Our Pendleton Family
In The Early Years of America

          During the period right before, during and after the Revolutionary War our Pendleton family was instrumental in the formation of the young country. Philip Pendleton, our immigrant ancestor, was born March 26, 1654, and baptized April 2, 1654 at St. Peter's Mancroft, Norwich, England. Philip Pendleton was the youngest son of Henry Pendleton Jr. and Elizabeth (Douglass?).  Philip and his older brother,  the Rev. Nathaniel Pendleton, migrated to Virginia in 1674. Nathaniel died soon after arriving in Virginia. Philip returned to England after the death of his father and it is believed that he married while in England, but his wife died soon after and he then returned to Virginia. In 1682 Philip married Isabella Hurt. To this union were born seven children: Henry, Elizabeth, Isabella, John, Rachel, Philip and Catherine.

          From these children were born lawyers, judges, senators, Revolutionary War officers, and many who took an active part in the formation of our country. Listed below are Pendletons who appear in "The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans"

• Edmund Pendleton grandson of Philip and Isabell (Hurt) Pendleton was born Sept. 9, 1721 in Caroline county, Virginia. His parents were Henry and Mary Bishop (Taylor) Pendleton. Although Edmund received no formal education, he rose to be come a famous jurist of his time. In his early life he had the opportunity to study law with the clerk of Caroline county where he was assistant clerk. Edmund received his license to practice law in 1744.

  1. 1751 served as justice of the peace.
  2. 1752-1774 served as a member of the Virginia house of burgesses.
  3. He declared the stamp act unconstitutional, and that it did not bind the inhabitants of Virginia.
  4. 1773 served as a member of the committee of correspondence.
  5. 1774 served as a member of the colonial convention.
  7. 1774 served as delegate to the 1st continental congress from September 5th to October 26th 1774.
  8. 1774 he accompanied George Washington, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison and Patrick Henry to Philadelphia in the month of September.
  9. He served as governor of the Virginia colony until the state constitution was adopted in May of 1776.
  10. He served as president of the committee of safety.
  11. He wrote the instruction for the Virginia convention to the delegates in congress, in which he purposes the declaration of independence. He expressed the sentiments of Virginia and his words were used almost verbatim in the declaration itself as written by Jefferson.
  12. He belonged to the planter class.
  13. As head of the committee of safety he had control of the militia and of  foreign correspondence of Virginia.
  14. He was elected speaker of the house of burgesses when Virginia was organized under it's constitution.
  15. He revised the colonial laws with George Wythe and Thomas Jefferson.
  16. 1777 was reelected speaker of the house of burgessess.
  17. Was named president by unanimous vote when the court of chancery was organized.
  18. 1779 he was named head of the court of appeals when it was organized and held that office until the time of his death on 23 October, 1803.
  19. He was president of the state convention that ratified the Federal constitution. Edmund was the constitutions most eqopuent advocate before the convention.
  20. 1789 President Washington appointed his judge of the U.S. district court of Virginia, but Edmund declined the office.
  21. 1789 he wrote in protest of waging war with France, claiming that France was a "sister republic".

       Edmund Pendleton was a close and personal friend of George Washington. In the Washington Papers you will find many letters written between the two men.

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• Nathaniel Pendleton, jurist, born 1756 in Culpeper county, Virginia. Nathaniel was the son of Nathaniel (1715-1794) and Elizabeth Ann (Clayton) Pendleton and grandson of Henry (1683-1721) and Mary Bishop (Taylor) Pendleton.
  Nathaniel joined the Revolutionary army in 1775, he was promoted brevet-major and severed as aide-de-camp to Gen Nathanael Greene. For his service at Eutaw Springs, S.C. on Sept 8, 1781 he received the thanks of Congress. After the war he studied law in Georgia and was appointed U.S. district judge among his many other services to our country.
  His name was given to President Washington as a candidate for the office of secretary of state. Nathaniel was opposed by Alexander Hamilton for the office of secretary of state. Pendleton and Hamilton later became friends,and in Hamilton's famous duel with Aaron Burr, Pendleton served as second to Hamilton.
  In 1787 he served as a delegate to the Federal constitutional convention, but unfortunately he was not present when the constitution of the United States was signed. Among the many groups Pendleton belonged to was the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati.
  In 1796 he settled in New York City and at that time he married his second wife Susan Bard. He served a judge of Duchess county and he resided on his farm at Hyde Park, N.Y. until his death Oct. 20, 1821. 
  

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• Nathaniel Green Pendleton the son of Nathaniel Pendleton was born August 1793 in Savannah, GA. He married Miss Hunt. Nathaniel was named for Nathanael Greene,  who his father served with during the Revolutionary War. In 1813 Nathaniel Greene Pendleton graduated form Columbia College. He was aide-de-camp on the staff of Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines, U.S.A. from 1813-15. Nathaniel Greene Pendleton was  a 2nd cousin to Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1818 were he practiced law, was a member of the state senate from 1825-27. He was a representative from the first district of Ohio in the 27th congress from 1841-43. Nathaniel Greene Pendleton died June 16, 1861 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  

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• George Hunt Pendleton was born to Nathaniel Greene and Jane Frances ¹(Hunt) Pendleton on July 25, 1825 in Cincinnati, Ohio. George attended the University of Heidelberg and afterwards was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati, Ohio. He married Alice Key, daughter of Francis Scott and Mary Tayloe (Lloyd) Key in 1846. George Hunt Pendleton died in Brussels, Belgium on Nov. 24, 1889.

  Following are a list of his accomplishments.

  1. 1854-56 he served as a state senator.
  2. 1856-65 he served as a Democratic representative in the 35th-38th congresses.
  3. 1860 he as one of the leading candidates for Democratic nomination for President.
  4. 1864 he was on the Democratic ticket as Vice-President with George B. McClellan for President.
  5. 1866 he was a member of the Philadelphia Loyalist convention.
  6. 1869 he was defeated for governor of the state of Ohio by Rutherford B. Hayes.
  7. 1869 he was made president of the Kentucky railroad company.
  8. 1879 he was elected to the U.S. senate serving until March 4, 1885.
  9. 1882 he was chairman of the committee on civil service reform, and on June 26, 1882 he secured the passage of the civil service law.
     1. He introduced the civil service reform bill, known as the Pendleton bill.
  10. 1885-89  he was appointed by President Cleveland to serve as U.S. minister to Germany.

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• The 20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Vol.8, p.263
  PENDLETON,William Nelson, clergyman and soldier, was born in Richmond, Va., Dec. 26, 1809; son of Edmund, Jr., of Caroline County, Va., [p.264] and Lucy (Nelson) Pendleton, and a descendant of Philip and Isabella (Hurt) Pendleton, who came from Norwich, England, to Virginia in 1674, and of Thomas Nelson ("Scotch Tom") who came from Penrith, England, to Virginia in 1705.
  He was graduated from the U.S. Military academy and promoted brevet 2d lieutenant and 2d lieutenant, 2d artillery, July 1, 1830. He was assistant professor of mathematics at the academy, 1831-32; was transferred to the 4th artillery, Oct. 27, 1832; was in garrison at Fort Hamilton, N.Y., 1832-33, and resigned his commission in the army, Oct. 31, 1833, to accept the chair of mathematics in Bristol college, Penn. He was professor at Delaware college, Newark, Del., 1837-38; was admitted to the diaconate of the P.E. church in 1837, and to the priesthood in 1838. In 1838 he established the Episcopal high school at Alexandria, Va., and was its principal, 1838-44. He was in Baltimore, Md., 1844-47; rector of All Saint's church, Frederick, Md., 1847-53; rector of Latimer parish, Lexington, 1853-61, and upon the outbreak of the civil war joined the Confederate army as captain of the Rockbridge artillery. He was promoted to the rank of colonel and appointed chief of artillery to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston commanding the Army of the Shenandoah, and served as such from July 21, 1861, to the close of the war. He was commissioned brigadier-general in March, 1862, and commanded the reserve artillery in the Maryland campaign and at Sharpsburg, Sept. 15, 1862. At Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, he was commander-in-chief of all the artillery, consisting of the horse-artillery and of 15 battalions of four batteries each, and directed the Confederate artillery in the duel with the Federal, preceding the charge of Pickett's division. At the surrender at Appomattox be was appointed with Generals Longstreet and Gordon to carry out the terms of surrender. In 1865 he returned to his parish at Lexington, Va., where he remained as rector until his death. He was a founder of Grace Memorial church, erected to the memory of Gen. Robert E. Lee, for which he raised the money by delivering lectures on the war throughout the South. His statements in regard to the failure of Longstreet to commence the attack on the morning of the second day of the battle, were accepted by President Davis, but denied by General Longstreet, and led to an unsettled historical controversy. (See "Lee's Right Wing at Gettysburg" by James Longstreet in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," Vol. III, pp. 339-56). The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Kenyon college. Ohio, in 1857. He is the author of: Science, a Witness for the Bible (1860). He died in Lexington, Va., Jan. 15, 1883.

1 The Pendleton Family by Mrs. Katherine Cox Gottschalk, Washington, D.C., and Major John Bailey Calvert Nicklin, Chattanooga, Tenn.

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