Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/256

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

of the Methodist Episcopal church, a faith brought into the family by his grandfather, Rev. Thomas Littleton, a co-worker and friend of John Wesley, the founder of Meth- odism.

Dr. Garrison married, in 1873, Catherine Burgess, born in front Royal, in 1852, daughter of Colonel E. B. and Mary (Shu- mate) Jacobs. The only child of Ur. Gar- rison, Nancy Littleton, was born in Front Royal in 1877, and married (first) Francis Blackwell, who died, leaving a son, Francis Garrison Blackwell. She married (second) Manly Simpson, of Clarke county, Virginia, and has a daughter, Nancy Burgess Simp- son.

A niece of Mrs. Garrison, .Mrs. Arthur P. Davis, is a noted mathematician and gained wide reputation through her corrections of French mathematical and astronomical work. She is the wife of the distinguished civil engineer, Arthur P; Davis, who accom- jianied President Taft on his trip to the Panama Canal, was later sent to Europe by the Lnited .States government on profes- sional duty, and still later to China to de- vise a system to irrigate the lands and pre- vent the flooding of certain districts in that country.

James Lewis Tredway. The law, and the higher branches of public service to which those eminent in that profession are fre- quently called, have been graced in the state of Virginia by Tredways, father and son, who have held membership in the law-mak- ing bodies of state and nation and have otherwise held prominent position in Vir- ginia. He with whom this record opens. Moses Tredway, was a planter of Prmce Edward county, the owner of wide estates, whose death occurred during the course of the civil war. aged eighty-seven years. He married and had several children, among them William M.. of whom further.

William M. Tredway, son of Moses Tred- way, was born at Hampden-Sidney, Prince Edward county, Virginia, in 1809, died in 1891. He was educated for the legal pro- fession and made that his life work, during his long and active life being nearly con- tinuously in offices of trust and importance. For a number of years he was common- wealth attorney of Pittsylvania county, and was a delegate to the conventions of 1849 and 1861, also holding a place upon the bench of the circuit court. The sterling

value of his service caused his election to Congress, and here, as in other office, he was guided in his every action by a strong, un- failing sense of the right and a determina- tion to see just ends obtained. On the bench, never was judge more fair and im- partial in verdict, never were the arts of oratory and emotional utterances more quickly disregarded in sifting the chafif of the inconsequential from the grain of the essential. He married Nancy J., daughter of Williamson Millner, and had children: James Lewis, of whom further; Pattie B., married Fletcher B. Watson, superintend- ent of Pittsylvania county schools ; Moses II. . deceased, a merchant of Chatham; Mary I\l.. deceased, married a Mr. Lovelace, a mer- chant of Chatham, Virginia ; Nannie E., de- ceased, married James W^ Whitehead, for the past forty years a merchant of Chatham ; Sallie, deceased, married John B. Coleman, for many years a merchant of Chatham, cashier of the Planters' Savings Bank ; Wil- liam M.. Jr., deceased, a lawyer, captain of a company in General Pickett's division, wounded at the battle of Gettysburg ; Rob- ert II., deceased, an attorney of Chatham ; Thomas B., entered the Confederate army from the Virginia Military Institute at the age of sixteen years and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg. Williamson Millner, father of Nancy J. Millner, was a native of Pittsylvania county, there owned a planta- tion, and died aged eighty-seven years, the father of a large family.

James Lewis Tredway, son of William M. and Nancy J. (Millner) Tredway, was born at Danville, Pittsylvania county, Vir- ginia, April II, 1853. and when a child of two years was taken by his parents to Chat- ham, where he studied under private tute- lage and in the common schools of the local- ity. Attracted by the law, he took a four years' course at Hampden-Sidney College, whence he was graduated in 1874, after which he continued studv under the pre- ceptorship of his father, William M. Tred- wav, at that time judge of the fourth judicial circuit. He later entered the office of his brother, William M.. Jr., a practi- tioner of Chatham, and was admitted to the bar in 1876, immediately establishing in practice at Chatham. A generous practice encouraged his early legal career, a prac- tice which constantly increased in dimen- sions, and in 1893 he was the successful candidate of his district for the state senate.