GEORGE S. BERNARD.
The subject of this sketch was born August 27, 1837, in the county
of Culpeper, Virginia, his father being David M. Bernard, for many
years the clerk of the corporation court of Petersburg, and his mother
Elizabeth M. Bernard, a daughter of Wm. Ashby of Culpeper county.
The families of both parents are of English origin and have resided in
Virginia for many generations.
In 1855 Mr. Bernard entered the University of Virginia, and was a
student there for two years. Leaving college in 1857, he taught school
in the county of Essex, Virginia, for nine months. In 1859 he was
admitted to the Bar in the city of Petersburg. Upon the braking out
of the late war he entered the military service and served as a member
of the 12th Virginia Infantry, C. S. A. At the battle of Crampton Gap,
Maryland, September 14, 1862, he was severely wounded and captured,
and at the battle of Hatcher's Run, February 6, 1865, he was slightly
wounded.
For several months immediately after the close of the war, Mr.
Bernard was connected with the Petersburg Daily Express as a reporter.
This position, however, in December, 1865, he gave up and devoted
himself exclusively to his profession, which he has since actively pursued.
During the last few years he has worthily filled several positions of
public trust. Between 1870 and 1879 he was for several years a member
of the city school board of Petersburg. From 1877 to 1879 he was one
of the delegates representing the city of Petersburg in the legislature.
Whilst a member of the General Assembly he took a prominent part in
its proceedings, originating and successfully carrying through several
important acts of legislation, among them the law requiring insurance
companies to print the restrictive provisions in their policies in large
type. For his services in this matter he was complimented by a caricature
in an insurance journal, no mean tribute to the merits of the law, which,
though popular with the policy holders, was at that time very
objectionable to the insurance companies.
During the last ten years Mr. Bernard has frequently written for the
press. In 1885 he published a pamphlet entitled "Civil Service Reform
vs. The Spoils System," which has been widely read and very favorably
received.
In June, 1870, the subject of this sketch married Fanny Rutherfoord,
a daughter of the late Sam'l J. Rutherfoord, of Richmond, Virginia, and
a niece of Gov. John Rutherfoord, a sketch of whom is given in the first
volume of this work. The issue of their marriage are five children:
Fanny R., Kate E., Janet M., Ella A., and George S.
