Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/759

with the American youth of today, being, as it undoubtedly is, one of the best means of discipline, one of the greatest encouragers of self control and endurance, mental and physical, in existence. He remained engaged in farming until he reached the age of seventeen years, and then secured a position as clerk in a furniture store in Baltimore, Maryland. He remained in this service for six years, and then determined to embark upon a business venture of his own. For this purpose he came to the city of Richmond, and there entered into a partnership with Mr. H. R. Pollard, Jr., and under the firm name of Pollard & Bagby engaged in the real estate business there. They have been eminently successful and are now the leading concern of the kind in the city. Their business is a very large one and conducted in the most modern manner. Mr. Bagby has in the meantime wrought for himself a conspicuous place in the business and financial world of Richmond, and has become associated in a prominent manner with many of the leading concerns in the city. He has been made the president of the Fidelity, Loan and Savings Company of Richmond, and is a director and a large stockholder in the Richmond Bank and Trust Company of that city. He is a staunch member of the Democratic party. and although he takes a keen interest in the political questions of the day, has not so far entered the lists as a candidate of any kind. nor held any office save that as a member of the city school board, which he filled most efficiently for a period of six years. He takes a prominent part in the social life of the city, and is a member of Arlington Lodge, No. 149. Free and Accepted Masons, of Essex county, Virginia.

On March 12, 1895, when twenty-five years of age, Mr. Bagby was married in the Leigh Street Baptist Church, to Alma Louise Harwood, a native of Richmond, born December 24, 1875. Mrs. Bagby is the daughter of John P. and Marie (Wingfield) Harwood, both of Richmond. Mr. Harwood is now deceased, but Mrs. Harwood is still a resident of Richmond. Mrs. Harwood is a member of one of the oldest Virginia families, the Wingfields, the founder of which was one of those hardy souls who founded the settlement of Jamestown, the first permanent colony within the region now occupied by the United States. Mr. Wingfield was not only one of the first in this particular, but he was one of those who, after the eventful voyage of 1607, found his name included in the famous sealed order given by King James to the hardy adventurers with strict injunctions that it should not be opened until the arrival in Virginia, and which formed the list of His Majesty's first council in Virginia. To Mr. and Mrs. Bagby there have been born five children, all living, as follows: Louise Elizabeth, now an attendant at Hollins College, Virginia; Phyllis Harwood, John, Jr., Pleasant Harwood, and Richard Hugh. Mr. Bagby is one of the rising men of Richmond, and indeed. of Virginia. His very obvious business and financial ability, coupled with his well deserved reputation for unimpeachable integrity and generous. open-handed dealing in all the relations of life, have caused him to be regarded as one of the most substantial business men in the region, and his popularity is not less than his reputation. A Democrat in his outlook on life, approachable easily by all sorts and conditions of men, simple in bearing, direct in thought and language, there seems to be every reason for the hope and expectation which his host of friends hold for a brilliant future for him in every department of public activity. Mr. Bagby and his family are members of the Baptist church, of which his father was a clergyman, and he is a constant attendant of the Leigh Street Baptist Church, of which he is a strong support, materially aiding the numerous benevolences in connection with it.

William Morgan Smith, M. D. Dr. Smith an eminent physician of Alexandria, Virginia, and present postmaster of that city, descends from one of the old families of the Shenandoah Valley. In 1777. General John Smith signed his reports to the governor of Virginia, "In my Stone Hall Hackwood Park," a famous massive stone mansion that became famous during the revolutionary war and was long one of the most attractive homesteads of Frederick county. General John Smith, its owner, was of the Smiths of "Shooters Hill." son of John Smith and Mary (Jaquelin) Smith, and related to many of the old Virginia families including that of Washington, Marshall, Ambler, Jones, Page, Cary, Macon and Carrington. The