44
\'IRGIXIA BIOGRAPHY
parish. Morayshire, Scotland, was born
April 22, i8oS, was educated at the Univer-
sity of X'irginia, 1825-1827, studied law and
was admitted to the bar of Warrenton, Vir-
ginia, 1829. He was elected commonwealth's
attorney and for years served in the legis-
lature ; member of the constitutional con-
vention of 1850 and of the convention of
1861, in which body he supported the Union
until the proclamation of Lincoln for troops
to coerce South Carolina. He was a
member of the provisional congress of the
Confederate States, July, i86t. In Septem-
ber, 1861, he was a candidate for the Con-
federate house of representatives. He died
May 3, 1862, killed by two marauders from
the United States army in Fauquier county,
while trying to arrest them. He had been
offered by Mr. Seward the position of Sec-
retary of Navy of the United States. He
married (first) March 10. 1831, Elizabeth
laylor, born 1815, died March 11, 1834,
daughter of Robert Johnston Taylor, of
Alexandria ; (second) Anne Morson, daugh-
ter of Alexander and Anne (Carson) Mor-
son, of Staflford county, and (third) Hening-
ham Watkins Lyons, sister of Hon. James
Lyons, of Richmond (q. v.).
Seddon, James Alexander, born in Fal- mouth, \'ir,ninia, July 13, 1815, son of Thomas Seddon, a merchant and subse- quently a banker, who was descended from John Seddon, of Lancashire, England, who was one of the early settlers of Staftord county, Virginia; his mother, Susan (Alex- ander) Seddon, was a lineal descendant of John Alexander. James A. Seddon enter- ed the law department of the University of Virginia and was graduated in 1835; after graduation began practice in Rich-
mond, where his abilities attracted imme-
diate attention, and he became one of the
foremost members of his profession in the
state; elected as a Democrat to the twenty-
ninth congress (March 4, 1845-March 3,
1847), receiving a handsome majority, al-
though the district was usually uncertain ;
he declined a renomination in 1847, because
his views were not in accord with the plat-
form of the nominating convention ; re-
elected to the thirty-first congress (March 4,
i849-]March 3, 1851), but his delicate health
obliged him to decline another nomination,
and he retired to Sabot Hill, his home on
the James river, above Richmond; he took
an active part in the debates during his serv-
ice in congress, and was acknowledged to be
the leader of his party : his debates upon the
reform revenue bill, in which he advocated
free trade, were models of strength and eru-
dition, and commanded wide attention ; in
i860 was appointed, with John Tyler and
others, a commissioner to the peace con-
gress which, at the instance of the state of
Virginia, was held in \\'ashington ; he was
placed upon the committee of rules, and by
the instruction of his state made the minor-
ity report, recommending the amending of
the constitution according to the resolution
which had been introduced into the senate
by John J. Crittenden. He was a delegate
to the Confederate provisional congress, and
upon the establishment of the Confederate
government was given the portfolio of sec-
retary of war in the first cabinet of Jeffer-
son Davis, November 20, 1862. In his con-
tention with Governor Brown, of Georgia,
upon the subject of conscription, he showed
the strength of his personality ; the prin-
ciple of state sovereignty, according to Gov-
ernor Brown, did not permit the general
