Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/72

 48

VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

Welsh and Margaret (Glendy) Darst, was born in Pulaski county. Virginia, Novem- ber lo, 1875, '^"f^ lived on his father's farm until he was thirteen years of age. The fol- lowing year, upon the death of his mother, he made his home in Salem, there complet- ing his preparatory education and for two years attending Roanoke College. For the two years following he was engaged in busi- ness in West Virginia and New Jersey, then returning to Roanoke College he completed the course he had begun four years before. In 1899 he entered the Virginia Seminary, and was graduated in divinity in the class of

1902, in June of that year becoming a dea- con of the Protestant Episcopal church. For one year he was connected with the parish of Fairmount, West Virginia, and in June,

1903, was ordained into the priesthood, being first assigned to Johns and Meade parish in Fauquier and Amherst counties. Rev. Darst in 1905 came to St. Mark's Church, of Richmond, and there remained for four years, in December, 1909, taking charge of St. Paul's Church, at Newport News, Vir- ginia. He returned to Richmond in 1914 as assistant to Rev. William Clark, D. D., rector of St. James' Church, and in ^lay, 1914, upon the death of Dr. Clark, succeeded him as rector. Additional duties and honors came to Rev. Darst in October of the same year (1914) in his elevation to the office of bishop, his diocese. Eastern Carolina, his investment as bishop occurring on October 8. That Rev. Darst will worthily uphold the dignity and honor of his high position and that his consecrated service will be hap- pily rewarded is the sentiment in the minds and hearts of his co-laborers in religious work. Laity and clergy have found him true to every trust, and he is lacking in none of the attributes that comprise the successful minister of the gospel, not the least of which is a life strict in rectitude beyond reproach. IJishop Darst is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, to which he was elected during his student years. His other fra- ternal associations are the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias.

He married, at "Araby." Fairfax county, Virginia, November 5, 1902, Florence New- ton Wise, born in Alexander, Virginia. De- cember 17, 1876, died January 12, 1914, daughter of George Wise, of "Araby," near Alexandria, Virginia, engaged in insurance business. George Wise married Ida, sister

of Colonel William Smoot, of Alexander, Virginia. Children of Bishop Thomas Campbell and Florence Newton (Wise) Darst: George Wise, born July 16, 1904; Thomas Campbell Jr., born August 31, 1907; Meade Clark, born March 14. 1910.

John Campbell Hagan. This branch of the Hagan family in America springs from the O'llagans of Ireland, the "O" being gen- erally omitted on this side of the Atlantic. TIk- family has been noted for prominence in ])usiness, law and literature, in both Ireland and the United States. The grand- father of John Campbell Hagan of Rich- mond, Virginia, was John Hagan, a farmer and landed proprietor, a man of education and resolute character, who was born, lived and died in Ireland. His wife, Ellen (Camp- bell) Hagan, was of bright intellectual qual- ities, a lover of the good, beautiful and true, inspiring in her children the same ambitious hopes that the limitation of her Irish home denied fruition.

(II) John (2) Hagan, son of John (i) and Ellen ( Campbell) Hagan, was born in Clanoe, county Tyrone, Ireland, died at Richmond, Virginia, October 14, 1874. After coming to the United States and settling in Richmond, he engaged in mercantile life. He was a sol- dier in the Confederacy, serving in Company- .\. Tenth Virginia Battalion, enlisting as pri- vate and attaining the rank of sergeant. He was a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Roman Catholic church. He married Catherine Downey, born in Richmond, Vir- ginia, who survives him. Children : John Campbell ; John Felix, died in infancy ; Mary Catharine, died in infancy.

(III) John Campbell Hagan, son of John (2) and Catherine (Downey) Plagan, was born in Richmond, Virginia, December 25, 1857, now an honored financier of his native city. He was educated in the Richmond l)rivate schools and at Georgetown Univer- sity, Washington, D. C, and began his busi- ness career in the freight department of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Com- ])any, continuing two years. He spent the next two years with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad at Charlottesville, then accepted an offer from a Massachusetts shoe manufac- turing concern and spent twelve years in their employ. He then returned to his native city, where he became financially interested with several manufacturing enterprises, but