University of Virginia Library

Alexander Henderson

This gentleman was the son of Rev. Robert
Henderson, Minister of Blantyre in Scotland. He
came to Virginia in 1756, and settled as a mer
chant in Colchester, in Truro Parish. He married
Miss Sallie Moore of Maryland. His son, General
Henderson, says that during the Revolution he retired
to a farm in Fairfax County for fear of falling
into the hands of the English, as he had taken
a very decided part against the mother-country.
He, General Washington and George Mason,
were commissioners on the part of Virginia who
met with the Maryland commissioners, Stone,
Chase and Jenifer, at Mount Vernon on the 28th
of March, 1785, made the compact as to the navigation
and exercise of jurisdiction in the waters of
Chesapeake Bay and Pocomoke. Col. Henderson
represented Prince William County in the General
Assembly in 1798, having in the meantime moved
to Dumfries, which had long been one of the chief
marts of commerce in Virginia. The late Murray
Forbes, of Falmouth, son of Dr. Stirling Forbes,
an eminent physician of Dumfries, when a boy became
one of his clerks, living in his family and
sharing his kindness with his sons. Col. Henderson
established a branch of his business in Alexandria

in connection with his cousin and son-in-law,
known as "Scotch Sandy." In process of
time he sent Mr. Forbes to Alexandria to manage
his share in the firm. When Mr. Forbes had
become of age Col. Henderson told him he would
like to keep him in his service, as he had conducted
his business to his satisfaction and to his
own credit. But he added, "You should go into
business on your own account. Here is a check
for $5000 in compensation for your services, and
I will give you a letter of credit for $5000 more.
Mr. Forbes was overwhelmed with surprise at the
proposition, but the Colonel insisted, and Mr.
Forbes became the accomplished merchant and
gentleman so well known in Falmouth. He
cherished a profound homage for Col. Henderson's
memory, and told his eldest son to hold his
name, character and lineage, in high respect. Col.
Henderson died in 1815, leaving six sons and four
daughters. John, Alexander and James moved to
Wood County, West Va. Richard was an eminent
lawyer of Leesburg. Archibald was Gen.
Henderson of the Marine Corps, U. S. A. Thomas
was a distinguished Surgeon of the Army, and one
of the founders of the Theological Seminary of
Virginia. One of his daughters, Sarah, was a devout
and sweet poetess, and married Gen. Francis
H. Smith, the Superintendent of the Virginia Military
Institute. This old Vestryman is now represented
in the Parish by one of his lineal descendants,
Mrs. Dr. Nevitt, of Accotink, who, like her
great grandfather, worships in the same old Pohick
Church.

Lund Washington, who became a Vestryman
in 1782, was the son of Townshend Washington
and Elizabeth Lund, of Chotank Creek,
King George County. He was born October 1,
1737, and died in 1796. In his youth he was a
manager of a large estate in Albemarle and
Orange. He was then appointed manager of Ravensworth
in Fairfax by Col. Henry Fitzhugh, of
King George. Subsequently he was chosen by
General Washington to superintend Mt. Vernon,
which he did until 1785. He was a man of great
bodily strength and activity, and made money for
his employers and for himself. He married his
cousin, Betsey Foote.

Edward Washington was chosen Vestryman
in 1779. Lund Washington says of him:
"Edward Washington lived a few miles from Colchester
when I went there to live in 1786. My
uncle, Lawrence Washington and I believed him
to be a relative from his strong resemblance to
the family." His father was living in 1788, a very
old man.

Dr. Peter Wagener, Vestryman in 1771,
was an Englishman, and was Clerk of Stafford
County before Fairfax was established. It was on
his land that the town of Colchester was founded
in 1754, and he was one of the original Trustees

with Daniel Mc.Carty, John Barry, William Elzy
and Edward Washington. He married a sister of
Mr. Speaker Robinson of the House of Burgesses.
(1750.) Their daughter Elizabeth married Rev.
Spence Grayson of Dettingen Parish, (1781–
1797). Peter Wagener, son of the foregoing, was
chosen Vestryman in 1774 to succeed his father
who died that year. He was Clerk of Fairfax
County, and married a daughter of Daniel Mc.Carty.
Their son, Beverly Robinson, married in
1790 a daughter of Col. Benjamin Harrison of
Prince William County. A daughter of Peter
Wagener married Dr. Morton of Colchester, and
2d. Col. Porter of Prince William.

Lawrence Lewis, of Woodlawn, was the
son of Col. Fielding Lewis, of Fredericksburg, and
his wife Betty, only sister of General Washington.
He was born April 4, 1767. Col. Fielding Lewis,
by his last will, dated October 19, 1781, devised
to his son Lawrence one thousand acres of land
in the County of Frederick, one sixth of his negroes
and one third of his stock of cattle, horses,
&c. When Lawrence had attained the age of
twenty one he was engaged by his uncle to live at
Mt. Vernon and aid him in receiving strangers and
entertaining the perpetual flow of company to that
hospitable mansion. In his letter Gen. Washington
said:—"Your Aunt and I are in the decline of
life and are regular in our habits, especially of rising
and going to bed. I require some fit person

to ease me of the trouble of entertaining company,
particularly of nights, it being my inclination to
retire, and, (unless prevented by very particular
company,) I always do retire either to bed or to
my study, soon after candle light. In taking these
duties, which hospitality always obliges me to bestow
upon company, off my hands, it would render
me a very acceptable service."

Mt. Vernon was the home of the beautiful Nellie
Custis, Mrs. Washington's grauddaughter,
when Lawrence Lewis entered the bower. Two
such bright particular stars thus moving in the
same orbit, by a mutual attraction soon became
one, according to that saying of our quaint old
South,—"An invisible hand from Heaven mingles
hearts by a strange secret and unaccountable conjunction."

Gen. Washington in his last will devises two
thousand acres of the Mt. Vernon estate to Lawrence
Lewis and his wife, Eleanor P. (Custis) Lewis.
The writer has a beautiful plot of this land,
with endorsement: "A Plan of a part of Mt. Vernon
lands, N. W. of the road leading from the gum
spring on little Hunting Creek to the ford of
Dogue Run. Beginning at three red marked oaks
on a rising therein, opposite to the old road which
formerly passed through the S. end of Muddy Hole
farm, including that part of Chaple land which belongs
to the subscriber, as also the Mill and Distillery,
showing the slopes, contents and relative

situation of every field, lot, meadow, and likewise
the shape and contents of every piece of woodland
appertaining thereto; the whole having been
laid down by an actual and accurate survey, Sept.
20, 1799.

G. Washington."

This survey was Washington's work less than
three months before his death.

Col. William Grayson. This gentleman,
spoken of in the Records as the Attorney for
the Vestry, merits special mention. He was the
son of Benjamin Grayson, a wealthy merchant of
Colchester, who married Susan Monroe of Westmoreland.
He was the brother of Rev. Spence
Grayson, Rector of Dettingen Parish. William
Grayson, born 1736, was educated in England and
practiced law in Dumfries. On 11th of November,
1774, the Independent Company of Cadets was
formed in Prince William and chose Grayson their
Captain. The motto of the Company, was, "Aut
Liber aut Nullus." A Committee consisting of
Philip R. F. Lee was sent to wait on Col. Washington
and ask him to take command of the Company
as Field Officer. To this he assented, and
when he took command of the Army he took leave
of them in a formal letter. This Company offered
to unite with the Fredericksburg Company and
march to Williamsburg.

Grayson was often at Mt. Vernon, as stated in

Washington's Diary. In August, 1776, Washington
appointed him one of his Aids, and he was
with him in many campaigns in New Jersey and
New York, distinguishing himself by his gallantry
at Monmouth, and was in hearing of the spicy
colloquy between Gen. Washington and Gen.
Charles Lee. Grayson and Lieut. Col. Jones were
appointed Colonels of the two new Regiments
raised in Virginia. He was put by Washington at
the head of a Commission to settle the vexed questions
arising out of the capture of Gen. Charles
Lee. In 1778 he was made Commissioner on the
Board of War. Bishop White used to tell an anecdote
of the bold and dashing way in which he,
at this time, dispersed a mob near his house in
Philadelphia. In 1784 he was elected to Congress,
and also made a member of a Court for determining
a dispute between Massachusetts and New
York. In 1778 he was a member of the Virginia
Convention to consider the ratification of the Constitution
of the United States, and spoke and voted
against it, chiefly upon the ground that the proposed
Constitution would destroy the rights of the
States, and there were no adequate checks against
the abuse of power, especially by the President,
who was responsible only to his counsellors and
partners in crime, the members of the Senate.
And yet, though in the minority on this exciting
question, he and Richard Henry Lee were chosen
the first Senators in Congress from Virginia. He
served one session in the Senate, and died on his
way to the second, on the 12th of March, 1790,
and was buried in the family vault at Belaire in
Prince William County. Although Col. Grayson
filled so many public trusts with signal ability, he
has, from want of a biographer, almost lapsed
from history, while other inferior men live in story
and song. In person he was six feet high, of a
full habit and florid complexion, with black hair
and eyes. With his varied culture he was elegant
in conversation as he was able in debate. He married
a sister of Gen. Smallwood, of Maryland, and
left four sons, William, George, Alfred and Robert,
and one daughter, Helen, who married John
Carter, of Loudoun, who went to Kentucky, and
whose eldest son moved to Tennessee. Robert
married Miss Breckenridge, of Kentucky.

George Johnston. This gentleman, one of
the legal advisers of the Vestry, was the son of
Dr. James Johnston who migrated to Maryland.
The son came to Virginia and settled in Fairfax
County, which he represented in the General Assembly.
Patrick Henry's famous resolutions were
seconded by Mr. Johnston in a "speech of great
eloquence and power." He married Miss Thompson,
by whom he had two daughters, one of whom
married Rev. Lee Massey, of Truro Parish, and
the other married Robert Howson Harrison, one
of Washington's aids. He married for his second
wife Miss Mc.Carty, by whom he had five sons and

four daughters. Two of his sons were officers in
the Revolution, and a grandson, Major George
Johnston, in the Confederate States Army.

Martin Cockburn, whose name so often appears
in the Parish Records, was a native of
Jamaica. While travelling in Virginia, in his
eighteenth year, with Dr. Cockburn, he became
fascinated with Miss Bronaugh. She would not
go to Jamaica, and he had to come to Virginia to
win the prize. He bought a farm, Springfield,
near Gunston, where they lived to a good old age.
He was a polished Christian gentleman, much esteemed
by George Mason, as is attested by their
correspondence still extant.

Capt. Cleon Moore, of Colchester, elected
Vestryman in 1781, was badly wounded at the
battle of Brandywine. He moved to Alexandria
in 1800 and was appointed Register of Wills,
which office he filled until his death in 1808.
He was succeeded by his son Alexander, who was
born at Colchester January 8, 1786. His first wife
was the daughter of Col. Roger West, of West
Grove, Fairfax County. Cleon Moore was the
author of Washington's March. He was wont to
tell this anecdote of himself, says Mr. Brocket, of
the "Lodge of Washington":

During the Revolution he was stationed with
a squad of men in the Northern Neck, without rations.
Chancing to see a flock of geese, belonging
to a Mr. Page, he "impressed" them, except a

gander, to whose neck he attached a piece of
paper, containing nine-pence, with these lines:—