BIOGRAPHY, Rockbridge County, VA- "B" ********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ********************************************************************** BALDWIN - John C. Baldwin was a son of Cornelius C. Baldwin of Balcony Falls, one of the original secessionists of 1860-61. The son, who died unmarried in 1881, at the early age of thirty-four, deserves mention for his assiduous and successful efforts to educate himself. His book studies began when he was seven years old. He took up Latin at sixteen and became able to read it almost as readily as Shakespeare. He also studied Greek and French, the mathematics, and several branches of the sciences. Perhaps he was the only boy in Virginia who made himself by solitary endeavor a fine classical and English scholar, a good writer, and one of the best informed country gentlemen in the state. Mr. Baldwin was retiring, fond of home, devoted to a simple life, and he enjoyed the society of his few intimate friends. He adopted as his own this motto by Bishop Berkeley: "I had rather be master of my time than wear a diadem." Joseph G. Baldwin, the brilliant author of "Flush Times in Alabama," is said to have been related to the Baldwins of Rockbridge. Source: A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia by Oren F. Morton, published in 1920. Transcribed and submitted by: "Marilyn B. Headley" , 1997 ************************************************************************************** BARCLAY - Elihu H. Barclay, almost thirty years a force in Rockbridge journalism, was a member of an old and prominent family. He was a son of Alexander T. Barclay and his third wife, Mary E. (Paxton) Barclay. The father was a son of Elihu Barclay who married Sarah Telford. Elihu H. purchased the ROCKBRIDGE CITIZEN in 1873, when he was twenty-seven years old. Next year he acquired the GAZETTE, which he conducted until his death in 1902. The maiden name of his wife was Margaret S. Rowan. Source: A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia by Oren F. Morton, published in 1920. Transcribed and submitted by: "Marilyn B. Headley" , 1997 ************************************************************************************** JOHN A. BARGER- was born on the estate where he now resides near Gilmores Mill, in Rockbridge county, February 8, 1826. His father's parents were German-born, and on coming to this county settled in Pennsylvania for a time, and then emigrated to Virginia, located opposite Gilmores Mill, and raised a family of twelve children. the father of John A., William Barger, married Mary A. Shafer, who was born in this county, and at his death he owned over a thousand acres on James river, on part of which John A, is now living. The subject of this sketch is very successful as a grain and grass farmer, having two hundred acres under cultivation and one hundred acres in timber. Near Natural Bridge, December 15, 1853, John A. Barger married Elizabeth Fry, who was born in Rockbridge county, near Buffalo Forge, June 6, 1832. She was a daughter of Matthew and Sarah Fry, both born in this county and now deceased. After nearly thirty years of wedded life Mrs. Elizabeth Barger died on 1st of May 1883. The genealogical record of the children of John A. Barger and wife is: M. William, born October 7, 1854, married and living near Gilmores Mill; Sarah C., born November 13, 1857, died September 1, 1858; John J., born June 16, 1859, and Mary E., born April 6, 1862, live at home; Nannie J. born April 8, 1864, married S. D. Sizer and lives at Natural Bridge; Martha Frances, born May 15, 1867; George W., November 22, 1869; Virginia E., August 19, 1875- are at home. John A. Barger enlisted in 1862, in Company F, 27th Virginia Infantry, and served under Jackson in his famous campaign in the valley, and afterward was connected with the nitre and mining bureau. His brother William was one of the first soldiers to answer the call from Rockbridge county, and served through the entire war without furlough or wound, in Company C, 1st Virginia Cavalry, until April 6, 1865, when he was killed in Prince Edward county, near Farmville, at High Bridge, three days before Lee's surrender. John A. Barger's postoffice address is Gilmore's Mill, Rockbridge county, Virginia. Source: Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia (NY, Richmond, and Toledo: H. H. Hardesty and Company Publishers, 1884). p. 412. Transcribed and submitted by Angela M. Ruley, ********************************************************************** BAXTER - The Reverend George A. Baxter, whose name is long and honorably identified with what is now the Washington and Lee University, was born in Rockbridge in 1771. From New London Academy he came to Lexington in 1798 to fill the chair of mathematics in Liberty Hall. A year later he became rector of the academy. Two very prominent events are associated with his administration. The school was moved from Mulberry Hill to Lexington, and it was advanced from the rank of academy to that of college. As rector, and later as president, the income of Doctor Baxter was small, and he supplemented it with active labor in the Presbyterian ministry. He is remembered in our local annals as a faithful and conscientious educator and as a preacher of power and effectiveness. His wife was Anna C., a daughter of colonel William Fleming. Their son, Sidney S., was likewise an educator of note. Source: A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia by Oren F. Morton, published in 1920. Transcribed and submitted by: "Marilyn B. Headley" , 1997 ************************************************************************************** JACOB BEARD- miller and farmer of Rockbridge county was born in this county February 4, 1843, a son of John and Elizabeth (Taylor) Beard. He lost three brothers in the war between the states, Philip, who was killed in Alabama; Peter, who died in the army; William who was killed in the second Manassas battle. In Rockbridge county, May 7, 1881, were recorded the marriage vows of Jacob Beard and Emma Laughlin. The bride was born in this county in 1856, and is a daughter of Hugh Laughlin. Her mother's maiden name was Lochridge. Mr. Beard has been twice married. By his first wife he had one daughter, Mary C., born December 26, 1875. Jacob Beard owns 103 acres of valuable land two miles from Lexington and also a flouring mill doing an extensive business, situated on North river, one mile above the point. The close of the war found him possessed of ten dollars, energy and expertise, and his present competence is the result of a skillful use of his capital. His postoffice address is Lexington, Rockbridge county, Virginia. Source: Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia (NY, Richmond, and Toledo: H. H. Hardesty and Company Publishers, 1884). p. 412. Transcribed and submitted by Angela M. Ruley, ********************************************************************** WILLIAM A. BECKNER- was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, April 16, 1850, and when he as about sixteen years of age accompanied his parents, William and Narcissa Ellen (Markham) Beckner, on their settlement in Rockbridge county. His father was a soldier of the South in the civil war, as was an elder brother, the former serving in a company from Buchanan, and the latter in the artillery service. In Rockbridge county, April 12, 1876, Emma J. Kirkpatrick became the wife of William A. Beckner, and their children now number four: Cornelia J., born January 23, 1877; Virginia I., September 22, 1878; William W. January 31, 1879; Hubert Owens, December 25, 1882. Joseph and Nancy (McCowen) Kirkpatrick are the parents of Emma J., wife of Mr. Beckner, and she was born in Rockbridge county. William A. Beckner owns and farms 50 acres of fertile land on Big Calfpasture river, and his postoffice address is Goshen, Rockbridge county, Virginia. Source: Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia (NY, Richmond, and Toledo: H. H. Hardesty and Company Publishers, 1884). p. 412. Transcribed and submitted by Angela M. Ruley, ********************************************************************** JOHN CLINTON BOUDE- is a native of Clarke county, Virginia, born at Millwood, November 23, 1833. He was a son of Rudolph Thomas Clarkson Boude, who was a soldier of the 1812 war and died in October 1862, and Elizabeth (Ewing) Boude, who was born in Warren county, Virginia in 1793, and died February 28, 1843. In 1855, the subject of this sketch cast his fortunes in with the people of Rockbridge county, and this has since been his home. At Lexington, June 9, 1875, he was united in marriage with M. A., daughter of James and Margaret (McMullin) Plunkett. She was born in Lexington, and her parents were both natives of this county. Her father died in 1865, her mother in 1868. John Clinton Boude has been clerk of the circuit court of Rockbridge county since 1864, and made notary public in 1866, was a member of the Lexington city council in 1881, and has been three years school trustee in Lexington. He is a prominent member of Mountain City Lodge No. 67 A. F. and A. M., at Lexington, and has filled nearly every chair in both the Master and R. A. M. Lodges, serving in the former fifteen years as Grand Master, and District Deputy Grand Master eight years. He is an attorney as well as clerk of court, and his postoffice is Lexington, Rockbridge county, Virginia. Source: Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia (NY, Richmond, and Toledo: H. H. Hardesty and Company Publishers, 1884). p. 412. Transcribed and submitted by Angela M. Ruley, ************************************************************************************** BROCKENBROUGH - John W. Brockenbrough was a native of Hanover county, where he was born December 23, 1806. After graduating from the University of Virginia, he entered the legal profession, in which he became very eminent. From 1846 until 1860 he was judge of the United States Court for the Western District of Virginia, and in this capacity none of his decisions was ever reversed. In the crisis of 1860-61, he was a secessionist, and was defeated as a candidate for the State Convention of 1861. He represented Virginia in the futile Peace Conference which sought to avert the calamity of war. He also served a term in the Confederate Congress. In 1849 Judge Brockenbrough had opened at Lexington a school of law, and when General Robert E. Lee came here as a college president, he became the head of the newly created law school in Washington College. Judge Brockenbrough was a man of very estimable qualities. He died in Lexington, February 21, 1877. Source: A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia by Oren F. Morton, published in 1920. Transcribed and submitted by: "Marilyn B. Headley" , 1997 ************************************************************************************** BROWN - John Brown, the first resident minister in Rockbridge, came in 1753 in response to a call signed by a great number of his future parishioners. He was then, but twenty-five years of age. He was pastor at Timber Ridge and New Providence until 1767, and served New Providence twenty-eight years longer. In Kentucky, to which state he removed in 1797, he was pastor of Woodford church. He died there in 1803, and his grave lies between those of two men who had been his elders at New Providence. During his early years in Rockbridge, his salary was but little more than $200. It is related of him that he used to walk around the New Providence church with head uncovered and Bible in hand, and pray for the various families. He left Timber Ridge somewhat abruptly, and in consequence of a slight which seems to have been quite unpremeditated, although his sensitive nature did not permit him to excuse it. In 1755 he purchased a farm, the position of which is on the line of the Valley Railroad and a little north of Fairfield. Between the resignation of Robert Alexander in 1753 and the coming of William Graham in 1774, Mr. Brown taught the classical school begun by the former. his wife was Margaret, a sister of Colonel William Preston. The careers of several of the children reflect the substantial quality of their parentage. John, Jr. , was a member of the First Congress, Samuel was a professor in Transylvania University, James was a United States senator from Louisiana and minister to France, and William was a physician of South Carolina. The daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, married, respectively, the Reverend Thomas B. Craighead and Doctor Alexander Humphreys. Samuel, who died in 1830 at the age of seventy-one, took the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Aberdeen. He then entered upon an eminent career as physician and chemist. At Lexington, Ky., he organized a medical society which is said to have been a pattern in constitution and in ethics to all such American societies of later date. The Samuel Brown who came to New Providence as its pastor in 1796 was not related to John Brown. He was a native of the east of Virginia. In 1789, when twenty-three years old, he went to Kentucky with some friends. The journey was made on foot as far as Kanawha Falls, and by a dugout canoe the rest of the distance. After teaching a year at Paris he returned, and was licensed as a minister in 1793. His salary at New Providence was $400. Mr. Brown was feeble in constitution yet in addition to ministerial effort he taught a classical school, and among his divinity students were several who attained distinction. He owned and lived on a farm two miles north of Brownsburg. In 1816 he went West with a view of location, and for $1,600 was offered a tract of land within the present limits of the city of St. Louis. Yet he turned down the offer, deciding that his family would be better off in the West only in a material point of view. He died two years after his visit to Missouri. In 1798 Mr. Brown was married to Mary Moore of Abb's valley, some account of whose captivity is given in Chapter VIII. She was an affectionate wife and loving parent. The pair had eleven children, the difference in age between the oldest and the youngest being seventeen years. Seven sons and three daughters grew to maturity. Six of the former were Bachelors of Arts of Washington College, three of them graduating in the same class. In 1918, a reunion of the descendants of Mary Moore Brown were held at New Providence, the wife of its present pastor being one of them. Source: A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia by Oren F. Morton, published in 1920. Transcribed and submitted by: "Marilyn B. Headley" , 1997 **************************************************************************************