VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
841
on matters pertaining to electric service, and
is the author of many technical and practical
articles in the electrical journals and read
before gatherings of electrical experts. His
executive ability is of a high order and in
his chosen field of operations he is known
as one of the strong, capable and efficient
men of his day.
In political and religious thought he is a broad, liberal and independent thinker, bound by neither party nor creed. He is a member of the University Club, of Phil- adelphia, St. David's Golf Club, of Delaware county, and the Chi Phi fraternity. He also holds membership in many professional and business associations and wherever men meet who are interested in his line of ac- tivity he is an honored guest.
Mr. Hartman married, November 18, 1891, Mary Ella, daughter of Richard Henry and Tabitha (Curry) Lee, of old Alabama families.
Arthur Williams Sinclair, present post- master of Manassas, Virginia, in which office he makes his entry into the public service in a capacity other than that for which his professional training has made his services valuable. Throughout the greater part of his life connected with the legal profession in his native state, Virginia, for ten years, from 1903 to 1913, the law firm of Sinclair & Son was one well and favorably known, the name continuing its active association with that calling in Vir- ginia in the person of Charles Armistead Sinclair, son of Arthur Williams Sinclair, of this chronicle. Arthur Williams Sinclair is a son of James Mordecai Sinclair, of Scotch parentage, born in Dumfries, Vir- ginia, and Margaret (Williams) Sinclair, his mother a daughter of John Williams, from whom is descended also Judge C. E. Nicol. of Alexandria. Virginia. James Mor- decai Sinclair, a merchant and commercial traveler, was a member of the Confederate army in the war between the states from 1862 until the surrender at Appomattox Court House, enlisting from Prince William county, Virginia, as a private in Company A, Third Regiment of Virginia Cavalry.
Through the connection of the present generations of the line of Sinclair with the legal profession the following narrative told of a member of the family. Judge Charles E. Sinclair, is of especial interest. Judge
Sinclair was on the bench in Utah before
that territory was admitted to the Union
when the famous Morman leader, Brigham
Young, was summoned into court. So per-
fect did the old Morman believe was the
equality between man and man that, in
observance of a rule of the church which
forbids the uncovering of the head before
mere temporal authority, he was requested
through a friend not -to appear in court be-
fore the judge with his hat on. Brigham
Young complying with the order of the
court, took off his hat, but, making a fine
distinction in favor of his religion, took from
his pocket a handkerchief of generous dimen-
sions and placed it upon his head before
entering the court, thus not only satisfying
the court, but likewise his conscience. His
apt remedy for the conflict between the
laws of the state and church reminds one of
the ingenious solutions to troublesome prob-
lems found in the Old Testament stories of
King Solomon, and proved that, however
great a fallacy his religious belief may have
been, the old Mormon was at least quick
of wit.
Arthur Williams Sinclair, son of James Mordecai and Margaret (Williams) Sinclair, was born in Brentsville, Prince William county, Virginia, September i, 185 1, and was there educated in the private schools. He began his business career as a clerk in a book store m Washington, D. C. After several years he returned to the place of his birth, and entered the law office of Judge C. E. Nicol, there remaining for seven years. Being admitted to the bar of Virginia in 1881. he subsequently became a partner of his former preceptor, an association continu- ing during the year 1893. From that time until 1903. when he received his son, Charles Armistead, into partnership, Mr. Sinclair practiced independently, the firm of Sinclair & Son continuing until 1913, when, receiv- ing the appointment as postmaster at Man- assas, he retired from his legal practice which had been continued with excellent active success for twenty-five years. For twenty-seven years he was commissioner in chancery for the circuit court of Prince Wil- liam county, an office to which he was ap- pointed by Judge James Keith, now presi- dent judge of the supreme court of Vir- ginia, and was appointed by Judge C. E. Nicol examiner of records in the eighth judicial circuit of Virginia. Having re-
