 | Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia |  |
ARTICLE XXX.
Gloucester.—No. 4. Supplement to the Articles on Gloucester.
According to a purpose expressed in one of my previous numbers,
I have visited some places in Gloucester, with a view of obtaining
the most accurate information concerning some antiquated places
which have interest in them for more than mere antiquaries. My
first visit was to the old stone chimney which tradition says belonged
to the house built by Captain Smith for King Powhatan at
or near his residence on York River, in Gloucester. I acknowledge
that I had never placed much confidence in this tradition; for, though
I did not doubt but that Captain Smith had built a log room with
a stone chimney for the King, yet I did doubt whether any remains
of the room or chimney could now be seen. I am sure that there
is now no other remnant of such architecture, either in stone or
wood, to be found in Virginia. I went therefore to the spot with
no little of skepticism on the subject. On a high point of land,
divided by Timberneck Creek from Mr. Catlett's farm, the former
seat of the Manns, there is a wooden frame room, of more recent
construction, attached to a low, Dutch-built chimney intended only
for a single-story house. The chimney has recently been covered
on the outside with a coat of plastering. The fireplace within was
eight feet four inches wide—that is, the opening to receive the
wood—and four feet deep, and more than six feet high, so that the
tallest man might walk into it and a number of men sit within it
around the fire. All this was royal enough; but as many of the old
chimneys in Virginia, especially of the negro quarters, were as
large in former days, when wood abounded, my skepticism was not
entirely removed until I perceived, in the only crack which was to
be seen outside of the wall, something which showed that the material
was of no ordinary kind of stone, but like that of which the
old church at York was built,—viz.: marl out of the bank, which
only hardens by fire and by exposure. To render this more certain,
I asked the owner of the house if he could not get me a small block
of the material from the bottom of the chimney, near the ground,
so as not to injure it. He obligingly consented, and, bringing an
old axe, by repeated and heavy blows disengaged from the chimney a
kind of marl, composed of shells, and which abounds on some of
the high banks of York River, on both sides. I am now satisfied
that this is really the stone chimney built by Captain Smith.
There is no other kind of stone—if this may be called stone—in
this region; and it was much easier for Captain Smith to use this
than to make and burn brick. It is, moreover, more durable than
brick or stone. It is impossible to say how many generations of log
or frame rooms have been built to this celebrated chimney. There
is a contest between this spot and Shelly for the honour of being
Powhatan's residence; and it is thought by some that the old chimney
decides it in behalf of this. Shelly, in a straight line, is little more
than a mile from this, and may have been the residence of the
King and his tribe (and there are some strong marks of this) at the
time, though he may have preferred to have this house built on the
high and commanding bluff on which it stands. Moreover, Smith
and his men may have preferred, while at their work, to be at a
little distance from his royal majesty and his treacherous people.
Bearing away with me the piece of marl-stone from Powhatan's
chimney, to be kept in proof of what I now believe to be fact, I
crossed the creek, and sought at the old homestead of the Manns
for some sepulchral monument showing that tradition was true in
relation to the residence of a family whose name is only to be
found incorporated with other names, inheriting an estate which
not only once covered the half of Gloucester, if report be true, but
was scattered in large parcels over numerous other counties. In
or near the stable-yard, in an open place, there is to be seen a pile
of tombstones lying upon and beside each other in promiscuous
confusion, on which may be read the following inscriptions:—
"Here lyeth the body of John Mann, of Gloucester county, in Virginia,
gentleman, aged sixty-three years, who departed this life the 7th day of
January, 1694."
Also,—
"Here lyeth the body of Mrs. Mary Mann, of the county of Gloucester,
in the Colony of Virginia, gentlewoman, who departed this life the 18th
day of March, 1703-4, aged fifty-six years."
Their daughter and only child married Matthew Page, son of
John Page, the first of the family. They buried a child at this
place, whose tombstone is a part of this pile, and reads as follows:—
"Here lyeth the body of Elizabeth Page, daughter of Matthew Page,
life the 15th of March, Anno Domini 1693."
THE TOMBS AT ROSEWELL.
My next visit was to Rosewell,—the mansion of which I have
spoken in one of the preceding articles.
Mr. Matthew Page moved to this place from Timberneck. Three
of his young children—Matthew, Mary, and Ann—are buried here
before the month of August, 1704. This appears, or did appear,
from their tombs. The following is the inscription on the heavy
ironstone tomb of Matthew Page:—
I.
"Here lyeth interred the body of the Honble Col. Matthew Page, one of.
Her Majesty's most Honble Council, of the parish of Abington, in the
county of Gloucester, Colony of Virginia, son of the Honble John Page, of
the parish of Bruton, in the county of York, in the aforesaid Colony, who
departed this life the 9th day of January, Anno Domini 1703, in the
45th year of his age."
II.
"Here lyeth interred the body of Mary Page, wife of the Honble Matthew
Page, Esquire, one of Her Majesty's Council of this Colony of Virginia, a
daughter of John and Mary Mann, who departed this life the 24th day of
March, in the year of our Lord 1707, in the 36th year of her age."
III.
"Here lie the remains of the Honble Mann Page, Esquire, one of His
Majesty's Council, of the Colony of Virginia, who departed this life the
24th day of January, 1730, in the 40th year of his age. He was the only
son of the Honble Matthew Page, Esquire, who was likewise member of His
Majesty's Council. His first wife was Judith, daughter of Ralf Wormley,
Esquire, Secretary of Virginia, by whom he had two sons and a daughter.
He afterward married Judith, daughter of the Honble Robert Carter, Esquire,
President of Virginia, with whom he lived in the most tender reciprocal
affection for twelve years, leaving by her five sons and a daughter.
His public trust he faithfully discharged, with candour and discretion,
truth and justice. Nor was he less eminent in his private behaviour; for
he was a tender husband and indulgent father, a gentle master and faithful
friend, being to all courteous and beneficent, kind and affable. This
monument was piously erected to his memory by his mournfully surviving
lady."
There were tombstones with inscriptions over each of the wives
of this, the first Mann Page,—one in Latin and the other in
English. The latter was first broken and then crumbled away.
One of the sons of the above-mentioned Mann Page was named
Mann, and inherited Rosewell. The following is the inscription
over his first wife:—
IV.
"Here lyeth the body of Alice Page, wife of Mann Page, who departed
this life the 11th day of January, 1746, in childbed of her second son, in
the 23d year of her age, leaving two sons and one daughter. She was
the third daughter of the Honble John Grymes, Esquire, of Middlesex
county, one of His Majesty's Council in this Colony. Her personal beauty
and the uncommon sweetness of her temper, her affable deportment and
exemplary behaviour, made her respected by all who knew her. The
spotless innocency of her life and her singular piety, her constancy and
resignation at the hour of death, sufficiently testified her firm and certain
hope of a joyful resurrexion. To her sacred memory this monument is
piously erected."
His second wife was Miss Ann Corbin Tayloe. Two of their
sons, who died young, are buried at Rosewell, having tombs and
inscriptions. Governor Page, of Virginia, was a son by his first
wife, Alice Grymes. There is no tombstone over the second Mann
Page. Governor Page died in Richmond, and was buried in the
old churchyard around St. John's.
My next visit was to the old seat of the Burwells, about two
miles from Rosewell, on Carter's Creek, and in full view of York
River. It was formerly called Fairfield, and is so marked on
Bishop Madison's map of Virginia. It has for some time past been
called Carter's Creek only. The house, as appears by figures on
one of the walls, was built either in 1684 or 1694. A portion of
it has been taken down: the rest is still strong and likely to endure
for no little time to come. The graveyard is in a pasture-lot not
far from the house. Being unenclosed, it is free to all the various
animals which belong to a Virginia farm. Hogs, sheep, cows, and
horses, have free access to it; and, as there is a grove of a few old
trees overshadowing it, the place is a favourite resort in summer.
The tombs are very massive. The slabs on which the inscriptions
are engraved are of the same heavy ironstone or black marble with
those at Rosewell, Timberneck, and Bellfield, of which we have
spoken. The framework underneath them has generally given way,
and they lie in various positions about the ground. A large honeylocust,
around which several of them were placed, having attained
its maturity, was either blown down by the wind or struck by lightning,
and fell across them, breaking one of the largest into pieces.
The young shoots of the tree, springing up, have now themselves
become trees of considerable size, and afford shade for inanimate
tombs and living beasts. None of the family have for a long time
owned this ancient seat.
TOMBS AT CARTER'S CREEK, OR FAIRFIELD.
I.
"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."
II.
"The daughter of Robert Higginson. She died November 26th, 1675.
. . . . . She was the wife of Major Lewis Burwell."
III.
"Here lyeth the body of Lewis, son of Lewis Burwell and Abigail his
wife, on the left hand of his brother Bacon and sister Jane. He departed
this life ye sixteenth day of September, 1676, in the 15th year of his
age."
IV.
"Here lyeth the body of Mary, the daughter of Lewis and Martha his
wife. She departed this life in the first year of her age, on the 20th of
July."
V.
"To the sacred memory of Abigail, the loving and beloved wife of
Major Lewis Burwell, of the county of Gloucester, gent., who was descended
of the illustrious family of the Bacons, and heiress of the Hon.
Nathaniel Bacon, Esq., President of Virginia, who, not being more
honourable in her birth than virtuous in her life, departed this world the
12th day of November, 1672, aged 36 years, having blessed her husband
with four sons and six daughters."
VI.
"Beneath this tomb lyeth the body of Major Nathaniel Burwell, eldest
son of Major Lewis Burwell, who, by well-regulated conduct and firm integrity,
justly established a good reputation. He died in the 41st year
of his age, leaving behind him three sons and one daughter,[97]
by Elizabeth,
eldest daughter of Robert Carter, Esq., in the year of our Lord Christ
1721."
Of these, the daughter, Elizabeth Burwell, married President William Nelson,
and was the mother of General Thomas Nelson, &c. One son, Lewis, was the grandfather
of the late Lewis Burwell, of Richmond, &c., and father of Mrs. P. B. Whiting;
and the other was Carter Burwell, of The Grove, who married Lucy Grymes,
the sister of Alice, wife of Mann Page, and daughter of the Hon. John Grymes;
and he was the father of Col. Nathaniel Burwell, of Carter Hall, in Frederick
county, Virginia; and the third son was Robert Carter Burwell, of the Isle of
Wight, the father of Nathaniel Burwell of the same county, (whose children were
Robert C. Burwell, of Long Branch, Frederick, and his four sisters,) and Fanny,
the first wife of Col. John Page, of Rosewell, since Governor of Virginia.
VII.
"Here lyeth the body of the Hon. Lewis Burwell, son of Major Lewis
Burwell and Lucy his wife, of the county of Gloucester, who first married
and six daughters; and, after her death, Martha, widow of the Hon. William
Cole, by whom he had two sons and eight daughters, and departed
this life 19th day of Dec., 1710, leaving behind him three sons and six
daughters."
VIII.
"Sacred to the memory of the dearly-beloved . . . Martha, daughter
of . . . . of Nansemond county, in Virginia, married to Col. William
Cole, by whom she had no sons and no daughters. Afterward married
to Major Lewis Burwell, by whom she had six sons and three daughters;
resigned this mortal life the 4th day of Aug. 1704."
Copies of inscriptions on the tombstones of Ware Church, which sto
were covered by the erection of a new chancel-floor in said church in
June, 1854.
I.
"Underneath this stone lyeth interred the body of Amy Richards, the
most dearly-beloved wife of John Richards, minister of this parish, who
departed this life 21st of November, 1725, aged 40 years.
"Near her dear mistress lies the body of Mary Ades, her faithful and
beloved servant, who departed this life the 23d of November, 1725, aged
28 years."
II.
"Here lyeth the body of Mrs. Ann Willis, the wife of Col. Francis
Willis, who departed this life the 10th of June, 1727, in the 32d year
of her age. Also the body of A., daughter of the abovesaid, aged 7 days."
III.
"Underneath this stone lyeth the body of Mr. John Richards, late rector
of Nettlestead, and vicar of Teston, in the county of Kent, in the kingdom
of England, and minister of Ware, in the county of Gloucester and Colony
of Virginia, who, after a troublesome passage through the various changes
and chances of this mortal life, at last reposed in this silent grave in expectation
of a joyful resurrexion to eternal life. He died the 12th day
of November, in the year of our Lord MDCC . . . V., aged 46."
IV.
"Here lyeth the body of Isabel, daughter of Mr. Thomas Booth, wite
of Rev. John Fox, minister of this parish; who with exemplary patience
having borne various afflictions, and with equal piety discharged her several
duties on earth, cheerfully yielded to mortality, exchanging the miseries
of this life for the joys of a glorious eternity, on the 13th day of June, in
the year of our Lord MDCCXLII., of her age 38."
V.
`Here also lie the bodies of Mary and Susannah, daughters of the
above-mentioned John and Isabel. The one departed this life on the 5th
day of September, 1742, in the 4th year of her age; the other on the
8th of October, in the 3d year of her age, MDCCXLIII."
Doubtless there are other tombstones in the county bearing the
names of the old worthies of former days; but no information concerning
graveyard, with tombstones, at the old seat of the Washingtons,
in Gloucester, on the Piankatank, from which I have been desirous
to hear, but have failed. One of the sons of the first John Washington
married a Miss Warner, of Gloucester, and settled at the
above-mentioned place. Hence sprung the combination of the
names Warner and Washington, so common in these families.
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