USA > Virginia > Rockbridge County > Rockbridge County > A history of Rockbridge County, Virginia > Part 31
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Junkin. George Junkin was born at Carlisle, Penn., October 1, 1790, and was graduated from Jefferson College in 1813. The first Sunday schools and temperance societies in central Pennsylvania were organized by him. He was the founder and the first president of Lafayette College, and for three years was president of Miami University. In 1848 he came to Lexington as president of Washington College, and held this position until April, 1861, when he resigned be- cause of his inflexible opposition to secession. Doctor Junkin returned North. where he died, May 20, 1808. He was a prolific author, especially of religious works. Ilje father's antagonism to secession was not shared hy all of the six sons and three daughters. Margaret, the eldest-born 1825, died 1897-married Co'onel Jolin T. L. Preston. Mrs. Preston had remarkable literary and scholastic gifts. While yet a child, she thought in verse, and she learned the Hebrew alpha- bet a. the age of three. In her adult life she was one of the best among American writers of sonnets. Several volumes of poems, rather of the Browning t. pc. came from her pen. In 1856 appeared "Silverwood." a novel. To promote Southern literary effort, Mrs. Preston gratuitously edited several papers. Of the other daughters of Doctor Junkin, Elinor was the first wife of Stonewall Jackson. and Julia M. married Prof. J. M. Fishburne, of Washington College. Three sons, George, Ebenezer, and William F., entered the ministry. The last named-horn 1831, died 1900-married Anna A , the oldest sister of William A. Anderson. 1'e was for some time pastor of Falling Springs Church. His children are Mary E., (wife of General Edward W. Nichols, of the Virginia Military Institute), Julia 7. Anna D., Francis T. A. (a lawyer of Chicago). Elinor J., (present wife of Doctor Jolin 11 Latane, of Johns Hopkins University ), Isabel S., and William D. A, a lawyer of New York City.
Laird. James Laird, Sr., was living in 1756 with John Craig in what is now Rockingham county. The house he built in 1760 on his purchase at the foot of Laird's Knob and at the head of Smith Creek is still an occupied dwelling and is
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in a good state of preservation. The pioneer died here in 1803. His children were James, David, and Mary. The first of these served in the French and In- dian War and both were in the Revolution. In 1805, James, Jr., was living in Rockbridge near Fancy Hill. Mary a sister to James, Sr., married James Craig, Sr., who was a member of the Augusta court in 1771-78. David E. Laird con- ducted at Fancy Hill one of the best preparatory schools in Virginia. In cen- tral Kentucky is an emigrant branch of the Rockbridge Lairds, and it includes people of wealth and position.
Lee. George Washington Custis Lee was the oldest son of General Robert E. Lee. In 1854 he came out of West Point at the head of his class, and was in the engineering corps until the outbreak of the war of 1861. As a captain of engineers he was then employed on the forts around Richmond. In the sum- mer of 1861 Jefferson Davis made him an aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel of cavalry. Near the close of the war he had risen to the rank of major-gen- eral. He saw little active service, although this was not according to his desire. In the fall of 1865 he came to Lexington as professor of civil engineering and ap- plicd mechanics. February 1, 1872, he succeeded his father as college president, and was the first to preside over Washington and Lee University under its pres- ent name. In 1897 he retired. As president emeritus he was offered $2,000 a year and the use of the house he was occupying. This was declined and he went to live at Ravenwood, a family estate in Fairfax county. There he died in 1913 at the age of eighty. General Lee was unmarried.
Susan P. Pendleton, sister of General A. S. Pendleton, married in this county Edwin G. Lee, a native of Jefferson county, West Virginia. In conjunc- tion with her father and sisters, she carried on a classical school in Lexington. Mrs. Lee, who wrote "A School History of the United States" and "Memoirs of William N. Pendleton," died in Lexington in 1911, aged seventy-nine.
Letcher. John Letcher came to this county from Fluvanna. He was an uncle to Robert P. Letcher, who was governor of Kentucky in 1840-44. After coming to Rockbridge, John married Mary Houston, an aunt to General Sam Houston, of Texas. Two of his sons remained in their native county, John, Jr., operating a tannery ten miles south of Lexington, and William II., living at the county scat and keeping a boarding house for students. John, a son of William H., was born March 28, 1813, and was educated at Washington College, afterward studying law at Randolph-Macon College. He was highly successful in his chosen profession, and won a renown that sent him to the Constitutional Convention of 1850. From 1851 to 1859 he was a member of the House of Representatives at Washington, where he sat in the Committee on Ways and Mcans. His Congress- ional career was conscientious and useful. It was here that he became known as "Honest John Letcher," and as the "Watch-Dog of the United States Treasury."
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In 1850, Mr. Letcher was elected governor of his state by the comfortable ma- jority of 5,569, although he failed to carry the Eastern District His administra- tion covered the year- 1860 63 inclusive, so that he was one of the war governors of the period After this responsibility and trying experience, Mr. Letcher re- turned to his native town to resume the practice of law, but after the close of hos- tilities he was repeatedly sent to the General Assembly. Politically, Governor Letcher was a Democrat and for some time he was editor of the Valley Star. During the months of suspense prior to the firing on Fort Sumter, he was not one of the original secessionists and his views were conciliatory. Even after the wan- ton burning of his fine residence by order of General Hunter, and while the memory of it must still have been fresh, he could use these words in an address at the Virginia Military Institute. September 19, 1860: "The war has ended. We are again a united people. Let the passions, the prejudices, and the revengeful feelings, which have existed between the sections, and which were intensified by the civil war, be consigned in solemn silence to a common grave, there to sleep for- ever. The past is gone and should be forgotten. The present is upon us, and should be wisely improved with a view to the future and all it has in store for us " The governor's death took place January 26, 1884, closing a long period of in- validism. The wife of Mr. Letcher was Mary S. Hoh, of Augusta county. The children born to the couple were William H., Elizabeth S. Ann IL. Andrew H . John D., Mary K . Virginia L. Fannie P., and Greenlee D.
Leyburn. John Leyburn graduated from the College of New Jersey with two honors and prepared for the ministry at Union Theological Seminary His first pastorate was at Gainesville. . Ma. For nine years he was co-editor of The Presbyterian, at Philadelphia. He was also secretary of the Publication So- city of the Presbyterian Church. The Secession war found him traveling in Europe and called him home. Just after the close of the war he was serving a church in Baltimore. In 1874 he again went abroad, having already visited the British Isles as a delegate to the Ter-Centenary Celebration of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland His wife was Mary L. Mercer, a granddaughter of Gen- eral Hugh Mercer of the Revolution There were no children. Doctor Leshurn was born in Lexington and in the evening of his life he wrote some very enter- taining reminiscences for the Rockbridge papers He died in 1893 at the age of seventy-eight
Locher. Charles IL Locher is a son of Charles H Locher, Sr., a native of Maryland who came to Balcony Falls about 1852 to manufacture cement. This bus ines le pur med ed a large scale until the plant was demolished by a flood in the James. He died at Glasgow in 1889. The son, who is a younger brother to Harry O. Locher of Glasgow, obtained a very practical knowledge of rail- road construction, and drifted into contract work in which he has made a nation-
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wide reputation. He is the owner of several patents, inclusive of an aerial dump used in excavation. The principal undertakings which Mr. Locher has carried to completion are these : the Chicago Drainage Canal the; Wachusett Dam in Massachusetts ; the Shoshone Dam in Wyoming ; the Livingstone Ship Channel in Detroit River ; and the I. and O. Viaduct at Richmond, Virginia. Without his knowledge or solicitation, Mr. Locher was selected as manager to place a system of dams in the basin of the Miami River of Ohio. By an expenditure of $25,000,000, it is hoped to so impound the flood waters of that valley that such a disaster as befell the city of Dayton in 1913 is not at all likely to recur. Mr. Locher is ingenious, a good organizer, rather careful in making a promise, but serupulous in the fulfilment.
Lusk. William Lusk, a justice of this county, was a self-made man, and incidentally was an ingenious mechanic.
Maury. Matthew Fontaine Maury, one of the foremost scientific men of the nineteenth century. was born in Spottslyvania county in 1806. At the age of nineteen, and as a midshipman, he began a voyage that extended around the world. In 1843 he was given charge of the National Observatory at the city of Washington, and the present Weather Bureau grew out of his suggestions. His knowledge of things maritime was so profound as to give him the title of "Path- finder of the Seas." He instituted deep sea soundings, pointed out to Cyrus W. Field where an ocean cable should be laid, and wrote a standard work on physical geography. Offers of knighthood by the British government were refused, and he declined invitations to Russia and France. The last named country offered him the superintendency of the National Observatory at Paris. During the war of 1861 he supervised coast defenses for the Confederate government. After the surrender of Lee he went to Mexico, where he had a seat in the cabinet of the Emperor Maximilian, and he introduced the plant from which quinine is derived. From Mexico he went to England, where he was given the degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Cambridge. In 1868 he was recalled to his native land, and he settled at Lexington as professor of meterology in Washington College. After five years of usefulness in this final position. he died at the age of sixty-seven. By his special request his remains were afterward taken to Richmond for re-interment, and by way of Goshen Pass during the rhododendron season. For this beautiful watergap he liad a particular admiration. The will of Commodore Maury is noteworthy for its Christian spirit and for the way in which it distributes among his children the many medals he received from the governments of Europe.
McDowell. The MeDowells of Rockbridge enjoy the distinction not only of being the first family to settle in the Borden grant, and probably the first in the county, but to have furnished a governor of Virginia and a number of other
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more or less eminent names of county, state, or national importance. Ephraim McDowell, the progenitor, had been at the famous siege of Londonderry in 1689. and was an elderly man when he came to Rockbridge. Yet he lived many years thereafter, and was sufficiently active to make for himself a place in the annals of the pioneer epoch. So far as we know, he was accompanied to America only by two sons and two daughters. The sons were John and James, but it is only the posterity of the former who appears to figure in Rockbridge history. John McDowell is said to have come here as a widower, but this is probably incorrect Ilowever, it was not long after his arrival that he was married to Magdalena Woods, by whom he had a daughter, Martha. She married George Moffett, of Augusta. The children of his first wife were Samuel and James. John Mc- Dowell was a practical surveyor and assisted in laying off the Borden Tract As a leader in the new settlement he was made captain of the first local militia company but fell in the battle with the Iroquois Indians at the mouth of North River. His gravestone in the family burial ground bears this legend :
Hier Lyes The body of John Mack Dowell Deced Decembe 1743
The year is incorrectly marked, since the true time was 1742 and not 1743. But as the stone could not have been set up until some time in 1743, the error is easily accounted for.
Samuel, the oldest child of Captain MeDowell, was almost exactly two years old when his father came to Timber Ridge in the fall of 1737. His wife was Mary McClung, to whom he was married in 1754. When only ten or eleven years o'd he carried a chain in the surveying parties, and thus became very familiar with the Borden lands. After coming to maturity he was very active in public affairs. Like his cousin, John Greenlee, he waived his rights under the British law of entail, and gave his brother and sister shares equal to his own in the parental estate. On his return from the House of Burgesses in 1775, he erected a liberty pole in his yard. Next May he and his colleague, Thomas Lewis. bore to the state capital the first official expression touching the matter of the in- dependence of the colony. In the military movements of the Revolution he took a part, and he commanded a body of militia in the battle of Guilford. At Point Pleasant, in November, 1777, Colonel McDowell rendered an important service. General Hand had come from Pittsburg and was joined by 700 militia, who were expecting to be led against the Indian towns on the Scioto. Hand concluded that it was too late in the fall to set out. While at Fort Randolph he ordered the rations cut down on the ground that the men were living too well. The militia at once went on a strike. They buckled on their haversacks and shouldered their guns. McDowell acted as mediator and restored a semblance of harmony. Also,
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hy order of the general, he rode before the line and announced the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga. The profession of Colonel McDowell was that of the law, and after his removal to Kentucky in 1783 he was a judge. He lived to old age and his depositions in the Borden suit are of much interest. His daugh- ter Magdalene married Andrew Reid, the first clerk of Rockbridge. His son Ephriam, born 1771, died 1830, received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Edinburgh. He settled at Danville, Kentucky as a physician and surgeon, and has the distinction of being the first man to perform a success- ful operation in ovariotomy.
James, brother to Samuel, was two years younger, but died when only thirty- three years of age. James' wife, to whom he was married in 1793 was Sarah Preston, granddaughter to General William Campbell, one of the heroes of King's Mountain. James, Jr., the only son, was six feet two inches tall, but this commanding stature was not at all uncommon in the pioneer days. He was a man of "vigorous mind, strong common sense, and unflinching integrity." His decision of character and his patriotism are shown by his record in the 1812 war. He re- ported at Lexington, November 14, 1812, with a regiment of 1200 men, and the services of himself and his command were accepted. They were on duty more than two years, and although never in action, their aid was very important. The regiment acted as a flying-guard along the coast of the Chesapeake to keep parties of British marines from landing. Large quantities of brandy were distilled on Colonel McDowell's plantation of Cherry Grove, but when the temperance re- form appeared on the horizon, he ceased the manufacture at once and absolutely. He went a step further. On a visit to Greenbrier he picked up a tract on the tobacco habit, and convincing himself that its arguments were sound, he imme- diately gave up using the weed, although he had been chewing or smoking for fifty years. The wife of Colonel McDowell, to whom he was married in 1793, was Sarah Preston, a granddaughter to General William Campbell, one of the heroes of King's Mountain. His children were Susan, James, and Elizabeth. The first daughter became the wife of William Taylor, who died while a mem- ber of the lower house of Congress. The second daughter wedded Thomas H. Benton, a statesman of national renown. A daughter of Benton became the wife of General John C. Fremont, whose chief title to fame rests upon his cx- plorations in the Far West and his share in bringing California under the Ameri- can flag. Fremont was the standard-bearer of the Republican party in the cam- paign of 1856, and was an unsuccessful leader of Federal armies in 1861-62.
James, the only son of Colonel James McDowell, was born at Cherry Grove, October 12, 1796, and was graduated from Princeton College in 1817. The same college gave him in 1846 the degree of Doctor of Laws. He read law but never practiced it. His vocational career was that of a planter, first in Kentucky and
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later in Rockbridge. Colonel McDowell was a model gentleman, very preposess- ing in manner, and he made all visitors feel at case in his presence Yet he had very pronounced views with respect to personal conduct, and was not afraid of being called a Puritan. No liquors might appear at his dinners, and no amuse- ment was permitted in his home which did not meet his approval. Being a polish- ed orator and having an aptitude for statescraft. he gravitated into public life Politically he was a Democrat. He served in the General Assembly, was governor of his state, 1843-46, and then succeeded his brother-in-law as a member of Con- gress. . As a statesman, McDowell possessed unusual judgment and foresight. and in several important matters was ahead of his age. His state papers are able documents. He believed that emancipation of the slaves was inevitable, and the Nat Turner tragedy did not shake his advocacy of a progressive freeing of the negroes. During his administration as governor he gave his hearty support to a measure that nearly resulted in a system of free schools. His friendship for popular education is expressed in these words "I know not who was the origina- tor of the school system of Massachusetts, but I would rather have been that man than wear the proudest diadem of Europe." McDowell's lack of ultra-partisanship appears in a brilliant speech against nullification in 1833. and in a speech in Con- gress in favor of the admission of California as a free state. Eight of the ten children of Governor McDowell arrived at the age of maturity and married He died at Colalto, August 24, 1851.
McNutt. Alexander McNutt was granted lands in Nova Scotia after the expulsion of the Arcadians, visited England on a colonization errand, and re- turned with over 200 settlers and some supplies. He was complained of for parcelling out land without due authority. On the advent of the Revolution he joined the American "rebels" and although the lands appear to have been con- fiscated, he attempted to convey 100,000 acres to Liberty Hall Academy. In his later years he became a religious enthusiast. He died in 1811, and was buried at Falling Springs. His gokl-mounted sword was long preserved in the family. While a lieutenant in the French and Indian war, he kept a diary, but unfortu- nately for the interests of Rockbridge he gave it to Governor Fauquier.
Jolin. a brother to Alexander, married Catherine Anderson. A daughter married John McCorkle, who lost his life at Cowpens. A son, Alexander, was the father of Alexander G. MeNutt and grandfather to two generals of the Con- federate army : Albert G. Jenkins and Frank Paxton
Alexander G MeNutt, son of Alexander and Rachael ( Grigsby ) McNutt. was born on North River one mile below Buena Vista. He was educated at Washington College, and at the age of twenty-one was settled as a lawyer at Jackson, Mississippi Isaac Me.Nutt, his uncle, had already migrated in this direction The young man was well read and an easy writer He was a fine
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stump speaker, but was pitted against Sergeant S. Prentiss, whose oratory was on a par with that of Patrick Henry or Daniel Webster. After 1838 McNutt declined to meet his antagonist on the platform. McNutt's intemperance and slovenly attire were made a target by Prentiss, but the future governor had the moral courage and strength of character to reform and his law practice became very renumerative. In 1829 he was Speaker of the House of Representatives for Mississippi, and as a Democrat was elected governor, his term covering the period 1838-42. McNutt died in 1848, in the midst of a presidential cam- paign. He was unmarried, and the four brothers who followed him to the Gulf country also died without issue.
A pioneer McNutt was Robert, who died on a voyage to Ireland, and his wife, whose maiden name was Rosanna Dunn, married Patrick McFarland. Still another was George, who came here with his brother William as advance agents for some kinspeople. Tradition has it that both brothers were in the battle of King's Mountain. William went to the Northwest, and George, who was three times married and had a numerous family, settled near Knoxville. Tennessee.
Montgomery .. Humphrey Montgomery, who settled on Buffalo Creek, was a son of Humphrey Montgomery, of Pennslyvania, and served under Captain Samuel Lapsley in 1777-79.
Moore. Andrew Moore, a son of David, was born at "Cannicello," in this county in 1752. In his youth he was shipwrecked while on a voyage to the West Indies. In consequence, he and several companions were marooned several weeks on an island, doubtless one of the Bahamas, and the lizards on which they sub- sisted must have been iguanas. This vegetable-eating reptile is considered a great delicacy. He was admitted to the bar in 1774 and was very a successful lawyer. In 1776 he was commissioned a lieutenant, and enlisted 100 men. se- curing nineteen at a single log-rolling. During the next three years he was a captain of riflemen under Daniel Morgan. In 1779 he resigned and from 1781 to 1789 was in the state legislature. In 1788 he was a member of the state con- vention that ratified the Federal Constitution. Ratification had been made a distinct issue in the campaign which resulted in sending Andrew Moore and Wil- liam McKee to the Convention. But Patrick Henry wielded a great influence in that body, and because of his opposition, a large public meeting at Lexington in- structed the delegates to vote against ratification. Both Moore and McKee decided that they were justified in disregarding these instructions and voted accordingly. A change of only five votes would have defeated ratification. Moore was re-elect- ed when he again ran for office. He was defeated only once in twenty-nine can- didacies, and then then only by one vote. Throughout Washington's adminis- tration he was in the House of Representatives. After again returning to the General Assembly, he was once more a Congressman and then a member of the
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Federal Senate. In 1809 he was commissioned a major-general, and the next year was appointed a United States Marshall, hokling this office until 1821, the year of his death. His wife was Sally, a daughter of Andrew Reid.
Samuel McDowell Moore, a son of General Andrew Moore, was born in 1796 and died in 1875. He was a man of powerful build, strongly marked countenance, and commanding force. He thought and acted for himself, called a spade a spade, and was not a person to be improperly interfered with. In any arena he was a dangerous antagonist. He was a leader in the Rockbridge bar and was a Congressman in 1833-35. Mr. Moore was a Whig in politics, of anti-slavery feeling, and in the state convention of 1861 he vigorously combatted the arguments of the secession leaders. He was married to Evalina, a daughter of Andrew Alexander. His only child was a daughter, who married John HI. Moorc.
William, the elder brother of General Andrew Moore, married Nancy Mc- Clung and lived near Fairfield. He was a merchant, and sheriff, and had a furnace on South River. His children were Samuel, David, John, Eliab, Jane, Isabella. Elizabeth and Nancy. William Moore was a man of most unusual physical strength In the battle of Point Pleasant, John Steele was wounded and about to be scalped. Moore shot the Indian, knocked another down with his gun, and although Steele was heavy, he took him up and bore him to a place of safety. Perhaps this feat undermined Moore's constitution, for he only reached the age of about ninety-three years.
Morrison. James D. Morrison, a son of William, was a graduate of Wash- ington College, and in the civil war was a captain in the 58th Virginia Infantry. Hle was sent to the Assembly in 1872, and five years later he founded the Rock- bridge Citizen. He died in 1902, aged about seventy years. Captain Morrison married Laura Chapin, and his children were William, Kenneth, and Irene.
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