Soon after the arrival of William Tazewell in Virginia, he married Sophia, daughter of Henry Harmanson and Gertrude Littleton, who was a daughter of Col.  Southey Littleton, and the son of that marriage was called Littleton, after the surname of his grandfather.  This Littleton was brought up in the secretary’s office, under Secretary Nelson, and married Mary Gray, daughter of Col.  Joseph Gray, of Southampton.  With a view of being near the relations of his wife, he sold his estate in Accomack, which has long been the property of his grandson, Littleton Waller, and purchased land in Brunswick, of which county he became clerk of the court, dying at the early age of thirty-three.  The son of this marriage was Henry, the father of our departed townsman, who also studied law, became a judge of the general court, a judge of the court of appeals, a senator of the United States, and twice president of the senate.

The mother of Mr. Tazewell was Dorothea Elizabeth Waller, a daughter of Judge Benjamin Waller, of Williamsburg.  We are told by Dr. Johnson, in the Lives of the Poets, that Benjamin, the eldest son of the poet Waller, was disinherited by his father as wanting common understanding, and sent to New Jersey.  It was not, however, from this Benjamin—­a name still popular in the family—­that the Virginia Wallers derive their origin.  The first person of the name in Virginia was Edmund Waller, who bore the name of the poet, and was probably his grandson, and who came over in the beginning of the eighteenth century.  His son Benjamin, the future judge, was born in 1716, was probably educated at William and Mary, and entered a clerk’s office, in the duties of which he was profoundly versed.  He was appointed clerk of the general court before the revolution, and attained to such distinction as a judge of law, that he was frequently consulted by the court, and is said to have given more opinions as chamber counsel, than all the lawyers of the colony united.  He was appointed chief of three commissioners of admiralty under the republic, and as such was a member of the first court of appeals.  It is said that his decisions were always sound law, but that he would never assign reasons for them.  On the subject of the law of admiralty, his opinions were equally conclusive with the court and with clients.  He died in 1786, at the age of 70.  His influence, after the death of his daughter, on the mind of his grandson, will presently be seen.

Dorothea, the mother of our Littleton, was a lovely girl.  Her name, which, from the ugly abbreviation of Dolly, has gone out of vogue, was popular with our fathers.  It was borne by the brides of Patrick Henry, of James Madison, and of Henry Tazewell.  It was honored in the strains of Spenser, in the sparkling prose of Sir Philip Sidney, and in the flowing verse of Waller; and finely shadows forth what a true woman ought to be and is—­the gift of God.  It was a favorite name in England, and evoked the