HENING.
William Waller Hening, the compiler of the Statutes at
Large of Virginia, was at one time a resident of Charlottesville,
and a regular practitioner at its bar. He settled in the
town in 1793, and seems to have come from Spotsylvania.
His place of residence was first on the southern boundary
of the place, near where Vandegrift's Planing Mill recently
stood, and subsequently on the south side of University Street,
not far from the Delavan Church. He dealt somewhat in
real estate, but apparently not with much success. He was
the owner of a Distillery which was once located beside the
spring on the west side of the old Lynchburg Road, a little
northeast of Orangedale, and with which his name was associated
long after his removal from the county. This event
occurred in 1805, when he went to Richmond to engage in
the useful work of collecting and publishing the Laws of
Virginia. He was unquestionably induced to undertake this
task by Mr. Jefferson, to whom it had been a matter of deep
interest and great labor for many years. He was also associated
with William Munford in publishing Hening & Munford's
Reports. His wife was Agatha, daughter of Henry
Banks. Mr. Hening continued to hold the ownership of
some lots in the southern portion of the town, and of some
land near Moore's Creek, which was finally closed out in 1830
by his son-in-law, Robert G. W. Spotswood. He died in
Richmond in 1828.
