Peter Jenings | |
---|---|
Member of the Governor's Council for the Colony of Virginia | |
In office 1670-1671 | |
Member of the House of Burgesses for Gloster County Colony of Virginia | |
In office 1663-1670 | |
Preceded by | Peter Knight |
Succeeded by | Augustine Warner |
In office 1660 | |
Preceded by | Augustine Warner |
Succeeded by | Peter Knight |
Attorney General for the Virginia colony | |
In office 1670–1671 | |
Preceded by | unknown |
Succeeded by | George Jordan |
Personal details | |
Born | circa 1630 Silsden,Yorkshire,England |
Died | 1671 Gloster County Colony of Virginia |
Spouse | Catherine Lunsford |
Parent | William Jenings |
Relatives | Edmund Jenings |
Occupation | attorney,planter,politician |
Peter Jenings (1630-1671) was a British attorney who emigrated to the Colony of Virginia,where he became a planter,served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and was the colony's attorney general. He twice represented Gloucester County in the House of Burgesses,as well as served on the Virginia Governor's Council probably for less than two years before his death. [1] [2]
Born in Silsden in western Yorkshire,England,where his ancestors served as stewards for the Barons Clifford and Earl of Cumberland. [3]
Jenings emigrated from England to the Virginia colony as a young man. Soon thereafter he acquired land in Gloucester County near Claybank Creek. In October 1660 Jenings patented 650 acres inland near the head of the Potomac River,based on people for whose immigration he had paid. In September 1663,Jenings and Mathew Kemp patented 2000 acres of land,half in Lancaster County north of Gloucester County. [2]
In 1660,Gloucester County voters elected Jenings as one of the men representing them in the House of Burgesses,but he may not have stood for re-election,having accepted a position in April 1662 as the colony's deputy treasurer. However,Jenings did stand for election in 1663 and re-election in 1666 and won both times,during what was sometimes known as the Long Parliament because Governor Berkeley refused to call for colony-wide elections for more than a decade. Jenings became one of the commissioners who met with their Maryland counterparts to attempt to combat the low tobacco prices caused by British policy restricting sales to British brokers by pausing tobacco cultivation for a year or more. [1] [4] In 1670,upon Governor Berkeley's recommendation,Jenings was appointed to the upper house of the colonial legislature,known as the Governor's Council or Council of state,and was sworn in on June 20. [5] Within a week,Governor Berkeley also nominated him as the colony's attorney general,and Jenings received his commission on September 15,1670. [1]
Jenings died in 1671,without any direct descendants,so a November 1688 deed in what had become Stafford County stated that his land has escheated to the state. By September 1674,his widow,Catherine,married Capt. Ralph Wormeley II,a major planter and member of the Council of State. By 1680,a distant cousin,Edmund Jenings,also an attorney,emigrated with a commission as the colony's attorney general,and like this man became a planter and politician.
Colonel Robert Carter I was a planter,merchant,and government official and administrator who served as Acting Governor of Virginia,Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses,and President of the Virginia Governor's Council. An agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary,Carter emerged as the wealthiest Virginia colonist and received the sobriquet "King" from his contemporaries connoting his autocratic approach and political influence.
Edmund Jenings (1659-1727) was an English lawyer and colonial administrator who held important posts in the colony of Virginia including as the attorney general,on the Governor's Council and as acting governor,but encountered controversy and experienced financial problems in his final years.
Augustine Warner Sr. emigrated to the Virginia colony where he became a merchant,then major planter and politician. Warner served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly,and became the progenitor of a prominent colonial family,with his son and heir Augustine Warner Jr. also serving as Speaker of the House of Burgesses.
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.
William Whitby emigrated from England to the Virginia colony where he became politician and major landowner. He represented Warwick County as a burgess several times,and became Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses in the 1653 session.
Theodorick Bland,also known as Theodorick Bland of Westover,was a planter,merchant and politician in colonial Virginia who served as Speaker of the House of Burgesses,as well as in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. The founder of the Bland family of Virginia,his son and grandson of the same name also served in the Virginia General Assembly before the American Revolutionary War,and later descendants sharing the same name would become a federal judge and congressman.
Colonel Augustine Warner Jr. was an American planter,military officer and politician. He served in the House of Burgesses from 1666 to 1677 and was its Speaker in two separate sessions in 1676 and 1677,before and after Bacon's Rebellion. Warner then served on the Virginia Governor's Council from October 1677 until his death. Warner is the last common ancestor of George Washington and King Charles III.
Peter Beverley was an English-born planter and lawyer who served as the 27th speaker of the House of Burgesses as well as treasurer of the Colony of Virginia (1710-1723). His father Robert Beverley had been the clerk of the House and a prominent member of the "Green Spring" faction in the decade after Bacon's Rebellion,and Peter Beverley also served as clerk before winning election as a Burgess and serving as speaker in four of the five assemblies at the beginning of the 18th century.
Joseph Bridger emigrated to the Virginia colony from England where he became wealthy and known for supporting Governor William Berkeley and his successors. As would his namesake grandson and several other descendants,Bridger served in the House of Burgesses representing Isle of Wight County. Bridger also served in the legislature's upper house,the Virginia Governor's Council,and led troops against the rebels during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 as well as in 1682,when he helped suppress the tobacco cutters.
William Kendall Sr. (I) (1621-1686) was a British merchant,planter,military officer and politician who came to own considerable land on Virginia's Eastern Shore. He represented Northampton County several times before and after Bacon's Rebellion,and during 1685 became the 21st Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses while representing Accomack County.
Henry Corbin was an emigrant from England who became a tobacco planter in the Virginia colony and served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly,in the House of Burgesses representing Lancaster County before the creation of Middlesex County on Virginia's Middle Neck,then on the Governor's Council.
Henry Whiting (1640–1694) was a Virginia physician,planter and military officer who served in the House of Burgesses representing Gloucester County,on the Governor's Council,and as the Treasurer of the Virginia Colony.
John Custis II (Sr.) was a North American Colonial British merchant and planter who aligned with governor William Berkeley during Bacon's Rebellion and began a political career in which he served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and became one of the founders of the Custis family,one of the First Families of Virginia.
Major Robert Beverley was an English-born merchant,attorney and military officer who served as the Attorney General of Virginia from 1676 to 1677. Born in Yorkshire,he emigrated to the English colony of Virginia and worked as a merchant,growing wealthy from his business dealings. Following Bacon's Rebellion,Beverley was appointed as the colony's pro tempore attorney general. One of the wealthiest men in the Tidewater region during his lifetime,he eventually came to own roughly 28,000 acres in four counties along with several slaves,serving as the founder of the Beverley family 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.
Edward Chilton emigrated to the colony of Virginia where he served as clerk of the Governor's Council and the Virginia General Assembly (1682-1686) as well as became a landowner,then became the colony's Attorney General(1691-1694). He may be best known as one of the three authors of "The Present State of Virginia" a 1697 report to the Board of Trade in London about the Virginia colony. Near the end of his life he also was the Attorney General of Barbados.
Charles Grymes or Grimes was Virginia planter and politician who represented Richmond County on Virginia's Northern Neck in the House of Burgesses (1728–1734).
Mathew Kemp was a British attorney who emigrated from England to the Colony of Virginia where he became a government official,planter and politician. He supported Governor William Berkeley during Bacon's Rebellion and became Speaker of the House of Burgesses in 1679 before being elevated to the Virginia Governor's Council.
Richard Pate (d.1657) was a planter and politician who served a term as burgess representing Gloucester County in the House of Burgesses.
John Pate (1632-1672) was a planter and politician who invested in land in and around Gloucester County and in his last years served on the Virginia Governor's Council.