Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/923

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CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY.
863

the Baptist church he is a prominent factor, and was influential in securing the building of the fine Park avenue house of worship. He is active in the support of Pickett-Buchanan camp, the by-laws of which he aided in drafting at its organization. He is a director of the Young Men's Christian association, and fraternizes with the Masons and the American Legion of Honor. On February 22, 1866, Mr. Etheridge was married to Miss Louise J. Cox, of Moyock, Currituck county, N. C., and they have six children living: Sarah J., wife of William A. Jackson, Jr., of Centreville, Va.; Lily, wife of Walter M. Womble, of Norfolk, Va.; Elizabeth, Wallace, Loulie and Myron.

Dennis Etheridge, who was one of the gallant troopers of J. E. B. Stuart's command, now residing at Norfolk, is a member of a family which contributed freely and patriotically to the Confederate cause. His father, Isaiah Etheridge, a planter of Currituck county, N. C., was unable, through age and infirmities, to serve in the armies, but four brothers enlisted and did faithful duty. Josiah, who now has his home at Norfolk, served in Mahone's famous brigade; the elder, Harrison, who became a captain of a North Carolina company, survived the war, and now resides in Currituck county; Caleb Etheridge, who served in the company of the latter and died soon after the close of the war, and Dennis Etheridge, mentioned above. James E. Etheridge, a younger brother, was born in Currituck county, November 27, 1852. But a child when the war broke out, his memory of it is of those experiences at the homes of the South where for four years news was eagerly awaited from battlefield, prison camp, and hospital, with fear for the safety of their loved ones. He was reared upon the farm and at the age of eighteen years embarked in business life as the owner of a general store in Norfolk county, not far from his North Carolina home. After about six years of successful management of this business he removed to Norfolk and engaged in the wholesale and retail trade in lumber and building material, to which he has ever since given his attention, with the result of building up a large and successful business. In social, as well as in business life, he has attained the general esteem. He is a valued member of the Baptist church, of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Masonic order, in which he is a Knight Templar and of the fourteenth degree Scottish rite. He was married in March, 1884, to Fannie, daughter of Charles A. Santos, late a druggist at Norfolk, and they have four children: Herbert Rogers, Fannie Santos, Virginia Diana and Charles Antonio. A brother-in-law, Walter T. Santos, is associated with Mr. Etheridge under the firm name of James E. Etheridge & Co.

William McKendrie Evans, of Richmond, Va., was born at that city, February 1, 1847. His father was of English birth and his mother of Irish-American parentage. Being well-to-do, they gave young Evans the advantages of the best schools then attainable, both at Richmond and in the North, and he was attending an academy at Philadelphia when the trouble between the States approached a crisis in the spring of 1861. Satisfied that tremendous events were close at hand, he left school in April and arrived at home on the day before the convention voted for the ordinance of secession. Though much under the age at which volunteers