William Short (1759–1849)
Short and Bushrod Washington were founding members of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
William Short, brother of Peyton Short and brother-in-law of William Henry Harrison, was born on 30 September 1759 in Surry County, Virginia. A graduate of The College of William & Mary, he was one of the founding members of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Young William became a protégé of Thomas Jefferson, who once referred to him as his "adoptive son." After gaining admission to the bar in 1782, Short accompanied Jefferson to France as private secretary.
George Green Shackelford, Jefferson's Adoptive Son: The Life of William Short 1759–1848 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1993).
"William Short." Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/BT2310003545/UHIC?u=viva_uva&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=6e3e99a4. Accessed 20 Nov. 2023.
Rebecca Bowman, "William Short," Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia.
"Memorandum Books, 1781," Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/02-01-02-0015. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series, Jefferson’s Memorandum Books, vol. 1, ed. James A Bear, Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997, pp. 504–517.]
"To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 30 September 1781," Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-03-02-0132. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, vol. 3, 3 March 1781 – 31 December 1781, ed. William T. Hutchinson and William M. E. Rachal. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1963, pp. 269–270.]
"Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 8 March 1809," Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0023. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1809 to 15 November 1809, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004, pp. 38–39.]
"Original Records of the Phi Beta Kappa Society," The William and Mary Quarterly, Volume 4, Number 4 (April 1896), 213–41.
William Short at Find a Grave.
William Short VI at FamilySearch.