Thomas Nelson Jr. was the grandson of Thomas Nelson (nicknamed 'Scotch Tom') who migrated from Penrith in Cumberland to settle Virginia in in 1705.¹ ² ³

 

'Scotch Tom' became a merchant in Yorktown, then a major sea-port in Virginia, and constructed a wharf and warehouse facilities on the York River.³ He earnt money by shipping cured tobacco to England and Virginian corn and pork to Barbados.³ One planter, who owed 'Scotch Tom' over £6,600 by 1738, was forced to deed him a 3,375-acre plantation, and mortgage an unspecified number of enslaved people to him.³

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'Scotch Tom' also earned money by selling enslaved people on consignment from English firms. Around 8,500 enslaved people were imported into the York River between March 1718 and March 1727, when Thomas Nelson was active as a merchant there.⁴

 

The son of 'Scotch Tom' was William Nelson, who was Thomas Nelson Jr.'s father.¹ ⁵ William Nelson was sent to England to be educated, and by 1738 fathered Thomas Nelson Jr. with his wife, Elizabeth Burwell.⁵ By the time Thomas Nelson Jr was born his grandfather ('Scotch Tom') owned 6,500 acres across York County, New Kent, Yorktown and Williamsburg.³ When 'Scotch Tom' died, he left various cash bequests totalling over £10,000, and gave the majority of his estate to William, Thomas Nelson Jr.'s father.⁶

 

William imported enslaved people primarily into Virginia, though on occasion also into Baltimore and Philadelphia.⁷ He owned holdings of almost 30,000 acres of land,⁸ and on his death in 1772, he left Thomas Nelson Jr. over 20,000 acres, composed mainly of estates in Hanover County, Virginia.⁹ In his will, William left his wife specific plantations with their 'slaves and stocks', and did likewise for his younger sons, but Thomas was his primary heir: he inherited 'all the rest and residue of [William's] estate' after the specific grants to his mother and siblings had been made.¹⁰ The portion of William's estate inherited by Thomas Nelson was worth an estimated £40,000.¹¹

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Thomas Nelson Jr. himself also owned enslaved people. During the American War of Independence he is recorded to have bought 5,400 acres of land and an unspecified number of enslaved people from Lewis Burwell.¹² In 1773 he bought 120 acres of land in York County from Thomas Archer, and he acquired three more enslaved people in August and November of that year.¹³ In 1788, facing mounting debts, Thomas was forced to sell 120 enslaved people whom he owned in Prince William County.¹⁴

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In his will, Thomas left his estates in Hanover - as well as the enslaved people working on them - to his wife Lucy.¹⁴  Thomas also left Aggy, an enslaved woman, and her son Charles to his eldest son William, and bequeathed Melinda, an enslaved girl, to his son Francis.¹⁵ He additionally left to all of his sons (except for William) an enslaved person to learn carpentry, as well as sums of money and unnamed enslaved people to each of his daughters.¹⁵

 

Overall, Thomas' education abroad was presumably financed from his father and grandfather's fortune, partly derived from the slave trade. It is clear that both Thomas Nelson Jr. and his father owned enslaved people, and operated very large estates, which must have required a considerable number of enslaved people to operate.