Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/391

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

815

teacher in the academy. In 1872 he accepted the position of principal of the same institu- tion, but shortly after gave up teaching to take a course in the Eastman National Busi- ness College at Poughkeepsie, New York, from which he graduated with the degree of Master of Accounts. The post-graduate degree of Fellow of the Institute of Ac- counts of New York City was also con- ferred upon him in April, 1896. His inter- ests were completely enlisted in the pro- fession and he determined upon it as his life work in spite of the opposition of his parents. He taught for some time in the public schools of Monroe, and founded at Sinks Grove, February 22, 1872, the Duns- more Business College. Here he remained for eight years or until the spring of 1880, when he removed to Staunton, V^irginia. and there reestablished his commercial school. It was incorporated by the legislature of Virginia and its charter approved by Gov- ernor Cameron, November 29, 1884, and re- incorporated by the department of the state corporation commission, February 20, 1914, as the Dunsmore Business College, Incor- porated. With the ever growing impor- tance of the industrial and commercial ele- ments in the life of to-day, the business col- lege is coming to occupy a larger and more conspicuous place in the educational world, and among such schools there are few older and none with a higher or more deserved reputation for high ideals and efficiency than The Dunsmore Business College, In- corporated.

Mr. Dunsmore is a Presbyterian in re- ligion, and a Democrat in politics. He is prominently affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of the Blue Lodge, No. 13; Union Chapter, No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, of Staunton, and Stevenson Com- mandery, No. 8, Knights Templar. Mr. Dunsmore is also a member of many edu- cational associations and learned societies. He has done considerable traveling, and is a member of the National Geographic Society.

Mr. Dunsmore married (first) February 8, 1872, S. E. Nickel!, and they were the par- ents of eight children ; she died April 19, 1890. He married (second) September 8, 1892, Mrs. M. J. McClung, granddaughter of Robert Sitlington. deceased, daughter of J. W. Alexander, deceased, both prominent farmers of McDowell, Highland county, Virginia, and a half-sister of the late Pro-

fessor J. R. S. Sterrett, deceased, who held the chair of post-graduate Greek and Archaeology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, at the time of his death, June 15, 1914.

William Alexander Thorn, M. D. On the

narrow peninsula lying between the Atlan- tic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay, two miles from the sea and about forty-five miles from Norfolk, lies the town of Eastville, capital of Northampton county, Virginia, the birth- place of Dr. William A. Thorn and the scene of his early struggles as a practitioner of medicine. The experience there gained was the foundation upon which he built a won- derfully successful and varied career, one pursued amid scenes far from his native state and in foreign lands and one ending in distinction in the city of Norfolk, not far from his native town.

Dr. William Alexander Thom was born in Eastville, Virginia, in 1852, died in Nor- folk, 1894. His early life was spent in his native town and there he began his years of study that terminated at the Virginia Military Institute. After completing his studies at the latter famed institution he began a course of professional study at Richmond Medical College, whence he was graduated Doctor of Medicine. Returning to Eastville after graduation he there began practice, but later went west, locating in Los Angeles, California, there spending sev- eral years in successful practice. Induce- ments were then offered him, which were so attractive that he closed up his interests there and went to Peru, South x-\merica, where he served in the capacity of head physician of a large hospital in one of the principal cities of that country. Finally he returned to his native state, locating in Norfolk, where he established a private practice that steadily grew until his death in 1894 at the early age of forty-two years. His varied experience in different climes brought him in contact with every form of disease and he attained a personal knowledge that far transcends that of the physicians whose experience is gained in one locality. Norfolk, being a port open to the ships of every nation, required such a man to safeguard the health of her citizens and Dr. Thom was appointed health officer of the city. He fought contagion in every form and during his incumbency in that office kept the city from serious epi- demic, notwithstanding its exposed situa- tion. His private practice was large, yet he