Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/174

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

Musca lupus," "On Several Sorts of Snails," and "A Description of the Snakeroot, Pisto- lochia, or Serpentaria Virginiania." Copies of many of his articles were made for Con- gress, and are in the Congressional Library. As a naturalist John Banister was esteemed the equal of Bertram. At his death (accord- ing to Allibone's "Dictionary of Authors") he left his large collection of manuscripts and curios to his friend, Sir Hans Sloane, celebrated naturalist, of Chelsea, London. It is a matter of record that when Sir Hans Sloan died his wonderful collection of manu- scripts, curiosities and objects of natural history became, by his will, the nucleus of what is now the British Museum. Thus the final disposition of John Banister's col- lection has been authentically accounted for.

The first John Banister had a son, also named John Banister, who was born and died in Virginia, and who is several times spoken of in Bristol parish register as Cap- tain John Banister. He was a vestryman of Bristol parish, 1735-40, and of Bath par- ish, 1742. He married and had a daughter, Martha, born 1732. and a son, John (3), born

1734-

This son, John Banister (3), built and lived at "Battersea," at Petersburg, Vir- ginia, where he died in 1787. He received a classical education in England, studying law also at Temple Bar, London. Before the breaking out of the revolutionary war he was a member of the Virginia house of burgesses. Early in the revolution he was a member of the state assembly, and of the Continental Congress, from March 16, 1778,- to September 24, 1779, in both New York and Philadelphia ; and was also one of the framers of the Articles of Confeder- ation in 1781. As a lieutenant-colonel of Virginia cavalry, under General Lawson, he took an active part in repelling the British from his state. It is said that on one occasion he supplied a regiment of soldiers with blankets at his own expense. Several of his letters are preserved in the Bland papers, Petersburg, Virginia, 1840. In his later years he was the proprietor of a large estate.

He married Anne Blair, daughter of John Blair, president of the Virginia council (who was a son of Dr. Archibald Blair, and nephew of James Blair, D. D., founder of William and Mary College) and Mary Monro, daughter of Rev. John Monro, of

Williamsburg. Virginia. By this union there was a son, John Monro Banister, who married Mary Burton Augusta Boiling, daughter of Colonel Robert Boiling (IV), of "Centre Hill," Petersburg. Virginia, and nad several children of whom John Monro Ban- ister, D. D., of Huntsville, Alabama, father of Blair Banister, was one. A descendant of John Banister (i), who was also an uncle of Blair Banister, was William C. Banister, who was killed at the battle before Peters- burg, Virginia, June 9. 1864. in the "Old Men's Brigade," which went out to defend the city against the Union army.

Blair Banister, the present Virginia rep- resentative of the family, was educated at private schools at Huntsville, Alabama, and at the University School, at Petersburg, Virginia. He was an insurance agent at Lynchburg, Virginia, for several years, afterwards traveling extensively in the in- surance business. He went to New York in 191 1, and engaged in business there as an insurance broker. His brothers and sisters are as follows : Robert Boiling Banister, born at Greensboro, Alabama, August 17, 1854, died in 1889; Dr. John Monro Ban- ister Jr., a graduate of Washington and Lee LTniversity with the degree of A. B. in 1874, and of the University of Virginia with the degree of M. D. in 1878, colonel in the United States army, member of the Army and Navy Club of New York, and hereditary member of the Society of the Cincinnati ; Lieutenant-Colonel William Brodnax Banis- ter, of the United States army ; Reginal Heber Banister, of Birmingham. Alabama ; Anne Withers Banister, residing at Lynch- burg, Virginia.; Mary Louisa Banister, who married Sterling Sidney Lanier, of Birming- ham. Alabama ; Augusta Boiling Banister, who married Robert Slaughter, of Lynch- burg. \'irginia ; Ellen Gordon Banister, who married Ciustav Stalling, also of Lynchl)urg.

Blair Banister is a member of the Empire vState Society, Sons of the American Revo- lution. Lie is also a member of the "Vir- ginians" of New York, and of the "New York Southern Society." In politics he is an independent Democrat, and in religion he is affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal church. He married, IMarch 2. 1893, Marion Langhorne. daughter of Major Robert Henry Glass, of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Meta (Sandford) Glass, of Fayetteville, North Carolina. There has been one daugh-