Peyton Randolph

Peyton Randolph (1779 – December 26, 1828) was a lawyer and Democratic-Republican politician from Virginia who, as the senior member of the Governor's Council, served as acting Governor of Virginia for eight days, following the death of George William Smith on December 26, 1811. He went on to be the official reporter of the Virginia Supreme Court until his death in 1828.

Biography Randolph was born in Williamsburg, Virginia to Elizabeth Nicholas and Edmund Jennings Randolph. Peyton Randolph's father had been a delegate to the Continental Congress, Governor of Virginia, and the first U.S. Attorney General, and his great uncle and namesake was Founding Father Peyton Randolph. The younger Peyton Randolph graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1798, where he studied law, and then began private practice in Richmond.

Still working on his court reports, Peyton Randolph died of pulmonary disease in Richmond on December 26, 1828.