Tyler-McConnell-Wilson Family Papers

James Hoge Tyler (1846-1925), Virginia governor from 1898 to 1902, was born in Caroline County, Virginia in 1846. He was the son of George and Eliza Hoge Tyler but was reared by his grandparents, James and Eleanor Howe Hoge, in Pulaski County, Virginia.

Tyler joined the Confederate army and served as a private in the Signal Corps throughout the Civil War. After the war, he returned to Pulaski County, where he had inherited the Hoge farm. He renamed the farm "Belle Hampton" and become a successful farmer and businessman.

Tyler married Sue Montgomery Hammet (1845-1927) in 1868. While living at Belle Hampton, the Tylers had eight children: Edward H., James H. Jr., Stockton Heth, Lucy Belle, Sue H., Henry C. ("Hal"), Eliza ("Lily") and Eleanor Howe Tyler (died in infancy). In 1891, the family moved to "Halwick," their home in Radford.

Tyler was elected to the state senate in 1877 and served one term. He also served on the board of visitors and as rector of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). He served as Virginia's lieutenant governor 1890 to 1894 and as governor from 1898 to 1902. Tyler remained somewhat active in state politics in his later years and also served as food administrator for Radford and Montgomery County during World War I.

Eldest child of James H. and Sue Hammet Tyler, Edward Hammet ("Ned") Tyler (1869-1939) graduated from Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. He managed the family farm at Belle Hampton and also owned Kirkland Farm near Dublin (Pulaski County), Virginia.

James Hoge Tyler Jr. (1871-1937) attended Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and graduated from Hampden-Sidney College. He worked in the governor's office during his father's administration and later for the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company. He married Evelyn Gray Bell (1879-1924) in 1908, and the couple lived in Roanoke.

Stockton Heth Tyler (1874-1943) was a graduate of the Washington and Lee School of Law. During the Spanish-American War, he was a major in the U. S. Army, serving as an additional paymaster. He married Nelle Louise Serpell in 1904; the couple had five children. Tyler served as mayor of Norfolk, Virginia from 1924 to 1932.

Lucy Belle Norwood Tyler (1876-1955) married Colonel Frank Percy McConnell (1870-1941) in 1908. The couple, with their son, James Hoge Tyler McConnell, lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Frank McConnell was engaged in several business enterprises, before returning by 1927 to Radford.

Sue Hampton Tyler (1877-1949) married Rev. Robert Ware Jopling (1865-1944), a Presbyterian minister, in 1915. The couple had two children, Sue Tyler and James Robert Jopling, and resided in Texas and South Carolina. Following her husband's death, Sue Jopling made her home in Norfolk, Virginia.

Henry Clement ("Hal") Tyler (1878-1941) graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1901. He established a law practice in Radford, where he was appointed commonwealth attorney in 1906. He continued in that position through successive elections until 1922. In 1909, he was elected city attorney and served in that position until his death. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1924 to 1925.

Known to her family and friends as "Lily," Eliza Lillian Tyler (1882-1974) married Henry Harrison Wilson (1882-1933) in 1915. The Wilsons eventually made their home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and had three children: James Hoge Tyler (1916-1994), Lily Norwood (1919-2008), and Henry Harrison Wilson II (1923-2016). Following her husband's death, Lily Wilson returned to Virginia and by 1948 was living at the Tyler family home.

More detailed biographical information on the J. Hoge Tyler family may be found in the J. Hoge Tyler Family Collection, Ms1967-002.)