USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 10
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Signer of the Declaration of Independence. (Never before published or engraved.) From a miniature in the possession of his family.
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Colonel John Taylor, of Richmond county, and took up his residence in that county. In the same year he was returned to the House of Burgesses for Richmond county.
August 15, 1775, the convention of Virginia elected him to a seat in the Continental Congress, which position he filled so as to receive three succes- sive re-elections: June 20, 1776 ; May 22, 1777; May 29, 1778.
His work in Congress, faithfully performed, was not of the brilliant character of his older brother's work, as he was no orator. But when future generations remember the name of Richard Henry Lee, as that of the gallant Virginian whose voice was first raised in advocacy of our inde- pendence, it will not be forgotten that among the devoted sons of that State who supported his position was one, his brother in blood, and his colleague in principle, Francis Lightfoot Lee.
In the spring of 1779, Mr. Lee retired from Congress, and was imme- diately elected to the Senate of Virginia under the new constitution of that State. He did not long remain in public life, however, all his inclina- tions being toward home life and rural occupations, and the state of the country no longer demanding from him the sacrifice of his private tastes.
Reading, farming, and the entertainment of friends and neighbors filled his remaining days with quiet happiness, until his death, which occurred in April, 1797. His beloved wife died within a few days of his own demise, and they left no children.
CARTER BRAXTON,
Seventh signer of the Declaration of Independence in behalf of the prov- ince of Virginia, was born at Newington, King and Queen county, Vir- ginia, September 10, 1736. His father was George Braxton, a wealthy planter, and a member of the House of Burgesses. His mother was Mary, daughter of Robert Carter, who was a member of the King's council, and in 1726, its president.
Carter Braxton received a liberal education at William and Mary Col- lege, and upon leaving college entered at once upon the possession a large property, having lost both his parents, his mother when he was seven days old, and his father during his school days.
At the early age of nineteen he married Judith, daughter of Christopher Robinson, of Middlesex county. She was possessed of uncommon beauty as well as a large fortune, and they enjoyed two years of wedded happi- ness when the lady died, in giving birth to a second daughter, December 30, 1757.
Soon after his wife's death Mr. Braxton visited England, returning in 1760. May 15, 1761, he married Elizabeth Corbin, eldest daughter of Richard Corbin, of King and Queen county, receiver-general of customs for the colony of Virginia. The offspring of this marriage were sixteen.
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six of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Braxton survived her husband, dying in 1814.
It is believed, but cannot be absolutely ascertained, that Carter Braxton was a member of the House of Burgesses as early as 1761. It is cor- tain he took an active part in the eventful session of 1765, supporting the celebrated resolutions of Patrick Henry. He was also a member of the House in 1769, which was dissolved by Lord Botetourt.
But this dissolution of the House did not change the material of which it was composed. The indignant people returned the same mem- bers, without one change, and Mr. Braxton, among the rest, was present at the opening of the session of November, 1769. He continued a mem- ber of the House until the dissolution of the assembly of 1771. Accept- ing then the office of high sheriff of his county (then King William), he was ineligible to act as representative.
The first Virginia convention was assembled at Williamsburg, August 1. 1774, and to this convention Mr. Braxton was elected by King William county. The convention met again March 20, 1775.
The last and most important meeting of the House of Burgesses was convened by Lord Dunmore, June 1, 1775. Mr. Braxton was an active member of this house, serving on three of the regular and on several of the special committees. This assembly, however, was in session only fifteen days. They had met on the 1st of June, and on the night between the 7th and 8th, the governor, Lord Dunmore, fled from his palace to the "Fowey." No entreaties or assurances on the part of the House could induce his return, and as they very properly refused to convene on board his frigate, it was impossible to transaet further business. On the 15th the session was adjourned until October, but it was never re-assembled.
The Convention of Virginia, however, again assembled July 17, 1775, and continued in session until August 26th. It met again in December, 1775, and on the 15th of that month appointed Carter Braxton to succeed Peyton Randolph, lately deceased, in the national council. He repaired to Philadelphia, and continued in his seat until the Declaration of Inde- pendence had received his signature.
In 1776 Mr. Braxton was elected to the House of Delegates of Virginia, and in that House he served during the sessions of 1877, '79, '80, '81, '83 and '85. In the last year he was one of the supporters of the act for estab- lishing religious freedom in Virginia, an act penned and proposed by Jefferson and advocated by Madison.
In January, 1786, Mr. Braxton was appointed a member of the coun- cil of State, and continued to act with that body until March 30, 1791. In 1793, he was again appointed to the executive council, and taking up the duties of the office May 31, 1794, he continued to perform them until his death, meeting for the last time with the council October 6, 1797, only four days before his death.
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'The last years of his life were distressed by great pecuniary em- barrassments. Of the large fortunes in his possession when he was twenty-one, nothing remained. His personal property had passed into the hands of the sheriff; part of his vast estates had been sold from time to time, the remainder, with his slaves and household goods, was heavily mortgaged.
Presidents of the United States.
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
First President of the United States, was born February 22, 1732, and died on the 14th of December, 1799, in his 68th year.
The first of the name of Washington to settle in America were two brothers, John and Lawrence, who emigrated from England to Vir- ginia in 1657, and purchased land in Westmoreland county, between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. John Washington married Anne Page of Westmoreland county, became an extensive planter and a magistrate and member of the House of Burgesses. As Colonel Washington he led the Virginia militia against the Sencca Indians, and the grateful people whom he defended named in his honor that district of Westmoreland county which still bears the name of Washington.
Augustine Washington, grandson of John, was born in 1691 on the family estate which he in time inherited. Ile was twice married, his second wife being Mary, daughter of Colonel Ball, of Virginia, and their first child, George Washington, born in Westmoreland county.
Not long after the birth of this son Augustine Washington removed to a family estate in Stafford county, and here the childhood of George was passed, and he received what instructions could be gathered from the limited acquirements in reading, writing and arithmetic of one Hobby, who was one of his father's tenants, and combined the duties of parish sexton with the swaying of the birch in the little field school house on the estate.
But in the home circle young Washington had good example and good instruction in all that constitutes gentle breeding, and from his ninth year he had the intimate companionship of his eldest hall' broth- er, Lawrence, who had been, as was the custom with the eldest son of a colonial gentleman, educated in England. There was a difference of fourteen years in the age of the half brothers, but a warm affection between them, and George naturally looked upon his cultivated senior as a pattern after which he should model his own mind and manners.
The death of Augustine Washington in 1743 left the children of his second marriage to the guardianship of their mother. She was equal to
Graphing ton
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the trust -- prompt to decide and to act, controlled by common sense and by conscience, she governed her family with a firm hand, and held their love while exacting their obedience. Through his entire life Washington acknowledged with love and gratitude how much of what he was he owed to his mother. He preserved with tender care a manual of instruction from which she was accustomed to read to her fatherless little ones, and this manual may now be seen in the archives of Mount Vernon.
When about twelve years of age, Washington went to pass some time with his brother Lawrence, at Mount Vernon, and to avail himself of bet- ter school facilities, but his education was confined to plain English branches of study. In the autumn of 1747, he took a final leave of school, having a good knowledge of mathematics and of surveying, which he put to practical use.
In March, 1748, he was sent by Lord Fairfax to survey some wild lands in what was then the western borders of settlement, a difficult task, which he completed in a month's time. He then received the appointment of public surveyor, which office he held three years.
For some years the French and English governments had been disput- ing the ownership of the North American continent, and each, by diplo- macy, endeavoring to secure the alliance of the Indian tribes. October 30, 1753, George Washington, not yet twenty-two years of age, was sent by Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, on the important embassy of secur- ing terms of friendship with the Indian sachems along the Ohio, and to expostulate with the French commander at Venango for his aggressions on the territory of Ilis Britannic Majesty. The ability with which Washing- ton executed his difficult mission, which he accomplished so that he was able to report, January 16, 1754, may be considered the foundation of his future eminence. From this date he was the rising hope of Virginia.
French and English alike now began preparations for war, and in Vir- ginia three hundred militia was raised, and Washington made second in command, with rank of lieutenant-colonel. On the 2d of April he took the field at the head of only two companies of men, about 150 in all. For five years following he was in the royal service, and in several battles was in connand. During the engagement known as "Braddock's Defeat," he received four bullet-holes through his coat, and two horses were shot under him. The interest of the Virginians in the French and Indian war ended with the expulsion of the French from the Ohio Valley, and Washington resigned his command.
January 17, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha Custis, and having inherited Mount Vernon at the death of his loved brother, Lawrence, July 26, 1752, they made their home on that estate.
Early in the year of his marriage Washington repaired to Williams- burg to take the seat in the House of Burgesses to which he had been elected. By a unanimous vote the house had agreed to greet his installa- tion with a testimonial of their gratitude for his military exertions in
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behalf of Virginia. This was conveyed to him in a graceful speech from Mr. Robinson, speaker of the House. Washington rose to reply, blushed, stammered, trembled-and was dumb. "6 Sit down, Mr. Washington," said the Speaker, "your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses e force of any language I possess."
During the next sixteen years Washington's time was occupied with his property interests and in attendance on the sessions of the House of Bur- gesses, of which he continued a member. His residence was at Mount Vernon, and his growing reputation drew about him there many distin- guished guests, whom he entertained with true Virginian hospitality.
His own home life was exceedingly simple. He was an early riser, often leaving his room before daybreak of a winter's morning. He break- fasted at seven in summer, and eight in winter, his breakfast usually con- sisting of two small cups of tea and three or four "hoecakes." Immedi- ately after breakfast he mounted his horse and made a personal inspec- tion of the work on his estate. At two he dined, eating heartily, and drinking small beer or cider, followed by two glasses of old Madeira. He took tea, of which he was very fond, early in the evening, and retired for the night at nine o'clock.
The troubles between the colonists and Great Britain engaged the atten- tion of the House of Burgesses during the last years of Washington's attendance on that body, and he was a member of that House which was dissolved by the royal governor for sympathizing with the colonists of Massachusetts in regard to the " Boston Port Bill."
He was a delegate from Virginia to the first Continental Congress, in 1774, and continued in his seat until in June, 1775, at the request of his colleagues he resigned to assume command of the Continental army. July 3, 1775, General Washington took up his headquarters at Cambridge, Massachusetts, welcomed with unbounded enthusiasm by his troops. The thoughts of a Caesar, the ambition of an Alexander, might be supposed to have swelled his heart that day. But at its close, he wrote to his friend and neighbor, George William Fairfax, then in England :
" Unhappy it is to reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are to be either drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alterna- tive! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice ?"
The eight years of the Revolutionary War now ensued, during which time Washington was constantly at the post of duty assigned him; now commanding the battle on the fields of Trenton, of Princeton and of Brandy- wine; now quelling the factious spirit of subordinate officers who thought themselves able to command because they could not obey, and anon encouraging with kind words and little acts of self-sacrifice the drooping spirits and failing hopes of his sorely-tried army; now appealing to Cou- gress for munitions of war, for bread for his soldiers, and for soldiers to
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recruit his thinning ranks, and anon, kneeling in the snowy dark- ness of the winter's night at Valley Forge, and appealing to the God of battles and of right; now rebuking Lce on the field of Monmouth; and now seated on his white charger at the head of his victorious troops at Yorktown, receiving from the representative of Cornwallis the sword whose surrender betokened the downfall of the British cause in America.
April 19, 1783, eight years from the battle of Lexington, cessation of hostilities between the two armies was proclaimed, and on the 3d of Sep- tember following a definite treaty of peace, as between two equal nations, was concluded and signed in Paris, by the representatives of Great Britain and of the United States of America. In October, 1783, Congress dis- banded the troops enlisted for the war, and Washington put forth his fare- well address to the army.
December 4, 1783, in the public room of a tavern at the corner of Broad- way and Pearl streets, New York City, Washington, " with a heart full of love and gratitude," to quote his words, took leave of the officers who had served under him. Each in turn grasped his hands in farewell, while tears fell upon their cheeks, and upon the forehead of each of his companions in arms he left a kiss of farewell.
At noon on the 23d of December, he entered the legislative hall at Annapolis, and resigned to Congress the authority with which he had been commissioned eight years before. Accompanied by his wife he at once set out for their loved Mount Vernon, which they reached on Christmas Eve, 1783.
Washington now participated little in public affairs except to attend as delegate the Philadelphia convention in May, 1787, which framed the Fed- eral Constitution. He was unanimously chosen to preside over this con- vention, which duty fulfilled, he returned to Mount Vernon, and to private life.
A few months before the disbanding of the army the "Society of the Cincinnati" was formed, and Washington was made its President-Gen- cral, an office which he held until his death. The objects of the associa- tion were to promote cordial friendship among the soldiers of the Revolu- tionary army, and to extend aid to such members of the society as might need it. To perpetuate the association it was provided in the constitution that the eldest male descendant of a member should be entitled to wear the "Order" and enjoy the privileges of the society. The "Order," or badge, consists of a gold cagle suspended upon a ribbon, on the breast of which is a medallion, with a device representing Cincinnatus receiving the Roman Senators.
History repeated itself upon the day when, on the 14th of March, 1789, Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress, waited on Washington to inform him that he was chosen under the new Constitution as the first President of the United States. The soldier-farmer-statesman was found making the daily tour of his fields.
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Accepting the office, Washington made immediate preparations for his journey to the seat of government. His first duty was to his mother. Toward evening of the day on which he accepted the highest dignity of the nation, he rode from Mount Vernon to Fredericksburg, and knelt beside the chair of her to whom he owed the qualities which made him worthy of the honor bestowed upon him.
It was a touching interview, and, as both felt, their last meeting on earth, for the venerable lady was now past eighty years of age, and suffer- ing from an incurable discase. She gave him a mother's blessing, and sent him to fullfil the high destinies to which Heaven had called him. Before his return to Virginia her death occurred, in August, 1789.
April 6, Washington left Mount Vernon for New York, accompanied, as far as Alexandria, by a cavalcade of his neighbors and friends. At every step of his journey he was greeted with demonstrations of reverence and love. At Georgetown he was received with honors; at Baltimore he was feasted ; near Philadelphia he rode under a triumphal arch of laurel, and little Angelica Peall, concealed among the foliage, placed upon his head a civic crown of laurel, while from the assembled multitude went up a shout of : "Long live George Washington ! long live the Father of his Country." When he crossed the Delaware at Trenton, scene of his victor- ies and defcats in his struggle with Cornwallis, he passed under an arch, supported by thirteen pillars, which had been erected by the women of New Jersey and bore the words: "The defender of the mothers will be the protector of the daughters." At Elizabethtown, he was met by a com- mittee from the two houses of Congress, and by a deputation of civil and military officers. They had in waiting a magnificent barge manned by thirteen pilots in white uniforms. In this the president-elect was conveyed to New York, where every display had been made in honor of his coming.
April 30, 1789, the inauguration took place, the chancellor of New York State, Robert R. Livingston administering the oath. The bible used was then and is now the property of the St. John Lodge of Free Masons of New York City. When the ceremony was ended, President Washington proceeded at once to the Senate Chamber and pronounced a most impres- sive inaugural address, and the new government was ready to enter upon its duties.
In the fall of 1792, he was elected to a second term as President of the United States, and served four years longer. Then, declining another re-election, he took leave of the people in a farewell address, issued to the country September 17, 1796. In this address he appealed to the people as the sovereign power in a Republican form of government, to preserve the Union as the only hope for the continuance of their liberties and the national prosperity.
Ilis career as President had been a most honorable one, calmly pursued amid trying difficulties, and though often obstructed by the hostile criti- cisms of that facetious spirit which is yet the curse of American poli-
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tics. Under his administrations the government had been put in motion, its financial, domestic and foreign policies established, and its strength maintained and augmented.
The remaining years of Washington's life were passed on his estate at Mount Vernon. Here, in 1798, he was found at the time of threatened war between the United States and France, when Adams appointed him commander-in-chief of the American armies, and the commission was borne to Mount Vernon by the secretary of war in person. Washington was in the fields, superintending his grain har- vest, and thither Secretary McHenry repaired. Washington read his commission, and, without hesitation, answered: " The President may command me without reserve." Happily the storm-clond passed over, and his patriotism did not again call him from Mount Vernon.
December 12, 1799, Washington was exposed to a storm of sleet, and took a cold which, on the following day, merged into something like an attack of membranous croup. All that love and skill could do to save him was powerless, and death ensued between ten and eleven o'clock on the night of the 14th.
Fitted for all the uses of life, this great man was ready for death. To his friend and physician, Dr. Craik, he said : " I die hard, but I am not afraid to go." And his last words were: " 'Tis well."
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
Third President of the United States, was born April 2, 1742, and died July 4, 1826, at the age of 84 years.
Virginia, glorious in the annals of American history as the birth- place of a Washington, a Patrick Henry, a Monroe and the Lees, was also the place of birth of Thomas Jefferson, the framer of the Declar- ation of Independence and the Third President of the United States.
He was born at Shadwell, Albemarle county, son of Colonel Peter Jefferson, a well-known gentleman of means in the province of Vir- ginia, and Jane (Randolph) Jefferson, daughter of Isham Randolph, of Goochland county. Ile received his collegiate education at William and Mary College, read law with the celebrated George Wythe, after- ward chancellor of the State of Virginia, and began practice in 1767.
In 1769 he became a member of the House of Burgesses, where he served the interests of the colonists until, March 27, 1775, he was chosen one of Virginia's representatives in the Continental Congress. In 1774, he published his defense of tho colonists, entitled, "Sum- mary View of the Rights of British America," wherein he boldly set forth such doctrines that Lord Dunmore, then governor of the province, threatened him with a prosecution for high treason. June 1, 1775, Lord Dunmore presented to the legislature of Virginia certain resolutions of the British parliament, to which
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Jefferson, as chairman of the committee appointed for that purpose, made response in one of the ablest State papers on record.
Wednesday, June 21, 1775, Thomas Jefferson took his seat in the Con- tinental Congress, where he soon became conspicuous, both for his talent and the ardor with which it was devoted to the cause of liberty. He served during the remainder of that year, and through the following year, acting on many important committees, and on the 9th of June, 1776, he was appointed chairman of that committee to whom was delegated the im- portant duty of preparing a draft of a Declaration of Independence. When he appended his signature to that document, as amended and accepted, the moment was to him the greatest and the gravest of his life.
After serving actively in Congress during the summer of 1776, Mr. Jef- ferson returned home, and during the remaining years of the Revolutionary war devoted himself mainly to the service of his own State. June 1, 1779, he was elected governor of Virginia, and as chief magistrate of that Commonwealth his patriotism and statesmanship made him an invaluable aid to the harassed and overburdened commander of the Continental army, then seeing its darkest days. He remained in constant correspond- ence with Washington, and gave a soldier's cheerful obedience to any sug- gestions and requests that General made concerning Virginia. His term of office expired June 2, 1780, but as a private citizen he continued to serve the State until peace was declared.
Near the close of 1782, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to join the representatives of the United States already in Europe, but the treaty of Paris, in 1783, rendered his services unnecessary, and he remained in America.
June 6, 1783, he was again chosen delegate to Congress, and took his seat on the 4th of November following. March 30, 1784, he was chosen to preside in Congress, and was chairman of that committee which per- formed the important work of revising and getting in proper working order the treasury department. May 7, 1784, he was appointed to join John Adams and Benjamin Franklin in Paris, and negotiate treaties of commerce for the United States with foreign nations. Accompanied by his oldest daughter, he set sail in July and joined his colleagues in the fol- lowing month.
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