University of Virginia Library

WILLIAM BAILEY ATKINS

William Bailey Atkins was the eldest son of Amos
and Margaret Griffith Atkins, being born in the
State of Indiana in 1827. A few years after his
birth he removed with
his parents to Franklin
County, Virginia,
which had been the
early home of his
mother, Margaret Griffith
Atkins. It was
there that the subject
of this sketch grew to
manhood, and at the
age of twenty-two
years married Edith
Akers. To this union
nine children were
born, viz: James Amos,
Annie Amelia, Thomas
Clemens, Levi Burrell,
Laura May, Margaret
Selina, Nathaniel B.,
Bettie Cordelia, and
Maranda Atkins.

In the year 1862 William B. Atkins removed with
his wife and interesting family of children to Bent
Mountain from Franklin County, and settled, buying
a farm from David Aliff on the headwaters of
Back Creek, where he lived until the day of his
death and reared his family of children to manhood
and womanhood.

James Amos Atkins, the oldest son, married
Florence King, and shortly afterwards removed to
Dallas County, Texas, where he spent several years,
later removing to Oklahoma, where he now resides.
The second son, Thomas Clemens, died in infancy.

Levi Burrell became a minister of the Gospel in
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and in 1894
joined the Baltimore Conference of that denomination
and has been and is now a trusted member of
that body.

Nathaniel B. Atkins, the fourth son, has long been
a resident of the city of Roanoke, where he has been
identified with the Virginia Bridge and Iron Company
as General Superintendent. He married a
Miss Nash, of Amherst County.

Annie Amelia became the wife of Benjamin
Griffith, of Franklin County, Virginia, and died in
the city of Norfolk a few years ago. Laura May
married Samuel Davis, of Franklin County, and died
at her home in 1899. Margaret Selina married Captain
J. W. Bondurant, an officer of the Norfolk &
Western Railway, and resides at present in Lynchburg,
Virginia. Bettie Cordelia married Edward
Jones, of Montgomery County, and resides at Lambert's
Point, Virginia, where he is foreman of the
Norfo