Worlich Westwood

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Worlich Westwood
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Elizabeth City County

Worlich Westwood was an American politician that represented Elizabeth City County in the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Virginia House of Delegates. He was a delegate to the Virginia Federal Convention and voted to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

Contents

Biography

Worlich Westwood was the grandson of Worlich Westwood [1] and a son of Mary ( née Wallace) and William Westwood, [2] his father had represented Elizabeth City County in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1736–1740, 1742–1749, and 1752–1758. [3]

Worlich Westwood was one of the more than sixty signers of the announcement to boycott the East India Company, except from saltpetre and spices, alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Peyton Randolph, and many others. [4]

Westwood was Anglican and a vestryman at St. John's in Elizabeth City Parish, Virginia. [5] Bishop William Meade lists him as "Warlock Westwood" with his brother William in the list of vestrymen from the church in the first volume of Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia. [6]

Westwood was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1772–1775, [7] and to the Virginia House of Delegates from 1776–1778, 1785–1786, 1790, and 1798–1803. [8] He attended the Virginia Federal Convention in 1788 and voted in favor of the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. He was the sheriff of Elizabeth City County in 1790. [9]

In 1794, Westwood was one of several people that were appointed to be trustees of the town of Hampton, Virginia. [10]

Colonel Worlich Westwood was recommended to the governor of Virginia by Miles King to be appointed as the Superintendent of Quarantine for Hampton, Virginia, in 1805. [11]

Westwood owned the Westwood House on King Street in Hampton, Virginia. [12] After his death, the home was occupied by the British admiral George Cockburn for use as a headquarters during the War of 1812. [13] The home was burnt down during the American Civil War. [12]

Personal life

His sister Elizabeth first married James Wallace and after his death married Thomson Mason. [2] Worlich Westwood married Hannah King, the daughter of Charles King and Elizabeth Tabb. [13] Worlich Westwood evidently had at least one son, also named Worlich Westwood, who is mentioned as his son in the will of his nephew, Merritt Westwood, the son of his brother James. [14]

References

  1. ↑ Tyler, Lyon G. (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p.  357 – via the Internet Archive.
  2. 1 2 Tyler, Lyon G., ed. (October 1900). "Old Kecoughtan, or Elizabeth City County". William and Mary College Quarterly . Vol. IX, no. 2. p. 130–131.
  3. ↑ Genealogies of Virginia Families: from the William and Mary College Quarterly Magazine. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 1982. p. 661. ISBN   0806309601. LCCN   81-83201 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ Kennedy, John Pendleton (1905). Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia 1773–1776 Including the Records of the Committee of Correspondence. Richmond, Virginia: Colonial Press. p.  14 – via the Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ Estill, Reverdy (1908). "St. John's Church, Elizabeth City Parish, Hampton, Virginia". Colonial Churches in the Original Colony of Virginia (2nd ed.). Richmond, Virginia: Southern Churchman Company. p. 67 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Meade, William (1861). Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia. Vol. I. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. p.  235 – via the Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ Chapman, Blanche Adams (1980). Wills and Administrations of Elizabeth City County, Virginia 1688–1800. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. p. 153. LCCN   80-68127 – via Google Books.
  8. ↑ "Worlich Westwood". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  9. ↑ Grigsby, Hugh Blair (1891). Brock, Robert Alonzo (ed.). The History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788, With Some Account of the Eminent Virginians of that Era Who Were Members of the Body. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Historical Society. p. 372 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ Shepherd, Samuel (1835). The Statutes at Large of Virginia, from October Session 1792, to December Session 1806, Inclusive, in Three Volumes, (New Series,) Being a Continuation of Hening. Vol. I. Richmond: Samuel Shepherd. p. 323 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Flournoy, Henry Wood (1890). Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts from January 1, 1799, to December 31, 1807; Preserved in the Capitol, at Richmond. Vol. IX. Richmond: Simons Blank Book Co. p. 451 – via HathiTrust.
  12. 1 2 Cobb, J. Michael; Holt, Wythe (2008). Images of America: Hampton. Arcadia Publishing. p. 34. ISBN   9780738553818 – via Google Books.
  13. 1 2 Garber, Virginia Armistead (1910). "The Armistead Family. 1635–1910". Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson, Printers. p. 204 – via Google Books.
  14. ↑ Westwood, Merritt The Last Will and Testament of Merritt Westwood. March 25, 1777. "To: Elizabeth Westwood, wife and Sarah Westwood, dau., all lands equally divided. If the child my wife carries be a boy then all goes to him. If it be a girl then land divided three ways. If my children die, the 50 acres where I live to my wife with use of timber from other land and remainder of land divided between William Westwood and John Stith Westwood, sons of William Westwood. If they die without issue then to Worlich Westwood, son of Worlich Westwood."
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