Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/720

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1054


VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY


Humphrey Hudgins. j-oungest son of Jesse Hudgins, was born in Mathews county, Vir- ginia, in 1820, died 1898. Until the war broke out between the states, he cultivated his extensive acres and conducted a general store. He served four years in the Con- federate army in Armisteads battery under Colonel A. W. Stark and passed through his four years of hard service without wound or capture, attaining the rank of quarter- master's sergeant. He returned to his farm after the war and rebuilt his shattered for- tunes, continuing the cultivation of his own acres until his retirement. He was for many years a member of the official board of the Methodist Episcopal church, served on the school board and on the board of supervisors, bearing his part of all the bur- dens of civic and church duty. He is a member of Pickett Buchanan Camp, Con- federate Veterans, and in politics is a Democrat. Mr. Hudgins married Nancy, daughter of Captain William Thomas, of Mathews county, Virginia, her father a sea captain. Child. Claudius Laurens, of whom further.

Claudius Laurens Hudgins, only child of Humplirey and Nancy (Thomas) Hudgins, was born in Mathews county, Virginia, Feb- ruary 16, i860. He was educated in the public schools, and remained with his par- ents at the home farm until 1879. He then engaged in the commission business for two years, and in 1881 entered the employ of the Old Dominion Steamship Company at Nor- folk as clerk. He continued in the service of that company for thirty-three years, mak- ing a record of efficient and lengthy ser- vice, rarely equalled. He held many im- portant office positions during that period, was chief clerk of various departments and was a thoroughly-trusted and highly-re- garded member of the office force. At the November elections of 1913 Mr. Hudgins was elected city sergeant of Norfolk, enter- ing upon the duties of his office, January i, 1914, for a term of four years. He is a Democrat in politics, has been chairman of his ward committee and ever an active worker for party supremacy. He is a mem- ber of the Business Men's Association. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, which he serves as steward, and be- longs to the Heptasophs.

Mr. Hudgins married, in 1883. Nannie Hope, daughter of William and Joyce


(Brooks) Diggs, of Mathews county, Vir- ginia. Mr. Diggs is a lineal descendant of Governor Digges, of Virginia. Children : I. Helen Hope, born November 30, 1883; married William J. Grandy, and has a son, William J. (2). 2. Carrie Brooks, born Au- gust 16, 1885 ; married J. W. Jenkins. 3. Mary Walton, born March 20, 1887. 4. Claudius Laurens, Jr., born November 13, 1890. 5. Harold, born January 17, 1893. 6. Jesse Lee, born April 11, 1900, died June 10, 1902.

Julian Funsten Ward, M. D. Studying for the medical profession after a technical training, and beginning the practice of medi- cine after having been engaged in civil en- gineering for some years, Dr. Julian F. \\'ard has, with the exception of a two years connection with the surgical corps of the United States army and a few years in pri- vate practice, been associated with the relief department of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road. The son of George W. and Julia Ann (Funsten) Ward, he was born in Frederick county, Virginia, in March, 1851, and after attending a private school in Winchester, became a student in the Winchester Acad- emy. For eight years he was a civil engi- neer in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Later he entered the University of \'irginia. graduating from that institution in 1877, with the degree of M. D. He then entered the government service in the capa- city of assistant surgeon in the United States army, being for two years stationed on the Mexican frontier. At the expiration of that time he resigned his army assign- ment and moved to Baltimore, where, in 1886, he married Eleanor, daughter of Wil- liam Knight of Cecil county, Maryland. For two years he engaged in general practice in that city, and later entered the service of the relief dejjartment of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, holding for a time the office of chief medical examiner.

In 1888 Dr. ^^'ard returned to Winches- ter, and has since been medical examiner for the same railroad, the territory of which he is in charge extending from Hag- erstown, Maryland, to Lexington, Virgmia. His experience has been varied, and Dr. \\'ard has had the unusual opportunity to prove his efficiency in the two professions of civil engineering and medicine. In 1913 Dr. ^■^'ard became mavor of the citv of Win-