Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 97

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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Lewis Tilghman Stoneburner, son of John J. Stoneburner, was born in Edinburg, Shenandoah county, Virginia, and is now a

resident of that place. Mr. Stoneburner carly in life became identified with jour- nalistic work, and at this time is editor of the "Edinburg Sentinel," a position he has occupied for many years. He married Mary Moore Weirman, born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, living with her husband in Edinburg, and all of their three children survive: Dr. Lewis Tilghman, Jr., of whom further ; Ralph Weirman, born in January, 1887, a student in the Medical College of Virginia, class of 1915: Mary Moore, a school teacher of Henrico county, Virginia.

Dr. Lewis Tilghman Stoneburner, Jr., son of Lewis Tilghman and Mary Moore ( Weir- man) Stoneburner, was born in Edinburg, Virginia, October 28, 1884, and there attend- ed the public schools, afterward taking a course in the Edinburg Academy. From these preparatory institutions he entered Washington and Lee College, graduating Bachelor of Science in the class of 1907. For two years he was a member of the faculty of the Newport News High School, and during the following year occupied a like position in Richmond, discontinning his work in this profession to matriculate at the Medical College of Virginia. He was awarded his M. D. from this college in 1914, and is now engaged in general practice in Richmond, his office at No. 105 North Third street. Dr. Stoneburner's career as a teacher, though short, was eminently suc- cessful, and the short time that he has been in practice in Richmond has furnished bright prospects for his future popularity. He is a Democrat in political convictions, and is a communicant of the Methodist Episcopal church.

He married, at Newport News, Virginia, June 12, 1912, Clara Gresham Smith, born in Baltimore, Maryland, daughter of Se- bree and Harriet (Gresham) Smith, her mother now living in King and Queen county, Virginia. Sebree Smith, deceased. was a commission merchant of Alexandria. Virginia, and was a soldier in the Conted- erate army. Dr. Lewis Tilghman and Clara Gresham (Smith) Stoneburner are the par- ents of one son, Lewis Tilghman (3), born March 2, 1913.

William Henry Adams. William Henry Adams comes of a family which through many years residence in the state of Vir- ginia has become entirely identified with the

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life and traditions of that region, a region rich in the most thrilling and characteristic history of the American people, at a time when our nation was in its making.

His father was Henry Clay Adams, born in Charles City county, Virginia, who be- came very prominent in the affairs of the city of Richmond during the period immedi- ately following the Civil war. During that sanguinary struggle he served in the marine force of the Confederacy, and upon its close went to Richmond and engaged in the gro- cery business, continuing the same until the time of his death which occurred at the age of fifty-six years. He was extremely active in all matters of public concern, especially in the matter of local politics, and was for many years elected and re-elected to a mem- bership on the city council, an office which he filled to the satisfaction of his constitu- ents in particular and the public in general. He married Elizabeth Frances Haynes, a native of Richmond, where she was born in 1848. Mrs. Adams, Sr., was a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Cogdill) Haynes, he a native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and she of Richmond. Mr. Haynes moved to the latter city while very young and there met his wife and engaged in the grocery business. He died there at the age of six- ty-eight years. To Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Adams were born three children, as follows: William Henry, of whom fur- ther; Cary Elizabeth, who lives unmarried with her mother; Hubert Tyler, who mar- ried a Miss Webb, of Prince George county, Virginia. Mr. Adams, Sr., was survived by his wife and three children, Mrs. Adams be- ing still a resident of Richmond.

William Henry Adams, the eldest child of Henry Clay and Elizabeth Frances (Haynes) Adams, was born March 23, 1872, in Richmond, Virginia. He passed his child- hood there, and attended the local schools until he was fifteen years of age. He then applied himself to the learning of the book bindery trade, with his usual industry and aptitude, apprenticing himself to the Everett Waddy Company, in whose employ he re- mained for a period of fifteen years. At the expiration of this time, or in the year 1902, Mr. Adams withdrew from his association with the Everett Waddy Company and es- tablished a business on his own account. In his venture he has been eminently suc- cessful, the volume of business which he

has transacted having grown so rapidly that he has been obliged thrice to change his location for larger quarters in order to ac- commodate the developing trade. Later he removed to his present address in Rich- mond, his success still followed him, so that his new quarters are operated to their capa- city. Mr. Adam's rapid rise in the financial and business world has been so great and so obviously the result of his own ability and character, that it was only natural that these qualities should have been generally in demand, and accordingly, his connections with financial institutions throughout Rich- mond have grown in both number and im- portance. He is now the president of the West End Development Corporation and the Glen Allen Corporation, the vice-presi- dent of the Richmond Corrugated Paper Company, the Richmond Bank and Trust Company and the B. W. Wilson Paper Company. He is also the secretary and treasurer of the Virginia Stationary Com- pany and a director in numerous concerns, his voice in many cases being the control- ling one in their management. It is not only in this department of activity that Mr. Adams is conspicuous. On the contrary he gives generously of his time and energies to the conduct of public affairs, and following in the footsteps of his father he plays a conspicuous part in local politics. A staunch member of the Democratic party, he is a prominent figure in its councils in that part of the country. For many years he has served on the Richmond city council, and at the present time is the president of that body. His total term of membership in the council has been fourteen years, during which time he has shown a disinterested interest for the welfare of the city, most creditable to himself and satisfactory to the community at large. Nor has his integrity wanted for guidance from his intelligence, and he has made an exceptionally high rec- ord as a legislator during his long term of office. With youth at his command, and success already smiling upon him, a bril- liant future seems to await him, alike in his private and public careers, nor would it be prudent to set a limit to the position held for him by Dame Fortune. Mr. Adams is prominent in social and fraternal circles in his community. He is a member of Rich- mond Lodge, No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, of the commandery and of the

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shrine. He is also a member of the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the Woodmen of the World. He is an ac- tive member of the Christian church, and an ardent supporter of its many benevolences, having been the secretary of the Sunday school for twenty-two years.

Mr. Adams married Ivy Nelson Long- worth, on April 11, 1896, in the city of Rich- mond, of which, like her husband, Mrs. Adams is a native. She is the daughter of William P. and Angela Longworth, both natives of Virginia. Mr. Longworth, of the firm of W. P. Longworth & Company, is a well known and prominent business man of Richmond. To Mr. and Mrs. Adams was born in November, 1909, a daughter. Flor- ence Elizabeth.

Henry Lane Collier, M. D. In the follow- ing chronicle there is recorded the union of one of the oldest of Virginia families, that of Collier, with the German line of Schmelz, the arrival of members of the former family in Virginia antedating that of the latter by about two hundred years. The record of the first of the family of Collier in Virginia is of special interest, the earliest American ancestor of the family being Samuel Col- lier, who came from England in 1607 with the first company of colonists. He was but a youth at the time and acted as "page" to Captain John Smith, accompanying that leader on his exploring excursions into the unknown parts of Virginia. In 1609 he was left among the Indians at Warraskoyack to learn their language, and in 1622 there is this record: "Quartering about Kecough- tan, after the watch was set, Samuel Col- lier, one of the most ancientest planters and very well acquainted with their language and habitation (that of the salvages), hu- miors, and conditions, and governor of a town, when the watch was set, going the round, unfortunately by a centinell that dis- charged his piece, was slaine." It is of this ancient family that Dr. Henry Lane Col- lier, of Norfolk, Virginia, son of Howard F. Collier, Sr., is a member, and through his marriage and that of his father the closest of ties between his line and the fam- ily of Schmelz have been formed.

The Schmelz family was founded in the United States early in the nineteenth cen- tury by Frank Anton Schmelz, of Frankfort, Germany, who, shipwrecked on the voyage

to this country, made safe arrival and set- tled in Hampton, Virginia. He established a bakery and grocery, built up a prosperous business, married, and in Hampton passed his remaining years. Children of Frank An- ton Schmelz: I. Fannie, married (first) William N. Causey, and had a son, Francis, (second) Robert Scott Hudgins, of Rich- mond, Virginia, and had a son, Robert Scott. Jr., who married Grace Cosby and has chil- dren : Robert Scott, third, Holden, and Gar- land. 2. Henry Lane, born March 14. 1854, died October 13, 1914; he was president of the Schmelz Brothers' Bank and the Bank of Hampton, one of the leading financiers of the locality, interested in numerous finan- cial institutions; he was prominent in the Virginia Baptist Association, and an active worker in religious and educational enter- prises, a citizen of responsibility and value ; he married (first) in 1876, Mattie Hick- man, born in 1853, died in 1896, (second) October 6, 1904, Anne Moomar ; children, all of his first marriage: Ethel, born in May, 1882, married Dr. Robert Baltzell; Margaret, died in 1911, married Robert Tate; Susie, born in 1889, died in 1903; Catherine ; Dorothy, twin of Catherine, born August 12, 1896. 3. George Anton, of whom further. 4. Frank, died aged nineteen years. 5. 'Nannie Belle, born in 1860, married, in April, 1878, Howard F. Collier, Sr., this marriage first linking the lines of Collier and Schmelz. Howard F. Collier was a descendant of Charles Collier, who married Frances, daughter of Colonel Howard, of England. Their son, Charles Collier, mar- ried Martha Wright Jones, and they had eight children : Caroline F., Nancy M., Mary M., Howard S., Fayette S., Ellie, Quimby, and a child who died in infancy. Howard S. Collier, eldest son, married Nancy Ann Schmelz, aforementioned. Chil- dren: i. Howard F., born August 23. 1879. married, June 28, 1910, Rowena B. Sinclair, born May 25, 1886, and has a daughter, Nan- rie Sinclair, born September 16, 1911. ii. Francis Anton, born October 20, 1881, mar- lied, August 6, 1902, Mary Louise Lake, and has a son, Francis Anton, Jr., born Feb- ruary 4, 1903. iii. Charles Marshall, born January 8, 1885, married, April 9, 1911, Mary Eva Cain, and has children: Eva Cain, born May 4, 1912, and Charles Mar- shall, Jr., born May 19, 1914. iv. Henry Lane, of whom further. v. Nannie Belle.

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born January 26, 1889, married Charles Chi- chester Curtis. vi. Fay McMillan, born No- vember 5, 1890. vii. Georgie Schmelz, born March 14, 1892. viii. Martha Jones, born May 8, 1895. ix. Mollie Hazen, born Octo- ber 20, 1896. x. William Causey, born June 23, 1899. xi. Nannie Lee Jackson, born January 19, 1902. xii. Thomas Mackey, born November 16, 1903.

George Anton Schmelz, son of Frank An- ton Schmelz, was born in Hampton, Vir- ginia, February 25, 1855, and died January 9. 1911. He grew to maturity in the city of his birth, there obtaining his education, and with his brother, Henry Lane, succeeded their father in the management of the bak- ery and grocery business established by the elder Schmelz. Subsequently the brothers embarked in banking ventures, founding in Hampton a banking business on North King street, a substantial institution that flourished and prospered, and about 1889 they founded Schmelz Brothers' Bank in Newport News. George Anton Schmelz took personal charge of the latter institu- tion, and under his careful guidance it gain- ed a reputation for soundness and substan- tiality that enabled it easily to weather any storms that broke upon the financial world, its deposits at the time of Mr. Schmelz's death being equal to those of any two other banks in the city. Henry Lane Schmelz continued the Hampton branch of the busi- ness, the brothers also gaining interests in financial institutions in Norfolk, investing, also, in real estate in that city. Mr. Schmelz was privately interested in many business and industrial enterprises in Newport News and vicinity, which profited from his wise suggestions and directions. One of his characteristics in business was the manner in which he familiarized himself with the per- sonnel of his working force, and many suc- cessful business men of the present day owe their position to the start he gave them upon perceiving in them qualities of indus- try, ambition and persistence. Charitable and beneficent institutions and beneficent organizations knew him as a loyal and lib- eral friend, although he never permitted public announcement to be made of his gifts of this nature. His donations to the home and foreign work of the Baptist de- nominations were numerous and generous, and he frequently contributed directly to special funds in churches throughout the

state. The Memorial Baptist Church of Hampton, on Newport News avenue, is evidence of the substantial nature of his gifts, and in this church he founded what grew to be the largest Bible class for men in Virginia. Mr. Schmelz had no vision of duty done when mere financial aid had been rendered worthy institutions, and his ser- vices in time and personal effort were of greater worth than the large sums he ex- pended. As leader and teacher of the Bible class previously mentioned, an organization that wielded a tremendous influence in church and civil affairs, Mr. Schmelz was the fountain-head of that influence, devot- ing himself with heart and soul to the work that awaited him. He was frequently the delegate of his church to conventions throughout the state, often taking active part in the discussion and deliberation of such gatherings. Richmond College, his alma mater, was the object of his lifelong affection, and among the alumni of that worthy institution there were few who re- flected greater credit upon her by the merit of their careers. He fraternized with New- port News Lodge, No. 315, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

George Anton Schmelz married, Febru- ary 19, 1882, Georgia Hickman, who died January 16, 1908, sister of the first wife of his brother, Henry Lane Schmelz. Chil- dren : Angie, born in 1884, married (first) in 1901, Frank H. Lake, and had children : Frank, Anne and George; (second) William B. Kurtz; Ruth, born May 2, 1886, married, May 2, 1910, H. F. Elam, and has a daugh- ter, Elizabeth, born April 28, 1912; Hilda, born August 30, 1888, married, February 22, 1911, William R. Van Buren, and has children, Nancy Elizabeth, born November 16, 1912, and William R. Jr., born August 21, 1914; Elsie, of whom further; Nancy Belle, born July 6, 1895.

Dr. Henry Lane Collier, son of Howard F., Sr., and Nannie Belle (Schmelz) Collier, was born in Hampton, Virginia, September 22, 1886, and there attended public and pri- vate schools, the Hampton High School and the Hampton Academy, the private school in which he was a student maintained by Miss Molly Hope. In 1904 and 1905 he was a student in the Medical College of Virginia, and in 1909 pursued post-graduate studies in the City Hospital at Richmond. Fo. six months following he performed the duties

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of ambulance surgeon, and has since been a member of the staff of the Sara Leigh Hos- pital, of Norfolk. Dr. Collier is a member of the Norfolk Medical Association, and the Seaboard and American Medical associa- tions, and stands high in the medical world of Norfolk, the opening years of his profes- sional career filled with early attainment that promises much for future success and achievement. Dr. Collier is a Democratic sympathizer and holds membership in the Baptist church. His club is the Country, his medical fraternity the Phi Beta Phi, and his fraternal society the Masonic order, in which he holds the Knights Templar de- gree, belonging to Ruth Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, St. John Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Grice Commandery, Knights Templar. He is also a member of Khedive Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He married, April 3, 1911, his cousin, Elsie, born July 29, 1890, daughter of George Anton and Georgia (Hickman) Schmelz, and has one daughter, Elsie Schmelz, born October 27, 1912.

William Roane Aylett. William Roane Aylett, of Newport News, descends from one of the pioneer settlers of Virginia, and from a very old family in England. The name originally appeared in the latter county as Ayloffe, and is found in Braxted Magna, in Essex. In 1612, Sir William Ay- loffe, of Braxted Magna, was knighted by King James I., and later created a baronet. He married Catherine Sterne, had three sons and four daughters, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Benjamin Ayloffe. About this time the spelling of the name is found in many forms, including: Ayliffe, Ailett, Aylett and Ayloff. Sir Benjamin Ayloffe was a "high minded, grand old English gentleman, of great nobilitie of soul, tend- erness of heart in all things and times, an unswerved Royalist to the last." He mar- ried three times, and had issue only by the second wife, Margaret Fanshame, who died in 1662. They were: William, Benjamin, Henry, Captain John and Catherine.

The youngest son, Captain John Aylett, came to Virginia in 1656. He had a wife Anne, and had three sons: Philip, men- tioned below; Benjamin, born 1660; Wil- liam, 1662; and two daughters. Philip Ay- lett, son of Captain John and Anne Aylett, moved to King William county, Virginia,

in 1686, and founded the family seat at Fairfield. His only known child, Colonel William Aylett, of Fairfield, who bore the arms of Aylett of Braxted Magna, England, was clerk of the county court from 1702 to 1714, member of the house of burgesses, 1723 to 1726, and a vestryman of St. John's parish in 1731. He married Sibylla Hubard, and they had children: Philip, William, Benjamin, John, Elizabeth, Judith and Anne. The second son, Captain William Aylett, born 1700, died 1744; his will proved August 28 ; his executors were: Major Law- rence Washington, Augustine Washington, Philip Aylett. Anne, youngest daughter of Colonel William Aylett, married Augustine Washington, brother of George Washing- ton. Their portraits are now in the posses- sion of William Roane Aylett. The eldest son, Philip Aylett, resided at Fairfield, mar- ried Martha Dandridge, and had children : Unity, William, Anne, and John. Colonel William Aylett, senior son of Philip and Martha (Dandridge) Aylett, was born 1743, and was a very prominent man of King Wil- liam county, vestryman of St. John's parish ; a member of the house of burgesses ; mem- ber of the Virginia conventions of 1775-76, and a warm personal friend of General Washington. He resigned his seat in the legislature, May 22, 1776, to accept a com- mission from the American congress as de- puty commissary general of the forces in Virginia. He died at Yorktown in 1781. He married, in 1766, Mary Macon, and their son, Colonel Philip Aylett married Eliza- beth Henry, daughter of Patrick Henry. Colonel Philip Aylett held a general's com- mission in the war of 1812, and possessed a very large plantation at Montville, the ancestral home in King William county, on which multitudes of slaves were employed in the cultivation of cotton, corn and to- bacco. Like all of his family, he adhered to the Episcopal church, and was a stanch Democrat in political principle. Colonel Philip Aylett married Judith Page Waller, and had children: Patrick Henry, William Roane, Patty Waller and Rosalie.

William Roane Aylett, junior son of Gen- eral Philip and Judith P. (Waller) Aylett. was born in 1832, on the paternal plantation in Montville, and was educated under pri- vate tutors and at Rumford Academy and the University of Virginia, graduating from the latter institution in both academic and

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law courses. He engaged in the practice of law in his native county, in which he was very busily occupied until the outbreak of the war between the states. As soon as war appeared inevitable, he organized a com- pany of men, which was attached to the Fifty-third Virginia Regiment of Volun- teers, and was elected its first captain. He was soon promoted lieutenant-colonel, and at the time of his retirement was in com- mand of the regiment as colonel, the organi- zation forming a part of Pickett's division, Armistead's brigade. At the battle of Get- tysburg, he received a severe wound, and suffered minor injuries on various other oc- casions. At Sailor's Creek he was made prisoner and was subsequently paroled, after which he returned to his law practice. and made himself famous. For sixteen years he was commonwealth's attorney. For many years he was a vestryman of the Epis- copal church, was a member of Pickett's Camp, Confederate Veterans, and in politics a sound Democrat. He died in 1900. In 1858 he married Alice Brockenborough, born 1838, died 1895. Children: 1. Sallie, married Richard T. Goodwin, and had chil- dren : Richard and Sallie. 2. Pattie Waller, wife of Dr. George Carrington Callaway, had children : Alice, Carrington, Henry, Edward, Pattie, Aylett. 3. Philip, married Christianna Fernquest, and had a daughter, Elsie. 4. Alice Page, married Dr. Moses T. Hoge, Jr., and became the mother of Alice, Bessie, William A., and Susan. 5. William Roane, of further mention below. 6. Bessie B., wife of Austin B. Mitchell, and mother of Austin and Pattie Mitchell. 7. Patrick Henry, single.

William Roane Aylett (2), second son of William Roane (I) and Alice ( Brockenbor- ough) Aylett, was born November 2, 1871, on the old plantation at Montville, was edu- cated under private tutors, took an aca- demic course, and graduated in the academic and medical departments of the University of Virginia, taking the degree of M. D. in 1895. Following his graduation he gained practical experience in the Orange Hospital, at Orange, New Jersey, where he was two years an interne, and in 1897 settled at New- port News, Virginia, where he has since been engaged successfully in the practice of his profession. Today he occupies a lead- ing position as physician and surgeon in Warwick county and is a member of the

staff of St. Francis Hospital. He is a mem- ber of the American Medical Society, Vir- ginia Medical Association, the Tide Water Medical societies of Virginia and North Carolina, and the Local Medical Society. Following the precepts of his forbears, he maintains connection with the Protestant Episcopal church, is a member of the great Masonic fraternity, and gives political alleg- iance to Democratic principles and policies. While busily engaged in caring for his pa- tients, Dr. Aylett does not refuse to give some time to the public service, and has been for some years chairman of the Board of Police Commissioners of Newport News. He is esteemed as a physician and as a man, and worthily fulfills the traditions of a fine old family, and the duties of an American citizen. He married, June 5, 1900, Sallie Clarke, daughter of J. E. and Anna (South- all) Clarke, of Henderson, North Carolina.

Walter Baker Livezey. Walter Baker Livezey, a leading business man of Newport News, belongs to one of the most ancient of American families. His ancestor, Thomas Livezey, was a member of the Society of Friends, an intimate of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, and among the first colonizers of that state. This colony was founded by Penn as an asylum for the Friends, who were being persecuted in Eng- land on account of their religion. He se- cured a charter from King Charles 1I. grant. ing the entire state of Pennsylvania. Thomas Livezey was a husbandman, resid- ing in Norton, county Chester, England, and came to Pennsylvania with Penn's agent, William Markham, who was deputy governor of the province. In May, 1861, he landed on the banks of the Delaware river, and his name first appears in the Pennsylvania records as a grand juror at Philadelphia, January II, 1682. He had ac- quired title to two hundred and fifty acres of land, with which was granted, according tc the custom, a plot within the limits of Philadelphia, where he built a house, which he sold in 1683. This was lot No. 150 on the "portraiture of the city of Philadelphia in the province of Pennsylvania, in American, by Thomas Holme, Surveyor-General, Lon- don, 1683." This lot is near what is now the corner of Fourth and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia. In addition to his first pur- chase, he subsequently acquired two hun-

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Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 97

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