C. Purcell McCue

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C. Purcell McCue

Electoral District Samuel Miller District
Term Start 1920

Biographical Information

C. Purcell McCue represented the Samuel Miller Magisterial District on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors for 36 years.[1] He was elected in November 1919 and served through 1955, including as chairman beginning in 1948.[2][3]

Biography

McCue was born in Greenwood on August 15, 1880.[4] He attended Albemarle public schools then Pantops Academy 1896-1898, before enrolling as a sophomore at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (now Virginia Tech) in 1899. Instead of returning for his senior year in 1901, McCue joined the apple & peach orchard business his father had started seven years prior. After a stint with a railroad contractor from 1904-1907 he returned to the orchard business, now known as McCue & Son.[4]

Purcell married Mary Ellen Allen on November 22, 1916. Mary was a descendant of Rev. James MacGill (1701–1779), an early settler of Anne Arundel County (now Howard County) in Maryland.[5] They had two children, C. Purcell McCue, Jr. (b. November 11, 1918), who took charge of the orchard after service in the Army; and Margaret Persis (b. 1921), wife of Lt. Col. William R. Washington. The children attended Greenwood School, where McCue presided over a 1921 cornerstone-laying ceremony for a new school building.[6]

Public service

From 1912 to 1916, McCue served as Albemarle's Justice of the Peace.

During his time as a supervisor, McCue chaired the Citizens League that spearheaded Albemarle's 1933 shift to a county executive form of government. In January 1952, he and another supervisors supported county executive Dan A. Robinson on a mechanism for how livestock should be assessed for tax purposes.[7]

The McCue Family Papers, ca. 1967–1944 are hosted at the University of Virginia Small Special Collections Library, which also has correspondence between McCue and Harry F. Byrd, the former governor and leader of the Byrd Organization, in the Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. Papers 1911-1965 collection.

Positions

  • Justice of the Peace, Albemarle County (1912–1916)
  • Supervisor, Albemarle County (1919–1955)
  • Chairman of Board of Supervisors, Albemarle County (1948–1954)
  • Warden & Vestryman and Sunday-school Superintendent, Emmanuel Episcopal Church (1914)[8]
  • President, Appalachian Apple Service, an industry group (1936–1953)
  • President, Agricultural Conference Board of Virginia (several years)
  • Chairman, Citizens League (1933)
  • President, Virginia State Horticultural Society (four terms including 1917,[9] six years as one of six vice presidents prior[4][10])

Notable events

References

  1. Web. Mr. Rinehart Chairman of County Board, Daily, Daily Progress Digitzed Microfilm, University of Virginia Library, January 6, 1920, retrieved June 28, 2015.
  2. Web. County of Albemarle, Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Minutes, Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Albemarle County, December 21, 1955, retrieved 2019-03-10.
  3. Web. Uniform County Tax Rate of $2.65 Voted by Board, Staff Reports, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, April 14, 1948, retrieved January 15, 2017 from University of Virginia Library. Print. April 14, 1948 page 1.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Web. Class Of 1902 -- Biographical Sketches, Virginia Tech, 1955, retrieved 2019-03-10.
  5. Book. The Macgill - McGill Family of Maryland: A Genealogical Record of over 400 years Beginning 1537, ending 1948, Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, retrieved 2019-03-11.
  6. Book. Greenwood School Memories 1921-1984, Meeks Enterprises, retrieved 2019-03-11.
  7. Web. Supervisors Clarify Scale For Putting Tax Value on Livestock, Staff Reports, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, January 29, 1952, retrieved January 28, 2017 from University of Virginia Library.
  8. Web. Journal of the The 119th Annual Council, Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia, May 20–22, 1914, retrieved 2019-03-11.
  9. Book. Report: Twenty-Second Annual Session of the Virginia State Horticultural Society, Virginia State Horticultural Society, retrieved 2019-03-10.
  10. Web. Dr. Fletcher Succeeds Thompson as President, Harrisonburg Daily News-Record, January 14:1916, retrieved 2019-03-11.
  11. Web. Board Members Keep Secret of Private Session Yesterday, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, September 18, 1952, retrieved September 17, 2022. Print. September 18, 1952 page 1.