Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1101

Rh brother, John H. Marable, was a member of the Thirteenth Virginia cavalry, Col. J. R. Chambliss, throughout the war, and at the time of the death of General Stuart was acting as his courier. Another brother, David Marable, was color-sergeant of Company A, Forty-first regiment, until he was killed at Malvern Hill. Three of his uncles and many others of his family were in the service, and his wife's father, Thaddeus Edward Dillard, was also a brave soldier. Robert Edward Marable, son of the foregoing, was born at Oakleigh, Sussex county, September 25, 1870, and was reared in that county and in Surry, where in youth he was employed in the office of the county clerk. Removing to Newport News in 1892 he became a deputy in the office of the clerk of the corporation court, and pursued the study of law, being admitted to the bar May 11, 1893. His duties as deputy clerk, however, debar him from active practice. He was married November 14, 1893, to Miss Helen Branch, of Isle of Wight county, daughter of James Branch, a Confederate veteran, and they have two children: James Edward and Helen Inez.

Henry Clay Marchant, a prominent manufacturer of military goods, at Charlottesville, Va., was born at that city, April 1, 1838. At the time of the secession of Virginia he was a resident of Petersburg, and, a few months later, he entered the Confederate service as a private in Company A, Twelfth Virginia infantry, then a part of Mahone's brigade of Huger's division. He was with his regiment in the occupation of Norfolk and the adjacent region, and, after the evacuation, he took part in the fighting that followed before Richmond, first being in battle at Drewry's Bluff. Later he took part in the battle of Seven Pines. At the opening of the Seven Days' campaign under General Lee he received a severe wound in the left leg, from a minie ball, and was so disabled that he was unable to return to the service and the close of the war found him yet on crutches. During the period of peace and industrial progress, which has followed, he has taken an active and influential part in business and manufacturing affairs, having been, since its organization in 1869, thoroughly identified with the building up of that important and progressive industry, the Charlottesville woolen mills, which to-day stands at the, head of the list for producing goods of the highest quality and finish.

Colonel George Alexander Martin, of Norfolk, a gallant Confederate officer who, in the spring of 1861, led to duty one of the companies of brave men contributed to the cause by Norfolk county, was born in that county, September 3, 1833. His family is one of the oldest in America. The ancestor in England married a sister of Lord Fairfax, and their sons, Thomas, Denny and John, emigrating to America, established in the new world a lineage which has included many who were conspicuous for patriotism, statesmanship and good citizenship. The colonel's great-grandfather, Gen. Joseph Martin, after rendering illustrious service in the war which established the independence of the colonies, spent his latter days in an equally brave and heroic struggle against the untamed forces of nature and the savagery of the red men, being no less conspicuous than Daniel Boone in winning Kentucky for civilization. This worthy ancestor had four sons, one of whom settled in Kentucky, two in Virginia, and one in Elizabeth City, N. C. One of these