John Heth

John Heth (1798 – April 30, 1842), of Black Heath in Chesterfield County, Virginia, was the son of Colonel Henry "Harry" Heth, who had fought in the American Revolutionary War and established himself in the coal business in Virginia, and Nancy Hare Heth. He was named for Harry's brother, Lt. John Heth, who had also fought in the Revolutionary War and afterwards settled in the Richmond area.

John Heth served in the volunteer forces of Virginia as an officer in the U.S. Navy in the War of 1812.On January 15, 1815, he was captured with Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr., the commander of the U.S. frigate President, and taken to Bermuda with Decatur and his crew as a prisoner of war.With two others, Captain Heth escaped from Bermuda in an open boat.

Captain Heth married Margaret L. Pickett (1801-1850) of Richmond, Virginia on May 15, 1822.They had 11 children between 1823 and 1842, including future Confederate Major General Henry Heth, who was born at Black Heath in 1825.

• Margaret Helen Heth (1823-1855), married to Thomas Lynch Hamilton
• Ann Eliza Heth (1824-1825)
• Henry "Harry" Heth (1825-1899), married Harriet C. "Teny" Selden (1834-1907) and had three children
• Lavinia Randolph Heth (1827-1865), married Julien Harrison (1827-1877) and had seven children
• Elizabeth Chevallie Heth (1829-?), married Thomas Vaden and had seven children
• John Heth (1833-?)
• Catherine "Kitty" Heth (1835-?), married John Cringan Maynard
• Caroline Kemble Heth (1835-1859), married Walter K. Martin
• Mary Ann Heth (1837-?)
• Beverley Stockton Heth (1839-?)
• Fanny Cadwallader Heth (1842-?)

Near his home, John Heth operated the Black Heath coal pits near present-day Midlothian, a business inherited from his father, who died in 1821. Under his management, the mines expanded and eventually became the standard coal of the US Navy.In 1832, he petitioned the Virginia General Assembly to form the first coal mining corporation in the state, and succeeded despite protests, the following year.After two serious fatal accidents from explosions in 1839 and 1844, the Black Heath pits were closed until 1938. John Heth died on April 30, 1842 at Norwood Plantation in Powhatan County, Virginia and was buried there.