USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > History of Norfolk County, Virginia : and representative citizens, 1637-1900 > Part 79
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Rev. Mr. Savage was married in 1888 to Mattie Williams, who was born in Raleigh. North Carolina. August 21, 1868, a daughter of John G. Williams, a prominent banker of that city. Our subject and his wife have four children namely : Mattie T. : Robert R. : John G. : and William V., Jr. Rev. Mr. Savage is a Democrat in politics.
HEODORE JACKSON WOOL. whose portrait is shown on the op- posite page. was born at Nyack. Rockland County, New York, June 17. 1865, where he lived until Sep- tember, 1876. when he removed with his fa-
ther's family to Petersburg, Virginia, where his father engaged in the manufacturing busi- ness.
Mr. Wool was perhaps the only boy born at the North at the very close of the war be- tween the States named after a Southern gen- eral.
Mr. Wool's father was a lifelong Demo- crat. a Southern sympathizer throughout the war, and a great admirer of General "Stone- wall" Jackson, after whom Mr. Wool was named.
Removing to the South in 1876, during the Haves-Tilden campaign, when Federal sol- diers were placed at the voting precincts at Petersburg, to intimidate Southern voters, his father threw himself at once into the ranks of the Virginia Democrats.
Mr. Wool attended the public schools of INvack and Petersburg. after which he attended MeCabe's university school at Petersburg, and in 1884 entered the sophomore class at Hamp- den Sidney College, from which institution he was graduated in 1887, receiving the medal for oratory in his senior year.
He then taught school for two years in Charlotte County, Virginia, and in September, 1889. came to Portsmouth to take the position of principal of the Fourth District schools, in which capacity he served for three years, until June, 1892. During this time he labored con- scientiously and earnestly in connection with others for the upbuilding of the public- school system, and much credit is due him for his indefatigable efforts in rais- ing the standard of public-school work in Portsmouth. During the winter of 1891 and 1892. he pursued the study of law, having taken a summer course at the Uni- Iversity of Virginia, during the summer of 1891. and attended the University during the winter of 1892 and 1893. He was admitted to the bar in the summer of 1893. and took up the practice of law at Norfolk. continuing his resi- cence in Portsmouth.
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In January, 1894. he formed a copartner- ship with Benjamin D. White, afterward judge of the County Court of Princess Anne County, which continued until January 1, 1901. In the meantime Mr. Wool had become interested in a number of enterprises in Portsmouth and its suburbs, and upon the termination of his part- mership with Judge White, he removed his office to Portsmouth, where he has continued in the general practice of the law.
Mr. Wool has devoted a great portion of his time to the material development of Ports- mouth and the surrounding territory. In April, 1899, he became one of the lessees of the Norfolk County Ferries and in May, 1899, was one of a syndicate to purchase the Port Norfolk Electric Railway Company since which time he has served as counsel for both companies.
In March, 1900, when the two companies were consolidated as the Norfolk, Portsmouth & Newport News Railway Company, Mr. Wool was elected a director in the company and made its counsel, and he has had much to do with the extensions and developments which have grown out of that consolidation.
He is connected with numerous land im- provement companies, among which may be named,-the Portsmouth Water Front Land Company, Pinner's Point Water Front Com- pany, Pinner's Point Land Company, Pinner's Point Home Company, Western Branch Land Company, and the Air Line Land Company, in all of which companies he is a director and for the most of which he is -counsel. He is identi- fied with the syndicate which purchased about 500 acres of land on the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River, consisting of the Rodman, Maynard and Livingston farms, and is vice- president and counsel of the Portsmouth Dimę Savings Bank.
Upon the organization of the Portsmouth Business Men's Association, Mr. Wool was chosen as its first president.
In the summer of 1892, Mr. Wool was
joined in marriage with Esther Todd, daugh- ter of Captain D. W. Todd, of Portsmouth, since which time three children have blessed their home.
Mr. Wool has always been a stanch Demo- crat. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Elks and Royal Arcanum. He belongs to the Presbyterian Church. He is recognized as a man of energy and ability, and although still young, in the prime of his life, the impress of his labor and influence has been felt upon the progress of the community.
ON. MERRITT TODD COOKE was born October 17, 1846, in Norfolk and is a son of Dr. Armstead T. M. and Mary Louisa (Todd) Cooke, and grandson of Mordecai Cooke.
Mordecai Cooke was born in Gloucester, Virginia, in 1785, and moved to Portsmouth, Virginia, early in life, becoming a very prom- inent figure there in public affairs. He was a man of wealth and owned a large number of slaves being a true type of the Southern gentle- m1an1.
Dr. Armistead T. M. Cooke was born and reared in Portsmouth, and attended the schools of that town. He was graduated from the University of Virginia and the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and then entered upon the practice of his profession at Norfolk. His death occurred in 1866, at the age of 51 years. Dr. Cooke was joined in marriage with Mary Louisa Todd, a daughter of Merritt Moore Todd.
Merritt Todd Cooke was born, reared and educated at Norfolk, Virginia, attending the Norfolk Academy and the private school of Professor Galt and of Professor Harrison, of Nelson County. When the Confederate War opened, he left school and by running the Fed- eral blockade at Norfolk joined the Norfolk Light Artillery Blue. He served in that com-
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pany with the dash and vim characteristic of the Southern soldier until the war was closed by the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Mr. Cooke was paroled at Lynchburg, Virginia. He then returned to Norfolk, where he has since been engaged in the real-estate business. In 1872, he was elected city collector of taxes and served two terms. He was a member of the City Council, of which he served as president several terms. He was a member of the State Legislature from 1891 to 1899, and was one of the most able representatives who ever went from his district. He was chairman of the finance committee, and chairman of the Demo- cratic caucus of the House of Delegates.
Mr. Cooke married Mary E. Dickson, a daughter of Richard Dickson and Kate Tal- cott Hale, his wife. Mr. Dickson was a promi- nent merchant of Norfolk at an early date. They have five children: Richard Dickson, a student in law at the University of Virginia : Mary Louisa; Merritt, T., Jr .: Kate Talcott ; and Elizabeth Ayman.
RANKLIN D. GILL is one of the most prominent business man of Portsmouth, and is at the head of various enterprises which have gone far toward giving the city the com- mercial standing it now enjoys. He is presi- dent of the Portsmouth Knitting Mills, which were incorporated in 1896, the building having been erected in 1894, 1895 and 1896. The officers are: Franklin D. Gill, president and general manager : Jolın T. King, vice-presi- dent : Alexander B. Butt, secretary and treasurer : and R. S. Mackan, superintend- ent. The building occupied is a two-story brick structure, covering about two acres of land, and is well arranged, and equipped with modern machinery for the manufac- ture of cotton knit-goods. They employ about 250 men and women, and use an- nually between 1,200 and 1.500 bales of cot- ton. It is the first and only mill of the kind
in Portsmouth, and about $50,000 is paid an- nually in wages, some of the employees being paid by the day and others by the piece. They have their own electric light, steam heating and dyeing plants, and a 250 horsepower steam-engine. The plant is fully equipped for turning out finished garments, especially under- wear. The process of converting the cotton from the bales to finished garments is a most interesting one. The bales are first run through the carding machines, then to the spin- ning room, thence to the knitting room, after which the cotton is put through the washing room, then through the finishing room, and lastly finds its way to the packers, and is pre- pared for shipment. Railroad facilities are ex- cellent, as the concern owns its own track, which is connected with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. The manufactured garments are shipped to all parts of the world, being handled through agents at New York City.
Mr. Gill was born near Portsmouth, and reared in that city. He is of Scotch descent. For years he was identified with the tobacco business at Norfolk, and was one of the first lessees of the Norfolk County Ferries, which he owned and operated from 1889 to 1899. in- clusive. He is president of the People's Bank, which is one of the most flourishing banks in the city of Portsmouth. He is also president of the Portsmouth Star Publishing Company. which publishes the Portsmouth Star, one of the best and most successful papers in the State of Virginia.
5 ON. JAMES F. CROCKER is a na- tive of Isle of Wight County, Vir- ginia, which he represented in the State Legislature before he moved to Portsmouth, in 1856, and formed. with Colonel D. J. Godwin, the well-known firm of Godwin & Crocker. This firm con- tinued until 1880, when Colonel Godwin was elected judge of the Corporation Court of Nor-
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folk City. Mr. Crocker continued alone in the practice of law until 1896, when he formed, with his nephew, Frank L. Crocker, the law firmi of Crocker & Crocker. In 1900, at the in- stance of the bar of Portsmouth and Norfolk, he was unanimously elected by the State Legis- lature to the office of judge of the Court of Hustings for the city of Portsmouth.
INDHAM ROBERTSON MAYO, ex-mayor of the city of Norfolk, and an extensive manu- facturer, was born in Norfolk, April 4, 1844. He is a descendant of one of the early families of Virginia, the Mayos having emigrated from Southern Eng- land in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury to Barbadoes Island, and thence to Vir- ginia. Col. William Mayo, the first in the line in the Old Dominion, was associated with Col. William Byrd in locating the boundary of the Colonies of Virginia and North Carolina. In 1728, during the reign of George II, he also surveyed and laid out the site of the city of Richmond, Virginia.
The father of the subject of this sketch was Peter Poythress Mayo, who was born in Pow- hatan County, Virginia, in 1797, and died in 1857. During his active career he was one of the leading attorneys of Norfolk, and once served as Commonwealth's attorney. His wife, Ann Elizabeth Upshur, was a daughter of Littleton Upshur, a planter of Northamp- ton County. Virginia, and a niece of Judge Abel P. Upshur, who was Secretary of War and of the Navy, under President Tyler.
Mr. Mayo received his primary education in the Norfolk Military Academy, at a private institution in Powhatan county, and at Will- iam Dinwiddie's school. in Albemarle County. In 1859 he received the honor of an appoint- ment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was enrolled there until the spring of 1861, when upon the secession of
Virginia he resigned from the Academy, en- tered the Confederate service, and was as- signed to the navy. He was detailed to bat- tery duty at Pig Point, opposite Newport News, and subsequently at Drewry's Bluff, in repelling the advance of the Federal fleet up the James River. Later he served upon Con- federate iron-clads at Savannah, Charleston and Wilmington, took part in the defense of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, during both of the Federal bombardments and the assault, and afterward served in the batteries below Wil- mington, until the evacuation of that post. He then joined the Army of Northern Virginia, and during the battle of Sailor's Creek was captured and taken to Johnson's Island. Ohio. Upon his release at the close of the war, he promptly returned to civil life, and shipped be- fore the mast in the merchant service. Soon after entering the service he was promoted to be mate, and subsequently, to be master.
In 1874 Mr. Mayo was married to a daugh- ter of Commodore Stephen Decatur, of the United States Navy, at Bolton, Massachusetts. In 1877 he settled at Norfolk, and established steam brick works on the banks of the James River. This has been his principal enterprise. and he is still engaged in manufacturing brick.
He has taken a prominent part in social. business and political life, and has frequently participated in various conventions of the Democratic party. Under the first administra- tion of Mr. Cleveland he served as collector of customs for the port of Norfolk and Ports- mouth. and during the years 1896 and 1897 was mayor of the city of Norfolk.
OHN L. WATSON conducts the lead- ing real-estate and insurance agency in the city of Portsmouth, Virginia, and is prominently identified with many of that city's most prominent and successful enterprises. He was born in Norfolk County. Virginia, in 1863, and is a son of James F. Watson.
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HON. WILLIAM NATHANIEL PORTLOCK.
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James F. Watson was born in Norfolk County, Virginia, and is now a resident of North Carolina. He was for some years a mechanic, and then turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. He served four years in the Confederate Army. He is of a very re- tiring disposition. His wife is now deceased. Of the large family of children born to them, Jolin L. Watson is the only one residing in Portsmouth.
John L. Watson attended the public schools and the Portsmouth Academy, and entered upon his business career in 1883, as clerk in the office of the Seaboard & Roanoke Railroad Company. He continued with this company for six years, and in that time did some col- lecting. This led to his establishing a collec- tion and rental agency, the first one in the city. He was located in the early years of the busi- ness at different places on High street, but his office for the past 15 years has been at No. 355 High street. He has formed one or two part- nerships in this time, but they have been of short duration. He has dropped the collection feature of his enterprise, and now 'devotes his entire time to the insurance and rental busi- ness. He was in the real-estate business for a time, but is now acting only in the capacity of agent. He is interested in. and helped to or- ganize, 16 land companies, and was interested in the Portsmouth Street Railway. At the present writing he is interested in the Ports- mouth Electric & Gas Company. He is treas- urer of the Norfolk, Portsmouth & Newport News Railway Company, and vice-president of the Portsmouth Cotton Manufacturing Com- pany, with which he has been identified since its organization. He is a director of the Bank of Portsmouth, and has been secretary of the Home Permanent Building Association of Portsmouth since its organization. He founded the last named institution 13 years ago, in his present office, and during the time of its existence nearly a half million dollars of stock has been matured. Mr. Watson has an extensive business and employs five assistants. 32
He is chairman of the local board of improve- ments for the Fifth Ward, in which he resides, which has about four miles of sidewalks; dur- ing the summer of 1901, $50,000 was spent in this ward. He is a Democrat in politics.
Mr. Watson married Mercer Roche, of Portsmouth, who is of Revolutionary stock. Her father was Thomas A. Roche, captain of a company in a New York regiment during the Confederate War, and while in the South hie met the mother of Mrs. Watkins in Norfollk County. After the war, they were married and removed to New York, where Mr. Wat- son's wife was born. She was eight years of age when her father died, and she and her mother returned to Portsmouth. Mr. and Mrs. Watson have three children, Louise, Mertie and Ralph.
ON. WILLIAM NATHANIEL PORTLOCK, a very prominent citi- zen of Norfolk County, Virginia, whose portrait is shown on the op- posite page, has served on the bench of Norfolk County since 1892, and at the pres- ent time is a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of Virginia, session of 1901-2. He comes of one of the oldest and most prominent families of Norfolk County, his ancestors hay- ing settled in the county early in the seven- teenth century and having been active partici- pants in the Revolutionary War. The subject of this sketch was born on the farm he now owns, and is a son of Franklin Portlock, grandson of Nathaniel Portlock, and great- grandson of William Portlock. The earliest representative of this family came from Eng- land as far back as 1634, and located near what is well known as the "Portlock Estate," in the vicinity of the city of Norfolk. Nathaniel Portlock, grandfather of our subject, was born on this estate, the title to which has been in the family since early colonial days.
Franklin Portlock, the father, was also
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born on the old homestead in 1826, and died in 1896. At the age of 26 years he married and settled on a near-by tract at Great Bridge and followed agricultural pursuits. He was a public-spirited man and took a large share in advancing the interests of his county. He was always an active worker in the Democratic party and served as school trustee for many years and up to the time of his death. He mar- ried Eugenia Herbert Tatem, a daughter of Dr. William Tatem, an eminent physician who practiced medicine for many years in the city and county of Norfolk. Dr. Tatem served in the Legislature of Virginia for several terms, and was instrumental in the change from the Whig to the Democratic admininstration. Eu- genia H. (Tatem) Portlock, the mother of Judge Portlock, is still living and enjoys the love and esteem of-a large circle of relatives and friends who appreciate the many noble qualities with which she is endowed. Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Portlock became the parents of the following children: William Nathaniel ; Emily A .; Eugenia T., wife of T. W. Butt; Frank L .: Bessie F., wife of C. L. Young ; and a child, Bettie, who died in infancy.
William Nathaniel Portlock was reared on the farm and was a student for several years at Bethel Military Academy, Fauquier County, Virginia. He was elected clerk of the Circuit Court on July 1, 1877. an office he held for seven years. He was at the same time deputy in the city courts of Portsmouth City for a period of six years, commissioner in chancery, commissioner of accounts, and treasurer of Norfolk County and Portsmouth Ferries. He afterward entered the law department of the University of Virginia, and thereafter prac- ticed his profession in the city of Norfolk, and soon established a successful career. He has had unusual experience in the courts, and has attained a high degree of success as a counsel- lor. January 1, 1892, he was elected judge of the County Court of this county, and was, without opposition re-elected to that position in 1898, now serving in that capacity. He has a
comprehensive knowledge of legal principles, and his utter impartiality in decisions has gained for him the confidence and good will of the citizens of the county. June 12, 1901, he took his seat as a member of the Constitu- tional Convention convened at Richmond, Vir- ginia, to which position he was nominated and elected by the people of his native county with- out opposition, his nomination as a delegate to that body having been made in the county con- vention by acclamation. The official census of the State indicates that he represented in the Consitutional Convention a larger constituency than any other member of that body.
Judge Portlock is a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, and has always evinced an interest in its personnel and welfare. He has, since boyhood, enjoyed the confidence and esteem of the people of his county, who have conferred upon him many positions of trust and emolument.
RANK L. CROCKER, an attorney of Portsmouth, Norfolk County, Vir- ginia, was born near Lynchburg, Campbell County. Virginia. He is the son of Rev. William A. and Fran- ces K. (Jennings) Crocker.
His father, Rev. William A. Crocker, was born in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, in 1825, and was for 58 years a minister of the Methodist Church. During the Confederate war he was chaplain in Colonel Hodges' regi- ment, and also established the army intelli- gence office at Richmond, which proved very valuable.
Frank L. Crocker received his collegiate education at Randolph-Macón College, Ash- land, Virginia, where, in 1886, he received the degree of A. B. After leaving college he went to Texas, where he taught school for several years, reading law at the same time. He was admitted to the bar at Dallas, Texas, in 1890, and shortly afterward returned to. Virginia,
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and located in Richmond County, where his father was then presiding elder. Subsequently he practiced in the "Northern Neck" of Vir- ginia. At Irvington he became assistant editor of the l'irginia Citizen, and also practiced there about two years. In 1896 he removed to Portsmouth and became associated with Judge James F. Crocker, in the practice of law, un- der the firm name of Crocker & Crocker. He continued in that partnership until the present year, when Judge Crocker became Judge of the Court of Hustings for the city of Portsmouth. Frank L. Crocker has since been engaged in the practice of his profession alone, and is one of the most able men of the bar in Virginia. He is well known in Norfolk County as a man of splendid business ability and good judg- ment.
For the past four years he has been a stew- ard and trustee of Monumental Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Portsmouth, and has been president of the Y. M. C. A. for a number of years. In this capacity he has done much noble work, and his influence has been felt greatly in the community. He is now president of the King's Daughters' Hospital Association, which purposes shortly to erect a new hospital building in the city.
B F. HOWELL, who is now retired from business activities, has taken an active part in the affairs of Ports- mouth, particularly on the School Board, of which he has been a mem- ber for many years. He was born in Nanse- mond County, Virginia, and is a son of E. D. Howell.
E. D. Howell was born and reared in Nan- semond County, Virginia, and was a son of Rev. Edward Howell, a Baptist minister, who preached in Nansemond County, Virginia, and in Gates County, North Carolina, where he died about 1888. Rev. Mr. Howell's father came to this country from Scotland when a young
man, accompanied by two brothers and a sis- ter, and located in Nansemond County. Vir- ginia. The family became a very prominent one and was possessed of large means, its members being in the main planters, but their fortunes were destroyed during the Confed- erate War. E. D. Howell, father of B. F., was reared in Nansemond County, Virginia, and was a prominent member of the Masonic fra- ternity. He married Maria A. Summer, by whom he had three children, namely: E. S., who resides at Washington, D. C .; Mrs. G. K. Atkinson, whose husband was in the grocery business at Portsmouth for many years; and B. F., the subject of this sketch. E. D. How- ell died about 1857, and Mrs. Howell after- ward married Lemuel W. Williams, who was a master joiner in the Norfolk Navy Yard. and held a position as foreman for many years. He died of apoplexy in 1873. Three children were born of this union, all of whom are dead. Mrs. Williams died in 1876, at the age of 47 years.
B. F. Howell attended the common schools of Portsmouth and those of Nansemond Coun- ty. During the war and for some years after- ward he lived with his grandfather while at- tending school. He then returned home and entered a printing office at Norfolk. When the Portsmouth Enterprise was started he be- came foreman and proof-reader, a position he held for six or seven years .. His health failing, he decided to change his business, and at first conducted a grocery. A few years later he be- gan an installment paying business alone, and made a great success of it. He bought prop- erty at the corner of High and Washington streets, and erected buildings. He sold out in 1896, and has since lived practically a retired life. He has invested largely in real estate. He recently built a fine new home at No. 19 Dinwiddie street. Mr. Howell has been a member of the School Board for a period of 12 years, and in that time has put forth his ut- most endeavor to improve the school system and increase its facilities. It is to such men
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as he that the credit should be given for the fact that the schools of Portsmouth are unex- celled in the State of Virginia.
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