John Dandridge (born 1758 or 1762–1799) was a Virginia lawyer, planter and politician in
New Kent County, Virginia
New Kent County is a county in the eastern part the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 22,945. Its county seat is New Kent.
New Kent County is included in the Greater Richmond Region.
History
N ...
, which he represented in the
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...
for four terms.
Early and family life
He was the first son born to the former Mary Burbridge, the second wife of prominent lawyer, politician and planter
Bartholomew Dandridge
Bartholomew Dandridge (25 December 1737 – 18 April 1785) was an early American planter, lawyer and patriot. He represented New Kent County in the House of Burgesses, all five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions, and once in the Virginia House ...
. His name honors his paternal grandfather,
John Dandridge
Col. John Dandridge of Chestnut Grove (14 July 1700 – 31 August 1756) was a colonel, planter, politician, and Clerk of New Kent County, Virginia from 1730 to 1756. He may be best known as the father of Bartholomew Dandridge and the first Fi ...
, also a prominent planter and politician in the area (serving as New Kent County's Clerk for 26 years), who had died two years earlier. His uncle William Dandridge and his family inherited the main "
Chesnut Grove" plantation. His maternal grandfather Julius King Burbridge had acquired the nearby "Pamocra" plantation where this man lived most of his life (as did his paternal grandmother Frances Jones Dandridge from Chestnut Grove's sale in 1768 until her death in 1785), before moving to nearly
Prince George County
Prince George County is a county (United States), county located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 43,010. Its county seat is Prince George, Virginia ...
a few years before his death. As an adult this John Dandridge remembered spending considerable time at the nearby "Eltham" estate, the home of his aunt Anna Marie Dandridge Bassett (who died in 1777) and her husband,
Burwell Bassett Sr. Eltham was one of several plantations inherited by John Bassett, who briefly served in the Virginia House of Delegates a decade before this man. His sister Judith Bassett married Peter Lyons, who became a member of the Virginia Supreme Court. Complicating matters, this John Dandridge also had two distant cousins of the same name: one born 1756 (one of the four sons of Capt. Nathaniel West Dandridge who served in the House of Burgesses from Hanover County) and one the son of Francis Dandridge and who with his brother William Dandridge III inherited and sold the Huntington estate in New Kent County.
This John Dandridge had three younger brothers, none of whom married. The most notable of them may have been Bartholomew Dandridge Jr. who became the personal secretary to President
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
(whose wife, the former Martha Dandridge Custis, was their aunt) and then began a diplomatic career, dying as the American consul in Haiti in 1802. His brother William Dandridge worked many years as the cashier of the Bank of the United States in Richmond. Junius Burbridge Dandridge also died unmarried. Their three sisters all married. Martha Washington Dandridge to Scotland-born Dr. William Halyburton, Mary Dandridge to Mr. Willison, and Frances Dandridge to George Minge, brother of this man's wife. The family also included two elder half-sisters.
A member of the
First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsbur ...
, this John Dandridge received an education appropriate to his class, then read law with his father's encouragement.
He married Rebecca Jones Minge, daughter of David Minge of Charles City County. Their daughter Lucy would marry James Walker Murdaugh of Williamsburg, who would serve in the House of Delegates representing Norfolk a decade after this man's death.
Career
Dandridge began a legal career in New Kent County and adjacent Tidewater counties, including Charles City County. After his father's death in 1785, he inherited considerable property, including at least 33 enslaved adults and 31 younger enslaved people, 5 horses and 40 cattle, as well as assumed responsibility for his younger siblings.
New Kent County voters elected John Dandridge as one of their delegates (part-time) to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1788, though unlike his cousin (and future multi-term Congressman)
Burwell Basset Jr., he was not re-elected the following year. Dandridge again won election to represent New Kent County in the House of Delegates in 1792, and with his co-delegate John Chamberlayne won re-election twice.
One of the delicate cases Dandridge handled as a Virginia lawyer involved the estate of William Armistead, who had died in 1793, and had previously served as one of New Kent County's delegates. During the Revolutionary War, Armistead had acted for several years as commissary, helping to provision Virginia's troops, for which service he had been promised 35,000 lbs of tobacco. However, he had not been paid, because a fire had destroyed his books and records for 1780 and 1781, so he was unable to submit the necessary accounting. They had been at the New Kent County clerk's office, which burned down along with the nearby jail in 1783 during an escape attempt of John Price Posey, who had been steward of the White House plantation for the underage
George Washington Parke Custis
George Washington Parke Custis (April 30, 1781 – October 10, 1857) was an American plantation owner, antiquarian, author, and playwright. His father John Parke Custis was the stepson of George Washington. He and his sister Eleanor grew u ...
, and had been arrested and jailed there for stealing from the estate (rearrested and convicted on the testimony of his accomplice, Posey hanged in 1788). Dandridge submitted a petition to the Virginia General Assembly seeking compensation for his client, which succeeded in 1801 (after his death).
Death and legacy
Dandridge sold Pamocra to Lydall Apperson in 1797 and moved to Prince George County. This John Dandridge died in 1799. The special collections division of the College of William and Mary's Swem library holds his papers.
References
{{reflist
1762 births
1799 deaths
Virginia lawyers
Members of the Virginia House of Delegates
People from New Kent County, Virginia