Edmund Pendleton (1721-1803) was orphaned and, at age 14, apprenticed to the Caroline County Court clerk. He was practicing law in the county court by age 21 and was qualified to practice before the General Court--Virginia's highest court--by age 24. A well respected lawyer, Pendleton was also a conservative patriot leader. He served on the Committee of Correspondence, as delegate to the First Continental Congress and as president of the Virginia Convention in 1775.