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[Page 245]
Morgan, William, born in Culpeper county, Virginia, in 1775. He
served under Gen. Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. He moved to Batavia, New York, and in
1826 it was rumored that he was about to publish an exposure of the secrets of freemasonry. He
was taken by a party of men to Canandaigua, on a criminal charge, was acquitted, and rearrested
and lodged in jail, from which he was secretly taken. It was charged that he was drowned in Lake
Ontario, September 19, 1826. Based upon the feeling thus engendered, the political Anti-Masonic
party was formed, which in 1831 nominated William Wirt for the presidency. The party was finally
merged into the Whig party.
[Pages 245-246]
Campbell, Richard, was born in the Valley of Virginia. He was
commissioned captain in 1776, later became major, served in Gibson's regiment at Pittsburgh, and
on McIntosh's expedition against the Ohio Indians in 1778. He led a relief party to Fort Laurens
in June, 1779, and for a time was commander of that garrison. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel,
and commanded a Virginia regiment at Guilford, Hobkirk's Hill, Ninety-six, and Eutaw Springs,
where he was mortally wounded while leading the charge that drove the British from the field.
Some hours later, hearing that the enemy were in full retreat, he died, exclaiming, "I die
contented" Many writers have confounded him with Gen. William Campbell one of the leaders at
King's Mountain. See Draper's "King's Mountain and its Heroes." Richard Campbell died at Eutaw
Springs, South Carolina, September 8, 1781.
[Page 246]
Thomson, John, son of John Thomson, a merchant of Petersburg,
Virginia, was born in 1777 and studied at William and Mary College. He practiced law and his
speeches and letters to the newspapers over the signature of Casca Gracchus and Curtius,
attacking the policy of the Federalist party, in answer to John Marshall, were much applauded. He
died in 1799, when not more than twenty-two. A sketch of his life was written by his friend,
George Hay, the lawyer, who is unbounded in praise of his eloquence and talents.
[Page 246]
Cummings, Charles, a native of Ireland, came to Lancaster county,
Virginia, where he taught school and studied for the ministry under Rev. James Waddell. He was
licensed to preach by Hanover Presbytery in 1766, and was pastor of Brown's meeting house the
next year. In 1773 he was minister to the congregations on the Holston, and settled at Abingdon.
The country was infested by Indians, and he carried his rifle into his pulpit; on one occasion he
was engaged in a deadly conflict. In 1776 he accompanied Col. Christian's troops in an expedition
against the Cherokees, and was the first preacher in Tennessee. He died in 1812.
[Page 246]
Blackburn, Samuel, was born in Virginia, probably in Augusta
county, about 1758. His parents removed to the Holston region, and he was educated at Washington
College and in 1785, after he had left college, it conferred upon him the Bachelor of Arts
degree. He was a soldier in the revolution and was in the battle of Guilford Court House. After
the war he was principal teacher in an academy at Washington, Georgia, and while thus engaged
studied law. In 1795 he was a member of the Georgia legislature, and was several times a
candidate for congress, but never elected. He removed to Bath county, Virginia, and was several
times a member of the legislature, and was author of the anti-dueling law said to be the
first law of the kind ever enacted in the United States. He was one of the most brilliant orators
and successful criminal lawyers of his time. By will, he liberated his slaves, some forty in
number, on condition that they would go to Liberia, whither they were taken at the expense of his
estate. He was a general in the state militia. He married the oldest daughter of Governor
Mathews.
[Pages 246-247]
Butler, William, was born in Prince William county, Virginia, in
1759, a son of James Butler, who was captured and murdered by the notorious Cunningham. Mr.
Butler was a student at South Carolina College, from which he was graduated with the degree of
Doctor of Medicine. In 1779 he became a lieutenant in Lincoln's army, was active at Stono, and
served in the noted corps of Pulaski. He next served in the command of Gen. Pickens, then with
Gen. Lee under Greene, being an active participant in the siege of Ninety-Six, and was detached
on a number of separate services, which required celerity, courage and vigilance. He was advanced
to a command of mounted rangers and took part in many affairs with the Tories. He was in command
of a body of cavalry when, in association with Michael Watson, he attacked and, with the aid of
Gen. Sumter and others, dispersed double the number of the enemy in Dean's Swamp, but Watson was
killed in this encounter. Soon after the termination of the war he was made a brigadier-general,
and in 1796, major-general of the militia. He was a member of the convention of 1787 to consider
the adoption of the Federal constitution, and voted against it. Subsequently he was a member of
the convention that passed the present constitution of South Carolina, was for some time a member
of the legislature, sheriff in 1794, and also served as a magistrate. He was a member of congress
from 1801 until 1813, resigning his seat in the last mentioned year in order to make way for John
C. Calhoun. He was again a candidate for congress in 1818, but was defeated by Eldred Simkins.
During the war of 1812 he was in command of the South Carolina troops for state defence. He died
in Columbia, South Carolina, November 15, 1821.
[Page 247]
Speece, Conrad, born in Campbell county, Virginia. He attended the
New London Academy, then went to Washington College, Lexington, Virginia, where he graduated in
1796, and was a tutor for more than a year. He studied theology, and was licensed to preach by
Hover Presbytery. He was pastor of the Augusta church from 1813 to 1836. He cultivated general
literature, and wrote in both prose and verse. He wrote the hymn, "Blest Jesus, when Thy Cross I
View." Princeton College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
[Page 247]
Hughes, Jesse, born at the headwaters of the Monongahela,
Virginia, about 1768, early became skilled in the use of the rifle and tomahawk, and was one of
the most active, daring and successful Indian hunters in the mountain region of Virginia
sometimes styled the Wetzel of his portion of the state. He was a man of iron constitution, could
endure extraordinary privations and fatigue, and many anecdotes are told of his encounters with
the red men and of the invaluable services he rendered to the white settlements on the
Monongahela. He was more than a match at any time for the most wary savage; in his ability to
anticipate all their artifices, he had few equals and no superiors. He was a great favorite, and
no scouting party could be complete unless Jesse Hughes had something to do with it.
[Pages 247-248]
Claiborne, Ferdinand Leigh, was born in Sussex county, Virginia,
in 1772, son of Col. William Claiborne, of King William county, and Mary Leigh, his wife,
daughter of Ferdinand Leigh. In 1793 he entered the military service of the United States as
ensign of infantry, became lieutenant the following year, and rose to the rank of captain in
1799. He resigned this office in 1802; became brigadier-general of the militia in Mississippi,
February 5, 1811, and subsequently commanded a regiment of volunteers from that territory. He was
in command at the time of the engagement with the Creek Indians at the Holy Ground, in December
of that year. He then settled in Mississippi, became legislative councillor, February 4, 1815,
and later presided over the deliberations of the legislature. He died in Natchez. Mississippi, in
1815. He was a brother of William Charles Cole Claiborne, governor of the Mississippi territory
in 1802 (q. v.).
[Page 248]
Custis, George Washington Parke, was born at Mount Airy, Maryland,
April 30, 1781, a son of Col. John Parke Custis, who was a son of Mrs. Washington by her first
husband, Daniel Parke Custis, and who was aide-de-camp to Washington at the siege of Yorktown,
and died November 5, 1781, at the age of twenty-eight years. The early years of Mr .Custis were
spent at Mount Vernon, he pursued his classical studies at St. John's College and at Princeton,
and was a member of Washington's family until the death of Mrs. Washington in 1802, when he built
the Arlington House on an estate of one thousand acres near Washington, which he had inherited
from his father. In 1852, after the death of his sister, Eleanor Parke Custis, wife of Maj.
Lawrence Lewis, he was the sole surviving member of Washington's family, and his residence was
for many years a favorite resort, owing to the relics of that family which it contained. Mr.
Custis married in early life, Mary Lee Fitzhugh, of Virginia, and left a daughter, Mary Randolph,
who married Robert E. Lee. The Arlington estate was confiscated during the civil war, and is now
held as national property, and is the site of a national soldiers' cemetery. Mr. Custis was an
eloquent and effective speaker in his early days; he wrote orations and plays, and during his
latter years executed a number of large paintings of revolutionary battles. His "Recollections of
Washington," originally contributed to the "National Intelligencer," was published in book form,
with a memoir by his daughter and notes by Benson J. Lossing, New York, 1860. He died at
Arlington House, Fairfax county, Virginia.
[Page 248]
Daniel, Peter Vivian, was born in Stafford, county, Virginia,
April 24, 1784, a son of Travers Daniel, and a grandson of Peter Daniel, and a grandson of Peter
Daniel, who married a daughter of Ralph Travers, of the Virginia house of burgesses. The
residence of Travers Daniel, "Crow's Nest," near the mouth of Potomac Creek, was celebrated for
its hospitalities, and the family bore an important part in public affairs. Peter Vivian Daniel
was graduated from Princeton in the class of 1805, and read law in the office of Edmund Randolph
(of Washington's cabinet), whose daughter, Lucy Nelson Randolph, he married in 1811. He was
chosen a member of the privy council of Virginia in 1812, and served part of the time as
lieutenant-governor of the state until 1835. In 1836 President Van Buren appointed him judge of
the district circuit court of Virginia, and he was raised to the supreme court of the United
States, March 3, 1841, to succeed Mr. Justice Barbour. Judge Daniel was a Democrat was a
Democrat, and a personal as well as political friend of President Jackson. He was a man of fine
taste in literature, a highly accomplished musician, and his judicial opinions are marked by care
and clearness. He died at Richmond, Virginia, June 30, 1860.
[Pages 248-249]
Cooke, John Rogers, was born in Bermuda, in 1788. For more than
forty years he was engaged in legal practice in Virginia, earning distinction, and during that
period was connected with almost all the cases of importance which were carried to the higher
courts of the state. In 1807 he held a commission in the Frederick township troop that marched to
the seaboard when the Chesapeake was fired upon, and he was a member of the legislature
in 1814. In 1829 he was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of Virginia, and
served, with Chief Justice Marshall, ex-President Madison and John Randolph, on the committee of
seven that drafted that instrument. He possessed a vigorous and penetrating mind, and has been
called "the model of lofty courtesy, chivalry and generosity." He died at Richmond, Virginia,
December 10, 1854.
[Page 249]
Duval, John Pope, was born at Richmond, Virginia, June 3, 1790.
His great-grandfather Daniel was a French Huguenot, who settled in Virginia in 1700; his
grandfather Samuel was a member of the house of burgesses; and his father, Maj. William Duval,
was an officer of the revolution, of high reputation as a chancery lawyer, who spent a large
fortune in assisting the poor, and enjoyed the friendship of Washington. John Pope Duval received
a liberal education at Washington College and at William and Mary, then studied law in Richmond,
being admitted to the bar in 1811. On April 9, 1812, he became first lieutenant in the Twentieth
United States Infantry, served on the Canadian frontier, and was promoted to the rank of captain,
serving in Virginia. After the war had been terminated he resigned his commission, and engaged in
the practice of law. He did not, however, meet with the success he had anticipated, so he sold
his property and migrated to Florida, where his brother was governor, arriving at Tallahassee in
June, 1827. He obtained an excellent practice there, but, owing to the unhealthfulness of the
climate, removed to Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1832, and resided there until 1836, during this time
organizing volunteer forces during the war between Texas and Mexico, and held the rank of
brigadier-general in the Texan service. Just as he was about to depart for the scene of
hostilities, the war was terminated by the capture of Santa Anna. HE then returned to Florida as
secretary of the territory, gained a high reputation as a lawyer there, and was commissioned by
Gov. Call to make a "Digest of the Laws of Florida," 1840. While acting as governor, he secured
the capture of a large body of Indians on the Appalachicola river. After the admission of Florida
to the Union, he gained prominence as a Democratic politician, but was a firm supporter of the
Union during the secession agitation of 1851-52. Mr Duval died in Washington, D. C., March 19,
1854.
[Pages 249-250]
Gilmer, Francis Walker, youngest son of Dr. George Gilmer, of "Pen
Parke," Albemarle county, and Elizabeth Hudson, his wife, daughter of Capt. Christopher Hudson, a
soldier in the revolution, was born October 9, 1790 at his father's residence. He lost both his
parents when he was still a child, so that he lacked direction in his studies, which were for the
most part pursued privately. In 1807 he attended Maryland and with such success that at seventeen
he was offered by Mr. Madison, president of that institution, the ushership of the grammar school
in the college. His reading was very extensive and in point of learning he was already deemed a
prodigy. After leaving college he studied law
in the office of William Wirt, who had married his sister Mildred; practiced with success at
Winchester and in 1818 removed to Richmond as a more enlarged and ambitious field. Here he worked
laboriously and was one of the leading lawyers. But he was essentially a student and he loved
dearly literature and the finer arts. It was about this time that he wrote his "Sketches of
American Orators," in which he touched off with very happy effect the eloquence of William
Pinkney, Littleton Waller Tazewell, William Wirt and others. In 1820 he wrote a short treatise on
"Usury," which received high commendation from Jefferson, Madison and John Randolph. He took much
interest in the establishment of the United States and was offered by Mr. Jefferson the post of
professor of law. This he declined, but he was subsequently prevailed upon him to go to England
and select the first professors. This mission he executed in a manner most honorable to himself
and the university. On his return he was again tendered the chair of law, and on account of his
health, which unfitted him for the strenuous work of practicing, he accepted. He never delivered
a lecture, but died on February 25, 1826, in the thirty-sixth year of his age, at the home of his
uncle, George Divers, in Albemarle county. His letters, written in England during his mission,
were published by William P. Trent, under the title of "English Culture in Virginia," in the
Johns Hopkins University publications on historical and political science. There also exist in
MSS. some of his letters to his nephew, Governor Thomas Walker Gilmer, in whose education he took
much interest.
[Page 250]
Taylor, Edward Thompson, born in Richmond, Virginia, December 25,
1793. He followed the sea in early life; was captured on the privateer Black Hawk in
1812, taken to England, and while in prison at Dartmouth acted as chaplain to his fellow
prisoners. In 1819 he was ordained to the Methodist ministry. In 1828 he was a missionary to the
Seaman's Bethel in Boston, Massachusetts. He was familiarly known as "Father Taylor," and his
discourses commanded wide attention by reason of his remarkably vivid use of nautical terms, and
his wonderful descriptive powers. In 1832 he visited Europe, Palestine in 1842, and in 1846 was
chaplain on the United States frigate Macedonian, on its voyage to Ireland with
provisions for its famine-stricken people. His eloquence commanded the admiring attention of such
writers as Miss Martineau, Charles Dickens and Miss Bremer. He died in Boston, Massachusetts,
April 6, 1871.
[Pages 250-251]
Collier, Henry Watkins, born in Lunenburg county, Virginia,
January 17, 1801, and was less than a year old when his father removed with his family to the
Abbeville District, South Carolina, where he received his preparatory education. They removed to
Madison county, Alabama, in 1818, and he studied law at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and at
Huntsville, Alabama, being admitted to legal practice in the latter city. He became a resident of
Tuscaloosa in 1823, and was there elected district judge in 1827. Having been appointed associate
justice of the supreme court of Alabama in 1836, he was made chief justice of the following year,
and remained the incumbent of this office until 1849, when, without opposition, he was elected
governor of the state. His support was sought both by the southern rights and the Union party;
but he favored neither side of the question that then agitated the southern states, and in 1851
was renominated and elected without a regular nomination. At the expiration of his second term of
office he returned to private life, and died at Bailey's Springs, Lauderdale county, Alabama,
August 28, 1855.
[Page 251]
Jeter, Jeremiah, born in Bedford county, Virginia, July 18, 1802.
He commenced preaching when he was twenty years old, and was ordained a Baptist minister in 1824,
and, in turn, served churches in Bedford, Sussex and Campbell counties, in the city of Richmond
and in St Louis, Missouri. He was made president and a trustee of Richmond (Virginia) College, at
its organization in 1840, and was first president of the foreign missions board of his church,
and later was president of the board of trustees of the Louisville Theological Seminary. Under
the board of missions he went to Italy to superintend mission work in 1865, and established
achapel in Rome. He was chief editor of the Richmond "Religious Herald," and author of numerous
biographical and other works. He was a principal compiler of "The Psalmist," which was generally
adopted by the churches of the United States, Canada and England. He died February 25, 1880.
[Page 251]
Mason, Clement R., born in Chesterfield county, Virginia,about
1803, of poor parents; he was early thrown upon his own resources, and withut the advantages of
educaton. In 1861 he recruited a company for the Fifty-second Virginia Regiment, but his services
were called for in another capacity. He was commissioned quartermaster, with the rank of captain;
was employed by Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson in constructing roads and bridges, in which work he
displayed masterly ability, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. After the war he turned his
attention to railroad construction, and built a large part of the Chesapeake & Ohio road, by a
mental process peculiar to himself, he made the most intricate calculations in mensuration. He
accumulated several fortunes, and lost nearly all through his generosity. He died in January,
1885, aged about eighty-two years.
[Page 251]
Dupuy, Eliza Ann, born at Petersburg, Virginia, about 1814,
descended from Abraham Dupuy, who settled with other French Huguenots at Manakintown, above
Richmond, in 1700, and of Col. Joel Sturdevant, of the revolution. Her father, a merchant and
ship owner of Norfolk, Virginia, moved to Kentucky, where she wrote her first novel, "Meeton, a
Tale of the Revolution." She became governess in a family at Natchez, Mississippi, and while
there wrote her story of Aaron Burr, under title of "The Conspirator," and its success impelled
her to give herself entirely to literary work, and she produced many volumes, among them "The
Planter's Daughter," "The Separation," "The Divorce," "Florence, or the Fatal Vow," "Ashleigh, a
Tale of the Revolution," "The Huguenot Refugees." Most of her work was of the sensational order,
and included writings under contract for the "New York Ledger." She died at New Orleans,
Louisiana, in January, 1881.
[Pages 251-252]
Baldwin, Joseph Glover, born near Winchester, Virginia, in
January, 1815. He had little opportunity for education, and was in large degree self-taught. He
did secretarial
work, meantime studying law. He moved to Macon, Mississippi, and thence to Livingston, Alabama,
where he began to achieve success in literature as well as in his profession. In 1844 he was a
member of the Alabama legislature, and in 1849 was an unsuccessful candidate for congress. He
removed to California, and was judge of the supreme court from 1857 to 1862, and was chief
justice from 1863 to January, 1864, when he resigned to engage in law practice. In 1853 he wrote
"Flush Times in Alabama and Mississippi," which was regarded as containing the best delineations
of southern character in the days prior to the war, abounding in quaint humor; and in the same
year he produced "Party Leaders," being judicial estimates of political celebrities; and
"Humorous Legal Sketches," a work of surpassing humor and quaint philosophy. His biographer spoke
of him as "an able lawyer, and eloquent advocate, a learned jurist, a sparkling wit." He married
a daughter of Hon. John White, of California. He died in 1866, leaving, among other children, a
son, Alexander W. Baldwin, a well known jurist, who was killed in a railway accident in Nevada in
1869.
[Page 252]
Carruthers, William A., was born in Virginia about 1800. He was a
student at Washington College, Virginia, about 1818, being educated there for the profession of
medicine. He was the author of romances, full of spirit and animation, and based mainly on
American historical facts, and these enjoyed great popularity at the time. Upon his removal to
Savannah, he engaged in medical practice, and also contributed to the "Magnolia" and other
southern magazines. In 1838 he gave an account, in the "Knickerbocker Magazine," of a hazardous
ascent of the natural bridge in Virginia. His published works are: "The Cavaliers of Virginia, or
the Recluse of Jamestown, an Historical Romance of the Old Dominion," depicting the scenes of
Bacon's Rebellion and the conflict between Royalists and Cromwellians in Virginia (New York,
1832); "The Kentuckian in new York, or the Adventures of Three Southerners," a volume of
descriptive sketches with romantic incidents; "The Knights of the Horse-Shoe, a Traditional Tale
of the Cocked Hat Gentry in the Old Dominion," the scene of which is laid in Virginia in the time
of Gov. Spotswood (Wetumpka, Alabama, 1845); and a "Life of Dr. Caldwell." He died at Savannah,
Geogia, about 1850.
[Pages 252-253]
Chapman, John Gadsby, was born in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1808.
From his earliest years he displayed remarkable talent for art, and was sent to Italy to study
under the best masters. Upon his return to America he settled in New York, and there was elected
a member of the National academy in 1836. He was especially successful as an etcher and wood
engraver, being engaged to make illustrations for many books. Among the best known of his works
of this kind are "Harper's Illustrated Bible," and a "Drawing-Book," which passed through many
editions in this country and in England. He returned to Italy in 1848, and from that time made
his studio in Rome. In 1859 and in 1878 he visited this country. In 1888 he was one of the tree
survivors of the original members of the "Sketch Club," established in New York about 1830, the
others being a sister of Robert C. Sands, and Prof. Robert W. Weir. The paintings of Mr. Chapman
were also justly celebrated, among the most popular being: "Baptism of Pocahontas," in the
Capitol at Washington; "Etruscan Girl;" "Sunset on the Campagna;" "Vintage Scene;" "Stone Pines
in the Barberini Valley;" and "Valley of Mexico."
[Page 253]
Cooke, Philip Pendleton, was born at Martinsburg, Virginia,
October 26, 1816, a son of John Rogers Cooke. He was graduated at Princeton in the class of 1834,
the ntook up the study of law with his father, and was engaged in the practice of his profession
before he had attained his majority. He had, however, little love for legal work, preferring
literature and field sports, to both of which he was devoted. Prior to his death he had become
famous as the greatest huntsman in the Shenandoah Valley. His reputation as a poet is a most
creditable one; at an early period he published a number of poems in the "Knickerbocker
Magazine," and was also a frequent contributor to the "Southern Literary Messenger." He was
stately and impressive in manner and a brilliant conversationalist. His only publication in book
form was "Froissart Ballads, and other Poems, Philadelphia, 1847. At the time of his death he was
publishing serially a romance entitled "Chevalier Merlin." His short lyrics, "Forence Vane," "To
My daughter Lily," and "Rosa Lee," were very popular. The first name has been translated into
many languages, and has been set to music by celebrated composers. Among his tales are "John
Carpe," "The Crime of Andrew Blair," and "The Gregories of Hackwood." Mr. Cooke died January 20,
1850.
[Page 253]
Tyler, John Webb, was descended from Charles Tyler, who was living
in Westmoreland county as early as 1690, and probably came from Maryland. He was a son of William
Tyler, of Prince William county, who married his cousin, Mary Tyler, daughter of George G. Tyler.
He served in the senate of Virginia, and in 1850 was elected judge of the circuit court to
succeed John Scott. In 1858 he was appointed a judge of the special court of appeals, created for
the relief of the docket of the regular court. John Randolph Tucker says in his "Reminiscences of
Virginia Judges and Jurists" that "while he did not pretend to extensive learning he had a strong
common sense, a quickness of perception and a promptness of decision which made him an admirable
judge."
[Page 253]
Dupuy, Bartholomew, came to Virginia in the French Huguenot
emigration of 1700. His family was very ancient in France, and Bartholomew was an officer in the
guards of Louis XIV. After the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, he fled to Germany,
where he remained with his wife, the Countess Susanne Lavillon, fourteen years. He then went to
England, and in 1700 came to Virginia and settled at Manakintown, in what is now Goochland
county. During the American revolution three of his grandsons, Capts. James and John Dupuy and
Lieutenant Peter Dupuy, served in the American army; and in the Confederate army he was
represented, to say nothing of many other gallant descendants, by Dr. John J. Dupuy, afterwards
of Davidson College, North Carolina.
[Pages 253-254]
Buchanan, John, was born in Scotland in the year 1743. He was a
Master of Arts of the University of Edinburgh and first studied law. He came to Virginia and
joined his elder brother Mr. James Buchanan, a prominent merchant of that place. Not
finding his turn of mind either fitted for law or mercantile pursuits, he returned to Great
Britain and was invested with holy orders in 1775. He taught as tutor in several private
families, and finally returned to Virginia, where he was minister of Lexington parish in Amherst
county in 1780. He removed to Richmond about 1782, where he resided in the family of Jaqueline
Ambler, treasurer of the state, and was minister of St. John's Church, and also preached in the
capitol, alternately sharing his congregation with John D. Blair (q. v.)., the Presbyterian
minister. No churches had then been built in Richmond. He died in his eightieth year, December
22, 1822. He never married.
[Page 254]
Latané, Rev. Lewis, came to Virginia in the French Huguenot
emigration in 1700, with his wife, four children and one servant. He was rector of South Farnham
parish, Essex county, from 1700 till his death, in 1734. One of his descendants was the gallant
Capt. Latané, who was killed in 1862, at "Old Church," Hanover county, in one of Gen. J.
E. B. Stuart's raids, and whose romantic burial at the hands of Virginia ladies, assisted by
their servants, was perpetuated on canvas by Washington, a Virginia artist, and engraved. Another
descendant was Bishop James A. Latané, of the Reformed Episcopal church.
[Page 254]
Rose, Rev. Robert, was born in Scotland in 1795, was ordained for
the ministry, and came to Virginia in 1725, where he was given charge of St. Anne's parish, Essex
county. In 1746 he had charge of St. Anne's parish, Nelson county. He was a remarkably active and
zealous preacher and man of affairs. His journal shows that he was a kind of universal genius.
When the city of Richmond was to be laid out, he was invited to lend his counsel. While thus
engaged he sickened and died, and was buried in the yard of St. John's Church. He died June 30,
1751, in his forty-seventh year, and his tombstone testifies to "his extraordinary genius and
capacity in all the polite and useful arts of life." He had four brothers in Virginia, one of
whom was Rev. Charles Rose, of Cople parish, Westmoreland county. He had four sons Hugh,
Patrick, Henry and Charles who have left numerous descendants.
[Pages 254-255]
West, William, born in Fairfax county, Virginia, in 1739, son of
Hugh West, who died in 1754, in Loudoun county. His birthplace was near Mount Vernon, and he
became intimate with Washington. He went to England for orders, which he received from the bishop
of London, November 24, 1761. He served two years in his native province, in 1761-63; was
incumbent of St Margaret's, Westminster parish, Ann Arundel county, Maryland, 1763-67; of St.
Andrew's, St. Mary's county, Maryland, in 1767-72; of St. George's parish, Harford county, in
1772-79; and of St. Paul's, Baltimore county, in 1779-91, officiating in connection therewith in
St. Thomas's parish, ten miles distant. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from
Washington College, Maryland, in 1785; was active in the work of settling church affairs,
directly after the revolution, and was a correspondent of Bishop White, who valued his sound
judgment and accurate acquaintance with the important subject of organizing the protestant
Episcopal church and in revising the liturgy. he was secretary of the convention of Maryland, in
June, 1784, and president in May, 1790; and was a delegate to the general convention. He died
near Baltimore, Maryland, March 30, 1791. His brother John, known as Capt. John West, Jr., of
Fairfax county, married Catherine, daughter of Major Thomas Colville, first cousin of Lady
Bennett, countess of Tankerville (see West Family in "William and Mary College Quarterly," x, p.
65).