Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography

[Pages 68-71]
Mann Satterwhite Valentine. Probably there is no institution in Richmond save those famed in the history of the state that possess so deep an interest to the residents of the city as the Valentine Museum. Valuable as the museum is from scientific and educational standpoints, an additional element of interest is the fact that it was a gift to the city of Richmond by a native born son of Richmond, Mann Satterwhite Valentine, and that the donor's father, his brothers, his sons, and himself, devoted many years to the collection and preservation of many valuable specimens now on exhibit. In fact it is peculiarly a Richmond institution the gift of a citizen and one which the donor long wished his city to possess and labored to accomplish the purpose. Located in the former residence of the donor, with spacious gardens attached it is one of the attractive and valuable institutions of the city.
Mann Satterwhite Valentine, the donor of this valuable addition to the educational advantages of Richmond, descended from Jacob Valentine, of King William county, Virginia, a planter, to whom lands were conveyed by deed, July 1, 1754. Jacob Valentine was a resident of King William county, at the time of his death, July 9, 1774, his will being dated January 5, 1774. He was twice married, having issue by both. His first wife, Sarah (Batchelder) Valentine, was born August 31, 1725, was the daughter of William (2) Batchelder, baptized July 26, 1691, died April, 1727, of Christ Church parish, Middlesex county, Virginia, married, April 11, 1720, Elizabeth Watts. William (2) Batchelder was the son of William (1) Batchelder, and grandson of Mr. John Batchelder, of Middlesex county, Virginia, who died December 4, 1685. Jacob and Sarah (Batchelder) Valentine had issue: John, Batchelder, of further mention; Jacob, Josiah, Priscilla, Jesse and Molly. Jacob Valentine married (second) September 29, 1762, Mary Elizabeth, widow of Samuel Batchelder, and daughter of Thomas Laughlin. Issue: Edward; Elizabeth, married William Montague. Of these sons of Jacob Valentine, Jacob (2) Josiah and Edward were officers of the revolutionary army.
(II) Batchelder Valentine, son of Jacob and Sarah (Batchelder) Valentine, of High Hill, King William county, Virginia, was born 1750, died 1808. He was a planter of High Hill, King William county, Virginia. He married Ann, born 1752, died September 6, 1829, daughter of Mann Satterwhite, of York county, Virginia. Issue Batchelder (2); Mann Satterwhite, of further mention; Jacob; Martha; Sarah, who married Dr. William Minton, of Richmond, Virginia.
(III) Mann Satterwhite Valentine, son of Batchelder and Ann (Satterwhite) Valentine, was born at High Hill, King William county, Virginia, July 3, 1786, died in Richmond, Virginia, March 20, 1865. He was educated in the schools of Westey and King in his native county. He located in Richmond in 1806, and there read law in the office of Samuel McGraw, but later abandoned all thoughts of a profession, and embraced a commercial career. This was partly due to the fact that his father's fortune had been seriously impaired through the payment of large security debts, and partly perhaps by the discovery of his own superior business qualifications. He had made many friends in the city; was an ensign in the state guard, later a lieutenant; was keeper of the penitentiary store, and then entered general mercantile life and contested successfully with the English merchants who had hitherto controlled the commerce of his state, and moreover was the first native Virginian to successfully compete with these English merchants. He retired from active business life in 1859. From early childhood he was a lover of nature and art, and as fortune smiled upon him, indulged his cultivated tastes for music, drama, art and literature. He was an ardent sympathizer with the south in the war between the states, and a generous contributor to her needs. Saddened and depressed by the adverse ending of the conflict and by all the ill fortunes of his beloved state, he died literally of a broken heart, at his residence in Richmond, March 20, 1865. He was at one time a member of the Richmond common council, and a director of the Richmond branch of the Bank of Virginia.
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Mosby, of Henrico county, Virginia, and Ann (Winston) Mosby, his wife. She was a descendant of Edward Mosby, an early settler of Henrico county, and connected with the well-known Virginia families, Woodsen, Winston, Fontaine, Povall and Bacon. Children: 1. Elizabeth Ann, born November 26, 1822; married, July 18, 1850, William Frederick Gray. 2. Mann Satterwhite, of further mention. 3. Benjamin Batchelder, born November 23, 1825, died April 3, 1832. 4. William Winston, born April 29, 1828, died February 17, 1885; was an earnest scholar and philologist. 5. Robert Mosby, born April 9, 1830, died July 3, 1830. 6. Mary Martha, born September 8, 1831, died August 19, 1890; married, June 13, 1866, Jacob Warwick Woods. 7. Sarah Benetta, born May 26, 1833, died unmarried, June 30, 1889; was a writer of graceful verse. 8. Virginia Louisa, born December 5, 1835, died August 26, 1836. 9. Edward Virginius, born September 12, 1838; a famous sculptor; married (first) November 12, 1872, Alice Churchill Robinson; (second) January 5, 1891, Catherine (Friend) Mayo.
(IV) Mann Satterwhite (2) Valentine, eldest son of Mann Satterwhite (1) and Elizabeth (Mosby) Valentine, was born in Richmond, Virginia, April 22, 1824. He was educated in the schools of Rev. Adam Empie and Mr. Nelson, the Princeton College Academy in Richmond, at Midway Academy, Charlottesville, Virginia, and later was a student at William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. Ill health, however, prevented his completing the course at the latter institution. As a student he was particularly interested in science and when at William and Mary spent much time with Dr. Millington, the professor of chemistry there. Although he entered upon a business career early in life, being associated with his father in the conduct of a large mercantile enterprise, he kept up his scientific studies, made extensive mineralogical and entomological collections, interested himself in medicine, and at night was tutored in medicine by several professors in the Medical College of Virginia. He contributed political and other articles to the "Richmond Examiner," "Richmond Dispatch," and other journals, and wrote two romances, "Armadeus" and "Desultoria," as well as a satire in verse entitled "The Mock Auction."
During the civil war he served on Company I, Virginia State Reserves. After the war he conducted a large mercantile business, but at that time, as throughout his career, his leisure time was largely devoted to scientific reading. In 1871 he produced Valentine's meat juice, a delicate food for the sick, a preparation which has been employed and endorsed by leading physicians and surgeons and has a worldwide reputation. For a number of years he devoted his efforts to the manufacture of his product, the extension of his business abroad, and to corresponding with scientists interested in his work. during this period he also invented an "automatic bottle corker." He was deeply interested in preserving to Virginia objects of historical and scientific interest and promoting among her people a love for science, literature and art. The latter years of his life were largely spent in studying ethnology and corresponding with institutions and scientific men in regard to the archaeology of Virginia. He was the founder of the Valentine Museum, a well known institution of Richmond, which contains one of the most complete collections of local archaeology in America.
He died October 22, 1892, leaving a considerable portion of his estate for the foundation of the Valentine Museum. His love for Virginia and his patriotic wish to extend culture among her people is shown in the following quotation from his will: "Many years of the life of my father and my brothers and my sons and myself have been devoted to securing and accumulating objects of Archaeology, Anthropology and other kindred arts. with a view and purpose of making them valuable to my state and city; and in order to reserve these and to effect the publication of certain manuscripts and papers of scientific and literary value, and make them all interesting, instructive and profitable to those of my community and state, I desire to establish in the city of Richmond, Virginia, an institute to be called The Valentine Museum, for the purpose of preserving and accumulating objects of archaeology, Anthropology and other kindred arts, etc., for publishing literary, historical and scientific papers, compatible with the ability and amount of endowment of the said institute." The original gift included the donor's home, together with a library of several thousand rare works, manuscripts, autographs, engravings (from Durer's time to the middle of the eighteenth century), pictures, curios, china, antique furniture, etc., and also the sum of fifty thousand dollars, which latter was to be invested and the income used in taking care of the collection.
Other additions have been presented to the museum by Edward V. Valentine; rare tapestries, casts of the recumbent figure of General Robert E. Lee, outline sketches, the death mask of Stonewall Jackson, and a collection of busts. By Granville G. Valentine, procured from the British Museum, the Vatican, and elsewhere, casts from original marbles, bronzes, tablets, masks, etc., of Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Renaissance and modern times. By Granville G., Benjamin B., and Edward P. Valentine, a "department of Archaeology* containing the human remains of many of the mound builders, and the weapons, implements, etc., of the prehistoric people of America. More than one hundred and twenty thousand of these specimens were collected after years of personal labor, time and travel by the gentlemen named. The general assembly of Virginia, in accordance with the wishes of Mr. Valentine, as expressed in his will, passed an act incorporating the Valentine Museum," giving the corporation perpetual succession, a common seal, and all the rights, privileges and powers, conferred by the state of Virginia, on bodies politic and corporate. This act was approved January 24, 1894, and in 1898 the museum, arranged and catalogues, was opened to the public. The spacious mansion in which it is located was built in 1812, and is filled from basement to roof with the varies wonders of the museum.
Mann Satterwhite Valentine married (first) at the residence of William (2) Gray, Richmond, Virginia, Ann Maria Gray, born at Manchester, Virginia, died in Richmond, October 3, 1873. She was the daughter of William and Susan Ann (Pleasants) Gray, who were married January 9, 1833, and had issue: William Granville; Ann Maria, of previous mention; Helen, married (first) Osborn Watson, (second) O. F. Manson; James T., married Elizabeth Palmer; Andrew, married Ida Flippen; Herbert, married M. Susan Flippen. William (2) Gray, the father of these children, was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, August 27, 1793, son of William (1) Gray, born in Surrey county, Virginia, February 20, 1745, died in Prince Edward county, in November, 1820, and his wife, Susannah (Crenshaw) Gray, born in Amelia county, Virginia, October 17, 1756, died in Charlotte county, Virginia, June 11, 1847. Susan Ann (Pleasants) Gray, wife of William (2) Gray, was born May, 1811, died in November, 1884, daughter of John T. and Maria Ann (Smith) Pleasants, the latter a daughter of Granville Smith, an officer of the continental army. John T. Pleasants was a son of John and Elizabeth Pleasants, of "Fine Creek," both of whom were descendants of the famous John Pleasants, of Henrico county, Virginia, who came from Norwich, England, a merchant and a leader of the Quakers in Virginia. Children of Mann Satterwhite and Ann Maria (Gray) Valentine: 1. Mary, born July 31, 1856, died March, 1882; married James Wilson Moseley. 2. William Gray, born December 2, 1857, died November 21, 1858. 3. Mann Satterwhite, born March 2, 1859; married Sally Cary Finch. 4. Granville Gray, born August 19, 1860, married Elise Calvin Bragg. 5. Benjamin Batchelder, born November 23, 1862; married Eliza Hardaway Meade. 6. Edward Pleasants, born April 6, 1864, died March, 1908; married Martha Dabney Chamberlayne. 7. Jefferson Davis, born May 9, 1865, died January 20, 1866. 8. Frederick Stuart, born May 9, 1866; married Mary Lyle Skinker. 9. Henry Lee, born June 23, 1867; married Katherine Shores Braxton. 10. James Maria, born October 23, 1869. Mann Satterwhite Valentine married (second) December 1, 1887, at Ben Nevis, Powhatan county, Virginia, Mary Elizabeth, daughter of James M. Finch. there was no issue by second marriage.
The sons of Mann Satterwhite Valentine jointly conduct the business of the Valentine Meat Juice Company, one of the largest concerns of the kind in the entire south. The business is conducted strictly along modern hygienic sanitary lines, and the justly famous product is carefully guarded at every stage from aught that might mar its perfect purity or flavor.

[Pages 71-72]
Joseph Preston Carson. A great deal of interest attaches itself to each of the four American generations of this family represented in legal and business circles in Richmond, Virginia, by Joseph Preston Carson, no small part of which is the fact that each of the direct line leading from the immigrant ancestor, Joseph Carson, to Joseph Preston Carson, has been identified with the professions, three with the law and one with the ministry. Joseph Carson, who founded his line in Virginia, was a native of Ireland, and was a prominent lawyer of his period.
(II) Judge Joseph S. Carson, son of Joseph Carson and grandfather of Joseph Preston Carson, was born in Winchester, Frederick county, Virginia, and there died in 1870. The law was the calling he adopted early in life, his career as an attorney a successful one, and at his death he was judge of the county court sitting at Winchester. Judge Carson was connected with the confederate service during the civil war, although at the opening of it past the age when he might serve as a soldier in the ranks.
(III) Rev. Dr. Theodore M. Carson, the eldest son of Judge Joseph S. Carson, was born in Winchester, county, Virginia, in 1834, died in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1904. He was an M. A. of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and after his ordination into the ministry spent the first four years as chaplain in the army of the Confederacy. At the close of the war, and after several previous charges, he was for thirty-three years rector of St. Paul's Church, at Lynchburg, Virginia, where he attained high position in the church, and at his death was president of the standing committee of the Diocese of Southern Virginia. Rev. Dr. Carson was a scholar of broad culture, a preacher of intense inspiration, and a minister of measureless sympathy, and during the years of his life, passed in such faithful devotion to the cause he had espoused, he became the instrument of infinite good in the service of the Master. He married, in 1860, Victoria Ellen, daughter of William and Ann (Waters) Allison. William Allison was a member of an old Irish family, born in Ireland, and after coming to Virginia made his home in Richmond. His wife was a native of Maryland, and they were the parents of a family of thirteen children, the eldest, James head of the firm of Allison & Allison, the youngest Victoria Ellen, of previous mention, married Rev. Theodore M. Carson. Children of Rev. Dr. and Victoria Ellen (Allison) Carson are: Joseph Preston, of whom further; Maud Lee, born in 1866, married Professor W. M. Lile, dean of the law department of the University of Virginia.
(IV) Joseph Preston Carson, son of Rev. Dr. Theodore M. and Victoria Ellen (Allison) Carson, was born at the Preston homestead, "Solitude," Montgomery county, Virginia, August 2, 1862. His youthful education was obtained in the schools of Winchester and Lynchburg, and after a course in the Episcopal High School at Alexandria, he matriculated at the University of Virginia, being in the class of 1882. Soon after graduation he became an analytical chemist with the firm of Allison & Allison, in 1883 taking up residence in Richmond, where he has since remained. For ten years he was associated with the previously mentioned firm, during that time pursuing legal studies at the University of Virginia, and in 1887 gained admission to the bar. He has made steady advances in his profession and now occupies a responsible position in legal circles, but has not confined his labors to his field, being at this writing connected with several large business interests, and president of a widely extended company of manufacturing chemists, in Richmond. With the responsibility of the affairs of this latter company and the exactions of his law practice, Mr. Carson's existence is a busy one, a fact that detracts little from his enjoyment, for he is of vigorous nature, finding in close application to his business an agreeable satisfaction that comes only with labor well done and duty thoroughly performed.
Mr. Carson, although he has never sought or held political office, is a staunch Democrat in both state and national politics. While a member of many of the social organizations of Richmond, his recreations are sought in outdoor pleasures, and he is a director in several hunting and fishing clubs in the state. Mr. Carson is a Royal Arch Mason, belonging to Lodge and Chapter, and is a vestryman of the Protestant Episcopal church. His residence is the handsome estate of "Dundee," Chesterfield county, Virginia.
He married, in Richmond, Virginia, April 18, 1900, Catherine Valentine, born in Richmond, Virginia, December 17, 1873, daughter J. J. Montague, her father a native of Prince Ann county, Virginia. He also was a soldier in the Confederate States army, serving during the entire war, and is now vice-president of the Planters' National Bank of Richmond. Mr. Montague married Catherine Warren, a native of Virginia, who died in 1909. Children of Joseph Preston and Catherine Valentine (Montague) Carson are: Theodore Montague, born February 10, 1901, now a student in Richmond Academy; Catherine Warren, born May 24, 1903; Joseph Preston Jr., born April 1, 1905.

[Pages 72-73]
Milton Buell Coffman, M. D. The first mention of a Coffman in the records of Augusta county, Virginia, is under date of May 21, 1747, when Martin Coffman was appointed one of the appraisers of the estate of Abraham Drake. On November 20, 1770, Elizabeth Coffman is named administratrix of Henry Coffman, and ten days later the estate of Henry Coffman was appraised by Abraham Bird, Jacob Miller, etc. William Coffman benefitted by the "petition of George Washington in behalf of himself and the officers and soldiers who first embarked in the service of this colony, praying that the 200,000 acres given to them by Governor Dinwiddie by proclamation, 19th March, 1754, may be allotted in one or more surveys on the Monongahela, at a place commonly called Nicholas Knotts on the New river, otherwise called the Great Canawha from the great falls to Sandy Creek, otherwise Great Tatraroy." this petition was granted by order of council, December 15, 1769, and William Coffman's name appears in the list of privates in the letter of George Washington, December 23, 1772, giving public information as to the distribution of the said lands.
(I) Dr. Milton Buell Coffman is a grandson of Jacob Coffman, born in Augusta county in 1825, and died in Newport news, Virginia, in 1912, at the age of eighty-seven years. His family dated in Virginia from 1716, resident for most of the time in Augusta county, where Jacob Coffman was a farmer during his active years. He and his wife, a Miss Funk, were the parents of ten children, of whom five are living at this time: Charles, lives in West Virginia; George, a resident of Mexico; Edward resides in Virginia; Aldine, lives in Virginia; and Anna, married Alexander Wallace, and lives in Seattle, Washington.
(II) Cyrus Milton Coffman, son of Jacob Coffman, was born in Augusta county, Virginia, and met an accidental death in 1884, one year after the birth of his second child. He was the proprietor of a saw mill, and it was in the pursuit of his business that he encountered the accident that caused his death. he married Alice Virginia Cocke, born in Richmond, Virginia, now living in Richmond with her son, Dr. Milton Buell Coffman. She is a daughter of Benjamin Cocke, born in Surry county, Virginia, in 1831, died in 1891, his American ancestor having come to Virginia with a royal grant to land in Surry county. Cyrus Milton Coffman had two sons: Benjamin, a mechanical engineer, associated with the Southern railway, and Dr. Milton Buell, of whom further.
(III) Dr. Milton Buell Coffman, younger of the two children of Cyrus Milton and Alice Virginia (Cocke) Coffman, was born in Augusta county, Virginia, January 28, 1883, and when he was four years of age his mother moved to Richmond, Virginia, his father's death having occurred when he was but one year old. In this city Dr. Coffman was educated, graduating from the high school in 1898, and after spending three years in business entered the Medical College of Virginia, afterward changing the scene of his professional studies to the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago (Philadelphia). He was graduated Doctor of Medicine in the class of 1906, having pursued, besides the general medical course, studies that qualified him as a specialist in diseases of the nose, throat and ear. Returning to Richmond, in this city Dr. Coffman became a general practitioner, and so continued with excellent success for five years. Since 1911 Dr. Coffman has devoted himself to specialized effort in treatment of ailments of the nose, throat and ear, in which he is recognizedly proficient. He has attained to reputation and position in the medical world of his city, is identified with various medical associations, and has experienced favorable results in general and special practice. He is a professional man of deep learning, wide interests, and many friends, and is appreciated socially in Richmond as well as professionally. He fraternized with the Masonic order, and is a communicant of the Leigh street Baptist Church.
Dr. Coffman married, in Richmond, August 17, 1910, Mary Virginia Ryall, born in Richmond, daughter of John M. Ryall, an attache of the revenue department of the county.

[Pages 73-74]
James Caskie. The Caskies of Chesterfield and Henrico counties, Virginia, are of Scotch origin. John and James Caskie, their common ancestors, came to America in the early part of the eighteenth century as representatives of a commercial house at Stewarton, county Ayr, Scotland, and for many years exported tobacco to manufacturers of the same in their native country, John Caskie settled in Lynchburg, and James Caskie in Richmond. In time James Caskie became identified with the business and commercial interests of Richmond, Virginia, and was president of the Bank of Virginia at Richmond. He resided at Manchester, Chesterfield county, during his early married life, this being a suburb of Richmond, but afterwards moved to Richmond, where he brought up his family, and from them all of the Caskies now in Virginia are descended.
James Caskie married Eliza Randolph Pincham, at Richmond, Virginia. They had seven children, namely: 1. John Samuels, of whom further. 2. Marguerite, born in Chesterfield county, Virginia, about 1825; married Dr. Robert G. Cabell. 3. Mary Eliza, born in Chesterfield county, Virginia; married Daniel H. London. 4. Nannie E., died unmarried. 5. Harriet Augusta, born February 6, 1833; married, November 14, 1850, John Scott, born April 23, 1820, died in 1907; became a captain in the Confederate States army, 1861-65; resided at "Oakwood," in Fauquier county, Virginia. 6. Ellen, married a Mr. Hutchinson. 7. James A., who in 1913 was living in Fauquier county, Virginia.
In "Welles Pedigree of the Washington Family," page 250, is mentioned the marriage of James Kerr CAskie, son of John and Martha (Norvel) Caskie, of Richmond, Virginia, the 26th day of May, 1844, to Ellen Jeal Gwathmey, "second child of Frances fielding Lewis," in North Carolina. He died in September, 1868. She was born September 26, 1824, at Richmond, Virginia, died October 5, 1870, at Rockbridge Baths, Virginia. They had Martha Norvel Caskie, born in Richmond, Virginia, about 1845.
(II) John Samuels Caskie, son of James and Eliza Randolph (Pincham) Caskie, was born November 8, 1821, at Manchester, Chesterfield, county, Virginia, died in Richmond, Virginia, December 16, 1869. He graduated at the University of Virginia; then studied law in Richmond, where he practiced his profession. He was prosecuting attorney and judge of the Richmond and Henrico county circuit. Was elected representative from Virginia to the Thirty-second Congress as a Democrat; reëlected to the Thirty-third, Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1851, to March 3, 1859; was a candidate for the Thirty-sixth Congress, but was defeated. He resumed the practice of law in Richmond, Virginia. He served in the Confederate States army during the civil war, in both artillery and infantry branches of the service. He married Fannie Johnson, about 1849, at Richmond, Virginia. She was born about 1830, in Chesterfield county, Virginia, died in 1862, at Richmond. They had five children, namely: 1. John S. 2. James, of whom further. 3. William R. Johnson. 4. Lizzie, married D. C. Jackson; lives at Lynchburg, Virginia. 5. George E., a lawyer; resides at Lynchburg, Virginia.
(III) James (2) Caskie, son of John Samuels and Fannie (Johnson) Caskie, was born July 2, 1852, in Richmond, Henrico county, Virginia. He attended school in his native city, then the Richmond College until he was about seventeen years of age, and was then employed in commercial pursuits for a year or two. About 1870 he began the study of law and was admitted to the Virginia state bar in 1873. Since that time he has been engaged in the active practice of law in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Democrat and has been more or less identified in local politics for many years. He was elected a member of the common council, city of Richmond, Virginia, served eight years, and was presiding officer of the same for four years of that time. He is a member of the State Prison Association, the Virginia bible Society, and of several other eleemosynary organizations, also of the Kappi Kalphi Society. He is a director and stockholder of the Merchant's national Bank, of Richmond, Virginia. He is a member of St. James' Episcopal Church.
Mr. Caskie married Emma Palmer, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Enders) Palmer, November 29, 1877, in Richmond, Virginia. She was born about 1856, in Richmond Virginia.

[Pages 74-76]
Henry Taylor Wickham, a leading member of the Virginia bar, and who has made a most useful and honorable record in the political history of the commonwealth, presents an excellent illustration of the fruits of a distinguished ancestry, of well directed ambition and of lofty ideals. The inspiration which has marked his entire career from boyhood is found in maxims of great degree hereditary, but an essential to its growth is to have high ideals, and to always endeavor to attain to as high a standard in morality, sobriety and professional ethics as constant and unrelaxed effort will bring and to acquire the habit of always keeping this in mind. The steady and constant striving after excellence in small things must precede the ability to accomplish larger matters.
Mr. Wickham is a native of Virginia, born at Hickory Hill, Hanover county, December 17, 1849, son of Williams Carter and Lucy Penn (Taylor) Wickham. His father was noted for courage, both physical and moral, integrity, great firmness of will, very strong in his convictions and friendships; he was lawyer, planter, soldier and man of affairs — a member of the house of delegates and senate; of the state convention of 1861; of the Confederate congress; supervisor of Hanover county; captain, lieutenant-colonel, colonel and brigadier-general, Confederate States army; and president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company. He was descended from Thomas Wickham, who came from England in 1658 to Wethersfield, Connecticut. Among the forbears of Henry T. Wickham were: John Wickham, great-grandfather, characterized in an address by Hon. John Randolph Tucker as "one of the first in time, as first in fame, of the great lawyers of Virginia." Alexander Spotswood, great-great-great-great-grandfather, whose daughter Katherine married Bernard Moore, of Chelsea; their daughter, Ann Butler Moore, married Charles Carter, of Shirley; their son, Robert Carter, married Mary Nelson, of Yorktown; their daughter Anne Carter, married William F. Wickham, of Hickory Hill, and their son was Williams Carter Wickham, see above. Alexander Spotswood was the "Tubal Cain" of Virginia, the first in America to erect an iron furnace. Thomas Nelson, great-great-grandfather, whose daughter, Mary Nelson, married Robert Carter, of Shirley, as above; signer of the Declaration of Independence from Virginia, soldier of the revolution, distinguished at the battle of Yorktown, governor of the state. John Penn, great-great-grandfather, whose daughter, Lucy Penn, married Colonel John Taylor, of Carolina; their son, Henry Taylor, married Julia Dunlop Leiper, of Philadelphia, and their daughter Lucy Penn Taylor, married General Williams Carter Wickham, see above. John Penn was signer of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina, member of the continental congress, member of North Carolina board of war, and became practically the board, exercising its powers alone during the greater part of its existence. Colonel John Taylor, of Carolina, great-great-grandfather, soldier of the revolution, distinguished as a lawyer, United States senator from Virginia, mover of the Virginia resolutions of 1798-99; owner of Hazelwood, on the Rappahannock; author of many books upon agriculture and politics, among them "Arator," "Construction Construed," "New Views of the Constitution," "Tyranny Unmasked," and "Taylor's Inquiry."
Henry Taylor Wickham was reared at the family home, and while having no tasks involving manual labor he was accustomed to work, and spent his spare time in hunting and fishing, and with horses and dogs. Owing to the desolation caused by war, his parents made many sacrifices for his education. After attending the home schools, he entered Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), coming under the direct influence of President (General) Robert E. Lee, and graduated in 1868 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He studied for his profession in the University of Virginia, under Professor John B. Minor, and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1870, the year in which he attained his majority. On December 17, 1870, he was admitted to the bar in Richmond, and became clerk in a lawyer's office, but soon engaged in active practice. His rise in his profession was steady, but involved severe labor. He became assistant attorney of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company in February, 1874, and assistant counsel in 1878; February 1, 1886, general solicitor of the Newport News & Mississippi Valley Railroad Company; January 5, 1886 Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Companies of Richmond; and was a director in the Big Sandy Railway Company, the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad Company, the Maysville & Big Sandy Railroad Company, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company of Kentucky. Mr. Wickham has a notable record as a state legislator. In 1879 he was elected to the house of delegates as a "debt Payer," and served two years; in 1888 he was elected to the senate, serving three years, and during that service was mover of resolutions resulting in the settlement of the Virginia state debt, known as the Century or Olcott settlement; in 1890-92 he was a member of the Virginia state debt commission; he was reëlected to the senate in 1891 and 1895 — two four-year terms; in 1895 he was chairman of the Democratic conference of the senate, and chairman of the senate finance committee; in 1897 was elected president pro tem of the senate; and was reëected to the senate in 1899 and 1903, his final term closing in 1907. His service in the legislature was conspicuously useful and was principally in connection with the state debt, and its subsidiary questions involving the West Virginia separation. He had entered public life on this issue as a "debt payer," and consistently adhered to that policy. As chairman of the senate finance committee for many years, he had charge of the vaious tax bills and bills appropriating the public revenues of the state; he was strictly conservative in his views, and his course was marked by strenuous effort to economize in expenditures, and relieve the taxpayers as far as possible. He has ever been active in his effort to increase as far as practicable, within the means of the state, the appropriations for pensions for Confederate veterans, for Confederate memorial associations, and for the educational institutions of the state. In politics he has held strongly to Democratic principles, but has not hesitated to hold an independent attitude when principle was at stake. Prior to the first Cleveland campaign, he had been a Republican on national issues, affiliating with the Conservative or Democratic party on state issues. He was always a supporter of Mr. Cleveland on the tariff issue and reform measures in the public service, and was always with the whites on the race issue.
Mr. Wickham married, 17, 1885, Elise Warwick Barksdale, and two children have been born to them.

[Pages 76-79]
Richard Hardaway Meade. David Meade, of Kentucky, who lived to over ninety years of age, uncle of Bishop Meade, of Virginia, was a genealogist, and traced descent on maternal lines to Thomas Cromwell, a blacksmith of Lutney, in Ireland, who was the father of Thomas Cromwell, servant of Cardinal Wolsey and his successor in the favor of Henry VIII., but who forfeiting that was beheaded by his orders. Oliver Cromwell was his nephew. One branch of this family was the Everards of Essex from whom Richard Kidder, bishop of Bath and Wells, descended, and from him came the name Richard Kidder, so frequent in the family and from the Everards came the also common family name Everard.
(I) In America the family spring from Andrew Meade, born in Kerry, Ireland, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, a Roman Catholic. Tradition says he left his native land and for a time lived in London, then came to this country, landing in New York and there marrying Mary Latham, a member of the Society of Friends, living in Flushing, Long Island. About five years later they moved to Nansemond county, Virginia, at the head of navigation on the Nansemond river. He was a member of the Virginia house of burgesses, judge of he court, senior colonel of militia, a man of education and influence. He is said to have been a man of great physical strength, of fine form, but rather hard featured. He died in 1745, leaving behind a stainless character and the title, Andrew Meade, "The Honest." His daughter, Priscilla, married William Curle, of Hampton, Virginia.
(II) David Meade, son of Andrew and Mary (Latham) Meade, with is sister, Priscilla, were the only children of Andrew Meade to survive him. David inherited the paternal estate, and about 1729 married Susannah, elder of the two daughters of Sir Richard Everard, baronet of Broomfield Hall, Much Waltham parish, Essex, England, and his wife, Susannah (Kidder) Everard, eldest daughter of Dr. Richard Kidder, bishop of Bath and Wells. Sir Richard Everard was a captain in Queen Anne's army, and for a few years proprietary governor of North Carolina. At his death he left all his estate to his widow, who at he r death left it to her two daughters, Susannah and Ann Everard. David Meade was a man of handsome person and purest life. He was the most affectionate of husbands, the tenderest of parents, the best of masters and an ingenuous sincere friend, just, generous and hospitable. He died in 1757, in his forty-seventh year. Children: 1. David, born July 20, 1744; inherited the Nansemond estate previously owned by his father and grandfather; he married Sarah Waters, daughter of William Waters, of Williamsburg, Virginia, then settled at Maycox, Prince George county, Virginia, then removed to Kentucky, devoting his time and fortune to the improvement of these two estates which were celebrated all over Virginia and Kentucky; to him the preservation of the early family history of the Meades is due. 2. Richard Kidder, born about 1750; married (first) at age of nineteen years, Jane Randolph, sister of Richard Randolph and aunt of John Randolph of Roanoke, a lady much older than himself; he early entered the revolutionary service, fought at Great Bridge, the first battle of the revolution fought in Virginia, became captain of the Second Virginia Regiment and aide-de-camp to General Washington from March 12, 1775, until the war closed; he was with Washington in all the great battles of the revolution and to him was committed the superintendence of the execution of Major Andre; when Washington was taking leave of some of his aides, he gave each a parting word of advice; to Colonel Meade he said: "Friend Dick, you must go to a plantation in Virginia; you will make a good farmer and honest foreman of the grand jury of the county where you live;" and so it proved; he settled permanently in Frederick county, Virginia, became a successful farmer and as long as health lasted was foreman of the grand jury of the old district court of the county; he married (second) Mary, daughter of Benjamin Grymes; among his children was the celebrated Bishop William Meade. 3. Everard, of further mention. 4. Andrew, married Susanna Stith. 5. John, died aged seventeen years. 6. Mary, married Colonel George Walker. 7. Anne, married Richard Randolph, of Curls.
(III) Everard Meade, third son of David and Susannah (Everard) Meade, was born October 1, 1748. He spent a large part of his minor years at school in England, returning to Virginia about 1764. He was a soldier of the revolution, captain in the Second Virginia Regiment, major and from 1778 to the close of the war aide-de-camp on the staff of General Lincoln. He was a member of the Virginia convention of 1788 and one of the notable men of his day. He married (first) when but eighteen years of age, Mary Thornton, a young lady of about his own age,who bor him three children, all preceding their father to the grave. He married (second) Maria, widow of Benjamin Ward, who survived him.
(IV) Benjamin Lincoln Meade, son of Everard and Maria (Ward) Meade, was born December 17, 1793, died August 25, 1851. He married Eliza Hardaway, of Powhatan county, Virginia, February 10, 1819, and had issue: Richard Hardaway, of whom further; Everard Benjamin, born in April, 1839, died in April, 1896; Hodijah, born im May, 1842, died in April, 1902; Marianne, married Dr. John G. Skelton; Charlotte Randolph, married General James H. Lane.
(V) Richard Hardaway Meade, son of Benjamin Lincoln and Eliza (Hardaway) Meade, was born in Powhatan county, Virginia, in January, 1831, died in September, 1880. He was reared in the locality of his birth, as a boy taking up the business of life in Richmond, employed as clerk in a drug store. This early association determined his future activity, for with the knowledge and experience thus gained as a foundation, he formed the firm of Meade & Baker, dealers in drugs, and continued the leading member thereof until his death. His life was short, forty-nine years, but because of the early age at which he assumed man's duties and responsibilities, his useful activities covered the average period of time and he played well his part in life. During the war between the states he was a member of the "House Guard." He married Jane Catherine Fontaine, born in Hanover county, Virginia, daughter of Colonel Edmund Fontaine and Louisa Shackleford, his wife, maternal granddaughter of James and Elizabeth (Dabney) Shackleford, and paternal granddaughter of Colonel William Fontaine and Anna Morris, his wife. Colonel William Fontaine was a member of Washington's staff and witnessed the surrender at Yorktown; he was a descendant of John de la Fontaine, the French martyr. Colonel Edmund Fontaine gained his military rank of colonel in the Confederate States army, and became a citizen of note, being first president and founder of a railroad from Richmond to Charlotteville, now embraced in the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad. Children of Richard Hardaway and Jane Catherine (Fontaine) Meade: Lila, married Benjamin B. Valentine, and is president of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia; Richard Hardaway (2), of whom further; Louise Fontaine, married Clarence P. Cadot, of Richmond, Virginia; Kate Fontaine, unmarried, resides in Richmond, Virginia; Marianne Everard, unmarried, lives in Richmond, Virginia.
John de la Fontaine was born in the province of Maine, near the borders of Normandy, about the year 1500, and as soon as he could bear arms his father procured him a commission in the household of Francis I. He and his father became converts to Protestantism about 1535, being then in the service of Charles IX., of France. He resigned in January, 1561, and two years later a band of ruffians attacked his house and murdered both him and his wife, their deaths having been decreed on account of their Protestant religion.
James de la Fontaine, the second son of John de la Fontaine, was about fourteen years of age when his parents were murdered and fled in horror from the scene with his two younger brothers, finding his way to Rochelle, then and for many years a stronghold of Protestantism in France. James learned the shoemaker's trade and supported his brothers until they were able to care for themselves. He later engaged in commerce and became prosperous. He died in 1633, leaving two daughters and a son. A picture of him represented a very handsome man with full face, long flaxen beard reaching to his waist, well proportioned and of good height.
Rev. James (2) de la Fontaine, only son of James (1) de la Fontaine, was born in 1603. He was finely educated, took holy orders and from his ordination until death was minister to the United churches of Vaux and Royan. He married (first) in 1628, in London, England, a Miss Thompson, who bore him six children. He married (second) in 1641, Marie Chaillon, and had issue. He was a man of unusual attainments and was greatly beloved by his people. He died in 1666.
James (3) de la Fontaine, son of Rev. James (2) de la Fontaine and his second wife, Marie (Chaillon) de la Fontaine, was born at Jenoille, France, 1658. He lived in France, deeply persecuted until the month of October, 1685, when the Edict of Nantes was actually revoked, then he fled to England, arriving December 1, following the revocation. He there married, February 8, 1686, Anne Elizabeth Boursiquot, who had fled from France in the same party as her husband. He became a manufacturer and trader of Taunton, England, where six children were born to him: Jonas, Aaron, Mary Anne, Peter, John and Moses. He then moved to Cork, Ireland, arriving there December 24, 1694, and there began preaching, January 19, 1695, holding service in his own house. There he also manufactured cloth goods. Later he was a farmer and in partnership conducted a large fishery at Bear Haven, Ireland, but passed through a series of misfortunes that compelled his going to Dublin.
John de la Fontaine, son of James (3) de la Fontaine, came to Virginia, purchased a plantation and was later joined by the brothers, Rev. Peter and James, who came in 1715, as did their sister Mary Anne, wife of Matthew Maury, that family settling in Virginia in 1719. From these sons of James Fontaine, the Huguenot, who settled in Virginia, sprang Jane Catherine, who married Richard Hardaway, Meade.
(VI) Richard Hardaway (2) Meade, son of Richard Hardaway (1) and Jane Catherine (Fontaine) Meade, was born in Richmond, Virginia, May 3, 1867. His education was obtained under private instruction and as a pupil in Professor McGuire's School and at the age of seventeen years he discontinued his studies to begin work. Until 1893, or for nine years, he was employed as a clerk by Allen Ginter, in that year becoming secretary and treasurer of the Powhatan Manufacturing Company. To his duties in this capacity were also added later those of manager, and Mr. Meade at this time has a triple connection with this concern, and also holds the same positions in the Richmond Wood Working Company, In the active direction of the companies affairs as manager his forceful energy, wide executive powers, and innate business sagacity have won desired results, while his discharge of his secretarial and financial duties has been no less able. Mr. Meade is affiliated with the Crystal Ice Company and the Southern Investment Company in the capacity of director, and is the responsible head of Bellevue Park.
Mr. Meade's chief relaxation from his numerous business duties is in athletic recreation and he is an enthuastic golfer. He is a member of the Hermitage Golf Club, one of its board of governors, and is a familiar figburte upon its wel lkept links. As in all of his other interests, whatever their nature he has not been satisfied with a game of fair excellence, but is numbered among Richmond's best players, many trophies won in open competition bearing witness of his skill. He is a steady and sure player, rising to brilliance when forced by unfortunate chance, but as a rule playing evenly and consistently. He is a Democrat in political conviction, and is a member of the vestry of Monumental Episcopal Church. For twenty-five years he has filled the office of superintendent of the Sunday school of this church, and has served with conscientious faithfulness, giving its work his earnest effort, deriving therefrom a lasting inspiration.
Mr. Meade married, October 12, 1893, Nellie Prior, born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where her mother was visiting the family home being in Richmond, daughter of Thomas Stanley and Ellen R. (Prior) Atkins. Her father was a native of England, coming to Richmond, Virginia, when a young man, and became judge of the Hustings court. He was a notable citizen, and was at one time special master in receivership for what is now the Southern railway. Children of Richard Hardaway and Nellie Prior (Atkins) Meade: Richard H., Jr., born May 10, 1897, a student at the Virginia Military Institute, class of 1906; Nellie Atkins, born June 15, 1900; Thomas Stanley, born November 10, 1905.