Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/365

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PROMINENT PERSONS


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ate in 1899, and was an evangelistic preacher and lecturer until 1909, when he resumed charge of Brantley Church. He founded "The Evangel," a religious paper, in 1884, and was its editor until 1898; and also found- ed the "Whosoever Farm," an orphanage. He was author of "Pulpit, Pew and Plat- form," "Picnic in Palestine," "Home Re- ligion," "War Songs of the Confederacy," and a novel "White Blood." He married Lucy Kimball Pollard, of Baltimore.

Atkinson, William Mayo, born October 14, 184S, son of William Mayo Atkinson and Bettie J. White, his wife. Among his ear- liest ancestors in Virginia were Dr. Robert White, who settled in Frederick county in 1735 ; Roger Atkinson, who settled in Din- widdle county in 1750; and William Mayo, who came to Virginia in 1723, and settled near Richmond, Virginia. Robert White, his great-grandfather, was an officer in the revolution, a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and judge of the general court of Virginia. Rev. William Mayo Atkinson, ];is father, was a Presbyterian minister, and agent for the American Bible Society. Wil- liam Mayo Atkinson was brought up in Winchester, Frederick county. He attended an academy in Winchester, and took the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Hampden- Sidney College. He took the law course at the University of Virginia under John B. Minor, and graduated in 1873. He soon after began the practice of law in Winches- ter, and became a leading lawyer. He was. in turn, commonwealth's attorney of the •city of Winchester, member of the city court of Winchester, a member of the Winchester council, and mayor of the city; director of the Union Bank of W^inchester, and secre viR— 21


tary and treasurer of the Winchester & Potomac Railroad Company. He was a member of the chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity of Hampden-Sidney College, and the University of Virginia ; also a mem- ber of the Union Literary Society at Hamp- den-Sidney, and at the time of his gradu- ation received the best speaker's medal from that society. In politics, Judge Atkinson is a Democrat, and in religion a Presbyte- rian. On July 20, 1884, Judge Atkinson mar- ried Mrs. C. C. Trenholm, and thej have had one child, W. M. Atkinson.

Harrison, James Albert, born at Pass Christian, Mississippi, August 21, 1848, son o; Jilson Payne Harrison, and Sidney Ann Powell Norton, his wife. In the paternal Ime he is descended from the Harrison fam- ily of Virginia, who furnished signers, ])residents and soldiers, and on the ma- tirnal side from Rev. Charles Mynn Thrus- ton, of revolutionary fame. He attended the public schools in New Orleans, Louisi- ana, and then entered the University of Virginia, where he spent the sessions of 1S66-67 and 1867-68; and in 1869 studied in the University of Bonn, Germany. On his return he was made a professor of Latin and modern languages in the Maryland Military Academy. In 1876 he was elected professor of English and modern languages in Washington and Lee University, Lex- ington, Virginia. In 1895 the University of Virginia called him to the chair of Eng- lish and romance languages, and by a sub- division of the work of languages, he has been professor of Teutonic philology. In 1883 he delivered at Johns Hopkins Univer- sity a course of ten lectures on Anglo-Saxoii j.oetry. He published in 1874. "A Group of