William Nelson Jr.
William Nelson Jr. as a youth fought in the American Revolutionary War, then became a lawyer as well as served in the Virginia House of Delegates as well as on the Virginia Executive Council before becoming a judge, during some years of which he also was a law professor at the College of William and Mary. Complicating matters, not only his father, but his somewhat older cousin shared the same name and distinguished himself in the conflict as well as became clerk of Caroline County, and another distant relative much later represented Hanover County in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Early and family life
The fifth child born to the former Elizabeth Burwell, and her husband, merchant and planter William Nelson, who was by then a member of the Virginia Governor's Council and would later serve as its president and even as acting governor after a governor's death in office. His eldest brother Thomas Nelson, who served as one of this boy's guardians after their father's death in 1772) had already begun his political and military career. As a student at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg he studied law under George Wythe. His best friend was William Short, whose family had lived for five generations across the James River in Surry County.Military
As the Revolutionary War began, Nelson and Short enrolled in the student militia, and Nelson accepted a commission as second lieutenant in 1777. During the war's final campaign, British soldiers under the command of Banastre Tarleton captured Nelson and his brother Robert at Castle Hill, the residence of Dr. Thomas Walker, in Albemarle County.Career
Admitted to the Virginia bar after the war, Nelson had an active legal practice in the 1780s. During his legislative service described below, he and colleagues produced the Revised Code of Virginia of 1792.James City County voters elected Nelson as one of their representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1783, but he served only one term before being elected on November 27, 1783 to the Council of State on which he served until November 1785. In 1788, York County voters elected Nelson as well as Robert Shield as their representatives to the Virginia House of Delegates, and re-elected the pair until fellow legislators elected Nelson as a judge, then voters elected Benjamin Carter Waller to succeed him in the part-time legislative position.
In 1791, fellow legislators elected Nelson as a judge of the General Court. During his judicial career, Judge Nelson sat at various times at Suffolk, Richmond and Winchester.
Nelson succeeded St. George Tucker as professor of law and police at the law school of the College of William and Mary in 1804, and continued to teach students until his death in 1813, at which time he was succeeded by his younger cousin Robert Nelson.