Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/260

 PROMLNENT PERSONS

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iiig the position two years he removed to Alabama, and ill health marked* his later years. He died in 1867.

Junkin, George, born near Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, November i, 1790, son of an officer in the revolutionary army. He was gradu- ated from Jefferson (Pennsylvania) College, in 18 13, and studied theology in New York. He entered the Presbyterian ministry; or- ganized the first temperance societies and Sunday schools in central Pennsylvania; founded Lafayette College at Easton, Penn- sylvania, and became its first president, de- voting the fortunes of himself and wife to the establishment of the institution. In 184 1 he became president of Miami (Ohio) University, but left after three years, the abolition sentiment there being too strong. In 1848 he was called to the presidency of Washington College, and served until 1861, when he resigned. He was a prolific author, and published many religious volumes. One of his daughters married Gen. Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson. He died May 20, 1868.

Upshur, Abel Parker, son of Col. Little- ton Upshur and Anne Parker, his wife, daughter of George Parker, was born in Northampton county, Virginia, June 17, 1790. He attended Princeton and Yale Col- leges and studied law under William Wirt. He was admitted to the bar in 1810 and practiced in Richmond. He was for some time, commonwealth's attorney of the city, but returned to Northampton and lived at "X'aucluse," in that county. In 1824-26 he was a member of the house of delegates, and in a very able speech opposed the re- moval of William and Mary College. He was made a judge of the general court and

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served from 1826 till 1841. He was a mem- ber of the constitutional convention of 1829, and advocated the interest of the eastern section with great ability. He made a pro- found study of the constitution and under- took a review of Judge Joseph Story's "Com- mentaries on the Constitution," 1840. In this work he exposed the errors of Judge Story and set forth in reply the states rights construction of the constitution. It was ap- plauded throughout the South as a complete answer to the nationalists, and was long a text book in the colleges and schools. Mr. Upshur, who had been a Federalist in his early youth, as were most of the leading men on the eastern shore of Virginia, changed his views about 1816, and became an ardent states rights man. He sympa- thized with the doctrines of South Carolina in 1832, and when Jackson issued his proc- lamation, he severed his connection with the Democratic party and was a Whig, voting for Gen. Harrison in 1840. In 1841 Presi- dent Tyler made him secretary of the navy, and in this department he reorganized the work and established system and order. On the resignation of Daniel Webster, Tyler made him secretary of state, and he was a strong advocate of the annexation of Texas. Under directions of the President he pre- pared a treaty for that purpose, but was cut off from completing the work by death. On February 26, 1842, he was killed by an ex- plosion on the steam war vessel Princeton^ near the mouth of the Potomac river, while on a pleasure trip with the President and other members of his cabinet to witness the trial of the Princeton s guns.

Archer, Branch T., son of Peter F. Archer, of Powhatan county, was born December 13,

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