Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/26

 2 SKETCHES OF THE

the tradition is, that he enjoyed the friendship and patron- age of Mr. Dinwiddle, aftei'wards the governor of the colony. By this gentleman, it is reported, that he was introduced to the elder col. Syme of Hanover, in whose family, it is certain, that he became domesticated dur- ing the life of that gentleman, after whose death, he intermarried w ith his widow, and resided on the estate which he had left. It is considered as a fair proof of the personal merit of Mr. John Henry, that, in those days, when offices were bestowed with pecuhar caution, he was the colonel of his regiment, the principal surveyor of the county, and for many years, the presiding magistrate of the county court. His surviving acquaintances con- cur in stating, that he was a man of liberal education, that he possessed a plain, yet solid understanding; and liv- ed long a life of the most irreproachable integrity, and ex- emplary piety. His brother Patiick, a clergyman of the church of England, followed him to this countiy some years afterwards; and became, by /its influence, the minis- ter of St. Paul's parish in Hanover, the functions of which office he sustained throughout life with great respecta- bility. Both the brothers were zealous members of the established church, and warmly attached to the reigning family. Col. John Henry was conspicuously so: "there are those yet alive," says a correspondent,* " who have seen him, at the head of his regiment, celebrating the birth day of George the HI. with as much enthusiasm, as his son Patrick, afterwards, displayed, in resisting the encroachment of that monarch."!

Mrs. Henry, the widow of col. Syme, as we have seen,

• Mr. Pope, in 1305.

■j- Mr. Bark's account of Mr. Henry is extremely careless and full of er- rors. He begins by making him the son of his\incle : " Patrick Henry, the son of a Scotch gentleman o{ the same name^ &,c." 3d vol. of the History of Virginia, page 300.

�� �