Jackson

JACKSON, JOHN GEORGE (Sept. 22,
1777-Mar. 28, 1825), congressman, jurist, was
born near Buckhannon, Va. (now W. Va.), eld-
est son of George Jackson, a man of more rugged
intellect than schooling, Indian fighter, colonel
in the Continental army, and thrice member of
Congress; and grandson of John Jackson, the
Scotch-Irish emigrant, who was Gen. "Stone-
wall" Jackson's great-grandfather. His mother
was Elizabeth von Brake. In 1784 the family
moved to Clarksburg. John received "a liberal
education," became a civil engineer, and at nine-
teen was appointed surveyor of public lands west
of the Ohio. From 1798 to 1801 he represented
Harrison County in the Virginia legislature and
gave effective support to all Republican meas-
ures during several stirring sessions. Mean-
while he read law and in 1801 was admitted to
the bar, where he swiftly won distinction. Suc-
ceeding his father in the Eighth Congress, he
vigorously upheld the administrations of Presi-
dents Jefferson and Madison, whose entire con-
fidence he enjoyed, and came to be regarded as
a leading and highly influential member before
ill health caused him to resign, Sept. 28, 1810.
At the next election he was returned to the Vir-
ginia Assembly and rendered important services
in procuring passage of the law which estab-
lished chancery courts at Winchester and Clarks-
burg. This same winter, 1811-12, he was chosen
brigadier-general of militia. In 1813 he was
again elected to Congress and remained two
terms, relinquishing his earlier Jeffersonian
principles so far as to introduce amendments in
favor of internal improvements, a national bank,
and taxes on exports (American Historical As-
sociation Reports, 1896, II, 246, 255, 260). He
declined reelection in 1817. A fluent and fear-
less speaker, he filled the pages of the Annals of
Congress while winning recognition for his out-
spokenness in debate and for his fidelity to friends
and principles. His spirited defense of his
brother-in-law, Madison, against the attacks of
the Federalists and John Randolph, at the time
of the discussions in Congress over the Yazoo
Lands and during the conflict over the Spanish
negotiations, carried him to the point of inviting
duels with Randolph and with Josiah Quincy;
and on Dec. 4, 1809, he was permanently lamed
in an encounter with Joseph Pearson of North
Carolina, whom he wounded badly. In 1819
President Monroe appointed him the first United
States judge for the Western District of Vir-
ginia, and until his death he graced this office
with his urbane and dignified deportment, his
eloquent charges, and his capable decisions.
It was not Jackson's political career alone,

Jackson

however, which led one historian to designate
him, too generously, "the most remarkable man
west of the mountains." His public spirit and
astonishing energy prompted him to undertake
numerous works calculated to benefit his section.
He helped to improve waterways and local
roads ; served on the commission whose recom-
mendation to the legislature resulted in the es-
tablishment of the University of Virginia; and
sought to develop the state's natural resources,
not only through commerce and by opening salt
and iron mines, but also by building furnaces
and foundries, woollen factories, tanneries, and
mills. These varied enterprises absorbed large
sums of money, "and at his death left his princely
estate heavily embarrassed" (R. L. Dabney, Life
and Campaigns of Lieut.-Gen. Thomas /. Jack-
son, 1866, p. 7). Jackson married, 1801, Mary,
daughter of John Payne of Philadelphia and sis-
ter of Dolly Madison, and by her was grandfa-
ther of Gov. Jacob Beeson Jackson of West
Virginia. She died seven years later and he
married, second, Sept. 13, 1810, Mary Meigs,
only daughter of Gov. Return Jonathan Meigs
of Ohio (Allen C. Clark, Life and Letters of
Dolly Madison, 1914).

[T. C. Miller and Hu Maxwell, W. Va. and Its Peo-
ple (1913), vols. II and III ; Henry Raymond, Hist, of
Harrison County, W. Va. (1910); Roy B. Cook, The
Family and Early Life of Stonewall Jackson (1924) ;
T. J. Arnold, Early Life and Letters of Gen. Thos. J.
Jackson (1916); Richmond Enquirer, Apr. 15, 1825;
files of the Congressional Joint Committee on Print-

A.C.G.,Jr.

JACKSON, MERCY RUGGLES BISBE

(Sept 17, i8o2-Dec. 13, 1877), homeopathic
physician and educator, was born at Hardwick,
Mass. She was the daughter of Constant and
Sarah (Green) Ruggles. Her early education
was thorough and in accordance with the best
obtainable in her time. She was married in June
1823 to Rev. John Bisbe, a Universalist minis-
ter, and with him moved in 1824 to Hartford,
Conn., where he was pastor of the first Uni-
versalist Society, and afterward to Portland,
Me., where he died in 1829. Of this marriage,
which was a very happy one, three children were
born. After her husband's death Mrs. Bisbe,
thrown upon her own resources for the support
of herself and her family, opened a school for
young ladies. This venture was successful, but
she found the task of teaching too arduous for
her, and abandoning her school, started a dry-
goods store. She had been engaged in this en-
terprise for three years when she married, in
^SS, Capt Daniel Jackson of Plymouth, Mass.,
by whom she had eight children.
During all her married life, she mai&teine4 a&

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