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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
prisoner: and he was again wounded in the
1-attle of Hatcher's Run, February 6, 1865.
After the war, he was for some months local
editor and reporter on the Petersburg "Daily
Express," which position he left in Decem-
ber, 1865, to devote himself to this profes-
sion. He represented a number of im-
portant interests, and for many years was
local counsel in the counties from Din-
widdie to Xansemond for the Norfolk &
Western Railroad. From 1870 to 1879, a
year or two excepted, he served as a member
cf the school board of Petersburg. In 1877-
79 he was a member of the house of dele-
gates of Virginia. He was a frequent
contributor to the press, and in 1885 pub-
lished a volume entitled "Civil Service Re-
form vs. The Spoils System," which at-
tracted favorable attention throughout the
country ; and also edited "War Talks of Con-
federate Veterans," a volume of war remin-
iscences, two of the chapters of which are
from his own pen. He was for several years
commonwealth's attorney for the city of
Petersburg, and since 1898 has served as a
referee in bankruptcy. Several of his opin-
ions in bankruptcy cases were adopted by
the district court of the United States for
the eastern district of Virginia, and appear
in the "Federal Reporter" and "American
Bankruptcy Reports." He served as presi-
dent of the Petersburg Bar Association. In
June, 1870, he married Fanny, daughter of
the late Samuel J. Rutherford, of Richmond,
and a niece of former Gov. John Ruther-
ford.
Converse, Amasa, Ixirn in \'irginia, in 1795 ; was graduated at Dartmouth in 1822. After completing a theological course, he was for some years a pastor in the south,
whence he removed to Philadelohia, and
founded the "Christian Observer," a Pres-
'oyterian weekly organ of old school doc-
trine and southern political sympathies.
When the civil war began he removed his
paper to Richmond, Virginia, and after the
war to Louisville, Kentucky, where it con-
tinued to be the organ and exponent of the
Southern Presbyterian church. He died at
Louisville, Kentucky, December 9, 1872.
Chew, Robert Smith, born in Spottsyl- vania county, \'irginia, in 181 1, son of Rob- ert Smith Chew and Caroline French, his wife. He entered the service of the govern- ment in his youth, and had served in the state department more than forty years, when he was advanced to the chief clerk- ship on the appointment of William Hunter as second assistant secretary of state, in July, 1866. He died at Washington, D. C August 3, 1873; father of Richard S. Chew, born September 4, 1843, died April 10, 1S75, who was a lieutenant in the United States navy and served on the Minnesota when she was attacked by the Merrimac and in the fight in Mobile Bay ; uncle of Robert Smith Chew (son of John James Chew, clerk of Spottsylvania county, Virginia), who was a colonel of infantry in the Confederate States army.
Speed, John M., born in Mecklenburg county. Virginia, May 5, 1815, son of John H. and Susan M. Speed ; he was a cousin (>f James Speed, attorney-general in Lin- coln's cabinet. He was a graduate of \\"il- li;:m and Mary College; became a lawyer at Lynchburg. \'irginia. attained eminence in his profession, and occupied various high jositions in the state. He married Catherine Page Waller, whose brother. \\'illiain Wal-
