LXXXVI.
LXXXVI. PEYTON RANDOLPH.
LXXXVI. Senior Member of Council of State,
and
Acting Governor.
LXXXVI. December 26, 1811, to January 3, 1812.
Upon the untimely death of Governor George William
Smith, the duties of the executive chair fell for a season
upon Peyton Randolph, then the senior member of the Council
of State.
Peyton Randolph was the son of Governor Edmund Randolph,
and inherited the genius of a distinguished ancestry.
He graduated at William and Mary College in 1798, and
soon took an acknowledged prominence in his chosen profession
of law.
He presided over the Councils of Virginia for only a
brief period, as on January 3, 1812, James Barbour, of Orange
County, was chosen by the General Assembly as Governor.
In 1821 Peyton Randolph was selected as the Reporter of
the Supreme Court of Virginia, and his labors in this department
are embraced in six volumes, entitled, "Report of Cases
Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals of Virginia,
1821-1828."
But in the midst of increasing usefulness and brilliant
prospects, Peyton Randolph's career was terminated in the
prime of manhood. A victim to pulmonary disease, he passed
too soon from the arena he had adorned, widely lamented by
many to whom his virtues and his talents had endeared him.
His contribution to the Law Reports of his native state,
is a permanent memorial of his ability, and constitutes an
important part of the legal literature of Virginia.
