Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/433

 PRESTON

PRESTO X

father was a major in the war of 1812, lawyer, and member of the Virginia legislature. In 1836 Mr. Preston conceived the idea of substituting for the company of soldiers who guarded the arsenal, a company of cadets, who, in addition to the duties of an armed guard, should pur- sue a course of scientific and military studies. This idea materialized, March, 1839, in the Mili- tary Institute of Virginia, of which Preston and Gen. Francis H. Smith (q.v.) constituted the entire faculty from 1839 to 1843. He was married first Aug. 2, 1833, to Sara Lyie, daughter of Wil- liam and Phebe (Alexander) Caruthers of Lex- ington, Va., and had five sons and three daugh- ters ; and secondly, Aug. 4, 1857, to Margaret Junkin, the poet (q.v.), by whom he had two sons. In April, 1861, at the call of the state, the corps of cadets marched for Richmond undert he command of Maj. T. J. Jackson, of whose staff Preston be- came a member, with the rank of colonel. In 1863 the institute was re-opened as a training school to supply skilled and educated officers for the army, the cadets being called repeatedly into active service during the war. On May 15, 1864, at New Market, the corps lost 8 killed and 44 wounded out of 350, and on June 11, 1864, all the institution buildings, save the quarters of the superintendent, were burned by order of Gen. David Hunter (q.v.). When the institute was re-opened in October, 1865, Colonel Preston re- sumed his professorial duties, subsequently traveled abroad, accompanied by his wife, and after his return continued a member of the uni- versity faculty until within a few months of his death. He is the author of a biographical sketch of John Howe Peyton in " Augusta County, Va." He died in Lexington, Va., July 15, 1890.

PRESTON, Margaret Junkin, poet, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., May 24, 1830; daughter of George Junkin (q.v.). She was educated by her father and under private tutors, and contributed her first story to Sartain's Magazine in 1849. She was married Aug. 4, 1857, to John L. Preston (q.v.), and had two sons : George Junkin, born in 1858, a graduate of Washington and Lee, 1879, and of the University of Pennsylvania, M.D., 1883, and Herbert Rush, a lawyer, both established in practice in Baltimore. Mrs. Preston spent her married life in Lexington, Va., traveled abroad with her husband, collecting material for her Book of Monograms (1886), contributed to the Southern Literary Messenger ; translated Dies Tree (1855), and is the author of: Silverwood (1856) ; Beechenbrook, a Rhyme of the War (1866) ; Old Songs and New (1870); Cartoons (1876); For Loire's Sake (1886) ; Colonial Ballads, Sonnets and Other Verses (1887); Aunt Dorothy (1890). She died in Baltimore, Md., March 38, 1897, and was buried at Lexington, Va.

PRESTON, Thomas Scott, R. C. prelate, was born in Hartford, Conn., July 33, 1834 ; son of Zephaniah Preston, a Puritan. He was gradua- ted at Trinity college, Hartford, Conn., A.B., 1843, A.M., 1846; at the General Theological seminary, New York city, in 1846, and was ad- mitted to the diaconate the same year. He as- sisted at Trinity church, at the Church of the An- nunciation, and at the Church of Holy Innocents, West Point, 1846—47 ; was ordained jjriest in 1847, and was assistant rector of St. Luke's church. New York city, 1847-49. In 1849 he accepted the Roman Catholic faith, and was deposed from the Protestant Episcopal church. After studying at St. Joseph's seminary, Fordham, N.Y., he was ordained priest, Nov. 16, 1850 ; was an assistant at the cathedral in 1850 ; pastor of St. Mary's, Yon- kers, N.Y., 1851-53 ; chancellor of the arch-diocese of New York, and secretary to Archbishop Hughes, 1853-91; and rector of St. Ann's, New York city, 1861-91, building a new church edi- fice which was consecrated in 1871. He was vicar-general of the archdiocese of New York, 1873-91 ; received the degree S.T.D. from Seton Hall college, New Jersey, in 1880 ; and was named private chamberlain to the Pope (Leo XIII.). May, 1881. He was appointed domestic prelate and prothonotarj' apostolic, Dec. 13, 1881, with no ceremony of investure. He built a large paro- chial school on 11th Street, and founded the " House of the Holy Family," for the benefit of children and homeless girls. He was actively in- fluential in procuring the excommunication of the Rev. Dr. Edward McGlynn when he accepted and taught the theories of Henry George. He is the author of : Ark of the Covenant (1860); Life of St. Mary Magdalene (ISm) ; Sermons for the Principal Seasons of the Sacred Year (1864); Life of St. Vincent de Paul (1866); Lectures on Chris- tian Unity, Advent of 1S66 {ISQ7); TJie Purgato- rian Manual (1867); Lectures on Reason and Revelation (1868); Tlie Vicar of Christ (1871); Tlie Divine Sanctuary (1878); Divine Paraclete (1880); Protestantism and the Bible (1880); Prot- estantism and the Church {ISS'2)\ God and Rea- son (1884), and Watch on Calvary (1885). He died in New York city, Nov. 4, 1891.

PRESTON, Willard, clergyman, was born at Uxbridge, Mass., May 39, 1785. He was gradu- ated at Brown university, 1806, began the study of law, but abandoned it for theology, and was licensed to preach in 1808. He resided in the South, 1808-11. on account of ill health ; and was Congi-egational minister at St. Albans, Vt., 1813- 15; Providence, R.I., 1816-30; Burlington, Vt., 1831-35 ; president of the University of Vermont, 1825-36 ; pastor of the Independent Presbyterian church at Savannah, Ga., 1836-56, and rendered unceasing aid during the epidemic of yellow