University of Virginia Library

Signers of the Declaration of Independence.

GEORGE WYTHE.

"The honor of his own, and the model of future times," was the
eulogy pronounced upon George Wythe at his death, by Thomas Jefferson,
who in youth had been his pupil at law, and in later years his
coadjutor in Congress, and a warm personal friend.

George Wythe was born in 1726, in Elizabeth City county, Colony
of Virginia. His father was a Virginia gentleman of the old school,
amiable, courteous, a lover of his family, a good manager of his large
estate, but with more fondness for outdoor life than for his study, and
a better acquaintance with the denizens of field and forest than with
his classics. From his mother, George Wythe inherited his intellectual
tastes and mental vigor. She was a woman of great strength of
mind, and was possessed of singular learning for her day, among her
accomplishments reckoning a thorough knowledge of Latin.

Under the tuition of his mother, George Wythe attained an excellent
education, pursuing with her the study of grammar, rhetoric and
logic, mathematics, natural and moral philosophy, civil law, Latin and
Greek. Of the latter tongue Mrs. Wythe had no knowledge, but she
assisted her son in his acquisition of it by reading an English version
of the works which he studied, and so testing the accuracy of his
translations.

This devoted mother died before her son attained the years
of manhood, and his father dying about the same time, George
Wythe entered upon the possession of a large fortune. For some
time he abandoned study, and led a life of dissipation. He was
thirty years of age when he shook off youthful follies, and entered
upon the life of honor and usefulness which has perpetuated
his name. Thenceforth, for fifty years, it was his privilege

to pursue, with unremitting ardor, all the noble purposes of life, but
at its close he looked back upon the wasted years of his young manhood
with deep regret.

Under the instructions of Mr. John Lewis, a noted practitioner in the
Virginia courts, George Wythe read law and fitted himself for practice.
His success in his chosen profession was equal to his desert. As a pleader
at the bar his extensive learning, fine elocution, and logical style of argument,
made him irresistible. But his distinguishing characteristic was
his rigid justice. The dignity of his profession was never prostituted to
the support of an unjust cause. In this rule he was so inflexible that if
he entertained doubts of his client's rights, he required of him an oath as to
the truth of his statements before he undertook his cause, and if deception
were in any manner practiced upon him, he would return the fee and
abandon the case. Such a stand as this early called attention to Mr.
Wythe's fitness for administering justice in important causes, and ultimately
led to his appointment as chancellor of Virginia, the important duties of
which position he discharged with the most exact justice until the day of
his death.

Early in life Mr. Wythe was elected to represent Elizabeth City county
in the House of Burgesses, a position he filled for many years. November
14, 1764, he was appointed a member of a committee of the House to
prepare a petition to the king, a memorial to the House of Lords, and a
remonstrance to the House of Commons, on the "Stamp Act," then a
measure before Parliament.

The paper was drawn by Mr. Wythe, but its language was so vigorous
and his utterances so abounding in plain truths that must give offense to
his majesty, that the draft was considered treasonable by his hesitating
colleagues, and was materially modified before the report was accepted.

The "Stamp Act" was passed, and the news was received in the
House of Burgesses of Virginia, as an intimation on the part of king and
Parliament that the rights of the colonists were to be deliberately disregarded.
Before the session of 1765 closed, in May, Patrick Henry
offered resolutions of defiance that received the cordial support of Mr.
Wythe, and, after a stormy debate and some alterations, were carried,
although so close was the contest that the fifth, and strongest resolution,
only passed by a single vote, and the following day, during Henry's absence
from the convention, this resolution was expunged from the journal. The
repeal of the "Stamp Act," and other conciliatory measures on the part
of England, now left a few years of quiet legislation, during which Mr.
Wythe attended to his professional duties. But his stand was taken upon
the justness of the demands of the colonies, and when events tended
toward independence, he early favored the movement, and exerted his
influence among his colleagues in that direction. In these efforts he had
the assistance of Thomas Jefferson; and the two, who had been preceptor

and pupil, now stood friends and counselors, noble examples of self-sacrificing
patriots, in the very front of danger.

In 1775, Wythe joined a corps of volunteers, believing a resort to arms
the only hope of the colonists. But his services as a statesman were of more
importance, and he left the army in August, 1775, to attend the Continental
Congress as one of the delegates of Virginia. He held this position until
after the Declaration of Independence had become a matter of record, with
his name as one of its fifty-six attesting witnesses.

November 5, 1776, he was one of a committee of five appointed by the
State Legislature to revise the laws of Virginia. Of this committee two
members, George Mason and Thomas Ludwell Lee, were prevented from
serving, and the remaining three, Wythe, Jefferson and Edmond Pendleton,
worked so industriously and so ably that on the 18th of June, 1779,
they reported to the General Assembly one hundred and twenty-six bills.

In 1777, Mr. Wythe was chosen speaker of the House of Burgesses. In
the same year he was appointed one of the three judges of the high court
of chancery of Virginia, and on a change in the form of the court was constituted
sole chancellor.

In December, 1786, he was one of the committee who prepared the constitution
of the United States, and in 1787 was a member of the Virginia
convention which ratified the constitution on behalf of that State. He
was subsequently twice a member of the electoral college of Virginia.

His political record now closes, unless to it is added his indirect influence
exerted through the distinguished pupils whom he trained for the bar and
for public life. Some of the most noted sons of Virginia at the bar
and in the Senate were his pupils, and in the list we find one chief justice
and two presidents of the United States.

The death of George Wythe is the saddest record of these pages.
Already past his eightieth year, and with his days still filled with useful
and benevolent deeds, he died the victim of poison, administered, it seems
but too evident, by the hand of one who was a near kindred, and who
should have been bound to him by the ties of gratitude for daily kindnesses
and tokens of love.

In the midst of the lingering hours of agony produced by the slow action
of his death potion, Wythe thought of others and not of himself. As long
as he retained his senses, he gave his mind to the study of the cases pending
in his court, and his last regret was that his fatal illness would cause
delay and added expense to those who had appeared before him.

Mr. Wythe had been twice married, but had no living children, and at
his death his estate passed to the children of a sister, his last act of justice
being to add, upon his deathbed, a codicil to his will which revoked all
benefits which would have accrued to the nephew who had hastened his
death.

He expired on the morning of the 8th of June, 1806.

Like many great minds who cannot accept of a formulated creed, Mr.
Wythe was considered an infidel by his cotemporaries. The student of
to-day will, however, more willingly believe of such a life that, in the
words of Jefferson, "while neither troubling nor perhaps trusting any one
with his religious creed, he left to the world the conclusion that that religion
must be good which could produce a life of such exemplary virtue."

RICHARD HENRY LEE,

Who was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, January 20, 1732, was
descended from a family eminent in public life and of high social standing
in that colony. The grandfather whose name he bore, was Richard Lee,
a member of the King's council, and his father, Thomas Lee, was for a
number of years president of that council. His maternal grandfather,
who was a son of Governor Ludington, of North Carolina, was also a
member of that body of statesmen.

Richard Henry Lee was sent to England, and attended school at Wakefield,
in Yorkshire. At the age of nineteen, he returned to his native
colony, and having ample means and no desire to pursue a professional
life, he gave himself up to his love of books, for a number of years pursuing
with ardor the study of ethics and the philosophy of history.

In 1754, he was rudely awakened from his student's dreams by the
encroachments of Indians upon the border counties of Virginia, and the
appeal of the frontier settlers to be protected from their atrocities. In his
twenty-third year he was called on by the Westmoreland Volunteers to
place himself at their head and lead them to protect the living and avenge
the dead. Reporting with his troops to General Braddock, at Alexandria,
Virginia, that vain-glorious general, who was to pay with his life for his
ignorance, decided that "the British troops could quell a handful of
savages without the help of the provincials," and the young volunteers,
with their young leader, were sent home.

In 1757, Mr. Lee was appointed justice of the peace for Westmoreland
county, and in the same year was elected to serve that county as its representative
in the House of Burgesses.

The first few years of service in that body rendered by Richard Henry
Lee, who was yet to be styled "the Cicero of America," have left little
record of his action, save that he was too diffident to take the prominent
position his merits warranted. Before the contest between the colonists
and the royal government was begun, Mr. Lee's most prominent act in the
House of Burgesses was the discovering and bringing to light and
punishment of defalcations on the part of the treasurer of the colony.

The holder of this important trust was a Mr. Robinson, a leader of the
aristocratic party in the House, and a man so surrounded by powerful
family associations, that even those best convinced of his guilt, and upon
whom should have rested the duty of his punishment, shrank from the task

as being one impossible of fulfillment, and which would only bring odium
and defeat upon any one who attempted it.

Richard Henry Lee, regardless of such base motives for inaction, entered
upon this task, nor desisted from its prosecution until his object was
attained and the colony secured from heavy loss and pecuniary embarrassment.
When the evidence necessary had been secured and Lee rose, in
the presence of the man accused and of his collegues who were to be his
judges, the candor of Lee's countenance, which was stamped with sorrow
at the painful necessity of his words, and the persuasive eloquence
accompanied with scathing denunciations with which he spoke, absolutely
silenced those who expected by sophistry to turn aside the evidence, and
by sarcasm and intimidation to silence the truth.

When the British ministry entered upon the system of taxation of the
colonies without their consent, Lee was one of the first to see whither the
action would tend. Writing to a friend in London, May 31, 1764, he
said: "Possibly this step, though intended to oppress and keep us low,
in order to secure our dependence, may be subversive of this end. Poverty
and oppression, among those whose minds are filled with ideas of British
liberty, may introduce a virtuous industry with a train of generous and
manly sentiments, which, when in future they become supported by numbers,
may produce a fatal resentment of parental care converted into
tyrannical usurpation."

Mr. Lee, in 1764, was one of the committee who prepared the remonstrance
of Virginia presented to the king and parliament, and in 1765
he supported the famous resolutions of Patrick Henry. Both the remonstrance
and the resolutions are more fully spoken of elsewhere in the
volume. [See sketch of Wythe and of Harrison.]

Liberty-loving Virginia found a fit representative in Richard Henry
Lee in the dark years which followed. Under his lead men of all parties
and of all social grades united in opposition to the "Stamp Act," binding
themselves to each other, to God, and to their country to resist its action.
In Westmoreland county, a resolution was framed by Lee, and written in
his hand as follows:

"As the stamp act does absolutely direct the property of the people to
be taken from them without their consent, expressed by their representatives,
and as in many cases it deprives the British-American subject of his
right to be tried by jury, we do determine, at every hazard, and paying no
regard to death, to exert every faculty to prevent the execution of the
stamp act in every instance, within this colony."

The repeal of the "Stamp Act" did not for a moment blind Mr. Lee as
to the future troubles awaiting the colonies, and for his clear understanding
of the position and intention of Parliament at all steps of the struggle
that ensued, he was largely indebted to his brother, Dr. Arthur Lee, who
was then in London, and with whom he was in constant correspondence.

THE HOUDON STATUE OF WASHINGTON.

These remarkable sons of Virginia must have been brothers in thought and
mind, as well as of blood, so closely were their feelings allied. At one time
Dr. Lee wrote: "Let me remind you that no confidence is to be reposed
in the justice or mercy of Britain, and that American liberty must be
entirely of American fabric."

Through all the intermediate steps between the resistance to the "Stamp
Act" and the meeting of the first Continental Congress, in 1774, Richard
Henry Lee was conspicuous for his talent, his energy, his courage and his
patriotism. When the royal displeasure dissolved the House of Burgesses,
the representative men of Virginia met in private houses and continued
to formulate their defiance to oppression, and the sanction of the people was
the only authority they had, or desired to have.

August 1, 1774, the first Assembly of Virginia was convened at the
call of the people. By this Assembly Lee was deputed, with Washington
and Henry, to represent Virginia in the Congress of Colonies at Philadelphia.

This body met in that city, September 5, 1774, and when in its first
session a sense of the responsibility of the situation fell upon the representatives
so that "a silence, awful and protracted, prevailed," it was a voice
from Virginia that broke the spell. Patrick Henry spoke first, followed
by Lee. The sweetness of Lee's voice and the harmony of his language
soothed, subdued and yet strengthened the souls of his associates, while with
eloquence which none could rival or resist he showed that there was now
but one hope for their country and that was in the vigor of her resistance.

Serving now on many important committees, and largely engaging in
the spirited colonial correspondence which filled those years, Richard
Henry Lee continued to represent Westmoreland county in the Assembly,
and the Assembly in the Continental Congress until in the Congress of
1776, on the 7th of June, he offered the memorable resolution, from which
the Declaration of Independence was formulated, that "These united
colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States."

This motion Mr. Lee introduced in words of ringing eloquence. In
concluding, he said: "Why, then, sir, do we longer delay? Why still
deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American republic. Let
us arise not to devastate and to conquer, but to re-establish the reign of
peace and of law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. * * * If
we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American
legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of Theseus,
Lycurgus, and Romulus, of the three Williams of Nassau, and of all those
whose memory has been, and will be, dear to virtuous men and good
citizens."

Three days later, while Lee's motion was still under discussion, he
received news of the serious illness of his wife, and hastened to her side,
leaving others to carry out the work he had so well begun.

The absence of Mr. Lee from Congress continued until August, 1776,

when he again took his seat, appended his signature to the Declaration,
and resumed his arduous committee work. In this work he also continued
through the session of 1777, taking a prominent part in preparing a plan
of treaties with foreign nations.

During this time he was the mark of British malignity; his person
constantly in danger if he returned to his home; that home itself broken in
upon by British troops ostensibly seeking to effect his capture, and his
sons, then at school at St. Bedes, subjected to the insolence of the royalists, one
of whom assured these boys that he hoped to live to see their father's head
on Tower Hill. Yet the "ingratitude of republics," even at such a time,
fell upon Lee, many friends of the new government loudly proclaiming
him a "tory."

His first act on returning home was to demand of the Assembly an
investigation of his conduct as its representative, and that body not only
exonerated him from blame, but through the venerable George Wythe
passed him a vote of thanks for his able services, freely rendered.

In 1778-79, Mr. Lee was again a representative in Congress, although
his failing health forced him often to be absent from its sessions.

During the latter year the British troops were turning their attention
more largely to the Southern States, and were harassing the coast of
Virginia with predatory incursions, and Mr. Lee, as lieutenant of the
county, was appointed to the command of the Westmoreland militia. In
the field his energy, activity and good judgment were as conspicuous as in
the councils of the nation, and the protection he afforded Westmoreland
county is conveyed in the complaint of the commander of the British
troops in that vicinity: "We cannot set foot in Westmoreland without
having the militia immediately upon us."

November 1, 1784, Mr. Lee again resumed his seat in Congress, and on
the 30th of November was unanimously chosen to fill the presidential
chair, then the highest office in the nation. When his term of service
expired, he sought the repose of private life, which he enjoyed until, on
the adoption of the Federal Constitution, he consented to serve his
beloved Virginia once more in a public capacity, and took his seat as her
first Senator under the new Constitution. This important position he
filled until 1792, departing then to his home honored with a vote of
thanks for his services, passed unanimously by the Senate and House of
Delegates of Virginia, October 22, 1792.

In his home life Richard Henry Lee abounded in those courtesies and
graces which mark the gentleman. His hospitable mansion was open to
all; the poor and the afflicted frequented it for help and consolation; the
young for instruction, and all ages and classes for happiness. His large
family of children, the offspring of two marriages, were happy in his love
and grew to noble womanhood and manhood under his instructions.

He died June 19, 1794, in his 64th year, at Chantilly, Westmoreland
county, Virginia.

[The life of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United
States, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in
behalf of Virginia, will be found on another page.]

BENJAMIN HARRISON.

The name of Harrison has been prominent in the annals of American
history, since in 1640, the first Harrison settled in the county of Surrey,
province of Virginia. At the present day, one of that name and race
occupies an honorable position among our legislators.

It seems fitting, therefore, that one of the name should be a Signer of
the Declaration, and this honor was reserved for Benjamin Harrison, born
in Berkeley, Charles City county, Virginia, about 1740. He was the
oldest son of Benjamin Harrison, born also at the family mansion in
Berkeley, and himself a son of a Benjamin Harrison, who was the oldest
born in his father's family. It seems to have been the custom of the
family that the first born male representative in each generation should
have the name of Benjamin, as we trace it back through several generations
where the oldest son was always so named.

The representative of the name of whom we write, was the grandson, on
his mother's side, of Mr. Carter, King's surveyor-general in his day; so
that we see he was a fitting representative of the Virginian families in whose
interest he voted for the independence of the colony.

He entered public life in 1764, becoming a member of the House of
Burgesses of Virginia, where his abilities, family prominence and social
gifts soon made him a leader. He had before this proved his executive
ability by managing the family estates from the death of his father, while
he was yet a student in William and Mary College, so that their value was
greatly increased.

The representatives of the British ministry, pursuing their usual course
toward a colonist who seemed of prominence and likely to lead the people,
endeavored to purchase his influence in the interest of England, by soliciting
him to become a member of the governor's executive council, the
highest office open to one born in the colonies, the governor being always
a native of Great Britain. Benjamin Harrison, closely noting the course
of events, and sympathizing with the position of the colonists, refused to
bind himself to work against their interests, or even to remain neutral, and
declined the honor.

November 14, 1764, he was one of the members of the House appointed
to prepare an address to the King, a memorial to the House of Lords, and
a remonstrance to the House of Commons against the Stamp Act.

During the next ten years he was constantly a member of the House of
Burgesses, and was one of those illustrious Virginians, among whom were
Randolph, Wythe, Jefferson and Lee, who fought, step by step, in the
interest of their colony, against the accumulating encroachments of the
tyrannical representatives of the British crown.

In August, 1774, Benjamin Harrison was one of seven delegates
appointed to represent Virginia in the Congress of Delegates, called to
meet in Philadelphia, to discuss the mutual interests of the colonies, and on
September 5, 1774, he took his seat in the First Continental Congress,
convened in Carpenter's Hall in that city, where he had the pleasure of
seeing a Virginian occupy the first presidential chair in that body.

March 20, 1775, the second Virginia convention assembled in Richmond,
of which convention Benjamin Harrison was a member. Before
the convention adjourned, they elected delegates to the second General
Congress, and Mr. Harrison was among those returned, and in May, 1775,
he again repaired to Philadelphia, to take his seat in the second Congress.

Here, in a house he had taken with his coadjutors, George Washington
and Peyton Randolph, he entertained his friends with true Southern hospitality
and prodigality, often exceeding his means.

During this Congress, Randolph, then presiding officer, was recalled to
Virginia, by public duties there, and Hancock, of Massachusetts, was
unanimously elected president in his stead. While he was hesitating as to
his ability to fill the position as his predecessor had done, Harrison caught
him in his athletic arms and forcibly seated him in the presidential chair,
crying aloud: "We will show Mother Britian how little we care for her,
by making a Massachusetts man our president, whom she has excluded
from pardon by a public proclamation."

June 24, 1775, Mr. Harrison was made chairman of the board of war.
August 1, Congress adjourned, and on the 11th of August, the Virginia
convention a third time returned Mr. Harrison as their representative, and
on September 13 he took his seat.

In that month he was one of a committee of three sent to consult with
Washington, the commander-in-chief of the army, and with the governors
of several colonies, regarding the interests of the Continental army.
November 29 he was made chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
and three days later was sent to help the people of Maryland to raise some
naval force with which to meet Lord Dunmore who, driven from Virginia,
had gathered a band of desperadoes and renegades, and was laying waste
the coast of the Chesapeake.

During the troubled days for the Continental Congress with which the
year 1776 opened, Benjamin Harrison was busy in the interests of the
colonists. January 17, he brought in a report regulating the recruiting
service; on the 24th he was placed on a committee to establish a general
war department; on the 26th he was one of three sent to New York to
arrange with Lee a plan for its defense; and immediately upon his return

he was named on a committee for arranging military departments in the
Middle and Southern colonies. March 6, he became chairman of the
Committee of Marines. In May he was chairman of the committee on the
Canada expedition; May 25, was appointed chairman of a committee of
fourteen whose arduous duty it was to arrange a plan for the coming campaign.

Through the first days of that stormy year Benjamin Harrison was ever
at his post, working indefatigably for the interests of the people, until
August 11, when his term of service expired and he returned to Virginia,
having first had the pleasure of affixing his signature, as one of Virginia's
representatives, to the Declaration of Independence, and the honor of
presiding over the Committee of the Whole who discussed the question
through its most momentous days, June 8-12, 1776.

During the remainder of 1776, Benjamin Harrison was one of the eight
counselors of State, whose duty it was to guide the political affairs of
Virginia. In the fall of 1776, Thomas Jefferson resigned his seat in the
senate, and Mr. Harrison, on the 10th of October, was chosen to fill out
his term, and took his seat November 5, having been absent from Congress
less than three months. By resolution of Congress he was immediately
restored to his former place on all standing committees.

Through the dark days of the terrible winter of 1776-7, he was always
active and hopeful in the interests of the colonies, and on May 22, 1777,
by joint ballot of both houses, Virginia returned him first of her delegates
to Congress, and for the fourth time he took his seat in that body, and, as
before, was actively engaged on committees, and presiding over the deliberations
of the house.

Toward the close of 1777, Benjamin Harrison permanently retired
from Congress, leaving behind him the character of one who was ardent,
honorable, prudent and persevering in the interests of those who entrusted
their rights in his keeping.

Again in Virginia, he was immediately returned by his county to the
House of Burgesses, and elected speaker of that body, which office he held
uninterruptedly until 1782. During this time he was chief magistrate in
his county, and commander of the militia, bearing the title of "colonel,"
by which title he is generally spoken of in the records of his State.

In 1782, Benjamin Harrison was elected governor of Virginia, on the
resignation of Thomas Nelson, and through the arduous duties of the trying
times which accompanied the close of the Revolution, filled the executive
chair with wisdom and to the best interests of the people.

After being twice re-elected governor, Mr. Harrison became ineligible
by the provisions of the constitution, and in 1785 returned to private life.
In 1790, against his wishes, he was again brought forward as a candidate
for the executive chair, and was defeated by two or three votes.

In the spring of 1791, Mr. Harrison was attacked by a severe fit of the

gout, from which, however, he partially rallied. In April, 1791, he was
unanimously elected to the legislature, and in the evening following the
announcement of his success, he entertained his friends at a dinner party,
receiving their congratulations, and assurances that he was to be the next
governor of Virginia.

During the night following, a dangerous return of his illness seized him,
and his death speedily followed.

The wife of Benjamin Harrison was Elizabeth, a daughter of Colonel
William Bassett, of Eltham, New Kent county, Virginia, and a daughter
of the sister of Martha Washington. She was a very beautiful woman,
remembered as being as good as she was beautiful, and survived her husband
only one year. They had many children, of whom three sons and
four daughters lived to mature years. Their third son, William Henry
Harrison, was ninth President of the United States.

THOMAS NELSON, JR.,

Was the eldest son of William Nelson, an English gentlemen who settled
at York, province of Virginia, in the early part of the eighteenth century,
and engaged for a time in a mercantile business. Acquiring a fortune, he
invested it in large landed estates, and gradually withdrew from commercial
pursuits. In the interval between the administrations of Lord Botetourt
and Lord Dunmore, William Nelson filled the office of governor of Virginia.
After retiring from this office he presided over the supreme court
of the province, and was regarded as the ablest judge of his time. He died
a few years before the Revolution, leaving five sons.

Thomas Nelson, jr., "the worthy son of such an honored sire," was born
at York, December 26, 1738. In the summer of 1753 he was sent to England
to receive a collegiate education, and after attending private school
was entered at Trinity College. Here he distinguished himself by honorable
conduct and good scholarship until his return to America, in the winter
of 1761.

In August, 1762, he was joined in wedlock with Lucy, daughter of
Philip Grymes, of Middlesex county, Virginia. They established themselves
at York in such a home as their abundant means justified, and lived
in a style of great elegance and hospitality.

Thomas Nelson's public record begins in 1774, when we find him a member
for York of that House of Burgesses which the wrath of Lord Dunmore
dissolved, on account of their resolutions censuring the Boston port bill.
Mr. Nelson was one of the eighty-nine delegates who assembled themselves
the next day at a friendly tavern, and formed the celebrated association
which resolved at all hazards to defend their rights and maintain their liberties.

Mr. Nelson was elected from his county a member of the first Virginia
Convention, which met at Williamsburg, August 1, 1774. In March,

1775, he was again a representative to the Virginia convention, and was
prominent in the debate of that session on the advisibility of a military
force, Mr. Nelson asserting that such a force was necessary to the interests
of the colonists and so putting his vote upon record.

The third Virginia convention assembled at Richmond, Virginia, July
17, 1776, and again Thomas Nelson, jr., was the representative of York.
The work of raising colonial troops was now being actively pursued, and
Mr. Nelson was made colonel of the second regiment raised, the command
of the first regiment having been given Patrick Henry.

August 11, 1775, Virginia appointed among her delegates to the Continental
Congress in Philadelphia Colonel Nelson, and he, believing the post
of danger and of duty was there, resigned his military command, repaired
to Philadelphia, and took his seat in Congress September 13, 1775. Here
he was one of the first to advocate an absolute separation from Great Britain.
Writing to a friend February 13, 1776, Colonel Nelson said: "Independence,
confederation, and foreign alliances are as formidable to some
of the Congress (I fear a majority) as an apparition to a weak, enervated
woman. Would you think we have still some among us who expect honorable
proposals from the administration! By heavens, I am an infidel in politics,
for I do not believe, were you to bid a thousand pounds per scruple
for honour at the court of Britain, that you would get as many as would
amount to an ounce. If terms should be proposed, they will savour so much
of despotism that America cannot accept them. * * * What think
you of the right reverend fathers in God, the bishops? One of them refused
to ordain a young gentleman who went from this country, because he
was a rebellious American; so that, unless we submit to parliamentary oppression,
we shall not have the gospel of Christ preached among us."

Through the opening of the session of 1776, Colonel Nelson maintained
this advanced position on the question of independence, and in that spirit
signed his name to the Declaration. During the remainder of that term,
and the beginning of the term of 1777, he served on many important
committees, and took part in all measures that advanced the general welfare
of the new States.

A severe indisposition seized him while in his seat in Congress, May 2,
1777, and a recurring trouble of the head warned him for a time to cease
his labors, and he returned home, leaving his term to be filled by another.

In August, 1777, the British fleet appeared off the coast of Virginia
again, and again Colonel Nelson was called to the field. He was appointed
by the governor brigadier-general and commander of the forces of the
commonwealth of Virginia, and at once entered upon the discharge of
all the important duties of that command, while refusing to take from the
impoverished nation any remuneration therefor.

In the October following, General Nelson, as a member of the State legislature,
had another opportunity to show his sense of the honorable in

money matters. An act was introduced and passed by the assembly for
the sequestration of British property. Such an act could, and would, of
course, be construed so that all debts owed those who were known to be
loyal to England would be considered outlawed. General Nelson vehemently
opposed the passage of the bill, and in closing a speech supporting
his position, said: "I hope the bill will be rejected; but whatever its fate,
by God, I will pay my debts like an honest man." The breach of order
into which his feelings had betrayed him was overlooked, but the bill
became a law.

General Nelson continued in active service with the army until his
health was restored, when, on the 18th of February, 1779, he took his
seat in the State Assembly. Again the same illness attacked him, and,
yielding to the expostulations of his physician, and the entreaties of his
friends, he returned to his home for rest. But in the following month he
again took the field.

During the gloomy days of financial depression and disastrous defeats
that followed, no man's influence in Virginia was more widely felt or more
generously given to the American cause than that of General Nelson.

In the spring of 1781, he was elected governor of the Commonwealth,
but after performing the arduous duties of that office until the November
following, constant and increasing illness forced him to resign.

Retiring now permanently from public and political life, Mr. Nelson
passed his time alternately between his two estates, one called Offly, situated
on the left bank of South Anna river, in Hanover county, and
the other in York county. Surrounded by friends and relatives, he now
passed several years in comparative quiet, though with always failing
health.

Death ended his sufferings Sunday, January 4, 1789.

FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE.

The fourth son of Thomas and Hannah (Ludwell) Lee, was born October
14, 1734, in Westmoreland county, province of Virginia, and was
named Francis Lightfoot Lee. He received his education at home under
the tuition of a Scotch clergyman named Craig, and having at his command
a valuable library collected by his father, afterward the property of
the oldest son of the family, Philip.

About the time he reached manhood his three older brothers, Philip,
Thomas and Richard Henry, returned from abroad, where they had been
educated, and in their society he attained that polish and refinement of
manner which was in after life one of his distinguishing characteristics.

In 1765, Francis Lightfoot Lee took his seat in the House of Burgesses,
as member from Loudoun county, in which county he was possessed of a
considerable estate. He continued a member of the House for Loudoun
county until 1772. In that year he married Rebecca, second daughter of

CARTER BRAXTON,

Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
(Never before published or engraved.)

From a miniature in the possession of his family.

Colonel John Tayloe, of Richmond county, and took up his residence in
that county. In the same year he was returned to the House of Burgesses
for Richmond county.

August 15, 1775, the convention of Virginia elected him to a seat in the
Continental Congress, which position he filled so as to receive three successive
re-elections: June 20, 1776; May 22, 1777; May 29, 1778.

His work in Congress, faithfully performed, was not of the brilliant
character of his elder brother's work, as he was no orator. But when
future generations remember the name of Richard Henry Lee, as that of
the gallant Virginian whose voice was first raised in advocacy of our independence,
it will not be forgotten that among the devoted sons of that State
who supported his position was one, his brother in blood, and his colleague in
principle, Francis Lightfoot Lee.

In the spring of 1779, Mr. Lee retired from Congress, and was immediately
elected to the Senate of Virginia under the new constitution of that
State. He did not long remain in public life, however, all his inclinations
being toward home life and rural occupations, and the state of the
country no longer demanding from him the sacrifice of his private tastes.

Reading, farming, and the entertainment of friends and neighbors filled
his remaining days with quiet happiness, until his death, which occurred
in April, 1797. His beloved wife died within a few days of his own
demise, and they left no children.

CARTER BRAXTON,

Seventh signer of the Declaration of Independence in behalf of the province
of Virginia, was born at Newington, King and Queen county, Virginia,
September 10, 1736. His father was George Braxton, a wealthy
planter, and a member of the House of Burgesses. His mother was
Mary, daughter of Robert Carter, who was a member of the King's council,
and in 1726, its president.

Carter Braxton received a liberal education at William and Mary College,
and upon leaving college entered at once upon the possession a large
property, having lost both his parents, his mother when he was seven days
old, and his father during his school days.

At the early age of nineteen he married Judith, daughter of Christopher
Robinson, of Middlesex county. She was possessed of uncommon beauty
as well as a large fortune, and they enjoyed two years of wedded happiness
when the lady died, in giving birth to a second daughter, December
30, 1757.

Soon after his wife's death Mr. Braxton visited England, returning in
1760. May 15, 1761, he married Elizabeth Corbin, eldest daughter of
Richard Corbin, of King and Queen county, receiver-general of customs
for the colony of Virginia. The offspring of this marriage were sixteen,

six of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Braxton survived her husband, dying
in 1814.

It is believed, but cannot be absolutely ascertained, that Carter Braxton
was a member of the House of Burgesses as early as 1761. It is certain
he took an active part in the eventful session of 1765, supporting
the celebrated resolutions of Patrick Henry. He was also a member of
the House in 1769, which was dissolved by Lord Botetourt.

But this dissolution of the House did not change the material of
which it was composed. The indignant people returned the same members,
without one change, and Mr. Braxton, among the rest, was present
at the opening of the session of November, 1769. He continued a member
of the House until the dissolution of the assembly of 1771. Accepting
then the office of high sheriff of his county (then King William), he
was ineligible to act as representative.

The first Virginia convention was assembled at Williamsburg, August 1,
1774, and to this convention Mr. Braxton was elected by King William
county. The convention met again March 20, 1775.

The last and most important meeting of the House of Burgesses was
convened by Lord Dunmore, June 1, 1775. Mr. Braxton was an active
member of this house, serving on three of the regular and on several of
the special committees. This assembly, however, was in session only fifteen
days. They had met on the 1st of June, and on the night between the
7th and 8th, the governor, Lord Dunmore, fled from his palace to the
"Fowey." No entreaties or assurances on the part of the House could
induce his return, and as they very properly refused to convene on board
his frigate, it was impossible to transact further business. On the 15th
the session was adjourned until October, but it was never re-assembled.

The Convention of Virginia, however, again assembled July 17, 1775,
and continued in session until August 26th. It met again in December,
1775, and on the 15th of that month appointed Carter Braxton to succeed
Peyton Randolph, lately deceased, in the national council. He repaired
to Philadelphia, and continued in his seat until the Declaration of Independence
had received his signature.

In 1776 Mr. Braxton was elected to the House of Delegates of Virginia,
and in that House he served during the sessions of 1877, '79, '80, '81, '83 and
'85. In the last year he was one of the supporters of the act for establishing
religious freedom in Virginia, an act penned and proposed by
Jefferson and advocated by Madison.

In January, 1786, Mr. Braxton was appointed a member of the council
of State, and continued to act with that body until March 30, 1791.
In 1793, he was again appointed to the executive council, and taking up
the duties of the office May 31, 1794, he continued to perform them until
his death, meeting for the last time with the council October 6, 1797, only
four days before his death.

The last years of his life were distressed by great pecuniary embarrassments.
Of the large fortunes in his possession when he was
twenty-one, nothing remained. His personal property had passed
into the hands of the sheriff; part of his vast estates had been sold
from time to time, the remainder, with his slaves and household
goods, was heavily mortgaged.