George Carrington (21 June 1758–27 May 1809), member of the Convention of 1788, was the son of Paul Carrington (1733–1818) and his first wife, Margaret Read Carrington, and was born probably at his father's plantation, Mulberry Hill, in the portion of Lunenburg County that in 1764 became Charlotte County. His father served in public office for nearly half a century and was a judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals and a member of the Conventions of 1776 and 1788, and his younger brother Paul Carrington (1764–1816) served briefly as Speaker of the Senate of Virginia before becoming a judge of the General Court. Like others in his family, Carrington may have attended the College of William and Mary, but incomplete student records do not include his name. In August 1776, at age eighteen, he succeeded his father, probably on his father's recommendation, as clerk of Halifax County. Carrington held the office for twenty-one years, but while he was absent serving in the army from 1780 to 1783, hired deputies officiated in his name.
According to family tradition, Carrington left home in August 1780, without the knowledge of his family, and joined the cavalry regiment commanded by Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee (1756–1818). As quartermaster with the rank of cornet, Carrington served under his uncle, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Carrington (later a member of the Confederation Congress), and in July 1781 saw combat at Quinby's Bridge, north of Charleston, South Carolina. British cavalry captured Carrington in April 1782 while he was reconnoitering in the vicinity of nearby Dorchester. He was a prisoner of war until sometime the following year and after his exchange remained attached to Lee's command until discharged with the rank of lieutenant in October 1783.
As a result of his service in the army, Carrington became an original member of the Virginia chapter of the Society of the Cincinnati and also received a warrant for 2,666 and two-thirds acres of western land. He obtained grants for the land in Ohio in 1796 and 1805 and also owned an interest in nearly 4,000 acres in Kentucky. Carrington was a member of the vestry of Antrim Parish and served as its treasurer. He married Sarah Coles Tucker on 1 April 1784. They had eight sons and two daughters, all of whom survived to adulthood.
On 24 March 1788 Carrington and his wife's uncle, Isaac Coles, were elected to represent Halifax County in the convention called to consider the proposed constitution of the United States. His father represented Charlotte County, making them one of two father-son pairs in the convention. Reportedly an eloquent speaker and very popular with his neighbors, Carrington was identified before the convention as a likely opponent of ratification. He attended all twenty-six days of the convention but took no recorded part in its debates. On 25 June 1788 Carrington voted in favor of requiring amendment of the Constitution before ratification. After that motion was defeated, he voted against ratification. Two days later he supported efforts to limit the federal government's powers of taxation. Carrington's opposition to the Constitution is interesting in light of his father's vote for ratification and the strong influence in favor of the Constitution that George Washington is thought to have had on former officers of the Continental army.
In May 1787 Carrington was commissioned a colonel in the county militia, and in September 1793 he was appointed lieutenant colonel and commander of the 69th Regiment in the reorganized state militia. Following a revision of the militia command structure in December 1795, Carrington became brigadier general of the 11th Brigade. He was often referred to thereafter as General George Carrington to distinguish him from his namesake son and other relatives of the same name. He retired at the end of December 1798.
Carrington was elected to a four-year term in the Senate of Virginia in 1798 to represent the counties of Charlotte, Halifax, and Prince Edward. He was a member of the Committee of Privileges and Elections and on 24 December 1798 voted for resolutions opposing the Alien and Sedition Acts. After serving one term in the Senate, Carrington was elected to the House of Delegates from Halifax County for a one-year term in 1802, during which he sat on the Committees of Privileges and Elections and for Courts of Justice. He had been a presidential elector in 1792 and was appointed a commissioner to supervise the presidential election of 1800 in the county.
Carrington lived at Oak Hill, his estate on the south bank of the Dan River near the original site of South Boston, which was founded on his property in 1796. He owned more than 2,850 acres of land in Halifax County and at the time of his death had more than fifty enslaved workers. In 1803 he built a dam and a water gristmill on the Hyco River in southern Halifax County. George Carrington died suddenly of a ruptured blood vessel at his home on 27 May 1809 and was buried probably on his estate.
Sources Consulted:
Birth date in Carrington family Bible records, Peyton Rodes Carrington Collection, Accession 22517, Personal Papers Collection, Library of Virginia (LVA), in Paul Carrington family Bible as recorded in Agnes Gamble Carrington Marshall, comp., genealogical notes on the Carrington family (1861), Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VMHC), in Herbert A. Claiborne notes (1883) compiled by Nathaniel Francis Cabell and undated typescript genealogical notes in Carrington Family Papers, both VMHC, and in Hugh Blair Grigsby, History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788 (1890–1891), 2:375 (with incorrect name of father); William B. Coles, The Coles Family of Virginia: Its Numerous Connections, from the Emigration to America to the Year 1915 (1931), 85, with incorrect birth date of 21 Nov. 1756; Carrington Family Papers, LVA and VMHC; Bounty Warrants (1779–1860), Office of the Governor, Record Group 3, LVA; Land Office Military Certificates (1782–1876), Virginia Land Office, Record Group 4, LVA; Halifax Co. Marriage Bond Register, 1:6; Henry Lee, Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States (1812), 2:152–155; Richard K. Showman et al., eds., The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (1976– ), 9:150–152, 11:64, 74–75; F. Claiborne Johnston, Jr., "Federalist, Doubtful, and Antifederalist: A Note on the Virginia Convention of 1788," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 96 (1988): 341; John P. Kaminski et al., eds., The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution: Ratification of the Constitution by the States, vols. 8–10: Virginia (1988–1993), 10:1539, 1541, 1557, 1565; Halifax Co. Deed Book, 10:105, 17:353, 42:480–482; Samuel Shepherd, ed., The Statutes at Large of Virginia (1835), 2:48; will and estate inventory in Halifax Co. Will Book, 8:99–101, 167–173; obituary in Richmond Enquirer, 6 June 1809.