Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/350

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

to his Orange county home, known as Cam- eron Lodge, last summer, he became ill, but had recovered to a certain extent when he returned to his city home. Later, however, his condition became serious, and he died February 3, 1915. He is survived by his widow and children, and by a brother, George Cameron, of Petersburg, Virginia, and his sister, Elizabeth Cameron, of Rich- mond.

Colonel Cameron married Mary Parke Haxall, famous for many years as a war- time beauty and belle, and a daughter of R. Barton Haxall, of Rockland, Orange county, Virginia, and of Richmond. Chil- dren : Mary Haxall, Alexander, Barton Hax- all, Janet Gordon, Mrs. Flora M. Zinn, James Blackwood, Ewan Don, all of Rich- mond, and Airs. Heron Crosman, of Haver- ford, Pennsylvania. The funeral services of Colonel Cameron took place at the Second Presbyterian Church, which he had long attended, and the remains \vere interred in the Cameron section in Hollywood. His pallbearers were the men most eminent in the business and professional life of the city, and his death caused wide-spread sor- row.

One of the leading papers of the day had this to say of him in the editorial columns :

Death has removed another prominent figure from the business and social circles of the city. Alexander Cameron was cast in a mould that made him a potent force in the one, a quiet, unassuming, but helpful and healthy, influence in the other. Coming to Virginia from Scotland as a lad, and intensely proud of the history of his native land, Mr. Cameron lived and died no less a Virginian, devoted to her interests and her traditions. Mr. Cameron was stamped with energy, integrity and faith in the conquering power of exertion. In char- acter and in temperament he bore the hallmark of these; and by translating them into action and infusing them into those with whom he was asso- ciated, he became one of Petersburg's and Rich- mond's greatest industrial builders. Mr. Cameron desired to stand for nothing save what he was — an active, yet self-efifacing man in the business affairs of the city, a citizen who unostentatiously, but cheerfully, answered every call of duty, a simple, modest gentleman. Direct of speech, open as day- light in all his transactions, he had no patience with any who did not meet him on that plane, and no tolerance with sycophancy in any form. He admired candor and combativeness because he be- lieved in them as the highest test and the corner- stone of manhood. Such admiration was in his blood. Withal, however, no man could be a more genial and more sympathetic companion or a more dependable friend in response to any and all demands than Alexander Cameron. Although he

never sought public position, Mr. Cameron was a member of the boards of many charitable organiza- tions, which will sorely miss his wise counsels, earn- est co-labor and liberal support in their work, as will their host of beneficiaries.

Wilfred Walton Wood, D. D. S. The

leaders of the world in any line are few, the followers many. It requires great sagacity, splendid executive ability, unflagging energy and unabating zeal in the pursuit of one's purpose, to gain leadership, and the man who does so is certainly deserving of great credit. Dr. Wilfred Walton Wood, of Rich- mond, Virginia, has attained a prestige in the dental profession second to none, and one which would do credit to a man by far his senior in point of years. He is a de- scendant of a family which has been resi- dent in the state of Virginia for many gen- erations.

Rev. Henry David Wood, grandfather of Dr. Wilfred W. Wood, was born in Bed- ford county, Virginia, near Peaks of Otter. He was a Methodist minister of the Vir- ginia conference, a man highly esteemed by all who knew him. He married, in 1838, Jane Francis Goodman, daughter of Noton and Polly (Walton) Goodman, of Cumber- land county, Virginia, and they were the parents of three children : Rosalie Emory, who married Willis Brockman ; Hennie Virginia, who married Rev. Thomas H. Campbell ; John Fletcher, of whom further.

John Fletcher Wood, father of Dr. Wil- fred W. Wood, was born at Sunny Side, Cumberland county, Virginia, May 16, 1841, died in Richmond, Virginia, in 1907. He received his degree of Master of Arts from Emory and Henry College, Emporia, Kan- sas. He was a lawyer and teacher through the active years of his life, the latter part of which was spent in Richmond. He served throughout the war with the states under General J. E. B. Stuart, artillery, until the death of General Stuart, and was then transferred to General Fitzhugh Lee's cav- alry, where he remained until the war ended, and he was twice wounded during the pro- gress of that momentous struggle. He mar- ried, March 20, 1864. Laura Robert Brown, born in Ballsville, Powhatan county, Vir- ginia, September 25, 1841, daughter of Rob- ert Walton and Elizabeth Allen (Hobson) Brown. Robert Walton Brown was a son of Daniel and Nancy Hobson (Walton) Brown, both of whose great-grandfathers