Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/334

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PROMINENT PERSONS


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or Georgia in 1804. He was admitted to the bar, was elected to the state legislature, and in 1810 appointed to compile the stat- utes of Georgia from 1800. In 1819 he was elected judge of the superior court of the western circuit, an office which he retained until 1825, and again from 1828 till 1831. During his last term occurred the difficul- ties between the state of Georgia and the Cherokee Indians, resulting in the expa- triation of the latter. In 1829 the legisla- ture brought the Cherokee territory within the jurisdiction of Georgia, and this action of the state authorities was sustained by Judge Clayton, though eventually the United States supreme court decided against its legality, and ruled that the Cherokee nation was not subject to the state laws that had been imposed upon it. Judge Clayton, however, was not in perfect accord with the legislature as to Indian rights, holding that they were entitled to dig gold on lands to which their stipulated title had not been extinguished; and for thus opposing the policy of the state he was removed from bis judicial office. In 183 1 he was elected to congress, where he took a leading part in debates on the tariff and the United States bank, both of which he opposed. He served two terms in congress, and after his retire- ment in 1835 held no public office excepting the trusteeship of the University of Georgia. He was a presidential elector in 1829. His attitude towards Christianity for many years was one of doubt, but at the time of bis death he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was reputed to be the author of the political pamphlet called "Crockett's Life of Van Buren." He died at Athens, Georgia, June 21, 1839.


WarrcU, James, was an Englishman. In 1804 he taught dancing in Petersburg. At one time he was proprietor of the Richmond Museum. He painted portraits, and prob- ably landscapes. Among portraits painted by him are those of John Tyler (father of President John Tyler), now in the library or William and Mary College, Williams- burg; and of Washington and Lafayette, hanging in the council chamber at Rich- mond.

Cleland, Thomas, born in Fairfax county, \'irginia, May 22, 1778; removed to Marion county, Kentucky, in 1789. He was an ex- horter during the revival of 1801, and being urged to become a preacher by the presby- tery of Transylvania, was licensed April 14, 1803, and became pastor of a church in Washington county. In 1813 he was settled over the churches of New Providence and Cane Run, now Harrodsburg. He publish- ed a hymn-book for prayer meetings and re- vivals, and tracts directed against the Camp- bellites and New-lights, entitled "Letters on Campbellism," "The Socini-Arian De- tected" (1815), and "Unitarianism Un- masked" (1825). He died January 31, 1858.

Dagg, John L., born at Middleburg, Lou- doun county, Virginia, February 13, 1794; was ordained to the Baptist ministry in 1817, preached for a number of years in his native state, removing to Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, in the year 1825, where he was ap- pointed pastor of the Fifth Baptist Church and so served for eight years, at the expira- tion of which time he resigned from the ministry owing to trouble with his throat. He then turned his attention to the profes- sion of teaching and to authorship, in 1836 accepting charge of the Alabama Female


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