DuVal Family Association

Historical Facts about the DuVals.

1. Did you know that on March 25, 1775 George Washington dined at Galt's Tavern in Richmond, VA but stayed with Samuel DuVal whose home was called Mount Comfort on upper Shockoe Creek, northeast of Richmond? (From Inside Richmond- Annual Guide for Visitors)
2. Luci Claiborne DuVal, wife of Samuel DuVal, was the great great grandaughter of William Claiborne who arrived in Virginia in 1621 and who was appointed first Secretary of the State of Virginia.
3. William Pope DuVal, son of Major William DuVal and his first wife Ann Pope, was appointed United States District Judge for the Territory of Florida in 1822 by James Monroe and by the same President, Governor of Florida in 1822.

"DUVAL, William Pope, a Representative from Kentucky; born in Mount Comfort, near Richmond, Va., in 1784; completed preparatory studies; moved to Kentucky; studied law; was admitted to the bar about 1804 and practiced; during the Indian hostilities of 1812 commanded a company of mounted Volunteers; elected as a Republican to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813-March 3, 1815); resumed the practice of law in Bardstown, Ky.; appointed on May 18, 1821, United States judge, east Florida district; Governor of the Territory of Florida under Presidents Monroe, Adams, and Jackson, serving from April 17, 1822, to 1834; appointed on November 4, 1841, law agent in Florida; moved to Texas in 1848; was the original of “Ralph Ringwood” of Washington Irving and “Nimrod Wildfire” of James K. Paulding; died in Washington, D.C., March 19, 1854; interment in the Congressional Cemetery."