Thomas T. Fauntleroy

Thomas Turner Fauntleroy (December 20, 1823 – October 2, 1906) was a Virginia attorney, politician, slaver, and judge of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Early and family life Fauntleroy was born in Winchester, Virginia. He was the second son of a career U.S. Army officer, ultimately Colonel Thomas Turner Fauntleroy and his wife, the former Ann Magdalene Magill. He had several brothers and sisters. His son would later trace the family's ancestry to Lt. Col. Charles Mynn Thruston and Lt. Charles Magill of Winchester, who both served in the American Revolutionary War (Magill on General Washington's staff). Thus, the family could trace its descent from the First Families of Virginia. Although Col. Fauntleroy was assigned various commands in the western U.S. territories, his family remained in Frederick county. Thomas Jr. received a private education suitable for his class, including at Benjamin Hallowell High School in Alexandria and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he studied law and graduated in 1844. Thomas Jr. married twice. In 1850 he married Ann Hite Williams (1830-1852), who died shortly after the birth of Philip Williams Fauntleroy (1852-1931). The widower remarried on December 30, 1858, to Bettie S. Hite (1841-1929), who gave birth to Cornelius Williams Fauntleroy (1859-1921); Thomas Turner Fauntleroy III (1862-1947), Ann Magill Fauntleroy Ball (1865-1956), Robert B. Fauntleroy (1868-1955) and Joseph W. Fauntleroy (1872-1959). Their ancestor Jacob Hite had settled in the area in the 1730s, and the family had long been prominent in Frederick County. Career In 1847, Fauntleroy began private practice in Winchester and in 1850 was elected Commonwealth's Attorney for Frederick County. In 1860, he owned four slaves (65 and 25 year old Black women and 2 and 5-year-old girls). Frederick county voters twice elected Fauntleroy as one of their delegates in the Virginia General Assembly, so he served (part-time) from 1857 to 1859 and again in 1877. In the prewar election, he and M. R. Kaufman ousted the two previous delegates, and the following term, George W. Ward received the most votes and was seated alongside Kaufman.