Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/766

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

Lorn January 26, 1889, married Charles Chi- chester Curtis, vi. Fay McMillan, born No- vember 5, 1890. vii. Georgie Schmelz, born March 14, 1S92. viii. Martha Jones, born May 8, 1895. ix. Mollie Hazen, born Octo- ber 20. 1896. X. William Causey, born June 23, 1899. xi. Nannie Lee Jackson, born January 19, 1902. xii. Thomas Mackey, born November 16, 1903.

George Anton Schmelz, son of Frank An- ton Schmelz, was born in Hampton, Vir- ginia, February 25, 1855, and died January g. 191 1. He grew to maturity in the city of his birth, there obtaining his education, and with his brother, Henry Lane, succeeded their father in the management of the bak- ery and grocery business established by the elder Schmelz. Subsequently the brothers embarked in banking ventures, founding in Flampton a banking business on North King street, a substantial institution that flourished and prospered, and about 1889 they founded Schmelz Brothers' Bank in Newport News. George Anton Schmelz took personal charge of the latter institu- tion, and under his careful guidance it gain- ed a reputation for soundness and substan- tiality that enabled it easily to weather any storms that broke upon the financial world, its deposits at the time of Mr. Schmelz's death being equal to those of any two other banks in the city. Henry Lane Schmelz continued the Hampton branch of the busi- ness, the brothers also gaining interests in financial institutions in Norfolk, investing, also, in real estate in that city. Mr. Schmelz was privately interested in many btisiness ar.d industrial enterprises in Newport News and vicinity, which profited from his wise suggestions and directions. One of his characteristics in business was the manner in which he familiarized himself with the per- sonnel of his working force, and many suc- cessful business men of the present day owe their position to the start he gave them upon perceiving in them qualities of indus- try, ambition and persistence. Charitable and beneficent institutions and beneficent organizations knew him as a loyal and lib- eral friend, although he never permitted public announcement to be made of his gifts of this nature. His donations to the home and foreign work of the Baptist de- nominations were numerous and generous, and he frequently contributed directly to special funds in churches throughout the

state. The Memorial Baptist Church of Hampton, on Newport News avenue, is evidence of the substantial nature of his gifts, and in this church he founded what grew to be the largest Bible class for men in Virginia. Mr. Schmelz had no vision of duty done when mere financial aid had been rendered worthy institutions, and his ser- vices in time and personal effort were of greater worth than the large sums he ex- pended. As leader and teacher of the Bible class previously mentioned, an organization that wielded a tremenduous influence in church and civil aft'airs, Mr. Schmelz was the fountain-head of that influence, devot- ing himself with heart and soul to the work that awaited him. He was frequently the delegate of his church to conventions throughout the state, often taking active part in the discussion and deliberation of such gatherings. Richmond College, his alma mater, was the object of his lifelong afl:ection, and among the alumni of that worthy institution there were few who re- flected greater credit upon her by the merit of their careers. He fraternized with New- port News Lodge, No. 315, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

George Anton Schmelz married, Fel:)ru- ary 19, 1S82, Georgia Hickman, who died January 16, 1908, sister of the first wife of his brother, Henry Lane Schmelz. Chil- dren: Angle, born in 1884, married (first) in 1901, Frank H. Lake, and had children: Frank, Anne and George; (second) William B. Kurtz ; Ruth, born May 2, 1886, married, May 2, 1910, H. F. Elam, and has a daugh- ter, Elizabeth, born April 28, 1912; Hilda, born August 30, 1888, married, February 22, 191 1, William R. Van Buren, and has children, Nancy Elizabeth, born November 16, 1912, and William R. Jr., born August

21, 1914; Elsie, of whom further; Nancy Belle, born July 6, 1893.

Dr. Henry Lane Collier, son of Howard F., Sr., and Nannie Belle (Schmelz) Collie was born in Hampton, Virginia, September

22, 1886, and there attended public and pri- vate schools, the Hampton High School and the Hampton Academy, the private school in which he was a student maintained by Miss Molly Hope. In 1904 and 1905 he was a student in the Medical College of Virginia, and in 1909 pursued post-graduate studies in the City Hospital at Richmond. For six months following he performed the duties