Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/198

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

he has been a strong advocate of the Young Men's Christian Association, and has fre- quently been a speaker in behalf of that or- ganization, having besides often addressed representative bodies of the association in convention or council assembled. Since 1890 Dr. Roop has been a licensed preacher of the United Brethren in Christ, of which he has been a life-long member, and in 1904 was a member of the general conference of the church, held at Topeka, Kansas. For many years he has held membership on the general board of education of the church and the Church Historical Society, and for a long time has belonged to the National Education Association, the National Relig- ious Association, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. Poli- tically he holds Republican sympathies, never holding public ofSce.

Dr. Roop married at Johnstown, Penn- sylvania, August 26, 1897, Emma May, daughter of Bishop Ezekiel B. Kephart, D. D., LL. D., and Susan Jane (Trefts) Kep- hart. Bishop Kephart was for thirteen years president of the Western College, at Toledo, Ohio, bishop of the United Brethren church for twenty-four years, and for two terms a member of the upper house of the Iowa legislature. Mrs. Roop is a graduate of Western College, Toledo, Ohio, and the Bright Conservatory of Music, and has taught music in the various seminaries and colleges of the church. She is talented not only as a musician, her intellectual brilliance having been a constant aid and stimulus to her scholarly husband.

Richard Henry Jefferies, D. D. S. Pre- eminence in any calling is the result of in- dividual merit. It comes, not in consequence of exceptional powers not possessed by the majority of mankind, but by the use of those abilities which are common to us all, the result being determined by the degree in which these powers are exercised. The fact that Richard Henry Jefferies, D. D. S., of Richmond, Virginia, is recognized as a pro- fessional man of exceptional ability, is due to his closer application, more careful over- sight, and to greater energy, then are dis- played by many others, and therefore his success is the just reward of his labors. He is a son of

James McKendre Jefiferies, born in Cum- berland county, Virginia, where he died in 1891. He was a farmer by occupation. Dur- ing the war with the states he was a first sergeant of Cumberland Troop Cavalry, and was wounded in one of the engagements in which he took part. He married Helen Jones, a native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and now living with her son, Dr. Jefiferies. They had children : Richard Henry, whose name heads this sketch ; a child who died in infancy ; John W., engaged in the lumber business in Richmond, Virginia ; George M., a merchant in Midlothian; Lucile, who mar- ried George P. Bailey, a canner and broker, of Kinsale, Virginia ; James McKendre, Jr., a merchant at Kinsale. James McKendre Jefteries has three brothers, J. W., a physi- cian of Scottsville, Virginia ; William D., a physician of Alabama ; Virginius, a druggist of Scottsville, Virginia.

Dr. Richard Henry Jefiferies was born in Cumberland county, Virginia, September 9, 1884, on the farm owned by his father. He was a very young child when he came to Richmond, Virginia, with his mother, and his early education was acquired there and at a private school in Chesterfield. In 1900 he was sent to the Virginia Polytechnic In- stitute, and for two years prepared himself to enter upon the study of medicine. He next matriculated at the Medical College of Virginia, and was graduated from this in- stitution in the class of 1909 with the de- gree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. He at once established himself in the practice of his profession, with which he has been suc- cessfully identified since that time. One year following his graduation, he was ap- pointed demonstrator at the Medical College of Virginia. He now has charge of the Prosthetic Technique at this institution, and is also associate professor of materia medica. He is a member of the National, State and City Dental associations. His fraternal af- filiation is with the Order of Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and he is a member of the Methodist Centenary Church.

Dr. Jefiferies married, at Richmond, Vir- ginia, October 19. 1914, Adeline Mary Har- ris, born in that city. She is a daughter of William E. and Lucy (Campbell) Harris, the former the founder and head of the firm of Harris, Flippen & Company, dealers in sporting goods, the latter a native of King William county.