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Wilson, William Lyne

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, William Lyne, 1843–1900, American legislator, cabinet member, and university president, b. Jefferson co., Va. (now in W.Va.). He was a private in the Confederate army in the Civil War, and a...

Gooch, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Gooch, Sir William go͞och [key], 1681–1751, colonial governor of Virginia (1727–49), b. Yarmouth, England. He came to Virginia after distinguished service with the British army. Nominally, Gooch ...

Virginia, University of

(Encyclopedia)Virginia, University of, mainly at Charlottesville; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1819, opened 1825 with Thomas Jefferson as its rector. Jefferson also planned the organization and curricu...

Henry, Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Henry, Patrick, 1736–99, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Hanover co., Va. Largely self-educated, he became a prominent trial lawyer. Henry bitterly denounced (1765) the Stamp Act and...

Sandys, George

(Encyclopedia)Sandys, George, 1578–1644, English poet and traveler, b. Yorkshire, son of Archbishop Edwin Sandys. He was educated at Oxford and in 1610 began an extended tour of Europe and the Middle East, which ...

Harriot, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Harriot, Thomas hârˈēət [key], 1560–1621, English mathematician and astronomer. He was tutor to Sir Walter Raleigh, who sent him in 1585 to Virginia as surveyor with Sir Richard Grenville. Retur...

bluebell

(Encyclopedia)bluebell, common name for several plants belonging to completely different classes, particularly the bellflower and the Virginia cowslip, or Virginia bluebell, of the family Boraginaceae (borage famil...

Virginia Military Institute

(Encyclopedia)Virginia Military Institute (VMI), at Lexington; state supported; chartered and opened 1839 as the first state military college in the United States. Although one of the leading U.S. military institut...

Washington, Bushrod

(Encyclopedia)Washington, Bushrod, 1762–1829, American jurist, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; nephew of George Washington. He was an original member of Phi Beta Kappa at the College of William and Mary, where he was g...
 

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