2lU
X'IRC.IXIA IIIOC.RAPHY
president of the Xational Capital Brewiiii^
Company, of Washington ; and director in
the American Security and Trust Company,
of Washington ; Riggs Fire Insurance Com-
pany, of Washington ; National Bank of
Washington; Virginia Midland Railway
Company ; Washington & Ohio Railway
Company ; National Bank of Manassas, \'ir-
ginia ; Portner Brown Stone Company ;
Loula Cotton Mills, and a number of other
enterprises too numerous to mention. lie
was a member of the board of aldermen of
Alexandria. He took up his residence in
Washington, D. C, in 1881, but still retain-
ed his citizenship in Alexandria, and his
summer residence, known as "Annaburg,"
was at Manassas, Virginia. He was a mem-
ber of the Masonic order. Mr. Portner mar-
ried, April 4, 1872. Anna von Valer, daugh-
ter of Johann von \'aler. a native of Switz-
erland. Mr. Portner died at "Annaburg.'"
May 28, 1906.
Blackford, Launcelot Minor, born in Fred- ericksburg, \'irginia, February 23, 1837, son of William M. Blackford and Mary Berke- ley Minor, his wife. Mr. Blackford's father was an editor and bank cashier in Lynch- burg, and at one time he held an appoint- ment as charge d'affaires at Bogota. An American ancestor of Mr. Blackford was John Carter, of Corotoman, who came from England in 1630, and settled in \^irginia. Jc^hn's third wife, Sarah Ludlow, was the mother of Robert, familiarly known as "King Carter," who was the direct progeni- tor of Mr. Blackford. Launcelot M. Black- ford attended the best day schools of Lynch- burg. In i860 he took the degree of Master of Arts at the University of Virginia. When the civil war broke nut he enlisted as a pri-
vate in the Rockbridge artillery, composed
largely of university and college graduates
and students of theological seminaries, one
of the most highly efficient body of soldiers
that ever went from Virginia. Mr. Black-
fcird afterward became clerk to the military
court of Longstreet's corps, and later was ad-
jutant of the Twenty-fourth Virginia Infan-
try. After the war he became associate prin-
cipal of the Norwood School, Nelson county,
which was for many years one of the lead-
ing boys' schools of Virginia, serving there
from 1865 to 1870. In the latter year he be-
came principal of the Episcopal high school,
and the credit for its high reputation is
largely due to the labors of ]Mr. Blackford.
In 1904 Washington and Lee University
conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of
Laws. He is an Episcopalian; for forty
years has sat in the annual councils of the
diocese of Virginia ; has been three times
elected to represent his diocese in the gen-
eral convention, and since 1890 has been a
member of the standing committee of the
diocese. On August 5, 1884, he married
Eliza Chew, daughter of Rev. John Ambler.
Mr. Blackford's address is Alexandria, Vir-
ginia.
Hundley, George Jefferson, born near Mobile, Alabama, March 22. 1838. son of Josiah Hundley and Cornelia Jeft'erson, his wife. On his father's side he is of mixed English and Huguenot blood ; on his mother's side he is great-great-grandson of Peter Jeft'erson, uncle of Thomas Jefferson. His mother and father died when he was an infant. He had two years tuition at Fleet- V, ood Academy and a year at Ilampden- Sidney College, supplementing his educa- tion liv rcadiiicf standard authors, lie en-
