Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-04-01


J. Joseph Sullivant, of Columbus Ohio
His daughter, Agatha, named after tx
:. the wife of old DR.. Lewis Mars hall, ma
ried James G. Birney, the Abolitio
candidate for the Presidency in 1884,
i This gentleman was son of James Bill
: ney, an Irishman, who settled at Dar
! vile at an early day, and amassed larg
3 fortune. The mother of Jas. G.. Brine
was sister of Thos. Reed, brillian
United States Senator from Mississippi
, and o daughter of an Irishman name
John Reed, on whose head price wa
! set for rebellion in the old country, VIII
consequently emigrated to Virginia
/ where he married Miss Wilcox. AM
, subsequently he became one of the earl.
: Kentucky pioneers, settling at Reed
Station, near Danville. in 1873. TIL
! only sister of James G.. Birney was tn
mother of General Humphrey Marshall
His sons were James, who arrived a
distinction in Michigan William, al
officer in the Federal army, and now
lawyer in Cincinnati, and David Bel
Birney, who fought under gallant Phil
Kearney, and died General, from ex
posure in the field.
The fifth son ofSamuel Mcdowell wa
Colonel Joseph, of Danville, the Adju
tant General of Shelby at the battle o
the Thames, and who served also under
General Hopkins. He married Sarah
Irwin, a sister of his brother Samuel Is
wife. The first wife of Joseph Sullivant,
of Columbus, and the first wife of Mi.
chael L. Sullivant, recently of Broad
lands in Illinois, were his daughters.
The sixth son was Ephraim Mcdowell,
who married Sallie Shelby, daughter of
the Governor. He was educated at
Edinburgh, and was the celebrated sur
geon who first successfully performed
the operation known as ovariotomy. He
never lost but one case, and he had not
the aid of chloroform. But his reputa-
tion is too widespread to render any
farther account of him necessary. One
of his sons was Wallace Mcdowell, of
Missouri, whose daughter is the beauti-
full wife of her cousin, Thomas II. Shell
by, of Fayette county. One of the
daughters was the wife of the late David
Irwin, of Richmond.
the oldest daughter of Judge Samuel
Mcdowell, married Reid, and remain
ed in Virginia. The second, Martha,
married Colonel Abraham Buford, whose
regiment Tarleton cut to pieces at the
Cowpens. He lived to do good fighting
after that, to acquire splendid farm in
Scott county, Ky. Charles s. Buford, of
Rock Island, two of whose sons were in
the Federal army, was his son, an ac-
cOmplished scholar and elegant gentle
man his first wife daughter of Cen
eral Adair, and his second daughter of
DR.. Basil Duke, of Mason--ths first
physician to use vaccination in Kentuc.
ky whose wife was daughter of Col
onel Thomas Marshall. Colonel Buford's
daughter was the wife of James K. Duke,
of Scott county. William S. BufOrd, of
| Woodford, was also bis son.
Another daughter of Judge Samuel
Mcdowell was Mary, who married
Alexander X. Marshall, younger
brother of the Chief Justice, a pioneer
and very able lawyer in Kentucky,
and one of the first Clerks of the Court
of Appeals. One of their daughters was
the first wife of William L. Suliivant, of
Columbus. o., and the mother of Mrs
Robert E. Neil, of Washington City
Another daughter married her cousin,
James Paxton, soldier in the war of
1872, a very brilliant lawyer. James
Paxton's mother was McClung, sister
of Judge William McClung, and the
niece of Mary, who married, the first
Samuel Mcdowell. He was the father
of the late Marshall Paxton, q member
of a firm once well known in Cincin-
natl. that OF Keys, Maltby & Co., and OF
William l.. Paxton, q lawyer of Platte
City, Mo. One of James Paxton s daugh-
ters married the late Benjamin Harbeson
| (brother of Charles, of Cincinnati,) and
was the mother of Hon. James P. Har-
beson, of Flemingsburg, and of John M.
Harbeson, a banker at Augusta. The
other daughter is the wife of Charles A.
Marshall, of Mason, Colonel of the Six
| teenth Kentucky Infantry, of the Union
army. One of her sons is Thomas Mars
hall, whose career at Salt Lake City as a
lawyer has been one of brilliant success,
and another, Lieutenant William L..
Marshall, of the Engineers, for a time
one of the instructors at West Point, a
valued leader in the Wheeler Exploring
Expedition, who unites the herculean
frame and courage of the McDowells and
Meetings. to the best intellectual quail
ties Of the family of his own name.
Another daughter of A. X. Marshall
and Mary Mcdowell married her cousin,
John Marshall, of Mason county, and
was the mother of DR.. A. X. Marshall,
of Maysville; of Mrs. James B. Casey,
of Covington, and of the first of the late
Frank Chambers, of Cincinnati. A son
Of A. x. Marshall and Mary Mcdowell
was the late James X. Marshall, of Paris,
whose daughter married her cousin,
Henry Buford, and is the mother of H.
Marshall Buford, talented lawyer of
Lexington. The latter is a great grand
son of Governor John Adair, Colonel
Abraham Buford and A. X. Marshall,
three of the most conspicuous men of
their day in the State.
The oldest daughter of Judge Samuel
Mcdowell and Mary McClung, Mary,
married VIM. Startling. The Oldest OF
her gallant sons was Colonel Lynn Star
ling, a most amiable and lovable gen
tleman, who won honor and credit as
the chief efof-staff to General Thomas L.
Crittenden. Three others of her sons
and a number of her grandsons were in
the Union arm
| have been able to mention but few
OF the.moSt prominent of the descendants
of old Ephraim Mcdowell, and merely
to glance hastily at the leading incidents
of their public lives. am conscious of
having done but meager Justice to sub
ject as prolific as this one is. Hun
dreds OF respectable gentlemen and no.
Bile women have been passed unmen-
toned. In every war in this country
since l74O they have furnished brave
soldiers and many of them. 1 chal-
lenge the naming of any family that
has supplied more or better. Since John
Mcdowell lost his life in 1742, the first
white man killed by the Indians in the
valley, their blood has been freely offer.
ed in defense Of liberty. In the recent
civil war there was fully thousand OF
them on one side or the other. Theil
alliances in every direction have been
eminently successful. l know of none
OF them of whom any one need be
ashamed. [ know Of no family in the
country which has furnished so many
distinguished physicians and surgeons
The same mental attributes and the
same physical characteristics seem tc
have run through the whole breed. ]
repeat, their history is full OF suggestion
KEITH.
FOUND DEAD IN THE WOODS IA
correspondent gives us the following
particulars of the death of Mr. JOSEPH
Clark, who lives on the waters of Hills
J Creek, ia Pocahontas county, mention
OF which was made in CUR last issue +
seems that on the 7th instant he wa.
cutting timber in the woods near ilis