Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/475

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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William Philip, of whom further. Five chil- dren are deceased.

Dr. William Philip Mathews was born in Prince Edward county. Virginia, June 30, 1868. In 1874 his father located in Rich- mond, where he spent his after life, an hon- ored, successful physician. The lad, Wil- liam P., attended the public schools and after passing through the high school he entered Richmond College, whence he was graduated, class of 1888. Embracing the profession of his honored father, he studied under his direction, entered the Medical College of Virginia, whence he was gradu- ated Doctor of Medicine, class of 1890. He spent the next year as interne at the Char- ity Hospital, New York City, and in 1891 returned to Richmond, where he has been continuously until the present date (1914) specializing in orthoepedic surgery. He has been professionally connected with the Medical College of Virginia since 1891, when he was elected adjunct professor of surgery, serving until the present date. In 1895 he was elected professor of anatomy and in 1905 professor of orthcepedic surgery, which latter chair he now fills. He has de- voted the best years of his life to his spe- cialty and is regarded as competent author- ity on all matters pertaining thereto. He was president of the board of health of Manchester (Richmond) one year, 1900-01, and is a director of the Manchester Light, Heat and Power Company. W^hile deeply engrossed in his professional duties he is interested in all that pertains to the com- mon good and neglects none of the duties of a good citizen. He is held in high esteem by his professional brethren.

Eminent in his profession. Dr. Mathews is also a valued and useful member of the Second Baptist Church of Richmond, hon- ored in the councils of the church at large, and, like his distinguished forbears, is a pillar of strength in the church. He is presi- dent of the Inter-Denominational Simday School Association ; was for five years presi- dent of the Baptist Sunday School Associa- tion ; a member for the past seven years of the board of foreign missions of the general Baptist convention and chairman of the committee of appointments, the latter posi- tion having been filled by his father for twenty-one years prior to his death. Dr. Mathews is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to Meridian Lodge, No. 284, Free

and Accepted Masons, and is an honored past master of that body.

Dr. Mathews married, in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 17, 1893, Annie Graham, born at Burnett Springs, West Virginia, October 21, 1869, daughter of David L. and Martha Jane (Watt) Graham, of Scotch and Irish parentage, formerly of the state of Pennsyl- vania. David L. Graham came to that state from Scotland and served in the Union army during the civil war. Children of Dr. ]\Iathews : Margaret Spencer, born July 9, 1895, ^ graduate of the Women's College, Richmond, 1913 ; David Graham, born Feb- ruary 19, 1897; Thomas Philip, Jr., born January 9, 1901 ; William \\"att, born May 13. 1908.

Colonel Charles H. Consolvo. There is only one branch of the Consolvo family in America, and V^irginia has ever claimed the residence of that line, a representative in the present generation being Colonel Charles H. Consolvo, a prominent and influential business man of Norfolk, Virginia, at the present time (1914) paymaster-general of the Virginia militia, and a member of Gov- ernor A. y. Eberhart's stafif of ^Minnesota.

Colonel Charles H. Consolvo is a lineal descendant of Prince Juan Consolvo, who assisted in expelling the Moors from Spain in 860 A. D., a member of the royal house of Castile, the expulsion of these invaders checking the encroachments of Mohammed- anism upon European territory. The later European records of the family were lost in the fire that destroyed the home of Francis Consolvo, of Princess Anne county, Vir- ginia, and all that remains to the members thereof is the account of the generations of American residence, beginning with John Andrew Samuel Consolvo, who was born at Castile, Spain, in 1674 (O. S.) He came to the colonies in 1717, as the American consul of the Empire of Spain, accompanied by an only son, William, then twelve years of age. whose mother had died during his infancy. The father, John Andrew Samuel Consolvo, after remaining in this country for three years, found it necessary to return to his native land, and, as it was his inten- tion to return within two years, deemed it advisable to leave his son in America, here to complete his education. His plans, how- ever, never matured, for his death in Spain in 1722, aged forty-eight years, left his son