Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/429

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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on matters pertaining to electric service, and is the author of many technical and practical articles in the electrical journals and read before gatherings of electrical experts. His executive ability is of a high order and in his chosen field of operations he is known as one of the strong, capable and efficient men of his day.

In political and religious thought he is a broad, liberal and independent thinker, bound by neither party nor creed. He is a member of the University Club, of Phil- adelphia, St. David's Golf Club, of Delaware county, and the Chi Phi fraternity. He also holds membership in many professional and business associations and wherever men meet who are interested in his line of ac- tivity he is an honored guest.

Mr. Hartman married, November 18, 1891, Mary Ella, daughter of Richard Henry and Tabitha (Curry) Lee, of old Alabama families.

Arthur Williams Sinclair, present post- master of Manassas, Virginia, in which office he makes his entry into the public service in a capacity other than that for which his professional training has made his services valuable. Throughout the greater part of his life connected with the legal profession in his native state, Virginia, for ten years, from 1903 to 1913, the law firm of Sinclair & Son was one well and favorably known, the name continuing its active association with that calling in Vir- ginia in the person of Charles Armistead Sinclair, son of Arthur Williams Sinclair, of this chronicle. Arthur Williams Sinclair is a son of James Mordecai Sinclair, of Scotch parentage, born in Dumfries, Vir- ginia, and Margaret (Williams) Sinclair, his mother a daughter of John Williams, from whom is descended also Judge C. E. Nicol. of Alexandria. Virginia. James Mor- decai Sinclair, a merchant and commercial traveler, was a member of the Confederate army in the war between the states from 1862 until the surrender at Appomattox Court House, enlisting from Prince William county, Virginia, as a private in Company A, Third Regiment of Virginia Cavalry.

Through the connection of the present generations of the line of Sinclair with the legal profession the following narrative told of a member of the family. Judge Charles E. Sinclair, is of especial interest. Judge

Sinclair was on the bench in Utah before that territory was admitted to the Union when the famous Morman leader, Brigham Young, was summoned into court. So per- fect did the old Morman believe was the equality between man and man that, in observance of a rule of the church which forbids the uncovering of the head before mere temporal authority, he was requested through a friend not -to appear in court be- fore the judge with his hat on. Brigham Young complying with the order of the court, took off his hat, but, making a fine distinction in favor of his religion, took from his pocket a handkerchief of generous dimen- sions and placed it upon his head before entering the court, thus not only satisfying the court, but likewise his conscience. His apt remedy for the conflict between the laws of the state and church reminds one of the ingenious solutions to troublesome prob- lems found in the Old Testament stories of King Solomon, and proved that, however great a fallacy his religious belief may have been, the old Mormon was at least quick of wit.

Arthur Williams Sinclair, son of James Mordecai and Margaret (Williams) Sinclair, was born in Brentsville, Prince William county, Virginia, September i, 185 1, and was there educated in the private schools. He began his business career as a clerk in a book store m Washington, D. C. After several years he returned to the place of his birth, and entered the law office of Judge C. E. Nicol, there remaining for seven years. Being admitted to the bar of Virginia in 1881. he subsequently became a partner of his former preceptor, an association continu- ing during the year 1893. From that time until 1903. when he received his son, Charles Armistead, into partnership, Mr. Sinclair practiced independently, the firm of Sinclair & Son continuing until 1913, when, receiv- ing the appointment as postmaster at Man- assas, he retired from his legal practice which had been continued with excellent active success for twenty-five years. For twenty-seven years he was commissioner in chancery for the circuit court of Prince Wil- liam county, an office to which he was ap- pointed by Judge James Keith, now presi- dent judge of the supreme court of Vir- ginia, and was appointed by Judge C. E. Nicol examiner of records in the eighth judicial circuit of Virginia. Having re-