Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/250

 PROMINENT PERSONS

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Dandridge, sister of Mrs. Washington ; was a student in a military academy, and on Oc- tober 14, 1799, in his nineteenth year, was appointed a midshipman by President Wash- ington, who was his maternal uncle by mar- riage; on January 3, 1807, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and July 24, 1813. was made a commander, and was promoted to a captaincy, March 5, 1817; at the battle of New Orleans he commanded the schooner, Carolina, and won the approba- tion of Gen. Jackson for the part that he contributed toward the victory of January 8, 1815 ; at the time of his death, which oc- curred in Havana, Cuba, May 23, 1835, at the age of fifty-four years, he was com^ manding the West India squadron.

Breckinridge, John, born in Augusta county, Virginia. December 2, 1760, son of Col. Robert Breckinridge and Lettice Pres- ton, his wife. He was a student at William and Mary College. Williamsburg, when he was twice elected to the legislature, but, being still a minor, was not seated. He studied law, and in 1785 was admitted to the bar at Charlottesville. He enjoyed the personal friendship of both Jefferson and Madison. He was elected to congress in 1793, but did not take his seat, removing to Kentucky, where he established his seat, "Cabell's Dale," and engaged in law prac- tice. He became attorney-general of the state in 1795, and was a member of the legislature. 1797 to 1800. In 1798 he visited Monticello, Virginia, and united with Thomas Jefferson and Wilson C. Nicholas in drafting the famous Kentucky resolu-" tions of that year, which protested against the alien and sedition laws, and were in prac- tical effect a declaration of states sovereign-

ty principles. While their drafting is gener- ally ascribed to Jefferson, there are strong reasons favoring Breckinridge as their author. This historic document was pre- sented to the Kentucky legislature by Mr. Breckinridge, and was adopted. He was elected to the United States senate in 1805, and resigned in 1805 to accept appointment as attorney-general in the cabinet of Presi- dent Jefferson. He died at Lexington, Ken- tucky, December 14, 1806, at the early age of forty-six years. He left a remarkable family of sons — Cabell, a distinguished law- yer, whose son, John C. Breckinridge, be- came Vice-President of the United States and a major-general in the Confederate army ; James, lawyer and congressman ; and three whu became leading divines — ^John, Robert J. and William L.

Scott, John, was born in Hanover county, Virginia, in 1782. He removed with his parents to Indian territory in 1802, and later to Missouri territory, where he practiced hiw, 1806-61. He was a delegate from Mis- souri territory to the fourteenth congress as successor to Rufus Easton, and to the fif- teenth and sixteenth congresses, serving 1816-21. Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1821, and he was the Missouri representative in the seventeenth and nine- teenth congresses, 1821-27. He died at St. Genevieve, Missouri, October i, 1861.

Wilson, Samuel B., born in 1782, in South Carolina. He was a graduate of Washing- ton College. He was made successor to Dr. Baxter in the chair of systematic theology a*. Hampden-Sidney Seminary, and was made president pro tern, when Dr. Baxter died. He later became professor emeritus and died in .August, 1869,

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