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 22
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Although never seeking political office, Mr. Waddell has been frequently called upon by the people of his county and town to serve them in a public representative capacity. He was elected a member of the Virginia house of delegates in 1865; and in 1867 he represented Augusta county in the Constitutional con- vention which framed the constitution of Virginia, being one of a little band of representative white men in that body who strug- gled to save the state and its government from the reconstruction element of negroes, " scalawags," and " carpet-baggers," compris- ing the great majority of the convention, and giving it the name in Virginia history of "the Black and Tan Convention." In 1869, Mr. Waddell represented Augusta county in the state senate, and wielded an important influence for good in the enact-
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JOSEPH ADDISON WADDELL
ment of legislation under the then new constitution. During his term of office in the senate, he was the president pro tem of that body. He has served as president of the board of visitors of the Institution for the deaf, dumb and blind, at Staunton, now known as the Virginia school for the deaf and blind; and has also been the president of the board of the Western Lunatic asylum at Staunton, now known as the Western State hospital.
During the War between the States, Mr. Waddell was earnestly interested in the success of the Southern cause, in whose service so many of his kinsmen and friends were enlisted in the field. Being physically unable to perform active service in the ranks, he was detailed for office work for the government, in which he was engaged during practically the whole period of the war.
Mr. Waddell's interests have always been largely literary and historical; and in his work as historian he has achieved eminent distinction. His " Annals of Augusta County," written from original sources, which has gone through two editions, is ranked by historical critics as without a superior as a local history ; and he has in addition written numerous papers and delivered a number of addresses of a historical character, a notable one of which was that read before the seventh annual congress of the Scotch-Irish in America at Lexington, Virginia, in June, 1895, on the subject of the " Scotch-Irish of the Valley of Virginia."
He is a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder, and takes an abiding interest in the welfare of his local church and congregation. In politics, he was prior to the War between the States, a Whig. Since that time he has been a Democrat, and has never in any other respect changed his party creed or affiliation.
In recognition of his literary acquirements and his valuable historical work, the Washington and Lee university, at Lexing- ton, Virginia, some years ago conferred on Mr. Waddell the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
He has been twice married. His first wife was Virginia McClung; and his second wife, now (1906) living, was Laleah Dunwody.
Mr. Waddell's address is Staunton, Augusta County, Vir- ginia.
WILLIAM CHESTER WHITE
W HITE, WILLIAM CHESTER, Presbyterian minister, was born at Salem, Essex county, Massachusetts, October 25, 1858. His father was the Reverend Charles White, A. M., D. D., a Presbyterian minister, who was a native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and was pastor at Berry- ville, Virginia, and at Hampden-Sidney, Virginia, and stated clerk of the West Hanover presbytery. He was also trustee and secretary of the Union Theological seminary of Virginia, and once moderator of the synod of Virginia. Mr. White's mother was Mary Porter Felt, who was in the eighth generation in direct line from George Felt, of Massachusetts.
Mr. White's first colonial ancestor on his mother's side was Henry Herrick, of Salem, Massachusetts, fifth son of Sir William Herrick of Beau Manor, England, who came to Massachusetts Bay, and settled on "Cape Ann Syde " of Bass river (now Beverley). He was a dissenter from the established English church; and with his wife Editha, was among the thirty who founded the first church in Salem in 1629; and on the organiza- tion of a new parish on "Ryal-Syde" in 1667, with his sons and sons' wives was among the founders of the first church at Beverley. He was a friend of Higginson who had been a dis- senting minister in Leicestershire, England. A full account of Mr. White's descent through the Herricks is given in Jedediah Herrick's " The Herrick Family," published by Samuel S. Smith, Bangor, Maine, 1846.
He grew up in the country, living in Berryville, Clarke county, Virginia, from 1859 to 1875, and after that time, at Worsham, near Hampden-Sidney, Virginia. After studying with his father, at the age of sixteen he entered a private school at Worsham, taught by Professor James R. Thornton, from which he went to Hampden-Sidney college, where he remained from 1877 to 1880, graduating in the last named year with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the fall of 1880 he entered the University of Virginia, where he continued for a year. From
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WILLIAM CHESTER WHITE
1883 to 1886 he was a student in the Union Theological semi- nary at Hampden-Sidney, graduating in 1886; and afterwards took three summer schools in Hebrew under the late President W. R. Harper, Ph. D., D. D., LL. D., of the University of Chicago.
From 1881 to 1883 he was an assistant teacher in the school of Captain W. H. Kable, at Charlestown, West Virginia.
In 1886 he began his career as a minister of the Gospel in the capacity of pastor of the Presbyterian church at Warm Springs, Bath county, Virginia. He was elected stated clerk of the Lexington presbytery in 1892 and still holds that position. In 1905 he was made division superintendent of public schools of Bath county.
Mr. White is a member of the Beta Theta Pi college fra- ternity; is a Mason, and chaplain of the Warm Springs lodge Number 253; and is a Royal Arch Mason, Warm Springs chap- ter Number 53.
He is identified with the Democratic party, but takes no active part in politics.
During his stay at the Warm Springs he has been identified with the remodeling of the church building at Warm Springs and with the building of a comfortable manse. Under his min- istry the handsome church building at Hot Springs, Virginia, was erected, and another church three miles west of Hot Springs -also the church in Falling Springs Valley, five miles south of the Healing Springs, and the beginning of the church at Fall- ing Spring station. Under his pastorate there has been a large increase in the church membership at Warm Springs, and the churches at Hot Springs and Healing Springs have been organized.
Mr. White has been twice married. His first wife was Nannie Edwards Findley; and his second wife was Martha Watkins Findley; both were daughters of the Reverend George W. Findley, D. D., pastor of the Presbyterian church at Tinkling Spring, near Fishersville, Augusta county, Virginia. Of his first marriage were born five children, all of whom are now (1906) living.
His address is Warm Springs, Bath County, Virginia.
STAFFORD GORMAN WHITTLE
W HITTLE, STAFFORD GORMAN, judge of the supreme court of appeals, was born at Woodstock, the country seat of his parents, in Mecklenburg county, Virginia, December 5, 1849.
Through his father, the late Commodore William Conway Whittle, a gallant officer of the United States and Confederate States navies, he was a lineal descendant of Pocahontas, and also of the Reverend Samuel Davies, third president of Prince- ton college and the apostle of Presbyterianism in Virginia; and his great-grandfather, Colonel William Davies, a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary war and a member of the staff of General Washington.
Through his mother, Elizabeth Beverley Sinclair, a daughter of Commodore Arthur Sinclair, of the United States navy, Judge Whittle is descended in direct line from Sir William Skipwith, baronet, his nearer maternal ancestors being General Richard Kennon, of the Revolutionary war, a member of the Cincinnati, and appointed by Thomas Jefferson first governor of Louisiana ; Major Robert Beverley, one of the most distinguished characters of the colonial history of Virginia; and Robert Munford, the presiding justice of Mecklenburg county.
In early childhood Judge Whittle attended schools in the city of Norfolk; but upon the breaking out of the Civil war he returned to his native county, where his education was con- tinued throughout that period. He was afterwards under the care of a tutor at his father's home in Buchanan, Botetourt county, Virginia, supplementing this instruction by a course of study at the Chatham Male institute, in Pittsylvania county, Virginia.
At eighteen years of age, he matriculated as a student of Washington college, of which General Robert. E. Lee was then president; and the following year studied law at the University of Virginia under that great teacher, Professor John B. Minor,
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STAFFORD GORMAN WHITTLE
under whose instruction so many distinguished men received their early professional training.
In 1871 he began the practice of law in Henry county, Vir- ginia, and was soon recognized as one of the leaders of the bar of that section, being employed in most of the important litiga- tion in the counties composing that circuit.
After an experience of ten years at the bar, he was appointed by Governor F. W. M. Holliday, on February 1, 1881, to fill the vacancy in the judgeship of the fourth judicial circuit, caused by the resignation of Judge Berryman Green, of Danville. He was nominated by the Democratic caucus of the succeeding legis- lature for the unexpired term, but was defeated by the Read- juster legislature, and left the bench, March, 1882. In 1885, how- ever, he was elected by the Democratic legislature for the full term of eight years, going on the bench July 1, 1886; and during the session of 1893-94 was reelected for another term without opposition.
Upon the death of the lamented John Randolph Tucker, Judge Whittle was unanimously chosen to succeed him as law professor at Washington and Lee university, which honor he declined.
In 1900 he was called upon by the supreme court to sit with its president, Judge James Keith, and Judges B. R. Wellford, Jr., and Henry E. Blair, as a special court of appeals in the case of Peyton's Administrator v. Stuart-a case involving the entire property of the White Sulphur Springs.
When the Lynchburg judicial circuit was abolished, that city and the county of Campbell were attached to Judge Whit- tle's circuit, upon the unanimous petition of their bars; his cir- cuit, by this addition, becoming, perhaps, the largest of any in the State.
On February 12, 1901, he was elected by the legislature judge of the supreme court of appeals of Virginia, to fill the unexpired term of that accomplished jurist, Judge John W. Riely, deceased, succeeding the Honorable A. A. Phlegar, who had been tempo- rarily appointed to that office by Governor Tyler. In January, 1906, he was reelected for the term commencing February 1, 1907.
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STAFFORD GORMAN WHITTLE
Throughout his career Judge Whittle has been a close stu- dent and indefatigable worker. He is a man of great intellectual ability and the highest moral qualities, enhanced by a noble physical presence and graceful and dignified bearing. For years he has been a communicant of the Episcopal church; and in politics is a Democrat, who has never swerved from his party.
In 1880 he married Ruth Drewry, daughter of Dr. H. M. Drewry, of Henry county, Virginia.
His address is Martinsville, Henry County, Virginia.
THOMAS HAMLIN WILLCOX
W1 ILLCOX, THOMAS HAMLIN, was born in Amherst county, Virginia, October 4, 1859, and he is the son of Thomas W. Willcox and Martha A. R. Claiborne. On his father's side he is descended from the Hamlins and Willcoxes of Charles City county, and on his mother's side from the cele- brated William Claiborne, secretary of state, in the days of early colonial Virginia. His father resides in Charles City county. He was a gallant captain in the Confederate army, a man of the highest personal virtues, of unqualified bravery, and pos sessed, withal, of the greatest dignity of character.
The subject of this sketch was brought up in the country and was educated in the schools of Charles City county. He afterwards attended the Virginia Polytechnic institute and . graduated in 1877. On his return he entered the clerk's office of Charles City county as deputy, and after four years' service removed to Norfolk where he spent three years in similar work in the city clerk's office. This experience afforded him a very valuable stock of information about courts and the conduct of suits, and in 1884 he began the practice of the law. It was not long before success was practically assured, and he acquired a large practice. To a high order of intellect he added the courage of his convictions and indefatigable industry. He took part in the city politics and was soon recognized as a leader, with the result that, in 1886, he was elected commonwealth's attorney, a position the duties of which he so well discharged that he was reelected for three successive terms. In 1894 he was elected judge of the corporation court, but he did not hold the office long, as he resigned the very next year to devote himself exclusively to his own business which demanded all his time.
Judge Willcox is a member of the Masonic fraternity and an Odd Fellow, and he also belongs to several other social orders. He is remarkably popular and highly esteemed in all circles, and a first-class lawyer. He is a member of the Episcopal church,
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THOMAS HAMLIN WILLCOX
and in politics he is, and always has been, a member of the Demo- cratic party.
On October 14, 1885, Judge Willcox married Mary Cary Ambler, a descendant of Mary Cary, who is reputed to have rejected an offer of marriage from George Washington. By this marriage there have been six children, all of whom are (1906) living.
His address is Norfolk, Virginia.
GANCELO STANSFIELD WING
W ING, GANCELO STANSFIELD, was born in Bedford county, Virginia, February 1, 1851, the son of E. Norris and Almira Robins Wing. His father, a civil engineer, was connected with many public enterprises throughout Virginia. He was an earnest advocate of liberty of expression, and was noted for his energetic attention to details.
He is descended from a long line of distinguished ancestors, including Rev. John Wing and Rev. Stephen A. Bachelder, who in 1632 emigrated from Sandwich, England, to Sandwich, Massa- chusetts. There are some unique and interesting points connected with these ancestors. Each of them was graduated from Oxford; each was ejected from his living by the nonconformity act, under James I. The former married Deborah Bachelder, thus uniting the families. The sermon which the Rev. John Wing preached to Queen Elizabeth is still in existence, and " evinces the fact that the royal lady endured much plainer talk than we are usually given to understand." Daniel Webster, through his mother, was of this strain ; so was the poet, John G. Whittier.
Rev. Stephen Bachelder refused to pay tithes, and was con- tinually in trouble with the church and with Governor Winthrop, who was a strict churchman. He brought his own congregation with him to the colonies in the good ship Francis; but the gov- ernor finally made it so disagreeable for him that he returned to England, where he died at the age of one hundred and one years.
Gancelo S. Wing was a sturdy boy, fond of all boyish pursuits. His early life was passed partly in a city, partly in a village, and partly in the country. After attending the ordinary country and village schools of the period he spent three years at the University of New York. Later he determined to adopt the legal profession and studied law without assistance, beginning the practice at the age of twenty-three. He is now engaged in the practice of his profession in Southside Virginia, principally in suits against railroads and other corporations.
Prior to becoming a lawyer he had filled the position of
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GANCELO STANSFIELD WING
clerk at the Mercantile library of New York, where he had access to all sorts of reading, in which he freely indulged, from light novels to the heaviest kind of literature-a mixed course which he believes to have been beneficial. His choice of profession was one of personal preference. Pride of family, and a desire to emulate the virtues of his ancestors, formed a strong impulse in his career.
Mr. Wing is a Democrat in politics. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and during his residence in town was for many years a member of the vestry and registrar of St. Luke's church, Blackstone, Virginia.
Mr. Wing owns a farm of 1400 acres, and finds in its manage- ment a relaxation from the cares of professional life, though he defines it as "a very expensive amusement "-an opinion in which many will coincide. Still, he has great confidence in the future of Southside Virginia, and believes that it will become the most prosperous part of the state.
Asked for advice based upon his own career, Mr. Wing replied : "I cannot say that I have failed; yet, if I had desired higher honors, I think they would have been attained by an earlier recognition of the more serious purposes in life. I believe that an earnest, honest, and energetic pursuit of any worthy object to be gained in this life will be successful, if the desire is recognized early in life."
Mr. Wing was married July 10, 1879, to Ada Gilliam, the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James S. Gilliam, of the 9th Virginia regiment and later colonel in the 42nd Virginia regi- ment.
His address is Green Bay, Prince Edward County, Virginia.
JAMES BLAIR WINSTON
W INSTON, JAMES BLAIR, was born in Richmond, Vir- ginia, April 11, 1830. His father was James Meri- wether Winston, a merchant and farmer, and his mother was Mary Ann Hemingway.
On the Winston side of his house Mr. Winston is descended from William Winston, the oldest of three brothers, William, Isaac, and James, who came from Wales to the colony of Virginia about 1687 and settled in Hanover county. Their ancestors were natives of Yorkshire, England. These three Winston brothers were the progenitors of all the Winstons of Virginia, whose descendants are scattered throughout the South and West, and are to be found in many other states of the American Union.
On the Meriwether side, Mr. Winston is a descendant of Nicholas. Meriwether, who came to the colony of Virginia from Wales some time prior to 1685. This Nicholas Meriwether, first of his name in the colony, was a vestryman of St. Peter's church, in New Kent county, Virginia, as early as the last named date. Mr. Winston's great great-grandfather, James Meriwether, was the son of Colonel David Meriwether, a son of the emigrant, and his wife Ann Homes. Mr. Winston's grandmother was the daughter of this James Meriwether and his wife, Elizabeth Pollard. She married in 1800 his grandfather, William Bobby Winston, who was a soldier in the American army in the Revolu- tion.
Mr. Winston's early life was spent in the city of Richmond. He was a youth of vigorous health, and his tastes lay, as in the case of most healthy boys, in the direction of outdoor exercise and sports. He was trained by his parents in regular and exemplary habits, but was required to perform but little manual labor. He was educated in the best private schools of Richmond, up to the period of his fourteenth year, when he was put to business in a book store, where he remained about two years. As he had a natural love for letters, he availed himself of this opportunity to add to his stock of knowledge, and to cultivate his literary inclina-
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JAMES BLAIR WINSTON
tions, which inspired in him a desire to fit himself for a profes- sion. At the age of sixteen years he entered Richmond college, where he remained for two sessions; but as his elder brother at that time was taking a university course, and his father's means were inadequate to the expense of giving both sons the advantage of a full collegiate training, it became necessary for Mr. Winston to abandon his cherished hopes in the direction of a professional career, and to return to a business life. After a year or more of mercantile life, he entered the service of the Richmond, Freder- icksburg and Potomac Railroad company as a clerk in the treas- urer's office, February 1, 1849. This step proved to be the turning point in his career, as from that date to the first day of December, 1904, a period of nearly fifty-six years, he was continually in the service of that company, during forty-three years of which time he was its secretary and treasurer.
Mr. Winston's literary inclinations, however, survived the disappointment which he experienced in not being able to follow a professional career. He has always been a student of biography, a form of letters which he believes to be the most useful as well as the most attractive in the direction of inspiring high ideals and in creating nobility of character. He has been a frequent contributor to the religious and secular press both in prose and in verse; and he published in 1904, for private circulation among his personal friends, a little volume entitled " Studies in Verse," which contains some poems of genuine feeling and artistic ex- pression.
Mr. Winston has been married three times. His first wife was Mary Catherine Pendleton, whom he married April 11, 1854. Of this marriage were born two sons, Pendleton and Blair. Sep- tember 15, 1859, he married Mrs. Julia Crane (née Lumpkin), and had issue two daughters, Nannie B., and Lottie Lee. His third wife was Virginia S. Ryland, whom he married December 8, 1870. Mr. Winston's only living child is his daughter Nannie
His address is Richmond, Virginia.
ARCHIBALD FINLEY WITHROW
W ITHROW, ARCHIBALD FINLEY, builder and con- tractor, was born at Millboro Springs, Bath county, Virginia, January 19, 1848. His father was David Henry Withrow, and his mother was Eliza Horner Withrow. His father's trade was that of a hatter.
Mr. Withrow's grandfather was Archibald Withrow, who came to America from the north of Ireland.
Mr. Withrow's early life was passed in the country, where he worked as a common laborer for fourteen years, until 1870. Living as he did in a mountainous district during the period of the War between the States, his opportunities for attending school were scanty; and he was able to obtain only a limited education. He never attended a classical school or college; but in 1870 went from the field into the business which he had chosen for his life work, and became a manufacturer of lumber, and a builder and contractor. He was led to adopt this occupa- tion by reason of the fact that he had grown up and lived in a section of country that abounded in fine timber; and entering the business, he has made the most of his opportunities.
He has been, and is a lumber manufacturer, builder, and general contractor, and was for many years president of the Withrow Lumber company, which was succeeded by the firm of A. F. Withrow and Company, of which Mr. Withrow is the senior member, and which has its principal offices at Charleston, West Virginia. Among the many important structures erected by these firms may be named the Hotel Richmond, Richmond, Virginia ; the Masonic Temple and the Court House, Staunton; the Court House and the Jackson Memorial Hall, at Lexington, Virginia; the Masonic Temple and several fine business houses and residences at Charleston ; the Golf Hotel, at Clarksburg, the Camden office building, at Parkersburg, and Marshall college, at Huntington, West Virginia; the Hotel Washington, at Ports- mouth, and the First National Bank building, at Marietta, Ohio. In addition to his building operations, Mr. Withrow is engaged in farming.
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ARCHIBALD FINLEY WITHROW
He has occupied a number of prominent public offices, among them being that of supervisor of Bath county for eight years, beginning in 1883; a director of the Western State hospital of Virginia; and a member of the house of delegates of Virginia, for three terms, during the sessions of 1891-1892, 1893-1894, and 1897-1898.
During the War between the States, Mr. Withrow was enrolled in the 11th Virginia cavalry, near the end of the war, but saw no active military service.
He is a member of the Masonic order, and is a Knight Templar. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
He is a Presbyterian; and in politics has always been a member of the Democratic party.
Mr. Withrow married April 17, 1872, Martha Jane Cum- mings; and they have one child, a son.
His address is Millboro Springs, Bath County, Virginia.
Vol. 8-Va .- 22
THOMAS ROANE BARNES WRIGHT
W RIGHT, THOMAS ROANE BARNES, son of Cap- tain William Alfred Wright and Charlotte, his wife, was born in Tappahannock, Virginia. “ His father was the eldest son of Edward and Mary Pitts Wright, of Wrightsville, King and Queen county, and grandson of William Wright, who, with two brothers, James and Thomas, emigrated from Scotland, early in the seventeeth century, and took up large tracts of land in Essex and the borders of King and Queen. His mother was the youngest daughter of the late Richard and Rebecca Roane Barnes, of Richmond county, Vir- ginia. He thus numbered, among his ancestors, ardent soldiers of the Revolution and eminent jurists of later times." His father was a soldier in the War of 1812. He was a strong and able lawyer and advocate, and commonwealth's attorney of Essex county.
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