University of Virginia Library

GILMER.

George Gilmer, immigrant, was a native of Scotland, who
after a short sojourn in London, came to this country. He
settled in Williamsburg, and practised his profession as a
physician. His son Peachy, a fellow student of Nicholas
Meriwether in William and Mary College, paid a visit to his
friend in Albemarle, and fell in love with and married his
sister Mary. This led to his brother George visiting the
county, and ultimately marrying Lucy, daughter of Dr.
Thomas Walker.

George like his father was a physician. He settled in
Charlottesville, and his first residence was on Main Street,
near the present store of T. T. Norman. He seems afterwards
to have lived on Jefferson Street, on the south end of
the lot facing the west side of the Square. He was a man of
great activity and public spirit. The agitation preceding
the Revolution had already begun when Dr. Gilmer came

to Charlottesville, and from the first he displayed the liveliest
concern in the questions involved. Allusion has already
been made to the prominent part he performed in the
earliest movements towards independence. In 1777 he purchased
from John Harvie Pen Park, which he made his home
for the remainder of his life, the home of intelligence and
refined hospitality graphically described by John P. Kennedy
in his Life of Wirt. About the same time he purchased land
on Mechunk, until he owned more than two thousand acres
in that section. He was appointed a magistrate, served as
Sheriff in 1787, and was a member of the House of Delegates.
He died in 1796. His children were Mildred, the wife of
William Wirt, George, Peachy, John, James, Lucy, the wife
of Peter Minor, Harmer, Francis W., and Susan, the wife of
Zachariah Shackelford.

Pen Park continued to be the home of the family during the
life of Mrs. Gilmer. That part of the plantation called Rose
Hill, where the children of John D. Craven now reside, was
given to Mr. Wirt, and there he built a house; but having
no family, he and his wife lived for the most part with her
mother. The mother and daughter both died in 1800, and
the next year Mr. Wirt removed to Richmond. The homestead
was soon after sold to Richard Sampson, and still later
to John H. Craven, whose residence there many yet remember.

George married Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Hudson,
of Mount Air. He became the owner of the Mechunk lands,
which some years after were sold under deeds of trust to
Dabney Minor. He died in 1836. His children were Thomas
W., George Christopher, John H., Sarah, the wife of Dr.
Samuel W. Tompkins, Georgiana, the wife of Colin C. Spiller,
Maria, the wife of Samuel G. Adams, Ann, the wife of
Peter McGee, Martha, and Lucy, the wife of Edward Pegram.
Thomas W. was a lawyer, member of the Legislature, Governor
of Virginia, member of Congress, Secretary of the
Navy, and lamentably perished on board of the United States
ship Princeton in 1844. His wife was Ann Baker, of Shepherdstown,
Va. In 1826 he lived on Park Street where Drury
Wood now resides, in 1831 bought from W. B. Phillips the-brick

house and lot at the west end of Jefferson Street, where
John C. Patterson lives, and in 1836 purchased from John
W. Davis the property on the hill recently occupied by John
T. Antrim. G. Christopher married first Leana Lewis, of the
Scottsville neighborhood, and secondly Mildred, daughter of
Richard Duke. He died in 1887.

Peachy was admitted to the bar, and practised in Bedford
County. He and Lucy were two of the devisees of the Farmington
estate, Mrs. George Divers being their mother's sister.
Peachy died in 1836. John was a physician, married Sarah
Gilmer, a distant kinswoman, and lived at Edgemont, where
he died in 1835. Francis adopted the profession of law, but
was cut off in early life. He was a young man of fine
endowments and rare culture, and gave promise of filling a
distinguished position in his generation. He was a close
friend of Mr. Wirt and Judge Dabney Carr, and a great
favorite of Mr. Jefferson. The implicit reliance Mr. Jefferson
had in his penetration and judgment, was manifested in
his being entrusted with the selection of the first professors
of the University. He himself was designed for the professorship
of law. In his modesty, which was as great as his
ability, he thrice declined the place. At length he accepted,
but before entering upon its labors, was removed from the
scene of all earthly activities in 1826.