Another Irishman who came to Virginia and left his impress was John Daly Burk, of Petersburg, Va. He was born in Ireland, and educated at Trinity college, Dublin. Because of his political opinions and affiliations he was compelled to leave the country (1797) while yet a student at college. He first tried his fortune in Boston, and afterwards in New York. But he received no encouragement. His love for Ireland and his ardent democracy made against his success at the North, and he finally came to Virginia. Here he became the friend of Jefferson and John Randolph, both of whom encouraged the brilliant young refugee.
He was a lawyer, poet, dramatist and historian, and was undoubtedly one of the most accomplished men in the state during his day. His history of Virginia in four volumes was the first comprehensive history of the state written, and is regarded as one of the best ever compiled. He also wrote “A History of the Late War in Ireland,” with an account of the United Irish Association, from the first meeting in Belfast, to the landing of the French at Killala (8 vols., 1779, Philadelphia). Before he completed the fourth volume of the history of Virginia he was killed in a duel with a French gentleman at Campbell’s Bridge, Chesterfield county, Virginia, on the 11th of April, 1808.
The Preston family in Virginia is a distinguished one. Its propositus John Preston was born in Ireland, and came to Virginia in 1735. He married Elizabeth Patton before coming to America. She was a sister of Col. James Patton, also of Irish birth. The latter was killed in Virginia by the Indians in 1753, leaving two daughters, from whom descended John Floyd and John B. Floyd, governors of Virginia; Hon. James D. Breckinridge of Louisville, Ky., and Col. Wm. P. Anderson of the United States army.
John Preston left one son, William, and four daughters, from whom are descended some of the most distinguished men in American history. Dr. R. A. Brock in his “Virginia and Virginians” says, “Scarce another American family has numbered as many prominent and honored representatives as that of the yeoman-founded Preston, with its collateral lines and alliances.” In support of this claim he continues: “It has furnished the National government a vice-president [Hon. John Cabell Breckinridge], has been represented in several of the executive departments and in both branches of congress. It has given Virginia five governors—McDowell, Campbell, Preston and the two Floyds—and to Kentucky, Missouri and California, one each, in Governors Jacobs, B. Gratz Brown and Miller; Thomas Hart Benton, John J. Crittenden, William C. and William Ballard Preston, leading moulders of public sentiment; the Breckinridges, Dr. Robert J. and William L., distinguished theologians of Kentucky; Professors Holmes, Venable and Cabell, of the University of Virginia, besides other distinguished educators.”
Nor is their battle-roll less glorious. It is claimed that more than a thousand of this family and its connections served in the contending armies during the late Civil War. Among the leaders were Generals Wade Hampton, Albert Sydney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, John B. Floyd, John C. Breckinridge and John S. and William Preston. When it is stated that besides the names enumerated, the family is connected with those of Baldwin, Blair, Bowyer, Brown, Buchanan, Bruce, Cabell, Carrington, Christian, Cocke, Flournoy, Gamble, Garland, Gilmer, Gibson, Grattan, Hart, Henry, Hughes, Howard, Lee, Lewis, Madison, Marshall, Mason, Massie, Mayo, Parker, Payne, Peyton, Pleasants, Pope, Radford, Read, Redd, Rives, Seddon, Sheffey, Taylor, Thompson, Trigg, Venable, Watkins, Ward, Watts, Winston, Wickliff, among many others, as well-esteemed, some idea may be formed of its mental characteristics and social influence.
Judge Peter Lyons was born in Ireland, and came to Virginia in his early life. He was made a judge of the general court in 1779, becoming also a judge of the first court of appeals. He served as such until his death, July 30, 1809. As a jurist he ranked high. Among his colleagues on the bench were Chancellor Wythe, Edmund Pendleton, St. George Tucker and Spencer Roane. His descendants for several generations were eminent in the professions, and some of them are still living in Virginia. James Lyons, Jr., who was a colonel on the staff of Governor O’Ferrall, is the oldest male descendant in the direct line. He married a daughter of William Wirt Henry, grandson of Patrick Henry, and by her has several children living.
Another judge of the supreme court of appeals was William C. Burks, of whose ancestors little is known except that they were Irish. He died recently, mourned by the profession which he had so signally adorned by the profundity of his juridical learning and the simplicity and spotlessness of his life. His opinions are as highly regarded as those of any man who sat upon the bench of that court within a half century. He was of weak frame and never enjoyed good health—“a creaking door,” was the expression he commonly used to indicate himself—and never held public office other than that mentioned. Yet his capacity for labor was truly remarkable. He was one of the early presidents of the Virginia Bar Association, which he was largely instrumental in organizing; and until the time of his death was one of the editors of the Virginia Law Register, the organ of the profession in this state.
Perhaps the ablest Irish lawyer in the state was Thomas J. Michie, whose reputation extended throughout Virginia as a brilliant wit as well as able jurist. Among the judges of the present supreme court of appeals of Virginia is John W. Riely, who was a major in the Confederate service, and whose ancestors were Irish. The speaker of the House of Delegates, session of 1897–8, was John F. Ryan. A late governor of Virginia was Philip W. McKinney, of Irish descent. His successor was Charles T. O’Ferrall, a man of Irish descent. Among the state officers of Irish descent may be mentioned P. H. O’Bannon, public printer; John Bell Bigger, clerk of the House of Delegates; Major B. W. Lynn, superintendent of the penitentiary, and the writer (Secretary of State Lawless), both of whose parents were born in Galway, and came to America after the “black famine.”
Gen. William Mahone was a descendant of an Irish progenitor who settled in Virginia in colonial days. Judge Anthony Kiely is of Irish lineage, and you know his history. After his appointment as minister to Austria by Mr. Cleveland, and the indication on the part of Francis Joseph that he was at Vienna persona non grata, Mr. Kiely was made one of the judges of the international court at Cairo, Egypt, and became its president.
Dr. Hunter McGuire, who was medical director of Stonewall Jackson’s corps and the intimate friend of that great soldier, is of Irish lineage. His great-grandfather, Ed. McGuire, left Ordfest, County Kerry, in 1756, and settled in Winchester, Va.