Captain John Heth (1798 – April 30, 1842) was a Virginian

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

and businessman in the

Coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

industry.

Biography

Heth was born in 1798 at

Black Heath Black Heath was a house and coal mine located along the Old Buckingham Road in the present Midlothian area of Chesterfield County, Virginia. The Black Heath coal mining enterprises were operated by the Heth family between 1785 and 1844, when the ...

estate in

Chesterfield County, Virginia Chesterfield County is located just south of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the sout ...

. He was the son of Colonel Henry "Harry" Heth, who had fought in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and established himself in the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

business in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and Nancy Hare Heth. He was named for his father's brother, Lt. John Heth, who had also fought in the Revolutionary War and afterwards settled in the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

area.

War of 1812

John Heth served in the volunteer forces of Virginia as an officer in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, achieving the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. On January 15, 1815, he was captured with Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr., the commander of the U.S. frigate

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and taken to

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

with Decatur and his crew as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

. With two others, Captain Heth escaped from Bermuda in an open boat.

Coal Industry

After the war, Heth operated the Black Heath

pits near present-day

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

, a business inherited from his father, who died in 1821. Under his management, the mines expanded and eventually became the standard coal of the U.S. Navy. In 1832, he petitioned the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

to form the first coal mining corporation in the state, and succeeded, despite protests, the following year. After two serious fatal accidents from explosions in 1839 and 1844, the Black Heath pits were closed until 1938.

Family and children

Captain Heth married Margaret L. Pickett (1801-1850) of Richmond on May 15, 1822. Pickett was the sister of Robert Pickett, who, with his wife Mary, was the father of Confederate general

George Pickett George Edward Pickett (January 16,Military records cited by Eicher, p. 428, and Warner, p. 239, list January 28. The memorial that marks his gravesite in Hollywood Cemetery lists his birthday as January 25. Thclaims to have accessed the baptism ...

. They had 11 children between 1823 and 1842, including future

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Henry Heth Henry Heth ( not ) (December 16, 1825 – September 27, 1899) was a career United States Army officer who became a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He came to the notice of Robert E. Lee while serving briefly as his quartermast ...

, who was born at Black Heath in 1825.< Their 11 children included: *Margaret Helen Heth (1823-1855), married to Thomas Lynch Hamilton *Ann Eliza Heth (1824-1825) *Henry "Harry" Heth (1825-1899), married Harriet C. "Teny" Selden (1834-1907) and had three children *Lavinia Randolph Heth (1827-1865), married Julien Harrison (1827-1877) and had seven children *Elizabeth Chevallie Heth (1829-1904), married Thomas Vaden and had seven children *John Randolph Heth (1834-1890) *Catherine "Kitty" Heth (1834-1912), married John Cringan Maynard *Caroline Kemble Heth (1835-1859), married Walter K. Martin *Mary Ann Heth (1837-1920) *Beverley Stockton Heth (1839-1927) *Fanny Cadwallader Heth (1842-?)

Death

Heth died on April 30, 1842 at Norwood Plantation in

Powhatan County, Virginia Powhatan County () is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,033. Its county seat is Powhatan. Powhatan County is included in the Greater Richmond Region. The James River forms the cou ...

, and was buried there.

References

1798 births 1842 deaths People from Chesterfield County, Virginia American people of English descent United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of the War of 1812 War of 1812 prisoners of war held by the United Kingdom {{Virginia-bio-stub