Wythe, George, 1726-1806

Mayor of Williamsburg, Va., educator, and jurist.

George Wythe was born in 1726 in Elizabeth City County, Va. He attended the College of William and Mary. Wythe studied law and was a member and clerk of the House of Burgesses. Member of Continental Congress. Signed Declaration of Independence. Speaker of House of Delegates. Judge of Virginia High Court of Chancery. Professor of Law and Police at William and Mary, 1779-1790. Moved to Richmond where he died in 1806.

At this time, George Wythe was the Judge of the Chancery Court in Virginia. Alexander Donald was a Richmond tobacco merchant and associate of the London mercantile firm Burton and Donald.

Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Virginia, law professor.

Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Virginia.

Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Virginia, chancellor in court of chancery, law professor.

Wythe was a Virginia lawyer, judge, and legal scholar. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence and served at the U.S. Constitutional Convention, but did notsign the Constitution. Wythe was appointed as the first professor of law in the U.S. at the College of William and Mary in 1779. He was a close friend of Thomas Jefferson, who received Wythe's book collection upon Wythe's death. Wythe was a slaveholder, but later became an abolitionist and freed his slaves. He was poisoned by his nephew with arsenic, but survived long enough to exclude his nephew from his will.

Signer from Virginia.