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 9
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He entered politics in 1905, when he was elected a member of the house of delegates from the counties of Elizabeth City and Accomac. While in the legislature he led several stubbornly contested debates and secured the passage of a number of important bills, among which was one establishing the Virginia State school for colored deaf and blind children.
On December 20, 1905, he married Miss Elizabeth E. Watkins, of Hampton.
His address is Number 21 South King Street, Hampton, Virginia.
JOHN HENRY HUDDLE
H UDDLE, JOHN HENRY, financier, farmer and stock- man, was born March 8, 1867, on a farm in Wythe county, Virginia. His father, David Huddle, farmer, stockman and iron master, and colonel of state militia, was noted for honesty, perseverance, generosity and good judgment. His mother, Margaret Painter (Earhart) Huddle, a woman of high character, wielded a potent influence on all sides of his life. The earliest known paternal ancestor to come to America was John Huddle, who emigrated from Switzerland (in which country the name is spelled "Hottle "), in 1703. With two brothers, who came over at the same time, he settled in Wythe county, Virginia. On account of an Indian attack, in which a daughter of one of the brothers was scalped, the families removed temporarily to the Shenandoah valley. Gideon Huddle, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, married Barbara Gose, a noted belle, said to have been the most beautiful woman in the section in which she lived. Henry Huddle, the grandfather of John Henry Huddle, married Nancy Elsey, a relative of General Elsey, and they had twelve children. On his maternal side, his great-grand- father, Rev. John Stanger, D. D., a noted Lutheran clergyman, came from Germany to Wythe county, Virginia, where he preached the first Lutheran sermon heard in the county, and was a member of the state legislature for four terms. His grand- father, John Earhart, was a well-known man in that section of the state.
His early life was spent in the country. He was strong and active, and never took a dose of medicine until he was twenty- seven years old. From the time he was large enough until his father's death, when he was thirteen, he worked on the farm or around the forge, and attended the county free schools more or less irregularly. During the four years following his father's death, he worked all the time; then he spent a year at the Elk Creek academy, Grayson county, Virginia, and a year later took a business course at the Dayton (Tennessee) Masonic college.
yours July. 2.1.1 Luddes,
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When he returned home, his mother, who was the guardian of the minor children, made him co-manager, with his elder brother, of the undivided interests of herself and the minor children in the estate, and so well was it managed that it was settled up as the children came of age without a word of complaint from any of them; working harmoniously together being a marked trait of the Huddle family.
He took up farming and stock-raising on his own account as soon as he was of age, and has been very successful in both, especially in sheep-raising. He was the pioneer in the now ex- tensive business of raising lambs for the Northern markets, and his flock of Hampshire down sheep is unsurpassed in Southwest Virginia. In 1890, he sold the farm he inherited from his father and bought the old colonial homestead of the Groomes, known as "Locust Hill Stock Farm," paying $16,700 cash therefor.
Since January 15, 1900, when the Bank of Ivanhoe was organized by his personal efforts and influence, he has been its president. Under his direction it has been a very prosperous institution and he has become widely known as a shrewd finan- cier. Two weeks after the bank was opened a fire destroyed the building in which it was located. While the bank's safe was still in the ruins of the burned building a meeting of the directors was held and several of them favored going out of business. This proposition was strongly opposed by Mr. Huddle, whose motto is "Never turn back." Soon afterward, he opened the bank in the office of the hotel, with a gripsack of money to meet checks, and in the same day received $2,700 in deposits. In six months he had built and equipped the present handsome and commodious building. It is not surprising that, with such a man at its head, the bank should be steadily increasing in popu- larity and prosperity.
In order to be convenient to the bank he built a handsome residence in Ivanhoe, called "Clifton," from which he has a private telephone line to his stock farm, four miles away. In politics he is and always has been a Democrat, and, though always in the ranks when party work is to be done and ready to contribute money when needed for legitimate expenses, he has
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never been a candidate for office. He is a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church South and is superintendent of the largest Sunday school in the county. He is also a Mason, and has held, and still holds, important offices in his lodge. He is an open- handed contributor to charity and to every movement for the betterment of the people. He has made it a rule throughout his successful career to meet every business obligation the day it came due, and thinks young men should never make an obliga- tion unless reasonably certain of their ability to meet it when due.
His occupation was determined by his environment. The strongest influences in his life have been home and contact with men in active life. His advice to young men is: " Abstain from all intoxicants; keep good company; ally yourself with some church ; select a calling and stick to it. And you will find that you can serve your Lord better by living in the country than in a city." His favorite recreations are fishing and bird hunting, in both of which he is an expert.
On July 23, 1895, he married Mary Jones, of Greene county, Tennessee. Four children have been born to them, all of whom are now (1906) living.
His address is Ivanhoe, Wythe County, Virginia.
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MILTON WYLIE HUMPHREYS
H UMPHREYS, MILTON WYLIE, professor in the University of Virginia, was born in Greenbrier county, Virginia, (now West Virginia), September 15, 1844. His father, Andrew C. Humphreys, was a practicing physician, and was a man of firm convictions, great force of character, fluent in speech, and at times eloquent as a public speaker. Besides practicing medicine, he served the public as a justice of the peace and as a lieutenant-colonel of militia. Professor Humphreys' mother, Mary McQuain Hefner, belonged to a sturdy German family that settled in Virginia before the Revo- lution. She was a typical matron, of the fine German stock which has done so much to make the western counties of Virginia and the eastern section of West Virginia famous for their barns burst- ing with plenty and prosperity.
The earliest American paternal ancestor of Professor Humphreys was Samuel, who came from Ireland before the Revolution, settled first in Pennsylvania, then moved to Green- brier county, Virginia. On his mother's side, Professor Humphreys is descended from Jacob Hefner, the emigrant, who came from Germany before the Revolution, and was killed in the Revolutionary war.
Milton W. Humphreys began his education in the country. schools near his home; then attended an academy in Charleston, Virginia.
During his first session as a student at Washington col- lege, his state seceded from the Union, and young Humphreys served for four years in her forces. He was first corporal of artillery, then sergeant, in the Confederate army, and he has the reputation of having been one of the most skilful artillerists in the Southern army. After forty years, it is regarded as a great " treat " to hear Professor Humphreys discuss the minutiae of artillery practice as it is and should be.
The war over, his innate ambition again asserted itself. He was anxious "to excel those around him," which simply means
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that he was born with a burning but most honorable ambition. To excel those around him, he must have a well-trained mind and faculties sharpened by study; and this meant that he must have an education. Accordingly, he re-entered Washington college, now the Washington and Lee university, and soon stood at the head of his classes. In a short time, he became tutor in Latin; then, assistant professor of Ancient languages. In 1869, he took the M. A. degree.
From Washington college, he proceeded to the universities of Berlin and Leipsic, from the last named of which he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.). In 1875, he was elected professor of Greek in the Vanderbilt university. In 1883, he accepted the chair of Ancient languages in the University of Texas. In 1887, he was called to the chair of Greek in the University of Virginia, a chair which he has filled since that time with eminent ability. He ranks among the conspicuous Greek scholars of the country, and in the highest academic circles his name is mentioned with the greatest respect, and his opinions are accepted as authoritative.
Others besides Virginians have recognized Professor Humph- reys' attainments. In 1883, Vanderbilt university made him a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) About the same time, he was made editor-general for North America of the " Revue des Revues," of Paris. More recently, he was selected to prepare the paper of Greek for the World's Congress of Science and Arts at St. Louis. From 1880 to 1882, he was vice-president of the American Philological association ; in 1882, he was made the annual presi- dent.
Of course a professor's greatest work is in the lecture-room. There such men as John B. Minor, Thomas R. Price, and B. L. Gildersleeve thrill, stimulate, and inspire rising generations of young men. There they make character, and train leaders. In their private study hours, however, these noble teachers reach the outside world and their fellow-teachers by means of articles and books. A goodly proportion of present-day scholars are productive; they are producing, from time to time, original work in their department of learning. Professor Humphreys has taken time for publication. In 1885, he published an edition of
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the "Clouds " of Aristophanes, and, in 1891, an edition of the " Antigone " of Sophocles. In his first years of research, Professor Humphreys published a work upon Greek metres that was very highly praised by Curtius and other eminent authorities. He is the author also of many articles published especially in philological journals, at home and abroad.
May 3, 1887, Professor Humphreys married Louise F. Gar- land, daughter of Doctor Landon C. Garland, the late chancellor of Vanderbilt university, and of Louise Garland, daughter of " King " David Garland, of Amherst. They have had four children, all of whom are now (1906) living.
His address is University Station, Charlottesville, Virginia.
GEORGE JEFFERSON HUNDLEY
H UNDLEY, GEORGE JEFFERSON, circuit judge, was born near Mobile, Alabama, March 22, 1838, and was the son of Josiah and Cornelia Jefferson Hundley. Both of his parents died when he was very young; his mother when he was an infant, and his father a few years later. In re- gard to his parents Judge Hundley knows very little; can say nothing as to their marked characteristics or as to his father's influence upon him. He is proud, however, that they were Vir- ginians, and, though himself born in another state, he is, in senti- ment and by tradition, " a Virginian of the Virginians."
On his father's side, Judge Hundley is of mixed English and Huguenot blood. On his mother's side, he is great great-grand- son of Peter Field Jefferson, uncle of Thomas Jefferson. His grandmother was also a niece of William B. Giles, one of the most prominent of the ante-bellum governors and United States senators, who, while in the house of representatives, was pro- nounced by John Randolph one of the best parliamentary debaters in the country.
Judge George J. Hundley was an ambitious youth. It was his delight to go into the court-house and listen to the lawyers as they plead their causes. The blood of the Jeffersons and the Gileses was surging in his veins. While being reared by his mother's relatives in Amelia county, Virginia, he worked in various ways to make them feel that he was not a burden and an incumbrance. By hook and crook, he got two year's tuition at Fleetwood academy and a year at Hampden-Sidney college. No doubt he learned in that time more than the average boy would learn in ten years; for we see in him, even at this early age, the indomitable purpose, the manly grit, that has marked his career for the past forty years. His academic education, he supplemented by wide reading in the standard authors. Two of his favorite volumes were Shakespeare and the Bible, the close reading of which will guarantee any man against ignorance and give him a style above the average. Thus equipped, Mr.
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Hundley entered the private law school of Judge John W. Brockenbrough, in Lexington, Virginia, one of the most famous ante-bellum law schools in the country. In 1860, his license was signed by three judges, and he was about to enter the promised land of his dreams and visions, when Virginia seceded from the Union, and called upon her sons to rally to her aid. Among the earliest to volunteer was George J. Hundley. For four years he followed the sword of Lee, " far in the front of the deadly fight," and followed it to Appomattox court-house, where it was " shrouded in its sheath again, proudly and peacefully." Among his sweetest memories are those days of his youthful enthusiasm for the " Lost Cause." For those years, he makes no apologies, deems none necessary. He believes that his cause was just, and he rejoices that he gave his best service to his beloved state in the " times that tried men's souls."
After the war, Mr. Hundley taught for a while. In 1866, he settled at Buckingham court-house, to practice law. From that time, he maintained a high and honorable position as a practitioner, until the state of Virginia appointed him to the circuit bench. At this writing (1906), Judge Hundley is judge of the fifth judicial circuit, and ranks among the most honored members of the state judiciary.
In 1870, General Hundley entered the state senate, where he served four years. Virginia was just emerging from the shadows of Reconstruction, and needed the aid of her wisest sons. Among the younger men of the legislature, General Hundley stood very high for earnestness and fidelity. In 1895, he was elected to the house of delegates, where he served faithfully and ably. The measure in which he was especially interested was a reform in the laws relating to criminal trials, a reform in the interests of more speedy justice and against "the law's delay." A recent lynching in his own community had shown General Hundley that the people of Virginia were tired of postpone- ments and appeals, and delays on mere technicalities, and he pushed through the house a bill providing that no mere techni- cality not affecting the merits of the case shall delay or post- pone a criminal trial.
General Hundley is an ardent Democrat. In the state cam-
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paigns and in presidential elections, he often renders valuable service as a speaker, and his speeches have done great good in many places.
In 1898, General Hundley was elected to the circuit bench, and is now judge of the fifth judicial circuit. Along with his duties as legislator, lawyer, and judge, he has taken time to serve on the board of trustees of the Farmville Normal school, and of the Institution for the deaf, dumb, and blind, at Staun- ton, Virginia.
It is very clear that General Hundley is a " man of mark in Virginia," and that his advice to young men will be of value. Left an orphan, with limited resources, he has pushed his way to the front in the face of overwhelming odds. His motto is " Labor;" his creed, "Labor is genius." He advises young men to spend their waiting years in reading and study, so that their mature years will find them "thoroughly furnished " in their respective spheres of mental activity.
October 5, 1881, General Hundley married Lucy Waller Boyd, of Nelson county, Virginia. They have had five children, of whom three are now (1906) living.
General Hundley's postoffice address is Farmville, Virginia.
Men of Mark Publishing Co. Washington, D. C
Sincerely John La Mort
JOHN LINN HURT
H URT, JOHN LINN, state senator, was born in Carroll county, Tennessee, March 10, 1838, but was reared in Virginia. His father was William Walker Hurt; his mother was Nancy (Sims) Linn.
Mr. Hurt's earliest American ancestor was the Rev. Robert Hurt, who came from England about the middle of the eighteenth century, and became distinguished in the Baptist ministry in Virginia.
Mr. Hurt lived in the country until he was eighteen years of age. His elementary education was received in the Samuel Davies institute, at Halifax court-house, Virginia. While attending school, he helped on the farm, and thus acquired a strong love of agricultural pursuits and a keen sympathy with the farming interests-which have helped no little to make him one of the most useful representatives in the state senate.
A potent factor in the making of Mr. Hurt's character was his mother's influence. This was especially strong; and this noble woman was his guiding star. To her he owes largely his great success; for she instilled into him those lofty ideals which have guided and controlled his life. Some defects of his early education, Senator Hurt has remedied by general reading. Many a winter evening has he spent with the standard writers of our literature, and he can often be found surrounded by his books and holding converse with " the mighty minds of old."
Mr. Hurt entered active life very young. In 1854, he was appointed deputy in the clerk's office of Halifax county. After serving faithfully in this capacity for some years, he became clerk of the circuit court of Pittsylvania county, a position which he filled successfully for twelve years. Along with his clerkship, he has also farmed for many years.
In 1861, Mr. Hurt obeyed Virginia's call to arms, and followed the sword of Lee as it flashed high in air, to drive back the armies of invasion. In 1863, he was captured, but not long afterwards was paroled, and returned to his farming avocations in Virginia.
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Mr. Hurt has achieved much distinction in the politics of his state. It was in 1877 that he first took his seat in the senate of Virginia. The state had but recently emerged from the clutches of the Reconstruction wolf, and was passing through the crisis of threatened repudiation. She needed sons of brain and of character to steer her between Scylla and Charybdis. Not the least important of those that came to her aid was Senator John L. Hurt, of Pittsylvania county. In the senate of 1881-1882, Mr. Hurt was one of the recognized leaders of the Conservative, or anti-Mahone, Democrats. The Mahone party had a large majority in the house of delegates, but not in the senate. The balance of power was held by a coterie of independent men who came to be known as the " Big Four." These united with the Conservatives led by Senator Hurt and others to defeat the policy of the majority in the house of delegates. One measure espec- ially objectionable to Senator Hurt was the Reapportionment bill, the passage of which would have sent eight Republican congress- men to Washington to represent Virginia. The Danville district, with about one hundred and eighty-five thousand inhabitants, was to have the same representation in congress as the fourth district containing one hundred and twenty-two thousand, the greater number of them negroes. To pass this measure through the senate, the Republican party of the North and the administration in Washington lent powerful assistance. In the way, however, stood the famous " Big Four " and the conservative Democrats, led by Mr. Hurt and others like him. "Mr. Hurt," says a paper of the day, " is cool, shrewd, and always on his guard-finds out what transpires in the council of the enemy, but never allows his opponents to know what will be his next move."
Victory crowned the cause of the Conservatives, all partisan movements were defeated, and Virginia remained in the Demo- cratic ranks. In two years, the Mahone régime passed away, a new legislature put the public institutions into excellent shape, and, later on, the threatened repudiation of the state debt, or of a large part of it, was averted, and a satisfactory settlement of the debt redeemed the good name of Virginia.
In all this, Senator Hurt bore a prominent and honorable part, and, in his ripe age, he may now look back upon those years
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of middle life and feel that he dared do all that became a man and did it valiantly.
Mr. Hurt's advice to young men is to " listen to their mothers, tell the truth, and lead sober and industrious lives." This good advice contains the philosophy of his own life.
Senator Hurt has been twice married: first to Nannie Kate Clement; second to Sallie T. Douglas. He has no children.
His address is Hurt, Pittsylvania County, Virginia.
Vol. 3-Va .- 9
DANIEL SELDEN JONES
J ONES, DANIEL SELDEN, business man and capitalist, was born at Spratley's, near Jamestown, July 10, 1849, and his parents were Henley Taylor Jones and Mary A. H. Jones. This Jones family is descended from an early settler in Warwick county by the name of Matthew Jones, who was one of the justices of Warwick county about 1660. Among the members more than ordinarily distinguished were Rev. Scervant Jones, an influential but eccentric Baptist minister, and James Alfred Jones, the prominent lawyer of Richmond.
His father was a farmer whose marked characteristics were honesty and love of justice. He was a man of great industry, and owned, before the war, a large estate in land and negro slaves, and his home, at Spratley's farm, was the abode of plenty and hospitality. Daniel Selden Jones was a strong healthy boy, whose special tastes in childhood and youth were a fondness for country sports, and an admiration for fine horses. He went to the ordinary country schools and attended William and Mary college. But he did not like study and left college at about eighteen years of age.
In 1870 he began the active work of life, and, as his means were small, he engaged in the lumber business, marketing saw logs, cord wood, and railroad ties. Mr. Jones developed into a sagacious, successful business man, and in 1885 removed to New- port News for a more extended field of action. In this city, Mr. Jones has been eminently successful and is one of the wealthiest and foremost business men.
His worth as a citizen has been recognized by his fellow citizens by an election to numerous offices of importance and trust. In 1874, he was a justice of the peace in James City county, and, in 1895, he was made chairman of the police board of the city of Newport News. With the exception of four years, in which he was not a member of that body, he was president of the city council, 1896-1906. For five years he was a private in the state militia.
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In politics, Mr. Jones has always voted the Democratic ticket with the exception of one election, when, because of the free- silver question, he declined to vote for William Jennings Bryan, the regular nominee of the Democratic party, for president. In this election, he was " a gold Democrat," and supported Palmer and Buckner.
Mr. Jones is a Baptist, and takes much interest in religious matters.
Up to the last three years, Mr. Jones has found his chief relaxation from business in keeping and raising fine horses, but since that time he has amused himself in his leisure hours with carrying on a farm.
To young men who wish to attain true success in life, Mr. Jones says: "Determine to succeed; deal squarely with every one; don't undertake anything you cannot ask God's blessing on ; put plenty of energy behind your determination ; act always so as to command the respect of every one; and if you want to keep in good health, don't try to do it all in one day."
On October 10, 1873, Mr. Jones married Carrie Young Powell.
His address is Number 2606 West Avenue, Newport News, Virginia.
WILLIAM ATKINSON JONES
J ONES, WILLIAM ATKINSON, lawyer, legislator, member of the lower house of congress from the first Virginia district, was born at Warsaw, Richmond county, Virginia, on March 21, 1849, son of Judge. Thomas and Anne Seymour (Trowbridge) Jones. His ancestors on both sides for a number of generations were distinguished in both the civil and military service of the country, and on the paternal side are descended from Peter Jones, a large landholder of Prince George county, Virginia, from whom Petersburg is supposed to have derived its name.
His great-grandfather was General Joseph Jones, of Din- widdie county, Virginia, who was prominent in the Revolutionary war, and who married Jane, daughter of Roger Atkinson, mem- ber of a well-known family in Virginia and North Carolina. On the maternal side he is a great-grandson of Richard and Sally Lee, of Lee Hall, Westmoreland county, Virginia, first cousin of Governor Henry Lee, familiarly known as "Light Horse Harry," father of General Robert E. Lee. His grand- parents were Thomas and Mary (Lee) Jones, and James and Cornelia (Rogers) Trowbridge, of Plattsburg, New York.
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