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 35
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330 COLONEL JAMES TAYLOR was of the family of President Zachary Taylor. He was a Burgess 1762-'64, member of the Committee of Safety of Caroline county 1774-'76, and of the Conventions of 1775-'76.
331 THOMAS READ, the son of Colonel Clement Read (see Grigsby's Convention of 1776, page 106, et seq.), began life as a surveyor ; studied at William and Mary College, and was Deputy Clerk of Charlotte county, when it was set apart from Lunenburg in 1765, becoming Clerk in 1770, holding the office until 1817, "to the approbation of all." He was of fine physique, his stature approaching six feet. He died at his seat, "Ingleside," February 4, 1817.
332 PAUL CARRINGTON was the eldest son of Judge Paul Carrington, and by the early laws of primogeniture, his father dying intestate, inherited the whole estate of the latter. He nobly divided the estate
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equally with his brothers and sisters. He was a member of the House of Burgesses and of the Conventions of 1775-'76; appointed, in 1779, the second Judge of the General Court of Virginia; was Chief Justice in 1780: 1789, Judge of the Court of Appeals ; resigned IS07, at the age of seventy- five; died, aged ninety-three years.
333 DAVID PATTESON, a descendant of David Patteson, who received a patent of land in Henrico county (then including Chesterfield county) in 1714; was Colonel commandant of Chesterfield county in 1785 and a member of the House of Delegates, 1791-'93. Of his descent are Mrs. Branch, the widow of the late Colonel James R. Branch, and Mrs. McCaw, wife of Dr. James Brown McCaw, of Richmond.
334 The emigrant ancestor of the MICHAUX family of Virginia was a Huguenot, Abraham Michaux ; born at Cadent, France, in 1672, and died in Henrico county, Virginia, in 1717. He married Susanna Rochet (who escaped from France, in a hogshead, to Holland, and was subse- quently known by the soubriquet " Little Night-Cap," from having been thus mentioned to friends by her sister to avoid attention and religious persecution). Of their issue was JACOB MICHAUX, a Captain in the Revolution, who died in 1787. He married Judith Woodson, and had, among other issue, the member Joseph Michaux, who died in 1807.
335 A son of the member, of the same name, THOMAS H. DREW; born May 13, 1785, at "Clifton," Cumberland county; died at Richmond, Virginia, at the residence of his son-in-law, William D. Gibson, Esq., October 9, IS7S; was an interesting link with the past. He came to Richmond in 1803, and was first employed as a collector by the old Mutual Assurance Society, which was founded in 1794, and, though the oldest in Virginia, is still among the staunchest. He was deputy United States Marshal in 1807, and summoned the famous jury which tried Aaron Burr for treason. He subsequently engaged in mercantile pursuits, and was the senior member of the firm of Drew, Blair & Carroll. He was one of the audience in the Theatre at its lamentable burning on Saturday night of December 26, 1811, and one of the movers in the building of the Monumental Church on its site. His memory was very clear as to the moving events of his long life, and he was a delightful raconteur. The family was seated in York county as early as 1657, and has been numerously represented in Eastern Virginia.
336 Slaughter, in his History of St. Mark's Parish, page 169, cites General Richard Taylor, late Confederate States Army, son of President Zachary Taylor, whose mother was Sarah Strother, as having visited the old family burying-ground of the Strothers in the Isle of Thanet, County Kent, England, and noted the name in its various transitions from its original form, Straathor, to its present authography. Anthony Strother, of this derivation, patented, in 1734, a tract of land under the Double-top mountain, in what was then St. Mark's Parish, and is now
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Bromfield, in Madison county ; Jeremiah Strother died, in that part of Orange county which now forms Culpeper. in 1741, leaving wife, Eleanor, and children, James, William, Francis, Lawrence, Christopher, Robert, and several daughters, the marriages of whom are recorded in preceding sketches. James, the eldest son, married Margaret, daughter of Daniel French, of King George county. Of their issue was FRENCH STROTHER, who married Lucy, daughter of Robert Coleman. He was a vestryman and church warden of St. Mark's Parish, and as such "made himself very popular by releasing a Baptist minister, who had been imprisoned at night, substituting his servant man, Tom, in his place." He represented Culpeper county in the General Assembly for nearly thirty years ; was a member in 1776 and also in 1799, when he voted against the celebrated resolutions of 1798-'99. He was solicited to oppose James Madison for Congress, but James Monroe became the candidate, and was badly beaten. Monroe had only 9 votes in Orange, Madison 216, Culpeper, Monroe 103, Madison 256. One of his daugh- ters married Captain Philip Slaughter, of the Revolution. A son, George French Strother, was a member of Congress, IS17-'20.
337 The distinguished Jubal A. Early, late Lieutenant-General Con- federate States Army, has written me that his ancestor emigrated from Donegal, Ireland, early in the eighteenth century, settled in Culpeper county, and married a Miss Buford. They had issue three sons : Joshua, the great-grandfather of General Early, whose father was Joab, and grandfather Jubal Early, "who established his son-in-law, Colonel James Callaway, in Franklin county, with the first iron furnace in the Piedmont region ; JOEL EARLY, the member, who removed to Georgia, and was the ancestor of Governor Peter Early of that State ; JOHN EARLY, member from Franklin county, ancestor of Bishop John Early, of the Methodist Church South.
338 JOSEPH JONES, "of Dinwiddie," probably served in the House of Burgesses. He was a member of the House of Delegates 1784-'S7 ; Postmaster of Petersburg; a General of militia. He married Jane, daughter of Roger Atkinson, of " Mansfield," and left issue.
339 The WATKINS family of Virginia has been supposed to be of Welsh origin. James Watkins was among the emigrants to Virginia in 1608. John Watkins was granted 850 acres of land in James City county July 3, 1648. An account of the family was prepared by the late Hon. F. N. Watkins. He commences his deduction with Thomas Watkins, of Swift Creek, Cumberland county, whose will bears date 1760. He had issue eight children, the eldest Thomas. Another son, Benjamin, married Miss Cary, of Warwick county. He was the first Clerk of Chesterfield county, in 1749, until his death, in 1779. He was a member of the Conventions of 1775-'76, and took an active part in the affairs of the Revolution. One of his daughters was the wife of
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Rev. William Leigh, and the mother of Judge William Leigh and of United States Senator Benjamin Watkins Leigh. Another daughter, Frances, married William Finnie, of Amelia county, and her descen- dants include the names also of Royall, Worsham, Sydnor, and others. WILLIAM WATKINS, member, is presumed to have been the brother of Benjamin Watkins.
340 MILES KING was a member of the House of Delegates from Eliza- beth City county in 1784, 1786-'S7, '91, '92-'3, and 1798, and resigned in the latter year to accept the county clerkship. Henry King was a member of the Virginia Convention of 1776 from Elizabeth City county.
31 WORLICH WESTWOOD was a Burgess in 1774; member of the Com- mittee of Safety of Elizabeth City county 1774-'76 ; member of the Conventions of 1775-'76 ; member of the House of Delegates 1785, 1790, 1798-1800, 1802-'3, and Sheriff in 1790.
342 JAMES UPSHAW was a signer of the Resolutions of the Westmore- land Association against the Stamp Act, February 27, 1766. His ances- tor. John Upshaw, probably from England, born July 21, 1715, was a Burgess from Essex 1758-'65. Forest Upshaw, who served as Captain in the French and Indian war; Captain James Upshaw, of the Revolu- tion, a member of the Virginia branch of the Order of. the Cincinnati ; John H. Upshaw, member of the House of Burgesses 1809-'10, were all of this lineage.
343 MERIWETHER SMITH was born about the year 1730 at " Bathurst," Essex county. His mother was a daughter of Launcelot Bathurst, a patentee of nearly 8,000 acres of land in New Kent county, Virginia, in 1683, who was appointed, August 1, 1684, by Edmund Jenings, Attor- ney-General of Virginia, his deputy for Henrico county. The name Bathurst appears as a continuously favored Christian name in the Buck- ner, Hinton, Jones, Randolph, Skelton, Stith, and other families. Meri -. wether Smith married twice-first, about 1760, Alice. daughter of Philip Lee, third in descent of the emigrant Richard Lee, and widow ' of Thomas Clarke; and, secondly, September 29, 1769, Elizabeth, widow of Colonel William Daingerfield, of Essex county, member of the House of Burgesses. Meriwether Smith served Virginia with zeal and distinction through a long series of years, and in important sta- tions. He appears as a signer to the Articles of the Westmoreland Association of February 27, 1766, which, in opposition to the odious Stamp Act, was pledged to use no articles of British importation ; and on May 18, 1769, was a signer also of the Williamsburg Association, which met at the old Raleigh Tavern, in that city, and who bound themselves to abstain from the use of the proscribed British merchan- dise, and "to promote and encourage industry and frugality and dis- courage all luxury and extravagance." In 1770 he represented Essex
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county in the House of Burgesses. He was a member of the Con- ventions of 1775-'76, and in the latter body prepared a draft of the Declaration of Rights. He was a representative of Virginia in the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1782. He represented Essex county in the House of Delegates 1786-'SS. He died January 25, 1790. His wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, surviving him, died January 24, 1794. They are both buried at "Bathurst." A son by the first marriage, George William Smith, born at "Bathurst" 1762; married February 7, 1793, Sarah, fourth daughter of Colonel Richard Adams, the elder, member of the Convention of 1776, an ardent patriot throughout the Revolu- tion, and one of the most enterprising, public-spirited, wealthy, and influential citizens of Richmond. Colonel Adams was a large pro- perty-holder, and the Assembly considered for a time the erection of the State Capitol upon a site in Richmond, on Church Hill, owned by him, and proffered as a gift to the State. George William Smith repre- sented Essex county in the House of Delegates in 1794. Soon there- after he made Richmond his residence, and in his profession of the law speedily took high rank and enjoyed a lucrative practice. He repre- sented the city in the House of Delegates from 1802 to 1808, inclusive, and in 1810 was appointed a member of the State Council, and as senior member of that body, or Lieutenant-Governor, upon the resig- nation of Governor James Monroe to accept the position of Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Madison, succeeded, December 5, ISII, as the Executive of the State. His term was lamentably brief, he being one of the victims of the memorable calamity, the burning of the Richmond Theatre, December 26, 1811.
344 DR. DAVID STUART, of "Hope Park " and " Ossian Hall," Fairfax county, was the son of Rev. William Stuart, of King George county, and a correspondent of Washington. He was a member of the House of Delegates 1785-'87 ; married Eleanor, widow of John Parke Custis, and daughter of Benedict Calvert, of Maryland.
345 CHARLES SIMMIS is presumed to have been the gallant Colonel of that name of the Revolution.
346 HUMPHREY MARSHALL, born in Virginia, about 1756, was a pioneer to Kentucky in 1783; married, 1784, Mary Marshall, born in Virginia 1757; died 1827. He was a relative of Chief-Justice John Marshall. He was a member of the Convention which assembled in Danville in 1787, preliminary to the formation of the State Convention ; a member of the Kentucky Legislature for many years, and United States Senator 1795-1801. He fought a duel with Henry Clay, in which the latter was wounded. Author of the first history of Kentucky, published in one volume in 1822, and enlarged to two volumes in IS24. He was the father of John J. and the Hon. Thomas A. Marshall, and died at the residence of the last named July 1, 1841.
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347 MARTIN PICKETT was a member of the Convention of 1776, and a great-uncle of the late General George E. Pickett, Confederate States Army; Sheriff of Fauquier county 1789-'90.
348 ROBERT BROOKE is said to have come to Virginia about 1660. Robert Brooke was a Justice of the Peace of King William county in 1691. Robert Brooke, Sr., William Brooke, Humphrey Brooke, and George Braxton, Sr., had a joint patent of land in 1720. Brooke mar- ried Elizabeth, daughter of George Braxton, Sr. (who died 1748, aged seventy-one), and their son was George Brooke. Robert Brooke was Sheriff of King and Queen county in 1723. Humphrey Brooke, a Justice of the Peace of King William county, died in October, 1738. Colonel George Brooke was Burgess from King and Queen 1772-'75 ; member of the Committee of Safety 1774-'76; of the Conventions of 1775-'76; State Treasurer 17SI; Member of the House of Delegates 1792, and later. Walter Brooke was a Commodore in the Virginia Navy of the Revolution, and George Brooke a Colonel, and both received bounty lands. HUMPHREY BROOKE, member, was the Clerk of Fauquier county and later of the State Senate, 1791-1802. General George M. Brooke, United States Army, and Commodore John Mercer Brooke, United States and Confederate States navies, were of this lineage.
349 This is presumed to be WARNER LEWIS (died December 30, 1791, aged forty·four years) son of Warner Lewis, of "Warner Hall," and his wife, Eleanor (widow of William, son of Sir William Gooch, and daughter of James Bowles), great-grandson of Robert Lewis, from Brecon, Wales, and grandson of Augustine Warner.
350 THOMAS SMITH was a member of the House of Delegates from . Gloucester county almost continuously from 1784 to 1840. Whether it was the same individual or not, I do not know. Colonel Thomas Smith, of "Airwell," Gloucester county, was dead in 1841.
351 JOHN GUERRANT, of Huguenot descent, was born March 23, 1760 ; member of the House of Delegates 1787-'93, and probably later; mem- ber of the State Council, and for a time its President, and as such Lieutenant Governor, in 1805. He married Mary Heath, daughter of Robert and Winifred (Jones) Povall, and had issue.
352 COLONEL ISAAC COLES was the son of Major John Coles, an Irish- man, who settled in Henrico county early in the eighteenth century, and engaged in merchandising. The house in which he resided in Richmond, a frame building on Twenty-second between Broad and Marshall streets, was demolished in IS71. He was a worthy citizen and was long a vestryman of St. John's Church, beneath which he was buried. He married Mary, daughter of Isaac Winston, one of the three emigrant brothers from Yorkshire, England. Colonel Coles was
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thus a first cousin of Patrick Henry. He was a member of Congress 1780-'S9 and again 1793-'97, and voted for locating the seat of govern- ment on the Potomac. He married Catherine Thompson, of New York, whose sister married Elbridge Gerry. Coles's Ferry, Halifax county, perpetuates the name and seat of Colonel Isaac Coles.
353 LIEUTENANT GEORGE CARRINGTON of the Revolution, and a mem- ber of the Virginia branch of the Cincinnati; born June 21, 1758; died May 27, ISog. He was the son of George Carrington, born in Barbadoes 1711 ; died in Virginia February 7, 1785 ; married, 1732, Anne Mayo.
354 The name GOODALL appears early in the annals of Virginia. Michael Goodall patented lands in 1662, and James Goodall in 1740. Charles Goodall died in Hanover county in 1766, Samuel Overton administering on his estate. PARKE GOODALL, member, was the son of Richard Goodall, of Caroline county, a British subject, whose estate was vested in the son by statute. He was an Ensign in the company of Captain Samuel Meredith, of Hanover county, which marched under Patrick Henry (to whom the command was resigned) to Wil- liamsburg, in 1775, to demand restitution of the powder removed from the magazine by Lord Dunmore; was a Justice of the Peace for Han- over county in 1782; member of the House of Delegates 1786-'89 ; Sheriff in 1809, and subsequently proprietor of the Indian Queen Tav- ern, in Richmond. He was latterly termed Major Goodall-probably a militia title. His two daughters, Martha Perkins (died May 1, 1809) and Eliza, married, respectively, Parke and Anthony Street, brothers. A son, Colonel Charles Parke Goodall, who married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Isaac Winston, and died at "Mayfield," Hanover county, Octo- ber 5, 1855, aged seventy years, and a grandson, Dr. Charles Parke Goodall, each frequently represented Hanover county in the Virginia .. Assembly.
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355 JOHN CARTER LITTLEPAGE was of the family of the famous adven- turer, Lewis Littlepage, Chamberlain to Stanislaus Augustus, King of Poland; served as Captain in the Revolution, and several times repre- sented Hanover county in the Assembly. He may have been of the descent of the emigrant, John Carter.
356 By my venerable friend, Dr. John Robinson Purdie, of Smithfield, whose dimmed vision caused him to avail himself of the kind services of Captain R. S. Thomas as amanuensis, I am enabled to add some particulars as to the members from the Isle of Wight county, CAP- TAIN JAMES JOHNSON and THOMAS PIERCE. The age of the former at death is given me as ninety-one years. He was long a Justice of the Peace of the county, and in court was always the presiding magistrate. Dr. Purdie states that he sat on the bench of magistrates with him as
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late as 1843. He was tall and muscular, and retained his vision in a remarkable degree. He was fond of field sports and an excellent shot. Up to his death he was accustomed to go out deer hunting "with the boys," and would drop a buck as often and as surely as any of them. Neither he nor his colleague were remarkable for mental vigor, and it was matter of surprise that they should have defeated competitors of such ability and experience as General John Scarsbrook Wills and Colonel Josiah Parker. The former had frequently been in the Assem- bly, and was a member of the Conventions of 1775 and 1776. He was a Brigadier-General of militia, and resided in the Carroll's Bridge section of the county, where are now descendants of his, and his name is com- memorated in a venerable church formerly held by the Episcopalians, called Wills's Old Meeting-House. Wills and Parker were devoted adherents of Patrick Henry, and with him opposed to the ratification of the Constitution. They were badly beaten by Johnson and Pierce, who favored ratification. (VI Hening, page 450.) Joseph Bridger, a great-grandson of Colonel Joseph Bridger (died 16SS), who superin- tended the building of the historic church at Smithfield, erected, it is claimed, in 1632, married Mary, daughter of Thomas Pierce, and had issue Judith, who married Richard Baker, of Burwell's Bay, Clerk of Isle of Wight county. They were the parents of Judge Richard H. Baker (father of Richard H. Baker, Esq., of Norfolk, Virginia). After the death of Thomas Pierce his widow, Mary, married Colonel Josiah Parker, and had issue a daughter, Nancy, who married Captain William Cowper, and had issue : i, Joseph Parker ; ii, Leopold P. C., Lieutenant- Governor of Virginia, died unmarried ; iii, T. F. P. P. (whose children are residents of Smithfield and Norfolk); and iv, William Cowper, died unmarried. Josiah Parker Cowper's name was changed by an act of the Assembly to Josiah Cowper Parker to enable him to inherit the estate of his grandfather, Colonel Josiah Parker. Thomas Pierce owned a large landed estate, and resided just beyond the limits of Smithfield-the lands of Smith and Pierce adjoining for the whole length of what is now Main street and beyond it. Pierce was wealthy and of excellent social position. Both he and Johnson have descend- ants living in the county. Colonel Josiah Parker was also a member of the Conventions of 1775-'76. He commanded a regiment in the Revolution, and distinguished himself at the battle of Brandywine. He was, unfortunately, of irascible temper. After the battle, applying to General Washington for a furlough, and being denied, in irritation he resigned his commission-an impulsive action, which was ever regretted by him. He was subsequently a Judge of the General Court of Virginia and a member of Congress 1789-'91, and voted for locating the seat of government on the Potomac.
357 NATHANIEL BURWELL, subsequently of "Carter Hall," Clarke county, Virginia, fourth in descent from Major Lewis Burwell (who
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settled, about 1640, on Carter's Creek, Gloucester county,) and his wife, Lucy, daughter of Robert Higginson ; student at William and Mary College in 1766; married, first, his cousin, Susanna Grymes ; second, Mrs. Lucy (Page) Baylor.
358 REV. ROBERT ANDREWS, Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy at William and Mary College from 1777. In 1784 he served with John Page and Bishop James Madison, of Virginia, and Andrew Ellicott, of Pennsylvania, in fixing the boundary line between the two States.
359 ROBERT BRECKENRIDGE, pioneer to Kentucky from Virginia ; married the widow of Colonel John Floyd; representative from Jeffer- son county in 1792, and Speaker; member of the Convention held in Danville in 1792, and which formed the first Constitution of Kentucky.
360 A descendant of WILLIAM FLEET, Gent, a member of the Virginia Company, of Chartham, Kent; married Deborah Scott, daughter of Charles Scott, of Egerton, Kent, by his wife, Jane Wyatt. He had issue seven sons and one daughter, viz .: George, William, Henry, Brian, Edward, Reynold, and John, and Catherine. On July 3, 1622, he transferred to his daughter his three shares in Virginia. At least four of his sons (Henry, Edward, Reynold, and John) were among the early emigrants to Virginia and Maryland. All four of them were members of the Maryland Legislature of 1638-the first Assembly whose records have been preserved. Captain HENRY FLEET was the most noted of this brotherhood in our annals. He, at an early date, was captured by the Indians on the Potomac in 1623; remained a cap- tive until 1627 ; became familiar with the Indian tongue ; an interpreter, trader, and legislator in Maryland ; finally settled at Fleet's Bay, in Lan- caster county, and represented the county in the House of Burgesses in 1652. His daughter, Sarah, married Edwin Conway. of Lancaster county, Virginia. Captain Henry Fleet was first cousin to Dorothy Scott, who married, first, Major Daniel Gotherson, of Cromwell's army, and about 1655 became a Quaker preacher. She married, secondly, Joseph Hogben, and, about 1680, settled at Long Island, New York. (Brown's Genesis of the United States, Vol. II, p. 892.)
361 JOHN ROANE was a Presidential Elector in 1809, and a member of Congress from 1815 to 1817, from 1827 to 1831, and from 1835 to IS37.
362 HOLT RICHESON was a Colonel in the State line in the Revo- lution.
363 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BENJAMIN TEMPLE, a gallant officer of the Revolution.
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364 JAMES GORDON, of an ancient Scotch family, was a member of the Convention of 1776. Of his lineage is the distinguished family of Albemarle county, so often and worthily represented in our legislative annals.
365 LEVIN POWELL was born in 1738; served through the Revolution, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel; was a member of Con- gress 1799-1801 ; died at Bedford, Pennsylvania, in August, 1810.
366 COLONEL WILLIAM OVERTON CALLIS, son of William and Mary (Cosby) Callis, was born March 4, 1756, near " Urbanna," Virginia, and died March 14, 1814, at "Cuckoo," Louisa county, Virginia. His mother was third in descent from William Overton; born December 2, 1638, in England; settled in Hanover county, Virginia, in 16S2; married, November 24, 1670, Mary Waters, who by tradition was a descendant of the famous Nell Gwynne, mistress of Charles the Second. William ·Overton Callis served in the Revolution seven years and ten months entering the army as Lieutenant, and promoted Captain, and so badly wounded at the battle of Monmouth as to require a trip to the West Indies to recruit his health. During 17SI he served on the staff of Gene- ral Thomas Nelson, with the rank of Major, being at the reduction of Yorktown; served in the Virginia Assembly seventeen years, and voted for the Resolutions of 1798-'99 ; was twice married-first to a daughter of John Winston, and second to the daughter of Captain Thomas Price, of Hanover connty. Hon. William Josiah Leake, of Richmond, Vir- ginia, is his great-grandson. The descendants of William Over- ton include the worthy names of Blackford, Barry, Berkley, Carr, Clough, Claybrooke. Campbell, Coleman, Cary, Fontaine, Gilliam, Garland, Hart, Harris, Holliday, Harrison, Leake, Morris, Minor, Nel- son, Terrell, Waller, Watson, and others.
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