Biography

Peter Vivian Daniel was born into a prominent Virginia family and studied law under Edmund Jennings Randolph, a former Virginia governor and US attorney. Peter ended up marrying Randolph's daughter, Lucy Nelson Randolph sometime between 1809 and 1811 (sources disagree). They had three children before her death in 1847, and Daniel married Elizabeth Hodgson in 1853 and they had two children before she died in 1857. In 1841, just two days after the death of Supreme Court justice Philip P. Barbour, President Van Buren nominated Peter Daniel to fill the spot, days before William Henry Harrison took office. He was Supreme Court justice from 1841 until his death in May of 1860. Peter Daniel was a supporter of states' rights and slavery, and he became increasingly hostile towards Northerners during his time on the Supreme Court.