The Terry Family

The Terry family has a long history at Hampden-Sydney. Beavley Freeland (b. 1821) and his wife Mary (b. 1935) had a daughter named Agnes (b. 1864). She married Arthur Terry (b. 1865) and the two had nine children: Charley (b. 1893), Arthur “Pat” (b. 1896), Bernard (b. 1898), John (b. 1900), Annie (b. 1903), Mary (b. 1901), Sallie (b. 1905), Alma (b. 1912), and Agnes (b. 1913). Pat Terry worked as a groundskeeper for Hampden-Sydney, and was the first person to use the college’s first gasoline lawnmower. He married Hazel Hendrick (b. 1908), and had four children–Celestine, Hazel, Arthur, and Carlton. Coincidentally, John Terry married Hazel’s sister, Selma (b. 1915). The two had two children, John and Billie. John also worked for Hampden-Sydney as a janitor in Gammon gymnasium. Annie and Agnes Terry married brothers Melvin and Nathan Carey, respectively, of Mercy Seat. Sallie Terry married McKinley Land (b. 1904), and had three children–Bobby, Florence, and Ernest. Florence married William Paige (b. 1927), who, like his father Watson Paige ( b. 1904) worked for the college as a  janitor and painter. During his stint as a janitor, he worked alongside John Thomas Anderson. Mr. Paige, along with numerous other Terry and Paige relatives, live in the Mercy Seat community today. Agnes, Arthur, John, Pat, Annie, Alma, and Agnes, among others, are buried in the Mercy Seat Baptist Church cemetery. Alma’s granddaughter, Megan Clark currently resides in Farmville and is running in the 2015 race for Commonwealth’s Attorney. Megan’s sister, Shelly, is a teacher in Prince Edward County; their mother, Theresa, is an Associate Professor at Longwood University, and father Lorenzo owns his own business–Clark’s Digging Services. What a local legacy!