William Cabell Rives

William Cabell Rives (May 4, 1793April 25, 1868) was an American lawyer, planter, politician and diplomat from Virginia. Initially a Jackson Democrat as well as member of the First Families of Virginia, Rives served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing first Nelson County, then Albemarle County, Virginia, before service in both the U.S. House and Senate (his final term as a Whig). Rives also served two separate terms as U.S. Minister to France. During the Andrew Jackson administration, Rives negotiated a treaty whereby the French agreed to pay the U.S. for spoliation claims from the Napoleonic Wars. During the American Civil War, Rives became a Delegate to the Provisional Confederate Congress and the Confederate House of Representatives. Early life and education Rives was born at "Union Hill", the James River plantation estate of his grandfather, Col. William Cabell, in what was then Amherst County, Virginia and is now Nelson County. His parents were Robert Rives (1764–1845) and the former Margaret Cabell (c. 1770–1815). Robert Rives of Sussex County had served in the patriot army during the final Yorktown campaign, then became a commission merchant (first operating as Robert Rives and Company and later as Brown, Rives and Company), with Thomas Jefferson as one of his clients. He built a plantation, Oak Ridge Plantation, in Nelson County in 1802, where he would bury his wife, and later be buried. On his death in 1845, the personal estate of Rives Sr. would be valued at $100,000 (~$ in ) and included lands in Albemarle, Buckingham, Campbell and Nelson Counties. Three of their sons, including William C. Rives would serve as legislators. Others included Robert Rives Jr. (1798-1869) and future Virginia Court of Appeals and U.S. District Judge Alexander Rives. His distant nephew Alexander Brown wrote books about the early history of Virginia as well as The Cabells and their Kin. After private tutoring appropriate to his station, W. C. Rives attended Hampden-Sydney College, followed by the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. He then studied law with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello in nearer home. During the War of 1812, he joined the local militia, which defended the Commonwealth.