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[Page 22]
      Read, Thomas, son of Colonel Clement Read, and Mary Hill, his wife, was born at ":Bushy Forest," in Lunenburg county, about 1735-1740, and began life as a surveyor; studied at William and Mary College, and was deputy clerk of Charlotte county, in 1765, when it was set apart from Lunenburg. In 1770 he became clerk, holding the office till his death in 1817. He was a member of the committee appointed to draw up the declaration of rights, and a state constitution. During the revolution, he was county lieutenant, and marched with the county militia to oppose Cornwallis. He was a man of fine physique and a warm friend of President Madison. He died at his seat, "Ingleside," in Charlotte county, February 4, 1818.

[Page 33]
      Ronald, William, a native of Scotland, was a prominent member of the house of delegates, during and after the revolution. He resided in Powhatan county, which he represented in the convention of 1788. He was a delegate from Virginia to the Annapolis convention, September 5, 1786. His brother, Andrew Ronald, was an eminent lawyer of Richmond, who was opposed to Patrick Henry in the British debts case, in which the debtors were represented by Patrick Henry.

[Page 33]
      Smith, Meriwether, son of Colonel Francis Smith, of Essex county, Virginia, was born at "Bathurst," Essex county, in 1730. He married (first) in 1760, Alice, daughter of Philip Lee, and of their children, George William became governor of Virginia; and (second) September 29, 1769, Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel William Daingerfield. He sat in the house of burgesses in 1770; was a member of the Virginia conventions of 1775 and 1776, being the author of a bill of rights and a state constitution; was a signer of the articles of the Westmoreland Association, February 27, 1766, ledged to use no articles of British importation, and the resolutions of the Williamsburg Association, which met at the old Raleigh Tavern of that city, May 18, 1769. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1778-82, and a member of the Virginia convention, which adopted the constitution of the United States. He died January 25, 1790.

[Page 33]
      Starke, Bolling, (q. v., i-330).

[Page 33=34]
      Tabb, John, was a descendant of Humphrey Tabb, who came from the neighborhood of Welles, in England, to Virginia, about 1637. His father, Colonel Thomas Tabb, was one of the richest merchants in Virginia, and was for many years a burgess. John Tabb was born at his father's residence "Clay Hill," Amelia county, about 1737; was educated in England, and was a burgess for that county from 1772 to 1776; a member of the committee of safety for the colony, 1775-1776, and a member of the revolutionary conventions of 1774, 1775 and 1776. He married, February 17, 1770, Frances, daughter of Sir John Peyton, of Gloucester county, Virginia, and died in 1798. His daughter, Martha Peyton, married in 1797, William B. Giles, United States senator, and his son John Yelverton Tabb, was grandfather of the poet, Rev. John B. Tabb.

[Page 34]
      Tazewell, Henry, son of Littleton Tazewell, clerk of Brunswick county, and Mary Gray, his wife, daughter of Colonel Joseph Gray of Southampton county, was born in Brunswick county, Virginia in 1753. Orphaned in childhood, he was a student at William and Mary College, read law with an uncle, rose to prominence at the bar, and from the age of twenty-two was constantly in the public service. In the legislature, 1775-1785, he promoted the abolition of primogeniture and entail, and separation of church and state. In the convention of May, 1776, he was a member of the committee which reported the declaration of rights and the state constitution. He was a judge of the Virginia general court, 1785-93, and of the supreme court of appeals in 1793; in the United States senate, 1794-99, and president pro tem. in 1795. As a Jeffersonian he opposed Jay's Treaty with England. He died while the senate was in session at Philadelphia, January 24, 1799. He was descended from James Tazewell, of Lymington, Somersetshire, England, and from Colonel Edward Littleton, of the Virginia council.

[Pages 34-35]
      Tucker, St. George, son of Henry and Anne (Butterfield) Tucker, and a descendant of George Tucker, of Milton-next-Gravesend, Kent, England, a leading member of the Warwick party in the Virginia company of London, was born at Port Royal, Bermuda, July 9, 1752. Coming to Virginia in 1771, he was graduated at William and Mary College the next year, studied law and began its practice. Embracing the revolutionary cause, he planned and helped to carry out an expedition against his native island, which resulted in the capture of a fort with stores. As lieutenant-colonel at the siege of Yorktown, he received a wound which lamed him for life. In 1778 he became step-father of John Randolph, by marriage with his mother, Frances Bland. He was a member of the state legislature, and of the Annapolis convention of 1786; law professor in William and Mary College from 1790 to 1804, succeeding George Wythe; one of the commission to revise and digest the Virginia laws; judge of the state general court, 1785-1803; judge of the state general court, 1785-1803; judge of the supreme court of appeals (1803-11); and of the United States district court (1813-27), succeeding John Tyler. He was called the "American Blackstone," and noted for "taste, wit and amiability." He published a "Dissertion on Slavery, with a Proposal for its Gradual Abolition in Virginia" (1796); "Letter on the Alien and Sedition Laws" (1799); an annotated edition of Blackstone, and "How Far the Common Law of England is the Common Law of the United States" (1803); and, under the name of Jonathan Pindar, a volume of satires, called "Probationary Odes" (1796). He left some manuscript plays, and much verse. One of his lyrics, "Days of my Youth" has been widely popular, and is still remembered. He received the degree of LL. D. from William and Mary College in 1790. He died at his estate in Nelson county, Virginia, November 10, 1827. He married, secondly, Lilia Skipwith in 1791, but had no issue by her.

[Pages 35-36]
      Tyler, John, son of John Tyler, marshal of the vice-admiralty court, and Anne Contesse, his wife, daughter of Dr. Lewis Contesse, a French Huguenot physician, was born in James City county, Virginia, February 28, 1747. He attended the Grammar school at William and Mary in 1754, and afterwards was a student in the college. In his nineteenth year he stood in the lobby of the house of burgesses and heard Patrick Henry's speech on the Stamp Act, which roused in him a great hostility to England. He studied law under the eminent lawyer, Robert Carter Nicholas, and removed to Charles City county in 1770. Here in 1774 he was a member of the county committee of safety, and in 1775, when he heard of Lord Dunmore's act of removing the powder from the government magazine in Williamsburg, he raised a company of troops in Charles City county and joined his forces with those of Patrick Henry, to demand restoration or compensation. In 1776 he was appointed a commissioner of admiralty for one year, and in 1778 was elected to the house of delegates. Here he was a warm supporter of the revolutionary war, and in 1781 supported the proposition to permit Congress to levy a five per cent. duty on urged the needs of education upon the legislature, and it was in response to his remonstrances that the legislature established the Literary Fund. His appointment as United States judge was strongly pressed by Mr. Jefferson on President Madison, as an exception to the rule he had made for himself "never to embarrass the President with my solicitations." In Jefferson's opinion, Judge Tyler had the firmness "to preserve his independence on the same bench with Marshall," and there was scarcely a person in the state "so solidly popular." He was an earnest advocate of the war of 1812, and decided the first prize case that came up for decision. His death occurred at his residence, "Greenway," in Charles City county, February 6, 1813, due to pleurisy contracted during inclement weather whole holding court in Norfolk. His wife, whom he married in 1776, was Mary Armistead, daughter of Robert Booth Armistead, of York county, by whom he had, with other children, a son of the same name who became President of the United States (1841-1845).

[Page 36]
      Waller, Benjamin (q. v., i-351).

[Pages 36-40]
      Washington, George, was born at Pope's Creek, Westmoreland county, Virginia, February 11 (o. s.), 1732, son of Augustine and Mary (Ball) Washington, and a descendant of John Washington, who appeared in Virginia with his brother, Lawrence, in 1657. While he was a child, his parents removed to Stafford county, opposite Fredericksburg. He attended an "old field school," with Hobby, the parish sexton, as his teacher. His father dying in 1743, he returned to Pope's Creek to live with his elder brother, Augustine, and after attending a private school was commissioned by Lord Fairfax to survey the Fairfax estate, a task which he discharged so satisfactorily that Lord Fairfax procured his appointment as a public surveyor. In 1751 he accompanied his brother, Lawrence, to the West Indies, returning the following year, when Lawrence died, leaving him guardian of his daughter and heir to his estates at her death. Washington was soon made an adjutant-general of Virginia, with the rank of major. In 1753, Governor Dinwiddie sent him to the frontier to obtain information with reference to the French military posts, a mission which he performed most successfully. In 1754 he was made lieutenant-colonel of a Virginia regiment under Colonel Fry, and was sent to Will's Creek, where the French had taken possession of the English fort at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers. He marched to Great Meadows, and surprised the French camp under Jumonville, the French loss being thirty-one killed and prisoners. This was the first blood shed in the war, and brought Washington to public notice. Colonel Fry dying, he succeeded to the command, but was starved out at Fort Necessity. His command, however, was permitted to march out free and Washington returned to Virginia, receiving the thanks of the burgesses. When Governor Dinwiddie broke up regimental organizations, leaving no officer of higher rank than captain, Washington resigned and withdrew to Mount Vernon. General Braddock arrived February 20, and knowing of Washington's past service, called him to his staff, with the rank of colonel. The story of the illfated advance to Fort Duquesne, of Braddock's contemptuous disregard of warnings given him, of his death, of Washington rallying the broken command, conducting the retreat, and reading the burial service over his fallen chief — all these facts are familiar. The Virginia assembly now raised a regiment, and gave Washington command of all the state forces. In 1758 his health gave way and he returned home, but soon resumed field service, marched to and took possession of Fort Duquesne, and then resigned his commission. In 1759 he was elected to the house of burgesses; was present when Patrick Henry introduced his resolutions of May 29, 1765, and in May, 1769, offered the non-importation resolutions, drawn by George Mason. In the Virginia convention which met at Williamsburg, August 1, 1774 he declared, "I will raise a thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march them to the relief of Boston." He was a delegate to the Continental Congress at the Philadelphia, in 1774, and was chairman of the military committee at the session of 1775. On June 15 he was made commander-in-chief, and July 3d took command of the first American army at Cambridge, 14,000 men, enthusiastic, but undisciplined he directed the operations at Boston, and after its evacuation by the British proceeded to New York, which he fortified, and arranged for the Canada campaign. He then visited congress in Philadelphia, and on his return learned of a plot for his assassination, conceived by the tory Tryon; this was frustrated, the conspirators were imprisoned, and principal actor, Thomas Hickey, was hanged. Lord Howe arrived, and attempted to open a correspondence addressed to Mr. Washington," which was rejected, when Howe wrote to the British home authorities that it would be well to give him his proper title. Washington then opened the Long island campaign, and by his coolness and decision saved his army and crossed it over to New York. After resisting Howe for a time, he made his retreat through New Jersey, his troops reduced to 3000 men. Evading Cornwallis, he made his historic crossing of the Delaware, attacked Trenton in midst of a fierce storm, and as the fruit of a bayonet charge captured Colonel Rahl and 1000 men, then recrossing the river. Making a night march on Princeton, he defeated three regiments of British troops, and then took post at Morristown. In January, 1777, he issued a proclamation requiring such inhabitants as had subscribed to Lord Howe's declaration to take the oath of allegiance to the United States; his act was questioned in Congress and he was accused of violating civil rights, but nothing came of it. He condemned the commissioning of foreigners as unjust to native officers, but afterward warmly approved the appointment of such officers as von Steuben and Lafayette. By his activity he obliged Howe to retire to New York, whence Howe sailed to Delaware. Washington suffered a reverse at Chad's Ford, Pennsylvania, and his army was held together with difficulty; later (October 3), with 8000 men he routed the enemy at Germantown, but was unable to reap the full fruits of a victory on account of some of his fresh troops being seized with panic. Later he repulsed the enemy at Fort Mercer, but a British fleet obliged him to abandon the Delaware and he retired to White Marsh, and by his activity obliged Howe to confine himself to Philadelphia. About this time Gates undertook the overthrow of Washington, but the plot was discovered and frustrated. The winter of 1778 witnessed the miseries of Valley Forge, and here Washington displayed his best qualities, holding together a disheartened force which could be only meagrely fed and clothed by means of forced levies. Lady Washington was present, living at the home of Isaac Potts, a Quaker preacher, where she gathered other soldier's wives, who busied themselves making garments for the soldiers. Washington lived with his officers and men, sharing all their discomforts. it was here that Baron von Steuben rendered efficient aid by perfecting the organization of the army and systematically drilling it. On May 11, 1778, Sir Henry Clinton with 10,000 men began his march from Philadelphia to New York, and Washington broke camp at Valley Forge and went in pursuit, encountering the enemy at Monmouth, New Jersey. Owing to the misconduct of General Lee, the Americans fell into disorder. At t his juncture Washington met Lee, whom he rebuked with all the indignation of his nature, then rallied his troops and drove cornwallis from the field. In July, 1778, the French fleet appeared, and Washington communicated his plans of attack to Admiral D'Estaing, but the latter, pleading injuries to his ships by a severe storm, sailed for the West Indies, having effected nothing. In 1779 Washington went before Congress with a plea for good money for payment of the troops, the Continental currency being practically worthless. Later (1781), in consequence of nonpayment for many months, a Connecticut regiment mutinied, a portion of the Pennsylvania line rebelled, and the New Jersey line became disaffected. These ills were cured in a degree; and Washington, though a man of tender sympathies, felt obliged to hang two of the New Jersey ringleaders. While busied with the immediate operations of his own troops, Washington was directing the operations of the army in the south, and with consummate skill. As a result of his combinations, simultaneous attacks were planned against the British in New York, Yorktown and Charleston. Washington in person led 2000 Continentals and 4000 French from West Point to Yorktown, a distance of four hundred miles, and invested Cornwallis, who surrendered October 19, 1781, this virtually ending the war.
      On December 4, 1782, Washington took leave of his officer in a banquet at Fraunce's Tavern, in New York. He then returned to Mount Vernon, and busied himself with the rehabilitation of his estate, and in promoting the settlement of the west, his principal interest in the latter undertaking being to enable the officers and men who had followed him during the long struggle for independence, to secure homes for themselves. On May 2, 1787, at the convention assembled at Philadelphia to amend the articles of confederation and union, Washington was unanimously chosen its president, and in February, 1789, the electoral college under the new constitution elected him first president of the United States. He received official notice of his election, April 14, 1789, at Mount Vernon, and set out on his journey to New York, great public assemblages greeting him all the way through Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and he was inaugurated April 30, Chancellor Livingston administering the oath of office, following it with the exclamation, "Long live George Washington, president of the United States." Washington now proceeded to the important task of selecting a cabinet, a supreme court, ministers to foreign courts, and a multitude of smaller officials, his intimate knowledge of men, and his almost superhuman judgment, enabling him to name a list of unapproachable excellence. In 1790 the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia, where Washington, at the close of his second presidential term, received John a/dams as his successor, he having refused to be a candidate for a third term, in an address of classical beauty, and breathing sentiments of fervent patriotism and lofty political philosophy. during his administration he sent a force of regulars and militia to quell the Indian disturbances on the frontier. With the aid of Hamilton, he formed a substantial basis for governmental finances, a task of the greatest magnitude owing to the utter worthlessness of existing Continental currency and the breaking down of the national credit. On the occasion of the war between France and England he issued a proclamation of neutrality in which he expressed sentiments which were subsequently celebrated in the "Monroe Doctrine": "The new power (the United States) meant to hold aloof from Europe * * * and take no interest in the balance of power or the fate of dynasties." On September 18, 1793, he laid the corner stone of the capitol building at Washington City. In 1794 he suppressed the "Whiskey Insurrection."
      After retiring from the presidency, Washington returned to private life at Mount Vernon. In 1796 he presented to "Liberty Hall Academy," in Rockbridge county, Virginia, one hundred shares of stock (value %50,000) of the old James River Company, given him by the Virginia legislature as a token of esteem and admiration, with these words: "To promote literature in this rising empire, and to encourage the arts, have ever been amongst the warmest wishes of my heart, and if the donation which the generosity of the legislature of the commonwealth has enabled me to bestow upon Liberty Hall — now by your politeness called Washington Academy — is likely to prove a means to accomplish these ends, it will contribute to the gratification of my desires." In 1798 the threatened war with France necessitated arrangements for a provisional army, and Washington was commissioned lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief. He appointed Alexander Hamilton chief of staff, and gave himself to the duties of organization with his old time vigor, but war was happily averted. He received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Harvard in 1776; from Yale in 1781; from the University of Pennsylvania in 1783; from Washington College (Maryland) probably in 1784; and from Brown University in 1790. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and member of the American Philosophical Society.
      On December 12, 1799, while busied on his estate, he took a severe cold which developed into acute laryngitis, and after being bled three times, sank rapidly, and breathed his last on December 14, He was buried in the family vault at Mount Vernon, and although a vault was prepared under the capitol at Washington City, the state of Virginia would not consent to the removal of the body. His birthday was made a national holiday by act of Congress. His name stands first in Class M, rulers and statesmen, in the Hall of Fame of Columbia University, New York, and is commemorated in the massive marble Washington Arch in the same city, and in the Washington Monument in the national capital. Statues of Washington have been erected in nearly every important city in the country, the principal ones being that by Houdon in the capital at Richmond, Virginia, and Crawford's equestrian statue in the same city; and the colossal statue by Greenough, in Washington City. Among numerous portraits are those of Stuart, Trumbull, and both the Peales.
      Martha Washington, wife of President and General George Washington, was a daughter of Colonel John Dandridge, and widow of Daniel Parke Custis. Her daughter, Martha Parke Custis, died at the age of seventeen; her younger children, Eleanor Parke and George Washington Parke Custis, were adopted by General Washington, who was childless.

[Pages 40-41]
      Wythe, George, son of Thomas Wythe, and Elizabeth Walker, his wife, who was a granddaughter of the celebrated Rev. George Keith, of England and Pennsylvania, was descended from Thomas Wythe, who came to Elizabeth City county, from England about 1680. He was born in 1720, was schooled under the care of his mother who was well educated, and attended William and Mary College. He studied law under his uncle-in-law, Stephen Dewey, in Prince George county; settled in Williamsburg, and attained distinction at the bar, and was made attorney-general by Governor Dinwiddie, in 1754, in the absence of Peyton Randolph; was burgess for the city of Williamsburg, August of the same year, on the death of Armistead Burwell, continuing till 1756. About this time he removed to Spotsylvania county, where he married Anne, daughter of Zachary Lewis, a prominent lawyer there. In 1758 he was again in Williamsburg, and was burgess fo the college of William and Mary in the assembly of 1758-1761, after which he removed to his native county, Elizabeth City, and was burgess for that county from 1761 to 1769, when he was made clerk of the house of burgesses, an office retained by him till 1775. During the Stamp Act troubles, he was one of the committee of correspondence, which in June, 1764, protested against its enactment, and he drew the remonstrance to the house of commons adopted by the burgesses in December, 1764. He opposed the resolutions of Patrick Henry in May, 1765, as hasty and premature. He served as clerk of the house of burgesses till he was appointed a member of Congress in August, 1775, where he supported the resolutions of Richard Henry Lee, in favor of independence, and afterward was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1776 he was appointed a member of the committee to revise the laws of the state and to adapt them to the new form of government, having been one of the compilers of the Code of 1769. In 1777 he was speaker of the house of delegates, and the same year was appointed one of the three judges of the chancery court established y law. While holding this position, he was appointed, in 1779, professor of law at William and Mary College, being thus the first professor of law in the United States. As a part of his methods of teaching he held mot law courts and legislative assemblies in the old Williamsburg capital. He was the first judge to announce the power of the courts to over-rule an unconstitutional enactment. In 1789 he was made sole chancellor of the state, resigned his professorship, and went to reside in Richmond. In 1787, he represented Virginia in the Federal convention at Philadelphia and in 1788 was vice-president of the Virginia state convention, which ratified its work, Mr. Wythe voting for the constitution. He was twice presidential elector on the Republican ticket. The honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by William and Mary in 1790. So just and upright was he in his decisions, that he was called the "American Aristides," and both Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall studied law under him. The former pronounced him "one of the greatest men of his age." He was the author of "Decisions in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery." He died from the effects of poison, and his great-nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, was tried for the crime, but was acquitted. He died June 8, 1806, and was buried in St. John's churchyard, Richmond. He married (second) Elizabeth Taliaferro, daughter of Richard Taliaferro, of James City county, but he had no surviving issue by either of his wives.