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The House of Burgesses was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States when Virginia was a British colony. From 1642 to 1776,the House of Burgesses was an important feature of Virginian politics,alongside the Crown-appointed colonial governor and the Virginia Governor's Council,the upper house of the General Assembly.
Carter Bassett Harrison was a politician from the U.S. state of Virginia.
John Holloway was a politician and lawyer in the British colony of Virginia. He served as Speaker of the House of Burgesses (1720–34),having represented at various times,King and Queen County,York County and Williamsburg. He also served as the first mayor of Williamsburg,Virginia (1722–23),and treasurer of the colony (1723–34).
Philip Cottington Ludwell was an English-born planter and politician in colonial Virginia who sat on the Virginia Governor's Council,the first of three generations of men with the same name to do so,and briefly served as speaker of the House of Burgesses. In addition to operating plantations in Virginia using enslaved labor,Ludwell also served as the first governor of the Carolinas,during the colony's transition from proprietary rule to royal colony.
Robert Ellyson was a legislator,lawyer,military officer,and physician who served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses representing James City County from 1655 to 1656 and from 1660 to 1665.
Colonel Thomas Ballard was a prominent colonial Virginia landowner and politician who played a role in Bacon's Rebellion. He served on the Governor's Council 1670–79 and was Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses 1680–82.
Captain Thomas Harwood emigrated from Britain and became a soldier,landowner and politician in the Colony of Virginia. He founded a family which like him for generations often represented the area now known as Newport News,but which in his day was known as Mulberry Island,and later Warwick River and still later Warwick County. Despite coming into conflict with royal governor Sir John Harvey in 1635,and a gap in legislative service,Harwood became the 5th speaker of the House of Burgesses.
Nathaniel Burwell was an American politician and plantation owner. Perhaps the most distinguished of five men of that name to serve in the Virginia General Assembly before the American Civil War,this Nathaniel Burwell won election to the Virginia House of Delegates as well as the Virginia Ratifying Convention,and also served as the county lieutenant for the James City County militia.
John Blair was a merchant and politician of the colony of Virginia. He served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. As a member of the House of Burgesses,he initially represented Jamestown then Williamsburg,before being appointed to the Governor's Council. There he served for more than 25 years,including four times becoming acting governor during changes of the royal governors and while governor Francis Fauquier was in the New York and Georgia colonies. Nonetheless,this John Blair,the earliest of the four men of the name serving in the Virginia General Assembly,may be best known either as the nephew and heir of Rev. James Blair or father of John Blair,Jr..
Colonel Lemuel Mason was an early Virginia planter,politician,justice of the peace,and militia colonel,who represented Lower Norfolk County in the House of Burgesses intermittently over three decades.
Philip Ludwell Jr. was a Virginia planter and politician who served several terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses,and became an important figure in the colony's new capital at Williamsburg as well as with the newly established College of William &Mary. As had his father Philip Ludwell,and as would son Philip Ludwell III,this man served on the Virginia Governor's Council and operated plantations using enslaved labor.
Elizabeth Bray Allen also known as Elizabeth Bray Allen Smith Stith operated a large plantation after the death of her first husband,Arthur Allen. After the death of her second husband,she operated both the Allen and Smith estates. She provided the direction and funds to establish a free school for poor boys and girls in Smithfield,Virginia.
Sir Richard Kemp was a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia. Kemp served as the Colony's Secretary and on the Governor's Council from 1634 to 1649. As the council's senior member,he also served as the acting Colonial Governor of Virginia from 1644 to 1645 during travels by Governor Sir William Berkeley. Kemp had also worked closely relation with Berkeley's predecessor,Sir John Harvey.
George Reade was a prominent landowner,military officer,judge,and politician who served as a member of the House of Burgesses and as Acting Governor of Virginia Colony. He is the great-great-grandfather of the first President of the United States,George Washington.
Archibald Blair was a Scottish-born physician,merchant,planter and politician. Born in Roxburghshire,he moved to the English colony of Virginia in the 1690s. Blair served in the House of Burgesses multiple times,alternately representing the colony's capital and surrounding county. He may be confused with a distant collateral relative,Archibald Blair,who became clerk of the Virginia Governor's Council in 1776 and served for more than 25 years.
Thomas Swann was a planter,tavernkeeper,militia officer and politician in the Colony of Virginia who sat in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and survived Bacon's Rebellion.
James Bray (ca.1630-1691) was a British merchant who also became an attorney,planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia,serving nearly a decade on the Virginia Governor's Council through Bacon's Rebellion (1670-1679),and later representing James City County in the House of Burgesses,although unseated when he refused to make a loyalty oath.
Dudley Digges (1694–1771) was a Virginia attorney,merchant,planter and politician who served in the House of Burgesses representing the newly created Goochland County (1730–1732). 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 from his cousin. Geneologist John Frederick Dorman found that although this Dudley Digges was appointed a justice of the peace in Goochland County in 1735,three years later he bought 600 acres and moved back to James City County.
Thomas Milner,emigrated from England to the Virginia colony where he became a merchant,planter,military officer and politician who twice served as Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses.
Otto Thorpe or Thorp(1630-winter of 1696/1697) was an English merchant who became a militia officer and politician of Middle Plantation in the Colony of Virginia. His home was commandeered during Bacon's Rebellion,and in April 1682,Thorpe briefly represented York County in the House of Burgesses,before returning to England,where he died more than a decade later.
References
- 1 2 3 Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Vol. I. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 193.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 McCartney, Martha W. (2012). Jamestown people to 1800 : landowners, public officials, minorities, and native leaders. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-8063-1872-1. OCLC 812189309.
- ↑ Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) p. 62