readers of THE GREEN BAG a brief outline of the life and character of Mr. Justice Bushrod Washington, a patriot who, his services having been rendered in the quiet, but la borious field of jurisprudence, is compara tively little known to his countrymen of this generation, outside of the bench and bar. BushrocI Washington was born in West moreland County, Va., on the 5th day of June, 1762. He was the son of John Augustine, brother of General George Washington, and Hannah (Washington), daughter of John Bushrod, Esq., of Bluefield, Westmoreland County. The Bushrods were among the first people of the Colony of Virginia, of fair estate, educated after the manner of the times, loyal to the American cause, and zealous churchmen. The early education of Bushrod Washington, as far as known, was through private tutors and neighboring schools. He entered William and Mary College in 1775 and graduated A. B. in 1778. After the surrender of the British at Yorktown, where he was present, he rendered service as a private, in Colonel Mercer's troop of horse; a command spoken of as a " gallant band of Virginia Youths." He commenced the study of law in the office of Honorable James Wilson, a distinguished member of the Philadelphia bar, afterwards an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, and, by strange coincidence, the one whom Bushrod Washington later succeeded in that exalted office. After ad mission to the bar he commenced the prac tice of law in his native State. He was married in 1785 to Julia Ann Blackburn, a daughter of Colonel Thomas Blackburn of Rippon Lodge, Virginia, who, as a volun teer aid-de-camp of General Washington, rendered distinguished service, was wounded at Gcrmantown, and was referred to by Gen eral Washington, in an official report, as belonging to good old Federal fighting stock. Mrs. Washington was of delicate mold, of highly nervous temperament, and of most
affectionate and dependent disposition. She could not endure separation from her hus band, and hence attended him almost con stantly in the rounds of his practice; and he, in return, allowed few engagements, except those of a business or official nature, to separate him from her society. Having no children, they were all in all to each other. In 1787 he was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature, and in 1789 was elected a member of the Virginia State Convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States. In the practice of his profession, which now became extensive and laborious, he continued a deep student of law, so absorb ing and assimilating it into his nature that it became his possession. Sacrificing gen eral literature, belles-lettres, and all that pertained chiefly to adornment, for the weightier matters of the law, he became distinguished as a counselor at law rather than an advocate. About 1790 he settled in Richmond, Virginia, and there received many law students into his office, among whom was Henry Clay, and others who at tained distinction. In 1798 he was appointed by President Adams an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Of his character, qualifications and serv ices in his judicial career we will let his contemporaries speak. Mr. Justice Story, his long-time friend, and associate upon the Supreme Bench, in a eulogy pronounced after his death, said, " Bushrod Washington was bred to law in his native State and rose to such early eminence that in 1798 he was selected by President Adams a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, upon the decease of the late Judge Wilson of Pennsylvania Thirty-one years he held . that important station with increasing repu tation and usefulness. Few men have left deeper traces in their judicial career of every thing which a conscientious judge ought to propose, for his ambition, his virtue, or his
