William Byrd II was a Virginian planter, slave owner, lawyer, surveyor and writer. Born in the English colony of Virginia, Byrd was educated in London, where he practiced law. Upon his father's death, Byrd returned to Virginia in 1705. He served as a member of the Virginia Governor's Council from 1709 to 1744. Byrd was also the London agent for the House of Burgesses in the 1720s. His life showed aspects of both the British colonial gentry and an emerging American identity.
William Byrd II
Lucy Parke Byrd, William Byrd II's first wife
Maria Taylor Byrd, William Byrd's second wife (1724–his death in 1744)
Jane Byrd, daughter of William Byrd II and Maria Taylor Byrd, later the wife of Hon. John Page of North End, Gloucester County, Virginia, 1750
The Colony of Virginia was an English, later British, colonial settlement in North America between 1606 and 1776.
The Indian massacre of 1622, depicted in a 1628 woodcut
Cover to a history of the Plantation of Virginia between 1612 and 1624, compiled by its planters
Lines showing the legal treaty frontiers between the Virginia Colony and Indian Nations in various years and today's state boundaries. Red: Treaty of 1646. Green: Treaty of Albany (1684). Blue: Treaty of Albany (1722). Orange: Proclamation of 1763. Black: Treaty of Camp Charlotte (1774). The area west of this line in present-day Southwest Virginia was ceded by the Cherokee in 1775.
Hanover County Courthouse (c. 1735–1742), with its arcaded front, is typical of a numerous colonial courthouse built in Virginia.
