James Barbour (June 10, 1775 – June 7, 1842) was an American politician, planter, and enslaver. lawyer He served as a delegate from Orange County, Virginia in the Virginia General Assembly and as speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was the 18th Governor of Virginia and the first Governor to reside in the current Virginia Governor's Mansion. After the War of 1812, Barbour became a U.S. Senator (from 1814–1825) and the United States Secretary of War (1825–1828). Early and family life James Barbour was born in what became Barboursville in Orange County on June 10, 1775. Barbour was the son of Thomas Barbour (who held a seat in the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769) and his wife, the former Mary Pendleton Thomas. His grandfather (also James Barbour, 1707–1775) had patented lands in Spotsylvania County in 1731 and 1733, and his uncle of the same name James Barbour also served in the Virginia House of Burgesses (1761–65, representing Spotsylvania County). Both sides of his family were among the First Families of Virginia and early settlers in Orange County and westward. By the time James was born, the Barbour family had owned over 2,000 acres (8 km²) and enslaved several people. However, the family suffered financial reverses during the American Revolutionary War and its aftermath. Nonetheless, James finished his formal education with private tutors and an academy run by James Waddel at Gordonsville, Virginia. His brother, Philip P. Barbour, would later become Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. On October 29, 1792, Barbour married Lucy Johnson, the daughter of Benjamin Johnson, who had represented Orange County in the General Assembly in 1790. They had three daughters (one of whom, Frances, died as an infant in 1802); the second, Frances Cornelia, married William Collins of Baltimore. They also had four sons, including James Barbour and Benjamin Johnson Barbour (1821–1894, later rector of the University of Virginia). Career Early years Barbour served as deputy sheriff of Orange County beginning in 1792. In 1794, he was admitted to the Virginia Bar. With wedding gifts from his father, as well as by building his legal practice and running his plantation, Barbour was able to build up personal wealth. His friend and somewhat neighbor at Monticello plantation, former President Thomas Jefferson, helped design the mansion in which Barbour lived most of his adult life, called