USA > Virginia > Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V > Part 38
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Mayor Martin married, December 5, 1894, Nannie Mary, born in Rappahannock coun- ty, Virginia, daughter of Dr. Thomas Ben- jamin and Mary E. (Miller) Amiss. They have one child, Virginia Amiss, born in Luray, Virginia, April 12, 1904.
Virgil Hammer, M. D. Among the de- scendants of Henry Hammer, who served as a drummer boy of the revolution and as a soldier of the war of 1812. Dr. Hammer is a worthy representative of the present genera- tion. He is a grandson of Henry (2) Ham-
Is martin
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mer, born in 1828, and his wife, Margaret (Hawkins) Hammer, of Elkton, Virginia, and a son of James A. Hammer, born in Elkton, Virginia, in 1852, a farmer, mayor of Luray two years, and magistrate, and during the last years of the war of 1861-65 was registrar of vital statistics under Con- federate government. James A. Hammer married Alice Broyles, born in Luray, Vir- ginia, in 1852, daughter of Perry and Mary (Berry) Broyles, the former dying at the great age of ninety-two years. His son, Henry F. Broyles, was a soldier of the Con- federacy, twice wounded in battle. James A. and Alice Hammer were the parents of four sons: Virgil of further mention ; Dr. Loring Hammer, a graduate of the Medical College of Richmond, now practicing at Lu- ray, Virginia ; Oscar and Herbert, now en- gaged in cultivating the paternal farm.
Dr. Virgil Hammer, son of James A. and Alice (Broyles) Hammer, was born in Elk- ton, Rockingham county, Virginia, July 10, 1877. He obtained his early and preparatory education in the public schools of Elkton and the high school of Luray, graduating from the latter in June, 1897. He then en- tered William and Mary College, continuing during the years 1897 and 1898. He entered the Medical College of Richmond, Virginia. in October, 1898, and on May 10, 1901, was graduated M. D. He at once began the prac- tice of his profession in Luray where he is well established as an honorable and skill- ful physician. He is a member of the Vir- ginia Medical Society and keeps in close touch with the advance in medical know- ledge through his association with that body, and the publications devoted to the profes- sion. He is a Democrat, but in both politi- cal and religious faith broad and liberal- minded.
Dr. Hammer married, May 10. 1904, Angie Pearl. born in Page county, Virginia, August 20, 1883. daughter of Thomas and Blanche H. (Judd) Bradley. Child. Virginia Blanche, born in Luray, Virginia, March 28. 1905
Robert Edward Lee Watkins. The Wat- kins family of Virginia, of which Robert E. L. Watkins, attorney, of Franklin, Vir- ginia, is a twentieth century representa- tive, sprung from an English ancestry that fled from England during the period known as the "Cromwellian." It is one of the many families. who for conscience sake, left home and native land that they might enjoy liber-
ty of religious thought and worship. Why nations should drive away their noblest men and women rather than allow them freedom in religious thought. is one of the mysteries and in this respect England and France and Germany have really sinned against tliem- selves, to the everlasting benefit of the United States and some countries of Eu- rope, notably Holland and Switzerland. The founder of the Virginia family Thomas Wat- kins, left a posterity that have ever been patriotic sons and daughters of Virginia and among the foremost in the advancement of the communities in which they lived. On the maternal side, R. E. L. Watkins descends from the revolutionary patriot, Peter Moore, of Southampton county, Virginia, his mother Rebecca Moore, being a lineal descendant of the old soldier.
Darden John Watkins was born in the Isle of Wight county, Virginia, 1838, died in 1892. He served three years in the Con- federate army, 1861-64, first in the cavalry of Mahon's brigade, later in a Virginia regi- ment of infantry. He was wounded in the leg in a skirmish with the Federals and was honorably discharged. After the war he located in Franklin where he successfully engaged as a merchant during the remainder of his life. He was a member of Gillette Camp, Confederate Veterans and prominent in the social and public life of Franklin. He married Rebecca Moore, born in Southamp- ton county, Virginia, in 1858, who yet sur- vives him. She is a daughter of Harrison and Mary (Gay) Moore and a descendant of Peter Moore, a revolutionary soldier of Southampton county.
Robert Edward Lee Watkins, son of Darden John and Rebecca ( Moore) Wat- kins, was born in Southampton county. Virginia. December 27, 1868. He obtain- ed a good preparatory education in the public schools of Franklin and Suffolk Military Institute, attending the latter in- stitution two years. He then entered the academic department of William and Mary College and after three years there, 1889-90- 91, entered the law department of the Uni- versity of North Carolina, whence he was graduated class of 1895. He was admitted to the North Carolina bar 1895. later was admitted to the Virginia bar and located at Franklin, where he is now successfully en- gaged in the general practice of his profes- sion. He is a member of the bar association and has been admitted to all state and Fed-
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eral courts of the district. He is past noble grand of the local Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belongs to the Improved Order of Red Men, and to Jefferson Davis Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans. In religious faith a Baptist, he was elected in 1913 mod- erator of the Black Water Association of the Baptist church and is active in the vari- ous departments of church work.
Mr. Watkins is a Democrat in politics and since locating in Franklin, has been ac- tive in party affairs, attaining a position of influence in party councils. In 1899 he was elected mayor of Franklin for a term of two years, which by successive re-elections lengthened into one of six years and in 1914 was again the candidate of the party. While in office the electric plant was greatly en- larged and a water works system installed. two improvements for which Mayor Wat- kins may justly be credited. He is a member of the Democratic County Committee and has been a candidate for commonwealth at- torney of Southampton county and for mem- ber of the state legislature, failing by but a few votes of an election in both campaigns.
Daniel William Lassiter, M. D. Dr. Daniel William Lassiter, a prominent physician of Petersburg and leading citizen of the state, belonged to a well-known North Carolina family. His father, William Lassiter, born in Northampton county, North Carolina, was a planter there, and died in early life. He married Margaret Parker, also a native of North Carolina, of English-Quaker lineage. They had but one child, Daniel William.
Dr. Daniel William Lassiter was born May 24, 1827, in Northampton county, North Carolina, and was educated at the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsyl- vania. For more than forty years he practiced medicine in Petersburg, was one of the best known physicians of the state, and died in Petersburg, July 3, 1903. He came to Pe- tersburg as a boy of fourteen years, and was among the most highly esteemed and re- spected citizens of that city through the re- mainder of his life. He married at Peters- burg, during the siege of that city by the Union forces, February 8, 1865. Anna Rives Heath, born at Petersburg, daughter of Hartwell Peebles Heath, a native of Prince George county, Virginia, who was a success- ful wholesale merchant at Petersburg, where he died in 1846, at the age of forty years. His wife, Elizabeth Cureton (Rives) Heath,
of Sussex county. Virginia, was a sister of Hon. Francis E. Rives, a Congressman and well-known statesman of the fourth Vir- ginia district. They had a large family, and all of their sons were soldiers of the Con- federate army during the war between the states. One of these, John Francis Heath, was a surgeon, who died in the service of the Confederacy. Dr. and Mrs. Lassiter were the parents of five children, of whom three are now living: I. Francis Rives, receives further mention. 2. William, born Septem- ber 29, 1867, is now lieutenant-colonel of the Second United States Field Artillery, sta- tioned in the Philippine Islands ; Lieutenant- Colonel William Lassiter was prepared at McCabe's University School; graduated from Military Academy in 1889; served as first lieutenant in the first artillery at the battle of Santiago, Cuba, during the Spanish- American war; he has served as major and inspector-general both in this country and the Philippines; has served in the general staff of our army; and has written numer- ous articles on the field artillery branch of the service. 3. Charles Trotter, of further mention. 4. Virginia Heath, born Febru- ary 5, 1874, died unmarried, September 12, 1902. 5. Anna Heath, born December 22, 1875. is the wife of Dr. Ennion G. Williams, of Richmond, Virginia.
Francis Rives Lassiter, eldest child of Daniel William and Anna Rives (Heath) Lassiter, was born February 18, 1866, in Petersburg, and was among the best known and most highly appreciated citizens of the Old Dominion. He was reared in a Virginia home where culture and refinement ruled, and was taught at his mother's knee to be gentle, courteous and kind to all, the high as well as the lowly, to obey orders of those who had a right to command, to honor his father and his mother, to love his native state and her traditions, to do all in his power to advance her welfare and prosper- ity. It was his effort and desire to build up her waste places and to make the Old Dominion once more assume the place which she formerly held in the councils of the na- tion. He was taught to love our common country and its constitution, in whose shap- ing our forefathers had taken such an active part, to stand up for its preservation in time of peace, and to battle for it in time of war. He attended McCabe's University School at Petersburg until 1883, when he entered the University of Virginia, taking the academic
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course, and in 1886 was graduated from the law department of the university, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Soon after graduation he located at Boston, Massachu- setts, where he engaged in the practice of law, until 1888, when he returned to his na- tive city, and was soon after appointed city attorney. This position he filled capably and acceptably until President Cleveland appointed him United States attorney for the eastern district of Virginia. In 1896 he resigned this position and soon after became a candidate for the office of attorney-general of Virginia before the Democratic conven- tion of the state, lacking only a few votes of securing the nomination. In 1899 he was appointed superintendent of the twelfth census for the fourth Congressional district of Virginia. In 1900 Mr. Lassiter was elected to Congress from that district to fill a va- cancy, and was re-elected for the succeed- ing term. He was again re-elected in 1906 and 1908, and died in office, October 31, 1909, cut down in the prime of a most useful and exemplary life. In the early years of his life, Mr. Lassiter was captain of one of the military companies of Petersburg, and was afterwards elected major of the regi- ment of which his company formed a part. Major Lassiter's place in the esteem of his contemporaries was gained by persistent ef- fort and untiring industry, and his impress will be left upon the life of the state when many others have been forgotten.
One of his eulogists, Mr. Hay, of Virginia, said of him :
He was above all a gentleman, courteous, kind, gentle to a fault, considerate of others, of most engaging manners, and manners are not idle, but the fruit of loyal nature and of noble mind. He was a loyal friend. In all relations of life he never faltered in his allegiance to the highest principles of truth and honor. In defeat he was not bitter; in victory he was magnanimous. He had an intense love for his state and for his people, and in their darkest hours he gave to them all the brilliancy of his intellect, all the energy of his being, all the loyalty of his nature. He was appreciated by his people. They had in him a confidence begotten by a hundred proofs of his devotion to them and to the principles in which they and he believed. He never hesitated to sacrifice his own interests. if by so doing he could promote the cause of his country and his party. He had but brief service in this house, but his broad culture and knoweldge of affairs made a deep impression upon all with whom he came in contact. He took great pride in his work here and devoted himself to it with singleness of purpose and intelligent diligence. He had a high sense of the responsibility of his place in this great council. He felt that to be a member of this
body was a great honor and that he owed to it the best efforts of his mind. Words are all too poor to express our grief at his untimely taking off. He is where beyond these voices there is peace. He will live in the hearts of those who loved him, and his memory will be kept green by those he loved.
Mr. Lassiter married Fanny Page, daugh- ter of John McGill, of Petersburg, who died several years before him, without issue (see McGill).
Charles Trotter Lassiter, third son of Dan- iel William and Anna Rives (Heath) Lassi- ter, was born January 20, 1870, in Peters- burg, and was prepared for college at Mc- Cabe's well-known school of that city, after which he went abroad and pursued the study of law at the Ecole de Droit, in Paris, and was subsequently a student at the celebrated University of Goettingen, Germany. Re- turning to his native home he entered the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1892, with the degree of B. L. Immediately following this he engaged in the practice of law, and soon after formed a partnership with his brother, Major Fran- cis Rives Lassiter, above mentioned, under the style of Lassiter & Lassiter. This asso- ciation continued until the election of Major Lassiter to Congress. He was a second lieutenant of the A. P. Hill Rifles, which be- came Company K of the Fourth Virginia Infantry, United States Volunteers, in the Spanish-American war. This regiment was stationed at Jacksonville, Florida, and did not engage in active hostilities. In 1901 Charles T. Lassiter was a member of the Virginia house of delegates, continuing un- til 1904, and was a member of the state sen- ate from 1906 to 1912. He devoted thirteen years in the effort to secure good roads for the state, and was the author of the bill known as the Lassiter-Withers Law, whose passage he secured in 1906. This provides for a comprehensive highway system of roads to be constructed by convict labor un- der the charge of a commission. As soon as he had secured the enactment of this beneficent law, Mr. Lassiter declined to be again a candidate for the legislature, and was succeeded by his law partner, Hon. H. P. Drewry, with whom he is engaged in the practice of law at Petersburg. Mr. Lassiter is active in various fraternal organizations, including the Free Masons, Knights of Pyth- ias, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Royal Arcanum. He is a mem-
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ber of the Episcopal church ; and while act- ing in the promotion of the public service and welfare he moves through the regular organization of the Democratic party. He married, in Petersburg, January 15, 1895, Sallie Alexander Hamilton, born in that city, a daughter of Robert P. Hamilton, now de- ceased, and his wife, Lelia T. (Watkins) Hamilton, now residing in Petersburg. Mr. and Mrs. Lassiter are the parents of three daughters: Lelia Hamilton, a student of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York ; Mar- garet Parker and Virginia Heath, students of the Petersburg public schools.
J. G. Witcher, a successful young busi- ness man of Danville, has been conducting operations with marked ability and success for a dozen years, and is a true representa- tive of the younger element of business men of the city.
Mr. Witcher established himself in busi- ness in Danville, November 16, 1903, and for some years continued with headquarters on Craghead street. On September 12, 1912, he took possession of his present spacious establishment on Lynn street, where he has a coal trestle and other facilities for handling wood and all species of fuel coal. He con- stantly maintains a large stock, and is able to supply the wants of his customers promptly and with a high quality of wares. It has been his invariable custom to meet patrons and all with whom he comes in con- tact in the most courteous manner, and has thus gained popularity with the general pub- lic, to his great advantage. His establish- ment is noted for supplying the full weights of coal, free from foreign matters and im- purities. In the delivery of coal he employs nine wagons and fifteen horses, and under his competent and prompt management the business continues to extend. Mr. Witcher owns considerable real estate in Danville, upon which he has erected buildings, not- ably those on Craghead street occupied by the Virginia City Motor Company, the Na- tional Biscuit Company, Swift & Company's warehouse, and other business establish- ments. Mr. Witcher's success is the reward which ever comes to well-directed endeavor, and his energy, enterprise, close application and honorable methods are appreciated by his patrons and applauded by his friends, whose number is limited only to those who have been so fortunate as to come within his circle.
Richard James Patrick, one of the most prominent and successful merchants of Hampton, Virginia, and one of the most re- spected figures in the life of the place, is a scion of an old and time-honored house which for many years has made its resi- dence in that part of the state and through long usage has grown identified with its traditions and life.
His grandfather, Richard Patrick, of whom a brief account appears elsewhere in this work, was a successful farmer and the owner of a large and valuable tract in the vicinity of Hampton, and it was here that he reared his large family of eleven children. The eldest of these, John R. Patrick is also noted elsewhere in this work. He was the father of Richard James Patrick of this sketch, and was a successful carpenter and builder in Hampton and took an active part in the civil war, serving in the Confederate army. He was twice married, the first time to Catherine Host, a daughter of Richard Host, by whom he had three children : Eve- lyn; Alonzo A., of whom there is a sketch elsewhere in this work ; and Estella K. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Patrick, Sr. was married in 1866 to Susan Massenburg, a native of Virginia, where she was born July 26, 1830, and to them Richard James was born, the only child of this union.
Richard James Patrick was born July 27, 1868, in the old Tyler mansion at Hampton, and there he spent the years of his child- hood, attending the public schools and gain- ing there a fine liberal education. He was a very bright and energetic lad, always anx- ious to be at work upon some task or other, and this quality has continued with him through his life and is doubtless responsible in no small degree for the success he has won for himself. In 1884, when he was but sixteen years of age, this desire to be up and doing caused him to seek some active employment and in this quest he was suc- cessful, securing a position as salesman in the department store of J. F. Rome. Mr. Patrick was undoubtedly born with that particular mental trait-easy to recognize but difficult to define-which is the common possession of successful salesmen the world over, and without which no amount of earn- est effort and application can accomplish great results. In the position which he had taken he found ample opportunity to de- velop this gift, until at the end of five years he was an accomplished salesman, and had
James Caan Bakan
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already won considerable appreciation from his employers, who had promoted him sev- eral times. By the end of that same period he had also saved, by dint of hard work and economy, sufficient capital to start in business on his own account. This he did, and opened a retail shoe establishment in 1891, prospering well from the outset. The business continued to flourish greatly until 1898, when Mr. Patrick received an offer from the great shoe concern of Philadelphia, Werner, Wright & Walker, to become its representative in the southern states. This offer he accepted and from that time to the present has traveled throughout his district developing the business there. There could scarcely be imagined a set of circumstances better fitted for the special talent of Mr. Patrick, who has built up a very large trade and made himself invaluable to the Phila- delphia company. He was admirably pre- pared for this kind of work, for besides the natural ability to sell goods which was born in him, he also had a very large under- standing of human nature and its motives so that he could accommodate himself to meet all sorts and conditions of men, and he had a very complete knowledge of the shoe business besides which greatly in- creased his effectiveness. Twice a year he makes the rounds in his region, seeing his old customers and making sure of his hold on them and at the same time seeking new custom. In this matter he is very success- ful. Rarely indeed does he lose the trade of any one who has dealt with him, but he is continually extending his trade. He has by these means become a wealthy man, and owns a handsome residence at No. 383 Mal- lory avenue, Hampton. Both Mr. Patrick and his wife are conspicuous figures in the social life of the city and are noted as charm- ing and hospitable hosts. He is a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias, being a past department grand chancellor of the order.
Mr. Patrick is a very active member of the community, but, though interested keen- ly in political issues and problems, he has never, like his brother, Alonzo A. Patrick, taken an active part therein, and has rather avoided than sought public office. He is a strong Democrat, as was his father before him, yet is too independent in thought and act to allow partisan considerations to in- fluence his political conduct. Mr. Patrick is a man of strong religious views, yet tolerant
in his attitude towards those of others. He is a member of the Baptist church, and an ardent worker in its cause, supporting ma- terially the many benevolences in connec- tion therewith.
Mr. Patrick's character is a somewhat un- usual union of those sterling virtues of hon- esty, charity and industry, which are the basis of all true success, and the graces of personality which culture and refinement bring in their train. His manners are of that courtly character, which we like to think of as marking the true gentleman, a type which the modern world seems unable to produce, save occasionally, and then al- most as though it were a sport or reversion to an older, fairer type.
Mr. Patrick married, October 8, 1894, Cora Oliver McDonell, a native of Ports- mouth, Virginia, and a daughter of George Washington Russell and Adelaide Eugenia (Crismond) McDonell, of that place. Mr. McDonell was a prominent man in his com- munity, employed as a clerk in the Sea- board Air Line and later as a superintendent He was a distinguished soldier in the Con- federate army during the civil war, attaining the rank of captain in Grime's Battery and seeing much hard service. His wife was a daughter of James Crismond, of Gloucester county, Virginia, and they were the parents of three children, James C., Cora and Mrs. Patrick. The family was of Scotch origin, an ancestor, Aleck McDonell, having come from Scotland and settled in Portsmouth. To Mr. and Mrs. Patrick have been born two children, Ellis Oliver, July 9, 1895, and Richard Woodfin, October 30, 1993.
Colonel James Carr Baker. The progeni- tors of Colonel Baker, of Stephens City, Vir- ginia, were men and women of highest char- acter, useful and prominent each in their day, while as citizen, official and lawyer, he has attained distinction in his own right. His grandfather, Samuel Baker, was a cap- tain of Virginia troops during the war 1812 to 1814, his grandmother a sister of Gov- ernor Gamble, of Missouri, was a daughter of Joseph Gamble.
Colonel Baker's mother. Susan E. (Glass) Baker, descends from both paternal and ma- ternal forbears who shared in the perils, pri- vations, suffering and triumph of the siege of Londonderry. In the old Opequon bury- ing ground near Winchester, Virginia, rises a solid shaft of blue limestone, reared to the
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memory of the "emigrant, Samuel Glass and Mary Gamble, his wife." Samuel and Mary Glass came from county Down, Ireland, in 1736, and found a home in the Shenandoah Valley on the headwaters of the Opequon, where they were among the earliest settlers. They founded a large and influential family and in the old burying ground nearby the founder, lie children, grandchildren, great and great-great-grandchildren, among them their distinguished grandson, Rev. Joseph Glass, the grandfather of Colonel Baker, of Stephens City.
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