Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/421

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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has been chairman of the Iluena Vista board of health for many years and has rendered state, county and city valued service in addi- tion to a very large private medical and sur- gical practice. He is a member of the Amer- ican Aledical and the Virginia Medical soci- eties and is highly regarded by his profes- sional brethren.

Dr. Meriwether was "made a Mason" in Boonesboro, Virginia, later demitted to Buena Vista Lodge, and is an honored past master of that body. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, Improved Order of Red Men, Junior Order of American Me- chanics and Blue Ridge Camp, United Con- federate Veterans, serving the camp as sur- geon. In political faith he is a Democrat, and in church affiliations an Episcopalian.

He married Martha Virginia Sale, born in Bedford county, Virginia, in 1850, died in Buena Vista, in October, 1912, daughter of Dr. Richard A. Sale, her mother a Miss AVharton. Dr. Meriwether has one child, Martha L., born in Buena Vista, April 11, 1889, now the wife of William Julian Dick- enson, a merchant of the same city.

Now past the allotted years of man's use- fulness. Dr. Meriwether has not surrendered the bvu^den of professional life, but with a vigor surprising, pursues the daily routine of a faithful physician's life. He is highly regarded by his townsmen, not only as a skillful professional man, but as a warm friend, who under his professional attitude shows so clearly the sympathetic heart and solicitude that kindred spirits feel one for another. He has lived a useful life and fol- lowed the path of duty wherever it led. So, as he reviews his long and eventful life, he has the keen satisfaction that follows the consciousness that one has played well his part.

John Mortimer Hughes, D. D. S. Dr.

John Mortimer Hughes stands to-day among the most able members of the dental profes- sion in Richmond, Virginia. Endowed by nature with strong powers of mentality, and trained in the most advanced educational institutions of our country, he has made the most of his opportunities, and by his effi- cient work has risen to an enviable position. His family is an ancient one, and probably had its origin in Wales, where the name of Hughes abounds, and from whence it was transplanted to England, Scotland and Ire-

land, and ultimately, to America. It is de- rived from the ancient personal name Hugh, and is also found spelled Hewes and Hues.

(I) Dr. John Smith Hughes, grandfather of Dr. John Mortimer Hughes, was born at Laurel Mills, Virginia, in 1808, and died at Amissville. Rappahannock county, Virginia, in 1873, having spent all his mature years in professional practice there. He married Adeline Spindle, of Amissville, and had chil- dren : John Spindle, of further mention; Dr. Thomas M., deceased; Virginia, died young.

(II) John Spindle Hughes, son of Dr. John Smith and Adeline (Spindle) Hughes, was born in Amissville, Virginia, November 19, 1853, and is now a resident of Laurel Mills, in the same county. He has been a successful farmer all his life, and for the past twenty years has served efficiently as a school trustee. He married, January 11, 1882, Capitola Lutheria Luttrell, and they became the parents of children as follows : John Mortimer, of whom further ; Dr. Thomas Edmond, born January 20, 1884, assistant surgeon of the United States Pub- lic Health Service, and has charge of the station at Mobile, Alabama ; Mary Virginia, at home ; Puller Alexander, a farmer at Laurel Mills ; William Spindle, a member of the LInited States Marine Corps ; Marvin Luttrell, a resident of Pipestone, ^Minnesota ; Charles Russell, at home.

Burrell Edmund Luttrell, father of Mrs. Capitola Lutheria (Luttrell) Hughes, was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, in 1838, is a farmer, and is now (191 5) living at Amissville, Virginia. He was a soldier dur- ing the war with the states, serving during the greater part of this struggle as a courier for Generals J. E. B. Stuart and Beauregard, was taken prisoner at the battle of Stras- burg, and kept in captivity until the close of the war. He married Mary Ritchie Nelson, a daughter of James Richard Nelson, of Cul- peper county, and they had nine children. The deed for the old homestead on which he lives signed on parchment in 1762, by Lord Fairfax, is still in the family.

(HI) John Mortimer Hughes, 'D. D. S., son of John Spindle Hughes, was born at Amissville, Rappahannock county, Virginia, October 28, 1882. His elementary educa- tion was acquired in the public schools of his native town, after which he became a student at the Randolph-Macon Academy for a period of two years, following this by