Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/228

 X'IRGIXIA BIOGRAPHY

the crew of the flagship "T'owhatan," a side- wheeler, then an experiment in naval archi- tecture. He returned from that historic ex- pedition, which opened Japan to the trade of the I'nited States and did much to pro- mote favorable feeling toward this country elsewhere in the Orient, in 1856. and re- ceived an honorable discharge from the navy. Subsequently establishing in mercan- tile dealings, he was thus engaged until old age made imperative his retirement from active particii)ation in business, his career as a merchant confined to Portsmouth. Vir- ginia, where he died in July, 1909. Thomas Ise])h Lawless, although never entering public life as an office-holder, inherited a tendency toward active interest in political and public afTairs. and during the recon- struction period lent his able assistance in rescuing his city and the state from negro domination. His religion was the Roman Catholic, and his good works in church activity were many. He was appreciated in the world of trade as a business man of strict princii)les and unquestioned integrity, and all of his transactions were conducted .'long simple, direct lines.

Thomas Joseph Lawless married, in Ports- mouth, \'irginia. April 10, 1856. Ellen Xolan, who died in Portsmouth. \'irginia. Decem- ber 14. 1899. She was descended from Thomas Xolan. of r.allinrobe. county Mayo, Ireland. '"( "lentleman." (in Irish, Tomhas O'hL'allachain ). who was granted three- quarters of land in the Indenture of Com- position of that county in 1585, free from the Composition rent "in respecte of his sufficiencie to act as a Clerke in the said countrie," according to the Patent Rolls, 15 Jac. I.. i)age i. I-^llen was a daughter of Lawrence Xolan. born in Ireland, and Eliz- abeth (Craddock) Xolan. born in that coun- try in 1795. I ler mother's sister. Ellen Crad- dock. married lulward (ioode, and had John, James. Mary and Katherine. Elizabeth (Craddock) .Xolan settled in Portsmouth. X'irginia. in 1847. and her son James Nolan, was an officer on the ram "Manassas," a ship of the Confederate States navy, and was killed in action. A])ril 26. 1862. One of her grandsons. John Jose])h Xolan. is superintendent of the Fore River Shipbuild- ing Company, of (Juincy. Massachusetts, a large and important concern. Children of Thomas Joseph and Ellen (Xolan) Lawless were fifteen in ninnbcr. but of these all <lied

in infancy with the exception of the follow- ing: Mary Ellen, born in Portsmouth, Vir- ginia. May 18, 1870, died there September 9, 1908, and married in that city. February 14. 1899. Lieutenant Frank Rorschach, United States navy, they had two children. Frank Jr., and Lawless ; Elizabeth Anne, born in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1872, unmarried ; Joseph Thomas, of whom further.

Joseph Thomas Lawless, son of Thomas Joseph and Ellen (N^olan) Lawless, was born in Portsmouth. Virginia, May 2. 1866, and was splendidly educated in the Webster Military Institute, of X^orfolk, Virginia; St. Mary's College, of Belmont, North Caro- lina, and at Richmond College, Richmond, Virginia. In the first named institution he prepared himself for college entrance, at St. Mary's took his blaster's degree in arts, and at Richmond College was graduated a Bach- elor of Laws. He had been in practice for but a short time when, in 1889. he entered ])ublic life, and in the quarter of a century that has elapsed since that time has been almost continuously in high official position, in 1909 retiring from the bench of the first judicial circuit and returning to private practice. From 1889 to 1893 ^^^- Lawless represented the city of Portsmouth and the county of X'^orfolk in the Virginia state sen- ate, and in the latter year became secretar}' of state of Virginia, holding that office for four terms of two years each without oppo- sition. His four years in the upper house of the Virginia legislature were valuable training for the places of critical responsi- bility he afterward filled, and his long and honorable service is but a record of arduous and difficult duty ably performed.

From his appointment in 1908 until his elevation to the circuit court bench in 1909 Mr. Lawdess was a member of the military staff of the governor of \"irginia, Claude A. Swanson, with the rank of colonel. For five years, from 1909 to 1914, he was judge of the first circuit, and as a jurist duplicated, in thoroughness and excellence, his services in the executive branch of X'irginia's gov- ernment and as a legislator. The records of his court show that he disposed of thirteen hundred chancery, common law and crimi- nal cases during his incumbency on the bench, and was reversed in but four in- stances, two of which being on questions not raised before his court. This record is said to be unsurpassed in Virginia. Each