MAURY.
In the last century Rev. James Maury was the rector of
Fredericksville parish. His parents, Matthew Maury and
Mary Ann Fontaine, were Huguenot exiles, and were residents
of King William. Instead of occupying the glebe, he
resided on his own farm, which lay on the borders of Albemarle
and Louisa. He attained great notoriety as suitor in
the famous case under the Two Penny Act, in which Patrick
Henry first displayed his marvellous powers of eloquence.
In addition to his clerical duties, he taught on his plantation
a classical school in which Mr. Jefferson was one of his pupils.
In 1767 he purchased nearly seven hundred acres
southwest of Ivy Depot from the executors of old Michael
Woods, which his son Matthew sold in 1797 to Rev. William
Woods and Richard Woods. He married Mary Walker, a
cousin it is said of Dr. Thomas Walker, and died in 1769.
His children were Matthew, James, Ann, Mary, Walker,
Catharine, the wife of James Barrett, Elizabeth, the wife of
James Lewis, of Spotsylvania, Abraham, Fontaine, Benjamin
and Richard. James was appointed by Washington in
1789 Consul to Liverpool, which office he continued to fill
till 1837. Richard, who married Diana, daughter of Major
John Minor, of Spotsylvania, and removed to Franklin,
Tenn., was the father of Commodore Matthew F. Maury, and
the grandfather of General Dabney Maury, of the Confederate
army.
Matthew was an Episcopal minister, and succeeded his
father both at the homestead, and in the parish. He also
taught school. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr.
Thomas Walker, and died in 1808. His children were
Matthew, Thomas Walker, Francis, Mary Ann, the wife of
William Michie, Mildred, the wife of Henry Fry Jr., Reuben,
Elizabeth, Catharine, the wife of Francis Lightfoot, and
John. Thomas W. was a member of the Albemarle bar,
was appointed a magistrate in 1816, married Elizabeth,
daughter of Julius Clarkson, and granddaughter of Jesse
Lewis, taught school in the small brick at the east end of
Main Street, and afterwards at his own place above the University,
now occupied by Samuel Emerson, and died in 1842.
Reuben married Elizabeth, daughter of Jesse Lewis, and died
in 1869. His son, Jesse L., succeeded to the home of his
father, and still lives in a green old age, a link between the
present and the past. Mildred was the mother of J. Frank
Fry, long the Commissioner of the Revenue for St. Anne's.
James S. Maury, son of the Consul, lived at one time on a
place near the north end of Dudley's Mountain, and in 1833
sold it to Jesse L. John, son of Rev. Matthew, also once
lived in the same vicinity.
