Peyton Randolph (1779 – December 26, 1828) was a lawyer and Democratic-Republican politician from Virginia who, as the senior member of the Governor's Council, served as acting Governor of Virginia for eight days, following the death of George William Smith on December 26, 1811. He went on to be the official reporter of the Virginia Supreme Court until his death in 1828.[1]

Biography

Randolph was born in Williamsburg, Virginia to Elizabeth Nicholas and Edmund Jennings Randolph. Peyton Randolph's father had been a delegate to the Continental Congress, Governor of Virginia, and the first U.S. Attorney General, and his great uncle and namesake was Founding Father Peyton Randolph.[2] The younger Peyton Randolph graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1798, where he studied law, and then began private practice in Richmond.[1][3]

Randolph was elected to the Virginia Privy Council and served there from 1809 to 1812. Following the death of Governor George William Smith and 68 others in the Richmond Theatre fire on December 26, 1811, Randolph became the acting governor of Virginia from December 26, 1811, until James Barbour was elected on January 3, 1812.[4][1]

For many years Randolph was a clerk of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. He became the Court's official reporter from 1821 until his death, producing the Virginia Reports, the Virginia Supreme Court's official published case records. Randolph published five volumes of the Reports, with a sixth volume published posthumously in 1829.[3]

Still working on his court reports, Peyton Randolph died of pulmonary disease in Richmond on December 26, 1828.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Under the Editorial Supervision of Lyon Gardiner Tyler. Lewis historical publishing Company. 1915. p. 47-48.
  2. ↑ "Peyton Randolph (d. 1828) to Thomas Jefferson, 16 July 1816". Founders Online. National Archives. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
  3. 1 2 Bryson, William Hamilton (2000). Virginia Law Books By William Hamilton Bryson. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 9780871692399.
  4. ↑ "Peyton Randolph". National Governors Association. January 15, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
  5. ↑ Brock, Robert Alonzo (1888). Virginia and Virginians: Eminent Virginians ... History of Virginia from Settlement of Jamestown to Close of the Civil War. H.H. Hardesty. p. 113. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyton_Randolph_(governor)