Thomas Nelson Jr. was a Founding Father of the United States, general in the Revolutionary War, member of the Continental Congress, and a Virginia planter and slave owner. In addition to serving many terms in the Virginia General Assembly, he twice represented Virginia in the Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Fellow Virginia legislators elected him to serve as the commonwealth's governor in 1781, the same year he fought as a brigadier general in the siege of Yorktown, the final battle of the war.
Thomas Digges was an English mathematician and astronomer. He was the first to expound the Copernican system in English but discarded the notion of a fixed shell of immoveable stars to postulate infinitely many stars at varying distances. He was also first to postulate the "dark night sky paradox".
Knowles is an English surname of Old English origin. This is a locality name meaning 'at the knoll,' a hill or summit, derived from Old English word cnolle or Middle English knol, meaning hilltop and thus describes a person who lived at such a place. It can also be an Anglicized version of the Irish name Ó Tnúthghail. It may refer to many people. Variants of this surname include Knollys, Knolles, Knoll, Knowle, Noll, Noel, and Nowell.
Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ēad, meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and mund, meaning "protector".
Leonard Digges was a well-known English mathematician and surveyor, credited with the invention of the theodolite, and a great populariser of science through his writings in English on surveying, cartography, and military engineering. His birth date is variously suggested as c.1515 or c.1520.
Edward Digges was an English barrister and colonist who became a premium tobacco planter and official in the Virginia colony. The son of the English politician Dudley Digges represented the colony before the Virginia Company of London and the royal government, as well as served for two decades on the colony's Council of State. Digges served as interim Colonial Governor of Virginia from March 1655 to December 1656, and for longer periods as the colony's receiver general and auditor-general. He is also known for planting mulberry trees and promoting the silk industry in the colony.
Cole is a surname of English origin, and is also now used as a given name. It is of Middle English origin, and its meaning is "swarthy, coal-black, charcoal".
Sir Dudley Digges was an English diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1610 and 1629. Digges was also a "Virginia adventurer," an investor who ventured his capital in the Virginia Company of London; his son Edward Digges would go on to be Governor of Virginia. Dudley Digges was responsible for the rebuilding of Chilham Castle, completed in around 1616.
Bland is a surname thought to derive from Old English (ge)bland ‘storm’, ‘commotion’. It is thought to have originated in an area in Yorkshire
Calvert is a given name and a surname of English, Scottish and Northern Irish origin.
Dudley is an English toponymic surname associated with the town of Dudley in West Midlands, England. Notable people with the surname include:
Colonel William Digges was a prominent planter, soldier and politician in the Colony of Virginia and Province of Maryland. The eldest son of Edward Digges (1620-1674/5), who sat on the Virginia Governor's Council for two decades but died shortly before Bacon's Rebellion, Digges fled to Maryland where he married Lord Calvert's stepdaughter and served on the Maryland Proprietary Council until losing his office in 1689 during the Protestant Revolution, when a Puritan revolt upset the Calvert Proprietorship. His eldest son Edward sold his primary Virginia plantation to his uncle Dudley Digges. It is now within Naval Station Yorktown. His former Maryland estate, Warburton Manor, is now within Fort Washington Park.
John Robinson may refer to:
Mercer is an English and Scottish surname. It is an occupational name, derived from the Old French word "mercier" or "merchier", meaning a merchant: originally one trading in textiles (mercery).
Christopher Robinson was a planter, merchant and politician in the British colony of Virginia. Robinson held several public offices in Colonial Virginia and is the patriarch in America for one of the First Families of Virginia.
Edward Hill Jr. was a controversial Virginia planter, local official and politician, who like his father operated Shirley Plantation in part using enslaved labor, as well as briefly served as 20th Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and several times represented Charles City County in that body.
Dudley Digges (1665-1711) was a Virginia merchant, planter and politician who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, as well as agent of the Royal African Company and factor for British merchants John Jeffreys and Micajah Perry Sr. After his marriage, Digges twice represented Warwick County in the House of Burgesses before being appointed to the Virginia Governor's Council in 1698. Digges also served as auditor and surveyor-general of Virginia from 1705 until his death, and purchased the E.D. Plantation where he had been born from his nephew Edward upon the death of his brother William. That property is now part of Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. His sons Cole Digges and Dudley Digges Jr. would also continue the family's planter and political traditions.
Dudley Digges (1694-1768) was a Virginia attorney, merchant, planter and politician who served in the House of Burgesses representing the newly created Goochland County. Possibly the least known of three related men of the same name who served in the Virginia legislature during the 18th century, this man was the son of Dudley Digges Sr. who served in both houses of the Virginia legislature and bought the family's historic E.D. plantation in York County. This Dudley Digges married Mary Hubard, and none of their children had children. However, their daughter Maria Digges became stewardess of the College of William and Mary. Thus, he may be the Dudley Digges who died of small-pox in February 1768, as did a mulatto man who belonged to the college, weeks before Governor Francis Fauquier.
Dudley Digges was a Virginia attorney, planter, military officer and politician who served in the House of Burgesses (1752-1776) and all the Virginia Revolutionary conventions representing York County. Possibly the most famous of three related men of the same name who served in the Virginia legislature during the 18th century, this man was the third son of Yorktown merchant Cole Digges who served in both houses of the Virginia legislature.
Cole Digges (1691-1744) was a Virginia merchant, planter and politician who helped establish Yorktown, Virginia, and served more than two decades on the Virginia Governor's Council after representing Warwick County in the House of Burgesses. He married the former Elizabeth Foliott Power, who bore three sons who served in the House of Burgesses and at least three daughters, two of whom married into the Harrison family of Virginia, another of the First Families of Virginia. During his lifetime, his firstborn son Edward began representing York County in the House of Burgesses, but he never married and died by 1752, when his youngest brother Dudley succeeded to the seat and won re-election numerous times until the American Revolutionary War, during which he sided with the patriot cause. His middle brother William represented Warwick County, Virginia, as had had this man.
