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 21
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THEODORICK ERASMUS ROBERTS
R OBERTS, THEODORICK ERASMUS, merchant and banker, was born in Charlotte county, Virginia, Novem- ber 25, 1857. His father was Erasmus F. Roberts, a farmer of that county ; and his mother was Matilda J. Boyd.
On his maternal side Mr. Roberts is descended from Gen- eral Alexander Spotswood, famous in the earlier history of Vir- ginia as governor of the colony from 1710-1722. John Spots- wood, son of Governor Spotswood and his wife, Anne Butler Bryan, married in 1745, Mary Dandridge, who was a daughter of William Dandridge, of the British navy. Of their marriage was born Ann Spotswood, who married Lewis Burwell, of "Stoneland," son of Armistead Burwell and Christian Blair; Matilda Burwell, daughter of Armistead and Christian Burwell, married Alexander Boyd, son of Alexander Boyd and Anne Swepson, both of whom were from Scotland. Their daughter, Matilda Boyd, married Erasmus F. Roberts, and they were, as above stated, the parents of Theodorick Erasmus Roberts.
Mr. Roberts' Burwell descent is traceable to Lewis Burwell, the emigrant, who married Lucy Higginson, and had a son, Lewis Burwell the second, who married first, Abigail Smith, of the family of Nathaniel Bacon, and second, Martha Lear, daugh- ter of John Lear, the councilor. By his marriage with Martha Lear, the second Lewis Burwell had a son, Lewis Burwell, who is said by Keith in his "Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison " to have resided at Kingsmill, and died in or after 1736. This Lewis Bur- well of "Kingsmill" married Mary Armistead; and they were the father and mother of the above mentioned Armistead Bur- well who married Christian Blair.
Mr. Roberts spent his early life in the country, growing up on his father's farm, where he had to perform regular tasks, from which he learned self-reliance, and acquired the knowledge that labor brings its own reward. His education was obtained in the public schools of his county; and he was never a student in any collegiate or university institution of learning.
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In 1885, he began the active work of life in the leaf-tobacco business at Chase City, in Mecklenburg county, Virginia,-a business which seemed to him at that time to offer the most in- viting and promising occupation. His application to this busi- ness, and his concentration of energies upon its conduct, coupled with his correct methods of dealing and his business sagacity, have justified the anticipations with which he started upon his career, and he has been highly successful as a business man. He is the president of the T. E. Roberts Tobacco company, incor- porated, a position which he has occupied since its establishment in 1902; he is president of the Virgina Furniture company, in- corporated, of Chase City; he has been, since 1903, president of the Bank of Chase City; and he is president of the Business Men's association of that town. He is a member of the Christian church.
While Mr. Roberts is a Democrat, who has never changed his political allegiance, and who always votes in elections, he has never been an aspirant for public office, and has held none, save that he has been a member of the town council of Chase City for many years. In this body his business capacity and sound judg- ment have made him a valuable factor in the administration of local affairs.
He married November 9, 1887, Rosa Hughes, of Pittsylvania county, Virginia. Of their marriage have been born six children, all of whom are now (1908) living.
His address is Chase City, Mecklenburg County, Virginia.
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DAVID MOTT ROBERTSON
R OBERTSON, DAVID MOTT, M. D., was born at Spout Spring, Appomattox county, Virginia, October 21, 1858. His father was Dr. David Pharr Robertson, a physician of that county ; and his mother was Mary Ann Glover.
Dr. Robertson is of Scotch extraction, his ancestors having come to America at an early date from Scotland.
He spent the period of his childhood and youth in the country, and as a boy evinced a decided inclination for the study of mathematics.
His early education was acquired in the Union academy ; and later he became a student in the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical college, now the Virginia Polytechnic institute, at Blacksburg, of which institution he is a full graduate.
At the instance of his parents, and in accordance with their wishes, he determined to study medicine; and after graduating at Blacksburg, he pursued a course of medical study in the Vir- ginia Medical college at Richmond. From there he went to New York, and studied in the medical department of the University of New York; pursuing later a post-graduate course in the Post- Graduate Medical school of New York, from which he received a certificate.
Having obtained his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1881, he began at once the practice of his profession in Appomattox county, where he has since combined with it the occupation of farming. He is a member of the Virginia Medical association.
He represented Appomattox county as a delegate to the lower house of the general assembly in Virginia in 1883, 1884, and 1885; and was county treasurer of Appomattox county from 1890 to 1903.
Dr. Robertson is a Democrat. He was for a short time affiliated with the People's party in Virginia, and was nominated by that party as its candidate for the United States congress from the tenth congressional district of Virginia, but failed of election.
Dr. Robertson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
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DAVID MOTT ROBERTSON
He married November 25, 1886, Mary Alverta Carter, daughter of Charles L. Carter, of Amherst county, Virginia. They have had ten children, of whom eight are now (1907) living.
His address is Spout Spring, Appomattox County, Virginia.
CHARLES SUMMERVILLE ROLLER
R OLLER, CHARLES SUMMERVILLE, educator, was born at Mount Sidney, Augusta county, Virginia, May 8, 1839. His father was Jacob C. Roller; his mother Margaret Hyde. Jacob C. Roller, prior to the War between the States, was a country merchant 'in the village of Mount Sidney, and after the war engaged in farming. He was noted among his acquaintances for his great strength and his skill and power as an athlete, and was, like a very large majority of his fellow- citizens of Augusta county at that time, an enthusiastic Whig.
The Roller family, which is a prominent one in the Shenan- doah Valley of Virginia, is of German origin, and belongs to Wurtemberg in the Fatherland. The first Roller of whom his- tory gives an account as an emigrant to America was Johannes Roller, who came to this country in 1748. Charles S. Roller is descended from Johan Peter Roller, who emigrated from Ger- many, and settled first at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in September, 1752. In 1767, he removed from Lancaster to Virginia, and in 1779 purchased a large tract of land on North river, Augusta county, Virginia ; since which time his descendants have played a considerable part in the social, business, and political history of their section.
Among the prominent men of the name has been a brother of the emigrant, Johan Peter Roller, who was the inventor of the upright piano; and it may be mentioned in this connection that Charles S. Roller's grandfather, John Roller, who was a son of the emigrant Johan Peter Roller, was an officer in the American army in the Revolutionary war and served in the 3rd Virginia regiment under Colonel Posey.
Charles S. Roller's youth was spent in his native village of Mount Sidney, where he was noted for his great strength, his love of athletics and of horsemanship, and his devotion to his books. The German thrift and industry which characterized his forefathers continued in their descendants in the Shenandoah valley; and the youth was required by his father to help upon
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the farm. He spent most of his summers as a farm hand, at work in the fields, and in the winter season first attended school as a pupil, and afterwards engaged in the business, which he has since successfully pursued, of teaching others. He attended Paxton's classical school in Augusta county, and later the Mossy Creek academy; and during the sessions of 1859-1860, 1860-1861, he was a student in the academical department of the University of Virginia, graduating in a number of its independent schools.
Mr. Roller served throughout the War between the States as a soldier in the Confederate States army. He was a member of Company E., 1st Virginia regiment, Stuart's cavalry; and was slightly wounded and captured by the enemy the day before General Lee's surrender at Appomattox. After the war he con- ducted a school at Fort Defiance, Augusta county, which he has since managed with great success and distinction, until his pres- ent school is now known as not only one of the best of its kind in Virginia, but as being unexcelled in the whole South in its discipline and instruction.
Mr. Roller served from 1883 to 1885 as principal of the State Institution for the deaf, dumb, and blind in Staunton, Virginia : and since 1885 he has been principal and owner of the Augusta Military academy at Fort Defiance. He was for more than fifteen years a justice of the peace in his county magisterial dis- trict, and represented Augusta county as a delegate in the gen- eral assembly of Virginia during the years 1871-1872, 1872-1873.
Mr. Roller is a Presbyterian in his religious creed, and a member of the congregation of the famous " Old Stone Church," which, since the days of the pioneers in Augusta, has been a con- spicuous landmark of Presbyterianism in the Valley.
In politics Mr. Roller is a Republican, having left the Demo- cratic party on the state debt issue in the eighties. Mr. Roller is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which he has been connected for more than forty years, and in which he has filled all the chairs. He is an enthusiastic devotee of ath- letics in all forms; and encourages the playing of football and baseball by the pupils of his school, not only as conducive to physical health and well-being, but as no less calculated to develop manliness, courage and self-control in the player.
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On October 27, 1874, Mr. Roller married Rosabell Judith Moorman. They have had four children, all of whom are now (1908) living.
Since the above sketch was written Mr. Roller died at his home in Fort Defiance, Virginia, on August 26, 1907.
JOHN E. ROLLER
R OLLER, GENERAL JOHN E., was born at Mt. Craw- ford, Rockingham county, Virginia, on the 5th day of October, 1844,-the oldest of the eight children of Peter S. Roller, who was a great-grandson of the John Peter Roller, of Huguenot stock, originally from France, who came to Philadel- phia in 1752. Jules Favre, who made for himself so large a place in the history of France in the last years of the last century, and Theophile Roller, who was for eighteen years pastor of the French Protestant church at Rome in Italy, were of the same stock. John Peter Roller, the first of the name in America, had married a descendant of John Wahlschmidt, one of the six mis- sionaries sent by the Dutch Reformed church of Holland to work in America. Peter S. Roller, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a man of marked intelligence and sterling worth, one of the bench of justices of the county court of Rockingham. He had married a descendant of Christian Allebach, an early settler in the Perkiomen Valley, and of John Boneauvent, one of the "forgotten Huguenots," an early settler of Colebrook Dale.
John Peter Roller, the emigrant, with Peter Ruffner and others, settled in the beautiful valley of the Hawksbill, now in Page county, on grants obtained from Lord Fairfax. Later he moved to the North Fork of the great Shenandoah in Rocking- ham county, acquiring a large estate there. All his sons served in the Revolutionary army in the 3rd Virginia regiment.
Although the son of a large land owner who also owned many slaves, John E. Roller was trained in habits of industry and thrift from his earliest years. Fond of books, he made rapid progress when in school. From his German ancestors he in- herited a sound and strong constitution and a sanguine and buoy- ant temperament. Even in his boyhood and early youth he felt the keen impulse of ambition. In 1861, when he was but six- teen years of age and was just prepared for a course at the Uni- versity of Virginia, at the first call to arms he left for the near- est camp to enlist. He was so young that they would not muster
Faithfully your Joshua Moller
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him in; but this did not discourage him; and he attached himself to Company I of the first Virginia cavalry, and began active ser- vice by taking part in the engagement of the first day of the first battle of Manassas. Known as the " infant of the regiment," his comrades say that he stood under fire like a veteran. In 1862 he was appointed a cadet in the Virginia Military institute, grad- uating with distinction on the 4th of July, 1863. Elected lieu- tenant of Captain Blackford's scouts, the death of Captain Blackford prevented his serving long in that company, and he was appointed lieutenant of engineers in the regular service. He was soon ordered to the institute as assistant professor, teaching Latin and mathematics to the young men who afterward distin- guished themselves at Newmarket. Applying to be sent into actual service in 1863, he was ordered to Charleston, serving under Beauregard during part of the siege of that city, and accompanying General Beauregard to Virginia in the spring of 1864. Assigned to Hoke's division of the 4th corps of the army of North Virginia, as engineer officer, he was promoted two grades for his share in the campaign of 1864 and the defence of Petersburg. In the winter of 1864-1865, he organized Com- panies G and H of the 2nd regiment of engineer troops; and he commanded them until relieved by Major B. M. Harrod. He served in front of Richmond and Petersburg until the evacua- tion, April 21, 1865, when he was in the retreat with Lee's army. He was in the last line of battle, at Appomattox, and was there paroled.
General Roller led in the work of restoring his father's plan- tation which had been laid waste during the war. In September, 1865, he opened the old academy at Pleasant Grove; and man- aging with success the full school which soon assembled, he earned enough in this year to pay his way for the next year at the University of Virginia where he began the study of law. He was admitted to practice in August, 1867, and settled at Har- risonburg, Virginia. In 1869 he was elected a member of the Virginia senate, serving for four years; and young as he was, he became one of the leading members of the senate. Governor Gil- bert C. Walker appointed him major-general of the state militia in 1872.
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The court-house at Harrisonburg had been burned and most of the title records destroyed or mutilated. Much litigation in- volving titles resulted from the destruction of these records. General Roller was soon recognized as the leading land lawyer of his county, and was engaged in almost all these cases. A distin- guished United States judge has said of him, "he has no superior as a land lawyer." In his good judgment, in his power to probe the minds and the character of witnesses, in his earnest and logi- cal presentation of his case, with learning, dignity and intense interest, he has distinguished himself; and his practice has cov- ered a wide field. Heidelberg University at Tiffin, Ohio, con- ferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D., in 1905.
While entirely free from narrow sectionalism, General Rol- ler has devoted much time and labor to developing the great natural resources of the South. He is the owner of mines and manufacturing plants, mineral and timber lands, and real estate and business houses in several Southern cities. He raised corn and wheat on his farms in Virginia, and cotton and cattle on his plantations and ranches in Texas. In the great industrial devel- opment which has established so many factories and workshops throughout the South, he has been a successful manager. At two of the plants owned by him goods are made which are exported to many foreign lands.
An aggressive lawyer and an active man of business General Roller has still taken time for historical research. He has studied especially the causes of German emigration to England and to America ; and he has made an especial study of the char- acteristics and achievements of this German element in American life, particularly in Virginia and the South.
General Roller has collected a library of over two thousand volumes of old German books, songs, stories and hymns, cate- chisms and Bibles, histories general and local, books of science and of literature, which were owned by the early German set- tlers of America. He has written essays and delivered lectures which have thrown much light upon the good living and com- fort, the merry-making, the religious fervor, deep piety, and mis- sionary spirit of these American Germans; and he contrasts these elements with the solemn, stoical, Indian-fighting characteristics
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of certain of the other pioneer elements. He is now engaged in writing a history of the German element in Virginia and the South.
An eloquent and polished speaker, he is often invited to the lecture platform ; and his lectures upon "The German Element in Virginia," "Tersteegen"-"The Reflex Power of Missions," and upon "Michael Schlatter" and "Robert E. Lee," have been espec- ially in request. In 1887, General Roller, led by his views upon the protective tariff, identified himself with the Republican party on the issue first presented in Cleveland's message for tariff re- form. He is recognized by all as one of the leading men of his party in the South.
An elder of the Reformed church in the United States, he has for many years been an officer and director of the institutions of that church. He has served as a member of the noted com- mittee which has successfully discharged the duty of forming a plan of federation of the churches which hold the Presbyterian form of government. General Roller is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, of the American Historical society, of the Southern History association, of the Virginia, the South Carolina and the Texas Historical society, and of the Pennsyl- vania-German Historical society. He is president of the Rock- ingham county Historical society.
On June 27, 1878, General Roller married Miss Margaret Rector Schacklett, who was a descendant of that striking Scotch- Irish pioneer, Samuel Henry, and of John Rector, first elder of the Reformed church in the United States. She died on the 12th of May, 1899, leaving two children, Frances Lewis, (now the wife of George G. Grattan, Jr.,) and Margaret Stuart. On November 11, 1896, he married Miss Lucy Brown Cabell, daugh- ter of Patrick Henry Cabell, of the distinguished Virginia family of that name. Mrs. Roller is a prominent member of the daughters of the American Revolution, and of the Colonel Dames of Virginia. They have three young daughters.
Asked for suggestions to the young people of his state who wish to attain true success in life, General Roller offers these five maxims some of which came down to him from his forefathers: 1. "All that a man gets out of life that is worth having is what
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he does for others." 2. " One hour of glorious life, is worth a century of inaction." 3. " Success without honor is no success whatever." 4. " It is the generous man, that prospers." And, 5, a simple maxim which embodies the optimism of his Christian faith and sanguine temperament, "Life is well worth living!"
The address of General Roller is Harrisonburg, Virginia.
1
GEORGE ROSS
R OSS, GEORGE, physician, surgeon and professor, was born on October 22, 1838, at Berry Hill, Culpeper county, Virginia, the residence of his grandfather, Colonel John Thom, colonel of Virginia forces in the War of 1812, and long a member of the Virginia state senate, who mar- ried Abby DeHart Mayo, of Powhatan Seat near Richmond. His parents were William Buckner Ross and Elizabeth Mayo Thom. The profession of his father was that of a farmer and his marked characteristics were self-reliance, intelligence and elegance of manner. His ancestors on both sides were prominent people, and among the best known representatives were Major William Mayo, the engineer, who laid out Richmond, and John Mayo, who was a member of the Virginia house of delegates from Chesterfield and Henrico for many years previous to the Revolu- tion, and a member of the Constitutional convention of 1775 and 1776.
As a boy, George Ross enjoyed perfect health, and grew up in the country under the stimulating influence of his mother in a love of books and devotion to good and noble deeds. His parents were well off and he had no regular tasks, the entire extent of his manual labors being represented by three days' work in the har- vest field. He was educated by private tutors till the age of seventeen and then attended for three years the Virginia Military institute, graduating therefrom in 1859. As his life work he chose at first the profession of an engineer, but yielded to the advice and persuasion of his uncle, Dr. William Alexander Thom to study medicine in his office near Eastville, Northampton county, Virginia. He studied with him a year and then attended the medical department of the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated July 4, 1861. While at the university he aided in organizing a military company of students known as the " Southern Guard," and on the evening of the passing of the ordinance of secession at Richmond, Virginia, in 1861, as first lieutenant commanding the company, marched it to Harpers
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Ferry. He was much disappointed when the governor refused to enlist his company as a permanent part of the military forces of the state. He returned to the university, where, in July, 1861, by direction of its board of officers, he organized a training school for instruction in military tactics, including field and post duties. Later in the year he organized a battalion of artillery known as the "Piedmont artillery," but it was disbanded be- cause of the inability of the Confederate government to furnish arms. In December, 1861, he entered the Confederate States army as assistant surgeon, and was assigned to the Banner hos- pital in Richmond, Virginia. He remained there until the spring of 1862, when by the order of the surgeon-general he organized " Crew's Factory hospital," in anticipation of the seven days' fight around Richmond, and was its executive head until he was transferred to the Chimborazo hospital in the fall of that year. In June, 1863, he was relieved from duty at Chimborazo and directed to report to the medical director of the Army of North- ern Virginia then near Gettysburg. He was assigned by Dr. Guild to take charge of the Reserve hospital of the third army corps, and held this office for a month, when he was transferred to General A. P. Hill's staff, as associate medical director of that corps. While filling this position, he was present at the battles of Bristow Station and Mine Run and the skirmishes around Culpeper court-house and Liberty Mills. In March, 1864, he was detached from the Army of Northern Virginia and ordered to the Virginia Military institute, and was the surgeon in charge of its corps of cadets when they made their famous fight at the bat- tle of Newmarket. He was present with his battalion when Gen- eral Hunter burned the Military institute buildings, and later was at, though not in, the battle around Lynchburg. With his bat- talion he was on the lines around Richmond the night of the evacuation of that city.
After the close of the war, he returned to Richmond and re- sumed the practice of his professon, which he has pursued ever since. He has held numerous positions of honor and trust in many lines. He was a lecturer in the summer school of the Medical college of Virginia for eight years, filling the chairs of anatomy and minor surgery. He was appointed by Governor
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Gilbert C. Walker a member of the first board of health organ- ized in Virginia, and later, by Governor Fitzhugh Lee, he was appointed a member of the board of visitors of the Virginia Mili- tary institute from January 1, 1887, to January 1, 1890. In May, 1886, he organized the surgical service of the Richmond and Danville Railroad company, and was its chief surgeon until 1896, when he resigned. He is now the consulting surgeon of its suc- cessor, the Southern railway, and the district surgeon of the Chesapeake and Ohio railway. He organized the chair of obstetrics of the University College of Medicine in Richmond, and is now its professor emeritus of obstetrics. He is a thirty- second degree Mason, and the medical director of the Order of Mystic Shriners in Virginia. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Westmoreland club, ex-president of the International Association of Railway Surgeons, ex-president of the Association of Surgeons of the Southern railway, member of the Richmond Academy of Medcine and Surgery, president of the Richmond German club, and is officially connected with various other organizations.
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