------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume III VII--Prominent Persons born in Jeffersonton, Culpeper county, Virginia, November 5, 1831, son of Frederick Fishback and Sophie Yates, his wife. His paternal grandfather, Martin Fishback, a revolutionary soldier, was descended from John Fishback, one of the German miners settled by Gov. Spotswood at Germanna, in Virginia, and from Agnes Haeger, his wife, daughter of Rev. John Henry Haeger, parson of the colony. His maternal grandfather was Col. William Yates, of Petersburg, Virginia. He received his early education at the schools of his native village and vicinity, subsequently entering the University of Virginia. After his graduation in 1855, he studied law in the office of Luther Spellman, of Richmond, and was admitted to the bar in 1858. His first venture in law practice was in 1858, while on an extended visit to Illinois. Here he became acquainted with Abraham Lincoln, who, entrusted to him some important legal business. In 1858 Mr. Fishback took up a permanent residence at Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. Meanwhile Lincoln, with offers of other business, urged him to return to Illinois, which, however, he did not do, preferring the Arkansas climate. In 1861 he was elected delegate to the state convention which passed the ordinance of secession. Although so pronounced a Union man that the secession press of Arkansas denounced him as an abolitionist, he was opposed to the policy of coercion, thinking that it would provoke civil war. Upon President Lincoln's call for troops to coerce South Carolina, Mr. Fishback, by advice of his constituents, voted for secession in the hope that when the north saw the withdrawal of all the southern states, it might be forced into accepting the Crittenden compromise. All efforts at compromise failing, however, when the war broke out he went north, and during the occupation of Little Rock by the Federal troops in 1863, he established a newspaper there called the "Unconditional Union." While editing the paper, he, as commander, was raising the Fourth Arkansas Cavalry for the Federal service. When about nine hundred men had enlisted, he was elected to the United States senate by the Union legislature, and thus was never mustered into service. Under the proclamation of President Lincoln the reorganization of the state had been at length accomplished, Mr. Fishback having such influence with the convention in charge that he was called upon to write the greater part of the constitution of 1864, sometimes called the "Fishback Constitution." He was advised that if the word "white" as a prerequisite to voting was not stricken out, the state would not be received into the Union, and he would not get the seat in the senate to which it was known he would be elected. Believing, however, that it would not be safe to confer the suffrage upon such a large mass of ignorance, he refused to strike it out. His was the first case from the south of an effort to restore representations in congress. President Lincoln's cabinet recognized the senators, but other leaders of the party in power, headed by Sumner and Wade, took the ground that as the state had run down like a watch, and could only be wound up by some extraneous power, that power was congress, and that no southern states should be therefore not seated. In 1865 he was appointed treasury agent for Arkansas, a position which he refused to accept until told that by so doing he could save the people many millions of money. His conduct of that office added largely to his popularity. In 1874 he was elected to the constitutional convention which framed the present constitution, and in 1877, 1879, and 1885 served in the legislature. He was the author of what is known as the "Fishback Amendment" to the constitution of Arkansas, by which the legislature is forbidden ever to pay certain fraudulent state bonds issued during reconstruction. During the summer of 1892, contrary to the policy of his opponents, he made no canvass for the nomination for governor. His cause was taken up by the people, however, and he received 540 votes out of 628 in the nominating convention, while his plurality at the polls was larger than that received by any other governor since reconstruction times. Immediately after election he accepted the urgent invitation of the national Democratic committee, and coming north, made a number of speeches in New York and Indiana, which met with gratifying success. His administration was marked by continual prosperity. It was at the instigation of Gov. Fishback that the governors of the southern states met in convention at Richmond, Virginia, in April, 1893, one of the most important and distinguished assemblies ever held in America, and of which he was made president. In 1867 he was married to Adelaide, daughter of Joseph Miller, a prominent merchant of Fort Smith, Arkansas, who was robbed and murdered on board a Mississippi river steamboat in 1850. He died at Fort Smith, Arkansas, February 9, 1903. Search Results Search Terms: YATES (28) Database: Virginia Biographical Encyclopedia Combined Matches: 28 Previous Hits Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume III VII--Prominent Persons born October 20, 1844, near Hallsboro, Chesterfield ??ounty, Virginia, son of John Daniel Baker and Ann Elizabeth, daughter of William Howard and Mary Taylor, his wife. He was brought up in the country, but was trail in his youth, and did not perform any severe manual labor. His mother died when he was only nine years of age. He attended a private school taught by Dr. R. B. Winfree, and at the age of twelve, in 1856, at his own desire, began his apprenticeship in the office of the Danville "Register." Afterwards he worked on the Richmond "Enquirer," where he had charge of the printing and press rooms, and mailing at night. In the spring of 1863 he enlisted in the privateer service of the Confederate navy under Capt. John Yates Beall. His service was on Chesapeake Bay, crippling the commerce of the enemy and destroying lighthouses. In September, 1863, when sharing with fifteen others in an attempt to surprise a Federal gunboat, he was captured and confined in irons in Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, for nearly six weeks. To save him and his associates from being shot as privateers, the Confederate authorities held an equal number of Federal prisoners in irons in Charleston, South Carolina, as hostages for their proper treatment as prisoners of war. This had its effect; the irons were removed from Mr. Baker, and he was transferred to Fortress Monroe and afterwards to Fort Norfolk and later to Point Lookout, where in the spring of 1864 he was exchanged, and proceeded to Richmond. There he was placed on light duty as clerk in Provost Marshal Carrington's office, and remained until the evacuation of Richmond, being among the last to leave the city. He then joined Gen. Lee's army at Amelia Court House, and was with the Twenty-fifth Virginia Regiment in the battle of Sailors Creek. He rejoined the army at High Bridge, and connected himself with a Texas regiment with which he served until the surrender at Appomattox Court House. After being paroled, he set out for Richmond, but at Jude's Ferry took work on a farm. Later he formed a partnership with A. T. B. W. and J. H. Martin, under the name of Martin Brothers & Baker, for manufacturing lumber, grinding sumac and tanning leather, at Hallsboro and Manchester, Virginia, and after the death of his partners, he succeeded to the business, which he still conducts. He has served as justice of the peace, and for two terms was supervisor of Midlothian district, Chesterfield county. In 1883-84, he served in the house of delegates, where he secured the passage of bills to prevent the running of trains on Sunday, and to require clerks of courts to certify that bonds should be given by special commissioners before selling property decreed for sale. He was a member again in 1899-1900, and was afterwards re-elected for three more terms. During his service he was a member and chairman of the new penitentiary building commission of which he was a member of the finance committee. At the Virginia Exposition, in 1888, he was commissioner from Chesterfield county, serving as such without compensation. Its exhibit received the first prize as the best county exhibit in the state. At the St. Louis Exposition, in 1904, he was assistant commissioner, and it was due, in great measure, to his labors that the Virginia exhibit was made a great success. He was also commissioner from Virginia to the Jamestown Exposition of 1907. He has been a frequent contributor to the newspapers on feligious, social, and political subjects. In 1888, he wrote, at the request of the board of of supervisors of Chesterfield county, a pamphlet on the history and resources of the county, and 1892 he produced a fuller edition of the work. He is a trustee of Richmond College. On December 25, 1866, he married Sarah Thomas Martin, and they have six children. His address is Hallsboro, Chesterfield county, Virginia. Click to view full context ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume III VII--Prominent Persons Notes: Note by the Editor.--On page 47 is given a sketch of John Yates Beale. Daniel B. Lucas vigorously defended him from the charge of being a spy, and much indignation was felt and expressed in the South at his execution. There is a story that John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln because the latter failed to carry out a promise to pardon Beale, who was Booth's intimate friend. Click to view full context ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume IV (VII) Fielding Lewis Marshall, second son of Thomas and Margaret W. (Lewis) Marshall, was born March 29, 1819, at Oakhill, and was educated at the University of Virginia, in both literary and law courses. He settled on the Oakhill estate, and continued there until the civil war. On the outbreak of that struggle, he enlisted and was mustered as orderly sergeant of Wise's dragoons of Fauquier county. This organization was assigned to the Sixth Virginia Cavalry, and Mr. Marshall was commissioned first lieutenant of artillery in June, 1862. He was stationed on ordnance duty at Lynchburg, and so continued until the close of hostilities, in 1865. He subsequently resided in Orange county, and was engaged some years in teaching school. A man of fine literary attainments and high honor, he was universally respected and was eminently successful as a teacher. A Whig in politics, he represented Fauquier county in the house of delegates. He married (first) April 10, 1843, Rebecca F. Coke, born October 26, 1824, died April 20, 1862. He married (second) July 9, 1867, Mary N. Thomas, born August 9, 1842. Children of first marriage: 1. Richard Coke, mentioned below. 2. Margaret Lewis, born May 17, 1846, married Cornelius B. Hite, a soldier and teacher. 3. Mary W. B., June 26, 1847, widow of John R. Yates, residing in Washington, D. C. 4. Susan L., born December 11, 1848, married Bowles E. Armistead. of Fauquier county, Virginia. 5. Thomas, born 1850, a broker of New York City. 6. Fielding Lewis, residing in Washington. 7. Rebecca C., born August 14, 1856, married Charles R. Nash, of Portsmouth, Virginia. 8. Agnes H., born April 26, 1858, wife of William P. Helm, a merchant of New York, residing in Warrenton, Virginia. Children of second marriage: 9. Maria N., born January 3, 1869. 10. George T., born July 4, 1871. 11. Eleanor W., born October 2, 1873. 12. Ann L., born October 6, 1875. 13. Walton H., born May 16, 1877. 14. John N., born September 18, 1879. 15. Alice H., born January 30, 1882. 16. Evelyn B., born 1885. 17. Randolph H., born 1890. Click to view full context ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume V Wholly devoted to his professional labors in Petersburg, Virginia, Dr. Charles Singleton Dodd yet is able to hold close association with numerous outside interests in the city of his adoption, and although but a comparatively new member of the medical fraternity of that city is completely identified with all that is best in her institutions and civil life. Dr. Dodd is a native of Halifax county, Virginia, son of a veteran of the war between the states and grandson of a veteran of the Mexican war. His grandfather, Ralph Dodd was a farmer and stockraiser of Pittsylvania county, Virginia, where he died in 1870, aged fifty-nine years; he fought in the United States army during the Mexican campaign. He and his wife, Nannie (Johnston) Dodd, who died in 1887, were the parents of six children, of whom three are living: Lou, married James Yates, deceased, and resides at Elba, Virginia; Robert, resides in Meadsville, Virginia; and John, lives at Castle Craig, Virginia; while the three deceased are Rebecca Robertson, Whitt, and William Samuel, of whom further.