University of Virginia Library

MERIWETHER.

The progenitor of the Meriwethers was Nicholas, an
emigrant from Wales, who died in 1678. He had three sons,
Francis, who married Mary Bathurst, and from whom
descended Governor George W. Smith, who perished in the
burning of the Richmond theatre in 1811, David and
Nicholas. Nicholas was the large landholder. Besides
obtaining grants of extensive tracts in several of the
counties of eastern Virginia, he entered in one body
seventeen thousand, nine hundred and fifty-two acres
on the east side of the South West Mountain in Albemarle.
He also entered in 1735 one thousand and twenty

acres on the Rivanna, extending from Moore's Creek
to Meadow Creek. This was the place on which he lived,
and which he devised to his grandson, Nicholas Lewis. He
died in 1744, and it is said he and his grandson, Richard
Meriwether, son of William, were buried on the east side of
the Rivanna, most probably on the summit of the hill north
of Mrs. Crockford's residence, on the parcel of land which
Richard purchased from Thomas Graves. His wife was
Elizabeth Crawford, and his children Jane, the wife of Robert
Lewis, Thomas, Nicholas, William, David, Elizabeth, the
wife of Thomas Bray, Ann, the wife of Thomas Johnson,
the colleague of Patrick Henry from Louisa in the House
of Burgesses, and the grandfather of the eminent lawyer,
Chapman Johnson, Sarah, the wife of William Littlepage,
and Mary, the wife of John Aylett.

Nicholas received from his father a share of the lands east
of the South West Mountain, of which Castle Hill was the
seat. He married Mildred Thornton, and died in 1739, leaving
one child, Mildred. About 1741 his widow became the
wife of Dr. Thomas Walker, and in due time Mildred, his
daughter, became the wife of John Syme, of Hanover, the
half-brother of Patrick Henry. In 1741 and 1746 there were
entered in the daughter Mildred's name, two tracts of sixteen
hundred, and nineteen hundred acres, lying near the gorge of
the South Hardware between Gay's and Fan's Mountains,
and extending up the road towards Batesville; and for many
years her lines frequently figure in the descriptions of lands
sold in that neighborhood. Both tracts were sold by Mildred's
son, John Syme Jr., to President William Nelson, but
the deed was never recorded. President Nelson devised them
to his son Robert, who sold the sixteen hundred tract to
James Powell Cocke, and the other in parcels to different
purchasers. A chancery suit instituted against the children
of John Syme Jr., then living in Nelson County, to make
title to these lands, was decided in 1809; and a considerable
part of Deed Book Sixteen is occupied with the deeds of
these parties to the vendees.

David Meriwether married Ann Holmes, and had six sons
and two daughters. Thomas, the eldest, married Elizabeth
Thornton, and his children were Nicholas, Francis, David,
Mary, the wife of Peachy R. Gilmer, Elizabeth, the wife of
Thomas Johnson, Sarah, the wife of Michael Anderson, Ann,
the wife of Richard Anderson, and mother of David Anderson,
of Milton and Pantops, Lucy, the wife of William Lewis,
and afterwards of John Marks, Mildred, the wife of John Gilmer,
and Jane, the wife of Samuel Dabney, mother of Mildred,
Reuben Lewis's wife, and grandmother of Rev. Robert Lewis
Dabney, the eminent theologian. Nicholas, the eldest of this
family, married Margaret, daughter of Rev. William Douglass,
a native of Scotland, rector of the parish of St. James,
Northam, Goochland, who added teaching to his ministerial
duties, and was the preceptor of Presidents Monroe and Jefferson,
and who spent his last days at his plantation of
Ducking Hole, Louisa. The children of Nicholas and Margaret
Douglass Meriwether were William Douglass, Thomas,
Nicholas H., Charles, Francis T., and Elizabeth, the wife
of Thomas W. Lewis. Mrs. Margaret D. Meriwether was
married the second time to Chiles Terrell.

William Douglass lived at Clover Fields, on the east side
of the South West Mountain. He was a man of fine sense
and great wealth. He was a magistrate of the county for
fifty years, and the only one of the whole body of magistrates
that filled the office of Sheriff twice, in 1801 and 1828. His
wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Lewis, and through
her he inherited the part of the Farm nearest Charlottesville,
which in 1825 he sold to John A. G. Davis, who built on it
the brick house, the present residence of Mrs. Thomas Farish.
He died in 1845. His children were William H.,
Charles J., Mary, the wife of Peter Meriwether, Margaret D.,
the wife first of Dr. Francis Meriwether, and secondly of
Francis K. Nelson, and Thomas W. William H., a man of
incessant activity, was admitted to the bar, built the first mill
at Rio, and a bridge across the Rivanna at the Woolen Mills,
sold his land in 1835 to George L. Craven, and went to
Texas. He was twice married, first to Frances Poindexter,

and secondly to Kate W. Meriwether, who after his death
was married to Dr. Prior, of Memphis, Tenn. Charles
J. received from his father Mooresbrook, the present residence
of Mr. Newman, but being impoverished by the war, he and
his wife Louisa Miller, a sister of President Tyler's first wife,
passed their remaining days under the hospitable roof of
Mrs. Harper and her son, Warner Wood, at Farmington.
Thomas W. was a physician, succeeded to the homestead,
was a ruling elder in South Plains Church, and died in 1863.
His wife was Ann, daughter of Hugh Nelson, and his children
William D., also a physician, Mildred, the wife of George
Macon, Ann, the wife of Frederick W. Page, Eliza, the wife
of N. H. Massie, and Charlotte, the second wife of T. J.
Randolph Jr.

Thomas, second son of Nicholas and Margaret D. Meriwether,
married Ann, daughter of Garrett Minor, of Louisa.
They had four children, among whom was Peter N., who
resided at Cismont, married first his cousin Mary, as already
noted, and secondly Mrs. Frances Tapp, and died in 1851.

Nicholas H., third son of Nicholas and Margaret, married
Rebecca Terrell. They had six children, among whom were
Dr. Charles H., who married first Ann E. Anderson, and
secondly Frances E. Thomas, lived at the present station of
Arrowhead, and died in 1843, Ann T., the wife of Nicholas
H. Lewis, and mother of Lydia L., the wife of Peter, son of
Dr. Frank Carr, and Walker G., who married first his cousin
Elizabeth Meriwether, and secondly his cousin Jane W.
Lewis.

Charles, fourth son of Nicholas and Margaret, studied
medicine in Scotland, and while visiting his Douglass kin
in that country, married a young lady named Lydia Laurie.
On his return he settled in Tennessee. Lydia Laurie died,
and he married twice afterwards; but her sweet-sounding
name has ever since been a favorite in all branches of the
connection.

Francis T., fifth son of Nicholas and Margaret, married
Catharine Davis, and had six children. Among them were

Elizabeth, the wife of her cousin Walker G., George D., who
married his cousin Alice Lewis, and Dr. Francis, who married
his cousin Margaret D., and whose daughter, Mary W.,
was the first wife of T. J. Randolph Jr.

Of all this numerous family, there is not one now living in
Albemarle who bears the name. Their descendants however
are scattered in every part of the West and South.