Nansemond County-Suffolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives History.....Suffolk, 1935 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 13, No. 187, Mon., Oct. 28, 1935, pp. 1 & 6 LAFAYETTE GUEST OF EARLY SUFFOLK In Rush To Build Homes, Many Houses Had Wooden Chimneys, W. E. MacClenney, Local Historian, Says EDITOR'S NOTE: - The following article by W.E. MacClenny, well-known Suffolk historian, points out some of the historical sites in Suffolk and tells a little of their history. As the bridge is crossed from the county you enter North Main street, the most prominent street in the colonial town, which was laid off by Thomas Milner, surveyor, and he made Main street very wide so that it could be used as a market place by the planters, and what few Indians were left. This was according to the custom of the day, for Norfolk had her Market Square, now Commercial Place, where the market of the city was held for a long time. RECORDS WERE BURNED From the river to Milner street, them known as First Cross street, on both sides of Main was what was known as the business section of the town, as it was very convenient to get merchandise from and to the wharf. All ships were propelled by sails at that day, and many are the old bills of laden yet extant showing the kind of merchandise handled in those days. As the top of the hill is reached on the east side of Main street, and side of Milner street, is the county clerk's office, situated on land donated to the county by Hon. John T. Kilby so that a fireproof clerk's office might be had to keep the records from being burned, as happened on May 13, 1779. The building was erected and stood until Feburary, 1866, when it was burned up from the inside and all or the county records were lost. It was rebuilt immediately, and then in 1894 the present building was erected and it has been added to since that time. On the north side of Milner street is still to be seen some of the foundations of the early houses, showing that stone as well as brick were used for the cellars and underpinning. Only a few of these now remain, but it shows that they were well built. The lots were wide, perhaps 99 feet, and each owner had some room. In the haste to erect houses in the new town, bricks being scarce, and stone not plentiful, many of the houses in the new town had wooden chimneys, and these were soon condemned, but not before the place became known as the town with wooden chimneys. In North Main street just as the brow of the hill is reached is the World War monument erected by the American Legion to the men from the city and county who lost their lives in that war. It was unveiled Sunday afternoon, May 10, 1931. COURTHOUSE BURNED The Nansemond county courthouse is just east of the monument, east of North Main street and south of East Milner street. This has been the seat of justice in the county since about 1755, when the courthouse was moved into the new town from Jarnagan's bridge (Cohoon’s), where it had stood since 1723. The original building was burned in the fire of May 13th, 1779 started by the British, and when it was rebuilt it stood until the fire of 1837, when it was again burned. It was rebuilt soon after that date, and has been repaired and remodeled several times since that time. In the rear of the courthouse is the city and county jail, erected in 1926-27. During the occupation of the town by the union troops in 1862-63 there was a heavy breastwork thrown up between the courthouse and the clerk's office, and several large guns were planted in the street to command the road beyond the river in case of an attack. The line of union breastworks followed the river bank from the mouth of the Western branch to Smith's or Meade's creek west of the town, and the part mentioned above was just a sector of that breastwork. It was from the guns planted in North Main street that Captain Nathaniel Pruden's home on the opposite side of the river was shelled and burned. When the Nansemond militia was ordered out at the beginning of the war of 1861-65, some of the troops were quartered in and around the courthouse and the old one-story brick house just opposite the courthouse on the corner of West Milner street and North Main street was used as a mess hall for the soldiers. This building has long since been replaced by dwellings. CASTLE INN FAMOUS On the east side of North Main street about where No. 438 now stands was the site of the Castle Inn. a famous hostelry in the early days. It was there that General Lafayette was entertained on his visit to Suffolk, February 26, 1925 [sic; 1825]. Many of the pieces of china and other household furnishings are still preserved as heirlooms of the general's visit by the families who furnished them. These articles are highly prized by the members of the old families of Suffolk to this day. The Rising Sun Tavern stood next to the Castle Inn, and after the fire of 1837 the old cellars of those buildings remained to mark the spot where they stood. Capt. Owen Pinner as a boy remembers seeing them. Just south of the courthouse is the home of Hon. Nathaniel Riddick, now the Withers home, which was the headquarters of Maj. Gen. John A. Peck while Suffolk was occupied by the Federals in 1862-63. A picture of this building and those adjacent to it is still extant. About 1820 a school was kept in the town by Mr. Joel Holiman [sic; Holleman]. The Hon. Joseph Prentis home after the fire of 1837 was where the Grace home is now, No. 444 North Main street. At the comer of Prentis and Church street (formerly Back street) is the site of the first church erected in the town in colonial times, built in 1752-53, and was used until the Revolutionary war. and was the least damaged building in Suffolk on the British raid May 13, 1779. It then fell into disuse and finally torn down and the bricks sold. Recently the Nansemond chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities has cleared the lot off, sown it in grass, and erected a beautiful marker, with tablets giving the names of colonial state officers from Nansemond county, the rectors of the parish, church wardens and vestrymen of the church, and members of the House of Burgesses from the county. Only one marked grave remains in the old church yard. The marker was unveiled on May 3rd, 1933. The old brick house that stood until 1912 on the northwest corner of Mahan and North Main streets, reliable tradition says, was originally built for an alms house for the upper parish of Nansemond county, and was no doubt the one ordered in 1762 and finished for the vestry by Josiah Riddick in 1764. That almshouse had a school for poor children connected with it. Neither the almshouse nor the school were successful, and the building was then used as a workhouse, and was finally sold. At the west end of Mahan street (named for Admiral Albert Thayer Mahan) is the site of the first Baptist church erected in Suffolk, which was constituted September 11, 1827, and the new church was built on what was then known as Academy Hill. Mr. James Coleburn gave them the lot, and the place was used for worship until 1836, when the present site of the First Baptist church was bought and built upon. The old building on Academy Hill was then used as a school house until the war of 1861-65. The Federal army used it as a hospital while they occupied the town, and it was finally burned before the close of the war. Many of the older men of the town attended school in that building on the hill. Suffolk was practically destroyed by fire on June 3, 1837, there being but two dwellings left north of the S.A.L. railway; the Kilby home on the southeast corner of North Main and Mahan streets, and the old brick house mentioned above. When it rebuilt, much of it was further south on Main street. ****************************************************************************** "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 13, No. 197, Sat., Nov. 9, 1935, p. 6 Old Part Of Cemetery Site Of First Church After The Revolution Built In 1802, It Was Used By All Denominations For Decade EDITOR'S NOTE: - The following is the second article by W.E. MacClenny, well-known Suffolk historian, points out some of the historical sites in Suffolk and tells a little of their history. At the cast end of Mahan street is Cedar Hill cemetery, the old part was the site of the first frame church erected in the town after the Revolutionary war. It was built in 1802 and used by all denominations, until 1822-23. It was the starting place of several churches, and after the war of 1861-65 it was disposed of to the colored people of the town, who tore it down and moved to Pine street and erected the first colored church in the town. This is now Macedonia A.M.E. church, near Washington street. Around that old church a cemetery was started, and it has grown to what it is today. The place was called Constantia, and the ancient house of the Wilson Constance stood there until a few years ago, it being used as a residence, and then as a poor house, and at one time as a pest house. Recently the Suffolk chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution have erected a replica of the old house on the same site, to be used as a mortuary chapel. This was opened June 25th, 1931, when the tablet was unveiled. Other monuments, the Confederate, erected by Col. Thomas W. Smith to his comrades, and unveiled on Nov. 14th, 1889, in the presence of a large gathering of Confederate Veterans and their friends. The monument to the South Carolina troops who died while their regiments were camped around the town at the beginning of the war. This was erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy about 1909, and unveiled on Memorial Day. On West Mahan Street is the First Colored Baptist church, started soon after the war of 1861, on Church street, and later built on Mahan street. On the corner of Main and Mahan streets was the location of the post office of the town for a great many years, as the office remained in one family for a great many years, and they all lived there. A little south on Main street and the Virginian railway is crossed. This was built in 1904-05 and '06. Next the Seaboard Air Line railway is crossed. It having been built in 1834 originally, and rebuilt about 1848. A little southwest of the railway crossings is a knoll, upon which the Suffolk high school stands at present, but in the early days it was known as Monterey, and the dwelling was of the same pattern as the old Constantia house on Cedar Hill cemetery. On the east side of North Main street and just south of the S.A.L. railway is the site of the first Methodist Episcopal church in Suffolk. It was built in 1833 and dedicated in 1823, and was of brick construction, and was used as a place of worship until 1860 when the new church, now the Rawls' Apartments, was erected. This was used until 1915 when the present Main Street M.E. church was built and dedicated. Just south of the Rawls' Apartments, in what is now College Court, was located the Central Hotel, conducted by James Robert McGuire in the days before the war of 1861. It was at that hotel that Porte Crayon spent several months and wrote his observations of this section in the late fifties. After the war it was used as a school for young ladies and finally became the Suffolk Female College, under the superintendent of the Misses Finney. Many of the ladies of this entire section received their higher education there, and it ran until about 29 years ago. It was Gen. Mansfield's headquarters while Suffolk was occupied by the Federals, and many stirring events took place there in those days. On the opposite side of the street, No. 311 is where the first and only Methodist Protestant church in the town was built, in 1831. This later disbanded, and the building was purchased by the Episcopalians, and used until about 1893, when their present St. Paul's church was built. A little south of this is No. 303, which was the Suffolk residence of the late Judge Robert R. Prentis, president of the State Supreme Court. This residence was used by the Federals after the battle of Nansemond river, on May 3rd, 1863 as a hospital, and there are men now living in Suffolk who say the wounded being brought there for treatment. A little further at No. 247 is Solomon's Lodge A.F. & A.M., chartered Oct. 29th, 1790, and the first meeting was held Nov. 6th at the home of Dempsey Copeland, who perhaps lived on W. Milner street at that time. Later the lodge was built at the present site, and the present building was erected in 1911. Just south of this No. 243 is the site of the old Temperance Hall, erected before the war of 1861, and was the building in which Mayor Benjamin Riddick surrendered the town government to Col. Dodge and his New York mounted rifles in May 1862. It was used by the Federals during the siege, for different purposes. At No. 269 on the west side of North Main street, is the First Baptist church, constituted Sept. 11th, 1837, and the frame church was built on that site in 1835-36 and dedicated in 1836. The brick church was built in 1886 and remodeled and modernised in 1913. During the war of 1861-63 the property was used by the Federal army. At No. 331 is St. Paul's P.E. church, the successor of the Colonial church of Upper Parish of Nansemond Co., which has already been described. This congregation has worshipped in several places, in the colonial church from 1793, the date of the first church, in the court house, in the Union church in Cedar Hill and at the old site near the S.A.L. railway. The present building erected in 1893 and consecrated 10 years later. It has some ancient relics, such as the pulpit cloth given by Queen Anne, a very old pulpit bible, paid for with money given by and early member for the privilege of erecting a family pew as he desired in the colonial church. Also another bible given by a later rector, and a very beautiful hand-made board with several passages of scripture printed thereon, which no doubt goes back to the early days of the parish. On the opposite side of the street stands the Suffolk Christian church, at No. 216, organized by Rev. Wm. B. Wellons in 1835, original house built in 1860, dedicated on March 11th, 1861. Enlarged about 1884, and rebuilt 1892-93, added to again in 1905 and remodeled in 1928-28. One of the most up-to date church plants in this section. On the northwest corner of North Main and Market streets is the site of the first market house and town hall erected in Suffolk. It was opened April 23rd, 1879, and was used until the present market house was built. ****************************************************************************** "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 13, No. 201, 14 November 1935, p. 10 First Methodist Society Organized In Suffolk in 1801 Local Historian Traces Development and Progress As Community Passes Out of the Village Class EDITOR'S NOTE: - The following it the third and final article by W.E. MacClenny, well-known Suffolk historian, who points out some of the historical sites in Suffolk and tell a little of their history. No. 192 is the Main Street M.E. Church (South) built in 1914-15 and dedicated in 1915. The first Methodist Society in Suffolk was organized in 1801, and it has had a continuous existence since that time. They were the first denomination to erect a church for their own use in Suffolk. On the N.E. corner of N. Main and Bank streets in the U.S. Post Office in north Lat. 36 degrees, 43 minutes and 45 seconds, in longitude 76 degrees and 35 minutes. It was erected in 1911. Before that time the post office had been migratory, and been kept in many places, perhaps for the longest time on the corner of North Main and East Mahan streets. On the S.W. corner of N. Main and Market streets is the Elliott Hotel erected in 1923-24-25. This is one of the best hotels in any city the size of Suffolk in the state. While on N. Main street it might be well to mention that the first engines used by the Norfolk and Petersburg, now the N. & W., railway, was brought up on the Seaboard & Roanoke railway, and then a tram track was built to the Norfolk and Western on Main street to get the new engine to its position to build the road through the swamp. In 1890-1 horse street car tracks were run from the C.H. to the N. & W. freight depot, and from Broad street on West Washington street to the A.C.L. depot on East Washington street. After being run for some years at a loss the car line was abandoned, the tracks torn up, and when the streets were paved the old track timbers showed up again. The red brick bank building that formerly stood at the head of Bank street, on the west side of N. Main street, was the first bank building in the town, having been erected by the Suffolk Savings Bank an antebellum institution of Suffolk, opened about 1858, and when the war came on it was closed, and never rallied after the war. Some of the currency of that bank is still extant. After the Farmers Bank of Nansemond was organized the building was bought by the new institution, and it was there that the Farmers Bank of Nansemond began to make its reputation. The City Market house is situate on the east side of N. Main street, Nos. 132-136, built in 1891, and has a market on the first floor and a large space in the rear for farmers to bring and sell their produce, and the fish and oyster market is in the rear. On the second and third floors are located the police headquarters, a large auditorium, and the Civil and Police Justice's courts. The police headquarters is supplied with a radio system. On the opposite side of the street, No. 123, is the Farmers Bank of Nansemond, organized in 1869, did business for some time in a counting room of B.F. Cutchin & Co., later purchased and improved the building of the Suffolk Savings Bank at the head of Bank street, in 1898-99 built a modern banking building on the present site, and moved in July 4th, 1899. The present building was erected in 1922-23. Under the management of Mr. Wm. H. Jones, Jr., as cashier, for many years it stood at the head of all the banks in the United States in proportion to capital and surplus. On the N.W. corner of N. Main and W. Washington streets, stands the National Bank of Suffolk, first organized as a state bank in 1899, became a national bank April 10, 1910. The present building was erected in 1916. On the south side of this building is a memorial tablet with the names of the men, white and colored, who made the supreme sacrifice in the World War, given by the Lions Club of Suffolk and unveiled on September 12, 1924 by Miss Margaret Lloyd, a sister of one of the men. On the N.E. corner of N. Main and E. Washington streets is the American Bank and Trust Co.'s office and office building, erected in 1916, and was the first building in the city to use a passenger elevator. This bank was organized in 1912, and did business at 115 N. Main street for some years before erecting their new office building. Crossing S. Main street is the Norfolk and Western railway freight depot, formerly the passenger depot. It was there that many of the Confederate troops entrained in 1861 and 1862. It was the same place that Co. F, 4th Virginia Infantry entrained on Saturday a.m.. May 14, 1898 for the Spanish war, and on the following morning Co. G of the same regiment entrained for Richmond for the Spanish war. South Main street was formerly known as Riddick street. The N. & W. was built by Gen. William Maham [sic; Mahone] in 1856-7-8. Going west on Market street at the S.E. corner of Market and N. Saratoga streets is the Municipal building, erected in 1893 as a school building, and when the school population outgrew it and the town had become a city on October 1, 1910, the building was changed into a city hall, clerk's office, and offices for the other city officials were provided, as well as the public health office. Diagonally across the street is Fire Engine House No. 1, erected about 1889. Just in front of the engine house is the Pythian Castle, erected 1901. Turning north on N. Saratoga street you go to the Suffolk high school building, erected in 1923, while adjoining it is the Jefferson school, erected in 1912. This fronts Clay street. On the S.E. corner of Market and Clay streets is the site of the armory, erected April, 1894. It was from there that Companies F. and G. of the 4th Virginia Regiment, which was organized after 1899, was called to the colors for the world war in 1918. At No. 208 W. Washington street is the site of a slave market in the early days. We have often heard an old resident tell how as a boy he saw the slave dealers run their fingers in the mouths of the slaves to see how their teeth were, and to judge their age. At 123 on the west side of Clay street is the Virginia Hospital, erected 1911 as St. Andrew's Hospital, later changed to the Virginia Hospital. At 435 W. Washington street is the site of Suffolk Military Academy, which was conducted by Prof. Joseph King for many years, most of the time with a Virginia Military Institute man as professor of military tactics. In its day it drew a large patronage from near and far. At 447 W. Washington street is the site of the Suffolk Collegiate Institute, chartered on March 4, 1872. It was an institution of the Christian Church in this section, and many of its ministers were educated there. It was later used as a private school, and was finally damaged by fire, and torn down and a residence built on the lot. ****************************************************************************** "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 13, No. 216, Dec. 3, 1935, p. 8 Christian Sun, Noted Church Paper, Located On West Washington St. Writer Traces Progress and Development of Suffolk Through The Years EDITOR'S NOTE: - The following is the fourth article by W.E. MacClenny, well-known Suffolk historian, points out some of the historical sites in Suffolk and tells a little of their history. At 425 West Washington street was the site of the printing office of Dr. Wm. B. Wellons, where The Christian Sun, the organ of the Christian church in the South, was published from 1855 to 1862, when Suffolk was evacuated by the Confederate forces. The army orders of the Confederate forces were published by it as long as the Confederates held the town, and when the Union forces took possession of the town the office was used to print the Federal army orders. There is a tradition that the presses were removed when the Federate evacuated the town in July, 1863, and that were carried with the troops to Appomattox, and that the paroles of the men to Gen. Robert E. Lee's army were printed on those presses. In 1867 The Christian Sun was revived by Dr. Wellons, and continued to be published there until it was moved to Raleigh, N.C., in 1882. At 454 West Washington street is the home of Col. Richard L. Brewer, a representative from Nansemond county and Suffolk for many years and Speaker of the House for several terms. It is also the home of his daughter, Mrs. Dr. P. Whitney Godwin, nee Judith Ann Brewer, who was selected to unveil the replica of the Houdon stature of Gen. George Washington, which was presented to the English government by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and was placed in Trafalgar Square, London, and unveiled on June 30th, 1921. At 459 West Washington street is the home of State Senator and Lt.-Gov. Junius E. West. This was the site of the home of Dr. Wm. B. Wellons during the war of 1861-65, and it was from the dwelling then standing there that a famous message was sent to Gen. James E. Longstreet, by the mouth of a Nansemond county maiden, Miss Sallie Brinkley, in a two-wheeled cart, and caused a Federal defeat near Franklin, Va., in 1862. On the southwest corner of West Washington street and St. James avenue is the West End Baptist church, constituted in March, 1929. an offspring of the First Baptist church in Suffolk. At 504 West Washington is the former home of Hon. Thomas J. Kilby, representative from Nansemond county. This house was used as a prison by the Yankees during their occupation, and in it was imprisoned a woman whom they suspected of being a spy. On the southwest corner of West Washington and south Broad streets is Oxford M.E. church (South) organized in 1908, and for several years worshipped in what to now the Linden apartments on Smith street. The present building was begun in 1922, and was completed and occupied in 1927. This is an offshoot or a continuation of the Beech Street M.E. church in East Suffolk, organized about 1890, the deed for the church lot being dated March 3rd, 1891 and recorded in October, 1891. On the northwest corner of Bosley and Smith streets to Lakeview hospital, the first institution of its kind in the town, established in May, 1907, and has been enlarged several times since that time. On the south side of West Washington street is the standpipe of the Portsmouth-Berkley and Suffolk Water Co., built in 1885. A little south of that was an old oak in which the Federals built an observation post during their occupation of Suffolk. A little further on the settling basin of the P.B. & S. water system, and a short distance further is the pumping plant of the water works and Lake Kilby, which was originally Kilby's Mill, built by the Meade family in the early days, and ground the corn and wheat for the section, and then one of the earliest saw mills in this section of the country was erected there. The water in that lake is perhaps as pure as any in eastern Virginia, as it is supplied by good springs. On the south side of the highway as the creek is crossed below the dam is the site of an ancient shipyard, where vessels were built large enough to go to the West Indies. On the west bank of the creek is the site of a colonial tar yard which was destroyed by the British in their raid May, 1779. Signs still may still be seen on the old road. Before getting to the creek, there is a park belonging to the water company, that was one of the heavy breastworks of the Union forces during their occupation of the town in 1862-63, and the old fort remained there for many years after the war, and showed that the guns were so placed as to command the dam, over which the county road passed at that time. At 116 North Saratoga street is the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce building, originally erected for a Y.M.C.A. in 1907, but it was not supported and the building was finally sold, and later used for the Chamber. At 128 on the north side of Bank street is Aguddath Achin Synagogue, established August 2, 1914, and they purchased the old Presbyterian church building about 1924, and repaired same. On the southeast corner of Bank and Franklin streets is the Suffolk Presbyterian church, organized in 1876, first building erected in 1882, on the site of the Hebrew Synagogue, dedicated June 30th, 1882 by Dr. T.D. Witherspoon and Dr. Geo. D. Armstrong. Present building erected and dedicated in 1924. At 204 Bank street is the home of W.R. Frazier, one of the most elaborate buildings in the city, built by George W. Truitt about 1910. At 216 Bank street is the home of Col. Edward E. Holland, president of the Farmers Bank of Nansemond, state senator for many years, and U.S. Representative from the district from 1911 to 1921. On the northeast corner of Bank and Pinner streets is the home of Wm. H. Jones, Jr., cashier of the Farmers Bank of Nansemond most of his life, and a nationally-known banker. Died August, 1916. At the east end of Bank street and north side of N. & W. tracks is the Farmers Manufacturing Company, successors of the Virginia Manufacturing Company, operators of veneer works, began operations February 1, 1889. This has been one of the valuable institutions to Suffolk since it began. On the south side of the S.A.L. Ry. and east side of the N. & W. Ry., is the plant of the Benthall Machine Company, manufacturers of Benthall peanut pickers, which are used practically all over the world where peanuts are raised. Began business in Suffolk in 1906. On the east side of Pinner street and north of Virginian Ry. is the site of the Suffolk Gas-Electric Co.'s plant. At the east end of the bridge over the railroads on Pinner street is Kingsboro Heights, formerly the Rose Hill farm, the ancestral home of the Allen family. A picture of the original house is extant, and on this farm was Reid's wharf, on which the British landed on one of their raids on Suffolk in the Revolutionary war. The Union breast works crossed this farm. At 225 Pinner street, the home of Col. John B. Pinner, president of the Suffolk Peanut Company, and one of the main men in getting the peanut business to come to Suffolk in 1889, and from his efforts the city has become the largest peanut market in North America. At 221 Pinner street is the home of Judge James L. McLemore, district judge, and he has also served on the Special Supreme Court of Appeals, and President of the National Bank of Suffolk. ****************************************************************************** "Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 13, No. 235, Thurs., Dec. 26, 1935, p. 4 OTHER BUILDING PROGESS IN CITY Historian MacClenny Completes Series Of Articles On City's Growth (By W. E. MacCLENNY) On Factory street, near E. Washington street, Basnight & Co., established 1919, large dealers in peanuts. Pembroke Baker is manager. East side of Factory street and west side of Mulberry street No. 237 is the plant of the Suffolk Lumber Co., established 1921. Makers of building material. West side of Factory street is the plant of the Ferguson Manufacturing Co., manufacturers of farm implements and machinery. 341 East Washington street is the Phoenix Bank building, the office of the Phoenix Bank, established in 1918. This was a colored institution, the second of its kind in the city, and has now liquidated. No. 142 S. Main street, the shops of J.M. Butler and Sons, the original firm beginning business just after the war of 1861-65 in Suffolk, and they have developed with the surrounding country, and the products of their shops have been shipped practically to all parts of the world where lumbering goes on. Southwest corner of Factory and Madison streets the Birdsong Storage Co., originally built for a tobacco warehouse in 1920, when tobacco began to be cultivated in the section. The tobacco market did not pay and it was converted into a peanut storage warehouse. East side of Maple Ave. is the plant of the National Screen Co., established 1919, makers of screens. Additional information: The author generally spelled his surname MacCLENNY, although his parents, David [Jr.] & Ann Maria (HOLLAND) McCLENNY, did not. A Spanish-American War veteran, he was the author of "The life of Rev. James O'Kelly and the early history of the Christian church in the South" (1910: Raleigh, NC, Edwards & Broughton Printing Co.) LVA: Closed Stacks BX6793.O4 M3 He & his parents are buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suffolk - Block H, Lot 56. Cedar Hill list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_m.txt Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by File Manager Matt Harris (zoobug64@aol.com). file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/history/sfksits.txt