Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/46

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

delphia, and he was, like many others, as- saulted by a mob, and obliged to fly for his life. He succeeded in reaching Richmond, and was soon afterward appointed register ol the treasury by President Davis, and dis- charged the duties of the position with con- sjjicuous ability until the close of the war. He afterwards made his residence in Alont- gomery, Alabama, where he was editor of the "Mail and Express," and chairman of the Democratic state central committee. He v/as an impassioned and eloquent speaker, and won the respect of all by his high and delicate sense of personal and official honor. In 1839 he married Priscilla, daughter of Thomas A. Cooper, the famous tragedian. He died, in Montgomery, Alabama, Decem- ber 3, 1877.

Crump, William Wood, born in Henrico county, \'irginia, November 25, 1819, a son of Sterling Jamieson Crump, a well known importing merchant of his day, and Eliza- beth Wood, his wife. William Crump, American progenitor of the family, settled in York county, Virginia, and his descend- ants lived for many generations in New Kent county, which had been cut from York county. William \\'ood Crump jjassed his early life in Richmond, where he was a pupil in the well known school conducted by Dr. Gwathmey. Subsequently he prepared for college at Amherst Institute, .'\mherst, Mas- sachusetts, then entered William and Mary College in 1835, and was graduated from this institution in the class of 1838. He stud- ied law under the preceptorship of Professor K. Beverley Tucker, to whom he was tied by the bonds of sincere friendship until the death of the latter. He was admitted to the bar in 1840, and at once entered into the

practice which was to make him so famous. He was a most effective speaker on the sub- ject of states rights, supported John C. Cal- houn in 1844, strongly advocated the annex- ation of Texas, and was a leading spirit in enrolling Virginia with those states which sujjported James K. Polk. In the next presi- dential canvass he was equally prominent in the support of Lewis Cass. Early in 185 1, Mr. Crump was elected by the legislature tc succeed Hon. John S. Caskie, who re- signed as judge of the circuit court of Rich- mond City; July I, 1852, the new constitu- tion of the state terminated all these judge- •ships, and he retired from the bench. Prior to the civil war he was an important figure in the city council of Richmond, and was the author of many ordinances which tended greatly to improve the city. When the civil war broke out, he was ardent in his support of the Confederacy, and was appointed as- sistant secretary of the treasury of the Con- federate States, the duties of which office he discharged with his usual ability. At the close of the war he was elected a delegate of the city of Richmond to the first general asscmldy, was chairman of one of the most important committees of this body, and was an active participant in all the debates. \\'hen all the members of the legislatures of the southern states were retired by the Shellabarger bill, Judge Crump resumed his practice of the law, and was successfully identified with this until the close of his life, with the exception of a term of service again spent in the legislature. Prior to the war he had been appointed a member of the board of visitors of William and Mary Col- lege an<l was president of its board of vis- itors. He was always an active worker in the interests of this college, and it is largelv