 | Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia. |  |
ARTICLE LIX.
Parishes in Northumberland County.—Wycomico and St.
Stephen's.
Northumberland county, lying on the bay and the Great Potomac,
was partially settled at an early period. In the year 1646,
during the government of Sir William Berkeley, we find the following
Act of Assembly:—"Whereas, the inhabitants of Chicawane,
alias Northumberland, being members of this Colony, have not
hitherto contributed toward the charges of the war, [with the Indians,]
it is now thought fit that the said inhabitants do make payment of
the levy according to such rates as are by this present Assembly
assessed. . . . And in case the said inhabitants shall refuse or deny
payment of the said levy, as above expressed, that, upon report
thereof to the next Assembly, speedy course shall then be adopted
to call them off from the said Plantation." It had in the previous
year been allowed a Burgess, in Mr. John Matram. In the following
year Mr. William Presley was the delegate. In the year
1648, we find the following Act:—"That the ninth Act of Assembly
of 1647, for the reducing of the inhabitants of Chickcoun and
other parts of the neck of land between Rappahannock and Potomacke
Rivers be repealed, and that the said tract of land be hereafter
called and known by the name of the county of Northumberland."
In the year 1649, it is declared "that the inhabitants on
the south side of the Potomacke [Potomac] shall be included, and
are hereafter to be accounted within the county of Northumberland."
In the year 1653, the bounds of Northumberland are
reduced by the establishment of Westmoreland county, which was
made to extend "from Matchoactoke River, where Mr. Cole lives,
and so upward to the falls of the great river Potomacke above
the Necostins town;" that is, above what is now Georgetown, in the
District of Columbia. In the year 1673, the boundary-line between
Lancaster and Northumberland is settled, according to an order of
the Assembly, by Colonel John Washington, (the first settler, and
great-grandfather of General Washington,) Captain John Lee,
William Traveson, William Moseley, and R. Beverley. While we
we find nothing as to its religious concerns. The establishment of
a parish or parishes within its bounds is nowhere given us, excepin
two lists of the counties in the year 1754, when it is called St.
Stephen's parish, with Mr. Thomas Smith for its minister, and in
1758, when it is called Wycomico, and has the Rev. John Leland
as its minister. In the year 1776, it is said to have two parishes,—
Wycomico and St. Stephen's,—Mr. John Leland the minister of the
former, and the Rev. Benjamin Sebastion of the other. Mr. Leland
was ordained by the Bishop of London in 1775, and Mr. Sebastion
in 1766. It is, however, confidently affirmed to this day that there
were two parishes, called Upper and Lower St. Stephen's, besides
Wycomico, and that the glebes can be pointed out.
In the year 1785, we find the two parishes represented in the
Convention,—Wycomico by the Rev. Mr. Leland, and as lay delegate
T. Gaskins, St. Stephen's by the Rev. Thomas Davis, with Mr.
Hudson Meuse as lay delegate. In the year 1786, Wycomico
alone is represented by Mr. Leland and Mr. Gaskins. In 1787,
Mr. Leland appears for the last time, with Mr. David Ball as lay
delegate. In 1789, Mr. Oneriphorus Harvey is lay delegate from
Wycomico, and in 1790, Mr. Isaac Besye. In that year the Rev.
Thomas Davis represents St. Stephen's parish, and also in 1792.
In 1795, the Rev. John Seward, with Abraham Beacham as lay
delegate, represents St. Stephen's, while three lay delegates, Messrs.
Hopkins, Hardy, and Hurst, represent Wycomico. In the year
1797, Thomas Gaskins and Thomas Hurst are lay delegates from
Wycomico, and Mr. William Claughton from St. Stephen's. In
1799, the Rev. Mr. Seward still represents St. Stephen's, while
William Davenport and Thomas Harvey are lay delegates for
Wycomico. There being no Convention, or, if one, no records of
it, until 1805, we are unable to say who ministered in Northumberland
in the interim. In that year the Rev. Duncan McNaughton
represented St. Stephen's, with John Hull as lay delegate. In the
year 1812, the Rev. Samuel Low, with Thomas Gaskins as lay
delegate, was in the Convention. Mr. Low was also there in 1813,
accompanied by Mr. Joseph Ball. From that to the present time
there has, I believe, been no regular minister belonging to either
of the parishes of this county, though services have been rendered
to them both by the ministers of Lancaster county.
Concerning the church in Wycomico parish, and which was called
Wycomico Church, we have something to say from personal knowledge.
Bishop Moore and myself both performed services in it,
Moore was in the desk, a piece of plastering from its high arched
ceiling fell upon his head, which was protected by only a few gray
hairs. Judging from the size of the house, there must, at the time
of its erection, have been many attendants, for it was the largest
of the old churches in Virginia of which I have any knowledge.
It was built about the beginning of the Revolutionary War, when
faithful architecture had already waned. After my last visit to it
in 1837, I made the following communication to the ensuing Convention
of 1838:—
"On Thursday, the 22d instant, I visited Northumberland Court-House
in company with the Rev. Washington Nelson, and preached to a respectable
congregation in the Reformed Methodist Church. But few Episcopal
families are now to be found in this county. There were formerly three
large brick churches in it, two of which are entirely gone, and the third
will soon share their fate unless speedy means of prevention be adopted.
The one yet remaining, called Wycomico Church, was built in the year
1771, not long before the Revolution, and the walls are still firm. The
other part of the workmanship was so inferior to that of former times,
that the vestry refused to receive it at the hands of the contractor. The
roof is now falling in, and the ceiling has given way some years since.
Each of the Bishops of Virginia have preached in this decaying house,
though not without some apprehension. Its present condition is truly
distressing. The doors and windows are gone. The fine bricks which
case the windows and doors are gradually disappearing. Along the deserted
aisles, and in the pews of this large cruciform church, measuring seventy-five
feet in every direction, may now be seen the carriage, the wagon, the
plow, the fishing-seine, barrels of tar and lime, lumber, and various implements
of husbandry. The cattle have free admission to it, and the
pavement of the aisles, and even the marble slab which covers the remains
of one of the latest of its ministers, is covered with dirt and rubbish. The
old bell which once summoned the neighbours to the house of God is lying
in one of the pews near the falling pulpit. In the deserted chancel you
look in vain for the Communion-table and the baptismal font, and there is
too much reason to fear that these also are used for purposes far other than
those to which they were originally consecrated and applied. Some steps
have recently been taken toward the repair of this large and venerable
building, but whether they will be continued and the work consummated
is still doubtful."
At the end of twenty years it pains me to say that my faintest
hopes have been more than disappointed, and my worst fears more
than realized, since not only every vestige of the house is removed
and its site enclosed and cultivated with an adjoining field, but I
cannot learn that there is a single family or even individual in the
parish still connected with or attached to the Church. The whole
population is incorporated with other denominations. That worthy
friend and member of our Church, Mr. Joseph Ball, of the old seat
days would have been regarded and called its patron saint. Some
years after my last visit to this falling church, he placed in my
hands a rich service of Communion-plate which belonged to it,
saying, that as he was the only surviving friend of the old church,
and utterly despaired of its revival, he wished me to take charge
of it and let it be used in some other parish. This I did, on the
condition that if the parish ever revived it should receive back
again the property of its ancestry. The vessels are now used in
the congregation and church at Millwood, in Clarke county, and
the condition of their loan is recorded in the vestry-book of the
parish. The following inscription will also show that its date and
use were far anterior to the establishment of old Frederick parish,
out of which the parish about Millwood has been carved.
They are as follows:—on the tankard, "The gift of Bartholomew
Shriver, who died in 1720, and of Bartholomew his son, who died
in 1727, for the use of the parish of Great Wycomico, in the county
of Northumberland, 1728." The inscription on the plate is, "The
gift of Reynard Delafiae to Quantico Church." We know of no
Quantico Church but that which stood near Dumfries, in Prince
William county, and suppose that this plate must once have belonged
to it. There is no date to the inscription. The cup, as will be
seen hereafter, was the gift of Hancock Lee, in 1711.
I sincerely wish that it were in my power to give as good an account
of the remnant of the old church itself. The following
extract from my report to the Convention of 1841 will tell the
history of the disposal of the walls of Wycomico Church:—
"Having thus briefly stated my Episcopal duties in the Northern Neck,
I must beg leave to advert to a circumstance which was particularly presented
to my consideration while near the site of one of our old churches
in the county of Northumberland, and which has been not a little misunderstood
and even misrepresented in the public prints and on the floor
of our Legislature. In the spring of 1840, I received a communication
from Mr. Joseph Ball, an old and valued member of our Church in Northumberland,
on the subject of the sale of the church in his neighbourhood.
It was then just in that condition when, spoliation of the bricks having
begun, it would become an object of plunder to all around and soon disappear.
One of the neighbours, therefore, proposed to purchase it, and my
consent was asked. I replied that I had no right whatever to dispose of
it. Visiting that part of the State soon after, Mr. Ball informed me that
a gentleman living near the church, and professing an attachment to it,
declared that it distressed him to see the church thus treated; that in a
short time not a brick would be left; that they would be used for hearths,
chimneys, and such like purposes, all the country around, that, if Mr. Ball
would consent, he would give five hundred dollars, either to rebuild it or
had consulted a lawyer, who told him that the head of the Church could
dispose of it. As Mr. Ball was an old warden of the parish and the only
surviving member, the gentleman thought he might be regarded as the
head; but, on being told that the Bishop was so regarded, it was referred
to myself. In reply to the renewed proposal, I stated again that I had no
right to sell it, and was unwilling to have any thing to do with it, as it
might be misunderstood and misrepresented. On its being urged by Mr.
Ball that a refusal to give such permission would only encourage great
numbers to robbery, I at length said that, if he chose to sell it, I would
receive the proceeds, and place them in the hands of the trustees of our
Theological Seminary, to be returned should it ever be called for to build
a church in its room. I was induced to do this partly by the consideration
that our Convention had many years before passed a resolution calling
upon persons having church-plate in vacant parishes to send it for safekeeping
to the Bishop of the Diocese, liable to be called for should the
parishes ever be revived. Such property has been given into the hands
of Bishop Moore and myself, and has been lent to other parishes on that
condition. I accordingly, in writing, stated my assent to the sale of the
walls of the church (nothing else remaining) for five hundred dollars,
giving what right I might be thought to have. I looked upon the transaction
as an affair between the person proposing it, Mr. Ball, and myself,
as friends to religion and the Church, who were desirous to prevent a
dishonourable use of the remains of a building not likely to be wanted
again, and as an act which would be approved by all good and pious persons.
After having paid one-half of the money, the purchaser refused the
remainder, on the plea of its having been an improper sale. In order to
prevent all future misunderstanding of this transaction, I have thought it
best thus to place it among our records. The two hundred and fifty dollars
which were paid were expended, I believe, on the Chapel attached to our
Theological Seminary, and I hold myself personally responsible for its
return whenever any competent authority shall claim it."
I am sorry to add that to this day the remaining two hundred
and fifty dollars is unpaid. I trust that the descendants of the
purchaser, even to the latest generation, will feel bound to Wycomico,
even as the trustees of the Theological Seminary, for the part
which has been used.
NOTICES OF THE LEE FAMILY IN VIRGINIA.
In the county of Northumberland and parish of Great Wycomico,
and within sight of the Chesapeake Bay, there is an estate and
mansion called Ditchley,—an English name of note,—which has
probably from its first settlement, more than one hundred years
ago, been the favourite resort of the ministers of the Episcopal
Church. Its present owner is Mr. Flexmer Ball. His father, Mr.
Joseph Ball, was one of the truest members of our Church. Of his
ancestry we have just written in our last article. Many and pleasant
have been the hours which, in company with some of the
Ditchley is one of the old residences of the Lees. The mansion
called Cobbs, where Colonel Richard Lee, the first of the family,
lived for some time, was near to Ditchley, and has only very recently
been removed to make place for another, although it must
have been built two hundred years ago or more. The first settler,
of whom more will hereafter be said, had many sons, of whom the
seventh, Hancock Lee, built and lived at Ditchley. He was twice
married,—first to a Miss Kendall, then to a Miss Allerton, by each
of whom he had children, whose descendants are among us to this
day. He died in 1729, as his tombstone in the family burying-ground
at Ditchley shows to this day. Both of his wives are buried
at the same place. That he was a patron of the church is shown
by the fact that he presented a Communion-cup to the parish in
1711. In honour either of himself or father, or the whole family,
the parish was then called Lee parish, as may be seen by the inscription
on the cup. It was afterward called Wycomico. After
the downfall of the parish, Mr. Joseph Ball placed this and other
pieces into my hands for preservation, in hope that the day might
come when the old Lee and more modern Wycomico parish might
call for it again. It is now used in the church at Millwood, Clarke
county, and the source whence it came and the pledge given are
recorded in the vestry-book of the same, as has already been said.
The following account of the Lee family is copied from a manuscript
in the handwriting of William Lee, dated London, September,
177-, the last figure not known, but just before the war, as is evident
from the document itself. Its author was one of the six sons
of Thomas Lee, so many of whom were active in the Revolution.
It is somewhat doubtful whether in the early part of it Mr. Arthur
Lee and William Lee, in London, were not as effective as Richard
Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee in America. Mr. William
Lee, author of the following sketch, was sheriff and alderman in the
city of London, and subsequently commercial agent for Congress
in Europe and their Commissioner at the Courts of Berlin and
Vienna. He married a Miss Ludwell and left three children,—
William Ludwell, of Greenspring, who is buried in the old churchyard
at Jamestown, Portia, who married Mr. William Hodgson,
and Cornelia, who married Mr. John Hopkins. The high character
of Mr. Lee stamps a value on the following statement:—
"Richard Lee, of good family in Shropshire, and whose picture, I am
told, is now at Cotton, near Bridgenorth, the seat of Lancelot Lee, Esq.,
some time in the reign of Charles I. went over to the Colony of Virginia
shortness be called `of the Council.' He was a man of good stature,
comely visage, enterprising genius, a sound head, vigorous spirit, and
generous nature. When he got to Virginia, which at that time was not
much cultivated, he was so pleased with the country that he made large
settlements there with the servants he carried over. After some years he
returned to England, and gave all the lands he had taken up and settled
at his expense to those servants he had fixed on them, some of whose descendants
are now possessed of very considerable estates in that Colony.
After staying some time in England, he returned to Virginia with a fresh
band of adventurers.
"During the civil war here, Sir William Berkeley was the Governor of
Virginia: he and Lee, both being loyalists, kept the Colony to its allegiance,
so that after the death of Charles I. Cromwell was obliged to send some
ships-of-war and soldiers to reduce the Colony, which not being able to
do, a treaty was made with the Commonwealth of England, wherein
Virginia was styled an independent dominion. This treaty was ratified
here as made with a foreign power, upon which Sir William Berkeley
(who was of the same family as the present Earl of Berkeley) was removed,
and another Governor appointed in his room. When Charles II.
was at Breda, Richard Lee came over from Virginia and went there to
him to know if he could undertake to protect the Colony if they returned
to their allegiance to him; but, finding no support could be obtained, he
returned to Virginia and remained quiet until the death of Cromwell,
when he, with the assistance of Sir William Berkeley, contrived to get
Charles II. proclaimed there King of England, Scotland, France, Ireland,
and Virginia two years before he was restored here, and Sir William
Berkeley was reinstated as his Governor, in which station he continued
until some time after the Restoration, when he came over, and died presently.
It was in consequence of this step that the motto of the Virginia
arms always till after the union was `En dat Virginia quintam;' but
since the union it was changed to `En dat Virginia quartam;' that is,
King of Great Britain, France, Ireland, and Virginia. Here, by-the-way,
I cannot help remarking the extreme ingratitude of this Prince
Charles II. Oliver Cromwell, to punish Virginia and some of the other
parts of America for adhering to the royal cause, after he had got himself
quite fixed in his supreme authority, both here and there, contrived
the famous Navigation Act, upon a model he borrowed from the Dutch,
by which the American Colonies were deprived of many of their ancient
and valuable privileges: upon the Restoration, instead of repealing this
Act, it was confirmed by the whole Legislature here; and to add to
the ingratitude, at two other periods in his reign, taxes were imposed
on American commodities under the pretext of regulations of trade, from
which wicked source have flowed all the bitter waters that are now likely
to overwhelm America or this country, and most probably will in the end
be the ruin of both. But to return. This Richard Lee had several children.
The two eldest—John and Richard—were educated at Oxford.
John took his degree as doctor of physic, and returned to Virginia, and
died before his father Richard. He was so clever and learned, that some
great men offered to promote him to the highest dignities in the Church,
if his father would let him stay in England; but this offer was refused,
because the old gentleman was determined to fix all his children in Virginia.
So firm was he in this purpose, that by his will he ordered an
at that time worth eight hundred or nine hundred pounds per annum, to
be sold and the money to be divided among his children. He died and
was buried in Virginia, leaving a numerous progeny, whose names I have
chiefly forgot. His eldest son then living was Richard, who spent almost
his whole life in study, and usually wrote his notes in Greek, Hebrew,
or Latin,—many of which are now in Virginia; so that he neither improved
nor diminished his paternal estate, though at that time he might
with ease have acquired what would at this day produce a princely revenue.
He was of the Council in Virginia, and also in other offices of honour
and profit, though they yielded little to him. He married a Corbin or
Corbyne, I think of Staffordshire: from this marriage he had and left
behind him when he died in Virginia—which was some time after the
Revolution [in England under William and Mary]—five sons,—Richard,
Philip, Francis, Thomas, and Henry, and one daughter[19] Richard settled
in London as a Virginia merchant, in partnership with one Thomas Corbin,
a brother of his mother: he married an heiress in England of the name
of Silk, and by her left one son, George, and two daughters, Lettuce
and Martha. All these three children went to Virginia and settled.
George married a Wormly there, who died leaving one daughter; then he
married a Fairfax—nearly related to Lord Fairfax, of Yorkshire—and
died, leaving by his last marriage three sons that are now minors and are
at school in England under the care of Mr. James Russul. Lettuce married
a Corbin, and her sister married a Turberville: their eldest children
intermarried, from which union George Lee Turberville, now at school at
Winton College, is the eldest issue. Philip, the second son, went to
Maryland, where he married and settled. He was of the Proprietor's
Council, and died leaving a very numerous family, that are now branched
out largely over the whole Province, and are in plentiful circumstances.
The eldest son, Richard, is now a member of the Proprietor's Council.
Francis, the third son, died a bachelor. Thomas, the fourth son, though
with none but a common Virginia education, yet, having strong natural
parts, long after he was a man he learned the languages without any assistance
but his own genius, and became a tolerable adept in the Greek
and Latin. He married a Ludwell, of whose genealogy I must give a
short account, being maternally interested therein. The Ludwells, though
the name is now extinct, are an old and honourable family of Somersetshire,
England, the original of them many ages since coming from Germany.
Philip Ludwell and John Ludwell, being brothers, and sons of a
Miss Cottington, who was heiress of James Cottington, the next brother
and heir to the famous Lord Francis Cottington, of whom a pretty full
account may be seen in Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, were
in court favour after the restoration of Charles II. John was appointed
Secretary, and was one of the Council in Virginia, where, I believe, he
died without issue. Philip, the eldest brother, went to America Governor
of Carolina, from whence he went to Virginia, and married the widow of
Sir William Berkeley, by whom he had a daughter, (that married Colonel
Parke, who was afterward the Governor of the Leeward Islands, in the
son named Philip.
"After some time old Philip Ludwell returned to England, and died
here. He was buried in Bow Church, near Stratford: his son Philip
remained in Virginia, where his father had acquired a considerable estate,
and married a Harrison, by whom he had two daughters,—Lucy, the
eldest, married a Colonel Grymes, who was of the Council in Virginia, and
Hannah, who married the before-mentioned Thomas Lee,—and one son,
Philip. This Philip was, as his father had been, of the Council of Virginia.
He married a Grymes, by whom he had several children,—most of
whom died in their infancy; and in the year 1753 his wife died; in 1760
he came over to England for his health, and in the year 1767 he died here,
when the male line of Ludwell became extinct. He left heiresses three
daughters,—Hannah Philippa, Frances, and Lucy: the second is since
dead unmarried. This Thomas Lee by his industry and parts acquired a
considerable fortune; for, being a younger brother, with many children,
his paternal estate was very small. He was also appointed of the Council;
and, though he had very few acquaintances in England, he was so well
known by his reputation, that upon his receiving a loss by fire, the late
Queen Caroline sent him over a bountiful present out of her own privy
purse. Upon the late Sir William Gooch's being recalled, who had been
some time Governor of Virginia, he became President and Commander-in-chief
in the Colony, in which station he continued for some time, until
the King thought proper to appoint him Governor of the Colony; but he
died before his commission got to him. He left by his marriage with
Miss Ludwell six sons,—Philip Ludwell, Thomas Ludwell, Richard Henry,
Francis Lightfoot, William, and Arthur,—and two daughters, all well provided
for in point of fortune.
Here ends the manuscript of Mr. William Lee, of London; but
we are enabled by another document to proceed further, though
not justified by the bounds prescribed to our notices to pursue it in
its details. Of the six sons of Thomas Lee, of Stratford, something
must be said, or we should be justly condemned.
Philip Ludwell, the eldest, succeeded his father at Stratford, in
Westmoreland. He married a Miss Steptoe, and left two daughters.
Matilda, the eldest, married General Henry Lee, of the Revolution;
and Flora married Mr. Ludwell Lee, of Loudoun. Thomas
Ludwell settled in Stafford, and married a Miss Aylett. Richard
Henry was educated in England, and returned in the nineteenth year
of his age, and married first a Miss Aylett, and next a Mrs.
Pinkard, who was a Miss Gaskins or Gascoigne. He took an
active part in the Revolution. His life has been written by
his grandson, Richard Henry Lee. Francis Lightfoot Lee also
participated largely in the events of the Revolution, and was
regarded as one of the ablest orators and statesmen of that period.
He married a Miss Rebecca Tayloe, daughter of Colonel John Tayloe,
of Richmond county. Of the fifth son, William, the sheriff and
alderman of London, we have already given some account. Arthur,
and diplomatist, was surpassed by none and equalled by few
of his contemporaries. He studied physic in Edinburgh, where he
took his degrees; but, disliking the profession, he studied law, and
distinguished himself as a lawyer in England. The services rendered
by him to his country as her minister at foreign courts were
most valuable.
In the English document immediately preceding, nothing is said
of one branch of the family,—viz.: Henry Lee, one of the brothers
of Thomas Lee, of Stratford, and grandson of the first Lee.
He married a Bland, and had several children. His son Richard
was Squire Lee, of Lee Hall. His only daughter married a Fitzhugh.
Henry, the third son, married a Miss Grymes, and left five
sons and three daughters,—viz.: Henry, who was Colonel in the
Revolution, Charles, Richard Bland, Theodoric, and Edmund; also,
Mary, Lucy, and Anne. A numerous posterity has descended from
these, among whom are some bright ornaments of the Church, the
State, and the army. Mention is made in our English document
of one of the family at an early period moving to Maryland and
having numerous and influential descendants in that Province. I
have reason to believe, from recent examinations into the records
of different courts in the Northern Neck, that some of that branch
returned to Virginia, and were for a long series of years clerks in
the county of Essex. The following extract from a communication
sent me by a competent person establishes the fact. "John Lee,
clerk of Essex county, who succeeded Captain William Beverley,
came from Maryland. His nephew, John Lee, who was a member
of the House of Burgesses, succeeded him. At his death, his son
Hancock Lee succeeded to the office. At the death of Hancock
Lee, his son John Lee succeeded to it." Thus four of the name
held the office of clerk in Essex in succession.
The family of Lees, in all its branches, so far as I know and
believe, have always been Episcopal. I know of scarce an exception.
I have been intimately acquainted with some most excellent
specimens of true piety among them,—too many to be specified and
dwelt upon. If tradition and history and published documents are
to be relied on, the patriotic, laborious, self-sacrificing, and eloquent
Richard Henry Lee, of the Revolution, must have deeply sympathized
with Washington, and Peyton Randolph, and Pendleton, and
Nicholas, and Henry, in their religious character and sentiments.
In looking over the two volumes containing the life and correspondence
of Richard Henry Lee, of Chantilly, in Westmoreland,
man in the Union who did more in his own county and State and
country, by action at home and correspondence abroad, to prepare
the people of the United States for opposition to English usurpation,
and the assertion of American independence? Was there a
man in America who toiled and endured more than he, both in body
and mind, in the American cause? Was there a man in the Legislature
of Virginia, and in the Congress of the Union, who had the pen
of a ready writer so continually in his hand, and to which so many
public papers may be justly ascribed, and by whom so much hard
work in committee-rooms was performed?" To him most justly was
assigned the honourable but perilous duty of first moving in our
American Congress "that these United Colonies are, and of right
ought to be, free and independent States." Nor is it at all wonderful
that one who was conversant with the plans and intentions
of the English ministry should have declared that, in the event
of the reduction of the Colonies, the delivery of General Washington
and Richard Henry Lee would be demanded, in order to
their execution as rebels. Although the great principles of morality
and religion rest on infinitely higher ground than the opinion of
the greatest and best of men, yet it is most gratifying to find them
sustained in the writings and actions of such a man as Richard
Henry Lee. Mr. Lee advocated private education as being better
calculated for impressing the minds of the young "with a love of
religion and virtue." His biographer says that he had early studied
the evidences of the Christian religion, and had through life
avowed his belief in its divine origin. He was a member of the
Episcopal Church in full communion, and took a deep interest in
its welfare. He proved the sincerity of what has been quoted from
him, in favour of private education, by having a minister or candidate
for the ministry in his family as private tutor. Mr. Balmaine
was sent over to him by his brother Arthur, from London,
as both a staunch friend of America and a pious man. I have
often heard Mr. Balmaine speak in the highest terms of Mr. Lee
as a Christian and a patriotic statesman. His attachment to the
Church of his fathers was evinced by the interest he took in seeking
to obtain consecration for our Bishops, immediately after the
war, and when he was President of Congress. Twice were thanks
returned to him by our General Convention for his services. Mr.
Lee was a decided advocate of the appointment of public acts of
supplication and thanksgiving to Almighty God in times of adversity
and prosperity. When all was dark and lowering in our
propitiating the favour of God, it should be recommended to the
different States to take the most effectual means for the encouraging
of religion and good morals, and for suppressing "theatrical
entertainments, horse-racing, gaming, and such other diversions as
are productive of idleness, dissipation, and a general depravity of
manners," while some voted against the measure, Mr. Lee was
found in company with the most pious men of the land in favour
of it, and it was carried by a large majority. Again, when by the
capture of Burgoyne's army the hearts of Americans were cheered,
we find Mr. Lee one of a committee drafting a preamble and resolution,
which is believed to be from his own pen, in the following pious
strain:—"Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to
adore the superintending providence of Almighty God, to acknowledge
with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received, and
to implore such further blessings as they stand in need of; and it
having pleased him, in his abundant mercy, not only to continue to
us the innumerable bounties of his common providence, but also to
smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war for
the independence and establishment of our unalienable rights and
liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased in so great a
measure to prosper the means used for the support of our arms,
and crown them with the most signal success: it is therefore recommended
to the Legislature and executive powers of these States,
to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth of December next, for solemn
thanksgiving and praise; that with one heart and one voice the
people may express the feelings of their hearts, and consecrate
themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor; and, together
with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join
the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they have
forfeited every favour, and their earnest and humble supplication
that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully
to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may
please God," &c.
Mr. Lee, though entirely opposed to any Church establishment,
was, together with Henry, an advocate for a proposition to make
every man contribute to the support of the Christian religion, as
the only sure basis of private and public morality. In this, however,
they failed. When the question about paying debts in depreciated
currency came on, Mr. Lee evinced his high and honourable
sense of morality in the earnest and eloquent opposition made to
it. He declared that nothing so deeply distressed him as a proposition
which he regarded as a violation of honesty and good faith
the honest slaves of Britain, than dishonest freemen."[20]
Of the descendants of so great and good a man, I cannot refrain
from adding something. His oldest son was Thomas Lee, whose
daughter Eleanor married Girard Alexander. His second son was
Mr. Ludwell Lee, of Loudoun county, who was a worthy member
of our Church, and left children and grandchildren who have followed
his example. His daughter Mary married Colonel William
Augustin Washington, but died childless. His daughter Hannah
married Mr. Corbin Washington, many of whose descendants have
been or are zealous members of the Church. His daughter Harriet
married twice,—first Mr. George Turberville, and then the Rev. Mr.
Maffit, of the Presbyterian Church. Many of their descendants,
whether of the Episcopal or Presbyterian Church, are characterized
by exemplary piety. Sally married Edmund I. Lee, of Alexandria,
and has left a numerous posterity of children and grandchildren
and great-grandchildren, who belong to and love the Church of
their ancestors. The Rev. William F. Lee was one of her sons.
Anne, the other daughter of R. H. Lee, married Charles Lee.
Her daughter Ann married General Walter Jones, and was the
mother of a numerous family of children, who love the religion and
Church of their ancestors. Her daughter Catherine is one of our
missionaries in China.
The daughter married Mr. William Fitzhugh, of Eagle's Nest, King George
county,—son of the first William Fitzhugh,—and was the mother of the late William
Fitzhugh, of Chatham.
NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE.
On the Potomac, and within sight of the bay, are the remains
of an old graveyard, belonging to what has always gone by the
name of the "Northumberland House." The place was originally
settled and a house built on it by a Mr. Presley, one of the earliest
settlers, who was murdered in it by his own servants. It was
afterward owned by Mr. Presley Thornton, who lies buried there.
The following extract from the letter of a friend is worthy of insertion:—
"I have also, according to promise, visited the graveyard of old Northumberland
House, and found the remains of but one tombstone. This,
although erected of the heaviest materials, has been so much mutilated
by lightning and the waste of time, that nothing more can be deciphered
than that it was erected to the memory of Presley Thornton, who was
elected in early life to the House of Burgesses from the county of Northumberland,
which office he held until 1760, when he was appointed one
of the Council of State for this Colony; and that he filled both offices
with great credit to himself and to the public emolument. He departed
age, having enjoyed all the chief honours of his country."
To this I add that, in the absence of the vestry-books and court-records,
I find that at an early period the Lees, Presleys, Poythresses,
Kenners, Thorntons, Newtons, &c. were the leading persons
in Northumberland.
The assertion by Mr. Lee that Charles II. was proclaimed King
in Virginia before he was received as such in England is a matter
of dispute among historians. Beverley, our earliest, who published
his work in 1705,—about forty-five years after the event is said to
have occurred,—affirms it as a fact. Robertson, the historian, and
Chalmers, another writer of that day, repeat the same. Burke,
who published in 1805, agrees with the foregoing so far as to think
that something of the kind took place, though not in a regular way.
Dr. Hawks agrees with Beverley and his followers. Mr. Henning,
in his Statutes at Large, compiled by order of the Virginia Assembly,
and commenced in 1809, is of opinion that there is no foundation
for any such supposition, and appeals to the entire absence of
all notice of such proceeding in the documents of that period.
Mr. Bancroft and Mr. Charles Campbell adopt the opinion of Mr.
Henning. Of course, if it was an irregular, partial, or tumultuous
act of individuals, as Mr. Burke supposes, we could not expect to
see it among the recorded Acts of Assembly, as we do see the later
and more formal acknowledgment of Charles II. It is not, however,
a matter of sufficient importance to produce a Trojan war.
It is scarcely probable that Mr. Lee is mistaken in the tradition
that his ancestor was a zealous loyalist, and did, on his return to
England, visit Charles at Breda and hold communion with him on
the subject of his acknowledgment by Virginia, then having so
many staunch Cavaliers in it, whatever uncertainty may rest upon
the subsequent proceedings.
Since the foregoing article was written, I have received some
further information concerning the first of the Lee family and his
children, which is worthy of insertion. The will of the first Richard
Lee, dated 1663, may be seen in Mr. Charles Campbell's History
of Virginia, p. 157. From it I extract the following:—"I, Colonel
Richard Lee, of Virginia, and lately of Stratford-Langton, in the
county of Essex, Esquire, being bound out upon a voyage to Virginia
aforesaid, and not knowing how it may please God to dispose
of me in so long a voyage," &c. "First, I give and bequeath my soul
to that good and gracious God that gave it me, and to my blessed
Redeemer Jesus Christ, assuredly trusting in and by his meritorious
of, whether by sea or land, according to the opportunity of the
place, not doubting but at the last day both body and soul shall be
united and glorified." Here again we see the faith and the divinity
of that day. He then directs that his wife and children, who it
seems had not yet been to Virginia, should be sent there, except
Francis, to whose option it was left. To his wife Anna he left
Stratford-on-the-Potowmacke (to which he had removed from Cobbs)
and Mock Necke, together with servants black and white, and other
property during her life. To his son John he leaves his plantation
called Matholic, with servants, &c. This is now the Mount Pleasant
farm owned by Mr. Willowby Newton. To his son Richard he
leaves his plantation called Paradise, and the servants there. To
his son Francis he leaves his plantations called Paper-Maker's
Neck and War Captain's Neck, with servants black and white. To
his five younger children, William, Hancock, Betsy, Anne, and
Charles, he leaves a plantation, including Bishop's Neck on the
Potomac, four thousand acres on the Potomac, together with Stratford
and Mock Neck at the death of their mother. To William he
leaves his lands on the Maryland side; to Francis an interest in
his two ships. He also leaves a fund for the better education in
England of his two oldest sons, John and Richard.
Since writing the account of the marriages of Richard Henry,
as given by his brother William Lee, I have received two communications,
stating that one of his wives was a Miss Gaskins, so that,
unless he was married three times, there must have been a mistake
as to the name of one of those before mentioned.
THE CORBIN FAMILY.
The following account of the Corbin family may very properly
be added to that of the Lees, on account of their early connection
by marriage.
The vestry-books of Middlesex and King and Queen counties
doubtless speak of some of the same persons mentioned in this
genealogy.
Henry Corbin settled in the parish of Stratton Major, King and
Queen, about the year 1650. One Nicholas Jernew obtained a
patent for Peekatone, in the county of Westmoreland, dated 18th
October, 1650, which he transferred to Henry Corbin, who had
another patent issued in his own name, dated 26th of March, 1664.
Henry Corbin had three children, of whom mention is made in the
old papers in my possession. Thomas Corbin, one of his sons,
by his will, devises to his son Gawin Corbin "the land of my
brother, the late Mr. Thomas Corbin." His eldest daughter,
Letitia, married Richard Lee, second son of Colonel Richard Lee.
Gawin Corbin, the other son of Henry Corbin, and once President
of the Council, married a daughter of William Bassett, and left
seven children,—three sons and four daughters. Jenny, one of his
daughters, married a Mr. Bushrod; Joanna married Major Robert
Tucker; Alice married Benjamin Needler, and the other a Mr.
Allerton. His sons were—1st, Richard Corbin of Laneville, who
married Miss Betty Tayloe, daughter of Colonel John Tayloe,
(Carter Braxton married their oldest daughter;) 2d, John Corbin,
of whose history I am ignorant, (the lands devised to him were
chiefly in Maryland;) 3d, Gawin Corbin, once a member of the
Council, and who married Hannah Lee, sister of Richard Henry
Lee. Gawin Corbin, third grandson of Henry Corbin, left an
only daughter, Martha, who married George Turberville. George
Turberville left two sons,—viz.: Gawin Corbin Turberville, and
Richard Lee Turberville. Gawin Corbin Turberville married a
daughter of Colonel John Dangerfield, and left an only daughter,
Mary, who married William F. Taliafero.
A friend has sent me the following record, which shows at how
early a period that kind of dissipation which proved so destructive
to Virginia made its appearance in the Northern Neck. "John
Lee, Henry Corbin, Thomas Gerrard, and Isaac Allerton, entered
into a compact, dated 30th of March, 1670, (recorded 27th
March, 1774,) to build a banqueting-house at or near the corner
of their respective lands."
| Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia. | |