PROMINENT PERSONS
343
1812-14; later he was a planter, and served
as a member of the Virginia senate. His
brother, Mark Alexander, served as a mem-
ber of congress from what is now the Fourth
Virginia district from about 1815 to 1830,
and was a member of the constitutionol con-
vention of Virginia of 1829-30. Robert Al-
ston Hamilton was a planter and country
merchant in his earlier active career, and
.subsequently a merchant in Petersburg,
^:rginia. For some years between 1850 and
i860 he was president of the Raleigh &
(iaston Railroad Company. His education
had been acquired at Hampden-Sidney Col-
lege and the University of North Carolina.
His son, Alexander Hamilton, spent his
earlier years in Granville county. North
Carolina, and then resided in Petersburg,
\'irginia. He became a cadet at the Vir-
ginia Military Institute in 1868 and gradu-
i'Ud in the class of 1871. While discharg-
ing the duties of assistant professor of Latin
and tactics at the Virginia Military Institute
in 1872-73. he studied law at Washington
and Lee University, under Judge John W.
Brockenbrough and the Hon. John Ran-
dolph Tucker, and graduated in June. 1873.
He practiced law in Richmond, Virginia,
<ine year, and then settled in Petersburg.
He became president of a large bank in
Petersburg, and counsel for the Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad Company, and numer-
•cus other companies. He became president
of the board of visitors of the Central
Lunatic Asylum, now the Central State
Flospital, and served three years. In 1901-
•02 he served as a member of the Virginia
constitutional convention from Petersburg.
At one time he was president of the Vir-
ginia State Bar Association.
Painter, Franklin Verzelius Newton, born
at North River Valley, Hampshire county,
Virginia, April 12, 1852, son of Israel
Painter and Juliana Wilson, his wife. He
attended public schools of Preston county,
West Virginia, then entering Roanoke
College, at Salem, Virginia. He took the
degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1874 with
the first honors, with the additional dis-
tinction of being awarded the medal in
metaphysics. From Roanoke College he
went to the Lutheran Theological Seminary,
also located at Salem, graduating in 1878,
and then passed several months in Euro-
pean travel and study. While he was a
student at the Theological Seminary, Roa-
noke College in 1877 conferred upon him
the degree of Master of Arts, and in 1895,
when he was in the midst of his life work,
Pennsylvania College honored him with a
D. D. Ordained into the Lutheran minis-
try in 1878, he was at the same time elected
jrofessor of literature and modern lan-
guages in Roanoke College, and for twenty-
eight years was a member of the faculty,
resigning in 1906 to devote his energies un-
reservedly to literature. His published
works include: "A History of Education"
(1886); "Luther on Education" (1889-Q0) ;
"History of Christian Worship" (1891), in
collaboration with Professor J. W. Rich-
ard; "Introduction to .American Literature"
(1897); "History of English Literature"
11900): "Lyrical Vignettes" (1900); "The
Reformation Dawn" (1901) ; "The Elemen-
tary Guide to Literary Criticism" (1Q03) ;
"Poets of the South" (1904) ; "Great Peda-
gogical Essays" (1905), and others of later
date. Dr. b'ainter married, August 9, 1875,
Laura Trmiblc Shickel, and has children.
