Robert Stanard

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Robert Stanard
Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court
In office
January 19, 1839 – May 14, 1846
Preceded byWilliam Brockenbrough
Succeeded byWilliam Daniel
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from Richmond City
In office
1835–1837
Preceded byChapman Johnson
Succeeded byunknown
16th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office
1816–1817
Preceded byAndrew Stevenson
Succeeded byLinn Banks
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from Spotsylvania County
In office
1808–1817
Preceded byHugh T. Mercer
Succeeded byGarrett Minor
Personal details
Born(1781-08-17)August 17, 1781
Spotsylvania County, Virginia, U.S.
DiedMay 14, 1846(1846-05-14) (aged 64)
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Political partyWhig (from 1835)
Other political
affiliations
Independent (1813-1835)
Democratic-Republican (1808-1813)
Spouse
Jane Stith Craig Stanard
(m. 1812; died 1824)
Children4
Alma materCollege of William and Mary
OccupationLawyer, judge, politician

Robert Stanard (August 17, 1781 – May 14, 1846) was a Virginia lawyer, judge and political figure. He was the 16th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and later a judge on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Biography[edit]

The son of William Stanard and Elizabeth Carter, Robert Stanard was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, on August 17, 1781. In 1798, he attended the College of William and Mary,[1] where he studied law. Stanard subsequently began the private practice of law, and eventually became a notable figure in the Richmond legal community.[2] From 1816 to 1817, he was elected as the 16th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. In 1817, he became the United States Attorney for the District of Virginia.

Stanard was later selected as a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830, which revised the Constitution of Virginia. His contribution to the convention were well received and increased his prominence. In 1839, he was elected to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, upon the death of Judge William Brockenbrough. He remained on that court until his death in 1846.[2]

The town of Stanardsville, Virginia, is named after him.

Personal life[edit]

Stanard married Jane Stith Craig on February 13, 1812, and fathered four children; Robert Craig (b. May 17, 1814), William Beverly (b. March 15, 1819), Mary Elizabeth (b. 1822) and Jane Stith (b. 1822). His son, Robert Craig Stanard, was a childhood friend of poet Edgar Allan Poe, and Jane Stith Craig was the subject of Poe's poem "To Helen". She died on April 28, 1824, at the age of 33 or 34, and Stanard never remarried. She is known posthumously as "Poe's Helen".

References[edit]

  • Virginia House of Delegates Clerk's Office. "Robert Stanard". House History. Virginia House of Delegates Clerk's Office. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  • Robert Stanard at Find a Grave Edit this at Wikidata
  • The Political Graveyard
  1. ^ The History of the College of William and Mary. 1874. Retrieved Nov 21, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography; Volume 2 (Lyon Gardiner Tyler ed.). Lewis Historical Publishing Company. 1915. p. 65. ISBN 1177835193. Robert Stanard.

External links[edit]