William Byrd
William Byrd (1674-1744) wrote about life in the South during the Colonial period.
- William Byrd (1674–1744): Encyclopedia VirginiaWilliam Byrd, sometimes referred to as William Byrd II of Westover to distinguish him from relatives of the same name, was a planter, a surveyor, a member of the governor’s Council (1709–1744), and a man of letters. Born in Virginia, Byrd was educated and practiced law in England. He returned to Virginia in 1705, after the death of his father....
- William Byrd of Westover: BritannicaWilliam Byrd of Westover, also called William Byrd II, (born March 28, 1674, Virginia [U.S.]—died August 26, 1744, Westover, Virginia), Virginia planter, satirist, and diarist who portrayed colonial life on the southern British plantations. He founded the city of Richmond, Virginia...
Research & Reference
- Byrd Family: Virginia Museum of History & CultureA man driven by enormous ambition, William Byrd II of Westover was an exceptional figure in colonial America. Educated in England, he developed refined tastes there and on the Continent through broad exposure to art and architecture...
- The Diary of William Byrd II of Virginia, 1709-1712, selections: National Humanities CenterWilliam Byrd II ranks as the most well-known gentlemen-planter of pre-Revolutionary America, partly for his achievements and status, partly for his witty and irreverent History of the Dividing Line (on leading the surveying party that set Virginia-North Carolina border in 1728), and partly for his witty and irreverent “secret diary” of the years 1709-1712, written while he was in his late thirties. Written in a shorthand style developed in the 1670s, the diary was not “translated” and published until the 1940s.
- William Byrd Was a Colonial-era Surveyor and Satirist: National Endowment for the HumanitiesIt was just another wetlands before William Byrd II called this area between Virginia and North Carolina the Great Dismal Swamp. The very name still inspires laughs. An example of what is called a pathetic fallacy, it might have been part of the geography in The Princess Bride, lying somewhere north of the Cliffs of Insanity and a likely habitat for Rodents of Unusual Size...
Author's Works & Perspectives
The Commonplace Book of William Byrd II of Westover
William Byrd II (1674-1744) was an important figure in the history of colonial Virginia: a founder of Richmond, an active participant in Virginia politics, and the proprietor of one of the colony's greatest plantations. But Byrd is best known today for his diaries. Considered essential documents of private life in colonial America, they offer readers an unparalleled glimpse into the world of a Virginia gentleman. This book joins Byrd's Diary, Secret Diary, and other writings in securing his reputation as one of the most interesting men in colonial America. Edited and presented here for the first time, Byrd's commonplace book is a collection of moral wit and wisdom gleaned from reading and conversation. The nearly six hundred entries range in tone from hope to despair, trust to dissimulation, and reflect on issues as varied as science, religion, women, Alexander the Great, and the perils of love. A ten-part introduction presents an overview of Byrd's life and addresses such topics as his education and habits of reading and his endeavors to understand himself sexually, temperamentally, and religiously, as well as the history and cultural function of commonplacing. Extensive annotations discuss the sources, background, and significance of the entries.
The Great American Gentleman: William Byrd of Westover in Virginia--His Secret Diary for the Years 1709-1712
These diaries concern his daily life, his relations with the Indians, the treatment of his slaves, his sexual and emotional life, and the growth of his community.