Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/308

 PROMINENT PERSONS

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quaintance with the important subject of organizing the Protestant Episcopal church and in revising the liturgy. He was secre- tary of the convention of Maryland, in June, 1784, and president in May, 1790; and was a delegate to the general convention. He died near Baltimore, Maryland, March 30, 1791. His brother John, known as Capt. John West, Jr., of Fairfax county, married Catherine, daughter of Major Thomas Col- ville, first cousin of Lady Bennett, countess of Tankerville (see West Family in ''Wil- liam and Mary College Quarterly,*' x, p. 65).

Douglass, Rev. William, came from Scot- land in the year 1748, and was a teacher in the family of Col. Spence Monroe, father of President James Monroe. In 1749 he re- turned to Great Britain, and was ordained a minister, and returning to Virginia was given charge of St. James' Northam parish, in Goochland county. Here he remained till 1787, and was extraordinarily active as a minister and a man of affairs. He kept a very full register of births and deaths in his parish, which is still preserved. His daugh- ter Margaret married Mr. Nicholas Meri- wether, of Albemarle, and they were the an- cestors of many of that name in America.

Mark, John, an emigrant from Ulster, Ire- land. He was an ardent Whig in the revo- lution. He purchased a splendid estate in Berkeley county, called "Travellers' Rest," from Gen. Gates, with whom he maintamed a familiar correspondence. He removed to Fredericksburg, and was a leading member of the first Presbyterian church. He mar- ried Ellen Morrow, a relative of James Rum- sey. His daughter Ann married John Baker, Jr., congressman from 181 1 to 1813; she was

a passenger on James Rumsey's boat at Shepherds town in 1786.

Blair, John Durbarrow, son of Rev. John Blair, principal of Fogg's Manor, Chester county, Pennsylvania, was born at Fogg's Manor, October 15, 1759. He was educated as a Presbyterian minister under his father's care, and at an early date came to Virginia. He presided over Washington-Henry Acad- emy in Hanover, and assumed control of Pole Green Church, founded by Samuel Davies. This church he continued to serve till his removal to Richmond. For many years he officiated in the capitol alternately v/ith Rev. John Buchanan, an Episcopal minister, preaching to the same congrega- tion. He was first pastor of the Grace Street Presbyterian Church in Richmond. He died January 10, 1823. George Wythe Munford made Blair and Buchanan the subject of a work called "The Two Parsons," to weave around them a charming account of the early days of Richmond. Mr. Lewis H. Blair (q. v.) is one of his descendants.

Rind, William, was an apprentice of Jonas Green, editor of the "Maryland Gazette." In 1766 he was invited to Virginia by Thomas Jefferson and other leading patriots to set up an opposition "Gazette" to the one published by Joseph Royle. which was too much under royal control. He was appoint- ed public printer by the house of bur- gesses. The motto of his paper was "open to all parties, but influenced by none." He died August 19, 1773, ^^^ his paper was carried on for two years by his widow. Clementina Rind, a native of Maryland. She died two years after her husband, when John Pinkney succeeded her. William Rind left two sons, James, a clever letter writer

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