Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 101

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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France, who was the only member of his family to escape death in the period follow- ing the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He lived in Germany several years, there married, in 1704, Catherine Le Fiere, and with his wife's family came to Pennsylvania in 1705. He settled in the Pequea Valley, Lancaster county, and there obtained a grant for two thousand acres of land. He bad six children.

Alice A. (Jones) Pyle. Richmond, Vir- ginia, in common with every other city of any considerable size in this country, has felt the influence of its organized woman- hood in the championship projects for the promotion of the civic welfare and for the improvement of the morals of the city. Richmond also has that which is less com- mon, but by no means rare, a business es- tablishment of reputation and stability whose active head is a woman, the steam dyeing, scouring, and carpet cleaning works owned by Mrs. A. J. Pyle, located at No. 315 and 317 Fifth street. Mrs. Pyle suc- ceeded to the ownership of this business upon the death of her husband in 1882, the concern then one of three years' standing, and has since managed it, directing its ac- tivities into channels that offered profitable fields and which offered abundant oppor - tunities for the execution of original ideas. The prosperity and strength of the business of which she is the head can be traced to no other source than to her, and is the re- sult of wise planning, intelligent application, and tireless energy, in all of which she ex- cels.

Hanover county, Virginia, is the old home of the line of Jones of which Mrs. Pyle is a member, and there her grandfather. William Russell Jones, was born, lived and died. William Russell Jones was a farmer and land owner, and in his agricultural pursuits accumulated a large fortune. He and his wife, Huldah ( Terrell) Jones, also a native of Virginia, were the parents of six chil- dren, all deceased.

Charles Edmund Jones, son of Williani Russell and Huldah (Terrell) Jones, was born in Hanover county, Virginia, and died in 1869. In mature years he became a mer- chant in Centerville, Louisa county, Vir- ginia, and during the war between the states enlisted in the Confederate army, was taken prisoner, eluded his captors, and re-

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ceived an honorable discharge from that service at the termination of the struggle. He was a successful merchant, a respected citizen, and passed an honorable and useful life. He married Martha Ann Sarah Smith, daughter of Elisha Smith. Elisha Smith married a daughter of the family of Dowell, a native of Virginia, her father one of the largest land owners in Albemarle county, Virginia. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Jones : Alice A., of whom further ; Cortez B., a resi- dent of Richmond, Virginia ; Edna Terrell, married John B. MacDowell, and lives in Roanoke, Virginia; Charles Henry, de- ceased ; Emma Lee, deceased ; Judge James Buckner, deceased ; Martha Susan, deceased, married Benjamin. Z. Crenshaw.

Alice Adrienne Jones, daughter of Charles Edmund and Martha Ann Sarah (Smith) Jones, was born at Centerville, Louisa county, Virginia, October 2, 1851. She was educated under the tutelage of a governess, subsequently attending the Piedmont Fe- male Institute, and in 1872 married, in Albe- marle county, Virginia, Augustus James Pyle, since making her residence in the city of Richmond. Augustus James Pyle was born in Richmond, Virginia, and died there March 14, 1882, aged about thirty-nine years. He founded the business continued at the present time by Mrs. Pyle, but three years afterward death removed him from his position at its head. At that time Mrs. Pyle, a young woman and unexperienced in business matters, assumed the management and direction thereof, and has since con- ducted it, the concern under her official leadership ascending to a position of promi- nence in its line in the state, now ranking as the largest in Virginia. The business is lo- cated at No. 315 and 317 North Fifth street, where it occupies a building of three stories and a basement, finely and modernly equipped with machinery for steam dyeing, scouring, and carpet cleaning. Mrs. Pyle's employees number between forty-five and fifty, and, other than the usual work of such an establishment, several departments have been added that greatly widen its field of activity. Eight years ago the importation and sale of surgical goods was instituted, and corsets of high grade were made to order, these features attracting favorable at- tention. A display of the Richmond Steam Dyeing and Carpet Cleaning Works at the Exposition of the Virginia State Agricultural

and Mechanical Society in 1888 was awarded a first prize. Mrs. Pyle has proven her merit as a business woman, and in compe- tition with others in her line has asked no favorable discrimination. The exercise of native talents, close attention to the needs and wants of those to whom her establish- ment caters, wisdom and judgment, and the maintenance of a business of the highest class, tell the story of her success, for which no degree of credit can be excessive. She has been well advised and aided by com- petent assistants, but her spirit and person- ality has pervaded the entire works, and as proprietress she accepts whatever of praise or censure falls thereto.

Mrs. Pyle is the mother of four children : Martha Augusta, married Sydney Putnam Owens, of Richmond; Wade Hampton, married Laura Crenshaw, of Savannah, Georgia ; Robert Lee. resides in Richmond : Ashby Barnes, resides in Richmond.

Gabriel Wise Worrell, Ph. B. Few men of his years have been able to compress into the first thirty years of their lives so full a record as has Mr. Worrell. As a sergeant of cavalry in the United States, serving in the Philippines, around the world traveler, a college graduate and editor, leader of the independent progressive thought of his city and one who has suffered for his independ- once, Mr. Worrell may justly claim that since leaving his Carroll county home in 1901, his years have been well accounted for. His mind. broadened by his travel and strenuous experience, is a determined one, and the blows he has received in defence of his convictions have but rendered him the more determined to fight with all his power of tongue and pen, all forces that oppose better civic government. Like all progres- sive men who dare attack the old order, he has made bitter enemies, but as chairman of the Progressive Club of Radford, he has won the regard of many more who rate him as one of the potent forces for good in the community. He wields an influence through his own personality, equal to that of his newspaper, the "Record-Advance," and as editor and citizen, is ever a force dreaded by those opposed to him in municipal govern- ment.

Gabriel Wise Worrell was born in Carroll county, Virginia, July 9, 1882, son of Josiah Worrell, born in Carroll county, in 1843,

Wise Norrel

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died in 1884. He was a farmer and furniture manufacturer, serving after the close of the war as postmaster of Hillsville, Virginia, United States marshall of Carroll county and deputy sheriff. During the war, 1861- 65. he served as a private in Lieutenant Newber's Pulaski company, Fiftieth Regi- ment, Virginia Infantry, Confederate States army, and was engaged at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and many other battles of the war. He married Polly Gillespie Smith, daughter of Gabriel and Allsie ( Dickens) Smith, born July 4, 1850, in Carroll county, Virginia, yet survives her husband.

Gabriel Wise Worrell obtained his early and preparatory education in the primary, grammar and high schools of Carroll county. He enlisted in 1901 in Troop F, Eleventh Regiment, United States army, and for nearly three years he served with that famous cavalry regiment attaining the rank of sergeant. While in the service he traveled with his regiment around the world and saw sixteen months service in the Phil- ippines. On account of ill health he was transferred to hospital service at Manilla and with Troop D served at Fort Houston, Texas. At the expiration of his term of en- listments in 1904, he was honorably dis- charged.

In 1907, Mr. Worrell entered Milligan College, North Carolina, from whence he was graduated Ph. B., class of "II." The following year he located in Radford, an independent city of Montgomery county, where he founded, edited and published the "Radford Record," which in August, 1912, was merged with the "Radford Advance," with Mr. Worrell sole editor and manager. The "Advance" founded in 1888 was incor- porated in 1907, merged with the newly established "Advance" as the "Record-Ad- vance" Company in 1913, reincorporated as the "Record-Advance" Company, publish- ers of the "Radford Record." Mr. Worrell is secretary and treasurer of the latter com- pany, editor and manager of the paper, hav- ing been vice-president of the old corpora- tion. Fully equipped by education, talent and experience for the editorial position he occupies and a Progressive in political sen- timent, he is the recognized leader of the Progressive party in Radford. He is chair- man of the Radford Progressive Club and has been hotly engaged in a civic battle with the party in power ever since coming

to Radford. He has received and dealt heavy plows and has been obliged to defend himself from physical violence. On Decem- ler 16, 1913, the charges he had preferred against the secretary and treasurer of the State Normal School were heard before a special committee of the board of trustees in the mayor's office in Radford, Mr. Wor- rell being represented by E. Lee Tinkle, his attorney, the defence by Richard Evelyn Byrd. This is only one of the attacks the "Record" has made on those in power in Radford and Mr. Worrell has in the short time he has directed the paper rallied to his standard many influential friends.

He has taken an active interest in the var- ious departments of Radford life, is a mem- ber of I. N. Ingalls Camp, Sons of Confed- erate Veterans, first lieutenant of Company M, Second Regiment National Guard, a company he assisted in organizing, is a director of the Radford Board of Trade, member and secretary of the Good Govern- ment Club, is a potent element of strength in the cause of civic righteousness in Rad- ford and to no man does it owe its strength more than to its fearless, energetic young secretary, the vigorous, able champion of good government.

George Morgan Jones has place among men of interest to Virginians by reason of the qualities of brain and character that gave him leadership among the merchants who built up the business interests of Vir- ginia after the Civil war, and because of his broad conception of the obligations resting upon childless men of wealth. His life story thus publicly recorded will serve both as an example and a warning, and simple justice demands that his memory be rescued from false impressions.

By blood Mr. Jones was a representative of that large class of well-to-do land and slave-owning people who from the earliest years gave strength and backing to the bril- liant men whose names are a part of Vir- ginia history. He was of "the people,"-not the mass upon whom the demagogue plays at will, but the thinking men of character upon whom statesmen rely for the enforce- ment of their policies.

He was born on the 4th day of May, 1824, the son of Wharton and Nancy ( Wood) Jones, at "Pleasant View," his father's home on Jeremy's Run, in Page county (then

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Shenandoah), Virginia. Through every line of his ancestry he was descended from pioneer landowners of English stock, who as substantial farmers and merchants did much for the development of the new colony and the creation of its wealth. His father, Wharton Jones, was born in Shen- andoah county (now Page) on the 3Ist of March, 1786, the son of George Jones and Margaret (Morgan) Jones. George Jones was born in Caroline county, the son of Thomas and Mary (Wharton) Jones, of that part of Essex county formed into Caroline in 1727. He moved over into the Valley of Vir- ginia prior to the revolution, married, and lived there until his death on the 30th of April, 1810. His wife, Margaret Morgan, was born in Shenandoah county (then Frederick and now Page), in 1757, the daughter of John Morgan. The vivacity and activity for which as an old lady she was notable made her a great favorite with her grandchildren. She kept up her horseback riding, at which she had been expert, all of her life, being finally thrown by a horse and killed in her eighty- sixth year, on September 8, 1843.

Mr. Jones' mother, Ann Wood (called Nancy), was born on the 15th of October, 1799, the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Follis) Wood, at her father's home, "Cedar Point," Shenandoah county (now Page). Her father, Benjamin Wood, was born April 30, 1761, the son of Nehemiah Wood Sr. and Abigail (Grigsby) Wood, who had come into the Valley from Stafford county. Ne- hemiah Wood Sr., who died October 3, 1816, at an extremely advanced age, was the son of William Wood. Benjamin Wood's first wife, Mrs. Jones' mother, Sarah Follis, was born November, 1766, a daughter of Jacob Follis and Sarah, his wife, who was Sarah Springer, a daughter of Isaac Springer. They were married February 12, 1791, and she died March 27, 1812. On June 29, 1823, Benjamin Wood married for his second wife Elizabeth Abbot, daughter of Rogden Abbot, of Culpeper county, born November 15, 1789, and died at Cedar Point, November 17, 1871. Nothing is known of William Wood beyond his name, but his son Nehe- miah is reputed to have been a splendid specimen of the sturdy manhood that con- quered the wilderness of the New World. The memory of his wife, Abigail Grigsby, was held in great veneration by her children and she left her impress upon her generation

as a woman whose dignity of position was well maintained by force of sweetness of character and charm of manner.

All of these men were extensive land- owners, as the records of their counties of residence abundantly testify. They were distinguished by no brilliant achievements, but of high character and independent means, they were people of influential posi- tion who were counted a valuable force in community life and bore their full share of the burdens of local affairs. Their opin- ions were quoted as the highest authority on all agricultural questions. Benjamin Wood, Mr. Jones' maternal grandfather, was a man of wealth, and his estate in the long division among his eight children yielded valuable farms and slaves for them all, much of which he gave them in his life time, as they married and established homes of their own. The grandfather, George Jones, was likewise a man of influence pos- sessed of comfortable fortune according to the standards of his time and place.

The family characteristics were pronounced, and Mr. Jones showed marked influences of heredity. An independent, reserved, home- loving and unostentatious people, they shrank from publicity. Though uninclined to assume leadership responsibility, they never shirked it, and when they followed it was only where mind and judgment led. With no taste for military life, they con- scientiously performed their soldier duty whenever occasion demanded. Benjamin Wood and George Jones both served as sol- diers in the revolution, the former as pri- vate in the First Virginia, and the latter in the Third Virginia Regiment.

The story is told of Benjamin Wood that as a very young man he inclined toward luxury and sport to an extent inconsistent with his father's ideas. Paternal lectures not availing to bring him to the paths of in- dustry, paternal authority was exercised .. All income was cut off, a tract of unim- proved land conveyed to him, and he was sternly thrust upon his own resources. His riding horse and its equipment, and his own wardrobe-he was something of a dandy in his tastes-constituted his sole capital for the development of his land. The outlook was not cheerful, but the father was un- relenting and the son of the same fibre. A comrade-cousin, likewise out of favor at home for similar reasons, also owned his

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riding horse. They formed a partnership, joined their riding horses in a team and went to work; how successfully is proved by the land records of Shenandoah and Page counties, where tract after tract of land is shown passing in title to him. As a business man he became a power in his part of the State, but he retained his youthful love of good horses and good clothes to the end of his long life. He died April 24, 1829, at his home, Cedar Point, honored and loved by all who knew him.

Mr. Jones' father, Wharton Jones, was also a man of substantial estate, apart from the separate property of his wife, the daughter of Benjamin Wood. As a prosperous landed proprietor, he was a leader in his commun- ity, being called upon constantly as adviser in business affairs of importance and to serve as guardian and administrator for kindred, friends and neighbors. For a number of years he sat as justice under the old county court system. He died after a short illness, on the 23rd of October, 1836, when but little more than fifty years of age, leaving his wife a widow at thirty-seven, with eleven children, one unborn. They had been mar- ried less than twenty years before, on the 17th of January, 1817, at Cedar Point. She died December 18. 1867, having survived him thirty-one years. Their children were as follows, all born at Pleasant View. the home he built for her, and in which they lived all of their married life:

I. William Follis Jones, born November 17, 1817, married Catherine Price, of Page county, September 5, 1837, moved to Mis- souri, and died there September 12, 1857. There were ten children of this marriage: Cordelia Ann, married Galen Crow, of Aus- tin, Texas : Emma, married George Rigdon ; Minerva, died in childhood; Martha, mar- ried William Moore: Alice, married Robert Stockstill ; William Price, Isaac Edgar, Peter Lee; Thomas Wood and George Herbert, all of whom made their homes in states west of the Mississippi. 2. Isaac Springer Jones, born January 23, 1819, settled in Missouri. and there married Anne Eliza Byrd. January 19, 1854, and died April 29. 1873. leaving eight children : Margaret, Edgar, Byrd, Nannie, George Lee, Mary Ann, Martha and Isaac, all of whom made their homes in states west of the Missis- sippi. 3. Thomas Wood Jones, born Octo- ber 15, 1820, died unmarried, January 22,

1837. 4. Sarah Catherine Jones, born May 22, 1822, married Reuben Pendleton Bell, of the Rappahannock county family of that name, May 19. 1842, and died September 27, 1901, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. McKay, in Augusta county. There were seven children of this marriage: Erasmus Lee Bell, of Lynchburg, Virginia, married Barbara, daughter of Colonel Mann Spitler, of Whitehall, Page county; Martha Vir- ginia, married Dr. William E. Pitman, of Page county, both now dead : Florence Ann, widow of George Buswell, of Indiana ; Mary Ella, wife of Charles E. Biedler, of Luray, Page county ; Sarah Elizabeth, wife of Antram Mckay, of Augusta county, Vir- ginia : Solon Lycurgus Bell, married Mat- tie Jones, and lives at his father's old home, "Bellvue," in Page county; Nancy Wharton Bell, died in girlhood. 5. George Morgan Jones, the subject of this sketch, was twelve years old when his father died. 6. Benjamin Franklin Jones, born June 26, 1826, died unmarried September 19, 1857. 7. Harrison Booton Jones, born July 27, 1828, married Laura Asenath Star- buck, of Nantucket and Massachusetts an- cestry, June 9, 1858, and died in Lynchburg, August 24, 1897. The children of this mar- riage were: Margaret Lee Jones, who died in early girlhood: Anna Laura Jones, of Lynchburg; Mary Elizabeth, wife of John Hurt Whitehead, of Chatham, Virginia ; and Sarah Starbuck, wife of Leon Marley Jones, of Portsmouth, Virginia. 8. David Whar- ton Jones, born August 3, 1830, married Cyn- thia Anne Plummer, June 8, 1859. died June 24, 1884. in Austin, Texas. His children were : Mary Nancy Jones, of Austin, Texas ; David Galen Jones, of Texas; Lula Ada. wife of Dr. John William Blattner, super- intendent of the state institution for deaf and dumb of North Dakota ; and Thomas, died in childhood. 9. Margaret Elizabeth Jones, born September 27, 1832; married December 26, 1889, John H. Newell ; died June 24, 1901. 10. Mary Ann Jones, born May 8, 1834, married Ambrose Booton Shenk, March 23, 1854. died September 27, 1898, in Lynchburg. Her husband was kill- ed at the battle of Kearnstown, March 23, 1863, while serving as captain of Company H, of the Thirty-third Virginia Infantry, Stonewall Brigade. Their children were: Ambrose Lee Shenk, of Lynchburg. married Alice Spitler, sister of Mrs. E. Lee Bell (see

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above) ; William Herbert Shenk, married Lillian Lowry ; and Frances G. Shenk, who died unmarried. II. Martha Susan Jones, born April 23, 1837, died September 26, 1837.

The children of Mr. Jones' other direct ancestors mentioned herein were as follows : Children of Thomas Jones and Mary Whar- ton: George Jones, married Margaret Mor- gan ; Thomas Jones, married widow of Wil- liam Nunn; Elizabeth and Nellie, lived at Bowling Green, Caroline county, and died unmarried, and Mrs. McCarty, who lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Children of George Jones and Margaret Morgan : Mary (called Polly) Jones, married Joshua Wood, son of Nehemiah Wood Sr .; John Jones, died unmarried; Wharton Jones, married Nancy, daughter of Nehemiah Wood's son Benjamin ; Thomas Jones, mar- ried Nancy, daughter of Nehemiah Wood's son Jesse ; Nancy Jones, died in childhood, and George Jones, a merchant of Vicks- burg, Mississippi, died unmarried. Children of John Morgan : Margaret (called Peggy), married George Jones (see above), and John Morgan Jr. John Morgan Sr. died young and his widow married a Mr. Starn. They had one daughter, Nancy, who married a Mr. Hurst and went to Tennessee. Chil- dren of William Wood: Nehemiah Wood Sr., married (first) Abigail Grigsby, and (second) Diana Sandy. It is stated that William Wood's other children were: Asa Wood, of Stafford county, and Colonel James Wood, of Winchester, but the exact relationship with these men has never been shown by authentic records. Children of Nehemiah Wood Sr. and Abigail Grigsby : I. William Wood, killed in battle during the revolutionary war, married Margaret 2. Jesse Wood. 3. John Wood. 4. Benjamin Wood (see below). 5. Joshua Wood, married Mary Jones (see above). 6. Lettice Grigsby Wood, married Sinnet Atwood. Their son, Nehemiah Atwood, moved to Ohio, where he accumulated quite a fortune and built and endowed Rio Grande College, in Gallia county, Ohio. He left no children. 7. Nancy Wood, mar- ried Edwin Young. 8. Nehemiah Wood Jr., moved to Kanawha county, now West Vir- ginia, and was one of the first, settlers of Charleston. He married Eve Ruffner, daughter of Joseph Ruffner, also among the first settlers of Kanawha county. Mr. Wood represented Kanawha county in the Vir-

ginia assembly in 1805, and soon afterward moved to Gallia county, Ohio, where he be- came perhaps the wealthiest and most promi- nent citizen of the county, being known as "King Wood," by reason of his wealth and his dominant make-up. He died there in 1824. Children of Benjamin Wood and Sarah Follis: Hadad Wood, married Re- becca Mccullough; Harrison Wood, mar- ried (first) Sarah Kaufman, and (second) Sarah Blackwell; David Wood, died unmar- ried; William Follis Wood, married Bar- bara Brumbach, and Nancy, married Whar- ton Jones (see above). Children of Benja- min Wood's second marriage, with Eliza- beth Abbot: Sarah Wood, married Wesley Bear; Edward Whitfield Wood, married Helen Strother, of Rappahannock county, and Mary Mahala Wood, married Dr. George W. Rust, of Fauquier county, Vir- ginia. Children of Jacob Follis and Sarah Springer: Jacob Follis Jr .; William Follis ; Sarah Follis, married Benjamin Wood (see above) ; Isaac Follis; Susanna Follis, mar- ried Rev. Ambrose Booton.

Wharton Jones left no will, and his estate had therefore to be divided and its possibil- ities of increase lessened by the long divi- sion. A few thousands of dollars in lands and slaves vested in each child. It was the realization of his ownership of this capital that turned the attention of his young son George to the money-making possibilities of the mercantile world. With the restless- ness so usual in the adolescent boy, he urged his mother for permission to go to their neighboring town of Luray to accept em- ployment as clerk in a general store owned and managed by Mr. Gabriel Jordan. He was but fifteen years old when he thus left school and started out to begin his career as a merchant-a reserved, sensitive, mother and home-loving boy, but with courage and energy to overcome shrinking within and difficulties without. He showed from the beginning that he had found his true voca- tion. Even when so young a boy, he made his impress upon his employer and his cus- tomers by his careful attention to business, his courtesy and consideration for the rights of the buyer and his stern guardianship over the interests of his employer, down to the last cent. His was the commercial mind, quick to grasp the seriousness of small waste and leakage, and to realize the money value of good will. These qualities of the success-

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Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 101

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