a friend of labor and
gave employment to many.
Mr. Hargrave believes that the Christian education of the
youth of the country, with double emphasis on the Christian, will
prove largely a solution of our troubles and will contribute to the
permanence of our institutions. His love of reading has been
referred to. He is partial, however, only to good literature. He
believes that honest labor is a cure for many ills. Evidently the
old adage that an idle mind is the devil's workshop means some-
thing to him. No man has ever been a more devoted father, and
none has had more devoted children. They not only love him, but
they are proud of him, and they have the right to be.
Of his four children, John Hunt Hargrave married Emma
Fowlkes, of Montgomery County, Virginia. They have no chil-
dren. His daughter, Almeyda, married James L. Tredway, of
372 JESSE HAM LIN HARGRAVE
Chatham. They have four daughters : Ruth, Jessie, Almeyda and
Evelyn Tredway. His daughter, Margaret, married William A.
Cherry, of Lewiston, North Carolina. They have two daughters :
Ruth and Sally Cherry. His daughter, Sally Tate, has never
married.
John Hunt Hargrave, who was his father's partner in busi-
ness, and his successor when the father retired, has (in a measure)
stepped into his place in the activities of the community. He is
President of the Board of Trustees of the Chatham Training
School, a member of the Board of Trustees of Richmond College,
a member of the Board of Trustees for the Baptist Orphanage,
at Salem, Virginia, and has for years been Superintendent of the
local Sunday School.
Some years back one of the religious papers of the State, in
speaking of Mr. Hargrave, stated that his name was interwoven
with the religious life of his county in the largest possible degree ;
and the local town paper, in a short article, commenting upon
his long and busy life, stated in part as follows : "He came to
Chatham more than sixty years ago and started as a merchant,
later engaging in the manufacture of tobacco, and taking interest
in the banking business. He succeeded in accumulating a fortune ;
but better than that he has been a successful man. He has had
and retains the love and respect of those who have known him.
He has been charitable to his less fortunate fellows and their
families. He has been loyal to Chatham and Pittsylvania County.
He has neither in his business nor home life attempted any display
of his wealth. He has lived a busy, honorable life in a modest and
unassuming manner and has been a real service to two genera-
tions. To just such men is the world's progress due. Not to men
who only talk of work, but men who do it; not to men who only
talk the Christian life, but men who live it."
The portrait of Mr. Hargrave which accompanies this sketch
was taken when he was sixty years old ; the autograph was written
at ninety-two.
The Hargrave coat of arms is described by Burke, the English
authority, as follows :
"Azure a fesse argent fretty gules between three bucks, spring-
ing, argent attired or.
"Crest : A buck's head, erased, per fesse, or and gules fretty
azure attired of the second."
">( OOPEK is one of that class of family names wh
nated in an occupation. It is of Anglo-Saxon o
^( dates from the period of Saxon supremacy
The Anglo-Saxon "cuppa"' means a cup. Fron
sons derived the name of Govvpc-r and Oo1,-.^ \ •, meaning
•s. It was ihen • T to d
i r
•
?<]> -St: ' f;
r i o * . •
;r own country has had its me
> from pioneer days down. id c
7 — James Feniniore Cooper, considered by m.
of American story writers; and Peter Cooper, the
merchant who amassed a great fortune by hon
the days of stock jobbing, and then used it in such H
as "Coopers Union'7 in New York City stands, t
will be the beneficiaries of that fortune.
It is rather refr< to c«>ne upon a t
old
kfore
it as
lean
376 THOMAS HBNEY COOPER
centuries ago, there was one Anthony Ashley Cooper, who figured
prominently in the colonial administration, and showed himself
to be a man of ability. The Ashley and Cooper rivers at Charles-
ton commemorate him to this day.
At that time he held a minor title, but on his return to
England he progressed in a political way until he died a member
of the House of Lords, and founded the great house, which from
that time down to the present day, has held the Earldom of
Shaftsbury. It was said of him during his lifetime that he was
the shrewdest politician in all England, and, in view of the fact
that he lived at the time of the famous Cabal, he must have been a
politician of very high order to have been so complimented. Some
historians, however, say that Anthony Cooper was not a politician
at all, but was a great statesman, and so far outclassed his con-
temporaries that they, having no higher conception than that of
politician, simply thought of him as the biggest politician in the
lot. However that may be, he did a good work in South Carolina,
and left an indelible impression upon the country, and is entitled
to the same sort of consideration which attaches to Oglethorpe in
Georgia, Winthrop in Massachusetts, and the redoubtable Captain
John Smith in Virginia.
The late Thomas Henry Cooper, of Salem, had many of the
qualities which were characteristics of his people. Capable in
business, and "generous to a fault," he enjoyed doing good with
the money which he made to an extent that can be understood only
by those of generous mind. Counted by years, Thomas Henry
Cooper's life was short. Counted by things done, it was equal
to an ordinary century of life.
He was born at Locust Gap, Pennsylvania, on July 1, 1869,
and died at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 23, 1911. His
parents were John and Maria (Padbury) Cooper, both natives
of Dudley, England, where John Cooper was born November 14,
1842, and Maria Padbury, December 10, 1845. They were mar-
ried in Dudley on December 17, 1866, and shortly after that
migrated to the United States, locating in Pennsylvania; and it
was while his father was a resident of that State that Thomas
Henry Cooper was born.
While a resident of Pennsylvania, John Cooper worked in
the coal mines. A man of strong sense, with a thorough knowledge
of the coal mining business, he thought he saw an opportunity in
West Virginia; and so, in 1871, removed to that State, locating
on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and worked at different
times in the mines at Fire Creek, Quinnimont, Hawk's Nest and
Caperton. In 1883 he moved into the Pocahontas Coal Fields,
began mining on his own account, and shipped his first carload of
coal from Mill Creek in 1884.
His knowledge of the business, combined with a strong grasp
of conditions all over the country, enabled him to forecast the
THOMAS HENRY COOPER 377
great development of that section; and he put his strength into
the acquirement of a large area of valuable coal lands. He fol-
lowed this up by developing these properties; and wealth flowed
in upon him.
At the time of his death, December 6, 1899, being then about
fifty-seven years of age, he was one of the leading men of his
section of the country, and exercised as wide an influence as any
of the coal operators along the line of the Norfolk and Western
Railway.
His son, Thomas Henry Cooper, had the usual experiences
of the working miner's boy. At seven years of age, when his
father was still a working miner, the boy entered the coal mine
as a breaker-boy, and remained steadily at work in the mines
until he was fifteen years old. At the age of fifteen he was sent
by his father to Roanoke College, at Salem, Virginia, where he was
a student for five years. During his attendance upon the college
at Salem, an incident occurred which tempered all of his after
life. He was converted under the preaching of the present Bishop
Collins Denney, who was at that time pastor of the Salem Metho-
dist Church ; and from that time up to his death, Mr. Cooper took
a keen interest in the work of the Church.
Upon the conclusion of his college studies, the young man
returned to the coal fields and became assistant to his father in
the management of "Mill Creek Coal and Coke Co.," at Coopers,
West Virginia.
In 1893 his responsibilities were increased by being made
Superintendent of the "Coaldale Coal and Coke Company," with
his residence at Coaldale, West Virginia.
In 1897 another move forward was made when he became
manager of the "McDowell Coal and Coke Company." These
enterprises were all owned and controlled by the Cooper family,
which made them among the largest operators in the Pocahontas
District ; and, after the death of his father in 1899, Thomas Henry
Cooper was in sole control and had the entire management of all
these enterprises up to the time of his death.
Mr. Cooper had evidently become attached to Salem during
his residence there as a student, and had also been influenced by
the fact that it was the native place of his wife. So, in 1904, he
moved his home to Salem and erected there a mansion — one of
the most elegant and commodious to be found in that section of
Virginia ; this was his home for the balance of his life.
He was a resident of Salem but for seven short years; but
during those years his public spirit, his broad-mindedness, his gen-
erous disposition, and his sound business judgment made him a
leader in all the enterprises of that section; and his death was
felt by the people of his community to be an irreparable loss.
He was a stockholder in the "Farmers' National Bank," of
Salem, a stockholder and director in the "Bank of Salem," Presi-
378 THOMAS HENRY COOPER
dent and largest stockholder of the "Cooper Silica Glass Com-
pany," and President of the "Colonial Bank and Trust Company,"
of Roanoke, Virginia, from its establishment up to the time of
his death.
On June 6, 1893, he married Mary Etta Busey Barnitz,
daughter of the late Judge and Mrs. William M. Barnitz, of Salem,
Virginia. To them eight children were born : Edward, Thomas H.,
Elizabeth May, John, Ruth, Blanche, Mary Barnitz, and Maria
Cooper. Of these Edward, John and Mary Barnitz have passed
away, leaving five surviving children.
As might be expected of a man of his temperament, Mr.
Cooper was a fraternalist. He was Past Master of the Bramwell
Lodge of Masons, a member of Ivanhoe Commandery No. 10 of the
Knights Templars, and a member of Beni Kedem Temple of
Shriners, of Charleston, West Virginia. He was also affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Taken all together, though Thomas H. Cooper died in the
very prime of his life, he had made a success of his twenty years
of active business endeavor, and that success had been made in
the best of all ways — by creation of new values and the consequent
enrichment of the whole community. He was but one of many
sharers in the fruits of his own labor. A clean, honorable, just-
minded man, he went to his reward lamented by all who knew him,
and with the esteem of all with whom he had come in contact.
•
1C Oi
is from Eleventh to
i Pedigrees,'' O'Hart) to ii;r
Hibernian title of O'Maolmocheirg;
early to rise.'' This was the Gat
composing the clan "Colla of Orgia
2 progenitor, who was a descend
from "Colla-<ia-Crioch,?- who was tl
ce of Ulster under the Herenumi;
slations, and so the ;
correct than uu
o h; os of i
lii
in I:
382 SAMUEL HENRY EARLY
by its coat of arms, is evidently closely allied with the parent
family in Ireland. Across the silver ground is a red band (or
fesse, as it is called) between three stags' heads in red with a
greyhound in a sitting position for a crest, the greyhound being
in black. There was no motto in the original coat of arms, but
a motto was later added, "Vigilans et tenex," the English trans-
lation of which is "Watchful and Tenacious."
The Cheshire family, which, by the way, seems to have spelled
its name Early and Earley indifferently, changed the shield from
a silver to a red ground, changed the fesse from red to silver, and,
in lieu of the three stags' heads, put three plates. They dispensed
with the crest altogether.
The history of the Early family in Virginia affirms that they
first came to Tidewater, Virginia, in 1661 (authority, the histo-
rian, Rev. Geo. G. Smith, of Virginia and Georgia), moved thence
in 1700 to Middlesex, thence to Lancaster. The first county was
divided to form new counties and in Culpeper and Madison other
branches of the family became established; afterward the family
was divided into nine separate branches.
The records of the counties mentioned contain many items
verifying this claim.
The family history of the Earlys is one of very great interest.
The nine branches that sprung from the marriage of Jeremiah
Early, planter, of Culpeper County, with his wife, Elizabeth
^Buford, in their order are as follows:
I. John Early, of Orange, born 1729, married Theodocia
White ; died 1773.
II. Jeremiah Early, of Bedford, born 1730 ; married first,
Sarah Anderson, born 1732, died 1770; second, Mary Stith, born
1773.
III. Sarah Early married William Kirtley, and moved to
Boone County, Kentucky.
IV. Joshua Early, of Bedford County, Virginia, born 1738,
married Mary Leftwich. This Joshua Early was the father of
the famous Methodist Bishop, John Early, and of Captain Joshua
Early, Jr., who was killed in the War of 1812.
V. Joseph Early, of Madison, County, Virginia, died 1784 ;
married Jane - - ; in 1776 was a First Lieutenant in the Revolu-
tionary Army ; and in 1783 was elected a member of the Virginia
Legislature.
VI. Jacob Early, of Wllkes County, later Clarke County,
Georgia, married (?) Elizabeth Robertson in Bedford County,
Virginia.
VII. Anne Early married Joseph Rogers, and moved to
Bryant's Station, Kentucky, in 1782, from Madison County,
Virginia.
VIII. Hannah Early married Captain John Scott, and moved
to Scott County, Kentucky, in 1782, near Frankfort.
SAMUEL HENRY EARLY 383
IX. Joel Early married Lucy Smith, of Culpeper County,
Virginia, and in 1792 moved to Georgia on a large tract of land
on the Oconee River, to the part of Wilkes County which became
Greene County. He was the father of Governor Peter Early, of
Georgia, and was a Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War. As a
delegate to the Virginia Convention of 1778 he voted for the
Declaration of Rights before adoption of the Constitution. Early
County, Georgia, was named in honor of Governor Peter Early.
Colonel Jeremiah Early, of Bedford County, Virginia, from
whom Captain Early was descended, was the second son of Jere-
miah Early 1st, and his wife Elizabeth Buford. He was Lieuten-
ant in the old French and Indian War; Captain of the Bedford
Militia in 1758 ; was Colonel of militia in 1778 ; held the office of
high sheriff; was a justice of the peace of Bedford County from
1759 to 1779, when he died, being then forty-nine years old. He
was the proprietor of the Washington Iron Mines, Henry County,
which later became the property of his sons John and Jubal Early,
of Franklin County, Virginia. He left a large estate.
Colonel Jeremiah Early had a familv of eleven sons and
t/ «/
daughters; the eldest, Jacobus, was a Captain of the county
militia in 1781 ; his fourth son, John, was a delegate to the Vir-
ginia Convention of 1778 for ratifying the Constitution. Jubal,
his sixth son, was the grandfather of Samuel H. Early. He made
a visit to Georgia with the intention of purchasing property there
but was taken ill and died soon after his return to his home in
Franklin County, leaving a widow and two very young sons,
Joab and Henry, who were placed under the guardianship of
Colonel Samuel Hairston.
Captain Early's father, Colonel Joab Early, was a notable
figure in his generation. At different periods of his life he held
all the important offices in his county. He was sheriff of Franklin
County, Colonel of the militia regiment, member of the Virginia
Legislature. Left a widower in 1832, he devoted himself to the
care of his ten children, of whom Captain Samuel H. Early was
the eldest. Colonel Early moved from Franklin to Putnam
County in 1845, where he purchased valuable orchard and farm-
ing land on the Kanawha River. At the outbreak of the Civil WTar,
he abandoned his home and refugeed within the Confederate lines
to the homes of his children. At the close of the war he moved
to the home of his son, Robert H. Early, in Lexington, Missouri,
where he died in 1870, and was buried with the Masonic Ritual,
he being a Mason. Portraits of Colonel Early and his wife are
in the possession of this family.
Captain Early's mother, Ruth (Hairston) Early, was a daugh-
ter of Colonel Samuel Hairston, of Franklin County, Virginia,
and his wife Judith Saunders, of the Hyde-Saunders connection.
Colonel Hairston was a prominent figure in his community, being
a large landowner and slaveholder, and father of a large family.
His family had come from Scotland to this country, and the
384 SAMUEL HENRY EARLY
Scotch form of the name was Hairstanes, which the English
promptly changed into their own tongue, calling it Hairstones,
from which evolved Hairston.
Captain Early was named for his grandfathers, Samuel Hair-
ston and Doctor Henry Cheatham; the latter was the father of
Mary Cheatham, who married Jubal Early, the father of Colonel
Joab Early.
Captain Early was educated in the Patrick Henry Academy,
in Henry County, Virginia, in the old William and Mary College,
of Williamsburg, Virginia, and attended the law school main-
tained in Fredericksburg by the famous Marye family.
He began the practise of law in Franklin County, Virginia,
but does not seem to have been a steady legal practitioner. He
served as postmaster at Coopers, in Franklin County ; and in his
early manhood branched out in various directions, engaging in the
manufacture of salt in Kanawha Salines; carried on farming in
Kauawha County ; removed to Lynchburg in 1853 ; was interested
in farming in Bedford County, Virginia, and also in Texas ; went
back to farming in Kanawha County; and at the time of the
road's construction secured a contract to furnish C. P. Huntington
with a large consignment of railroad ties for the Chesapeake and
Ohio Railroad, which he supplied from his coal lands in Boone and
Lincoln Counties, West Virginia.
Possessed of both mathematical and mechanical talents. Cap-
tain Early, because of his interest in the salt business, applied
his talent in a practical way, and patented, in March, 1886,
through his attorney, John H. B. Latrobe, of Baltimore, a pump
for salt and oil wells to prevent injury from gas.
Captain Early was married at Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1846,
by the Rev. William H. Kinckle, of St. Paul's Episcopal Church,
to Henriann Cabell, daughter of Dr. John Jordan Cabell, and his
wife Henriann Davies, who was the daughter of Henry Landon
Davies, and his wife Anne Clayton (his first cousin), the daughter
of John Clayton and his wife Elizabeth Whiting.
The Cabell family, which became identified with this branch
of the Earlys, and of which family Captain Early's wife was a
member, is also one of the most distinguished of the Virginia
families. The name is of Norman-French origin, though the
family has now been English for nearly nine hundred years.
Doctor John Jordan Cabell, father of Captain Early's wife,
was the son of Colonel John Cabell, County Lieutenant of Buck-
ingham, and his wife Paulina, daughter of Colonel Samuel Jordan.
Doctor Cabell was a graduate of the Pennsylvania College of
Medicine, and moved from Charlotte County to Lynchburg in
1805 and purchased a home on Main Street, where the Elks' home
now stands. His brother, Dr. George Cabell, a surgeon of local
note, was also a resident of Lynchburg.
Doctor J. J. Cabell, who was a practising physician, a man
SAMUEL HENRY EARLY 385
of much public spirit, acquired considerable real estate holdings,
and was the owner of a newspaper known as the "Jeffersonian
Republican." He also became interested in the country along the
Kanawha River, and acquired there valuable farm lands, together
with the Kanawha Salines and adjacent coal properties. He en-
gaged in salt mining, and during an epidemic of Asiatic cholera
among his employees he fearlessly went among them in the
capacity of physician, contracted the disease and died suddenly
of it in 1834.
His wife, Henrianne (Davies) Cabell, was a descendant of
Attorney-General John Clayton ; of Colonel Peter Beverly, of
Gloucester County, Virginia ; of the Whiting and Peyton families.
Her grandfather was Nicholas Davies, who immigrated from
Wales to America early in the eighteenth century, and married
Katherine Whiting. He purchased a large tract of land in Bed-
ford County, near Lynchburg, upon which he made his residence,
and here his son, Henry Landon Davies, and granddaughter,
Henrianne Davies, were born and reared.
Of Captain Early's marriage there were seven children, the
eldest and youngest dying in infancy ; second, John Cabell Early ;
third, Ruth Hairston Early; fourth, Henrianne Cabell Early;
fifth, Mary Judith Early; sixth, Joab Early, died at three years
of age.
Of these, the second child, John C. Early, married Mary
Washington, the daughter of Dr. Clifford Cabell, of Buckingham
County. There were five children of this marriage: Evelyn Rus-
sell Early ; Samuel Henry Early, Jr., who died at the age of seven-
teen while a student at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute; Clif-
ford Cabell Early, who graduated at the United States Academy
at West Point, becoming a Second Lieutenant (then promoted) in
the Twentieth United States Infantry ; Jubal Anderson Early,
appointed Second Lieutenant in the Twentieth United States
Infantry, and later promoted ; died September 13, 1914 ; Henriann
Early.
At the age of twelve years John C. Early was entered as a
student of Dr. Gessner Harrison's school in Nelson County, but
when the war came on his school was broken up, the older youths
enlisting in the Confederate States' service. He was then sent
to a boys' school in Lynchburg.
John C. Early had a notable military record, notwithstanding
the fact that he was a boy during the Civil War. At the age of
fifteen he participated in the battle of Gettysburg, serving as
courier to General Early; but was sent home on account of his
youth and size. However, despite his inexperience, from the field
he secured a vehicle and brought home his father and another
wounded veteran. After this he became a student of the Virginia
Military Institute. A year later, as a member of the cadet battal-
ion, he took part in the furious battle of New Market, where the
cadets won immortal renown. Later he was stationed at Lee
386 SAMUEL HENRY EARLY
Camp in Richmond. He was only seventeen years of age at the
close of the war, though he was a veteran soldier. He then went
back to school as a pupil of Professor James Holcombe at Belle-
vue, Bedford County, and, upon leaving school, entered mercantile
life under his relative, Mr. Thomas H. Early, who was a dealer
in agricultural implements.
After his marriage he devoted himself to farming and fruit
culture in Kanawha, Bedford and Nelson counties, finally settling
in Bedford County. In 1872 he sustained severe injuries in a
runaway accident, the heavily-laden farm wagon passing over his
body, and from this developed organic troubles which made him
a confirmed invalid for fifteen years and occasioned his death in
his sixty-first year, 1909. His portrait, as a cadet of 1864, by
Foster, hangs in the Library of Virginia Military Institute at
Lexington.
The third sou of John C. Early, First Lieutenant Jubal An-
derson Early, Twentieth United States Infantry, was drowned in
Lake Mariano, near Gallup, New Mexico, about twenty miles
northeast of Fort Wingate, on September 13, 1914, while duck
shooting in company with United States Commissioner John A.
Young, of Gallup. They were in a small boat, propelled by a
gasoline engine, when a heavy gale came up. The boat was over-
turned at a point where there is a thick growth of weeds three or
four feet deep on the bottom of the lake, and notwithstanding the
fact that Lieutenant Early was a fine swimmer, in a devoted effort
to rescue Mr. Young, who could not swim, he, as well as his com-
panion, was drowned. A number of sportsmen, including citizens
from Gallup and army officers from Fort Wingate, were on the
lake at the time also enjoying the hunting, but none of them was
near enough to render any assistance to the two men when the
accident occurred.
Lieutenant Early, son of the late John Cabell Early and his
wife, Mary W. Cabell, was born in Nelson County, Virginia, Feb-
ruary 15, 1886, but came to Lynchburg later with his parents. He
attended the local schools and his preparatory training was at
Bethel Military Academy and the Virginia Military Institute at
Lexington. He entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1904,
but resigned at the end of two years; was appointed as an aide
to President Roosevelt at his inauguration and on January 4, 1908,
from civil life received his commission as Second Lieutenant in
the Twentieth Infantry, in which his brother, C. C. Early, was
already an officer. He was first stationed at Monterey Presidio,
California, for two years. From there he went to Manila for
three years' foreign service. Returning to the United States, his
regiment was sent to Fort Douglas, Utah, where he remained until
his regiment was ordered to El Paso, Texas, for border service.
Upon American occupation of Vera Cruz, he was sent into New
Mexico with Mexican prisoners. He received his promotion to a
SAMUEL HENRY EARLY 387
First Lieutenancy in the Twentieth Regiment on March 30, 1914;
thus all of his service had been in the same regiment.
While he was a student at the University of Virginia, during
the year 1907, he joined the University Chapter of Phi Sigma
Kappa Society, of which he continued a member ; and during his
stay in the Philippines he was made a Son of the American Revolu-
tion, becoming a charter member of the Philippine branch of that
society. He had arranged to join the Masonic Fraternity the week
following the one in which he lost his life.
His brother performed the sad duty of escorting the remains
to his home in Virginia, where, draped in an American flag, the
remains were interred in the family square in Spring Hill Cem-
etery, Lynchburg.
Captain S. H. Early, like all men who held his political views
in those years, was a Union man, and above all things desired
peace.
Before the Civil War he was affiliated with the Whig party ;
that party which stood for Union, and yet was willing to make
such concessions to the South as would have prevented the Civil
War. In the great break up of political parties which came in
1860, this patriotic old organization only carried three States,
but to the everlasting credit of Virginia, the Old Dominion was
one of the three.
When Andrew Johnson passed through Lynchburg en route
to Washington in the Spring of 1861, Captain Early was one of
those who helped to protect him from the fury of the hot heads
who would have committed violence. In recognition of this
service, at the end of the war, President Johnson sent Captain
Early pardon papers removing his legal disability because of his
services in the Confederate Army, and making him eligible to the
holding of office.
His political affiliation after the war was, like all other
patriotic men of his section, with the Democratic party.
When the outbreak of hostilities came in 1861 he was forty-
eight years old. He was not liable for military duty, and, unlike
his distinguished brother. General Jubal A. Early, he was not a
professional soldier. He did not take advantage of his legal
exemption, but became a member of the Wise Troop of the Second
Virginia Cavalry. He was then commissioned Lieutenant on the
staff of his brother, General Jubal A. Early, and later, while on
detailed service, was given the title of Captain. After being
wounded at Gettysburg, he was appointed Assistant Conscripting
Officer at Lynchburg.
In September, 1864, he was authorized, by special order, to
organize a scouting force for temporary service and "to adopt
such measures for the transmission of information as emergencies
may require." Immediately upon the receipt of the news of the
evacuation of Richmond, he was sent with dispatches to President
Davis (then at Danville), to apprise him of the fact, and, zealously
388 SAMUEL HENRY EARLY
executing his orders, covered the ground on horseback in a few
hours. He carried back from President Davis to General Lee an
important letter (not published), which is now in possession of
his family.
A man of great public spirit, he was always active in pro-
moting any kind of enterprise which was for the benefit of the
community. In those earlier years the city reservoir was not of
sufficient capacity to meet the needs of the growing town, so he
met the situation by piping water from a bold spring on his prem-
ises to a pump in an adjoining street ; and this was for some years
the water supply of a growing section of the city. The cultivation
of his adjacent farmland led him often through a section of the
town which has become the most preferred and valuable suburban
residential part of the city. He foresaw the advantages of its
growth in that direction and strongly advocated its connection
by bridging and road improvement, but did not live to see carried
out what seemed an ambitious dream.
He suffered, as many Virginians in his day did, by indorsing
for his friends ; and his property losses incurred in this way ran
into very large figures.
From whatever angle one might look at him the conclusion is
inevitable, that he was a single-minded man who loved his country
and his people, and was willing to serve them at whatever cost to
himself.
Captain Early was a man of commanding stature, six feet
three inches in height, very erect, of regular features, and of dark
rather than light complexion.
A man of strong physique, he was a born hunter, spending
much of his time in deer hunting in the mountain counties of
the western part of Virginia, and smaller game in the East. Ex-
posure while hunting brought on several attacks of pneumonia,
and it was to one of these attacks that he succumbed while in the
mountains of West Virginia, at the age of sixty-one years. His
remains were brought to Lynchburg and interred in Spring Hill
Cemetery.
He had some traits in common with his distinguished brother,
General Early. Both were men of social temperament, and both
made devoted friends.
His portrait was painted by Mr. J. W. L. Forster, a well-
known portrait painter of Toronto, Canada.
Mrs. Early survived her husband sixteen years, dying at
Lynchburg May, 1890.
The coat of arms used by the American branch of the Early
family, given by Burke in the General Armory, is as follows :
"Arms: Gules a chevron between three birds argent.
"Crest : A dexter arm, erect perpendicular, the hand holding
a ring, gem or stone, gules.
"Motto : Vigilans et tenex."
R. RANDOLPH HICKS
THE Hicks family have occupied honorable station in Great
Britain.
The first recorded settler of the family in America was
Robert, who landed in Massachusetts on November 11,
1621, coming over on the ship Fortune. He settled at Scituate in
1630, and became the founder of a most numerous family.
John, son of Robert the immigrant, moved from Scituate to
Flushing, Long Island, and was one of its original incorporators
in 1645. Twenty years later, on February 28, 1665, he was a
member of the notable convention known as the "Heampstead
Convention," which, even at that early date, gave foreshadowings
of the national spirit which one hundred years later was to flame
up into the Revolution.
To this family also belonged Elias Hicks, a celebrated Quaker
preacher, from which one branch of the Quaker Church takes its
name, being known as "Hicksite Quakers."
From this Long Island family is descended R. Randolph
Hicks, a prominent lawyer of Norfolk, who, therefore, comes
from the first immigrants of the name in America.
Mr. Hicks was born in 1870, son of Dr. Robert Iverson and
Nannie Fitzhugh (Randolph) Hicks. His mother belongs to that
famous Randolph family founded in Virginia by William Ran-
dolph two hundred and fifty years ago, and a son of which, fifty
years later, built at Turkey Island on the James River, the his-
toric old mansion of "Tuckahoe." No family in Virginia looms up
more largely in the history of that State than the Randolphs.
By intermarriages in the various generations since the first
settler, the Randolphs now count their descendants and connec-
tions by the thousands. The blood of this family is found all
over the South, and always and everywhere its members are
honorably established.
Mr. Hicks was educated at the Episcopal High School of
Virginia, and the University of Virginia. After graduating from
the University, he located at Roanoke, Virginia, and began the
practice of law there in 1891. He practised law successfully in
Roanoke until 1898, when he removed to Norfolk, where he has
since practised with a constantly-increasing measure of success,
and now ranks as one of the prominent figures at the Virginia Bar.
Generally speaking, Mr. Hicks has wisely eschewed active
participation in politics. He served as Chairman of the Demo-
[389]
390 R. RANDOLPH HICKS
cratic party in Koanoke in 1895. He was elected and served as
a member of the Virginia Legislature in 1897-1898. Since 1898
he has devoted his time exclusively to the practise of the law, and
what he says in this connection is worthy of careful attention.
He says aptly and with brevity : "This is an age of specialty. To
succeed at the law requires the whole of a man's time, and the
successful lawyer is the man whose name when mentioned suggests
only the lawyer."
Mr. Hicks is affiliated with the Virginia Club, the Borough
Club, and the Country Club, of Norfolk.
He was married on October 25, 1899, in Baltimore, to Ella
Johnson Kerr, who was born in Baltimore in 1872. Her father
was Charles Goldsborough Kerr, for twenty years State's Attor-
ney of Baltimore, and whose name instantly bespeaks his Scottish
ancestry. Her mother was Ella Johnson, daughter of Reverdy
Johnson, United States Senator from Maryland, Minister to Eng-
land, one of the greatest lawyers of his generation, and held by
many people to have been the greatest intellect ever developed in
the State of Maryland.
Aside from his legal reading, Mr. Hicks has preferred histori-
cal works, and probably his historical studies have had something
to do with some of his views as to the public welfare. He has
grasped clearly the one fundamental problem of our time. As
he puts it, "Universal education has increased the average intelli-
gence and abolished the artificial differences between people. This
must eventually result in changes in the distribution of wealth,
and the methods by which these changes are to be accomplished is
the problem of the immediate future." In this statement Mr.
Hicks has reasoned wisely. That is the problem of the near future,
and upon its wise and just solution hinges the future welfare
of the American people.
THE I FT7 •
PUBLIC LIB
ASTi
D E W
"VOCTOR FRANKLIN KING, President of th
Leaksville, a leader in the business and relig
his section, was born in Henry County, Vivgir
3, 1843, son of Joseph Beward and Elizabet
ig. His father was by «x- a mechanic,' and :
us lij
, on
ev. John Ki
'V t
t, i
r
as one '. uiea in
three. The ion, of
said after hi a man
was long a zealous and sue< »cate of evar
this district."
There was a relatu veen this branch of
inily and the famous William H. Seward, who was
the paternal line, being descended from the (Irish) Ki
on the maternal side. Because of this kinship, the 1
•ig named his son, the father of our subject, Jos^p
ig. Tl ft was a man of standing and character ii
munity, and at one time represented Henry County in
ure of !iia. Joseph Seward King was twice mai
med his only fioii by his first wife John fieward, arid
King
jh in
mily
F. Kin
I
394 DOCTOR FRANKLIN KING
selling liquor, keeping a saloon — a business which, at that time,
was looked upon as strictly legitimate by nine-tenths of the people.
At this point it is proper to take up the story in Mr. King's own
words, for it is a story of peculiar interest and peculiar value to
the young man who wants to get a proper appreciation of real
values in life. Mr. King says : "For three and a half years I was
engaged in the liquor traffic. All this time I felt that it was
wrong, and it was my purpose, sooner or later, to give it up. One
evening I went from my place of business with a heavy heart. I
was in deep distress. I realized that I was a miserable sinner.
I tried to pray, but I did not know how. My prayer was some-
thing like this: 'O God, make me a better man, that I may give
up my business and be saved!' This scripture seemed to flash
into my mind like a revelation : 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto
you/ Whereupon, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision,
but straightway surrendered my own heart and life, and promised
to surrender my business. I had arranged to leave home the
following morning, but it was my purpose to close my place of
business before leaving. However, I went away without doing so,
and the joy of my new-found hope was buried beneath my broken
promise. For three days I was miserable because I had failed to
keep my promise. The second night I was in such deep distress I
requested some of my Christian friends, with whom I was stop-
ping, to pray for me. The morning of the fourth day, while it was
yet dark, I arose and went out to pray. In the loneliness of the
early morning hour, with my head bowed upon the rail of a fence,
I pleaded with God for strength to enable me to keep my promise.
The Lord heard and graciously answered my prayer. As I pur-
sued my journey, I stopped at the first post office and mailed a
letter to niy brother-in-law, instructing him to close the saloon.
After writing this letter, joy and peace filled my soul. As I went
on my journey I wept for gladness. Oh, the happy day when I
laid my business upon the altar!
"I soon became convinced that the use of liquor, in any
quantity, as a beverage, is wrong, and so I surrendered my appe-
tite for it. I was very fond of the bowling alley, but from that
time on I never entered its door again. I was making money
almost like finding it, and loved it as but few men ever did. Being
the most popular young man in the community, I could count my
friends by the hundreds. At this time, nine men out of ten not
only approved of making and selling liquor, but used it as a
beverage. I joyfully turned my back upon all this for the sake
of Him 'who loved me and gave Himself for me.' Was this a
delusion? After forty years of cherishing and testing this hope
which has been 'An anchor to the soul both sure and steadfast/
I answer most emphatically, No!
"Many men have, under the inspiration of a great revival,
DOCTOR FRANKLIN KING 395
washed their hands of the liquor traffic, but few in the quiet of
their own home, without a word of help or sympathy from their
friends, have surrendered their businesses. While I was trying
to give up my business, I told two of my Christian friends my
trouble. One of them said : 'A man that provideth not for his own
house has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.'
"The same Jesus that apprehended Saul of Tarsus on the road
to Damascus, and changed his life, wrought this wonderful change
also in my lite. Many of my friends construed the radical change
which had taken place in my conduct as a personal affront. With
the change came the conviction that it was my duty to do all in
my power to overthrow the liquor traffic. I became not only a
State-wide, but a world-wide prohibitionist, and to the accomplish-
ment of this end I have devoted my best energies. God grant that
the day may soon come when liquor and rattlesnakes will receive
the same treatment.
"At the time of my conversion, at thirty years of age, I had
given away only one dollar and a half. Since my conversion, I
estimate that I have given away fifty thousand dollars to help
make the world brighter and better. This has been one of my chief
"Now, after all these years of service rendered to my Master,
should the devil offer me all the kingdoms of this world to sur-
render my hope in Christ Jesus, my Lord, I would spurn the offer.
I am profoundly thankful for this opportunity of recording my
undying faith, not only in the Divinity, but also in the Deity, of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I bequeath this legacy to my posterity, and
to the world, as my most valuable contribution.
"For twenty-five years I was engaged in the manufacture of
tobacco. For four years I was in the mercantile business. For
the last ten years I have been in the banking business, as President
of the Bank of Leaksville."
It will be noticed that Mr. King touches very lightly upon his
business career, which has been unusually successful, and makes
no mention of his public services in addition to his services as a
soldier. He has served his town as an alderman, and his county
as one of its commissioners. Aside from his connection with the
Baptist Church, of which he has been deacon for thirty-five years,
he has for twenty-five years of that period been Moderator of
Pilot Mountain Baptist Association, which is the best possible
evidence of the high esteem in which he is held by the people with
whom he has been longest associated. His reading is chiefly the
Bible and current religious literature. His opinions are fixed.
He lays down as a good rule of life that one should start life with
the full purpose at heart to be loyal to God and man regardlless
of costs.
No apology is needed for inserting two outside opinions here
of Mr. King, both of which have appeared in public prints— the
396 DOCTOR FRANKLIN KING
first written by the Rev. P. H. Gwynn, a Presbyterian minister,
and the second by Dr. H. A. Brown, of Winston-Salem, who has
been a co-worker with Mr. King for thirty-five years. Mr. Gwynn
says : "One of the most interesting and striking figures in Leaks-
ville is D. F. King. He is familiarly known throughout the
country as 'Doc' King. His business career stretches over a half
century or more without any serious reverses. He has accumu-
lated money and is well to do.
"He is a man of strong convictions backed by the courage to
fight for what he wants. He is a born fighter but he fights in the
open and never strikes below the belt. For many years he has been
a leader in local politics, and whether he carries his point or not,
he always has a respectable following.
"He is a supporter of law and order, an ardent advocate of
temperance, an enthusiastic Baptist and useful citizen, albeit a
little heady sometimes, as is apt to be the case with a uniformly
successful man. Many people living in and around Leaksville and
Spray have been befriended again and again by him, and no man,
so far as we know, ever lost a dollar through any scheme or
manipulation on the part of Mr. King.
"It is our opinion that Leaksville would not be quite the
same without the presence of 'Doc' King. His life has gone into
the making of the town, and some day, when his seat is vacant at
the Leaksville Bank, the town will mourn. At present, however,
it looks as if he was good for a half century more."
Dr. Brown says: "At the last session of the Pilot Mountain
t/
Association, Brother D. F. King, after being unanimously elected
for the twentv-fifth time as the Moderator of the bodv, gave notice
t/ t/ / C?
that he would not stand for re-election next year.
"When he was first elected the Association was composed of
about a dozen churches ; since that time the number has grown to
fifty-five. Nearly all these additions were young churches organ-
ized on mission fields. Brother King has served on the Executive
Committee through all the years. His wise counsels, his faithful
attendance upon all the meetings, his hearty co-operation in every
forward movement, his liberal contributions to the erection of
more than forty houses of worship, his speeches in our Union
Meetings and our committee conferences have had much to do
with making our Association a vigorous, working body.
"He believes the Bible from lid to lid. He is impatient with
all destructive criticism. He is a Bible Baptist with no apology
to offer. He loves his brethren, though he does not always agree
with them. His great ambition is to honor his Master and further
the cause of truth in the earth. With no selfish motives he waits
at the Saviour's feet anxious and glad to serve when and where
he may.
"Those of us who knew him will recognize him as a strong,
convincing speaker, always bringing a well-digested message.
DOCTOR FRANKLIN KING 397
"His heart has been greatly touched by the need of better
educational facilities for the boys and girls in our Association. He
and other wide-awake citizens of Leaksville and Spray have
erected one of the best educational plants in the State. The
Association, as such, was not asked to contribute a cent towards
the spacious buildings. It is recognized as the Associational
School, and all parents having boys and girls to educate should
avail themselves of the advantages offered in this excellent
institution.
"Brother King has stood through all the time for education,
temperance, honesty and religion. All his brethren will devoutly
pray that many years may yet be given him, and that every
blessing may attend him while he journeys towards the setting
sun."
Mr. King was married in Rockingham County, North Caro-
lina, on December 22, 1868, to Eliza Ann Dyer, who was born in
Henry County, Virginia, on October 8, 1846, daughter of Jabez
Gravely and Martha Dyer. He has reared a fine family of six
daughters and one son. These children, in order, are Irene Bethel,
Lottie Elizabeth, Daisy Evelyn, Annie Myrtle, Mary Lilly, Jessie
Elise and Durward Franklin King.
The eldest daughter, Irene B., was educated at Thoinasville
Female College, married Jesse Benjamin Taylor^ and has one
daughter, Sunshine, now a student at Roanoke College.
The next, Lottie E., was educated at Hollins College, married
Rev. Squire Joseph Beeker, and has one daughter, Mabel.
The next, Daisy E., was educated at Hollins College, married
Thomas Hayes Barker, has one son, Thomas Hayes Barker, Jr.,
and one daughter, Evelyn King Barker.
The next, Annie M., was educated at Roanoke and Meredith
colleges, married J. Platte Turner, and has two daughters : Eliza
Ewing Turner and Frances King Turner.
The next, Mary L., educated at Meredith College, married
William Burton Weaver, and has one son, William Burton
Weaver, Jr.
The next daughter, Jessie E., educated at Hollins and Mere-
dith colleges, married Lister Allen Martin, and has one daughter,
Jessie Martin.
The only son, Durward Franklin King, was educated at Wake
Forest College, North Carolina, and married Annadell Neal.
The probabilities are that D. F. King is descended from
Michael King, who was in Virginia prior to 1694, for in that year
there is of record a grant to Michael King, Jr., and William King
of three hundred and forty acres of land in Nansemond County.
Twenty-two years later, in 1716, appears a grant of four hundred
and forty-three acres in the same county to John King, son of
Michael King. We know that Miles King, a prominent figure in
the Revolutionary period, was a grandson of this Michael King.
398 DOCTOR FRANKLIN KING
He was born November 2, 1747, and died in Norfolk on June 19,
1814. He was a Surgeon's Mate in the First Virginia Regiment
during the Revolution, a member of the House of Delegates in
1784, 1791, 1792 and 1793 ; also in 1798 ; was Mayor of Norfolk in
1804 and 1805, and again in 1810. His book plate, which appears
in two books now in William and Mary College, showing that the
coat of arms of that branch of the King family is: "Or, three
pheons." The book plate, of course, does not show the colors, but
apparently the pheons should be sable. This shows that this
branch of the King family was of the same family as the Kings
of the old Earldom of Lovelace, for upon their shield appears,
upon a black ground, three pheons, or spears, heads erect, argent
embrued gules.
Michael King, the immigrant, evidently had a descendant
of the name of Michael, for Michael King appears in the Revolu-
tion as a Captain in the Nansemond Militia. He was probably a
grandson. In 1726 we come upon John King in Brunswick. He
secured a patent of one hundred and seventy-seven acres of land
in that year, and ninety-six acres in 1728. In that same year
(1728) Charles King secured a grant of eight hundred and seventy-
two acres in Brunswick, and Henry King, Jr., four hundred and
sixty-five acres. Two John Kings appear as Revolutionary sol-
diers, one from Elizabeth City, and the other, whose county is
not given, as a private in the Continental line for three years.
Apparently the movement of this family was from Nansemond
County westward. Seward's relationship to this family has al-
ready been mentioned. It is stated that Jefferson Davis is also
related to this family by reason of marriages between the earlier
Davises and Kings.
ARY
ASTG1?, LPNS
DEN FCUNDA-
ON POWELL, of
farm, was born at )
son of Littleton Greeiu
Any Virginian who b€
to take pride iu
\ F~4 O "t I i
oi Bui • fir
merican continent;
the ris
ne to
.
ii gii
a he was n
t as a member
ody ever organized
3, while ig an exp
ahoininy, the enemy in amb
ieit children, and oniony, its
soldier, Colonel William Levin Powell, who was a
First Philadelphia Congress, and Colonel oi the
ginian Volunteer Regiment in the Revolutions
Powells had multiplied prodigiously in Virginia, a
nary Roster shows over fifty members of rbe i
> as creditable most of them p
of them officers, ( n L. Powell
ish
«i clmrc
na k. which
de
402 FILMORE MADISON POWELL
"at the church." Evidently the first man who took the name lived
at or near the church.
The Kirks first appear in Virginia history in 1638 when
Thomas Kirk settled in Norfolk County ; and either he or another
Thomas appears in 1643 in Isle of Wight County. In 1651 John
and Richard Kirk came across the water and settled in Norfolk
County; and in 1656 James Kirk settled in Virginia, county
unknown, but somewhere in the eastern part of the State. These
were the progenitors of the Kirk families of Virginia.
To the Revolutionary Armies, the Kirks furnished seven sol-
diers. It may be mentioned here that while Captain William
Powell, of Captain John Smith's day, was the first comer of the
Powell families, he was followed in the next forty years by more
than forty other Powells, all of whom settled in the lower coun-
ties of eastern Virginia; Ralph settling in Isle of Wight County
in 1642; William in Isle of Wight County in 1643; Daniel in Isle
of Wight County in 1645; John in Norfolk County in 1637; and
Madelew in Norfolk County in 1646.
There is a reason to believe that James Kirk settled in Lan-
caster County, for there was a Kirk family there a hundred years
after the first James Kirk came, in which the name of James Kirk
appeared to be the favorite given name, and which was very inti-
mate with the Con way family. A rather peculiar document ap-
pears in this connection. In 1718, Colonel Peter Hack, of Ger-
man descent, whose name had originally been Hach, gives a formal
permission in writing to his son John to marry Elizabeth Kirk,
which document is on record and witnessed by Edwin Conway and
John Hack.
Both the Powells and the Kirks have very ancient coats of
arms. The old Powell of Castle Madoc had one, which is described
as follows : " Sable, a chevron between three spearheads or, em-
brued gules." The Kirk coat of arms, equally ancient, shows,
"Gules, a crozier or, and a sword argent saltireways, on a chief of
the second a thistle vert."
Mr. Powell was reared on a farm ; he there received the prac-
tical training which has made of him one of the most successful
farmers of his section. He had liberal educational advantages,
attending a military school, and is now paying back in a measure
by serving as a public school trustee.
Mr. Powell is a member of the Baptist Church in which he
serves as a clerk and deacon.
He was married at Boykins, Southampton County, in 1893, to
Lucie Rebecca De Loatch, born in Northampton County, North
Carolina, in 1874, daughter of William James and Betty Stella
(Kindred) De Loatch. They have two children, Filmore Merrill
Powell and Livins Clyde Powell.
Mrs. Powell's family name of De Loatch is French, and there
is a numerous family of that name now in Georgia, in which the
"t" is dropped, the spelling being DeLoach.
FILMORE MADISON POWELL 403
Mr. Powell might be classed as a specialist in farming, for
though living on the border line of the cotton belt, he makes a
specialty of cotton, in addition to which he largely grows peanuts
and raises good stock. His farm is one of the most successful and
modern farms of the district, which is now becoming one of the
rich agricultural sections of the country. The great Washington
once said that agriculture was "the most ancient, the most useful
and the most honorable occupation known to man." It is quite
evident to every thoughtful mind that if the American people do
not learn in some way to increase the output of the farms of the
country, the day is near at hand when they will not have any need
for any other occupation, because there will be nothing for them
to live on.
To some extent, Mr. Powell is also a merchant, as he is en-
gaged in dealing in fertilizers.
In all the relations of life a good citizen, he has become an
influence for good in his community by his example as a thor-
oughly intelligent man in his most useful occupation, and is thus
teaching in the most practical way a lesson which now more needs
to be taught than any other lesson.
SPENCER RECORD QUICK
NO equally intelligent people at any place or any time have
ever committed so many sins against good farming as the
American people. It will be recalled that when Elijah, in
a state of discouragement, thought he was the only ser-
vant of the Lord left, it was disclosed to him that seven thousand
were left who had never bowed the knee to Baal, and so with our
farming — there has always been a sturdy minority which has
never bowed the knee to shiftless methods or bad management.
A conspicuous figure in this minority is Spencer Record
Quick, now eighty-six years of age, born at Columbus, Indiana,
July 26, 1828, hale and active, and until eighty a scientific farmer,
importer and breeder of pure-bred live stock, who for sixty years
has contributed as much as any other living American to the up-
building of the cattle, sheep and hog breeding industry of the
country.
Mr. Quick comes of old Virginia stock, which, in its turn, was
descended from Englishmen who came to Virginia in the colonial
period.
The name being of English origin, dates back to Saxon times
-the word in Anglo-Saxon is "Cwic," the meaning of which is
active. Yorkshire is said to have been the original home of the
Quick family, but there is also a family in Devonshire which has
been in that section for about five hundred years. Some of the
family spell the name "Quick" and some "Quicke," but apparently
they all come from the same source. According to the family tra-
dition, which is undoubtedly true, as it is borne out by certain pos-
itive facts, some member of the Quick family (about the time of
Queen Elizabeth), when Holland was fighting her desperate bat-
tle with Spain, was sent to Holland in the capacity of English rep-
resentative or governor over a certain portion of the country. In
due time this section was returned to Holland, and this Governor
Quick was transferred to Tunis, on the North African Coast, as
the English representative. A son was born to him while living
there, to whom he gave the name of "Tunis," and this name has
since been perpetuated in different branches of the family. This
old governor had acquired an estate in Holland, and there was
a very warm friendship between him and the Dutch people. He
returned to Holland, and evidently some of his children perma-
nently settled in that country, for from Holland to New York
came a large family of Quicks, whose given names were Dutch
and Quick is not a Dutch name. It is a tradition in the family
that the first Tunis Quick came to the Colony of Virginia, but this
[404]
SPENCER RECORD QUICK 407
seems unlikely. It is, however, likely that a son of his, bearing
that name, came to Virginia. There is a Dr. Tunis Quick now
living in Fairfax County, Virginia. Judge Tunis Quick, father
of Mr. Quick, was born in Virginia. There are several bearing the
name of Tunis in Indiana, one in New York and another in Penn-
sylvania. The first Quick of whom there is any definite mention
in connection with Virginia was William Quick, who was in Vir-
ginia with Captain John Smith, in 1608 and 1609. In 1614, there
was proven in London the will of William Quick, in which he men-
tions his wife, three daughters, his brother, Nicholas, and his
children, besides sundry other persons. In this will he bequeaths
his Virginia lands and equities in any mines that may be discovered
in that country. From the wording of the will, it was apparent
that this was not the William Quick who was with John Smith,
for he states that he had merely ventured money in the colony, and
it is probable, therefore, that the William Quick who was in the
colony was a relative and representative of William Quick, the
London merchant. After William Quick, we lose sight of the
Quicks in Virginia for a long period.
In 1685, we come upon Thomas Quick, of Devonshire, Eng-
land, who followed Monmouth in his ill-fated rebellion, and after
Monmouth's defeat, Thomas Quick shared the lot of several thou-
sand others and wTas transported to America, where he had to un-
dergo penal servitude for seven years in one of the West Indian
Islands. Apparently he survived that and settled in the State of
New York, and it is believed that from him was descended Thomas
Quick, the noted Indian fighter of Sullivan County, New York, to
whose memory a monument has been erected at Milford, Pike
County, Pennsylvania. As has been stated the New York Quicks
betray their Dutch origin by their given names ; these were Jaco-
bus, Girardus, Cornelius, Hendrick, Maurice and Wilhelmus. The
New York Quicks overflowed into Pennsylvania, both the Holland
and English branches. In 1785, we come upon John Quick, in
Albemarle County, Virginia, who had a family of seven, and in
that same year, Samuel Quick, in Harrison County, Virginia, who
had no family. Unfortunately, the census records of Virginia for
1790 were burned when the Capitol at Washington was destroyed
in 1814, and we have not a complete list of the Quick families in
Virginia such as is obtainable in Pennsylvania and New York.
This little link, however, establishes the fact that the Quick fam-
ily in Virginia had not become extinct in that State, and it is
probably to that branch of the family that Spencer R. Quick be-
longs, for his father, Judge Tunis Quick, was born in the Shenan-
doah Valley, Virginia, in 1797, and moved with his father anel
mother, James Quick and Hannah Gorrell Quick, to Circleville,
Ohio, in 1812. The village of Quicksburg, in Shenandoah County,
Virginia, yet preserves the family name in that section. In 1818,
James Quick and his sons, Tunis and James, moved to Indiana,
locating first at Madison and later at Columbus, Indiana, where
408 SPENCER RECORD QUICK
the following children were born : Agnes, Samuel Smith, Elizabeth
and Martin. Here Tunis Quick built the first house in that city,
which later became the county seat of Bartholomew County, forty
miles from Indianapolis. He was for many years judge of the
court, served two terms in the Indiana legislature, and there being
no railroads, he would leave home Monday morning at four o'clock,
travel through an unsettled timber country, ford unbridged
streams, and after attending to his legislative duties would return
home on Saturday night of each week.
Spencer Record Quick, during his long life, has been a man of
one work, a scientific farmer and stock breeder. In stock breeding
circles, no firm in the country is better known, or stands higher,
than that of S. R. Quick & Sons, who made a reputation for their
short-horn and Polled Durham cattle, Shropshire and Dorset
sheep, and Duroc and Poland China swine. The headquarters of
this firm was moved to Indianapolis, where it was incorporated
without any change of name, the stockholders being S. R. Quick
and his three sons: Walter Jacob, Austin Tunis and Homer
Spencer Quick. In his chosen calling, Mr. Quick has been not only
a marked man, but has been a tower of strength to clean and hon-
est methods, and has contributed very largely to the creation of
that sentiment in stock circles which has improved the grade of
cattle, sheep and hogs in our country in the last fifty years to such
an extent that it can hardly be measured by per cent. Those men
who are old enough to remember things fifty years back will recall
the scrub cows, the long-horned steers, the razor-back swine and
wiry sheep, and when they now look at American stock, they can
see what an immense distance the countrv has traveled, as a result
*/
of the methods of such men as Spencer R. Quick.
Mr. Quick married Catherine Medora Hauser, who was a
daughter of Jacob Hauser, who was a son of Rev. Martin Luther
Hauser, a Lutheran clergyman connected with Hanover College,
Germany, and who established the Moravian Seminary at Winston-
Salem, N. C. The children of this marriage are Dr. Walter Jacob
Quick, now of Roanoke, Virginia, and a very prominent figure in
that State; Austin Tunis Quick, of Lynchburg, Virginia; Homer
Spencer Quick, of Chicago, all formerly interested with their
father in business, and connected with other prominent business
enterprises ; also a daughter, Mary Katharine, who married Harry
B. Burnet, a successful business man of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Mr. Burnet is a man of broad education, a substantial citizen,
much interested in the social and moral unlift of the community,
particularly all questions concerning the youth of his city.
Mrs. Burnet is widely known in art circles and is at the pres-
ent time engaged in writing a book on "Indiana Art," which prom-
ises much valuable and interesting information. The chairman-
ship of the Art Department of both the Indianapolis and State
Federation of Women's Clubs have made her a prominent figure
among the club women of the State.
7
T\} • Pl
'
i -i-o^
.
: diploma at
cience d
e de
o, ne
T> /"»
in
j
1 at i Ph.
of Halle
r from Germany, Di ;k accepted the posit
•iculture and Director of the United States I
• at Clemson Agricultural College, South Cai
1 he remained two years and was urged for the_pre
e, which he declined to
xth e
.'. bro-
as i
Agricultm
prc
I
li
s "ft
he V
412 WALTER JACOB QUICK
gration Bureau at Roanoke, Ya. This work is in close co-operation
with the Virginia Agricultural Department and also the industrial
departments of the Norfolk and Western, the Virginian, the Chesa-
peake & Ohio, and other railways. In this work Dr. Quick has, for
the last five years, been working like a high pressure engine, and
with his well known ability to make everything go with which he
is connected, he is rendering a most valuable service to the State,
of which, if he is not a son, he is at least a grandson.
In 1901, when a new president was being sought for Purdue
University, "The Indiana Farmer," "The Indianapolis News," and
other Indiana papers very strongly urged the selection, by the
trustees, of Dr. Quick, because of his great attainments, his in-
domitable energy and his peculiar fitness for the work which the
university was doing, and last, but not least, the distinction which
his work, as one of its alumni, had brought to the university itself.
Politically, Dr. Quick classes himself as a Republican, but has
never taken an active part in politics, as his time has been so fully
occupied in professional work, scientific research and investiga-
tion. He is a strong believer in the progressive ideas of present
day politics, and cannot properly be classed as a Republican of the
stand-pat variety. He is a charter member of the University Clubs
of Indianapolis and the University of Missouri. He is a Mason of
both the York and Scottish Rite forms, and has served the second
term as Venerable Master of the Lodge of Perfection at Roanoke,
Va. He is a Past Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias; a mem-
ber of the American and British Associations for the Advancement
of Science, and is connected with several live stock associations
for recording pure bred animals in America. He is an elder and
Sunday School superintendent of the Disciples of Christ, or Chris-
tian Church. He has been twice married, first to Anna Laura
Foster, born at Lafayette, Indiana, on February 23, 1863, daugh-
ter of William T. and Mary Elizabeth (Williams) Foster. This
marriage occurred at Otterbein, Indiana, in May, 1886. After her
death, he was married at Howard, Pa., in November, 1899, to Mary
Alice Mitchell, born at Bellefonte, Pa., daughter of Rev. John
Packer and Rosetta (Cook) Mitchell. On the paternal side a
grandniece of Governor William F. Packer, of Pennsylvania.
Of Dr. Quick's first marriage there is one child, a daughter,
Anna Katherine Quick, who was graduated from the Indianapolis
Shortridge High School, and who later took the librarian course
degree in Wynona Institute. She was also a student of Simmons
College, Boston. She married Scott C. Bicknell, son of Ernest P.
Bicknell, general manager of the United States Red Cross Society.
They have one son, Ernest P. Bicknell, Jr., born September 13,
1912.
Of Dr. Quick's second marriage there are three children : Wal-
ter Jacob Quick, Jr., William Mitchell Quick and Leslie Burnet
Quick, aged respectively eleven, nine and five years (1914).
WALTER JACOB QUICK 413
The Quick coat of arms is thus described by Burke, the Eng-
lish authority:
"Sable a chevron vaire, or and of the first, between three
griffins' heads erased of the second.
"Crest: A demi antelope argent armed, attired tufted, and
maned gules, collared sable, lined or."
VIRGIL PATRICK RANDOLPH
VIRGIL PATRICK RANDOLPH is descended from a Vir-
ginia family many of whose individual members have
achieved perhaps a larger measure of distinction than
have those of any other family in the Southern States of
the American Union. From the Randolph stock in Virginia have
sprung statesmen and soldiers whose names are indissolubly as-
sociated with the glories of Commonwealth and Nation. In that
splendid galaxy are included Sir John Randolph, Speaker of the
House of Burgesses, Treasurer and Attorney General of the Col-
ony of Virginia; his nephew, William Stith, the historian, and
president of College of William and Mary; Edmund Randolph,
governor and member of Washington's cabinet ; Peyton Randolph,
governor, attorney general and president of the first Congress;
John Randolph of Roanoke, the eccentric and brilliant political
leader and statesman ; Thomas Jefferson, President of the United
States; Beverley Randolph, governor; Richard and Theodorick
Bland, Revolutionary patriots; Richard Henry Lee and Francis
Lightfoot Lee, signers of the Declaration of Independence; Gen-
eral Henry Lee, "Light Horse Harry;" General Robert E. Lee,
leader of the Confederate Armies, and a host of others scarcely
less distinguished than many of these named.
It was said by Mr. Jefferson, whose varied and manifold
knowledge is illustrated by so many influences left by him upon
his country, that the ancestry of the Randolphs could be traced far
back into England and Scotland.
Certain it is, however, that as far back as the days of Bruce
and Bannockburn, there was a Randolph among the leaders of
Bruce's army, whose name has come down to us on the pages of
Sir Walter Scott as illustrating on that stricken field the personal
valor and able leadership in war that characterized some of his
lineage in a later day in America.
In an obituary of Sir John Randolph, printed in the "Virginia
Gazette" at Williamsburg in 1737, the apparently authoritative
statement is made that the Virginia Randolphs were of the family
of Thomas Randolph, the English poet, and the family history of
the American branch agrees with the account of the history given
by the biographers of the poet.
Moncure Conway, in his "Edmund Randolph : Omitted Chap-
ters of History," ascribes an ancient origin to the family. In al-
[4141
VIRGIL PATRICK RANDOLPH 417
lusion to the gravestone of William Randolph of Turkey Island,
he writes :
"The ancient gravestone remains to-day. When laid, it was
the lowly memorial of a brave, ancestral history, and might sym-
bolize the foundation of a national history. The English Ran-
dolphs had attained high rank in the time of Edward I. Thomas
Randolph is mentioned in 'Doomsday Book,' as ordered to do duty
against the King of France. Sir John Randolph, Knt., was a com-
missioner to summon knights (1298) ; John Randolph of Hamp-
shire, connected with the Exchequer (1385), was an eminent judge
and other judges of the name are mentioned in Con way Robinson's
'History of English Institutions ;' A very Randolph was principal
of Pembroke College, Oxford (1590) ; Sir Thomas Randolph was
an ambassador of Queen Elizabeth. A nephew and namesake of
the latter was Thomas Randolph, the poet, (1604-34), so beloved
of Ben Jonson and his circle. Of him Feltham wrote :
" 'Such was his genius like the eye's quick wink,
He could write sooner than another think ;
His play was fancy's flame, a lightning wit,
So shot that it could sooner pierce than hit.'
The fame of the poet, Thomas Randolph, who was a fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge, is perpetuated not only in his writings
but in a memorial monument by Sir Christopher Halton in West-
minster Abbey.
This Thomas, poet and dramatist, is said by the genealogists
to have had two half-brothers, one of whom was the father of Wil-
liam Randolph of Turkey Island, and the other, Henry Randolph,
who immigrated to Virginia from Northamptonshire, England, in
1643, and locating in James City County, was the progenitor of
the subject of this sketch. He married Judith Soane and was a
member of the House of Burgesses, of which body his father-in-
law, Henry Soane, was for a time speaker. Henry Randolph was
appointed to "the elk. place of the Assembly" in 1656, to succeed
Major Charles Norwood, and a few years later (1660-61), while
clerk, he and Colonel Francis Morrison were directed to "review
all the acts, peruse the records, give dates to the several 1 acts from
the first time of their being in force, and present a draught of
them with such alterations and amendments as they shall find
necessary to the next assembly, and that there be paid them for
their paines fifteen thousand pounds of tobacco out of the next
levy."
The same year he was appointed by the assembly "a publique
Notary," "to whose attestation at home and abroad we desire all
credence to be given."
In giving an account of the State House at Jamestown, Bruce
418 VIRGIL PATRICK RANDOLPH
in his "Economic History/' says that it "was forty feet in length
and twenty feet in width," and that it was constructed of brick.
He adds that "on each side of the State House there was a build-
ing of the same length and width. The three structures came into
the possession of Henry Randolph, who in 1671 conveyed the mid-
dle one to Nathaniel Bacon, Sr. ; the second to Colonel Thomas
Swann, and the third to Thomas Ludwell." He is spoken of by
Bruce as "a citizen of distinction in the colony at that time," and
that author adds that he was one of the members of the council
who "took over" the quit rents due the government, the counties
of Charles City and Henrico being farmed out to Colonel Thomas
Stegge and Henry Randolph.
From an act of the assembly passed in 1679, appointing Rob-
ert Beverley "a notary publique" in the stead of Thomas Ludwell,
who had succeeded Henry Randolph in that office, it appears that
the time of the latter's death was "the yeare 1673."
Mr. Henry Soane, the father of Henry Randolph's wife, repre-
sented James City County for a number of years in the House of
Burgesses, and was later its speaker. He was a personage of social
and political prominence in the colony.
From the line of Henry Randolph, the immigrant, and his
Avife, Judith Soane, is descended Virgil Patrick Randolph, who
was born at Memphis, Tennessee, October 20, 1869. On his ma-
ternal side he conies from the distinguished families of the Eppeses,
the Ishams, and the Poythresses. Anne Isham, a daughter of
Henrv and Katherine Isham, and a sister of Marv Isham, the wife
*/ / t< /
of William Randolph of Turkey Island, married Colonel Francis
Eppes, who settled at City Point, Virginia, then forming a portion
of Charles City County, during or prior to the year 1635. He was
county lieutenant, and thus by designation colonel, and he was a
member of the Virginia Council. This Elizabeth Eppes married
later Henry Randolph, 3d, and they were progenitors of Virgil
Patrick Randolph, who thus combines a double relationship to the
Isham family.
Another prominent family connected immediately with the
descendants of Henry Randolph is that of Poythress, whose family
places, "Bonacord," "Aberdeen" and "Branchester," all in Prince
George County, Virginia, were long the seats of a characteristic
dignity and hospitality. The first named was the original seat
of the founder of the family in Virginia, Colonel Richard Poy-
thress.
The paternal great-grandfather of Virgil Patrick Randolph
was Richard Randolph who emigrated from Appomattox River
and Swift Creek, in Chesterfield County, Virginia, to Washington,
Georgia, in 1790. He married Dorothy Napier, daughter of Col-
onel Thomas Napier. Their son, Dr. Richard Henry Randolph,
was born in Washington, Georgia, 1795.
Dr. Richard Henry Randolph was twice married. His first
VIRGIL PATRICK RANDOLPH 419
wife was Eliza Bullock, daughter of Colonel William Bullock of
Savannah, Georgia, who survived her marriage only six weeks.
Dr. Randolph married again, his second wife being Eliza Rives,
daughter of Thomas Rives. He moved to Macon, Georgia, and was
a prominent and successful physician in that city for many years.
The issue of the marriage of Dr. Richard Henry Randolph and
his wife Eliza Rives were four in number, as follows: Eliza Bul-
lock Randolph, Eugenius Nisbet Randolph, Richard Henry Ran
dolph and Anna Coles Randolph.
This Richard Henry Randolph was the father of Virgil Pat-
rick Randolph, and his mother was Larue Giles. Richard Henry
Randolph, 2nd, left Macon as a young man, and settled in 1852 in
Memphis, Tennessee, where he engaged in business and was a suc-
cessful cotton factor. His marriage took place in 18G3.
Upon the breaking out of the war between the States he en-
tered the military service of the Confederacy, and was captain of
a company in the One Hundred and Fifty -fourth Tennessee Regi-
ment in the Confederate Army. Captain Randolph's gallantry and
courage are attested by the fact that he was wounded slightly at
the battle of Belmont, which took place at a little settlement of
that name on the western bank of the Mississippi River, opposite
Columbus, on the 7th November, 1861, and severely wounded in
the battle of Shiloh, April 6th, 1863. Here Captain Randolph's
regiment went into what has come down in history as "the Hor-
nets' Nest," a strategical position occupied by the Federals of Gen.
Wallace's division, of which Col. William Preston Johnston writes
in his "Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston" :
"It was nick-named by the Confederates, by a very mild meta-
phor, 'The Hornets' Nest.' No figure of speech would be too strong
to express the deadly peril of assault upon his natural fortress,
whose inaccessible barriers blazed for six hours with sheets of
flame and whose infernal gates poured forth a murderous storm
of shot and shell and musket-fire which no living thing could quell
or even withstand."
The issue of the union of Richard Henry Randolph and Larue
Giles were nine children, of whom four survived, namely: Virgil
Patrick Randolph, Lewis Josiah Randolph, Jessie Randolph and
Henry Montgomery Randolph.
Virgil Patrick Randolph, after receiving early instruction in
the rudiments became a student in the University of the South, at
Sewanee, Tennessee. Upon leaving the university he entered the
cotton business at Memphis under his father, and having deter-
mined to pursue it, he made a study of it in all its relations, and
became expert in the cotton business in all its various branches.
Upon his father's death he took charge of the business, and eight
years later, upon the breaking out of hostilities between Spain and
America, he accepted a commission as second lieutenant in the
Fifth Regiment of United States Volunteer Infantry.
420 VIRGIL PATRICK RANDOLPH
Upon his return from the war, he re-entered the cotton busi-
ness with the house of W. H. Nance & Company of Corinth, Missis-
sippi. After a period of one year he organized a cotton brokerage
company, under the firm name of Morehead, Randolph & Company,
at Canton, Mississippi ; this was very successful. The increase
in the transactions of this concern after a while necessitated a re-
moval to a larger field, and it was transferred to Memphis. It
continued to grow and prosper, so that eventually headquarters
were moved to New York and Philadelphia. The name of the firm
was later changed to V. P. Randolph & Company, and under this
title it enlarged its sphere of activities and increased its volume of
business until it controlled a total of twenty-five thousand miles of
telegraph wires, extending from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and
from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, and necessitated
the conduct of one hundred and fifty branch offices in different
sections of the countrv. The strain of this tremendous business
t/
finally proved injurious to the health of its organizer and he re-
tired from active work in 1910 and settled down at "Estouteville,"
his country residence in Albeinarle County. Here on a handsome
domain, once owned by the Coles family of that county, he leads
a well-earned life of leisure.
Mr. Randolph is a Democrat in his political beliefs and affili-
ations, but has never held public office. Though retired from the
large activities that occupied him as a cotton broker, he has not
altogether gotten out of touch with business matters, and holds
directorships in the two important enterprises of the Curlee
Clothing Company of St. Louis, and the Virginia Bonded Ware-
house Corporation.
Mr. Randolph is a member of the Philadelphia Racquet Club,
the Philadelphia Country Club, the Country Club of Virginia at
Richmond, and the Commonwealth and Westmoreland Clubs of
Richmond. He is a church member and belongs to the Episcopal
denomination, being one of the congregation of Christ Church, in
St. Anne's Parish, Virginia. He married at Corinth, Mississippi,
on November 7th, 1900, Elizabeth Stanley, daughter of Cullen E.
Stanley, and his wife Minerva Wofford, of that place, and they
have a son, Virgil Patrick Randolph, Jr., who is now (1913) eight
years old.
Mrs. Randolph's ancestry have been people of large wealth
and distinguished social position in the section in which they have
resided. Her paternal grandfather, Benjamin C. Stanley, was a
prominent planter, and his wife, Mrs. Randolph's paternal grand-
mother, Elizabeth C. Stanley, was a lady of great elegance and re-
finement of manner, and a conspicuous ornament of the society
in which she moved.
Mrs. Randolph's maternal grandparents, Colonel Jefferson
Llewellyn Wofford and Octavia Torry Wofford, were noted for
their social distinction and abundant hospitality. Colonel Wof-
VIRGIL PATRICK RANDOLPH 421
ford served in the Army of the Confederate States on the staff of
General Stephen I). Lee, and made an enviable record as a soldier ;
while Mrs. Wofford was famous among a large circle of friends and
acquaintances as a beauty and wit.
Mr. Randolph is a strong believer in the value of education,
not only to promote success in life, but to properly develop char-
acter ; he especially believes in the larger and better education of
young women as homebuilders.
Living as he does in the country it would be unnatural if he
were not deeply interested in the great movement now prevalent
throughout America concerning better roads, and his strong con-
viction is that one of the greatest economic demands of the pres-
ent day in regard to the solution of many of the serious problems
of modern social life, such as the high cost of living, is that there
shall be "a return to the land," that much of the population con-
gested in the great cities would find its highest welfare and hap-
piness in the cultivation of the earth, and that from such a diffu-
sion would result immense benefit to the whole country.
EMMETT FRANCIS REESE, JR.
r ^HE
far
clu
family name of Keese is drawn from the ancient Welsh
family of "Rhys," the meaning of which was to twist or to
change; and the twists or changes which have taken place
in this name indicate that it was well chosen. The evolu-
tion seems to have been: Rhys, Rys, Rees, Reece, Reese; and the
spelling of "Rease" is also found. The family names of "Rice"
and "Price" also have the same derivation.
There were two main lines of the family in Wales — one in
North and one in South Wales. In the early days of the country
they were among the rulers, belonging to what was known as the
Royal Tribes, and furnished a number of princes and lords to
that country, several members of the family having been its rulers
between 900 and 1200.
A long line of descent has been worked out by genealogists,
dating back to the year 876, beginning with the then King of all
Wales, and bringing it down to the latter part of the twelfth
century. Without questioning the honesty of those who have
worked out this table, its accuracy may well be doubted, and it
is probable that some part of the story is legendary. We come
upon solid ground about the year 1171, when Rhys ap Griffith
was Prince of South Wales. In the course of the centuries they
made marriages with the Norman Conquerors of England ; and in
the year 1599 we find a Rees family of English descent. From
this ancient Welsh family and from this English stock come a
majority of the Reese families of America, although some of these
American families are descended from immigrants who came
directly from Wales.
For a long time they adhered to the old form, even in England.
We come upon Sir Thomas Ap Rees, who was the father of Sir
David Ap Rees, who was the father of Rev. David Ap Rees, who
was a Presbyterian minister. About that time they dropped the
"Ap," and members of the family coming to America added the
final "e."
Owing to the imperfect records among the pioneers of Vir-
ginia, it is practically impossible to work out a family line from
the first immigrant down to the present in ninety-nine cases out
of a hundred. The Reese family is no exception to the general
rule. The first of whom we have record is Thomas Reese, who
settled in Isle of Wight County in lf>4S, and was followed by
Edward, who settled in Northampton in 1650. Bo+h of these were
[422]
_^-X -y* ri
-t.
r~
EMMETT FRANCIS REESE, JR. 425
founders of families now widely scattered. We come upon another
Thomas in Brunswick in 1760, who married Harriet, daughter of
Benjamin Harrison, County Lieutenant; and this Thomas was,
without doubt, descended from the Thomas who settled in Isle
of Wight County in 1648. Going back to 1698, we find William
Reese in New Kent County. Whether William was a new immi-
grant coming over at that time, or whether he was a descendant
of one of the first two cannot be definitely stated. The family had
not multiplied very largely up to the Revolutionary period, for
on the roster of American soldiers during the Revolution we only
come upon five or six names, which is conclusive proof that the
family was not numerous. Enos Reese was a Sergeant in a North-
ampton Company of Minute Men on February 17, 1776, which
proves that the original family in Northampton had steadily
maintained its footing there. Then appears the name of Azor, or
Azariah, who took part in the Point Pleasant Expedition under
General Andrew Lewis. Randall Reese appears to have been a
soldier under Daniel Morgan. Joel is given as a Revolutionary
soldier. In another place appears the name of Randolph Rease-
this may have been a misprint for Randall Reese — who served
under Morgan. Then comes the name of Reese, of Dinwiddie, with
no given name; and John Reese, who was paid off at Romney at
the end of the war, and probably settled in Shenandoah County,
as there was a family of the name there.
Bishop Meade says, of this Reese family, that it was of Welsh
origin, which is true ; and that in the colonial period they ranked
among the best people of eastern Virginia. The Reese-Harrison
marriage has been mentioned. There was another with a Ran-
dolph. John Daniel, of Virginia, married into the Reese family.
In 1759 James Reese married Margaret Lewis in Amelia County.
In 1768 Isham Reese married Rhoda Thomas. In 1784 Jesse
Reese married Susan Roach in Amelia County. John Evans Reese
married Martha Randolph Adams, who was a descendant of the
Randolph family. The Captain Azariah Reese, previously referred
to, was one of the pioneers in the settlement of Kentucky, being
of that party which founded Harrodsburg.
The Pennsylvania family of Reeses have been fortunate,
inasmuch as they have had a member of the family who was a
competent biographer and genealogist, Miss Mary E. Reese. She
has written their history, having traced it out at great length.
This family came over about 1700, and a branch of it, moving later
to North Carolina, became famous in that State, David Reese
becoming a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independ-
ence, and giving five sons to fight in the Revolutionary War. He
married Susan Polk, granddaughter of Robert Polk, of Maryland ;
and through this marriage his children were near relatives of
President James K. Polk and a number of other distinguished
North Carolina and Tennessee families.
426 EMMETT FRANCIS REESE, JR.
A member of the Virginia Reese family who has achieved both
professional and business success is Dr. Emmett Francis Reese,
Jr., of Courtland, Virginia, who was born in Southampton County
on September 18, 1877, son of Emmett Francis and Virginia Mary
(Bishop) Reese. His father is a farmer, and they probably de-
scended from the family founded by Thomas Reese, who settled
in Isle of Wight County in 1648.
Doctor Reese, after a common school training, completed his
education in Randolph-Macon Academy, at Bedford City, Vir-
ginia, and then entered the University College of Medicine, at
Richmond, from which he was graduated as a physician on May
11, 1899. The fifteen years since his graduation have been useful
years. He has been in the active practice of medicine, and has
(from time to time) embarked in various business enterprises,
and is now recognized as a substantial man in business and a
leader in his profession. He is a Director in the People's Bank at
Courtland, Third Vice-President and Director in the Glenwood
Park Corporation, of Norfolk, and Director in the Parker Buggy
Company, of Suffolk.
He has been honored by his professional brethren, having
served as Third Vice-President in the Seaboard Medical Society
of Virginia and North Carolina. He is now ex-President of the
South Side Virginia Medical Association, which society he is now
serving as Secretary and Treasurer. He is Secretary and Treas-
urer of the Southampton County Medical Society, Secretary of
the Southampton County Health Board and Health Officer for his
county. He is also Second Vice-President in the Virginia State
Public Health Association.
Doctor Reese is a member of the Methodist Church, Past
Master in Courtland Masonic Lodge No. 85, A. F. A. M. ; Past
Master in Courtland Lodge No. 109, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, and a member of the Woodmen of the World ; and belongs
to the Democratic party.
Some of the old fifteenth century descriptions of the coat of
arms used by the Rhys family, in WTales, are very quaint, and the
wording now would hardly be understood. The numerous inter-
marriages have, in the course of time, so modified the ancient coat
of arms that one, dating from 1700, which appears in Miss Mary
Reese's work, shows it divided into four quarters. This has come
about as the result of these marriages. In the upper left-hand
corner appears the date "Wales, 1171," and the name "Rhys;"
in the upper right-hand corner appears "Rees, England, 1599,"
and at the base appears the name "Reese, 1700.'' These dates in
themselves are not a part of the coat of arms, but merely show
evolution. The description, while not in heraldic terms, gives a
very clear idea of it. It is as follows :
"This coat of arms is quartered, combining the North and
South Wales house of Rhys.
EMMETT FRANCIS REESE, JR. 427
"The upper right quarter: Blue, with silver cross and cres-
cents, indicating they were religious people. Blue is symbolic of
that fidelity and devotion to duty always characteristic of the
Royal tribes of Wales.
"The upper left quarter: White, with crimson chevron and
two ravens, with the gold letter R for Rhys.
"Cambrian history says : 'The Ravens rejoice when blood is
hastening, when war doth rage,' showing they were distinguished
warriors.
"The lower right quarter : Sable, with crimson chevron, and
three gold sheaves of wheat ; indicating they were farming people
and possessed large landed estates.
"Lower left quarter: Purple, with a white Talbot rampant,
on the scent, ready for the fray ; showing they were brave, gallant
soldiers. The crimson, blue and purple were the royal colors.
"The crest : A cubit arm vested, the hand grasping five ears of
wheat slipped.
"The two Latin mottoes : Spes melloris aevi (Hope for a better
age). Spes tutissima coelis (The safest hope is Heaven)."
I^HE
Ja
ac
JAMES EDWARDS SEBRELL
little town of Courtland, in Virginia, possesses in Mr.
James E. Sebrell a man who, now past four score, is yet
actively engaged every day in the discharge of his duties
as cashier of a bank. He has had a long and interesting,
as well as a useful life. Mr. Sebrell was born in Southampton
County on January 3, 1833, son of William Jones and Virginia
Mary (Butts) Sebrell.
FAMILY ORIGIN. — The founder of the family in Virginia was
an Englishman, but the probabilities are that the name was
originally French, and that a Frenchman of the name had traveled
to England and there founded a family which in time became
English.
The founder of the Virginia family was Nicholas Sebrell,
whose name on the old records appears spelled indifferently
"Sebrell," "Sebrele" and "Seabrill," for whatever else our ances-
tors were, they assuredly were not strong on spelling. When
Nicholas Sebrell came to Virginia cannot be stated; it was cer-
tainly before 1G46, for in that year the York County records show
a lawsuit between Leonard Chamberlain and Nicholas Sebrell.
We come upon him again in 1655 and 1656, when the House of
Burgesses appointed a Commission of his neighbors to define the
land lines between Nicholas Sebrell and Captain Giles Brent, and
instructed the sheriff to put said Sebrell in possession of the land,
with the decree that Brent should pay him fifteen hundred pounds
of tobacco — five hundred the first year and one thousand the
second, presumably for having trespassed on Sebrell's land. The
next appearance of Nicholas Sebrell is on the records of the York
County Court, November 12, 1678, when John Nicholas and
Nicholas Seabrill were appointed surveyors of highways for
Bruton Parish. He must have, at that time, been an elderly man.
Apparently he died about 1693, for his widow, Sarah Sebrell, in
the book which covers the years from 1690 to 1694, petitions the
court for a Committee of Administration for the estate of her late
husband, Nicholas Sebrell.
Contemporaneous with Nicholas was Anthony Sebrell, who
lived in Hampton Parish, York County, in 1695, in which year he
leaves a legacy of fifty pounds sterling to Thomas and Mary Wade,
which indicates that he had no children of his own. Anthony and
Nicholas were probably brothers. The next figure on record is
that of Matthew Sebrell, whose will was probated in 1721. In
[428]
FUi RY
JNS
JAMES EDWARDS SEBRELL 431
his will he mentions his sisters, Susannah and Sarah, and his
brother David. The next record we find of this family is of one
of them who had evidently turned Quaker, for in a list of Quaker
signers presented to the House of Burgesses in 1738, appealing
for relief from payment of parish rates, appears Samuel Sebrell,
and the statement is made in that petition that they were descend-
ants of the early settlers. Later we come upon the figure of
Nathaniel, in Surry County. In 1782 he was returned by the
assessors as being the head of a family of ten and the owner of
twelve slaves. In 1784 the assessors returned him as having nine
in the family, which would indicate that he had lost one member
either by death or marriage.
In the will of Elizabeth Stith, a woman of large estate, who
died in Surry County on February 24, 1774, she names four per-
sons as those whom she wishes to bear her to the grave. One of
these four was her neighbor, Nathaniel Sebrell. From these little
glimpses we gather that Nicholas Sebrell, the founder of the
family in Virginia, was a man of good standing, and was probably
rated in those early days as a gentleman — a title which meant
much more then than it does now. Coming down the line, we see
from these infrequent records that the good standing of the family
was maintained.
A greatuncle of Mr. SebrelFs, Nicholas or David by name, was
a member of the old Virginia House of Burgesses, and was there-
fore a contemporary, and perhaps a brother, of Nathaniel, who
appears on the Surry records, during the Revolutionary period,
as the principal man of the family in Surry. Mr. SebrelPs grand-
father was James Sebrell, of Surry, afterward of Southampton
County. William J. Sebrell, the father of the subject of this
sketch, was the eldest son of James Sebrell. His brothers were
James Henry Sebrell and Dr. Nicholas Monroe Sebrell. Dr.
Nicholas M. Sebrell, who was an eminent physician, represented
the people of Southampton County in the Legislature of Virginia.
Coming along down the line, two sons of Mr. Sebrell, the late
William James Sebrell and his brother, John Ney Sebrell, both
(at different times) represented the county in the Legislature.
Thus, in three generations, four members of this family have repre-
sented Southampton County in the General Assembly.
Mr. SebrelFs educational advantages were the best that the
time in which he grew afforded. After being a student at Griggs-
Brunswick Academy for three years, he took the full four-year
course at Randolph-Macon College, graduating on June 2, 1853,
with the degree of A. B., and two years later receiving the degree
of A. M.
He cast his first vote for James Buchanan as President. His
first work was as a school teacher at the head of the Male Academy
at Newville, Sussex County, Virginia, for one year. He conducted
the Sebrell Male Academy for twelve years. Four years he gave
432 JAMES EDWARDS SEBRELL
to his State as a soldier in the Confederate Army, surrendering
at Appomattox Court House as Sergeant Major of the Eighteenth
Virginia Battalion of Heavy Artillery. His military record was
without a flaw.
Returning home he took up his interrupted vocation of school
teacher, and his life from that time to the present has been one of
continued activity and usefulness. For thirteen years he served
his county as treasurer, for two years he was a member of the
House of Delegates of the General Assembly, and for three years
he was Commissioner of Accounts for Southampton County. In
1904, when the People's Bank was organized at Courtland, he was
made a director and tendered the position of cashier, which posi-
tion he has filled up to the present.
Among other public services, he has served his town as Mayor
for two years. He seems to belong to that small class which can
always be depended upon to render any faithful service needed by
the community.
His Masonic history is one of profound interest. He is be-
lieved to be the oldest District Grand Master in the State, having
held that position for twenty-five years.
His Christian record is indeed truly remarkable. He has been
a steward of the Methodist Church for fifty-seven years and Super-
intendent of the Sunday School for fifty-five years.
One of the positions in which he served, not previously men-
tioned, was that of school trustee. He is also affiliated with the
Order of Odd Fellows, and for one year held the office of District
Deputy Grand Master in that organization.
A most interesting incident in his career is in connection with
his service in the Legislature, in 1887-1888, when he succeeded his
eldest son, the late William James Sebrell.
On December 7, 1854, Mr. Sebrell was married in Southamp-
ton County to Miss Anne Maria Bell, who was born November 13,
1835, daughter of James and Mary Griffith (Butts) Bell. To them
were born eight children, all of whom were reared, and all living
except: the eldest son, William James, who died in 1910, at the
age of fifty-four.
William James Sebrell, like his father, was a graduate of
Randolph-Macon College with the degree of A. M., built up a suc-
cessful practice as a lawyer, representing his county in the Legis-
lature, and was Commonwealth's Attorney at the time of his
death. He was a man of high character and standing, and much
lamented. He married Nettie Kindred, and left three daughters :
Irma Drewry, Annie Bell and Grace Kindred Sebrell.
His next son, Thomas Edward Sebrell, is now in the insurance
business at Harrisonburg. He married Ella Prince. They have
four living children: Thomas Edwards, Jr., Clyde, Bessie and
Russell, with two deceased.
The next son, Joseph Emmett Sebrell, is a physician, a gradu-
JAMES EDWARDS SEBRELL 433
ate of Richmond Medical College. He married Elizabeth Cobb,
and has children : Joseph Emmett, Jr., and Myrtle Sebrell.
The next son, Robert Ashby Sebrell, is a merchant and
unmarried.
The next son, John Ney Sebrell, is a lawyer by profession, a
graduate of the University of Virginia. He married Bessie
Prince, and has two children : John Ney, Jr., and Prince Sebrell.
The youngest son, Charles Hall Sebrell, is a graduate in
pharmacy of the Richmond Medical College, and is a drug mer-
chant and unmarried.
The two daughters are Miss Lorena Florence Sebrell, edu-
cated at Petersburg Female College, and Principal of Courtland
High School. The younger daughter, Mary Ula Sebrell, married
J. Emmett Moyler, and has one son, James Edward Moyler.
Mr. Sebrell's preferred reading throughout life has been the
Bible and biographical history of distinguished and worthy men.
He believes that the way in which to best promote the interests
of our nation lies along the road of the proper mental and moral
training of the youth of the nation, and he has no other remedy
to offer.
It would be hard to find a parallel to this veteran citizen who
has served his country so faithfully, both in peace and war, and
who, in his latter years, can look at such a line of descendants-
all op whom are worthy and honored citizens of the communities
in which they live.
THOMAS SOMERVILLE SOUTHGATE
T
HE career of this leading factor in all the worthy activities
of a progressive and prosperous community illustrates
what an American boy can make of life if willing to pay
the price of unremitting industry and devotion to high
standards of duty.
The Virginia line of Mr. Southgate's ancestors began with
John Robert, one of three brothers who emigrated from Middle-
sex near Southgate, England, in 1780, and settled in King and
Queen County, Virginia. Third in descent from this gentleman
was Thomas Muse Southgate, father of the subject of this sketch.
A distinguished officer in the naval service of the Confederate
States, he married Mary Elizabeth Pollock, and of this union was
born in Richmond, February 7, 1868, the present representative
of the name.
The family having settled in Norfolk at the close of the war
between the States, it was there the young Southgate received his
early training. His attendance in school was brief for conditions
that were then general in the South and the modest resources
of his parents made it necessary that he should early become a
breadwinner, and at the age of twelve, he was earning his own
support. Later, unaided by teachers, he applied himself to the
task of acquiring sufficient learning to equip a mind naturally
bright to meet and fully answer the demands of a life crowded
with important tasks.
From a modest beginning his progress was steadily onward
and upward. Fidelity and industry were his watchwords. During
the years of preparation for larger trusts, he never forfeited the
confidence of an employer or changed a position except for one
of greater responsibility and emolument. From 1880 to 1890 he
served in various capacities with transportation companies, after
which he was engaged for a brief period as salesman for a com-
mercial establishment. His experiences up to this time were
laying the foundations of that accurate acquaintance with the
laws and movements of trade which was to stand the young mer-
chant in such good stead when later he was to launch his own
bark on the sea of commercial venture. But it was not until 1892
that Mr. Southgate inaugurated, with a capital stock of less than
one hundred dollars, the enterprise which under his prudent but
progressive management has grown to be among the foremost
business institutions of the South. The parent house at Norfolk
[434]
FUBL
X
THOMAS SOMERVILLE SOUTHGATB 437
maintains branch offices and warehouses in Wilmington, Charles-
ton, Savannah, Jacksonville and Augusta, through which the im-
mense volume of goods it handles finds a distribution co-extensive
with the territory of the southern and southeastern States. The
annual sales of the concern now aggregate several millions; its
credit throughout the financial vicissitudes of twenty years past
has stood uniinpeached ; and it is now rated as the leading house
in its particular line in the Southern States. Such has been the
product of a pecuniary investment apparently inadequate to the
smallest undertaking, when backed by indomitable energy, sturdy
honesty, and a clear perception of the essentials to permanent
success in any path of human endeavor.
But diligent in business as Mr. Southgate has been he has at
no time permitted material objects to monopolize his interest or
his labors, though in addition to direction of the immediate affairs
of T. S. Southgate & Co., Inc., he has been engaged in other
pursuits calling for close attention and has been constantly serv-
ing on the directorates of several banks, including a large institu-
tion in the city of New York. But this enumeration leaves us
only on the threshold of the activities with which his days have
been crowded. He has contributed freely of his time and thought
to the public service. A record of eight years in the city council,
four years as President of that body and head of its financial
department ; First Vice-President for three years of the Southern
Commercial Congress; five years assiduously and creditably de-
voted to the Jamestown Exposition, as Director of Exhibits ; and
other like employments testify to a public spirit not content with
narrow and selfish ambitions. In 1913 he was appointed by
Governor Mann to represent the State of Virginia on the Ameri-
can Commission for the Study of Rural Finance, under the super-
vision of the National Government, in fourteen countries of
Europe. Discharging that mission at his own cost, he prepared
and submitted an illuminating report on the subjects under
investigation, and has since been honored with Vice-Presidency
of the Commission.
There remains to be touched on another side of Mr. South-
gate's character than that which pertains directly to his achieve-
ments in material matters, but one which perhaps accounts for
and is certainly not inconsistent with the methods that have
marked his business assiduities. From childhood, brought up in
a domestic atmosphere of stalwart Christianity, he was imbued
with the highest principles, and early in youth he took that part
as a zealous worker for religious development and practical
charity which has known no slackening of performance during the
urgent cares of after years. Consistent in church membership,
never absent nor laggard in good works, he lends his name and
influence, and gives of his means to well-approved agencies for the
advancement of spiritual and moral conditions, not confining his
438 THOMAS SOMERVILLE SOUTHGATE
sympathy to movements inspired by his own denomination. While
Vice-President of the Laymen's organization of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, and President of its Virginia division,
an ardent supporter of the Sunday School, he has been for twenty
years much more than nominally a director in two separate
branches of the Young Men's Christian Association, and as a
factor of helpfulness in other beneficial non-sectarian societies.
Yet, with all these occupations, Mr. Southgate is not neglectful
of social amenities and obligations, and is a member of the Vir-
ginia, the Borough, and Country clubs of Norfolk, and of the
Atlantic Union, of London, England.
As to the personal attributes of the man, his manners are
affable, his address is direct, his attention alert. His features
and frame are delicate, yet his powers of sustained application
are tremendous. His speeches and writings contain no suggestion
of the fact that in all above the elements of learning he has been
self-taught; for his frequent public addresses and contributions
to the public journals exhibit a precision of thought and forceful
grace of diction that leave no room for criticism. His style
is methodical, bordering on the precise, but it is combined with
a copiousness of vocabulary and talent for choosing exactly the
right word to express his meaning, which render effective his use
of both tongue and pen.
Mr. Southgate was married in October, 1891, to Nettie D.
Norsworthy, who still presides over his happy home circle, and
they have three children born in the order named : Nettie Virginia,
Herbert Somerville, and Mary Portlock. Their christening pre-
sents the nomenclature of several strains of the best colonial
stock of the Old Dominion.
It is a notable accomplishment to have wrung from adverse
circumstances, as Mr. Southgate has done, all the more precious
forces of human fortune, and to have accomplished this with
fidelity to high ideals of individual and civic duty. He regards
the measure of success which he has attained as not beyond the
reach of any young man of average capability of mind and body.
"It is only," he says, "a question of the degree of sacrifice he is
willing to make and of the service he is resolute to render."
tf&/
v.;-
IE family name of Huteheso
past centuries in various for]
"^Hutcheson," "Hutch
"Hutcherson." In i
led down to. two forms
adly speaking, "Hu;
rlieli
i, in 1
to Louisa and il 1771*. Then removed to
estate in > '«rg ty, where he li
in 1807. He was the oldest person in his coin
ids death. At the time he settled in Meckle
3 owned a tract of land on the Dan River in Hi
• Creek in Charlotte County, lie marr
e Collier (the progenitor ot the j>res€
r, of Charlotte County), John, who wax never
h. Joseph 1 n married, first, 1
ling ]SV Sr
i i
•ried, and
Neblett, of
B
Toy
, • • .
fi Vf
itory in lt-
n was t
442 HERBERT FARRAR HUTCHESON
He represented Mecklenburg County in the House of Delegates
in the late forties and early fifties, and was presiding justice of
the county for many years under the old court system. He was
also one of the trustees for Randolph-Macon College before it was
moved from Boydton to Ashland.
Joseph Collier Hutcheson was a prominent man in the county,
being one of the largest landowners and a farmer. He never held
any office except that of justice of the peace. In 1855 he was nomi-
nated by his party for the House of Delegates, but was defeated
at the general election. He had six sons and one daughter, viz:
James Nathaniel, Lula Rebecca, Charles Samuel, Sterling Neblett,
Joseph Emmett, Herbert Farrar and Conway Goode. James N.
Hutcheson was the first Democrat to be elected to office in the
county after the reconstruction period, having been elected to the
House of Delegates in 1889. He also served in the State Senate
from the Twenty-fifth District, being elected in 1901. He served
as chairman of the County Democratic Committee for several
terms. He died in 1909.
Charles S., the second son, served twenty years as a member
of the Board of Supervisors of the county and as chairman of the
Board for the past ten years.
Sterling N. is a prominent merchant and farmer of the county,
having served twenty-three years as postmaster of Baskerville.
By the Valentine wife Joseph Hutcheson had one son and
three daughters. The son, John Valentine, enlisted in the Boydton
Cavalry as a private and was killed in battle early in the war.
In the opinion of the elder members of Mr. Hutcheson's
family, they are descended from brothers, William and Captain
Robert Hutcheson, who came to Virginia in the thirties of the
seventeenth century. It is fairly evident that Captain Robert
Hutcheson was the great-grandfather of Charles Hutcheson, who
was the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch.
In 1628 we find that William Hutcheson represented Warro-
squeake in the House of Burgesses ; and from 1641 to 1647 we find
that Captain Robert Hutcheson represented James City in the
House of Burgesses. Robert Hutcheson seems at first to have
confined himself to the extreme eastern section of the State, but
later both he and William gradually worked their way up toward
the Northern Neck. Both of them through life kept on good terms
with the strenuous old Governor, Sir William Berkeley, who,
whatever his hatred to his enemies, was always loyal to his
friends.
The first land grant to Robert Hutcheson was in 1638, con-
sisting of two hundred acres in James City County. This was fol-
lowed by numerous other grants, running up as late as 1668,
covering lands in James City, Accomac, Lancaster and Westmore-
land counties. The later generations of this family appear to
have concentrated in Caroline and Spottsylvania, and on the rec-
HERBERT FARRAR HUTCHESON 443
ords of that section are the names of a large number of Hutche-
sons in a great variety of transactions, wills, deeds and leases.
The family was represented in Caroline County in the early years
of the eighteenth century. Some members of it were certainly
in Spottsylvania as early as 1736, for we find in that year that
William Hutcheson was a witness to the deed of Roderick Price.
Among the names appearing on the records between 1730 and
1788, in these counties, are : Archibald, Charles, David, Elizabeth,
George, Hannah, James, John, John, Jr., Margaret, Martha, Mary,
Peggy, Phoebe, Robert, Robert Beverley, Ruth, Thomas, William,
William, Jr., and Peter. They were well represented in all the
colonial wars. Thomas, of Caroline, was a soldier in the French
and Indian War from 1758 to 1760. William was in an Amelia
County company at the same time. David was in Captain Posey's
company, and appears later to have settled in Charlotte County.
Robert was a sergeant in Captain Clalton's company, which was
credited to Botetonrt County. This company served at the reduc-
tion of Fort Pitt in 1758. William was in Captain Preston's
company of Rangers. John was in an Augusta battalion. Jere-
miah was a corporal and Benjamin a private in Fairfax Troop of
Cavalry in 1756. William did not get enough of war at that time,
so in 1774 he appears as an active participant in the Indian War
which is known in history as Dunmore's War. In the Revolu-
tionary struggle, ten soldiers are credited to the Hutchesons:
James, of Powhatan ; John, of Amelia ; William, of Spottsylvania ;
then come Charles, John, Joseph, Reuben, Thomas, Walter and
William, whose counties are not known.
In our own generation, Mr. Hutcheson's immediate family
has furnished some splendidly patriotic men to our country.
Captain John William Hutcheson, the son of his father's brother,
C. S. Hutcheson, was a graduate of the University of Virginia and
was practising law in Texas upon the outbreak of the Civil War.
He raised a company at his own expense, marched to Virginia,
participated in the great battles of the early part of the war, and
was killed at the first battle of Cold Harbor. Captain J. W.
Hutcheson's younger brother, Hon. Joseph Chappell Hutcheson,
also a graduate of the University, entered the Confederate Army
as a private in Company C, Twenty-First Virginia Regiment,
served in the Valley under Stonewall Jackson, by his courage and
fidelity gained promotion, and when the army was surrendered by
General" Lee at Appomattox was Captain of Company E, Four-
teenth Virginia Regiment. He moved to Texas, began the practise
of law in Grimes County, thence moving to Houston. In 1874 he
was a member of the Texas Legislature ; in 1880, Chairman of the
State Democratic Convention ; in 1890, member of the Fifty-third
and Fifty-fourth United States Congresses, declining re-election
to a third term, and then settled down as the head of one of the
leading law firms of the State. An able lawyer and a man of high
444 HERBERT FARRAR HUTCHESON
character, he combined the ability to think deeply with readiness
of speech.
In the maternal line Mr. Hutcheson is descended from
Nicholas Farrar, an eminent Londoner, born 1546, died 1620.
Nicholas Farrar married Mary Wodenoth, of Cheshire. He was
a member of the Virginia Company, and Mr. Hutcheson's maternal
line has therefore been connected with Virginia from a period
which antedates the first settlement of the colony. Nicholas Far-
rar had children: Susannah, who married John Collett; John,
born 1590, died 1657, married Bathsheba — -, and had a daughter
Virginia. He served as Treasurer of the Virginia Company. The
next son, Nicholas, born in 1593, also served as Treasurer of the
Virginia Company, and was the best friend the colony had in
England. Neither he nor his brother John ever visited Virginia,
but Nicholas Farrar led the Liberal party in the Board of Trustees
and did everything in his power to promote the interests of the
infant colony. He was a man of profoundly religious views and
prominent as a member of Parliament. After the Virginia Com-
pany was dissolved, tiring of public life, he gathered together a
majority of his family and settled in Huntingdonshire, where
he conducted what might be called a Protestant monastery, the
members giving up their lives to good works. There is some doubt
about one child of Nicholas, the merchant. In one place his name
is given as Richard, and in another as Erasmus; but there is no
doubt about the one who came to Virginia. This was William, a
barrister at law, who came to Virginia probably in 1618. Cer
tainly he was there in 1621 and was then a man about thirty.
From 1627 to 1633 he was a member of council, and served as
justice for Charles City and Henrico. He died there on or before
the year 1637, leaving two sons, William and John, both of whom
became very prominent men in the colony, both serving terms in
the House of Burgesses, John rising to be a Lieutenant-Colonel in
the militia forces ; both were men of great public spirit. William
Farrar patented two thousand acres of land in Henrico, which
naturally passed to his sons. This tract was situated in a neck of
land some twelve or fifteen miles below Richmond, and came to
be known as Farrar's Island. He was succeeded by his son,
William Farrar, as the head of the family, and the grants of land
to the original patentee and his successors, between 1637 and
1722, aggregated some thirty-five hundred acres in Henrico
County. The history of this family has been worked out at great
length in volumes 1, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the Virginia Historical
Magazine, where those interested may trace it through the
generations.
In the old French and Indian War William Farrar was a
sergeant in 1758, credited to a Lunenburg battalion ; Abel was a
lieutenant in the Chesterfield Militia in 1760. In the Revolu-
tionary War appear the names of Stephen, William, Barret,
HERBERT FARRAR HUTCHESON 445
Benjamin, James, John, Micajah, Robert, Thornton Fields and
William Farrar.
Bishop Meade falls into error in classing the Farrars as a
Huguenot family, which is very natural in view of the fact that
the name was originally French and was spelled "Ferrar" or
"Ferrars," and John Ferrar was the deputy dealing with the
Government in behalf of the Huguenot settlement which it was
proposed to make in 1621. But this Huguenot, John Ferrar, was
dead in 1623, leaving no descendants, so that it is from the Eng-
lishman, William Farrar, that the Virginia family came. William
Farrar himself was descended from French ancestry a long time
back, the family being settled at Hull, Yorkshire, originally.
The Mecklenburg family was founded by George Farrar, who
moved to Lunenburg before Mecklenburg County was cut oft from
it, and died there in 1772. As appears from an article in the
Virginia Historical Magazine, he was in the seventh generation
from Nicholas Farrar, the London merchant. As he wras the great-
great-great-grandfather of Mr. Hutcheson, that places the latter
in the eleventh generation from Nicholas Farrar. Descendants
of this family are now scattered from Virginia to Texas, and in
our own day, Edgar Farrar, of New Orleans, is one of the most
eminent lawyers in the United States.
The maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch was
Samuel Farrar, and grandmother, Lucy Hudson, a sister of Dr.
John R. Hudson, a noted surgeon and iron manufacturer of Nash-
ville, Tennessee. Their mother was Nancy Goode, of Bedford Coun-
ty, Virginia. One of his mother's brothers, Samuel Goode Farrar,
was High Sheriff of the county for a number of years and was
afterwards County Treasurer; another brother, Richard P., served
as Commissioner of the Revenue for several terms. Two other
brothers, Joseph D. and James T., were soldiers in the Civil War.
His mother's father was named Samuel. His father, John, was a
son of George, the son of William, of Farrar's Island.
Herbert Farrar Hutcheson was educated in the public schools
of his native county, a private school conducted by Dr. W. J.
Carter, and Emory and Henry College. He has spent a very large
part of his life in the public service — twelve years as justice of the
peace, eight years as County Surveyor. He was a member of the
House of Delegates for the regular terms of 1899, 1900 and the
short session of 1901. Since 1905 he has held his present position
as County Clerk. Mr. Hutcheson may also be termed a practical
agriculturist, for he engages in agriculture to a very large extent,
being the proprietor of a large Roanoke River plantation and
several other farms. He is now in his third term as Chairman of
the Democratic County Committee, and in his second term as a
member of the Democratic State Central Committee. In fraternal
circles he is affiliated with the Masonic Blue Lodge at Boydton
and the Halifax Royal Arch Chapter at South Boston.
446 HERBERT FARRAR HUTCHESON
Mr. Hutcheson was married on October 25, L89o, to Mary
Hutcheson Young, of one of the oldest and most prominent fami-
lies of south side Virginia, born in Mecklenburg County on Sep-
tember 30, 1872, daughter of John Wesley and Alice Neblett
(Love) Young. They have a splendid family of seven sons and
one daughter. The oldest child, Charles Sterling Hutcheson, is
now a student at William and Mary College. The other children
are John Young Hutcheson, Herbert Farrar Hutcheson, Jr.,
Nathaniel Goode Hutcheson, William Childs Hutcheson, Joseph
Collier Hutcheson, Mildred Alice Hutcheson and James Love
Hutcheson.
Mr. Hutcheson's high personal standing is shown by the
official positions which he has held and is holding. He is pos-
sessed of the qualities of personal magnetism, a high degree of
courtesy and kindliness of spirit. His people have been serving-
Virginia for ten generations, and he is doing his duty, in his day.
to the Old Dominion with the same fidelity which has character-
ized the preceding generations.
The Farrar coat of arms is as follows :
" Argent, on a bend sable, three horseshoes of the field.
"Crest : A horseshoe sable between two wings argent.
"Motto: Ferre va fernie."
The Hutcheson coat of arms is thus described by Burke, the
British authority :
"Argent three darts pileways, barbs in base, azure; on a
chief of the last a boar's head couped or.
"Crest : An arm in armour, throwing a dart, all proper.
"Motto: Sursum."
type of a very ancient 1
of Lynchburg, Virginia, now ^
IL Evans Hardware Company,
business men of the enter
Virginia.
He was born in Marysville, Cai
April 29, 1867, son of Dr. FerdiuaT
Mitchell (Payne) Peirow. His !
practice, who graduated fr
'rv of 7
d one
November to Miss
M. K. and Emma -ID. Of
ter, Catherine M; i Perrow,
Lynchburg, Virginia.
ctor Perrow keeps in touch
.;:';>. ;
ry
<rlv o
•. v
of
so riiiij wnn cne jue
r name of Perrow
•ndy and in d
oe was
ago, and
blood wl
became N
now, in
450 CHARLES MATTHEW PERROW
Sir John Perrott, was made Deputy Governor of Ireland and later,
under Queen Elizabeth, served as a Privy Councillor until he
quarreled with the Queen.
This name, like a majority of our family names, has several
spellings, all, however, pronounced the same. We find among
these spellings "Perrot," "Perreau," "Perroult," "Pero" and
"Perrow."
In the earlier settlement of Virginia there appear to have
been two distinct branches of the family — one founded by Richard
Perrott, who came to Virginia in the first half of the seventeenth
century, settled first in Jamestown, and later in Middlesex or
Lancaster counties. He was a prominent vestryman in the old
Christ Church Parish of these counties. Bishop Meade, in his
Memoirs, spells this name both "Perrott" and "Perrow." This
first comer was apparently of French origin, for when the Vir-
ginia House of Burgesses passed a naturalization bill, the Per
rotts, in common with all the French Huguenots in Virginia, were
duly naturalized in 1661. Some of them adhered to the old
spelling for more than a hundred years, for as late as 1783,
Nicholas Perrott was a resident of Nansemond County. The old
Christ Church Parish register in Middlesex County gives the
names of over twenty of these Perrotts, born, baptized, married
and died.
The Perrows (to accept the modern form of the name) al-
ways stood well in the country, were usually planters, owning
lands and slaves, serving as vestrymen of their parish, magistrates,
and in all respects comporting themselves as good citizens.
The second family was founded by Daniel Perreau, who came
to America in 1700 and settled at Manakin Town, located on the
James River, in Powhatan County. He had two sons, Charles,
born in 1728, and Etienne, born in 1735. In 1783 Daniel Perrow
appears upon the records as a resident of Amherst County (later
Campbell). He had come from Slate River in Buckingham
County, or from Manakin Town. This Daniel was undoubtedly
the son either of Charles or of Etienne ; and Michael Perrow,
Captain of the United States Army during the Revolutionary War,
was probably his brother. Daniel Perrow had a son, Stephen,
who had a son, Ferdinand Anderson Perrow, who was the father
of Charles M. Perrow, the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Perrow's maternal line is of equal interest with the
paternal side of the family.
The family name of Payne has been traced back to one of the
followers of Rollo, who refused to become a Christian when the
rest of his countrymen accepted that faith, and became known as
Paganel, or the pagan. From this Paganel are descended families
in Great Britain under the surnames of Pagan, Pannell, Pennell
and Payne. Some time after the Norman conquest, one branch
of the descendants of the Pagan took the name of Paens, and
CHARLES MATTHEW PERROW 451
Hugh de Paens was one of the famous leaders in the Crusades of
the Middle Ages. By the year 1270 the present form of Payne had
become an established name.
In the year 1737 three Payne brothers lived in Bedfordshire.
England. These were Sir William, George and Robert Payne.
Obtaining land grants from King George II, the two younger
brothers, George and Robert, emigrated to Virginia. George
Payne's land grants lay in what are now Goochland, Buckingham,
Bedfordshire and Campbell Counties and on the Dan River in the
southern part of Virginia and northern part of North Carolina.
George Payne's eldest son, Colonel John Payne Whitehall,
by the law of primogeniture, inherited the family seat of White-
hall, in Goochland County, and a large fortune in personal prop-
erty. Dolly Payne, famous in history as Dolly Madison, wife of
President James Madison, was a cousin to Colonel John Payne,
and was one of the few women conspicuous enough in American
life to be a figure in history. Colonel John Payne was twice mar-
ried. His second wife was Mrs. Chichester (nee Jane Smith).
She was the widow of an Englishman of rank and wealth. Of
this marriage five children were born. Third of these five children
was Philip Payne, who married Elizabeth Dandridge, a grand-
daughter of Governor Alexander Spottiswood, a direct descendant
of the Scottish Earl of Wigton, and a sister of Dorothea Dan-
dridge, who was Patrick Henry's second wife. Philip Payne was
a man of great wealth. His home was at Marysville, Campbell
County, Virginia. One of his sons, Philip M. Payne, was the
father of Catherine Mitchell Payne, who was the mother of Charles
M. Perrow. For many years Colonel John Payne, here referred
to, represented Goochland County in the House of Burgesses.
From this brief record it will be seen that in both the mater-
nal and paternal lines, Mr. Perrow is descended from the earliest
settlers of Virginia.
There are in the English branches of this family a dozen or
more coats of arms, one of which claims to have been used by the
original family in Brittany. The majority of these carry the
spears, among other things, upon the shield.
There settled in Pennsvlvania in the earlier years of the
V I'
eighteenth century, Jacques Perrott, who brought with him the
French coat of arms, which is thus described :
Quarterly, per fesse dancettee, first and fourth or, a mascle
azure; second and third azure, a mascle or.
Crest : A hen on a nest of eggs proper.
Motto : Fama proclamat honorem.
MARTIN HOUSTON
FEW family names have been writ more large upon the
pages of our national history than that of the Scotch-
descended family of Houston, or, as it is frequently spelled
in Scotland, "Houstoun/' To Sam Houston, soldier and
statesman, liberator of Texas, and sterling patriot, the United
States is more largely indebted than to any other man or set of
men for that splendid territory which now constitutes the Empire
State of Texas. General Sam Houston was a member of the
family which has been identified with Virginia for one hundred
and seventy-five years, and with Tennessee for a somewhat shorter
period. But further south, in the State of Georgia, there was
another branch of this same family, also conspicuous for achieve-
ment in the early part of our history. This family was founded
by Sir Patrick Houston, a Scotchman who came over with Ogle-
thorpe about 1733, and he was one of the sturdiest of the strug-
gling band of colonists who laid the foundations of the new
commonwealth. His son, John, born in Georgia in 1744, a man
of learning and an eminent lawyer, was a leader of the patriots
in 1775 ; and would have been a signer of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence but for the fact that he was called suddenly home to
counteract the machinations of the Rev. Mr. Zubly, who was
trying to throw Georgia into the scale on the British side of the
question. John Houston was twice Governor of Georgia — first in
1778 and secondly in 1784. A man of high character and greatly
esteemed, his memory has been preserved in Georgia in Houston
Countv.
i/
The Virginia family, from which the extensive Houston family
of the United States is chieflv descended, was founded bv John
V f */
Houston, born in the North of Ireland in 1690. He married a
Cunningham, also of Scotch extraction ; and he, with his mother
(widow of John Houston, of Ireland), his wife and his six chil-
dren, came to Pennsylvania about 1735, moving thence some ten
years later to Rockbridge County, Virginia, where he settled on
a tract of land known as Burden's land. This peculiar name was
given because the land was a grant to one Burden, who was under
compulsion to secure a certain number of immigrants in a given
time in order to hold his title, and who disposed of the land at the
rate of twenty-five dollars per hundred acres.
The Houstons have been known in Scotland for many centu-
ries. It is said, indeed, that the family is of Celtic origin, and
[452]
/^
^1-
•1
~
1
,ON3 j
MARTIN HOUSTON 455
Scottish authorities state that it was a sept of the great Clan
MacDonald. This may have been true in the beginning, but it is
certain that, within the later centuries, the family was settled at
Cotrioch, in the County of Wigtoun, and at Calderhall, in the
County of Mid-Lothian. They were heritable baillies and justi-
ciaries of the barony of Busbie, in the County of Wigtoun. The
present representative of the family in Great Britain is Sir George
Lauderdale Houstoun-Doswall. He is a grandson of General Sir
William Houston, a British officer, who died in 1842. His son,
on his marriage to Euphemia Boswall, added the surname of
Boswall to his own. During the civil war of the seventeenth
century, and the subsequent religious troubles, a large number
of Scotch Presbyterians migrated to the North of Ireland, and to
their industry and thrift is due the splendid city of Belfast and
the prosperity of the Northern Province of Ulster. In 1689 the^e
Scotch Presbyterians were the backbone of the splendid defense
of Londonderry, which gave William of Orange time to formulate
his plans, mobilize his army, and finally overthrow the armies of
James II and establish firmly his claim to the British throne.
From this Province of Ulster there have come to the United States
a breed that we know as Scotch-Irish; and in the early days of
our country they were the most enterprising of our pioneers.
Among these was John Houston, above referred to, who through
his four sons and two daughters founded a family which, from
Virginia to Texas, has illustrated the highest qualities of good
citizenship. To this family belongs Martin Houston, of Chilhowie,
Smythe County, Virginia, who was born in the county where he
now lives, on March 24, 1842, son of Matthew and Levisa (Me
Ginnis) Houston. Matthew Houston was a farmer and tanner
by occupation.
Martin Houston, the subject of this sketch, was the fifth in
order of the nine children of his parents. His father, Matthew,
was the son of John Houston by his second wife, Elizabeth Jones,
and was the thirteenth in order of the fourteen children born of
the two marriages of John Houston. Matthew Houston was born
on March 6, 1816, and died March 10, 1886. John Houston, his
father, was the child of Samuel Houston, who was the son of John
Houston, of the Province of Ulster, Ireland, and who in all likeli-
hood was himself an immigrant from Scotland to Ireland, or, if
not, was certainly the son of the original immigrant, because the
great Scotch immigration to Ireland was between 1640 and 1670.
There is perhaps in all our history no family which has
shown more force of character and more ability in surmounting
disadvantages than this Houston family. The subject of this
sketch is an illustration. In his boyhood there were no public
schools. What were known as "old field schools" were the principal
source of education in his section, and his educational advantages
were limited to these schools — out of which, nevertheless, have
456 MARTIN HOUSTON
come many of our illustrious men. He had not arrived at man-
hood when the Civil War broke out. In April, 1861, then a little
past nineteen, he moved to Tennessee, and from that State entered
the Confederate Army, in which he served as a private in Com-
pany C, Ninth Tennessee Cavalry, during the war.
Immediately after the war, he moved to Limestone County,
Alabama, where he remained five years and then returned to Giles
County, Tennessee, where he remained until 1902. His principal
occupation was that of farmer and dealer in live stock. But his
capacity for business enabled him to carry forward other interests,
and so he became one of the early developers of the phosphate
lands in Maury and Giles Counties, Tennessee, an industry which
has grown into an immense business and has contributed verj
largely to the welfare of the country by furnishing the farmers
with one of their most valuable fertilizers. He was also interested
to some extent in the real estate and insurance business. In
1902 he returned to his native county, since which time he has
been engaged exclusively in farming and stock raising, though
he gives some attention to the interests of a bank, of which he is
a director.
In the history of the Houston family written by the Kev.
Dr. Samuel Rutherford Houston, it is stated with some pride
that the members of this family, many of whom were engaged in
farming and stock-raising, were notable for the high quality of
the stock which they shipped out; and it cannot be doubted that
Martin Houston is living up to the high character which this
family has made during its generations in southwestern Virginia.
Mr. Houston is a Democrat in his political faith, and has
served as one of the three supervisors of his county, under appoint-
ment by the circuit judge. In fraternal circles he is a member of
the Masonic Lodge at Chilhowie.
Mr. Houston was married in Ashe County, North Carolina, in
1860, to Kerenhappuch Buchanan, a native of Platte County,
Missouri, daughter of John and Malinda (Jones) Buchanan. Mr.
and Mrs. Houston have two living children. A son, Robert M.
Houston, now a deputy county clerk at Nashville, Tennessee,
married a Mrs. Wagoner, and they have one daughter: Katie B.
Houston. The daughter, Mary Florence Houston, married W. J.
Daly, and they have one son : William Houston Daly. Mrs. Daly
and her family live at home with her father.
It is interesting right here to note the persistence of the
Scotch-Irish blood in the generations of this family. Mrs. Hous
ton's father was of Scotch descent, and his mother of Irish. His
wife is descended from the great Scottish clan of Buchanan, which
had not less than fifty-four septs — or distinct families — from
which clan was descended President McKinley, President
Buchanan and probably the famous Confederate General Ewell.
Our space will not permit reference to the many splendid
MARTIN HOUSTON 457
descendants of John Houston. They have been distinguished as
soldiers, as churchmen, as statesmen, as jurists, and always as
earnest patriots and the Houston family history sets forth with
much modesty the useful lives of many of these splendid men.
Martin Houston has now passed the allotted three score and
ten of man. He has lived a long and useful life; and now enjoys
the respect, the confidence and the esteem of the people whom he
has served with fidelity, both in peace and war.
The Houston coat of arms is thus described by Burke, the
English authority:
"Or, a chevron chequy, sable and argent between three mart-
lets of the second.
"Crest : A sandglass winged proper.
"Supporters (borne by the family in right of their being
ancient hereditary Barons of Scotland) : On either side a grey-
hound proper collared and chained, or.
"Motto (over the crest) : In time."
HENRY LOUIS SMITH
HENRY LOUIS SMITH, LL.D., President of Washington
and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, was born at
Greensboro, North Carolina, July 30, 1859, and is a mem
ber of a family that is distinguished in the ecclesiastical,
educational and literary life of the South. His father was the
Reverend Jacob Henry Smith, D. D., a prominent Presbyterian
minister of Virginia and North Carolina, and his mother was
Mary Kelly Watson, daughter of Judge Egbert R. Watson, of
Charlottesville, Virginia, who was one of the ablest lawyers of
his time and commonwealth.
In the paternal line Dr. Smith conies of a Germanic stock.
His immigrant great-grandfather, who bore the same name of
Henry Louis Smith, settled first in western Pennsylvania, and
moved thence to what is now West Virginia, and later to the
Shenandoah Valley, at the southern end of which is the historic
Scotch-Irish town of Lexington. There Dr. Smith's father, the
Rev. Jacob Henry Smith, was born.
In his maternal line Dr. Smith conies from distinguished
ancestry in Piedmont, Virginia. His maternal great-grandfather.
Kelly, was an associate and close friend of President Jefferson.
His maternal grandfather, Judge Egbert R. Watson, one of the
leaders of the bar of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, at a
time when that bar was pre-eminent for talent and distinction in
Virginia, was an inmate of President James Monroe's household
in his earlier years, and stood almost in the relation to the Presi
dent of an adopted son. Judge Egbert R. Watson's legal and
judicial career may well be said to have adorned the annals of the
Commonwealth, and he ranked easily in the forefront of his pro
fession with his local compeers, William J. Robertson, Shelton
F. Leake, R. T. W. Duke, Stephen O. Southall, and other notable
lawyers of Charlottesville in his day and generation. A brother
of Judge Egbert R. Watson, who achieved an equally wide distinc
tion in another field was Judge William Watson, of Mississippi,
who was at one time a member of the cabinet of President Davis
in the war between the States.
Prior to the birth of Dr. Smith, his parents moved from
Charlottesville, where his father had been pastor of the Presbyte
rian Church, to Greensboro, North Carolina; and it was in this
section that Dr. Smith was born and grew up, and lived to the
time that he became President of Washington and Lee University.
[458]
-
TIL N8
HENRY LOUIS SMITH 461
I >r. Smith's boyhood was not unlike that of many healthy,
sound-minded, vigorous boys. He went through the public schools
of Greensboro, including the city High School. At this period
he took a strong interest in outdoor sports, and was equally at
home in baseball, swimming, fishing, camping, canoeing, and the
like. With his three brothers, two younger and one older than
himself, he lived much in the woods and open air.
In September, 1877, he entered Davidson College, North
Carolina. He was then just a little past eighteen, with a well-
trained mind and a vigorous, alert and healthy body, and was well
fitted to pursue an industrious course of study. He took the
full college courses in "the humanities,*' specializing in Greek and
mathematics. At the same time he continued his physical activi-
ties, playing shortstop on the college baseball team, organizing
and participating in the healthy winter sport of a skating club,
and taking part in the boxing matches and other college athletics
of the time. This judicious combination of mental and physical
exercise bore its legitimate fruits; and his studies, pursued with
equal ardor and interest, brought him the gold medals of the col-
lege in Greek, Mathematics, and the English Essay. He concluded
a four-year course of judicious and successful work, indoors and
out, by graduating maxima cum hnide in 1881, with the degree
of Bachelor of Arts.
In the Autumn of 1881 he became principal of the classical
academy at Selma, North Carolina, having determined to make
the noble pursuit of teaching his profession. He remained in this
position from 1881 to 1886, laying the broad foundation of his
subsequent achievement, and devoting to his work that earnest-
ness and sincerity of purpose which are among his most notable
characteristics. When his school at Selma opened in 1881, he
first gathered about him twenty-two pupils of the immediate
neighborhood in a spare room of the local Masonic Hall. When
he gave up the school in 1886 it had one hundred pupils from all
sections of the county, and a modern and well-equipped school
building with ample play grounds.
In 1886 he left Selma upon a call to the chair of Physics and
Geology in Davidson College, North Carolina. The notification
of his election having come to him in advance of the date upon
which his duties would begin, with characteristic energy and
determination, he immediately entered the University of Virginia
for graduate work in the subjects of his new chair. During the
session of 1886-1887 he won the orator's medal of the University
Temperance Debating Union at the University; and in 1887 he
entered upon the duties of his professorship in Davidson College.
In 1890 he secured leave of absence from his college for one year
and returned to the University of Virginia for the session of 1890-
1891. During this session he won the orator's medal of the Jeffer-
son Literary Society, a notable University honor, and was Presi-
462 HENRY LOUIS SMITH
dent of the University Young Men's Christian Association. At
the close of the session in 1891 he received from the University
its degree of Doctor of Philosophy, based upon his studies and
accomplishments in physics and geology; and in the Autumn fol-
lowing he returned to Davidson to again take up the work of his
chair.
In the discharge of the duties of his position at Davidson,
and in his enthusiastic exhibition of interest in the larger affairs
of life in his State, Dr. Smith soon began to attract notable atten-
tion, and he became especially popular as a lecturer in the varied
fields of education, religion and science. During the years 1895
to 1897, his reputation as platform demonstrator and lecturer
was yet further enhanced by his investigation of the then recently
discovered X-ray by Roentgen; and in this field Dr. Smith made
the first photographs ever taken in the South.
Such have been his energies and aspirations throughout his
career, that the times which for most men are holidays, have been
by him utilized no less as periods for work ; and during the sum
mers of 1893 and 1894 he pursued his studies and researches still
further in the laboratories of Cornell and Harvard. In 1895 he
toured Europe on a bicycle, thus coming in contact with all sorts
and conditions of men, and enlarging his stock of varied knowl-
edge that constitutes so significant a part of his equipment as
educator and man of affairs.
In 1896 his work at Davidson and in the State was recognized
by his election to the office of Vice-President of the college; and
in 1901 he was chosen by the trustees to be its President.
Davidson, like many other of the most effective colleges of
the country, is denominational. At the date of Dr. Smith's elec
tion to the Presidency, it was one of the smaller, though none the
less efficient, of the Presbyterian Colleges in the South. In 1901
it had one hundred and twenty-two students. Under the capable
and active direction of its new President it began at once to
increase both in numbers and efficiency. Its entrance require-
ments were raised and the fourteen units standard established.
Its equipment was enlarged and its endowment increased ; and
when in 1912 he left it to become President of Washington and
Lee University, its number of students was three hundred and
forty, its general endowment and equipment had been doubled, the
amount of money collected from its students had been trebled,
and it had taken a recognized place among the best and strongest
institutions of its kind in the country, drawing its patronage from
the entire South.
In 1911 Dr. George H. Denny, who had been for years Presi-
dent of Washington and Lee University, resigned his position :
and the trustees of that institution were confronted with the diffi-
cult task of choosing his successor. After a long, deliberate and
mature consideration by them of many of the most prominent
HENRY LOUIS SMITH 463
educators of America, their unanimous choice finally settled upon
Dr. Smith, and the office was formally tendered him. He took two
months to reach a decision ; and concluding that a larger field for
more effective work was offered him in this new position, he ac-
cepted it, over the protests of the faculty, the trustees and the
alumni of Davidson, and of hundreds of friends of the college in
North Carolina and the South.
He entered the Presidency of Washington and Lee July 1,
1912, and his formal inauguration at a later date was attended by
the representatives of the leading universities and colleges of
America, and was distinguished by ceremonial circumstances of a
character that marked no less the distinction of the new President
than the prominent position of the institution itself in the educa-
tional world of the country.
Doctor Smith's successful incumbency of the position up to
this time (1914), no less than his distinguished career in the past,
guarantee his future successful administration of the University,
and emphasize the wisdom of the trustees in his election.
Among the many prominent positions held by Dr. Smith have
been the Presidency of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly
and membership in the North Carolina Literary and Historical
Association, the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, the National Society of Broader Education, and other
similar organizations. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa
Society, and is affiliated with the Virginia Gamma Chapter of
Washington and Lee University. In 1906 he received the honorary
degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of North Carolina.
In religion Dr. Smith adheres to the church of which his
father and several of his near relatives have been ministers, and
of which he, himself, has been for many years a ruling elder. In
politics his affiliation is with the Democratic party, but he has
never been a partisan, and has never sought or held political
office. In business he has shown a marked capacity for successful
initiative and management. During his residence at Davidson
he was for many years a director of the Linden Cotton Mills at
that place, serving for a time as President of the corporation. Of
recent vears he has been activelv interested in the scientific con-
%/ c
duct of orchards, and in fruit growing. His Brushmont Orchard,
of several thousand trees, in Alexander County, North Carolina,
among the foothills of the Blue Ridge, has not only won national
prizes and wide reputation for its owner, but has become a most
effective object lesson to the whole fruit-growing section surround-
ing it. Doctor Smith's success as a business administrator and
man of affairs during his residence at Davidson brought him many
flattering offers to enter the arena of business, with a promised
pecuniary compensation far beyond anything the field of educa-
tion might offer. But his high idealism and his sense of ability
to serve his country more effectively in the fields of education and
science, have forbidden the allurements of mere money-making.
464 HENRY LOUIS SMITH
Doctor Smith was most happily married August 4, 1896, at
Davidson, North Carolina, to Julia Lorraine Dupuy, who was born
in Amherst County, Virginia, December 20, 1873, and whose
parents were John James Dupuy and his wife, Mary Baldwin
Sampson.
John James Dupuy, the father of Mrs. Smith, came of illus-
trious Huguenot origin. He is a descendant of Bartholomew
Dupuy and his wife, the Countess Susanne Lavillon, the immediate
progenitors of the Dupuys of Virginia, whose romantic story of
escape from France at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, and subsequent coming to Virginia, is graphically nar-
rated in the "Huguenot Emigration to Virginia," published in
1886 by the Virginia Historical Society. The children of the
marriage of Dr. Henry Louis Smith and Julia Lorraine Dupuy
are Jacob Henry, Helen Lorraine, Raymond Dupuy, Julia Dupuy,
Louise Watson, Opie Norris and Francis Sampson.
Doctor Smith's own immediate family is in an unusual sense
a remarkable one. His father was a distinguished Presbyterian
minister; and all four of his brothers have illustrated in their lives
the family qualities of piety, intellectual ability and a high order
of scholarship. The eldest of these brothers, the late Dr. Samuel M.
Smith, was one of the most powerful men in the Southern Presby-
terian Church, a finished scholar and a preacher and orator of
exceptional force. Another brother is Dr. Charles Alphonso
Smith, the Edgar Allan Poe Professor of English in the University
of Virginia, at one time Roosevelt Exchange Professor at the
University of Berlin, perhaps the greatest living critical authority
on the American short story, and one of the most distinguished
English scholars and teachers of his time.
Still another brother, Rev. Egbert Watson Smith, D. D., was
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, of Greensboro, North
Carolina, succeeding his father, until called to the Second Presby-
terian Church, of Louisville, ten years ago, and from that pastor-
ate to be Executive Secretary of Foreign Missions of the Southern
Presbyterian Church, the most influential and responsible posi-
tion in the denomination. He is the author of "The Creed of the
Presbyterians," published ten or twelve years ago, and which has
had a phenomenal and widely-distributed sale. Rev. Hay Watson
Smith, the youngest of the five brothers, is pastor of the Second
Presbyterian Church of Little Rock, Arkansas, which, under his
leadership, has become the largest Presbyterian Church in the
State.
In the younger generation, one of Dr. Smith's nephews, Reed
Smith, is Professor of English in the University of South Caro-
lina, and is exhibiting there those strong and vigorous qualities
of intellect and purpose which have so characteristically marked
the career of the older members of his family.
In conclusion it mav be said that Dr. Smith is one of the
HENRY LOUIS SMITH 465
leaders in that new and progressive group of teachers which the
later years have produced and developed in the South, whose
spiritual and intellectual vision sees, beyond scholarship and
learning and scientific acquirements, beyond the ordinary accom-
plishments of the learned professions, beyond theories and creeds
and doctrines the larger horizon of life which bounds every duty
owed by man to his fellow-man, and every opportunity for the
advancement of the human race.
WILLIAM WALLACE BIRD
WILLIAM WALLACE BIRD, of Lebanon, now one of the
most prominent lawyers of his section, was born at
King and Queen Court House, Virginia, son of William
Beverley and Martha Catherine (Harwood) Bird.
Mr. Bird's education was of the most thorough and liberal
character. After passing through local preparatory schools, he
entered the Aberdeen Academy in his native county, then con-
ducted by Col. J. C. Councill; and from that went to Richmond
College. He entered the University of Virginia as a student in
the Academic Department, in which he was successful in securing
diplomas in Latin, Greek, Mathematics and Chemistry; in addi-
tion to which he took courses in logic and experimental physics.
He afterward entered the Department of Law in the University
of Maryland, from which he was graduated with the degree of
Bachelor of Laws. Soon after his graduation, in October, 1893,
he entered upon the practise of his profession at Lebanon, at
which he has been diligently engaged from that time to the present,
his practice covering the Circuit and Supreme Courts of Virginia
and the United States Courts. In these twenty years of active
labor he has built up a large and successful practice, to which he
gives the greater part of his time, for the other interests with which
he has become connected require a share of his attention. These
interests cover grazing and farming, with some dealings in real
estate, and he is also a stockholder of the First National Bank
of Lebanon, in which he is a director.
Mr. Bird might be classed as a specialist, for he has devoted
himself single-mindedly to his profession, allowing nothing to di-
vert him from the main line. A Democrat in his politics and in-
terested in public affairs, he has neither sought nor held office. He
has not found time to specialize or become interested outside of
his profession, except as above stated. Even in his reading he con-
fines himself mostly to his law books and to publications that are
of interest to a practicing lawyer.
He has not, as so many men do, become affiliated with a num-
ber of clubs and societies, which (in passing it may be said) gen-
erally take more time than they are worth. His only membership
with any organized body is with the Methodist Church, South,
which he serves in the capacity of a steward. He was married at
Smithfield, Russell County, on December 15, 1896, to Sara Pres-
ton Lampkin, who was born at Clifton, Russell County, on May
[466]
]
X
WILLIAM WALLACE BIRD 469
20, 1872, daughter of John Taylor and Margaret Crockett (Carter)
Lampkin. After a short married life of two years, Mrs. Bird
passed away on December 16, 1898.
The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Parmenas
Bird, who though a mere lad served in the War of 1812 as a cou-
rier. He was the son of William Bird, who married his first cousin,
Anna Bird. Parmenas Bird died prematurely from a sudden and
violent illness, leaving his wife with several small children, of
whom William Beverley was the eldest. Although little over
twelve years old this lad assumed the responsibility of caring for
his family. After completing his education in the local academy,
of which Mr. Stubbs was principal, he embarked in business early
in life and soon formed a partnership with the late Samuel Tun-
stall, of King and Queen County. From the beginning of his busi-
ness life he was signally successful and early took rank among
the foremost business men and citizens of his section. When the
war came on he had amassed sufficient wealth to make him com-
paratively independent. On account of the effects of severe illness,
from which he never entirely recovered, he was not allowed to
enter the Confederate Army, and was obliged to submit to the or-
deal of remaining at home during the war.
William Beverley Bird was an ardent Democrat. King and
Queen was close as between Whigs and Democrats. When he had
barely attained his majority he was picked by the leaders of his
party as the strongest candidate they could put forward for the
legislature. He had, however, an aversion to entering personally
into politics, and steadfastly refused the nomination, a resolution
which he consistently held throughout his life, although always
manifesting a live interest in public affairs, and keeping himself
well informed on political questions of importance.
No State in the Union is so rich in its family history as Vir-
ginia. The old colonial settlers were largely men of good blood
in England — frequently younger sons of some education and a
most adventurous spirit. Twelve years after the settlement at
Jamestown (in 1607), they organized the first legislative assembly
on the American Continent, known as the Virginia House of Bur-
gesses, and the history of that body, from that time until the Revo-
lutionary War, was the history of the most brilliant body of men
that ever served any thinly settled colony. The names of a ma-
jority of them are written in our histories, and without these men
American history would have been a very different story.
Probably no man in Virginia can trace his family line back
through a more splendid lot of patriotic names than William W.
Bird. In the line of his forebears appear such names as Roane,
Harwood, Fauntleroy, Pendleton, Dinwiddie and Roy.
There were two main lines of the Bird family in Virginia —
one, the Byrds of Westover, identified with the Henrico section ;
the other, the Birds of King and Queen, which is the line to which
W. W. Bird belongs.
470 WILLIAM WALLACE BIRD
The Virginia House of Burgesses has been referred to. Be-
tween 1629 and 1775, the Roanes, Harwoods, Fauntleroys, Pen-
dletons and Birds, a round dozen in number, contributed one hun-
dred and sixty-seven years of service to the Virginia House of Bur-
gesses. A few of these deserve special mention. The accepted
founder of the Harwood family was Captain Thomas Harwood,
who was the principal man in Warwick County in 1620. In 1629,
he entered the House of Burgesses, in which he served unbrokenly
for twenty-two years, and in 1648-49 was Speaker of the House.
Major Humphrey Harwood represented Warwick from 1685 to
1692. William Harwood represented Warwick in 1714. Now we
come to the one of longest service — another William Harwood en-
tered the House of Burgesses in 1742, as member for Warwick, and
served unbrokenly until 1775, in which year he was a member of
the Virginia convention, and sat in that convention with Samuel
Harwood, who represented Charles City, which fifty years prior to
that had been represented in the House of Burgesses by Charles
Harwood, Jr. William Roane was in the House of Burgesses from
1769 to 1774. William Bird represented King and Queen County
from 1704 to 1714. Col. Moore Fauntleroy, one of the early set-
tlers in Norfolk County, represented that county in the House of
Burgesses from 1644 to 1650, then Lancaster from 1651 to 1656,
and finally Rappahannock from 1658 to 1660. Col. Moore Fauntle-
roy, founder of the family of that name, was succeeded seventy-
five years after his last legislative service by William Fauntleroy,
undoubtedly a grandson, who represented Richmond County from
1736 to 1749.
Mr. Bird's mother, Martha Catherine Harwood, was the
daughter of Captain Archibald Roane Harwood, a gallant officer
of the War of 1812, who married Martha Catherine Fauntleroy,
daughter of Samuel Griffin Fauntleroy, of Ring's Neck, afterwards
known as Holly Hill, King and Queen County. Captain Archi-
bald Roane Harwood served in both branches of the general as-
sembly of Virginia, and late in life became the Democratic candi-
date for Congress against the celebrated R. M. T. Hunter, who was
the Whig nominee. This was in the early forties of the last cen-
tury. Mr. Edwin Upshur, who was an uncle by marriage of Cap-
tain Harwood, came out as an Independent Democratic candidate,
which drew away a certain number of Democratic votes, and this
gave Mr. Hunter the election by a narrow margin of seventeen
votes over Captain Harwood. There is a very interesting tablet
erected in memory of certain members of the Harwood family in
King and Queen Court House. On this appears the name of Chris-
topher Harwood, who died in 1744. Following him is his son,
Captain William Harwood, born in 1734, died in 1773, who mar-
ried Priscilla Pendleton. He is followed by his son, Major Chris-
topher Harwood, who died in 1793, and who married Margaret
Roane, of Newington, daughter of Col. Thomas Roane, member of
WILLIAM WALLACE BIRD 471
the Virginia convention of 1778-79. His son, Captain Archibald
Roane Harwood, has already been referred to, and then comes
Samuel Fauntleroy Harwood, of Newington, born in 1817, who
married Betty Brockenbrough. His younger brother, Major
Thomas M. Harwood, born in 1827, is the last named on this tablet.
He was a gallant Confederate soldier, an eminent lawyer, who
died in Gonzales, Texas, in 1900. His elder brother, Samuel, was
a man of very high character, a masterful lawyer, served his peo-
ple faithfully in the state senate, was a director of the Richmond,
York River and Chesapeake R. R. Co., and was for more than a
generation a vestryman in the Episcopal Church of his locality.
Mr. Bird's paternal grandmother was Jane Wiley Beverley Corrie
Roy, daughter of Captain Beverley Roy, one of the splendid sol-
diers of the Revolutionary War. He went away from home at the
age of seventeen against the will of his people, began his career in
1777 as an ensign, served until the close of the war, ranking at the
end as a captain, and is said to have been a charter member of the
famous order of Cincinnati. Captain Roy was twice married ; first
to Annie Corrie, who in one place is said to have been a daughter
of a wealthy London merchant, and in another place a Liverpool
merchant — at all events she was an Englishwoman. She died in
1800, and he married in 1801 Janet Dickey Bird, who was a daugh-
ter of Robert Bird, of Poplar Grove. There were four children of
Captain Roy's first marriage. Of his second marriage there were
two sons : Dr. Beverley Roy and Dr. Dunbar Roy. Captain Bev-
erley Roy, of the Revolution, was a son of Thomas and Judith
(Beverley) Roy, of Port Royal, Virginia. Thomas Roy was the
son of Wiley and Elizabeth (Dinwiddie) Roy. Wiley Roy's wife
was a daughter of John Dinwiddie, brother of the colonial gov-
ernor, Robert Dinwiddie, who was a Scotchman born, and return-
ing to Great Britain, after serving for many years in Virginia, died
there. John Dinwiddie married Sarah Fowke, daughter of Col.
Gerard Fowke, whose wife was Sarah Mason, daughter of George
Mason, of Gunston Hall, England, and a member of the British
Parliament. This is the family to which George Mason, of Guns-
ton Hall, Virginia, belonged, and many thoughtful men regard
George Mason as the greatest mind ever produced on the American
Continent, judging from the standpoint of the statesman.
It will be seen from these records how large a number of great
Virginia names appear in the ancestral lines of W. W. Bird. The
Harwood family in Virginia dates back to Thomas Harwood, who
was the chief of Martin's Hundred, in Warwick County, iu 1620.
His long legislative record has been referred to, and he was
Speaker of the House in 1648-49. In 1645, John Harwood came
from England to Boston, Mass., and he used the identical coat of
arms used by Thomas Harwood, of Virginia, which shows that
they were of the same family. This coat of arms is described thus :
"Argent, a chevron between three stags' heads cabossed sable.
472 WILLIAM WALLACE BIRD
Crest: A stag's head cabossed sable holding in its mouth an oak
bough proper acorned or."
The Roy family can be traced back to 1637, when Peter and
Henry Roy were residents of Isle of Wight County. In 1744
Thomas Roy settled at Port Royal, in Caroline County, and mar-
ried Judith Beverley of that place. The connection of the Roy
family with this history has already been mentioned.
The Roane family was founded in Virginia by Charles Roane,
who came over in 1664. He was a son of Robert Roane, Gent., of
Chaldon, Surrey, England, who died in 1676, and left his son
Charles in Virginia six hundred pounds as a legacy to help him
establish his fortunes in the new country. In Volume XVIII of
the William and Mary Quarterly, pages 194 to 200, appears a con-
siderable amount of history pertaining to this family, from which
it seems that Samuel F. Harwood, who prepared this data, was a
great-grandson of William Roane, who married Sarah Upshur;
that William Roane was a son of Charles, the emigrant.
The arms of the Roane family are described as follows : "Ar-
gent, three stags trippant proper. Crest : A stag's hea d erased
proper, attired or, holding in the mouth an acorn of the last leaved
vert."
The Fauntleroy family, which looms up large in this history,
is generally credited with having as its founder in Virginia Col.
Moore Fauntleroy, who settled in Upper Norfolk County in 1641,
and is said to have been a son of John Fauntleroy, Gent., of Cran-
dall, Southampton, England. The Fauntleroy arms were con-
firmed to him by a proper grant in 1633. Col. Moore Fauntleroy
appears, judging from his membership in the House of Burgesses,
to have moved twice; first to Lancaster, and latterly to Rappa-
hannock. William Fauntleroy was probably the grandson of Col.
Moore Fauntleroy (though possibly a son). He was born in 1684
and died in 1757. He married Apphia Bushrod and had issue:
William, born in 1713 ; Moore, born in 1716, and John, born in
1724. The children of Moore Fauntleroy, born in 1716, settled in
King and Queen County. But one authority who has prepared a
book upon coats of arms possessed by Americans credits the Faun-
tleroy coat of arms to Thomas Waring Fauntleroy, and claims that
he came to Virginia in 1636, which is four years before Moore
Fauntleroy came over. Both of these may be right, and these two
may have been brothers, but we can find no substantiation anywhere
of the claim that Thomas Waring Fauntleroy came to Virginia in
1636. The Fauntleroy coat of arms is thus described: "Gules,
three infants' heads crined or. Crest: A fleur-de-lis or between
two wings expanded azure."
The first definite record of the Bird family in King and Queen
is of Robert Bird in 1691, followed by William in 1702, who seems
to have possessed the same lands which had been acquired by
Robert, and was probably, therefore, his son.
WILLIAM WALLACE BIRD 473
Mr. Bird's marriage has been related. Mrs. Bird was de-
scended from Captain Thomas Carter. Her mother, Margaret
Crockett Carter, married John Taylor Lampkin, and her mother's
sister, Mary Taylor Carter, married the father of Henry Carter
Stuart, present governor of Virginia (1914). To complete his
Carter blood, Governor Stuart married his first cousin, Margaret
Carter. Dale Carter, grandfather of Mrs. Bird, was descended
from Peter Carter and his wife, Judith, whose numerous descend-
ants have been set forth in a book by Miller entitled "The Descend-
ants of Captain Thomas Carter." Captain Thomas Carter came
from England, was the son of a Londoner of good family, settled at
Barford, Lancaster County, Virginia. His wife's name was Ara-
bella (surname unknown). Peter Carter was his fifth son. He
was born in Lancaster County in 1706 and died in Fauquier
County, after having for a time resided in King George, either in
December, 1789, or January, 1790. Three of his sons settled in
southwest Virginia, and from one of them is descended the line to
which Mrs. Bird belonged, all of which is duly set forth in the
Carter book.
Southwest Virginia has greatly developed and greatly pros-
pered in the last quarter of a century, and this development has
been due, not to the bringing in of outside people, or the securing
of foreign capital, but to the efforts of the Virginians, born of that
splendid English stock which in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries made eastern Virginia the garden of the New World.
In this work William Wallace Bird has borne his share as a good
citizen and a patriotic Virginian.
The original Bird coat of arms in Burke's Peerage is described
as follows : Ar. a cross flory betw. four martlets gu. a canton az.
Crest : A martlet gu.
Owing to intermarriages some slight changes have been made
in the coat of arms in the last three or four hundred years. The
description given, however, is authentic and approved by the Col-
lege of Heralds in London.
WILLIAM WISTAR HAMILTON
Rev. Dr. William Wistar Hamilton of Lynchburg, Va.,
is a member of one of the famous families of the world.
British genealogists state that the great Hamilton family
of Scotland had, as its founder, a Norman knight by the
name of Walter Fitz-Gilbert. However, there is reason to believe
that the original Hamilton family of Scotland was of Norse origin
and had its name and its land holdings before the Norman in-
vasion, and that the association of Walter Fitz-Gilbert with the
clan was the reason he was named as one of its founders. The
history of the Hamilton family thus dates back to the tenth
century.
Whatever the origin of the family, it is certain that the Ham-
iltons multiplied in numbers and gained in power for several cen-
turies until the head of the clan married into the Royal family,
and now the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon is the holder of one
of the proudest titles in Great Britain, and the Premier Peer of
Scotland. Lord George Francis Hamilton, First Lord of the Ad-
miralty, and governor of Tasmania ; Sir Robert George S. Hamil-
ton, British statesman, Under Secretary for Ireland, and many
other great names show the worth of this family in the history of
Great Britain. There is no greater name in thinking circles than
that of Sir William Bart Hamilton, the distinguished Scottish
metaphysician. His great system is founded on three things,
which even John Stuart Mill could not displace, viz., his profound
vindication of the doctrine of common sense ; his elaborate discus-
sion of the theory of perception in relation to our belief in an ex-
ternal world, and his enunciation of the law of the conditioned as
bearing on our knowledge of the absolute and infinite.
American and English encyclopedias are full of the illustri-
ous deeds of members of this Scotch family, and in our own country
the name of Hamilton is revered by one class of our people who
believe in the Hamiltonian theory of government, just as another
class adhere to the Jeffersonian theory. The name "Hamilton"
has found its way also into many of the towns and cities and
counties of our country, into the names of colleges and public
institutions, and into the life of the nation. Medicine in America
boasts the name of Frank Hastings Hamilton, the distinguished
surgeon and author ; art is proud of James Hamilton, born in Ire-
land, and making himself famous in his adopted home in Pennsyl-
vania. The father of Alexander Hamilton, the soldier and states-
[474]
TH
PUE
WILLIAM WISTAR HAMILTON 477
man, was a member of the Scotch clan of Hamilton, and his
mother, by name Faucette, was of French extraction, of the Hugue-
not line. The Faucette family had gone to the West Indies to es-
cape persecution, and the daughter, who later became Alexander
Hamilton's mother, was so unhappy in her first marriage that she
obtained a divorce, and later married James Hamilton, the father
of Alexander Hamilton.
Dr. W. W. Hamilton, the subject of this sketch, was born at
the Torian Farm, Christian County, Kentucky, December 9, 1869,
son of William Perry and Katherine Price (Roach) Hamilton,
the father having moved to Kentucky from Virginia, just follow-
ing the Civil War, to take up the life of a farmer, this having been
the occupation of his younger years.
This immediate Hamilton family was founded in America by
Dr. Hamilton's great-great-grandfather, Dr. William Hamilton,
who was a native of the north of Ireland, and for many years was
a surgeon at sea. He was descended from one of those Scotch-
men, who, in order to escape religious persecution, went to the
north of Ireland during the commonwealth period in England.
Retiring from the sea, Dr. Hamilton went to Scotland and
married Katherine Graham, member of another famous Scottish
clan, and later came to America and settled in what is now Fau-
quier County, Virginia. Their children were John, James, Robert,
Katherine, Jane, Margaret and Ellen.
John settled in Kentucky while the other two brothers, James
and Robert, went to live in Tennessee. Robert, the great-grand-
father of Dr. W. W. Hamilton, settled in Hawkins County, Ten-
nessee, where he married Sarah B. Brandon, daughter of Jarret
Brandon and Margaret Bell, whose parents were also of the north
of Ireland. John Bell Hamilton, the second son of this marriage,
was born in Hawkins County, Tennessee, February 16, 1798. In
1827, he moved to Sullivan County and settled near Blountville.
He served as sheriff six years beginning in 1840, and in 1846 and
1847, represented his county in the legislature. This second son,
John Bell Hamilton, was married May 12, 1822, to Elizabeth
Hicks, who was born near Blountville, February 12, 1790. Their
children were Stephen J., Robert P., George B., Jacob, John S.,
Martha E., Mary E. and William Perry Hamilton, who was the
youngest and who was the father of the subject of this sketch.
William Perry Hamilton, Dr. Hamilton's father, at the begin-
ning of the Civil War, gave up his prosperous mercantile business
at Bristol, Tenn., and served in the Nineteenth Tennessee Infantry
of the Confederate Army, and later in the Twenty-ninth Tennessee,
ranking in the last named regiment as first lieutenant. Having
lost health and wealth during the war, he decided to return to the
farm and to begin his life over again. In keeping with this pur-
pose he moved to Christian County, Kentucky, and was engaged in
farming there, when his son William Wistar was born. Later he
478 WILLIAM WISTAR HAMILTON
moved back to Tennessee, and settled again in Bristol, engaged for
a time in the mercantile business, but finally, in 1876, entered an
open field for the hotel business, as proprietor of the Hotel Hamil-
ton, which he founded, and which he conducted with increasing
prosperity up to the time of his death, July 19, 1910. He died
in Lynchburg, Va., where he had gone on a visit to the home of his
son, who was then, as now, pastor of the First Baptist Church of
that city.
In all generations the members of this family have been good
citizens, active in church work, nearly all of them being either
Baptists or Presbyterians, many of them occupying positions of
honor and service as deacons, elders and pastors.
Dr. Hamilton's maternal grandfather was the Rev. Elijah
White Roach, who for many years was a prominent and successful
Baptist minister in Virginia. He lived to the great age of eighty-
seven, and was in the active work of the ministry up to the day
before his death, having preached on Sunday and died on Monday.
During his life, he was closely associated with some of the most
eminent ministers of his day, such as Drs. Jeter, Witt, Poindexter,
Clopton, Graves and others. For fifty-three years he held one
pastorate, and his portrait now hangs in the pulpit of old Salem
Church, Charlotte County, and "Parson Roach" is still lovingly
remembered by the older people of the State.
Dr. Hamilton's maternal grandmother was Anne R. Harvey,
daughter of Colonel John Harvey. She was born May 22, 1803;
was married June 13, 1819, and died February 24, 1880. Of this
marriage there were twelve children born, and the youngest of
these, Katherine Price Roach, was Dr. Hamilton's mother, who is
now vigorous and active at the age of seventy-four, and resides
with her daughter, Mrs. M. G. Beckwith, at Bristol, Va.
This Mrs. Beckwith was Charmian, youngest daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. W. P. Hamilton, to whom were born three other children
— Emma L. (now Mrs. W. J. Thomas) ; Elijah Bell (died in in-
fancy), and William Wistar.
Dr. Hamilton had the advantage of a liberal education. He
went through King College at Bristol, Tennessee, earning, in June,
1890, his degree of A. B., having taken the medal given for im-
provement in debate, and then for best debater, and the medals
for science and for language and for oratory. He then, after a
struggle between the legal profession and the ministry, entered the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he won a degree of
Th. M. Later, while pastor in Louisville he took a post graduate
course in the same institution and won the degree of Th. D. The
honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by
the Georgetown College, of Georgetown, Ky.
For a man in the early forties, he has had a remarkably suc-
cessful career as a minister and author. His love for writing be-
gan to develop early. He had some preliminary experience as a
WILLIAM WISTAR HAMILTON 479
very young man in newspaper work as a reporter and city editor
and as telegraphic correspondent for Metropolitan newspapers,
and served a short apprenticeship in the hotel business, all of
which experience has been of value to him in his vocation as a Bap-
tist pastor, which has been his work since 1891.
He has been highly honored by his denomination. For several
years he was President of the Alumni of the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary of Louisville, Ky. At the present moment
(1913) he is (and has been for several years) President of the Bap-
tist Young People's Union of the South. For the past four years
he has been President of the Virginia Baptist Summer Encamp-
ment, which meets at Virginia Beach. Under the present .adminis-
tration, this encampment has grown until it ranks second in at-
tendance, being surpassed in that respect only by a similar gath-
ering in Texas, but in other respects it ranks first.
When the Southern Baptist Convention decided to institute
the "Department of Evangelism" which was to cover the whole
South, Dr. Hamilton, who was at that time pastor in Louisville,
was chosen to organize and manage this work and to give it the
large place which it holds among Southern Baptists. He was given
the title of General Evangelist, with headquarters in Atlanta, Ga.,
and soon called a large number of co-workers to help him.
Upon his re-entering the pastorate, Dr. Weston Bruner suc-
ceeded him in office, and is now carrying forward this work. In
addition to this active work in the south, and while serving as Gen-
eral Evangelist, Dr. Hamilton prepared books and tracts for evan-
gelistic work, and some of this literature has been translated by
Baptist missionaries, and is being used in the foreign work of the
Southern Baptist Convention.
In the political life of our country the subject of this sketch
has adhered in a general way to the Democratic party, though he
does not hesitate to exercise his independence in voting, and like
the majority of evangelical clergymen of our day, he puts the pro-
hibition of the liquor traffic before adherence to any party. He
regards the extermination of the liquor traffic as one of the prime
requisites to the betterment both of the moral and material con-
ditions of this republic. He abstains from the use of tobacco in
any form, and urges others to do the same thing. He strongly
stresses the need for the spread of sanitary and moral prophylaxis,
and is a member of the society which has headquarters in New
York. Feeling, as he does, that nothing will more effectually con-
tribute to the welfare of his fellowmen than the work of extending
the blessings and influences of the church, he gives himself un-
remittingly to the gospel ministry. Naturally, in his reading and
studies, the Bible occupies first place ; and, as he puts it, "first and
best of all." He is particularly a lover of biography and history
and of works on scientific subjects and books on theological themes.
Doctor Hamilton is a prolific author. His work in that
480 WILLIAM WISTAR HAMILTON
direction has been referred to incidentally. His books, "Sane
Evangelism," "The Helping Hand," "Benefit of the Doubt," "How
to Grow in the Christian Life," have had a very large circulation.
He has written a number of briefer studies on "How to be Saved,"
"Bible Baptism," "Open Communion, Right or Wrong," and other
Bible and church subjects. He was also an associate compiler of
a hymn book known as the "Evangel," which has been sold largely
in the Southern States.
He has been a regular contributor to many religious publica-
tions, notably, "The Religious Herald," "The Baptist World,"
"The Home Field," and to Foreign Mission Literature. To the
publications of the Baptist Sunday School Board of the Southern
Baptist Convention he has given an immense amount of labor, and
to the journals known as "The Southern Baptist Convention
Teacher," "Kind Words," "Home Department Quarterly" and "The
B. Y. P. U. Quarterly." He is at the present time engaged in
writing graded literature for the intermediate department of
the graded system of Sunday School lessons.
He is a trustee of the Baptist Orphanage of Virginia, located
at Salem, Virginia, and having about two hundred in its care, and
is a member of the Home Mission Board's organization for Vir-
ginia ; and is also a member of the Society of Sanitary and Moral
Prophylaxis.
Doctor Hamilton was married in Bristol, Virginia, on May 31,
1893, to Miss Zula Belle Doyle, who was born in Oxford, Missis-
sippi, daughter of Roderick Elwood and Victoria (Walton) Doyle.
Their children are William Wistar, Jr., now a student in Rich-
mond College, Richmond, Virginia; Perry Elwood, now a student
in the Lynchburg High School ; Doyle Roach, and Virginia Belle
Hamilton, who are pupils in the Lynchburg public schools.
Since his entry into the ministry Dr. Hamilton has been a
*/ •/
man of one work, holding pastorates in Virginia, West Virginia
and Kentucky. He has not turned aside into any other ventures
whatever, but has concentrated all the strength of a capable and
versatile mind upon the work of the ministry, either in the pastor-
ate or in evangelistic work. In his work he has been unusually
successful, and now in the prime of his manhood enjoys a wide
and honestly-earned reputation for capacity and usefulness. In
an active ministry thus far of about twenty years he has delivered
five thousand eight hundred and fifty-five sermons, and has wit-
nessed, in connection with his labors in his own pastorate and
in evangelistic meetings held with other pastors, nine thousand
one hundred and five professions of faith in Christ.
T1RGINI4, the oldest of
% / which (in consequence)
'has been characterized
Statesmen." This sfrat<
ordinary 01 -He!
i'i
he I a s
484 ROBERT NEWTON PAGE
The immediate family to which these Virginia and North
Carolina Pages belong traces back to Henry Page, who was born
in Wembly, in the County of Middlesex, England. One of his
sons, John Page, born about 1528, is known to have married
Audrey, a daughter of Thomas Redding, of Hedgetown, Middle-
sex. John Page had two sons. One of these, Richard, was twice
married. The family names of his wives are not known, but the
given name of one of them was Frances, who appears to have been
the mother of ten children. One of these ten was Thomas, born
at Uxenden about 1597. He moved to Sudbury in 1622. Thomas
was married but we do not know his wife's name. The old rec-
ords show that John and Mary, son and daughter of Thomas Page,
of Sudbury, were baptized at Harrow on December 26, 1628. This
John Page, whose baptism is here mentioned, was born in 1627,
immigrated to Virginia in 1650, and for the next forty years was
one of the most conspicuous citizens of the new colony, being a
member of the Council. He was a man of learning and public
spirit. He married Alice Luckin and settled in Williamsburg. A
letter which has been preserved, written by him to his son, Captain
Matthew Page in 1688, in which he enclosed to the son (as a little
present) a manuscript book in his own handwriting, of a religious
character, shows him to have been a fluent writer and a man of
deep religious feeling. There is in existence a splendid portrait
of Col. John Page, painted by Sir Peter Lely in 1660. It represents
him as a young man of about thirty-three with grave blue eyes
and wavy brown hair parted directly in the middle. Captain
Matthew Page, second son of Col. John Page, was born in Wil-
liamsburg in 1659, and moved to Gloucester County, where he died
on January 9, 1703. His wife was Mary Mann, the daughter and
heiress of John and Mary Mann, of Timber Neck, Gloucester
County, and through her the Rosewell lands, and other vast
landed possessions in a half dozen or more Virginia counties, came
into the Page family. On the death of Matthew Page, the estate
went to his only son, Mann Page, who (in 1725) began the erection
of the great manor house of Rosewell, and which cost such a vast
sum of money as to make great inroads in the princely estate of
the family. Some believe this old manor house to be on the site
of the village of Powhatan, the Indian Chief. It was splendidly
built of brick brought from England, five years being required to
complete it. Much of the interior was finished in mahogany and
there was a great stairway up which eight persons could walk
abreast. Mann Page served for sixteen years, from 1714 to 1730,
as a member of the Colonial Congress. He was married twice.
His first wife was Judith Wormley, daughter of Hon. Ralph
Wormley, Secretary of the Colony in 1712. In 1718 he married
secondly Judith Carter, daughter of King Carter, of "Corotoman,"
President of the Colony. By his first wife he had two sons and a
daughter; and by his second wife five sons and a daughter. Mann
ROBERT NEWTON PAGE 485
Page died in 1730, in the prime of life, being just forty years old.
He was succeeded (as head of the family) by Mann Page (2), who
was born in 1718 at Rosewell, where he always lived; and who
married Alice Grymes, daughter of John Grymes, of Middlesex.
Their son was the celebrated Governor John Page. Burdened
with the debts incurred by his father, Mann Page (2), got leave
to sell off most of the contingent lands, in order to pay the debts
and let his sisters and brothers have their rightful inheritance.
Like all of this family, he was a man ready to give patriotic
service, but preferred private life. He declined to serve in the
Council of Virginia and recommended his younger brother. He
did, however, serve in the Continental Congress. His first wife
died in 1746. He married secondly Anne Corbin Tayloe in 1748,
she being the daughter of Col. John Tayloe, of Mount Airy. John
Page, commonly known as "John Page, Jr.," to distinguish him
from his uncle, was born in 1744 ; he served under Washington in
one of his Indian expeditions ; was a member of the House of
Burgesses, of the Committee of Public Safety, Lieutenant-Governor
of the State, one of the first representatives from Virginia in the
Federal Congress, and was finally elected Governor in 1802. Dur-
ing the Revolutionary War he was such an ardent patriot that he
melted up the lead sash weights of the windows at Rosewell in
order to make bullets. He married Margaret Lowther, daughter
of William Lowther, of Scotland. After the death of his first
wife he married Frances Burwell, who was a member of a dis-
tinguished Virginia family. At least two sons of this Page family
of Rosewell, in the earlier generations, settled in Hanover County,
and it is from these sons that the North Carolina Page family,
to which Robert Newton Page belongs, is descended. To this
Hanover County family also belongs Thomas Nelson Page, lawyer
by profession, and one of the most famous authors and lecturers
of our generation.
Robert Newton Page has an elder brother, Walter Hines Page,
one of the most distinguished men of our country today, for years
a member of the firm of Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, and
editor of the "World's Work," one of the greatest periodicals of
the world. He is now representing the United States in Europe
as its ambassador to Great Britain.
The old historic mansion of Rosewell, the home place of this
great family, has passed through many vicissitudes. It passed out
of the family at one time and then back into it. It was sold in
1838 to Thomas Booth, of Gloucester County, who sold it to John
Tabb Catlett, who later sold it to Josiah Lilly Deans. Mr. Deans
restored the old mansion to its original splendor and maintained
there a lavish hospitality until the Civil War came on. Then it
again fell upon evil days. It escaped destruction by the Federals
by a very narrow margin, and after the death of Mr. Deans in
1881, was sold for division among his heirs, and again passed into
486 ROBERT NEWTON PAGE
the Page family through Philip Page, of South America. Later
the estate was bought back by Deans heirs, and in the sub-division
which followed it fell to Mrs. Fielding Lewis Taylor, a daughter
of Mr. Deans. Through Judge Taylor's connection with the Wal-
ler family, Rosewell is still in possession of the descendants of
Mann Page. Some years back there was a famous gathering under
the old roof and when the Sir Roger de Coverley was danced it
was participated in by "fourteen descendants of Mann Page,
seventeen of old King Carter, twenty-two of Augustine Warner,
Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and eight of that great gentle-
man of Westover, the second William Byrd."
Robert Newton Page was educated first in the common schools
and then in the famous Bingham Military School at Mebane,
North Carolina. Leaving school, he entered business life at Aber-
deen, North Carolina; here as a lumber manufacturer, he was
successful from 1880 to 1900. In 1890 he added to his occupation
the position of Treasurer of the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railway
Company, which position he held until 1902. In the meantime, in
1900, he had been elected a member of the North Carolina Legis-
lature, and had thus imbibed a taste for political life, though it
is not at all unlikely that he might have inherited the virus in
his blood. In 1902 he became a candidate for Congress in the
Seventh District and was successful, taking his seat on March 4,
1903; he has been serving continuously since as the result of
successive re-elections.
Mr. Page belongs to no club or society, or organization of
any kind other than the Southern Methodist Church, of which he
is a steward.
He was married on January 20, 1888, at Manly, North Caro-
lina, to Flora Eliza Shaw, born June 25, 1866, at Mount Gilead,
North Carolina, daughter of Peter Cornelius and Rebecca (Kelly)
Shaw. Of this marriage there are four children : Thaddeus Shaw
Page, who is a graduate of the University of North Carolina (in
1912), and is now engaged as a private secretary; Richard E.
Page, a graduate of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of
North Carolina (in 1913), who is now engaged in the manufacture
of farm implements; the third son, Robert Newton Page, Jr., is
a student in the University of North Carolina; and the only
daughter, Kate Raboteau Page, is a school girl of twelve at this
time (1914).
In a literary way Mr. Page's taste runs to historical and bio-
graphical works. In every generation of this family, from John
Page, the immigrant, down to the present, have been shown strong
literary tastes, facility of expression, public spirit and a devoted
patriotism. This has been illustrated by a number of men of this
family, each distinguished for his own work, and which our space
will not permit us to discuss at length. In the present generation
it is enough to say that Walter Hines Page, Ambassador to Great
ROBERT NEWTON PAGE 487
Britain ; Robert Newton Page, member of Congress ; Thomas
Nelson Page, lawyer, author and lecturer; and James Morris
Page, Professor of Mathematics of the University of Virginia, all
illustrate the distinguishing traits of the Page family, which for
two hundred and sixty-four years has been serving first the col-
onies, and then the States, with zeal, fidelity and intelligence.
Not the least of this long line, measured either by ability or
service or character, is Robert Newton Page, the subject of this
sketch, who is living up to the best traditions of a family which
has always maintained a high standard.
The Page coats of arms in Great Britain are mostly similar,
showing a common ancestry. Fortunately, it is known definitely
which coat of arms John Page, the immigrant, used. By compari-
son of the various crests given by Burke, it can readily be seen
how close the connection was between the various branches of the
family. The arms, as used by John Page, are as follows :
"Or, a fesse dancette between three martlets azure, within
a bordure of the last.
"Crest : A demi-horse per pale, dancette, or and azure.
"Motto : Spe labor levis."
WILLIAM PENN REESE
A MAJORITY of the Reese families of the United States are
of Welsh origin, derived from the ancient name of "Rhys,"
from which we have "Reese," "Reece," "Rees," "Rice."
An equivalent form of the name appears in several lan-
guages— in Flemish the form is "Reisse," in German "Riess, in
Dutch "Rees." The German, the Dutch and the Welsh families
are all represented in the United States, the immense preponder-
ance being with the Welsh. In the early days of Wales, in a list
of fifteen noble tribes of North Whales and Powis, the family of
Rhys Goch were Lords of Tal Ebolion in Anglesey. They were
found also in Glamorganshire and Cardiganshire. The Genealo-
gist's Guide, an English work of authority, classes the family
among the original nobility of Wales. In the course of time they
have intermarried with other families and quartered the arms of
those other families with theirs until it is quite difficult now to
figure out just what is the original coat of arms of the Reese
family.
Of this Welsh stock comes Dr. William P. Reese, of Taylor's
Store, Franklin County, Virginia, son of Dr. Silas Garrett and
Eliza Margaret (Rucker) Reese. Doctor Reese's great-grandfather
came from WTales, settling in Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia,
from which place his grandfather, William Reese, moved to Vir-
ginia more than a hundred years ago and settled in Bedford
County. Doctor Silas Garrett Reese was for many years an active
practitioner of medicine, his practice covering a very wide extent
of country.
The probabilities are that Dr. Reese is descended directly
from the family which came from Wales to New Castle, Delaware,
in 1700. They spelled the name then "Rees," and after coming to
America added the final "e." The exact numbers of this family
cannot be stated. We know of the Rev. David Reese, a Presbyte-
rian minister, who with his two daughters, Ruth and Esther, went
to Pennsvlvania. His brother Charles remained in Delaware, but
t/ '
after his death his family also moved to Pennsylvania. Another
brother, George, settled in Maryland and left a numerous family.
The Rev. David Reese's daughter Esther married a Scotchman
named Mackay, descended from General Mackay, who commanded
the Scotch army at the battle of Killicrankie.
Evidently some of David Reese's children were grown when
he came to America. Whether he had more than one son is not
[488J
•
.
Titr
WILLIAM PENN REESE 491
definitely known, but certainly he had one son, David, who mar-
ried (in 1783) Susan Ruth Polk, of the Maryland family of that
name, from which was descended President James K. Polk. Of
this marriage ten children were born, and five of these sons were
soldiers in the Revolutionary Army. David Reese himself moved
to North Carolina about 1740; and on the 20th of May, 1775, was
a member of what was known as the Mecklenburg Convention
held in Charlotte, which issued the famous Mecklenburg Declara-
tion of Independence, and which antedated our national Declara-
tion of Independence by fifteen months. He was a man of unusual
force of character, a devout Presbyterian elder, and his descend-
ants are now widely scattered over the country.
In the winter of 1864-1865, Dr. William P. Reese was a
student of the Virginia Military Institute, and during the last
few months of the war, as a member of the corps of cadets, he did
duty as a soldier around Richmond. Resuming his studies after
the Civil War, he was graduated from Roanoke College in June,
1868. He then took up his medical studies at the Washington
University, now the College of Physicians and Surgeons (Balti-
more), and from that school went to the University of Pennsyl-
vania, from which he was graduated in 1872 with his medical
degree. He entered upon the practice of his profession, after his
graduation, and for forty years was in active practice in his
native county. About 1913 he gave up active work, giving his
principal attention now to the work of his farm, though he has not
eschewed the practice altogether, never refusing to serve those
who come to him.
Doctor Reese has been a man of one work, and during his
long and active career has confined himself steadily to relieving
the sufferings of his neighbors in so far as possible. He has never
held public office and never sought place. He is affiliated with the
Democratic party in his State, but only as a private citizen.
He has not had the American habit of joining societies to any
^reat degree, his membership in these being confined to the Phi
Gamma Delta college fraternity and the Medical Society of
Virginia.
He is evidently very steadfast in whatever he undertakes, for
as a member of the Methodist Church he has served continuously
as a steward for forty years.
Doctor Reese has been twice married — first at Salem, Vir-
ginia, on December 26, 1878, to Mary George Hannah, a native
of Roanoke County, daughter of George and Sarah Hannah. His
second marriage was at Chatham, Pittsylvania County, on Novem-
ber 21, 1895, to Emma Craighead Ragsdale, a native of Chatham,
daughter of D. C. and Mary Ragsdale. His second wife also has
passed away and he is now a widower. He has four children.
Frederick William Reese, who lives with his father on the
home place, is the eldest.
492 WILLIAM PENN EEBSE
Doctor George Hannah Reese is a graduate of Roanoke College
and of the University College of Medicine in Richmond. After
his graduation as a physician, he served for two years on the staff
of the State Central Hospital, at Petersburg, Virginia. He then
took a post-graduate course at Harvard University, and is now
practising medicine in Petersburg.
His third child, Hattie Allen Reese, was educated at the
Woman's College in Richmond and the Roanoke College at Salem.
The youngest, Mary Bell Reese, is not yet of age to be sent
off to school. None of Dr. Reese's children is married.
Outside of his professional reading, Dr. Reese says that he
has found the Bible and historical works most helpful to him, and
his life indicates that he has taken the teachings of the Bible very
much to heart.
He is a man of strong convictions. He believes that the best
interests of our country would be greatly promoted by nation-wide
prohibition of the liquor traffic, by stringent laws against selling
deleterious drugs, such as cocaine, and lastly, by the prohibition
for a few years of all foreign immigration, until we have assimi-
lated what has already come. Every thoughtful man, who is not
hide-bound by prejudice or inherited tradition, will agree with
him in every one of these positions, all of which are eminently
sound and would contribute vastly to the betterment of conditions
in this country.
Doctor Reese has lived a useful life. He belongs to that class
of good and constructive citizens who stay at home, attend to
their own business, and contribute in every way possible to the
betterment of the communities in which they live. It is to this
class that we have to look in every emergency of a public nature,
because it is conservative and a restraining influence.
Just before Dr. Reese moved to Salem, the editor of the
county paper published an article which regretted his loss and
spoke of how much he would be missed by the entire county.
This article also told of his many fine characteristics, his high
record as a physician and a man. Another newspaper speaks of
his name as being synonymous with purity and honor.
Like the average American, he is of composite blood, being
on the paternal side Welsh-English, and on the maternal side
Scotch-French.
Throughout all generations of this particular family in this
country there has been an earnest devotion to Christian principles.
His grandfather, William Reese, was a successful and prominent
business man, noted for his high Christian character. Mention
has already been made of the Christian character of that branch
of the family which went from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.
His grandmother Reese was a Mary Booth, whose ancestry
dates back to one of the old English earls, whose coat of arms
was a "wild boar's head."
WILLIAM PENN REESE 493
In his maternal line the Rucker family was founded by three
brothers who were French Huguenots. Some of them were promi-
nent in the ministry, some in the army. During the colonial
period, three served as clerks in the old House of Burgesses, and
one was a Major in the Revolutionary War.
The Scotch strain comes through his grandmother Rucker,
who was born a Hardy. Her father was a full-blooded Scotchman
and served as a soldier in the Revolution. His record has been
carefully preserved and is on file in Government offices at Wash-
ington, D. C. Her mother was a McKenzie, of Albemarle, and
the town of Charlottesville was built on a part of the land origi-
nally owned by her father. His great-great-grandmother was a
Leake, also of Albemarle, and a noted family of that section. The
Tinsleys, Garlands, Hammetts and other old families of that
section are also related.
The meaning of the Welsh word "Rhys," which is the origin
of this family name, is said to have been "to twist," and certainly
the names which have been twisted out of the original form show
that it was a proper meaning.
The authentic history of the family goes back to the year 876,
and in these early centuries it was certainly one of the most
powerful of WTelsh families — its coat of arms appearing sculp-
tured on the western front of Llanwenog Church in Cardiganshire.
In 1171 Rhys, Prince of Wales, made peace with the English King,
Henry. The wife of this Rhys, Princess Gwendolyn, was said to
have been the most beautiful woman of her generation, a perfect
blonde, and her daughter, Princess Gladys, even surpassed her
mother. When the break between the Church of Rome and Henry
VIII occurred, the Rhys (or Reese) family did not adhere to the
Church of England, but became Presbyterians. Some of them
adhered very tenaciously to the old Welsh forms of the name. We
come upon the Rev. David Ap Rees, Pastor of a Presbyterian
Church in London, and his son, the Rev. David Ap Rees, who was
pastor of a Presbyterian Church at Cardigan. He married Maude,
the daughter of Sir Meredith Owen, of South Wales, and is said
to have been the ancestor of the Pennsylvania family which came
over in the early part of the eighteenth century.
Shakespeare in his "Richard III," speaks of Thomas Rice, of
Wales, as being among the notable men who went to the assistance
of the Duke of Richmond at the battle of Bosworth field. The
Booklovers' Edition of Shakespeare gives Rhys and Rice as the
same name.
The coat of arms of the Reese family is given by Miss Mary
Eleanor Reese as follows:
"This coat of arms is quartered, combining the North and
South Welsh house of Rhys.
"The upper right quarter: Blue, with silver cross and cres-
cents, indicating they were religious people. Blue is symbolic
494 WILLIAM PENN REESE
of that fidelity and devotion to duty, always characteristic of the
Royal tribes of Wales.
"The upper left quarter: White, with crimson chevron and
two ravens, with the gold letter R for Rhys. Cambrian history
says : 'The Ravens rejoice when blood is hastening, when war
doth rage,' showing they were distinguished warriors.
"The lower right quarter: Sable, with crimson chevron, and
three gold sheaves of wheat ; indicating they were farming people
and possessed large landed estates.
"The lower left quarter : Purple, with a white Talbot rampant,
on the scent, ready for the fray ; showing they were brave, gallant
soldiers. The crimson, blue and purple were the royal colors.
"The Crest: A cubit arm vested, the hand grasping five ears
of wheat slipped.
"The two Latin mottoes : Spes melioris aevi (Hope for a better
age). Spes tutissima caelis (The safest hope is Heaven)."
TF:
PUBLIC
i§§
'
L
to become
is an important
of the Wei don Ic
of the Roanoke
where he •
.3 the respect au<
ar and of eonstrn
but has pol
,tic party. 1
kind
he
in
498 JAMES LEFTWICH SHEPHERD
son is Newton Jackson Shepherd, who has just graduated. Then
come in order James Leftwich Shepherd, Jr., Clyde Dennis Shep-
herd, Hugh Bilbro Shepherd, Mary Rives Shepherd and Meade
Green Shepherd.
Both the Shepherd and Leftwich families from which Mr.
Shepherd is descended have been identified with Virginia from a
very early date. The first definite record we come upon is that of
Captain Robert Shepherd, who was in Virginia in 1624, and sold
a servant to John Powell in that year. Captain Robert Shepherd
appears to have been a very prominent man in that day. In 1646
and 1647 he represented James City County in the House of Bur-
gesses. He had been preceded in the House of Burgesses by John
Shepherd, who was a representative in the House in 1644, and
again in 1652 and 1653. But prior to either one of these appears
Thomas Shepherd, who represented Elizabeth City in the House
of Burgesses in 1632 and 1633. Captain Robert Shepherd's wife
was named Elizabeth, and his children were Anne, John, Robert,
William, Priscilla and Susanna. Nearly a hundred years later,
we come upon George Shepherd in Spottsylvania, who died on
January 10, 1750. His wife also was named Elizabeth, and his
children were George, Robert, James, John and Ann.
In the meantime, along down the generations, these Shepherds
had been stout soldiers and equally stout churchmen. We find in
Bishop Meade's great work on "Old Churches and Families of
Virginia" that he speaks of the Shepherds as strong supporters
of the church in numerous parishes and counties. He especially
mentions Andrew and James Shepherd, of Orange ; Captain Shep-
herd, of Hanover; Baldwin Shepherd, of Hampton; Moses Shep-
herd, of the western section ; Thomas Shepherd, of Berkeley ;
William Shepherd, of Princess Anne; Solomon Shepherd, who was
a lay member in the convention of 1785; and the Rev. John
Shepherd, who was Rector of the old Parish in Middlesex, where
he died in 1683, one of the early Episcopal ministers of the State.
Of some of these, notably old Captain Shepherd, the good Bishop
speaks in the highest terms.
In the Revolutionary War the Shepherds bore their full
share. There were four Abrahams who held official position — one
from Connecticut, one from North Carolina, two from Virginia.
One of these Virginia Abrahams was a Captain in the Continental
Army, had a brilliant record, and after three years of splendid
service was honorably discharged on account of broken health.
There is a long list of Shepherds who appear to have served
honorably as private soldiers, among which appear the names of
David, Edward, George, Jacob, James, Joseph, John, Moses, Peter,
Reuben, Samuel, Solomon, Thomas and William. Unfortunately
the counties of most of these cannot be located ; Joseph, however,
belonged to Albemarle. Andrew was an assessor in Orange
County in 1785 and a tower of strength to the Episcopal Parish
JAMES LEFTWICH SHEPHERD 499
of that section. Augustine lived in Albernarle in 1782. James
was in Hanover. He had a family of eleven persons and was the
owner of five slaves; and in that same year (1782) John Shepherd
lived in Fluvanna County. He had a family of eleven persons and
was the owner of nine slaves. In these generations, since the
settlement of Virginia, the Shepherds have intermarried with
numerous old Virginia families, one of the early Shepherds having
married a sister of the famous Bishop of London, John Robinson ;
and later on appear marriages with the Ellises, the Potters, the
Lees, the Wallaces, the Wythes, and others equally notable. Shep-
herdstown, now in West Virginia, was named in honor of Captain
Thomas Shepherd, who settled there in 1732 or 1734, the village
being incorporated in 1762. He and his eldest son, Col. David
Shepherd, were among the stoutest defenders of the then frontier
section against the Indians. Captain Thomas Shepherd married
Elizabeth, the granddaughter of John Van Metre. He left an
ample estate and ten children. It is a tradition in that branch of
the family that they came to America from Shropshire or Wales,
but the crest on a piece of ancestral plate used by the family
would indicate that they were descended from the Devonshire
family.
Mr. Shepherd's maternal line, the Leftwiches, starts with
Ralph Leftwich, who came to Virginia certainly as early as 1658,
for land grants appear in his name in that year. The family was
settled in New Kent and Caroline counties and enjoyed high stand-
ing, as appears from Bishop Meade's work. The most prominent
members of this family were Augustine Leftwich, who was a
Lieutenant during the Revolutionary WTar, and Thomas Leftwich,
who was a Captain. In addition to this, Joel, John and Uriah
Leftwich appear to have served as privates. Augustine Leftwich
was either the grandson or great-grandson of Ralph Leftwich, the
immigrant, and it is believed that a majority of the present Left-
wich families are descended from Augustine. This family used
the same coat of arms as the Leftwich family of Cheshire, Eng-
land, which is described as follows :
"Azure, three garbs or on a fesse engrailed argent.
"Crest : Five leaves vert conjoined at base.
"Motto : Ver non semper floret."
The Shepherd coat of arms is described as follows :
"Sable a fesse argent; in chief three poleaxes of the second.
"Crest: On a mount vert a stag lodged, reguardant argent
vulned on the shoulder gules."
JAMES SWEARENGEN
THE Swearengen, or Swearingen, family of the United
States all trace their descent from an ancient Bavarian
family which moved to Holland and became feudal tenants
under the Lords of Dillingen.
The immediate progenitor of the American family, Garrett
Van Swearingen, was born in Holland in 1636 and died in 1712.
He married, in 1660, Barbara De Barrette, who was of Norman-
French lineage. We do not know how many children they had, but
we do know that they had a son, Thomas, born in 1665. Thomas
was the immigrant to the United States, and settled on the
Monocacy River in western Maryland. In all these Swearingen
families (who, by the way, seem to spell their name indifferently —
Swearingen or Swearengen) we have only a partial record of the
children. Thomas Swearingen had a son Van, born in 1695, who
died in 1785. He married Elizabeth Walker, of Patuxent, Mary-
land. The names of two of their sons are known — Van, Jr., and
Charles. We do not know who Van, Jr., married; but Charles
married Susan Stull. They had a son John, who married Eliza-
beth Bond. The third daughter of John married George Shafer,
and their daughter, Elizabeth Swearingen Shafer, married the
Kev. John Beck, which brings us down to modern times. This
branch of the family uses the old coat of arms of the Bond family
of Cornwall, as the Swearingen coat of arms has been lost sight
of, and could only be procured by tracing back to Holland or
Bavaria.
That Thomas, the immigrant, and his son Van had numerous
children we know by the constant references on the public records,
but it is practically impossible now to identify the particular
relationship of these different men.
The family became very prominent in western Maryland,
where they settled between 1700 and 1725. We find William
Swearingen one of two hundred petitioners, in 1742, for the crea-
tion of a new parish, covering what is now three Maryland coun-
ties, and which petition was granted. This William was probably
a son of Thomas. In 1750 we find Van and Samuel Swearingen
refusing to assist a constable to carry to jail George Parker,
whom he had arrested for debt. For this contumacy the constable
had them indicted, but he does not seem to have gotten very far
in the matter of punishing them. In 1759 Van Swearingen, Jr.,
appears as a justice of the peace in Frederick County, Maryland.
[500]
-
-
.;
'
T1LC
JAMES SWEARENGEN 503
In the meantime, a branch of the family had drifted across
the borderline to Frederick and Berkeley counties, Virginia; and
in 17(50 we come upon the will of Thomas Swearingen in Frederick
County, Virginia.
In 1765 Samuel Swearingen appears as a leader of the patriots
in Frederick County, Maryland; and after leading a procession
in opposition to the Stamp Act, the crowd adjourned to his house
where there was spread a splendid supper.
That the family had multiplied greatly by the Revolutionary
period is evidenced by these old records. During the Revolution-
ary War Van Swearingen served as a Judge of the Orphans Court
of Frederick County, Maryland. In 1781 Samuel bought for
four hundred and three pounds a part of the confiscated estate of
Daniel Dulaney, a Tory. In 1778-1779 Van Swearingen served
on the grand jury. This was probably the Van, Jr., referred to
in another instance. The name Van appears to have been a
favorite one, because in the Revolutionary period this name ap-
pears also in Berkeley County, Virginia.
Both in Maryland and Virginia, the family appear to have
been very sturdy patriots. In Virginia, during the Revolutionary
period, we have the names of Thomas, Joseph, Benoni, Samuel,
Van and Josiah as freeholders in Berkelev and Jefferson counties,
V /
Virginia. Josiah served as Captain of a company of militia.
Joseph entered the Eighth Virginia Continental Regiment as a
Lieutenant in 1777, and was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant in
1779. Van, after whose name appears the word "Gentleman,"
was a Lieutenant in Company A of Berkeley County in 1777. He
evidently took part in the opening of the Northwest Territory,
and was probably one of those adventurous spirits who followed
George Rogers Clark to the West. It is likely that James T.
Swearingen, who was a respected citizen of St. Louis in 1833, was
a son or grandson of this Van who went West.
In 1778 the Berkeley County Court recommended Thomas
Swearingen, Jr., for appointment as Lieutenant in the company of
Militia commanded by Captain Josiah Swearingen, so this family
gave five soldiers to the Virginia troops in the Revolution.
In the War of 1812 they were equally prominent. Henry
Swearingen, who was First Lieutenant in the Rifle Regiment in
1812, became a Captain in 1814. J. Swearingen, Third Lieutenant
in the Twenty-Sixth Infantry in 1813, was promoted to Second
Lieutenant in 1814. S. Swearingen was a Captain in the Twenty-
Sixth Infantry in 1813. Colonel James S. Swearingen served
entirely through the War of 1812, and in 1814 was made Deputy
Quartermaster-General over a large district.
There are two incidents of very special interest in connection
with the Swearingen family. In the earlier generations Nancy
Pottenger married Charles Swearingen, of Maryland, whose
brother, Marmaduke, was captured by the Indians while a small
504 JAMBS SWEARBNGBN
boy, adopted by them, and became famous in history as the Indian
Chief Blue Jacket. The second incident was connected with the
first discovery of the uses of steam as applied to ship navigation.
Some ten or twelve years after the Kevolutionary War James
Rumsey made the discovery of the steamboat. He was then a
resident of the lower valley, and he made a public exhibition on
the river near the Swearingen Spring. Among the witnesses of
that exhibition, who testified to its practicability, were Col.
Swearingen and Benoni Swearingen, of Berkeley County, Vir-
ginia. The exhibition probably wras made on their property.
Rumsey was greatly encouraged by the President of the United
States, and by Benjamin Franklin — so much so that he went to
London with his invention, and there became acquainted with
Robert Fulton. While working out his model, he died (in 1792)
and Fulton then took up the work where Rumsey left off, and in
1812 brought out the first practical steamboat.
It will be seen from the brief record here made that the
Swearingens combined with their sturdy Holland blood the adven-
turous spirit of pioneer Americans. From Maryland and Virginia
branches of the family drifted West and Southwest, and though
there is a slight variation in the spelling of the name, all of them
are descended from Garrett Van Swearingen through his son
Thomas.
To this family belonged the late James Swearengen, who was
born near Oakland, Mississippi, April 11, 1850, and died in Dyers-
burg, Tennessee, on October 27, 1903. His parents were Thomas
William and Lutitio L. (Frost) Swearengen. His mother was a
daughter of Wilson and Mary Frost. His father, who was a
planter near Oakland, died before the Civil War. The lad's
earlier years were spent on the farm. His father's death and the
devastation of the Civil War forced him at the age of fourteen to
quit school and go to work, for his mother was left with eight
children — four boys and four girls. The two eldest brothers went
to war and served to its close. His mother lived on the plantation
with six young children and about one hundred slaves. Her slaves
loved her and would have died to protect her and her children.
The boy James worked regularly upon the farm until he reached
the age of twenty, when he went into the town of Oakland and
served as a clerk in a mercantile concern for two years. Then
seeking wider opportunities, he traveled to Texas, where he spent
the next three years. Having acquired a practical knowledge of
business, he returned East and settled in Dyersburg, Tennessee,
engaged in the mercantile business, which he followed for a num-
ber of years, and of which he made a success. A capable man,
far-seeing in a business sense, he discerned the possibilities of
the cotton oil business, and embarked in that business during the
most prosperous years of that industry. He organized the Phoenix
Cotton Oil Company, now a million-dollar corporation, and was
JAMES SWEARENGEN 505
first President. This position he occupied up to his death, at the
comparatively early age of fifty-three.
Mr. Swearengen was twice married. His first wife was Ida
Butterworth. Of this marriage there was no issue. On October 1,
1889, he married Rosa May Du Bose, daughter of Benjamin and
Sarah Du Bose, and of this marriage there are three children :
Ida May, Sarah Belle and James Du Bose Swearengen. The two
daughters are, at the present time (1914), students in the Ran-
dolph-Macon Woman's College, of Lynchburg, Virginia, and the
son is now in the Lynchburg High School.
James Swearengen was a steady-going, prudent business man
of high character. He was affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, served his home church in the capacity of Treas-
urer for many years. He was a sincere Christian and lived his
religion every day. He had many warm friends and enjoyed the
respect, confidence and esteem of everyone who knew him. He was
a man of very few words, modest, unassuming and devoted to his
family. The integrity of his character was never questioned. He
was a member of the fraternal order of Knights of Pythias.
Never active in a political sense, beyond the action required
of a private citizen, he voted with the Democratic party.
Mrs. Swearengen is a member of a widely-known Southern
family of French descent. This Du Bose family belongs to that
old Huguenot stock which so enriched the life of Virginia, of
South Carolina, and to some extent, Georgia. Her father, Benja-
min E. Du Bose, was widely and well known as an educator. His
wife, Sarah Elizabeth Horn, belonged to a family which was
among the pioneer settlers of Alabama. They were prosperous
people before the Civil War, owning many slaves and rearing a
large family of children, many of whom are now conspicuously
good citizens of the communities in which they live. One son, Prof.
Joel C. Du Bose, is in educational work at Birmingham, Alabama,
and is the author of a history of Alabama, which is a textbook in
the public schools of that State. Another, B. J. Du Bose, of
Kerrville, Tennessee, is now connected with the Phoenix Cotton
Oil Company, of Memphis. Another son, J. H. Du Bose, was
General Manager of the Phoenix Cotton Oil Company prior to
Mr. Swearengen's death, and has since that time been President
of the company. Barnett Du Bose, another son, now a resident
of Alabama, served four years as a Confederate soldier. Mrs.
William Gretton, of Alabama, and Mrs. M. E. Arrington, of
Chicago, are among the daughters. Another daughter is Mrs.
J. H. Sherrard, of Memphis, Tennessee, whose husband is a suc-
cessful, public-spirited, generous and, best of all, a Christian
planter of Mississippi delta.
JAMES ERNEST WALKER
ROANOKE, youngest of Virginia cities, has had such a mar-
velous growth as to become popularly known as ''the
Magic City." This rapid growth has brought to the front
many enterprising and capable young men, many of whom
have combined with the activity of enterprising youth that meas-
ure of business prudence which is supposed to go with gray hairs.
A leader among these young men is James Ernest Walker,
who was born at Gallipolis, Ohio, on August 30, 1878, son of
James Francis and Mary Alice (Spencer) Walker. It will be
noted that Mr. Walker is but little past thirty-five. But notwith-
standing his comparative youth, he is interested in enterprises
of pith and moment scattered over a wide territory, and is show-
ing an unusual degree of business capacity in the handling of these
widespread interests.
Mr. Walker was educated in the public schools of his native
town, followed by a course in Marshall College, Huntington,
West Virginia. His business career, as a proprietor, covers only
the short period of fourteen years. In 1900 he assisted in the
organization of the Keys Lumber Company, at Welch, West Vir-
ginia. In 1902 this company was reorganized under the name of
Keys-Fannin Lumber Company, and the plant was moved to
Ashland, Kentucky. They had a successful career, and Mr.
Walker and his associates then purchased the interests of Fannin,
and the style of the company became Keys- Walker Lumber Com-
pany with headquarters moved (in 1911) to Roanoke. This
company largely manufactures hardwood lumber which it sells
at wholesale only.
However, during these years of growth on the part of the
main interest, Mr. Walker has become allied with a number of
other enterprises. He is a director of the First National Bank of
Roanoke; Secretary and Treasurer of Keys Planing Mills Com-
pany, at Graham, Virginia; Secretary of Guyan Lumber Company,
Herndon, West Virginia; interested in Norwood Lumber Com-
pany, Forney, North Carolina, and Carr Lumber Company, of
Pisgah Forest, North Carolina; President of Blackwood Lumber
Company, of Pardee, Virginia; director in Savings and Loan
Corporation at Roanoke, Virginia; Secretary and Treasurer of
Pamlico Land Company, at Bayboro, North Carolina. The mere
recital of these interests demonstrates the activity of the man and
the extent of his business growth during a very short period.
[5061
L. -L
JAMES ERNEST WALKER 509
Apparently he has not had much time for outside issues, but he
has not entirely neglected the social side of life, and is a member
of the Shenandoah Club of Roanoke. Never active in a political
way, as a private citizen he has co-operated with the Democratic
party.
Mr. Walker was married in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 20,
1902, to Sarah Eleanor Davison, of Port Au Pique, Nova Scotia,
born August 1, 1878, daughter of Joseph Howell and Lorinda
(Knight) Davison. Of his marriage three children were born,
two dying in infancy. The third, a boy, born August 29, 1913,
was christened James Davison Walker. Mrs. Walker died August
29, 1913, and at this writing (1914) Mr. Walker's entire family
consists of his little baby boy.
James E. Walker has traveled far for so young a man, and if
his life is spared to the allotted period of man, he will undoubt-
edly be a very large figure in the business life of his section.
He is descended from good English stock on both sides. His
paternal line goes back to Matthew Walker, who was born in
England on August 24, 1789, married on February 13, 1811, came
to America in 1817 and settled at Gallipolis, Ohio, where his
grandfather, William Walker, and his father, James Francis
Walker, were born.
In his maternal line he is descended from one of the most
notable of English families, the Spencers. His mother was a
daughter of Tobias Spencer, who was a son of Elijah Spencer,
who was a son of John Spencer by his second wife, Phoebe. This
John Spencer was the son of Thomas Spencer, who was the son
of James Spencer, Jr., of Spencer Hall, Maryland, descended from
Nicholas Spencer, the immigrant to Virginia, who was the pro-
genitor of the family. James Spencer, Jr., married about 1720
Ann Benson, daughter of Dr. James Benson. James Spencer, Jr.,
died in June, 1743. His son, Thomas, born at Spencer Hall,
Talbot County, Maryland, about the year 1726, married Elizabeth
Julia Flournoy. John Spencer, son of Thomas, was born in Vir-
ginia on December 16, 1745, and died May 26, 1826, near Parkers-
burg, West Virginia. His second wife, Phoebe, who was thirty
years his junior, was born on October 21, 1775, and was married
about the year 1795. After John Spencer's death, she married
secondly Elisha Timms, on December 3, 1826, and lived until
July 15, 1862, reaching the age of eighty-seven. She was buried at
Keedsville, Ohio. Elijah Spencer, son of John by his second wife,
was born on July 8, 1795. He married Mary A. Harris in 1819.
Tobias Spencer, son of Elijah, born 1821, died in 1874. He
married Frances Pollock. John Spencer, above referred to, served
as a Lieutenant in the Virginia State Regiment during the Revo-
lutionary War, entitling his descendants to membership in the
various Revolutionary patriot societies.
The Spencer family in Virginia was founded by Nicholas
510 JAMES ERNEST WALKER
Spencer, who settled in Westmoreland County in 1659. He was
said to have been related to Thomas, Lord Culpeper, who became
Colonial Governor of Virginia. In 1666 he was a member of the
House of Burgesses. When Lord Culpeper became Governor he
was made Secretary of the colony, which office he held from 1679
until his death in 1689. When Lord Culpeper left for England in
1683, Spencer, as President of the Council, became Acting Gover-
nor until the arrival of Lord Effingham, Culpeper's successor.
Nicholas Spencer left sons and daughters, and became the pro-
genitor of a numerous and influential family. A county in
Virginia (in that section which is now West Virginia) was named
in his honor. A member of this family, David B. Spencer, was a
vestryman in the Episcopal Church of Parkersburg, West Vir-
ginia, which was founded during the first half of the last century.
The Spencer family history is one of the most brilliant in all
the records of Great Britain. It originated, like many other-
family names, in an occupation. There came with William the
Conqueror to England his dispenser, who was practically the stew-
ard of his household. From this dispenser has come virtually the
great English family of Spencer which now holds the Dukedom of
Marlborough, in one branch ; the title of Earl Spencer, in another
branch; at one time held the Earldom of Winchester; and in the
last eight hundred years has held so many minor titles that it
would take a whole volume to recount their holdings and their
doings.
Nicholas Spencer belonged to that branch of the family known
as the Bedfordshire and London Spencers. That the branch hold-
ing the title of Earl Spencer and the Marlborough title is close
kin to this branch to which Nicholas Spencer belonged is proven
by the great similarity in the coats of arms — the original coat
of arms apparently having been that branch to which Nicholas
Spencer belonged, and these titled Spencers having added to them
certain trimmings as their fortunes grew, until now they have
the old coat of arms merely as a foundation.
Walker is one of the oldest of our family names. One school
of genealogists says that it was derived from the Norse "Valka,"
which meant a foreigner, and another says that it was derived
from an occupation, for before the introduction of rollers cloth had
to be trodden under foot to smooth it out. The Saxons called
the men who did this "Walcere," which the English translated
"a fuller," or "a walker," and so from this occupation we get the
two family names of Walker and Fuller.
The Walkers multiplied and prospered exceedingly in Great
Britain, furnishing many men distinguished in the various walks
of life, and acquiring, in the various families, more than fifty
coats of arms. They have done equally as well in America, the
Encyclopaedia of Biography showing over sixty men of this name
who" have won distinction in some way during our history. Dur-
JAMES ERNEST WALKER 511
ing the Revolutionary War the Virginia Walkers furnished enough
men to the army to have made a big company. Very many of these
are entitled to use some one of the coats of arms belonging to
the Walker families in England, if the line of descent were traced
out. In this case, in the absence of knowledge as to what point in
England Matthew Walker came from, it is impossible to trace
out the line and see to which branch of these Walker families this
particular line belongs.
The Spencer coat of arms, as brought to Virginia by Nicholas
Spencer, which shows that Nicholas Spencer was descended from
the most ancient branch of this distinguished family, is thus
described :
"Quarterly, or and gules ; in the second and third quarters a
fret or ; over all, on a bend sable three fleurs-de-lis argent."
ROBERT ARCHER BALDWIN
ROBERT ARCHER BALDWIN, merchant, of Farmville, was
born at Curdsville, Buckingham County, Virginia, on June
24, 1845, son of Albert and Patsy Archer (Allen) Baldwin.
His father, Albert Baldwin, was a merchant, a son of
Colonel Samuel Baldwin, who with a large family of brothers,
some five or six in number, came from England to America,
settling in different parts of the country. Samuel Baldwin whose
wife was Mary Wamack Baldwin, settled in Prince Edward
County, on a farm about a mile from Pamplin City. Robert
Archer Baldwin's great-grandfather was William Baldwin, who
married Miss Wimbush.
Robert Archer Baldwin was born in the beautiful old colonial
home, "Cacerta," with its large columns typical of that period,
sloping lawns and stately oaks, about ten miles from Farmville,
Va., in Buckingham County. The house still stands, a spacious
twelve-room structure, built in 1842 of pressed brick shipped from
Baltimore and heart timber. "Cacerta" was built by Albert
Baldwin, father of Robert Archer Baldwin, who, with his twelve
children, were all born there. The estate is still owned by the
Baldwin descendants.
R. A. Baldwin was educated in the local country schools of
Buckingham and at Cub Creek Academy in Charlotte County.
At the outbreak of the Civil War Mr. Baldwin was a boy of
sixteen. In 1864, being then eighteen years of age, he joined the
Buckingham Cavalry, known as Company K, Fourth Virginia
Cavalry, and served with that command until the surrender at
Appomattox. Returning from the army, in his twenty-first year,
his father established him in the mercantile business at Aspen
Wall, Charlotte County. The young man was successful, but
at the expiration of two years he was forced to return to Curds-
ville to take charge of his father's business, the father having be-
come incapacitated by ill health.
Albert Baldwin died in 1869, and about a year later R. A.
Baldwin moved to Farmville and engaged in the mercantile
business with B. M. Cox, under the firm name of Baldwin and
Cox. The business resulted in failure in less than one year, leav-
ing Mr. Baldwin entirely without resources, except (as he himself
says) his wife and two children. He returned to Curdsville and
engaged in farming, in which occupation he was successful, ac-
[512]
ROBERT ARCHER BALDWIN 515
cumulated a moderate capital, and again entered the mercantile
business. When his eldest son, H. V. Baldwin, became of age, he
sent him to Farmville and started him in a mercantile business
there under the firm name of R. A. Baldwin and Son. This
enterprise proved so successful that after two years Mr. Baldwin
moved in person to Farmville to assist his son in the business.
The business grew to such proportions that it w^as decided to di-
vide it, and so the son went to Manchester, now known as South
Richmond, where he opened another store. Two years later, Mr.
Baldwin sold his interest in the Manchester store to the son, and
bought the son's interest in the Farmville store, continuing to
do a successful business in Farmville. As his sons grew up, he
took them one by one into the business, and later on established
other stores, putting in each place one of his sons. At the present
time, Mr. Baldwin, though not very active in the business, is
President of R. A. Baldwin and Sons, Incorporated; which con-
cern is operating five large stores, two in Lynchburg, Va., one in
Roanoke, Va., one in Farmville, Va., and one in Durham, North
Carolina. Each one of these stores is in charge of one of his sons
as manager, also as stockholder in the Company.
Considering his environment and the handicaps of early life,
Mr. Baldwin has worked out a phenomenally successful business,
and as a merchant stands in the front rank.
He has rendered effective public service. Affiliated with the
Republican Party up to 1882, he served on the Board of Super-
visors for Buckingham County, and was elected to the State Legis-
lature in 1880. Since serving that term, which ended in 1882,
he has been identified with the Democratic Party.
In fraternal circles he became a member of the Order of
Knights of Pythias in 1871. Religiously, he is a Methodist, with
which church he has been connected since 1869.
He was married in Amelia County, on November 18, 1868, to
Lavinia Edmonia Blanton, born in Amelia County on January 10,
1850, daughter of Reuben and Ann Jane (Ligon) Blanton. They
have a family of which any parents may be proud.
His eldest son, Hunter Vallerd Baldwin, educated in local
public schools, is now the owner of a large dry goods store in
South Richmond. He has been married twice. His first wife was
Jeannette Stewart Bland. His second wife was Lucv Elizabeth
i/
Bredrup. He has one child by his first marriage, Margaret Stew-
art Baldwin.
The next child, Viola Baldwin Baldwin, was graduated from
the State Normal School at Farmville, and married Edgar Tracy
Hines, of North Carolina.
The third child, a son, Robert Juan Baldwin, was educated in
the public schools. He is manager of the Company's store in
Roanoke, Virginia. He married Maude Glass. They have six
516 ROBERT ARCHER BALDWIN
children: Robert Juan, Jr., Monroe Glass, Lawrence, Dorothy
Gordon, Mae Iris and Caroline Judson Baldwin.
The next son, Albert Percy Baldwin, was educated in the Farm
ville High School, married Alma Owen, and died in Manchester
on August 12, 1900, leaving one child : Albert Percy Baldwin, Jr.
Next in order comes Annie Laura, a graduate of the State
Normal School.
The next in order is Reuben Lynwood Baldwin, educated in the
Farmville High School and manager of the Company's store in
Durham, North Carolina. He married Martha Evelyn Boisseau.
They have three children: Evelyn Grayson, Eleanor Epes and
Reuben Lynwood Baldwin, Jr.
Next in order comes Bernard Coleman Baldwin. He attended
the Farmville High School, and is manager of the stores in Lynch -
burg, Virginia. He married Mary Bell. They have two children :
Virginia Louise and Bernard Coleman Baldwin, Jr.
Then comes Mary Cecil Baldwin, a graduate of the State
Normal School. She is at present engaged in training for a pro-
fessional nurse at the Memorial Hospital, Richmond, Virginia.
Then comes Frank Grayson Baldwin. He graduated from
Farmville High School; later attended the Randolph-Macon
Academy and the Randolph-Macon College. He is manager of
the Farmville store and married Caroline Llewellyn Kyle.
The next is Kathleen Baldwin, a graduate of the State Normal
School. She married Wade Elzie Douglas MacDonald, B. A.,
William and Mary College; B. S. A., Cornell University. Mr.
MacDonald is a Virginian.
An infant son of Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Baldwin died February
2, 1893.
The youngest is Lucile Elliott Baldwin, who was graduated
from the State Normal School in the current year (1914), and
entered Trinity College, Durham, N. C., in September of the same
year.
Eleven of the twelve children of Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin were
reared to maturity, and ten of them are yet surviving. All of
them are well educated and all engaged in useful work. It is a
family of which any man may justly feel that he has contributed
largely to the State in furnishing to its work so many excellent
men and women.
Notwithstanding the business enterprise of Mr. Baldwin, there
is evidently a streak of conservatism somewhere in the family, for
he relates an incident in connection with Dr. W. H. Thackston,
who was for twenty-five years Mayor of Farmville. Some years
before his death, the Doctor remarked to him that the last persons
he ever saw wearing the old colonial dress were his father, Mr.
H. H. Thackston, and Mr. Baldwin's grandfather, Colonel Samuel
Baldwin. This shows the old Colonel was a man averse to the
ROBERT ARCHER BALDWIN 517
changes imposed by fashion, and adhered tenaciously to the ways
in which he had been reared.
The Baldwin family name is one of the oldest known to the
English speaking people. It is said that it can be traced back to
the seventh century. It will be recalled that, in the earlier
centuries, men did not have surnames. One was known by his
occupation, as "John, the smith" ; another by the place in which
he lived, as Thomas, of Bellwood" — for surnames, as we know
them, were utterly unknown.
The Baldwin name is of Norse origin. It appears in different
countries under a dozen different forms. There are said to be
two root meanings — one derived from "Baldr," who in the old
Norse legend was regarded as the most beautiful of all the
gods, and was known as "the fair white god." The other comes
fromuBoldewin," which means abold friend." It became the
family name of the Counts of Flanders, in which country the
family was immensely popular. The father-in-law of William the
Conqueror was Baldwin, Count of Flanders ; and another Baldwin,
known as the Sheriff, was one of the guardians of the youth of the
Norman Conqueror, who (after the conquest) rewarded him with
one hundred and fifty-nine estates and manors in Devon, Dorset
and Somersetshire. He was Lord of Devon and Governor of the
Isle of Wight. WThen the Crusaders finally captured Jerusalem,
conspicuous among them were these Baldwins of Flanders, and
five kings of Jerusalem in the twelfth century bore the name, and
in the next century it was borne by two emperors at Constanti-
nople, while in Flanders it was the name of nine counts. The
earliest will in the court of Canterbury is that of John Baldewyn,
proved in 1469 by his wife Editha.
Incidentally, it may be mentioned that there have been at least
a dozen forms of spelling of this name, which have finally, how-
ever, settled down to two forms: "Baldwin" and "Baldwyn."
The two most numerous American families were founded in
Connecticut and in Virginia, though there was a considerable
family in Massachusetts. The New England family was evidently
strongly Puritan in its sentiments. The Connecticut family was
founded by Sylvester, a very intimate friend of John Hampden
and of Oliver Cromwell. Sailing for America on the ship
"Martin" with his wife and five or six children, he died at sea.
His family settled in Connecticut, and two of his sons, John and
Richard, became the progenitors of a most numerous family, which
has contributed many useful men to the service of the country.
Sylvester left a considerable estate to his wife, Sarah. Part of
this was a manor in Buckinghamshire, which had been held by
his family since 1485. One of the Sylvester estates was in-
dentured to a Richard Baldwin for a thousand years. According
518 ROBERT ARCHER BALDWIN
to that lease, Richard's heirs have yet about seven hundred years
of enjoyment of the property.
Nine Baldwins have served in the Federal Congress — all de-
scended from the New England families. Among these, Abraham
Baldwin, a native of Connecticut, but identified with Georgia,
was one of the most conspicuous men in the early history of the
United States, serving from the First to the Fifth Congress in the
Lower House, and then being translated to the Senate, where he
died in office. Baldwin County, Georgia, is a memorial to him.
Another, Roger Sherman Baldwin, Governor of Connecticut and
United States Senator, was a grandson of Koger Sherman, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence.
The favorite given names in this family have been Richard,
Robert, William, Samuel, Caleb and Cornelius. Thus we find a
Caleb, who was an officer from Connecticut in the Revolutionary
War, and another Caleb who was in a Virginia Regiment. In the
same period, we find a Cornelius serving from New Jersey, and a
Cornelius from Virginia. Then there was a John who was a
Colonel in the New England line, and a John of Virginia, who was
Captain of a Berkeley County Company in the Revolution.
Samuel, of Massachusetts, was one of the men who seized his gun
and helped to inflict the defeat at Lexington upon the British
columns. Samuel, of Connecticut, was a Colonel in the Con-
tinental Armies.
The Virginia Baldwins were well represented in the Revolution.
Dr. Cornelius Baldwin was Surgeon, first of the Eighth Virginia,
and later of the First Virginia, serving during the entire War.
Lieutenant Cornelius Baldwin served in Col. James Wood's Regi-
ment. Francis was a Lieutenant in the Eighth Virginia. James,
from Bedford County, was a private for three years in the Conti-
nental Line. Captain John, of Berkeley, has already been re-
ferred to. John, of Prince Edward, was apparently a private,
and was living in 1835. Thomas and Benjamin appear to have
been privates. William was a Lieutenant in an Isle of Wight
Company.
The Baldwin families have been identified with Virginia since
the very earliest years of the Colony. John Baldwin came over
in the "Tyger" in 1622 ; was a freeman as distinguished from those
who came over under contract and lived in Virginia but a few
months before the great Indian Massacre of 1622. He made a
name memorable in the annals of the Colony by his heroic defense
when the Indians attacked his house. His wife was stricken
down by several wounds, and single-handed he made such a
desperate fight, killing several Indians, that he fought them off,
and saved, not only his own life, but those of a dozen other persons
who had taken refuge in his house, mostly women and children.
In 1624, he was alive, and was a part of the muster of George
ROBERT ARCHER BALDWIN 519
Sands, Treasurer of the Colony. Nicholas Baldwin was killed in
the Indian Massacre. Two Thomases had come there prior to the
Massacre, and both survived. One of them was living at Chap-
lain's Choice in 1623, and the other living in Elizabeth City. Wil-
liam also survived the Massacre, being in Elizabeth City in 1623.
Hugh Baldwin and his wife, Susan, also survived the Massacre.
It will be seen from this that the Baldwin families were well
represented in Virginia within fifteen years from the time that
the Colony was organized. The Maryland family takes great
pride in the fact that it is descended from John, the heroic old
pioneer of Virginia, who made such a gallant defense against the
Indians. There is also an Alabama family which has made its
mark, descended from the Virginia Baldwins.
English and American cyclopedias of biography give a long
list of Baldwins who have distinguished themselves in numerous
walks of life, of which our space will permit mention of only two.
Matthias William Baldwin, founder of the Baldwin Locomotive
Works, the greatest enterprise of its kind in the world, was a
native of New Jersey, descended from the New England stock.
Mary Baldwin, of Virginia, is the renowned missionary who spent
fifty years in the East, for long years in Athens, Greece ; and the
latter years of her life in Jaffa, Syria. She was a notable woman
of fine religious spirit and unbounded benevolence, which qualities
so commended her to the neglected people to whom she devoted
her life that it is within the bounds of truth to say that no mis-
sionary in foreign lands ever won greater admiration, respect and
love than did this devoted woman. Two schools, one in the East,
and one in Virginia, perpetuate her memory.
Prior to the Civil War, Judge Briscoe Baldwin, of Staunton,
was a notable figure in Virginia, and his son, John Brown Bald-
win, who was a member of the Secession Convention, and who
fought against secession with might and main, was one of the
most brilliant and patriotic Virginians of his day. When war
became inevitable, like the valiant man he was, he took his part
in the battle line, serving as Colonel of a Virginia Regiment,
and during the war dividing his time between the Confederate
Congress (of which he was a member) and the command of his
regiment in the field.
Always and everywhere, these Baldwins have been stout
churchmen. In New England they were Puritans, in Pennsyl-
vania they were Quakers, in Virginia (in the earlier period)
they were Episcopalians, and Bishop Meade, in his work, "Old
Churches and Families of Virginia," gives them due credit for
their services. There was a strong family in Middlesex County,
Virginia, in the earlier period of the Colony. The Valley of
Virginia seems to have been a center for the Baldwin families in
the first half of the nineteenth century. In that period, we come
520 ROBERT ARCHER BALDWIN
upon the marriage of Mary J. Lewis (of the famous family of
that name) to Charles R. Baldwin, in 1833. Dr. Cornelius Bald-
win married Nellie Conway Hite, and their daughter, Eleanor
Conway Baldwin, married, in 1835, Edward Jaquelin Davison.
In 1856, one comes upon the marriage of Martha Walker Barton
with D. J. M. Baldwin, and they had two children, Maria and
Stewart Baldwin. Now, in the family of K. A. Baldwin, we
again come upon this Stewart name in the Baldwin famliy in
the case of Margaret Stewart Baldwin, daughter of his eldest
son by his first wife, Jeannette Stewart Bland. If one had time
and space to go into the full history of the Baldwin families in
Virginia, it would be found that, first and last, they have been
allied with a very large number of the historic names of the
State.
The distinguishing feature of the Baldwin coat of arms is the
squirrel in the crest. On the main shield appears always a
chevron, between (in some cases) acorns, in other cases sprigs of
hazel, and in other cases oak leaves, but always in the crest
appears the squirrel, either with a nut in his forepaws or a sprig
of hazel.
The Buckinghamshire Baldwins were the progenitors of the
American Baldwins. This family traces back to Sir John Bald-
win, Chief Justice of England under Henry VIII. The descrip-
tion of the arms is as follows :
"Argent, a chevron, ermines, between three oak leaves,
clipped, acorned, proper. Crest — A squirrel sejant or."
[PUBLIC
(/
•
IV
I
.
524 JAMES RANDALL KENT BELL
and who lived until May 15, 1838. On October 16, 1777, then a
youth of eighteen, he enlisted as a private in Captain John Givens's
Company. On September 20, 1778, his company appears to have
been attached to Colonel Sampson's Eegiment and later served
under Colonel George Moffet, Major Andrew Lockridge and Major
Alexander Robertson. On November 16, 1799, he was a member
of Captain Simpson's Company, in Colonel Sampson Matthew's
Regiment. On April 8, 1780, he was given a temporary exemption
from duty. He returned to duty on the 25th of that month, and
served under Captain Turke in the Thirty-second Virginia Militia.
His service probably then continued until the end of the Revolu-
tion, for he participated in the southern campaign under Greene,
and took part in the battle of Cowpens, where the famous General
Daniel Morgan*won his greenest laurels. On October 16, 1794,
Samuel Bell was made a Captain in an Augusta County Militia.
He must have later been made a Major because he bore that title
for the remainder of his life. His sword was kept as a relic by his
grandson, Samuel H. Bell, twin brother of J. R. K. Bell, until his
house was burned in 1897.
Closely connected with the Augusta County Bell families,
and of the same stock, were the Kentucky and Tennessee Bell
families, to which belonged John Bell, United States Senator from
Tennessee, and a candidate of the Whig Party in 1860 for the
Presidency of the United States.
Some of the Bells moved on up the Valley, and settled in
Pulaski, Va., where J. R. K. Bell was born, son of Francis and
Sarah James (Kent) Bell. His father, Francis Bell, was a farmer,
son of Major Samuel Bell, of Revolutionary fame. He in turn
was a son of James Bell, the immigrant.
J. R. K. Bell received a common school education, and, arriv-
ing at manhood, took up as a life-work the occupation of farm-
ing, in which he had been reared, and which he has steadily pur-
sued from July, 1878, up to the present time.
His father had evidently been a progressive man in his ideas,
for he had become a breeder of high-grade cattle, and was the
first man to export live cattle from the United States to England,
the subject of this sketch being in charge of the cargo. The cattle
were of high quality and the result so encouraging that the
shipments were continued until they met with disaster. The
last load, shipped November, 1879, and said to have been the
finest boat-load of cattle that had ever gone out of the United
States, contained three hundred and seventy-eight head of cat-
tle, under charge of J. R. K. Bell. On the way across the ship
encountered a severe storm off the Newfoundland banks, which
continued for several days and resulted in the loss of all Mr.
Bell's cattle except twenty-two head; the majority of them
smothering below the hatches and the remainder washing off the
JAMES RANDALL KENT BELL 525
upper deck. Undismayed by this misfortune, Mr. Bell has ad-
hered tenaciously to his work as a breeder of Aberdeen-Angus
cattle, in which he has made both reputation and money. The
section of country in which he lives is as well adapted to the
breeding of high-class stock as any part of the world. This is
true of the entire Valley, reaching from Harper's Ferry to the
North Carolina and Tennessee line. The upper section, in which
Mr. Bell lives, is, however, better fitted for this pursuit than the
lower. It is a beautiful rolling country of clear sparkling streams
and the natural home of the famous blue grass. For breeding
cattle and for dairying it cannot be surpassed anywhere, be-
cause, added to its natural advantages of soil and production,
it possesses a climate which has enough cold weather to make
the cattle robust, but not enough to put the breeders to great
hardship during a long and stormy winter.
Mr. Bell has been, throughout his life, an unassuming Ameri-
can citizen, a Democrat in his politics, but has never held public
office. He has been content to serve his generation by filling well
his place in life. He believes that a more intensive system of
farming would be of advantage to our people. He is a man of
one work, and is even governed in his reading by his work, for
he says that, beyond agricultural books and periodicals, he has
not done a great deal of reading in his life. He is a member of
the Masonic order and the Order of Elks, and is affiliated with the
Acca Temple of Knights Templars in Richmond, and a member
of the Order of Shriners. Religiously, he is a member of the
Presbyterian Church.
He has been married three times. His first wife was Maria
Louise Sedgwick, daughter of James and Mary (Peck) Sedgwick.
His second wife was Lida Whitsett, daughter of Joseph and Lida
(Peck) Whitsett. He married thirdly Mrs. Lucy P. Leavell, whose
parents were Robert N. and Fannie (Gibson) Pendleton. His
children are Mary P. Bell, Amelia L. Bell, Bessie K. Bell, James
R. Bell, and Francis J. Bell, all of whom at this date (1914) are
unmarried.
Overlooking the town of Staunton are two beautiful little
mountains, one of which goes by the name of Betsy Bell Mountain.
Connected with this is a legend from the old country to the effect
that, in the sixteenth century, when the Plague was raging in
Scotland, two Scottish lassies, Bessie Bell and another, refugeed
to the woods. They were there visited by one of their admirers,
who kept them in supplies until the admirer, having contracted
the Plague, conveyed it to the girls, both of whom died. The story
became the subject of a little poetical lament, after the Scottish
fashion ; was conveyed from Scotland to Ireland, from Ireland to
America, and the earlier settlers of Augusta County named one
of these little mountains "Betsy Bell Mountain," to commemorate
the tragedy.
526 JAMES RANDALL KENT BELL
The Valley of Virginia Bells are all of that descent which we
speak of as Scotch-Irish. They were Scotch Presbyterians who
emigrated from Scotland to the section around Londonderry in
the North of Ireland known as Ulster, in the first half of the
seventeenth century. Between 1690 and 1750 there was a large
immigration of these Scotch-Irish from the North of Ireland to
America, a number of them settling in Pennsylvania permanently,
and a considerable number in Virginia and North Carolina. But
quite a number of those who first settled in Pennsylvania moved
on into the Valley of Virginia. In the colonial period, we had no
better pioneer blood than this Scotch-Irish. They seemed to love
the frontier, and were always in the advance line.
Three distinct families of the Bells settled in Augusta County,
Virginia, and one in Massachusetts — all of the same blood. Of
the Augusta County families, one family came to be known as the
North Mountain Bells, another as the Stone Church Bells, and
another as the Glade Bells.
James Bell, the founder of the North Mountain family, and
the ancestor of J. K. K. Bell, was probably the first comer of the
Bells in Augusta County. The Stone Church family was founded
by William Bell, who came about 1737. He was the ancestor of
Major-General James Franklin Bell, of the United States Army.
The famous Senator John Bell, of Tennessee, is said also to
have been one of the descendants of William Bell. Of the Glade
family of Bells we are not at present advised as to who was the
founder. All of them were sturdy Presbyterians, a part of that
stock which made the heroic defense of Londonderry when that
city was besieged by James II, and whose defense so largely con-
tributed to the final success of the Protestant King, WTilliam III.
Of the four coats of arms pertaining to the Scottish Bells,
three were the same as the main coat of arms, only having a
different crest and different motto. The arms used by that branch
of the family which came to the Valley of Virginia is described as
follows :
"Azure, a chevron ermine, between three bells or.
"Crest: A falcon, wings expanded, ermine.
"Motto: Nee quaere honorem nee spernere."
PUB
"
'V<vz&>:ff>
ia tl
i
530 JESSE REESE COVER
pelled his children to do manual labor and plenty of it; which
was right and proper, but he did not believe much in scholastic
education ; which was wrong. The result of this opinion was that
Jesse Cover had but little schooling. He earnestly desired to
obtain it, but it was contrary to the views of paternal authority.
Under this system the lad grew up, and early in life deter-
mined that, to the extent of his ability, he would work out a meas-
ure of business success, and try to make of himself a useful man
and a good citizen. He has done all that, and says now that he
is entirely satisfied with the progress he has made, as he has
accomplished more than he had hoped for as a young man.
His father being a tanner, and the youth growing up in that
environment, spending most of his working hours in the tannery,
he acquired a knowledge of the business, and very easily drifted
into that occupation as his permanent work.
His mother had died when he was a year old, and he was de-
prived of what is usually the best influence in a boy's life. How-
ever, the restraint under which he was held by his father kept
him from any waste of time or from association with bad com-
panions, so that he arrived at manhood with steady habits of
industry and without vices.
His business life has been spent in the tanning business.
He has adapted himself to changed conditions which have obtained
during the last forty years, and has greatly prospered in his busi-
ness. He set for himself a goal, and it was a worthy one — he de-
termined that he would make a very superior article of sole
leather. This he has done, and that accounts for his business
success.
Mr. Cover has attained success in other directions besides
business. He is recognized as a man of high character and strict
integrity. His standing in the community where he has now
lived for many years is of the best. He is a member of the Metho-
dist Church and of the Masonic fraternity. He is partial to
motoring, and also has derived both pleasure and knowledge from
the reading of magazines and periodicals.
For many years he was a Democrat in his political affilia-
tions ; but when, in 1896, Bryan was nominated, and free silver
was adopted as a Democratic slogan, he abandoned the Demo-
crats, in so far as national affairs were concerned, and voted after
that with the Republicans, though in State affairs, living as he
did in Virginia, he had to cooperate with the Democrats. This
combination is not unusual throughout the Southern States, where
there is but one party.
He is a believer in the proposition that good habits, combined
with close application and persistency in one's chosen profession
or business, will bring success. Ordinarily that is a sound propo-
sition, but in the conditions that have grown up in our country, it
JESSE REESE COVER 531
is now unfortunately not always true. It has one advantage, how-
ever, that whether business success is attained or not, by prac-
ticing that doctrine, conscience is satisfied.
Mr. Cover was married on March 22, 1877, to Mary Roberta
Brown. Of the five children of this marriage, four are living.
Mr. Cover's grandfather, Tobias Cover, was a prominent citi-
zen of Carroll County, Maryland, and was born near Bruceville,
on the line between Frederick and Carroll Counties. He is of the
impression that the family originally came from Holland; but,
as most of the German blood in that section came from the Pala-
tinate, it is rather more likely that they were of those immigrants
known as Palatines, and who made such a remarkable history in
the Mohawk Valley, in New York, in eastern Pennsylvania, in
western Maryland, in Georgia, and in South Carolina.
The Cover family evidently came over during the great tide
of German immigration which settled in eastern Pennsylvania
between 1700 and 1730. In 1790 the family had increased to
eleven separate families — two in Cumberland County, Pennsy-
lvania, the heads of which were George and Gideon Cover; three
in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, the heads of which were An-
drew and two Jacobs; six in Frederick county, Maryland, the
heads of which were Abraham, Earhart, Eve, Jacob, John and
Yost. Eve was evidently a widow.
Since no vital statistics were at that time kept in that section,
it is impossible to say which one of these families Tobias Cover,
grandfather of Jesse Reese Cover, belonged to; he was probably
a son of one of these heads of the Cover family living in Frederick
County, Maryland, in 1790.
Jesse Reese Cover is a fine example of the industrious and
successful business man who owes nothing to any outside factors,
his success being brought about entirely by his own labor, skill,
industry and conscientiousness.
SLATER COWART
SLATER COWART, of Cowart, Northumberland County, Vir-
ginia, farmer and merchant, has had a long, useful and hon-
orable life. He was born at the place where he now lives
on February 2, 1843, son of William and Letitia (Keene)
Travers.
His family, in all lines, has been settled in Dorchester County,
on the eastern shore of Maryland, for generations. His immediate
family moved from that section to Northumberland County,
Virginia, in December, 1833, and settled at its present location.
Mr. Cowart was reared on his father's farm and educated in
his home county. He was eighteen years of age at the outbreak
of the Civil War, and (his education not completed) he quit school
and enlisted in the Confederate Army on July 23, 1861, as a mem-
ber of Company C, Fortieth Virginia Regiment, and was in the
service without a break until the end of the war, on April 9, 1865.
The Muster Roll of his Company shows, during his entire four
years of service, that he participated in the following battles:
Falmouth, Va., April 18, 1862; Cedar Mountain, Va., August 9,
1862 ; Harper's Ferry, W. Va., September 15, 1862 ; Sharpsburg or
Antietam, Md., September 17, 1862 ; Shepherdstown, W. Va., Sep-
tember 19, 1862; Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862; Chan-
cellorsville, Va., May 2nd and 3rd, 1863 ; Gettysburg, Pa., July
1st and 3rd, 1863 ; Bristow Station, Va., October 28, 1863 ; Wilder-
ness, Va., May 5, 1864; Spotsylvania Court House, Va., May 10
and 12, 1864 ; Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864 ; Weldon Railroad,
Va., August 18 and 19, 1864 ; Jones House, Va., September 30,
1864 ; and Square Level Road, Va., October 1, 1864. In addition
to these, there were a good many skirmishes and outpost fights
of which no record was kept. On the 29th of March, 1865, he was
granted a furlough for fifteen days to visit his mother, and was
not present at the surrender on April 9, 1865.
Mr. Cowart carried his musket for nearly four years as a
faithful private soldier in the great army of northern Virginia,
the deeds of which are now immortal. Returning from the army,
he took up the occupation of a farmer, which he followed for
twelve years ; and then, in 1878, added to it a mercantile business,
in which he has been interested down to the present time, the
firm now being S. Cowart & Son. But he has never forsaken his
first love, and still gives a share of attention to his farming inter-
[532]
•
,
ur-
:
• 1MB-
3
I, .Inly
SLATER COWART 535
ests. His life, for the last fifty years, has been one of steady
industry and quiet usefulness.
A member of the Southern Methodist Church, he was for
twenty-six years Superintendent of the local Sunday-school, and
resigned in 1913 on account of age, being succeeded in that posi-
tion by his son.
He is a member of the Confederate Pension Board of his
county. A Democrat in his political affiliations, he has never been
an aspirant for political place; just as he was content to do his
duty as a private soldier in war, he has been content to do it as
private citizen in peace.
He was married in Dorchester County, Maryland, on October
27, 1881, to Susan Martina Kirwan, born in Dorchester County,
Maryland, on May 6, 1849, daughter of Judge Solomon F. and
Susan A. Kirwan. Of Mr. Cowart's marriage there are two chil-
dren : Sallie Virginia Cowart, who is a graduate of Blackstone
(Virginia) Female Institute; and William Slater Cowart, who is
a graduate of the Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg, Va., and is
now associated in the mercantile business with his father.
Mr. Cowart's life has been characterized by the cardinal vir-
tues of rigid integrity, temperance, economy and industry. He
has no other remedy to offer for the evils of our time, or for the
promotion of the best interests of the nation than the practice by
the people of these old-fashioned virtues. His preferred reading
is a good index to his character. The Bible and Pilgrim's Progress
occupy first place. Next comes Dickens, and then Mark Twain.
He is one of that comparatively small number who appreciate the
fact that Mark Twain was not only the greatest humorist ever
produced by the English-speaking race, but was also one of the
soundest philosophers and most acute judges of human nature,
drawing his inspiration from the actions of men and women in
every-day life.
Mr. Cowart is a fine example of the great mass of citizens
of this country who make up its very blood and bone, men who
are content with doing their duty in private station and have no
desire to exploit other people for their own advantage. But for
this class the nation could not endure, because the greed of the
minority, if powerful enough, would speedily destroy it, just
as the greed of a few have destroyed other nations preceding it.
In every line, he comes from the best blood of Great Britain, and
the best blood of Great Britain has never had its superior in all
history, whether judged from the standpoint of ideals or of
achievement.
There is much of interest in all Mr. Cowart's family lines.
The "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames" says that
"Cowart" and "Coward" are the same name, derived from the
occupation of "cowherd," which became a great North of England
536 SLATER CO WART
surname. In the Furness District of Lancashire, it contends with
the Tysons, Atkinsons and Ashburners for first place. The origi-
nal form of "Cowherd" still exists as a family name. In the old
records, in the year 1273, one comes upon the form "leKuherde,"
followed later by the forms "Kuhirde," "leKuhyrde," in 1379
"Cowehird" and "Cowehyrde," and in the reign of Edward II
"Couhirde." In 1622, it is recorded in Lancashire "John Coward,
or Cowhird, of Ulverston"; in 1637, "Roland Cowhert"; and in
1663 appears "Hellen Cowart of Oat Rawcliffe."
According to the family tradition, John and Slater Cowart,
two brothers, came from England to Baltimore, Md., about 1760.
John Cowart, while a young man, moved from Baltimore to North-
umberland County, Virginia. He had one son who, after the
death of his father, in the early years of the nineteenth century,
went to Missouri, studied law, later settled in Chattanooga, Tenn..
where he became a lawyer of some prominence about the middle
of the last century. His name also was John Cowart. He had
several sons who remained in the Middle South.
Slater Cowart, the immigrant, who was the great-grandfather
of our subject, was a school teacher in Baltimore City. His son,
Slater Cowart, grandfather of our subject, married a Miss
Pritchett, of Dorchester County, Maryland, and settled in that
county, where Mr. Cowart's father, William Cowart, was born, on
August 5, 1808. William Cowart studied navigation and followed
the sea during his early manhood. He married Letitia Keene
Travers in November, 1832, resided in Baltimore for one year, and
then settled at Cowart, Northumberland County, Virginia, in De-
cember, 1833, where he spent the remainder of his life. He died
in 1860.
There was also a family settled in Talbot County, Maryland,
which used the form of "Coward."
Mr. Cowart's mother belonged to another ancient English
family, the Traverses. This Travers family was apparently of
Lancashire stock, in England, with branches in other sections.
The Lancashire family was apparently the original and most
prominent family, and it is from that family that the Maryland
family came. "Travis," "Travers" and "Traverse" are all the same
name. The form "Traverse" was much used in Lancashire. It
is supposed by students of family names that the first man to
bear the name lived on a road which was much traversed. In
the latter half of the sixteenth century the old records in Man-
chester Cathedral, Lancashire, show fourteen marriages in the
Travers families under the different spellings. Some old Cheshire
deeds, recorded during the reign of Edward VI, show the record
on December 21, 1552, of the transfer by Peter Shakerley of the
manor or capital messuage in the town of Allostocke, known as the
Hall of Hulme, to Brian Travers, gent.
SLATER COWART 537
The Travers family evidently came to Dorchester County
prior to 1700, for in that year the records show the will of Wil-
liam Traverse, who names his sons, Matthew, William and
Thomas ; his wife, Catherine ; and his daughters, Eliza, Mary and
Sarah. One of his estates was known as "Nately Point," evi-
dently named for "Nately," in Lancashire, England, which was
held by the Travers (or Traverse) family; and is evidence of the
fact that the Dorchester family of Travers came from that county
in England. To illustrate the standing of this family in Lanca-
shire, the old records show that William Travers, of "Nately,"
Lancashire, married the sister of the first Earl of Sefton, a family
of the highest standing.
Mr. Cowart's mother also had a strain of the Keene blood,
another family very prominent in Dorchester County, Maryland.
The records show that the first military company raised in that
county during the Revolution had as Captain, Benjamin Keene,
and as First Lieutenant, John Keene, Jr. In the second com-
pany raised appears the name of John Kirwan as Ensign. This
is the family to which Mrs. Slater Cowart belongs.
The "History of Dorchester County" says that no family of
that county was more conspicuous for its service than the Keene
family, which was founded by Richard Keene, who came to Mary-
land from Surrey, England, in 1637, acquired a large landed
estate, made his home at Richard's Manor, in Calvert County.
His son, Captain John Keene, inherited his lands in Dorchester
County and settled in that county, where the family has since
been distinguished through all the intervening generations.
The Kirwan family, to which Mrs. Cowart belongs, is of Eng-
lish origin, though there has been a branch of the family long
settled in Ireland. The family in Maryland was founded by John,
Thomas and David Kirwan, three brothers, who came from Eng-
land about 1650, and settled near Dame's Quarter, in Somerset
County. Of these brothers. J< n Kirwan was the great-great-
grandfather of Mrs. Cowart. I ^>ved from Somerset to Dor-
chester, settling near Pritcheti s Roads. He had sons,
Peter, John and Thomas. Peter settled at a place now called
Kirwan's Neck, married, first a Miss Taylor, by whom he had
six sons, John, Peter, Daniel, Thomas, Solomon and Mathias.
He married secondly a Miss Keene, and of that marriage there
was one son, Zebulon. Peter was a mariner as well as a farmer.
He built and owned a large sea-going vessel known as the "Ma-
son." At his death, his son, Solomon, succeeded to the home-
stead, and he also followed the sea for nearly half his life in coast-
ing and West Indian trading. When he retired from the sea,
he entered political life; was Justice of the Peace for five years;
was elected Sheriff in 1817, and re-elected in 1821. He was County
Commissioner for four years and lived to the age of seventy-five.
538 SLATER COWART
His son, Judge Solomon F. Kirwan, father of Mrs. Cowart, was
born June 10, 1814, and lived to the age of ninety-two. Like hia
father before him, he followed the sea for some years. He was
ten years Justice of the Peace, four years County Commissioner,
and four years Judge of the Orphans' Court. He married Susan
Travers, daughter of Colonel John Travers, of Hooper's Island,
so that both Mr. Cowart and Mrs. Cowart are descended from
the Travers family through their mothers.
The branch of the Kirwan family settled in Ireland made
a very brilliant record as patriots, men of learning and scientists.
Francis Kirwan, son of Matthew, who was born at Galway in
1589, was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1614 and became Bishop
of Killala. A man of unselfish life, he extended his labors into
the wild Connaught mountains and the wilder islands off the
coast. The good Bishop took an active part in the last struggles
of the Irish in Connaught, and was an intimate friend of Clan-
ricarde. He became a fugitive in 1652 and after great hardship
surrendered, in 1654. He suffered an imprisonment of fourteen
months and was allowed to retire to France, where he was well
received and died in 1661. To that same family belonged Owen
Kirwan, who took part in the abortive uprising headed by the
unfortunate Robert Emmett, and, like Emmett, was captured by
the British Government, and executed on September 3, 1803. An-
other member was Richard Kirwan, a very prominent chemist
and natural philosopher, born 1733 and died in 1813. He also
was of the Galway family. He became President of the Royal
Irish Academy, was offered a title, which he declined; was a
Doctor of Laws, an accomplished linguist, an adept in music, and
was given the honorary title of Inspector-General of his Majesty's
mines in Ireland. He was a Unitarian in religion. Perhaps the
greatest of all of these brilliant members of this Galway family
was Stephen Kirwan, who became a Protestant, and was the first
Protestant Bishop of the See of Kilmacduagh. Another remark-
able member of this family was Walter Blake Kirwan, born at
Galway in 1754. Born and reared a Catholic, and educated for
the priesthood, in 1787 he left the Roman Church, and on June
24, 1787, preached his first sermon as a Protestant to a congre-
gation in St. Peter's Church, Dublin. He was one of the greatest
preachers of his generation, and collections taken for religious
purposes after his sermons often amounted to a sum equal in our
money to five or six thousand dollars. He became Dean of Killala,
as an Anglican clergyman, where one of his forebears, two hun-
dred years before, had been Roman Catholic Bishop of the See.
The coat of arms of the Travers family in Lancashire, from
which the Maryland family is descended, is as follows :
"Argent a fesse vert, between three torteaux."
The Kirwan coat of arms is described as follows:
SLATER COWART 539
"Gules three crescents argent.
"Crest : A hand erect issuing from a cloud, holding a broken
spear proper."
The Cowart coat of arms, granted when the common form of
the name was "Cowherd" or "Coward," is as follows :
"Argent (another or) on a chevron gules three martlets of
the field ; on a chief of the second a chamber piece or.
"Crest: A derni greyhound sable (another argent) holding be-
tween his feet a stag's head cabossed argent attired or."
r- -^HE
I Vi
sh
JAMES HATLER DICKENSON
beautiful section of Virginia known as Southwestern
Virginia is rich in the possession of an excellent citizen-
hip, mostly of pure English blood descended from the
early settlers of the "Old Dominion." who in their pic-
turesque country have preserved the best of the traditions of a
former age. to which they have added the life and enterprise of
the present.
One of these. James Hatler Dickenson. of Hansonville. was
born at Castlewood. Virginia, on March 22. 1851. son of Henry
and Elizabeth i Bickley i Dickenson. Mr. Dickenson is a member
of a family which has a history of most absorbing interest, and
which has given name to a county in southwest Virginia. This
history will be referred to at length a little later.
James H. Dickenson was educated in the public schools; in
the high school at Hansonville. Virginia, and at King's College,
Bristol. Tenn. As a young man. he entered mercantile business
as a clerk, later becoming a merchant, and after a successful
career, changed his occupation to that of farmer and stock man,
in which he is now engaged, and has been for years. He is one
of the successful and representative farmers and stock men of
his section, which is as well adapted to good farming and success-
ful stock raising as any other section of the United States. The
people of Mr. Dickenson's section have one very distinct pecu-
liarity. They were most of them known as "Union men" when the
Civil War broke upon the country in 1861. After the war, though
the State was. and is. an overwhelmingly Democratic State, its
people have largely affiliated with the Republican Party,
to such an extent that there is a white district in southwest-
ern Virginia which has continuously sent a Republican mem-
ber to Congress for the last forty years. Mr. Dickenson is one of
those stout Republicans in a Democratic commonwealth, and was
for sixteen years the local Postmaster. As a young man he be-
came affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and aside from that,
has not held membership in any societies, clubs, or organizations of
any sort. He was married at Hansonville on November 19, 1876,
to Martha Temperance Gilmer. who was born in that village on
April 7, 1857, daughter of Charles Hayes and Frankie Lee (Gose)
Gilmer. Mrs. Dickenson's maiden name is an historic Virginia
name, and an urf-shoot from the Virginia Gilmers became Governor
of Georgia and has given name to a county in that State.
[ 540 1
TH
*-
JAMES HATLER DICKENSON 543
Mr. and Mrs. Dickenson have a large and interesting family.
Their oldest child, Henry Beecher Dickenson, was educated at
the State Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and is deceased.
The second, Koy Hunter Dickenson, educated at King's College,
Bristol, Tenn., is a farmer, and married Sara Naomi Keys. The
third (a daughter) Forte Bickley Dickenson, graduated from Sul-
lins College, Bristol, Tenn., married Clarice C. Bundy, and they
have four children, Virginia Russell, Dorothy, Clarice C., Jr., and
William Daniel Bundy. The fourth child (a daughter) Zolle D.,
educated at Sullins College and the V. I. College at Bristol, mar-
ried Elbert W. Patterson. They have no living children. The
fourth child, Blanche Dickenson, attended Sullins College, the
Harrisonburg Normal School, and is an alumnus of the Summer
School of the University of Virginia. She is a teacher by occupa-
tion. The fifth child, James Halter Dickenson, Jr., was educated
at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg, Va. He is
a farmer and stock raiser by occupation. The seventh child, Rus-
sell Scott Dickenson, attended King's College, Bristol, Tennessee,
and is the third of the sons to follow in his father's footsteps, being
also a farmer and stock man. The eighth child is a daughter,
Dixie Sutton, a student of Centenary Female College, Cleveland,
Tenn., and is married to Carroll L. Kidd. The ninth child, Louise
Walton Dickenson, attended Centenary Female College, Cleve-
land, Tenn., and the Harrisonburg Normal School, Virginia.
The tenth and youngest, Frankie Gose Dickenson, attended the
Agricultural High School at Lebanon, Va., the Centenary Female
College, Cleveland, Tenn., and Sullins College of Bristol, Tenn.
Of this large family of ten children, nine are living, and as will
be noted from the above, Mr. Dickenson has done his full duty
by them in giving them a splendid equipment for the duties of life.
As to the things which will best promote the interests of the
State and nation, Mr. Dickenson evidently believes that the moral
side should come first. He strongly favors the National Prohibi-
tion of the Liquor Traffic and the promotion of the purity move-
ment, which means that he wants in the next generation (at
least) a clean and sober people, for he realizes that such people
are much more likely to build up a great and enduring civilization
than those whose brains are dulled with liquor, or whose bodies are
weakened by immorality.
The Dickenson family history has been referred to. There
are five spellings of this apparently simple name on the records,
and there may be other variations which have never gotten into
print. The two oldest forms of the name are "Dickenson" and
"Dicconson," but the largest number of people bearing this name
now use the form of "Dickinson." Dickerson also appears, while
"Dickason" and "Dickoson" have practically disappeared. The
form "Dicconson" has nearly disappeared, though one family in
544 JAMES HATLER DICKENSON
Hampshire, England, is known yet to use that spelling. The three
American forms, taken in the order of numbers, are "Dickinson,"
"Dickenson" and "Dickerson." Curiously enough, many of these
found under these three spellings trace back to a common ancestry.
The origin of the name is far back in the centuries, and this origin
is undoubtedly a double one; that is to say, not all the families
come from the same source. In the traditionary history of the
family, it appears that Kollo, the first Duke of Normandy, who
was the direct ancestor in the sixth generation of William the
Conqueror, had a younger son, Walter, who settled in Caen, Nor-
mandy. When William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066,
among his followers was a descendant of this Walter of Caen,
who appears upon the Roll of Battle Abbey as Walter de Caen.
William, the chief of the Norman robbers, paid off all of his sup-
porters with large landed estates in the conquered country, and
to Walter de Caen he gave the old Saxon Manor of Kenson, named
for the little hamlet of that name on the south branch of the
Aire near the City of Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire,
where (according to the tradition) Walter wooed and wed the
daughter of the last Saxon Lord of Kenson, and so became Walter
de Kenson ; his descendants held this old Manor until the middle
of the seventeenth century. All the names of that day were prac-
tically either territorial or sobriquets given a man for some per-
sonal quality. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries names be-
gan to take shape, and so Walter de Keuson easily became Walter
Dickenson. The other origin is undoubtedly from the name of
Richard, from which the old English got "Die" and "Diccon," and
thus Diccon's son easily became "Dicconson." One authority,
speaking of this question of English surnames, has said "that
could we only grasp their meaning, could we take away the doubt-
ful crust in which they are oftentimes embedded, then should we
be speaking out of the very mouth of history itself."
The Dickensons increased and multiplied in England, con-
tributing their full share to the building up of that great British
Empire which now shows front in every continent of the earth;
and in due season, when the American Colonies began to take
shape, the enterprising members of the family faced the risks of the
sea to venture themselves in the new and hopeful country. From
these immigrants have come two main lines in the United States,
the New England family, founded by Nathaniel, who came to Bos-
ton about 1630, moved on to Watertown, and then, with his wife
and four little children, plunged into the wilderness, and settled
in 1637 at Wethersfield. Twenty years later, there was a theo-
logical convulsion in the little town in which he lived, and he with
a handful of others, who refused to accept the dogma of a ma-
jority, moved in 1659 to Hadley. By that time his family had
increased to patriarchal size, having nine sons and two or three
JAMES HATLER DICKENSON 545
daughters. He is always spoken of as Nathaniel of Hadley. He
became a leading man in his section, taking his full share in all
the pioneer work of those days, and in the King Philip War,
which came in the very last year of his life, two of his sons fell
in battle.
The other main line in America was founded by Walter,
Henry and John Dickenson, all of whom were sons of Charles
Dickenson, a London merchant who had married Rachel Carter,
and grandsons of Simon Dickenson, who had married Catherine
Dudley, a daughter of the fifth Lord Dudley. These three sons
of Charles came to Virginia as young men and founded three
separate families. Walter married for his first wife Jane Yar-
rett, and moved to Talbot County, Maryland, thus becoming
the founder of the Maryland and Delaware Dickinsons; and
the historian of this family claimed, in 1883, that Samuel T. Dick-
inson, of Talbot County, Maryland, was the legitimate head of
the entire Dickinson race, being able to trace his ancestral line
through the elder line of thirteen generations to the man who
first bore the name. Henry, the second son, married a Miss Jen-
nings, settled in Virginia permanently, and became the patriarch
of the Virginia Dickensons, whose descendants are now found in
many of the Southern States. This branch of the family has
always clung to the ancestral "e" in its orthography. The third
son of Charles of London was John, who moved from Virginia,
and through his son William became the ancestor of a large
branch of the Pennsylvania Dickinsons.
Our space will not permit an extended following up of the
Dickinson family history, but it would not be fair to pass by the
splendid record made by so many members of this family in the
making of our national history.
Daniel Stevens Dickinson, one of the great figures of our
history, was born in Connecticut in 1800. His school advantages
were very limited and his fortunes meagre. He was taught a
trade, and after serving his apprenticeship never followed it. His
strong mind reached out for larger things than the narrow life
of a mechanic. Self-taught, at the age of twenty-eight he secured
admission to the bar, located at Binghampton, New York, and
in 1836 was in the State Senate. In 1842 he was Lieutenant-
Governor. In 1844-50, he was in the United States Senate. In
1852 he could have had the Democratic nomination for President
in the convention which met at Baltimore, and which was dead-
locked, but his sense of honor would not permit him to accept.
In 1853, Mr. Dickinson declined the appointment of Collector
of the Port of New York. At the outbreak of the war, though a
life-time Democrat, he took an active and eloquent part in sup-
porting the Union and was elected Attorney-General of New York
by a phenomenal majority as a candidate of the Union Party.
546 JAMES HATLER DICKENSON
In 1863 he declined an appointment as Judge of the New York
Court of Appeals. In 1865, he accepted from President Lin-
coln the appointment of United States Attorney for the South-
western district of New York, and was an incumbent of that
office when he died suddenly in 1866. Daniel Dickinson was
one of the greatest of American lawyers and a statesman of
high rank equal to any position in the land.
We come next upon two Governors of New Jersey. Governor
Mahlon Dickerson and Gov. Philemon Dickerson, both able men
descended from Philemon Dickerson, the tanner, who came to
America in 1637. The elder brother filled many appointments,
including the office of Governor of New Jersey, United States
Senator for thirteen years and Secretary of the Navy. The
younger brother, Philemon, succeeded the elder in the Governor's
office, and upon his death, in 1842, succeeded him as United States
District Judge, which office he was then holding.
President Jonathan Dickinson belonged to the Massachusetts
line. In 1708, he was ordained a Presbyterian minister and
settled at Elizabeth, New Jersey, preaching to six or seven con-
gregations. He was the founder of Nassau Hall, which we now
know as Princeton University, being the chief instrument in
securing its charter, and then being elected its President. He
lived only one year to perform the duties of this office. Dr.
John Erskine said of him that the British Isles had not pro-
duced any writer in divinity in the eighteenth century equal
to Jonathan Dickinson and Jonathan Edwards.
Rev. Timothy Dickinson was another of these Massachu-
setts men. He served as a soldier in the American Army dur-
ing the Revolution when a mere lad. Later he graduated from
Dartmouth College and served the church at Holliston, Mass.,
for twenty-five years, dying at the age of fifty-two.
We come now to perhaps the greatest of all these American
Dickinsons — John Dickinson, of Dover, Del. He was born at
the seat of his father, Judge Samuel Dickinson, in Talbot County,
Maryland, on November 8, 1732. His mother was Mary Cadwal-
lader, of Philadelphia. He was a member of the Delaware As-
sembly in 1760, of the General Congress of 1765, of the Penn-
sylvania Assembly from 1762 to 1776, of the first Revolutionary
Congress in 1774, and in the Congress of 1776 opposed the Dec-
laration of Independence because he doubted the policy of that
particular measure, but when the Declaration was made he was
the only member of Congress who marched to face the enemy. He
accompanied his regiment to Elizabeth Town in July to repel
the invading army, and he remained there until the end of the
time of service. In 1779 he was in Congress from Delaware,
and in 1781 was Governor of Delaware. In 1782 he was Cap-
tain-General and Commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth of
JAMES HATLER DICKENSON 547
Pennsylvania. In 1783, in conjunction with Benjamin Rush and
others, he founded the College at Carlisle, Pa., named by the
Legislature "Dickinson College," and from that time until his
death, in 1808, was President of the Board of Trustees. He
had been a very earnest opponent of the taxation of the colonies
by the British Government before the Revolution. Of the elo-
quent and important State papers issued by the First Congress,
John Dickinson was the author of the principal ones. He was
the acknowledged father of the system by which every State
in the Union secured equal representation in the United States
Senate.
We come upon another educator in the Hon. Samuel Fowler
Dickinson, of the Massachusetts tribe. He was chief and fore-
most in the founding of Amherst College, being one of three men
to whose exertions, through opposition and discouragement, this
institution owes its existence. He was a tremendous worker,
allowing himself but four hours sleep in the night. It was stated
of him that no man of his generation could outwork him mentally
or physically. Bread, cheese, coffee, apples and old cider were
almost his sole diet. On this diet he maintained his strength and
was never ill but once in life until the last sickness of one week.
Another educator was Rev. Austin Dickinson, born in Am-
herst, Mass., in 1791. He was a preacher of very great power. He
loved educational work, and in 1821 secured $35,000 for Maryville
College, Tenn. ; in 1822, $30,000 for Amherst College and an addi-
tional $50,000 for its charity fund. Considering the time at
which these things were done, one can see that he was a very
powerful man. He was a man of very broad and liberal mind,
of the greatest charity, widely traveled in his own country, and
to some extent in Europe ; and passed away, after a distinguished
and useful life, regretted by friends scattered over two conti-
nents. His younger brother, the Rev. Dr. Baxter Dickinson,
was one of the leaders in the early temperance movement in
this country, and the author of a document finally adopted by the
Presbyterian Church at the Auburn Convention, and known as
the Auburn Declaration. He was a distinguished College Pro-
fessor as well as clergyman.
Going back to the Revolutionary period, we come upon the
figure of General Philemon Dickinson, who was a younger brother
of Gov. John Dickinson. He was a Colonel in the first New
Jersey Militia in 1775 ; a Brigadier-General from October, 1775, to
June, 1777; Major-General from June, 1777, to October, 1781;
member of the New Jersey Provincial Convention in June, 1776;
Chief Commissioner of the Loan Office of New Jersey, 1781 to
1782; member of the Continental Congress, 1782 to 1783; Vice-
President New Jersey State Council, 1783 to 1785 ; United States
Senator, 1790 to 1793. He was a gallant soldier and a devoted
548 JAMES HATLER DICKENSON
patriot. He never failed in the discharge of any duty laid upon
him.
In our own day, the Hon. Don M. Dickinson, of Detroit, Mich.,
was a Cabinet Minister under President Cleveland and a dis-
tinguished figure. The Virginia Dickensons were represented
by more than twenty-five soldiers in the Kevolutionary War.
Of these, Col. John Dickenson, who appears to have been an
Augusta County man, commanded a regiment which had charge
of the protection of the frontier from 1774 to 1778. Henry
Dickenson was an Ensign in a Washington County company.
Edmund was a Captain in the First Virginia Eegiment, and
later a Major. The others were apparently private soldiers.
The Dickenson coat of arms is thus described :
"Vert, a cross between four hinds' heads erased or.
"Crest : A stag's head erased or.
"Motto : Esse quam videri."
r-
^t^
THOMAS MITCHELL DOBYNS
THE traveler through that beautiful section of Virginia from
Bristol to Lynchburg will at the present time see a sec-
tion of country which for picturesque beauty and for
utilitarian purposes is not surpassed in the Union ; and
if that traveler should happen to be an elderly man who had seen
the same country forty years ago, he would be disposed to think
that benevolent genii had been at work to see how marvelous
a transformation they could bring about. The benevolent genii,
however, have been sturdy sons of the soil who, driven by the
spur of necessity, have buckled down to hard work, grasped
every opportunity and developed the country to the extent of
their ability. The results we see. The long, hard years of strug-
gle, responsible for these results, we can only imagine.
One of these workers, who has done his full share of this
rehabilitation of the country, is Thomas Mitchell Dobyns, of
Dublin, who was born at Woodlawn, Carroll County, on March
1, 1865, son of Thomas Mitchell and Catherine (Gannaway)
Dobyns. His father, the first Thomas Mitchell Dobyns, was a
merchant, and the youngest son of an English immigrant who
came to Virginia from England about 1800, settling in Bedford
County. He had four sons, all of whom were farmers and busi-
ness men.
Thomas M. Dobyns's father died when he was seven years of
age, leaving a family of five small children and a modest estate.
For this reason Mr. Dobvns's educational advantages were limited
*j fj
to what used to be known as "Old Field Schools''; and at the
age of thirteen, his schooling concluded, he entered a country
store (as he says himself) in the capacity of a "roustabout.-' He
evidently profited by the opportunities afforded, and soon be-
came a capable business man, his active business career now
covering a period of more than thirty years, during which he has
developed from a store-boy to a successful wholesale and retail
merchant. Not content with his mercantile pursuits, he is a
farmer and cattle-raiser on a large scale, making export cattle a
specialty. The export trade (to be successful) calls for a very
high grade of stock. Mr. Dobyns and his brother, who is asso-
ciated with him, are men not content with second place in any-
thing. They are now owners of the historic "Joseph Cloyd"
estate, near Dublin, Va., upon which the battle of Cloyd Farm
was fought during the Civil War.
[551]
552 THOMAS MITCHELL DOBYNS
Mr. Dobyns is a modest man, who does not realize nor be-
lieve that he has done anything of a phenomenal character, and
very modestly says that the good estate which he and his brother
have accumulated is the result simply of energy and hard work,
coupled with experimental knowledge and strict business methods.
He has eschewed politics and society, feeling that these things
were injurious to his business interests, as it was certain they
would take time, even if they did not cost money, and he is first
of all a business man. His political affiliation is with the Demo-
cratic party, but he has never held and never sought public
office, contenting himself with being a private in the ranks.
He is a member of the Methodist church.
He is a member of the Order of Elks, affiliated with Lodge
No. 1067. He enjoys reading, particularly our very excellent
magazines.
Mr. Dobyns does not believe in mixing business and politics.
His career, which has been very creditable to him, and a use-
ful one to his section, has been of his own making, and he is
entitled to the credit which attaches to all conscientious and
faithful effort.
The family name is an ancient one in England, said to date
back to the time of King John. It is found under three spell-
ings, "Dobyns," "Dobbins" and "Dobins." The "Dobyns" form
is the most ancient, and seems to have been confined to Here-
fordshire, Gloucester and Middlesex. The Herefordshire branch
of the family was perhaps the oldest. All three have the same
coat of arms, except that the Herefordshire branch has no crest
or motto; the Middlesex branch has a crest but no motto; while
the Gloucestershire branch has both crest and motto. The an-
cient coat of arms is described as follows :
"Azure a chevron between three annulets or."
PUBLI
FSUNDA
U^7.
quier
to b
the
at
i, the :
Pol
ib, the ^
nia Corn Cl
to
556 HUGH MONTGOMERY LUTTRELL
instead of straying away to the cities, and, if this can be done,
the attractions of country life will become so great and such
enterprising and public-spirited communities will spring up that
there will be a reflux movement from city to country. He clearly
realizes, as most thoughtful minds of the country now do, that
our national strength lies near the soil, and that civilization can-
not endure without an intelligent farming population.
Not a politician in the usual sense of the word, Mr. Luttrell
is a politician in that better sense which means good citizenship,
and takes a keen interest in public matters. His political affilia-
tions so far in life have been with the Democratic party.
He is a member of the Baptist Church.
He was married in the Delaplane Presbyterian Church on
July 10, 1894, to Eliza Atlanta Singleton, born in Baltimore,
August 19, 1867, daughter of Andrew Jackson Singleton and
Eliza Matilda (Neer) Singleton. Their living children are Mary
Singleton Luttrell, born February 2, 1896; Hugh Montgomery
Luttrell, Jr., born November 22, 1900; Singleton Luttrell, born
November 1, 1902. The second child, Andrew Jackson Singleton
Luttrell, born December 23, 1897, died February 13, 1898.
The Luttrells and the Singletons represent the development
of an old family stock transplanted in new countries. It has been
said of the people of New Zealand, which is the most purely Brit-
ish country in the world outside of Great Britain, that they
are an improvement physically and intellectually on the stock
from which they come. In a sense this has been true of the
Virginians. For, while in a physical, moral and intellectual
way they may not be man for man superior to the old English
families from which they are descended, they have shown an
adaptability to new conditions which is altogether foreign to
the English character in its native habitat.
Both the Luttrell and Singleton families, from which Mr.
Luttrell and his wife come, have been rated among the English
gentry for so many centuries that it is quite difficult to get at the
exact origin.
The family history of the Luttrells is one of unusual inter-
est. To begin with, it was a Norman-French family, and there are
a dozen spellings of the name found in the old records. The
original Norman-French form was Lotrel ; but the present form
has been in general use now for the last three hundred years.
It is not certain that they came with William the Conqueror
to England in 1066; but it is certain that they came shortly
thereafter, for the name appears on the famous Roll of Battle
Abbey. It is also known that Robert Luttrell and Osbert Luttrell
were extensive land owners in Normandy before the Conquest.
The records show that Sir John Luttrell, Knight, held, in
capite, the manor of Hooten-Paynel in Yorkshire during the reign
of Henry I and of Stephen by a service of four and a half Knight's
HUGH MONTGOMERY LUTTRELL 557
Fees, and his posterity, in the male line continued in possession
until the reign of Henry V.
Sir John Luttrell had a daughter who married John Scott,
Lord of Calverly and Steward of the Household of the Empress
Maud. Sir Andrew Luttrell, Knight, in the time of Henry II,
founded the Abbey of Croxton-Kyriel in Leicestershire, and in
this Abbe^7 were deposited the ashes of King John, who died in
that vicinity.
Evidently Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, holder of extensive land in
the counties of Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and York, sided
with Prince John in the troubles between him and his brother,
King Richard I, for Richard confiscated the lands of Geoffrey
Luttrell. After the death of Richard and the accession of John,
these lands were restored to Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, who attended
King John into Ireland and was evidently one of his influential
advisers. In 1204, he was stationed in Ireland, and, in 1215, he
appears to have been possessed of very unusual qualities. In that
year John appointed him to be his sole agent in certain negotia-
tions concerning the dower of Queen Berengaria, and, at the
same time, commissioned him, in conjunction with the Arch-
bishops of Bordeaux and Dublin, to denounce to the Pope the re-
bellious barons who had a little earlier extorted from the cow-
ardly John that great charter of English liberties which we
know as the Magna Charta. In one of these documents Geoffrey
Luttrell is styled "nobilis vir." He succeeded in his mission to
the Pope; and Innocent III declared the Charta null, suspended
the Archbishop of Canterbury and excommunicated the barons.
In this transaction, Sir Geoffrey Luttrell does not appear
to the best advantage, for he evidently sided with John, who was
undoubtedly the worst specimen of manhood who ever sat on the
English throne. However, in those days, men had a very strong
sense of loyalty to the ruling monarch, and were often misled
in that way.
As a reward for his services, Sir Geoffrey Luttrell was
granted lands in Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, and at Croxton
in Leicestershire. In consideration of twenty ounces of gold, he
was still further rewarded with a large estate eight miles from
Dublin on the banks of the river Liffey, which is known as Lut-
trellstown to the present day, and which remained in the posses-
sion of the family until the early years of the nineteenth century.
The American line is descended from this Irish branch. It
is not certain whether the head of the Irish branch, Sir Robert
Luttrell, was the son of or brother of Geoffrey. This much, how-
ever, is certain, that all the Luttrells are directly descended from
the Norman-French family who came over to England about the
period of the Conquest; and whether the Irish Robert was a
son or a brother of Geoffrey is immaterial, because they were all
of the same blood.
558 HUGH MONTGOMERY LUTTRELL
From that time forward there were two main families; the
one settled near Dublin and the other already located in England,
the head of which resided at Dunster Castle in Somersetshire.
This estate and the Manor of East Quantockshead came into the
family in the time of Sir Andrew Luttrell, son of Sir Goeffrey,
the founder of the family, and has remained in the family down
to the present day, Captain Alexander Luttrell, who is a direct
descendant of the Luttrells and the Mohuns, being the present
owner, these two families having owned these properties from
the time of the Conquest until this day. The present value of the
Dunster Castle estate, without any additions of consequence to
the original property, is about five million dollars.
Captain Alexander Luttrell is in the twenty-second genera-
tion from Sir Geoffrey.
It is obvious that in a sketch of this character detailed his-
tory of these generations cannot be given, but the records have
been preserved and are now in standard works.
The Irish family began with Robert, son or brother of Sir
Geoffrey. In 1236, this Robert was Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
Then there is mention of Michael Luttrell, who owned the estate
at the close of the century ; and, later, in 1349, of Simon Luttrell,
who died in possession of the property. It will be noticed that,
while the Luttrells held from father to son, the generations are
a little vague during the first one hundred and fifty years. Then
we find firmer ground.
We come to Robert, who married a daughter of Sir Elias
de Ashbourne of Devon, England, and by this marriage added
largely to his fortune. This Robert was succeeded by Christopher,
who was succeeded by Richard, who was succeeded by Sir Thomas
Luttrell, who, in the reign of Henry VIII, was Chief Justice
of Ireland. Sir Thomas was succeeded by his son Richard, who
was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was a very bold man,
and who married Eleanor Preston, daughter of Christopher,
Fourth Viscount Gormanston. This Thomas was succeeded by
his son Simon, who was made a Gentleman of the Bed Chamber to
Charles II.
Simon married Janice, daughter of the Fifth Viscount Gor-
manston, a cousin, and had sons Simon, Henry and Robert. Of
these Robert was the founder of the American family. The two
sons who remained in Ireland had brilliant careers themselves,
and their descendants rose to great prominence, George III
making the Simon of his day First Baron Irnham, then Vis-
count Carhampton, and, later still. Earl of Carhampton.
Evidently these Irish Luttrells did not lack ambition, and
they traveled far. Simon (III) made a successful marriage,
as most of the Luttrells seem to have done, and had a number
of children. One of his sons, John, married a daughter of Lord
Waltham and took his name and title. Another son, James,
HUGH MONTGOMERY LUTTRELL 559
was commander of the ship "Mediator," which dealt some heavy
blows to the Americans during the Revolution. A daughter, Anne,
became the wife of William, Duke of Cumberland, and thereby
sister-in-law of King George III. Henry Lawes Luttrell, son and
heir of Simon (III) and Second Earl of Carhampton, repre-
sented Middlesex in the British Parliament just prior to the
American Revolution, and was an intense partisan of the Lord
North administration. His defeat of Wilkes, a liberal, led to a
great outcry on the part of the British people; and it is about
this time that the celebrated Junius in one of his letters used
the phrase, "Let Parliament see to it that a Luttrell never wears
the crown of England."
Robert Luttrell (II) of the Irish line, who married his
cousin, Anne, daughter of Viscount Gormanston, came to America
in the early part of the eighteenth century and settled in Prince
William County, Virginia. He had a large family, including three
sons, Simon, Thomas and Richard. Simon's descendants live in
Kentucky, where one Lucien Simon Luttrell died quite recently.
Thomas died early in search of health in Jamaica. Richard,
son of Robert Luttrell (II), lived in Fauquier County, married
Miss Churchill, and had a son, Richard.
Richard (II) was commissioned an ensign from the County
of Fauquier at the time of the American Revolution, through
the influence of Thomas Jefferson. This would be equivalent to a
commission of lieutenant at the present day; and this old com-
mission is still in the possession of the family. He married
Frances Hambleton, and had a son, Burrell. Burrell, son of
Richard (II) and Frances Hambleton, married a daughter of
Harmon Button, ancestor of the late Governor Fishback, of
Arkansas, and had a son, Richard.
Richard (III) married Elizabeth Bywaters, of Culpeper
County, Virginia. He was a great fox hunter who dispensed a
lavish hospitality, and was known as "Dick Luttrell, the fox
hunter."
Burrell Edmund, son of Richard (III), was a Confederate
soldier during the Civil War, serving a great part of the time
as a courier for General J. E. B. Stuart and General Beauregard.
He was taken prisoner at the battle of Strasburg, and held until
the end of the war.
He married Mary Ritchie Nelson, daughter of James Richard
Nelson, of Culpeper County ; and of this marriage there was born
the following children :
First, Capitola, married John S. Hughes, of Rappahannock
bounty, Virginia.
Second, Richard Edmund, married Ada, daughter of James
Browning, of Rappahannock County, Virginia.
Third, Hugh Montgomery (the subject of this sketch) mar-
ried Atlanta, daughter of Andrew Jackson Singleton, owner of
560 HUGH MONTGOMERY LUTTRELL
"Ivanhoe," the old home of Captain Lewis Marshall in Fauquier
County, Virginia.
Fourth, Frank, unmarried, lives with his father at the old
home, the deed for which, signed on parchment in 1762 by Lord
Fairfax, is still in possession of the family.
Fifth, Charles, died unmarried at the age of twenty-four.
Sixth, Warren, died a missionary in India.
Seventh, Russell, married Edna, daughter of James Clarke,
of Ashley, Indiana, and now is in the general insurance business
in Oklahoma City.
Eighth, John A., who is a business man of Parkersburg, West
Virginia, married Virginia Quarrier Snodgrass, of Parkersburg,
daughter of Honorable John F. Snodgrass, member of Congress
from the counties of Old Virginia bordering on the Ohio River
before the Civil War.
It is a tradition in the family that Richard Luttrell of the
Revolutionary period was later appointed Governor of the Illinois
country by President Jefferson. This, however, so far has not
been verified by any public record.
The coat of arms of the original founder of the family is
described by Burke, the great English authority, as on a golden
ground a bend between six black martlets (or swallows).
Then the Dunster Castle family has a coat of arms showing
quarterings with the Fownes family with which they had inter-
married.
There is a Devonshire family derived from the Somerset-
shire family which uses the original coat of arms first mentioned,
and adds to it a crest. The Earls of Carhampton worked out
for themselves a very elaborate and complicated coat of arms.
The Luttrellstown family, from which Mr. Hugh Montgomery
Luttrell is directly descended, and whose coat of arms he is en-
titled to use, is thus described by Burke: "Argent, a fesse sable
between three otters of the last, in each mouth a fish proper.
Crest: An otter passant sable. In the mouth a fish proper.
Motto : En Dieu est ma fianceV'
Mrs. Luttrell comes of the Singleton family, of which there
are authentic records back to the year 1155. English genealogists
tell us that this family originated in Yorkshire.
The family was known as Singletons of Singleton, and was
founded by Huck of Singleton, whose sons Uchtred and Siward
were living under Henry II, and apparently under Richard I.
The Charter of 1155 referred to, confirms to Uchtred of Single-
ton eight bovates in Broughton in Amounderness for eight shill-
ings a year. The Singleton family was of Saxon origin ; the
names of Huck and Uchtred and Siward make that clear.
This was evidently the parent stock, and from that center they
scattered over England and Ireland. The old records of Great
Britain show Singletons of Mell, of Aclare in County Meath,
HUGH MONTGOMERY LUTTRELL 561
Ireland, of Quinville Abbey, of Ft. Singleton, of County Monag-
ham, and of County Suffolk in England.
The first record we have of the Singletons in America was
of Henry, who came over in 1637, and settled in Elizabeth City
County. A second Henry, with John, probably his brother, came
in 1651, and settled in Northumberland County. It is believed
that these three were the progenitors of all the Singletons in
Maryland and Virginia and the Carolinas.
In Bishop Meade's book they are mentioned as among the
prominent Virginia families. They were known to have inter-
married with the Randolph family, and, in the year 1800, the
old records of Lynnhaven Parish, in Princess Anne County,
show the name of Peter Singleton as a vestryman.
The reasonable supposition is that these early Singletons in
Virginia came over from County Suffolk, for the other Single-
ton families were settled in the northern counties of England
and Ireland; and, at that time, there was almost no immigra-
tion to the new colonies from Ireland and the northern British
counties.
They multiplied considerably, for by the time of the Revo-
lutionary period they were found from Maryland to South Caro-
lina, though there is no record of them in Georgia at that time,
and a little later they appeared in Kentucky and Tennessee.
One of the great California capitalists of the present day is John
Singleton, a member of the Tennessee family, born in that State
some fifty years ago.
At least one of them is said to have been a brilliant partisan
officer during those two years of desperate struggle in the Caro-
linas during the Revolutionary War.
Mrs. Luttrell's father, Andrew Jackson Singleton, was born
July 26, 1839, and was the eldest son of Albert Rust and Lucy
Atlanta (McCormick) Singleton. Mr. Singleton's ancestry on
both sides was strong, and he grew up into brilliant young man-
hood. He developed business capacity of a high order, and be-
came the head of one of the largest wholesale houses in Balti-
more, which position he occupied for fifteen years. While still
a young man, he retired from mercantile pursuits in 1875, and
purchased the estate of "Ivanhoe," where he lived until his death
on December 12, 1898.
His wife, Eliza M. Neer, was born February 20, 1842, and
died April 12, 1902. She was the daughter of Nathan and Eliza
(Potts) Neer, both notable families in Pennsylvania; and it was
from this Potts family that the town of Pottsville takes its name.
There is a branch of the family established in Loudoun County,
Virginia.
The Singletons have gone their way for eight hundred years
without seeking notoriety. Their standing, however, in Great
Britain may be judged by the fact that during these eight hun-
562 HUGH MONTGOMERY LUTTRELL
dred years more than a dozen coats of arms have been granted
to various branches of the family. There is perhaps not another
family in Great Britain where the various branches of it have
been so loyal to the parent stock. The usual rule has been that
when coats of arms were granted to branches of some distin-
guished family, that each one was apt to try to introduce some-
thing new. The distinctive feature of the original Singleton coat
of arms, Singleton of Singleton, was three chevrons in red be-
tween three martlets (or swallows) in blue. In every one of these
coats of arms granted to the Singletons that original idea ap-
pears in some form. Some have added something new to it, and
one has even cut off the swallows, being contented with the three
chevrons, but all of them have held to the main idea. It is a
very beautiful tribute which these many branches have paid to the
old stock, and is equivalent to the statement that they are "Sin-
gletons of Singleton."
in IreJ
Sir Robert Poll ok,
ad son of Sir
:ond, of
to
c ' f-
~. It
When it
566 TASKER POLK
Polk, brother of the President, who was appointed by President
Tyler Charge d'Affaires to the two Sicilies; Colonel Thomas
Polk, author of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence;
Hon. Trusten Polk, Governor and United States Senator from
Missouri ; Colonel William Polk, a gallant officer of the American
Revolution; Alexander Laws Polk, whose services with Commo-
dore Decatur in the Mediterranean Sea were recognized by the
American Congress; Hon. Charles Polk, Governor of Delaware;
Brigadier William Polk, of the United States Army in the War of
1812; Daniel Polk, of the Navy, who received a sword and the
thanks of Congress for gallant conduct before Tripoli; and Gen-
erals Lucius J. Polk and Leonidas Polk, of the Confederate
Army, the latter of whom was Bishop of Louisiana.
A great-grandson of Robert Bruce Polk, the emigrant from
Ireland, was Thomas Polk, and another son was Ezekiel Polk,
both citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and both
signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Ezekiel
Polk had a son, Samuel Polk, who married Jane Knox, and of
this marriage were born James Knox Polk, President of the
United States, and William Hawkins Polk, the father of Tasker
Polk.
The compass of this sketch does not admit of any detailed
account of President James Knox Polk, whose life-history has
been written elsewhere in many places. His father, Samuel Polk,
who moved to Tennessee when James Knox Polk was eleven years
old, was a good surveyor, and spent much of his time in that occu-
pation, assisted by his son James, who was a fine mathematician.
In early life James evidenced a desire for an education, but being
delicate, his father put him in a store as a clerk. He did not like
this work, and was soon sent to school. In 1815, he entered the
University of North Carolina, of which institution his kinsman,
William Polk, of Raleigh, N. C., was then a trustee. After three
years young Polk graduated from the University with the highest
honors. It is said of him that during his college life he never
missed a recitation or a college or chapel exercise; and it was
proverbial among the students that he was always on time at the
first roll-call. A witty fellow-student was in the habit of con-
firming his own statements by saying : "It is as true as that Polk
will be at roll-call." He graduated in 1818 and was valedictorian
of his class. His subsequent career is history. He served in the
United States House of Representatives from 1825 to 1839 and was
speaker for two terms. His devotion to duty, as illustrated in his
college career, was still further exemplified by his life as a Con-
gressman. In his farewell address to the Congress he said : "I
was a member of Congress for fourteen years, and I never failed to
attend the daily sessions but one day, and that was on account of
sickness."
In 1839 he was elected Governor of Tennessee. He became
TASKER POLK 567
President of the United States, March 14, 1845 ; and after serving
out his term, retired to his home in Nashville, where he died June
15th, 1849.
William Hawkins Polk was born May 24, 1815, in Maury
County, Tennessee, to which State his father, Samuel Polk, had
moved from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1800. He
was educated at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and at the University
of Tennessee. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1839.
In 1841 and 1843 he was elected to the Legislature of Tennessee.
In 1844 he was appointed to a diplomatic post abroad, and nego-
tiated a treaty with the kingdom of the two Sicilies. It was during
the service abroad of William Hawkins Polk that his brother,
James Knox Polk, was elected President of the United States.
The diplomat resigned his post upon the beginning of the war
with Mexico, and returning to America was appointed a Major
in the Third Dragoons. He went with his command to Mexico,
and served with gallantry and distinction throughout the war.
While serving in Mexico, Major Folk's command was de-
tailed for some special service, and in the execution of that serv-
ice, accidentally crossed the trail of General Santa Anna, very
nearly capturing that distinguished Mexican. News was brought
to Major Polk that General Santa Anna and a number of his
officers were in a certain building. Major Polk surrounded the
building with his command, but General Santa Anna made his
escape, leaving behind him his hat, cork leg and gold-headed
cane. The hat is now in the possession of Mr. Tasker Polk. The
cane was a very handsome one, an ivory staff, surmounted by
a gold head set with jewels. In the center of the head was a
large topaz, which Major Polk presented to his brother, the
President. Mr. Tasker Polk now has this topaz, together with
many of the jewels which ornamented the head of the cane. Major
Polk was a delegate to the Nashville Convention of 1850, and
a representative in Congress from Tennessee from 1851 to 1853.
In the various Presidential campaigns he was four times elector-
at-large for the State of Tennessee, and was distinguished as
one of the most effective stump speakers of his day. Upon the
development of the secession movement in 1860 he stood for the
Union and made sixty speeches in opposition to secession. He
died in Nashville, December 15th, 1862.
Major William Hawkins Polk married Lucy Eugenia Wil-
liams, and one of the children of that marriage was Tasker
Polk. He was educated at the Warrenton High School, in War-
renton, North Carolina, and at Bethel Military Academy in
Fauquier County, Virginia. He studied law and obtained his
license to practice before the Supreme Court of North Carolina in
1885. Since that date he has continued to practice his pro-
fession in Warrenton, with distinction and success. He is a
Democrat, and has taken an active and prominent part in local
568 TASKER POLK
and State politics. He has served three terms as Mayor of the
town of Warrenton, and has been Solicitor of the County Court
of Warren County, and State Senator for the Senatorial dis-
trict composed of the Counties of Warren and Vance. He has
also served as first lieutenant of Company H, Third Regiment,
North Carolina Guards.
On the 24th day of January, 1895, Mr. Polk married in
Emanuel Episcopal Church, Warrenton, Miss Eliza Tannahill
Jones, who was born in Granville County, North Carolina, March
4th, 1869, and who is a daughter of Charles J. Jones and his
wife, Alice Tannahill. The children of their marriage are four
in number, viz : William Tannahill Polk, Mary Tasker Polk, Lucy
Fairfax Polk and James Knox Polk. William, the eldest son,
is (1914) a student in the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill; while the other children are attending the schools in War-
renton.
Mr. Polk is known throughout North Carolina as a man of
commanding personality and of unusual charm and ability as a
public speaker. The Raleigh "News and Observer," in allusion
to his legislative service, said of him : "There was not a more
popular gentleman or scholarly member of the General Assem-
bly than Mr. Polk, of Warren, Senator ; and none was listened to
more attentively by floor, lobby and galleries. Logician and
rhetorician, almost a poet, he spoke with a persuasiveness that
was unknown in other speakers."
We quote from a Memorial Day address : "My friends : Within
this silent City of the Dead, sleep the forms of many of our loved
ones who have passed before us into 'that undiscovered country,
from whose bourn no traveler returns/ If there be a father or
mother present whose son or daughter sleeps within these grounds,
I want to say to you that gentle hands and sympathizing hearts
are here to join with you today in seeing that their graves are
kept green. If there be a son or daughter present whose father
or mother God in His wisdom has taken away, and whose ashes
rest beneath this consecrated sod, I want to say to you that the
same gentle hands and loving hearts have met you here to strew
sweet flowers upon their graves. Someone has beautifully said
that flowers are the angels of the grass. How appropriate, then,
it is for us to place these angels of the grass upon the graves of
our loved ones who themselves have become angels in a better
and brighter land. Who can view a lily in its pure whiteness
without being made the purer by it? It is sweet and gentle in-
fluences that lead us to the higher and better things in life. Force
and fear have never yet accomplished anything for the better-
ment of mankind in either the present or future life. When
nature is convulsed with storm, when hoarse deep thunders roll
across the sky, when lightnings flash from pole to pole, when
stately pines are bended down and giant oaks are leveled low
TASKER POLK 571
by warring winds like feeble blades of grass before the scythe of
a sturdy reaper, we feel a kind of awe which repels rather than
attracts us to the infinite being? But, on the other hand, when
we see a beautiful rose drinking in the morning dew, or watch a
lovely lily nodding its graceful head in the noon-day sun, a feel-
ing of peace and security steals over our hearts and makes us
love the world better.
"Standing here upon this spot now rendered especially sacred
to me by yonder new-made mound, beneath which lies the form
of her whom I loved so well, and feeling as I stand here that
I am directly under the shielding shadow of a loving wing which
I feel is ever around, above and about me, I could not say an
insincere word upon matters such as these, and so, almost feel-
ing the touch of her vanished hand upon my head, almost feeling
her spirit's breath upon my cheek, I say to you : Let us believe that
those words are true which tell us that his mercy endureth for-
ever, and let us discard the unnatural and cruel creed which
teaches that his wrath and his punishment have no end."
It may be said of Mr. Polk that "almost a poet" hardly ex-
presses his literary achievement in the poetic field. He has
been a frequent contributor of verse to the periodicals of the
day; and his poems have been published, in the "Home Journal"
of New York, the "News and Observer" of Raleigh, the "Star"
of Wilmington, N. C., the "American" of Nashville, Tenn., "The
Living Church" of Chicago, and various other papers of Tennessee
and North Carolina.
Among Mr. Folk's most notable poems are the following:
"A Storm at Dawning," "The Broken Shell," "An Angel's Whis-
per," "My Charlie," "A Wintry Heart," and "A Letter To - -,"
which follows:
A LETTER TO
BY TASKER POLK.
'Tis rather late at night to start a letter,
For midnight hangs upon the next few ticks
Of my good watch (it might by much be better,
For it is always stopping, playing tricks,
And, like its owner, getting out of fix).
But whether right or wrong I cannot say;
This much I know, that it was right at six,
For then I set it by God's lamp of day,
But since that time, like me, it may have gone astray.
"Astray!" I never hear that word but what
My mind turns back to gaze upon the past,
When once I could have been — what I am not.
Ah, me! how wildly, recklessly I cast
My youth away in mad temptation's blast!
But none I charge with leading me astray,
And when I stand before God's throne at last,
And when He asks me what I have to say,
I'll answer: "God, I've sinned; the fault was in the clay!"
572 TASKER POLK
I sowed the wind, and now must reap at last
The whirlwind harvest of a life's regret.
But could, oh! could I now recall my past,
And stand again where Youth and I first met
Upon life's untrod plain, whose grass was wet
With hope's sweet morning dew, I'd be to-day
A different man from what I am. And yet,
Who knows? I might have fallen anyway,
For, as I said at first, the fault was in the clay.
Enough, enough of these dark thoughts that burn
And sear and scorch and blister all my soul!
To brighter theme my pen's point let me turn,
Where future days in glad prospective roll,
Where evils of my past have no control,
Where your ennobling love points me the way
To rise above myself and reach the goal
Of that ambition at whose shrine I pray,
For I would prove some grains of gold in all this clay.
'Tis not all dirt, though it may seem to be;
And though its faults are as the sands of sea,
A diamond sparkles in its dust — my love for thee.
And as it sparkles it sends forth a light,
Like beacon-blaze to wanderers in the night,
And leadeth me from ways of wrong to paths of right.
Warrenton, N. C., May 16, 1893.
He is a man of culture and wide reading, and deeply imbued
with a love of the best classic literature. He states : "I have been
a life-long student of Shakespeare, the Bible and Macaulay, and
have derived more benefit and pleasure from their pages than I
have from any and all other books combined."
JOSEPH EDWARD RAGLAND
THE statement has been made by competent authority that
no equal territory in the world has ever contributed to
the country so many strong men as the old State of Vir-
ginia. Any careful reader of the history of our country
will be ready to admit the truth of this statement. While Vir-
ginia has not been so prominent during the last thirty or forty
years in our public life as it was in our earlier years, the State
has not lost in the quality of its citizenship, and within its borders
today one can find many men whose lives recall the heroic periods
of the Republic.
One of these men is the subject of this brief sketch — Joseph
Edward Ragland, who was born in Halifax County, Virginia, on
October 1, 1838, son of Dabney and Harriet Byron (Faulkner)
Kagland. The family history, which is exceedingly interesting,
will be referred to later in this sketch.
Mr. Ragland's father was a farmer, and his boyhood life was
spent on a farm and in attendance upon private schools from
the age of seven to fifteen. In 1853, a youth of fifteen, he became
a clerk in a store conducted by his elder brother, the late Major
Robert Lipscomb Ragland, in the village of Hyco. Later, he
became connected with the firm of Tucker, Chappell & Company.
In 1859, he went with the firm of Owen, Jordan & Company, at
Black Walnut, where he remained until March, 1860, when the
firm name was changed to Owen, Ragland & Company, Mr. Wil-
liam L. Owen, one of the partners, retiring and Mr. Ragland tak-
ing his place. The war clouds were even then lowering, and a
few months later, in May, 1861, the young man entered the Con-
federate Army, was a member of Company C of the Third Vir-
ginia Cavalry, which Company was then under the command of
Captain John A. Chappell and Lieutenant John M. Jordan who
surrendered the Company at Appomattox, after Captain Chappell
was killed at Winchester in 1864. From that time until the
surrender of Lee's Army at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, Mr.
Ragland served gallantly and well as a private soldier, always at
his post of duty, and was with the ragged survivors with Lee
at the end. He was fortunate in escaping without injury.
Returning home, after a short rest, he engaged in the mer-
cantile business at Harmony with T. B. Traynham and Mr. John
M. Owen as partners. This firm continued in business until
[573]
574 JOSEPH EDWARD RAGLAND
the death of Mr. Owen, in 1871, when Mr. Ragland returned to
Hyco, where he has remained in the mercantile business from
that time until now. His mercantile career, except in the four
years interval of the war, covers a period of sixty-one years.
He has not amassed a great fortune but has gained a competency
and the esteem of the people of a wide area. Speaking of his
business history, he says: "I have tried to do my duty as I see
it to my fellow-men, and I have no regrets for the past in my
dealings with my customers, doing unto them as I would be
done by." That he has lived up to this creed is shown by the
regard in which he is held by the people of his native county,
in which his long life has been spent.
A Democrat in his political beliefs, he has never sought office,
but has served his people as a Notary Public, and has been Post-
master of his village for more than forty years, an office much
more useful to the public than lucrative to the holder. Mr. Rag-
land has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1859,
nearly fifty-five years. For long years past he has been a Trustee
of the Southern Methodist Church of his locality. He is an
earnest and devoted advocate of the prohibition of the liquor
traffic, and from time to time has contributed articles to the
press of his section in advocacy of that cause. Through his long
life, his favorite reading has been the Bible, and for fifty years
he has been a consistent follower of the Christian faith.
He has been twice married. His first wife was Mary S.
Bailey, of Person County, North Carolina, to whom he was mar-
ried on May 3, 1868. After a brief married life, she died, leav-
ing an infant, a boy, Charles Dabney Ragland. On December 14,
1870, Mr. Ragland was married in Halifax County to Lucy A.
Lawson, who still lives. His first wife was a daughter of John
and Elizabeth Bailey. His second wife was a daughter of David
and Jane Lawson. The child of his first marriage, Charles Dab-
ney Ragland, was an unusually promising and brilliant man.
Graduating from Randolph-Macon College, from which institu-
tion, in 1890, he received the degree of Master of Arts, he became
a teacher in the Preparatory Department of Randolph-Macon Col-
lege, at Bedford City, Virginia, where he remained until October,
1894, when he entered the Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore,
Md., for advanced work in chemistry, with mineralogy and physics
as subsidiary studies. In June, 1895, he was elected Professor of
Chemistry in Randolph-Macon College, and granted two years
leave of absence to complete his course of studies already begun.
For the next two years he was a Fellow of the Department of
Chemistry, and in 1897 prepared a dissertation, or thesis, at the
suggestion of Prof. Remsen, which showed the high character of
his scholarship. He then entered upon the duties of his Professor-
ship at Randolph-Macon, but his useful life was cut short in his
early prime, on October 30, 1900, when he passed away. This
JOSEPH EDWARD RAGLAND 575
son married Miss Mary Fisher Luckett, who is still living, as is
their daughter, Mary Bailey Ragland.
Of Mr. Ragland's second marriage there are two children.
Janie H. married W. C. Slate, President of the Slate Seed
Company. They have five children: Lucile, Mary Elizabeth,
Joseph Edward, Martha and Elise Slate; and Mr. Ragland has a
son, David Lawson Ragland, who was educated at Randolph-Ma-
con Academy and the Eastman Business College of New York.
He married Mary W. Stovall, and has five children : Mary L.,
Charles Dabney, David L., Jonathan B. and William W. Ragland.
His eldest son, Joseph E. Ragland, Jr., died at the age of 10.
David L. Ragland is a business man of Lynchburg.
Mr. Ragland's brother, Major Robert L. Ragland, was the
founder of the R. L. Ragland Tobacco Seed Company, the largest
growers of tobacco seed in the world, with their plant near South
Boston, Virginia. Mr. Ragland's son-in-law, W. C. Slate, suc-
ceeded Major Ragland in this enterprise, and now conducts the
business under the name of the Slate Seed Company.
Of late years, Mr. Joseph E. Ragland has taken a very keen
interest in the affairs of the Confederate Veterans, of which
society he is an honored member, and was one of the active pro-
moters in the erection of the beautiful monument to the mem-
ory of the Confederate Soldiers who went from Halifax County.
He is the author of the inscription which appears upon this monu-
ment, which is as follows :
"THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY AN APPRECIA-
TIVE PEOPLE, IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF THE CON-
FEDERATE SOLDIERS OF HALIFAX COUNTY WHO
FOUGHT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY IN THE WAR
OF 1861-65.
"These patriots laid their all upon the altar of their country.
Their valor will ever remain a part of her history."
At the unveiling of this monument, on April 17, 1911, Mr.
Ragland delivered a short but very interesting address.
The Ragland family is now of Welsh origin, but descended
from Norman stock which goes back to the Herberts who fol-
lowed William the Conqueror to England. They settled in Mon-
mouthshire, Wales, and some three hundred years after their com-
ing to England one Robert, youngest son of Evan Thomas Her-
bert, had a son, John, who was brought up by his uncle, Sir Wil-
liam Thomas Herbert, of Raglan. This Sir William Herbert was a
contemporary of Sir Roger Vaughan, who with him was knighted
by Henry V on the battlefield of Agincourt, in 1415, before the
battle was fought. Sir Roger Vaughan fell in the battle. His
daughter, Elinor, married Robert Herbert, father of John, and
John Herbert took the name of Raglan. Raglan Castle, in Mon-
mouthshire, one of the great strongholds of the Middle Ages, and
one of the famous places of Great Britain, passed from the Her-
576 JOSEPH EDWARD RAGLAND
berts to the De Clares, from them to the Berkeleys, and on the
failure of the main line of the family passed to the Somersets
about the beginning of the sixteenth century, and has since re-
mained in the possession of that noble family. Lord Raglan, who
commanded the British forces in the Crimean Wars, was the chief
of the line in his time, and was succeeded by his son as the holder
of the title and property. The old Castle, which was a very ex-
tensive one, and one of the greatest strongholds of the feudal
period, is now chiefly in ruins, and is used only occasionally by
the owners. The Herberts intermarried with the Beauforts, who
were descendants of John of Gaunt, who was a son of Edward III.
The old name of Ea-glan is Cymric or Welsh, and the accent is
on the last syllable. When it became anglicised, the English
added a "d," making the present form.
The family belonged in England to what is known as the
gentry, and had a coat of arms which was brought to Virginia
by the American founder of the family, John Ragland, who mar-
ried his kinswoman, Anne Beaufort, in Wales. They immigrated
from Monmouthshire, Wales, to Virginia, probably about 1720,
for in 1723 they were settled in "Ripping Hall'7 on Mechumps
Creek, near the mouth of the Chickahominy River, in Hanover
County, Virginia. The old home was occupied up to its destruc-
tion by fire in 1823. John Ragland took out land patents which
aggregated over fifteen thousand acres in the Counties of Hanover
and Louisa. John Ragland had, by his wife, Anne Beaufort, six
sons and three daughters. The sons appear to have been James,
Samuel, Pettus, John, Evan and William. The three daughters
married one a Tinsley, one a Jones, and one a Bowe. The fight-
ing qualities of the family may be judged by the fact that the
Virginia roster of Revolutionary soldiers shows eleven Raglands :
David, Dudley, Edmund, Evan, Finch, Gideon, John, Pettus,
Pettus, Jr., Shelton and Thomas. The late Major Robert L.
Ragland worked out in great detail the family history from John
down, but we are not concerned here with other than the direct
line of Joseph E. Ragland. It is sufficient to say that in every
generation there were large numbers of children, and that they
scattered over Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and other States.
Samuel Ragland, son of John (the immigrant) had two sons.
Pettus Ragland evidently had sons, but Major Ragland could not
get the record. John Ragland (2) had eleven children. Evan
Ragland (son of John, the immigrant) married Susanna Lips-
comb, and moved from Louisa County to Halifax County, settling
on Banister River, a few miles above its confluence with the Dan
River. They had five children: Nancy, Lipscomb, Evan, John
and Anne. Two of his sons, Evan and John, were both very
zealous churchmen in the Episcopal Church of that day, and
Evan was a gallant Revolutionary soldier who was severely
wounded in the war, his wound never healing. He never married
JOSEPH EDWARD RAGLAND 577
and bequeathed the bulk of his estate to the Antrim Parish of
the Episcopal Church. John, son of Evan (grandson of John,
the immigrant) married his cousin, Elizabeth Pettus, and they
had nine children : Susanna, Evan, Nancy, Dabney, John, Lips-
comb, Anne, Martha and Samuel. Dabney, son of John, married
in December, 1822, Harriet Byron Faulkner, and had six children :
Robert Lipscomb, Samuel H., John Pettus, Joseph E., Elizabeth
A. and Harriet 1). Ragland. This makes Joseph E. Ragland
fifth in descent from John, the immigrant, the line being: John,
Evan, John (2), Dabney and Joseph E. John (2) was a Revo-
lutionary soldier. His son, Dabney, was a soldier in the War
of 1812, and the four sons of Dabney were Confederate soldiers.
There is evidently an old Roman strain in the family, because at
the outbreak of the Civil War, Dabney called his four sons to-
gether and told them it was their duty to go to fight for their
country.
From the extended family history, of which we have touched
upon only a few points here, it can be gathered that these Rag-
lands, through their Herbert ancestry, are descended from two
Royal lines — that of Charlemagne and the Plantagenets.
The history of the family in Great Britain and in America
is a most honorable one.
Burke (the English authority), in his description of the Rag-
land coat of arms, only gives the main shield, but the coat of arms
brought by John Ragland (the immigrant) to Virginia shows a
crest, and is thus described :
"Argent, three unicorns passant in pale sable.
"Crest : A unicorn statant gules, armed, crined and unguled
or.'
WILLIAM MAJOR UPSHUR
families of equal numbers in our country have mode
so good a record in the history of the Republic as the
Upshur family, of the eastern shore of Virginia. It was
founded by Arthur Upshur, who came to Northampton
County somewhere around 1650. Arthur is reported to have come
over as an apprentice to Colonel William Kendall. HJs name
frequently appears on the old records as "Upshott."
The earliest English form of the name appears to have been
"Upshire," and the next "Upsher." Yet another form of the
name is preserved in England to this day by the "Upcher" fam-
ily, of Sheringham. Of this family we know that it was settled
in Colchester as early as the sixteenth century.
Arthur Upshur, the immigrant, must have been a man of
very considerable energy, for the records of Northampton show
that, between 1655 and 1665, he took out patents for four thou-
sand, three hundred and fifty acres of land at about a half dozen
different times, this being the aggregate. He is known to have
been twice married. In 1655, he married Mary, the widow of
James Risdon; and about 1663, he married Mary (Clarke) Jacob,
(widow of Richard Jacob), who was born in Warwickshire, Eng-
land, about 1618, and died in 1703, aged eighty-five. Arthur
Upshur died also in 1703. He left two sons: Arthur and John;
also daughters.
In the Revolutionary War, we know that James and Thomas
Upshur, members of this family, were Revolutionary soldiers.
A little later, George Parker Upshur entered the Navy as a
midshipman, and rose to the rank of Commander. He was fol-
lowed in the Navy by his nephew, John Henry Nottingham, who
on his entry into the Navy assumed the name of Upshur, his
mother being an Upshur. John Henry Upshur had a long and
distinguished career in the Navy. In the prime of life during
the Civil War, he adhered to the Union and rose to the rank of
Admiral. He was considered a most capable and meritorious
naval officer.
Towering above all these appears the figure of Judge Abel
P. Upshur. Judge Upshur was an eminent lawyer who served
with distinction on the bench in Virginia, and on the accession
of President Tyler, in 1841, was made Secretary of the Navy.
In 1843, he was promoted to be Secretary of State; and he, with
two other members of the Cabinet, was killed in 1844 by the
[578]
WILLIAM MAJOR UPSHUR 581
explosion of a gun on a vessel on the Potomac River while they
were watching the experiments with the new gun. Judge Upshur
was a man of fine character and a very high order of ability. His
state papers were models of clarity and logic, and some of his
arguments bearing upon the theory and structure of our govern-
ment have never been surpassed. The County of Upshur, now
in West Virginia, originally in Virginia, was named in his honor.
Bishop Meade, in his work on "Old Churches and Families of
Virginia," states that what is known as Hungar's Parish, in
Northampton County, shows among the names of its vestrymen :
John Upshur, Littleton Upshur, James Upshur and Abel P.
Upshur.
It is to this family that W. M. Upshur, the subject of this
sketch, belongs. Judge Abel P. Upshur and Admiral John H.
Upshur both were his second cousins. Thomas Upshur, of Nas-
sawadox, and Dr. John Upshur, of Richmond, formerly of North-
ampton County, have given much investigation to the history
of the family, and Thomas Upshur published its history.
W. M. Upshur is either in the seventh or eighth generation
from Arthur, the immigrant. He was born near Belle Haven,
Va., on December 19, 1860, son of Arthur Downing and Lucretia
Ann (Major) Upshur. Arthur Downing Upshur was a graduate
of the University of Virginia in the law school. He settled in
his native county of Northampton, where his entire life was
spent as a country gentleman. Upon his death, his affairs were
found to be much involved, and his widow, who had been well
educated in Baltimore, was forced to teach school to support
and educate her children. W. M. Upshur's education was, under
these circumstances, limited to the public schools of his native
county. In order to help his mother, he entered a mercantile
establishment at a very early age, dividing his small salary with
his parent. In due season, his very proper conduct met with its
reward. He learned the business, and later on bought it out.
His character made such mark that his employer, who was his
cousin, R. V. Nottingham, made the loan necessary to enable
him to make the purchase, and required of him no security. It
is pleasant to be able to relate that, in a few years, he was able
to pay him back, with interest. Mr. Upshur's mercantile career
has been prosperous to such an extent that he has been able to
venture into other enterprises, and he is now one of the leading
business men of his section. He was the promoter of the Cheriton
Banking Company, which was incorporated in 1906, and of which
he was President since its establishment until 1910. He is a
Director in the Eastern Shore Fire Insurance Company, and is
affiliated with many other local institutions, in nearly all of
which he holds some office of trust. His religious affiliation
through life has been with the Presbyterian Church, of which
he is an Elder. In fraternal circles, he is a member of the Ma-
582 WILLIAM MAJOR UPSHUR
sonic order. Not active in a political way to such an extent as
would justify calling him a politician, he has been a steady ad-
herent of the Democratic party.
Mr. Upshur was married at Cheriton, Virginia, on October
26, 1892, to Carrie Crowder, born in Halifax County, Virginia,
on July 15, 1871, daughter of William Robert and Victoria Ade-
laide (Moore) Crowder. They have a fine family of seven chil-
dren : William Major, Florence Adelaide, Giles Crowder, Mar-
garet Costin, Lucretia Ann, Lysander Royster and Arthur Down-
ing Upshur. Those of the children of sufficient age are in col-
lege. The younger are in the local schools.
W. M. Upshur is a steady-going, good citizen, whose time and
attention have been given very faithfully to the discharge of the
duties which have devolved upon him. He enjoys the well-merited
esteem and confidence of his neighbors and fellow-citizens. He
has been too busy to give any great amount of time to the out-
side turmoil, which is such a feature of our American life, but
that does not mean that he is without clear views upon public
and personal questions. He is a believer in personal service
for one's fellow-man, and he advances a rather progressive idea
in the statement that he thinks we could do much toward saving
the youth of the land, and making them more efficient and help-
ful by extending the helping hand to their struggling parents.
Mr. Upshur's reading through life has been largely of a
practical character. Over and above all is his Bible, which might
be expected of a Presbyterian Elder.
A rather peculiar feature of Mr. Upshur's family is that it
does not appear to have had the migratory tendencies of the
ordinary American family. It has been identified with Vir-
ginia, and with the eastern shore of Virginia, very closely for
some two hundred and sixty years, and the name is almost un-
known outside of Virginia. In their chosen habitat, they have
a record of good citizenship surpassed by none; and in his own
generation, W. M. Upshur has borne his share worthily and well.
;J
-&-CL •
.J
• f ,^
Of
at a
or
at
Jill
of
•:Vl W
d as a
l:f '•
586 DANIEL POLLARD WOOD
Wood, was for many years a well-known and honored educator
in Upper Virginia, conducting a school at what was known as
The Manor, in upper Fauquier County. He married Miss Mary
Brown and reared eight children, who were widely scattered
over the country. One of his daughters, Miss Jane Wood, mar-
ried John Borden, of Chicago, who through his landed interests
in and around Chicago, and through his mining interests, be-
came quite a wealthy man. James Wood died in the spring of
1860, and is buried at Culpeper, Va.
Daniel Pollard Wood was a boy of nine years of age at the
outbreak of the war between the States, and must have seen
much of the contending armies, as that part of Virginia in which
he resided was frequently overrun by both the Federal and Con-
federate troops. His educational advantages were limited to
the country schools, and soon after the close of the war, at the
early age of fifteen, he removed to Warrenton, where he was
apprenticed to his uncle, John R. Spillman, in the carpentry and
building business. He served his full term of five years, and then
at the age of twenty himself entered the same line of business
on his own account. He followed this occupation and business
for a number of years, turning out work of such character as
to establish for himself a permanent reputation in his line of
endeavor. About twenty-five years ago he opened in Warrenton
a general supply store, dealing in general builders' hardware,
lumber and implements, under the firm name of D. P. Wood
& Company. The standing of the proprietor is the highest, and
the rating of the firm an enviable one. His company distributes
material throughout that part of the State.
Mr. Wood has not, however, confined his activities to mere
money-getting, but is a public-spirited citizen, willing to lend a
hand in every good work. He has been a member of the Town
Council of Warrenton for twenty years. In his early life he was
a volunteer member of the Warren Rifles, and among the other
activities of his command, took part in the dedication of the
monument at Yorktown in 1881. He is not less conspicuous in
his religious work, as he has for a long time been an active mem-
ber of the Baptist Church, of which he is a deacon, and has for
a third of a century been the capable superintendent of its Sun-
day-school.
On April 17, 1877, at the age of twenty-five, he was married
to Miss Sallie Parkinson, of Warrenton, Va., a daughter of John
W. and Lucinda (Roberts) Parkinson. Mrs. Wood's father was de-
scended from an old Maryland family, and her mother from one
of the best of the old Virginia families, which through its col-
lateral branches was connected with the Wilhorts, the Yagers
and other prominent families. Her grandfather, on her mother's
side, was James Roberts, and her great-grandfather was known
as uStonehouse" John Smith, from the fact that he built the first
DANIEL POLLARD WOOD 587
stone house in that part of Virginia. He was prominent as one
of the early settlers of Madison County.
Mr. and Mrs. Wood have four children : Charles Parkinson,
a graduate of Cornell University, and now located at Boston,
Mass. ; Eva Spillman, who married Mr. R. A. Bailey, of Columbia,
S. C. ; Daniel Pollard, who assists his father in his extensive
business and who has shown business ability for one of his age;
and Sallie Parkinson Wood. Mr. Wood has a family of which
any man might be proud. He has endeavored to bring them up
by the Golden Rule, and they in turn reflect honor on him and
his good wife.
Still vigorous and active at the age of sixty-one, Mr. Wood
is regarded as one of the substantial citizens of his part of the
State, a man who by his energy and capacity and force of char-
acter has attained a large measure of success and stands a worthy
example, not only to his own children, but to the young people of
his generation.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG
IT is not an exaggerated statement to say that Judge Benjamin
Franklin Long, of Statesville, since 1902 Judge of the Su-
perior Court for the Tenth Judicial District of North Caro-
lina, has served his State and his people, not only with as
much fidelity as any man of his generation, but also that the re-
sults of this service have redounded greatly to the benefit of the
State in the present, and will continue to influence the life of the
State for generations to come. The work which he has done was,
from his standpoint, merely the carrying out of his sworn duty;
but the annals of our country are full of examples of men who, in
like positions, did not face their duty with the same courage, and
yet have escaped criticism. There is more than one way of doing
one's duty. Judge Long took the highest and best way, compro-
mising nothing. In view of this statement, it becomes a matter
of interest to say whence comes so strong a character. In racial
strains he is a composite American, German and Scotch blood
predominating. He was born near Graham, Alamance County,
on March 19, 1855, son of Jacob and Jane Stuart (Stockard)
Long. His father, Jacob Long, was a planter and a man of un-
usually strong character. He was born near Graham on March
28, 1807, and died on May 21, 1894. He was a grandson of Con-
rad Lange, who came from one of the Rhenish Provinces of Ger-
many and settled in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution. He
was twice married. By his first wife he had two children : Casper
and Mary. After the death of his first wife he married Cath-
erine McRin, and about 1760, with his wife and his two children
by his first wife, he came to North Carolina, settling on a farm
of six hundred acres on Haw River, where the remainder of his
life was spent, and where were born to him and his wife Catherine
three sons : Jacob, Henry, and Conrad, and a daughter Elizabeth.
His son Jacob married Catherine Shepherd, and to them were
born four sons and two daughters. Jacob (2), youngest son of
Jacob (1), married on January 3, 1833, Jane Stuart Stockard,
and became the parents of a most remarkable family of children,
to which reference will be made later. It may be said here, how-
ever, that much of the strong character of these children was
derived from their parents, both of whom were notable both by
descent and by personal character.
Colonel John Stockard, father of Jacob Long's wife, was a
son of James Stockard, who was a Continental soldier during the
[ 588 1
• •
23MM
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG 591
Revolution. This James married Ellen Trousdale, a sister of
William and James Trousdale. Her nephew, William Trousdale,
son of James, became one of the most eminent men of his day,
rising to the rank of General in the United States Army, serving-
two terms as Governor of Tennessee and later was Minister to
Brazil. Col. John Stockard was twice married. His first wife
was Jane Stuart, of Scotch descent. After her death he mar-
ried Catherine Albright, a daughter of Henry Albright (or Al-
brecht). The Albrights, like the Longs, were of German origin,
and like them the name had been anglicised in this country.
They came from Germany to Pennsylvania as Albrechts, and one
branch of this family migrated to North Carolina prior to the
Revolution. Henry Albright's wife, Mary Gibbs, was a sister of
a distinguished soldier, General Nicholas Gibbs, who was killed
at the battle of Horse Shoe Bend, in Alabama, while serving
under General Andrew Jackson during the Creek Indian War
of 1812 and '13. This family history, which has been dealt with
at more length in a sketch of Jacob Long published elsewhere,
has been touched upon here mainly to show why Judge Long is
the man that he is.
Owing to the conditions during his youth, the country being
new and raw, Jacob Long, though a man of exceptionally strong
mind, was deprived of the advantages of a liberal education.
This made him all the more determined that his sons should have
everything that he could give them, and the lives of these sons
have justified, in most abundant measure, the affectionate judg-
ment of the father. Two of Judge Long's elder brothers were in
educational work while he was a schoolboy. One of them, the
Rev. Dr. W. S. Long, then head of the Graham High School, pre-
pared the younger brother so that he was able to enter Trinity
College in 1872, at the age of seventeen, from which he was
graduated in 1874 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Later,
the College conferred upon him the degree of A.M. Having de-
cided to enter the legal profession, he became a student in Judge
Pearson's Law School, and in 1877 entered the Law School of
the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1878,
with the degree of Bachelor of Law. His school career was a dis-
tinguished one. A good scholar always, at Trinity he was the
valedictorian of his class, which numbered among its members
such men as the Rev. Dr. Staley, Senator Overman and Judge
Boykin. During his student life for two years he taught Latin
and history in the Graham High School ; and even with this help
he found himself, at the beginning of his career as a lawyer,
somewhat in debt for his education. His success was such, how-
ever, that it did not take him long to pay the debt. At the Uni-
versity of Virginia he compressed a two years' course into one
year, and in addition to that won the Orator's Medal in the Wash-
ington Society, which is awarded by a committee of the faculty
592 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG
after hearing competitive debates. Upon his return home, then
but twenty-three years of age, he was tendered the nomination
for State" Senator, a very high compliment. But with that
promptness which has characterized him through life, he turned
aside the flattering offer and moved to Statesville, as he had pre-
viously decided to do, which place has since been the scene of his
active labors. In October, 1878, he formed a law partnership
with the Hon. William M. Bobbins, one of the most prominent
lawyers of the State, and at that time a member of Congress.
During the following year, on December 23, 1879, he married
Mary Alice Bobbins, the daughter of his law partner.
Possessed of a robust physique, a strong intellect, liberal edu-
cation, industrious habits, he threw himself into his profession
with zeal, energy and sound judgment. He was liberally re-
warded by gaining from the start a liberal practice. In 1879 he
edited the "Law Lectures" of Chief Justice Pearson, who had been
one of his preceptors ; and these admirable lectures of the dis-
tinguished lawyer and teacher were preserved for the benefit of
others, and are now widely read as a text-book. He was Solicitor
of the Inferior Court of Iredell County for three terms, served
as Attorney for the city of Statesville, and while holding this
office carried on a general practice over eight counties. In 1880
he was appointed receiver for the Western Division of the West-
ern North Carolina Railroad, and for five years served in that
capacity with credit to himself and advantage to the railroad,
during which time, however, he continued in active practice.
For one year he served the city of Statesville as its Mayor, re-
signing to accept a position as Solicitor of the Eighth Judicial
District, to which position he was twice elected, covering a period
of eight years. In the discharge of his duties as prosecuting
officer for his district he was faithful, fearless and impartial;
and won such a large measure of respect from the people of the
district that, in 1894, he was nominated bv the Democratic
77 u
party as its candidate for Judge of the Superior Court ; but was
included in the general Democratic defeat of that year, resulting
from an alliance between the Republicans and Populists. At
the next election, in 1902, he was again nominated for the same
position, elected by a large majority, served the full term of
eight years, and was re-elected in 1910, being now (1914) in the
middle of his second term. From its organization sixteen years
ago, he has been a member of the State Bar Association, and he
is also a member of the American Bar Association. Notwith-
standing the multiple labors of an active law practitioner, and
his arduous service on the bench, he has found time for other
interests calculated to be helpful to the State in various ways.
Thus, in 1891, he was the author of the bill which resulted in the
establishment of the graded schools of Statesville. About the
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG 593
same period, in conjunction with two other public-spirited men,
he organized the Statesville Cotton Mills, the first of its kind in
the town, and which now ranks high among the industrial or-
ganizations of the State.
Though adhering to the precept that the law is a jealous
mistress and demanded his chief concern, he has often temporarily
turned aside and given his influence to aid other worthy things.
For a long time he served as a Trustee of the University of his
State, and he is a liberal supporter of charitable institutions.
Before his judicial services began, in every general election
campaign since his majority, he has worked and canvassed in be-
half of the Democratic ticket, believing that the safety of the
South, as demonstrated by the horrors of reconstruction, was
dependent upon Democratic control. But time and again he de-
clined offers of political promotion. A few instances are that
more than once he could have been nominated for Congress, and
in 1907 he was urged by powerful influences to become a candi-
date for Governor.
In 1893 a group of capitalists in Xew York, led by Walter
H. Page, now Ambassador at St. James, purchased the Manu-
facturers' Record of Baltimore, and offered Mr. Long the position
of manager in chief of the publication and to direct its future
destinies. It was a flattering and attractive offer, as the main
purpose of this great journal is to help the development of the
South, but as its acceptance required the change of his profes-
sion, he declined it.
Since his accession to the Bench he has scrupulously avoided
public political discussion. His career on the bench has been
free from partisanship ; as a judge he enjoys the confidence of all
parties. But his official position has not prevented him in a
prudent way to exercise the right of a citizen in making choice
of candidates and adhering to principles.
It was therefore noted in the pre-convention fight for the
Presidency that the weight of his private influence was thrown into
the scales for Wilson, and it may be added, that perhaps the in-
fluence of no other man in his State contributed more to place the
vote of the State in the Wilson column at Baltimore.
Judge Long's German and Scotch blood crops out in his
work. He has the thoroughness, the persistence and the courage
of both races. In North Carolina no man ranks higher, whether
measured from the standpoint of ability or the standpoint of per-
sonal character. He does not fear to take the unpopular side
when he believes he is in the right. As an illustration of this,
when Chief Justice Furches and one of his associates of the Su-
perior Court were impeached, in 1901, Judge Long, employed for
the defense, handled the case with such masterful ability that,
notwithstanding the fact that part of the alleged misconduct
594 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG
consisted of an unlawful and unconstitutional attitude toward
the General Assembly, he, in conjunction with his associate coun-
sel, secured an acquittal at the hands of a Senate largely com-
posed of their political opponents.
He holds membership in the Presbyterian Church, the Ma-
sonic fraternity, the Royal Arcanum, the Order of Elks and the
Alpha Tau Omega College fraternity, of which at one time he
was the second ranking officer of the United States.
Widely read in a general way, among his law books he has
always found the most pleasure in Blackstone, whom he considers
a master of lucid expression. During the current year (1914),
Judge Long has been honored by both Davidson College and Elon
College with the degree of Doctor of Laws.
He would be the first to acknowledge the debt which he owes
to his parents for the measure of success which he has won in
life. His father, already referred to as a man of affairs and
much strength of character, lived to the age of eighty-eight. His
mother, a woman of strong intellect, wide reading and vast in-
formation, so impressed her children that each and every one of
them became imbued thoroughly with the desire to live worthily
and to be of some use in the world. She died in her ninety-
second year. Judge Long had six brothers and one sister. The
eldest brother, John H. Long, died in Missouri in July, 1907.
Another brother, Joseph Gibbs Long, was Orderly Sergeant of
Company E, Thirteenth North Carolina Regiment, and was killed
at Chancellorsville on the third of May, 1863. The sister mar-
ried Captain J. N. H. Clendenin, of Alamance County, North
Carolina, who was an officer in the Confederate Army, and since
then a farmer and business man. One of his brothers, the Rev.
Hilliam S. Long, D. D., LL. D., minister and educator, founder
of Elon College, North Carolina, and a former President, has
been identified prominently with higher education in North Caro-
lina and the South for over forty years. He lives at Chapel Hill.
Another brother, the Rev. Daniel A. Long, D. D., LL. D., formerly
President of Graham High School, Graham, North Carolina, was
for sixteen years President of Antioch College, Yellow Springs,
Ohio ; and later, and at present, President of Union Christian Col-
lege, Merom, Indiana. Another brother, Col. Jacob A. Long, is a
prominent lawyer at Graham, North Carolina. At one time he
was Acting District Attorney of his judicial district, and in
1893 was Chairman of the Finance Committee of the General
Assembly of North Carolina. The remaining brother, Dr. George
W. Long, is one of the eminent physicians of the State. He re-
sides near the old family homestead at Graham; has served as
President of the State Medical Association, and was for years a
member of the State Board of Medical Examiners. No physician
in the State, perhaps, outranks him in the esteem of the mem-
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG 595
bers of his profession and the large number of patients who have
profited by his care.
Reference has already been made to Judge Long's career as
a lawyer. We come now to two strong illustrations of his courage
as a jurist. In passing it may be mentioned that some of the
largest cases involving property rights ever tried in the State
have been tried in his Court, and as a rule in important cases
where appeals have been taken, he has been sustained. This
brings us to the case which justly gave him a reputation extend-
ing far beyond the borders of his State, and which illustrates
forcibly the public service which can be rendered by any just
and resolute Judge. As all of us know, lynching has been a not
uncommon crime, and punishment of the lynchers had been
almost unknown up till August, 1906, when several negroes were
in jail at Salisbury to be tried for a barbarous murder, with but
little doubt of their guilt. The case was within one day of trial
when a mob of white men came into the town at night, and not-
withstanding the careful precautions which had been taken by
the county officers, broke into the jail, took out six prisoners and
put three of them to death. This was on August 6th. On the
next day the Court met for the purpose of trying those prisoners
who had been lynched. When Judge Long opened Court the
town and the surrounding section was convulsed with excite-
ment. He sent for the Grand Jury, and in delivering his charge
made this announcement: "God Almighty reigns and the Law
is still supreme. This court will not adjourn until this matter
is investigated." The most strenuous efforts w^ere made to shield
the participators in the lynching. Proof was difficult to obtain,
but Judge Long held to his position. He had the support of a
courageous prosecuting officer, Hon. W. C. Hammer, the Solicitor
of the District. Determined to sustain the majesty of the Court,
unmoved by criticism, he persisted until the crime was fastened
upon one Hall, a leader of the mob, who was an ex-convict; and
a few days after the offense wras committed Hall was put on
trial, found guilty, and sent to the penitentiary for fifteen years,
which sentence he is now serving. From one end of the land to
the other his action was praised and applauded by the best citi-
zens, and as an example of the feeling in other States may be
quoted the following editorial expression by the "Star" of
Indianapolis, Indiana :
"It will be impossible to exaggerate or over-estimate the tre-
mendous service rendered to his State or to his race by Judge
B. F. Long, of Statesville, N. C., who has just sentenced a white
lyncher to fifteen years in the penitentiary. This brave and up-
right judge, and all who have co-operated with him, have ren-
596 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG
dered their fellow-citizens and the cause of self-government
everywhere a service which is worthy the best traditions of Caro-
linian chivalry and statesmanship."
It is worthy of note that, in the eight years which have in-
tervened since this action, there has not been anoher lynching
case in North Carolina. It is the first instance in the United
States of severe punishment of a white man for aiding a mob
to lynch negroes, and by a judge in a Southern State who was
elected by the Democrats. The next case referred to involved
the majesty of the State, or to put it differently, the sovereign
rights of a sovereign State of the Union. In February, 1907, the
General Assembly of North Carolina passed a law fixing the pas-
senger rate in the State at 21/4c per mile, and making a viola-
tion of that act a misdemeanor. The Southern Railway defied
the law and secured from Judge Pritchard of the United States
Circuit Court an injunction order, prohibiting the enforcement of
the law until the question of its constitutionality should be deter-
mined. This order was made by Judge Pritchard on June 29,
1907, two days before the rate law went into effect. On the 8th
of July, 1907, Wake Superior Court convened, Judge Long pre-
siding. The situation was a grave one in so far as the rights of
the State were concerned, and there were no precedents. Judge
Long had, however, given the matter careful thought, and in his
address to the Grand Jury he directed the Jury particularly
to inquire whether the railroad violated the criminal law in sell-
ing tickets at a higher rate that that prescribed by the Statute.
In consequence of this charge, Agent Green was indicted for sell-
ing a ticket at Raleigh at an unlawful rate and was arrested.
There was much feeling throughout the State. Judge Pritchard
announced that he would protect the officers and agents of the
company acting under his orders. Judge Pritchard came to
Raleigh in person with the purpose, it was believed, of issuing a
writ of habeas corpus for the release of Green. Judge Long or-
dered the Sheriff to deliver the body of the prisoner up to the
Court, and the Judge took Green into his own possession. Judge
Long's position was a denial of the right of the Circuit Court
of the United States to suspend a criminal law of the State. It
was a denial that a Federal Court could enjoin or interfere with
the Superior Court of the State in indictments or trials for
crimes committed in the State, and only against the laws of the
State, wherein the State Court alone had sole and exclusive
jurisdiction of the subject matter and the accused. There were
other points involved not necessary here to enter into. His rul-
ings upon the main question, jurisdiction, were unanimously af-
firmed by the Supreme Court. It is sufficient here to state that
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG 597
Judge Long's prompt action had such an influence upon Judge
Pritchard that he returned to Asheville without taking further
action, and the case was tried before the State Court in due
form. Both the Southern Railway Company and Agent Green
were held guilty of misdemeanor. On Green's promise to observe
the law, he was fined five dollars and given his freedom. The
company declined to obey the law and was fined thirty thou-
sand dollars. In his ruling, Judge Long held that the Federal
Court could not suspend the criminal law of the State nor pro-
tect a citizen who had violated the State laws. As a result of
this trial, the Southern Railway Company, eight days after the
verdict and judgment, suggested that it would obey the law of
the State, and the matter was thus finally settled. The conse-
quences of this trial were far-reaching, and have resulted in the
establishment of satisfactory passenger rates through all the
South Atlantic States. Judge Long's reputation was justly en-
hanced by his action in this important case.
Until very recent times, men born and reared in the South
of Democratic faith have, as a rule, been excluded from high
service in Federal positions. In no instance has this been more
marked than in the absence for over fifty years of any represen-
tation on the Federal Supreme Court from the Fourth Circuit
composed of the States of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia,
North Carolina and South Carolina, and having about one-ninth
of the population of the United States. As the law provides nine
circuits and nine Judges of the Supreme Court, it would appear
equitable that each circuit should have one of the Judges. Some
of them now have two members and some have none. In these
fifty years the third circuit adjoining the fourth on the North,
has had four members of the court; the fifth, adjoining the fourth
on the South, has had four members; and the sixth, adjoining
the fourth on the West, has had nine members — a full bench-
and during this period the fourth circuit has not had one ! Such
were the executive precedents established by President Wilson's
predecessors.
Even at the present day it is not forgotten, that in the earlier
days of the Republic, the fourth circuit made rich contributions
to the fame of the Supreme Court in the person of Iredell, Mar-
shall, Taney, Rutledge, and others; and no other States gave
birth to so many Presidents. And at the present, the people in
the fourth circuit take special pride in the fact that the President
was born and reared within her borders.
When, therefore, a vacancy occurred on the Supreme Court
this Summer, 1914, upon the demise of Judge Lurton, Senators
Simmons and Overman, of North Carolina, requested the Presi-
dent to grant this appointment to the Fourth Circuit. While the
Fourth Circuit has had no recognition for fifty years, North
598 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG
Carolina has had no member of the Court in 110 years. They
united in heartily endorsing and recommending the appointment
of Judge Long to the vacancy.
Although the Judge declined to make application, or to re-
quest indorsements, the Senators were generally supported in
their action by the members of the House, and by a multitude of
leading lawyers, judges, teachers and citizens of North Carolina
and other States. As Senator Simmons was chairman of the
leading committee in the Senate, and Senator Overman acting
chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, and both
were supposed to have the confidence of the President, and as the
country at large had faith in the President and admired him
for his patience, fairness and justice, there were many who cher-
ished the hope to see this Circuit restored once more to a seat of
equality with her sisters, provided the President had time to
consider all the facts. Before the Senators and friends of Judge
Long could present the matter in its most favorable aspects, the
President suffered the irreparable loss of his wife. Nothing comes
too soon but sorrow, but when it comes, the hearts of men "make
all flesh kin." In the presence of such a death, the ambitions
of all true men are silenced; all are mystically united in sym-
pathy for the stricken.
In such a time as this it was not meet for the Senators to
urge upon the attention of the President the harsh precedents of
the past, or the worth of a fellow citizen for exalted station. It
was more considerate to "be patient till the heavens look with an
aspect more favorable."
It is not believed by some of the friends of the President that
when he made the appointment that he knew he was appointing
the ninth man from the Sixth Circuit since the Fourth had been
given an appointment.
This record is made for the purpose only to emphasize the
signal honor paid Judge Long by the Senators and those who
know him best, in selecting him from the lawyers of his State,
and strongly indorsing him to the President as in all respects
worthy and capable for this high post. Some time in the future
the seed sown may remove the cloud which for a half century has
obscured these five States. Whether their efforts succeed or not
they deserve the thanks of all men who favor equal rights and
love the land of their nativity.
There are many points of interest in Judge Long's family
history which cannot here be touched upon for want of space.
But this all too brief sketch would be incomplete without proper
reference to Mrs. Long and the children of the family. Mrs.
Long's father, the Hon. William McKendree Bobbins, was an able
lawyer, member of Congress 1872-'78, Acting Chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee of the House when he retired, a
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG 599
linguist, a scientist, a statesman and an orator of national fame.
He served four years in the Confederate Army as a member of
the Fourth Alabama Regiment, and was surrendered at Appo-
mattox with the rank of Major. In 1893 he was appointed a
Commissioner of Gettysburg National Park as the representative
of the Southern Army by President Cleveland, and held this po-
sition until his death, thirteen years later. During these years
he wrote the reports to the War Department for the Commission,
and much of the writing which appears upon the tablets upon
that field was composed by him. Major Bobbins married Mary
Montgomery, daughter of Rev. Dr. A. D. Montgomery, whose wife
was Elizabeth Lewis of Virginia, a descendant of John Lewis,
brother of Fielding Lewis, conspicuous in the early history of
Virginia, and whose descendants have been identified with the
State from the earliest period. Mrs. Montgomery was a cousin
of President Zachary Taylor.
The children of Judge and Mrs. Long have been : William Rob-
bins Long, wTho died in infancy ; Benjamin F. Long, Jr., a most
promising young man who graduated at Homer's School, Ox-
ford, with highest honors in June, 1899, was Captain of his Com-
pany which won the colors at the Commencement in competitive
drill, and had entered as a student in the University of North
Carolina for the season of 1899 and 1900, when on November 16,
1899, then in his nineteenth year, he was killed by a railroad
accident. The next child, Lois, married the Hon. R. M. Hackett,
a former member of Congress from the Eighth District of North
Carolina. Mrs. Hackett is a talented musician. She has been
trained under the best teachers of the country, has diplomas
from three colleges, and in June, 1914, received a diploma from
the Master's School of Music, Brooklyn, Newr York. She has re-
cently been elected an assistant instructor in music for that In-
stitute. The other daughter, Mary, married, in October, 1914,
Major E. W. Land, a prominent young lawyer of Goldsboro,
North Carolina. The youngest child is McKendree Robbins
Long, who is an artist. After receiving his academic and col-
legiate education, he attended the Art Students' League of New
York for two years, was awarded a scholarship to study art
abroad two years, which two years was spent under the tuition
of Laszlo and others in different art centers. Returning from
Europe, in June, 1913, he has already won high distinction in his
profession.
This brief story of Judge Long's life, as here told, illustrates
in the strongest manner the fact that greatness can be shown in
the discharge of the ordinary duties of life. Indeed, it cannot be
too strongly impressed upon the minds of our people that true
greatness always consists of the faithful discharge of duty rather
than in the meretricious arts of the politician, the so-called states-
600 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG
men, and the brilliant soldiers who win glory by killing their
fellow-creatures. The man who has served his generation with
patience and with fidelity has contributed more to the welfare
of his country than the man who wins notoriety, however great
that notoriety may be, which is based not upon solid achieve-
ment, but upon constantly dancing attendance before the foot-
lights.
.
' : T
I i *
W/AW¥v«V&Y
$ &? ;v$
%:- ; M
mm *••
i *
V
vw x «v«v
'
»
l.'fK
v%y
,
<v«w,
4.« « <
< <
« j"*^
'rf
fW *
cY«
.
^ «
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11