That Virginia was a land of opportunity was clear in the case of the Byrd family. William Byrd I, the father of the William in the last note, was the son of John, a London goldsmith of moderate means. John married Grace Stegg, the daughter of Thomas Stegg, a merchant and ship captain involved in the Virginia trade. Through involved events, William Byrd I inherited good properties in Virginia from his mother's family. (Inheritance can also improve one's opportunities.) William married Mary Horsmanden in 1673 and William II was born within the year. Four other children followed, including Ursula who married Robert Beverley, the historian.
William I, as a part of his inheritance, was deeply involved in the Indian trade from an outpost at the falls of the James River. Traders from here ranged hundreds of miles. Soon William I had expanded to buying and selling tobacco, slaves, and indentured servants with goods for his fellow Virginians from England and New England. Though William I was a shrewd and enterprising trader, his correspondence never suggests that he was given to trickery, meanness, or sharp practice. Very soon, William I became a prominent citizen and served in the government of the colony. Much of his profit went into land so that he owned more than 26,000 acres at his death.
As time went by, William I spent more and more money and time on the education of his children and of himself. The children were sent to school in England, including his daughters. Besides an academic education, William II received practical training in business and in law. In order that the Byrd name be carried on properly, William I left his entire estate when he died in 1704 to his namesake, William II. When William II inherited Westover, the family estate, he was already a man of distinction. At this time he was barely thirty but he had served in the House of Burgesses and he had been the agent for Virginia in London. He had already been elected to the Royal Society for scientific investigations.
Shortly thereafter, William II married Lucy Parke which became a financial disaster for him. When Lucy's father died, William agreed to take his lands and, in exchange, to pay his debts. The full extent of the debts was unknown and they proved to be a burden to William for many years to follow. Lucy died in 1716 and William married again. The last child of the second marriage was the first male heir and he became William III. He inherited Westover, but he dissipated the property, turned Tory during the Revolution, and ended his own life in 1777. Thus the cycle of three, so common in family histories, was evident. The family was securely launched by the first William. The second William enlarged the family fortunes. The third William Byrd squandered it all.
William II was a good writer. He wrote with a touch of understated humor that make his writing a pleasure to read, but very little of what he wrote was published in his own lifetime. By inclination he was given to polishing and rewriting his accounts with the result that most of his famous works were published after his death. Among his writings, there were diaries written in code that were never intended for publication.
William II started on a good footing with Spotswood but he turned against Spotswood over the questions of the power of the crown versus the power of the colony. In spite of the many years that Byrd spent in England, he thought of himself as a Virginian, a citizen of an independent country. Eventually, Byrd and Spotswood reconciled their differences and Byrd could visit and write about his visit to the "Enchanted Castle," the home of Spotswood which has been built atop the site of the First Germanna Colony homes. William Byrd II died in 1744, four years after Spotswood died.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.