AN ACCOUNT OF THE FITZHUGH FAMILY; ESPECIALLY OF THE
FIRST ANCESTOR, WILLIAM FITZHUGH.
The Fitzhugh family is a very ancient and honourable one in
England. Some of its members were high in office and favour
during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The name is a combination
of the two names Fitz and Hugh. Sometimes one, sometimes
the other, would precede, until at length they were united in
Fitzhugh. The first who settled in this country was William Fitzhugh.
His father was a lawyer in London, and himself of that
profession. He settled in Westmoreland county, Virginia, when a
young man, and married a Miss Tucker, of that county. He was
born in the year 1650, and died in 1701. He left five sons,—William,
Henry, Thomas, George, and John,—between whom, at his
death, he divided 54,054 acres of land in King George, Stafford,
and perhaps Essex. His sons and their descendants owned the
seats called Eagle-nest and Bedford in King George, and Bellaire
and Boscobel in Stafford. He had one daughter named Rosamond,
who married Colonel Oberton, of Westmoreland, but died without
issue. His son William married Miss Lee, of Westmoreland.
Henry married Miss Cooke, of Gloucester. Thomas and George
married daughters of Colonel George Mason, of Stafford, and John,
Miss McCarty, of Westmoreland. From these have sprung all the
families of Fitzhughs in Virginia, Maryland, and Western New
York. The Rev. Robert Rose married Ann, the daughter of Henry
Fitzhugh, of Eagle-nest, in the year 1740. She lived to the year
1789, surviving her husband thirty-five years. There are some
things in the life and character of the father of this large family
of Fitzhughs worthy to be mentioned for the benefit and satisfaction
of his posterity. I draw them from his pious and carefully-written
will, and from a large manuscript volume of his letters, a
copy of which was some years since gotten from the library of Cambridge,
Massachusetts, by one of his descendants, and which is now
in the rooms of the Historical Society of Virginia.
It appears that he was, during the period that he exercised his
profession, an eminent and most successful lawyer, and published
in England a work on the laws of Virginia. He was much engaged
in the management of land-causes for the great landholders, whether
residing in England or America. He was counsellor for the celebrated
Robert Beverley, the first of the name, and who was persecuted
and imprisoned for too much independence. He transacted
business for, and purchased lands from, Lord Culpepper, when he
held a grant from King Charles for all Virginia. In all these
transactions he appears to have acted with uprightness and without
covetousness, for in his private letters to his friends he speaks of
being neither in want nor abundance, but being content and
happy; though before he died he acquired large tracts of lands
at a cheap rate. The true cause of this was his being a sincere
Christian. This appears from his letters to his mother and sister,
to whom he remitted pecuniary assistance according to his ability,
increasing it as his ability increased. The following brief letter to
his mother in the year 1694 will exhibit his filial and pious disposition:—
I heartily condole with you in your present sickness
and indisposition, which your age now every day contracts. God's grace
will make you bear it patiently, to your comfort, his glory, and your everlasting
salvation. I cannot enough thank you for the present of your
choice Bible. The money that you say you had present occasion for I
have ordered Mr. Cooper to enlarge, and you will see by his letter that it
is doubled. Before I was ten years old, as I am sure you will remember,
I looked upon this life here as but going to an inn, and no permanent
being. By God's grace I continue the same good thoughts and notions,
therefore am always prepared for my dissolution, which I can't be persuaded
to prolong by a wish. Now, dear mother, if you should be necessitated
for eight or ten pound extraordinary, please to apply to Mr. Cooper,
and he upon sight of this letter will furnish it to you."
He adds a postcript to the letter, saying, "My sister died a true
penitent of the Church of England."
His sister had come over to America at his instance some years
before and married here, but died without children. Other letters
to his mother, who it seems was much afflicted with some troubles,
which are not mentioned, he writes in a very consoling manner,
bidding her regard her sorrows as from Heaven, and thanks her for
pious instruction of him. His habits were strictly temperate. In
writing to a friend who was much afflicted with the gout, he tells
him the secret of his freedom from it,—viz.: that he never was addicted
to the orgies of Bacchus, or to the adoration of Ceres or
Venus, never courted unlawful pleasures, avoided feasting and the
surfeit thereof, and bids him tell the physician this.
Mr. Fitzhugh was not merely a moral man, but a sincerely religious
man, beyond the measure of that day. He is not ashamed
in one of his legal opinions to quote Scripture as the highest authority.
He was a leading member of the Episcopal Church in his
parish. Through him presents of Communion-plate and other things
from English friends were made to the parish. Referring to the
unworthiness of many of the ministers who came over from England,
he communicated with his friends and with the Bishop of
London, asking that sober, reputable, and educated men might be
sent over instead of such as did come. All this appears from passages
in his letters to England. But, were there none of these
letters extant, the following extract from his will would testify to
his sound and evangelical views of our blessed religion.
Extract from the will of Colonel William Fitzhugh, of Stafford county,
Virginia, who died in October, 1701. He was the parent of the Fitzhugh
family in Virginia, and the patentee of Ravensworth:—
"At a court held for Stafford county, December 10, 1701. Present
her Majesty's Justices for said county.
"In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Trinity in Unity,
Unity in Trinity, Three Persons and One God, blessed forever. Amen.
I, William Fitzhugh, of Stafford county, in Virginia, being by God's grace
bound for England, and knowing the frailty and uncertainty of men's lives,
and being at present in perfect health and memory, do now ordain, constitute,
and appoint this my last will and testament, revoking all other and
former, or other wills, this 5th day of April, 1701.
"Imprimis: I recommend my soul into the hands of God, through the
mediation and intercession of my blessed Saviour and Redeemer, hoping
by the merits of his death to have my sins washed away in his blood,
nailed to his cross, and buried in his grave, and by his merits and passion
to obtain everlasting life; therefore, now do bequeath and dispose such
estate as it hath pleased God to bestow in his mercy upon me, after this
manner following,
"After they have disposed of my body to decent interment, without
noise, feasting and drink, or tumult, which I not only leave to, but enjoin,
my executors, hereafter named, to see decently performed.
"Item: I give and bequeath to my eldest son, William Fitzhugh, all
these tracts of land following," &c. &c.
(Then follow the bequests to the various members of the family.)
It is evident that in the foregoing will there is much more than
the usual formal recognition of a God and future state. Here is
to be seen a true acknowledgment of the Holy Trinity, and an
entire reliance on the merits of the Saviour's death and the cleansing
of his blood, such as no orthodox divine could better express.
None can doubt but that the recorded sentiments and the consistent
life of this father of a numerous family must have had its
effect upon many of his posterity. I have known many, and heard
of others, who imbibed his excellent spirit, and not in Virginia only,
but in other States, to which they have emigrated. One there was,
too well known to the writer of these lines, and to whom for Christian
nurture and example he was too much indebted, ever to be
forgotten. A beloved mother was a lineal descendant of this good
man, born and nurtured on the soil which his economy and diligence
had bequeathed to a numerous posterity. To her example
and tuition, under God, am I indebted for having escaped the snares
laid for the youth of our land and for having embraced the blessed
religion of Christ. And if I may be permitted to single out one from
the numerous families of the name, it must needs be that one which
was nearest to me, and with which I have been most intimately
acquainted from my childhood up. The name of Mr. William
Fitzhugh, of Chatham, in the county of Stafford, as a perfect gentleman,
as a most hospitable entertainer, and a true son of Virginia
in her Councils, will not soon be forgotten. His name is not only
on the journals of our civil Legislature, but may be seen on the
ecclesiastical records of our Church, among those who were the last
to give up her regular assemblies and the hope of her prosperity
in her darkened days. Nor is it unlawful to proceed to some brief
notice of the two children who survived him. His son, William
Henry Fitzhugh, my associate at college, entered life with as fair
a prospect for honour and usefulness as any young man in Virginia.
Twice only, I believe, did he appear in the legislative hall of our
State, and once in a Convention of the same; but such a promise
of political distinction was there given, that it could not but be
felt that a few years would find him in the higher Councils of the
land. It pleased Providence to interfere, and by a sudden and
early death to remove him from this earthly scene. Before this
decree of Heaven was executed, as if admonished of its coming, he
had, after pleading by his pen and voice for the American Colonization
Society, directed that all his slaves—amounting, I believe, to
about two hundred—should be prepared for, and allowed to choose,
Africa as their home.
But I must not lay down my pen, though the heart bleed at its
further use, without the tribute of affection, of gratitude, and reverence
to one who was to me as sister, mother, and faithful monitor.
Mrs. Mary Custis, of Arlington, the wife of Mr. Washington Custis,
grandson of Mrs. General Washington, was the daughter of Mr.
William Fitzhugh, of Chatham. Scarcely is there a Christian lady
in our land more honoured than she was, and none more loved and
esteemed. For good sense, prudence, sincerity, benevolence, unaffected
piety, disinterested zeal in every good work, deep humility
and retiring modesty,—for all the virtues which adorn the wife, the
mother, and the friend,—I never knew her superior. A husband yet
lives to feel her loss. An only daughter, with a numerous family
of children, also survive, to imitate, I trust, her blessed example.
