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Part of the American
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Virginia Faulkner McSherry 1845 ~ 1916
The subject of this sketch is a woman of
strong and attractive personality. She is a member, on both
sides, of distinguished families that gave luster to the society
of the Old Dominion, in its palmiest days. Her father was the
late Hon. Charles James Faulkner, Sr., who filled many positions
of honor and trust, not only in his own state, but under the
government of the United States. He represented his country as
minister to the court of St. Cloud, with distinguished ability,
just prior to the Civil War, coming home at the commencement of
the troublous times of 1861, and casting his fortunes with the
South.
Mrs. McSherry was born in Martinsburg,
Virginia, now West Virginia, and spent the greater part of her
young life, with the exception of the years she lived with her
father's family, in Paris, at her ancestral home "Bodyville,"
until her marriage to Dr. J. Whann McSherry. Mrs. McSherry's
heart was bound up in the Southern Confederacy, in the service
of which, her father, her husband, her brothers, and many
friends, displayed unswerving fidelity, and immediately after
the cessation of hostilities, she devoted her energies to the
care of the gallant soldiers, who fought so nobly for the cause
they believed to be right and just.
Mrs. McSherry organized a chapter of the
United Daughters of the Confederacy in her county of Berkeley,
which by her energy and exceptional executive ability became a
model of efficiency, in caring for the living and keeping bright
the memories of the dead.
When the West Virginia Division of the
United Daughters of the Confederacy was organized, Mrs. McSherry
was elected its president, which office she filled with marked
ability, until called higher, and at Houston, Texas, in 1909,
she was elevated to the highest office in the gift of the
organization, that of president-general of the noble band of
women, who compose the National Association of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy, and was re-elected, at Little
Rock, Arkansas, at the succeeding election.
Her administration of that exalted
office has been eminently acceptable, impartial and just. Her
conscientious discharge of her duties has won for her the
enviable reputation of having been one of the very best
presiding officers that this organization has ever had. She will
go down in the history of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy, with the plaudit, "Well done, good and faithful
servant," and many are the old soldiers of the Confederacy who
rise up and call her blessed. Besides being a zealous member of
the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Mrs. McSherry is a
leader in all good works in her community, and is regarded as
most valuable member of society.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
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