Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/217

 PROMINENT PERSONS

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Darling and Temperance Smith, his wife. He passed his early life in the country, liv- ing upon a farm, engaged in farm work, and attending country schools. In his eighteenth year he engaged with an older brother in building pleasure boats, and from the begin- ing he displayed remarkable mechanical skill. In October, 1866, Mr. Darling went to Hampton, Virginia, where he built up a large planing mill business. He also estab- lished a successful business in fertilizers, pro- duced from the menhaden fish. He then took up the enterprise of a street car line for the cities of Newport News and Hamp- ton, which he built and equipped with his own capital ; and he established the largest oyster-planting business in the United States. On September 22, 1864, he married Mary Annie Daulman. Mr. Darling was connected with the Protestant Episcopal church, and was a Mason. He died April 28, 1000, at Hampton, Virginia.

Blackford, Charles Minor, born in Fred- ericksburg, Virginia. October 17, 1833, son of William Matthews Blackford, Esq., and Mary Berkeley Minor, daughter of Gen. John Minor, his wife. On both sides of his family he was descended from a long line of distinguished ancestors. His early edu- cation was obtained from his own father, and from private schools of his native place and of Lynchburg, to which his father's family moved in 1846. Being very thor- oughly prepared, he entered the University of Virginia, and graduated in 1855, with the degree of Bachelor of Law. He soon ac- quired a successful practice, and established the reputation of being a man of culture and learning in his profession. Upon the out- break of the civil war he joined the Confed-

erate army, and was promoted to captaincy of Company B, Second Regiment \'irginia Cavalry. For a time he served upon the stafif of Gen. Stonewall Jackson, and at the request of Gen. Longstreet was made judge advocate of the military court of his corps. After the war he returned to Lynchburg, and formed a partnership with the late Thomas J. Kirkpatrick, a distinguished law- yer of that place. . This partnership lasted until within a few years of Capt. Blackford's death, and their names may be found asso- ciated with many of the most important cases that have ever occurred in the courts of the commonwealth of Virginia. In addi- tion to his busy professional life, he found time do much literary work, including his "Memoirs of the War," in which he gave a graphic account of his experience while in active service. His home in Lynchburg was noted for its culture and refinement, and was the scene of much hospitality. He was honored by the State Bar Association with its presidency, and his address made before it was a notable contribution to the litera- ture of that association. In 1900 he deliv- ered a striking historical address on "The Trials and Trial of Jefferson Davis." In this paper he discussed the constitutional questions involving the right of secession. Mr. Blackford was a devoted member of the Protestant Episcopal Church and had for many years prior to his death been a delegate in the diocesan council of that church. He had also represented the south ern diocese of Virginia in the general con- vention of the church. On February 19, 1856, he married Susan Lee Colston, daugh- ter of Thomas M. Colston, Esq., of Fauquier county, Virginia.