Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/374

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY


served in the Home Guards, and later in the regular armv, taking part in numerous im- portant engagements. He fought in the troops of General Beauregard's division, and was appointed by that officer himself to act as his scout, in which service he distin- guished himself highly. Upon the close of war, Mr. Dew, who was still a very young man, returned to the matter of his educa- tion, and matriculated at the University of Virginia, taking the prescribed course in law at the famous law school there. From this he graduated with the class of 1867, and being admitted to the Virginia bar he began the practice of his profession in King and Queen and adjoining counties. His great abilities and unimpeachable integrity soon brought him into conspicuous notice, not only in the ranks of his professional asso- ciates, but throughout the region where he practiced, and gave him a leading position in his profession. In the year 1884 he was appointed a judge of the county court of King and Queen county, and in his conduct of his new duties added to his already bril- liant reputation before the Virginia bar, that of a just judge. He continued in this post until October 15, 1900, when he re- signed to accept the position of second auditor of the state of Virginia, in which office he served until March i, 1912.

Judge Dew married, October 28. 1875, in King and Queen county, Lelia Fauntleroy, a native of that region, born November 9, 1850. Mrs. Dew was the. daughter of Dr. Samuel G. and Fannie E. (Claybrook) Fauntleroy. Dr. Fauntleroy was one of the pioneer ])hysicians of King and Queen county, his wife being a native of Middle- sex county. Virginia. They are both de- ceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Dew have been born four children, all living, as follows: i. Mary Sue, born December 27. 1878; now in charge of the library in the John Marshall High School in Richmond, Virginia. 2. Samuel G.. l)orn September 26, 1880; is now associated with the Cameron Stove Com- pany of Richmond; married Nettie Thomp- son, of Richmond. 3. P.. Frank, born Octo- ber 5, 1882; now associated with the Union Stores Company of Richmond ; married Gertrude Clark, of Richmond. 4. Elizabeth C. born May 9. 1890; now chief long dis- tance ojierator of the .American Telei)hone Company, at Richmond.

Judge Dew and his family are members


of the Baptist church, and attend the Grove Avenue Church of that denomination. They are active in the church work and support materially the numerous benevolences in connection therewith Judge Dew is now a deacon of the congregation.

Major Catlett Conway Taliaferro. The estimable man, Major Catlett Conway Talia- ferro, of Roanoke, Virginia, whose distin- guished name we are pleased to place at the head of this article, is descended from ancestors noted for their sterling worth and their patriotism, some members of the fam- ily having figured in the revolutionary war. The qualities which made some of them among the foremost men of their time have not been lacking in their descendants.

Colonel Lawrence Hay Taliaferro, grand- father of Major Taliaferro of this sketch, was a colonel of minute-men in the war of the revolution. His plantation was the famous "Rosehill," in Orange county, Vir- ginia, which is still in the possession of his descendants. Major Lawrence Hay Talia- ferro, son of the preceding, was graduated from the West Point Military Academy, and w^as an active participant in the Mexican war until discharged on account of im- paired health. He married Eliza Turner, a daughter of Captain Catlett Conway Turner, of "Hay field." Orange county, Virginia, wdio was a captain in the Fourth Virginia Regi- ment during the revolutionary war.

Major Catlett Conway Taliaferro was born in Orange county, Virginia, April 15, 1847. He was prepared for entrance to college at the private school conducted by Professor William I'all Frazer. and was then admitted to Rappahannock College, in which he had been a student one year when the civil war broke out. At the age of fifteen and a half years he ran away from college to join his two brothers. Hay Buckner and Edmund Taylor, who had already enlisted, bein" members of Pickett's division, Longstreet's corps, and enlisted in the Ninth V'irginia Cavalry. July 18, 1861, three days before the first battle of Manassas. He w^as with his regiment until the battle of Front Royal, when he was detailed as courier and scout to General "Stonewall" Jackson, re- maining on his stafif until the death of Gen- eral Jackson, when he accompanied the re- mains from Guinea Station to Richmond, where the body lay in state twenty- four