Ralph Wormeley (delegate)
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Ralph Wormeley | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Portrait by Robert Edge Pine, 1763 | |
| Member of the Virginia House of Delegates for Middlesex County | |
| In office June 30, 1788 – October 17, 1791 Serving with Francis Corbin | |
| Preceded by | Overton Corby |
| Succeeded by | Overton Corby |
| Member of the Governor's Advisory Council of the Colony of Virginia | |
| In office 1771–1775 Serving with Robert Burwell, William Byrd III, John Camm, Robert Carter III, Richard Corbin, George William Fairfax, Philip Ludwell Lee, Thomas Nelson Jr., William Nelson, John Page, John Tayloe | |
| Preceded by | James Horrocks |
| Succeeded by | position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 1745 |
| Died | January 19, 1806 (aged 60) |
| Spouse | Eleanor Tayloe |
| Relations | Ralph Wormeley Sr. Ralph Wormeley Jr.(great-grandfather) Ralph Wormeley IV(father) |
| Alma mater | Eton Trinity Hall, Cambridge University |
| Occupation | Planter, politician |
Ralph Wormeley (April 1745 – January 19, 1806) was an American planter and politician who served as a member of the Governor's Advisory Council (1771-1775), was suspected of being a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War, and after the conflict represented Middlesex County, Virginia in the Virginia House of Delegates (1788-1791) as well as at the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788, where he voted in favor of ratification of the federal Constitution.[1][2][3]
Born to the former Jane Bowles of Maryland at the Wormeley family's Rosegill plantation in 1745. His name honored not only his burgess father, as well as two paternal ancestors who had served on the colony's governor's council, Ralph Wormeley Sr. and Ralph Wormeley Jr. He received a private education locally as befit his class, then traveled to England when he was twelve to finish his education at Eton, then at Trinity Hall of Cambridge University, from which he graduated when he was 18. His sister Elizabeth (1737-1785) became the second wife of merchant Dudley Digges of Yorktown, who was a burgess and member of the colony's governor's council.
Career
After returning from England with a commission as Comptroller for the Rappahannock River port (collecting tobacco taxes), he began a mixed career of public offices and tobacco export, first assisting his father with the family's Rosegill plantation. He also became known for his literary tastes and socialized with the local gentry (including George Washington. In June 1771 Wormeley accepted an appointment to the Virginia Governor's Council, essentially the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly, and despite speaking against new taxation measures, remained until the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.[4][5]
On April 4, 1776, patriots intercepted his letter to fellow planter John R. Grymes concerning Lord Dunmore, which prompted Virginia authorities to require that he post a large bond and remain on his father's western Virginia lands, despite his protests.[6] His two brothers were Loyalists and took up arms in the conflict, and one would return to Britain after the conflict. In 1781 a British privateer raided Rosegill and nearby plantations, prompting both Wormeley and his father to petition the US government for compensation, particularly since when the captured slaves were recovered after the Franco-American victory at Yorktown they had smallpox.[7][8][9]
Following the conflict, Middlesex County voters thrice elected Wormeley as one of their representatives to the Virginia House of Delegates (1788-1791).[10] Wormeley also represented Middlesex county at the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788, where he voted in favor of ratification of the federal Constitution.[11] Wormeley (or his son of the same name) also served as Middlesex county sheriff in 1794 and 1795.[12]
In the 1787 tax census, Ralph Wormeley was responsible for two white adult males who lived in Middlesex County, as well as 54 adult slaves, 35 teenaged slaves, 13 horses including a stud horse, and 226 cattle. The "non-tithable" annotation can indicate the owner as an office-holder, and this man was a legislator at the time.[13] In the 1810 federal census (after his death, but during the life of his namesake son), his son Ralph VI owned 32 slaves and his widow Eleanor 84 slaves in Middlesex County.[14]
