WILLIAM L. ROYALL: ESQ
Rev. John J. Royall, born in Lynchburg, Virginia, married Anna K.,
daughter of George Keith and Jane Taylor. Mrs. Royall died in 1886,
and Mr. Royall in 1858. They were the parents of the subject of this
sketch, who was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, on November 15,
1844. Sir John Falstaff said: "If I know what the inside of a church
is made of I am a pepper-corn," which Mr. Royall quotes, speaking of
his never having seen the inside of a school-house. His early education
was imparted by his grandmother, who was a sister of Chief Justice
Marshall, and by his mother.
In March, 1862, then little more than seventeen years of age, he enlisted
as a private soldier, taking part in all the great battles of the
Army of Northern Virginia until wounded and made prisoner in March,
1864, remaining a prisoner from that time until the close of the war.
After the war he read law under Wm. Green in Richmond, was duly admitted
to the Bar, and has ever since been practicing law in Richmond,
except from 1880 to 1884 during which time he resided in and practiced
law in New York City. In Richmond, January 5, 1887, he married
Judith Page Aylett, and they have one child, Page Aylett Royall. Mr.
Royall's wife was born in Richmond, the daughter of Patrick Henry
Aylett, who died in 1869. Her mother was also of an eminent Virginian
family; her maiden name Emily Rutherfoord.
