Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 4

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 848

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Here lies the remains of JOHN LEWIS, Who slew the Irish lord, settled Augusta County, Located the town of Staunton And furnished five sons to fight the battles of the AMERICAN REVOLUTION. He was the son of Andrew Lewis, Esq., and Mary Calhoun, And was born in County Donegal, Ireland, 1678, And died in Virginia, Feb. 1, 1762. He was a brave man, a true patriot and A firm friend of liberty throughout the world.

He married Margaret Lynn, and had a son, Thomas, who married Jane Strother. Charles, son of Thomas and Jane (Strother) Lewis, married Mary Hance. One of their sons was General Samuel Hance Lewis, who married Nancy Lewis.

John Francis Lewis, son of General Samuel Hance and Nancy (Lewis) Lewis,

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and grandfather of Lunsford Hoxsey Lewis, was born near Port Republic, Rockingham county, Virginia, March 1, 1818, died at Lynnwood, the homestead in that county. He was for many years a planter and farmer, the occupation of his father, and was in 1861 a delegate to the secession convention, be- ing the only representative of the present state of Virginia who refused to sign the ordinance of separation. In 1869 he became lieutenant-governor of the state of Virginia, and later, after serving for five years in the United States senate, was again elected to the lieutenant-governorship, his public career being a brilliant one and passed in high station. He married, in 1842, Serena Helen Sheffey, one of his sons being Daniel Sheffey, of whom further.

Daniel Sheffey Lewis, son of John Francis and Serena Helen (Sheffey) Lewis, was born at "Lynnwood," Rockingham county. Virginia, October 16, 1843, died in October, 1912. He was a graduate LL. B. of the University of Virginia, one of the class- mates of John S. Wise, of Virginia. A law- yer of repute, he was likewise well-known in journalistic circles, being at different times editor of several periodicals. He mar- ried Isabel McLain Botts, born February 3. 1842, daughter of John Minor and Mary Whiting (Blair) Botts, who now resides at Clifton Forge, Virginia. The Botts family is of German origin, and has been seated in Virginia since early in the eighteenth century. John Minor Botts was a lawyer and gentleman farmer, at one time holding a seat in the United States Congress, the author of "The Great Rebellion, Its Secret History, Rise, Progress, and Disastrous Failure." He was strenuously opposed to the Confederate cause, and because of the violence and virulence of his statements against the Confederate government, that body caused his arrest and confinement in Libby Prison, at Richmond, Virginia.

Lunsford Hoxsey Lewis, son of Daniel Sheffey and Isabel McLain ( Botts) Lewis, was born at Harrisonburg, Rockingham county, Virginia, May 6, 1880. After com- pleting his course in the public schools he was graduated from the high school in 1898. He was for two years a student in the Uni- versity of Virginia, and was then for two years a teacher in the graded school at Tim- Lerville, Virginia, in 1906 beginning a four-

year course in the Medical College of Vir- ginia, at Richmond, that institution award- ing him his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1910. After serving as interne in the Coney Island Hospital, New York, for eighteen months, in the fall of 1911 he established in the practice of his profession at Elkton, Vir- ginia. The short time that he has been a practitioner of that place has marked his rapid rise in professional favor, and he has already attracted a most desirable clientele. Hlis mastery of his profession is complete and thorough, and every indication points to his rise to a position in medical circles that will compare favorably with the honor and achievement of his ancestors in other de- partments of society. He is a member of the Rockingham County Medical Society, and the Pi Kappa Beta fraternity. Dr. Lewis is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, and politically a Repub- lican.

Roy William Carter. One of the younger fraternity of lawyers of Orange county, Vir- ginia, Roy William Carter, since 1911 a legal practitioner, entered his profession in association with one of the leading jurists of his day, Judge Morton. The firm of Morton & Carter continued but for one year, its termination caused by the death in 1912 of Judge Morton, since which time Mr. Car- ter has been engaged in practice alone at Orange, the county seat of Orange county, Virginia. He is a descendant of one of the early Virginia families, his great-grand- father, George Carter, a soldier in the revo- lutionary war. George Carter married Ju- dith Walden, and their son, William Walden Carter, grandfather of Roy William Carter. was the father of William. James, Scott, and Thomas Walden, of whom further.

Thomas Walden Carter, son of William Walden Carter and father of Roy William Carter, was born in Fauquier county, Vir- ginia, in 1848. lle was a soldier of the Con- federate army in the war between the states, serving for the last half of that conflict in Colonel Mosby's command. after the war moving to Orange. Virginia, where for twenty years he filled the office of post- master. Ilis present home is in Franklin. Tennessee. Thomas Walden Carter mar- ried Bettie B. Fletcher, born in Orange county. Virginia, in 1848, and has issue :

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Manley W., born in Fauquier county, Vir- ginia, educated in the public schools and Locust Dale Academy, now a farmer ; Lucille McGuire, born in Orange county, Virginia, married Thomas Henderson, of Franklin, Tennessee, and has a son, Thomas, Jr .; Ruth Fletcher, born in Orange county, married Eustis Johnston, and resides in Franklin, Tennessee ; Roy William, of whom further.

Roy William Carter, son of Thomas Wal- den and Bettie B. (Fletcher) Carter, was born in Orange county, Virginia, August 4, 1889. After a course in the public schools that included high school instruction he pre- pared for college in the Locust Dale Acad- emy. In 1902 he entered William and Mary College, remaining as a student in that in- stitution until 1904, from the latter date until 1910 filling the office of assistant post- master at Orange, Virginia. He resumed his studies in 1910, entering Cumberland University, and was admitted to the bar the following year. His entrance into legal circles was as the partner of Judge Morton, and for one year he benefitted by the ma- ture judgment and ripe experience of this well known jurist, the death of the senior partner ending the connection. For the past two years Mr. Carter has pursued his pro- fession independently, and with increasing practice has gained honorable place among his contemporaries. His political faith is that of his father, Republican, the elder Car- ter having been one of the earliest members of that party in Orange county. Mr. Carter affiliates with the Inter County Law Society and the Virginia Bar Association. His church is the St. Thomas Protestant Epis- copal.

John Waddie Carter, Jr. Entering, after classical, technical and professional training, the profession in which his honored father gained standing and prominence, the law, John Waddie Carter, Jr., has for one year been a legal practitioner of Martinsville, Henry county, Virginia. Confronted with the inspiring example, not only of the use- ful life of his father, but of the careers of his ancestors, whose names appear bril- liantly in the history of Virginia, in their achievements he has an ever-present ideal. Mr. Carter is a son of John Waddie (1) and grandson of James Hill Carter, his grand- father having served in a Virginia Regi-

ment in the Confederate States army during all of the war between the states.

John Waddie (1) Carter, son of James Hill Carter, was born in Henry county, Vir- ginia, April 14, 1860, and died in March, 1914. As a youth he attended the public schools, and obtained his academic educa- tion through a four years' course in Roan- oke College, whence he was graduated in 1882. He then enrolled in the law depart- ment of the University of Virginia, one of his classmates, Oscar Underwood, Demo- cratic leader of the house of representatives under the administration of President Wil- son, and received his Bachelor of Laws in 1884. On June 24, 1886, Mr. Carter began the practice of his profession in Martins- ville, Virginia, and in addition to acquiring a private practice, large and lucrative, gained eminence and importance in public life. He served Martinsville as mayor for several years and satisfactorily and ably filled this office. His professional duties and connections, absorbing as they were, did not keep him from the conscientious discharge of his religious responsibilities, and he long served as vestryman of Christ Protestant Episcopal Church and as superintendent of the Sunday school of that congregation. John Waddie Carter was a man of strong and firm convictions, which he lived in his daily course and to which he rigidly ad- hered under all conditions, the universal re- spect and constant regard of his fellows testifying the approval and appreciation of his life. He married (first) Mary L. Smeade, of Salem, Virginia, daughter of Colonel A. W. Smeade, who died in 1895; married (second) November 4, 1897, Kiz- ziah Doewry, daughter of Dr. H. M. Doewry, died April 11, 1915. His first wife, Mary L. (Smeade) Carter, was a descend- ant of Alexander Gordon, of Scotland, who fought under the "Pretender" in 1745. Chil- dren of the first marriage of John Waddie Carter: John Waddie (2), of whom fur- ther ; Louis G .; Marion Wentworth, de- ceased. Children of his second marriage : Kizzie and Ruth.

John Waddie (2) Carter, son of John Waddie (1) and Mary L. (Smeade) Carter, was born at Martinsville, Henry county, Virginia, November 16, 1888. The public schools of the place of his birth and a pri- vate tutor were the mediums through which his early education was obtained, and he

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was afterward a student in the Ruffner In- stitute and the Virginia Polytechnic Insti- tute, entering the last-named institution in 1905 and graduating Bachelor of Science in 1909. In the year of his graduation from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute he enter- ed the University of Virginia, and, pursuing a combined classical and legal course, was graduated Bachelor of Laws in 1913. Gain- ing admission to the bar of Virginia in the same year. he immediately established in practice in Martinsville, where he remains to this time, in April, 1914. having been appointed commissioner of accounts. He is a member of the Masonic order, belong- ing to lodge and chapter, his lodge Pied- mont, No. 152, Free and Accepted Masons ; he also belongs to Danville Lodge, No. 227, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. and he is a vestryman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, an office previously held by his honored father.

The death of the elder Carter, which oc- curred soon after John Waddie Carter, Jr., established in practice, prevented an asso- ciation that would have been ideal, and de- prived Mr. Carter of a loving parent and of the guidance of one who would have de- lighted in directing his legal career. John Waddie Carter, Sr., however. transmitted to his son those qualities of determination and ambition that carry with them the abil- ity to think, act and stand alone, and Mr. Carter conld, at the beginning of his pro- fessional career, receive no more valuable heritage.

Henry H. Irwin, M. D. The following record is remarkable in that all three gener- ations of the family of Irwin with whom it is concerned, beginning with the immigrant ancestor, Joseph Irwin, and continuing through his son, Joseph Swift Irwin, to Henry H. Irwin, its present day representa- tive, have been exponents of the medical profession, Woodstock, Virginia, having reaped the benefits of the services of all three in a period of more than one hundred and thirteen years. Honorable as this rec- ord is, and noble, it does not tell all of the story of this family in Virginia, for eminent as its members have been in medical and sur- gical fields, no mean share of their value to their state and the locality in which they have lived has been their willingness to assume duties imposed at the public will and to do

their part in civil and public service Great as physicians, it has been these qualities of citizenship that made their lives of double value to the community.

The family record begins in the United States with the immigration of Dr. Joseph Irwin, a native of Ireland. In 1802 he moved from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Wood- stock, Virginia, where he was a medical practitioner for fifty years. He was a grad- uate of a Philadelphia medical school. He died in 1852. lle married. and among his sons was Joseph Swift, of whom further.

Dr. Joseph Swift Irwin, son of Dr. Joseph Irwin, was born in Woodstock, Virginia. November 30, 1817, died November 16, 1895. He was educated for his father's profes- sion in Jefferson Medical College, of Phil- adelphia, whence he was graduated Doc- tor of Medicine, afterward practicing in Woodstock. Virginia, and in West Vir- ginia. For a time he was a surgeon in the Confederate army, later transferring his services to the Union army. His sympathies were strongly with the Union cause, yet so broad were his views, so exacting his sense of duty, so inclusive his love for his fellows, that he gave of his services without dis- tinction, caring little whether the uniform covering a wounded soldier were blue or gray, so long as a man in suffering lay be- neath. During the period of reconstruction immediately following the declaration of peace, he was clerk of Shenandoah county and was also clerk of courts. He was the owner of a farm in the locality, to which he gave personal attention when his duties would permit, and on which he passed his latter years. Itis professional standing was ligh and he was widely known as a physi- cian of gentle, kindly manner, sincere in word and deed, one who found in his call- ing the opportunity for service that his sym- pathetic and benevolent nature desired.

Dr. Joseph Swift Irwin married Sarah Catherine, born in December. 1833. daugh- ter of Henry Gochenour, a native of Ger- many, his widow residing in Woodstock, Virginia, until December 7. 1014. Children of Dr. Joseph Swift and Sarah Catherine ( Gochenonr) Irwin : William T., a resident of Newark, Ohio: Linden R .. a druggist of Richmond, Virginia: Holmes V .. a justice of the peace and for twenty-two years a magistrate in Woodstock. Virginia: Clar- ence P., a druggist of Logan, West Vir-

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ginia ; Clara E., married Dr. J. B. Rush, a dentist of Woodstock, Virginia ; Nannie H., died in 1872; Joseph S. L., died in 1886; Frank R., died in 1895; Henry H., of whom further.

Dr. Henry H. Irwin, son of Dr. Joseph Swift and Sarah Catherine (Gochenour) Irwin, was born in Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Virginia, September 19, 1862. He obtained his preliminary education in the public and high schools of Ashland, Ohio. He later entered Ashland College, at Ash- land, Ohio, an institution which has since been granted a university charter, and there took a civil engineering course, subse- quently, in 1883, matriculating at the Phy- sicians' and Surgeons' College, at Balti- more, Maryland, receiving his M. D. in 1885. He was for a time resident physician of the Maryland General Hospital controlled by the Baltimore Medical College, and for twenty months was in charge of the public department of the Maternity Hospital. He became secretary of the faculty of the Balti- more Medical College, and for one year was in charge of the outdoor practice of that institution, also filling the position of assist- ant in anatomical demonstration.

When being examined by Virginia state board of medical examiners at Richmond, Virginia, for practice in that state, Dr. Irwin took fourth honor, passing the tests of that board with an average of ninety-eight and ninety-eight one-hundredths per cent. In August, 1886, he moved to Mount Jackson, Virginia, and was there engaged in general practice for one year, at the end of that time coming to Woodstock, Virginia, in which place, in the same profession, his father and grandfather had preceded him. His prac- tice has been of a general nature, although he has specialized to some extent in the dis- eases of children, and obstetrics, for which latter specialty his practice in Baltimore, Maryland, was excellent training. Dr. Irwin has on various occasions contributed papers and articles to medical journals, on subjects with which he is most familiar and upon which, through exhaustive study and experience, he is prepared to write convinc- ingly and authoritatively. Dr. Irwin has for about twelve years been city physician of Woodstock. He is a member of the County and State Medical societies, and affiliates with the Knights of Pythias and the Junior Order of United American Me-

chanics. His political belief is Republican, and he is a member of the German Re- formed church.

Dr. Irwin married, June 16, 1886, Emma Jordan, born in Woodstock, Virginia, Sep- tember 10, 1862, daughter of William Jor- dan Supinger, and has children, all born in Woodstock, Virginia : Clarence Henry, born March 4, 1887, educated in the public schools and Massanuttan Academy; Wil- liam Emmett, born March 10, 1888, now en- gaged in the breeding of high-grade poul- try ; Joseph Swift, born December 28, 1891, a graduate, Ph. B., of Franklin and Marshall College, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, now engaged in insurance business in Wood- stock, Virginia.

Maurice Matthew Lynch. Although a member of the Virginia bar and in practice in Winchester since 1887, Mr. Lynch is best known as an educator, and during the past twenty-eight years his work as superintend- ent of the public school system of Winches- ter has brought the schools to a high plane of efficiency. He is a son of Maurice Lynch, born in Ireland in 1810; came to the United States, landing in 1834 in Boston, Massa- chusetts ; came to Virginia in 1838, and after a long life spent in the building trade as a stone mason, died in 1902, aged ninety-two years. He married Ann, daughter of James Murphy.

Maurice Matthew Lynch was born in Frederick county, Virginia, May 14, 1854. He was educated in private and public schools of the county, Shenandoah Acad- emy and the University of Virginia, attend- ing the latter during the years 1885 and 1886. Immediately after leaving college he located in Winchester, Virginia, and in the same year began his long connection with the public schools of that city. He at the same time pursued a course of legal study and in 1887 was admitted to the bar of Vir- ginia. He has continued the general prac- tice of law in Winchester until the present time, but as an educator and superintendent of schools has won his highest reputation. He is a member of the National Education Association and of the Virginia State Edu- cation Society, serving the latter as director during the years 1911 and 1912. He was member of the Virginia State Board of Edu- cation six years, from 1907 to 1913. The advance made in the schools of Winchester

Chesterman aubrey

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during Mr. Lynch's administration testifies strongly to his value. The number of school buildings has increased, their construction and equipment brought into conformity with modern school requirements, the courses of study have been broadened and a higher standard attained in both scholarship and in teaching ability. He has under his leader- ship an efficient teaching corps of twenty teachers, giving instruction to eight hun- dred pupils, in all branches, from kinder- garten to high school, with special teachers in music, drawing and other branches, the public schools vieing in point of excel- lence with private educational institutions of the city. Mr. Lynch is a Democrat in political belief, and is one of the prominent men of his city, interested in all that per- tains to progress and aiding all good causes.

He married, April 19, 1887. Theresa B .. daughter of William A. and Mary ( Perry- man ) Ahern, of Martinsburg. West Vir- ginia. Children: Harry Holliday, educated in the public schools, Shenandoah Valley Academy, and the law department of the University of Virginia, and admitted to the bar in 1914: Mary Margaret, Vera Anna. Theresa Inez, Maurice.

Aubrey Chesterman. The career of Au- brey Chesterman, of Roanoke, member of the firm of architects, Frye & Chesterman. has been one of consecutive progress and development, and his prestige as an archi- tect has been cumulative in character. His devotion to his profession is supreme, and to him no labor is too severe, no sacrifice too great. if thereby he can approach the ends he has in view more nearly. The fine results he has achieved have proved the wisdom of his methods. He is a son of the late Edwin Bruce Chesterman, the noted journalist. Aubrey Chesterman was born in Richmond, Virginia, June 7. 1875. He received his earlier education in the primary, grammar and high schools of his native city. From his earliest years he had shown remarkable ability in drawing and design- ing. and upon the completion of his school studies, commenced his architectural studies in the studio of Captain M. J. Dimmock. where he remained five years, during this time making an exhaustive and comprehen- sive study of the history and principles of architecture. He then accepted a position in the offices of Noland & Baskervill, Rich-

mond, Virginia, and at the end of two years, 1900, associated himself in a partnership with E. G. Frye, forming the firm of Frye & Chesterman. They have designed and erected some of the finest and most impor- tant buildings in the state. a partial list being as follows: City llall, Roanoke : Ran- dolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg. Virginia ; Hollins Institute, Hollins, Vir- ginia ; several buildings for the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia : Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg. Vir- ginia ; the general office for the Norfolk & Western Railway Company, Roanoke, and a number of depots for that road ; and were associate architects for the People's Na- tional Bank building. Lynchburg, Virginia : the Lynchburg Trust and Savings Bank building ; Loan and Trust Company build- ing. Bedford, Virginia : Farmers' and Mer- chants' Bank, Winchester, Virginia : Young Men's Christian Association buildings. Lynchburg and Danville: State Normal School, Farmville, and many others equally important and beautiful. They were ap- pointed as associate architects to draw plans for the additions to the State Capitol build- ing at Richmond. He is a member of Hill City Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Lynchburg Lodge, No. 321, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Mr. Chesterman married Hellena Ilamp- ton Booker, a daughter of Captain John A. Booker, of Cumberland Court House, Vir- ginia, and to them have been born the fol- lowing named children: Aubrey. Jr., Cath- erine and Warren. Mrs. Chesterman is a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and of the Methodist church. South, and is an active member of both in- stitutions. In all the work executed by Mr. Chesterman, there is at once apparent the result of earnest study and careful training. Furthermore there is that element of crea- tive power which must be inborn, and with- out which all mechanical and acquired abil- ity is lifeless and lacking.

Zeno Leonidas Weaver, M. D. Viter thor- ough preparation in medical college and hospital at Richmond, Virginia, and New York City. Dr. Weaver began practice in his native state, and in all that the word im- plies merits the title of successful. He comes from Madison county, Virginia, fore- bears, Hood in that county the family seat.

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His father, Robert Henry Weaver, born in Rochelle, Virginia, in 1844, is yet living, an honored veteran of the war between the states, bearing the marks of three wounds. One of these was received at the battle of (ettysburg, where as a private of the Sev- enth Regiment Virginia Infantry, Pickett's division, he faced the fearful odds and with his comrades joined in the mad charge that marked the high tide of the Confederacy and brought death, wounds and capture to thou- sands of brave men, of both Blue and Gray armies. On that never to be forgotten day Mr. Weaver was wounded and also made prisoner. After the war Mr. Weaver, still a minor, began farming in Madison county, an occupation he followed until his retire- ment. His brother, Thomas Weaver, also a Confederate soldier, was in Orange, Vir- ginia, and another brother, William Weaver, served in the Confederate army and is now living at Rochelle, Virginia. Robert H. Weaver married Mary Etta Jarrell, who died in 1908, daughter of James Jarrell, of Hood, Madison county, Virginia. Children: Zeno L., of whom further; James Moses, born in Richmond, Virginia, January 8, 1871, mar- ried Delia Sims; Mary Wise, married Wood Walker ; Lillie Lee, married Michael Estes ; Ida Eudora, married Addison Hood ; Lucy, married Heber Lillard.

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Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 4

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn Publication date: 1915 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 848

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 848