Virginia planter
Richard Bland I (August 11, 1665 – April 1720), sometimes known as Richard Bland of Jordan's Point, was a Virginia planter and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and the father of Founding Father Richard Bland.
Early and family life.
The son of Theodorick Bland of Westover, and his wife Anna Bennett, the daughter of Governor Richard Bennett., Bland was born into the First Families of Virginia. His maternal grandfather Richard Bennett was the first elected Governor of the Colony of Virginia, during the English Commonwealth period. His brothers were the surveyor Theodorick Bland and John Bland, who was the great-grandfather of Chancellor Theodorick Bland of Maryland.
Bland married Mary Swan, the daughter of councillor Thomas Swann. They had seven children, none of whom reached adulthood. After his first wife died in September 1700, the widower remarried on February 11, 1701/02, to Elizabeth Randolph, the daughter of William Randolph. They had five children before she too predeceased Bland:
Bland's many notable descendants, in addition to his son and namesake, include Roger Atkinson Pryor and Joseph Pembroke Thom, a Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates.
Career.
Bland operated plantations using enslaved labor. He was also a county commissioner of Charles City County and later Prince George County, a member of the founding Board of Visitors of The College of William &amp; Mary, and is noted in the church records as a member of the Vestry of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, which authorized in 1710 the building of the present Church structure.
When his father died in 1671, Bland's elder brother, Theodorick inherited Westover Plantation and legally joined Richard in its ownership. The brothers eventually conveyed 1,200 acres of the Westover Plantation lands in Charles City County to William Byrd I in 1688 for £300 and 10,000 pounds of tobacco and cask. Richard Bland then established the Jordan's Point Plantation across the James River in Prince George County, where he died in 1720.
Death and legacy.
Preceding her husband in death, Elizabeth Randolph Bland died January 1720.
Notes.
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References.
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