6o8
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
the United States and Europe. With steam
drying mill plant, improved mechanical ap-
pliances, storage facilities and both partners
expert judges and buyers, the firm occu-
pies a good position and has attained lead-
ing rank in their particular field. Mr. Jones
is a progressive Democrat in politics, a
member of the Danville Country Club and
the Tuscarora Club, and is senior warden
of Epiphany Protestant Episcopal Church.
He is highly regarded in business and social
circles, and is interested in all that means
progress or improvement.
Mr. Jones married, in Danville, January 21, 1880, Annie Hunt Robinson, born in Danville, daughter of Dr. Robert R. Rob- inson, a physician of Leaksville, North Carolina, a surgeon in the Confederate army, and a merchant of Danville, now many years deceased. He married Agnes Dillard, also deceased. Children of Elisha Keen and Annie Hunt (Robinson) Jones: Agnes, born July 31, 1883, married D. P. Withers, a lawyer of Danville ; Bartlett Kyle, born November i, 1886, associated with his father in business as an assistant ; Grace, born October 17. 1888 ; Elisha Keen, Jr.. born January 3, 1892, graduate of Uni- versity of \^irginia. Master of Arts, class of 1911.
Robert Brooke Albertson was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, December 6, 1889, a son of John W. Albertson, an at- torney, and his wife. Bertha Hamilton (Vaughn) Albertson ; a grandson of Frank and Annie (Scott) Vaughn, and of John W. Albertson. Robert Brooke Albertson re- ceived the degrees of B. C. and Bachelor of Laws at the Norfolk Academy, and was graduated from the University of Virginia a member of the class of 1912. He is a member of Pi Kappa Alpha, Phi Delta Phi. and the "Raven" of the University of Vir- ginia. He is an attorney at law at Ports- mouth, \'irginia.
James Hay, M. C. The records of the Congre'^s of the United States show many instances in which men have entered that body and, after a brief term as a member thereof, slipped from the country's service, public life knowing them no more. Doubt- less no small number of these have been men of. talent and ability, who, called upon in a crisis, gave their bes't and were finished.
while it may have been that fleeting su-
premacy in politics made their careers thus
meteoric, but there are among the members
of the United States senate and house of
representatives those whose records leave
no room for speculation of any kind, whose
length of service and whose activities claim
for them the gratitude and respect not only
of their constituents but of the country at
hirge. To Virginia has been granted not a
few of these faithful servants, and to this
list in the past two decades has been added
the name of James Hay.
James Hay descends from a distinctively Virginian family, his American ancestor, William Hay, landing at Norfolk upon his arrival from Scotland, whither he came in 1774. He married (first) Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Miles Cary, (second) Elizabeth Thompkins, a cousin of his first wife. From him the line descends through James Hay and his wife, Eliza Burwell, to William, who married Emily Lewis.
James Hay, son of William ami Emily (Lewis) Hay, Avas born in Millwood, Clarke county, Virginia, January 9, 1856,
- nid as a youth attended private schools in
\irginia and Alaryland. He was afterward a student in the University of Pennsylvania, completing his education by a law course in Washington and Lee LIni\'ersity, whence he was graduated B. L. in June, 1877. He was admitted to the bar in the year of his grad- uation from Washington and Lee Univer- sity, and for the two following years was a legal practitioner in Harrisonburg, Vir- ginia, then locating in Madison, Virginia, where he was ever afterward located. His public life began with his election to the office of attorney for the commonwealth in 1883, to which he was thrice successively re-elected, in 1887, 1891, and in 1895. While the incumbent of this office he was, in 1885, elected to the \'irginia house of delegates, being returned to that body in 1887 and {889, in 1893 being placed in a seat in the upper house of the Virginia legislature. He has ever been a prominent figure in political matters throughout the county and state, and for four years was a member of the State Democratic Committee, in 1888 being a delegate to the Democratic National Con- vention. Becoming a member of the fifty- fifth Congress of the United States in 1897, Mr. Hay has since been the representative of the Seventh Virginia Congressional Dis-
