Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/98

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

who presided over the councils of the Virginia revolutionists, when Botetourt was living, and was afterwards first president of the Conti- nental Congress. Botetourt was a bachelor, and so left no children.

Nelson, William, president of the council and acting governor (i 770-1771), was born in Vorktown, Virginia, in 171 1, son of Thomas Nelson (1667-1745), who came to America from Penrith in England, on the borders of .•Scotland, about 1690, and hence was called ■'Scotch Tom." This Thomas Nelson settled at Vorktown about 1705, where he became the leading merchant. He married Margaret Rcade, daughter of Robert Reade, son of Colo- nel George Reade, who in 1660 owned the site of the place. Thomas Nelson, a son, became secretary of state. William Nelson, another son and subject of this sketch, inherited a great deal of wealth, which he managed largely to increase by his extensive business as a merchant at Vorktown. He married Eliza- beth Burwell, daughter of Major Nathaniel P.urwell. He represented the county of York in the house of burgesses in 1742-44, and in 1745 was promoted to the council of state. He supported the cause of the colony against the stamp act and the revenue act, and as president of the council acted as governor of the colony from the death of Lord Botetourt, October 15, 1770. to the coming of the Earl of Dunmore in August, 1771. During this interval the opposition to the revenue taxes, which had been shorn down to a slight duty on tea, very sensibly declined, and the agitation in the colonies might have died out altogether had not the British ministry raised new issues. Nelson died at Vorktown, November 19, 1772. Me was father of General Thomas Nelson, who distinguished himself in the war of the Revolution and was also governor of the State.

Murray, John, fourth Earl of Dunmore, last colonial governor of Virginia (1771-1775), was born in 1732, eldest son of William Mur- ray, third Earl of Dunmore. and Catherine Nairne his wife. He was descended on his mother's side from the royal house of Stuart, succeeded to the peerage, and during 1761- 69 sat in the house of lords. In January, 1770, he was appointed governor of the colony of New York, and in July, 1771, governor of Virginia. He arrived in Williamsburg in Oc- tober, 1 77 1, where he was received with the usual courtesies and congratulations. The con- troversy with the mother country had lost its rancour after the repeal of all the taxes except that on tea, but the King, by instructions to his governors, managed to afifront all the colo- nies on different issues. The public sentiment in Virginia particularly condemned the order w'hich restrained the governors from approving any restriction of the slave trade, and when the assembly, pursuant to a summons from Dunmore met in February, 1772, a noble pro- test was adopted by that body. Dunmore pro- rogued the hous'^, and he did not again con- vene it till March, 1773. In the meantime, a government revenue cutter called the Gaspee, which had been rigorously enforcing the navi- gation laws in Narragansett Bay, w^as boarded at night by some disguised men and set on fire. The King was much exasperated, and he created a board of enquiry, w'ho were directed to find out the guilty parties and send them to England for trial. The issue was once more met by Virginia. The assembly adopted reso- lutions at its meeting in March, 1773, denounc- ing this attempt to ignore the right of a trial by a jury of the vicinage, and recommending a system of intercolonial committees, which proved the first direct step towards a general and permanent union. Immediately after this