USA > Virginia > Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V > Part 24
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ley College, for seven years a teacher in the grammar school at Highspire, married Pro- fessor Walter G. Clippinger, an instructor in the Theological Seminary of Dayton, Ohio, and now president of Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio; William Spencer, born October 18, 1877, a graduate of the Lebanon Valley College, a commercial traveler for a Pittsburgh firm; Minerva Elizabeth, born July 6, 1882.
Rev. Hervin Ulysses Roop, eldest son and child of Henry J. and Justina M. (Backen- stoe) Roop, was born on the homestead at Highspire, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, November 16, 1868. He obtained a primary and preparatory education in the public and high schools of Steelton, Pennsylvania. His higher education was secured in numerous of the best known institutions of the coun- try. After completing a classical course in Lebanon Valley College, receiving the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts, he took up the study of theology in the Union Biblical Seminary, at Dayton, Ohio, there taking the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. This latter course was three years in duration, and he then spent a like time in the University of Wooster, this institution making him a Doctor of Philosophy. Pedagogy and phil- osophy were two branches in which he pur- sued advanced study in Cornell University, Clark University, and the University of Pennsylvania, passing a summer term at the two first named universities and two full years at the last. After one year at Yale University, taking up sociology, psychology and education, Dr. Roop made a tour of the foremost educational institutions of Europe, traveling in both Great Britain and Conti- nental Europe, visiting public, private and technical schools, as well as universities and colleges. For three years after his return he taught in the schools of his native county, then becoming professor of Eng- lish, history and pedagogy in the Cumber- land Valley State Normal School, at Ship- pensburg, Pennsylvania, for one year there- after being an instructor in Rittenhouse Academy, Philadelphia. Upon the invita- tion of the Hon. John Wanamaker, at this time he became state superintendent of Sab- bath school normal work, his labors to be under the direction of the State Sabbath School Association, and during his incum- bency of this office organized teachers' training work in all the counties of the state, sixty-seven in number. This system
has since been greatly extended and has been a inost potent factor in introducing practical and efficient methods into Sab- bath school work, Pennsylvania a leader in the movement to substitute teachers willing and trained for teachers merely willing. Ac- cepting a call to the presidency of the Leba- non Valley College, in June, 1907, Dr. Roop resigned from his position under the State Sabbath School Association and entered up- on the discharge of his new duties, which included the professorship of philosophy and pedagogy. The fruits of the nine years that he spent as the head of this institution are best expressed by a testimonial of the board of trustees, granted him at the completion of his years of service :
During Dr. Roop's administration, extending from 1897 until 1906, the standard of scholarship has been greatly advanced, the student body augmented almost fourfold, the assets of the college more than quad- rupled, and a handsome group of modern univer- sity buildings completed and provided for financially, and the college is generally prosperous as never be- fore in its history. * * * That we affirm our im- plicit confidence in and our admiration for his busi- ness integrity * * * and that the life, growth and prosperity of the college have been chiefly due to the wise and aggressive policy, the careful and prudent management, untiring energy, and strong personality, of Dr. Roop.
June 1, 1904. Lebanon Valley College con- ferred upon its president the degree of Doc- tor of Laws, naming the three-fold reason of high scholarship, service in the cause of higher education, and distinguished devo- tion to the college. For a time after leaving Lebanon Valley College, Dr. Roop was identified with the Indiana Central Univer- sity, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is now president of Eastern College, Manassas, Virginia. This latter is a co-educational in- stitution, one of the numerous high grade colleges for which Virginia is famous, the buildings of the college grouped in a semi- circle about a spacious and beautiful camp- us. The college affords a wide range of courses, instruction in which is given by a faculty numbered among the graduates of the leading institutions of the country, is splendidly and modernly equipped, and pos- sesses the advantages of a large university with none of its concomitant disadvantages. Dr. Roop is the author of many articles on educational and pedagogic topics, subjects with which he is eminently qualified to deal, and is regarded as an authority upon matters within this province. In the past
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he has been a strong advocate of the Young Men's Christian Association, and has fre- quently been a speaker in behalf of that or- ganization, having besides often addressed representative bodies of the association in convention or council assembled. Since 1890 Dr. Roop has been a licensed preacher of the United Brethren in Christ, of which he has been a life-long member, and in 1904 was a member of the general conference of the church, held at Topeka, Kansas. For many years he has held membership on the general board of education of the church and the Church Historical Society, and for a long time has belonged to the National Education Association, the National Relig- ious Association, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. Poli- tically he holds Republican sympathies, never holding public office.
Dr. Roop married at Johnstown, Penn- sylvania, August 26, 1897, Emma May, daughter of Bishop Ezekiel B. Kephart, D. D., LL. D., and Susan Jane (Trefts) Kep- hart. Bishop Kephart was for thirteen years president of the Western College, at Toledo, Ohio, bishop of the United Brethren church for twenty-four years, and for two terms a member of the upper house of the Iowa legislature. Mrs. Roop is a graduate of Western College, Toledo, Ohio, and the Bright Conservatory of Music, and has taught music in the various seminaries and colleges of the church. She is talented not only as a musician, her intellectual brilliance having been a constant aid and stimulus to her scholarly husband.
Richard Henry Jefferies, D. D. S. Pre- eminence in any calling is the result of in- dividual merit. It comes, not in consequence of exceptional powers not possessed by the majority of mankind, but by the use of those abilities which are common to us all, the result being determined by the degree in which these powers are exercised. The fact that Richard Henry Jefferies, D. D. S., of Richmond, Virginia, is recognized as a pro- fessional man of exceptional ability, is dne to his closer application, more careful over- sight, and to greater energy, then are dis- played by many others, and therefore his success is the just reward of his labors. He is a son of
James McKendre Jefferies, born in Cum- berland county, Virginia, where he died in 1891. He was a farmer by occupation. Dur- ing the war with the states he was a first sergeant of Cumberland Troop Cavalry, and was wounded in one of the engagements in which he took part. He married Helen Jones, a native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and now living with her son, Dr. Jefferies. They had children: Richard Henry, whose name heads this sketch ; a child who died in infancy; John W., engaged in the lumber business in Richmond, Virginia ; George M., a merchant in Midlothian ; Lucile, who mar- ried George P. Bailey, a canner and broker, of Kinsale, Virginia; James McKendre, Jr., a merchant at Kinsale. James McKendre Jefferies has three brothers, J. W., a physi- cian of Scottsville, Virginia ; William D., a physician of Alabama ; Virginius, a druggist of Scottsville, Virginia.
Dr. Richard Henry Jefferies was born in Cumberland county, Virginia, September 9, 1884, on the farm owned by his father. He was a very young child when he came to Richmond, Virginia, with his mother, and his early education was acquired there and at a private school in Chesterfield. In 1900 he was sent to the Virginia Polytechnic In- stitute, and for two years prepared himself to enter upon the study of medicine. He next matriculated at the Medical College of Virginia, and was graduated from this in- stitution in the class of 1909 with the de- gree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. He at once established himself in the practice of his profession, with which he has been suc- cessfully identified since that time. One year following his graduation, he was ap- pointed demonstrator at the Medical College of Virginia. He now has charge of the Prosthetic Technique at this institution, and is also associate professor of materia medica. He is a member of the National, State and City Dental associations. His fraternal af- filiation is with the Order of Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and he is a member of the Methodist Centenary Church.
Dr. Jefferies married, at Richmond, Vir- ginia, October 19, 1914, Adeline Mary Har- ris, born in that city. She is a daughter of William E. and Lucy (Campbell) Harris, the former the founder and head of the firm of Harris, Flippen & Company, dealers in sporting goods, the latter a native of King William county.
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William Hodges Baker. This branch of the Baker family, founded in Virginia by Henry Baker, born 1647, died 1712, and represented in the present by William Hodges Baker, of Portsmouth, removed from Isle of Wight county, Virginia, to North Carolina, where Lawrence Baker, the revolutionary ancestor, lived and died and which state General Lawrence S. Baker rep- resented in the United States regular army and in the later Confederate States army. Nine generations of Bakers have lived in Virginia and North Carolina, William Hodges Baker being of the eighth.
Henry Baker and wife, Mary, lived in Isle of Wight county, as did their son, Henry (2) Baker, who was born there and died in 1739. He married Angelina Bray, of Williamsburg, Virginia, but their son, Henry (3) Baker, born in Isle of Wight county, died in Bucklands, North Carolina, in 1770, the first of this direct line to settle in that state. Henry (3) Baker married Catherine Booth, a Virginia lady, born in Southampton.
Major Lawrence Baker, son of Henry (3) and Catherine (Booth) Baker, was born in Bucklands, North Carolina, in 1745, died at Coles Hill, North Carolina, in Septem- ber. 1805. He took prominent part in the events preceding the actual beginning of hostilities between the American colonies and the mother country and then took the field as major, commanding North Carolina troops. He was a member of the North Carolina provincial congress that met in Hillsboro, August 21, 1775, and was ap- pointed a member of the committee of safety from Edenton. He was also a mem- ber of the Congress of 1776 and on April 15, of that year. took the test oath and was formally seated as a member. On April 18, he signed the resolution passed by the Congress enjoining absolute secrecy con- cerning all proceedings of the Congress, and on April 19 was appointed a member of the committee on claims and military accounts. On April 22, 1776, he was named by the North Carolina provincial Congress as major and took the field in that capacity. He was twice married, his second wife, Anna Maria (Burgess) Baker, surviving until February, 1808.
Dr. John Burgess Baker, son of Major Lawrence and Anna Maria (Burgess) Baker, was born in North Carolina, in 1802,
died June, 1837. He was a practicing phy- sician of Gatesville, North Carolina, a man of learning and high character. He mar- ried Mary Wynns Gregory. With the chil- dren of Dr. Baker the family residence was returned to Virginia, although the military service of his distinguished son, Brigadier- General Lawrence S. Baker, is properly credited to North Carolina, as he enlisted from that state and commanded North Caro- lina troops, under North Carolina commis- sions.
Brigadier-General Lawrence S. Baker, son of Dr. John Burgess and Mary Wynns (Gregory) Baker, was born at Coles Hill, Gatesville, North Carolina, May 15, 1830, died at Suffolk, Virginia. August 10, 1907. He was appointed cadet from North Caro- lina at United States Military Academy, West Point, and entered July 1, 1847, grad- uated July 1, 1851, and was promoted to the army as brevet second lieutenant mounted rifleman, served at Cavalry School, for prac- tice, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1851 .to 1852, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 1852, frontier duty at Fort Laramie, Dakota, 1852, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1852, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1852-53, Fort Leavenworth, 1853, expedition to the plains, 1853, and commis- sioned second lieutenant mounted rifleman, March 31, 1853. From 1853 until 1859 he was on duty in the west and southwest, scouting, convoying trains and fighting In- dians. On November 22, 1859, he was com- missioned first lieutenant mounted rifleman and until May, 1861, he was on duty in New Mexico. On May 10, 1861, he resigned his commission in the United States army, re- turned to North Carolina, at once enlisted in the Confederate army and was commis- sioned colonel of the First Regiment North Carolina Cavalry. May 20, 1861 ; August I, 1863, he was commissioned brigadier-gen- eral and at the battle of Brandy Station the same day was severely wounded, his right arm being struck and shattered. From June, 1864, until the close of the war he was in command of the Eastern Department of North Carolina. After the war he culti- vated a farm near Suffolk. Virginia, until 1878, then was appointed agent at Suffolk for the Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad, also for the Southern Express Company and manager for the Western Union Telegraph Company, holding these positions from 1878 until his retirement several years prior to
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his death. His military career under two flags was brilliant and his record as a civil- ian was equally honorable. He married, in Salisbury, North Carolina, March 13, 1855, Elizabeth Earl Henderson, born Oc- tober 1, 1836. Children : William Tilford, of further mention; Alexander Henderson, born at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, De- cember 20, 1856, married Mary Claudia Philips; Lawrence Simmons (2), born at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, June 3, 1860, died aged two years; Elizabeth Earl, born in Raleigh, North Carolina, August 7, 1863, married Frederick Brooks Hubbell; Rich- ard Beverly, born in Hyde county, North Carolina, August 10, 1866, died in 1880; Charles Jackson, born in Martin county, North Carolina, in 1875, died in 1877 ; Philip Baraud, born June 26, 1881, died June 22, 1882.
William Tilford Baker, born in San An- tonio, Texas, January 3, 1856, died in 1890. After the war he settled in Portsmouth where he engaged in the lumber business with George R. Trant as partner. He mar- ried, November 8, 1883, Susan, daughter of William H. H. Hodges, of Virginia, and his wife, Mary A. (Griswold) Hodges. Chil- dren : William Hodges, of further mention ; Lawrence Simmons, born 1886; Mary Hodges, born 1889.
William Hodges Baker, eldest son of William Tilford and Susan (Hodges) Baker, was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Decem- ber 2, 1884. After completing preparatory courses at Norfolk Academy he entered the law school of the University of Virginia, whence he was graduated LL. B., class of 1906. He was admitted to the Portsmouth and Norfolk bar the same year and at once began practice in Portsmouth. Well suited by nature, mental equipment and prepara- tion, for the practice of law, he quickly won standing at the bar and until 1912 was en- gaged in prosecution of legal business in all state and Federal courts of the district. In 1912 he became a member of the legal staff of the Seaboard Air Line Railway. He is a Democrat in politics and for four years represented his ward in city council.
Mr. Baker married, May 23, 1908, Helen Marshall Trant, daughter of George Rich- ards and Virginia Young (Boykin) Trant. Child, William Hodges (2), born April 20, 1910, of the ninth generation of Bakers in America.
Martin Donohue Delaney, M. D. Holding responsible position among the medical and surgical fraternity in Alexandria is Dr. Mar- tin Donohue Delaney, known to those of his profession outside of his city and state by his contributions to the scientific journals bearing upon his profession. A native of Ohio, his parents were of Irish birth, his father, Dennis William Delaney, having been born in 1840, his mother, Josephine Donohue before her marriage, and a niece of Lady Hunt, born in 1844. Dennis Wil- liam Delaney followed agriculture through- out his active years, coming to the United States in 1858, settling first in Philadelphia, later moving westward, and finally purchas- ing a farm in Virginia.
Dr. Martin Donohue Delaney, son of Den- nis William and Josephine (Donohue) De- laney, was born in Toledo, Ohio, April 28, 1874. After obtaining primary instruction under private teachers he entered St. John's Military Academy, at Alexandria, Virginia. whence he was graduated. He then studied in Mount St. Mary's College, at Emmits- burg, Maryland, where he received the de- gree of A. M., afterward matriculating at Georgetown University, Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, receiving his M. D. from that institution in 1898. He obtained prac- tical experience in his profession by his ser- vice as second assistant interne in the Co- lumbia University Hospital, and after one year in this capacity remained for a like period as first interne Thus prepared by study and actual work, in 1900, he estab- lished in practice in Alexandria, in which city he was from the first accorded a cor- dial reception, his present large practice forming with gratifying rapidity, while his welcome by his professional brethren was 110 less hearty and sincere. At the present time Dr. Delaney is one of the consulting surgeons of the Southern Railroad for Northern Virginia, and a member of the State and American Medical associations. His contributions to the medical literature of the day have been many and dealing with topics widely separated, the personality of the learned student showing through the treatises that he has submitted for publi- cation, all dealing in an illuminating man- ner with subjects of interest to physicians and surgeons.
Dr. Delaney married, June 4, 1906, Cath- erine Frances, daughter of Martin and Mar-
Jus. S. Flory
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garet (Lyne) O'Donoghue, and has chil- dren, all born in Alexandria : Martin Dono- hue, Jr., born June 5, 1907; Paul Lyne, born April 6, 1909; and Catherine O'Donoghue, born November 28, 1913.
John Samuel Flory, Ph. D. It has been the privilege of John Samuel Flory, Ph. D., to be closely associated with Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, Virginia, in four ca- pacities, as a student, a professor, vice-pres- ident and president. It is in no way in dis- paragement of Dr. Flory's abilities as an educator or as an executive to state that his efficiency as the head of Bridgewater College, his present position, is greater than had he not been there enrolled as a student o1 had not taught in that institution. While a member of the undergraduate body he became imbued with the spirit of tender re- gard for Bridgewater that joins her sons in a common brotherhood; as a professor he saw more clearly the needs of those he taught and acquired deeper sympathy with the purposes of the college ; and thus bound to Bridgewater by filial devotion and anx- ious care, when raised to official position he has found inspiration to wise and fruit- ful direction, and for four years has served her well as president.
Dr. Flory is a descendant of a Pennsyl- vania family, the line having been planted in Virginia in 1785 by John Flory, who came from Pennsylvania to Rockingham county, Virginia. He married Elizabeth Garber, and from them descend those bearing the name in Virginia. John Samuel Flory is a grandson of Samuel Flory, and a son of Daniel Flory. Daniel Flory was born at Cross Keys, Virginia, in 1833, died in 1901. His occupation was that of farmer, and he was engaged in the cultivation of the soil during his active life. His religious beliefs and those of his family being in opposition to war and bloodshed, he took no part in the war between the states, remaining true to his principles in the face of severe criticism. He married Susanna, born in Timberville, Virginia, in 1832, daughter of John Wamp- ler, his widow surviving him to the present time. Children of Daniel and Susanna (Wampler) Flory: Joseph Frederick, a farmer ; Isaac Long; Ann Rebecca, married John H. Hoover; Mary Catherine, married Julius A. Miller; John Samuel, of whom further.
John Samuel Flory, son of Daniel and
Susanna (Wampler) Flory, was born near Broadway, Rockingham county, Virginia. March 29. 1866. In his youth he was a student in the district school and also spent three years in the Broadway Graded School. where he completed the high school course, at that time winning a Peabody Medal. In September, 1888, he entered Bridgewater College, remaining there for two sessions, and in 1890-1891 attended the Ohio North- ern University. Throughout the three fol- lowing years he was a student in Mt. Mor- ris College, there receiving the degree B. Lit., in June, 1894, and from that year until the spring of 1902 he was professor of Eng- lish language and literature in Bridgewater College, which institution in June, 1902, conferred upon him the degree B. A.
In the fall of 1902 Mr. Flory entered the University of Virginia, where his record was a brilliant one, in the making of which he called into use scholastic talents of high order, achieving remarkable distinction. In 1903 he was the winner of the Kent De- scriptive Essay Prize and the Cabell Schol- arship, the last being annually awarded to the man who is regarded by competent judges as the best general student in the school of English literature. During the session closing in 1904 Mr. Flory was as- sistant in English literature, editor-in-chief of the "University Magazine," and assistant editor-in-chief of "College Topics," and final president of the Washington Literary So- ciety. He was awarded the medal for the best essay published in the "University Magazine" during the year, and was further honored by election to the Raven Senior Society, this organization open only to members of the graduating class, as the name indicates, membership therein being a coveted prize and awarded solely upon qualifications of scholarship. Upon the publication, in 1905, of his thesis, "Literary Activity of the Church of the Brethren," Mr. Flory was awarded the degree of Ph. D. by the University of Virginia, his thesis a work of three hundred and fifty pages. Dr. Flory has at different times contributed articles to the journals of the Church of the Brethren, papers over his name also appear- ing in the "Southern Historical Magazine," "The Sewanee Review," etc.
In 1905 Dr. Flory returned to Bridge- water College in his former capacity of pro- fessor of English language and literature, and was elected to the vice-presidency of the
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college, an office he held until his call to the presidency in 1910. To the requirements of this last office he has made able and ample answer, and, aided, by a faculty learned and competent, and supported by a board of trustees with the best welfare of the college at heart, he has turned the college toward a new era of usefulness and prosperity, with the highest aims of education as its goal. In addition to the activities mentioned pre- viously, Dr. Flory has been otherwise busied as an instructor in summer institutes held at Winchester, Fredericksburg and Harri- sonburg, Virginia. He is a Democrat in political faith, and is a member of the Church of the Brethren, and member of the general educational board of the same. Bridgewater College is an educational insti- tution of this church. His college frater- nity is the Phi Beta Kappa, and he has been a member of the Virginia Historical Society.
Dr. Flory married (first) August 12, 1897, Nannie Coppock, born near Tippe- canoe City, Miami county, Ohio, Novem- ber 25, 1871, died July 20, 1898. She at- tended the country and township schools prior to her entrance of Bridgewater Col- lege in September, 1888. She was here a student for nearly two years, and after teaching for one year in Kentucky, entered Juniata College, Pennsylvania, failing health causing her removal to a sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan. The next fall she returned to Juniata, and for the two follow- ing years was a teacher in her home school, her efforts meeting with marked success. Her death occurred less than one year after her marriage. Dr. Flory married (second) in 1908, Vinnie, born in Covington, Ohio, in 1871, daughter of A. F. and Jennie (Berry) Mikesell, and has children, all born at Bridgewater, Virginia: Susan May, born May 30, 1909; John Samuel, born Septem- ber 5, 1910; Robert Mikesell, born February 21, 1912; and Janet Cordelia, born Novem- ber 1, 1913.
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