Ninth Generation

327. Col. William BYRD¹⁵² was born on 28 Mar 1673/74 in Belvedere, Henrico, Virginia. He died in 1744 in Westover, Charles City, Virginia.

1692 was elected to the House of Burgess. 1708 he received an appointment to the Council of State.

Inherited, from his father's estate, the Westover Plantation, which was next to the Berkeley Hundred.

"In 1737, when William Byrd II had been desperate for cash after building the Westover Manor House, he conceived of a shrewd idea. Instead of selling his land around the public warehouse at The Falls as farm acreage, he would found a city at this growing trading center and sell it in lots as city real estate. With this mercenary motive, the city of Richmond was founded." [Source: The Great Plantation, page 162.]

He also had numerous other plantations in the area and built a dam and mill around Falling Creek in Richmond, Virginia.

He was part owner of the slave ship "William and Jane."

By the time of his death he held title to over 179,000 acres of land, of which over 100,000 acres was in the valley of the Dan River extending to North Carolina.

Books written by William Byrd, Jr. are: The History of the Dividing Line, A Journey to the Land of Eden in the Year 1733, and A Progress to the Mines in the Year 1732.

"Before he was ten years of age, William Byrd 11 was sent to England to his mother's people for education. His Grandfather Horsemanden, who lived at Purleigh In Essex, placed the young man under the instruction of Christopher Glassock. Young Byrd next went to Holland to further his business education. There he studied until 1690 when he returned to London and became a student of law in thy Middle Temple.

He remained at this place for at least three to five years in preparation for law. At this time Byrd made some valuable friendships. He ormed a contact with Sir Robert SouthwelI when he went to Holland. While a student at the Inns of Court, Byrd became a boon companion of Benjamin Lynde, later Chief Justfce of Massachusetts. He also became a Fellow of the Royal Society while In London at this time.

After Byrd's formal education was completed, he returned to Virginia and entered political life. His father's influence made this a comparatively easy task. Wllliam Byrd II was a member of the Assembly from Henrico County in 1696.

Shortly, he returned to England and in 1698 was appointed Agent for the Colony by the Virginia Council. This position was held for four years. In 1701 he tried to secure the office of Secretary of Virginia, but was unsuccessful as the office went to Jennings, the former Assistant Secretary.

Upon learning of the death of his father In 1704, Byrd returned immediately to Virginia to look after the estate, as most of it had been bequeathed to him.

He also succeeded in obtaining the two offices of Auditor and Receiver-General held by his father. Soon the two offices were separated and Byrd retained the position of Receiver-General. In 1708 he was appointed to the Council and continued to be a member of that body until the time of his death.

In 1710, there came to Virginia a man with whom Byrd was to engage in a long and bitter quarrel. This was Alexander Spottswood, who came as Lieutenant-Governor under the Earl of Orkney. The main cause of friction was the fact that Spottswood wished to make the Council body, that had developed great powers and oligarchic tendencies under the preceding govemors, subservient to him as a representative of the Crown. This the Council did not propose to allow. They quietly watched their opportunity.

When the Governor was caught at a disadvantage, pressure was exerted by the Council and he was removed.

In the meantime, Spottswood had been quite active in attempting to have both Byrd and Ludwell removed from the Council, but without success. The antagonism between Byrd and the Governor and the fact that his position as Receiver-GeneraI made it necessary for him to be subservient to the latter, caused him to decide to dispose of that office.

For these reasons he sold the position to James Roscow in 1716 for the sum of five hundred pounds. After Spottswood retired to private life, he and Byrd forgot past difficulties and became good friends. This was shown by the fact that Byrd visited his old antagonist at the time of his journey to the mines in 1732.

Soon after selling his Virginia office, Byrd returned to England where he spent most of the next ten years. This absence caused a recommendation to be sent to England in 1719 asking for his removal from the Virginia Council. Byrd circumvented this removal, however, by petitioning to retain his offtee and by returning to Virginia for a short tme.

In 1720, he again returned to England and remained there until 1726. Two years after his return to the Old Dominion, Byrd was selected as the leader of the Virginia Commission to cooperate with a North Carolina Commission for surveying and settling the disputed boundary between the two colonies.

Much friction developed between the two factions as shown by the written accounts of the expeditiom left by Byrd. In spite of much difficulty and bickering, the Survey was finally completed in November, 1728. In the meantime, Colonel Byrd continued as a member of the Council and, upon the death of Blair in 1748, he became President of that body.

Like his father, he was not destined to hold this position long as his death occurred the following year. In private, as well as public life, Colonel Byrd was a man of great activity. Two years after the death of his father, he married Lucy Parke, daughter of Colonel Daniel Parke, later Governor of the Leeward Islands.

Colonel Byrd's father-in-law was murdered in 1710 and left a large debt upon the property in his possession in Virginia. This property was left to Parke's daughter Frances, wife of John Custis. They wished to dispose of this inherited property. Since Byrd did not wish to see it go out of the possession of the family, he took it over and assumed the obligation upon it. This proved to be a bad bargain for the owner of Westover, as the debt amounted to over nine thousand pounds and kept him in financial difficulty the remainder of his life.

When Byrd went to England in 1716, he learned that his stay would be prolonged, so he sent for his wife. She arrived in England in the summer of 1716, but the trip proved to be unfortunate as Mrs. Byrd contracted smallpox and died In December of that same year.

Their two daughters were sent for and remained in England to be educated. Evelyn became a famous beauty and it was rumored that the Earl of Peterborough wished to marry her. Colonel Byrd objected to this match and Evelyn returned to Virginia where she remained unmarried.

The second matrimonial venture of Colonel Byrd took place in 1724 when he married Maria, daughter of Thomas Taylor of Kensington, England.

He was extensively engaged in purchasing large tracts of land and endeavoring to settle foreign Protestants thereon. He was quite successful in acquiring land, for it was estimated that he possessed nearly one hundred and eighty thousand acres at the time of his death.

His efforts to secure settlers were not very successful. His failure to induce settlers to live upon his land, especially in the case of the Swiss Protestants who settled in South Carolina instead of Virginia, was a great disappointment to him and no doubt caused some financial loss.

Byrd raised and shipped large amounts of tobacco and would, no doubt, have acquired considerable wealth from this activity if it had not been for the fact that the debt assumed upon Colonel Parke's estate consumed most of his profits.

In addition to his other activities, Colonel Byrd was much interested in copper mining and iron making. He made a journey into the interior to investigate these activities and to visit Colonel Spottawood's iron foundry. Colonel Byrd found time for cultural pursuits as well an for commercial and political activities. He built a flne brick house at Westover and collected the finest library and collection of paintings in the colonies. The library contained nearly four thousand volumes and Byrd at one time employed a librarian." [-John A Byrd]

Col. William BYRD and Lucy PARKE were married on 4 May 1706 in Virginia.

This marriage produced 4 children, only 2 survived infancy.

Lucy PARKE (daughter of Col. Daniel PARKE and Jane LUDWELL) was born about 1695 in Queen's Creek, James City, Virginia. She died of Smallpox on 21 Nov 1716 in London, England.

Was given 1,000 pounds from her father's estate after his death.

She miscarried on February 14, 1710, and again on June 25, 1711.

Col. William BYRD and Maria Marion TAYLOR were married on 9 May 1724 in Of Kennington, London, England.¹⁵²

They eloped. The couple had 4 children, 3 daughters and a son, all of whom survived and had families.

Maria Marion TAYLOR¹⁵² was born on 10 Nov 1698 in Kensington, England. She died in 1771 in Westover Plantation, Charles City, Virginia. Col. William BYRD and Maria Marion TAYLOR had the following children:

+552	i.	Ann (Nanny) BYRD was born on 5 Feb 1724.
+553	ii.	Maria BYRD was born on 16 Jan 1726/27 in Westover Plantation, Charles City, Virginia. She died on 29 Nov 1745 in Sabine Hall, Richmond, Virginia.
+554	iii.	Jane (Jenny) BYRD was born on 13 Oct 1727 in Westover Plantation, Charles City, Virginia. She died in 1774 in Gloucester, Virginia. Portrait is at William and Mary College, Virginia.
+555	iv.	Col. William BYRD was born on 6 Sep 1728 in Westover, Charles City, Virginia. He died on 1 Jan 1777 in Westover, Charles City, Virginia. He was buried at Upper Westover Church, Charles City, Virginia. He was a military colonel in the French & Indian Wars. (Cornwallis ravaged Westover on 2 occasions.) He was a gambler and lost most of his fortune. [-Leitner Kogl Prideaux & Threlkel Families] ----- He served a term in the House of Burgesses and In 1754 was appointed to the Council. The latter position was held for over twenty years. In military achievement, William Byrd III surpassed his father and grandfather. In 1753 he and Peter Randolph were commissioned by Governor Dinwiddle to treat with the Catawba and the Cherokee Indians. They were successful in this mission and a treaty was made at Catawba Town In 1766. General Forbes thought that it was Byrd's efforts with the Cherokees which made possible the retention of their allegiance to the English during the French and Indian War. In 1757 Byrd was commissioned Colonel of the Second Virginia Regiment while Colonel George Washington was In command of the First Regiment. Colonel Byrd saw service in the northern colonies and Canada and was back in Virginia by 1760. During that year, he was given command or six hundred men and sent to relieve Fort Loudon on the Tennessee River. This Fort was besieged by the Cherokees with whom Colonel Byrd had previously made a treaty. This expedition was unsuccessful, however, as the Fort surrendered in August, 1760, and many of the garrison were massacred by the Indians. The failure of this expedition caused some dissatisfaction and Colonel Byrd resigned. Governor Fauquier thought the resignation was a mistake upon the part of Colonel Byrd due to a misunderstanding. This practically ended Colonel Byrd's military career. Later he stated that he was asked to command the Virginia troops against the King at the beginning of the American Revolution but refused. There is little record of the private life of Colonel William Byrd III. Evidence shows that he became a celebrated turfman and imported some famous racing horses into Virginia. No indication remains concerning monetary losses in connection with his racing activities, but he did encounter severe financial difficulties and began to dispose of his property to raise money. In 1765 he sold a tract of twenty-six thousand acres in North Carolina to the Farley Brothers from Antigua. In 1768 the pressure of his debts became so great that he disposed of much land at Richmond by means of a lottery. In 1769, his debt to William Jones, a Bristol merchant, amounted to over five thousand pounds and in order to secure money for his creditors, he mortgaged one hundred and fifty slaves and all of the silver plate at Westover. These debts continued to harass Colonel Byrd up until the time of his death in 1777 and after his demise, it was with great difficulty that his widow saved the estate at Westover from passing into the hands of his creditors. When the American Revolution approached, Colonel William Byrd Ill remained loyal to the King but committed no outward acts to arouse American antagonism. He refused to command troups against the King and protested his loyalty to England. As Byrd died in 1777, not long after military operations had become active in Virginia, it was possible for him to remain aloof from the conflict. Upon the death of Colonel Byrd, his financial difficulties fell upon the shoulders of his wife, Mary Willing Byrd. During the period of the American Revolution, Mrs. Byrd was under suspicion of being in league with the British as Arnold and Cornwallis were frequently at her house. At one time her papers were seized by the Virginia authorities but she maintained her innocence. She lost much property to both the British and the American raiders and was much persecuted by supicious neighbors. In spite of all these difficulties, she weathered the storm, straightened up her husband's tangled financial affairs, and was a resident of Virginia for many years after the Revolution. Her death occurred in 1814. The estate at Westover was sold after the death of Mary Willing Byrd and passed into the hands of WIIIiam Carter who retrained it for four or five years and then sold it to Robert Douthat. After the latter's death, the estate was purchased by G. E. Harrison of Brandon. He, in turn, sold it to John Selden, who kept it for several years. Major A. H. Drewry bought the Westover estate from Selden, and his family retained possession of it until 1901. At that time it was purchased by Mrs. William MacRamsey who restored and used it for her home. It passed from her to the family of Mr. Richard Crane. Two sons of William Byrd III by his first wife achieved some distinction in a military way. Thomas Taylor Byrd became a major in a regiment raised by Lord Dunmore. At the time Gwynn's Island was taken by the Virginians, Major Byrd, who was ill, barley escaped capture. Later he was killed at the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777.