Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/193

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

where he served until the end of the war. He was married to Rebecca Farrer, of Amelia county; removed to Augusta coun- ty, Virginia, in 1783, and settled on a farm which he called "Soldier's Retreat." He was a brigadier-general in the Virginia militia during the war of 1812. He was justice of the peace for half a century, and served as high sheriff for two terms. He died in Augusta county, Virginia, Feb- ruary 13, 1843.

Rochester, Nathaniel, was born in Cople parish, Westmoreland county, Virginia, February 21, 1752, a descendant of Nicholas Rochester, who emigrated from Kent, Eng- land, in 1689. and settled in Westmoreland county, Virginia. He removed to Granville county. North Carolina, with his mother and stepfather, Thomas Critcher, in 1763, and in 1768 obtained employment as a clerk in a mercantile house in Hillsboro, North Carolina, becoming a partner in 1773. He was a member of the committee of safety of Orange county in 1775 ; a member of the first provincial convention of North Caro- Ima ; appointed paymaster, with the rank of major, of the North Carolina line, and deputy commissary general of the Conti- nental army, May 10, 1776, but failing health. caused his early resignation. He was a delegate to the house of commons ; a commissioner to superintend the manufac- ture of arms at Hillsboro, and in 1778 en- gaged in business with Col. Thomas Hart. In 1783 they began the manufacture of flour, rope and nails at Hagerstown, Maryland. He was representative in the Maryland as- sembly; postmaster of Hagerstown, and judge of the county court. In 1808 he was presidential elector, voting for James Madi- son ; was first president of the Hagerstown

bank, and was engaged in important mer- cantile transactions in Kentucky and Mary- land. He made large purchases of land in New York state, and removing to Dans- ville, New York, in May, 1810, established a paper mill there. In 181 5 he removed to Bloomfield, New York, and in 18 18 settled at the falls of the Genesee river, and there founded the city of Rochester. He was sec- retary of the convention to urge the con- struction of the Erie canal; the first clerk of Monroe county ; member of the state as- sembly, 1821 and 1822, and one of the organ- izers of the Bank of Rochester, and its first president. He died in Rochester, New York, May 17, 1831.

Hardin, John, born in Fauquier county, Virginia, October i, 1753; remained in his native state until 1765, when he accom- panied his father to near the Pennsylvania line, which was .then an unbroken wilder- ness, and the life he led there made him a skillful marksman, so much so that he was greatly feared by the hostile Indians; he was ensign in Lord Dunmore's expedition against the Indians in 1774, and served as a scout; he joined the Continental army at the beginning of the revolutionary war, acted as lieutenant in Gen. Daniel Morgan's rifle corps, and refused a major's commis- sion, claiming that his services were of more use in the former rank; removed to Ken- tucky in 1786, and in the same year volun- teered under Gen. Elisha Clarke on the Wa- bash expedition, and was appointed lieu- tenant-colonel of militia ; he was a member of every expedition against the Kentucky Indians from 1787 until his death, except that of Gen. Arthur St. Clair; in April, 1792, he was sent by Gen. James Wilkinson with overtures of peace to the Miami Indians,

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