Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/280

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

of study entered the University of Virginia Law School, whence he was graduated Bachelor of Laws in 1893, and admitted to the bar. He began and continues practice in Norfolk and Portsmouth, where he is well established and highly regarded. He has made a specialty of the law of real estate and the law of corporations, confining himself to such cases as come under either of these heads. He has been admitted to all state and Federal courts of the district, and is a frequent pleader in all. He was general counsel for the Jamestown Exposition Com- pany, and represents important business in- terests in Norfolk and elsewhere. He is a member of the Norfolk and Virginia Slate Bar Associations ; the Chamber of Com- merce ; belongs to many clubs and organi- zations, and is a communicant of the Pres- byterian church. In politics he is a Demo- crat and interested in all that pertains to the public good. Mr. Wool has never accepted public of^ce except as a member of the Nor- folk Board of Education, public education being one of the many subjects in which he is deeply interested.

He married, June 28, 1892, Esther Todd, of Portsmouth, Virginia. Children: Darius Todd, born October 22. 1893 ' Esther, June ^9' 1895; Theodore Jackson (2), July 26, 1898; John Ellis (2), October 28, 1905; Joseph Craig, November 7, 1908.

(V) Dr. James Harvey \\'ool, fifth son of James Craig and Elmira (Demarest) Wool, was born in Nyack, New York, Feb- ruary 1. 1867. He attended the public schools of Petersburg, Virginia, his parents moving to that city when he was eight years of age. After his preparatory course he entered McCabe University School, later attended Hampden-Sidney College; then entered the dental department of the University of Maryland, whence he was graduated D. D. S., class of 1892, He began the practice of his profession in Farmville, Virginia, re- maining two years. In 1894 he located in Charlotte county, continuing until 1896, then in Pulaski, Virginia, until 1900. In the latter year he established in practice in Nor- folk. \'irginia, where he continued very suc- cessfully alone until November, 1913. He then formed a partnership with Dr. William H. Hamilton and so continues. Dr. Wool is a dental surgeon of high reputation, his practice specialty being crown and bridge work. He is a member of Ruth Lodge, No.

89, Free and Accepted Masons ; Norfolk Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Norfolk Council, Royal and Select Masons ; Grice Commandery, Knights Templar, and Khe- dive Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of Criterion Lodge, Knights of Pythias. In political faith he is a Democrat, and in religious af^liation a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Norfolk.

Dr. Wool married, May 4, 1892, Marie Hunter Averett. Children : James Averett, born July 13. 1893; Elmira Demarest, born February 9, 1896.

Charles Armistead Blanton. The surname Blanton is traced back to the fifteenth cen- tury and is a corruption of the ancient Scotch border family name Ballantine, the evolution being through Ballantine, Blan- tine, Blanten to Blanton. In an old manu- script dated 1459, reference is found to the family, and in an older manuscript, John Blanton, evidently of the same family, is named. At the time Queen Elizabeth reign- ed, the family was seated in Lancashire. The escutcheon of the Blanton family is : A plain shield with a background of silver ; diagonally from dexter chief point to sinister base point runs a broad band of sky blue, bearing on it the figures of three lions ram- pant. The whole is surrounded with a nar- row black margin.

The first member of the family in Virginia was Robert Blanton, presumably from Lan- cashire, England, who settled in Cumber- land county, Virginia, in 1700, there engag- ing in farming. Later, families of this name were found in Spottsylvania, Stafford and Caroline counties, Virginia, who are be- lieved to be descendants of the original settler, Robert Blanton. The line of descent to Dr. Charles A. Blanton is through David Blanton, a son of the emigrant, Robert Blan- ton.

David Blanton, a farmer of Cumberland county, Virginia, owned and managed a plantation at Brown's Church, about eight miles north of Farmville. He married Frances Johns, who died in 1859, aged eighty-four years, daughter of Joseph Johns, of Cumberland county, and was the father of a large family. His eldest son, Ander- son, left three sons, Alexander, Edward and John.

James Blanton, second son of David and