The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-06-24
Gratitude to- Kind Ladies' Who
Cared for 91f'i min Youth ,'lrla
Takes Substantial Form.
ATTACH TO NATIVE ! I Is. I COUNTY Y
Mingles With Ills Former Asso \
ciates and Never Fails to Visit
Home Of Bencfactors.
...-.--..-..----...-.... 81,
1snecia1 Z, = RE Times. Dispa tens

y'5} (Epecia1 to The Tlu1es-Dispa tcn.) 5si gsE
iii AMHERST, VA. June 23.---Vall street
and the Stock Exchange arc full Of men
& 81 obscure origin. Horace Greeley once
said that IL the stream OF fresh country
@lifc which each year poured into New
York from the rural sect Ions was stopp N 4
In fifty years grass would be growing In
Wall Street. Among the men who l,avo
this gone from the country. and nttained
prominence In the great centre Of annncc,
virgtnin and the South have Furnished
+ more than their proportlonate share, Of
circles IN New York. Thomas Fortune
Ryan, born In Nelson, county Va, and
$still8n resident Of TINT county, is easily
tho leader. Had tho gonina Of Thomas
a r. Ryan turned to politics. literature or
the law. instead Of to rnoncy-makitig.s he
would no doubt have at tanned prominence
" IN any one OF them, for the same quali-g
ties which have brought him such q lnrge
measure Of success In the financial world
would also have brought him success In
any of these professions. be price OF
q success Is about tho same, 1t tiers not
a II, what sphere 1t lis obtained. @ 5i,
MI About d n year ago Thomas Y 7. Ryan.
startled tho world BY buying the Equl-l
table Insurance Company He said that
no would m,itualize II. People doubted
1T; but the history Of the Equitable shows
!. Since then he has figured IN many deals
BTlis movements arc silent but powerful
& It would take a whole page upon which
to catalogue the enterprises in whlchghe
(, Is Interested, and which he has helped,
to finance. Among them Is the Morton
Trust Company, Bank OF Commerce,
metropolitan Street Railway Of New York
f City American Tobacco Company !. and 9
4 the seaboard ALI Line Railway But,
despite his great financial interests and
his many cares, Mr.. Ryan still loves Ncl-:
son county the place Of his ntivity.
WHERE q RYAN WAS BORN.
Thomas Fortune Ryan was born In,
1851 in q modest brick building, which
If still stands. a Il Low ngston, Va, tho
II county scat OF Nelson county. The build
Ing Isl now run as d hotel, and is known
3 George Ryan. waa tailor, and AT one
time piled his TRADE atifAmherst Court,
house. In the adjoining county OF AM
4 herst. His mother was a Miss For tune
He had one brother, named William.
who died q few years a 30. II Is mother
N died when he was fourteen yen RI OF age,
st His father after her death went 10 Ten,
nessee. and the two boys. Thomas and
William, were left at the home OF their
v uncle, their nothar' @ brother. George
n Fortune. to be cared for. George For
tune himself had two daughters and o
n son, and these children became the play \
4 mates and friends OF the young mother;
a less Ryuns. The Fortune girls were
X especially Kind to them These two els a
E Nelson county. Their comfort is nowSan
y object 4 OF solcitude to Mr.. Ryan and
they have no wants which he would not
81 gladly supply. Several years q go A he
K induced them to- leave their modest home.
where they lived alone, ana so IL Il. "Oak3
W Ridge. Mr.. Ryan's N ison Ses tate to- liye.
4 But the two ladies, who had been long;
s IN the habit OF living alone IN heir own.
h home were no contented away rom o IL
ana soon they left tha lagnifcence Of,
Oak Ridge, to 81 return to their own
i! place. Since then Mr.. Ryan has con-
iE tented himself with making them COM
Portable there. They Will not allow him
to do much for them but they have
4 but to suggest any Improvement or add
ton to their place. and Tom ryan glaaay
Il furnishes It to them. Wien ht comes
n to Nelson he always goes to SEQ them y
1t they Will not allow him to he hem
X much. Recently he had 4 a h good a fence
placed around their farm. However, they
\ know. and the mel ghbors know, that. he.
will do anything forfthem that they wis
WORKED ON THE FARM.
enteen, while he was living with the
Y Fortunes Mr. Ryan worked on the farm
Z One year he hired out md the old man
to whom he hired, and to whom he gave,
2 a year OF faithful labor, stu lives N
the Cove, near the old Fortune place
Tho Fortune place Itself, containing one
I thousand acres, Mr. Ryan has EN- now
" bought. B and is rapidly improving n ~
N Here 1t is that the cattle ands stock OF
'oak Ridge are sent for the summer
season, and toRthis place Mr. Ryan always
goes. when he visits his Nelson home,
5T 1t was while In N elson county that the
u seed OF the Catholic religion was nrst
planted in Thomas +. Ryan. One day.
1. while no was riding horseback through
Il the mountains OF Nelson, he became hun
cry and stopped Mt q farm house Tor
4 dinner. While the lady OF the house was
preparing his dinner. 4 which she, after
the, fashion In Virginia, gladly gave. him.