Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/703

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

VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY


5^9


farm on the York river road. After the war he returned to Powhatan county and worked on a farm there until 1868, when he moved to Manchester, in Chesterheld county, near Richmond. 'I'hcre he secured employment at the Cedar Works, located in the town of Manchester. In 1872 he engaged in real estate and insurance business at Manches- ter, where he lias continued since that time, his office now (1914) being located at 927 Hull street. South Richmond. He owns a homestead and resides at "Royall Pines," in Forest Hill. Chesterfield county, Virginia.

Mr. Royall is a Democrat in political affili- ations, and in 1879 was a member of the Manchester town council. For many years he has l^een secretary of the Powhatan Troop Association ; is a member of the Wooldridge Camp of United Confederate Veterans, and of the Joseph E. Johnston Camp of Confederate \^eterans, South Rich- mond, Virginia. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. Forest Hill ; of Dove Lodge, No. 57, Free and Accepted Masons; Henderson Lodge, No. 105, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows ; the Im- proved Order of Heptosaphs ; the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 843, and of the Royal Arcanum.

Mr. Royalf married Mary E. Ball, Octo- ber 8, 1873. at the Meade Memorial Epis- copal Church, the Rev. Horace Stringfellow officiating. She was born in August, 1S52, at Midlothian. Chesterfield countv, Virginia, daughter of Dr. William B. and Laura Ball, of Chesterfield county, Virginia. Her father was colonel of the Third Virginia Cavalry, Confederate States army, and took a con- spicuous part in the battle of Fredericks- burg, Virginia. No issue of said marriage.

John Rice Patterson. John Rice Patter- son bears in his veins the Scotch blood which has contributed pioneers, not only to many states in this country, but was largely instrumental in the settlement and develop- ment of Northern Ireland, forming what are generally known as the Scotch-Irish people, often said to be "more Scotch than the Scotch." In their isolation, where they did not mingle with those already resident on the Green Isle, they preserved more tenaci- ously the customs and habits of thought of their ancestors than did those wdio remained in their native Scotland.

William A. Patterson, father of John R.


Patterson, was bcjrn in .Wjrthern Ireland, and emigrated directly to Richmond, Vir- ginia, where he was for many years engaged in the wholesale dry goods business. After retiring from business on account of ill health, he resided in Lunenburg county, Virginia, where he died in 1837. He mar- ried Ann Pleasants Atkinson, a native of Mansfield, Virginia, and they were the par- ents of eight children, one of whom is now living. Mrs. Patterson was a daughter of Robert and Mary (Mayo) Atkinson, who lived and died in Alansfield. and were the parents of eleven children, all now deceased.

John Rice Patterson was born July 12, 1834. in Lunenburg county, X'irginia, and located in Petersburg, Virginia, when eighteen years old. There he engaged in the grocery business until after the war. At the opening of the war with the states he became a member of Company E, Twelfth Virginia \'olunteer Infantry, known as the Petersburg Riflemen, one of the bon ton companies of the state which suflrered great losses in the severe campaigns of the war. Nearly all the members of this company were educated men, and many of these rose to high rank in the army. He served all through the struggle, participating in many engagements, and fulfilling well his duty as a soldier. Paroled as acting assistant adju- tant-general. At Crampton Gap, one of the eighteen battles in which he participated, he received a wound. Returning to Peters- burg he resumed business, and served four years as postmaster of that city, from 1884 to 1888. Subsequently he became a merchan- dise broker, and has continued in that line of business to the present time. Mr. Patter- son is to-day the oldest active Free Mason in Petersburg. For over forty years he has been an elder in the Second Presbyterian Church of Petersburg, and he is universally respected and esteemed as a citizen.

He married. April 9. 1867, in Petersburg, Elizabeth Osborne, a native of that city, born 1842, died July 4, 1872. She was a daughter of Edmund Harrison Osborne, a native of Petersburg, and a manufacturer of tobacco. Her mother, Sarah (Cabaniss) Osborne, was a native of Dinwiddie county, Virginia. Of Mr. Patterson's three children, two are now living; the eldest, Ann Pleas- ants, died at the age of two years ; the others are: Edmund Harrison, born April 9. 1868, and Bettv Osborne. Edmund Harrison Pat-