Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/33

 JUDGES SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS

participated in the reorganization in 1865, aided in bringing Gen. Robert E. Lee to its presidency, and cooperated with him in his plans for enlarging the usefulness of the institution. In 1879 he was chosen rector of Washington and Lee University, and held that position until his death, November 30, 1887. in his seventy-ninth year. He was married, December 8, 1836, to Mary Ann Alexander, daughter of Andrew Alexander, of Rockbridge.

Burks, Edward C, born in Bedford county, Virginia, May 20, 1821, came from a highly respectable family of Irish origin. In his boyhood he attended nine dif- ferent schools, his education occupying all his time until he attained his majority. He was studying the classics when ten or eleven years of age. He attended several sessions of the New London Academy, in Bedford county, under the superintendence of Henry L. Davies, and then of George E. Dabney, afterward a professor at Washing- ton College (now Washington and Lee University). In 1839 he entered the last- named institution, and was graduated there- from in 1841, delivering the Cincinnati oration, the highest honor of the graduating class. Later the same year, he entered the law department of the University of Vir- ginia, and was graduated in 1842. He at once entered upon the practice of his pro- fession in Bedford and adjacent counties and steadily advanced in the estimation of both bench and bar. In December, 1876. he was elected by the legislature to the supreme court of appeals, and remained in that position for six years, when, the Re- adjuster party having come into power, a question was raised as to whether he had

been elected for a full term or for an unex- pired term, and it was decided against him, and he returned to his profession, with his office in Bedford City. He was one of the re- visers of the code of Virginia of 1887, with Judge Staples and Maj. John W. Riely. He was a member of the house of delegates in 1861-62, and a part of 1863 — the only politi- cal ofhce he ever held, and he declined a re-election. Washington and Lee Univer- sity conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. In 1891 he was president of the Virginia .State Bar Association, and that year deliv- ered a most meritorious address, which was widely distributed.

Lewis, Lunsford Lomax, born in Lewis- ton, Rockingham county, Virginia, March 17, 1846, son of Samuel Hawes Lewis and Ann Maria (Lomax) Lewis, his wife, and a descendant of John Lewis, of county Down, Ireland, who came first to Pennsyl- vania, and removed to Virginia in 1732, being the first permanent white settler in Augusta county, and in 1745 was a justice cf its first court. The father of Lunsford L. Lewis was a member of the state legis- ialure, for m.any years a presiding justice of the Rockingham county court, and gen- eral of the state militia. On his mother's side he was descended from Sir Thomas Lunsford, lieutenant of the Tower of Lon- don, who came to Virginia in 1649.

Limsford L. Lewis was educated at Cen- ter (Kentucky) College, and at the Univer- sity of Virginia. He was admitted to the bar, and entered upon practice at Culpeper, Virginia, in 1869, and shortly afterward be- came commonwealth attorney. He was ap- pointed by President Grant as district at- torney for the eastern district of Virginia,