Hon. William H. Cabell, of "Montevideo"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Cabell

William H. Cabell (December 16, 1772 – January 12, 1853) was a Virginia politician and Democratic-Republican. He served as Member of the Assembly, as Governor of Virginia, and as judge. He adopted his middle initial, which does not stand for anything, in 1795, to distinguish himself from other William Cabells, including his uncle (and father-in-law) and his first cousin.

Cabell was born at “Boston Hill” in what is now Cumberland County, Virginia on December 16, 1772. He was the son of Colonel Nicholas Cabell and Hannah Carrington Cabell. He studied under private teachers and later attended Hampden-Sydney College and the College of William and Mary, graduating from W&M in July 1793. He then came to Richmond to complete the study of law and was licensed there on June 13, 1794. He began practice in July 1794. He started his career as a lawyer and entered the politics. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and a Presidential elector. He was the 14th Governor of Virginia from 1805 to 1808. In December 1808, he was elected as a judge of the general court. After being on that court for two years he was elected to the Court of Appeals on March 21, 1811. Serving continuously until the reorganization of the court in 1831, he was again elected to the new court, where he became president on January 18, 1842. He remained in this position until 1851 but during his last year was frequently unable to be present because of ill health. Judge Cabell was on the Court of Appeals for forty-one years. He died on January 12, 1853 in Richmond, Virginia and was there interred in Shockoe Hill Cemetery.

Cabell County, West Virginia was named in his honor.

Hon. William H. Cabell, of "Montevideo," was a graduate of the College of William and Mary, 1793. He was a member of the Virginia Assembly, 1796-1798 and 1802-1805. He served as Governor of Virginia from 1st December, 1805, to 1st December 1808; Judge of the General Court, 1808-1811; Judge of Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1811-1851, and the President of Supreme Court of Appeals, 1842-1851.

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https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Cabell_William_H_1772-1853

William H. Cabell was the governor of Virginia (1805–1808) and, for four decades, a justice of the Virginia Court of Appeals (1811–1852). A Democratic-Republican, he represented Amherst County in the House of Delegates (1796–1799, 1802–1805) and sat on the General Court prior to being appointed to the Court of Appeals. Cabell was deliberate and thorough, as governor and in his judicial career. Although he rarely filed a separate opinion during his time on the Court of Appeals, he was known to reverse a previous decision. When he retired in 1852 because of his poor health, Cabell was among the longest-serving judges in the history of the state supreme court. Cabell County, created in 1809 and now part of West Virginia, is named for him. He died in 1853.

Early Years

William H. Cabell was born on December 16, 1772, at Boston Hill in Cumberland County, the son of Nicholas Cabell and Hannah Carrington Cabell. Reared in a wealthy and politically prominent family, he was closely related to many men of importance in Virginia, and his brother Joseph C. Cabell became the first president of the James River and Kanawha Company. Cabell reportedly added the initial H to his name to distinguish himself from several other William Cabells. His acquaintance Hugh Blair Grigsby referred to him in 1860 as William Henry Cabell, but there is no other evidence for a middle name.

Cabell received a classical education from private tutors, attended Hampden-Sydney College from 1785 through 1789, and graduated from the College of William and Mary in July 1793 with the first bachelor of law degree awarded by that college. He read law for a time in Richmond and received his license to practice on June 13, 1794. Cabell moved to Amherst County and on April 9, 1795, married Elizabeth Cabell, a cousin. They had two sons and one daughter before her death from consumption, or tuberculosis, on November 5, 1801. Cabell spent the next several months in Charleston, South Carolina, before returning to Amherst County. On March 11, 1805, he married Agnes Sarah Bell Gamble, daughter of Robert Gamble, one of the wealthiest men in Richmond. They had three daughters and five sons, among them Henry Coalter Cabell, who became a director of the James River and Kanawha Company and of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company and won fame as a Confederate artillery officer.

Cabell was elected to the House of Delegates from Amherst County in 1796, 1798, and four times in succession from 1802 through 1805. He served five one-year terms and the first few days of a sixth. A Jeffersonian Republican, he voted in December 1798 for the Virginia Resolutions that condemned the Alien and Sedition Acts, but in general his tenure in the assembly was unremarkable. Cabell served on the Committee of Propositions and Grievances during the 1798–1799 legislature and on the Committee for Courts of Justice in the 1798–1799, 1804–1805, and 1805–1806 sessions. He never held a major committee chairmanship. In 1800 and 1804 Cabell was a presidential elector for Thomas Jefferson.

Governorship

On December 6, 1805, soon after the start of Cabell's sixth legislative term, the General Assembly elected him governor of Virginia. He defeated Alexander McRae, an outspoken Republican, by a vote of 99 to 90. Cabell was only thirty-two years old when he took office on December 11, 1805, and may have been elected because he was acceptable to Jefferson's supporters, to dissident Republicans led by John Randolph of Roanoke, and to some Federalists. The assembly reelected Cabell in 1806 and 1807. He served the legal maximum of three consecutive one-year terms and relinquished office on December 12, 1808.

Cabell's years as governor were largely taken up with routine duties related to collecting taxes, administering the state penitentiary, dealing with Revolutionary War land bounties, constructing turnpikes, and appointing numerous state and local officials. By far his most time-consuming responsibility was the regulation of the state militia. Cabell approved the formation of new militia companies, answered requests for supplies, contracted for arms, and commissioned militia officers. The most dramatic event of his administration occurred on June 22, 1807, when the British warship Leopard, ostensibly searching for British deserters, attacked the American frigate Chesapeake off the Virginia coast. Regarding the British action as both illegal and savage, Cabell ordered militia units, arms, and supplies sent to the Norfolk vicinity. By mid-July the crisis had ended, without further violence after the British ships sailed from Hampton Roads.

Cabell displayed a thoughtful and judicious approach in making decisions as governor. He repeatedly advised correspondents which actions were beyond the purview of his office or reported that he had taken action only with the advice of the Council of State. Even during the Chesapeake affair, although Cabell was quick to mobilize the state's resources, he recognized the superior jurisdiction of the federal government and acted defensively and prudently. So attentive was Cabell to the law that in August 1808 he admonished the Brunswick County jailer for confining a prisoner to a cell with inadequate air circulation that might imperil the prisoner's health. Cabell recommended that the jailer take the prisoner out of his cell occasionally in order to keep him alive until the date of his scheduled execution.

Judicial Career

Early in 1809, a few weeks after Cabell's final term as governor concluded, the General Assembly divided Kanawha County and named the new jurisdiction Cabell County. His deliberate and thorough approach to decision-making both prepared and recommended him for the next stage of his professional life. On December 14, 1808, the assembly elected Cabell a judge of the General Court. For more than two years he conducted civil trials and heard appeals in criminal cases in the counties of Charles City, Elizabeth City, Gloucester, James City, King William, Mathews, Middlesex, New Kent, Warwick, and York. In March 1811 the governor appointed Cabell to a vacancy on the Virginia Court of Appeals, which became the Supreme Court of Appeals under the new state constitution of 1830, and in 1831 the assembly reelected him. As the senior member he became president of the court on January 18, 1842, but his deteriorating physical condition caused him to miss several sessions in 1850 and 1851. The Constitution of 1851 required the judges to be elected by popular vote, and because of his poor health Cabell was not a candidate in the May 1852 election. His forty-one years of service made him, along with his near-contemporary Francis Taliaferro Brooke, among the longest-serving judges in the history of the court.

Beginning with his first reported opinion in Cooke v. Piles in April 1811, Cabell embarked on a steady and solid judicial career that reflected the same deliberate and analytical characteristics he had displayed as governor. He filed few separate opinions. More often than not Cabell's views corresponded with those of the majority, and he tended to write succinct explanations of the facts and the law as he understood them. Judicial scholars have noted that although he provided concise, convincing decisions and asserted his opinion when the need arose, he usually followed stronger-willed justices such as Spencer Roane and Henry St. George Tucker. Cabell also possessed the rare ability to keep an open mind and sometimes even reversed a previous decision.

The most important case Cabell heard occurred early in his judicial career. The issues in Hunter v. Martin (1814) revolved around the right to appeal decisions made in the Virginia Court of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. Cabell and his colleagues unanimously ruled that the U.S. Constitution and the federal Judiciary Act of 1789 did not authorize the federal courts to hear appeals from rulings of the highest state courts. Recalling his 1798 vote for the Virginia Resolutions, Cabell wrote that the power of the U.S. Supreme Court to hear appellate cases infringed on the jurisdiction of the state courts. Ultimately the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Virginia Court of Appeals.

William H. Cabell died at his Richmond home on January 12, 1853. His funeral took place at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, which he had joined in 1851, and he was buried in Shockoe Cemetery in Richmond. The Supreme Court of Appeals published a long resolution honoring Cabell's gentleness of character, patience, and impartiality and concluded that it was as "natural to love as to honor him."

Time Line

December 16, 1772 - William H. Cabell is born at Boston Hill in Cumberland County.

1785–1789 - William H. Cabell attends Hampden-Sydney College.

1793 - William H. Cabell graduates from the College of William and Mary with the first bachelor of law degree awarded by that college.

June 13, 1794 - William H. Cabell receives his license to practice law.

April 9, 1795 - William H. Cabell and Elizabeth Cabell marry. They will have two sons and one daughter.

1796–1799 - William H. Cabell represents Amherst County in the House of Delegates.

November 5, 1801 - Elizabeth Cabell dies from consumption or tuberculosis.

1802–1805 - William H. Cabell represents Amherst County in the House of Delegates.

March 11, 1805 - William H. Cabell and Agnes Sarah Bell Gamble marry. They will have three daughters and five sons.

December 6, 1805 - The General Assembly elects William H. Cabell governor of Virginia.

December 11, 1805 - William H. Cabell takes office as governor of Virginia.

1806 - The General Assembly reelects William H. Cabell as governor of Virginia.

1807 - The General Assembly reelects William H. Cabell to a third consecutive term as governor of Virginia.

June 22, 1807 - Off the Virginia coast, the British warship Leopard fires on the American frigate Chesapeake and removes four deserters. Governor William H. Cabell orders militia units, arms, and supplies sent to the Norfolk vicinity.

December 12, 1808 - Having served the legal maximum of three consecutive one-year terms, William H. Cabell relinquishes the office of governor.

December 14, 1808 - The General Assembly elects William H. Cabell a judge of the General Court.

1809 - The General Assembly divides Kanawha County and names the new jurisdiction Cabell County.

March 1811 - William H. Cabell is appointed to a vacancy on the Virginia Court of Appeals.

1814 - In Hunter v. Martin, the Virginia Court of Appeals finds that the federal courts are not authorized to hear appeals from rulings of the highest state courts.

1831 - The General Assembly elects William H. Cabell to the Supreme Court of Appeals (formerly the Virginia Court of Appeals).

January 18, 1842 - William H. Cabell becomes president of the Supreme Court of Appeals.

May 1852 - Because of his poor health, William H. Cabell is not a candidate for election to the Supreme Court of Appeals.

January 12, 1853 - William H. Cabell dies at his Richmond home.