 James Wilson , Beard notes , " developed a lucrative practice at Carlisle " before becoming " one of the directors of the Bank of North America on its incorporation in 1781 " . A member of the Georgia Land Company , Wilson " held shares to the amount of at least one million acres " . John Blair was " one of the most respectable men in Virginia , both on account of his Family as well as fortune " . Another source notes that Blair " was a member of a prominent Virginia family . His father served on the Virginia Council and was for a time acting Royal governor . His granduncle , James Blair , was founder and first president of the College of William and Mary . " John Rutledge was elected Governor of South Carolina at a time when the Constitution of that state set , as a qualification for the office , ownership of " a settled plantation or freehold ... of the value of at least ten thousand pounds currency , clear of debt " . Oliver Ellsworth " rose rapidly to wealth and power in the bar of his native state " with " earnings ... unrivalled in his own day and unexampled in the history of the colony " , developing " a fortune which for the times and the country was quite uncommonly large " . Bushrod Washington was the nephew of George Washington , who was at the time of the younger Washington 's appointment the immediate past President of the United States and one of the wealthiest men in the country . 
