Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/261

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

1790. He attended William and Mary Col- lege, studied medicine and practiced success- fully in Virginia. He served in the house of delegates in 1819-20. In 1831 he went to Texas, where he took an active interest in the politics of that revolutionary period. In 1835 ^ convention of the American settlers was called for the consideration of Texan independence, over which Archer presided, and he was selected with Stephen Austin and N. H. Wharton, commissioner to Wash- ington to obtain aid from the United States government. He became a very prominent figure in Texan politics, being a member of the first Texan congress, speaker of the house of representatives of the republic, and its secretary of war from 1839 to 1842. He died in Brazoria county, Texas, September 22. 1856.

Randolph^ Thomas Jefferson, born in Monticello, Albeijiarle county, Virginia, September 12, 1792, son of Governor Thomas Mann and Martha (Jefferson) Randolph, and grandson of Thomas Jefferson; edu- cz^itd in the schools of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, and Charlottesville, Virginia; one of the first acts of his business life was to discharge a debt of $40,000 remaining against his Grandfather Jefferson's estate; another work performed in loyal regard for the memory of his Grandfather Jefferson was his preparation, as literary executor, of the large four-volume **Biography, Life and Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson," which was published in Boston in 1829; as a member of the legislature, he effected, among other measures, the passage of a bill for the adjustment of the tax question, whereby the finances of the state were ma- terially strengthened; his knowledge of

finance was also expressed in a pamphlet entitled "Sixty Years* Reminiscences of the Currency of the United States," of which each member of the legislature received a copy; in the convention of 1850-51, when the Virginia constitution was revised, he was an active member; after the secession of the Southern States, he gave his support to the Confederacy, and after the war he was equally zealous in the movements to restore the well-being of his native state; his last appearance in public office was as chairman of the Democratic national con- vention which was convened in Baltimore. Maryland, in 1872; for seven years he was rector of the University of Virginia, and for thirty-one years a member of its board of visitors : he died at "Edgehill," N'irginia. Oc- itber 8, 1875.

Vethake, Henry, born in British Guiana in 1792, came to America in his childhood with his parents. He was graduated from Columbia College in 1808, and studied law. He held professorships in Columbia and Queens (now Butler), Dickinson (Pennsyl- vania) colleges, and the University of New York. In 1835 ^^ ^^as elected president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), which position he held a year, at the same time filling the chair of intellectual and moral philosophy, retaining the latter until 1859, when he became asso- ciated with the Philadelphia Polytechnic College. He died December 16, 1866.

Garland, John, was born in Virginia, in 1792, died in New York City, June 5, 1861. He was appointed first lieutenant of infan- try on March 31, 1813, served through the war with Great Britain, became a captain on May 7, 1817, and was made major by

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