Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography

[Page 231]
Elbert Stewart Honaker, D. D. S., of Richmond, belongs to some of the oldest Virginia families, and partakes of the well known chivalrous and refined character of his ancestors. His paternal grandfather, Henry Honaker, was born in 1812, in Pulaski county, Virginia, where he was a farmer, and died in 1869. His wife, Rachel (Pack) Honaker, was born in 1819, in Raleigh county, West Virginia, and survived him about thirteen years, dying in 1882. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom five are now living, namely: Jennie, widow of William Woolwrind, of Clifton Forge, Virginia; William, of Draper, Virginia, married Sallie Owens: James, of Los Angeles, California; Elbert, of Draper, Virginia, married Otie Harris; Nettie, widow of George Frith, residing in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Samuel Pack Honaker, another son of Henry Honaker, was born February 12, 1847, at Draper, Pulaski county, Virginia, where he was a farmer throughout his life, and died September 19, 1913. He married Susan J. Harris, born October 7, 1851, at Newbern, Pulaski county, Virginia, and now resides at Draper. She is a daughter of Jacob Harris, a native of Pulaski county, Virginia, who was a miller, and his wife, Mariah (Stewart(Harris. They had nine children, one of whom, Jason, died in childhood. The survivors are: Henry, residing at Birmingham, Alabama; Ruby, wife of Charles S. Pratt, of Draper, Virginia; Nettie, Mrs. James Cargill, of Winfield, West Virginia; Birdie, wife of Fred W. Goshorn, of Charleston, West Virginia; Frank, Blanche and Bessie, of Draper; Elbert S., of further mention.
Dr. Elbert Stewart Honaker was reared on his father's farm, in the house built by Henry Honaker, a great-uncle, in 1804, now owned and occupied by Mrs. Susan J. Honaker. After an attendance at the public schools of Pulaski county, he entered William and Mary College, where he continued two years, after which he pursued the study of dentistry at the University College of Medicine in Richmond, from which he was graduated in 1906. Since that time he has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Manchester, with office at 1209 Hull street. Having given much study to the preparation for his life work, and possessed of a natural aptitude therefor, Dr. Honaker has achieved a deserved success, and is esteemed in the community, not only as a skillful practitioner, but also as a gentleman of culture and manly qualities. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, whose fraternal and benevolent principles represent his own sentiments and tendencies.

[Pages 231-236]
William Gordon McCabe. William Gordon McCabe, a representative citizen of Richmond, Virginia, was born in that city, August 4, 1841, son of Rev. Dr. John Collins McCabe, D. D., who was a native of Richmond, a friend of Edgar Allan Poe during his editorship of the "Southern Literary Messenger," to which Rev. Dr. McCabe was a frequent contributor, as well as a distinguished authority on the colonial and early church history of Virginia. Rev. Dr. McCabe's grandfather was James McCabe, an officer in the Revolutionary army, who served under General Arnold in the expedition against Quebec, and led his men with conspicuous gallantry in the storming column under General Montgomery that scaled the heights overlooking Cape Diamond when Quebec was assaulted in a driving snow-storm, December 31, 1775. When the gallant Montgomery fell dead at the head of his stormers, James McCabe was close behind him from the ground. He served throughout the entire period of the Revolution with marked credit as a capable and resolute officer.
Rev. Dr. McCabe, who was born November 12, 1810, first read medicine, but finally became a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, and was for five years rector of the old church at Smithfield, Virginia, and, later on, had charge of "Old St. John's" at Hampton. It was during his incumbency of these parishes that he collected much of the material relating to family and church history which was afterwards used by Bishop Meade, to whom Rev. Dr. McCabe generously gave it, in the preparation of the former's "Old Churches and Families in Virginia." Rev. Dr. McCabe was rector of the Church of the Ascension in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1856 to 1859, and then of St. Anne's parish in Anne Arundel county, Maryland, until 1861, when, as an ardent Southerner, he gave up his charge, "ran the blockade" at great risk, and became chaplain of the Thirty-second Virginia Regiment, "Army of the Peninsula." From 1862 until the close of the war between the states, he was Chaplain General of the Richmond prisons, where he won the love of the Federal prisoners by his many kindnesses to them. Afterward he had various charges in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and died at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 1875. He held the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the ancient college of William and Mary, was a frequent lecturer on literary and historical subjects, issued a volume of poems, and was the author of numerous memorial addresses and poems, which were published separately or in the magazines.
Rev. Dr. McCabe married, August 7, 1838, Sophia Gordon Taylor, whose great-grandfather, George Taylor, was one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, James Taylor, a son of George Taylor, the Signer, married Elizabeth Gordon, eldest daughter of that Lewis Gordon of "the Gordons of Earlston" in Scotland, who after the troubles of "the 45" (on account of which the chief of the house, the gallant William Gordon, of Kenmure, lost his head on Tower Hill) came to America and settled in Pennsylvania. Lewis Gordon married, in 1750, a daughter of Aaron Jenkins, a prominent citizen of Philadelphia, and, removing to Easton, Pennsylvania, became the legal and financial agent of the Penns, was the foremost lawyer at the Northampton county bar, and for many years was the prothonotary, or chief clerk of the courts at Easton. One of the grandsons of Lewis Gordon, of Easton, was William Lewis Gordon, a distinguished officer of the United States navy, who for gallantry in the war of 1812 was repeatedly mentioned in orders, and was voted by the commonwealth of Virginia a sword of honor. William Gordon McCabe was named for this great-uncle, his mother having become the former's adopted daughter after the death of her mother, who was the wife of Colonel James Taylor, her cousin, of Richmond, Virginia, and sister of Captain Gordon. Another of Mrs. Taylor's brothers was Captain Alexander George Gordon, also of the United States navy, and two of her nephews, Lewis Gordon Keith and William Macon Swann, were likewise officers in the naval service. It was, in fact, what was termed in ante-bellum days, "a navy family," for besides those named there were other kinsmen of theirs in that branch of the service.
The first ten years of William Gordon McCabe's life were spent at Smithfield, and the following six at Hampton. At the latter place he entered the classical academy of which the late Colonel John B. Cary was the head, and there gave token of the scholarship which he was later to achieve by carrying off in the last two years of his attendance upon the school the highest honors. In 1860 he entered the University of Virginia, after having taught for a short time as a private tutor in the Selden family of "Westover" on the James. But the students and scholars of the university were among the first to answer Virginia's call to arms in 1861, and on the very night of that fateful day on which the commonwealth dissolved her relations with the Union, April 17, 1861, young McCabe, not yet twenty years old, started with a student company, "The Southern Guard," on the march for Harper's Ferry, and remained thenceforward a soldier of the Confederate States until the sun set upon General Lee's surrender at Appomattox. In all the shifting and tragic scenes of that tremendous struggle he bore himself with the courage and fortitude that characterized the finest type of the Confederate soldier. He served as a private through the Peninsular Campaign in 1861; was commissioned in 1862 a first lieutenant of artillery in the "Provisional Army of the Confederate States," and as such was in the Seven Days battles around Virginia; later he became Adjutant of Atkinson's heavy artillery battalion, with which he served in the Chancellorsville campaign. In June, 1863, he was assigned to duty as Assistant Adjutant-General at Charleston, South Carolina, and was in Fort Sumter and Battery Wagner during much of the heaviest fighting. For his services at Charleston, Generals Beauregard and R. S. Ripley both recommended him for promotion, but in the autumn of 1863 he was ordered back to Virginia upon his own application, and was for a brief period on the staff of General Stevens, then chief engineer of the "Army of Northern Virginia." Then came his last assignment to duty as Adjutant of the light artillery battalion famous in history as "Pegram's," under the command of the gallant Colonel William Johnson Pegram. In this capacity he served with distinguished gallantry, participating in all the great battles from the Wilderness to Five Forks, fought by the "Army of Northern Virginia," including the retreat from Petersburg to Appomattox. In September, 1864, the men of one of the batteries of "Pegram's Battalion," after having been personally commanded by Captain McCabe in the desperate action os August 21st for possession of the Weldon Railroad, unanimously petitioned for his permanent assignment to them as captain of the battery, but this he positively declined, and urged the appointment of the first lieutenant of the battery, the captain having died in hospital, whom he considered rightfully entitled to the position. Early in 1865, he was made Captain of Artillery on Colonel Pegram's earnest personal recommendation and insistance, and after Appomattox, with a number of other young artillery officers, he joined General Johnston's army at Greensboro, North Carolina, but within a few days that army also surrendered and all active service was ended in the Confederacy. He was paroled in Richmond, in May, 1865.
In October, 1865, Captain McCabe founded the University School at Petersburg, Virginia, with which his name is linked in the history of education in Virginia, and from the beginning won for it the reputation of sending out from its walls young men of high ideals and sound scholarship. "Such a school as McCabe's would be an honor to any state," was written of it in the scholarly New York "Nation," November 26, 1885. In the "Atlantic Monthly," December, 1885, Charles Foster Smith said of it: "I know of nothing better the South can do in her schools than to take this school as a model." Dr. McCosh, of Princeton, June, 1882, included Captain McCabe with two other American teachers as "probably the best high-school instructors on this side of the water." The Rev. Moses D. Hoge said in a sermon preached in Petersburg, April, 1895, that McCabe's University School "reminded him of Rugby in her palmiest days." During a long and honorable career, extending from 1865 to 1901, when the head-master retired and the school was closed, it maintained not only its high standard of scholarship, but an even higher standard of honor and lofty character among its pupils that was one of its noblest distinctions. The aim of Captain McCabe was to make his boys in a genuine sense both gentlemen and scholars, and how well he succeeded has been worthily attested in the careers of most of those who went out from its doors, imbued with the spirit of Thackeray's verse:

Who misses or who wins the prize,
Go lose or conquer as you can,
But if you fail or if you rise,
Be each, pray God, a gentleman.

On the long roll of his pupils are to be read the names of scholars, lawyers, doctors, teachers, ministers and business men, many of whom became distinguished degree-men, prize-men, and honor-men of the higher institutions of learning in America. "McCabe's" was a name to conjure with, not only in the halls of his own alma mater, the University of Virginia, but no less at the great institutions of the North, such as Harvard and Yale, Columbia and Princeton, as well as at West Point and Annapolis. To have gone forth from "McCabe's University School" with honor was an "open sesame" at their gates. When in 1901, the school was closed, and the head-master retired from his school work, it was with a fame as a teacher second to that of none in America. During his head-mastership, Captain McCabe declined four professorships in leading colleges and universities in Virginia and elsewhere, and it is an open secret that when in 1902 the consensus of educational opinion in the state seemed to demand that the new office of "President" should be established at the University of Virginia, Captain McCabe was the first choice of a majority of the Board of Visitors, as then constituted, for this high position. But discussion disclosed the fact that such an office could only be authorized by legislative act, and later, when the act was passed and the selection of a President came up before a new Board, Captain McCabe declined to allow the use of his name as a candidate, though strongly urged to do so by large numbers of the alumni. As is well known, the accomplished Dr. E. A. Alderman was elected, and captain McCabe has consistently been one of his strongest supporters in his able and brilliant administrative career.
Shortly after his retirement from the head-mastership of the University School," his "Old Boys" presented to the University of Virginia a superb portrait of their old "Master" painted in London by the celebrated English portrait painter, Walter Urwick. The university authorities devoted the whole of "Founder's Day" to the presentation of the portrait, the presentation address being made by the Hon. Alexander Hamilton (one of the "Old Boys"), the acceptance by Professor William M. Thornton of the University (one of the old "Assistant Masters" of the school), while the Hon. Armistead C. Gordon, of Staunton, Rector of the University, contributed a noble poem entitled "The Head-Master."
During the period of his active participation in educational work, he achieved a wide distinction both as scholar and author. In the period of his early manhood he had been a frequent contributor of prose and verse to the Southern magazines and papers. After the war ended, many of his articles and critiques were published in "Harper's Monthly," "The Century," and periodicals of a like standing in America, while in England, "The Saturday Review," "The Oxford and Cambridge Review," "The Academy," and others of the foremost English monthly and weekly publications have gladly accepted his contributions. His associations through many years with the late Poet Laureate and his family had been very intimate, and he continues a frequent visitor at Tennyson's home. After the death of the singer of mighty song, Captain McCabe published in "The Century" in its issue for March, 1902, a very notable article which was received with signal favor both in America and Great Britain, entitled "Personal Recollections of Alfred, Lord Tennyson."
Other productions of his pen were: "The Defence of Petersburg, 1864-65" (Richmond, 1876), translated into German by Baron Mannsberg, of the Prussian "Artillery of the Guard" and read before the officers of the Eleventh Corps of the German Army; "Ballads of Battle and Bravery," a striking anthology of heroic verse (New York, Harper Brothers, 1879); "Aids to Latin Orthography," translated from the German of Wilhelm Brambach, and revised by the translator (Harper Brothers, 1877); a new edition, "in large part rewritten and greatly augmented," of "Bingham's Latin Grammar" (Philadelphia, Butler & Company, 1884); a revised edition of "Bingham's Latin Reader" (Philadelphia, Butler & Company, 1886), followed in the same year by a new edition of "Bingham's Caesar," in which he substituted a new text (Kraner's, edited by Dittenberger), re-wrote the "Notes," and carefully revised and corrected the vocabulary and etymologies. Among his addresses and monographs may be mentioned "Virginia Schools before and after the Revolution," delivered before the "Society of the Alumni" at the University of Virginia in 1888, and later expanded into a monograph with copious notes; his address before the "New England Society in City of New York" in 1899, which attracted the editorial comment of the leading newspapers of the country; "John R. Thompson," an eloquent and scholarly address on the occasion of the presentation of the portrait of the Virginia poet to the University of Virginia in 1899; his memorial address at the University of Virginia, in 1905, when the late professor Thomas R. Price's library was presented to that institution; his "Memoir of Joseph Bryan," published in 1909; his sketch of Major Andrew Reid Venable, of J. E. B. Stuart's staff (1909); his historical address in the capitol at Richmond on presenting to the survivors of Pegram's battalion their old battle-flag that Colonel Pegram's mother had preserved and given back to them (1886); his address on "The First University in America, 1619-1622," delivered before the "Colonial Dames in Virginia" at Dutch Gap, site of the ancient "Henricopolis," in May, 1911; and his many addresses delivered on "Memorial Day" in various parts of the South. In addition to his prose, Captain McCabe's poems, written in the war time, find a place in all the leading anthologies published in this country.
Captain McCabe's rank as a Latinist is a high one among Latin scholars both in the New and the Old World. Professor Charlton T. Lewis, in the preface to "Lewis's Latin Dictionary" (Harper Brothers, New York, 1889), makes acknowledgment in his preface of McCabe's ability as a linguist, and in another place writes: "Mr. McCabe has won a position among the leading Latinists of America." Dr. Basil L. Gildersleeve, of the Johns Hopkins University, in his enlarged edition of "Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar, "speaks of him as a "Latinist of exact and penetrating scholarship." Professor W. E. Peters, professor of Latin at the University of Virginia, wrote of him in 1887: "He is one of the most reliable, exact and accomplished Latinists in this country, while tributes have been paid to his accomplishments as scholar and teacher by Matthew Arnold, Professor Crawford H. Toy and Dr. Charles R. Lanman, of Harvard, and by others no less distinguished in the world of higher education.
In recognition of that scholarship and of his literary achievements, Captain McCabe has had conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts by the College of William and Mary, in Virginia (1868), and by Williams College, im Massachusetts (1885); that of Doctor of Letters by Yale University, in 1897, and that of Doctor of Laws by William and Mary, in 1906. He is a member of the Alpha (William and Mary) Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and has long been President of the Virginia Historical Society (1903-1906; 1909-1915). He has been President of the Westmoreland Club of Richmond, which is one of the best known social organizations in the South; President of the "Society of the Sons of the Revolution in Virginia;" President of the "Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia;" has been and still is First Vice-President of the "Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence," and President of the "Pegram Battalion Veteran Association;" was, from 1890 to the time of his removal from Petersburg to Richmond in 1895, Colonel Commanding the "A. P. Hill Camp of Confederate Veterans" at the first named place; is a member of the University Club of New York City, of the "American Philological Society," of the "Modern Language Association," of the "Head-Masters' Association of America," a life-member of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities;" State Commissioner and Director of "Jamestown Exposition" (1905-1907); Historian-General of the "General Society of Sons of the Revolution" (1908-1911); member of the Virginia Gettysburg Monument Commission" (1910-1914), and is on the executive committee of the "Southern Historical Association."
For a number of years Captain McCabe was an active and interested member of the Board of Visitors of the United States (Vice-Rector, 1892-96), and, as such, was the author of the degree system now existing there, and it was in no small measure due to his zeal and interest as one of the "Building Committee," after the destruction of the university rotunda by fire in 1895, that the University arose again from its ashes with a finer and fairer beauty.
Captain McCabe has been a great traveler, and numbers among his many foreign friends some of the most cultivated and distinguished savants, soldiers, and scholars of Europe. His personal charm as a raconteur, his eloquence as an orator and after-dinner speaker, and the distinction of his scholarship and literary acquirements have combined to make him a welcome guest in very many of "the stately homes of England," and there is perhaps no private person among their "kin beyond sea" who is better known to Englishmen "of light and leading" than is he. He is now (1914) engaged in conjunction with Captain Robert E. Lee in editing the unpublished private and domestic letters of the latter's illustrious father.
Captain McCabe possesses the finest and most unique private library in Virginia, and possibly in the South, and it illustrates in the great number of its autograph "presentation copies" the high regard in which he is held by literary men the world over, for it includes the works of Tennyson, Thackeray, Browning, Swinburne, Austin Dobson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Matthew Arnold, James Bryce, lady Ritchie ("Annie Thackeray"), Anthony Hope, William Black, Owen Wister, Anatole France, E. C. Stedman, and of many others, hardly less well known, which have been given to him by their several authors. On his shelves also are to be found presentation copies of their books from such famous soldiers and military critics as Lord Roberts, Lord Wolseley, Field Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood, Sir Thomas Fraser, and Sir Frederick Maurice, all of whom Captain McCabe numbers among his personal friends. His collection of manuscripts is scarcely less notable than his printed books, for it contains letters (nearly every one written to himself), poems and other writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Tennyson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Makepeace Thackeray, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Edmund Pendleton, President Davis, General Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, "Stonewall" Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, and others scarcely less famous.
Captain McCabe is an ardent Thackerayan, and one of his most highly prized literary possessions is the first copy of "Esmond" that ever came from the press, which bears on its fly leaf the autograph inscription of its author, "For my dearest mother and children, W. M. T." This book was given by Lady Ritchie ("Annie Thackeray") to John R. Thompson after her father's death, and when Mr. Thompson died in New York, in 1873, he left this book of precious associations to his friend, Captain McCabe.
Captain McCabe married, April 9, 1867, Jane Pleasants Harrison Osborne, who died November 22, 1912. Of this marriage there is issue, three sons: Edmund Osborne McCabe, of Richmond, Virginia; William Gordon McCabe Jr., of Charleston, South Carolina; First Lieutenant E. R. Warner McCabe, of the Fifth United States Cavalry. He married (second) March 16, 1915, Gillie Armistead Cary, daughter of Colonel John B. Cary, of that ancient Virginia family.
Among other publications in which Captain McCabe's biography has appeared, in more or less extended form, may be mentioned "Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography;" Stedman's American Anthology;" Stedman's "Library of American Literature;" "Who's Who in America;" "Men of Mark in Virginia;" "The University of Virginia" (Lewis Publishing Company, 1904), and the :Library of Southern Literature." Captain McCabe's address is 405 East Cary street, Richmond, Virginia.

[Pages 236-238]
Colonel George A. Martin. The progenitor of the Martin family in America was Major-General T. Joseph Martin, who came from England about the year 1770 and settled in the valley of Virginia, near Winchester. He afterwards, about 1775, removed to Kentucky and was a contemporary of Daniel Boone, was equally courageous and enterprising, besides being highly educated and a polished gentleman. He was a son of Philip Fairfax Martin, who traced his descent from the Duke of Kent, whose forefathers came from Normandy with William the Conqueror in the year 1066, and fought with him in the battle of Hastings the same year. Philip Fairfax Martin married a sister of Lord Fairfax, who settled at Greenway Court, Virginia, previous to the revolution. Denny Martin, who succeeded to the estate of his uncle, Lord Fairfax, was also the uncle of T. Joseph Martin.
(I) When freedom rewarded the struggle of the colonies, Major-General T. Joseph Martin was delegated by the government to treat with Indian tribes on the frontier and to do all in his power to promote concord and amity between the natives and the whites. Through his successful handling of this diplomatic mission, so important and necessary at the time, he added honor to the fame he had won on the field of battle as a soldier, patriot and officer. Major General T. Joseph Martin died in Kentucky, soon after the close of the revolutionary war, to the success of which he had so gallantly contributed.
(II) Colonel George Martin, son of Major General T. Joseph Martin, was born in England, came with his father to Virginia, later settling with him in Kentucky. He fought under his command in the revolution, serving as adjutant-general with the rank of colonel. After the war was ended he came to Norfolk county, Virginia, in 1787, and settled near Great Bridge. by profession he was a civil engineer, afterward becoming an extensive planter. He married Anne Old, of Princess Ann county, Virginia, a few years after his arrival in Virginia, and died in 1799. Children: James Green, of whom further, and George Thomas, who died about the year 1837, Colonel Martin left descendants of distinction.
(III) Colonel James Green Martin, son of Colonel George Martin, was born March 11, 1797, died November 23, 1874. He won his military title in service against the foe with whom his father had fought, and in the second war with Great Britain achieved as high honor, though lower in rank, as did Major General Martin in that conflict that gave birth to a nation. For many years Colonel James G. Martin was presiding judge of Norfolk county, Virginia, known to all as a jurist of strength and conviction who ruled over his court with firmness and fairness. He married, in 1817, Maacah Foreman, born March 2, 1797, died October 1, 1874, daughter of Alexander Foreman, a revolutionary soldier, and sister of General Nehemiah Foreman, an officer of the American army in the war of 1812. Children of Colonel and Mrs. James Green Martin: 1. Frances, born in 1820; married George T. Old, who was justice of the peace in Norfolk county, Virginia. 2. Marina, born in 1823; married Nehemiah Bartee Foreman, a man of great wealth and influence, and a classical scholar, son of General Foreman. 3. James Green, a sketch of whom follows this. 4. Mary, born in 1832; married William H. Barnes, deputy clerk of Norfolk county for many years, and soldier in the civil war under Colonel Martin's command. 5. George Alexander, of whom further.
(IV) Colonel George Alexander Martin, son of Colonel James Green and Maacah (Foreman) Martin, was born in Norfolk county, Virginia, September 3, 1833. His preparatory studies completed, during the terms of 1856-57 he pursued legal studies in the University of Virginia, and immediately after gaining admission to the bar began active work in his profession, continuing so engaged until the outbreak of the civil war. Enlisting in the Confederate States army at the first call, he organized the first new company of his county, which was called St. Bride's light artillery, of which he was elected to the command in June, 1861. He was subsequently transferred to the Thirty-eighth Virginia Regiment, Armistead's brigade, Pickett's division, and not long after the battle of Drury's Bluff was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Under General Colson he was engaged in the defense of Lynchburg. After the surrender of General Lee, and by order of General Colson, he dismissed his command, but with his staff went to Charlotte, North Carolina, following the fortunes of the Confederacy and its executive, President Davis. There were hundreds of detached officers from general down that had gathered around President Davis, and just before the surrender of General Johnson they sought in conference what disposition they should make of themselves. Various schemes were discussed, some wishing to fight as guerillas, some wishing to surrender with General Johnson, etc. Colonel Martin arose and said that he was originally opposed to the secession of the states on the ground of expediency, but since it had some he would remain to the end. That it was said by Warwick that place the emblem of royalty in a bush and he would fight for it, and that if you should place the emblem of the Confederacy in any section he would fight for it to the death, and he saw no other emblem of the Confederacy than President Davis and that he would follow his fortunes to the end. He withdrew from the conference, followed by about forty young officers, who sought the president and offered their services to him as a body guard, which was accepted. Colonel Martin was requested to act as commander of the officers and they were to be armed with Henry rifles. The first given out was by Burton Harrison, "Aide" of President Davis, to Colonel Martin, and that rifle, with an inscription on it, is now in the museum at Richmond. General Johnson unexpectedly surrendered and the company was never fully organized, but Colonel Martin, with his friends, General Lawton and General Gilmer, followed President Davis to Washington, Georgia, where the Confederate government was disbanded. Colonel Martin proceeded alone, westward, trying to reach Mexico, but the attempt to reach the latter place was frustrated at Augusta, Georgia, by the vigilance of General Molineaux in command of the city. Colonel Martin surrendered the day before President Davis was captured and was given transportation to Old Point Comfort by order of General Molineaux, where he arrived about two weeks afterwards. His war record is one of distinction, telling of devoted service and unswerving devotion to duty, and is one which, placed by the side of that of his father or of his grandfather, suffers not at all from the comparison, despite the glory attached to those heroes of other wars.
The return of peace found Colonel Martin once more engaged in professional practice, New York City the place he chose for his work. He gradually built up a practice both large and influential, and attained excellent reputation at the bar, one case that he won attracting the eulogy of the press of the country. He formed numerous connections in New York, along social, professional and business lines, and while a resident of the Metropolis was elected to membership in the Seventh Regiment New York National Guard. Weakened health made advisable residence in a less rigorous climate, and relinquishing his New York practice, he returned to the more favorable conditions of his native state. Continuing in legal practice, he was soon placed in public office, his able service in the positions to which he was elected winning him prominence and praise. After serving as state senator of the district of Norfolk city and Princess Anne, 1881-82, he was elected state railroad commissioner to fill a term commencing in 1883, and in 1885 was elected to represent Norfolk county in the house of delegates of Virginia, term of two years, and was re-elected in 1887 for two years more. While in the house of delegates of Virginia the free schools of Norfolk county lacking funds to complete their yearly course, Colonel Martin introduced a bill which was passed enabling the supervisors of his county to lay a tax on barrooms to an amount not exceeding the state tax paid. This is the only county in the state that has had such a bill and it has procured for Norfolk county an annual income of several thousand dollars, thereby placing Norfolk county in the first rank as to position of schools in the state. He presented many other bills which were of lasting benefit to the state as well as to his section. He was one of the leaders and a great factor in having the bill passed for an insane asylum at Petersburg for the colored people, who had hitherto been confined in jails for want of proper accommodations.
These and other positions of weight and importance were filled by Colonel Martin during his active career, and upon his retirement from active pursuits in 1913 he left the law a well remembered and highly regarded attorney, and public life a servant from whose labors county and state had derived great benefit. During his years of activity, Colonel Martin's grasp upon the affairs of the day was so comprehensive and thorough as to make even his casual remarks authoritative, and this interest in affairs he has not lost with accumulating years. Aggressive persistence, based upon thorough and complete knowledge, was the quality from which sprang the value of his services, the many graces and talents embellishing the sterner traits of his character commanding the admiration of his friends and associates.
Colonel Martin has been honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws, and in literary fields is well known, both through is patronage and his contributions to the world of letters. From a boy he has been a hard student, and as a historian in all of its departments, narrative, reflective and philosophical, has analyzed and digested the same from the time of Heroditus, the first historian, to Hagel and later, and from that philosopher to the strictures of President Wilson on history, and the whole course of other studies including those mentioned in Bacon's "Novum Organum" has been scanned and studied. Colonel Martin has written a history of the settlement, rise and progress of America upon a unique and novel plan, with copious reflections on the nature of history and the manner to render it truthful, the strange title of which is "Impersonality of History."
Colonel Martin married, September 3, 1857, Georgia A. Wickens, born December 23, 1837, daughter of J. Edward and Alice (White) Wickens, both families pioneers of Princess Anne county, the members being among the most highly respected and distinguished citizens, honorable in all their actions, following various lines of occupation, some being engaged in the ministry, others as planters. Children of Colonel and Mrs. Martin: 1. George Alexander Jr., born Mn 26, 1862; married Annie Louise, daughter of Captain James E. Peery, of Tazewell county, Virginia; he is one of the most profound scholars of the state, educated as a lawyer at the University of Virginia; he discontinued practice to superintend his "Blue Grass" farm in Tazewell county; he is now chief engineer of a system of roads having their origin in his county; he has children: Annie Louise, born October 3, 1893; Cecil Peery, born December 27, 1895; Thomas Fairfax, born March 10, 1897; George Alexander, third, born August 26, 1901; Maria Theresa, born February 1, 1911. 2. May, born January 29, 1868, died January 7, 1892; married, November 28, 1888, Samuel C. Peery; one son, Samuel C. Jr., born June 18, 1891. 3. Theresa Fairfax, born October 10, 1880. 4. Marina A., bor March 14, 1884.

[Pages 238-240]
Alvah H. Martin. Colonel James Green Martin, son of Colonel James Green (q. v.) and Maacah (Foreman) Martin, was born at Mount Pleasant, Norfolk county, Virginia, April 16, 1829, died in August, 1880. He was very popular with the people; was made colonel in the militia and practiced law in the city of Norfolk, where he was at one time a partner of Judge E. P. Pitts, who was formerly circuit judge of the first district. He was a member of the Virginia legislature in 1859-60 and was also at one time one of the presiding justices of the Norfolk county court. He served in the Confederate army. He married Bettie L., daughter of Thomas B. and Love (Old) Gresham and had issue: Alvah H., of whom further; Maude; George Gresham, of whom further.
Alva H. Martin, son of Colonel James Green and Bettie L. (Gresham) Martin, was born in Norfolk county, Virginia, September 20, 1858, and obtained his early education under the direction of private tutors and in the public schools. After completing a course in the Webster Institute, he studied law under the preceptorship of his father, and in 1880 undertook the duties of county clerk, appointed to fill out an unexpired term. In May, 1881, the six months for which he was appointed having elapsed, he was elected to the same office for the full term, and, through repeated reëlection, has since that time held the position of county clerk. His record is one of thirty-three years of continued service, during which time his name has become almost inseparably connected with the office, and which period has witnessed his efficient, accurate, and faithful discharge of his duties. Norfolk county numbers few on her list of servants whose length of service compares with his and none who surpassed him in all that is desirable in a public officer.
Mr. Martin's connection with the county administration is but a small part of his activity, for in business and financial circles he is well known, holding the presidency of the Merhcants' and Planters' Bank, the Chesapeake Building Association, the Cape Henry Syndicate, the Glencoe Land Company, and the Martin Corporation, and is a director of the National Bank of Commerce and interested in many other corporations. He is a member of the Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce, and at the close of the Jamestown Exposition, 1907, he was director-general of its organization, having labored zealously and constantly in its prearrangement and management. It was a notable fact that during his incumbency of the position of director-general, the exposition was a financial success. His other business connections are numerous, and he is a large property owner in Norfolk county, Princess Anne county, and other sections, and is the owner of valuable coal lands in West Virginia. He has recently erected in the city of Norfolk one of its finest business places located on Granby street, known as the "Martin Building." He is a member of the Country Club and is president of the Ragged Island Gunning Club. Mr. Martin is an ardent sportsman, and as president of the Ragged Island Gunning Club is chief executive of one of the most popular and best located organizations in the state, also being one of its most enthusiastic members and an excellent shot. His fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic Order, and he is a member of Elizabeth Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and Norfolk Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. In politics a Republican, he is a member of the national executive committee and it was through his influence with President Taft that the port of Norfolk was made the port of entry for the state of Virginia, after an adverse report of the treasury department had been made. He also had the order discontinuing the firing of the nine o'clock gun at the Norfolk navy-yard revoked, after all other efforts in that behalf had failed. The councils of Norfolk and Portsmouth passed resolutions in recognition of this and which met the approbation of the entire community. Mr. Martin was also the pioneer of the good roads movement in Norfolk county, and was the chairman of the first commission for permanent road improvement in this county. He is a communicant of the Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church.
A gentleman of wide and varied interests, Mr. Martin's easy versatility makes him equally in his proper element in a gathering of sportsmen, financiers, politicians, or business men, and whatever the occasion he is fitted and prepared to speak with authority or to act with capability. It is the catholicity of his tastes that has gained him such a wide acquaintance and such a vast number of friends, who recognize the worth and merit of the man however they may be associated with him.
Mr. Martin married, January 6, 1881, Mary E. Tilley, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. Children: 1. Fay, married, October 28, 1909. S. L. Slover, 2. Mabel. 3. James Green, graduate of V. M. I. school and University of Virginia law department, class of 1911; admitted to the bar the same year, passing examination with highest honors, and at once commenced practice in Norfolk. 4. Alvah H. Jr., graduate of Randolph-Macon College and the law course of the University of Virginia, class of 1912, admitted to the bar the same year, passing the examinations with highest honors, as did his brother; now practicing with the firm of Martin & Martin. 5. Howard G. 6. Dorothy.

[Page 240]
George Gresham Martin. George Gresham Martin, son of Colonel James Green (q. v.) Martin, was born in Norfolk county, Virginia, August 8, 1869. In the public schools and Norfolk Academy he obtained his preaparatory scholastic training, then entered Randolph-Macon College and the University of Virginia. After leaving the University of Virginia he began the study of law, continuing this after his appointment to the office of deputy county clerk of courts. Gaining admission to the bar, he at once established in general practice, which he continues to this time, specializing, to a certain extent, in corporation and title law. He is a lawyer of standing and reputation, was city attorney for the city of Berkeley for several years, and is attorney for the Merchants' and Planters' Bank and the Chesapeake Building Association, likewise holding place upon the directorates of both these institutions, and is also attorney for the Berkeley Permanent Building and Loan Association. Mr. Martin is president of the Superior Land Company, and now fills the office of harbor commissioner. His political party is the Democratic and he is a member of the Norfolk county committee of that party, also serving on the board of education. He is a member of lodge, chapter, commandery and shrine of the Masonic order, and belongs to the St. Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church. His club is the Country.
In legal, political, financial and business circles Mr. Martin has risen to positions of prominence, for which natural endowments and acquired ability have qualified him. He typifies alert, progressive citizenship, and has shown himself to be steadfastly and actively enlisted in the cause of advancement and improvement in civil affairs.
George Gresham Martin married, September 28, 1893, Lillian H. Wilson, born October 17, 1872, daughter of Rev. Dr. Richard Taylor and Sarah Hataka (Hobbs) Wilson, her father a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, formerly an attorney Rev. Dr. Richard Taylor Wilson was a son of Charles and Mary Elizabeth Wilson, his wife a daughter of Meredith Clayton and Clara Jane (Starke) Hobbs. Children of George Gresham and Lilian H. (Wilson) Martin: Lilian Elizabeth, born May 27, 1895; Mary Maud, born September 12, 1896, died April 16, 1904; George Gresham Jr., born July 14, 1903; Richard W., born September 20, 1906.

[Pages 240-241]
Samuel Walker Lyons. Maud Martin, daughter of Colonel James Green (q. v.) and Bettie L. (Gresham) Martin, was born July10, 1860. She enjoyed excellent educational advantages. She married, May 19, 1880, Samuel Walker Lyons, born December 18, 1855, son of William H. and Sophia (Walker) Lyons. William H. Lyons was born in Pennsylvania, 1830, died in Berkeley, Virginia, 1910; he was superintendent of machinery in the United States Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, for twenty-seven years, and was president of the Portsmouth city council for some years and treasurer of the city one term of four years. He was the father of two sons and three daughters, Samuel W., of whom further; Eleanor M., married Charles H. Williams; Sophia Belle, deceased; William H., deceased; Willie Frances, deceased.
Samuel Walker Lyons was educated in Slater's private school and after the completion of his general studies took up draughting. Becoming proficient in this calling, he was employed as a draughtsman, entering the government service in the navy yard, Norfolk, Virginia, later accepting a position as guager in United States Revenue Service and remained there until he was elected to the office of treasurer of Norfolk county, and has returned full and exact account of his stewardship of the public funds. Among his fellows in the public service he is known as an official to whom duty is paramount and who considers the full discharge of his duty an obligation almost sacred. He is a member of lodge, chapter, commandery and shrine in the Masonic order, and is also identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His political stand is taken with the Republican party. Children of Samuel Walker and Maud (Martin) Lyons: William Henry, Bessie, Samuel Walker Jr., and Maud. Samuel Walker Jr. married, August 3, 1912, Florence Cornelia Ives, and has one daughter, Florence, born August 21, 1913.