Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/404

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

ton Forge, lie has also contributed numer- ous articles to medical journals. He is a member, and has served for many years as a ruling- elder, of the Presbyterian church. Dr. \\ ysor married, August 27, 1884, Alice Eugenia Pugh. He resides at Clifton Forge, Virginia.

Keezell, George Bernard, burn in Rock- ingham county, Virginia, July 20, 1854, son of George Keezell and Amanda Fitz Allan Peale, his wife. George Keezell was of Ger- man ancestry and took an active part in the war of 1812. George Bernard Keezell was z young child at the outbreak of the civil war, and as all men who were able to serve in the army were on the battlefield, he was early obliged to perform labors far in ad- vance of his years. However, the strenuous work he performed at this period in culti- vating the farm endowed him with a strong constitution and powerful physique. He util- ized every spare moment to read history and biography, and standard literature of tional training he accjuired at a collegiate institute in Baltimore, Maryland. At the age of seventeen years he stopped school and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. He was elected a state senator in 1883, and was one of the recognized leaders in that body. For more than twenty years he served as a member of the finance commit- tee of the senate. In 1901-02 he served as a member of the constitutional con- vention from Rockingham county ; he has served as a member of the state board of fisheries, and was a member of the com- mittee on renovating and rebuilding the state capitol. Mr. Keezell married (first) Mary Katherine Hannah, (second) Belle C.
 * .I1 kinds, and this supplemented the educa-

Hannah. His address is Keezletown, Rock- ingham county, Virginia.

Mason, John E., born at Edge Hill, Albe- marle county, \'irginia, July 11, 1854, son of Charles Mason, of Alto, King George county, Virginia, and Maria Jefiferson Carr Randolph, his wife; and grandson of Thomas Jefiferson Randolph and Jane Nicholas, his wife. Charles Mason was one of the influ- ential citizens of Edge Hill, represent- ing his district in the state senate. His son, John E. Mason, was raised on his father's farm, and his education was ac- quired at Bethel Military Academy in Fau- quier county, Virginia, and at Dale Acad- emy, Madison county, Virginia, both noted institutions, and later at the University of Virginia, which he entered in 1874, and where he pursued a law course for one year. lie graduated from the law school of Co- lumbian University, Washington, D. C, in the class of 1878, receiving therefrom the degree of Bachelor of Law. He was admit- ted to the bar in September, 1878. He located for the active practice of his profes- sion in King George county, Virginia. He served in the capacity of commonwealth's attorney of King George county, being elect- ed to that ofifice three times ; was also elect- ed three times to the Virginia house of dele- gates, serving from 1889 to 1895; became a member of the Virginia senate, which office he resigned in 1898 to acce|)t the judgeship of the tenth circuit, and in the reorganization of the judicial districts of the state under the new constitution, he was elected judge of the fifteenth circuit without opposition. Judge Mason married, Novem- ber 24, 1883, Kate Kearney Henry, who bore /lim three children.