University of Virginia Library

THE DEJARNETTE FAMILY

The earliest ancestors of this ancient family to come to
America were Samuel and Joseph DeJarnette (originally DeJarnatt)
who were among the Hugenots that fled from LaRochelle
when the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, banished
from France so many of her most intelligent and useful citizens.

The DeJarnettes first settled in South Carolina where they
intermarried with the famous Hampton family and others of the
best blood of that State. Joseph DeJarnette m. Mary Hampton,
and came to Virginia and settled about the end of the seventeenth
century in what afterward became Caroline. He was the progenitor
of the DeJarnette family of Virginia. One of the most
beautiful homes in Caroline is "Hampton" which was built by
one of the descendants of Joseph DeJarnette and named for the
family of his maternal ancestor. The name Hampton has
descended in the DeJarnette family through several generations.

"Spring Grove" which is located about six miles south of
Bowling Green is another beautiful DeJarnette estate. This
home was built about the middle of the nineteenth century by
Daniel Coleman DeJarnette who was one of the most highly
cultured men of his time. He was a scholar of the first rank, and
was prominent in political life. He served in the House of Delegates

and was afterward elected as an anti-Administration
Democrat to the Thirty-sixth Congress. He was re-elected to
the Thirty-seventh Congress of the United States but declined
to take his seat and was soon thereafter elected to represent
Virginia in the Confederate States Congress. He was re-elected
a member of the Confederate Congress and served. He died
at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., on August 18, 1881. His
son, Daniel Coleman DeJarnette who m. Miss Nancy Willis, of
Richmond, Ky., owns and lives at "Spring Grove." They have
one son, Joseph Willis DeJarnette, a young business man of
Bowling Green, who m. Alice Richards, daughter of James T.
Richards and Nettie Rowe.