LXVI.
LXVI. WILLIAM NELSON.
LXVI. President of the Council.
LXVI. October 15, 1770, to August, 1771.
After having been President of the Council for a long
term of years, on the decease of Lord Botetourt, William
Nelson became the Acting Governor of the Colony. He was
the son of Thomas Nelson, who came to America from Penriff,
near the border of Scotland, and hence was known as
"Scotch Tom." The same settled at York, in Virginia,
and was the founder of that town, which was laid out in 1705.
His eldest son, Thomas, was known as "Secretary Nelson,"
because so long Secretary of the Council; and the second
son, William, or "President Nelson," is the subject of this
notice. He was born in 1711, and was the father of the
patriotic General Thomas Nelson, of Revolutionary fame.
William Nelson is said to have laid the corner-stone of
the historic Nelson House at Yorktown. Though an infant,
he was held by his nurse, and the brick laid in his apron
and passed through his little hands. This mansion descended
to President Nelson's eldest son, General Thomas
Nelson, and was his residence until the threatened siege of
York by the English, induced him to remove his family to
"Offley," in Hanover County. During this siege the Nelson
House was occupied by Lord Cornwallis, and General Nelson's
unselfish desire for its destruction is a fitting illustration
of the spirit which made Virginia free.
To quote from another, in describing the situation of this
now celebrated town:
"The river is full a mile wide at York, which is eleven miles from its
mouth, and is seen stretching itself away until it merges itself into the
Chesapeake Bay. The sun rises immediately over the mouth of the river,
and the water is tinged with the rainbow hues of heaven. We have
watched with much interest the decline of day from the New York Battery,
but we doubt if New York Harbor—compared, as it is, with the Bay of
Naples—ever presented to the eye a more enchanting spectacle than York
River in its morning glory. Beautiful for situation is old York, stretching
east and west on as noble a sheet of water as rolls beneath the sun."
How such a scene as this must have nerved the arm of
patriots, and warmed the heart of every son of liberty in the
fight for freedom. And how well they fought, that monument
at Yorktown, which commemorates the hundred years of
liberty they bought, now tells the tale.
President Nelson presided over the affairs of Virginia
during an exciting period, but the life of the Colony seems to
have progressed under his judicious sway. He died November
19, 1772, and the following extract from a printed
sermon on his death, by Mr. Camm, President of William
and Mary College, will give some idea of his character and
of the position he held among his fellow-men. He was
"The kind and indulgent father, without suffering the excess of fondness
to take off his eye from the true and best interests of his children; the
tender husband, the affectionate brother, the useful and entertaining
friend, the kind and generous master. His hospitality was extensive and
liberal, yet judicious, and not set free from the restraints of reason and
religion. It was not a blind propensity to profuseness, or a passion for a
name, by which he corrupted the morals of his friends and neighbors.
He was no encourager of intemperance or riot, or any practice tending to
injure the health, the reputation, the fortunes, or the religious attainments
of his company. His charities were many, and dispensed with choice
and discretion, and so as to be most serviceable to the receivers and the
least oppressive to their modesty. As one of the first and most respectable
merchants in this dominion, he had great opportunity of being acquainted
with the circumstances of many people whose cases otherwise would have
escaped his knowledge. This knowledge was often turned to their advantage
whose affairs fell under his consideration. I think I shall have the
concurring voice of the public with me when I say, that his own gain by
trade was not more sweet to him than the help which he hereby received
toward becoming a general benefactor. He was an instance of what
abundance of good may be done by a prudent and conscientious man,
without impoverishing himself or his connections—nay, while his fortunes
are improving. An estate raised with an unblemished reputation, and
diffused from humane and devout motives in the service of multitudes as
well as the owner's, it may reasonably be expected will wear well, and
have the blessing of Providence to attend and protect it from generation
to generation."
Among the tombstones in the old churchyard at York,
Virginia, may be seen one with the following inscription:
"Here lies the body of the Honorable William Nelson, Esquire, late
President of his Majesty's Council in this Dominion, in whom the love of
man and the love of God so restrained and enforced each other, and so
invigorated the mental powers in general, as not only to defend him from
the vices and follies of his age and country, but, also to render it a matter
of difficult decision in what part of laudable conduct he most excelled;
whether in the tender and endearing accomplishments of domestic life, or
in the more arduous duties of a wider circuit; whether as a neighbor, a
gentleman, or a magistrate; whether in the graces of hospitality or piety.
Reader, if you feel the spirit of that exalted ardour which aspires to the
felicity of conscious virtue, animated by those consolations and divine
admonitions, perform the task, and expect the distinction of the righteous
man. He died the 19th day of November, Anno Domini 1772, aged 61."
