Theodorick Bland

Theodorick Bland (January 16, 1629 – April 23, 1671), also known as Theodorick Bland of Westover, was a planter, merchant and politician in colonial Virginia who served as Speaker of the House of Burgesses, as well as in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. The founder of the Bland family of Virginia, his son and grandson of the same name also served in the Virginia General Assembly before the American Revolutionary War, and later descendants sharing the same name would become a federal judge and congressman.

Early and family life Born in London, the ninth son of prominent merchant John Bland (1573-1632) and his wife Susan. Bland received a private education appropriate to his class.

Career

Merchant, tax collector and planter

His father had been a member of the Virginia Company of London and Bland joined his family's business, becoming its agent in Spain and the Canary Islands while in his early twenties. He moved to the Virginia colony in 1653, to replace his brother Edward, who had been the enterprise's Virginia factor, but died in 1652. Bland initially lived on the Berkeley Hundred (until 1665 as discussed below) and traded in Charles City County. Jordan's plantation was in King George County after Charles City County was divided in this man's lifetime. Bland later invested in real estate further upstream on the James, York and Blackwater rivers in the Tidewater region. Bland's will named his plantations as Bartletts, Kimeges, Herring Creek Mill, Jordans, Westeffer [sic], Upper Chipppoakes, Sunken Marsh, Basse's Choice, Lawne's Creek, and Bland also owned a house lot in the colonial capital at Jamestown.

Politician

Charles City County voters first elected Bland as one of their representatives in the 1660 House of Burgesses session, and fellow members elected him as their Speaker. Thus Bland presided over the legislature during the transition from the Cromwell Protectorate to the restored government of Charles II, with Governor Berkeley after extensive negotiations accepting the legislature's offer to serve as interim governor until resolution of the English succession, and further agreeing to call the assembly into session at least every two years and not dissolve it without the house's consent, as well as to issue all writs in the assembly's name. In 1664, Bland accepted promotion to the legislature's upper body, the Governor's Council and resigned in 1671, shortly before his death. He also served as a justice of the peace for Charles City County through at least 1664, the justices of that day jointly administering the county in addition to their adjudicative duties.

Death and legacy Bland died at his Westover plantation in 1671 or 1672 and was buried in the chancel of the original Westover Church (which he had built). Ann Bennett Bland Codd died at Wharton's Creek in Maryland in November, 1687. The "Bland family" became one of the First Families of Virginia, and his son and grandson of the same name would also sit in the Virginia General Assembly.

Pursuant to primogeniture, his eldest son, Theodorick, inherited Westover plantation. With his brother, Richard and a mixture of indentured and enslaved labor, he operated that plantation until 1688. Some of the Bland family's papers are held by the Swem Library of the College of William and Mary. A selection of papers from his son Richard has been published.