Carter Braxton
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Carter Braxton (September 16, 1736–October 10, 1797), was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and a representative of Virginia.
He was born on Newington Plantation in King and Queen County, Virginia and educated at the College of William and Mary. He married a wealthy heiress named Judith Robinson at the age 19, but she died two years later, leaving him two daughters, and he journeyed to England for two years. (Two of Judith's first cousins once removed were loyalists, Christopher Robinson (1763-98) and cousin Beverley Robinson.) Braxton returned to the colonies in 1760, marrying again, this time to Elizabeth Corbin, and represented King William County in the Virginia House of Burgesses. He joined the patriot's Committee of Safety in Virginia in 1774 and represented his county in the Virginia Convention. When Peyton Randolph died in 1775, Braxton was appointed to take his place in the Continental Congress. He served in the Congress from February of 1776 until August, when Virginia reduced its delegation to five members. Afterwards he returned to the House of Burgesses, and later served on the State's Executive Council.
Braxton invested a great deal of his wealth in the American Revolution. He loaned money to the cause and funded shipping and privateering. The British destroyed Braxton's shipping investments and several of his plantations were destroyed during the war as well. Braxton accumulated a great deal of debt from the war and never recovered financially. He was forced to sell his estate in 1786 and move to a smaller residence ("row-house") in Richmond. Chericoke and Elsing Green are some plantations at which he resided. Chericoke is still in the family's possession today and Elsing Green is available for tourism.
His great-grandson Elliott Muse Braxton was elected to the Forty-second Congress (March 4, 1871-March 3, 1873). Another great-grandson was John W. Stevenson, who was Governor of Kentucky and member of the U.S. Senate also from Kentucky.
Braxton County, West Virginia was formed in 1836 and named in Braxton's honor.
[edit] External links
- Carter Braxton at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856
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