Thomas Nelson , Jr . Thomas Nelson , Jr . ( December 26 , 1738 – January 4 , 1789 ) was an American planter , soldier , and statesman from Yorktown , Virginia . He represented Virginia in the Continental Congress and was its Governor in 1781 . He is regarded as one of the U . S . Founding Fathers since he signed the Declaration of Independence as a member of the Virginia delegation . Life . Thomas , Jr . was the grandson of Thomas " Scotch Tom " Nelson , an immigrant from Cumberland , England who was an early pioneer at Yorktown . His parents were Elizabeth ( Burwell ) and William Nelson , who was also a leader of the colony , and briefly served as governor . Thomas was born at Yorktown , and like many Virginians of his time , was educated in England . He attended Newcome ' s School for six years and was at Eton in 1754 , before entering Christ ' s College at Cambridge University in 1758 . He graduated in 1760 and returned home the following year . He helped his father with his farm at this time . Thomas was first elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1761 . The following year he married Lucy Grymes ( her maternal uncle was Peyton Randolph - the brother - in - law of Congressman Benjamin Harrison V ; her paternal aunt was the mother of " Light Horse Harry " Lee ) . Their son Hugh Nelson ( 1768 – 1836 ) would later serve in the U . S . Congress . Nelson ' s first term in the Congress continued until 1776 , when a bout of illness forced his resignation . While a member of Congress , Nelson still found time to return home and play a key role in Virginia ' s Constitutional Convention in the spring of 1776 . He returned to Congress in time to sign the Declaration of Independence . He was commanding General of the Lower Virginia Militia , and succeeded Thomas Jefferson as governor of Virginia ( after William Fleming ' s nine days as acting governor ) . Nelson himself was engaged in the final siege of Yorktown . According to legend , he urged General Washington ( or , in some versions , the Marquis de Lafayette ) to fire on his own home , the Nelson House , where Cornwallis had his headquarters , offering five guineas to the first man to hit his house . Death and Remembrance . He died at his son ' s home in Hanover County , Virginia and is buried in the Grace Churchyard at Yorktown . Nelson was a member of Grace Church . This tribute was happily and affectionately paid to his memory by Colonel Innes : Heritage . Nelson County , Virginia and Nelson County , Kentucky were named in his honor . The Virginia State Council for Higher Education named Thomas Nelson Community College in Thomas Nelson ' s honor in 1967 . The Nelson County School District , which operates most of the public schools in the Kentucky county , opened the new Thomas Nelson High School in 2012 . An uncle Thomas Nelson ( 1716 – 1782 ) aka " Secretary Nelson " was the father of Captain Thomas Nelson who married Sally Cary ( 1762 – 1779 ) who was a first cousin once removed of Sally Fairfax . Thomas Nelson , Jr . , the subject of this article , was an ancestor of Thomas Nelson Page and William Nelson Page . The circa 1730 Nelson House built by " Scotch Tom " Nelson in Yorktown , Virginia , and occupied by Thomas Nelson , Jr . during the Revolutionary War is a National Historical Landmark maintained by the Colonial National Historical Park of the U . S . National Park Service . Thomas Nelson Jr . was a descendant of the Plantagenet house through Edward III of England .