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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
stantly upward and that has taken him
through the offices of chief clerk, claim
agent, secretary and treasurer, secretary and
auditor, to the important and responsible
post of assistant general manager, to which
he was appointed in 1912. His qualifications
for his high office could not be improved
upon, for through service in many depart-
ments of the company's wide organization
he has gained an insight, thorough and
practical, into all of its workings, knowledge
that has since stood him in good stead. His
part in the direction of the vast coastwise
trade of the Old Dominion Company re-
quires the exercise of sound judgment, &ure
foresight, and quick decision, for an error
in high position can rarely be rectified, and
to these exactions Mr. Palen has conformed
in a manner eminently able. In business,
as in private life, he is known for his un-
failing courtesy and evenness of temper, and
no crisis of business or press of aiTairs can
separate him from his considerate manner
and command of his emotions. Mr. Palen
is a member of the Norfolk Board of Trade
and of the Chamber of Commerce, in the
latter organization holding position upon
several important committees. He is a direc-
tor of the Seaboard National Bank, Virginia
Navigation Company, and Central Young
Men's Christian Association of Norfolk. His
clubs are the Borough, Virginia, Country
and Chesapeake, and in the Masonic order
he was a member of Owens Lodge, No. 164,
Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was
past master ; Norfolk Chapter, Royal Arch
Masons ; Grice Commandery, Knights Tem-
plar, and Acca Temple, of Richmond, Nobles
of the Mystic Shrine.
He married Lucy G. Stone, daughter of Robert Turnbull Stone, of Petersburg, Vir- ginia, in 1895.
Mrs. Katharine Hutchinson Flood. Daugh- ter of a clergyman of the Presbyterian church, granddaughter of an officer of the English army, wife of an officer of the Con- federacy, Mrs. Flood's life was begun under the peaceful conditions of the peace of the gospel ; she has tasted the full horrors of war and its attendant suffering. In her own life she has striven to heal, soothe and com- fort, and now a second time widowed, and walking amidst the lengthening shadows, rejoices that peace is the heritage of her children and that the crudest of all wars
and that among brethren is now about a
dim memory. Her daughter, Jennie Kirk-
patrick (Hobson) Scott, whose father was
killed in battle, is a member and president
of the Memorial Society of Gordonsville,
Virginia, a society that has erected a memo-
rial building for the Confederate dead, yet
on each recurring Memorial day lays its
tribute of beautiful flowers upon the graves
of the Confederate and Federal alike. The
mother has the pleasure of knowing that it
was largely through the efforts of her daugh-
ter that funds were collected and sufficient
bonds sold to erect this building, that while
it honors the dead, stands also as a beacon
light of good will and a reunited country.
Katharine Hutchinson Flood is a grand- daughter of Thomas and Mary (Hutchin- son ) Kirkpatrick and a daughter of Rev. John Kirkpatrick, born in Mecklenburg county. North Carolina, in 1794, died in February, 1842, a minister of the Presby- terian church, first pastor of the Manchester, Virginia, church, and pastor of Cumlserland Presbyterian church. Mr. Kirkpatrick. learning from a Scotchman, Mr. Brain.ird, how to teach deaf mutes to speak, had a school of these unfortunates in Manchester, Virginia, succeeding with all but two in a class of seventeen. This was about 1818. long before such a feat was thought possi- ble by educators in this country. He was offered a flattering salary to go to France to teach deaf mutes, but declined, preferring to devote his time in the Master's vineyard. He married Jane M. Browne Jellis, daughter of Captain Thomas Jellis, born in Kent county, England. He was an officer in the English army, and while on furlough in 18 1 6 came to Cartersville, Cumberland county, Virginia. He was so well pleased with Vir- ginia that he remained, and ever afterward made Virginia his home ; he had married in Ireland Anastasia Deane. He died in 1823, aged fifty-one years, his wife surviving him but one week. Mrs. Flood's brother. Major Thomas Jellis Kirkpatrick, born July 31, 1829. was a captain of the Amherst artillery, Jackson's corps, Ewell's division of the Con- federate army, later promoted to major, serving until the final surrender, receiving but a slight wound in the hand, although often and hotly engaged. A half-brother of Mrs. Flood, Rev. John Mason Kirkpatrick, born in 1822, served for eight months as chaplain in the Confederate army, and was
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