Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 100

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 848

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Lewis was regarded as his favorite nephew. Four children were born of this marriage, of whom one was Lorenzo Lewis. The Cus- tis family is given further mention in a suc- ceeding paragraph.

Lorenzo Lewis was born in 1803 in Fair- fax county, Virginia, and about 1840 re- moved to Audley, Clarke county, where he died in 1847. In 1826 he married, in Phila- delphia, Esther Marion, daughter of John Redman Coxe, and they had the following children: George Washington, John Red- man Coxe and Lawrence Fielding (twins), Edward Parke Custis, Charles Conrad and Henry Llewellyn Daingerfield.

Henry L. D. Lewis Sr. was born at Aud- ley, Clarke county, Virginia, April 25, 1843, and died there December 17, 1893. During the war he served for a time on the staff of General Stuart in the Confederate army, and later he served on the staff of Governor Fitzhugh Lee. He was a farmer and also interested in insurance business. He was one of those high-minded Southern gentle- men who tried to interest his fellows in bet- ter methods of carrying on their farms after the war, and for years served as president of the Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Soci- ety at Winchester. He was held in high esteem by all who knew him and served two years in the Virginia legislature. In 1871 he married Carter Penn Freeland, daugh- ter of John Freeland and a descendant of James Freeland. John Freeland was one of seven sons, a native of Scotland, and came from Glasgow to America. He lived for twenty years in New Orleans and there had large cotton mills. He made a fortune in shipping cotton and later located perma- nently in Richmond, Virginia, where he was held in great esteem as a citizen. His wife was Rosalie Bradfute, a descendant of Colo- nel Byrd, of Virginia, and they had ten children. Major Henry L. D. Lewis and wife had twelve children: Rosalie W .; Lo- renzo; James F., married Page Ellison ; Henry L. D. Jr .; Edward Park Custis, re- sides in Berryville, Virginia; Esther Maria, married Dr. Alexander Willey Moore, of Charlotte, North Carolina; Mary; Carter Penn, married William Willey ; John, re- sides in Berryville, Virginia; Margaret, Byrd; Fielding and William. The mother of these children resides in New York City.

Colonel John Washington, fifth child of Leonard Washington, and descended from

a long line of English gentlemen, was bap- tized at Warton, Lancaster county, Eng- land, in 1627. He emigrated to America in 1659, locating at Bridge's Creek, near the Potomac river, Westmoreland county, Vir- ginia, being the first ancestor of George Washington bearing the surname to emi- grate. He brought a wife and two children from England, but all died soon after his arrival, and he married as a second wife, in 1660, Anne Pope, born near Pope's Creek, Westmoreland county, sister of Thomas Pope. Their eldest son was Lawrence, born at Bridge's Creek about 1661, and who mar- ried, in Gloucester county, Mildred, daugh- ter of Colonel Augustine Warner, mention- ed in an earlier part of this article. They had two sons, John and Augustine (who was an ancestor of the subject of this sketch), both of whom are herewith men- tioned. John, the eldest son of this mar- riage, born about 1692, settled in Gloucester county, and married Catharine Whiting, by whom he had a daughter Catharine, who became the first wife of Colonel Fielding Lewis, as mentioned above. Augustine, sec- ond child of Lawrence and Mildred Wash- ington, born in 1694, in 1722 removed to an estate in Stafford county, nearly oppo- site Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock, where he died in 1743. He was twice mar- ried, (first) in 1715 to Jane, daughter of Caleb Butler, and (second) in 1731, in Lan- caster county, to Mary, daughter of Colonel William Ball. His second child, Betty, sis- ter of George Washington, became the sec- ond wife of Fielding Lewis. The son of Fielding and Betty Lewis, Lawrence, the youngest child, born in Stafford county about 1775, married Eleanor Parke Custis, granddaughter of Mrs. Martha Danbridge (Custis) Washington, and a descendant of John Custis.

John Custis was of Irish birth and came from Rotterdam to Virginia as early as 1640. One of his descendants, Daniel Parke Cus- tis, married the beautiful Martha Dandridge and died in 1757, his widow later becoming the wife of General Washington. She was born in 1732, died May 22, 1802, at Mount Vernon. Her son, John Parke Custis, the only child to leave issue, in 1774 married Eleanor, daughter of Benedict Calvert, of Maryland, son of Charles Calvert, sixth Lord Baltimore, and died in 1781, leaving his widow with several children. The young-

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est of these was George Washington Parke Custis, who was then six months old, and another was Eleanor Parke Custis, who be- came the wife of Lawrence Lewis. Upon the death of the father General Washington said he would rear the two youngest chil- dren as his own. The younger, George W. P. Custis, married Mary Lee, daughter of Colonel William and Anne ( Randolph) Fitz- hugh, and their daughter, Mary Anne Ran- dolph Custis, married Robert Edward Lee. With her brother, Eleanor Parke Custis went to live at Mount Vernon, which was her home until her marriage.

Henry Llewellyn Daingerfield Lewis Jr., studied under private tutors, in William Mc- Donald's private school at Berryville, and in Virginia Military Institute, and received the training which can only be received in a refined cultured atmosphere at home. He helped with the operation of his father's farm as a young man, but business life had many attractions for one of his energy and enterprise, and in his twenty-second year he came to New York City to engage in business. He became a clerk in the banking and brokerage house of Gilbert, Lewis & Gilmore, remaining there two years. He then became a member of the firm of Lewis & Littleton, bankers and brokers. He sub- sequently became a member of the firm of Lewis & Vredenburgh, bankers and brokers and members of New York Stock Exchange, remaining with them five years. He has since engaged in brokerage business on his own account and has been very successful in this enterprise. He is a man of keen business sense and stands well in the circles where he is known. He is well known socially and is much sought by the musical directors of many city churches on account of his fine voice, which has received great care and attention. He has been an enthusi- astic student of music and has taken great pleasure in cultivating his wonderful gift. He takes pride in the record and honors of his many distinguished ancestors and few can claim lineage from so many old and honorable families of the Old Dominion. He belongs to the Southern Society and the Virginians of New York City and takes an active interest in their proceedings. Politi- cally he is a Democrat.

Walter Washington Foster. Walter Wash- ington Foster, of Richmond, Virginia, was

born February 22, 1857, at Norfolk, Virginia, a son of Joseph G. and Mary A. ( Brown- lcy ) Foster. He attended the public schools of Norfolk, and at the age of sixteen years started out to learn the art of photography. in the studio of D. H. Anderson, of New York. With a natural artistic sense and a keen interest in his work, he made rapid advancement, and acquired a thorough knowledge of all details pertaining to the photographic business. In 1881 he estab- lished himself in a studio at Richmond, and from that time to the present has continued at the same location, and during this time has acquired a very high reputation for work. He is known everywhere south of Washington, and his studio is one of the best equipped in the state of Virginia. At the present time Mr. Foster is giving much attention to painting in oil, and his reputa- tion as an artist in this direction is very high. Mr. Foster is deeply absorbed in his work, and has given very little attention to other matters. Many of the engravings in this work were reproduced from photo types made by Mr. Foster. In disposition he is modest and retiring, and he has never sought any part in the direction of public affairs. He is an active member of the Christadelphian Church of Richmond, and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, a member of Highland Park Lodge, No. 292, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and has attained the thirty-second degree in Scottish Rite Masonry. In Masonic circles he is highly esteemed, and is known for his fidel- ity to the broad fraternal principles of the order. These principles guide the conduct of his daily life, and thus he is esteemed out- side of Masonic circles for his manly worth and large-hearted sympathy. He married. February 21, 1877, Carrie P. Hughes, a daughter of Josiah and Sallie (Ellyson) Hughes, of Richmond. They are the par- ents of two children : 1. Dr. Walter Brown- ley Foster, at present head of the health de- partment of the city of Roanoke, Virginia. a position which he has held with credit and honor. He married Clara Crenshaw, and they have three children: Gwyn Harrison. Constance and Jean Foster. 2. Nellie Vir- ginia, wife of Arthur W. Orpin, who is an able assistant of his father-in-law in the photographic studio. Mr. and Mrs. Orpin have two children: Helen R. and Walter Foster.

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Carroll Bertram Graham. Carroll Ber- tram Graham belongs to one of the oldest and best Scotch families on the paternal line, of comparatively recent arrival in Vir- ginia. He is identified with many of the old "First Families of Virginia," through various intermarriages. David Edwards Graham was born in Scotland, son of David Graham and Elizabeth Newling, the latter a Welsh gentlewoman. He came to Vir- ginia and settled in Warrenton, Fauquier county. He married Mary Jane Calonne, a native of Virginia, and daughter of Vin- cent Calonne and Christiana Donalson. Through this connection the family is traced back to French Mason, a nephew and ward of Colonel George (?) Mason, having been left an orphan. He married his first cousin, Ann Thomson, when she was sixteen years old. They resided near Dumfries, Virginia, where Mr. Mason was murdered by his slaves, leaving his wife a widow when still quite young. She married (second) Wil- liam Reardon, and (third) William Donal- son. The last named was born at Ravens- worth, Virginia, and owned a plantation, on which he lived, in Fairfax county, Virginia. Three children of this marriage survived, namely : Garland Baylor, who died a bach- elor ; Maria, and Christiana (called Kitty). The last named became the wife of Vincent Calonne, a Frenchman and refugee from the Island of Santa Domingo, who escaped from that island during an insurrection of the Negroes. At that time he was nine years of age, and accompanied his uncle, a Mr. Hall, on an outgoing vessel, which took them to Baltimore. There Vincent Calonne was placed in charge of one Colonel Ram- sey, who was a connection by marriage, and with whom he remained until he arrived at man's estate. His children were Edgar, Ann, and Mary Jane. The last named be- came the wife of David Edwards Graham, as before noted. They had sons: Robert B., John now deceased ; Horace, Carroll, and David Edwards.

David Edwards (2) Graham, son of David Edwards (1) and Mary Jane (Calonne) Gra- ham, was born 1844, in Warrenton, Vir- ginia, and now resides in Danville, that state, where he is publisher of the "Dailv Register." He married Florida Louise Mit- chell. Children: 1. Margaret Blanchard, born 1877, in North Carolina ; was educated at private schools and Danville College for

Young Ladies (now Randolph-Macon In- stitute). 2. Carroll Bertram, mentioned be- low. 3. Ethel Alexander, born 1881, in Dan- ville ; is the wife of Morris C. Flinn, of that city. 4. David Edwards (3), born January 3. 1886, at Danville; was educated in the public schools and Danville Military Insti- tute; is now associated with the National Biscuit Company, of New York; unmar- ried.

Carroll Bertram Graham was born May 12, 1879, in Warrenton, Virginia, and at- tended the public schools of Danville and Danville Military Institute, from which he was graduated in 1896. He began his busi- ness career as clerk in a leaf tobacco house, where he continued about three years. Fol- lowing this, for some time he was engaged iti the same business at Easton, North Caro- lina, and was afterward employed in a bank at Kinston, North Carolina. He spent one year following this in Danville, and was for two years with the American Tobacco Com- pany at Darlington, South Carolina. He re- moved to New York City in December, 1892, and since that time he has been continu- ously engaged with the United Cigar Stores Company, having charge of one of its de- partments. While a resident of Kinston, North Carolina, he was a member of the Naval Reserve. He is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church and the South- ern Society, and, like most of his compa- triots, acts politically with the Democratic party. He is unmarried.

Edward V. Harman. Edward V. Harman, a successful banker of New York City, was born March 28, 1863, in Staunton, Virginia, a descendant of notable American families. His father, William Henry Harman, son of Louis Harman, was born in 1863 at Staun- ton, and served honorably in the Civil war, successively as lieutenant-colonel and colo- nel of the Fifth Virginia Infantry Regiment. This was organized in May, 1861, chiefly in Augusta county, and rendered valuable ser- vice during the war. Colonel Harman was promoted to brigadier-general, and held this rank when killed near Waynesboro, Vir- ginia, while on the way to join General Lee's army at Appomattox. He married Margaret Garber, daughter of Albert J. and Lydia (Hancock) Garber. Lydia Hancock was a daughter of John Hancock, signer of the Declaration of Independence. The last

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named was born January 12, 1737, in Lex- ington, Massachusetts, and died October 8, 1793. He married, August 28, 1775, in Fair- field, Connecticut, Dorothy, daughter of Ed- mund Quincy, of Boston, Massachusetts. They had a son, John George Washington Hancock, who died at the age of nine years. The only other child was Lydia, born in 1776, who became the wife of Albert J. Gar- ber, as above noted. Beside the subject of this sketch, William H. and Margaret (Gar- ber) Harman had children: Arthur C., born at Staunton, now in the railroad business in South America, married Rose Cochrane, of Staunton; Albert G., born at Staunton, a contractor in South America, married Hat- tie Bell, of Rockbridge county, Virginia; Ellen, born 1858, at Staunton, now the wife of Edwin F. Surber, of Staunton; Augusta, born in 1860, at Staunton, unmarried.

Edward V. Harman was educated in pri- vate schools at Staunton, and began his business career as a clerk in the office of the James River Packet Company. He was subsequently a clerk in the office of the Richmond & Allegheny Railroad Company (now Cheseapeake & Ohio) from 1883 to 1888. Removing to Minneapolis, Minne- sota, he engaged in the banking business, and was deputy city controller for a period of three years. In 1894 he removed to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was engaged in banking eleven years. He went to New York City in 1905, where he established the firm of E. V. Harman & Company, private bankers and loan brokers, with offices on Broadway, and this firm has continued to the present time. Mr. Harman is possessed of that genial nature and upright character which make men popular in the social circle, and he is a member of the Manhattan Club of New York, "The Virginian's," the South- ern Society of New York, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. With a keen interest in the principles of the Democratic party, he is independent in political action ; is lib- eral in religious views, and a regular at- tendant of the Episcopal church. He mar- ried, at Staunton, October 29, 1889, Marie, daughter of John Marshall and Mary (Beirne) Kinney, born April 12, 1863, at Staunton. They have one child: Mary Beirne Harman, born January 15, 1891, at Staunton.

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Everett Waddey. Few members of the printing fraternity are better known to the craft at large than Everett Waddey, of Richmond, Virginia. The story of his rise by the sheer force of his own efforts from a telegraph messenger to the responsible head of a great printing concern reads like a romance. Everett Waddey was born on the 25th day of March, 1853, at Thomasville, Georgia. Died January 14, 1908, at Rich- mond, Virginia. His father was a physi- cian and a native of Virginia, his mother be- ing a native of the Old Dominion also. Upon the death of his father, in 1857, the subject of this sketch was brought to Virginia by relatives, and lived in the city of Richmond up to the time of his death. He grew up in and was familiar with the exciting times in Richmond from the beginning to the close of the war. Before he was twelve years of age he was a courier for General William H. Stevens, chief engineer of the fortifica- tions around Richmond, and, therefore, a soldier in the provisional army of the Con- federate States of America during the stren- uous days when Grant was trying to get into the capital of the Confederacy. Mr. Wad- dey started early in life, having been em- ployed as a telegraph messenger at the age of eleven years. He went to school for one session after the war, and in 1868 entered the printing office of Vannerson, Shepperson & Graves, as an apprentice, learning to feed job and cylinder presses and set type, indis- criminately, as the necessities of the work required. Job-printing being to his taste, he developed that line more than any other and finished apprenticeship in that department. Mr. Waddey worked for awhile in Balti- more, then in Norfolk, and afterward on one of the country newspapers in Essex county, Virginia. Returning to Richmond, he ran the usual gamut of a journeyman printer, in and out of luck, until, finally, in 1876, he de- cided to take up the stationery line, and entered the employ of George W. Gary, where he acquired a detailed knowledge of the blank book and stationery business. In 1877 he became connected with the firm of J. T. Ellyson & Company, as a salesman, with which firm and its successors he con- tinued until 1882, when he purchased the interest of his retiring partners and under- took the business on his own account. It was in this latter year that the firm bought

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its first presses and installed a small print- ing-plant. The business grew quite rapidly from that time on, and new departments were added from time to time until to-day the plant is one of the largest and most com- plete in the entire South. The business now includes printing, binding, engraving, plate printing, office stationery and supplies, and office furniture.

Mr. Waddey early became connected with the movement for the organization of the employing printers, having been largely in- strumental in 1887 (prior to the organization of the United Typothetae of America) in organizing the Richmond Master Printers' Association, which sent a delegate to the first convention of the United Typothetae of America, held in Chicago in that year. At the first Typothetae convention attended by Mr. Waddey, held in New York, in 1888, he was elected corresponding secretary of the organization, and was reëlected at subse- quent conventions until the offices of cor- responding and of recording secretary were combined, in 1891, when he was elected to that office. At the Toronto convention in 1892, Mr. Waddey declined a reelection, but owing to the resignation of his successor on the eve of the succeeding annual convention he accepted an emergency appointment from the president to act as secretary at the Chicago convention in 1893, at which con- vention he was reelected. He continued to hold the office of secretary until the conven- tion held at Rochester in 1896, when he again declined a reelection, and was finally permitted, after nearly nine years of con- tinuous service to lay aside the cares and responsibilities of that office. At the Ty- pothetae convention held in Kansas City, in 1900, Mr. Waddey was elected chairman of the executive committee, and was reelected at the succeeding convention, held in Pitts- burgh, 1901. Since 1902 he held no office in the United Typothetae of America, but was a loyal member and supporter of its policies. The immense business built up by Mr. Waddey since he has been at the head of his house, and the loyalty and good will of the army of employees who have helped to make the Everett Waddey Company one of the best-known concerns of its kind in the South, eloquently testify to the truth of the statement that energy, fairness, and a broad and liberal policy, spell success.

Jesse Gill Crouch. Member of a Virginia family, but a native of Walton county, Georgia, the fortunes of war rather than a formed determination brought Jesse Gill Crouch to Virginia after his father had left the Old Dominion for residence in Georgia. Mr. Crouch's settlement in Virginia occur- red through his being sent thither in charge of some Federal prisoners, he having en- listed in the Confederate service from Mis- sissippi, where he was engaged in business at the outbreak of the conflict.

The father of Jesse Gill Crouch, John Crouch, was born on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. He was a farmer all of his life, and, acquiring property in Georgia, moved to that state and engaged in its cultivation until his death in 1887. He and his wife, Martha (Bell) Crouch, were the parents of seven children, two of their sons giving their lives in defence of the cause of the Confederacy.

Jesse Gill Crouch, son of John and Martha (Bell) Crouch, was born in Walton county, Georgia, November 26, 1839. His home was in the place of his birth until he was nine years of age, when his parents moved to Meriwether county, in the same state, and in both localities he attended the public schools, continuing his studies until he was a youth of eighteen years. At this time, in partnership with a brother, he went to Mis- sissippi and established in business as a furniture dealer, being so engaged when war broke out between the north and the south. He enlisted in a troop of Mississ- ippi cavalry, and in different commands served in the Confederate army throughout the four years conflict, afterward becoming a member of Company C, Twenty-fifth Regi- ment Virginia Infantry, still later becom- ing a gunner of artillery, firing the shot that sank the Galena. He was twice wounded in action, and after coming to Virginia in 1862 in charge of a detachment of Federal pris- oners was thenceforth in the eastern theatre of war. His record was a proud one, and although he had many narrow escapes from death during the four years and was struck twice, his was a more happy fate than those of his two brothers, who met their deaths in the struggle. From the close of the war until his death, which occurred April 23, 1901, Mr. Crouch was in business as a con- tracting carpenter, a calling he adopted upon

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his return to peaceful pursuits. His politi- cal party was the Democratic, and through interest and activity in public affairs and political matters he became the occupant of influential and leading position. He was a communicant of the Union Station Metho- dist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Jesse Gill Crouch married, at Glou- cester Court House, Virginia, May 1, 1879, lda May Kerns, born in Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, May 28, 1858, who there resided until 1859, when she came to Gloucester county, Virginia, with her parents, Maris Vernon Kerns, and his wife, Jane ( Lefevre) Kerns, both natives of Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, the latter born May 12, 1819. died March 3, 1901. Maris Vernon Kerns was a millwright during his active life, and be- came a band musician in the Confederate army, was taken prisoner by the Union troops, and for one year and a half was con- fined in the Federal prison at Point Look- out. Maryland. He contracted a severe ill- ness during his incarceration, and although he partially recovered, was a sufferer there- from until his death, November 17, 1884. caused by aggravated complaints seated in his old infirmity. He was the father of six children, five of whom are living at this time (1914), one a resident of the home place in Gloucester county. Children of Jesse Gill and Ida May (Kerns) Crouch : Maris W., a civil engineer in the employ of the United States government, located at Washington, District of Columbia; Dr. Jesse H., a graduate of the Richmond Med- ical College, class of 1908, now a medical practitioner of this city, after two years interne duty in Richmond hospitals ; Craw- ford C., a student in Richmond College ; Georgia Virginia, died in 1900, aged seven- teen years.

Mrs. Cronch descends paternally from John Yost Kern, of Friesbach, Germany, who came to America in 1771. settling in Pennsylvania. He married in Germany Eve Marie Weiss, who bore him six sons and three daughters. John Yost Kern died in 1815, and tradition says that he and his wife are buried in the old grave yard at Christ's Church, in Snyder county, Pennsyl- vania, near Beavertown. A branch of the family settled in Virginia, others went west and are found as both Kern and Kerns. Maternally Mrs. Crouch descends from Isaac Lefevre, born March 26, 1669. in

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Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 100

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn Publication date: 1915 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 848

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 848