Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/361

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

society and manners in Virginia, such as it was half a centur\- ago, extant/'

Spence, John, born in Scotland, in 1766; was educated at the University of Edin- burgh, but owing to ill health, could not stay to graduate. He came to this country in 1788. settling in Dumfries, Virginia, as a private tutor. Later he engaged in the prac- tice of medicine. He was active in intro- ducing vaccination into the United States. The University of Pennsylvania gave him the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1828. His correspondence with Dr. Benjamin Rush was published in the "Medical Mu- seum of Philadelphia.'' He also contributed to the "Medical Repository" and the ".Amer- ican Journal of the Medical Sciences," and left several manuscripts on medical sub- jects. He died in Dumfries, Virginia, May iS, 1829.

Royall, Amie, wife of William Royall, of Virginia, was born in Mar>-land, June 11, 1769. She was the daughter of William Newport, who went with his family from Maryland to Virginia in 1772, and from thence, in company with other Virginians, to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1775. Here in the wild woods little Anne grew up an uncommonly bright and intelli- gent child and was taught to read and write by her mother. She married Captain Wil- liam Royall, who lived at Sweet Springs, Monroe county, Virginia, an elderly gentle- man, who had a fine librar>% and Anne read all the books and became the most learned woman in all that region. She knew Shake- speare, Goldsmith and Addison by heart. After sixteen years of contented happy mar- ried life. Captain William Royall died, and Anne soon after began that active career of

travelling and writing which she continued till her death. She spent some time in .Ala- bama and then performed a northern tour, and was a keen observer. Then she began to write. She established in Washington a weekly sheet called the "Paul Pry" and afterwards "The Huntress." She expressed herself freely upon religion, and was prose- cuted by a small Presbyterian congregation before Judge Cranch, who sentenced her to be ducked as a common scold, but she was released with a fine. She denounced the anti-Mason craze, and incurred enemies. She retorted upon them in her books, and scandals were spread against her. Never- theless, she accomplished a most valuable work, perpetuating the description of count- less places visited by her and the almost countless people met in her travels. These accounts, except when influenced by per- sonal favor or antipathy, are sensible, shrewd and even eloquent. She was the author of **Sketches of History, Life and Manners in the United States by a Travel- ler;'' "The Tennessean. a Novel founded on Facts ;" "The Black Book, or a Continuation or Travels in the United States;" "The Black Book, or Sketches of Histor\-, Life, and Manners in the United States," (three volumes) ; "A Southern Tour, or a Second Series of the Black Book" (two volumes) ; and "Letters from Alabama." She died in Washington City, October i, 1854. Sarah Harvey Porter, in 'The Life and Times of Anne Royall." 1909, has given an interest- ing analysis of her character.

Schmucker, John George, a native of Ger- m.any. born August 18, 1771. His parents came to Pennsylvania in 1785, and in 1787 settled near Woodstock, Virginia. In 1789

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