Thomas Everard

Biography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Everard_(mayor)

Thomas Everard (1719–1781) served as mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia from 1766 to 1767. He was a clerk at the House of Burgesses and lived in the Brush-Everard House in Colonial Williamsburg. He supported the fight for independence from the British Empire, including serving on the committee that selected delegates from Virginia for the Continental Congress.

Orphaned at the age of 10, he was admitted to Christ's Hospital, where he obtained an education. He then immigrated to Virginia, where he entered into an apprenticeship with Matthew Kemp. Upon the end of his apprenticeship, he obtained his first position as a clerk. He bought the house and property now called Brush-Everard House in Williamsburg and 1600 acres in western Virginia and at the edge of Williamsburg.

Early life and education

Everard was born about 1719 in St. Paul's Parish, Shadwell, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. He was baptized in August 1719.[1] His father, William, was a skinner by trade.[1]

At the age of ten, he was admitted to Christ's Hospital,[1] a school established for the children of the poor and homeless in London. There he was trained, along with all his fellow students, to read, write, and maintain accounts. The students were called Bluecoat Boys because of their uniforms. He completed his education.[2]

After completing his education at Christ's Hospital, he was discharged in January 1735 to his uncle Edward Everard and Edward Athawes, a local merchant, who arranged for him to enter an apprenticeship in Colonial America.[3] He then immigrated to the Colony of Virginia in 1735, where he was an apprentice to Matthew Kemp.[1][2] Kemp was a clerk of James City court and the Secretary's office. He was also an alderman, justice of the peace, and a Representative of Middlesex County, Virginia.[4] Everard was an apprentice for six years at the Secretary's office, the first four of which were under Matthew Kemp, who died in 1739.[3]

Career

Everard served in many other public offices, including being clerk of the York County court, the General Court, and of Elizabeth City County. He was also commissioner of accounts, before and after the American Revolutionary War,[5] He was the mayor of Williamsburg serving twice from 1766 to 1767 and again from 1771 to 1772.[6] He was also a clerk of the Committee of Courts of Justices at the House of Burgesses.[7] Everard was a member of the Court of Directors of a psychiatric hospital (now called Eastern State Hospital).[8]

Supported Virginia's independence

Everard signed the 1770 Non-Importation agreement in support of Virginia's fight for independence from the British Empire. He served on the committee that elected delegates from Virginia to the Continental Congress.[3]

Personal life

He was married to Diana Robinson (born September 12, 1726), daughter of Major Anthony Robinson of York County, Virginia.[5][9] The Robinsons were a prominent family in the area, which helped him to become more prominent.[3] They had two daughters: Frances "Fanny" married the Rev. James Horrocks of Bruton Parish Church and president of the College of William & Mary. Martha "Patsy" married Dr. Isaac Hall of Petersburg, Virginia in 1774.[3][9][10]

Everard purchased the Brush-Everard House in 1775 and the rear portion of the property in 1773.[7] He owned several enslaved people, including those who greeted visitors and rode in his carriage with him, such as when he traveled to the county court in Yorktown. He purchased 1000 acres in western Virginia and 600 acres on the edge of Williamsburg.[3]

He died in 1781, without evidence of a will.[9] Diana, his wife, is believed to have died in the late 1750s or the early 1760s.[3] After Frances's husband died in 1772, she was in poor health and moved back to her father's house until her death in December 1773. Martha lived with her father until or after her marriage in 1774. After her father died, Martha and her husband inherited property owned by her father and her sister.[3]

References

1. William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Volume 1
2. Virginia Genealogies: A Genealogy of the Glassell Family of Scotland and ... By Horace Edwin Hayden. (1891) page 571-572. < GoogleBooks >
3. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Diana_Robinson_%283%29 cites
   1. Thomas Everard, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Everard_%28mayor%29
      1. "Records of Christ's Hospital". Virtual Jamestown. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
      2. Jump up to: a b "Trend & Tradition: A Bluecoat Boy". The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
      3. "The Brush-Everard House". Colonial Williamsburg Foundation - Slavery and Remembrance. Retrieved 10 October 2021. (Dead link)
      4. Walker, Leola O. (1967). "Officials in the City Government of Colonial Williamsburg". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 75 (1): 37. ISSN 0042-6636. JSTOR 4247279 – via Jstor.
      5. William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. The College. 1901. p. 123.
      6. "Past Mayors & Governors, Williamsburg, VA: Colonial period". www.williamsburgva.gov. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
      7. Brinkley, M. Kent; Chappell, Gordon W. (1996). The Gardens of Colonial Williamsburg. Colonial Williamsburg. pp. 28, 31. ISBN 978-0-87935-158-8.
      8. Virginia (1873). Annual Reports of Officers, Boards and Institutions of the Commonwealth of Virginia. p. 19.
      9. "Brush Everard House Historical Report, Block 29 Building 10 Lot 165". Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series, Digital Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library. < link > Retrieved 9 October 2021.
      10. Nelson, John K. (14 January 2003). A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishioners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-7510-0.
4. Death Notice, in From orphan to colonial leader - The story of Thomas Everard, Virginia's most famous foundling. ... He married Diana Robinson, the daughter of a York County justice of the peace, and the couple had two daughters, Frances and Martha, ... ... Diana Everard had died sometime in the 1750s or 1760s. ... [No sources provided.]
5. Old Kecoughtan, in William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. (Omohundro Institute) Vol 9 (1901), pp 83-131. p 123 < GoogleBooks > ... 6. Thomas Everard held many responsible positions, was clerk of the General Court, clerk of York county, clerk of Elizabeth City county, commissioner of accounts, before and during the Revolution, etc. He married Diana (born September 12, 1726), daughter of Major Anthony Robinson, of York county. He had a daughter, Martha, who married Dr. Isaac Hall, of Petersburg, whose will, proved in Petersburg, February 3, 1806, names son Everard Hall and daughter Diana Robinson Hall, and makes George Keith Taylor and John Allison executors. ...
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush-Everard_House The Brush-Everard House, also known as the Everard House and Thomas Everard House,[1] was built by John Bush ca. 1718. One of the oldest houses in Virginia and in Williamsburg, it is located on the east side of Palace Green[2] and next to the Governor's Palace. It is a "five-bay, timber framed, story-and-a-half house of hand-split weatherboard".[3]
7. https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/locations/everard-house/