John Coles, who lived on Church Hill, owned much land in what is to-day the city of Richmond. He once gave a whole square of the infant city for a fine horse. He also owned large estates in several of the counties.--"Virginia Magazine."] [Footnote 5: See pedigree on following page.] [Footnote A: Sally Coles Stevenson's letters from England have been recently published in the "Century Magazine." She was the sister of Edward Coles, Secretary of President Madison and second Governor of Illinois.] [Footnote 6: "Virginia Magazine," Vol. VIII, p. 299.] [Footnote 7: Studley, the home of Mrs. Syme, where Patrick Henry was born, is no longer standing. Its site is marked by a hedge of box and an avenue of aged trees. It was three miles from Hanover and sixteen from Richmond. The family removed to "Retreat" (formerly Mt. Briliant), on South Anna River, near Rocky Mills, twenty-two miles from Richmond. Here most of Patrick Henry's childhood was passed. His mother, riding in a double gig, took him to church with her, and coming home had him repeat the text and recapitulate the sermon. These early exercises served him well in after life. A few miles from "Studley," are the "Slashes of Hanover," the birthplace of Henry Clay.] [Footnote 8: Governor Dinwiddie introduced Colonel John Henry to his friend John Syme. He was soon at home in his family, and married his widow.] [Footnote 9: He was lieutenant in the Mexican War, rode horseback to California with the "forty-niners," and was brigadier-general in the Confederate army. He was serving his second term in the United States Senate, and had been re-elected for another term of six years beginning in 1909. At the time of his last election the Alabama Legislature unanimously repealed a law as old as the State to save him the exposure of a long journey in the dead of winter.] [Footnote 10: Probably both these signatures were written by Mary Payne.] [Footnote 11: Robert Pleasants was the son of John Pleasants, of Henrico, the clerk of the Upper Quarterly Meeting, who had died in 1771 and freed all his slaves by will, providing for the maintenance of those over forty-five years of age. The laws of Virginia, however, did not permit his heirs to carry out his wishes, and the slaves remained in their possession until 1798, when they finally succeeded in having the freedom of not only the several hundred originally freed, but of their issue, confirmed by a decree of the High Court of Chancery of Virginia.--From Friends' records, Monument Street, Baltimore. "Robert Pleasants possessed a vigorous intellect, and was a man of indomitable energy." He was engaged in mercantile pursuits and planting, and was remarkably successful. He owned and resided on Curles Plantation.--From Vestry Book of St. John's Church, Richmond. His book of correspondence with Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Benezet, Pemberton, Henry and many noted men is preserved in Friends' safe, Monument St., Baltimore.