Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/289

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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ginia, whence he was graduated Bachelor of Arts, class of 1910. He then entered the law department of the University of Vir- ginia, receiving his degree, Bachelor of Laws. 1913. the year of his father's death. He began practice in Danville in June, 1913, and is well established in public esteem, wise in counsel, and skillful in the manage- ment of his cases. He has business inter- ests of importance, being financially inter- ested in the Riverside and Dan River Mills, the Danville Knitting Mills, the Virginia National Bank, and the Danville Coopera- tive Warehouses. He is a metnber of the Protestant Episcopal church, the societies, Theta Delta Chi and Sigma Delta Chi (Uni- versity of Virginia) and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In political faith he is a Democrat. Mr. Aiken is unmar- ried.

Colonel Robert Kent Spiller. .\s a mem- ber of the legal profession Robert Kent Spiller. of Roanoke, X'irginia, has achieved distinction and won success. He is a man of strong intellectuality, with a comprehen- sive knowledge of the law, and in the hand- ling of the cases entrusted to his care has shown a masterful ability which has gained him a foremost place. He is the grandson of William Hickman and Julia (Crockett) Spiller. and the son of William Hickman and Cynthia (McComas) Spiller. both born in Wytheville. Virginia, where the former is now a merchant and banker, the latter a daughter of Thomas JefTerson Boyd.

Robert Kent Spiller was born in Elk Gar- den. Russell county, Virginia. June 30, 1881. His education was a liberal one, and was acquired at first under private tuition, then at the Wytheville Military Academy, and finally at the Blacksburg Agricultural In- stitute (now the \'irginia Polytechnic In- stitute), in the electrical engineering depart- ment. Later he purchased the Wytheville electrical lighting plant, which he conducted personally until the outbreak of the Spanish- American war. when he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the .'second Regiment Vir- ginia X'olunteer Infantry. This was at- tached to the Seventh United States Army Corps, and Colonel Spiller became first lieu- tenant in the Forty-second United .States \ olunteers, and was sent to the Philippine Islands, where he spent two years in active service. His next service was in Cuba and the Hawaiian Islands. May 28, 1902, he re-

ceived his commission as first lieutenant in the United States regular army, which he held until December, 1908, when he was placed on the retired list on account of phy- sical disability. He then became a student at the New York University Law School, from which he was graduated in the class of 1910, and then took a further course in law for one year at the University of Virginia. At the end of this year he established him- self in the practice of his profession at Nos. 515 and 516 First National Bank Building, Roanoke, Virginia, and now has a lucrative and extended practice. He was appointed colonel on Governor Stuart's staff in Febru- ary, 1 9 14.

Mr. Spiller married, December 28, 1909, Kathleen, a daughter of James S. and Lillian (Wise) Sexton, of Hazelhurst, Mississippi, the former a prominent attorney in his state. Mrs. Spiller is a member of St. John's Epis- copal Church, and they have one child : Kathleen Sexton. Mr. Spiller is a member of the Masonic fraternity ; the Army and Navy Club of New York City: Southern Society of New York City ; Virginia Society of New York City ; Army and Navy Club of Manila, Philippine Islands : Shenandoah Club, of Roanoke.

Henry William Harrison, M. D. Dr.

Henry \\'illiam Harrison, of Roanoke. Vir- ginia, is a man of splendid intellectual en- dowment, cultivated by liberal educational ad\antages, and he has won a standing in the medical profession of Virginia which is second to none in his part of the state. His life has been an eventful one, comprising several years of active service during the civil war, in which he served with gallantry and bravery. He is a son of Gasner and Elizabeth Louise Carter (Tucker) Harrison, and a grandson of the Hon. George Tucker, who once served as a congressman, and was a member of the faculty of the University of Virginia. His brother is Dr. George Tucker Harrison, of New York City.

Dr. Henry W'illiam Harrison was born in Charlottesville. Virginia, September 15, 1850. and obtained his elementary education in the schools of his birthplace. After pass- ing with credit through the academic depart- ment of the University of Virginia, he ma- triculated at the College of Physicians and -Surgeons in New York City, and was grad- uated from this institution in the class of 1882, the degree of Doctor of Medicine being