Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/702

 1 042

VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

and he was mayor of the city for twenty- five years. Because of his sympathies with the cause of the southern Confed- eracy, he was made a prisoner during the Civil war. Throughout his life he acted politically with the Democratic party, and was ever a faithful and consistent member of the Episcopal church. He married Maria Susan Thomas, a native of New England and a direct descendant of John and Pris- cilla Alden.

Charles Frederick Tucker was born Sep- tember 18, 1847, in Frankfort, New York, and died March 16, 1909, in Dallas, Texas. He was but two years of age when his par- ents removed to Louisiana, and was edu- cated at the University of Virginia, from which he graduated in 1870, in the law de- partment. He began the practice of his profession at Franklin, Louisiana, and in 1873 removed to Dallas, Texas. There he was held in high respect, and was appointed judge of the district court by Governor Sul. Ross. After serving some ten years on the bench, he retired about 1903. He was senior warden of St. Matthews (Protestant Epis- copal) Cathedral, of Dallas, and politically a steadfast and consistent Democrat. He married, December 16. 1874, Mary Sydnor Jones, born June 16, 1854, in Galveston, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus and Mary E. (Sydnor) Jones, the latter a daughter of John Seabrook and Mary Elizabeth (White) Sydnor, of Henrico county, Virginia. Chil- dren : St. George Brooke, of further men- tion ; Sydnor Jones, born January 22, 1877, resides in Ithaca, New York, where he is a banker ; Edith Garland, wife of Rev. James Craik Morris, dean of St. Mary's (Protest- ant Episcopal) Cathedral at Memphis, Ten- nessee; Charles Frederick, Jr., a banker of Buffalo, New York.

St. George Tucker was educated in pri- vate schools of Texas, and at seventeen years of age engaged in the railroad service as a clerk in the freight office of the Texas & Pacific Railroad. Following this he en- gaged in the fire insurance business at Dal- las and also in New Orleans. In 1904 he removed to the city of New York, and was employed by the New York Trust Com- pany as manager of its reorganization de- partment. Subsequently he was with Ber- tron Griscom & Company, bankers, and in 1914, was appointed secretary of the Board of Assessors of Greater New York. Mr.

Tucker is a man of high qualifications, and endearing personal characteristics. He has served as treasurer and is now a member of the executive committee of the Virginia So- ciety of New York, and is a member of the Southern Society and the Texas Club. In business affairs he is director of the Her- ring-Hall-Marvin Safe Company, and of the American Passimentre Company. He is a member of St. Thomas (Protestant Epis- copal ) Church of New York, and has wand- ered from the precepts of his fathers so far as to become a Republican in political prin- ciples. He is now assistant treasurer of the Republican Count v Committee of New York City.

James Cowan Meem. The world's mate- rial progress has, perhaps, been more rap- idly advanced by men engaged in furnishing means of transportation and communication than by any other class. The railroads, sub- ways, tunnels, etc., are the most important features of the world's forward movement, and the men who furnish these means of development are the men who deserve to be honored. James Cowan Meem, whose busi- ness activities at the present time keep him in New York City and its vicinity, is a man of the class just described. Both theoreti- cally and practically he is an engineer of unusual ability and the work on which he is engaged is certain to be well and accurately performed.

Captain John Gaw Meem, his father, was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, February 5, 1839. ''"d died at Washington, District of Columbia, January 2, 1908. He was a civil engineer and a planter by occupation. During the Civil war he was in the Confederate army, a member of the staff of General Edmund Kirby Smith, and held the rank of captain. He married, in 1862, Nancy Esterbrook. born in Knoxville, Tennessee, a daughter of James H. Esterbrook, of Knox- ville, and Lucinda (Dickinson) Cowan, of Amherst, Massachusetts. They had children : Rev. John Gaw Meem, of Rio Janeiro, South America, and James Cowan, whose name heads this sketch. The former was gradu- ated from the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, and later from the Theological Seminary of Alexandria, Vir- ginia. He married Elsie Krischke, and has had children : John G. Jr., James G., Ranuta Cowan, Elsie and Louis Cowan. In 1873,