Editing Lunenburg County, Virginia (section)

==History==
Lunenburg County was established on May 1, 1746, from [[Brunswick County, Virginia|Brunswick County]]. The county is named for the former [[Brunswick-Lüneburg|Duchy of Brunswick-Lünenburg]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Gannett|first=Henry|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA192|year=1905|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=192}}</ref> in Germany, because one of the titles also carried by Britain's [[House of Hanover|Hanoverian]] kings was Duke of Brunswick-Lünenburg. Bedford, Charlotte, Halifax, and Mecklenburg Counties were later formed from Lunenburg County. It is nicknamed "The Old Free State" because during the buildup of the Civil War, it let Virginia know the county would break off if the state did not join The Confederacy.<ref>''The Old Free State: A Contribution to the History of Lunenburg County and Southside Virginia''. Landon Covington Bell. 1927. Pp. 578ff. [http://www.genealogical.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&item_number=415 Reprint: 1974, 2005, Genealogical Publishing Company]. {{ISBN|9780806306230}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Uqg4tp_2RJcC Google Books].</ref>

Among the earliest settlers of the county was William Taylor, born in [[King William County, Virginia]]. He was the son of Rev. Daniel Taylor, a Virginia native and [[Anglican]] priest educated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College, Cambridge University]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ECw1AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22daniel+taylor%22+alice+littlepage&pg=PA364 Admissions to the College of St. John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, Part III, Robert Forsyth Scott, The University Press, Cambridge, 1903]</ref> in England, and his wife Alice (Littlepage) Taylor. William Taylor married Martha Waller, a daughter of [[Benjamin Waller]] of [[Williamsburg, Virginia]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ItIRAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22william+taylor%22+%22lunenburg+county%22&pg=PA62 Listing: "Rev. Daniel Taylor"], ''Virginia Magazine of History and biography,'' Vol. VIII, Virginia Historical Society, Printed by William Ellis Jones, Richmond, Va., 1901</ref>

In 1760 Taylor purchased three adjoining tracts of land in Lunenburg County totaling {{convert|827|acre|km2}}. Taylor soon became one of the county's leading citizens, representing Lunenburg in the [[Virginia House of Burgesses]] from 1765 until 1768.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=UCgSAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22william+taylor%22+%22lunenburg+county%22&pg=PA338 Lyon Gardiner Tyler, ''Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography'', Vol. I], Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1915</ref> In that capacity, Taylor voted in 1765 to support statesman [[Patrick Henry]]'s [[Virginia Resolves]] in 1765.<ref>At his death in 1820, a Richmond newspaper noted in its obituary of William Taylor that he was the last man known to be alive who had heard Patrick Henry's famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech in the Virginia House of Burgesses.[https://books.google.com/books?id=pF4sAAAAMAAJ&q=%22william+taylor%22+%22lunenburg+county%22]</ref> Taylor served as County Clerk for 51 years (1763–1814).

Taylor was succeeded as County Clerk by his son William Henry Taylor, who held the office for another 32 years—from 1814 until 1846. Another son, General [[Waller Taylor]], represented Lunenburg in the Virginia legislature, then moved to [[Vincennes, Indiana]]. There he became a judge and subsequently [[Adjutant General]] of the [[United States Army]] under General [[William Henry Harrison]] in the [[War of 1812]]. General Waller Taylor later served as one of the first [[United States senator]]s from the newly created state of Indiana from 1816 to 1825. He died on a visit home to see his relatives in Lunenburg County in 1826.<ref>[http://files.usgwarchives.org/va/lunenburg/cemeteries/taylor01.txt Pattie B. Seay, ''Survey Report, The Taylor Cemetery''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219002737/http://files.usgwarchives.org/va/lunenburg/cemeteries/taylor01.txt |date=February 19, 2012 }}, Library of Virginia Digital Collection</ref>

During much of the [[American Civil War]], the family of Missionary Bishop [[Henry C. Lay]] lived in Lunenberg County, where Mrs. Lay (the former Eliza Withers Atkinson) grew up. Both of Bishop Lay's brothers served as Confederate colonels, and Mrs. Lay's uncle, [[Thomas Atkinson (bishop)|Thomas Atkinson]] was bishop of North Carolina.

Cases surrounding an 1895 Lunenburg County murder are the subject of historian [[Suzanne Lebsock]]'s book, ''[[A Murder in Virginia: Southern Justice on Trial]]''.