Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/543

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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Shoemaker, a native of Germany, who set- tled in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where, at l.edford, was born in 1838, Her- bert Shoemaker, father of Charles V. Shoe- maker. Herbert Shoemaker has all of his life followed agriculture as his calling, and is now seventy-six years of age. He mar- ried Matilda, daughter of Jacob Brinker, her father dying in 1880.

Charles X'irgil Shoemaker, son of Herbert and Matilda ( Brinker) Shoemaker, was born in Bedford. Bedford county, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1880. After attending the public schools and the academy in the place of his birth, he entered Eastern College, at Man- assas, Virginia. From this institution he was graduated A. B. in 1902, and then at- tended summer school at the University of Virginia, preparing himself for educational work. During the term of 1905-06 he was a teacher in the graded schools of Wood- stock, ^"irginia, and from the latter year until 1910 was principal of the high school at Edinburg. Virginia. In 191 1 he became principal of the \\'oodstock Xorman Train- ing High School, and held that of^ce until his appointment by the Virginia State Board of Education as superintendent of schools at \\"oodstock. Virginia, his appointment dating from September 19, 1913. Mr. Shoe- maker's record in the positions that he has previously held in educational work, and the able way in which he has assumed the direction of the Woodstock schools show him to be a man of forceful decision, calm, deliberate judgment, and an educator whose ideas and ideals, always lofty, are character- ized by their practicality. The highest pos- sible level of efficiency for the Woodstock schools is the goal for which he strives, and surrounded by a corps of able assistants and competent faculties he has faith in gaining that end.

Aside from the positions enumerated above, Mr. Shoemaker has at times passed his vacations from duty in teaching in the summer schools at the University of Vir- ginia and at Winchester, Virginia. Nor does that end his activities, for he is the author of an English grammar, published by Captain Gaybill, a work simply and syste- matically arranged, filling a long-felt want in the teaching of elementary English. Mr. Shoemaker is a member of the Virginia State Teachers' Association, and fraternizes with the Masonic order, belonging to Lodge

No. 82, Free and .\ccepted Masons, and to Shenandoah Chapter, No. 17, Royal Arch Masons, of Edinlnirg, Virginia. He holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mr. Shoemaker married, December 30, 1912, Louisa, born at Newmarket, Virginia, September 13, 1886, daughter of William Harnsberger and Louisa ( Rice) Snapp.

Joseph Austin Sperry, a prominent busi- ness man of New York City, was born No- vember 3, 1S55, '" Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania. He is descended from revolutionary stock of Virginia, being a great-grandson of Jacob Sperrv, who was a private in Captain Daniel Alorgan's company of Virginia rifle men, in July, 1775. He participated in the expedition against Quebec, and was made a prisoner there, December 31, 1775.

Jacob Austin Sperry, M. D., a grandson of Jacob Sperry, was born in 1825, at Win- chester, Virginia, and graduated at Mary- land University. At the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861, he was the owner and editor of the Knoxville Daily Register in Tennessee. When General Burnside, with his Union forces, captured Knoxville, the paper and property of Dr. Sperry were con- fiscated, and shortly after that he went into the Confederate army. He was captured by the Union troops at Bristol, Virginia, and for over a year was held a prisoner of war, being released after the surrender at Appo- mattox. At one time during his service as a private soldier, he published a paper at .Atlanta, Georgia, printed on wall paper, the only material available. Two of his broth- ers, William and Alexander Sperry, were also in the Confederate service, the former having been previously a soldier in the Mexican war. Dr. Sperry was an author and pla>'^vright, being the author of a novel, "Conniston," and a successful play, called "Extremes," which had a run in New York City and Baltimore. He married Susan Butler Langley. born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, in 1S22, and now living in New York City. Children: i. Joseph Austin, of whom further. 2. William Miller, born in Bristol, Virginia, September 14, 1858, now resides in New York City, and is a member of New York Chapter, Sons of the Revolu- tion ; he married (first) Carrie Whitehead, now deceased; (second) Emily Mooney, and has by first wife, Carrie Whitehead Sperry,