Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/99

 VIRGIN J A BIOGRAPHY

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than one hundred and twenty thousand of these specimens were collected after years of personal labor, time and travel by the gen- tlemen named. The general assembly of Virginia, in accordance with the wishes of Mr. Valentine, as expressed in his will, passed an act incorporating the "Valentine Museum," giving the corporation perpetual succession, a common seal, and all the rights, privileges and powers, conferred by the state of Virginia, on bodies politic and cor- porate. This act was approved January 24, 1894. and in 1898 the museum, arranged and catalogued, was opened to the public. The spacious mansion in which it is located was built in 1812, and is filled from basement to roof with the varied wonders of the mu- seum.

Mann Satterwhite Valentine married (first) at the residence of William (2) Gray, Richmond, Virginia, Ann Maria Gray, born at Manchester. Virginia, died in Richmond, October 3, 1873. She was the daughter of William and Susan Ann (Pleasants) Gray, who were married January 9, 1833, and had issue: William Granville; Ann Maria, of previous mention ; Helen, married (first) Osborn Watson, (second) O. F. Manson ; James T., married Elizabeth Palmer; xAn- drew, married Ida Flippen ; Herbert, mar- ried M. Sue Flippen. William (2) Gray, the father of these children, was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, August 27, 1793, son of William (i) Gray, born in Surrey county, Virginia, February 20, 1745, died in Prince Edward county, in November, 1820, and his wife, Susannah (Crenshaw) Gray, born in Amelia county, Virginia, October I?' 1756, died in Charlotte county, Virginia, June II, 1847. Susan Ann (Pleasants) Gray, wife of William (2) Gray, was born May, 181 1, died in November, 1884, daugh- ter of John T. and Maria Ann (Smith) Pleasants, the latter a daughter of Granville Smith, an officer of the continental army. John T. Pleasants was a son of John and Elizabeth Pleasants, of "Fine Creek," both of whom were descendants of the famous John Pleasants, of Henrico county, Virginia, who came from Norwich, England, a mer- chant and a leader of the Quakers in Vir- ginia. Children of Mann Satterwhite and Ann Maria (Gray) Valentine: i. Mary, born July 31, 1856, died March, 1882; mar- ried James Wilson Moseley. 2. William Gray, born December 2, 1857, died Novem-

ber 21, 1858. 3. Mann Satterwhite, born March 2, 1859; married Sally Gary Finch. 4. Granville Gray, born August 19, i860, married Elise Calvin Bragg. 5. Benjamin Batchelder, born November 23, 1862; mar- ried Eliza Hardaway Meade. 6. Edward Pleasants, born April 6, 1864, died March, 1908; married Martha Dabney Chamber- layne. 7. Jefiferson Davis, born May 9, 1865, died January 20, 1866. 8. Frederick Stuart, born May 9, 1866; married Mary Lyle Skin- ker. 9. Henry Lee, born June 23, 1867 ; mar- ried Katherine Shores Braxton. 10. James Maria, born October 2}), 1869. Mann Sat- terwhite Valentine married (second) De- cember I, 1887, at Ben Nevis, Powhatan county, Virginia, Mary Elizabeth, daughter of James M. Finch. There was no issue by second marriage.

The sons of Mann Satterwhite Valentine jointly conduct the business of the Valen- tine Meat Juice Company, one of the largest concerns of the kind in the entire south. The business is conducted strictly along modern hygienic sanitary lines, and the justly fam- ous product is carefully guarded at every stage from aught that might mar its per- fect purity or flavor.

Joseph Preston Carson. A great deal of interest attaches itself to each of the four American generations of this family, repre- sented in legal and business circles in Rich- mond, Virginia, by Joseph Preston Carson, no small part of which is in the fact that each of the direct line leading from the im- migrant ancestor, Joseph Carson, to Joseph F'reston Carson, has been indentified with the professions, three with the law and one with the ministry. Joseph Carson, who founded his line in Virginia, was a native of Ireland, and was a prominent lawyer of his period.

(II) Judge Joseph S. Carson, son of Joseph Carson and grandfather of Joseph Preston Carson, was born in Winchester, Frederick county, Virginia, and there died in 1870. The law was the calling he adopted early in life, his career as an attorney a suc- cessful one, and at his death he was judge of the county court sitting at Winchester. Judge Carson was connected with the con- federate service during the civil war, al- though at the opening of it past the age when he might serve as a soldier in the ranks.