Richard Henry Lee was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia, best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain leading to the United States Declaration of Independence, which he signed. Lee also served a one-year term as the president of the Continental Congress, was a signatory to the Continental Association and the Articles of Confederation, and was a United States Senator from Virginia from 1789 to 1792, serving part of that time as the second president pro tempore of the upper house.
Richard Bland, sometimes referred to as Richard Bland II or Richard Bland of Jordan's Point, was an American Founding Father, planter, lawyer and politician from Virginia. A cousin and early mentor of Thomas Jefferson, Bland served 34 years in the Virginia General Assembly, and with John Robinson and this man's cousin Peyton Randolph as one of the most influential and productive burgesses during the last quarter century of the colonial period.
William Fitzhugh was an American planter, legislator and patriot during the American Revolutionary War who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress for Virginia in 1779, as well as many terms in the House of Burgesses and both houses of the Virginia General Assembly following the Commonwealth's formation. His Stafford County home, Chatham Manor, is on the National Register for Historic Places and serves as the National Park Service Headquarters for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
John Harvie was an American Founding Father, lawyer and builder from Virginia. He was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, where he signed the Articles of Confederation, in 1777 and 1778. He was a successful lawyer and landowner, as well as the fourth mayor of Richmond, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson was a friend since his childhood; his father was Jefferson's guardian. He negotiated a peace treaty in 1774 after the Battle of Point Pleasant. During the American Revolutionary War, he was on the Board of War and operated a prison of war camp on his property, The Barracks.
Thomas Lewis was an Irish-American surveyor, lawyer, politician and pioneer of early western Virginia. He was among the signers of the Fairfax Resolves, represented Augusta County at four of the five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions and the first session of the Virginia House of Delegates during the American War for Independence, and after the conflict, represented newly established Rockingham County at the Virginia Ratification Convention, as well as contributed to the settlement of an area that long after his death become part of West Virginia.
Fielding Lewis was an American merchant, member of the House of Burgesses and a Colonel during the American Revolutionary War. He lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia and also owned a plantation in Spotsylvania County, which later became known as Kenmore. His brother-in-law was George Washington.
The Randolph family of Virginia is a prominent political family, whose members contributed to the politics of Colonial Virginia and Virginia after statehood. They are descended from the Randolphs of Morton Morrell, Warwickshire, England. The first Randolph in America was Edward Fitz Randolph, who settled in Massachusetts in 1630. His nephew, William Randolph, later came to Virginia as an orphan in 1669. He made his home at Turkey Island along the James River. Because of their numerous progeny, William Randolph and his wife, Mary Isham Randolph, have been referred to as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia". The Randolph family was the wealthiest and most powerful family in 18th-century Virginia.
Thomas Ludwell Lee, Sr. was a Virginia planter and politician who served in the House of Burgesses and later the Virginia Senate, and may be best known as one of the editors of the Virginia Declaration of Rights.
Claymont Court, or simply Claymont, is a Georgian-style brick mansion, the grandest of several built near Charles Town, West Virginia for members of the Washington family. The current "Big House" was built in 1840 for Bushrod Corbin Washington, nephew of Supreme Court justice Bushrod Washington and grand-nephew of George Washington, to replace the 1820 main house on his plantation that burned in 1838.
Harewood is one of several houses in the vicinity of Charles Town, West Virginia built for members of the Washington family.
Morgan's Grove is a rural historic district near Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The area is noted for its abundant springs. Several historic houses and farms are in the district, including:
Falling Spring at Morgan's Grove is part of a related complex of buildings and lands associated with the Morgan family and other prominent members of the Shepherdstown, West Virginia, community.
The William Grubb Farm, also known as Conway and Brook Manor, is located near Charles Town, West Virginia. Built c. 1763 by William Grubb Jr., the house is a "stone-ender," with stone masonry at the gable ends of the house and log construction on the long sides, now covered with clapboards. The complex includes the house, a well course (1920), a corn crib, a barn, and a Quaker burial ground.
Cool Spring Farm, located near Charles Town, West Virginia was first established along Bullskin Run around 1750. The Federal style second house on the property, built in 1813, is extant, with a Greek Revival–influenced third house, built in 1832 that shows the evolution of the farmstead. The farm is significant as an example of agricultural development in the Bullskin Run district and as examples of Greek Revival and Federal style vernacular design.
Belvoir was the plantation and estate of colonial Virginia's prominent William Fairfax family. Operated with the forced labor of enslaved people, it sat on the west bank of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, at the present site of Fort Belvoir. The main house — called Belvoir Manor or Belvoir Mansion — burned in 1783 and was destroyed during the War of 1812. The site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973 as "Belvoir Mansion Ruins and the Fairfax Grave."
Richard Chichester Mason was an American planter, physician and politician in Fairfax County, Virginia, which he twice represented in the Virginia House of Delegates. Mason also practiced medicine in Alexandria, Virginia and spent the American Civil War in Richmond working for the Confederate States Army.
Charles Simms (1755–1819) was a Virginia lawyer, Revolutionary War officer and politician. A friend of George Washington, Simms thrice represented Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Virginia House of Delegates as well as at the Virginia Ratification Convention of 1788, and also served as mayor of Alexandria during the War of 1812.
William Beverley (1696–1756) was an 18th-century legislator, civil servant, planter and landowner in the Colony of Virginia. Born in Virginia, Beverley—the son of planter and historian Robert Beverley, Jr. and his wife, Ursula Byrd Beverley (1681–1698)—was the scion of two prominent Virginia families. He was the nephew of Peter Beverley (1668–1728), Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and the grandson of wealthy Virginia planter William Byrd I (1652–1704) of Westover Plantation. Beverley's mother died shortly before her 17th birthday, and he was sent to England.
Thomas Blackburn was a Virginia officer, planter and politician who represented Prince William County, Virginia in the last sessions of the House of Burgesses and in most of the Virginia Revolutionary Conventions alongside future general and Virginia Governor Lighthorse Harry Lee. He may today be best known as a correspondent with Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as the father of two women who married owners of Mount Vernon plantation, or for his plantation, Rippon Lodge, the remnants of which were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and are now operated as a park in Prince William County.
