Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/581

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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ing for several years for others and opened a gentlemen's fnrnishing store in Norfolk and has now a well established profitable business. He is a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 5. Free and Accepted Masons, belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose, is a member of the Memorial Methodist Episco- pal Church and secretary of the Sunday school connected therewith. lie married, April 17, 191 1, Daisy Powell Wilson, daugh- ter of Richard Taylor and Bessie (Garland) Wilson.

(IV) Edwin Lipscomb Foster, fourth son of John Baldwin Foster, was born Septem- ber 24, 1888. He was educated in the gram- mar and high schools of Norfolk. He en- tered the employ of the Merritt, Chapman Wrecking Company and is now first officer of the San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, vessels, employed on the Pacific coast, be- tween Portland and San Francisco, having made the voyage from the Atlantic to the Pacific station, via the Cape Horn route. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks and a young man of fine promise. He married, in April, 1914, Maude Allen, in Portland, Oregon.

(IV^) Frank Hedges Foster, fifth son of John Baldwin Foster, was born in Norfolk, December 14, 1892. He was educated in the public schools, graduating with the highest honors from Maury High School. He filled twenty-two class positions during his high school term, including the office of president of his fraternity. He adopted a seafaring career and is at present quartermaster of the New York and Porto Rico Steamship Com- pany.

(HI) \\'illiam Shepherd Foster, youngest child of Baldwin and Rebecca (James) Fos- ter, was born in Mathews county, Virginia, October 25, 1859. His father, although the "village blacksmith," was also a vessel owner. After completing his studies in the public school, William S. Foster went to sea with Captain Louis Hudgins, followed the sea for three years, and in 1876 went to South America, also with Captain Hvidgins, who was engaged in the coffee trade with Rio and the West Indies. He then served for five years as apprentice aboard a pilot boat. He was thoroughly familiar with the channels of the Chesapeake Bay and became an expert pilot. In 1882 he began piloting deep sea vessels bound in and out of the Chesapeake Bay. and probably none of the

larger vessels has entered or left the bay that at some time had not been under the tempo- rary command of "Captain William S. Foster." lie has passed through every phase of the life of a pilot, from apprentice up- ward, and is one of the highest rated among the men of his hazardous and important calling. He is a member of the Virginia Pilots' Association and of the Coast Pilots' Association, and is affiliated with Atlantic Lodge, No. 2, Free and Accepted Masons. Captain William S. Foster married, in January, 1886, Julia Owens. Children: i. William She])herd Jr., born in 1888. 2. Clif- ford Smith, born July 18. 1890; married, July 12, 19 1 3, Helen Stuart Webb, and has a son, Cliff'ord Smith, Jr., l)orn May 13, 1914. 3. John Brooks, born in 1892. 4. Hugh, born November 30, 1894. 5. Robert Allen, born November 30. 1898. 6. James Asbury. born September 19. 1901. 7. Julia Owens, born November 30, 1904.

Bennett T. Gordon. Since 1906 a judge of the "Pwenty-ninth Judicial Circuit, to Bennett Taylor Gordon has been granted a plentiful share of legal honors, for his career in that profession has been successful in a gratifying measure, both in his private prac- tice and in his public service. In the first he was known as an attorney, able and strong, in his present judicial capacity his reputation is of a judge upright, impartial and discerning. In both he has been marked by a sense of honor, lofty and discriminat- ing, these the qualities that have determined his path in life.

Judge Gordon is of Scotch descent, his grandfather, Samuel Gordon, born in Loch- dougan. Scotland, the locality taking its name from the family estate. In his native land he was Laird of Lochdougan, a dis- tinction that he lost when he entered into mercantile trade in Liverpool, England, where he gained prominence as a leading merchant of the day. In his young manhood he came to the United States, being for a time engaged in business in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and although he did not find there the career of which he had been in search, he found a wife, being there married to Agnes Knox, a native of Fredericksburg. One of their sons was William, of whom further.

William Gordon, son of Samuel and Agnes (Knox) Gordon, was born in Liver-