| Life fact | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Whitwell Wentworth Coxe |
| Born | April 24, 1884, in Roanoke, Virginia |
| Parents | Joseph W. Coxe and Mary Kealhofer (Syester) Coxe |
| Spouses | Emily Noyes Beebe and Kathleen Hull Kelly |
| Children | Whitwell Wentworth Jr., Esther Harwood, Harwood Beebe, Joseph Wentworth, Andrew Syester, and Kathleen Kelly Coxe |
| Primary residence | Roanoke, Virginia |
| Principal roles | Lawyer and public official |
Genealogy of Whitwell Wentworth Coxe
This genealogical account was constructed from the family information contained in the biography below. No relationships or life facts have been added from outside sources.
Whitwell Wentworth Coxe was born April 24, 1884, in Roanoke, a son of Joseph W. Coxe and Mary Kealhofer Syester Coxe. His maternal grandfather was Judge Andrew K. Syester.
Coxe first married Emily Noyes Beebe, who died in 1920. Their children were Whitwell Wentworth Coxe Jr.; Esther Harwood Coxe, who married Mr. Wirsing; Harwood Beebe Coxe; Joseph Wentworth Coxe; and Andrew Syester Coxe.
His second wife was Kathleen Hull Kelly, a daughter of Judge Joseph L. Kelly and Mary Hull Kelly of Bristol. They had one daughter, Kathleen Kelly Coxe.
Family outline
- Whitwell Wentworth Coxe
- Father: Joseph W. Coxe
- Mother: Mary Kealhofer (Syester) Coxe
- Father: Judge Andrew K. Syester
- First wife: Emily Noyes Beebe
- Children: Whitwell Wentworth Jr.; Esther Harwood; Harwood Beebe; Joseph Wentworth; Andrew Syester
- Second wife: Kathleen Hull Kelly
- Father: Judge Joseph L. Kelly
- Mother: Mary (Hull) Kelly
- Daughter: Kathleen Kelly Coxe
Source
This biography appeared in History of the Shenandoah Valley: Family and Personal Records, Volume III (Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1952), pages 11-12.
Verbatim biography
The following is a faithful transcription of the original biography. OCR errors have been corrected against the printed page images, but the original wording, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and factual claims have not been rewritten.
WHITWELL WENTWORTH COXE—General Solicitor of the Norfolk and Western Railway, Whitwell W. Coxe, was born in the City of Roanoke, April 24, 1884, the year of the city’s incorporation, and has there resided ever since. He is the son of the late Joseph W. Coxe, former Comptroller of the Railway, and Mary Kealhofer Syester, a daughter of Judge Andrew K. Syester, of Hagerstown, Maryland, a former Attorney General of that State.
After attending the public schools of Roanoke, Mr. Coxe entered the University of Virginia, from which he received the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees, the latter in 1907. While at the University he was president of the Academic Class of 1905, a charter member of the “Raven Society”, Editor in Chief of the University of Virginia Magazine, Assistant Editor in Chief of “College Topics” (the college newspaper), and a member of Zeta Psi, Lambda Pi (local academic) and Phi Delta Phi (legal) fraternities. During the summers of 1905 and 1906, while still a student at the University, he was, respectively, reporter for and editor of the “Roanoke Evening News” and the “Roanoke Times”. In 1920 he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Upon his graduation from the University in 1907, Mr. Coxe began the general practice of law in Roanoke as an associate in the law firm of Robertson, Hall and Woods (Judge Edward W. Robertson, H. T. Hall and Col. James P. Woods). In 1911 he formed a partnership with C. Francis Cocke, under the firm name of “Coxe and Cocke”. Upon the dissolution of this firm in 1914, Mr. Coxe began a partnership with Col. Woods, later including Joseph H. Chitwood, Frank W. Rogers and State Senator Leonard G. Muse, all of the Roanoke Bar, which continued under the style of Woods, Chitwood, Coxe, Rogers & Muse, until 1930, when Mr. Coxe joined the law department of the Norfolk and Western, becoming General Solicitor in 1936.
From the time of Mr. Coxe’s admission to the Bar his major interests have been the practice of law and the Bars of the State and his native city. He is a former president of the Bar Association of the City, and (1928-29) of the Virginia State Bar Association. He is a former member of the Judicial Council of Virginia and of the Virginia State Board of Law Examiners. During World War I he was chairman of Legal Advisory Board No. 1, Roanoke City. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce of Roanoke in 1944 and is a member of the Shenandoah Club (Roanoke) and the Roanoke Country Club.
Although Mr. Coxe has been actively interested in politics and has managed political campaigns, the only political office for which he ever ran, and to which he was elected, was that of Board of Aldermen of Roanoke City (1916-1917); and in 1933 he was a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention for the Repeal of the 18th (prohibition) Amendment to the Federal Constitution.
Mr. Coxe is an Episcopalian and a conservative Democrat.
Mr. Coxe has been twice married, first on November 17, 1910, to Emily Noyes Beebe, of Norwich, Connecticut, who died in 1920, and second on September 19, 1925, to Kathleen Hull Kelly, of Bristol, Virginia, a daughter of the late Judge Joseph L. Kelly (former president of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia) and Mary (Hull) Kelly. Mr. Coxe is the father of six children: 1. Whitwell Wentworth, Jr., born November 8, 1911. 2. Esther Harwood (Coxe) Wirsing, born June 14, 1913. 3. Harwood Beebe, born July 17, 1914. 4. Joseph Wentworth, born November 15, 1915. 5. Andrew Syester, born August 27, 1918. 6. Kathleen Kelly, born December 16, 1926.