Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/227

 BURGESSES AND OTHER PROMINENT PERSONS

209

Chinn, Joseph, sun of Rawleii^^h Chinn, of Lancaster count}-, and Esther Uall, daugh- ter of Colonel Joseph l'>all. of "lapping Eor- est ;" was burgess for Lancaster in 1748- 1749 and ij=,2-ijs~,.

Chisman, Edmund, son of Edmund Chis- man (brother of Colonel John Chisman. of the council), qualified as justice of York county, VTrginia, July 25, 1670, and in 1676 was one of P)acon's majors. After Bacon's death he was captured by Robert Beverley and sentenced to be hanged, but died in prison before execution. He married Lydia, niece of Captain George h'arlow, who was also a friend of Bacon and is described as a "great mathematician."

Chisman, Lydia, daughter of Airs. Eliza- beth Bushrod, wife of Thomas Bushrod, by a former husband, and niece of Captain George Farlow. She was one of the early heroines of Virginia. When her husband, Major Edmund Chisman, was captured dur- ing Bacon's rebellion she threw herself at Sir William Berkeley's feet and begged to be executed in his stead. Her husband died in prison and she married Thomas Harwood. Later she was killed by lip-htning, Alarch 16, 1694.

Chisman, Thomas, brother of Major Ed- mund Chisman, was born in 1652, qualified as justice of York county, August 24, 1680, and was a member of the house of burgesses in 1685. His will was proved July 18, 1715. He married Elizabeth Reade. daughter of Colonel George Reade, of the council, and left issue.

Chiswell, Charles, was clerk of the general court in 1706. He lived in Hanover county and died April, 1737, aged sixty, leaving a

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son John, who was a member of the house of burgesses, colonel, etc. (q. v.).

Chiswell, Colonel John, son of Charles Chiswell, was for a numl)er of years one of the most prominent men in the colony. Pie was burgess from Hanover county from 1744 to 1755, when he removed to Williams- burg and represented the city in 1756, 1757 and 1758. Pie engaged actively in lead and iron mining, and in 1752 operated a furnace for the manufacture of iron five miles south of Prederickslnirg. In 1757 he discovered the New ri\er lead and zinc mines, about ^\■hich time Fort Chiswell, a few miles dis- tant, was erected and named for him. In 1766 he got into a quarrel at a tavern in New Kent with a Scotch gentleman named Robert Routledge, in the course of which Routledge was killed. He was arrested and sent by the examining justices to Williams- burg to await trial. But on his way thither ht was released on bail, out of term time, by three of the judges of the general court. Plis prosecutor was chosen in the prevailing custom by lot, and it fell to John Blair Jr., an intimate friend, to conduct the case against him, but the suicide of Colonel Chis- well at his home on Francis street, in the city of Williamsburg, prevented any trial. His residence in the city is still standing. He married Elizabeth Randolph, daughter of W^illiam Randolph, of Turkey Island.

Christian, Israel, was a merchant who lived first at Staunton and afterward in that part of Augusta now Botetourt county ; bur- gess for Augusta county in the assemblies of 1758-1761 and 1761-1765. He was the founder of the towns of Fincastle and Chris- tiansburg. He was father of Colonel Wil- liam Christian (q. v.).