per Anne D. Babin (Mrs. Alan Babin) DAR Nat'l #488252, 30 Jan 1999,
"Patrick married Dorothea Dandridge in 1777, and had 10 (or 11, depending on the reference source) children. Dorothea was the daughter of Col. Nathaniel West Dandridge, whose ancestors in Virginia dated back to 1635, when Capt. John West served on the Governor's council. Just before he left office as Governor of Virginia in 1786, Henry--now 50 years old -- had written to his sister, Anne Christian, that he and his wife were "heartily tired of the bustle we live in here. I shall go to Hanover to land I am like to get from Gen. Nelson; or if that fails, towards Leatherwood again. My wife has five very fine and promising children" -- Dorothea Spotswood, Sarah Butler, Martha Catherine, Patrick and Fayette. {The biographer, George F. Willison, counts eleven children by second wife Dorothea Dandridge, two of whom died in infancy or at an early age.} After two sons, the Henrys had a succession of daughters who kept coming and coming , until there were nine. In time, Patrick Henry himself would sire seventeen children, and at his death in his early sixties, would have more than sixty grandchildren. Dorothea's grandfather, Alexander Spotswood had directed the building of the Governor's mansion and her mother had been born there. Young Dorothea Spotswood Dandridge Henry played her role as the first FIRST LADY of the Commonwealth of Virginia with tact and grace, when her husband was Governor. Also, she had to take over the care of five children by Henry's first marriage, some of whom were almost as old as she. Dorothea appears to have been accepted and well-liked as a stepmother. She and Henry had eleven children together. When he resigned as Governor, the family moved to Prince Edward County, and established their home and his law practice."
