Judge William Fleming (July 6, 1736 – February 15, 1824) was an American lawyer, jurist and political figure from Cumberland County, Virginia. He is often confused with his contemporary, Colonel William Fleming, who was born and educated in Scotland, lived in Staunton considerably to the west, briefly served as Governor of Virginia during the American Revolution, and served in the state senate representing Botetourt, Montgomery and Kentucky Counties in this same period.
Early life and education
Born to the former Mary Bolling and her husband John Fleming (a planter and later judge), Fleming received his education at The College of William & Mary.
Meanwhile, in 1772 Cumberland County voters elected Fleming as one of their representatives in the House of Burgesses, as he began repeating the political career of his father John Fleming. He continued in that part-time position alongside fellow planter John Mayo until Governor Lord Dunmore terminated that body as the revolutionary war began. Voters then elected and re-elected the pair to the five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions. When the new state government of Virginia was instituted, Fleming and Mayo went back to Williamsburg as a member of the first House of Delegates and was also re-elected, but chose instead to become deputy attorney for the new Commonwealth, so Joseph Carrington succeeded to the legislative position. After another split created Chesterfield County, and Fleming returned from the Continental Congress as discussed below, he won election from that new county for a single term in 1780-1781, again alongside young John Mayo.
Governor Beverley Randolph subsequently appointed Fleming to the Supreme Court of Appeals. When the court was reorganized in 1788, he was one of the five judges chosen for the new court. He became president and chief justice of the Court in 1809, a position he held until his death. His most famous case there may have involved glebe lands. In 1781, while Richmond was being raided by Benedict Arnold, then Governor Thomas Jefferson stayed at Summerville for a night with his college friend William Fleming. Both Jefferson and Fleming had attended the College of William & Mary. Summerville was a working plantation in Virginia and as such, it had a number of slaves attending to it. In the 1820 United States census, William Fleming is reported as having 13 slaves, 9 males and 4 females. Many of these slaves died at Summerville and were buried in the burial grounds. On February 15, 1824, Judge Fleming died at his house at Summerville and was buried there as well. Summerville continued to be a prosperous plantation up until the end of the Civil War, at which point all of the slaves were emancipated. This caused the plantation to go to ruin and it appears that the Summerville house was abandoned. In the late 1980s most of the Summerville tract was built over by a housing development, including the area where the house would have stood and most likely the burial grounds of the slaves and William Fleming.
Personal life
Fleming married Elizabeth, the daughter of Col. John Champe, on October 5, 1766. The couple had several daughters.