Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/423

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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tionary soldiers, Captain William Paxton and Alexander McNutt, Matthew W. Pax- ton has served as legislator, government official, and journalist in his native county. His Paxton ancestors came to Rockbridge county in 1747, from Pennsylvania, and English, Scotch and Welsh blood mingle in his veins.

The Rockbridge Paxtons were originally an English family, driven from England at the time of the Restoration, because sup- porters of Cromwell in war as well as civil life. From England they settled in the North of Ireland, and from thence came to America, where they have ever held honored position.

The ancestors of the Paxtons of Rock- bridge county, Virginia, cpnstituted a part of the immense Scotch-Irish immigration from the North of Ireland into Pennsyl- vania during the early part of the eighteenth century. They were people of substance, intelligence and piety. It was in 1747 that Elizabeth Paxton, widow of John Paxton, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, accom- panied five sons wdio settled on lands then known as Borden's Grant, in the valley of Virginia, afterwards Rockbridge county. Those sons were John, Joseph, Samuel, Thomas and William. All but Joseph mar- ried and from them sprung a numerous fam- ily. To them many persons not only in Vir- ginia but throughout the West and South- west trace their colonial ancestry. William, the youngest, was most conspicuous in pub- lic affairs. He was early a member of the justice's court of Rockbridge county, an elder in Falling Spring church, and was cap- tain of a volunteer company in "the revolu- tionary war. He married Eleanor Hays, a daughter of a Rockbridge family noted for character and patriotism.

Elisha Paxton, fifth son of William and Eleanor (Hays) Paxton, married Margaret McNutt, daughter of Alexander McNutt, a revolutionary soldier. She bore him seven children, the sixth of these being Elisha Franklin Paxton, who became a brigadier- general in the Confederate army, serving under "Stonewall" Jackson and with his be- loved commander fell in the fateful battle of Chancellorsville.

General Elisha Franklin Paxton, known as "Frank," was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, March 4, 1828, and fell in battle, May 3, 1863. His early life was spent at the

home farm and in acquiring a preparatory education. He was graduated with distinc- tion at Washington College, now Washing- ton and Lee University, and at Yale Univer- sity, then prepared for the legal profession at the University of Virginia, whence he was graduated Bachelor of Laws. He engaged in the practice of his profession most suc- cessfully at Lexington, Virginia. He was compelled by failing eyesight to become a farmer, in i860. Upon the outbreak of the war between the states, he entered the Con- federate service as a lieutenant of volunteers, and in seventeen months rose to the rank of brigadier-general. He was shot dead while leading the Stonewall brigade into action at Chancellorsville.

General Paxton married Elizabeth Han- nah White, born in Rockbridge county, at Lexington, daughter of Matthew and Mary Crawford (McChesney) W^hite, who sur- vived him until February 16, 1872. Gen- eral Paxton had brothers : Major James Gardner Paxton, in charge of the quarter- master's department of the Confederate army at Lynchburg, Virginia, later killed in a railroad accident, while superintendent of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company; William Hays Paxton, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Alexander McNutt Paxton, An- drew Jackson Paxton and John Gallatin Paxton, all of Mississippi; and one sister, Rachel Grigsby Buckner. Children of Gen- eral Elisha Franklin and Elizabeth Hannah (White) Paxton: Mary Louisa, died in in- fancy : Matthew White, of further mention ; John (iallatin, now an attorney at law, Kan- sas City, Missouri; Frank, now a farmer of Cherokee, San Saba county, Texas.

Matthew White Paxton was born in Lex- ington, A^irginia, May 26, 1857. He was edu- cated at Washington College, now Wash- ington and Lee University, Lexington. By reason of failure in eyesight, he engaged in farming ; was elected to the Virginia legis- lature in 1883, nominated by that wing of the Democratic party known as the "Fund- ers," a split caused over the adjustment of the public debt of Virginia. He resigned his seat in the house to accept the appointment of deputy United States internal revenue collector for Western Virginia, receiving his appointment in May, 1885. He held that office until 1889, then resigned to become editor of the "Rockbridge County News," a paper in which he had purchased as inter-