Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/379

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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He married. November if). 1910, Nancy Macklin, l)orn in Brunswick county, Vir- ginia. June 20. 1890, daughter of Richard T. and Ophelia E. (Lucy) Short, and has one son, Irby Jr.. born at Lawrenceville, Vir- ginia, August 23, 1911.

Colonel Thomas Tabb. Despite the thir- teen years that have passed since Colonel Thomas Tabb was removed from his ac- customed walks, honor to his memory and tribute to his virtues is as meet and proper as were the general outpourings of sym- jiathy and regret that came from all sources at his death, for he was of those whose spirits outlive their bodies on earth and whose influence survives their mortal parts. Colonel Tabb today lives in the hearts of those whose privilege it was to stand to him as friend, and in many a generous act, in deeds of courtesy, and in lives of useful- ness and uprightness is the ripened fruit of seeds planted by his exemplary life. Dy those whose intimacy with him was less close he is remembered as a gentleman of distinguished mentality and legal ability, a leader of his profession, a business man wise and sagacious, a conscientious citizen, and a consistent, duty-observing churchman.

Colonel Thomas Tabb was born in Hamp- ton. Virginia, and passed his entire life in that place, his widow. Virginia (Jones) Tabb, now residing in the home that was Colonel Tabb's birthplace. He belonged to an ancient Virginia family, son of John and Mah'ina ( Keaton ) Tabb. and left a record well worthy to be placed by the side of the most renowned of his sires.

His family was founded in Virginia by Humphrey Tabb. who in 1637 patented fifty acres of land on Harris' creek, Elizabeth City county, property to which he afterward added largely. He was burgess of Elizabeth City county in 1652, and among the chil- dren of his first wife. Joanna, was Thomas. Thomas Tabb and his wife, Martha, were the parents of John Tabb, who married Martha Hand, great-granddaughter of Caj)- tain Thomas Purefy, justice of Elizabeth City county, 1628-29, burgess, 1629-30, and councillor, 1631-32. John and Martha (Hand) Tabb were the parents of William, born February 25, 1702. William Tabb lived in Gloucester county, his home in that part known at this time as Mathews county, and he was a vestryman of Kingston parish. He

married Susannah Gould anfl had ten chil- dren. William <2) Tal)b. son of William

(1) and Susannah (Gould) Tabb, married Joanna Tompkins, and died in early man- hood, after the birth of four children. His widow married a second time, Kemi)e P. Elliott. William (3) Tabb, son of William

(2) and Joanna (Tomi)kins) Tabb, was born in Gloucester county, X'irginia, and, his father dying when he was but a youth, he was reared Ijy his uncle and guardian, Edward Tablx at "Rural Ilill," in Berkeley county. In nianho(»d he made his lunue in York county and there died, the father of six children. ^^

John Tabb, son of William (3) Tabb and father of Colonel Thomas Tabb, was born February 3. 1810. and died in November, 1861. He was well known in Hampton, his home "Afton House," and he owned much valuable property in that locality. He was the father of four children, William. Colonel Thomas. Clara and Gertrude. His wife, I\Ialvina (Keaton) Tabb, married a second dme after her husband's death, George Elliott, an officer of the United States navy.

Colonel Thomas Tabb was born October 7, 1835. and died in Philadelphia, October 16, 1902. In the schools of the vicinity and under private tutors he prepared for en- trance at Princeton University, whence he was graduated in 1856 with high honors, having attained the unusual scholarship average of ninety-seven and one-half per cent. He early elected the law as his pro- fession, his first work as a practitioner in- terrupted by his service in the war between the states. In the army of the Confederacy he rose to the rank of colonel, holding, among other important trusts, a place on the stafif of General Kemper, who was after- wards governor of Virginia. His patriotism was fired by the purest devotion and was founded on the firmest sense of right, and to the Confederate cause he gave the best within his power during the four years of conflict.

At the close of the war he entered with full vigor upon professional labors, and from that time until his death went rapidly from attainment to attainment, from success to success, until he occupied a position in the legal profession of Virginia above which there was none. His practice extended to all state and Federal courts within his dis- trict, and his legal victories were many and