Copeland (Copland), Charles

Summary

Father: Peter Copeland
Mother: Elizabeth Gatewood

Birth: 1756, Virginia
Birth Source:

Death: 24 Nov 1836, Richmond, Henrico County, Virginia
Death Source:

Spouse1: Rebecca Nicolson, m. 4 Feb 1786
Spouse2: Henningham Carrington Bernard, m. 13 Oct 1808

Narrative

Children of Charles Copeland and Rebecca Nicolson:

1. Charles Copland
2. Mary (Maria) Copland, m. John Henry Brown
3. Elizabeth Copland, b. c1788, d. 10 Apr 1834, m. John Parkhill
4. William Copland
5. Alexander Copland
6. Robert Copland
7. Margaret Copland, b. Sep 1788, d. 26 Dec 1811

Charles Copland's dairy contains numerous details of trips with his wife and the above children or to visit them. All are named in his diary which includes extensive details of the Richmond Theater Fire and his frantic search in the building in the course of the final stages of the fire for Margaret. He carried several others that he found injured out of the building but was unable to find Margaret.

The following is an excerpt from the Victim List of the 1811 Richmond Theater Fire:
Copland, Margaret*: Dead at age 16 or 17, Margaret Copland was the daughter of Charles Copland and his wife Rebecca Nicolson, who had died in 1800. Virginia Argus; Tuesday, August 5, 1800. ; “Died- On Friday, the 25th ult. Mrs. Rebecca Copland, consort of Mr. Charles Copland of this city. (p. 3, c. 4).” She died at age 33 and left 9 children. Copland did not marry for another 8 years, when he wed Heningham Carrington Bernard (1781-1838) in October 1808. He was born in 1756, so he was 25 years older than her. Charles Copland was one of the most eminent lawyers of his day in Richmond and in surrounding courts, known as an equal of John Wickham and William Wirt. The family lived near the theater, and three of Copland’s four children attending that night escaped. See the following for a heartrending eyewitness account as Copland searched the burning theater for his missing daughter: “Extracts from Diary of Charles Copland,” William & Mary Quarterly (1st series), vol. XIV, p. 217, 224-27 (1906). Several of his daughters went to school in Bethlehem, PA.

The following excerpt was published in Charles Copland's Diary:

In the Richmond Inquirer of Tuesday, November 29, 1836, there was this notice of his death, "On Thursday evening, about half past 8 o'clock, Mr. Charles Copland, of this city. In the death of Mr. Copland, the city has lost one of its oldest members. He died at the age of about forescore years, and his life is not so remarkable for its length as for the exemplary discharge of all its duties. He was for many years a highly respected member of the Richmond bar and successful in the practice. An intimate knowledge of his professional life would furnish a useful lesson of dilligence, exact method in business, punctuality and scrupulous integrity, while his private life is an exemplar of all the domestic and social virtues. The indigent, the orphan and the widow, the servant, the child and the wife will unite with numerous friends to bless his memory and to mourn his loss."

Research Notes

It is at this generation that the surname appears to have changed from Copeland to Copland.

Sources

Names of children from Extracts from Diary of Charles Copland, (online at jstor.org)
Will of William Copeland, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Jul., 1906), pp. 57-64 (8 pages) (online at jstor.org)