4. RICHARD N. VENABLE, b. Jan. 16, 1763, at "Slate Hill," Prince Edward Co., Va.; d. 1838, supposedly of heart failure, as he was found near his home, "Slate Hill," face buried in a shallow stream, two inches deep. A. B. Princeton University, 1782. (When he graduated, he wore a crimson broadcloth coat, blue knee breeches, and a buff waistcoat,trimmed with oblong silver buttons which he had had made from twenty-five cent pieces.) He studied law at William and Mary College.
He was a public spirited man, interested in agricultural improvements, canals, railroads, education and politics. Hampden-Sidney owes much to Richard N. Venable. It would be impossible to say how much. The old system, or custom, with many of our colleges was to have little or no endowment, dependence being placed upon fees from students to pay the teachers, and contributions from trustees and other possible friends to maintain the plant. There has been no history of such contributors. Granted the premise, it is impossible to say with exactness, who paid the bills of Hampden-Sidney College during its first fifty years. It is a safe guess that Richard N. Venable, his father and his brothers paid a good many of the bills outstanding on the part of the College from 1776-1838, the year of the death of R. N. Venable. [Dictionary of Biography, College of Hampden-Sidney]
He was a Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War, member of the State Senate and the convention of 1829. He was a trustee of Hampden-Sidney College from 1792 to 1839.
He married, March 5, 1797, Mary Morton, b. in Charlotte Co., Va., 1779, daughter of Col. William Morton (1743-1820), a distinguished Revolutionary soldier, son of Joseph Morton (1709-1782), a member of the House of Burgesses, and a man of great influence in Charlotte Co., Va. Numerous and distinguished descendants.
