Richard Bland

Richard Bland I, sometimes known as Richard Bland of Jordan's Point, was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the father of Richard Bland, the son of Theodorick Bland of Westover, and the grandson of Richard Bennett, the first elected Governor of the Colony of Virginia during the English Commonwealth period. Bland was also a county commissioner, a member of the founding Board of Visitors of The College of William & Mary, and is noted in the church records as a member of the Vestry of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, which authorized in 1710 the building of the present Church structure. When his father died in 1671, Bland's brother, Theodorick inherited Westover Plantation and legally joined Richard in its ownership. The brothers eventually conveyed 1,200 acres of the Westover Plantation lands in Charles City County to William Byrd I in 1688 for £300 and 10,000 pounds of tobacco and cask. Richard Bland then established the Jordan's Point Plantation across the James River in Prince George County, where he died in 1720.