Terry, Abner Wentworth, 1815-1851

Abner W. Clopton (1784-1833) was a Baptist minister in Charlotte County. In 1827, Clopton was appointed Georgia fund-raising agent for Colombian College (later George Washington University), founded by Baptist missionary Luther Rice and chartered in 1821. Due to his success in raising funds for the financially strapped college, Clopton was appointed to its Board of Trustees in 1829 and general agent in 1832. After Clopton's death, Colombian College sued in chancery court in Charlotte County, Virginia, to recover Clopton's conditional bequest to the college. The court ruled against the college in 1843, and Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision in 1850.

Abner Wentworth Clopton Terry (1815-1851) was the son of Daniel Terry, one of Clopton's executors, and the grandson of Abner W. Clopton. The other executors named in the will were Archibald A. Davis and John W. Roach. Abner W.C. Terry died suddenly in June 1851. Terry, who was a publisher of the Lynchburg Virginian newspaper, was killed on the street in Lynchburg by James D. Saunders, who was upset about an editorial published in the newspaper.

Conway Robinson was a lawyer, legal scholar, and court reporter for the Court of Appeals of Virginia 1842-1843. Between 1846 and 1849, he and acting Governor John M. Patton worked on revisions to the Code of Virginia. The revisions, adopted by the General Assembly in 1849, remained in use for nearly forty years.

Benjamin Watkins Leigh (1781-1849) was a Richmond lawyer and politician. He prepared the 1819 revised code of Virginia and was a court reporter for the Court of Appeals from 1829 to 1841.

James Wood Bouldin (1792-1854) was a lawyer who practiced at Charlotte County Courthouse beginning in 1813. He represented Colombian College in the chancery suit against Clopton's administrators. Bouldin was a judge on the Court of Appeals of Virginia from 1872 to 1875.

From the guide to the Colombian College v. Clopton's Administrators, etc., legal correspondence, 1842-1851, (Supreme Court of Virginia Archives, Virginia State Law Library.)