USA > Virginia > The history of the Virginia federal convention of 1788, with some account of eminent Virginians of that era who were members of the body, Vol. II > Part 34
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est views and the wisest opinions. His manners, perfectly moulded in the finest school-viz., the old Colonial Court of Virginia-that we have ever had in the United States, combined a polished dignity and courtesy with a fascination that won its way in the regards of men. His play of feature and its effects were most wonderful; his smile had a charm which threw sus- picion off its guard and drew persons irresistibly to him. The rebuke of his cold, stern eye and the withering curl of his lip seemed to congeal the very blood of insolence or arrogance. The posts occupied by Mr. Monroe previous to his election as President, and which proved the stepping-stones to that high station, were all declined by Mr. Nicholas before they were offered to Mr. Monroe. Mr. Jefferson saw in the pecuniary embarrassments in which his endeavors to prop the failing for- tunes of a valued friend had involved him the only obstacles to his election to the highest post in the gift of the country."
It would be unfair to close this account of Nicholas without acknowledging the influence wrought on his character by the virtues and graces of that sex which, gentle and shrinking in prosperity, faces the sternest trials and braves the risks of pesti- lence and war with a firmness rarely exceeded by its manlier counterpart. Of his pious, intelligent, and patriotic mother, who, bereaved of her husband in the darkest period of the Revolution, saw his yet unturfed grave trampled by the myrmi- dons of Tarleton, and who devoted her time to the education and sustenance of her family, I have already spoken. But Nicholas was blessed not only with a mother worthy of the times in which she lived, and of the gallant sons whom she gave to her country; he was equally fortunate in that lovely woman whom, meeting with her on a military tour, he fell in love with, and whom, when the war was over, he conducted as his bride to his paternal seat at "Warren." Her name was Margaret Smith, daughter of John Smith (of Baltimore), and a sister of General Samuel Smith, whose name for more than the third of a century was connected with Federal affairs, and of Robert Smith, for- merly Secretary of the Navy, and Secretary of State during the administration of Mr. Madison. She was born and lived in Bal- timore; but, in order to avoid the dangers to which a seaport in time of war was likely to be exposed, she was sent in childhood, when she was old enough to remember the leading incidents of
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the Revolution, to the town of Carlisle, in the State of Pennsyl- vania. She was capable of appreciating the dangers to which her father was daily exposed as the active chairman of the Com- mittee of Ways and Means of the State of Maryland; and she saw her three brothers arm in defence of their country. One of them, overcome by the fatigue of war, returned only to die. Samuel at length returned safe, bearing with him the laurels he had earned at Fort Mifflin. "The gentle and amiable André, then a prisoner on parole, was domesticated in her father's family; and, though her childish affections were won by his kindness and her mind dazzled by his varied accomplishments, such was her vene- ration for the great name of Washington, that she could never be induced to condemn the act of stern and unrelenting retribution which consigned so many virtues to an ignominious grave." 315 The love of country was no mere sentiment in her bosom. It
was a principle, inculcated in early childhood, and fixed by the study and reflection of riper years. When, at the age of eighty, she was erroneously informed that her son (Colonel Nicholas, of Louisiana) had changed his politics, she rose from her chair, and, raising her hand, her eye brilliant as in youth and her voice tremulous with emotion, she exclaimed: "Tell my son, as he values the blessing of his old mother, never to forsake the faith of his fathers.'' 316 She lived to behold and enjoy the honors attained by the husband of her youth, and by her descendants; blending to the last all the gentleness of woman with a masculine judgment and intellect which had enabled her to understand and advise with her husband in all the difficulties that arose in the complicated political career of his eventful life.
Such was Wilson Cary Nicholas. Embarking early in public life, he exerted a various influence in the passage of many of the most important measures, from the treaty of peace with Great Britain, in 1783, to the treaty of peace with the same Power in 1815; and his life extended from the governorship of Francis
315 If my correspondent does not confound Asgill with Andre, the abode of André in Carlisle must have been after his capture by Mont- gomery in 1775, at. St. John's, and before he was exchanged.
316 This anecdote is in fine keeping with a similar one told of the mother of Lord-Chancellor Erskine in respect of George the Fourth, by Lord Cockburn in the Memorials of His Time.
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Fauquier to the presidency of James Monroe-one of the grand- est stretches of American history. If he had devoted more of his time to letters and had learned to put his thoughts on paper, what a charming narrative could have been unrolled before the coming ages! Born in Williamsburg, he might, in early youth, have seen his father, and Peyton Randolph, and Wythe bearing the pall of Fauquier, and might have told us where the bones of that skilful dealer in cards, and elegant scholar, were laid away. He had seen the members of the House of Burgesses quit their hall and march in procession to the "Raleigh"; and he might have peeped in and seen them sign the memorable non-importa- tion agreement. He might have seen the statue of Lord Bote- tourt, which had been voted to his memory by a grateful people, as it was dragged in huge boxes from the James and placed upon its pedestal; and he might have seen that nobleman as he dis- tributed, in the chapel of William and Mary, his golden medal- lions to the students of each term who excelled in the languages and in science, and he could have told us whether the deceased Baron was really committed to the vault of Sir John. Nicholas was a nephew of Archibald Cary, and was not far from five-and- twenty when the old patriot departed. Indeed, when Nicholas was a member of the House, Cary was Speaker of the Senate. How much he must have heard from "Old Iron"! He must have heard from his lips all about the dictator scheme of 1776, and whether that famous threat was ever made. Nicholas must have heard, again and again, from his brother George, all about the inquiry that that brother moved into the conduct of Governor Jefferson, and the second scheme of a dictatorship which was said to have been meditated at the same session. What an interesting account of the state of parties, from 1783 to 1789, he could have written out, and, when the new Federal Government went into operation, how many things he could have told that now we may never know. Was it here that a party existed which sought to put aside Jefferson as the leader of the Republi- can party, and as the successor of Washington, and take up Edmund Randolph in his stead? Why did Nicholas allow himself, in 1794, to be brought out for the Senate against that tried champion of the Republicans, Stevens Thomson Mason ? Or was this the first overt act of the new party ? Did Patrick Henry really send a challenge to Edmund Randolph by the
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hands of Colonel Cabell ? 317 What were the precise grounds of the charges urged by Randolph against Henry, and afterwards by George Nicholas, still more doggedly, on the floor of the Con- vention ? Who was the author of those eloquent, but bitter and contumelious, letters addressed to Patrick Henry, the first num- ber of which appeared in the Virginia Independent Chronicle of the 7th of January, 1789? Who wrote those other libels on Henry under the signature of a "State Soldier " ? And who was the writer that dared the authors of those papers to the proof of their charges? And then, at a later day, how many questions we would like to ask him: Was Jefferson really understood by his own party to include Washington in his Mazzei letter? Did the Republican party of 1800 intend to resist the election of Burr or Adams by force of arms ? At what precise moment did the scheme of purchasing the entire broad domain of Louisiana enter the mind of Jefferson ? What was the true cause of the hostility of John Randolph to the administration of Mr. Jefferson ? What negotiations preceded the visit of Mr. John Quincy Adams to Mr. Jefferson on the embargo business, and was not there some other negotiator than Mr. Giles ? What was the cause of the temporary hostility of Mr. Giles to the administration of Madison ? Did Clay and Calhoun really bully Madison into a war and afterwards into a bank? These, and a thousand other questions, no man could have answered more authoritatively than he.
As to his public acts, they embraced the most interesting and the most stirring events of the age. He voted to abolish all hindrances to the execution of the British treaty of 1783. He voted to keep the seat of government in Richmond, but refused to sustain the policy of Madison in building up commercial marts in the Commonwealth. He saw John Warden before the House of Delegates for a contempt, and, after laughing at the shrewdness of the wily Scot, voted to discharge him. He voted the statue to Washington which Houdon fashioned with such exquisite
317 I attach not the slightest blame to the friends of Edmund Ran- dolph for seeking to elevate him to the presidency. His position in the Virginia Federal Convention, as well as in the General Federal Convention, was eminently splendid ; and abroad he was regarded as the most efficient person in securing the ratification of the Constitution by Virginia.
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skill. He voted on all the exciting religious questions that agi- tated our early councils, always leaning to the side of liberty, and recorded his name in favor of the glorious act establishing religious freedom. He voted for the resolution convoking the meeting at Annapolis, and for the ratification of the Federal Constitution, to which that resolution may be said to have given · birth. He was one of the committee to bring in a bill to cede ten miles square to the Federal Government as a permanent seat of the capital. He sustained the resolutions of 1798-'99, and voted to repeal the judiciary act of 1800. He took an active part in securing the ratification of the treaty which ceded Louisi- ana to the Union. On these and many other occasions he rendered most valuable and efficient service; yet all that he could have told about them is lost!
A friend of Nicholas, in a letter addressed to me in answer to one which I had written to him making inquiries of Mr. Nicho- las, says:
"I have no anecdotes of Mr. Nicholas. He was too wise to be eccentric, and too calm and prudent in his conduct to excite remark. He was on one occasion elected from his county by a unanimous vote; and in high political excitements his vote always greatly exceeded his party strength. He was loved and admired by many of his political opponents. His manners, whenever he chose, were playful and bewitching in the extreme."
Another letter from a most competent judge presents the fol- lowing characteristic traits:
"Mr. Nicholas's private character was most amiable and exem- plary, and was such as to attach to him with unbounded devo- tion his family and friends. His manners were of that polished character of the old Williamsburg Colonial school-a mixture of grace, benignity, and dignity-which won all hearts. His powers of countenance were beyond those of any man I have ever known. His smile won the confidence and love of all on whom it beamed; his sternness repelled all approach or familiarty with- out the utterance of a word. As a listener he was unsurpassed. His conversation was calm, deliberate, imperturbable, forcible, sententious, and pregnant with thought and wisdom. He never spoke without reflection. If asked a question he was not pre- pared to answer, he would reflect until his queriest might sup- pose that he had forgotten his question, and then his reply
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would come in the exposition of the wisest and most profound views. As a debater in public bodies he spoke rarely, but con- cisely, deliberately, and with great force. 318 As a manager of men he had few equals. When in the House of Representa- tives or in the Senate of the United States during the presi - dency of Mr. Jefferson, I have often heard Mr. Jefferson say that he (Mr. Jefferson) had no trouble; that Mr. Nicholas wielded such controlling influence in the party as to keep it in perfect agreement with the administration; and that he esteemed him capable of filling the highest stations. In early life he became embarrassed in some speculations in Western lands, into which he had been drawn by General Henry Lee. This, added to losses sustained in efforts to aid his brother, George Nicholas (of Ken- tucky), and his brother-in-law, Edmund Randolph, marred his ability to accept office; and, finally, the financial catastrophe of 1819 completed his ruin. He died at the house of his son-in- law, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Esq., and was buried at 'Monticello'; and was attended to the grave by his friend, Mr. Jefferson, who made the remark on that occasion that had it not been for his pecuniary embarrassments he would have been the President in Monroe's place; that the mission to France, and other offices which led to the presidency, had been first pressed upon him for acceptance. Of this fact the letters of Mr. Jeffer- son, among the papers of Mr. Nicholas, furnish abundant proof. Mr. Jefferson regarded him as one of the ablest and purest public and private characters he had ever known. Judge William Cabell, President of the Court of Appeals, in speaking of Mr. Nicholas to a friend after his decease, said that he would except no man he ever knew, not even Mr. Jefferson, Judge Marshall, or Mr. Madison; but that Mr. Nicholas was the man of the most sense he had ever known. Had fortune combined with nature to place him in the position to which his virtues and abilities entitled him, he would have ranked among the wisest and most distinguished of Virginia's sons. Of those who were unfriendly towards him he never spoke or alluded to; they were as forgotten or dead."
318 Colonel Nicholas spoke oftener than my correspondent is aware of, but always in the manner described by him.
APPENDIX.
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70M399A
DELEGATES RETURNED
TO SERVE IN
Convention of March, 1788.
The editor has added the following brief and unpretentious biographical notes, in the hope that they may serve those inter- ested somewhat as data in the preparation of more adequate presentations of the careers of the worthies thus comprehended:
Accomac-EDMUND CUSTIS, 319 GEORGE PARKER, $20 Albemarle-GEORGE NICHOLAS, WILSON CARY NICHOLAS. Amelia-JOHN PRIDE, EDMUND BOOKER. 321 Amherst-WILLIAM CABELL, SAMUEL JORDAN CABELL. Augusta-ZACHARIAH JOHNSTON, ARCHIBALD STUART. Bedford-JOHN TRIGG, 322 CHARLES CLAY.
Berkeley-WILLIAM DARKE, 323 ADAM STEPHEN. 524
Botetourt-WILLIAM FLEMING, MARTIN McFERRAN. Bourbon-HENRY LEE, 325 NOTLAY CONN.
Brunswick-JOHN JONES, 326 BINNS JONES. Buckingham-CHARLES PATTESON,327 DAVID BELL. 328 Campbell-ROBERT ALEXANDER, EDMUND WINSTON. 329 Caroline-Hon. EDMUND PENDLETON, JAMES TAYLOR. 330 Charlotte-THOMAS READ,331 Hon. PAUL CARRINGTON. 332 Charles City-BENJAMIN HARRISON, JOHN TYLER.
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Chesterfield-DAVID PATTESON, 833 STEPHEN PANKEY, JR. Cumberland-JOSEPH MICHAUX, 334 THOMAS H. DREW. 335 Culpeper-FRENCH STROTHER, 336 JOEL EARLY.337 Dinwiddie-JOSEPH JONES, 328 WILLIAM WATKINS, 339 Elizabeth City-MILES KING, 340 WORLICH WESTWOOD. 341 Essex-JAMES UPSHAW, 342 MERIWETHER SMITH, 343 Fairfax-DAVID STUART,34 CHARLES SIMMS. 345 Fayette-HUMPHREY MARSHALL, 346 JOHN FOWLER. Fauquier-MARTIN PICKETT, 347 HUMPHREY BROOKE. 348 Fluvanna-SAMUEL RICHARDSON, JOSEPH HADEN. Frederick-JOHN S. WOODCOCK, ALEXANDER WHITE. Franklin-JOHN EARLY, THOMAS ARTHUR. Gloucester-WARNER LEWIS,349 THOMAS SMITH. 350 Goochland-JOHN GUERRANT, 351 WILLIAM SAMPSON. Greenbrier-GEORGE CLENDENIN, JOHN STUART. Greenesville-WILLIAM MASON, DANIEL FISHER. Halifax-ISAAC COLES,352 GEORGE CARRINGTON. 353
Hampshire-ANDREW WOODROW, RALPH HUMPHREYS. Hanover-PARKE GOODALL, 354 JOHN CARTER LITTLEPAGE. 355 Harrison-GEORGE JACKSON, JOHN PRUNTY.
Hardy-ISAAC VANMETER, ABEL SEYMOUR.
Henrico-Governor EDMUND RANDOLPH, JOHN MARSHALL. Henry-THOMAS COOPER, JOHN MARR. Isle of Wight-THOMAS PIERCE, 356 JAMES JOHNSON. James City-NATHANIEL BURWELL,337 ROBERT ANDREWS. 358 Jefferson-ROBERT BRECKENRIDGE, 359 RICE BULLOCK. King and Queen-WILLIAM FLEET, 360 JOHN ROANE. 361 King George-BURDET ASHTON, WILLIAM THORNTON. King William-HOLT RICHESON, 362 BENJAMIN TEMPLE. $68 Lancaster-JAMES GORDON,364 HENRY TOWLES.
LIST OF DELEGATES. 365
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Loudoun-STEVENS THOMSON MASON, LEVIN POWELL. 365 Louisa -- WILLIAM OVERTON CALLIS, 366 WILLIAM WHITE. Lunenburg- JONATHAN PATTESON, CHRISTOPHER ROBERTSON. Lincoln-JOHN LOGAN,367 HENRY PAWLING. 368 Madison-JOHN MILLER, GREEN CLAY. 369 Mecklenburg-SAMUEL HOPKINS, JR., RICHARD KENNON.310
Mercer-THOMAS ALLEN, ALEXANDER ROBERTSON. Middlesex-RALPH WORMELEY, JR., FRANCIS CORBIN. Monongalia-JOHN EVANS, WILLIAM MCCLERRY. Montgomery-WALTER CROCKETT, ABRAHAM TRIGG. Nansemond-WILLIS RIDDICK, 371 SOLOMON SHEPHERD. New Kent-WILLIAM CLAYTON, 372 BURWELL BASSETT.373 Nelson-MATTHEW WALTON, JOHN STEELE. Norfolk-JAMES WEBB, JAMES TAYLOR.
Northampton-JOHN STRINGER, LITTLETON EYRE. Northumberland-WALTER JONES,374 THOMAS GASKINS. Ohio-ARCHIBALD WOODS, EBENEZER ZANE. Orange-JAMES MADISON, JR., JAMES GORDON. Pittsylvania-ROBERT WILLIAMS, JOHN WILSON. -
Powhatan-WILLIAM RONALD, 375 THOMAS TURPIN, JR. Prince Edward-PATRICK HENRY, ROBERT LAWSON. 376 Prince George-THEODORIC BLAND,377 EDMUND RUFFIN. 318 Prince William-WILLIAM GRAYSON, CUTHBERT BULLITT.379 Princess Anne-ANTHONY WALKE,380 THOMAS WALKE. Randolph-BENJAMIN WILSON, JOHN WILSON. Richmond-WALKER TOMLIN, WILLIAM PEACHY. Rockbridge-WILLIAM MCKEE, ANDREW MOORE. Rockingham-THOMAS LEWIS, GABRIEL JONES. Russell-THOMAS CARTER, HENRY DICKENSON. Shenandoah-JACOB RINKER, JOHN WILLIAMS.
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Southampton-BENJAMIN BLOUNT, SAMUEL KILLO. Spotsylvania-JAMES MONROE, JOHN DAWSON. 881 Stafford-GEORGE MASON, ANDREW BUCHANAN. Surry-JOHN HARTWELL COCKE, 382 JOHN ALLEN. 383 Sussex-JOHN HOWELL BRIGGS, 384 THOMAS EDMUNDS. 385 Warwick-COLE DIGGES, 36 RICHARD CARY. 387 Washington -- SAMUEL EDMISTON, JAMES MONTGOMERY. Westmoreland-HENRY LEE, BUSHROD WASHINGTON. 388 York-Hon. JOHN BLAIR,39 Hon. GEORGE WYTHE. Williamsburg-JAMES INNES.
Norfolk Borough-THOMAS MATTHEWS.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
$19 EDMUND CUSTIS was a descendant from John Custis, who, by tradition, was a native of Ireland; had been for some years an inn- keeper in Rotterdam, Holland, and settled in Northampton county in the earlier half of the seventeenth century, his name appearing in the records of that county as early as 1649. The first husband of Mrs. George Washington, John Parke Custis, was of the same descent. Edmund Custis was a member of the House of Delegates in 1787, and perhaps other years.
320 Of the family of GEORGE PARKER were Robert, George, and John Parker, who received. patents of land in Northampton county, respec- tively, in 1649, 1650, and 1660. Captain George Parker was a Justice of the Peace for Accomac county in 1663, and Major George Parker, probably his son, a Justice in 1707 and Sheriff in 1730-'31. It was the unwritten law of Virginia, down to 1850, that the prerogative of the sheriffalty was vested in the senior magistrate of the county, in rotation, and thus, doubtless, Major George Parker succeeded. Sacker Parker, Burgess from Accomac county, died in June, 1738. Colonel Thomas Parker, of Accomac county, served with distinction in the Revolution as Captain in the Fifth Virginia regiment ; was taken prisoner at the battle of Germantown, and died in December, 1819. George Parker, probably the member of the Convention, for many years a Judge of the General Court of Virginia, died July 12, IS26; aged sixty-five years. John A. Parker, member of the House of Delegates from Accomac county, 1802-'3 ; General Severn Eyre Parker, member of the House of Delegates and member of Congress, 1819-'21; and John W. H. Parker, State Senator, 1852 and later, are other representatives of the family.
321 Members of the BOOKER family frequently represented Amelia and the neighboring counties in the House of Burgesses and the State Legislature. Samuel Booker was a Captain, and Lewis Booker a Lieutenant, in the Revolution.
322 The progenitor of the TRIGG family of Virginia was Abraham . Trigg, who .emigrated from Cornwall, England, about the year 1710. He had issue five sons : ABRAM, a Colonel in the Virginia line in the Revolution, and member of Congress 1797-1809, and, it is presumed, the member of the Convention from Montgomery county; Stephen,
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went to Kentucky as a member of the Land Commission in 1779; com- manded a regiment in the battle of Blue Licks, and fell there gallantly leading a charge; his gallantry is commemorated on the monument at Frankfort, and Trigg county was named in his honor; JOHN, the member of the Convention, was a Major of artillery in the Revolution ; was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, and was a member of the House of Delegates 1784-'92 ; a member of Congress 1797-ISO4, and died June 28, 1804; William and Daniel were the remaining sons. Hon. Connally Findlay Trigg, Judge of the United States District Court of Tennessee-died in 1879-was descended from William Trigg, as are Hon. Connally F. Trigg, member of Congress from Virginia, and Mrs. Edmund D. T. Myers and William Robertson Trigg, Esq., of Richmond, President of the Richmond Locomotive and Machine Works.
323 WILLIAM DARKE was born in Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, in 1736. In 1740 his parents moved to Virginia. He was with the Vir- ginia troops at Braddock's defeat, in 1755, and was made a Captain at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Germantown, but being released, was Colonel Command- ant of the regiments from Hampshire and Berkeley counties at the surrender of Cornwallis. He frequently represented Berkeley county in the Virginia Assembly; was Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment of "Levies " in 1791, and commanded the left wing of St. Clair's army at its defeat by the Miami Indians, November 4, 1791. He made two gallant and successful charges with the bayonet in this fight, in the second of which his youngest son, Captain Joseph Darke, was killed, and he himself wounded, narrowly escaping death. He was subse- quently a Major-General of Virginia militia. He died in Jefferson county November 26, 1801.
324 GENERAL ADAM STEPHEN died in November, 1791. His grand- daughter, Ann Evelina, daughter of Moses Hunter, married Hon. Henry Saint George Tucker, and was the mother of the Hon. John Randolph Tucker.
325 HENRY LEE, Kentucky pioneer, was born in Virginia in 1758; died in Mason county, Kentucky, in 1846; well educated, and studied sur- veying, which he pursued for several years; represented the district of Kentucky in the Virginia Legislature; member of the Convention which met at Danville in 1787; was one of the Commissioners that located the seat of government at Frankfort, and County Lieutenant for all the territory north of Licking river. Studied law, and was appointed Judge of the Circuit Court for Mason county ; was also for many years President of the Washington branch of the Bank of Ken- tucky. He was a sagacious man, of excellent business habits, and amassed a large fortune. He was tall and powerfully built, and his personal appearance was imposing.
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
326 COLONEL JOHN JONES was probably a descendant of Captain Peter Jones, the founder of Petersburg. He was a Burgess from Dinwiddie county in 1757-'58; member of the State Senate 1776-'S7, and Speaker 1787-'S8; County Lieutenant of Brunswick county 1788, and later. Hon. John Winston Jones (Speaker of the United States House of Representatives), son of Alexander and Mary Ann (daughter of Peter Winston) Jones, was his grandson.
327 CHARLES PATTESON was probably of the same lineage as David Patteson, of Chesterfield county. He was a member of the Bucking- ham County Committee of Safety, 1775-'76, of the Convention of 1776, and of the House of Delegates of 1787-'SS. Other members of the family have been prominent in the State annals. Captain Canım Pat- teson, of Buckingham, and S. S. P. Patteson, Esq., of Richmond, are present representatives.
328 DAVID BELL was a son of David and Judith (sister of Archibald Cary of " Ampthill ") Bell.
329 EDMUND WINSTON, of "Hunting Tower," Buckingham county, Judge of the General Court of Virginia, was a first cousin of Patrick Henry, under whom he studied law, whose joint executor he was, and whose widow he married. He was the son of William Winston and grandson of Isaac and Mary (Dabney) Winston. Isaac, William, and James Winston emigrated from Yorkshire, England, in 1704, and set- tled near Richmond, Virginia. From them have descended the distin- guished Winston family, whose ramifications include nearly every family of worth in the Southern States. Edmund Winston wore the ermine worthily. He was a sound lawyer, and his character was spot- less. He died in 1813, aged more than four-score. A number of his descendants reside in Missouri.
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