History of Harrisonburg, (Harrisonburg (city) County) Virginia United States of America

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Biographies:

John Francis Lewis, senator, was born near Port Republic, Rockingham county, Va., March 1, 1818; son of Gen. Samuel H. and Ann (Lewis) Lewis; grandson of Charles and ? (Haute) Lewis; great grandson of Thomas and Jane (Strother) Lewis, and of Col. Charles Lewis, who was killed while fighting the Indians at Point Pleasant, Va., under his brother, Gen. Andrew Lewis, 1774; and great2 grandson of John and Margaret (Lynn) Lewis. John Lewis was an early settler in the Valley of Virginia, three of whose four sons were Indian fighters before the Revolution, and one of whom, Gen. Andrew Lewis, is represented in a statue on the Washington monument, Richmond, Va. John Francis Lewis married a daughter of the Hon. Daniel Sheffey . He was a member of the state convention of 1861, and was the only member of that body who refused to sign the ordinance of secession. He was the Union candidate for representative in congress from the sixth Virginia district in 1865, but was defeated by A. H. H. Stuart. He was elected lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Gilbert C. Walker for governor in 1869, leading his ticket by several thousand votes. The legislature in 1869 elected him U.S. senator, and he served from Jan. 24, 1870, to March 3, 1875. In the senate he was chairman of the committee on the District of Columbia. In 1877 he was appointed by President Hayes U.S. marshal for the western district of Virginia, and subsequently resigned, that his son, Daniel Sheffey Lewis, might accept the position of U.S. district attorney. He was elected lieutenant-governor on the Readjuster ticket with William E. Calneron for governor in 1881. He died at Harrisonburg, Va., Sept. 2, 1895.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

James Harrison Cravens, representative, was born in Harrisonburg, Rockingham county, Va., Aug. 2, 1802; son of Joseph and Mary (Harrison) Cravens. His ancestors came from the north of Ireland at the close of the Revolution. He left Virginia in 1829 because of his anti-slavery views, and settled in Madison, Ind., where he engaged in the practice of law, later removing to Ripley county, Ind., where he practised law and became a farmer. He was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1840, and a representative in the 27th congress, 1841-43 In 1860 he was the defeated candidate for attorney-general of Indiana. He entered the army in 1862 as lieutenant-colonel of the 83d Indiana regiment, and was discharged from the service, Feb. 11, 1863, on account of total physical disability. He was one of the original anti-slavery agitators and liberated his own Slaves, acquired by inheritance. He died in Marion, Ind., Dec. 4, 1876.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Paul, jurist, was born in Rockingham county, Va., June 30, 1839; son of Peter and Maria (Whitmore) Paul; grandson of Nicholas Paul, who came to America early in the eighteenth century, and a descendant of a Huguenot family who removed from France to Holland. He attended Roanoke college, Salem, Va., and upon the breaking out of the civil war enlisted in the Confederate army as a lieutenant in the 1st Virginia cavalry. He was graduated from the law department of the University of Virginia in 1867; was attorney for the commonwealth of Virginia, 1870-77; a member of the state senate, 1877-81; a Democratic representative in the 47th congress, 1881-83; and judge of the U.S. court for the western district of Virginia, 1883-1901. He married, Nov. 19, 1874, Katharine Seymour, daughter of Charles Green, of Warren county, Va. He died at Harrisonburg, Va., Nov. 1, 1901.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Gessner Harrison, educator, was born in Harrisonburg, Va., June 26, 1807. He was one of the first students entered at the University of Virginia and in 1828 was one of three graduates in Greek and also one of three in medicine, these being the first regular graduates from the university. The same year he succeeded George Long as professor of ancient languages there and served till 1859. He then resigned and opened a classical boarding school at Belmont, Va. Besides a sketch of the University of Virginia in Duyckinck's Cyclop?dia of American Literature he published Exposition of Some of the Laws of Latin Grammar (1852), and a treatise on Greek Prepositions (1848). He died near Charlotteville, Va., April 7, 1862.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor