Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/648

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

April 22, 1773, Lettice, daughter of Micajah 2nd Rebecca Wills, of a prominent Burling- ton county family. They had ten children.

Jacob Wills Lippincott. third son of Levi Lippincott. was born in Evesham town- ship, Septenil:)er 10, 1783. and resided in Lvesham and Springfield townships until his death, about 1834. He married, Febru- ary 6, 1812, Sarah, daughter of Joshua Bal- linger, of Burlington county, a lineal de- scendant of Henry l^allinger, one of the pro- prietors of West Jersey in 1684.

Joshua Ballinger Lippincott, only child of Jacob Wills and Sarah (Ballinger) Lippin- cott, was born at Juliustown, Burlington county. New Jersey, March 18, 1813, died in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, January 5, 18S6. He became the founder of the great publishing house of J. B. Lippincott & Com- pany, a house that "aided in making Phil- adelphia known and respected not only in this country but also over the whole civil- ized world." He was also one of Philadel- phia's foremost business men. a member of the board of trustees of the LTniversity of Pennsylvania, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was one of the founders of the Union Club (which later became the Union League), the Social Art Club, and a number of other societies. He married, October 16, 1845, Josephine, daughter of Seth Craig, a leading manufacturer of Philadelphia. They were the parents of four children.

Walter Lippincott, second son of Joshua Ballinger and Josephine (Craige) Lippin- cott, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, ]\Iarch 21, 1849. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and after leaving college became a member of J. B. Lippincott & Company. He married, Octo- ber 21. 1879, Elizabeth Trotter, daughter of Sigmund Hoeckley Horstmann, of Philadel- phia. Their only child was Bertha Horst- mann Lippincott. who married Dr. Strieker Coles, of Philadelphia.

Rorer A. James. Rorer A. James, born at Axton. the home and plantation of his father and of his maternal grandfather, in Pittsyl- vania county, Virginia, March i, 1859, was the third son of the marriage of Dr. John Craghead James and Angeline Rorer, his wife. His father was a prominent surgeon and physician and commanded an exception- ally large practice in the counties of Pitt-

sylvania and Henry, and, though a large land owner, gave little attention to demands other than those of his profession.

John Craghead James, M. D., was a pro- found and original thinker, and a great stu- dent of science and history, besides keeping thoroughly informed on current issues. An omniverous reader, his brilliant mind would rapidly and thoroughly digest, and his won- derful memory retain, ready for application, the store of information acquired by his fondness for reading. He possessed that remarkable faculty of concentration that when he set himself to a page, little dis- turbance short of personal contact could distract his attention. In a great measure self-taught, he was a profound and far-see- ing student. It is believed he was the first surgeon in the state to use chloroform as an anaesthetic ; when it was obtainable only in the crude or commercial form he recog- nized its possibilities and persistently ex- pierimented on dogs and cats, with a view of purifying it for use in human surgery. He was the son of Captain (Virginia militia) John James and Katherine Craghead, his wife, and grandson of John James, a well- to-do immigrant, who soon after arriving in America from Cornwall, England, bought land and settled in the northern part of now Pittsylvania; and later married Dinah Eas- ley. His mother was the daughter of John Craghead and Sallie Powell, his wife, whose eld homestead, with its substantial brick residence, still in striking repair, and owned and occupied by a sturdy great-grandson of the founder, crowning an eminence in Franklin county and over-looking Staunton river and the hills of Bedford, give mute testimony of the means and taste of this long-lived couple.

Sallie Powell, the wife of John Craghead, was a great-granddaughter of Ambrose Powell, the eminent surveyor and commis- sioner, who settled and ran the line between Virginia and Kentucky, and after whom the beautiful Powell valley, river and mountains on the border of the two states take their name.

On the maternal side Rcrer A. James is the grandson of Captain (Virginia militial .'\bram Rorer and Mary Wright, his wife, of Pittsylvania. The immigrant Rorer, or "Rohrer" as has been adopted by some l>ranches of the family, was a native of Switzerland, and settled near Philadelphia.