USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 20
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JOHN MERCER PATTON.
John Mercer Patton was worthily descended. His father, Robert Patton, a native of Scotland, emigrated thence to America* some time before the Revolution, landing at Charleston, South Carolina, where he lived for awhile, but soon removed to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he established himself as a merchant. He was very successful, and acquired a competent fortune. He was a high-spirited man, and in full sympathy with the struggle of his adopted countrymen for freedom, as a well-authenticated incident, which has been transmitted, emphatic- ally evidenced :
Being a non-combatant, he was on terms of social intercourse with the invading Britons. On one occasion, whilst dining with some officers of Tarleton's legion, one of them took upon himself to denounce in un- measured terms the people he had come to subdue. He was very free in the use of the terms " rebels," "rebellion," etc., which he finally coupled with abusive terms with the names of certain officers of the patriot army. This, Robert Patton (who had been an indignant listener, but had curbed his feelings) could not allow to go unrebuked. He calmly but decidedly told the officer that he felt it to be right to inform him that some of those whom he had just named were his friends. This warning being disregarded by the officer, Patton threw a glass of wine in his face. This produced a storm of fury from the insulted officer, when Patton said the affair must be then and there settled ; and going to the door, locked it and put the key in his pocket. They fought with pistols across the table, and the officer was killed.
Robert Patton married, October 16, 1792, Ann Gordon, daughter of the gallant General Hugh Mercer, who fell, mortally wounded, at the battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777, and who died nine days after- wards, and is buried in Christ Church, Philadelphia. Robert Patton died November 3, 1828, and his wife May 12, 1832. They had issue :
i. Hugh Mercer, born November 22, 1793; died in the autumn of 1844.
ii. Robert, born September 11, 1795; member of the House of Dele- gates, 1821; died September 13, 1830.
iii. John Mercer, born August 10, 1797; died October 28, 1858; mar-
* He was accompanied by a brother, who also settled in Virginia, and whose descendants in Fairfax County have intermarried with the Mason and other prominent Virginia families.
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ried, January 8, 1824, Peggy French (born 1804; died Septem- ber 14, 1873), daughter of John Williams, ¡ of Culpeper County, Virginia.
iv. Isabella Gordon, born October 21, 1799; died November 3, 1804.
v. William Fairlie, M. D., Surgeon United States and Confederate States Navies, born June 15, 1802; resides with his son-in-law, General John R. Cooke, ¿ late Confederate States Army, at Rich- mond, Virginia.
vi. George Weedon, born March 8, 1804; died October 29, 1804.
vii. Eleanor Ann, born September 13, 1805; married John Chew, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and has issue.
viii. Margaretta Patton, born November 1, 1807; died July 2, 1852; married Hon. John M. Herndon, sometime Secretary of the Com- monwealth of Virginia, son of Dabney and Elizabeth Herndon, and a brother of the gallant Lieutenant William Lewis Herndon, United States Navy, who went down with the ill-fated " Central America " off' the South Atlantic coast ; of the late Hon. Charles Herndon ; of Dr. Dabney Herndon, who died a few years ago at his post of duty, during the yellow fever visitation of Mobile, Ala- bama; of Dr. Brodie Herndon, of Savannah, Georgia; of the widow of the late Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury; and of Miss Mary Herndon, of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
John Mercer Patton, the third son of Robert and Anna Gordon (Mercer) Patton, as above, was liberally educated, and, adopting the profession of the law, commenced practice in his native city, Fredericksburg. He soon attained honorable distinction at the bar, and. embarking in poli- tics, he was elected to Congress in 1830, and continued to serve in that body with conspicuous ability until 1838, when he removed to Rich- mond, and was elected a member of the Council of State; and as the senior Councillor, on the resignation, March 18, 1841, of Governor Thomas Walker Gilmer, succeeded him as Acting Governor of Vir- ginia, serving as such until the expiration of his yearly term as senior Councillor, on the 31st of March, when he was succeeded by senior Councillor John Ruthertoord. In learning and ability the rank of
Three brothers of the family of Peere Williams, sergeant-at-law, London, and famous reporter-John, William, and Otho Williams-migrated to America early in the eighteenth century. John settled in South Carolina, William in Virginia, and Otho in Maryland. From the last was descended General Otho H. Williams of the Revolution. William Williams had issue two sons, John and William, who owned large tracts of land near Culpeper Court House, Virginia. The last was the father of John Williams of the text.
# His sister Flora married the late Major-General J. E. B. Stuart, Confederate States Army.
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Mr. Patton was acknowledged as second to none practicing in the higher courts of Virginia in his day, and which included an array of legal talent which has been scarcely surpassed at any period or in any section of the United States. In 1849 he was associated with the late eminent jurisconsult Conway Robinson in a revision of the Code of Virginia. Mr. Patton died at Richmond, October 28, 1858, and is buried in Shockoe Hill Cemetery there. A handsome fluted column of white marble, emblematically capped with several volumes, marks his resting-place. The tomb of his wife is near by. They had issue ;
i. Robert W., who died in 1877; Hugh, Philip, Lucy Ann, all died in infancy ; ii. John Mercer, a distinguished practitioner of law; Captain of the Richmond Light Infantry Blues (organized in 1793- the oldest company in the State), 1852-55 and in 1859-60; Reporter, with Roscoe B. Heath, of " Cases decided in a Special Court of Ap- peals," and General Index to Gratton's Reports (volumes 2 to 11 inclusive ; published at Richmond in two volumes, Svo, 1856, '57) ; Colonel, 1861-2, of the 21st Regiment Virginia Volunteers, and for a time in command of the 2d Brigade (composed of the 21st, 42d and 48th Virginia Infantry, and the Irish Battalion), Stonewall Jackson's division ; author of several theological works, among them The Death of Deaths; married Sarah, daughter of Alexander and Mildred C. (Lindsay) Taylor,* and hasissue ; now resides at Ashland, Virginia ; iii. Isaac WV., married Miss Merritt; Colonel of Louisiana Infantry, severely wounded and made prisoner at the fall of Vicksburg, and afterwards commanded one of the forts in Mobile Bay to the end of the late war; iv. George S., married Susan S., daughter of Andrew and Susan (Thornton) Glassell; f Colonel of 22d Virginia Infantry ; wounded twice in previous battles; and then at 2d Manassas ; killed by a shell while commanding a brigade at the battle of Winchester, in 1864; v. WV. Tazewell, Colonel of 7th Virginia Infantry; killed whilst leading his regiment in the memorable charge of Pickett's division on the heights of Gettysburg, in 1863; vi. Hugh Mercer, Lieutenant Confederate States Army ; wounded at the second battle of Manassas ; married Miss Bull, of Orange County, Virginia ; vii. James F., Lieutenant Confederate States Army ; wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor; made Judge of Court of Appeals of West Vir- ginia; married a daughter of Hon. Allen T. Caperton, United States Senator ; died in March, 1882 ; viii. William M., married Miss Jordan, of Rockbridge County, Virginia ; ix. Eliza W., married John Gilmer, of Pittsylvania County, Virginia.
* Alexander Taylor was descended in the fourth generation from James Taylor, from Carlisle in England, who settled on the Chesapeake Bay, and died in 1698. President Zachary Taylor was also of his lineage, and other descendants have intermarried with the Pendleton, Penn, Hopkins, Lewis, Lee, Chew, Gibson, Morton, Glassell, Taliaferro, Conway, Ashby, Battaile, and other well known families of Virginia.
t The Glassells of Virginia are connections of the Duke of Argyll; and his son the Marquis of Lorne, during his visit to Virginia, cordially greeted his Virginia cousins.
0
RICHARD CHANNING MOORE, Beloved Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Virginia. Silhouette cut by Brown of Philadelphia, in 1830.
المادة الجديدة
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JOHN RUTHERFOORD.
The frequent representation of those of Scottish blood among the hon- ored Executives of Virginia is worthy of remark. Another instance now passes in review. Possibly no other city in the United States has been more honored in a class of citizens so representative of material prosperity and influence as has that of Richmond in her merchants, whose probity, system, and promptness have been widely proverbial quite from the period of its accession to such titular dignity in 1782. Prominent among these useful and excellent men was the justly esteemed father of the subject of this sketch.
Thomas Rutherfoord, son of Thomas and Janet (Meldrum) Ruther- foord, who were both natives of Kircaldy, Scotland, was born in Glas- gow, where his parents then resided, January 9, 1766. Having received the educational advantages of the grammar schools, and finally of two sessions in the College of Glasgow, he entered, in July, 1780, the em- ployment of Hawkesley & Rutherfoord, of Dublin, Ireland-a merean- tile firm, of which his elder brother, John Rutherfoord, was the junior partner. They were exporters as well as importers, and conducted a large trade with the ports of Europe and America. It was customary in the last century for youths designed for a mercantile life to fit them- selves for the calling by a regular term of indentured apprenticeship, which was entered upon by the payment of a fee. This had been the training of the employers of Thomas Rutherfoord, they having served as fellow-apprentices, in the province of Maryland, in the house of Spiers & Company, merchants and factors. Their pleasurable reminiscences of American life, as narrated to young Thomas, inspired in him a desire for a like residence abroad. This, together with his exemplified pru- dence, sagacity, and business habits, induced Messrs. Hawkesley & Rutherfoord to intrust him, at the early age of eighteen, with a cargo of goods valued at £10,000 for disposition in Virginia. He set sail from Dublin, October 10, 1784, furnished with a letter of recommen- dation to General Washington from Sir Edward Neversham, member of Parliament from the county of Dublin. The vessel, the "Jane and Diana," anchored in Hampton Roads, Virginia, December 21st follow- ing, and soon thereafter the youthful merchant located in Richmond, Virginia. He met with deserved success, was admitted a partner with his employers, and soon succeeded to the entire business, and extensively engaged as merchant, miller, and importer and exporter. He became in time one of the largest real estate owners in Richmond. He was a man of strong individuality of character and excellent judgment, and a clear and vigorous writer. He contributed at different periods of his life ex- cellent papers to the press, on the commercial requirements of the nation
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Livx
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and the destructive influence of political agitation. During the diseus- sion of the tariff question in Congress, in 1839-1840, the papers from his pen were among the ablest submitted to that body. . His life, as a zealous member of the Presbyterian Church, was one of marked and uniform piety. He died January 31, 1852, affectionately reverenced for his worth and manifold usefulness by the entire community which he had seen grow up around him, and to the prosperity and progress of which he had so greatly contributed. His remains rest beneath a handsome marble tomb in Shockoe Hill Cemetery, the predecessor of Hollywood Cemetery, and where lie also the remains of Chief Justice Marshall, Bishop Richard Channing Moore, John Hampden Pleasants, Judge Robert Stanard, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, John Wickham, Major James Gibbon, and many other distinguished contemporaries of Mr. Rutherfoord, whose memories are cherished in Virginia. "Mr. Ruth- erfoord was married, August 21, 1790, by the good Parson John D. Blair (so lovingly remembered), to Sarah, daughter of Geddes and Mary (Jordan *) Winston. Mrs. Rutherfoord died March 2, 1839. It is of interest to note that her sisters married as follows: Mary, the Rev. John D. Blair; Martha, Henry S. Shore; Margaret, Dr. John Adams, iong the Mayor of Richmond ; and Rebecca, William Radford. ; The issue of Thomas and Sarah ( Winston) Rutherfoord was as follows: }
i. Maria, born August 9, 1791; died April 14, 1793.
ii. John, the subject of this sketch.
iii. Jane, born March 13, 1795; married, January 11, 1815, S. H. B. Meade, of Amelia County. She died October 2, 1839; he died January 21, 1842.
iv. Sarah, born February 23, 1797; married, November 18, 1815, William Beverley Randolph, of " Chatsworth," Henrico County, Virginia. She died April 18, 1819; he died May 3, 1874.
v. Thomas, born June 24, 1799; died August 13, 1803.
vi. Mary, born April 10, 1801; married, in 1826, Richard E. Harda- way, who died in 1830.
vii. William, born May 18, 1802; married, April 20, 1843, Sarah Rad- ford Sherrard. She died September 15, 1878, in her fifty-first year; he died November 5, 1873. His son William married,
$ Her two sisters married, respectively. Robert Rives (the father of the late Hon. William Cabell Rives) and Colonel William Cabell, Sr., of " Union Hill."
1 The descendants of Geddes Winston, who was of the same family as that of the mother of the orator Patrick Henry, in the names of Rutherfoord, Radford, Munford, Blair, Shore, Minge, Sheppard, Adams, Heron, Pickett (Gen. George E. Pickett, C. S. Army), Moseley, Carrington, Harrison, and others equally worthy, are among the most estimable of the people of Virginia.
# Of the grandchildren of Thomas Rutherfoord, which are quite numerons in the several issues, many have married, and he is now represented in some of the most respected family names in the State.
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October 28, 1874, Leslie, daughter of Dr. John F. Carter. He died November 12, 1876, and she married secondly, October 4, 1877, Edward S. Rose, real estate agent of Richmond.
viii. Martha (Patsey), born August 13, 1803; died May 4, 1873; mar- ried, November, 1842, Thomas Garland Tinsley, of Hanover County. Both dead. Their son, James Garland Tinsley, is inter- ested largely in manufacturing enterprises in and near Richmond. ix. Thomas, born March 20, 1805; married first, 1840, Isabella Syme; secondly, Sarah, daughter of Spotswood Wingfield, of Hanover County.
x. Samuel Jordan, born May 1, 1806; married, November 20, 1834, Frances C. Watson ; died December 26, 1880. His son Thomas M. Rutherford, who married, April 16, 1872, Laura W., daugh- ter of the late James Thomas, Jr., is a prominent tobacco manu- facturer of Richmond. A daughter, Mary Elizabeth, married, April 22, 1836, Charles A. Rose, a lawyer of Richmond. Both dead, leaving issue.
xi. Alexander Hawkesley, born August 30, 1807; married April 10, 1838, Keziah K. Clarke. Of his issue: James Clarke, return- ing from a European tour in 1861, was appointed a Captain on the staff of Brigadier-General James Dearing, Confederate States Cavalry, and gallantly fell in action. Another son, Alexander Hawkesley Rutherford, Jr., married, October 16, 1878, Rosa, daughter of the late Hon. James A. Seddon, member of Con- gress, Secretary of War of the Confederate States, etc. A daughter, Annie C. Rutherfoord, married, April 24, 1878, Gid- eon A., son of Isaac Davenport, Jr., a prominent banker of Richmond.
xii. Elvira Rebecca, born February 4, 1809; died July 20, 1810. xiii. Augustus Smith, born December 5, 1811; died August 10, 1875.
John Rutherfoord, the subject of this sketch, and the eldest son of Thomas and Sarah ( Winston) Rutherfoord, as above, was born in Rich- mond, Virginia, December 6, 1792. After preliminary preparation in the schools of his native city, he completed his collegiate course at Princeton, New Jersey. Having studied law, he was admitted to the bar of Richmond, and entered upon a successful practice. Taking a deep interest in politics, he carly rendered effective service to the Den- ocratic party, to which he was attached. In 1826 he was elected to the House of Delegates from the city of Richmond (then entitled to only one Delegate) and served, with some intervals, in that body until 1839, when he was appointed one of the Councillors of State, as provided by the amended constitution of 1830. As Senior Councillor, Mr. Rutherfoord, on the 31st of March, 1841, succeeded Jolin Mercer Patton as Acting
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Governor of Virginia, and continued so to serve until March 31. 1842, when he was succeeded by John Munford Gregory. Governor Ruther- foord continued to serve as a member of the State Council until the year 1846. In 1836 he was elected President, or Principal Agent, as the office is termed, of the Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia, the oldest institution of fire insurance in the State, and which was estab- lished by William Frederick Ast, a native of Prussia, in 1794. In this position Governor Rutherfoord efficiently served for the long period of thirty years. His predecessor was James Rawlings, a highly esteemed citizen of Richmond, who resigned the position to accept that of Presi- dent of the Farmers' Bank of Virginia, vacated by Philip Norborne Nicholas to accept the Judgeship of the Sixth Judicial Circuit. Gov- ernor Rutherfoord in early life took a great interest in the volunteer military, in which he attained the rank of Colonel, by which title he was familiarly known. He was the originator and first Captain of the Richmond Fayette Artillery, organized June 20, 1821, as the Rich- mond Light Artillery, by the former membership of two companies of artillery commanded respectively by William West and Andrew Ste- venson, and which had served in the war of 1812. The name of the company was changed in honor of the generous friend of America, La- fayette, on the occasion of his second visit to this country in 1824. The company rendered gallant service in the cause of the South in our late war, its first commander in that period being Captain (subsequently Colonel) Henry Coalter Cabell.
Governor Rutherford married, April 24, 1816. Emily Anne (died August 26, 1871), daughter of John and Rebecca (Tucker) Coles,* of "Enniscorthy," Albemarle County, Virginia. They had issue: i. John Coles (born November 14, 1825; died August 14, 1866), of "Rock Castle," Virginia, represented Goochland County in the House of Del- cgates for a number of years; married Ann Roy. Their daughter, Ann Seddon, married, June 25, 1880, Bradley S. JJohnson, son of General Bradley T. Johnson, late Confederate States Army, now of Baltimore, Maryland. ii. Emily Anne, died November 16, 1880; mar. red January 24, 1853, Patrick Henry Avlett f (born May 9, 1826), son of Philip Aylett, of King William County, Virginia, and grandson of the orator Patrick Henry ; editor of the Richmond Enquirer and of the Times; Confederate States District Attorney for Eastern Virginia ;
# John Coles was the son of Major John Coles, a native of Ireland, and his wife Mary, danghter of Isaac Winston. Another daughter of John Coles was the wife of Hon. Andrew Stevenson, Speaker of Congress and United States Minister to England; and yet another the wife of John Singleton, of South Carolina. Ed- ward Coles, the first Governor of Illinois, was his son.
1 Patrick Henry Aylett was a descendant in the seventh generation of John Ay- lett, who emigrated from Essex County, England, in 1656, and settled in Virginia.
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killed at the calamity at the State Capitol by the falling through of the floor of the Court of Appeals room, April 27, 1870. Left issne three daughters: Emily, married, December 20, 1876, John Enders, Jr. ; Sarah, married Thomas Bolling, Jr., a descendant of the Indian prin- cess Pocahontas; and Page.
Governor Rutherford died at Richmond, August 3, 1866, and is buried in Shockoe Hill Cemetery. Governor Rutherfoord was endowed with a strong and well-balanced intellect. Unassuming and winning in manner, gentle and modest, yet firm in his convictions and steadfast in purpose, he was alike faithful in his public and private relations, and maintained a character admirable for its virtue and purity, its integrity, gentleness, serenity, and generosity. There is an excellent portrait of him in the State Library at Richmond.
JOHN MUNFORD GREGORY.
The ancestors of John Munford # Gregory were early seated in the Colony of Virginia. The family of Munford is interlinked with many others of prominence, and that of Gregory has always been held in esteem. Joseph Gregory received a patent of five hundred acres of land on Ware Creek (probably in James City County), December 6, 1652 ( Virginia Land Records, Book No. 3, p. 136). Early grants are also of record to Thomas, Roger, and Richard Gregory, severally. The two last Christian names are favored ones in the family to the present day. The present deduction, however, commences definitely with John Gregory, a resident of Charles City County. He was the father of two gallant patriots of the Revolution, whose names are recorded on the . pension list of Virginia. | They were John Gregory, Jr., a man of family, and William Gregory, Jr., who, in 1776, were commissioned severally First and Second Lieutenant of a vohmteer company raised in their native county, and which was assigned to the Sixth Virginia In- fantry on Continental establishment. The brothers served gallantly in the campaigns in the North, both being promoted to the rank of Cap- tain-William in the staff department, to which he was transferred, and John as the commandant of his company, at the head of which " he was killed in action on the Jersey line at a place called Quibbletown." ITo left an infant son, John Munford Gregory, who, at maturity, mar-
# By tradition the name of Munford was originally De Montford, and the blood that of the family of the Earl of Leicester- the Virginia representative having been proscribed for political offences, and forced to flee from England .. To the support of this tradition there is a grant of land of record to Robert Mountfort, dated 1695. Under that and the name Munford he received exten- sive patents. There are early grants also of record to Edward, James, and Joseph Munford, severally.
# The names of Obadiah, John, William, and Speltby Gregory also appear as pensioners.
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ried Letitia Power, daughter of Ralph Graves, a veteran of the Revo- lution, who served in the cavalry corps of Major William Nelson. Their son, the subject of this sketch, John Munford Gregory, was born in Charles City County, July 8, 1804. He attended the "old field" schools until he attained the age of sixteen, after which he alternately taught school himself and was employed in farm labor. Removing to James City County, he for a time taught there; and having commenced the study of law, entered William and Mary College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law in 1830. He was, in the same year, elected the delegate from James City County in the State Assembly, to which body he was continuously returned until 1841, when he was elected a member of the Council of State, and, as Senior Councillor by rotation, succeeded John Rutherfoord as Acting Governor of Virginia, March 31, 1842. He continued the State Executive until January 1, 1843, when he was succeeded by Governor James McDowell. In 1853 Governor Gregory was appointed United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, which position he held until the year 1860, when he was elected Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Vir- ginia, and continued to serve in this capacity until displaced by the Fed- pral authorities in 1866. He then resumed the practice of his profession, but was soon elected Commonwealth's Attorney for Charles City County, in which position he served until the year 1880, when feeble health com- pelled his retirement. In 1881 Governor Gregory removed to Williams- burg, Virginia, where he at present resides, supported, in his declining years, by the soothing ministrations of an affectionate daughter. Stead- fast in purpose and of sterling integrity, the dignities enjoyed by Gov- ernor Gregory have been the just meed of unostentatious worth. He instanced his simplicity of character by refusing to occupy the guber- natorial mansion whilst the Executive of the State upon the ground of' temporary tenure of office. Governor Gregory married Miss Amanda Wallace, of Petersburg, Virginia. Their issue was: i. William Thomas, M. D., a popular physician, married Miss Apperson, of New Kent County; ii. Mary Elizabeth, widow of the lamented and lately deceased James P. Purcell, a highly esteemed citizen of Richmond, and a mem- ber of the well-known firm of Purcell, Ladd & Co., of that city, whole- sale druggists; iii. John, Munford, Judge of the Supreme Court of the State of California, married a daughter of Rear Admiral Craven, United States Navy; iv. Letitia Alice, resides with her father in Williamsburg, Virginia; v. Margaret Carroll, married Richard E. Waddill, a member of an estimable family of Charles City County; vi. Amanda Wallace, mar- ried Colonel Robert A. Caskie, lately a gallant officer of Confederate States Cavalry, son of the late John Caskie, Esq., of Richmond, and now residing in Missouri; vii. Martha Hill, married Robert Galbraith, of South Carolina.
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