History of Pittsylvania County Virginia United States of America

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Walter Coles, representative, was born in Pittsylvania county, Va., in 1789; son of John and ??? (Tucker) Coles. He engaged in farming and was subsequently justice of the peace for many years. On March 12, 1812, he was made 2nd lieutenant in the 2nd light dragoons, and was promoted captain in the 3rd rifles March 17, 1814, serving on the northern frontier till 1815. He was a representative in the Virginia legislature, 1833-34, and represented his district as a Democrat in the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th congresses, 1835-45; after which he declined a re-election and retired to his farm. He was married to Eliza F., daughter of Bowler Cocke of Turkey Island, Va. He died at his residence near Roberson's Store, Va., Nov. 9, 1857.

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

John Brooks Henderson, senator, was born in Pittsylvania county, Va., Nov. 16, 1826; son of James and Jane (Dawson) Henderson. His parents removed to Lincoln county, Mo., in 1839, and both died before he was ten years old. He gained a good education from the common schools and from classical teadchers; taught in the district school; studied law and was admitted to the bar of Pike County circuit court in 1848, beginning practice in Louisiana, Mo., in 1849. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1849 and 1857, originating the state railroad and banking laws of 1857. He was a Buchanan and Breckinridge presidential elector in 1856. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Democratic national convention at Charleston, S.C., and Baltimore, Md., when he supported the candidacy of Senator Douglas. He was an elector on the Douglas and Johnson ticket in 1860; was defeated by James S. Rollins for representative in the 37th congress the same year, and was a delegate to the state convention of 1861 that determined the state to remain in the union. On the outbreak of the civil war he organized a brigade of state troops and was commissioned brigadier-general of militia. He was appointed in 1862, by Lieut.-Gov. Willard P. Hall, U.S. senator in place of Trusten Polk, expelled, and he was elected by the legislature to fill out the term. In 1863 he was elected for the full term expiring March 4, 1869. In the senate he was chairman of the committee on Indian affairs; organized the Indian peace cornmission in 1867; was the author of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution, and was among the original agitators of the suffrage amendment embodied in the organic law as the fifteenth amendment. He was one of the seven Republican senators who voted for acquittal in the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson. He was married in 1868 to Mary, daughter of Judge Elisha Foote of New York. He resumed his law practice in St. Louis, Mo., in 1869, at the close of his senatorial term. He was nominated for governor of Missouri in 1872, but was defeated by Silas Woodson. He received the Republican nomination for U.S. senator in 1798, but was defeated in the election by Louis Bogy. In 1875 he was appointed by President Grant to assist the U.S. district attorney in the prosecution of the "Whisky ring," violators of the revenue laws, but was removed by the President in December of that year. He was presiding officer of the Republican national convention of 1889. He subsequently resided in Washington, D.C., where he was elected by congress a regent of the Smithsonian Institution in January, 1892, and again in 1898. He was elected a member of the Geological an d National Geographic societies, and was a member of the Pan-American conference of 1889-90. He is the author of many articles on economic subjects, especially finance, contributed to the magazines. The University of Missouri conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1882.

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

Celestia Susannah Parrish, educator, was born in Pittsylvania county, Va., Sept. 12, 1853; daughter of Perkins and Jane (Walker) Parrish; granddaughter of Abram and Susannah (Giles) Parrish and of Joseph and Susannah (Muse) Walker, and a descendant of William Walker, wire settled in Virginia about 1678. She was graduated from Roanoke Female college, 1879; from the Virginia State Normal school, 1885; from Cornell university, Ph.B., 1896, and pursued a post-graduate course at the University of Chicago in the summer terms of 1897-99. She was a teacher in the public schools of Pittsylvania county, Va., 1871-75; in the city schools of Danville, Pa., and in Roanoke Female college, 1875-84; teacher of mathematics in the State Normal school of Virginia, 1884-93, with a year's leave of absence to study in the University of Michigan; professor of mathematics and pedagogy in Randolph-Macon Woman's college, 1893-99; professor of philosophy in the same college, 1899-1902, and on Feb. 4, 1902, became principal of the department of psychology in the State Normal school, Athens, Ga. She was instructor in the summer Normals of Virginia, 1885-89; in the Virginia Summer School of Methods, 1889-1901; and in the Summer School of the South, June-July, 1902. She organized the Virginia branch of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, the first branch organized in the Southern states, and was its president, 1899-1902, and was made one of the vice-presidents of the General Association of Collegiate Alumnae in October 1901. She published two original investigations in psychology in the American Journal of Psychology, and contributed to educational periodicals.

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

Josephus Conn Guild, jurist, was born in Pittsylvania county, Va., Dec. 14, 1802. His parents removed to Houston county, Tenn., in 1804, and in 1810 to Sumner county. He received an average school training and was admitted to the bar in 1823, after studying in the office of Foster & Brown at Nashville. In 1852 he was a Democratic candidate for elector for the state at large and canvassed the state against William T. Haskell. He was a representative in the state legislature three terms and a state senator one term. He was lieutenant-colonel in Col. William Trousdale's regiment in the Seminole war, 1836-37. He was chancellor of the division of the state composed of Sumner, Robertson and Montgomery counties, 1859-61, and after the close of the civil war removed to Nashville, where he was a practising lawyer, 1865-70, and judge of the law court, 1870-77, when he retired from practice. He is the author of Old Times in Tennessee (1878). He died in Nashville, Tenn., Jan. 8, 1883.

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

History of Pittsylvania County Virginia

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