Oil on canvas, 29 x 24 in., by Robbie L. Nurnberger, 1963
Location: courtroom foyer, left

Born July 6, 1736 in Powhatan County, Virginia.
Died February 15, 1824 in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

Elected by the General Assembly to the General Court on November 26, 1780 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of John Blair and became a member, ex-officio, of the Court of Appeals. Elected by the General Assembly to the reorganized Court of Appeals on December 24, 1788, and began his service on that court on June 20, 1789. Service terminated by death.

Succeeded Peter Lyons as presiding judge when Lyons died on July 30, 1809. Service terminated by death.

Education:
Attended the College of William and Mary, 1763

Other judicial service:
Judge, General Court, 1780-1788.

Professional career:
Private practice of law in Cumberland County, Virginia, 1763-1780, circa.
Burgess, Virginia House of Burgesses, 1772-1775.
Delegate, Virginia Conventions, 1775-1776.
Cumberland County Committee of Safety, 1776.
Virginia state delegate, 1776-1779.
Virginia representative, Continental Congress, 1779.

Military service:
Revolutionary war (militia), 1777.

Further reading/Research collections

Sources:
Service on the court and biography, David Mays, “William Fleming, 1736-1824,” Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Virginia State Bar Association 1927, v. 39 (Richmond, Va.), 426-435; first sat on the reconstituted court on June 20, 1789, 16 Va., xx; succeeded Lyons as presiding judge, Court of Appeals Order Book, June 3, 1809, and October 2, 1809, pp. 238-239, (State Government Records Collection, Library of Virginia, accession 31022); date of death, 23 Va., iii; attended the College of William and Mary in 1763, A Provisional List of Alumni, Grammar School Students, Members of the Faculty, and Members of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary in Virginia From 1693-1888, (Richmond: Division of Purchase and Printing, 1941), 17; was graduated from William and Mary in 1763, Fleming, William (1736-1824), Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-present, retrieved on January 10, 2014; “The Fleming Family (Continued),” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, v. 24, No. 3 (Jun., 1916) , 327-332; portrait, Library of Virginia catalog, Proceedings of the Seventy-Third Annual Meeting of the Virginia State Bar Association, July 1963 (Richmond: Keel-Williams Corporation, Printers, 1963), 111; and Proceedings, . . . July 1964, 131.