Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/319

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VIRGIXIA BIOGRAPHY

pressed with his management of the depart- ment, and he was severely denounced on the floor of the house by William Cost John- son, of Maryland, and others. A son of Maj. Barry, then a lieutenant in the army, challenged Johnson, but the challenge was withdrawn after its acceptance. On April 10, 1835, he resigned to accept the office of minister to Spain, and died on his way to that country. His remains were brought home by order of the Kentucky legislature, and buried at Frankfort, November 8, 1854.

Breathitt, John» born near New London, Virginia, September 9, 1786. He removed with his father to Kentucky in 1800, was a surveyor and teacher, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1810. He was an earnest Jacksonian Democrat, and for sev- eral years was a member of the legislature. He was lieutenant-governor of Kentucky in 1828-32, and governor in 1832-34. He died in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1834.

Cabell» Joseph Megginson, born at ** Rep- ton/' across the James river from the pres- ent Midway Station, Albemarle county, Vir- ginia, in 1788, son of Joseph Cabell and Po- cahontas Rebecca Boiling, his wife. He was a student at Washington College, later read law under Gov. William H. Cabell and Hon. William Wirt. For some reasoi: he changed his name to Charles Joseph Cabell. He removed to New Orleans. I^uisiana, and took front rank at the bar. He was three times "called to" the field of honor — first with Gen. Benjamin Jones, then of Amelia county, Virginia, afterwards of Alabama; second, with Dr. Upshaw, of New Orleans, formerly of King and Queen • county, Virginia; and third, with a Mr. Nicholson, also of New Orleans. He died,

unmarried, November 2^, 1810, in New Or- leans, of yellow fever.

Joynes, Thomas R., born in Accomac' county, Virginia, in 1789. After attending a country school, he served as clerk in a village store, and later was a student at the Margaret Academy. He read law with Maj. John Wise, father of Gov. Henry A. Wise, in 1810 was admitted to the bar, and soon obtained a commanding practice. Among his professional competitors was his intimate personal friend, Judge (after- wards secretary of state) Upshur. In 181 1 he was elected to the house of delegates. He was in the Richmond Theatre on the night of its memorable destruction by fire. During the war with Great Britain in 181 2- 14, he was lieutenant and captain of militia. He was successively commissioner in chan- cery, county surveyor and commonwealth attorney. In 1828 he was appointed clerk of the- county and superior courts — at that time an office of great dignity and consider- ation. In 1829-30 he was a member of the constitutional convention, and in that notable body, though speaking rarely, he took a prominent and influential part, es- pecially in support of the "mixed basis'* of representation. His remarkable powers of mathematical analysis enabled him to pre- sent statistical statements of which John Randolph said that **his irresistible array of figures set all figures of speech at defiance." After the constitutional convention, though often solicited, he declined further political service, except that in 1840 he was a presi- dential elector on the Whig ticket. His old personal friend. President John Tyler, more than once offered him a prominent Federal office, but he invariably declined it. In

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