Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/18

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

Mc Kinney, Philip Watkins, was born in I'.uckingliani county, Virginia, May i, 1832, son of Charles McKinncy. He graduated from llampdcn-Sidney College, taking high r;.nk as a speaker, and receiving the Philan- thropic Society gold medal. He studied l.(w under Judge Urockenbrough, of Lex- ington, and engaged in practice; the same year ( 1858) he was elected to the general assembly, in which he served with distinc- tion four terms, until the close of the war. He was a strong Union man, but went with his state when it seceded. He became cap- tain of a company in the Fourth Cavalry Regiment, and served with it until severely wounded at Brandy Station, thereafter be- ii:g on post duty at Danville. After the war he resumed practice. He was a Demo- cratic candidate for congress, twice a presi- (If^ntial elector, several times common- wealth's attorney, and a delegate to the na- tional conventions of 1884 and 1888, and was elected attorney-general in 1881. In 1889 he was elected governor, over William Mahone, and his administration was notable for its ■incccssful settlement of the state debt, on

plan of readjustment which was accep- i.ible to the bondholders, since which time the interest has been steadily paid.

O'Ferrall, Charles Triplett, was born near I'rucetown, l"redcrick county, Virginia, Oc- 'ber 21. 1840. His father was John O'Fer- r,ols and at fifteen began public life as clerk of the circuit court of Morgan . and on the death of his father in

1857 he was appointed by the governor to fill the vacancy. In 1861 he entered the Confederate army and during the course of the war, rose to be colonel of cavalry. He was wounded several times and was once left for dead on the battlefield. After the war Col. O'Ferrall studied law at Wash- ington College, now Washington and Lee University, which was at the time, presided ever by Gen. R. E. Lee. He then began to practice law at Harrisonburg in Rocking- ham county. He was soon elected to the legislature and took an active part in saving the state from the "carpet-baggers." In 1874, he was made by the legislature county judge of Rockingham. In 1884 he was elected to the forty-eighth congress and was re-elected to the five succeeding congresses, serving from May 5, 1884, to March 3, 1895. After this he was elected governor of the state (January i, 1894 — January i, 1898). W'hen his term of office came to an end, he settled in Richmond and practiced law, meeting with much success. He died September 22, 1905. As a public speaker Gov. O'Ferrall had few equals, and his "Four Years of Active Service" is a book of much value and has been highly praised.

Tyler, James Hoge, born at his father's home, "Blenheim," Caroline county, Vir- ginia, August II, 1846, son of Hon. George Tyler and Elva (Hoge) Tyler, his wife. The father, oldest son of Henry and Lucy (Coleman) Tyler, owned the "Blenheim" e.'^tate and many others, and was known for his hospitality and generosity: he was a member of the Virginia legislature both be- fore and after the civil war. His mother dying at his birth. James Hoge Tyler was brought up by his grandparents, Gen. and