Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/523

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\ IRGIXIA BIOGRAFMY


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Tomorrow." In 1902 Dr. Keister was elected a delegate to the 'rul)erculosis Con- gress which met in the city of New York; in 1905 he was a delegate to the thirty-second Annual Convention of Charities and Correc- tions, at Portland, Oregon ; delegate from Virginia to sixth International Congress on Tuberculosis. Washington, D. C, 1908. and read a paper on the '"Prevention of Tuber- culosis."

Dr. Keister married, June 16, 1885, Laura H. Shaver, and they have children: i. Wil- liam Shirey, born July 20. 1887, was gradu- ated from the Roanoke High School, and from the academic department of Roanoke College, Salem, \'irginia, in 1907. with the degree of Bachelor of Arts; he had the de- gree of Master of Arts conferred upon him in 1909, and was graduated first in his class from the Johns Hopkins University in 1914, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine; he was appointed to a position in the United States Alarine Hospital at Wilmington, North Carolina, where he is at the present time, and when his term of appointment ex- pires there, he will enter upon the duties of assistant surgeon of the United States Pub- lic Health Service. 2. Helen Marguerite, -udio was graduated from the Roanoke High School and then studied three years at the College for A\'omen. at Columbia, South Carolina; she married, October 22. 1913, Samuel Meredith Hudson, of Roanoke. The family attends the Lutheran church, in whose interests Mrs. Keister is active, as also in William ^^^atts Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy. Dr. Keister contributes liberally to church work and its collateral branches, and gives earnest and substantial support to all measures and movements which he believes will benefit mankind along educational, social, moral and material lines. He devotes all his spare time to technical reading, and finds his greatest pleasure in increasing his store of knowledge.

John Richard Wheat, M. D. Founded in Virginia by Francis Wheat, who came to the colony from England, the family of Wheat has become numerous and well- known in Virginia and throughout the South, the line to which Dr. John Richard Wheat, of Richmond, belongs, having for many years been resident in the city of Washington, where his grandfather, Rev.


Joseph Wheat, was a minister of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, and where his father, Dr. Richard Whatcoat Wheat, was born.

Rev. Joseph Wheat ministered to a Wash- ington congregation f(}r a long time with faithfulness and diligence, and was highly regarded in ecclesiastic circles and by his l)eople. lie married, December 13. 1791, Rachel liryan. of Maryland, and passed the remainder of his life in Washington. They were the parents of: John, Eliza, James, John Nelson. Maria, William Thomas and Dr. Richard Whatcoat, all of whom with the exception of the first, were born in Wash- ington, District of Columbia.

Dr. Richard Whatcoat Wheat, son of Rev. Joseph Wheat and his wife, Rachel (Bryan) Wheat, was born in Washington, District of Columbia, and died in San F'rancisco, California, in 1883. aged seventy-eight years. Fie was educated for the medical profes- sion, and early in life moved to Dumfries, where he practiced his calling until 1869, when his health failing, he removed to Cali- fornia. His long life was spent in deriving, for the benefit of others, the greatest good from his professional knowledge and skill, and many, who with him have gone to their final rest and reward, blessed his gentle kind- ness and willing charity. Fie married Ann, daughter of Francis H. and Elizabeth ( Col- quhoun) Dunnington. Francis H. Dunning- ton was a merchant of Dumfries, his wife was a nati\e of Dumfries, \*irginia. Chil- dren of Dr. Richard Whatcoat Wheat and his wife, Ann ( Dunnington ) Wheat : i. Eliza- beth Dunnington, married H. F. Williams, of San Francisco, California, going there by way of the Isthmus of Panama. 2. Charles Dunnington, left school to enlist in the Con- federate States army, was orderly sergeant, was severely wounded in the Battle of Seven Pines, and while at home recovering from his wounds was captured by a raiding party and confined at the old Capitol prison, thence transferred to F"ort AA"arren : in 1866 he went to California. 3. Joseph Francis, when sixteen years of age entered the Con- federate army and remained in the service until the Appomattox surrender; detailed as special scout at General Fitzhugh Lee's quarters. 4. Richard, died in childhood. 5. Dr. John Richard, of whom further.

Dr. John Richard Wheat, youngest and only survivor of the five children of Dr. Richard \\'hatcoat Wheat and his wife, Ann