History of Stafford County Virginia United States of America

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Biographies:

Stevens Thomson Mason, senator, was born in Stafford county, Va., in 1760; son of Judge Thomson Mason and grandson of George and Ann (Thomson) Mason. He was a student at the College of William and Mary; served as a volunteer aide to General Washington at Yorktown and became a brigadier-general in the Virginia militia. He was a representative in the house of delegates and a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1788. In May, 1794, on the resignation of Senator James Monroe to accept the mission to France, Mr. Mason was elected to complete the term expiring March 3, 1797, and he was elected for a full term expiring March 3, 1803. In the senate he opposed the adoption of the Jay treaty and gave a full copy of the treaty to the Philadelphia Aurora, where it was first published. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., May 10, 1808.

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

Raleigh Travers Daniel, jurist, was born in Stafford county, Va., Oct. 15, 1805; son of John Moncure and Margaret Eleanor (Stone) Daniel; grandson of Travers and Frances (Moncure) Daniel; great-grandson of Peter and Sarah (Travers) Pierson Daniel; and great-great-grandson of James and Margaret (Vivian) Daniel. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Stone, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He studied law with his uncle, Judge Peter Vivian Daniel, and after gaining admission to the bet was appointed commonwealth's attorney for Henrico county, holding the office until 1852. He was chairman of the state committee of the Whig party in Virginia and was elected a delegate from Richmond to the state legislature in 1842 and several succeeding years. In 1847 he was elected by the Democratic assembly one of the three members of the governor's council, thus becoming lieutenant-governor of the state. He was a Union man until Virginia seceded, when he gave the state his cooperation. In 1865 he was made city attorney for Richmond, but was removed by General Schofield. In 1872 he was elected attorney-general of Virginia and was re-elected Aug. 11, 1877, a few days before his death in Richmond, Va., Aug. 16, 1877.

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

John Howe Peyton, lawyer, was born in Stafford county, Va., April 29, 1778; son of John Rowze and Ann (Howe) Peyton; grandson of John and Elizabeth (Rowze) Peyton, and of Howson and Mary (Dade) Howe, and a descendant of Henry (of London) and Ellen (Partington) Peyton who settled in Westmoreland county, Va. He was graduated from the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1797, A.M., 1800; was a law student in the office of Bushrod Washington, and was admitted to practice in 1799. He married Ann Montgomery, daughter of Maj. John and Mary (Preston) Lewis. He represented Stafford county in the Virginia assembly, 1806-10; was prosecuting attorney for the Augusta district, 1809-10: major on the staff of General Porterfield in the war of 1812; mayor of Staunton, 1815; deputy U.S. attorney for the western district of Virgins, 1815-36; refused a nomination for representative to the 17th congress in 1820, and a U.S. judgeship in 1824; served as state senator, 1836-44; as trustee of Washington college, 1832-46; as visitor to the U.S. Military academy, 1840, writing the report of the board, and as president of the board of directors of the Western Virginia Lunatic asylum, 1837-47. He is the author of: Resolutions upon the attitude of Pennsylvania with reference to an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, providing a tribunal for settling disputes between the State and Federal judiciary, pronounced by Daniel Webster as conclusive and admitting of no further discussion. He died in Staunton, Va., April 27, 1847.

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

James Garrard, governor of Kentucky, was born in Stafford county, Va., Jan. 14, 1749. He served as an officer in the militia of Virginia in the war of the American Revolution and while in the field was elected a representative in the state legislature, where he advocated the religious liberty bill. In 1783 he settled in Kentucky near Paris, and was a delegate to the convention that framed the constitution of the state in 1791. He was a representative in the early state legislature and was governor of the state, 1796-1804. He was an eminent Baptist minister and with Ambrose Dudley and Augustine Eustin of the Elkhorn association, he joined in a remonstrance to the delegates to the constitutional convention of 1791 in favor of excluding slavery from the state. He died at his home in Bourbon county, Ky., Jan. 9, 1822.

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

History of Stafford County Virginia

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