210:. Both his paternal and maternal ancestors had emigrated from England and become gentry in the Virginia colony (many serving in the House of Burgesses and some including his father since his childhood on the Governor's Advisory Council and others only holding local office) as they also operated plantations using enslaved labor. He received a private education appropriate to his class. In 1773 his family sent him to England to complete his studies, and he probably attended schools at Canterbury and Cambridge. He was admitted to study law at the Inner Temple on January 23, 1777, but found himself unable to return home during the American Revolution. He petitioned the King in 1779 for financial assistance because his Loyalist father could no longer do so.
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to (anti-Federalist) Patrick Henry's objections to the new document, and on June 25 voted against requiring prior amendments before approval. He was also named to the five member committee to prepare a form of ratification, although he was in the minority in voting to prevent states from limiting the
Congress's taxing power. Nonetheless, in 1791, Corbin worked to ensure the House of Delegate ratified the first ten amendments to the federal Constitution as suggested by anti-Federalist George Mason in that Convention, and later proposed by James Madison.
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County about 1795, and focused on managing "The Reeds", his plantation that by 1811 expanded to more than 3700 acres. In the 1810 census, Corbin paid taxes on 134 slaves in
Caroline County. A decade later, Corbin owned 142 enslaved people. Corbin died the following year, and his estate included 70 slaves aged 12 or older.
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Francis
Porteus Corbin (1801–1876) married a Philadelphia heiress and died in Paris, France, although their son (this man's grandson), Richard Washington Corbin after education in England, returned to Virginia to serve on the staff of CSA General Fields. John Sawbridge Corbin (d. 1883) married Mary
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In the
October 1787 legislative session, Corbin proposed a state convention to consider ratifying the proposed federal constitution, and after becoming one of Middlesex County's delegates, he proved a strong supporter of that draft document (Federalist). On June 7, 1788, Corbin delivered a rebuttal
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that he was considering moving his family to
Connecticut or Rhode Island because they did not allow slavery. Nonetheless, in the Virginia tax census of 1787, Corbin paid taxes on 11 enslaved adults and 12 teenage slaves, as well as four horses and 26 cattle in Middlesex County. He moved to Caroline
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Corbin's political career began in the spring of 1784, when
Middlesex County voters elected him as one of their representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1784, and he won re-election annually for a decade, as well as served as one of Middlesex County's delegates to the
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in 1788. Corbin served on the House of
Delegates's Committee of Propositions and Grievances in several years, as well as several times on the Committees of Commerce (or of Trade), for Courts of Justice, for Religion (in 1786), Privileges and Elections, and of Claims.
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Corbin suffered health problems for many years, including gout. He died suddenly at his
Caroline County plantation on May 23, 1821, and was probably buried there. While most of his children continued to own slaves and operate plantations, his youngest son,
287:– 1868), inherited the Reeds plantation and would become the last of the paternal line to sit in the Virginia General Assembly, in his case representing Caroline County in the Virginia House of Delegates as well as serving as colonel of the county militia.
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Thus, Corbin farmed using enslaved labor, although for much of his life he objected to slavery on moral and economic grounds, and expressed fear that the Union could rupture in the future over the issue. Thus in 1797 he wrote to
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Robert Barnes (indexer), Genealogies of
Virginia Families from the Virginia Magazine of history and Biography, vol.2 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1981) pp. 346-349
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began a naval career that included interdicting slave ships as well as fought with distinction for the Union during the
American Civil War. Notwithstanding, CSA General
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Cynthia Miller Leanard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond, Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 154, 157, 161, 165, 169, 173, 176, 180, 184, 188, 192, 196
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and the 2nd Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, at the invitation of his grandson James Parke Corbin, overwintered during 1862–1863 on the grounds of
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Return Jonathan Meigs, The Corbins of Virginia: A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Henry Corbin who Settled in Virginia in 1654 (1940) p. 14-15
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Netti Schreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The 1787 Census of Virginia (Springfield, Virginia: Genealogical Books in Print 1987) p. 1245
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Jane Virginia Corbin (1815–1904), and brothers William Lygon Corbin (d. 1883) and Washington Shirley Corbin (d. 1877) likewise never married.
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Mary A. Hackett, " Corbin, Francis (1759 or 1760-23 May 1821)" in Dictionary of Virginia Biography vol. 3, pp. 461-462 also available at
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planter (and single term delegate) Robert Beverley (1740–1800). They had two daughters and seven sons, including:
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After returning to Virginia in 1783, Corbin continued the families's planter and political traditions.
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Anna Page Corbin (1803–1885) married Benjamin Franklin Randolph (1803–1889) of Culpepper, Virginia.
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178:(1759/60 – May 23, 1821) was a Virginia lawyer, planter and politician, who represented
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in the U.S. Senate, Corbin received only about 20% of fellow legislators' votes.
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1820 U.S. Federal Census for Caroline County, Virginia pp. 8-9 of 31
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1810 U.S. Federal Census for Caroline County, Virginia pp. 4 of 26
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In December 1795 Corbin married Ann Munford Beverley, daughter of
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https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Corbin_Francis
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In January 1789, Corbin became a candidate for the new
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and his wife Elizabeth (Betty) Tayloe, was born to the
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Serving with William Curtis, Overton Corby,
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49:May 3, 1784 – November 9, 1795
518:People from Middlesex County, Virginia
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38:, Virginia
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