Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/76

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50


VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY


began the study of dentistry under the care- ful preceptorship of his honored father, then entered the New York College of Dentistry, whence he was graduated in 1869. Return- ing to Richmond, he was associated in prac- tice with his father until the death of the elder Davison, and has since followed his profession in this city. Identified in practice with Dr. Davison is his son, Dorset Allen Davison, who was graduated from the Bal- timore College of Dentistry in 1904, fifth in the list of twenty honor men in a class of sixty-eight members. Dr. Dorset Allen Davison at graduation won the first prize for bridge work and the same award for all mechanical dentistry. He has been con- nected with his father throughout his entire active career, and is the inventor of several well known and extensively used dental ap- pliances. Father and son are alike able mas- ters of their profession, skilled in all of its departments, and stand among the leaders in dental surgery in Richmond, where the name Davison has ever meant the best in that calling. Dr. George Janes Davison affiliates with several fraternal orders, among them the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.

He married, in Richmond, Virginia, June 6, 1869, Virginia C. Pennell, born in Rich- mond, a member of a Maryland family, and has children : Mary Jeanette. married W. D. Payton, of Fredericksville, Virginia ; Laura Elma, married G. K. Pollock, of Richmond, Virginia; Lelia Irene, married John Roscher, of Richmond; Larette Elma, married G. M. Anderson, of Rockbridge Baths, Virginia; Dorset Allen, previously mentioned, mar- ried Nellie R. Turner, of Richmond ; Fred- ^(^ick Eugene, unmarried, associated with the Walter Moses Piano Company, of Rich- mond ; George Evans, a draughtsman.

Thomas Stewart Wheelwright. The Wheelwrights of Warren county, Virginia, are descended from an old New England family whose emigrant ancestor settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Several Wheel- wrights since that time have been promi- nent in the colonial wars, in the revolution and in the civil war ; and the family has pro- duced others who became eminent in church and state ; however, the most distinguished


person of the line was the Rev. John Wheel- wright, of New England colonial days.

(I) He was born about 1592-94, in Lin- colnshire, England, the son of Robert and Katherine Wheelwright, of Saleby, Lincoln- shire, England. He graduated in 1614 from the Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, Eng- land, where he became intimate with Oliver Cromwell, afterward the dictator. He mar- ried (first) Marie Storrie (Story), daughter of the Rev. Thomas Storrie, the 8th day of November. 1621. She died in 1630, leaving issue. Her father, the vicar of Bilsby, Lin- colnshire, died not long after her marriage, and was succeeded by Rev. John Wheel- wright, who was placed in charge of the vacant parish. He married (second) Mary or Marie Hutchinson, daughter of Edward Hutchinson, of Alford Lincolnshire, in 163 1. She was the sister of William and Samuel Plutchinson, residents of Boston, Massachu- setts Bay Colony, in 1635, the former after- wards a resident of Rhode Island. A few years later Rev. John Wheelwright con- sented to give up his patrimony for a sum of money, but the transaction coming to the knowledge of his bishop, the living was de- clared to be forfeited ; however, the ofifense was not an unusual one of that time, and did not imply any moral turpitude.

Shortly after the above mentioned inci- dent Rev. John Wheelwright, together with his second wife and family, sailed for Amer- ica, and arrived in New England, May 26, 1636. He was admitted to the church at Boston, June 12, 1636, and in the same year was pastor for a few months of the "Chapel of Ease" at Mount Wollaston, Braintree. Meanwhile, the peace and quiet of the settle- ment of Newbury had been disturbed by a religious controversy in which Mrs. Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson, wife of William Hutchinson, took an active part. The Rev. John Wheelwright, her brother-in-law, de- livered a sermon in Boston on the 19th day of January, 1637, in which he gave expres- sion to some vigorous thoughts on the sub- ject that aroused a storm of criticism and censure. He was charged with contempt of court and sedition, and in November follow- ing was disfranchised by order of the gen- eral court and compelled to leave the colony.

He left Boston and traveled northward along the seacoast, passing through Salem, Ipswich and Newbury to his first stopping