Peyton Randolph, 1st and 3rd President of the Continental Congress

• Peyton Randolph From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Birth: Sep., 1721 Williamsburg Williamsburg City Virginia, USA Death: Oct. 22, 1775 Philadelphia Philadelphia County Pennsylvania, USA

Studied law at the Inner Temple, London; appointed King's attorney for Virginia, 1748; member, Virginia House of Burgesses, 1764-1774 and speaker in 1766; president of the Virginia conventions in 1774 and 1775; Delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress in 1774 and again in 1775; President of the Continental Congress at the time of his death in 1775.

Family links: Parents:

• Sir John Randolph (1693 - 1737)
• Lady Susanna Beverly Randolph (1692 - 1754)

Spouse: Elizabeth Harrison Randolph (____ - 1783)

Burial: Chapel of the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Williamsburg City, Colony of Virginia

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Peyton Randolph (c. 1721 – October 22, 1775) was the first President of the Continental Congress. He presided from September 5, 1774 to October 21, 1774, and again from May 10, 1775 to May 23, 1775. He was succeeded in office by Henry Middleton.

Randolph was born in Virginia. His parents were Sir John Randolph and Susannah Beverley. He was also the grandson of William Randolph. He attended the College of William and Mary, and later studied law at Middle Temple at the Inns of Court in London, becoming a member of the bar in 1743. He then returned to Williamsburg and was appointed Attorney General of the Virginia colony the next year.

He served several terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses, beginning in 1748. It was his dual roles as attorney general and as burgess that would lead to an extraordinary conflict of interest in 1751.

The new governor, Robert Dinwiddie, had imposed a fee for the certification of land patents, which the House of Burgesses strongly objected to. The House selected Peyton Randolph to represent their cause to Crown authorities in London. In his role as attorney general, though, he was responsible for defending actions taken by the governor. Randolph left for London, over the objections of Governor Dinwiddie, and was replaced for a short time as attorney general. He was reinstated on his return at the behest of officials in London, who also recommended the Governor drop the new fee.

In 1765 Randolph found himself at odds with a freshman burgess, Patrick Henry, over the matter of a response to the Stamp Act. The House appointed Randolph to draft objections to the act, but his more conservative plan was trumped when Henry obtained passage of five of his seven Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions. This was accomplished at a meeting of the House in which most of the members were absent, and over which Randolph was presiding in the absence of the Speaker.

Randolph resigned as attorney general in 1766. As friction between Britain and the colonies progressed, he became more in favor of independence. In 1769 the House of Burgesses was dissolved by the Governor in response to its actions against the Townshend Act. Randolph had been Speaker at the time. Afterwards, he chaired meetings of a group of former House members at a Williamsburg tavern, which worked toward responses to the unwelcome tax measures imposed by the British government.

Randolph was selected to chair in both the First and Second Continental Congresses, in large part due to his reputation for leadership while in the House of Burgesses. He did not, however, live to see independence for the nation he led; Randolph died in Philadelphia, and was buried at Christ Church. He was later re-interred at the College of William and Mary chapel.

Randolph County, North Carolina, formed in 1779, and two US Navy ships called USS Randolph were named in his honor.

Randolph's house survives and is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Known as Peyton Randolph House, it is shown to the public as part of the Colonial Williamsburg complex.

Family ties

   * His nephew, Edmund Randolph, became the first United States Attorney General.

* His wife was the sister of Benjamin Harrison V.
* His first cousin once removed was President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph's husband Thomas Mann Randolph was a descendant of Peyton's uncle Richard Randolph and his wife Jane Bolling, a descendant of Pocahontas.
* His first cousin twice removed was Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.
* His niece Lucy Grymes married Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson Jr. Her first cousin once removed, also named Lucy Grymes, married Henry Lee II (who was in fact Peyton Randolph's first cousin once removed), and was the mother of Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, who was the father of Confederate General Robert Edward Lee.
* He is also related to the Confederate Generals Fitzhugh Lee, Edmund Jennings Lee, Nelson Pendelton Lee, and Richard L. Page; and to US Admiral Samuel P. Lee.
* Confederate General John Pegram married Hetty Cary, a cousin to the Randolphs.
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Birth: Sep., 1721 Williamsburg Williamsburg City Virginia, USA Death: Oct. 22, 1775 Philadelphia Philadelphia County Pennsylvania, USA

Studied law at the Inner Temple, London; appointed King's attorney for Virginia, 1748; member, Virginia House of Burgesses, 1764-1774 and speaker in 1766; president of the Virginia conventions in 1774 and 1775; Delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress in 1774 and again in 1775; President of the Continental Congress at the time of his death in 1775.

Family links:

Parents:

 Sir John Randolph (1693 - 1737)

 Lady Susanna Beverly Randolph (1692 - 1754)

Spouse:

 Elizabeth Harrison Randolph (____ - 1783)

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Burial: Chapel of the College of William and Mary Williamsburg Williamsburg City Virginia, USA

Maintained by: Find A Grave Originally Created by: Garver Graver Record added: Aug 05, 2002

• Peyton Randolph Find A Grave Memorial# 6661944

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Randolph was born 54 years before the Second Continental Congress – probably in Williamsburg in 1721 – the second son of Sir John and Lady Susannah Randolph. His first name was his maternal grandmother's maiden name, just as his older brother Beverley's was their mother's. The surname Randolph identified him as a scion of 18th-century Virginia's most powerful clan.