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\ JRGIXIA BIOGRAPHY
the duty laid the same session on liquors and
slaves.
At the next session a commission was issued by the governor constituting Philip Finch to be the first sergeant-at-arms and mace-bearer of the house of burgesses. Previous to this time an officer called the messenger had discharged these duties, (jovernor Drysdale announced to the house that "the interfering interest of the .African Company" had obtained from the bcjard of trade the repeal of the law of the previous session imposing a duty on liquors and slaves. He stated his belief that if a new duty be laid on liquors for the support of the college, then "in a languishing condition," the English government would not object, and this was done. Drysdale was a sick man during this session, and not long after its adjourn- ment he died at Williamsburg, July 22, 1726.
Carter, Robert, president of the council and acting governor from the death of Drys- dale, July 22, 1726, till the arrival of A\'illiam Cooch about October, 1727, was born in Vir- ginia in 1663. son of Colonel John and Sarah ( Ludlow) Carter. His father had been promi- nent in the colony as lieutenant-colonel, bur- gess and councillor. His mother was a daugh- ter of Gabriel Ludlow, a nephew of General Edmund Ludlow, one of Cromwell's generals. Robert Carter was for many years the agent of Lord Fairfax, the proprietor of the Northern Neck grant. He was treasurer of the colony, speaker of the house of burgesses 1694-99, and member of the council for twenty-seven years (1699-1 726). He became president of the council, and as such succeeded as acting gov- ernor. His great possessions earned him the name of "King" Carter. His residence was in Lancaster county, at Corotoman, on the Rap- pahannock river, and there is still standing
nearby a church that he built shortly before his
death, which occurred August 4, 1732. His
splendid tomb in a rather shattered condition
is still to be seen in the yard of the church.
He was twice married, first to Judith, eldest
daughter of John Armistead, Esq., a member
of the council, and (second) to Elizabeth Wil-
lis, daughter of Thomas Landon, of an ancient
family in Hereford county, England. By these
wives he had numerous children, who have
many influential diescendiants in Virginia and
the south.
Gooch, William, lieutenant-governor of X'irginia (1727-1749), was born October 12, 1 68 1, in Yarmouth, county Suffolk, England, and was descended from an ancient family. His grandfather was William Gooch, of Suf- folk, and his father was Thomas Gooch, alder- man of Yarmouth, who married Frances, daughter of Thomas Love, of Norfolk county. His uncle, William Gooch, had emigrated to Virginia at a very early date and become a major in the York county militia and a mem- ber of the Virginia council, dying in 1655. The subject of this sketch entered the English army at an early age and took part in all of Queen Anne's wars, being present at the battle of Blenheim. In October, 1727, he super- seded Robert Carter as lieutenant-governor of \^irginia. and for more than twenty years con- ducted the affairs of the colony in a manner which occasioned complaint neither in Eng- land nor in America. Indeed, it is said that in this respect he stands alone among colonial governors. Still his administration was a period of much activity in Mrginia. In 1730 tobacco notes, a new form of currency, were devised which proved salutary. The frontier line was pushed to the Alleghanies. and the valley of Virginia was settled with hardy and
