Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/27

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

571

principal of high schools in Rockingham county, Virginia, prior to his entrance in the University of Virginia, and since 1901 has ben engaged in legal practice in Harrison- burg, \'irginia. Mr. Crawford is learned in the law, and in the thirteen years that have passed since his activities along that line began he has deri\ed from his deep study and determined mastery of the law the profit and satisfaction of numerous favor- able verdicts. He is a forceful and con- vincing speaker, and is at his best when pleading the case of a client, presenting his facts and arguments in perfect array, his presentation of his case showing, to the keen observer, the presence of a brief strongly and logically arranged. System and method are the qualities upon which he has reared a successful legal career, two virtues whose value is inestimable. While a student at college Mr. Crawford became a member of the "Ravens Society," and belongs to the University of Virginia Alumni Association, of Harrisonburg, Virginia. His church is the Presbyterian, and he is identified with the Democratic party.

Mr. Crawford married, at Richmond, \'"ir- ginia, November 8, 1906, Bessie, born in Richmond, Virginia, April 3, 1887, daugh- ter of Henry W. and Elizabeth (Werst) Rountree, and has one son, Henry Roun- tree, born at Harrisonburg, Virginia, May 17, 1908.

Hon. John Lamb, of Richmond, Virginia, is descended frc)ni an old colonial family that was settled in Charles City county as early as 1650, at "Rural Shades," which was the ancestral home of the family for some two hundred years or more. That domicile is in the historic region early settled by English colonists, which later was made famous by its colonial mansions and is noted for the generous hospitality of its citizens. It was the birthplace and home of John Lamb, a descendant of the original founder of the family there, who tilled the broad acres of his estate, and lived as became a Virginia gentleman of a hundred years ago. He was a Whig of the old school ; and an independent man of affairs who had an opin- ion of his own upon all public questions He married Mary Emory Moody, who had issue, as follows: Lycurgus Anthony, of whom further; John M., James.

fll) Lycurgus Anthony Lamb, son of

John and Mary Emory (Moody) Lamb, was born in 1813 in Charles City county, Vir- ginia, at Rural Shades, the old homestead of the Lambs. He was educated in the local schools of his native state ; he was teacher, civil engineer, county surveyor, and magis- trate under the old county court system in Charles City county, Virginia. In politics he was a Whig of the Henry Clay type. He married Ann Elizabeth Christian, daughter of James H. and Susan (Hill) Christian, of Charles City county, Virginia. She was a granddaughter of Lieutenant Joseph Chris- tian, of Charles City ; who served in the rev- olutionary war ; a daughter of the Rev. James Hendricks Christian and Susan (Hill) Christian, of Charles City, Virginia, who had issue, namely: James H., Isaac H., Anne Elizabeth, of whom above ; America ; Susan Christian.

(Ill) John (2) Lamb, son of Lycurgus Anthony and Ann Elizabeth (Christian) Lamb, was born June 12, 1840, in Sussex county, Virginia. He was educated per- sonally by his father, who was a teacher of private schools, until he was fifteen years old, when his father, dying, he continued his studies alone thereafter; he toiled on the farm and studied civil engineering in the evenings and during spare time until he had mastered the elements of that study, but the civil war came on, just as he attained man's estate, he enlisted as a private in the Charles City troop, which afterward became Company D, Third Virginia Cavalry, at- tached to W^ickam's brigade. Confederate States army. He served throughout the war, was several times wounded, twice se- A'erely, and finally laid down his arms when General Lee surrendered at Appomattox, April 9, 1865, as captain of his company, which he had commanded for three years. The war being over, he returned to Charles City county, where he engaged in farming, and li\ ed there until 1888, when he removed to Richmond, Virginia

In Charles City county he was elected sherifY soon after the war; and afterward served his people as county treasurer and county surveyor. He was chairman of the County Democratic Committee for .several years, and was elected to the fifty-fifth, fifty- sixth, fifty-seventh, fifty-eighth, fifty-ninth, sixtieth, sixty-first and sixty-second Con- gresses, as a Democrat from the Third Vir- ginia District, comprising the counties of