Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/654

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

being connected with the Holmes, Bell and McClure families. The family residence in Augusta county has been for many years duration, dating back at least as far as the time of the "Beverley Survey." Samuel H. Kerr, his father, is a prominent farmer in the region with which the family history and traditions have so long been identified, and his mother was Mary E. Bondurant, a member of the family of Bondurants of Prince Edward county, Virginia.

Hugh Holmes Kerr was born August 13, 1873, in Augusta county, Virginia, and here he has ever since made his home, with the exception of a few years spent in school and college. He was educated at the Fishburne Military School at Waynesboro, Virginia, and upon graduation, in 1891, entered the academic department of the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, and later took the law course in the university. From there he graduated with the class of 1894 with the degree of B. L., and has since practiced his profession in Staunton, Virginia. Besides the conduct of his profession, Mr. Kerr has been extremely active in Democratic state and county politics. In November, 191 1, he was elected commonwealth's attorney for Augusta county, Virginia, an office which he now holds. Mr. Kerr is not a member of any secret society, but devotes his time and at- tention to the performance of his public duties and the practice of the law. Mr. Kerr was married to Sarah E. Rock, and to them have been born two children, Elizabeth Holmes Kerr and Hugh Holmes Kerr, Jr.

J. Cleveland Hall. In the early life of J. Cleveland Hall there was little to indicate that whatever prominence of position he should attain in future years would be in ecclesiastical circles, for his early training was with the view of becoming a command- ing unit in the war machine of the United States. Time has, as is its wont, played havoc with the plans of men, and instead of finding Mr. Hall a military leader in the army of our country, the biographer of the present discovers him a captain in the hosts of the Prince of Peace.

Those of the Hall line with whom this record is concerned have, in their different walks of life, been men of distinction and prosperous position. New York state having been the scene of the activities of Judge Johnson Hall, born in Lafayette, New York,

for many years judge of the corporation court of Syracuse. Prior to his elevation to the bench he had been a successful prac- titioner in the legal profession, his expert knowledge of that branch of the law con- fined to the court of which he was afterward presiding officer making his services in great demand. He amassed a generous for- tune in his profession and died in Syracuse, New York, aged over eighty years. To the end of his life he retained the vigor of men- tality and strength of personality that had made him such a conspicuous figure upon the bench, and among those that mourned his absence from his accustomed place were many whom his sympathetic encouragement had strengthened to a renewed fight in the profession in which he was so splendid an example. He married Polly Andrews, of Lafayette, New York, among their children being Thomas Jefferson, of whom further.

Major Thomas Jefferson Hall, son of Judge Johnson and Polly (Andrews) Hall, was born in 1833, died March 17, 1871. He passed the greater part of his business life in New Orleans, having previously resided in California for a time, his occupation that of stock and bond broker, in which field of endeavor he was most successful, possessing at his death, which occurred when he was thirty-eight years of age, a fortune of over one hundred thousand dollars. When war between the states was declared he entered the service as first lieutenant in General Isaac Harrison's brigade of New Orleans Volunteers, fighting in many of the most important battles of the war, at its close occupying the rank of major, his advances having been ordered because of unfailing devotion to duty, unselfish patriotism, and personal bravery of high order. The war had left its blighting impress upon his physical condition and he never fully re- covered the vitality that belonged to a man of his youthful years, an untimely death overtaking him six years after the end of his military career, when the freshness of life and the love of his family were most dear." Already the worth of his character had made itself apparent to those whose privilege it was to meet him either in the business or social world, and as the death of his father had caused a vacancy difficult to fill, so his early call deprived his friends of an asso- ciate loved and respected, in whom was re- posed perfect trust and confidence. At the