Col. John Dandridge of Chestnut Grove (14 July 1700 – 31 August 1756) was a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

, planter, politician, and Clerk of New Kent County,

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 ...

from 1730 to 1756. He may be best known as the father of Bartholomew Dandridge and the first First Lady of the United States Martha Dandridge Washington. His grandson John Dandridge also served in the Virginia General Assembly.

Ancestry and early life

Born on 13 July 1700 in England (either London or Oxfordshire), Dandridge was the youngest son of John Dandridge of Oxfordshire (1655 - 1731) and his wife Bridget Dugdale (c. 1656 - 1731) who married in London at the church of St. Mary Magdalen in 1676. His paternal grandfather was Capt. William Dandridge I (1612 - 1693) and his great-grandfather was Col. Bartholomew Dandridge (1580 - 1638). His brother William Dandridge continued the family naval tradition, and visited the Virginia colony, where he became a planter and merchant, as well as married and became a member of the Governor's Council of State before resuming his career as an officer of the Royal Navy. His success in Virginia prompted John to emigrate to the new colony, where he also became a planter and the other founder of the Dandridge family of Virginia, one 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 ...

Marriage and children

Dandridge married Frances Orlando Jones, daughter of Orlando Jones and Martha Macon Jones West, on 22 July 1730 in New Kent County, Virginia. Frances bore eight children: *

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

(1731–1802) *John Dandridge III (1733–1749) *William Dandridge III (1734–1776) * Bartholomew Dandridge II (1737–1785), father of John Dandridge (delegate) *Anna Marie "Fanny" Dandridge Bassett (1739–1777) *Frances Dandridge (1744–1757) *Elizabeth Dandridge Aylett Henley (1749–1800) *Mary Dandridge (1752–1777) Dandridge also sexually abused an enslaved woman, resulting in a daughter, Ann Dandridge-Costin.

Career and residences

Following their marriage in 1730, John and Frances moved to their new home on the banks of the Pamunkey River in New Kent County, Virginia, Chestnut Grove. John Dandridge became Clerk for New Kent County and kept that position for the next 26 years. He was a prominent planter, and a colonel in his military district, as well as a

vestryman A vestryman is a member of his local church's vestry, or leading body.Anstice, Henry (1914). ''What Every Warden and Vestryman Should Know.'' Church literature press He is not a member of the clergy.Potter, Henry Codman (1890). ''The Offices of Wa ...

and

churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...

for St. Peter's Church. Along with Chestnut Grove in New Kent County, John Dandridge also owned a house in the colony's capital, Williamsburg, and visited there frequently. While not at sea as a merchant or royal naval officer, his older brother, William Dandridge (1689–1743), operated a plantation on the opposite bank of the river with his wife Unity West Dandridge, daughter of prominent landowner Capt. Nathaniel West and his wife Martha Woodard Macon. Their estate,

Elsing Green Elsing Green Plantation, a National Historic Landmark and wildlife refuge, rests upon nearly along the Pamunkey River in King William County, Virginia, a rural county on the western end of the state's middle peninsula, approximately northea ...

, was in King William County.

Later life

Dandridge died on 31 August 1756 at the age of 56 while visiting his niece and her husband, Alexander Spottswood, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Dandridge is interred at St. George's Episcopal Church burial ground in Fredericksburg. Chestnut Grove burned down in 1926, but its former site was only four miles from the location of the current county court house for New Kent.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dandridge, John 1700 births 1756 deaths American militia officers American planters British North American Anglicans County clerks in Virginia Dandridge family of Virginia English emigrants People from New Kent County, Virginia Virginia colonial people