USA > Virginia > Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V > Part 52
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Turner Ashby Blythe was born in South- ampton county, Virginia, August 2, 1863, son of Richard Henry and Evelyn Rebecca (Chappell) Blythe. Richard H. Blythe was a planter and landowner of Southampton county, born in Norfolk, Virginia, died in 1882. He was a soldier of the Confederacy, serving in a Virginia regiment, two brothers of his wife, Robert and Richard Chappell, also serving in the Confederate army from Virginia. Richard Chappell was wounded during the siege of Vicksburg, complete loss of sight resulting from his injuries. The Chappells were from Sussex county, Virginia.
Turner Ashby Blythe was educated in private schools in Petersburg, Virginia, and Southampton county, Virginia, remaining in his native state until January, 1882, when he located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there forming a partnership with his brother Richard A. Blythe, and engaging in business as brokers and manufacturers of cotton yarns. The business was incorporated as the Richard A. Blythe Company, and later Turner A. Blythe succeeded to the presi- dency of the company. The company is a large handler of cotton, both in the broker- age and manufacturing line, operating mills in Philadelphia for the manufacture of cot- ton yarn. Mr. Blythe is a member of the Masonic fraternity, holding all degrees of the York and Scottish Rites up to and in- cluding the thirty-second. He is a member of Mozart Lodge, No. 436, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, Harmony Chapter, No. 52, Royal Arch Masons, Corinthian Chasseur Commandery. Knights Templar, Philadel- phia Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and is a Noble of Lu Lu Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, all Masonic bodies of Philadelphia. His clubs are the Philadelphia Country and Art. In political faith he is a Democrat, and in religious affiliation a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church. Mr. Blythe married, in 1889, Anne H. Hunnewell, of colonial ancestry, a member of the Colonial Dames of America.
Herbert Thomas Hartman. Through maternal lines Herbert T. Hartman, presi- dent of the Municipal Service Company, of Philadelphia, descends from the ancient Johnston family, of Rockingham county, Virginia, of whom the first account deals with Captain Andrew Johnston, a captain
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of the Rockingham county militia, who re- signed his position, September 24, 1781. He married, October 11, 1783, Elsie Black.
Captain Johnston had a son, Thomas Johnston, who died at the great age of nine- ty-one years. He married, in Rockingham county, Nancy Bowyer, who bore him a daughter, Sarepta E., born in Rockingham county in 1842. She married Homer C. Hartman, father of Herbert Thomas Hart- man, of Philadelphia, and a descendant of Johann Hartman, who came to Pennsylvania in 1751, landing at Philadelphia from the ship "Queen of Denmark." This John Hart- man married (second) a widow, Mrs. Blei- ler, who bore him five children, including two sons, John (2) and Michael. From them sprang the large and important Hart- man families widely distributed throughout the northern counties of Pennsylvania and through the states of the middle west.
Homer Cicero Hartman was born in the state of Ohio in 1840, died in 1905. He was classically educated at Fort Wayne, Indiana, graduating A. B. He then studied law and for many years was engaged in successful legal practice in Fort Wayne. He was a veteran of the civil war, having served with the rank of sergeant-major in the One Hun- dred and Fifty-fifth Regiment Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry. An uncle, William Hart- man, was attached to the United States Signal Corps. Homer C. Hartman was a Republican in politics and during his active years was prominent in party councils. He served as a delegate to several national con- ventions and was one of the strong men of his party. Homer C. Hartman married Sa- repta E. Johnston, of Fowler county, In- diana, born in 1842, daughter of Thomas Johnston, of previous mention. Children : Herbert Thomas, of further mention ; Hugh Homer, born in 1874 in Fort Wayne, now a retired farmer ; Fanny Taylor ; Mary Jo- sephine. Mrs. Hartman survives him, a resident of Detroit, Michigan.
Herbert Thomas Hartman, eldest son of Homer Cicero and Sarepta E. (Johnston) Hartman, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, July 2, 1867. He prepared in the public schools of Fort Wayne, then entered Fort Wayne College. Later he matriculated at Lehigh University, remaining two years, 1884 and 1885. He then spent one year at Amherst College, there completing his col- lege work. His business life began with
the Fort Wayne Electric Company, his term of service with that company extending over a period of two and one-half years. He continued his business career with the great manufacturing concern, the Sprague Elec- tric and Motor Company, connected with the engineering department, remaining until the consolidation of his company with the Edison General Electric Company. He then spent some time in Canada, as superintend- ent of construction for the province of Que- bec for the Edison General Electric Com- pany. From superintendent of construction he rose to the position of district engineer in Canadian territory, holding the latter position until the absorption of his com- pany by the General Electric Company. He remained with that company as assistant engineer for about six months, and was then promoted to be engineer of works at their shops at Peterboro, Ontario, remaining un- til the autumn of 1895. At this time he re- signed his position and located in Philadel- phia, where his expert knowledge and ex- perience gained him instant recognition. He became assistant engineer with the Pennsylvania Heat, Light and Power Com- pany, continuing after the consolidation of that company with the Pennsylvania Manu- facturing, Light and Power Company. In 1898 he resigned from this employ and with others organized the Electric Company of America, becoming chief engineer of the new company. Six months later he was chosen a director and second vice-president so continuing until the winter of 1906, when the company sold its properties to the Amer- ican Gas and Electric Company. This com- pany conducted operations over a large ex- tent of territory, operating plants at Atlantic City, New Jersey ; Scranton, Carbondale, Al- toona, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania ; Wheel- ing, West Virginia ; Canton and Bridgeport, Ohio; Marion and Muncie, Indiana; and Rockford, Illinois. Mr. Hartman, as vice- president, director, and general manager, was the active head of the engineering, con- structive and operative departments, later adding to his responsibilities the duties of chairman of the bondholders committee. In 1912 he was elected to his present position, president of the Municipal Service Company, of Philadelphia, a corporation operating public utility plants in the cities and towns of Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. He is a recognized authority
A. M. Sindain
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on matters pertaining to electric service, and is the author of many technical and practical articles in the electrical journals and read before gatherings of electrical experts. His executive ability is of a high order and in his chosen field of operations he is known as one of the strong, capable and efficient men of his day.
In political and religious thought he is a broad, liberal and independent thinker, bound by neither party nor creed. He is a member of the University Club, of Phil- adelphia, St. David's Golf Club, of Delaware county, and the Chi Phi fraternity. He also holds membership in many professional and business associations and wherever men meet who are interested in his line of ac- tivity he is an honored guest.
Mr. Hartman married, November 18, 1891, Mary Ella, daughter of Richard Henry and Tabitha (Curry) Lee, of old Alabama families.
Arthur Williams Sinclair, present post- master of Manassas, Virginia, in which office he makes his entry into the public service in a capacity other than that for which his professional training has made his services valuable. Throughout the greater part of his life connected with the legal profession in his native state, Virginia, for ten years, from 1903 to 1913, the law firm of Sinclair & Son was one well and favorably known, the name continuing its active association with that calling in Vir- ginia in the person of Charles Armistead Sinclair, son of Arthur Williams Sinclair, of this chronicle. Arthur Williams Sinclair is a son of James Mordecai Sinclair, of Scotch parentage, born in Dumfries, Vir- ginia, and Margaret (Williams) Sinclair, his mother a daughter of John Williams, from whom is descended also Judge C. E. Nicol, of Alexandria, Virginia. James Mor- decai Sinclair, a merchant and commercial traveler, was a member of the Confederate army in the war between the states from 1862 until the surrender at Appomattox Court House, enlisting from Prince William county, Virginia, as a private in Company A, Third Regiment of Virginia Cavalry.
Through the connection of the present generations of the line of Sinclair with the legal profession the following narrative told of a member of the family, Judge Charles E. Sinclair, is of especial interest. Judge
Sinclair was on the bench in Utah before that territory was admitted to the Union when the famous Morman leader, Brigham Young, was summoned into court. So per- fect did the old Morman believe was the equality between man and man that, in observance of a rule of the church which forbids the uncovering of the head before mere temporal anthority, he was requested through a friend not to appear in court be- fore the judge with his hat on. Brigham Young complying with the order of the court, took off his hat, but, making a fine distinction in favor of his religion, took from his pocket a handkerchief of generous dimen- sions and placed it upon his head before entering the court, thus not only satisfying the court, but likewise his conscience. His apt remedy for the conflict between the laws of the state and church reminds one of the ingenious solutions to troublesome prob- lems found in the Old Testament stories of King Solomon, and proved that, however great a fallacy his religious belief may have been, the old Mormon was at least quick of wit.
Arthur Williams Sinclair, son of James Mordecai and Margaret (Williams) Sinclair, was born in Brentsville, Prince William county, Virginia, September 1, 1851, and was there educated in the private schools. He began his business career as a clerk in a book store in Washington, D. C. After several years he returned to the place of his birth, and entered the law office of Judge. C. E. Nicol, there remaining for seven years. Being admitted to the bar of Virginia in 1881, he subsequently became a partner of his former preceptor, an association continu- ing during the year 1893. From that time until 1903, when he received his son, Charles Armistead, into partnership, Mr. Sinclair practiced independently, the firm of Sinclair & Son continuing until 1913, when, receiv- ing the appointment as postmaster at Man- assas, he retired from his legal practice which had been continued with excellent active success for twenty-five years. For twenty-seven years he was commissioner in chancery for the circuit court of Prince Wil- liam county, an office to which he was ap- pointed by Judge James Keith, now presi- dent judge of the supreme court of Vir- ginia, and was appointed by Judge C. E. Nicol examiner of records in the eighth judicial circuit of Virginia. Having re-
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ceived his appointment as postmaster from President Wilson, Mr. Sinclair entered upon the duties of his new office in June, 1913, and now, familiar with his office, fills it ably and competently. He was one of the organizers of the People's National Bank of Manassas, and is at present its vice-presi- dent, having served in that capacity since its organization. He is a member of the Virginia Bar Association, and fraternizes with the Masonic Order and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, in the former society belonging to Manassas Lodge, No. 182, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, having at one time been secretary of that body. In religion a Baptist, his political faith is Democratic.
Mr. Sinclair married, June 28, 1876, Eloise, born in Front Royal, Warren county, Virginia, daughter of George Carter and Laura Virginia (Green) Armistead. The only other child of the family is Mary Lan- don, who married Dr. Robert Willett Leache, now deceased, three children were born to them, namely: Irene, Aline, and Eugene Hunton Leache. All are married and living in Texas. George Carter Armi- stead was a son of Colonel Robert Landon and Mary (Carter) Armistead, of near Up- perville, Fauquier county, Virginia, descend- ants of Robert Carter (King) and Betty Landon, his second wife. Colonel Robert Landon Armistead was a son of Major John Baylor and Ann (Carter) Armistead. John Baylor Armistead was a son of John Armistead, colonel in revolutionary war, and Lucy Baylor, daughter of Colonel John Bay- lor, of Newmarket, Carolina county, Vir- ginia, who was first aide-de-camp on the staff of General George Washington. One of the family who gave valiant service to the cause of the Confederacy, was General Lewis Addison Armistead who was con- spicuously engaged at the battle of Gettys- burg and killed in Pickett's charge. Mrs. Sinclair is a direct descendant of Lord Bal- timore, founder of Maryland, and is identi- fied with the Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, Daughters of the American Revolution, the National Society of the Daughters of the War of 1812, and Daughters of the Confederacy. Children of Arthur W. and Eloise (Armistead) Sin- clair : I. Laura Williams, born August 14, 1877; married Edgar Herbert Nash. 2. Charles Armistead, born in Brentsville,
Prince William county, Virginia, August 3, 1880; was educated in the public schools, Manassas Institute, and Richmond College, being graduated from the last-named insti- tution as B. L., June 12, 1902, and was admitted to the Virginia bar in the same month; he formed a partnership with his father which continued until 1913, when the elder Sinclair retired to accept the position of postmaster, since which time he has prac- ticed alone; he married Edmonia, daughter of Thomas O. Taylor, of Prince William county, Virginia, and they have four chil- dren, Charles Armistead, Jr., Anna B., Elizabeth T. and Arthur Williams, Jr. 3. Kathleen Cook, born in Brentsville, Vir- ginia, July 25, 1883; married Eugene B. Giddings, of Leesburg, Virginia, a merchant of Manassas, Virginia, and has children, Eloise Armistead and Mary Hempstone.
James William Robinson, a merchant of Newport News, is descended from Scotch- Irish ancestry, of one of the numerous fami- lies of this name in Virginia. They came from northern Ireland and settled in Fred- erick county, Virginia, in the neighbor- hood of Gainesboro, whence two members removed to Maryland and were prosperous and useful citizens. The family has been noted for producing many large planters and merchants.
Andrew A. Robinson, of this family, was a successful farmer and miller of Gainesboro, Frederick county, Virginia. He married a Miss Jackson, and they had eleven children : David, Archibald, Joseph, Alexander, Jack- son, Josiah, Jonathan, James, William, Mary Jane and Margaret Ann.
Jonathan Robinson, son of Andrew A. Robinson, was born in Frederick county, Virginia, and educated in public schools and an academy. He was subsequently very successful as a farmer, became proprietor of a flouring mill, and was among the most industrious and useful citizens of the county. Farmers came long distances to bring their grain to Robinson, the miller. He was a Quaker in religious belief, and one of the most upright and conscientious citizens of the community, a gentleman of the old school, a man of great executive ability, and universally esteemed and re- spected. Politically he was an exception to most of his contemporaries, being a Re- publican. He married Mary Frances Clev-
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enger, daughter of David and Hannah (Brown) Clevenger, of Stephenson, Vir- ginia. Children: 1. David Arthur, married Rachel Jolliffe, and had children : Albert R., Bessie, Portia and Willa. 2. James William, of further mention below. 3. Mary R., mar- ried Frank M. Clevenger, an attorney and prominent citizen of Wilmington, Ohio, who has served as state senator ; they have chil- dren : Albert and Agnes.
James William Robinson, second son of Jonathan and Mary Frances (Clevenger) Robinson, was born at Gainesboro, where he grew up, receiving instruction in the public schools and from private tutors. For two years he was engaged in teaching in Fred- erick county, Virginia, and then went to Macon, Missouri, accepting a position with Thomas Robinson, where he was engaged in the dry goods business under the title of Robinson Brothers. Subsequently he was engaged in mercantile business four years in Kingman and Arkansas City, Kansas, after which he returned to Missouri, and located at Lamar, where, in company with C. G. Robinson, he conducted a dry goods and general store for a period of nine years. He located in Newport News, Virginia, March 28. 1898, and nine days later opened what is known as the Broadway Store, which is now a very extensive establish- ment, known as a department store where a very handsome house furnishing business is conducted. They also conduct a ship- furnishing business, and do a mail order business, much after the plan of the cele- brated Charles Broadway Rouse store of New York City. The motto of the estab- lishment is "Ask for something; we have it." Its guaranty is: "All goods sold by us are Guaranteed to be as represented. Our purpose is to supply you with the Best of everything in our line at the Lowest Pos- sible Price," and the chief lines of goods carried are : dry goods, notions, shoes, ladies' and men's furnishing goods, rugs, carpets. linoleum, tin ware, enamel ware and furni- ture. Mr. Robinson is an ideal merchant, and has built up a very extensive trade by his sound management, upright business methods and high personal character. He is a director of the First National Bank of Newport News, of the Merchants & Me- chanics Savings Association, and is an ex- vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce. He has ever been ready to foster and en-
courage all kinds of public improvements, and to him the city of Newport News owes much of its modern progress and substantial development. Mr. Robinson is an old-fash- ioned Quaker, and uses the plainest of lan- guage, but his sincerity is ever apparent, and he is esteemed by every class as a man. The community is to be congratu- lated in having in its midst a citizen of old- time standards in morality and business, whose example should be an inspiration to every ambitious youth. Mr. Robinson mar- ried, January 1, 1902, Clara Piggott, daugh- ter of Thomas and Sally ( Brown) Piggott, of Loudoun county, Virginia, and they have two sons: William Donald and Thomas Harold.
Benjamin Mason Hill, of Petersburg, be- longs to that race of hardy men, who in their native Scotland endured many hardships and privations in defence of their religious opin- ions, and whose descendants have been con- spicuous in carrying the doctrine of religious freedom to many pioneer communities in the United States. His father, Robert Rit- chie Hill, was born 1817, in Scotland, and when a young man came to Petersburg, Virginia, where he was a partner in the to- bacco commission house of Martin Hill & Company, and later, Vaughan, Hill & Com- pany. He was a member of the reserves which fought in the defence of Petersburg during the war between the states, was at one time president of the National Bank of Petersburg, and died June, 1898, at the age of eighty-one years. He married Rosa Bland Batte, born in Prince George county, Virginia, died in 1910, at the age of sixty- five years. They were the parents of two children : Benjamin M., of further mention ; Almeria Orr, now the wife of LeRoy Hodges, of Petersburg.
Benjamin Mason Hill, only son of Robert Ritchie and Rosa Bland (Batte) Hill, was born August 7, 1884, in Petersburg, where his life has been passed. He attended the public schools of the city, including the high school, and was a student at Hampden-Sid- ney College, and Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York. He pursued a course in electrical engineering, and after leaving ( ornell went to Schenectady, New York, where he was employed one year by the General Electric Company. In 1908 he set- tled at Petersburg. Virginia, and established
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his present business as an electrical con- tractor on Washington street, under the style of B. Mason Hill. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Pe- tersburg, and of the Kappa Sigma, a Greek letter fraternity connected with Hampden- Sidney College and Cornell.
William Alexander Anderson, soldier, lawyer, and legislator, was born in Bote- tourt county, Virginia, in 1842. His parents were Francis T. Anderson and Mary Ann Anderson, daughter of Andrew Alexander. On his father's side he is descended from Robert Anderson, who came from county Donegal, Ireland, in 1755, settled first in Delaware (where he married), and after- wards in what is now Botetourt county, Virginia. Archibald Alexander, his ma- ternal ancestor, came from county Antrim, Ireland, and, in 1747, settled in what was then Augusta, now Rockbridge county, Vir- ginia.
His father was one of the distinguished men of his day in Virginia, serving during his long and useful life, as a member of the Virginia legislature, presidential elector, trustee and rector of Washington and Lee University, judge of the supreme court of appeals of Virginia, and in other positions of honor and trust.
Mr. Anderson passed much of his youth in the country, and obtained his primary education in the local schools. He was a student at Washington and Lee University at the beginning of the war between the states, and in April, 1861, enlisted in the military service of the state as orderly ser- geant of the Liberty Hall Volunteers, which became Company I of the Fourth Regiment of Infantry, Stonewall Brigade. With this company he participated in the campaign in the lower valley of Virginia in June and July, and in the battle of July 21, 1861, at Manassas, where he received a wound in the knee, which permanently disabled him. Nevertheless, in 1864, while yet on crutches, he was a member of a temporary artillery command formed in Albemarle county, largely of disabled soldiers, and again saw service during the period of Hunter's inva- sion of the state.
After the war he studied law at the Uni- versity of Virginia, and was graduated in 1866 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then commenced the practice of his pro-
fession at Lexington, Virginia, and his abil- ity soon put him in the foremost rank of the lawyers of the state. For eighteen years, Mr. Anderson was a member of the state central, and for six years the state exec- utive committee of the Democratic party, and during a long period of time has had a large share in shaping its policies. Few men in Virginia have rendered the party more effective service than he. His char- acter and his fearless spirit, combined with his masterful intellect and a rare gift of eloquence, make him, a "tower of strength" in political combat.
From 1869 to 1873 he was a member of the Virginia senate, and, from 1883 to 1885, and again from 1887 to 1889, a member of the house of delegates of Virginia. During the Paris International Exposition of 1878, he served as one of the United States com- missioners, and prepared a report on "Means of Transportation by Railroads." Since 1885. he has been a member of the board of trustees of Washington and Lee University, and since June, 1914, the rector of that institution. In 1899, he was elected president of the Virginia Bar Association. He was a member of the Virginia constitu- tional convention of 1901 ; was elected tem- porary president of that body, and chairman of its committee on final revision of the constitution. While the convention was in session, he was elected attorney-general of Virginia for a term of four years, and, in 1905 was again elected for a like term. Since his election as attorney-general, he has also rendered valuable services as a member of the state board of education and in other public capacities.
The constitution of 1902, which made im- portant and radical changes in the funda- mental law and civil polity of the state, not only rendered it necessary for the attorney- general to pass upon a great number of novel and vital questions, but also devolved upon that officer many new and grave duties. His service in this office extended over an eventful period in the history of the commonwealth, a period remarkable for the importance and celebrity of litigation in the highest state and federal courts. In all this litigation, involving interests most vital to the people of Virginia, he served with con- spicuous ability as her counsel. Perhaps the most important of these cases are the suits in the United States courts involving
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