Dorothy Camber Walton

                    There is little known about the life or personality of Dorothy Camber, the wife of George Walton, signer of the Declaration of Independence.  She was the daughter of an English gentlemen living in Chatham County, Georgia, when she married the young patriot and signer.

                    About a year after Dorothy and George were married, George was Colonel Walton and was leading his regiment in the defense of Savannah.  He was wounded in that battle and captured by the enemy.  Because he was a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the British would not exchange him for any prisoner with a rank lower than brigadier-general. 

While George was in prison and thinking that his wound would be fatal, he wrote the following to his wife:  "Remember that you are the beloved wife of one who has made honour and reputation the ruling motive in every action of his life."

George never accumulated property, but he and Dorothy were happy on their little farm near Augusta.  They had only one child, a son named after his father.  The son served as Secretary of State for Andrew Jackson when he was governor of West Florida.

George died in 1804 and was buried in Augusta.  He was survived by his widow and son.  More information on George Walton can be obtained here.  http://causeofliberty.blogspot.com/2012/01/george-walton.html

Facts for this article are from Wives of the Signer - The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp 278-279.

                    

Two Wives for Hall

                    Lyman Hall, signer of the Declaration of Independence, married twice.  He was well educated and had earned medical doctor status prior to his first marriage.

                    Dr. Hall married Abigail Burr, daughter of Thaddeus Burr, Esq., of Wallingford, Connecticut, in May 1752.  Abigail was described as being "beautiful and accomplished."  She died in July 1753, about fourteen months after her marriage.

                    Approximately four years after the death of his first wife, Dr. Hall married Mary Osborne (1757).  The Halls moved to Dorchester, South Carolina, and lived there only a few months before moving to Georgia.  Dr. Hall established a medical practice in Sunbury, St. John's Parish, and purchased a rice plantation on the Savannah road a few miles from Midway.  Dr. Hall became a "leading physician" in Georgia and thus "highly prosperous."

                    Lyman achieved a high level of influence in his new area and was the leader in the local patriotic movement.  The cause of liberty movement in St. John's Parish eventually pressured Georgia to join the other Colonies in the fight for independence.  Georgia elected five delegates to the Continental Congress, but only three delegates actually attended the Congress.  One of the delegates opposed the movement for independence and therefore did not take his seat in the Congress.  Another delegate, Archibald Bulloch, was a patriot but couldn't leave Georgia at the time.  The three delegates representing Georgia at the Continental Congress and signing the Declaration of Independence were Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton.

                    Lyman returned from Congress just in time to move his family north to safety, leaving his home unprotected from the invading British army.  The British confiscated his property.  Lyman returned to Georgia and was elected Governor in 1782.  After his term as Governor, he retired to a home in Burke County where he passed away.  Lyman's only son passed away a few years previous to his own death, but his widow survived him several years and died childless. 

                    Wallingford, Connecticut, the native town of Lyman Hall, erected a monument to his memory.  "Upon a mound of earth, handsomely turfed, is a large flat freestone, nearly nine feet long by six feet wide.  Upon this rests a block of freestone, nearly three feet high, with rounded corners and handsome mouldings; on the fourth side of which is this inscription:  `The State of Georgia having removed to Augusta, the remains of Lyman Hall, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and there erected a monument to his memory, the original tablet covering his grave was, in 1857, presented by William D'Antignac to this State, by whose order it is deposited in his native town.'"

                    The white marble tablet, about three inches thick, is inscribed with the following information:  "Beneath this stone rest the remains of the Hon. Lyman Hall, Formerly Governor of this State, who departed this life the 19th of Oct., 1790, in the 67th year of his age.  [There is some confusion about Lyman's death date.  One source about him listed his death at age 63 in 1784.  The source from which this article is taken listed his death as occurring at age 60 in 1790.  His tombstone listed his death as 1790 at age 67.]

                    "In the cause of America he was uniformly a patriot.  In the incumbent duties of a husband and a father he acquitted himself with affection and tenderness.  But, reader, above all, know from this inscription that he left the probationary scene as a true Christian and an honest man."

                    The following poem written by his widow was also included: 

                                        To those so mourned in death, so loved in life,

                                        The childless parent, the widowed wife,

                                        With tears inscribes this monumental stone

                                        That holds his ashes and expects her own.

                    Facts and quotes for this article are from Wives of the Signers - The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 275-278.  Another article by Lyman Hall can be accessed here.  

Mrs. Button Gwinnett

                    There is very little known about Mrs. Button Gwinnett, wife of the signer of the Declaration of Independence.  She was married and had children when she emigrated from Bristol, England, to South Carolina with her husband in 1770.  The Gwinnett family lived for two years in Charleston where they owned a mercantile business.  They sold the business and purchased land on St. Catharine Island in Georgia.  The land included "a stock of horses, cattle, and hogs, some lumber and a plantation boat."  Mr. and Mrs. Gwinnett and their children lived on the island.

                    Mrs. Gwinnett was apparently with her husband when he transferred his loyalty for "natural Tory principles" and joined the patriot cause of liberty.  She apparently supported him in his phenomenal rise in politics as well as supported him when his fall from popularity happened.  She probably tried to comfort him when he made enemies as she was with him after he was fatally shot by Colonel Lachlan McIntosh in a dual.  "All we know of Mrs. Gwinnett at that time is that she nursed him during the twelve days he lay groaning with his shattered hip, and then she and her children drop out of all knowledge, and the chroniclers of the day who mention her simply say that `Mrs. Gwinnett and her children soon followed him.'"  

                    Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers - The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 272-275.

Mary Izard Middleton

                    Mary Izard married Arthur Middleton, signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1764.  She was the daughter of Col. Walter Izard of Cedar Grove - an officer in the militia - and his wife, Elizabeth Gibbs.  Mary was described as being "one of the most beautiful and accomplished young women of her day in South Carolina."  Arthur was the son of Hon. Henry Middleton of The Oaks and Middleton Place and a brother of Mrs. Edward Rutledge, another signer of the Declaration.

                    A portrait of Arthur, Mary and their eldest son Henry (painted by Benjamin West in London when the family was traveling in Europe before the Revolutionary War) hangs at Alverthorpe (near Philadelphia), the country home of a great-grandson, Dr. Henry Middleton Fisher.  A miniature portrait of Mary (set in rubies and diamonds) was inherited by one of her great-great-granddaughters.  "Both pictures show an aristocratic, high-bred face with arched eyebrows, dark hair, white skin, and slender throat."

                    An obituary in the Courier of Charleston in July 1814 described Mary as being an "excellent woman" who was "endeared to society by her Virtues and her good works."

                    The Middleton family suffered greatly from the Revolutionary War.  When the British went to South Carolina, Arthur was with the militia trying to protect their state.  He wrote to Mary and told her to go to the home of a friend who lived about "a day's journey north of Charleston."  Even though the British "spared" the buildings at Middleton Place, they "rifled" the house and barns.  They demolished "everything that could not be converted into lucrative purpose."  They smashed pictures and broke their frames. 

The British carried away 200 slaves from the Middleton estate.  Arthur went "deeply into debt" and had "unceasing struggles" but continued with his "generous hospitality."

                    The Middleton home, located "on the Ashley," was "large and commodious," but two modern wings did not seem to fit the main house.  Arthur talked of tearing the whole building down and replacing it, but he was persuaded by friends to leave it "because it was too large a superstructure to sacrifice to any plan of improvement."  The house caught fire one day when Arthur was out walking, and Mary sent a servant to tell him of the fire.   He looked around and determined that the wings were not in danger; he sent word back to his wife to "let it burn."  Mary didn't agree with her husband's counsel, and the fire was soon extinguished.

                    Mary and Arthur were parents of nine children, three sons and six daughters.   Their sons were:  Henry Middleton (served in both branches of the Legislature, Governor of his state, member of Congress, and Minister to the Court of St. Petersburg; married Mary Helen Hering, daughter of Julius Hering of Heybridge Hall, Captain in H. M. 34th Regiment), John Izard Middleton (of Cedar Grove; received his mother's large fortune; married Elisa Augusta, daughter of Theodore de Palazieu Falconet; spent most of his life in France and Italy; was devoted to art; was an amateur painter of talent and author of Grecian Remains in Italy), and John (died in infancy in 1787).  Their daughters were:  Maria Henrietta (born 1772; married Joseph Manigault), Elisa Carolina (born 1774, died unmarried), Emma Philadelphia (born 1776, married Henry Izard, eldest son of Hon. Ralph Izard, U.S. Senator), Anne Louise (born 1778, married Daniel Blake), Isabella Johannes (born 1780, married Hon Daniel Elliott Huger, U.S. Senator for South Carolina), and Septima Sexta (born 1783, married Henry Middleton Rutledge).

                    Arthur died on his plantation in 1787.  (Another source listed his date of death as January 1, 1788.)  Mary passed away in 1814, a half century after their marriage and twenty-seven years after the death of her husband.

                    Facts and quotes from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp 270-273.

                    

Elizabeth Shubrick Lynch

                    The life of Elizabeth Shubrick Lynch is "another chapter to the tragic story of the Carolina signers and their families.  Elizabeth Shubrick and Thomas Lynch, Jr., future signer of the Declaration of Independence, were childhood sweethearts.  Thomas was the son of a wealthy planter and spent eight years in England obtaining his education at Eton, his degree at Cambridge, and studying law at The Temple.  He returned to America in 1772 determined to follow in his father's footsteps in advancing the patriot cause of liberty. 

                     Elizabeth was the beautiful daughter of "an old and prominent family."  Elizabeth and Thomas were married in 1773 and begin their marriage on a plantation given to them by Thomas's father.  Thomas became a militia captain in 1774 and was elected to fill his father's seat in Congress a year later.  Thomas remained in Congress long enough to support the proposal of gaining independence and to sign the Declaration of Independence.  Thomas resigned his seat in Congress due to his own failing health as well as that of his father.  Father and son were traveling slowly home when the father suffered a stroke in Annapolis and died. 

                    Thomas, upon the advice of his physicians and friends, decided to go to southern Europe with the hope of regaining his health.  Thomas and Elizabeth sailed to the West Indies in 1779 in order to secure a neutral ship to take them to Europe.  The ship with Thomas and Elizabeth aboard apparently sunk because it was never heard from again. 

                    Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp 268-270.

Two Elizabeth Haywards

                    Thomas Hayward, signer of the Declaration of Independence, married twice.  He married Elizabeth Mathews about 1767 or 1768 - soon after he returned from studying law in Europe.  His father was Colonel Daniel Hayward, a wealthy planter who sent his son to Europe to study and travel to gain an education.  Thomas came home a very patriotic American who later served in the Continental Congress and as well as being a member of the military.  After being shot in the leg, he was captured by the British and taken to St. Augustine, Florida, where he remained in prison for nearly a year.

                    While Thomas was in prison, a military detachment went to his plantation to plunder it.  His family fled for their lives, and his home was looted.  The military took almost 200 slaves from his plantation and took them to Jamaica where they were sold.  Although some slaves were returned, he never regain about 180 of them.  The loss of the slaves alone cause the Hayward family approximately $50,000.  Elizabeth became ill from the shock of this experience and never recovered her health.  She died in 1781, about the time that Thomas was released from prison.  She was the mother of five children, but she lost all of them in infancy except one son named Daniel.  (Daniel married Anne Sarah Trezevant; they had a daughter named Elizabeth who married Captain James Hamilton.)

                    Thomas later married Elizabeth Savage and had three more children:  Thomas (married Ann Elisa Cutbert), James Hamilton (married Decima Shubrick), and Elizabeth Savage (married Henry Middleton Parker).  When Thomas passed away in 1809 at age 63, he was survived by his widow and four living children.

                    Facts are from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 266-268.   

                   

                     

                    

Two Mrs. Rutledge

                    Edward Rutledge, signer of the Declaration of Independence, married twice.  His first wife was Henrietta Middleton; after Henrietta's death, Edward married Mary Shubrick Eveleigh, the widow of Col. Nicholas Eveleigh, formerly Comptroller of the U.S. Treasury appointed by President George Washington.

                    Henrietta Middleton was born in Charleston in 1750 and married the "brilliant young lawyer" Edward Rutledge when she was 24.  Edward was newly returned from England where he completed his legal education.  Edward later became a member of the Continental Congress and Governor of South Carolina.

Henrietta was described as a "noted woman of a notable family."  Her father was Henry Middleton, President of the Provincial Council and later a member of the Continental Congress.  He was most likely the largest landowner in South Carolina because he owned more than 50,000 acres, 20 plantations, and 800 slaves.  Henrietta's mother was Mary Williams, the only child of John Williams.  Henry and Mary were parents of seven children - two sons and five daughters.  Mary died at age 46 on January 9, 1761.

                    Henrietta became ill soon after her marriage; she "lived quietly, and took no part in social or political life."  She had great wealth of her own, she was the "wife of the most successful lawyer" in South Carolina, and she was "well fitted by birth and education to grace any society; however, she did not have great physical strength and died in 1792, leaving two children.  Her son, Henry Middleton Rutledge, became a prominent citizen of Tennessee; her daughter, Sarah, never married.

                    Some time after Henrietta's death, Edward married Mary Shubrick Eveleigh.  Mary was apparently Edward's first choice for a wife, but there was great opposition to their courting.  Mary's father, Thomas Shubrick, opposed the match, and Edward's father, Andrew Rutledge, would not "allow his son to pay his addresses to Miss Shubrick."  Mary and Edward were obedient and married according to the wishes of their parents - the usual custom of that day.  Mary and Edward remained friends.  When Edward's wife and Mary's husband both died within the same year, the two came together again and married.  They "lived most happily" together, but they did not have any children.

                    Mary was a "devoted step-mother and friend to Sarah Rutledge."  After Edward's death, Mary and Sarah lived together and devoted their time to charitable work - caring for the poor, befriending the friendless, etc.  Sarah was most devoted to carrying for orphans and homeless girls, and she looked after their "maintenance and education."

                    Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers, pp. 264-266.          

Susan Lyme Penn

                    Susan Lyme was born in 1741 or 1742 in Kent County, Virginia.  She married John Penn, signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1763.  Susan was "one of the least known of the wives of the signers.

                    John was the son of Moses and Catherine Taylor Penn who were farmers in Caroline County, Virginia.  His father was "prosperous," but he neglected John's education.  When Moses died in 1759, John inherited "a fair property" but had only two or three years of education.  Edmund Pendleton was a man of wealth and education and was also a cousin to John.  Edmund opened his home and library to John, and John took full advantage of the opportunity to gain more knowledge.  He was admitted to the bar with a reputation for "vigorous eloquence."  In 1774 he moved to North Carolina where he established a law practice.   The residents of North Carolina obviously considered him to be a leader because they selected him in 1775 to be a delegate to the Continental Congress where he continued to serve for several years.

                    John and Susan were parents of three children, but only one child lived to maturity.  Their only daughter, Lucy, married Hon. John Taylor, a planter from Caroline County, Virginia.  He did "much to advance the science of agriculture in his native State."  He was also a colonel of cavalry of Virginia during the Revolutionary War.  He was elected to succeed Richard Henry Lee in the U.S. Senate in 1792, but he resigned in 1794.  Again in 1803, he was elected to fill a vacancy in the Senate.  Taylor County, Virginia, was named in his honor.  General Zachary Taylor was one of John Taylor's relatives.

                    John Penn died in 1788 at age 47 years.  Susan lived many years after her husband died.

                    Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 262-264. 

Anne Clark Hooper

                    Anne Clark married William Hooper, signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1767.  She was the daughter of Thomas Clark, Esq. and the sister of Thomas Clark, Jr. who later became General of the U.S. Army. 

William Hooper was a "brilliant young lawyer from Boston" who had recently established a law practice in Wilmington, North Carolina.  He was a graduate of Harvard University and a former student of James Otis; he spent several months visiting the South before settling in Wilmington.

The following was written about Anne:  "His choice was most fortunate, considered in reference to the qualifications of the lady to adorn and sweeten social and domestic life.  It was most fortunate, too, considered in reference to that firmness of mind which enabled her to sustain without repining the grievous privations and distresses to which she became peculiarly exposed in consequence of the prominent station which Mr. Hooper held in the War of the Revolution."

Before William joined the patriot cause of liberty, he traveled great distances between courts on bad roads.  "Times were prosperous, and the dissipation which arose out of an excess of hospitality exhibited an even more animated picture in the surrounding country.  Whole families and sometimes several families together were in the practice of making visits, and, like the tents of the Arabs, seemed continually on the move.  The number of visitants, the noise and bustle of arriving and greeting, the cries of the poultry yard, and the bleatings from the pasture would require some sounding polysyllables to convey an idea of the joyous uproar….  Every visit was a sort of jubilee.  Festive entertainment, balls, every species of amusement which song and dance could afford, were resorted to. The sports of the turf and the pleasure of the chase were alternately the objects of eager pursuit.  Everywhere on the eastern and western branches of the Cape Fear River were men of fortune, related to one another by blood or marriage, whose settlements extended almost as far as the lowlands of Crossneck."

Hooper traveled from court to court with these "hospitable, happy-go-lucky, fox-chasing, horse-racing planters," and the party would spend a week or so in each place.  He worked hard during the day and was well entertained when out of court.  The experience was difficult because of his "frail constitution," but he had "a lucrative practice" where he was able to accumulate money.

William became active in politics when he was elected to the Legislature in 1773.  He was a delegate to the Continental Congress 1774-1777, but he received a leave of absence in early 1777 to return home to care for his family.

When William went to Congress, he left his family in Wilmington.  His activities as well as his signature on the Declaration of Independence were quite offensive to the British, and the British destroyed his property "on frequent occasions."  A British captain sailed about three miles up Cape Fear River from Wilmington in order to shell a Hooper house.  Mrs. Hooper "moved her family from Wilmington back to their plantation, about eight miles.  "The brutal David Fanning who raided Hillsborough treated Mrs. Hooper and her family with rudeness amounting to downright cruelty."  Because they were "constantly harassed," William moved them back to Wilmington.  When Wilmington was evacuated, William moved his family to a permanent home in Hillsborough.

William's health was so badly broken that he gave up his law practice and other duties in 1778, and Anne accepted the responsibility of running the plantation.  William passed away in 1790, leaving a widow and three young children - two sons and one daughter:  Elizabeth (married Hillsborough business man named Watters); William Hooper (the eldest son, married and had several children who became prominent; one of them was Rev. William Hooper, Professor of Languages in the North Carolina University and a writer); no mention was made of the younger son.

Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 258-262.   

Two Mrs. Braxton

                    Carter Braxton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was married twice.  He married Judith Robinson when both of them were 19 years old.  She died at the birth of her second child before her 21st birthday.  Four years after her death, Carter married Elizabeth Corbin.

                    Judith Robinson came from one of Virginia's most prominent families.  She was a descendent of Col. Christopher Robinson, who moved to Virginia in 1666.  The colonel's brother was the Rt. Rev. John Robinson, D.D., Lord Bishop of London during the reign of Queen Anne.  Col. Robinson made his home in Middlesex County and called his estate "Hewick."  He was one of the original trustees of William and Mary College as well as a member of the House of Burgesses and a member of the King's Council.  Judith's father, John Robinson, was a grandson of the original Christopher of Hewick, and her mother was the daughter of Hon. John Wormley.

                    Judith and Carter were married in 1755 and made their home on his estate "Elsing Green" in King William County.  There is little known about Judith or her successor except what is written in brief family genealogies and what little is written in Bishop Meade's Old Families of Virginia.  We know that Judith and Carter were parents of two girls:  Mary Braxton (married Robert Page of "Broadnech House," Hanover County, in 1779) and Judith Braxton (married in 1779 to John White of King William County, a son of Rev. Alexander White, rector of St. David's Parish).  The young mother died shortly after the birth of her second daughter in 1757.

                    Four years after Judith's death, Carter married Elizabeth Corbin of "Laneville," King and Queen County.  She was the daughter of Colonel Richard and Elizabeth Tayloe Corbin; this family dated back to 1650 when Hon. Henry Corbin came from England and settled at "Buckingham House" in Middlesex County.  Colonel Richard was the grandson of "Henry, of Buckingham House;" he was educated in England and was a devoted churchman in the Episcopal faith.  According to Bishop Meade, Colonel Richard furnished the bread and wine for the communion as well as boarded the unmarried ministers of the parish without charge.  He was also President of the King's Council and Receiver General of the Colony.

                    Elizabeth and Carter were parents of sixteen children, several of whom died as babies or in early childhood.  The eldest child was Elizabeth (married Colonel Samuel Griffin; he served in the Revolutionary War and later in Congress); other children included Carter (of King William County, married "Miss Sayre, granddaughter of Hon. Philip Ludwell"), and Colonel George Braxton (of "Chericoke," married Mary, daughter of Hon. Charles and Mary Carter Carter of "Shirley" in Charles City County).

                    Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 256-258.

Rebecca Tayloe Lee

                    Rebecca Tayloe was only nineteen years old when she married Francis Lightfoot Lee, signer of the Declaration of Independence, in May 1769.  She was the second of eleven children born to Colonel John and Rebecca Plater Tayloe of "Mt. Airy" in Richmond County. 

Francis was the fourth son of Thomas Lee as well as the younger brother of Richard Henry Lee.  Francis was a young boy when his father died and left him a fortune.  "Like all the Lees, he was public-spirited and patriotic and thoroughly loyal to his brilliant brother, Richard Henry, whom he supported in every measure which that able and far-seeing statesman held for the good of either his native Province or the Colonies at large."

Rebecca "was a highly accomplished and popular young woman and was an estimable wife to Mr. Lee."  Her family dated back to Hon. William Taylor of London, "who came to Virginia in the seventeenth century and accumulated a fortune."  He bought large land holdings in Lancaster and Richmond Counties in 1650.  No one seems to know "when or by whom the change was made in the spelling of the name, from Taylor to Tayloe."

William Taylor married Ann Corbin, daughter of Hon. Henry and Alice Eltonhead Corbin of "Buckingham House," Middlesex County with whom he had four children with one dying in childhood.  Two of the children were twins, John and Elizabeth.  Elizabeth married Colonel Richard Corbin of King and Queen County.  John, the founder of "Mt. Airy" married Rebecca Plater of St. Mary's County, Maryland.  "Mt. Airy was one of the "noted houses of Virginia."  It was built of red sandstone and white marble in 1758 and consisted of "a vast central building of fine proportions, with right and left wings joined by semicircular corridors.  The portraits of Mt. Airy are considered one of the finest collections in America."

"John Taylor (or Tayloe) was an influential member of the King's Council under Lord Dunmore."  John and Rebecca became parents of eleven children, most of whom grew up and married into "other old families of Virginia."

Francis Lightfoot Lee and Rebecca Tayloe Lee lived on his estate "Manokin," in Richmond County from the time of their marriage in 1769 until their deaths in 1797.  She passed away in January, and he died in February.  They had no children.

Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 254-256. 

Lucy Grymes Nelson

                    Lucy Grymes became the wife of Thomas Nelson, of York who signed the Declaration of Independence.  She was the daughter of Philip Grymes, Esquire, of Middlesex County, Virginia, and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir John Randolph of Williamsburg.  Lucy was considered to be "a beautiful girl of refined manners and retiring nature when she married Thomas on August 29, 1762.

                    The union of Lucy and Thomas was considered to be very appropriate and fitting.  Lucy was a little younger than Thomas.  She was the daughter of a wealthy planter who was "prominent in the business and political life of the Province" as well as being "noted for his public spirit and hospitality.  She was also related, through her mother, to "many of the notable families of Virginia."

                    Thomas descended from Thomas Nelson who moved to Virginia in the early 1700s.  According to Bishop Meade's Recollections, the elder Thomas Nelson "founded the town of York …, established a mercantile business, and [became] wealthy."  Thomas's family married into other York County families and had strong connections there.  Thomas received his education at Trinity College in England and returned to America about a year before he married.  He lived in York in "much style and hospitality."

                    Soon after Thomas married Lucy, he was elected to the House of Burgesses where he began his lifetime public service.  He was also a militia colonel, brigadier-general of the Virginia troops, a delegate to the Continental Congress, and governor of Virginia.  He was a very active patriot in the American cause of liberty and donated much of his fortune to aid the cause.  Governor Thomas Nelson was one of the sons of Virginia who was well known for supporting the struggle for independence from England, and he did so with the full support of Lucy.

                    Thomas and Lucy were parents of eleven children:  William (born 1763; married Sally Burwell, eldest daughter of Governor John Page); Thomas Nelson, Jr. (born 1764; married Frances, also a daughter of Governor John Page); Philip Nelson (born 1766; married Sarah N. Burwell of Clarke County); Francis Nelson (born 1767; married Lucy, youngest daughter of Hon. John Page of Gloucester {now Matthews} County); Honorable Hugh Nelson (born 1768; married Eliza, daughter of Francis Kinlock of South Carolina); Elizabeth Nelson (born 1770; married Mann Page, eldest son of Governor John Page); Mary Nelson (born 1774; married Robert Carter of Shirley); Lucy Nelson (born 1777; married Carter Page of Cumberland County as his second wife); Robert Nelson (born 1778; married Judith Carter, youngest daughter of Governor John Page; was Chancellor of William and Mary College where he was Professor of Law for many years); Susannah Nelson (born 1780; married Francis Page of Hanover County, son of Governor John Page); Judith Nelson (born 1783; married Captain Thomas Nelson of Hanover County).  Five of the children married five of the children of Governor John Page, and two of them married children of Honorable John Page of Gloucester County.

                    Thomas died on January 4, 1789, at age fifty, and Lucy lived to be eighty, surviving him by many years.  According to Bishop Meade, she left "twenty dollars to her minister and freedom to her [only] servant…."

                    Thomas' biographer wrote "he descended into the grave honoured and beloved, and alas! of his once vast estates, that honour and love was almost all that he left behind him.  He had spent a princely fortune in his Country's service; his horses had been taken from the plough and sent to drag the munitions of war; his granaries had been thrown open to a starving soldiery and his ample purse had been drained of its last dollar, when the credit of Virginia could not bring a sixpence into her treasury.  Yet it was the widow of this man who, beyond eighty years of age, blind, infirm, and poor, had yet to learn whether republics can be grateful."

                    Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 250-254.

Elizabeth Bassett Harrison

                    Elizabeth Bassett married Benjamin Harrison, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  She was the daughter of Colonel William Bassett and was born about 1741 or 1742 on her father's estate "Eltham" in Kent County.  We do not know much about her girlhood or even the exact day of her birth or marriage.  We do know that she was famous for "her beauty and her accomplishments as a girl" and for "her exemplary piety and benevolence" in her later life.  We also know that she was related to many of the "most noted families of Virginia" and that "her father was a man of wealth and social prominence."  It is probably safe to assume that "she was a gracious hostess" and "a mother of the true Old Dominion type" because her sons and daughters were of "such high character."

                    Benjamin Harrison was the son of Benjamin Harrison, "one of the largest landholders and one of the most prominent men of Virginia, and Anne Carter, "daughter of Robert Carter, "King Carter of Corotoman," Lancaster County, Speaker of the House of Burgesses and Rector of William and Mary College.  Benjamin Harrison, the father, was killed by a lightning strike, when Benjamin, his son, was still a minor.  As the eldest of six sons, Benjamin became the head of the house and owner of the estate known as Berkley.  After his marriage to Elizabeth, he took her home to Berkley, and they lived there the remainder of their lives.

                    Benjamin was very active in the patriot cause of liberty and served with honor in many different and important offices.  He was Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Governor of Virginia, a member of several Continental Congresses, and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

                    Numerous children were born to Benjamin and Elizabeth, but only seven survived infancy - three sons and four daughters.  Two daughters were killed in the same stroke of lightning that killed their father.  The children are as follows:  1) Benjamin (worked in the counting room of Robert Morris in Philadelphia; visited Europe where he made several important business connections; served as Paymaster General of the Southern Department during the Revolutionary War; established himself as a merchant in Philadelphia where he gained a large fortune which he sacrificed to help Robert Morris in his need; married twice, first to Anne Mercer and second to Susannah Randolph); 2) Carter Bassett (graduated from William and Mary College; became a lawyer; served in both the State Legislature and as a member of Congress in 1793; married Mary Howell Allen); 3) William Henry Harrison (was educated at Hampden Sidney College in Virginia; served in the army; became President of the United States in 1841; married Anne Symmes; great-grandfather of President Benjamin Harrison); 4) Lucy (married her cousin, Peyton Randolph, nephew of Peyton Randolph, the first President of Congress); 5) Anne (married David O. Copeland ); 6) Sarah (married John Wing of Weynoke).  There was no mention of the fourth daughter.

                    Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers - The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 247-250.

Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson

                    Martha Wayles Skelton was a young and beautiful widow when she married Thomas Jefferson on January 1, 1772.

Bathurst Skelton, her first husband, had died four years previously, and her only child had died in infancy. 

                    Martha was born October 30, 1748, and was the daughter of John Wayles of "The Forest" in Charles City County, Virginia.  She was living with her father at "The Forest" when she married Jefferson.  Thomas and Martha were distant cousins.  Martha was twenty-three years old when she married Jefferson who was twenty-six years old at the time.  After Jefferson graduated from William and Mary College, he studied law with George Wythe and started a successful law practice. 

                    Randall, the author of Life of Jefferson wrote the following about Martha at the time of her second marriage.  "Mrs. Skelton was remarkable for her beauty, her accomplishments, and her solid merit.  In person she was a little above medium height, slightly but exquisitely formed.  Her complexion was brilliant - her large expressive eyes of the richest tinge of auburn.  She walked, rode, and danced with admirable grace and spirits; sang and played the harpsichord and spinet with uncommon skill.  The more solid parts of her education had not been overlooked."

                    Randall continued in his praise of Mrs. Skelton:  "She was well read and intelligent, conversed agreeably, possessed excellent sense, and a lively play of fancy, and had a frank, warm-hearted, and somewhat impulsive disposition."

                    The wedding festivities took place at "The Forest," and then the newlyweds left for his home, Monticello.  According to a manuscript written by their oldest daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph, Thomas and Martha left "The Forest" after a light snowfall.  The snow increased in depth as they traveled and finally became so deep that they had to leave the carriage and ride horseback.  About eight miles from Monticello, they stopped for a short time at a place called "Blenheim" and then continued in snow that was from eighteen inches to two feet deep.  They arrived late at night after the fires had been put out and the servants had gone to their own homes.  They found a partial bottle of wine behind some books, and it served them "for both fire and supper."

                    Thomas and Martha lived together in "domestic happiness" for nine years at Monticello - in spite of the anxiety of the times.  During those nine years, five children were born to them.  Thomas served both his country and Virginia as he served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, and wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence.

                    Martha's health was in a state of decline when Thomas was offered an important mission to Europe.  He declined the offer in order to be home with Martha, but he was almost immediately elected as Governor of Virginia.  The British army attempted several times to capture Jefferson.  Martha gave birth to her fifth child in November 1779 (another source gave the year of birth as 1780), and she fled with the infant in her arms two months later when the traitor Benedict Arnold and his army approached Richmond.  Jefferson sent his family away in a carriage and stayed to secure his most important papers.  He saw the army coming and escaped, but Monticello was captured and searched by the enemy.  Many of their Blacks were taken and only five were returned.  All the valuable horses were taken as well as many thousands of dollars worth of tobacco and grain.

 

                    The baby died about April 1781.  The baby's death plus the constant anxiety about the safety of her husband took much of Martha's remaining strength.  She gave birth to her last child in May, 1782.  She never regained her health and died September 6, 1782.  Martha gave birth to six children:  Martha (born September 27, 1772; named in honor of Martha Washington; also known as Patsy; married her cousin Thomas Mann Randolph who had been a ward of Jefferson and who was Governor of Virginia from 1819-1822; died October 10, 1836); Jane Randolph (born 1774; died 1775); unnamed son born in 1777; Mary Wayles (born in 1778; also known as Polly; married John Wayles Eppes; died in 1804; Lucy Elizabeth (born 1780; died 1781); Elizabeth (born in 1782; died in 1785).  Only Martha, Mary, and Elizabeth survived their mother. 

                    Many years after her mother's death, Martha recorded her memories of the sad event:  "He [her father] nursed my poor mother in turn with Aunt Carr and her own sister, sitting up with her and administering medicines and drink to the last.  For four months that she lingered, he was never out of calling; when not at her bedside, he was writing in a small room which opened immediately at the head of her bed.  A moment before the closing scene, he was led from the room almost in a state of insensibility by his sister, Mrs. Carr, who with great difficulty got him into his library, where he fainted and remained so long insensible that we thought he would never revive.  The scene that followed I did not witness, but the violence of his emotion, when almost by stealth I entered his room at night, to this day I dare not trust myself to describe.  He kept his room three weeks and I was never a moment from his side.  He walked almost incessantly, night and day, only lying down occasionally, when nature was completely exhausted, on a pallet that had been brought in during his long fainting fits.  My aunts remained almost constantly with him for some weeks.  I do not know how many.  When at last he left his room, he rode out and from that time he was incessantly on horseback rambling about the mountain in the least frequented roads and just as often through the woods.  In those melancholy rambles, I was his companion, a solitary witness to many a violent outburst of grief, the remembrance of which has consecrated particular stones of that lost home beyond the power of time to obliterate."

                    Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 240-247.

Two Anne Lees

                    Richard Henry Lee, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was one of the most eminent and patriotic sons of Virginia.  Richard was the fifth son of Thomas and Hannah Ludwell Lee of Stratford House, Westmoreland County, and he was married twice.  His first wife was Anne Aylett, and his second wife was Mrs. Anne Gaskins Pincard.  Children were born of both unions.

                    Old Virginia was different materially from other provinces and other countries.  The women there were sheltered and protected as there were no large cities and very little town life.  Hospitality there was both a virtue and a fine art.  "The old families, with their large estates and numerous house and field servants, their wealth and culture, visited and intermarried among themselves until the entire commonwealth was like one big family."  The estates were scattered over vast stretches of country and sometimes miles apart.  Due to the lack of population found in more thickly settled areas like Maryland, the Carolinas and the northern Colonies, Virginia did not suffer the same depredations of war such as being overrun by British troops and Hessians.  Even though the men were often called away to Congress or war, the women of Old Virginia were not left unprotected or any less patriotic or loyal to the cause of liberty than any other colonial women.  The fact that the men of Virginia were such steadfast patriots is a tribute to the support and sacrifices made by their women.

                    The Aylett family was as wealthy and prominent as the Lees.  The following note is included in the Historic Families of Virginia:  "It is claimed that the Ayletts are descended from a companion of the Conqueror whose sons received grants in Cornwall.  In 1657, Captain John Aylett came to Virginia and had a son William whose daughters intermarried with prominent families."

                    Anne Aylett was a cousin to Col. William Aylett of "Fairfield," King William County, who was one of the leading citizens of Virginia at that time.  Anne's sister Mary married Thomas Ludwell Lee, brother of Richard Henry Lee.  Col. Aylett and George Washington were members of the House of Burgesses at the same time and were good friends.  In fact, Col. Aylett's mother was a first cousin of Martha Washington, and his brother John married Martha's sister.  There were other marriages between the two families.  Col. Aylett's home was on the road between Mount Vernon, the Washington home, and Williamsburg.  George and Martha generally stopped to spend several days with the Ayletts whenever leaving or returning home.  This was also the custom of Richard and Anne Lee as well as Thomas and Mary Lee.

                    Anne Aylett Lee bore the following children:  Thomas Lee (born October 20, 1758, lived at "Park Gate" in Prince William County, was a lawyer, married Mildred Washington, daughter of Augustine and Hannah Bushrod Washington, and married second Eliza Ashton Brent); Ludwell Lee (born 1760, served on the staff of General LaFayette, married his cousin Flora, daughter of Philip Ludwell and Elizabeth Steptoe Lee); Mary Lee (born 1764, married Colonel William Augustine Washington, son of Augustine and Anne Aylett Washington, and nephew of George Washington); Hannah Lee (born about 1766, married Corbin Washington, son of John Augustine and Hannah Bushrod Washington and brother-in-law to her brother Thomas Lee).  Anne Aylett Lee died at age 35 in 1767. 

Two years after the death of his first wife, Richard Henry Lee married Mrs. Anne Gaskins Pincard, daughter of Thomas Gaskins of Westmoreland County and sister of Colonel Thomas Gaskins, Jr. who was a distinguished officer of the Revolution.  The children of this union were:  Anne Lee (born 1770, married her cousin, Charles Lee); Henrietta Lee (born 1773, married Richard Lee Turberville); Sarah (born 1775, married her cousin, Edmund Jennings Lee, of Alexandria); Cassius (died in boyhood); Francis Lightfoot.  This Mrs. Lee survived her husband, but the date of her death is not known.

                    Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers:  The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 235-240.

Two Mrs. Wythe

George Wythe, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was married twice. He married Anne Lewis of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in 1756. A few years after Anne's death "in the later sixties," George married Elizabeth Taliaferro of "Powhatan," near Williamsburg. Neither wife left any children.

George was born into a well-to-do family but was orphaned before he was twenty-one years old. His father passed away when George was quite young. George was educated by his mother and then studied law under the direction of an uncle-in-law. Mrs. Wythe died in 1746, and George immediately put his studies aside and spent several years in seeking amusement and pleasure. When he was about thirty years old, he came to his senses and went back to studying law. This turn of events apparently had something to do with his acquaintance with Miss Anne Lewis. Soon after their marriage in 1756, he was admitted to practice law at Williamsburg. Two years later in 1758 he was elected as a member of the House of Burgesses - and thus began his illustrious political career.

Anne Lewis was born August 30, 1726, as the eldest of ten children born to Zachary and Mary Waller Lewis. "Her father was an eminent Colonial lawyer who had built up a fortune from his practice and owned a large landed estate. There is a road in Spotsylvania County which to this day bears the name `The Lawyers' Road,' because of the fact that it was traveled so frequently by Mr. Lewis and his son, John Lewis, going to and from the court house in the adjoining county of Orange."

George was a patriot of the Revolution. He was a professor of law in the College of William and Mary, and while there instructed two future Presidents of the United States and a future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He was later Chancellor of Virginia.

Chancellor Wythe died in 1806. It was generally believed that he was poisoned by George Wythe Sweeney, a grandson of his sister. Sweeney was tried for the murder but was acquitted. Wythe freed all his slaves before his death and made arrangements for their support until they could take care of themselves.

Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers: The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 233-235.

Mary Darnell Carroll

Mary Darnell, daughter of Rachel Brooke and Colonel Henry Darnell, Jr., of Prince George County, married Charles Carroll, Jr., Esquire, her distant cousin and future signer of the Declaration of Independence, on Sunday, June 5, 1768. The Maryland Gazette included the following concerning the new bride: "… Miss Mary Darnell, an agreeable young Lady endowed with every accomplishment necessary to render the connubial state happy."

Charles described Mary in a letter written August 13, 1767, as being "a young woman endowed with every quality to make me happy in the married state, virtue, good sense, good temper. These too receive no small luster from her person which the partiality of a lover does not represent to me more agreeable than what it really is. She really is a sweet-tempered, charming girl - a little too young for me, I confess, especially as I am of weak and puny constitution."

Mary was much younger than Charles and far less wealthy. She was probably seventeen or eighteen years old when the engagement took place. Charles would inherit a plantation, and he was well-educated in the Colonies, France and England, an established lawyer, and a popular patriot in the cause of liberty.

There was some question about whether or not the marriage could take place because of her age. Charles wrote in January 1768, "I hope you received my last letter of the 7th of November. By that you will learn that my marriage with Miss Darnell was put off till the next spring, in order to obtain an Act of Assembly…. Thus you see if the settlement cannot be securely made without an act to give it legal force, I may wait two years longer, that is, till the young lady comes of age. She will be nineteen years old the 19th of next March…. The young lady to whom I am to give my hand and who already has my heart, altho' blessed in every good quality, has not been favored by fortune in respect to money…."

The problem was solved when Mary, both of her parents and her uncle signed a marriage contract on Saturday, June 4, 1768, and the marriage took place the following day. Charles and Mary had six daughters and one son, but four of the daughters died in infancy or early childhood. The other children are as follows: Mary (born in 1770, married Richard Caton, son of Joseph Caton of Liverpool, England), Charles - afterward known as Charles Carrollton of Homewood (born in 1775, married Harriet Chew, daughter of Benjamin Chew of Philadelphia), and Catharine (born in 1778, married Robert Goodloe Harper).

Mary died in her thirty-fifth year of life (1782). The author of the Carroll sketches in Appleton's Journal dated September 1874, wrote the following: "The death of Mrs Carroll was very sad. She was devotedly attached to her grandfather [father-in-law]. One day he was standing on the large porch of his house in Annapolis, watching a ship come into the harbor. He stepped back too far and was picked up dead. Mrs. Carroll, his child by marriage and his constant companion, never recovered from the shock, nor left her room afterward until death."

Charles never remarried. He lived until 1832 and died in Baltimore at age 95, the last survivor of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers: The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 225-233.

Two Wives for Paca

Mary Chew married William Paca, signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1761. She was the daughter of Henrietta Lloyd and Samuel Chew as well as a descendant of John Chew who came to Jamestown on the Charitie in 1622 with three servants. There is little known about Mary except that "she was the favorite granddaughter of Samuel Chew, the head of one of the oldest and most prominent Colonial families."

William was a young lawyer and member of the Maryland Assembly at time he married Mary. Mary and William were parents of five children, but only one child survived - John P. Paca (married Juliana, daughter of Richard and Mary Tighlman). Mary did not live long enough to enjoy her husband's many successes as he served as a delegate to the General Congress, Justice of the Supreme Court of Maryland, and as Governor of Maryland. She died in the first year of the Revolution.

William married Miss Anne Harrison, a highly respected young woman of Philadelphia, in 1777. William and Anne had one child. Anne and the child both died within three years of the wedding. William died in 1799 at his ancestral home, Wye Hall, Harford County.

Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers: The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 219-220.

Margaret Brown Stone

Margaret Brown was born about 1749 and married Thomas Stone, signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1762. She was the youngest daughter of Dr. Gustavus Brown of Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland. Margaret was described as being "adorned with elevated talents and blest with piety, and every female virtue." At the time of their wedding, they received L1000 sterling with which they purchased a plantation - the "Havre de Venture" - located about two miles from Port Tobacco.

Three children were born to Margaret/Mary Brown and Thomas Stone: Frederick (died during the yellow-fever epidemic of 1793 while studying law in Philadelphia), Mildred (born in 1771; married Travers Daniels of "Cleremont" in Stafford County, Virginia), and Margaret Eleanor (became the second wife of John Moncure Daniel of "Crows Nest" in Stafford County, Virginia).

Margaret was inoculated with small pox in 1787 but didn't receive proper treatment. Thomas watched as his beloved wife suffered miserably for weeks until she died. He was so affected by the death of his wife that his own health declined steadily. He died on October 5, 1787.

Facts are from Wives of the Signers: The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 220-225.

Two Mrs. Chase

Samuel Chase, signer of the Declaration of Independence, married twice. He was twenty-one years old in 1762 when he married Anne Baldwin of Annapolis, Maryland. He had recently completed his study of law under the direction of two prominent Annapolis attorneys, John Hammond and John Hall, and had established his own law practice. He was also taking an active interest in public affairs.

Anne did not live long enough to share the great honors that came to her husband because she died in the early years of the Revolution. She was the mother of six children, two sons and four daughters.

Samuel went to England in March 1783 on legal business. There he met and married Miss Hannah Kilty Giles of London. They became parents of two daughters, Eliza (married Dr. Skipwith Coale of London) and Hannah (married William Barney, Esq.).

Judge Chase moved to Baltimore in 1786 where his good friend, Col. John E. Howard, gave him a piece of land on the condition that he would live there. The land consisted of many city lots as well as area where the Judge built his home - a "specious mansion." The sale of the other lots helped the Judge to live in comfortable conditions until his death in 1811.

Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers: The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp. 217-219.