PROMINENT PERSONS
359
Yancey, a major in the war of 1812, and a
friend of Thomas Jefferson, who lived 011
the adjoining farm. Lucy E. Davis was a
descendant of Henry Davis, who was a
first cousin of Major-General Emmet Rodes.
of the Confederate States army. Robert
iJiavis Yancey attended school in Lynch-
burg, and then entered the Virginia Military
Institute at Lexington, graduated in 1875. He
entered the law department of the Univer-
sity of Virgmia in the fall of 1875, studied
un^ler Professor John B. Minor and Ste-
phen O. Southall, graduated in 1877, and
began practice in Lynchburg. He was
mayor of the city, 1890-1894; common-
wealth's attorney, 1894, six terms of two
years each, and in 1906 was again elected
for a term of four years. He served many
years in the state body of the National
Guard, held many non-commissioned a.id
commissioned posts, for seven years was a
captain, and in 1887-89, under Governors
Charles T. O'Ferrall and Fitz Hugh Lee,
was colonel in command of all the state
troops, sent to the coal fields to preser\ e
order during the strikes.
Gordon, Armistead Churchill, born in Al- bemarle county, Virginia, December 20, 1855, son of George Loyall Gordon and Mary Long Daniel, his wife. On his father's side he is descended from John Gordon, who about 1738 came from the North of Ireland to Middlesex county, Virginia, and engaged largely in the exporting of tobacco. His paternal grandfather was Gen. William F. Gordon, of Albemarle county, Virginia, who, when in the congress of the United States, originated the federal independent treasury system ; and who, as delegate from Albemarle, in the Virginia house of dele-
gates, had charge of Mr. Jefferson's bill to
establish the University of Virginia. His
maternal ancestors are the Stiths, Ran-
dolphs, and Bassetts of Virginia, and the
Longs and Daniels of North Carolina; his
mother's great-grandfather, Col. Nicholas
Long, of Halifax, North Carolina, having
been commissary-general of that state dur-
ing the revolutionary war, and his mother's
father. Judge Joseph J. Daniel, having been
for years on the supreme court of that state.
His paternal ancestor, Col. Reuben Lindsay,
o: Albemarle county, \'irginia, served with
the Marquis de Lafayette during the revo-
lutionary war. His father was killed in
action at the battle of Malvern Hill, one of
the bloodiest battles of the civil war. His
early education was obtained at the private
school of Warrenton, North Carolina,
known as Dugger's Academy. He after-
wards was taught in the Charlottesville In-
stitute by Major Horace W. Jones, from
v/hich he entered the University of \'ir-
guiia in 1873, where he remained for two
sessions studying the academic branches.
After leaving the University he taught a
private school in Charlottesville for several
years, during which time he read law, tak-
ing three summer courses at the University
of Virginia under Professor John B. Minor.
In the fall of 1879 he began the practice of
his profession in Staunton, Virginia. He
v.'as mayor of the city of Staunton, common-
wealth's attorney for the city of Staunton
and the county of Augusta, city attorney of
Staunton, president of the Chamber of Com-
merce, chairman of the city and county
Democratic committees, and member of the
board of visitors of the university, of which
board he is at this time the rector; was a
member of the board of visitors of William
