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american racehorse owners and breeders
   
byrd iii, william
   
people of the french and indian war
   
byrd, william
   
house of burgesses members
   
virginia colonial people
   
maryland colonial people
   
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William Byrd III , ( 1728 - 1777 ) was the son of William Byrd II and the grandson of William Byrd I . He was born on December 15 , 1752. He inherited his family land and continued his family's prestige as a member of the Viriginia House Of Burgesses but chose to fight in the French And Indian War rather than spend much time in Richmond. William Byrd III was a notorious gambler, and he initiated in what is said to be the first major horse race in the New World, involving Samuel Ogle , John Tayloe II , Francis Thornton , and Benjamin Tasker, Jr. .

Byrd III eventually fathered five children by his first wife, moved to Annapolis , and fathered ten more by his second wife, Mary Willing Byrd . After he squandered the Byrd fortune on gambling and bad investments, Byrd III parceled up the family estate and sold lots off in a 1768 lottery. Byrd III eventually committed suicide and died on January 1, 1777.