Spotsylvania-Orange County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Waller, Absalom 1860 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 29, 2008, 4:14 pm

Author: Leonard Wilson  (1916)

ABSALOM WALLER

ABSALOM WALLER, of Spottsylvania County, Virginia, lawyer and prominent citizen,
was born at Wildwood, Spottsylvania County, on April 15,1860, son of Dr. Nelson
Samuel and Mary Hampton (de Jarnette) Waller. The known history of this family
runs back to the year 1183, and includes such distinguished men in English
history as Sir Richard Waller, who captured Charles, Duke of Orleans, in the
battle of Agincourt and was rewarded by Henry V. Sir William Waller, and Edmund
Waller, famous poet of the period of the Civil War between Charles I and
Cromwell, and of whom Addison has written so splendid an encomium.

    The English history of the Waller family is given in greater detail in the
sketch of Mr. Waller's elder brother, Judge Robert Emmett Waller, which appears
in this volume. The history of the American branch dates from John Waller, who
came from Newport Pagnall, County Buckingham, England, in 1635, then a youth of
nineteen. He married Mary Key, and became the progenitor of the Waller families
on the north side of the James River in Virginia, and possibly of some of those
on the south side.

    John Waller settled in what is now Spottsylvania County. The old records
tell of Colonel John Waller, who, in 1702, was Sheriff of King and Queen County,
Justice of King William County in 1705, and a member of the House of Burgesses
in 1719. The act creating Spottsylvania County was passed in 1720, and in 1722
Colonel John Waller became the first Clerk of the County. He was succeeded in
that office by his son, Edmund, who was the second Clerk, and who was succeeded
by his younger brother, John, who was the third Clerk. The youngest child of
Colonel John Waller was Benjamin Waller, who settled in Williamsburg, and became
a celebrated Judge. Edmund Waller's son Benjamin, father of Rev. Absalom Waller,
and grandfather of Absalom Waller, named his place "Newport," after his home in
England.

    The Wallers prospered and multiplied, and speedily became one of the most
influential families of their section of the State. Bishop Meade, in his work,
"Old Churches and Families of Virginia," speaks of the Wallers as among the
leading families of the State, and mentions certain of them by name as prominent
in many ways. In Stafford County they were among the leading members of the
County Court. Judge Benjamin Waller appears as a vestryman of old Bruton Parish
in Williamsburg. The old records show marriages between the Wallers, the
Carters, the Pendletons, the Tazewells, the Pages, and numerous other historic
families of the State.

    There is also mentioned, as of the early days, John Waller, of St. George's,
Spottsylvania, about 1725; a little later, John Waller, Jr., of the same Parish;
and yet later, William Waller, in the same Parish. Bishop Meade pays an
especially high tribute to William Waller, of Lexington, Parish, Amherst County,
for his sincere piety and long years of devotion to the interests of humanity
and to the up-building of the church.

    In the Revolutionary War, the Wallers contributed their full share. Allen
was an ensign, Benjamin and George were captains, Edmund was a major, Daniel,
James, John, Major, Thomas and William appear to have been privates. The old
records do not even state what Counties these men came from; but in the case of
Thomas an exception is made, and he is credited to Spottsylvania.

    Church of England men in the earlier period of the State (or Colony, as it
then was), in later days the Wallers became especially prominent in the Baptist
Church; and the Rev. John and Absalom Waller were among the most eminent Baptist
ministers. In 1769 John Waller built in Spottsylvania the church which, since
that time, has been known as Waller's Baptist Church.

    It will be seen from this brief record that the Wallers of Virginia have
been conspicuously good citizens for nearly three hundred years, just as the
Wallers of England had been conspicuously good citizens in that country for
nearly five hundred years, before the first one of the Virginia family left the
old country. Both in the Old World and in the New, a distinguishing trait of the
family appears to have been loyalty and devotion to their country.

    Absalom Waller received his first educational training in private schools,
followed by four years at a preparatory school at Keswick, Albemarle County,
Virginia; from which he went to the University of Virginia, and was graduated
from that great school in 1881. For a few years after his graduation, he taught
school in his native County and at Gordonsville; and then entered the Columbia
University in the City of Washington, now known as the George Washington
University, and was graduated from its Law Department in 1887. Admitted to the
Bar in 1888, he has since been active in the practice of law in the City of
Washington, and in Spottsylvania county.

    Mr. Waller possesses the courage of his convictions, which has been a
notable trait in his family since the days of the Civil War in England, for at
that time three members of his ancestral line espoused the Parliamentary cause,
and two of them became distinguished generals on that side. It is not surprising
therefore, to find him going counter to the general political trend in his
State. Up to 1896, he had voted with the majority in Virginia as a Democrat.
When the free silver question came to the fore, with Bryan as its exponent, he
could not reconcile that to his views of public policy, and aligned himself with
the Republican party, with which he has since affiliated, and has been twice
nominated by that party as a candidate for the State Senate from the Thirteenth
Senatorial District, in 1901 and 1905. He holds his church membership in the
Waller Baptist Church, named for its founder, John Waller, one of his ancestors.

    Mr. Waller is a lover of high class reading. The Bible and Shakespeare take
first place with him. Next to these he rates Addison and classical English
literature.

    He has been twice married. His first wife was Anne Caze-nove du Pont, of
Wilmington, Delaware, niece of Admiral du Pont, to whom he was married on
December 22, 18SG. Of this marriage there was no issue; and subsequent to the
death of his first wife, he was married on February 17, 1902, to Sarah Louise
•Jones, of Eome, Georgia, who was born in Greensboro, Georgia, on March 27,18S2,
daughter of Edwin du Bose Jones and Minnie (Knowles) Jones. Mrs. Waller's mother
was a daughter of Rev. Joshua and Sarah Elizabeth (Roberts) Knowles. The Rev
Joshua Knowles was for twenty-five years rector of the Episcopal Church in
Greensboro, Georgia, in the churchyard of which he is buried. His memory is yet
cherished as one of the most useful and devoted of the early clergy of Georgia.
Mr. and Mrs. Waller have two children: Absalom Kelson Waller, born October 27,
1902, and Louise du Bose Waller, born May 9, 1914. Mrs. Waller, through her
father, is related to some of the most distinguished of South Carolina and
Georgia families. He was a great-great-grandson of Captain Elias Du Bose, of
South Carolina, one of the distinguished soldiers of the Revolution, and a
great-grandson of Dr. Ezekiel Du Bose, of South Carolina, also a prominent
figure in his generation. The famous Robert Toombs, of Georgia, member of
President Jefferson Davis' Cabinet, Confederate general, eminent lawyer, able
financier and father of the present Constitution of Georgia, was a cousin.
Through this side of her family, Mrs. Waller is related to the Hill, Du Bose and
Anthony families, of Washington, Georgia, all of which have been conspicuous in
that State for several generations.

    The Waller family has the right to a just pride in its ancestral history,
but it has an even greater right to be proud of the fact that the traditions of
the family appear to have acted as an incentive to its later generations. It is
conspicuous for those qualities which go to make up good citizenship and
untiring devotion to duty, just as its ancestors were conspicuous for their
valor on the battle-field and their wisdom in the Council Chamber.

    The Coat of Arms of this branch of the Waller family, which was brought to
Virginia by John Waller, the immigrant, dates back to the fourteenth century. An
augmentation was granted it after the battle of Agincourt, in 1415, by King
Henry V, to Sir Richard Waller of that day, for his valiant service in that
battle. It is described as follows:

    "Sable, three walnut leaves or, between two bendlets argent.

    "Crest: On a mount vert a walnut tree, proper; on the sinister side an
escutcheon pendent charged with the arms of France, with a label of three points
argent.

    "Motto: Hie fructus virtutis."


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.

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