Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/158

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAI'JIY

Meredith, Elisha Edward, born in Sumter county, Alabama, December 26, 1848; at- tended Hampton-Sidney College, Virginia ; was admitted to the bar in 1869 ; prosecuting attorney for Prince William county seven- teen years; a member of the senate of Vir- ginia from 1883 to 1887; presidential elector in 1S88; elected as a Democrat to the fifty- second congress, to fill vacancy caused by the death of William H. F. Lee ; re-elected to the fifty-third and fifty-fourth congresses, March 3, 1895 ; resumed the practice of law ; died at ^Manassas, Virginia, July 29, 1900.
 * ind served from December 7, 1891, to

Milnes, William, Jr., born in Yorkshire, England, December 8, 1827 ; came with par- ents to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1829; completed preparatory studies ; learned the machinist's trade; engaged in mining and shipping coal; moved to Virginia in 1865; engaged in the iron business; elected as a Conservative to the forty-first congress, and served from January 27, 1870, to March 3, 1871 ; died at Shenandoah, Virginia, August 14. 1889.

Montague, Andrew Jackson, (q. v.).

O'Ferrall, Charles T., (q. v.).

Otey, Peter Johnson, born at Lynchburg, Virginia, December 22, 1840; attended the Virginia Military Institute and was gradu- ated July I, i860; while a cadet he partici- pated in the defense of Virginia in the John Brown raid ; entered the profession of en- gineering on the Virginia & Kentucky Rail- road ; in April, 1861, he joined the Confed- erate army and remained in the infantry un- til the close of the war; organized and built the Lynchburg & Durham Railroad ; electeu as a Democrat to the fifty-fourth, fifty-hfth,

fifty-sixth, and fifty-seventh congresses, and served from March 4, 1895, until his death a; Lynchburg, Virginia, May 4, 1902.

Paul, John, born in Rockingham county, Virginia, June 30, 1839. On his father's side he was of French extraction, and on his mother's, German. He attended the com- mon schools of his neighborhood, and en- tered Roanoke College in i860. In his twenty-second year, in April, 1861, he en- listed in the Confederate army as a private in the Salem Artillery, and was subsequent- ly transferred to the Fifth \'irginia Regi- ment of Cavalry as a lieutenant. In the charge at Catlett Station, in 1862, he was severely wounded, but recovered in time to join his regiment later on. In the fall of 1865, he entered the University of Virginia as a law student, and was graduated there- from in 1867 with the degree of Bachelor of Law. In 1869 he was elected common- wealth's attorney of his county, a position which he resigned in 1877 to become a mem- ber of the state senate, 1877-81. He sided with Gen. Mahone in the readjuster move- ment in the state, and voted for him for the United States senate. He was defeated for congress by Judge John T. Harris, and in 1880 was elected over Judge Henry C. Allen, who contested his election, and was re-elect- ed but was unseated. May 5, 1884. Upon the death of Judge Alexander Rives, he was ap- pointed United States district judge for the western district of Virginia, by President Arthur, which position he held from 1883 until the date of his death. His career upon the bench continued till death. In 1874, he married Kate Seymour Green, daughter of Charles II. Green, Esq., of \\'arren county, Virginia. He died Xovcmber i, 1901.