Biography by her great-grandson, Bryan S. Godfrey:


Virgie's patrilineal ancestors, the Perraults-Perrows, were of French Huguenot descent, originally from Bordeaux, France, where her great-great-great-great-grandfather, Charles Perault, lived before settling around 1700 at the Manakintowne French Huguenot settlement in present-day Powhatan County, Virginia. Almost all of her other known ancestors were of English and Scottish descent, with a known exception being the Dutch wife of her immigrant ancestor Lion Gardiner of Long Island, New York. She was mainly of Virginia planter descent (having many ancestors who could be dubbed FFVs) with the exception of her Divers-Greer ancestors, who were from Maryland, and her Brown ancestors, which gave her lots of New England and Long Island ancestry. Unfortunately, the vast majority of her ancestors were slaveholders, a lifestyle contrasting greatly with the Quaker background of her husband's ancestors in North Carolina, and whereas Joseph Pearson's immediate forebears were Union sympathizers during the Civil War, Virgie's family sided with the Confederacy, and her maternal grandfather and several paternal uncles fought for the Confederacy.

Virgie was born while her parents were living at Gladys, Virginia, known then as Pigeon Run, in Campbell County. Around the time her grandfather, Captain William C. Perrow, died in 1887, her parents moved about fifteen miles away to an area of Campbell County known as Sherwill, with Concord Depot (now Concord) as the postal address. The remainder of her childhood was spent here at her parents' home, "Glenwood," on present-day Nowlin Mill Road (Route 648), a farm of approximately 500 acres that her father had inherited.

Before her marriage, Virgie worked at several occupations. She taught school for a time, and also went to Baltimore, Maryland for a short time. She lived in Norfolk, Virginia in the 1910s, where she clerked for D.P. Paul's Jewelry Store and was also a clerk for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. She and her sister Ora lived together while they worked in Norfolk. In 2004, her niece, Pauline Perrow Zidlick, reported hearing that Virgie had been in love with a ship captain in Norfolk who was lost at sea, and afterwards she met Joseph Pearson. Ancestry.com city directory records from the "Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia City Directory" indicate Virginia Perrows living in Norfolk from 1913 to 1919. However, one must not assume they all pertain to this Virginia, because her first cousin, Urania "Virginia" Cowling Perrow Floyd (1893-1919), may have lived there also because she too was a schoolteacher, was living in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1912, and died in Henderson, North Carolina in 1919. In 1912, a Virginia Perrow was listed at 273 York. In 1914, a Miss Virginia Perrow was listed at 215 West York, but there was also a Virgia Perrow listed at 709 Proby's Court. In 1915, she and her sister Ora were both listed at 316 East Freemason, so this is certainly Virgie. Because a Virginia A. Perrow was listed at 726 Duke Street, Norfolk, in 1916 and 1918, one can be certain she is indeed Virgie, but previous years listed a Virginia Perrow with no middle initial, so one or more of them could refer to her first cousin, especially since the latter's mother, Nellie Brooks Perrow, was living at 422 Pembroke Avenue in 1918.

Even though she was close in age to the older ones, Virgie was a much-loved stepmother to the children of Joseph by his first marriage, and there was never jealousy or resentment between them and Joseph's children by Virgie. It is said that Joseph was temporarily estranged from one of his sons and that Virgie was successful in persuading both of them to reconcile. Her stepchildren affectionately called her "Miss Virgie."

Following her marriage at age 36 in 1920, Virgie made her home at "Mount Vernon" in Prince Edward County for 25 years. Shortly after Joseph's death, she sold the estate and moved with her daughter Virginia and Virginia's husband, Ed Wheeler, to Lynchburg. They first lived at 1115 Jackson Street and then moved to 4610 Fairmont Street. Virgie helped babysit Virginia and Ed's children, Carolyn, Barbara, and Eddie, and she was affectionately known as "Bam" to all seven of her grandchildren.

Virgie developed heart disease within a couple of years before her death and died in her home at 4610 Fairmont Street at the age of 72. Since Joseph was buried at Keysville beside his first wife, Virgie's sister Ilene and Ilene's husband, Jim Jones, of Lynchburg gave her one of their plots in Fort Hill Memorial Park in which to be buried, and they would later be buried beside her. At the time of her death, her oldest daughter, Ella, and husband Ray Overstreet were living in Warwick County, Virginia (which became the City of Newport News in 1958), and the youngest, Ora, and husband, Wilbur Dowdy, were stationed at Charleston, South Carolina.

The following is Virgie's obituary from the Lynchburg "News and Daily Advance":

MRS. JOSEPH L. PEARSON
Mrs. Virginia Perrow Pearson, 72, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. E.L. Wheeler, 4610 Fairmont St., yesterday at 6:30 p.m. after an extended illness.
She was born in Campbell County, April 24, 1883, a daughter of the late William Adolphus and Ella Walker Perrow. She was the widow of Joseph L. Pearson and a member of Centenary Methodist Church.
She is survived by three daughters, Mrs. M. Ray [Ella] Overstreet, Warwick; Mrs. Everett L. [Virginia] Wheeler, Lynchburg; Mrs. Wilbur C. [Ora] Dowdy, Charleston, S.C.; two step-daughters, Mrs. H.A. [Minnie] Tuggle, Keysville; Mrs. L.D. [Annie] Edwards, Goldsboro, N.C.; three step-sons, E.P. Pearson, Altavista; O.R. Pearson, Keysville; J.H. Pearson, Richmond; seven sisters, Mrs. J.P. [Ilene] Jones, Mrs. Hubert [Jeanette] Morgan, Mrs. A.E. [Phanie] Flynn, Miss Lizzie T. Perrow, all of Lynchburg; Mrs. Welford E. [Ora] Garner, Baltimore, Md.; Mrs. E.M. [Minnie] Farmer, Gladys; Mrs. C.L. [Euphan] Carter, Leesville; two brothers, W.A. Perrow and J. Harvey Perrow both of Concord, seven grandchildren and 16 step-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be conducted from Faubers Funeral Chapel at 3 p.m. Tuesday with burial in Fort Hill Memorial Park.