Duval, William Pope

Duval, William Pope do͞ovôlˈ, –vălˈ [key], 1784–1854, American frontiersman, territorial governor of Florida (1822–34), b. near Richmond, Va. He went to Kentucky as a young man, studied law, and began practicing at Bardstown c.1804. Duval was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky (1813–15) and U.S. judge in East Florida (1821–22). As territorial governor, he accomplished the peaceful removal of the Seminole to the southern district, the compilation and revision of territorial laws, and legislation creating a board of education and improving the schools. He was the original of Washington Irving's “Ralph Ringwood” in Wolfert's Roost.

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