John Tyler

John Tyler Sr. (February 28, 1747 – January 6, 1813) was an American lawyer, planter, politician and judge who served in the Virginia House of Delegates and became 15th Governor of Virginia and later United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia. He was the father of U.S. President John Tyler. Early life and education Born on February 28, 1747, in James City County, Colony of Virginia, British America, to the former Anne Contesse, the wife of John Tyler, the marshal of the Colony's vice-admiralty court. His maternal grandfather was Huguenot physician Dr. Louis Contesse. Beginning in 1754, Tyler attended first the grammar school at the College of William & Mary in the colony's capitol, Williamsburg, then the college itself. When he was nineteen, Tyler stood in the lobby of the colony's assembly, the House of Burgesses, and listened to Patrick Henry's speech concerning the Stamp Act 1765, which caused him both to become hostile to the British government, as well as to read law with eminent attorney Robert Carter Nicholas. Career Tyler was admitted to the Virginia bar and had a private legal practice. Around 1770, Tyler moved to Charles City County. There, in addition to his private legal practice, Tyler operated plantations using enslaved labor. By his marriage in 1776, discussed below, Tyler built Greenway Plantation, where he would raise his family and later die. In the 1787 Virginia tax census, Tyler owned 20 enslaved adults and 14 enslaved children, as well as 12 horses and 75 cattle, and was also taxed for his carriages (which had a total of six wheels). Meanwhile, as relations with Britain became strained, Tyler became a member of the Charles City County Committee of Safety. In 1775, he raised a company of troops. He joined his forces with those led by Patrick Henry to demand the restoration of the gunpowder Virginia's governor Lord Dunmore had removed from the government magazine in Williamsburg, or else compensation. In 1776 Tyler accepted a one-year appointment as commissioner in admiralty.