Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 68

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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1894 to 1906 he was a teacher in the high schools, and by this means was enabled to complete his course at the university. In 1898 he joined the National Guard, as a member of the Second Regiment of the Dis- trict of Columbia, and was elected first lieu- tenant. Subsequently he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the First District of Columbia Volunteer Infantry, for service in the Spanish war, and went to Santiago, Cuba, where he remained until the close of hostilities. With his regiment he was pres- ont at the surrender of Santiago, and on his return to Washington was mustered out of the volunteers. He then resumed his ser- vice with the National Guard, and was pro- moted to captain, which position he resigned February 1, 1906, when he became attached to the Soldiers' Home at Hampton, Virginia. His first station was that of commissary of subsistence, with the rank of captain, and on September 12, 1907, he was made quar- termaster, with the same rank. On Febru- ary 1, 1912, he became treasurer of the home. with the rank of major. Major Skinner is a member of the George Washington Alumni Association, of the Society of the Army of Santiago de Cuba, and of Henry WV. Lawton Camp, No. 4. United States War Veterans, of the Spanish war. He is a faith- ful member of the Presbyterian church, and is regarded with esteem and respect in all the relations of life.

Major Skinner married, June 23, 1902, Marie Sipe, daughter of Edward H. and Emma S. (Bender) Sipe, of Pennsylvania, and Washington, D. C. They have two children : Dorothy Bender, born March 26, 1907, and Frank Edward, born August 19, 1908, at National Soldiers' Home, Virginia. Mrs. Frank E. Skinner is also descended from an old Dutch family, founded by Jacob Bender, who came from Germany and settled at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1603. His son, Jacob Bender, born 1724, was a captain of horse in the colonial wars, and was the father of John Bender, born in 1755. He served as a soldier of the revolu- tion. He died in 1818. Both he and his wife were Quakers in religion. His son, John Bender, was the father of John Bender. whose daughter, Emma S. Bender, born 1846, died 1890, married Edward H. Sipe, who was born in 1835, died in 1905. Their daughter, Marie Sipe, became the wife of Major Frank E. Skinner.

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Lemuel Hoskins Sclater. The career of Lemuel Hoskins Sclater, late of Hampton, Virginia, is well worthy of emulation. Early in life he planted himself'on the sure founda- tion of an unimpeachable credit, and on straight-forward, sober, honest, truthful methods in dealing with his fellowmen To these qualities he added prudence, self-de- nial, fortitude, tenacity, singleness of pur- pose, and a stubborn devotion to the end in view. He surrendered very little to the al- lurements of politics, believing business in- terests should have the foremost place. In- dustry was favored rather than speculation, and he would employ the means at hand rather than wait for something to turn up. The family from which he claimed descent was one of the old ones of Virginia.

William Sheldon Sclater was the owner of an extensive plantation in York county, Virginia, near Land's End, and a man of large affairs. He had children : John, James, William Sheldon and Catherine Mary Frances.

James Sclater, son of William Sheldon Sclater, was born in York county, Virginia. He served as a soldier of the Confederate States of America. He married three times, and by his second wife, Jane Hoskins, he had children : Lemuel Hoskins, Mary Jane, William Sheldon, John M., Francis Howard, James, and Laura Virginia.

Lemuel Hoskins Sclater, son of James and Jane (Hoskins) Sclater, was born in York county, Virginia, August 7, 1842, and died April 15, 1899. His education, which was a sound, practical one, was acquired in the public schools of his native county, and those of Elizabeth City county. Upon its completion he went to Richmond, Virginia, and there commenced learning the drug business with Pursell, Ladd & Company, remaining with them until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he organized the Rich- mond Howitzers, and was in active service until the close of this momentous struggle. During its progress he was wounded once, and was discharged with the rank of ser- geant. He served under the famous Captain McCarty and Dr. Palmer.

In 1865 he came to Hampton, Virginia, and in 1867 established himself in the hard- ware and drug business on the present site of the Lee-Patterson Hardware Company, in North Queen street. Later he removed to the store now occupied by Booker, as a

hardware store. There he carried on a very prosperous business, devoting the one side of the store to hardware, the other to the drugs, and amassed a sufficient fortune to enable him to retire altogether from busi- ness pursuits in 1892. He had purchased a homestead on the river and had had a fine residence erected upon it, which was remod- eled and enlarged in 1893. The location is an ideal one, the house large and commod- ious, and it is furnished throughout in an artistic manner. The grounds are beauti- fully laid out, and run down to the river. Mr. Sclater was interested in a number of business enterprises, and was a stockholder and director in the Bank of Hampton and the Citizens' and Marines' Bank of Newport News. He gave his staunch support to the Democratic party, and for a time served as a member of the town council. For a period of thirty years he served as a vestryman of St. John's Episcopal Church, and was a member of the Masonic fraternity for many years. He was prominently identified with every project which tended toward the pub- lic welfare, and supported such measures generously.

Mr. Sclater married, December 7, 1869, his cousin, Kate Sidney Sclater, a daughter of William Sheldon and Anne Virginia (Lee) Sclater, and a sister of Laura Vir- ginia, Richard Arthur, Thomas Robertson, John Bolling and William Sheldon, the fourth. William Sheldon Sclater, father of Mrs. Sclater, was a rich and prosperous farmer of York and Elizabeth City counties. Lemuel Hoskins and Kate Sidney (Sclater) Sclater had children: 1. Jennie Hoskins, born in 1871; married, December 6, 1893, Edgar E. Montague, and had children : Edgar S., born March 4, 1895; Laura Vir- ginia, born November 10, 1896; Katharine Sidney, born March 4, 1905. 2. Lemuel Hos- kins, Jr., born February 14, 1873, died June 25, of the same year.

Charles Eugene Borden. Charles Eugene Borden was born at Goldsboro, North Caro- lina, April 23, 1861. His father was J. C. Borden, of Goldsboro, North Carolina, and his mother before marriage was Miss Mary Caruthers, of Alabama. In early youth he went to Wilmington, North Carolina, and continued to reside in that city until 1901, when his elevation to a high official position

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caused him to remove his residence to Rich- mond, Virginia.

Charles Eugene Borden came from a fam- ily of active and successful business men. Two of his brothers were prominent in the railroad world. His brother, Edwin Borden, who died some years ago, was superintend- ent of transportation of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, and Herbert L. Borden, of New York, is at the present time secretary of the same company, while a third brother, James C. Borden, is a prominent cotton broker of New Orleans.

Mr. Borden's business career began in the laboratory of the Navasa Guano Company, of Wilmington, and he steadily and rapidly advanced until he became president and general-manager of that company. When the Navasa Guano Company was sold to the Virginia Carolina Chemical Company Mr. Borden was placed in charge of the sales' department of the new company, with headquarters at Charleston, South Carolina. In 1901 he was appointed man- ager of the manufacturing department of the company, with office at Richmond, Vir- ginia, and he removed his residence to that city. In 1909 Mr. Borden was still further advanced by being made assistant to the president, and in 1912 he was elected one of the three vice-presidents of the company. Mr. Borden's remarkable executive ability attracted the attention of men of affairs and he was continually urged to assume various and heavy business responsibilities. He

was vice-president of the Charleston Mining and Manufacturing Company, vice-presi- dent of the Amalgamated Phosphate Com- pany and held large interests in each com- pany that he so ably represented.

The duties of his private business were tedious and exacting, still he found time for the expenditure of his extra energy upon various and important undertakings. Mr. Borden was a member of the executive com- mittee of both the National and Southern Fertilizer associations and took an active part in the committees of each. He was also a member of the board of education of Richmond, and of the Chamber of Com- merce, one of the founders of the Country Club of Virginia, organizing it by an unique subscription plan which proved most suc- cessful, a member of the Westmoreland Club, and secretary of the board of deacons

of the Second Presbyterian Church of Richmond.

Thus we see that no phase of earnest human life was untried by the interest of Charles E. Borden. He gave to the church the same vital energy that characterized his business life. He was a man of charming personality and the 'name of his friends' was legion. The closer the tie of friendship or business the higher the esteem of those who associated with him, and the spell of his integrity and his sympathy held all who

came under their forceful influence. Mr. Borden loved his fellow-man and was ever ready to listen to the "call" of the city's new enterprise, social intercourse or the church. Among his friends his good-fellowship was irresistible and those who knew him best loved him most. His untiring energy, his universal friendliness and the strain of his varied business interests began to weaken his vigorous constitution, and his physicians alarmed by the unmistakable symptoms of over-work, ordered a rest at Atlantic City. For a short time recovery seemed probable. but soon after midnight, October 28, 1913, he was stricken with apoplexy, at the Hotel St. Dennis, which resulted in his death, uni- versally deplored, at the early age of fifty- two years. His body was taken to Wilming- ton, North Carolina, the old home of his wife, and where many happy years of his own life had been spent, for interment. Mr. Borden is survived by his widow, who was before her marriage a Miss Hattie Taylor, daughter of Colonel John D. Taylor, of Wil- mington ..

Charles Howard Lewis, M. D. Lewis is one of the oldest names in English history and one of the most numerous and distin- guished in American annals. The names Louis in France and Lewis in England are too ancient to be traced to a common origin, the name having existed in the latter coun- try long before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove many Frenchmen of the name to seek shelter across the channel, where in many instances the French Louis became the English Lewis. It is not known how many distinct branches of the Lewis family there are in America. For several centuries previous to the settlement of this country the name Lewis was as numerous by comparison in Wales as that of Smith in

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America today, and in every portion of the country are to be found distinct branches that run back to a period so remote as to render reliable trace impossible. Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was from New York, while Ellis Lewis, an eminent jurist, was from Pennsylvania. Every portion of New Eng- land has its representative Lewis families, all of them of Welsh origin but tracing to different sources. The Lewis family of Virginia embraces five distinct branches be- tween whom there is no discoverable rela- tion. The heads of these branches are: General Robert Lewis, of Wales, who set- tled in Gloucester county, Virginia, in 1635 ; John Lewis, of Wales, who settled in Hen- rico county in 1660; John Lewis, of Wales, who settled in Hanover county in 1675; Zachary Lewis, of Wales, who settled in Middlesex county in 1692; and John Lewis, of county Donegal, Ireland, who settled in Augusta county in 1732. Charles Howard Lewis, of Richmond, Virginia, belongs to the Gloucester county branch, son of George Thomas Lewis, and grandson of James H. Lewis, both born in Gloucester county.

James H. Lewis died in Baltimore in 1899, aged seventy years. He was engaged in the oyster business for many years and was a brave soldier of the Confederacy. He mar- ried Sarah Jane Smead, also born in Glou- cester county, who bore him two sons, George Thomas, of further mention, and Levin Winder.

George Thomas Lewis was born in Glou- cester county, Virginia, in 1846, died in Bal- timore, Maryland, in 1901. He entered the profession of law and when a young man located in Baltimore, Maryland, where he attained distinction in his profession and in public life, serving two terms in the city council. He married, in 1876, at Baltimore, Martha Jane Taylor, born in Essex county, Virginia, who survives him, a resident of Baltimore. Children: Charles Howard, of further mention, and George Taylor, born March 19, 1884, a banker of Baltimore.

Dr. Charles Howard Lewis was born in Baltimore, Maryland, March 18, 1877, and after a preparatory course in the Baltimore High school entered the Baltimore City Col- lege, whence he was graduated in the class of 1896. The University of Maryland fur- nished him with his training in the medical profession, and from this institution he re-

ceived the degree M. D. in 1900. For two years after the completion of his course in this university he was first assistant resi- dient physician at the Bay View Hospital, and afterward spent three years in profes- sional work abroad. Since June, 1908, Dr. Lewis has been a general practitioner of Richmond, his office at the corner of Main and Robinson streets, and he has become well and favorably known in medical circles. His fraternities are the Kappa Sigma and the Omega Upsilon Phi, and he is a member of the local medical societies, the Richmond Academy of Medicine, and the American Medical Association. His studies in his pro- fession have been of extraordinary breadth, and the success that has attended him in his practice is commensurate with the high place he holds among his fellow physicians. Dr. Lewis is a communicant of the Prot- estant Episcopal church.

Dr. Lewis married, in New York City, Maud Marie Ansell, born in London, Eng- land, her father now living in Rochester, England, a retired member of the Royal Stock Exchange, her mother, deceased. Children of Dr. and Mrs. Lewis: George Alexander, born February 6, 1905; Martha Virginia Elizabeth, born August 29, 1909.

Charles Virgil Shoemaker. Descendant of German ancestors and a Pennsylvanian by birth, the life-work of Charles V. Shoe- maker, as yet only begun, makes him in all essential respects a Virginian, for it is in that state that he recived his academic education and to her that he has rendered service as an educator. He is now super- intendent of the schools of Woodstock, Vir- ginia, coming to his duties as the head of the educational system in the city familiar both with the system and existing condi- tions through previous experience as a teacher therein and as principal of the Woodstock Norman Training School, a position he held from 1911 until 1914. Thus, although Mr. Shoemaker's present office is one new to him, he is nevertheless prepared for his work by his acquaintance with affairs relating to education in Woodstock, and his administration will lose little through the necessity for marking time, as it were, while gaining a knowledge of the ground on which it stands.

The founder of this line of the Shoemaker family in the United States was Philip

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Shoemaker, a native of Germany, who set- tled in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where, at Bedford, was born in 1838, Her- bert Shoemaker, father of Charles V. Shoe- maker. Herbert Shoemaker has all of his life followed agriculture as his calling, and is now seventy-six years of age. He mar- ried Matilda, daughter of Jacob Brinker, her father dying in 1880.

Charles Virgil Shoemaker, son of Herbert and Matilda (Brinker) Shoemaker, was born in Bedford. Bedford county, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1880. After attending the public schools and the academy in the place of his birth, he entered Eastern College, at Man- assas, Virginia. From this institution he was graduated A. B. in 1902, and then at- tended summer school at the University of Virginia, preparing himself for educational work. During the term of 1905-06 he was a teacher in the graded schools of Wood- stock, Virginia, and from the latter year until 1910 was principal of the high school at Edinburg. Virginia. In 1911 he became principal of the Woodstock Norman Train- ing High School, and held that office until his appointment by the Virginia State Board of Education as superintendent of schools at Woodstock. Virginia, his appointment dating from September 19, 1913. Mr. Shoe- maker's record in the positions that he has previously held in educational work, and the able way in which he has assumed the direction of the Woodstock schools show him to be a man of forceful decision, calm, deliberate judgment, and an educator whose ideas and ideals, always lofty, are character- ized by their practicality. The highest pos- sible level of efficiency for the Woodstock schools is the goal for which he strives, and surrounded by a corps of able assistants and competent faculties he has faith in gaining that end.

Aside from the positions enumerated above, Mr. Shoemaker has at times passed his vacations from duty in teaching in the summer schools at the University of Vir- ginia and at Winchester, Virginia. Nor does that end his activities, for he is the author of an English grammar, published by Captain Gaybill, a work simply and syste- matically arranged, filling a long-felt want in the teaching of elementary English. Mr. Shoemaker is a member of the Virginia State Teachers' Association, and fraternizes with the Masonic order, belonging to Lodge

No. 82, Free and Accepted Masons, and to Shenandoah Chapter, No. 17, Royal Arch Masons, of Edinburg, Virginia. He holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mr. Shoemaker married, December 30, 1912, Louisa, born at Newmarket, Virginia, September 13. 1886, daughter of William Harnsberger and Louisa (Rice) Snapp.

Joseph Austin Sperry, a prominent busi- ness man of New York City, was born No- vember 3, 1855, in Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania. He is descended from revolutionary stock of Virginia, being a great-grandson of Jacob Sperry, who was a private in Captain Daniel Morgan's company of Virginia rifle men, in July, 1775. He participated in the expedition against Quebec, and was made a prisoner there, December 31, 1775.

Jacob Austin Sperry, M. D., a grandson of Jacob Sperry, was born in 1825, at Win- chester, Virginia. and graduated at Mary- land University. At the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861, he was the owner and editor of the Knoxville Daily Register in Tennessee. When General Burnside, with his Union forces, captured Knoxville, the paper and property of Dr. Sperry were con- fiscated, and shortly after that he went into the Confederate army. He was captured by the Union troops at Bristol, Virginia, and . for over a year was held a prisoner of war, being released after the surrender at Appo- mattox. At one time during his service as a private soldier, he published a paper at Atlanta, Georgia, printed on wall paper, the only material available. Two of his broth- ers, William and Alexander Sperry, were also in the Confederate service, the former having been previously a soldier in the Mexican war. Dr. Sperry was an author and playwright, being the author of a novel. "Conniston," and a successful play, called "Extremes," which had a run in New York City and Baltimore. He married Susan Butler Langley, born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, in 1822, and now living in New York City. Children: 1. Joseph Austin, of whom further. 2. William Miller, born in Bristol, Virginia, September 14. 1858, now resides in New York City, and is a member of New York Chapter, Sons of the Revolu- tion ; he married (first) Carrie Whitehead. now deceased ; (second) Emily Mooney, and has by first wife, Carrie Whitehead Sperry,

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and by second: Dorothy, Virginia, and Emma Lou Sperry. 3. Washington Eliot Langley, born February 22, 1860, in Knox- ville, Tennessee; married Sarah Ridgeley, and has children : Langley, Lawrence, Albert, Joseph, August, Alexander, William, Susan and Sarah. 4. Virginia Maria, born 1861, in Knoxville; married August Wieden- bach, and has daughters: Clara Augusta, Margaret and Ernestine. 5. Thomas Alex- ander, born July, 1863, in Knoxville; mar- ried Kate Major, and has children: Kather- ine, Thomas Alexander, Stuart Major, and Margery. 6. Louis, died at the age of six- teen years.

Joseph Austin Sperry, eldest son of Jacob Austin Sperry, M. D., attended the public schools of Plainfield, New Jersey, and after leaving school was employed for a short time in a banking and brokerage office on Wall street, New York City. He was pos- sessed of commercial instinct, and made rapid advancement in learning the ways of business. For some time he was a clerk for his uncle in a retail general merchandise store at Winchester, Virginia. In 1885 he went to New York City and became con- nected with a mercantile house as traveling salesman, continuing two years. The death of his uncle at this time caused him to re- turn to Winchester, Virginia, where he was · employed in winding up his uncle's busi- ness affairs. Having completed this matter to the satisfaction of the heirs and all con- cerned, he again went to New York City and became associated with the Thomas H. Sperry Company, of that city, conducting a trading stamp business. His previous busi- ness experience, and his industry and fidel- ity gained him promotion in this establish- ment, in which he is now territorial manager for the United States. He is a member of Aqua Lodge, No. 129, Free and Accepted Masons, of Cranford, New Jersey, in which town he makes his home. Mr. Sperry has taken all the degrees in Free Masonry up to and including the thirty-second degree, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, and of New York Chapter, Sons of the Revolution. He is affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal church, and has always been allied politi- cally with the Democratic party.

He married, in August, 1883, Ella Bushnell, daughter of John and Margaret (Eichelber- ger) Bushnell, born September 23, 1856, in

Winchester, Virginia, and they are the par- ents of two children: I. Lottie, born May, 1884, in Charlestown, West Virginia, now the wife of Austin F. Dohrman, of Cranford, New Jersey. 2. William Miller, born July, 1887, in Jersey City, New Jersey, graduated from Cornell University in 1912, LL. B., now an attorney-at-law.

Gaines Family. The first Gaines of whom there is record in King and Queen county, Virginia, is in the vestry book of Stratton Major parish under date of February 27, 1766. The entry is as follows: "Harry Gaines, Gent. engaged to build the church on the old field belonging to Richard Cor- bin, Esq., called Goliath Field." On March 4, 1768, the vestry received the church built by Major Harry Gaines, deceased. In Hen- ning's Statutes at Large of Virginia, Febru- ary, 1759, the following appears: Harry Gaines, Gent. is appointed trustee of the Pamunky Indians, and October 30, 1769, Harry Gaines subscribed one pound annual- ly for eight years as a premium for the best wines.

Harry Gaines (probably son of above), brother of William Fleming Gaines, of "Greenway," King William county, and of Robert Gaines, of the "White House," King and Queen county, lived at "Providence" and died in 1789. He was a member of the house of burgesses and was a man of prominence. He married Elizabeth Hern- don. They had the following children : Benjamin, see forward, Harry, Beverly, William Fleming, Martha, Elizabeth Hern- don, John.

Benjamin Gaines, of "Plain Dealing," son of Harry and Elizabeth (Herndon) Gaines, married Sallie Garlick, daughter of Camm Garlick (see Garlick). Their children were as follows: Mary Ann, married a Gaines; Myra, married a Carlton; Sarah Jane, see forward; Dr. William F.

Sarah Jane Gaines, daughter of Benjamin and Sallie (Garlick) Gaines, married Major John H. Steger, and had issue: John O., married Mary Pendleton Cooke; Lucilla Stanley, see forward; Sallie Gaines, mar- ried John S. Hardaway ; Mary, married Wil- liam Meade; Nannie, married Charles H. Winston; Roger Williams, married Georg- ianna Carlton ; Kate, married Edmund Har- rison.

Lucilla Stanley Steger, daughter of Major

Ar Alearly CAPT C S.A

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John H. and Sarah Jane (Gaines) Steger, married William Woodson Cosby, born in Goochland county, Virginia, December 13, 1824, died in Richmond, Virginia, December 30, 1885. Mr. Cosby was one of Richmond's most prominent lawyers. He studied law at the University of Virginia, was admitted to the Virginia bar, and practiced law in Richmond all his life. He was appointed captain in the Virginia militia by Governor Henry A. Wise, May, 1859. At the out- break of the Civil war he organized a com- pany of artillery, and was commissioned captain in the Second Regiment of Artillery, Second Division Virginia Militia by Gov- ernor John Fletcher, February 5, 1862. He performed distinguished service during the war for the Confederate cause-it was his battery that opened the fight at Mechanics- ville.

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Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 68

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