Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography

[Pages 221-222]
Captain William Eyre Taylor, of Norfolk, is descended from old Virginia families, and exemplifies in his own person the virtues for which the first families of Virginia have ever been conspicuous. It is stated by some authorities that the family came originally from Somersetshire, England.
The family tradition states that Robert Taylor, great-grandfather of Captain William E. Taylor, visited Virginia on a trading voyage from the West India Islands, probably from St. Kits. Being pleased with the country, he decided to settle, but some of his kin, who accompanied him, returned to the West Indies. He settled first at Smithfield, Virginia, on Pagan creek, not far from Newport News. He subsequently settled at Norfolk and became a merchant, dealing with the West Indies. His shipping interests suffered great loss through the war of 1812, and at his death he left many spoliation claims unsettled. The family Bible gives the date of his birth as May 8, 1749, and his death, October 10, 1826. He married (first) September 26, 1771, in Smithfield, Sarah Barraud, and (second) Ann Ray Fox. There were two sons of the first marriage, Robert Barraud and John, the latter died in the war of 1812. There was one son of the second marriage, namely Archibald Taylor.
The eldest son, Robert Barraud Taylor, born March 20, 1774, died April 13, 1834. He was a judge of Norfolk City for many years and was a general in the army during the war of 1812, commanding the troops around Norfolk. Like all of the family, he was an Episcopalian, and in politics was a Whig. He married, July 28, 1796, Nancy Ritson, who died January 14, 1862, and they were the parents of two sons, Robert E., and William E.
The younger son, William E. Taylor, born February 18, 1809, died 1870. He was educated at the University of Virginia. He was a farmer. He was a member of the Episcopal church. He was captain of the Norfolk Light Artillery in early life, was a major of Virginia volunteers before the war, and was a private in the Sixth Virginia Regiment, Confederate States army, in the Army of Northern Virginia. He was discharged from the service on account of illness. He represented Norfolk in the Virginia legislature under the Confederate government in 1864-65. He married, February 22, 1831, near Eastville, Northampton county, Virginia, Margaret Alice Lyon, a native of that place, daughter of Dr. James and Sally (Eyre) Lyon. Children: Sally E., unmarried; Robert Barraud, whose sketch follows; William Eyre, of whom further.
Captain William Eyre Taylor, junior son of William E. and Margaret Alice (Lyon) Taylor, was born November 22, 1841, in Norfolk. He was a student at Norfolk Academy, and the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia. His active life has been devoted to farming. He served as a private in the Norfolk Blues in the Army of Northern Virginia, during the civil war. He is affiliated with the Episcopal church. He is unmarried.

[Pages 222-223]
Major Robert Barraud (2) Taylor, father of Robert Barraud (3) Taylor, of Norfolk, was a son of William E. and Margaret Alice (Lyon) Taylor, and was born in 1837, died in 1896. He was educated in the public schools, the Virginia Military Institute, and the University of Virginia, graduating from the latter institution with the degree of M. D. He enlisted as a captain in the Sixth Virginia Regiment, Mahone's Brigade, Confederate States army, serving throughout the civil war, and rising to the rank of major. After the war he located on the eastern shore of Virginia, and engaged in the general farming for some years, having a plantation of about two thousand acres. Later he converted t his land into a truck farm and continued to produce vegetables for the market until he retired from active life. He was a member of Pickett Buchanan Camp of Confederate Veterans, and for many years a vestryman of Hungars Protestant Episcopal Church of the eastern shore. A very charitable man, he was much esteemed in the locality where he resided. He married Lelia Baker, and they had children: Robert Barraud, of whom further; Richard Baker, whose sketch follows; William, who died in infancy.
Robert Barraud (3) Taylor, eldest son of Robert Barraud (2) and Lelia (Baker) Taylor, was born November 19, 1865, in Norfolk, and received his early education in the Episcopal High School of that city. He was subsequently a student of the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington. On leaving school he engaged in farming on the eastern shore of Virginia, and now has about one thousand acres of land under cultivation, in what is known as a truck farm. Like all his ancestors, he is a Democrat in politics, but does not participate in any public movements, being especially domestic in his tastes. He married, April 5, 1899, Margaret (Costin) Duvall, daughter of Robert S. and Catherine (Parker) Costin. Her father is an extensive farmer and plantation owner of the eastern shore, and a prominent citizen of that section. Children of Robert Barraud Taylor: Lelia Baker, born March 4, 1900; Robert Barraud (4), April 9, 1902; William Eyre, June 9, 1904; Parker Costin, August 3, 1908.

[Page 223]
Richard Baker Taylor, second son of Robert Barraud (2) and Lelia (Baker) Taylor, was born January 20, 1874, in Norfolk. He attended a private school in the vicinity of his home, and subsequently the Episcopal High School at Alexandria, Virginia. Following this he pursued the law course of the University of Virginia, with the class of 1895. After reading law in the office of R. H. Baker, he finally decided to give his attention to handling real estate, on account of the large holdings of the family in different parts of the commonwealth, and has built up a very successful business. In March, 1903, he formed a partnership with Alfred P. Page, under the firm style of Page & Taylor, and they have transacted much business, dealing especially in factory sites on deep water and the belt line railway. They handle much acreage property on the seaboard, and Mr. Taylor is much esteemed as a business man and a citizen. All the time that is not required by his business is devoted to his family and friends, and he is not affiliated with any societies or clubs. Politically he is a Democrat, and like his father he is an attendant of the Episcopal church.
He married (first) November 17, 1897, Grace Eyre, born November 13, 1873, died September 4, 1911, daughter of Severn and Margaret (Parker) Eyre, of Virginia. There is one child of this marriage, Margaret Eyre Taylor, born September 6, 1898. He married (second) September 7, 1912, Elinor Hilliard, born 1875, daughter of Louis and Melissa (Cherry) Hilliard, of North Carolina.

[Pages 223-224]
William Alexander Webb, president of Randolph-Macon Women's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, the son of Rev. Richard Stanford and Jennie (Clegg) Webb, was born in Durham, North Carolina, July 30, 1867. The father was a graduate of the University of North Carolina, and for thirty-four years was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, in the North Carolina and Western North Carolina conferences, serving during the civil war as chaplain of the Forty-fourth North Carolina Regiment, Confederate States army. His mother was a student in Greensboro Female College at the time the institution was burned during the civil war.
President Webb comes of a distinguished family of educators. His uncles, Messrs. W. R. and J. M. Webb, are the founders and principals of the Webb School, now located at Bell Buckle, Tennessee. This institution is generally regarded as one of the leading preparatory schools in the country. After spending four years in this institution, William A. Webb entered Vanderbilt University in 1887 and was graduated four years later with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, won the Owen prize medal in moral philosophy, was chairman of the literary committee of "The Comet," the college annual, and in 1903 was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa. During his senior year he was assistant in English under Dr. Baskervill, and the next year was made a fellow in that department. After three years of teaching English and Latin in the Webb School, he spent two years as graduate student in the University of Leipzig. In 1887 he became principal of Central College Academy, in Fayette, Missouri, and two years later was elected professor of English in Central College. In 1903 he was granted a leave of absence and spent the year with his family in Berlin. He matriculated in the University of Berlin.
Prof. Webb prepared the paper on local government in North Carolina for the volume in the Johns Hopkins University studies on local government in the south and southwest, edited by Edward W. Bemis, his professor in Vanderbilt University. He also prepared the study of Richard Malcolm Johnston for the second volume of Southern Writers, by Professor William M. Baskervill. In the summer of 1899 and 1900 he taught English in the Texas-Colorado Chautauqua of Boulder, Colorado.
In April, 1907, he was elected president of Central College, after having served one year as acting president during the leave of absence of President J. C. Morris. During his administration, the college made steady progress in all departments. He was particularly interested in raising the standards of scholarship and in building up the departments of college instruction. The courses of instruction were enlarged and enriched; the library was increased by several thousand volumes; the endowment funds were materially enlarged; the physical plant was improved, and the student attendance showed a gratifying growth both in numbers and quality.
President Webb is a member of the Southern Educational Association. Before these bodies he has presented papers which have been published in their proceedings. He is also a member of the Commission of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This commission is appointed quadrennially by the bishops of the church, and is intrusted with the task of formulating standards for the classification of the several academies, colleges and universities under the auspices of the Southern Methodist church. In 1911-12-13 he was professor of English literature in the summer school of the University of Colorado. In 1911 Wofford College conferred the degree of Doctor of Literature upon President Webb. On August 5, 1913, he was elected president of Randolph-Macon Woman's College and entered upon the discharge of the duties of that position in September.
Dr. Webb married, January 31, 1899, Mary Lee Clary, of Bell Buckle, Tennessee, who was educated at the Webb School and at Price's College for Women, in Nashville, Tennessee. They have four children.

[Pages 224-225]
Robert Davis Yancey, who has served as commonwealth attorney for the state of Virginia for more than a quarter of a century continuously, is a descendant of a family which has had numerous distinguished members both in this country and in Europe. The Yancey family in Virginia sprang from four brothers — Charles, William, Joel and Robert — who came to this country from Wales in 1642 with Sir William Burkley, later governor, and who settled in the James river section and prospered there. The branch of the family under discussion here is descended from one of these brothers, but there is a break of two or three generations between the founders of the family and Captain Robert Yancey, the first of whom we have definite record.
(I) Captain Robert Yancey held his rank in the First Virginia Dragoons during the revolutionary war, and served on the staff of General Washington. He was prominent in the Masonic fraternity, having attained the thirty-third degree in that order, and was grand master of Masons at Alexandria, Virginia, and his portrait and biographical sketch are said to be in the archives of Virginia Masonry, at Richmond. According to good authority he married a Miss Duke, sister of Henry Clay's mother, and they had a son Joel.
(II) Major Joel Yancey, son of Captain Robert and ——— (Duke) Yancey, served in the war of 1812 with the rank of major, his commission being still in the possession of one of his descendants. He was a typical Virginia gentleman of his day, owning a large and fine estate near Forest Depot, Bedford county, where he built a commodious brick mansion, and entertained his friends there with the lavish hospitality for which the south was then noted. His nearest neighbor, and a warm personal friend, was Thomas Jefferson, who mentions Major Joel Yancey in one of his books. After his death the home place was sold and later came into possession of Colonel Radford, who married a granddaughter of Major Yancey. The house was destroyed by fire in 1912. Major Yancey is buried in the family graveyard on the old place.
Major Yancey married (first) a Miss Burton, (second) Elizabeth Macon. By his first wife he had: Robert J., who moved to Missouri; Martha, who married General Davis Rodes, a hero of the Mexican war, and had a son, General Robert Rodes, who was a major-general in the Confederate army. By the second marriage there were: William Tudor, of whom further; Charles D., removed to New Orleans, amassed a fortune, and married a Miss Mallarché, a Creole; Betsy, died unmarried at a very advanced age; Louisa, married Thomas Steptoe; Mary Barbara, married Colonel Thomas Macon, removed with him to New Orleans, and died there of yellow fever; Anne Rebecca, died unmarried.
(III) William Tudor Yancey, son of Major Joel and Elizabeth (Macon) Yancey, was born in Bedford county, Virginia, in 1811, died in the same county in 1899. He was raised on the old family plantation, receiving an excellent education for those times. For a short time he taught school, then studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began a legal practice in the city of Petersburg which was successful from the first, and which lasted fifty years. He achieved great prominence at the bar and became one of the leading lawyers of Petersburg; was elected to the legislature several times, and served as commonwealth attorney for a number of years. Mr. Yancey married Lucy Elizabeth, a woman of remarkable intellectual gifts, and a daughter of Henry Davis, a prominent citizen of Petersburg. They had children: Mary Louisa, died unmarried; Henry Davis, who was first lieutenant and color bearer of the Second Virginia Cavalry Regiment, on General Robert E. Rodes' staff, his first cousin, and was killed in his twentieth year at the battle of Spottsylvania Court House; William Tudor Jr., married (first) Mary Radford, of Pulaski, (second) Eugenia Macon, has one child, Thomas Macon Yancey; Robert Davis, of further mention.
(IV) Robert Davis Yancey, son of William Tudor and Elizabeth Lucy (Davis) Yancey, was born in Petersburg, Virginia, in the old family home on Diamond Hill, September 15, 1855. He was educated in the Virginia Military Institute, being graduated with the class of 1875, then entered the law school of the University of Virginia, and was graduated in 1877, and admitted to the bar of Virginia in 1878. He at once established himself in the practice of his profession and has been successfully identified with this ever since that time, being one of the best representatives of it in the city of Petersburg. He served two terms as mayor of that city, declining a third nomination to that office. In 1894 he was elected commonwealth attorney, re-elected to that office every two years for a long number of years, until the term was changed from two to four years, when he was again elected, has served continuously since, his present term having commenced in January, 1914. When this term is completed he will have served his city in this office continually for the long period of twenty-eight years. Mr. Yancey is a speaker of acknowledged ability and is frequently called upon to make addresses at political meetings and social gatherings. A speech which he made at the Virginia Military Institute Alumni Celebration gained for him fame as an orator, copies of it being printed and distributed all over the United States. He has always given his strong and undeviating support to the Democratic party. He served nineteen years in the Virginia National Guard, rising to the rank of colonel. During the administration of Governor Lee he was ordered to the coal districts to quell the riots, a duty which he performed tactfully and successfully. Later, under Governor Ferrall, he was again ordered out with his command for the same purpose, and achieved the same result.
Mr. Yancey married, November 17, 1892, Rosa Faulkner, and has had children: Elizabeth Davis, Rebecca Voorhis, Robert Davis Jr., Rose Adams, deceased; Mary Saunders, Joel Tudor, Caroline, Anthony, Henry Davis.

[Pages 225-226]
William Peronneau de Saussure. The subject of this sketch was by birth and parentage a South Carolinian, who came to Virginia's capitol early in his career and made for himself a place at the bar of that state.
His father was Dr. Henry William de Saussure, a practicing physician of Charleston, South Carolina, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Peronneau. He was thus of Huguenot stock on both sides. After receiving his grammar school education in the excellent private schools of his native city he entered the South Carolina Military Institute at the age of fifteen years. In 1863 the cadets of this institute were ordered into active service in the war between the states and Mr. de Saussure served with them until the close of the war, chiefly along the line of coast defences between Charleston and Savannah, Georgia, and on the outposts in front of Charleston until the evacuation of the city in February, 1865.
Mr. de Saussure comes legitimately to his choice of a profession. His great-grandfather, Henry William de Saussure, was one of the first chancellors of South Carolina; a member of its court of appeals, and published under his name the first four volumes of the South Carolina Equity Reports. Chancellor de Saussure, when but a boy of sixteen years, participated in the defense of Charleston against the British and upon the fall of the city was taken prisoner and confined upon one of the prison ships. History has thus repeated itself in the case of his great-grandson, the subject of this sketch. At the close of the war between the states, Mr. de Saussure entered upon the study of the law in the office of his grandfather, Henry A. de Saussure, then seventy-five years old, practicing in copartnership with his son, Wilmot G. de Saussure, under the firm name of de Saussure & Son. Mr. de Saussure, therefore in that office represented the fourth generation of lawyers in his family. After three years of study and practice in the office Mr. de Saussure was admitted to the bar of South Carolina. Later he opened and conducted a school for boys in his native city with much success for five years, after which he resumed the practice of his profession.
In 1878 he married Georgianna, a daughter of Judge George William Logan, of Charleston. His children are: A daughter, Mrs. L. Morris Warren, of Richmond, and a son, William P. de Saussure Jr., who is an electrical engineer in the city of New York.
Judge Logan had five sons on the Confederate army, one of whom, General T. M. Logan, at the close of the war, married and settled in Virginia, practicing law in Richmond. Mr. de Saussure, soon after his marriage, removed to Richmond and became associated with General Logan, establishing his office in the Merchants' National Bank Building, a location which he has continuously occupied to the present time.
Mr. de Saussure is a Democrat in politics both by tradition and conviction. He has always taken a lively interest in the business and social interests of his adopted city. Is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Men's Club, and of the Blue Lodge and Scottish Rite bodies in Masonry.

[Pages 226-227]
Richard H. L. Chichester. The holder of high judicial position because of legal ability of distinctive quality, Richard Henry Lee Chichester has held place on the bench of the state of Virginia for the past five years, while for a decade prior to that service he presided over county court in the same state. Public office has known him almost from the time of his entry into professional life, and in numerous offices he has held, whether they be honorary or renumerative, he has rendered service at once valuable and commendable. That the fruits of his labors have come to the state of Virginia is highly fitting, as for generations his ancestors have there made their home.
(I) His grandfather, William Henry Chichester, was a native of Fairfax county, was the owner of a plantation of vast acreage and passed his life in the administration of his estate, his death occurring when he was a young man, prior to the war between the states. He married Jane Peyton, born in Stafford county, who attained the age of eighty-eight years. They were the parents of six children, all now deceased: Francis, Valentine, Mary Washington, John Conway, a soldier in the Confederate army, killed in the civil war; Catherine, Daniel McCarty, of whom further.
(II) Daniel McCarty Chichester, son of William Henry and Jane (Peyton) Chichester, was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, August 20, 1834, died in May, 1896. Preparing for the legal profession he was admitted to the bar, and there found a field in which he gained prominence and important station through the exercise of his innate talents. He was at one time the representative of Fairfax county in the general assembly and was also judge of the courts of Fairfax and Alexandria counties. His reputation as an honorable and upright magistrate was without a blemish, and in the war of 1861-1865 he proved his patriotism of sufficient strength to carry him into the thick of the heaviest fighting of that struggle. He married Agnes Robinson, daughter of Judge R. C. L. Moncure. Judge R. C. L. Moncure was born in Stafford county and there died in 1882, after a successful and honored career at the bar and on the bench. His family is an ancient one in Virginia, the first of his line having there settled about 1670, the American ancestor having been a clergyman, the founder of the old Aquia Church of Stafford. Children of Daniel McCarty and Agnes Robinson (Moncure) Chichester; Mary E., married John L. Lewis, of Bethesda, North Carolina; Richard Henry Lee, of whom further; J. Conway, of Fredericksburg; Frank Moncure, an attorney of Fredericksburg; Hallie E., married Frank D. Moncure, an attorney of Richmond, Virginia; Peyton Moncure, a physician of Norfolk, Virginia. Daniel McCarty and Agnes Robinson Chichester were also the parents of two children who died in infancy, and Daniel, died aged twenty-two years.
(III) Richard Henry Lee Chichester, son of Daniel McCarty and Agnes Robinson (Moncure) Chichester, was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, April 18, 1870, and after attending the public schools of Fairfax county entered St. John's Academy, whence he was graduated in the class of 1888. His preparatory education thus thoroughly obtained he was for two terms a student in the academic department of the University of Virginia, leaving college to engage in the study of law in the office of Senator Walter Moore, at Fairfax Court House. He then returned to the University of Virginia, enrolling in the law department graduating from that institution in 1893, at once establishing in Fredericksburg. In 1895 he was elected commonwealth attorney of Stafford county, three years later becoming judge of Stafford and King George counties, in both of which offices he served satisfactorily and well. By Governor Mann's appointment of 1910 he was made judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, an appointment that in 1912 was confirmed by the vote of the state legislature. Mr. Chichester holds that position to the present time, discharging the weighty and responsible duties of his office in a dignified and efficient manner, calling to his aid in cases of the gravest import a knowledge of legal lore deep and thorough. After the establishment of the State Normal and Industrial School at Fredericksburg Judge Chichester was a member of the first board of trustees, and to the wise direction of this body that institution owes much of its present sound standing. His chief business interest is as president of the Free Lance Star Publishing Company, a flourishing and prosperous concern publishing a daily newspaper, the "Daily Star," and the "Tri-Weekly Free Lance," and is also a stockholder in the Planters' National Bank and the Commercial State Bank. Judge Chichester is a member of St. George's Episcopal Church, holding a place in the vestry of that organization.
He married in Stafford Pittsylvania, Virginia, June 11, 1895, Virginia Belle, born in Stafford county, daughter of Samuel Gordon and Mary Buchanan (Hansford) Wallace. Her father was born in 1831, died in 1896; was a farmer and a soldier of the Confederate army during the four years of the war between the states. Her mother, deceased, was a native of King George county. Children of Richard Henry Lee and Virginia Belle (Wallace) Chichester; Daniel McCarty, born April 27, 1896, a student in the Fredericksburg High School; Mary Wallace, born January 5, 1898, a student in high school; Richard Henry Lee, Jr., born October 23, 1904.

[Pages 227-228]
Hugh Wythe Davis, M. D. Born in Richmond, educated classically and professionally in Richmond, and for over half a century actively engaged in medical practice in Richmond, Dr. Davis acquired an intimacy with Richmond and her people little short of marvelous. He was perhaps the best known and best loved physician of the city, knowing his vast army of patients and a true doctor of the old school, ministered to body, mind and soul, regarding his patients many of them as his especial charge, to be freely admonished and reproved, as well as treated for bodily ills. His maternity practice was very large, three generations in the same family in several instances having been brought into the world by the aid of good Dr. Davis. He was in the truest sense, the family physician, knew the intimate life history of hundreds of his clientele from cradle to grave, rejoiced in their success, sorrowed with their misfortunes and often by timely advice and aid enabled them to pass safely perilous points in their careers. He held true to the soundest principles of medicine and never followed the fads of his profession, never countenanced the newer theories and rarely left the city to attend medical gatherings. This was less from inclination than the fact that his very large practice occupied every moment of his working hours. From the age of twenty-one years until the December preceding his death, at the age of seventy-four years, he was actively in practice and barely able to meet the demands made upon him. A newly fledged M. D., in 1861, he was almost immediately appointed assistant surgeon to Dr. Samuel Preston Moore, surgeon general of the Confederate States and until the war, 1861-65, closed, served with devotion and distinction in field and camp hospitals, always in or near Richmond. His devotion to the southern cause was deep and lasting and Richmond had no more loyal son. For forty years he lived at 110 West Grace street, his address being better known than any other private citizen in the city. He now lies in Hollywood Cemetery, near by the scenes of his childhood, youth, manhood and old age. His life was filled with good deeds and his memory will long be cherished.
Dr. Hugh Wythe Davis was born in Richmond, September 20, 1840, died June 29, 1914, son of John F. and Delight (Thomas) Davis, and nephew of Dr. Creed Thomas, who was a schoolmate of Edgar Allan Poe at the University of Virginia. Dr. Davis, after attendance at private schools in Richmond and Chesterfield county, Virginia, entered Richmond College, there completing his course of classical study. He decided upon the profession of medicine and prepared in the Medical College of Virginia, received his degree of M. D. with the class of "61." The war clouds which had been hovering burst asunder in that year and the young doctor, a personal friend of Surgeon General Dr. Samuel Preston Moore, of the Confederate army, was at once selected by Dr. Moore as his assistant. The ensuing four years were spent in active hospital service, much of Dr. Davis's time being spent in the hospital located on what is now the campus of Richmond College. After the war he began private practice in Richmond, in association with his maternal uncle, Dr. Creed Thomas, one of his first patrons being Surgeon General Moore, whose family physician he remained until Dr. Moore's death, the two men always continuing warm friends until separated by death. Dr. Davis was entirely devoted and absorbed in his practice, ministering to a very large clientele. He won the love and confidence of his parents and was held in highest esteem by all who knew him. For fifty-three years he practiced the healing art and only desisted when nature gave way and when he was unable to continue. He retired from practice, December 20, 1913, and about six months later a complication of diseases ended his long and useful life.
Dr. Davis was a member of the Virginia State Medical Society, trustee of Richmond College, trustee for the Baptist Home for Aged Women and a deacon of Grace Street Baptist Church. He was an authority on all that pertained to the medical history of the Confederacy, his close association with the surgeon general giving him opportunity to obtain accurate information. While a true son of Virginia, he took no active part in political life, held no public office but by official appointment for special service, one of such instances being the examination of the body of Mrs. Jeter Philips, murdered by her husband at Drinker's Farm in Henrico county in 1870. Dr. Davis being one of the two physicians appointed by the state for that duty.
Dr. Davis was married in Monumental Church, Richmond, February 15, 1865, by Rev. Dr. Norwood, to Mary Elizabeth Apperson, of New Kent county, Virginia, who died June 4, 1900. Seven of his children survived the good doctor: 1. Dr. Wray Wythe, now located at 614 West Grace street, graduated from the University of Maryland, class of 1890, as D. D. S., has thus been for twenty-four years in dental practice in Richmond; he married Mary Hopkins, November 12, 1895, and they have four children, all living: James Hopkins, Hugh Wythe, Mary Elizabeth, and Wray Wythe Jr. 2. John A. 3. Eva T., married C. L. Moore. 4. Bessie C., married W. G. Bragg. 5. Rhoda L., married H. Seldon Taylor. 6. Susie T. 7. Edna S. All are living in Richmond.

[Pages 228-229]
Major Algernon Sidney Buford Jr. is descended from a long line of Virginia ancestry extending back into colonial times, when they distinguished themselves for a staunch devotion to the cause of the American colonists in their resistance to the encroachments of the government across the sea.
Henry Buford, of Culpeper Richmond, Virginia, was the representative of the family in revolutionary times, and his grandson, William Buford, of Lunenburg county, was the grandfather of our subject. Algernon Sidney Buford Sr., son of William Buford, was a man whose life of more than four score years was one of unusual distinction. Born in Rowan county, North Carolina, January 2, 1826, he nevertheless spent practically his entire life in Virginia, studying in his childhood and youth in the school taught by his father, and working in the meantime on the farm. He intended ordinally to take up the profession of teaching, and studied to this end, but he turned later to the law, practicing actively until the outbreak of the war. He enlisted in the Confederate army as a private but was breveted as lieutenant-colonel before the close of hostilities. When peace was restored, he became president of the Richmond & Danville Railroad, which at that time had but one hundred and forty miles of tracks. Perhaps the most important of the many services which he rendered his fellow citizens was the development, during the twenty-two years of his presidency, of this small road into a system represented by three thousand miles of tracks, which now forms an important integral part of the system of the Southern Railway. Colonel Buford served his state a number of terms in the legislature, both before and after the war, and in 1893 he became a candidate for the governorship of Virginia. The firmly intrenched political organization was, however, too strong for him and accomplished his defeat despite his great personal popularity. Colonel Buford married (first) Emily W. Townes, of Pittsylvania county, Virginia, by whom he had one daughter, Emily, now Mrs. Clement Manly, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He married (second) Kate A. Wortham, of Richmond, and of this union was also a daughter, Katie T., now Mrs. Walter T. L. Sanders, of Gloucester county, Virginia. He married (third) Mrs. Mary Cameron Strother (nee Ross), by whom he had three children, Algernon Sidney Jr., our subject; Mary Ross, now Mrs. Frederick E. Nolting, of Richmond; William Erskine Buford. Colonel Buford's death occurred May 6, 1911.
Algernon Sidney Buford Jr. was born in Richmond, Virginia, December 19, 1880, He obtained the elementary part of his education in the private schools of Richmond, going thence for a year to the Randolph-Macon College and later for two years was a student at the Virginia Military Institute. Having decided to take up his father's profession, the law, he went to the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Virginia, for a three years course, the first year being devoted to academic studies and the latter two to the study of law, in which subject he graduated in 1902. Immediately after completing his studies, he embarked upon a voyage around the world, from which he returned and began the practice of his profession in Richmond in August, 1903. Mr. Buford is actively interested in politics and public affairs. He is a Democrat and has served on the Richmond board of aldermen and on the common council. He was also a member of Governor Swanson's staff. He is also a prominent member of the state militia and is now a judge advocate of militia with the rank of major.
Major Buford married, September 21, 1907, at Hot Springs, Virginia, Elizabeth Lanier Dunn, a daughter of Lanier and Harriet Hildreth (Heard) Dunn, of Washington and New York. Mr. Dunn, a retired capitalist, now lives with Mrs. Dunn at Hot Springs, Virginia. Mrs. Buford is a native of Washington, where she was born, but has lived most of her life in New York and Europe. To Mr. and Mrs. Buford has been born one son, Algernon Sidney Buford (3), May 30, 1912. Mr. Buford and his family are communicants of the Episcopal church and attend St. Paul's Church of that denomination in Richmond.

[Pages 229-231]
Colonel Francis Marshall Boykin. Born in Isle of Wight, a southeastern county of Virginia, a descendant of most distinguished ancestors, Colonel Boykin, after a military career in which he won deserved distinction, located in the city of Richmond, Virginia, in the year 1870, where he became prominent in business and social life and resided until death ended his usefulness.
The Boykins of Virginia descend from Edward Boykin, who settled in Isle of Wight county, Virginia, in 1685, on a large tract of land granted him by Lord Howard. in the revolutionary war, Francis M. Boykin, great-grandfather of Colonel Francis M. Boykin, served as second lieutenant of the First Regiment Virginia Line, that regiment being commanded by Colonel Patrick Henry. Francis Marshall (1) Boykin, son of Lieutenant Francis Boykin and grandfather of Colonel Francis Marshall (2) Boykin, was lieutenant-colonel of a Smithfield, county, Virginia, regiment, in the war of 1812. General Francis Marshall (2) Boykin was a general of Virginia militia, and for many years a state senator. On the maternal side Colonel Boykin descended from equally distinguished ancestry, including Colonel Joseph Bridger, of Virginia, who in 1686 was a member of council and adjutant general of the colony. Another ancestor, Thomas Godwin, born in 1607, was a member of the London Company, and in 1677 was speaker of the Virginia house of burgesses. Through intermarriage Colonel Boykin was connected with many of the best Virginia families as is his wife, Ellen Burton (George) Boykin.
General Francis Marshall (2) Boykin, son of Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Marshall (1) and Fannie (Godwin) Boykin, was born in 1806, died in 1863. He was an eminent physician, a prosperous planter and a distinguished member of the Virginia senate for many years representing Isle of Wight, Southampton and Nansemond counties. He gained his military title by long service in the state militia and ranked with the leading men of his day. He married Hester Ann Briggs, of Southampton county, Virginia.
Colonel Francis Marshall (3) Boykin, son of General Francis Marshall (2) and Hester Ann (Briggs) Boykin, was born in Isle of Wight county, Virginia, March 1, 1837, died in the city of Richmond, May 5, 1906, remains interred in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond. He obtained his earlier education in private schools in Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, Virginia, then true to the military instincts inherited from patriotic sires, entered Virginia Military Institute, founded two years after his birth, and was there graduated, class of 1856. The next five years were spent in the government service, in the coast survey and in teaching school, years of valuable experience. When war broke out between the states, he threw himself with all the ardor of his nature into the conflict, the military deeds of his sires inspiring him to equally valorous service. He was commissioned by Governor Letcher, of Virginia, as major of the Thirty-first Regiment Virginia Infantry, and by order of General Robert E. Lee was assigned to duty in western Virginia, with authority to muster into the service all volunteer companies offering themselves for state defence. There was a strong Union sentiment in that part of the state and at Grafton a mob nearly encompassed his death. His first field service with the Thirty-first was in the campaign in western Virginia at the battle of Cheat Mountain and later at the battle of Alleghany Summit, where he especially distinguished himself, won promotion to the rank of lieutenant-colonel on the field of battle, and led the regiment, the colonel being absent. His lieutenant-colonel's commission from Governor Fletcher bears date of December 14, 1861. He believed heart and soul in the justice of the southern cause and fought with all his valor, leading his men in many battles, winning many successes, suffering many defeats, but with undaunted courage, led, cheered and encouraged his men until the battle of Sailor Creek, fought April 5, 1865, he was captured by Union forces and confined on Johnson's Island until July, 1865, the final humiliation of the Army of Northern Virginia, being the only part of the glorious career of that army in which he did not participate.
After his release from confinement, Colonel Boykin married and with his bride located in Norfolk, Virginia, where he taught school until 1870. In that year he moved to Virginia, where in association with John P. George he established the leaf tobacco exhorting firm of George & Boykin, that for several years conducted a large and prosperous business. Finally the firm dissolved, Colonel Boykin continuing in the leaf tobacco business alone. He became very prominent in the trade and for several years was president of the Richmond Tobacco Exchange. He continued the active head of a large business, prominent in social and club life, the centre of a company of cultured Virginia gentlemen of the old school, dignified, courtly, hospitable and reserved. For two terms he was president of the Westmoreland Club, was a member of Metropolitan Lodge, No. 11, Free and Accepted Masons, was a devout churchman, a communicant of St. James' Episcopal Church, also one of the founders of the Church of the Holy Trinity, and in his political faith, intensely Democratic, but neither seeking or accepting public office. He held to all the best traditions of his race, practiced all their virtues and left behind him an untarnished name.
Colonel Boykin married, November 16, 1865, Ellen Burton George, daughter of John and Anna Burton (Brown) George, paternal granddaughter of Major Byrd George (war of 1812) and Mary Crutchfield, his wife, maternal granddaughter of James Brown Sr. and Anna Pitfield Braddock, his wife, all of old and influential Virginia families. Colonel and Mrs. Boykin were the parents of three sons and two daughters, Anna Brown Boykin and Ellen Pitfield Boykin, both residing in Richmond. Two sons died in infancy, the third son, Hamilton Godwin Boykin, is also a resident of Richmond.