Mary Willing Byrd
Mary Willing Byrd | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by John Wollaston; original in the collection of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond | |
| Born | Mary Willing September 10, 1740 |
| Died | March 1814 (aged 73) |
| Spouse | William Byrd III (d. 1777) |
| Children | 10, including Charles Willing Byrd |
| Parent(s) | Charles Willing Anne Shippen |
| Relatives | Thomas Willing (brother) Elizabeth Willing Powel (sister) Edward Shippen (great-grandfather) |
Mary Willing Byrd (September 10, 1740 – March 1814) was an American planter. At twenty years of age, she became the step-mother of five children and managed the family and household at Westover Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia beginning her second year of marriage. Together Byrd and her husband, William Byrd III, had ten more children before he committed suicide in 1777. She determined what property to hold on to and what to sell of what she inherited so that she could pay off debts, preserve Westover Plantation, and retain some land for the Byrd children.
During the American Revolution, the British seized her property and when she tried to regain the land, the State of Virginia accused her with dealing with the enemy. After she explained the situation in letters, the case was dropped and did not go to trial.
Early life[edit]
Mary Willing, the daughter of Ann (née Shippen) and Charles Willing, was born on September 10, 1740. Charles Willing was the mayor of Philadelphia[1] from 1748 to 1754, and her great-grandfather, Edward Shippen, was the second mayor of Philadelphia, from 1701 to 1703.
Charles Willing was also a wealthy merchant. One of her godfathers, Benjamin Franklin provided Mary parliamentary speeches and histories from Europe.[1]
Marriage and children[edit]
Mary Willing, the second wife of Colonel William Byrd III, became Mary Willing Byrd upon their marriage on January 29, 1761.[1][2] They first lived in Philadelphia and Byrd became step-mother to a girl and four boys. At the time of her marriage, the children had recently lost their mother.[1] In 1762, the couple moved to the Westover Plantation, the Byrd estate, in Charles City County, Virginia.[1]
William's father founded Richmond, Virginia. During the French and Indian War (1754–1763), William led a Virginia regiment. He was a Colonial American military officer at the time of the American Revolution.[1]
They had ten children:
- Maria Horsmanden Byrd
- Evelyn Taylor Byrd
- Charles Willing Byrd (died as child)
- Abby Byrd
- Anne Willing Byrd
- William Boyd Byrd
- Charles Willing Byrd
- Dorothy Byrd (died as child)
- Jane Byrd
- Richard Willing Byrd.
Her husband committed suicide in January 1 or 2, 1777, leaving considerable debts.[1][3]
Plantations[edit]
Byrd managed his plantations, including Westover Plantation, in Charles City County, in order to satisfy his creditors and still preserve some property for their ten children to inherit. She sold off some western lands, residences in Richmond and Williamsburg, and other property, but she was able to retain control of Westover, the major Byrd plantation in Charles City County.[3]
American Revolution[edit]
Although Byrd had many ties to the British and Loyalists during the American Revolution, she tried to remain neutral.[4] Benedict Arnold, the husband of her first cousin, led British soldiers to Westover in early January 1781. Soldiers destroyed her crops, plant nursery, dairy cows, and fences. The soldiers took three horses, 49 enslaved people, and two ferryboats. She was kept in the upper floors of the residence.[1]
After trying to recover property that had been seized by the British, she was charged in 1781 by the state of Virginia with trading with the enemy. Byrd defended herself eloquently in a letter to Governor Thomas Jefferson: "I wish well to all mankind, to America in particular. What am I but an American? All my friends and connexions are in America; my whole property is here—could I wish ill to everything I have an interest in?"[4] Her trial was first postponed and ultimately never held.[1]
Later years, death, and legacy[edit]
Byrd died in March 1814 and was to be buried at the old Westover Church cemetery, next to her husband.[1]
In 2007, Byrd was posthumously honored by the Library of Virginia's "Virginia Women in History" program.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bearss, Sara B. "Mary Willing Byrd (1740–1814)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
- ^ Royster, Charles (2010). The Fabulous History of the Dismal Swamp Company: A Story of George Washington's Times. Vintage. ISBN 9780307773296. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
- ^ a b c "Virginia Women in History: Mary Willing Byrd (1740-1814), Charles City County, Planter". Library of Virginia. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
- ^ a b Jefferson, Thomas (2018-06-05). The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4: October 1780 to February 1781. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-18469-2.
Further reading[edit]
- John T. Kneebone et al., eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1998- ), 2:457-459. ISBN 0-88490-199-8.
- "The Will of Mrs. Mary Willing Byrd, of Westover, 1813, with a List of the Westover Portraits". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 6 (4): 346–358. 1899. JSTOR 4242183.