Robert Bolling

Robert Bolling, a poet, a member of the House of Burgesses (1761-1765), the sheriff of Buckingham County, and a member of the county court (1761-1775) is captured in this illustration featured in the 1915 edition of the Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. During his lifetime Bolling was involved in several well-known controversies. He nearly fought a duel with William Byrd (1728-1777), a judge on the General Court, after Bolling accused the judges of bias in a murder trial. He also was involved in a lawsuit brought by his brother over an inheritance. The younger Bolling was represented by George Wythe, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Robert Bolling by Thomas Jefferson, the Declarations author. Bolling is best known as a poet, however, and he published more poetry than any other colonial American between 1759 and 1775. In addition, during the failed courtship of his distant cousin, Bolling kept a journal, A Circumstantial Account, which provides a distinctive view of eighteenth-century Virginia gentry.