USA > Virginia > Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V > Part 29
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several years of war." At another time, "Both sides forget that we are all Americans and that it must be a terrible struggle if it comes to war." How well he played his part the world knows. After the war he accepted the position of president of Washington Col- lege, Rockbridge county, Virginia, serving from October, 1865, until his death, October 12, 1870. General Lee married Mary Anne Randolph Custis, only daughter of George Washington Parke Custis and his wife, Mary Lee (Fitzhugh) Custis, the former the adopted son of Washington and grandson of Mrs. Washington.
Charles Carter Lee married. May 13, 1847, Lucy Penn Taylor, born 1828, died 1913, daughter of George and Catherine (Ran- dolph) Taylor, of "Horn Quarter," King William county, Virginia. She was a de- scendant of James Taylor, who came from Carlisle, England, in the seventeenth cen- tury and settled on the shores of the Chesa- peake. The line of descent to John Penn Lee is as follows: James Taylor and Mary Gregory ; their son, John Taylor and Cath- erine Pendleton ; their son, James Taylor and Ann Polland; their son, John Taylor and Lucy Penn, daughter of John Penn, the signer of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina; their son, George Taylor and Catherine Randolph; their daughter, Lucy Penn Taylor and Charles Carter Lee. President Taylor was also a descendant of George Taylor through an- other line. Children of Charles Carter and Lucy Penn (Taylor) Lee: George, born March 8, 1848, became a practicing lawyer of Johnson City, Tennessee; Henry, born July 9, 1849, settled in Winston, North Carolina ; Robert Randolph, born May 22, 1853, resides on the old paternal estate in Powhatan county, Virginia: William Car- ter, born September 8, 1852, killed in a rail- road accident, June 21, 1882; Mildred, born November 20, 1857, married Dr. John Taylor Francis, a graduate of the medical depart- ment of the University of New York. 1883, practicing in Norfolk, Virginia: Catherine Randolph, born August 27. 1865, married Dr. John Guerrant, of Franklin county, Vir- ginia ; John Penn, of whom further.
John Penn Lee. youngest son of Charles Carter and Lucy Penn (Taylor) Lee, nephew of General Robert E. Lee, and grandson of Major-General Henry Lee, was born at the paternal home "Windsor Forest." Pow-
hatan county, Virginia, September 11, 1867. He was early educated in the old field schools in Powhatan county and at Wash- ington and Lee University, where he pur- sued academic courses from 1883 until en- tering the law department of the same uni- versity. In 1888 he was graduated from law school (Washington and Lee) with the de- gree LL. B. and the same year was admitted to the Virginia bar. In 1888 he located at Rocky Mount, Virginia, the capital of Franklin county, forming a law partnership with Peter H. Dillhurst. Mr. Lee has been very successful in practice and has attained eminence in the profession. From 1898 un- til 1904 he was judge of the Franklin county court, and as jurist and lawyer has proved the depth of his legal knowledge and his eloquence as an advocate and his skill as an attorney. He practices in all state and Fed- eral courts of the district and is a member of the national, state and district bar asso- ciations. He, has acquired important busi- ness interests outside his profession and is a director of the First National Bank of Rocky Mount and holds a similar position on the board of the Franklin & Potomac Railroad.
A Democrat in politics, Judge Lee has ever been active and influential in the party, has been a member of the Democratic State Committee, and in 1910 was elected a mem- ber of the Virginia house of assembly, serv- ing on the committees, courts and justice, Federal relations, and on the joint committee of senate and house, local and general laws. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a Sigma Phi.
Judge Lee married, in 1896, Isabella Gil- man Walker, born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1865. daughter of Dr. Thomas and Cath- erine (Dabney) Walker. Children, all born at Rocky Mount: Catherine Dabney, born September 4. 1897: Richard, June 14, 1899; Chissell Dabney, June 14, 1902: Charles Carter, Tune 28, 1906; Henry, June 24, 1907 ; Lewis Walker, died in infancy ; Nancy Wal- ker, died in infancy.
L. C. Myers. To L. C. Myers is accorded prominence in financial circles in Rocking- ham county because of his position as presi- dent of the First National Bank, of Harris- sonburg, while to him has come fame
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through his valiant conduct as an officer of Company H, Tenth Regiment Virginia Vol- unteer Infantry, with which company he fought in the war between the states until disabled in battle. Mr. Myers was not the only one to carry the family name to credit and honor in that conflict, his brother, Eras- mus P., nobly bearing his part in the other branch of the Confederate service, the cav- alry, being a soldier of the Twelfth Virginia Cavalry. Erasmus P. Myers received severe wounds in the battle at Brandy Station, and after his recovery returned to the front, serv- ing until the surrender at Appomattox Court House. Thus is there found in the records of the war between the states a story of patriotic devotion and staunch courage which centers in the two sons of Christian Richard Myers.
Christian Richard Myers was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1810, died in 1872. He was a farmer in calling. He married Melinda, daughter of John and Joanna (Saunders) Gaines, who survived him five years, a descendant of Senator Pendleton Gaines, of Virginia, of revolu- tionary fame. Christian Richard and Me- lında (Gaines) Myers were the parents of : L. C., of whom further ; Erasmus P., of pre- vious mention, born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1844, a farmer; Amelia Jane, born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1842, married Colonel J. E. Dovel, and has Edgar, Elizabeth and Lucy.
L. C. Myers was educated in the private schools of Rockingham county, Virginia, and when but a youth joined a military com- pany organized a year before the outbreak of war between the states, becoming a lieu- tenant in its organization. When the Con- federate States government issued its call for volunteers, this company enlisted in a body, and became Company H, Tenth Regi- ment Virginia Infantry. The Tenth saw ser- vice in many of the hardest-fought and most important battles of the war, Mr. Myers be- ing seriously wounded in the thigh at the battle of McDowell, May 8, 1862, in which battle Colonel S. B. Gibbons, commanding the regiment, was killed. The wound Mr. Myers sustained in this battle paralyzed him below the hip, but after partially re- covering from its ill effects he was made enrollment office for the Confederate States army and stationed at Rockingham, Vir- ginia, in which capacity he served until the close of the war.
His career as a soldier over, Mr. Myers accepted a position as clerk in a mercantile establishment in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and after passing several years in this capa- city, became, in 1873, a bookkeeper in the employ of the First National Bank of that place. He was subsequently promoted to the position of teller, and after filling this station for about six years, was raised to the office of cashier. He was the incumbent of the cashiership from 1889 until 1908, in the latter year becoming president of the institution with which he had been identi- fied for thirty-five years. Mr. Myers is at this time the head of the First National, and directs its management along conservative business lines, bending his efforts, as he has in various capacities for so long a time, to maintaining the high standard it has set as an institution firmly founded and wisely managed, a depository worthy of the most absolute confidence, a reliable business med- ium.
Mr. Myers is a member of S. B. Gibbons Camp, Confederate Veterans, the camp named in honor of the gallant commander of the Tenth Regiment Virginia Infantry, under whom Mr. Myers fought and by whom he fell. Fraternally, he affiliates with the Masonic order, belonging to Rocking- ham Union Lodge, No. 27, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was for two years worshipful master; Rockingham Chapter, No. 6, Royal Arch Masons, of which he was for two years high priest ; Harrisonburg Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar, of which he was captain general and for many years eminent commander, and Acca Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Richmond, Vir- ginia. His political party is the Democratic, and he belongs to the Presbyterian church, of which he is an elder.
He married (first) Sally Mauck, who died in 1869; (second) Margaret L. Yancey, who died in 1911 ; (third ) in October, 1913, Anna N. Estes. He is the father of one daughter by his second marriage, Annie M., born in 1875, married Charles B. Richardson, and re- sides in Richmond, Virginia.
Gwathmey. Descendants in the fourth American generation from Richard Goswell Gwathmey, who founded his line in Virginia, three of the sons of William Watts and Mary (Tayloe) Gwathmey are prominent in the professional life of the city of Norfolk,
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legal, medical and surgical, and engineering circles knowing well the name through the careers of the present day representatives of the family whose records follow. From Richard Goswell Gwathmey the line de- scends through Temple Gwathmey and his wife, Ann. Temple Gwathmey moved from the vicinity of Norfolk to King and Queen county, there acquired title to a large tract of land, and conducted planting operations during his active years. Among his sons was William Watts Gwathmey.
William Watts Gwathmey, son of Temple and Ann Gwathmey, was born in 1820, and died in 1869. After the completion of his education he went to Texas and there re- mained for four years, upon his return em- barking in tobacco dealing, later establish- ing in cotton dealing in Alabama. Once more returning to his native state he be- came a cotton commission merchant in Norfolk, thus passing his remaining years. His business ventures were uniformly suc- cessful, and he became the possessor of a considerable fortune. He yielded allegi- ance to the Democratic party all his lite, and took an active part in public affairs, serving at one time as president of the Nor- folk council. He was a vestryman of Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, closely con- nected with its good works, and was an honored and respected citizen. William Watts Gwathmey married Mary, daughter of George P. and Mary (Langhorn) Tayloe, a descendant of William Taylor, who came to Virginia about 1650 and married Ann, daughter of Henry Corbin. Children of Wil- liam Watts Gwathmey: Mary, died in in- fancy ; Temple, a graduate of the Virginia Medical College, died in active practice aged forty-five years; William Watts (2), of whom further ; James Taylor, M. D., a prac- ticing physician of New York City, married and has three children; Caroline, died in 1885: George Tayloe, of whom further; Lomax, of whom further; Edward Thorn- ton; Brooks.
William Watts (2) Gwathmey, eldest sur- viving son of William Watts (I) and Mary (Tayloe) Gwathmey, was born in Rich- mond, Virginia, in 1860, and was educated in the Virginia Military Institute, whence he was graduated in the class of 1880. After thorough preparation in civil engineering, with specialized study in railroad work, he became active in his profession, and in 1883 became engineer in charge of the construc-
tion of the Norfolk & Carolina Railroad, after ward accepting a position on the engi- neering corps of the Seaboard Air Line. He retained his office with this road until 1905, when he resigned from its service and opened offices in Norfolk as a consulting en- gineer. Mr. Gwathmey's present standing in engineering circles speaks plainly of the success that has attended him in the decade that has passed since his independent es- tablishment, and the record of his profes- sional achievements is a proud one. Posi- tive knowledge, skill and ability are the foundation of his attainment, while habits of precision and industry have contributed no little to his success. Mr. Gwathmey holds membership in the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, and is a communicant of Christ Church. Politically, he is a Democrat, with which party he has been allied all of his life.
A subject upon which Mr. Gwathmey holds the most advanced views is that of education, and his children have been fav- ored with the best of educational oppor- tunities, one of his sons now a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, the other pursuing Mr. Gwathmey's own pro- fession, civil engineering, while his daugh- ters are students in institutions of high grade and reputation.
William Watts (2) Gwathmey married, in 1885, Mary P., daughter of John D. and ( Potter ) Langhorn, of Kentucky, and has children: Duval, born in 1886, edu- cated in Washington-Lee University and the Virginia Theological Seminary, now rector of the Protestant Episcopal parish at Waynesboro, Virginia ; William Watts, Jr., educated in Washington-Lee University, now a civil engineer in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad ; Caroline, born in 1890, a student in Sweet Briar Institute; Mary, born in 1892, also a student at Sweet Briar Institute ; Elizabeth, born in 1898.
George Tayloe Gwathmey, fourth son and sixth child of William Watts (I) and Mary (Tayloe) Gwathmey, was born in Alabama in 1867. Like his brother, William W. Gwathmey, he was educated in the Virginia Military Institute, and was graduated C. E. in the class of 1887. He followed profes- sional work until 1895, in which year he took up the study of law at the University of Virginia, attending the university in 1895 and 1896, having previously prepared him- self for entrance by solitary study. At the
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completion of his legal course and upon ad- mission to the bar he began the practice of his new profession, also dealing in real es- ate, and thus continues at this time. While it college he was elected to membership in he Kappa Alpha fraternity, and is also a member of the Norfolk & Portsmouth Bar associations. He is a vestryman of Christ Church. Mr. Gwathmey was at one time issistant city engineer of Norfolk, and had entered upon a career of brilliant promise in engineering when he made the change in is calling in favor of the law. His success and reputation in this profession are ample indication of his judgment, and he is high- y regarded by his professional contempo- aries. As a citizen he is allied with all that s good in his city, his influence and effort counting for every project of progress.
George Tayloe Gwathmey married, in 1900, Margaret Cabell Smith, daughter of Robert Carter and Mary (Smith) Smith, her mother a daughter of William H. Smith, of Norfolk. Children: Cabell, born in 1902; George Tayloe, Jr., born in 1904; Lomax, born in 1907; Edward Smith, born in 1909.
Dr. Lomax Gwathmey, fifth son and sixth child of William Watts (1) and Mary (Tay- oe) Gwathmey, was born in Norfolk, Vir- ginia, November 5, 1869. He studied under he preceptorship of Professor Gatewood at he Norfolk Academy, and afterward stud- ed medicine and surgery at the University of Virginia and Columbia University of New York City. He was for a time house phy- sician at Bellevue Hospital, in New York, subsequently journeying abroad and pur- suing post-graduate work in the universities and hospitals of Heidelburg and Vienna. Returning from his foreign study, he es- tablished in general medical and surgical practice in his native city, in 1892 withdraw- ing from a large part of his medical prac- tice and beginning to make surgery his spe- cialty, in that year becoming head of the St. Christopher Hospital. At the present time Dr. Gwathmey gives his time and attention solely to surgical work, and is the active head of one of the leading hospitals of the state. Dr. Gwathmey is a member of the Norfolk County Medical Association, the Seaboard Medical Association, and the Vir- ginia Medical Association, all of which he has served as president. He is also a mem- ber of the American Medical Association and is a member and ex-vice-president of the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Asso-
ciation. While a student Dr. Gwathmey was elected to membership in the Beta Theta Pi and The Mystic Seven frater- nities, and belongs to the Alumni So- ciety of Bellevue Hospital. Norfolk has benefitted through the exercise of his pro- fessional talents in connection with the board of health of the city, and he was also at one time quarantine officer of the port of Norfolk. He is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, and in political sympathy is a Democrat.
Dr. Gwathmey's professional career has been one filled with energetic labor and un- usual activity, magnificent scope and inter- esting in detail. His aims are of the high- est, and while he has attained many of the goals for which he strived in his early career, he has constantly erected others, more sub- lime in conception, more difficult in attain- ment. Great is the debt in which many stand to him, for from beneath his ministra- tions on the operating table have risen those to whom faculties, long useless, have been restored, and life made worth living. He has devoted his life to his profession alone, and the leading place that he occupies and the wonderful work that has come from his brain and hands show that his years of study, preparation and labor have reaped a reward of unsurpassed richness. Medicine and surgery have received great things from him, and base confident expectations for the future upon his distinguished performances of the past.
Harold Homer Webb, M. D. Dr. Webb, a practicing physician of Eagle Rock, Bote- tourt county, Virginia, is a son of Walter and Fanny (Brilts) Webb, of Newcastle, Craig county, Virginia. Walter Webb, born in Craig county, February 23, 1858, is now county clerk of Craig county. He married Fanny, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Campbell) Brilts, of Craig county. Chil- dren: Harold Homer, of further mention ; Herbert Leslie, born September 9, 1896, graduate of Roanoke College, A. B., class of 1914; Kennett Randolph, born April 19, 1898; Mary, born in 1899.
Dr. Harold Homer Webb was born in Newcastle, the capital of Craig county, Vir- ginia, April 13, 1890. He finished the course of instruction in public schools of New- castle and was graduated from high school in 1907, then spent one year at Roanoke College. In 1908 he began his medical edu-
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cation in the medical department of the Uni- versity of Maryland, at Baltimore, continu- ing his studies there until graduated M. D., class of 1912. After spending a few months as interne in Baltimore hospitals, he re- turned to Virginia, where, after passing the Virginia state board of medical examiners, he located late in 1912, in Eagle Rock, Bote- tourt county. Although young in experi- ence, Dr. Webb is thoroughly qualified for the practice of his profession and has already won the confidence and respect of the com- munity in which he has cast his lot.
Judge Alexander Wellington Wallace. When Corporal Alexander Wellington Wal- lace, as the surviving ranking officer of Com- pany C, Thirtieth Regiment Virginia Volun- teer Infantry, Confederate States Army, surrendered his command at Appomattox Court House, he turned over three men to the victors, was paroled and on April 13, 1865, returned to his father's home in Fred- ericksburg, which had escaped destruction. There he found his three brothers, Wistar, Charles and Howson, who had returned from the army a day or two before, Charles bringing with him a horse that he had used in the cavalry service. With the old cav- alry horse as their sole capital the four boys determined to cultivate some of the acres of their father's country seat, "Liberty Hall," in Stafford county, Virginia. The old war horse refused to labor in such a peaceful oc- cupation as plowing and the four brothers separated, Wistar resuming law practice in Fredericksburg and at the present time is a retired wealthy resident of that city. Charles obtained a small capital from the sale of plug tobacco to Sherman's returning soldiers, en- tored mercantile life and at the time of his death was president of the National Bank of Fredericksburg. Howson, the youngest of the four, by the sale of food articles to the same soldiers, realized enough to join his brother, Charles, in business, and suc- ceeded the latter at his death in the presi- dency of the National Bank of Fredericks- burg. Alexander Wellington, the remaining brother, will have further mention.
These four boys were sons of Dr. John HI. Wallace, who, at the outbreak of the war in 1861, was a wealthy man, then president of the Farmers' Bank of Fredericksburg, with a town house in Fredericksburg and a country seat, "Liberty Hall," in Stafford county. At the close of the war the town
house stood, having been saved from de- struction by fire by the daring fidelity of a colored slave, Fielding Grant. The house had been looted and only some plain furni- ture was in the house to which Dr. Wallace brought his wife and his mother, the former sixty years of age, the grandmother nearing ninety. These three people, with Fielding, the colored former slave and his wife, the faithful "Mammy" of the family, were oc- cupying the old home when the four boys, all unharmed, strong and healthy returned from the war and were received with as great joy, as if the same plenty and prosper- ity abounded in the old home as when they left it. Dr. Wallace was the first president of the old Farmers' Bank of Fredericksburg founded in 1830, that institution being suc- ceeded by the National Bank of Fredericks- burg over which his three sons, Charles, Howson and Alexander W. have ruled as president. His wife, Mary Nicholas Gor- don, was a descendant of Thomas Fitzhugh, of Stafford county, Virginia, and Samuel Gordon, of Scotland, the latter with his brother, Basil Gordon, being credited with having made the first million dollars made in trade in the United States. They were of Falmouth, Virginia, now almost a deserted village, and just prior to the war shipped several packet shiploads of tobacco to Liver- pool which they held for the fabulous prices that later prevailed. Dr. Wallace died honored and respected in 1879. His wife in 1887. The Wallaces of Fredericksburg de- scended from Dr. Michael Wallace, who came from Scotland to Stafford county, Vir- ginia, where he practiced medicine until his death. He was of the eleventh generation in descent from Sir Malcolm Wallace, uncle of the Scotch patriot and friend of Bruce, Sir William Wallace, renowned in history, story and song. Dr. Michael Wallace, mar- ried one of the famous nine Brown sisters of Maryland from whom are descended the Wallaces, Scotts, Moncures, and Peytons, of Virginia, the Keys of Maryland, the Bul- lets of Kentucky.
Judge Alexander Wellington Wallace was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, August 20, 1843. He prepared in "Brookland School," Greenwood Depot, Albemarle county, Virginia, taking the gold medal for oratory when sixteen years of age. He next entered the law department of the Uni- versity of Virginia, class of 1861, but he did not finish the course, leaving before
A'NWallace
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graduation and enlisting in the Confederate army as a private, Company C, Thirtieth Regiment Virginia Volunteer Infantry, Pickett's division. He fought in many of the great battles of the war, 1861-1865, es- caped all the perils of that great conflict and at the surrender of Lee to Grant was in command of his company but ranking as corporal, the company roster bearing but three names. He there received his parole and returned home. After the unsuccessful attempt at farming "Liberty Hall," Alex- ander W. took the old cavalry horse and rode around the neighborhood and secured some six or eight scholars to teach for one dollar and fifty cents per month, his uncle giving him his board for teaching his son. His schoolroom was an old barn of hewn logs with the chinking partly out and the roof not sufficient to keep out the storms. But he persevered, studied law six hours in addition to teaching five hours daily and in this way completed the law course he was taking at the university when he went to the war. At the end of nine months he had earned enough to purchase a suitable ward- robe and presenting himself before Judge R. L. C. Moncure, president judge of the supreme court of appeals, and Judge Rich- ard Coleman, of the circuit court, he passed the required examinations and at the May term of the Hustings court, 1866, he was admitted to the bar and at once began prac- tice in Fredericksburg. He continued in practice at the bar in Fredericksburg, Vir- ginia, and the state and Federal courts of the district for twenty-three years, winning honorable position among the most able lawyers of that period, 1866-1889. In the latter year he was elected judge of the cor- poration court, by the Virginia legislature. for a term of six years; was reelected in 1895, and again in 1901. On April 13, 1903, exactly thirty-eight years after his return from Appomattox he forwarded his resigna- tion to the governor of Virginia to take effect on the twenty-seventh of the same month. Judge Wallace was highly esteemed as a jurist and the news of his intended resignation brought forth loud protest from the newspapers and citizens generally. A mass meeting was called of the citizens of Fredericksburg and a committee appointed to wait upon Judge Wallace to ask him to withdraw his resignation. This the judge, while cordially appreciating the debt of gratitude he owed the people of Fredericks-
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