100 Years Ago

          Virginia Highways Gradually Being Whipped Into Shape by State Department.

 . . .

The Coast-to-Capital highway, or Route 9, has its origin at the Hampton Creek bridge, near Old Point Comfort. From there to Lee Hall the highway is of concrete. From Lee Hall through Williamsburg and Toano to Diascund Creek is under construction and will be concrete surfaced. Bids will be opened on June 7 for the construction at eleven miles of concrete highway from Diascund creek to Providence Forge.

 A survey has been completed and plant have been prepared for a gravel read from Providence Forge to Bottoms Bridge, a distance of 10.8 miles. From Bottoms Bridge to Richmond has been surveyed and plans have been prepared for the early completion of the road from Richmond to Seven Pines. That leaves four miles not taken care of.

 . . .

-News Leader, 30 May 1923

                            

              POSTMASTER AT QUINTON CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLING

J. H. Johnson, postmaster at Quinton, New Kent county, was arrested by federal agents today, charged with embezzlement of government funds, the authorities alleging that they have found a shortage of his accounts. He was given a hearing before United States Commissioner Melvin Flegenheimer, but waived examination, and was sent on to the October term of the grand jury. Bond was fixed at $2,500.

 Johnson was arrested at Quinton Deputy Marshal Grant on a warrent sworn out by Inspector B. B. Webb of this city. Inspector Webb stated today that he knew nothing of alleged shortage in the accounts of office until he made an examination last Monday.

 The accused postmaster was placed in his position by Miss Myrtle Anderson Bailey, of Quinton, wife W. R. Bailey. Mr Webb said that appointment is a temporary one, that the selection of a permanent a successor to Mr. Johnson will probably be held in the next few weeks.

-News Leader, 21 April 1923

                    QUINTON POSTMASTER ENTERS GUILTY PLEA 

J. H. Johnson, former postmaster at, Quinton, New Kent county, who was arrested some months ago on a charge of embezzling government, funds to the amount of $2,335.27, pled guilty today In the United States district court. Sentence will be pronounced this afternoon by Judge D. Lawrence Groner.

-News Leader, 14 December 1923

     SENTENCED TO 7 MONTHS. 

J. H. Johnson, formerly postmaster, at Quinton, New Kent County, who pled guilty in United States district court yesterday to charges of embezzling government funds to the amount of $2,385 was sentenced to seven months in the city Jail by Judge D. Lawrence Groner. Johnson has already begun serving his term. 

-News Leader, 15 December 1923

“I Have Given the Best Part of My Life to Masonry” - 1923

 

Dr. George Potts in 1923

        DR. GEORGE POTTS, KNOWN AS “FATHER OF MASONIC HOME” - HAS BEN MASON FIFTY-FIVE YEARS

Dr. George Potts Says Masonry Greatest Institution Except Church

 

  "I have given the best part of my life to Masonry, and I consider the Masonic order the greatest institution in the world with the exception of the church," says Dr. George Potts, of Providence Forge, Va., who is here attending his fiftieth consecutive grand annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Virginia.

 Dr. Potts is known as “the father of the Masonic Home of Virginia,” having offered the resolution in 1890 to have a committee appointed to draft a charter for the home. He has made an address before the Grand Lodge every year for the past thirty-three, and is the best-known member of the order in the state.

 When asked his age, Dr. Potts would say only that he is "seventy-five plus," this secret never paving been revealed even to his family, he said. He is a veterinary surgeon, and is the oldest of his profession in the state. He was born in England, and came to this country in 1867. He states that he has not a single relative in this country. 

-News Leader, 15 February 1923