JAMES MCDOWELL.

The honored names of McDowell and Preston, so closely interlinked, were both represented in the memorable siege of Londonderry, in 1688. The founder of the distinguished McDowell family of Virginia and Kentucky. Ephraim McDowell, there battled for the Protestant cause, with an elder brother, who sealed his devotion with his life. Ephraim McDowell, who was, it is said, a relative and near neighbor of John Lewis, the founder of the famous Lewis family of Virginia, emigrated from Ireland and settled in the province of Pennsylvania some time prior to the year 1735; but, after a brief residence there, migrated to Virginia, to the home of his relative John Lewis. His son John McDowell and wife, who was Magdalene Woods, and whom he married in Pennsylvania, accompanied him. Father and son settled on the noted grant of Benjamin Burden, John McDowell becoming the surveyor of Burden, and securing from him a tract of one thousand acres of land in what is now Rockbridge County, and upon which he settled, calling his home "Cherry Grove." He was killed by the Indians, with eight companions, near Balcony Falls, December 25, 1742. He left issue: i. Samuel; Judge; father of the celebrated surgeon Ephraim McDowell, M. D., born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, November 11, 1771; completed his medical studies at Edinburgh, Scotland, settled in practice at Danville, Kentucky, in 1795, and for years was the leading practitioner in the West; married, in 1802, a daughter of General Evan Shelby; successfully performed, in 1809, the operation for the extirpation of the ovary-the first on record and acquired a world-wide celebrity; died at Danville, June 25, 1830. He was recently honored with a statue at Frankfort, Kentucky. The descendants of Samuel McDowell are repre sented in the worthy names of Reid, Moore, and others. ii. James, married Elizabeth McClung, and, dying in 1770, a posthumous son was born the same year-James, Colonel and the commandant of a brigade in the war of 1812; married Sarah, daughter of William Preston (and granddaughter of the founder of the Preston family, John Preston). Their issue was: i. Susan S., married William Taylor, of Alexandria, lawyer, and member of Congress, and had issue; ii. Elizabeth, married Hon. Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, and had, with other issue, Jessie, married General John C. Fremont; iii. James, the subject of this sketch. i. Sarah, married Colonel George Moffett, of Augusta County, distinguished in Indian warfare, and in the Revolution, in which he fought from the beginning to the close. Their descendants are represented in the names of McDowell, Bell, McCue, Hedges, Carson, Cochran, Crawford, Kirk, Miller, and others equally estimable.

James McDowell, the subject of this sketch, was born at the family seat, "Cherry Grove," Rockbridge County, October 11, 1795. He received elementary tuition successively from the Rev. Wm. McPheeters, D. D., and Rev. Samuel Brown. The wife of the latter, who was Mary Moore, was the heroine of a thrilling story of Indian captivity, which is presented in a little book entitled The Captives of Abb's Valley. James McDowell later entered Washington College, then attended Yale College for a year, and completed his education at Princeton College, New Jersey, from which he was graduated Master of Arts in 1816. He spoke the Latin salutatory oration on the occasion of his graduation. Of the class of 1816, Mrs. Miller, the daughter of Governor McDowell, narrates that the Rev. John Maclean, D. D., so long the able and honored President of the College, thus pleasantly collocated some of its members: "There were three Macs in that class, and I tell you, madam, they were not the meanest fellows in it either. They were McIlvaine [the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Ohio], McDowell, and [with a significant smile] Johnny Maclean."

So pleased was Colonel McDowell with the success of his son James at college that upon his return home he presented him with a valuable tract of land, some 2,500 acres, in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Young McDowell now commenced the study of law in the office of the eminent Chapman Johnson, at Staunton, Virginia, but after having so perfected his knowledge therein as to be awarded a license to practice, suddenly relinquished the profession through peculiar conscientious scruples, which he thus enunciated: "Others may be, but I don't know how I can be an honest man and a lawyer." In September, 1818, he married his cousin Susan, daughter of General Francis and Sarah B. (daughter of General William Campbell, the hero of King's Mountain, who married the sister of Patrick Henry the orator) Preston. James McDowell now removed to his plantation in Kentucky, but, after a residence there of a year or two, returned to Virginia to overlook the interests of his father, who had been stricken with paralysis, and near whom he took a farm, in the neighborhood of Lexington. This he made his permanent home, and here he raised his large family of children. He first entered public life in 1831, as a member of the House of Delegates from Rockbridge County.

The summer of that year is memorable in the annals of Virginia as the period of the negro insurrection in Southampton County, which has been circumstantially detailed in the preceding sketch of Governor John Floyd. This tragic outbreak created a panic which pervaded the State even to its borders. The utmost terror prevailed, and so supplanted reason that people stood in dread suspense, awaiting supernatural visitations and terrible calamities. They watched the sun, and from the spots upon it drew portents of evil; and when night came the darkness

was full of spectres. Labor was interrupted and all occupation disordered by the measures for safety adopted, which called men from every occupation by day and night for weeks as patrols. The wide-spread consternation gradually settled into a belief in the necessity of legislation regarding the slave population of the State. This subject largely occupied the deliberations of the session of the Legislature of 1832-3, and engaged the ablest minds in the body. Mr. McDowell, who had been again returned to the House of Delegates from Rockbridge County, took a deep interest in the prolonged discussion, and, in common with a number of leading Virginians, advocated progressive emancipation. From this time onward Mr. McDowell was continuously in public life, in the service of his State and in the National Council. An exalted patriotism governed all of his actions, for though decided and conscientious in his party sentiments and adherences, he had no sympathy with the popular catch-word "Our party, right or wrong." Our country, not our party, was the paramount consideration with him. He belonged to the Democratic school of politics-an affiliation which, it appears, some of his compatriots of the period could not appreciate. One of them, the late Henry A. Wise, then an uncompromising Whig, expressed his "wonder that such a gentleman as Mr. McDowell should be a Democrat." Yet Mr. Wise soon solved the paradox satisfactorily to himself, it may be inferred, since his asseverations as a Democrat, a few years later, were as enthusiastic as they had been as a Whig.

In 1838 Mr. McDowell delivered before the Alumni Association of Princeton College an earnest and eloquent address which for years was spoken of in the strongest terms of admiration. So enduring was the impression made by this address that the committee of trustees of the College having in charge the arrangements for the one hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the College- celebrated in June, 1847selected James McDowell for the orator on that occasion. But his engagements, public and private, debarred his acceptance of the invitation." In December, 1842, Mr. McDowell was elected, by the Legislature, Governor of Virginia, and on the 1st of January following entered upon the duties of the office, succeeding Acting Governor John Munford Gregory. Governor McDowell was an earnest Christian and a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. He was also a steadfast advocate of the cause of temperance, and, in accordance with his convictions of duty, excluded both wine and dancing from his private and official entertainments. Old School Presbyterianism and total abstinence held sway at the gubernatorial mansion during his term. An expressive bonmot of the late and lamented Colonel Thomas P. August, a prominent lawyer of Richmond, of infinite wit, who attended one of the entertainments of Governor McDowell, has been treasured by his friends. Taking a glass of lemonade, Colonel August, with a significant application of his hand to his chest, offered as a toast: "Governor McDowell's two

Aids-lemon-ade and promen-ade." Before the close of his term of three years as the Executive of Virginia, Governor McDowell was elected to a seat in the United States House of Representatives, made vacant by the death of his brother-in-law, William Taylor. He served in Congress with conspicuous ability until 1851, and would doubtless. have been returned again but that death intervened before the day of election. He died at Lexington, August 24, 1851, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. His wife had preceded him to the grave. They left issue nine children-two sons and seven daughters-as follows:

i. James, a physician, married Miss Elizabeth Brant, of St. Louis, Missouri, and has issue.

ii. Sally C. P., married, first, Hon. Francis Thomas, Governor of Maryland, and secondly, Rev. John Miller, now of Princeton, New Jersey. She has issue by the second marriage.

iii. Mary B., married Rev. Mr. Ross, of Bladensburg, Maryland. iv. Frances Elizabeth, died unmarried.

v. Sophonisba, married Professor James W. Massic, of the Virginia Military Institute, late Colonel Confederate States Army (now deceased), and has issue.

vi. Susan P., married Major Charles S. Carrington, a prominent lawyer of Richmond, Virginia.

vii. Margaret Canty, married Professor Charles S. Venable, LL.D.. of Virginia, and late Colonel Confederate States Army, on the staff of General R. E. Lee. Has issue.

viii. Thomas L., married Miss Constance Warwick, of Powhatan County, Virginia. He died in the Confederate States Army service, leaving issue one child.

ix. Eliza, married Bernard L. Wolfe, Major Confederate States Army, and has issue.

As a speaker, Governor McDowell was eloquent and effective. In Congress he acquired influence and reputation by the gravity of his demeanor and the moderation of his course, and particularly by his wise and cordial support of all measures tending to strengthen the bonds of National Union. His most memorable effort in Congress was his speech on the admission of California as one of the United States, which is said to have produced an impression equal to any other ever delivered in that body.

WILLIAM SMITH.

To the distinguished representation of the name of Smith in the annals of Virginia some reference has been made in a preceding sketch in this serial. Doubtless the paternal ancestor of the subject of this biography was seated in the colony early in the seventeenth century, but it is proposed to deduce first his descent maternally, which is more