Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/667

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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and died in 1901. He was a farmer in Vir- ginia, and was in active service four years during the progress of the war with the states. He married, and was the father of twelve sons and three daughters.

Reverdy Johnson Scales, son of Nathaniel Scales, was born in Patrick county, Vir- ginia. October 20. 1849, ^"^ is now living retired in Richmond. He was a farmer and contractor in Martinsville until 1907, in which year he removed to Richmond. He married Mary Elizabeth Tuggle, born in Patrick county. \'irginia. May 22, 1853, daughter of Henry Tuggle, born November 26. 1818. and died February 4, 1897, ^"d Lucy (Mair) Tuggle. born April 25, 1826, died March 2^^, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Scales had children : Jessie, who died July 6, 1906; Hattie ; Margaret ; Nellie ; Thomas Henry, whose name heads this sketch ; Robert E., in the employ of the Chesapeake & Potomac Telegraph Company.

Thomas Henry Scales, D. D. S., was born in ^Martinsville. Henry county. Virginia, September 27, 1886. -He acquired his earlier education in the elementary and high schools of his native town, then matricu- lated at the University College of Medicine of ^^irginia. and was graduated from this institution in the class of 1909, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. He at once established himself in the practice of his profession in the city of Richmond, and is rapidly gaining a large and lucrative clien- tele. The only social organization of which he is a member is the Xi Psi Phi fraternity. He is a member and regular attendant of the Centenary Methodist Church.

William Thomas Cousins. For thirty-five years ]\Ir. Cousins has been connected with the leaf tobacco business in Danville, a member of the Tobacco Association, during that entire period, for many years has been active partner of W. T. Cousins & Com- pany, leaf tobacco dealers, and in 1912-13 \vas president of the Danville Tobacco Board of Trade. This long connection with the tobacco market has given him an experi- ence and judgment perhaps unsurpassed by any man on the Danville market. Mr. Cousins is a son of Edward, and grandson of Thomas Cousins, who married a Miss Irvine, of Chesterfield county, who bore him five children, all deceased. Edward Cousins was a prosperous farmer and for twenty

years an official of Chesterfield county, \'ir- ginia, who died in April, 1877, aged fifty-five years. He was in command of a squad formed for local protection during the war of 1861-1865, not. however, connected with the regular Confederate army. Edward Cousins married V^irginia Watkins and had issue: James Emmett, born in 1854, now a farmer of Prince George county, Virginia ; Edward F., born 1859, died aged twenty-one years ; William T., of further mention ; Waverly Powers, born i860, now a tobacco manufacturer of Danville ; Anne Virginia, married Fred S. Clark, of Ringgold, Vir- ginia, a farmer ; Mattie V., married Edward Evans, of Richmond. \'irginia, whom she survives.

William Watkins, maternal grandfather of William T. Cousins, was born in Din- widdie county, Virginia, a large plantation and slave owner, and a soldier of the war of 1812. He married Miss Parham, of Din- widdle county, who was the mother of his seven children : Edward ; James, both of whom served in the war with Mexico ; Ben- jamin ; Sarah; Mary; V^irginia (mother of W. T. Cousins) ; the youngest, a daughter, married Major Winfield Cousins.

William T. Cousins, son of Edward and Virginia (Watkins) Cousins, was born in Chesterfield county, Virginia. November 15. 1857, on the old homestead near Petersburg. He was educated in the public and private schools, finishing his studies at Bryant & Stratton's Business College, in Baltimore, Maryland, whence he was graduated in 1877. Prior to this latter course he worked on the farm during the school intervals until seven- teen years of age, then became assistant teacher in the public schools and for two years also worked the home farm before taking his business course at Baltimore. In 1878 he located in Danville, Virginia, and from that date has been closely allied with the leaf tobacco market of Danville, the foremost tobacco market of the world. For about thirty years he has been the practical managing partner of W. T. Cousins & Com- pany, leaf tobacco dealers, on Loyal street, one of the best known houses of the city, handling and disposing of one and one-half million pounds of tobacco annually. For thirty-five years Mr. Cousins has been con- nected with the Danville Tobacco Board of Trade, and in 1912-13 was president of that association of tobacco dealers. Thoroughly