The Death of Charles Clement Johnston (1795-1832): Take IV

[Robert Morton Hughes at Norfolk, Virginia, to Hon. Geo. H. Moses, Chairman Joint Committee on Printing at Washington, D.C., September 26, 1925, provided by Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, http://history.house.gov/ @USHouseHistory, via William Myers. Hughes' answers are to a circular questionnaire sent out during preparation for the publication of Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1927. There is a link to the volume, published in 1928, here.]

Notable information about Charles Clement Johnston includes the following:

"Educated by his mother, an accomplished woman."

Peter Johnston, Jr.: "His son Charles studied law under him, and came to the bar on February 28, 1818 (that being the date of his license, now in my possession.)"

"A state rights Democrat."

So, Mary Valentine Wood (1769-1825) educated Charles personally, without doubt utilizing the family library to its fullest. Charles was about sixteen when the Johnston family moved from Longwood, Prince Edward County, Virginia, to what became Panecillo, on the outskirts of Abingdon, Virginia, in 1811. We also know that his education was supplemented by tutors and teachers such as Peter Carr (1770-1815).

Peter Johnston, Jr. (1763-1831) probably began Charles' formal legal education at the end of the War of 1812, in 1815. When Charles was officially licensed and granted permission to practice law in Virginia by Archibald Stuart (1757-1832), Creed Taylor (circa 1766-1836) and William Daniel, Sr. (1770-1839), he was twenty-two years old. 

About Charles' death on June 17, 1832:

"He had been to see a young lady in Alexandria to whom he was supposed to be engaged and evidently miscalculated in trying to catch the ferry. His body was found in the slip next morning." 

«Cherchez la femme!»  Who was this mystery woman?  Intriguing. 

He was thirty-seven years old at the time of his death. 

[Robert Morton Hughes (1855-1940)
George Higgins Moses (1869-1944).]

[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]