"Colored voters" Question Where Van Ness Stands In Regard to Gen. Mahone and The Republican Party?
Ostensibly a Republican, but thought to be "Independent"
VIRGINIA STATE POLITICS WAS VIRTUALLY IN MAHONE'S HANDS
Mahone was recognized as a "Scalawag."
In the spring of 1877, the Hon. A.L. Van Ness and his wife Ella Gifford Van Ness move from Washington D.C. to Keysville for health reasons affecting Judge Van Ness. They bought a part of tire old Gaulding estate and established a home about a mile from Keysville. They both proved to be delightful people of education and refinement and became at once identified in every way with the community and contributed much to its civic, social and religious life. Judge Van Ness and his wife were natives of New York, he having served as a Federal soldier in the War between hew States. He was a graduate of Union College, New York and a lawyer by profession., In 1879 he was elected Judge of the County Court of Charlotte County, which office he filled for six years with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the public. At the end of his term, he resumed the practice of law and successfully conducted his farm. The family were active member in Briery Presbyterian Church in which he served as an elder during his residence in Virginia.