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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
Wirt, attorney-general of the United States.
Philip Clayton died in Richmond county,
Georgia, September 13, 1807.
Gibson, George, born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1747. He lived in that part of the colony that was claimed by Virginia, and for whom he long ser\'ed. At the be- ginning of the revolution he raised a com- pany near Fort Pitt, with which he joined the Virginia line. In May, 1776, an expe- dition commanded by Gibson and William Linn went to New Orleans for gunpowder. After many difficulties, 10,000 pounds were obtained, part of which Linn brought up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and Gibson took the rest to Virginia. He was commis- sioned major in the Fourth Virginia regi- ment, March 22, 1777; and colonel of the First Virginia Regiment, June 5, 1777, to January, 1782. After the revolution he re- turned to his home in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. He was mortally wounded at St. Clair's defeat, November 4, 1791.
Goodrich, John, born in England. At the beginning of the revolution he was an active and enterprising man in Nansemond county, Virginia, owner of large plantations in Isle of Wight and Nansemond counties. He was a merchant, with his sons John, Jr., Wil- liam and Bartlett, (the latter sometimes erroneously called Bartholomew), trading as John Goodrich & Company, merchants and owner of vessels. In July, 1775, the colonial committee of safety gave him bills of exchange with which to buy powder in the West Indies. This dr^w upon him the resentment of Lord Dunmore, who had John Goodrich and two of his sons imprisoned, but later released them on parole, under promise to discontinue their activities, and
the committee of safety exculpated them.
John Goodrich, Jr., later sided with Lord
Dunmore, and was charged by the commit-
tee of safety with being in command of an
armed sloop which had captured a vessel
belonging to North Carolina merchants, and
also that he had three boats in Dunmore's
service, committing depredations. After
examining into the case, the convention
adopted resolutions declaring that John
Goodrich, Jr., was guilty of bearing arms
against the colony and of aiding and assist-
ing the enemy ; that he should be held pris-
oner at Charlotteville until further order;
and that the committee "should take action
in regard to his estate," after allowing rea-
sonable provision for his wife and small
children. Later, he was released under bond
of £1000. and on taking the oath required of
suspected persons. John Goodrich, Sr., went
to England, and died at Topsham, Devon-
shire, in 1785, aged sixty-three years, and
where his wife also died.
Blanchard, Thomas, a citizen of Norfolk, was a ripe scholar, a fine classic writer and gifted poet. His "Ode on the Death of Washington," written January i, 1800, was very popular at the time.
Balfour, George, a native of Elizabeth City county, was a member of the medical staff of the United States army; made sur- geon's mate April 11, 1792, senior surgeon in 1798. In 1804 he retired to private prac- tice in Norfolk. He died September 8, 1823, and was buried at Hampton, Virginia.
Dandridge, Alexander Spottswood, born August I, 1753, son of Captain Nathaniel West Dandridge. of the British navy, and Dorothea, his wife, daughter of Alexander
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