Home Genealogy People Randolph History page 2 Gravestones Thomas Jefferson's political agenda began to change, because there is a vast difference between political philosophy and the practicality of successfully acting as chief executive. John Randolph opposed Jefferson's plan to appropriate $2 million to buy Florida from Spain, but to use the money to pay France to pressure Spain into ceding Florida. John Randolph defeated the plan. He then opposed a bill to prohibit importation of British commodities and another bill prohibiting importation of goods that were obtainable from other countries or could be produced in the United States. He opposed strengthening the navy. Because of his opposition to the administration he was not re-elected as chairman of the ways and means committee and was no longer considered the leader of the Republican Party. He continued in congress as an independent. He continued his opposition to war with England even after it was formally declared in 1812 and his speeches bordered on treason, but never crossed the line.   In 1813 he was defeated for re-election by John Eppes, Jefferson's son-in-law by a thin margin. In 1815 his constituents tired of the dull Eppes' and missed John Randolph's fiery speeches. They re-elected him to congress. His speeches resulted in challenges to duels several times, even with his relative Thomas Mann Randolph, but the participants were reconciled at the last moment. He challenged Daniel Webster to a duel two times, but Webster declined. He did fight as duel with Henry Clay. Both missed on the first shot. Clay's second shot went though Randolph's coat, but John refused to shoot Clay and shot in the air. Afterwards they two shook hands.   He served in congress through John Quincy Adam's presidency and retired due to poor health in 1829. Later that year he was a member of the legislative assembly to revise the constitution of 1776 along with three presidents and a chief justice. President Jackson asked him to be an envoy to Russia. He arrived in Saint Petersburg on 10 August 1830 and was presented in court to the Czar. He was soon too ill to perform his mission and went to London to recuperate and then returned home. In 1833 he began a trip to London, but on the way died in Philadelphia on 24 May 1833.              The American Civil War   George Wythe Randolph was the grandson of Thomas Jefferson. He was the son of Jefferson's daughter Martha and Thomas Mann Randolph. He was a Richmond lawyer educated at Cambridge and the University of Virginia. He had six years service in the Navy and was a member of the Virginia Succession Convention.  He joined the army in 1861 and attained the rank of Brigadier General.    During the American Civil War George Wythe Randolph succeeded Judah Benjamin in the cabinet post of Secretary of War of the Confederate States of America on 22 March 1862.      President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States had been Secretary of War in Washington. He was an autocratic man and treated this cabinet position as if it were his assistant. George Randolph conducted the business of the War Office competently, but President Davis was in effect director. However, many people disliked Davis and would only communicate with him through George Randolph.     In the past George Randolph had served on the general staff of General Joseph E. Johnston and the General considered him the best Secretary of War the Confederate States had. George Randolph did manage to obtain more authority in the hectic days between 1862 and the fall of Vicksburg by industriously attending to the many details of troop movements and logistics that did not come to President Davis' attention.   The fall of Vicksburg was a confederate blunder because they had more than enough troops to defeat General Grant. General Johnston wrote that he told Randolph if the army east of the Mississippi were united under one command 70,000 troops could be brought against Grant's 45,000 ensuring a victory or even the destruction of the Union army. Randolph then showed General Johnston his letter to General Holmes instructing him to cross the Mississippi and united with General Pemberton. Then he showed General Johnston a note from President Davis to General Holmes countermanding this order.   General Johnston wrote that a few days later General Randolph resigned from the War Department, a great injury to the Confederacy. If George Randolph's reinforcement of Vicksburg had succeeded the outcome of the war may have been different. George Randolph went back to his law practice and entered the Virginia Legislature.       The Decline of Randolph Political Power   In the early years of the United States an elite class of colonial aristocrats held power and political offices in the state of Virginia and in the federal government. They did not believe in democracy except in theory. They would have been appalled at the idea of appealing to the masses for votes. As a political philosopher Thomas Jefferson was almost alone in believing in political equality. But he was also from the elite class and when he assumed the presidency, perhaps out of necessity, there was a shift in the policies he supported.   In the early United States there was a property requirement to vote, as there was in England. But in England most of the farmers were tenant farmers and owned no land. Some politicians were elected to parliament with as few as nineteen votes. In America almost everyone owned land. Many of the small farmers and frontiersmen did not vote. They expected the elite educated class to rule. This changed after the War of 1812.   President Andrew Jackson was born poor and became a rough hewn frontier lawyer. He was comfortable with Indian fighters and hunters who could not read or write. But he was a great hero that the common people thought was the ideal man. In 1814 Andrew Jackson defeated the Indians. He forced Spain to cede Florida to the United States. He completely routed the British Army at the Battle of New Orleans. This happened a few days after the war was over, but with communications in those days, neither side knew it.   In 1824 Jackson ran for the presidency and the ordinary people gave him the most electoral votes, but two other candidates also received many votes and Jackson did not have a majority. The House of Representative declared John Quincy Adams the winner, although he had fewer votes than Jackson, because Henry Clay shifted his delegates to Adams. In 1828 the ordinary people gave Jackson a sweeping majority. His frontier friends came to his white house reception. They had a wild celebration that appalled the elite. They stood on the furniture in their muddy boots and rampaged though the white house eating, drinking and breaking furniture.   This marked the end of colonial aristocracy in America and replaced it with a populist democracy. The Randolphs had never been democrats. Edmund Randolph never showed any sympathy for democracy. As a young man John of Roanoke tended towards Jacobinism, but abandoned it and remained a life long aristocrat. Some of the Randolphs sympathized with the ideals of the French revolution, but were appalled and disillusioned when it turned into a bloody massacre. The Randolphs rose to political power in 17th century Virginia in a caste system and did not adapt to the changing political environment.    Randolphs were related to most important colonial families   The Randolphs were relatives of almost all of the most important colonial families including the: Washingtons, Lees, Jeffersons, Harrisons, Churchills, Bollings, Marshalls, Bullifants, Rolfes, Beverleys, Page, Rylands, Carters, Blands, Burwells, Tanfields, and Graves.    □William Randolph of Turkey Island married Mary Isham of Bermuda             Hundred, from an ancient Northamptonshire family. □ William's son Richard Randolph of Curles married Jane Bolling, the  great- granddaughter of John Rolfe and Pocahontas. □ William's son Thomas married Judith Churchill. □ William's grandson, William Randolph, married Anne daughter of Benjamin Harrison V, who signed the declaration of independence and whose  descendents included two presidents. Their son Peter Randolph of Chatsworth married Lucy Bolling the great-great- granddaughter of John Rolfe and Pocahontas. Their son Beverly was the governor of Virginia. □ Jane, the daughter of William's son Isham, was the wife of Peter Jefferson and the mother of Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United  States.  □ Peyton Randolph, son of William's son Sir John, married Elizabeth Harrison – William's son Edward resettled in England and married Elizabeth Graves, a descendent of Captain Thomas Graves who was a member of the first permanent English Settlement in American and a member of the first assembly in North America. Edward later returned to Virginia. Their son Edward married Elizabeth Harrison, from the family that produced two U.S. presidents. □ Theodorik, son of William's daughter Elizabeth married Frances Bolling.   Public offices held by the Randolphs of Virginia included:    □ William Randolph of Turkey Island was County Clerk of Henrico County,              1760-1671, Attorney General of Virginia, member of the House of             Burgesses, member of the Council of Virginia. □ Henry Randolph, Clerk to the House of Burgesses, member of the House of Burgesses □ Sir John Randolph, Clerk of the House of Burgesses and Speaker of the House              of Burgesses, Treasurer of Virginia, Recorder of Norfolk Borough. □ John Randolph son of Sir John, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Attorney             General of Virginia. □ Peyton, son of Sir John, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, Attorney General             of Virginia,   Chairman of the 1st and the 2nd Continental Congress,             Lieutenant Governor of  Virginia, acting Governor of Virginia, Reporter              to the Supreme Court of Appeals. □ Peter Randolph, Son of William II, was Clerk of the House of Burgesses. □ Edmund Randolph, son of John, appointed first Attorney General of the             United States by President George Washington, Delegate to the             Constitution Convention in 1776, Governor of Virginia, Member of the             House of Delegates. □ John Randolph of Roanoke, United States Senator and Member of the House              of Representatives for 28 years, member of the legislative assembly to              revise the constitution of 1776, appointed  diplomat to Russia by             President Andrew Jackson. □Thomas Mann Randolph, Member of the House of Representatives, Governor   of Virginia, colonel of Infantry in the War of 1812. □ Beverley Randolph, Governor of Virginia, member of the House of Delegates,             Chairman of the House of Delegates, Justice of Henrico County, Virginia,             Burgess of William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. □ Peter Randolph of Chatsworth, colonial Surveyor General of Customs,             Clerk of the House of Burgesses.              □ Dr. P.G. Randolph, Acting U. S. Secretary of War. □ George Wythe Randolph, Secretary of War for the Confederate States of America, Brigadier General, member of the Virginia Legislature   The Randolph References   1-Randolph Robert [1], - 1602  + Roberts, Rose .2 Randolph, William [2], [3], [4], [5], 1572 - 1657   ..+ Lane, Dorothy, 1589 – 1624 ..3 Randolph, Richard  [1], [3], [4], [6], 1621 - 1678 ..+Ryland, Elizabeth, 1625 - 1699 ..4 Randolph, Colonel William of Turkey Island [1],[ 4], [7], [8], [9], [10], 1651 – 1711 ...+Isham, Mary of Bermuda Hundred, 1652 - 1735 ...5 Randolph, Edward Senor of Bremo [7], [11], [12], 1695 - ....+Graves, Elizabeth Grosvenor       ....6 Randolph, Edward, [7], [12]      .....+Harrison, Lucy     .....7 Randolph, Harrison [7], 1743 - 1803 ......+Jones, Mary        ......8 Randolph, Beverly Harrison [7], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], 1795 - 1866 .......+Bullifant, Maria C, 1800 - 1841 .......9 Randolph, Mary Henry [7], [13], [14], [16], 1826 - 1901 ........+ McCreight, Robert Jackson, 1819 - 1888 ........10 McCreight, Edward Oscar [7], [13], [14], [18], [19], [20], 1849 - 1905 ..........+Alexander, Margaret Elizabeth, 1850 - 1910 ..........11 McCreight, Beverly Randolph Sr.  [7], [13], [14], [19], [20], [21], 1886 - 1973 ............+Sullivan, Sarah Katherine, 1886 - 1955 ............12 McCreight, Beverly Randolph Jr [14], [19], [20], [22], [23], 1911 - 1955 ..............+Brady, Catherine Rosabel, 1915 - 1984 ..............13 McCreight, William Randolph [14], [19], [20], [24], [25], [26], [27], 1934 -  ................+ Schumann, Antje, 1940 -   Bibliography   In addition to the references in footnotes, diaries, letters and the following publications were used in this paper:     □  Metcalf, Howard Hurtig, Randolph Lineages, Anundsen Publishing 1991 □  Jonathan Daniels, The Randolphs of Virginia, Doubleday 1972 □  Grady Lee Randolph, The Randolphs of Virginia: After the American Revolution G.L. Randolph Publisher 1990 □  Charles Campbell, History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia,  J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1860 □  Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker, Torchbearer of the Revolution, Princeton University Press 1940 □  Ella Lonn, The Colonial Agents in the Southern Colonies, University of North Carolina Press 1945 □  George W. Bagby, The Old Virginia Gentleman, Dietz Press 1938 □  William Caball Bruce, John Randolph of Roanoke, G. P. Putnam's Sons 1922 q  Powhatan Bouldin, Home Reminiscences of John Randolph of Roanoke,  Clemmitt and Jones 1877 □  Conway, Moncure Daniel, Omitted Chapters of History Disclosed in the Life and Papers of  Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia; First Attorney-General United States, Secretary of State, Kessinger Publishing  2007, G. P. Putnam's Sons 1888 E. M. Bradford, Edmund Randolph: Lawyer, political leader of Virginia, and American Statesman, Kansas University Press 1994 □  Wassell Randolph, William Randolph I of Turkey Island, Henrico County, Virginia and His Immediate Descendants, Seebode Mimeo Service distributed by Cossitt Library 1949  □  Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Speech of Thomas J. Randolph in the House of Delegates of Virginia, on the Abolition of Slavery, Samuel Shepherd & Co 1832 □  Charles Henry Browning, Randolph family of Virginia, and Thomas Jefferson, C.H. Browning 1908 □  Jonathan Daniels, The Randolph's of Virginia; America's Foremost Family, Doubleday 1972 □  Wassell Randolph, Henry Randolph I, 1623-1773 of Henrico County, Virginia, and His Descendants: Preceded by short review of the Randolph family in early England and  elsewhere, Cossitt Library 1952 □  Edmund Randolph, Edmund Randolph's Essay on the Revolutionary History of Virginia  (1774-1782), Virginia  Historical Society 1935 Footnotes [1]  David Faris, Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth Century Colonists,  (New England Historic Genealogical  Society, 2nd Edition 1999), page 303. [2]  Ancestors of American Presidents, Roberts, President 3, page 48. [3]  David Faris, Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth Century Colonists,  (New England Historic Genealogical  Society, 2nd Edition 1999), page 302. [4]  Gary Boyd Roberts, The Royal Descendents of 500 Immigrants to the American Colonies of the United  States,  (Genealogical Publishing Company Inc. 2002), page 169. [5]  H. J. Eckenrode, The Randolphs,  (Bobbs-Morrill Publishers, 1946), page 26. [6]  H. J. Eckenrode, The Randolphs,  (Bobbs-Morrill Publishers, 1946), page 32. [7]  Anne Wilbur maiden name Randolph. granddaughter of Edward Graves Randolph, "Randolph family  Genealogy," compiled from original letters from Mary Henry Randolph McCreight to  her brother,  Edward Graves Randolph, and Anne Randolph's mother, other family and public documents and personal interviews. [8]  Gary Boyd Roberts, The Royal Descendents of 500 Immigrants to the American Colonies of the United  States,  (Genealogical Publishing Company Inc. 2002), pages 169, 338. [9]  H. J. Eckenrode, The Randolphs,  (Bobbs-Morrill Publishers, 1946), pages 26, 30- 31,38-40, 44,69, 108, 110,  168, 170, 233, 290. [10]  Howard Hurtig Metcalf, Randolph Linages,  (Anundsen Publishing 1991), pages 22- 100. [11]  David Faris, Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth Century Colonists,  (New England Historic Genealogical  Society, 2nd Edition 1999), page 303. [12]  H. J. Eckenrode, The Randolphs,  (Bobbs-Morrill Publishers, 1946), page 42. [13]  Genealogy found in the trunk of Mary Henry Randolph, born 29 March 1826, died 18 April 1901, written in her hand after 2 November 1886.. [14]  Charles C. McCreight of Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland, "Descendents of William McCreight in the USA," Notes for manuscript  1967. [15]  Will Book Henrico County Virginia, Mary (Polly) Bullifant, dated 29 May 1817, Henrico County WB 5 PG  197. [16]  Carolyn Hutchinson Brown, The Bullifants of Virginia,  (Published 2002), pages 17, 23, 139. [17]  Charles City County Virginia Deed Book, book 5 page 299. [18]  Margaret Elizabeth McCreight,  maiden name Alexander, Daughters of the American Revolution Application  Margaret Alexander McCreight in her own handwriting. [19]  Dr. Charles E. McCreight, grandson of Edward Oscar McCreight and Margaret Elizabeth Alexander, 29 September 1994, "Alexander Genealogy." [20]  McCreight Family Bible,  (published by B. B. Mussey, Boston in 1844). [21]  "Hickory Daily Record," obituary of Robert Sullivan McCreight 28 April 2002. [22]  Bible presented by C.P.W. Sullivan,  (this Bible has the handwritten inscription: "Presented to Mr. & Mrs. B.  R. McCreight Jr. by C.P.W. Sullivan, Christmas 1941." The wedding of Beverly McCreight and Rose  Brady was performed in York South Carolina in the Methodist Church on 29 October 1933). [23]  Death Certificate. [24]  Birth Certificate, Catawba County, North Carolina USA. [25]  Charles Rebakah Mauney, maiden name Brady, "Brady Family Genealogy," Daughter of Charles Alvin Brady, granddaughter of John George A. Brady, great- granddaughter of George W. Yount. [26]  U. S. Passport. [27]  Marriage License, William Randolph McCreight and Antje Schumann, Washington, D.C., 4 September 1953  Home Genealogy People Gravestones Previous Places Documents Places Documents