USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > History of Norfolk County, Virginia and representative citizens, V.2 > Part 10
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Upon the close of the war General Groner turned his attention to business affairs, and in the time which has since elapsed has fostered and promoted many enterprises which have brought him prominently before the public. He served as one of the two Virginia commission- ers at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in 1893. About 1888 he purchased of the W. E. Taylor and Camp estates several acres of land, with water-front on Elizabeth River, extending from Avenue B. in Atlantic City Ward. He erected a bridge over a space of water out to a point where there is naviga- tion and there built several oyster houses. The shells from these houses have been used to fill in a roadway to the mainland, and are fast
making the foundation for a large area of prop- erty. It is General Groner's intention to make this one of the finest wharfs in the South and when it is completed he will have a half mile of fine dock surface. From the mainland, he has 700 feet of private dock, then 800 feet along the Elizabeth River, 600 feet on Tarrant Creek, and then on-the east side he will have from 800 to 1,200 feet, according to the extent of future construction. This seems like a gigantic enter- prise, but it is only a matter of a few years be- fore large buildings will appear where water, mud and shells are now seen. General Groner has filled in with wrecked vessels, the water- soaked wood making a fine foundation for terra firma. The oyster industry at Groner's wharf has grown to enormous proportions, and the demand for shells has raised the price to anywhere from 13/4 to 21/2 cents per bushel. About 300,000 bushels are sold yearly. in ad- dition to those which are used for filling in.
General Groner married a daughter of John A. Campbell, late justice of the United States Supreme Court, and they have. three sonS.
J. PHILLIPS, a leading merchant A of Portsmouth, Virginia, where he owns a handsome, large dry goods store and enjoys a splendid patron- age. and is prominently identified with the growth, progress and development of Norfolk County.
Mr. Phillips was born in the city, which has ever been his home. 47 years ago and received his scholastic training in the public schools of Portsmouth. At the age of II years he was employed by the Confederacy as a messenger boy in the Navy Yard at Richmond. Virginia. At the early age of 17 years he entered the real estate business and is still connected with the principal development companies of his section. He has been a promoter and an active member of all of the Pinner's Point companies, being at the present time vice-president of two of
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them, and president of two or three others. He was also instrumental in securing the location of a shipyard at that point. He is one of the early stockholders of the Cotton Manufactur- ing Company. and is president of the Ports- mouth Dime Savings Bank, of which he was one of the prime organizers. He is also sec- retary and a director of the Norfolk, Ports- mouth & Newport News Railway Company, and is a member of its executive committee.
Mr. Phillips entered the dry-goods business in the building now occupied by the Ports- mouth Dime Savings Bank, in partnership with W. C. Nash, under the firm name of Phillips & Nash. This firm conducted. with marked success, a large retail dry goods business for seven years. Mr. Phillips then withdrew from the business, selling his interest to Mr. Nash.
Shortly afterward Mr. Phillips found a more desirable location and opened a similar business of his own. The business increased so rapidly that it became necessary to have inore store room and better accommoda- tions, and in 1894 he removed to his present building, located at Nos. 302-304 High street. This store is among the largest, handsomest and most commodious to be found in the city and is regarded as one of the most important mercantile features of Portsmouth. The building occu- pied is three stories high, and is well stocked with dry goods. notions, etc. Eight clerks are employed and are under the efficient manage- ment of Mr. Parker, who sees that everything is carried on without friction.
Politically Mr. Phillips is closely allied to the Democratic party, and has served as a mem- ber of the City Council. He was united in marriage with a daughter of the late O. B. Sherwood, a pioneer resident of Norfolk Coun- ty, and for many years a business man of prominence in Portsmouth. Mrs. Phillips has one brother, C. S. Sherwood, a jeweler of the same city. Mr. Phillips and his estimable wife have an interesting family, consisting of two
sons and five daughters. One son, C. S., is a reliable bookkeeper in the Bank of Commerce.
Fraternally Mr. Phillips is a member of the Knights of Pythias. Royal Arcanum, Im- proved Order of Red Men and several other organizations. The large and successful bus- iness he has built up forms the most substantial monument to his energy, and proves his talent for correctly judging the needs of people, and his superior ability in catering to their wants. He is recognized as a man of great personal en- terprise, and of commendable and most heip- ful public spirit. It may be said of the various enterprises with which he is connected that to his wise counsel and energetic management is due much of the success they have attained. As an active member of the Portsmonth Bus- iness Men's Association. Mr. Phillips endorses every movement calculated to advance the in- terests of Portsmouth and is justly regarded as one of her foremost citizens. His portrait accompanies this sketch.
OSEPH R. IVES & COMPANY, real estate dealers of Norfolk. Virginia. Some of the most enterprising citizens of the city of Norfolk are engaged in the real-estate business. They are men of energy and ability and the great increase in population, trade and natural development is in large part due to their efforts.
Joseph R. Ives, of the firm of Joseph R. Ives & Company, stands in the front rank of the younger and more active dealers in real es- tate in this section, and is also treasurer of the Norfolk Land & Trust Company, and di- rector in several other companies. Mr. Ives possesses all the talents necessary to a success- ful career. He received ample business educa- tion and careful training in real-estate opera- tions.
The firm is thoroughly reliable and trust- worthy and deals largely in city and suburban
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properties and makes a specialty of farming, trucking and timber lands. This firm values properties and negotiates loans on all kinds of securities.
Mr. Ives first saw the light of day near Hickory Ground in Norfolk County and if nat- ural ability, fair dealings and strict integrity count for anything his record will be an honor to his native country and his state.
HARLES A. STEWART comes of a distinguished family of Virginia, and is a son of William Charles and Catharine Matilda (Garrett) Stew- art. The records of the family go back on the paternal side to Charles Stewart, great-grandfather of the subject of this bio- graphy, a sketch of whom is embraced in that of Colonel William H. Stewart on another page of this volume. A maternal ancestor was William Moseley, a justice of the County Court from 1650 until his death, who came to Norfolk County from Rotterdam. Holland, in 1649. Blandinah Moseley, who married Rev. John Braidfoot, a chaplain in the Revolution- ary War, was the great-granddaughter of Will- iam Moseley through his son, Arthur. and grandson, Arthur, and was the great-grand- mother of the subject of this sketch. After the death of Mr. Braidfoot, his widow married Willis Wilkins, and her daughter by this union was the grandmother of Charles A. Stewart.
Mr. Stewart obtained his education in the common schools. at William R. Galt's school, Norfolk, Virginia, Eaton & Burnett's Business College. Baltimore, Maryland, and the Colum- bian University, Washington, D. C., where he studied law. In 1878 he printed and published a small weekly paper at Wallaceton, and after- ward worked on the reportorial staff of the Portsmouth Daily Times, as local editor, a po- sition which he resigned in the fall of 1879. to take the management of "Beechwood" farm. He was a delegate to the Democratic Congres- sional Convention at Virginia Beach in Sep- tember, 18844. and the Democratic Guberna-
torial Convention at Richmond, in 1885, which nominated Fitzhugh Lee.
September 1, 1886, he was appointed to a clerkship in the United States Treasury De- partinent, at Washington, D. C., and was as- signed to the office of Comptroller of the Cur- rency, having successfully passed an examina- tion before the United States Civil Service Commission in March of that year. Since en- tering the Department he has been' promoted a number of times and at present holds a re- sponsible position in that branch of the service which has charge of the affairs of insolvent National banks. After locating in Washington Mr. Stewart took a deep interest in the Dis- mal Swamp Canal traversing Norfolk County, and by a series of newspaper letters, published in Philadelphia and Washington papers, as- sisted in no sinall degree in drawing attention to this neglected water-way, which has recently been reconstructed, and is now one of the finest canals on the Atlantic coast. Mr. Stewart's legal residence is Norfolk County, but at pres- ent he resides at the suburban town of Falls Church, Virginia, where he is a vestryman of "The Falls ( Episcopal) Church," built in co- lonial times, George Washington having been connected therewith as vestryman.
Mr. Stewart is a member of the Virginia Society, Sons of the American Revolution. His military record is three years service in the National Guard of the District of Columbia. He intermarried with Mary Isabella Tabb, a daughter of Dr. Robert B. Tabb, of Norfolk County, December 6, 1887. and they have two daughters and one son, namely: Elizabeth Tabb, born March 6, 1890: Catharine Maud, born November 23, 1891 ; and Charles A., Jr., born July 30, 1900.
m AJ. A. MYERS, one of Norfolk's most prominent and progressive citizens, is manager of the Equita- ble Life Assurance Society of the United States. This is one of the greatest, strongest and most progressive life
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insurance companies in the world, and under the efficient management of our subject com- mands a leading patronage in the city of Nor- folk and this section.
Major Myers is a Confederate veteran of rank and honor, bearing an excellent record for service during the Confederate War. He was a staff officer and his military title has clung to him throughout the years that have elapsed since the war. He was a merchant during his carly days, but after the war entered the real- estate business, a keen foresight and good judg- ment pointing out to him a new leasehold on proseperity in the South. His wisdom was soon made apparent, and by energetic and well directed efforts he established a large business in Norfolk, doing much to advertise the ad- vantages of the community in distant cities and States. The natural result was a great in- flux of people which has been of incalculable benefit to Norfolk.
Major Myers served in the City Council and as a member of the House of Delegates of Virginia, representing his constituents accept- ably in both offices. He is also a prominent Thirty-second degree A. A. Scottish Rite Ma- son: an Hon. Grand Cross of the Court of Honor, a member of Grice Commandery. No. 16, Knights Templar and Acca Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and enjoys the confidence of his fellow citizens to a marked degree.
K ENNETH A. BAIN. attorney and counselor-at-law, is a son of Robert T. K. and Amelia ( Benson ) Bain, and was born in Portsmouth, Norfolk County, Virginia.
After a preparatory course in the schools of Portsmouth and elsewhere in the State, he attended the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated with the degree of Master of Arts and where he then prosecuted his legal studies.
The first years of Mr. Bain's business life were devoted to teaching, and in that vocation
he occupied important and responsible positions in some of the most noted high schools and academics of Virginia. He has been engaged in the practice of law in his native city since 1896, and now has an office at No. 408 Court street.
Mr. Bain is a man of scholarly attainments. a deep student, and possessed of sound judg- ment and good business perceptions. His abil- ity as a lawyer is recognized wherever he is known.
A
LEXANDER E. WARNER, born in the city of Portsmouth, Virginia, was admitted to the bar in ISSS.
ILLIAM A. FISKE, the proprietor of the principal printery, bookbind- ery and blank book manufactory in Portsmouth, Virginia, is the sec- ond son of the late David Dodge Fiske and Elizabeth Bryant Stevens, his wife. and was born in that city May 9, 1840.
The business was established by his father in the "thirties" and continued by him uninter- ruptedly (except for a few months during the yellow fever epidemic in 1855). until the break- ing out of the war between the States in 1861, when the subject of this sketch joined the Con- federate Army as a private in Company B. 3rd Regiment. Virginia Infantry, while a younger brother, Melzar Gardner Fiske, in his 16th year, entered Company K. 9th Regiment. Virginia Infantry, and was mortally wounded at the battle of Malvern Hill. Mr. Fiske served with Company B throughout the strug- gle : was wounded and captured at the battle of Five Forks; removed to the Federal prison at Point Lookout, and released from there at the close of hostilities.
The business was abandoned soon after the beginning of the war. all the practical printers in town having joined the Confederate Army.
)
DR. FRANK ANTHONY WALKE.
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and the plant, including the equipment of The Daily Transcript newspaper. confiscated by thie Federal military forces when they occupied Portsmouth.
Soon after his release from prison Mr. Fiske, together with his father. re-established the business with an entirely new plant, in- cluding newspaper outfit. The newspaper, not proving remunerative, was soon discontinued and the energies of the firm devoted entirely to the other branch of the business, of which Mr. Fiske has been in full control since the death of his father. in July, 1870.
Mr. Fiske is inclined to be quiet and retir- ing in disposition. He is a Democrat in poli- tics; represented Portsmouth in the Virginia House of Delegates, session 1876-77, and was appointed postmaster of Portsmouth by Presi- dent Cleveland during the latter's first adminis- tration. In his younger years Mr. Fiske was active in the Masonic order, and has filled all the principal chairs in the several Masonic bodies ; he is also a Pythian and past exalted ruler of the Portsmouth Lodge, B. P. O. E.
Mr. Fiske is still actively engaged in busi- ness at No. 108 High street, where the plant has been located for the past 35 years. Al- though handicapped by unfavorable conditions and circumstances he has, by hard work and close application, built up a business which is a credit to Portsmouth and speaks well for him.
D R. FRANK ANTHONY WALKE. one of the leading members of the medical profession of Norfolk, Vir- ginia, whose portrait appears here- with, comes of a very prominent Vir- ginia family. He was born in Princess Anne County, Virginia. October 1. 1831. and traces his ancestry back to Sir Thomas Walke, an admiral of the Dutch Navy. i who landed on the shores of Chesapeake Bay in the immediate vicinity of Norfolk. : in 1632. There were three members of
the House of Burgesses bearing the name of Anthony Walke, in the first half of the eighteenth century. One of these mar- ried Jane Randolph, of Curl's Neck, Virginia, on the James River. She was a granddaughter of Thomas Rolfe, a son of Pocahontas.
Dr. Walke's father, John Newton Walke, was a farmer in Princess Anne County. He married Mary Land, also a native of Princess Anne County. He died at the age of 31 years and his wife at the age of 18 years. John Ran- dolph. the "Sage of Roanoke." was related to the Walke family, being a nephew of James Randolph, wife of Anthony Walke.
Dr. Walke was educated in the schools of Norfolk, Norfolk County, Virginia: in Jeffer- son County. Virginia (now West Virginia) ; at the high school at Alexandria. Virginia; at Concord Academy, in Caroline County. Vir- ginia; and at the Universities of Virginia and of Pennsylvania. He took a course in medi- cine in the latter institution and graduated in the class of 1851. He then entered the United States Navy as assistant surgeon, his first ser- vice being on the old warship. "Princeton." He was stationed at the U. S. Naval Hospital at Portsmouth. in 1855, and went through the yellow fever epidemic of that year. The hos- pital was thrown open to the afflicted. and the city of Portsmouth presented Dr. Walke with a gold medal as a token of appreciation of his services. In 185; he left the navy and opened a drug store in Norfolk, also engaging in the practice of medicine. After the breaking out of the Intersectional War, in 1861. he joined the Confederate Army as a member of the 13th North Carolina Regiment, with the rank of surgeon. At the end of six months he was transferred to the 46th Regiment, Virginia In- fantry, and served in that command until the surrender at Appomattox. He lien returned to Norfolk and resumed his practice. He sub- sequently lived and practiced in Charles City County, and Appomattox County, but returned to Norfolk in 1878. He opened another drug
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store, which he conducted until 1898, since which time he has devoted his entire time to the practice of medicine.
Dr. Walke is surgeon of Pickett-Buchanan Camp, Confederate Veterans, of Norfolk, and is surgeon general of the United Confederate Veterans of Virginia. He has been twice mar- ried, first in 1852, to Anna Maria Baylor. He was again married in November. 1896, to Belle W. Tunstall, but has no children by either union. 1.
OHN C. ASHTON is a native of Ports- mouth. Norfolk County, Virginia. He is a son of John Newton Ashton, a native of King George County, Vir- ginia, but who became a resident of Portsmouth in the year 1839. He was of the Ashton family that immigrated to Virginia about the year 1625 and settled in Westmore- land County.
John Newton Ashton married Ellen Cocke, a daughter of John Cocke, who has been a res- ident of Portsmouth since 1829. Mr. Cocke was a descendant of Richard Cocke, who im- migrated from Worcestershire, England, and settled at Malvern Hill, Henrico County, Vir- ginia, about the year 1626. John Cocke and John Newton Ashton were prominent and suc- cessful merchants in Portsmouth . for many years and both of them occupied positions of honor under the municipal government.
John C. Ashton, the subject of this bio- graphy, attended the public and private schools in Virginia up to the breaking out of the Con- federate War. While the war was in progress he volunteered for service in the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues, which company was afterward known as Company C. Richardson's Battalion of Artillery, and participated in all of the bat- tles in which his battery was engaged after his enlistment. He was finally made a prisoner of war, with his entire company, at the fall of Petersburg in April, 1865, and was imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland, for a few months.
Since the war Mr. Ashton has been a member of Stonewall Camp, Confederate Veterans, and for several years past has been treasurer of that organization.
In 1869 he established himself in mercantile business in Portsmouth, which he still controls. In 1886 Mr. Ashton was appointed superin- tendent of public schools for the city of Ports- mouth, which office he has held continuously to the present time. Under his superintendence the schools have increased in number from 20 to 38 and the course of study has been ex- tended.
In 1888 the Public High School was estab- lished, which prepares its graduates for en- trance into colleges and State Universities and into the United States Academies at Annapolis and West Point.
' In 1880 Mr. Ashton was married to Martha E. Cole, a daughter of Dr. William Cole. of Prince George County, Virginia. They have one child, a daughter.
L LINDSEY McD. SILVESTER, clerk of the Circuit Court at Portsmouth, Vir- ginia, was born in the city of Norfolk June 13, 1859. and is a son of W. W. and Virginia L. (Lindsay ) Silves- ter, natives of Virginia and North Carolina, respectively.
Mr. Silvester is a grandson of Dr. R. W. Silvester, who attained success in Norfolk as a practitioner of medicine. Dr. Silvester was the father of the following children: Richard, deceased; William, who died of yellow fever in 1855: Keeling, who was killed while serving in the army during the Confederate War ; Mar- garet, who died of yellow fever; Lydia. wife of R. C. Taylor, of Norfolk, she being the only surviving child; and W. W. It is an old Vir- ginia family of Scotch-Irish descent, and the first county records in 1637 refer to the family as one of the earliest established here. They have always been prominent in the county.
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W. W. Silvester was born in Virginia and was a well-known farmer of Norfolk County. He was an officer in the Commissary Depart- ment, U. S. Army, during the Confederate War. He always took a deep Interest in the political affairs of the county, being, after the war, a stanch Republican, He died May 18. 1889, and was buried with Masonic rites. His wife, who was a Miss Lindsay, of Currituck County, North Carolina, died June 30, 1889. Nine children were born to them, six of whom are living, namely: R. W., president of the Agricultural College of Maryland; Lindsey McD .; W. W., who is engaged in the real es- tate business in Berkley. Norfolk County; Lydia E., wife of Harry Welch. of Detroit. Michigan : Jane B., of Washington, D. C. : and Margery G., who was educated in Washington, D. C .. and is now engaged in teaching in the schools of that city.
L. M. Silvester received his early educa- tion in Norfolk County, and later attended the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, after which he successfully engaged in farm- ing. now owning two farms of 600 acres each. His farms, which are located in Norfolk Coun- ty, are well improved and mainly devoted to grain and truck raising. He was elected clerk of the Circuit Court on the Republican ticket in 1887, and has been twice re-elected, serv- ing in a highly satisfactory manner.
Mr. Silvester was joined in marriage De- cemiber 19, 1882: with Virginia E. Hurst, a native of Norfolk County and a daughter of Logan and Lucy V. Hurst (nce Hughlett) . old residents of the county. Her parents died when she was an infant, and she was reared by her grandmother, Virginia Fauntleroy Hughlett (ncc Edwards). Five children have blessed this union: Logan W., who is attending the .Norfolk Academy; Stewart Leigh; Lucy H .; L. M., Jr .; and Virginia. Mrs. Silvester is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The subject of this biography is a member of the Royal Arcanum. He is a man who stands high among his fellow citizens. He is a de-
voted and affectionate husband and father, a kind neighbor, charitable to the poor and highly respected by all classes of people.
A RTHUR EMMERSON WILSON, a highly respected and popular citizen of Portsmouth, was born at the old . Wilson homestead on North street in that city on the 3rd day of September. 1832. and died in 1896. He was educated at the University of Virginia. During the yellow fever epidemic in 1855 he remained in the city heroically devoting his time to nursing the un- fortunate victims.
In June. 1861. Mr. Wilson was appointed captain A. C. S. in the 14th Regiment, Vir- ginia Infantry, C. S. Army, and was afterward detached as purchasing agent and quartermas- ter. He was captured by Kilpatrick on the raid through King William County and after be- ing exchanged resumed his duty in the counties between the York and Rappahannock Rivers. He served faithfully through the war and was paroled on the surrender of General Lee. He was elected a member of Stonewall Camp, Con- federate Veterans, in July, 1884.
After the war Mr. Wilson went into the drug business with John N. Williams in Nor- folk, continuing until he began business on his own account in Portsmouth, which he pur- sued until his death.
In 1856 Mr. Wilson was united in marriage with Annie Taylor Moler. a native of Jeffer- son County, West Virginia, a daughter of Levi and Esther (Taylor) Moler. The family is English and the great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Wilson had a grant of land in the Vir- ginia Valley from the English Crown. Levi Moler and his wife were parents of three chil- dren, namely : Lee H., who was a captain in the Confederate Army, serving with Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson, and at the present time resides in Shepherdstown, West Virginia ; Mary E., deceased : and Annie Taylor, widow : of the subject of this sketch.
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