Legal Educator And Innovator

Background.

George Wythe (rhymes with "Smith") was born in Elizabeth City County, Virginia, in 1726, the second son of Thomas and Margaret Wythe. His father, a prosperous farmer, died when Wythe was three years old. His mother, Margaret, a devout Quaker, taught him Latin and Greek and instilled in him an enthusiasm for learning. Wythe's mother died when he was in his early adolescence, and he moved into the care of a family relation, a prominent lawyer named Stephen Dewey. He became an apprentice to Dewey and undertook a rigorous program of reading and self-education. In 1746, at the age of twenty, he passed the oral examination and was admitted to the practice of law.

Lawyer.

Wythe joined John Lewis in the practice of law, riding the circuit through largely rural Virginia, enduring the punishing experience of travel on the primitive colonial...