USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > History of Norfolk County, Virginia and representative citizens, V.2 > Part 14
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
published by T. Y. Crowell & Co .. of New York. He is now assistant in Romance lan- guages at Tulane University, New Orleans. Louisiana,
b ON. JAMES MILNOR KEELING, a leading attorney of Norfolk, who for a long term of years was judge of the County Court of Princess Anne County, Virginia, was born in that county August 31, 1844. His family is one of the oldest in Virginia. the first settler being Thomas Keeling, who came from England to what is now Princess Anne County in 1635. The family homestead, which passed into other hands in ISSI, has been continuously in the hands of the Keelings since 1693. The father : of the Judge was Solomon S. Keeling, born : in 1805. died in 1881. who was the son of Adam Keeling. born in 1745, who served in the Revolutionary War as a lieutenant in the , light horse cavalry. and died in 1805. Solo- mon S. Keeling married Martha Peters. a. daughter of Milnor Peters, a business man of Norfolk.
Judge Keeling was reared at the homestead, and at the age of 15 years entered the military academy of Prof. N. B. Webster, at Ports- mouth, and subsequently the academy of Will- iam R. Galt, where he remained for two years. But it was difficult for Virginia youths to con- fine their attention to text-books at that period. and on March 8, 1862, the day of the memor- able encounter between the Virginia and Moni- tor, he left school to enter the Confederate service. Joining the Chesapeake Cavalry on April 1. 1862, he led the adventurous life of a trooper throughout the remainder of the war, commanding his company. He was in the battle of Gaines' Mill, Seven Days before Rich- mond, Culpeper Court House, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Brandy Station ( where he was wounded by a saber-cut on the right hand ). Beaver Dam Station, Luray, Win-
chester. Cedar Creek, Dumfries, Ream's Sta- tion. Raccoon Ford, Stevensburg. Trevilian and Lacey Springs. He participated in Staurt's celebrated raid around the army of Burnside. was with Stuart at Yellow Tavern, and bore a message from him, shortly before he was killed. to Col. Henry Clay Pate. For a short time, Sergeant Keeling served as courier for Gen. Fitzhugh Lee.
The war over, Mr. Keeling studied law for three years under Alexander Coke, of Princess Anne County, and, having been admitted to the bar in 1868. actively engaged in the prac- tice of his profession in 1872. On June 18, 1875. he was appointed judge of the County Court of Princess Anne County by Gov. James L. Kemper. In this position he was continued by legislative election in the fall of 1875. and again in 1879. 1885 and 1891. After con- tinuous service upon the bench for 21 years, he resigned in 1896, and removed to Norfolk, to resume the practice of his profession as a mem- ber of the bar.
Judge Keeling is a past district-deputy grand master in the Masonic order, and main- tains a membership in Pickett-Buchanan Camp, Confederate Veterans, of Norfolk, besides hav- ing cther fraternal connections. He was mar- ried in November. 1876, to Annie Whiddon Shepherd, formerly of Norfolk, Virginia. They have one child, Sarah Camp.
R ICHARD HENRY BAKER. The distinguished Baker family is of Eng- lish ancestry and of ancient residence in the Old Dominion, one of the Amer- ican founders of the family having being promoted to sergeant, and. on occasions : been knighted by King Charles in the seven- teenth century.
Richard H. Baker was born in Nansemond County, Virginia, in 1826. His carly educa- tional training was at the Norfolk Academy, and afterward at the Episcopal High School, ncar Alexandria, Virginia. After the com-
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M. D. EASTWOOD.
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pletion of his studies at this admirable schous, . he took the full course at the University of Virginia, graduating with the degree of B. L .. in 1850. From 1870 to 1875, he was a mem- ber of the State Board of Visitors at that in- , stitution. He began to practice law in Nor- folk as soon as lie graduated ; in 18;9, he took in his son as a law partner, and the firm of Baker & Baker still exists. During the admin- istration of President Fillmore, Mr. Baker was judge-advocate of the naval courts at Norfolk. Upon the secession of Virginia, in 1861, he went immediately into the military service of the State, but was soon after elected to the Legislature of Virginia from the city of Nor- folk, and was continuously re-elected, without opposition. until the close of the war, his ser- vices in the House being considered too val- uable to permit him to withdraw from the office.
He was married November 12, 1850, to: Anna M. May. a daughter of David May, Esq., of Petersburg, Virginia, and to them were born eight children, of whom the following survive : Maria M., wife of John Burroughs, of Norfolk ; Richard H., of Norfolk, who mar- ried the daughter of the late distinguished Capt. James Barron Hope. of Norfolk : Kate H., wife of George G. Hobson, of Norfolk; Benjamin' May. a physician of Norfolk; Lucy Lee; and Emily Gay.
The father of Mr. Baker, also Richard Henry Baker, was born February 22. 1789, in- Nansemond County, Virginia. He was a law- yer of high repute, and judge of the Circuit Court for nearly a third of a century, and up to within a short time of his death, in 1871. His wife was Lelia Ann Barraud, daughter of Dr. Philip Barraud, of Williamsburg. a dis- tinguished surgeon in the Revolutionary War, and afterward appointed by Washington, in' recognition of his conspicuous military service, surgeon of the U. S. Marine Hospital at Nor- folk, which office he held until his death. in 1832. Judge Baker left six children, Richard Henry ; Philip Barraud. a surgeon in the Con-
federate Army, who died in 1887: Mary. wid- ow of Capt. T. Barraud, who was killed. fight- ing gallantly, at the battle of Brandy Station, in 1863; Catherine B., wife of Capt. Samuel Wilson, of Charlotteville: Lelia, wife of Maj. Robert B. Taylor. of Norfolk: and Emily Evre, deceased wife of Judge T. S. Garnett, of Norfolk.
Mr. Baker's grandfather was Richard Bak- er. born in Nansemond County, in 1764. His wife was Judith Bridger, great-grandfather of Sir Joseph Bridger, a member of the Council of State under Charles II. He died in 1789, leaving three children, -- Benjamin Beverly, Mary and Richard Henry Baker .. The great- grandfather's name was Benjamin Baker, born in Nansemond County early in 1700; his wife was Sallie Blount, of North Carolina, and to them were born three sons, -- William, Blake and Richard. The founder of the Baker fam- ily in America came from Sussex, England, prior to 1650.
D. EASTWOOD, whose portrait is shown on the opposite page, has m been engaged in mercantile pur- suits in Portsmouth, Norfolk County, Virginia, for a number of years. He was born in Norfolk County on the Western Branch of the Elizabethi River, and is a son of Josiah Eastwood, who was also a native of Norfolk County. Josiah Eastwood followed the occupation of a farmer, and never removed to the city. He married Lydia Pow- ell, who was born in Norfolk County. M. D. Eastwood is the only one living of several chil- dren born to his parents.
M. D. Eastwood settled in Portsmouth in 1851, and his first work in that city was as a clerk in a store. He has since engaged in var- ious lines of mercantile business and for 30 years, until 1895, carried on business alone. He owns a large amount of real estate in Ports-
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mouth and the country adjoining. He is also interested in several prominent enterprises of Portsmouth, being one of the organizers of the Bank of Portsmouth, and a director in the People's Bank of that city. He is possessed of much shrewdness and good judgment in bus- iness affairs, and has always been prominent in all worthy enterprises undertaken for the development of Portsmouth.
Mr. Eastwood was united in marriage with Mary A. Thornton, of Gloucester County, Vir- ginia, who died in October, 1901, after 40 years of wedded life. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Eastwood, namely: M. L., who took a course at Eastman's Business Col- lege at Poughkeepsie, New York; Elizabeth ( Brooks), of Cottage Place; Frank T., who is clerk in the Norfolk Navy Yard; John T., who was educated at the University of Virginia, and is now a civil engineer of New Orleans : Wililam T., educated at the University of Vir- ginia, now a prominent attorney of Ports- mouth; Joseph Powell, an electrical engineer of Portsmouth, who was educated at the Uni- versity of Virginia; Everett O., who was also educated at that university, where he taught astronomy for three years, and who is now at the Boston School of Technology; and N. Louise, who is at home.
Mr. Eastwood is a member of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church.
ILLIAM HENRY VENABLE, a gentleman who has attained a high degree of success as a practitioner of the bar at Norfolk, was born at Hickory Grove, the old homestead of his family near Hampden Sidney, in Prince Edward County. Virginia, September 2, 1870. Ile is a son of Maj. Andrew Reid and Louisa Cabell (Carrington) Venable, and comes of a distinguished line of ancestry on both sides of the house. Representatives of this family
played an important part in the Revolutionary War, and were closely identified with the his- tory of Virginia from that period down to the present day.
Mr. Venable received his preliminary edu- cational training in the public schools of his native county. He entered Hampden Sidney College in September, 1887. From the first he took a prominent place among the public speakers of that institution, and his oratorial ability was in evidence during the entire time he attended college. During the first year he was awarded the Freshman Declaimer's Medal in the Union Literary Society. He was absent from college during the session of 1888-1889, but returned in September, 1889. During the session of 1890-1891, he represented his society at both the intermediate and final celebrations, and was sent by his fraternity as a delegate to the "Chi Phi" convention held in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1892, and carried off the Senior Orator's Medal presented by his society. He was the unanimons choice of his college to represent it in the Inter-Collegiate Oratorical Association of the State of Virginia, and in the contest held in Richmond, July 7, 1892. he carried off first honors and the gold medal. In the fall of 1892, he entered the law department of the University of Maryland. In the summer of 1893 he attended the summer law school of the University of Virginia under Prof. John B. Minor, and graduated from the University of Maryland with the degree of B. L. on May 25, 1894. In the meantime he acquired a practical knowledge of his profession in the law office of a relative, Maj. R. M. Venable, of Baltimore, Maryland.
Mr. Venable located in Norfolk September 20, 1894, and has since practiced law in this city. His ability and true worth as a lawyer soon became recognized, and his practice has since been a constantly growing one. He num- bers among his clients many of the leading citizens and business firms of Norfolk, and stands high among the members of the legal
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profession. He was sent by the Board of Trade and Business Men's Association of Norfolk, of which he is a member, to represent the city in the Pure Food Congress held in Washing- ton, D. C., in January, 1899. In March, 1901, he was elected to the position of exalted ruler of Norfolk Lodge, No. 38, Benevolent & Pro- tective Order of Elks. He was the first com- mander of Pickett-Buchanan Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, of Norfolk, Virginia, and the first worthy president of Norfolk Eyrie, Fraternal Order of Eagles of America, and is a member of Virginia Conclave, No. I, Heptasophians or Seven Wise Men.
On November 15, 1899. Mr. Venable was united in the bonds of matrimony with Eliza- beth Berkley Wight, of Richmond, Virginia.
At the Democratic primary election held in Norfolk, April. 17, 1900, he received the nom- ination of the party for the office of Common- wealth's Attorney for the city of Norfolk and was elected to that office in the general election held in May of that year by a large majority.
On August 1, 1901, he was appointed as- sistant counsel of the Norfolk Railway & Light Company, and will retire from politics on the Ist of July so as to be able to devote more of his time to this company and other corpora- tions by whom he has been retained as counsel.
RANK D. PINKERTON is manager for Baugh & Sons Company, manu- facturers of fertilizers and chemicals, located at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : he is secretary of the Baugh Chemical Works of Baltimore, Maryland. His office is located at No. 159 Main street, Norfolk, Vir- ginia. Mr. Pinkerton was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, April 11, 1858, and is a son of Rev. William and Mary ( Dandridge ) Pink- erton.
Rev. William Pinkerton and his wife were natives of Eastern Virginia. The former was a minister in the Presbyterian Church, and for
40 years was one of the most able clergymen of that denomination. He preached in many of the important cities of Virginia and other States, and was a man of noble purpose and excellent character. He left behind him the reputation of one who was ardent in the life work that demanded and received his best en- deavors, and who possessed a character well rounded in Christian completeness. His wife, who came from one of the oldest and best families of Virginia, was a woman who was loved for her many acts of charity. She took an active part in church work until prevented by the infirmities of age.
Frank D. Pinkerton, the subject of this sketch, has been connected with Baugh & Sons Company for the past 29 years. He left home to enter their employ as a traveling salesman, and also spent 15 years in their office. He has been engaged for some time in his present work in Norfolk. looking after the interests of the firm. His long service with the company speaks well for his ability and faithfulness. He is an excellent business man, and commands the respect and esteem of all with whom he comes in contact.
Mr. Pinkerton was married, December 26, 1886, to Mary H. Coulson, a native of Balti- more, Maryland, and a daughter of Thomas H. Coulson, a well-known citizen of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Pinkerton have four children, namely: Mary B .; Frank C .; Eleanor D .: and Margaret I. The subject of this sketch and his family attend the Presbyterian Church, in which Mr. Pinkerton is a ruling elder. He is one of Norfolk's most influential citizens, and is well and favorably known.
FRANK ROBERTSON, an ac- tive and energetic citizen of Nor- folk, Virginia, is secretary and treasurer of the Old Dominion Paper Company, a prosperous en- terprise of the city. He was born in Isle of 1
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Wight County, Virginia, January 17, 1868, and is a son of John W. and Roxana E. ( Carr) Robertson. both natives of Virginia.
Jolin W. Robertson is a farmer by occupa- tion and is now 63 years of age. He served during the Confederate War. under General Lee, in Mahone's Brigade, in the Army of Northern Virginia. He saw much hard ser- vice, and narrowly escaped death in an ex- ! plosion at Petersburg. He is a prominent of- ficer in the Baptist Church at South Quay, Virginia. Mrs. Robertson is now past 61 years of age, and is an active and consistent member of the Baptist Church. Eight children were born to them, as follows: W. Frank: E. J. and J. M., who are traveling salesmen for the Old Dominion Paper Company ; Sallie, wife of Richard L. Forrest: Alphonso, who is attend- ing school; Lillie; Roxie; and Inez.
W. Frank Robertson first attended the academy at South Quay, and later the male academy at Franklin, Virginia. He then clerked in the mercantile establishment of J. R. Howell & Company, at Franklin, for one year, and then entered a business college at Norfolk, where he completed a course of study. He accepted a position as bookkeeper with the Old Dominion Paper Company, a position which he held until 1894, when the company was incor- porated and Mr. Robertson was made secretary and treasurer. They manufacture paper of all kinds and employ many people, and under the conservative management of its president, Rob- ert Johnston, the business has assumed large proportions. Each year has witnessed an in- crease in business and it is now on a good pay- ing basis. Mr. Robertson is a man of recog- nized ability and has had his share in the suc- cess of the firm.
W. Frank Robertson has been a member of the Baptist Church since he was 13 years of age, and has always been an active church worker. At the age of 25 years, he became affiliated with the Freemason Street Baptist Church, of Norfolk. and served as assistant superintendent of the Sunday-school for three
years. He resigned in November, 1901, and became superintendent of the Sunday-school of the Central Avenue Baptist Church of Norfolk. This is a new church, but the school has an en- rollment of 200 pupils, and he has met with fine success in his efforts to build it up. On June 14, 1893, Mr. Robertson married Luey Henley Hall, a native of Nansemond County, and a daughter of Arthur E. Hall, a prominent man in the Methodist Episcopal Church. South. of Norfolk. This union has been blessed with three children, namely: Annie May; Alma L .; and William Arthur. Mrs. Robertson is a member of Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, South, being one of those who aided in its establishment a number of years ago. Fraternally, the subject of this biography is a member of Owens Lodge, No. 164. A. F. & A. M.
HARLES SCHROEDER, who has been engaged in the railroad, mill C and general supply business for more than a quarter of a century, is a member of the firm of E. V. White & Company of Norfolk. He has taken a deep interest in the affairs of the city, and was formerly a member of the City Council. A brave, daring soldier and a successful business man, he well merits the esteem in which he is held.
Mr. Schroeder was born at Portsmouth, January 22, 1836, and is a sou of Antonius and Theresa Schroeder. His parents were na- tives of Prussia and moved to Jamaica about 1832, where he followed surveying a couple of years. They then moved to Virginia, where they lived the remainder of their lives. the father dying in December, 1854, at the age of 55 years, and the mother, in February. 1865, aged 65 years. The former located in Norfolk in 1834. followed farming for a time, and then engaged in general business.
Charles Schroeder entered the engineer
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GEORGE W. MERRILL.
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corps of the United States Navy in 1853, and was advanced to the rank of passed assistant engineer, in which capacity he was serving when Virginia Joined the Confederacy. He immediately thereafter resigned his commission and tendered his services to the Governor of Virginia. He was assigned to the Confederate States Navy with the rank of chief engineer, was detailed for special duty for several months with Commodore Matthew F. Maury, and sub- sequently served at Richmond in connection with the naval batteries and the James River squadron. He acted as a member of the first naval examining board of engineers of the Con- federate government, and was later appointed special agent for the purchase of naval sup- plies, an office which frequently required him to run the blockade of Southern ports. He always acted as chief engineer on the vessel on which he took passage. When the expedi- tion was organized under the command of Captain John Wilkinson for the relief of Con- federate prisoners at Johnston's Island, Ohio, he was detailed as chief engineer. The idea was to go through Canada, and they left Wil- mington, North Carolina, on the blockade run- ner "Robert E. Lee." After their arrival at Halifax, Nova Scotia, the party was separated, to allay suspicion, to meet again at St. Cather- ines. Upon their arrival at the latter place, they were much chagrined to find that their plans had become known and the enterprise must be abandoned. Returning to Halifax. they sailed for the Bermudas, and attempted to enter the port at Wilmington, but were chased by blockade cruisers and forced to run their vessel ashore on Dauber's Beach, near Georgetown, South Carolina, and abandon her. On returning to Richmond. Mir. Schroeder was ordered to resume his duties as purchasing agent. He subsequently evaded the Federal blockade a number of times and successfully reinforced the Confederate military supplies. He continued to serve in that manner until confined to his bed with yellow fever, by which ; he was incapacitated for a number of months. | Aun ( Reill ) Merrill.
Upon recovery he was assigned as chief engi- neer of the cruiser "Tallahassee," a vessel which captured numerous merchantmen, some of which were bonded and others destroyed. Unfortunately, however, in running into the Bermudas for recoaling, the "Tallahassee" was allowed only enough coal to carry her to Wil- mington. Arriving there, the cruiser was abandoned and the boat dismantled. Mr. Schroeder was next engaged in a special mis- sion to England, when the announcement reached them that the war was closed. He then went to Halifax, and with Captain John Wilkinson and Capt. John Taylor Woods, engaged in mercantile business for two years, when he withdrew from the firm and returned to Portsmouth. About I8 months later, he went to San Francisco as engineer in the em- ploy of the Pacific Steamship Mail Company, and in that capacity went to China, where he remained five years. He then returned to Portsmouth in May, 1873, and embarked in the general hardware trade as a member of the firm of E. V. White & Company, with which he has since been connected. He is one of the substantial business men of the city, and enjoys the friendship of his fellow citizens to a marked degree.
In 1861, Mr. Schroeder was joined in the bonds of matrimony with Mary E. City, a daughter of Samuel G. City, an officer of the navy, and they have four children, namely : Eugenia, wife of Robert Emmett Crump, of Portsmouth; Mary; William C., a graduate of the medical department of the University of Virginia, at present located in New York City ; and Lucrece.
EORGE W. MERRILL. prominent hat manufacturer of Norfolk, Vir- ginia, having the only establishment of the kind in the city, was born in South Norwalk. Connecticut. July 18, 1872. He is a son of William S. and Mary
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William S. Merrill was a sea-captain for many years and circumnavigated the globe. He was in the mines of Colorado and Australia, and in the diamond mines of Africa. He was a European oyster dealer on Long Island Sound for years, and was the first dealer to ship a barrel of oysters to England. He removed to Norfolk, Virginia, in October, 1900, and died in November of the same year, at the age of 72 years. He was a member of the Baptist Church. He married Mary Ann Reill, who was born in 1828, and died in 1883. She was a member of the Episcopal Church. They were the parents of four chil- dren, namely: Ella Louise: William R., of Stratford. Connecticut, captain of an oyster boat; Irene May; and George W., the subject of this biography.
George W. Merrill attended the South Nor- walk High School in Connecticut, and then learned the trade of a hat maker in his native town. He accompanied his father to Norfolk, Virginia, in October, 1900, and established the only hat manufactory in the city. His uncle had established the first hat factory in Nor- walk, Connecticut. The business is conducted under the firm name of G. W. Merrill & Com- pany, and is located at No. 241 Church street. It is the only firm in the State of Virginia man- ufacturing soft, stiff and straw hats, and silk tiles. From a small beginning, the business has grown to large proportions under capable management. and the quality of the articles manufactured is such as to warrant an equally large growth each succeeding year.
Mr. Merrill was married at the famous "Little Church Around the Corner" in New York City, to Lulu A. Cronk, a daughter of Peter D. and Ida F. (Brown) Cronk. She was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. January 17, 1874. During his short residence in Nor- folk, Mr. Merrill has gained a host of friends, and is highly respected by all with whom he comes in contact.
It makes no difference whether we spell the last syllable of Merrill with an i or an c. The families represented by it have a common
origin. For 269 years the family have resided on American soil. The family was originally Huguenot French, spelling the name Merle, and had a black bird on the coat of arms. Hence the name of those residing anciently at Place De Dombes, France. The first Merrill that set foot on American soil was born in the year memorable for the assassination of Henry IV. Disliking the political movements of the times, the Merrill family left France and went into England. Nathaniel Merrill born in 1610, grew up in that English home. Before he was 23 years of age he married an English girl. Hannah Wilterton by name, and very properly emigrated to America. He reached Ipswich, Massachusetts, even before the well- known pioneer. Reginal Foster. Merrill, how- ever, made his home in Newbury, Massachu- setts, two years after. He had there various children. the descendants of whom are now scattered over the whole country. The de- scendants of Nathaniel made distinguished records in New England ; they were politicians, members of constitutional conventions, fought in the Revolution, where they commanded companies, and in the war between the States one attained the rank of brigadier-general and there was one of the family who founded a Pennsylvania town. The children of Na- thaniel, the immigrant to this country. and his wife Hannah Wilterton, were: John, born in 1635: Nathaniel, born in 1638; Susan, born in 1640; Daniel, born in 1642; Abel and Thomas, born in 1648, and possibly others. With the exception of John, the children seemed to have located in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine; but John, for some reason, was adopted by Gregory Wilterton of Hartford, Connecticut. Why he was adopted by Mr. Wilterton is only suggested by the lat- ter's name. He may have been grandfather, father of Nathaniel's wife, the name being the same. As Nathaniel Merrill, Sr., did not die until 1654. the adoption of his son John proba- bly occurred before he died. When Gregory Wilterton's will was read, it was found that John Merrill had been made his heir. John
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