LEWIS BURWELL.
The Burwell family is "of very ancient date upon the borders of
England and Scotland." It was settled at Berwick-upon-Tweed as early as
the year 1250. The names Minion Burrell and William Burrell appear
in the list of adventurers for Virginia. The ancestor of the family in the
Colony was Major Lewis Burwell, who settled on Carter's Creek, in
Gloucester County, in 1640. In 1646 he was a member of the deputation
sent to invite Charles the Second to come to Virginia as its King.
He married Lucy, daughter of the "valiant Captain Robert Higginson,
one of the first commanders who subdued the country of Virginia from
the power of the heathen." Of the issue of this marriage, Major
Nathaniel Burwell, the fourth son, born about 1680, married Elizabeth,
eldest daughter of "King" Robert Carter, who, after his death in 1721,
married Dr. George Nicholas, and was the mother of Robert Carter
Nicholas, long the Treasurer of Virginia. The eldest son of Major
Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Carter) Burwell, Lewis Burwell, known by
the name of his seat, as of "The Grove," Gloucester County, was born
about the year 1710. He matriculated at Caius College, Cambridge,
England, in 1731, and was a man of genius and learning. He married
in October, 1736, Mary, daughter of Colonel Francis and Ann Willis.
He was a Burgess from Gloucester County as early as 1736, a little
later became a member of the Council, and as the President of that body,
after the death of Thomas Lee, was, on February 12, 1751, acting Governor
of Virginia. He was relieved by the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor
Robert Dinwiddie, November 20, 1751, and died in 1752.
