Jaquelin Ambler

Jaquelin Ambler (August 9, 1742 – January 10, 1798) was a Virginia merchant, planter and government official who during the American Revolutionary War served in the Virginia Governor's Council and later as the Treasurer of Virginia.

Early life

The seventh of nine children and youngest surviving son born to the former Elizabeth Jaquelin (1709-1756) and her immigrant merchant husband Richard Ambler (1690-1755), ultimately inherited his father's business with his nephews and may have had the most distinguished political career in the family. His mother bore six sons and three daughters before her death, but only three sons survived their father. Both his elder brothers died, possibly of tuberculosis, in 1766 and 1768. Unlike his elder brothers, who were educated in England, Ambler was educated at the College of William and Mary in nearby Williamsburg, and then the College of Philadelphia, graduating in 1761. Their eldest daughter Betsy married twice and survived both husbands, but had no children, later becoming known for her piety and founding of the Female Humane Association of the City of Richmond. Mary (Polly) Ambler married John Marshall, and had many children, then like her mother suffered multiple illnesses in her final years. Other sisters including Ann (Nancy) married prominent attorney Daniel Call or George Fisher. John Marshall's sister married this man's nephew (his brother Edward's son) John Ambler, who inherited most of the family's wealth as well as continued the tradition of legislative service, served in the War of 1812, and lived near this man's Richmond residence.

Jaquelin Ambler was pious during his final years, and the rector of Henrico Parish, John Buchanan, lived in his Richmond household for several years. His Richmond home, at 408 N. 10th Street (at Cary St), was the home of a later city treasurer, Samuel Crofton Greenhow, but fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1894, and the nearby home of his nephew John Ambler was destroyed before the Civil War. The entire block today is an office building for the Richmond Department of Social Services.