HON. JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER.
The father of the subject of this sketch was the Virginian, Henry St.
George Tucker, president of the Court of Appeals of Virginia from 1831
to 1841, born at Matoax, near Petersburg, Virginia, on December 29,
1780, died in Winchester, Virginia, August 28, 1848, whose parents
were St. George Tucker (author of "Tucker's Blackstone") and Frances
Bland, first married to John Randolph, of Bizarre, and mother of
"John Randolph of Roanoke." The mother of Hon. John Randolph
Tucker was Ann Evelina Hunter, born in Martinsburg, Virginia, September
20, 1789, died in Winchester, February 1, 1855.
Mr. Tucker was born at Winchester on December 24, 1823, and he
married at Middleburg, Loudoun county, Virgina, on October 5, 1848,
Laura Holmes Powell. The record of their children is: Mrs. Evy H. Shields,
died in 1887; Nannie H. McGuire, now of Winchester, born September,
26th, 1850; Virginia B. Carmichael, of Lexington, born December 9th,
1851; Henry St. George, now of Staunton, born April 5, 1853, whose
record appears elsewhere in this work; Gertrude T. Logan, of Virginia,
born April 18, 1856; Laura R. Pendleton, of Lexington, born October
13, 1860. Mrs. Tucker is a daughter of Colonel Humphrey B. Powell, of
Loudoun county, Virginia, and Ann R. H. Boyd, his wife, and she was
born at Middleburg on October 5, 1827. Her father died on April 6,
1859; her mother is still living, now eighty-two years of age.
John Randolph Tucker received his early education at private and
public schools, then attended Richmond Academy. From 1839 to
1844 he was a student at the University of Virginia; in January, 1845,
was called to the Bar; from that date until 1847, lived and practiced in
Richmond; then in Winchester until 1857. From June, 1857, to April,
1865, he was attorney-general of Virginia, elected three times, and
removed at the last-named date, at the "reconstruction era." From
1865 to 1869 he practiced law in Loudoun county; then in Baltimore,
Maryland, one year. He was then elected professor of Equity and Public
Law in Washington and Lee University, which position he filled until
elected to the 44th Congress. He remained a member of the House of
Representatives six full terms, where he rendered distinguished service
to Nation and State, then, declining re-election, returned to the practice
of law in Washington, D. C. He was recalled to the Washington and
Lee University by his election to the professorship of Equity and Commercial
Law, International and Constitutional Law, upon the duties of
which position he entered in the present year, 1889.
