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[Page 235]
      Mossom, David, son of Thomas Mossom, chandler of Greenwich, Kent county, England, was born March 25, 1690, matriculated at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1705, came to Virginia in 1718 and was minister that married George Washington to the Widow Martha Custis, at the "White House" on the Pamunkey river. He was the first American admitted to the office of Presbyter in the church. His daughter Elizabeth, born 1722, married Capt. William Reynolds, owner of a vessel plying in the tobacco trade. Their daughter Elizabeth married Richard Chapman, whose son, Reynolds Chapman, succeeded George C. Taylor as clerk of Orange county in 1802.

[Page 235]
      Van Braam, Jacob, a native of Holland. He had served in the Carthagena expedition, under the British Admiral Vernon, in the same department with Major Lawrence Washington. He came to Virginia and taught military tactics. He was a Mason, and he and Washington were members of the Fredericksburg lodge. When Washington, then a major, went on his journey in the fall of 1753 to deliver Gov. Dinwiddie's message to the French commander on the Ohio, he took Van Braam with him as an attendant. In 1754 he served as a lieutenant under Washington, in the expedition to the Ohio; was promoted to captain. When Fort Necessity capitulated, Van Braam and Captain Stobo were held by the French as hostages, and taken to Canada; the latter escaped, and Van Braam was liberated when Montreal fell. Van Braam received nine thousand acres of land under the Dinwiddie proclamation. He was made major of a battalion of the Sixtieth Foot Royal Americans on duty in the West Indies in 1777.

[Page 235]
      Muse, George, had served in the Carthagena expedition, in the Virginia regiment commanded by Col Spotswood, under Admiral Vernon. He returned to Virginia, and it is said that at one time he instructed George Washington in military tactics. He was made one of the four adjutant majors of the provincial militia. In the spring of 1754 Governor Dinwiddie appointed him major of the Virginia regiment, and he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel June 4, to succeed Col. Joshua Fry, deceased. He joined Washington, but for some reason his name was omitted from the list of officers who received the thanks of the house of burgesses for good conduct in the battle of Great Meadows. He received, however, a land grant, but the small quantity allotted him (thirty-five hundred acres) moved him to address a rude protest to Washington, who answered, "as he is not very agreeable to the other officers, I am well pleased at his resignation."

[Page 236]
      Croghan, George, a native of Ireland, was educated in Dublin, came to America settling on the Juniata river, above where is now Harrisburg, and as early as 1746 was trading with the Indians. he acquired the Indian language, was possessed of character and good business ability. Gov. Dinwiddie engaged him as an interpreter, and sent him to Washington, but his service was not entirely satisfactory. Gen. Braddock commissioned him captain in 1755 for service against the Indians. In 1756 he was made Indian agent by Sir William Johnson, who in 1763 sent him to England to confer with the ministry. In 1766 he settled above Fort Pitt, and until 1776 rendered excellent service in conciliating the Indians. He remained on his far during the revolution. He is to be distinguished from George Croghan (son of Major William Croghan), who was born in Kentucky, near Louisville, November 15, 1791, graduated at William and Mary College in 1810, and distinguished himself in the war of 1812 and in the war with Mexico. He was inspector- general, with the rank of colonel.

[Page 236]
      Hog (Hogg), Peter, born at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1703, son of James Hog, and believed to be a near relative of the famous James Hogg, the "Ettrick shepherd." With his brother James and Thomas he came to America about 1745, and settled in Augusta county, Virginia. As a captain he served under Washington in the expedition of 1754, was at the surrender of Fort Necessity, and was among those who received the thanks of the Virginia assembly for their good conduct. In 1756 he was engaged in constructing frontier forts, and he served in the Virginia regiment until the fall of Fort Duquesne. After his military service ended he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1759, and in 1772 Lord Dunmore appointed him deputy to the attorney-general for Dunmore (later Shenandoah) county, Virginia. He received two thousand acres of land under the Dinwiddie proclamation, and owned eight thousand acres near Point Pleasant, on the Ohio river, and another large tract in Mason county, Kentucky. He married Elizabeth Taylor, and has many descendants of the names of Hoge, Hog, Hall, Blair, Blackley, Hawkins, Macpherson and others. One of these descendants was Hon. James W. Hoge, member of the Virginia convention of 1861. Arista Hoge, a great-grandson, was living in Staunton, Virginia, in 1883. Thomas Hog, a brother of Capt. Peter Hog was killed in 1774, while on his way to Kentucky to establish salt works there. Cat. Peter Hog died April 20, 1782.

[Pages 236-237]
      Trent, William, born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, about 1715. In 1746 he entered the military service of Pennsylvania under a commission from Gov. Thomas, served in Canada under Gov. Clinton, and was honorably discharged with the thanks of the assembly. In 1749 Gov. Hamilton appointed him justice of the courts of common pleas and general sessions for Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. The same year he was confidential agent sent to the Ohio Indians with peace offerings and messages of good will. In 1750, with his brother-in-law, George Croghan, and others, he was engaged in trade with the Indians on the Ohio river; it was said that Benjamin Franklin was a member of the company. Trent was employed by the governor of Virginia to attend his commissioners at a treaty with the Indians in 1752, below the forks of the Ohio, but before this was accomplished, he was sent with messages and presents to the Miami Indians. In 1753 Gov. Dinwiddie sent him to the forks of the Ohio, to examine a site for a fort. In September of the same year he was present at a treaty with the Indians at Winchester, Virginia, Early in 1754 Gov. Dinwiddie authorized him to raise a company of a hundred men to erect a fort at the forks of the Ohio. After work was begun, the French and Indians appeared, and compelled the Americans to depart; Trent was absent at the time, and for his absence Gov. Dinwiddie ordered him to be court-martialed, but he was never brought to trial. He was unfortunate in his Indian trading, and died poor. He was a major at Fort Pitt in July, 1776. In 1778, while on his way from Fort Pitt, he was taken sick at his home in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and died. He was buried at "Silver Spring church."

[Page 237]
      Stobo, Robert, born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1727, son of William Stobo, merchant. He attended a Latin school, and then the University of Glasgow. In 1742 his friends sent him to Virginia to serve in a store conducted by Glasgow merchants. Later he went into business for himself. He was held in esteem by Gov. Dinwiddie, who appointed him captain in a regiment raised in 1754 to oppose the French. He proved an efficient officer in the campaign, and superintended the construction of the fortification at Fort Necessity, and bore a gallant part in the battle of Great Meadows. He was one of the hostages delivered to the French when Fort Necessity capitulated. While in confinement at Fort Duquesne, he drew plans of the fort and its approaches, and wrote suggestions for its successful assault. This paper was conveyed by a friendly Indian to the commanding officer at Will's Creek, but fell into the hands of the enemy in the battle of Monongahela, and he was closely confined in the fortress at Quebec. He escaped, was retaken, and after a year's confinement again regained his freedom and joined Gen. Wolfe at Louisburg. He was made a confidential messenger to Gen. Amherst, who ent him to the governor of Virginia, by whom he was well received. He received the thanks of the house of burgesses, and was awarded £1,000 as a reward for his zeal and the great hardships he had endured as a hostage. He went to England in 1760, and in June of that year was commissioned captain in Amherst's regiment, and served in the West Indies. He left the army in 1770, and died soon afterwards. In the yard of the Episcopal church at Portsmouth, Virginia, is the tombstone of "Capt. Jacob Stobo, late of Philadelphia, who departed this life January 30, 1794."

[Pages 237-238]
      Craik, James, born at Abigland, Scotland, in 1730; educated at Edinburgh University, and graduated in both letters and medicine. On leaving college he took service as surgeon with the British troops in the West Indies, soon afterwards resigned, and went to Virginia, engaging in practice in Norfolk. In 1754 he was appointed surgeon to the Virginia regiment, and his name appears in the list of officers thanked by the Virginia assembly for their bravery in the battle of Great Meadows, and he received a land grant under the Dinwiddie proclamation. After the surrender of Fort Necessity he engaged in medical practice at Winchester, Virginia. The next year, he accompanied the Virginia regiment in the Braddock expedition. Returning to Winchester he removed to a plantation in Maryland below Alexandria, and later took up his residence in that town, on the advice of Washington, with whom he was on closest terms of friendship. He was a surgeon in the revolution; in 1777 was active in exposing a conspiracy to remove Washington from command; and in 1781 was made director-in-chief of the military hospitals at Yorktown. In 1760 he married Marianna, daughter of Col. Charles Ewell. He passed his latter years on his plantation, "Vaucluse," about five miles from Mt. Vernon. His son, George Washington, studied medicine, but became secretary to Washington in his second presidential term. Washington, in his will, referred to Dr. Craik as his "old and intimate friend," and gave him a desk and chair. He died at his home, February 6, 1814.

[Page 238]
      Cresap, Thomas, born in Skipton, Yorkshire, England, was founder of the Cresap family in America. At the age of fifteen he came to America, and when about thirty, married a Miss Johnson, where no wis Havre de Grace, Maryland. He visited Virginia, and was about to rent farming land from the Washington family, but eventually settled in Washington county, Maryland. He engaged in trading with the Indians, but the ship containing furs in which was invested his entire fortune was captured by the French.. He now settled at "Old Town," Maryland, calling it "Skipton," for his English home town, and again engaged in fur trading, being a great favorite with the Indians, with whom he could converse in their own tongue. He was also a surveyor, and under the authority of the Ohio Company, of which he was a member, he made extensive surveyings. He was frequently a member of the legislature. His second marriage was when he was eighty years old, and he lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and five years.

[Page 238]
      Gist, Christopher, was a native of Maryland. He explored the country from the headwaters of the Ohio river down to the falls (now at Louisville, Kentucky) in 1750, in the interests of the Ohio Company. The following year he traversed the valley of the Ohio on both sides of the river; and in 1752 erected a cabin where is now Mount Braddock, Pennsylvania. Two years later, eleven families joined him, and they were among the first, if not the first, settlers in western Pennsylvania. He acted as scout for Washington in the journey to what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was captain in the Virginia forces in 1755, and in 1757 was appointed deputy Indian agent, on the strong recommendation of Washington. Nothing is known of his last years. He left three sons — Nathaniel, Thomas and Richard.

[Pages 238-239]
      Andrews, Robert, descended from Antony Andrews, of Alexton, Leicestershire, England, and son of Moses Andrews, of Pennsylvania. He was educated at the College of Pennsylvania; came to Virginia about 1770 as a tutor in the family of Mann Page. During the American revolution he was private secretary to Gen. Thomas Nelson, and in 1779 was made professor of moral philosophy in William and Mary College, and in 1784 was transferred to the chair of mathematics. He was afterwards joined with James Madison, president of the college, to run the Virginia and Pennsylvania boundary lines. He was a member of the legislature in 1798- 99, and died in 1805. He married (first) Elizabeth Ballard, by whom he had Anne Andrews, who married William Randolph, of Wilton, and (second) Mary Blair, daughter of Judge John Blair, of Williamsburg.

[Page 239]
      Hamilton, Andrew, born in Augusta county, Virginia, in 1741, son of Irish emigrants — Archibald Hamilton and Frances Calhoun, his wife. He is said to have been a descendant of James Hamilton Earl of Arran, regent of Scotland during the infancy of Mary Stuart. He removed to South Carolina, and served in the revolution as captain and major under Gen. Pickens, taking part in all the important battles in Georgia. After the war he was elected to the South Carolina legislature, where he served until old age obliged him to ask for a successor. He married Jane Magill, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in her eighty-sixth year, he dying January 19, 1835, in his ninety=sixth year. They left many descendants.

[Pages 239-240]
      Campbell, Arthur, born in Augusta county, Virginia, November 3, 1743. When fourteen years old, he volunteered to aid in protecting the frontier against the Indians. He was stationed in a fort on the Cowpasture river, near where the road crosses leading from Staunton to the Warm Springs. He was captured by the Indians, who loaded him with their packs, and marched him into the forests. At the end of seven days, he was unable to travel, and was treated by the Indians with great severity. An old chief, taking compassion on him, protected him from inquiry, and on reaching the lakes adopted him, and the young man remained with him during his three years' captivity. Campbell made himself familiar with the Indian language, manners and customs, and gained the confidence of the old chief, who took him on all his hunting excursions over Michigan and the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In 1759, a British force marched towards the Upper Lakes, and Campbell determined to escape. While out hunting, he left the Indians, and after a fortnight's tramp, reached the British. The British commander was much interested in Campbell's account of his captivity and escape, and engaged him to pilot the army, which he did with success. Shortly after he returned to Augusta, after an absence of more than three years. For his services in piloting the army he received a grant of one thousand acres of land near Louisville, Kentucky. In 1769, his father and family removed to the "Royal Oak," on Holstein river, and in 1776, Arthur Campbell was appointed major in the Fincastle militia, and elected to the general assembly. He was a member of the convention for framing the constitution When Washington county was formed, he was commissioned colonel, and commanded several expeditions, particularly that against the Cherokees. In 1785 he took part in a plan in a plan of separating the county of Washington from Virginia and uniting it with the proposed commonwealth of Frankland, constituting the western part of North Carolina, whereupon the general assembly passed an act drawn by John Tyler denouncing any attempt of this kind as high treason. He was tall, with a dignified air, an extensive reader, and a good talker. He married a sister of Gen. William Campbell, and left issue at his death, at Middleborough, Kentucky, August 8, 1811.

[Page 240]
      Zane, Col. Ebenezer, was born October, 1747, in that part of Augusta county, Virginia, which is now Ohio county, West Virginia. This family is of Danish origin, but at an early day removed to England and thence in the seventeenth century to America. In 1770 he wandered to the west with his brothers Silas and Jonathan, and settled at Wheeling. In 1772 his family and a few friends removed to his new abode on the Ohio. There was not at the time a permanent Anglo-Saxon settlement from the source to the mouth of the Ohio. The little band at Wheeling stood alone in the immense solitude. In 1773 many families joined the settlement. Zane's intercourse with the Indians was marked by mildness and honorable dealing — hence his hamlet escaped the fury of the savages until 1777. All three brothers were men of enterprise, prudence and sound judgment, and the Wheeling settlement was mainly due to them for its security and preservation during the revolution. He was conspicuous during the siege of Fort Henry, and brought himself so prominently before the public that he received various marks of distinction from the colonial state and Federal governments. He was a disbursing officer under Dunmore, and enjoyed under the commonwealth numerous civil and military distinctions. Col. Zane's fearlessness was exemplified by his almost single-handed defence of his own dwelling, in the fall of 1782. The government of the United States, duly appreciating his capacity, energy and influence, employed him by an act of congress, May, 1796, to open a road from Wheeling to Limestone (Maysville). This duty he performed in the following year, assisted by his brother Jonathan, and son-in-law, John McIntyre, aided by an Indian guide, Tomepomehala, whose knowledge of the country enabled him to render valuable suggestions. The road was marked through under the eye of Colonel Zane and then committed to his assistants to cut out. As a compensation for opening this road, congress granted Col. Zane the privilege of locating military warrants upon three sections of land; the first to be at the crossing of the Muskingum, the second at Hock-hocking, and the third at Scioto. Col. Zane thought of crossing the Muskingum at Duncan's falls, but foreseeing the great value of the hydraulic power created by the falls, determined to cross at the point where Zanesville has since been established, and thus secure this important power. The second section was located where Lancaster now stands, and the third on the east side of the Scioto opposite Chillicothe. The first he gave, principally, to his two assistants for services rendered. In addition to these fine possessions, Col. Zane acquired large bodies of land throughout western Virginia, by locating patents for those persons whose fear of the Indians deterred them undertaking personally so hazardous an enterprise. Mr. Zane married a sister of the daring borderer, McCulloch, by whom he had eleven children. He died in 1811, at the age of sixty-four.

[Pages 240-241]
      Hening, William Walter, born in Virginia about 1750. He was for many years a successful lawyer. In 1804 he represented Albemarle county in the house of delegates, and two years later was made a member of the executive council, serving in that station for several years, and was during his later life and to his death, clerk of the chancery court for the Richmond district. He was an industrious writer, and compiled "Hening's Justice," a book of procedure for magistrates; edited Francis' "Maxims of Equity," and collaborated with William Munford several volumes of Virginia court of appeals reports. His monumental work was "Statutes at Large of Virginia," thirteen volumes, containing the laws from the colonial period, together with a great mass of state papers necessary to a proper understanding of the legislation and political history of the state. This work he preformed under authority of the Virginia assembly, beginning it in 1809, and completing it in 1823. He died in Richmond, April 7, 1828. (For his marriage and descendants, see "William and Mary College Quarterly," xxii, 297).

[Page 241]
      Mcculloch, Major Samuel, was born on Short Creek, Augusta county, Virginia now northwestern West Virginia, about 1752. At a very early age he distinguished him self as a bold and efficient borderer. As an Indian hunter, he had few superiors. He seemed to track the wily red men with a sagacity as remarkable as his efforts were successful. In consideration of his services, he was commissioned major in 1775, and in 1777 he performed a remarkable feat. During the siege of Wheeling, the Indians drove Major McCulloch to the summit of a lofty hill, which overhangs the present city. Knowing their relentless hostility toward himself, he strained every muscle of his noble steed to gain the summit, and then escaped along the brow in the direction of Van Meter's fort. As he gained a point on the hill near where the road passes, what should he suddenly encounter but a considerable body of Indians, who were just returning from a plundering excursion among the settlements. In an instant the bold soldier, preferring death among the rocks and brambles to captivity and torture by the savages, without a moment's hesitation, firmly adjusted him self in the saddle, grasped securely the bridle in his left hand, and supporting his rifle in the right, pushed his unfaltering horse over a precipice three hundred feet deep. The Indians greatly rejoiced that their most inveterate enemy was at length beyond the power of doing further injury. But, lo! ere a single savage had recovered from his amazement, what should they see but the invulnerable major, on his white steed, galloping across the peninsula. Such was the feat of Samuel McCulloch, certainly one of the most daring and successful ever attempted. The place has become memorable as "McCulloch's Leap." At a later date on July 30, 1782, he was scouting with his brother near Girty's Point, when the Indians waylaid them and fired, killing Major McCulloch instantly. His brother escaped, but his horse was killed. This brother, Major John McCulloch, was a trusted officer in the revolutionary war, and filled many important positions.

[Pages 241-242]
      Gamble, Robert, born in Augusta county, Virginia, September 3, 1754, son of James Gamble. He was educated at Liberty Hall. On attaining his majority he took up a mercantile business, but the revolutionary war began and he aided in recruiting a military company, of which he was made first lieutenant, later becoming captain. He served throughout the war, and took part in many battles, including Princeton and Monmouth. He led one of the assaulting parties at Stony Point, and was permanently deafened by a discharge from one of the enemy's cannon, which was fired just as he reached it. In the latter part of the war he served under Gen. Greene, and for a time was on the staff of Baron De Kalb. He was taken prisoner in South Carolina, and confined on a British vessel in Charleston harbor. After the war he engaged in a mercantile business in Staunton, and while there was lieutenant-colonel of militia. In 1792 he removed to Richmond, where he became a prosperous business man. He married Catharine, daughter of John Grattan, of Mt. Crawford. His sons, Colonels John G. and Robert Gamble, were officers in the war of 1812. One of his daughters was wife of the famous William Wirt, and another was wife of Judge and Governor William H. Cabell.

[Page 242]
      Montour, Andrew, son of Madam Montour, daughter of a Frenchman of that name, and a Huron Indian woman. Madam Montour was a woman of great strength of character, and some education; she was very friendly to the English and devoted to the interest of the whites, to whom her services were so important that the commissioner of Indian affairs for New York allowed her "a man's pay." Her husband was an Oneida chief, Corondawana, alias Robert Hunter. Andrew Montour was a man of intelligence and some education. As captain, he was sent by Governor Dinwiddie to join Washington, to command some friendly Indians as scouts, and served with him until 1756-57. Parkman says of him: "His face is like that of a European, but marked with a broad Indian ring of bear's grease and paint drawn completely around it. He wears a coat of fine cloth of cinnamon color, a black necktie with silver spangles, a red waistcoat, trousers, over which hangs his shirt; shoes and stockings; a hat and brass ornaments, something like the handle of a basket, suspended from his ears."

[Page 242]
      Waggoner, Thomas, was a lieutenant with Washington in his expedition to the Ohio in 1754, and was slightly wounded in the skirmish of May 28, that year, when Jumonville was killed. His name appears in the list of those who received the thanks of the Virginia house of burgesses, August 30, 1754, for "gallant and brave conduct in the campaign."

[Page 242]
      Moffett, George, born in Augusta county, Virginia, in 1735, son of John Moffett and Mary Christian, his wife. He lived at Mt. Pleasant; was prominent in the Indian wars and the revolution. After the war he was a justice of the peace, one of the first trustees of Washington College at Lexington, and an elder in the Presbyterian church. He married a sister of Colonel Samuel McDowell. He died in 1811.

[Pages 242-243]
      Peyronie, William Chevalier, a native of France, of excellent family and well educated. He came to Williamsburg, Virginia, about 1750, where he taught fencing. He had a military training and was commissioned ensign in the Virginia regiment under Washington in 1754. He was a gallant officer, and was desperately wounded in the battle of Great Meadows, but finally recovered and won the favor of Washington; was among the officers who received the thanks of the assembly, and was made captain August 25, 1754, on Washington's recommendation. He was engage in the Braddock expedition, and was killed in the battle of the Monongahela.

[Page 243]
      Russell, William, was lieutenant-colonel of the militia of Culpeper county in 1754, from which he removed and settled on the Clinch river, south of Castle's hoods, about 1770. Commanded a company of frontiersmen at the battle of Point Pleasant in the fall of 1774; member of the convention of May, 1776, from Fincastle county; commissioned captain in the Continental army, and in 1776 was in Col. William Christian's expedition against the Cherokee Indians. He was a delegate to the house of delegates in 1786, and Russell county was created and named for him. Made brigadier-general if Virginia militia. He resided for many years at Saltville, Virginia, and died in 1794 at the home of his son, Robert S. Russell, in Shenandoah county. He was father of William Russell (q. v.).

[Page 243]
      Brady, Samuel, called the "Marion of the West," was born at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, 1756, and was the son of John Brady, who was made a captain in the old French and Indian war. In 1776 Samuel joined the American army, was commissioned lieutenant and marched to Boston. He continued with the army, and was in all the principal battles until after that of Monmouth, when he was ordered to the west and joined Gen. Broadhead. Broadhead employed Brady as a spy to ascertain the strength, resources etc., of the savages. Disguised as savages, Brady, Williamson and Wetzel reached the Indian towns on the upper Sandusky. They entered the Indian village at night and made a thorough reconnaissance, and then retreated, traveling all night. In the morning they discovered the savages in pursuit, but finally escaped, having killed one of the enemy. Satisfied with the information brought by Brady and his companions Broadhead's army moved onward. During all the Indian wars up to 1794, Brady took an active part and no braver or bolder man ever drew a sword or fired a rifle. He married a daughter of Capt. Van Swearingen, of Ohio county, and left descendants.

[Pages 243-244]
      Clay, Green, born in Powhatan county, Virginia, August 14, 1757, was of an ambitious and enterprising nature. Before he had attained the age of twenty years, he had realized that better oportunities were to be found elsewhere than in his native region, and he removed to Kentucky, where he became a man of great wealth and prominence, having realized the value of land and followed the avocation of surveying. He represented Kentucky interests in the Virginia legislature; was a leader in the Kentucky constitutional convention of 1799; and was a member of the convention which ratified the Federal constitution. For many years he was a member of either one or the other branch of the legislature, and served for a time as speaker of the senate. When Gen. Harrison was besieged by the British in Fort Meigs in 1813, he went to his assistance with three thousand volunteers and completely routed the enemy. Having been left in command at this fort, he defended it with ability against the combined attacks of the British under Gen. Proctor, and the Indians under Tecumseh. He retired to his plantation at the conclusion of this war, and devoted his time and attention to its cultivation, passing away to his last rest October 31, 1826. The famous Henry Clay was a cousin.

[Page 244]
      Wetzel, Lewis, was one of the pioneers if West Virginia and a great Indian hunter. During the career of this man of indomitable courage, energy and skill he killed twenty-seven Indian warriors. He died in 1808. He was five feet ten inches high, erect, broad across the shoulders, deep chest, and limbs denoting great muscular strength. His complexion was dark, eyes black, wild and rolling. His black hair was luxuriant, and when combed out fell below his knees — a rare scalp for the savages could they have secured it. He loved his friends and hated his enemies. he was a rude, blunt man of few words. His name and fame will long survive among the backwoodsmen.

[Pages 244-245]
      Crawford, William Harris, son of Joel Crawford and Fanny Harris, his wife, and descended from David Crawford, who came from Scotland to Virginia about 1654, was born in Amherst county, Virginia, February 24, 1772. His father, who was in reduced circumstances, removed first to South Carolina, and then to Columbia county, Georgia. After the completion of his early education, Mr. Crawford taught for a time in the schools of Augusta, and then studied law, commencing the practice of this profession at Lexington, in 1799, and became on of the compilers of the first digest of the laws of Georgia. In 1802 he became a member of the state senate, and in 1807 a member of the United States senate to fill a vacancy. The political excitement of the period led him to engage in two duels, in one of which his opponent fell, and in the second of which he was wounded himself. In 1811 he was reëlected, acquiesced in the policy of a United States Bank, and in 1812 was chosen president pro tem. of the senate. At first he was oposed to the war with Great Britain, but finally gave it his support. In 1813, having declined the post of secretary of war, he accepted that of minister to France where he formed a personal friendship with Lafayette. Upon the retirement of Mr. Dallas in 1816, Mr. Crawford was appointed secretary of the treasury. He was prominently urged as candidate for the presidency, but remained at the head of the treasury department, where he adhered to the views of Mr. Jefferson, and opposed the Federal policy in regard to internal improvements, then supported by a considerable section of his own party. This position on the great question of the time subjected him to virulent hostility from opponents of his own party, and Mr. Calhoun, who was one of these opponents of his own party, and Mr. Calhoun, who was one of these opponents, became a dangerous rival for the Democratic nomination for the presidency to succeed Monroe. Mr. Crawford, however, as the choice of the Virginia party, and the representative of the views of Jefferson, secured the nomination of a congressional caucus in February, 1824, and in the election that followed he received the electoral votes of Virginia and Georgia, with scattering votes from new York, Maryland and Delaware, in all forty-one. No choice having been made by the electoral college, the election revered to the house of representatives, where John Quincy Adams was elected over Jackson and Crawford, through the influence of Henry Clay, the fourth candidate before the people, who brought his friends to the support of Adams. This result was also partly due to the ill health of Mr. Crawford, and perhaps to imputations brought against his conduct of the treasury department. These charges he promptly refuted, and a committee that included Daniel Webster and John Randolph unanimously declared them to be unfounded. But his health rendered it impossible for him to continue in pubic life, and although he partially regained his strength, he abstained from participation in politics frm that time. Upon his return to Georgia he became circuit judge, an office he continued to fill with great efficiency, by successive elections in 1828 and 1831, almost until his death. He opposed nullification, and his last days were spent in retirement. Personally he was a man of conspicuous social gifts, an admirable conversationalist, religious in his view and feelings, and a supporter of Baptist convictions. At his home he dispensed a hearty hospitality, and his name is eminent among the illustrious citizens of Georgia. He died in Elbert county, Georgian, September 15, 1834.