HON. JAMES H. DOOLEY.
The subject of this sketch was born in the city of Richmond, on January
17, 1841: He attended school in Richmond, then entered Georgetown
College, D. C., where he was graduated on July 1, 1860. At the beginning
of the war he entered as a private the regiment of which his father
was major, the 1st Virginia Infantry, and served with it until wounded
and captured at Williamsburg. He was taken to Rip Raps and held
there three months. Exchanged at Varina in August, 1862, and disabled
for field service by his wound (in the right wrist) he was appointed
lieutenant of ordinance, in the Reserve Corps at Richmond, and so
served until the close of the war.
Immediately after, he engaged in the practice of law. In the fall of
1871 he was elected to the Legislature, where he served six successive
years, declining a re-election. In 1886 he was elected second vice-president
of the Richmond & Danville R. R. Co., and given charge of the law
department one year. He continues to practice in Richmond. At Staunton,
Virginia, September 11, 1869, he married Sallie May, who was
born in Lunenberg county, Virginia.
Major John Dooley, father of James H., was Major of the 1st Virginia
regiment, C.S.A., for one year, and was afterwards elected Captain of the
Ambulance Corps until the close of the war. John, brother of James,
was Captain of Company C, that regiment, until wounded and taken
prisoner at Gettysburg. He was held at Johnson's Island, Lake Erie,
from that time till the close of the war. Major John Dooley was born
in Limerick, Ireland, the son of John Dooley, Esq. He married Sarah
Dooley, who survives him, living now in Richmond. His death occurred
in that city in February, 1868, in his fifty-eighth year.
