Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/477

 \1R(MXIA BIOGRAPHY

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ol)ser\ance ni which made of them nol)le men and ])nre women, rearins^' families of patricjts and lieroes in accordance with the tenets that ordered their lives.

(W) Charles W'rifjht Consolvo, son of William (2) and Sarah (Wright) Consolvo, was born in Norfolk. Virginia, October 5, 1810, and died July 2, 1849. His calling was that of clerk, and at his death, which was caused l)y an attack of cholera, he was em- ployed in the ordnance de])artment of the United States na\y yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, lie married l^liza Anne Riggins, Octo!)er 11. iS>^2. and she died September 23, 1855, stricken with yellow fever, her last illness enduring for but thirty hours. Chil- dren of Charles Wright and Eliza Anne (Riggins) Consolvo: John Andrew, born October 27,. 1833. died August 8. 1834: Vir- ginia F., born December 13, 1836. died June I, 1900; Louisiana E., born May 13. 1838. died May 12, 1897; George W^ashington, born May 18, 1842; Charles Wright, Jr., born March 12, 1845 • Eugene Herbert, of whom further.

(V) Eugene Herbert Consolvo, son of Charles Wright and Eliza Anne (Riggins) Consolvo, and father of Colonel Charles PI. Consolvo. was born March 27, 1848. and died January 19, 1895. He was educated in the public schools and as a young man undertook specialized study in the construc- tion of plants adapted to the manufacture of illuminating gas from coal. In the pursuit of the occupation he had chosen as his life work and in which he Ijecame most expert, he covered a great extent of territory, his business travels taking him into many parts of the country. He was a man of correct life and habits, a doer of good deeds, and when not absent on l)usiness sought no more pleasurable enjoyment than the quiet- ness of his home and the companionship of his wife and son. He married Mary Joseph- ine Sykes. born in 1850, died in 1875. daugh- ter of John and !Vlary Svkes, of Princess Anne county, A'irginia.

(\"T) Colonel Charles H. Consolvo. of the fourth generation of his family to own American birth, son of Eugene Herbert and Mary J. (Sykes) Consolvo, was born Feb- ruary 9, 1 87 1. .After the completion of his private school education in Norfolk, A^ir- ginia, he first obtained a position as clerk in the employ of George W. Taylor & Com- pany, dealers in coal and ice. Entering the

business in 1887. as a youth of sixteen years, in the course of the seven following years he rose t(j the office of manager, his com- petence, self-reliance, and initiative in the intermediate grades of service winning him steady advancement to that responsible sta- tion. Tn 1901, in partnership with Edward Cheshire, Mr. Consolvo began in a new line of endeavor, outside advertising, and so dili- gent were the labors of the partners in build- ing up a l)usiness that should credit their efforts that at one time they held privileges in thirty southern cities. Some of these rights they have since sold, but at the pres- ent time they operate twenty-five thousand linear feet of sign and bill boards, located in cities and along the main lines of trans- ])ortation. Mr. Consolvo is president of this company, and after its organization had been completed and the burden of its man- agement satisfactorily adjusted, he and Mr. Cheshire began the operation of the Nor- folk Steam Laundry, the largest concern of its kind in this section of the state, Mr. Con- solvo likev/ise holding the presidency of this enterprise.

In 1903. forseeing the desirability of hotel property during the approaching Jamestown Exposition, Mr. Consolvo secured the lease of the Monticello Hotel, of Norfolk, and also acquired the Pine Beach and Ocean A'iew hotels. After the exposition he re- linquished his ])ersonal management of the Pine Beach Hotel, although still controlling it. and from 1903 to 1908 conducted the Monticello Hotel, of which Mr. Stokes was formerly the lessor. In the year 191 1 the present controlling companv was formed, Ijuying property, of which Mr. Consolvo is president, and this company has made the Monticello Hotel one of the leading hos- telries of the South. It has a large capacity, containing three hundred and fifty rooms, and is magnificentlv appointed, many of the most elaborate social functions of the citv being held in its luxurious ball room and banquet halls.

Mr. Consolvo's business enterprises, so varied in nature and all attended by such uniform success, have brought him conspic- uously to the fore as one of Norfolk's lead- ing men of afifairs. For any distinguishing quality in his methods of business transac- tion one must turn to the sim|)le yet pow^er- ful system that is unfailingly i:)resent in the promotion of any project with Avhich he is