William Byrd

    William Byrd was a planter and slave owner who was born on March 28, 1674, and died on August 26, 1744. He is from Charles City County, Virginia, and is considered the founder of Richmond, Virginia. Byrd is best known today as a writer. Excerpts of his diaries are frequently put into textbooks of American literature. William Byrd was born in Henrico County, Virginia, and attended Felsted School in England for law. He was also educated on Londons's society and politics as a child when his father enrolled him in school. Byrd was a member of the King's Counsel for thirty-seven years, and returned to the colony following his schooling in England. He lived on his plantation, Westover Plantation, in a lordly estate with the most valuable library in the Virginia colony, containing over four thousand books. He was a member of the Royal Society in Great Britain. He was the author of Westover Manuscripts, published in 1841. Byrd considered himself and Englishman. He returned to Richmond upon the death of his father in 1705. He had a very large inheritance and was required to run the estate. After his father's death, Byrd wanted to be the governor of Virginia, but was denied the position. Soon after that, Byrd was chosen to commission the survey of the Virginia-North Carolina border. Byrd was married to a woman names Lucy Parke, whose father was the governor of the Leeward Islands.