Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/70

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY


also in the same army, with many other of their relations, paternal and maternal. Armi- stcad Lewis and Mary (Hicks) Burwell also had daughters: Mary Randolph, married Captain James \Vade, of Montgomery county. Virginia : Lucy, died in 1914, mar- ried C. F. Ferrell, of New Orleans; Alice, married Russell Hill, of Culpeper county, Virginia: Nellie, married her cousin, Lewis Burwell; Rosa, married Dr. E. B. Ilyus. of Lancaster county. Pennsylvania.

Henry Lewis Burwell, youngest son of Armistead Lewis and Mary (Hicks) Bur- well. was born in Franklin county, Virginia. September 2. 1856. He pursued courses of study under private tutors until 1874, then spent three years in Roanoke College. After leaving college, he entered private school in Baltimore, Maryland, and in 1875 began medical study at the Kentucky College of Medicine, at Louisville, whence he was graduated M. D.. class of 1879. After a term of service as interne in a Louisville hospital, he located at Mountvale, V^irginia, where he practiced his profession for seven years. During the years. 1886-88, he prac- ticed at Brooksville, Florida, returning in the latter year to Virginia and locating in Chase City, Mecklenburg county, where for over a quarter of a century he has been continuously engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery. He has attracted a large clientele in town and country and has won high standing as an able practitioner, skillful surgeon, good friend, neighbor and citizen. He is a member of the Virginia State Medical Association and keeps fully abreast of all modern medical and surgical advance. He is a member of the Masonic order in Chase City, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is an elder of the Presby- terian church, and in politics a Democrat, serving in the county board of health, using his medical skill in behalf of the public health by prevention as well as treatment.

Dr. Burwell married Eleanor Shepherd Fry, born December 2-]. 1862. daughter of Colonel William Henry and Jane Margaret (Watson) Fry, a descendant of Colonel Joshua Fry, the Virginia patriot and sol- dier, who while leading his troops to the fort at the junction of the .Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, was stricken down. May 31. 1754. George Washington was the lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Fry"s regiment and at the latter's burial, at Fort Cumber-


l.-ind. May 31. 1754. attended with the army, and on a large oak, which stood as a tomb and a monument to his memory, cut the tollowing inscription : "L'nder this oak lies the bodv of the (lood, the lust and the noble Fry."

Family tradition states that Colonel Joshua Fry was born in Somersetshire, England, and educated at Oxford. But there were Frys in Virginia as early as 1623. Joshua Fry patented land in Spott- sylvania county, \'irginia, in 1726, the estate now. however, being in ■ Madison county. Prior to that date he is found recorded as vestryman, and in court records as com- missioner (or magistrate) of Essex county, between the years 1710 and 1720. He there married Mary (Micou) Hill, daughter of Dr. Paul Micou, physician and surgeon, a Huguenot exile from P'rance. and widow of Colonel Hill, a large landed proprietor on the Rappahannock river. Colonel Vxy rose to eminence in the Colonial government, held many important assignments from the government, made valuable surveys and maps, was one of the commissioners who negotiated the "Treaty of Logstown" with the Indians of the Shawnee, Mingo and Delaware tribes, June 13, 1752, and when England and France fought for supremacy in the Ohio country was commissioned by- Governor Dinwiddle to command the Vir- ginia troops. The copy of his commission i'^ yet preserved by his descendants. It appoints him "Colonel and Commander-in- chief of the troops now raising to be called the Virginia regiment, with which and the artillery, arms, ammunition, necessary pro- visions and stores, you are, with all possible dispatch, to proceed to the said Fort of Monongahela and there act according to your instructions." ^^'ashington was lieu- tenant-colonel of the regiment and went in advance to clear a road for the artillery, which was to follow with Colonel Fry, who left Alexandria. April 2^ . 1754. but on May 31. following, having reached Mills Creek ( Fort Cumberland) on the Potomac river, was suddenly taken ill and died. Had he lived none can tell what he would have achieved by his engineering, skill, experi- ence and knowledge of the country, which he before traversed. .After the burial of Colonel Fry, on the same day of his death, ^\'ashington succeeded to the command of the regiment and led it westward. By will


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