are the only occupants of the great castle, save his numerous servants all of whom are white. In the course of an hour I shall ride out and eat a family dinner with our kinsman Gen'l Hunter & tonight go aboard the steamboat and reach Richmond tomorrow at 4 o'clock p. м. I have met with several members on the way down. I did not come through Balto. when I arrived within 9 miles of that place, I met the cars drawn by horses on a railroad from Baltimore to Washington, coming up to Washington & transhipped into them. Yours truly, WM. A. HARRISON. Ralph L. Berkshire was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, April 8, 18 1 6; from that point he removed with his father Wil liam Berkshire, a farmer, in the following year to Monongalia County, Virginia. Until a young man he resided with his father on a farm and then learned the trade of car penter, and after completing his trade he was employed for some years in this business. When of age he began the study of law with Guy R. C. Allen one of the eminent lawyers of his day. On his admission to the bar he soon became prosecuting attorney of Monon galia County, but was never ambitious for political honors and never occupied any other public position until he became judge, first of the circuit court and of the Supreme Court in 1863. He took an active part in the formation of the State of West Virginia, was a member of the Wheeling Convention, and his loyalty and fidelity to the union made him one of the mainstays of the loyal party in the early clays of the State. Judge Berkshire, except the time he has been on the bench, has been ac tively engaged in the practice of law. For many years he was a partner of Honorable Geo. C. Sturgiss and although now more than eighty years of age is still engaged in the practice, but only giving to it such devotion and attention as is congenial to his declining years. Judge Berkshire is tall and dignified in
appearance, and although now somewhat drooping with the weight of years, yet his mind is bright and active and his manner, as it has always been, as gentle as that of a child. I shall long remember the extremely courteous treatment he ever extended to me when a student of the West Virginia Univer sity. He also is and has long been a leading member of the Presbyterian Church. Edwin Maxwell was born in Lewis Coun ty, Virginia, in 1834. He was raised on a farm and his opportunities for an education were limited. He was, however, studious and industrious and began the practice of the law in 1852.
In 1857 he formed a partnership with Colonel Burton Despard in Clarksburg, at which place he has ever since resided. In 1867, Judge Nathan Goff became a member of the firm. This partnership continued until in 1867, when Mr. Maxwell was elected a member of the Supreme Court. From 1863 to 1866, he was a member of the State Senate, was chairman of the judiciary committee, and had much to do in shaping the early legislation of the State. In 1866 he was Attorney General for West Virginia. In 1884 he was the candidate of the Republican party in a fusion with the Greenback-Labor parties for Governor of the State, but was defeated. In 1888 he was also a member of the State Senate and chairman of the judiciary committee, Judge Maxwell still practices his profession in which he has been successful. He has largely devoted his attention to equity practice and is a profound lawyer, and during his whole life his character has been beyond reproach.
James H. Brown is of English ancestry; is a native, of Virginia; is the son of Mr. Benjamin Brown, a native of the same State, he was born in Cabell County, December 25, 1818. His mother was a native of North Carolina and the daughter of Major Nathaniel Scales.
He attended Marietta College, Ohio, and
