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- PENDLETON, Edmund, (uncle of Nathaniel Pendleton and John Penn), a Delegate from Virginia; born in Caroline County, Va., September 9, 1721; completed preparatory studies; clerk, Caroline County Court, in 1740; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1741 and practiced; justice of the peace in 1751; member of the Virginia House of Burgesses 1752-1774; member of the committee of correspondence in 1773 and of the provincial convention in 1774; Member of the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775; president of the committee of safety in 1775; president of the Virginia convetions in 1775 and 1776; member of the State house of delegates in 1776 and 1777; judge of the general court and the court of chancery in 1777; presiding judge of the court of appeals in 1779; member and president of the Virginia ratification convention in 1788; died in Richmond, Va., October 23, 1803; interment at Edmundsbury, eight miles southeast of Bowling Green, Va.; in 1907 was reinterred in Bruton Parish Church Cemetery, Williamsburg, Va.
Bibliography
DAB; Mays, David J. Edmund Pendleton, 1721-1803: A Biography. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952; Pendleton, Edmund. The Letters and Papers of Edmund Pendleton, 1734-1803. 2 vols. Edited by David J. Mays. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1967.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
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Born in Caroline county, Virginia, September 9, 1721; son of Henry Pendleton, and grandson of Philip and Isabella (Hurt) Pendleton. Philip Pendleton emigrated from England in 1674, settled in Virginia, and was buried in King and Queen county. Edmund Pendleton received training in private schools, and early in life became assistant to the clerk of Caroline county, under whom he read law. He was licensed to practice law in 1744, became justice of the peace in 1751, and entered the Virginia house of burgesses, in 1752, where he became at once one of the leading members. He declared the Stamp Act unconstitutional, and that it did not bind the inhabitants of Virginia; was a member of the committee of correspondence in 1773, and of the colonial convention of 1774, resulting from the Boston port-bill, of which convention he was elected president. He was a delegate to the first Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 26, 1774. After the death of Peyton Randolph, he succeeded him in all the first offices of state. He was president of the convention of December 1, 1775, and of May, 1776, and was also president of the committee of safety. He wrote the resolutions of the Virginia convention of May, 1776, favoring a Declaration of Independence, and proposing a state constitution. As head of the committee of safety, he had control of the militia and of the foreign correspondence of Virginia. When the state government was organized, he was elected speaker of the house of delegates, and, with George Wythe and Thomas Jefferson, revised the colonial laws. He was re-elected speaker in 1777, and, upon the organization of the court of chancery, was made its president by unanimous vote, and was transferred to the head of the court of appeals on its formation in 1788, holding the office until his death. He was president of the state convention that ratified the Federal constitution, and was one of its warmest supporters. In 1789, President Washington appointed him judge of the United States district court of Virginia, but he declined. When parties were formed, he united with the Democratic-Republicans, and wrote a protest against waging war against France in 1799, claiming that government to be a "sister republic," without whose aid independence could never have been obtained. He died in Richmond, Virginia, October 23, 1803.
Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume II
I--Fathers of the Revolution
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