Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 82

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 848

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He never lost interest in the affairs and activities of life, but to the end kept pace with all advancement, especially in his own profession, and until his last moment was in full possession of his faculties. He lived the simple, temperate, natural life, and was never ill. Possessed of a remarkable purity, calmness and equanimity, and having "high erected ideas seated in a heart of courtesy" he was often referred to as a true type of the "old Virginia gentleman."

Dr. Beazley married Sarah Early, of Albe- marle county, Virginia, and they were the parents of two daughters: Elizabeth Fan- ny and Sallie Early, and one son, James E., who married Edwina Graves, of Orange county, Virginia.

Robert Lewis Harrison. Robert Lewis Harrison, a prominent attorney of New York,

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was born at the University of Virginia, March 2, 1850. His father was Dr. Gessner Harri- son, an eminent educator, who was a mem- . ber of the faculty of that institution for a period of over thirty years. Dr. Gessner Har- rison was born at Harrisonburg, Rocking- ham county, Virginia, June 26, 1807, and died near Charlottesville, Virginia, April 7, 1862. In the year 1825 he entered the University of Virginia, and received degrees from the schools of ancient languages and medicine in 1828. He was then appointed professor of ancient languages on the retirement of Professor George Long, and served till 1859, when he established first in Albemarle county and the following year at Belmont, Virginia, a classical school, which had a wide influence throughout the South. He was author of "Greek Prepositions and Cases of Nouns" (Philadelphia, 1848), and "Expositions of Some of the Laws of the Latin Language" (New York, 1852). His motto "Trust God and work," explains his character, and his name and words are still echoed in the halls of the University of Vir- ginia. He married Eliza Lewis Carter Tucker, the mother of Robert Lewis Har- rison, daughter of Professor George Tucker, who was a very well known teacher, his- torian and scholar. He wrote a history of the United States, a "Life of Thomas Jeffer- son," and he was appointed a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Vir- ginia by President Jefferson, dying in 1866.

A number of Harrisons settled in Virginia in the seventeenth century. Those who emi- grated before Benjamin Harrison, the clerk, ancestor of many of the Virginia Harrisons, apparently died without issue. Very soon after 1640 appeared Thomas and Edward Harrison, the former figuring in Neill's works on Virginia history, first as Gov- ernor Berkeley's chaplain, and then as a non-conformist divine. They are also men- tioned in Savage's "Genealogical Diction- ary of New England," and they resided there for some time. They are embraced in the following tradition, brought over from Eng- land by the Rev. Joseph Harrison, who lived in the city of New York in the early part of the last century, viz: Four brothers of the name of Harrison went to America whom the Rev. Joseph Harrison called Thomas, Richard, Benjamin, and Nathaniel, of whom his own father had told him two went north and two south, a fifth brother,

Edward, a clergyman, remaining in Eng- land. Two brothers went to Virginia and two other branches of the family, descend- ants from a third brother, settled in Con- necticut and New Jersey. The Harrisons of the latter state claimed that one of their family went to Virginia and a removal thither at the beginning of the eighteenth century is not impossible. Among the other Harrisons who came to Virginia were Dr. Jeremy and his wife Frances, the latter a widow receiving, in 1654, a patent of one thousand acres in West Moreland county. In 1655 one thousand acres, another thou- sand acres, were granted to Giles Brent in the same county. Benjamin as a baptis- mal name had some popularity at the time, and many of the Virginia Harrisons, fami- lies who had no connection with each other beyond the community of the family name, bore the name Benjamin. Benjamin re- mained a favorite name in the family, and both the signer, Benjamin Harrison, born in 1726, and the second president bearing the Harrison patronymic, bore the personal name.

The earliest acquisition of land made in Virginia by Benjamin Harrison, the emi- grant, was by deed from John Davis, of Kiskiake, dated July 9, 1634, for two hun- dred acres on Warrosquioake Creek, which was said to be a tenure of Thomas Jordan. Other patents followed but "Berkeley" and "Brandon," the seats of the family on the James river, were acquired by later gener- ations. The first Harrison appears to have left but two children surviving him, Ben- jamin and Peter, both by his wife Mary, who afterward married Benjamin Sidway.

The father of Gessner Harrison was Dr. Peachey Harrison, who resided at Harrison- burg, Rockingham county, Virginia, a phy- sician, like his son after him. The father of Dr. Peachey Harrison was Benjamin Har- rison, who was born in 1741, died in 1819. He was a colonel in MacIntosh's campaign in 1777 during the revolutionary war, and led troops in 1781 to aid Lafayette against Cornwallis. Benjamin Harrison was one of the captains who took part in the famous battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774. He was the son of Daniel Harrison, of Rockingham. In Felix Gilbert's day book covering several years, from December 5, 1774, the name of Captain Benjamin Har- rison frequently appears. Evidently he was

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a constant customer at Gilbert's store, which was not far from Harrisonburg.

The mother of Robert Lewis Harrison, Eliza Lewis Carter (Tucker) Harrison, be- longed to the Lewis family, through her mother, who was Betty Lewis, wife of Gen- eral Fielding Lewis, and sister of George Washington. The Lewis family of Virginia is one of the most distinguished families in the state. It is connected by marriage with many of the best known names, such as Washington, Marshall, Fielding, Merri- wether, Dangerfield, Taliaferro, and others. The members of the family from the time when they first set foot in the colony about the middle of the seventeenth century have been men of action and distinction; they have won for themselves the most remark- able record as soldiers. It is recorded on the tombstone of "Pioneer John" that he furnished five sons for the revolution. There were five colonels, Nicholas, Fielding, William, Charles, and Joel, and quite a num- ber of majors and captains. The Lewises also won a gallant record in the war of 1812, the Mexican war, and in the Confed- erate States army.

The Lewis family is said to have been originally French, by name Louis, who left France following on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685. Three brothers, namely, William, Samuel and John, crossed over to Britain. Sometime after William removed to Ireland, where he married a Miss McClelland. Samuel fixed his resi- dence in Wales, while John continued in England. Descendants of each of these brothers are said to have emigrated and set- tled in Virginia.

About the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury four brothers of the name of Lewis left Wales. Robert Lewis, later General Robert, came with his wife and two sons to Virginia in 1645, in the good ship Blessing. The names of his sons were John and Wil- liam, the latter of Chemokins, St. Peter's parish, New Kent county, Virginia. John married Isabella, daughter of Augustine Warner, of Warner Hall, Gloucester county, Virginia, and speaker of the first house of burgesses. They had issue: Major John, mentioned below; Warner, who married Eleanor, widow of William Gooch, son of Sir William Gooch, governor of Virginia, and daughter of John Bowles, of Maryland; a daughter who married Colonel Willis; a

daughter who married Francis Merriwether ; John; Isabella ; Anna.

Major John Lewis, son of John and Isa- bella (Warner) Lewis, was born November 30, 1669, died in 1754. He resided in Glou- cester county, Virginia, and was a member of the Virginia council. He married Fran- ces Fielding, who died in 1731. The chil- dren were: Colonel Robert, of Belvoir, Albemarle county, Virginia; Colonel Charles, of the Byrd; and Colonel Fielding, mentioned below.

Colonel Fielding Lewis, son of Major John and Frances (Fielding) Lewis, mar- ried (first) Catherine Washington, a cousin of General Washington ; and (second) Betty Washington, sister of General Washington. He was a member of the house of burgesses, a merchant and vestryman. There is in the possession of the descendants of Colonel Fielding Lewis and his wife Betty an old family Bible which was given by Mary Ball Washington to her only daughter, Mrs. Fielding Lewis. During the revolution Col- onel Fielding Lewis showed himself an ar- dent and a high souled patriot and did spe- cial service superintending the manufacture of arms for the use of the army. The chil- dren were: John, Francis, Warner Field- ing, Augustine, Warner (2), George Wash- ington, Mary, Charles, Samuel, Betty, Law- rence, and Robert.

Robert Lewis Harrison was educated at the private school of Professor Edward B. Smith at Richmond, Virginia, and later at the University of Virginia, from which he graduated with the degree of M. A. in 1870. He began the active work of life as a teacher in preparatory schools and profes- sor of the Greek and German languages. He was professor of Greek and German at Davidson College during 1875 and 1876, and also taught in high and preparatory schools in Virginia. He was admitted to the bar in 1875, and came to New York City as clerk in a law office in 1876. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1878, was appointed to the New York City School Board by Mayor Seth Low, afterwards by Mayor McClellan, and again by Mayor Gaynor, and is now serving his third term. He is recognized as one of the chief expert educators of New York City. Mr. Harrison is a vestryman of Zion and St. Timothy Episcopal Church, and is a Democrat in politics.

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Mr. Harrison has several brothers and sisters. One brother is Dr. George Tucker Harrison, of Charlottesville, Virginia, who married Lelia Bell, of Richmond, Virginia. They have children: Gessner, Lelia and Elizabeth. Another brother is Peachey Gessner Harrison, who married Julia Rid- dick, of Isle of Wight, Virginia, having four children : Edward Tucker, Gessner, Lewis Carter, Peachy. Another brother is Dr. Henry William Harrison. The sisters are: Maria, who married the Rev. John A. Broadus; and Mary Stuart, who married Professor Francis H. Smith, of the Univer- sity of Virginia, having twelve children, one of whom is Dr. George Tucker Smith, sur- geon and medical director of the United States navy.

Robert Lewis Harrison married, in 1898. Marie Louise, adopted daughter of Lang- don Chivvis Duncan. His home is No. 20 West Ninth street, New York City.

George Nash Morton. George Nash Mor- ton belongs to an old Virginia family whose representatives received land grants in Vir- ginia in 1636 and 1655. Mr. Morton's de- scent has been traced to Lord Douglas, of Scotland, through descendants who resided in Northern Ireland, whence one branch re- moved to New England, and one to Penn- sylvania, and from there to Virginia.

His grandfather, John Morton, was born in Orange county, Virginia, and resided at "Oak Grove," adjoining the village of Char- lotte Court House. This was an estate of three hundred acres, where he resided, while he engaged in business as a banker and merchant in the village, where he was many years postmaster. He was an elder of the Presbyterian church, adhering to the re- ligious teachings of his Scotch-Irish ances- tors. In politics he was a Whig. He mar- ried Elizabeth, daughter of Nash Le Grand, a celebrated Presbyterian clergyman, whose wife was a daughter of Colonel Holmes, of Winchester, and a sister of David Holmes, the first governor, and United States senator from Mississippi, and also of Judge Hugh Holmes and Major Andrew Holmes, who was killed in the war of 1812. The Le Grand family was of Huguenot origin and left its native France because of religious intolerance. Nash Le Grand, Jr., brother of Elizabeth (Le Grand) Morton, was a mem- ber of the governor's council of Virginia.

One of his sisters married Captain John Marshall, and was the mother of Judge Hunter Holmes Marshall. John and Eliza- beth (Le Grand) Morton had children : I. Quinn Le Grand, mentioned below. 2. Pauline, who married her cousin, Charles Morton, chief magistrate of Prince Edward county, Virginia. 3. Betty, wife of Leonard Anderson, many years employed in the gen- eral post office department at Washington, D. C. 4. Lucy, who married John W. Eg- gleston, of Nottoway, Virginia, and resided at Charlotte Court House ; their son, David, was secretary of the Virginia common- wealth in Richmond, Virginia. 5. David Holmes, a merchant of Charlotte Court House, whose wife was Josephine Cabell, daughter of Breckenridge Cabell. 6. Re- becca, wife of William O. Bouldwin, son of Judge Bouldwin, member of congress dur- ing Jackson's administration, a merchant partner of David H. Morton, residing in Charlotte Court House. 7. Harriet, died un- married.

Quinn Le Grand Morton was born at Charlotte Court House, where he was reared and educated. While his uncle was govern- or of Mississippi, he removed with a large number of slaves to that state and settled on a plantation near Holly Springs. Later he removed to Memphis, Tennessee, where he was a cotton commission merchant until his death. He was a member of the Presby- terian church, and while a strong Whig in political principle, took no part in political movements and filled no official stations. He was a member of a committee appointed to escort General Zachary Taylor to Mem- phis, after the latter had been elected presi- dent of the United States. He married, in 1840, Susan Hanna, of Charlotte county, daughter of Captain George Hanna and his wife, Lucy Morton, the latter a daughter of Colonel William Morton, a soldier of the revolutionary war, who distinguished him- self as commander of a regiment at Guil- ford Court House. Captain Hanna was commander of a troop in the war of 1812. Children of Quinn L. Morton: I. George Nash, mentioned below. 2. Lucy, died un- married. 3. Emily, wife of Thomas E. Wat- kins, commonwealth attorney of Charlotte county, Virginia. Beside these there was a son who died in infancy.

George Nash Morton was born April 14, 184I, at "Oak Grove," and was educated at

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Hampden-Sidney College in the class of 1859-60, graduating with the degrees of A. B. and A. M. Soon after this the Civil war began, and he enlisted in the Richmond Howitzers, where he served until made lieu- tenant of Martin's battery. With this latter organization he saw much service. After serving with General Jenkins on the Black- water, the company went into winter quar- ters in the fall of 1863 on the Appomattox river, near Petersburg, and in the following May was called upon to resist the attack made by General Benjamin Butler. At this time Lieutenant Morton was put in com- mand of a section of the canoneers and an infantry company to man Fort Clifton. With the heavy artillery of that fort, this force blew up one of the gunboats coming up the river and thus blocked the way of the others. For this service the battery was compli- mented in general orders by General Beau- regard. With the latter's army, the battery moved to the defenses of Richmond, and was stationed on the south side of the city to resist Butler while Grant was opposed on the north by General Lee. In the battle of Drewry's Bluff, Martin's battery covered the Richmond and Petersburg turnpike on Beauregard's right. After this it was re- moved to the Bermuda Hundred line, where it was under fire of the Federal gunboats. Thence it removed to the north side of the Appomattox river, where it was put in posi- tion to enfilade Smith's corps, in its assault on Petersburg, and during this action Gen- eral Beauregard was present with the bat- tery directing the fire. The battery was in almost continual action in the defenses of Richmond and Petersburg, until the evacu- ation on the night of April 2, 1865. With Lee's army it retreated to the vicinity of Appomattox Court House, and was cut off from Lee's main body by Sheridan's cavalry, on the night of April 8. Captain Taylor Martin and his men considered it a great compliment that when his battery was placed in Beauregard's command, General Lee wrote Beauregard : "You can depend on Martin's Battery." Lieutenant Morton par- ticipated in the battles of Ball's Bluff, Seven Pines, the Seven Days' battle around Rich- mond, Drewry's Bluff, and in the ten months' siege of Richmond and Petersburg. After being cut off from Lee's command at Appomattox Court House, Lieutenant Mor- ton, with several companion officers, joined

General Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina. When that officer had decided to surrender to General Sherman, Lieutenant Morton and companions were informed of the approach of that event, and the latter accompanied him to his home, "Gravel Hill," in Charlotte, and were among those who did not surrender. He immediately turned his attention to peaceful occupations, and was soon appointed by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to go to San Paulo, Brazil. Here he founded a school as an adjunct to his mission, and was fourteen years at the head of this institution. In 1844 he removed to New York City, and engaged in the promotion of corporations and various business enterprises, which has occupied his attention to the present time. He is still active in the Presbyterian church, and though a Democrat in political senti- ment, gives little attention to politics. His home is at Westerly, on Staten Island, New York, and he is esteemed, especially in the Virginia colony of New York, and generally wherever known, for his scholarship and fine manly character.

He married, May II, 1878, Mary Brown, of Baltimore, daughter of Harmon and Mar- garet (Wilson) Brown, and a sister of Gen- eral Stewart Brown. Children: I. George Harmon Le Grand, a resident of Westfield, New Jersey, engaged in business in New York City ; his wife is Emma Case, daugh- ter of Colonel Case, of the United States army. 2. Margaretta, wife of Joseph Clough, residing in New York City. 3. Susan, wife of Judge George Stewart Brown, of Baltimore, now one of the gen- eral appraisers of the port of New York. 4. David Holmes, a wholesale dry-goods merchant of New York. 5. Emily, Mrs. Wil- liam N. Macomb, of New York. 6. Wil- liam Stewart, of New York. 7. Mary, un- married. 8. Samuel, recently honorably dis- charged from the Thirteenth United States Infantry, after three years military service in the Philipine Islands.

Frank Vernon Baldwin. Frank Vernon Baldwin, an active business man of New York and representative of the best blood of Virginia, was born January 26, 1866, in Amelia county, that state. The early land grants of Virginia show several pioneers of this name. John Baldwin received six hun- dred acres in Northampton county, March

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18, 1648, and William Baldwin six hundred acres in York county, October 26, 1652. There was a John Baldwin, a freeman, who came in the ship Tiger to Virginia, in 1622, and John Baldwin received a land grant, Oc- tober 10, 1656. It is thus apparent that the family has been identified with the Old Dominion from the beginning of its history.

William Baldwin, a soldier of the war of 1812, lived in Nottoway county, Virginia, where he was a planter, and died soon after the close of that war. He had several plan- tations and engaged extensively in the pro- duction of tobacco, and was a large slave- holder. His wife was a Miss Brackett.

William Brackett Baldwin, son of Wil- liam Baldwin, was born in 1808 in Notto- way county, Virginia, and was a planter in Amelia, Nottoway and Chesterfield counties. He held civil office under the Confederate government, and though too old for service in the active army was a member of the re- serves, and helped guard Goodes Bridge during Wilson's raid. He was a member of the Baptist church. He married (first) Maria L. Pettus, and they were the par- ents of five sons and four daughters. Two of the sons died in infancy, and the other three were all soldiers in the Confederate army. William Edward was a member of the Twenty-first Virginia Regiment, serv- ing in Jackson's corps. The others were George Washington and Thomas Macon. The last named was killed at Drewry's Bluff. William B. Baldwin married (second) in February, 1865, Jemima Vernon Fowlkes, who was born in Lunenburg county, and re- moved with her parents to Nottoway county. She was a daughter of William Sims and Jemima (Walton) Fowlkes, and granddaughter of Hiram Fowlkes, of Notto- way county. She died at the birth of her only child, Frank Vernon Baldwin.

Frank Vernon Baldwin was educated in Richmond, whither he went at the age of nine years to attend school. At the age of about fourteen years he entered the office of Colonel William C. Knight, secretary of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, as office boy. He was later engaged in the life insurance business, and was for sometime the publisher of the "Progressive South," an agricultural paper at Richmond. About 1898 he engaged in the establishment of savings departments in banks of the West and Mid- dle West, and was assistant cashier and

cashier successively of the Commercial & Farmers National Bank of Baltimore, Mary- land, from 1904 to 1909. For the following two years he was secretary and treasurer of the Mutual Alliance Trust Company, of New York, and from 1911 to 1914 was vice- president of the National Reserve Bank. On the first of January, 1914, this institution was purchased by the Mutual Alliance Trust Company, of which Mr. Baldwin is now vice-president. He is possessed of those social and magnetic qualities which draw to himself and retain friends. His residence is in the borough of Brooklyn. He is a mem- ber of the Southern Society, and the Vir- ginians of New York, also of the New York Chamber of Commerce and Academy of Political Science. Religiously Mr. Baldwin affiliates with the Episcopal church, and in politics adheres to the principles of his fathers in the support of the Democratic party.

He married, October 12, 1887, Frances Hancock Redford, a native of Richmond, Virginia, daughter of John R. and Mary E. (Pae) Redford. Children : I. Robert Maurice, now engaged in business at Balti- more, Maryland. 2. Frank Vernon, Jr., em- ployed in the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York. 3. William Lee, associated with J. B. Duke of the Southern Power Company. 4. Kathryn Imogen, a student at the Mary Baldwin Seminary, Staunton, Virginia. 5. Julian Edward, a student at the Charlotte Hall Military Academy, of Maryland. 6. Jomima May, a student of the Brooklyn public schools.

Lewis Patrick Stearnes, Thomas Franklin Stearnes. Lewis Patrick Stearnes, of New- port News, is a descendant of one of the early New England families. There were three immigrants bearing this name among the. earliest settlers of Massachusetts: Isaac, Charles and Nathaniel, who came to America in 1630 in the ship Arabella along with Governor Winthrop and other promi- ment personages. The English name was and still is spelled Sterne. Five hundred years ago, more or less, when the popula- tion of England had become sufficiently dense to make surnames necessary, some Englishmen assumed the name of Sterne. He may have taken it from the sign of the Sterne. or starling (which is the symbol of industry), which he displayed in front of his

Master Dlearned

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piace of business, or it may have been taken from some event in which a starling was concerned ; but of this there is now 110 rec- ord or means of knowing. In America the name is spelled Stearns, Sternes, Sterns, or Starns and Starnes, the last two forms be- ing distinctly southern, while in England it still seems to be spelled Sterne, two notable instances being the names of Richard Sterne. Lord Archbishop of York, and Lawrence Sterne, the distinguished novelist, author of "Tristram Shandy" and other works. In America the changes probably commenced in the pronunciation, and extended to the writing of the name, which, in Winthrop's journal and in the early town and county records of Massachusetts, appears as Sterne.

Charles Stearns appears in Watertown, Massachusetts, very early in the history of that town, where he was admitted a free- man, May 6, 1646, and purchased land, March 15, 1648. He is mentioned in the will of Isaac Stearns as a kinsman, and re- ceived a legacy of ten pounds. In 1681 he was elected constable or tax gatherer, but refused to take the oath, and in the same year sold his Watertown land. It is sup- posed that he removed about this time to Lynn, settling in that part called Lynn End, now the town of Lynnfield. His first wife Hannah died in 1651, and he married (sec- ond) June 22, 1654. Rebecca, daughter of John and Rebecca Gibson, of Cambridge. The third son of his second wife, John Stearns, was born January 24, 1657, in Watertown, and was a housewright, resid- ing in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he died February 22, 1722. He married, in 1681, Judith Lawrence, born May 12, 1660, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Crispe) Lawrence, and they were the parents of thirteen children. The eldest son, George Stearns, born 1688, lived in the west pre- cinct of Waltham, Massachusetts, where he died June 26, 1760. He married, October 23, 1712, Hannah Sanderson, born May 31, 1689, daughter of Deacon Jonathan and Abiah (Bartlett) Sanderson, of Cambridge. Their eldest child was Jonathan Stearns, born December 26, 1713. He settled in Mil- ford, Massachusetts, where he purchased sixty-seven acres of land shortly before his marriage, and afterward added much to his domain. He was an industrious and thrifty citizen. He married, February 27. 1736,

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Encyclopedia of Virginia biography, Volume V, Part 82

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn Publication date: 1915 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 848

Author: Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935, ed. cn
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 848