Dabney Herndon Maury

“ Fredericksburg, Virginia is one of the historic towns of America. Founded long before the Revolution, upon the Rappahannock River, at the head of tide-water, it commanded for many years the trade of the opulent planters of all that fertile region lying along the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. ”

“ The distinguished Law teacher of the University of Virginia, Professor John Minor, is the general's nephew and namesake.
Many of our people advocated negro emancipation and colonization. My grandfather, Mr. Fontaine Maury, manumitted his slaves, and had one of them, a bright young fellow, educated for the law. He was sent to Liberia, where he became the highly respected Judge Draper, of Monrovia. President Monroe, then a lawyer in Fredericksburg, was the great advocate of the emancipation, and president of the colonization society. ”

“ It is a comfort to me that gentle people are there, for it is the dearest place in all my boyhood's memories.
Johnson Barbour, son of our distinguished governor, was one of the most brilliant youths of his day, as he has been for many years the highest illustration of our cultured gentlemen. ”

“ Many of those soldiers were from Fredericksburg and its vicinity, and it was inevitable that the descendants of these men should be the very first to arm against the encroachments of the British Crown, and it was in Fredericksburg that a convention of delegates of twelve companies of horse assembled and proclaiming their purpose to defend the colony of Virginia, or any other colony, against the king of England, marched under the command of Patrick Henry, against Lord Dunmore in his capital. ”

“ Maury [cousin, Lt. John Minor Maury, USN Darien Expedition] loved and honored forever.
The Honorable Samuel Southard, once Secretary of the Navy, married and lived for a time in Fredericksburg. To his kindness many of our boys owed their commissions in the navy. A nephew of his by marriage was Jim Harrow, noted for his pugnacity. Jim was a member of the company which marched, in the beginning of the war, to defend Acquia Creek against the United States steamer Pawnee. Whenever the Pawnee would fire a shot, Jim Harrow would jump upon the parapet, and flap his arms and crow like a chicken cock. ”

“ Little, a lady of high culture and excellence, presided over the Academy to which the best people of the town and neighboring counties sent their daughters for an education. An old planter of the Northern Neck took his darling daughter there. ”

“ He had been her neighbor and lover all his boyhood. After her death, he married Mary Carter. He became a great lawyer, and was for more than forty years on the Supreme Bench, -- the Court of Appeals of Virginia. Henry Clay read law in his office, and on his way to Congress used to stop at Saint Julian. Judge Brooke lived to be more than eighty years of age. He lies by his wife in the little graveyard on the hill above their home. The family are all scattered now or dead, and the dear old place has passed into other hands. It has become the property of Mr. ”