Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/516

488 tration of the war department, prepared the means to aid secession leaders, dispersed the army into remote parts of the country, where the troops could not readily be conveyed to the Atlantic coast, and transferred from northern to southern arsenals 113,000 muskets; and that he was privy to the abstraction of f 870,000 in bonds from the de- partment of the interior during the latter jaart of 1860. Immediately on learning of these charges, Mr. Floyd went to Washington, appeared before the court, gave bail, and demanded trial. In January, 18G1, a committee of the house of representatives made an investigation, and completely exonerated Mr. Floyd from each charge of the indictment. In 18G1 he was appointed brigadiei'-general in the Confederate army, and was engaged at the battle of Carnifex Ferry, 10 Sept., 1861. At the battle of Fort Donelson, 16 Feb., 1863, he reached the field when the engagement had begun, and found the position untenable and the Confederate array in a cul de sac from which nothing but the hardest fighting could extricate it. He gave orders to that effect, and, after two days" heavy fighting, succeeded in opening a way for the extrication of his troops by a movement to his left. Afterward Gen. Pillow ordered back the main body of the Confederate army which was under his command to its original position, leaving Gen. Floyd's troops without sup- port on the ground they had gained, whereupon he retreated, with little comparative loss to his own command. Two weeks afterward Gen. Floyd was censured by Mr. Davis for this act, and relieved from command. — His wife, Sally Buchanan, b. near Abingdon, Va., 14 Feb., 1803; d. there, 7 May, 1879. She was the tliird daughter of Gen. Frank Preston, of Abingdon, granddaughter of Gen. William Campbell, who commanded at King's Mountain, and niece of Patrick Henry. Her brothers were William C. Preston, senator, and Gen. John S. Preston, of South Carolina. Gen. and Mrs. Floyd had no children, but adopted two or- phan relatives — John Preston Johnson, an artillery ofticer of the United States army, who was killed at Contreras in the Mexican war, and Eliza, his sister, who married Judge Robert Hughes, of the United States district court, of Norfolk. Va.

FLOYD, Richard, colonist, b. in Brecknock- shire, Wales, about 1630; d. in Seatolcott (now Se- tauket), Suffolk co., N. Y., about 1690. He came to this country in 1654, and with Richard Wood- hull and fifty-two others to Setauket, which they founded in 1655. He was the first of the Floyd family on Long Island, and a man of intelligence and vigor. At the beginning of the settlement he was chosen judge of Suffolk county, and colonel of militia, and held the offices during his life. — His eldest son, Richard, b. in Setauket, 13 May, 1661; d. there, 38 Feb., 1787, was appointed Judge of the common pleas in 1733, and was also colonel of the militia of Suffolk countv. He married, 13 May, 1686, Margaret NieoU (1663-1718), oldest daughter of Matthias Nieoll, secretary of the Duke of York's commissioners who captured New York from the Dutch, and the first secretary of the English province of New York. — Their eldest son, Richard, third of the name, b. 39 Dec, 1703; d. 31 April, 1771, likewise became judge of the common pleas In 1753, and colonel of the militia of Suffolk county, which offices, like his father and grandfather, he held during his life. He was a man of integrity and honor, easy of access, and generous to those who stood in need of aid. He married the daugh- ter of Col. Samuel Hutchinson, of Southold. — Their eldest son, Richard, fourth of the name, b. about 1736; d. in Maugerville, New Brunswick, 30 June, 1791, like his ancestors, was judge of the common jileas (Mp]>ointed in 1764), and colonel of the militia of Suffolk county. He was noted for his affability, politeness, fine manners, and profuse hospitality. The great estate of the family in the manor of St. George had descended to him, and his house was famed for its always open doors. Here he enter- tained Gov. Tryon and all his chief officers on his march down Long Island. Its jjosition, and the politics of its owner, exposed it to the attacks of the whale-boat expeditions from Connecticut, and three times he was robbed of his cattle, sheep, and slaves. He was included in the act of attainder, and at the peace of 1783, when the act became operative, he removed to New Brunswick and set- tled on the St. John's river. — His wife, whom he married on 36 Sept., 1758, was Arabella, daugh^ ter of Judge David Jones, of Fort Neck, Queens CO., and sister of Judge Thomas Jones, of the su- preme court of New York, author of the " History of New York during the Revolutionary War "; and upon her male issue, her father by will en- tailed his estate at Fort Neck in default of issue to her brother. Judge Thomas Jones, on condition of adding the name of Jones to their own. The latter had no issue by his wife Anne, daughter of Gov. James de Lancey. Consequently David Rich- ard, only son of Richard Floyd and Arabella Jones, b. 14 Nov., 1764; d. in 1836, became David Richard Floyd-Jones, which double patronymic the family has since borne. This change was also confirmed by special act of the legislature of New York in 1788. Hence the junior branches only of this family for the last hundred years, and at present, bear the name of Floyd. — Thomas Floyd-Jones, eldest son of the last, b. in 1788; d. in 1851, succeeded to the estate of Fort Neck, and at his death the entail by its terms came to an end. — His eldest son, David Richard Floyd- J ones, lawyer, b. in 1813; d. 8 Jan., 1871, was member of assembly for New York in 1841, 1843, 1843, and in 1857, state senator in 1844-'7, inclusive, member of the Constitutional convention of 1846, secretary of state in 1860-'l, and lieutenant-governor of New York in 1863-'4. — Henry Floyd-Jones, second son of Thomas Flovd-Jones, and uncle of the Lieut.-Gov. Floyd-Jones, b. in 1793; d. in 1863, was member of assembly in 1839, state senator and member of the court of errors from the old first district, consisting of Kings, Queens, New York, and Richmond counties, from 1836 till 1840, and brigadier-general of militia.

FLOYD, William, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. in Brookhaven, Suffolk co., N. Y., 17 Dec, 1734; d. in Weston, Oneida co., N. Y., 4 Aug., 1831. He was the son of Nieoll Floyd, of Brookliaven, who was second son of Richard Floyd, second of the name, received from his father only a moderate-sized farm, and was engaged in its cultivation during the earlier part of his life. Being a strong Congregationalist, like many Suffolk county people, and fixed in his convictions on all subjects, he embraced warmly the cause of independence when the Revolution began, until which time he had taken no active part in political affairs. He was about forty years of age when he first entered political life by being sent as a delegate to the Philadelphia congress of 1774. The next year he was a deputy to the New York provincial convention to choose delegates to the 1st Continental congress of 1775, and was by it appointed a delegate to that body. He continued by successive reappointments a member of every Continental congress up to 1783 inclusive. At the same time, from 1777 till 1783,