Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

CONTENTS

Part I. Chain of Title
Maps:
Tyler's Adaptation of the College Map of about 1790
Bucktrout Map of 1800
Detail from Frenchman's Map of 1782
Foundations Uncovered 1938-1940
Location	1
History	1
Part II. Biographical Sketches of Owners, 1724-1783
Sir John Randolph (1693-1737)	17
Susannah (Beverley) Randolph (c. 1692-post 1754)	81
Peyton Randolph (c. 1721-1775)	85
Betty (Harrison) Randolph (c. 1723-1783)	141
Appendix
Will of Sir John Randolph	147
Will of Peyton Randolph	153
Inventory and Appraisement of the Estate of Peyton Randolph	155
Will of Mrs. Betty Randolph	163
Notes from the Humphrey Harwood Ledger B	167
An Account of Lafayette's Visit, 1824	169

[ Tyler's Adaptation of the College Map of about 1790]

[Bucktrout Map of 1800]

FROM FRENCHMAN'S MAP1782?

LOCATION:

The house known as the Peyton Randolph House is located on the southwest corner of the square bounded by Nicholson, England, Scotland, and Queen streets. It faces Market Square.

The colonial town plan assigning numbers mentioned in deeds has not survived, and Tyler's adaptation of the College Map of about 1790 labels these lots with the names of post-revolutionary owners without distinguishing them by number. The numbers in this diagram, therefore, represent tentative conclusions reached from careful study of the vicinity.

HISTORY:

In the first recorded deed to the property, dated November 11, 1714, the Trustees of the City of Williamsburg conveyed to William Robertson the entire square of eight lots.

This Indenture made the Eleventh day of November in the first Year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George by the grace of God of Great Brittain, France & Ireland King, Defender of the faith & c and in the Year of our Lord God One Thousand Seven hundred & fourteen Between the Feoffees or Trustees for the Land appropriated for the building & Erecting the City of Wmsburgh of the One part & William Robertson of the County of York of the other part Wittnesseth that the said Feoffees or Trustees for diverse good causes & considerations them thereunto moving but more Especially for & in consideration of five 2 shillings of good & lawfull money of England to them in hand paid at & before the Ensealing & delivery of these Presents, the receipts whereof & themselves therewith fully contented & paid they do hereby acknowledge have granted, bargained, sold, demised & to farm letten unto the said Wm. Robertson his heirs or assigns Eight Certain Lotts of Ground in the said City of Wmsburgh designed in the Platt of the said City by these figures 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 207 & 208 with all Pasturage, Woods & Waters & all manner of Profits, Comoditys & hereditaments whatsoever to the same belonging or in any wise appertaining To have & To hold the said Granted Premises & Every part thereof with the appurtenances unto the said Wm. Robertson his Executors Administrators & Assigns for & during the term & time of one whole Year from the day of the date of these Presents & fully to be Compleated & Ended. Yeilding & Paying to the said Feoffees or Trustees the Yearly rent of one grain of Indian Corn to be paid on the Tenth day of October Yearly if it be demanded, to the intent that the said Wm. Robertson may be in quiet & peaceable possession of the Premisses & that by Vertue hereof & of the Statute for transferring Uses into possession he may be Enabled to Accept a Release of the Reversion & inheritance thereof to him & his heirs for Ever. In Wittness whereof Jno. Clayton Esqr. & Hugh Norvel Gentt Two of the said Feoffees or Trustees have hereunto Sett their hands & Seals the day and Year above written.

Signed, Sealed & Delivered
in presence of
John Clayton [Seale]
Hugh Norvell [Seale]

At a Court held for York county15th November 1715 Jno. Clayton Esqr. & Hugh Norvel Gentt Two of the Feoffees or Trustees for the Land appropriated for the building & Erecting the City of Wmsburgh Acknowledged this their Deed of Lease of Eight Lotts or half Acres of the said Land to Wm. Robertson Gentt & on his motion it is admitted to Record
Test Phi: Lightfoot Clk
Truly Recorded
Test Phi: Lightfoot Clk

This Indenture made the Twelfth day of November in the first Year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George by the grace of God of Great Brittain, France & Ireland King defender of the faith &c and in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred & fourteen Between the Feoffees or Trustees for the Land appropriated 3 for the building & Erecting the City of Wmsburgh of the one part & William Robertson of the County of York of the other part Wittnesseth that whereas the said Wm. Robertson by One Lease to him by the said Feoffees or Trustees bearing date the day before the date of these Presents is in actuall & peaceable possession of Premisses herein after granted to the intent that by Virtue of the said Lease & of the Statute for transferring Uses into possession he may be the better Enabled to accept a Conveyance & Release of the Reversion & inheritance hereof to him & his heirs for Ever the said Feoffees or Trustees for diverse good causes & Considerations them thereunto moving but more Especially for & in consideration of Six pounds of Good & lawfull Money of England to them in hand paid at & before the Ensealing & delivery of these Presents the receipt whereof & themselves therewith fully satisfyed & paid they do hereby Acknowledge have granted, bargained, sold, remissed, released & Confirmed & by these Presents for themselves, their heirs & Successors as far as in them lyes & under the limitations & reservations hereafter mentioned they do grant, bargain, sell, remise, release & Confirm unto the said Wm. Robertson Eight certain Lotts of Ground in the said City of Wmsburgh designed in the Platt of the said City by these figures 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 207, & 208 with all Woods thereon growing or being & all manner of Profits, Comoditys, Emoluments, & Advantages whatsoever to the same belonging or in any wise appertaining To have & To hold the said granted Premisses & Every part thereof with the appurt^enances unto the said Wm. Robertson & to his heirs for Ever to be had & held of our Sovereign Lady the Queen in free & Common Soccage, Yeilding & Paying the Quittrents due & legally accustomed to be paid for the Same to the onely use & behoof of him the said Wm. Robertson his heirs & Assigns for Ever under the limitations & reservations hereafter mentioned & not otherwise. That is to say, that if the said Wm. Robertson his heirs or Assigns shall not within the space of Twenty four Months next Ensueing the date of these Presents begin to build & finish upon Each Lott of the said granted Premisses One good Dwelling house or houses of such dimensions & to be placed in such manner as by One Act of Assembly made at the Capitol the 23d day of October 1705 Intituled an Act continuing the Act directing the building the Capitol & City of Wmsburgh &c is directed or as shall be Agreed upon, prescribed & directed by the Directors appointed for the settlement & Encouragement of the City of Wmsburgh pursuant to the trust in them reposed by Virtue of the said Act of Assembly, then it shall & may be lawful to & for the said Feoffees or Trustees & their succesors Feoffees or Trustees for the Land appropriated for the building & Erecting 4 the City of Wmsburgh for the time being into the said granted Premisses & Every part thereof with the appurtenances to Enter & the same to have again as their former Estate to have hold & Enjoy in like manner as they might otherwise have done if these Presents had never been made. In Wittness whereof Jno. Clayton Esqr. & Hugh Norvell Gentt Two of the said Feoffees or Trustees have hereunto sett their hands & Seals the day & year above written.

Signed, Sealed & Delivered
in the presence of
John Clayton [Seale]
Hugh Norvell [Seale]

November 12th 1714

Recd. of Wm. Robertson six pounds Current Money being the Consideration within mentioned per me £6:0:0
John Clayton

At a Court held for York County 15th November 1715 Jno. Clayton Esqr. & Hugh Norvell Gentt Two of the Feoffees or Trustees for the Land appropriated for the building & Erecting the City of Wmsburgh Acknowledged this their Deed of Release of Eight Lotts or half Acres of the said Land to Wm. Robertson Gentt with receipt thereon & on his motion these are admitted to Record.
Truly Recorded Test Phi: Lightfoot Clk
Test Phi: Lightfoot¹

Within the next decade the ownership of the eight lots changed as follows:

December 19, 1715. Robertson sold lots 233 and 234 to Philip Ludwell.² We believe these two lots faced Nicholson Street on the southeastern end of the square.

April 20, 1717. The Trustees gave title to lot 232 to John Tyler, who was at that time "in Actual & peaceable possession."³
5 This lot was apparently the corner lot at Scotland and Queen streets.

January 17, 1718/9. The Trustees gave title to lot 235 to Samuel Cobbs, who was in actual possession.⁴ This lot apparently adjoined Tyler's on Scotland Street.

December 12, 1723. William Robertson sold the remaining four lots (236, 237, 207, 208) to John Holloway:

This Indenture made the twelfth day of December in the tenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George by the Grace of God of Great Brittain France & Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c and in the year of our Lord Christ One thousand Seven hundred twenty and three Between William Robertson of the County of York Gent of the one part and John Holloway of the City of Wmsburgh in the same County Esqr. of the other part Witnesseth that the said William Robertson for and in Consideration of the Sum of Eighty pounds Currant money of Virginia to him in hand paid by the said John Holloway before the Ensealing & delivery of these presents the receipt whereof the said William Robertson doth hereby acknowledge and thereof and of every part and parcel thereof doth fully clearly and absolutely acquit exonerate & discharge the said John Holloway his Executors & Administrators by these presents Hath granted bargained and sold aliened & Confirmed & by these presents doth grant bargain sell alien and Confirm unto the said John Holloway and his heirs all those four lots of Ground lying & being in the City of Wmsburgh denoted in the plan of the said City by the figures 236, 237, 207, 208 being the lots whereon the said William Robertson's Windmill stands together with the said Windmill and all Houses buildings Yards Orchards ways Waters profits Easements & Commodities to the said four lots and other the premisses belonging and the Reversion and Reversions remaind & remainders Right & Title Estate claim & demand of him the said William Robertson of in and to the said Lots of Ground and other the above granted premisses and every part and parcell thereof To have & to hold the four lots & Windmill and all and Singular other the premisses herein before mentioned and intended to be hereby granted with their and every of their Appurtenances unto the said John Holloway his heirs and Assigns for ever to the only use and behoof of him said John Holloway his heirs and Assigns forever And the said 6 William Robertson for himself his heirs Executors & Administrators doth covenant grant and agree to and with the said John Holloway his heirs Executors Administrators & Assigns in manner & form following that is to say that he the said William Robertson at the Ensealing and delivery of these presents is and stands lawfully Seized of and in the above granted premisses and every part thereof of a good sure absolute and indefeizable Estate of Inheritance in fee simple And also that he the said John Holloway his heirs & Assigns shall & may peaceably and quietly have hold and enjoy the said granted premisses with the Appurtenances and every part thereof without the lawfull Let Suit Eviction or molestation of him the said William Robertson his heirs or Assigns or any person or persons whatsoever having or claiming or that shal or may have or claim any Estate Right title or Interest from by or under him the said William Robertson his heirs or Assigns or any of them in or to the said granted premisses or any part or parcell thereof and that for any Act or Acts by him the said William Robertson or any other person claiming by from or under him committed done or suffered the said granted premisses and every part thereof now are and for ever hereafter shall remain freed & discharged of and from all other bargains Sales Gifts Grants feofmts. Entails Dowers Mortgages and all other incumbrances whatsoever had made done executed or procured or to be had made done executed or procured by him the said William Robertson his heirs or Assigns or any of them And lastly the said William Robertson for himself and his heirs the said granted premisses with the appurtenances unto the said John Holloway his heirs and Assigns against him the said William Robertson his heirs & Assigns and all other persons whatsoever shal & will warrant and ever defend by these presents In Witness whereof the said William Robertson hath hereunto set his hand & Seal the day & year first above written
William Robertson (Seal)

Sealed & Delivered
in the presence of
Wil Toplis
John Randolph
Graves Pack

At a Court held for York County Decr. 16th 1723 William Robertson Gent in open Court presented and acknowledged this his deed of sale to John Holloway Esqr. at whose motion it is admitted to record
Test Phi Lightfoot Cl Cur

⁵

7

Then on July 20, 1724, Holloway sold to Sir John Randolph one of the four lots acquired six months earlier, apparently the second lot facing Nicholson Street from the corner of Nicholson and England (numbered 237 on the diagram above).

This Indenture made the twentieth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand Seven hundred and twenty four Between John Holloway of the City of Wmsburgh Esqr of the One part And John Randolph of the Same City Esqr of the other part Witnesseth that the said John Holloway for and in Consideration of the Sum of thirty pounds of lawfull money of Virginia to him by the said John Randolph in hand paid before the Sealing and delivery of these presents the Receipt whereof he doth hereby acknowledge Hath granted bargained and Sold And by these presents doth grant bargain and Sell unto the said John Randolph his heirs and Assigns All that Messuage and Lot or half Acre of Land Situate and lying and being in the City of Wmsburgh adjoining to the Lot whereon the said John Randolph now lives which he the said John Holloway lately purchased of William Robertson of the City of Wmsburgh Gent And the Reversion and Reversions Remainder and Remainders thereof and of Every part thereof And all the Estate Right title and Interest of him the said John Holloway in and to the Same and every part thereof To have & to hold the said Tenement and half Acre of Land and all and Singular the premisses with their and every of their appurtenances to him the said John Randolph his heirs and Assigns for ever to the only proper use and behoof of him the said John Randolph his heirs and Assigns for Ever And the said John Holloway for himself his heirs Extors, and Admtors, doth grant Covenant and agree to and with the said John Randolph his heirs and Assigns in manner following that is to Say That he the said John Holloway now at the Sealing & delivery of these presents hath good right and lawfull Authority to Sell and Convey the premisses in manner aforesaid And that the Same shall for Ever hereafter remain unto him the said John Randolph his heirs and Assigns freed & discharged of and from all and all manner of former and other Grants Bargains Sales Estates Rights titles troubles and incumbrances whatsoever has made committed done or Suffered or to be had made committed done or Suffered or to be had made committed done and Suffered by the said John Holloway or any other person or persons whatsoever lawfully claiming or to Claim by from or under him And also that the said John Holloway shall and will at any time within the Space of twenty years next Ensueing the date hereof at the proper Costs and Charges of him the said John Randolph his heirs and Assigns make Execute & acknowledge such other Conveyance or Conveyances for 8 the better assuring and Conveying the premisses to the said John Randolph his heirs and Assigns as by the said Jno Randolph his heirs and Assigns as by the said John Randolph his heirs and Assigns or his or their Councils learned in the law shall be devised advised or required In Witness whereof the parties to these presents first above named their hands and Seals hereunto Interchangeably have Set the day and year first above written.
John Holloway (Seal)

Sealed & Delivered
in the Presence of
Phi: Lightfoot

At a Court held for York County July 20th 1724 John Holloway Esqr in open Court presented & acknowledged this his deed for land lying in Wmsburgh in this County unto John Randolph Esqr at whose motion the Same is admitted to record.

July 20th Recd of John Randolph the Sum of thirty pounds Current money of Virginia the Consideration within mentioned to Jno Holloway At the Court held for York County July 20th 1724 John Holloway Esqr acknowledged in open Court the above receipt which is admitted to record.
Test Phi: Lightfoot Cl Cur

⁶

The phrase "adjoining to the lot whereon the said John Randolph now lives" raises several questions which are not answered in the York County records and therefore invite speculation. The "messuage" on this lot was doubtless a building Robertson had erected shortly after November, 1714, so that he might retain title to the lot, and Randolph's residence was probably another house on the corner lot 9 (numbered 207 above) which Robertson had built in the same circumstances.

When and how did Randolph acquire title to lot 207? His one other piece of property in the vicinity recorded in York County was lot 174, with a messuage or tenement, "contiguous to the gardens of Mr. Archibald Blair" purchased July 1, 1723, from Alexander Spotswood and sold to Blair July 20, 1724.⁷ The exact location of lot 174 is uncertain because Blair at this time may have cultivated garden plots west of England Street and/or south of Nicholson. Wherever lot 174 may have been, there is no documentary evidence either for or against the supposition that Randolph at some time lived on it; certainly it cannot possibly be associated with his residence in the summer of 1724. The most reasonable explanation is that Randolph acquired the corner lot, No. 207, shortly after Holloway purchased it in December, 1723, and established his residence there before the following summer; that the deed for this exchange was not recorded in York County; that it may have been recorded in the Hustings Court or in the General Court instead of York for some reason that will never be known unless a contemporary copy should be found in some private collection of manuscripts not yet discovered.

Whatever the details leading to Randolph's purchase of 1724, it is clear that he then owned the two adjoining lots on the western corner of Nicholson and England streets and lived there.

10

When he died, March 2, 1736/7, his widow inherited this property for the duration of her life.⁸ The date of Lady Randolph's death is unknown but may be estimated shortly after 1754.⁹

By his father's will, Peyton Randolph then inherited the property.¹⁰ In practice it was known as "Mr. Attorney's" home as early as 1751, and he may have been living there continuously with his mother.

When Peyton Randolph died, October 22, 1775, his widow inherited the houses and lots.¹¹ Randolph's entire estate was appraised, and this part of it was recorded in York County January 5, 1776.¹²

Mrs. Betty Randolph lived in the house until her death early in 1783. A record of repairs made during her tenancy is extant.¹³

Mrs. Randolph's will, probated in the York Court February 17, 1783, ordered the sale of all her possessions "not particularly 11 given away" and the proceeds divided among her legatees.¹⁴ Accordingly, the property was advertised for sale:

TO BE SOLD, By public auction, in Williamsburg, on Wednesday the 19th of February next,
The houses and lots of the late Mrs Betty Randolph, deceased, together with a quantity of mahogany furniture, consisting of chairs, tables, mahogany and guilt framed looking glasses, and desks, a handsome carpet, a quantity of glass ware and table china, and a variety of other articles; also kitchen furniture complete. The above mentioned house is two story high, with four rooms on a floor, pleasantly situated on the great square, with every necessary outhouse convenient for a large family, garden and yard well paled in, stables to hold twelve horses, and room for two carriages, with several acres of pasture ground. Twelve months credit will be allowed for all sums above five pounds, on giving bond with approved security, to carry interest from the date if not punctually paid. The EXECUTORS.¹⁵

On February 21, 1783, the houses and lots were sold to Joseph Hornsby:

This Indenture made this twenty first day of February in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty three Between Benjamin Harrison the elder, Harrison Randolph, and Benjamin Harrison Junr., Executors of the last Will and Testament of Betty Randolph deceased late of the City of Williamsburg of the one part, and Joseph Hornsby of the County of James City of the other Part. Whereas the said Betty Randolph did by her last Will and Testament bearing date the first day of June in the Year one thousand seven hundred and eighty, among other Things devise her Houses and Lots in the City of Williamsburg (which were devised to her by her late Husband Peyton Randolph) to be sold by her 12 Executors, as by reference being had to the said Wills recorded in the County Court of York will more clearly appear and by virtue of which Devise, the Executors before mentioned did on the [ ] day of February past proceed to sell the same at public Auction after having given notice of such sale, and the said Joseph became the Highest Bidder and Purchaser for the Sum, of Eighteen Hundred and twenty Pounds Current Money.---Now this Indenture Witnesseth, that the said Benjamin Harrison the Elder, Harrison Randolph and Benjamin Harrison junior for and in Consideration of the said Sum of Eighteen hundred Pounds Current Money to them in Hand paid for the Use, mentioned in the said Will, the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge and thereof doth acquit and discharge the said Joseph, Hath given, granted bargained, Sold, alien'd Enfeoffed and confirmed, and by these presents doth give, grant, Bargain, Sell Aliene Enfeoff and confirm unto the said Joseph all those Lots or half acres of Land with the Tenements, and appurtenances thereunto belonging, lying and being in the City of Williamsburg whereon the said Betty Randolph lately resided and bounded by the Lots of John Paradise and Lewis Burwell on the East Side by the Street denoted and called [ ] in the plan of the said City and dividing the Tenement of John Blair now in the occupation of James Madison from the said lots on the West by the Street called and known by the Name of Scotland Street on the North and by the Market square on the South side together with six half Acre Lots denoted in the plan of the said City by the figures 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, and 184 which were conveyed to Peyton Randolph by William Robinson and Elizabeth his Wife of the County of King and Queen, and by Peter Randolph of Wilton in the County of Henrico, as by reference being had to the said Indentures will more fully appear and which said Lots were devised to the said Betty Randolph by her deceased Husband, and by the said Testatrix devised to be sold: and the Reversion and Reversions, Remainder and Remainders Rents Issues, Profits and appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging or appertaining and all the Estate Right, Title, use trust Interest, claims and demand whatsoever of them the said Benjamin Harrison the elder Harrison Randolph and Benjamin Harrison Junior or either of them of in and to the same or to any part thereof, and all Deeds, Evidences, and Writings touching or concerning the same. To have and to hold the said Lots and Tenements with their appurtenances before mentioned to him the said Joseph, his Heirs and assigns to the only 13 proper use and Behoof of him the said Joseph his Heirs and assigns for ever.

In Witness whereof the parties to these presents have hereunto set their Hands and affixed their Seals the day and year above mentioned
Benjamin Harrison (Seal)
Harrison Randolph (Seal)
Benjamin Harrison, Junr. (Seal)

Sealed and Delivered
in the Presence of us
Carter B. Harrison
Archibald Denholm
Thomas B. Dawson
David Jameson
William Nelson Junr.

At a Court held for York County, the 21st day of July 1783. This Indenture was proved by the Oaths of David Jameson and William Nelson junior

Witnesses thereto and at a Court held for the said County the 18th day of August 1783 the said Indenture was proved by the Oath of Thomas Dawson another Witness thereto and ordered to be Recorded.
Teste
William Russell Cl

¹⁶

From Hornsby the houses and lots passed to Thomas G. Peachy, the owner shown on the College Map and also on the Bucktrout Map of 1800. Although there is no deed to this property recorded in York County after 1783, in the first surviving Deed Book of Williamsburg and James City County a transaction on February 24, 1868, reviews its early nineteenth-century history:

This deed made the 24th day of February A. D. 1868 between Richard W. Hansford, of the City of Williamsburg, State of Virginia, of the one part and Charles C. Hansford, of the Said City and State of the other part Witnesseth; that the said Richard W. Hansford doth grant unto the said Charles C. 14 Hansford the following property to Wit: All those lots of land with the houses thereon, in the said City of Williamsburg, Virginia, now held and occupied by the said Richard W. Hansford, conveyed to him by Archibald C. Peachy and Mary L. Wright and James L. C. Griffin, by deeds which were duly recorded in the clerk's office of the Hustings Court of the City aforesaid, bounded on the north by the lands of Robert H. Armistead, west by a Street leading to the courthouse green, South by the Said Green, and East by a lot now owned by said M. L. Wright and J. L. C. Griffin [the Grave Yard on the "Peachy lot" was reserved to said A. C. Peachy, when he sold to said R. W. Hansford] also all the Household and Kitchen furniture of the said Richard W. Hansford.

In trust to indemnify and save harmless William W. Vest, as Surity for the Said Richard W. Hansford to a Single bill under Seal to Robert F. Cole for Thirty Six hundred and fifty eight dollars and thirty seven cents dated 12th July 1859; and also to indemnify and save harmless the said William W. Vest as surity for said Richard W. Hansford to a single bill under Seal to Walker W. Vest and J. B. Cosnahan trustees of R. Lipscombe for Two hundred & thirty Seven dollars and two cents, dated the 28th day of December A. D. 1860; and also to indemnify and save harmless the said William W. Vest in any other debt for which he may be bound as surity for said Richard W. Hansford

And for the further purpose of indemnifying and saving harmless the said William W. Vest as his surity, the said Richard W. Hansford doth assign transfer and set over unto the said Charles C. Hansford as trustee a debt due him by Mary B. Wills for Two thousand dollars with interest from the 1st of January 1862 (for which he holds a single bill) the said debt to be collected by the said trustee Charles C. Hansford when required by the said William W. Vest and the proceeds applied to the payment of the before mentioned or any other debts, for which the Said William W. Vest is bound as Surity for the Said Richard W. Hansford.

Witness the following Signatures & Seals
R. W. Hansford (Seal)
Charles C. Hansford (Seal)

In Williamsburg Hustings Court Clerk's Office April 9th 1868
This day the foregoing deed of trust Was acknowledged in the office aforesaid by Richard W. Hansford a party thereto to be his act and deed and thereupon admitted to 15 Record. "Four dollars worth U S R Stamps on this deed"
Teste
Wm H. Yerby C

¹⁷

Since Hansford's title was recorded in the Hustings Court, the deeds are not extant. The Williamsburg Land Tax Records, 1782-1861,¹⁸ however, furnish hints to changes in ownership, for they contain lists of owners of town property, the total number of lots for which each owner was taxed, the value of his property, and the amount of the tax.

These are the pertinent notes:

1784.	Betty Randolph, 3 lots, valued at £6.
1785-1797.	Joseph Hornsby, 5 lots, valued at £10 in 1785 and increasing to £21.
1797.	George Carter, 4 lots, valued at £18.
1798.	George Carter, 9 lots, valued at £110. Joseph Hornsby not listed.
1799.	George Carter, 9 lots, valued at £110.
1800.	Neither Joseph Hornsby, George Carter, nor Thomas G. Peachy listed.
1801-1804.	Thomas G. Peachy, 9 lots, valued at £110.
1805-1809.	Thomas G. Peachy, 13 lots, valued at £120.
1810-1817.	Thomas G. Peachy estate, 13 lots, valued at £120-150.
16
1818.	Thomas G. Peachy estate, 12 lots, £120, with 1 lot transferred to Thomas G. Peachy, Jr., with this explanation: "Via Mary M. Peachy, house and lot which she has hitherto occupied as a kitchen, laundry, and quarter for her servants, being north of the west, and of her dwelling house and formerly charged to Thomas Peachy's estate."
1849.	Archibald C. Peachy's first appearance on the list with 1 lot and its buildings valued at $1800, the building alone at $1600, and the note "formerly charged to Thomas G. Peachy."
1850-1856.	Archibald C. Peachy, residing in California, but still listed for the property, now valued at $2200.
1857.	Neither Archibald C. Peachy nor Richard W. Hansford listed.
1858-1861.	Richard W. Hansford, 1 lot with buildings valued at $3300.

From the Hansford deed of trust, February 24, 1868, the ownership of the property can be traced through deeds and other court records on file at the Williamsburg and James City Courthouse. Copies may be found in the Accounting Department of Colonial Williamsburg. Owners from 1868 to the present time were:

1868-1884.	Richard W. Hansford
1884-1893.	Moses R. Harrell
1893-1897.	John Dahn
1897-1920.	E. W. Warburton and Lettie G. Warburton
1920-1921.	Williamsburg Incorporated [land company]
1921-1927.	Mary Proctor Wilson
1927-1938.	Merrill Proctor Ball
1938-	Williamsburg Restoration

17

SIR JOHN RANDOLPH (1693-1737)

Sir John Randolph, the only colonial Virginian and the only colonial agent to be honored with knighthood, was the colony's most distinguished lawyer in the first half of the eighteenth century. His sincerity and dependability made him a good friend and public servant; his tact, gaiety, warmth, and good humor made him socially attractive and popular. A legal scholar with interest in history and literature, he collected a notable library of books and manuscripts.

Contemporary opinion of Sir John was expressed in his obituary notice:

...from his very first Appearance at the Bar, he was ranked among the Practitioners of the first Figure and Distinction. His Parts were bright and strong; his Learning extensive and useful....

In the several Relations as a Husband, a Father, a Friend, he was a most extraordinary Example....Sincerity indeed, ran through the whole Course of his Life, with an even and uninterrupted Current; and added no small Beauty and Lustre to his Character, both in Private and Publick....

Altho' he was an excellent Father of a Family, and careful enough of his own private Concerns, yet he was even more attentive to what regarded the Interest of the Publick. His Sufficiency and Integrity, his strict Justice and Impartiality, in the Discharge of his Offices, are above Commendation, and beyond all reasonable Contradiction....[He was] an Assertor of the just Rights and natural Liberties of Mankind; an Enemy of Oppression; a Support to the Distressed; and a Protector of the Poor and indigent, whose Causes he willingly undertook, and whose Fees he constantly remitted, when he thought the Paiment of them would be grievous to themselves or Families. In short, he always pursued the Public Good, as far as his Judgment would carry him....

He had in an eminent Degree ... the Air of a Man of Quality. For there was something very Great and Noble in his Presence 18 and Deportment, which at first sight bespoke and highly became that Dignity and Eminence, which his Merit had obtained him in this Country.¹

He was the sixth son of William Randolph of Turkey Island and his wife Mary (Isham) Randolph, founders of the Virginia family. William Randolph was already living in Virginia in 1673, when he succeeded his uncle Henry as clerk of the court of Henrico County. Later public offices included justice and burgess for Henrico, speaker and clerk of the House of Burgesses, attorney general, trustee of the College of William and Mary. Though he was nominated for a seat on the Council, he never became a member.

John was born in 1693² at his father's James River plantation at the lower end of Curle's Neck, the Turkey Island estate purchased in the 1680's. His brothers were William of Turkey Island, Thomas of Tuckahoe, Isham of Dungeness, Richard of Curle's Neck, Edward the sea captain, and Henry, who died in England, unmarried. His sisters were Elizabeth, who married Richard Bland of Jordan's 19 Point, and Mary, who married John Stith.³

John spent his childhood at Turkey Island and received his early education at home, tutored by a Huguenot clergyman, probably one of the settlers at Manakin Town for whose problems the elder Randolph was often consulted by the Virginia Council.⁴

Then he was a student at the College of William and Mary. Since the early records of the faculty and bursar have been lost, the dates of attendance cannot be exactly determined. Commissary Blair, recommending him to the Bishop of London in 1728, identified him as "one of the earliest Scholars."⁵ The grammar school opened in 1694, but it is not likely that Randolph attended before 1705, when he was twelve years old. From William Byrd's diary⁶ we know that the boy was enrolled in 1709 and that 20 he finished his studies in the fall of 1711. On November 5 that year "The College presented their verses to the Governor by the hands of the Commissary and the master." Then Byrd "went to the Governor's to dinner and found there Mr. Commissary and the master of the College and Johnny Randolph as being the first scholar, who at dinner sat on the Governor's right hand."

William Randolph the elder had died that spring,⁷ and young Johnny remained a favorite of his father's friend and neighbor, and on visits to Westover sought advice and received affectionate guidance. In March of 1712 Byrd encouraged him to apply for the position of usher at the college, but his application was rejected "because there were but 22 boys which was not a number that required an usher."⁸

In the fall of 1712 Governor Spotswood commissioned Randolph deputy attorney general in the counties of Charles City, Henrico, and Prince George.⁹ In the document itself Spotswood explained that Attorney General Stevens Thomson had requested the appointment of a deputy because he was unable 21 to attend all criminal trials in these counties, and from the commission it is clear that Randolph was expected to prosecute offenders "unless her said Majesty's Attorney General shall personally attend." The only reason for his choice of Randolph the governor gave was in these words: "the which Courts (I am by her Majesty's Attorney General Informed) you Attend."

Since the commission is unsupported by other documentary evidence,¹⁰ we do not know when or where Randolph received the legal training the post implied. His eldest brother William was then clerk of the Henrico Court, but there is no record of his studying law. Their father had been attorney general, but only for a year, 1694, because the appointment was criticized on the ground of his ignorance of the law. If young Johnny read law books at Westover, Byrd did not mention the fact in his diary. He could have studied with some practicing lawyer during the spring and summer of 1712. Even a generation later, when the profession was in better standing and better regulated, formal training required a very short period of concentration; Patrick Henry, for example, was said to have studied only six weeks. No doubt it was already customary for the attorney general to pass on the qualifications of an aspirant to 22 practice in the county courts,¹¹ and certainly Stevens Thomson approved this appointment, if he did not suggest it.¹²

There is evidence that Randolph did act for Thomson in Henrico. In December of 1713 the court ordered payment of 1000 pounds of tobacco to "John Randolph the Queens Deputy Attorney for Indicting & prosecuting two negros belonging to Capt. Thomas Jefferson condemned for the murder of John Jackson." The trial was held at Varina in a court of Oyer and Terminer, where the Negroes confessed and were executed.¹³ Because the next volume of the Henrico records is missing, like all the Charles City and Prince George records for this period, we can only assume that Thomson's deputy tried whatever criminals were indicted in these counties during the last two years of the attorney general's life. (Thomson died in February, 1714.) Whether Randolph finished out the year 1714 as deputy for John Clayton we do not know.

23

His formal legal studies at the Inns of Court began in the spring of 1715, doubtless with the encouragement of Byrd's example and advice. "John Randolph of Virginia, gent." was admitted to Gray's Inn on May 17, 1715, and on November 25, 1717, he was "called to the Bar by the favour of the Bench"; i.e., for some reason--perhaps the high quality of his work--he was excused from further residence and study.¹⁴ Like Byrd,¹⁵ he probably made good use of social and literary associations in the years at the Inns of Court and established many of the contacts useful to him later as Virginia agent. After being admitted to the bar, he stayed on in London for several months, enjoying life in the great city. On the morning of February 17, 1717/8, he called on Byrd "to take his leave" and to pick up letters to deliver in Virginia.¹⁶

24

Immediately upon his return to Virginia in the spring of 1718, Randolph entered the public service as clerk of the House of Burgesses. The circumstances of his appointment he explained publicly nearly two decades later in the pages of the Virginia Gazette, when he was defending himself against a virulent attack on his character. Alexander Spotswood, now a private citizen, had just published a tirade against the House of Burgesses and their Speaker, whom he characterized as "a fawning Creature ... whose Pride and Spleen has made him turn against his Benefactor, who first promoted him in the World." On this occasion Randolph, too, lost his temper and wrote in such anger that his sentence structure reflects his emotional distress:

A Brother of mine, had been Clerk of the House of Burgesses, during the Times of Two Governors, his immediate Predecessors, and he serv'd one Session under him. The Gentleman [Spotswood] had a Scheme in his Head, to raise an Army, and Twenty Thousand Pounds to pay 'em, and to march at the Head of 'em against the Indians. My Brother presum'd to utter some Dislike of the Project, in a private Conversation; which being carried to Court, he dismissed, and another appointed. Then he became a Member of the House of Burgesses; and after several Sessions, having pleas'd him in some Vote, the Gentleman tells him, that he had done him great Wrong, in taking his Office from him; that his Successor did not please him, therefore he should be turn'd out; and desired him to accept of it again. He told him No, he did not want it; but that I was expected every Day from England, and if he would give it to me, he would look upon the Obligation to be the same: I arriv'd, and was appointed, and held the Office Four Sessions under him.¹⁷

25

The journals of the House of Burgesses explain Randolph's allusions. His eldest brother William of Turkey Island became clerk in 1704 and burgess for Henrico in 1715. When the spring session of the General Assembly opened on April 23, 1718, the burgesses had no clerk. Richard Buckner had been removed from the office because he incurred the displeasure of both the governor and the burgesses in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation concerning the question whether to print Spotswood's closing address as part of the proceedings of the House. The copy sent to the governor in the usual way did not include it, and Buckner was informed by the clerk of the Council, William Robertson: "...the Governour has ordered me to Send you back the last Sheet of your Journall together with a Copy of his Speech that you may insert it in its proper place...." Buckner thereupon included it, and the burgesses decided his action was "unwarrantable", summoned him to appear before the House under guard, fined him and discharged him.¹⁸

On Wednesday, April 23, 1718, Thomas Eldridge was sworn in as the new clerk.¹⁹ Then on Monday, April 28, "Thomas Eldridge having resigned his Commission of Clerk of the House of Burgesses and John Randolph having taken the Oathes by Law 26 appointed and Subscribed the Test, was by virtue of a Commission from the hon'ble the Lieut. Governour Sworn Clerk in his Stead and admitted to his place in the House accordingly."²⁰ The clerk's regular duties were to keep the records, supervise the printing of the journals and the acts of the Assembly, and deliver bound copies of the printed laws to the counties, the governor, the speaker, and the secretary. He was responsible, too, for supplying the paper, parchment, and other writing materials for the use of the burgesses. He received a salary of £100 with additional payments for "extraordinary Trouble and Service" from time to time, as when the session was of extraordinary length. Each of the committees had its own clerk chosen by the burgesses without an executive commission. Presumably the clerk of the House could employ deputies as needed but was expected to pay them out of his own funds.

Though the clerk was not a member of the House of Burgesses, he sometimes performed other duties in collaboration with elected burgesses. For example, when the House decided in 1728 to prepare a revised collection of the laws in force in Virginia, the committee chosen to oversee the editing and to contract with William Parks for the printing was made up of three burgesses--Speaker John Holloway, Attorney General John Clayton, Archibald Blair--and two other lawyers--John 27 Randolph, clerk of the House of Burgesses, and William Robertson, clerk of the Council.²¹

In the summer of 1722 Randolph acted as secretary of the Virginia delegation who went to Albany for a meeting with Iroquois chiefs summoned by Governor William Burnet of New York. The Virginia delegates were Governor Spotswood, Councilor Nathaniel Harrison, Burgess William Robinson, and interpreter Captain Robert Hix.²²

While he was clerk of the House of Burgesses, Randolph accepted assignments from the Council. In October of 1722 he and Holloway assisted Clayton in the prosecution of a group of Negroes accused of a treason plot.²³ In April of 1726, when Clayton was granted a year's leave of absence to go to England on private business, he engaged Randolph as his substitute, with Council approval.

In June, 1726, the acting attorney general was asked to prepare a report on the health of the president of the Council, Edmund Jenings, who had been absent from meetings of the Council and General Court for two full years but had not resigned. Now 28 the illness of Governor Drysdale made the availability of an acting governor especially urgent, and everyone considered Jenings incapable of attending to any business. Speaker Holloway, his old friend and lawyer, hesitated to make an official statement; he had not seen him for six months because of a rift in relations with the entire Jenings family. Robertson, his lawyer at the time, seemed equally unwilling to speak of his incapacity.

With his customary care for accurate detail, Randolph reported that he had visited Jenings several times, at different times of day, and always found him unforgetful, unable to write or speak more than a few words, unwilling to recognize his incapacity, and that Mrs. Jenings supported her husband's determination to keep his position as president of the Council. The conclusion was definite and clear:

And I am of opinion that his understanding and memory are so impaired by his disease, which I take to be a palsie, that he is not capable of forming any Judgment or collecting his thoughts, if he has any, upon any subject whatsoever; nor do I think he can be made to understand any question concerning the affairs of the Government.

The Council decided unanimously to advise Governor Drysdale to suspend Jenings from office, and at the next meeting, in August, Robert Carter presided.²⁵

From August to December, 1727, while Robertson was ill with a broken leg, Randolph acted for him as clerk of the 29 Council and also as clerk of the Vice-Admiralty Court.²⁶ The question whether he might use a deputy in one of his clerkships did not arise: the General Assembly was not in session, and all the Council meetings these months were executive.²⁷

Randolph's activity for Robertson in the Vice-Admiralty Court was not his first appearance in that court. Several years earlier he had been prosecuting attorney in several pirate cases, which he described in the same open letter to Spotswood, reviewing their association from 1718 through 1722:

The next Favour he did me was to make me accept of the Office of King's Advocate, in the Court of Vice-Admiralty, by which I lost several Hundred Pounds; but it was necessary for him. I went thro' many troublesome Prosecutions in that Court, against Piratical Effects; defended him against a Claim of the Proprietors of Carolina, for Effects of great Value, brought by Force from thence; was employ'd to settle a Difference between him and Two Captains of Men of War about these Effects, and drew long Writings between them; and then he set me about devising Reasons and Arguments, to entitle him to one Third, which at last he got; I don't say by any clear Right, but by his usual Perseverence, and disobeying the Orders of the Lords of the Treasury. For all this, and out of upwards of 3000 l. he gave me a little Negro Boy, which I could have bought for 12 l. Virginia Money; and if I don't mistake, he got Twenty odd Piratical Negroes for less. Now I thought, so generous a Benefactor ought to have given me 100 l. at least. Then, when several Courts were to be held for Trial of Pirates, upon which handsome Fees were allowed to the Register, whose Office properly and naturally belong'd to me as Advocate, I was never thought of....²⁸

30

This was the period of Spotswood's war on the pirates who preyed on Virginia shipping from their headquarters in the West Indies, the Carolinas, and Spanish Florida.²⁹ Ther were frequent squabbles about the division of the spoils; Randolph probably referred to the argument between Spotswood and the Proprietors of Carolina after Lieut. Robert Maynard captured Blackbeard's ship and brought it to Virginia. The records of the Williamsburg trial of the captured crew do not include the name of the king's advocate; he may well have been Randolph.

Another squabble involved twenty-one Negroes confiscated by Spotswood from Thomas Kennedy, captain of the Calliber Merchant out of Bristol. This slave ship was carrying 190 Negroes when it was taken by the pirate Edward England, who held Kennedy captive for two months and then released him and his ship, giving him twenty-one Negro men "as a Satisfaction for the Damage ... done him." When Kennedy reached Virginia, the governor seized the Negroes for the King's service, he said. Other pirates tried and convicted in Virginia included four who were hanged in 1720, two at Urbanna and two at Gloucester Point.

Randolph's most important assignment for the burgesses 31 was as special agent at court, first in 1728 and again in 1732. The regular Virginia agent in London, called the solicitor of Virginia affairs, represented the governor and Council. He lived in London and negotiated administrative action at court as required, reporting directly to governor and Council. He was paid a sort of retaining fee of £100 a year, with an occasional bonus for special services and reimbursement for special expenses. When the burgesses felt the need for an agent of their own, they chose a Virginian to go to London for a limited time on a specific mission. William Byrd had served them three times in this capacity--in 1702, 1718, and 1721.

Randolph's mission in 1728 was to secure the repeal of a clause in an act of Parliament passed in 1723 which prohibited the importation of tobacco stripped from the stalk. Virginia planters argued that shipping tobacco with leaves still attached to stalks only increased the bulk and so raised freight rates and customs duties, that stripped tobacco carried better, kept better, and sold better. They complained further that processors in England, by mixing stems with the leaf, manufactured an inferior product, which lowered the reputation and market value of all grades of Virginia tobacco and cut down on its consumption, so that much of each year's crop had to be held over in English warehouses and therefore sold on long credit.

For several years the Assembly had been trying to improve 32 the tobacco trade in other ways. To prevent damage during shipment they had made it illegal to gouge hogsheads for samples,³⁰ but the practice did not stop, and sailors continued to steal tobacco from the opened hogsheads and sell it without paying duty. To improve the quality of exported tobacco, the Assembly had limited production to 6,000 plants per tithable³¹ and prohibited the shipment of inferior North Carolina tobacco through Virginia ports.³² The new governor, William Gooch, then called his first Assembly for February of 1728 expressly to work on the tobacco problem.

Two actions were taken: first, the Virginia law limiting production was extended; then a petition to Parliament for repeal of the objectionable part of their statute of 1723 was prepared, together with an address to the king on the subject. On March 28 John Randolph was chosen "the Agent to solicit the said Address & Petition in behalf of this Country."³³ When the session closed two days later, the governor expressed satisfaction with their work and 33 declared: "I shall use my best endeavours effectually to introduce your Address to His Majesty and your Petition to the Parliament of Great Britain ... & agree with you, that you can't place the Affairs which relate to the Interest of this Colony, in better hands than Mr Randolph's, who will shortly go for England."³⁴

Gooch kept his promise with letters to the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State, and to the Board of Trade. To Newcastle he wrote:

Your Grace will be attended by a Gentleman of this Country, one Mr. Randolph appointed by the Assembly to bring over an Address to his Majesty and a Petition to the House of Commons for taking off the Prohibition laid by Act of Parliament on the importation of Stemm'd Tobacco, which is represented to be as greatly to the Prejudice of his Majesty's Customs, as it is injurious to the Planters here, a considerable part of whose labour is rend'red useless by it. I am perswaded if nothing else stands in its way, I need use no arguments to induce Your Grace to favour this Representation, where the King's Interest concurs with the benefit of His People. ³⁵

To the Board of Trade he explained that he was sending over copies of the journals and laws of this session, together with other public papers, in a box in the custody of "John Randolph Esqr. the Clerk of the House of Burgesses, who, going 34 to England for the recovery of his health, will be ready to satisfie your Lordships in any Point wherein you may desire to be further informed."³⁶ Knowing that the planters' objection to high freight rates and customs duties would not receive sympathetic attention from the merchants in the Virginia trade or the Commissioners of the Customs, Gooch emphasized another argument to support their plea. To the Board of Trade he reported many conversations with the planters, who agreed that much good tobacco, which would have been shipped home if it could have been stemmed, was thrown away by the owners and then "by their Servants & Slaves made up into bundles and sold at a small price to Sailors, who can have no other view of profit thereby, than the running it without paying Duty."

The address to the king also stressed the losses to the royal revenue:

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. The humble Address of the Council and Burgesses of Virginia
Most Gracious Soverain.

Your Majesty's most dutifull, and loial Subjects the Council and Burgesses of this Your Dominion of Virginia, having experienced the late Act of Parliament; whereby the Importation of Tobacco stript from the Stalk is prohibited, are persuaded, that on the one hand the Industry of the Planter is greatly discouraged, and bad and unmerchantable Tobacco shipped off from hence is increased, while a greater quantity of a better sort of 35 Tobacco is suppressed; And, on the other, Your Majesty's Customs are considerably diminished, and many Frauds in the running such Tobacco are introduced and encouraged. In Consideration whereof we presume in all Humility to apply to Your Sacred Majesty, and at the same time to petition Your Parliament for Relief: And cannot doubt but the Wisdom of Your Majesty and that great Council will suggest such Reasons as will sufficiently prove the Expediency of Repealing that part of the said Act of Parliament; so detrimental to Your Majesty and Your People.

In behalf of the Council
Robert Carter
John Holloway
Speaker of the house of Burgesses

³⁷

The agent arrived in London late in July³⁸ and spent the fall at work on all the varied business he was negotiating for the colony, the college, and private clients. It was not until January 17, 1728/9, that the Board of Trade called him to appear and discuss the proposed repeal of the prohibition against stemming tobacco.³⁹ He had already sent in a letter explaining the planters' point of view and reviewing his own activities in their behalf:

Your Lordships will observe from the Journals of the last Session of the General Assembly in Virginia, that the Council 36 and Burgesses have drawn up an Address to His Majesty and a Petition to the House of Commons, complaining of [the?] grievous burthen they labour under, in carrying on the tobacco trade, from a clause in a late Act of Parliament prohibiting the Importation of tobacco stript from the Stalk, and appointed me their Agent to Solicit the passing an Act, for their relief. But as I apprehended the greatest objection I should meet with, might be made in respect of the Revenue of Cus[toms] before I troubled your Lordships with the matter, I thought it necessary to lay before the Lords of the Treasury a true state of the case: Which their Lordships were pleased to refer to the Commissioners of the Customs for their Consideration and Opinion: And I Imagine that they after a very deliberate Enquiry, are satisfied that the Revenue has been no ways improved by this Prohibition, So that I flatter myself, I shall obtain the Consent of their Lordships, to bring the matter before the Parliament. Yet I think it my duty to acquaint your Lordps of the Steps I had taken, and at the same time to give you all the Satisfaction I am able, as to the Expediency of removing from so beneficial a Trade, a Mischief, which is insupportable to the People who carry it on both in this Kingdom and Virginia.

My Lords.
The Stript tobacco was by many years Experience found a very Vendible Commodity, as it was most fit for the consumption of this Kingdom and always sold for a higher price, and upon shorter credit, than any other Sort.

So that the Planters could subsist by their Industry, and the Merchants here transacted business with more ease and less hazard: But Since they have been compelled by this Act of Parliament to import the Stalk, it is not possible for them to manufacture it properly for the Markets in Great Britain; They are loaded with the duty and Freight of that which is not only of no Value, but depreciates the pure tobacco at least 2d. in every pound. The Tobacconists are under a temptation to manufacture the Stalk and mingle it with the leaf, whereby the whole commodity is adulterated, and of course the consumption of it lessened. And The Merchants are obliged to keep great quantities in their Warehouses, and at last to Sell upon long Credit. In consequence of which the price of the Planters Labour, is fallen below what they are able to bear, And unless they can be relieved they must be driven to a Necessity of Employing themselves more Usefully in Manufactures of Woollen and Linen, as they are not able under their present circumstances to buy what is Necessary 37 for their Cloathing, in this Kingdom.

Upon all which considerations I humbly hope I Shall have the honour of your Lordships
countenance and Assistance in my Application to the Parliament and am with all possible respect
My Lords
Your Lordps
Most obedient and most devoted
humble Servant
John Randolph⁴⁰

After the letter was read, Randolph appeared in person and the Board informed him "That, if his Proposals were found to be of Advantage to the Tobacco Trade and no Diminution to the Revenue, the Board wou'd give him all the Assistance in their Power."⁴¹

Meanwhile Gooch heard that the mission was being criticized and decided to defend his own position. He informed the Duke of Newcastle:

As soon as I heard from London of the many Objections which are made to the Complaint of the Planters in Virginia sett forth in their Address to his Majesty ... I thought it incumbent on Me to support that Address, by laying before your Grace the true reasons which prevailed with me to encourage it....

He estimated that smuggling defrauded the government of about 120,000 guineas a year, for about 8,000 hogsheads (a fifth of the total export) went in without the payment of duty. Furthermore, much of this smuggled tobacco was sold on the Continent and shippers received the standard tax refund when it left England, "so that the trash which does not pay duty gets drawback allowance." If the clause were repealed, "this fifth Part of 38 the Tobacco would be Stemm'd & Sorted in the Country, and sent Home by the fair Trader, and be as good as any for the Market, and that which remained would be fit for nothing but the Dunghill."

To the expected objection in London--that taking out the stalk would decrease the weight and the revenue--he replied that the Virginians would "be able to furnish the same weight without Stalks (not that all or one third of the Tobacco would be stemmed) as they at present do with Stalks.... And I can assure your Grace, from a very strict enquiry, that if all the Tobacco sent home were stript from the Stalk, by which the Quality of the Tobacco would be much mended, & the Consumption made much greater, this Country is able to supply the Markets." Finally he concluded:

All these Arguments summ'd up, plead for a Repeal of the Clause, and their reasons are: that the Consumption will be encreased by the amendment of the Quality; that there will be as many or more hogsheads for the encouragement of Navigation; and above all, that his Majesty's Revenue will be considerably augmented.⁴²

A copy of this letter was sent to the Board of Trade, where it was read on June 3,⁴³ apparently after Randolph had left London, for he was back in Virginia at the end of June.⁴⁴

39

During the next session of the General Assembly, on May 26, 1730, the House of Burgesses:

Resolv'd Nemine Contradicente That the Sum of One thousand Pounds be paid to John Randolph Esqr for defraying his Expenses in Great Britain and his late Voyage thither and returning; And as a Recompence for his faithful and Industrious Application there in the service of this Colony according to the trust reposed in him; Whereby was obtain'd the Repeal of a Clause of an Act of Parliament made in the Ninth Reign of the late King George the first, prohibiting the Importation of Tobacco stript from the Stalk or Stem into Great Britain.

Order'd, That the said Sum of One Thousand Pounds be paid to him out of the Publick Money in the hands of the Treasurer.

Order'd, That the Committee of Propositions and Grievances do carry the said Resolve and Order to the Governor and Council and desire their Concurrence thereto.

Order'd, That Mr Speaker from the Chair do let him know how sensible the House is of his personal Merit and in behalf of the People return him the thanks of this House.

Which Mr Speaker did accordingly.

...
Order'd, That Mr Randolphs Narrative of his proceedings in Negotiating the Affairs of this Colony in England pursuant to the Order of this House in the last Session of Assembly be printed.⁴⁵

Governor and Council concurred in the commendation and agreed to the appropriation. ⁴⁶

Randolph's mission for the college was equally important and successful. By the royal charter of 1693, President Blair 40 and fourteen^{seventeen other} trustees were given control of all college property and revenues "until the said college should be actually erected, founded and established" with a president, six masters, and about a hundred scholars in schools of theology, philosophy, language, and other arts and sciences. In 1728 these requirements had been met, and it was time to make the transfer. Randolph was chosen to conduct the negotiations and to draft the deed of transfer. Blair explained to the chancellor of the college, the Bishop of London:

The Gentleman who is to deliver this [letter] to your Lordship Mr Randolph is one of the Governours of our College; he was one of the earliest Scholars in it, and has improved himself so well in his Studies, that he is now one of our most eminent Lawyers. By his Acquaintance & interest with General Nicholson he hopes that he can prevail with him to joine in the Transfer of the College. I hope your Lordship will favour him with your best advice and Assistance. He is furnished with Materials, and is very capable of transacting such an affair....⁴⁷

As it turned out, there were only two of the original trustees alive--Blair himself and Stephen Fouace (rector of Hampton Parish while he was in Virginia, from 1688 to 1702), then living in Chelsea, Middlesex. The transfer was accordingly made on their authority. Randolph apparently used all the information in the "Materials" he took along. The legal document he drafted, covering fourteen folios, first reviewed 41 the history of the college from 1693 to 1728 in exact detail--the origin and condition of each source of revenue, the activities and accomplishments of the trustees. Then in the best of legal verbiage the president and six masters and their successors received control of the "manors, lands, tenements, rents, services, rectories, portions, annuities, pensions, and advowsons of churches, with all other hereditaments, franchises, possessions, goods, chattels, and personal estate aforesaid, or so much thereof as should not be before expended and laid out in erecting the said college, or in the other uses aforesaid." ⁴⁸

On June 30, 1729, Blair informed the Bishop of London: "Mr Randolph is just arrived, and I hear has brought the transfer." ⁴⁹ An entry in the faculty journal dated "16 August 1729 Being the Next day after the Transfer of the Said College was compleated," records that the president and masters took oaths of allegiance and fidelity and then decided:

Upon consideration of the great trouble Mr John Randolph has been at in drawing and negotiating the Transferr of the
42 College, both in Virginia and in England It is agreed that over and above his Acct of Disbursements upon that Acct (which we expect) a Present be made him of Fifty Guineas. And the President is desired forthwith to pay the same to him with our thanks for his good Services to the College.⁵⁰

Again, in the fall of 1732, Randolph went to England for his health and to perform missions for the colony, the college, and private clients. The General Assembly had recently achieved real improvement in the quality of tobacco exported to England with the famous Tobacco Act of 1730 inaugurating the inspection system, which required all tobacco to be shipped in hogsheads officially stamped and closed by inspectors at public ware-houses. Gooch was justifiably proud of his part in setting up the system which was to govern tobacco shipping for the rest of the colonial period.⁵¹ From it we date "Gooch prosperity."

Now in the summer of 1732, having done all they could in the colony to improve the tobacco trade, the burgesses decided to "take some Measures" to induce Parliament "to establish some better Methods of Securing and Collecting the Duties upon Tobacco, for preventing the notorious Frauds which 43 have long subsisted, and occasion'd the intolerable Hardships that Trade at present labours under." After debate they decided to ask Parliament "to put Tobacco under an Excise" and appointed a committee to draw up a petition.⁵² In their opinion an excise tax, paid by the buyer in England, would eliminate smuggling and remove many of the opportunities for fraudulent practices on the part of unscrupulous dealers. Thus the new tax would benefit the planter, the "fair trader," the consumer, the king's revenue, and the tax-paying public.

The Council amended the draft of the petition slightly and then recommended that "His Majesty should be addressed on the subject Matter of the said Petition" and "that Application be made to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, for their Favour and Assistance." Also the councilors "desired to be informed" by the burgesses "of the Manner they propose to have the Petition presented, and negotiated." The burgesses thereupon

Resolved, That John Randolph, Esq: be appointed Agent for this Colony, to negotiate the Affairs of the Colony, in Great-Britain: And that the Sum of Two Thousand Two Hundred Pounds, be paid to him, out of the Money in the Hands of the Treasurer, to defray his Expences; and for a Reward for his Trouble, and the taking so long a Voiage.

Within a few days both Council and governor approved the appointment and pay.⁵³

44

As in 1728, Gooch prepared the way for the agent with letters of introduction. He informed the Board of Trade on July 18:

But the most remarkable Step taken in this Session is the Application made to the King and Parliament for changing the Customs on Tobacco into the Nature of an Excise, and their appointment of Mr. John Randolph their Agent for negotiating that Affair. Your Lordships will receive from him a Copy of the Address to His Majesty, and of the Petition to the House of Commons, which contains a full Enumeration of all their Grievances arising as well from the loss of Weights in their Tobacco, the Frauds in the Customs and consequences thereof, as the particular Hardships which they conceive they suffer from the Merchants.

I dont pretend to interpose my Opinion on the several Facts suggested in the Petition, otherwise than as it appears very plain to me that both the King and the Planter run very great risques by the breaking of the Merchants under the present management of that Trade, and that both would be better secured by the method the Assembly propose. And this I hope will be a suficient justification for me to recomend both the Petition and the Gentleman who Negotiates it to your Lordships particular favour. I am the more encouraged to hope your Lordships will be pleased to hear him with acceptance, since I am well assured he will make no progress in this Business, without your Lordships Participation, and the general Approbation of His Majesty's Ministers. ⁵⁴

Two days later he explained to the Secretary of State, the Duke of Newcastle:

The extream low Price to which Tobacco hath been Reduced for sometime past, and the disinclination shown by the Merchants and Factors to Concur in any Measures projected Here for advancing of value ... this General Assembly to prepare an humble Address to His Majesty and a Petition to the Parliament setting forth the many Frauds and Abuses by which His Majesty has not only been deceived in the payment of his Customs but the Planters greivously Injured
45 by the same Means in their Propertys, and their Commodity brought so low, as that they are hardly able to provide Cloaths for the Slaves that make it....

This Address and Petition with a Letter to the Lords of of the Treasury they have Sent by an Agent of their own, Mr. Randolph, who hath the honour to deliver this to your Grace; and as he is a Person of great Integrity and is Employed in a Negotiation intended for the encrease of His Majesty Revenue, at the same time that it is proposed to relieve the People of this Colony, I hope I may with greater Confidence recommend him to your Grace's Favour and Patronage, being well assured how much your Grace has at heart His Majesty's Interest, especially when it may evidently be promoted by the Rules of Justice and common Honesty, without any hardship on the Subject, unless compliance with the Laws be Accounted Such....

I am sensible great Opposition will be made to what is Proposed, not only by all who have made an unjust Gain by defrauding the Crown, but even by Men of better Characters whose private Interests is like to suffer by it; And if I may presume to ask one Favour more without Offence, it is that your Grace will be pleased to permit Mr. Randolph, at such time as your Grace shall Appoint, to explain the present way and management of the Tobacco Trade, and the Measures now proposed for its Amendment; And I am perswaded your Grace will then be at no loss to distinguish by what views the different Partys, that are like to be Opponents, are Acted, and whether they there, or We Here, are contending most for the Public Good.

⁵⁵

In August he gave Randolph still another letter to deliver. This one, addressed to the Bishop of London, mentioned by name two influential Londoners especially important to the success of the agent's negotiations: the prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole, and Alderman Micajah Perry, the leading merchant in the Virginia trade and a powerful member of the House of Commons.

This [is] intended to be delivered to your Lordship by Mr. John Randolph, a Gentleman known by your Lordship, and
46 worthy of all Men's Esteem: He is Sent over by our General Assembly, with their Address to His Majesty, their Petition to the Parliament and a Letter from them to the Lords of the Treasury, to Sollicite, with the Consent of the Ministry, for Relief from many Hardships the People here complain of, occasioned by unfair Traders, who Land their Tobacco without paying the Custom; And they humbly Propose to have it put under an Excise, or into any method, whereby the Frauds may be Prevented and the King's Duty secured....

I shall hope for Pardon if I report to your Lordship the ill usage I have lately mett with from Mr. Perry, who, I am told publicly declared at the Treasury, my Intelligence I can depend upon, he would remove me from my Government; when just about the same time, he sends me Word himself, I had certainly been called Home, if he had not gone to Sir Robert and put a Stop to it; And all this my Lord without any Provocation from me for so much ill-nature as there is in the one, or his giving me any reason why so much good-nature was required in the Other. ...And I must repeat it, [I] never deceived Mr. Perry in a single Article, unless by being the Contriver of the Regulation the Trade is now in, by which, `tis to be hoped, the Planters will be rescued out of the Clutches of the Merchants, and freed from Artifices whereby the Produce of their Labour fell into Hucksters hands.

If your Lordship is willing to receive further Information Mr. Randolph will be always ready to wait on your Lordship, and your Lordship may depend upon whatever he shall have the honour to relate.⁵⁶

When Randolph arrived in London some time in the fall, Walpole was preparing his tax program for the Parliament which would meet early in January, 1733. Merchants and other business interests who expected him to extend the list of excise taxes were already publicizing their opposition in the press. Walpole had pushed through the Parliament of 1732 an excise on salt by threatening a new land tax as the alternative, and the merchants anticipated similar taxes in 47 this year's proposal. Whether Randolph approached Walpole or whether the Prime Minister sought out the Virginia agent we do not know. Walpole's biographers agree that he found Randolph a man after his own heart and the Virginia petition peculiarly apt for his purpose, that he "spent long hours with Randolph, discussing every aspect of his excise scheme; indeed, he saw so much of him that some came to believe that Randolph and not Walpole drew up the bill to excise tobacco."⁵⁷ We know that the Virginia petition of 1732, like that of 1728, was addressed to Parliament and would normally have been presented in the same manner--through the Board of Trade.⁵⁸ The absence of any reference to the 1732 petition in the records of the Board of Trade supports the assumption that Randolph by-passed the Board on this occasion and allowed (or persuaded) Walpole to incorporate the tobacco excise in his larger tax bill for direct presentation to Parliament.⁵⁹

One extant letter of Randolph's, written at the end of December to his client, John Custis, included this brief report 48 on the progress of his public business:

I cannot Expect to be able to return so soon as the April Court, but have no doubt of seeing my Friends early in the summer, either by some ship going to Maryland or other parts of the Continent. Our business will I am told be one of the first of the session, and if we succeed will soon be over; and then I can have no temptation to stay here. I say nothing to you about the price of tobacco, as you will have better Intelligence from your Merchants; only the sweetscented is fallen a half penny a pound by the Conduct of some who move in the lower Orb of Trade: Which will always be the Case, while the Merchants are obliged to bond or pay the duty. And Yet those who complain of this Mischief and openly avow it, to be so, are raving at the Folly and Madness of the Virginians to desire a new regulation. I have a great deal to say upon this subject, but as every day is bringing forth new matter, I will leave it for some other Opportunity....⁶⁰

The details of Walpole's fight for his tax bill on the floor of the House of Commons are pertinent to Randolph's story. The session opened January 17, 1733, but the excise question was not introduced until March 14, when the Prime Minister submitted resolutions for removing import duties on tobacco and substituting a smaller excise tax. His argument in support of the resolutions was a restatement of the Virginia petition, which was published the same month⁶¹ as a pamphlet entitled The Case of the Planters of Tobacco in Virginia, As represented by Themselves; signed by the President of the 49 Council, and Speaker of the House of Burgesses. To which is added, A Vindication Of the said Representation (London: printed for J. Roberts, 1733). Apparently Randolph edited the petition enough to bring it up to date, for it contained a quotation from the True Briton of March 8, but he did not expand its argument. His own extension and explanation appeared separately as the Vindication, pp. 17-64. His forthright attack on the opposition and his passionate defense of the Virginia planter's interests, illustrated in the following selections, make it clear that he had cast his lot with Walpole:

...the Legislature of Virginia... being satisfied that none of the Expedients that have hitherto been fallen upon, have had the good Effect that was expected; and that they had little Reason from the late Conduct of some of their Factors in Great Britain, to hope for a thorough Reformation of Abuses by their Assistance; thought it necessary to lay open their Grievances, and to seek Relief upon a just Representation of their Case, which has lately appeared in Print, and been presented to the Consideration of the Publick.

That undutiful Paper has been long talked of about the Royal Exchange, been branded as the most scandalous and groundless Libel that ever was formed, and unworthy of any Regard or Examination; and has given Occasion to Abundance of Ridicule and Abuse upon the Person who came over to support it, as well from those who know he deserves no such Treatment, as from others who are willing to take every thing for granted that is said on one side of a Question....

It is a Pity some of that publick Spirit which at this Juncture appears so splended among them [the opposition], should never be exerted in Favour of a distressed People, by whom many have lived, and some got Estates; if not to forward one Scheme, to propose some other, in their Opinions more effectual, instead of crying out against all Manner of Relief.

The Remedy now offered to the Wisdom of the Nation, is to substitute some other Security in the Room of Bonds, and
50 to turn the Duties ... upon the Buyer....

It is hoped the Nation will not think themselves injured by giving a reasonable Relief to those Colonies; when they consider what Numbers of People they employ here; and that one Man there brings more Profit to this Kingdom than two Men in it. Which will not be the Case, if they should be driven to the Necessity of turning their Industry to Manufactures, which they are very capable of.⁶²

It is significant, too, that many of Randolph's precise examples of fraud in all phases of the tobacco business appeared also in Walpole's speeches in the House of Commons. Alderman Perry led the attack for the merchants, insisting that both the dissatisfaction of the planters and the fraudulent practices of the "unfair traders" were greatly exaggerated. Commissioners of the Customs, called in to testify, said that the present duties would be adequate if properly collected and supported Perry's contention that excise taxes were bad taxes. Yet Walpole was able to get his bill passed to a second reading on April 4. Then April 10 brought the first of a series of petitions against it, from the city of London, Nottingham, Coventry, and other towns, and on the 12th the Prime Minister moved postponement of the second reading until June.

A week later Perry changed his tactics and moved that a special committee be elected to inquire into the frauds in the customs. Walpole successfully met his challenge with the election of his friend Sir John Cope as chairman and a 51 majority of members from among his supporters. This committee reported on June 7 with a voluminous document devoted largely to data on individual cases of fraud but including as an appendix reports of their examination of witnesses. Randolph's testimony, taken on May 2, emphasized the potential effect of Walpole's program upon the king's revenues. Cope's committee agreed in general opinion with the Commissioners of the Customs and recommended the correction of abuses in the bonding of duties and the removal of opportunity for fraudulent weighing of bulk tobacco with improved official inspection.⁶³ After the committee's unfavorable report, Walpole's bill did not reach a second reading and his excise scheme was lost. Whether a tobacco excise alone might have been accepted is a matter for speculation. Whether it would have solved all the planters' problems is equally doubtful. It is significant that the scheme was never revived in colonial Virginia.

Though Randolph's political mission was a failure, he received a personal reward, knighthood. The exact date of the ceremony is unknown. For the eighteenth century the records of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor are incomplete; they show only that the name "John Randolph of Virginia" follows four other entries, which are dated 52 September 1732.⁶⁴ That his title was already in use in May of 1733 may be seen in a letter to the Board of Trade from Francis Fane, their legal adviser, dated May 7, 1733: "But Sir John Randolph, who has attended me upon these acts, has endeavoured to answer my objection...."⁶⁵ From these two pieces of evidence it may be deduced that the ceremony took place between September of 1732 and May of 1733.

The circumstances are equally vague. Since knighthood is always a reward for service to the crown and is usually suggested by the ministry, it seems likely that Sir Robert Walpole recommended him for the honor because of his help with the excise bill. We know that until the Cope report of June 7, 1733, Walpole was still hopeful that the bill would pass.

Randolph's errands for the college were carefully described in a set of instructions which were copied into the faculty minutes. First, he was to explain to the Lords of the Treasury and the Commissioners of the Customs why the college revenue from the tax on tobacco exported from Virginia and Maryland, laid in 1692 at a penny a pound, was no longer 53 adequate. Though the volume of shipping had greatly increased, the revenue was "now very much sunk" because smuggling and other evasions went undetected. If collection, inspections, and prosecutions were made more efficient, Treasury and Customs agents would collect far more than the £400 the college used to receive and still required. About these suggestions Randolph was told: "But this must be all left to your discretion to manage as the circumstances of affairs will bear."⁶⁶

Another negotiation entrusted to Randolph concerned a small library for the "Indian house here called Brafferton." From the Boyle fund established for the Indian School, a handsome building had been erected and furnished, teachers paid, students supplied with board, clothing and medicines. Yet, by good management, a balance of £500 had accrued, and the faculty proposed to spend part of it for a special library for the Indians, whose needs were different from those of the other students. Randolph was to solicit advice from the chancellor of the college (the Bishop of London) and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to remind the Archbishop of an earlier promise to give or leave something to the college library, and to ask if his Grace had made definite selections so that the proposed purchases would not duplicate anything in his "intended Donation." For specific guidance in the selection of titles, the faculty supplied their agent with 54 two lists of books--those already in the college library and "those which an ancient Minister designs shortly to leave to it."⁶⁷

The instructions closed with this paragraph:

These are the chief things occur to us at present. Perhaps, you may meet with some charitable Benefactors, especially towards our library, that being at present our chief want. And as all this will put you to trouble and charge, tho' you generously say nothing of it, we shall think it our duty not to be ungrateful. And so wishing you a prosperous voyage, good health and a safe return we rest, Sir, Your most affectionate humble Servants.⁶⁸

The faculty put in his hands also a letter of credit addressed to Alderman Perry:

Williamsburg Aug. 10, 1732

Sir:
These are to advise you that we have desired Mr. John Randolphs assistance in the choice of Books by my Lord Bishop of London, our Chancelours advice for a small library for Brafferton; and therefore to desire you to supply him with money for that business out of the Brafferton fund, not exceeding two hundred and fifty or three hundred pounds, if he requires it. Take his receits and place them to the Brafferton account.⁶⁹

Both James Blair, president, and William Dawson, senior faculty member, wrote letters on his behalf to the Bishop of London. Blair introduced him as "Mr Randolph, a gentleman 55 that had the honour to be known to your Lordship in the business of the transfer of our College." Dawson explained that "we have a very convenient Room for a Library," in which a portrait of the Honourable Robert Boyle would have a suitable place of honor, together with a set of his philosophical and theological works and the "Books published by our Right Rev. Lord and Chancellor."⁷⁰

No record of Randolph's activities in behalf of the college on this trip has been found.⁷¹ But in the fall of 1734 there is indirect evidence of his failure to persuade the Lords of the Treasury to arrange for an increased revenue. Dawson informed the Bishop of London in November that the college had petitioned the General Assembly of Virginia for consideration of their revenue problems and requested relief by suggested reforms in the collection of duties on export tobacco and furs, and that the Assembly had responded with the whole revenue from the duty on liquors. "They have directed," he added, "that some 56 Part of the Money be appropritated to the buying a Library."⁷² The books purchased with this money were to be "kept in the public library of the said college." The separate collection which Randolph was to buy for the use of the Indian scholars was not mentioned, and we do not know if he used the letter of credit.

Among the clients with business in England requiring Randolph's attention was John Custis, who in turn was managing Randolph's farms in his absence. An exchange of letters, preserved at the Virginia Historical Society and the Library of Congress, reveals each man's close attention to the other's affairs and a warm personal friendship, characteristic of Randolph but very unusual in the eccentric Custis.

With almost every ship leaving Virginia, Custis sent news of Randolph's family and a report of conditions on his farms, and he usually added later thoughts about the Dunbar suit. (This litigation over the will of Col. Daniel Parke set a record for the length of time it dragged through the courts in England and Virginia. The Virginia litigants were Custis and William Byrd, husbands of Parke's two 57 legitimate daughters; the Dunbar claimants were connections of Parke's illegitimate daughter born in the Leeward Islands. Randolph was one of several lawyers retained by Custis and Byrd.) The following selections from Custis's letters illuminate his attitudes.

On September 5, 1732, he wrote:

May this find you safe arrived at your desired port--and in health Athletick, I could not let the ships all go home without scribling to you, the only way I have at present, to express my affectionate respects....I hope when I hear from you to have some comforting news about my suit and that you will answer the great Mr Hopkins most dreadful bill; he has pawned his salvation that he will get the course, and says I have no right to any thing of Coll Parkes.... [But I] shall leave all to your prudent management; assuring myself that you will do your utmost for me; but if you meet Dunbar; and can make that matter up so secure that I shall not have further trouble I will go as far as £500 rather than take A Voyage to England which I cannot see how I can avoyd let it go how it will here....⁷³

Since Micajah Perry was his financial agent in the Dunbar concern, Custis informed him:

Mr. John Randolph is one of my Lawers, and comes home; and will get the best advise and assistance, can be had in England; I most earnestly entreat you to assist him what you can in this troublesome affair ... and fully inform him of everything you know relating to it....

[You are to] furnish Mr Randolph with what mony he shall want for my service in that affair; and if Mr Randolph & you should have any misunderstanding; (as I hope you will not) in other affairs, good Sir let it not in the Least be any impediment to my important affair; and what kind services you can do me in it, shall be eternally gratefully 58 acknowledged as the most superlative peice of friendship. Mr Randolph is my very good friend and verily beleive he will do his utmost for us.⁷⁴

In December Randolph prepared a long, reassuring progress report for Custis:

I received your kind letters ... and am under very great obligations to you for the trouble you take in the Management of my affairs; which I am sure need not give any directions about, while you are so kind to take it upon you. But must Endeavour to retaliate the pains you are taking for me, by a suitable discharge of the Trust you have reposed in me in relation to Mr. Dunbar; Wherein you may rest [satis]fied I will acquit my self with all imaginable faithfulness. When I first came to Town Mr. Alderman Perry acquainted me that Dunbar who furnishes the [others] in Antigua with Ammunition to carry on the Attack was in London, and desired to have an Opportunity of discoursing me upon the Subject. I told him I was ready at any time and woud give him a meeting when ever he pleased, and desired the Alderman to be as expeditious as he could in bringing us together... but four or five Weeks past without hearing from Mr. Perry about it; and then I happened to take a Lodging in Tavistocke Street over against Mr. Dunbars. As soon as I knew it I made him a Visit, and found him in a very ill state of health, which he told me had been the Occasion of his not meeting me in all this time; but said he would soon be able to make an Appointment with the Alderman & me, and Yesterday the Alderman told me he had recd. a letter from him about it: So I suppose it will not be long before we shall meet. I had very little discourse with him in relation to the right of the Cause or the Terms of Accomodation, desiring rather that they might proceed first from him. I only told him in General that his Lawyer in Virginia might be too sanguine in his opinion of the matter, & give him greater Expectations of Success than perhaps was reasonable. He answerd as generally with a Complement upon me, that he knew his disadvantage in not having me on his side, but he had notwithstanding some dependence upon the Justice & Equity of the Case: so we parted.

59 Meanwhile Randolph had consulted several legal authorities in London and was preparing a defense against Dunbar's attorneys. "You may depend," he concluded, "no Industry or painstaking shall be wanting to make me a Complete Master of the dispute." ⁷⁵

In the summer of 1733 Custis commented to Perry on two of Randolph's missions:

I understand the Excise is damnd; to the great joy of the Majority of the nation; some here were very fond of it and seemd sorry for its miscarriage, but for my part, my weak underst[anding] could never give me the least favorable thought of it; and am heartily glad it lost....

Sr Jno Randolph is arrived and tells me he saw my mortall enemy Dunbar, who is so puffd up with the certainty of getting all his demands that he makes a jest of any tolerable composition; but Sr Jno Assures me [in] his opinion; he will bee egregiously disappointed; my whole dependance is on providence who I hope will not suffer so much injustice done A Lawfull Issue; it has bin; and is the greatest vexation to me; that ever happend especially when I consider that I have spent the best part of my life in fatigue & travail to enrich a kennell of whores and bastards, and I wish that base wretch the Author [Colonel Parke] has now dearly paid for his unnaturall and unchristian like usage....⁷⁶

Randolph did not live to see the suit come to trial; nor did Custis see it settled. ⁷⁷

Sir John Randolph, back in Virginia by midsummer of 1733, resumed his law practice without interruption by public 60 duties until the next session of the General Assembly. When the burgesses reconvened on Thursday, August 22, 1734, the first item of business was his resignation as clerk, succeeded at once by Benjamin Needler, another lawyer educated in England, with clerical experience in the Committee for Courts of Justice. As the organization of the House went forward, vacanies among burgesses were noted, and Governor Gooch was requested to issue the necessary writs for special elections. First on the list was the College of William and Mary, whose representative, George Nicholas, was dead. Gooch issued the writ at once, the election was held, Randolph was chosen and took his seat on Friday. The next day, Saturday, the House accepted the resignation of Speaker Holloway. Attorney General Clayton then "recommended Sir John Randolph, as a Person equal to, and eminently qualified for, that Trust. Whereupon, Sir John Randolph was unanimously chosen, and accordingly conducted to the Chair."⁷⁸

Though the change was smoothly contrived, there was no hint of fraud and no criticism; only normal agreement and good organization were implied. Holloway's stated reason for resigning was ill health. But he was also treasurer, and when a committee of burgesses examined his accounts later 61 in the session, they found a shortage of £1850. The deficit was settled without prosecution, a new treasurer was chosen--Sir John Randolph--and a new bonding requirement was written into the law.⁷⁹

As Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Sir John was praised for the high quality of his official addresses to the House and for the House.⁸⁰ Taken all together the speeches demonstrate the expected oratorical skill, literary polish, and sound judgment. Moreover, they reveal admirable personal characteristics, interests, and attitudes: modesty, sincerity, integrity, patience, great concern for impartiality and for the rule of law, thoughtful and precise ideas about the official use and misuse of power, wide and deep knowledge of the history of British governmental institutions. To modern ears, he talks like a scholarly lawyer and political scientist.

In his first acceptance speech, Randolph brought to an end Virginia's adherence to the old English convention, the 62 "Disabling Speech":

I come now to experience all the Degrees of your Favour and Kindness to me; and it will not become me to pretend any Unwillingness to accept what you think me worthy of: Tho' I know, after Gentlemen have emploied all their Interest to be elected into this Office, they usually represent themselves absolutely incapable of discharging the Duties of it. But if this be done without a Consciousness of the Truth of what they say, or any Design to depart from the Right of their Election, it must either be a false Appearance of Modesty, or a blind Compliance with a Custom, that perhaps, in the beginning, was founded upon Truth and Reason, but by Time, like many others, becomes only an Abuse of Words; which I cannot follow: And I the rather avoid it, because I intend, upon no Occasion, to give you any Instance of the least Insincerity, which I think not only very useless, but the most vicious Thing in the World. Therefore, I must own, I do with a particular Pleasure embrace the Opportunity you have given me, or employing my small Talents, which appear to you in a much better Light than they deserve, still in your service; and I thank you for this additional Instance of your Confidence in me, in bestowing your greatest Trust upon me.⁸¹

He outlined the utility of parliamentary debate, properly conducted:

...we should look upon all Differences among us to proceed from the Doubtfulness of Expedients that shall be proposed for the Common Good: And upon that Account, the Minority should submit calmly and chearfully to what the Majority determines, `til Time and Experience shall either convince, or furnish them with more forcible Arguments against it. Then we shall hear one another patiently, put the Weight of every Man's Reason in the Ballance against our own, and at last form a Judgment upon the whole matter; which, if not the wisest, yet, resulting from the Integrity of our own Principles, will be honest and commendable. But if we come, by our Resentments and Impatience of being out voted or by our Affections, to consider Men more than the Matter, we shall be sure to be always in the wrong, because what we do from Consideration without us, can have no good Foundation; and we must lose all the Advantages of Reasoning and Argument. And, however Mankind may be provoked, 63 by being thwarted with the Sentiments of other Men, a Variety of Opinions is not only absolutely necessary to our Natures, but is likewise of all Things the most useful; since if all Men were of one Mind, there would be no Need of Councils; no Subject for Learning and Eloquence; the Mind would want its proper Exercise, and without it, like the Body, would lose its natural Strength, from a Habit of Sloth and Idleness. Truth itself will receive an Addition of Strength by being opposed, and can never be in Danger of suffering by the Test of Argument.⁸²

For the burgesses he described the ideal elected representative:

We must consider ourselves chosen by all the People sent hither to represent them, to give their Consent in the weightiest of their Concerns; and to bind them by Laws which may advance their Common Good. Herein they trust you with all that they have, place the greatest Confidence in your Wisdoms and Discretions, and testify the highest Opinion of your Virtue. And surely, a Desire of pleasing some, and the Fear of offending others; Views to little Advantages and Interests; adhering too fondly to ill-grounded Conceits; the Prejudices of Opinions too hastily taken up; and Affectation to Popularity; Private Animosities or Personal Resentments; which have often too much to do in Popular Assemblies, and sometimes put a Bias upon Mens Judgments, can upon no Occasion, turn us aside in the Prosecution of this important Duty, from what shall appear to be the true Interest of the People: Tho' it may be often impossible to conform to their Sentiments, since, when we come to consider and compare them, we shall find them so various and irreconcileable.⁸³

To Governor Gooch he analyzed the proper function of appointed administrative officials:

The Art of Governing Well, is thought to be the most abstruse, as well as the usefulest Science in the World; and when It is learnt to some Degree of Perfection, it is 64 very difficult to put it in Practice, being often opposed by the Pride and Interest of the Person who governs. But You have shew'd how easy it is to give universal Satisfaction to the People under Your Government: You have met them, and heard their Grievances in frequent Assemblies, and have had the Pleasure of seeing none of them proceed from Your Administration: You have not been intoxicated with the Power committed to You by His Majesty; but have used it, like a faithful Trustee, for the Public Good, and with proper Cautions....

Permit me then, Sir, to beseech You to go on in the same steady Course: Finish the Character You have been almost Nine Years establishing; Let it remain unblemished, and a Pattern to those who shall come after You; Make us the Envy of the King's other Plantations; and put those Governors out of Countenance, who make Tyranny their Glory....⁸⁴

Sir John not only preached responsibility for good government; he practiced it. For example, in the 1736 session of the Assembly, "Mr. Speaker informed the House" that when he was a candidate in the recent election of burgesses for York County, he learned that Sheriff Francis Heyward had before the election "made several Leases of small Parcels of Land, of little or no Value, on Purpose to quality Persons to vote at the said Election"; that he had taxed Heyward with it before the poll began and suggested that the sheriff could not be an impartial judge of the election; that Heyward had admitted making the leases but did not think himself disqualified to serve as judge.

The House referred Heyward's case to the Committee of Privileges and Elections, who reported the following week.
65 Heyward upon examination confessed to nineteen leases to nineteen persons "to make them Freeholders" so that they could vote, but he insisted that he had not engaged them to vote for any particular candidate. Upon further questioning, the sheriff admitted that he expected them to vote "for those Persons whom he should like...otherwise he should not have made the Leases," but he still thought his action legal and hoped for pardon if it were not. The House condemned Heyward's action as corrupt, against the law and the duty of his office, and ordered that he receive a reprimand from the Chair. Sir John then defined for Heyward the fraud of which he was guilty and explained the leniency of the punishment:

You must consider, that when any Persons have been judged guilty of Corruption, in the Discharge of any Office, by the House of Burgesses, they have been usually disabled from holding any Office of Trust for the future, which would have been a lasting Disgrace upon you: But this House taking into Consideration, your Confession and Submission, before the Committee, have been so favourable to you, as to command me only to reprimand you; and I do reprimand you accordingly. And I do acquaint you, that it is their Pleasure, that you be discharged out of Custody, paying Fees.

Immediately after the reprimand, the House:

Ordered, That a Bill be prepared, declaring who shall have a Right to vote at Elections, and to prevent making fraudulent Freeholds; and that the Committee of Privileges and Elections, prepare and bring in the same.⁸⁵

66

While he was Speaker of the House, Sir John continued to perform a variety of public duties. He was still an alderman of the City of Williamsburg, an office he had held since the town was incorporated in 1722. ⁸⁶ On September 5, 1734, he became one of the justices of Gloucester County, where he owned a large estate. ⁸⁷ In 1736, when Norfolk was incorporated, he was chosen recorder, the only one of the magistrates required to have legal training. The Virginia Gazette of November 26 reported:

Sir John Randolph being so appointed Recorder of the said Borough, made a Visit to them, and was on Thursday the 18th Instant, sworn into that Office accordingly: And he being impowered to appoint a Deputy, to act in his Absence, did appoint David Osheall, Gent. Deputy-Recorder of the said Borough, who was accordingly qualified.
On this Occasion of Sir John's Visit, the Gentlemen of the said Town and Neighborhood, shew'd him all imaginable Respect, by displaying the Colours, and firing the Guns of the Vessels lying there, and entertaining him at their Houses, in the most elegant Manner, for several Days; amply signalizing their great Respect, on this joyful Occasion. ⁸⁸

67

PRIVATE LIFE

Shortly after beginning his public career and private law practice, Randolph took an important step in private life with his marriage to Susannah Beverley, daughter of Peter Beverley of Gloucester County and Elizabeth (Peyton) Beverley. Her elder sister Elizabeth was already the wife of John's eldest brother, William of Turkey Island.⁸⁹

When Sir John died, there were four living children of the marriage:⁹⁰

• I. Beverley, the eldest son, was born about 1720. He was the residuary legatee and inherited his father's estate in Gloucester. Because the Gloucester records were lost, there are few extant references to him. He was a Gloucester justice in 1743 and presumably kept the office until his death, for he was the county sheriff in 1756. ⁹¹ He was burgess for the 68 ^?college, 1744-1749.⁹² On January 21, 1742/3, he married Agatha Wormeley, daughter of John Wormeley of Rosegill.⁹³
• II.Peyton, the second son (1721-1775). See sketch below.
• III.John, the third son, born in 1727 or 1728, is usually known today as John Randolph the Tory.^{He or son of Wm & Ely [illegible] Randolph?} Like his brother Peyton, he was a practicing lawyer educated at the College of William and Mary and the Middle Temple. Like his father and his brothers, he held public office--member of the Williamsburg Common Council, clerk of the House of Burgesses, burgess for the college, and attorney general. In politics he was a conservative; in 1775 he cast his lot with Dunmore and fled to England, where he continued to work for reconciliation.⁹⁴

^{He or son of Wm & Ely [illegible]ley Randolph?}

In private life he was especially attractive and retained the friendship of many of the revolutionary patriots, who enjoyed his company and respected his intellectual attainments 69 and personal integrity. His Williamsburg home was a popular literary and social center. In 1758 he received title to a ninety-acre tract of land on the edge of town, facing South England Street, which his father had purchased from Thomas Bray.⁹⁵ There he built the handsome dwelling house later known as Tazewell Hall.⁹⁶ The garden, too, was famous, for he performed experiments in adapting English gardening methods to Virginia conditions and recorded his experience in A Treatise on Gardening by a Citizen of Virginia, which is believed to be the earliest American book on kitchen gardening.⁹⁷

His wife, Ariana, was a granddaughter of Edmund Jenings, president of the Council. She and their two daughters, Susan and Ariana, accompanied him to England, but their son Edmund remained in Virginia. Just before he left the colony, John Randolph wrote to Edmund, then in Boston, a letter that reveals family relationships and attitudes:

My dear Edmund
I wrote you a lond letter recommended to the care of Mr. Willing at Philadelphia, wherein I pointed out my Reasons why I thought your military undertaking will not 70 suit your Situation, or be so advantageous to you as residing in Wmsburg. Your uncle we hear is dangerously ill at Richmond. His legs swell very much, & his asthma encreases. It is thought his Duration here will be but short. You should never be out of the way, when so much depends on your Presence. I shall certainly go to England with my Family before October. I want you very much to take my place at the Capitol. His Majesty will provide for me at Home, & you may certainly get into my Office. I propose selling all my Estate both real & personal at the next Meeting in October. You have often told me that you wd relinguish your Legacy given by Mr. Jennings. As an equivalent I shall give you the full Contents of my Study, & propse giving my Bond for the Remainder. I have appointed yourself & Uncle my Trustees for selling my Estate & shall join Mr. Blair with you. Consider what an honorable & advantageous outset you will make in the Law. Is not the Glory of the Cabinet equal to that of the Field? Is not this, better than broken Limbs, Fatigue, Shattered Health, & an eternal want of money? For Gods Sake return to your Family & indeed to yourself. Abandon not your Sisters, who are wretched about you. Come back & Heaven will prosper all your Undertakings.
I am your affect. & afflicted Father
J. Randolph

⁹⁸

After his death at Brampton, England, in 1784, his daughter Ariana returned to Virginia with her husband, James Wormeley, and brought her father's body for burial in the college vault, beside his father and brother. IV. A daughter, Mary, married December 8, 1742, Philip Grymes (1721-1762), son of John Grymes. The dates of her birth and death are not known.

We do not know when Sir John first lived in Williamsburg 71 or where.⁹⁹ Perhaps he was renting a house in town when he became an alderman in 1722. When Spotswood sold him the lots behind Archibald Blair's house, in July of 1723, the purchaser was identified in the deed as "John Randolph of the City of Wmsburgh Gent."¹⁰⁰ The "Messuage or tenement" on the lot may have been a dwelling house; knowing his close relationship with Spotswood at the time, one can guess that Randolph rented it before he bought it. We do know that when he sold it to Blair on July 20, 1724, he was already living across North England Street in the older part of the present Peyton Randolph House,¹⁰¹ which remained his Williamsburg residence 72 until his death. During the years of his occupancy, he added to the house and to the property, which eventually included one or more lots back of the two facing Market Square. There he built his coach house, stable, and other dependencies.¹⁰²

Additional property nearby was mentioned in his will. At College Landing there were lots and public warehouses. On Archer's Hope Creek there was a plantation of about a hundred acres (the estate later called Tazewell Hall) with adjoining lands purchased from Custis about 1736. Other tracts in James City County included the lands at Martin's Hundred willed to Peyton and those on the Chickahominy River willed to John. Apparently the Gloucester property inherited by Beverley included several old houses, for the codicil to the will specifically mentioned one at Eaton Hill and another at North River Hill which needed repairs.

It has been said that Sir John was an active speculator in western lands. The direct evidence for this conclusion is his purely nominal association with Lady Randolph's cousin, William Beverley, in the early, promotional stages of the development of the Beverley Manor tract in the upper 73 Shenandoah Valley.¹⁰³

When he distributed his property by will, Sir John placed special emphasis on his library, presumably because he especially valued it. To his son Peyton he devised his "whole collection of books with the cases in which they are kept hoping he will betake himself to the study of the law." In a codicil he added:

I also desire that a fair catalogue may be made of my books and that they be carefully preserved in the presses where they now are so far as they can contain them and I desire that these presses be fully repaired and have new locks and keys and that one other mahogany press be provided for the better keeping the rest of the books....

If the estate was inventoried and if the book catalogue was made, we have found no copy of either list. Tradition tells us that it was one of the best libraries of its day, comparable to Byrd's in quality, though certainly not so extensive.¹⁰⁴ Randolph was a scholar, with special interest in constitutional history, and he collected manuscripts as well as books. His nephew, William Stith, used some of these manuscripts in his history of Virginia. Stith explained in 74 his Preface:

...my late Uncle, Sir John Randolph, had purposed to write a Preface to our Laws, and therein to give an Historical Account of our Constitution and Government, but was prevented from prosecuting it to Effect, by his many and weighty Publick Employments, and by the vast Burthen of private Business from his Clients.... I am sorry to see all our Hopes at an End by the Death of Sir John Randolph; and was unwilling the Design should be entirely abandoned, and that our History should still remain in its old Confusion and Uncertainty. I had also, by my Intimacy with that Gentleman, had the Sight and Perusal of many excellent Materials in his Hands.

A part of these "excellent Materials" consisted of "Extracts out of our oldest Records, made for the Use of Sir John Randolph" by a careful clerk in the Secretary's Office, Mr. Hickman.¹⁰⁵

An additional advantage Stith enjoyed was "Conversation with Col. Byrd and Sir John Randolph" about another collection of manuscript materials at Westover--an attested copy of the journals of the London Company, 1619-1624, bound in two large folio volumes, originally made for the Earl of Southampton while he was treasurer of the Company, and purchased by William Byrd the elder from Southampton's estate.¹⁰⁶

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Both of these collections were in Jefferson's hands in 1823, when he wrote this about their provenance:

The only manuscripts I now possess are some folio volumes; two of these are the proceedings of the Virginia Company in England; the remaining four are of the Records of the Council of Virginia from 1622 to 1700. The account of the two first volumes you will see in the preface to Stith's History of Virginia. They contain the records of the Virginia Company, copied from the originals, under the eye, if I recollect rightly, of the Earl of Southampton, a member of the company, bought at the sale of his library by Doctor Byrd, of Westover, and sold with that library to Isaac Zane. These volumes happened at the time of the sale, to have been borrowed by Colonel R. Bland, whose library I bought, and with this, they were sent to me.... The other four volumes, I am confident, are the original office records of the Council. My conjectures are that when Sr. John Randolph was about to begin the History of Virginia which he meant to write, he borrowed these volumes from the Council office, to collect from them materials for his work. He died before he had made any progress in that work, and they remained in his library, probably unobserved, during the whole life of the late Peyton Randolph, his son; from his executors I purchased his library in a lump, and these volumes were sent to me as a part of it. I found the leaves so rotten as often to crumble into dust on being handled; I bound them, therefore, together, that they might not be unnecessarily opened, and have thus preserved them forty-seven years. If my conjectures are right, they must have been out of the public office about eighty years.¹⁰⁷

Since Jefferson was an excellent judge of antiquities, we may conclude that Sir John kept in his library both the extracts Hickman made for him and some of the original minute 76 books or other records of the Council, which he borrowed from the Secretary's Office; that his son Peyton had no interest in them; and that his nephew Stith used them.

Though Randolph never wrote the projected historical sketch, his admirers may find examples of his style not only in the Vindication and in his speeches, but also in forty reports of cases tried in the General Court which are included in Virginia Colonial Decisions: The Reports by Sir John Randolph and Edward Barradall of the Decisions of The General Court of Virginia 1728-1741, edited by Robert T. Barton (Boston, 1909, 2 volumes). Each of these reports is essentially a lawyer's brief, presented in the traditional English style, with only one side of the argument. From a casual reading of them one receives an impression of clear, strong, direct reasoning, pointed up with well-chosen illustrations and sparing in the use of legal technicalities. Presumably these were cases Sir John himself pled before the court, and it is easy to understand their appeal to judges who were not often trained lawyers. Comparing the two lawyers, Barton judged them both men of ability and learning but found Randolph's style much to be preferred to Barradall's.

No other records of his private practice have been discovered, but contemporary correspondence includes a few letters of clients who referred to legal business. Custis has already been mentioned. 77 Another satisfied client was Robert Carter of Corotoman, whose letter books contain constant complaints to British merchants and Virginia officials. When he wrote to Randolph, however, "King" Carter expressed confidence in his friend's judgment and concern for his health. In the short period between 1728 and 1731, for example, Randolph was handling stocks and securities in England, attending to Carter's business with Perry, doing the legal work in the complicated and extensive land business of Carter and his sons John, Robert, and Charles. He was also advising all the investors in the Frying Pan Company, a copper mining venture in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, and settling the estate of Carter's son-in-law, Col. Mann Page.¹⁰⁸

Sir John had a special talent for getting along with querulous eccentrics--Blair, Custis, Carter, Perry, Dunbar, and even Spotswood until the fall of 1736 , when the ex-governor published in the Philadelphia Weekly Mercury a tirade against the House of Burgesses. The point at issue was £239/17, the unexpended balance from £1500 put into his hands in 1720 while he was governor, for public buildings and military supplies 78 in Spotsylvania and Brunswick counties. After sixteen years of excuse and argument, the burgesses demanded payment of the £239/17, and Spotswood was furious. Randolph, involved as clerk and speaker, reluctantly replied to Spotswood's attack on the integrity of the Virginia government and on his private and public character. Once in the fray, he proved himself a good fighter. Using the official journals, he reviewed the history of the £1500 and his personal relations with the governor in detail covering six printed columns of the gazette, working up to a devastating conclusion: "I wish while his Body and Understanding are growing weak, to see him subduing his Passions, instead of suffering them to grow stronger: And so I bid him heartily Farewel." ¹⁰⁹

Apparently Sir John was admired, respected, and loved by everyone who knew him, and the tributes in his obituary were more than mere formality. Byrd expressed Virginia attitudes in a letter to Captain Edward Randolph in the summer of 1728:

By this time you will have the pleasure of embracing your Brother John, who comes to you, like-wise on the score of his Health. I hope the Sea, will leave nothing, for the Physician to do, that we may have him back as soon as possible: He can hardly be spared either by his family, or his Friends, we all mourn his absence, and
79 Justice, may wish her Ears Shut as well as her Eyes, 'til he returns. ¹¹⁰

In March of 1737 Governor Gooch informed his brother, the Bishop of Norwich: "My Neighbour Sr. J. Randolph is dead, a great loss to this Country." ¹¹¹ And Commissary Blair wrote to the Bishop of London: "But a few days ago we lost Sir John Randolph, who was a good friend to the College and Country, I can't say to the Church; for he had some very wild, dissenting, and scarce Christian opinions." ¹¹² As a final answer to the criticism Blair implied, in December of 1735 Randolph prepared a formal statement of his beliefs, a sort of confession of faith, which he included in his will. ¹¹³ Like Jefferson and Franklin, Sir John was a tolerant and rational Christian, preferring the simplicity of the Gospels to the dogmatism of church officials.

On Wednesday, March 2^6*, 1736/7, "between Two and Three 80 in the Morning" Sir John Randolph "died at his House" in Williamsburg, "after a long Indisposition." ¹¹⁴ On Monday, the 7th:

...the Hon. Sir John Randolph, Knt. Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Treasurer of this Colony, and Representative for William and Mary College, was interred in the Chapel of the said College. He was (according to his own Directions) carried from his House to the Place of Interment, by Six honest, industrious, poor House-keepers of Bruton Parish; who are to have Twenty Pounds divided among them: And the Rev. Mr. Dawson, one of the Professors of that College, pronounced a Funeral Oration, in Latin. His Corps was attended by a very numerous Assembly of Gentlemen and others, who paid the last Honours to him, with great Solemnity, Decency, and Respect. ¹¹⁵

The Virginia Gazette carried a long eulogy as part of the obituary notice, and in April published a formal elegy in Latin and English. ¹¹⁶ Two years later a "beautiful Monument, of curious Workmanship, in Marble" was erected "in the Chapel of the College of William and Mary, to the Memory of Sir John Randolph, Knight, who was interred there." ¹¹⁷

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SUSANNAH (BEVERLEY) RANDOLPH (c. 1692-post 1754)

When her husband died, Lady Randolph became the owner of the Peyton Randolph House. In his will Sir John remembered her "in the first place" because of "her Faithfulness affection and prudence," and he left her all his town property during her lifetime. She received also the income from his entire estate in trust for the maintenance and education of her three sons until they reached the age of twenty-four and of her daughter until she married.

As executors of the estate, Sir John appointed his widow, his brothers William and Richard, and Lady Randolph's brother-in-law, Col. Henry Whiting of Gloucester. Since the executors were also guardians of the children, along with Secretary John Carter, Lady Randolph had ready access to experienced administrative help and advice from them as well as from other close friends like William Byrd. While she doubtless consulted her advisers about business matters and delegated many of them, it is apparent that she was capable of managing some of her own affairs. For example, in 1740 as "Guardian to Peyton Randolph, Proprietor of the Public Warehouses at the College Landing," she petitioned the House of Burgesses:

That since the last Session of Assembly, the Warehouses, at the Place aforesaid, being too small to receive the Tobacco brought there, another Warehouse 40 Feet long, and 20 Feet wide, was obliged to be built, at a considerable Expence. And praying some Allowance for the same, and an 82 Increase of the Rent of the said Warehouses.

The House granted her "an additional Rent of Four Pounds Ten Shillings per Annum." ¹

In 1745 Peyton reached his majority and took over the management of the lands and warehouses at College Landing; as late as September, however, some part of the property was called "Lady Randolph's Quarter."² Presumably she continued to own the house and lots on Nicholson Street until her death. She was probably living there in 1749, when this advertisement appeared in the Virginia Gazette:

All persons who ordered tea from Mess. Hanbury may be supply'd with it on applying to Lady Randolph in Williamsburg.³

Like other Virginia ladies of her day, Lady Randolph was most active and best known as a housewife and hostess, as her contemporaries attested in Sir John's obituary:

As he received a noble Income, for Services in his Profession and Emploiments, so he, in some Measure, made a Return, by a most generous, open, and elegant Table. But the Plenty, Conduct, and Hospitality, which appeared there, reflect an equal Praise on himself and his Lady.⁴

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There is a contemporary pen portrait of her drawn by William Byrd as a line drawing in a playful letter to Sir John after a visit to Westover in the bad weather of mid-winter:

In hopes you may be safe at Williamsburg by this time and my Lady up to the Elbow in Sassages & Black Pudding, I can't forbear Greeting you well, and signifying our joy at your arrival in your own Chimney Corner. We have had the good nature to be in pain for you ever since you left us, `tho in good truth your obstinacy in exposing your wife and children to be starved with cold and buried in the mire, hardly deserved it. No doubt you were obliged to have Pioneers to clean the way before you as far as Mr. Custis' Plantation, and you needed Four yokes of Oxen as they do in the deep roads of Sussex to drag you thro' the Dirt. I dare say notwithstanding your fine Horses you were not able to go along faster than Mr. Attorney [Clayton] walks. ⁵

From Byrd's diary for the period 1739-1741 we learn that his friendship with Lady Randolph continued after Sir John's death. When he was in Williamsburg for meetings of the Council or Court he saw her several times a week, sometimes every day. Occasionally her chariot met him at the ferry or took him to the ferry, he sometimes dined with her and met her at gatherings in other Williamsburg homes, but the usual pattern was an evening call at her house, where he stayed for an hour or so drinking tea or playing cards or just visiting. The terse diary entries offer no hint of other guests--or the absence of other guests--nor do they include personal comment about her. The regularity of his visits, 84 nearly always mentioned on the days of his arrival and departure, suggest special ties of affectionate concern for her welfare and pleasure in her company.⁶

Strange to say, no record of her death or burial has been found.⁷ She was still living in Williamsburg in 1754, when two of her slaves were baptized at Bruton Parish Church.⁸

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PEYTON RANDOLPH (c. 1721-October 22, 1775)

Peyton Randolph, "Mr. Attorney" from 1744 to 1766 and then "Mr. Speaker" until his death, in the decade before the Revolution presided at every important assembly in Virginia and at the First Continental Congress. One of the men who knew him well, Thomas Jefferson, wrote this estimate of his personal characteristics:

He was indeed a most excellent man; and none was ever more beloved and respected by his friends. Somewhat cold and coy towards strangers, but of the sweetest affability when ripened into acquaintance. Of Attic pleasantry in conversation, always good humored and conciliatory. With a sound and logical head, he was well read in the law; and his opinions when consulted, were highly regarded, presenting always a learned and sound view of the subject, but generally, too, a listlessness to go into its thorough development; for being heavy and inert in body, he was rather too indolent and careless for business, which occasioned him to get a smaller proportion of it at the bar than his abilities would otherwise have commanded. Indeed, after his appointment as Attorney General, he did not seem to court, nor scarcely to welcome business. In that office he considered himself equally charged with the rights of the colony as with those of the crown; and in criminal prosecutions exaggerating nothing he aimed at a candid and just state of the transaction, believing it more a duty to save an innocent than to convict a guilty man. Although not eloquent, his matter was so substantial that no man commanded more attention, which, joined with a sense of his great worth, gave him weight in the House of Burgesses which few ever attained. He was liberal in his expenses, but correct also, so as not to be involved in pecuniary embarrassments; and with a heart always open to the amiable sensibilities of our nature, he did as many good acts as could have been done with his fortune, without injuriously impairing his means of continuing them.¹

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The second son of Sir John Randolph was born about 1721, perhaps in Williamsburg but probably not in the Randolph House facing Market Square. After studying at the College of William and Mary, he went to London for the legal training his father had strongly recommended. He was admitted to the Middle Temple October 13, 1739, and called to the bar February 10, 1742/3.² The new attorney then returned to Virginia to practice his profession.

On May 7, 1744, Peyton Randolph was appointed attorney general of Virginia,³ a post left vacant by the death of Edward Barradall in July, 1743.⁴ While the journals of the Council do not record the choice of a successor to Barradall, they do show uninterrupted payment of the attorney general's salary. Nor do Governor Gooch's letters reveal the name of an interim appointee or note Randolph's appointment. In the absence of further precise information, there are inferences 87 to be drawn: that Randolph was given the post because of his own qualifications as a lawyer with the best of training and his father's reputation and connections in Virginia and London; and that Gooch made temporary arrangements for a successor to Barradall--perhaps Randolph himself until his regular appointment could be cleared through the office of the Secretary of State.⁵

On Saturday, March 8, 1745/6, "Peyton Randolph Esq his majestys atto. Genl. of this colony was marry'd to Bettie Harrison daughter of the late Col. Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley in Charles City County, deceased."⁶ The couple may have established their residence immediately in the house on Nicholson Street; though Lady Randolph still owned it, Peyton 88 had reached his majority, defined in his father's will as the age of twenty-four, and doubtless assumed the management of the property at College Landing and the lands on Archer's Hope Creek as well as his estate at Martin's Hundred. From the efficient management of his farms and other property he apparently derived enough income to enable him to devote so much of his time to public business at the expense of his private law practice.⁷

Randolph's activities in the York County Court illustrate his early involvement in public affairs. On July 21, 1746, he qualified for private practice in the county.⁸ Then in August, 1749, he was commissioned one of the justices to serve on the bench in the regular monthly courts as one "of the Quorum" and also for the county Oyer and Terminer sessions.⁹ For the next few years his name headed the list of justices, and he was present at almost every session, though the volume of business before the court required him to spend a great deal of time in Yorktown. In these years he might have interrupted his public service in order to represent private clients, but he was no 89 longer appearing in the court as a lawyer.¹⁰ After 1748, when a law forbade lawyers practicing before the General Court to take cases in the counties, he confined his private practice to the higher court. Certainly General Court practice meant higher fees and greater prestige, and it was more convenient for him because the General Court always sat in Williamsburg.

In August of 1747 Randolph assumed another public obligation as a vestryman of Bruton Parish,¹¹ and the next summer was elected burgess for the City of Williamsburg. When the General Assembly met in October, 1748, he was present for assignment to the most important standing committee, Privileges and Elections. During the session, which extended into May of 1749, he served on special committees where his legal talents were most useful; all these were appropriate assignments for "Mr. Attorney" but not important ones.¹²

Governor Gooch left the colony that summer, and the next meeting of the Assembly was called by Dinwiddie for February of 1752. In this session "Mr. Attorney," now representing the College of William and Mary, received more assignments in the routine business of the House; like his father, he was using both 90 literary and legal talents in drafts of reports and addresses as well as bills.¹³ Then in the session which opened November 1, 1753, he received similar routine assignments and one important appointment: again like his father, he was chosen agent for the House in London. His specific assignment was to present their official protest against the governor's pistole fee. Though the controversy over the pistole fee was essentially trivial, there were important constitutional questions involved which were later revived in the Revolution, and other conflicts among the leaders on each side of the argument add to the interest of any account of it.¹⁴

The basic constitutional question was whether the small fee (about sixteen shillings) that Dinwiddie began to collect for affixing his signature to patents for new lands was like other fees collected in the secretary's office and one of the governor's perquisites, or whether it was in reality a land tax, like quit rents and local assessments. Dinwiddie's behavior was technically correct: the Council had approved the fee before he began to collect it, and the Board of Trade sanctioned it. He was therefore honestly surprised when the Virginians 91 called it a tax and complained to their burgesses, who labeled it a "grievance" in their petition to Dinwiddie for its withdrawal. The governor, secure in the rectitude of his position, stubbornly refused to discuss it with the legislature, declaring it an executive matter that was none of their business. The burgesses, equally stubborn, went over his head and appealed to the king for redress of this grievance, a tax levied locally without their consent and collected over their protests.

On December 5, 1753, the House approved the address to the king and appointed a committee of thirteen members to draw up "Reasons in Support of" it; Randolph was one of the committee. Ten days later both documents were ordered enrolled and "Mr. Attorney General" was "appointed Agent to negotiate the Affairs of this Colony, in Great-Britain." To "defray his Expences and as a Reward for his Trouble in taking so long a Voyage" the sum of £2500 was appropriated. Then a third address to the king was prepared "representing to him the Reasons why this House have appointed this Attorney-General, to sollicit the Affairs of this Colony, and praying that his Majesty will be graciously pleased to continue him in his Office."¹⁵ This move was considered necessary for Randolph's protection because his application for permission to leave the country had been refused, 92 and by going without the approval of governor and Council he risked losing his post as attorney general.

Randolph took the risk in the expectation of winning approval in London. As he later explained to the Board of Trade, when the burgesses first asked him to undertake the mission, "he declined accepting it, considering it as inconsistent with his Office of Attorney General." Then, "upon their insisting that he should accept it, he thought proper to acquiesce, and ask'd the Lieut. Governor Leave to be absent." When Dinwiddie refused his permission, Randolph was "so far engaged in the thing, that he could not recede" and "he did not apprehend he was acting contrary to the Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown."¹⁶ Dinwiddie spelled out the inconsistency of Randolph's position as attorney general, sworn to uphold the king's interests in the colony, appearing as agent of the burgesses in an attempt to attack the roayal prerogative, and his leaving without permission as an "unprecedented Step" which would be judged at court.¹⁷

Early in the new year Randolph left Virginia and Dinwiddie appointed George Wythe attorney general in his place.¹⁸ In 93 London the agent's mission was publicized in the press. The February, 1754, issue of The Gentleman's Magazine carried an anonymous dispatch from Virginia stating the attitude of the burgesses, "that by their charters no tax could be imposed on them without their own consent; being as free as the people of England ... and that whoever paid it should be deemed an enemy of their country, and subject to the censure of the house."¹⁹ Within a few months news of the publicity reached Virginia and Dinwiddie informed his friend, James Abercromby:²⁰

... I am sorry the Affair makes so much Noise in Coffee House &c; that must be owing to the unjust Advertisement of the Attorney General's that was in the News Paper ... but you know every trifling Thing occasions Coffee House Arguments and Disputations. I am easy, as I think I am right, and properly authorized to take that Fee.²¹

On April 2, 1754, the Board of Trade began a hearing on 94 the pistole fee controversy, treating it as part of the larger question of frontier defense and settlement. Randolph's credentials as agent of the General Assembly were not officially accepted by the Board, and he was not allowed to present their arguments against the fee. Instead, he was ordered to be present on April 3, when:

Mr. Randolph Attorney Genl. of Virginia attending, as desired, was call'd in, and their Lordships acquainted him, that they thought it their Duty upon seeing him attending upon business at this Office to call upon him to know whether he has any or what Leave to be absent from the Colony.

Randolph made his defense and the Board replied with a reading of "His Majesty's Warrant directing his Appointment" as attorney general and the question "whether he considered himself as any longer Attorney Genl. of Virginia." Randolph answered "that he did understand that during his absence he was not Attorney General, and that any other person might be appointed to that Office. Mr. Randolph was then ordered to withdraw."²²

After two months had passed, "Mr. Randolph late Attorney General of Virginia" was again summoned before the Board and:

... the Earl of Halifax acquainted him, that His Majesty having been informed that he had come over here from Virginia without the Governor's Leave, contrary to the Tenor of his Patent by which he is appointed Attorney General only during his Residence in that Colony, and being apprehensive that 95 such a Precedent might be attended with very bad Consequences to his Service, had thought proper to direct that it should be signified to him, that his Majesty does consider his Office as vacated by such Proceedings, Whereupon Mr. Randolph said he hoped that if the Nature of his Case would admit of it, his Conduct since he has been here would recommend him to His Majesty's Favour, and then he withdrew.²³

In reaching a decision on the pistole fee dispute, the Board of Trade acted with attention to legal technicality and concern for practical effect on frontier settlement. When they reported to Dinwiddie that the king had rejected the address of the burgesses and upheld the governor's right to collect the fee, they sharply criticized his procedure and in accordance with His Majesty's instructions ordered him to "regulate" his "Conduct with respect to ... taking that Fee, and to the method to be observed in Granting Lands for the future."²⁴ Their decision about Randolph's position reflected equally balanced consideration. In the same letter they informed the governor:

We have informed Mr. Randolph, that he has vacated his Post of Attorney General by having left the Colony without His Majesty's leave of Absence, and will no longer be consider'd by His Majesty as such. If however upon his return to Virginia he shall behave in a decent and proper manner, you are at liberty to reinstate him in the Post of Attorney General, transmitting to Us your Reasons for so doing; which if We approve, We shall prepare a Warrant for restoring him, and 96 lay it before His Majesty for His Royal Signature. This Measure We think will tend to quiet the Minds of the People, and to stop the unjust Clamour that has been raised; and We recommend it rather, if from Circumstances you shall be of Opinion it can be done with Propriety, as it appears to Us to be at this time particularly necessary for His Majesty's Service, that Harmony and Mutual Confidence should be established between the Governors & the People in all His Majesty's Colonies, but especially in that of Virginia, on the Frontiers of which the French are carrying on such unjustifiable Encroachments.²⁵

With understandably dampened spirits, Dinwiddie replied that the recommendation for Randolph's reinstatement was "very disagreeable" to him but promised reluctantly to obey orders,²⁶ and on February 10, 1755, he was able to report that he had done so.

...I beg leave to acquaint you he has strongly acknowledged his Errors in leaving his Office without His Majesty's Leave; & has assured me by his Letter that he will for the Future be very diligent in his Office for His Majesty's Service, behave with all due Respect & Regard to me; I have there upon reinstated him in his Office of Attorney General, & pray your Lordships Warrant to be laid before His Majesty for His Royal Signature, & Mr. Abercrombie will wait on Yr Lordships for the same.²⁷

Privately he expressed himself more fully to Abercromby, explaining that Randolph had brought back "many Letters" urging his reinstatement; 97 that he had presented written acknowledgment of having acted inconsistently with his duty; that he had cleared himself "from the unjust Reflections" against the governor "in the News Papers at Home" and promised "to conduct himself more regularly for the Future" and with more respect. Abercromby was to take care of the details of getting the new commission passed through the proper channels, and Dinwiddie advised him "to charge Nothing" for his "trouble."²⁸

The Board of Trade requested the new warrant in April, and on May 13, 1755, the Lords Justices in Council prepared the warrant, which was approved by the Board of Trade the same day.²⁹

Randolph had missed the two sessions of the Assembly in 1754, but he was not forgotten. In the fall the burgesses tried to get Council approval of the £2500 promised him by reintroducing it, this time as a rider to an appropriation for the war. The Council refused it again on the ground that it was unconstitutional not to send it up separately, and the burgesses replied that such a clause "is agreeable to the Usage of Parliament, and in nowise tends to the Alteration of our Constitution" and prepared a new address to the king, expressing deep concern that supplies 98 needed for the defense of the colony "should be interrupted by a Dispute with the Council, occasioned by their refusing to pass a Bill, intituled, An Act for raising the Sum of Twenty Thousand Pounds, for the Protection of his Majesty's Subjects in this Colony ... on Account of a Clause inserted in it by this House, for paying Peyton Randolph, Esquire, Two Thousand Five Hundred Pounds, as Agent for solliciting the Affairs of this Colony."³⁰

For the session that opened May 1, 1755, Randolph was present as burgess for the College of William and Mary.³¹ On Monday, May 12:

Peyton Randolph Esquire, who was appointed Agent by this House to negotiate the Affairs of this Colony in Great-Britain, this Day made a Report of his Negotiation of the several Matters given him in Charge ... [and the House]
Resolved, Nemine Contradicente, That the Thanks of this House be given to Peyton Randolph Esquire, for his faithful Discharge of the Trust reposed in him by this House. And accordingly Mr. Speaker from the Chair returned him (he standing in his Place) the Thanks of the House.³²

99

Probably the formal vote of thanks was the only compensation he ever received, for there is no record of Council approval of the £2500 allowance. We have no precise information about the nature of all the "several Matters" he negotiated successfully. Although he lost the technical argument about the pistole fee, he won the practical point. Apparently he was indeed "faithful" in attending to other business in the offices of the Board of Trade, where he was engaged when the Board called him to defend his absence from the colony.³³ And the Board summoned him for testimony as an expert witness with special knowledge of Virginia conditions on at least two related matters: a petition of the Ohio Company for an extension of their land grant, and the proposal to exempt new settlers on the frontier from the payment of quit rents for ten years.³⁴

Randolph's difficulties as special agent led to the establishment of a new colonial post--permanent agent for the General Assembly. The Act of Assembly appointing him was finally passed in February, 1759. At that time Governor Fauquier explained its origin:

When my predecessor the Honble Mr Dinwiddie had a dispute in this Colony abt the Pistole Fee, the Burgesses lamented
100 their not having an Agent at Home, to represent affairs of this nature to His Majty and Your Rt Honble Board, supposing naturally enough that Mr. Abercrombie who was paid by the Govr and Council out of the 2 sh. duty, would not solicit that or any other affair against the Govr; so they sent home an Agent on purpose at a great expence. From that time they have been very intent on an Agent's Act, which in Mr Dinwiddie's time they could never obtain; so intent were they on this affair, that they attempted to tack it to the money Bill, in the second Session after my arrival, which I told them I would certainly refuse under such conditions. As I hoped never to make myself liable to any complaint, I could not see the ill consequence of letting them have an Agent, upon their raising the money on themselves to pay him. Thus the Agent's Bill was prepared and passed. Notwithstanding this appointment of an agent by Act of Assembly, Mr Abercrombie is still continued as Agent to me and the Council to transact all business relating to the Royal Revenues, and such other affairs as are immediately under our cognizance only. He has instructions to co-operate with the other Agent in all matters for the behoof and benefit of the Colony.³⁵

The first appointee was "Edward Montague, of the Middle Temple, esquire," who received his instructions from, and reported to, a Virginia Committee of Correspondence composed of four councilors and eight burgesses, of whom Peyton Randolph was one.³⁶

As Fauquier implied, Randolph's relations with Dinwiddie 101 were never again entirely pleasant.³⁷ The old Scot could not forgive a member of the Randolph family, who opposed him at almost every turn and, in his opinion, made up the core of the "most impudent troublesome Party here." In his first year as governor he found Peyton Randolph's first cousin, the Rev. William Stith, squarely in the way of every administrative action³⁸ and explained the circumstance in these terms: "... an Evil Spirit enter'd into a High Priest, who was supported by the Family of the Randolphs, and a few more."³⁹

In the three sessions of the Assembly held in 1755 to provide supplies and militia for the French and Indian War, Randolph performed his customary duties, which were now becoming routine. In the spring session of 1756, as chairman of the Committee of Privileges and Elections, he was busier than usual and just before the close of the session, carried the leading role in a dramatic gesture announced in the press May 7:

We have the Pleasure to acquaint the Public, that a great Number of the principal Gentlemen of this Colony have voluntarily 102 associated themselves under the Command of the Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esq; at their own Expence, to march to the Frontiers of this Colony, for relieving their distressed Fellow Subjects, and chastising the Insolence, and revenging the Cruelties of the French, and their barbarous Allies; and for these Purposes have agreed to meet at Fredericksburg, the 20th of this Instant, with such a Number of Men as each of them has undertaken to employ and maintain in this Service, dressed in short plain blue Frocks with cross Pockets, short white Nankeen, or brown Holland Waistcoats, and Breeches of the same, and plain Hats; armed each with a Firelock, a Brace of Pistols, and a cutting Sword, and furnished with one Pound of Powder, and four Pounds of Ball; each Associator who goes paying immediately to the commanding Officer three Pounds, and the same Sum for every Man he carries with him, and those who do not go, ten Pounds for every Man they send.⁴⁰

Though their popular name at the time was "the Associators," Jefferson later called them "the Virginia Blues."⁴¹ No one expected them to be an effective fighting force, but even Dinwiddie valued them as "a brave Example for the other People" and hoped that they would "be of Service in annimating the lower Class" to militia duty.⁴²

The group posed a special problem to Colonel Washington, busy at Winchester providing for the new draftees gathering there to bring the strength of the Virginia Regiment to 1500 fighting men. Knowing that "the gentlemen Associators" would expect "to find every thing in good order" and that they would require 103 special accommodations, the harassed commander awaited their arrival with some uneasiness. Though most of them were on horseback, they moved too slowly to be of practical use against the Indians and planned only to provide Washington with advice on policy; they would ride along the frontier and "point out the places for Forts."⁴³

While Colonel Washington was preparing for their arrival in Winchester, about 130 "Associators" paused for three days in Fredericksburg, where they held a Council of War, chose subordinate officers to serve under Col. Peyton Randolph, listened to a sermon on the text "Be of good Courage, and let us play the Men for our People," and drew up formal "Articles for their good Government amongst themselves."⁴⁴ Being "Volunteers, at their own Expence," they had no instructions from Dinwiddie, who had only suggested that they consult with Washington about "what was proper to be done."⁴⁵

After the group left Fredericksburg, on May 23, its 104 movements are hard to follow. Apparently some of them reached Winchester but not enough of them to embarrass Washington, who was able to leave them there unattended when he set out for Williamsburg on June 4 to discuss plans for the new forts. He was reported to have said that they were all in good health and planned to "march very soon for Fort Cumberland."⁴⁶ It is more likely that they quietly returned to their homes from Winchester, having served their purpose as builders of morale. Dinwiddie added a footnote to their story in a letter of August 19, 1756, suggesting solutions to Washington's continuing problems of securing military supplies:

If I hear of any Opportunity I shall send you 2 Drums, but I suppose you may have the old ones mended, and the Associators had 2, which were left at Winchester or Fredericksburg, which you should call for.⁴⁷

At about this time, in the mid-1750's, Randolph became a member of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary. During the year that he was rector,⁴⁸ the Visitors 105 and the faculty were engaged in one of their periodic struggles for control of college policy. (Neither the charter nor Sir John Randolph's articles of transfer made clear distinctions in the details of relative administrative powers and duties, and differences of opinion were referred for settlement to the Bishop of London, as Chancellor, or to the Privy Council.) The dispute in May of 1757 centered in the Grammar School. Its master, the Rev. Thomas Robinson, dismissed the usher, James Hubard. The faculty supported Robinson and the Visitors supported Hubard--Robinson said because Hubard was a kinsman of some of them. The Visitors then dismissed Robinson from his post because of "bodily Infirmities" that made him incapable of attending to his duties properly, and Robinson appealed to the Bishop of London.⁴⁹ In the fall Dinwiddie entered additional charges of intemperance against Robinson and the philosophy professor, William Preston; also they had married, against the college rules, and their wives, children and servants living in the college created disturbance and confusion. Furthermore, when they moved their families into town, they neglected their duties at the college and got drunk publicly and often enough to set a 106 bad example to the students.⁵⁰ When the Board of Visitors attempted to investigate the lives and opinions of the faculty, they met united opposition and dismissed the lot of them, Hubard included. Then in response to the appeal of the dismissed teachers, the Privy Council reinstated John Camm and Richard Graham with back pay, and the Chancellor sent over three new masters: Goronwy Owen, Jacob Rowe, and William Small.

Another issue between faculty and Visitors was political and personal, different attitudes toward the Two-Penny Act of 1755, which allowed Virginians for ten months to "discharge their tobacco debts in money" at the rate of two pence a pound.⁵¹ The clergy all opposed the act because their salaries were paid in tobacco, and that year the crop was scarce and the market value higher than the usual two pence. The first letter requesting the king's veto of the act was written by four college professors, who were also clergymen: Camm, Preston, Robinson and Graham.⁵² Most of the Visitors were either burgesses or councilors, and they saw the faculty as spokesmen for the growing opposition to the act. A similar Two-Penny Act passed in September of 1758, to be in force a year,⁵³ was equally offensive to the clergy, 107 who again protested. Several of the Visitors--Peyton Randolph among them--were also members of the Committee of Correspondence set up in 1759 which instructed the new agent, Montague, to support the act.

Two of the new teachers proved to be difficult to control. Rowe made public speeches against the Two-Penny Act of 1758 even before it was passed. Challenged by the House of Burgesses, he recanted and apologized. Two years later Rowe and Owen were accused of drunkenness and profanity and said to be trouble-makers and neglecting college duties. Governor Fauquier, now rector of the Board of Visitors, got rid of Owen temporarily by sending him to Brunswick County to fill a vacancy in a parish there. Rowe apologized again, but his behavior did not improve, and the Visitors held a series of special meetings to consider his case. At the final session of the series, on August 14, 1760, Fauquier reported that:

Mr. Rowe notwithstanding the strong Admonitions he received here at last Meeting for his Misbehaviours of various Kinds, and his solemn Promises of future good Behaviour thereupon, did lately lead the Boys out against the Town Apprentices to a pitched Battle with Pistols and other Weapons, instead of restraining and keeping them in, as was the Duty of his Office to have done: That at the same Time he also insulted Mr. John Campbell by presenting a Pistol to his Breast, and also Peyton Randolph, Esqr. one of the Visitors, who was interposing as a Magistrate and endeavouring to disperse the Combatants: That the next Day he also insulted the President for enquiring of the Boys the Particulars of the Affair without a Convention of the Masters: And upon the Rector's sending to him to take Care to keep the Boys in that Night upon Apprehension of a second Affray, he also most grossly insulted him.

108 The Board of Visitors then ordered his removal.⁵⁴

In the General Assembly sitting from November of 1761 through June of 1765, Peyton Randolph represented Williamsburg. Again chairman of the Committee of Privileges and Elections, "Mr. Attorney" carried ever-increasing responsibility in routine and special committee work. As a member of the Committee of Correspondence directing the activities of Edward Montague, the agent, Randolph was one of the first Virginians to oppose the projected Stamp Act.⁵⁵ At a meeting in the Capitol on June 15, 1764, the committee was "much alarmed" at news of the proposal which Montague had reported to them, and instructed him to oppose it "with all his Influence, & ... insist on the Injustice of laying any Duties on us & particularly taxing the internal Trade of the Colony without their Consent." George Wythe and Robert Carter Nicholas were chosen to prepare a strong letter to Montague.⁵⁶ At the next meeting, on July 28, the letter was approved; but by that time Montague had sent over further news of parliamentary intentions which required a postscript to express "fresh Apprehension of the fatal Consequences that may arise to 109 Posterity from such a precedent" and a promise of General Assembly action at the next session, called for October.⁵⁷

As soon as the burgesses completed the organization of the House, they went into Committee of the Whole, with "Mr. Attorney" in the chair, to consider Montague's letters. The next day the burgesses in formal session decided to protest against the proposed Stamp Act in an address to the king, in a memorial to the House of Lords, and in another memorial to the House of Commons and appointed Randolph chairman of the committee to write the three documents.⁵⁸ It was another month before the House found time to consider the drafts; then on December 13 the address to the king was approved as drafted, the two memorials were amended slightly, and on December 18, with Council approval, the burgesses ordered five copies of each document sent to Montague "in Order to their being respectively presented" to the appropriate authorities in London.⁵⁹

The Committee of Correspondence sent off the documents two days later with a cover letter suggesting procedure. 110 "We must desire you," they instructed Montague, "to try every possibly method of having them properly presented and use your utmost Influence in supporting them." Foreseeing difficulty in persuading the Commons to receive the memorial addressed to them because "of their refusing to receive Petitions from the Colonies in former similar Instances," the committee recommended that the agent imtate Randolph's propagandism of 1754:

If this should be now the case we think you should have them printed and dispersed over the Nation, or the substance of them at least published in such manner as you may think least liable to objection, that the People of England may be acquainted with the Privileges & Liberties we claim as British Subjects; as their Brethren and the dreadful apprehensions we are under of being deprived of them in the unconstitutional method proposed.

We have had so many Proofs of your attention to our Interest that we do not entertain the least Doubt of your doing every thing in your Power to assist us in this very interesting Occasion in which we are persuaded you will be heartily seconded by the Agents for the other American Colonies.⁶⁰

After entering their protests in the recognized manner, there was nothing further for the Assembly to do except wait for the results of Montague's activities. The Virginia petitions, like those from the other colonies, were ignored by Parliament and in January of 1765 the Stamp Act became law to go into effect in November. When the Virginia Assembly met in May, the only proper constitutional procedure was to negotiate for repeal, 111 preferably with the collaboration of the other British American colonies. For this reason, Randolph led the opposition to Patrick Henry's resolutions, which were also badly timed and added nothing to the Assembly's arguments of 1764.

"Mr. Attorney" was presiding when the Committee of the Whole sat on May 29 "to consider of the Steps necessary to be taken in Consequence of the Resolutions of the House of Commons of Great Britain relative to the charging certain Stamp Duties in the Colonies" and Henry made his Caesar-Brutus speech.⁶¹ It was the next day, May 30, when young Jefferson stood at the door and heard the debate in the House, back in formal session with Speaker Robinson in the chair. Jefferson's much-quoted recollection of that day was written forty-nine years later:

I was standing at the door of communication between the House and the lobby during the debates and vote, and well remember, that after the numbers on the division were told, and declared from the chair, Peyton Randolph (then Attorney General) came out at the door where I was standing, and exclaimed, "By God, I would have given one hundred guineas for a single vote!" For one vote would have divided the House, and Robinson was in the chair, who he knew would have negatived the resolution.⁶²

Henry left town that afternoon. The next day, May 31, there were not enough "young hot and giddy members" present to 112 prevent the withdrawal from the journals of Henry's last resolution, which had passed by a bare majority of one.⁶³ Thus Peyton Randolph may be said to have found and used the "single vote" so greatly desired the day before.

The next General Assembly, called for spring of 1766, was postponed until fall. In May John Robinson died, thus vacating two important posts, speaker and treasurer. When Fauquier reported his death to the Board of Trade, he foresaw some of the practical problems that would soon arise and stated his own preferences:

I have heard of two Candidates for his offices, vizt. His Majesty's Attorney General Mr. Randolph and Mr. [Richard Henry] Lee. The first is, of all men in this Colony, in my judgment the best qualified to repair the loss, as he possesses the good qualities of his late most intimate friend, and has always been one of the foremost to promote His Majesty's service in all the requisitions of the Crown, and has always used his endeavours to induce the Assembly to concur with me in all measures which were conducible to the honor and dignity of the Crown, and the peace and advantage of the Colony. On these accounts my wishes for success attend him.

In case of a vacancy in the place of Attorney General I intend to nominate Mr. Geo. Wythe to succeed Mr. Randolph till His Majesty shall be pleased to appoint another....

By the Act of Assembly which appoints a Treasurer, I am authorized in case of death or resignation, with the advice of the Council, to appoint one to officiate till the next meeting 113 of the Assembly. I should most certainly have cast my eyes on Mr. Attorney General, but such an appointment would have vacated his seat in the Assembly and so would have defeated his schemes of being Speaker....⁶⁴

The legal point to which Fauquier referred had already arisen in Randolph's legislative experience in 1755, when a special election was held for him.⁶⁵ Apparently the governor believed that if Randolph were to become treasurer in May, the burgesses in November might elect Lee speaker instead of waiting for Randolph to become eligible by a special election. As it turned out, by May 22 Fauquier secured Council approval for the appointment of Robert Carter Nicholas "to succeed the late Mr. Robinson till a Treasurer is appointed by Act of Assembly." He explained his change of plan to the Board of Trade:

Mr. Nicholas a gentleman of an unexceptional character who is of the House of Burgesses, has desired the Treasurership, for which he is willing to vacate his seat.... It now begins to be whispered about that Mr. Nicholas's friends who are pretty numerous will endeavor to divide the officers of Speaker and Treasurer to secure the last to their friend.⁶⁶

When the new General Assembly convened on November 6, 1766, Archibald Cary, burgess from Chesterfield County, nominated 114 Peyton Randolph, the Williamsburg burgess, for the speakership. As Fauquier had predicted, the other nominee was Richard Henry Lee. The House endorsed the governor's sentiments and elected Randolph.⁶⁷ The choice of permanent treasurer was made when the new act was passed with Council approval December 10, but the decision to separate the two offices was taken November 12.⁶⁸ By that time everyone had heard the rumors about the "Robinson scandal" and the full extent of his estate's indebtedness was reported to the House November 25.⁶⁹ Still another reason for dividing the offices was the attitude of the Board of Trade, which had been recommending the step for some time.

Fauquier's choice of a successor to Randolph as attorney general is not so easily determined, for his extant letters contain no further reference to the appointment of George Wythe, nor do the Council journals record this decision. We do know that all the necessary paper work had been done by the summer of 1767; the Virginia Gazette of June 11 announced the arrival in the York River of Captain Anderson's ship, the Rachel and Mary, from London carrying "his Majesty's commission for John Randolph, Esq; to succeed the Hon. Peyton Randolph, Esq; 115 as Attorney General."⁷⁰ The question whether the "Mr. Attorney" from summer of 1766 until summer of 1767 was George Wythe or John Randolph cannot be answered until further evidence is found.

For the last nine years of his life, Randolph's activities centered around his duties as "Mr. Speaker." He presided at all the regular meetings of the burgesses when they sat in the General Assembly and at special meetings when the same men sat in Virginia Conventions. His name appeared on all the public documents recording official action of the colony's representatives, either alone or heading a list; for example, the 1767 address of the House of Burgesses to King George III expressing their thanks for the repeal of the Stamp Act.⁷¹ In 1768 he signed the burgesses' reply to the Massachusetts circular letter against the Townshend Acts, informing the New Englanders of Virginia's protests then in the hands of the agents, Abercromby and Montague, for presentation to the king, the Lords and the Commons.⁷² In May of 1769 he was moderator of the meeting at the Raleigh Tavern which set up the Non-Importation Association, and his was the first signature on the document establishing the Association. After the ceremony of signing, the Association drank a round of patriotic toasts 116 which included their presiding officer.⁷³ While this boycott was active, Randolph carried on the correspondence with the other colonies and with the Virginia counties where local groups were organizing.

The people of Williamsburg were proud of their burgess and publicized his activities in the newspapers. In July of 1769 he went to New York as one of the commissioners under the Great Seal to settle the boundary between New York and New Jersey. The Virginia Gazette followed his progress through Philadelphia and reported a rumor that "the patriotick Speaker of the House of Burgesses of Virginia" would visit Boston.⁷⁴ While he was out of town he was reelected by his former constituents, who "as a token of their affection and esteem, in his absence dine at the Raleigh tavern, where no doubt many a cordial toast will be drunk to his health, prosperity, and happy return."⁷⁵ He left New York before the boundary decision was recorded, called home "by the necessary avocations of a public nature," and arrived in Williamsburg September 27.⁷⁶ The next week Peyton Randolph, "our worthy Representative, 117 gave a genteel dinner, at the Raleigh tavern, to the electors of this city, after which many loyal and patriotic toasts were drank, and the afternoon spent with cheerfulness and decorum."⁷⁷

In the summer of 1770 Randolph headed the building committee planning the "Hospital for the Reception of Idiots, Lunatics, and Persons of insane Mind."⁷⁸ The following summer he was one of the committee directing the design, construction and delivery of "an elegant statue" of Lord Botetourt.⁷⁹ In January of 1772 he contributed £200 to the building of a canal between Archer's Hope Creek and Queen's Creek⁸⁰ and in September, as a member of the Board of Visitors, opened bids for a new college building.⁸¹

In February of 1773 a group of counterfeiters, captured at their shop in Pittsylvania County, were brought to the Governor's Palace and examined by Randolph "in the Presence of his Excellency the Governour, the Attorney General, and other Gentlemen" with the result that they were sent to 118 jail.⁸²

The next month, March, 1773, the burgesses set up an important piece of revolutionary machinery, the standing Committee of Correspondence and Inquiry: Peyton Randolph, chairman, and Robert Carter Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney Carr, Archibald Cary, Thomas Jefferson. A smaller "Select Committee" of three (Randolph, Nicholas and Digges) could act for the larger group. Massachusetts already had local committees of this kind, but the Virginia committee represented the colony as a whole and it met regularly, whether the Assembly was in session or not, as an efficient clearinghouse for the exchange of information and plans. Furthermore, the burgesses planned from the beginning to make it intercolonial in scope; they instructed the Speaker to:

transmit to the Speakers of the different Assemblys of the British Colonies, on the Continent, Copies of the said Resolutions, and desire that they will lay them before their respective Assemblies; and request them to appoint some Person or Persons, of their respective Bodies, to communicate, from Time to Time, with the said Committee.⁸³

119 By the end of the year the committee was in correspondence with all the other colonies except New Jersey,⁸⁴ and in March, 1774, New Jersey, too, was heard from.⁸⁵

When the 1774 General Assembly met on May 5, Virginians knew about the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773, and had heard rumors of the Boston Port Act, which was passed by Parliament on March 31. The Virginia Gazette of May 19 reported the progress of parliamentary debates in March, but the fate of the bill was not known until the next week-end. On Monday night, May 23, a group of young burgesses (Jefferson, Henry, the two Lees, and several others) met in the Council Chamber, where they could use the library, and "cooked up a resolution ... for appointing the first day of June, on which the Port Bill was to commence, for a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer."⁸⁶ The next day, May 24, Robert Carter Nicholas introduced the resolution, which the House passed and then ordered the members to "attend in their Places, at the hour of Ten in the forenoon, on the said first day of June next, in Order to proceed with the Speaker, and the Mace, to the Church in this City, for the 120 purpose aforesaid."⁸⁷ When the Virginia Gazette appeared on Thursday, May 26, it carried a copy of the resolution as well as the text of the Boston Port Act; the some day Dunmore summoned the burgesses to the Council Chamber and said to them:

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses,
I have in my hand a Paper published by Order of your House, conceived in such Terms as reflect upon his Majesty and the Parliament of Great Britain; which makes it necessary for me to dissolve you; and you are dissolved accordingly.⁸⁸

The next day, Friday, May 27, "the late representatives of Virginia" met in the Raleigh Tavern and set up a new "Association" to protest against the Tea Act and the Boston Port Act with a boycott. "And for this purpose," they decided:

it is recommended to the Committee of Correspondence, that they communicate, with their several corresponding committees, on the expedience of appointing deputies from the several colonies of British America, to meet in general congress, at such place annually as shall be thought most convenient; there to deliberate on those general measures which the united interests of America may from time to time require.

Peyton Randolph's signature led off a list of eighty-nine.⁸⁹

On Saturday Randolph and seven other members of the Committee of Correspondence met and drafted a letter to each of the other colonies in time to get them into the afternoon post.⁹⁰ 121 Sunday afternoon an express rider brought in letters from Boston, Philadelphia and Annapolis recommending united opposition to the recent acts of parliament, and Randolph immediately arranged two meetings for Monday: in the morning all the burgesses still in town or nearby; in the afternoon, his constituents, the citizens of Williamsburg. At the morning meeting twenty-five men responded to Randolph's call and prepared a broadside addressed to the people of Virginia. Explaining that the Assembly had been dissolved and that they were acting only as private individuals, they proposed an extended non-importation agreement and stated that they were inviting "all the Members of the late House of Burgesses to a general Meeting in this City on the first day of August next" to arrange the details of a boycott. In the afternoon the citizens of Williamsburg meeting in the courthouse unanimously approved the measures taken in the morning.⁹¹

Then on Wednesday, June 1,

the Speaker, and as many Members of the late Assembly as were in Town, with the Citizens of Williamsburg, assembled at the Courthouse and went in Procession to the Church, where an excellent Sermon, well adapted to the present unhappy Disputes between Great Britain and her Colonies, was preached by the Reverend Mr. Price, Chaplain to the House of Burgesses, agreeable to the late Order of that patriotick and very respectable Body.⁹²

122

Because the new General Assembly was called for August 11 (ten days after the irregular Convention), the governor issued the usual "Writs for the Election of Burgesses" in July.⁹³ Randolph's constituents held an earlier meeting at the courthouse on Friday, July 8, and presented him with a formal address:

We, the Citizens of Williamsburg, reflecting with Pleasure on the assiduous Attention which you, as our Representative in General Assembly, have ever paid to our Interests, as well as those of the Community at large; greatly scandalized at the Practice which has too much prevailed throughout the Country of entertaining the Electors, a Practice which even its Antiquity cannot sanctify; and being desirous of setting a worthy Example to our Fellow Subjects, in general, for abolishing every Appearance of Venality (that only Poison which can infect our happy Constitution) and to give the fullest Proof that it is to your singular Merit alone you are indebted for the unbought Suffrages of a free People; moved, Sir, by these important Considerations, we earnestly request that you will not think of incurring any Expense or Trouble at the approaching Election of a Citizen but that you will do us the Honour to partake of an Entertainment which we shall direct to be provided for the Occasion.⁹⁴

The following Wednesday, July 13, at about eleven o'clock.

the freeholders met their late speaker, attended by many respectable inhabitants, at the courthouse in this city, to elect him again into that important office, when he was immediately unanimously chosen. After the necessary forms were over, the freeholders, in order to show their disapprobation of a practice which has too long prevailed of the electors
123 receiving entertainments from those who represent them, and at the same time from a tender regard for their speaker, claimed by his many essential services towards this country, conducted him to the Raleigh, where almost every inhabitant had met, a general invitation having been given by the generous electors, whose conduct throughout on the occasion will be long remembered as a laudable and meritorious precedent, and highly worthy of every county in this colony to adopt. Notwithstanding the festivity, and the pleasing, social intercourse, which here prevailed, harmony, decency, and decorum, were strictly maintained. After partaking of a most splendid dinner, and the afternoon entirely spent, they reconducted the speaker to his own house, where they gave three chears, and then departed, wishing him long to live to enjoy those honours which have been so justly conferred upon him by his countrymen.⁹⁵

The Convention of August 1 was a "full meeting" of burgesses elected in the customary way (though for the General Assembly), and they placed Randolph in the chair. Two important actions were taken. A new Association was formed to enforce a boycott on exports as well as imports. Delegates to a general congress at Philadelphia in September were chosen: Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, Washington, Henry, Bland, Harrison, and Pendleton, Later in the month

In Consequence of an Invitation from the Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esq; our worthy Representative, there was ... a very full Meeting of the Inhabitants of this City at the Courthouse, when they generally approved of the Association ... and, at the same Time, contributed most generously for the Relief of our distressed Fellow Subjects at Boston, both in Cash and Provisions.⁹⁶

124

Though the Convention was a "full meeting," one of the Albemarle burgesses was not present. Jefferson explained:

Before I left home to attend the Convention, I prepared what I thought might be given in instruction to the Delegates who should be appointed to attend the General Congress proposed. They were drawn in haste with a number of blanks, with some uncertainties and inaccuracies of historical facts, which I neglected at the moment, knowing they could be readily corrected at the meeting. I set out on my journey, but was taken sick on the road, and unable to proceed. I therefore sent on by express two copies, one under cover to Patrick Henry, the other to Peyton Randolph, who I knew would be in the chair of the Convention.⁹⁷

The proposed instructions were printed in Williamsburg without Jefferson's knowledge as a pamphlet entitled A Summary View of the Rights of British America and later reprinted in Philadelphia and London. From "Mr. Speaker's" nephew, Edmund, we have further details about the effect of the reading of Jefferson's suggestions in the Peyton Randolph House:

I distinctly recollect the applause bestowed on the most of them, when they were read to a large company at the house of Peyton Randolph, to whom they were addressed. Of all, the approbation was not equal. . . . The young ascended with Mr. Jefferson to the source of those rights; the old required time for consideration, before they could tread this lofty ground, which, if it had not been abandoned, at least had not been fully occupied, throughout America.⁹⁸

Randolph apparently traveled to Philadelphia with Harrison, Lee and Bland, for the four arrived together on September 2. 125 Many of the New Englanders were already there, and John Adams was especially eager to meet the Virginians. In his diary he wrote that he dined with Thomas Mifflin on that day and:

After Coffee, we went to the tavern, where we were introduced to Peyton Randolph. Esquire, Speaker of Virginia, Colonel Harrison, Richard Henry Lee, Esquire, and Colonel Bland. Randolph is a large, well looking man; Lee is a tall, spare man; Bland is a learned, bookish man.

These gentlemen from Virginia appear to be the most spirited and consistent of any. Harrison said he would have come on foot rather than not come. Bland said he would have gone, upon this occasion, if it had been to Jerico.⁹⁹

Washington, Henry and Pendleton rode in two days later, on Sunday.

When Congress assembled at Carpenter's Hall on Monday, Thomas Lynch of South Carolina arose:

and said there was a gentleman present who had presided with great dignity over a very respectable society, greatly to the advantage of America, and he therefore proposed that the Honorable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, one of the delegates from Virginia, and the late Speaker of their House of Burgesses, should be appointed Chairman, and he doubted not it would be unanimous.

The Question was put, and he was unanimously chosen.

Mr. Randolph then took the chair, and the commissions of the delegates were all produced and read.¹⁰⁰

A Connecticut delegate, Silas Deane, wrote his wife: "Mr. Randolph, our worthy President, may be rising of sixty, of noble appearance, and presides with dignity." Deane thought 126 him "designed by nature for the business. Of an affable, open, and majestic deportment, large in size, though not out of proportion, he commands respect and esteem by his very aspect, independent of the high character he sustains." Apparently as presiding officer, Randolph gave the delegates no opportunity to judge his oratorical style and quality, for Deane commented on the speaking talents of the other Virginians. Washington and Bland spoke modestly but in determined style and accent; Pendleton's style was elegant, if not eloquent; Henry was the most complete speaker Deane ever heard, with music in his voice and with "highwrought yet natural" elegance of style and manner; Lee rivaled him in eloquence, the Cicero of America as Henry was the Demosthenes.¹⁰¹

Randolph presided at all the meetings of the Congress through Friday, October 21. The 22nd he was absent on account of illness, and on Monday, October 24, left town with Bland and Harrison, arriving in Williamsburg Sunday, the 30th.¹⁰² The next issue of the Virginia Gazette carried extracts from the proceedings of the Continental Congress and the full texts of their Address to the People of Great Britain, their Memorial to the Inhabitants of the British American Colonies, and the 127 Non-importation Association, signed October 20 by Peyton Randolph and the other delegates.¹⁰³

The Virginians had left Philadelphia several days early in order to be in Williamsburg for the opening of the General Assembly. Dunmore had originally called it for August 11 and in July, when he went to the frontier, moved the opening date forward to November. Now, on Thursday, November 3, he had not returned, and so John Blair, President of the Council, issued a proclamation (apparently signed by Dunmore before he left town) moving the opening date to Monday, the 7th. But Dunmore did not arrive over the week-end, and the opening was again postponed to the 10th, when the meeting was prorogued to February. Dunmore returned to Williamsburg in December, but in January prorogued the Assembly called for February to May. In April he changed the date to September, then in May called it for June 3. The Virginia General Assembly, therefore, did not meet between May of 1774 and June of 1775.¹⁰⁴

Yet "Mr. Speaker" and the other burgesses did not remain idle. They were still in town on November 10, assembled at the Capitol as "Delegates of the People of Virginia"; there they 128 were attended in the afternoon by "the whole Body of Merchants at present in this City, supposed to be between 4 and 500." In a short address the merchants expressed approval of the work of the Virginia leaders toward carrying out the aims of the Continental Association, promised "to adhere strictly thereto," and asked for "Advice and Assistance on every future Emergency." The delegates, pleased with their support, assured the merchants that they "consider it as very meritorious that you, disregarding the Influence of your commercial Interest, have generously concurred with them in the great Struggle for Liberty."¹⁰⁵

Not all the merchants in local communities were so patriotic, and it was often necessary for county associations to appeal to Randolph for advice and clarification of details of enforcement.¹⁰⁶ He was chairman of the Williamsburg committee chosen in December¹⁰⁷ as well as spokesman for the committee for the colony. As moderator of the Virginia Convention of August, 1774, he sent out notices of later conventions and requests for the election of delegates to each 129 of them.¹⁰⁸

The second Virginia Convention met at St. John's Church in Richmond March 20, 1775, and chose Randolph president. Once again the work of the Continental Congress was approved and Randolph and the other delegates praised for their part in it.¹⁰⁹ When delegates to the second Continental Congress were chosen, Randolph again headed the delegation. In spite of Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech, the old leaders were still in control.

When the second Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, the "shot heard round the world" had been fired. In Williamsburg the parallel to Lexington and Concord (the Powder Magazine incident) had occurred, when Randolph played his usual role; it was he and Robert Carter Nicholas who prevented violence by persuading the people gathered at the courthouse that night to go home quietly. The Virginia Gazette of April 29 published news of a royal proclamation instructing General Gage in Boston to arrest the leading "rebels" in Massachusetts and Philadelphia and supplying blank commissions for the execution of those captured. Among the names especially recommended for the commissions were the two Adamses, Hancock, Dickinson, Randolph, 130 and Middleton - a "black list" Gage was supposed to keep secret.¹¹⁰ For this reason no doubt Randolph was given a special "honor guard" for his journey to Philadelphia the next week, described by a Fredericksburg correspondent to the Virginia Gazette:

May 9
I am just returned from escorting the good old Speaker to Maryland, where we delivered him into the care of the independent company of Port Tobacco. He passed the Bowling Green last Tuesday, where the independent company of Caroline, with the militia of the county, and a detachment from the Fredericksburg independents, were drawn out to receive him, and the two other Delegates, Col. Harrison and Col. Pendleton. The whole went with them to Port Royal, where they dined; after which they crossed the river Rappahannock, and were received on the other side by the independents of King George and Westmoreland, who joined the escort. They lodged that night at Col. Thornton's, on Potowmack, and crossed the river early next morning. When we got to the Maryland side, the first thing we saw was the company from Port Tobacco drawn up on the beach to receive the Delegates; to whom we delivered them, in perfect health. The companies at Piscataway and Upper Marlborough were ready to receive them, as they passed. Our escort amounted to about 250 of the first Gentlemen in this part of the country, who, after taking leave of the Delegates at Hooe's ferry, on their going into the boats gave them three cheers, and returned home; except the guards, who crossed the river with them.¹¹¹

Again Randolph was elected president of the congress and presided at every session until May 24, when it was time to return to Williamsburg for the General Assembly of June 1.¹¹²
131 For the return trip, too, he had an escort. Dixon's Gazette reported:

Last Monday morning a detachment of cavalry from the Williamsburg Volunteers, in their uniforms, well mounted and equipped, with a waggon containing their baggage and provisions, set out in a regular military procession, to meet the Hon. Peyton Randolph, Esq: late President of the Grand Continental Congress, on the way hither from Philadelphia, his presence being requisite at our General Assembly now sitting here. On Tuesday, about noon, the troop of horse met that Gentleman at Ruffin's ferry, accompanied by Col. Carter Braxton, and escorted them to Williamsburg, after having been joined by a company of infantry, who marched out the distance of two miles for the same purpose. They arrived here by sunset, and were attended to the honourable Gentleman's house by the whole body of cavalry and infantry, whose very martial appearance gave great satisfaction to the spectators. The bells began to ring as our worthy Delegate entered the city and the unfeigned joy of the inhabitants, on this occasion, was visible in every countenance; there were illuminations in the evening, and the volunteers, with many other respectable Gentlemen, assembled at the Raleigh, spent an hour or two in harmony and cheerfulness, and drank several patriotic toasts.¹¹³

Both Purdie and Pinkney offered their readers the text of an address delivered by the troops on Wednesday morning:

We, the members of the volunteer company in Williamsburg, embodied, to support the constitutional rights and liberties of America, are exceedingly alarmed to hear, from report, that the same malevolent daemons, from whom have originated all the evils of America, are now exerting their utmost treachery to ensnare your life and safety. The friends of liberty and mankind have never escaped the fury of arbitrary despots. No wonder, then, that you should be selected, as a proper victim, to be sacrificed to the malice of the present administration.

Permit us, therefore, attached to you by the noble ties
132 of gratitude and fellow citizens, to entreat you, in the warmest manner, to be particularly attentive to your own safety, as you regard the interests of this country. We now proffer to you our services, to be exerted at the expence of every thing a freeman ought to hold dear, as you may think most expedient, in the defence of your person, and constitutional liberty, and will most chearfully hazard our lives in the protection of one who has so often encountered every danger and difficulty in the service of his countrymen. MAY HEAVEN GRANT YOU LONG TO LIVE THE FATHER OF YOUR COUNTRY, AND THE FRIEND TO FREEDOM AND HUMANITY!¹¹⁴

And Randolph's reply:

GENTLEMEN,
The affection you have expressed for me demands the warmest returns of gratitude. I feel very sensibly the happiness resulting from the kind attention of my worthy fellow citizens to my security and welfare. Your apprehensions for my personal safety arise from reports, which I hope have no foundation. Such unjust and arbitrary proceedings would bring on the authors of them the resentment and indignation of every honest man in the British empire. I shall endeavour to deserve the esteem you have expressed on this occasion, and shall think it the greatest misfortune that can attend me if ever my future conduct should give you any reason to be displeased with the testimony you have now offered of your approbation.¹¹⁵

The Gentleman's Magazine of July, 1775, picked up the story and published it as part of their running account of "Proceedings of the American Colonies."

... the General Assembly being met, it was judged expedient to require the attendance of their speaker, the Hon. Peyton Randolph, Esq., who, being one of the delegation to the Continental Congress, had previously repaired to Philadephia.
133 But it being suspected that the malevolent daemons from whom the evils in America had originated had combined in treachery to ensnare his Honour's life and safety, a troop of the Williamsburgh Volunteers met him at Ruffin's Ferry, and escorted him to town, where he was met by the whole body, and complimented the next day by a congratulatory address, in which they intreat him in a particular manner to be attentive to his safety, and at the same time tender their services, to be exerted at the expence of every thing dear to freemen, in defence of his person and Constitutional Liberty. They conclude with praying Heaven to lengthen the life of the Father of their Country. ¹¹⁶

And so it turned out that "Mr. Speaker" got home safely and in time to preside throughout the last full session of the House of Burgesses.¹¹⁷ At the end of June he called a meeting of his constitutents at the courthouse to consider the expediency of stationing groups of volunteers in Williamsburg to "assist citizens in their nightly watches." It was agreed unanimously that nearby counties would be invited to send in units of volunteers, and that men from James City and New Kent would take guard duty until others should arrive. ¹¹⁸

In July the third Virginia Convention met in Richmond, with Randolph presiding, but not every day. Early in August he became 134 "dangerously ill"¹¹⁹ but recovered sufficiently to make the trip home at the end of the month. Pinkney's Gazette explained:

Last Saturday [August 19], about 2 o'clock, the Hon. Peyton Randolph Esq. with his lady arrived at his house in this city from Richmond, the gentlemen of the Convention having recommended it to him to retire for the present from the fatigue of business, on account of his being much indisposed, and as the time of his departure for the General Continental Congress was nearly approaching. He was escorted into the town by a troop of the Williamsburg volunteers, and received at the college by all the volunteer companies now here under arms, who, as well as a great number of the inhabitants, attended him to his own door, where they gave him three cheers, wishing him and his lady an uninterrupted enjoyment of every felicity.¹²⁰

On Friday, Pinkney added: "We have the pleasure to inform the publick, that his Honour is greatly recovered since his return home, and intends setting out next Sunday morning for Philadelphia."¹²¹

The journey to Philadelphia began auspiciously. "The volunteers, as usual paid every mark of distinction" and he was accompanied by Thomas Nelson and George Wythe and "their several ladies." But after crossing into Maryland, Nelson's carriage broke down and he was able to proceed only through "the kindness of a gentleman in the neighbourhood, who supplied him with another; but, through the unskilfulness of the driver, as is 135 supposed, it run against a tree, and was entirely demolished. The Speaker, who accompanied him, was then obliged to leave him. How he afterwards proceeded on his journey we are not informed."¹²² We are not informed either about what happened to the several ladies, or when Randolph and Nelson began to share a coach, or why, or how Randolph traveled after he left Nelson. Somehow Mrs. Randolph, too, reached Philadelphia, for she was there when her husband died.

When the Congress convened, John Adams reported that "Mr. Randolph our former President is here and Sits very humbly in his Seat, while our new one [Hancock] continues in the Chair."¹²³ He was probably not well enough to take a very active part in the proceedings, for

On Sunday evening our late worthy President Mr. Randolph died suddenly. He dined at one Mr. Hollis' three miles out of town; soon after dinner he was taken with choaking, and one side of his face was distorted, and about eight he expired.¹²⁴

When the news reached Williamsburg, along with a description of the funeral services, all three Gazettes published the account. 136

Sunday se'ennight died of an apoplectic stroke, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, the Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, of Virginia, late President of the Continental Congress, and Speaker of the House of Burgesses of Virginia; a Gentleman who possessed the virtues of humanity in an eminent degree, and joining with them the soundest judgement, was the delight of his friends in private life, and a most valuable member of society, having long filled, and with great ability and integrity discharged the most honourable public trusts. --To the truth of this, his family, his friends, and his country bear mournful testimony.

And on Tuesday afternoon his remains were removed from Mr. Benjamin Randolph's, ¹²⁵to Christ Church, where an excellent sermon on the mournful occasion was preached by the Rev. Mr. Duche, after which, the corpse was carried to the burial ground and deposited in a vault till it can be conveyed to Virginia.

The Funeral was conducted in the following order:
The three Battalions, Artillery
Companies and Rifle Men of this City.
The Clergy.
The Body
with
The Pall, supported by
Six Magistrates.
Hon. John Hancock, Esq;
The Members of Congress.
Physicians.
The Members of Assembly.
Committee of Safety.
Mayor and Corporation.
Committee of City and Liberties.
Vestry of Christ and St. Peter's Church.
Citizens.¹²⁶

During the year that his body remained in Philadelphia, Peyton Randolph continued to receive honors in Virginia. On 137 November 6, 1775, the Williamsburg Masonic Lodge ordered a six-weeks period of mourning for their "late worthy Provincial Grand Master."¹²⁷ A fortnight later Peyton Randolph Rose, son of William Rose of Williamsburg, was baptized.¹²⁸ Norfolk officials, meeting in the midst of war damage in June, 1776, included in a series of patriotic toasts "the Memory of Peyton Randolph, our late worthy Recorder, and friend to America."¹²⁹

When Randolph was finally buried in the college chapel, Virginia was no longer a colony but a commonwealth, for the new state constitution, drafted by the fifth Virginia Convention with Pendleton in the chair, had gone into effect. In the issue of November 29, 1776, Purdie's Virginia Gazette reported:

On Tuesday last [November 26] the remains of our late amiable and beloved fellow citizen, the Hon. Peyton Randolph, esq: were conveyed in a hearse to the College chapel, attended by the worshipful brotherhood of Freemasons, both Houses of Assembly, a number of other gentlemen, and the inhabitants of this city. The body was received from the hearse by six gentlemen of the House of Delegates, who conveyed it to the family vault in the chapel, after which an excellent oration was pronounced from the pulpit by the reverend Thomas Davis, in honour of the deceased, and recommending it to the respectable audience to imitate his virtues. The oration being ended, the body was deposited in the vault, when every spectator payed their last tribute of tears to the memory of their departed and much honoured friend--may we add, to whom he was a father, an able counsellor, and one of their firmest patriots. The remains of this worthy man were brought thither from Philadelphia by Edmund Randolph, esq: at the earnest request of his uncle's 138 afflicted and inconsolable widow. They were, when united, a perfect pattern of friendship, complacency, and love. No wonder, then, when separated, that the survivor should deeply bewail her irreparable loss.¹³⁰

PRIVATE LIFE

Little is known of Peyton Randolph's personal affairs. For one thing, private letters are all but non-existent. A rare exception addressed to Landon Carter of Sabine Hall partly explains their scarcity:

I must own I don't like the business of writing, not from Idleness neither, but because I had rather read the productions of any man's brain than those of my own. Your threaten'd adieu has made me set down to write a letter about nothing....¹³¹

Yet we know he was good company. This same letter reflects his light touch in social exchange:

The best news I can tell you is, that Williamsburg begins to brighten up and look very clever, and I think it will be worth your while to come and enjoy the wholesome air that breathes through it for a week or a fortnight. ... Lawyers continue to talk as they are chanced to be feed, Judges to guess right, sometimes, Merchants to bera[te] in England, and what is worst of all, tobacco is worth nothing.

Bess desires to be remembered to you. She is in but an indifferent state of health. Our respects to Bog & his Lady.

At about the same time a business letter to Bob (Robert Carter of Nomini Hall) carried an added personal suggestion to 139 which Carter replied:

Mrs. Carter & I, are very happy in finding your Accquaintances wish to See us return to Pallace Street Once Again--We think the House there, is not Sufficiently roomy for our family, and must remain, here, `till An Addition be Built to that house.¹³²

Another old friend of the family, Maria Byrd, once expressed great personal concern for Randolph's health:

Poor Mr. Attorney he has had a very long fit of sickness, he looks dreadfully, he is gone to Wilton for change of Air, he told me he would make me a Visit when he comes down. He compained of a trembling in his Body & that neither Bark nor Doctors could move his Feavers.¹³³

His younger associates apparently respected and admired him more than they enjoyed him. Jefferson, for example, recalled as an old man:

I had the good fortune to become acquainted very early with some characters of very high standing, and to feel the incessant wish that I could ever become what they were. Under temptations and difficulties, I would ask myself what would Dr. Small, Mr. Wythe, Peyton Randolph do in this situation? What course in it will insure me their approbation?¹³⁴

A business letter preserved in the Norton Papers shows a gentleman's conventional concern for the quality of his household effects. To John Norton in London he explained: 140

I must get the favour of you to send in the spring a few articles mention'd below, and to take notice, that the table Cloths are to be Irish linnen and I shall be glad you'd be particularly careful to do every thing that is requisite to shew they are of that Manufacture, as no other sort can be receiv'd.

The order included twelve fine table cloths, ten quarters square, of Irish linen; a dozen of the same size made of coarse Irish linen; twelve pairs of the best large blankets; a copper teakettle of the best sort, to hold six quarts; a bell metal skillet, to hold a gallon.¹³⁵

The inventories of his estate suggest similar quality in all his possessions. Since he had no children, he willed his dwelling house and adjacent property to his widow for her lifetime and his other personal and real estate to his brother John, with the provision that his nephew Edmund would eventually inherit it all.¹³⁶

141

BETTY (HARRISON) RANDOLPH (c. 1723-1783)

Betty Harrison was the eldest child of the fourth Benjamin Harrison in Virginia, the builder of the Berkeley mansion house of brick which is still standing.¹ Her mother Anne (Carter) Harrison was a daughter of Robert Carter of Corotoman. Betty grew up at Berkeley with six brothers and three sisters. It was her eldest brother Benjamin who signed the Declaration of Independence. Her sister Anne married William Randolph of Wilton. Lucy and Hannah died with their father in an accident described in the newspapers:

Last Friday Evening [July 12, 1745] a most terrible Accident happened in Charles-City County; when a violent Thunder-Gust arose, and the Lightning struck the House of Col. Benjamin Harrison, of Berkley, which kill'd him, and his two youngest Daughters. He lived some Minutes; but tho' a Vein was opened by Dr. Monger (who happened to be on the Spot, and was knock'd down by Lightning, but received little Damage), it proved in vain, and he expired without speaking a Word. His two Daughters died instantly. This most melancholy Affair has given a general Concern, and particularly to all who were acquainted with the Deceased. Col. Harrison had been many Years a worthy Representative of this County in Assembly, and First in the Commission of the Peace; and his Daughters very promising young Ladies.²

"Miss Betty Harrison" appeared in the August Court of Charles City County with William Randolph to record Harrison's will, which 142 had named all his adult sons as executors with their mother. Apparently Benjamin was still a minor in 1745, and Betty had reached the age of twenty-one since 1743, when the will was written. Her father left her £1000 sterling, half the sum to be paid within a year of her twenty-first birthday or marriage, and the other half within the succeeding three years. She received also three female slaves.³ She had already inherited from her grandfather, "King" Carter, £200 sterling.⁴ And so, she brought a respectable dowry to her marriage on March 8, 1745/6.⁵

Though she had no children of her own, Mrs. Randolph was mistress of a hospitable home and welcomed frequent quests of all ages. Governor Dinwiddie, for example, shortly after his arrival with his wife and daughters visited the Randolphs, who gave a dinner party for them and invited "many ladies and gentlemen" in the afternoon to meet the new governor's family.⁶ 143 From the inventory of Peyton Randolph's estate and from his widow's will, we know that her house was unusually well equipped for elegant dining. Besides spoons and ladles, there were 492 ounces of silver valued at £184, which included a number of rare pieces: chafing dishes, serving trays, a table trivet or decoration called "a Cross," and four candlesticks inherited from her grandmother Harrison. In one china pattern alone she had eight dozen plates and twenty-two serving dishes; a tea set of India china and another of Chelsea; a set of ornamental china worth £20. Her glassware included syllabub and jelly glasses with enough salvers to form a fashionable pyramid of desserts; there were nine decanters, and wine glasses, beer glasses, and water glasses. When she set out her table, she could choose one of forty-eight table cloths. That she managed a productive household, too, is suggested by the five flax wheels and two larger spinning wheels for wool and cotton.⁷

After Peyton Randolph's death, Mrs. Randolph returned to her house on Market Square and was still living there when Cornwallis occupied Williamsburg in the summer of 1781. Though she was not turned out of her house to make room for British officers, as the Madisons were moved from the President's House, she was affected by two plagues attending the invasion. St. George Tucker 144 described them to his wife, Frances (Bland) Randolph Tucker. "Among the plagues the British left in Williamsburg," he complained, "that of Flies is inconceivable. It is impossible to eat, drink, sleep, write, sit still, or even walk about in peace on account of their confounded stings." About the other plague he wrote:

The small pox, which the hellish polling of these infamous wretches has spread in every place thro' which they have passed has not obtained a Crisis throughout the place so that there is scarcely a person to be found well enough to nurse those who are most afflicted by it. Your old friend Aunt Betty, is in that situation. A Child of Sir Peyton Skipwiths who is with her was deserted by it's nurse and the good old Lady was left without a human being to assist her in any respect for some Days.⁸

In the fall, when Washington set up headquarters in the Wythe House, "Aunt Betty" had "the honour of Count Rochambault to lodge at her House".⁹ At this time she was still taking care of sick children whose absent parents were her friends, as were the children themselves. Tucker sent a playful message to his step-son, John Randolph of Roanoke, knowing the boy would understand it: "Tell Jack that little Peyton Skipwith has quite supplanted him in Aunt Betty's Affections 145 tho' she will not acknowledge it."¹⁰

Mrs. Randolph lived on in the house, attended by a niece, Elizabeth Harrison, until her death in 1783. The property was inherited by Edmund Randolph, except for special bequests, chiefly to Harrison, Burwell, and other Randolph nieces and nephews. In her will she appropriated £130 for a suitable monument to the memory of Peyton Randolph and instructed Edmund to put it up as soon as possible in the chapel of the College of William and Mary "opposite to that of his grandfather Sir John Randolph," which had cost about that amount. For her own burial she requested a place beside her husband in the vault below the chapel.¹¹

147

WILL OF SIR JOHN RANDOLPH

[Printed in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, XXXVI, 376-381, from a copy made by a member of the Randolph family before the General Court records were destroyed.]

I Sir John Randolph of Williamsburgh Knight being in good health and of sound mind and memory for preventing disputes in my Family about the estate I may leave at my death which I have acquired honestly tho' by a profession much exposed to temptations of deceit and extortion do make this my last will and testament. But whereas I have been reproached by many people especially the clergy in the article of religion and have by the Freedom and sincerity of my discourses drawn upon me names very familiar to blind zealots such as deist heretic and schismatic and gained the ill will or perhaps the hatred of some few I think it necessary in the first place to vindicate my memory from all harsh and unbrotherly censure of this kind and to give this last testimony of my Faith.

I contemplat and adore the Supreme Being the first cause of all things whose infinite power and wisdom is manifested throughout all his works of which none can entertain the least doubt but fools or madmen. I do sincerely believe from the evidence of the sacred writings as well as of prophane authors that Jesus was the Messiah who came into the world in a miraculous manner to give light to mankind at that time lost and wondering in miserable darkness and abandoned to horrid superstitions and ignorance of the true religion to destroy all factions and parties about it to persuade us to love one another which comprehends the whole moral law as the only way to eternal life and to establish peace and liberty among all nations. I am also thoroughly persuaded by the authority of his word that the dead shall rise at God's appointed time which is my greatest hope and comfort and that we shall then be judged not for any errors or mistakes in matters of speculation but for the immorality of our lives and above all for that fierceness with which mankind is inspired in religious disputes despising reviling and hating one another about trifling and insignificant opinions. That we shall be rewarded if the corrupt state of human nature can merit anything only according to the degree of virtue which we have practiced in this life wherein I am assured manking have a perfect liberty and are undoubtedly exempted from fate and necessity. This is the religion I have learned from the gospel and do believe it to be truely christian as it is suited [to] the weak capacities of men easy to be understood and needing none of the explanations and comments of learned Doctors whose labors seem to be in vain because while by their reasoning they confute the gross errors of others they have not sense or courage 148 enough to establish a true uniform consistent system of their own but strive to make the religion of Christ a science of mighty difficulty and mistery against his own authority and by the weight of their great learning and abilities have only made their adherents more fierce and obstinate fixing irreconcilable animosities among them about unintelligible propositions and senseless doctrines having no tendency to influence mens minds to amend their lives but weakening the eternal obligations of morality whereby the true christian unity is destroyed which cannot be founded but in a strict obedience to the precepts of the gospel. And it is upon this account that my veneration to the ways and means publicly established for the reformation of our lives and turning us from our vicious courses is quite worn out. And I beseech God the father almighty if these opinions are erroneous that I may be enlightened with better thoughts. That he will direct my steps in the ways of truth honesty and charity and that I may be always ready to resign this life with patience and cheerfulness; retaining a firm confidence in his mercy that I shall not be dealt with according to the errors and frailties of my life but may be admitted to some degree of that everlasting peace which his son has promised to those that believe in him.

As to my body I care little about it not doubting but more ceremony will be used with it than is necessary. Yet it is my desire if I should die in this town to be buried in the chappel of William and Mary College with as little trouble and expense as may be.

For the maintenance and support of my dear and most beloved wife who for her Faithfulness affection and prudence deserves to be remembered in the first place I make the following provision I give and devise to her during her life all my houses and lots in the city of Williamsburgh and the plantation and lands adjoining to the town which I purchased of Mr. Thomas Corbin and Mr. Thomas Bray with the appurtenances and also my household servants and slaves and the slaves living and residing upon the said plantation. I also give her during her life the use of all the Furniture of my house in Williamsburgh of what kind soever my plate linnen of all sorts all the goods which are or shall be provided for the use of my several plantations and the liquors and other things laid in for my housekeeping and all the stocks of cattle and sheep upon the said plantation allowing her to take Firewood from the said land for the use of the house. I also give her forever my coach chariot and chaise with every thing that belongs to them and my coach horses riding horses mares and colts which are kept in town also all her own wearing apparel rings jewels and other 149 paraphenalia also all the pieces of money whether gold or silver which I have given her and one hundred pounds sterling. I also give her the profits of all my other plantations and negros or other slaves until my several sons shall respectively attain the age of twenty four years or if any of them should die until that time would have been accomplished if they had lived if she should live as long. And after that my will is that she shall receive of my sons one third part of the profits of my said plantations and slaves for her dower. And my will is that the profits of my estate be received by my wife in trust for her better support and the maintenance and education of my children. After her death I give all my said houses and lots in Williamsburg and at the college landing and the said plantation and lands lying near or adjoining to the town upon Archers hope creek which I purchased of the said Thomas Corbin and Thomas Bray and my household servants and slaves and slaves belonging to the said plantation and other the premises before given to my wife during her life to my son Peyton Randolph and to his heirs and assigns forever. I also give unto my said son Peyton his heirs and assigns all my lands tenements and hereditaments with the appurtenances lying and being in Martin's hundred in the county of James City and all the slaves horses hogs cattle sheep and other goods and chattels belonging to the said lands or at the time of my death living residing or being upon the same.

I also give unto my said son my whole collection of books with the cases in which they are kept hoping he will betake himself to the study of the law: But if he dies before he comes to the age of twenty four years, I give the same to my son John if he lives to be of the age of twenty one; otherwise I leave them to my residuary legatee.

I give and bequeath to my said son John all my plantations lands tenements and hereditaments with the appurtenances lying and being in the Parish of James City upon Chickohominy river in the county of James City which I purchased of Robert Porteous Esqr and all the slaves horses hogs cattle sheep and other goods and chattels belonging to the same or living residing or being upon the said plantations to hold to him and his heirs forever.

I give and bequeath to my daughter one thousand pounds sterling when she attains the age of twenty one years or marries but if she dies before I give the same to my residuary legatee.

Whereas my negroes Peter and Hull do not live constantly at any plantation I give Hull to my son Beverley and Peter to my son John. I also give unto my son Beverley the mulatto boy Billy and all the rest of my estate both real and personal. Appointing my wife, brethren William Randolph and Richard 150 Randolph and Henry Whiting Esqr. my executors and guardians to my children. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to every page of this my will containing five pages and affixed my seal the 23rd day of December MDCCXXXV.

Published and declared to be my last will and testament in the presence of these witnesses
John Randolph L. S.
Chas. Bridges
Philip Finch

Memorandum that on the XXVIIIth day of April MDCCXXXVII -- this Will was presented in the General Court by William Randolph Esq. Richard Randolph and Henry Whiting Gent executors therein named who made oath thereto according to law and the same was proved by the oaths of Charles Bridges and Philip Finch the witnesses to it and ordered to be recorded.

Teste. Matt. Kemp Clk.

Whereas I Sr. John Randolph have heretofore made my last Will and testament in writing bearing date the three and twentieth Day of December in the year of our Lord 1735 I do now confirm and republish the same with the additions and alterations contained in this codicial which shall be received and taken as part of my said Will. First I desire that the house at Eaton Hill be repaired in the manner I have already provided for and according to such directions as I shall leave for that purpose then it be furnished with beds Furniture (of which several are already provided) and otherthings which may be found necessary also that North River Hill may be rebuilt: the expense of all which to be defrayed out of the profits of my estate in Gloucester. I give to my eldest son the following negros, a negro girl named Frank who lives with Mr. Pasteur a negro girl Lucy who lives with Mr. Bridges a mulatto girl called Easter and I also give him my great silver cup. I give to my son Peyton a parcel of land I lately purchased of colonel Custis and his son adjoining to my land at Archers hope also the warehouses and land thereunto belonging which I purchased about twelve months ago of the executors of John Holloway Esqr deceased to hold to him and his heirs forever and I give him a mulatto boy called Lewy my will further is that all the money outstanding and due to me be placed out and at interest upon such securities as my executors shall approve and if it shall happen that any of the securities for money I have already placed out should be suggested of insufficiency I desire the same may be called in and the money placed out 151 upon better security and I do appoint the interest arising from such loan to be applied to the better maintenance and education of my children until my son Peyton comes of age yet I do not intend that the paiment of my Daughter's portion should be delayed in case of her marriage before that time but shall be paid as soon as the money can be called in. I also desire that a fair catalogue may be made of my books and that they be carefully preserved in the presses where they now are so far as they can contain them and I desire that these presses be fully repaired and have new locks and keys and that one other mahogany press be provided for the better keeping the rest of the books. Lastly my will is that an inventory be made of my estate without any appraisement or security to be given for the admonas--of it trusting entirely to the Fidelity and kindness of my executors. And I do appoint my worthy and honest Friend John Carter Esqr. one of the guardians of my children. In testimony where of I have signed and sealed this writing this seventeeth day of February 1736 publishing and declaring the same to be a codicil to and part of my last will before mentioned.

Signed sealed published and declared in the presence of us who subscribed our names in the presence of the Testator John Randolph L. S.
Will. Stith
Joshua Fry
William Dawson
John Symmer
Benj. Needler

Memorandum that this codicil to the last will, and testament of Sir John Randolph Knight deceased was presented in the General Court the XXVIIIth day of April MDCCXXXVII by William Randolph esqr. Richard Randolph and Henry Whiting (executors in the said will named) who made oath thereto according to law and the same was proved by the oaths of William Stith Joshua Fry William Dawson and Benjamin Needler witnesses to it, and (together with the said last will and testament) ordered to be recorded.

Teste Matt. Kemp Clk.

The foregoing are true transcripts from the record of the will and codicil of Sir John Randolph.
Teste N. P. Howard,
Clk General Court.

153

Will of Peyton Randolph

York County Records, Wills and Inventories, XXII, 308-310.

In the name of God Amen I Peyton Randolph do make this my last Will and Testament. I Give and devise unto my beloved Wife my dwelling House, Lots and all the Outhouses thereto belonging, in the City of Williamsburg, with the furniture of the same, and also my Chariot and Horses, and all her wearing Apparel rings and Jewels, all which Estates Real and personal I give to her, her Heirs, Executors and Administrators. I Give to my said Wife also little Aggy and her Children, Great Aggy and her Children, Eve and her Children, Lucy and her Children, to her and her Heirs forever. I Give to my Wife also the use and enjoyment of my whole Estate real and personal, not hereafter given away, during her natural Life. I Give to Harrison Randolph a Negro Boy called Casar, the son of Sue, to him and his Heirs forever. I Give to my Brother John Randolph two Negroe Boys, such as he shall choose out of my Estate, which have not been particularly disposed of to him and his Heirs, after the Death of my wife. I give unto my said Brother all my Estate Real and Personal to hold the same during his Life, except my Man Johnny, whom in that Case I Give to my Nephew Edmund Randolph to him and his Heirs. And after the death of my Brother John I Give all the Estate devised to him for Life to the said Edmund Randolph his Heirs Executors and Administrators, subject Nevertheless to the payment of five hundred pounds to each of his Sisters Susanna And Arriana Randolph for the payment of which sums I allow him four years, after the Estate shall come into his Hands, he paying them Interest yearly for such sums as Remain unpaid. I do hereby empower my executors to sell my Books and Presses to pay my debts, and, if that is not sufficient, to sell so many of the Negroes as they think can be best spared from the use of the Plantations to answer that Purpose. I do appoint my Wife, my Brother John Randolph, and Mr. James Cocke Executors of this my Will. In Witness whereof I have set my hand and seal this 18th day of August in the year of our Lord 1774.

Signed Sealed Published and Declared by the said Peyton Randolph as and for his Last Will (he being present at the [time] of this attestation) In presence of us
Thomas Mason
Samuel Henley
John Pope

At a Court held for York County the 20th day of November 1775 This will was produced in Court and the subscribing Witnesses 154 thereto not being to be had John Blair and Thomas Everard were sworn and Examined who severally deposed that they are well acquainted with the Testators hand writing and verily believe that the said Will and the Testators name thereto subscribed are of his proper hand writing, and thereupon the said will was ordered to be Recorded and on the motion of Betty Randolph and James Cocke two of the Executors who made Oath thereto and together with John Blair and Nathaniel Burwell their Securities entered into and acknowledged Bond as the Law directs Certificate was Granted them for obtaining a Probat in due form Liberty being reserved for John Randolph Esqr. the other Executor to join in the Probat when he shall think fit.

Thomas Everard, Clerk

155

Inventory and Appraisement of the Estate of Peyton Randolph Esq. in York County taken Jany. the 5th 1776. York County Records, Wills and Inventories, XXII, 337-346.

12	Mahogany Chairs £15 2 Mahogany tables £8 £	23: :
1	Card Table £2 1 Marble Table £2	4: :
1	Side Board Table 20/ 1 Carpet 20/	2: :
4	looking Glasses £20 1 pr. Endirons £2	22: :
5	China Bowls £5 5 China Mugs 15/	5: 15:
8	Dozn. red and White China plates £6 22 Do. dishes £5	11: :
1	Blue and White China Tureen 20/ 11 Blue & White dishes £4	5: :
4	Blue & White China Sauce boats 10/ 2 Do. potting pots 15/	1: 5:
21	Custard Cups & Patty Pans 10/ 6 Scollop Shells 15/	1: 5:
12	Egg Cups 6/ 13 Blue and White Coffee Cups & Saucers 10/	: 16:
18	Blue and White China Plates 22/ 5 Beer Glasses 5/	1: 7:
4	fruit Baskets 20/ 1 Queen China Mug & Sugar dish	1: 2:
1	Marble Bowl 15/ 15 Water Glasses 30/	2: 5:
10	Wine Glasses 12/ 5 punch Do. 5/	: 17:
1	Mahogany Tray 10/ 9 Decanters and 4 Baskets 25/	1: 15:
1	... Do ... Case containing 2 Bottles 25/	1: 5:
1	round Mahogany table 26/ 1 plate Warmer 12/	1: 18:
492	Oz. Plate @ 7/6	184: 10:
1	Plate Basket and 2 knive Do. 10/ 3 1/2 doz. knives & forks £5	5: 10:
1	Mahogany tea Board 7/6 Japand Waiters 10/	: 17:
1	Chariot and 8 Harness	60: :
5	Chariot Horses £230 ... 3 Cart Do. £25	255: :
1	Mare and Colt £40 1 riding Horse £30	70: :
1	Phaton £15. 5 Cows £20	35: :
2	Carts and 1 Tumbrill and Harness	20: :
11	Frying pans at 8/	1: 13:
25	Bushels Salt at 3/	3: 15:
A	parcel Wool 40/ A parcel Hemp and Flax 10/	2: 10:
A	parcel Lumber in the Store house 20/	1: :
5	Bushels Malt 15/	: 15:
4	old Scythes 10/ 1 Bedstead 15/ a Cross Cut Saw 15/	2: :
10	old Jacks 5. A parcel of tallow 25/ a pr. Stilliards 12/6	2: 2:6
a	parcel Corks 50/ a pipe of Sower Cyder 40/	4: 10:
48	Table Cloths £46:15: 36 Towells £2:11:	49: 6:
9	Napkins 18/ 11 pr. Sheets £16/10 2 pr. Virginia Do. £2	19: 8:
6	pr. pillow Cases 15/ 2 Side Board Cloths 5/	1: :
A	parcel Queens China Ware & Sundry Articles Sent to Wilton	5: :
156
A	Sett of Ornamental China £	20: :
1	doz: Mahogany Chairs	24: :
2	fire Screens £5 1 Card table £2	7: :
1	Wilton Carpet £10 1 Tea table 20/ 1 Do. 30/	12: 10:
1	Sett China & Tea Board £3 1 Ditto & Do. 40/	5: :
1	Looking Glass £10 1 pr. Tongs, poker Shovel & Fender 20/	11: :
1	Black Walnut Press £3	3: :
5	Flax Wheels 2 Check Reels & 2 Common Reels	5: :
A	dressing table and Glass £5 a Desk & Book case £7	12: :
6	old Chairs £3 1 Easy Chair 20/	4: :
A	Small Cabinet & a parcel old China	2: :
A	Fender & pr. Tongs 3/	: 3:
1	Sett old Blue damask Curtains 30/ 2 pr. Window Do. 30/	3: :
	Sundry Articles in Mrs. Randolph's Closet	3: :
1	Warming pan & pr. Scales & Weights 10/ 2 Spinning Wheels 15/	1: 5:
1	Coal Skuttle 5/ 8 Pewter dishes 40/	2: 5:
2	doz: pewter plates £3. A parcel old pewter 20/	4: :
3	Copper Kettles £15 8 Copper Stewpans £5	20: :
1	Safe 30/ 5 pales 10/ 2 fish Kettles and Covers £3	5: :
1	Bell Metal Skillet 15/ 1 Marble Mortar 20/	1: 15:
1	small Marble Mortar 5/ 1 Brass Mortar 5/	: 10:
1	Grid Iron 2 drypping pans & 2 frying pans 25/	1: 5:
3	Iron Potts 40/ 1 Tea Kettle 15/ 1 Do. 15/	3: 10:
1	Jack, 2 Spitts and a pr. Kitchen Dogs	5: :
8	Stone Butter Pots, 7 Milk pans and 1 Stone jug 30/	1: 10:
1	Iron ladle, 1 Chopping knive and flesh fork	: 5:
23	Candle Moulds 23/ a parcel Old Copper and tin Ware 20/	2: 3:
11	Chamber Pots 3 Wash Basons, 35 Wine and 8 Beer Glasses	2: 10:
2	dish Covers, 3 tin Kettles, 8 Sauce pans, 5 Cake Moulds & a Cullender	1: 10:
A	parcel Brooms and Brushes 20/ 4 Spades 20/	2: :
29	Hoes, 1 Chopping knife 6 Scythes & Stones & 3 Cuttg Knives	5: :
100	lb Brown Sugar 45/ 150 lb Coffee at 1/3 £9/7/6	11: 12:6
	part of a Box Glass 20/	1: :
35	yds Green Cloth at 10/ £12:10: 40 yds.Cotton £5	17: 10:
7	dutch blankets £3/10 10yds Crimson Cloth £7/10	11: :
	About 30 yds Green planes at 2/9 £4/2/6. 20 Ells Oznbr. 25/	5: 7:6
7	Sifters 9/ 4 pr. Coarse Shoes 24/ 3 Jack lines 9/	2: 2:
6	Flat Irons & a pr. Broken Dogs 12/ 1 pine Table 3/	: 15:
157
A	parcel Wine in Bottles containing almost a pipe £	60: :
4	Jugs 8/ 1 Butter pot 2/ A Box & 1/2 Candles 60/	3: 10:
A	firkin Butter 40/ 5 flasks Oil 10/	2: 10:
30	Gallons Rum £7:10: A parcel Lumber 5/	7: 15:
2	Soap Jars 15/	: 15:
6	Mahogany Book Presses at 30/	9: :
1	Do. Writing Table £3 1 large Mahogany table £5	8: :
1	Round table 15/ 1 Paper Press 10/	1: 5:
1	Chaffing dish 5/ 1 dry rubbing Brush 3/	: 8:
1	Clock £5 1 pr. Back Gammon tables 10/	5: 10:
1	old pine table 3/. 6 Mahogany Chairs 40/	2: 3:
1	Lanthorn	: 10:
1	Dressing Table Glass and Toilet	2: 10:
6	Mahogany Chairs £6 1 Bed Table £1/10	7: 10:
1	China Bason and Bottle 20/	1: :
1	Bedstead and Suit Cotton Curtains	15: :
1	Do. and Do. Virginia Cloth Do.	10: :
4	pr. Window Curtains 40/ 1 old Carpet 10/	2: 10:
1	Sett Callico Curtains 50/ 5 Quilts £5	7: 10:
1	Chintz Bed Cover £3	3: :
8	Feather Beds, 7 Bolsters & 9 Pillows	40: :
4	hair Mattrasses £6 10 Counterpanes £12	18: :
3	wool Do. £3 6 pr. new Blankets £9 7 old Do. £4	16: :
51	yards Irish Linnen @ 5/ £12/15 25 yards @ Do. £6/5	19: :
1	ps. fustian Dimity 25/ 100 lb Wt. Sugar £7/10	8: 15:
A	parcel Sylabub & Jelly Glasses, 4 Salvers, 8 Water Glasses 22 Wine Do. and 3 Glass Candlesticks	3: :
1	Corner Cupboard & a parcel Physick	5: :
1	Japann'd Tea Board 5/ 3 Globe Candle Sticks 30/	1: 15:
1	Screen 30/ a Trussel and 4 old Trunks 20/	2: 10:
4	Mahogany Chairs £4 1 dressing Glass 30/	5: 10:
1	Carpet 5/ 1 old Fender Shovel and Tongs 3/	: 8:
1	Bedstead & Suit Virginia Curtains and Window Curtains	10: :
A	mahogany press £3	3: :
1	pine Table and Looking Glass 15/ 3 old Chairs 15/	1: 10:
2	Bedsteads 15/ 1 Fender 5/ 3 Chairs 15/	1: 15:
1	Bedstead 10/ 1 old Chest drawers 15/	1: 5:
1	Pine Table 5/. 1 Floor Cloth 20/ 1 passage Do. 8/	1: 13:
5	Hoes, 1 Dung fork, 1 Garden Rake and Spade	: 15:
1	Wheel Barrow 8/ 1 pr. Money Scales 10/	: 18:
8	Doz: Bottles at 30/ Gro:	1: :
	About 100 Bushels dust Coal	2: 10:
A	parcel old Casks and Tubs	: 10:
1	Steel Mill	3: :
A	Library of Books as per Catalogue	250: :
		£1578: 14:6

158

Negroes

Johnny	£ 100: :
Jack	25: :
Billy	100: :
Walt	100: :
Braches	10: :
Ben	80: :
Cesar	25: :
George	30: :
Henry	30: :
Sam	40: :
William	30: :
Bob	25: :
Cesar	30: :
Walt	25: :
Eve	100: :
Charlotte	80: :
Aggy	60: :
Succordia	10: :
Little Aggy	60: :
Kitty	20: :
Betsey	10: :
Lucy	60: :
Katy	20: :
Peter	15: :
Betty	100: :
Roger	60: :
Moses	60: :
	£2883: 14:6

In Obedience to an Order of York Court dated the 20th of November 1775 We the Subscribers being first Sworn before a Magistrate of Said City have Appraised the Estate of Peyton Randolph Esq: as Wittness
J. Dixon
Wm. Pierce
Alex Craig

Returned into York County Court the 15th day of July 1776 and Ordered to be Recorded

Thomas Everard, Cl. Cur.

The Appraisement of the Estate of Peyton Randolph Esq. decd. in Charlotte County.

[Here are listed 44 Negroes - men, women, and children - worth £2370: :.]

159

19	head of sheep	£ 9: 10:
2	Yoke of Oxen	14: :
70	head of Cattle	130: :
140	head of Hogs	41: 5:
1	Waggon and Gear	15: :
15	Reap hooks	: 15:
2	Cotton Wheels @ 7/6	: 15:
2	Flax Do.	1: 5:
5	pr. Cotton Cards @ 3/	: 15:
1	Flax Hackle	: 12:6
13	Grubing Hoes	2: 15:
28	Broad Do. @ 3/	4: 4:
9	Trowell Do. @ 4/	1: 16:
1	Sett Iron Wedges	: 7:6
15	Old Hoes	1: 17:6
15	Hilling Hoes @ 3/	2: 5:
14	Narrow Axes	3: 12:
8	old Broad Hoes	: 12:6
1	Large Plow	1: 10:
3	Frying Pans	: 9:
5	Tin Do.	: 6:3
11	hand Saw Drawing knife &c	: 15:
A	parcel old plough Irons	: 5:
4	Horses	47: :
1/2	doz. Earthen plates, Chamber pot & spoon	: 12:6
140	Barrels Corn @ 7/6	52: 10:
100	Bushels Wheat @ 2/6	12: 10:
5	old Bags	: 15:
1	Tobo. Hhd.	: 14:
6	Do.	: 18:
1	Wheat Sive	: 1:6
2	Grind Stones	: 11:3
A	Quantity of Flax Broke & Unbroke	5: :
A	Quantity of Tobacco Supposed 4 Hhds.	20: :
2	Corn Barrels	: 3:
1	Iron Pott & Churn	: 12:6
2	Collars 1 Ox Yoke and Chain	1: :
1	Iron Pott	: 10:
3	Bells 1 Iron Wedge	: 12:
2	Frying panns	: 7:6
20 1/2	pd. Spun Cotton	3: 1:6
2	pd. Not Spun	: 3:
3 1/2	Cow Hides	1: 10
8	head Small Cattle	5: :
		£2802: 14:

Pursuant to an Order of York Court bearing date the 20th November 1775. We the Subscriber being first Sworn have appraised the 160 above Estate of said Peyton Randolph Esq. decd as Witness our hands.
Jos. Morton
James Allen
Drury Watson
Josiah Morton

Returned into York County Court this 15th day of July 1776 and Ordered to be Recorded

Tho. Everard Cl. Cur.

Inventory and Appraisement of the Estate of Peyton Randolph Esquire in James City County December 20th, 1775.

[Here are listed 36 slaves - men, women and children - worth £1432: : .]

10	Hogs and 5 Shoats	£ 7: 10:
5	Sows @ 15/	3: 15:
8	Shoats @ 6/	2: 8:
15	pigs @ 1/3	: 18:9
7	Hogs @ 10/	3: 10:
79	Head Sheep @ 10/	39: 10:
3	Horses	20: :
2	Carts	5: :
A	parcel Old Hoes, Axes and Spades	2: :
1	Cross Cut Saw	: 10:
1	Whip Do.	1: :
12	pewter dishes	3: :
6	Tin Milk pans	: 12:
4	butter pots	: 12:
297	Bbls Corn @ 8/	118: 16:
95	Bushels Wheat @ 3/	14: 5:
400	Do. Oats @ 2/	40: :
94	head of Cattle	200: :
3	ploughs	3: :
3	Fluke Hoes, 1 Harrow, and a Drag Harrow	2: :
A	parcel Tops, Shucks, and Straw	15: :
		£1915: 6:9

James City, to Wit

In Obedience to an Order of York Court dated Nov. 20 1775 We the Subscribers being first Sworn have Appraised the Estate of Peyton Randolph Esqr. in said County as Above.
Nath. Burwell
Cha. Barham
Henry Duke

161

Returned into York County Court the 15th day of July 1776 And Ordered to be Recorded.

Tho. Everard, Cl. Cur.

162

163

Will of Mrs. Betty [Peyton] Randolph

York County Records, Wills and Inventories, XXIII, 4-5.

In the Name of God Amen I Betty Randolph do make this my last Will and Testament June 1^st 1780. I give to Edmund Randolph, Esq; Nephew of my dear departed Husband, the Family Picture[s?] the Silver Chafing Dishes the 4 New Silver Salt Cellars the Silver Cup and 2 Silver Waiters I also give him the Suit of Yellow Printed Cotton Curtains, the Bed, Bedstead, and Blankets thereunto belonging the Clock, and his uncles Seal which I wear to my Watch. I give to my Nephew Harrison Randolph the Silver Cruet frame Table Spoons, Soup ditto, Punch Strainer ladle the four old Silver Candlesticks 2 old Silver Salt cellars the Cross the China Bowls the Tea set of India China all the House Linnen and half the Beds with Blankets &c. I give to my Niece Elizabeth Harrison who lives with me the new Tea Spoons 4 Silver Saucers all my wearing Cloths my minature Picture of my dear Husband my Watch and the Treasury Bond of the United States for Ninety Pounds now in the House--I give to my Niece Lucy Burwell the set of Chelsea Tea China, as a token she is not forgot. I give to my Nephew Peyton Randolph the Silver Coffee Pot for the same reason. I give to my Nephew Benjamin Harrison of Berkley 4 Silver Candlesticks called the new ones which were given me by my grandmother Harrison I also give him a Mulatto Woman called little Aggy, her Daughter Betsy her son Nathan to him and his heirs forever. I also give him the other half of the Beds Blankets and Curtains. I give to my Nephew Carter Harrison of Berkley a Molatto Boy named Wat, to him and his Heirs forever. I give to my Niece Ann Coupland a Negro Woman named Eve and her Son George to her use and after her death to her Heirs. I give to my Niece Elizabeth Harrison who lives with me a Girl named Kitty, daughter of little Aggy to her use and after her Death to her Heirs. I give to my Niece Elizabeth Rickman a Negro Woman called great Aggy and her Son Henry to her use and after her death to her Heirs. I give to my Niece Lucy Randolph Daughter of my Sister Necks a Molatto girl named Charlotte to her use and after her death to her Heirs. I give to my Nephew Harrison Randolph a Negro Woman named Lucy, and her Children, to him and his Heirs forever. I have in the loan Office of this Commonwealth the sum of Nine hundred Pounds which I dispose of in the following manner, five hundred Pounds I give and bequeath to my Niece Elizabeth Harrison who lives with me. One hundred to her Sister Ann Harrison, One hundred to Sarah Harrison, daughter of my Brother Benjamin Harrison, One hundred to Ann Harrison daughter of my Br. Charles Harrison, and One hundred to his daughter Betty Randolph Harrison. My 164 Will and desire is that the House and all the Lots in Williamsburg given me by my dear Husband together with the furniture not particularly given away, Chariot, Waggon & Horses in town, and all the Estate I shall die possessed of not particularly disposed of may be sold, and after paying my debts (which I design shall be very few) the Money arising from the sale thereof may be divided into two equal parts, the one half I give and bequeath to my Nephew Harrison Randolph, out of the other half I desire forty Pounds may be divided among the Servants that shall attend me in my illness as they shall deserve, the remainder to be divided into Six equal parts to be given to Six Persons hereafter mentioned Viz. Peyton Harrison, Son of my Br. Carter Harrison, William Harrison, Son of my Br. Benjamin, the Youngest Son of my Br. Nat, the Youngest Son of my Br. Charles, and the two Sons of my Br. Robert Harrison. If either of my Br. Roberts Sons should die before the Age of twenty One the Survivor to take both his own and his Brothers part. My Will & desire is that the Heirs of my dear & honored Husband (by whose bounty I have been enabled to make these bequests) may be put to no inconveniency by my heirs, for which reason I desire the Carts Waggons & work Horses on the Plantation & tools for the use of the Plantations tho purchased by me may not be looked on as part of my Estate. I also desire a sufficient quantity of Corn and fodder may be left on the Plantations for the use of the Negroes & Stocks. I also direct that whatever Cloths, or materials for making Cloths for the Negroes, that shall be found in the House shall be given up for that purpose. If I should have any Money in the House or Treasury not already given away I give it to Harrison Randolph. I have lent the Estate Money as Mr. Cocks receipt & Books will show to the amount of One hundred & thirty Pounds which I design should be laid out in a monument to the memory of my dear and blessed husband. My Will & desire is that the above Sum of One hundred & thirty Pounds due from the Estate be paid to Edmund Randolph esqr. he giving Bond to my Executors to put up a monument in the Chapel of Wm. and Mary College opposite to that of his grandfather Sr. John Randolph (which I have been informed cost about that sum) as soon as possible, he is to pay no Interest for the money only to lay out the sum of One hundred & thirty pounds. My Body which I had almost forgot I desire may be put in the Vault in the College Chapel in which the remains of my blessed Husband are deposited, with as little ceremony & expence as possible, as being there is the summit of all my wishes with regard to this World & that the expences of the funeral may be paid before the division 165 is made. My share in the Wmsburg factory I give & devise to Harrison Randolph, my Books to his Sister Lucy Randolph. I do appoint my Brother Benjn. Harrison, my Nephew Benjn. Harrison & my Nephew Harrison Randolph Exors of this my last Will & Testament. In witness whereof I have set my hand & Seal this 23d day of October in the Year of our Lord 1780, [Signed] Betty Randolph [Seal] [Witnesses] Rachel Whitaker, Sally Singleton.

1782 July 20th A Codicil to the above Will. Whereas Eve's bad behavior laid me under the necessity of selling her, I Order and direct the Money she sold for may be laid out in purchasing two Negroes Viz; a Boy & Girl, the Girl I give to my Niece Ann Coapland in lieu of Eve, in the same manner that I had given Eve. The Boy I give to Peyton Harrison--Son of my Brother Carter Harrison, to him & his heirs forever. I have lent Charlotte to my Nephew Harrison Randolph during my life. As he will perhaps be at some expence in raising & maintaining other Children she may have as a gratuity I give to him & his Heirs forever her son called Thomas Prouce. I have given in my Will, forty Pound Paper Currency to be divided among the Servants, instead of which I Order Ten Pounds of the Money found in the House to be divided as afore directed. I also Order Twenty Pounds out of the same Money to be given to my Niece E Harrison if she should be living with me at the time of my death in order to enable her to pay her Expences to some friendly roof. I think I have express myself with regard to Thomas Pruse in a manner that may leave room for a dispute to prevent which I declare my Will is that Harrison Randolph is to have the said Thomas Pruse at all events, I give to my Niece Eliza. Harrison my dressing Table and Glass that stands in my Chamber and the Cabinet on the Top of the Desk.

[Witnesses] John Blair James Madison

[Signed] Betty Randolph [Seal] [Presented and ordered recorded 17 Feb. 1783]

167

Notes from the Humphrey Harwood Ledger B, p. 19.

Mrs. Bettey Randolph

			Dr.
1777
August 23rd	To	Mortar and pinting Shead 3/.	£ -. 3.-
1778
June 3	To	125 Bricks 7/. 5 bushs. of lime 7/6. 500 Nails 15/. 100 larths 2/6	1.12.-
	To	Mending larthing & plastering in Kitching & Covered way 15/. & hair 6d.	-.15.6
	To	Building Steeps to back door 6/. & 2 days labr. 8/.	-.14.-
	To	White washing Kitching, Closset Covered way [34]	1.14.-
October 2	To	73 brick 4/6. 2 bushs. of Mortar 3/. Rubg. & laying A harth 10/.	-.17.6
	To	Mending Celler wall 2/6. & 1 Days of labour 6/	-. 8.6
Decr. 2	To	Repairing marble Chimnay Piece 12/, & plaster of Parris 3/	-.15.-
	To	Mortar [?] & 1/2 days labour 4/	-. 4.-
1781
Novemr. 7	To	lime 9d. & Working in A Celler Doorframe 3/.	-. 3.9
			[7. 7.3]
			Specie £ 3.10.6

PER CONTRA

		Cr.
1784
July 25	By Cash in full from Benn. Harison Esqr. through the Hands of Mr. Thomas Dawson	£ 3.10.6

168

Notes from the Humphrey Harwood Ledger B, p. 73.

Mr. Joseph Hornsby

			Dr.
1784
Novr. 4th	To	Cash (from Ledger A, Folio 141)	£ 15.17.6
	To	Bushs. of lime at 1/	-.14.-
	To	cuting out & putg. in 5 window frames at 3/	-.15.-
5	To	4 bushs. of lime 4/ & hair 1/ & 8 days labr. of boys at 1/3	-.15.-
	To	repairing larthing & plastering to Dary 15/	-.15.-
Decr. 13	To	22 1/2 bushs. of lime at 1/ & 100 bricks 3/	1. 5.6
	To	1 bushell of hair 2/ & laying an harth 1/6	-. 3.6
	To	setting up a Grate 7/6	-. 7.6
	To	larthing & plastering 41 yds. at 6d	1. 0.6
1785	To	3 days labr. at 2/6 & working cellar door at 3/	-.10.6
August 8	To	19 bushels of lime 19/ & 1334 bricks at 3/ pr. Centum	2.19.-
	To	2 Days labour 5/ & underpining Granary 24/	1. 9.-
19	To	22 bushels of lime at 1/	1. 2.-
	To	668 bricks at 3/ & 2 days labr. at 2/6 & repairg. Well 15/	2. -.-
			£ 30.17.11

PER CONTRA

			Cr.
1785
August 8th By	80	Bricks	£ -. 2.
1786
February 11th	By	His Account to This day	28. 3.10 ¾
	By	Cash to Ballance	2.12. ¼
			£ 30.17.11

169

A description from Robert D. Ward, An Account of General La Fayette's Visit to Virginia in the Years 1824-25 (Richmond, 1881), pp. 42-43:

After dining at York, he sat out at 2 o'clock, Wednesday afternoon [Oct. 20], in his barouche, attended by his suite, and others in carriages. He was attended to Williamsburg by the Governor and Council, the Chief Justice, the Secretary of War, Major-General Taylor and his aids, Brigadier-General Cocke and staff, Judge Brooke, Colonel Bassett, General Macomb, General Jones, of Washington; Captain Elliott, Colonel Roberdeay and escorted by a battalion, under Major Bitts. He arrived at Williamsburg at 6 o'clock, amidst merry peals of bells and the congratulations of its citizens. He was conducted to the residence of Mrs. Mary Monroe Peachy, which had been volunteered for his accommodation by that patriotic lady, where he was received by the Mayor and civil authorities, with an eloquent address, delivered by Mr. Robert Anderson, to which he made a neat and appropriate address, as follows:

THE GENERAL'S ADDRESS.
"Your affectionate welcome, and the honorable expressions of your esteem, are the more gratifying to me, as I remember my old personal obligation to this seminary, the parent of so many enlightened patriots who have illustrated the Virginian name. Here, sir, were formed, in great part, the generous minds whose early resolutions came forth in support of their heroic Boston brethren, and encouraged the immortal Declaration of Independence, so much indebted, itself, to an illustrious Virginian pen. Those, and many other recollections, such as the efforts made by a colonial assembly of Virginia, in times still more remote, to obtain from the British Government the abolition of the slave trade, inspire a great respect for the college, where such sentiments have been cherished. I am sensible of the honor conferred on me by the adoption you have been pleased so kindly to announce, and I beg you, sir, and the other gentlemen of the college, to accept my most grateful thanks."

170

After visiting our college, and going to pay his respects to Mrs. Page, the widow of the late Governor Page, he sat down to dinner at the Raleigh Tavern, at which Colonel Bassett presided, assisted by J. A. Smith and Ro. McCandlish, as vice-presidents, at which there were many distinguished gentlemen--the Governor and Council, Chief-Justice Marshall, John C. Calhoun, Generals Taylor, Macomb, Jones, Brodnax, and Carrington, with their suites: Captain Elliott, of the navy; Colonels Peyton Harvie, Mercer, George Hay, Major Gibbon, John Tyler, Dr. S. S. Griffin, Dr. S. Cotton, William T. Galt, Judge Brooke, Robert G. Scott, Dr. John A. Smith, Captain Ro. McCandlish, and others.

On Friday morning, the General left Williamsburg, at 10 o'clock, for Jamestown, where the steamboat Petersburg, with two navy barges, under the command of Captain Morgan, awaited him. He was met at Jamestown by a deputation from Norfolk, consisting of L. W. Tazewell, Thomas Newton, George Loyall, Walter Herron, B. Pollard, William B. Lamb, Esqs., and Dr. R. B. Starke, and was conducted on board, where a sumptuous collation was served. The effect of his reception on board, was enlivened by the fine band of the United States ship North Carolina.

A further social note from a letter of Elizabeth (Griffin) Campbell, daughter of Samuel Griffin of Williamsburg and wife of Ferdinand S. Campbell, a professor at the College of William and Mary:

Our Town was in a bustle at the arrival of Lafayette - my Eliza:^th was called upon to arrange his rooms, and the Dining room in the Raleigh Tavern. I am told she did it with very great taste. The General embraced my three Girls, & kissed them. (an honor on them alone.) Why, I know not -- unless he was told they were Col: Griffin's Grand-daughters. (E. Campbell to Mrs. Robert Hare, Williamsburg, October 27, 1824, in Hare Papers, American Philosophical Society)