Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/690

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

rectal surgery. Ife is a member of the So- ciety of Military Surgeons of the United States, and other professional societies, member and surgeon of the Fraternal Order of I'^agles. the Royal Arcanum, and of the I^agle Club. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, a member of St. Mary's Church.

Dr. Staton married, June 30, 1886, Mary N. Powers, born in Richmond, daughter of Marcellus and Susan Betty Powers, both born in Virginia and both living. Children : Lewis B., born August 4, 1892, a student of \\'illiam and Mary College, a graduate of the Medical College of Virginia, class of 1914; Jane Louise, born March 3, 1894.

Waller-Tazewell. The Wallers, of Nor- folk, X'irginia, \\'illiam \V. and Corbin Grif- fin Waller, are descendants of Colonel John Waller, of England, of the same family as Sir Edwin Waller, the poet. Colonel John ^^'aller married Mary Key or Kay, and came to Virginia about 1635, locating in New Kent county. He brought with him from England a seal on which were engraved the arms of the Wallers of Kent, descended from Alnred de Waller, of Newark, Notting- hamshire, who died in 1183. and to whose descendant. Sir Richard Waller, one of the heroes of Agincourt, Henry V. granted the addition of ""a shield of the arms of France." Colonel John Waller founded a family dis- tinguished in Virginia history, including "Colonel John Waller, Gentleman," as he wrote himself, born 1714, died 1760, of the third generation, and Benjamin \\'^aller, youngest son of Colonel John (2) Waller, born October 16, 171 6, died May 18, 1786, of Williamsburg.

The benjamin Waller of this third gener- ation in \'irginia, was one of the clerks of council ; burgess from James City county, 1745-1758; member of the convention, 1775- 76; judge of the general court, 1779-86. He married, January 2, 1746, ^lartha Hall and had eight children, including Dorothy Eliza- beth, born September 2, 1754, died May 13, 1777. She married, January 13, 1774, Henry Tazewell (see Tazewell) and bore him one son, Littleton Waller Tazewell, who became governor of Virginia, and who is the mater- nal grandfather of William W. and Corbin Grifiin Waller, of Norfolk.

Littleton Waller Tazewell, nineteenth governor of \'irginia. 1834-36, was born in \\'illiamsburg, \'irginia. necember 17. 1774,

and died at Norfolk, Virginia, May 6, i860. He was a graduate of William and Mary College, 1791, studied law under John Wick- ham, of Richmond, and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1796. In that year he was also elected to the house of delegates where he remained until 1800, being elected to Con- gress in that year, succeeding John Mar- shall. While in Congress he supported Jef- ferson in the presidential election which fell to the house, in opposition to Aaron Burr. He declined a re-election to Congress, and in 1802 located in Norfolk, where he was soon recognized as one of the ablest lawyers of his day. He took an active interest in all public questions and was a man of great influence. In 1816 he became a member of the Virginia legislature, where his profound knowledge of economical and fiscal ques- tions gave him a prominent part in the de- liberations of that body. Under President Monroe he was one of the United States commissioners instrumental in the purchase of Florida from Spain. From 1824 to 1830 he was United States senator from Virginia, and conspicuous as chairman of the com- mittee on foreign relations. He opposed with impartial vigor the respective admin- istrations of both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He was re-elected senator, but in 1833 resigned from the senate after having made himself particularly antago- nistic to the action of President Jackson in the matter of the United States Bank. He was in fact generally in the opposition, de- nouncing Jackson's proclamation against the South Carolina movement, though he had little sympathy with the nullitiers. He was elected governor of Virginia in 1834, served two years, and then resigned, being succeeded by Wyndham Robertson, then lieutenant-governor. After his gubernatorial service Governor Tazewell retired from public and political life, spending the last twenty-four years of his life in Norfolk. He married, in 1802, Anne Stratton Nivison. born in 1785. died in 1858, leaving children, Henry Littleton (2), Sarah, Anne Elizabeth, Mary, of whom further, and Ella Wickham. Mary, daughter of Governor Littleton Waller Tazewell, was a descendant in the sixth generation of Colonel John (i) Waller, through her grandmother, Dorothy Eliza- beth (Waller) Tazewell, and of the fifth generation of the Tazewells in \^irginia. The 7\izewells descend from William Tazewell,