54
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
srb-treasury question. In 1826 he was
elected to the house of delegates and con-
tinued in that body till 1S39 when he was
elected as one of the councillors of state.
On March 31. 1841. he was elected president
of the council and succeeded John M. Patton
ar acting governor. During this time he
continued the controversy with Governor
Seward, of New York, begun by Governor
Clilmer. In 1836. he was elected president
o» the Mutual Assurance Society of Vir-
ginia, in which position he served efficiently
for thirty years. At an entertainment at his
house General Scott pronounced the eulogy
upon Colonel Robert E. Lee. which con-
tributed 10 the calling of that great sol-
dier to command the Virginia forces in
1861. Governor Rutherfoord married. April
24. 1816. Anne Coles, and died at Richmond,
August 3. 1866, leaving descendants.
Gregory, John M., lieutenant and acting
governor, the son of John M. Gregory. Sr.,
and Letitia Graves, his wife, was born in
Charles City county, Virginia. July 8, 1804.
He was a descendant of early settlers in
Virginia and his grandfather, John Gregory,
was killed in action during the revolution.
His education was acquired at the "old field
school," and, being poor, he toiled on the
farm. He taught school in James City
county, and in 1830 graduatefl Sis\Qachelor
- • • •
of Law at William and Mary ^olltfgc. The
siime year he was elected to the house of delegates from James City county, and con- tinued in that body by successive elections till 1841, when he was elected by the legis- lature a member of the council of state. He became lieutenant-governor on March 31,
1842. and as such succeeded John Ruther- foord as acting governor till January i,
1843. when he was succeeded in the execu-
tive office by James McDowell. In accord-
ance with an act of the general assembly,
passed December 14. 1842, the term now
for which the governors of \'irginia were
elected began on the first day of January
next succeeding their elections. In 1853 ^^
was appointed United States district attor-
ney for the eastern district of \'irginia,
serving till the year i860, when he was
elected judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit
of Virginia, serving in this capacity until
1866. At this date he was removed from
office by the Federal military authorities,
and. resuming his practice as a lawyer, was
soon elected commonwealth's attorney for
Charles City county. This post he held till
1880, when he resigned on account of feeble
health and retired to Williamsburg, where
he died in 1888. He married Miss Amanda
Wallace, of Petersburg, Virginia, by whom
he left a large family.
McDowell, James, born at "Cherry Grove," Rockbridge county, October 11, 1795, son of Colonel James and Sarah (Pres- ton) McDowell, and a descendant of John McDowell, who was killed by Indians, in 1742. He studied at Yale and Princeton colleges, graduating from the latter in 1810; then studied law under the famous lawyer. Chapman Johnston, but never practiced. He entered the legislature in 1831, and after the Nat Turner insurrection he advocated the gradual abolition of slavery. His brilliant speech on nullification in 1833 made him a rival of John Tyler for the senatorship, but he was defeated. In politics he was a Jackson Democrat. He became governor on Janu- ary I, 1843, but before the end of his term of three years was elected to the United States house of representatives, succeeding his deceased brother-in-law, William Taylor,
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