Cabell married Margaret Jordan in 1756, the same year he began his political career as a delegate in the House of Burgesses. He continuously served in successive assemblies until Lord Dunmore suppressed that legislative body just before the American Revolutionary War. Cabell joined the Albermarle County militia in 1756 and two years later became a commissioner for arranging military claims concerning the French and Indian War, hence his honorific, Colonel. In 1761, the House of Burgesses created Amherst County from part of Albermarle County. The following year, William Cabell received 1,785 acres of his inheritance early, and began establishing what would become his "Union Hill" plantation. Beginning in 1765, Amherst County voters then elected Col. Cabell as their delegate to all legislative assemblies until 1789, including serving on the localCommittee of Safety during the revolutionary struggle. William Cabell served as the presiding justice for Amherst County beginning in 1777, and became the first state senator for what was then the 8th district. In 1788 Amherst County voters overwhelmingly elected Col. Cabell and his eldest son Samuel J. Cabell to represent them in the Virginia Ratification Convention, where both Cabells voted against the proposed United States Constitution, although the convention as a whole ratified it. William Cabell then became a member of the committee that drew up the Declaration of Rights of January 7, 1789. Col. Cabell also served as one of the presidential electors who voted for George Washington as the first President of the United States, and as trustee of Hampden–Sydney College where his sons studied.
Death and legacy
William Cabell Sr. died in 1798 and was buried at Union Hill Cemetery in Wingina, Virginia. By the time of his death, he had distributed estates to various family members, who received an additional 30,000 acres in his will. Seven children survived Col. Cabell Sr. In addition to Samuel J. Cabell mentioned above, born the year of their marriage, Margaret Cabell bore William Cabell, Jr., who served in the Continental Army, married the daughter of Virginia judge Paul Carrington and succeeded his father at "Union Hill," most of which became part of Nelson County during the division of 1808. Their two other sons included Landon Cabell and Hector Cabell. Their three daughters all married well. Margaret married prominent Nelson County planter and merchant Robert Rives, and their son William Cabell Rives had a distinguished legal and diplomatic career. Paulina married Maj. Edmund Read and after his death c. 1808 Rev. Nash LeGrand. Their youngest daughter Elizabeth married her cousin William H. Cabell, son of Col. Nicholas Cabell and who himself became governor of Virginia and, after her death, president of what later became the Virginia Supreme Court.
