Richard Bland
| Richard Bland | |
|---|---|
Richard Bland
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| Born | May 6, 1710 Orange County, Virginia |
| Died |
October 26, 1776 (aged 66) Williamsburg, Virginia |
| Resting place | Jordan Point Plantation, Prince George County, Virginia |
| Alma mater | College of William and Mary Edinburgh University |
Richard Bland (May 6, 1710 – October 26, 1776), sometimes referred to as Richard Bland II or Richard Bland of Jordan's Point, was an American planter and statesman from Virginia and a cousin of Thomas Jefferson. He served for many terms in the House of Burgesses, and was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775.
His father, Richard Bland I, was a member of one of the main patriarchal First Families of Virginia, and was related to many of the others. This branch of the Bland family first came to Virginia in 1654, when the father of Richard I, Theodorick Bland of Westover(1629–1671), emigrated from London and Spain, where he had been attending to the family mercantile and shipping enterprises. Theodorick moved to Virginia to manage the family enterprises there as a result of the death of his elder brother, Edward Bland in 1653. Theodorick established Berkeley Plantation and Westover Plantation, and both survive still side by side as working plantations on the bank of the James River. He served several terms in the House of Burgesses, and was its speaker in 1660 when he married Governor Richard Bennett's daughter, Anna. Before he died in 1671 they had three sons: Theodorick (1663–1700), Richard (1665–1720), and John (1668–1746). Not being the eldest, Richard I moved further up the river and started his own plantation on land his father had purchased in 1656, which became known as Jordan's Point Plantation near the current Jordan Point in Prince George County, Virginia. His first wife was Mary Swann, but she died without living children. In 1702 he married Elizabeth Randolph (1680–1720). They would have five children: Mary (1703) (married Henry Lee), Elizabeth (1706) (married William Beverley), Richard (1710), Anna (1711) (married Robert Munford), and Theodorick (1718) whose son, Theodorick Bland, also became a congressman and first commanded General Washington's "Virginia Cavalry." The Richard of this generation also served in the House of Burgesses. His elder brother, Theodorick II, would become the original surveyor of the towns of Williamsburg and Alexandria.
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