Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/526

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

stantly upward and that has taken him through the offices of chief clerk, claim agent, secretary and treasurer, secretary and auditor, to the important and responsible post of assistant general manager, to which he was appointed in 1912. His qualifications for his high office could not be improved upon, for through service in many depart- ments of the company's wide organization he has gained an insight, thorough and practical, into all of its workings, knowledge that has since stood him in good stead. His part in the direction of the vast coastwise trade of the Old Dominion Company re- quires the exercise of sound judgment, &ure foresight, and quick decision, for an error in high position can rarely be rectified, and to these exactions Mr. Palen has conformed in a manner eminently able. In business, as in private life, he is known for his un- failing courtesy and evenness of temper, and no crisis of business or press of aiTairs can separate him from his considerate manner and command of his emotions. Mr. Palen is a member of the Norfolk Board of Trade and of the Chamber of Commerce, in the latter organization holding position upon several important committees. He is a direc- tor of the Seaboard National Bank, Virginia Navigation Company, and Central Young Men's Christian Association of Norfolk. His clubs are the Borough, Virginia, Country and Chesapeake, and in the Masonic order he was a member of Owens Lodge, No. 164, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was past master ; Norfolk Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Grice Commandery, Knights Tem- plar, and Acca Temple, of Richmond, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

He married Lucy G. Stone, daughter of Robert Turnbull Stone, of Petersburg, Vir- ginia, in 1895.

Mrs. Katharine Hutchinson Flood. Daugh- ter of a clergyman of the Presbyterian church, granddaughter of an officer of the English army, wife of an officer of the Con- federacy, Mrs. Flood's life was begun under the peaceful conditions of the peace of the gospel ; she has tasted the full horrors of war and its attendant suffering. In her own life she has striven to heal, soothe and com- fort, and now a second time widowed, and walking amidst the lengthening shadows, rejoices that peace is the heritage of her children and that the crudest of all wars

and that among brethren is now about a dim memory. Her daughter, Jennie Kirk- patrick (Hobson) Scott, whose father was killed in battle, is a member and president of the Memorial Society of Gordonsville, Virginia, a society that has erected a memo- rial building for the Confederate dead, yet on each recurring Memorial day lays its tribute of beautiful flowers upon the graves of the Confederate and Federal alike. The mother has the pleasure of knowing that it was largely through the efforts of her daugh- ter that funds were collected and sufficient bonds sold to erect this building, that while it honors the dead, stands also as a beacon light of good will and a reunited country.

Katharine Hutchinson Flood is a grand- daughter of Thomas and Mary (Hutchin- son ) Kirkpatrick and a daughter of Rev. John Kirkpatrick, born in Mecklenburg county. North Carolina, in 1794, died in February, 1842, a minister of the Presby- terian church, first pastor of the Manchester, Virginia, church, and pastor of Cumlserland Presbyterian church. Mr. Kirkpatrick. learning from a Scotchman, Mr. Brain.ird, how to teach deaf mutes to speak, had a school of these unfortunates in Manchester, Virginia, succeeding with all but two in a class of seventeen. This was about 1818. long before such a feat was thought possi- ble by educators in this country. He was offered a flattering salary to go to France to teach deaf mutes, but declined, preferring to devote his time in the Master's vineyard. He married Jane M. Browne Jellis, daughter of Captain Thomas Jellis, born in Kent county, England. He was an officer in the English army, and while on furlough in 18 1 6 came to Cartersville, Cumberland county, Virginia. He was so well pleased with Vir- ginia that he remained, and ever afterward made Virginia his home ; he had married in Ireland Anastasia Deane. He died in 1823, aged fifty-one years, his wife surviving him but one week. Mrs. Flood's brother. Major Thomas Jellis Kirkpatrick, born July 31, 1829. was a captain of the Amherst artillery, Jackson's corps, Ewell's division of the Con- federate army, later promoted to major, serving until the final surrender, receiving but a slight wound in the hand, although often and hotly engaged. A half-brother of Mrs. Flood, Rev. John Mason Kirkpatrick, born in 1822, served for eight months as chaplain in the Confederate army, and was

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