Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/256

 PROMINENT PERSONS

205

Grymcs, John Randolph, Jr., born in Orange county, Virginia, in 1786, son of Benjamin Grymes; was reared and cdu- cuated in his native state, removing from there to Louisiana in the year 1808; was an eminent practitioner of the law, en- gaged in almost every case of importance in the courts of New Orleans and the surround- ing counties, acted in the capacity of counsel for Gen. Jackson in the United States bank case, and opposed Daniel Webster in the city of New Orleans against Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines; he held at different periods the offices of United States district attorney and attorney-general of Louisiana, served in the legislature several terms, and was a mem- ber of the state constitutional convention; at the battle of New Orleans he volunteered as aide to Gen. Jackson, and was compli- mented in the despatches of the commander to the war department ; he fought two duels, in one of which he received severe wounds ; he died in New Orleans, Louisiana, Decem- ber 4, 1854.

Carroll^ David Ljmn, born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1787; gradu- ated from Jefferson (Pennsylvania) College in 1823. He took a full and graduate course at Princeton Theological Seminary, and was pastor of a Congregational church at Litch- field, Connecticut, in 1827. In 1829 he was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York, and resigned in 1835 en account of a throat ailment. He then be- came president of Hampden-Sidney College, resigning at the end of three years, resum- ing ministerial work. During his adminis- tration Dr. John \V. Draper was the pro- fessor of physical science, and it was at the college that he took his first sun-pictures

and announced his discoveries as to the physical properties of the sun's light.

Dabncy, Richard, was born in Louisa county, Virginia, in 1787, died there in No- vember, 1825. His name was originally the same as that of the historian D'Aubigne. He applied himself to the acquisition of Latin, Greek and Italian, reaching a remark- able degree of proficiency in those lan- guages, following the vocation of teaching in a school in Richmond. He was severely burned at the conflagration which destroyed the theatre in Richmond, in December, 181 1. In 1812 he published a volume of *Toems, Original and Translated," of which an im- proved edition was printed in Philadelphia in 1815. The collection contained spirited translations from Euripides, Alcaeus, Sap- pho, Martial, Seneca and Petrarch. The second edition was published by Matthew Carey, who employed Dabney for a few years. Carey's political tract, called *The Olive Branch, or Faults on both Sides," is supposed to have been in great part written by Dabney. In a few years he returned to Virginia and taught a class of boys. He died as stated above, at the early age of thirty-eight.

Parker, Foxhall Alexander, born in 1788, at **Rock Spring," Westmoreland county, Virginia, son of William Harwar Parker and Mary (Sturman) Parker, his wife. At sn early age he entered the United States navy, and rose to the rank of commodore. He was placed in command of the Boston navy -yard ; in 1848-49 was sent to Europe to advise the government as to the construc- tion of a navy ; on his return he was placed in command of the home squadron. He

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