Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/304

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

street, his residence being better known than any other private citizen in the city, fie now lies in Hollywood Cemetery, near ])y the scenes of his childhood, youth, man- hood and old age. His life was filled with good deeds and his memory will long be cherished.

Dr. Hugh Wythe Davis was born in Richmond, September 20, 1840, died June _'9, 1914, son of John F. and Delight I Thomas) Davis, and nephew of Dr. Creed Thomas, who was a schoolmate of Edgar Allan Poe at the University of Virginia. Dr. Davis, after attendance at private schools in Richmond and Chesterfield county, Virginia, entered Richmond Col- lege, there completing his course of classical study. He decided upon the profession of medicine and prepared in the Medical Col- lege of Virginia, receiving his degree of M. 1). with the class of "61." The war clouds which had been hovering burst asunder in that year and the young doctor, a personal iriend of Surgeon General Dr. Samuel Pres- ton Moore, of the Confederate army, was at once selected by Dr. Moore as his assistant. The ensuing four years were spent in active hospital service, much of Dr. Davis's time being spent in the hospital located on what is now the campus of Richmond College. After the war he began private practice in Richmond, in association with his maternal uncle. Dr. Creed Thomas, one of his first patrons being Surgeon General Moore, whose family physician he remained until Dr. Moore's death, the two men always con- tinuing warm friends until separated by death. Dr. Davis was entirely devoted and absorbed in his practice, ministering to a very large clientele. He won the love and confidence of his patients and was held in highest esteem by all who knew him. For lifty-three years he practiced the healing art and only desisted when nature gave way and when he was vmable to continue. He retired from jjractice, December 20, 1913, and about six months later a complication of diseases ended his long and useful life.

Dr. Davis was a member of the Virginia State Medical Society, trustee of Richmond College, trustee for the Baptist Home for Aged Women and a deacon of Grace Street Baptist Church. He was an authority on all that pertained to the medical history of the Confederacy, his close association with the surgeon general giving him opportunity

to obtain accurate information. While a true son of Virginia, he took no active part in political life, held no public office but by official appointment for special service, one of such instances being the examination of the body of Mrs. Jeter Philips, murdered by her husband at Drinker's Farm in Henrico county in 1870. Dr. Davis being one of the two physicians appointed by the state for that duty.

Dr. Davis was married in ^Monumental Church, Richmond, F"ebruary 15, 1865, by Rev. Dr. Norwood, to Mary Elizabeth Ap- person, of New Kent county, Virginia, who died June 4, 1900. Seven of his children sur- vived the good doctor: i. Dr. Wray Wythe, now located at 614 West Grace street, grad- uated from the University of Maryland, class of 1890, as D. D. S., has thus been for twenty-four years in dental practice in Rich- mond ; he married Mary Hopkins, Novem- ber 12, 1895, ^"tl they have four children, all living: James Hopkins, Hugh Wythe, Mary Elizabeth, and Wray Wythe Jr. 2. John A. 3. Eva T., married C. L. Moore. 4. Bessie C, married W. G. Bragg. 5. Rhoda L., married H. Seldon Taylor. 6. Susie T. 7. Edna S. All are living in Rich- mond.

Major Algernon Sidney Buford Jr. is de- scended from a long line of Virginia an- cestry extending back into colonial times, when they distinguished themselves for a staunch devotion to the cause of the Amer- ican colonists in their resistance to the en- croachments of the government across the sea.

Henry Buford, of Culpeper county, Vir- ginia, was the representative of the family in revolutionary times, and his grandson, William Buford, of Lunenburg county, was the grandfather of our subject. Algernon Sidney Buford Sr., son of William Buford, was a man whose life of more than four score years was one of imusual distinction. Born in Rowan county. North Carolina, January 2, 1826, he nevertheless spent prac- tically his entire life in Virginia, studying in his childhood and youth in the school taught by his father, and working in the meantime on the farm. He intended origin- ally to take up the profession of teaching, and studied to this end, but he turned later to the law, practicing actively until the out- break of the war. He enlisted in the Con-