LEONIDAS DEEMS YARRELL. Leonidas Deems Yarrell was born in Tarboro, North Carolina, on July 24, 1856, and passed away at the Virginia Hospital, Richmond, Virginia, on September 6, 1912. He was baptized on October 27, 1856, by the gentleman for whom he was named, Dr. C. F. Deems, an intimate friend of his father, Rev. Pierce Whitley Yarrell, of the North Carolina M. E. Conference. His funeral was held in the Emporia, Virginia, M. E: Church, of which he was a member, on Sunday following his death, and he was buried in the family burying ground on his farm at "Yarrell's Mill," about three miles from Emporia, in the presence of a large concourse of sorrowing friends. He came with his father to Greensville county when about eighteen years of age, and resided there until his death. Although Mr. Yarrell was a great admirer of the ladies, yet he never married. He graduated in law from the University of Virginia in 1881, taking his degree in the shortest time any student ever covered the same course, being three months less than the full session. He practiced law at Emporia from that time to the date of his death, and during a part of the time, maintained an office in Washington 'D. C. He enjoyed a large and varied practice, and at the time he was counsel for Mrs. Florence Elizabeth Maybrick and Baroness Caroline von Roques, he was a conspicuous figure in two continents. Those who enjoyed an intimate acquaintance with the deceased regarded him as a lawyer of conspcuous a bility. iIn 1883 he was elected judge of the county court of Greensville county, which office he filled with signal ability until 1886, when he resigned to accept a seat in the Virginia Senate. In 1906, Judge Yarrell was a candidate for Congress in the fourth district of Virginia, but was defeated by R. G. Southall by a small majority. He also represented the counties of Greensville and Sussex in the House of Delegates of Virginia in 1910. During his service in the General Assembly of Virginia, he was the author of many important bills. Forty-eight hours before his death he appeared as counsel in a case in Brunswick Circuit Court, and seemed to be enjoying his usual robust health. His strong physique could have withstood the ravages of most any ordinary disease. But a horrible abscess quickly formed in his larynx. A spasmodic convulsion in the muscles of his throat closed the air passages to his lungs, and before surgical aid could be rendered, he was dead. His heart was filled with the milk of human kindness. Peace to his ashes. A FRIEND. NOTE BY EDITOR: This memorial should have been published in the Report for 1913, but was not received in time. |