BALLARD, WILLIAM WIRT
The gentleman whose name captions this article was born in Somerset County, Maryland, November 15th, 1835, and is a son of Levin and Sarah M. (Willing) Ballard. George Ballard, his paternal great grandfather, was a native of England and came to America in the year 1732. His grandfather, Jarvis Ballard, fought in the Revolutionary War and owned a large tract of land in Somerset County, Maryland. Levin Ballard, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1785 and was a captain of a Maryland company in the War of 1812.
William Wirt Ballard graduated from Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1857, and taught school for two years. In 1860 he began the study of law, which was interrupted by the breaking out of the Civil War, and in June, 1862. He enlisted in the Fourth Maryland Artillery in General Bragg's command. He was afterwards assigned to duty in the Ordnance Department, with the rank of second lieutenant, under Colonel J. H. Brown, who was Chief of Artillery in the Trans-Mississippi Department, under General Kirby Smith. He acted in that capacity down to the siege of Vicksburg, when he was ordered to report to Colonel Raines, at Jackson, Mississippi. He was then ordered to Jackson, Mississippi, and thence to Vicksburg. Connections having been cut off with the Trans-Mississippi Department, he served as aide-de-camp on the staff of General Reynolds and took part in all engagements in which General Reynolds participated, up to and including the siege of Vicksburg, and was paroled with Pemberton's Army.
His health failing, he was ordered to the mountains, and came to Craig County, Virginia. He remained there during the winter of 1863-64 and in the last named year returned to the army, connecting himself with the First Maryland Artillery as a private and served in that capacity until the surrender of Lee at Appomattox.
Mr. Ballard located at Newcastle, Craig County, Virginia, where he was admitted to the bar. In the fall of 1865 he was elected Commonwealth's Attorney and served in that capacity until the fall of 1868. He was then tendered the chair of Latin and Greek at Preston and Olin College, now the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He remained there until 1871, during which year he located in Salem, Virginia, where he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his chosen profession—law. In 1891 he was elected Commonwealth's Attorney of Roanoke County and served a term of four years. He was County Superintendent of Schools from 1872 to 1882. He has always taken an active interest in educational affairs.
In December, 1874, he was married to Ella Worrell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Worrell, of Norfolk, Virginia. They have one son, William Wirt Ballard, Jr.
Major Ballard is in command of a lucrative law practice and enjoys the confidence, respect, and esteem of all who know him. Fraternally he is a member of Taylor Lodge No. 23, A. F. and A. M.
Religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South Politically he is a Democrat.
[Source: Virginia and Virginians: History
of Volume 2; by Robert Alonzo Brock, Virgil Anson Lewis; publ. 1888;
transcribed by Andrea Stawski Pack]
Caldwell, B. Roscoe, M.
D.
Caldwells
emigrated from England, Scotland and Ireland to America and established
early homes in New England, New Jersey and the South. The name has been
common in the countries named and in France for centuries, the name in
England appearing on Domesday Book as Caldennuelle. In Scotland the
Caldwells of Ayrshire, were prominent as early as 1349, a chancellor of
Scotland bearing that name. In Scotch the name signifies Coldwold, the
Hazelwood or divining rod, in English Coldwell.
John Caldwell,
of Scotch ancestry, but Irish birth, came from Antrim, Ireland, settling
first at Chestnut Level, Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, soon afterward removing to Charlotte County, Virginia, the family home there being known
as the Caldwell settlement. He had seven children, the youngest being Rev.
James Caldwell, born in Charlotte county, Virginia,
in April, 1734, whose wife,
Hannah (Ogden) Caldwell, was killed by the British at the battle of
Springfield, New Jersey.
Nothing more did I say Wait
one moment you've heard Of Caldwell the parson, who once preached the word
Down at Springheld? What, no? Come—that's bad; why he had All the Jerseys
aflame! And they gave him the name Of the "Rebel high priest." He stuck in
their gorge, For he loved the Lord God, and he hated King George. —Bret Harte.
One of the sons
of Rev. James Caldwell, "the rebel high priest," was taken to France and
educated by Lafayette. Martha Caldwell, a niece of Rev. James Caldwell,
married Patrick Calhoun, and was the mother of the famous statesman, John
Caldwell Calhoun, of South Carolina.
Caldwells have
been prominent in Virginia in different walks
of life, public and private. In the present day they
are represented in New Castle, Virginia,
by Dr. B. Roscoe Caldwell, a leader in the medical profession, son
of John Pendleton Caldwell, and grandson of
Andrew Caldwell, of Craig County, Virginia,
who was the father of seven children: John Pendleton, of whom
further; Oscar, a farmer of Craig County, Virginia;
William, deceased; Ann, Jane. Adeline. Armita.
John Pendleton
Caldwell was born in Craig County in 1846.
During the War Between the States he served for eight months in a Virginia regiment, fighting at Cedar Creek. Malvern
Hill, and elsewhere. After the war he became a merchant, also was
proprietor of a hotel. He was elected a member of the Virginia legislature, serving during the sessions of
1887-88. He was commissioner of internal revenue for Craig County, assessor of taxes for New Castle, and
postmaster of that city for four years, appointed by President Cleveland.
He married Victoria, daughter of Daniel Hoffman, of Craig County, she born in 1852, died in October,
1910. Her brothers, Ransom, Mazerine, Dexter and Palse, all served in the
Confederate army; Ransom, a private in the Twenty-eighth Regiment Virginia Infantry, was wounded in battle; Mazerine
was second lieutenant of a regiment recruited in New Castle county, was captured with his entire company by the
Union forces, confined in Fort Delaware, later exchanged and was in the
service until the end; Dexter served during the latter part of the war in
a Virginia regiment and is now a farmer of
West Virginia; Palse is now residing in
Portland. Oregon. Children of John Pendleton and Victoria (Hoffman)
Caldwell: B. Roscoe, of further mention; Lottie
Vesta, born in Craig county, married Thomas H. Hawerton, and resides at Newcastle,
Pennsylvania; she has a son Roscoe, born there in August, 1897; Mrs.
Hawerton is president of the Craig County
Chapter, Daughters of the Confederacy.
Dr. B. Roscoe
Caldwell was born in New Castle, Craig County,
Virginia, December 22, 1877. His early and academic education was
obtained in public and private schools, New Castle Academy, of which he is a graduate, and Virginia Military Institute, attending the latter
but one year (1897). In the autumn of 1898 he entered the Medical College
of Virginia, whence he was graduated Doctor of
Medicine, class of 1901. He pursued post-graduate study at the Post
Graduate College and Hospital, New York, in 1901 and 1902, and at the
Polyclinic Hospital, New York, in 1903. In
1901 he located in New Castle, Virginia, and
is there well established in general practice.
He is a member of the American and Virginia
State Medical societies, is past master of Mountain Lodge, No. 163,
Free and Accepted Masons, is a Democrat in politics, and liberal in his
religious belief.
[Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Uunder the Editorial
Supervision of Lyon Gardiner Tyler, 1915 – Transcribed by
AFOFG]
Paris,
Albert J.
Albert,
J. Paris, farmer, stock raiser and banker of Jonesville, Va., was born
Feb. 25, 1851, in Cregg County, Va. He is president of the People's
National bank.
[Herringshaw's American Blue-Book of Biography By Thomas
William Herringshaw, 1914 – Transcribed by AFOFG] |
