Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/319

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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course, and in 1886 was graduated from the law department of the university, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Soon after graduation he located at Boston, Massachu- setts, where he engaged in the practice of law. until 18S8. when he returned to his na- tive city, and was soon after appointed city attorney. This position he filled capably and acceptably until President Cleveland appointed him United States attorney for the eastern district of \"irginia. In 1896 he resigned this position and soon after became a candidate for the office of attorney-general of Virginia before the Democratic conven- tion of the state, lacking only a few votes of securing the nomination. In 1899 he was appointed superintendent of the twelfth census for the fourth Congressional district of V^irginia. In 1900 Mr. Lassiter was elected to Congress from that district to fill a va- cancy, and was re-elected for the succeed- ing term. He was again re-elected in 1906 and 1908, and died in office, October 31, 1909, cut down in the prime of a most useful and exemplary life. In the early years of his life, Mr. Lassiter was captain of one of the military companies of Petersburg, and was afterwards elected major of the regi- ment of which his company formed a part. Major Lassiter's place in the esteem of his contemporaries was gained by persistent ef- fort and untiring industry, and his impress will be left upon the life of the state when many others have been forgotten.

One of his eulogists, Mr. Hay, of Virginia, said of him:

He was above all a gentleman, courteous, kind, gentle to a fault, considerate of others, of most engaging manners, and manners are not idle, but the fruit of loyal nature and of noble mind. He was a loyal friend. In all relations of life he never faltered in his allegiance to the highest principles of truth and honor. In defeat he was not bitter; in victory he was magnanimous. He had an intense love for his state and for his people, and in their darkest hours he gave to them all the brilliancy of his intellect, all the energy of his being, all the loyalty of his nature. He was appreciated by his people. They had in him a confidence begotten by a hundred proofs of his devotion to them and to the principles in which they and he believed. He never hesitated to sacrifice his own interests, if by so doing he could promote the cause of his country and his party. He had but brief service in this house, but his broad culture and knoweldge of affairs made a deep impression upon all with whom he came in contact. He took great pride in his work- here and devoted himself to it with singleness of purpose and intelligent diligence. He had a high sense of the responsibility of his place in this great council. He felt that to be a member of this

body was a great honor and that he owed to it the best efforts of his mind. Words are all too poor to express our grief at his untimely taking off. He is where beyond these voices there is peace. He will live in the hearts of those who loved him, and his memory will be kept green by those he loved.

Mr. Lassiter married Fanny Page, daugh- ter of John McGill, of Petersburg, who died several years before him, without issue (see McGill).

Charles Trotter Lassiter. third son of Dan- iel William and Anna Rives (Heath) Lassi- ter, was born January 20, 1870, in Peters- burg, and was prepared for college at Mc- Cabe's well-known school of that city, after which he went abroad and pursued the study of law at the Ecole de Droit, in Paris, and was subsequently a student at the celebrated University of Goettingen, Germany. Re- turning to his native home he entered the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1892, with the degree of B. L. Immediately following this he engaged in the practice of law, and soon after formed a partnership with his brother, Major Fran- cis Rives Lassiter. above inentioned. under the style of Lassiter & Lassiter. This asso- ciation continued until the election of Major Lassiter to Congress. He was a second lieutenant of the A. P. Hill Rifles, which be- caine Company K of the Fourth Virginia Infantry, United States Volunteers, in the Spanish-American war. This regiment was stationed at Jacksonville, Florida, and did not engage in active hostilities. In 1901 Charles T. Lassiter was a member of the Virginia house of delegates, continuing un- til 1904, and was a member of the state sen- ate from 1906 to 1912. He devoted thirteen years in the efifort to secure good roads for the state, and was the author of the bill known as the Lassiter-Withers Law, whose passage he secured in 1906. This provides for a comprehensive highway system of roads to be constructed by convict labor un- der the charge of a commission. .As soon as he had secured the enactment of this beneficent law, Mr. Lassiter declined to be again a candidate for the legislature, and was succeeded by his law partner, Hon. H. P. Drewry, with whom he is engaged in the practice of law at Petersburg. Mr. Lassiter is active in various fraternal organizations, including the Free Masons, Knights of Pyth- ias. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Royal .Arcanum. He is a mem-