PROMINENT PERSON'S
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of civil engineering, and received a position
with the Philadelphia, Reading & Pottsville
railroad, and subsequently with the Rich-
mond c^ Petersburg railroad ; after a visit
to Texas in the interests of the land claims
of the Texas Association, he became the
chief engineer of the Columbia & Charlotte
railroad; in 1852, after service as an engi-
neer in Kentucky, he became assistant to
Gen. Gwynn, on the North Carolina rail-
road, of which he afterwards became super-
intendent ; in 1857 he was elected chief engi-
neer of the railroad from Tallahassee to
Fernandina: in 185S he retired to his estate
at Cedar Hill, Hanover county, Virginia,
where he lived until 1S77. when he removed
to Norfolk to spend the last years of his life
with his son in that city: during the civil
war he was an ardent supporter of the Con-
ftr-deracy. and though too old for active serv-
ice served on the field at Seven Pines : he
n.arried, April i8. 1839, at Pensacola, Flor-
ida. Florintina I. Moreno, who was living
in 1904: children: James Mercer, Theodore
S.. Ella Isidora: he died May 28, 1885.
Hcrndon, William Lewis, born in I'red- ericksburg, Virginia. October 25, 1813, son of Dabney Herndon. cashier of the Farmers* P.ank, and Elizabeth Hull, his wife; after preparatory education, he entered the navy a> midshipman in 1828, and was promoted })asscd midshipman in 1834 and lieutenant in 1841 : served en various cruising stations and was actively employed during the Mexi- can war: after three years of duty at the naval observatory- he was sent to the South Pacific station, where in 185 1 he received orders detaching him from his ship, and directing him to explore the valley of the Amazon to ascertain its commercial re-
sources and capabilities: he started from
Lima, and crossed the Cordilleras in com-
pany with Lieut. Lardner Gibbon, who sepa-
rated from him to explore the llolivian trib-
utaries, while Lieut. Herndon followed the
m.ain trunk of the Amazon to its mouth, re-
turning to the United States in 1852 ; the re-
port of this expedition was published by the
government in two volumes, of which Lieut.
Herndon wrote \'ol. L "Explorations of the
\'alley of the River Amazon (Washington,
1853) : this work was extensively circulated,
and is still cited in works on ethnology and
natural history: he was made commander
ii! 1855 : he took service in the line of mail
steamers plying between New York and the
Isthmus of Panama: on September 8. 1857,
he left Havana in command of the Central
.iwcricL furmerly the Gconjc Lai<\ carry-
ing a large number of passengers returning
from California and gold amounting to $2,-
000.000; the ship encountered a cyclone in
the edge of the Gulf Stream, which destroy-
ed it. Commander Herndon and four hun-
dred and twenty-six others losing their lives,
September 12, 1857, Commander Herndon
rcrmaining on his ship to the last ; his devo-
tion to duty excited general admiration, and
led his brother officers to erect a fine monu-
ment to his memory at the naval academy in
Annapolis : a daughter of Commander Hern-
don became the wife of Chester A. Arthur,
who was afterward President of the United
States.
Boyd, Andrew Hunter Holmes, born in Boydsville. Virginia, in 1814. died there De- cember 16. 1865. He was graduated at Jef- ferson College in 1830. studied theology in Scotland, was ordained by the presbytery of Winchester, and passed his life in the
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