Mecklenburg-Lunenburg-Charlotte County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Jeffreys, William Henry, Jr. 1871 - ************************************************ 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 22, 2008, 6:24 pm Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) WILLIAM HENRY JEFFREYS, JR. THE well-deserved honor bestowed by the people of Chase City, Virginia, upon their fellow-townsman, William Henry Jeffreys, Jr., who is now serving his tenth year as Mayor of this municipality, clearly indicates that the public heartily approves of his policies, principles and keen foresight in matters relating to municipal government. Mr. Jeffreys is a native of Granville County, North Carolina, and was born December 17, 1871, a son of Robert M. and Lelia Louise Burnett Jeffreys. He is the eldest of a family of eight sons and one daughter, all of whom are living (1910). His education was obtained in public and private schools and at the South Side Male Academy in Chase City. He acquired his early business training through close association with his father, and he regards the instruction and paternal advice he then received as his most valuable asset in life. He was profoundly impressed by his father's keen sense of justice and strict integrity in all business dealings. At the age of twenty-one, Mr. Jeffreys was given the use of a tract of four acres of land on his father's farm with the privilege of retaining all the proceeds from his work. The first year he raised a crop of tobacco which netted him $025.00. The next year his earnings were increased to $1,100. A part of this money he paid on about half the purchase price of a farm of ninety-eight acres. He continued farming, besides being associated with his father and brothers in a store. He also formed a partnership with his father in a lumber and sawmill business. Later, his father having purchased property in the town of Chase City, removed his residence to that place. There he and his sons opened a tobacco warehouse and engaged in handling leaf tobacco and in its manufacture. They next purchased a large tract of land adjacent to Chase City and organized the real estate firm of Jeffreys, Hester and Co., Inc., of which William H. Jeffreys, Jr., was secretary and treasurer. Through liberal advertising they were able to attract the attention of people in various States to the great advantages offered the homeseekers in purchasing property in this section. The business has prospered and developed beyond their expectations, their sales covering the Counties of Mecklenburg, Lunenburg and Charlotte, aggregating over $2,000,000. It is noteworthy that hundreds of good farmers from almost every State in the Union have settled here through the efforts of Jeffreys, Hester and Co., Inc., and thousands of acres of land uncultivated a few years ago are now in a high state of profitable production. The improvements include the clearing of land, building of good roads, new homes, schools and churches, and evidences of prosperity in all directions radiating from Chase City. Another of the Jeffreys' enterprises which has achieved an unusual degree of success is the Jeffreys, Spaulding Mfg. Co., Inc., of which TV. K. Jeffreys is a director. About ninety per cent of the stock of this concern is owned by the Jeffreys family. The product is box shooks manufactured from native pine lumber, and about thirty thousand feet of rough lumber is worked into the boxes daily. Politically a Democrat, Mr. Jeffreys has taken an active interest in public affairs since early manhood. He firmly believes in a determined stand on one or the other sides of the political fence, and has no patience with the man who attempts to straddle both sides of public questions. When he took up his residence in Chase City he was elected a member of the Town Council, and re-elected, serving four years altogether on that board. In 1904 he was elected Mayor, an office without salary, and in which he has since served continuously. The transformation wrought in Chase City during that period has been remarkable. In 1904 the population of the town was about GOO. The streets were unimproved and poorly lighted, there was no town hall, and the public school was housed in an ordinary frame building. To-day Chase City presents an attractive appearance with its improved streets, granolithic and brick sidewalks, large city hall, a magnificent high school building, excellent water and sewer facilities and an adequate electric light system. The population has increased to 2,500. But these improvements have not been effected without a struggle. For instance, when a site for a new school building was to be selected, many influential citizens favored a lot about half a mile out of town. This was opposed by Mayor Jeffreys. He argued that the building should be erected near the center of the town convenient to all pupils and where it would also be a civic ornament. The fight waxed warm, and when the school board met to decide upon a location, the out-of-town lot was offered. The Mayor recommended several sites in town which were declined for lack of playground space. Decision in the matter was postponed a week with the understanding that the Mayor must offer a lot of the required size and not to exceed in price the out-of-town proposition. The Mayor was not discouraged, however, and obtained options on a vacant lot and an adjoining lot with a residence thereon. The improvements could be sold, so as to reduce the cost considerably, and the council agreed to appropriate $500.00 to apply on the payment of the lot. The Mayor's selection was approved and the site is now adorned with a handsome school building, with which the citizens are well satisfied. Mr. Jeffreys has long been an advocate of good roads and in 1906 together with a few other citizens he had a bill drawn providing for a bond issue for Chase City district to raise funds for permanent road improvement. The bill eventually passed the Legislature with provisions for an election to decide upon the bond issue. Mauy good people argued that a bond issue would bankrupt the district, and it required a hard fight to carry the election. The bonds were sold, work was begun on the roads, and it is now hard to find a man who is opposed to being taxed for highway improvement, it having proved to be a profitable investment, particularly for the farmers. In the summer of 1915 Mr. Jeffreys became a candidate for the State Senate from the twenty-fifth senatorial district, composed of Mecklenburg and Brunswick Counties. His opponent was Mr. J. D. Elam, of Brunswick. No criticism could be leveled at either candidate on the score of personal character. Such is Mr. Jeffreys' popularity that he was elected by a majority of one thousand votes, Mr. Elam leading Mr. Jeffreys in Brunswick by forty-eight votes, while Mr. Jeffreys' majority in Mecklenburg was over one thousand. Considering that the total vote of the two Counties amounted to 2,56S, this is a remarkable showing and illustrates the fact that Mr. Jeffreys' strenuous life, in which he has often had to oppose many of his neighbors in public affairs, has resulted in the building up for him a personal popularity based upon the constructive character of his work. Mr. Jeffreys is Worshipful Master of Chase City Lodge No. 119 A. F. and A. M. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, the Jr. 0. A. M., and of the Methodist Church where he has taught a class of boys in Sunday-school for nearly fourteen years. He married December 10, 1894, Miss Juliet Virginia Goode, born at Wheatland, Virginia, January 28, 1877, daughter of Hon. Edward Branch Goode and his wife Lucy Tarry Watkins. Their children are: Miss Mamie Goode, a graduate of Virginia Inter-mont College at Bristol; Robert Massie, Edward Goode, William Henry, and Juliet Virginia. Mr. Jeffreys, while busily occupied with public and business affairs, still finds time for considerable literary research. He finds the Bible, Shakespeare, history and Scott's works the most helpful and from them he has acquired a breadth of view and liberality of thought to a marked degree. In our Colonial records the surname Jeffreys is frequently met with in the archives of North Carolina and Virginia. According to the English records, County Worcester, England, appears to have been the original seat of the family in Great Britain. It was in this County that the Heralds confirmed the grant of Coat of Arms to the Jeffreys family early in the sixteenth century, which is thus described: Ermine, a lion rampant sable, a canton of the last. Crest: a demi-lion or, jessant a laurel leaf proper. 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/mecklenburg/photos/bios/jeffreys46gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/mecklenburg/bios/jeffreys46gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 9.6 Kb