Thomas Stanhope FLOURNOY

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  General Notes:

Thomas Stanhope Flournoy [3450.4.2.2.2.4.3] (15 Dec 1811 — 12 Mar 1883) attended Hampden-Sydney College, became an attorney, and settled in Halifax County in 1834. Flournoy represented his district in the U.S. House of Representatives (1847 — 49) and Halifax County in the Convention of 1861. During the Civil War, Flournoy was colonel of the Sixth Virginia Cavalry. Thomas married first on 1 January 1835 Susan Ann Love (— 21 Apr 1848) daughter of the distinguished attorney, Allen Love. They had six children before she died. Flournoy married second Mildred H. Coles <862.htm> [862.3.1.8.1]. Their wedding was on 22 July 1852 at “Cole’s Hill.” They had seven children, making Flournoy the father of thirteen children.

Thomas Stanhope Flournoy, born in Prince Ed­ward County, December 15, 1811; educated at Hampden Sidney College; taught in the family of Gen. Alexander Brown, at Belmont; read law under Hon. Thomas S. Mc­Clelland, for whom he was named, at Montezuma; settled in Halifax County as a lawyer in 1834, and soon took a leading position as an advocate and public speaker. "The county being strongly Democratic, and Mr. Flournoy be­ing an Old-Line Whig of the most ardent type, political preferment was hardly to be thought of," but, such was his great personal popularity, in 1846 he was elected to Congress from the fifth Virginia, a strong Democratic district, and again in 1848, serving two terms, March 4, 1847, to March 4, 1851. "During his service in Congress, he was thrown in contact with Mr. Lincoln, and they be­came warm personal friends. In 1855, he was the candidate of the American party for governor, against Henry A. Wise, and it has always been confidently maintained by his friends that if he had made any canvass at all, he would have been elected. He was a member of the Virginia Con­vention of 1861 which passed the ordinance of secession, having been sent to that body as a moderate man. Here he faithfully represented the sentiments of his constituency, his voice being for peace, -- 'peace if possible.' But he was a Virginian of Virginians, and when the inevitable came, although past the age for military duty, he raised a com­pany of cavalry and entered the C. S. A. as a captain." He was promoted to be colonel of his regiment, the 6th Virginia Cavalry; was one of the most gallant officers in the army. At Front Royal, Gen. Jackson ordered him to capture or silence a Federal battery; he promptly charged with four companies of his regiment, repulsing three companies of cavalry, a regiment of infantry, and a battery of artillery, taking two fieldpieces and 600 prisoners. This was one of the most heroic charges in a war illuminated by heroic acts. In 1863, he was again a candidate for governor, with Hon. William Smith and Col. George Wythe Munford, but was defeated by "Extra Billy" Smith. After the war he located in Danville, and resumed the practice of his profession, becoming one of the most laborious lawyers in Virginia, practicing in the courts of four or five counties, the Vir­ginia Court of Appeals, and the United States Court in Danville. "He was a delegate to the Democratic Con­vention of 1876, held at St. Louis, and was selected by the Virginia delegation to second the nomination of Mr. Tilden, and made the speech on the occasion." "In early life he made a public profession of faith, and for a number of years had been an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and prominent in the councils of that denomination." "As a criminal lawyer Col. Flournoy had few if any superiors in the State, and his power in swaying a crowd from the stump was second only to his effectiveness before a jury." He died March 12, 1883, at his residence in Halifax County, Va.

He was married (first), January 1, 1835, at Gen. Ed­ward C. Carrington's, in Halifax County, Va., by the Rev. Mr. Montgomery, to Miss Susan Ann Love, daughter of Allen Love, Esq., a distinguished lawyer. She died April 21, 1848, having had issue:

i. Allen F. Flournoy, d. in 1849.

ii. Mary P. Flournoy, b. September 11, 1838; m. John F. Cobbs, of Pittsylvania, at Halifax Court House. She died in 1874, leaving five children, one of whom, Susan Cabell Cobbs, m. Judge Landon C. Flournoy.

iii. Cabell Edward Flournoy, b. June 30, 1840; entered the C. S. A.; became captain, then lieutenant-colo­nel of cavalry; was killed while leading his regi­ment in a charge in a cavalry fight near Richmond in 1864; he had a well-established reputation as a gallant and efficient officer; never married.

iv.John James Flournoy, b. April 11, 1842; entered the C. S. A. as a member of the Richmond Howitzers; surrendered at Appomattox; moved to the West since the war

v. Louisa Cabell Flournoy, b. May 3, 1844; m., at Hali­fax Court House, Mr. William W. Cobbs, of Pitt­sylvania, who died leaving a large family. vi. Henry Wood Flournoy, b. June 6, 1846; entered the C. S. A. as a member of the 6th Virginia Cavalry, was wounded in the fall of 1864; after recovering he could not mount, so joined the Richmond How­itzers, with whom he fought and surrendered at Appomattox; after the war, read law with his father; began practice in Danville in the fall of 1867; judge of the Hustings Court of Danville from spring of 1870 to December 1877, when he resigned and resumed the practice of law January 1, 1878; removed from Danville to Washington County, Va., in 1881; secretary of the common­wealth of Virginia, 1881-1893; a resident of Rich­mond. In 1871, he m. his cousin, Rosa Buena Wood, and has one son: i. Wood Flournoy.

vi. Hon. Thomas S. Flournoy was married (second), July 22, 1852, at "Cole's Hill," by Rev. John A. Scott, to Mildred H. Coles, daughter of Hon. Walter Coles, of Pitt­sylvania (he represented the Fifth District of Virginia in Congress for fourteen years), and his wife, Lettice, daugh­ter of Judge Paul Carrington the elder, of Charlotte Coun­ty, by his second wife, Priscilla Simms. Issue:

vii. Walter Coles Flournoy, b. 1853; d. 1862. viii. Helen Flournoy, b. May 9, 1856; m. John R. Patton, Esq. He d., leaving two children. ix. Ann Floumoy, b. 1858; d. 1862. x. Thomas Stanhope Flournoy, b. May 8, 1860. xi. Coles Flournoy, b. October 1, 1862. xii. Lettice Carrington Flournoy, b. August 21, 1865.

xiii. Charles Carrington Flournoy, b. February 17, 1871.

Thomas married Susan Ann LOVE on 1 Jan 1835 in Halifax Co., Virginia, USA. (Susan Ann LOVE died on 21 Apr 1848.)

Thomas next married Mildred H. COLES, daughter of Walter COLES and Priscilla Lettice CARRINGTON.