George Wythe, American jurist. member Virginia House of Burgesses, 1754-1755, 58-68, clerk, 1769-1775; member Continental Congress, 1775-1776; member Virginia Convention to ratify United States Constitution, 1788.
Background
George Wythe was born in 1726 in Elizabeth City County (now Hampton), Virginia, United States, into a prominent Virginia planting family. At his father's death in 1729 the family estate went to an elder brother, and George did not enjoy the advantages of considerable wealth until his brother died in 1755.
Education
George's education was therefore largely informal; he learned Latin and Greek from his mother and studied law while working with an attorney. In 1790 Wythe received the honorary degree of LL. D. from the College of William & Mary.
Career
Bar, 1746; practiced law (with John Lewis) Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Attorney general Virginia Colony (in absence of Peyton Randolph), 1754. Member Virginia House of Burgesses, 1754-1755, 58-68, clerk, 1769-1775.
Mayor Williamsburg (Virginia), 1768.
Member Continental Congress, 1775-1776. Signed Declaration of Independence, 1776.
Revised laws of Virginia (with Edmund Pendleton and Thomas Jefferson), 1779. Speaker Virginia House of Delegates, 1777.
Judge Virginia High Court of Chancery, 1778.
Professor of law and police (1st chair of law in American), College William and Mary, 1779, also member board visitors. Ex-officio member Virginia Supreme Court Appeals, delivered opinion in Commonwealth versus Caton, 1782. Member Virginia Convention to ratify United States Constitution, 1788.
Founded small law school, 1790.
Emancipated his Negro servants in his will. Poisoned (along with a servant) by grand-nephew George Wythe Sweeney to gain his inheritance.
Lived long enough to disinherit grandnephew. Author: Decisions of Cases in Virginia, 1795.
Politics
As the crisis between the Colonies and Great Britain developed, Wythe protested against the new imperial policies.
Membership
Member Virginia House of Burgesses, 1754-1755, 58-68, clerk, 1769-1775. Member Continental Congress, 1775-1776. Member Virginia Convention to ratify United States Constitution, 1788.
Connections
Married Ann Lewis, December 1747. Married second, Elizabeth Taliaferro, 1755.