Please turn your device to landscape view for wide tables like those below.
William Cabell
Member From: 1756 - 1761
- Birth Date: March 1699 Birth Place:Warminster, England
- Death Date: 1774
- Gender: Male Race: Caucasian
- Spouse: Elizabeth Burks - marriage dates circa 1726 - 1756 (death)Margaret Meredith - marriage dates 1762 - 1768
- Children: Mary Cabell - 1727 - 1760 (c.)
William Cabell, Jr (Known more frequently as Col. Cabell) (1730 - 1798)
Joseph Cabell - (1732 - 1798)
John Cabell - (c. 1735 - 1815)
George Cabell - (1747, died in infancy)
Nicholas Cabell - (1750 - 1803) - Religion:
- Education:
- Military Service: Militia Captain
- Occupation/Profession: Various
-
Additional Info Links:
http://small.library.virginia.edu/collections/featured/the-cabell-family-papers-2/biographies/genealogy/william-cabell/
- Additional Info: There is significant uncertainty as to which of the William Cabells served as the representative from Albemarle 1757/8-1761 and from Amherst 1761-1765. Anna Marie Mitchell in “Dr. William Cabell,” a 1939 Master’s Thesis, argues from H. R. Mcilwaine’s 1909 Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia that the elder William Cabell served 1758-1765. It seems very unlikely that the elder served this entire time, because the rolls as transcribed by Cynthia M. Leonard indicate that the Burgess from Amherst in 1761 was “William Cabell, Jr.”, whereas “William Cabell” had served from Albemarle 1758-1761. Alexander Brown holds that the younger Cabell (William “2”; notwithstanding Leonard’s transcription of “Jr.”; William “2” was seldom known as “Jr.” following the birth of his son, William Cabell, Jr., in 1759) actually served all terms in question, from 1757-1765 (pp. 84-85). R. W. Cabell follows Brown in asserting that William “2” was the first Cabell Burgess (p. 37). Scholars invariably cite either Brown or Mitchell.
1756-1758 Assembly- Last name spelled Cabbell.
- Bio: An émigré from Warminster, England, William Cabell was a surveyor, magistrate, farmer, trader, vestryman, churchwarden, and pioneer in colonial Virginia. He applied his numerous talents to the consolidation of British settlement in the interior and founded a dynasty of gifted individuals who would continue to offer their services to the Commonwealth for generations.
Born in March 1699, Cabell was the first surviving son of Nicholas Cabell, a wool-stapler and a dissenter from the established Anglican Church, and Rachel Hooper Cabell. Surviving documentation is silent on the exact timing and motivation for Cabell’s emigration to the New World; family tradition holds that he first saw the shores of Virginia while a surgeon aboard a British man-of-war in the early 1720s and returned promptly after settling his accounts at home. Especially since no contemporary evidence confirms Cabell’s formal training as a physician, this account now appears unlikely. At any rate, he arrived in Virginia by at least 1726, for in that year he was appointed under-sheriff of the then sprawling Henrico County. Very soon after his arrival, and certainly no later than 1726, he also married Elizabeth Burks, his wife of thirty years.
William and Elizabeth Cabell initially settled near Dover on land provided by her father but soon joined in the mad rush to the interior. Named one of the first justices of Goochland County when it was carved from Henrico in 1728 and coroner in 1729, Cabell added to his roles that of surveyor in 1730. He definitely performed surveying work, but it is unclear if he held an official position or simply assisted his cousin, William Mayo, who was then surveyor for the County. Alexander Brown records that Cabell was “the first Englishman to enter the then wild region west of the mouth of Rockfish River for the purpose of locating lands for actual settlement.” Before he could secure his patent to these lands and relocate his family thence–which had by then grown to include three children, with a fourth on the way–the deaths of his father, aunt, and uncle prompted Cabell to return to England. In August 1735, he left his affairs in the hands of his wife, cousin William Mayo, and friend George Carrington and made the long trip to Warminster.
Upon his return to Virginia in 1741, Cabell made the pleasant discovery that his wife had increased his landholdings from 1200 to almost 8,000 acres. He then moved his family up the James River to the biggest property, a 4,800-acre patent in what is now Nelson County. He named the estate “Warminster” for the English town of his youth. The Cabells made Warminster home, and Cabell demonstrated his commitment to the place by giving his time and talents for the establishment of the institutions of local government. He petitioned the Burgesses in 1744 to form a new county and a new parish to serve the settlers in the westernmost portion of the colony. The Assembly responded by forming a new parish, St. Anne’s, and a new county, Albemarle.Cabell was one of the first justices of the peace for Albemarle, a captain in the militia, a coroner, and its official surveyor (through 1754). In 1748, he began operating his own ferry across the James River and obtained a license for a tavern. His youth in England probably included some sort of medical training, for Cabell also built a successful practice as a doctor and surgeon. From at least as early as 1752, he purchased and made medicines, sold wooden limbs, and operated a hospital near his home. The size of Cabell’s medical library, including some fifty books purchased after his arrival in Virginia, indicates the extent of his medical knowledge. Upon the formation of another county, Amherst, in 1761, Cabell was named the Presiding Magistrate and the County Lieutenant, or chief military officer.
In 1756, the woman who had protected Cabell’s interests during his sojourn in England and raised five of his children to adulthood passed away. Cabell remarried in 1762 to a woman named Margaret Meredith, the widow of Samuel Meredith from Hanover County. He survived his second wife as well; she died in 1768. William Cabell himself died in 1774, at the age of seventy-five. Having already deeded significant portions of his land to his older children upon their respective marriages and in a flurry of legal activity in 1763, he left most of his estate to his youngest son, Nicholas Cabell. - Other Notable Service and/or Elected Offices:
One of the first justices of the peace in Goochland County (1728), coroner (1729), surveyor (1730)
Cabell was one of the first justices of the peace for Albemarle, coroner, and its official surveyor (through 1754). In 1748, he began operating his own ferry across the James River and obtained a license for a tavern. His youth in England probably included some sort of medical training, for Cabell also built a successful practice as a doctor and surgeon. From at least as early as 1752, he purchased and made medicines, sold wooden limbs, and operated a hospital near his home.
Upon the formation of Amherst County, in 1761, Cabell was named the Presiding Magistrate and the County Lieutenant, or chief military officer.
| Session | District | District Number | Party | Leadership | Committees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1756-1758 | Albemarle | Courts of Justice | |||
| 1758-1761 | Albemarle | Courts of Justice |
*The information within this interactive and searchable application has been researched extensively by the House Clerk’s Office. As with any historical records of this age and breadth, there may be discrepancies and/or inconsistencies within records obtained from a variety of credible sources. Any feedback is encouraged at history@house.virginia.gov.