Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/287

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY


217


ried John Tenney, of Scarboro, thence driven by Indian hostilities with her mother to Gloucester by or before 1690, and the father was an active and useful man. John of Saco, son of the preceding, was one of the chief men of the place, but removed to Scar- boro.

Whether there is any connection between the Virginia Warwicks and the Warwicks of Alaine cannot now be very easily estab- lished. As far back as can be traced the former family has been connected with Vir- ginia and the south. Several particulars re- garding the family are given in "Sketches and Recollections of Lynchburg" by the "Oldest Inhabitant," a small work pub- lished in 1858. The phraseology is quaint, but is worth quoting, particularly for the light it gives on the general opinion regard- ing Major William Warwick, father of John Marshall Warwick, and great-grandfather of Charles Price W^wick. Says the author, whose name is not given :

Major William Warwick, for many years the revered and excellent visitor of our town, was a native of the county of Buckingham (Buckingham or Nelson), where was passed his boyhood. Set- tling whilst a young man in the county of Amherst and occupying the station of a prominent bank offi- cer. Major Warwick may be justly claimed by our town as a citizen, particularly as through life he was a constant worshiper in the churches of Lynchburg. Major Warwick was a gentleman of the most hon- orable feelings. His integrity and uprightness were so conspicuous and so unswerving was he in the prosecution of what he deemed the right that many were heard to say that these qualities invested him with a moral sublimity.

Major Warwick was thrice married, and the chil- dren of all these marriages are good and pros- perous. May not this be traced in a great measure to the immediate hand of Providence, who has promised that the children of the righteous are blessed to the third and fourth generations. The family of Warwick are all long lived, the venerable mother of Major Warwick attaining the age of one hundred and two, and dying in the county of Nelson a few years since. The traits of filial piety have in this family been conspicuous from generation to generation, and we now witness a fulfillment of the promise to those who honor their parents, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long in the earth. This excellent man died some years since at an advanced age, leaving to his descendants a sacred legacy in a name untarnished and connected only with such things as are pure, lovely, and of good report.

The author goes on to say the remains of the first wife of Major William Warwick repose in the yard attached at that time to the residence of the Dunnington familv.


which at the time of her decease was the o!ily l)ur\ing ground in the newly formed town of Lynchburg. On this spot was the first church of Lynchburg, to which the cemetery was attached. Many of the bodies were moved to the Methodist burying ground, but others were left, and the spot where they reposed was identified by their friends. .\ barracks was at one time held in the part of the house nearest the court- house. At the foot of Mrs. Warwick's grave stood, and perhaps stands, an aspen tree, placed there l)y the hand of her daughter, Mrs. Stuart. A very large spreading tree formerly cast its shade over this quiet rest- ing place, but in the year 1820 it was torn up by the roots during a violent storm, says the author formerly quoted, leaving alone the quivering aspen tree with its beautiful alternations of white and green, reminding us of the living green of the courts above, surrounded by the shadowy forms robed in spotless white.

Captain James W^arwick, a brother of Major Warwick, was for a number of years a respected resident of Lynchburg. His residence was exactly opposite to that of Colonel John Wiatt ; and with this excellent man did he, it is said, "oft take sweet coun- sel, walking together to the house of God." Captain \\'arwick was a devout member of the Presbyterian church, Lynchburg, and conspicuous, it is said, "for the ardor of his attachment to his beloved pastor, adhering closely to him in the division of the church, regardless of the changes of those around him."

Of the descendants of Major William Warwick, John Marshall Warwick was a prominent citizen of Lynchburg, and mar- ried Caroline Norwell ; Corbin and Abram Warwick, of Richmond ; Daniel Warwick, who resided in Baltimore ; and a daughter who married a Mr. Saunders, and another who married Thomas Leftwich, of Bedford county.

Charles Price \\'arwick. the modern rep- resentative of the family, was educated in the public schools and high schools of Lynchburg. ^Kfter leaving school he was clerk with the Norfolk &: Western Railroad Company at Lynchburg, Virginia. He came to New York City in 1899, and was clerk with a wholesale lumber business for about one year. He then became connected with the banking and brokerage house of A. A.