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353
began to practice his profession at Front
Royal, Virginia. He was elected common-
wealth's attorney in 1879 for Warren county,
and has continued in the practice of law un-
interruptedly up to the present time. He
has been identified with a great deal of very
important litigation, and has acted as coun-
sel for the Norfolk & Western Railroad
Company, and the Southern Railroad Com-
pany. He was chosen to represent his
county in the house of delegates three terms,
and took an active part in the counsels of
that body. He has been a member of the
board of visitors of the University of Vir-
ginia since 1898, and he and his colleagues
have introduced many innovations which
have improved the institution in many re-
spects. He is a Mason of high rank. Mr.
Downing married (first) Nannie T. Byrne,
daughter of John S. Byrne, clerk of Fau-
quier county circuit thirty-one years ; he
married (second) Caroline E. Long, daugh-
ter of Michael and Susan Long.
Couper, William, born at Norfolk, Vir- ginia, September 20, 1853. He received an academical education in his native city, and he made his professional preparation as a sculptor at Cooper Institute, New York. In 1874 he went to Munich, and entered the Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal Col- lege of Surgery. Ill health obliged him to go to Italy, where he was given by Thomas Ball, the sculptor, a place in his studio, and with whom he worked some years. While in Florence, Mr. Couper's time was devoted principally to portraiture and works of an ideal nature, among the latter being "Mother Love;" "Psyche;" "Coming Spring;" "Fal- coner," a portrait statue of Governor Routt (Denver. Col.) ; and "Beauty's Wreath for
VIR— 23
Valor's Brow." Returning to the United
States in 1897, Mr. Couper established him-
self in New York. His works since the
opening of his studio in that city include an
allegorical relief, "Repose," in bronze; heroic
statue, "Moses," in marble, in the appellate
court building, New York ; "Recording
Angel," bronze, in the cemetery in Norfolk,
Virginia ; "Angel of the Resurrection," mar-
ble, in Chicago ; heroic portrait bust. Presi-
dent McKinley; "Te Deuni laudamus," and
portraits of William Hubble, Hunter Mc-
Guire, and Henry Maurer. Among his latest
creations are a memorial to Colonel Haw-
kins, erected in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
and "John Smith," at Jamestown, Virginia.
Blackwell, Robert Emory, born at War- renton, Virginia, November 14, 1854, son of Rev. John Davenport Blackwell and Julia Anna Butts, his wife. The father was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, who held charges in important south- ern cities, and served as chaplain in the Confederate army. Joseph Blackwell, the founder of the family in Virginia, was a native of England, and when he came to this country made his home in Northumberland county. One of his descendants, also named Joseph, received the first land grant ever recorded in Fauquier county, and later served as a major in the revolutionary war ; he was the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. The early years of Mr. Blackwell were for the most part spent in the country. His education was commenced at Bethel Academy, Fauquier county, Vir- ginia, from whence he went to Randolph- Macon College, and there received the de- gree of Master of Arts in 1874. Two semes- ters were then spent in study at the Uni-
