Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/411

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

dition. and three years' service as surgeon in the Virginia state line. In 1790 he bought "Buckroe" from his father; in 1793 was a member of the assembly. He left Hampton, and lived in Gloucester county, and after- wards at "Exeter," in Loudoun county. He married (first) Mary Mason Selden, his first cousin, widow of Mann Page, and daughter of Samuel Selden; (second) Eleanor Love, daughter of Samuel Love, of Salisbury, Fairfax county; and (third) Mary Bowles Armistead. widow of Charles Alexander, and daughter of Bowles and Mary (Fon- taine! Armistead. Dr. Selden died at his home. '*Exeter," in Loudoun county, March 14. 1835. in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

Phripp, Matthew, of Norfolk, Virginia, was a merchant, and at the outset an active supporter of the revolutionary cause. He was twice elected chairman of the Norfolk committee of safety, and was also colonel of the militia there. When Lord Dunmore landed armed men and seized the press of the Norfolk newspaper. Phripp took up arms and made an endeavor to organize a force for resistance, but had little support from the people, and afterwards he would not act as colonel. He would not aid Dunmore in any way. but as he was liable to imprison- ment and seizure of his considerable prop- erty, he took the oath of allegiance to the British king and left Norfolk, but re- turned later at the urgent request of his aged and infirm father. When the Virginia forces occupied Norfolk, Col. Woodford sent Phripp to Williamsburg for examination before the convention, but there was delay, and on December 19, 1775, Phripp petitioned that body, asking for a speedy hearing, and

convention ordered him to be held in con- finement in his room in Williamsburg. Later that body adopted a resolution exonerating him from all blame and released him. He was a prominent Free Mason, past master of St. John's Lodge, at Norfolk, and acted as president of a Masonic convention held in Williamsburg in 1777.

Gregory, John, son of James Gregory, lived in Nansemond county, Virginia. He was chairman of the county committee of safety in 1776; and captain in the Fifteenth Virginia Regiment, Continental Line. He is mentioned in the letter of Gen. Lafayette, May 17, 1781. to Col. Josiah Parker, Isle of Wight county, then commanding militia on the lower south side of James river, whom he directs to call on Captain Gregory for needed assistance.

Graham, John, born at Dumfries, Prince William county, Virginia, in 1774. brother of George Graham, acting secretar>' of war under Madison and Monroe. He was gradu- ated at Columbian University in 1790. and emigrated to Kentucky, where he repre- sented Lewis county in the legislature. President Jefferson sent him to the territory of Orleans as secretary, and he subsequently occupied a similar position in the American legation at Spain. When Madison was sec- retary of state, Mr. Graham was chief clerk under him. In 1818 he went with a commis- sion to Buenos Ayres, where he obtained political information which he embodied in an exhaustive report, which was printed by the state department. In 1819 he was ap- pointed minister plenipotentiary to the court of Brazil. The climate proved too severe, and he returned to Washington, where he died, August 6, 1820.

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