Pendleton, Edmund, 1721-1803

<p>Edmund Pendleton (September 9, 1721 – October 23, 1803) was a Virginia planter, politician, lawyer and judge, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served in the Virginia legislature before and during the American Revolutionary War, rising to the position of Speaker. Pendleton attended the First Continental Congress as one of Virginia's delegates alongside George Washington and Patrick Henry, signed the Continental Association, and led the conventions both wherein Virginia declared independence (1776) and adopted the U.S. Constitution (1788).</p>

<p>Unlike his sometime political rival Henry, Pendleton was a moderate who initially hoped for reconciliation, rather than revolt. With Thomas Jefferson and George Wythe, Pendleton revised Virginia's legal code after the break with Britain. To contemporaries, Pendleton may have distinguished himself most as a judge, particularly in the appellate roles in which he spent his final 25 years, including leadership of what is now known as the Supreme Court of Virginia.</p>

<p>On hearing of his death, Congress agreed to wear badges of mourning for 30 days and expressed "their regret that another star is fallen from the splendid constellation of virtue and talents which guided the people of the United States, in their struggle for independence".</p>

PENDLETON, Edmund, (Uncle of Nathaniel Pendleton and John Penn), a Delegate from Virginia; born in Caroline County, Va., September 9, 1721; completed preparatory studies; clerk, Caroline County Court, in 1740; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1741 and practiced; justice of the peace in 1751; member of the Virginia House of Burgesses 1752-1774; member of the committee of correspondence in 1773 and of the provincial convention in 1774; Member of the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775; president of the committee of safety in 1775; president of the Virginia conventions in 1775 and 1776; member of the state house of delegates in 1776 and 1777; judge of the general court and the court of chancery in 1777; presiding judge of the court of appeals in 1779; member and president of the Virginia ratification convention in 1788; died in Richmond, Va., October 23, 1803; interment at Edmundsbury, eight miles southeast of Bowling Green, Va.; in 1907 was reinterred in Bruton Parish Church Cemetery, Williamsburg, Va.

<b>Edmund Pendleton</b><br>
<b>BIRTH</b> 9 Sep 1721<br>
<b>DEATH</b> 23 Oct 1803 (aged 82)<br>
Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia, USA<br>
<b>BURIAL</b><br>
Bruton Parish Episcopal Church Cemetery<br>
Williamsburg, Williamsburg City, Virginia

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li> 01/07/1789 VA Presidential Elector Lost 0.48% (-69.57%)</li>
<li>06/01/1788 Virginia Ratifying Convention Won 50.00% (+0.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1774 VA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>08/01/1774 VA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>