Francis Preston
| General | |
| Francis Preston | |
 | |
| Virginia Senator | |
| In office | |
| 1816-1820 | |
| Virginia House of Delegates | |
| In office | |
| 1812-1814 | |
| U.S. House of Representatives | |
| In office | |
| 1793-1797 | |
| Virginia House of Delegates | |
| In office | |
| 1788, 1789 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 2, 1765 |
| Botetourt Co., Virginia | |
| Died | May 26, 1835 |
| Columbia, South Carolina | |
| Resting place | Aspenvale Cemetery, Seven Mile Ford, Smyth County, Virginia. |
| Residence(s) | Preston House, Saltville, Virginia |
| Alma mater | College of William & Mary |
| Profession | lawyer, politician |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Buchanan Campbell |
| Relatives | Col. William Preston (father) Susannah Smith Preston (mother) |
| Known for | Abingdon salt works |
Francis Smith Preston (August 2, 1765 – May 26, 1835) was an American lawyer and politician, the son of Colonel William Preston and Susannah Smith.[1] Born at Greenfield plantation, in Botetourt County, Virginia, he studied law with George Wythe at the College of William and Mary, where he graduated in 1783.[2][3] Settling in Abingdon, he was admitted to the bar, and practiced law in Montgomery and Washington Counties.
Preston was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1788 to 1789 and, in beginning in 1793, he served Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives for five years. In 1793 he married Sarah Buchanan Campbell. Retiring from Congress in 1797, he settled near the "saltworks" he owned, where he built Preston House (now the Martha Washington Inn), and resumed the practice of law, but in 1810 he returned to Abingdon.[4] Preston returned to the House of Delegates from 1812 to 1814, and was commissioned a Colonel of Volunteers in the War of 1812, rising to a brigadier-general of the Virginia militia in 1820. He served in the state Senate from 1816 to 1820.
Preston died at the age of 70, at the home of his son in Columbia, South Carolina. He is buried near Seven Mile Ford, Virginia.
References
- ↑ W. Garrett Jackson, "A Most Cherished Gift: The George Washington Ladle," PDF document, Mastermason.com, accessed October 27, 2016.
- ↑ Walter Lynwood Fleming, ed., The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. 11, Biography (Richmond, VA: Southern Historical Publication Society, 1909), 312.
- ↑ Office of History and Preservation, "PRESTON, Francis, (1765 - 1835)," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present, accessed October 26, 2016.
- ↑ Lewis Preston Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 (Richmond, VA: J.L. Hill, 1903), 755-56.
External links
- "Gen Francis Smith Preston," Find a Grave.
