Henry Peyton

Henry James Peyton (1725–1781), nicknamed "Colonel Harry Peyton" was a Virginia planter and military officer who served in the House of Burgesses representing Prince William County, as well as in local offices. Early and family life He was born to the former Frances Linton and her planter husband, Valentine Peyton. He was named to honor his grandfather, royalist emigrant great grandfather, and great-great grandfather, a barrister of Lincoln's Inn. He had several siblings, of whom his younger brother Francis Peyton would become known as a patriot during the American Revolutionary War and follow family tradition by serving in the Virginia General Assembly. He married twice, first in 1747 to Anne Thornton, who bore children. After he death, Peyton remarried in 1757 to Margaret Gallagher. Career Like his father and grandfather, Harry Peyton operated plantations using enslaved labor.