John Chiswell

Colonel John Chiswell (born about 1710, died by suicide October 14, 1766), was a noted plantation owner, member of the Colonial House of Burgesses, and a land speculator in colonial Virginia.

His father was Charles Chiswell (born about 1678) and Esther (Dabney?) Chiswell. Charles Chiswell was once Clerk of the General Court of Virginia. He married Elizabeth Randolph, daughter of William Randolph, on May 19, 1736, and they had four children: Elizabeth Chiswell, b. 24 May 1737; Susanna Randolph Chiswell, b. 1740, Williamsburg, VA; Mary Chiswell, b. About 1748, Hanover Co., VA; Lucy Chiswell, born 3 Aug 1752. His wife died in 1766: "Mrs. ELIZABETH CHISWELL, relict of the late col. John Chiswell, at William Nelson, esqr's, in Caroline. She died in her 54th year, and was a most amiable lady: From her door, the needy were never sent empty away."

In 1752, he operated an iron furnace near Fredericksburg, Virginia. John Chiswell discovered lead outcroppings in 1756 in Wythe County, Virginia. This was operated by the Lead Mine Company, which was later involved in the John Robinson estate scandal. After Virginia declared its independence, the mines were operated by the state, and became an important lead supplier for the patriot cause.

The mines were so significant, that they became a landmark and part of a treaty in 1768 to establish the lands of Great Britain and the Native Americans in the Treaty of Hard Labour and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. "..the treaty at Fort Stanwix, John Stuart on behalf of Great Britain had negotiated with the Cherokee tribe the treaty of Hard Labor, South Carolina, October 14, by which the boundary line was continued direct from Tryon Mountain to Colonel Chiswell's mine (present Wytheville, Virginia), and thence in a straight line to the mouth of the Great Kanawha."

John Chiswell was elected as a burgess from Hanover county from 1744 to 1755, when he moved to Williamsburg and represented the city from 1756 to 1758. He was closely aligned by marriage and family with many of the landed gentry and upper classes of Virginia.

A fort was established in 1758 by William Byrd and named for Colonel John Chiswell. It was used during the French and Indian War, but was later abandoned. The Fort Chiswell Site is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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