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Hooper, Bill, and Randi. William Byrd II. Childlife. His father always wanted him to become an Englishman He was sent to live in England when he was young in order to go to Felsted His father thought that this would help him gain a soft side for England
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Hooper, Bill, and Randi William Byrd II
Childlife • His father always wanted him to become an Englishman • He was sent to live in England when he was young in order to go to Felsted • His father thought that this would help him gain a soft side for England • Most of his classmates teased him due to his colonial heritage
Personal Life • Married Lucy Parke • She died in 1717 from small pox • Byrd remarried to Maria Taylor in 1725 • He had six children named Evelyn, Wilhelmina, Anne, Maria, Jane, and William Byrd III
Byrd never knew whether to consider himself a colonial or Englishman • Byrd came to appreciate Virginia and was well respected in his community • He was appointed to be a county commissioner and help run the line along the border of Virginia and North Carolina
He was one of the first Americans to express his of the vast American wilderness. • Byrd’s works were never really meant to be published when he wrote • He saw the woods in a different perspective than everybody else • Concerning the pioneers and their need to go west he says, "The pioneers, in short, lived too close to wilderness for appreciation."
In his writing, he compares many instances in his reality to stories from biblical times • In his book, History of the Dividing Line, he had notes such as the local game and detailed drawings of the land • He appreciated nature and seemed to be one with himself while out there
Byrd writes during a time when colonial literature was largely composed of Puritan writers • Byrd’s style of writing even in his most minor pieces is sophisticated at worst(mostly due to his use of irony)
He views each people as a whole • The North Carolinians are placed below the Virginians for their religious indifference and the idleness of their men, yet admired for their fertility and freedom. • Each group is viewed in a balanced, yet highly judgmental way
Sometime between 1730 and 1735, Byrd tried to publish his original SecretHistory of the Dividing Line, "a gossipy, satirical narrative of the expedition,“ • In 1744, he published History of the Dividing Line • In his writing, Byrd sometimes portrays himself as the man that he always wished he was (trying to piece together the pieces of his odd life)
In his books, you will see his increasing appreciation for nature in America • His writing also contains a Romantic sense to it (Romantic movement was in 19th century)
During the Protestant Reformation, keeping a diary had become a source of “finding yourself” • Byrd kept a diary in which he would write about his days, what he had to eat, what he did, who he talked to and so forth • Byrd had always wanted to please his father and rise to his expectations (in his writing he could create this for himself)
Writings • He was the author of the Westover Manuscripts, published in 1841 under three titles, The History of the Dividing Line, A Journey to the Land of Eden, and A Progress to the Mines, and most famously, The Secret Diaries of William Byrd of Westover
Citation • http://pantheon.yale.edu/~thomast/essays/sam/sam1.html • Dr. Thomas T. Long, William Byrd II of Westover
