Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/950

886 is a past-commander of Pickett-Buchanan camp, United Confederate Veterans. Captain Garnett is a member of a distinguished Virginia family. His father, Theodore S. Garnett, Sr., was prominent as a civil engineer, and was connected with the construction of several important Southern railways. He was chief engineer and superintendent of the North Carolina, the Charlotte, Columbia & Augusta, and other railroads. His death occurred in 1885. He was the son of James Mercer Garnett, who was born in Essex county June 8, 1770, and died in May, 1843. He was a founder and the first president of the United States agricultural society, and a noted author on allied topics. For twelve years he maintained a female seminary in his own house and actively sought to introduce improved methods of education. After several years' service in the Virginia legislature, he was twice elected to Congress, where he was a friend of his colleague, John Randolph, of Roanoke, and engaged in a controversy with Matthew Carey, the protectionist. In 1829 he was a member of the Virginia constitutional convention. While in Congress he and his friend Randolph were in the habit of occasionally taking a Saturday afternoon off for hunting partridges, and it is remembered as a curious instance of the change in the notions of the responsibilities of public servants, that these two distinguished men were regularly "docked" their half-days' time spent in recreation. The founder of the American branch of the Garnett family was John Garnett, who came from England in 1674 and located in Gloucester county. The mother of Captain Garnett was Florentina, daughter of Francisco Moreno, former Spanish consul at Pensacola, Fla.

Captain William E. Garrett, of Leesburg, notable among the officers of the Eighth Virginia infantry, was born in Loudoun county, November 30, 1838. Though a son of one of the most prosperous farmers of that region, he was taught habits of industry and self-reliance. In the private schools of his county, where he received his education, he stood at the head of his classes. Becoming engaged as a farmer in early manhood, he was called from that occupation by the threatened invasion of the State, and then became a member of the Eighth regiment, under command of Col. Eppa Hunton. After serving through the campaigns of the regiment in the first year of its service, including the battle of Manassas, he was unanimously chosen captain of Company I, at the reorganization, and commissioned accordingly. In this rank he served gallantly with his command and until by reason of continued bad health and the advice of the medical board he was honorably discharged. He then returned to his home and resumed the occupations of civil life, being soon afterward happily married to the daughter of Hon. Daniel Shreve, of Loudoun county. In 1874 he was elected to the office of clerk of the circuit court of his county, Hon. James Keith, now president of the court of appeals, being then upon the bench. This office he filled for twelve years, to the entire satisfaction of the bar and the public, at the same time pursuing the study of law with the advantages that his position afforded him. On retiring from office he embarked in the profession of law, in which he has met with notable success in Loudoun and adjoining counties, being lately associated in the practice with his son, a graduate of the university of Virginia. Captain Garrett is a prominent member of the order of Knights of Pythias, for