Southampton County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Bristow, James J., 1920 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ JAMES JUNIUS BRISTOW Our town has not been plunged into deeper gloom in years than it is today as we are called upon to bury one of our best and most useful townsmen, James J. Bristow, who died suddenly at his beautiful home in Clay street Wednesday evening at eight o'clock. For some months he had not been in his usual good health and had suffered much with headaches. Going to Richmond Sunday afternoon, accompanied by his wife, he consulted several specialists in regard to his trouble but apparently none of them were able to find the cause. Returning home Tuesday evening he was taken ill during the night and grew worse rapidly during Wednesday, dying at the close of the day from adhesions of the brain. One whose mission it is to keep the journal of his town and community's life, to record its sorrows and its joys, its moments of exultation and its hours of affliction, does not find it easy to write of the untimely taking away of such citizens as Jim Bristow. There are certain set and stereotyped phrases which seem utterly inadequate to chronicle a community's loss when one of its truest and its best is called to his reward. Eulogies are feeble things at best and fulsome flattery falls short in meaningless phrases of what is struggling to find expression through the mind, but if you could look into the hearts of his fellow townsmen today you could find the truest tribute and the finest praise in their estimate of a blameless and irreproachable life, of service unselfishly and cheerfully given, of a Christian character worthy of all emulation and of husbandly devotion exquisite in all the relations of the home. James Junius Bristow was born in Southampton county in the Unity community October 15, 1879, the son of the late Benjamin B. and Mrs. Ida V. Bristow. About twenty years ago he came to Franklin to work with the Camp Manufacturing Company and had been with them constantly since that time, holding one of the most responsible positions in their general offices here as head bookkeeper, and being valued by his employers as a man of the highest integrity and efficiency. He was a deacon and church clerk of the Franklin Baptist Church, having been elected to the latter position on the death of the late Littleton Gay who had served the church in that capacity for many years. It was said of Mr. Bristow in the General Association of his church that he was one of the most business-like and efficient church clerks in the State, and the fellow members of his church bear testimony to the spledid service he had rendered for the past fifteen years. He was a loyal and useful member of Franklin Lodge No. 151 A.F. & A.M., and had served the local lodge as treasurer for a long period. He was the teacher of the men's Bible class in his Sunday school, known as the Crocker Class, and in all relations to his church, fraternal orders and to business he maintained a standard of service which few are competent to reach. He was also a member of Blackwater Lodge No. 41, I.O.O.F. and had served the town of Franklin on the Council for two terms. Eighteen years ago he married Miss Fanny Edwards of this county, who survives him, together with one brother, W.O. Bristow, of this town. The funeral services will be conducted this (Friday) afternoon at 2 o'clock by Rev. M.A. MacLean, pastor of the Franklin Baptist Church and interment will follow in Poplar Spring Cemetery. The active pallbearers will Elliott L. Story, J.F. Bryant, Jr., E.T. FitzGerald, C.W. Gary, Dr. R.H. Cobb and Sol W. Rawls of Franklin, Hon. Percy S. Stephenson of Norfolk and Clinton T. Joyner of Portsmouth. James Junius "Jim" BRISTOW, head bookkeeper for Camp Manufacturing & two-term town councilman, b. 15 Oct 1879, Unity, d. 10 Nov 1920, at home, Franklin, interred in Poplar Spring Cemetery (Section 2, Plot 91*), Franklin, 12 Nov 1920, "The Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), Nov. 11, 1920, p. 1 *Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project, Poplar Spring list: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/cemeteries/poplar2.txt Additional information: His widow's obit ("Richmond Times-Dispatch," Aug. 27, 1955, p. 11) is posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/b623j1ob.txt Their marriage is not found in the Southampton Co. records. His parents' marriage record - Benjamin B. Bristow, 24, Single, b. & res. Southampton Co., sn/o J. & S., Farmer Ida V. Crabor, 16, Single, b. Isle of Wight Co., res. Southampton Co., dt/o J.J. & F. m.lic. 17 Dec 1877 by clerk L.R. Edwards m. 18 Dec 1877, Southampton Co., by Thos. M. Newsom (Southampton Co. MB3:222) Benj: B. Bristow, 29, Widowed, b. & res. So:ampton, sn/o James & Sallie, Farmer Margarett V. Corbitt, 25, Single, b. & res. So:ampton, dt/o Wm. H. & Emma m.lic. 29 Feb 1884 by clerk J.B. Prince m. 29 Feb 1884, at the Bride Groome's Residence, by J.E. Stephenson (Southampton Co. MB5:266) Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), and re-formatted by File Manager Matt Harris. file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/b623j1ob.txt