Thomas Nelson Jr: VA Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Thomas Nelson Jr. was born on December 26, 1738, in Yorktown, Virginia, to William and Elizabeth (Burwell) Nelson. He was the eldest of five sons, and his family ancestry can be traced back to England. Through his maternal side, they are descended from King Henry III.  His paternal Grandfather, Thomas Nelson, immigrated to America in 1690 and founded and laid out York in 1705. He built the Nelson House, which stands in Yorktown and was damaged at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, but was not destroyed, as legend suggests. His paternal grandmother’s family can be traced back to Sir Thomas Windebank, a clerk of the signet to Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. In addition, he was a cousin to Benjamin Harrison, Carter Braxton, the Lee brothers, Peyton Randolph, and Thomas Jefferson

            Nelson was educated under Reverend Yates of Gloucester County, Virginia, and then sailed to Europe when he was fourteen years old to finish his schooling at the Hackney School. From the Hackney School, he went to Eton and finally to Cambridge University before returning to Virginia in 1761. While he was returning from his studies in Europe, he was elected to represent York County, Virginia, in the House of Burgesses in 1761. He would serve in the House of Burgesses until 1774, when Lord Dunmore dissolved it.

            On July 29, 1762, Nelson married Lucy Grimes. She was the daughter of Philip and Mary (Randolph) Grimes and is related to Peyton Randolph, Benjamin Harrison, Carter Braxton, the Lee brothers, and Thomas Jefferson, as well. They would have eleven children together. Their first child, William, was born on August 9, 1763, and died in 1803. He married Sarah Burwell and had at least one child who survived infancy. Thomas was born on December 27, 1764, and died in 1794. He married a woman named Frances. Their next son, Philip, was born on March 4, 1766, and died in Milwood, Clark County, Virginia, on September 5, 1861. He married Sarah Ann and had at least three children. Francis was born on June 25, 1767, and died at Mt. Airy in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1833. He married Lucy and had at least eight children. Their next son, High, was born on September 30, 1768, and died on March 18, 1836. He marries Elizabeth and has three children with her. Elizabeth, their first daughter, was born on December 26, 1770, and died on May 7, 1853, in Gloucester County, Virginia. She married Mann Page and had at least one child. Mary was born on December 19, 1774, and passed away on August 31, 1803. She married Robert Hill Carter, and they had four children together. Another daughter, Lucy, was born on January 2, 1777, and died on January 5, 1863, in Cumberland County, Virginia. She married Major Carter Page, and they had four children together. Their last son, Robert, was born on October 14, 1778, and died on July 8, 1818, in Williamsburg, Virginia. He married Judith Carter and had at least one child. Susanna was born on October 3, 1780. She marries Francis Page and has at least three children. She passed away on January 8, 1850, in Frederick County, Maryland. Their last child, Judith, was born on May 8, 1782, and died on February 19, 1869, in Hanover, Virginia. She marries Captain Thomas Nelson, and they have at least three children.

            Besides being elected Justice of the Peace in 1764 and serving in the House of Burgesses, Nelson does not appear to have had any significant events that triggered his patriotic work. He was a member of the House of Burgesses when it was dissolved by Lord Dunmore in 1774. He worked on the resolution censuring and condemning the Boston Port Bill, which caused Lord Dunmore to dissolve the House. The very day after the House was dissolved, he and eighty-eight other delegates met at Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg to form an association to defend their rights and maintain their liberties. The group meets as the First Virginia Convention, and Nelson is a representative from York County.

            In support of Boston and the Tea Party, Nelson organizes the Yorktown Tea Party, and he himself throws 2.5 chests of tea overboard. They do not damage the ship or its cargo, nor do they hurt the crew, during their protest. He also spends some of his own money to help out the citizens of Boston through the procurement of supplies.

            1775 proved to be a busy year for Nelson, as he attended the Second Virginia Convention and was prominent in the military debates that occurred there. In July, he was appointed a colonel in the Second Virginia Infantry Regiment. In August, he was appointed to the Second Continental Congress. Nelson replaced Patrick Henry, who did not want to resign his commission in the Virginia Infantry. Nelson resigns his commission to travel to Philadelphia. He took his seat in Congress on September 13, 1775, and was an early advocate for separation.

            In May of 1776, he was once again a member of the Virginia Convention and helped frame a new state constitution. During this time, he introduced a resolution recommending independence, and approval was granted. Edmund Pendleton drafted the resolution, and Nelson gave it to Richard Henry Lee, who redrafted it and presented it to the Congress on June 7, 1776. Nelson returns to Philadelphia and votes for independence, then leaves on July 17 to go to the Third Virginia Convention as a delegate from York. The convention was being held in Richmond, this time, and troops were being raised for the war effort. He was named a Colonel of the Second Regiment. He then returns to Philadelphia, in time, to sign the engrossed copy of the Declaration on August 2.

            From late 1776 to early 1777, he was on a variety of committees but was allowed to leave Congress on May 2, 1777. He had been having recurring headaches, and someone else was appointed to finish his term. There is some indication that he may have had a stroke because his situation was described as being “a disease of the head, probably of a paralytic nature.”[1]  While he had recurring health problems, he never let them stop him in his quest to see the cause succeed. In August of 1778, he was made a Brigadier General and appointed Commander in Chief of the Commonwealth of Virginia forces. The British are located off the coast of Virginia at this time. He raised a company, funded it, and went to Philadelphia, where Congress disbanded it due to a lack of funds. In February of 1779, he returned to Congress but once again became ill and needed to return to Virginia. He does not return to Congress.

            Starting in 1780, Nelson worked to obtain munitions and other supplies for the troops, commanded them, and then raised money to subsidize the troops, backed by his own credit. He personally raised two million dollars for the cause so that the Virginia Assembly could fund the war. When the debt came due, after the war, the assembly refused to pay it, and Nelson was financially ruined. Some accounts say the money was raised for the French fleet, while others say Congress refused to pay the debt when the loans came due. In any case, there is irrefutable evidence that he raised money for the cause, using his own personal credit, and was never reimbursed, thus causing his financial ruin. However, it appears not to have been at the point where he would have gone to debtors’ prison. In addition to raising money, he also advanced large sums of his own money to help supply the troops.

            Nelson was elected governor of Virginia in 1781, succeeding Thomas Jefferson. The Virginia government was on the run, at this time, having moved from Williamsburg to Richmond to Charlottesville and then to Staunton. British officer Tarleton was chasing them. Because of this, Governor Nelson was given powers akin to a dictator’s. As some members of the Virginia Council, who advised the governor, had been captured by the British.

Then, in September of 1781, he was at the Battle of Yorktown, commanding a force of 3,000 men, which he helped organize. Governor Nelson uses his own horses at the Battle of Yorktown to help pull the cannons into position. He also orders the Americans to fire on his house because Lord Cornwallis was occupying it. Legend has it that the house was damaged by cannon fire to the point where it was destroyed; however, this is not true. The house is still standing in Yorktown and bears the scars of the battle, with bullet holes in it. Cannonballs may have hit the building, but if so, they did very minor damage. Some versions of this story indicate that it was first told by the Marquis de Lafayette, who said:

“I had just finished a batter mounted with heavy pieces; but before I opened in the town, I requested the attendance of the Governor of Virginia, not only as a compliment due the Chief Magistrate of the State in which I was serving, but from his accurate knowledge of the localities of a place in which he had spent the greater part of his life. To what particular spot would your Excellency direct that we should point the cannon I asked ‘There” promptly replied the noble-minded, patriotic Nelson “to that house; it is mine and is, now that the Secretary’s is nearly knocked to pieces, the best one in town; and there you will be most certain to find Lord Cornwallis and the British headquarters. Fire upon it, my dear Marquis, and never spare a particle of my property so long as it affords a comfort or a shelter to the enemies of my country’”[2]

The home would remain in the Nelson family until 1908 and was finally acquired by the National Park Service in 1968.

            At the end of 1781, Governor Nelson resigned his office due to health concerns and was succeeded by his cousin, Benjamin Harrison. He would be accused of overextending his powers, as governor, and would submit a letter to the legislature requesting an official investigation into his actions. The legislature finds him not guilty of the charges and notes he acted in accordance with the best intentions considering the circumstances. With his personal fortune in a shambles, he retires to his son’s home, Mt. Air, in Hanover County.

            Thomas Nelson Jr, passed away on January 4, 1789, at Offley Hoo, an estate willed to him by his father in 1772. It was located in Hanover County, but Governor Nelson would be buried in the Grace Episcopal Church graveyard in Yorktown. He passed away after an asthma attack. Some treatments that asthmatics took in those days included opium, steam baths, and bloodletting. It is unknown if any of these treatments were given to him as he suffered the attack. Colonel Innes wrote his memorial:

“The illustrious General Thomas Nelson is no more! He paid the last great debt to nature, on Sunday, the fourth of the present month, at this estate in Hanover. He who undertakes barely to recite the exalted virtues which adorned the life of this great and good man, will unavoidably pronounce a panegyric on human nature. As a man, a citizen, a legislator, and a patriot, he exhibited conduct untarnished and undebased by sordid or selfish interest, and strongly marked with genuine characteristics of true religion, sound benevolence, and liberal policy….”[3]

Tidbits

He was not actually a junior. He added that in later years, so as not to be confused with his uncle, who was also named Thomas.

All eleven of his children lived to adulthood, which was unusual at the time.

[1] Kiernan, Denise, and Joseph D’Agnese. Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of The Men Who Signed The Declaration of Independence (Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2009)

[2] “Domestics Miscellany.” Army and Navy Chronicle (1835‑1842) 2, no. 10 (Mar 10, 1836): 149.

[3] Goodrich, Charles A, Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence. (New York: William Reed & Co., 1856) 414