Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

311893; another ticket was identical with one above except caption

which reads "People's Party of Virginia."

For Attorney-General,
R. Taylor Scott,
of Fauquier.

For House of Delegates,
Amelia and Nottoway,
Robert G. Southall.

SOUTHSIDE IN VIRGINIA CONSTITUTIONAL CON

VENTIONS.

CONVENTION OF 1788.

Brunswick: John Jones and Binns Jones. Colonel John Jones (probably a descendant of Captain Peter Jones, of Petersburg, according to Grigsby), burgess from Dinwiddie, 17571758; State senator, 1776-1787; speaker of Senate, 1787-1788; county-lieutenant of Brunswick, 1788 and later. He was the grandfather of the Honorable John Winston Jones,, through his son Alexander Jones and Mary Ann Jones, daughter of Peter Winston.

Charlotte: Thomas Read and Paul Carrington. Read, son of Colonel Clement Read; William and Mary College; clerk of Charlotte County; died at his seat, "Ingleside," in 1817. Carrington, son of Col. George Carrington; burgess (1765-1775); - member of all the Revolutionary Conventions; judge, General Court of Virginia; chief justice, 1780; Court of Appeals, 1789; died in the 86th year of his age.

Dinwiddie: Joseph Jones and William Watkins. Jones, member House of Delegates, 1784-1787; postmaster of Petersburg, Virginia; general of militia; married Jane, daughter of Roger Atkinson, of "Mansfield."

son.

Surry: John Hartwell Cocke and John Allen.
Lunenburg: Jonathan Patteson and Christopher Robert-

Mecklenburg: Samuel Hopkins, Jr., and Richard Kennon. General Kennon was appointed Governor of Louisiana territory by Jefferson, and died there.

Prince Edward: Patrick Henry32 and Robert Lawson. General Robert Lawson was a gallant and meritorious officer of the Revolution.

Amelia: John Pride and Edmund Booker. Pride was in the Virginia Senate and speaker of that body in 1789. The Bookers have frequently been prominent in local politics.33

32 Judge Watson probably considered that Patrick Henry required no 33 See Booker genealogy, p. 156.

comment.

Buckingham: Charles Patteson and David Bell. Patteson on Committee of Safety of Buckingham, 1776; House of Delegates, 1776, 1777, 1781-82, 1782, 1784-1785, 1787-88. Bell, son of David Bell and Judith Bell (sister of Archibald Cary, "Ampthill.")

Campbell: Edmund Winston, member for Campbell, Convention of 1788, was from "Hunting Tower," Buckingham; judge, General Court; first cousin of Patrick Henry, whose executor he was and whose widow he married; died 1813. Descendants in Missouri.34

Halifax: Isaac Coles and George Carrington. Col. Isaac Coles, son of Major John Coles, an Irish immigrant to Henrico who is buried at St. Johns; married a Thompson of New York, and brother-in-law to Elbridge Gerry. Coles Ferry, Halifax, perpetuates the name and seat of Col. Coles. Congress 1789-91, 1793-97. Carrington, lieutenant in Revolution and son of George Carrington of Barbadoes.

CONVENTION OF 1829-1830.

(See Southern Literary Messenger, March and May 1851, sketches by Hugh R. Pleasants, Esq.)

This convention has been called "the great council of the giants." It was said to have comprised the ablest talent that ever assembled in a single convention in the United States. An eminent jurist of New York said that he doubted if any other State in the Union could have arrayed in council so great intellects as Virginia then assembled, or whether the Revolutionary times beheld so many intellects of such high order. John Randolph said that the convention was the grave of many a local reputation.

From the Richmond Enquirer I learn the following, which I quote from memory: The candidates for the convention in this district (Nottoway, etc.) were John W. Jones, B. W. Leigh, W. S. Archer, Samuel Taylor, William B. Giles, Branch T. Archer, William R. Johnson, William Old. The Richmond Enquirer of March 20, 1829, contains a call from a citizen of Nottoway for Dr. James Jones to stand for the convention and advocating his election. He was voted for by a few in Nottoway but was not a candidate.

The Richmond Enquirer of April 17, 1829, gives an account of a public meeting in Nottoway on April 2: Edward Bland, chairman, H. R. Anderson, secretary; endorsed for the convention William B. Giles, B. W. Leigh, John W. Jones and W. S. Archer.

Jones led in the district; Leigh was second; Taylor came next. The real contest was between Giles and Archer. Amelia was the last county to vote, and they entered this county nearly

34 Robert Alexander was the other delegate from Campbell County.

1

even.

It being known that Amelia would decide the election, a hot contest developed there. Giles won by a small majority. Nottoway gave very few votes to Taylor, Johnson, and Branch T. Archer.

Vote in the district, by counties. (From the Richmond Enquirer, May 8, 1829).

[blocks in formation]

Total: Jones, 1111; Leigh, 1031; Taylor, 737; Giles, 695;

W. S. Archer, 618.

Some Southside members of the Convention who served in Congress: William B. Giles, Amelia, senator, the then Governor of Virginia; George C. Dromgoole, Brunswick; W. O. Goode, Mecklenburg; Mark Alexander, Mecklenburg; John Y. Mason, Southampton; James Trezvant, Southampton; John Randolph, Charlotte; William S. Archer, Amelia, senator; Benjamin Watkins Leigh, senator; L. W. Tazewell, Norfolk, senator; Archibald Stuart, Patrick; George Loyall, Norfolk; John Winston Jones, Chesterfield, Speaker House of Representatives.

William B. Giles was in very feeble health but his intellect was unimpaired. He spoke but rarely in the Convention. Pleasants, in his "Sketches of the Virginia Convention," says that if Giles was not equal to Charles James Fox, the most powerful debater the world ever saw, he certainly had no superior in the American Congress during his time, and that time embraced the best days of Madison, Bayard and Dexter.

The Convention met in the Capitol at Richmond on October 5, 1829. Madison nominated Monroe for president (on account of the latter's pecuniary misfortunes, probably), and he was elected and escorted to the chair by Madison and John Marshall. George W. Munford was clerk, and William Randolph sergeant at arms, defeating Peter Francisco. Thomas Ritchie was elected printer over J. H. Pleasants and T. W. White. Dr. Calvin H. Read, of Northampton, died before taking his seat and the remaining delegates from the district elected William K. Perrin, of Gloucester. Most of the work of the Convention was done in committee of the whole, where P. P. Barbour presided. On November 7, General Robert B. Taylor addressed a letter to the president of the Convention resigning his seat in consequence of instructions from his constituents in behalf of the mixed basis of whites and blacks for representation; Hugh Blair Grigsby succeeded him. The only motion made by Dromgoole was one to lay on the table the application of Elisha Bates (Society of Friends) to hold religious services before the Convention. John Taliaferro, of King George, resigned and was succeeded by Judge John Coalter of the Court of Appeals. Richard Morris represented Hanover, and an orator he was, says Pleasants.

CONVENTION OF 1850-1851, AS RELATED BY COLONEL W. C. JEFFRESS.

The candidates before the people of the district were Robert Turnbull, of Brunswick, John E. Shell, of Brunswick, Scoggin, 35 of Prince Edward, and Weisiger and Thomas Campbell, of Nottoway. Scoggin was a farmer and the others were lawyers. The first three were elected and Campbell was left at home. He was the only conservative in the field and the only point of difference between the candidates was the elective judiciary, which

35 James L. Scoggin.

« VorigeDoorgaan »