USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 35
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Thomas M. Alfriend, father of Thomas Lee, was born in Petersburg, Virginia, November 10, 1811, and died in Richmond, December 11, 1885. He was a son of Colin Alfriend, of Petersburg. The mother of Thomas Lee was Mary Jane Eger, born in County Althone, Ireland, died November 8, 1852, in Richmond.
In Richmond, July 2, 1868, Thomas Lee Alfriend married Eliza Sanger Manson, who was born in Granville county, North Carolina. They have four children: Mary B., Otis M., Sallie S. and Anna Lee, and have buried one son, Thomas Manson, died July 28, 1870, aged eleven months. Mr. and Mrs. Alfriend and their oldest child are mem- bers of All Saints ( Episcopal) Church, Richmond.
GENERAL EDGAR ALLAN.
The subject of this sketch was born in Birmingham, England, Feb- ruary 26, 1842. He attended parochial school in Birmingham in child- hood, but at the age of ten years went into the printing business. He served five years as a compositor, attending night school. From fifteen to nineteen years of age he traveled in the printing and wholesale paper . business. In 1863 he came to America, and at Detroit enlisted in Com- pany M, 7th Michigan Cavalry, Federal army, as private. During most of his service he was on special detail, as clerk on courtmartial, or at General Merritt's headquarters. He was wounded at Shepherdstown, August 24, 1864, but served till the close of the war.
Making his home in Virginia, he studied law in Prince Edward county, and was admitted to the Bar in December, 1867, beginning practice in
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Prince Edward and adjoining counties. He was a member of the Con- stitutional Convention of 1867-8, from Prince Edward and Appomattox counties; was elected Commonwealth Attorney for Prince Edward in 1870, and continuously up to 1882, when he resigned on removing to Richmond; was State senator from Prince Edward, Cumberland and Amelia counties, 1873-77; was delegate-at-large to Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1868, and voted for General Grant: was Presidential Elector-at-Large in 1876. Since 1869 General Allan has been connected with the Grand Army of the Republic: in 1885-6 was commander of Phil. Kearney Post of Richmond; in 1886, at San Fran- cisco, was elected National Junior Vice Commander-in-Chief and presided as Commander-in-Chief at the Centennial celebration of the adoption of the American Constitution, in Philadelphia, in 1887. Since 1882 he has been doing a large practice in the City of Richmond. Heisanactive member of the Grace Street Baptist Church.
In Prince Edward county, Virginia, February 6, 1867. General Allan married Mary Edna Land. The children of the union are four: Edith Edna, married F. H. Crump of Richmond, Virginia, now resides in Washington, D. C .: Lola Land, Lottie Lillian, and Edgar, jr. Mrs. Allan was born in Casey county, Kentucky, the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Morton) Land. Her parents were born in Buckingham county, Virginia, and both died in Kentucky in 1852.
CHAS. J. ANDERSON.
The subject of this sketch was born in Richmond, on August 12, 1848. His father, son of John and Elenor Anderson, was born in Baltimore, in 1823, and has lived in Richmond since his fifteenth year. His mother was born in Baltimore, daughter of John and Eleanor Horne, grand- daughter of Lydia Jordan Jefferies and Col. Joseph Jefferies, of Lancas- ter, Pennsylvania, who served through the war for American Independ- ence: great granddaughter of Richard Jefferies, who was one of three brothers who left England to settle in the New World in the latter part of the 17th century, and settled in Pennsylvania, the other twocoming to live in Virginia.
Charles J. Anderson, entered the Virginia Military Institute in March, 1864; served with the battalion of cadets in May, under Gen. John C. Breckenridge, in the battle of New Market, and with the corps of cadets and local defence troops till the evacnation of Richmond. He returned to the Institute in 1866, gradnating in 1869; since 1870 has been in business in Richmond ; in 1873 was a State commissioner to the I'ni- versal Exposition in Vienna.
In 1871 he raised a company for the First Regiment, Virginia Volum- teers, and has served the regiment as au officer in all grades, from first
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lieutenant to colonel, resigning the latter to take command of the First Brigade, to which he was elected to succeed General Fitzhugh Lee.
General Anderson is a member of various Masonic bodies, among others being a Knight Templar and a member of the Ancient and Ac- cepted Scottish Rite.
GEN. RUFUS A. AYERS,
Attorney-General of the State of Virginia, was born in Bedford county, Virginia, May 20, 1849. He was educated in the Goodson Academy, Bristol, Virginia, until the age of twelve, when the war began, and the school was closed. Although under age, he ran away from homeand en- tered the army, and remained for some months in the scouting service in East Tennessee. After the war he engaged for a time in agricultural pursuits, and in merchandising in Eastern Kentucky, beginning busi- ness at Estillville, Virginia, at the age of nineteen. He studied law in the office of H. S. Kane, Esq., Estillville, and was admitted to the Bar in June, 1872, practicing in Southwest Virginia up to his election as Attorney-General, at the November election, 1885.
In May, 1875, he was elected commonwealth attorney for Scott county, serving from July 1, 1875 to July 1, 1879; was reading clerk of the House of Delegates, sessions of 1875-6, 1876-7, 1877-8, and 1878-9; was appointed by President Hayes supervisor of census for the 5th district of Virginia, in 1880, under the act which required such ap- pointments to be made without reference to politics, Dr. R. G. Cabell being appointed at the same time. General Avers has been very active in furthering the building of the South Atlantic and Ohio railroad, and other kindred business enterprises in Southwest Virginia. During his term as Attorney-General, he was imprisoned for contempt, in refusing to respect an injunction granted by Judge Bond, of the Circuit Court of the United States, and was discharged by the Supreme Court of the United States on writ of habeas corpus, the trial of which excited the attention of citizens in every State in the Union, because of its bearing upon the rights of the State, and is reported in the 123d United States Supreme Court reports. The General Assembly adopted a joint resol- tion directing the Governor to transmit to General Ayers the thanks of the people of Virginia for going to jail in defense of the State.
M. J. Ayers, father of General Ayers, born in Bedford county, died May 10, 1857, aged forty-two years, was a son of Elijah Ayers, of Bedford county, who was a son of John Ayers. Mrs. Susan L. Avers, the General's mother, was a Wingfield of Bedford county ; she isnow liv- ing in Bristol, Tennessee, aged seventy-four years. The wife of General Avers, born in Scott county, Virginia, to whom he was married in Estill- ville, June 8, 1870, is Victoria L., daughter of Henry A. Morrison, Her
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mother, whose maiden name was Kane, died in 1866. Her father, living now in Estillville, was born in Sullivan county, Tennessee, a son of George Morrison, of that county, who was a son of Peter Morrison, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and took-part in the battle of Kings Mountain. General and Mrs. Ayers have three children, Kate L., and Harry J. and James B, and have buried two: Maggie L., died July 14, 1887, aged twelve years; Rufus W. J., died in 1883, aged five months. General Ayers is a Mason.
J. BELL BIGGER,
Born in the city of Richmond, March 3, 1829, was educated in that city. In 1852 he was appointed clerk to Capt. Thomas Crabbe of the U. S. war steamer San Jacinto, and sailed in her on her first trip to the Mediterranean ; was afterwards clerk to Commodore Morgan of the ['. S. war flag-ship Independence, and returned on her from Gibralter. In 1855 he was elected clerk of the committees of finance and of claims, of the House of Delegates, and continued in that service until 1865. In 1860 was appointed by Governor Wise special messenger to obtain election returns from Gihner county; was secretary of the Southern Rights Association prior to the war; was elected clerk of the andit- ing board of Virginia, which Board andited and settled all war ex- penses of Virginia prior to her joining the Confederacy; was commis- sioned lieutenant in the Letcher Battery, but, owing to physical dis- ability, was unable for field service. In 1865, on December 4th, he was elected clerk of the House of Delegates, and served until 1879, with two interruptions caused by his being twice removed by military an- thorities. In December, 1883, was again elected to this office, and is the present incumbent. clerk of the House of Delegates and keeper of the Rolls of Virginia.
Mr. Bigger also served as secretary of the Virginia Electoral college in 1880, and again in 1884, and was the messenger to carry the vote for Hancock and English and Cleveland and Hendricks respectively to Washington.
Thomas B. Bigger, his father, was born in Prince Edward county. Virginia, February 22, 1795. In 1812 he enlisted in Capt. Richard Me- Rae'scompany, known as the " Petersburg Volunteers." This company marched from Richmond city to Detroit, Michigan, and was at the siege of Fort Meigs, where Private Bigger was cut off from his com- mand by Indians, and escaped with his life with great difficulty. He declined promotion, but shared all the fortunes of the company, which Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison specially commended in general orders, for "their conduct on the field and example in the camp." Thomas B.
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Bigger was later captain of the " Richmond Light Infantry Blues," and afterwards colonel of a military organization. In 1844 he was ap- pointed postmaster of the city of Richmond by President Polk, and continued in that office more than eighteen years. In 1863 he was elected and served as a member of the House of Delegates from Rich- mond city. After the war, until 1880, he was clerk in the office of the Auditor of Public Accounts. He died on May 5, 1880. His wife, mother of J. Bell, was Elizabeth Meredith Russell, born in New Kent county, Virginia, in 1807, died in Richmond in 1875.
In Essex county, Virginia, August 16, 1853, J. Bell Bigger married Annie B. Muse, who was born in that county. Her parents were born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, Samuel Muse and Elizabeth Y. (Banks) Muse; her father served in the war of 1812 with rank of major. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Bigger number twelve, born in the order named : Lizzie M. (deceased); Lucy 1., Peggie S., Carrie R., Thos. H., John B. and Mary A., twins, Elvira M. (deceased), Samuel W., Hunter MeGuire, Sallie M.
CHARLES EDWARD BOLLING.
The subject of this sketch was born at Bolling Island, Goochland county, Virginia, on May 4, 1852. He was educated at Taylors Creek Academy, Hanover county, Virginia, by Prof. Charles Morris, M. A., and at the University of Virginia. At the age of seventeen, he went into mining engineering, and in 1871 was engaged as a civil engineer on the Chesapeake & Ohio R. R., remaining with this road until 1873, em- ployed most of the time as an assistant engineer in the construction of the Church Hill tunnel, Richmond. In February, 1873, he was ap- pointed assistant engineer to thecity engineer of Richmond, and in that position he remained until, in July, 1885, he was elected to the office heis now filling, superintendent of the Richmond city water works.
In December, 1877, Mr. Bolling married Imogen Warwick of Rich- mond. He is a son of Thomas Bolling, who was born at Bolling Hall, Goochland county, February 5, 1807, living now in Richmond. Thomas Bolling was son of William Bolling, of Bolling Hall and Mary Randolph of Curls Neck, Virginia. Wm. Bolling was son of Thomas Bolling and Bettie Gay of Cobbs, Virginia.
THE BOSHER FAMILY.
The first Bosher of whom anything is known was Leonard Bosher, a Baptist minister of London, England, who wrote the first treatise on "Liberty of Conscience," in 1614. Very little is known of him beyond what is in his treatise. The first Bosher of whom anything is known
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by the present generation was Charles Bosher, who came to this country from England as a teacher in the old Wormley family, between 1730 and 1740, and settled in King William county, Virginia. He married a Miss Edwards, from whom descended Charles Bosher, who left six children, viz .: William, who left no children; Lemuel, left John C .: Thomas, left children : Frances, married a Mr. Abrams; Mary, married a Mr. Walker; and Gideon.
Gideon was the pioneer of the stage lines through Virginia and the Carolinas. His first wife was a Miss Hannah Whitlock, and by her eight children were born, viz .: (1) JJohn, married a Miss Bridges: was a builder, and was contractor for the old City Hall, Bosher's Dam (up on James river), the old Shockoe Warehouse, and other public build- ings, and was also prominent in the city government. His wife was burned in the old theatre in 1811, the site of the present Monumental Episcopal church ; he left one daughter, who married Ellis Brown. (2) Frances Ann. married William Wingo. (3) Charles, carriage manu- facturer (1806), left no children. (4) Thomas, one daughter, Eliza D .. who married George W. Pemberton. (5) Gideon, jr., one daughter who married Wm. Burke. (6) George, married Miss Ellett. (7) William, builder, whose work is still a monument to him in some of the oldest houses in Richmond; married Gabriella Lipscombe, of King William county, Virginia : left children, eight, namely : i. William P., a builder : ii. Martha A., married W. W. Dabney; iii. Mary J., married Charles H. Smoot; iv. Margaret R., not married ; v. George L., married Miss Harde- wicke, of Georgia; vi. Ella H., married John D. Scott, of Caroline county, Virginia ; vii. Charles M., married Mary H. Bosher; viii. Thomas J., married Fannie A. Jones. (8) James, married Ann H. Hopkins, of New Kent county, Virginia; succeeded Charles Bosher in 1814 in the carriage business now carried on by R. H. Bosher's Sons, and was also founder of the Richmond Fire Association, and its president: also director in the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac R. R. Co .; his children were : i. John H., married (1) Emily E. Dill; (2) Mary A. Ball. ii. Georgiana H., married George H. Tompkins: iii. Ann Abigail, married Lewis D. Crenshaw; iv. James G., married Mary B. Dabney ; v. Charles H., mar- ried Mary C. Ingram; vi. Hannah W., married John Petty of Norfolk. Virginia ; vii. Mary F., married Daniel Ratcliffe.
Gideon Bosher married the second time a Mrs. Fox, who was a Miss Drewry of King William county; homestead was Brandywine. Widow Fox had four children by her first husband. Drewry, Mary, Sarah Am and John Fox. The result of the union of Gideon Bosher with Widow Fox was five children : Robert H .; Sophia, who married Wm. H. Davis, of Richmond, Virginia; Elizabeth, married Cornelius Dabney, of Now Kent county, Virginia; Isabella, died in infancy; Emily, born after
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her father's death, married Dr. Chas. H. Judson of Greenville, South Carolina.
Robert H. Bosher, only son of the second marriage of Gideon Bosher, married Elizabeth B., daughter of Johnson C. and Patsy Lipscombe Eubank, and by this union were eight children, viz .: James, died in infaney ; Robert S., married Mattie Cox of Richmond: Edw. J., married Laura M. Starke of Richmond; Lucy H., married Chas. F. Janney of Columbia, South Carolina; Sophie J., not married : Wm. J., not mar- ried; Charles G., married Kate L. Langley of Norfolk, Virginia; Dr. Lewis C., not married.
R. H. Bosher moved to Richmond from King William county in 1830, and served an apprenticeship in the carriage factory of his half-brother, James Bosher. In 1843 he became a partner in the business. In 1852 he assumed entire control of it, his brother retiring, and he carried on the business successfully until his death, on November 21. 1885. He was prominent in the business community, a consistent member of the First Baptist church, and deacon in the same for many years: for more than twenty years superintendent of the Sabbath-school. After his death his sons, Edw. J. and Charles G. Bosher succeeded to the busi- ness under the firm name of R. H. Bosher's Sons. This is the oldest business of the kind in the Southern States, having been established in 1814.
Edw. J. Bosher was educated in Richmond, and left school to enter the Confederate States army in the Richmond Howitzers, with which he served until the surrender at Appomattox. Returning to Richmond he went into his father's establishment. At Richmond. December 24, 1868, he married Laura M., daughter of Thomas J. and Sarah Hutchinson Starke. They have two children, J. S. and E. W. Bosher.
Charles G. Bosher, was born in Richmond, July 5, 1857, was educated at the Richmond High School, and went into his father's establishment in 1873. On October 12, 1887, he married Kate L., daughter of Charles H. and Portia Deming Langley, of Norfolk, Virginia.
DR. LEWIS C. BOSHER
Was born in the city of Richmond, February 17, 1860. He attended Richmond College, and graduated from the Medical College of Virginia in 1883. He at once commenced practice, in which he has continued to date, in Richmond. Since August, 1888, he has been Professor of Anat- omy, Medical College of Virginia: has been deputy coroner of Richmond for the last two years; and is surgeon, with rank of major, staff of Ist Artillery Battalion, Virginia Troops. His parents were Robert H. and Elizabeth B. Bosher, the family record given in the sketch preceding this.
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THOS. SEDDON BRUCE,
President of the Vulcan Iron Company of Richmond, Virginia, was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, on July 23, 1849. He is a son of Charles and Sally Bruce, now living in Charlotte county, Virginia. His father was born in Halifax county, this State, the son of James Bruce; his mother is a daughter of Thomas Seddon of Fredericksburg, Vir- ginia. His wife is Mary A., daughter of Gen. Joseph B. Anderson, of Richmond, in which city she was born. Her father is a Virginian, by birth and descent, born in Botetourt county. Her mother, whose maiden name was S. E. Archer, died in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Bruce were married in Richmond, on April 7, 1875, and have five children, born in the order named : Sallie A., Charles, jr., Joseph R. A., Seddon, Kath- leen A.
Until Mr. Bruce was sixteen years of age, he was educated at his home in Charlotte county. At that age he attended school at Green- wood, Albemarle county, then the University of Virginia, completing his studies abroad, at the University of Berlin, Prussia. He came to Richmond in 1873, and engaged in the wholesale grocery business. In 1878 he went into the iron business in the works of which he is now president. Philip Alexander Bruce, his brother, has been associated with him for two years, and is secretary and treasurer of the company.
DR. JOHN LEE BUCHANAN.
John Lee Buchanan was born in Smyth county, Virginia, June 19, 1831, the son of Patrick C. Buchanan and his wife Margaret A., nee Graham. Patrick C. Buchanan, born in Smytheounty in October, 1799, died April, 1872, was a son of John Buchanan, of Scotch descent. His widow survives him, living still in Smyth county. She was born in Wythe county, Virginia, in March, 1808, the daughter of Samuel and Rachel (Graham) Graham.
John Lee Buchanan was educated at Emory and Heury College, graduating in 1856. Until 1878 he was one of the faenlty of that col- lege, except for the years of the war when he served the Confederate States in the mining department. In 1878-9 he was professor of Latin at the Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee; in 1879 was elected president of Emory and Henry College, and afterward of the Virginia Agrienltural and Mechanical College in 1880. Subsequently he was joint principal of the Martha Washington College, Virginia, until De- cember, 1886, at which date he was elected to his present position, Super- intendent of Publie Instruction, for the term of four years. Heisa mem- ber of the M. E. Church (South), and of the Masonic fraternity.
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In Washington county, Virginia, August 4, 1859, Dr. Buchanan married Frances E. Wiley, born in that county. Their children were born in the order named : Lillian W., died in October, 1863; Willie P .; Mag- gie L., married Charles M. Yeates, of the U. S. geological survey; Lizzie H., Horace Graham, Raymond W., John Lee, jr., Grace P., Frank E. Mrs. Buchanan is a daughter of Dr. E. E. Wiley, who was born in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, in October, 1814, and has been a citizen of Washi- ington county, Virginia, for the past fifty years, during the larger part of this period connected with Emory and Henry College as professor and president, and still connected with that institution. He was a son of Rev. Ephraim Wiley, of the Methodist church. Her mother, now de- ceased, was Elizabeth Hammond, born in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1814.
HON. RICHARD HENRY CARDWELL.
The subject of this sketch was born at Madison, North Carolina, on August 1, 1846. He was educated in Rockingham county, that State, beginning at Madison Academy, then in the Beulah Male Institute, which he quitted to enter the Army of the Confederacy, as a member of the North Carolina Junior Reserves. This was in March, 1864, and in May following he took a transfer to the Army of Northern Virginia, serving in Virginia until the close of the war. Returning to Rocking- ham county, North Carolina, Mr. Cardwell engaged in agricultural pur- suits, and in the tobacco trade until 1869. In that year he moved to Hanover county, Virginia. and read law in the office of Winn & Haw, in the city of Richmond. He was admitted to the Bar in the spring of 1874, opened an office in Richmond, and has been engaged in practice there ever since, with residence at Hanover C. H. In 1884 he was elected by the Legislature, and commissioned, judge of the county court of Hanover county, but declined to qualify. He has been a member of the House of Delegates of Virginia from Hanover county since 1881. and is the present Speaker of that body. In 1884 he was Elector on the Democratie ticket.
The father of Mr. Cardwell was Richard P. Cardwell, died October 3d, 1846, aged about thirty-five years, a son of Richard Cardwell, of Rock- ingham county, North Carolina. His wife, mother of Richard H., was Elizabeth M., daughter of Nickolas Dalton, of Rockingham county, North Carolina. She died in 1864, aged fifty-three years. In that county, in February, 1865, Richard H. Cardwell married Kate Howard, who was born in Richmond, Virginia. C. Howard, their first-born child. died at the age of ten years. They have sis children, born in the order named : William D., Lucy Crump, Lizzie Dalton, CharlesP., Katie, Julia. Mrs. Cardwell is a daughter of Edward C. Howard, who was born in the
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city of Richmond, and was city clerk of Richmond from the creation of the office in 1866 until his death in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Cardwell are members of the Presbyterian church at Ashland, Virginia, and he is a Ruling Elder in the church. He is also a member of the Masonic frater- ity; of the American Legion of Honor; of the Royal Arcanum, and of the Knights of Honor.
COLONEL JOHN B. CARY.
Colonel Cary was born in Hampton, Virginia, in 1819, a son of Col. Gill A. Cary, of Hampton, who was born March 18, 1783, and died in March, 1843; son of John Cary of Back River, Elizabeth City county, Virginia, born 1745, died 1795; son of Miles Cary, "The Elder," owner of "Peartree Hall," Warwick county, Virginia, who died in 1766; son of Miles Cary who died in 1724, who was a grandson of Miles Cary, " The Emigrant," who came to Virginia from Bristol, England, in 1640. and died in Warwick county, Virginia, 1667. His mother was Sarah E. S., daughter of Major JJames Baytop, of Gloucester county, Virginia, born September 18, 1789, died in April, 1879. He was educated at Hampton Academy, and at William and Mary College, graduating from that time honored institution July 4, 1839. For five years he taught school, then was seventeen years principal of Hampton Academy, which was disbanded April, 1861, on the secession of the State of Vir- ginia.
He entered the Confederate States' service as Major of Virginia Vol- unteers; was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel after the fight at Bethel. and assigned to the 32nd Virginia Regiment : was subsequently appointed Assistant Adjutant and Inspector-General at the request of Gen. John B. Magruder, and assigned to duty on his staff, serving through the Peninsular Campaign, and the Seven Days' Fights around Richmond. After Gen. Magruder's transfer to the Trans-Mississippi Department, Col. Cary was transferred to the Paymaster's Department, in which he served until the close of the war, on duty in Richmond.
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