Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography

[Pages 384-385]
Frank Marshall Reade, M. S. Dr. Reade is a descendant of John Read, of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, who came to the country from Lincolnshire, England, with the great fleet in 1630. Dr. Reade is a great-grandson of Daniel Reade, grandson of Daniel B. Reade, who reared a family of twelve children, all of whom grew to years of maturity and married except one, Herbert, who died at the age of twenty-five years.
Jeremiah Waterman Reade, son of Daniel B. Reade, was born in Ashford, Connecticut, August 26, 1833, died in Richmond, Virginia, January 9, 1905. Hew was a machinist. He was for several years a resident of Springfield, Massachusetts, employed in the government arsenal. During the war he was a sympathizer with the ?South and openly expressed his opinions. later he moved to Mohawk, New York, where he was employed as state rifle inspector, appinted by the goernment as an expert on rifle testing. He married Frances Cornelia Burgess, born 1837, daughter of Albert Burgess, who died at the old Burgess homestead at Willimantic, aged sixty years, descendant of a New England family ther esettled since 1626. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Reade: Herbert Eugene, born October 26, 1857, now living in Richmond, claim agent for the Richmond & Henrico Railway Company; Fran k Marshall, of whom further; Charles Moulton, born in Spingfield, Massachusetts, November 25, 1870, now living at Willimantic, Connecticut, a traveling salesman for Swift & Company, of Chicago.
Dr. Frank Marshall Reade, second son of Jeremiah Waterman Reade, was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, October 6, 1863. In 1873 his parents moved to Mohawk, New York, where he was educated at the Mohawk Academy. After leaving school he entered the drug business, and in 1884 was one of the first pharmacists to register in the state. He continued in the drug business in Mohawk for four years, then was three years in Booneville, traveled one year, then became associated with a wholesale drug firm at Watertown, New York. In September, 1890, he located in Richmond, Virginia, and for five years was engaged in the retail drug business. In 1895 he began the study of medicine at the Medical College of Virginia, and in 1899 was graduated M. D. He at once began practice in Richmond, and is now a well known and highly regarded practitioner, specializing in obstetrics, although his practice is general in character. Dr. Reade is past master of Richmond Lodge No. 10, Ancient and Free and Accepted Masons; past district deputy grand master of Masonic district No. 15, and past grand patron of the Order of the Eastern Star in Virginia. He is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian church.
Dr. Reade married, in Richmond, July 31, 1891, Annie Smith McConnal, born in Massachusetts, June 7, 1865, daughter of James and Annie (Smith) McConnal, both natives of Scotland, and both deceased, he since November, 1900, she since January 4, 1913. James McConnal was a stone mason by trade, settled first in the South, serving in the Confederate army as a guard at Belle Isle, and in the engineering department as a bridge builder. He learned his trade in Scotland and in the University of Virginia followed it throughout his active life. Four of his large family are yet living, three of them in Virginia. Dr. Frank Marshall and Annie Smith (McConnal) Reade have a daughter, Lida Fair, born in Richmond, August 4, 1895.

[Pages 385-389]
Kilby family. Among the early members of the family of Kilby, a name long identified with Virginia and borne by men of prominence in many walks of life, who is worthy of lengthy mention in conspicuous place, is John Kilby, who served under Commodore John Paul Jones on the "Bon Homme Richard" as gunner, and, after the sinking of that vessel in the historic battle with the English "Serapis," he served also on the "Alliance."
(I) This early ancestor of the line here given was born in Vienna, Dorchester county, on the eastern shore of Maryland, September 15, 1758, death closing his eventful career at his home in Hanover county, Virginia, February 9, 1826. He was a youth of eighteen years when he shipped as sailor on the privateer brig, "Sturdy Beggar," at Vienna, his birth place, a vessel which after an exciting and successful career in the American service, was captured by the English. For about two and one-half years John Kilby and many of his shipmates were confined in "Fortune's Jail" at Spithead, England, a period whose ill treatment and suffering was livened by frequent attempts at escape. Being exchanged at the end of this time, John Kilby and his comrades went to France, at l'Orient shipping under Commodore John Paul Jones on the "Bon Homme Richard." HE served under this noted commander until the "Richard" met her fait in victorious battle, returning to America on the "Alliance." Augustus C. Buell, a well-known biographer of John Paul Jones, wrote of John Kilby: "He was an admirable type of the genuine American sailor of those days — a type which, though numerically a minority of the "Richard's" crew, was the predominant moral and mental factor and the leaven of daring enterprise and unconquerable resolution that enabled Jones to gain his immortal victory."
After the revolution John Kilby followed the sea in the merchant service, rose to the rank of master mariner, and became one of the most successful and competent captains of his day. at the earnest solicitation of a friend, Rev. Thomas Ritchie, he prepared, long after the close of the war, a narrative of his naval service in the American cause, an account remarkable for clearness and interest, wonderful in his accurate remembrance of names, dates, periods and events, and historically valuable for the intimate light it casts upon the chief of American sea heroes, Commodore John Paul Jones. John Kilby married, December 26, 1787, Elizabeth Thompson, born August 19, 1763, and then retired from the sea.
(II) The line of descent from him is through his son, Turpin Kilby, born May 13, 1794, died December 19, 1832, who married, March 6, 1817, Martha Glazebrook, born March 28, 1796.
(III) John Richardson Kilby, son of Turpin and Martha (Glazebrook) Kilby, was born 31, 1819, and died December 5, 1878. He came from Hanover county to Nansemond, and resided with his uncle, John Thompson Kilby. He attended school conducted by Mr. Richard H. Riddick, commonwealth's attorney far Nansemond county, and at the age of fourteen he began his business life work as an assistant to his uncle, aforementioned, clerk of court of Nansemond county. Having spent a few years in this position, he became deputy-sheriff of Nansemond county and the sheriff of Norfolk county, Virginia. During this period, he zealously studied law and was admitted to the bar, December 9, 1845, and acquired a large practice, also entered prominently into public affairs and politics. John R. Kilby represented Nansemond county in the general assembly of Virginia in 1851-52-53; was a presidential elector in 1852 and cast his vote in favor of Scott and Graham, and four years later was a member of the Baltimore convention that nominated Millard Fillmore for the presidency. He was organizer and president of the Commercial Bank of Suffolk from 1872 to 1878, as editor of the "Suffolk Intelligencer," in 1849, establishing the first printing press in Suffolk. Leading position among his fellows was ever accorded him in recognition of his superior mental and executive power, and during his career in public life he established firmly a reputation for unswerving loyalty to principles of right. In 1861 he was elected a member of the convention as a Union candidate, being an old line Whig and opposed to secession. However, the members of that convention decided upon secession from the Union for the state of Virginia, and he, being loyal to his state, ably and faithfully supported the cause of the Confederacy. He was a member of the general conference of the Methodist Church South several times, and was one of the founders of the Preachers' Relief Society of said church.
John Richardson Kilby married, December 5, 1838, Martha Jane Louisa Smith, born December 5, 1816, died February 7, 1888, daughter of Arthur and Susan (Richardson) Smith. Mr. Smith was appointed postmaster of Suffolk, Virginia, by Thomas Jefferson and held that office for forty-two years. Mrs. Kilby was a direct descendant of Colonel Willis Riddick, being a great-granddaughter on the maternal side. Colonel Riddick represented Nansemond county in the house of burgesses of Virginia continuously from 1756 to 1769, in 1771 and again in 1775. He was also a member of the conventions of 1775-76 which gave the new state its first constitution which was the first written constitution of a free state in history, and also put forth George Mason's bill of rights. He was also a member of the convention of 1788 which ratified the constitution of the United States. He was colonel of the Nansemond county militia during the revolutionary war. Children of John Richardson and Martha Jane Louisa (Smith) Kilby: 1. Le Roy R., born May 20, 1841; attended public schools and Randolph-Macon College; at the beginning of the war between the states he enlisted in the Sixteenth Regiment of Virginia Infantry, General Mahone's brigade; he was promoted to the captain's rank, and at the Petersburg "Crater Fight" led his men to the capture of one of the enemy's colors, being breveted colonel on the field for his daring and brave leadership at the close of the war he and his brother, Wallace, founded a mercantile business in Suffolk, Virginia, and he afterward disposed of his Suffolk interests and moved to Norfolk, becoming a commission dealer of cotton and general merchandise, continuing in this line until his death, December 5, 1888; he married Kate Bottimore, and had three children: Floyd, deceased; Lucille, married Hampton Wayte, of Staunton, Virginia; and Belle L., married Clarence Dennison, of Roanoke. 2. Wallace, of whom further. 3. Susan Smith, born May 27, 1845; married, in 1870, Dr. William Wilkinson Murray, born in 1845, and has a daughter, Helen, born September 25, 1875, died in 1907, married, in 1901, Charles Selden Baldwin, of Knoxville, Tennessee. 4. Wilbur John, of whom further. 5. Livingston Clay, of whom further. 6. Annette M., born December 27, 1853, deceased.
(IV) Wallace Kilby, son of John Richardson and Martha Jane Louisa (Smith) Kilby, was born February 22, 1843, and died June 6, 1899, after a successful and profitable business life as a merchant. He was educated in the private schools, Greenwood Institute, and Dinwiddie Academy, and at the outbreak of the war enlisted in the regiment of which his brother, Le Roy R., was a member, the Sixteenth Virginia Infantry. He fought through the conflict, being twice wounded, the first time in the battle of Cold Harbor, and when peace came entered into a partnership with Le Roy R. Kilby as merchants of Suffolk. The interest of Le Roy R. Kilby was subsequently purchased by his father-in-law, H. L. Tynes, and the business was from that time conducted under the name of Wallace Kilby, who was its active head until his death. Prosperity attended his operations and his establishment enjoyed a large and profitable patronage which gave him important position in the mercantile world of Suffolk. Wallace Kilby was a member of the Confederate Veterans, was a Democrat in political belief, and affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. Other circles than business knew his worth and merit, and he was an esteemed citizen of Suffolk.
He married, January 14, 1868, Margaret Tynes, daughter of Henry Lexington Tynes and his wife, Caroline A. (Powell) Tynes, daughter of Matthew and Elizabeth (Pinden) Powell. Henry Lexington Tynes, son of Robert and Martha (Jordan) Tynes, was born in Isle of Wight county, Virginia, and owned a large plantation, cultivated by many slaves. Children of Wallace and Margaret (Tynes) Kilby: 1. Carrie Spotswood, born November 16, 1868, died in 1912; married October 21, 1896, Guernsey Brown, and had a son, Wallace Kilby, born October 19, 1897. 2. Wallace R., born August 7, 1871; was educated in the public schools, Suffolk Military Academy, and Bryant and Stratton Business College, of Baltimore; in 1903 he began lumber dealings, associated with the Nansemond Lumber Company, and at this time, in connection with his lumber interests, he is president of the American Harness Company and of the Roberts Drug Company; he married, December 10, 1907, Delia Miller, born April 18, 1881, and has one child, Fonsia Delia. born November 14, 1913. 3. Clinton Maury, born November 1, 1874; married, June 10, 1912, Jean Graham. 4. Blanch, born July 23, 1877, married, December 5, 1901, G. Lloyd Bell, born August 17, 1874. 5. Bruce Tynes, born 1881, died 1903.
(IV) Judge Wilbur John Kilby, son of John Richardson and Martha Jane Louisa (Smith) Kilby, was born in Suffolk, Virginia, April 18, 1850. After obtaining instruction in private schools, he entered Randolph-Macon College, afterward attending the University of Virginia, at which institution he was a classmate of Lyon G. Tyler. Following his graduation from this institution he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law in partnership with his father, the firm name John R. Kilby & Son. This association continued until the death of the elder Kilby, and to the guidance and teaching of his father Judge Kilby owed much of the sound knowledge, of the well-balanced judgment, that subsequently made him a power upon the bench and a public servant strong and dependable. Upon the death of John R. Kilby in 1878, Wilbur J. Kilby continued in legal practice alone, retaining the old practice of the firm and adding to it through rapidly increasing legal reputation. He early entered public life, and from July 1, 1883, until January 1, 1886, was president of the Suffolk council, resigning this important municipal office to accept a position on the bench of Nansemond county, qualifying for the judgship, December 31, 1885. For eighteen years he filled this place with dignity and efficiency, his decisions just and adequate, every opinion supported by a deep and profound familiarity with law and precedent. He retired from office on January 30, 1904, when the county judgeships were abolished by the constitutional convention.
The present fire-roof clerk's office at Suffolk is due almost entirely to the tireless efforts of Judge Kilby in presenting the need for such a structure and in advocating the necessary appropriations, and after its erection had been ordered his interest continued until it was definitely decided and planned that the building would be a credit to the city and county. At the time of his death Judge Kilby was examiner of records for the Second Judicial District of Virginia, which comprised Nansemond and Southampton counties and Norfolk City.
The artistically planned and beautiful Cedar Hill Cemetery was long his special care, and of this place he was superintendent at his death, November 6, 1907. In this position he found full opportunity for indulging his love of the beautiful in nature, and his suggestions and directions did much to increase the attractiveness of his city, while his work at Cedar Hill Cemetery took from that place many repelling features and substituted things pleasing to the eye.
Judge Kilby was a trustee of Randolph-Macon College from 1883 until his death, and for twenty years had been treasurer of the Methodist Episcopal church, alto taking active part in other phases of church work, on occasion representing his congregation as a delegate to conference. He was an authority on all matters of local genealogy and family history, and was often consulted on such topics. By nature a student and scholar, he took peculiar interest in this line of study, and his mind was a storehouse of much that was interesting and valuable in relation to the history of Suffolk and vicinity.
Judge Wilbur John Kilby married (first) September 5, 1876, Harriet Lanetta Brownley, born October 27, 1855, died November 27, 1887, daughter of Joseph and Catherine (Howerton) Brownley, of King and Queen county, Virginia. He married (second) January 23, 1889, Mary D. H. Finney, of Suffolk, born November 12, 1850, daughter of Dr. Crawley Finney. Children, all of first marriage: Bradford, of whom further; John R., of whom further; and Hilah, born March 13, 1883.
(IV) Livingston Clay Kilby, son of John Richardson and Martha Jane Louisa (Smith) Kilby, was born in Suffolk, Virginia, April 6, 1852. From the private schools of Suffolk he went to Randolph-Macon College, in 1870 discontinuing his classical pursuits and enrolling in Bryant and Stratton's Business College, in Baltimore, Maryland. In the spring of the following year he moved to Norfolk, Virginia, and became associated in lumber dealing with his elder brother, Le Roy R. Kilby, a connection that ended in 1873, when Mr. Kilby became identified with Baird-Roper & Company, and remained with them until 1882. In the latter year he established himself in general brokerage business, and he continued thus until 1907, in this year adding real estate business to his activities, and January 1, 1914, combined his business with Barry, Osborne & Parks, under the name of the Commonwealth Realty and Insurance Company, of Norfolk, Virginia, a concern of high standing of which he is treasurer. As treasurer and director of the Commonwealth Realty and Insurance Company he is prominent and influential, fostering its stability, strength and usefulness with the same zealous care and watchfulness that raised it to the high position it occupies.
Many pressing business requirements have made Mr. Kilby's presence in public life a rare occurrence, and political preference has never been his desire. On one occasion, under a reform government, he was elected to the city board of health, from which business cares compelled him to resign at the end of six months. He was later elected a member of the water board of Norfolk and was made treasurer of that body, the board being legally abolished two years afterward.
About twenty-two years ago he was one of a gathering of one hundred who met in the auditorium of the Young Men's Christian Association to form a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Organization was gotten well under way at this meeting, and the late W. F. Irvine was elected the society's first president, serving for two years. He was succeeded in office by Mr. Kilby, who has filled the president's chair since that date with faithfulness and ability, his hearty interest making his service in such capacity invaluable. The present membership of the society is approximately fifty, and its work is furthered by a city appropriation and private subscriptions amounting to three hundred dollars. A special officer is employed by the society, and through his services and the co-operation of the individual members a wide territory comes under the notice of the society, whish has long conducted an excellent and worthy work in compelling reasonable consideration of animals by those who do not realize that such a course is much to their advantage. Mr. Kilby is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and for twenty-seven years held the office of treasurer of the Epworth (formerly Granley Street Church, Norfolk, Virginia). He is also a member of the board of stewards and chairman of he board of trustees, and is also connected with other activities of his church, one of the most prominent Methodist churches in the South.
The universal confidence that is placed in Mr. Kilby's ability and business dependability has led to his frequent appointment as trustee and executor of large estates. At this time (1914) he is executor for the estate of the late J. H. Core, which is valued at one-half of a million dollars, one of the provisions of Mr. Core's will being that one hundred thousand dollars be used in the erection of a mausoleum to contain the remains of himself and his wife. In the many positions of trust and responsibility that he has been called to fill, Mr. Kilby has remained true to the fine honor and the strict integrity that has come to be a part of his family's traditions.
Livingston Clay Kilby married Susan, daughter of Samuel R. Borum, of Norfolk, Virginia, and his wife, Eliza P. (Stephenson) Borum, and had three children, two living: Annette, born in 1889, and Elizabeth, born in 1899; and one, Edith, deceased.
(V) Bradford Kilby, son of Judge Wilbur John Kilby and his first wife, Harriet Lanetta (Brownley) Kilby, was born at "Eastern View," King and Queen county, Virginia, June 23, 1877. He attended private schools in Suffolk. Entering Randolph-Macon College, he was graduated from this institution in 1897, with the Master's degree in Arts, and for the two following years was a member of the faculty of Randolph-Macon Academy at Bedford City, Virginia. In 1899 and 1900 he was a student at Johns Hopkins University, at Baltimore, Maryland, then entered the law department of the University of Virginia, which awarded him his LL. B. in 1902. Mr. Kilby was associated with his father, who was examiner of the records of the Second Judicial District of Virginia, until the death of Judge Kilby, since which time he has been engaged in general legal practice with uniform success.
In 1905, Mr. Kilby was the successful Democratic candidate in the Suffolk Mayoralty election, and for two years served the city as chief executive. That Mr. Kilby was not inactive in his office is shown by the achievements that are credited to his administration, during which the corporation limits of Suffolk were extended, several miles of paving completed, and a new water system and works installed, and it was also during this period that the Virginian Railroad passed its line through Suffolk. To the progressive suggestions of his fellow officials or fellow citizens Mr. Kilby has always turned an attentive ear, and general satisfaction resulted from his incumbency of the mayor's office.
At one time Mr. Kilby was a member of the Suffolk school board, to which he devoted himself faithfully and energetically. He is now commissioner of accounts for the circuit court of the city of Suffolk, also a commissioner in chancery of the Nansemond county circuit court. He is highly regarded in his profession, and his legal record reflects in no other way than favorably upon the previous attainments of members of his family in the law. Mr. Kilby has always been a staunch Democrat, and is a communicant of the Presbyterian Episcopal church. While at college he was elected to membership in the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
The original narrative of John Kilby, the revolutionary ancestor of the family, referred to in previous pages, is now a part of the library of the late Judge Wilbur John Kilby. An annotated copy, prepared by Mr. Bradford Kilby, with additional footnotes by Augustus C. Buell, appeared in "Scribner's Magazine" for July, 1905.
(V) John Richardson (2) Kilby, son of Judge Wilbur John Kilby, and his first wife, Harriet Lanetta (Brownley) Kilby, was born in Suffolk, Virginia, November 14, 1880. His early studies were pursued in private schools, and he completed his academic education in Randolph-Macon College, whence he was graduated A.B. in 1900. He began the study of law in his father's office, but after one year abandoned his intention of entering the profession in which his name already held such eminent position and became a student in Bryant and Stratton's Business College, at Baltimore, Maryland. In this institution he studied stenography and general business law and procedure, in June 1901, returning to his father's office for the purpose of securing experience in court stenography. Better opportunity, however, appeared to open in the shape of a position with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, with which he became identified on October 14, 1901, and one month later he began his present connection with the Bank of Commerce, of Norfolk, Virginia, since renamed the National Bank of Commerce. The capacity in which he entered the service of this institution was as clerk, and he so remained until January, 1913, when his fidelity and ability were rewarded by his election as auditor of the bank, action taken by the directors upon the recommendation of those of the officials with whom he had been connected during twelve years of service. Mr. Kilby's only business connection is with the National Bank of Commerce, whose welfare and prosperity he has most sincerely at heart. In the list of the institution's officials there is none more highly qualified for the position he fills than Mr. Kilby, nor none who serves with greater diligence and ability. Mr. Kilby is a Democrat in politics.
He married, April 20, 1904, Eloise Blackwell Halsey, of Orange county, Virginia, daughter of Robert Ogden and Ella Rice (Walker) Halsey, her father a son of Joseph Jackson Halsey and his wife, Mildred Jackson (Morton) Halsey, her mother a daughter of Benjamin Walker and his wife, Fannie Rice Blackwell, a descendant of General Blackwell, of revolutionary fame. One daughter born to Mr. and Mrs. John R. Kilby, Eloise Richardson Kilby, born January 10, 1905.

[Pages 389-391]
Bittle Cornelius Keister, M. D. Advancement in the profession of medicine is usually slow, and comes as the result of long and laborious continued effort. The hundreds of representatives of all callings make competition close, and rapid progress is therefore due to the possession of very superior qualifications, to unfaltering application, to earnest purpose and to methods above reproach. Dr. Bittle Cornelius Keister, of Roanoke, Virginia, has achieved a position of eminence in his profession which is due to the possession of qualifications far above the ordinary. He represents the fourth generation of his family in this country, his great=grandfather having been a native of Hamburg, Germany, from whence he emigrated to America in 1750, and settled in Pennsylvania.
William Keister, father of Dr. Keister, was a farmer and leather dealer of Newport, Giles county, Virginia, and was one of the most influential men of the community. He entertained broad and liberal views, and, when the town was first incorporated, was honored by election as mayor, and was also a member of the town council. He married Nancy Epling, whose grandfather was an Englishman who came to this country about the year 1770.
Dr. Bittle Cornelius Keister was born at Newport, Giles county, Virginia, January 29, 1857. He was endowed with a vigorous constitution, and in addition to assisting his father in the laborious work of the farm he spent much of his time in reading and private study. From earliest boyhood he developed the taste in reading which led to his subsequent choice of a profession in opposition to the wishes of his father, whose desire it was that his son should enter the ministry. His elementary education was acquired in the public schools of Giles county, and after a course at the White Gate Academy he became a student at Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia, and was graduated from this institution in the class of 1878 with the degree of Master of Arts. Owing to the opposition of his father, Dr. Keister was obliged to work his way through college and university, and this additional effort appears to have strengthened his love for his profession. He matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Baltimore, Maryland, and was graduated in 1882 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Two years later he took a post-graduate course at the New York Polyclinic, and in 1894 a similar course at the Chico Polyclinic. He is one of those physicians who firmly believe in the virtue and necessity of continued study, and in 1900 he took a year's course in the Physiological and Bacteriological Institute of Berlin, Germany, while at the same time he was a student in the Berlin University. As a means of paying his expenses when he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, he obtained a position as principal in the graded school in the village of Newport, and was thus engaged for a considerable period of time. After his graduation as a physician, he made his home in South Boston, Halifax county, Virginia, where he established himself in the active practice of his profession. This he interrupted in 1900 in order to continue his studies in Germany, and upon his return to his native land he established the Keister Home Sanitarium, at Roanoke, Virginia, for the treatment of various chronic diseases and nervous affections. this institution has met with the success it so richly merits, and the patients who are treated there have come from all parts of the country. While Dr. Keister was studying in Europe, he attended clinics at hospitals in Paris, Berlin and London, and acted as foreign correspondent for a number of medical journals published in the country. He is a member of the American Medical Association, Virginia State Medical Society, Southern Medical Association, American Academy of Political and Social Science, American Society for the Study of Alcohol and other Narcotics, etc. In 1900 he was appointed by Commissioner-General Peck, delegate to the first Congress on Professional Medicine, which was held in Paris, and on this occasion read a paper before this assembly on "The Attitude of the Medical Profession of the United States on the Subject of Proprietary Medicines." Extracts from this address were published in the "London Lancet" and other foreign medical journals. The American Medical Association elected him a delegate to the Thirteenth International Medical Congress, which met in Paris in 1900. He has read a number of other papers before medical bodies in t his country and abroad, and published a number of others. Among those read are: "A Plea for a Modern Code of Ethics;" "Cancer and Reports of Cases;" "Preventive Medicine and its Relation to Society;" Spasmodic Asthma;" "Malaria;" "Puerperal Dropsy;" "Alcohol as Food and as a Poison;" "Alcohol a greater menace to Civilization than Contagious Diseases;" "The Medical Man of Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow." In 1902 Dr. Keister was elected a delegate to the Tuberculosis Congress which met in the city of New York; in 1905 he was a delegate to the thirty-second Annual Convention of Charities and Corrections, at Portland, Oregon; delegate from Virginia to sixth International Congress on Tuberculosis, Washington, D. C., 1908, and read a paper on the "Prevention of Tuberculosis."
Dr. Keister married, June 16, 1885, Laura H. Shaver, and they have children: 1. William Shirey, born July 20, 1887, was graduated from the Roanoke High School, and from the academic department of Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia, in 1907, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts; he had the degree of Master of Arts conferred upon him in 1909, and was graduated first in his class from the Johns Hopkins University in 1914, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine; he was appointed to a position in the University of Virginia Marine Hospital at Wilmington, North Carolina, where he is at the present time, and when his term of appointment expires there, he will enter upon the duties of assistant surgeon of the United States Public Health Service. 2. Helen Marguerite, who was graduated from the Roanoke High School and then studied three years at the College for Women, at Columbia, South Carolina; she married, October 22, 1913, Samuel Meredith Hudson, of Roanoke. The family attends the Lutheran church, in whose interest Mrs. Keister is active, as also in William Watts Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy. Dr. Keister contributes liberally to church work and its collateral branches, and gives earnest and substantial support to all measures and movements which he believes will benefit mankind along educational, social, oral and material lines. He devotes all his spare time to technical reading, and finds his greatest pleasure in increasing his tore of knowledge.

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John Richard Wheat, M. D. Founded in Virginia by Francis Wheat, who came to the colony from England, the family of Wheat has become numerous and well-known in Virginia and throughout the South, the line to which Dr. John Richard Wheat, of Richmond, belongs, having for many years been resident in the city of Washington, where his grandfather, Rev. Joseph Wheat, was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and where his father, Dr. Richard Whatcoat Wheat, was born.
Rev. Joseph Wheat ministered to a Washington congregation for a long time with faithfulness and diligence, and was highly regarded in ecclesiastic circles and by his people. He married, December 13, 1791, Rachel Bryan, of Maryland, and passed the remainder of his life in Washington. They were the parents of John, Eliza, James, John Nelson, Maria, William Thomas and Dr. Richard Whatcoat, all of whom with the exception of the first, were born in Washington, District of Columbia.
Dr. Richard Whatcoat Wheat, son of Rev. Joseph Wheat and his wife, Rachel (Bryan) Wheat, was born in Washington, District of Columbia, and died in San Francisco, California, in 1883, aged seventy-eight. He was educated for the medical profession, and early in life moved to Dumfries, where he practiced his calling until 1869, when his health failing, he removed to California. His long life was spent in deriving, for the benefit of others, the greatest good from his professional knowledge and skill, and many, who with him have gone to their final rest and reward, blessed his gentle kindness and willing charity. He married Ann, daughter of Francis H. and Elizabeth (Colquhoun) Dunnington. Francis H. Dunnington was a merchant of Dumfries, his wife was a native of Dumfries, Virginia. Children of Dr. Richard Whatcoat Wheat: 1. Elizabeth Dunnington, married H. F. Williams, of San Francisco, California, going there by way of the Isthmus of Panama. 2. Charles Dunnington, left school to enlist in the Confederate States army, was orderly sergeant, was severely wounded in the Battle of Seven Pines, and while at home recovering from his wounds was captured by a raiding party and confined at the old Capitol prison, thence transferred to Fort Warren; in 1866 he went to California. 3. Joseph Francis, when sixteen years of age entered in the Confederate army and remained in the service until the Appomattox surrender; detailed as special scout at General Fitzhugh Lee's quarters. 4. Richard, died in childhood. 5. Dr. John Richard, of whom further.
Dr. John Richard Wheat, youngest and only survivor of the five children of Dr. Richard Whatcoat Wheat and his wife, Ann (Dunnington) Wheat, was born in Dumfries, Prince William county, Virginia, December 11, 1850, and there lived until he was twenty-five years of age. He then entered the Medical College of Virginia and was graduated from that institution, February 28, 1877, and while a student performed work as interene at the Church Institute and Howard's Grove Asylum for Colored Insane, the latter a state institution. After graduation he served as interene in the Pinell Hospital, then established in general practice in Richmond, soon afterward, in the fall of 1878, being elected medical superintendent of the Retreat for the Sick. While the occupant of this position he was prominently identified with the Medical College of Virginia, for five years being demonstrator of anatomy, and he was also secretary of the board of visitors and superintendent of the college museum. Since 1884 Dr. Wheat has been engaged in private practice in this city. He has attained the greatest success in his profession, and has achieved particularly brilliant reputation in the specialty to which he has devoted himself with zeal and devotion, the treatment of crippled children. No branch of the medical profession makes a greater appeal to human sympathy than that which gives to a child a future, that enables him to restart life without the fearful handicap that accident of birth has given him, and the good that Dr. Wheat has accomplished through the medium of his professional skill is inestimable. His record is one eminently fit to follow that of his honored father, and the two are a worthy tribute to a name nobly borne.
Dr. John Richard Wheat married, in Richmond, Florence, daughter of Dr. William H. Coffin, of Cumberland county, Virginia, her father a native of England, her mother, who was a Miss Tuck, a native of Annapolis, Maryland.

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Hon. Ernest Linwood Keyser. A work of this nature exercises its highest function when it takes into consideration the career and family record of a man who has himself stood representative of the best citizenship and maximum usefulness in the practical activities of life. The Hon. Ernest Linwood Keyser, of Roanoke, Virginia, is a man who has distinguished himself as a statesman, a business man of exceptional financial ability, and as a generally public=spirited citizen. His grandparents were Christopher and Ann (Brumback) Keyser, the former an elder and minister of the Baptist church.
Dr. Henry Marcellus Keyser, father of the man whose name heads this sketch, was born January 22, 1835, in Page county, Virginia, where his parents had also been born. There he was educated in the public schools, and the Shenandoah Valley Academy, then was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Cincinnati Medical College. Subsequently he took a post-graduate course at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He was a man of more than ordinary professional and intellectual attainments, and was well known throughout the state for his fine character and public spirit. He served Page county as superintendent of schools, and represented it for five consecutive terms in the state legislature. He was instrumental in introducing many beneficial measures while there, notable among them being the Henkel School Bill. His death occurred in 1898. Dr. Keyser married Nannie Kite, also born in Page county, Virginia, and they had children: Mrs. C. E. Clinedinst, of Newmarket, Virginia; William F., commonwealth attorney for Page county; Ernest Linwood, of whom further; Thomas M., a merchant in Stanley, Virginia; Mrs. Robert R. Leas, of Saltville, Virginia; and Mrs. James W. Holt, of Bristol, Virginia.
Hon. Ernest Linwood Keyser was born in Page county, Virginia, October 21, 1868. A part of his earlier education was acquired at the New Market (Virginia) Polytechnic Institute, and he then matriculated at the National Institute of Pharmacy, in Chicago, from which he was graduated in the class of 1892 with the degree of Graduate Pharmacist. During the next ten years he was engaged very successfully in the drug business in San Antonia and Victoria, Texas, and in 1902 came to Roanoke, Virginia, with the business and social, as well as political life of which he has since that time been prominently identified. He established himself in the drug business, and so successful were his business methods, that at the present time he is president of the Keyser-Warren Drug Company and president of the Keyser Chemical Kentucky, all of Roanoke, and adding greatly to the business importance of the town.
Since becoming a citizen of Roanoke, the Hon. E. L. Keyser has been very active in political matters in behalf of the interests of the party. He has served on a number of occasions as chairman of the various committees; has been delegate to state conventions; delegate to the national convention at Denver, Colorado, in 1908; also to one held at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1912. He is well known in state and national councils, and has the confidence of the leaders. In 1910 he was elected to the Virginia house of delegates, and served on more committees than any other member. He was assigned to the most important committees, among them being: Privileges and elections, roads and internal navigation, counties and cities, labor and poor, and enrolled bills. He drafted and secured the passage of the bill creation the law and chancery court in Roanoke, also an appropriation bill for the relief and support of Confederate veterans. He introduced several other meritorious measures. His service as a member of the legislature was characterized by undaunted courage, honesty of purpose and tireless effort, looking not only to the good of his particular district, but to that of the entire state. He declined to serve longer, although assured of election without opposition. Fraternally he is a member of the Royal Arch Masons, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Improved Order of Eagles, and several other organizations. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church.
Hon. E. L. Keyser married, in 1889, Lillie, a daughter of M. H. Dickens, of Bee county, Texas, and they have one child, Linwood Dickens, born at Victoria, Texas, September 26, 1893. He was graduated from the high school at Roanoke in 1910, the University of Virginia with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1914. At present he is a student at Johns Hopkins Medical College, Baltimore, Maryland. He is a member of the Raven Society of the University of Virginia, and Psi Chi at Johns Hopkins.

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Edward Randolph Turnbull, M. D. The Virginia history of the family of Turnbull, numerous in that state, has its genesis in the immigration to the American shore and Virginia of Robert Turnbull, a native of Scotland. Since that time honor and reputation has come to the name in its American home, prominent position in the professions has been accorded it, and Virginia and the nation have received from those bearing it devotion, loyalty and service. This chronicle is of the line of Dr. Edward Randolph Turnbull, of Lawrenceville, Virginia, for twenty-eight years a medical practitioner of Lawrenceville, Virginia.
Edward Randolph Turnbull, son of Robert Turnbull, the immigrant, was born in Lawrenceville, Brunswick county, Virginia, in 1820. He became a practicing lawyer of that county and in the United States court at Richmond, Virginia, and was elected clerk of Brunswick county, at age of twenty and held that office until his death in 1886. For a short time he was a soldier in the army. He married Elizabeth Harrison, of Petersburg, Virginia. His children were: 1. Robert, a member of the United States House of Representatives, having held a seat in the Sixty-first and Sixty-second Congresses, senior partner of the law firm of R. Turnbull & Son, of Boydton, Virginia. 2. Nathaniel Harrison, died aged twenty-one years; was a mining engineer, having been for four years a student in the University of Virginia. 3. Edward Randolph, of whom further. 4. Mary. 5. Frances, married Charles Edward May. 6. Sarah Jane, married (first) Dr. Irby Hardy, deceased, (second) Nicholas L. Claiburne. 7. Annie, deceased.
Dr. Edward Randolph (2) Turnbull, son of Edward Randolph (1) and Elizabeth (Harrison) Turnbull, was born in Lawrenceville, Virginia, December 9, 1856. His early boyhood was passed amid the troubled scenes of the civil war, in which his father was a participant, while an uncle, William Turnbull, placed his home in Petersburg at the disposal of General Robert E. Lee, that gallant general making his headquarters there during the stay in Petersburg. Edward Randolph attended the private schools at Lawrenceville, Virginia, and for three years was a student in the Rock Spring Academy, then entering the office of the clerk of Brunswick county. Later becoming deputy clerk, he was then made clerk of the circuit court of Brunswick county, an office he held for six years. While the incumbent of this office he was pursuing professional studies in the medical department of the University of Virginia, and in 1884 received his M. D. from that institution. He took several post-graduate courses in the Polyclinic Hospital, in New York City, and after securing a license to practice medicine in the state of Virginia, in 1886 established in active work at Lawrenceville, where he has since continued. He is a member of the Virginia Medical Society, and of his practice in Lawrenceville and vicinity it can be but stated that he has added to his familiar acquaintance with the lore of his profession an intense human sympathy and understanding and a personality kindly attractive, which have bound him firmly to the hearts of those he has served, while his strict professional integrity has gained him the respect of his community.
Dr. Turnbull is the owner of a large farm in the vicinity of Lawrenceville, finding in the attention which this demands an agreeable change and relaxation from the exactions of his practice. It is a valuable property, fertile and kept in a high state of cultivation, and Dr. Turnbull's pride in its excellent appearance and beauty are easily understandable to the lover of nature. He is a Mason, and is past worshipful master of Brunswick Lodge, No. 52, Free and Accepted Masons, which lodge has given tot he state two grand masters. Dr. Turnbull is secretary of the board of health of Brunswick county, and is a strong Democratic sympathizer. He is a communicant of St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church, a member of the vestry of that organization.
He married (first) Daisy Barnes, of South Carolina, who died in 1892; (second) Nannie Beaton, born in Boykins, Southampton county, Virginia, August 1, 1875, daughter of Edgar Baxter and Elizabeth (Thomas) Beaton. The mother of his second wife had a brother, David Thomas, who was a soldier in the Confederate States army; while three of her paternal uncles were officers in Virginia regiments in the same army, Captain George, Captain John, and Lieutenant Frank Thomas. Dr. Turnbull is the father of: Elizabeth, born in Lawrenceville, Virginia, November 7, 1901; Randolph Beaton, born in Lawrenceville, Virginia, November 12, 1905.

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Hiram Oscar Kerns. Both the paternal and maternal forbears of Mr. Kerns were of Pennsylvania birth, although his parents lived a greater part of their lives in Gloucester county, Virginia. His own birth also occurred in Pennsylvania, his mother being at her old home on a visit, although then living in Gloucester county. On the maternal side, Lefevre descent is traced to William Lefevre, a contemporary of William Penn in, and through Hannah Vernon, grandmother of Hiram Oscar Kerns to William Vernon, a younger brother of Lord Vernon of England, who came with his brother George to Pennsylvania with William Penn. The Vernons trace their descent in England to the days of William the Conqueror, a Vernon coming with William from Normandy.
Hiram Oscar Kerns was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, December 14, 1852, son of Maris Vernon and Emma Jane (Lefevre) Kerns, both of Pennsylvania birth. Maris V. Kerns was a contractor of mill construction, and built mills of various kinds in eleven states of the Union, having become well known as reliable, capable become well known as a reliable, capable builder of milling plants. Most of his life was spent in Virginia, where he died in Gloucester county, aged sixty-three years. His wife, Emma Jane (Lefevre) Kerns, bore him eight children, five of whom are now living, all residents of the state of Virginia. Maris V. Kerns was a soldier of the Confederacy, serving in the fifth Virginia Regiment from Gloucester county, and for a time he was regimental bugler. He was captured by the Federals, and for nine months confined at Point Lookout prison.
Hiram O. Kerns attended local schools and Gloucester Academy until he attained youthful manhood, and began business life about 1874 as a miller. later he was collector of taxes in Gloucester county, removing to King and Queen county, Virginia, in 1878, where he was engaged in milling until 1880. He then moved to Halifax county, where he continued in the milling business, becoming prominent as miller, foundryman and baker. He also is intimately connected with the handling of the tobacco crop of Virginia and North Carolina, started the first movement to pool tobacco, and was president of the Bright Tobacco Growers' Protective Association of Virginia and North Carolina, and as such fought and won a notable conflict with the buyers. He is owner of the Sutherlin Roller Mills at Sutherlin, Virginia; was formerly president of the South Boston Savings Bank, which was merged with the P. & M. National Bank of South Boston, and is now president of the American National Bank of Danville, a position he has held since its organization. This bank differs somewhat from other banks of Danville, inasmuch as it is owned largely by farmers, formed for the purpose of doing business with farmers, and to extend to them special facilities. The bank does a regular banking business, and is one of the prosperous financial institutions of Danville.
Mr. Kerns is a Democrat in politics and represented Halifax county for one term in the Virginia state senate. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, has held the various offices in subordinate and grand lodge of Virginia, attaining, in 1900, the distinguished honor of grand master of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Virginia. He was continued in this high office for two terms, rendering distinguished service to the order. His youngest son, John Blair, was born while his father was presiding over a meeting of the grand lodge at Richmond, and was named by that body, John Blair Kerns. In religious faith, Mr. Kerns is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, having joined when a lad of fourteen years. He is steward of the Danville district, recording steward of his church, superintendent of the Sunday school, and for four years has been lay reader. He is one of the most influential laymen of his church, and gives to its service freely of his business experience, his wisdom and his means. He is held in the highest esteem as a man of affairs, as a fraternal representative in the church, and as a citizen, no department of city life but claims his interest and receives his liberal support. He is president of the Sons of the Fifth Virginia Cavalry.
Mr. Kerns married, in Gloucester county, Virginia, in February, 1875, Julia Florence Trevilian, born in that county, daughter of Augustus Smith Trevlian, of an old Virginia family, and a veteran of the Thirty-fourth Regiment Virginia Volunteers, Confederate States of America. He married Julia Dutton, both deceased. Of the twelve children of Hiram O. and Julia F. Kerns, one, Clarence, died in infancy. The other children are: Oscar Littleton, now of Birmingham, Alabama; Gertrude Lee, married R. H. Robertson and resides in Pocomoke City, Maryland; Florence Martin, residing with her parents; Ruby Trevilian, a teacher; Maris Vernon, a railroad man, resides at home; Stella J., resides at home; Benton, in the United States navy, now on foreign service; Trevilian Augustus, a machinist resides at home; Hiram Oscar (2), in charge of his father's mill, resides at home; Stanly Martin, and John Blair, school boys. The family home is in Sutherlin, Virginia.