Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/406

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VIRGINIA inOclRAPHY

1854. son of Dr. William Alexander Thorn, and Anne Parker, his wife. His paternal ancestor, Alexander Thoni, settled first in Westmoreland and .subsequently removed to Culpepcr county, \'irginia, and became tliC ancestor of a number of distinguished men of that name in Virginia and Mary- land. Dr. Thom was a member of the Con- federate army, surgeon and major in the Army of Northern Virginia. He had charge of the Banner Hospital at Richmond, Vir- ginia, and .served as the chief of stafif in many other hospitals. Among the other members of this family who served in the Confederate army was Dr. William A. Thom's brother, the well known Dr. Joseph Pembroke Thom, of Baltimore, Maryland, who had been a veteran in the Mexican war, and who was wounded se\-en times in the battle of Kernston, as a member of Stone- Vv'all Jackson's command. Alfred P. Thom ■was educated at private schools of North- ampton county, Virginia, and at the school of Dr. Robert Atkinson, in Baltimore. After one year at Richmond College, Richmond, Virginia, he entered the University of \'ir- ginia in 1872, where he spent four years. After his graduation, in 1876, he began the practice of the law in Northampton county, Virginia, where he remained for two years, and then moved to Norfolk, Virginia, and became a member of the firm of Ellis & Thom. This firm continued business for four years and he then formed a partnership with R. B. Tunstall, Esq., under the firm nrme of Tunstall & Thom, which continued for seventeen years, when, by the introduc- tion into it of William H. White, Esq., it became known as the firm of White, Tun- stall & Thfim. Mr. Thom is division coun- sel ffir the Southern Railway Company

for the state of \'irginia, general counsel for the Atlantic & Danville Railway Com- pany, and various other corporations. He was a member of the constitutional conven- tion of 1901-02, where he made a reputation as a strong debater and learned constitu- tional lawyer. He is a member of the Nor- folk and Portsmouth Bar Association, the X^irginia State Bar Asociation, and the American Bar Association. On September 20, 1881, he married Mrs. Jennie William- son Baylor (nee Tunstall), of Norfolk, Vir- ginia. His address is Norfolk, \'irginia.

Catlett, Robert, born in Petersburg, Vir- ginia, May 27, 1855, son of John Robert Catlett and Celine Henry, his wife. On his father's side he is descended from Colonel John Catlett, who represented Essex county in the Virginia house of burgesses in 1693, 1695, 1700 and 1702. He attended Charlotte Plall, in Alaryland, and afterwards gradu- ated in the academic course at the Maryland Agricultural College. In 1876-1877 he took a law course at the University of Virginia, r.nd soon after entered upon ])ractice in Charlotte county, Virginia. In 1887 he was elected to the house of delegates, and served eight years. In 1904 he served for a short time as superintendent of schools. Later he was appointed assistant attorney-general of Virginia. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias. He married Jmnie Daniel, September 7, 1881.

Yancey, Robert Davis, born at Lynch- burg, Virginia, September 15, 1855, son of William T. Yancey and Lucy E. Davis, his wife. Paternally he is of English descent; his great-grandfather, Robert Yancey, was p captain in the revolution, and his son, Joel