Thomas Nelson junior

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Thomas Nelson junior (born December 26, 1738 in Yorktown , Colony of Virginia , United Kingdom , †  January 4, 1789 in Hanover County , Virginia ) was a British-American planter , soldier and politician. He represented Virginia in the Continental Congress and in 1781 was the governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia . Nelson is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States .

Life

Thomas Nelson Jr. was a grandson of Thomas Nelson, an emigrant from Scotland who was among the earliest settlers in Yorktown. His father, William Nelson, was also one of the leaders of the colony and briefly its governor. Nelson was born in Yorktown and, like many Virginians of the time, received his education in England. He attended Eton College before going to Trinity College . He graduated in 1760 and returned to Virginia the following year.

Thomas Nelson was first elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1761 . The following year he married Lucy Grymes. (Her maternal uncle was Peyton Randolph ; her paternal aunt was the mother of Henry Lee .) Their son Hugh Nelson (1768–1836) later became a member of the United States Congress .

As the War of Independence drew near in 1774 , Royal Governor John Murray dismissed the Burgesses. Nelson was a participant in the rebel congress that met in response. He supported movements to oppose the Boston Port Act . The following year he was an active voice in the reorganization of the militia outside royal control and loyalist influences. He was made Colonel of the 3rd Virginia Regiment, but turned down the post when he was elected to the Continental Congress a little later.

Nelson's first term in Congress lasted until 1777 when an attack of illness forced him to retire. Although he remained a member of Congress, he found the time to return home and play an important role in the Virginia's Constitutional Congress in the spring of 1776. He returned to Congress in time to sign the Declaration of Independence . He was the commanding general of the Lower Virginia Militia, succeeding Thomas Jefferson as governor of Virginia.

Thomas Nelson died in his son's house in Hanover County and is buried in the Yorktown Mercy Cemetery.

According to him, Nelson County in Kentucky and Nelson County named in Virginia.

literature

  • Emory Evans: Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. University of Virginia 1975; ISBN 0-87935-024-5 .
  • Emory Evans: Thomas Nelson and the Revolution in Virginia. Virginia's Bicentennial Commission 1976.
  • Nell Moore Lee: Patriot Above Profit: A Portrait of Thomas Nelson, Jr. Who Supported the American Revolution with His Purse and Sword. Rutledge Press 1988, ISBN 0-934395-68-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hugh Nelson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
personal data
SURNAME Nelson, Thomas Jr.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-American politician; Signatory of the US Declaration of Independence
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1738
PLACE OF BIRTH Yorktown , Virginia , UK
DATE OF DEATH January 4, 1789
Place of death Hanover County , Virginia