Robert Lawson (American general)

Robert Lawson (January 23, 1748 – March 28, 1805) was a Virginia lawyer, planter and politician who distinguished himself in the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of brigadier general in the Virginia militia. After the conflict, he practiced law, held various political offices and operated a plantation in Prince Edward County, Virginia, but also suffered from alcoholism, which caused his estrangement from his family as well as being swindled. As discussed by the United States Supreme Court in Wagner v. Baird, 48 U.S. 234 (1849), although granted over 10,000 acres of land in what became the state of Ohio, Lawson transferred those rights to a swindler, so decades later his heirs unsuccessfully sought redress.

Early life and education

Robert Lawson was born January 23, 1748, the son of Benjamin Lawson and his wife, the former Elizabeth Claiborne. His mother would die in Amelia County in 1804, and her brother Philip Whitehead Claiborne represented King William County in the House of Burgesses and her nephew William Dandridge Clairborne would serve in the Virginia House of Delegates representing that county, as discussed below, this man represented Prince Edward County to the west. Sources disagree as to the location of his birth. Professor Ward cites tradition that he was their eldest son and born in Yorkshire, England before his father emigrated to the Virginia colony. His parents married by 1746, and his father died in 1756 in then-vast Prince George County. His mother was of the First Families of Virginia, descended from four generations of men, all named William Claiborne, who were transatlantic merchants as well as major planters and politicians in the Virginia colony.