Her translations include : The Life of Madame
Swetchine (1865); and The Writings of Madame
Swetchine, edited by Count de Falloux (1869);
Memoirs of Madame Desbordes Valmore by C. A.
Sainte-Beuve (1873); Mistral s Mireio, Provengal
poem (1873); Biography of Alfred de Musset by
Paul de Musset (1877); and The Georgicsof Virgil
(1881). She is the author of Aspendale (1871);
Love in the Nineteenth Centura (1873) ; Trouba
dours and Trouveres (1876); Is That All? in "No
Name" series (1876); A Year in Eden (1887), and
The Guardians (written in collaboration with
Miss L. Dodge, 1888).
PRESTON, James Patton, governor of Vir
ginia, was born in Smithfield, Va., June 31, 1774 ;
son of Col. William (L739-1783) and Susanna
(Smith) Preston. Ho was graduated from Wil
liam and Mary college in 1795, was a farmer in
Montgomery county ; state
senator ; lieutenant-colonel
of the 12th U.S. infantry,
commissioned March 19, 1813 ;
was promoted colonel for gal
lantry Aug. 15, 1813 ; com
manded the 23d infantry, and
was wounded in the battle of
Chrystler s Field, Nov. 11, 1813, becoming per
manently crippled. He was governor of Virginia,
1816-19, state senator for a second term, and was
for many years post-master of Richmond. Pres
ton county, Va., was named in his honor. He
married Ann, daughter of Robert Taj lor of
Norfolk, Va.. and had sons: William Ballard
(q.v.), Robert T., and James Patton, Jr.. Con
federate officers in the civil war. He died at
Smithfield, Va., May 4, 1843.
PRESTON, John Smith, soldier, was born at
the SaltWorks, near Abingdon, Va. , April 20,
1809 ; son of Francis and Sarah (Campbell) Pres
ton. He was graduated from Hampdeii-Sidney
college, Va., A.B., 1834 ; did postgraduate work at
the University of Virginia, 1835-36, and attended
the Harvard law school. He was married in
1830 to Caroline, a sister of Gen. Wade Hampton
of South Carolina. He afterward moved to Colum
bia, S.C., and thence to Louisiana, where lie
worked his sugar-plantations. He became pro
minent as an orator in the South and delivered
many famous addresses, among them the one at
the laj ing of the corner stone of the University
of the South, at Sewanee, Tenn., in 1857. He
was chairman of the South Carolina committee
to the Democratic convention at Charleston in
Maj r , 1860; was a commissioner to Virginia, and
in Februaiy, 1861, advocated the secession of
Virginia. He was on the staff of General Beau-
regard in the first battle of Bull Run, 1861, was
promoted brigadier-general and served in the
conscript department, 1865. He was then in
Europe for a number of years and subsequently
returned to South Carolina. He delivered his last
public address at the unveiling of the Confederate
monument at Columbia, S.C. He made a col
lection of painting and sculpture, and was a
helpful friend to Hiram Powers and other rising
artists. He died in Columbia, S.C., May 1, 1881.
PRESTON, John Thomas Lewis, educator,
was born in Lexington, Va., April 25, 1811 ; son
of Thomas Lewis and Edmonia (Randolph) Pres
ton ; grandson of Col. William (1739-1783) and
Susanna (Smith) Preston of Smithfield. and great-
grandson of John Preston, the immigrant. His
[346]
PRESTON
PRESTOX
father was a major in the war of 1813, lawyer,
anil member of the Virginia legislature. In 1836
Mr. Preston conceived the idea of substituting
for the company of soldiers who guarded the
arsenal, a company of cadets, who, in addition
to the duties of nn armed guard, should pur
sue a course of scientilic and military studies.
This idea materialized, March, 1839, in the Mili
tary Institute of Virginia, of which Preston and
Gen. Francis II. Smith (q.v.) constituted the
entire faculty from 1839 to 1842. lie was married
first Aug. 2, 1832. to Sara Lyle, daughter of Wil
liam and Pliebe (Alexander) Caruthers of Lex
ington. Va.. and had five sons and three daugh
ters ; and secondly, Aug. 4, 1857, to Margaret
Junkin, the poet (q.v.). by whom he had two sons,
la April. 1861, at the call of the state, the corps of
cadets marched for Richmond undert he command
of Maj. T. J. Jackson, of whose st;iff Preston be
came a member, with the rank of colonel. In
1802 the institute was re-opened as a training
school to .supply skilled and educated officers for
the army, the cadets being called repeatedly into
active service during the war. On May 15, 1864,
at New Market, the corps lost 8 killed and 44
wounded out of 250, and on June 11. 1864, all the
institution buildings, save tbe quarters of the
superintendent, were burned by order of Gen.
David Hunter (q.v.). "When the institute was
re-opened in October, 18G5, Colonel Preston re
sumed his professorial duties, subsequently
traveled abroad, accompanied by his wife, and
after his return continued a member of the uni
versity faculty until within a few months of his
death. He is the author of a biographical sketch
of John Howe Peyton in " Augusta County, Va."
He died in Lexington, Va., July 15, 1890.
PRESTON, Margaret Junkin, poet, was born
in Philadelphia, Pu,, May 24, 1820; daughter of
George Junkin (q.v.). She was educated by her
father and under private tutors, and contributed
her first story to Sartain s Magazine in 1849. She
was married Aug. 4, 1857, to John L. Preston (q.v.),
and had two sons: George Junkin, born in 1858,
a graduate of Washington and Lee. 1879, and
of the University of Pennsylvania. M.D.. 1883,
and Herbert Rush, a lawyer, both established in
practice in Baltimore. Mrs. Preston spent her
married life in Lexington, Va., traveled abroad
with her husband, collecting material for her
Book of Monograms (1886), contributed to the
Southern Literary Messenger ; translated Dies
Irce (1855), and is the author of: Silver wood
(1856); Beechenbrook, a Rhyme of the War (1866);
Old Songs and New (1870): Cartoons (1876); For
Love s Sake (1886); Colonial Ballads, Sonnets and
Other Verses (1887); Aunt Dorothy (1890). She
died in Baltimore, Md., March 28, 1897, and was
buried at Lexington, Va.
PRESTON, Thomas Scott, R. C. prelate, was
born in Hartford, Conn., July 23, 1824 ; son of
Zephaniah Preston, a Puritan. He was gradua
ted at Trinity college, Hartford, Conn., A.B.,
1843, A.M., 1846; at the General Theological
seminary, New York city, in 1846, and was ad
mitted to the diaconate the same year. He as
sisted at Trinity church, at the Church of the An
nunciation, and at the Church of Holy Innocents,
West Point, 1846-47 ; was ordained priest in 1847,
and was assistant rector of St. Luke s church,
New York city, 1847-49. In 1849 he accepted the
Roman Catholic faith, and was deposed from the
Protestant Episcopal church. After studying
at St. Joseph s seminar} , Fordham, N.Y., he was
ordained priest, Nov. 16. 1850 ; was an assistant at
the cathedral in 1850 ; pastor of St. Mary s, Yon-
kers, N.Y., 1851-53 ; chancellor of the arch-diocese
of New York, and secretary to Archbishop
Hughes. 1853-91 ; and rector of St. Ann s, New
York city, 1861-91, building a new church edi
fice which was consecrated in 1871. He was
vicar-general of the archdiocese of New York,
1873-91 ; received the degree S.T.D. from Seton
Hall college, New Jersey, in 1880 ; and was named
private chamberlain to the Pope (Leo XIII.),
May, 1881. He was appointed domestic prelate
and prothonotary apostolic, Dec. 13, 1881, with no
ceremony of investure. He built a large paro
chial school on llth Street, and founded the
House of the Holy Family," for the benefit of
children and homeless girls. He was actively in
fluential in procuring the excommunication of the
Rev. Dr. Edward McGlynn when he accepted
and taught the theories of Henry George. He is
the author of : Ark of the Covenant (1860); Life
of St. Mary Magdalene (1860); Sermons for the
Principal Seasons of the Sacred Year (1864) ; Life
of St. Vincent de Paul (1866); Lectures on. Chris
tian Unity, Advent of ISM (1867); The Purgato-
rian Manual (1867); Lectures on Reason and
Revelation (1808); The Vicar of Christ (1871);
The Divine Sanctuary (1878); Divine Paraclete
(1880); Protestantism and the Bible (1880); Prot
estantism and tlie Church (1882); God and Rea
son (1884), anil Watch on Ca Ivary (1885). He
died in New York city, Nov. 4, 1891.
PRESTON, Willard, clergyman, was born at
Uxbridge, Mass., May 29, 1785. He was gradu
ated at Brown university, 1806, began the study
of law, but abandoned it for theology, and was
licensed to preach in 1808. He resided in the
South, 1808-11, on account of ill health ; and was
Congregational minister at St. Albans, Vt., 1812-
15; Providence, R.I. . 1816-20; Burlington. Vt.,
1821-25 ; president of the University of Vermont,
1825-26 ; pastor of the Independent Presbyterian
church at Savannah, Ga., 1826-56, and rendered
unceasing aid during the epidemic of yellow
[347]
PRESTON
PRESTON
fever in 1845. He received the degree D.D. from
the University of Georgia in 1889, and is the
author of t\vo volumes of sermons, issued by his
son, with a biographical sketch (1857). He died
in Savannah, Ga., April 27, 1856.
PRESTON, William, soldier, was born near
Louisville, Ky., Oct. 16, 1816 ; son of Maj. Williain
and Caroline (Hancock) Preston ; grandson of
Col. William (1729-83) and Susannah (Smith)
Preston, and of Col. George Hancock of Fother-
ingay, Va., a representative in the 4th congress,
and a descendant of John Preston, the immigrant.
He was educated at St. Joseph s college, Bards-
town, Ky., and at Yale college, and was gradu
ated at Harvard, LL.B.,in 1838. He was married
in 1840 to Margaret Howard, daughter of Robert
Wickliffe of Lexington, Ky. ; settled in practice
in Louisville ; and was lieutenant-colonel of the
4th Kentucky volunteers in the Mexican war,
1846-48. He was a member of the convention
called to frame a new constitution for the state of
Kentucky in 1849 ; a Whig representative in the
state legislature, 1851-53, and a presidential elec
tor for the state at large, on the Scott and Graham
ticket, in 1852. He was a representative from
Kentucky in the 32d congress, being elected Dec.
6, 1852, to complete the unexpired term of Hum-
pi i rev Marshall, resigned ; was re-elected to the
33d congress, serving 1853-55, and was defeated as
a candidate for the 34th congress by Humphrey
Marshall. He was a delegate to the Democratic
national convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, June 2,
1856, and was appointed by President Buchanan
U.S. minister to Spain in 1858, being succeeded
by Carl Schurz. He joined the Confederate army
at Bowling Green, Ky., in 1861, as colonel on the
staff of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, who died in
his arms at the battle of Shiloh. He was promo
ted brigadier-general April 18, 1862 ; participated
in the battle of Murfreesboro ; was promoted
major-general Jan. 1, 1863 ; assigned to the com
mand of the division of Maj. -Gen. Polignac,
and after the latter s return to France, in October,
1863. was transferred to the command of a divis
ion in Longstreet s corps, Army of the Tennessee.
He resumed practice in Lexington, Ky., in 1865,
was a delegate to the Democratic national con
ventions of 1868 and 1880, and a representative in
the state legislature in 1869. He died in Lexing
ton, Ky.. Sept. 27, 1887.
PRESTON, William Ballard, cabinet officer,
was born in Smithfield, Va., Nov. 25, 1805 ; son of
Gov. James Patton (q.v.) and Ann (Taylor) Pres
ton. He was a student at the University of Vir
ginia, was admitted to the bar, and practised suc
cessfully in his native state, meantime serving as
a representative in the Virginia legislature, and
as a state senator. He married a Miss Redd of
Virginia. He was a Whig representative from
Virginia in the 30th congress, 1847-49 ; and
secretary of the navy in President Taylor s cab
inet, from March 8, 1849 to July 22, 1850. He
visited France in 1858-59, as an agent from Vir
ginia, to effect the establishment of a direct line
of steamers between Norfolk and Havre, but the
plan was defeated by the civil war. He was a
delegate from Virginia to the Provisional Confed
erate congress that met at Richmond, July, 20,
1861, where he still sought to prevent war. He
was elected a senator from Virginia in the first
Confederate congress, which met Feb. 22. 1863,
being succeeded on his death by Allen T. Caper-
ton. He died at Smithfield, Va.. Nov. 16, 1862.
PRESTON, William Campbell, senator, was
born in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 27, 1794; son of
Francis (q.v.) and Sarah (Campbell) Preston.
His maternal grandmother was the sister of
Patrick Henry. He matriculated at Washington
college, Va., but was
obliged to leave on
account of ill health ;
was graduated at
South Carolina col
lege, A.B.. 1812, and
studied law in the
office of William Wirt
of Richmond, Va. In
1816 he went abroad
for the benefit of his
health. He formed
the acquaintance of
Washington Irving,
with whom he trav
eled through Swit
zerland, Scotland,
northern England and Wales, and attended
the lectures at Edinburgh university. He was
admitted to the bar in 1820, practised in Vir
ginia, 1820-22, and in 1823 settled in practice
in Columbia, S.C., in partnership with D. J.
McCord. He was married first, in 1820. to Maria
Coalter, and secondly, in 1831, to Penelope,
daughter of Dr. James Davis of Columbia, S.C.
He was a representative in the South Carolina
legislature, 1829-32, where he was a leader of
the Nullification party ; was elected to the U.S
senate from South Carolina as a Calhoun Demo
crat, serving, 1833-39. and was re-elected for a
second term to expire March 3. 1845, but resigned
in January. 1843, George McDufiin completing
his term, and again took up his profession in
Columbia. He was trustee of South Carolina
college, 1823-46 and 1851-57 ; president of the
college and pi ofessor of belles lettres, 1845-51,
and during his administration greatly improved
the financial condition of the college and raised
its standard. He received the degree LL.D. from
Harvard in 1846 and established the Columbia
[348]
PREVOST
PRICE
Athenaeum, presenting to it 3000 volumes from
his own library. He was a public speaker of
national reputation, and published a " Eulogy on
HughS. Legare" and several political, literary
and historical orations and addresses. He died
at Columbia, S.C., May 22. I860.
PREVOST, Charles Mallet, soldier, was born
in Baltimore, Md., Sept. 19, 1818; son of Gen.
Andrew M. Prevost, a native of Geneva, Switzer
land, who came to America in 1794, and was com
mander of the 1st Pennsylvania artillery in the
war of 1812, and grandson of Paul Henry Mallet
Prevost who purchased a tract of land at Alex
andria (Frenchtown), Hunterdon count} , N.J.,
in 1794. He was liberally educated ; was admitted
to the Philadelphia bar in 1839 ; was U.S.
marshal for the territory of Wisconsin, 1841-45,
and deputy collector of the port of Philadelphia
for several years. He joined the volunteer army
in 1801 as captain ; subsequently became assistant
adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. Frank Pat
terson ; took part in the Peninsular campaign ;
was promoted colonel, and transferred to the
command of the 118th Pennsylvania volunteers
in the 1st brigade, 1st division, 5th army corps,
under Gen. Fitz-John Porter. In the battle of
Antietam, Sept. 10-17, 1802, while rallying his
men, he received two serious wounds from which
he never fully recovered. He rejoined his regi
ment and fought at Chancellorsville, May 2-4, 1803,
although deprived of the use of an arm, and was
subsequently obliged to decline the appointment to
organize the Veteran reserve corps at Harrisburg,
Pa., on account of his wounds, but accepted the
colonelcy of the 10th regiment, Veteran volunteers,
in that corps. He was appointed major-general,
1st division, Pennsylvania national guard, 1805.
He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 5, 1887.
PRICE, Andrew, representative, was born at
Chatsworth Plantation, near Franklin, St. Mary s
parish, La., April 2, 1854 ; son of James B. and
Mary (Murphy) Price, and grandson of M. A.
and Maria (Barry) Price and of John B. and
Lucy (Brashear) Murphy. He was graduated
from the law department of Cumberland uni
versity, Lebanon, Tenn., in 1875, and at Washing
ton university, St. Louis, Mo., LL.B., in 1877 ;
practised law in St. Louis, Mo., 1877-80, and in
1880 engaged in sugar planting at Thibodaux,
La. He was married, June 20, 1879, to Anna M. ,
daughter of Edward James (q.v.) and Lavinia
(Hynes) Gay of St. Louis Plantation, near
Plaquemine, La. He was a member of the
Democratic state central committee, 1884-88; a
delegate to the Democratic national convention
of 1888, and a Democratic representative from
the third Louisiana district in the 51st congress,
to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his
father-in-law, and was re-elected to the 52d, 53d
[349]
and 54th congresses, serving. 1889-97. He served
as a delegate-at-large to the constitutional con
vention of the state of Louisiana held in New
Orleans in 1898.
PRICE, George Washington Fergus, educa
tor, was born in Butler county, Ala., Sept. 24,
1830. He was graduated at the University of
Alabama, A.B., 1848, A.M., 1851; was principal
of Eufaula academy, 1850-52; pastor of the
Methodist church, Marianna, Fla., 1852-53 ; pro
fessor at Auburn Female college, 1853-50 ; pro
fessor in the Tuskegee Female college, 1850-58 ;
president of that institution, 1858-72; superin
tendent of the Nitre and Mining bureau, Con
federate States government, 1803-64 ; president
of Huntsville Female college, 1872-80 ; and in 1880
established and in 1881 became president of the
Nashville College for Young Ladies, which closed
its doors in June, 1899, after having enjoyed a
remarkable growth, its pupils at the death of
President Price numbering over 500. He received
the degree D.D. from the University of Alabama,
1876. He died in Nashville, Tenn., April 1, 1899.
PRICE, Hiram, representative, was born in
Washington county, Pa., Jan. 10, 1814. He at
tended the common schools ; was a merchant s
clerk ; engaged in farming for a time ; was mar
ried in 1834 to Susan Betts, and in 1844 removed
to Davenport, Iowa, where he established him
self as a merchant. He served as school-fund
commissioner of Scott county for eight years ;
collector, treasurer and recorder of the county
for seven years, and was president of the state
bank of Iowa, 1859-60, during which time the
thirteen branches of that bank were changed to
national banks without the loss of a dollar. He
was paymaster-general of Iowa in 1861, and as the
state had no public funds, he quartered and sub
sisted about 5,000 infantry and cavalry for several
months from his individual means and also
advanced $5.000 to pay off the 1st, 2d and 3d
Iowa regiments. He was a Republican representa
tive from Iowa in the 38th, 39th, 40th congresses,
1803-09, serving in the 39th congress as chairman
of the committee on the Pacific railroad and as a
member of the committee on Revolutionary
pensions. He subsequently spent some time in
Europe ; was re-elected to the 45th and 4Gth
congresses, serving, 1877-81, and in 1880 declined
re-nomination, lie was U.S. commissioner of
Indian affairs, 1881-85. He died in Washington,
D.C., May 30, 1901.
PRICE, Rodman McCamley, governor of New
Jersey, was born in Sussex county, N.J., May 5,
1816. He attended the College of New Jersey but
did not graduate, owing to ill health, and later
became a lawyer. He was appointed purser in
the U.S. navy, Nov. 5, 1840, serving on the Ful
ton, and on the frigate Missouri when destroyed
PRICE
PRICE
~by fire in 1841 at Gibraltar ; was transferred to
the Cyane, and joined the squadron of Commodore
Sloat at Monterey, Cal., where he advised and
aided in taking formal possession of that country ,
July 7, 1846. He was appointed prefect and al
calde, and was the first citi
zen of the United States to
exercise judical functions in
California. He carried secret
dispatches to General Scott
in Mexico, and a report of
the military and naval oper
ations to President Polk in
Washington. On his return to California he was
a member of the convention that framed the state
constitution, and was appointed naval agent of
the Pacific coast. He resigned from the U.S. navy,
Dec. 16, 1850, and in returning to New Jersey on
the steamer Orleans, which was burned at St.
John, he lo^t large sums of money, valuable
papers, vouchers and accounts. He was a Demo
cratic representative from New Jersey in the 32d
congress, 1851-53; was defeated for re-election ;
and was governor of New Jersey, 1854-57. During
his term the normal school of the state was estab
lished ; the militia system improved; the first
life-saving apparatus and stations on the New
Jersey coast organized, and the exclusive rights
and privileges, granted to the Camden and Am-
boy railroad in 1830, were settled by fixing a date
to terminate the monopoly. He was involved in
a litigation with the U.S. government, which ex
tended from 1850 to 1890, in which he sought to
recover $75. 000 advanced to his successor, the naval
agent at California, pending the arrival of the
government funds. In 1856 the, government be
gan an unsuccessful counter-suit against him for
money alleged to have been withheld by him as
naval agent. He renewed his suit against the
government for $75,000, and in 1890 congress
ordered the payment of the claim, from which
the sum of $60,000 was deducted by the Treasury
officials. In 1892, however, the U.S. court of
claims awarded him $45,704. He was arrested
and imprisoned on a charge brought by the heirs
of Samuel Forrest, U.S.N., of misappropriating
the funds of that officer, and he died at Oakland,
N.J., June 7, 1894, before the court reached a de
cision on his case.
PRICE, Samuel, senator, was born in Fauquier
county, Va., Aug. 18, 1805. His parents removed
to Preston county in 1817, and he was fitted for
the law. He practised first in Nicholas count}-,
then in Braxton county, and subsequently in
Lewisburg. Greenbrier county. He was clerk
of the Nicholas county court. 1831 ; state s attor
ney, 1833 ; represented Nicholas and Fayette
counties in the Virginia legislature, 1834-36 ; was
commonwealth s attorney for Braxton county,
1836-50, and represented Greenbrier county in
the legislature four terms, 1847-52. He was a
member of the state constitutional convention of
1850-51 , and of the secession convention of 1861,
where he opposed the measure but supported the
Confederate States government. He was elected
lieutenant-governor of Virginia and president of
the state senate, 1863-65, and was appointed a
U.S. circuit judge in 1865, but declined to take
the prescribed oath. He was a delegate to the
constitutional convention of West Virginia in
1873, and president of that body ; an unsuccess
ful candidate for the U.S. senate in 1876, and
was appointed U.S. senator to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of AlleiiT. Caperton, serving
from Dec. 4. 1876. to March 3. 1877. He died in
Leesburg, W. Va.. Feb. 25, 1884.
PRICE, Sterling, soldier, was born in Prince
Edward count}*, Va., Sept. 11, 1809; son of Pugh
W. Price. He attended Hampden-Sidney college,
Va. ; studied law under Chancellor Creed Taylor
in the clerk s office at Prince Ed ward courthouse,
and with his father s
family settled in
Keytesville, Chariton
county, Mo., in 1831.
He was married, May
14, 1833, to Martha,
daughter of Capt.
John Head of Ran
dolph county, Mo.
He was a representa
tive in the Mis
souri legislature, and
speaker of the house,
1840-44, and a Demo
cratic representative
from Missouri in the
29th congress, 1845-46,
resigning in 1846 to raise the 2d Missouri cavalry
for service in the Mexican war. He was com
missioned colonel, Aug. 12, 1846, and with others
his regiment made the march from Fort Leaven-
worth, Kan., 1000 miles and upward to Santa Fe,
where lie was left with 2000 men, being assigned
to the command of New Mexico by Gen. S. W.
Kearny, who commanded the expedition and was
en route to the Pacific. An insurrection was
planned by the Mexicans in possession of the
province, which was partially successful, but
Colonel Price succeeded in routing the enemy at
Puebla de Taos, convicted the leader of treason
and gained possession of the whole province.
For his action he was promoted brigadier-general
of volunteers, July 20, 1847 ; was made military
governor of Chihuahua, and defeated the Mex
icans at Santa Cruz de Resales, March 16, 1848.
He returned to Missouri in 1848, and engaged in
farming at Bowling Green Prairie. He was gov-
[350]
PRICE
PRICE
ernor of Missouri, 1853-57 ; state bank commis