PROMINENT PERSONS
341
Burks, Martin Parks, LL. D., born at
Liberty, now Bedford City, Bedford county,
Virginia, January 23, 185 1, son of Judge
Edward Calohill Burks (q. v.). He com-
menced his education in the district schools
in the vicinity of his home, then matricu-
lated at Washington College, from which
he was graduated in the class of 1870 with
the degree of Bachelor of Arts. At that
time Gen. Robert E. Lee was president of
this institution, which is now known as
Washington and Lee University. He stud-
ied law at the University of Virginia, under
the preceptorship of the well known legal
instructor, John B. Minor; received the de-
gree of Bachelor of Law in 1872, and on
January i, 1873, he engaged in the active
practice as his father's partner. From that
time until 1900 he practiced at Liberty, in
Bedford county. He has held the position of
reporter of the court of appeals since 1895,
and in 1900 he was called upon to become
professor of law in Washington and Lee
University, and has been the capable incum-
bent of this office since that time. The
degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred
upon him by Roanoke College, in appre-
ciation of his reputation at the bar, and
also in recognition of the value of a law
book published by Mr. Burks in 1893,
entitled "Property Rights of Married
Women in Virginia." Mr. Burks married,
December 31, 1874, Roberta Gamble Bell,
and they have had two children.
Dunnington, Francis Perry, born in Bal- timore, Maryland, March 3, 1851, son of William Augustus Dunnington and Sarah Brice Keener, his wife. He was educated in the private schools of Baltimore, and at sixteen years old entered the University of
Virginia, being graduated therefrom in
1S72 with the degree of Civil Engineer and
Bachelor of Science, and in 1873 with th^
degree of Mining Engineer. Immediately
after his graduation he was elected adjunct
professor in analytical and agricultural
chemistry, a position which he filled with
so much satisfaction that in 1884 he was
elected full professor. In 1880 he was made
a fellow of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, and in 1885
was secretary of one of the sections of that
association. He is a member of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science,
and of the British Chemical Society. He
has contributed much towards the advance-
ment of science, to which he has devoted
his life, and is an occasional contributor to
tlie "American Chemical Journal," and
other magazines of science. He has pub-
li.'-hed a series of "Notes of Work by Stu-
dents of Practical Chemistry in the Labora-
tory of the University of Virginia." In Au-
gust, 1878, he married Marion Sterling
Beale, of Fredericksburg. Virginia.
Cowardin, Charles O'Brien, born at Rich- mond, Virginia, October 23, 1851, died July 5, 1900, son of James Andrew Cowardin and Anna Maria Purcell, his wife. The first of the name to come to Virginia was Abraham Cowardin, from Cheshire, England, who settled in 1671 in Kent county, Maryland. Another ancestor, Jeremiah Strother, had a son William, whose life was spent in Stafford county, Virginia. James Andrew Cowardin founded the "Richmond Dis- patch" and was well known in the field of journalism, and he served as a member of the Virginia house of delegates in 1853. He was the owner of a fine country home near
