PROMINENT PERSONS
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he was salesman and merchant for a period
of seven years and 1873 was admitted to the
bar of Virginia as a lawyer, having com-
menced his legal studies during the summer
following the war. He was elected attorney
for the commonwealth of Scott county,
serving 1875-79, and in this period was clerk
of the committee on finance and reading
clerk of the house of delegates. The "Scott
County Banner," published at the court
house at this time, was his property, and he
was its editor. He drew up the charter for
the railroad between Bristol and Big Stone
Gap, Virginia, in 1876, and the following
year organized the company which com-
menced its construction. In 1881 he was
one of the most active workers in the or-
ganization of the Virginia Coal and Iron
Company, and has been the counsel and a
member of the board of directors ever since.
He organized the Bank of Gates City in
1889; the Interstate Finance & Trust Com-
pany, and the Wise County Bank in 1901
and 1902 ; the Virginia Tanning & Extract
Company in 1897; the Stone Gap Colliery
Company, and Wise County Terminal Com-
pany in 1902 ; the Tazewell Coal and Land
Corporation, and the Seaboard Coal Com-
pany in 1904; and he organized a number of
companies of lesser importance, in which he
is still an ofificial. He was also active in the
construction of the railroad from Norton to
Glamorgan, and the Big Creek branch of
the Norfolk & Western Railway. In 1880
he was supervisor of the census for the fifth
district of Virginia, under appointment
from President Hayes, who was required
by act of congress to ignore politics in mak-
ing appointments. He served as attorney-
general of Virginia from 1886 to 1890; was
a member of the state central and executive
committees of the Democratic party from
1S83 to 1895; and in 1901 and 1902 repre-
sented Wise, Dickinson and Buchanan
counties in the convention called to revise
the constitution of the state. His residence
is Big Stone Gap, Wise county, Virginia.
Mr. Ayers married, June 8, 1870, Victoria
Louisa Morrison.
McCormick, Marshall, born in Clarke c(junty, Virginia, June 29, 1849, son of Province McCormick and Margaretta Holmes Moss, his wife ; and grandson of William McCormick, who emigrated to this country from Ireland. His father was a successful lawyer, and commonwealth's at- torney of Clarke county from 1840 to 1866. Marshall McCormick spent the early years of his life on his father's farm, and his pre- liminary education was obtained in private schools of Clarke county, and supplemented by attendance at the University of Virginia, from which institution he graduated in Latin, Greek and moral philosophy: and the Virginia Military Institute, which he at- tended for one session. He began the study of law in a private law office in Winchester Virginia, in 1870, was admitted to the bar the following year, and located for practice in Berryville, Virginia. In addition to his private practice, he has served for many years as counsel to the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company. He has served as a member of the board of visitors of the Western State Hospital and of the Institu- tion for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind ; of the board of visitors of the University of Vir- ginia for eight years, and for a period of four years was chairman of the finance committee of that board. He served as mayor of Berryville for six years ; common-
