598
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
ot this line. He was a traveling salesman
in the employ of a wholesale grocery con-
cern when the war with Spain broke out
and resigned his position to enter the United
States service, becoming a member of Com-
pany F, Third Regiment Virginia Volun-
teer Infantry. Detached service fell to his
lot and he passed his term of enlistment
recruiting in Virginia, under Captain R. E.
Freeman, being mustered out of the service
at the declaration of peace with the rank of
corporal. He became police commissioner
of Alexandria soon after the close of the
war and for eleven years carefully guarded
the peace and welfare of that place, his term
of office being so striking an example of the
influence that the personality of one man
can wield that he became the Democratic
candidate for ma\'or in 1912. The election
of June II returned him victor by a gener-
ous plurality, and on September I. of the
same year, he took up the reins of office.
Through his long term in municipal office
he is able to view the problem of directing
the city government from three standards,
that of private citizen, of the office-holder,
and of the chief executive, and while he has
ever been willing to sacrifice diplomacy to
authority if the necessity for the good of
the city should arise, his tenure of office
has thus far been marked by harmonious
tranquility and uni\'ersal satisfaction. He
has gained for Alexandria measures of
which it was in dire need and has cast his
weight of influence so wisely and with such
good eft'ect that the worthy legislation that
he has supported has rarely failed of suc-
cess. Mr. Fisher holds the thirty-second
degree in the Masonic order and has held all
the offices in Andrew Jackson Lodge, Free
and Accepted Masons, of Alexandria, be-
knging to Old Dominion Commandery,
Knights Templar, of Alexandria, and Acca
Temple. Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of
the Alystic Shrine, of Richmond, Virginia,
his other fraternity being the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, of the local
lodge of which he was treasurer.
Mr. Fisher married, October 18. 1899. Elizabeth Leftwich, a cousin, born in Brooklyn. New York. November 2. 1866, daughter of John H. Fisher.
Henry Lewis Burwell, M. D. Dr. P.ur- well, of • Chase City, Mecklenburg county, Virginia, traces to illustrious Virginia an-
cestors, who were potent factors in the up-
building of a state, serving in high official
positions in the government and in the
armies that subdued the Indians and
wrested the empire from England.
He traces lineally from Colonel Lewis Burwell. of Stoneland (three miles from Chase City ) , who commanded a regiment in the revolution, and was a grandson of Alexander Spottswood, of Virginia, who is recognized in history as one of Virginia's wisest go\ernors. a man who combined many noble qualities with a fine executive ability. He it was who pressed the passage of an act for improving the staple of tobacco
- iiid making tobacco notes the medium of
circulation. He rebuilt William and Alary C ollege and secured a grant of one thousand I'ounds for the college in 1718. Under his wise leadership, \'irginia, alone, of all the colonies, had no public debt, no banks, no bills of credii and no paper money. Many and great were the benefits he sought to bestow upon the home of his adoption, but he fell into disfavor with the clergy, who effected his removal as governor in 1722. IVissessing a tract of forty-five thousand acres m Spottsylvania county (named in his honor), he retired there and engaged in iron manufacture. In 1730 he was appointed deputy postmaster general for the American colonies and held that office until 1739, one of his official acts being the appointment of Benjamin Franklin as postmaster, at Phila- delphia. Pennsyhania. He married, in 1724, Anne Butler, daughter of Richard Brayane, of England, who survived him and married (second) Rev. John Thompson. Governor Spottswood died at Annapolis. Alaryland, June 7. 1740, on the eve of embarking in command of the four battalions raised in the colonies to assist England in the attack on Carthagena. He was buried at "Temple Farm." his country seat near Yorktown. It was in the mansion at "Temple Farm" that in later years Lord Cornwallis and General (ieorge Washington met and signed the "Articles of Capitulation," which secured to the American colonies their independence. .Anne Catherine, one of the go\ernor's daughters, married Bernard Moore, their daughter married Charles Carter, of Shir- ley county, and was the grandmother of General Robert E. Lee. Colonel Lewis Bur- well. grandson of Governor Spottswood and great-grandfather of Dr. Henry Lewis Bur-
