Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/84

 C'.OVERXORS OF THE STATE

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Gilmer, Thomas Walker, born at Gilmer- ton, Albemarle county, April 6, 1802, son of George Gilmer, and grandson of Dr. George Gilmer. He was educated by private tutors, and studied law under his uncle, Peachey R. Gilmer, at Liberty. Bedford county. He was a delegate, in 1825, to the Staunton convention called to agitate a constitutional convention; during the Jackson presidential campaign, in 1828, he edited the "Virginia Advocate"; member of the house of dele- gates, 1829-37. serving on important com- mittees, among them that on revolutionary claims, and later was appointed by Governor Floyd to prosecute such claims on behalf of the state. He supported Jackson for the presidency, but when that executive issued his proclamation against South Carolina, Mr. Gilmer, with hundreds of other Demo- crats, aided in the forming of the Whig party. In 1838 he became speaker of the house of delegates, and was re-elected as such in 1839. He became governor, March 31. 1840, when he made a tour of the state, to examine all public works, and defrayed all his expenses out of private funds. Dur- ing his administration, occurred the notable dispute with Governor Seward, of New York, concerning fugitive slaves, Seward having refused to surrender such, and Gil- mer, in turn, refusing to surrender criminal refugees from Xew York and the legislature declining to sustain him in the latter posi- tion. Governor Gilmer sent to the legislature an able message in vindication of himself, and resigned the chair, March 18. 1841. He was immediately elected to Congress and gave his support to President Tyler, when Mr. Clay ruptured the Whig party by his bank and tariff propositions. He was a strong advocate of the annexation of Texas. In 1844

he was appointed secretary of the navy by President Tyler, but in less than two weeks came to his death by an explosion on the steamship "Princeton," in the forty-second year of his age. He married Anne E. Baker, daughter of Hon. John Baker, of Shepherds- town, West Virginia.

Patton, John M., lieutenant and acting governor, son of Robert Patton, a native of Scotland, and merchant of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Ann Gordon Mercer, daughter of General Hugh Mercer, who fell at Prince- ton in 1777, was born August 10, 1797. He v/as liberally educated and practiced law in Fredericksburg. In 1830, he was elected to Congress and served till 1838, when he rc- m.oved to Richmond, and was elected a member of the council of state, and as lieu- tenant-governor succeeded as acting gov- ernor, on the resigtiation of Governor Thomas Walker Gilmer, March 18, 1841. un- til the expiration of his yearly term*, March 31. 1841. In 1849, he was associated with Conway Robinson in. a revision of the code of \'irginia. He died at Richmond, October 28. 1858, and was buried in Shockoe Hill Cemetery.

Rutherfoord, John, lieutenant and acting governor, born in Richmond, Virginia, Dc- cembe*- 8 1792, son of Thomas Rutherfoord, merchant, and political writer of distinction. He was educated at Princeton College, studied law. but practiced only a short time. He was many years president of the Mutual Assurance Society, the first institution of its kind in the state; also first captain of the Richmond Fayette Artillery, and rose to rank of colonel. He was a states-rights Democrat till 1833, and a Whig until 1837, when he returned to the Democrats on the

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