Athletes - William Byrd III

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	Athletes - William Byrd III

William Byrd III, (1728 - 1777) was the son of William Byrd II and the grandson of William Byrd I. He was born on December 15, 1752. He inherited his family land and continued his family's prestige as a member of the Viriginia House of Burgesses but chose to fight in the French and Indian War rather than spend much time in Richmond. William Byrd III was a notorious gambler, and he initiated in what is said to be the first major horse race in the New World, involving Samuel Ogle, John Tayloe II, Francis Thornton, and Benjamin Tasker, Jr..

Byrd III eventually fathered five children by his first wife, moved to Annapolis, and fathered ten more by his second wife, Mary Willing Byrd. After he squandered the Byrd fortune on gambling and bad investments, Byrd III parceled up the family estate and sold lots off in a 1768 lottery. Byrd III eventually committed suicide and died on January 1, 1777.

Byrd III, William

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