USA > Virginia > Men of mark in Virginia, ideals of American life; a collection of biographies of the leading men in the state, Volume III > Part 10
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Hon. Thomas Jones, father of William A. Jones, was successively a farmer, lawyer and jurist. He served as judge of the counties of Richmond and Westmoreland, and was known to stand in the front rank of lawyers in eastern Virginia for many years. At the age of fifty-one, he entered the Confederate army at the beginning of the war, and served with recognized dis- tinction throughout the entire period of active hostilities. He married a daughter of James Trowbridge, of Plattsburg, New York, as above noted, who served with distinguished credit in the battle of Plattsburg, during the War of 1812, and whose gallantry in that battle was specially recognized by an act of congress.
William A. Jones attended the Virginia Military institute during the years 1864 and 1865, and served with the cadets in
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WILLIAM ATKINSON JONES
the defence of the city of Richmond until the evacuation in the latter year. Subsequently he attended Coleman's University Preparatory school, at Fredericksburg, Virginia, until 1868, from which he entered the University of Virginia. He pursued the study of law in the latter institution and was graduated there- from with the degree of B. L., and admitted to the bar, in 1870. He engaged in the practice of law at Warsaw, Virginia, and has continued in the active pursuit of his profession ever since. For a number of years he was commonwealth's attorney for his county; was a delegate from Virginia to the Democratic national convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1880; was a delegate-at-large and chairman of his state delegation to the Democratic national convention held at Chicago, in 1896; and was a delegate-at-large from his state to the Democratic national convention at Kansas City, Missouri, in 1900. In 1891, he was elected to the lower house of congress from the first Virginia district, and has repre- sented that district in the fifty-second, fifty-third, fifty-fourth, fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth, fifty-seventh, fifty-eight, and fifty-ninth Congresses. His career in that body has been characterized by ability, tact, and a singular fidelity to his constituents. He is at present (1906) a member of the committees on Insular Affairs, and Private Land Claims, of the fifty-ninth Congress. Among his most notable addresses before the congress were those on "Election of Senators by the People," in 1898; on the " Financial Bill," in 1900; on the " Island of Puerto Rico: Our plain duty to its Inhabitants," in 1900.
He was married, January 23, 1889, to Claude Douglass, daughter of John and Mary Motley, of Williamsburg, Virginia.
The address of Mr. Jones is Warsaw, Richmond County, Virginia.
JAMES RUFUS JOPLING
OPLING, JAMES RUFUS, was born November 19, 1845, in Bedford county, Virginia, and his parents were William W. Jopling and Julia Ann Jopling. His father, who was a farmer and justice of the peace, was born October 27, 1815, and he was the son of James Jopling, whose parents came from England to Virginia in colonial days. In 1841 William W. Jopling married Julia Ann, daughter of Rufus Thomas, whose parents came to Virginia from Scotland. She was born in 1821 and died August 3, 1856.
James Rufus Jopling was reared in the country, enjoyed good health and did occasional manual labor on the farm. He attended the country schools until eighteen years of age, when he quit them to enter the Confederate army. He joined Captain R. B. Claytor's Company B, 10th battalion of artillery, then sta- tioned on Marion Hill, at Battery Number 2, Richmond defences. During the winter of 1863-1864, Mr. Jopling was detailed with the other members of his company to guard Federal prisoners at Belle Isle, Libby prison and Barracks Number 2 in Richmond, and the next spring he was assigned to the ordnance department of the battalion, and so served until the close of the war.
After the war Mr. Jopling went back to his father's farm and worked like a day laborer until he was appointed in No- vember, 1866, deputy sheriff of Bedford county. He served in that capacity until September, 1868, when he resigned and worked as a clerk with Jones, Watts and Company in Lynch- burg. In June, 1871, he formed a co-partnership with them under the firm name of Jones, Watts and Jopling. He removed to Salem, where he was manager of the partnership interest in a hardware store there. In September, 1874, he removed to Danville, where for five years he was manager of a similar store. In 1879, he bought out the interest of Messrs. Jones, Watts and Company, and conducted the wholesale and retail business there until 1897.
From 1893 to 1897 he was president of the Merchants bank,
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JAMES RUFUS JOPLING
when he merged the Merchants bank into the First National bank of Danville, of which he has ever since been president. He is also president of the Morotock Manufacturing company; and a director in both the Riverside Cotton mills and the Dan River Cotton mills. For two years he was president of the Virginia State Sunday School association, and was a delegate to the World's convention of this association, which met in Jerusalem in 1904. He has been the representive from Virginia on the executive committee of the International Sunday School associa- tion, for several years.
In politics he is a Democrat; in religious prefer- ence, a Methodist; in both, sincere and zealous. He is a steward and trustee in the Mount Vernon church of Danville, the present church edifice being largely the result of his own individual ef- forts and contributions. And for thirty-four years he has been teacher of an adult Bible class, composed of young men princi- pally. He has also served as director in the Danville Methodist college and in the Danville Street Car company. His biography has been written by Dr. R. A. Brock, in “ Virginia and Vir- ginians," and to it the writer is largely indebted for the facts contained in this sketch.
On October 4, 1871, he married Mollie, daughter of Samuel and Margaret Phelps of Nelson county. Mrs. Jopling was born in Nelson county, Virginia, on November 24, 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Jopling have had one child, Mary Julia, who is now (1906) living.
His address is Danville, Virginia.
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HOUSTON CLAY JOYNER
J OYNER, HOUSTON CLAY, financier and farmer, was born August 8, 1842, on a farm in Amherst county, Vir- ginia. His father, James H. Joyner, farmer, was noted for unbending integrity. His mother, Sophia B. Joyner, a woman of culture and refinement, exerted a strong and enduring influence on all sides of his life.
His ancestry is English and Scotch. The Joyners came from England, but the early records of the family in America were lost. His grandfather, William Tiller, founder of the maternal branch of the family in America, came from Scotland early in the seventeenth century and settled in Henrico county, Virginia. His great great-grandfather, Young Landrum, was a captain in the American army during the War of the Revolu- tion and was present when Lord Cornwallis surrendered, at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.
Mr. Joyner was reared in the country, and as a boy was healthy, strong, and active, with a marked fondness for books and for all kinds of outdoor sports. All the plans made in his youth for his after life were entirely disarranged, first, by the death of his father and then by the Civil war. He had acquired his primary and preparatory education at local schools, and was looking forward with hopeful anticipation to entering Randolph- Macon college at its next session, when the Civil war opened. Filled with patriotism and intense love for Virginia and the South, he dropped all hopes of a college education, enlisted in the Confederate service, and served gallantly throughout the war, under General Pickett, participating in all the engagements which made Pickett's men immortal.
After the war, had he been able to follow his personal inclination, he would have sought some other occupation than farming. But his mother owned a farm, and she, with his two unmarried sisters, required support and protection. Therefore, as a matter of duty, he remained at home and carried on the work of the farm, in which he had a good degree of success.
Men . Mohu
Sincerely
Jours
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HOUSTON CLAY JOYNER
From reconstruction days he has taken an active part in politics, as a Democrat of the uncompromising and unchangeable type, and has been a delegate to many important congressional and state nominating conventions. In 1875, he was elected deputy county treasurer, and served until 1879. In that year, he was elected sheriff, and he held that position until 1884, when he was elected county treasurer. He has since been continuously reelected, and would probably have continued in that office to the end of his life, so entirely satisfactory has been his conduct of the office, if the new state constitution did not forbid. For more than thirty years he has continuously held an office of honor in the county and has never been defeated in an election, nor been denied any honor he has sought from the voters of the county.
Mr. Joyner's success as a county financier paved the way for his successful career as a private financier. In 1883, he was one of the organizers of the Bank of Amherst; indeed, it was partly his zeal and his influence that made the organization possible. He was one of its first directors, and since 1893, he has been president of the bank, and he has made it one of the most prosperous rural financial institutions in the state. His bank is a member of the Banking association of Virginia, and he has frequently represented it at the meetings of that association.
Mr. Joyner thinks that if every young man would select an occupation suited to his taste, one that he could love, and then devote his entire time and energy to it, success would be reason- ably certain; also that young men should keep out of debt; do thoroughly what they undertake; be honest and truthful, and endeavor to make themselves indispensable to their employers. He also believes that there is always room in business for good and faithful young men.
On May 8, 1895, he married Beulah C. Clayton. Six chil- dren have been born to them, four of whom: Helen Clayton Joyner, Sarah Tyler Joyner, Houston Clay Joyner, Jr., and James Reginald Joyner, are now (1906) living.
His address is Amherst, Amherst County, Virginia.
GEORGE BERNARD KEEZELL
K EEZELL, GEORGE BERNARD, state senator, was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, July 20, 1854, and is the son of George and Amanda Fitz Allan (Peale) Keezell. His father was a farmer, sturdy in body and mind, a typical Valley man, of the vigorous German stock which has done so much to make that section prosperous and flourishing. George Keezell served in the War of 1812. His father came directly from Germany, and settled in the Valley of Virginia. Mrs. Amanda Keezell's progenitors came from England. Sena- tor Keezell, it will be seen, is of blended German and English stock, and inherits the sturdy vigor of two fine bloods.
When a mere child, Mr. Keezell had to do the work of a man. Every able-bodied man was in the army, and boys had to cut wood, drive wagons, make crops, and keep the farms going. When not too tired, he read history and biography ; his schooling was received at a collegiate institute in Baltimore, Maryland. This he has supplemented by reading standard literature, his- tories, and biographies. Mr. Keezell is an eminently practical man. Contact with men in active life has been a potent factor in his success in life, though most of his success he attributes to one of those noble mothers so numerous in Virginia, women who deserve to rank with Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi.
Mr. Keezell left school at seventeen, and became a farmer. On the farm long owned by his grandfather and his father, and now owned by himself, he has spent the best part of his life, riding around the farm during the day, and spending the evenings in the bosom of his family and in the company of the great writers already referred to. Mr. Keezell is essentially a domestic man, and finds his chief pleasure in his home. He does not seek publicity or public office, but has office thrust upon him. In 1883, he consented to become a candidate for the state senate, and was elected. For over twenty years, he has been one of the most influential members of the finance committee of that body. He represented Rockingham county in the Constitutional convention
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GEORGE BERNARD KEEZELL
of 1901-1902, and was recognized as one of the practical men of that body. As a member of the State board of fisheries, also, he has rendered valuable service to the state, and has helped to make the fish and oysters pay a revenue, instead of being a burden to the treasury. All these services, Senator Keezell has performed at a sacrifice of his personal interests. The small salary paid a state senator and the trifling honorarium recently voted to the members of the board of fisheries, would not pay such a man for leaving his home and his farm for months at a time for half a lifetime; the state owes him a debt of gratitude for his long and faithful service in her legislative halls.
One of the most recent services which Senator Keezell has rendered the state is his work as a member of the committee on renovating and rebuilding the State capitol. This noble build- ing is an honor to the state and to the men that served on the committee referred to.
No college, no university, claims Senator Keezell as an alumnus. In an educational sense, he is a self-made man; morally, he is the product of a Christian home. Let us see what he can say to the young Virginian who is anxious to succeed in life: " I believe in doing what is right as one's best judgment, after investigation, dictates, and in making no com- promise with wrong for temporary advantage, or to please a friend or gain applause."
Mr. Keezell has been twice married : first, to Mary Katherine Hannah; second, to Belle C. Hannah. He has had seven chil- dren, six of whom are now (1906) living.
He resides at Keezletown, Rockingham County, Virginia.
ARCHER EMMETT KING
K ING, ARCHER EMMETT, lawyer and former county judge, was born in Fluvanna county, Virginia, October 22, 1858. His father was Joab King, a saddler and farmer of Fluvanna, and his mother was Sarah Elizabeth King.
Judge King's youth was spent in the country, where the farm work imposed upon him as a duty fostered in him habits of industry and self-control, and awakened in him a love of nature and country life which he has always retained. He attended in boyhood the Mountain View school at Palmyra, Fluvanna county, and then taught for some years in the public schools of Fluvanna. Later he entered the University of Virginia, where he studied law under Professors John B. Minor and Stephen O. Southall, during the session of 1881-1882. Upon leaving the University of Virginia in 1882, he settled in Fluvanna county, and began the practice of law, in which he met with immediate success. On January 1, 1886, he took his seat on the bench, having been elected by the general assembly of Virginia judge of the county court of Fluvanna county. He served in this position until 1890, when he resigned his position of judge and moved to Roanoke city, Virginia, where he opened a law office. Soon after locating in Roanoke, he formed a partnership with Mr. Roy B. Smith, a prominent attorney of that city, under the firm name of Smith and King, which firm still (1906) continues in active practice.
In addition to following his profession, Judge King is interested in the financial life of Roanoke, and since May 1, 1904, has held the position of president of the Peoples National bank of Roanoke.
Judge King is a Democrat in his political belief and practice, and has never wavered in his allegiance to his party. In religious preference he is a Methodist.
On December 9, 1890, Judge King married Laura Goodman ; and of their marriage have been born three children, all of whom are now (1906) living.
Judge King's address is 1300 Roanoke Street, Roanoke, Virginia.
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WILLIAM PRATHER KING
K ING, WILLIAM PRATHER, from 1885 to 1888 mayor of Front Royal, Virginia, and since 1901, president of the Bank of Warren, was born in Warren county, Virginia, October 1, 1849.
His father, Isaac Newton King, was a farmer and banker and served as colonel of militia before the outbreak of the Civil war. His mother was Mrs. Nancy (Owen) King. His early life was passed on a farm; and as a boy he became familiar not only with such work by way of " chores " as fell to a boy in most of the country homes in Virginia in the decade preceding the Civil war, but he was also trained to regular tasks in farm work, so that he became familiar with the routine of Virginia farming through the changing seasons, and had some experience in directing and managing farm labor.
He was not twelve years old when the Civil war broke out; and the years in which his education at school should have been most regular and systematic, were years when the social life of his state was disorganized and almost destroyed by the Civil war. At the close of the war, the ruin and loss which had been occasioned by the struggle, left his father financially unable to provide the son with opportunities for a thorough schooling or a college education. At the age of twenty-six he took a course at Eastman's National Business college, from which institution he was graduated in February, 1876.
He feels that the active work of self support and money- earning was an education with him in his experience of farm work, from 1871 to 1876. Six years after his course at the business college, he was appointed cashier of the Bank of War- ren. The duties of this office he dicharged for nineteen years, from 1882 to 1901. In 1901 he was elected president of the Bank of Warren. The esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens has been shown him in many ways. From 1885 to 1888 he was mayor of Front Royal Since 1901, his fellow-townsmen have kept him, by their votes, in the office of treasurer of Front Royal.
He married Mary A. Hansbrough on June 8, 1904.
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WILLIAM PRATHER KING
In his political affiliations, Mr. King has always been identified with the Democratic party, although he refused to vote for Bryan when free silver was the issue. Bv his religious convictions he is connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Mr. King owes the exceptional good health which he has enjoyed in no small degree to his early and persistent interest in all forms of clean athletic sports. He has always been fond of gunning; and he describes himself as "an enthusiastic fox hunter-hunting twice a week."
The life of Mr King may be regarded as a type of the life of the useful and honorable business man and banker whose successive promotions, through his active manhood, have been followed by such systematic discharge of the duties of an honest and honorable financial life as has won for him the confidence and respect of the community where his integrity and business enterprise tell for the welfare of others, as well as for his own prosperity. Virginia has been rich in such lives; and many of them have been no less strong in integrity and no less useful in faithful attention to business, because the men who have led them have found relaxation from business cares in those many out-of- door sports to which so many of the men of Virginia have always been devoted.
His address is Front Royal, Warren County, Virginia.
JOHN LAMB
L AMB, JOHN, congressman from the third district of Virginia, was born June 12, 1840, in Sussex county, Virginia, where his father was engaged in teaching. When the boy was five years of age, his father removed to Charles City county. Ten years later (1855), the death of the father threw the care of the widowed mother and the children upon the boy of fifteen. Though his education was thus interfered with, young Lamb studied civil engineering at night, and was making progress in this when the war drum beat in 1861. He joined the Charles City troops, afterwards Company D, 3rd Virginia cavalry, Wickham's brigade. Captain Lamb served gallantly throughout the whole war, was frequently wounded, once severely. After the war he returned to Charles City county, and resumed his work as a farmer. Though a zealous Democrat and living in a county largely Republican, his personal popularity and his reputation for probity led him to be elected sheriff, treasurer, and county surveyor. At this writing (1906), Captain Lamb is a resident of Richmond, Virginia. He represents in congress the counties of Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, King William, New Kent, Charles City and James City, with the cities of Richmond and Manchester. He is a " free-silver " Democrat of the most enthusiastic type.
Captain Lamb's success in life is due to several causes : moral courage; a high sense of duty; training, moral, intellectual and spiritual, from both parents; self-control and manly self-reliance. All these have combined to make him a man of note in Virginia.
His father, Lycurgus A. Lamb, was a man of moderation, temperance, and culture. His mother, Ann E. Christian, belonged to a family well known for intelligence, refinement, and piety. She was a lineal descendant of Colonel Joseph Christian, who served through the War of the Revolution with gallantry.
On both sides, Captain Lamb comes from good, sturdy, intel- ligent English stock, the blood that builds up great civilizations.
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JOHN LAMB
He " bore the yoke in his youth," and learned the great lessons of manly self-reliance and independence. His career in congress has been honorable and pure, bringing honor to himself, his con- stituency, and his state.
As a speaker on the hustings, Captain Lamb is earnest and forcible. As a defender of the Confederate cause, he is able and convincing. His fidelity to the "Lost Cause " and her leaders has made him many friends outside of his own neighborhood and constituency. He believes that the South was right in 1861, and that with five thousand more men at Gettysburg she would have established her independence. One of his heroes is General John B. Magruder, whose unlucky experience in the Seven Days' Fight around Richmond have, for a time at least, led many to overlook his phenomenal defence of the Peninsula at the time of McClellan's invasion.
Captain Lamb as a boy, supervised slaves, worked on a farm, and did whatever his hand found to do. At sixteen, he sowed with his own hand from a basket, one hundred bushels of wheat. Now, in his mature life, he is the honored representative in congress of the most important interests in Virginia, as his district includes the capital of his state, with the great commercial enter- prises located there.
Captain Lamb is a typical representative of that type of old Virginia gentleman who is still highly honored in many parts of the world. His character is largely the result of home train- ing received in part from one of those Virginia gentlemen of the old school, who believed that a gentleman's word was was as good as his bond.
November 20, 1869, Captain Lamb was married to Mattie R. Wade, of Charles City county, Virginia. They had nine children, of whom five are now (1906) living.
His postoffice address is Richmond, Virginia.
Men of Mark Publishing C. Washington, DC
ROBERT MENNIS LAWSON
AWSON, ROBERT MENNIS, was born on Christmas day, 1842, at Arracoma, Logan county, Virginia, now West Virginia, where his father, Anthony Lawson, Jr., was a farmer and merchant of marked ability and character. His grandfather, Anthony Lawson, Sr., the earliest ancestor in America on his father's side, came from the county of Northumberland in the north of England. He was about to sail from Liverpool when the War of 1812 broke out; he, thereupon, went south to Bristol (where Anthony Lawson, Jr., was born), crossing the Atlantic in 1815. His mother was Ann Brooke Robertson.
Robert Lawson's early childhood was spent in Logan county. He was educated at Caleb Hallowel's school, Alexandria, (amongst others), afterwards entering Roanoke college, where, however, his studies were brought abruptly to an end by the commencement of the Civil war. He joined the Confederate States army and in 1862 had his first encounter with the enemy while serving as volunteer aide to General Wharton, by whom he was commended for conspicuous gallantry at Princeton, West Virginia. On the organization of the " Virginia State Line," he raised a company of cavalry in Logan county, of which he was appointed captain under commission dated October 7, 1862, Lieutenant-Colonel W. M. Beckley being in command. About the spring of 1863, when the regiment was turned over to the Confederate government, Mr. Lawson was attached to the 8th Virginia regiment of cavalry, continuing to serve with it until his capture by the Federals at Morefield, August 7, 1864. He was confined at Camp Chase until March 14, 1865, and was one of the last of the paroled prisoners to reach Richmond.
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