Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/42

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

sons have had to begin life anew on the same basis with the humblest members of society. He is descended from (ieorge Braxton, a wealthy and honoral)le settler at Chericoke, King William county, \'irginia. in 1690, and of Hon. Carter Braxton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His paternal grandparents were Dr. Corbin and Mary (Tomlin) Braxton, of King William county, and his father. Dr. Tomlin Braxton, who married j\lary Ca])erton, a daughter of the late United States Senator Allen T. Cap- erton. of \\'est A' irginia. Dr. Tomlin Brax- ton was a graduate of the medical depart- ment of the University of Virginia, and was engaged in the practice of medicine all his life.

Captain Carter Braxton was born March 14, 1870, at Chericoke, King William county, Virginia, and obtained the elementary por- tion of his education at the private school of Colonel Thomas H. Carter. He later entered the law department of the Univer- sity of Virginia and took a two years course, 1890 and 1891. In the latter year he was admitted to the A^irginia bar and since that time has been in continuous practice of his profession at Staunton, Virginia. Mr. Brax- ton is a Democrat in politics and very active in state affairs. His elder brother, x\llen Caperton Braxton, who has since distin- guished himself greatly through his partici- pation in the \'irginia Constitutional Con- vention of 1901 and 1902. held between the years 1885 and 1889 the position of common- v\ealth attorney for the city of Staunton, and to this same office Carter Braxton Avas elected in 1898, where he acquitted himself so brilliantly that he has been re-elected at each election since. Upon the outbreak of the war with Spain, Mr. Braxton entered the service as a lieutenant in Company K, Second Regiment of Virginia Volunteers. He did not see active service, however, as his regiment got no farther than Jackson- ville, h^lorida. He was a]:)pointed staff aide to General Henry T. Douglas and occupied this office until, at the cessation of hostilities he was mustered out of service. After the S])anish war he was elected captain of Com- pany K. Seventieth Virginia Volunteers. Resigned from this and became regimental adjutant, with rank of cai)tain. Besides his many private and public activities, Mr. Braxton finds time to identify himself promi- nently with a number of fraternal organiza-

tions, and is a member of the Protective and Benevolent CJrder of Elks and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

Mr. Braxton married, August 30, 1898, Estanola T. V. Menefee, a daughter of Thomas K. and Lucy (Hammond) Mene- fee, of Staunton, Virginia, and to them has been born one daughter, Mary Caperton Braxton, at present a student at the Stuart Hall Seminary, Staunton, Virginia.

James Nalle Boyd. Boyd, the "fair haired" Scotchman, founded a family that was prominent in Scotch history and one that is now found in all parts of the United States. The ancestors of James Nalle Boyd, of Richmond, Virginia, were of the Glas- gow, Scotland, branch. He is a grandson of John H. Boyd, of Virginia, who married Elizabeth Foushee, and died in 1866, ad- vanced in years. He was a veteran of the war of 1812, and located in Richmond after the war.

(II) John W. Boyd, son of John H. and Elizabeth (Foushee) Boyd, was a dry goods merchant of Baltimore, Maryland, later of Richmond, \"irginia. He was a man of j)rominence and one of the oldest of the Richmond Light Infantry Blues. He mar- ried \"irginia Nalle, a maternal granddaugh- ter of James and Eliza Howlett.

(HI ) James Nalle Boyd, son of John W. and Virginia (Nalle) Boyd, was born at Richmond, \^irginia. May 28, 1850. His father died when he was about six years of age, and his school years was ended by the war between the states. He was pri- vately taught until 1859 when he became a student at t'he old Roger IMartin Academy, an institution located in Richmond and then numbering about two hundred boys as pupils. He attended this school until 1863 and on April i, 1864, he enlisted in Com- pany F, Twenty-first A'irginia Regiment of Infantry, the Confederate army marching through Amelia county, Virginia, firing his boyish patriotism, he then being not quite fourteen years of age. His military career was a short one, as a few days later at the fierce battle of Sailor's Creek he was taken prisoner. This battle was fought near Farmville, Virginia, and on the confederate side the troops were mostly young men and boys. After the war the lad in years, but a veteran in experience, returned to Rich- mond and there began a business career that