VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
Mc Kinney, Philip Watkins, was born in
I'.uckingliani county, Virginia, May i, 1832,
son of Charles McKinncy. He graduated
from llampdcn-Sidney College, taking high
r;.nk as a speaker, and receiving the Philan-
thropic Society gold medal. He studied
l.(w under Judge Urockenbrough, of Lex-
ington, and engaged in practice; the same
year ( 1858) he was elected to the general
assembly, in which he served with distinc-
tion four terms, until the close of the war.
He was a strong Union man, but went with
his state when it seceded. He became cap-
tain of a company in the Fourth Cavalry
Regiment, and served with it until severely
wounded at Brandy Station, thereafter be-
ii:g on post duty at Danville. After the
war he resumed practice. He was a Demo-
cratic candidate for congress, twice a presi-
(If^ntial elector, several times common-
wealth's attorney, and a delegate to the na-
tional conventions of 1884 and 1888, and was
elected attorney-general in 1881. In 1889 he
was elected governor, over William Mahone,
and his administration was notable for its
■incccssful settlement of the state debt, on
plan of readjustment which was accep- i.ible to the bondholders, since which time the interest has been steadily paid.
O'Ferrall, Charles Triplett, was born near I'rucetown, l"redcrick county, Virginia, Oc- 'ber 21. 1840. His father was John O'Fer- r,<ll, of Scotch-Irish descent, a farmer and hotel proprietor of Morgan county, Vir- i'lnia. now West Virginia, who served as Icrk of the county court, sheriff, and mem- ber of the legislature. He attended private •uhi>ols and at fifteen began public life as clerk of the circuit court of Morgan . and on the death of his father in
1857 he was appointed by the governor to
fill the vacancy. In 1861 he entered the
Confederate army and during the course of
the war, rose to be colonel of cavalry. He
was wounded several times and was once
left for dead on the battlefield. After the
war Col. O'Ferrall studied law at Wash-
ington College, now Washington and Lee
University, which was at the time, presided
ever by Gen. R. E. Lee. He then began to
practice law at Harrisonburg in Rocking-
ham county. He was soon elected to the
legislature and took an active part in saving
the state from the "carpet-baggers." In
1874, he was made by the legislature
county judge of Rockingham. In 1884 he
was elected to the forty-eighth congress
and was re-elected to the five succeeding
congresses, serving from May 5, 1884, to
March 3, 1895. After this he was elected
governor of the state (January i, 1894 —
January i, 1898). W'hen his term of office
came to an end, he settled in Richmond and
practiced law, meeting with much success.
He died September 22, 1905. As a public
speaker Gov. O'Ferrall had few equals, and
his "Four Years of Active Service" is a book
of much value and has been highly praised.
Tyler, James Hoge, born at his father's home, "Blenheim," Caroline county, Vir- ginia, August II, 1846, son of Hon. George Tyler and Elva (Hoge) Tyler, his wife. The father, oldest son of Henry and Lucy (Coleman) Tyler, owned the "Blenheim" e.'^tate and many others, and was known for his hospitality and generosity: he was a member of the Virginia legislature both be- fore and after the civil war. His mother dying at his birth. James Hoge Tyler was brought up by his grandparents, Gen. and
