Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/58

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

Manassas. Virginia, there establishing a hospital and sanitarium, which he con- ducted for two and a half years. He then entered the service of the Southern Railroad Company as investigator, continuing with that company nine years, investigating fraudulent and genuine cases of injury all over the territory in which the Southern operated. In 1914 he located in Strasburg, Virginia, where he established a hospital and sanitarium, of which he is head physi- cian and surgeon.

Dr. Duncan is a member of Manassas Lodge, No. 182, Free and Accepted Masons ; Plains Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Plains, Virginia : charter member and past noble grand of Manassas Lodge, Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, and in both re- ligion and politics independent in thought and action. \Miile located in Mount Pleas- ant, Pennsylvania, Dr. Duncan qualified as a pharmacist, passed the examinations re- quired by the state board of pharmacy, and in connection with his medical practice con- ducted a drug store.

Dr. Duncan married, in June, 1901, Mary Frances Garner, born in Wheeling, West Virginia, daughter of William and Annie (Kline) Garner.

Henceford Noel Garner. Comparatively a newcomer to the legal ranks of the city of Alexandria, Virginia, the qualities that gained Henceford Noel Garner admission to the bar of Virginia assure him a successful continuance in that profession, a result the prophecy of which is justified by the favor he has gained during the five years that he has been in practice in that city. He is a son of John Wyatt Garner, born in Stafford county, Virginia, August 28, 1850, whose father, John Garner, was a native of the same county. John Garner, grandfather of Henceford Noel Garner, married Sally Con- yers, tradition stating that the American an- cestor of the Conyers family accompanied Captain John Smith to America. John Wyatt Garner is engaged in the insurance business in .\lexandria, Virginia, and through his service in Hart"s Battery, Wade Hampton's Legion, of South Carolina troops, holds membership in the R. E. Camp, Confederate X'eterans of the civil war. He was twice wounded in action, neither time seriously, and since returning from the front has been engaged in business. He married

Marion Frances Alexander Jones, born in Stafford county, \^irginia, December 12, 1857, and among their children is Henceford Noel, of whom further.

Henceford Noel Garner, son of John Wyatt and Marion Frances Alexander (Jones) Garner, was born in Charlestown, \^'est Virginia, October 24, 1882. He pur- sued his youthful studies in the public schools of Lynchburg, Virginia, his instruc- tion including a high school course, after which he enrolled in and graduated from Woods Commercial College, of Washing- ton, District of Columbia. He then became a clerk and student in the office of Judge Norton, an attorney of Alexandria, continu- ing so until his first legal practice in 1909, at the same time, from 1904 to 1907, taking a legal course in the George \Vashington University, whence he was graduated LL. B in the latter year. On February i, 1909, he opened an office in Alexandria, where he has since been engaged in active practice, and at the present time has a generous clientele among the best class of the city's residents. Mr. Garner's lodges are the local organization of the Improved Order of Red Men, Potomac Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Masonic order, in which he belongs to Andrew Jackson Lodge, No. 120, Free and Accepted Alasons, Mount Vernon Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Old Dominion Commandery, Knights Templar, also holding the thirty- second degree in Scottish Rite Masonry. He is a member of and for four years has been commander of M. D. Corse Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and holds the first lieutenant's rank in Company G, First Regi- ment Virginia National Guard. He affiliates with the Democratic party, and is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church.

■Wilbur Boswell Payne, M. D. Bath county, \'irginia, and Warm Spring Valley in that county has long been the family seat of the Paynes. The original settler there was Lewis (i) Payne, born January 31, 1 73 1, who located in ^^'arm Spring Valley on a tract of land granted by the govern- ment to his wife, Nancy (Davis) Payne, whose brother received a similar grant for revolutionary war service. Lewis Payne was a son of Daniel Payne, who was also a revolutionary soldier, and was killed at the battle of Cowpens, South Carolina. Among