USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 13
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The great confidence reposed in Governor Nicholas by the State Legislature, was evinced in their enactment, in great haste, at the close of the spring session of 1815, of a statute for the raising of forces for the defence of the State, the execution of which, in almost every par- ticular, was dependent on such instructions as the discretion of the Governor might deem advisable. Loans, which were necessary to equip and pay this force, were provided by the Governor, under terms the most reasonable, with a just condition not originally specified by the Legislature, but which that body, to its honor, duly authorized at its next session. Peace having been declared, every duly audited claim against the State was promptly paid. The militia were discharged in a
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manner the most gratifying to them. They were fully paid for their term of service, provision was made for their return home, and for the care of the sick until they could be safely removed. All military stores of a perishable nature were sold. The remaining supplies, including tents and other camp equipages, sufficient for an army of ten thousand men, were deposited in the State Arsenals. The closing of the accounts for the expenses of the war, was pushed with all dispatch consistent with the interest of the State, in their after adjustment at Washington with the National Government. It had been the determination of the Governor, in the event of the continuance of the war, to urge all men of talent and ability with whom he might take the liberty, to offer for election to the ensuing Assembly, that the State might have the benefit of their counsel in her time of need. The return of peace did not pre- vent this application, but the motive was different. Foreseeing that the State would have command of considerable funds, he deemed it to be important that an early effort should be inade to induce the Assem- bly to apply the proceeds to the great purposes of internal improvement and education. This application, it is believed, was not without effect, as in the two succeeding Assemblies there appeared many gentlemen of conspicuous ability, who had not served in the body for some years before. At the commencement of the autumn session of 1815, Governor Nicholas zealously pressed these subjects upon their attention. They were acted upon, and means severally placed at the disposal of the Board of Public Works, and of the President and Directors of the Liter- ary Fund, to be devoted to the respective objects. The foundation was thus laid of systems which have fostered and infused education, as well as expanded the wealth and fructified the material prosperity of the State. Upon a review of the messages of Governor Nicholas, it will be found that most of the objects recommended by him were acted upon by the Legislature, and that they are all strongly marked by an intimate knowledge of the needs and capacity of Virginia. The first act of the second term of the Governor, was an effort to adjust the claims of the Commonwealth against the United States, all previous attempts having proved abortive .. After reflection, he devised a plan, which was finally adopted by the Council, and an additional agent being appointed, a speedy adjustment ensued. As the President of the Board of Public Works and of the Literary Fund, Governor Nicholas displayed the in- dustry and wise foresight which uniformly characterized his administra- tion in every department of the Government. In every contract made by him for the State, the utmost economy was observed, and every caution used to protect and conserve the public interest. A remarkable proof of this was given in the execution of a law providing for a com- plete survey of the State within justifiable limits. This desirable ac- complishment he hesitated to authorize in a general contract, fearing
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that the expense would exceed the provision contemplated. Finally, under specifie instructions to the several county courts of the State, the survey was aecomplished in districts at an aggregate eost by which fully $100,000 was saved to the State. After the expiration of his second term as Governor, Mr. Nicholas served for a few months as President of the branch of the United States Bank at Richmond. In the spring of 1819 he returned to " Warren," his country-seat.
His constitution had always been delicate, and the physical fatigue and mental anxiety which he had undergone in his later years of publie serviee had seriously impaired his health. A journey on horseback was advised as salutary by his physician. He accordingly thus set out from home, but upon reaching " Montpelier," the residence of ex-Presi- dent Madison, in Orange County, he found himself too feeble to proceed, and returned to "Tufton," the residenee of his son-in-law, Thomas Jef- ferson Randolph, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson. Here he lingered, each day hoping to be well enough to return to his own home. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison (the latter being then on a visit at " Mon- tieello"), with both of whom his relations had always been of the warm- est personal friendship and confidence, visited him frequently, and all was done which affection eould suggest for his recovery, but without avail. On the 10th of October, 1820, he suddenly expired whilst in the act of dressing.
The popularity and success of Governor Nicholas were the just results of intrinsic worth and of conscientious purpose. His style in conversa- tion, as well as on the hustings or in debate, was deliberate, sententious, and impressive. It was effective through the justness of his conclusions and the cogency of his reasoning, and borrowed nothing from the mere- trieious arts of the popular orator, whose deviees, indeed, he held in con- tempt. Though ever ready, at the sacrifice of his private interests, to serve his country, he was singularly modest in his personal elaims, and shunned instead of seeking political preferment. The suceessive posi- tions oceupied by Mr. Monroe, previous to his election as President, and which proved the stepping-stones to that exalted station, were all declined by Mr. Nicholas before they were offered to Mr. Monroe. Mr. Jefferson, his life-long friend, saw in the pecuniary embarassments in which he became unfortunately involved, the only obstacle to his elec- tion to the highest post in the gift of the country, and which, he main- tained, the wisdom, purity of purpose, and varied talents of Wilson Cary Nicholas would have eminently adorned.
JAMES PATTON PRESTON.
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Scarce another American family has numbered as many prominent and honored representatives as that of the yeoman founded Preston descent, with its collateral lines and alliances.
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John Preston, its propositus, a ship-carpenter, was born in London- derry, Ireland, where he married Elizabeth Patton, a sister of Colonel James Patton, of Donegal, with whom he removed to Virginia, and settled in the summer of 1735 in that portion of Orange County from which Augusta County was erected in 1738. Colonel Patton had for some years commanded a merchant ship trading to Virginia, and was a man of property, enterprise and influence. He obtained an order from the Council of Virginia under which patents were issued to him and his associates for 120,000 acres of the best lands lying beyond the Blue Ridge. He was killed by the Indians at Smithfield, Virginia, in 1753. He left as issue two daughters, one of whom married Captain William Thompson, and the other Colonel John Buchanan. From the last were descended Jolm Floyd and John B. Floyd, Governors of Virginia, Hon. James D. Breckinridge, of Louisville, Ky., and Colonel William P. Anderson, of the United States Army. John Preston settled first at Spring Hill, but in 1743 he purchased a tract of land, adjoining Staunton, on the north side of the town. He died soon after, and was buried at the Tinkling Spring Meeting-House. His widow died in 1776, aged seventy-six years. They had issue five children: Letitia, who married Colonel Robert Breckinridge; Margaret, who married Rev. Jolin Brown; William, who married Susanna, daughter of Francis Smith, of Hanover County, Virginia, and who was a member of the House of Burgesses and a prominent patriot in the American Revolu- tion; Ann, who married Francis Smith; and Mary, who married John Howard.
Colonel William and Susanna (Smith) Preston had issue twelve children: i. Elizabeth, married William S. Madison, the second son of John Madison, and the brother of Rev. James Madison (President of William and Mary College), of Thomas Madison, who married the youngest sister of Patrick Henry, and of George Madison, Governor of Kentucky, who married Jane Smith, the niece of Colonel Preston's wife; ii. General John, member of the Assembly, and long treasurer of Vir- ginia; married twice, first to Mary, daughter of William Radford, and secondly, to Mrs. Elizabeth Mayo, nee Carrington; iii. Francis, lawyer ; member of Virginia Senate, and of Congress, and brigadier-general in the war of 1812; married Sarah B. Campbell, a niece of Patrick Henry and daughter of General William Campbell, the hero of King's Mount- ain; iv. Sarah, married Colonel James MeDowell, of Rockbridge County, an officer of the war of 1812, and had issue Governor James McDowell and two daughters: Susan S., who married Hon. William Taylor, of Virginia, and Elizabeth, who married Hon. Thomas II. Benton, of Missouri; v. Anne, died at the age of thirteen years; vi. William, Captain in the United States Army under Wayne; married Caroline, daughter of Colonel George Hancock; of their issue, Henri- etta, married General Albert Sydney Johnston, of the United States and
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Confederate States Armies; and William, statesman, diplomate and soldier, was a Major-General in the Confederate States Army; vii. Susanna, married Nathaniel Hart, of Woodford County, Kentucky; viii. James Patton; ix. Mary, married John Lewis, of Sweet Springs, Virginia; x. Letitia, married John Floyd, Governor of Virginia; xi. Thomas Lewis, lawyer, member of the Virginia Assembly and Major in the war of 1812; married Edmonia, daughter of Governor Edmund Randolph, and had issue: Elizabeth R., who married William A. Cocke, of Cumberland County, Virginia; and John Thomas Lewis, Colonel in the Confederate States Army, and Professor in the Virginia Military Institute, who married Margaret Junkin, Virginia's sweet poetess; xii. Margaret Brown, married Colonel John Preston, of Walnut Grove, Virginia, a distant relative. James Patton Preston, the subject of the present sketch, and the eighth of the children of Colonel William and Susanna (Smith) Preston, as enumerated, was born at Smithfield, June 21, 1774. He enjoyed early advantages of education, under one Pal- frenan, a poet and scholar, who having, in a drunken frolic, been in- veigled into a disreputable marriage in London, shipped himself to Vir- ginia, under articles of service for his passage. Upon his arrival at Williamsburg he was purchased by Colonel William Preston, and em- ployed by him as a tutor in his family. Palfrenan was the friend and correspondent of the poetess Elizabeth Carter, an English lady of great learning and acquirements. Colonel Preston also possessed a fine library which had been selected for him in London by Gabriel Jones, a learned and able lawyer, who is said to have been an early partner in the prac- tice with Thomas Jefferson. James Patton Preston appears from the catalogue of William and Mary College to have been a student in that institution for some time during the period 1790-1795. He probably graduated thence about the year last stated. Tradition affirms him to have been a merry youth; and a distinguished jurist, in a recent letter to the writer, accredits him with the perpetration, whilst a student, of a feat of equivocal distinction. In the preceding sketch of Lord Bote- tourt, it will be recollected that it is stated that the statue of him erected by order of the House of Burgesses, had been much mutilated by the college students. Its graceless decapitation is stated to have been a frolicsome freak of the embryo legislator and chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
James Patton Preston was elected to the State Senate of Virginia in 1802; was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 12th Infantry, United States Army, March 19, 1812, and for gallantry was promoted, August 15, 1813, to the rank of Colonel, and assigned to the command of the 23d Regiment of Infantry. He participated in the battle of Chrystler's Field, November 11, 1813, and was so severely wounded in the thigh that he was crippled for life. Peace having been declared, his com.
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mand was disbanded, and he was honorably discharged from service, August 18, 1815. In recognition of his patriotic service he was elected, by the General Assembly, Governor of Virginia, to succeed Wilson Cary Nicholas, December 1, 1816, and served in . that capacity by annual re-election until December 1, 1819. It is noteworthy that in the last year of his incumbency, on the 25th of January, the law was passed establishing the University of Virginia, in Albemarle County, upon a site near Charlottesville which had previously belonged to Cen- tral College, which was purchased. Fifteen thousand dollars per an- num were appropriated from the Literary Fund to meet expenses of building and of subsequent endowment. The institution was to be under the direction of seven visitors, appointed by the Governor and Council, and from their number these visitors were to elect a rector to preside and give general superintendence. Thomas Jefferson was elected the first rector and retained the office until his death. He drew all the plans for the buildings, which were so nearly completed in 1824 that preparations were made for opening the schools the following year. This was done with professors chiefly obtained from Europe. Only the chairs of law, chemistry and ethics were filled from the United States. In the year 1819, also, a revision of the Code of Virginia was made.
Subsequent to his gubernatorial service, Mr. Preston was for several years postmaster of the city of Richmond. He finally retired to his patrimonial inheritance, the homestead "Smithfield," in Montgomery County, where he died May 4, 1843. The county of Preston, now in West Virginia, formed in 1818, from Monongalia County, was named in his honor.
He married Ann Taylor, the second daughter of Robert Taylor, a prominent merchant of Norfolk, Virginia, and the sister of General Robert Barraud Taylor, of Virginia, and left issue three sons and three daughters: i. William Ballard Preston, a member of the Virginia Conventions of 1850-1 and 1861, Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President Taylor and Confederate States Senator; married Lucy Redd, and left issue; ii. Robert Taylor Preston, Colonel Confederate States Army, married Mary Hart, of South Carolina, and left issue; iii. James Patton Preston, Jr., Colonel Confederate States Army, married Sarah Caperton, and left issue; iv. Susan Preston, died unmarried ; v. Virginia Preston, died unmarried; and vi. Jane Grace Preston, married Judge George Gilmer.
In support of the claim made in the opening paragraph, of this sketch, it may be said of "the Preston family" that it has furnished the National Government a Vice- President ( the Hon. John Cabell Breekinridge), has been represented in several of the Executive Do- partments, and in both branches of Congress. It has given Virginia five Governors-McDowell, Campbell, Preston, and the two Floyds-
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EARL
DUNMORE
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ARMORIAL BOOK-PLATE OF JOHN MURRAY EARL OF DUNMORE, Last Royal Governor of Virginia.
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and to Kentucky, Missouri, and California, one each-severally in Gov- ernors Jacobs, B. Gratz Brown, and Miller; Thomas Hart Benton, John J. Crittenden, William C. and William Ballard Preston, leading moulders of public sentiment; the Breckinridges, Dr. Robert J. and William L., distinguished theologians of Kentucky; Professors Holmes. Venable, and Cabell of the University of Virginia, besides other dis- tinguished educators. Nor is their battle-roll less glorious. It is claimed that more than a thousand of this family and its connections served in the contending armies in our late civil war. Among the leaders were Generals Wade Hampton, Albert Sydney Johnston, Joseph Eggleston Johnston, John Buchanan Floyd, John Cabell Breckinridge, and John S. and William Preston. When it is stated that besides the names enumerated, the family is connected with those of Baldwin, Blair, Bowyer, Brown, Buchanan, Bruce, Cabell, Carring- ton, Christian, Cocke, Flournoy, Gamble, Garland, Gilmer, Gibson, Grattan, Hart, Henry, Hughes, Howard, Lee, Lewis, Madison, Mar- shall, Mason, Massie, Mayo, Parker, Payne, Peyton, Pleasants, Pope. Radford, Randolph, Read, Redd, Rives, Siddon, Sheffey, Taylor, Thomp- son, Trigg, Venable, Watkins, Ward, Watts, Winston, Wickliffe. among many others as well esteemed, some idea may be formed of its mental characteristics and social influence.
THOMAS MANN RANDOLPH.
Thomas Mann Randolph, the eldest son of Thomas Mann and Anne (Cary) Randolph, was born at "Tuckahoe," the family seat, in Gooch- land County, Virginia, in the year 1768. His father, a member of the Virginia Convention and of the Committee of Safety of 1775, and frequently afterwards of the State Assembly, was the son of Thomas and Anne (daughter of Tarleton Fleming) Randolph, and the grand- son of the emigrant William Randolph, of "Turkey Island." His mother was Anne, daughter of Colonel Archibald Cary, of " Ampthill," Chesterfield County, an ardent patriot of the Revolution, whose un- compromising resistance to British rule gained him the sobriquet of "Old Iron." The wife of Colonel Cary was Mary, daughter of Richard Randolph, of "Carles," and his wife Jane, daughter of John Bolling, of "Cobbs," who was fourth in descent from Pocahontas and John Rolfe.
Thomas Mann Randolph, the subject of this sketch, after a pre- liminary course at William and Mary College, completed his education at the University of Edinburgh, and visited Paris in 1788,. where Thomas Jefferson was then residing as the Minister from the United States, having with him his daughter Martha. The young people were second cousins, and had been attached to each other from childhood.
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Young Randolph in person and mind exhibited marked traces of both lines of his descent. "He was tall, lean, with dark expressive features and a flashing eye, commanding in carriage, elastic as steel, and had that sudden sinewy strength which it would not be difficult to fancy he inherited from the forest monarchs of Virginia." His education was a finished one. His reading was extensive and varied. His fortune was ample, and would have been immense but for the change effected in the Virginia statutes of descent. Few young men had attracted more attention abroad. He received marked attentions in the Scottish capi- tal, and made friends, too, among the grave and learned. Thomas Mann Randolph and Martha Jefferson were married at " Monticello," February 23, 1790. The young couple for a time lived at " Varina," a few miles below Richmond, in Henrico County, noted as having been the county seat, the residence of Rev. William Stith, the historian, and as the point of exchange of Confederate and Federal prisoners during the late war. Thomas Mann Randolph served as a member of the Vir- ginia Senate in 1793 and 1794. He removed soon after this period to " Edge Hill," Albemarle County, where he continued to reside until 1808, when his family was domesticated with Mr. Jefferson, at "Mon- ticello." He was a representative from Virginia in the United States Congress from 1803 to 1807. On the last day of the session of 1806, misapprehending an expression in a speech made by his brilliant and eccentric kinsman, John Randolph "of Roanoke," he rose and passion- ately resented the supposed reflection in bitter denunciation. The calmer counsels of friends, however, convinced him of his error, which he with due manliness admitted in the House, regretting his expres- sions, and disclaiming any "disposition to wound the feelings of any gentleman who did not intend to wound his." A duel, however, for a time seemed imminent, and Mr. Randolph repaired to Richmond with the expectancy of a hostile meeting, but reason prevailed and the matter was ended. The sentiments of two eminent men, elicited by this affair, are worthy of transmission. They are extracted from the original letters, before the writer. Mr. Jefferson writes from Washington, June 23, 1806 : " I had fondly hoped that the unfortunate matter be- tween yourself and John Randolph, the last evening of Congress, had been stifled almost in the moment of its birth;" and, in reference to the wife and children of Mr. Randolph : "is it possible that your duties to those dear objects can weigh more lightly than those to a gladiator? Be assured this is not the opinion of the mass of mankind, of the thinking part of society, of that discreet part whose esteem we value. If malice and levity find sport in mischief, rational men are not there- fore to exhibit themselves for their amusement. But even the striplings of fashion are sensible that the laws of dueling are made for them alone, for lives of no consequence to others; not for the fathers of families or
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for those charged with other great moral concerns. The valuable part of society condemns in their hearts that knight-errantry which, follow- ing the ignis fatuus of an imaginary honour, bursts asunder all the liga- ments of duty and affection." Mr. Jefferson, writing again, July 13th, says: "I find but one sentiment prevailing (and I have that from very many)-that the thing may stop where it is with entire honour to your- self, and with no other diminution of it to the other party, than show- ing that he has not that ravenous appetite for unnecessary risk which some had ascribed to him; and which indeed is the falsest of honour, as a mere compound of crime and folly. I hope, therefore, that the matter is at an end, and that great care will be taken not to revive it. I believe that will be the case on his side, for I think you have been mistaken in supposing he meant to try any experiment on your sensi- bility. Of this he is acquitted, I find, by all who had opportunities of observing his selection of characters to be the subjects of his sarcasms." The celebrated John Taylor, " of Caroline," writing from Fredericks- burg, June 26, 1806, to Wilson Cary Nicholas, says: "The two Ran- dolphs are preparing, I see, to cut each other's throats-the devil hav- ing made such men mischievous in society as would imbibe vice, could only rob it of those who would not be wicked by a stratagem. There- fore he invented a delusion called 'honour,' concealing the epithet of ' false,' which ought to belong to the inscription upon all his manufact-
ures. * Nothing can, in my view, be more ridiculous than the controversy which may eventually rob the State of one or of two of her most valuable citizens. * * And pray, for be assured it will be a good action, stop where it is, the progress of this 'affair of his majesty's honour.'"
Mr. Randolph now, in deference to the desire of his wife, withdrew from public life, and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits at " Edge Hill," riding thither daily from " Monticello." He possessed a restless and vehement energy-but it was not sufficiently accompanied with that degree of perseverance which is the basis of important and continued success. He corresponded widely with leading agriculturists in the United States and England-in the latter with Sir John Sinclair, who was also a correspondent of Washington. The claims of his beloved State, invaded by the enemy in the war with Great Britain in 1812, met with instantaneous response in the ardent patriotism of Mr. Ran- dolph. He was among the first to raise a command and rush to her defence. He gallantly participated in the engagements of the sea-board, and was soon promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and placed in command of the 1st Light Corps. On the 20th of March, 1813, he became the Colonel commandant of the 20th United States Infantry, and performed efficient service on the Canada line. December 1, 1819, by election of the Assembly, he sneceeded James P. Preston as Governor of Virginia, and thus served by annual re-election until December 1,
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1822. Returning to his farm he resumed his private pursuits, but be- coming pecuniarily involved, he resigned his affairs to the charge of his eldest son, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, and applied for a commission from the Government to run the boundary line between Georgia and Florida. But the precarious condition of his health necessitated the relinquishment of the proposed employment and his return home. He died at " Monticello," June 20, 1828, aged sixty years. His character- istics are thus recited by Randall, in his Life of Jefferson (Vol. I, p. 558): " He was brilliant, versatile, eloquent in conversation, impetuous and imperious in temper, chivalric in generosity, a knight-errant in courage, in calm moments a just, and at all times a high toned man." His son, the late Thomas Jefferson Randolph, was wont to apply to him the lines of Scott, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, describing William of Deloraine :
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