Henry County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Lester, Henry Clay 1838 - 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 23, 2008, 9:59 am Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) HENRY CLAY LESTER THE Lester family has been represented in Virginia since the early years of the first settlement at Jamestown. In February of 1623, a census was taken to ascertain the exact losses by the Indian massacre of 1622. When this census was taken, Thomas Lester, then 32 years of age, was a resident of James City, and when the musters were made up, a year later, he appears on the muster of Dr. Potts on the mainland. This is the first record of the name in Virginia. In 1637 James Lester came over and settled in York County. He was followed in 1643 by Ralph Lester, who settled in James City County. Robert Lester came in 1649 and settled in York County, where James had located, and finally, in 1653, came a second Thomas Lester, whose place of settlement does not appear in the record. These were the founders of a fairly numerous family, which at the time of the Revolution numbered in Virginia fully twenty families and which had sent offshoots into the Carolinas. Lester is an ancient English family. The original form of the name was "Leicester," but in the very earliest period even that was not the spelling, because in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries one comes upon the spelling "Leycestre" and "Laycester." Cheshire seems to have been the original center of this family, and the name, in these earlier centuries, was always preceded by the particle "de," as we find Roger de Leycestre and John de Leicester as prominent citizens of Cheshire in the fourteenth century, and men of learning, because they could write their names. Early marriages show that the family was highly respectable and had been granted Coats of Arms. In these old fifteenth century Coats of Arms is a rather curious description as follows: "Gules, a silver linon with a forked tayll." Later on, at least one branch of the family dropped the antiquated spelling and took the present form of "Lester"-but its origin is betrayed by its Coat of Arms, which is almost identical with that of the principal "Leicester" family of the early period. The five Lesters who came to Virginia in the first half of the seventeenth century, as above recorded, all used the present spelling, and were the progenitors of the Lester families of that State and of others to the south and west descended from the Virginia families. In the Revolutionary War, the Virginia Lesters furnished a half dozen soldiers to the army: one, whose given name is left blank, then Alexander, Benjamin, Jeremiah, John and William Lester are recorded. Benjamin was a member of the Commander-in-Chief's Body Guard, which means that he was very close during his service to the great Washington. From this ancient English stock was descended the late Henry Clay Lester, of Martinsville, Virginia, for fifty years a leading figure in his section of the State. Mr. Lester was born at Figsboro on February 25, 1838. and died at his home in Martinsville on September 18, 1913. In 1782 William Lester, a young man with wife and one child, was residing in Pittsylvania County. He was almost certainly the grandfather of H. C. Lester, and with almost equal certainty the son of Thomas Lester, an old settler in Pittsylvania with a large family. It is a fair inference that William Lester, after his military service, settled near his father, married and reared a family. Mr. Lester was a member of that branch of the Lester family settled on the south side of Virginia, of which Bryan Lester, of Lunenberg, who was one of the most prominent men in that section of the State, was a member. His father, William Lester, was a small farmer, and his mother's maiden name was Frances Stegall. His early advantages were not great. His father was a hard-working farmer of small means, a man of good name and good habits-but beyond this heritage of a good name, he was able to leave his children little else. His mother was a home-loving woman of religious temperament, and whose influence over her children was altogether for good. Henry Clay Lester, during his boyhood, was of frail physique, and during the whole of his long life was much afflicted with ill-health. Notwithstanding this drawback, he did his full share of the work on his father's farm, where be acquired not only habits of industry, but learned the necessity of economy, and had instilled in him the beauties of morality and integrity. His educational advantages were limited-the nearby country school was all to which he had access. His father's means did not enable him to give his children the advantages of an academic or collegiate training. The boy made the most of his opportunities, and got the full benefit of the training within his reach. For one of his ability that was enough-for he possessed an unusual degree of that quality which, for want of a better word, we call common sense; and in business matters had not only a highly balanced judgment but a keen insight which enabled him to grasp an opportunity promptly and vigorously. Added to this, those who knew him best testified that he possessed a dry humor which often lightened the burden imposed upon him by his life-long enemy, asthma. Early in his adult life, Mr. Lester embarked in business on his own account in his native village of Figsboro, as a manufacturer of tobacco. The section in which he was born and in which he spent his life, grows a quality of tobacco better adapted to the manufacture of chewing tobacco than that grown anywhere else in the world; and resulting from this, a very large number of factories, in that belt of country suited to this particular quality of tobacco, are engaged in its manufacture. His tobacco business grew and prospered and he found himself able to engage in other enterprises, with the result that he also became a merchant, a farmer, a stock raiser and a miller. Everything to which he turned his hand prospered under his able management. For fifty years he stood a commanding figure in the business life of his section of the State. At the age of sixty he was recognized as one of the wealthiest men of his section. During the last years of his life his strength was greatly sapped by the disease which had so long held him in its grasp, but his iron will sustained him, and he kept an active hand in the management of the many financial and industrial enterprises with which he was connected until a few days prior to his death. In a work published in Virginia some years back, under the title of "Men of Mark in Virginia," edited by Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, President of William and Mary College, appears an appreciation of Mr. Lester which is so well expressed that no apology is made for here reproducing it in full: "The career of Mr. Lester is well worthy of emulation. He early in life planted himself upon the sure foundation of an unimpeachable credit, and on straightforward, sober, honest, truthful methods in dealing with his fellow-men. To these he added prudence, self-denial, fortitude, tenacity, singleness of purpose, and a stubborn devotion to the end in view. He surrendered very little to the allurements of politics, though he was firm in, his adherence to the principles of the Republican Party and was active in its councils. But he believed in business rather than politics; in industry rather than speculation; in employing the means at hand rather than in waiting for something to turn up. He felt that he possessed power to direct, and he directed with excellent results-both material, and in the good opinion of his friends and associates." Besides the interests above specified, Mr. Lester has been largely engaged in railroading and banking-two lines of business requiring a special knowledge not possessed by many business men; and the many enterprises with which he was connected, and which he largely directed, illustrate not more his financial capacity than his versatility. That he was a man of strong convictions was evidenced by the fact that, living in a Democratic State, all his life he was a consistent adherent of the Republican Party, though never a seeker after political preferment. On August 10, 1871, he married Lucy Clark Brown, of Snow Creek Church neighborhood, Franklin County, Virginia, born on May 6, 1855, daughter of Frederick Rives and Elizabeth (Cheedle) Brown. In 1884, with his wife, he joined the Christian Church. He had always been an earnest student of the Bible, which, with the current newspapers and magazine, comprised much the greater part of his reading. He went into the church with a whole heart, as he did in everything else, served as one of its elders, and was exceedingly liberal in its support, which is illustrated by the fact that, in 1894, he constructed at his own expense, a commodious church edifice for the congregation, and when it was completed, turned it over to the Trustees free of charge. His personal philanthropies were liberal and widely extended, but these were maintained through his wife, who was in the closest sympathy with him, and whom he was perfectly willing to trust in seeing that what he was able to give would be properly directed. The general esteem in which Mr. Lester was held is evidenced by the fact that, during the time of his funeral, every business house in the town of his residence was closed. Mr. Lester had a certain measure of inventive faculty, and put that to use by inventing a tobacco press and a licorice tobacco coater-in addition to which he invented a well fixture. During his life, Mr. Lester traveled considerably, becoming thoroughly familiar with the southeastern part of the United States. Whether he was influenced by his observations in these travels or not, cannot be stated-but certain it is that, during his later years, he was a very strong believer in the good roads movement, and held to the idea that the building of good roads throughout the whole country would contribute more largely to the material prosperity of the rural sections than any other one thing that could be done. In connection with Mr. Lester's marriage there is an interesting fact. He and his wife were both descendants of settlers of the Colonial period in Virginia and were remotely connected. Rives S. Brown, Mrs. Lester's nephew, took the pains to investigate this relationship, and found that the wife of Frederick Brown, the immigrant, was Henry C. Lester's great-great-grandfather's sister. Mrs. Lester is descended from Frederick Brown, one of four brothers who came from England to Virginia probably about the middle of the eighteenth century. These brothers were Reuben, John, Tarlton and Frederick Brown. Nothing is known as to the descendants of Reuben and John Brown. Tarlton Brown married a Miss Napier of the Virginia family of that name descended from the old Scotch-English family of Napier, which in our day has been made prominent by a famous English soldier, Lord Napier of Magdala. An offshoot of this Virginia family is now one of the prominent families of Georgia. Tarlton Brown had a son Tarlton and four daughters: Elizabeth, who married Thomas Keen; Sallie, who married Zachariah Finney; Mary, who married Thomas Hamlett; and Lucy, who married William Moore. The son of Tarlton married Lucy Clark Moorman, daughter of Lucy Clark and Thomas Moorman, of Campbell County, Virginia. Of this marriage were four sons and two daughters. The sons were, Tarlton, Bowling, Micajah and Richard Brown. The daughters were, Elizabeth Cheedle and Mary Anne Brown. Frederick Brown, the immigrant, who was the direct ancestor of Mrs. Lester, married a Miss Stegall. Not all the children of this marriage are known, but one of the sons, John, commonly called Jack Brown, married Sallie Rives. She was a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Spotswood) Rives. This Mary Spotswood was granddaughter or grandniece of Governor Alexander Spotswood, one of the most distinguished Colonial Governors of Virginia. Of the marriage of John Brown and Sallie Rives there were five daughters and four sons. The daughters were: Phoebe, who married Dr. Pearson; Mary (Polly) who married Andrew Brooks, and they had one son who was a doctor; Lucy, who married George Dickenson, and of this marriage there were five sons and five daughters-the sons were John, Washington, Joseph, Robert and Thomas Dickenson; the daughters were, Nancy, Eliza, Caroline, Sallie and Lucy Dickenson. The Dickenson family has given name to a county in Virginia. Sallie married Green Jefferson, a nephew of Thomas Jefferson. Of this marriage there were three daughters: Nannie, Sallie Rives and Harriet Jefferson. The fifth daughter, Nancy, married Armistead Gorman. Of this marriage there were two daughters: Elizabeth, and another daughter commonly known as Sis. Of the sons, John Spotswood married Mary Patterson. Of this marriage there were seven sons and four daughters. The sons were Norburn, Virgil, Taylor, Wiley, Filmore, George and Alexander Brown. The daughters were, Mary, Annie Eliza, Nannie and Sallie Fannie Brown. The second son, Frederick Rives Brown, married twice. His first wife was Jane Prunty. Of this marriage there were two daughters and one son. The daughters were Eliza and Nannie Brown, and the son John Robert Brown. This son, yet living, was born in 1842, and represented the Fifth Virginia Congressional District, as a Republican, in the Fiftieth Congress. In 1852, Frederick Rives Brown married, secondly, Elizabeth Cheedle Brown, daughter of Tarlton and Lucy Clark (Moorman) Brown. Of this marriage there were three sons and one daughter. The sons were, James, William, Millard Filmore, and Tarlton Frederick Brown. The daughter was Lucy Clark Brown who, in 1871, married the late Henry Clay Lester. The third son of John and Sallie (Rives) Brown was Reuben Brown, who married Anne Witcher, of Franklin County, Virginia. Of this marriage there were four daughters and four sons. The daughters were, Nannie, Elizabeth, Dundena and Ida Brown. The sons were, John, Charles, Millard and Scott Brown. The fourth and youngest son, William A. Brown, married twice. His first wife was Sallie Preston; of this marriage no children were born. His second wife was Susan Finney, and of this marriage there were three sons and two daughters. The sons were, William, Walter and Akersan Brown; and the daughters were Sallie and Lula Brown. It will be seen from this that Mrs. Lester is descended from both Tarlton and Frederick Brown, coming down in the direct paternal line from Frederick Brown, and her mother being in the direct line from Tarlton Brown, while her husband, Henry Clay Lester, was descended in the maternal line from Frederick Brown. The Lester Coat of Arms is thus described: "Argent a fesse azure between three fleurs-de-lis gules. "Crest: a demi griffin segreant gules." The Rives family, which appears in the family line of the Browns, has been prominent in Virginia for two hundred years. Hon. William C. Rives, Judge Alexander Rives, Landon Rives, and Amelie Rives, the author, have all enjoyed national reputation. They are descended from an English family of Dorsetshire, long settled at Damory Court. Three spellings of the name appear on English records, Reeves, Rives, and Ryves. The Virginians have always adhered to the form Rives. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MAKERS OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE VOLUME II By LEONARD WILSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS Illustrated with many full page engravings B. F. JOHNSON, INC. CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A. 1916 Copyright, 1916 by B. F. Johnson, Inc. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/henry/photos/bios/lester50gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/henry/bios/lester50gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 16.4 Kb