PAUL CARRINGTON

It is now nearly two hundred years since the birth of Judge Paul Carrington. There have come in that long time a host of men and women who trace their descent through him. To them he has long been a revered figure. But apparently he went his way through life, with all the place and the responsibility that it brought him, simply and directly, plain and sparing of speech, modestly and with no thought of a record for himself. And so, though his days were many and spanned that great period when the spirit of freedom and revolution were founding a new and wonderful order, in which all through he bore a part steadily and with zeal, little remains from which to tell his story.

Grigsby's account of him in "The Virginia Convention of 1776" and the plain but accurate narrative in Alexander Brown's "The Cabells and their Kin" seem to be the only extended published notices of him that exist. Both of these sources have the value not only of the authority of these writers but of their family connection; for Grigsby married Judge Carrington's granddaughter, and Brown was his great great grandson. Daniel Call had earlier given a short but appreciative comment in his sketches of the judges in the fourth volume of Call's Reports, containing, however, some inaccuracies. There are, of course, the bare bones of the journals of the public bodies in which he served and the reports of his judicial opinions. They record his services, but cast little light upon the man himself. of his letters remain, though very few available to the present writer. And family tradition, if it ever preserved much of him, seems not to have carried this far. Except in Grigsby, almost nothing of his characteristics, his habits, his personal appearance, the general manner of the man and his life, has come down. On the meagre facts at hand, save only as to his public service, it is possible to make for him only a plain and brief record.

Some

If any portrait or other likeness of Judge Carrington was ever

"Mulberry Hill," home of Paul Carrington. The house as originally erected by him is embraced in this building, but substantial additions have been made subsequently.

made, it has not come to light. This has long been a subject of inquiry and search among his descendants, but without result. In Grigsby, though, we do find this description of him:

"About the year 1748 or 1750 a tall slim youth in the sixteenth or seventeenth year of his age, over six feet in height, with prominent features, bright blue eyes, and sandy hair, might have been seen passing on horseback by Roanoke Bridge in the county of Charlotte then a part of Lunenburg, on his way from Cumberland through the present estates of Edgehill and Greenfield, now owned by his descendants in the second and third degree, to Bushy Forest, the seat of Col. Clement Read, the clerk of the county of Lunenburg, who then held his office, as was almost invariably the case with clerks before the Revolution and for many years subsequently, at his private residence. That youth was Paul Carrington."

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Judge Carrington's parents were George Carrington and Anne Mayo. His father was one among numerous brothers and sisters, the son of Dr. Paul Carrington, of the island of Barbados, and his second wife Henningham Codrington. George, when a boy of twelve, was an emigrant to Virginia with his brotherin-law Joseph Mayo: That was in 1723. The marriage to Anne Mayo came in 1732. She was the daughter of Major William Mayo, the surveyor, who died in 1744. They were settled then, and throughout life remained, at their home "Boston Hill," situated on Willis's River, called sometimes Willis's Creek, in Goochland County, later and now in Cumberland County.

In his Bible, George Carrington seems to have entered with faithful and quaint accuracy the birthdays of his children. As to Judge Carrington we find this: "Paul Carrington, the son of George and Anne Carrington, born ye fifth day of March 1733 between 2 and 3 o'clock Tuesday morning." That Bible is not the traditional family Bible, a formidable volume of large print and heavy binding. It is a small book, easily held in one hand, and containing within its covers both the Bible and the Prayer Book. Nevertheless, it has something of a history and is of deep

interest to the descendants of its former owner. On one page is this inscription, "Hic Liber pertinet ad Georgius Carington." The somewhat youthful handwriting and the lapses from strict accuracy here have invoked the fancy that the book was a gift. to the boy from his mother as he left her for his far-away new home in Virginia, and whom, as far as known, she was never to see again.

Many years ago the Bible was found in one of the Carrington homes by the late Peyton R. Carrington, of Richmond, in a neglected and dilapidated condition-so characteristic of the attitude of the older generation, in many cases, towards such family treasures. It was rescued by him and rebound in a substantial manner, with many blank pages included, on which Mr. Carrington entered the extensive notes of family data that he made a habit of collecting all during his long life. From his heirs the Bible was acquired by interested persons and by them placed for permanent preservation in the Virginia State Library, where it remains, under the care of the librarian, for all who may feel an interest to consult it. And it might be said that it would be well to have in that library a department of family archives in which similar deposits might be made. Such ancient books and documents are of interest to a large number and often have some historical value. When the owners are willing to part with them, the State should have a place to receive them among its records.

Paul Carrington was the oldest of eleven children. His boyhood was in all probability spent at "Boston Hill," though the light does not break upon him until he began life for himself in Charlotte County, then a part of Lunenburg County, where he lived all the remainder of his days. The doubt as to that exact date, which both Grigsby and Alexander Brown indicate, is resolved by a letter of Judge Carrington himself, quoted from later on, in which he states definitely that he went to Charlotte in the year 1750.

Grigsby speaks of his education as defective; and doubtless it was, though probably equal to the average among men of his opportunities in that day. It is certain that a collegiate education, provided even then by William and Mary College and at