Gen Francis Smith Preston (1765-1835)

US Army Brigadier General, US Congressman. Born in Botetourt, Virginia, he was a successful lawyer in practice when he was elected a member of the State Senate of Virginia in 1783. In 1793, he was elected as a Republican to the Third Congress, reelected to the Fourth Congress, serving until 1797, when he declined to be a candidate for re-nomination. Resuming the practice of law, he was elected a member of the Virginia State House of Delegates, serving (1812-14). With the advent the War of 1812, he was commissioned a Colonel in the Virginia Volunteers and was later promoted a US Army Brigadier General. After the war, he served in the Virginia State Senate, (1816-20). He died at age 70 in Columbia, South Carolina.

Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith