History of Spotsylvania County Virginia United States of America

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Robert Goodloe Harper, statesman, was born in Spottsylvania county, Va., in 1765. His parents removed to Granville, N.C., and he was brought up to hard work on his father's farm. When fifteen years old he joined the Revolutionary patriots, serving in a troop of horse in General Greene's army. He was graduated at the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1785, A.M., 1788, supporting himself during his college course by teaching in the lower classes. He studied law in Charleston, S.C., was admitted to the bar in 1786 and practised in the interior districts of the state. He was a representative in the state legislature and in the 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th U.S. congresses, 1793-1801. He then removed to Baltimore, Md., having married a daughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and he became a celebrated practitioner before the courts of Maryland. He defended Justice Samuel Chase of the U.S. supreme court in his trial for impeachment in 1805. In 1812 he was commissioned a colonel in the U.S. army and during his term of service arose to the rank of major-general. He was elected to the U.S. senate as successor to Col. Samuel Smith in 1815, and in 1816 upon becoming a candidate for Vice-President on the Federalist ticket, he resigned his seat in the senate. He was an early member of the American colonization society and after resigning his seat in the senate he devoted much of his time to its interests. Harper, near Cape Palmas, Africa, was named in honor of his memory. In 1825 he was a candidate for representative in the 19th congress, but died before the election. He received the degree of LL.D. from the College of New Jersey in 1820. He published Select Works, including letters, pamphlets and addresses (1814), and Letter on Colonization (1818). He died in Baltimore, Md., Jan. 15, 1825.

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

James Butler Bowlin, diplomatist, was born in Spottsylvania county, Va., in 1804. He was given a common-school education and worked as a mechanic. In 1825 he removed to Greenbrier county, and two years later was admitted to the bar. He practised his profession there for six years, going to St. Louis, Mo., in 1833, where he soon acquired a large practice. He established the Farmers' and Mechanics' Advocate, and became district-attorney and judge of the criminal court. In 1836 he was elected to the state house of representatives, and in 1842 was elected as a representative to the 28th Congress and was re-elected to the 29th, 30th and 31st congresses. He was appointed in 1854 U.S. minister to Colombia by President Pierce, and commissioner to Paraguay in 1858. He died in St. Louis, Mo., July 19, 1894.

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

Matthew Fontaine Maury, hydrographer, was born in Spottsylvania county, Va., Jan. 14, 1806; son of Richard and Diana (Minor) Maury. He removed with his parents to Williamson county, Tenn., in 1810, and attended a school kept by James Hervey Otey ; was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. navy, Feb. 1, 1825, and cruised on the European coast, in the Mediterranean and around the world, 1825-31. He was promoted master of the sloop-of-war Falmouth in 1831 and acting 1st lieutenant of the schooner Dolphin in 1832. He was transferred to the frigate Potomac and returned to the United States in 1834, and engaged in the publication of a text-book on navigation. He was promoted 1st lieutenant, June 10, 1836, and in 1839, on account of an accident which resulted in permanent lameness, he was obliged to retire from active naval service. He devoted the time of his confinement to study and literary work and to the improvement of the navy. He advocated the establishment of a navy-yard at Memphis, Tenn., and under his superintendence the first series of observations on the flow of the Mississippi river were made by Lieut. Robert A. Marr. He was active in behalf of the enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan canal, for which he received the thanks of the Illinois legislature; advocated the warehousing system in the interest of commerce, and suggested to congress plans for the reclamation of the submerged lands along the Mississippi. He was appointed superintendent of the depot of charts and instruments at Washington, D.C., in 1842, and upon its union with the national observatory in 1844 he was appointed superintendent of the combined bureaus. He engaged in determining the duration of winds and ocean currents and collected the material for his purpose from log-books of ships-of-war. In 1844 he read a paper before the National Institute on the gulf stream, ocean currents and great-circle sailing. He suggested a general international maritime conference to systematize the methods of observation and registry. The conference assembled at Brussels in 1853 and recommended a form of abstract log to he kept by ships-of-war and merchant vessels. He instituted a system of deep-sea sounding and suggested the establishment of a transatlantic telegraphic communication and indicated the course of the existing cable. He was promoted commander in 1855, and upon the outbreak of the civil war he resigned his commission in the U.S. navy. He was one of the council of three selected as assistants to John Letcher, governor of Virginia, serving until the incorporation of the army and navy of Virginia. In 1861 he entered the service of the Confederate States navy, He served on the courtmartial of Captain Tatnall of the Virginia (Merrimac) and established the naval submarine battery service at Richmond, Va., in October, 1862. He was sent abroad to continue his experiments on torpedo defence, and while in Europa he purchased and fitted out armed cruisers for the Confederate service and invented a method of arranging and testing torpedo mines which were in course of construction at Galveston, Texas, when the war closed. He removed to Mexico in 1865 and was appointed to a place in the cabinet of Emperor Maximilian and was sent to Europe on a special mission. Upon the outbreak of the revolution in Mexico he resigned his portfolio, returned to Virginia and resumed his scientific researches, and was appointed professor of physics in the Virginia Military institute in 1872, having refused the superintendency of the Imperial observatory at Paris. He received orders of knighthood from France, Prussia, Austria, Denmark, Russia, Belgium, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, Bremen, Sardinia and the Papal States, and was elected a member of the academies of science of Paris, Berlin, Brussels, St. Petersburg and Mexico. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Columbian university, D.C., in 1853, and by the University of Cambridge. He married Ann, sister of Lieut. W. L. Herndon, U.S.N. His "Harry Bluff" articles in the Southern Literary Messenger, led to the foundation of the U.S. Naval academy. He is the author of: Scheme for Rebuilding Southern Commerce (1851); Physical Geography of the Sea (1856); Physical Survey of Virginia (1868); and Resources of West Virginia, with William M. Fontaine. He also wrote: Letters on the Amazon and the Atlantic Slopes of South America (1853); Relation between Magnetism and the Circulation of the Atmosphere in the appendix to "Washington Astronomical Observations for 1846" (1851); Lanes for Steamers Crossing the Atlantic (1854); Manual of Geography: Mathematical, Civil and Physical (1870); and Physical Geography of the Sea and its Meteorology (1853). He died in Lexington, Va., Feb. 1, 1873.

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

Fielding Lewis, patriot, was born in Spottssylvania county, Va., July 7, 1725; son of Maj. John and Frances (Fielding) Lewis; grandson of Col. John and Elizabeth (Warner) Lewis; great grandson of John and Isabella (Warner) Lewis and great2 grandson of Robert Lewis, the immigrant who came from London, England, and settled in Ware parish, Gloucester county, Va., about 1685. He received a liberal education, removed to Fredericksburg, Va., and was mayor of the town, justice of the peace, and a member of the house of burgesses in the Virginia legislature. He was a general in the Virginia militia at the outbreak of the Revolution, but was too old to take the field and was appointed superintendent of an arsenal in Fredericksburg, Va. He gave liberally to the cause of the patriots during the revolution. He was married in 1746 to Catherine, daughter of John and sister of Warner Washington, and after her death in February, 1750, he married Elizabeth ("Bottle"), daughter of Augustine Washington, sister of Gen. George Washington and cousin of his first wife. He built "Kenmore House" a palatial residence on the border of Fredericksburg, and on the farm connected with this house Mary Ball Washington, the mother of General Washington, died, and was buried in 1789. Fielding Lewis died at "Kenmore House," Va., Jan. 7, 1781.

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

History of Spotsylvania County Virginia

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