Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/602

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

North Carolina the session of 1889-90. He had in these two institutions prepared for the practice of law, and in 1891 was ad- mitted to the Virginia bar, beginning prac- tice that year in Danville, in association with his honored father as Withers and Withers. After the death of his father, the firm became \\'ithers & Green, then Green, Withers & Green, so continuing until 1908, when Mr. Withers withdrew and has since practiced alone. The law has been to him a jealous mistress, and he has devoted himself entirely to her service, standing high in his profession and commanding a large prac- tice in all state and Federal courts of his district.

A Democrat in politics. Mr. \\'ithers has given much time to the public service, and has been for years a dominant figure in state politics, bringmg to the service of his con- stituents the trained legal mind and the enthusiasm of a patriotic partisan, for par- tisan he is to the core, but eminently fair and honorable to his opponents both in law and politics. He was a member of the Vir- ginia house of delegates in 1893 and 1894. and state senator in 1895-96-97-98. In 1900 he was presidential elector, and in 1901 and 1902 member of the Virginia constitutional convention, and from 1907 until 1910 citv attorney of Danville. In both branches of the legislature Mr. Withers held important positions on committees, and was one of the strong men of that law making body. He has never sought personal advancement, but has worked with an honorable ambition to be of service to the state that adopted him. There is a close parallel between his career and that of his distinguished father in North Carolina — the peculiar problems that the father faced not existing for the son, nor the latter day questions that the son has faced, appearing to perplex the father. Yet both bore well their part, and each rose to power in public life and to a commanding position at the bar. Mr. Withers is a member of the Masonic order, is president of the Tuscarora Club of Dan- ville, and a supporter of the Christian re- ligion.

He. married in Danville. December 6, 1905, Daisy Hancock, born in Danville, April 15. 1878, daughter of William B. and Eleanor (Robinson) Hancock, the former born in Franklin county, the latter in Bed- ford county. Virginia, and both now resid-

ing in Danville, he being a traveling shoe salesman. Child of Eugene and Daisy Withers : Margaret \''ernon, born October 23, 1906.

Charles Carter Berkeley. Charles Carter Berkeley, an attorney of Newport News, be- longs to one of the most ancient and con- spicuous families of the Old Dominion. The name Berkeley comes from two words — the Danish and old English word "birke." mean- ing birch (one impress left on England by the Danes), and the word "lay" or "lea," meaning meadow, a grassy flat, pasture land, as a lay for cattle. These two words were compounded into the word "birke-ley," or the corruption of same, "Berkeley," meaning birch meadow. In the early days when men had but one name, such as John or Henn,-, they were more specifically designated by the places at which they dwelt, such as John of the birke-ley, finally contracted into John Berkeley, the name of the place being taken as the family name. And thus, evidently, came the Berkeley family name. In Glou- cestershire. England, near the banks of the Severn river, seventeen and one-half miles by rail southwest of Gloucester, and one hun- dred and one miles west-by-north of London, iri the "\'ale of Berkeley." which consists of rich meadow pasture land, lies the ancient town of Berkeley, and on an eminence to the southeast is Berkeley Castle, built in the reign of Henry I., out of the ruins of a nunnery which had been in existence some time before the Norman conquest. The castle is to-day one of the most perfect specimens of Norman style in Great Britain. Ir is said that before the Norman conquest of io(S6, the Berkeley family was of some importance in Gloucestershire, a stout and warlike people ; that they fought with Har- old at Hastings to the last man of them, and for years afterward resisted William of Normandy, with the other lords of W'estern England. During the reign of Henry II. this castle was in the possession of Eva Berkeley, all of the men who would have been entitled to the castle having died or been killed in battle during the numerous wars and insurrections, up to 1 162. when Robert Fitzhardinge. a descendant of Mau- rice Fitzhardinge. a knight who came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. married Eva Berkeley, was granted Berkeley Castle by Henry II. (England then