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The Reverend James Maury (1718-1769) was a prominent Virginia educator and minister during the American Colonial period.

He was the son of Matthew Maury, a French Huguenot, who was born in Castel Mauron, in Gascony, and his wife, Mary Anne Fontaine, daughter of Rev. James Fontaine and Anne Elizabeth Boursiquot. James Maury was born April 8, 1718, in Dublin. Shortly after his birth, the family settled in Virginia.

He attended The College of William and Mary, and on July 31, 1742, was appointed usher of the grammar school. In February, 1742, he went to England and was ordained a minister. Returning to Virginia, he became minister for one year of a parish in King William County and then served for 18 years in Louisa County at Fredericksville Parish. As a minister he was highly regarded for his piety and learning. Maury was still minister of his parish when he died on June 9, 1769.

The Parson's Cause

He opposed the Two Penny Act of 1757 and brought suit against the collectors of the parish for the full amount of his salary in tobacco. This suit, known in American history as The Parson's Cause, was an important legal and political dispute in the Colony of Virginia involving the question of taxation, and is often viewed as an important event leading up to the American Revolution. It was defended by Peter Lyons, afterwards president of the Virginia Supreme Court, and opposed by Patrick Henry, who denounced the interference of the King in setting aside the law as treason to the people of Virginia. Maury won the law suit but was awarded only one penny in damages. He continued to hold the esteem of the people of Virginia. Afterwards Maury wrote a letter explaining the event which became known as "The Parson's Opinion of 'The Parson's Cause'".

There was animosity between Maury and Henry as a result of the case, but later Martha Henry, Patrick's daughter, married John Fontaine, a near relation of Maury.

Educator

Maury taught instruction in classics, manners and morals, mathematics, literature, history and geography, and also Latin and Greek. Most of Reverend Maury's pupils boarded at his school. Thomas Jefferson became one of his pupils for two years after the death of his father, Peter Jefferson.

Maury's school is memorialized in a historical marker located near Gordonsville in Albemarle County, Virginia.

Family

Maury married Mary Walker (who was born November 22, 1724, in King and Queen County, Virginia), on November 11, 1743, in Louisa County, Virginia. Mary was the daughter of Captain James Walker and Anne, his wife. Their children were:

• Matthew Maury, b. September 10, 1744, d. May 6, 1801
• "Consul" James Maury, b. February 3, 1746, d. February 23, 1840
• Leonard Maury, b. June 3 1747, d. 1747
• Anne Maury, b. November 16 1748, d. January 8, 1822
• Mary Maury, b. September 17 1750
• Walker Maury, b. July 21, 1752, d. October 11, 1788
• Catherine Maury, b. July 15, 1754, d. July 26, 1786
• Elizabeth Maury, b. April 1 1756
• Abram Maury, b. April 28 1758
• Fontaine Maury, b. February 3, 1761, d. February 1824
• Benjamin Maury, b. January 17, 1763
• Richard Maury, b. May 19, 1766, d. January 31, 1843
• Matilda Hite Maury, b. October 28, 1769, d. November 7, 1821

Maury's eldest son was America's first overseas consul James Maury (1746–1840), on whose behalf Thomas Jefferson petitioned then US President George Washington for an appointment. The petition was successful, and the son, James Maury (who came to be called "Consul" James Maury) became America's first consul to Liverpool, England, a position that he held from 1790 to 1829, eventually quitting due to Jacksonian politics. During this overseas appointment, both he and his nephew Matthew Fontaine Maury (born in 1806) had opportunities to discuss and study the natural philosophy lectures (mainly physics) of Thomas Young published in 1807. "Consul" James Maury's portrait still hangs today in Liverpool Town Hall.

Matthew Fontaine Maury was a grandson of the Rev. James Maury.

Notes

1. Fontaine, John; ed. by Alexander, Edward Porter (1972). The Journal of John Fontaine: An Irish Huguenot Son in Spain and Virginia, 1710-1719, p. 130. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
2. Fontaine, James, & Maury, Ann (1852). Memoirs of a Huguenot Family, p. 240. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
3. Nelson, John K. (2001). A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishioners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776, p. 99. The University of North Carolina Press.
4. Campbell, Charles (1860). History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia, p. 518. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Co.
5. Wiley, Edwin, & Rines, Irving E. eds. (1916). Lectures on the Growth and Development of the United States, Vol. 2, p. 130. New York: American Educational Alliance
6. Saunders, James Edmonds (1899) (2001 reprint). Early Settlers of Alabama, p. 298. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.
7. Brodie, Fawn M. (1974). Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, p. 54. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
8. Salmon, John S.; Peters, Margaret T.; Virginia Department of Historic Resources (1994). A Guidebook to Virginia's Historical Markers, p. 64. University of Virginia Press.
9. ^ Pecquet du Bellet, Louise (1907). Some Prominent Virginia Families, Vol. IV, pp. 390-91. J. P. Bell Company.

References

• Jacques de la Fontaine, (translated by Ann Maury), A Tale of the Huguenots or Memoirs of a French Refugee Family, published by John S Taylor, 1839. ASIN: B002L40ZEY
• Memoirs of a Huguenot Family by Jacques de la Fontaine, at wikisource.org
• "The Maury Family Tree" compiled by Sue C. West-Teague
• James Maury as described by Thomas Jefferson in his autobiography at wikisource.org
• "The Parson's Cause Case" “The Constitutional Aspects of the Parson’s Cause” from Political Science Quarterly 31 (Dec. 1916): 558-77 by Scott, Arthur P.
• McCants, David A., The Authenticity of James Maury's Account of Patrick Henry's Speech in the Parsons' Cause. Southern Speech Communication Journal, 42 (1976).
• Article on the Reverend James Maury at the Virginia center for Digital History
• Biography of James Maury at the Virginia center for Digital History
• The Parson's Opinion of the Parson's Cause

External links

• Maury's School historical marker

Template:Persondata

• American people of French descent
• 1718 births
• 1760 deaths