Pendleton, Edmund, 1721-1803

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).

Born in Caroline County, he was apprenticed to Benjamin Robinson, clerk of the Caroline County Court, at the age of 14. In 1737, Pendleton was made clerk of the vestry of St. Mary’s Parish in Caroline; four years later, Pendleton received a license to practice law. His success before nearby county courts, including as the prosecuting attorney for Essex County allowed Pendleton to become a member of the General Court bar in October 1745. When attorneys were forbidden to practice before both courts, Pendleton chose the General Court, and wrapped up his lower court practice— which allowed him to accept appointment as a justice of the peace for Caroline County in 1751.

From 1752 to 1776, Pendleton represented Caroline County in the House of Burgesses. He was on the Virginia Committee of Correspondence in 1773 and was a delegate to Continental Congress from Virginia in 1774. Pendleton served as President of the Virginia Committee of Safety from August 16, 1775 to July 5, 1776 (effectively serving as governor of the colony), and as President of the Virginia Convention. Fellow delegates elected Pendleton the first Speaker of Virginia's new House of Delegates in 1777. He became Judge of the High Court of Chancery in 1777. When Virginia created a Supreme Court of Appeals in 1778, Pendleton was appointed its first president, and served until his death. In 1788, delegates unanimously selected Pendleton president of the Virginia Ratifying Convention.

Pendleton died in Richmond and after lying in state there he was buried at his home, Edmundsbury, in Caroline County. Due to the ravages of time upon the estate's buildings, his body was removed circa 1907 and moved to Bruton Parish Church in what became Colonial Williamsburg.