Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/170

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

young men is of value: "Persist in some chosen occupation, lead a simple life, es- chew bad habits and associates, form regular habits of work and exercise, cultivate faith in God and an earnest purpose to perform ever duty, however simple and humble." He is a devotee of out-door recreation, horse-back riding, driving, walking and swimming, while his favorite indoor amuse- ment is chess-playing.

Judge Nicol married (first) November 17. 1880, Marie Louise, daughter of Professor Ezra Bander, a descendant of the Garnett family of Tidewater, Virginia. She died in 1900, leaving children : Aylett Bander, born in Prince William county in 1883; Pauline, born in Brentsville, Virginia, in 1885, mar- ried, in 1912, Dr. Benjamin F, Iden, of Min- neapolis, Minnesota ; Julia Carr, born in Brentsville, in 1891 ; Mary Louise, born in 1894; Fanny B., born in 1896. Judge Nicol married (second) August 3, 1908, Mrs. Flor- ence (De Cusac) Nash, a descendant of the De Cusac family of Charleston, South Caro- Ima.

Richard Hewlett Smith is a member of an old and distinguished Maryland family, which has, however, since his father's time made its home in Richmond, Virginia, where it has become thoroughly identified with the life and traditions of that state, as it had been pre\iously with Maryland.

( I ) Mr. Smith's paternal grandfather was Anthony Smith, a prominent resident of Howard comity, Maryland, where he was born in the latter part of the eighteenth cen- tury, and lived his entire life, finally dying at an advanced age. He married Anna Maria Brown, a native of Maryland.

(II) Samuel Brown Smith, son of An- thony and Anna Maria (Brown) Smith, was born in Rockdale, Howard county, Mary- land, in the year 1822. He passed the years of his childhood and young manhood in his native place, receiving there his education and remaining a resident until shortly after his marriage, when he removed to Virginia, he being at that time about thirty-four years of age. He was by occupation a civil and mining engineer and followed this line of work during his life in Alaryland, but upon coming to Richmond, he entered an entirely different- field and accepted a position as as- sistant cashier in the National Exchange Bank, Richmond, This was in 1856, and he

ccintinued in the banking business until his death in 1871. L'pon the organization of the First National Bank of Richmond, in connection with which Mr. Smith, Sr., had been very active, he was offered the posi- tion of cashier, the first of that institution, and accepted, holding the same until the end of his life. L'pon the outbreak of the civil war he enlisted in the Army of the Confederacy, and served on the ambulance corps, seeing very difficult and perilous service therein. Before coming to \^irginia, while yet a resident of Maryland, he had met Margaret Strother, a native of Rich- mond, ^'irginia, where sh'e was born Feb- ruary 3, 1830, and to this young lady he was married in Richmond. October 18, 1855. Mrs. .Samuel Brown Smith was the daugh- ter of William Porter Strother, born Febru- ary 14, 1798, died April 23, 1874, and a granddaughter of John Strother, born in 1771, died in 1805. The Strother family is an old and distinguished Virginia house, long identified with the history and tradi- tions of the state. John Strother married Catherine Fox Price, June 25, 1793. Sam- uel Brown Smith had three brothers and two sisters, the names of the former being \\'illiam Henry, Rinaldo P. and George. To Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Jjrown Smith were born six children, as follows: William Strother, now a captain in the United States navy; Richard Hewlett, of whom further; Sydney Elizabeth ; Henry Meredith ; Sam- uel Burns; Samuel Brown, Jr.; the last four named being now deceased.

(HI) Richard Hewlett Smith, second child of Samuel Brown and Margaret (Strother) Smith, was born July 27, 1859, in Richmond, Virginia. In this city of heroic and tragic associations he passed his boyhood, receiving his education in the pri- \ate schools, and enjoying the influence of his father's cultured home. Always of a sensitive temperament, the traditions of his native region and of his family exerted a strong influence upon him in the moulding of his character, and perhaps there is no part of the United States in which the rec- ord of our great past is valued so highly, or plays so important and immediate a part in the formation of the present generation, as in Virginia. His own grandfather, the An- thony Smith already mentioned, was a man of high military record, whose service in the war of 1812 was of a verv distinguished