PRINCETON — Resuming our look at the history of Mercer County, courtesy of Kyle McCormick’s “The Story of Mercer County,” (Charleston Publishing Co., 1957) and the signers of the Declaration of Independence, courtesy of Benson J. Lossing’s book “Lives

of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence,” which is a reprint of the 1848 original kindly provided on loan by Dr. O.J. Bailes, we now continue with the early history of education in Mercer County.

Private schools in Mercer County were established in the early days by men such as David Pendleton, the patriarch of Princeton’s Pendleton family and reported to be the pre-eminent Latin scholar in county history. Born July 9, 1817, in Appomattox, Va., Pendleton served in the Civil War, then, several years later, established private schools at Oakvale, Ingleside and Oceana in Wyoming County.

Twenty years after Concord Normal School opened, what is now known as Bluefield State College opened in 1895 as a school of higher education for colored students, become integrated in the 1950s.

Following the establishment of Bluefield High School, high schools were established in rapid succession at Princeton, Bramwell, Matoaka, Athens, Oakvalre and McComas, with junior high schools in key spots in the county. Just down the road from BSC, a colored high school known as Park Central High School was established.

Going to the Lossing book, we come to Thomas Nelson, born in Yorktown, Va., on December 26, 1738. His father, William, came to Virginia from England around the turn of the century and acquired a large fortune, placing the Nelsons among the first families of Virginia.

Thomas, the eldest child in his family, was sent to England for schooling at the age of 14. He was placed in a prestigious private school near London, then moved from there to Trinity College at Cambridge, where he was educated by Dr. Proteus, the future Bishop of London, and stayed there until 1761, when he returned to Virginia.

Nelson’s time in England made him a student of the British Parliament, especially the time of George Grenville as Prime Minister. Grenville was Prime Minister in 1765, when the much-mentioned Stamp Act, which assessed a fee upon stamps used on all printed material in the colonies as a way to raise revenue which had been drained by the French & Indian/Seven Year’s War. Nelson took the colonial cause to heart.

Nelson was first elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1774, the same year colonial Governor Lord Dunmore dissolved the Virginia General Assembly as a result of resolutions condemning the "Boston Port Bill", a punitive action undertaken by Parliament in reaction to the Boston Tea Party. Eighty-nine delegates, including Nelson, met the day after the dissolution to form an association more efficient in throwing up the strong bulwarks of freedom.

Later that year, Nelson was elected to the first General Convention of Virginia, which met in Williamsburg in August, 1774 to elect members to the first Continental Congress. The following spring, he was elected to another General Convention, where his boldness marked him as an efficient leader in the patriotic movements of the day. During that convention, he shocked his friends by proposing that the state militia be organized for the defense of the people. That action was supported by Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee and others  and was adopted by the convention. Lee, Nelson and Henry were appointed colonels of the three militia regiments.

Dunmore and the British government responded to the action by attempting to seize the powder and arms in the public armories, an action which eventually saw Dunmore forced into exile in Britain after escaping aboard a British warship.

That same month, Nelson was elected to the Continental Congress, taking his seat in September. He performed his duties so well that he was re-elected unanimously for 1776, where he later voted on and signed the Declaration of Independence.

A serious health crisis hit Nelson the next year as an undetermined illness nearly cost him his memory. He was urged to give up his seat for his health, which he did reluctantly, finally resigning his seat.

His next duty involved his militia responsibilities as the appearance of a British fleet off the coast of Virginia saw him called into duty as the commander-in-chief of the Virginia military forces with the rank of brigadier general. The emergency soon passed as the fleet instead headed up Chesapeake Bay in preparation for Lord Richard Howe’s attack on Philadelphia.

Nelson responded to a request for troops by Congress by organizing a volunteer corps to join General George Washington at Philadelphia. In the meanwhile, he sent his servants out to help his soldiers’ families with their farms and distributed money to them to keep them from absolute want. His troops’ service was not required and they were sent home with the Thanks of Congress.

In 1779, having recovered a portion of his health, Nelson was re-elected to the Continental Congress, only for his disease to again manifest itself, forcing his retirement. British attacks on the Virginia coast brought him back into duty and he gathered a force to march to Yorktown, only for the war to shift elsewhere again.

In 1781, the war visited Virginia in earnest as British forces under Generals Arnold, Phillips and Cornwallis all entered the state. Nelson was elected Governor, succeeding Thomas Jefferson and, between that, the General Assembly meeting infrequently due to fear of British raids and his militia role, he became the center of state government, with actions later approved retroactively by the legislature.

During these times, Nelson personally raised money for both defense and paying the French fleet; joined with the Marquis de Lafayette to defend Virginia and participated in the Battle of Yorktown, including consenting to the shelling of his own home, which was housing a number of British officers. His service was specially noted in Washington’s report on the battle.

 A month after Yorktown, Nelson retired for good from public serviuce, only appearing before an inquest into his actions as Governor, which saw him exonerated in full. His health rapidly declined until his death on Jan. 4, 1789, at the age of 51.

See you next time. This makes a good stopping point for this column. To share input on this column, contact me c/o Mercer County Memories, at jharvey1@frontiernet.net or

delimartman@yahoo.com.