VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
Page, Thomas Nelson, born at "Oakland,"
in Hanover county, \irginia, April 23, 1853,
son of Major John Page, a distinguished
graduate of the University of Virginia, and
Elizabeth Burwell Nelson, his wife. Both
parents were grandchildren of Governor
Thomas Nelson, signer of the Declaration
of Independence, and commander of the
Virginia forces at Yorktown, in 1781. His
father was also a grandson of Governor
John Page of "Rosewell," the lifelong friend
of Thomas Jefferson, between whom and
Iklr. Jefferson as school boys the well known
letters found in the lives of Jefferson passed.
The old Page and Nelson homestead in the
upper end of Hanover county was a part of
the original grant to General Nelson, within
a few miles of the site of General Nelson's
home, so charmingly described in the travels
of the Marquis De Chastellux. Mr. Page's
early education was obtained at home, his
father being an ardent lover of the classics,
and devoted to the Latin, Greek and Eng-
lish literatures. Perhaps the most striking
part of his life was that spent in his old
home as a child during the civil war. This
period he has repeatedly described in his
stories, which are well known. The absence
of his father and uncle from home, and the
consequent responsibility, made his life and
that of other boys within the track of the
armies and the sound of the guns of the
bloodiest campaigns of the civil war.
strangely exciting. After the war he at-
tended a school five miles from home,
taught by his kin.sman, the late Dr. Charles
L. C. Minor. From this he entered Wash-
ington and Lee University, while it was
under the presidency of General Robert E.
Lee. Here he was a student several years,
living at the home of his uncle by marriage,
the Rev. Dr. William N. Pendleton, who
had been Gen. Lee's chief of artillery. After
leaving Washington and Lee University, he
returned home, where he spent a year, and
subsequently entered the University of Vir-
ginia as a law student, being graduated in
1874 on a special examination given him
because of illness, with the degree of Bach-
elor of Law. He settled in Richmond, Vir-
ginia, and began the practice of his profes-
sion, which he later abandoned to give him-
self wholly to literary work. While yet a
member of the Richmond bar, he published
some of his short stories, which at once
established his reputation as a writer. In
addition to these, which were under the
title "In Old Virginia," he has published
numerous other works, among the most
popular of which are: '"The Old South."
"Two Little Confederates." "Marse Chan."
and "Robert E. Lee, the Southerner." He
settled later in Washington and in 1913 he
was appointed by President Wilson minis-
ter to Italy. In 1887 he married (first)
Anne Sedden Bruce, daughter of Charles
Bruce, Esq., of "Staunton Hill." Charlotte
county, Virginia : he married (second) in
1893. Mrs. Florence Lathrop Field, of Chi-
cago, a great-granddaughter of Governor
James Barbour.
Downing, Henry Hawkins, born in Fau- quier county. Virginia. .April 20. 1833, son of John H. Downing and Fannie Scott, his wife. He received a practical and thorough training in farm life. He received his clas- sical education partly from private tutors, and partly at Bethel Academy. In 1874 he matriculated at the University of Virginia and studied law under John B. Minor. He graduated in 1876, and not long afterwards
