Greenbrier County, West Virginia Biography of HON. JOHN A. PRESTON This biography was submitted by Sandy Spradling, E-mail address: This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm History of Greenbrier County J. R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 272-275 HON. JOHN A. PRESTON. John A. Preston, son of Rev. David R. and Jeannette Creigh Preston, was born at Tuscawilla, about one mile south of Lewisburg, March 14, 1847. His father was a Presbyterian minister, who, after serving as pastor in churches in Florida and Virginia, was forced by ill health to retire from the ministry. He then bought and lived on the farm which still bears the name he gave it-"Tuscawilla," the Seminole name for "Two Lakes," and here it was John Alfred was born and reared. On January 2, 1865, at the age of seventeen, he entered the Confederate army as a private in the Fourteenth Virginia Cavalry under General McCausland and saw much of the hard fighting and service in which that command was engaged. One brother, Walter C. Preston, enlisted with the University of Virginia Volunteers and lost an arm in the battle of Spousylvania Court House in 1864. Another brother, Thomas C., was an orderly sergeant of Company B, in the Third Regiment of Wise's Legion, and was killed at Monocacy, July 9, 1864. After the war John A. Preston resumed his interrupted studies at the Lewisburg Academy under Rev. J. C. Barr, and later attended Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) at Lexington, Va., during the years Gen. Robert E. Lee was president. In 1873 he was made trustee of this university and served as such until his death. He returned to Lewisburg, taking up the study of law under the Hon. Samuel Price, and after his admittance to the bar, in 1873, he continued as a partner of Governor Price's until the latter's death. Mr. Preston was much interested in the history of Virginia and West Virginia and was one of the best informed men on the political history of southern West Virginia in this part of the State. In politics Mr. Preston was a Democrat and his services on the stump were called for in each campaign, he being ever ready to fill any appointment. As a speaker he was logical, forceful and eloquent. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Greenbrier county six terms and was sent to the Legislature for two terms and elected to the State senate for four years. Mr. Preston was a great student of the war between the States, nothing giving him so much pleasure as a discussion of the military operations of this war. Long an elder in the Presbyterian church, in which he was most interested, he also spent much time in the building up and continuance of the two Presbyterian schools in Lewisburg. As a lawyer, he was clear and earnest; as an advocate, forceful and eloquent, and as a man, frank, conscientious and sincere, without ostentation, yet with the courage of his convictions, never being swayed where principle was involved. His kindness, gentleness and generosity endeared him to all people. His high sense of honor and integrity of character gave him a reputation seldom attained and his influence for truth and right have been and will continue to be felt throughout this section for many years. Mr. Preston was twice married, first in June, 1877, to Miss Sallie Lewis Price, daughter of ex-Governor Samuel Price, who died in 1882, leaving him two sons, Samuel Price Prestoa and James Montgomery Preston, both of whom are married and living in iewisburg. in February, 1892, he married Miss Lillie Da-vis, daughter of Hon. John J. Davis, Clarksburg, W Va. To this union two sons were born, John J. Davis Preston and Walter Creigh Preston. "In speaking of John A. Preston, however, the highest tribute that language can express," says Colonel J. H. Crozier, "is 'yerie [?] to the last degree." He was a tower of strength to the cause of honor, truthfulness, sobriety, morality and genuine Christianity. "Just a few hours after the writer of these lines had congratulated Senator Preston upon his vigorous appearance and every evidence of splendid health the summons came, without a moment's warning; quickly, painlessly, without fear, with sublime confidence in Him 'who doeth all things well,' an earthly career was ended that had made an impress for good in a wide circle of associates whom he had honored with his friendship. "The writer knew Mr. Preston from his young manhood days. For forty years he knew him intimately. From his youth he exhibited an intellect of exceptional strength, a mind of rare logical bent, a devotion to principle, and loyalty to his own convictions that marked him, even in early life, as one of adamantine courage. Knowing him thoroughly, I feel confident to testify that he was always all that he pretended to be, all that his friends and admirers thought him to he-a high-born, honest man; strong, brave. reliable, learned, conscientious, sincere, friendly, unostentatious, and a man whose knee bent to no being except his God. "His genial manner and his uniform courtesy, his innumerable ads of kindness, his generous consideration of the opinion and rights of others, his purity of life, and his unswerving belief in an overruling Providence guiding the destiny of men and nations-these are the qualities that endeared him to the people and will long perpetuate his memory. The writer has often thought that much of the beautiful tribute which Senator Ben Hill paid to Robert E. Lee might fittingly be applied to the beautiful life of John A. Preston. 'He was a foe without hate, a soldier without cruelty, a public officer without vices, a private citizen without wrong, a neighbor without reproach, a Christian without hypocrisy, and a man without guile. He was as gentle as a woman in life and as pure and modest as a virgin in thought." Our dear friend has passed behind the veil that shuts the great beyond from mortal view. To him the mysteries have been revealed.