• General Notes

  Sir John Randolph, the only colonial born in Virginia to be knighted, died in 1737. He left the house to his wife, Susannah Beverley Randolph, until their second son, Peyton, reached the age of 24. Their first son, Beverley, inherited property in Gloucester County; their third son, John, inherited acreage on the city's southern edge; and their daughter, Mary, received a dowry of £1,000. Susannah Beverley Randolph remained in the home until her death sometime after 1754.
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  Randolph, Peyton,R.W.P.G.M.; August '73 - August, '75.
  
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  Peyton Randolph
  Born ca. 1721
  Revolutionary leader
  Cousin of Thomas Jefferson
  Attorney General of Virginia Colony
  Chaired first and second Continental Congress
  Died 1775
  First to be called “Father of country” 
  
  Peyton Randolph was on the black list of patriots the British proposed to arrest and hang after he presided over the Continental Congress in 1775.  Upon his return to Williamsburg, the volunteer company of militia of
  the city offered him its protection in an address that concluded:
  "May heaven grant you long to live the father of your country –
  and the friend to freedom and humanity!"
  
  True revolutionary
  If his friend George Washington succeeded him as America’s patriarch, Randolph nevertheless did as much as any Virginian to bring the new nation into the world. He presided over every important Virginia assembly in the years leading to the Revolution, was among the first of the colony's great men to oppose the Stamp Act, chaired the first meeting of the delegates of 13 colonies at Philadelphia in 1774, and chaired the second in 1775.
  Early years
  Randolph was born 54 years before the Second Continental Congress – probably in Williamsburg in 1721 – the second son of Sir John and Lady Susannah Randolph. His first name was his maternal grandmother's maiden name, just as his older brother Beverley's was their mother's. The surname Randolph identified him as a scion of 18th-century Virginia's most powerful clan.
  When Peyton Randolph was three or four years old, the family moved into the imposing wooden home on Market Square now known as the Peyton Randolph House. His father, among Virginia's most distinguished
  attorneys, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and a wealthy man, died when Peyton was 16, leaving the house and other property for him in trust with his mother. The will also gave Peyton his father's extensive library in the hope he would "betake himself to the study of law." By then, he had a brother John and a sister Mary.
  
  Study of law
  Attentive to his father's wishes, Peyton Randolph attended the College of William & Mary, then learned the law in London's Inns of Court. He entered the Middle Temple on October 13, 1739, and took a place at the bar February 10, 1743. Returning to Williamsburg, he was appointed the colony's attorney general by Governor William Gooch on May 7, 1744. His father had filled the office before him, and his brother would assume the role after.
  At the age of 24, Randolph was eligible for his inheritance. On March 8, 1746, he married Betty Harrison, and on July 21 (more than two years after his return from London), he qualified himself for the private practice of law in York County.
  His cousin Thomas Jefferson may have shed some light on the delay in a character sketch he wrote of Randolph years later. "He was indeed a most excellent man," Jefferson said, but "heavy and inert in body, he was rather too indolent and careless for business."
  
  Public duties
  He was, as well, occupied with myriad public duties. In 1747, he became a vestryman of Bruton Parish Church, and in 1748, he became Williamsburg's representative in the House of Burgesses, and in 1749, a justice of the peace.
  Randolph returned to the house in 1752 as the burgess for the college of William & Mary   and on December 15, 1753, the house hired him as its special agent for some “ticklish business” in London.
  Soon after he arrived in Virginia in 1751, Governor Robert Dinwiddie had begun to exercise a right no governor before him had tried: the imposition of a fee for certifying land patents. For his signature, Dinwiddie demanded a pistole, a Spanish coin worth about 20 shillings. Regarding the fee as an unauthorized tax, Virginians objected, though to no avail.
  
  Courageous action
  Peyton Randolph was dispatched to England as the house's agent, with directions to go over the governor's head. But as attorney general, it was his duty to represent the interests of the Crown, of which
  Dinwiddie was the principal representative in Virginia. Randolph was attacking the right of the governor he was appointed to defend!
  The governor refused to give Peyton Randolph permission to leave the colony, but he left anyway. In London, he had to answer for his action, and he was ousted from the attorney general's office. Dinwiddie had already named George Wythe as acting attorney general in Randolph's place.
  Nevertheless, the London officials pointedly suggested that Dinwiddie reconsider his fee and said that they would have no objection to Peyton Randolph's reinstatement if he apologized. So he did, and subsequently resumed office soon after his return to Williamsburg.
  
  French and Indian War
  Reelected burgess for the College of William & Mary in 1755, he involved himself the next year in a somewhat ludicrous, though harmless, attempt to promote morale during the French and Indian War. With other prominent men, he formed the Associators, a group to raise and pay bounties for private troops to join the regular force at Winchester. George Washington, in charge of the fort there, wasn't sure what he would do with the untrained men if they arrived. Not enough came, however, to cause any inconvenience.
  
  Revolutionary leadership
  In 1757, Randolph joined the college's board, and he served as a rector for one year. He was reelected
  for Williamsburg in 1761, and thus entered the phase of his life that thrust him into a leadership role in the Revolution.
  Word of Parliament's intended Stamp Act brought Virginians and their burgesses into conflict with the Crown itself in 1764. Peyton Randolph was appointed chairman of a committee to draft protests to the king, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons maintaining the colony's exclusive right of self-taxation.
  
  Disagreement with Patrick Henry
  This responsibility put Peyton Randolph at odds with Patrick Henry, the Virginian most noted for opposition to the tax. At the end of the legislative session in 1765, Henry, a freshman, introduced seven resolutions against the act. Peyton Randolph, George Wythe, and others thought that Henry's resolutions added nothing to the colony's case and that their consideration was improper until the colony had a reply to its earlier protests.
  In the final days of the session, after many opponents had left the city, Patrick Henry introduced his measures and made the famous speech in which he said “Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First had his Cromwell, and George the Third . . .” prompting cries of treason from the remaining burgesses present. Peyton Randolph, though not yet Speaker, was presiding. When Speaker John Robinson resumed the chair
  the following day (May 30), Henry carried five of his resolves by a single ballot. A tie would have allowed Robinson to cast the deciding "nay." Jefferson, standing at the chamber door, said Peyton Randolph emerged saying, "By God, I would have given one hundred guineas for a single vote."
  Patrick Henry left town, and the next day his fifth (and most radical) resolution was expunged by the burgesses who remained. Nevertheless, it was reprinted with the others in newspapers across the colonies as if it stood.
  
  Speaker of the House of Burgesses
  Peyton Randolph was elected Speaker on November 6, 1766, succeeding the deceased Robinson and defeating Richard Henry Lee. Peyton's brother John succeeded him as attorney general the following June. By now the brothers had begun to disagree politically; John's conservatism would take him to England in 1775 while Peyton joined the rebellion.
  
  Leads rebel meeting at Raleigh Tavern 
  Another set of Patrick Henry's resolves, against the Townshend Duties, came before the House in May 1769. This time Peyton Randolph approved their passage, but Governor Botetourt did not. He dissolved the assembly. The "former representatives of the people," as they called themselves, met the next day at the Raleigh Tavern with Speaker Peyton Randolph in the chair. They adopted a compact drafted by George Mason and introduced by George Washington against the importation of British goods. Speaker Randolph was the first to sign.
  When the new legislature met in the winter, the governor was pleased to announce the repeal of all of the Townshend Duties, except the small one on tea. Legislative attention turned to other, calmer affairs. The next summer Peyton Randolph became chairman of the building committee for the Public Hospital.
  
  Closing of Boston Harbor troubles Virginia burgesses
  Tempers flared again in 1773, when Great Britain proposed to transport a band of Rhode Island smugglers to England for trial. The implications for Virginia were troublesome, and the burgesses appointed a standing Committee of Correspondence and Inquiry with Speaker Peyton Randolph as chairman. The following May brought word of the closing of the port of Boston in retaliation for its Tea Party.
  
  On May 24, 1774, Robert Carter Nicholas introduced a resolution drafted by Thomas Jefferson that read:
  "This House, being deeply impressed with apprehension of the great dangers, to be derived to British America, from the hostile Invasion of the City of Boston, in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts bay, whose commerce and harbour are, on the first Day of June next, to be stopped by an Armed force, deem it highly necessary that the said first day of June be set apart, by the Members of this House, as a day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, devoutly to implore the divine interposition for averting the heavy Calamity which threatens destruction to our Civil Rights, and the Evils of civil War; to give us one heart and one Mind to firmly oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American Rights; and that the Minds of his Majesty and his parliament, may be inspired from above with Wisdom, Moderation, and Justice, to remove from the loyal People of America, all cause of danger, from a continued pursuit of Measure, pregnant with their ruin."
  The resolution was adopted.
  House of Burgesses dissolved
  Governor Dunmore summoned the house on May 26, 1774 and told Peyton Randolph: "Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses, I have in my hand a paper published by order of your House, conceived in such terms as reflect highly upon His Majesty and the Parliament of Great Britain, which makes it necessary for me to dissolve you; and you are accordingly dissolved."
  
  Continental Congress proposed
  On May 27, 1774, a group of 89 burgesses gathered again at the Raleigh Tavern to form another “non-importation association,” and the following day the Committee of Correspondence proposed a Continental Congress. Twenty-five burgesses met at Peyton Randolph's house on May 30 and scheduled a state convention to be held on August 1 to consider a proposal from Boston for a ban on exports to England.
  Peyton Randolph led the community to Bruton Parish Church on June 1 to pray for Boston, and soon he was organizing a Williamsburg drive to send provisions and cash for its relief. The First Virginia Convention approved the export ban and elected as delegates to the Congress Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton.
  
  Signs will before departure for the First Continental Congress
  Before he left Williamsburg on August 18, 1774, Peyton Randolph wrote his will, leaving his property to the use of his wife for life. They had no children. The property was to be auctioned after her death and the proceeds divided among Randolph's heirs.
  Unanimously elected chairman of Continental Congress
  When Congress convened in Philadelphia on September 5, Thomas Lynch of South Carolina nominated Peyton Randolph to be chairman. He was elected by unanimous vote. Delegate Silas Deane wrote his wife, "Designed by nature for the business, of an affable, open and majestic deportment, large in size, though not out of proportion, he commands respect and esteem by his very aspect, independent of the high character he sustains."
  
  500 merchants sign trade ban against England 
  In October 1774, Peyton Randolph returned to Williamsburg to preside at an impending meeting of the house. Repeatedly postponed, it did not meet until the following June. Nonetheless, on November 9 Peyton Randolph accepted a copy of the Continental Association banning trade with England signed by nearly 500 merchants gathered in Williamsburg.
  Disperses angry crowd gathered at courthouse in Williamsburg
  Peyton Randolph was in the chair again at the Second Virginia Convention in Richmond on March 23 when Patrick Henry rose and made his "Liberty or Death" speech in favor of the formation of a statewide militia. In reaction, Governor Dunmore removed the gunpowder from Williamsburg's Magazine on April 21. Alerted to the theft, a mob gathered at the courthouse. Peyton Randolph was one of the leaders who persuaded the crowd to disperse and averted violence.
  
  British put Randolph on rebel execution list
  Peyton Randolph led the Virginia delegation to the Second Continental Congress in May 1775, and he again took the chair. General Thomas Gage, commander of British forces in America, had been issued blank warrants for the execution of rebel leaders and a list of names with which to fill them. Peyton Randolph's name was on the list. He returned to Williamsburg under guard, and the town bells pealed to announce his safe arrival. The militia escorted him to his house and pledged to guarantee his safety.
  The Third Virginia Convention reelected its speaker to Congress in July 1775, and Randolph left for Philadelphia in late August or early September. By this time, John Hancock had succeeded him to its chair.
  
  Died before Independence 
  About 8 p.m. on Sunday, October 23, Peyton Randolph began to choke, a side of his face contorted, and he died of an "apoplectic stroke." He was buried that Tuesday at Christ's Church in Philadelphia. His nephew, Edmund Randolph, brought his remains to Williamsburg in 1776, and he was interred in the family crypt in the Chapel at the College of William and Mary on November 26.
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  Last Will and Testament of Peyton Randolph
  
  IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN. I Peyton Randolph do make this my last will & testament. I give & devise to my beloved wife my dwelling house, lots & all the outhouses thereto belonging in the city of Williamsburg, with the furniture of the same, & also my chariot & horses & all her wearing apparel rings & jewels, all which estates real & personal I give to her heirs, exrs, & adrs. I give to my sd wife also Little Aggy & her children, Great Aggy & her children, Eve & her children Lucy & her children to her & her heirs forever. I give to my wife also the use & enjoyment of my whole estate real & personal, not hereafter given away during her natural life. I give to Harrison Randolph a negro boy called Caesar, the son of Sue to him & his heirs forever. I give to my brother John Randolph the two negro boys such as he shall choose out of my estate which have not been particularly disposed of to him & his heirs, after the death of my wife I give to my sd brother all my estate both real & personal to hold the same during his life except my man Johnny whom in that case I give to my nephew Edmund Randolph to him & his heirs & after the death of my brother John I give all the estate devised to him for life to the sd Edmund Randolph his heirs exrs & admrs, subject nevertheless to the payment of £500 each to his sisters Susanna & Arrianna Randolph for the payment of which sums I allow him four years after the estate shall come into his hands, he paying them interest yearly for such sums as remain unpaid. I do hereby empower my exrs. to sell my books & presses to pay my debts & if that is not sufficient to sell so many of the negroes as they think can be best shared from the use of the plantations to answer that purpose. I do appoint my wife, my brother John Randolph & Mr. James Cocke exrs. of this my will. IN WITNESS whereof I have set my hand & seal this 18th day of August in the year of our Lord 1774
  
  Peyton Randolph L.S.
  
  Signed sealed published & declared by the sd Peyton Randolph as & for his last will (he being present at the [signing ?] of this attestation in presence of
  
  Thomas Mason
  Samuel Henley
  John Pope
  
  3 Jan. 1776 All persons who have any Demands against the Estate of Peyton Randolph, Esq.; deceased, are desired to bring their Accounts properly proved. Those indebted to the said estate are requested to make immediate Payment.
  
  Betty Randolph
  James Cocke
  
  Those Gentlemen who have borrowed any Books of the late speaker are desired to return them immediately
  
  21 August 1780 Ordered that . . . Betty Randolphs Nineteen Tiths be added to Bruton list
  1782 Wmsbg Land Tax: Betty Randolph 3 lots
  17 Feb. 1783 Estate auction
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  Peyton Randolph's estate was auctioned on February 19, 1783, following the death of his widow Betty Randolph. Thomas Jefferson bought his books. Among them were bound records dating to Virginia's earliest days that still are consulted by historians. Added to the collection at Monticello that Jefferson sold to the federal government years later, they became part of the core of the Library of Congress.
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  Peyton Randolph
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  For a later governor of Virginia see Peyton Randolph (governor).
  Peyton Randolph
  Born September 1721
  Williamsburg, Virginia
  Term September 5, 1774-October 22, 1774 and May, 1775-October 22, 1774
  Died October 22, 1775
  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  Peyton Randolph (September, 1721 – October 21, 1775) was the first President of the Continental Congress. He presided from September 5 to October 21, 1774, and then again for a few days in 1775 from May 10 to May 23. He was succeeded in office by Henry Middleton.
  Randolph was born in Virginia, at Tazewell Hall in Williamsburg. His parents were Sir John Randolph and Susannah Beverley. He was also the grandson of William Randolph. He attended the College of William and Mary, and later studied law at the Inns of Court in London, becoming a member of the bar in 1743. He then returned to Williamsburg and was appointed Attorney General of the Virginia colony the next year.
  He served several terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses, beginning in 1748. It was his dual roles as attorney general and as burgess that would lead to an extraordinary conflict of interest in 1751.
  
  The new governor, Robert Dinwiddie, had imposed a fee for the certification of land patents, which the House of Burgesses strongly objected to. The House selected Peyton Randolph to represent their cause to Crown authorities in London. In his role as attorney general, though, he was responsible for defending actions taken by the governor. Randolph left for London, over the objections of Governor Dinwiddie, and was replaced for a short time as attorney general. He was reinstated on his return at the behest of officials in London, who also recommended the Governor drop the new fee.
  
  In 1765 Randolph found himself at odds with a freshman burgess, Patrick Henry, over the matter of a response to the Stamp Act. The House appointed Randolph to draft objections to the act, but his more conservative plan was trumped when Henry obtained passage of five of his seven Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions. This was accomplished at a meeting of the House in which most of the members were absent, and over which Randolph was presiding in the absence of the Speaker.
  
  Randolph resigned as attorney general in 1766. As friction between Britain and the colonies progressed, he became more in favor of independence. In 1769 the House of Burgesses was dissolved by the Governor in response to its actions against the Townshend Act. Randolph had been Speaker at the time. Afterwards, he chaired meetings of a group of former House members at a Williamsburg tavern, which worked toward responses to the unwelcome tax measures imposed by the British government.
  
  Randolph was selected to chair in both the First and Second Continental Congresses, in large part due to his reputation for leadership while in the House of Burgesses. He did not, however, live to see independence for the nation he led; Randolph died in Philadelphia, and was buried at Christ's Church. He was later re-interred at the College of William and Mary chapel. His nephew, Edmund Randolph, became the first United States Attorney General. Randolph County, North Carolina, formed in 1779, and two US Navy ships called USS Randolph were named in his honor. His wife was the sister of Benjamin Harrison V. His first cousin once removed was President Thomas Jefferson. His first cousin twice removed was Supreme Court JusticeJohn Marshall.
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  RANDOLPH, Peyton, (uncle of Edmund Jenings Randolph), a Delegate from Virginia; born at Tazewell Hall, Williamsburg, Va., in September 1721; received his early education under private tutors; was graduated from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.; studied law at the Inner Temple, London, England, and was appointed King’s attorney for Virginia in 1748; member of the Virginia House of Burgesses 1764-1774 and served as speaker in 1766; chairman of the committee of correspondence in 1773; president of the Virginia conventions of 1774 and 1775; Member of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pa., September 5, 1774, and elected its President but resigned October 22, 1774, to attend the Virginia House of Burgesses; reelected to the Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia in May 1775 and again served as President; died in Philadelphia, Pa., October 22, 1775; interment beneath the chapel of the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.
  BibliographyReardon, John J. Peyton Randolph, 1721-1775: One Who Presided. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 1982. Richmond Whig & public advertiser (Richmond, Va. : 1833 : Semiweekly) 
  Title    Died- On Jan. 4, in his 70th year, Peyton Randolph, formerly of Virginia, but for the last 12 years a resident of Washington, living with the family of his son, Col. James Innes Randolph, leaving a widow, son and dau. (p. 4, c. 5) 
  Publication    Friday, January 4, 1853. 
  Gen. note    From the marriage and obituary citations compiled by Bernard J. Henley from Virginia newspapers on microfilm at the Library of Virginia. 
  Other Format    Available on microfilm (Library of Virginia Film 144). 
  RANDOLPH, Peyton, (1721 - 1775)
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  WILLIAMSBURG, VA - COURT - Williamsburg Lodge of Masons, 1717-1774
  ----¤¤¤----
  William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Papers, Vol. 1, No. 1,(Jul., 1892), pp. 1-33.
  Peyton Randolph lies buried(2) under the chapel floor of the College of
  William and Mary, but while Congress has erected monuments all over the land
  to second class generals and statesmen, no monument honors the resting place of
  the first of its presiding officers.  The Virginia Gazette however, contains a
  memorial column to his memory, which is worth reproducing here.
  
                          From the Virginia Gazette, 1775:
                                  S A C R E D
  
                                To the memory of
                          THE HON. PEYTON RANDOLPH, ESQ.
               Whose distinguished virtues in every station of life
  
                                 GAINED HIM
                  The Applause and Confidence of his Country.
               Descended from an ancient and respectable family,
                  He received a liberal and polite Education,
                          In William and Mary College.
                    Removing from thence to the Inner Temple,
               He was advanced to the degree of Barrister at Law,
                   And appointed Attorney General of Virginia.
  ____________________
     (1) Wynne's "Memoirs of the Bolling Family', p. 63.
     (2) Peyton Randolph's Will, proved in York County Court, Nov. 20, 1775,
  mentions his brother, John Randolph, the Attorney General, and his nephew,
  Edmund Randolph, and Edmund Randolph's sisters, Susanna and Arriana Randolph.
  Executors, John Randolph and Mr. James Cocke.
  Page 8.
  
                                IN THIS OFFICE
                 His regard to the Peace and Security of Society
                         His Humanity and Benevolence
              To the Criminal his Duty obliged him to prosecute,
                          Were not more Conspicuous
              Than his Learning and Integrity in his Profession.
               After an extensive Practice in the General Court,
                       He resigned his Law Employment,
              And being elected Speaker of the House of Burgesses
                   Discharged the duties of that high Office,
                    With such Ease, Dignity and Impartiality
           That he was frequently called to the Chair by the Unanimous
                   Voice of the Representatives of the People.
                    When the Measures of the British Ministry
             Compelled the American Colonies to unite their Councils
                              In General Congress
                  He was chosen First Delegate for this Colony
                          To that illustrious Assembly,
                    And was by them unanimously elected their
                                   PRESIDENT.
              While he was attending a third Time that Great Council,
                    A sudden stroke of the Palsy(1) deprived
                            America of a firm Patriot
                     His country of a wise and faithful Senator,
                     His acquaintances of an invaluable Friend,
                    His Family of the most affectionate Husband
                               And Kindest Master,
                       Upon the 22d day of October, 1775,
                         In the 54th year of his Age.
  
     Thus the existence of a Grand Master in 1773 is established(2), and I now
  proceed to the proof of the existence of a Grand Lodge, holding its meetings
  by virtue of a similar authority derived from Europe.
  

Details of Peyton's family with Elizabeth Harrison Randolph