Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/440

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

lottesville to Lynchburg, and all railroad travel, owing to the snow, was very uncertain. To be sure and be on hand, I started in a buggy with a good horse, and with my brother, Eugene, then a school boy, as my companion, I reached the Uni- versity Saturday night. On Tuesday evening I started with Eugene to go up to Mr. Colston's in my buggy. I understood that the arrangement was that I should go to Mr. R. W. N. Noland's, who lived on the adjoining farm, where I was to dress and go with them to the wedding. With that belief I took my trunk in the buggy and reached Mr. Noland's from Dr. Davis's about dark. To my horror I found there was some mistake, and that the Nolands were gone, the house was locked up, and all the house servants gone with them to Mr. Colston's to aid in the preparations. The house was cold, dark, and inaccessible. I was in despair. At last a farm hand suggested he could force a window and succeeded and I crawled in, but all the lamps were gone and the fire was out. The lamps were adding their light to the brilliancy of the wedding, leaving the groom in utter darkness and with chattering teeth. The emergency was great, but the inventive power of my farm hand friend rose to the occasion. He got a lightwood torch and stood outside and by the flickering light which came through the window I donned my wedding garments and took my last bachelor shave without a fire and with the thermometer but little above zero. The toilet thus performed was not elaborate or long, but it answered the purpose. Eugene dressed under the same circumstances

Though not directly related, young Mr. and Mrs. Blackford were connected as "Vir- ginia cousins" through the Carters, both being direct descendants of Robert Carter, of Corotoman, and, through collateral branches, their genealogical lines often touch.

Susan Leigh Colston was the daughter of Thomas Marshall Colston and Eliza Jac- queline Fisher ; Thomas Alarshall Colston was the son of Raleigh Colston, of Honey- wood, Berkeley county, and of Elizabeth Marshall, a sister of Chief Justice Marshall ; Raleigh Colston was the son of Traverse Colston (born 1712) by his second marriage with Susanna Opie ; Traverse Colston was the son of Charles Colston (born 1690) and Susanna Traverse ; Charles Colston was the son of William Colston (born 1618), who came to Virginia in 1640, and this William Colston, of Virginia, was the son of William Colston, of Bristol, England.

Carter Line. — Her mother, Eliza Jac- queline Fisher, was the daughter of George Fisher and Ann Ambler; Ann Ambler was the daughter of Jacqueline Ambler and Re- becca Burwell ; Rebecca Burwell was the daughter of Lewis Burwell, of White Marsh,

Gloucester county, Virginia, and of Judith Page : Lewis Burwell was the son of Na- thaniel Burwell and Elizabeth Carter; Eliz- abeth Carter was the daughter of Robert Carter, of Corotoman, by his marriage with Judith Armistead, his first wife.

Marshall Line. — The mother of her father, Thomas Marshall Colston, was Elizabeth Marshall, daughter of Colonel Thomas Alar- shall, of Oak Hill, and of Mary Randolph Keith ; Colonel Thomas Marshall was the son of John Marshall, of the Forest (born 1722), and of Elizabeth Markham.

Randolph Line. — Her great-grandmother, Mary Randolph Keith, was the daughter of Mary Randolph and Rev. James Keith ; Mary Randolph was the daughter of Thomas Randolph, of Tuckahoe, and Judith Churchill.

Jacqueline and Ambler Lines. — Her mother, Eliza Jacqueline Fisher, was the daughter of Ann Ambler and George Fisher; Ann Ambler was the daughter of Jacqueline Ambler and Rebecca Burwell. Of the daugh- ters of this marriage, one married John Mar- shall, chief justice, another Daniel Call,_ and another General Edward Carrington. Jac- queline Ambler was the son of Richard Ambler, of Yorktown, son of John Ambler, of York, England, and of Elizabeth Jac- queline, daughter of Edward Jacqtieline.

The wedding festivities over, Mr. Black- ford brought his bride home to Lynchburg, coming by way of Richmond. After about a week spent under his father's roof, they went to their home on Diamond Hill, at the corner of Pearl and Harrison streets, pur- chased in contemplation of his marriage. With the exception of a short time during the war when it was abandoned, they lived happily together there until his death, and there his wife still lives (1915). Of this marriage six children were born :

Nannie Colston Blackford, born April 20, 1857; married Samuel T. Withers, February 6, 1883, and on February 8, 1884, after one year of happy married life, spent under her father's roof, she died, and was buried with her new born child.

William Marshall Blackford, born Au- gust 23, 1859, died March 5, 1862.

Lucy Landon Blackford, born September 2, 1861, died March 14, 1862.

When these two children were sick with scarlet fever, from which they died, their father was in the army, actively engaged