LVIII.
LEWIS BURWELL.
LVIII. President of the Council.
LVIII. February 12, 1751, to November 20, 1751.
The ancient seat of the Burwell family in Virginia was
in Gloucester County, in full view of York River. A
portion of the house was recently standing and appeared by
figures on the walls to have been built some time in the latter
part of the 17th century. This place at one time was called
"Fairfield," but of recent date has been known as "Carter's
Creek." The proprietor of this seat and the original settler was
Major Lewis Burwell, who came to the Colony and located
on Carter's Creek in 1640, and who died in 1658. His wife
was a Miss Higginson, whose father had signalized himself
in the wars with the Indians. On a tomb at Carter's Creek
is found this inscription:
"To the lasting memory of Major Lewis Burwell, of the County of
Gloucester, in Virginia, gentleman, who descended from the ancient family
of the Burwells of the Counties of Bedford and Northampton, in England,
who nothing more worthy in his birth than virtuous in his life,
exchanged this life for a better, on the 19th day of November, in the 33d
year of his age, A. D. 1658."
His fourth son, Nathaniel Burwell, married Elizabeth,
eldest daughter of Robert Carter ("King Carter"), and this
lady, after the death of Major Burwell, married Dr. George
Nicholas, and was the mother of Robert Carter Nicholas, long
the Treasurer of Virginia. The eldest son of Major Nathaniel
and Elizabeth (Carter) Burwell was Lewis Burwell (of
"The Grove"), born 1710. He was educated in England,
and on his return to the Colony, being a man of high character
and much learning, was called to fill many important
offices in Virginia. He was a Burgess from Gloucester
County in 1736; later, he became a member of the Council,
and as President of that body succeeded Thomas Lee in the
administration of affairs in Virginia. During the time that
Lewis Burwell presided at the head of the government, Hening
in his "Statutes at Large" records no meeting of the
General Assembly, though he mentions patents as having been
signed by Burwell when President of the Council. Major Burwell
married in October, 1736, Mary, daughter of Colonel
Francis and Ann Willis. This Mary Willis was made heiress
by John Smith, Gentleman, of Gloucester County, Petsworth
Parish, to the estates of Old and New Purton, by will dated
May 10, 1735. (See Hening's "Statutes at Large," Vol. 8,
page 663.) Major Lewis Burwell was relieved from his post
as chief executive of Virginia by the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor
Robert Dinwiddie, November 20, 1751. He died
in 1752.
