June 22, 1866

From the Alexandria Gazette

LETTER FROM LOUDOUN COUNTY

   Leesburg, VA.,—June 14, 1866—Among the county items, not noted in the papers, may be named the following: To-day, on motion of John M. Orr, esq., William E. Robey, a colored man, originally a free man, and a licentiant in the Presbyterian Church, was authorized to solemnize the rites of matrimony under the laws of Virginia. He produced the certificate of the Rev. Henrie R. Smith, of this place, as to the fact of his being a licentiate, and gave bond in the penalty of $1,500, for the faithful discharge of his duties, with two sureties. They were Thos. P. Knox, esq., formerly clerk of the Circuit Court of Loudoun county, and John M. Orr, for many years before the war, and now, Mayor of Leesburg, and a Captain Commissary in the Confederate service. If this fact does not prove a good understanding between respectable white men and respectable colored men, what else does it prove? William Robey has for more than a year past been teaching a large number of freed boys and girls, and I think with considerable success, and certainly with strict discipline. A little fellow told me he whipped him the first day for saying “durn it.”
   The case of H. & A. C. Trundle against Thomas, William and Alfred Veals, involving some $2,000 and a plea of usury, was decided in favor of the plaintiffs Downey and Hunton for plaintiffs, and O.B. Tebbs for defendants.

Aliquis