Paul Carrington

Who is Paul Carrington?

Paul Carrington was born in Charlotte County, Virginia on March 16, 1733. He studied law under Colonel Clement Read in Lunenburg County and started practicing in 1754. After practicing law in the county courts, he was elected to the House of Burgesses from Charlotte County several times. In 1779, he was appointed second judge of the general court from which he became a judge of the first Court of Appeals. In 1788, he was a delegate to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, by which Virginia ratified the United States Constitution.

In 1789, he was elected to be a judge in the reorganized Court of Appeals. Since he feared that, because of his age of 75, he might not be able to fulfill the judicial requirements, Carrington resigned from the bench in 1807. Despite his fears, Judge Carrington lived in retirement another 11 years until he died at the age of 85.

His home plantation Mulberry Hill near Randolph, Virginia was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. He is buried on the plantation grounds.