Colonel John Wiatt, for many years a valued and beloved citizen of Lynchburg, was a native of the lower country. He was a most gallant gentleman, combining all the courtesy of the old Cavalier of Virginia, with feelings the most ardent, generous and affectionate. When a young man he married Wilhelnrina Jordan, a sister of Mrs. William Cabell, of Union Hill, and Mrs. John Cabell, of Buckingham. Colonel Wiatt served with bravery in the Revolutionary war, and was present at the battle of Guilford Court-house ; but shortly after the termination of the war, he came to reside on his plantation in the county of Amherst, and a few years later he removed to Lynchburg, where, to the day of his death, he continued a useful and revered resident.

Mrs. Mina Wiatt was a lady of great beauty and vivacity, possessing a fund of wit, refined by good humor, and such an acquaintance with human nature as enabled her in a short time, with ready tact, to form a just estimate of all with whom she came in contact. She was, in old age, very lovely and graceful, and her appearance as a young bride was thus described by a lady who met her at her

Mrs. Anne Cabell, at that time Miss Carrington, and afterwards Mrs. Wm. Cabell, of Union Hill.

bridal party at Union Hill : " Mrs. Wiatt was a blooming, beautiful woman, with brilliant black eyes and a profusion of dark hair. She was habited in pink brocade trimmed with silver, with a double skirt of the same ; her hair was dressed with pink and silver, and done up in cushions ; and her sparkling jewelry set ofif her elegant appearance, when slowly going through the dignified, graceful movements of the minuet."

Colonel Wiatt and his excellent wife, doubtless, in a great measure led and directed the taste of the infant town of Lynchburg, of which they were the earliest settlers. Of cultivated minds and of great skill in horticulture and gardening, and perfect adepts in every sort of domestic manufacture, Col. and Mrs. Wiatt, by their wise and prudent counsels, greatly assisted housekeepers younger than themselves.

They had been reared under the usages and observances of the Church of England; but after the Revolutionary war, that denomination becoming nearly extinct, they worshiped with great liberality in other churches, and from the establishment of the first Presbyterian Church of Lynchburg, they regularly attended there and communed. Col. Wiatt being deaf, was accommodated with an elevated seat, nearly on a line with the pulpit ; and those accustomed in their childhood to see there his vene-

rable form, in wrapt attention, feel, on entering that old church, something wanting, when they gaze on the vacant spot where sat Colonel John Wiatt.

This excellent couple lived to great age, Mrs. Wiatt surviving for some years her husband, who died in 1827. Of this large family alone survive Mrs. Caroline Winston, of Amherst, and Colonel Samuel Wiatt, both of whom are well known and appreciated in our community. Captain Wiatt is a worthy, high-minded gentleman, possessing a warm, affectionate heart, joined to wit of a high order, which, together with a fine memory and habits of great observation, render his experience of life truly amusing and interesting, and such as would make him an invaluable aid to Dickens and Thackeray.

Captain Wiatt was first married to Mary, a daughter of Benjamin Brown, Esq., of Amherst. She was a lady of great personal beauty, and her mind equally lovely. She died in the summer of 1825, at the residence of Edmund Winston, Esq., of Amherst. A few years later, Captain Wiatt was united to Miss S. Brown, of Lynchburg, a daughter of our good citizen, Matthew Brown, Esq. This lady, for moral worth and mental superiority, was unrivalled in her native town. Studious and diligent from early childhood, to her husband's house she carried these dispositions, which, together with her

energy and industry, made her a rare combination of all that was excellent in woman. She died in 1842, and her death scene will never be forgotten by her friends, whose faith was thereby strengthened in the power of religion to make bright the dark valley of the shadow of Death.

" The world is filled with the voices of the dead. Sweet and solemn voices are they, speaking with unearthly authority; coming back to us in the messages of

Captain William Norvell, Sr. resided for many years in the large mansion-house, at present occupied by John M. Otey, Esq. Previously to the time of his coming to Lynchburg, Captain Norvell resided in the county of Amherst, where he married Anne, the second daughter of Colonel John Wiatt. Captain Norvell was an excellent, highminded gentleman, possessing great energy and industry. Accumulating a large fortune, and ably for many years filling the office of President of the Bank of Virginia, he died long before attaining old age, leaving a numerous young family, the care of whom devolved on his widow, Mrs. Anne Norvell. This lady was a very lovely and remarkable woman, inheriting much of the grace and personal beauty of her mother, Mrs. Mina Wiatt, together with that elasticity of disposition and

buoyancy of character, which contributed towards forming one of the finest characters with which Lynchburg has ever been adorned.

Remarkably cheerful and even gay in early life, as soon as Mrs. Norvell became religious, she gave up all worldly pleasures ; joyful in the Lord, she ever found His service a pleasant one, and into her religion were infused the buoyancy and hopefulness of her disposition, causing her in her daily walk to show forth the beauty of holiness, thereby proving to the worldling, that

" Religion never was designed, To make our pleasures less."

Thus did Mrs. Norvell live, in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. An active member of the Dorcas Society, a zealous member of the Methodist Church, dispensing aid to the suffering and relief to the sick, encouraging and stimulating her minister by her active performance of duties, and wisely governing and guiding her own household, so that when " at midnight the cry was heard that the Bridegroom cometh," she arose like the wise virgins, and went forth to meet him.

" Rise, saith the Master, come unto the feast; She heard the call and came with willing feet; But thinking it not otherwise than meet For such a bidding to put on her best,

She is gone, as for a few short hours,

Into her bridal closet, there to await

For the unfolding of the palace gate,

That gives her entrance to the blissful bowers.

We have not seen her yet, though we have been

Full often to her chamber door, and oft

Have listened underneath the porter's gate,

And laid fresh flowers, and whispered short and soft ;

But she hath made no answer, and the day

From the clear West is fading fast away."

Many of the members of this interesting family survive. Captain William Norvell, of Lynchburg, Mrs. John M. Otey, and Mrs. John Warwick, also, of that place, and well known and esteemed in this section of country : Mrs. Daniel Warwick, of Baltimore, Mrs. Maria Waller, and Fayette Norvell, Esq., of Shelbyville, Ky., and Samuel Gr. Norvell, Esq., of Cincinnati. The first distinct recollection of this family commences only a few weeks previous to the death of Mrs. Emeline Trent, second daughter of Captain William Norvell. This lovely lady was, whilst very young, married to Dr. Trent, of Cumberland, and in less than two years she was the bride, the widow, the childless mother and the lifeless corpse. Her happiness thus in the very day-spring of life crushed and withered by accumulated sorrows, she yet, with all the fortitude of a strong mind and a gentle heart, endeavored to rally and cast aside somewhat the heavy weight of

woe which had so overshadowed her youth. After preparing for a visit to the relatives of her husband in Cumberland, she came to make a parting visit at the house now occupied by Henry Dunnington, Esq. With what warm, childish admiration was her fair face gazed on, her golden hair so beautifully contrasted with her deep mourning habit. As she sat by the window, the sunbeams danced around her, playing in her bright tresses, thus throwing around her a halo, and giving to her face that angelic expression it was so soon destined to wear in Heaven. In a brief time after her departure were the tidings of her death received, and the day on which her lovely remains were brought to Lynchburg will ever, by her family and friends, be remembered with tender and mournful interest ; for a two-fold sorrow might now be said to attend the house of Captain William Norvell. Several years previous, Martha Ann, the eldest daughter, had married Chiswell Dabney, Esq., and ere two years had elapsed of her happy married life, the young wife was suddenly called hence, just as she had for a few weeks only rejoiced in the sweet dream of her motherhood. Tenderly had she been laid to rest in the garden of her parents, where her grave served constantly to remind them of their irreparable loss. But on the death of Mrs. Trent, Mrs. Martha Dabney was disinterred, and these two lovely sisters were together borne a few miles from the town to

the plantation of Captain William Norvell, which, from that period, became the burial place of the Norvell family.

We cannot close without a brief tribute to the memory of John E. Norvell, second son of Captain William Norvell. He was born in the town of Lynchburg, and principally educated in that place, where he was greatly beloved. Elegant in person and manners, and gifted with feelings the most amiable and honorable, John E. Norvell will ever be remembered with affection and admiration by those with whom he was associated in his native place. Possessing exquisite talents for music, from this art he derived no selfish gratification, frequently making a sacrifice of his own ease and convenience in order to administer to the pleasure and cheerfulness of others. A D'Orsay in polished elegance, without the heartlessness of fashion; and in the perfect taste of his attire — a Brummel, devoid of the cringing servility of that "master of the Prince Regent," John Norvell will ever live in the remembrance of his friends, and will be cherished as a bright, sunny spot in the memory of bygone days !

Major William Warwick, for many years the revered and excellent visitor of our town, was a native of the county of Buckingham, where was passed his boyhood. Settling whilst a young man in the county of Amherst, and occupying the station of a prominent bank officer, Major Warwick may be justly claimed by our town as a citizen, particularly as through life he was a constant worshiper in the churches of Lynchburg. Major Warwick was a gentleman of the most honorable feelings. His integrity and uprightness were so conspicuous, and so unswerving was he in the prosecution of what he deemed the right, that many were heard to say that these qualities invested him with a moral sublimity.

Buckingham or Nelson, the writer is not certainly informed.

Major Warwick was thrice married, and the children of all these marriages are good and prosperous. May not this be traced, in a great measure, to the immediate hand of Providence, who has promised that the children of the righteous are blessed to the third and fourth generation. The family of Warwick are all long-lived, the venerable mother of Major Warwick attaining the age of 102, and dying in the county of Nelson a few years since. The traits of filial piety have, in this family, been conspicuous from generation to generation, and we now witness a fulfillment of the promise to those who honor parents, " that it may be well with thee, and and that thou may est live long in the earth." This excellent man died some years since, at an advanced age, leaving to his descendants a sacred legacy in a name untarnished, and connected only with " such things as are pure, lovely, and of good report."