Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/548

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

vania ; her mother a Hopkins, of the cele- brated Baltimore family. Their only child was Joseph Tyson, of whom further.

Joseph Tyson Janney was born in Alex- andria, Virginia, in 1832, died in 1882. He was a merchant of Alexandria for many years, also owning a farm at Occoquan, Prince William county, Virginia, and there operating a grist mill. He retired to his farm after his years of mercantile life, oper- ating farm and mill until his death. He was a member of the Society of Friends, a man of high character and highly respected. He married Edith Hunter, born in 1842, died February 7, 1913, daughter of Robert Hunter, born in Scotland, a shipbuilder of Alexandria until his death ; he married Eliz- abeth Bryan, of Alexandria, and had a fam- ily of twelve children, one of these children, a widow, Mrs. Sophia Hammill, yet sur- vives, living in Occoquan with her niece, ^Marguerite Janney. Children of Joseph Tyson Janney : Tyson, now proprietor of the old mill in Occoquan, married Aleta Gib- son ; Joseph, deceased ; Elizabeth, married Alfred B. Carter and resides in Washington, D. C. ; Edith Hunter, married Rev. Simpson V. Hildebrand, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, residing at Culpeper, Virginia ; Johns Hopkins, a flour salesman, of \Vashington, D. C. ; Walter H., a physi- cian of Occoquan ; Samuel McPherson, of whom further ; ^Marguerite Tyson, residing in Occoquan ; Cordelia Waters, married Al- bert S. Johnson, of Fredericksburg.

Samuel McPherson Janney, youngest son of Joseph Tyson and Edith (Hunter) Jan- ney, was born in Occoquan, Prince William county, Virginia, December 3, 1875. He was educated in Friends' School at Lincoln, Loudoun county, then entered William and Mary College, finishing his college courses at Randolph-Macon. He spent his youth and intervals in his school life at the old farm and mill in Occoquan, becoming thor- oughly informed on grade quality and value of mill products. At the age of twenty-two years he became traveling salesman for the Washburn Crosby Company of Minneapolis, remaining with them one year. He then established a wholesale grocery house at Christiansburg, Virginia, continuing there in successful business for eight years. In 1909 he sold his interest there and became a member of the wholesale grocery firm of B. J. Marshall, of Fredericksburg, Virginia ; in

August, 19 10, he became senior partner of the firm Janney, Marshall & Company, the present style and title of the house. The firm is a prosperous one, conducts a large business on the most modern principles, ranking high in the territory they cover. Mr. Janney is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, a teacher in the Sunday school and interested in all good works.

He married, in Christiansburg, Novem- ber 22, 1906, Maude Hunter, born there, daughter of Charles William and Lucy (Gardner) Hunter, her father a merchant of Christiansburg, his present home. Children : Edith Hunter Janney ; Charlotte Wade Jan- ney.

John Patteson Branch. The late John Patteson Branch, veteran banker and phil- anthropist of Richmond, who passed away at his home in that city, February 2, 1915, in his eighty-fifth year, vigorous and strong, honored and respected, prosperous and con- tented, regarded the following rules as most effectively contributing to true prosperity : "Look first to character," "look next to health," "keep good company," "save a part of your income however small," and ever- lastingly remember that "what is worth doing at all is worth doing well." That these rules indicated the secret of his own life w^as proven by these facts : In a long business career in two cities not fifty miles apart his reputation for honesty and integ- rity was without blemish ; that up to within a few weeks of his death he was strong and vigorous, a man of attractive and command- ing appearance ; his friends were the men and women of high ideals and cultured tastes ; that his fortune w^as ample and gained by a due regard for thrift and care- ful expenditure, and in all his work, whether in army, business, state or church, in so far as time and strength permitted, he was earnest, diligent and faithful. There were other traits of character that blended beau- tifully with those noted, and one was his unselfish devotion to the public good. He gave to the city of Richmond its building used for public baths, the first of its kind in the state of Virginia ; he contributed to every public charity or work of general interest calling for support ; he led in all movements for good streets, good sewer- age, good drainage, pure food and all that