University of Virginia Library

NANSEMOND COUNTY.

JAMES H. BEDELL.

The subject of this sketch, now a resident of Suffolk, Nansemond
county, Virginia, was born in Dutchess county, New York, on August
12, 1836. He is a son of James H. and Alfina A. (Ada) Bedell, both
now deceased, and his wife is Sarah W., daughter of Thomas E. and
Julia Webb, formerly of Brooklyn, New York, now dead. They were
married in Brooklyn on December 31, 1855, and have six living children:
William T., Julia B., James H., Fannie A., Alve A. and Samuel W. They
have lost four children: Richard G., Sarah W., George W. and Harry S.

Mr. Bedell went to school in Brooklyn, New York, then learned the
engravers trade. In 1854 he went into the business of kindling-wood
manufacturer, in which he has been engaged ever since, as follows:
1854-5, in New York City; 1856, Baltimore, 1857, in Washington,
D. C.; later went to Clermont, Virginia, and in business there until he
returned to Baltimore in 1859, remaining there ten years. From 1869
to 1874 at Salisbury, Maryland; in Philadelphia 1874-9, then in Williamsport,
Pennsylvania, until 1886, when he came to Suffolk. Here he
has put up a kindling-wood factory at a cost of $32,000, which he superintends,
at the same time connected with kindling mills in Williamsport,
Pennsylvania.

EDWARD EVERETT HOLLAND

Is a son of Z. E. Holland, of Nansemond county, Virginia, and Ann S.
Holland, nee Pretlow, who died October 21, 1883, aged sixty-four
years. He was born in Nansemond county, on February 27, 1860.
After four years study at Richmond College, he took the law course in

the same college, then at the University of Virginia. He was admitted
to the Bar in 1881, and has been in practice since that time in Nansemond
and adjoining counties. Mr. Holland was mayor of Suffolk, from
July 1, 1885 to July 1, 1887. He is now commonwealth attorney for
Nansemond county, for the term beginning July 1, 1887, ending July 1,
1891.

He married in this county, on November 26, 1884, Sarah Othelia,
daughter of P. H. Lee and Joanna Lee, nee Rawles, of Nansemond
county. They have one son, Lee Pretlow Holland, born September 2,
1885.

ROBERT E. JONES.

Mr. Jones has been a resident of Suffolk since 1884, engaged in business
with a brother there, the firm name and style, Jones & Bro.,
wholesale and retail dealers in coal, ice, hay, grain, and agricultural
lime. He was born in Charlton county, Georgia, March 16, 1864, but
is of a Virginia family.

His father, William Henry Jones, born in Nansemond county, Virginia,
and now again a resident in the county, was in service in the
Confederate States Army during the late war. His mother, whose
maiden name was Emma C. Copeland, died in 1883.

At Tarboro, North Carolina, October 12, 1887, Robert E. Jones
married Sue W., daughter of Frank S. Wilkinson and Annie Wilkinson,
nee Stronach, of Charlton.

JUDGE WILBUR J. KILBY

Was born in Suffolk, Virginia, on April 18, 1850. His early education
was received in the town schools of Suffolk, and in 1867 he entered Randolph-Macon
College, at Boydtown, Virginia, attending one session
there, after which, in 1868, the college was removed to Ashland, Virginia,
where he remained two sessions, graduating in various schools.
He then entered the law school of the University of Virginia, in the fall
of 1870, and spent two sessions there. In August, 1872, he began to
practice law in Suffolk, where he has remained ever since. He was a
member of the law firm of Kilby & Son, and thus privileged to associate
himself at the beginning of his career with his eminent father,
whose name was known and honored throughout Virginia. On the death
of his father he continued to carry on the business of the firm. He has
been a member of the council of Suffolk, and is now ably filling the office
of judge of the county court.

His father, the late Hon. John Richardson Kilby, was born in Hanover
county, Virginia, on December 31, 1819, the son of Turpin Kilby, who
was a son of John Kilby, who was born in Vienna, Dorchester county,

Maryland, and settled in Hanover county in colonial days. The Hon.
John R. Kilby began his business life at the age of fourteen years, as
assistant to the clerk of court, Nansemond county; later was deputy
sheriff of the county. While faithfully discharging the duties of these
positions, he gave his leisure time to the study of law, and in 1845 was
admitted to the Bar. He was soon recognized as one of the leading
members of his profession in Tidewater Virginia, a result due no less to
his high moral worth than to his ability and his unsurpassed command
of legal lore. Among the public offices he filled were: Representative
from Nansemond county to the General Assembly of Virginia, 1851-2-3;
elector for the State; and delegate to various State and National conventions.
He was president of the Commercial Bank of Suffolk some
years, also. In 1843 he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, from which time he devoted his means and his abilities to the
cause of Christianity in every way that presented itself. His charities
were unbounded, and he gave his services in many offices, church steward,
church trustee, trustee of church college, president of society for the
relief of disabled ministers, Sunday-school superintendent, delegate to
General and Annual Conferences. This honorable and useful career
closed with his death in Suffolk, December 5, 1878, at the age of fifty-nine
years. One mourning this loss in his death then wrote: "Let this
epitaph be graven on the granite which shall mark his resting place:
This man served his own generation by the will of God."

The maiden name of Judge Kilby's mother was Martha Jane Louisa
Smith. She was born in the old mansion of her father, Arthur Smith,
corner Main and Second streets, Suffolk, where she lived seventy-one
years, until her death on February 7, 1888. Her father was forty years
postmaster in Suffolk, keeping the office at his residence.

Judge Kilby had two brothers in the Confederate States Army: Leroy
R., entered as private Company B, 16th Virginia Infantry, was promoted
through all grades to captain, and was in command of his regiment at
the surrender at Appomattox C. H.; died in Suffolk, October 12, 1883.
Wallace, the other brother, was a private in the same company, and
served part of the time as courier for General Weisiger; was wounded
once in arm, and once in leg; now a merchant of Suffolk.

The wife of Judge Kilby, whom he married at her father's residence,
near Newton, King and Queen county, Virginia, September 5, 1876, is
Harriet L., daughter of Joseph Brownley, her mother's maiden name,
Mary Catharine Howerton. She was born in King and Queen county,
as were her parents, both now deceased.

The children of Judge and Mrs. Kilby are three: Bradford, John
Richardson and Hilah. They have buried one daughter, Miriam Brownley,
died September 4, 1881, aged two and a half years.

WILLIAM H. PIERCE.

Patrick Pierce, born in Isle of Wight county, Virginia, died in 1884,
and Lucy (Gay) Pierce, died in 1884, were the parents of the subject of
this sketch. He was born in Isle of Wight county, on July 15, 1849.

At the age of seventeen years, in 1866, he began business as a general
merchant, a career that has been highly successful. He is now the
owner of three general stores in Suffolk, and carries on as a separate
business, a general feed store.

In Suffolk, May 14, 1877, Mr. Pierce married Mary E., daughter of
Sylvester Oliver, of Suffolk. Her mother, whose maiden name was
Mary Fluhart, is no longer living.

Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have one child, Olah, born April 23, 1886. Their
first-born was a son, named William H., born April 23, 1879, died
December 15, 1884.

JUDGE PETER B. PRENTIS,

Born in Suffolk, Virginia, on April 5, 1820, and now the oldest male
resident of Suffolk born there, is a son of Joseph Prentis, of Williamsburg,
Virginia, who was a son of Judge Joseph Prentis of the District Court, and
who was Speaker of the House of Burgesses. (See Hickey's Constitution.)
The mother of Judge Prentis was Susan Caroline, daughter of
Col. Robert Moore Riddick, of Jericho, Nansemond county. His father
was many years surveyor for the port of Suffolk, was commonwealth
attorney, and clerk of the circuit and county courts of Nansemond
county from June, 1838, to his death, which occurred on April 30,
1851.

In Isle of Wight county, Virginia, December 23, 1841, Judge Prentis
married Eliza Wrenn, who was born in that county. They have one
daughter, Martha J., born March 21, 1845, who married, September 20,
1864, Capt. Charles H. Causey, now of Suffolk.

Judge Prentis' first teacher was a Mrs. Russell; the second was Joel
Holleman, who afterwards was Speaker of the House of Delegates and
a member of Congress. After studying under several other teachers,
all of Suffolk, he went, in August, 1836, to the "Amelia Academy,"
which was conducted by the late William H. Harrison at "The Oaks"
and later at "The Wigwam," the former residence of Gov. W. B. Giles.
In September, 1838, he entered the University of Virginia, where he
remained until July, 1840. In June, 1841; he was admitted to the
Bar, and practiced in Isle of Wight, Nansemond and Southampton
counties up to March court, 1852.

On the death of his father he was appointed deputy clerk of
courts, Circuit and County, and in April, 1852, he was elected to the

office of clerk for term of six years. He entered on the duties of the
office in July, 1852, and served in same until May, 1871. Having
remained out of office from that time until June, 1873, he was then
appointed Judge of the county court by Governor Walker, and at the
succeeding legislature was elected to the office, which he filled until
July, 1875, when he again entered on the duties of clerk of the court,
having been elected clerk in the May previous. He has held this office
continuously since that time.

In May, 1863, he was made prisoner by Federal troops, and held in
his office three or four days, then sent to Norfolk city jail, thence to
Fortress Monroe, then to Fort Norfolk. From the last he was released
when Longstreet invested Suffolk, having been held, as shown in his
diary which the Yankees had stolen from him, six weeks and one half
hour.

JOHN M. SHEPHERD.

John M., son of James M. and Martha A. (Britt) Shepherd, was born
at Suffolk, Virginia, on November 13, 1843. His father, born in Nansemond
county, died at the age of thirty-five years. His mother is
living in Suffolk, now sixty-three years of age.

John M., was in the Confederate States army from the beginning to
the close of the War between the States, serving in Company A, 16th
Virginia regiment, in Mahone's brigade.

At Smithfield, Virginia, January 9, 1867, he married Carrie Minnie
Hall, born in Isle of Wight county, Virginia. They have two daughters,
Annie M., Carrie J., and two sons, James T., Fred W. Mrs. Shepherd
was the daughter of Thomas W. Hall, who was born in Isle of Wight
county, and died in 1862.

Since February 1, 1873, John M. Shepherd has held positions as
railroad agent for the N. & W. R. R., telegraph operator and express
agent.