Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/590

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VIRGIXIA BIOGRAPHY

of Colonel Isaac Read, a member of the Vir- ginia house of burgesses, an associate of Washington, Jefferson and Henry in their patriotic and zealous efforts ; was a colonel of the Virginia line, and was buried with military honors in Pennsylvania. Colonel Isaac Read was a son of Colonel Clement Read, of "Bushy Forest," Charlotte county, and was governor of the colony of Virginia in 1749. He married Mary, daughter of William Hill, an officer of the Royal navy. The Charlotte county court house was named in his honor. Dr. Isaac Read mar- ried Panthea, daughter of Armstead and Lucy (Crawley) Burwell. of Woburn, their daughter, Martha Goode Read, becoming the wife of Dr. Thomas Claiborne Goode. Children of the latter marriage : Isaac Read, born October 19. 1856; Panthea Burwell, married Richard Bennett Goode, of previous mention ; Alary l^arksdale, unmarried ; Lucy Armstead. married J. A. Coleman, of Nor- folk, \'irginia ; Sallie B., married C. A. Glass- cock, of Llalifax county, Virginia ; Alattie Daniel, unmarried ; Lizzie Smith, married W. D. Norvell, of Charlotte county; Clem- ent Melancthon, married Laura Moore, of North Carolina.

R. Sumter Griffith, M. D. Dr. R. Sumter Griffith, a distinguished physician and citi- zen of Basic City, Augusta county, Virginia, is of Maryland parentage, and was born at Friendship, Anne Arundel county, Mary- land. April 16, 1861, a son of Captain F. Louis and Mary E. Griffith. Captain Grif- fith was a prominent politician and farmer of that region.

Dr. Griffith passed his youth and early manhood in his native state, receiving his education in the Maryland Agricultural College, which he attended for a number of years, and later at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore. He entered the latter institution in 1884 and graduated therefrom with the class of 1886, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Upon the completion of his studies, he established liimself in practice in Maryland and West X'irginia, for a few years ; and in 1891 located in Basic City, Virginia, and was chosen to serve as surgeon to the Chesapeake & Ohio and Norfolk & Western railways, positions which he has held ever since. In addition to his private practice. Dr. Griffith has given considerable of his time and attention to

problems of the public health. He has served his fellow citizens of Basic City for many years in the capacity of health officer, and for seven and a half years held the still higher office of mayor. He is extremely active in the transactions of the Augusta County and the Virginia State Medical soci- eties, of both of which he is a member and officer. Of the former he was in 1908 the president and is now (1915) the treasurer, and of the latter he was from 1901 to 1902 the second vice-president and in 1913 was a member-at-large of the executive commit- tee. Dr. Griffith is also a member of the International Association of Railway Sur- geons.

His professional activities are not the only ones which have brought Dr. Griffith into public notice. His fame as a surgeon in medical and railroad circles is rivalled by his state-wide reputation as a temperance advo- cate. For this cause he has for many years done valiant work, both in and out of sea- son, especially in connection with the Pro- hibition party, of which he is a leading mem- ber. He is also active in charitable causes and is at present chairman of the board of trustees of the orphans' fund. Dr. Griffith is prominently associated with a number of fraternal organizations. He is a thirty- second degree Mason and a Shriner, also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Inde- I^endent Order of Odd Fellows, the Junior Order of American Mechanics, in which he has held state offices, and Stonewall Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Dr. Griffith married (first) in 1886, Annie Webb, of Calvert county, Alaryland, daugh- ter of \Mlliam AI. and Sarah Webb. Dur- ing his lifetime Mr. Webb was a successful farmer in Maryland. Mrs. Griffith was a graduate of the Seminary at GeorgetOAvn, D. C, and was very active in the Methodist Episcopal church. South, and its societies, and in the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She died at Basic City, January 3,

1913. She left two sons: W^ Louis and Maryland V. ; W. Louis is a graduate of the Randolph-Macon Academy at Front Royal, Virginia, and is now a student at the Ran- dolph-Macon College at Ashland, Virginia, where he has established a reputation as a very bright yoimg man. Maryland V. is a graduate of Waynesboro (A'irginia) high school, having won the first honor medal in

1914. and in the fall of 1915 he will enter