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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
JJland, and widow of John Randolph, of
"Matoax," in Chesterfield county, was born
at that place, December 29, 1780. In 1791 he
entered the grammar school of William and
Mary College, conducted by Rev. John
Itracken, and completed the college course
of Bachelor of Arts, July 4, 1799. He took
a law course under his father, the professor
of law in the college, and began to practice
at Winchester in 1802. He speedily at-
tracted notice and was elected to the house
of delegates in 1807, served afterwards in
the war of 1812, and in 1815 was elected to
Congfress. where he served two terms. He
served in the state senate, 1819-1823 ; presi-
dent of the Virginia Supreme Court of Ap-
peals, 1831-41, and law professor at Univer-
sity of Virginia, 1841-45. He conducted a
celebrated law school for some years at
Winchester, and declined the post of United
Slates attorney-general, offered by Presi-
dent Jackson. He wrote '^Commentaries on
the Law of V^irginia" (2 vols., 1836) ; *'Lec-
tures on Constitutional Law" (1843), ^^^
- Lectures on Natural Law and Govern-
ment" (1844). He was president of the Virginia Historical and Philosophical soci- eties, and received the degree of Doctor of Laws from William and Mary in 1837. He married Ann Evelina, daughter of Moses Hunter, and died at Winchester, Virginia, August 28, 1848. He is to be distinguished from an Anglo-Indian relative and name- sake (1771-1851), who was chairman of the East India Company, and whose life was written by J. W. Kaye, 1854.
Cabell, William H. (q. v.).
Allen, John J., was born at Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Virginia, September 25. 1797. son of James Allen, a distinguished
lawyer and judge of the circuit court. He
v.as educated at Washington College, Vir-
ginia, and Dickinson College, Pennsylvania.
He read law with his father, and removed
to Clarksburg in 1819. In 1827 he was
elected to the state senate and introduced
an important bill, which afterwards became
a law, for the settlement of land titles in
Trans-Alleghany Virginia. In 1834 he was
commonwealth attorney for the counties of
Harrison, Lewis and Preston. At the same
time he was a member of the Twenty-third
Congress from December 2, 1833, to March
3 1835, and served on the committee of the
District of Columbia. In 1836 he was ap-
pointed judge of the seventeenth circuit, re-
moved to Botetourt county, and held his
first court there September i, 1836. In De-
cember, 1840, he was elected a judge of the
state court of appeals, and in 185 1 was made
the president thereof. He was an ardent
upholder of the doctrine of secession, his
masterly defence of which may be found in
"The Southern Historical Papers" for Janu-
ary, 1876. In 1865 he resigned and retired
to private life. Judge Allen was married in
1824. He died in 1871.
Brockenbrough, William» son of Dr. John Brockenbrough, of Tappahannock, Essex county, Virginia, and of Sarah, his wife, daughter of Colonel William Roane, was born July 10, 1778; was educated at Wil- liam and Mary College in 1798; studied law and afterwards practiced it with much suc- cess. He represented Essex in the house of delegates in 1802-03 ; member of the council, May, 1803; appointed a judge of the gen- eral court. February 7, 1809, and a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals, February 20, 1834. to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge John W. Green. He was an
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