Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/305

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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federate army as a private but was breveted as lieutenant-colonel before the close of hos- tilities. When peace was restored, he be- came president of the Richmond & Danville Railroad, which at that time had but one hundred and forty miles of tracks. Per- haps the most important of the many ser- vices which he rendered his fellow citizens was the development, during the twenty- two years of his presidency, of this small road into a system represented by three thousand miles of tracks, which now forms an important integral part of the system of the Southern Railway. Colonel Buford served his state a number of terms in the legislature, both before and after the war, and in 1893 he became a candidate for the governorship of Virginia. The firmly in- trenched political organization was, how- ever, too strong for him and accomplished his defeat despite his great personal popu- larity. Colonel Buford married (first) Emily W. Townes. of Pittsylvania county, Virginia, by whom he had one daughter, Emily, now Mrs. Clement Manly, of Win- ston-Salem, North Carolina. He married (second) Kate A. Wortham, of Richmond, and of this union was also a daughter, Katie T., now Mrs. Walter T. L. Sanders, of Glou- cester county, Virginia. He married (third) Mrs. Mary Cameron Strother (nee Ross), by whom he had three children. Algernon Sid- ney Jr., our subject ; Mary Ross, now Mrs. Frederick E. Nolting. of Richmond ; Wil- liam Erskine Buford. Colonel Buford's death occurred May 6, 191 1.

Algernon Sidney Buford Jr. was born in Richmond, Virginia. December 19, 1880. He obtained the elementary part of his edu- cation in the private schools of Richmond, going thence for a year to the Randolph- Macon College and later for two years was a student at the Virginia Military Institute. Having decided to take up his father's pro- fession, the law, he went to the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Virginia, for a three years course, the first year being devoted to academic studies and the latter two to the study of law, in which subject he graduated in 1902. Immediately after completing his studies, he embarked upon a voyage around the world, from which he returned and began the practice of his pro- fession in Richmond in August, 1903. Mr. Buford is actively interested in politics and public affairs. He is a Democrat and has

served on the Richmond board of aldermen and on the common council. He was also a member of Governor Swanson's stafif. He is also a prominent member of the state militia and is now a judge advocate of mili- tia with the rank of major.

Major Buford married, September 21, 1907, at Hot Springs, Virginia, Elizabeth Lanier Dunn, a daughter of Lanier and Harriet Hildreth (Heard) Dunn, of Wash- ington and Nfew York. Mr. Dunn, a retired capitalist, now lives with Mrs. Dunn at Hot Springs. Virginia. Mrs. Buford is a native of Washington, where she was born, but has lived most of her life in New York and Europe. To Mr. and Mrs. Buford has been born one son, Algernon Sidney Buford (3), May 30, 1912. Mr. Buford and his family are communicants of the Episcopal church and attend St. Paul's Church of that de- nomination in Richmond.

Colonel Francis Marshall Boykin. Born in Isle of Wight, a southeastern county of Virginia, a descendant of most distinguished ancestors. Colonel Boykin, after a military career in which he won deserved distinction, located in the city of Richmond, Virginia, in the year 1870, where he became prominent in business and social life and resided until death ended his usefulness.

The Boykins of Virginia descend from Edward Boykin, who settled in Isle of Wight county. Virginia, in 1685, on a large tract of land granted him by Lord Howard. In the revolutionary war, Francis M. Boy- kin, great-grandfather of Colonel Francis M. Boykin. served as second lieutenant of the First Regiment Virginia Line, that regi- ment being commanded by Colonel Patrick Henry. Francis Marshall (i) Boykin, son of Lieutenant Francis Boykin and grand- father of Colonel Francis Marshall (2) Bovkin. was lieutenant-colonel of a Smith- field, Isle of Wight county, Virginia, regi- ment, in the war of 1812. General Francis Marshall (2) Boykin was a general of Vir- ginia militia, and for many years a state senator. On the maternal side Colonel Boykin descended from equally distin- guished ancestry, including Colonel Joseph Bridger, of Virginia, who in 1686 was a member of council and adjutant general of the colony. Another ancestor, Thomas Godwin, born in 1607. was a member of the London Company, and in 1677 was speaker