Captain John Heth (1798 – April 30, 1842) was a Virginian naval officer and businessman in the coal mining industry.

He was named for his father's brother, Lt. John Heth, who had also fought in the Revolutionary War and afterwards settled in the Richmond area.

[2] John Heth served in the volunteer forces of Virginia as an officer in the U.S. Navy in the War of 1812, achieving the rank of Captain.

[3] After the war, Heth operated the Black Heath coal pits near present-day Midlothian, a business inherited from his father, who died in 1821.

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.