Greene-Richmond City County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Beazley, Wyatt Sanford M.D. 1868 - 
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Alice Warner http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003503 March 10, 2009, 3:09 pm

Author: Lyon Gardiner Tyler

Wyatt Sanford Beazley, M. D.

Dr. Beazley descends from the Beazleys of Greene county, Virginia, and through
the marriage of his grandfather. Captain James Beazley, with Elizabeth (Betsey)
Mills, from John Starke the elder, emigrant from Scotland, who on May 25, 1735,
married Ann Wyatt. The line of descent is through John (2) Starke, born in
Hanover county, Virginia, April 27, 1742, who married Elizabeth Shepherd, of the
same county. Twelve children were born to John (2) and Elizabeth Starke, the
eighth being a daughter, Sarah, who married Wyatt Mills, of Albemarle county,
Virginia. By this marriage there were sons and daughters, the second daughter
being Elizabeth (Betsey) who married Captain James Beazley. These intermarriages
connected many of the early Virginia families with the Beazleys, the Wyatts,
Heads, Sanfords, Wallers, Carters, Allens, Spotswoods and others. The Wyatts of
Virginia came from an English ancestor, who traced descent to a Norman knight
who came to England with the "Conqueror."

Captain James Beazley, a wealthy farmer and man of high literary attainment,
whose grandfather immigrated to this country from England, supposedly from the
Isle of Wight, married, as stated above, Elizabeth Mills, and had issue: Judge
Wyatt Starke, of whom further; Edward, who married Emma Vaughan; Dr. Robert
Sanford, of whom further; James, who married Elizabeth Sheppard Head, of
Randolph county, Missouri; Elizabeth, who married James Stephens, of Greene
county, Virginia.

Judge Wyatt Starke Beazley, son of Captain James and Elizabeth (Mills) Beazley,
was born in the beautiful Swift Run valley, near the Blue Ridge mountains,
Greene county, Virginia, February 1, 1819, and died in the same county, November
2, 1881. His father, a wealthy planter, gave him all the advantages of a
classical education, sending him last to the University of Virginia, where he
became a scholar of high attainment, graduating in Greek, Latin, French and
German, with many other subjects, and later in law, afterwards becoming a lawyer
of great force and ability. The results of these advantages placed him
professionally and socially among the leading men of his district, and he was
held in the highest esteem by his fellow citizens who elevated him to prominent
official positions in the county, first clerk, then commonwealth's attorney, and
for a period of thirteen years, until his death, he was judge of the judicial
district, composed of the counties of Madison and Greene. He was a learned, just
judge, dignified and courteous, chivalrous and knightly, and the soul of
generosity and hospitality. He married Elizabeth Columbia Miller, born in Greene
county, Virginia, in 1824, died in 1892. They were the parents of four children,
all living: Adelaide Starke, Carrie Lee, Mary James, Wyatt Sanford, of whom
further.

Dr. Wyatt Sanford Beazley, only son and youngest child of Judge Wyatt Starke and
Elizabeth Columbia (Miller) Beazley, was born near Stanardsville, Greene county,
Virginia, July 11, 1868. He was educated in private schools in his native
county, and after deciding upon a profession entered the Medical College of
Virginia in Richmond, whence he was graduated M. D., class of 1893. He began
practice in East Richmond and later located in the western part of the city, at
his present residence, No. 412 North Lombardy street. He soon became affiliated
with his alma mater, as instructor in medical jurisprudence, but at the end of
two years he resigned this position to devote himself wholly to the practice of
his profession. Later he was chosen medical examiner for the Union Central Life
Insurance Company, the Royal Arcanum, the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World,
which positions he still holds. In the same capacity he has served several of
the insurance companies of his city. He is a member of various professional
societies including the American Medical Association, the State Medical Society,
and Richmond Academy of Medicine and Surgery. In political faith he is a
Democrat. A friend to all reformation, particularly for the advancement of
womanhood, he became a member of the Woman's Suffrage League as soon as it was
organized in Virginia. When eight years of age he joined the Good Templars, a
temperance society at Stanardsville, and has since done all in his power to help
the cause on to victory. His labors in this direction have been with the
Anti-Saloon League from its beginning in his native state. In short, all worthy,
needy objects, and every good cause finds him ready to lend a helping hand. He
is a skillful, honorable general practitioner, with the distinction of an
unusual power to hold his patients, many of the present ones having employed him
at the beginning of his medical career, eighteen years ago Tender and
sympathetic, kind and courteous, cheerful and optimistic, he never fails to win
the love and confidence of those under his care. Many of them have been heard to
say that his presence alone had been an inspiration and help to them. Both he
and his wife are communicants of the Grave Avenue Baptist Church.


Dr. Beazley married, in Huntsville, Missouri, October 9, 1897, Alma Elizabeth
Sellers, born at Roanoke, Randolph county, Missouri, August 28, 1872, at her
father's farm, the homestead of her mother. She is the daughter of William B.
Sellers, born in Rockingham county, Virginia, February 28, 1841, died in July,
1909, judge of the probate, court of Randolph county, Missouri. He married
Virginia A. Head, born in Randolph county, Missouri, May 31, 1837, and now
residing with her daughter, Alma E., in Richmond. She is a descendant of
Benjamin Head, of revolutionary fame, through John Head, who settled in
Missouri. The Heads settled in Virginia at an early date and are prominent in
several southern states. Children of Dr. Wyatt S. and Alma E. (Sellers) Beazley:
Wyatt Sanford, Jr., born July 25, 1898, who when but a lad of eight showed
decided talent as writer of fiction, is now making a fine record both as to
conduct and as a student in high school; Virginia Lee, born May 1, 1902;
Elizabeth Idress, born November 12, 1904; Charlotte Starke, born March 20, 1907.

Benjamin Head, ancestor of Mrs. Alma Elizabeth (Sellers) Beazley, was a citizen
of Orange county, Virginia, as early as 1771; joined the continental army as a
private in Colonel Bland's regiment of horse; was sent on several important
expeditions that required the utmost trust and confidence, and in consequence of
meritorious and patriotic service was recommended for promotion by Colonel
Bland. He was commissioned a captain in Colonel Bland's regiment in 1780,
serving until the end of the war. He fought at Brandywine, Trenton, Princeton,
Monmouth, Germantown and White Plains; was transferred to the southern army, and
after his promotion was captured at Laniers Ferry, South Carolina, and exchanged
on May 14, 1781. After his release he continued in the service; was at the
surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and held the rank of captain at the end of
the war. John Head, one of his sons, emigrated to Missouri, and another son,
Henry, to Sumner county, Tennessee.

Mrs. Alma Elizabeth (Sellers) Beazley is descended also through her mother from
John Starke, the emigrant, who came from Scotland, married Ann Wyatt, settled in
Hanover county, Virginia, and rendered patriotic service during the
Revolutionary war as a member of the committee of safety. Mrs. Beazley is a
member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, United Daughters of the
Confederacy, Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and
through Benjamin Head is entitled to membership in the Daughters of 1812. Dr. W.
S. Beazley, also her husband, as stated before, is descended from this same John
Starke, is related also to Benjamin Head.

Adelaide Starke, eldest child of Judge Wyatt Starke and Elizabeth Columbia
(Miller) Beazley, and sister of Dr. Wyatt Sanford Beazley, was born May 27,
1862. She graduated from Albemarle Female Institute in June, 1879, and for five
years, until her marriage to Elijah D. Durrette, of Greene county, Virginia,
performed faithfully the beautiful service of assisting her mother in the home.
Children of Mr. and Mrs. Durrette: 1. Mary Lee, born in 1886; graduated from the
Rawlings Institute, Charlottesville, Virginia, and later, in trained nursing
from the Memorial Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. For two years she filled this
position with delight to her patients and great credit and honor to herself and
her school. She then became the wife of Robert Braxton Allport, of Richmond, and
they are the parents of two children: Robert Braxton, Jr., born September 1,
1912, and Marion Beazley, born March 28, 1915. 2. Dollie Elizabeth, born in
1888, also graduated from the Rawlings Institute, and for four years filled most
acceptably positions as teacher in her native county of Greene. She became the
wife of Miller Jarman, of Rockingham county, Virginia, and they are the parents
of one child, Miletus, born September 27, 1913. 3. Elijah Davis, born in 1890;
was for some time student at Fork Union Military Academy, Virginia. 4. Frank
Starke, born in 1899. 5. Wyatt Beazley, born in 1901.

Carrie Lee, second child of Judge Wyatt Starke and Elizabeth Columbia (Miller)
Beazley, the sister most closely associated with Dr. Wyatt Sanford Beazley,
having taught him and otherwise assisted him in his education, was born February
7, 1864. She was a graduate of the Albemarle Female Institute at the age of
sixteen. According to the purpose of her childhood, she began at once to teach,
which vocation she followed faithfully and conscientiously for ten years. Her
first experience was in a private school in her own home, then in the public
schools of her county, next in the alma mater, and finally in Broaddus College,
Clarksburg, West Virginia, from which school she married James Durrette Carneal,
one of the most prominent and highly esteemed business men of Richmond,
Virginia. Children: 1. Mattie Nell, born May 31, 1892; attended the best schools
in Richmond, her birthplace, was two sessions and a half a student at Hollins
Institute, Virginia, and in one year won, with many honors, her full graduating
diploma from Lasell Seminary at Auburndale, a beautiful suburb of Boston,
Massachusetts. Later she had three months of travel abroad, followed by a year
of voice culture, the study of French, history of art, etc., in Paris. She was
beginning her second year there when forced by the present war to return home.
2. Wyatt Beazley, born September 18, 1893; attended the best private schools of
Richmond, Virginia; Gloucester Academy, Virginia; Richmond Academy, and Fork
Union Military Academy, Virginia. 3. Charles Wendell, born February 12, 1895;
cadet at Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, having attendee; the
several schools with his brother, Wyatt B., with the addition of Richmond
College. 4. George Upshur, born August 29. 1897; just graduated with unusual
honor from the John Marshall High School, Richmond, Virginia, winning unsought
scholarship for Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia. 5. James Durrette, Jr., born
July 13, 1899; an "honor roll" pupil of the Richmond High School, with the
distinction of never having received a demerit during his entire school
experience, and also of having won the medal for best lessons and conduct for
four consecutive years, beginning at the very outset of his school life. One of
his high school teachers said that he is such a gentleman she had been made more
of a lady for having taught him. The entire Carneal family are communicants of
the Baptist church.

Mary James, third child of Judge Wyatt Starke and Elizabeth Columbia (Miller)
Beazley, was born in Greene county, Virginia, August 5, 1866. She, too, attended
the Albemarle Female Institute, and at an early age became the wife of Thomas
Davis Durrette, also of Greene county, Virginia. Children: 1. Atwood Beazley,
born in 1885, at his father's death assisted his mother with the home and farm.
2. Lizzie Lucretia, born in 1887; became the wife of Frank Kirtly, of Madison
county, Virginia, and they are the parents of three children: Mary Kyle,
Sinclair David, and Keyser. 3. Mamie James, born December 2, 1888; was graduated
in trained nursing from The Retreat for the Sick, Richmond, Virginia, and by the
display of executive ability and talent in the management of affairs was chosen,
after six months of the most satisfactory service as nurse, for the position of
superintendent of The Home for Incurables of Richmond; much to the regret of
both inmates and board of managers, a year later she became the wife of Starkey
Hare, of North Carolina. 4. Carrie Epps, born in November 1891; has been making
a fine record as trained nurse since her graduation from the Johnston-Willis
Hospital in 1914; one of her teachers testified that she had everything
necessary to the perfect nurse, a high recommendation. 5. Thomas Davis, born in
October, 1895; has just received his graduating diploma from the high school in
Greene county, Virginia. 6. Robert Sanford, born September 19, 1897, is a
student in the same school as his brother, Thomas Davis.

Dr. Robert Sanford Beazley, third son of Captain James and Elizabeth (Mills)
Beazley, and uncle of Dr. Wyatt Sanford Beazley, whom in early childhood he
nursed through two severe spells of illness, was born in Greene county,
Virginia, October 14, 1821, and died January 18, 1910. He was a student at the
University of Virginia, and received his diploma in medicine from the Jefferson
Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When but a lad, his father, while
trying to determine which of his two boys, Wyatt S. and Robert S., should be
educated in medicine and which in law, was brought to the decision by an
accident in which a negro boy on the farm had a toe almost severed from the
foot. The boys in question chanced to be present—Wyatt S., the embryo lawyer,
fainting, while Robert S., the born physician, sewed it back and nursed it until
well again. With this beginning, and taking later as his motto,

"While there is life, there is hope," it is no wonder that he held on to his
patients with a grip that seemed to challenge death, making his success in
healing almost phenomenal. After sixty-four years of active practice, done
almost wholly on horseback, he continued frequent visits to the sick until his
death in his eighty-ninth year.

There was an intermission of nine years in the sixty-four, during which, at the
earnest solicitation of the people of Albemarle and Greene counties, he
reluctantly gave up his chosen work to serve as their representative in the
state senate. While there it was said of him as of Henry Clay, "He never said a
word too much, never said a word too little, and always said the right word in
the right place." One of his colleagues said that before voting on any important
matter he desired no better information than that as to how Dr. Beazley would
vote. His life there was not all sunshine, for while seated in a window in the
house of delegates, when the latter was crowded to its utmost capacity, the
galleries fell, killing many, and crushed through the floor beneath. He received
a bad cut on the head by the falling plastering, but being forced to view so
long the heartrending scene below while helpless to aid was by far, he said, the
most trying part of his experience. His unexpired term in the senate was because
of his resignation on account of the long illness and death of his wife. For
this reason he also declined his election to the famous Underwood Constitutional
Convention.

He never lost interest in the affairs and activities of life, but to the end
kept pace with all advancement, especially in his own profession, and until his
last moment was in full possession of his faculties. He lived the simple,
temperate, natural life, and was never ill. Possessed of a remarkable purity,
calmness and equanimity, and having "high erected ideas seated in a heart of
courtesy" he was often referred to as a true type of the "old Virginia gentleman."

Dr. Beazley married Sarah Early, of Albemarle county, Virginia, and they were
the parents of two daughters: Elizabeth Fanny and Sallie Early, and one son,
James E., who married Edwina Graves, of Orange county, Virginia.


Additional Comments:
From Volume V of the Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, 1915

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