20 Facts About Nathaniel Claiborne

Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne was a nineteenth-century Virginia lawyer and planter, as well as an American politician who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and in the United States House of Representatives.

Nathaniel Claiborne owned 1002 acres of land in King William County in 1782, but sold it later that year.

In 1801 Nathaniel Claiborne moved to Franklin County and soon won election as the Commonwealth's attorney, and would win re-election several times before resigning in 1810 to become a part-time member of the Virginia House of Delegates, as described below, as well as maintain his own private legal practice.

Nathaniel Claiborne won election as captain of the local militia in November 1803.

Between 1802 and 1806, Nathaniel Claiborne purchased about 800 acres of land in Franklin County north of the Blackwater River, and established a plantation he called "Claybrook".

Nathaniel Claiborne owned 19 slaves in 1810,14 slaves in 1820,17 slaves in 1830,14 slaves in 1840, of whom a boy and 2 girls were 10 years old or younger.

Nathaniel Claiborne voted to instruct Virginia's congressional delegation to oppose re-chartering of the Bank of the United States, foreshadowing his future allegiance with Jacksonian Democrats, but voted in favor of establishing a new bank in Lynchburg, which was becoming a commercial hub.

Nathaniel Claiborne attended sessions regularly until his marriage in May 1815, and resigned that position on April 1,1817.

Nathaniel Claiborne wrote several articles about the conflict, which he consolidated in 1819 and republished as Notes on the War in the South; with Biographical Sketches of the Lives of Montgomery, Jackson, Sevier, the Late Gov.

Nathaniel Claiborne completed one term, from 1821 to 1825, in part because he lost his first contest to become a US Congressman, to Jabez Leftwich.

However, two years later, Nathaniel Claiborne ran as an Anti-Jacksonian and defeated Leftwich.

Nathaniel Claiborne won re-election to the United States House of Representatives several times, serving from 1825 to 1837.

Congressman Nathaniel Claiborne rose to become chairman of the Committee on Elections from 1831 to 1837.

In 1815, Nathaniel Claiborne married Elizabeth Archer Binford of Goochland County, who would survive him by many years.

Nathaniel Claiborne's elder brother, Ferdiannd Leigh Claiborne, was born in Richmond, became a tobacco merchant and married into the Taliaferro family, and died in Baltimore during the Civil War.

William Patrick Nathaniel Claiborne would serve in the Confederate Army.

Thomas Binford Nathaniel Claiborne became judge of the Franklin County court in 1874.

Ann Claiborne married James B Wilson a, d Catherine Sophronia Claiborne married twice, to David Franklin Frederick and Thomas Bailey Greer More distant relatives of later generations who became politically noteworthy include: John Francis Hamtramck Claiborne and the great-great-great grand-niece and nephew of Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs and Claiborne de Borda Pell.

Nathaniel Claiborne died on August 15,1859, near Rocky Mount, Virginia.

Nathaniel Claiborne was interred in the family cemetery at his "Claybrook" estate.