Henry Clay Sommerville, son of James and Elizabeth Sommerville, was born in Hampshire County, (West) Virginia on June 8, 1834. The 1850 federal census lists the James and Elizabeth "Summerville" family as residents of Ray County, Missouri. By 1860, according to that year's census, Henry C. Sommerville had returned to Hampshire County and was studying medicine while living in the home of Dr. William "Sumerville." At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Sommerville left medical college in Philadelphia and enlisted in the Confederate hospital corps. He was appointed assistant surgeon at Liberty (now Bedford), Virginia, in June, 1863. He was transferred to Danville, Virginia, in December, then in March, 1864, to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he served for the remainder of the war. He married Frances "Fanny" E. Merriwether (1844-1892) in Lynchburg on December 14, 1864; the couple had two children. Following the war, Sommerville resumed his medical studies, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1870, and establishing a medical practice in Clarke County, Virginia. On November 8, 1899, he married Philippa Randolph (1861-1929); the couple had two daughters. Henry Clay Sommerville died at White Post, Clarke County, and was buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery, Winchester, Virginia.