USA > Virginia > Men of mark in Virginia, ideals of American life; a collection of biographies of the leading men in the state, Volume V > Part 13
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Thomas Johnson was a worthy son of such parents. He was a stock farmer and a country banker, a man of sound judgment, and in all relations with his fellow-men he was noted for his absolute integrity and large benevolence and simple piety.
The mother of the subject of our sketch was, on her maternal side, pure Scotch-Irish; while from the paternal side she received strains from the English, Scotch, Huguenot, and Dutch. She in- herited from both sides, but particularly from her mother, Mary Simms Hinchman, a mind of unusual vigor and a will power of the first order. Under the providence and grace of God she de- veloped into a woman of great intelligence, sagacity, strength and excellence of character, and she exerted a vast influence on her son.
In childhood and youth, Thomas C. Johnson was very frail physically, and subject to many diseases. In spite of this, he early developed a taste for study and reading. Debarred from these, however, from his thirteenth to his seventeenth year, by ill health, he took naturally and with delight to horseback sports,
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and soon developed a vital interest in his father's business of breeding and raising cattle. For years, he was his father's com- panion and aid in the care of several stock farms and without doing any very hard labor was always busy. He was thus kept out of mischief and the outdoor life caused a great improvement . of his health.
The Bible, a few biographies, some historical novels, and some of the selections in McGuffey's series of school readers, did most in this early period to ennoble his ideals and to fit him for his work.
Renewing his efforts to educate himself, he, in his eighteenth year, entered the high school of the Reverend H. R. Laird, at Alderson, West Virginia. Thence he entered Hampden-Sidney college, from which institution he was graduated with the first honor of his class in 1882, taking the A. B. degree. In 1882- 1883, he conducted with eminent success a classical school at Alderson, West Virginia. In October 1883, he entered the University of Virginia, took what is there known as "the Green Ticket " (the schools of Latin, Greek and Mathematics) and per- formed the rare feat of graduating in them all in one session.
Entering the Union Theological seminary with this prepara- tion, it is not surprising that he stood at the head of his class, and completed the regular course with high honors, in 1887. He then spent a session at Yale university, in the Semitic depart- ment; and was reckoned there a student of great mental power, combined with bold and independent judgment. During this session he was compelled to weigh the evidence for many differing phases of thought, with the result that he was driven to align himself with conservatives as against modern rationalism.
In 1888, Mr. Johnson was made professor of Hebrew and Greek exegesis in the Presbyterian school of Theology at Austin, Texas, a position which he occupied till 1890, when he became pastor of the Third Presbyterian church of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1891, he was made professor of the English Bible and pastoral theology in the Union Theological seminary, at Richmond, Vir- ginia. In 1892, he was transferred to the chair of ecclesiastical history and polity, a position which he has continued to fill to the present time (1908). In 1891, Hampden-Sidney college con-
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ferred on him the degree of D. D., and in 1899 the same college conferred on him the degree of LL. D.
Doctor Johnson says that his own convictions of duty de- termined his choice of the ministry, and that from his earliest years he has felt obligated to his parents and to God to do his best. He says that for any success he has had in life he owes most to his home influence, a great deal to private study, and much to association with such men as Doctors Thomas E. Peck, Robert L. Dabney, and C. R. Vaughan.
Doctor Johnson has written and published the following books : " History of the Southern Presbyterian Church " (1894) ; "Brief Sketch of the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America " (1897) ; " John Cal- vin and the Geneva Reformation " (1900) ; " The Life and Let- ters of Robert Lewis Dabney " (1903) ; " The Life and Letters of B. M. Palmer, D. D., LL. D." of New Orleans (1906) ; " Virginia Presbyterianism and Religious Liberty in Colonial and Revolu- tionary Times " (1907).
Doctor Johnson belongs to the Greek letter Chi Phi frater- nity, to the American Historical association, and to the National Geographic society and, besides being a strict member of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, is affiliated with the Scotch school of philosophy.
His favorite amusements and means of relaxation are horse- back riding, and doing useful manual labor.
A ripe scholar, a hard student, a great teacher, and an able preacher, Doctor Johnson is a most useful member of the faculty of the Union Theological seminary, and seems to have before him a career of wide usefulness in this great " school of the prophets," in his church, and in the world.
On December 26, 1894, Doctor Johnson was married to Ella Faulkner, third daughter of the Hon. Thomas S. Bocock. They have had three children, all of whom are now (1908) living.
They reside at the Union seminary. Their address is Sta- tion A, Richmond, Virginia.
MARYUS JONES
J ONES, MARYUS, lawyer, was born July 8, 1844, and his parents were Catesby Jones and Mary Ann Brooke Pol- lard. On both sides of his family Mr. Jones is descended from early emigrants to Virginia, who established well known and influential families in the colony. His paternal name be- gins with Captain Roger Jones, who came to Virginia in com- pany with Lord Culpeper and was employed by him as captain of a sloop of war in the waters of Virginia for the suppression of piracy and all unlawful trading. He married Dorothy Walker, daughter of John Walker, of Mansfield, in Notting- hamshire, and had issue: Frederick Jones, of North Carolina, and Colonel Thomas Jones, of Gloucester county, Virginia. The latter married February 14, 1725, Elizabeth Pratt, widow of William Pratt, a merchant, and eldest daughter of Doctor Wil- liam Cocke and his wife, Elizabeth Catesby, sister of Mark Catesby, the celebrated naturalist. Colonel Thomas Jones died in Hanover county, in 1758, and his wife in Northumberland county, March 11, 1762. Their son, William Jones, was born October 25, 1734, and married in 1766, Lucy Taliaferro, widow of Colonel Charles Carter, of Cleve, Hanover county. He moved to Gloucester county from King William, and purchased "Marl- field" in 1780. The settlement of Marlfield is one of the oldest on York river, and the Buckners were its first owners. He had among other children, Catesby Jones, father of the subject of this sketch, who was born at Marlfield, was a captain in the War of 1812, colonel of the county militia, and master of Botetourt lodge at Gloucester court-house. He was distinguished for his indus- try, ability, hospitality and charity, contributing liberally to the support of the church and to the comforts of its ministers. He married for his first wife Molly Brooke Taliaferro, daughter of Jack Taliaferro, of King William, a veteran of the Revolutionary war, who rode one hundred miles in one day to carry a dispatch from Lafayette to Washington. She died after the birth of seven children, and then he married secondly, Mary Ann Brooke
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Pollard, of King and Queen. Among his distinguished kinsmen mention may be made of Doctor Walter Jones, member of the Continental congress, Brigadier-General Roger Jones, of the United States army, Commodore Thomas Catesby Jones, of the United States navy, Colonel William Jones, of Gloucester, Catesby ap R. Jones, the commander of the Confederate iron clad steamer Virginia in its fight with the Monitor, and William ap Catesby Jones, a brother of the subject of this sketch, who won a great reputation in the Army of the Southwest, under General Richard Taylor.
[Note. The meaning of the term "ap" as it appears twice in the above lines is described by Mr. Jones as follows: "The par- ticle "ap" is Welsh, and corresponds to the French "de." We are of Welsh extraction. The use of the particle arose in the following manner. The Welsh are the descendants of the ancient Britons, who maintained their independence in the mountains of Wales until the sixteenth century, when they were finally con- quered. The English parliament then passed a law that the Welsh should take surnames. They obeyed the letter, if not the spirit of the law. John was the favorite name among them, and a man would call himself John ap John. That is to say, John the son of John. The English anglicized it into John's son, and thus arose the name Johnson, Jones, Johns, and such kindred names, so that William ap Catesby Jones, simply means William son of Catesby Jones, and Catesby ap Roger Jones, means Catesby son of Roger Jones."]
Maryus Jones was Catesby Jones's youngest son by the last marriage. His somewhat peculiar name came about in this man- ner: he was the child of his father's old age, who had cherished the hope of having a daughter to name for his two wives, each of whom was named Mary, but, being disappointed in this, he gave to his last child the nearest name to Mary that he could.
His physical condition in childhood was good and he was brought up in the country, where he attended a country school. His school life was happy, and his early companionships were ennobling, as Gloucester county, before the war, was a center of wealth and culture. He obtained the rudiments of his education at Newington academy and Randolph-Macon college. When the
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war came on, in 1861, he left college and enlisted in Company D, 24th regiment, Virginia cavalry. He participated in several desperate cavalry battles, notably in the celebrated charge at Samaria Church on June 24, 1864, where eight companies of his regiment dismounting from their horses, assaulted and carried the entrenchments of the enemy. On July 27, 1864, there was another desperate engagement on the Darbytown Heights. Mr. Jones showed distinguished courage, but was unfortunately cap- tured by the enemy. He was not freed till the end of hostilities, but was promoted to the rank of sergeant while a prisoner of war.
After the conclusion of the war he was, like other young Southerners, without much money, but, in 1866, he contrived to attend the lectures at the university, until July 4, 1868. He re- turned home, and engaged in teaching school, which he continued for four years; after which time he qualified, in 1872, as a lawyer at the Gloucester county bar. In 1879 he was elected common- wealth's attorney of the county, and his service proved so satis- factory to the people that he was continued in the office for six- teen years. In 1899 he moved to Newport News, where he has built up a large general law practice.
Mr. Jones is regarded as one of the foremost men in Tide- water Virginia. He is genial, warm-hearted, kind, has fine logi- cal powers, and is highly respected. He is a man of much infor- mation and has read extensively. The books which he has found most helpful in life have been Macaulay's History and Essays, the works of Scott, Bulwer, Dickens, Byron, Shakespeare, and Milton, and, of course, such law books as Blackstone's "Commen- taries," Tucker's "Commentaries on the Laws of Virginia," and Greenleaf's work on "Evidence." As to the influences which have molded his life, he regards his mother's as the greatest of all. He makes the following suggestion as a means of strength- ening sound ideals in American life and helping young people to attain true success: "If parents would instill principles of honesty in the minds of children when young and impressionable, I believe we should not have so many disgraceful exhibitions of stealing in high places."
In his religious preference Mr. Jones is a Baptist, and in his Vol. 5-Va .- 12
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political opinions he is a Democrat, who has stuck by the party platform. He finds his principal amusement in reading.
On December 10, 1873, Mr. Jones married Mary Armistead Catlett. Of their four children two are (1908) living.
His address is Number 217 Thirty-third Street, Newport News, Virginia.
ROBERT CRAIG KENT
K ENT, ROBERT CRAIG, lawyer, and lieutenant-governor of Virginia, born in Wythe county, Virginia, November 28, 1828, and died in Wytheville, Virginia, April 30, 1905, was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Craig Kent. Robert Kent was a farmer and large landowner of Wythe county, and was a progressive and substantial business man. For some years, he was a justice of the old county court of Wythe county. His wife, Elizabeth Craig, was a refined and noble woman of the old type, and exerted a great influence, both intellectually and spirit- ually, upon her son, Robert Craig Kent.
The earliest American Kent was Jacob, who fled from Eng- land to Holland to escape religious persecution. In 1760, he came to Virginia, and settled in the Southwest, in what is now called Montgomery county. His wife belonged to the well-known Craig family of Southwest Virginia, and was nearly related to the Montgomery family-both of which family names are now per- petuated on the map of Virginia by names of counties.
Robert Craig Kent attended the ordinary preparatory schools at home, and then entered Georgetown college, Wash- ington, District of Columbia. After leaving this institution, he went to Princeton, where he took the A. B. degree. On return- ing from college, he read law in the office of Judge Andrew Ful- ton, of Wytheville. In 1853, he began the practice of law in Wytheville. His rise was steady and rapid. In 1861, he was elected to represent Wythe county in the Constitutional conven- tion, famous in history for having passed the ordinance of seces- sion taking Virginia out of the Union. Of this convention he was the youngest member. He was twice commonwealth's attor- ney of Wythe county, twice represented his county in the house of delegates of Virginia, was once president of the electoral col- lege of Virginia, and served four years as lieutenant-governor of the state. For many years, also, he was president of the Farm- ers Bank of Wytheville, Virginia. All these positions, he filled with fidelity and ability. His watchword was "duty." His
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name became a synonym of honesty and integrity all over Vir- ginia. It may truly be said that Governor Kent was a typical Virginia gentleman of the " old school," and that his word was as good as his bond.
In culture as well as in honesty, Governor Kent was an old Virginia gentleman. From his early life, he was an omnivorous reader. The works of Milton, Shakespeare, and the standard English historians were his favorites, but he confined himself to no branch of literature. He was a well-read, cultivated man, and his face glowed with an intelligence which used to distin- guish the old Virginia gentleman, and which we hope will ere long return to the Virginia face as the state recuperates from the damages of war and puts a liberal education within the reach of every ambitious youth.
In politics, Governor Kent was a Democrat; in religious preference, a Presbyterian.
Governor Kent was twice married; first, to Eliza Ann Wood; second to Anastatia Pleasants Smith. He had seven children, of whom six survived him.
VAUGHAN KESTER
K ESTER, VAUGHAN, author and dramatist, was born November 15, 1869, in New Brunswick, Middlesex county, New Jersey. His father, Franklin Cooley Kes- ter, was a man of high standing and marked ability. His mother, Harriet Jane (Watkins) Kester, was a woman of refine- ment, and culture, and was a strong influence in the formation of his character and ideals. His ancestry is Dutch and English. The family, on both paternal and maternal sides, was founded in America in early colonial times.
When a boy his family moved to Mount Vernon, Ohio, and his primary education was acquired in the private schools of that town. Having ideas of his own as to what lines of study he wished to pursue and no prescribed college or university course fully meeting those ideas, he completed his education under private tutors, in Cleveland, Ohio. Very early in life he had a decided trend toward literature as a profession and displayed the originality in ideas and expression which have been special features in all his literary and dramatic work.
He began his literary career by writing short stories, many of which have been published in the magazines. In 1893 he moved to New York, where his rare good judgment of literary values soon made his services in demand among publishers. In 1898-99, he was on the editorial staff of the "Cosmopolitan Magazine," then owned and edited by John Brisben Walker. In 1900 he was literary adviser of the publishing house of Harper and Brothers, New York, and at different times he has been associated with a number of syndicates handling literary work, including the International Literary and News Syndicate, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. This work, however, did not satisfy either his taste or his ambition. He wished to be an author rather than an editor and therefore removed to Vir- ginia, where he could give his entire time to original literary production.
He is the author of "The Manager of the B. & A.," pub-
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lished by Harper and Brothers, in 1901, " The Fortunes of the Landrays," and "John 'O Jamestown," published by McClure and Phillips, in 1905 and 1907, all successful novels. In these books, according to leading critics, he struck a high note in literature, which makes his future work looked forward to with keen interest by those who are watching the development of a distinctive American literature. He is also the author of two plays, both marked by their high literary tone, and of a number of songs.
On August 31, 1898, he married Jessie B. Jennings.
His address is Gunston Hall, Fairfax County, Virginia.
Henry Kirn
HENRY KIRN
K IRN, HENRY, of Portsmouth, Norfolk, county, Virginia, prominently identified with the truck gardening and farming of his part of the state, was born in Sindel- fingen Wurttenberg, Germany, on the 1st of December, 1834. His father, William Henry Kirn, a manufacturer, was city treas- urer of Sindelfingen for eight years. In 1852, immigrating to this country to avoid military service, after residing for five years in Philadelphia, he removed in 1857 to Churchland, Norfolk county, Virginia.
In Germany he had attended the public schools for eight years, subsequently he had made himself master of a trade, that of blacksmithing and working in iron, and at the age of twenty- three began to turn his attention to truck farming and market gardening. He attained marked success in this business.
He has been chosen by his fellow-townsmen for two terms on the board of supervisors; for eighteen years he was a mem- ber of the board of harbor commissioners of Norfolk, from Nor- folk county. He is a director in the Norfolk National bank; a director in the Norfolk Bank for Savings and Trust; a director in the Marine Bank of Norfolk; and a director in the Merchants and Farmers Bank of Portsmouth.
But perhaps Mr. Kirn's most prominent position and the one in which he has done most for the business interests of the state, is that of president of the Southern Produce company. Not only by his own business methods and his own example of success in that business, but by his public-spirited interest in everything that has to do with the advancement of agriculture in his state, and the successful marketing of agricultural products, he has made a place and a name for himself among his fellow-citizens.
He is a member of the Virginia club, a member of the Board of Trade of Norfolk, a member of the Business Mens association and was one of the directors of the Jamestown exposition.
Mr. Kirn is a Knight of Pythias. In his political affiliations, he is a Democrat.
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On the 30th of July, 1857, he married Miss Elizabeth Smith, daughter of John H. Smith, of Nürnberg, Bavaria. They have had eight children, six of whom are living in 1908.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER LAMBETH
L AMBETH, WILLIAM ALEXANDER, educator, was born at Thomasville, in Davidson county, North Caro- lina, October 27, 1868. His father was J. H. Lambeth, a manufacturer in that village, and his mother was Clara Bell. His father served as major in Ramseur's division, Confederate States army, in the War between the States.
Doctor Lambeth's ancestry is English, and his first progeni- tor in America came to the colonies from that part of London known as Lambeth.
From his earliest childhood he has been strong and active with a taste for athletics. His boyhood was spent in the village of his birth, where he did such manual tasks only as were self- imposed.
His earlier education was obtained in the Thomasville high school; and later he attended the University of Virginia, where he studied German, physics, chemistry, geology and biology. Entering the department of medicine in the university, he grad- uated therefrom in 1892 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In June, 1898, he received from the University of Virginia the further degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
He has held various positions as a teacher of physical train- ing, hygiene and materia medica. In 1891 he was elected in- structor in physical culture in the University of Virginia; and in the summer of that year he became a student in the school of physical training at Harvard, from which he was graduated in 1892. In the following year he was elected assistant instructor of physical training in the University of Virginia. In 1898 he be- came a lecturer on hygiene and materia medica in the University of Virginia ; and during the session of 1900-1901 he conducted the work of the academic classes in biology in the university during the temporary absence of the professor in that school. Later Doctor Lambeth became a member of the university faculty as adjunct professor of hygiene and director of the university gym- nasium; and he now fills the chair of hygiene and materia
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medica in the university, and is its superintendent of public grounds and buildings.
Doctor Lambeth's interests for many years have largely cen- tered in the university athletics. He takes, perhaps, more pride in the part which he has performed towards elevating the standard and tone of athletics in the university, and conse- quently in the higher educational institutions of the South, than in any of his many other noteworthy accomplishments. He may be called with propriety the pioneer in this work in the organi- zation, by him, along with Mr. J. B. Robertson, in 1891, of the Southern intercollegiate athletic association; and in 1899 he practically organized the Virginia intercollegiate athletic asso- ciation, which is doing much to elevate and dignify college sports in Virginia. He has served two terms as president of the last named association ; and began the system of the selection of "All Southern " teams in contradistinction to the "All American " teams. For years through the columns of " Outing " this selec- tion has met with the approbation of all fair critics; until now throughout the South " honorable mention " has come to be con- sidered distinctively the highest attainable honor in college athletics.
In 1888 Doctor Lambeth was president of the American Athletic association, and in 1893 he filled the position of vice- president of the department of physical education at the World's Fair. He is a member of the American association for the advancement of physical education, and has been a vice-president of the association of College Gymnasium directors. He or- ganized the Graduate club of the University of Virginia, and was its first president.
Doctor Lambeth has been a prolific writer on the subjects of athletics and field sports for the college and periodical press and the daily papers; and has contributed articles on these subjects to the New York "World," the New York "Journal," "Outing," the "Virginia University Magazine," the "Alumni Bulletin," and others. He has also contributed to the official guides on football and baseball.
Among his other literary work may be mentioned a pub- lished article written as a thesis for his Ph. D. degree, on " The
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Geology of the Monticello Area," of which Mr. C. D. Wolcott, the director of the United States geological survey, has written : " It gives evidence of accurate observation and profound study, and furnishes a valuable contribution to the subject in a hitherto unworked region."
Biographies of Doctor Lambeth have been printed in the "Alumni Bulletin of the University of Virginia," and in the " History of the University of Virginia," published by the Lewis Publishing company, New York.
On June 26, 1890, Doctor Lambeth married Frank Irene Stallings.
His address is Carr's Hill, University of Virginia, Char- lottesville, Virginia.
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