Dabney Carr
Dabney Carr | |
---|---|
Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court | |
In office February 24, 1824 – January 8, 1837 | |
Personal details | |
Born | (1773-04-27)April 27, 1773 Goochland County, Virginia |
Died | January 8, 1837(1837-01-08) (aged 63) Richmond, Virginia |
Spouse | Elizabeth Carr |
Relatives | Thomas Jefferson (uncle) Peter Carr (brother) Samuel Carr (brother) |
Alma mater | Hampden-Sydney College |
Profession | Lawyer, writer, judge |
Dabney Carr (April 27, 1773 – January 8, 1837) was a Virginia lawyer, writer and a justice of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.[1]
Early and family life
Martha Jefferson Carr gave birth to this Dabney Carr at Spring Forest, a Goochland County, Virginia, plantation just three weeks before the death of his father, also named Dabney Carr. His father was a close friend of Thomas Jefferson; his mother was Jefferson's sister; his elder brothers Peter Carr (who served in the Virginia General Assembly) and Samuel Carr received posthumous notoriety as possible fathers of Sally Hemings's children. Jefferson took an active role in the guiding and educating his fatherless nephew, as would his friend James Madison while Jefferson was pursuing diplomatic duties in France. The younger Carr attended Hampden-Sydney College from 1786 to 1789 and returned home to study law with William Wirt, who was just one year older. The two men (and Francis Walker Gilmer) remained friends for the rest of their lives. An extensive collection of their letters can be found in the Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
This Dabney Carr married his paternal cousin, Elizabeth Carr, in June 1802. Although both their sons died young (Dabney Jefferson Carr at age 9), their daughters Nancy Addison Conrad (1803-1868)and Jane Cary Henderson (1807-1859) would marry and have children, and notwithstanding a satirical essay discussed below, Carr educated his daughters.
Career
Carr started his private legal practice in Albemarle and adjoining counties in 1796. In 1802 Albemarle voters elected him commonwealth's attorney (prosecutor), and Carr served for a decade, until resigning in March 1811 to become an interim judge when William H. Cabell was elevated to what was later known as the Virginia Supreme Court (and on which Carr would also later serve). Although the legislature ended up electing another man to fill that vacancy, it created a new district court in chancery and elected Carr as Chancellor for the Winchester District in January 1812, so he moved to Winchester.[2] Meanwhile, Carr published several articles on non-legal topics. Using the pseudonym Obediah Squaretoes, Carr contributed a satirical article to William Wirt's The Old Bachelor (1814). Although he owned no slaves in the 1800 census and only 5 slaves in 1810, in the 1820 census (before his daughters married), Carr owned 22 slaves and his household also included 8 other white people.[3] On February 24, 1824, Virginia legislators elected Carr a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals and he moved to the outskirts of Richmond and held this office until his death. In April 1825 he declined Jefferson's offer to become a professor of law at the University of Virginia, believing himself unqualified to teach. He became known as hardworking, as well as somewhat eccentric for the long walks he favored on a physician's recommendation, particularly because his exercise also involved flinging his arms. In the 1830 census, Judge Carr owned 5 slaves.[4]
Death
Judge Dabney Carr died at his home on January 8, 1837, and is interred in Richmond's Shockoe Hill Cemetery.[5]
References
- v
- t
- e
- 3rd President of the United States (1801–1809)
- 2nd Vice President of the United States (1797–1801)
- 1st United States Secretary of State (1790–1793)
- U.S. Minister to France (1785–1789)
- Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation (1783–1784)
- 2nd Governor of Virginia (1779–1781)
- Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (1775–1776)
- Delegate, Fifth Virginia Convention (1776)
documents of
the United States
- A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
- Olive Branch Petition (initial draft; 1775)
- Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (1775)
- Declaration of Independence (1776)
- Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1777 draft and 1786 passage
- Land Ordinance of 1784
- Land Ordinance of 1785
- Northwest Ordinance (1787)
- Co-author, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)
- Transition
- Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves
- Louisiana Purchase
- Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Dunbar and Hunter Expedition
- Red River Expedition
- Pike Expedition
- Cumberland Road
- Embargo Act of 1807
- Chesapeake–Leopard affair
- Non-Intercourse Act
- First Barbary War
- Native American policy
- Burr conspiracy
- Marbury v. Madison
- West Point Military Academy
- State of the Union Addresses
- Cabinet
- Federal judicial appointments
accomplishments
- Early life and career
- Franco-American alliance
- Founder, University of Virginia
- Ratification Day
- Anti-Administration party
- Democratic-Republican Party
- Jeffersonian democracy
- Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States (1790)
- Residence Act
- Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
- A Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1801)
- American Creed
- Jefferson disk
- Swivel chair
- Megalonyx
architecture
- Barboursville
- Farmington
- Monticello
- Poplar Forest
- University of Virginia
- The Rotunda
- The Lawn
- Jefferson Hall
- Virginia State Capitol
- White House Colonnades
- The Papers of Thomas Jefferson
- Notes on the State of Virginia (1785)
- Proposals for concerted operation among the powers at war with the Pyratical states of Barbary (1786)
- European journey memorandums (1787)
- Indian removal letters
- The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (c. 1819)
- Jefferson manuscript collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society
- Founders Online
- Age of Enlightenment
- American Enlightenment
- American Philosophical Society
- American Revolution
- patriots
- Member, Virginia Committee of Correspondence
- Committee of the States
- Founding Fathers of the United States
- Historical reputation
- Jefferson and education
- Religious views
- Jefferson and slavery
- Jefferson and the Library of Congress
- Jefferson Pier
- Pet mockingbird
- National Gazette
- Sally Hemings
- Separation of church and state
- The American Museum magazine
- Tufton Farm
- Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Virginia)
- Virginia dynasty
- Ward republic
memorials
- Bibliography
- Jefferson Memorial
- Mount Rushmore
- Birthday
- Thomas Jefferson Building
- Jefferson River
- Jefferson Territory
- Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression
- Jefferson Lecture
- Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
- Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service
- Statues
- Karl Bitter statues
- Hempstead statue
- Louisville statue
- University of Virginia statue
- David d'Angers statue
- Jefferson Literary and Debating Society
- Thomas Jefferson Foundation
- Jefferson Lab
- Monticello Association
- Jefferson City, Missouri
- Jefferson College
- Thomas Jefferson School of Law
- Thomas Jefferson University
- Washington and Jefferson National Forests
- Peaks and mountains
- Jefferson Rock
- Other placenames
- Jefferson–Jackson Day
- Currency depictions
- U.S. postage stamps
- Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
depictions
- The Patriots (1946 play)
- Ben and Me (1953 short)
- 1776
- 1969 musical
- 1972 film
- Jefferson in Paris (1995 film)
- Thomas Jefferson (1997 film)
- Liberty! (1997 documentary series)
- Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series)
- John Adams (2008 miniseries)
- Jefferson's Garden (2015 play)
- Hamilton
- 2015 musical
- 2020 film
- Washington (2020 miniseries)
- Wine bottles controversy
- Cultural depictions of Sally Hemings
- Martha Jefferson (wife)
- Martha Jefferson Randolph (daughter)
- Mary Jefferson Eppes (daughter)
- Harriet Hemings (daughter)
- Madison Hemings (son)
- Eston Hemings (son)
- Thomas J. Randolph (grandson)
- George W. Randolph (grandson)
- Ellen Randolph Coolidge (granddaughter)
- Cornelia Jefferson Randolph (granddaughter)
- Francis Eppes (grandson)
- John Wayles Jefferson (grandson)
- Sarah N. Randolph (great-granddaughter)
- T. Jefferson Coolidge (great-grandson)
- Frederick Madison Roberts (great-grandson)
- Peter Jefferson (father)
- Jane Randolph Jefferson (mother)
- Lucy Jefferson Lewis (sister)
- Randolph Jefferson (brother)
- Peter Carr (nephew)
- Samuel Carr (nephew)
- Dabney Carr (nephew)
- Dabney S. Carr (grand-nephew)
- Isham Randolph (grandfather)
- William Randolph (great-grandfather)
- Henry Soane (2nd great-grandfather)