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[Page 22=23]
      Lee, William, seventh son of Thomas and Hannah (Ludwell) Lee, was born at "Stratford," Westmoreland county, Virginia, August 13, 1759, and was educated, it is believed, at home by private tutors. In February, 1776, he was a signer of the Westmoreland county resolutions against the Stamp Act, and shortly after went to England, where he engaged in business. He took an active interest in the politics of the day, and was instrumental in inducing the merchants of London to remonstrate to parliament against the revenue taxes on America, which contributed to bring about a repeal of all the taxes except that on tea. He was probably the first American to express his opinions in favor of the separation of the American colonies. In May, 1775, he was elected an alderman of London, and in 1776 held the office of sheriff. The same year he went with his brother to Paris, and about April 21, 1777, he received notice of his appointment by the Continental Congress as commercial agent to the United States in France; in September, 1777, he was appointed to represent the government at Berlin and Vienna, and later on he accepted the position of representative at the Hague. In 1778, by permission of the Holland government, he met Jean de Neufville, an Amsterdam merchant, at Aix-la-Chapelle, to complete the negotiation of a loan for the American colonies. The two commissioners drew up a commercial treaty, and it was signed by de Neufville and Van Berckel, burgomaster of Amsterdam, and entrusted to Henry Laurens to be carried to America for the approval of Congress. By the capture of Laurens, when on his way from America to the Hague to obtain the loan, the paper fell into the hands of the British ministry and was made the pretext for declaring war against Holland. In the difficulties between Arthur Lee and the other two American commissioners to Paris, Franklin and Deane, William Lee took part and, in 1779, with his brother, was ordered by Congress to return home; but no action was taken after their arrival. He married his cousin, Hannah Phillipa Ludwell, who brought him the "Green Spring estate (former residence of Sir William Berkeley). He died June 27, 1795, and was buried in the churchyard at Jamestown. He left one son, William Ludwell Lee, who died without issue; and two daughters — Portia, who married William Hodgson, of White Haven, England, and Cornelia, who married John Hopkins, Esq., of Richmond, Virginia.

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      Lewis, Andrew, (q. v., i-277).

[Page 23]
      Lewis, Thomas, (q. v., i-278).

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      Lyons, Peter, a native of Ireland, migrated to Virginia about 1750, and studied law under James Power, and English gentleman, resident in King William county, Virginia, whose daughter he married. He was the attorney for Mr. Maury in the famous parson's cause in 1763, when Patrick Henry made his famous debut as an orator. He was a friend of the revolution, and in 1779 was made judge of the general court, and thereby became ex-officio a judge of the first supreme court of appeals. In 1789 he was appointed a judge of the new court of appeals, consisting of five judges, and held office till his death. In 1803 he became president on the death of Judge Pendleton. He died July 30, 1809.

[Pages 23-24]
      Madison, James, son of Colonel James Madison, and Eleanor(Rose) Conway, his wife, was descended from John Madison, a shipwright, who took out a patent for land in 1653. His father was a man of large estate, president of the county court of Orange, and colonel of the county militia. He was born March 16, 1751, and as a boy attended the schools of Donald Robertson and Rev. Mr. Martin. In 1769 he went to Princeton College, where he showed his natural brilliancy of mind in graduating in two years. He continued a year longer studying under the advice of President Witherspoon, and on his return to Virginia continued the life of a student at home, as his health was bad. he was a member of the revolutionary committee of Orange county, in 1774, and was elected two years later a member of the May convention, 1776. Not withstanding his youth, his influence was promptly felt, and it was on his motion that the word "toleration" was struck from George Mason's draft of the Declaration of Rights, and the word "freedom" used in its place. He lost his election to the general assembly, in 1777, because of his refusal to treat and electioneer, but was elected to the executive council by the general assembly in the winter of 1777-1778. he remained a member two years, when he was elected by the general assembly a member of Congress, in which body he served until the fall of 1783. It was in this assembly that Madison began the work which ultimately led to a new constitution and the granting of national powers to the Federal government. He zealously advocated the grant to Congress for twenty-five years of the authority to levy an impost duty, independent of the states, and his address to the people of the United States in advocacy was one of his ablest state papers. He served in the house of delegates of Virginia in 1784 and 1785, and as chairman of the judiciary committee was particularly instrumental in securing the adoption of many of the laws proposed by Jefferson and the other revisors in 1779. He supported the grant of the impost to Congress, and advocated retaliation against Great Britain for its commercial restrictions; and when the motion of John Tyler was adopted for a general commercial meeting of the states at Annapolis, he was appointed a delegate. The meeting at Annapolis led to the Federal convention at Philadelphia, in which Madison figured as the great constructive organizer of the new constitution and government, winning the name of "Father of the Constitution." He afterwards joined with Alexander Hamilton and John jay in preparing a series fo able essays which were published in 1788 over the name of "The Federalist," defensive of the work of the convention; but his ability shone in even a more brilliant light when in the Virginia convention, during the same year, he carried the adoption of the constitution against all the declamation of Patrick Henry and the fervid reasoning of George Mason and William Grayson. Succeeding this, he was defeated for the senate of the United States, but elected to the house of representatives. In this new capacity he opposed the measures of Hamilton, and aligned himself with Mr. Jefferson and the Republican party. In 1797 he withdrew to private life, but in 1798 he joined in a movement to oppose the alien and sedition laws passed by John Adams and the Federalist party, and drew the famous resolutions of 1798-1799, which were quoted for many years later as defining the ground upon which the States Rights party stood. These resolutions, with those of Kentucky, drawn by Jefferson were repudiated by the legislatures of the other states under the control of the Federalists. So Mr. Madison had himself returned to the Virginia house of delegates, and made his famous report of 1800, affirming the confederate character of the Union and the sovereignty of the individual states. In 1801 Madison became secretary of state in Jefferson's cabinet, and was his trusted adviser during eight years. In 1808 he was elected his successor in the presidential chair, and served two terms. He continued the peace policy of his predecessor, and resorted to commercial restrictions to coerce Great Britain and France. When this proved inadequate, he reluctantly consented to war with the former. Modern thought has justified him in both particulars. His second administration was virtually a history of the war of 1812-1814, conducted for the most part in gloom, but concluded with the glories of a great victory at New Orleans.
      After the expiration of his second term, he returned to "Montpelier," his beautiful home in Orange county, where he spent twenty years more in literary and agricultural pursuits. He was much interested in the establishment of the University of Virginia, of which he was a visitor, and the successor to Mr. Jefferson as rector. To the time of his death he continued to be consulted by statesmen as an oracle on all constitutional questions. His death occurred on June 28, 1836. He married Dorothea Payne Todd, but left no issue.

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      Marshall, John (q. v.)

[Page 24]
      Mason, David (q.v., i-285).

[Pages 24-25]
      Mason, George, son of Colonel George Mason, of Stafford county, and Ann Thomson, his wife, daughter of Stevens Thomson, attorney-general of Virginia, was descended from an ancestor of the same name, who came to Virginia about 1651. He was born at Doeg's Neck, Stafford county (now Fairfax), in 1726, and was educated at private schools. He was a member of the Ohio Company in 1749, and during the French and Indian war was active in providing supplies to Braddock's army. He was a member of the house of burgesses in the assembly of 1758-1761. His time was, however, chiefly employed in the occupations of a planter. In 1750 he married Ann Eilbeck, daughter of William Eilbeck, who had removed from Whitehaven, Cumberland county, England, to Maryland. He was an intimate friend of Washington, and, as a means of securing a repeal of the British revenue bill of 1767, he drew up a plan of non-importation, which was offered by Washington in the house of burgesses and adopted by that body in 1769. One of its sections pledged the planters to buy no imported slaves after November 1, of that year. In 1773he wrote a tract, "Extracts from the Virginia Charters, with some remarks upon them" — an argument on the inviolability of the Virginia territory westward of the Alleghanies by virtue of the charter granted by Charles II. in 1676. At a meeting of the people of Fairfax county, July 17, 1774, he recommended a congress of the colonies, and urged non-intercourse with the mother country. His resolutions were sanctioned by the Virginia convention, and in 1774 were substantially adopted by the first Continental Congress. In 1775 Mason was a member of the Virginia convention, but declned election to Congress for family reasons. He served on the committee of safety; and was author of the famous declaration of rights and plan of government adopted by the Virginia convention of 1776. In 1777 he declined a seat in the Continental Congress. 1787 he sat in the convention to frame the Federal constitution and took a leading part, favoring election of the president directly by the people, for a term of seven years, with subsequent ineligiblity. He opposed theprovison of the constitution prohibiting the abolition of the slave trade until 1808, denouncing slavery as a source of national weakness and demoralization. He opposed other features of the constitution as dangerous, and with Patrick Henry stood against its ratification, the two insisting upon a number of alterations, and upon a bill of rights. Some of these amendments were subsequently adopted by Congress, and are embodied in the present constitution. Mason was chosen one of the first United States senators, but declined, and spent the remainder of his days at "Gunston Hall," where he died, October 7, 1792.

[Pages 25-26]
      McClurg, James, son of Dr. Walter McClurg, an English army surgeon, was born at Hampton, in 1747. He was a fellow student with Thomas Jefferson at William and Mary College, and graduated in 1762. He went to Edinburgh, Scotland, and in 1770 took the degree of M. D. After two years study in Paris and London, he returned to America, settled in Williamsburg, Virginia, and rose to the head of his profession. His "Essay on the Human Bile," first published in London, England, was so highly esteemed as to be translated into all the languages of Europe. In 1779 he was made professor of medicine in William and Mary College, but about 1783 resigned and removed from Williamsburg to Richmond. For many years he was a member of the executive committee of Virginia, and when Patrick Henry declined to serve in the convention to frame the United States constitution, Dr. McClurg was elected in his place, but was not present when the final vote on the constitution was taken, being compelled by private affairs to be absent, and therefore, did not sign the instrument. He had some facility as a writer of verse, and his "Belles of Williamsburg" was well known. Dr. McClurg was killed at Richmond, by his horses running away, July 9, 1825, and was buried on Church Hill, in St. John's churchyard. He married Elizabeth Selden, but left no issue.

[Page 26]
      Mercer, James, born at "Marlborough," February 26, 1736, son of John and Catharine (Mason) Mercer. He graduated from the college of William and Mary about 1755. He was a captain in the French and Indian war, and in command at Fort Loudoun (Winchester), 1756. He as a burgess in 1765, and in the house dissolved by Governor Dunmore in 1774; a member of the assembly 1774, of the conventions of 1775, and the Virginia constitutional convention of May, 1776, and the committee of safety, 1775-76, which governed Virginia until the inauguration of Governor Patrick Henry; also a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1779-80. He was judge of the general court, 1780, and of the court of appeals from 1789 until his death. He was president of the board of trustees of Fredericksburg Academy. He drew the will of Mary Washington, mother of George Washington, and witnessed her signature. He married Eleanor, daughter of Major Alexander Dick. Their children were: John Fenton; Mary Eleanor Dick, who married her first cousin, James Mercer Garnett; and Charles Fenton. He died in Richmond, October 31, 1793, while attending the court of appeals.

[Page 26]
      Mercer, John Francis, son of John Mercer, of "Marlborough," was born May 17, 1759, educated at William and Mary College and served in the revolution as lieutenant Third Virginia Regiment; wounded at Brandywine; promoted captain, 1777; major and aide to General Lee, June 8, 1778; resigned October, 1779; lieutenant-colonel, Virginia state cavalry, in service at the battle of Guildford and elsewhere; member of Congress, 1782-1785; removed to Maryland and was delegate to the Federal convention; representative in the state assembly for several sessions; elected a representative to the second Congress to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of William Pinckney; re-elected to the third Congress and served from February 6, 1792, until his resignation, April 13, 1794; member of the Maryland house of delegates; governor of Maryland, 1801-1803; again a member of the state legislature; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 30, 1821.

[Pages 26-28]
      Monroe, James, son of Spence and Eliza (Jones) Monroe, and a descendant of Andrew Monroe, a ship captain, who first settled in Maryland and afterwards came to Westmoreland county, Virginia, was born in that county, April 20, 1758. At the outbreak of the revolutionary war he was one of the twenty-five students who left William and Mary College to enter the army, eh enlisting at Washington's headquarters in New York City. He was appointed lieutenant in the Third Virginia Regiment under General Hugh Mercer, took part in the battle of Harlem, where he was severely wounded in the shoulder while leading the advance; he was also present at the battles of White Plains and Trenton; served as a volunteer aide with the rank of major, on the staff of the Earl of Stirling, and took part in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. He was diverted from further field service by appointment by Governor Jefferson as lieutenant-colonel and military commissioner to inspect the condition of the army of the South. In 1782 he was elected to the state assembly, and soon called to the executive council. He sat in the Congress of 1783-86, in New York, and there presented his bill for the temporary government of the new northwest territory, and which culminated in the ordinance of 1787. He was appointed one of the judges to decide the New York and Massachusetts boundary question, but as both states were opposed to his views as to the right of free navigation of the Mississippi, he resigned. After leaving congress, he practiced law in Fredericksburg. He was elected to the state assembly, and also to the state convention of 1778, called to consider the ratification of the United States constitution. Fearing the result of a highly centralized power, he cast his vote against the ratification, but was reconciled by the adoption later of the first ten amendments. In 1790 he became United States senator to fill an unexpired term (Grayson, deceased), serving until 1795, when President Washington appointed him minister to France. An aggressive anti-Federalist, while in the senate he had antagonized some of the views of the president and several of his appointments, and his appointment to the French mission was a great surprise to the nation. He was severely criticized for his friendliness to France, and the apprehension that the British ministry might be offended, led to his recall, and on his returning home he wrote an exhaustive vindication. He was elected governor of Virginia and served from 1799 to 1802. On the election of Jefferson to the presidency, Monroe was again sent to France as an additional plenipotentiary, and with Robert R. Livingston procured the cession of the Louisiana territory. He subsequently filled diplomatic appointments to Spain, where he negotiated for the purchase of Florida, but failed; and to Great Britain, where with William Pinkney he concluded a treaty. The instrument failed to protect American seamen from impressment or to secure indemnity for American goods seized, and the president would not send it to the senate, whereupon Monroe returned and gave out a defense of his conduct. He was a third time elected to the state assembly, and in 1811 was again elected governor, but left the office after a few months to take the post of secretary of state under President Madison. He also acted as secretary of war, 1814-15. In 1816 he was elected president, and his conduct of the office and the peaceful condition of the country led to his re-election, with paretically no opposition — a unique instance in the history of American politics. In his message to Congress in 1823, in reference to a possible attempt by Spain to regain Florida, he laid down the principles known as "The Monroe Doctrine," using these words: "We should consider any attempt on their part (a foreign power) to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and safety." and again: "The American continents by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." He subsequently effected a treaty with Spain and concluded the purchase of the Floridas. Although favoring internal improvements, he vetoed the Cumberland Road bill, holding that Congress had no authority to make appropriations for internal uses unless of national importance During his administration, the Marquis de Lafayette was entertained as the nation's guest.
      On retiring from the presidency, Mr. Monroe retired to his country seat at "Oak Hill," Loudoun county, Virginia, but in 1829-30 he was a member of the state convention. Subsequently he went to live with his son-in-law, Samuel L. Gouverneur, then postmaster at New York. He was financially embarrassed, and sought to enter upon the practice of law, but his years and impaired health forbade success, and he lived a very quiet and uneventful life, until his death, July 4, 1831. He was married, in 1786, to Elizabeth, daughter of Lawrence Kortright, of New York.

[Page 28]
      Moore, Bernard, (i-294).

[Pages 28-29]
      Nelson, Thomas, was born in Yorktown, December 26, 1738, son of William Nelson, president of the Virginia council. He received his preliminary education in Virginia under the Rev. Mr. Yates, of Gloucester county; later in 1752, was placed in a preparatory school at Hackney, England. Thence he went to Trinity College, and was graduated at Cambridge, A. B. He returned to Virginia in 1761, where in 1762 he married Lucy, daughter of Colonel Philip and Mary (Randolph) Grymes, of Middlesex county. He was a member of the Virginia house of burgesses from 1761-1775 from York county, and in 1774, when that body was dissolved by Lord Dunmore, he was among the protestants against the action of the governor, urged the appointment of deputies to a general congress, and was returned to the next house. He was a member of the Williamsburg convention, August 1, 1774, and that of March, 1775, where he proposed to meet British aggression with armed opposition, and was appointed colonel of the Second Virginia Regiment by the convention in July, 1775. On his election as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1775, he resigned his commission as a colonel and served in Congress, 1775-77, signing the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Virginia constitutional convention of May, 1776. He resigned his seat in Congress in May 1777, on account of illness, and in August, 1777, was appointed commander of the state forces, and raised and equipped a troop of cavalrymen, accompanying them to Philadelphia. He expended a large sum of money in this patriotic purpose, but as the troop was not called into service he was never repaid for his outlay except by the act of August 8, 1778, in which it was "resolved that the thanks of Congress be given to the Honorable General Nelson and to the officers and gentlemen for their brave, generous and patriotic effects in the cause of their county." He was returned to Congress in 1779, and served a few months, but another sudden illness forced him to resign. When the invasion of Virginia was threatened in May, 1779, he organized the militia and at his own expense sent two regiments to the South. In June, 1780, when Virginia resolved to borrow $2,000,000 for the Continental treasury to provide for the maintenance of a French fleet, he secured a large part of that amount by personal endorsement, which he was obliged to pay. He was elected governor June 12, 1781; commanded the Virginia militia in the siege of Yorktown; ordered the artillery to open upon his own house, which he supposed was the headquarters of the British general; was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, and received the thanks of Washington in general orders. He retired from the office of governor, November 30, 1781, whereupon he was accused of mal-administration for assuming dictatorial powers during the perilous term of administration. He was exonerated by the state legislature. He spent the remainder of his life in retirement and poverty, his fortune having been expended for his country, and no recompense was ever made by the government to his family. His grave at Yorktown, Virginia, was not marked, but his statue was placed in the group on the Washington Monument at Richmond. He died at "Offley," Hanover county, January 4, 1789.

[Page 29]
      Nelson, William (q.v., i-70).

[Page 29]
      Nicholas, Robert Carter, born in 1715, in Hanover county, Virginia, was a son of Dr. George Nicholas and Elizabeth Carter, his wife, daughter of Hon. Robert Carter, president of the Virginia council (q. v.) He graduated from William and Mary College, and embraced the law. In 1756 he entered the house of burgesses for York county, continuing a member until the house of delegates awas organized (1776), and was a member of that body until 1779. Though conservative in his views, he was nobly patriotic. He supported the Stamp Act resolutions of 1764, but opposed those of 1765 offered by Patrick Henry, deeming them premature. He was treasurer of the colony from 1766-1777, succeeding John Robinson. In 1773 he was a member of the committee of correspondence; a member of all the revolutionary conventions, and on the resignation of Peyton Randolph, president pro tem. of that of July, 1775. While he opposed Patrick Henry's proposition to organize the militia in March, 1775, he submitted as an alternative a motion to raise 10,000 regulars to serve throughout the war. When the news of the action of parliament, in 1774, laying an embargo on Boston, reached Virginia, he offered a resolution to set apart June 1, 1774, as a day of fasting and prayer, which was agreed to. While he opposed the resolution of May 15, 1776, in favor of instructing Congress for declaring independence, he refrained from voting that the action of the convention might go out with the prestige of unanimity. January 14, 1778, he was appointed one of the chancellors of the state, but he did not live long He died at his seat in Hanover county, Virginia in 1780. He married Anne Cary, daughter of Colonel Wilson Miles Cary, and was father of Governor Wilson Cary Nicholas (q. v.)

[Pages 29-30]
      Page, John, was born at "Rosewell," Gloucester county, Virginia, April 17, 1744, son of Mann and Mary Mason (Selden) Page. He was graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1763, and was married, about 1765, to Frances Burwell, daughter of Robert Burwell, Esq., of the council. He was a member of the house of burgesses, of the Colonial council, and the committee of safety; a delegate to the state constitutional convention of July, 1776; lieutenant-governor; a representative in the 1st-4th Congresses, 1789-97; a Jefferson elector in 1801, and governor, from 1802 to 1805, succeeding James Monroe. Being constitutionally ineligible for re-election in 1805, he was succeeded by William H. Cabell. He was United States commissioner of loans for Virginia, by appointment of President Jefferson, 1805-08; and a visitor to the College of William and Mary, appointed in 1776. At one time he was urged to take orders in the church, his friends desiring that he should become the first bishop of Virginia. He was the author of "Addresses to the People," (1708 and 1799). He died in Richmond, October 11, 1808.

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      Page, Mann, was born at "Rosewell," Gloucester county, about 1749, eldest son of Mann and Ann Corbin (Tayloe) Page, grandson of Mann and Judith (Carter) Page, and great-grandson of the Hon. Matthew and Mary (Mann) Page, and great-great-grandson of Colonel John and Alice (Luckin) Page. He was a half-brother Governor John Page. He was graduated at the College of William and Mary; removed to Spottsylvania county, and was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1777, with Thomas Jefferson, Thomas nelson and George Wythe. He was married, in 1776, to Mary, daughter of John Tayloe, of Fredericksburg. He died at "Mansfield," Spotsylvania county, in 1781.

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      Parker, Richard, son of Dr. Alexander Parker, of Essex county, was born in 1732, was a lawyer, signed the Northern Neck Association in 1766, was a member of the Westmoreland county committee of safety in 1775; made judge of the general court in 1785, and held office till his death in 1815. He married Mary Beale, daughter of Captain William Beale, of Richmond county, and Anne Harwar, his wife, and was father of Richard Parker, colonel of the First Virginia Regiment, and was killed at Charleston in 1780, of Alexander Parker, who was a captain in the revolution, and afterwards a general in the state militia, and of William Harwar Parker, an officer in the Virginia navy during the revolution, which last was father of Richard Elliot Parker, of Clarke county, Virginia, a senator of the United States.

[Pages 30-31]
      Pendleton, Edmund, born in Caroline county, Virginia, September 9, 1721; son of Henry Pendleton, and grandson of Philip and Isabella (Hurt) Pendleton. Philip Pendleton emigrated from England in 1674, settled in Virginia, and was buried in King and Queen county. Edmund Pendleton received training in private schools, and early in life became assistant to the clerk of Caroline county, under whom he read law. He was licensed to practice law in 1744, became justice of the peace in 1751, and entered the Virginia house of burgesses, in 1752, where he became at once one of the leading members. He declared the Stamp Act unconstitutional, and that it did not bind the inhabitants of Virginia; was a member of the committee of correspondence in 1773, and of the colonial convention of 1774, resulting from the Boston port-bill, of which convention he was elected president. He was a delegate to the first Continental Congress, September 5, 1774. to October 26, 1774. After the death of Peyton Randolph, he succeeded him in all the first offices of state. He was president of the convention of December 1, 1775,and of May 1776. and was also president of the committee of safety. He wrote the resolutions of the Virginia convention of May, 1776, favoring a Declaration of Independence, and proposing a state constitution. As head of the committee of safety, he had control of the militia and of the foreign correspondence of Virginia. When the state government was organized,he was elected speaker of the house of delegates, and, with George Wythe and Thomas Jefferson, revised the colonial laws. He was re-elected speaker in 1777, and, upon the organization of the court of chancery, was made its president by unanimous vote, and was transferred to the head of the court of appeals on its formation in 1788, holding the office until his death. He was president of the state convention that ratified the Federal constitution, and was one of its warmest supporters. In 1789, President Washington appointed him judge of the United States district court of Virginia, but he declined. When parties were formed, he united with the Democratic-Republicans, and wrote a protest against waging war against France in 1799, claiming that government to be a :sister republic," without whose aid independence could never have been obtained. He died in Richmond, Virginia, October 23, 1803.

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      Prentis, Joseph, son of William Prentis, a merchant of Williamsburg, and Mary Brooke, his wife, was born January 24, 1754, was a student at William and Mary College, member of the Virginia convention which was met in December, 1775; appointed with James Hubard and John Tyler, a commissioner in admiralty, 1776; member of the first house of delegates in 1777, from Williamsburg; member from York, 1778-1788; speaker of the house of delegates, 1788; member of Patrick Henry's privy council, 1779; judge of the general court from 1789 to his death, June 18, 1809; one of the revisors of the code of 1794. He was chairman of the house committee, which was appointed in October, 1785, to draw a bill to give the assent of Virginia to a general regulation of trade by Congress. The bill reported by Mr. Prentis was not acceptable, and an alternative resolution offered by John Tyler for a commercial convention of delegates at Annapolis, was adopted. This led to the Federal convention at Philadelphia. Mr. Prentis married, December 16, 1778, Margaret Bowdoin, daughter of John and Grace Bowdoin, of Northampton county. He was great-grandfather of the present Judge R. R. Prentis, president of the State Corporation Commission.

[Pages 31-32]
      Randolph, Edmund, was born in Williamsburg, August 10, 1753, son of John Randolph (1727-1784), the last attorney-general under the royal government (1766-1775). He was graduated at the College of William and Mary, and studied law with his father. He remained in Virginia, when his father fled to England in 1775, and Washington made him a member of his own family, and his aide-de-camp, August 15, 1775. On the death of his uncle, Peyton, he returned to Williamsburg to care for the estate, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Carter Nicholas. He was a member of the convention of 1776; was elected attorney-general under the new constitution, and was mayor of Williamsburg. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1779-82 where he had a place in the committee on foreign affairs. He resigned in 1782, and evoted himself to the dare of his estate. He was a commissioner to the Annapolis convention, and as a member urged the calling of a constitutional convention. He was governor, 1786-88, and leader of the Virginia delegation to the constitutional convention of 1787, when he introduced the general plan of the instrument as agreed upon. He opposed a single executive, preferring an executive commission; opposed re-eligibility of the president, and his holding pardoning power, the vice-presidential office, and states having two senators irrespective of their population; and favored the giving of powers to the Federal government sufficient to prevent any state from carrying out a law declared by the supreme court to be unconstitutional. It was his motion to be unconstitutional. It was his motion that eliminated the word "slavery" from the constitution. He refused to sign the instrument as prepared, unless a second national convention should act on it, after it had been discussed by the people. In the Virginia convention of 1788, however, he advocated its ratification as necessary to union. The clause of Article VI. on religious tests was added at his suggestion. He resigned as governor in 1788, and secured a seat in the assembly, that he might take part in codifying the laws of the state. On September 17, 1789, he was named by President Washington as attorney-general, and served until January 2, 1794, when he succeeded Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state. He opposed the Jay Treaty as detrimental to Southern interests and the national dignity. He held the office of secretary of state till August 19, 1795, when, on account of a misunderstanding with Washington, he resigned. An account was made up against him of $49,000 for moneys placed in his hands to defray the expenses of foreign intercourse, and he was held responsible for all moneys lost through accidents and other calamities; after repeated trials, his lands and slaves were sold, the government gaining besides the debt and interest about $7,000. He appeared as counsel for Aaron Burr in his trial for treason at Richmond. He was the author of: "Democratic Societies (1795)"; "Vindication of Mr. Randolph's Resignation (1795)"; "Political Trust, or Animadversions on the Past and Present State of Public Affairs (1796)", and "History of Virginia" (MS. in possession of Virginia Historical Society). Edmund Randolph died in Clarke county, September 13, 1813.