Thomas R. Dew was born 5 December 1802, the son of Thomas Dew and Lucy E. Gatewood Dew. Dew graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1820. He was appointed to teach political law in 1826 and in 1836 was made president of the college. He died in 1846, shortly after his marriage to Natilia Hay. A free-trader and a pro-slavery advocate, Dew's works included Lectures on the Restrictive System, Review of the Debate [on the abolition of slavery] in the Virginia Legislature of 1831-'32 (later incorporated into the Pro-Slavery Argument), and Digest of the Laws, Customs, Manners, and Institutions of the Ancient and Modern Nations.
From the guide to the Thomas Roderick Dew Papers, ca. 1830-1967., (Special Collections, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary)
