William Nelson administered the colony until Lord Dunmore assumed the government in 1771, handling public correspondence, appointments and other executive business during the interval. Correspondence records his purchase of Botetourt's horses with the intention of offering them to the next governor, and his retention of the coachman to care for them. Nelson died at Yorktown on November 19, 1772, before the American Revolutionary War began. His will admitted to probate named his brother Thomas Nelson, as well as prominent lawyer Robert Carter Nicholas and sons Thomas and Hugh as executors and guardians of the three youngest children. Nelson made charitable bequests to the public hospital for lunatics, as well as the poor of the parish, but primarily divided his property (including slaves, some of whom were named) among his children. His widow received 5000 pounds sterling as a lump sum and household goods, plus 250 pounds sterling a year, lesser sums from plantations near Yorktown called "Pennys" and "Tarrapin Point", plus relatively minor sums from plantations bequeathed to their sons, but the will specifically stated she did not receive anything from Nelson's warehouses. His sons General Thomas Nelson Jr., Colonel Hugh Nelson, Robert Nelson and William Nelson Jr. served during the conflict, with Robert and William Jr. being captured in the final campaign but surviving, and William Nelson Jr. later became not only a legislator and reviser of Virginia Laws, but a judge and law professor.