I71991: Sophia Key BRISCOE (ABT 1825

Notes

Garnett, James Mercer (1770-1843) Brother of Robert Selden Garnett; grandfather of Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett. Born in Virginia, 1770. Democrat. Member of Virginia state legislature; U.S. Representative from Virginia, 1805-09 (at-large 1805-07, 11th District 1807-09). Died in 1843. Interment in private or family graveyard. See also: congressional biography.
GARNETT, James Mercer, 1770-1843: GARNETT, James Mercer, (brother of Robert Selden Garnett and grandfather of Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett), a Representative from Virginia; born at “Mount Pleasant,” near Loretto, Essex County, Va., June 8, 1770; studied under private teachers; engaged in planting; member of the State house of delegates in 1800 and 1801; elected as a Republican to the Ninth and Tenth Congresses (March 4, 1805-March 3, 1809); member of the grand jury that indicted Aaron Burr, former Vice President, for treason in 1807; was not a candidate for renomination in 1808; again engaged in planting, and during the later years of his life conducted a school for boys on his plantation; president of the Fredericksburg Agricultural Society 1817-1837; again a member of the State house of delegates in 1824 and 1825; member of the anti-tariff conventions of 1821 and 1831; one of the founders of the Virginia State Agricultural Society; vice president of the Virginia Colonization Society; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1829; died on his estate, “Elmwood,” near Loretto, Va., April 23, 1843; interment in the family burying ground on his estate. Bibliography http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000075

"GARNETT, James Mercer, agriculturist and politician, born in Essex County, Virginia, 8 June, 1770; died there in May, 1843. He was a founder and the first president of the United States agricultural society, and wrote extensively on rural economy. He was also interested in educational progress, maintained a female seminary in his own house for twelve years, and was active in introducing into Virginia improved methods of instruction. He acted with the Democratic party, and engaged in a controversy with Matthew Carey, the protectionist. He was an intimate friend of his colleague in congress, John Randolph, of Roanoke. After serving for several years in the Virginia legislature he was twice elected to the National house of representatives, and served from 2 December 1805, to 3 March, 1809. In 1829 he was a member of the Virginia constitutional convention.--His youngest brother, Robert Selden, born in Essex County, Virginia, was educated at Princeton, studied law, began practice at Lloyds, and was elected as a Democrat to congress, and four times re-elected, serving from 1 December 1817, to 3 March, 1827.

On the question of recognizing the South American republics he voted alone. He was a political supporter and personal friend of Andrew Jackson.

--[his nephew, Richard Brooke, soldier, born in Virginia in 1819; died near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 3 July, 1863, was graduated at the United States military academy in 1841, entered the army as lieutenant of infantry, served in the Florida war and on the Texas frontier, became a captain on 9 May, 1855, was engaged in Kansas in 1856-'7, and in the Utah expedition of 1858, and resigned on 17 May, 1861, to join the Confederate army. He was engaged in many of the battles in Virginia, was afterward attached to General Lee's army, with the rank of brigadier-general, and fell in the battle of Gettysburg.

Another nephew, Robert Selden, son of Robert S., soldier, born in Essex County, Virginia, 16 December 1819 ; died at Carrick's Ford, Virginia, 13 July, 1861. He was graduated at the United States military academy in 1841, appointed 2d lieutenant of artillery, and from July, 1843, to October, 1844, was assistant instructor of infantry tactics at the military academy. He was aide-de-camp to General Wool in 1845, distinguished himself in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Pahna, was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1846, was aide-de-camp to General Taylor through the Mexican war, and was brevetted captain and major for gallant and meritorious conduct at Monterey and Buena Vista. He was transferred to the infantry in 1848, and promoted captain in 1851. From 1852 till 1854 he was commandant of the corps of cadets and instructor in infantry tactics at West Point. He was commissioned as major on 27 March, 1855, was the commander in the operations against the Indians on Puget's sound, Washington territory, in 1856, and commanded the Yakima expedition in 1858. At the beginning of the civil war he returned from Europe, where he had been traveling on sick leave, resigned his commission in the United States army on 30 April, 1861, and was appointed adjutant general, with the rank of colonel, to organize the Virginia troops. On 6 June, 1861, he was commissioned as brigadier-general in the Confederate army, and sent to command the forces in the western part of the state. He found himself confronted by General McClellan with a much superior force, consisting of United States regulars and Indiana riflemen. After General Pegram, with a part of his command, had been surrounded, he attempted to retreat with the remainder on Beverly. When the National troops overtook him at Carrick's Ford, on Cheat river, he took command of the detachment with which he attempted to cover the retreat. His army was routed, and he was killed in the engagement.

--Another nephew, Alexander Yelverton Peyton, physician, born in Essex County, Virginia, 20 September, 1820, was graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1841, entered the United States navy as assistant surgeon on 8 September, 1841, was promoted surgeon in 1848, and resigned on 21 October, 1850, in order to accept the professorship of clinical medicine in the National medical College at Washington, D.C. He married in 1848 the eldest daughter of Henry A. Wise. In 1861 he left Washington, and became a member of the examining board of surgeons for the Confederate army, and afterward surgeon in charge of the two military hospitals in Richmond. He was the family physician of Jefferson Davis and of all his cabinet officers, and accompanied Mr. Davis after the evacuation of Richmond. Afterward he returned to Washington, and was again elected a professor in the medical College in 1867, but resigned in 1870, and was made an emeritus professor. He was elected a vice-president of the American medical association in 1885. He has contributed to medical literature papers on the claims of "Condurango as a Cure for Cancer," "The Potomac Marshes and their Influence as a Pathogenic Agent," "Epidemic Jaundice among Children," "The Sorghum Vulgate or Broom-Corn Seed in Cystitis," "Nelaton's Probe in Gunshot Wounds," and "Coloproctitis treated by Hot-Water Douche and Dilatation or Division of the Sphincters."

--James Mercer's grandson, Muscoe Russell Hunter, politician, born in Essex County, Virginia ; died in Virginia about 1863, was graduated at the University of Virginia, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced at Loretto, Virginia He was a delegate to the State convention for revising the constitution in 1850, and a member of the Virginia house of delegates from 1853 till 1856. He was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1852 and 1856, and elected to congress to serve out an unexpired term, and twice re-elected, serving from 1 December 1856, to 3 March, 1861. After the formation of the southern confederacy he was elected to the 1st congress at Richmond."
Src: Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 VirtualologyTM
http://www.virtualology.com/jamesmercergarnett/.

"ELMWOOD, Essex County, Virginia, America [USA] Of the many houses which once belonged to the Garnetts, "Elmwood" alone remains. It was built for James Mercer Garnett by his father, Muscoe Garnett just before the American Revolution on lands acquired by the elder Garnett in 1767 from Thomas Thorp, but embraced within the estate were also the lands which Muscoe Garnett had purchased of Bernard Gaines, William and Thomas Ayres, and James Rutherford. Entering by the old gate, the road crosses fertile fields and winds upward through woods, past stables which once housed a string of thoroughbreds [James Garnett was a member of the Fredericksburg Jockey Club and often had entries in the races] until a two and one-half story brick building, with high pointed gable roof is reached. This once served as an office where the master administered the affairs of the plantation and where the young men of the family slept. A short distance beyond, facing a double row of stately ailanthus trees, planted it is said as a protection against malaria, stands the house itself, with its adjacent kitchen, smoke house and other out buildings, beautifully situated on a hill opposite the site of "Mount Pleasant", about two miles distance and nearer the river. The mansion is of brick, two stories with a basement and attic. The west front overlooking the garden is pierced by twenty windows and two doorways, and reveals the ample proportions of the house. One hundred feet long and thirty feet wide, the house opens into a T-shaped broad central hall, the walls of which were originally panelled. Doors lead off on the right to a music room and to a large drawing room, always called "The Hall", and on the left to the library and to the dining room. "The Hall" compares favourably with the finest of Virginia interiors. It runs the full width of the house and is twenty-four feet by nearly thirty feet, with white panelled walls, a beautifully carved frieze, a ceiling once frescoed, a deep pink marble mantel, and doorways surmounted by richly ornamented broken pediments, while the doors and wainscoting are of natural walnut. Shelves of books collected by several generations---many rare volumes in French, German and English---line the sides of the library, which is panelled in curly maple, and above the great fireplace is an oil painting of a Madonna. Here also is a marble bust of Mr. James Mercer Garnett's brother in law, Charles Fenton Mercer, long a member of Congress. A wide staircase to the left of the main hall, a space now occupied by a pantry, originally connected the two floors, but was removed when Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett altered the house in 1866-7, the stairs being then placed in a tower addition and finally becoming a spiral to the attic, where during the Civil War the family valuables were hidden under a board. On the second floor the five bedrooms open off a hall which runs the length of the house on the east side, from the windows of which---the central one of Palladian design---can be caught glimpses of the Rappahannock about six miles distant. The large bedroom over "The Hall" is of similar size, and contains a handsome marble mantel and finely carved woodwork. The rooms are still furnished with excellent old pieces of mahogany---massive poster beds, children's tent beds, graceful secretaries, carved and inlaid tables and chairs, and in the pantry may be found quaint old iron lanterns, candle moulds, platters and old-fashioned pastry-boards.
The Hon. B. Johnson Barbour wrote that whenever he read a novel with scenes set in a fine old English house, "Elmwood" with its great hall, library and parlour and its general spaciousness always rose before him. John Esten Cooke, the novelist, is said to have written his "Surry of Eagle's Nest " at and around "Elmwood", and to have taken young Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett as the hero of the story. Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett while still a youth laid out the garden, which is back of the house. Low box-bordered walks wind their way by rose bushes, perennials and crepe myrtle, now the size of trees. There are still many rare shrubs as Muscoe, like his grandfather before him, was a devoted horticulturist.
The family burying-ground lies back of the garden in a cluster of cedars and holly and is carpeted with ivy, honeysuckle and periwinkle. Among the graves is that of Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter, Essex's most distinguished citizen, which bears the simple inscription: "To his native State he devoted the culture of his life, and his highest attainments were for the service of his country". "Elmwood" has been unoccupied save by caretakers since James Mercer Garnett moved away from Virginia in the 1890s.
During the 1930s the owner of "Elmwood" was Mrs. Mary Barton Picton Garnett Mitchell, who continued to visit the home several times each year, and while circumstances prevented her from occupying it, she retained a deep and devoted affection for the home of her forefathers. Edith Tunis Sale has written a most interesting and detailed description of "Elmwood" in her book "The Interiors of Virginia Houses of Colonial Times". The late Sally Nelson Robbins in writing of "Elmwood" says: "No spot could be found which gives so easily to inspiration. The far-reaching fields, the river, the monarch trees and the seductive old garden casts a spell upon the soul which must break forth into speech and language".
SOURCES: William Garnett Chisholm's Genealogy of the Garnetts of Essex County and their Homes, originally published in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 42, numbers 1-4, and Volume 43, number 1, 1934 and 1935. Edited and abridged for Garnett Gathering by Doug Garnett, 1995."

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My Southern Family

Sophia Key BRISCOE

ABT 1825 - ____

ID Number: I71991

Sources

Samuel COOPER

ABT 1720 - AFT 1771

ID Number: I34246

Notes

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Mariah GAINES

19 Nov 1807 - Sep 1886

ID Number: I4177

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Hon. James Mercer GARNETT of "Elmwood"

8 Jun 1770 - May 1843

ID Number: I65705

Notes

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Thomas GATEWOOD

ABT 1765 - 1815

ID Number: I57021

Notes

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WILLIAM MALLORY

____ - ____

ID Number: I82225

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Mildred MARTIN

ABT 1790 - ____

ID Number: I21642

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Kizziah Elizabeth MCLEMORE

____ - ____

ID Number: I78309

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Capt. James M. Jones PENDLETON

ABT 1830 - ____

ID Number: I50167

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MARGARET RUTHVEN

____ - ____

ID Number: I90909

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