erate States Cavalry, soldier, poet, and novelist; iii. Rev. George Hudson, a minister of the Presbyterian Church; iv. Rev. Thomas Walker, of the faith of his brother, married Miss Minor; v. James B., a member of the bar of Texas, married Mrs. Elizabeth Ford; vi. Juliet. An excellent portrait of Governor Gilmer is in the State Library at Richmond. A marble slab marks his remains at "Mt. Air," Albemarle County, Virginia.

JOHN MERCER PATTON.

John Mercer Patton was worthily descended. His father, Robert Patton, a native of Scotland, emigrated thence to America* some time before the Revolution, landing at Charleston, South Carolina, where he lived for awhile, but soon removed to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he established himself as a merchant. He was very successful, and acquired a competent fortune. He was a high-spirited man, and in full sympathy with the struggle of his adopted countrymen for freedom, as a well-authenticated incident, which has been transmitted, emphatically evidenced :

Being a non-combatant, he was on terms of social intercourse with the invading Britons. On one occasion, whilst dining with some officers of Tarleton's legion, one of them took upon himself to denounce in unmeasured terms the people he had come to subdue. He was very free in the use of the terms" rebels," "rebellion," etc., which he finally coupled with abusive terms with the names of certain officers of the patriot army. This, Robert Patton (who had been an indignant listener, but had curbed his feelings) could not allow to go unrebuked. He calmly but decidedly told the officer that he felt it to be right to inform him that some of those whom he had just named were his friends. This warning being disregarded by the officer, Patton threw a glass of wine in his face. This produced a storm of fury from the insulted officer, when Patton said the affair must be then and there settled; and going to the door, locked it and put the key in his pocket. They fought with pistols across the table, and the officer was killed.

Robert Patton married, October 16, 1792, Ann Gordon, daughter of the gallant General Hugh Mercer, who fell, mortally wounded, at the battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777, and who died nine days afterwards, and is buried in Christ Church, Philadelphia. Robert Patton died November 3, 1828, and his wife May 12, 1832. They had issue: i. Hugh Mercer, born November 22, 1793; died in the autumn of 1844. ii. Robert, born September 11, 1795; member of the House of Delegates, 1821; died September 13, 1830.

iii. John Mercer, born August 10, 1797; died October 28, 1858; mar

*He was accompanied by a brother, who also settled in Virginia, and whose descendants in Fairfax County have intermarried with the Mason and other prominent Virginia families.

ried, January 8, 1824, Peggy French (born 1804; died September 14, 1873), daughter of John Williams,† of Culpeper County, Virginia. iv. Isabella Gordon, born October 21, 1799; died November 3, 1804. v. William Fairlie, M. D., Surgeon United States and Confederate States Navies, born June 15, 1802; resides with his son-in-law, General John R. Cooke, ‡ late Confederate States Army, at Richmond, Virginia.

vi. George Weedon, born March 8, 1804; died October 29, 1804. vii. Eleanor Ann, born September 13, 1805; married John Chew, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and has issue.

viii. Margaretta Patton, born November 1, 1807; died July 2, 1852; married Hon. John M. Herndon, sometime Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia, son of Dabney and Elizabeth Herndon, and a brother of the gallant Lieutenant William Lewis Herndon, United States Navy, who went down with the ill-fated "Central America" off the South Atlantic coast; of the late Hon. Charles Herndon; of Dr. Dabney Herndon, who died a few years ago at his post of duty, during the yellow fever visitation of Mobile, Alabama; of Dr. Brodie Herndon, of Savannah, Georgia; of the widow of the late Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury; and of Miss Mary Herndon, of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

John Mercer Patton, the third son of Robert and Anna Gordon (Mercer) Patton, as above, was liberally educated, and, adopting the profession of the law, commenced practice in his native city, Fredericksburg. He soon attained honorable distinction at the bar, and, embarking in politics, he was elected to Congress in 1830, and continued to serve in that body with conspicuous ability until 1838, when he removed to Richmond, and was elected a member of the Council of State; and as the senior Councillor, on the resignation, March 18, 1841, of Governor Thomas Walker Gilmer, succeeded him as Acting Governor of Virginia, serving as such until the expiration of his yearly term as senior Councillor, on the 31st of March, when he was succeeded by senior Councillor John Rutherfoord. In learning and ability the rank of †Three brothers of the family of Peere Williams, sergeant-at-law, London, and famous reporter-John, William, and Otho Williams-migrated to America early in the eighteenth century. John settled in South Carolina, William in Virginia, and Otho in Maryland. From the last was descended General Otho H. Williams of the Revolution. William Williams had issue two sons, John and William, who owned large tracts of land near Culpeper Court House, Virginia. The last was the father of John Williams of the text.

His sister Flora married the late Major-General J. E. B. Stuart, Confederate States Army.

Mr. Patton was acknowledged as second to none practicing in the higher courts of Virginia in his day, and which included an array of legal talent which has been scarcely surpassed at any period or in any section of the United States. In 1849 he was associated with the late eminent jurisconsult Conway Robinson in a revision of the Code of Virginia. Mr. Patton died at Richmond, October 28, 1858, and is buried in Shockoe Hill Cemetery there. A handsome fluted column of white marble, emblematically capped with several volumes, marks his resting-place. The tomb of his wife is near by. They had issue:

i. Robert W., who died in 1877; Hugh, Philip, Lucy Ann, all died in infancy; ii. John Mercer, a distinguished practitioner of law; Captain of the Richmond Light Infantry Blues (organized in 1793the oldest company in the State), 1852-55 and in 1859-60; Reporter, with Roscoe B. Heath, of "Cases decided in a Special Court of Appeals," and General Index to Gratton's Reports (volumes 2 to 11 inclusive; published at Richmond in two volumes, 8vo, 1856, '57); Colonel, 1861-2, of the 21st Regiment Virginia Volunteers, and for a time in command of the 2d Brigade (composed of the 21st, 42d and 48th Virginia Infantry, and the Irish Battalion), Stonewall Jackson's division; author of several theological works, among them The Death of Deaths; married Sarah, daughter of Alexander and Mildred C. (Lindsay) Taylor,* and has issue; now resides at Ashland, Virginia; iii. Isaac W., married Miss Merritt; Colonel of Louisiana Infantry, severely wounded and made prisoner at the fall of Vicksburg, and afterwards commanded one of the forts in Mobile Bay to the end of the late war; iv. George S., married Susan S., daughter of Andrew and Susan (Thornton) Glassell; † Colonel of 22d Virginia Infantry; wounded twice in previous battles; and then at 2d Manassas; killed by a shell while commanding a brigade at the battle of Winchester, in 1864; v. W. Tazewell, Colonel of 7th Virginia Infantry; killed whilst leading his regiment in the memorable charge of Pickett's division on the heights of Gettysburg, in 1863; vi. Hugh Mercer, Lieutenant Confederate States Army; wounded at the second battle of Manassas; married Miss Bull, of Orange County, Virginia; vii. James F., Lieutenant Confederate States Army; wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor; made Judge of Court of Appeals of West Virginia; married a daughter of Hon. Allen T. Caperton, United States Senator; died in March, 1882; viii. William M., married Miss Jordan, of Rockbridge County, Virginia; ix. Eliza W., married John Gilmer, of Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

* Alexander Taylor was descended in the fourth generation from James Taylor, from Carlisle in England, who settled on the Chesapeake Bay, and died in 1698. President Zachary Taylor was also of his lineage, and other descendants have intermarried with the Pendleton, Penn, Hopkins, Lewis, Lee, Chew, Gibson, Morton, Glassell, Taliaferro, Conway, Ashby, Battaile, and other well known families of Virginia.

The Glassells of Virginia are connections of the Duke of Argyll; and his son the Marquis of Lorne, during his visit to Virginia, cordially greeted his Virginia cousins.

JOHN RUTHERFOORD.

The frequent representation of those of Scottish blood among the honored Executives of Virginia is worthy of remark. Another instance now passes in review. Possibly no other city in the United States has been more honored in a class of citizens so representative of material prosperity and influence as has that of Richmond in her merchants, whose probity, system, and promptness have been widely proverbial quite from the period of its accession to such titular dignity in 1782. Prominent among these useful and excellent men was the justly esteemed father of the subject of this sketch.

Thomas Rutherfoord, son of Thomas and Janet (Meldrum) Rutherfoord, who were both natives of Kircaldy, Scotland, was born in Glasgow, where his parents then resided, January 9, 1766. Having received the educational advantages of the grammar schools, and finally of two sessions in the College of Glasgow, he entered, in July, 1780, the employment of Hawkesley & Rutherfoord, of Dublin, Ireland-a mercantile firm, of which his elder brother, John Rutherfoord, was the junior partner. They were exporters as well as importers, and conducted & large trade with the ports of Europe and America. It was customary in the last century for youths designed for a mercantile life to fit themselves for the calling by a regular term of indentured apprenticeship, which was entered upon by the payment of a fee. This had been the training of the employers of Thomas Rutherfoord, they having served as fellow-apprentices, in the province of Maryland, in the house of Spiers & Company, merchants and factors. Their pleasurable reminiscences of American life, as narrated to young Thomas, inspired in him a desire for a like residence abroad. This, together with his exemplified prudence, sagacity, and business habits, induced Messrs. Hawkesley & Rutherfoord to intrust him, at the early age of eighteen, with a cargo of goods valued at £10,000 for disposition in Virginia. He set sail from Dublin, October 10, 1784, furnished with a letter of recommendation to General Washington from Sir Edward Neversham, member of Parliament from the county of Dublin. The vessel, the "Jane and Diana," anchored in Hampton Roads, Virginia, December 21st following, and soon thereafter the youthful merchant located in Richmond, Virginia. He met with deserved success, was admitted a partner with his employers, and soon succeeded to the entire business, and extensively engaged as merchant, miller, and importer and exporter. He became in time one of the largest real estate owners in Richmond. He was a man, of strong individuality of character and excellent judgment, and a clear and vigorous writer. He contributed at different periods of his life excellent papers to the press, on the commercial requirements of the nation