USA > Virginia > Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V > Part 27
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Edgar Douglas Newman. To Judge Ed- gar Douglas Newman has come prominence in the profession that he has made his, that of law, while he is known, not only in his own locality, but throughout the state of Virginia, through his interest and activity in numerous industrial and financial institu- tions and his relation to the noted Randolph- Macon system of educational institutions. Professionally and in business and private life he is highly regarded as a gentleman of the finest attributes, one whose years have brought him more than material prosperity and success, the respectful consideration of his fellows. He is a descendant of a family old in Virginia history, son of Benjamin Pennybacker Newman, born at Liberty Furnace, Virginia, in 1822, died in 1902.
Benjamin Pennybacker Newman was an iron manufacturer, and during the civil war operated his plant for the Confederate gov- ernment, consigning to them his entire out- put. After his retirement from this industry he engaged in agriculture, so continuing
until his death at the advanced age of eighty years. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John T. Hickman, his wife born in Burling- ton, West Virginia, in 1823, now living in Woodstock, Virginia.
Edgar Douglas Newman, son of Benjamin Pennybacker and Elizabeth (Hickman) Newman, was born in Woodstock, Shenan- doah county, Virginia, March 26, 1854. His education was begun in the private schools of his birthplace, after which he attended Woodstock Academy and high school, of which Professor Salyards was the head. In 1871 he became a student in Randolph- Macon College, remaining there for two terms, after which he enrolled in the Vir- ginia Military Institute, where he was grad- nated in 1876. His scholastic standing dur- ing his youth was always high, and upon his graduation from this last-named institution he took first honors in his class. While studying civil engineering he taught school for one year, and then became a student at law in the office of Moses Walton, an attor- ney of Woodstock, Virginia, gaining admis- sion to the bar of Virginia in 1878.
Nine years after his entry into the legal profession Mr. Newman was elected judge of the Shenandoah county court, holding his seat upon the bench of that court until Janu- ary 1, 1898. In the twelve years that passed Judge Newman had gained a reputation as a judge fearless in the interpretation of the law. every opinion that had come from his court bearing the stamp of a masterly mind thoroughly versed in the intricacies of the law and a desire to have justice adminis- tered to the last degree. Attorneys of the county know him as a jurist courteous and forbearing. and many of those of the younger school remember with gratitude an encouraging word spoken or a helpful sug- gestion offered at a time when such good- will and aid were most needed.
In financial circles he is known as the re- organizer of the old Shenandoah County Bank, of which he was a director. obtaining for this bank in 1898 a national bank charter, under which it has since operated, Mr. New- man becoming its president in 1900, at the change in control. The Strausburg Bank, a private institution organized in 1890, owes its life to his activities, and was organized in 1908 as the Massanetten National Bank.
He is, as previously stated, connected with the Randolph-Macon system of educational institutions, holding the position of presi-
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dent of the board of trustees. As president of this board he is an important factor in directing the work of the Randolph-Macon system, under which system are maintained schools that hold honorable place among the many excellent institutions of learning of which Virginia boasts. Almost needless to say, Mr. Newman is a firm friend of educa- tion, not alone for the sake of its cultural and refining influences, but for the prepara- tion it gives to do one's work among one's fellowmen with the highest degree of effi- ciency. Mr. Newman is politically identi- fied with the Democratic party. Such pro- fessional labors as Mr. Newman's judicial duties will permit of his performing are accomplished as a member of the law firm of Walton & Walton, one of the oldest founded legal firms in the state of Virginia.
He married, December 20, 1877, Mary Ott Walton, born in Woodstock, Virginia, March 21, 1855, daughter of Moses and Emily N. (Lock) Walton, and has children, all born in Woodstock, Virginia : 1. Wilbur Lock, born November 26, 1880; educated for the legal profession, now connected with the United States department of forestry at Staunton, Virginia ; married Ruth Koontz ; has three children : Elizabeth, Josephine and Wilbur K. 2. Edgar Walton, born March 20, 1884; cashier of the Citizens' National Bank, Newmarket, Virginia, and the treas- urer of the Valley Turnpike Company ; mar- ried Margaret Price; two children: Edgar W. and Richard B. 3. Helen, born May 8, 1886; married Dr. W. B. Sager, of Davis, West Virginia : three children: Edgar D., Frederick N. and Mary W. 4. Harold H., a graduate of Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, Maryland, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, practicing in Salisbury, North Carolina ; married. October 3, 1914, Eleanor Maynard, of Jessup, Maryland. 5. Houston Hickman, born April 14, 1892 ; sec- retary and treasurer of the Virginia Granite Company at Harrisonburg. Virginia; mar- ried Edna F. Jones, of Atlantic City, New Jersey : one child. Virginia. 6. Douglas Cook, born November 25, 1896; a student in Randolph-Macon College.
Floyd Jackson Gregory, M. D. The Greg- orys of Virginia, long seated in Lunenburg county, of which family Dr. Floyd J. Greg- ory, of Keysville, is a leading representative, trace through maternal lines to the Woot- ten, Walton and Lee families of Virginia.
The Lee family, into which Joshua Gregory married, is the Lee family of which General Robert E. Lee, "Light Horse Harry" Lee, were such conspicuous members, the Ameri- can ancestor being Richard Lee, who came from England to Virginia in 1641. Ellen Etta (Wootten) Gregory, mother of Dr. F. J. Gregory, was a maternal granddaughter of General T. Walton, of the Confederate army, and a paternal granddaughter of Tay- lor Wootten, a member of the Virginia house of burgesses and engaged in the diplo- matic service of the United States. On both sides, Gregory and Wootten, numerous rep- resentatives served in Confederate army, both as officers and privates.
Dr. Floyd J. Gregory is a grandson of Josephus Gregory, of Lunenburg county, Virginia, a prosperous planter and man of in- fluence. His wife, who was a Miss Lee, was a descendant of Richard Lee and of "Light Horse Harry" Lee, one of the greatest Vir- ginians of his day, scholar, statesman and soldier of the revolution.
Dr. Flavanus Josephus Gregory, son of Josephus Gregory, was born in Lunenburg county, Virginia, February 21, 1826, died February 13, 1910, in Keysville, Charlotte county, Virginia. He was a practicing phy- sician of Charlotte county many years, set- tling in that county not long after his gradu- ation as Doctor of Medicine from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania. He enlisted in a Charlotte county company of the Confederate army, but on September 18, 1861, was transferred to the coast artillery at Wilmington, North Caro- lina, serving as surgeon the entire period, 1861-65, ranking as major at the close of the war. During this entire period of service in the army, he had but one furlough and that was employed in the preparation for his marriage to Ellen Etta Walton, born in Lunenburg county, Virginia, in 1844, died May 10, 1911, daughter of Dr. Lucius T. Wootten, an officer of the Confederate army, who married a Miss Walton, daughter of Brigadier-General S. T. Walton, of the Con- federate army. Dr. Lucius T. Wootten was a son of Taylor Wootten, a member of the Virginia house of burgesses and for several years in the service of the United States government. Children of Dr. Flavanus J. Gregory: Luella Wootten, born in 1863, at Keysville. married Rev. R. D. Garland, of Richmond, Virginia, secretary of the board of home missions of the Baptist church ; Mary
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Agnes, born in Keysville in 1865, married Archibald Osborne Van Ness, of New York City ; Rosalie, born in 1866. in Keysville, married Lucius Gregory, of Chase City, Vir- ginia, her cousin ; Alice Wootten, born in Keysville, in 1868, married Thomas Wil- liams. of Richmond, Virginia : Edward Tay- lor. born at Keysville, in 1871 ; Flavanus Hammatt, born at Keysville, April 27, 1873, married Lucy Jackson; Floyd Jackson, of further mention.
Dr. Floyd Jackson Gregory, of Keysville, Virginia, was born there April 25. 1875. son of Dr. Flavanus Josephus and Ellen Etta (Wootten) Gregory. He obtained his early and preparatory education in Keysville pub- lic schools and "Shortwell Academy," at- tending until 1909. He then took a course at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, followed by an elective course at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, including Latin, Greek, Botany, Chemistry and Eng- lish. After leaving college he engaged for two years in the drug business in Keysville, but in 1907 decided to adopt the profession of his honored father. He entered Vander- bilt University, medical department. and in 1910 was graduated Doctor of Medicine. He was president of the senior class of that year and finished his course with honors. On obtaining his degree. Dr. Gregory located in Keysville, where for half a cen- tury his father had practiced and labored. With this prestige. Dr. Gregory began his medical career, and in the few intervening years has established himself firmly in pub- lic regard and in the "young doctor," the "old doctor" has given to Keysville a worthy successor. He is a member of various med- ical societies and has contributed able articles to the journals of the profession and read others before the Keysville board of health and Keysville town council. He is a member of the Junior Order of American Mechanics and Woodmen of the World, active and useful in all. In political faith he is a Democrat. and in religious belief is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Marvin Smithey. The founder of this branch of the family in the United States was Joshua Smithey, of Scotland, great- grandfather of Marvin Smithey, of Law- renceville, Virginia, a twentieth century rep- resentative.
Marvin Smithey is a grandson of Royal VIR-45
Beverly and Mary Ann Elizabeth (Hub- bard) Smithey, the former a farmer of Amelia county, Virginia. He is a son of Rev. William Rosser Smithey, born in Amelia county, Virginia, in 1848, died Janu- ary 19, 1899, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. Rev. William R. Smithey married Nanny J. Green, born in 1848, who yet survives him. She is a daughter of Ed- ward and Mary Ann ( Blanton) Green, of Amelia county, the former a veteran of the Confederacy and a descendant of Edward Green, of Maysville, Kentucky, of the Gen- eral Nathaniel Green family. Children of Rev. William R. Smithey: William Royal, vice-principal of the Harrisonburg State Normal School; Louis Philippe, instructor in the Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg; Marvin, of further mention; Nelly Carson, graduate of Columbia University (Barnard), New York City, now a teacher in the Nor- mal School at Farmville, Virginia.
Marvin Smithey, son of Rev. William Rosser and Nanny J. (Green) Smithey, was born in Virginia, March 19, 1879. The itinerant system of the Methodist Episcopal church in locating its ministers calls for fre- quent changes of residence, hence the youth of Marvin Smithey was spent in different places and his early education obtained in the schools of the towns in which his hon- ored father was stationed as pastor. After preparatory courses in public schools of Mecklenburg. Amelia and Cumberland coun- ties and in Chase City schools, he entered in 1893 Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia, whence he was graduated Bach- elor of Arts, 1896, Master of Arts, 1898. He began professional life as a teacher, was instructor in mathematics at Randolph- Macon Academy at Bedford City, Virginia, for four vears, was principal of the Rich- mond. Virginia, high school one year and pursuing a course of legal study during these years. In 1903 he was admitted to the Virginia bar and until 1906 was connected with the legal department of the Virginia Railroad and also during the year 1905 main- tained a private law office in Richmond. In 1906 he located in Lawrenceville, the capital of Brunswick county. Virginia, where he has since been continuously engaged in the prac- tice of law. He is a member of the district and state bar associations, has been admitted to the state and Federal courts of the dis- trict and has a satisfactory practice in all.
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A Democrat in politics, Mr. Smithey has since 1909 served in the town council and is rated one of the earnest progressive men of that body. He is a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, Lawrenceville Lodge, No. 59, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Emporia Chapter, Royal Arch Masons.
Mr. Smithey married, October 3, 1906, Virginia Hendrick Bracey, born in Meck- lenburg county, Virginia, in August, 1879, daughter of Cornelius and Alice (Boyd) Bracey.
Thomas S. Southgate. To win success in any given field of human endeavor requires, it is believed, special preparation and special equipment. The professional man only dares to enter his field after years of study bear- ing on the profession he is to follow; the mechanic must spend long years in special preparation for the trade he is to pursue ; and he who would lead men to conflict on sea or land must have special education for the branch of service he aspires to lead. In the business world our great merchants are often descendants of merchants or have had a training fitting them for their particular place in the commercial or financial world. When success comes to such men the ex- planation is easy, special preparation for special work produced the expected result. And yet these general results of cause and effect do not always follow, as the history of Mr. Thomas S. Southgate will plainly show.
Raised at sea from four to eleven years of age, without home or educational advan- tages, with but a part of two years of pri- mary school education he went to work for a meagre wage before thirteen. Suddenly the inevitable realization came with force, viz., that without education the future course must be downward, rather than up. Study work at home was nightly begun without assistance. When the plodding be- came difficult and irksome, the second reali- zation came with equal emphasis to the first, viz., that difficulties and deprivations were but stepping-stones to genius and success. With that conviction made a principle of life, it was comparatively easy for him to believe that a young man could do most anything he wanted to do, provided he wanted to do it bad enough, and was at the same time willing to yield the price of sac- rifice therefor.
This simple belief in practical psychology
soon crystalized in applying this mental platform to every-day practical living, with the result that at twenty-one years of age a life's business calling was chosen, and with but a capital of less than one hundred dol- lars the test of these theories began. The result under all the circumstances has been rather remarkable. Mr. Southgate estab- lished his present business in 1892 and has never changed it in any manner up to this time, and in twenty-three years it has grown to large and influential proportions, being of its kind the largest business in the dis- tribution of food products in the Southern states. Its main office is in Norfolk, Vir- ginia, with five branch houses in well located Southern cities. The sales of this firm ag- gregate several million dollars annually.
This, no doubt, is creditable and in a measure exceptional, but in Mr. Southgate's own language is entirely secondary to the success which has come to him through the acquisition of a degree of education that is rare. He is gifted to a degree on the public platform, and his writings have for year been sought for and highly regarded. Bif. few men in the South have given more freely of their time and effort in the interest of the public good; and, as first vice-president of the Southern Commercial Congress, and first vice-president of the laymen's work of the Southern Methodist Church, he is widely known as a patriotic, public-spirited South- ern gentleman. In 1913 the South called upon him with others to spend three months in Europe to study rural banking. He be- came vice-president of the American Com- mission who made the study in twelve coun- tries of Europe, and whose report before Congress is now about to be enacted into the law of our country.
It is not fair to say alone that Mr. South- gate is of the type of the American self- made man, for he is rather the product of good blood, strong character and well bal- anced mentality. His ancestors came to Vir- ginia in 1780 from Middlesex, England; three brothers originally: John, Richard and Robert. John Southgate became a warm, personal friend of Bishop Meade, of Colonial fame, who states in his volume "Old Churches" that "John Southgate settled in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1790, gaining promi- nence in educational, religious and temporal affairs." In fact, the whole line of ancestry down to his father, Thomas Muse South- gate, were educators.
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Mr. Southgate's father (Thomas Muse) left school at an early age and spent his life following the water until his retirement sev- eral years prior to his death, serving in all capacities to master for fifty years, thirty- six years under the flag of the Old Dominion Steamship Company, and four years under the flag of the Confederate States of Amer- ica in the transport and naval service. His career in war and peace was an honored one, marked with distinctive ability, courage and fidelity. He married, in 1860, Mary Eliza- beth, daughter of Edward E. and Mary Elizabeth (Griffeth) Portlock, Thomas S. being the second oldest of six children, and to the love and devotion of his Godly mother Mr. Southgate freely states is due any contribution he has been able to make to his day and generation.
Norfolk and Virginia honor Thomas S. Southgate, and regard him as in every sense representative of the young men of the new South. His steady, consistent and unusual life has been an inspiration to many, the influence of which is invariably exerted for those things which make for the public good. One of Mr. Southgate's strongest written statements, which we copy from a Northern periodical, will make a fitting close to this sketch:
I count material business success but an incident in a man's life. I believe in a God-fearing country such as ours a man's success in life should no longer be judged by the amount of money he has made, but rather by the degree of service he has been able, under the providence of God, to render his fellow- men.
Legh Richmond Watts. From earliest colonial days the Watts family, of which Legh Richmond Watts, of Portsmouth, is representative, has been prominent in the public and social life of Norfolk county, Vir- ginia. Colonel Dempsey Watts, an officer of the war of 1812, was a man of prominence, owning plantations cultivated by slaves. He married Mary Moore. He died in 1841, aged sixty-seven years.
Dr. Edward M. Watts, son of Colonel Dempsey Watts and his wife, Mary (Moore) Watts, was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and after attending school in his native state entered the University of Pennsylvania. Re- ceiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine he entered practice and rose to success and emi- nence in his profession. He married Ann Eliza Maupin, daughter of Dr. George
Washington Maupin, a surgeon in the United States army, and his wife, Ann ( Mof- fatt) Maupin. The Maupin family was founded in America in 1700 by Gabriel Mau- pin, who fled from France, his native land, to England in 1699, the following year set- tling in Williamsburg, Virginia. His grand- son, Gabriel Maupin, was born February 12, 1737, and married Dorcas Allen. He was in command of the powder magazine at Wil- liamsburg during the revolution and re- ceived an autographed letter from Patrick Henry, when that statesman was the occu- pant of the governor's chair in Virginia, commending him for faithful and efficient service. Gabriel Maupin was the father of Dr. George Washington Maupin and grand- father of Ann Eliza (Maupin) Watts. Chil- dren of Dr. Edward M. and Ann Eliza (Maupin) Watts: Georgianna, married James G. Holladay ; Edward M. (2), a phy- sician, married Laura Peters; Legh Rich- mond, of whom further.
Legh Richmond Watts, second son and youngest child of Dr. Edward M. and Ann Eliza (Maupin) Watts, was born in Ports- mouth, Virginia, in 1843. He obtained pre- paratory training in the Virginia Collegiate Institute, at Portsmouth, Norfolk Male In- stitute, and Norfolk Academy, and on Oc- tober 18, 1865, entered the University of Virginia. In 1866 he was graduated in chemistry, moral philosophy, and political economy, and at the close of 1867 completed the law course, receiving the degree of LL. B. In October, 1868, Mr. Watts became a member of the Portsmouth law firm, Holla- day, Gayle & Watts, and engaged in private practice until elevated to the bench as judge of the Norfolk county court, a position he occupied until 1880. In that year he returned to the private practice of his profession, and later formed a partnership with Goodrich Hatton under the firm name of Watts & Hatton, an association that continues to the present time. Mr. Watts in 1884 accepted the office of counsel for the Seaboard & Roa- noke Railroad Company, six years later be- came general counsel for the Seaboard Air Line, and in 1901 assumed his present duties as counsel general for the entire Seaboard system. This responsible position, requir- ing profound knowledge of corporation law, unfailing tact, fine judgment, and reliable executive powers, he has filled most accept- ably, and through important litigation in connection with the road has gained a wide
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prominence. Since November, 1883, in ad- dition to his exacting professional duties, Mr. Watts has headed as president the offi- cial organization of the Bank of Portsmouth, the oldest banking institution in the city, and as a financier has attained reputation, rivalling his professional standing. Mr. Watts was for eight years president of the Portsmouth council, and as office holder or private citizen has aided all that has tended to benefit the city of his birth, whether the proposed reforms were political, social, edu- cational or moral. By appointment of Gov- ernor Fitzhugh Lee he served for one term as a director of the Eastern Lunatic Asy- lum, and by appointment of the same official was for two terms a member of the board of visitors of the University of Virginia. In 1880 Mr. Watts was presidential elector on the Democratic ticket from the second dis- trict of Virginia, and in 1888 presided over the Democratic state convention. Affairs of party engaged a great deal of his time dur- ing this period, but he steadfastly refused the request of his fellow citizens that he ac- cept public office, continuing his party ser- vice to work in the organization and remain- ing a member of the executive committee during the chairmanship of the Hon. John S. Barbour.
As a young man Mr. Watts interrupted bis studies to offer himself for service in the army of the Confederate States, and saw duty principally in the Carolinas, being paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina, from that place returning to his home. For one term he served as commander of Stonewall Jackson Camp, Confederate Veterans, of Richmond, and has ever been an interested member of that organization. He is a mem- ber of the leading bar associations, and for two years held the supreme agency of the Royal Arcanum.
Mr. Watts holds the lasting regard and re- spect that comes as a tribute to a life lived usefully and uprightly. He is highly re- garded as a lawyer, won the approval of the bar and of all right living people when in judicial position, and when large business interests called for his services proved him- self the capable executive and able financier. The demands that have been made upon him have been many and weighty, and in the fulfillment of responsibilities and difficult trusts he has never failed those who relied upon him. Mr. Watts is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church.
Legh Richmond Watts married, Novem- ber 26, 1868, at Portsmouth, Virginia, Mat- tie P., daughter of William H. and Mary A. (Reed) Peters.
T. Allen Kirk, A. B., M. D. Dr. T. Allen Kirk, of Roanoke, Virginia, whose deep and widely extended research into the fields of medical science render him particularly fitted for the practice of his chosen profes- sion, has spared neither time nor personal sacrifice in the cause of alleviating the suf- ferings of humanity. He is the son of Dr. James Dallas Kirk, of further mention; grandson of James Kirk, a farmer and mil- ler of Waterford county, Pennsylvania, and a great-grandson of William Kirk, a miller and distiller.
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