Honorary Doctor of Laws, Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford. His fortune was considerably diminished in his later years, but he did not by any stretch of the imagination “die in rags.” 2 Even if he hadn’t signed the Declaration of Independence, Braxton’s ships would have been casualties of the war just the same.Īlthough Braxton did lose property during the war and had to sell off assets (primarily landholdings) to cover the debts incurred by the loss of his ships, he recouped much of that money after the war but subsequently lost it again through his own ill-advised business dealings. He was not personally targeted for ruin because he had signed the Declaration of Independence, however he suffered grievous financial losses because most of his wealth was tied up in shipping, “that trade which is so essential to the prosecution of the War” and which was, therefore, a prime military target for the British. As a delegate representing Virginia in the Continental Congress in 1776, he was one of the minority of delegates reluctant to support an American declaration of independence, a move which he viewed at the time as too dangerous.īraxton invested his wealth in commercial enterprises, particularly shipping, and he endured severe financial reversals during the Revolutionary War when many of the ships in which he held interest were either appropriated by the British government (because they were British-flagged) or were sunk or captured by the British. He married a wealthy heiress who died when he was just 21, and within a few years he had remarried, this time to the daughter of the Receiver of Customs in Virginia for the King. While still in his teens he inherited the family estate, which included a flourishing Virginia tobacco plantation, upon the death of his father. Some of the signers are buried on private property and are not accessible to the public.įarmer, Virginia House of Burgesses, Delegate to the Continental Congress, Member, Virginia patriot's Committee of Safety, Signer of the Declaration of Independenceīefore the American Revolution, Carter Braxton was possessed of a considerable fortune through inheritance and favorable marriages. Thus far we have visited (or attempted to visit) 34 of the 56 signers gravesites. This is our list of the signers of The Declaration of Independence.
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