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<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Thomas Hicks Wynne (1820-1875) was a Richmond businessman, city council member, and legislator with a strong interest in Virginia history. He was the secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the Virginia Literary and Philosophical Society.<ref>Albert Harrison Hoyt, A.M., “Hon. Thomas Hicks Wynne,” in [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq# ''Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vol. VII, 1871-1880''] (Boston: Published by the Society, 1907), 140-141.</ref> Upon his death in 1875, he left his collection of historical documents, including the Dove Memo, to Robert Alonzo Brock, his successor as secretary of the Virginia Historical Society. They formed the beginning of the Brock Collection, now housed at the Henry E. Huntington Library in California.<ref>Minor Weisiger, “Brock Collection Returns to Virginia,” [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/v49n3.pdf ''Virginia Libraries'' 49, no. 3] (2003): 5-7.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. First, he was only fourteen years old in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, “Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820,” in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; “Death of Dr. John Dove,” quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> Further, no Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> and no John Dove is mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> <br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove--probably a family member of Dr. John Dove, and perhaps his father<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref>--and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> John Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but also Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid. In [http://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php/Last_Will_and_Testament a codicil to his will dated January 19, 1806], Wythe wrote, “I devise the latter [stock in the Bank of Virginia] to the same uses [for the support of Lydia Broadnax, Benjamin, and Michael Brown] except as to Ben who is dead, as those to which the former were devoted.”</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval, and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and therefore unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of the three significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and that Michael Brown was their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill both Wythe and Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed. After Michael Brown’s death, Wythe changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay. Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son, nor makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidence, nor an accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown--in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death--might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> Wythe had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were as capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> These inheritances may have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> It is possible that "Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Wythe was not unusual in providing for his freed slaves.<ref>Andrew Nunn McKnight, "Lydia Broadnax, Slave, and Free Woman of Color," ''Southern Studies'' 5, nos. 1-2 (1994): 21.</ref> In fact, Virginia law obligated anyone who manumitted a slave over the age of 45 to "support...and maintain" the former slave; the statute provided no time limit on this obligation.<ref>William Waller Hening, ed., ''The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619'' (Richmond: J. & G. Cochran, 1821): 11:39-40, transcribed in [http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/An_act_to_authorize_the_manumission_of_slaves_1782 "Primary Resource: An act to authorize the manumission of slaves (1782),"] ''Encyclopedia Virginia'', September 19, 2014.</ref> Broadnax's manumission states that she was over 45 at the time she was freed.<ref>McKnight, "Lydia Broadnax," 19.</ref> Wythe would thus have been legally obligated to provide at least for her.<br />
<br />
Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum is not a trustworthy document in any sense. First, it was written fifty years after the events it describes. Dr. Dove himself was only fourteen at the time of Wythe’s death, and may have had reason to want to spread rumors about Wythe even decades after his death. The document also contains multiple historical inaccuracies: that Wythe was ill before he was poisoned, for example, or that the poison killed four people, including Lydia Broadnax, who recovered after ingesting the arsenic, and Benjamin, who was already deceased in 1806, instead of two. Finally, its allegations are not supported by any outside evidence. It is unlikely that Wythe’s death was an accident: contemporary accounts refer to it as a murder, and the grand jury considered the evidence of intent persuasive enough to indict Sweeney for two counts of murder. Similarly, given their ages, it is not plausible that Wythe and Broadnax were Brown’s biological parents.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at Sweeney’s life after his acquittal, and the other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," appears to have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> <br />
<br />
In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: <br />
<blockquote><br />
Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected.<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref><br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, the accidental poisoning theory has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', says that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Though this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context, but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time; while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, however, the information it contains was ''recounted'' by Dove, but ''written down'' by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe's death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death. In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" to put Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
===Summary: Explaining the Memo's Influence===<br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference it were not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves. The name "Brown" has no significance either; it was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan's suggestion that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves, some of whom took the last name Brown, is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe and Lydia Broadnax’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was acquitted of the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. According to well-respected historian W. Edwin Hemphill, it "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of his incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in modern accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42550Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-08-17T17:25:43Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Thomas Hicks Wynne (1820-1875) was a Richmond businessman, city council member, and legislator with a strong interest in Virginia history. He was the secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the Virginia Literary and Philosophical Society.<ref>Albert Harrison Hoyt, A.M., “Hon. Thomas Hicks Wynne,” in [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq# ''Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vol. VII, 1871-1880''] (Boston: Published by the Society, 1907), 140-141.</ref> Upon his death in 1875, he left his collection of historical documents, including the Dove Memo, to Robert Alonzo Brock, his successor as secretary of the Virginia Historical Society. They formed the beginning of the Brock Collection, now housed at the Henry E. Huntington Library in California.<ref>Minor Weisiger, “Brock Collection Returns to Virginia,” [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/v49n3.pdf ''Virginia Libraries'' 49, no. 3] (2003): 5-7.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. First, he was only fourteen years old in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, “Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820,” in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; “Death of Dr. John Dove,” quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> Further, no Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> and no John Dove is mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> <br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove--probably a family member of Dr. John Dove, and perhaps his father<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref>--and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> John Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but also Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid. In [http://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php/Last_Will_and_Testament a codicil to his will dated January 19, 1806], Wythe wrote, “I devise the latter [stock in the Bank of Virginia] to the same uses [for the support of Lydia Broadnax, Benjamin, and Michael Brown] except as to Ben who is dead, as those to which the former were devoted.”</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval, and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and therefore unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of the three significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and that Michael Brown was their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill both Wythe and Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed. After Michael Brown’s death, Wythe changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay. Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son, nor makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidence, nor an accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown--in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death--might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> Wythe had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> These inheritances may have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> It is possible that "Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Wythe was not unusual in providing for his freed slaves.<ref>Andrew Nunn McKnight, "Lydia Broadnax, Slave, and Free Woman of Color," ''Southern Studies'' 5, nos. 1-2 (1994): 21.</ref> In fact, Virginia law obligated anyone who manumitted a slave over the age of 45 to "support...and maintain" the former slave; the statute provided no time limit on this obligation.<ref>William Waller Hening, ed., ''The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619'' (Richmond: J. & G. Cochran, 1821): 11:39-40, transcribed in [http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/An_act_to_authorize_the_manumission_of_slaves_1782 "Primary Resource: An act to authorize the manumission of slaves (1782),"] ''Encyclopedia Virginia'', September 19, 2014.</ref> Broadnax's manumission states that she was over 45 at the time she was freed.<ref>McKnight, "Lydia Broadnax," 19.</ref> Wythe would thus have been legally obligated to provide at least for her.<br />
<br />
Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum is not a trustworthy document in any sense. First, it was written fifty years after the events it describes. Dr. Dove himself was only fourteen at the time of Wythe’s death, and may have had reason to want to spread rumors about Wythe even decades after his death. The document also contains multiple historical inaccuracies: that Wythe was ill before he was poisoned, for example, or that the poison killed four people, including Lydia Broadnax, who recovered after ingesting the arsenic, and Benjamin, who was already deceased in 1806, instead of two. Finally, its allegations are not supported by any outside evidence. It is unlikely that Wythe’s death was an accident: contemporary accounts refer to it as a murder, and the grand jury considered the evidence of intent persuasive enough to indict Sweeney for two counts of murder. Similarly, given their ages, it is not plausible that Wythe and Broadnax were Brown’s biological parents.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at Sweeney’s life after his acquittal, and the other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," appears to have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> <br />
<br />
In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: <br />
<blockquote><br />
Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected.<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref><br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, the accidental poisoning theory has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', says that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Though this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context, but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time; while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, however, the information it contains was ''recounted'' by Dove, but ''written down'' by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe's death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death. In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" to put Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference it were not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves. The name "Brown" has no significance either; it was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan's suggestion that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves, some of whom took the last name Brown, is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe and Lydia Broadnax’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was acquitted of the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. According to well-respected historian W. Edwin Hemphill, it "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of his incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in modern accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42458Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-08-07T15:38:30Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
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Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
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===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
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===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Thomas Hicks Wynne (1820-1875) was a Richmond businessman, city council member, and legislator with a strong interest in Virginia history. He was the secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the Virginia Literary and Philosophical Society.<ref>Albert Harrison Hoyt, A.M., “Hon. Thomas Hicks Wynne,” in [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq# ''Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vol. VII, 1871-1880''] (Boston: Published by the Society, 1907), 140-141.</ref> Upon his death in 1875, he left his collection of historical documents, including the Dove Memo, to Robert Alonzo Brock, his successor as secretary of the Virginia Historical Society. They formed the beginning of the Brock Collection, now housed at the Henry E. Huntington Library in California.<ref>Minor Weisiger, “Brock Collection Returns to Virginia,” [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/v49n3.pdf ''Virginia Libraries'' 49, no. 3] (2003): 5-7.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. First, he was only fourteen years old in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, “Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820,” in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; “Death of Dr. John Dove,” quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> Further, no Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> and no John Dove is mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> <br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove--probably a family member of Dr. John Dove, and perhaps his father<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref>--and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> John Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but also Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid. In [http://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php/Last_Will_and_Testament a codicil to his will dated January 19, 1806], Wythe wrote, “I devise the latter [stock in the Bank of Virginia] to the same uses [for the support of Lydia Broadnax, Benjamin, and Michael Brown] except as to Ben who is dead, as those to which the former were devoted.”</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval, and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and therefore unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of the three significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and that Michael Brown was their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill both Wythe and Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
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Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed. After Michael Brown’s death, Wythe changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
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It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son, nor makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidence, nor an accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown--in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death--might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> Wythe had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> These inheritances may have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum is not a trustworthy document in any sense. First, it was written fifty years after the events it describes. Dr. Dove himself was only fourteen at the time of Wythe’s death, and may have had reason to want to spread rumors about Wythe even decades after his death. The document also contains multiple historical inaccuracies: that Wythe was ill before he was poisoned, for example, or that the poison killed four people, including Lydia Broadnax, who recovered after ingesting the arsenic, and Benjamin, who was already deceased in 1806, instead of two. Finally, its allegations are not supported by any outside evidence. It is unlikely that Wythe’s death was an accident: contemporary accounts refer to it as a murder, and the grand jury considered the evidence of intent persuasive enough to indict Sweeney for two counts of murder. Similarly, given their ages, it is not plausible that Wythe and Broadnax were Brown’s biological parents.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at Sweeney’s life after his acquittal, and the other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," appears to have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> <br />
<br />
In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: <br />
<blockquote><br />
Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected.<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref><br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, the accidental poisoning theory has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', says that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Though this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context, but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time; while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, however, the information it contains was ''recounted'' by Dove, but ''written down'' by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe's death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death. In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" to put Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference it were not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves. The name "Brown" has no significance either; it was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan's suggestion that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves, some of whom took the last name Brown, is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe and Lydia Broadnax’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was acquitted of the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. According to well-respected historian W. Edwin Hemphill, it "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of his incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in modern accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42444Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-08-07T15:26:35Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Thomas Hicks Wynne (1820-1875) was a Richmond businessman, city council member, and legislator with a strong interest in Virginia history. He was the secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the Virginia Literary and Philosophical Society.<ref>Albert Harrison Hoyt, A.M., “Hon. Thomas Hicks Wynne,” in [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq# ''Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vol. VII, 1871-1880''] (Boston: Published by the Society, 1907), 140-141.</ref> Upon his death in 1875, he left his collection of historical documents, including the Dove Memo, to Robert Alonzo Brock, his successor as secretary of the Virginia Historical Society. They formed the beginning of the Brock Collection, now housed at the Henry E. Huntington Library in California.<ref>Minor Weisiger, “Brock Collection Returns to Virginia,” [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/v49n3.pdf ''Virginia Libraries'' 49, no. 3] (2003): 5-7.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. First, he was only fourteen years old in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, “Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820,” in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; “Death of Dr. John Dove,” quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> Further, no Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> and no John Dove is mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> <br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> John Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but also Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid. In [http://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php/Last_Will_and_Testament a codicil to his will dated January 19, 1806], Wythe wrote, “I devise the latter [stock in the Bank of Virginia] to the same uses [for the support of Lydia Broadnax, Benjamin, and Michael Brown] except as to Ben who is dead, as those to which the former were devoted.”</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval, and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and therefore unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of the three significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and that Michael Brown was their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill both Wythe and Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed. After Michael Brown’s death, Wythe changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son, nor makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidence, nor an accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown--in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death--might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> Wythe had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> These inheritances may have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum is not a trustworthy document in any sense. First, it was written fifty years after the events it describes. Dr. Dove himself was only fourteen at the time of Wythe’s death, and may have had reason to want to spread rumors about Wythe even decades after his death. The document also contains multiple historical inaccuracies: that Wythe was ill before he was poisoned, for example, or that the poison killed four people, including Lydia Broadnax, who recovered after ingesting the arsenic, and Benjamin, who was already deceased in 1806, instead of two. Finally, its allegations are not supported by any outside evidence. It is unlikely that Wythe’s death was an accident: contemporary accounts refer to it as a murder, and the grand jury considered the evidence of intent persuasive enough to indict Sweeney for two counts of murder. Similarly, given their ages, it is not plausible that Wythe and Broadnax were Brown’s biological parents.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at Sweeney’s life after his acquittal, and the other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," appears to have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> <br />
<br />
In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: <br />
<blockquote><br />
Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected.<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref><br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, the accidental poisoning theory has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', says that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Though this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context, but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time; while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, however, the information it contains was ''recounted'' by Dove, but ''written down'' by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe's death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death. In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" to put Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference it were not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves. The name "Brown" has no significance either; it was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan's suggestion that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves, some of whom took the last name Brown, is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe and Lydia Broadnax’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was acquitted of the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. According to well-respected historian W. Edwin Hemphill, it "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of his incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in modern accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42438Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-08-07T15:11:47Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Thomas Hicks Wynne (1820-1875) was a Richmond businessman, city council member, and legislator with a strong interest in Virginia history. He was the secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the Virginia Literary and Philosophical Society.<ref>Albert Harrison Hoyt, A.M., “Hon. Thomas Hicks Wynne,” in [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq# ''Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vol. VII, 1871-1880''] (Boston: Published by the Society, 1907), 140-141.</ref> Upon his death in 1875, he left his collection of historical documents, including the Dove Memo, to Robert Alonzo Brock, his successor as secretary of the Virginia Historical Society. They formed the beginning of the Brock Collection, now housed at the Henry E. Huntington Library in California.<ref>Minor Weisiger, “Brock Collection Returns to Virginia,” [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/v49n3.pdf ''Virginia Libraries'' 49, no. 3] (2003): 5-7.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. First, he was only fourteen years old in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, “Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820,” in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; “Death of Dr. John Dove,” quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> Further, no Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> and no John Dove is mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> <br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> John Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but also Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid. In [http://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php/Last_Will_and_Testament a codicil to his will dated January 19, 1806], Wythe wrote, “I devise the latter [stock in the Bank of Virginia] to the same uses [for the support of Lydia Broadnax, Benjamin, and Michael Brown] except as to Ben who is dead, as those to which the former were devoted.”</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval, and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and therefore unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of the three significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and that Michael Brown was their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill both Wythe and Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed. After Michael Brown’s death, Wythe changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son, nor makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidence, nor an accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown--in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death--might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> Wythe had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> These inheritances may have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum is not a trustworthy document in any sense. First, it was written fifty years after the events it describes. Dr. Dove himself was only fourteen at the time of Wythe’s death, and may have had reason to want to spread rumors about Wythe even decades after his death. The document also contains multiple historical inaccuracies: that Wythe was ill before he was poisoned, for example, or that the poison killed four people, including Lydia Broadnax, who recovered after ingesting the arsenic, and Benjamin, who was already deceased in 1806, instead of two. Finally, its allegations are not supported by any outside evidence. It is unlikely that Wythe’s death was an accident: contemporary accounts refer to it as a murder, and the grand jury considered the evidence of intent persuasive enough to indict Sweeney for two counts of murder. Similarly, given their ages, it is not plausible that Wythe and Broadnax were Brown’s biological parents.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at Sweeney’s life after his acquittal, and the other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," appears to have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> <br />
<br />
In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: <br />
<blockquote><br />
"Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected."<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref><br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, the accidental poisoning theory has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', says that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Though this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time, and while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, the information it contains was recounted by Dove, but written down by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" putting Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death.<br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference the story favorably are not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the story that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves, and "Brown" was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan suggests that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves and some of them took the last name Brown, but this is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was cleared of any guilt in the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that, after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. It "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional documentary evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in contemporary accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42388Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-07-31T15:58:03Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Thomas Hicks Wynne (1820-1875) was a Richmond businessman, city council member, and legislator with a strong interest in Virginia history. He was the secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the Virginia Literary and Philosophical Society.<ref>Albert Harrison Hoyt, A.M., “Hon. Thomas Hicks Wynne,” in [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq# ''Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vol. VII, 1871-1880''] (Boston: Published by the Society, 1907), 140-141.</ref> Upon his death in 1875, he left his collection of historical documents, including the Dove Memo, to Robert Alonzo Brock, his successor as secretary of the Virginia Historical Society. They formed the beginning of the Brock Collection, now housed at the Henry E. Huntington Library in California.<ref>Minor Weisiger, “Brock Collection Returns to Virginia,” [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/v49n3.pdf ''Virginia Libraries'' 49, no. 3] (2003): 5-7.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. First, he was only fourteen years old in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, “Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820,” in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; “Death of Dr. John Dove,” quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> Further, no Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> and no John Dove is mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> <br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> John Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but also Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid. In [http://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php/Last_Will_and_Testament a codicil to his will dated January 19, 1806], Wythe wrote, “I devise the latter [stock in the Bank of Virginia] to the same uses [for the support of Lydia Broadnax, Benjamin, and Michael Brown] except as to Ben who is dead, as those to which the former were devoted.”</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval, and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and therefore unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of the three significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and that Michael Brown was their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill both Wythe and Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed. After Michael Brown’s death, Wythe changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She was not part of the Wythe household.<ref>Ibid.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son, nor makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidence, nor an accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown--in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death--might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> Wythe had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin. These inheritances may have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum, written 50 years after Wythe’s death, containing multiple historical inaccuracies, and presenting a version of events that makes little sense when put into a broader context, is not a trustworthy document in any sense.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at what Sweeney’s life after his acquittal. The other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," may also have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was still repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: "Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected."<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref> The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, it has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', indicates that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Although this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time, and while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, the information it contains was recounted by Dove, but written down by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" putting Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death.<br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference the story favorably are not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the story that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves, and "Brown" was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan suggests that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves and some of them took the last name Brown, but this is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was cleared of any guilt in the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that, after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. It "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional documentary evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in contemporary accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42386Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-07-31T15:23:56Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Thomas Hicks Wynne (1820-1875) was a Richmond businessman, city council member, and legislator with a strong interest in Virginia history. He was the secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the Virginia Literary and Philosophical Society.<ref>Albert Harrison Hoyt, A.M., “Hon. Thomas Hicks Wynne,” in [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq# ''Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vol. VII, 1871-1880''] (Boston: Published by the Society, 1907), 140-141.</ref> Upon his death in 1875, he left his collection of historical documents, including the Dove Memo, to Robert Alonzo Brock, his successor as secretary of the Virginia Historical Society. They formed the beginning of the Brock Collection, now housed at the Henry E. Huntington Library in California.<ref>Minor Weisiger, “Brock Collection Returns to Virginia,” [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/v49n3.pdf ''Virginia Libraries'' 49, no. 3] (2003): 5-7.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. First, he was only fourteen years old in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, “Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820,” in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; “Death of Dr. John Dove,” quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> Further, no Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> and no John Dove is mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> <br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> John Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but also Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid. In [http://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php/Last_Will_and_Testament a codicil to his will dated January 19, 1806], Wythe wrote, “I devise the latter [stock in the Bank of Virginia] to the same uses [for the support of Lydia Broadnax, Benjamin, and Michael Brown] except as to Ben who is dead, as those to which the former were devoted.”</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval, and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and therefore unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of the three significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and that Michael Brown was their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill both Wythe and Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed. After Michael Brown’s death, Wythe changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She was not part of the Wythe household.<ref>Ibid.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son, nor makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidence, nor an accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown, for example, in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death, might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> He had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> No one has suggested that Wythe was Jimmy’s biological father.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange, nor unexplainable absent the speculation that Brown was his son. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin. These inheritances may simply have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum, written 50 years after Wythe’s death, containing multiple historical inaccuracies, and presenting a version of events that makes little sense when put into a broader context, is not a trustworthy document in any sense.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at what Sweeney’s life after his acquittal. The other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," may also have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was still repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: "Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected."<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref> The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, it has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', indicates that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Although this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time, and while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, the information it contains was recounted by Dove, but written down by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" putting Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death.<br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference the story favorably are not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the story that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves, and "Brown" was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan suggests that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves and some of them took the last name Brown, but this is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was cleared of any guilt in the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that, after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. It "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional documentary evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in contemporary accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42370Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-07-24T15:08:48Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
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==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
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===Page 2===<br />
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<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
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===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
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<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Thomas Hicks Wynne (1820-1875) was a Richmond businessman, city council member, and legislator with a strong interest in Virginia history. He was the secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the Virginia Literary and Philosophical Society.<ref>Albert Harrison Hoyt, A.M., “Hon. Thomas Hicks Wynne,” in [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq# ''Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vol. VII, 1871-1880''] (Boston: Published by the Society, 1907), 140-141.</ref> Upon his death in 1875, he left his collection of historical documents, including the Dove Memo, to Robert Alonzo Brock, his successor as secretary of the Virginia Historical Society. They formed the beginning of the Brock Collection, now housed at the Henry E. Huntington Library in California.<ref>Minor Weisiger, “Brock Collection Returns to Virginia,” [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/v49n3.pdf ''Virginia Libraries'' 49, no. 3] (2003): 5-7.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. First, he was only fourteen years old in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, “Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820,” in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; “Death of Dr. John Dove,” quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> Further, no Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> and no John Dove is mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> <br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> John Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but also Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid. In [http://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php/Last_Will_and_Testament a codicil to his will dated January 19, 1806], Wythe wrote, “I devise the latter [stock in the Bank of Virginia] to the same uses [for the support of Lydia Broadnax, Benjamin, and Michael Brown] except as to Ben who is dead, as those to which the former were devoted.”</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval, and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and therefore unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of the three significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and that Michael Brown was their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill both Wythe and Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed. After Michael Brown’s death, Wythe changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She was not part of the Wythe household.<ref>Ibid.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
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It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son or makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidental or accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown, for example, in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death, might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> He had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> No one has suggested that Wythe was Jimmy’s biological father.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange, nor unexplainable absent the speculation that Brown was his son. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin. These inheritances may simply have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum, written 50 years after Wythe’s death, containing multiple historical inaccuracies, and presenting a version of events that makes little sense when put into a broader context, is not a trustworthy document in any sense.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at what Sweeney’s life after his acquittal. The other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," may also have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was still repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: "Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected."<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref> The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, it has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', indicates that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Although this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time, and while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, the information it contains was recounted by Dove, but written down by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" putting Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death.<br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference the story favorably are not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the story that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves, and "Brown" was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan suggests that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves and some of them took the last name Brown, but this is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was cleared of any guilt in the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that, after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. It "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional documentary evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in contemporary accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42368Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-07-24T14:54:47Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Thomas Hicks Wynne (1820-1875) was a Richmond businessman, city council member, and legislator with a strong interest in Virginia history. He was the secretary and librarian of the Virginia Historical Society and a member of the Virginia Literary and Philosophical Society.<ref>Albert Harrison Hoyt, A.M., “Hon. Thomas Hicks Wynne,” in [https://books.google.com/books?id=xH0tAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq# ''Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vol. VII, 1871-1880''] (Boston: Published by the Society, 1907), 140-141.</ref> Upon his death in 1875, he left his collection of historical documents, including the Dove Memo, to Robert Alonzo Brock, his successor as secretary of the Virginia Historical Society. They formed the beginning of the Brock Collection, now housed at the Henry E. Huntington Library in California.<ref>Minor Weisiger, “Brock Collection Returns to Virginia,” [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v49_n3/v49n3.pdf ''Virginia Libraries'' 49, no. 3] (2003): 5-7.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. No Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> nor is any John Dove mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> This is not likely an inadvertent omission, as John Dove was only 14 in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820," in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; "Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref><br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, and so not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of both significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill Wythe as well as Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed, and after Michael Brown’s death, he changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She was not part of the Wythe household.<ref>Ibid.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son or makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidental or accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown, for example, in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death, might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> He had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> No one has suggested that Wythe was Jimmy’s biological father.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange, nor unexplainable absent the speculation that Brown was his son. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin. These inheritances may simply have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum, written 50 years after Wythe’s death, containing multiple historical inaccuracies, and presenting a version of events that makes little sense when put into a broader context, is not a trustworthy document in any sense.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at what Sweeney’s life after his acquittal. The other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," may also have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was still repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: "Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected."<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref> The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, it has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', indicates that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Although this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time, and while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, the information it contains was recounted by Dove, but written down by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" putting Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death.<br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference the story favorably are not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the story that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves, and "Brown" was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan suggests that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves and some of them took the last name Brown, but this is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was cleared of any guilt in the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that, after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. It "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional documentary evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in contemporary accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42366Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-07-24T14:49:45Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806.<ref>Although the traditional account of Wythe’s death assumes that Sweeney added poison to the household’s coffee pot on the morning of May 25, depositions taken at Sweeney’s grand jury trial recount that he poisoned a plate of strawberries that Wythe consumed on the evening of May 24. It is possible that he poisoned both the strawberries on Saturday evening, and, seeing that the poison did not have any immediate effect on Wythe, the coffee on Sunday morning. W. Edwin Hemphill, “Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 52-53.</ref> Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>“Dr. John Dove: His Honorable and Distinguished Career as a Mason for Sixty-three Years,” ''Courier-Journal'' (Louisville, KY), November 19, 1876.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853,<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340 ''Medicine in Virginia in the nineteenth century''] (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240.</ref> during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Ibid., 76, 91.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council<ref>“Death of Dr. John Dove,” ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1876, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LKMDAAAAYAAJ ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts''] (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> and a prominent Mason for over sixty years.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He held the positions of Grand Secretary and Grand Recorder of Virginia<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> and at the time of his death was the oldest Grand Secretary in the world.<ref>"Dr. John Dove," ''Courier-Journal''.</ref> He died on November 16, 1876, at the age of 84.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. No Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> nor is any John Dove mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> This is not likely an inadvertent omission, as John Dove was only 14 in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820," in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; "Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref><br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, and so not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of both significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill Wythe as well as Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed, and after Michael Brown’s death, he changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She was not part of the Wythe household.<ref>Ibid.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son or makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidental or accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown, for example, in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death, might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> He had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> No one has suggested that Wythe was Jimmy’s biological father.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange, nor unexplainable absent the speculation that Brown was his son. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin. These inheritances may simply have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum, written 50 years after Wythe’s death, containing multiple historical inaccuracies, and presenting a version of events that makes little sense when put into a broader context, is not a trustworthy document in any sense.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at what Sweeney’s life after his acquittal. The other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," may also have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was still repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: "Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected."<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref> The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, it has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', indicates that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Although this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time, and while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, the information it contains was recounted by Dove, but written down by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" putting Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death.<br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference the story favorably are not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the story that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves, and "Brown" was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan suggests that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves and some of them took the last name Brown, but this is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was cleared of any guilt in the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that, after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. It "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional documentary evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in contemporary accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=42364Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-07-22T13:48:03Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:"Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe"}}<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P2.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page two of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
[[File:DoveMemoranda16September1856P3.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Page three of the "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe." Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library,] San Marino, CA.]]<br />
The "[[Media:DoveMemoranda16September1856.pdf|Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe]]," also known as the Dove Memo, is a short statement of the recollections of Dr. John Dove of Richmond, VA, recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. The memorandum is dated September 16, 1856, and contains Dove's version of the events surrounding the [[Death of George Wythe|death of George Wythe]], and subsequent murder trial.<ref>Although it should more properly be a singular "Memorandum," cited here as written by Wynne: "Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe: Signed in the Aut[o]g[rap]h. of T[homas] H. Wynne and Rec[eive]d by Him from Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856." MS. in Thomas Wynne Hicks Correspondence and Documents, 1848-1860, folder 4, Box 133, Brock Collection, [http://www.huntington.org/ Henry E. Huntington Library], San Marino, CA.</ref><br />
<br />
In several respects, Dove's memorandum is an untrustworthy source. It was recorded when Dr. Dove was sixty-four years old&mdash;fifty years after the events of 1806 which it describes: at the time of Wythe's death John Dove would have been a young man of fourteen. The memo contains several historical inaccuracies, and reliable evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations: in particular the claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, [[Michael Brown]], with his housekeeper [[Lydia Broadnax]]. Despite its unreliable nature, the assertions made in the Dove Memo continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
<br />
==Text of the memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br /><br />
Sep 16<br />
{| width="50%"<br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: left;" |<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
| width="50%" style="text-align: right;" |<br />
Memorandum concerning<br /><br />
the death of George<br /><br />
Wythe<br />
|}<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 2===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
===Page 3===<br />
<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
<div align="right"><br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who<br />was present during the sickness &<br />death of Judge Wythe) to me<br />Sep 16, 1856.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />Thos H Wynne<br />
</div><br />
<br /><br />
Memoranda concerning<br />the death of Chancellor<br />Wythe&mdash;Signed in the<br />autgh. of T.H. Wynne<br />and rec'd by him from<br />Dr. John Dove, Sept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener.” All died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Many of the alleged facts within the Memo differ from what actually occurred. Wythe did have a housekeeper named Lydia Broadnax, a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named Michael Brown. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806. Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Broadnax survived, but was left almost blind. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, although, contrary to the Memo's assertion, he was acquitted by the jury rather than on appeal. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself, and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1872, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts'' (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853, during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, ''Medicine in Virginia in the Nineteenth Century'' (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240, http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council and a prominent Mason.<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> He served as Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Virginia for fifty-four years, making him at the time of his death the oldest Grand Secretary in the United States.<ref>Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, "Report of Committee on the Death of R.W. John Dove, M.D.," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons'' (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 51.</ref> Dove died on November 16, 1872, at his home in Richmond, at the age of 85.<ref>Ibid., 151.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]," a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household and in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==Allegations==<br />
<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove ''was'' present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. No Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> nor is any John Dove mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> This is not likely an inadvertent omission, as John Dove was only 14 in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820," in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; "Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref><br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that Wythe had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", historian and editor of ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'' Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown after discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, and also made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he didn't intend to kill Wythe.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, and so not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder|Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of both significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill Wythe as well as Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed, and after Michael Brown’s death, he changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She was not part of the Wythe household.<ref>Ibid.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son or makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidental or accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown, for example, in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death, might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> He had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> No one has suggested that Wythe was Jimmy’s biological father.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange, nor unexplainable absent the speculation that Brown was his son. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin. These inheritances may simply have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum, written 50 years after Wythe’s death, containing multiple historical inaccuracies, and presenting a version of events that makes little sense when put into a broader context, is not a trustworthy document in any sense.<br />
<br />
==Influence==<br />
<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at what Sweeney’s life after his acquittal. The other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," may also have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe's death as accidental===<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was still repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: "Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected."<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref> The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, it has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', indicates that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Although this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown's father===<br />
<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time, and while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, the information it contains was recounted by Dove, but written down by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" putting Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death.<br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference the story favorably are not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the story that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves, and "Brown" was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan suggests that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves and some of them took the last name Brown, but this is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney's life after his acquittal==<br />
<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was cleared of any guilt in the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that, after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. It "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional documentary evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in contemporary accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Countrey_Justice&diff=38604Countrey Justice2015-06-16T13:10:10Z<p>Sjwilmes: added book description</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Countrey Justice: Containing the Practice of the Justices of the Peace as well in and out of their Sessions''}}<br />
===by Michael Dalton===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/9960<br />
|shorttitle=The Countrey Justice<br />
|author=Michael Dalton<br />
|edition=<br />
|lang=English<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by John Streater, James Flesher, and Henry Twyford, assigns of Richard Atkyns, and Edward Atkyns, esquires<br />
|year=1666<br />
|pages=[14], 460 (i.e. 456), [10]<br />
|desc=Folio (28 cm.)<br />
}}Michael Dalton (1564-1644) was a barrister and legal writer, a member of Lincoln’s Inn, and a justice of the peace (JP) in the counties of Essex and, later, Cambridgeshire.<ref>D.A. Orr, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7067 Dalton, Michael (1564-1644)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed May 21, 2015.</ref> ''The Countrey Justice'', a manual for justices of the peace and local magistrates, remains his best known work.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br/><br />
<br/> <br />
The office of justice of the peace originated during the Middle Ages, when the primary responsibility of JPs was to suppress riots and keep the peace.<ref>Mike Widener, "[http://library.law.yale.edu/news/taussig-collection-justice-peace-manuals The Taussig Collection: Justice of the peace manuals]," ''Yale Law School: Lillian Goldman Law Library'', April 21, 2014.</ref> By the sixteenth century, their power had increased and come to include various judicial and administrative tasks.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Most JPs, however, had no legal training, and a number of justice of the peace manuals were published to provide guidance in the form of clear, comprehensive, and easy to understand instruction.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br/><br />
<br/> <br />
''The Countrey Justice'' was among the most popular manuals, and was published in at least twenty editions between 1618 and 1746.<ref>Helen L. Hull, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=gBkWeMDgHpQC&pg=PA37&dq=Lowe+and+lay+ministers+of+the+peace:%E2%80%99+The+Proliferation+of+Officeholding+Manuals+in+Early+Modern+England&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMI3evdhaOUxgIVoS-MCh2XcAu4#v=onepage&q&f=false 'Lowe and lay ministers of the peace;' The Proliferation of Officeholding Manuals in Early Modern England]," in ''Renaissance Papers 2009'', ed. Christopher Cobb (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2010), 47.</ref> It provided a summary of the current law on a diverse array of subjects, from robbery and murder, to cattle and sheep, and included a particularly detailed description of the proper procedure for prosecuting witches. One of the earliest manuals to be arranged in alphabetical order, Dalton’s book was popular both in England and New England, where it provided a ready and accessible summary of the English common law for the new colonies.<ref>Edgar J. McManus, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=CkNMR7L68I0C&pg=PA3&dq=Laws+for+Living+Saints&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAGoVChMI6_y5s6OUxgIVwxiMCh2togCN#v=onepage&q&f=false Laws for Living Saints]," in ''Law and Liberty in Early New England: Criminal Justice and Due Process, 1620-1692'' (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993), 12.</ref> <br />
<br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Recent full blind calf, gold tooled edges; annotation [in law french?] upside-down in brown/black ink on flyleaf.<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Courts]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Pleas_of_the_Crown&diff=38564Pleas of the Crown2015-06-12T18:12:15Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Pleas of the Crown''}}<br />
===by Sir Matthew Hale===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=HalePleasOfTheCrown1716TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/10829<br />
|shorttitle=Pleas of the Crown<br />
|author=<br />
|publoc=[London] In the Savoy<br />
|publisher=Printed by J.N., assignee of Edw. Sayer, Esq;, for J. Walthoe ... and J. Walthoe junr.<br />
|year=1716<br />
|edition=Fifth<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=[18], 272, [8], 1-143, [1] p.<br />
|desc=8vo. (20 cm.)<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hale_(jurist) Sir Matthew Hale] (1609- 1676) attended [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%27s_Inn Lincoln’s Inn] to study the law in the footsteps of his father, who had died when Hale was a very young age.<ref>A. Cromartie, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/11905 Hale, Sir Mathew (b.c 1609 d. in 1676)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed October 9, 2013.</ref> While studying at Lincoln’s Inn, Hale became very close with the attorney general, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Noy William Noy] (d. 1634).<ref>H. Flander, "Sir Matthew Hale," ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register'' 56 (1908), 6.</ref> Noy is believed to have helped shape Hale’s love for medieval transcripts.<ref>Ibid.</ref> This would later lead to Hale’s work on a large amount of legal literature. Hale entered the bar in 1636 after the normal seven years of schooling.<ref>Cromartie, "Hale, Sir Mathew."</ref> In 1671, Sir Matthew Hale became the chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King’s Bench], a well-deserved role considering the amount of writing he was doing on criminal law as well as the common law.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br /><br />
<br/><br />
Hale’s ''Pleas of the Crown: or, a Methodical Summary of the Principal Matters relating to that Subject'' was first published in 1678, two years after Hale’s death.<ref>P.R. Glazebrook, introduction to [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.39000007848430;view=1up;seq=9 ''Pleas of the Crown: A Methodical Summary, 1678''], by Matthew Hale (London: Professional Books Limited, 1972), iii.</ref> It was likely written “about the end of the Reign of King Charles the First,”<ref>Anonymous, preface to ''Pleas of the Crown: A Methodical Summary, 1678'', by Matthew Hale (London: Professional Books Limited, 1972), xvii.</ref> perhaps in the 1640s, and was probably Hale’s first attempt at providing a comprehensive and organized analysis of the law.<ref>Glazebrook, Introduction, v.</ref> In the ''Methodical Summary'', he focused on the criminal law, a subject with which he dealt in depth in a later and more famous work, the ''Historia Placitorum Coronae''.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br/><br />
<br/> <br />
Although the ''Methodical Summary'' was first published anonymously, in an edition with many errors and omissions,<ref>Preface, xiii.</ref> it was still a popular and widely referenced text, and appeared in seven editions between 1678 and 1773.<ref>Glazebrook, Introduction, vi-viii.</ref> Few other books on criminal law were in circulation at the time: Coke’s ''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Law of England'' was over thirty years old, and Hale’s own ''Historia Placitorum Coronae'' would not be published until 1736.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Today, Hale’s first book is considered little more than a precursor to his more important works, a “much sketchier notebook on the subject [of the criminal law]” than the ''Historia Placitorum Coronae'',<ref>Cromartie, "Hale, Sir Matthew."</ref> and a “brief and inaccurate digest of the criminal law.”<ref>Leslie Stephen and Sydney Lee, eds., "[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433082198262;view=1up;seq=31. Hale, Matthew]," in ''Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XXIV, Hailes-Harriott'' (London: Smith, Elder, & Co.: 1890).</ref><br />
<br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
[[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 11 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> suggests Wythe owned the sixth edition (1759) of this title based on notes in John Marshall's commonplace book.<ref>Herbert A. Johnson, Charles T. Cullen, and Nancy G. Harris, eds., ''The Papers of John Marshall'', (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, in association with the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1974), 1:43.</ref> While ''The Papers of John Marshall'' does list the 1759 edition, no evidence exists which ties that particular edition to George Wythe. Thus, the Wolf Law Library moved a copy of the fifth edition (1716) from the existing rare books collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]].<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary blind calf with recent reback. Spine features a red leather label with gold tooling. Inscribed "Thomas Hill" on the front cover, "Andrew (name scratched out)" on the back cover, with "Hor. Binney from G. Schetky" and "E. R. Potter, R. I." written on the front flyleaf. Title paged stamped "William Bingham" and "William Binney," with "Carr & Schetky" written below. First page of preface signed "E. R. Potter, R. I." (perhaps statesman and jurist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_R._Potter Elisha R. Potter]) and "Hamilton." Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936.<br />
<br />
View the record for this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/10829 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
Read this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=V3BBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books.]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Criminal Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Biblos_t%C4%93s_D%C4%93mosias_Euch%C4%93s&diff=38554Biblos tēs Dēmosias Euchēs2015-06-12T17:35:03Z<p>Sjwilmes: added book description</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Biblos tēs Dēmosias Euchēs: Kai Yeleseōs Mystēriōn kai tōn Allōn Thesmōn kai Teletōn tēs Ekklēsias: Kata to Eth[os] tēs Agglikanēs Ekklēsias: Pros [de] t[ou]tois Typos k[ai] Tropos tēs Katagaseōs, Cheirotonias, kai Kathierōseōs Episkopōn Presbyterōn k[ai] Diakonōn''}}<br />
===by The Church of England===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/4017930<br />
|shorttitle=Biblos tēs Dēmosias Euchēs<br />
|commontitle=Book of Common Prayer in Greek<br />
|author=Church of England<br />
|lang=Greek<br />
|publoc=En tē Kantabrigia<br />
|publisher=Exetypōthē par' Iōannou Phieldou ...<br />
|year=1665<br />
|pages=[36], 126, [2]<br />
|desc=8vo. (17 cm.)<br />
}}The Book of Common Prayer is the liturgical book of the Anglican Church.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/128612/Book-of-Common-Prayer Book of Common Prayer]," accessed June 8, 2015.</ref> It was first compiled in 1549, after the English Reformation and the separation of the Anglican Church from the Catholic Church in Rome,<ref>"[http://www.pbs.org.uk/the-bcp/the-bcp-story The BCP Story]," ''The Prayer Book Society'', accessed June 8, 2015.</ref> and was primarily the work of Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Book of Common Prayer."</ref> Within one volume, the Book of Common Prayer set out “the forms of service for daily and Sunday worship… morning prayer, evening prayer, the Litany, and Holy Communion… the orders for baptism, confirmation, marriage, ‘prayers to be said with the sick’ and a funeral service.”<ref>"The BCP Story."</ref><br/><br />
<br/> <br />
The Book of Common Prayer was altered significantly in 1552 in order to align it more definitively with Protestant traditions. Further revisions were made in 1559, 1604, and 1662.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Book of Common Prayer."</ref> Later proposals to alter it were unsuccessful, and the version used today is substantially similar to that of 1662.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br/><br />
<br/> <br />
The influence of the Book of Common Prayer reaches beyond the Anglican Church: its prayers have been adapted by other Protestant denominations, and its marriage and burial rights are particularly well known.<ref>"The BCP Story."</ref> It is the second most frequently cited book in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after the Bible.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Its influence on the English language is almost as great as that of the Authorized King James Bible and Shakespeare’s works.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br/><br />
<br/> <br />
In 1665, James Duport, Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, edited a verbatim Greek translation of the Book of Common Prayer, intended primarily for use in college and universities.<ref>William Muss-Arnolt, "[http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Muss-Arnolt/part1A.htm Chapter V: Latin and Greek Translations, II]," in ''The Book of Common Prayer Among the Nations of the World'' (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1913).</ref> Duport (1606-1679) was a tutor at Trinity College for over thirty years, and was particularly known for taking on royalist students.<ref>Rosemary O'Day, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8301 Duport, James (1606-1679)]" in ''Oxford English Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed June 8, 2015.</ref> His other works included “a Homeric paraphrase of the book of Job,” and Homeri gnomologia, a collection of Homeric aphorisms annotated with quotations from the Bible and other texts.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound with: ''Psaltērion tou David''. (En Kantabrigia: Etypothē par' Iōannou tou Fieldou, tou tēs Akadēmias typothetou, 1664).<br /> <br />
<br /><br />
View the record for this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/4017930 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Third_Part_of_the_Institutes_of_the_Laws_of_England&diff=38544Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England2015-06-12T15:47:31Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England: Concerning High Treason, and Other Pleas of the Crown, and Criminall Causes''}}<br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeThirdPartInstitutes1644.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1689432<br />
|shorttitle=Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by M. Flesher, for W. Lee, and D. Pakeman<br />
|year=1644<br />
|edition=First<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=[7], 243, [18] <br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:CokeThirdInstitute1644Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' is the third volume in a series of books and reports written by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) in an attempt to provide an exhaustive review of English law. Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, Coke was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)] in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br />
<br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://29866.bbnc.bbcust.com/page.aspx?pid=920 Petition of Right (1628)]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /> <br />
The ''Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' focuses on the criminal law of England. Coke transferred his experience as attorney general and judge into the third part of the Institutes by focusing on treason, misprision of treason, and heresy more than on homicide, rape, robbery, and similar crimes. Coke had personally tried several famous treason and libel cases as attorney general, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot Gunpowder Plot of 1605], and his focus is largely based on his experiences.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Coke’s ''Institutes'' were enormously influential in the United States, especially with regard to the construction of the Third and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. The ''Institutes'' have been cited in over 70 cases decided by the Supreme Court of the Unites States.<ref>LexisNexis search performed May 1, 2008.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed with the other parts of Coke's ''Institutes'' in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Coke’s Institutes. 3.v. fol.'' This was one of the sets kept by [[Thomas Jefferson]]. He may have sold to the Library of Congress in 1815. Three of the [[George Wythe Collection]] sources (Goodwin's pamphlet<ref>Mary R. M. Goodwin, [http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0216.xml ''The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings''] (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLVI.</ref>, the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on March 12, 2014.</ref> on LibraryThing) include the fourth (1670) edition of ''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'', based on Millicent Sowerby's entry in ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson''.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:219 [no.1784].</ref> Jefferson's copy still exists with the third and fourth parts bound together, and it contains manuscript notes not in his hand. Neither have those notes been linked to Wythe, nor are there any other indications that the volume once belonged to Wythe. [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> lists the first (1644) edition of ''The Third Part'' based on notes in Jefferson's commonplace book.<ref>Gilbert Chinard, ed., ''The Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson: A Repertory of His Ideas on Government'' (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1926), 14.</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Dean's recommendation and purchased a copy of the first edition.<br />
[[File:CokeThirdInstitute1644Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Inscription, front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Rebound in period-style full blind calf. Includes previous owner's inscriptions on front flyleaf "my hoyle" (multiple times) and "go lovely maid, lay lovely maid Lovely, my lovely Mrs. Smith." Purchased from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.<br />
<br />
View the record for this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1689432 William & Mary's online catalog.] <br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Criminal Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Possible Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Second_Part_of_the_Institutes_of_the_Laws_of_England&diff=38542Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England2015-06-12T15:37:54Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England: Containing the Exposition of Many Ancient and Other Statutes''}}<br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeSecondPartOfInstitutes1644TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/Record/88563<br />
|shorttitle=The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by W. Rawlins, for Thomas Basset <br />
|year=1681<br />
|edition=Sixth<br />
|lang=English with some Latin and Law French<br />
|pages=[12], 744, [40]<br />
|desc=Folio (31 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:CokeFourthInstitute1644Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://29866.bbnc.bbcust.com/page.aspx?pid=920 Petition of Right (1628)]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
''The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' includes mainly public law and statutory changes to the common law as previously described in Coke's ''First Institute''.<ref>W. S. Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1924), 5:468.</ref> "As usual the commentaries are both discursive and learned."<ref>Ibid., 469.</ref> Coke's explantion of the more modern statutes give valuable historical insight into the reasons for passage and the immediate effects of their implementation.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed with the other parts of Coke's ''Institutes'' in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Coke’s Institutes. 3.v. fol.'' This was one of the sets kept by [[Thomas Jefferson]]. He may have sold the volumes to the Library of Congress in 1815. Jefferson did sell two editions of ''The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' to the library, a copy of the fourth edition (1662) and a copy of the sixth edition (1681)<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:218 [no. 1782-1783].</ref> Both volumes still exist, but neither includes any Wythe-related markings or signatures. Mary Goodwin lists both volumes in her pamphlet on the George Wythe House.<ref>Mary R. M. Goodwin, [http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0216.xml ''The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings''] (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLVI.</ref> [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on March 27, 2015.</ref> suggests the 1662 second edition, noting "contains manuscript notes note by Jefferson." The [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012, rev. 2014) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> includes the 1681 sixth edition instead. [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> lists the first (1642) edition of ''The Second Part'' citing Nathan Schachner's biography of Jefferson.<ref>Nathan Schachner, ''Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: T. Yoseloff, 1957), 36.</ref> The Wolf Law Library moved a copy of the sixth edition from an existing rare book collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]].<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary calf with blind rules and tooling to boards. Spine features red morocco label with gilt lettering and decorative border. Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936.<br />
<br />
View the record for this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/Record/88563 William & Mary's online catalog]. <br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:English Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Possible Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Bi%C5%8Dnos_tou_Smyrnaiou,_kai_Moschou_tou_Syrakosiou,_ta_S%C5%8Dzomena&diff=38538Biōnos tou Smyrnaiou, kai Moschou tou Syrakosiou, ta Sōzomena2015-06-12T15:26:22Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Biōnos tou Smyrnaiou, kai Moschou tou Syrakosiou, ta Sōzomena = Bionis Smyrnæl, et Moschi Syracusani, quæ Supersunt''}}<br />
===by Bion of Smyrna===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{NoBookInfoBox<br />
|shorttitle=Bionos tou Smyrnaiou<br />
|commontitle=<br />
|vol= <br />
|author=Bion of Smyrna<br />
|editor=<br />
|trans=<br />
|publoc=Oxonii<br />
|publisher=J. Barrett<br />
|year=1748<br />
|edition= <br />
|lang=<br />
|set=<br />
|pages=<br />
|desc=<br />
}}<br />
Oxonii: e Typographeo Clarendoniano, prostant venales apud Johan. Barrett, 1748. <br />
<br />
Bion of Smyrna (fl. c. 100 BC)<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/66154/Bion Bion]," accessed June 5, 2015.</ref> and Moschus of Syracuse (fl. c. 150 BC)<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/393387/Moschus Moschus]," accessed June 5, 2015.</ref> were minor Greek Bucolic, or pastoral, poets, and successors of the first Bucolic poet, Theocritus.<ref>"[http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199548545.001.0001/acref-9780199548545-e-2257# pastoral poetry]," in ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'', ed. M.C. Howatson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), accessed June 5, 2015.</ref> Little is known about either poet, and few of their works survive.<br/><br />
<br/><br />
Most of what is known about Bion derives from the ''Lament for Bion'', an elegy written by one of his students upon his death. He was born in Smyrna, now a part of Turkey, and lived in Sicily.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Bion."</ref> According to his student, he was poisoned to death.<ref>J.M. Edmonds, trans., introduction to ''[http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL028/1912/pb_LCL028.xxiii.xmlThe Greek Bucolic Poets]'', the Loeb Classical Library 28 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1912), xxiii.</ref> Bion’s only surviving works are 17 fragments of poems from his ''Bucolica'', and the ''Lament for Adonis'', for which he is best known.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Bion."</ref> Though labeled a Bucolic poet, the “pastoral element in his work is slight.”<ref>"[http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199548545.001.0001/acref-9780199548545-e-0500?rskey=hOzHLR&result=2 Bion]," in ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'', ed. M.C. Howatson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), accessed June 5, 2015.</ref><br/><br />
<br/> <br />
Like Bion, Moschus is considered a Bucolic poet even though most of his surviving poetry is not pastoral in nature.<ref>Edmonds, xxii.</ref> He was also a grammarian, though none of his works on grammar survive.<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s.v. "Moschus."</ref> His extant works include five hexameter poems, an epigram on Eros as a ploughman, “a hexameter dialogue between Heracles’ wife [Megara]…and his mother Alcmena,”<ref>"[http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199548545.001.0001/acref-9780199548545-e-2017?rskey=hOzHLR&result=1 Moschus]," in ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'', ed. M.C. Howatson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), accessed June 5, 2015.</ref> and a longer poem entitled ''Love the Runaway''.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Moschus."</ref> Moschus is also the probable author of the short epic ''Europa''.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Some scholars have attributed the ''Lament for Bion'' to Moschus, and consequently assumed he was a student of Bion’s and the third, rather than the second, of the Bucolic poets.<ref>M.J. Chapman, ed., [https://books.google.com/books?id=K_ohHxMXGzEC&dq ''The Greek Pastoral Poets, Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus''] (London: James Frasier, 215 Regent Street, 1836), 406.</ref> This attribution is now considered improbable.<ref>"Moschus" in ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature''.</ref><br/><br />
<br/><br />
The 1748 Oxford edition of the surviving works of Bion and Moschus, edited by John Heskin, is considered a “very elegant edition.”<ref>Thomas Frognall Dibdin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vlc8AAAAIAAJ&dq ''An Introduction to the Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics''] (London: Printed for W. Dwyer, 1804), 55.</ref> It includes a short preface and a note on the lives of Bion and Moschus, both in Latin, the poems in the original Greek with Latin translations on the facing pages, and extensive notes.<br />
<br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
View the record for this book in [https://books.google.com/books?id=IX-NQAAACAAJ&dq=bion+of+smyrna+bionos+johan+barrett+1748&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KNjPVJWvCqrksAT1noF4&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA Google Books]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Latin Literature]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Bi%C5%8Dnos_tou_Smyrnaiou,_kai_Moschou_tou_Syrakosiou,_ta_S%C5%8Dzomena&diff=38532Biōnos tou Smyrnaiou, kai Moschou tou Syrakosiou, ta Sōzomena2015-06-12T15:12:25Z<p>Sjwilmes: added book description</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Biōnos tou Smyrnaiou, kai Moschou tou Syrakosiou, ta Sōzomena = Bionis Smyrnæl, et Moschi Syracusani, quæ Supersunt''}}<br />
===by Bion of Smyrna===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{NoBookInfoBox<br />
|shorttitle=Bionos tou Smyrnaiou<br />
|commontitle=<br />
|vol= <br />
|author=Bion of Smyrna<br />
|editor=<br />
|trans=<br />
|publoc=Oxonii<br />
|publisher=J. Barrett<br />
|year=1748<br />
|edition= <br />
|lang=<br />
|set=<br />
|pages=<br />
|desc=<br />
}}<br />
Oxonii: e Typographeo Clarendoniano, prostant venales apud Johan. Barrett, 1748. <br />
<br />
Bion of Smyrna (fl. c. 100 BC)<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/66154/Bion Bion]," accessed June 5, 2015.</ref> and Moschus of Syracuse (fl. c. 150 BC)<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/393387/Moschus Moschus]," accessed June 5, 2015.</ref> were minor Greek Bucolic, or pastoral, poets, and successors of the first Bucolic poet, Theocritus.<ref>"[http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199548545.001.0001/acref-9780199548545-e-2257# pastoral poetry]," in ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'', ed. M.C. Howatson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), accessed June 5, 2015.</ref> Little is known about either poet, and few of their works survive.<br/><br />
<br/><br />
Most of what is known about Bion derives from the ''Lament for Bion'', an elegy written by one of his students upon his death. He was born in Smyrna, now a part of Turkey, and lived in Sicily.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Bion."</ref> According to his student, he was poisoned to death.<ref>J.M. Edmonds, trans., introduction to ''[http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL028/1912/pb_LCL028.xxiii.xmlThe Greek Bucolic Poets]'', the Loeb Classical Library 28 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1912), xxiii.</ref> Bion’s only surviving works are 17 fragments of poems from his ''Bucolica'', and the ''Lament for Adonis'', for which he is best known.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Bion."</ref> Though labeled a Bucolic poet, the “pastoral element in his work is slight.”<ref>"[http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199548545.001.0001/acref-9780199548545-e-0500?rskey=hOzHLR&result=2 Bion]," in ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'', ed. M.C. Howatson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), accessed June 5, 2015.</ref><br/><br />
<br/> <br />
Like Bion, Moschus is considered a Bucolic poet even though most of his surviving poetry is not pastoral in nature.<ref>Edmonds, xxii.</ref> He was also a grammarian, though none of his works on grammar survive.<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s.v. "Moschus."</ref> His extant works include five hexameter poems, an epigram on Eros as a ploughman, “a hexameter dialogue between Heracles’ wife [Megara]…and his mother Alcmena,”<ref>"[http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199548545.001.0001/acref-9780199548545-e-2017?rskey=hOzHLR&result=1 Moschus]," in ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'', ed. M.C. Howatson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), accessed June 5, 2015.</ref> and a longer poem entitled ''Love the Runaway''.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Moschus."</ref> Moschus is also the probable author of the short epic ''Europa''.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Some scholars have attributed the ''Lament for Bion'' to Moschus, and consequently assumed he was a student of Bion’s and the third, rather than the second, of the Bucolic poets,<ref>M.J. Chapman, ed., [https://books.google.com/books?id=K_ohHxMXGzEC&dq ''The Greek Pastoral Poets, Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus''] (London: James Frasier, 215 Regent Street, 1836), 406.</ref> but this attribution is now considered improbable.<ref>"Moschus" in ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature''.</ref><br/><br />
<br/><br />
The 1748 Oxford edition of the surviving works of Bion and Moschus, edited by John Heskin, is considered a “very elegant edition.”<ref>Thomas Frognall Dibdin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vlc8AAAAIAAJ&dq ''An Introduction to the Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics''] (London: Printed for W. Dwyer, 1804), 55.</ref> It includes a short preface and a note on the lives of Bion and Moschus, both in Latin, the poems in the original Greek with Latin translations on the facing pages, and extensive notes.<br />
<br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
View the record for this book in [https://books.google.com/books?id=IX-NQAAACAAJ&dq=bion+of+smyrna+bionos+johan+barrett+1748&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KNjPVJWvCqrksAT1noF4&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA Google Books]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Latin Literature]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=First_Part_of_the_Institutes_of_the_Laws_of_England&diff=38520First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England2015-06-12T14:30:42Z<p>Sjwilmes: added book description</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England, or, A Commentary upon Littleton, not the Name of the Author Only, but of the Law It Selfe''}}<br />
===by Sir. Edward Coke===<br />
<br />
4th ed, corrected. London: Printed by M.F. I.H. and R.Y., assignes of I. More Esquire, 1639.<br />
<br />
Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br/> <br />
<br/><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]—puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552-1634)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br/> <br />
<br/><br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://29866.bbnc.bbcust.com/page.aspx?pid=920 Petition of Right (1628)]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on The Institutes of the Laws of England, another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br/> <br />
<br/><br />
''The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'', published in 1628, was the only part of the four volume Institutes to be appear in print during Coke’s lifetime.<ref>William Holdsworth, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=A0c4AAAAIAAJ Some Makers of English Law: The Tagore Lectures 1937-38]'' (Cambridge: University Press, 1966), 123.</ref> Unlike the other three volumes of wholly original writing, it took the form of a commentary on an earlier work, Sir Thomas Littleton’s ''Tenures''. Littleton’s ''Tenures'' was “a brief treatise on the Laws of England in relation to land” first published in 1481.<ref>J.H. Baker, "[http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/16787 Littleton, Sir Thomas (d. 1481)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed June 10, 2015.</ref> Coke’s ''Commentary upon Littleton'' greatly expanded the original. It was organized into three columns of text: Littleton’s original Law French; Coke’s English translation; and Coke’s commentary.<ref>Hicks, 94.</ref> Coke’s additions to the original text were extensive, and included observations on issues not touched upon by Littleton at all.<ref>Holdsworth, 123.</ref> ''The First Part of the Institutes'' was “in fact a legal encyclopaedia arranged on no plan except that suggested by the words and sentences of Littleton.”<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
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<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
View the record for this book in [https://books.google.com/books?id=P5WIPgAACAAJ&dq=sir+edward+coke+the+first+part+of+the+institutes+1639 Google Books]<br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
<br />
[[Category:Property]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Fourth_Part_of_the_Institutes_of_the_Laws_of_England&diff=38514Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England2015-06-12T14:20:48Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England: Concerning the Jurisdiction of Courts''}}<br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeFourthPartOfInstitutes1644TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/Record/3249931<br />
|shorttitle=The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by M. Flesher, for W. Lee, and D. Pakeman<br />
|year=1644<br />
|lang=English with some Latin and Law French<br />
|pages=[16], 364, [38]<br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:CokeFourthInstitute1644Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://29866.bbnc.bbcust.com/page.aspx?pid=920 Petition of Right (1628)]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br />
''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' covers jurisdiction and offers instruction on which courts could hear certain cases. "Beginning with the High Court of Parliament, [Coke] travels through the whole mass of councils and courts, central and local, which administered justice in the king's name."<ref>W. S. Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1924), 5:470.</ref> Throughout the text, Coke emphasizes the primacy of the common law courts and reiterates views he had previously expressed on the bench.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed with the other parts of Coke's ''Institutes'' in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Coke’s Institutes. 3.v. fol.'' This was one of the sets kept by [[Thomas Jefferson]]. He may have sold to the Library of Congress in 1815. Three of the [[George Wythe Collection]] sources (Goodwin's pamphlet<ref>Mary R. M. Goodwin, [http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0216.xml ''The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings''] (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLVI.</ref>, the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on March 12, 2014.</ref> on LibraryThing) include the second (1648) edition of ''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'', based on Millicent Sowerby's entry in ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'',<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:219 [no. 1784].</ref> Jefferson's copy still exists with the third and fourth parts bound together, and it contains manuscript notes not in his hand. Neither have those notes been linked to Wythe, nor are there any other indications that the volume once belonged to Wythe. [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> lists the first (1644) edition of ''The Fourth Part'' based on notes in Jefferson's commonplace book.<ref>Gilbert Chinard, ed., ''The Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson: A Repertory of His Ideas on Government'' (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1926), 14.</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Dean's recommendation and purchased a copy of the first edition.<br />
[[File:CokeFourthInstitute1644Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Inscription, front pastedown.</center>]]<br />
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==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary calf with blind rules to boards and rebacked in period-style. Includes the inscription "Downing College Library" on the front pastedown. Purchased from the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.<br />
<br />
View the record for this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/Record/3249931 William & Mary's online catalog]. <br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
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[[Category:Courts]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Possible Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Pleas_of_the_Crown&diff=38490Pleas of the Crown2015-06-12T13:20:35Z<p>Sjwilmes: added book description</p>
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<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Pleas of the Crown''}}<br />
===by Sir Matthew Hale===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=HalePleasOfTheCrown1716TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/223680<br />
|shorttitle=Pleas of the Crown<br />
|author=<br />
|publoc=[London] In the Savoy<br />
|publisher=Printed by J.N., assignee of Edw. Sayer, Esq;, for J. Walthoe ... and J. Walthoe junr.<br />
|year=1716<br />
|edition=Fifth<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=[18], 272, [8], 1-143, [1] p.<br />
|desc=8vo. (20 cm.)<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hale_(jurist) Sir Matthew Hale] (1609- 1676) attended [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%27s_Inn Lincoln’s Inn] to study the law in the footsteps of his father, who had died when Hale was a very young age.<ref>A. Cromartie, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/11905 Hale, Sir Mathew (b.c 1609 d. in 1676)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed October 9, 2013.</ref> While studying at Lincoln’s Inn, Hale became very close with the attorney general, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Noy William Noy] (d. 1634).<ref>H. Flander, "Sir Matthew Hale," ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register'' 56 (1908), 6.</ref> Noy is believed to have helped shape Hale’s love for medieval transcripts.<ref>Ibid.</ref> This would later lead to Hale’s work on a large amount of legal literature. Hale entered the bar in 1636 after the normal seven years of schooling.<ref>Cromartie, "Hale, Sir Mathew."</ref> In 1671, Sir Matthew Hale became the chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King’s Bench], a well-deserved role considering the amount of writing he was doing on criminal law as well as the common law.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br /><br />
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Hale’s ''Pleas of the Crown: or, a Methodical Summary of the Principal Matters relating to that Subject'' was first published in 1678, two years after Hale’s death.<ref>P.R. Glazebrook, introduction to [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.39000007848430;view=1up;seq=9 ''Pleas of the Crown: A Methodical Summary, 1678''], by Matthew Hale (London: Professional Books Limited, 1972), iii.</ref> It was likely written “about the end of the Reign of King Charles the First,”<ref>Anonymous, preface to ''Pleas of the Crown: A Methodical Summary, 1678'', by Matthew Hale (London: Professional Books Limited, 1972), xvii.</ref> perhaps in the 1640s, and was probably Hale’s first attempt at providing a comprehensive and organized analysis of the law.<ref>Glazebrook, Introduction, v.</ref> In the ''Methodical Summary'', he focused on the criminal law, a subject with which he dealt in depth in a later and more famous work, the ''Historia Placitorum Coronae''.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br/><br />
<br/> <br />
Although the ''Methodical Summary'' was first published anonymously, in an edition with many errors and omissions,<ref>Preface, xiii.</ref> it was still a popular and widely referenced text, and appeared in seven editions between 1678 and 1773.<ref>Glazebrook, Introduction, vi-viii.</ref> Few other books on criminal law were in circulation at the time: Coke’s ''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Law of England'' was over thirty years old, and Hale’s own ''Historia Placitorum Coronae'' would not be published until 1736.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Today, Hale’s first book is considered little more than a precursor to his more important works, a “much sketchier notebook on the subject [of the criminal law]” than the ''Historia Placitorum Coronae'',<ref>Cromartie, "Hale, Sir Matthew."</ref> and a “brief and inaccurate digest of the criminal law.”<ref>Leslie Stephen and Sydney Lee, eds., "[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433082198262;view=1up;seq=31. Hale, Matthew]," in ''Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XXIV, Hailes-Harriott'' (London: Smith, Elder, & Co.: 1890).</ref><br />
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<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
[[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 11 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> suggests Wythe owned the sixth edition (1759) of this title based on notes in John Marshall's commonplace book.<ref>Herbert A. Johnson, Charles T. Cullen, and Nancy G. Harris, eds., ''The Papers of John Marshall'', (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, in association with the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1974), 1:43.</ref> While ''The Papers of John Marshall'' does list the 1759 edition, no evidence exists which ties that particular edition to George Wythe. Thus, the Wolf Law Library moved a copy of the fifth edition (1716) from the existing rare books collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]].<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary blind calf with recent reback. Spine features a red leather label with gold tooling. Inscribed "Thomas Hill" on the front cover, "Andrew (name scratched out)" on the back cover, with "Hor. Binney from G. Schetky" and "E. R. Potter, R. I." written on the front flyleaf. Title paged stamped "William Bingham" and "William Binney," with "Carr & Schetky" written below. First page of preface signed "E. R. Potter, R. I." (perhaps statesman and jurist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_R._Potter Elisha R. Potter]) and "Hamilton." Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936.<br />
<br />
View the record for this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/10829 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
Read this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=V3BBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books.]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Criminal Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Authoritie_et_Jurisdiction_des_Courts_de_la_Majestie_de_la_Roygne&diff=38488Authoritie et Jurisdiction des Courts de la Majestie de la Roygne2015-06-12T12:44:40Z<p>Sjwilmes: added book description</p>
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<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''L'Authoritie et Jurisdiction des Courts de la Majestie de la Roygne''}}<br />
===by Richard Crompton===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/72469<br />
|shorttitle=L'Authoritie et Jurisdiction des Courts de la Majestie de la Roygne<br />
|commontitle=L'Authoritie et Jurisdiction des Courts de la Majestie de la Roygne<br />
|author=Richard Crompton<br />
|lang=French<br />
|publoc=Londini<br />
|publisher=in aedibus Caroli Yetsweirti Armig.<br />
|year=1594<br />
|pages=8, 232 leaves<br />
|desc=4to. (18 cm.)<br />
}}Richard Crompton (c. 1529-c. 1599) was a legal writer whose works include ''A Short Declaration of the Ende of Traytors, and False Conspirators Against the State'', ''Star-Chamber Cases'', and an enlargement of Sir Anthony Fitzherbert’s ''Loffice et authoritie de iustices de peace''.<ref>N.G. Jones, "[http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/6759 Crompton, Richard (b.c. 1529, d. in or about 1599)]" in ''Oxford English Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed May 28, 2015.</ref> Although he was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1553 and might have been created a serjeant-at-law, had he desired that honor, Crompton preferred to focus on his “private studies.”<ref>Ibid.</ref> His most well-known work is ''L’authoritie et Jurisdiction des Courts de la Majestie de la Roygne''.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br/> <br />
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''L’authoritie et Jurisdiction'' was the first English law book to focus exclusively on the royal courts.<ref>"[http://www.loc.gov/preservation/conservators/bachbase/bbcbooks/ Bach to Baseball Cards: Preserving the Nation's History at the Library of Congress]," ''Library of Congress'', accessed May 28, 2015.</ref> Divided into 23 sections, each focusing on a different court, it serves as a guide to the court system.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Crompton describes not only the Court of Star Chamber, the Chancery, and the court functions of Parliament, but other, smaller, and less well-known courts.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br/> <br />
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As early as 1600, the English legal scholar William Fulbeck praised Crompton’s work, recommending his books to law students because they were both comprehensive and concise, so “that a man may by them in a few hours gain great knowledge.”<ref> William Fulbeck and T.H. Sterling, [https://books.google.com/books?id=V7wDAAAAQAAJ ''Direction or Preparative to the Study of Law''] (London: Printed for J. and W.T. Clarke, Law Booksellers and Publishers, 1829), 74.</ref> Roger North similarly considered Crompton’s ''L’authoritie et jurisidiction'' to be essential reading for students.<ref>Jones, "Crompton, Richard."</ref> <br />
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<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in recent limp vellum. <br />
<br />
View the record for this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/72469 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Courts]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Memoranda_Concerning_the_Death_of_Chancellor_Wythe&diff=36166Memoranda Concerning the Death of Chancellor Wythe2015-03-17T15:09:31Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
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<div>The Memorandum Concerning the Death of George Wythe, also known as the Dove Memo, is a short document recorded by Thomas Hicks Wynne. According to its last lines, the substance of the document was “communicated” to Wynne by Dr. John Dove, who is said to have been present at George Wythe’s death. The Memo is dated September 16, 1856, and recounts Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. In several respects, the Memo is an untrustworthy source. It was written fifty years after Wythe's death, and its source, John Dove, was only 14 at that time. It also contains multiple historical inaccuracies. In addition, other available evidence undermines the believability of its specific allegations, in particular its claims that Wythe's grand-nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, poisoned Wythe accidentally; and that Wythe had a son, Michael Brown, with his housekeeper Lydia Broadnax. Despite its unreliable nature, the Dove Memo's assertions continue to be repeated, often without attribution.<br />
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<br />
==Text of the Memorandum==<br />
===Page 1===<br />
<blockquote><br />
1856<br />
Sep 16<br />
<br />
Wynne, Thomas Hicks <br />
<br />
Memorandum concerning <br />
the death of George <br />
Wythe<br />
</blockquote><br />
===Page 2===<br />
<blockquote><br />
Judge Wythe had a yellow woman by the name of Lydia who lived with him as wife or mistress as was quite common in the city fifty years ago with gentlemen of the olden time. By this woman he had a son named Mike who was not only fine looking but very intelligent & the Judge took great pleasure in educating him & made him an accomplished scholar. Growing old & needing some assistance in attending to his business Judge W. wrote for a nephew of his by the name of George Wythe Sweeney living in the county of Elizabeth City Va & he came & lived with him. He was treated very kindly & generously by his patron & the latter made a will bequeathing to Mike & the youth all of his property as co heirs. The fact of being placed on equal terms with the negro as he called him stung the proud spirit of Sweeney & he frequently spoke of it to my informant & his other youthful associates & vowed vengeance against him. The result of his brooding was a determination to kill Mike. For this purpose he put arsenic in the coffee on Sunday morning supposing that Mike certainly & probably Lydia would drink of it while the Judge as usual since he had been infirm in health would breakfast in his chamber. But unfortunately the old man for the first time for many weeks ate with a neighbor John Duval. The result was the death of the judge, Lydia, Mike, & an old man who acted a gardener. The judge lived until Wednesday & having reason to suspect Sweeney he destroyed the will & made an other giving his property to two of his sisters. Sweeney was tried & convicted but the eloquence of Edmund Randolphe returned a sentence of 12 months [? ? ?] in<br />
</blockquote><br />
===Page 3===<br />
<blockquote><br />
jail after which the young man went to Tennessee stole a horse & was sent to the penitentiary & then lost sight of.<br />
<br />
Communicated by Dr. John Dove (who was present during the sickness and death of Judge Wythe) to me Sep 16 1856.<br />
Thos H Wynne<br />
<br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Memorandum concerning the death of Chancellor Wythe - Signed in the autograph of T.H. Wynne and rec'd by him from Dr. John Dove, Dept. 16, 1856.<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
==Analysis==<br />
The story told by the Memo differs significantly from that of other primary sources. According to the Memo, Wythe lived with “a yellow woman by the name of Lydia,” who was his “wife or mistress,” and together they had a son, Mike, whom Wythe “took great pleasure in educating.” Requiring additional assistance because of his age, Wythe then called for his nephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who also came to live with him. However, Sweeney became jealous, and his pride was hurt, when he discovered that Wythe had written both Sweeney and Mike into his will as co-heirs. As a result, Sweeney decided to kill Mike. To this end, he put arsenic into the household’s morning coffee, with the intention that Mike would drink it, but that Wythe, who was ill and had taken to eating his breakfast in his chambers, would not have any of the poisoned drink. By chance, however, Wythe, did leave his room in order to have breakfast with a neighbor, John DuVal, and was poisoned. Also poisoned were Mike, Lydia, and “an old man who acted as gardener,” and all died as a result. Before he died, Wythe wrote Sweeney out of his will and left his property to Sweeney’s sisters instead. After Sweeney was acquitted, he left Virginia for Tennessee, where he “stole a horse and was sent to a penitentiary and then lost sight of.”<br />
<br />
Wythe did have a housekeeper named [[Lydia Broadnax]], a freed black woman, and he was educating a free black teenager named [[Michael Brown]]. All three were poisoned when Wythe’s grand-nephew, [[George Wythe Sweeney]], put arsenic in the Sunday morning coffee pot on May 25, 1806. Wythe and Brown both died of the poison. Sweeney was indicted and tried for murder, and acquitted. Brown and Sweeney were beneficiaries of Wythe’s will, and that document was almost certainly a central motivation for the murders. In all other respects, however, the details recounted by the Dove Memo have no other historical support outside the Memo itself and often contradict other primary sources. <br />
<br />
Dr. John Dove was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 2, 1792.<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," ''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, VA), November 17, 1872, quoted in Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts'' (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 152.</ref> He practiced medicine in Richmond from at least 1824 until 1853, during which time he was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first President of the short-lived Medico-Chirurgical Society of Richmond City.<ref>Wyndham B. Blanton, ''Medicine in Virginia in the Nineteenth Century'' (Richmond: Garrett & Massie, incorporated, 1933): 48, 76, 91, 238, 240, http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001557340.</ref> Dove also sat on the City Board of Health and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College.<ref>Ibid., 238, 48.</ref> In addition to his successful medical practice, he was a member of the City Council and a prominent Mason.<ref>"Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref> He served as Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Virginia for fifty-four years, making him at the time of his death the oldest Grand Secretary in the United States.<ref>Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, "Report of Committee on the Death of R.W. John Dove, M.D.," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Accepted Masons'' (Boston: Press of Rockwell & Churchill, 1876), 51.</ref> Dove died on November 16, 1872, at his home in Richmond, at the age of 85.<ref>Ibid., 151.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to telling his story to Thomas Wynne, Dove related a similar narrative to Benjamin Blake Minor. Minor references Dr. Dove in a footnote to his "[[Memoir of the Author]]" a biography Minor included in his edition of Wythe’s ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia'', published in 1852. The footnote reads, in relevant part:<br />
<blockquote><br />
At the time of the poisoning, the Chancellor had been confined at home by indisposition. Swinney, indignant at the kindness and munificence of his uncle to the colored boy, intended to poison the boy, and put the poison in the coffee for breakfast, not expecting the Chancellor would think of coming from his chamber, or would be in any danger of partaking of it. But during his absence, the Chancellor did make his appearance and drank of the coffee. The woman [Lydia Broadnax] also died. These facts were obtained from Dr. John Dove, who then resided in that neighborhood, and was present when Mr. Wythe breathed his last.<ref>B.B. Minor, "Memoir of the Author," in ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery|Decisions of Cases in Virginia, By the High Court Chancery, with Remarks Upon Decrees By the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions]]'', by [[George Wythe]], ed. B.B. Minor (Richmond, Virginia: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxviii.</ref> <br />
</blockquote><br />
The version of events that Minor relates here matches that of the Dove Memo, but gives fewer details. Both accounts attributed to Dove claim that Wythe was ill before the poisoning occurred; that his death was an accident while Michael Brown’s was planned; that Sweeney was motivated by anger and that he was jealous of Brown’s place in Wythe’s household, as well as in his will; and that Broadnax died of the poison as well as the other victims. Minor’s footnote does not mention the Dove Memo’s allegation of a family relationship among Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, and Michael Brown.<br />
<br />
==The Dove Memo Allegations==<br />
The claims asserted in the Dove Memo are almost certainly false. The origins of the Memo itself raise serious suspicions about its trustworthiness. The text of the Memo also includes blatant historical inaccuracies. Finally, other available evidence contradicts the Memo’s assertions that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax.<br />
<br />
Even at glance, the Memo does not appear to be a trustworthy primary source. It is dated 1856, 50 years after Wythe’s death in 1806. If one assumes that Dove was present at Wythe’s death, his recollection half a century later is likely not as reliable as contemporary accounts of the 1806 events. In addition, there is reason to doubt that Dove ever had first-hand knowledge of those events at all. No Dr. Dove is listed among the doctors attending at Wythe’s death,<ref>Julian P. Boyd, "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 27.</ref> nor is any John Dove mentioned "in any capacity" in any of the "extensive testimony" presented at Sweeney’s indictment.<ref>Robert Bevier Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1983), 163n12.</ref> This is not likely an inadvertent omission, as John Dove was only 14 in 1806.<ref>Philip D. Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake and the British Atlantic World, c. 1700-1820," in ''Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: History, Memory, and Civic Culture'', ed. Jan Ellen Lewis and Peter. S. Onuf (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 57; "Death of Dr. John Dove," quoted in Freemasons, ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 152.</ref><br />
<br />
John Dove may have had reason to spread scandalous and false rumors about Wythe by claiming that he had a relationship with one of his former slaves. The Virginia tax lists record that a certain property in Richmond changed hands frequently between 1805 and 1809, alternately owned by the estate of James Dove and by Wythe and his estate.<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 162-63.</ref> Such a rapid "alteration of ownership suggests that the property in question may have been the object of litigation" between the Dove family and the Wythe estate.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Dove may have been thinking about this past disagreement when he recounted his version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref><br />
<br />
In his essay "[[Murder of George Wythe|The Murder of George Wythe]]", Julian Boyd advances another theory to explain the claims made by Dr. Dove, and in particular the allegation that Wythe’s death was accidental rather than premeditated.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 29-30.</ref> In Dove’s version of events, Sweeney killed Michael Brown because discovering that he and Brown were "co-heirs" to, and thus equal in, Wythe’s will wounded his pride. Anger, as much as greed, inspired him to kill, and Wythe was an unintended casualty of that anger. Particularly on the eve of the Civil War, "it may have seemed best to those who wrote about this case to make its motive depend solely upon the racial animus developed through granting too much freedom to Negroes."<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> This theory of Sweeney’s motive, which seems to have its origin with Dr. Dove,<ref>Ibid., 27.</ref> would have emphasized the dangers of manumission, at the same time as it made any discussion of the suppression of evidence from black witnesses at Sweeney’s trial unnecessary.<ref>Ibid., 30.</ref> If Wythe’s death was an accident, Sweeney was acquitted not because of any defect in the judicial process, but because he truly was innocent of murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
In addition to the suspicious origins of the Memo, its text includes several blatant historical inaccuracies, which render the rest of its allegations less credible. For example, it claims that not only Wythe and Michael Brown, but Lydia Broadnax and "an old man who acted as gardener" died of the poison.<ref>Imogene Brown, "Appendix: The Brodie Allegations," in ''American Aristides'' (East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press, 1981): 305n23.</ref> This gardener, Benjamin, was another of Wythe’s former slaves, and was already deceased by 1806.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo also misidentifies William DuVal as John Duval and asserts that Wythe ultimately left his property to Sweeney’s sisters.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Memo’s narrative of accidental poisoning specifically relies on its claim that Wythe had been ill for some time as of May 26, and so not in the habit of breakfasting with the family, and unlikely to be a victim of Sweeney’s poisoning. But this is also false: Wythe was not ill on the day he was poisoned.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Generally, because the Memo is "replete with provable errors," it "must be considered wholly suspect."<ref>W. Edwin Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay," in ''The Murder of George Wythe: Two Essays'', Julian P. Boyd and W. Edwin Hemphill (Williamsburg, VA: The Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1955), 39n21.</ref> <br />
<br />
Other available evidence, as well as common sense considerations, undermines the believability of both significant Dove Memo allegations: that Wythe’s death was accidental, and that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son.<br />
<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only meant to kill Michael Brown and did not anticipate that Wythe would also drink the poisoned coffee. But this version of the events does not account for all of the circumstances of Wythe’s death. First, the Dove Memo narrative does not take into account all of Sweeney’s likely motives for committing murder.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Only by killing Wythe specifically could Sweeney avoid arrest for forging checks in his grand-uncle’s name, as he had been doing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition, only at Wythe’s death would the provisions of his will go into effect, allowing Sweeney to benefit financially from his crime.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Assuming that Sweeney intended to kill Wythe as well as Brown provides a simpler and more logical explanation for his actions because "[w]ith one blow he would solve all his problems: he would prevent his forgery from being discovered, he would get Michael’s share of the estate, and he would receive his inheritance immediately."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 298.</ref> <br />
<br />
Second, all other witnesses to the events surrounding Wythe’s death believed him to have been murdered.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 27.</ref> Wythe himself professed "I am murdered!" while on his death bed, and after Michael Brown’s death, he changed his will to disinherit Sweeney, implying that he suspected his grand-nephew of the crimes.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Contemporary [[Jefferson-DuVal Correspondence|letters]] from Wythe’s friends, including [[William DuVal]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], "make no ... distinction" between the two deaths.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Even the grand jury indicted Sweeney for two counts of murder; although he was eventually acquitted, "the grand jury [was] convinced that both victims had been put to death with premeditation."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Memo’s contention that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress, and Michael Brown their son, is similarly untenable when put into context. First, it is unlikely that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress. Although she continued to work as his housekeeper after he freed her, she was living in a separate house in Richmond by 1797 and even taking in boarders there.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> She was not part of the Wythe household.<ref>Ibid.</ref> She also hired herself out to work to other employers, "which she hardly would have done had she been Wythe’s mistress."<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
It is even less likely that Broadnax was Brown’s mother. Brown was probably born in 1791, when Lydia was around fifty years old.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57.</ref> References to her in contemporary documents emphasize her age: she is called the “old negro woman,” “old Lydia,” and “old cook Lydia,” by several people, including by Henry Clay.<ref>Ibid. (Morgan also points out that Wythe was 65 when Michael was born, 58); Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> Clay would have known Broadnax at around the time that, according to the Dove Memo, she gave birth to Brown.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 57; Brown "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref> She and Brown also have different last names, and no primary source refers to Brown as her son or makes any mention of a family relationship between them.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 299.</ref><br />
<br />
There is no contemporary reference or documentation supporting either the supposition that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress or that Brown was their son. Even at the time of Wythe’s death, none of the fourteen witnesses who testified about the poisoning at Sweeney’s indictment referenced this particular story, and no newspaper made mention of the gossip.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> This is probably not a coincidental or accidental omission, as Wythe would have had difficulty keeping a mistress and son so completely hidden from his friends and family.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 301.</ref> <br />
<br />
Without any evidence reasonably linking Broadnax to Brown or Broadnax to Wythe, little remains in support of the assertion that Wythe was Brown’s biological father. Only Wythe’s obvious generosity to and care for Brown, for example, in educating him, including him as a beneficiary in Wythe’s will, and arranging for Thomas Jefferson to continue his education after Wythe’s death, might still lead one to believe that Brown was secretly Wythe’s son. However, even this evidence becomes less convincing when seen in context. Wythe provided Brown with an education, but this was in keeping with his other anti-slavery beliefs and his "benevolence to African-Americans."<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref> He had taught at least one of his former slaves, Jimmy, to read and write, and eventually freed not only Jimmy, but most of his other slaves as well.<ref>Ibid.</ref> No one has suggested that Wythe was Jimmy’s biological father.<ref>Brown, "The Brodie Allegations," 300.</ref> By teaching Brown as he would a white student, Wythe planned to show that black people were equally capable of being educated as were their white counterparts.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 58.</ref><br />
<br />
That Wythe included Brown in his will is also not particularly strange, nor unexplainable absent the speculation that Brown was his son. Wythe also provided for his former slaves Lydia Broadnax and Benjamin. These inheritances may simply have reflected Wythe’s knowledge that Brown, Broadnax, and Benjamin would have difficulty surviving without assistance after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Generally, "[i]t seems likely that Wythe left his possessions to these [former] slaves to ensure that they would not drift back into servitude, and out of appreciation for the fact that, though they were free, they were devoted enough to stay with him and care for him in his old age."<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
The Dove Memorandum, written 50 years after Wythe’s death, containing multiple historical inaccuracies, and presenting a version of events that makes little sense when put into a broader context, is not a trustworthy document in any sense.<br />
<br />
==The Memo’s Influence==<br />
Although the Memo seems "to be gossip and has been generally discredited,"<ref>Ibid., 305n23.</ref> some of its claims continue to be repeated even in modern scholarship on Wythe’s life and the events surrounding his death. Its allegation that Lydia Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress and Michael Brown their son has been particularly pervasive, probably because the same story was told by Fawn Brodie in her 1974 book ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. The Dove Memo is also one of only two primary sources that hints at what Sweeney’s life after his acquittal. The other, Minor’s reference in "Memoir of the Author," may also have been based on information provided by Dr. Dove.<br />
<br />
===Wythe’s Death as Accidental===<br />
According to the Memo, Sweeney only intended to kill Michael Brown, and did not plan for Wythe to drink the arsenic-laced coffee. In other words, Wythe’s death was not a murder, but an accident. This narrative was still repeated into the early twentieth century, for example in the sketch of Wythe in ''[[Great American Lawyers]]'' (1907) and in the entry on Wythe’s life in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published between 1920 and 1936.<ref>Boyd, “The Murder of George Wythe,” 24-25.</ref> In ''Great American Lawyers'', Wythe’s death is reported as an accident, and Sweeney’s plan is characterized as an attempt to gain access to Michael Brown’s portion of the inheritance by murdering him: "Avarice overpowered the favorite nephew, and to get immediate possession of the devise, he put arsenic in a pot of coffee which he supposed the Negro boy would be the only one to use. But it happened that Judge Wythe also drank of the coffee, and both were fatally affected."<ref>Lyon G. Taylor, "George Wythe," in ''[[Great American Lawyers|Great American Lawyers: The Lives and Influence of Judges and lawyers who have Acquired Permanent National Reputation, and have Developed the Jurisprudence of the United States. A History of the Legal Profession]]'', ed. William Draper Lewis (Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Company, 1907), 84.</ref> The account of events offered in the ''Dictionary of American Biography'' is more tentative, but essentially the same: "To secure [Michael Brown’s] legacy, or perhaps the inheritance, Sweeney, who was apparently in financial difficulties, poisoned some coffee with arsenic. The servant drank some; Wythe also drank some, perhaps fortuitously."<ref>''Dictionary of American Biography'', s.v. "Wythe, George," quoted in Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 24-25 Boyd traces the story of an accidental poisoning, not to the Dove Memo itself, but to the less detailed version of Dr. Dove’s story found in Minor’s footnote in "Memoir of the Author."</ref> Despite the use of the uncertain qualifier "perhaps," the author of the dictionary entry does give some credence to the story given in the Dove Memo.<ref>Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25.</ref> <br />
<br />
The accidental poisoning theory, however, can be found neither in 1806 sources, nor in modern accounts of the events surrounding Wythe’s death. This "alteration" in the story "cannot be traced back beyond 1850."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 38.</ref> Today, it has been entirely discredited.<ref>''See'' Boyd, "The Murder of George Wythe," 25-31 (discrediting the accidental death theory by comparison with more contemporary sources) and Hemphill, "Examination of George Wythe Swinney" (transcribing and analyzing court documents from Sweeney’s grand jury trial, which make no distinction between a plan to murder Michael Brown and a plan to murder Wythe).</ref> The entry on Wythe’s life in the ''American National Biography'', the successor to the ''Dictionary of American Biography'', indicates that Wythe died in Richmond, "apparently poisoned by a grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, who lived with him and was to have been his principal heir."<ref>Robert Kirtland, "[http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-01016.html?a=1&n=george%20wythe&d=10&ss=1&q=2 Wythe, George]," in ''American National Biography Online'', accessed November 19, 2014.</ref> Although this reference is tempered slightly by the use of the word "apparently," it is less tentative than the earlier dictionary entry. It does not offer any other explanation for Wythe’s death, nor any other motive for the poisoning. Other modern accounts of Wythe’s death treat it straightforwardly as a murder.<ref>''See'', e.g., Bruce Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009); Mary Miley Theobald, "[http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter13/murder.cfm Murder by Namesake: The Poisoning of the Eminent George Wythe]," ''Colonial Williamsburg'' 35 (Winter 2013); Mark Esposito, "[http://jonathanturley.org/2010/12/12/the-curious-death-of-george-wythe-i-am-murdered/ The Curious Death of George Wythe: “I Am Murdered!]", Jonathan Turley (blog), December 12, 2010, .</ref> <br />
<br />
===Wythe as Michael Brown’s father===<br />
The suggestion that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son with Lydia Broadnax, however, although also discredited, is more pervasive even in contemporary books and articles.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 79n8 (listing historians who have repeated the story of the alleged family ties among Wythe, Lydia, and Michael, discussed below).</ref> In ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'', John Chester Miller includes Wythe in a list of Jefferson’s slave owner friends, whom he continued to admire despite their involvement in a "corruptive" practice.<ref>John Chester Miller, ''The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1977): 42-43.</ref> Wythe is singled out, however, as one who "resisted the temptation to which slave owners were exposed, [but nevertheless] succumbed to the sexual attractions of a slave woman."<ref>Ibid.</ref> The slave woman is almost certainly Lydia Broadnax, although Miller does not mention her by name. He does not cite any source for the allegation of a sexual relationship between her and Wythe.<br />
<br />
Another uncited reference to Wythe’s secret family appears fleetingly in a footnote in ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'', by Joseph J. Ellis. While describing Jefferson’s habit of not discussing unpleasant truths, Ellis refers to the "scandal" surrounding Wythe’s death, including "the not-to-be-mentioned fact that [Wythe’s] mulatto housekeeper was his mistress and mother of two of his children."<ref>Joseph J. Ellis, ''American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997): 327n32.</ref> Again, one must assume that Ellis is referring to Broadnax and Brown, although it is not at all clear who the other alleged child might be.<br />
<br />
In ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'', Annette Gordon-Reed again references these rumors, although slightly more tentatively, by claiming that Wythe "was said to have had a son by a black mistress."<ref>Annette Gordon-Reed, ''Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy'' (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997): 136.</ref> This may only be an acknowledgement that unsubstantiated rumors existed, but it does not take into account that those rumors originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death. In a footnote, Gordon-Reed quotes from the beginning of the Dove Memo, using it as support that there had been talk linking Wythe to his black housekeeper and claiming that the two had a son together.<ref>Ibid., 267n43.</ref> She does not put the Memo into context but quotes it as a primary source alongside the opinions of twentieth century Wythe biographers and historians.<br />
<br />
Mechal Sobel, in ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth Century Virginia'', implies, without explicitly stating, that Wythe was Brown’s father.<ref>Mechal Sobel, ''The World They Made Together: Black and White Values in Eighteenth-Century Virginia'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987): 152.</ref> Her brief paragraph on Brown’s upbringing is placed within a larger discussion of interracial sexual and romantic relationships and miscegenation of the time, and while she never links Broadnax directly to Brown as mother and son, she does state that Broadnax was "the woman responsible for his upbringing."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Notably, Sobel does not mention Wythe’s murder in the text itself, but emphasizes that Brown was "poisoned by Wythe’s white nephew, apparently jealous of Brown’s status as heir to Wythe’s estate and perhaps ashamed of his public position."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sobel does not cite the Dove Memo directly, but her proposed motive for the Wythe and Michael Brown murders is the same as that given by Dr. Dove: that Sweeney was jealous of Brown’s status and "public position."<br />
<br />
In his biography of Wythe, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', John Bailey gives particular credit to the Dove Memo as lending "historical authority" to a "longstanding folklore" claim that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son.<ref>John Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'' (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2013): 239.</ref> Bailey, however, also claims that Dr. Dove wrote the memo "in his own hand," at the end of his life, while living in California.<ref>Ibid.</ref> According to the Memo itself, the information it contains was recounted by Dove, but written down by Thomas Hicks Wynne. Dove seems to have spent his entire life in Richmond, Virginia, where he died in 1872, over 15 years after the Memo was written.<ref>Freemasons, "Report of Committee," in ''Proceedings of the Grand Lodge'', 151.</ref> In addition to the Memo, Bailey cites George Wythe Munford’s statement that Broadnax was "respected and trusted by her master, and devotedly attached to him," as proof that Broadnax was Wythe’s mistress.<ref>Bailey, ''Jefferson’s Second Father'', 239-40.</ref> He cites the content of Wythe’s will, which provided for Broadnax, Brown, and a third freed slave, Ben, and which Bailey argues must have seemed like "proof that Wythe was anxious to provide Broadnax and Ben with the income to raise his son in an advantageous manner," as proof that Michael was Wythe’s son.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
In a blog post about the events surrounding Wythe’s death, “The Curious Death of George Wythe: ‘I Am Murdered!’”, Mark Esposito makes three uncritical references to Michael Brown as Broadnax’s son.<ref>Esposito, "The Curious Death of George Wythe," paras. 1-3.</ref> He also addresses the possibility that Wythe might be Brown’s father, giving the idea some credence despite admitting that "there is scant evidence to support that conclusion."<ref>Ibid., para. 5.</ref> By emphasizing that Wythe "provided Brown a remarkable education at a time when such an advantage was generally denied to persons of color," that he "even went so far as" putting Thomas Jefferson in charge of Brown’s education after Wythe’s death, and that "it is ... without contradiction that Wythe made generous bequests to Broadnax and Brown," Esposito subtly implies that Wythe was closer to Broadnax and Brown than he would ever be to a housekeeper or ward.<ref>Ibid.</ref> As late as 2010, a rumor that originated with Dr. Dove 50 years after Wythe’s death was being repeated, if less directly and explicitly, in relation to his death.<br />
<br />
There are several potential reasons why the story of Wythe’s alleged interracial affair has remained so popular. First, it is a sensational story, and makes an interesting narrative even if it is not at all based in fact. Second, several of the authors who reference the story favorably are not writing on Wythe specifically, and may have found that the Wythe/Lydia Broadnax/Michael Brown story, even if supported by weak circumstantial evidence and an untrustworthy primary source, simply fit well with the larger historical narrative they were telling. <br />
<br />
Third, the story that Michael Brown was Wythe’s son provides a convenient explanation not only for why Wythe was educating and providing for Brown, but for how Brown came to the Wythe household at all. His origins are otherwise unknown. It does not seem likely that he was one of Wythe’s former slaves, and "Brown" was a common last name for free black people in Richmond at the time. Morgan suggests that Wythe’s friend William DuVal might have been involved in bringing Brown to the Wythe home, because DuVal freed about twenty of his own slaves and some of them took the last name Brown, but this is merely speculative.<ref>Morgan, "Interracial Sex in the Chesapeake," 59.</ref><br />
<br />
Finally, several of the writers who give credence to the story that Brown was or could have been Wythe’s son, including Gordon-Reed, Sobel, and Esposito, specifically cite historian Fawn Brodie’s 1974 ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History''. In this well-known book, Brodie claims not only that Wythe fathered Brown, but that Brown’s parentage was commonly accepted knowledge in Richmond at the time of Wythe’s death.<ref>Fawn Brodie, ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1974): 390-91.</ref> Although Brodie did not specifically cite to the Dove Memo, Kirtland believes that she "clearly base[d] her statements on an uncritical use of this source."<ref>Kirtland, "George Wythe: Lawyer, Revolutionary, Judge," 163n12.</ref> It is the "only ... document [that] exists that in any way lends credence to [her] allegations."<ref>Brown, “The Brodie Allegations,” 305n23.</ref> Her analysis and conclusion have since been thoroughly refuted,<ref>E.g., Ibid., 298-305.</ref> but clearly had a broad influence. <br />
<br />
==Sweeney’s Life After his Acquittal==<br />
Little is known of Sweeney’s life after he was cleared of any guilt in the deaths of George Wythe and Michael Brown. The only sources that describe his movements after 1806 are Minor’s "Memoir of the Author" and the Dove Memo itself, both written half a century after Sweeney’s trial. <br />
<br />
According to Minor, Sweeney "sought refuge in the West; where his career was brought to a premature and miserable close."<ref>Minor, "Memoir of the Author," xxviii.</ref> Minor may have gotten this information from Dove: it appears on the same page as his footnote recounting Dove’s version of the events surrounding Wythe’s death, and though not specifically attributed to him, is given no other attribution. <br />
<br />
The last lines of the Dove Memo report that, after his acquittal, Sweeney "went to Tennessee stole a horse and was sent to the penitentiary and then lost sight of." This story is compatible with, and only slightly more detailed than, the one appearing in Minor. Originating as it does with the generally untrustworthy Dr. Dove, this account of Sweeney’s later life cannot be given too much credence. It "must be considered traditionary rather than supported by valid evidence."<ref>Hemphill, "Examinations of George Wythe Swinney," 63.</ref> Attempts either to find additional documentary evidence of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee, or to trace his movements from Tennessee, have been unsuccessful.<ref>Chadwick, ''I Am Murdered'', 238-39. Because "Tennessee did not inaugurate a state-wide prison system until the 1820s," there are no records of Sweeney’s alleged incarceration there.</ref> Nevertheless, probably because the Memo is the only source of information that we do have on Sweeney’s life in the aftermath of the trial, the story of Sweeney’s incarceration in Tennessee is often repeated in contemporary accounts of the events.<ref>E.g., Ibid.; Esposito, “The Curious Death of George Wythe,” para. 17, http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/12/murder-declaration-signer-part-2/; Daniel P. Berexa, "[http://www.tba.org/journal/the-murder-of-founding-father-george-wythe The Murder of Founding Father George Wythe]," ''Tennessee Bar Journal'' 47 (Jan. 2011); John L. Smith, "Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)," ''Journal of the American Revolution'', December 5, 2013, para. 17. </ref><br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
*[[Death of George Wythe]]<br />
*[[George Wythe Sweeney]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Minutes]]<br />
*[[Hustings Court Order Book]]<br />
*[[Richmond Enquirer, 9 September 1806|''Richmond Enquirer'', 9 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 10 September 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 10 September 1806]]<br />
*[[Virginia Argus, 25 June 1806|''Virginia Argus'', 25 June 1806]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references /><br />
<br />
[[Category: Murder of George Wythe]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Third_Part_of_the_Institutes_of_the_Laws_of_England&diff=27528Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England2014-05-01T20:00:18Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England''}}<br />
<big>''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England: Concerning High Treason, and Other Pleas of the Crown, and Criminall Causes''</big><br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeThirdPartInstitutes1644.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1689432<br />
|shorttitle=Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by M. Flesher, for W. Lee, and D. Pakeman<br />
|year=1644<br />
|edition=First<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=[7], 243, [18] <br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:CokeThirdInstitute1644Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' is the third volume in a series of books and reports written by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) in an attempt to provide an exhaustive review of English law. Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, Coke was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)] in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br />
<br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/americapedia/americapedia-documents/petition-of-right/ Petition of Right (1628)]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /> <br />
The ''Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' focuses on the criminal law of England. Coke transferred his experience as attorney general and judge into the third part of the Institutes by focusing on treason, misprision of treason, and heresy more than on homicide, rape, robbery, and similar crimes. Coke had personally tried several famous treason and libel cases as attorney general, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot Gunpowder Plot of 1605], and his focus is largely based on his experiences.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Coke’s ''Institutes'' were enormously influential in the United States, especially with regard to the construction of the Third and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. The ''Institutes'' have been cited in over 70 cases decided by the Supreme Court of the Unites States.<ref>LexisNexis search performed May 1, 2008.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed with the other parts of Coke's ''Institutes'' in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Coke’s Institutes. 3.v. fol.'' This was one of the sets kept by [[Thomas Jefferson]]. He may have sold to the Library of Congress in 1815. Three of the [[George Wythe Collection]] sources (Goodwin's pamphlet<ref>Mary R. M. Goodwin, [http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0216.xml ''The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings''] (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLVI.</ref>, the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on March 12, 2014.</ref> on LibraryThing) include the fourth (1670) edition of ''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'', based on Millicent Sowerby's entry in ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson''.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:219 [no.1784].</ref> Jefferson's copy still exists with the third and fourth parts bound together, and it contains manuscript notes not in his hand. Neither have those notes been linked to Wythe, nor are there any other indications that the volume once belonged to Wythe. [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> lists the first (1644) edition of ''The Third Part'' based on notes in Jefferson's commonplace book.<ref>Gilbert Chinard, ed., ''The Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson: A Repertory of His Ideas on Government'' (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1926), 14.</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Dean's recommendation and purchased a copy of the first edition.<br />
[[File:CokeThirdInstitute1644Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Inscription, front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Rebound in period-style full blind calf. Includes previous owner's inscriptions on front flyleaf "my hoyle" (multiple times) and "go lovely maid, lay lovely maid Lovely, my lovely Mrs. Smith." Purchased from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1689432 William & Mary's online catalog.] <br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Criminal Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Possible Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Third_Part_of_the_Institutes_of_the_Laws_of_England&diff=27526Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England2014-05-01T19:56:42Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England''}}<br />
<big>''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England: Concerning High Treason, and Other Pleas of the Crown, and Criminall Causes''</big><br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeThirdPartInstitutes1644.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1689432<br />
|shorttitle=Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by M. Flesher, for W. Lee, and D. Pakeman<br />
|year=1644<br />
|edition=First<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=[7], 243, [18] <br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:CokeThirdInstitute1644Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' is the third volume in a series of books and reports written by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) in an attempt to provide an exhaustive review of English law. Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, Coke was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)] in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br />
<br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/americapedia/americapedia-documents/petition-of-right/ Petition of Right (1628)]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /> <br />
The ''Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' focuses on the criminal law of England. Coke transferred his experience as attorney general and judge into the third part of the Institutes by focusing on treason, misprision of treason, and heresy more than on homicide, rape, robbery, and similar crimes. Coke had personally tried several famous treason and libel cases as attorney general, such as the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot Gunpowder Plot of 1605], and his focus is largely based on his experiences.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Coke’s ''Institutes'' were enormously influential in the United States, especially with regard to the construction of the Third and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. The ''Institutes'' have been cited in over 70 cases decided by the Supreme Court of the Unites States.<ref>LexisNexis search performed May 1, 2008.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed with the other parts of Coke's ''Institutes'' in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Coke’s Institutes. 3.v. fol.'' This was one of the sets kept by [[Thomas Jefferson]]. He may have sold to the Library of Congress in 1815. Three of the [[George Wythe Collection]] sources (Goodwin's pamphlet<ref>Mary R. M. Goodwin, [http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0216.xml ''The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings''] (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLVI.</ref>, the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on March 12, 2014.</ref> on LibraryThing) include the fourth (1670) edition of ''The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'', based on Millicent Sowerby's entry in ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson''.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:219 [no. 1784].</ref> Jefferson's copy still exists with the third and fourth parts bound together, and it contains manuscript notes not in his hand. Neither have those notes been linked to Wythe, nor are there any other indications that the volume once belonged to Wythe. [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> lists the first (1644) edition of ''The Third Part'' based on notes in Jefferson's commonplace book.<ref>Gilbert Chinard, ed., ''The Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson: A Repertory of His Ideas on Government'' (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1926), 14.</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Dean's recommendation and purchased a copy of the first edition.<br />
[[File:CokeThirdInstitute1644Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Inscription, front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Rebound in period-style full blind calf. Includes previous owner's inscriptions on front flyleaf "my hoyle" (multiple times) and "go lovely maid, lay lovely maid Lovely, my lovely Mrs. Smith." Purchased from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1689432 William & Mary's online catalog.] <br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Criminal Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Possible Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Essay_on_Crimes_and_Punishments&diff=27524Essay on Crimes and Punishments2014-05-01T19:51:08Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''An Essay on Crimes and Punishments''}}<br />
===by Cesare Beccaria===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=BeccariaEssayOnCrimes1767.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1615347<br />
|shorttitle=An Essay on Crimes and Punishments<br />
|author=Cesare Beccaria<br />
|trans=With a commentary, attributed to Mons. de Voltaire<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed for J. Almon<br />
|year=1767<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=xii, 179, [1], lxxix, [1] <br />
|desc=8vo (21 cm.)<br />
}}A shy and retiring man prone to unpredictable moods and educated in the law as well as economics,<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/57861/Cesare-Beccaria Cesare Beccaria]," accessed October 10, 2013.</ref> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Beccaria Cesare Beccaria] (1738-1794) was perhaps an unlikely figure to trigger a veritable revolution in criminology. As a young man, he fell in with brothers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Verri Pietro] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Verri Alessandro Verri] and their “academy of fists,”<ref>''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', s.v. "[http://www.iep.utm.edu/beccaria/ Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)]," accessed October 10, 2013.</ref> a Milanese organization referred to variously as an “intellectual circle”<ref>Ibid.</ref> and a “literary society,”<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Cesare Beccaria."</ref> through which Beccaria was initiated into Enlightenment thought.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The Verri brothers supplied the assignment and the insider knowledge of the criminal justice system of the day, and at the behest of this group, Becarria completed his famous essay ''On Crimes and Punishments'' in 1764.<ref>''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', s.v. "Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)."</ref><br /><br />
[[File:BeccariaEssayOnCrimesAndPunishments1767Headpiece.jpg|left|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]] <br />
In the time of its writing, Beccaria’s propositions that onerous punishments like torture and execution were unnecessarily cruel, disproportionate, and unlikely to serve as effective deterrents were novel. Although they owed a debt to his intellectual forebears,<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Cesare Beccaria."</ref> these ideas were both radical and attractive to the European political and intellectual elite.<ref>''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', s.v. "Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)."</ref> ''On Crimes and Punishments'' was rapidly translated into a host of other languages.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Cesare Beccaria."</ref> As well as informing a number of state statutes in the United States,<ref>Ibid.</ref> in insisting upon a balance between fidelity to the social contract and the need to ensure that criminal punishment is useful and beneficial to society, the work can be said to prefigure one of today’s two dominant schools of penological thought—utilitarianism—as well as the death penalty abolition movement.<ref>''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', s.v. "Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)".</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
[[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 9 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> includes the 1767 English edition of ''An Essay on Crimes and Punishments'' based on a reference in [[Serene Patriot: A Life of George Wythe|William Clarkin's]] biography of Wythe. In discussing [[Thomas Jefferson|Thomas Jefferson's]] education under Wythe, Clarkin states "[w]e do know that Jefferson studied ... Beccaria's ''Crime and Punishment''" but Clarkin provides no source of corroborating evidence.<ref>William Clarkin, ''Serene Patriot: A Life of George Wythe'' (Albany, New York: Alan Publications, 1970), 42.</ref> Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> lists Beccaria's work in a choice of three languages (Italian, French, and English) and multiple editions. The Wolf Law Library purchased the first English edition as listed in Dean's memo. <br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Marbled boards with leather corners rebacked in period-style calf with blind tooling and red label to spine. Purchased from Meyer Boswell Books, Inc.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1615347 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
[[File:BeccariaEssayOnCrimesAndPunishments1767InitialCapital.jpg|left|thumb|200px|<center>Initial capital, first page of text.</center>]] <br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
Read this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=LXAGAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books].<br />
<br />
[[Category:Criminal Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Eirenarcha&diff=27522Eirenarcha2014-05-01T19:45:37Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Eirenarcha''}}<br />
<big>''Eirenarcha, or, Of the Office of the Iustices of Peace: in Foure Bookes''</big><br />
===by William Lambarde===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=LambardeEirenarcha1599.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/551610<br />
|shorttitle=Eirenarcha<br />
|author=William Lambarde<br />
|publoc=F. At London<br />
|publisher=Printed by Thomas Wight, and Bonham Nortan<br />
|year=1599<br />
|edition=Seventh<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=[2], 606 (i.e. 614), [86]<br />
|desc=16 mo (16 cm.)<br />
}}{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=LambardeEirenarcha1599Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left <br />
|caption=Bookplate of W. Radcliffe, front pastedown.<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lambarde William Lambarde] (1536-1601) was an antiquarian and lawyer whose writings were marked by his strong Protestantism.<ref>N.M. Fuidge, "Lambarde, William (1536-1601), of Lincoln's Inn and Westcombe, near Greenwich, Kent" in ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1558-1603'', ed. P.W. Hasler (London: Boydell, 2006).</ref> He had a devotion to both scholarship and county administration&mdash;particularly following his call to the bar in 1567. Lambarde's first experience with county administration came with his appointment as commissioner of sewers for Kent the following year. He spent the next years of his life largely focused on surveying county histories and building his own estates. In 1579, Lambarde was assigned to the county commission of the peace, and became justice of the quorum about five years later.<ref>J. D. Alsop, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15921 Lambarde, William (1536–1601)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 8, 2013.</ref> Lambarde possessed an eloquent, yet plain, writing style&mdash;the government often turned to him for drafting or amending parliamentary bills, and appointed him to a committee of lawyers who identified unnecessary or defective statutes.<ref>Fuidge, “Lambarde, William."</ref> Throughout his life, Lambarde wrote many novel and influential texts, including ''Archaionomia'' (1568), a paraphrase of Anglo-Saxon laws; ''Perambulation of Kent: Containing the Description, Hystorie and Customs of that Shyre'' (1576), the earliest county history that included a survey of Kent's climate, economy, religion, and general society; and ''Eirenarcha, or, The Office of the Justices of Peace'' (1582).<ref>Alsop, “Lambarde, William."</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
''Eirenarcha'' was first published in 1581, a short time after Lambarde was appointed a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_of_the_Peace Commissioner of the Peace].<ref>Ibid.</ref> In part, Lambarde wrote it for personal reasons: to fulfill the desire to study the history and development of positions he held,<ref>Ibid.</ref> and to serve as an aid in fulfilling and understanding his duties as Commissioner of the Peace.<ref>Rhys Jones, ''People/States/Territories: The Political Geographies of British State Transformation'' (Malden, MA: Blackwell).</ref> Beyond those more personal purposes, the treatise became widely popular, serving as an updated, useful guide for justices of the peace in both England and Wales&mdash;a particularly important development considering the previous “manual” had been published more than 40 years prior to ''Eirenarcha''. However, Lambarde did not seek merely to record the practices of justices of the peace as they were. Ever the progressive legal analyst, Lambarde expanded his scope to propose new rules, regulations, and practices to be observed by all justices of the peace. In fact, in an effort to see legal defects addressed, Lambarde went so far as to dedicate the ''Eirenarcha'' to the Lord Chancellor in the hope that he would advance the roles of justices of the peace in accordance with Lambarde’s suggestions.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Ultimately, the work saw twelve reprintings prior to 1620, and for long after remained the standard authority on justices of the peace.<ref>Alsop, “Lambarde, William."</ref> <br />
[[File:LambardeEirenarcha1599Headpiece.jpg|left|thumb|350px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]]<br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Wythe ordered "Lamb eirenarcha" from John Norton & Sons in a [[Wythe to John Norton, 29 May 1772|letter]] dated May 29, 1772. Records indicate the order was fulfilled.<ref>Frances Norton Mason, ed., ''John Norton & Sons, Merchants of London and Virginia: Being the Papers from their Counting House for the Years 1750 to 1795'' (Richmond, Virginia: Dietz Press, 1937), 242-243. The letter is endorsed "Virga. 29 May 1772 / George Wythe / Recd. 21 September / Goods Entd. pa. 163/ Ans. the March 1773."</ref> All four of the Wythe Collection sources (Goodwin's pamphlet<ref>Mary R. M. Goodwin, [http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0216.xml ''The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings''] (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), LII.</ref>, [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 8 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref>, Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on June 28, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing) refer to Wythe's letter. Goodwin did not identify a specific work or edition. Dean lists the first edition (1581), noting "other editions to 1619." Brown includes the seventh edition (1599) based on a copy [[Thomas Jefferson]] sold to the Library of Congress in 1815.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:302 [no.1964].</ref> LibraryThing notes "precise edition unknown". The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's recommendation and moved a copy the 1599 seventh edition from an existing rare book collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]].<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary full calf with recent blind calf reback; red leather label with binder's title "Lombard's Eirenarcha"; text trimmed cutting into running title. Includes the bookplate of W. Radcliffe on the front pastedown. Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/551610 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Courts]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Fourth_Part_of_the_Institutes_of_the_Laws_of_England&diff=27520Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England2014-05-01T19:42:07Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England''}}<br />
<big>''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England: Concerning the Jurisdiction of Courts''</big><br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeFourthPartOfInstitutes1644TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/Record/3249931<br />
|shorttitle=The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by M. Flesher, for W. Lee, and D. Pakeman<br />
|year=1644<br />
|lang=English with some Latin and Law French<br />
|pages=[16], 364, [38]<br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:CokeFourthInstitute1644Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/americapedia/americapedia-documents/petition-of-right/ Petition of Right (1628)]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br />
''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' covers jurisdiction and offers instruction on which courts could hear certain cases. "Beginning with the High Court of Parliament, [Coke] travels through the whole mass of councils and courts, central and local, which administered justice in the king's name."<ref>W. S. Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1924), 5:470.</ref> Throughout the text, Coke emphasizes the primacy of the common law courts and reiterates views he had previously expressed on the bench.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed with the other parts of Coke's ''Institutes'' in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Coke’s Institutes. 3.v. fol.'' This was one of the sets kept by [[Thomas Jefferson]]. He may have sold to the Library of Congress in 1815. Three of the [[George Wythe Collection]] sources (Goodwin's pamphlet<ref>Mary R. M. Goodwin, [http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0216.xml ''The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings''] (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLVI.</ref>, the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on March 12, 2014.</ref> on LibraryThing) include the second (1648) edition of ''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'', based on Millicent Sowerby's entry in ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'',<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:219 [no. 1784].</ref> Jefferson's copy still exists with the third and fourth parts bound together, and it contains manuscript notes not in his hand. Neither have those notes been linked to Wythe, nor are there any other indications that the volume once belonged to Wythe. [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> lists the first (1644) edition of ''The Fourth Part'' based on notes in Jefferson's commonplace book.<ref>Gilbert Chinard, ed., ''The Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson: A Repertory of His Ideas on Government'' (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1926), 14.</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Dean's recommendation and purchased a copy of the first edition.<br />
[[File:CokeFourthInstitute1644Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Inscription, front pastedown.</center>]]<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary calf with blind rules to boards and rebacked in period-style. Includes the inscription "Downing College Library" on the front pastedown. Purchased from the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/Record/3249931 William & Mary's online catalog]. <br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Courts]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Possible Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Fourth_Part_of_the_Institutes_of_the_Laws_of_England&diff=27518Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England2014-05-01T19:40:11Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England''}}<br />
<big>''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England: Concerning the Jurisdiction of Courts''</big><br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeFourthPartOfInstitutes1644TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/Record/3249931<br />
|shorttitle=The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by M. Flesher, for W. Lee, and D. Pakeman<br />
|year=1644<br />
|lang=English with some Latin and Law French<br />
|pages=[16], 364, [38]<br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:CokeFourthInstitute1644Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/americapedia/americapedia-documents/petition-of-right/ Petition of Right (1628)]", accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br /><br />
<br /><br />
''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'' covers jurisdiction and offers instruction on which courts could hear certain cases. "Beginning with the High Court of Parliament, [Coke] travels through the whole mass of councils and courts, central and local, which administered justice in the king's name."<ref>W. S. Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1924), 5:470.</ref> Throughout the text, Coke emphasizes the primacy of the common law courts and reiterates views he had previously expressed on the bench.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed with the other parts of Coke's ''Institutes'' in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Coke’s Institutes. 3.v. fol.'' This was one of the sets kept by [[Thomas Jefferson]]. He may have sold to the Library of Congress in 1815. Three of the [[George Wythe Collection]] sources (Goodwin's pamphlet<ref>Mary R. M. Goodwin, [http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0216.xml ''The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings''] (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLVI.</ref>, the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on March 12, 2014.</ref> on LibraryThing) include the second (1648) edition of ''The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England'', based on Millicent Sowerby's entry in ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'',<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:219 [no. 1784].</ref> Jefferson's copy still exists with the third and fourth parts bound together, and it contains manuscript notes not in his hand. Neither have those notes been linked to Wythe, nor are there any other indications that the volume once belonged to Wythe. [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> lists the first (1644) edition of ''The Fourth Part'' based on notes in Jefferson's commonplace book.<ref>Gilbert Chinard, ed., ''The Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson: A Repertory of His Ideas on Government'' (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1926), 14.</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Dean's recommendation and purchased a copy of the first edition.<br />
[[File:CokeFourthInstitute1644Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Inscription, front pastedown.</center>]]<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary calf with blind rules to boards and rebacked in period-style. Includes the inscription "Downing College Library" on the front pastedown. Purchased from the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/Record/3249931 William & Mary's online catalog]. <br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Courts]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Possible Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Treatise_on_Obligations&diff=27516Treatise on Obligations2014-05-01T19:36:10Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''A Treatise on Obligations''}}<br />
<big>''A Treatise on Obligations: Considered in a Moral and Legal View''</big><br />
===by Robert Joseph Pothier===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=PothierTreatiseOnObligations1802v1.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/Record/533247<br />
|shorttitle=A Treatise on Obligations<br />
|author=Robert Joseph Pothier<br />
|trans=François Xavier Martin<br />
|lang=English<br />
|publoc=Newburn, N.C.<br />
|publisher=Martin & Ogden<br />
|year=1802<br />
|set=2 volumes in 1<br />
|desc=8vo (21 cm.)<br />
}}Robert Pothier (1699-1772) was a Professor of French Law at the University of Orleans and a judge of the petty court.<ref>Charles George Herbermann, "Robert Joseph Pothier" in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia: an International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, and History of the Catholic Church'', Special ed. (New York: The Encyclopedia Press, Inc., 1913), 267.</ref> Pothier is especially well known for a series of treatises he wrote on duties, sales, leases, and a variety of other topics, published between 1761 and 1772.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Several other essays on civil and criminal procedures, successions, fiefs, and other topics, left in manuscript form at the time of Pothier’s death, were later published between 1776 and 1778.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
[[File:PothierTreatiseOnObligations1802Headpiece.jpg|center|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]]<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
There is no doubt that George Wythe owned the 1802 edition of ''A Treatise on Obligations''. A copy at the Library of Congress includes manuscript notes in Wythe's hand.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:312 [no.1990].</ref> Three of the [[George Wythe Collection|Wythe Collection]] sources ([[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 5 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref>, Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on March 20, 2014.</ref> on LibraryThing) list the Library of Congress copy as evidence for including ''A Treatise on Obligations'' in [[Wythe's Library]]. Brown also suggests that this is the title in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] noted as "[Law of] Obligations 8vo." and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[Dabney Carr]]. LibraryThing identified that entry as Thomas Ashe's ''The Law of Obligations and Conditions'' and writes of Pothier's work "Presumably bequeathed by Wythe to Thomas Jefferson in 1806, but not included on the Wythe List." The Wolf Law Library moved a copy the 1802 edition of Pothier's ''A Treatise on Obligations'' from another rare book collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]]. The library continues to search for a copy of Ashe's ''The Law of Obligations and Conditions''.<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Rebound in period-style full calf with red and black spine labels.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/533247 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
Read volume one of this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=4twwAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books.]<br /><br />
Read volume two of this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=h9IzAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books.]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Contracts]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Known Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Essay_on_the_Law_of_Bailments&diff=27514Essay on the Law of Bailments2014-05-01T19:33:59Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''An Essay on the Law of Bailments''}}<br />
===by Sir William Jones===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=JonesEssayOnLawOfBailments1781.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3452341<br />
|shorttitle=An Essay on the Law of Bailments<br />
|author=Sir William Jones<br />
|lang=English<br />
|publoc=Boston<br />
|publisher=From the Press of Samuel Etheridge, for John West, 1796.<br />
|year=1796<br />
|pages=[4], 178, [6] <br />
|desc=12mo (18 cm.)<br />
}}{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=JonesEssayOnTheLawOfBailments1796Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left<br />
|caption=Bookplate of Jeremiah Evarts, front pastedown.<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jones_(judge) Sir William Jones] (1566-1640) spent some time at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furnival%27s_Inn Furnival's Inn] before being admitted to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%27s_Inn Lincoln's Inn] in 1587. He was called to the bar in 1595. In 1617 he became [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant_at_law serjeant-at-law] and was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28Ireland%29 King's Bench] in Ireland. An appointment as justice to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas] in England followed in 1621 and a transfer to the English [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 King's Bench] in 1624.<ref>Christopher W. Brooks, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15102 Jones, Sir William (1566–1640)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 23, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
''Essay on the Law of Bailments'', first published in 1781, has been described as "one of the most remarkable books" of its period in which "the author's knowledge of jurisprudence, Roman law, Greek law, Mohammedan law, Mosaic law, Hindu law, and Visigothic law, is applied to elucidate its underlaying principles."<ref>William Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1938), 12:393.</ref> Another scholar, while noting that it "has ever been admired for its artistic and scholar-like finish", wrote that "it possesses very great merits as a literary production, but moderate value as a legal work for the present day."<ref>J. G. Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books'' (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 429.</ref> <br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
[[Thomas Jefferson]] listed "[L]aw of bailments. 8vo." in his [[Jefferson Inventory|inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] in the section of titles he kept for himself. Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> includes the 1796 edition published in Boston based on the copy Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:309 [no.1982].</ref> This may be Wythe's volume, but the book includes no markings to verify Wythe's ownership. [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on June 28, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing lists the London first edition (1781), but notes that the 1796 edition at the Library of Congress may be the proper edition. The Wolf Law Library moved a copy of the 1796 Boston edition from another rare book collection to the George Wythe Collection. <br />
[[File:JonesEssayOnTheLawOfBailments1796Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|275px|<center>Inscriptions, front free endpaper.</center>]]<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in early full calf with recent reback, original spine and label attached. Includes the bookplate of Jeremiah Evarts with the Latin motto "Nil sine magno vita labore dedit mortalibus" (Life grants nothing to mortals without great work) on the front pastedown. Signed "Ebenezer Baldwin [1815]" and "Roger S. Baldwin, Jr. New York, 1848" on the front flyleaf. The signature of "Eben. Baldwin 1813" is also on the front board. Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936. <br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3452341 this book in William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Contracts]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Possible Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Law_of_Covenants&diff=27510Law of Covenants2014-05-01T19:30:30Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Law of Covenants''}}<br />
<big>''The Law of Covenants: a Treatise Explaining the Nature and Rules of the Several Sorts of Covenants''</big><br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=LawOfCovenants1712TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3569591<br />
|shorttitle=The Law of Covenants<br />
|author=The Author of ''The Law of Ejectments''<br />
|edition=Second<br />
|lang=English<br />
|publoc=[London] In the Savoy<br />
|publisher=Printed by John Nutt, for Samuel Butler<br />
|year=1712<br />
|desc=8vo. (20 cm.)<br />
|pages=[32], 512 (i.e. 496), [22]<br />
}}<br />
In the early eighteenth century, a covenant was "defined to be the Agreement or Consent of Two or more by Deed whereby either of the said Parties doth Promise to the other, That something is done already, or shall be done hereafter."<ref>''The Law of Covenants'' (London: J. Nutt, assignee of Edward Sayer Esq., 1713), 1.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
The unidentified author of ''The Law of Covenants'' attempts to define and distinguish the various forms of covenants as they exist in the common law, including the difference between express and implicit covenants, personal and real covenants, joint and several covenants, and affirmative and negative covenants.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The book also delves into the procedure for bringing an action for breach of covenant, including identifying the parties against whom a suit may be brought, rules for joinder or severance, and determining damages.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Each chapter addresses a specific legal issue regarding covenants, and the margins of the book are often filled with the author’s tips and notes on the text; either defining terms and cases or reminding the reader that a principle might not be applicable in certain circumstances.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''[Law of] Covenants 8vo.'' and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[Dabney Carr]]. The [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> includes the second edition (1712) based on the copy Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:309-310 [no.1983].</ref> [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on September 16, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing indicates "Precise edition unknown. The first edition was published in 1711; the second, with similar imprint, in 1712." The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's suggestion and purchased a copy of the 1712 edition.<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary full calf. Includes signatures of previous owners, "John Macpherson, Jr. 1771" and "Charles Swift" on the title page. Purchased from The Bookpress, Ltd.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3569591 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Contracts]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=New_Precedents_in_Conveyancing&diff=27508New Precedents in Conveyancing2014-05-01T19:28:14Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''New Precedents in Conveyancing''}}<br />
<big>''New Precedents in Conveyancing: Containing Great Variety of Curious Draughts, Many of Them on Special Occations, Drawn or Settled by Mr. Piggot, Northey, Webb, and Other Eminent Hands; and Now Publish'd from Original Manuscripts''</big><br />
===by Nathaniel Pigott===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=PigottNewPrecedentsInConveyancing1742Titlepage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/2855754<br />
|shorttitle=New Precedents in Conveyancing<br />
|commontitle=Pigott's Conveyancing<br />
|author=Nathaniel Pigott<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by H. Lintot for J. Worrall <br />
|year=1742<br />
|edition=Second<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=iv, 576, [26]<br />
|desc=Folio (31 cm.)<br />
}}{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=PigottNewPrecedentsInConveyancing1742Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left<br />
|caption=Bookplate of John Clarke Stoughton, Wymondham, Norfolk, front pastedown.<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Pigott Nathaniel Pigott] (1661-1737) was a barrister and counselor at law. He was admitted to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple] in 1683 and called to the bar in 1688.<ref>F. A. Inderwick, “Bench Table Orders,” in ''A Calendar of the Inner Temple Records'' (London: Chiswick Press, 1901), 248.</ref> In 1689 he refused to take the required oaths of supremacy and allegiance and receive the sacrament.<ref>Richard G. Williams, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/89542 Pigott, Nathaniel (bap. 1661, d. 1737)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed December 4, 2013.</ref> As a result, he was vacated on the grounds that he was a Roman Catholic.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In 1690 his suspension was removed although he was still prescribed from pleading a case in court.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Pigott was the last Catholic called to the bar until 1791.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Pigott practiced as a chamber counsel and conveyancer.<ref>Ibid.</ref> He acted as a trustee for conveyances, furnished legal opinions, and offered legal and business advice.2 Experts agree that Pigott had a particular expertise in conveyance.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Many of his clients were also Roman Catholics, therefore his expertise in conveyancing was particularly important to the preservation of their estates.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Roman Catholic estates were vulnerable to claims from potential protestant heirs and from threatened sequestrations by the crown.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Two of Pigott’s manuscripts, ''A Treatise of Common Recoveries, their Nature and Use'' and ''New Precedents in Conveyancing'', were published after his death.<ref>Ibid.</ref> These texts remained standard authorities for the remainder of the eighteenth century.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
There is no doubt that George Wythe owned this title&mdash;a copy of the second (1742) edition at the Library of Congress includes Wythe's bookplate and manuscript notes which may have been made by him.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:292 [no.1940].</ref> [[Thomas Jefferson]] listed "Pigott's conveyancing. fol." in his [[Jefferson Inventory|inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]], noting that he kept the volume himself. He later sold it to the Library of Congress. Not surprisingly, all four of the [[George Wythe Collection|Wythe Collection]] sources (Goodwin's pamphlet<ref>Mary R. M. Goodwin, [http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/View/index.cfm?doc=ResearchReports\RR0216.xml ''The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings''] (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLIX.</ref>, [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 4 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref>, Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on June 28, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing) list the second edition of ''New Precedents in Conveyancing''. The Wolf Law Library purchased a copy of the same edition.<br />
[[File:PigottNewPrecedentsInConveyancing1742Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|200px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]]<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary calf with blind rules to boards, raised bands and lettering piece to spine. Includes armorial bookplate of John Clarke Stoughton, Wymondham, Norfolk on front pastedown and an early owner annotation, "15<sup>s</sup> Brookes Catalogue 1790", and the intials "rlf" on front free endpaper. Purchased from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. <br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/2855754 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Commercial Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Known Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Touch-Stone_of_Common_Assurances&diff=27504Touch-Stone of Common Assurances2014-05-01T19:25:22Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Touch-Stone of Common Assurances''}}<br />
<big>''The Touch-Stone of Common Assurances, or, A Plain and Familiar Treatise, Opening the Learning of the Common Assurances or Conveyances of the Kingdome''</big><br />
===by William Sheppard===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=SheppardTouch-Stone1648.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/2080642<br />
|shorttitle=The Touch-Stone of Common Assurances<br />
|author=William Sheppard<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by M.F. for W. Lee, M. Walbancke, D. Pakeman, and G. Bedell<br />
|year=1648<br />
|edition=First<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=6 p. l., 529 (i.e. 525), [6] <br />
|desc=8vo (22 cm.)<br />
}}William Sheppard (1595-1674) was a highly influential legal and religious reformer in England during the early and middle part of the 17th century.<ref>Nancy L. Matthews, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25349 Sheppard, William (bap. 1595, d. 1674)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 10, 2013.</ref> After being called to the bar in 1629, Sheppard became a very well-known lawyer in the rural part of England from 1631 until 1654. During this time period, Sheppard served as steward for several manors and was an attorney of Gloucester’s local court. In addition to his practical work in the field of law, Sheppard published several legal texts. Many of these were based upon his own observations of the cases involved in his local practice. He also wrote several religious texts on a variety of topics.<ref>Ibid.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
In 1653 Sheppard was called to London by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell Oliver Cromwell] to assist him in the creation of a law reform program.<ref>Nancy L. Matthews, ''William Sheppard, Cromwell's Law Reformer'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 31.</ref> Some experts believe Sheppard’s religious publications, in addition to his legal works, were the ultimate reason for his selection by Cromwell.<ref>Matthews, “Sheppard, William."</ref> Sheppard served in the administration for approximately three years, during which time he published nine texts in support of the administration’s agenda.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Some of Sheppard’s best known works during this period included ''Precedent of Precedents'', which contained standardized forms to register land, and ''An Epitome of All the Common and Statute Laws of the Nation now in Force'', one of the earliest attempts at an abridged legal encyclopedia.<ref>"[http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/exhibits/dictionaries/common_law/sheppard.html Tarlton Law Library - Law Dictionary Collection - online exhibit]," Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin, accessed October 10, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /> <br />
''The Touchstone of Common Assurances'', Sheppard's "most enduring and best-known work"<ref>Matthews, ''William Sheppard, Cromwell's Law Reformer'', 77.</ref> was published as a collection of twenty-three essays focused on conveyancing.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Sheppard had developed an expertise in the subject during the time he spent serving as an attorney for several manors early in his career. In the work, Sheppard opened "[e]ach chapter ... with a definition of one type of conveyance ... followed by a description of the rules, principles and legal maxims that governed each conveyance."<ref>Matthews, ''William Sheppard, Cromwell's Law Reformer'', 78.</ref> <br />
[[File:SheppardTouchstoneOfCommonAssurances1648Headpiece.jpg|center|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]] <br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Both [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 14 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> include the first edition (1648) of Sheppard's ''Touch-Stone'' based on Alan Smith's assertion that Jefferson cites the work in his commonplace book.<ref>Alan McKinley Smith, "Virginia Lawyers, 1680-1776: The Birth of an American Profession" (PhD diss., The Johns Hopkins University, 1967), 263.</ref> Brown lists the title as questionable. His study of Jefferson's commonplace books revealed no references to the ''Touch-Stone''. Despite the inconclusive evidence, the Wolf Law Library added a copy of the first edition to the [[George Wythe Collection]].<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in full calf, contemporary boards with triple blind rules rebacked in period style. Spine features gilt-ruled, raised bands and original black morocco label with gilt lettering. Purchased from Meyer Boswell.<br />
<br />
Find this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/2080642 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Commercial Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Beau-Pledeur&diff=27500Beau-Pledeur2014-05-01T19:22:18Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Le Beau-Pledeur''}}<br />
<big>''Le Beau-Pledeur: A Book of Entries, Containing Declarations, Informations, and Other Select and Approved Pleadings, with Special Verdicts and Demurrers, in Most Actions, Feal, Personal, and Mixt, Which have been Argued and Adjudged in the Courts at Westminster, Together with Faithful References to the Most Authentick Printed Law-Books now Extant, Where the Cases of These Entries are Reported''</big><br />
===by Sir Humphrey Winch===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=WinchLeBeauPledeur1680TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/18436<br />
|shorttitle=Le Beau-Pledeur: A Book of Entries<br />
|author=Sir Humphrey Winch<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by George Sawbridge, William Rawlins, and Samuel Roycroft ... for Thomas Basset ... Richard Chiswell, and Benjamin Tooke<br />
|year=1680<br />
|edition=First<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=[8], 1183 [i.e. 1067], [85] <br />
|desc=Folio (36 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:WinchLeBeauPledeur1680InitialCapital2.jpg|left|thumb|200px|<center>Initial capital, first page of text.</center>]][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_Winch Sir Humphrey Winch] (1554/55-1625) entered [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%27s_Inn Lincoln's Inn] ] in 1573 and was called to the bar in 1581. Winch served as a Chief Baron of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Exchequer_%28Ireland%29 Exchequer in Ireland] followed by a brief stint as Lord Chief Justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28Ireland%29 King’s Bench] there before returning to England and accepting an appointment as justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 common pleas.]<ref>Wilfrid Prest, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29709 Winch, Sir Humphrey (1554/5–1625)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 10, 2013.</ref> However, despite his aptitude as a judge and legal authority in England and Ireland, his legacy remains tainted by his involvement in the Leicester Witch Trials of 1616 in which he sentenced nine women to death for suspected witchcraft.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
Winch’s work, ''Le Beau-Pledeur: A Book of Entries'' continues in a tradition of published collections of precedents of pleading which dates back to as early as 1510.<ref>Percy H. Winfield, ''The Chief Sources of English Legal History'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925), 303-304.</ref> Arranged alphabetically by the writs which begin the actions, ''Le Beau-Pledeur'', like other works of this type, throws "overboard any notion of combining reports of cases, or notes upon the law, with the forms" which it gives.<ref>Ibid, 304.</ref> Nevertheless, while Sir Humphrey Winch may have spent his last days disgraced by the Leicester Witch Trials, his collection of cases and pleadings for civil procedure graced law libraries across early America, the founding fathers, England, Ireland, and France, and preserved his legacy as a significant contributor to modern civil proceedings.<ref>Howell J. Heaney, "A Signer of the Declaration of Independence Orders Books from London: Two Documents of George Read of Delaware in the Hampton L. Carson Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia," ''The American Journal of Legal History'' 2, no. 2 (1958): 181.</ref> <br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Winch's entries. folio'' and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[Dabney Carr]]. The 1680 edition appears to be the only edition of ''Le Beau-Pledeur: A Book of Entries'' published.<ref>J. G. Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books'' (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 741.</ref> Accordingly, both the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on September 16, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing include the 1680 edition. The Wolf Law Library moved a copy of the same edition from another rare book collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]]. <br />
[[File:WinchLeBeauPledeur1680Headpiece.jpg|center|thumb|450px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]]<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Rebound in period style with red title label. Includes the signature of "Geo: Kenyon" on the title page. Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936. <br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/18436 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Civil Procedure]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Book_of_Entries&diff=27498Book of Entries2014-05-01T19:20:09Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''A Book of Entries''}}<br />
<big>''A Book of Entries: Containing Perfect and Approved Presidents of Counts, Declarations, Informations, Pleints, Indictments, Barres, Replications, Rejoynders, Pleadings, Processes, Continuances, Essoines, Issues, Defaults, Departure in Despight of the Court, Demurrers, Trials, Judgements, Executions, and All Other Matters and Proceedings (in Effect) Concerning the Practick Part of the Laws of England, in Actions Real, Personal, and Mixt, and in Appeals. Being Very Necessary to be Known, and of Excellent Use for the Modern Practice of the Law, Many of Them Containing Matters in Law, and Points of Great learning. Collected and Published for the Common Good and Benefit of the Studious and Learned Professors of the Laws of England ''</big><br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeBookOfEntries1671.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1617564<br />
|shorttitle=A Book of Entries<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|edition=Second, carefully corrected<br />
|lang=Prefaces in Latin and English; text in Latin; index in French.<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by John Streater, James Flesher, and Henry Twyford, assigns of Richard Atkins and Edward Atkins<br />
|year=1671<br />
|pages=9, 713 leaves, [17] <br />
|desc=Folio (35 cm.)<br />
}}{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=CokeABookOfEntries1671Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left<br />
|caption=Bookplate of Geoffrey Hand, front pastedown.<br />
}}Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/americapedia/americapedia-documents/petition-of-right/ Petition of Right (1628)]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
[[File:CokeABookOfEntries1671Inscriptions.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Inscriptions, front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
''A Book of Entries'' is a massive collection of pleadings intended to guide other lawyers through England’s courts.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref> Published in law French, the volume to some degree supplements [[Reports of Sir Edward Coke|Coke's ''Reports'']] because it contains the entire record of many cases in the latter set.<ref>J. G. Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books'' (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 212.</ref> <br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Both [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> suggest Wythe owned the second edition (1671) of Coke's ''Book of Entries'' based on notes in John Marshall's commonplace book.<ref>Herbert A. Johnson, Charles T. Cullen, and Nancy G. Harris, eds., ''The Papers of John Marshall'' (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, in association with the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1974), 1:50.</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed their suggestions and purchased a copy of the 1671 edition.<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Rebound in buckram, rebacked in period style calf. Includes the bookplate of Geoffrey Hand on the front pastedown. Front flyleaf inscribed by several previous owners. Purchased from Meyer Boswell Books. <br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1617564 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
[[File:CokeABookOfEntries1671Headpiece.jpg|center|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, preface.</center>]]<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Civil Procedure]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Book_of_Entries&diff=27496Book of Entries2014-05-01T19:19:21Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''A Book of Entries''}}<br />
<big>''A Book of Entries: Containing Perfect and Approved Presidents of Counts, Declarations, Informations, Pleints, Indictments, Barres, Replications, Rejoynders, Pleadings, Processes, Continuances, Essoines, Issues, Defaults, Departure in Despight of the Court, Demurrers, Trials, Judgements, Executions, and All Other Matters and Proceedings (in Effect) Concerning the Practick Part of the Laws of England, in Actions Real, Personal, and Mixt, and in Appeals. Being Very Necessary to be Known, and of Excellent Use for the Modern Practice of the Law, Many of Them Containing Matters in Law, and Points of Great learning. Collected and Published for the Common Good and Benefit of the Studious and Learned Professors of the Laws of England ''</big><br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeBookOfEntries1671.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1617564<br />
|shorttitle=A Book of Entries<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|edition=Second, carefully corrected<br />
|lang=Prefaces in Latin and English; text in Latin; index in French.<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by John Streater, James Flesher, and Henry Twyford, assigns of Richard Atkins and Edward Atkins<br />
|year=1671<br />
|pages=9, 713 leaves, [17] <br />
|desc=Folio (35 cm.)<br />
}}{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=CokeABookOfEntries1671Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left<br />
|caption=Bookplate of Geoffrey Hand, front pastedown.<br />
}}Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/americapedia/americapedia-documents/petition-of-right/ Petition of Right (1628)]", accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
[[File:CokeABookOfEntries1671Inscriptions.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Inscriptions, front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
''A Book of Entries'' is a massive collection of pleadings intended to guide other lawyers through England’s courts.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref> Published in law French, the volume to some degree supplements [[Reports of Sir Edward Coke|Coke's ''Reports'']] because it contains the entire record of many cases in the latter set.<ref>J. G. Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books'' (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 212.</ref> <br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Both [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> suggest Wythe owned the second edition (1671) of Coke's ''Book of Entries'' based on notes in John Marshall's commonplace book.<ref>Herbert A. Johnson, Charles T. Cullen, and Nancy G. Harris, eds., ''The Papers of John Marshall'' (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, in association with the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1974), 1:50.</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed their suggestions and purchased a copy of the 1671 edition.<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Rebound in buckram, rebacked in period style calf. Includes the bookplate of Geoffrey Hand on the front pastedown. Front flyleaf inscribed by several previous owners. Purchased from Meyer Boswell Books. <br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1617564 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
[[File:CokeABookOfEntries1671Headpiece.jpg|center|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, preface.</center>]]<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Civil Procedure]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Book_of_Entries&diff=27494Book of Entries2014-05-01T19:17:30Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''A Book of Entries''}}<br />
<big>''A Book of Entries: Containing Perfect and Approved Presidents of Counts, Declarations, Informations, Pleints, Indictments, Barres, Replications, Rejoynders, Pleadings, Processes, Continuances, Essoines, Issues, Defaults, Departure in Despight of the Court, Demurrers, Trials, Judgements, Executions, and All Other Matters and Proceedings (in Effect) Concerning the Practick Part of the Laws of England, in Actions Real, Personal, and Mixt, and in Appeals. Being Very Necessary to be Known, and of Excellent Use for the Modern Practice of the Law, Many of Them Containing Matters in Law, and Points of Great learning. Collected and Published for the Common Good and Benefit of the Studious and Learned Professors of the Laws of England ''</big><br />
===by Sir Edward Coke===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=CokeBookOfEntries1671.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1617564<br />
|shorttitle=A Book of Entries<br />
|author=Sir Edward Coke<br />
|edition=Second, carefully corrected<br />
|lang=Prefaces in Latin and English; text in Latin; index in French.<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by John Streater, James Flesher, and Henry Twyford, assigns of Richard Atkins and Edward Atkins<br />
|year=1671<br />
|pages=9, 713 leaves, [17] <br />
|desc=Folio (35 cm.)<br />
}}{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=CokeABookOfEntries1671Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left<br />
|caption=Bookplate of Geoffrey Hand, front pastedown.<br />
}}Born on February 1, 1552 at Mileham, Norfolk, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Coke Sir Edward Coke] (1552-1634) was arguably the most prominent lawyer, legal writer, and politician during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, and a defender of the common law over the use of the Stuarts' royal prerogative.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica Online'', s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124844/Sir-Edward-Coke Sir Edward Coke]," accessed October 3, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
Coke began his studies in 1567 at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] during the years of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiarian_controversy Vestiarian controversy]&mdash;puritan protests against the Church of England. In 1572 he moved on to study at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple], where he was admitted to the bar on April 20, 1578. Coke quickly rose to prominence through his successful execution of several noteworthy cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_in_Shelley%27s_Case ''Shelley’s'' case]. Coke's analytical efforts helped to refine the legal doctrines of English law, and his reputation won him a seat in Parliament. He would later become the Speaker of the House of Commons and eventually attorney general.<ref>Allen D. Boyer, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/5826 Coke, Sir Edward (1552–1634)]," ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed September 18, 2013.</ref> In 1606, after being created [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serjeant-at-law serjeant-at-law], Coke was appointed chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas]. He was transferred, against his will, to chief justice of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_King%27s_Bench_%28England%29 Court of King's Bench] in 1613; he also became a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom privy council].<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
After several political and judicial skirmishes with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I James I] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon Francis Bacon], Coke was suspended from the privy council and removed from the bench in 1616.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', s.v. "Sir Edward Coke."</ref> Although he never returned to the bench, Coke did return to Parliament and was elected to that body four times from 1620 to 1629. During this time he took a lead in creating and composing the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right Petition of Right]. "This document cited the Magna Carta and reminded Charles I that the law gave Englishmen their rights, not the king ... Coke’s petition focused on ... due process, protection from unjust seizure of property or imprisonment, the right to trial by jury of fellow Englishmen, and protection from unjust punishments or excessive fines."<ref>''Bill of Rights Institute'' website, s.v. "[http://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/educator-resources/americapedia/americapedia-documents/petition-of-right/ Petition of Right (1628)]", accessed October 3, 2013.</ref> After this triumph, Coke spent his remaining years at his home, Stoke Poges, working on ''The Institutes of the Laws of England'', another endeavor for which he is rightly famous.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref><br /><br />
[[File:CokeABookOfEntries1671Inscriptions.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Inscriptions, front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
''A Book of Entries'' is a massive collection of pleadings intended to guide other lawyers through England’s courts.<ref>Boyer, "Coke, Sir Edward."</ref> Published in law French, the volume to some degree supplements [[Reports of Sir Edward Coke|Coke's ''Reports'']] because it contains the entire record of many cases in the latter set.<ref>J. G. Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books'' (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 212.</ref> <br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Both [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 10 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> suggest Wythe owned the second edition (1671) of Coke's ''Book of Entries'' based on notes in John Marshall's commonplace book.<ref>Herbert A. Johnson, Charles T. Cullen, and Nancy G. Harris, eds., ''The Papers of John Marshall'' (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, in association with the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1974), 1:50.</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed their suggestions and purchased a copy of the 1671 edition.<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Rebound in buckram, rebacked in period style calf. Includes the bookplate of Geoffrey Hand on the front pastedown. Front flyleaf inscribed by several previous owners. Purchased from Meyer Boswell Books. <br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1617564 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
[[File:CokeABookOfEntries1671Headpiece.jpg|center|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, preface.</center>]]<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Civil Procedure]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Brownlow_Latine_Redivivus&diff=27492Brownlow Latine Redivivus2014-05-01T19:13:32Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Brownlow Latine Redivivus''}}<br />
<big>''Brownlow Latine Redivivus: a Book of Entries, of Such Declarations, Informations, Pleas in Barr and Abatement, Replications, Rejoynders, Issues, Verdicts, Bills of Exception to Verdicts, Judgements, Demurrers, and other Parts of Pleadings, (Now in Use) in Personal and Mixt Actions; Contained in the First and Second Parts of the Declarations and pleadings of Richard Brownlow''</big><br />
===by Richard Brownlow===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=BrownlowBookOfEntries1693TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/38711<br />
|shorttitle=Brownlow Latine Redivivus<br />
|author=Richard Brownlow<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by the assigns of Richard and Edward Atkyns, Esquires<br />
|year=1693<br />
|edition=First Latin edition; pages.<br />
|lang=Latin with occasional English notes<br />
|pages=[6], 506 (i.e. 406), [46]<br />
|desc=Folio (33 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:BrownlowBookOfEntries1693Marginalia.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Marginalia, page 130.</center>]]Richard Brownlow (1553-1638) entered the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Temple Middle Temple] in 1583 and became Chief Protonotary of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Common_Pleas_%28England%29 Court of Common Pleas] in 1590, a position he held until his death. <ref>Christopher W. Brooks, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/3715 Brownlow, Richard (1553–1638)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 9, 2013.</ref> The position was “one of the most important and lucrative clerical offices in a period when court business was growing at an unprecedented pace.”<ref>Ibid.</ref> It was worth approximately £3000 a year.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Brownlow maintained very careful records, many of which can be found in ''Brownlow Latine Redivivus''.<ref>Ibid.</ref> ''Brownlow Latine Redivicus'' was originally an English translation of Brownlow's Latin precedents for plea roll entries, and most of its material dates from 1600–1615.<ref>Ibid.</ref> It was published several times during the 1650s after Parliament made English the official legal language of record.<ref>Ibid.</ref> After Latin was reestablished as the official legal language of record during the 1660s, it was translated into Latin and republished. The 1693 edition is considered "the first complete edition of Brownlow's Forms."<ref>W. Harold Maxwell, ''A Bibliography of English Law to 1650, Including Books Dealing with that Period, Printed from 1480 to 1925'' (''Sweet & Maxwell's Complete Law Book Catalogue'', v.1) (London: Sweet & Maxwell, Limited, 1925), 179.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
There is no doubt that Wythe owned this title&mdash;a copy of the 1693 edition of ''Brownlow Latine Redivivus'' at the Library of Congress includes George Wythe's bookplate. [[Thomas Jefferson]] also listed ''Brownlow's entries'' in his [[Jefferson Inventory|inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]], noting that he kept the volume himself. He later sold it to the Library of Congress in 1815. Both Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on June 28, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing include the 1693 edition ''Brownlow Latine Redivivus''. The Wolf Law Library moved a copy of the same edition from another rare book collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]].<br />
[[File:BrownlowBookOfEntries1693Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Inscription (inverted), last page of text.</center>]]<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Rebound in period style with green title label and raised bands to spine. Includes the signature "T. Tomlinson Temple" on the title page and " "George Bougthon" (inverted) on the last page of text. Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936. <br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/38711 William & Mary's online catalog]. <br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
Read this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=nCw0AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books.]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Civil Procedure]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Known Surviving Wythe Volumes]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Elements_of_the_Civil_Law&diff=27490Elements of the Civil Law2014-05-01T19:12:31Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Elements of the Civil Law''}}<br />
===by John Taylor===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=TaylorElementsOfCivilLaw1769TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/534154<br />
|shorttitle=Elements of the Civil Law<br />
|author=John Taylor<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Charles Bathurst<br />
|year=1769<br />
|edition=Third<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=ix, [1], 584, [12]<br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=TaylorElementsOfCivilLaw1769Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left<br />
|caption=Armorial bookplate of Lord Alington of Crichel, Dorset, front pastedown.<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_%28classical_scholar%29 John Taylor] (1704-1766) was a classical scholar and English clergyman.<ref>E. C. Marchant, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27047 Taylor, John (bap. 1704, d. 1766)]," rev. S. J. Skedd, in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 1, 2013.</ref> Educated at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John%27s_College,_Cambridge St John's College in Cambridge], Taylor received his BA in 1725 and MA in 1728.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Having studied both Greek oratory and Greek law, he turned to the law as an alternative career to the church.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In 1742, Taylor was admitted to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_Commons Doctors' Commons], a society of lawyers practicing civil law. Around this time, he became a mentee of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carteret,_2nd_Earl_Granville Lord Carteret], later Lord Granville. Five years later, Taylor resigned from Doctors' Commons and revisited his first choice of career, the church, becoming ordained as deacon and priest in 1647.<ref>Ibid.</ref> His second career eventually led to appointments as archdeacon of Buckingham and chancellor of the diocese of Lincoln.<ref>William Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1938), 12:644.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
In 1752–53, Taylor was appointed as a tutor to Granville's grandsons while they were undergraduates at St John's College.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Granville wanted his grandsons to receive a good foundation in the principles of civil law, so Taylor drew up lengthy notes on the topic<ref>E. C. Marchant, "Taylor, John."</ref> which were first published as ''Elements of the Civil Law'' in 1755. The abridged version, ''Summary of the Roman Law'', was published in 1773.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Topics included the history of Roman law, public and private law, justice and equity, the law of nature, the law of nations, civil law, sources of Roman law, and the law of persons and property.<ref>Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'', 12:644.</ref> Taylor relied on the works of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I Justinian], as well as Greek and Latin classical authors and modern writers. ''Elements of the Civil Law'' was reprinted in 1755, 1756, 1769, and 1772 and reached a fourth edition in 1828.<ref>Ibid.</ref> One writer summed up the work, “Taylor’s ''Elements of the Civil Law'' are, perhaps, more than any other work, calculated to assist in the exposition of the mutual relation of the legal sciences, and the general literature of ancient Rome.” <ref>J. G. Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books'' (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 684.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Taylor’s civil law. 4to.'' and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[James Dinsmore]]. Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> includes the third edition (1769) based on the copy Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:404 [no.2209].</ref> [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on June 28, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing notes "Precise edition unknown. Quarto editions were published at Cambridge in 1755, and at London in 1756, 1769 and 1786." The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's advice and purchased a copy of the the third edition.<br />
[[File:TaylorElementsofTheCivilLaw1769Headpiece.jpg|left|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]]<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary full calf with red morocco, gilt-lettered label and gilt bands to spine. Includes the early twentieth century armorial bookplate of Lord Alington of Crichel, Dorset, on the front pastedown.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/534154 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Civil Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Elements_of_the_Civil_Law&diff=27488Elements of the Civil Law2014-05-01T19:10:17Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Elements of the Civil Law''}}<br />
===by John Taylor===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=TaylorElementsOfCivilLaw1769TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/534154<br />
|shorttitle=Elements of the Civil Law<br />
|author=John Taylor<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Charles Bathurst<br />
|year=1769<br />
|edition=Third<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=ix, [1], 584, [12]<br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=TaylorElementsOfCivilLaw1769Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left<br />
|caption=Armorial bookplate of Lord Alington of Crichel, Dorset, front pastedown.<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_%28classical_scholar%29 John Taylor] (1704-1766) was a classical scholar and English clergyman.<ref>E. C. Marchant, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27047 Taylor, John (bap. 1704, d. 1766)]," rev. S. J. Skedd, in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 1, 2013.</ref> Educated at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John%27s_College,_Cambridge St John's College in Cambridge], Taylor received his BA in 1725 and MA in 1728.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Having studied both Greek oratory and Greek law, he turned to the law as an alternative career to the church.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In 1742, Taylor was admitted to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_Commons Doctors' Commons], a society of lawyers practicing civil law. Around this time, he became a mentee of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carteret,_2nd_Earl_Granville Lord Carteret], later Lord Granville. Five years later, Taylor resigned from Doctors' Commons and revisited his first choice of career, the church, becoming ordained as deacon and priest in 1647.<ref>Ibid.</ref> His second career eventually led to appointments as archdeacon of Buckingham and chancellor of the diocese of Lincoln.<ref>William Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1938), 12:644.</ref><br /><br />
<br /><br />
In 1752–53, Taylor was appointed as a tutor to Granville's grandsons while they were undergraduates at St John's College.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Granville wanted his grandsons to receive a good foundation in the principles of civil law, so Taylor drew up lengthy notes on the topic<ref>E. C. Marchant, "Taylor, John."</ref> which were first published as ''Elements of the Civil Law'' in 1755. The abridged version, ''Summary of the Roman Law'', was published in 1773.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Topics included the history of Roman law, public and private law, justice and equity, the law of nature, the law of nations, civil law, sources of Roman law, and the law of persons and property.<ref>Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'', 12:644.</ref> Taylor relied on the works of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I Justinian], as well as Greek and Latin classical authors and modern writers. ''Elements of the Civil Law'' was reprinted in 1755, 1756, 1769, and 1772 and reached a fourth edition in 1828.<ref>Ibid.</ref> One writer summed up the work, “Taylor’s ''Elements of the Civil Law'' are, perhaps, more than any other work, calculated to assist in the exposition of the mutual relation of the legal sciences, and the general literature of ancient Rome.” <ref>J. G. Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books'' (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 684.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Taylor’s civil law. 4to.'' and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[James Dinsmore]]. Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433</ref> includes the third edition (1769) based on the copy Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:404 [no.2209].</ref> [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on June 28, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing notes "Precise edition unknown. Quarto editions were published at Cambridge in 1755, and at London in 1756, 1769 and 1786." The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's advice and purchased a copy of the the third edition.<br />
[[File:TaylorElementsofTheCivilLaw1769Headpiece.jpg|left|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]]<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary full calf with red morocco, gilt-lettered label and gilt bands to spine. Includes the early twentieth century armorial bookplate of Lord Alington of Crichel, Dorset, on the front pastedown.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/534154 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Civil Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Civil_Law_in_its_Natural_Order&diff=27486Civil Law in its Natural Order2014-05-01T19:08:30Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Civil Law in its Natural Order''}}<br />
<big>''The Civil Law in its Natural Order: Together with the Public Law''</big><br />
===by Jean Domat===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=DomatCivilLaw1722v1.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3439235<br />
|shorttitle=The Civil Law in its Natural Order<br />
|vol=volume one<br />
|author=Jean Domat<br />
|trans=William Strahan<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by J. Bettenham, for E. Bell<br />
|year=1722<br />
|lang=English<br />
|set=2<br />
|desc=Folio (33 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:DomatCivilLawInItsNaturalOrder1722Illustration.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Table of descents, volume one.</center>]][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Domat Jean Domat] (1625-1696), one of the most celebrated jurists of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France Louis XIV]’s reign,<ref>David Parker, "Sovereignty, Absolutism and the Function of the Law in Seventeenth-Century France," ''Past & Present'' 122 (Feb. 1989): 44.</ref> helped lay the foundations for French civil law.<ref>James Gordley, "The State's Private Law and Legal Academia," ''The American Journal of Comparative Law'' 56, no. 3 (2008): 645.</ref> In his work, originally published in French in 1689 as ''Lois Civiles dans leur Ordre Naturel'', Domat proposes a fault-based model for liability grounded in the rational deduction of self-evident principles.<ref>Peter Stein, "The Attraction of Civil Law in Post-Revolutionary America," ''Virginia Law Review'' 52, no. 3 (1966): 406-7.</ref><br /> <br />
<br /><br />
In ''The Civil Law in its Natural Order'', Domat set out to reorganize French customary law in a way that would be consistent with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesianism Cartesian thought] while remaining grounded in both Christian morality and Roman law.<ref>William F. Church, "The Decline of the French Jurists as Political Theorists, 1660-1789," ''French Historical Studies'' 5, no. 1 (1967): 16.</ref> From this framework, Domat was able to establish his first premise&mdash;that social order and stability were essential to man&mdash;and from that premise he derived what he believed were the primary rules of society.<ref>Gerald A. Greenberger, "Lawyers Confront Centralized Government: Political Thought of Lawyers during the Reign of Louis XIV," ''The American Journal of Legal History'' 23, no. 2 (1979): 174.</ref> After initial publication in 1689, ''Lois Civiles dans leur Ordre Naturel'' was translated into English in 1722 as ''Civil Law in the Natural Order''. The title influenced civil law across the world and the 1722 translation was influential in shaping the thoughts and opinions the American founders.<ref>Stein, “The Attraction of Civil Law in Post-Revolutionary America,” 406-7.</ref><br />
{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=DomatCivilLawInItsNaturalOrder1722Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left<br />
|caption=Armorial bookplate of Scott of Balcomie, front pastedown, volume two.<br />
}}==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Wythe refers to Domat ("we are informed in Domat ...") in [[Love v. Donelson and Hodgson]].<ref>George Wythe, "Love against Donelson and Hodgson" (Richmond: s.n., 1801), 16.</ref> Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> notes this and includes the first English edition (1722) of Domat's ''The Civil Law in its Natural Order'' based on the copy [[Thomas Jefferson]] sold to the Library of Congress.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:405 [no.2212].</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's suggestion and purchased William Strahan's first English transation.<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary calf with paneled boards, raised bands, and lettering pieces on the spine. Contains attractive woodcut head-pieces and tail-pieces and a full-page copperplate table of descents. Includes the armorial bookplate of Scott of Balcomie on the front pastedown of both volumes.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
View this title in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3439235 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Civil Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Civil_Law_in_its_Natural_Order&diff=27484Civil Law in its Natural Order2014-05-01T19:05:42Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Civil Law in its Natural Order''}}<br />
<big>''The Civil Law in its Natural Order: Together with the Public Law''</big><br />
===by Jean Domat===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=DomatCivilLaw1722v1.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3439235<br />
|shorttitle=The Civil Law in its Natural Order<br />
|vol=volume one<br />
|author=Jean Domat<br />
|trans=William Strahan<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by J. Bettenham, for E. Bell<br />
|year=1722<br />
|lang=English<br />
|set=2<br />
|desc=Folio (33 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:DomatCivilLawInItsNaturalOrder1722Illustration.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Table of descents, volume one.</center>]][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Domat Jean Domat] (1625-1696), one of the most celebrated jurists of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France Louis XIV]’s reign,<ref>David Parker, "Sovereignty, Absolutism and the Function of the Law in Seventeenth-Century France," ''Past & Present'' 122 (Feb. 1989): 44.</ref> helped lay the foundations for French civil law.<ref>James Gordley, "The State's Private Law and Legal Academia," ''The American Journal of Comparative Law'' 56, no. 3 (2008): 645.</ref> In his work, originally published in French in 1689 as ''Lois Civiles dans leur Ordre Naturel'', Domat proposes a fault-based model for liability grounded in the rational deduction of self-evident principles.<ref>Peter Stein, "The Attraction of Civil Law in Post-Revolutionary America," ''Virginia Law Review'' 52, no. 3 (1966): 406-7.</ref><br /> <br />
<br /><br />
In ''The Civil Law in its Natural Order'', Domat set out to reorganize French customary law in a way that would be consistent with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesianism Cartesian thought] while remaining grounded in both Christian morality and Roman law.<ref>William F. Church, "The Decline of the French Jurists as Political Theorists, 1660-1789," ''French Historical Studies'' 5, no. 1 (1967): 16.</ref> From this framework, Domat was able to establish his first premise&mdash;that social order and stability were essential to man&mdash;and from that premise he derived what he believed were the primary rules of society.<ref>Gerald A. Greenberger, "Lawyers Confront Centralized Government: Political Thought of Lawyers during the Reign of Louis XIV," ''The American Journal of Legal History'' 23, no. 2 (1979): 174.</ref> After initial publication in 1689, ''Lois Civiles dans leur Ordre Naturel'' was translated into English in 1722 as ''Civil Law in the Natural Order''. The title influenced civil law across the world and the 1722 translation was influential in shaping the thoughts and opinions the American founders.<ref>Stein, “The Attraction of Civil Law in Post-Revolutionary America,” 406-7.</ref><br />
{{BookPageBookplate<br />
|imagename=DomatCivilLawInItsNaturalOrder1722Bookplate.jpg<br />
|display=left<br />
|caption=Armorial bookplate of Scott of Balcomie, front pastedown, volume two.<br />
}}==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Wythe refers to Domat ("we are informed in Domat ...") in [[Love v. Donelson and Hodgson]].<ref>George Wythe, "Love against Donelson and Hodgson," (Richmond: s.n., 1801), 16.</ref> Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> notes this and includes the first English edition (1722) of Domat's ''The Civil Law in its Natural Order'' based on the copy [[Thomas Jefferson]] sold to the Library of Congress.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:405 [no.2212].</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's suggestion and purchased William Strahan's first English transation.<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary calf with paneled boards, raised bands, and lettering pieces on the spine. Contains attractive woodcut head-pieces and tail-pieces and a full-page copperplate table of descents. Includes the armorial bookplate of Scott of Balcomie on the front pastedown of both volumes.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
View this title in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3439235 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Civil Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Maximes_of_Reason&diff=27482Maximes of Reason2014-05-01T19:02:09Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Maximes of Reason''}}<br />
<big>''Maximes of Reason, or, The Reason of the Common Law of England''</big><br />
===by Edmund Wingate===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=WingateMaximesOfReason1658.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/95142<br />
|shorttitle=Maximes of Reason<br />
|author=Edmund Wingate<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by R. & W. L. for W. Lee, A. Crook, D. Pakeman, H. Twiford, G. Bedell, T. Dring, J. Place<br />
|year=1658<br />
|edition=First<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=[16], 772, (i. e. 720), [12]<br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Wingate Edmund Wingate] (1596-1656) wrote popular and important works about mathematics, such as ''The Use of the Rule of Proportion''. Later in life he studied law, and wrote several books in this field.<ref>Bertha Porter, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/29732 Wingate, Edmund (bap. 1596, d. 1656)]," rev. H. K. Higton, in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 12, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
[[File:WingateMaximesOfReason1658Headpiece.jpg|center|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]]<br />
In ''Maximes of Reason or, The Reason of the Common Law of England'', Wingate compiles and comments on 214 legal maxims.<ref>Roscoe Pound, "The Maxims of Equity. I of Maxims Generally," ''Harvard Law Review'' 34, no. 8 (1921): 834.</ref> At the time, Wingate had a legal theory which stated:<br />
<blockquote>Not all Laws that are Just and Prudent ought to be used as Radii and Effluxes from the Eternal Wisdom, having thus Exemplar Cause and bright Idea in God himself. The mediate Author of these is humane Reason, exalted and purified by Learning and Experience, and enlightened by the Divine Spirit; I presume there is no fear of Sofinians in Law, and that attempts may be made without charges, to discover how the vast multitude of Cases, that Follies, or Passions, or Necessities of men have obliged us to be acquainted with, are all accountable and redouble to some few Theses; which being prime Emanations and General Maximes of Reason, govern and serve for a Clue and Conduct, through the Labyrinth of that perplex variety; Saving us the labour of Chargeing our memories with every particle, then to burden and confound us.<ref>A.W.B. Simpson, "The Rise and Fall of the Legal Treatise: Legal Principles and the Forms of Legal Literature,“ ''The University of Chicago Law Review'' 48, no. 3 (1981): 646.</ref></blockquote><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Wingate's Maxims, fol.'' and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[Dabney Carr]]. The 1658 edition appears to be the only edition published.<ref>J. G. Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books'' (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 741.</ref> Accordingly, both the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on September 16, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing include the 1658 edition. The Wolf Law Library moved a copy of the same edition from another rare book collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]]. <br />
[[File:WingateMaximesOfReason1658Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|350px|<center>Inscription (author biography), front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Recently rebound in period style. Spine features four bands with gilt rules with green label. Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936. <br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/95142 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
Read this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=LA4yAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books.]<br />
<br />
[[Category:English Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Officium_Vicecomitum&diff=27480Officium Vicecomitum2014-05-01T19:01:46Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Officium Vicecomitum''}}<br />
<big>''Officium Vicecomitum: The Office and Avthoritie of Sherifs. Written for the Better Incouragement of the Gentrie (Upon Whom the Burthen of This Office Lyeth) to Keepe Their Continuall Care of the businesse, and Eye Ouer Their Officers, They May the Better Discharge Their Dutie to God, Their Prince, and Countrey, in the Execution of This Their Office''</big><br />
===by Michael Dalton===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=DaltonOfficiumVicecomitum1623.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/2087726<br />
|shorttitle=Officium Vicecomitum<br />
|author=Michael Dalton<br />
|edition=First<br />
|lang=English<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed for the Companie of Stationers<br />
|year=1623<br />
|pages=3 pages, 194 leaves, [10] pages<br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:DaltonOfficumVicecomitum1623Headpiece.jpg|left|thumb|350px|<center>Head piece, first page of text.</center>]][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dalton_%28legal_writer%29 Michael Dalton] (1564-1644), an English barrister and legal writer, was born in Linton, Cambridgeshire in 1564.<ref>D. A. Orr, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7067 Dalton, Michael (1564–1644)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 25, 2013.</ref> He was accepted to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%27s_Inn Lincoln’s Inn] in 1671 and called to the bar in 1589. In 1604, he became deputy steward of the University of Cambridge and in 1618, published ''The Countrey Justice'', a treatise for local magistrates which became quite popular.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Dalton remains "historically significant" for this contribution. He followed that publication with another legal treatise in 1623, ''Vicecomitum, or, The Office and Authoritie of Sheriffs'', which also proved successful, appearing in an abridged version in 1628 and multiple reprintings as late as 1700.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In fact, "in spite of a growing number of rivals, it continued to be a standard authority till the beginning of the eighteenth century."<ref>W. S. Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1924), 4:119.</ref><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Dalton's office of Sheriff. fol'' and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[Dabney Carr]]. We do not know which edition Wythe owned. The [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> includes the 1700 edition based on the existence of this edition in Thomas Jefferson's library. [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on September 16, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing indicates "Precise edition unknown. Folio editions were published at London in 1670, 1682, and 1700." The 1623 edition owned by The Wolf Law Library is also a folio edition.<ref>[http://estc.bl.uk English Short Title Catalog], record for 1623 edition includes the same size designation "2⁰" as the other editions.</ref><br />
[[File:DaltonOfficumVicecomitum1623Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Inscription, front free endpaper.</center>]]<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary full calf with banded spine. Includes inscription "Traff" on front free endpaper. Purchased from the Lawbook Exchange.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/2087726 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:Administration of Criminal Justice]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Doctor_and_Student&diff=27476Doctor and Student2014-05-01T18:59:02Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Doctor and Student''}}<br />
<big>''Doctor and Student, or, Dialogues Between a Doctor of Divinity and a Student in the Laws of England: Containing the Grounds of Those Laws, Together with Questions and Cases Concerning the Equity and Conscience Thereof: also Comparing the Civil, Canon, Common and Statute Laws, and Shewing Wherein They Vary from One Another''</big><br />
===by Christopher Saint German===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=SaintGermainDoctorAndStudent1761TitlePage.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3143350<br />
|shorttitle=Doctor and Student<br />
|author=Christopher Saint German<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by S. Richardson and C. Lintot<br />
|year=1761<br />
|edition=Sixteenth<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=344, [39]<br />
|desc=8vo (21 cm.)<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_St._Germain Christopher Saint German] (c. 1460-1540/41) was a member of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Temple Middle Temple] in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.<ref>J. H. Baker, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24493 St German, Christopher (c.1460–1540/41)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 9, 2013.</ref> Born in 1460, Saint German was known for his scholarship and piety.<ref>R. H. Helmholz, "Christopher St. German and the Law of Custom," ''The University of Chicago Law Review'' 70, no. 1 (Winter 2003), 130.</ref> As an author, he is best known for his work ''Doctor and Student'', chiefly released in 1528.<ref>Ibid, 129.</ref> Initially, the piece was completely in Latin, but the language changed in later versions.<ref>Baker, "St German, Christopher." </ref><br /><br />
[[File:SaintGermanDoctorAndStudent1761Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Inscription, table of contents.</center>]]<br />
''Doctor and Student'' proposed to “explore the relationship between the principles of English law and conscience.”<ref>Helmholz, “Christopher St. German and the Law of Custom,” 130.</ref> The format was a dialogue between a “Student of the English common law” and a “Doctor of Theology,” in which they discussed the common law. The objectives of this work have been described as providing a description of the substantive law, discussing the tension between the common law and that of the church, and delving into “the role of conscience and equity in law, both in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Chancery court of Chancery] and the common law itself.”<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Both [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 13 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> suggest Wythe owned the sixteenth (1761) edition of this title based on notes in John Marshall's commonplace book.<ref>Herbert A. Johnson, Charles T. Cullen, and Nancy G. Harris, eds., ''The Papers of John Marshall'' (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, in association with the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1974), 1:47.</ref> The Wolf Law Library purchased a copy of the sixteenth edition.<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in recent period-style quarter calf over marbled boards with raised bands and lettering piece to the spine and endpapers renewed. Contains early owner signatures to the head of the title page and Table of Contents. Purchased from the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.<br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3143350 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
Read this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=QgFCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR12&dq=Doctor+And+Student&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wgPfUZbGM_bI4AOV8ID4BQ&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Doctor%20And%20Student&f=false Google Books].<br />
<br />
[[Category:English Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Maximes_of_Reason&diff=27474Maximes of Reason2014-05-01T18:57:25Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Maximes of Reason''}}<br />
<big>''Maximes of Reason, or, The Reason of the Common Law of England''</big><br />
===by Edmund Wingate===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=WingateMaximesOfReason1658.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/95142<br />
|shorttitle=Maximes of Reason<br />
|author=Edmund Wingate<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed by R. & W. L. for W. Lee, A. Crook, D. Pakeman, H. Twiford, G. Bedell, T. Dring, J. Place<br />
|year=1658<br />
|edition=First<br />
|lang=English<br />
|pages=[16], 772, (i. e. 720), [12]<br />
|desc=Folio (29 cm.)<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Wingate Edmund Wingate] (1596-1656) wrote popular and important works about mathematics, such as ''The Use of the Rule of Proportion''. Later in life he studied law, and wrote several books in this field.<ref>Bertha Porter, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.wm.edu/view/article/29732 Wingate, Edmund (bap. 1596, d. 1656)]," rev. H. K. Higton in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 12, 2013.</ref><br /><br />
[[File:WingateMaximesOfReason1658Headpiece.jpg|center|thumb|400px|<center>Headpiece, first page of text.</center>]]<br />
In ''Maximes of Reason or, The Reason of the Common Law of England'', Wingate compiles and comments on 214 legal maxims.<ref>Roscoe Pound, "The Maxims of Equity. I of Maxims Generally," ''Harvard Law Review'' 34, no. 8 (1921): 834.</ref> At the time, Wingate had a legal theory which stated:<br />
<blockquote>Not all Laws that are Just and Prudent ought to be used as Radii and Effluxes from the Eternal Wisdom, having thus Exemplar Cause and bright Idea in God himself. The mediate Author of these is humane Reason, exalted and purified by Learning and Experience, and enlightened by the Divine Spirit; I presume there is no fear of Sofinians in Law, and that attempts may be made without charges, to discover how the vast multitude of Cases, that Follies, or Passions, or Necessities of men have obliged us to be acquainted with, are all accountable and redouble to some few Theses; which being prime Emanations and General Maximes of Reason, govern and serve for a Clue and Conduct, through the Labyrinth of that perplex variety; Saving us the labour of Chargeing our memories with every particle, then to burden and confound us.<ref>A.W.B. Simpson, "The Rise and Fall of the Legal Treatise: Legal Principles and the Forms of Legal Literature,“ ''The University of Chicago Law Review'' 48, no. 3 (1981): 646.</ref></blockquote><br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as ''Wingate's Maxims, fol.'' and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[Dabney Carr]]. The 1658 edition appears to be the only edition published.<ref>J. G. Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law Books'' (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, Law Booksellers, 1847), 741.</ref> Accordingly, both the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> and [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on September 16, 2013.</ref> on LibraryThing include the 1658 edition. The Wolf Law Library moved a copy of the same edition from another rare book collection to the [[George Wythe Collection]]. <br />
[[File:WingateMaximesOfReason1658Inscription.jpg|left|thumb|350px|<center>Inscription (author biography), front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Recently rebound in period style. Spine features four bands with gilt rules with green label. Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936. <br />
<br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/95142 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
Read this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=LA4yAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books.]<br />
<br />
[[Category:English Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Style%27s_Practical_Register&diff=27472Style's Practical Register2014-05-01T18:54:07Z<p>Sjwilmes: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Style's Practical Register''}}<br />
<big>''Style's Practical Register: Begun in the Reign of King Charles I Consisting of Rules, Orders, and the Principal Observations Concerning the Practice of The Common Law in the Courts at Westminster: Particularly the King's Bench, as Well in Matters Criminal as Civil: Carefully Continued Down to this Time from Modern Reports: Alphabetically Digested Under Several Titles: with a Table for the Ready Finding Out of Those Titles''</big><br />
===by William Style===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=StylePracticalRegister1707.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1469028<br />
|shorttitle=Style's Practical Register<br />
|author=William Style<br />
|edition=Fourth, with large additions<br />
|lang=English<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed for C. Harper, D. Brown, J. Walthoe and D. Midwinter<br />
|year=1707<br />
|pages=682<br />
|desc=8vo (20 cm.)<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Style William Style] (c.1599–1679) was admitted to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple] in 1619, and was called to the bar in 1628. He does not appear to have been an overly successful lawyer and is better remembered for his legal publications.<ref>J. H. Baker, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26755 Style, William (c.1599–1679)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed May 30, 2013.</ref> His ''Practical Register'', first published in 1657, "groups the rules of practice, together with a little information as to the substantive law, under alphabetical heads."<ref>W. S. Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1924), 6:598.</ref> It "was a useful guide to modern practice decisions"<ref>Baker, "Style, William."</ref> and was reprinted multiple times.<br />
[[File:StylePracticalRegister1707Inscriptions.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Inscriptions, front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Both [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 15 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> include William Style's ''Practical Register''based on Alan Smith's assertion that Jefferson cites the work in his commonplace book.<ref>Alan McKinley Smith, "Virginia Lawyers, 1680-1776: The Birth of an American Profession" (PhD diss., The Johns Hopkins University, 1967), 263.</ref> Dean lists the 1657 edition while Brown suggests the fourth edition (1707) based on the copy [[Thomas Jefferson]] sold to the Library of Congress in 1815.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:282 [no.1914].</ref> Notably, Brown's study of Jefferson's commonplace books revealed no references to the Style's ''Practical Register'', making its inclusion in [[Wythe's Library]] questionable. Despite the inconclusive evidence, the Wolf Law Library added a copy of the fourth edition to the [[George Wythe Collection]].<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound with later calf retaining original boards, raised bands, gilt title and date on spine. Includes signature, "Wm. Cumming" and annotations to preliminaries. Purchased from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1469028 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:English Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=Style%27s_Practical_Register&diff=27468Style's Practical Register2014-05-01T18:52:42Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Style's Practical Register''}}<br />
<big>''Style's Practical Register: Begun in the Reign of King Charles I Consisting of Rules, Orders, and the Principal Observations Concerning the Practice of The Common Law in the Courts at Westminster: Particularly the King's Bench, as Well in Matters Criminal as Civil: Carefully Continued Down to this Time from Modern Reports: Alphabetically Digested Under Several Titles: with a Table for the Ready Finding Out of Those Titles''</big><br />
===by William Style===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=StylePracticalRegister1707.jpg<br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1469028<br />
|shorttitle=Style's Practical Register<br />
|author=William Style<br />
|edition=Fourth, with large additions<br />
|lang=English<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed for C. Harper, D. Brown, J. Walthoe and D. Midwinter<br />
|year=1707<br />
|pages=682<br />
|desc=8vo (20 cm.)<br />
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Style William Style] (c.1599–1679) was admitted to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Temple Inner Temple] in 1619, and was called to the bar in 1628. He does not appear to have been an overly successful lawyer and is better remembered for his legal publications.<ref>J. H. Baker, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26755 Style, William (c.1599–1679)] in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed May 30, 2013.</ref> His ''Practical Register'', first published in 1657, "groups the rules of practice, together with a little information as to the substantive law, under alphabetical heads."<ref>W. S. Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1924), 6:598.</ref> It "was a useful guide to modern practice decisions"<ref>Baker, "Style, William."</ref> and was reprinted multiple times.<br />
[[File:StylePracticalRegister1707Inscriptions.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Inscriptions, front flyleaf.</center>]]<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Both [[Dean Bibliography|Dean's Memo]]<ref>[[Dean Bibliography|Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean]], Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 15 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).</ref> and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> include William Style's ''Practical Register''based on Alan Smith's assertion that Jefferson cites the work in his commonplace book.<ref>Alan McKinley Smith, "Virginia Lawyers, 1680-1776: The Birth of an American Profession" (PhD diss., The Johns Hopkins University, 1967), 263.</ref> Dean lists the 1657 edition while Brown suggests the fourth edition (1707) based on the copy [[Thomas Jefferson]] sold to the Library of Congress in 1815.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:282 [no.1914].</ref> Notably, Brown's study of Jefferson's commonplace books revealed no references to the Style's ''Practical Register'', making its inclusion in [[Wythe's Library]] questionable. Despite the inconclusive evidence, the Wolf Law Library added a copy of the fourth edition to the [[George Wythe Collection]].<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound with later calf retaining original boards, raised bands, gilt title and date on spine. Includes signature, "Wm. Cumming" and annotations to preliminaries. Purchased from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/1469028 William & Mary's online catalog.]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
[[Category:English Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmeshttp://lawlibrary.wm.edu/wythepedia/index.php?title=English_Works_of_Sir_Henry_Spelman&diff=27466English Works of Sir Henry Spelman2014-05-01T18:50:10Z<p>Sjwilmes: fn</p>
<hr />
<div>{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The English Works of Sir Henry Spelman''}}<br />
<big>''The English Works of Sir Henry Spelman, Kt. Publish'd in His Life-Time; Together with His Posthumous Works, Relating to the Laws and Antiquities of England; First Publish'd by the Present Lord Bishop of Lincoln, in the Year 1695, Together with the Life of the Author, Now Revised by His Lordship. to Which are Added, Two More Treatises of Sir Henry Spelman, Never Before Printed: One, of the Admiral-Jurisdiction, and the Officers Thereof: the Other, of Antient Deeds and Charters, with a Compleat Index to the Whole''</big><br />
===by Sir Henry Spelman===<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
{{BookPageInfoBox<br />
|imagename=SpelmanEnglishWorks1723.jpg <br />
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3621292<br />
|shorttitle=English Works of Sir Henry Spelman<br />
|author=Sir Henry Spelman<br />
|editor=Edmund Gibson<br />
|lang=English<br />
|publoc=London<br />
|publisher=Printed for D. Browne, sen. & jun. W. Mears, F. Clay [etc.]<br />
|year=1723<br />
|set=2 parts in 1<br />
|desc=Folio (34 cm.)<br />
}}[[File:SpelmanEnglishWorksOfSirHenrySpelman1723Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]<br />
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Spelman Sir Henry Spelman] (1563/4–1641) studied at Walsigner grammar school and graduated BA from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge] in 1583.<ref>Stuart Handley, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26104 Spelman, Sir Henry (1563/4–1641)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 9, 2013.</ref> He was admitted to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%27s_Inn Lincoln’s Inn] in 1586, where he studied the law for three years. Spelman found drudgery in many aspects of the law, and focused on history and antiquity.<ref>Ibid.</ref> He married his wife Eleanor in 1590 and soon after began writing treatises.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Spelman wrote treatises on many topics.<ref>Ibid.</ref> As time passed, his work gained recognition, especially with regard to his ability to present not only the mere facts, but to connect seemingly unrelated facts in a meaningful and persuasive manner.<ref>Ibid.</ref> He is recognized as having laid a foundation upon which subsequent scholars were able to build.<ref>Ibid.</ref> <br />
<br />
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==<br />
Wythe referred to Spelman's works in his case report for ''[[Field v. Harrison]]'', "Sir H. Spelman somewhere condemns the common lawyers of his own time, for the small acquaintance they had with the principles and rationale of their profession."<ref>George Wythe, "A Report of the Case Between Field and Harrison Decreed by the High Court of Chancery in which the Decision was Reversed by the Court of Appeals" (Richmond: Printed and Sold by Thomas Nicolson, 1796), 12, n.</ref> Brown's Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> includes the first (1723) edition of ''The English Works of Sir Henry Spelman'' as the work intended by Wythe's reference. He bases the selection of this title and edition in part on the copy [[Thomas Jefferson]] sold to the Library of Congress in 1815.<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 3:125-126 [no.2721].</ref> The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's suggestion and purchased a copy of the same edition.<br />
<br />
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==<br />
Bound in contemporary decorative leather binding. Spine has six bands with gilt decoration and lettering. Purchased from Longland Books.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3621292 William & Mary's online catalog].<br />
[[File:SpelmanEnglishWorksOfSirHenrySpelman1723Headpiece.jpg|center|thumb|450px|<center>Headpiece.</center>]]<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
Read this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=xzVFAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books.]<br />
<br />
[[Category:English Law]]<br />
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]<br />
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]</div>Sjwilmes