William Nelson (1711 – November 19, 1772) was an American planter, politician, and colonial leader from

Yorktown, Virginia Yorktown is a census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Virginia. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while York Cou ...

. In the interim between the royal governors Norborne Berkeley and

Lord Dunmore Earl of Dunmore is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. History The title was created in 1686 for Lord Charles Murray, second son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl. He was made Lord Murray of Blair, Moulin and Tillimet (or Tullimet) and V ...

, he served as governor of colonial

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 ...

in 1770 and 1771. Nelson was the son of

Thomas "Scotch Tom" Nelson Thomas "Scotch Tom" Nelson (1677–1747) was a businessman and politician who immigrated from England to become a merchant at Yorktown in the Colony of Virginia. He was from Penrith, Cumberland.

, the immigrant ancestor from Cumbria, who built Nelson House at his plantation in about 1730. In the years leading up to the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, Nelson was an active supporter of the Patriot cause. Among his children was his son, Thomas Nelson Jr., who was active in revolutionary politics, one of thirteen representatives who drafted the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...

, a signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

, and a future governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the new United States of America. His children (in order of age) Reverend Samuel Nelson; Amos Nelson; Mary Nelson; Ebenezer Nelson; Gen. Thomas Nelson, signer of the "Declaration of Independence"; Keranhappuch Nelson Biard; Robert Nelson; Dr Nathaniel Nelson; Col. Hugh Nelson; Hon. William Nelson, Jr; Elizabeth Nelson Thompson; James Alexander Nelson and Robert Nelson remained important in aristocratic society after his passing.

References

1711 births 1772 deaths Colonial governors of Virginia American people of English descent Nelson family of Virginia People from Yorktown, Virginia American planters American slave owners {{Virginia-politician-stub