PHOTOS OF THE TIMES
Compiled by DONNA BLUEMINK
Provided by the Kirn Library Sargeant Memorial Room unless stated otherwise.

Note: Click picture's link for enlarging and clarity.

PEOPLE

Rev. George D. Armstrong


Provided by Walter B. Martin, Jr.

Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, VA, author of
The Summer of the Pestilence: A History of the Ravages of the Yellow Fever
in Norfolk, Virginia. Published in Philadelphia by J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1856.

* * * * * *

Dr. L. Augustus Bilisoly

January 9, 1918,
Virginian-Pilot

Dr. L. Augustus Bilisoly, for many years a practicing physician of the city [of Portsmouth], died at 2:20 o'clock yesterday afternoon in the residence of his son-in-law, J. W. Brown, Jr., 307 Court street, at the age of 84 years.

For many years he was actively engaged in practice in the city, but a short time ago retired from practice.

He was prominent in local affairs, having served for several terms as a member of the police commission of the city. He possessed many friends, by whom he was held in high esteem. Dr. Bilisoly was of a kindly disposition, exceedingly affable and courteous, characteristics which made friends for him with all whom he came in contact.

He was an active worker in Portsmouth during the yellow fever scourge of 1855, not only pursuing his practice in an effort to save the lives of those stricken with fever, and to prevent its spread, but working faithfully day and night, even carrying suitable nutriment, prepared in his home to the patients most in need.

He himself was taken ill with the disease but survived it. Afterward he was presented by the citizens of the city with a gold-headed cane, as a token of appreciation for his work during the scourge.

Dr. Bilisoly was for more than 20 years surgeon of the Seaboard and Roanoke railroad, and was also a surgeon in the Fourth Virginia regiment, serving since its organization until his retirement.

He is survived by four children: Mrs. J. W. Brown, Jr., Mrs. James A. Borum, Mrs. Frank Lindsay and Dr. A. A. Bilisoly.

The funeral service will take place at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning in St. Paul's Catholic church.

* * * * * *

Dr. Richard Blow


Courtesy of the Blow Family

Dr. Richard Blow
Born March 31st, 1810
Died Sept. 20th, 1855
True to the impulses of his nature he volunteered in the cause of humanity.
He left his home and came amid the pestilence, where after ministering
with much success, himself fell a victim.

[See Memorials]

* * * * * *

John Broughton
(Son of Thomas G. Broughton)
A druggist by trade.


Courtesy of Charlotte Shepard

* * * * * *

Thomas Green Broughton


 Courtesy of Charlotte Shepard

Norfolk Board of Health Secretary
(See his letter in the Richmond Dispatch for September 17, 1855.)

Broughton T. G. & Son, editors and proprietors of the Herald, office Roanoke Square, North of Widewater, r. 37 S. Catharine.

Mr. Broughton and son T. H. became ill with yellow fever.

* * * * * *

Rev. James Chisholm

Rev. James Chisholm
The first pastor of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church in this City.
Born in Salem, Mass., Sept. 30th, 1815
Died of yellow fever Sept. 15th, 1855.

* * * * * *

William Collins, M. D.


 William Collins, M. D. (1804-1855)
Portsmouth Under Four Flags 1752-1961
by Marshall W. Butt
Published by the Portsmouth Historical Association
Portsmouth, VA 1961.
(Courtesy of Portsmouth Historical Ass.)

* * * * * *

Mordecai & Sarah Ann Cooke

Mordecai Cooke, 1815-1855
Sarah Ann Cooke, 1829-1890

Mordecai is listed in the Register of Death as dying from TB but it is entirely
possible that he may have died of yellow fever because those already ill would
have been felled rather quickly in an epidemic. Their son A. B. Cooke became
president of the Howard Association upon the death of Wm. Ferguson.

* * * * * *

Mary Keenan Haynes Davis

Mary Davis, dau. of James & Mary Keenan,
first married James B. Haynes September 5, 1831, 3 children,
Virginius, James K, and Catherine F.,
and upon his death married John F. Davis of Portsmouth.
John died of yellow fever August 13, 1855, (NCRD #413), and
Mary died September 1, 1855 (NCRD #414).
John & Mary's children: Alice T., Mary, Margaret, Thos., Lawrence K. & William.

Artist: E. F. N. Cecil, 1829
Copied by Doris Porter McLean
Courtesy of descendent Charlotte Shepard, Norfolk, VA

* * * * * *

Rev. Isaac W. K. Handy

Pastor, Middle Street Presbyterian Church, Portsmouth.

* * * * * *

Dr. James F. Harrison


Contributed by Glennon Harrison, descendent.

Professor James F. Harrison, M. D. at sixty, 1815-1896
The University of Virginia: Memories of Her Student Life and Professors
by David M. R. Culbreth, M. D., Neale Pub. Co., 1908, p. 422 overlay.

Dr. Harrison practiced at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital during the epidemic.

* * * * * *

Martha Hitchings


Courtesy of Robert B. Hitchings.

September 13th, 1855, the Richmond Dispatch reported Martha
as having died of the yellow fever. She lived from 1822-1888 and
was a midwife, known as "Doc Hitchings."

* * * * * *

Richard V. Hitchings & James Hogwood


Courtesy of Robert B. Hitchings

Left to right: Unknown, James Hogwood (1847) & Richard V. Hitchings (1848-1906)
Richard V. Hitchings was the son of Martha Hitchings (previous picture).
The Hogwoods and Hitching families were neighbors, living on West Main
Street. They stayed in town during the epidemic.

* * * * * *

Mary Elizabeth Fatherly Hodges


 Courtesy of Robert B. Hitchings & Sargeant History Room Archives.
Picture of Cumberland Street Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Choir, 1865.

Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. John S. & Mrs. Juliana (Folks) Fatherly,
Born December 25, 1831, died September 17, 1935, at 104 years old, and in
1866 married Solomon Hodges, one of the founders of Norfolk Landmark.
Both parents died of yellow fever. M. E. was 24 during the epidemic but no mention
is made of her in the newspapers. In 1858 she became a teacher and served in
both public and private schools for more than half a century.

* * * * * *

Rev. Thomas Hume
Pastor Court Street Baptist Church, Portsmouth, VA

Rev. Hume was principal organizer of the Orphan Asylum in Portsmouth.

* * * * * *

Dr. E. E. Jackson

Dr. E. E. Jackson, volunteer assistant druggist at Howard
Hospital, from Charleston, South Carolina.
Tintype courtesy of the Waring Historical Library
MUSC, Charleston, SC

* * * * * *

Rev. William M. Jackson

[Enhanced photo.]

Born in Baltimore, Md., October 10, 1809
Died in Norfolk, Va., October 5, 1855
Pastor of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Norfolk, VA.
Courtesy of St. Paul's Episcopal Church,
Norfolk, VA.

* * * * * *

Samuel & Elizabeth Knight, son William


Courtesy of Robert B. Hitchings

Samuel Henry Knight (1821-1880)
Elizabeth Owens Knight (1822-1907)
Son: William Henry Knight (1849-1933)
Refugees from the yellow fever epidemic, taking the last boat
out of town and going to Matthews County.

* * * * * *

Lewis Willis Minor, M. D.


Courtesy of Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VA, Electronic Imaging

Lewis Willis Minor
Born Jan'y 29, 1808, Died Mar. 9, 1872
He served as fleet surgeon in the names of the United and
Confederate States, was skilled in his profession, distinguished for
gallantry in Mexico and conspicuous for his noble devotion in the great
epidemic of 1855 for which he was thanked by the Sec'y of the Navy and voted a gold medal by the Corporation of Portsmouth.

* * * * * *

Herbert Milton Nash

"When the yellow fever scourge desolated Norfolk in 1855, Dr. Nash stood
fearlessly at his post, and ministered to the afflicted. He is the sole survivor
of the corps of physicians that practiced during that terrible epidemic."
Men of Mark in Virginia: Ideals of American Life, by Lyon G. Tyler, LL.D
Men of Mark Pub. Co., Washington, D. C., 1906, Vol. 2, page 280.

* * * * * *

Dr. Thomas Nash


Courtesy of Elizabeth Hitch Hall.

Dr. Thomas Nash, died August 30, 1855.
See tombstone and inscription.

* * * * * *

William Portlock & daughter Edith

William: Born November 15, 1814
Died March 2, 1851
Aged 36 years and 3 months.

Property owner of Oak Grove Cemetery farmland.
Contributed by descendent Hunter Joyce Burt.

* * * * * *

Alice Virginia George Robbins


Courtesy of the family.

Alice Virginia George Robbins: Survivor of Yellow Fever
Born September 12, 1851
Died November 30, 1938

Family history: To facilitate caregiving, the sick children Alice and Edward George
were cared for in the same bed. On the morning of September 8, 1855, Alice Virginia
awoke to find her little brother Edward dead beside her. Alice recovered.
Courtesy of the late Madeline Bailey Roethke, 93, of Norfolk, who was the
granddaughter of Alice Virginia George Robbins.
Edward George is buried in Elmwood Cemetery, 4 West Avenue.

* * * * * *

Mrs. Mary Frances Shields

Virginian-Pilot, May 29, 1931. This picture was taken on Mrs. Shields 100th birthday.
She was a refugee from Norfolk during the epidemic of yellow fever.

* * * * * *

Mary Ann Davis Stanworth


Photo courtesy of Wing Stanworth Sigler

Mary Ann Davis Stanworth,
daughter of Sarah Davis who died of yellow fever Sept. 9, 1855.
Mary Ann and her siblings followed the death cart during the night to see
where their mother was laid to rest in a common grave at Cedar Grove
Cemetery in Norfolk.

* * * * * *

Walter Herron Taylor


Courtesy of the John & Cecelia Hickerson.

Walter H. Taylor, of Norfolk, died of yellow fever in Baltimore September 11, 1855.

* * * * * *

Dr. Frank Anthony Walke

Frank Anthony Walke, M. D.
Graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1851.
Entered US Navy as assistant surgeon. Stationed at US Naval Hospital
at Portsmouth during the 1855 epidemic.

* * * * * *

Dr. A. Baron Williman

Dr. Alex Baron Williman
Courtesy of the Waring Historical Library
MUSC, Charleston, SC

Volunteer doctor from Charleston, SC
See also:
CHARLESTON MEDICAL JOURNAL & REVIEW, Vol. II, 1856
YELLOW FEVER IN NORFOLK by A. B. Williman, M. D.

* * * * * *

Dr. David Minton Wright

Portsmouth physician during epidemic.
1812-1863.

Oil Painting by W. Carl Brown
The Virginia Magazine of History & Bio., Vol. 73, No. 2,
Story Notes on Life in Occupied Norfolk 1862-1865,
by Lenoir Chambers

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