University of Virginia Library

EDMUND PENDLETON

Judge Edmund Pendleton

Jurist and Statesman

The Pendletons of Virginia are descended from Philip Pendleton,
who, with his brother, the Rev. Nathaniel Pendleton, came
from Lancashire, England, to Virginia, in 1676, and settled in
that part of the State which afterward became Caroline county.

Edmund Pendleton, whose labors had so much to do with the
shaping of the life of the State and nation and who has been
termed "Caroline's most distinguished son," was the fifth child

of Henry Pendleton and Mary Taylor, and grandson of Philip
Pendleton, the immigrant. He was born on September 9, 1721.

Before reaching the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed
to Benjamin Robinson, the first clerk of the Caroline County
Court, that he might learn "all things belonging to a clerk's office."
The following entry made in Caroline County Court on the 14th
day of March, 1735, and still preserved in the clerk's office, indicates
that the custom of apprenticeship extended beyond what
are commonly considered the "trades" and included the sons of
families in very nearly every walk of life.

"It is ordered and considered by the court that Edmund
Pendleton, son of Henry Pendleton, dec'd, be bound, and hereby
is bound, unto Benjamin Robinson, clerk of this court, to serve
him the full end and term of six years and six months as an
apprentice, to be brought up in the said office; which time the
said apprentice his master faithfully shall serve, according to the
usages and customs of apprentices. In consideration whereof the
said Benjamin Robinson doth agree that he will use the utmost of
his endeavors to instruct his said apprentice in all things belonging
to a clerk's office, and that he will provide for him sufficient meat,
drink, apparell prefitting for an apprentice during ye s'd time."

After two or three years of his apprenticeship had passed,
Pendleton was made Clerk of the Vestry of St. Mary's Parish
in Caroline and with the small compensation received for this
service he purchased law books and read them as he had opportunity
and, with his master's consent, was licensed to practice
law shortly before the expiration of his apprenticeship.

Pendleton's brilliant career may be briefly outlined as follows:
In 1740 he was made clerk of Caroline Court-Martial; in 1741
he was licensed to practice law; in 1751 he became a justice of the
peace for Caroline, which office he held until 1777; in 1752 he was
elected a Burgess from Caroline; County Lieutenant of Caroline
1774; delegate to the first Continental Congress; President of
the Committee of Safety in 1775 and as such was active in the
control and direction of military and naval operations and was
virtually Dictator of Virginia; President of the Virginia Convention
upon the death of Peyton Randolph; Speaker of the
House of Delegates which sat under the new Constitution; called
the first Virginia Convention; head of the Judiciary Department
of Virginia for fifteen years; in collaboration with Jefferson and
Wythe revised laws of Virginia, when Independence was declared,

in accordance with changed political situation; appointed by
Washington in 1789 as Judge of the United States District Court
of Virginia and leader of the Federalist party in Virginia until
his death.

Judge Pendleton, while Judge of the High Court of Chancery
and President of the Court of Appeals, wrote to Madison of John
Marshall that "Young Mr. Marshall is elected a Councillor.
He is clever, but I think too young for that department, which
he should rather have earned by ten or twelve years hard service
in the Assembly."

When Patrick Henry applied for a license to practice law
Pendleton refused his consent, but after Henry had made many
promises of further reading and study, he reconsidered and signed
his license.

One of Pendleton's biographers has described him as "Spare of
person, but well proportioned; with countenance serene, contemplative
and benign; and with an expression of unclouded
intelligence and extensive reach which seemed to denote him
capable of anything that could be effected by the human mind."

Washington Irving said of him, "He was schooled in public
life, a veteran in Council, with native force of intellect, and habits
of deep reflection."

Wythe said of him: "His mind was clean, comprehansive and
correct. He possessed a most acute and subtle faculty of discrimination.
His conceptions were quick, acute and full of
resource. He possessed a dexterity of address which never lost
an advantage and never gave one. He was always cool, smooth
and persuasive; his language flowing, chaste and embellished.
As a lawyer and statesman he had few equals and no superiors.
For parliamentary management he was without a rival. With
these advantages of person, manners, address and intellect, he
was also a speaker of distinguished eminence. He possessed a
pronunciation uncommonly distinct, a perennial stream of transparent,
cool and sweet elocution; and the power of presenting his
arguments with great simplicity and striking effect; he could
instruct and delight."

Thomas Jefferson said of him, "Taken all in all he was the
ablest man in debate I have ever met."

Pendleton married Elizabeth Roy in January, 1741, who died
in November following, leaving one child, a son, who died infant.
He married, secondly, in June, 1743, to Sarah Pollard, by whom he

had no issue. He was greatly interested in agriculture and the
records in the Virginia Land Office show that grants in his name
embraced nearly ten thousand acres.

The following autobiography originally appeared in the
Richmond (Va.) Enquirer, of April 11, 1828, and was reprinted
in the "Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia," from which
volume it is taken:

"I was born September 9th, 1721; my father died some time
before. In February, 1734-'35, I was bound apprentice to Col.
Benjamin Robinson, Clerk of Caroline Court. In 1737 I was
made Clerk of the Vestry of St. Mary's Parish, in Caroline; with
the profits I purchased a few books and read them very diligently.
In 1740 I was made Clerk of Caroline Court-Martial. In April,
1741, with my master's consent, I was licensed to practice law as
an attorney, being strictly examined by Mr. Barradell. January
21, 1741, I was married to Betty, daughter of Mr. John Roy,
against my friends' consent, as also my master's, who, nevertheless,
still continued his affection to me. My wife died November
17, 1742. I was married a second time the 20th of January,
1745, to Sarah, the daughter of Mr. Joseph Pollard, who was
born on the 4th day of May, 1725. I practiced my profession
with great approbation and success, more from my own good
fortune and the kind direction of Providence than my own merit;
and in October, 1745, my reputation at the County Courts
prompted me to make an effort at the General Court, in which
I continued until 1774, when the dispute with Great Britian
commenced.

"In November, 1751, I was sworn Justice of the Peace for
Caroline, and continued to November, 1777. In January, 1752,
I was elected as a Burgess from Caroline. I was continued one
of the representatives of that county without interruption until
1774, at which time I presided in Caroline Court and was County
Lieutenant. In June of that year news arrived of inimical designs
of Parliament against the town of Baltimore, on which account the
Assembly voted a fast, and were dissolved by the Government.
A number of members stayed in Williamsburg, to keep the fast.
When news arrived of the Boston Port Bill; they collected,
and recommended to the people to choose members for convention,
to meet in August. I was chosen a member of that
Convention, which voted the utility of a General Congress of the
States, to meet in Philadelphia the first of September. I was

chosen, and attended that Congress, and a second in May, 1775.
In August, 1775, I was appointed President of the Committee of
Safety, and in December following, President of the Convention,
on the death of Mr. Randolph, and re-chosen President of the new
one in May, 1776. In October, 1776, I was elected to the chair
of the House of Delegates, which sat under the new Constitution.
In March, 1777, by a fall from a horse, I had my hip dislocated, and
have been unable to walk ever since, except on crutches; however,
the good people of Caroline the next month chose me as a delegate,
in hope of my recovery, but I could not attend the May session,
and another Speaker was appointed, in which, however, I was
highly honoured by all the candidates having promised to resign
the chair when I should come. I attended on crutches in the
October session, but meant then to take leave of all public business,
and retire, but the General Court and Court of Chancery being
established, I was prevailed on by some worthy members to consent
to be nominated as a Chancery Judge, in which I was elected to
the presidency of the whole three by a unanimous vote.

"In 1779, when the Court of Appeals was organized, and made
to consist of the Judges of the General Court, Chancery and
Admiralty, the Chancellors were to have the first rank, and of
course I presided in that Court. In 1788, when a new arrangement
was made of the Superior Court, and that of Appeals, to consist
of separate Judges, I maintained my rank in that Court, and so
may be considered as having been now fifteen years at the head
of the Judiciary Department.

"In 1788, when a State Convention was to meet to consider of
a new proposed plan of Federal government, and all the officers
of the State made eligible, my good friends in Caroline again called
me to their representation in convention, and that respectable
body to preside over them, indulging me in sitting in all my
official duties, usually performed standing. Thus, without any
classical education, without patrimony, without the influence of
what is called family connection, and without solicitation, I have
attained the highest offices of my county.

"I have often contemplated it as a rare and extraordinary
instance, and pathetically exclaimed: `Not unto me, O Lord, but
unto Thy name, be the praise.' In His providence, He was
pleased to bestow on me a docile and unassuming mind, a retentive
memory, a fondness for reading, clear head and upright
heart, with a calm temper, benevolent to all, though particular

in friendship with but few; and if I had uncommon merit in public
business, it was that of superior diligence and attention.

The Richmond (Va.) Daily State of May 26, 1881 said: "Judge
Edmund Pendleton was the first President of the Supreme Court
of Appeals of Virginia, and his autobiography will commend itself
as presenting the record of a life which affords an example that
ought to be cherished. Our young men would do well to read
his life and be strengthened to follow on in his slow, steady, useful
and brilliant career. Judge Pendleton died October 23, 1803,
at the age of eighty-two years, in the full enjoyment of his mental
faculties, and almost literally in the discharge of his official
duties."

The Pendleton arms bear the following description:

"Arms:

Gu. an inescutcheon arg. between D escallop shells
in saltine or.

Crest:

On a chapeau gu. turned up ermine a demi-dragon,
wings inverted or. holding an escallop shell arg."