Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/385

Rh in Richmond. Virginia; Mary M., married Thomas Jefferson Talbott. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Talbott: Carrie, died aged six years; Nannie Hughes, married Charles H. Dorsey. of Galveston, Texas, bore him five children, died in 1900; Greenville Pace, now living in Augusta, Georgia, aged fifty years, married in 1912; Lucy Hall, married Harry W. Thomas, of Danville; Sarah G., died in infancy; Thomas Stokes, died July 1, 1891, aged twenty-three years; Frank, of further mention; Mary Pace, married Barclay A. Hamlin and died in 1894, aged twenty-two years; Watts, died aged four years.

Frank Talbott, son of Thomas Jefferson and Mary M. (Pace) Talbott, was born in Danville, November 10. 1870. He prepared in private schools of Danville, then entered Randolph-Macon College in 1885 and remained until 1889. He was then for a few months employed in the Danville postofifice, resigning to accept his present position, secretary and treasurer of the city's water, gas and electric departments, to which he was appointed by the city council in 1890. To the duties of that office there was added in 1903, those of superintendent, all of which Mr. Talbott most satisfactorily performs.

Reared from childhood in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, he early became a member of Blount Vernon congregation of that church, served as teacher and superintendent of Sunday school and active in the work of his church. He was one of the founders and active in the work of raising funds for the Young Men's Christian Association, has served continuously on the board of directors since its organization and was the second president of the board, serving two years. He is also president of the Union Mutual Building and Loan Association and president of the Danville Confed- erate Memorial Association. He is a member of the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is also a charter member of the Tuscarora Club, and in political faith is a Democrat.

Mr. Talbott married (first) December 8, 1891, Grace Lindsey, of Danville; he married (second) at Newport News, Virginia. November 15. 1898, Ida Wright Lipscomb, daughter of Rev. B. F. Lipscomb, a member of the Virginia Conference Methodist Episcopal Church South, and his wife, Sarah A. Wright, of Smithfield, Virginia, both now

residing in Petersburg. Virginia. Children: Olivia Lindsey, born April 21, 1893, a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College, class of 1914; Mary Pace, born March 17, 1895, student at the same college, class of 1916; Frank (2), born June 24, 1900, a student at Danville School for Boys.

Harrison Phoebus. Thirty years ago there was carried from the little church within the fort at Hampton to the burying ground of St. John's Church all that was mortal of Harrison Phoebus. A great concourse of mourners—a strange assemblage—with representatives of almost every class and rank, gathered to do honor to one whom they called “friend,” and nothing but the personality of the man whose death brought them thus together could have bridged the gap that separated them in wealth, in tastes, and in standards of life. If the following pages. as they review with all too brief mention the life of Harrison Phoebus, give even an imperfect picture of his character, they shall not have been penned in vain.

Harrison Phoebus was a son of the Rev. Lewis and Sally (Ross) Phoebus, youngest of sixteen children, his mother the third wife of Lewis Phoebus. Lewis Phoebus was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, brother of Rev. Dr. William Phoebus, and died when Harrison Phoebus, his youngest son, was but an infant. Harrison Phoebus was born near Princess Anne, Somerset county, Maryland, November 1, 1840. His mother a widow with ten children, he had little opportunity to secure the scholastic training that would have been to his best interests, for his share of the work upon his mother's farm filled a large part of his time. Beyond the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic, acquired during short and unsatisfactory winter courses at the public school, he had no teaching, but supplemented this with the contents of his father's small library, consisting of religious works and a few volumes of history and travel. His determination to secure all the learning within his reach was evidenced by his purchasing a copy of Pitman's text-book on “Phonography” and his mastering of this subject by solitary study, the Sunday sermons of the minister serving as dictation as he became more advanced. With a natural mechanical taste, he practiced the use