Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/518

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

388


VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY


John R.. of whom further; and Hilah, born March 13, 1883.

(IV) Livingston Clay Kilby, son of John Richardson and Martha Jane Louisa ( Smithj Kilby, was born in Suffolk, Vir- ginia, April 6, 1852. From the private schools of Suffolk he went to Randolph- Macon College, in 1870 discontinuing his classical pursuits and enrolling in Bryant and Stratton's Business College, in Balti- more, Maryland. In the spring of the fol- lowing year he moved to Norfolk, Virginia, and became associated in lumber dealing with his elder brother, Le Roy R. Kilby, a connection that ended in 1873, when Mr. Kilby became identified with Baird-Roper & Company, and remained with them until 1882. In the latter year he established himself in general brokerage business, and he continued thus until 1907, in this year adding real estate business to his activities, and January i, 1914, combined his business with Barry, Osborne & Parks, under the name of the Commonwealth Realty and In- surance Company, of Norfolk, Virginia, a concern of high standing of which he is treasurer. As treasurer and director of the Commonwealth Realty and Insurance Com- pany he is prominent and influential, foster- ing its stability, strength and usefulness with the same zealous care and watchfulness that raised it to the high position it occupies.

Many pressing business requirements have made Air. Kilby's presence in public life a rare occurrence, and political preference has never been his desire. On one occasion, under a reform government, he was elected to the city board of health, from which busi- ness cares compelled him to resign at the end of six months. He was later elected a member of the water board of Norfolk and was made treasurer of that body, the board being legally abolished two years afterward.

About twenty-two years ago he was one of a gathering of one hundred who met in the auditorium of the Young Men's Christian Association to form a Society for the Pre- vention of Cruelty to Animals. Organiza- tion was gotten well under way at this meet- ing, and the late W. F. Irvine was elected the society's first president, serving for two years. He was succeeded in office by Mr. Kilby, who has filled the president's chair since that date with faithfulness and ability, his hearty interest making his service in such capacity invaluable. The present


membership of the society is approximately fifty, and its work is furthered by a city appropriation and private subscriptions amounting to three hundred dollars. A special officer is employed by the society, and through his services and the co-oper- ation of the individual members a wide ter- ritory comes under the notice of the society, which has long conducted an excellent and worthy work in compelling reasonable con- sideration of animals by those who do not realize that such a course is much to their advantage. Mr. Kilby is a member of the Alethodist Episcopal Church South, and for twenty-seven years held the office of treas- urer of the Ep worth (formerly Granley Street Church, Norfolk Virginia). He is also a member of the board of stew^ards and chairman of the board of trustees, and is also connected with other activities of his church, one of the most prominent Metho- dist churches in the South.

The universal confidence that is placed in Mr. Kilby's ability and business depend- ability has led to his frequent appointment as trustee and executor of large estates. At this time (1914) he is executor for the estate of the late J. H. Core, which is valued at one-half of a million dollars, one of the pro- visions of Mr. Core's will being that one hundred thousand dollars be used in the erection of a mausoleum to contain the re- mains of himself and his wife. In the many positions of trust and responsibility that he has been called to fill, Mr. Kilby has re- mained true to the fine honor and the strict integrity that has come to be a part of his family's traditions.

Livingston Clay Kilby married Susan, daughter of Samuel R. Borum, of Norfolk, Virginia, and his wife, Eliza P. (Stephen- son) Borum, and had three children, two living: Annette, born in 1889, and Elizabeth, born in 1899; and one, Edith, deceased.

(V) Bradford Kilby, son of Judge Wilbur John Kilby and his first wife, Harriet Lan- etta (Brownley) Kilby, was born at "East- ern A^iew," King and Queen county, Vir- ginia, June 23, 1877. He attended private schools in Suffolk. Entering Randolph- Alacon College, he was graduated from this institution in 1897, with the blaster's degree in Arts, and for the two following years was a member of the faculty of Randolph-AIacon Academy at Bedford City, A^irginia. In 1899 and 1900 he was a student at Johns