University of Virginia Library

FREDERICKSBURG.

ROBERT WALKER ADAMS.

Solomon Adams, born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1790, came to Virginia
in 1810, served in the war of 1812, and died in Fredericksburg,
Virginia, in August, 1862. He married Frances Fernaghaugle, who was
born in Fredericksburg about the year 1800, and died in September,
1860. These were the parents of Robert Walker Adams, who was born
in Fredericksburg on the 31st of May, 1824. He has been twice married,
his first wife Ann Newby Williams, born in Fredericksburg, March,
1825, died in March, 1857. Two children of this marriage survive:
Anna T., now Mrs. Foster, and Samuel A., both of Fredericksburg, and
two daughters are deceased, Margaret F., died in infancy, and Camilla,
died aged about five years. Secondly Mr. Adams married, at Fredericksburg,
in June, 1859, Ann Thoroughgood Morriss of Fredericksburg.
Mr. and Mrs. Adams are members of the M. E. church (South) at Fredericksburg.

After a brief attendance at the schools of Fredericksburg the subject
of this sketch began his business life, in June, 1837, then only thirteen
years of age, as store boy in the commission house of Samuel Phillips &
Son, remaining with that firm as clerk and book-keeper until the death
of the senior partner in May, 1854. In June, 1855, he formed a co-partnership
with the junior member of the former firm, under the name and
style of A. K. Phillips & Co., which continued until June, 1859, when
Mr. Phillips retired. Mr. Seth B. French took his place, the firm becoming
Adams & French, and continuing the business of the former firms
until 1862. The war then brought this business to a close, as it ended
many another prosperous enterprise, and from 1862 to 1865 Mr.
Adams was engaged in the Commissary Department of the Confederate
States, serving as clerk in the office of the Commissary-General, in
Richmond, nearly three years, promoted to captain in 1863, and closing
his military career by surrendering at Lynchburg, Virginia, in April,
1865.

In May, 1865, Mr. Adams returned to Fredericksburg, and in July of
the same year again commenced the commission business, forming a
partnership with Mr. A. K. Phillips, under the firm name of A. K.
Phillips & Co., which firm still continues. In May, 1870, Mr. Adams
was elected to the office of city treasurer and is still serving, having
been re-elected at each subsequent election.

ROBERT B. BERREY,

Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on August 5, 1837, is a son of John
J. Berrey and Mary W. Berrey, nee Lucas. His paternal grandparents
were Abner and Lucy Berrey, of Madison county, Virginia; his maternal
grandparents Fielding and Elizabeth Lucas, of Fredericksburg. His
father, born in Madison county, was for forty years a prominent merchant,
and is now retired from business, living in Fredericksburg, at the
age of seventy-seven years; his mother is still living, aged now eighty-one
years. His wife, whom he married at Fredericksburg, Virginia, September
15, 1875, is Mary G. Berrey, born in Fredericksburg. Their son,
Robert McBryde Berrey, was born on the 9th of May, 1879. A second
son, named Charles Waite Berrey, died in July, 1877, aged one month.

Mr. Berrey was educated in the schools and academies of Fredericksburg,
and began business as deputy sheriff at the age of twenty years.
He resigned this position to enter the Confederate army, and served
four years as private and non-commissioned officer in the 30th regiment
Virginia Infantry. He returned home after the surrender and clerked
in a book and stationery store until 1871, when he began merchandizing
on his own account. He was elected a magistrate in 1871, and
in 1872 was elected mayor of Fredericksburg, serving as such until
July 1, 1874, having declined a re-election for the purpose of engaging
in the newspaper business, as owner and editor of the Independent, in
which business he continued for several years until compelled by ill health
to retire. He was appointed United States Commissioner for the Eastern
district of Virginia, and special commissioner of the United States
Claims Commission, and so served several years. In 1882 he was
selected by the City Council of Fredericksburg to codify the corporation
ordinances and prepare for publication a historical sketch of the city; in
1884 he received an appointment as clerk in the office of the Auditor of
Public Accounts, at Richmond, which position was relinquished after
two years service to accept a clerkship in the Virginia State Senate.
This position, after several months service, was resigned, and he
received appointment as clerk of the circuit and corporation courts of
Fredericksburg, to fill the unexpired term of Col. R. S. Chew,
deceased. In May, 1888, he was elected without opposition to this
office for the full term of six years. Mr. Berrey is past master of Fredericksburg
Lodge No. 4, A. F. & A. M., and District Deputy Grand Master
of District No. 22; also past Grand of Myrtle Lodge, No. 50, I. O. O.
F., and Lieutenant-commander of Maury Camp, No. 2, Confederate
Veterans.

JUDGE JOHN T. GOOLUCK

Is a son of Peter Gooluck, who was born in Sligo, Ireland, came to
Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1820, and passed the remainder of his days
in this city, dying in 1868, was mayor of Fredericksburg eight years.
His wife, who survives him, aged now seventy-four years, is Jane V.,
daughter of Charles Tackell, she was born in Stafford county, Virginia,
in 1814. Their son, John T., subject of this sketch, was born in Fredericksburg,
September 10, 1843, and was educated at Fredericksburg and
at the Valley Law School. He was a private soldier in the Fredericksburg
Artillery, C. S. A., serving until the surrender, receiving a gunshot
wound in the left leg before Richmond in 1864. He was graduated
from the Valley Law School in 1870, and in the following year was
admitted to the Bar and began practice in Fredericksburg, in which he
has been engaged ever since. In 1872 he was elected judge of the Corporation
court, of Fredericksburg, and was re-elected, serving two terms.
In 1887, was elected Attorney for the Commonwealth of Fredericksburg
and is still serving. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Lodge
No. 4, and of the I. O. O. F., and is commander of Maury Camp, Confederate
Veterans. Himself and wife are members of the St. George
Episcopal church of Fredericksburg.

He married at Fredericksburg on June 6th, 1872, Fannie Bernard
White, born in Fredericksburg. Their children are four sons. Charles
O'Conor, John T., Jr., Chester Bernard and Robert Emmett. Mrs.
Gooluck is a daughter of the late Chester B. White, Captain U. S.
A., who died in California in 1869. Her mother, whose maiden name
was Fannie Howe, is a granddaughter of George Mason, of Gunston
Hall.

WILLIAM ALEXANDER LITTLE

Was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 16, 1819, and received
his academic education at Nassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, graduating
in the class of 1840. He studied law in the office of Arthur A.
Willard of Fredericksburg, Virginia, who removed to Richmond, and in the
law class of John Taylor Lomax, of Fredericksburg. He was admitted to
the Bar in April, 1842, and commenced pratice at once at Fredericksburg,
in which he has continued ever since. During the years of the war
he was Recorder of the corporation of Fredericksburg, and not in field
service. He was attorney for the Commonwealth of King George
county, Virginia, for some three years after the war.

Mr. Little's father was John P. Little, born in Jefferson county, Virginia,
died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in September, 1830, aged forty-five
years, a son of William Little, who came from the North of Ireland,

was of Scotch-Irish extraction, and settled near Winchester, Virginia,
where he lived and died. The mother of Mr. Little was Arabella
J., daughter of Dr. Archibald Alexander, who was a surgeon in the Virginia
troops in the Revolutionary war; she died in Fredericksburg
in 1878, in her seventy-eighth year. His wife is Louisa, daughter of
William Henry Fitzhugh, of Stafford county, Virginia. He died in Fredericksburg,
Virginia, in 1860. On her father's side she is connected with
the families of General Washington and Gen. Robert E. Lee. Her
mother was Eliza Churchill, of Virginia, a descendant of the Churchill
family of England, of which the Duke of Marlborough is the head.

Mr. and Mrs. Little were married in Falmouth, Virginia, on the 31st of
October, 1850, and have three daughters and one son: Mary Churchill,
Louisa Fitzhugh, now Mrs. E. D. Price, of Richmond, William A., Jr.,
an attorney-at-law, and Nannie E. Mr. Little is a member of the Presbyterian
church of Fredericksburg, and his wife is a member of
the Episcopal church.

HON. A. P. ROWE,

Mayor of Fredericksburg, was born in Spottsylvania county, Virginia,
on November 17, 1817. In that county on June 2, 1845, he married
Almedia F. Gayle, who was born in Caroline county, Virginia, April 25,
1828. Their six children were born in the order named: G. Thomson
(now deceased), Maurice B., Ida G. (now married), Josiah P., A. P., Jr.,
and Alvin T.

Mr. Rowe was educated in Fredericksburg. In the year 1837 he commenced-business
with his father, a butcher and farmer at Fredericksburg,
which business was continued until 1848, when he went into the
same business for himself, and continued in the same until about 1873,
when the business was transferred to his sons, M. B. and J. P. During
the war he served in the quartermaster's department, C. S. A., collecting
cattle, etc., for the government, and estimating the same and forwarding
them to the chief of the department at Richmond. Was elected to
the Legislature in 1881 by a large majority of town and county, and
declined the renomination. Until July 1, 1888 he superintended the
farming operations and assisted in the outside business of his sons, and
on the last-named date entered on the duties of his present office as
mayor of the city. Himself and wife and their entire family are members
of the Baptist church, of Fredericksburg.

JUDGE A. WELLINGTON WALLACE

Was born in the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was educated at
Fredericksburg, and at the preparatory school of Mr. William Dinwiddie,
in Albemarle county, Virginia, studied law at the University of Virginia
during part of the session of 1861, and was licensed to practice at
Fredericksburg in May, 1866. During the war he served as a private
in the 30th Virginia regiment, and after the surrender of the Army of
Northern Virginia at Appomattox C. H., he returned to Fredericksburg
where he has ever since resided, engaged in the practice of law. He was
elected to and served in the Legislature of Virginia, for the sessions of
1886-7, was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention which
met at Cincinnati in 1880; was elected Judge of the Corporation Court
of Fredericksburg by the legislature of Virginia in January, 1888, and
is now executing the duties of that office.

Judge Wallace's father was Dr. John H. Wallace, who was born in
Stafford county, Virginia, in 1795, at "Liberty Hall," the seat of his
father, John Wallace. The latter died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in
1873. He was mayor of the city of Fredericksburg, and for many years
previous to the war was president of the Farmers Bank of Virginia at-Fredericksburg.
The mother of Judge Wallace was Mary Nicholas
Gordon, daughter of Samuel Gordon, born at Falmouth, Stafford
county, Virginia, in 1805, died at Fredericksburg in 1877. His wife,
whom he married at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 30, 1883, is
Victoria, daughter of Capt. Charles K. Stevens, of Philadelphia, born
there, died in 1874, and his wife Susan, who was born in 1829 and died
in 1879.

Judge Wallace and his wife are members of St. George Episcopal
church, Fredericksburg, of which he is a vestryman.