Dennis PartridgeThe McPheeters family traced its origins from Scotland through Ireland and Pennsylvania before establishing a substantial household in the Bethel settlement of Augusta County. Its best-documented descendant was Rev. William McPheeters, D.D., whose career connected Virginia’s Presbyterian churches and schools with Kentucky and North Carolina.
Foote records two distinct Scott family groups in Virginia. The better-developed household was that of Rev. Archibald Scott, pastor of the associated Bethel and Hebron congregations in Augusta County. A separate line centered upon Colonel Thomas Scott of Charlotte County and his work with Hampden-Sydney College. Foote does not establish a relationship between these families.
The Carrington family established itself first along Willis Creek in what became Cumberland County and later formed an influential branch in Charlotte County. Through marriages with the Mayo, Read, Cabell, Venable, Bernard, Sims, and Watkins families, its descendants became prominent in Virginia’s legal, political, military, and educational life. The following account brings together the Carrington family references scattered throughout William Henry Foote’s Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical, Second Series, arranging them by generation and family relationship. Paul Carrington and the Barbados Family Foote begins the family line with Paul Carrington and his wife, whom he describes as belonging to … Read more
The Morton family was closely associated with the growth of Presbyterianism in Charlotte and Cumberland counties. Foote’s references connect its members with the beginnings of the Briery congregation, the Cumberland and Cub Creek churches, Revolutionary service, Hampden-Sydney College, and the family of Rev. John Holt Rice.
The Virginia Waddell family references preserved by William Henry Foote center upon Rev. James Waddell, D.D., the celebrated Presbyterian teacher and orator remembered as the Blind Preacher of Virginia. His ministry connected the Northern Neck with the Shenandoah Valley and central Virginia, while the marriages of his daughters linked the family with the Presbyterian ministers Archibald Alexander and William Calhoon.
Whitwell Wentworth Coxe, born in Roanoke in 1884, was a Virginia lawyer and public official who became general solicitor for the Norfolk and Western Railway. A University of Virginia graduate, he practiced law in Roanoke, led bar associations, served on the Roanoke Board of Aldermen, and helped with Virginia’s 1933 repeal convention.
Colonel Morgan H. Hudgins was a Virginia educator, military-school commandant, and longtime superintendent of Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro. Born in Portsmouth in 1878 and a Virginia Military Institute graduate, he also served eight years as Waynesboro’s mayor and led wartime civic efforts. He married Elizabeth Milnes Austin in 1913.
Judge Rose MacDonald Skoggs of Berryville, Virginia, built a distinguished career as a librarian, educator, author, welfare worker, and juvenile and domestic relations court judge. A native of Lexington, she studied at several colleges, served in public education and Red Cross leadership, wrote several books, and married J. Lewis Skoggs in 1947.
Hollie Brockenborough McCormac Jr. was a Winchester, Virginia textile executive who led The Virginia Woolen Company and Varel Mills, Inc. A Lehigh University graduate, he also served as a director of Shenandoah Valley National Bank and took part in civic and fraternal organizations. He married Evelyn Montgomery and had one daughter.
Hollie Brockenborough McCormac Sr. was a leading Shenandoah Valley industrialist, banker, farmer, and civic leader. Born in Frederick County in 1875, he rose from farm management to president of Virginia Woolen Company, served in numerous business and civic roles in Winchester, and died at his home in 1937.