Benjamin Waller (1 October 1716 – 1 May 1786) was an American planter, lawyer, politician, military officer and judge.

Early life and education

Waller was born on October 1, 1716 at his father's Enfield plantation in

King William County King William County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,810. Its county seat is King William. King William County is located in the Middle Peninsula and is included in the Greater ...

in what was then the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

. His mother was Dorothy King, and his father, Col. John Waller had emigrated from Britain, trained as a lawyer utilizing the legal library of Sir John Randolph and become a major landowner in the colony, as well as served in the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

as would this youngest son. Thus he was descended from what would later be called the

First Families of Virginia The First Families of Virginia, or FFV, are a group of early settler families who became a socially and politically dominant group in the British Colony of Virginia and later the Commonwealth of Virginia. They descend from European colonists who ...

. His paternal ancestors had emigrated from

Newport Pagnell Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area. The town is separated from the rest of the u ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the branch of a family long seated at

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

and previously at

Groombridge Place Groombridge Place is a moated manor house in the village of Groombridge near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. It has become a tourist attraction, noted for its formal gardens and vineyards. The manor house has an associated dower house. History ...

Kent, England Kent is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Greater London to the north-west. ...

. John Waller Esquire was one of the signatories to the Second Charter of Virginia in 1609. This man, Benjamin Waller, received a private education appropriate to his class.

Career

By 1738, Benjamin Waller had been admitted to the Virginia bar, and began serving as King's Attorney (prosecutor) in Gloucester County. The following year (1739), Waller began serving as clerk of the

James City County James City County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county, the county seat is the adjacent independent city of Williamsburg. Located o ...

court, whose jurisdiction included part of

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

, the colony's capital city. His father had become the first clerk of the King William County Court, and then the Spotsylvania County court in 1720 and his elder brothers and nephews would hold that Spotsylvania clerk position through the American Revolutionary War. Meanwhile Benjamin Waller served as clerk of the general court (which handled the most severe criminal cases, such as murder, as well as appeals of cases from the county courts) for a number of years. While Virginia was still a colony he also served as clerk of "The Court of Oyer and Terminer" (1739) and Clerk of the "Committees of Propositions and Grievances, and Privileges, and Elections" (1743). James City County voters elected him to replace Lewis Burwell upon the latter's death in 1742, and continued to re-elect him so he served alongside Carter Burwell, then Joseph Morton, then Lewis Burwell Jr.. His brother William Waller also served part time as a legislator, as had their father. Despite his offices under King George III, Waller was a patriot as well as eminent lawyer, and his name is on the list of the Committee of Safety for the city of Williamsburg Dec. 1774 (Forces Archives.) As clerk of courts, it fell to Benjamin Waller to read the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

from the Williamsburg courthouse steps on July 25, 1776. In 1777, Waller was named presiding judge of the court of admiralty in

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It had a population of 15,425 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern par ...

. He later served as a judge on the first

Court of Appeals An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellat ...

from 1779 until 1785 when the court moved to

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

. (WMQ July 1898). He was an eminent lawyer of Colonial times and held many important offices under the crown. Waller also served as mentor and teacher of law to

George Wythe George Wythe (; 1726 – June 8, 1806) was an American academic, scholar, and judge who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The first of the seven Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, signatories of the ...

Personal life

He married Martha Hall (1728-1780) in 1746 and they had 10 children. Martha "tended to the household overseeing the children and directing the work of their several slaves. One of his grandsons, William Waller, married the daughter of U.S. President John Tyler and lived in Benjamin Waller's house in Williamsburg".

Death and legacy

Most descendants believe Waller died on May 1, 1786 in Williamsburg,Sons of the American Revolution application of James Dearing Fauntleroy approved in 1928; p. 443 of 459 on ancestry.com although some sources list his death date as May 2, 1796 on an outlying plantation. Williamsburg's Waller Street is named for Benjamin Waller and his family. His grandson,

Littleton Waller Tazewell Littleton Waller Tazewell (December 17, 1774May 6, 1860) was a Virginia lawyer, plantation owner, and politician who served as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator and the 26th Governor of Virginia, as well as a member of the Virginia House of D ...

, continued the family's planter and politician traditions, serving in the Virginia legislature and as Governor of Virginia, as well as in both houses of the U.S. Congress. Author

Alex Haley Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family.'' ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and ...

sketched out the family's English origins in his book '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family'', since his kidnapped African ancestor had become property of a "John Waller", probably related to this man. File:Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waller 1793.jpg, Letter from

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

to Benjamin Waller, 1793. File:Coat of Arms of Benjamin Waller.svg, Coat of Arms of Benjamin Waller File:Benjamin Waller Williamsburg armorial bookplate.jpg,

Armorial A roll of arms (or armorial) is a collection of coat of arms, coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms. The oldest extant armorials date to the m ...

bookplate An , also known as a bookplate (or book-plate, as it was commonly styled until the early 20th century), is a printed or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the front endpaper, to indicate ownership. Simple typographical bookplates are ...

of Benjamin Waller

References

External links

Dr. Robert P. Waller House (grandson of Benjamin Waller), Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

George Washington to Benjamin Waller, April 2, 1760, George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waller, Benjamin 1716 births 1786 deaths 18th-century American Episcopalians American legal scholars American slave owners Clerks College of William & Mary alumni County King's attorneys in Virginia House of Burgesses members People from King William County, Virginia Politicians from Williamsburg, Virginia People of Virginia in the American Revolution People from colonial Virginia Virginia lawyers Virginia state court judges Justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia 18th-century American politicians 18th-century American judges