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 of ...

William Byrd III (September 6, 1728January 1 or January 2, 1777) was an American planter, politician and military officer who was a member of the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

Early life

He was son of

William Byrd II William Byrd II (March 28, 1674August 26, 1744) was an American planter, lawyer, surveyor, author, and a man of letters. Born in Colonial Virginia, he was educated in London, where he practiced law. Upon his father's death, he returned to Virgi ...

and

Maria Taylor Byrd Maria Taylor Byrd (November 10, 1698 – ) was a prominent colonial woman who managed her and her husband William Byrd II's Westover Plantation during his periods of absence. During their lifetimes, William Byrd III and Maria Taylor Byrd's holdin ...

, and the grandson of

William Byrd I William Byrd I (1652 – December 4, 1704) was an English-born Virginia colonist and politician. He came from Shadwell, London where his father John Bird (c. 1620–1677) was a goldsmith. His family's ancestral roots were in Cheshire. Personal li ...

Career

Byrd inherited his family's estate of approximately 179,000 acres of land in Virginia and continued their planter prestige as a member of the

Virginia House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

. He chose to fight in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the s ...

rather than spend much time in Richmond. In 1756 he was colonel of the Second

Virginia Regiment The Virginia Regiment was formed in 1754 by Virginia's Royal Governor Robert Dinwiddie, as a provincial corps. The regiment served in the French and Indian War, with members participating in actions at Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity in 1754, ...

. William Byrd III had a reputation as a notorious gambler. He initiated what was said to have been the first major horse race in the New World, involving fellow Virginia planters

John Tayloe II Colonel John Tayloe II (28 May 172118 April 1779) was a planter and politician, among the richest planters in colonial Virginia. He served in public office including the Virginia Governor's Council, also known as the Virginia Council of State. ...

, Francis Thornton, and

Samuel Ogle Samuel Ogle (c. 1694 – 3 May 1752) was the 16th, 18th and 20th Proprietary Governor of Maryland from 1731 to 1732, 1733 to 1742, and 1746/1747 to 1752. Background The Ogle family was quite prominent for many centuries in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, ...

& Benjamin Tasker Jr. of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to it ...

. After he squandered the Byrd fortune on building a magnificent mansion at

Westover Plantation Westover Plantation is a historic colonial tidewater plantation located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. Established in c. 1730–1750, it is the homestead of the Byrd family of Virginia. State Route 5, a ...

, gambling, and bad investments, Byrd parceled up much of the land he had inherited from his father and sold it off to raise money to pay his debts. He also sold the enslaved African laborers who had worked on his estate. Although his sale of land and slaves generated a huge sum it still was not enough to pay off his creditors. Later, Byrd resorted to a lottery, the prizes of which would come from his estate, Belvidere, at the falls of the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesape ...

. However the lottery failed to generate sufficient revenue.

Marriage and family

In 1748, Byrd married Elizabeth Carter, daughter of

Robert Carter I Robert "King" Carter (4 August 1663 – 4 August 1732) was a merchant, planter and powerful politician in colonial Virginia. Born in Lancaster County, Carter eventually became one of the richest men in the Thirteen Colonies. As President of t ...

, who had recently died. and had been the colony's richest man as well as served in the House of Burgesses and then the colony's Governor's Council (eventually becoming its president by seniority). Together they had five children, 4 sons and 1 daughter. Byrd had repudiated Carter before her death in 1760, which is considered a probable suicide. Byrd remarried, and fathered ten more by his second wife, Mary Willing, daughter of Charles Willing of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. Despondent and nearly broke, Byrd committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and sub ...

on January 1 or 2, 1777. He was buried in the cemetery at the old

Westover Church Westover Church is a historic church located west of Charles City off Virginia State Route 5 in Charles City, Virginia, United States. It was built in 1731 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Theodorick Bland of Wes ...

. The 10 children of his second marriage (to Mary Willing) were: * Maria Horsmanden Byrd * Evelyn Taylor Byrd * Charles Willing Byrd (died as child) * Abby Byrd * Anne Willing Byrd * William Boyd Byrd *

Charles Willing Byrd Charles Willing Byrd (July 26, 1770 – August 25, 1828) was Secretary of the Northwest Territory, acting Governor of the Northwest Territory and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Ohio. Edu ...

* Dorothy Byrd (died as child) * Jane Byrd * Richard Willing Byrd

References

External links

William Byrd III
at History.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrd, William III 1728 births 1777 deaths 18th-century American politicians 18th-century suicides American people of English descent American planters American politicians who committed suicide American racehorse owners and breeders American slave owners British America army officers Burials in Virginia

William Byrd III Colonel William Byrd III (September 6, 1728January 1 or January 2, 1777) was an American planter, politician and military officer who was a member of the House of Burgesses. Early life He was son of William Byrd II and Maria Taylor Byrd, and ...

House of Burgesses members People of colonial Maryland People of Virginia in the French and Indian War Suicides in Virginia