Patrick Henry

In 1754, Patrick Henry married Sarah Shelton, with whom he had six children. Unfortunately, by 1771, Sarah had become mentally ill and her health deteriorated very quickly. Henry looked after her as much as he could, bathing and feeding her until her death in 1775.

On October 25, 1777, he married Dorothea Dandridge, who was then twenty-two years old while he was forty-one. The couple had eleven children.

Patrick Henry died from stomach cancer at his Red Hill Plantation on June 6, 1799.

Patrick Henry was born on May 29 1736 at their family farm Studley, located in the village of Studley in Hanover County, Virginia. His father, John Henry, was a Scottish emigrant from Aberdeenshire, where he attended King’s College. In Hanover, he served as a surveyor, a colonel, a justice at the county court.

Patrick’s mother, Sarah Winston Syme, was from a prominent Hanover County family of English ancestry. She was first married to John Syme, who built and owned Studley. After his death, she married John Henry and the couple continued living at Studley.

Patrick was born second of his parents’ nine children. Although initially he went to a local school he was mostly taught at home by his father. His uncle, an Anglican priest, also provided instructions. Many believe that he inherited his great oratory skill from him.

When he turned fifteen, he started running a store for his father; but the venture soon turned unprofitable. In 1754 he married Sarah Shelton and on receiving 300 acres of farm land and six slaves as dowry he began tobacco farming.

For three years, Patrick Henry labored with the slaves on the land; but unfortunately, this time too success eluded him. In 1757, their main house was also destroyed in a fire. Thereafter, he started working in his father-in-law’s tavern.

Patrick Henry first came to the limelight in 1763 when he was asked to appear in the ‘Parson’s Cause’ trial on behalf of Louisa County. It was related to the ‘Two Penny Act’, passed by Virginia colonial legislature in 1758, but later vetoed by the British monarch.

The act had fixed the salaries payable to the clerics at two penny per pound of tobacco, thus reducing their income. Therefore, once the law was vetoed, the clerics sued the County for back pay and won. Henry defended the County against the clerics’ claim.

He gave an impassionate speech, in which he denounced the clerics, who challenged the law, as the enemy of the people and urged the jury to award them the lowest possible amount. He also declared that the king, “by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature” had forfeited his right to be obeyed.

While arguing the case, he also invocated the theory of ‘natural rights’. It impressed the jury so much that they took only five minutes to decide on one-penny damage.

The trial made him quite famous and in 1765, he was elected to the House of Burgesses, which was the legislative assembly of Virginia colony. Within nine days of taking the oath, he introduced the revolutionary ‘Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions’.

Although Henry is known as a major figure in the American War of Independence, he is best remembered for the speech he gave to the Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775. It is believed it was his speech which swung the mood of the delegates in favor of joining the war.