Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/236

 HENRY

HENRY

ceremony. On the completion of the new library of congress a statue of Henry was pkicecl among the sixteen occupying the most prominent i>osi- tion in the buikling. the only one representing l»is century. His death occurred in Washington, D.C.. May"i:l. 1S73.

HENRY, Patrick, statesman, was born in StuiUey. Hanover county, Ya., May 29, 1730; sou of Jolin and Sarah (Winston) Syme Henry, and grandson of Alexander and Jean (Robertson) Henry, of Aberdeen, Seothxnd, who came to Virginia prior to 1730, and of Isaac and Mary (Dabney) Winston. John Henry was a member of the Church of England, a classical scholar, and a brotiier of the Rev. Patrick Henry, first rector of St. George's parish, Spottsylvania county, and ultimately of St. Paul's parish, Han- over county. His mother was a Presbyterian, a sister of the Rev. William Robertson, of the Old Gray Friars cimrch, Edmburgh, and cousin of the Rev, William Robertson, the Scot- tish historian. Pat- rick Henry's maternal grandfather, Isaac Winston, came from Yorkshire, England, to Virginia earlj' in the eighteenth cen- tury and was married to Mary Dabnej". Tiieir daughter Sarah •was married, tirst to Col. John S^me. who died in 1731, and then to John Henrj', who took her to his home in Studley. They removed to " The Retreat," six miles further from Richmond, while Patrick was an infant, and here he attended a com- mon English school, where he learned to read and write and mastered the first principles of arithmetic. After he was ten years old his father was his only tutor. He became profi- cient in Latin, gained a little knowledge of Greek and was a good mathematician. He was well versed in ancient and modern history when he was fifteen, and had acquired some knowledge of the Frencli language. When eighteen years of age he established with his brother William a country store which they conducted unprofitably one year and then wound up the business. He was married in 17.54 to Sarah, daughter of John Siielton, also of Hanover county, who brought to him six negro slaves and 300 acres of land. He made a poor existence by farming and was fre- quently helped by his fatlier. To add to his mis- fortunes his dwelling-house was burned, together with his furniture. He then sold some of his

negroes and with I lie proceeds purchased a stock of goods for a country store. Two years' expe- rience found him in debt. He thereupon com- menced the study of the law, and within six weeks after taking up "Coke upon Littleton" and '• Digest of the Virginia Acts," he appeared be- fore Peyton and John Randolph, George Wythe, Robert C. Nicholas and Ednmnd Pendleton at Williamsburg to be examined for admission to the bar. The Randolphs signe<l the license, but Wythe refused, while Nicholas and Pendleton on promise of future reading also signed the license. Henry appeal's to have been sensible to his de- ficiencies for he continued his studies for some months before beginning to pi-actise. In 1760 he had, according to his account book, sixty clients and had charged one hundred and seventy-five fees. He soon relieved himself of his debts and supported his family comfortably, Ijesides help- ing his father-in-law, who was not a prosperous man and who kept a tavern at Hanover Court House, where the son-in-law lived while on attendance at court. On Nov. 3, 1763, he was retained by the colony in the celebrated " i^ar- sons' case," involving the constitutionality of the " option law," also known as the "two-penny act," passed by the Virginia legislature. As early as 1096 the salary of a rector of the Established Church in Virginia was fixed by statute at 16,000 pounds of tobacco, to be levied by the vestry on the parish. The law was re-enacted and ap- proved by the king in 1748. At this time and for some years after the value of tobacco was two pence a pound, which was fifty per cent, advance on the value of 1096, when the law had been first fixed. In October, 17.j."), the house of burgesses, finding that a drought had so cut short the crop of tobacco that it would be impossible for the people to pay their tobacco debts in kind, passed an act making it lawful for debtors to pay their tobacco dues and taxes in money at the rate of two pence for every pound of tobacco, this act to continue in force for ten months. Tobacco hav- ing risen in value in consequence of the short crop, some of the clergy were unwilling to forego the advantage of collecting their .salaries in kind and appealed to the crown to annul the act. In 17.58, it being apparent that the tobacco crop would again fall short, a similar act was passed, to continue in force one year. Neither of these acts had the usual clause suspending its operation until the royal sanction was obtained. On this ground the representative of the Virginia clergy obtained the veto of the king's council. This led the Rev. James Maury to sue the colony for damages, as the price of tobacco at the time had appreciated two-thirds, and he recovered to equal the market price of tobacco. A new trial was allowed and though the cause was considered