Maria Taylor Byrd

Maria Taylor Byrd (November 10, 1698 – ) was a prominent colonial woman who managed her and her husband William Byrd II's Westover Plantation during his periods of absence. During their lifetimes, William Byrd III and Maria Taylor Byrd's holdings increased to 179,423 acres of land and hundreds of enslaved people. After he died, she was to manage the estate only until her son William Byrd III came of age, but he had married and decided to live with his wife at the family's Belvidere plantation instead. Byrd then continued to manage Westover through her son's first marriage and until her death. She oversaw the plantation's activities, its workers, household duties, and the care and upkeep of the property on the plantation. Early life Maria Taylor Byrd was born on November 10, 1698. She was the eldest daughter and a co-heiress of a gentleman from Kensington, England, Thomas Taylor. Her sister Anne married Captain Francis Otway. She had a good education and was well-read. Upon learning of her skill with languages, William Byrd II wrote her a letter written in Greek: "When indeed I learned that you also spoke Greek, the tongue of the Muses, I went completely crazy about you". She was a writer of Belles-lettres. She had a copy of The Works of Mr Abraham Cowley Consisting of Those which were formerly printed: and Those which he Design'd for the Press of Abraham Cowley. It was rare for a woman of the Thirteen Colonies to own such a book.