Bob Juch's Kin

288. Capt. James Yancey ^{1, 2, 3, 4} was born 5 Nov 1704 in Hanover Co., VA. He died before Nov 1779 in Granville Co., NC. James married Elizabeth Thornton on 8 Jan 1735 in Hanover Co., VA. [Parents]

289. Elizabeth Thornton ^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5} was born ⁴ about 1716 in Hanover Co., VA. She died before 1777 in Granville Co., NC. [Parents]

290. John Graves II ¹ was born 19 Dec 1714 in King William Co., VA. He died 18 Jan 1792 in Caswell Co., NC. John married Elizabeth Herndon about 1748 in Spotsylvania Co., VA. [Parents]

291. Elizabeth Herndon ¹ was born about 1732 in Spotsylvania Co., VA. [Parents]

292. Charles Simmons was born about 1686. He died before 8 May 1738 in Baltimore Co., MD. Charles married Hannah Smith about 1711.

293. Hannah Smith was born about 1690 in Baltimore Co., MD. [Parents]

294. Alexander McComas was born 14 Sep 1692 in MD. He died before 4 Feb 1761 in Baltimore, MD. Alexander married Hannah Whitacre on 23 Aug 1728 in MD. [Parents]

295. Hannah Whitacre was born 1706 in Baltimore, MD. She died about 1792. [Parents]

296. Jean Jacques Flournoy ¹ was born 17 Nov 1686 in Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland and was christened 20 Nov 1686 in Church Madeleine, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. He died 23 Mar 1739/1740 in Henrico Co., VA. Jean married Mary Elizabeth Williams on 23 Jun 1720 in Williamsburg, York Co., VA. [Parents]

297. Mary Elizabeth Williams ¹ was born 25 Dec 1695 in Gloucester Co., VA. She died 25 Mar 1740 in Henrico Co., VA. [Parents]

298. John Harris ^{1, 2} was born about 1700 in Henrico Co., VA. He died May 1751 in Cumberland Co., VA. John married ² Ursula Goode about 1728 in Henrico Co., VA.

John signed a will 28 Mar 1749. He had a will probated May 1751 in Cumberland Co., VA. [Parents]

John Harris, son of Thomas Harris and Mary Jefferson, married c.1728 in Henrico County, Virginia to Ursula Jordan. They lived in Goochland County, Virginia the part that was south of the James River when it broke off Henrico. In King William Parish this was right in the middle of the Huguenot settlement around Manikin and early records lists him sometimes as John or sometimes as Jean depending on who made the list. King William parish had services in both French and English. He and his brother in law Captain Francis James were both listed as house carpenters at times. John and Ursula had A. Elizabeth Harris b 31 Dec 1729 in Goochland County, Virginia and died 19 May 1791 her will is in book 1 Powhatan County, Virginia. She married in April 1748 to Samuel Flournoy son of the Huguenot immigrant John James Flournoy. B. John Harris b 1732 in Goochland County, Virginia his will was proved Nov 1800 in Powhatan County, Virginia see will book 1. He married 29 August 1754 (see Douglas Register) to Anne Obedience Turpin. Most of their records are in Cumberland before Powhatan County, broke off. Ursula died shortly after John was born and Sarah Harris daughter of Thomas Harris and Mary Jefferson - John's sister came to live with them and raise the children. John accumulated much land and eventually was known as Gent rather than house carpenter the Gent probably referring to the offices he held in the county. He did have a reputed son Jesse Harris born 14 June 1741 to Elizabeth Robards in King William parish the godfather was John Bernard and Jean Chastain. the Godmother Charlotte Judith Chastain. Elizabeth Robards was put out of the parish. John Harris will was written 28 March 1749 and proved May 1751 in Cumberland County, Virginia His executors were brothers James Harris, Benjamin Harris and William Harris witnessed by Bennet Goode (his nephew) and Charles Clark.

Will abstract to brother Benjamin Harris 45 acres from an escheat patent of Jacob Maton to brother William Harris 60 acres bought of Susannah Carnier, 45 acres bought of Thomas Richardson and 22 acres got of Henry Trent To James Mosby 75 acres on Fluvanna River in Albemarle County, Virginia to son John Harris not 21 my land lying on Jones Creek adjacent land of Robert Goode and Captain Thomas Porter. To my daughter Elizabeth Flournoy 250 L also slaves, Phil, Dicey and Hannah. To my granddaughter Ursula Flournoy a negro Magdelen To bro James Harris to sister Sarah Harris inventory mentions slaves, Bob, George, Chloe and her child Jane. Phyliss and her child Sarah. Dick, Pompey, James (butler) Nell, Phil, boy Diley girl Hanah, Debra and her child.

299. Ursula Goode ¹ was born about 1706 in Virginia. She died about 1734 in Virginia. [Parents]

300. John Cannon ^{1, 2} was born about 1709 in VA. He died 21 May 1757. John married ² Martha Woodson about 1732 in Goochland Co., VA. [Parents]

301. Martha Woodson ¹ was born about 1716 in Goochland Co., VA. She died ² after 1783. [Parents]

302. Col. Littleberry C. Mosby ^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11} was born ¹ 29 Jan 1728/1729 in New Kent Co., VA. He died ¹ 14 Jan 1809 in Font Hill, Powhatan Co., VA. Littleberry married Elizabeth Netherland on 13 Aug 1748 in Goochland Co., VA.

Littleberry served in the military ¹² Captain 2d Georgia, prisoner at Savannah, 18th October 1779; exchanged December 1779 from 23 Jul 1776 to Dec 1779 in GA. He served in the military ¹² Colonel Virginia Militia From 1780 to 1782 in VA. He served in the military ¹² Colonel Virginia Militia From 1780 to 1782 in VA. [Parents]

303. Elizabeth Netherland ^{1, 2} was born 4 Oct 1726 in New Kent Co., VA. She died Aug 1769 in VA. [Parents]

306. Francisco Felix de Corella ¹ married Josefa Andrea Escalante.

307. Josefa Andrea Escalante ¹.

384. William Perkins Jr. ¹ was born about 1673 in New Kent Co., VA and was christened ² 25 Aug 1706 in St Peters Par., New Kent Co., VA. He died before 18 Mar 1755 in St Peters Par., New Kent Co., VA. William married Mary Otey on 1736 in of New Kent Co., VA. [Parents]

385. Mary Otey ^{1, 2} was born ¹ 17 Jul 1715 in St Peters Par., New Kent Co., VA. [Parents]

386. Archelaus Mitchell ^{1, 2, 3, 4} was born ⁵ 9 Feb 1703 in St Peters Par., New Kent Co., VA. He married Ann Reed about 1729 in St Peters Par., New Kent Co., VA. [Parents]

387. Ann Reed ^{1, 2} was born about 1707 in of New Kent Co., VA.

390. Josias Payne ^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11} was born 30 Oct 1705 in St James Northam Par., Goochland Co., VA. He died ¹² 17 Dec 1785 in Pittsylvania Co., VA. Josias married Ann Fleming on 1732 in Goochland Co., VA.

Josias signed a will ¹³ 12 Jan 1785 in Pittsylvania Co., VA. He had a will probated ¹⁴ 19 Dec 1785 in Pittsylvania Co., VA. [Parents]

land transfer from father George Payne, 3/14/1734 in Goochland Co., land records, book 2 page 105

391. Ann Fleming ¹ was born about 1709 in St Peters Par., New Kent Co., VA. She died ² after May 1778 in Goochland Co., VA. [Parents]

392. Col. Peter Fontaine Jr. ^{1, 2} was born 15 Sep 1724 in "Beaverdam", Hanover Co., VA. He died in "Rock Castle", Hanover Co., VA. Peter married ³ Elizabeth Louise Winston on 20 Apr 1749 in Hanover Co., VA.

Peter resided 1759 in "Rock Castle", Hanover Co., VA. [Parents]

393. Elizabeth Louise Winston ¹ was born 17 Dec 1734 in Hanover Co., VA. She died about 1772 in "Beaverdam", Hanover Co., VA. [Parents]

394. Gov. Patrick Henry [scrapbook] ^{1, 2} was born 29 May 1736 in Studley, Hanover Co., VA. He died 6 Jun 1799 in "Red Hill", Charlotte Co., VA and was buried in "Red Hill", Charlotte Co., VA. Patrick married Sarah Shelton on Oct 1754 in Studley, Hanover, VA.

Patrick resided Jun 1779 in Henry Co., VA. [Parents]

Patrick Henry was the most celebrated orator of the American Revolution. He originally tried being both a storekeeper and a farmer, but failing at both he became a lawyer and was admitted to the Va. bar in 1760. He was twice governor of Va., was a member of the House of Burgesses, champion of independence, and is remembered mainly for his famous speech before a meeting of the Va. assembly in Richmond on March 23, 1775. He called on the colonists to arm themselves with the words: "Give me liberty, or give me death". He was a strong advocate of states rights.

1736 - May 29 - Born at Studley in Hanover County.
1754 - Married Sarah Shelton at Rural Plains.
1760 - Admitted to the bar and started his practice.
1763 - Gave the famous "Parson's Cause" speech.
1765 - May 20 - First seated in the House of Burgesses. Continued to serve until 1774.
1765 - May 29 - Famous "Stamp Act" speech in the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg.
1774 - 1775 - Virginia's representative to Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
1775 - Death of Sarah Shelton at Scotchtown.
1775 - March 23 - "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" speech at St. John's Church in Richmond.
1776 - 1779 - First governor of Virginia for 3 one year terms.
1777 - October 9 - Married Dorothea Dandridge, grand-daughter of Governor Alexander Spotswood.
1780 - 1784 - Member of the House of Delegates representing Hanover County.
1784 - 1786 - Governor of Virginia for two one year terms.
1794 - Moved to Red Hill in Charlotte County.
1795 - Refused offer from President Washington to serve as Secretary of State.
1796 - Refused an offer from President Washington to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
1796 - Refused an offer from the General Assembly to serve as Governor.
1799 - Refused an offer from President Adams to serve on the Mission to France.
1799 - March 4 - Patrick Henry's last public appearance.
1799 - Elected to the House of Delegates.
1799 - June 6 - Died and was buried at Red Hill, Charlotte County.

An Historical Sketch of Scotchtown, Home of Patrick Henry 1771-1777

"Patrick Henry was born in 1736 at Studley in the eastern end of Hanover County. At age eighteen he married Sarah Shelton of nearby Rural Plains, Va. She was the daughter of John and Eleanor Parks Shelton, owner of Hanover Tavern which was, and still is, located across the road from Hanover Courthouse."

The pamphlet then writes about their home in Scotchtown and says:

"There are a number of portraits in the mansion. Among the most interesting are four primitives, done by unknown artists, of relatives of Patrick Henry's first wife, Sarah Shelton. They are likenesses of Major Thomas Shelton, a first cousin of Sarah Shelton, who served with Lafayette in the Revolution; Sarah Miller Shelton, Major Shelton's third wife; Marry Massie Shelton, daughter of Major Shelton and his first wife, Cecelia Dabney; and Joseph Shelton, who served as a scout with Lafayette, a bachelor brother of Major Shelton."

History of the American Nation by William J. Jackman (9 Volumes), Volume 8, The Builders of the Republic

Who in contemplating a chrysalis can descry beneath its uncouth exterior, the matchless beauty of the butterfly, or who seeing an idle poet, dreamer and musician, can conceive of his evolving into one of the great orators and statesmen of the world? The mysteries of physical life are insignificant beside those which belong to the development of the human soul. The dreamer who became a statesman, the idle fiddler who made himself the peer of Demosthenes, was Patrick Henry, a Virginian of Scotch and English ancestry.

His parents were fairly well to do. His home was marked by comfort, intelligence and affection. Early in boyhood he went to school, where he learned the three R's and displayed a rare talent for indolence and geniality. At the age of ten he entered the grammar school kept by his own father, and began the classical education of that time. Despite parental advice, entreaty and punishment, the youth was incorrigibly idle. He was an affectionate and lovable boy, who had no faults excepting that he would not study. In the morning, he was the soul of courtesy, and did everything a boy could do to make himself useful to father, mother, brothers and sisters, but when the school-hour arrived, he had invariably vanished. Sometimes it was shooting, sometimes fishing, and sometimes wild flowers, which engrossed his day. Mischief had no charm for him, neither did he desire the companionship of playmates. According to his own family, he simply loved idleness for its own sake. Up to the attainment of manhood's estate he was an insignificant member of the community, if not a nonentity. His features, though good, were coarse and sunburned; his manners awkward; his conversation plain and uninteresting. To all who knew him, he seemed a creature whom nature intended for a solitary denizen of the wilderness, scarcely any higher than the wild animals among which he loved to live rather than a leader among men.

Parental love is very patient, but has its limits. When his son was fifteen, the father gave him up as hopeless, so far as mentality was concerned, and put him to work as an errand boy in a country store. Here he displayed a dull slowness worthy of the proverbial district telegraph messenger. Nevertheless, though apathetic and lazy to the last degree, he was honest, truthful and courteous.

His slowness must have been phenomenal, because it disgusted the easygoing country store-keeper. There was no other store to go to, and so his father started him and his brother William in business on a very small scale. The young firm must have been a source of infinite merriment to the neighbors in Studley, Va. William was not quite so indolent as Patrick, but on the other hand he was wild and dissipated. The store experiment lasted one year. Its chief use to Henry was that it gave him leisure, which he devoted to his violin and to reading. The young man's moral sense prevented his leaving the counter to go fishing and shooting, and to kill time he began the use of books. This at the beginning was a lazy man's dernier resort. To his surprise he found that he enjoyed reading and ere long he had become more or legs of a bookworm.

While head over heels in debt, and with no means of livelihood, he fell in love with Miss Sarah Shelton, the pretty daughter of a poor farmer in the neighborhood. With utter disregard of all prudence, the young woman, who appeared to be as improvident as himself, was married to him when he was eighteen. The families of the happy pair united in settling them on a small farm. Here the future orator digged and delved in ragged clothes, depending at times upon the kitchen of either mother or mother-in-law for his next meal. But it never disturbed the serenity of his soul or his wife's. When they had only corn meal and smoked bacon at their house, the wife would cook while Henry read poetry to her or played the violin. When the meal was insufficient, he would eke it out with a kiss and an embrace. His sunny nature made his poor hovel a little heaven for its inmates. Two years he devoted to husbandry, and its only reward were a very sunburned face and calloused hands as hard as the shovel-handle which they daily plied.

Again he tried shop-keeping, and again ruin was the result of his efforts. He had no brother as partner to worry him, and so had more time for himself. He now added the flute to the violin, and when he was too poor to afford a candle in the night time would play in the dark, making believe that he was serenading his wife. Another new joy was to lock up the store and take her out with him to the river and teach her how to fish. But through his playfulness and nonsense, a serious strain was making itself manifest. Knowledge began to appeal to him. Realizing his utter ignorance, he began to study the great master works of antiquity. Incidentally he became a graceful and accomplished dancer. Jefferson, who met him at this period, speaks of him pleasantly, and sums him up by saying that "his passion was music, dancing and pleasantry."

Having failed in every calling he had tried, Henry now determined to take up one which is supposed to demand the hardest study of all. He announced his determination to study law. It made no difference to him that he was penniless, and that several years of hard reading ought to precede admission to the bar. To him life was a royal comedy, and the legal profession a delightful joke. He borrowed a copy of Coke upon Littleton, and a few volumes of statutes, which he read assiduously for six weeks. With smiling imperturbability, he presented himself for examination. But for his delightful personality, he would have been rejected forthwith. But even then he seems to have possessed a personal magnetism that women's hearts. With two of the examiners he had no trouble. They signed his certificate, which under the court rule of that day admitted him to the bar, but this did not satisfy him. He wanted that of the gravest and severest of the examiners, a Mr. Randolph. The latter was a courtly advocate, whose manners, wig, costume, buckled shoes and silk stockings were models of the highest elegance. His feelings may be imagined, when Henry appeared before him. The would-be lawyer's hair was a mere shock; his hands and face were red like those of a farm laborer; his clothes seedy and even soiled, and his manners were to put it mildly breezy in the extreme.

The legal examination passed into a discussion, where, to the elder man's surprise, Henry proved himself a brilliant thinker and fascinating talker. So far as it is known this was the first exhibition of that intellectual and passionate eloquence which were to make their owner immortal. Randolph signed the certificate, and from that time on was an admirer of the extraordinary young lawyer. He was thus launched at the bar, knowing probably less of law and practice than any office boy in Virginia. But something within the man had changed. His constitutional indolence had vanished. He studied, attended to what business he had, and in the evening aided his father-in-law in the conduct of the tavern, which the latter owned. In the tap room of the establishment he soon was conspicuous for two reasons, the one was his abstemiousness from drinking, and the other his fascination as a conversationalist.

In 1763, Henry, who was unknown outside of Hanover, where he was practicing law, was retained in what is known as, "The Parson Cause" or the "Tobacco Tithing Case." Far back in the seventeenth century a law had been passed imposing a tax upon the community whereby the taxpayers of each parish were obliged to supply the parish minister with an annual stipend of sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco. The law was passed at the time when tobacco was a currency and money was exceedingly scarce. With the progress of the colony, the tax had been scaled and converted into a pecuniary impost upon the basis of two pence a pound. When in 1755, there was a very bad harvest and tobacco advanced in price, the legislature passed a law whereby a planter had the legal option between delivering the leaf or paying cash at two pence a pound. In 1758 a similar law was passed, but this one did not receive the royal assent. The price of the tobacco soon rose thereafter more than three hundred percent. The clergy, desirous of getting the full benefit of the rise in prices, brought suit, aid Henry was retained in a small case upon the opposite side. When he began the defense he was an obscure and even unknown solicitor; yet the astonishing brilliancy of his work, and the wonderful eloquence of his speech, not alone won what was considered a hopeless case, but also made him famous throughout the Commonwealth. In the morning he had been a poor man burdened with debt. When the case was closed he received enough retainers to pay off most of his debts and support him for a year. Before the month had gone by he had been engaged in all the tobacco-tax cases throughout Virginia.

His eloquence was and even is today a mystery. His education had amounted to almost nothing, and his little reading had been legal and historical. Prior to that time his voice had been poor, his gesture awkward, and his carriage ungraceful. No one had ever trained him in speaking, nor had he ever had an opportunity to study the art of the debater or the elocutionist. Yet in this old court house, without a warning, he had suddenly displayed the best qualities of a dozen schools of speaking, using humor, sentiment, pathos, satire, dramatic climax, logic, antithesis, simile, metaphor, apostrophe, involved and terrific parallels and diamond-cut epigrams. The lazy fiddler, the jocular good-fellow, the serene shopkeeper and the poor practitioner, had fallen away from the man, like so many invisible garments, and there had appeared the greatest orator Virginia had ever known. It was more than a seven days' wonder. It seemed almost a miracle. There was an element too in his speech which appealed to all hearts. The necessities of the suit brought out a defense of the people against the Throne, and an advocacy of popular against feudal, royal and special rights and privileges.

Virginia had at that time a caste system based upon primogeniture and entail, which had already brought about social inequality and unpleasant distinctions. There was a landed aristocracy and an ecclesiastical aristocracy, both small and exclusive, and monopolizing largely the offices and honors of the colony. Below these were various classes who numerically were nine-tenths of the population. Probably Henry did not have these facts in his mind when he spoke, but they must have colored his thought and increased the earnestness and intensity with which he defended what he was pleased to term the "majesty of the people." His strong language touched the hearts of the hearers in more ways than one. Directly it referred merely to the case at issue; indirectly it applied to nine out of every ten men in that opulent colony.

Now that fortune had begun to favor him he avoided the goddess as before. His prosperity enabled him to buy better guns and fishing rods, to own a horse and to spend two or three days in the woods, where before he had spent an afternoon. In May, 1765, Henry was elected to the House of Burgesses. This body contained many men of the highest distinction, including John Robinson, Attorney-General Peyton Randolph, Richard Bland, Edmund Pendleton, George Wythe and Richard Henry Lee. His entrance into political life was not cordially received by the aristocratic leaders of the time. His dress was plain almost to poverty; he despised the wigs, powder, patches and luxurious raiment so common in those days, and either from deliberate purpose or from old habit, employed both the slang and the vulgar pronunciation of his district. These incurred the ridicule and contempt of the aristocracy.

Yet they admired his superb brain power and eloquence. Admiration was succeeded by fear. They realized that he represented the common people, who were a great majority, and that he possessed the ability to weld them into a compact body and wrest from the old time leaders the reins of government. On the other hand the people who had always admired him were beginning to love him. They realized in a vague way that his faults were their faults; his improvidence their improvidence; his shiftless habits their shiftless habits, and his folly their folly. They saw clearly that he owned what they did not, an intellect so powerful, and an eloquence so potent, as to make all other leaders seem small beside him in the arena.

Between these antagonistic forces a conflict was inevitable, and it came soon after his election and when he was just twenty-nine years of age. The Stamp Act had been passed and the English Colonies were excitedly discussing the measure. In Virginia the aristocratic leaders refused to commit themselves, many of them favoring it, but all of them preserving a discreet silence. Henry waited to see if some older member would introduce the matter, and finding that none had either the ability or courage to take up the task, became himself the leader of the people. He drew a set of five resolutions, in which he took strong ground for freedom, holding that the settlers of Virginia had brought to the New World the privileges, franchises and immunities they had enjoyed at home; that the Charters of King James had practically made invested rights; that only the people could tax themselves; that Parliament had no right to tax the people; that only the Assembly of the Colony had the right to tax, and that any attempt by the British Crown to usurp this right was a blow at freedom.

The resolutions fairly startled the staid House of Burgesses. The old leaders could hardly trust their ears. They had believed up to that time that they held the initiative in the legislature, and that beyond this the body was loyal and obedient to the king. The resolutions themselves were revolutionary; they came from the youngest member of the House, with whom they were not on speaking terms, and more monstrous still, they emanated from a man who represented the mob. The reception accorded the reading showed them that there was danger in the air. With gallantry and trained skill they took up the gauntlet which Henry had thrown down, fought him in a debate whose dignity and force had never been surpassed in the history of the Commonwealth. Randolph, Bland, Pendleton, Wythe, and all the aristocrats opposed the resolutions to the best of their ability. But their argument proved unsuccessful against Henry's impetuous eloquence. When it came to a vote all five resolutions were carried, the last by a majority of one.

Henry's speech and the action of the legislature were soon known to every patriot in the Thirteen Colonies. The news strengthened the weak and timid and revived those of fainting hearts. It discouraged the Tories everywhere, and alarmed the aristocratic leaders, more especially of Virginia. Above all it made Patrick Henry the idol of the common people, who from that time on for thirty years viewed him as their own personal representative.

Law and politics saw Henry's sphere enlarge steadily. He became the great criminal lawyer of the State, and the popular leader of the House of Burgesses. The increasing tyranny of the British government was slowly antagonizing the old aristocratic leaders and driving them into the arms of Henry's party. New men were coming into power and they belonged to the latter's school of thought This is illustrated by an incident in the legislature of 1773, when Dabney Carr, a correspondent of Samuel Adams, moved the appointment of a committee of correspondence with the other Colonies for the protection and welfare of the people. It consisted of eleven persons, Randolph, Bland, Lee, Pendleton, Henry, Carr, Jefferson, Cary, Digges, Harrison, and Nicholas. The motion was carried, and as if to show how times had changed the two great voices raised in favor were those of Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee.

Events began to move swiftly. On May 24, 1774, the House of Burgesses passed an order setting aside the first day of June as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer on account of the hostile invasion of the City of Boston by an armed force. The next day Governor Dunmore dissolved the House, whereupon the members withdrew to the Raleigh Tavern, where they organized an association and passed resolutions denouncing the port bill and other acts of Parliament, declaring that an attack upon one Colony was an attack upon all, and recommending the calling of a "general Congress to meet annually and to deliberate on those general measures which the united interests of America may from time to time require."

Political machinery was set moving in all the counties which elected delegates to meet in Williamsburg the first of August and there appoint deputies to the General Congress. The Williamsburg meeting came off enthusiastically, and the delegates appointed as deputies to Congress, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton.

At the First Continental Congress Henry pronounced one of the great orations of the world. It was in this body that his limitations became painfully manifest. He was by all odds the great speaker of that assemblage, but he was one of its poorest writers and most inefficient committeemen.

Congress adjourned in October, and Henry returned to Virginia. The following March the convention of delegates from the Virginia counties and corporations met for the second time. Everybody was conscious of the struggle going on, and all had come prepared to play his part in the political drama now unfolding The proceedings began very mildly as had been desired, and perhaps planned by the Royalists and the peace-at-any-price advocates. Things seemed to be going in a laissez-faire way when Henry rose and moved the famous resolutions, recommending militia to take the place of the British standing army and garrisons for the securing of American rights and liberties, and urging that the Colony be put into a state of defense and a committee appointed to carry this into action. The proposition was almost tantamount to a declaration of war. It was the boldest act which had yet been taken on the American Continent. It was a bugle blast to the bold and a menace to the Crown. It aroused the antagonism of the Tories, and through what they regarded as impolicy the opposition of such patriots as Bland, Harrison and Pendleton. There was a fierce debate in which every argument was employed against the resolutions, and when the opponents of the measure had finished it looked as if Virginia would continue to bear the ills she had, rather than fly to others that she knew not of. All eyes were now turned to Henry, who rose, calm, collected, but so intensely earnest that the suspense manifested by all present became painful. As he drew himself back to begin speaking, the voices of children playing in the street could be heard, and the notes of birds in the eaves of the building. Then from his lips came one of the greatest speeches he had ever delivered, and one of the most masterly the world has ever heard. At last he reached the peroration.

"It is vain, Sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry peace, peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God -- I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."

As he closed there was a sigh, a gasp, but no applause. The speech was the mausoleum of the opposition. The resolutions were adopted, and the Committee of twelve appointed, the Chairman being Patrick Henry, and his lieutenants, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison and Edmund Pendleton. The plan for arming the colony was drawn and adopted.

Governor Dunmore of Virginia now followed the example of Governor Gage of
MA, seizing twenty barrels of gunpowder in the city of Williamsburg, which he placed on board of an armed schooner. Everybody was at sea and knew not what to do, everybody excepting Patrick Henry. At his own expense, he sent men on horseback to the members of the Hanover Independent Company, asking them to meet him in arms at Newcastle on May 2nd, on business of the highest importance to American liberty. He also invited the County Committee and every patriot he knew within twenty-five miles. They met him and he spoke as only Henry could speak. The meeting went wild. Captain Meredith of the Company resigned his commission in Henry's favor, who was immediately and unanimously elected commander of the Volunteers. Captain Henry, for such he was now, immediately marched upon Williamsburg. As he and his soldiers advanced armed men from every quarter on foot and on horseback joined the ranks. Ere the destination was reached at least five thousand riflemen were together. Many patriots frightened at Henry's boldness begged him to desist, but in vain. The Governor fumed and fulminated, but at the last hour his courage weakened and he caused a messenger to meet Captain Henry with a bill of exchange for the amount of the powder at Henry's own valuation. Henry accepted the bill and gave the following extraordinary receipt:

"Received from the Hon. Richard Corbin, Esq., his Majesty's Receiver General 3301 as a compensation for his gunpowder lately taken out of the public magazine by the governor's order; which money I promise to convey to the Virginia delegates at the General Congress to be under their direction, laid out in gunpowder for the Colony's use, and to be stored as they shall direct, until the next Colony convention, or General Assembly, unless it shall be necessary, in the meantime to use the same in defense of the Colony. It is agreed that in case the next convention shall determine that any part of the said money ought to be returned to His Majesty's said Receiver General that the same shall be done accordingly."

In July, 1775, the Colonial convention met at Richmond and began the organization of its army. To Henry, they paid the graceful compliment of electing him Colonel of the First regiment and Commander of all the forces raised and to be raised for the Colony.

In 1776, Virginia elected Henry its first Governor. There was but one ballot, he receiving sixty out of one hundred and six votes. In 1778, he was reelected unanimously. In 1779 he was again elected, and although he might have held the office on excellent technical grounds, he refused to serve, as in his belief the Constitution made him ineligible for another term.

1780 saw him back in the Assembly hard at work for the cause of the Colonies. After the Revolution he again became Governor of his State for two terms, and was elected for a third, but declined to serve.

In 1794, he was made United States Senator, where he served with his usual distinction. Honors were offered to him lavishly, but were not accepted on account of the conscientious scruples in regard to all political measures. Washington proffered to him the Secretaryship of State, and afterwards the Chief Justiceship, and Adams nominated him as Special Minister to France.

In middle life, after the death of his first wife, he married Dorothea Spotswood Dandridge. By the former there were six and by the latter nine children.

Patrick Henry's place in American history is that of a personality of transcendent influence. Of the individuals who brought about the war of the Revolution, he and Samuel Adams may be regarded as the leaders. In fiery patriotism, and absolute disregard for consequences, he was a Prince Rupert among the Builders of the Republic. No statesman, politician nor executive was he, but a poet, a hero, and an orator. The United States, through its system of representative government, has developed oratory to a greater degree than any country of the world, and has produced probably more men of eloquence than any other nation. In the long roll of eminent American speakers, two tower over all the rest, Patrick Henry in the eighteenth and Daniel Webster in the nineteenth century. So long as eloquence moves the human heart, and patriotism appeals to the nobler qualities of the human character, just that long will Patrick Henry wear the laurels of immortality.

395. Sarah Shelton "Sallie" ^{1, 2} was born 1738 in Rural Plains, Hanover Co., VA. She died Apr 1775 in Scotchtown, Hanover Co., VA. [Parents]

402. John Gordon was born before 1710 in Prince William Co., VA. He died 1756 in South Carolina. John married Ruth.

403. Ruth was born about 1719. She died about 1789 in South Carolina.

404. Christian Aaron Keicher.

This name is entirely speculative.