From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Byrd III (September 6, 1728 - January 1, 1777) was the son of William Byrd II and the grandson of William Byrd I. He inherited his family land and continued his family's prestige as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses but chose to fight in the French and Indian War rather than spend much time in Richmond. In 1756 he was colonel of the 2d Virginian regiment. William Byrd III was a notorious gambler, and he initiated in what is said to be the first major horse race in the New World, involving Samuel Ogle, John Tayloe II, Francis Thornton, and Benjamin Tasker, Jr.
Byrd III eventually fathered five children by his first wife (Eliza Carter, m. 1748, d. 1760), moved to Annapolis, and fathered ten more by his second wife, Mary Willing Byrd, daughter of Charles Willing of Philadelphia. After he squandered the Byrd fortune on gambling and bad investments, Byrd III parceled up the family estate and sold lots off in a 1768 lottery. Byrd III eventually committed suicide and died on January 1, 1777.
[edit] External links
