Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/380

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

dency ; and was three times mayor of his town. He married Ann Morson Scott, daughter of Hon. Robert E. Scott, of Fau- quier county.

McFarland, Amanda R., born in Brooke county, Virginia, about 1837; was educated at Steubenville Female Seminary, and in 1857 married Rev. David F. McFarland, a Presbyterian clergyman. From 1862 till 1866 her husband held charge of Mattoon Female Seminary. Illinois; and in 1867 re- moved to Sante Fe, to engage in mission work, and here Mrs. McFarland organized and conducted a successful mission school among Mexican children. In 1873 they re- moved to California and established an academy at San Diego, and in 1875 they conducted missions among the Nez Perces Indians. After Mr. McFarland's death in 1876, his wife removed to Portland, Oregon, and in 1877 took charge of a school at Fort Wrangell, Alaska. Here she acted as min- ister, physician and lawyer for Indians who brought their difficulties for her solution. She presided over a native constitutional convention, and chiefs came long distances to enter the school of "the woman who loved their people.'" and to plead for teachers to be sent to their tribes. Her efforts resulted in the establishment of a training school for Alaskan girls, which is called "The McFar- land Home."

Smith, John Holmes, born in Lynchburg. \'irginia. August 12. 1838, son of William T. Smith and Susan Leftwich. his wife. He became a member of the Lynchburg Home Guards in .^pril. 1861, and which became Company G, of the Eleventh Virginia Regi- ment. He advanced through the various grades from third corjioral to captain, to

which rank he was commissioned in May, 1862. For the greater part of his last eighteen months service, he commanded the regiment. At Seven Pines he received a wound in the left arm. from which he never entirely recovered, and was again wounded in the right kg on the last day of Gettys- burg. With his regiment, he was captured at Sailor's Creek, April 5, 1865, and was held prisoner for three weeks in the Old Capitol prison at Washington City, and for six weeks on Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie, being finally paroled. After the war, he re- organized his old company, and it was made a part of the Virginia National Guard. He engaged in business as a tobacco manufac- turer in Lynchburg. He married Norvell. daughter of Dr. Joseph V. Hobson and Mary E. P.ullock. his wife.

Wright, Rebecca McPherson, born near Winchester, \'irginia, January 31, 1838. She was a Quakeress, daughter of Amos Wright, \\ ho died in a Confederate prison in the civil war. Her family was one of the few Unionists in Winchester, Virginia, during that period. She acted as a Federal spy and on September 16. 1864, received a note from Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, conveyed to her in tin-foil, and carried in the mouth of a negro messenger. It said: "Can you in- form me of the position of Earl}''s forces, the number of divisions in his army, and the strength of all or any of them, and his prob- able or reported intentions? Have any more troops arrived from Richmond, or are any more coming, or reported to be coming?" She had been told of the whereabouts of the Confederate army by a wounded Confed- erate officer two evenings before, and she sent a reply to Gen. Sheridan, informing