Thomas Nelson Jr.
4th Governor of Virginia 1738-1789
Thomas Nelson Jr. (December 26, 1738 – January 4, 1789) was a Founding Father of the United States, general in the Revolutionary War, member of the Continental Congress, and a Virginia planter. In addition to serving many terms in the Virginia General Assembly, he twice represented Virginia in the Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Fellow Virginia legislators elected him to serve as the commonwealth's governor in 1781, the same year he fought as a brigadier general in the siege of Yorktown, the final major battle of the war.
Early and family life
Nelson was the grandson of Thomas "Scotch Tom" Nelson, an immigrant son of a cloth merchant from Penrith in Cumberland, England, who after three voyages to the Virginia colony settled at and developed Yorktown, where the York River drained into Mobjack Bay. During the following three decades, Scotch Tom not only increased his wealth, but parlayed it into influence so that his children (and grandchildren) married into the First Families of Virginia. Complicating matters, each generation would have at least one boy named to honor the immigrant father, who had accumulated over 6500 acres of land (including choice lots in Yorktown and Williamsburg) by the time of this boy's birth.
This boy was born at Yorktown in 1738, the firstborn child of Scotch Tom's firstborn son, William Nelson, who assisted and expanded the family's mercantile business and became a prominent colonial leader, even becoming the President of the Governor's Council (the highest office to which a Virginia born man could aspire) and briefly served as the colony's interim governor. His mother was Elizabeth Carter Burwell (daughter of Robert "King" Carter, the wealthiest man in Virginia in that era), the sister of Lewis Burwell who became President of the Virginia Governor's Council, and widow of burgess Nathaniel Burwell. Complicating matters, his father's younger brother was also named Thomas Nelson (1716-1782), and he was prominent as the Virginia colony's deputy secretary as well as for his service on the Virginia Governor's Council (on which he served with his brother for decades, then succeeded as that body's last president) and operation of plantations.
The public source identifies “Thomas Nelson Jr.” as 4th Governor of Virginia 1738-1789. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Thomas, Nelson and Governor.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Thomas Nelson Jr.”, the useful work is to connect “4th Governor of Virginia 1738-1789” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q880222. VIAF identifies the subject as 55492795. The Library of Congress control number is n82068144. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1738, 1789, 1776 and 1781.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Thomas Nelson Jr.”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Thomas Nelson Jr. primary sources, Thomas Nelson Jr. archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thomas Nelson Jr.”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Nelson Jr.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.