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DR. RICHARD GORDON
SIMMONS
Dr. Richard Gordon Simmons, was born April 4th, 1865, in
Frederick County, Maryland, on "Carroll's Manor," and is a son
of Richard Edwin Simmons and Theresa Ann (Kinzer) Simmons. He
was educated in the public and private schools of
Frederick
City, the
Western
Maryland
College, at
Westminster, Maryland, and graduated at
the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
in 1889. He came to Roanoke in
1883 and was employed for several years in the clerical
department of the Norfolk & Western Railway Company
Offices, prior to attending the Medical College at Philadelphia. After
completing his medical course, he returned to Roanoke
where he has since been engaged in the practice of his chosen
profession.
Dr. Simmons was a charter member of the Roanoke Light Infantry
and was later commissioned a Captain and Assistant Surgeon in
the military forces of the State and was assigned to duty with
the Second Virginia Regiment of Infantry, in which capacity he
served until 1898, when the regiment entered the service of
the Government in the Spanish-American War. Within a few weeks
he was detached from the Second Virginia Regiment and was made
Assistant to the Chief Surgeon of the Seventh Army Corps,
commanded by General Fitzhugh Lee. his duties being executive
and administrative. At the conclusion of the Spanish-American
War, he declined to remain longer in the service of the
Government.
In 1899 the United
States Army Recruiting Station was established in Roanoke,
and Dr. Simmons has been the examining Surgeon since that
time. He was largely interested in the organization of the
Captain George H. Bentley Camp of United Spanish War Veterans
and was elected its first Commander and served in that
capacity for two successive terms and in the meantime he was
active in the affairs of the organization throughout the
State. In 1910 at the State Department Encampment, he was
elected Commander of the Department of Virginia and served one
year. After his retirement he was made a member of the Staff
of the Commander in Chief, and is also a member of the
Association of Military Surgeons of the United
States.
January 1st, 1910,
Dr. Simmons was appointed Coroner for the city of Roanoke
by the Judge of the Corporation
Court, in
which capacity he is still serving. His record as an official
is clean and above reproach, and he is praised on all sides
for the manner in which he handles all cases coming under his
jurisdiction. He is especially commended for the manner in
which records are kept of all cases.
In 1910 he was married to Miss Nina S. Sollee, daughter of
Captain and Mrs. Francis Sollee of Jacksonville,
Florida. Two
little girls have been born to bless this union, Nina S.. and
Ann Louise Simmons.
Dr. Simmons is a
wide-awake and progressive citizen of Roanoke
and one who stands ready at any and all times to aid any
worthy enterprise which is in the least calculated to up build
this city.
Fraternally he is
a member of the Royal Arcanum, and religiously a member of the
Episcopal Church.
History of Roanoke
County by George S. Jack, Edward Boyle
Jacobs; published
1915;
Submitted to Genealogy Trails by Andrea
Stawski Pack.
PRESTON EDWARD
SIMPSON
The
subject of this sketch was born inRoanoke County,
Virginia,
September 5th, 1873, being a son of J. M. and Mary E. (Pugh)
Simpson. His father is a native of Pittsylvania County, but he settled in Roanoke
County soon after the
Civil War.
He was a volunteer in
the first regiment formed in Pittsylvania County in 1861, and served
throughout the four years conflict, laying down his arms at
Appomattox when Lee
surrendered. He was the possessor of a chip from the old apple
tree under which General Lee signed the documents declaring
the Confederacy at an end. He died November 19th, 1909, at the
age of seventy-eight years, leaving five sons and three
daughters.
Preston Edward Simpson was the fourth son.
He received his
education in the country schools and began life as a farmer
and fruit grower. At present he is the manager of a fine farm
and orchard, owned by J. Lewis Logan, of Salem, Virginia. This orchard
contains three thousand trees. He is the owner of a small Mill
Creek farm and has planted thereon some six or seven hundred
Pippin and Johnson's Winter apples. He is a member of the
mercantile firm of C. M. Conner & Company, at Air Point.
He married Lydia P., daughter of William and Emma Conner, in
December, 1802.
Nine children have
been born to this union, eight of whom are living, as follows:
Salle W., aged eighteen years; Roxie Mattic, aged fifteen
years; Effie. aged thirteen years; Rachel Virginia and Louise
May, twins, aged ten years; John Mover and Louis Morgan,
twins, aged four, and Reuben Meredith, aged three years;
Robert, deceased, succumbed to blood poison from a cut on his
heel in 1910, at the age of five years, nine months, and
fourteen days. He was born August,
1904.
Mr. Simpson
possesses the respect and confidence of the people of the
Bent Mountain district, and
of the county in general.
[Virginia and Virginians: History of Volume 2;
by Robert Alonzo Brock, Virgil Anson Lewis; publ. 1888; transcribed by
Andrea Stawski Pack
FRANCIS
SORREL, M. D.
Francis
Sorrel, M. D., distinguished in the Confederate States Army
for services rendered in the medical department, was born in
Savannah, Georgia, in 1827. He was educated in Princeton, New
Jersey, graduating in 1846. He then spent two years at the
University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in medicine in
1848. He then entered the United States Army as an assistant
surgeon, serving until 1856, when he resigned his commission
with the rank of captain. After traveling in Europe a year, he
went to California where he rapidly attained prominence and in
1860 was elected to the California Legislature. In the
following year, he returned to the East to offer his services
to the Confederacy. He was promptly commissioned as surgeon in
the regular army, and assigned to special duty of great
importance which was due largely to his experience and unusual
ability, with headquarters at Richmond, Virginia, where he was
charged with the erection and management of the general
hospital system of the army, and where he remained until the
evacuation of the Confederate
Capital.
In March, 1865, he
married the widow of Dr. L. Rives, who was a daughter of
General Edward Watts of Roanoke County, and since the Civil
War period, until recently, has led the life of a simple
retired country gentleman on his splendid farm, "The Barrens,"
a few miles to the northwest of Roanoke.
Dr. Sorrel is of
the type of Southern gentlemen which is rapidly passing away.
He has at all times manifested a keen interest in the
development and growth of Roanoke and has been identified with
a number of enterprises in a financial way. Recently he has
made his home in Roanoke, but much of his time is spent in
visiting points of interest in various sections of the
country.
History of Roanoke County by George S. Jack,
Edward Boyle Jacobs; published 1915; Submitted to Genealogy
Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.
TAZWELL MERRIMAN
STARKEY
For many years
one of the most prominent men in Roanoke County was the late
Tazewell Merriman Starkey. He was born in Franklin County,
Virginia, in December 1829, and died January, 1910. He was a
son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Starkey, and was educated in the
private schools of his native county. He came to Roanoke
County in 1850 and was engaged in farming. After the Civil War
he purchased one of the finest farms in Roanoke County, near
Cave Spring, where he resided until the time of his death.
He was one of the first directors
of the First National Bank, and served in that capacity until
the time of his death. He was a large owner of Roanoke County
lands. The Norfolk & Western Station at Starkey was named
in his honor. For a period of twenty-eight years he was a
member of the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County from Cave
Spring District.
He was a valiant
Confederate soldier, serving in the Fifth Virginia Calvary. He
was wounded in the Seven Days’ Fight around Richmond, and had
three horses shot under him. Seven other bullets pierced his
jacket, but otherwise left him unharmed.
In May 1865, he was married to
Henrietta P. Harvey, daughter of Colonel and Mrs. Robert
Harvey, of Roanoke County, and as a result of that union there
were four children; namely, Mrs. Junior W. White, of Cave
Spring; Mrs. Eliza B. Smith, of Roanoke; H. Clay Starkey of
Roanoke and Joseph G. Starkey who resides at the old
homestead.
Mr. Starkey was a man of keen business ability, and in his death the county lost one of its most prominent and progressive citizens.
Transcribed by:
Peggy Luce
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