USA > Washington DC > Eminent and representative men of Virginia and the District of Columbia in the nineteenth century. With a concise historical sketch of Virginia > Part 45
USA > Virginia > Eminent and representative men of Virginia and the District of Columbia in the nineteenth century. With a concise historical sketch of Virginia > Part 45
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
PROF. WILLIAM CECIL DABNEY, M. D.,
of the university of Virginia, was born in the "Old Dominion." The Dabneys are of French origin, and formerly bore the name of d'Aubigné, the progenitor of the American branch of the family, Cornelius d'Aubigné, having settled in Virginia. To him was born a son, named George, and paroled about the first of June, 1865. to the latter was born a son, also named For a year after the close of the war he George, in Hanover county, Va. The latter had a son named James, who was born in King William county, Va., in 1735, became a planter, and in 1756 married was engaged in temporary pursuits. In September, 1866, he was appointed assist- ant professor of mathematics in the Vir- ginia Military institute. In January, Judith Anderson, who bore him nine chil- dren: James was a soldier in the Revolu-
1868, he was appointed assistant mining engineer with Charles P. Stone, engineer tionary war and rose to the rank of and superintendent of the Dover Coal and colonel, dying in 1803. The fifth child born to James Dabney was named Will- Iron company of Henrico county. In the spring of 1868 he was made assistant pro- iam, who was born in King William county 42
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in 1771. He was a planter, and in 1792 married Sallie Watson, who bore her hus- band six children. The elder William died in 1813. William S. Dabney, the fifth child of William, above mentioned, was born in King William county, Va., in 1805. Like his predecessors he was a planter, He was married, in 1846, to Susan Fitz- hugh Gordon, daughter of Samuel Gor- don, of Lochdogan Galoway, Scotland and to them were born seven children, of whom two died in infancy and five grew to maturity, as follows: Basil, who be- longed to Stuart's horse artillery, and was killed at High Bridge four days after his enlistment, at the age of seventeen years; William C .; Walter Davis, of Washing- ton, D. C .; Marion Gordon Dabney, wife of John B. Moon, of Ablemarle county, Va., and Dr. Samuel Gordon, of Louis- ville, Ky. The father of this family died in 1865.
William Cecil Dabney was born in Albemarle county, Va., July 4, 1849, and was educated at the university of Vir- ginia, taking his medical degree there in 1868. He next acted as house surgeon in a Baltimore hospital, and then returned to Charlottesville, Va., and commenced to practice medicine. He was made the first president of the state board of med- ical examiners of Virginia, and held that office up to September, 1886. In 1886 he was made professor of medicine and obstetrics in the university of Virginia, and has held that chair ever since. He also represented the Medical society of Virginia, in the medical congress national committee held in Washington, D. C., in 1887; is a member of the American Med- ical association, the association of Amer- ican physicians, and honorary member of the West Virginia Medical society. Prof.
Belle Minor, daughter of W. W. Minor deceased, of Albemarle county, Va., and to them were born nine children, of whom seven survive, as follows: Susan Fitz- hugh, William Minor, James Cabell, Jane Belle, Martha Davis, Marion Gordon and Cecil Dabney. In 1873 Prof. Dabney was the Boylston prize essayist on medical chemistry of Harvard college, and has now in press an abstract of his lectures on the practice of medicine. He has also con- tributed a number of articles to the med- ical journals.
WILLIAM BATHURST DAINGERFIELD
was born in Alexandria, Va .. March 27, 1845, and was educated in his native city. He has been a farmer all his life. He was married in 1874 to Miss Harriet Taylor of Charlestown, Md., and they have had four children, whose respective names are Rebecca, Arthur (deceased in 1877), Bath- urst and Jennie Belle. Mr. Daingerfield's father was John Bathurst Daingerfield, born in Alexandria in 1815. He was a merchant in his native city, doing an ex- tensive business. In 1842 he was married to Miss Rebecca Fowle of Boston, Mass. They had three children, Mary, deceased wife of Captain P. B. Hooe; William Bathurst and Edward Lonsdale Dainger- field. The father died in 1886 and the mother in 1885. Bathurst Daingerfield was the name of Mr. Daingerfield'sgrand- father. He was born May 13, 1768, at Belvidere, Spottsylvania county, Va., be- low Fredericksburg. In 1795 he was mar- ried to Eliza Kay, an Englishwoman, at St. George's chapel, Liverpool, England. He settled in Alexandria, Va., in ISoo, and was a sea captain commanding sev- eral vessels sailing from the port of Alex- andria. He was appointed surveyor of Dabney was married, in 1869, to Jane the port of Alexandria under President
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Monroe, and held that office at the time by the explosion of a shell, and at the of his death, February 22, 1827. He left battle of the Crater he received a shot several children. His daughter Harriet through the right arm. He took part in married Captain David B. Smith. His the battles of Chancellorsville, second sons, Henry, Edward and John B., suc- business of importing and shipping, add- ing greatly to the foreign commerce of
Manassas, Gettysburg, and all the fights cessfully conducted for many years the around Petersburg. In the autumn of 1866, he entered the university of Vir- ginia, where he remained, with the the port of Alexandria. John B. Dainger- exception of one year during which field, the father of William Bathurst he taught school, until 1870. He entered Daingerfield, presented the city of Alex- upon the practice of law in January, 1871, andria with the steeple, town clock and at Petersburg, where he has ever since alarm now on the market building. Mr. Daingerfield's grandparents were William and Sarah Daingerfield.
HON. RICHARD B. DAVIS,
remained snd become one of the lead- ing lawyers of the city. He is a mem- ber of the State Bar association . of Virginia, and has served as city attorney of Petersburg for one term. In politics Mr. Davis is a democrat, and he was elected to the lower house of the legis- lature in 1875, serving one term. He is an official member of the Methodist
attorney of Petersburg, Va., was born in Norfolk county February 5, 1845. He is a son of William T. Davis, a native of Gloucester county, Va., born February 6, 1817, a teacher by profession, and died Episcopal church, being an active worker July 17, 1888. William T. was the son of in the Sunday school. He is a royal arch Mason, and a member of the board of trustees of the Randolph-Macon college. Mr. Davis was married in April, 1875, to Miss Annie Warwick Hall, by whom he has had three sons and one daughter, all living.
John Williams Davis, a Virginian by birth and by occupation a farmer. On the paternal side Richard B. Davis is of Welsh descent, his ancestor being a Welsh emigrant. Mr. Davis' mother was Elizabeth Taylor Corbin Beale, a native of Westmoreland county, Va., and daugh- ter of Maj. Robert Beale, a major in the RICHARD THOMAS WALKER DUKE war of 1812. She died January 21, 1851. was born in Albemarle county, Va., June On the maternal side Mr. Davis is de- 6, 1822. He was educated in his native county, went to the Virginia Military in- stitute and graduated from that institu- tion in 1845, the second in his class of twenty students. Among his classmates were Gen. R. L. Walker, Capt. Simpson, Major Wheelwright, Dr. Dan. Langham
scended from the English. He was ed- ucated in the Randolph-Macon college and the university of Virginia, where he completed a law course in 1870. Prior to this, however, he had spent three years in the service of the Confederate army, hav- ing entered company E, of the Twelfth and others. After graduating he taught Virginia regiment in May, 1862, as a in the Richmond academy one year, then private, in which position and regiment taught for three years in Greenbrier he served until the end of the war. In county, W. Va. In 1849 he went to the uni- the battle of Seven Pines he was wounded versity of Virginia and graduated from the
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law department in 1850. He located in | names of those who came to maturity are Charlottesville, Va., where he has ever since practiced his profession. In 1858 Mr. Duke was elected commonwealth attorney for Albemarle county, and held that office ten years. He entered the Confederate service in May, 1861, as cap- tain of company B, which had been or- ganized the preceding year in Albemarle county and which was assigned to the Nineteenth regiment of Virginia infantry. In May, 1862, he left the regiment and returned to his home in Charlottesville, and in about three weeks was elected colonel of the Forty-sixth Virginia in- fantry, Wise's brigade, and served in that regiment until March, 1864. He then resigned his commission, returned home, and in May of the same year organized a battalion of reserves. The battalion was first employed in guarding prisoners on Belle Isle, and spent the fall and winter in the trenches at Fort Harrison. April 6, 1865, he was captured at Sailor's Creek and held as a prisoner in the old capitol prison at Washington, where he was at the time President Lincoln was assasin- ated. He and his five hundred fellow- prisoners were threatened with burning by the Washington roughs, but the mob was dispersed by the soldiers. Col. Duke was then taken to Johnson's Island, where about 2,500 Confederates were impris- oned, and held there until July 25, 1865. He was in the first battle of Manassas, at Malvern Hill, and in other less important
William Richard Duke, R. T. W. Duke, Jr., and Mary Willoughby, deceased wife of Charles Slaughter, now of Dulath, Minn. R. T. W. Duke, Jr., now judge of the hustings court of the city of Char- lottesville, married Miss Edith R. Slaugh- ter, daughter of John F. Slaughter of Lynchburg, Va. Mrs. Mary Willoughby Slaughter at her death left one daughter, Mary Willoughby . Slaughter, who was reared by her grandfather, the subject of this sketch. In 1868, Col. Duke was re-elected commonwealth attor- ney of Albemarle county, and in 1870, was nominated for the same office; but before the election took place he was nominated for the forty-second congress, his republican opponent being Alexander Rives. Mr. Duke was elected by about 1,000 majority. While the can- vas was in progress, Hon. Robert Ridge- way, then the sitting member of that congressional district, died, and Messrs. Duke and Rives were respectively nom- inated to fill the vacancy in the forty -first congress, and Mr. Duke was successful. He was then elected to the legislature in 1879 and served one term, having been put in office by the debt-paying faction of his party. He has ever been an active politician of the democratic faith. The name of his father was Richard Duke, who was born in Albemarle county in 1777 and was a farmer and contractor. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and
engagements. On the 26th of July, 1846, for years was magistrate of Albemarle county. He succeeded to the office of high sheriff. In politics he was a feder-
Col. Duke was married to Miss Elizabeth Scott Eskridge, daughter of William S. and Maragaret (Brown) Eskridge. Her alist and favored the election of John mother was the daughter of John Brown, Quincy Adams to the presidency. He was married in 1805 to Maria Walker, chancellor of the western district of Vir- ginia. The issue of this union was five daughter of Thomas Walker of Castle children,two of whom died in infancy. The Hill,'Va., a commissary to Washington's
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regiment at Braddock's defeat. They |furlough; and, returning to his home, took had ten children, whose respective names a partial course of lectures at the Medical were William Johnson, deceased; Lucy, college of Virginia. In 1865-66, he at- deceased, wife, first, of David Wood, and, tended medical lectures at the university second, of John Bills of Tennessee; Mary of Virginia, and in 1866 entered the med- Jane, widow of W. T. Smith; Margaret, deceased; Elizabeth Barclay, deceased
ical department of the university of the city of New York, from which institution wife of Robert Rhodes; Mildred Wirt, he graduated March ist, 1867, receiving widow of George C. Gilmer, a brother of Gov. Thomas W. Gilmer; R. T. W. of
the degree of M. D. Until October of the same year he was house physician in the Charlottesville; Sallie, deceased wife of Charity hospital, Blackwell's island, then Harvy Deskins, deceased; Martha B., became assistant physician at the hospital died in 1887 unmarried; and Charles for nervous diseases, known as that of Dr. Carroll Duke of Texas. The father of M. Gonzales Echeverria, at Lake Maho- this family died in August, 1849; the mother in January, 1852. The grand- father's name was Cleviars Duke, born in Hanover county, Va. He was a farmer and owned for years a fine estate in Hanover county. He finally settled in Ablemarle county, where he died. He married Ann Overton, and they had three sons and one daughter.
LANDON BRAME EDWARDS, M. D.,
the gentleman whose well known name both north and south forms the caption of this biographical mention, and who has resided at Richmond, Va., since 1872, was born September 20th, 1845, in Prince Edward county, Va. His father, Rev. John E. Edwards, D. D., was a distin- guished and well known minister in the Methodist Episcopal church, south. His early scholastic training was received at the military college at Lynchburg, Va., and at the Randolph-Macon college, Va. Prompted by the ardor of patriotism he over twenty years.
pac, Putnam county, N. Y. In the spring of 1868, Dr. Edwards located in Lynch- burg, Va., and four years later removed to Richmond, Va., where his residence has continued. While at Lynchburg he in- augurated a movement toward the organ- ization among the Virginia physicians and surgeons of a state society, and through his efforts mainly was organized, in 1870, the Medical society of Virginia, which, in its organism, perfection and excellency, stands second to no other state medical society in the country, and to its prog- ress and welfare Dr. Edwards has unre- mittingly directed his time and attention. He has grown to regard the society with the solicitude with which a devoted father watches the destiny of a loved and hope- ful child. At the organization of the society he was elected recording secretary, which position, with marked ability and faithfulness, he has since retained, except- ing the year 1884, covering a period of
enlisted in the artillery corps of the Con- Soon arising to rank and prominence federate army in 1863, when hardly more in his profession after entering upon the than seventeen years of age, and partici- field of medicine, and being gifted as a pated in the struggle between the states writer on medicine and allied subjects, he till, in the winter of 1864-65, in conse- became, in 1873, a corresponding member quence of failing health, he received alof the Gynecological society of Boston.
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In April, 1874, he established the Virginia ment of the Virginia Medical Monthly as Medical Monthly, of which journal he has has consumed much of his time, and these continued to be editor and proprietor, and duties have been most exacting as well as which journal has had much influence in important; nevertheless he has continued the propagation of the Medical society of in an active practice of his profession, Virginia. It has, too, by able and success- taking appropriate rank as a skillful and ful management gained character and taken appropriate rank among the leading medical journals of the south, and as an editor its proprietor has won an enviable reputation. In 1873 Dr. Edwards was ap- pointed, by the faculty, lecturer on anat- popular and influential medical journal. omy in the Medical college of Virginia, and in the spring of 1875 he was appointed
successful practitioner. In fact, Dr. Edwards has led an unusually active pro- fessional life, and has won for himself an enviable reputation in his profession, both as a practitioner and as editor of a most His pleasant and courteous bearing renders him popular among men; his lecturer on materia medica and therapeu- gentility and kindness of heart, together tics, which position he resigned one year with a marked diplomatic capability, later. However, in 1877, he was appointed secure the esteem, affection and con- lecturer on medico-legal jurisprudence, fidence of his many patients. His sincere which position he held for one year, and and earnest purpose, his positiveness and then he discontinued his connection with general learning, gain the esteem and the institution.
deference universally paid him by his
Dr. Edwards is an honorary member of professional brethern. The doctor was the Medical society of the state of West happily married January 17, 1871, to Miss Virginia; he is also a member of the Nannie, the daughter of George M. Medical and Surgical society of the Dis- Rucker, of Lynchburg, Va., and their trict of Columbia; of the American Medi- home has been blessed by two daughters cal association, and of the Southern Sur- and two sons.
gical and Gynecological society. Dr. Edwards was among the first in the
HON. J. TAYLOR ELLYSON,
advocacy of strychnia in cases of chronic the efficient and popular mayor of the
city of Richmond, Va., was born in that . city May 20, 1847. His father, Henry K. Ellyson, was also born in Richmond and was a son of Onan Ellyson of the same city, who was a millwright by trade, and a son of William Ellyson. Henry K. was born August 31, 1823, and was educated in Richmond, where he learned the printer's trade, which trade he followed for some
tobacco poisoning. Upon the organiza- tion of the Richmond Medical and Surgi- cal society, he became the first president. From'75 to'83, he was surgeon of the First Virginia regiment, and was subsequently appointed by Surgeon-General Hammond, without solicitation, as assistant surgeon of the United States Marine hospital service, port of Richmond, which position he held for several years. Dr. Edwards time. Among the several public posi- has given much time and energy to the tions which he held may be mentioned propagation and welfare of the Medical those of register of Richmond, member of society of Virginia, and has devoted that the legislature of 1855-7-8, sheriff to 1865, energy, interest and tact in the manage- and mayor of Richmond in 1871, serving
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as such one term. He was married, in from time to time he continued to serve 1842, to Miss Elizabeth P. Barnes, who as a member of the council for a period was born in Philadelphia March 5, 1814, of eight years; then, being elected a and died July 27, 1886; six children, of member of the board of school commis- which four survive, became the issue of sioners, he served until elected to repre- this marriage. J. Taylor Ellyson was in sent Richmond and Henrico counties in attendance at school at Hampden-Sidney the state senate, which office he resigned college, which he left, in 1863, to enlist in the second company of Richmond how- itzers, with which company he served until the close of the war in 1865. He participated in the battle of the Wilder- ness, Spottsylvania C. H., second Cold Harbor, and in all the battles around Richmond. At the close of the war, Mr. Ellyson entered Columbian college of Washington, D. C., where he remained one term, and left to enter Richmond college, which college he also left after attending one term; then entering the university of Virginia lie remained there till 1870, when he left to engage in the book and stationery business in Rich- mond as a member of the firm of Ellyson & Taylor, which firm was dissolved in 1879. In 1878, Mr. Ellyson became busi- ness manager of the Religious Herald of Richmond, continuing as such till 1887, in which year he became part owner of the publication, of which he is now secretary and treasurer. As a business man, Mr. Ellyson takes appropriate rank among the most competent and successful of Richmond -the city of so many sapient business men. He is connected with several very important business institu- in 1888, to become mayor of Richmond, which most exacting and responsible office he has since held, meeting the most sanguine hopes of his many friends, and his administration has given gratifying satisfaction to the people of the city. So popular was the administration of the first term that, in 1890, he was re-elected without opposition, and hence he is the present incumbent of this office. In the politics of his state, he is both prominent and influential, having been elected, in 1890, as chairman of the state democratic committee, which chairmanship he still holds, directing the affairs of the party with singular ability and judgment. Mr. Elly- son was married, in 1870, to Miss Lora E., daughter of Major Nelson H. Hotchkiss, and he and wife are active members of the Baptist church, of which church he is deacon. In 1873, he was elected corre- sponding secretary of the board of educa- tion of the Baptist general association of Virginia, which position he has held for nineteen years, while, in 1890, he was made president of the Baptist general association of Virginia, and he was re- elected in 1891. Mr. Ellyson has taken an active part in the Young Men's Christ- tions and affairs; among them may be ian association, of Richmond, of which mentioned the Old Dominion Building association he served as president for four and Loan association (of which he is years from 1873. Again were his valuable president), the American Refrigerator services called into requisition in 1890, in company and others. Mr. Ellyson's which year he was sent to the Peace con- ference at London as a delegate from Richmond. He has been a delegate to the several city and state conventions public political career began in 1878, the year he was elected a member of the city council of Richmond, and being re-elected
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from time to time, and was vice-president whose farm and residence are now in the of the state convention of 1889. Mr. Gosport navy yard; they had a family of Ellyson has taken no less interest. in twelve children, only four of whom educational matters than he has in other reached maturity; the eldest, Thomas, public affairs, for he has taken deep con- died in 1837; Arthur died in 1870, John in 1885; one sister survives these brothers. When, in 1809, the congress of the United cern and interest in the cause of public education, since, for the last seven or eight years, he has been a member of the States passed the " non-intercourse" act, board of education of his city, and of which caused the merchant marine to with- which he has been and is president. He draw from service, Capt. Emmerson gave has also served as trustee of both Rich- his attention to surveying land, and about . mond and Hartsthorn colleges. Mr. this time he organized an artillery com- Ellyson is an active member of the I. O. pany in Portsmouth, of which he was elect-
O. F., and is a Mason of the thirty- second degree, and thoroughly imbued with the spirit of charity, and few other citizens of his city and state, if any, are more progressive than he or enjoy greater respect and esteem on the part of the
ed captain, and, as such, served his country throughout the war of 1812; his company was actively engaged at Crany Island. He was for twenty-five years preceding his death called on to fill various offices by the citizens of his town, and county; people. Of modest and unpretending his home. was where his father had lived temperament and of sincere integrity of purose, he well merits that esteem and deference paid him.
CAPTAIN ARTHUR EMMERSON
died in Portsmouth, Va., June 7th, 1842. This gentleman, who was among the use- ful citizens of Norfolk county, Va., was born in Brunswick county (now Greens- ville county) in 1778. He located in Ports- mouth with his father in 1785, and was educated with the object of entering the office until 1880, when he resigned. Among Episcopal ministry, but later gave his at- tention to the study of law, but finally concluded the sea was his vocation, which he adopted and followed for twenty years. In 1798, while on the ocean, his ship was captured by the French and taken to France, where he was detained one year. years. The papers of that day stated In speaking of this event in after life, he would say the only hardship was being from his home, while the compensation was learning the language. In 1805 he was married to Mary A. Herbert, daugh- ter of Thomas Herbert, of Norfolk county, casion; beside the military, various other
and died, near Trinity church, of which his father was rector, and when this old church was re-opened in 1821, Capt. Em- merson was elected vestryman and war- den; he served as such until his death, and after him his son Arthur ( a sketch of whose life can be seen in Johnson's me- morials of old Virginia clerks of courts ), filled the same office until death, and Arthur's brother, John, was in the same the many offices filled by Capt. Emmerson was the presidency of the Portsmouth & Weldon railroad ( now the S. & R. R. R. ), and at his death was clerk of the county court. Capt. Emmerson died at his home, Portsmouth, June 7, 1842, aged sixty-four that " he was buried with military honors, which was eminently due, as the deceased was in the battle of Crany Island, in 1813, when his cool determined courage was the subject of general eulogy on that oc-
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