Robert Beverley (1635-1687)

He came to Virginia in 1663 and was a Member of the House of Burgesses (1670) and Justice for Middlesex County (1673). He was one of Governor Berkeley's strongest supporters and helped put down the rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon, after which Berkeley placed him in command of all his forces and gave him a seat on the Governor's Council. He was a controversial figure in Virginia's history, but by the time he died - through patent and purchase - he had amassed an estate of 38,000-acres which at that time made him the largest landowner in the colony. In 1666, he married Mary, daughter of James Boyd (d.1654), 9th Lord of Kilmarnock, and widow of George Keeble. They were the parents of 3-sons, the ancestors of many of the First Families of Virginia.