44

VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

whom he had : John B., a prominent physi- cian of Nelson county; Anna, married J. Rector Smoot, of Alexandria ; Lucy, unmar- ried ; Margaret, unmarried ; Robert W'hite- head married (second) Margaret Baldwin, by whom he had : Stuart Baldwin, a promi- nent lawyer of Nelson county, who married Sue Massie ; Katherine. who married Fred Moss; Mary, unmarried; Sarah, unmarried; I^Vederick 15.. assistant commissioner of the United States Patent Office. 2. Marcellus. l)()rn in Nelson county, graduated in medi- cincc from Jefferson College, and soon there- after entered upon a practice of his profes- sion at Salisbury, North Carolina ; through- out all his long and useful life he enjoyed a large and lucrati^'e practice, and few phy- sicians were more honored and beloved than he ; he was a handsome man. possessing a strong intellectual face ; he won front rank in his professit)n, was an advanced thinker, a fluent writer and a bold and vigorous '-peaker : he married Jennie Coleman, and by her had: Elizabeth, wdio married Dr. Henderson, of North Carolina ; Thomas, died unmarried : Dr. John, prominent phy- sician and surgeon at Salisbury, North Caro- lina ; Dr. Richard PL, dean of the medical faculty of the University of Virginia, who married his cousin, \'irgilia Whitehead. 3. Sarah, married R. \l. Brown, who for vears was a leading member of the bar of Am- herst county, and a splendid citizen in every way; issue: John Whitehead Brown, who at the c:>utbreak of the war between the states enlisted at the early age of seventeen in Company E. Second Virginia Cavalry, and served with fidelity until his death at Beaver Dam Station ; opposite his name on the military rolls is the notation : "A gallant lad;" a comrade has said of him: "He was as high a soldier as ever drew sabre ;" Thomas \\'. lirown. deceased; Sarah Ann Brown, married (first) Nate Gossuch, and had William and Robert; married (second) Colin Stokes, of Covington. Virginia, and had two other children : Richard Stokes, an attorney at Covington, who married a Miss Rhinehardt, and Colin .Stokes, of Richmond ; Robert M. I'rown, attorney -at-law of Texas ; .Arthur P>ro\vn. of .Amherst; and Dr. Pen- jamin Prown. of the United States Marine Hospital service. 4. Thomas, see forward. 5. Edgar, born in Nelson county, Virginia, received a common school education, and entered into the tobacco business; he ser\e(l

during the war between the states as captain of Company E, Second V^irginia Cavalry, until the reorganization in 1862, when he re- tired and was succeeded by his brother Thomas Whitehead, for the remainder of tb.e war l)eing assigned to post duty; after the war he returned to mercantile pursuits with varied success, until his death in 1910; he married Sallie Cabell, of Amherst county. A^irginia, and had issue: Dr. Cabell White- head, prominent in the opening up and de- velopment of Alaska, having been called "Father of Nome City," married Bena Ay- ers ; Robert W'hitehead, chemist of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, married a Miss Zauch- baum. 6. Paul Whitehead, D. D., a promi- nent Methodist divine and scholar, was born in Amherst county, and for many years was a dominant figure in the Virginia Confer- ence Methodist Episcopal church, south, having filled the position of secretary of that bod}- for over fifty years; he was a fluent speaker, soundly versed in the laws, rules and usages of his church, and univer- sally conceded to be the best debater in the conference ; he was also an educator of no little prominence, having conducted a fe- male seminary at Murfreesboro. North Carolina, and at Farmville, Virginia, and ^^■as a member of the board of trustees of the Rand(4ph-Macon College at Ashland, Vir- ginia, up to the time of his death ; children : J.'inett, died unmarried; Silas, died unmar- ried; A'irgilia, who married Dr. Richard H. A\ hitehead. 7. Silas, died unmarried.

(lA'l Alajor Thomas Whitehead, son of John (2) and Anna (Alahoney) Whitehead, was born near Lovingston, Nelson county, A'irginia, December 27, 1825. From an earl) age Major AA'hitehead evinced those traits of character and disposition that made him through so many years one of the most conspicuous and prominent figures in ATr- ginia history and A'irginia politics. Posses- sing a keen and brilliant intellect and a masterh- command of varied knowledge, he was able to shine in any circle in which he was placed and to command the attention and admiration of all with whom he came in contact. Not only was Alajor Whitehead abundantly end(^w'ed with unusual intellec- tual abilit}-, but along with it he had a kindly, charitable heart that made him len- ient to the faults of others and sincere in all relations with his fellowmen. Thus at

the ver\' (mtset of his career, he won an en-