Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography

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Spencer, Nicholas, president of the council and acting governor after Lord Culpeper's departure from Virginia, May 28, 1683, to the incoming of Francis Lord Howard of Effingham in February, 1684. He was the son of Nicholas Spencer, Esq., of Cole, in Bedfordshire, England, by his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Edward Gostwick. He first engaged in merchandizing in London, and like many merchants became interested in Virginia, to which he emigrated in 1659. He settled in Westmoreland county, where the parish of Cole was named in honor of the home of his family; was a member of the house of burgesses from 1666 to 1676; and was secretary of state from 1679 till his death in 1689. Placed by Lord Culpeper, who was his cousin, at the head of the council, he succeeded him as acting governor, on his departure from Virginia, in September, 1683, according to an order issued shortly before by the privy council establishing the rule which was always afterwards followed that the president of the council should succeed to the executive duties in case of the absence or death of the incumbent. Spencer's administration was quiet, except for some inroads of the Seneca Indians, who were drive off with the aid of the tributary tribes. In February, 1684, Lord Howard arrived, and Spence acted as one of his councillors till his death, September 23, 1689. He married Frances, daughter of Colonel John Mottrom, of Northumberland county, and left several children who have descendants in Virginia.

[Pages 53-54]
Howard, Francis, Baron of Effingham, governor of Virginia from February, 1684 to October 20, 1688, was a distant kinsman of Charles Lord Howard of Effingham, who commanded the English fleet in 1688 in its famous battle with the Spanish Armada. He was son of Sir William Howard of Lingfield, in Surrey county, England, by his wife Frances, daughter of Sir George Courthope, of Whiligh, county of Sussex, knight, and succeeded in 1681 to the title of Lord Howard of Effingham on the death of Lord Charles Howard, grandson of the hero of the battle of the Armada. He was commissioned governor of Virginia, September 28, 1683, and arrived in Virginia in February, 1684. Among his first proceedings was one to summon Robert Beverley before the council on the old charge of instigating the plant cutters. Found guilty, Beverley was released on his making an humble and abject apology, which doubtless, like Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., on a similar occasion, he regarded as a mere formality. It was far from making him submissive to the governor's will, and when the governor set to work to exalt his prerogatives at the expense of the liberties of the assembly, Beverley as clerk, and his friend Philip Ludwell, firmly resisted him. Hitherto the governors of Virginia had seldom, if ever, used their negative on the laws of the assembly. Lord Howard asserted this right, and was successful in making it a part of the constitution ever afterwards. He attempted to get the house to authorize himself and the council to lay taxes on urgent occasions, but failed. He exacted a fee for attaching the seal of the colony to land grants and, erecting a new court of chancery, made himself a petty lord chancellor. All who opposed him in any way were made to feel the effects of resentment. Robert Beverley was removed from his office as clerk and Ludwell was suspended from the council. In one measure, at least, Howard deserved the gratitude of the people. In the summer of 1684 he went to Albany, and there with the governor of New York made a treaty with the Five Nations, which put an end to the raids of the Senecas on the frontiers. At length Howard departed for England, October 20, 1688, leaving Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., in charge of the government. The assembly sent Ludwell as their agent to urge complaints against him. He did not return, but he was allowed to retain his office of governor as an absentee with half his salary, while his duties were discharged by a lieutenant. He died March 30, 1694. While he lived in Virginia, he spent much of his time at Rosegill, the house of the Wormeleys, on the Rappahannock. On August 31, 1685, his wife Lady Philadelphia Howard (daughter of Sir Thomas Pelham), died in Virginia, aged thirty-one, and her remains were carried to England and interred at Lingfield. On the way over, his daughter Margaret Frances, who accompanied her mother's body, also died.

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Bacon, Nathaniel, Sr., president of the council and acting governor of Virginia, was baptized at St. Mary, Bury St. Edmund's, August 29, 1620, and died in York county, Virginia, March 16, 1692. His father, Rev. James Bacon, was rector of Burgate, Suffolk, and died August 25, 1670, and his grandfather, Sir James Bacon, of Friston Hall, Suffolk, was first cousin of Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam. Nathaniel Bacon, the subject of this sketch, was first cousin once removed of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., "the Rebel." He travelled in France in 1647, and was probably a graduate of Cambridge; came about 1650 to Virginia, where he settled first in Isle of Wight county, and then at "King's Creek," York county, on one of the first tracts of land patented on York river. He was chosen member of the council in 1657, but held the office for only a year; was burgess for York county in 1658-59, and was reappointed to the council in 1660; appointed auditor general March 12, 1675, resigning in Decemer 1687, was president of the council, and as such acting governor during the absence of Lord Howard in New York in the summer of 1684, during his absence on a visit to the southern part of the colony in December, 1687, and in the interval between his departure for England, October 28, 1688, and the arrival of Governor Francis Nicholson, May 16, 1690. He did not approve the course of his young kinsman Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., and it was at his house on King's creek that Sir William Berkeley first put foot to land after his return from the eastern shore in 1676.
Lord Howard had left the colony just before the abdication of James II., and the uncertainty attending affairs in England created something like a panic in Virginia. Rumors of terrible plots of Catholics and Indians were circulated, which President Bacon and his council allayed as far as possible. But the difficulties of maintaining order might have become insuperable, had not the news of the accession of the Prince and Princess of Orange arrived. Colonel Bacon's health was very feeble at this time, and he died March 16, 1692. As he had no children he bequeathed his estate to his niece Abigail Smith, who married Major Lewis Burwell, of Gloucester county, and has many descendants in Virginia and the south.

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Nicholson, Sir Francis, lieutenant-governor from May 16, 1690, to January, 1694, and from 1698 to April, 1705, was born in 1660; obtained a commission in the English army as ensign January 9, 1678, and as lieutenant May 6, 1684. He was a strong Tory and churchman. When in 1686 the whole body of colonies north of Chesapeake Bay were formed into a single province under Sir Edmund Andros, Nicholson, was appointed lieutenant-governor, and remained at New York to represent his superior officer. When Andros was deposed by the men of Boston in 1689, Nicholson's hot temper betrayed him into violent language and conduct, which induced a rebellion headed by Jacob Leisler. Nicholson left the colony for England, which temporarily increased the anarchic conditions in New York, though they ended in the execution of Jacob Leisler and several of his rebel associates. In spite of his failure, Nicholson was appointed lieutenant-governor of Virginia in 1690, and for four years discharged the duties of his new office with ability and entire credit to himself. He instituted athletic games and offered prizes to those who should excel in riding, running, shooting, wrestling and fencing. He did all he could to promote the founding of William and Mary College, and contributed largely from his own private means for the purpose. In 1694 Lord Howard of Effingham, the titular governor of Virginia, under whom Nicholson served as deputy, died, and that post was conferred upon Sir Edmund Andros, while Nicholson was appointed in January, 1694, governor of Maryland. Here he proved himself, as in Virginia, the patron of learning, and laid out Annapolis and established King William's school, now St. John's College. His arrogant disposition precipitated him into quarrels with the commissary Thomas Bray and other leading men, and in 1698 he returned to Virginia as governor. His second term of office opened auspiciously. He caused a general census of the colony to be made in respect to schools, churches, and population, and as the state house had been accidentally burned at Jamestown, persuaded the English government to transfer the seat of government to Middle Plantation, which he named Williamsburg in honor of the reigning king, William, formerly Prince of Orange. But his peppery temper soon involved him into difficulties with his council and with James Blair, president of the college. He also displeased the assembly by trying to get them to contribute towards a fort on the northwest frontier of New York. Displeased in turn at their unwillingness, he advised the crown that all the American colonies should be placed under one governor and a standing army be maintained among them at their own expense, believing it to be the only means of preserving an effective unity against Canada and the French. But this recommendation was not approved by Queen Anne and her ministers, and in April, 1705, he was recalled. During the next fifteen years such public services as he discharged were of a military character, and he headed two expeditions against Canada, but for want of a fleet the expeditions proved failures. In 1713 Nicholson was appointed governor of Acadia, but here again he met difficulties owing to his imperious temper. When in 1719 the privy council decided that the proprietors of South Carolina had forfeited their charter, Nicholson was appointed governor, and speedily restored order to that distracted province. Here Nicholson showed the best side of his character, promoted the building of schools and churches, and succeeded in conciliating the Cherokees. In June, 1725, Nicholson returned to England on leave, and does not seem again to have visited America. He had been knighted in 1720 and was promoted to lieutenant-general. He retained the colonial governorship of South Carolina until his death, which took place in London, March 5, 1728. He never married and by his will left all his lands and property in New England, Maryland and Virginia to the Society for the Propagation of Christianity in Foreign Parts, and to educate in England young New England ministers to be sent back to their native country.

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Andros, Sir Edmund, governor of Virginia from 1692 to 1698, was the second son of a Guernsey gentleman belonging to Charles I.'s household. He was born in London, December 6, 1637, appointed gentleman in ordinary to the Queen of Bohemia in 1660, served in the regiment of foot sent to America in 1666, was major in Rupert's dragoons in 1672, and succeeded his father as bailiff of Guernsey in 1674. The same year he was appointed by James, Duke of York, to be governor of the province of New York, which had been granted to the duke by Charles II. In 1678 he was knighted while governor from New York. He engaged in some disputes with the authorities of the neighboring colonies and in 1681 was recalled to England. The authorities in England had borne with great patience the oppressive governments of the New England oligarchies, and their conduct brought punishment not altogether undeserved. Their charters were confiscated, and Andros was appointed in 1686 governor of the various colonies consolidated to form the dominion of New England. In this position Andros made himself very unpopular by his energy in carrying out the instructions of James II. Acting under the king's directions he put restrictions on the freedoms of the press, and appointed a general council by whose advice he laid taxes and carried on all government and legislation. This was a reversion to the Spanish type of colonial government, which could not be justified, but he performed a good part in proclaiming claiming liberty of conscience, in subduing the Indians, and in repressing the pirates, who were the scourge of the New England coast. His unpopularity continued to increase, however, and when the news of the abdication of King James arrived, the people of Boston, on April 18, 1689, suddenly seized the governor and some of his subordinates and imprisoned them. Sir Edmund was sent over to England, where, to the disappointment of his enemies, he was released without a formal trial. King William seemed to think that he had only done his duty in carrying out the instructions sent him, and so returned him to America as governor of Virginia. Here he showed both his good and evil side. He promoted manufactures and agriculture, put in order the government records which were in a chaotic state, and by his affability made himself generally popular with the people, but he quarrelled with Commissary James Blair, and after helping him to establish the new college at Williamsburg, permitted his angry feelings against Dr. Blair to make him an enemy of the institution. The result was that, through the influence of the commissary and his relations and friends on the council, Andros was recalled in 1698. In 1704 Andros was appointed governor of Jersey, which office he held until 1706. The remainder of his life seems to have been passed in London, where he died February 22, 1713-14.

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Hamilton, George, Earl of Orkney, governor-in-chief of Virginia from 1697 to his death in 1737, never residing in the colony, but enjoying his office as a pensionary sinecure for forty years; was fifth sone of William, Earl of Selkirk, who became Duke of Hamilton. He was born at Hamilton Palace, Lanark, and was baptized there February 9, 1666. He had a long and distinguished carreer in the British army, and was present at the battles of the Boyne, Anghrim, Steinkirk, Benheim and Oudenard, and at the seiges of Limerick, Athlone, Namur, Stevensvaert, Menin and Tournay. he was made colonel of the Royal Foot, August 3, 1692, major-general March 9, 1702, and lieutenant-general June 1, 1704. On January 10, 1696, Hamilton was created Earl of Orkney, and in 1697 became titular governor of Virginia, drawing a salary, but not performing any duties. On February 12, 1707, he was sworn of the privy council, and the same year was appointed general of the Foot in Flanders. He was likewise appointed afterwards constable, governor, and captain of Edinburgh Castle, lord lieutenant of the county of Clydesdale, and on June 12, 1736, field marshal of "all of his majesty's force." On November 25, 1695, he married his cousin, Elizabeth Villiers, the well known mistress of William III., and from this marriage the present Earl of Orkney is descended. Orkney was no military strategist, and was not very successful when first in command, but he was an admirable subordinate. He died at his residence in Albemarle street, London on January 29, 1737, and was buried at Taplow, and September 6 of that year was succeeded as governor-in-chief of Virginia by the Earl of Albemarle.

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Nott, Edward, lieutenant-governor of Virginia under the Earl of Orkney, from August 18, 1705, to August 23, 1706, was born in England in 1657. He served very gallantly in the West Indies as major and colonel of a regiment. On August 15, 1705, he succeeded Colonel Francis Nicholson as governor of Virginia. Wiser than Nicholson, he took care not to offend the council, and was very popular with all classes, but he died only about a year after his arrival. Several important events, however, in the colonial annals are identified with his brief administration: The completion of the capitol building begun by Nicholson; the burning of the college, October, 1705; the founding by Mrs. Mary Whaley of Mattey's Free School near Williamsburg, and the adoption by the assembly of a revised code of laws — the fourth since the first settlement. In this code provision was made for building a governor's house, for completing the founding of Williamsburg, and for encouraging the French Protestant refugees whose settlement was above the falls of the river at "King William's parish in the county of Henrico." Some years after the sudden demise of Nott, August 23, 1706, a handsome box monument of marble was erected by the general assembly over his remains in Bruton parish churchyard. It is still standing. He was succeeded at the head of the government by the president of the council, Edmund Jennings.

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Edmund, Jenings, president of the council and acting governor from June, 1706, to August, 1710, was son of Sir Edmund Jenings, of Ripon, Yorkshire, England, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Edward Barkham, lord mayor of London, 1621-22. He was born in 1659, and died June 2, 1727. He came to Virginia at an early age, and settled in York county. He was appointed attorney-general in 1680, and retained the office till after 1692. He was appointed to the council in 1701, and remained a member till his death. In 1704 he was appointed secretary of state, and from June, 1706, till August 23, 1710, he was acting governor. Later, after the death of Hugh Drysdale, he would have again become acting governor, but was st aside on account of his feeble health. He married, Frances, daughter of Henry Corbin, of Buckingham House, and had issue (1) Frances, married Charles Grymes, of Moratico, Richmond county, and was ancestress of General R. E. Lee; (2) Elizabeth, married Robert Porteus, of New Bottle, Gloucester county, who afterwards removed to England, where she became the mother of Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London; (3) Edmund, secretary of Maryland, married in 1728,Anna, widow of James Frisby and Thomas Bordley, and daughter of Matthias Vanderheyden, by which marriage he was father of Ariana (who married John Randolph of Virginia, father of Edmund Randolph, first attorney-general of Virginia and of the United States), and a son Edmund, who died unmarried in 1819.

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Hunter, Col. Robert, an officer in the English army, was appointed governor of Virginia in 1706 to succeed Sir Francis Nicholson, but in his voyage was captured by a French privateer and remained prisoner until the end of 1709. In June, 1710, he became governor of New York, and held that office till 1719. In July, 1727, was appointed governor of Jamaica and died there March 11, 1734.

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Spotswood, Alexander, lieutenant governor under the Earl of Orkney (1710-1722) was a great-grandson of John Spotswood or Spotiswood, Scotland, who in 1635 became archbishop of Glasgow and one of the privy council. He grandfather, Sir Robert Spotswood, was an eminent lawyer, who was elected president of the court of sessions in Scotland. In the civil war, Sir Robert was a staunch supporter of Charles I. and was temporary secretary of state in 1643. Taken prisoner at the battle of Philiphaugh, he was tried by the Scotch parliament, sentenced to death, and executed. Alexander Spotswood's father was Dr. Robert Spotswood, who was a physician to the governor and garrison at Tangier. His mother was Catherine Elliott, a widow who had by her first husband a son, General Roger Elliott, whose portrait is now in the state library at Richmond, Virginia. Alexander was born at Tangier in 1676, educated for a military live, fought under Marlborough, was quartermaster-general with the rank of colonel, and was dangerously wounded in the breast at the battle of Blenheim. In 1710 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Virginia, and showed himself a conspicuously energetic administrator. He bestowed much attention upon Williamsburg, leveled the streets, assisted in rebuilding the church, providing some of the brick, built a brick magazine for the safekeeping of the public arms, and aided in rebuilding the college, which have been burned in 1705; and in 1722, on the petition of the people of Williamsburg and the assembly, he granted a charter of incorporation to the city of Williamsburg. Against the enemies of the colony he took firm and decided steps. The coast of Virginia was harassed by piratical vessels. Spotswood sent an expedition against them under Captain Maynard, killed the pirate, Teach or Blackbeard, and hanged others. As to the Indians he blended humanity with policy. He established a school for the Saponies at Fort Christanna in Brunswick county, and paid the master, Mr. Griffin, out of his own pocket, and arranged a treaty by which the chiefs of the tributary tribes promised to send their sons to college. He sent soldiers against the Tuscaroras, who had attacked North Carolina, but laid force aside when he found them ready to negotiate a treaty of peace. Against the French and Indians he established two forts on the frontiers to guard the northern and southern passes. At the first of these he planted the German settlement and at the other he gathered the Sapony Indians. His idea was to extend the line of Virginia settlements so as to check the further extension of French influence on this continent. With this in view he explored the back country, and in 1716 crossed the Blue Ridge mountains and visited the Shenandoah river and the beautiful valley through which it runs. He urged upon the mother country the policy of establishing a chain of posts back of the mountains, from the great lakes to the Mississippi river. But Spotswood had his weak points like Nicholson, another capable man before him. He was overbearing and had great ideas of the royal prerogative. And so, though he encouraged the rights of the subject by bringing over with him a confirmation of the writ of habeas corpus, he did not like Nott attempt to conciliate the people. The result was that he got at cross purposes with the assembly, with the council, and with Dr. James Blair, the president of the college, which resulted in his removal September 27, 1722. He continued to reside in Virginia and led an active life. During his governorship he had established a postal system in Virginia, and in 1730-1739 was deputy postmaster-general for the American colonies, in which capacity he arranged the transfer of mails with great energy. It was he who made Benjamin Franklin postmaster for Pennsylvania. He had also called the legislature's attention to the iron ores of Virginia, though without effect; and no in a private capacity he established a furnace in Spotsylvania county, where he had patented 40,000 acres of land. In 1740 Spotswood was made general of an expedition against Carthagena. He visited Williamsburg, and then repaired to Annapolis with the intention of embarking with the troops, but he died June 7, just before the embarkation, and Colonel William Gooch was appointed chief in his place. He left his books and mathematical instruments to the college. Colonel Spotswood married, in 1724, Ann Butler Brain, daughter of Mr. Richard Brain, of London, and they had two sons, John and Robert Spotswood, and two daughters, Ann Catherine, who married Bernard Moore, and Dorothea, who married Captain Nathaniel West Dandridge. Robert, his youngest son, was slain by the Indians in the French and Indian war. John, the elder son, married, in 1745, Mary, daughter of William Dandridge, and had issue two sons, General Alexander Spotswood and Captain John Spotswood, both of the army of the revolution, and two daughters, Mary and Ann. The descendants of Governor Spotswood are now represented in numerous families of distinction.

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Drysdale, Hugh, lieutenant-governor of Virginia (1722-1726), succeeded Governor Spotswood in the administration of the colony, September 27, 1722, and remained in office till his death, July 22, 1726. Very little is known of his antecedents, but during his administration in Virginia he was very popular. There were two sessions of the assembly during this period, one beginning May 9, 1723, and the other beginning May 12, 1726. At the first, on the recommendation of Governor Drysdale, laws were passed to regulate the militia and for the more effectual prevention of negro insurrections. It appears that not long before a conspiracy had been planned by negroes. This conspiracy furnished additional reasons for the duty laid the same session in liquors and slaves.
At the next session a commission was issued by the governor constituting Philip Finch to be the first sergeant-at-arms and mace-bearer of the house of burgesses. Previous to this time an officer called the messenger had discharged these duties. Governor Drysdale announced to the house that "the interfering interest of the African Company" had obtained from the board of trade the repeal of the law of the previous session imposing a duty on liquors and slaves. He stated his belief that if a new duty be laid on liquors for the support of the college, then "in a languishing condition," the English government would not object, and this was done. Drysdale was a sick man during this session, and not long after its adjournment he died at Williamsburg, July 22, 1726.

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Carter, Robert, president of the council and acting governor from the death of Drysdale, July 22, 1726, till the arrival of William Gooch about October,1727, was born in Virginia in 1663, son of Colonel John and Sarah (Ludlow) Carter. His father had been prominent in the colony as lieutenant-colonel, burgess and councillor. His mother was a daughter of Gabriel Ludlow, a cousin of General Edmund Ludlow, one of Cromwell's generals. Robert Carter was for many years the agent of Lord Fairfax, the proprietor of the Northern Neck grant. He was treasurer of the colony, speaker of the house of burgesses 1694-99, and member of the council for twenty-seven years (1699-1726). he became president of the council, and as such succeeded as acting governor. His great possessions earned him the name of "King" Carter. His residence was in Lancaster county, at Corotoman, on the Rappahannock river, and there is still standing nearby a church that he built shortly before his death, which occurred August 4, 1732. His splendid tomb in a rather shattered condition is till to be seen in the yard of the church. He was twice married, first to Judith, eldest daughter of John Armistead, Esq., a member of the council, and (second) to Elizabeth Willis, daughter of Thomas Landon, of an ancient family in Hereford county, England. By these wives he had numerous children, who have many influential descendants in Virginia and the south.

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Gooch, William, lieutenant-governor of Virginia (1726-1749), was born October 12, 1681, in Yarmouth, county Suffolk, England, and was descended from an ancient family. His grandfather was William Gooch, of Suffolk, and his father was Thomas Gooch, alderman of Yarmouth, who married Frances, daughter of Thomas Love, of Norfolk county. His uncle, William Gooch, had emigrated to Virginia at a very early date and become a major in the York county militia and a member of the Virginia council, dying in 1655. The subject of this sketch entered the English army at any early age and took part in all of Queen Anne's wars, being present at the battle of Blenheim. In October, 1727, he superseded Robert Carter as lieutenant-governor of Virginia, and for more than twenty years conducted the affairs of the colony in a manner which occasioned complaint neither in England nor in America. Indeed, it is said that in this respect he stands alone among colonial governors. Still his administration was a period of much activity in Virginia. In 1730 tobacco notes, a new form of currency, were devised which proved salutary. The frontier line was pushed to the Alleghanies, and the valley of Virginia was settled with hardy and enterprising German and Scotch-Irish settlers. Norfolk was chartered a town, and Fredericksburg, Winchester, Richmond and Petersburg were founded. The first newspaper in the colony, the Virginia Gazette, was published in Williamsburg in 1736. The boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina was run. In 1740, on account of the unexpected death of Major-General Alexander Spotswood, Governor Gooch assumed command of the four colonial battalions transported to join the British troops under Admiral Vernon in an attack on Carthagena in New Granada. he was absent one year, during which time Rev. Dr. James Blair, president of the college, acted as governor. The campaign proved unsuccessful, Gooch was severely wounded, and contracted the fever from which many of the English troops died. Upon his return to Virginia in July, 1741, he resumed the government of the colony, and among other events which followed, the capitol accidentally caught fire and was burned in 1746. On June 20, 1749, he embarked for England, to the great sorrow of all the people of his colony to whom he had endeared himself by his noble and disinterested conduct. He died in London, December 17, 1751. Governor Gooch was created a baronet November 4, 1746. His wife was Rebecca, daughter of William Stanton, Esq., of Hampshire, England. He had an only son, William Gooch, who died in Virginia. his wife survived him till 1775,and in her will left a beautiful silver gilt communion service to the college chapel. This memorial of this excellent woman, who was once the first lady of Virginia, is still preserved in Bruton Church in Williamsburg.
The family of the Gooch name in Virginia are descended from Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Gooch, who was living in York county in 1656, and was an adherent of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., in 1676. He was probably a member of Governor Gooch's family.

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Keppel, William Anne, second Earl of Albemarle and titular governor of Virginia from the death of George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, 1737, to his own death in 1754, son of Arnold Joost Van Keppel, first earl, and his wife Geertruid Johanna Quirina vander Duyn, was born at Whitehall, June 5, 1702; was baptized at the Chapel Royal, Queen Anne being his godmother, (hence his name Anne); was educated in Holland and on his return to England (as Viscount Bury) was appointed August 25, 1717, captain and lieutenant of the grenadier company of the Coldstream Guards. In 1718 he succeeded to his father's title and estates, and in 1722, at his family seat in Guelderland, entertained the Bishop of Munster. In 1725 he was made Knight of the Bath; in 1727 aide-de-camp to the king; and November 22, 1731, was appointed to the colonecy of the 29th Foot, then at Gibraltar, which he held until May 7, 1733, when he was appointed colonel of the third troop of Horse Guards. he was made governor of Virginia in 1737, a brigadier-general July 1739, major-general February, 1742, and was transferred to the colonelcy of the Coldstream Guards in October, 1744. He went to Flanders with Lord Stair in 1742, and was a general on the staff at Dettingen, where he had a horse shot under him, and at Fontenoy, where he was wounded. He commanded the first line of Cumberland's army at Culloden, and was again on the staff in Flanders and present at the battle of Val. At the peace of 1748 he was sent as ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at Paris, and was appointed commander-in-chief in North Britain, and in 1749 was made Knight of the Garter. The year after he was made groom of the stole and a privy councillor, and in 1752 was one of the lords justices during the king's absence in Hanover. In 1754 he was sent back to Paris to demand the liberation of some British subjects detained by the French in America, and died in Paris suddenly December 22, 1754. His remains were brought over and buried in the chapel in South Audley street, London. Albemarle married, in 1723, Lady Anne Lennox, daughter of Charles, first duke of Richmond, and by her had eight sons and seven daughters.
Albemarle Sound in North Carolina, Albemarle parish in Sussex county, Virginia, and Albemarle county in the same state, were named in his honor.