Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/558

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

J. L. and Emma (Baker) Lawless. Child, Frances Marion, born in Franklin, Virginia, February 17, 1913.

William J. Allen, M. D. Following is the brief life record of Dr. William J. Allen, once a soldier in the army of the Confed- eracy, afterward a surgeon at the front, still later an able and honored practitioner in private life, and now, fourteen years after his departure from earthly walks, a living memory dear to his family and fresh in the hearts and minds of his many friends.

Dr. Allen was a son of Robert Henderson and Ann (Bagley) Allen, grandson of Jones Allen, a farmer of Lunenburg county, Vir- ginia. His father likewise followed agricul- tural pursuits and reared his ten children on his farm. His life was ordered in quiet ways, industry and devotion to his family his governing characteristics, and although he was well-informed on matters of public interest and was so favorably regarded in the locality of his residence that public office could easily have been his he steadfastly re- fused all political connections. He affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal church.

Dr. William J. Allen was born September 20, 1838, his death occurring in Petersburg, Virginia, July 5, 1890, after an active career in the medical profession. His early educa- tion was obtained at "Old Oaks," a private school maintamed exclusively for boys, and after this preparation he matriculated at the University of Virginia, where his classical education was completed. For professional training he enrolled in a Philadelphia medi- cal college, and it was while a student in this institution that the political unrest in the country heightened into the feeling that precipitated the war between the states. Soon after the John Brown insurrection Mr. Allen and one hundred of his fellow-students at the Philadelphia college withdrew in a body and completed their medical course in the Virginia Medical College. In 1861 Dr. Allen became a private in Captain Stokes' company, recruited at Lunenburg, finally, in view of his medical training, being detailed for hospital duty, before the close of the war being ordered from the front and ap- pointed a surgeon in the Richmond Hos- pital.

When peace was restored Dr. Allen began the practice of his profession in Lunenburg, Virginia, subsequently making Petersburg,

Virginia, the scene of his labors. The County, State and American Medical asso- ciations knew him as a member, and he was for several years president of one of these organizations. He fraternized with the Ma- sonic order, and belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. Dr. Allen was a physi- cian of the highest rank, a gentleman of irreproachable reputation, and universal re- gard was his, combined with respect for his prowess as a master of medicine. Cultured in mind, generous in nature, courteous in bearing, he left numberless friends to regret his absence from his accustomed place, his death closing a life lived in observance of duty.

Dr. Allen married, in Lunenburg, Vir- ginia, in 1868, Martha L. Bragg, born in 1842, daughter of Captain Robert W. and Emily Frances (Taylor) Bragg, her father a son of William and Sicily (Wilson) Bragg, her mother a daughter of Thomas and Mar- tha (Gregory) Taylor. Captain Robert W. Bragg inherited a two thousand acre planta- tion from his father, situated near Lunen- burg. The principal products raised there- on, all by slave labor, were corn, wheat and tobacco, which were hauled to the nearest railroad by mule-team and thence sent to market. Captain Robert W. Bragg was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and gained his military rank in the militia. Children of Dr. and Martha L. (Bragg) Allen: i. Emily Taylor. 2. Anna, married John Eggleston, and has Jessie B., John Marshall, Mary Taylor. 3. William Cor- nelius, born in Lunenburg, Virginia, in 1878 ; educated in the public schools, entered the mercantile world and is now a manufacturer of bags ; he is a member of Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and Shrine, of the Masonic order.

Rt. Rev. William Cabell Brown, D. D.

William Cabell Brown, bishop coadjutor of Virginia, is of Scotch lineage, descending from people who were of a deeply religious character, and has won his way to promi- nence in the church by faithful service to his God and to mankind. His paternal grand- father, Alexander Brown, was born March 27, 1796, in Perth, Scotland, and came to Virginia when fifteen years old, locating at Williamsburg. While there he was for some time a student at William and Mary College. His wife, Lucy Shands (Rives) Brown, born