Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/85

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

srb-treasury question. In 1826 he was elected to the house of delegates and con- tinued in that body till 1S39 when he was elected as one of the councillors of state. On March 31. 1841. he was elected president of the council and succeeded John M. Patton ar acting governor. During this time he continued the controversy with Governor Seward, of New York, begun by Governor Clilmer. In 1836. he was elected president o» the Mutual Assurance Society of Vir- ginia, in which position he served efficiently for thirty years. At an entertainment at his house General Scott pronounced the eulogy upon Colonel Robert E. Lee. which con- tributed 10 the calling of that great sol- dier to command the Virginia forces in 1861. Governor Rutherfoord married. April 24. 1816. Anne Coles, and died at Richmond, August 3. 1866, leaving descendants.

Gregory, John M., lieutenant and acting

governor, the son of John M. Gregory. Sr.,

and Letitia Graves, his wife, was born in

Charles City county, Virginia. July 8, 1804.

He was a descendant of early settlers in

Virginia and his grandfather, John Gregory,

was killed in action during the revolution.

His education was acquired at the "old field

school," and, being poor, he toiled on the

farm. He taught school in James City

county, and in 1830 graduatefl Sis\Qachelor

of Law at William and Mary ^olltfgc. The

siime year he was elected to the house of delegates from James City county, and con- tinued in that body by successive elections till 1841, when he was elected by the legis- lature a member of the council of state. He became lieutenant-governor on March 31,

1842. and as such succeeded John Ruther- foord as acting governor till January i,

1843. when he was succeeded in the execu-

tive office by James McDowell. In accord- ance with an act of the general assembly, passed December 14. 1842, the term now for which the governors of \'irginia were elected began on the first day of January next succeeding their elections. In 1853 ^^ was appointed United States district attor- ney for the eastern district of \'irginia, serving till the year i860, when he was elected judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Virginia, serving in this capacity until 1866. At this date he was removed from office by the Federal military authorities, and. resuming his practice as a lawyer, was soon elected commonwealth's attorney for Charles City county. This post he held till 1880, when he resigned on account of feeble health and retired to Williamsburg, where he died in 1888. He married Miss Amanda Wallace, of Petersburg, Virginia, by whom he left a large family.

McDowell, James, born at "Cherry Grove," Rockbridge county, October 11, 1795, son of Colonel James and Sarah (Pres- ton) McDowell, and a descendant of John McDowell, who was killed by Indians, in 1742. He studied at Yale and Princeton colleges, graduating from the latter in 1810; then studied law under the famous lawyer. Chapman Johnston, but never practiced. He entered the legislature in 1831, and after the Nat Turner insurrection he advocated the gradual abolition of slavery. His brilliant speech on nullification in 1833 made him a rival of John Tyler for the senatorship, but he was defeated. In politics he was a Jackson Democrat. He became governor on Janu- ary I, 1843, but before the end of his term of three years was elected to the United States house of representatives, succeeding his deceased brother-in-law, William Taylor,

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