PROMINENT PERSONS
367
into partnership with W. A. Carrington. He
served as a number of the Texas legislature
in 1880; was chairman of the state Demo-
cratic convention of 1890; he was elected to
the fifty-third, and re-elected to the fifty-
fourth United States congress as a Demo-
crat. He declmed the re-election for a third
term. Mr. Hutcheson is now the senior
member of one of the most prominent law
firms in Texas ; he is also prominent in both
political and business circles ; he combines
in a most happy degree those two great
talents, so rarely found united in the same
man — deep thought and ready speech.
Though one of the most fluent and eloquent
speakers known to the Texas bar, he has
ever accorded diligent study to his profes-
sion. He married (first) in 1867, Mildred
Carrington, daughter of Dr. W. Fountain
and Elizabeth (Venable) Carrington, of Vir-
ginia; married (second) Mrs. Betty Palmer
Milby, widow of Edward Milby. She was
Harriet Elizabeth Palmer, daughter of Judge
Edward A. and Martha \\'inifred (Branch)
Palmer, of Virginia.
Payne, John Barton, born at Pruntytown, Taylor county, Virginia, January 26, 1855, son of Dr. Amos Payne and Elizabeth Bar- ton Smith, both natives of Fauquier county, Virginia. His great-grandfather, Francis Payne, was an officer in the continental army. He was educated at Orleans, Vir- ginia, and began business life as clerk in a store at Warrenton, Virginia, at times act- ing as assistant in the office of the county clerk of Taylor county ; meantime he read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He early became interested in politics, and acted as chairman of the Democratic com- mittee of Taylor county in the Tilden and
Hendricks campaign, and was a frequent
delegate to senatorial and congressional dis-
trict conventions. In 1877 he removed to
Kingwood, Preston county. West Virginia,
v.'here he came to a place of prominence at
the bar and in political affairs. He after-
wards removed to Chicago, Illinois, and be-
came judge of the superior court, and presi-
cicnt of the Chicago Law Institute.
Bruce, Fhilip Alexander, born at Staun- tL.n Hill. Charlotte county, Virginia, Alarch 7, 1856, son of Charles Bruce and Sarah Sed- don, his wife. His education was com- menced under private tuition at his own home, which was supplied with one of the finest libraries in the state, and was con- tinued at Norwood school. Nelson county, from whence he went to the University of Virginia. There he devoted especial atten- tion to English studies, and was for a time cne of the editors of the university maga- zine. He was a convincing and forceful speaker, and was awarded the debater's medal of the Jefiferson Society. Two years were then spent m the study of law at Har- vard University, from which he received his degree as Bachelor of Laws. He became the associate editor of the "Richmond Times" about 1S90, and about 1892 became corresponding secretary of the Virginia His- torical Society, remaining the incumbent of this office until his resignation in 1898, in order to continue his colonial research work in England. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws from William and Mary College in 1907. In the field of literature he has achieved an eminent reputation, and is the author of: "Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century," "The Plantation Negro as a Freeman,"
