He was of the House of Douglas of Scotland. He was a learned man, educated in Scotland and ordained a priest of the Established Church of England by Bishop Sherlock of London in 1751. In 1748 he accepted an engagement and came to America as tutor in the home of Colonel Monroe of Westmoreland, Albemarle County, VA. While there in this capacity, he taught three youths who were later to become the third, fourth and fifth presidents of the US - Thomas Jefferson, James Madison & James Monroe.

He and his wife Nicolas Hunter are buried at their plantation of "Ducking Hole", Louisa County, VA. The exact burial locations are not known.

Born in Wigtonneshire, Scotland, in 1708. Married 1735, to Miss Nicholas Hunter, niece of Dr. John Hunter of Edinborough, Scotland.

He came to Virginia about 1748 - 1750. Taught in the family of Col. Monroe, father of President James Monroe. He taught also, the future presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He returned for Scotland in 1751 for his wife and child.

He was ordained in the ministry; came back with his family and settled in Goochland, serving the parrish in Goochland, Louisa and Albemarle. He married 1388 couples and performed 4069 baptisms and had a wide clerical record.

He preached his wife's funeral on the 88th Psalm, at Beaver Dam, in 1782. One year later, he married his housekeeper, Elizabeth Burruss, 47 years his junior.

He said of her, she was a good young woman. He resigned his pastorate and retired to his farm, "Ducking Hole", in Louisa, where he died at nearly 90 years old, and is buried beside his first wife near the old homestead in Louisa.

Source: Lewises, Meriwethers and Their Kin, p 151
______________________________________________________________________________

William Douglas married Miss Nicholas Hunter on 27 Nov 1735. They had one daughter, Margaret "Peggy" Douglas. His 1790 letter from William to daughter Peggy refer to his deceased wife as "my once dear & incomparable Nickie".

They moved to Virginia Colony, where he had a church in Goochland County, at the time of the Revolution. After the war, they moved to a plantation called "Ducking Hole" in Louisa County, Virginia.

His first wife "Nickie" died on 31 Dec 1781 in "Ducking Hole", Louisa County, Virginia, United States. He subsequently remarried to Elizabeth Burress when he was 77 years old; she had been his housekeeper.

Reverend William Douglas died on 7 Feb 1798 in Louisa County, Virginia, United States.

Source: Lottie Wright Davis, "Records of Lewis, Meriwether and Kindred Families".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Reverend William Douglas (1708-1798) was a Scottish Reverend of St. James Northam Parish, Goochland County, and was the tutor of young Thomas Jefferson from 1752 until the death of the latter's father in 1757. Jefferson was sent to the Reverend's Latin school to study Greek, Latin, and French upon the return of his family from Tuckahoe to Shadwell.

Jefferson later wrote of his teacher in his Autobiography: "My teacher Mr. Douglas a clergyman from Scotland was but a superficial Latinist, less instructed in Greek, but with the rudiments of these languages he taught me French..." According to Henry Randall, Jefferson also had recollections "of mouldy pies and excellent instruction" at the Rev. Douglas's school. Regardless of his mixed reviews of his education under Douglas, Jefferson had continued to keep in touch with his tutor until his death in 1798. No direct correspondence between them has survived, however.

William was the son of WILLIAM DOUGLAS SR. & GRIZEL McKEAND, and uncle to Sir William Douglas of Castle Douglas.

William Douglas married Miss NICHOLAS HUNTER Their daughter, MARGARET "PEGGY" DOUGLAS, married NICHOLAS MERRIWETHER, of Albemarle.
 
William's brother, JAMES DOUGLAS, settled in New York where he 'left a numerous prosperity'.

Rev William Douglas was the great uncle of Elizabeth (Betsy) Mary Douglas, who married Col. James Monroe - the nephew and adopted son of President James Monroe.

On August 7, 1761, the Reverend William Douglas and his wife Nicholas [sic] successfully patented 1,134 acres for 4 pounds 10 shillings. The land tract was part of the Clover Forrest tract previously owned by Arthur Hopkins. It was not as devoid of improvements or the Reverend was very active either way twenty months later there were houses and orchards that conveyed with the land when it was sold.

Douglas is the famous - at least locally - author of the Douglas Register, a favorite among genealogist with Goochland roots. The Reverend William Douglas was the Church of England minister of the vast St. James Northam Parrish which encompassed today's Virginia counties of Goochland, Fluvanna, Louisa, Orange, and Spotsylvania. The original Dover Church in Goochland, no longer standing, was his "home" church.

Being the only legally authorized clergyman Douglas compiled (nearly) all births, marriages, and deaths covering the period from about 1750 to 1797, with some miscellaneous records going back to 1705 that the reverend took upon himself to recreate as there was no register before he came to office.

Whether as his permanent home or just a farm to supplement his income and table, it is not known how the Reverend and his wife Nicholas occupied Clover Forest, they are nonetheless credited with building what is today the oldest section of the house (the lower part of the west wing). Their purchasing of the property in 1761 is seen as the birth of Clover Forest. The previous owner had been Arthur Hopkins who purchased Clover Forest in 1753 for 11 pounds, 15 schillings William and Nicholas Douglas had one Daughter Peggy Douglas who wed Nicholas Merriwether.
____________________________________________________________________

Biographical notes:

Episcopal minister in Goochland and Louisa counties; tutor of Thomas Jefferson.
From the description of Bond [manuscript], 1785 November 14. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647863321

Episcopal minister of Goochland and Louisa counties, Va.; tutor to Thomas Jefferson. From the description of Notes from Goochland and Louisa County, Va. deedbooks [manuscript], 1754-1784. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647865381

From the description of Legal papers [manuscript], 1774-1789. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647865340

From the description of Letter [manuscript], 1778 September 1. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647865102

From the description of Estate records of the Rev. William Douglas [manuscript], 1794-1805. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647865150

Scottish immigrant; Episcopal minister in Goochland County, Va., later resident of Louisa County, Va., and tutor for Spence Monroe's household (father of James Monroe) and Thomas Jefferson. From the description of Parish register of Goochland County, Va., 1756-1797. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 32135487

Episcopal minister and tutor of Thomas Jefferson, rector of St. James-Northam Parish in Goochland County, Virginia, and a minister in Louisa County, Virginia. Author of private register of births and deaths. From the description of Letter, 1778 September 1. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145410647

Early tutor of Thomas Jefferson. Douglas emigrated from Scotland in 1748, taught in the home of Col. Spence Monroe, father of President James Monroe, was ordained in 1749, and served St. James' Northam Parish, Goochland County, Virginia, until 1777. From the description of Papers of the Reverend William Douglas [manuscript], 1716-1862 (bulk 1751-1862). (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647836879
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Papers of the Reverend William Douglas (1708-1798) contain the following:
His daughter Margaret Douglas Meriwether Terrell, her son Charles Meriwether and their extended family contain correspondence and legal papers.

Letters of Douglas to his daughter are chiefly concerned with a Goochland Parish judgment against him for repairs to Goochland Glebe. Other letters from family and friends convey personal news and mention local events in Scotland and Virginia. His legal papers include his will, 1775; that of Janet Douglass, 1716; a deed, 1791, to his grandchildren for his library; and papers pertaining to the Goochland judgment.

Papers of his daughter and grandson contain letters of Charles Meriwether re his travels and medical studies in Scotland, 1789-1792; and letters of relative Robert W. Lewis, 1803-1805, describing life in Jefferson County, Ky. Of interest are a letter, 1832, re slave purchases, a letter from Edmund Ruffin re the "Farmers Register," and a letter from Robert E. Lee re: shoeing a horse.

Early tutor of Thomas Jefferson. Douglas emigrated from Scotland in 1748, taught in the home of Col. Spence Monroe, father of President James Monroe, was ordained in 1749, and served St. James' Northam Parish, Goochland County, Virginia, until 1777.

William Douglas Papers, 1716-1862, Accession #11024, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Anecdotes of my own family" as printed in his - The Douglas Register:
Sep 21, [17]57: Doctor Jo : Hunter another physician came to lodge wt me.
Aug 21 [17]59: Doctor Hunter died a young man.
Nov 2 [17]61: My grandson Billie Douglas was born,
Jan 25 [17]63: Dr. Will: Hunter arrived here, an eminent physician.
Oct 2 [17]66: The excellent Dr. Will: Hunter died a young man.
Feb 5 [17]64: Preached at Beaver Dam.
Jan 9 [17]65: My grandson Nic: Hunter Meriwether was born.
Jun 5 [17]69: Mr. Alex: McCawl sailed from Richmond.
Feb 24 [17]71]: Betty Merriwether was bora.
Dec 18 [17]71: I bought Goldmine of Landie Richardson.
year [17]69: I made tobacco at Fork creek by 4 hands 4196.
Dec 19 [17]72: Mr. Nic: Merriwether my son in law died aged.
Apr 18 [17]74: I bought Lickinghole plantation of Mr. Temple.

Sep 5 1777: Entry in The Douglas Register by William Douglas follows as . . .
Mr. Douglas was voted by Vestry out of his Parish of Goochland against the wm of almost the whole parish & ye laws, both of God and man, after having served ye parish most acceptably as minister above 27 years & Manikentown 19 years at ye same time & Buckingham county 4 years, all most acceptably & what is a scandal to be heard in a Christian country, his old parish is now prosecuting him for ye repairs of ye glebe out of wch they had driven him 12 or 14 years age & had deprived him of ye benefit of them. Oh! Temporal Oh Mores! Will: Douglas.

Also from The Douglas Register . . .
The three churches at which Mr. Douglass officiated were Dover, Beaver Dam and
Licking Hole. In the year 1777, after a ministry of twenty seven years, he resigned his charge, and settled on a farm in Louisa, where he spent the remainder of his years, which were not many."

NOTE: In this last statement the good Bishop was mistaken, as he lived until 1798, and entries appear in his hand writing in the Register until 1797, which show that he continued to act as a minister for over forty years from the time he entered the Parish in Goochland, or twenty years after he severed his connection with the vestry of Northam Parish. Furthermore he did not resign from St. James' Northam Parish—but was dismissed by his Vestry—See page 353 supra.
∼TMSI [99]