Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/587

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY


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ginia certainly prior to 1670, and married in what was then Accomac county (now Northampton) Ann Stockley, or Stokely, daughter of Francis Stockley. whose will is recorded in Rastville, Northampton county, X'irginia, under date of 1655. This Francis Stockley was a very prominent figure in his day. The name appears more often than otherwise under the form Stokely, and Hurke, the standard English authority, gives both names as correct. The issue of this first marriage was Henry Towles, born in 1670. died in 1734.

(II) Flenry (2) Towles, son of Henry ( I ) Towdes. moved across the bay and set- tled in Lancaster county, where he built the old Towles homestead, at Towles Point. Milenbeck. He was a planter by occupation and by his marriage with Hannah Therriott had five children : Stockley. Judith, Ann, Elizabeth. Jane Towles.

(III) Stockley Towles. son of Henry (2) Towles, born in 171 1. died in 1765, was a planter, clerk of the Lancaster county court and a vestryman in old Christ Church par- ish. He married, July 26, 1736. Elizabeth Martin, daughter of Thomas and Catherine Martin. They had six children: Henry, married Judith Haynes ; Stockley, of whom further ; Thomas, married Mary Smith ; Elizabeth, married Robert Currell ; Ann; Nancy.

(IV) Major Stockley Towles, son of Stockley Towles, moved from Lancaster county to Goochland, and thence to Spott- sylvania. He was an attorney-at-law, a revolutionary soldier, and served on the stafT of General Washington with the rank of captain. He was born February 21. 1752. married Elizabeth Downman, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Porters) Downman. The children of Major Stockley Towles were: Elizabeth. Mildred, Nancy, Cather- ine, Porters. Thomas, Stockley, William. Raleigh Downman Towles.

(V) Thomas Towdes. son of Major Stockley Towles, was married twice. His first wife was Ann Stubblefield, and his five children were all born of the first marriage. These children were : Thomas Reveley, Frances. Mary Catherine. Julia. Robert. His second wife was Keturah George, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Arms) George.

(VT) Thomas Reveley Towles, son of Thomas and Ann (Stubblefield) Towles, w^as born in 1820. died in 1864. He was a mer-


chant by occupation. He married, in 1859, Hettie Cave Gray, born in Culpeper in 1836. They were married at Madison Court House though Thomas R. Towles lived in Orange county. Bettie Cave (jray w^as the daugh- ter of Thomas and Sallie (Lucas) Gray. Lilliam Gray Towles, daughter of Thomas R. Towles, married John Greene Corley.

Mrs. Corley is a Daughter of the Amer- ican Revolution by two lines of descent. Major Stockley Towles has already been mentioned. In the maternal line, her great- grandfather was Gabriel (jray, a Scotch- man born, lie located in Culpeper, Vir- ginia, was a member of the Episcopal church, enlisted in the revolutionary army with the Culpeper minute-men and was quartermaster sergeant. In the southern campaign he fought at the battle of Guil- ford, where he was wounded, and later at Eutaw Springs. He was pensioned in 1832 and died about 1844. He married Rebecca Wilson, of Amelia county, Virginia. They had ten children. Their ninth child was Thomas Wilson Gray, who married Sallie AMthers Lucas, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Tlicv had seven children. Their third child, Bettie Cave Gray, married Thomas Reve- ley Towles. Mrs. Corley is the only child of this marriage. Not in her direct line, but a descendant of Plenry Towles. the immigrant, w^as Colonel Oliver Towles. of Spottsylvania. who was made a captain in the Continental army on Janu- ary 29, 1776. and served unbrokenly until January i. 1783. rising to the rank of lieu- tenant-colonel. That Henry Towles had a coat-of-arms is demonstrated by the im- pression on an old deed of a wax seal show- ing a lion passant. This imperfect descrip- tion is all that can be given, because in no English publication can be found a more complete one.

Moylan Calhoun Feild, D. D. S. Dr. Feild is a practitioner in Petersburg, the city ol his birth, of eleven years standing, and iui the dental profession is the occupant of a position won by diligent labor and proven talents. Dr. Feild is a son of Colonel Ever- ard Aleade Feild. a veteran of the war be- tween the states, now living at the age of eighty-three years (1915). Colonel Feild is a native of Greenville county. Virginia, and at the beginning of hostilities between the north and the south recruited a company