Paul Carrington

Paul Carrington (March 16, 1733 – June 23, 1818) was a Virginia planter, lawyer, judge and politician. He served in the House of Burgesses before being elected a justice of the Virginia Court of Appeals (now the Supreme Court of Virginia). He was a delegate to the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788, and cast his vote for ratification of the United States Constitution. Early life and education Carrington was born on March 16, 1733, at "Boston Hill" in what was then Goochland County of the Colony of Virginia, later Cumberland County. His parents were Col. George Carrington (1711–1785) and his kinswoman Johanna Mayo (1712–1785). His paternal grandparents, Dr. Paul Carrington and Henningham Codrington, had migrated from England to the Island of Barbados. His father immigrated to the Colony of Virginia in 1723. A family tradition claims that the father accompanied William Mayo on the 1728 expedition to survey the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina. If accurate, Col. Carrington, William Mayo and William Cabell (1700-1774) were three of the largest landowners in southern Virginia. Col. Carrington did patent land that became Albemarle, Buckingham, Cumberland and Goochland Counties. Paul Carrington's maternal grandparents were Major William Mayo and Frances Gould. After a private education, at about age 17 Carrington began to study (read) law under the direction of Colonel Clement Read in Lunenburg County. On October 1 of that year he married Margaret Read, Col. Read's second daughter, and they resided at Mulberry Hill. Their children included George Carrington (1756–1809), Mary Scott Carrington Venable (1758–1837), Ann Carrington Cabell (1760–1838), Clement Carrington (1762–1847) and Paul Carrington (1764–1816). His wife died May 1, 1766; Carrington referred to her as "the best of wives and a woman of innumerable virtues."