William H. Cabell

Cabell was born at "Boston Hill", in Cumberland County in the Colony of Virginia on December 16, 1772. The eldest of the three surviving sons of Colonel (and burgess) Nicholas Cabell (1750-1803)[3] and Hannah Carrington Cabel (1751-1817)l, both of the First Families of Virginia. His younger brothers were Joseph Carrington Cabell (who helped found the University of Virginia and served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly)[4] and Nicholas Cabell. The family also included daughter Mary Ann Cabell Carrington (1783-1850).

Young William Cabell studied with private tutors and, later attended and graduated from Hampden–Sydney College in 1789.[5] He then moved to Williamsburg and attended the College of William and Mary, where he took legal courses from Judge St. George Tucker before graduating in July 1793. Young Cabell then moved to Richmond to read law.

Cabell began his legal career soon after his admission to the Virginia bar on June 13, 1794, and also followed his father's footsteps in entering politics. Amherst County voters elected him to the Virginia House of Delegates to succeed his cousin (after adopting his distinguishing initial). Although Amherst County voters failed to re-elect him after that term, this Cabell would serve multiple terms as one of Amherst County's two (part-time) delegates before being elected the 14th Governor of Virginia and serving from 1805 to 1808.[6]

In one of his early legislative terms, Cabell voted for the Virginia resolutions against the alien and sedition laws, which were designed to impede his political party. Cabell also served as Republican Presidential elector in 1800 and 1804. While he was Virginia's governor, the British sloop of war Leopard attacked the frigate Chesapeake off Norfolk (the Chesapeake–Leopard affair later known as a forerunner of the War of 1812) and former Virginia governor Thomas Jefferson ordered the arrest of Vice President Aaron Burr for the Burr conspiracy. Burr went on trial for treason in Richmond, because much the planning took place in lands Virginia once claimed in the Ohio Valley, but was acquitted as U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall (a fellow Richmond resident) found insufficient evidence of treason, although much conspiracy.

Cabell's grave at Shockoe Hill Cemetery

Cabell built the Midway Mill in 1787, which later was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but demolished in 1998.[7][8] In 1795, back in Amherst County, William Cabell married Elizabeth Cabell (1774-1801), but they had no children who survived. After her death, on March 11, 1805, he married Agnes Sarah Bell Gamble, eldest daughter of Colonel Robert Gamble, of Richmond.[9] Their children included:

• Emma Catherine Cabell Carrington (1808–1887)
• Robert Gamble Cabell (1809–1889)
• Elizabeth Hannah Cabell Daniel (1811–1892)
• William Wirt Cabell (1813–1891)
• Edward Carrington Cabell (1816–1896), who moved to Florida and served in its legislature, as well as the U.S. Congress.
• John Grattan Cabell (1817–1896)
• Henry Coalter Cabell (1820–1889).

In 1840, Judge Cabell's household consisted of seven free white persons and ten slaves (2 adult men, 4 boys under age 10, 4 adult women).[10] In 1850, he and Agnes lived with lawyer sons William Cabell (aged 35) and Henry Cabell (age 30 and his wife) and an unspecified number of slaves.[11][12]

Cabell died on January 12, 1853 in Richmond, Virginia and was interred in Shockoe Hill Cemetery.

Cabell's executive papers are held at the Library of Virginia.[13]

Cabell County, West Virginia was named in his honor, as is a residence hall at William & Mary.[14]

• Brown, A. The Cabells and their kin: a memorial volume of history, biography, and genealogy. Richmond, Va.: Garrett and Massie, 1939, pp. 240-255.