Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/193

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. He is credited with taking the first Union prisoner in Northern \'irginia, making the capture at Fairfax Court House, June i, 1861, the victim being a member of Company D, New York Dragoons. After the war he located in Manassas, Virginia, where he conducted a mercantile business until a few vears previous to his death. He married, 'Mary Elizabeth Fewell, born May 23, 1842, on the old Ludley Farm in Fairfax county, Virginia, died in 1900, daughter of William Sanford Fewell.

Dr. William Fewell Merchant, son of ■Benjamin Dyer and Mary Elizabeth (Few- ell) Merchant, was born at Manassas, Vir- ginia. March 10, 1868. He was early edu- cated in public and private schools, then taught school about two years, beginning business life with the Richmond & Danville Railroad, later was with Jacksonville, Tampa &• Key West Railroad, then again with the Richmond & Danville until it went into the receiver's hands and became a part of the Southern Railroad system. During these years of railroad service he was also a medical student, matriculating at the Uni- versitv College of Medicine, Richmond, in 1893, attending lectures while still holding his position with the railroad, and he com- pleted all the required courses, receiving his degree of M. D., in 1897. He did a great deal of hospital and dispensary work in and around Richmond while pursuing his medi- cal study, gaining considerable practical ex- perience even before obtaining his degree. He first located in Dumfries, Virginia, re- maining eighteen months, then in the fall of 1898 moved to ^Manchester, Virginia, . w^here he established and conducted a suc- cessful practice until 1910. when he located in Manassas, his present home. His prac- tice is general in character. He was elected health officer of Manassas.

Dr. Merchant is a member of the Prince William County ^ledical Society, the So- ciety of Surgeons of the Southern and Chesapeake ."v Ohio Railroads, is an ex- president and honorary member of the Chesterfield County INIedical Society and keeps in closest touch with all modern med- ical and surgical discovery. He is a mem- ber of lodge and chapter of the Alasonic order, is a past high priest of Royal Arch Chapter, No. 48, and the present secretary of Manassas Chapter, No. 59. He is a ves-

tryman of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church of Manassas, and in political faith a Democrat.

Dr. Merchant married at [Manchester, Virginia, January 25, 1900, Eulalia Holt, born in Burlington, North Carolina, Octo- ber 15, 1871. daughter of John M. and Vir- ginia (Dare) Holt. Children: William Fewell (2), born November 2, 1900, died Tune 20, 1902 ; John Holt, born October 16, 1903, at Manchester.

James Bahen, Jr., was a member of an old Irish family, related to many of the most aristocratic houses of county Clare, Ireland, where his people had their origin. County Clare is one of the most romantic and beautiful spots of all that romantic and beautiful country. Situated on the west coast of Ireland', just north of the great landlocked bay, which forms the mouth of the river Shannon, it is bounded on the east by a very considerable range of hills, and on the west by the wild and storm-ridden Atlantic. It is' full of remains and curious antiquities, the monuments of Ireland's mighty past, many of them dating back be- fore the dawn of history, such as the huge fortifications, ruined but still imposing, which stand today on the Aran Islands, just off the Clare coast, a puzzle for the his- torians and antiquarians of the present. From county Clare, as already stated, came the Bahens, representative of all that is fine in the Irish race, which has contributed so large and valuable an element to the com- posite citizenship of the United States, and grafted upon it its own virtues of enter- prise and indomitable cotirage.

The first member of the Bahen family to come to the United States was James Bahen, the elder, father of the subject of this sketch. He was born in county Clare, Ireland, in the year 1844, and came to this country as a mere boy, making his way at once to Richmond, Virginia, where he opened a grocery and liquor store. He was a man of great enterprise, and one who naturally took the initiative, and the same qualities which urged him to leave his old home when still so young soon made him prominent in his adopted city. His store was on First street, Richmond, in the old Jackson ward, and he there entered the local politics, and soon became a recognized leader in the party thereabouts. He was an exemplary citizen, and one who possessed both the affection