Edmund Booker

Edmund Booker (October 17, 1719 – January, 1793) was an American planter and politician in Amelia County, Virginia that he represented in the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788, as well as held local offices.

Early life and education He was born to Jane Booker (circa 1697-after 1758) and her husband Edmund Booker (1693–1758) probably in Tidewater Virginia's Essex County. were two of the earliest justices of the peace in Amelia County (the justices in that era collectively governing the county, as well as handled smaller judicial matters) and Edward, Richard, and Edward Booker Jr. would ultimately represent Amelia County in the House of Burgesses, as well as held other local offices. The other uncles were Richard Booker (1688-1743, named after a brother of the same name died as an infant, and who one genealogist believed remained near Williamsburg in York County) and John Booker (1690-?). Both this man's father and Edward Booker Sr. named one of their sons Edward, and other common names in the family were Richard, John, William and Frances, which complicated genealogies. In any event, this son received a private education appropriate to his class.

Career Booker won his first election in 1749, to the vestry of Raleigh Parish. In 1758, he and Richard Booker won election to the House of Burgesses, although Richard Booker died and was replaced by John Winn in the 1761 session. During his term, Edmund Booker took the oath of office as justice of the peace for Amelia County on June 26, 1760.

Between Davis Booker's elections to the House of Delegates, this man and John Pride won election to the Virginia Ratifying Convention as Amelia County's representatives. Both men apparently sided with their neighbor (and former Virginia governor) Patrick Henry, a leading Anti-Federalist, but made no speeches that were recorded. Both voted to require amendments to the proposed new federal constitution, and then voted (unsuccessfully) against ratification. Edmund Booker Jr. lived in the county's other district, near Samuel Booker, and paid taxes on four teenaged slaves, four enslaved adults, five horses and nine cattle. He died still owning eleven slaves and 568 acres of land. Before her death, she bore four sons and three daughters. Edmund's will named his surviving daughters as Jane, Rachel Morton and Francis Hill, and sons Edmund Jr., Samuel, Davis and Parham, as well as grandson Edmund M. Booker. After her death, the widower remarried to a woman named Prudence, but they had no children before her death. On June 28, 1781, he married Mary Pride, who also bore no children and died before her husband. Booker's last public act was in December 1792 when he signed as security for his namesake son (who followed his father's political footsteps by becoming sheriff of Amelia County). Executors included his sons Edmund Jr. and Davis and (probable nephew) Richard Booker.