764
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
eral courts of the district. He is past noble
grand of the local Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, belongs to the Improved Order
of Red Men, and to Jefferson Davis Camp,
Sons of Confederate Veterans. In religious
faith a Baptist, he was elected in 1913 mod-
erator of the Black Water Association of
the Baptist church and is active in the vari-
ous departments of church work.
Mr. Watkins is a Democrat in politics and since locating in Franklin, has been ac- tive in party affairs, attaining a position of influence in party councils. In 1899 he was elected mayor of Franklin for a term of two years, which by sticcessive re-elections lengthened into one of six years and in 1914 was again the candidate of the party. While in office the electric plant was greatly en- larged and a water works system installed, two improvements for which Mayor \\'at- kins may justly be credited. He is a member of the Democratic County Committee and has been a candidate for commonwealth at- torney of Southampton county and for mem- ber of the state legislature, failing Ijy but a few votes of an election in both campaigns.
Daniel William Lassiter, M. D. Dr. Daniel William Lassiter, a jirominent physician of Petersburg and leading citizen of the state, belonged to a well-known North Carolina family. His father, William Lassiter. born in Northampton county, North Carolina, was a planter there, and died in early life. He married Margaret Parker, also a native of North Carolina, of English-Quaker lineage. They had but one child. Daniel \\' illiam.
Dr. Daniel William Lassiter was born May 24. 1827. in Northampton county. North Carolina, and was educated at the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsyl- vania. For more than forty years he practiced medicine in Petersburg, was one of the best known physicians of the state, and died in Petersburg, July 3, 1903. He came to Pe- tersburg as a boy of fourteen years, and was among the most highly esteemed and re- spected citizens of that city through the re- mainder of his life. He married at Peters- burg, during the siege of that city by the Union forces, February 8, 1865. Anna Rives Heath, born at Petersburg, daughter of Hartwell Peebles Heath, a native of Prince George county. A'irginia. who wms a success- ful wholesale merchant at Petersburg, where he died in if^4Ci. at the age of forty vears. His wife, Flixabeth Cureton fRives") Heath,
of Sussex county, \'irginia, was a sister of
Hon. Francis E. Rives, a Congressman and
well-known statesman of the fourth Vir-
ginia district. They had a large family, and
all of their sons were soldiers of the Con-
federate army during the war between the
states. One of these, John Francis Heath,
was a surgeon, who died in the service of the
Confederacy. Dr. and Airs. Lassiter were
the parents of five children, of whom three
are now living: I. Francis Rives, receives
further mention. 2. William, born Septem-
ber 29. 1867, is now lieutenant-colonel of the
Second United States Field Artillery, sta-
tioned in the Philippine Islands; Lieutenant-
Colonel William Lassiter was prepared at
McCabe's University School ; graduated
from Military Academy in 1889; served as
first lieutenant in the first artillery at the
battle of Santiago, Cuba, during the Spanish-
American war ; he has served as major and
inspector-genera! both in this country and
the Philippines ; has served in the general
staff of our army ; and has written numer-
ous articles on the field artillery branch of
the service. 3. Charles Trotter, of further
mention. 4. \'irginia Heath, born Feijru-
ary 5, 1874, died unmarried, September 12,
1902. 3. Anna Heath, born Decemlier 22,
1875. is the wife of Dr. Ennion G. \\'illiams,
of Richmond, \"irginia.
Francis Rives Lassiter, eldest child of Daniel William and Anna Rives (Heath) Lassiter, was born February 18, 1866, in Petersburg, and was among the best known and most highly appreciated citizens of the Old Dominion. He was reared in a Virginia home where culture and refinement ruled, and was taught at his mother's knee to be gentle, courteous and kind to all. the high as well as the lowly, to obey orders of those who had a right to command, to honor his father and his mother, to love his native state and her traditions, to do all in his power to advance her welfare and prosper- ity. It was his effort and desire to build up her waste places and to make the Old Dominion once more assume the place which she formerlv held in the councils of the na- tion. He was taught to love our common country and its constitution, in whose shap- ing our forefathers had taken such an active part, to stand up for its preservation in time of peace, and to battle for it in time of war. He attended McCabe's L^niversity School at Petersburg until 1883, when he entered the University of \'irginia, taking the academic
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