20 May 1840–6 Dec. 1883
Alexander Watson Weddell, clergyman, was born in Tarboro, the son of James and Margaret Ward Weddell. James
![Image of Alexander Watson Weddell, from Virginia: rebirth of the Old Dominion (1929), [p. 494], publlshed 1929 by Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co.. Alexander Watson Weddell was a reverend and a Virginian native. Presented on Archive.org.](/sites/default/files/virginiarebirtho04bruc_0742_Weddell_Alexander_Watson_portrait_InternetArchive.jpg)
Returning to Petersburg, Weddell was both editor of a local newspaper and a lawyer. Deciding to enter the Episcopal ministry, he attended the Virginia Theological Seminary, and after his ordination in 1871 he was assigned to Emmanuel Church, Harrisonburg, Va. In 1875 he was called to historic St. John's Church, Richmond, a charge he continued to hold until his death. He was buried in front of the main entrance to the church. In 1942 his son, Alexander, presented a bronze plaque in memory of his father and his father's two brothers, John Archibald and Virginius Loraine Weddell, who had died in the Confederate army. This tablet, which contained the "Prayer before the study of law" written by Samuel Johnson in 1765, was placed at the entrance of the first-year law room in Clark Hall at the University of Virginia.
On 31 Jan. 1866, in North Carolina, Weddell married Penelope Margaret Wright, the daughter of Dr. David Minton Wright of Chowan County and Norfolk, Va. They had three sons, James, William, and Alexander, and three daughters, Margaret, Penelope, and Elizabeth. A son, Alexander Wilbourne Weddell, became U.S. ambassador to Spain and to Argentina; he bought Warwick Priory in England and reconstructed the house in Richmond in 1925. After he and his wife died, the residence—named Virginia House—and a large endowment were left to the Virginia Historical Society. Elizabeth Wright Weddell, the daughter of the Reverend Mr. Weddell, was the author of a history of St. Paul's Church, Richmond.