Bartholomew Dandridge

Bartholomew Dandridge (25 December 1737 – 18 April 1785) was an early American planter, lawyer and patriot. He represented New Kent County in the House of Burgesses, all five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions, and once in the Virginia House of Delegates before fellow legislators selected him as a judge of what later became known as the Virginia Supreme Court. Early life Dandridge was born on Christmas, 1737 at Chestnut Grove in New Kent County in the Colony of Virginia. He was the fourth child of Col. John Dandridge and his wife Frances Jones Dandridge. His paternal grandfather John Dandridge Sr. was from Oxfordshire but became a member of the London company of painters. His son (this man's uncle) William Dandridge was an officer in the Royal Navy who emigrated to Virginia and became a merchant and planter by 1715, owning Elsing Green plantation in King William County after his marriage, as well as a wharf in Hampton and a merchant ship. Capt. Dandridge became a friend of Virginia governor Alexander Spottswood, who appointed him to the Governor's Council and also commissioned him to survey the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina; one son and one daughter of each family married into the other. His maternal great-grandfather, Rowland Jones, was the first rector of now historic Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, the colony's capital for most of this man's life. His maternal grandfather, Orlando Jones represented King William County for several terms in the House of Burgesses. Meanwhile, this man's father, John Dandridge followed his brother to the Virginia colony and became clerk of New Kent County in 1730, which position he held until his death in 1756. John Dandridge also served as an officer in the local militia and operated a plantation called Chestnut Grove about four miles away, using enslaved labor. Bartholomew had elder brothers John Dandridge (1737-1749) and William Dandridge (1734-1776), but probably his most important sibling was his eldest sister, Martha, who later became the first First Lady of the United States. Bartholomew received a private education suitable to his class. His father died in Fredericksburg in August 1756 while visiting his niece and her husband, Col. John Spottswood, when Bartholomew was 19 years old, just under legal age. Marriage and personal life Dandridge married twice.