Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/156

the Virginia Democratic state central committee; elected city attorney of Petersburg in 1888, 1890 and 1892; presidential elector 1892; appointed United States attorney for the eastern district of Virginia in 1893, and resigned in 1896; appointed supervisor for the twelfth census of the fourth district of Virginia in 1899; elected as a Democrat to the fifty-sixth congress, to fill vacancy caused by the death of Sydney P. Eppes; re-elected to the fifty-seventh congress, and served from April 28, 1900, to March 3, 1903 ; again elected to the sixtieth and sixty-first congresses, and served from March 4, 1907. until his death at Petersburg, Virginia, October 31. 1909.

Lawson, John William, born in James City county, Virginia, September 13. 1837; attended the schools of Williamsburg, William and Mary College, and the University Oi Virginia : studied medicine and was graduated from ;he University of the City of New York, March 4, 1861; returned to Virginia and enlisted in the Thirty-second Regiment Virginia Infantry ; served on the Peninsula; participated in the battle of Williamsburg and in the series of battles beginning with Seven Pines; entered the medical department ; assistant surgeon in charge of artillery battalion ; promoted to full surgeon March 10, 1864, and served until the surrender at Appomattox, April 9, 1S65; settled in Isle of Wight county, Virginia, December. 1865 practiced medicine for ten years; elected to the house of delegates and re-elected; elected to the state senate; engaged in farming; elected as a Democrat to the fifty-second congress (March 4, 1891-March 3, 1893) ; died in Smithfield, Virginia, February 21, 1905. Tie was president of the hoard of visitors of William and Mary College at the time of his death.

Lee, William H. F., ( q. v.).

Lester, Posey Green, born in Floyd county, Virginia, March 12, 1850; attended the common schools; engaged in teaching, and studied theology; ordained a minister in the primitive or old school Baptist church in 1876; traveled and preached in eighteen states; associate editor of "Zion's Landmark" in 1883; elected as a Democrat to the fifty-first and fifty-second congresses (March 4. 1889-March 3. 1901); resumed ministerial relations in Floyd, Virginia.

Libbey, Harry, born at Wakefield, New Ham])shire, November 22, 1843: attended the common schools; moved to Hampton, Virginia, and engaged in mercantile pursuits; appointed one of the presiding justices of Elizabeth City county, Virginia, in 1869; elected as a Republican to the forty-eighth and forty-ninth congresses (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1887) ; engaged in the oyster industry; postmaster of Hampton. Virginia.

McKenney, William Robertson, born in Petersburg, Virginia, December 2, 1851, son of Robert Anderson McKenney and Virginia Eland Robertson, his wife. He attended McCabe's University School. Petersburg, and the University of Virginia. and was graduated from a number of the departments of the latter institution; taught school for two }ears. and in the fall of 1875 entered the law school of said university; was graduated in June. 1876, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Petersburg. Virginia ; elected president of the city council of Petersburg in the spring of 1888 and served six years; presidential clec-