Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 89

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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Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

made is read "Elijah Birk, 1735." He knows that the name of the maker is wrong, and he believes that the date is wrong, and that 1785 is correct, which looks more reason- able. It is a very interesting relic of the old times and shows the quality of the work done by our forefathers.

Colonel Leedy has strong convictions on governmental questions. He classes himself as a Democrat. He believes that represen- tative democracy is the best form of gov- ernment, and in so far as we have wandered away frow that, in his judgment, it is ne- cessary for us to retrace out steps. As he sees it, we have set up false standards, and we must educate our people to that degree of intelligence that they will be willing to dethrone these fallacious ideas, and must more and more impress upon our people the honorable character of all honest work. In governmental affairs, he thinks that dis- criminatory laws have made us cowards in the conduct of government, and that to be fearless and crush every tendency to anarchy a government must be just.

His ideas about the practice of law are so very commendable that he could prob- ably get a unanimous vote on the part of the laymen of the country in support of them, and this brief sketch can be concluded in no better words than his own, in this connec- tion, when he says : "I believe we have out- grown the distinction between law and equity practice, and further that the judges should prescribe a uniform practice and procedure for all jurisdictions which should be enacted into law in each state and by the United States."

Coat-of-arms, Leedy (Holland) : D'azur a la fasce d'or. Cimier : un vol, aux armes de l'ecu .- Rietstap Armorial General. Azure, a fesse or. Crest: Arms of the es- cutcheon winged.

St. George Brooke Tucker. St. George Brooke Tucker, a rising young business man of New York City, was born October 1, 1875, in Dallas, Texas, son of Charles Frederick and Mary Sydnor (Jones) Tucker, natives respectively of New York and Texas. His grandfather, Alpheus Leander Tucker, was born near the beginning of the nineteenth century, in Utica, New York, and in 1849 removed to Franklin, Louisi- ana, where he engaged in the practice of law. Most of his life was thus spent there,

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and he was mayor of the city for twenty- five years. Because of his sympathies with the cause of the southern Confed- eracy, he was made a prisoner during the Civil war. Throughout his life he acted politically with the Democratic party, and was ever a faithful and consistent member of the Episcopal church. He married Maria Susan Thomas, a native of New England and a direct descendant of John and Pris- cilla Alden.

Charles Frederick Tucker was born Sep- tember 18, 1847, in Frankfort, New York, and died March 16, 1909, in Dallas, Texas. He was but two years of age when his par- ents removed to Louisiana, and was edu- cated at the University of Virginia, from which he graduated in 1870, in the law de- partment. He began the practice of his profession at Franklin, Louisiana, and in 1873 removed to Dallas, Texas. There he was held in high respect, and was appointed judge of the district court by Governor Sul. Ross. After serving some ten years on the bench, he retired about 1903. He was senior warden of St. Matthews (Protestant Epis- copal) Cathedral, of Dallas, and politically a steadfast and consistent Democrat. He married, December 16, 1874, Mary Sydnor Jones, born June 16, 1854, in Galveston, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus and Mary E. (Sydnor) Jones, the latter a daughter of John Seabrook and Mary Elizabeth (White) Sydnor, of Henrico county, Virginia. Chil- dren : St. George Brooke, of further men- tion : Sydnor Jones, born January 22, 1877, resides in Ithaca, New York, where he is a banker ; Edith Garland, wife of Rev. James Craik Morris, dean of St. Mary's (Protest- ant Episcopal) Cathedral at Memphis, Ten- nessee; Charles Frederick, Jr., a banker of Buffalo, New York.

St. George Tucker was educated in pri- vate schools of Texas, and at seventeen years of age engaged in the railroad service as a clerk in the freight office of the Texas &: Pacific Railroad. Following this he en- gaged in the fire insurance business at Dal- las and also in New Orleans. In 1904 he removed to the city of New York, and was employed by the New York Trust Com- pany as manager of its reorganization de- partment. Subsequently he was with Ber- tron Griscom & Company, bankers, and in 1914, was appointed secretary of the Board of Assessors of Greater New York. Mr.

Tucker is a man of high qualifications, and endearing personal characteristics. He has served as treasurer and is now a member of the executive committee of the Virginia So- ciety of New York, and is a member of the Southern Society and the Texas Club. In business affairs he is director of the Her- ring-Hall-Marvin Safe Company, and of the American Passimentre Company. He is a member of St. Thomas (Protestant Epis- copal) Church of New York, and has wand- ered from the precepts of his fathers so far as to become a Republican in political prin- ciples. He is now assistant treasurer of the Republican County Committee of New York City.

James Cowan Meem. The world's mate- rial progress has, perhaps, been more rap- idly advanced by men engaged in furnishing means of transportation and communication than by any other class. The railroads, sub- ways, tunnels, etc., are the most important features of the world's forward movement, and the men who furnish these means of development are the men who deserve to be honored. James Cowan Meem, whose busi- ness activities at the present time keep him in New York City and its vicinity, is a man of the class just described. Both theoreti- cally and practically he is an engineer of unusual ability and the work on which he is engaged is certain to be well and accurately performed.

Captain John Gaw Meem, his father, was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, February 5, 1839, and died at Washington, District of Columbia, January 2, 1908. He was a civil engineer and a planter by occupation. During the Civil war he was in the Confederate army, a member of the staff of General Edmund Kirby Smith, and held the rank of captain. He married, in 1862, Nancy Esterbrook, born in Knoxville, Tennessee, a daughter of James H. Esterbrook, of Knox- ville, and Lucinda (Dickinson) Cowan, of Amherst, Massachusetts. They had children : Rev. John Gaw Meem, of Rio Janeiro, South America, and James Cowan, whose name heads this sketch. The former was gradu- ated from the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, and later from the Theological Seminary of Alexandria, Vir- ginia. He married Elsie Krischke, and has had children : John G. Jr., James G., Ranuta Cowan, Elsie and Louis Cowan. In 1873,

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four years after the death of his first wife, Nancy Esterbrook, Captain John G. Meem married Aurelia Halsey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Seth Halsey, of Lynchburg, Vir- ginia. There children were: Erna Rus- sell, who died at the age of five years ; Julia Halsey, who married Randolph Harrison, of Lynchburg, Virginia, and who has three children living: Randolph, Aurelia and Ju- lia; Stephen Halsey, who married Edna Hutter, of Lynchburg, and has three chil- dren: Stephen, Edna and Gilbert; J. Law- rence, who married Phyllis Deadrick, of Jonesboro, Tennessee, and has a daughter, Phyllis.

James Cowan Meem was born in Knox- ville, Tennessee, April 5, 1866. Earnest and studious from his earliest years, he made the best use of the fine educational advantages placed at his disposal. Becoming a student at the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexing- ton, Virginia, he was graduated from it with the post-graduate degree of Civil Engineer, and commenced his field work in Virginia and Tennessee. He was engaged in survey work for the United States government in 1888; in professional works of varied char- acter in Wilmington, Delaware, from 1893 to 1895, and in the past mentioned year was called to Brooklyn, New York, where he remained in the municipal civil engineering service until 1902. Since then he has been engaged in various kinds of professional work as chief engineer for contracting firms who are engaged in the construction of sub- ways and tunnels. In political matters Mr. Meem is an Independent Democrat, and he is connected with the following organiza- tions: President of the Virginia Military Institute Alumni Society of New York; member of the Engineers' Club, of New York City; Engineers' Club, of Brooklyn ; Machinery Club, of New York ; of American Society of Civil Engineers; National Geo- graphical Society ; Crescent Athletic Club, of New York; Municipal Club, of Brooklyn, New York ; Robert E. Lee Camp, New York City ; Associated Sons of Confederate Vet- erans ; and ex-president of Brooklyn's Engi- neers' Club. He is also a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

Mr. Meem married, June 2, 1896, Kather- ine Russell Dimick born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 18, 1867, a daughter of J. G. and Levian ( Russell) Dimick. They have no children. As a writer on technical

subjects Mr. Meem has attracted consider- able attention. He has developed methods of tunnelling and of building other large works such as subways which have been widely used and has also written treatises on engineering subjects which have been published in various journals and magazines which make it a feature to print professional articles of this nature.

Thomas Staples Fuller. Thomas Staples Fuller, a lawyer of New York City, bears in his veins the blood of many worthy ancestors who were located in different states of the Union. The first known on his direct paternal line was Jones Fuller, who resided in Franklin county, North Carolina, where he purchased one hundred and six acres of land, December 3, 1789, for eighty pounds. In 1771 he was en- sign in the North Carolina militia, and was subsequently a soldier of the revolu- tionary war. He died about March, 1815, at which time his will was probated. His wife's name was Ann, and they were the parents of fourteen children.

The eldest of these, Bartholomew Fuller, was born April 28, 1769, and resided in Franklin county, North Carolina, where he was a Baptist minister, and was at one time moderator of the Raleigh Baptist Associa- tion. He took deed to fifty acres of land in Franklin county, January 18, 1829. His wife, Sarah (Cook) Fuller, was a daughter of Thomas and Amy Belle (Conyers) Cook, a native of Bermuda, who had seven broth- ers that were American soldiers. Sarah (Cook) Fuller survived her husband many years, making a will, January 20, 1845.

Of their nine children, Thomas Fuller was born December 27, 1800, near Louisburg, in Franklin county, North Carolina, and was a merchant, conducting an extensive busi- ness at Fayetteville, North Carolina. He died July 29, 1832, in his thirty-second year. He married Catherine Eleanor Raboteau, born November 18, 1807, daughter of John Samuel and Susannah (Graeff) Raboteau. John S. Raboteau was a son of Charles Cornelius Raboteau, who belonged to a French family that had been long estab- lished in England, where he was born. He is supposed to have been the grandson of a Huguenot refugee, who removed to Eng- land about the close of the seventeenth cen- tury. Charles C. Raboteau was a teacher at

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New Providence, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Elizabeth Klein, of a Palatinate family, which settled in Pennsylvania. John Samuel Raboteau was born January 22, 1766, at Philadelphia. He married, September 5, 1790, Susannah Graeff, descended from Herman Opden Graef, who removed to Crefield, and mar- ried a Mennonite girl, Grietjen, daughter of Driessen Pletjes. Herman O. Graef was delegated from Krevelt to the council of the Mennonite church at Dordrecht, April 21, 1632. He died 1642, and his wife the fol- lowing year. Of their eighteen children, Isaac, born 1616, died 1669, was the father of Herman, Abraham and Dirck, who were linen weavers and immigrated to German- town, Pennsylvania, where they were part of a company of eleven to whom William Penn issued a charter for the incorporation of Germantown. The fourth daughter of John S. Raboteau, Catherine Eleanor, be- came the wife of Thomas Fuller, as above noted. His widow with her three small children returned to her people in Franklin county. The eldest child, Sarah, became the wife of R. H. J. Blout, of Durham, North Carolina, later of Washington. The sec- ond son, Bartholomew, was a lawyer of dis- tinction in Fayetteville.

The third child, Thomas Charles Fuller, was born near Louisburg, February 20, 1832, and died at Raleigh, October 21, 1901. He was a prominent attorney and a judge of the United States court of private land claims at the time of his death. He served as a soldier of the Civil war, being first lieutenant in Starr's battery, commissioned at Fort Fisher. He married, September 4, 1857, Caroline Douglas Whitehead, daugh- ter of Williamson and Janet (Eccles) White- head. Her mother was a daughter of John and Lucy (McLaurin) Eccles, who emi- grated from Scotland and settled in Fayette- ville, North Carolina, where Mr. Eccles was an eminent merchant, and died in 1831.

Williamson Whitehead Fuller, son of Thomas Charles and Caroline Douglas (Whitehead) Fuller, was born August 28, 1858, at Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was educated at the University of Virginia, from which he graduated in 1878. He pur- sued the study of law at Dick & Dillard's Law School, Greensboro, North Carolina, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1880. After one year of practice at Raleigh,

he removed to Durham, North Carolina, and thence, in 1895, to New York City, where he continued in practice until December, IgII, when he retired to his farm at Briar- cliff Manor, New York. For many years he was general counsel of the American Tobacco Company. A Presbyterian in re- ligious faith, he has always adhered to the Democrats in politics. He is a member of the college fraternities, Zara Psi and Phi Beta Kappa, as well as various clubs in New York, including the Metropolitan, Ardsley, Sleepy Hollow and Riding clubs. He is a trustee of the University of Vir- ginia, and was president of the North Caro- lina Society and subsequently of the South- ern Society of New York. He married, Feb- ruary 19, 1880, Annie Margaret Staples, born October 28, 1860, at Montgomery, Alabama, descendant of a very old Southern family. Children: Thomas Staples, of fur- ther mention ; Janet Douglas, wife of Win- field Fuller (no relative), of New York City; Margaret Hereford, Mrs. Arthur Taylor Remick, of Boston; Caroline Whitehead ; Annie Norman; Dorothy. The Staples family has been traced to Samuel Staples, who was in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1760, later in Buckingham county. His son, John Staples, was in Henry county, Vir- ginia, in 1784, high sheriff in 1815-16, and died intestate in 1817. His wife's baptismal name was Martha, and they were the par- ents of Norman Staples, of Patrick county, Virginia. His son, Harden Hairston Staples, married, September 23, 1844, Mar- garet Elizabeth Hereford, daughter of John Hereford, of Henry county, Virginia. Har- den H. Staples was a descendant of Martin Harden, born 1720, in France. After the massacre of St. Bartholomew he removed to Canada and thence to the British colony of Virginia, locating in Fauquier county. He was called "Ruffled Shirt Martin" be- cause of his courtly manners and superior education. He married Lydia Waters, and died at Georges Creek, Monongahela county, Virginia (now West Virginia). Annie Mar- garet, daughter of Harden H. Staples, be- came the wife of Williamson W. Fuller, as above noted.

Thomas Staples Fuller, son of Williamson Whitehead and Annie Margaret (Staples) Fuller, was born February 9, 1881, at Ral- eigh, North Carolina, and completed his classical education at the University of Vir-

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ginia, where he graduated at the age of twenty years, in 1901. He pursued the study of law in the law department of the Univer- sity of North Carolina, receiving his diploma in 1903, and was admitted to the bar in Au- gust of that year. Thereafter he continued in practice at Raleigh until 1907, when he removed to New York City, and entered the office of Nicoll, Anable & Lindsay, one of the leading law firms of the metropolis. In October of the same year he became a part- ner in this firm, which is now Nicoll, Anable, Lindsay & Fuller. This firm occupies spacious offices in the Adams Express Building, New York, and enjoys a very large practice, participating in most of the important litigation of the state. Mr. Fuller is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, New York County Bar Association, the American Bar Asso- ciation, and the North Carolina Bar Asso- ciation. He retains membership in the col- lege fraternity, Delta Psi; is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Southern Society, and the Virginia Society of New York. He attends the Presbyterian church, and is an independent Democrat in politics. In 1908 he was a delegate, representing his district in New York at the National Demo- cratic Convention. He is a member of nu- merous clubs of the metropolitan district, including the Metropolitan, St. Anthony, Underwriters, Ardsley, Sleepy Hollow, Gar- den City and National clubs.

He married, February 17, 1904, Pearl Penn, at Reidsville, North Carolina, daugh- ter of Frank Reid and Anna (Spencer) Penn, of Henry county, North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller have two children : Annie Margaret, born July 21, 1906, and Williamson Whitehead, born August 26, 1911.

Martin Sheeler Watts. The general origin of the Watts family, or of some of the families bearing the name, has been a matter of much speculation. The name seems to be connected with the personal name Walter. Walter as a Christian name was introduced into Great Britain at the time of the Norman Conquest. Walter is common among the Domesday tenants, and has become the parent of several surnames, particularly Walters, Watts, etc. A differ- ent origin has been claimed in another case. The family of Watts, of Hawkesdale Hall,

county Cumberland, deduce themselves from Sir John le Fleming, Lord of Wath, county Yorkshire, who died fourteen Ed- ward II. His second son, Raynier, assumed the territorial name of De Wath, and his descendants modified the designation to its present form. At first the name was De Wath or Wathe, then Wattys, later Wattes, and subsequently Watts. The armorial bearings of this family are thus heraldically described : Arms: An oak tree proper ; on a fesse azure a crescent between two mullets. Crest: A forearm forwards grasping an olive. Motto: Forti non deficit tetum.

The American progenitor of Martin Sheeler Watts was Allen Watts, of Tide- water, Virginia, who married Ann Camp- bell.

Gerard Snowden Watts, son of Allen and Ann (Campbell) Watts, was the founder of Charlotte College, North Carolina, and of other institutions both here and broad. He married Ann Elizabeth Wolvington, daughter of David and Maria Theresa (Bur- kett) Wolvington, of Woodstock, Virginia. Among their children were: James Henry, of further mention ; and George W., of Dur- ham, North Carolina, who is known as one of the greatest philanthropists of the South.

James Henry Watts, second son of Ger- ard Snowden and Ann Elizabeth (Wolving- ton) Watts, was born in Cumberland, Mary- land, December 28, 1854. He is a retired gentleman in Baltimore, Maryland, and mar- ried, October 25, 1877, Mary Belle Sheeler, daughter of Martin and Julia Ann (Ripple) Sheeler, and related to many of the older Maryland families.

Martin Sheeler Watts, only son of James Henry and Mary Belle (Sheeler) Watts, was born at Baltimore, Maryland, August 4, 1878. He was educated in the public, and later in preparatory, schools at Baltimore, and entered the University of Virginia in 1896. He was a student there for three years, being graduated in 1899 with the de- gree of Bachelor of Laws. Later he was a student in the New York Law School, being admitted to the New York bar and the Fed- eral courts in 1900. Mr. Watts was con- nected with the law department of the American Tobacco Company for a number of years. He is now associated in an advis- ory capacity with a Wall street banking house. Mr. Watts belongs to several clubs and societies. In politics he is independent,

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and in religion is affiliated with the St. Bar- tholomew Protestant Episcopal Church.

Mr. Watts married, October 20, 1909, Elisabeth Huntington Wolcott Jackson, of New York, who is a member of the Colonial Dames of New York, and the Mary Waslı- ington Colonial Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and numbers among her ancestors seven colonial govern- ors, two of these being: The first governor of Massachusetts and the first governor of Connecticut. Children: Martin Seymour Huntington, born December 26, 1910; Schuyler Wolcott Jackson, born January 25, 1912.

The Wolcott line, from which Mrs. Watts is descended, is clearly traced. Henry Wol- cott, of Toland, England, was the progenitor of the Wolcott family in America. Simon Wolcott, his son, and seventh child, was born in 1624. Governor Major Roger Wol- cott, son of Simon Wolcott, was born at Windsor, Connecticut, January 4, 1679, and he and other members of this family have been unusually prominent in the develop- ment of America. He married, December 3, 1702, at South Windsor, Connecticut, Sarah Drake. Roger Wolcott died at South Windsor, May 17, 1767. One of his sons was Governor and Major General Oliver Wolcott, born November 20, 1726, at East, now South, Windsor, Connecticut, and died December I, 1797, at Litchfield, Connecti- cut, on the homestead built by him. He married Loraine (Laura), the child of Cap- tain Daniel and Lois Collins. His son was Lieutenant Governor and Judge Frederick Wolcott, born November 2, 1767, at Litch- field, Connecticut, at the homestead. He married Betsy, daughter of Colonel Joshua and Hannah Huntington, of Norwich, Con- necticut. Their daughter, Elizabeth, born March 6, 1806, died October 15, 1875, mar- ried Hon. John P. Jackson, of Newark, New Jersey. Their son, General Joseph Cooke Jackson, was born August 5, 1835, at New- ark, New Jersey, and married, October 12, 1864, Katherine P., daughter of the Hon. Calvin and Catherine Seymour Day, of Hartford, Connecticut, and they had a daughter, Elisabeth H. W., who married Martin Sheeler Watts, as above mentioned. At the time of his death, in 1913, General Joseph Cooke Jackson was the oldest living descendant of the Henry Wolcott, men- tioned above, who, with his wife, settled in Massachusetts in 1637.

Hudgins. He who reads the following record of the Virginia line of Hudgins from the founding of the family in the colony by John Hudgin, of Gloucestershire, England, to the present day, will be impressed by two characteristics that predominate throughout, the valor of its members in war, their useful activity in peace. The sterling qualities that make of them citizens of the highest worth, ever reaching the noblest ideals in citizen- ship and manhood, are those which, respon- sive to the call of country and patriotism, caused them to go into battle strong and unafraid, rejoicing in the defense of the right. Such is the line founded in Glouces- ter county by John Hudgin, and Virginia has derived from it much of devoted service and has numbered its members among her most loyal sons.

Robert Hudgin, son of John Hudgin, was born in 1772, and died March 27, 1821. He was a private in Captain Henry Diggs' com- pany, Sixty-first Virginia Militia, in the sec- ond war with Great Britain, his period of service two hundred and fifty days, from March 9, 1813, to March 1, 1815, his activity at intervals between these dates. In 1808 Robert Hudgin married Susan Buckner, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Smith) Buckner, at which time, by common con- sent, the terminal "s" was added to the name Hudgin, this orthography persisting to the present time. Robert Hudgins is buried in Mathews county, Virginia, and upon his tombstone appears the following inscrip- tion :

With heavenly weapons he hath fought The Battles of the Lord, Finished the course and kept the faith And gained the great reward.

Issue of the marriage of Robert and Susan (Buckner) Hudgins: William, Sarah E., Lucy A., Robert King, of whom further, and John.

Robert King Hudgins, son of Robert and Susan (Buckner) Hudgins, was born in Mathews county, Virginia, January 4, 1812, and died at his home in Norfolk, September 7, 1903, being buried in that city. On the breaking out of the war between the states, Robert K. Hudgins resigned his commis- sion as captain in the United States revenue cutter service and offered his services to his native state, Virginia, which were accepted and he was assigned to duty at West Point, on the York river, Virginia, reporting to

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Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 89

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