Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/431

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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enger, daughter of David and Hannah (Brown) Clevenger, of Stephenson, Vir- ginia. Children: i. David Arthur, married Rachel Jolliffe, and had children: Albert R., Bessie. Portia and W'illa. 2. James William, of further mention below. 3. Mary R., mar- ried Frank j\l. Clevenger, an attorney and prominent citizen of Wilmington, Ohio, who has served as state senator ; they have chil- dren : Albert and Agnes. -- lames WilHam Robinson, second son of Jonathan and Alary Frances (Clevenger) Robinson, was born at Gainesboro, where he grew up, receiving instruction in the public schools and from private tutors. For two years he was engaged in teaching in Fred- erick county, \'irginia, and then went to Macon, Missouri, accepting a position with Thomas Robinson, where he was engaged in the dry goods business under the title of Robinson Brothers. Subsequently he was engaged in mercantile business four years in Kingman and Arkansas City, Kansas, after which he returned to Missouri, and located at Lamar, where, in company with C. G. Robinson, he conducted a dry goods and general store for a period of nine years. He located in Newport News, Virginia, March 28. i8gS, and nine days later opened what is known as the Broadway Store, which is now a very extensive establish- ment, known as a department store where a very handsome house furnishing business is conducted. They also conduct a ship- funnshing business, and do a mail order business, much after the plan of the cele- brated Charles Broadway Rouse store of New York City. The motto of the estab- lishment is "Ask for something ; we have it." Its guaranty is: "All goods sold by us are Guaranteed to be as represented. Our purpose is to supply you with the Best of everything in our line at the Lowest Pos- sible Price," and the chief lines of goods carried are : dry goods, notions, shoes, ladies' and men's furnishing goods, rugs, carpets, linoleum, tin ware, enamel ware and furni- ture. Mr. Robinson is an ideal merchant, and has built up a very extensive trade by his sound management, upright business methods and high personal character. He is a director of the First National Bank of Newport News, of the Merchants & Me- chanics Savings Association, and is an ex- vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce. He has ever been ready to foster and en-

courage all kinds of public improvements, and to him the city of Newport News owes much of its modern progress and substantial development. Mr. Robinson is an old-fash- ioned Ouaker, and uses the plainest of lan- guage, but his sincerity is evef apparent, and he is esteemed by every class as a man. The community is to be congratu- lated in having in its midst a citizen of old- time standards in morality and business, whose example should be an inspiration to every ambitious youth. Mr. Robinson mar- ried. January I, 1902, Clara Piggott, daugh- ter of Thomas and Sally (Brown) Piggott, of Loudoun county, Virginia, and they have two sons : William Donald and Thomas Harold.f 4-. ■; ^ '^^^et^y. ■

Benjamin Mason Hill, of Petersburg, be- longs to that race of hardy men, who in their nati\-e Scotland endured many hardships and privations in defence of their religious opin- ions, and whose descendants have been con- spicuous in carrying the doctrine of religious freedom to many pioneer communities in the United States. His father, Robert Rit- chie Hill, was born 181 7, in Scotland, and when a young man came to Petersburg, Virginia, where he was a partner in the to- bacco commission house of Martin Hill & Company, and later, Vaughan, Hill & Com- pany. He was a member of the reserves which fought in the defence of Petersburg during the war between the states, was at one time president of the National Bank of Petersburg, and died June, 1898, at the age of eighty-one years. He married Rosa Bland Batte, born in Prince George county, V'irginia, died in 1910, at the age of sixty- five years. They were the parents of two children: Benjamin M., of further mention; Almeria Orr. now the wife of LeRoy Hodges, of Petersburg.

Benjamin Mason Hill, only son of Robert Ritchie and Rosa Bland (Batte) Hill, was born August 7, 1884, in Petersburg, where his life has been passed. He attended the public schools of the city, including the high school, and was a student at Hampden-Sid- ney College, and Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York. He pursued a course in electrical engineering, and after leaving Cornell went to Schenectady, New York, where he was employed one year by the General Electric Company. In 1908 he set- tled at Petersburg, Virginia, and established