VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
195
association. He is a Democrat in politics,
and has ever taken a lively interest in all
that concerns the public welfare. In 1881-82-
83 he represented his ward in the common
council ; in 1885 was a member of the Demo-
cratic State Committee, and in that year
was elected a member of the state legisla-
ture. He rendered efficient service in both
legislative bodies and was connected with
the progressive measures of that period. As
a boy he served in the home guards of Dan-
ville, and from 1882 to 1886 was major of
the First Regiment, Virginia National
Guard. He is fond of the social side of life
and of outdoor recreation, enjoying both as
a member of the Westmoreland and Com-
monwealth clubs of Richmond and the
Country Club of Virginia. In religious
faith he is a Presbyterian, belonging to the
Second Church in Richmond.
Mr. Patton married, February 27. 1889, at Richmond. Nannie Leary. born at Edenton, North Carolina, daughter of Thomas H. and Elizabeth (Wagener) Leary. Thomas. H. Leai-y, born in Edenton, North Carolina, was a lawyer, first of Edenton, later moving to Easton, Pennsylvania, then to Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1883. His wife died in 1899. Children of James D. and Nannie (Leary) Patton, born in Richmond: Nannie, born April 16, 1890; James Dod- dridge (3), December 13, 1892, now engaged in mercantile business in Richmond.
William Perkins Parrish, M. D. The de- scent of the Parrish family, represented in professional circles in Chatham, Virginia, by William Perkins Parrish. M. D., is Irish, he being of the fifth American generation. The name has ever been proudly borne in its Virginia home, and was honorably ac- quitted in the heaviest fighting of the Mexi- can war and war between the states. The first two generations of this line in Vir- ginia were resident in Culpeper county, farming being the family occupation. Cap- tain \\'ilson Parrish was born in Pittsyl- vania county, Virginia, and attained an age of seventy-four years. He saw active ser- vice in the Mexican war. and throughout his life was a farmer. He married a Miss Wells, of Pittsylvania county, and had chil- dren, among them Joseph AL, of whom fur- ther.
Joseph yi. Parrish. son of Captain Wilson Parrish. was born on a farm in Pittsvl-
vania county, Virginia, in 1823, died in 1897.
As in the three preceding generations of
his line agriculture was his calling, his death
occurring on the home farm. The outbreak
of the war between the states found him a
soldier in the army of the Confederacy and
he served during the entire war, although
for thirteen months his services were lost
to the army by reason of his confinement in
a Union prison at Elmira, New York. Re-
leased from this place of detention and the
war at an end he returned to his fertile
acres, cultivating these until his final sum-
mons called him from earthly activity. He
was ever an ardent worker in the ranks of
the Democratic party, and although high
political office was neither his desire nor his
lot, his efforts were none the less valuable
because of their disinterested devotion. He
married a cousin, Elizabeth Parrish. born
in Pittsylvania county, Virginia, died Feb-
ruary 18. 1890, aged sixty-three years,
daughter of Thomas A. Parrish, and had
children: I. Martha A., deceased; married
Montgomery Hubbard, and was the mother
of five children, of whom four survive, re-
sided on a farm in Pittsylvania county. 2.
Virginia, died unmarried. 3. Thomas F..
deceased ; was a merchant of Danville, Vir-
ginia. 4. Julia F.. died unmarried. 5. Wil-
liam Perkins, of whom further. 6. Sallie.
unmarried ; lives in Chatham at the home
of her brother. William Perkins, he and she
the only survivors of the six children of
Joseph M. and Elizabeth (Parrish) Parrish.
Dr. William Perkins Parrish. son of
Joseph M. and Elizabeth (Parrish) Parrish,
was born on the old Parrish homestead, six
miles from Chatham. Virginia, September
2, 1866. After obtaining a public school
education he became his father's assistant
on the home farm, there remaining until he
was twenty-two years of age. He then
entered Baltimore College, now the Univer-
sity of Maryland, and was graduated M. D.
in the class of 1891. beginning his active
practice in Chatham. For five years he was
so engaged, then associated with another
physician, a connection which was later dis-
solved. Dr. Parrish continuing in inde-
pendent and prosperous practice at the pres-
ent time. His reputation as a skillful and
reliable physician is unsurpassed, and to
his necessary professional attributes he adds
a personality so pleasing as to justify the
term ideal in the resulting combination.
