Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/99

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

ot delegates in 1841-42, and on January 29, 1842, he was elected a member of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia — a position in which he continued till his death, M^y 18, 1852. He was a learned lawyer, an accomplished scholar, and a brilliant speaker and orator. He was father of Colo- nel John B. Baldwin, who was the leader of the Union party in the secession convention of 1861, but who voted for secession when the issue was presented of fighting one sec- tion of the country or the other.

Daniel, William, a descendant of James Daniel, who was born in Middlesex county, 'Virginia, about 1680, and son of William Daniel (1770-1839), a judge of the general court from 1813 to 1839, by his wife, Mar- garet Baldwin, sister of Judge Briscoe G. Baldwin, was born in Cumberland county, November 26, 1806. He was educated at Hampden-Sidney College and the Univer- sity of Virginia, studied law in 1827-28, and, ic is said, was licensed and practiced before he was twenty-one, and was also elected a member of the legislature and served while he was yet a minor. On December 15, 1846, he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals; was reelected by the people after the adoption of the constitution of 185 1, and served until 1865. By his mar- riage with Sarah A. Warwick, a daughter of Major John M. Warwick, of Lynchburg, he was father of John W. Daniel, who served with much distinction in the United States senate. Judge Daniel died at Farm- ville, Virginia, March 28, 1873. The Daniel family in other lines also has had many dis- tinguished representatives.

Moncure, Richard C. L., was born in Staf- ford county, Virginia, in 1805. His great-

grandfather. Rev. John Moncure, a native of Scotland, descended from a Huguenot refugee, settled in Virginia in the eighteenth century, and was for many years in charge of the parish of Overwharton. Richard re- ceived his early training at the local schools, and supplemented it by private reading. He was admitted to the bar in 1825, and soon attained the front rank. He practiced in Fredericksburg and neighboring counties and the Supreme Court of Appeals at Rich- mond. He entered politics in 1849, when a revision of the code was considered neces- sary. He was elected to the legislature and v/as placed on the committee having charge 01 this work, rendering valuable service. In 1*851 he was appointed to fill the vacancy occurring at the death of Judge Francis T. Brooke, but, the state constitution being changed that year, the judges* commissions were vacated and elections became neces- sary. He was chosen as one of the five judges constituting the Supreme Court, and held the position until the close of the war. His tenure of office was temporarily sus- pended during the reconstruction period (1865-1870), but on the adoption of the new constitution in 1870 he was again elected, and held the position until his death. He was on the bench more than thirty years, and his decisions are found in a large num- ber of the Virginia reports. He married in early life. Mary Washington Conway, and had a large family. His eldest son, J. C. Moncure. became a judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. Judge Moncure died at his home at Stafford, August 26, 1882.

Samuels, Green B., was born in Shenan- doah county, February i, 1806, and studied law under Judge Henry St. George Tucker, in Winchester. He was elected as a Demo-

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