16 Facts About Edmund Pendleton

Edmund Pendleton was an American planter, politician, lawyer, and judge.

Edmund Pendleton served in the Virginia legislature before and during the American Revolutionary War, becoming the first speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Unlike his sometime political rival Henry, Edmund Pendleton was a moderate who initially hoped for reconciliation rather than revolt.

Edmund Pendleton was born in Caroline County, Virginia, to Mary Bishop Taylor, whose young husband, Henry Edmund Pendleton, had died four months earlier.

When Edmund Pendleton was 14 years old, he became apprenticed to Benjamin Robinson, clerk of the Caroline County Court, which is where he learned about political issues and soon began reading law books and learning legal procedures.

In 1737, Edmund Pendleton was made clerk of the vestry of St Mary's Parish in Caroline, which began his involvement with practical church-related matters which would continue throughout his life.

Edmund Pendleton trained many young lawyers, including his nephews John Penn and John Taylor of Caroline.

From 1752 to 1776, Edmund Pendleton represented Caroline County in the House of Burgesses.

Edmund Pendleton was on the Virginia Committee of Correspondence in 1773 and was a delegate to Continental Congress from Virginia in 1774.

Edmund Pendleton proposed the modification in the statement of universal rights in Virginia's declaration to exclude slaves, thus winning support of slave owners.

Edmund Pendleton became judge of the High Court of Chancery in 1777.

When Virginia created a Supreme Court of Appeals in 1778, Edmund Pendleton was appointed its first president and served until his death.

Since Edmund Pendleton had no direct descendants, his nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews became his heirs.

Edmund Pendleton did not grant freedom to any slaves in his will, unlike George Washington who similarly died without direct descendants, and Wythe who freed all his slaves in his lifetime.

Philip Clayton Pendleton served as a United States District Judge, and Philip P Barbour served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court after serving as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

Edmund Henry Pendleton served in the 4th New York artillery as a Union staff officer in the Civil War; Reverend and Brigadier General William Nelson Pendleton commanded the Rockbridge Artillery and Confederate artillery units in that war, and his son Sandie Pendleton became a distinguished staff officer before dying in the Valley campaigns of 1864.