Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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William H. Cabell. By James Alston Cabell. ILLIAM H. CABELL was a descendant of an English family of undoubted antiquity, as is attested by the records of the British Museum, visitations of the counties of Devon. XVilts, and Somerset, and the tombs i11 tl1e Cabell sepulchre in Buckfastleigh, one of the old seats of the family in Devon. At a very early period of our history, his grandfather, Dr. XYilliam Cabell, an officer in the British Navy, came to Virginia, and located the lowlands for twenty miles or more, in the present counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, and Nelson, when no other man would attempt it. During the Colonial and Revolutionary epochs of our history, the members of his family bore a conspicuous and honorable part in all public affairs, and in war as well as in peace, rendered their country useful and distinguished services. Governor Cabell was the oldest son of Colonel Nicholas and Hannah lCarrington4l Cabell. He was born December 16th, 1772, at Boston Hill, in Cumberland County, Yirginia, the residence of his maternal grandfather, Colonel George Carrington, where much of his early life was passed. Colonel Carrington had been a conspicuous Revolutionary patriot, and all of his family rendered valuable services in the contest with England. Four of his sons, two of his sons-in-law, and three of his grandsons had served with distinction as officers in tl1e Revolution. His residence was a favorite resort of the eminent men of the period, both before and after the war. The rare advantages he enjoyed from the acquaintance of these distinguished men, and tl1e inliuence they exercised over him had n1ucl1 to do with shaping the career and character of Governor Cabell. After being prepared by private tutors, he entered Hampden-Sidney College in February, 1785, where he continued until September, 1789. His uncle, Colonel XYilliam Cabell, of Cnion Hill, was one of its founders. In 1783, he was appointed by the General Assembly one of the trustees of Hampden-Sidney College, having been a trustee of Hampden-Sidney Academy since November Sth, 1775. Among Governor Cabell's classmates were, Kemp Plummer, of North Carolina, who became a distinguished lawyer and was the grandfather of Professor Kemp Plummer Battle, of the University of North Carolina: Hon. john XY. Eppes, who defeated -lohn Randolph for Congress: Rev. James Blythe, D. D., who was professor in Transylvania Cniversity, Kentucky, and president of the Hanover College, Indiana: Rev. Nash Le Grand, and Rev. Clement Read of Charlotte County: Hon. .lames jones, Member of Congress from Nottowayg Rev. Moses XYaddell, the teacher of Calhoun. and the founder of the University of Georgia: 26

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But he enjoyed the society of the professors, both of the College and Semi- nary: and among the students of the latter was an Irishman, who was a perpetual source of amusement to him. He loved to hear his rich Irish brogue, and used to get him to read Hebrew to him, and insisted that Hebrew with the Irish brogue to it, was the richest language ever spoken. One day VVilliam and I walked over to the farm, and from some cause, we did not eat lunch and grapes enough to satisfy us. That night XVilliam ate eighteen biscuits for supper. He wore large boots, rulzicli fitted lzim, and one of the boys said if Billy Y. got one square meal, and a pair of boots out of a beef. there would not be much left. Poor YYill! He moved to Texas, enlisted in the army, was captured at Arkan- sas Post, and died from starvation at Camp Chase. By request of his broken- hearted mother, I wrote an obituary of him during the war. In my seminary course, I began in New York, but was tolled away, by various unconscious and cooperating causes. Among these, I was invited to live a few miles in the country, to teach a young girl Latin, and a horse was furnished for me to ride over to recitations. But one of those unforeseen circum- stances that will change the current of our lives, led to 1ny return to the Hill. Mrs. Y. concocted a scheme for me to hear her oldest daughter recite Latin. XVhen she went off to the boarding-school, Mrs. Y. hadme hear the younger girls recite after dinner. Then, when these required the services of a gov- erness, I asked her in triumph. Now, will I not be allowed to pay board? Wiith the gentleness of a mother, and the firmness of a Roman matron, she said, I have told you over and over again, you should never pay me a cent of board. You ask a blessing at the table, and you help to keep the boys straight, and you shall never pay me a cent. That ended it as far as she was concerned: but I never see one of those children, or hear of them, that I do not recall the kindness of that dear, generous woman. One married a native missionary of Brazil. Another married a judge in Florida. But strange to say, when I was pastor in Selma, a Mr. S. D. Holt moved there, and became an elder in my church, and one of these little pupils of mine was his wife. But for years I could not get her fixed in my memory, until some one said, Catty is one of your flock, now. Then as the unknown Kate van- ished, I recognized my little Cattyf' and went back to the old parlor recitation- room at Mr. Y's. Ah, mel YVhen I Float back in memory to those golden college days, how young I feel, and how the boys and girls come fairy-like, to welcome me from that dim mist of the days that are gone! But I have seen Catty's grandchildren, and she knows mine, and when I meet one of the old residents of the Hill who sprang from that family, I am back again, sitting on the grassy yard, cracking jokes with Mr. Y., or listening to him and Professor I-Iolladay spinning yarns, or busily engaged in fixing their accoutrements for a turkey hunt. 25

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Judge WM. H. CABELL, Governor of Virginia 11805-18083. Supreme Court of Appeals C181 lFrom an original Sl. Homin plnej. 1-18513