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of civil engineering, and received a position with the Philadelphia, Reading & Pottsville railroad, and subsequently with the Rich- mond c^ Petersburg railroad ; after a visit to Texas in the interests of the land claims of the Texas Association, he became the chief engineer of the Columbia & Charlotte railroad; in 1852, after service as an engi- neer in Kentucky, he became assistant to Gen. Gwynn, on the North Carolina rail- road, of which he afterwards became super- intendent ; in 1857 he was elected chief engi- neer of the railroad from Tallahassee to Fernandina: in 185S he retired to his estate at Cedar Hill, Hanover county, Virginia, where he lived until 1S77. when he removed to Norfolk to spend the last years of his life with his son in that city: during the civil war he was an ardent supporter of the Con- ftr-deracy. and though too old for active serv- ice served on the field at Seven Pines : he n.arried, April i8. 1839, at Pensacola, Flor- ida. Florintina I. Moreno, who was living in 1904: children: James Mercer, Theodore S.. Ella Isidora: he died May 28, 1885.

Hcrndon, William Lewis, born in I'red- ericksburg, Virginia. October 25, 1813, son of Dabney Herndon. cashier of the Farmers* P.ank, and Elizabeth Hull, his wife; after preparatory education, he entered the navy a> midshipman in 1828, and was promoted })asscd midshipman in 1834 and lieutenant in 1841 : served en various cruising stations and was actively employed during the Mexi- can war: after three years of duty at the naval observatory- he was sent to the South Pacific station, where in 185 1 he received orders detaching him from his ship, and directing him to explore the valley of the Amazon to ascertain its commercial re-

sources and capabilities: he started from Lima, and crossed the Cordilleras in com- pany with Lieut. Lardner Gibbon, who sepa- rated from him to explore the llolivian trib- utaries, while Lieut. Herndon followed the m.ain trunk of the Amazon to its mouth, re- turning to the United States in 1852 ; the re- port of this expedition was published by the government in two volumes, of which Lieut. Herndon wrote \'ol. L "Explorations of the \'alley of the River Amazon'' (Washington, 1853) : this work was extensively circulated, and is still cited in works on ethnology and natural history: he was made commander ii! 1855 : he took service in the line of mail steamers plying between New York and the Isthmus of Panama: on September 8. 1857, he left Havana in command of the Central .iwcricL furmerly the Gconjc Lai<\ carry- ing a large number of passengers returning from California and gold amounting to $2,- 000.000; the ship encountered a cyclone in the edge of the Gulf Stream, which destroy- ed it. Commander Herndon and four hun- dred and twenty-six others losing their lives, September 12, 1857, Commander Herndon rcrmaining on his ship to the last ; his devo- tion to duty excited general admiration, and led his brother officers to erect a fine monu- ment to his memory at the naval academy in Annapolis : a daughter of Commander Hern- don became the wife of Chester A. Arthur, who was afterward President of the United States.

Boyd, Andrew Hunter Holmes, born in Boydsville. Virginia, in 1814. died there De- cember 16. 1865. He was graduated at Jef- ferson College in 1830. studied theology in Scotland, was ordained by the presbytery of Winchester, and passed his life in the

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