Mary Willing Byrd (September 10, 1740 – March 1814) was the second wife of Colonel William Byrd III, a colonial American military officer at the time of the American Revolution and son of the founder of Richmond, Virginia.
In 1758, William Byrd III built his country house Belvidere on this hill, with views of the James River as well as Church Hill and Shockoe Hill.
It was built sometime between 1725 and 1750 by James Patteson, the overseer of a south side plantation owned by William Byrd III, son of William Byrd II, the founder of Richmond.
During the second quarter of the eighteenth century, Furneau Southall served as deputy-sheriff of Charles City County, under Otway Byrd, son of William Byrd III of Westover Plantation.
The house was thus probably built and first occupied by William Byrd III, not his father.
Byrd's son, William Byrd III, inherited his family land but chose to fight in the French and Indian War rather than spend much time in Richmond.
Byrd III eventually fathered five children by his first wife (Eliza Carter, m. 1748, d. 1760), and fathered ten more by his second wife, Mary Willing, daughter of Charles Willing of Philadelphia.
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William Byrd III (September 6, 1728 – January 1 or January 2, 1777) was the son of William Byrd II and the grandson of William Byrd I.
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At the time of the Patteson-Schutte House construction, William Byrd III was living at Westover Plantation in Charles City County.