PART II

Eighteenth Century

_MURDERS IN STAFFORD_

Thomas Barton, of Stafford County, asked a neighbor to stay with his

children while he and his wife went away for a day. The obliging

neighbor, his wife and three children, came to the Barton plantation on

a Sunday, June 16, 1700.

There were three children in the Barton family, and an orphan boy. On

that peaceful June day all must have been drowsy contentment at the

wilderness plantation--six children at play in the house, and the

neighbor and his wife trying perhaps to take a nap. Only the orphan boy

was outside, playing alone.

Suddenly the peaceful Sunday afternoon was turned into a nightmare. A

party of Indian warriors swooped down in a sudden attack on the Barton

place. All was over in a few minutes no doubt. Only the orphan boy

escaped and ran to a neighboring plantation.

Meanwhile Barton was on the way home. His wife had probably decided to

stay overnight wherever they had visited for he was alone. He stopped by

a mill where he had left some corn to be ground and picked up his bag of

meal. When he was almost home about twenty Indians started up from the

woods and closed in about him in a "half-moon." They were naked and

unarmed.

Barton had a good mount but the meal was heavy. He finally got the bag

loose and threw it off, and then at full speed he "broke through the

woods and got safe to a neighbor's house."

Colonel George Mason II, who was probably at the head of the Stafford

militia, was notified of the outrage. When he and a "small parcel of

men" arrived at the Barton place they found plenty of work to do. They

"pulled out of the people and a mare, sixty-nine arrows." They also

found five "ugly wooden tomahawks." Mason and the men buried the "poor

people." Arrows had made holes in the roof of the house as "big as swan

shot."

From the tracks about the house Mason judged that there had been at

least forty Indians in the party. He was of the opinion that most of

them had gone back to Maryland.

After Mason returned to his home he wrote a long letter to the governor

in which he described the murders as the "horriblest that ever was in

Stafford." These two plantations would be deserted for the year, he

wrote, and he was afraid that all the people would leave their

plantations. "I am afraid," wrote Colonel Mason, "that we shall have a

bad summer, but ... if I can keep them upon their plantations, it will

be some discouragement to the enemy ... but God knows what I shall do

now, for this has almost frighted our people out of their lives."

In another letter written in July, Colonel Mason seemed to have gotten

the situation well in hand: "The Rangers continue their duties ... they

range ... four days a week, which is as hard duty as can be

performed.... The inhabitants still continue from their homes, but the

abundance are better satisfied since part of the Rangers are constantly

ranging among them." The Rangers had been re-enforced by the sons of the

planters and other young men.

_FREE SCHOOLS_

In 1652 the court of Northumberland County granted the petition of

Richard Lee of Cobbs Hall "concerning a free school to be set up."

Francis Pritchard, 1675, Lancaster County, left a large estate for the

establishment of a free school.

In 1700 William Horton endowed a free school in Westmoreland County.

In 1702 John Farneffold made provision in his will for a free school in

Northumberland as early as August, 1672. In 1680 he was minister of St.

Stephen's Parish, and remained such until his death in 1702. He was the

son of Sir Thomas Farneffold of Sussex, England.

The provisions in John Farneffold's will concerning the free school were

as follows:

"I give 100 acres where I now live for the maintenance of a free school,

and to be called Winchester Schoole, for fower or five poore children

belonging to ye parish and to be taught & to have their dyett, lodging &

washing, & when they can read the Bible & write a legible hand, to

dismiss them & take in more, such as my exors. shall think fitt, and for

the benefitt of the said school, I give five cows and a Bull, six ewes,

and a ram, a carthorse & cart and two breeding sowes & that my two

mulatto girles, Frances and Lucy Murrey, have a yeares schooling & be

free when they arrive at the age of 22 years, to whom I give a sow shoat

to each, & for further encouragement of a schoolmaster, I give dyett,

lodging & washing & 500 pds. of tobacco & a horse, Bridle & Saddle to

ride on during his stay, the place where the school house is to be

directed, my will is to have it neare my dwelling house, some part of

which may serve for a school house til another may more conveniently be

built. Item what schoole books I have in my study, I leave for ye

benefit of ye schoole. Then my will is that some of my estate be sold

for the maintenance of the said schoole except what my exors. shall

think fitt to select necessary for use as bedding, potts, & pewter. My

will is that Mr. Tarpley, Mr. Leo Howson, Richard Nutt and Edward Cole

carry me to the grave, three to have guineas, and Richard Nutt a gold

ring.... If the school fail for want of maintenance, which I hope it

will not, give that hundred acres & all the rest of my land to

Farneffold Nutt, son of Richard Nutt; to the minister who preaches my

funeral sermon, my Preaching gown & Cassocke."

Another school was provided for by Daniel Hornby, of Richmond County. In

his will, proved April 2, 1750, he made provision that a Latin master

should attend Travers Colston, a relative, at twenty pounds per year,

and that he should be obliged to teach ten children.

In 1770-71 Colonel Landon Carter of Sabine Hall, Richmond County, was

supporting a free school in that county. William Rigmaiden was the

master of this school.

_THE HOME IN THE FOREST_

Mary Ball was born on a plantation "up in the forest," which was the way

the Northern Neckers described any place that was not on the water.

In this Neck where one is never far from the water, river plantations

were the rule in colonial days, and it is an unusual fact that Colonel

Joseph Ball established his seat in the forest. Lancaster was still a

frontier county and there were only horse paths through the woods, for

the rivers were still used as highways.

Joseph Ball had inherited his forested lands from his father, William

Ball, the founder of the Ball family in Virginia. William came to

Virginia, probably as a merchant, in 1650, but he did not settle until

about 1663, at which time he purchased land in Lancaster County and

established his seat on the east side of the Corotoman River, where it

empties into the Rappahannock. This location, which he called

Millenbeck, became the county seat.

Joseph Ball followed in the footsteps of his father as a man of

prominence in county affairs. He was Lieutenant-Colonel in the militia,

and vestryman of St. Mary's White Chapel. This chapel was known as "the

Balls' church" just as Christ Church was known as the "Carters' Church."

Both churches were in Christ Church Parish.

Joseph Ball was married twice. Just before his second marriage he gave

to the children of his first marriage certain portions of his estate,

reserving the right of dower for his second wife.

Little is known of Joseph's second wife, Mary Johnson, except that she

was a widow. When Mary Ball was born to Joseph and Mary, probably in the

winter of 1708 or 1709, there was nothing to indicate that she was

destined to become the most important woman of the Northern Neck. She

was at that time just another baby born into the gentle, distinguished

and religious Ball family.

Joseph Ball, who was no longer a young man, died when Mary was about two

years old. In his will he left Mary four hundred acres of land near the

head of the Rappahannock River, three slaves, fifteen cattle and "all

the feathers in the kitchen loft to be put in a bed for her."

Within about one year, Mary Johnson Ball married again. Her third

husband was a prominent merchant-planter, Captain Richard Hewes, who

lived on his plantation Cherry Point in the upper part of Northumberland

County, in the neck between Yeocomico and Coan Rivers.

When Mrs. Hewes went to Cherry Point to live she took her son by her

first marriage, John Johnson, and Mary Ball with her. Thus Mary at three

years of age had few, if any, memories of her birthplace "up in the

forest" of Lancaster County.

Several generations later this Ball plantation became known as Epping

Forest. It was named, it is believed, for a Ball estate in England.

_CHERRY POINT_

Mary Ball's first memories were probably of the fields and rivers at

Cherry Point. It was a pleasant place to remember. The responsibility of

the plantation soon fell on Mary's mother, for Captain Hewes died in

1713.

There were few toys then. Mary may have had one of those wooden dolls

with stiff joints and staring eyes. She probably played out-of-doors and

had animals for pets.

There were no childrens' books then. A Mother Goose book was published

in Boston in 1719, but that was too late for Mary. She probably had only

a horn-book from which to learn her A B C's. Perhaps there was an

indentured servant who could teach her a little.

On Sundays the family probably attended church at Upper St. Stephen's

Parish[8], where Captain Hewes had been one of the vestrymen. There may

have been some sort of a road from the plantation to the church over

which a coach could be pulled, but if so it certainly did not travel at

the lively speed of King Carter's! More than likely they rode there on

horseback--little Mary sitting up in front of some older person. She

doubtless learned to ride at an early age.

[Footnote 8: NOTE: This church is said to have been located near the

present village of Lottsburg.]

Mary probably valued the feather bed left her by her father far more

than she did the legacy of land. She had never even seen the land, but

every night she could sink into the warmth and softness of the feather

bed.

Mary's childhood days at Cherry Point ended in 1721. The child's

half-brother, John Johnson, and her mother both died in that year.

Mary Ball was now an orphan, but her mother had planned it so that she

would not be alone in the world. Mary Hewes had stipulated in her will

that--"my said Daughter Mary Ball--be under Tutiledge and government of

Captain George Eskridge during her minority." Colonel Eskridge was also

named as executor of Mary's estate. She had received almost the whole of

her mother's estate, consisting of lands, two horses and personal

property. And she had received all of her half-brother's estate,

consisting of land in Stafford County.

Mary Hewes had chosen wisely in selecting her "trusty and well beloved

friend George Eskridge" as guardian of her youngest child. Colonel

Eskridge was not only a lawyer of distinction, an experienced business

man, a leading man in his community, but he was also a gentleman. And

Colonel Eskridge was "connected by marriage" with Mary Ball's

half-sister Elizabeth Johnson who had married Samuel Bonum. Mary was

therefore equally welcome to make her home at her guardian's plantation

or at the farm of the Bonum's.

[Illustration: _Mary Ball at Yeocomico Church._]

_SANDY POINT_

Both the Bonums and the Eskridges lived in lower Westmoreland County,

just across the Yeocomico River from Cherry Point.

Colonel Eskridge's plantation, Sandy Point, was directly on the Potomac.

Its name gave but a vague idea of the beauty of the beach and the sweep

of river beyond. There was a feeling here of space. It was a place of

restless sounds, made by the wind and waves. It was quite different here

from the quieter waters and forest walls that Mary Ball had known.

Bonum's Creek Farm, the home of Mary's half-sister, Elizabeth, was east

of Bonum's Creek. The "home-place" was situated on the bank of the

Potomac, in sight of Pecatone, the manor home of the Corbin family.

Mary now had the choice of these two delightful places for her future

home. She probably divided her time between the two. Perhaps Mary Hewes

had this in mind when she left Mary a "good Pacing horse together with a

good silk plush saddle," thus taking care of the problem of

transportation.

Among the other things "bequeath unto" Mary by her mother were two gold

rings, the "one being a large hoop and the other a stoned ring," a trunk

and "all the rest of my wearing apparel." So when Mary went to her new

homes she had a trunkful of clothes which would come in handy as she

grew older, for it took a long time to receive an order from England,

and ships were being taken by pirates during these years. It was lucky

that fashions did not change much then, and that clothes were made to

last.

Mary had a maid, who probably looked after her and her wardrobe. Mary

had enough income for her needs, therefore she was more fortunate than

most orphans of that time.

Sandy Point was doubtless the scene of many larks after Mary joined the

Eskridge girls who lived there. In the evenings there was probably much

talk around the fireplace--of pirates and witches and houses where

mysterious lights flitted at night. And much giggling and chatter

upstairs after the candles had been put out.

In 1726 Mary's life was again saddened, this time by the death of her

brother-in-law, Samuel Bonum. In his will he left her "a young gray

dapple horse."

While at Sandy Point Mary attended Yeocomico Church, where her guardian

was a vestryman. She rode there on horseback, tradition says. In cold

weather she probably wore a red cloak, and a hood or scarf to protect

her head and face.

The simple church, cloistered in the virgin forest, invited worship, but

the churchyard on Sundays was a festive place in those days. And it was

a noisy place--there was the rattling of wheels, the cracking of whips,

the neighing of horses and the chattering of the people, who were so

glad to see each other. There were "rings of Beaux chatting" around the

girls in their bright mantles.

It was cold inside the church in winter, sometimes too cold to have even

the usual short sermon. The high-backed pews shielded their occupants

from drafts, and some people had their servants bring in little stoves

of perforated tin containing coals, or hot bricks to place under the

feet.

After the service there was more "visiting together" in the churchyard,

and the men had business transactions to make.

Near the church there was a spring, and a kiln where the bricks had been

burned for the church when it was built in 1706.

Mary Ball lived among the gentle people of this region until she was

married. There are no early portraits of Mary Ball, but tradition says

that at the time of her marriage she was "a healthy orphan of moderate

height, rounded figure and pleasant voice, aged 23."

_AUGUSTINE_

Augustine Washington was "connected by marriage" with Colonel Eskridge.

He probably met Mary Ball on one of his visits to Sandy Point.

Sandy Point was an ideal place for romance but there is not even a

traditional account of the courtship of Mary Ball. Even the scene of her

marriage is not known, but it was probably at Sandy Point or at the

Bonum home. Mary Ball and Augustine Washington were married by the

Reverend Walter Jones, on March 6, 1731. Ministers at that time usually

received "for marriage two shillings."

Mary's new husband was "blond, of fine proportion, great physical

strength and stood six feet in his stockings, and had a kindly nature."

He was called Gus by his friends.

Gus took his bride to his home on Popes Creek, in upper Westmoreland

County. Mary was not the first mistress at Popes Creek, for Augustine

had been married before, to Jane Butler, half-sister to Colonel

Eskridge's second wife. Jane had been dead for about three years.

At Popes Creek now there were the servants and little Jane, who was

about nine years old. Augustine's other two children were teen-age boys,

Lawrence and Augustine, who were then at Appleby's School in England.

Gus himself had been educated at that school.

Augustine Washington, while not a man of great wealth, owned land and

buildings in at least three counties, and he was part owner of two iron

furnaces. He was prominent in his community, having held at various

times the positions of Justice of Westmoreland County court, Captain in

the county militia, Sheriff of Westmoreland County, and he was a

vestryman in the church. Although he was not one of the wealthiest

planters in the Northern Neck, he was on an equal footing with them

socially.

_POPES CREEK_

When Mary came to Popes Creek to live she had some housefurnishings of

her own to bring with her. There was the feather bed, and her mother had

left her a bedstead to go with it, a quilt and a pair of blankets. She

had also left Mary two table-cloths "marked M. B. with inck," two pewter

dishes, two basins, one large iron "pott," one frying pan, one "Rugg"

and "one suit of good curtains and fallens" (valance). It must have been

with great joy that Mary arranged these things in her own home.

The house at Popes Creek was not a magnificent residence such as

Stratford Hall or King Carter's manor at Corotoman. It is believed to

have been "a simple abode," but it was comfortable and it had a quality

that was lacking in the splendid mansions--it was homely. It was the

kind of place where a planter could sit with his family in the evening

and feel close to them and close to his earth.

The house was situated on the west side of Popes Creek, about

three-quarters of a mile from the point where the creek emptied into the

Potomac. About a mile to the northwest was the last habitation of John

Washington, the immigrant, and near it was the family burying ground.

Augustine had bought his tract of one hundred and fifty acres of land on

Popes Creek from Joseph Abbington in 1718. David Jones, a local builder

and undertaker, had contracted to build the home for five thousand

pounds of tobacco with extra amounts in cash for incidentals. He was

probably assisted by Augustine's slaves and indentured servants. The

house was completed and occupied by Augustine and his first wife about

1726, so it was still rather new when Mary came to live there.

Mary probably found it not too difficult to assume her duties as

mistress of the plantation for the farm activities at Popes Creek were

about the same as those she had known before her marriage on the

plantations in lower Westmoreland.

Many years later the Popes Creek plantation became known as Wakefield.

_THE WAR PATH_

The Shenandoah Valley was the historic war trail of the Six Nations of

Indians of the north in their warfare with the southern Indian tribes.

These wars had commenced before the settlement of Jamestown. There is no

evidence to show that the Valley was inhabited to any extent by Indians

immediately before the coming of the white man to the New World.

Scattered burial mounds prove that Indians lived there at an early

period but their history has been lost.

Governor Spotswood believed that this migration of Indian warriors from

north to south would hold back the settlement of Virginia. He called a

conference which was attended by the northern Indians and the governors

of New York and Pennsylvania, and himself and other representatives from

Virginia. At this conference the Indians were persuaded to limit their

travel. In the Treaty of Albany, signed in 1722, the northern Indians

promised to let the southern Indians live in peace, and agreed that

their warriors would not cross Virginia without a passport. Disregard of

this treaty was punishable with death or transportation to the West

Indies and sale into slavery.

Governor Spotswood bound the bargain by dramatically handing the

interpreter his "golden-horseshoe," which had been pinned at his breast,

and bidding him to give it to the speaker and to tell him that "there

was an inscription on it which signified that it would help him to pass

over the mountains; and that when any of their people should come to

Virginia with a pass, they should bring that with them."

After this treaty was signed the Northern Neck could be opened to

settlers westward. And the planters could now patent immense tracts of

land.

_FALMOUTH_

About this time there was considerable trade between the Northern Neck

and both Ireland and Scotland. It has been said that Virginia tobacco

helped Glasgow, Scotland, to prosperity. A street in that city was named

for Virginia, and at one time Virginia merchants "thronged that street

and were regarded with such respect that other men gave way that they

might pass." Among these gentlemen were some of the planters from the

Potomac. In 1720 George Mason III, was given the freedom of the city of

Glasgow, in the form of a parchment "Burgess Ticket."

Falmouth, in Stafford County, was founded in 1727 by Scotch merchants.

Boats from Scotland came directly to this trading village situated near

the head of the Rappahannock River. Something of this once thriving

trading center of the Neck is told in a letter written by a visitor by

the name of Ellen Gray. The undated letter was written to her friend,

Rose Douglas of Loch Lomond, Scotland. It says:

"Dear Rose:

"Falmouth is on a river that empties into Chesapeake Bay. The

houses are perched on declivities and hills. There are mills. I

love water wheels when they glisten.... We saw scenery much

wilder than any in Scotland. It consisted of islands in the

Rappahannock, lying above Falmouth. We gazed on them from a

long plank bridge. What a pity the Virginians will span their

streams with plank instead of stone! A stone bridge overgrown

with moss is a bewitching sight. Several Scotch families have

lived in Falmouth, tho the place is called Fal from a river in

England. Among its most successful merchants was Basil Gordon.

He arrived a poor boy in Falmouth. He died a millionaire after

a life of patient industry."

Basil Gordon is believed to have been one of America's first

millionaires.

_BURNT HOUSE FIELD_

It was a cold night in January, 1729. Thomas Lee was ready to go to bed.

He had probably checked the doors and windows and all seemed well at

Matholic.

His family were already asleep but perhaps Thomas lingered awhile,

thinking about his new home, Stratford, which he was building on his own

plantation twenty miles away. How good, he may have thought, it would be

to have something of his own. For Matholic, this ancestral Lee estate in

Westmoreland where he was now living, did not belong to Thomas. He was

leasing it from his older brother, the third Richard Lee.

Thomas Lee was a younger son and therefore he had received little in the

way of a heritage; even his education had been neglected. His older

brothers had received the customary classical education, while Thomas

learned only reading, spelling and ciphering, probably from an

indentured servant. He had been ashamed of his lack of education. To

pass in the elegant society to which his family were accustomed it was

necessary to have a knowledge of Latin and Greek. After he was a mature

man he studied long hours alone until he had mastered these subjects.

Thomas' father, the second Richard, had thrown at least one crumb in the

direction of his younger son. When he was compelled by age to resign as

naval officer of the Potomac, in 1710, the elder Lee persuaded Governor

Alexander Spotswood to give this post to his son, Thomas. So, before he

was twenty-one, Thomas was reporting on the maritime trade of his

district, and collecting fees from the ships' captains.

Through his uncle, Edmund Jenings, Thomas had acquired the position of

manager of the Northern Neck proprietary. His uncle, who was then in

England, had a lease on the proprietary at that time. Thomas had opened

a land office at Matholic. He also traveled on horseback all over the

Northern Neck so that in this way he well knew the lands of that vast

domain.

By the time Thomas was established, and thirty-two years old, his

thoughts turned to marriage. He went "a-courting" down at Green Spring,

near Jamestown, and won the hand of young Hannah Harrison Ludwell. When

Hannah came as a bride to Matholic she added to the family fortune with

her dowry of six hundred pounds sterling.

Things were going well with Thomas Lee. Now, on this winter's night, he

probably went up to bed with a contented mind.

Sometime during the night Thomas awoke suddenly to find the house in

flames around him. He shook Hannah and they grabbed up the children from

their beds and started for the stairs only to find that it was too late

to get down that way. The heat was hot on his back when he helped Hannah

over the window sill and watched her fall to the ground--fifteen feet.

He dropped his small children and then jumped himself. Just in time,

too, for he was hardly on the ground before the roof caved in--too late

to save the twelve-year-old white servant girl who was asleep in the

house.

Shivering in their night clothes the family watched the barns and

outbuildings burn to the ground, shocked into silence by the loss of the

little servant.

Later the ashes of the house were searched for Hannah's silver. When not

a trace of it was found the origin of the fire seemed evident--burglars

had broken in, stolen the silver and other valuables, and then set fire

to the house.

The villians who burned the house were never caught. There were at large

a number of English convicts who had been transported to Westmoreland as

indentured servants. They had joined together and formed a lawless

gang--they frightened and robbed the citizens of the countryside. Thomas

Lee in his line of duty as a local magistrate had no doubt at some time

given them reason to want revenge. These convicts may have burned the

house.

As naval officer of the Potomac, Thomas had to prevent smuggling. A year

before Matholic was burned his life was threatened by the crew of the

_Elizabeth_. No doubt some of his enemies made in the line of his duties

were at the bottom of this outrage. At any rate the Lords of Trade in

London thought so, for they sent him a bounty, three hundred pounds of

which was from the privy purse of Queen Caroline. Tradition says that

this bounty helped Thomas Lee to finish building his home, Stratford.

In the meantime he built another house on the Matholic estate at a spot

removed from the original house. The new house was called Mt. Pleasant.

The site of the destroyed house was ever after known as Burnt House

Field. It was used as a family burying ground.

_STRATFORD HALL_

Long before Matholic burned Thomas Lee had started building his own

home.

As a land agent for the Northern Neck proprietary he was well acquainted

with its desirable lands, but the portion which he selected for his own

belonged to the Pope family, and had been patented by Colonel Nathaniel

Pope about 1650, before the proprietary came into being.

"I want to buy the Clifts," said Thomas Lee. This land was situated in

Westmoreland County and bordered on the Potomac. Here the banks rose

sharply above the River. We can imagine Thomas Lee standing at the edge

of those bold cliffs, looking across the River while he dreamed of the

manor house which he would some day build.

One day in 1716 a representative of the Pope family closed the deal by

ceremoniously presenting Thomas Lee with a handful of earth and a

twig--an ancient symbolic confirmation of the transference of the 1,450

acres of land called "the Clifts Plantation."

Thomas Lee built his home nearly a mile inland from the "clifts," where

it would not be so open to an enemy attack from the River. Pirates were

still roving the surrounding waters.

It took a long time to build the kind of house that Thomas Lee had in

mind--a house with walls of brick two feet thick, that would stand for

centuries. The thousands of bricks required for this undertaking had to

be made there on the place.

Thomas Lee made a trip to England at the beginning of his project, some

traditions say, and while he was there he doubtless visited the estate

at Strat-by-the-Ford, once owned by his grandfather, Richard Lee, the

immigrant. There could scarcely be any other reason why he would name

his own home, Stratford.

Thomas Lee planned his house, it is said, after viewing the manor houses

of England, and the result was that Stratford turned out to be a sort of

medieval fortress. It was shaped like the letter H with pointed roofs.

The crossbar of the H was the Great Hall, about thirty feet square.

On the roof of each wing arose a cluster of four great chimneys, which

were joined together by arches of masonry. These clustered chimneys gave

the appearance of two belfries, or towers. The space inside each group

of chimneys was made into a summer-house. A member of the Lee family

later described them thus:

"Eight chimneys formed the summer-house pillars, From which were seen

Potomac's sea-like billows...."

In medieval times the use of the summer-house was functional, and so

were these at Stratford--the activities of the plantation and on the

Potomac could be seen from them.

At first glance Stratford appeared to be a one-story building, but its

main floor was raised to the level of a second story. Thomas Lee had an

idea of his own about architecture which was remarkably modern, that was

to bring the beauty of nature inside. He did this by having long flights

of steps leading directly from the lawn to the front and rear entrances

of the Great Hall. Doorways and windows framed the fields, forest and

lawn.

The manor occupied the center of a large square marked at the corners by

four dependencies. A ha-ha wall ran across the front of the square, the

purpose of which was to keep the cattle away from the house without

obscuring the view.

Stratford Hall was built between 1725-30.

_GEORGE WASHINGTON_

It was about ten o'clock of a February morning in the year 1732,[9] when

a baby's cry was heard in the dwelling at Popes Creek. A son had just

been born to Augustine and Mary Washington.

[Footnote 9: George Washington was born "11th Day of February 1732, Old

Style," or February 22, 1732, "New Style." The latter is the now

accepted date.]

The baby was named George. It is believed that Mary's first born child

was thus named in honor of her former guardian, Colonel George Eskridge.

Neighbors, godparents and the minister assembled, probably at Popes

Creek, for the christening. A notation in Mary's Bible recorded the

event: "... and was Baptised the 5th of April following." George's

godmother was his aunt, Mrs. Mildred Washington Gregory.

George's first memories must have been happy ones--of woods, fields and

water, and of animals, fowl and birds. His family loved him, and the

dark faces were kindly.

George soon had a sister, Betty, to play with, and then Samuel. The

first three and one-half years of George's life were spent at the Popes

Creek plantation.

[Illustration: _The infant, George Washington at Wakefield, his

birthplace._]

_EPSEWASSON_

In 1735, Augustine decided to move his family from Popes Creek to his

farm about fifty miles up the Potomac.

This farm was part of the land acquired years before by John Washington,

the immigrant, and Nicholas Spencer, husband of Frances Mottrom.

Augustine had bought twenty-five hundred acres of it in 1726.

This property was located on Little Hunting Creek, which flowed into the

Potomac. It was still called by the Indian name, Epsewasson.

Tradition says that the Washington family moved in March, as soon as

"the ice cleared in the river." It was a new adventure for the children,

but one of them was missing. Little thirteen-year-old Jane had passed

away in January.

Epsewasson was still quite primitive; some of the land had never been

under the plow. The Indians lived no longer in the forest, but the wild

animals were still there.

At Epsewasson there was probably already a small dwelling, and Augustine

had cabins built for the slaves and servants. And there had to be a

mill--Augustine had one on Popes Creek and he built one here on Doeg

Run.

Mary probably found life much harder at Epsewasson. The location was

isolated, but she was never lonely for the children kept her company,

and a fourth baby, John Augustine soon came to join his brothers and

sister.

Thirty miles from Epsewasson was a place called Accokeek, where

Augustine had interest in an iron-works. He seems to have been the only

American actively interested in the iron enterprise, Principio Iron

Furnaces. The rest of the company was owned by Englishmen.

Between Epsewasson and Accokeek there were several streams and marshes

and Gus found that it was just as hard to get to as it had been from

Popes Creek.

Little George may have gone to Accokeek with his father sometimes and

watched the pig iron from the furnace being carried by cart to a landing

six miles away on the Potomac. Augustine had men and oxen there for that

purpose--"three hundred weight being a load for a cart drawn by 8

oxen."

[Illustration: _Young Washington helping in the handling of "seine" on

the Potomac._]

1738 was an eventful year for the Washingtons. First, another baby,

Charles, was born, and then, Lawrence returned from his school in

England. He was a grown man now, with grace and polish. He immediately

became George's hero, and remained so forever.

Augustine now made a decision--they must move out of the wilderness so

that the children could have schooling and so that he could be closer to

the iron works.

A place near Fredericksburg seemed to fill these qualifications. It was

within easy riding distance of the iron-works, it was near a school, and

it was situated between the land bequeathed Mary by her father and the

land left her by her half-brother, John Johnson.

Augustine bought the property, which was known as the "Strothers

estate," in 1738. They left Epsewasson, on Little Hunting Creek, which

was later to become well-known as Mount Vernon.

NOTE: Epsewasson was sometimes spelled Eppsewasson, Ipsewason,

etc.

_FERRY FARM_

The Washington family moved to their new home in December, 1738. The

"Strothers estate," or Ferry Farm as it was called then or at some later

date, was located in what was then King George County but later became

Stafford County.

The house was of moderate size, with the necessary farm outbuildings

nearby. There were open fields and some woodland. The property was on

the Rappahannock and at this part of the River it had dwindled to a

small stream. It was not much of a river here when compared with the

Potomac which the Washingtons had just left. The ferry which was

operated not very far from the house must have been of especial interest

to the children.

Ferry Farm was by no means luxurious, but it was adequate for the needs

of the Washingtons. Here they lived a simple farm life.

The meals were probably served in the hall, as the custom had been in

the seventeenth century. The china and linen were ample but in keeping

with farm-living. There were twenty-six silver spoons but no silver

plate.

The family doubtless arose early, maybe at dawn. After grace was said a

simple breakfast was served. The main meal was served in the middle of

the day and it was called dinner. Game, fowl, fish or hot meat and

greens, vegetables and hot breads were included in this meal. The hominy

may have been made in the Indian fashion with a pestle and a

hollowed-out tree stump. Supper was a light meal.

The objects which were probably of the most interest to George were his

father's surveying instruments, rifle and axe.

Mary's chamber, it was said, was directly in the rear of the hall

downstairs. There were two beds in it, the trunk, a chest of drawers,

four rush-bottomed chairs, and a tea table before the fireplace. The two

windows had hangings. It was probably in this room that another baby

girl was born in June, 1739. She was the last child born to Mary and

Augustine.

October, 1740, was a sad month for the Washingtons. The baby died that

month, and Lawrence sailed from the Chesapeake to a far-off war in

Cartagena.

_FREDERICKSBURG_

The town of Fredericksburg was just across the Rappahannock from Ferry

Farm. To the Washington children, straight from the wilderness, it must

have been a source of delight.

Sloops lay at the wharf there, close to the public warehouses which were

built in the shape of a cross. Near the wharf there was a quarry of

white stone, and there were several other quarries in the river bank.

There was one building in the town that was built of the stone, and that

was the prison. Most of the buildings were of wood with wooden chimneys.

In a few years the wooden chimneys were to be outlawed by the Burgesses.

Fredericksburg was a new town, and it was "by far the most flourishing

town in that part of Virginia." It was "pleasantly situated on the South

Shore of Rappahannock River, about a Mile below the Falls." It had been

established in 1727 on a fifty-acre tract of land known as the

Lease-Land.

The preamble of the act which established the town stated its purpose:

"... good houses are needed and greatly wanted upon some navigable part

of said river, near the falls, for the reception and safe keeping of

such commodities as are brought thither from remote places with

carriages drawn by horses or oxen."

When Colonel William Byrd of Westover visited Fredericksburg in 1732, he

stayed at the home of its "top man," Colonel Henry Willis, whose wife

was George Washington's aunt, Mildred.

Colonel Byrd relates that after a breakfast of beefsteak, his host

walked him about "his Town." He saw the stone prison, the shops of the

tailor, the merchant, the smith, and an ordinary. There was also Mrs.

Levistone--"Who acts here in the double capacity of a doctress and

coffee woman. And were this a populous city, she is qualified to

exercise two other callings."

"Mrs. Levistone," or Susanna Livingston, was for some years the only

physician in Fredericksburg. The vestry of St. George's Church paid her

for attending the poor who were sick in the parish: "To Mrs. Livingston,

for salivating a poor woman, promising to cure her again if she should

be sick again in twelve month, 1,000 pounds of tobacco." It was not

unusual then for a woman to be a "doctress."

Probably the most interesting place in Fredericksburg to the Washington

children was the shop of William Lynn who sold, along with other things,

brown and white sugar candy.

The same year that the Washingtons came to live at Ferry Farm, a law was

passed that "fairs should be held in Fredericksburg twice a year, for

the sale of cattle, provisions, goods, wares, and all kinds of

merchandise whatsoever," and "that all persons attending the Fair at

Fredericksburg were immune from arrest and execution during the fairs

and for two days before and after them."

_SCHOOL DAYS_

It was Easter, 1743. George Washington was visiting his relatives at

Chotank, in King George County. His vacation was interrupted by a

messenger from Ferry Farm who told him that he was to return home at

once as his father was ill.

Augustine Washington died on April 12, 1743. He was buried in the old

family burial ground, near the banks of Bridges Creek, not far from his

old home on Popes Creek.

Both of George's older half-brothers were now home; Lawrence was back

from Cartagena, and "Austin" had returned from his school in England in

June, 1742.

Augustine left Lawrence, his eldest son, the largest part of his estate,

including all the property on Little Hunting Creek. "Austin" inherited

the Popes Creek Farm. George was left the Ferry Farm and three lots in

Fredericksburg. He was to receive his inheritance when he was

twenty-one.

There is no definite proof as to where George lived after his father's

death, but it seems that he lived at various times, at Ferry Farm with

his mother, at Popes Creek with "Austin," and on Little Hunting Creek

with Lawrence.

Tradition says that George had a convict-teacher named Hobby who taught

him to read, write and "cipher," that he attended a school in

Fredericksburg run by Reverend James Marye, and that while he was at

Popes Creek with his brother Augustine, he attended Henry Williams's

school near Oak Grove. These traditions have not been as yet verified.

It is known that "ciphering" was George's "absorbing interest."

Tradition says that when he was attending school in Fredericksburg he

usually worked at his figures while the other boys were playing bandy

during recess, but one day he was "romping with one of the largest

girls; this was so unusual that it excited no little comment among the

other lads."

_THE INDIANS_

At the time of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 Powhatan had more than

thirty Indian tribes under his rule. Eight of these tribes lived in the

land between the Rappahannock and the Potomac Rivers:

Moraughtacund, on the bank of the Rappahannock River in the territory

that was later Richmond and Lancaster Counties. Their main village was

at the junction of the Rappahannock and the Morattico Rivers. Population

about 300.

Onawmanient (Nominies), in the section later known as Westmoreland

County, near Nominy Bay. Population about 375.

Pissaseck, on the bank of the Rappahannock River in the area that was

later King George, Westmoreland and Richmond Counties. Its chief village

or "Kings howse" was located just above the present Leedstown. A large

number of surface artifacts found in late years indicate that it was a

large village.

Patawomeke (Potomac), the principal village site, was in latter-day

Stafford County at the mouth of Potomac Creek. (It was here that

Pocahontas was kidnapped by Captain Argall in 1613.) Population about

750.

Rappahannock (Toppahanock), on the bank of the Rappahannock River, in

Richmond County, from a short distance below Totuskey Creek to a point

some distance above Rappahannock Creek (later known as Cat Point

Creek). This was an important tribe with a rather large village at the

mouth of Little Carter Creek. Population about 380.

Secacawoni (Cekacawon), in Northumberland County, along the Coan River

near its entrance into the Potomac River. Population about 110.

Wicocomoco (Wighcocomoco), in Northumberland County on the Potomac

River, near its entrance into the Chesapeake Bay. Their principal

village was on Wicocomico River. Population about 490.

Cuttatawomen, one town by this name was located at the junction of the

Corotoman and the Rappahannock Rivers, in what was later known as

Lancaster County. Population about 115. The other town was on the

Rappahannock at the mouth of Lamb Creek, in what was later King George

County. Population about 75.

It is believed that the Yeocomico Indians moved to what is now

Westmoreland County in 1634, after they sold their lands in Maryland to

Calvert.

At the time of the settlement of the New World it is evident that there

were more than two thousand Indians living in the land between the

Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers. A century later the Indians were

extinct along the Rappahannock. And in Northumberland in 1700, according

to Beverley: "Wicomico has but few men living which yet keep up their

kingdom and retain their fashion; yet live by themselves, separate from

all Indians, and from the English."

By 1700, wars, white men's diseases, liquor and a general moral

breakdown had caused the disappearance of most of the Indians east of

the Blue Ridge. Some had moved westward or southwestward.

There was little left in the Northern Neck to mark the passing of the

Indians except their ossuaries, an occasional tomahawk or arrowhead and

the musical names of the waters.

_THE POW-WOW_

Friends and relatives had gathered at the Stratford Hall landing to

watch the sloop _Margaret_ start on a trip down the Potomac. It was a

May morning, in 1744. The forest was "a-bloom" with dogwood and redbud

and the "pyne" was sending its fragrance across the water, just as it

had when Captain John Smith traveled this way so many years before.

On board the _Margaret_, "seven flaming fine gentlemen," headed by

Thomas Lee, were about to take off on the first lap of a history-making

mission. Indian war drums were sounding. Thomas Lee and William Beverley

had been appointed commissioners from Virginia to meet the chiefs of the

Six Nations of the Iroquois at Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Amid shouts and laughter and the booming of cannon the sloop headed down

the Potomac, in the direction of the Chesapeake.

The _Margaret_ sailed up the Bay toward Maryland and before noon the

next day Annapolis had been reached. Here for five days and nights, the

party was wined and dined. Philip Ludwell Lee, eighteen-year-old son of

Thomas, danced until one in the morning with the pretty girls of

Annapolis.

The remainder of the journey was by land. After four more days of travel

the party was refreshed near Chester by a big bowl of lemon punch. In

Philadelphia they were highly entertained for three weeks. While in that

city Lee and Beverley marched in a procession to the market place to

hear an official proclamation of a war between England and France. They

were solemn now, for their mission was more important than ever. The

colonists needed the Indians on their side.

This excursion was turning out to be an important diplomatic mission for

the colony. It was to be Britain's first serious answer to French

encroachments.

It was late in June when Lee's party finally reached Lancaster, a new

and still raw town. The conference convened in the court-house, with

Governor George Thomas, of Pennsylvania, presiding. On his right sat Lee

and Beverley and on his left were the two commissioners from Maryland.

The Indians occupied the space usually allotted to the audience, but the

powerful chiefs, like Jonnhaty, Canasatego and Tocanuntie, met the white

men as equals. A Pennsylvania Dutchman named Conrad Weiser, acted as

interpreter. He was trusted by both sides.

The meeting was opened by the commissioners from Maryland, since they

had issued the invitation to the meeting. This was in accordance with a

rigid Iroquois custom.

The complaint of the Six Nations was that the white settlers were coming

over the "Great Mountains" and moving into the Valley and trespassing on

their ancestral lands. "You English have come settling on our lands like

a flock of birds," said Canasatego.

The white men explained that when they entered the country west of the

Blue Ridge it "was altogether deserted and free for any people to enter

upon." To which the Indians replied: "We have the right of conquest, a

right too dearly purchased and which cost us too much blood to give up

without any reason, at all.... All the world knows we conquered the

several nations living on Susquehanna, Cohongaranta and at the back of

the Great Mountains."

Thomas Lee, when his turn came to speak, answered this charge by saying

that the King of England held Virginia by right of conquest and that the

bounds of the conquered land extended west as far as the Great Sea.

However, he continued, the "Great King" was willing to pay them for

certain lands. He was speaking, he told the Indians, for Assarogoa,

Virginia's governor. Coming to the point, Thomas Lee laid down the

customary string of wampum and said:

"We have a chest of new goods and the key is in our pockets. You are our

brethren; the Great King is our common father, and we will live with you

as children ought to do in peace and love. We will brighten the chain

and strengthen the Union between us, so that we shall never be divided

but remain friends and brethren as long as the sun gives us light."

The Indian spokesman replied: "We are glad to hear that you have brought

with you a big chest of new goods, and that you have the key in your

pockets. We do not doubt that we shall have a good understanding on all

points and come to an agreement with you."

Each oration was ended with belts of wampum and "Jo-hahs." The great

Iroquois chieftains no doubt understood what was happening, but the

wampum and rum, the gifts of camlet coats and gold-braided hats, the

festivities and ceremonial dances which accompanied the conference, must

have caused them to shut their eyes to the truth. Or maybe they already

saw the handwriting on the wall.

We can visualize the scene--the handsome and elegant Thomas Lee, in his

crimson suit and flowing white wig, and the grave and eloquent Indian

spokesman, in his equally gorgeous regalia. And the silent Indians,

listening and smoking their pipes.

For 200 pounds in cash, and 200 pounds in knives, hatchets, kettles,

jew's harps, and other "trucke," the Six Nations, said to have been the

fiercest and most courageous of all the Indian tribes, finally put their

marks on a piece of parchment which said that the white men could have

all the country of their ancestors west of the "Great Mountains"--all

the land between the Blue Ridge and the Ohio.

Thus it was that the red men surrendered their heritage to the white men

in the town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on July 2, 1744.

[Illustration: _Young George Washington becomes a friend of Lord

Fairfax, Proprietor of Northern Neck._]

_MOUNT VERNON_

George Washington probably liked visiting his brother Austin at Popes

Creek, for there he was close to the Potomac where he could sail and

fish and go ducking, as wild fowl were plentiful there. He no doubt rode

and hunted and enjoyed the countryside just like any other Northern Neck

boy.

Popes Creek was more luxurious than Ferry Farm. Austin kept a racing

stud that he probably raced at the Fredericksburg fairs. His wife owned

enough millinery and kid gloves to have been a "rather dashing figure at

the races." She had been Anne Aylett, of Westmoreland, a young woman of

birth and station.

Although George was not destined to receive an English education, as his

father and brothers had, he learned, when he visited his brother

Lawrence at Hunting Creek, to move in the society of polished gentlemen.

The old house at Epsewasson, where George had lived as a child, had

either burned or Lawrence had torn it down. Lawrence had built a new

home and he called it Mount Vernon, in honor of Admiral Vernon, under

whom he had served as captain of marines at Cartagena.

Lawrence had married Anne Fairfax, daughter of Colonel William Fairfax,

who was a cousin and agent of Lord Fairfax, the proprietor of the

Northern Neck. Belvoir, not far from Mount Vernon, was the home of the

Fairfax family.

While he was at Mount Vernon, George visited Belvoir and became friends

with William Fairfax, the son of the house, who was seven years his

senior. At Belvoir, in 1748, he also met Lord Fairfax. They became

friends and hunting companions. Lord Fairfax remained at Belvoir,

amusing himself with reading, fishing and fox-hunting, until he moved to

his own home, Greenway Court, in 1751.

In the spring of 1748 a party of gentlemen were about to start for the

South Branch of the Potomac for the purpose of surveying lands for Lord

Fairfax. George Washington, then sixteen, and a big lad for his age, was

invited to accompany this party.

George was glad of this opportunity for the training it would afford

him, and because he enjoyed being in the company of polished gentlemen.

He did not go on this expedition as one of the surveyors.

George Washington was not a rich boy but he was accustomed to nice

things. When he and his friend, "Mr. Fairfax" (George William) set out

upon this new adventure into the wilderness, he was dressed not as a

frontiersman but in "some of the clothes of fashion," and he carried a

watch.

_WASHINGTON WASHED HERE_

When George Washington came back from his trip with the surveying party,

in June, 1748, he went down into the Northern Neck and visited his

cousins at Chotank. He probably visited all of the neighbors near there

and told them of his experiences in the wilderness--of the Indians and

the frontier families. He probably stayed in the Neck for awhile.

About this time, while he was at Ferry Farm, he decided one day to

"wash" in the Rappahannock. At that time in the Neck, and for many years

after, to "wash" meant to bathe.

George undressed on the Fredericksburg side of the River. He probably

picked a secluded spot and believed that he was alone, for he undressed

and went in the water to "wash."

When George came out of the water and started to dress he found that his

clothes had been robbed!

George reported the theft to the Sheriff, or Constable. As a result two

women servants of Fredericksburg were arrested and locked in jail--

"Ann Carroll and Mary McDaniel, of Friedericksburg, being committed to

the gaol of this county by William Hunter, Gent, on suspicion of felony

and charged with robbing the cloaths of Mr. George Washington when he

was washing in the river some time last summer, the court having heard

several evidences are of the opinion that the said Ann Carroll be

discharged, and admitted on evidence for Lord the King against the said

Mary McDaniel, and upon considering the whole evidence and the prisoners

defense, the court are of the opinion that the said Mary Mc Daniel is

guilty of petty larcency, whereupon the said Mary desired immediate

punishment for the said crime and relied on the mercy of the court,

therefore it is ordered that the sheriff carry her to the whipping post

and inflict fifteen lashes on her bare back, and then she be

discharged."

The case was heard, December 3, 1751, and Ann had turned King's witness

and testified against Mary. George was ignorant of the outcome of the

trial for he was far away at the time. He had sailed in September to the

Barbadoes with his brother Lawrence, who had not been well since his

return from the war at Cartagena.

Whether George ever recovered his stolen money or valuables is not

known.

_THE ORDINARY_

At some time between 1750-55 George Fisher of London crossed the

Northern Neck on his way from Williamsburg to Philadelphia by horseback.

When he returned to England he wrote an account of his trip to America.

The following excerpt from his narrative tells of the night he spent at

Leedstown, Westmoreland County, a thriving tobacco port of the

Rappahannock River. George Fisher writes as follows:

"So taking a feed of Corn with me into the Boat, which my Horse

eat in his passage, I crossed the River Rappahannock. In going

over the River about Two miles wide, I could see Leids Town on

the other side, two or Three miles up the River, the Place I

now intended to rest this night in.... I did not arrive till

Seven o'clock.... I put up at one Mr. T----ts, esteemed the

best Ordinary in Town, and indeed the House and Furniture has

as elegant an appearance as any I have seen in the country, Mr.

Finnays or Wetherburnes in Williamsburg not excepted. The

chairs, Tables, &c of the Room I was conducted into, was all of

Mahogany, & so stuft with fine large glaized copper Plate

Prints; That I almost fancied myself in Jeffriess' or some

other elegant Print Shops. I had the happiness, at my first

Coming in of my Landlord's Company, who understanding I came

from the Metroplis (and the Assembly now sitting) gaped after

news; he was troubled with gout, for he came limping in upon a

stick; When I had answered all his interrogatories, and he had

picked what intelligence of me he was able, and I calling at

First for a half Pint of wine only, he vanished and I could see

him no more; tho' I sent twice (at supper and afterwards) to

request the favor of his Company, in hopes of receiving in my

turn some useful directions, in the ensuing Day's Journey. His

excuse was, first, indisposition, and afterwards he was gone to

Bed; tho' the Boy who lighted me to mine assured me he was

sitting with his House-keeper, and that not one Person had been

in the House since my arrival. By what I could hear and

preceive myself this Landlord who bears the name honest Mr.

T----, like most of his Trade, proportions his regard to their

extravagance, in which respect I was doubtless too

contemptible for his notice. The Host--he could tell me nothing

of the Rout I was to take, so that I was now quite destitute of

intelligence.

"This House stands pleasantly upon the North side of the River,

and a tolerable garden seemed to be in as decent order as most

I have seen in America. The method of Single men having

House-keepers is esteemed here very reputable and genteel. In

the morning while my Breakfast and Horse was getting ready, I

sought after some instruction for my journey, and as it

happened, I found a Person up that kepped a store, who gave me

a draught of the road to Hoes Ferry on Potomac River. I have

since been informed of my true Route was from Southern on this

Rappahannocke River to Lovels Ferry on Potomac River, it being

not only a better Road, but I should have saved at least Ten or

Twelve miles in the Riding of Thirty, the only objection being

that at the Hoes the River is not more than five miles wide;

but at Lovels to Cedar Point (in Md.) it is eight or ten,

consequently in windy weather the passage is more difficult and

unsafe; but at this time of the year no great danger was to be

apprehended. The Gentleman's name who delineated the Road for

me to Hoes Ferry is Thompson."

_NELLY_

It was for a special reason that Nelly wanted to go back home. It was

not that she was unhappy in her new home for it was beautiful there at

the head of the deeply wooded valley with the Blue Ridge towering in the

distance. The frame house, which had been built by her husband's father,

was modest but comfortable, and there were slaves to do the heavy work.

Still, she wanted to go home and her husband humoured his

nineteen-year-old wife, and prepared for the journey.

To Nelly home was the low country--the flat lands where the air was damp

and the fogs rolled in from the River.

Nelly probably traveled home in a carriage of some sort for the trail

led through the virgin forest. The nights were doubtless spent at

farmhouses along the way. As they neared Fredericksburg they probably

met up with other travelers on horseback, and teamsters with wagons

loaded with wheat and tobacco for export.

Fredericksburg was all "a-bustle" at that time with foreign ships lying

at the wharves and wagons rumbling along the streets. What a welcome

sight the Rappahannock must have been to Nelly! And there was the ferry

which would carry her across to her homeland! It was a rope-hauled

ferry, pulled back and forth across the River by the ferryman.

Once the River was crossed it was only a ten or twelve mile ride down

through King George County to her childhood home on the banks of the

Rappahannock. This was the plantation of Nelly's stepfather, John Moore.

She had known him as a father as long as she could remember, for her own

father, Francis Conway, had died when she was only a year old. Her

mother, Rebecca Catlett Conway, had soon married John Moore. Many of

Nelly's relatives lived in this region of the Northern Neck. What a

happy home-coming it must have been for Nelly.

The chill winds of winter were still blowing across the Rappahannock,

but the crocuses were in bloom, when Nelly's baby arrived, on March 16,

1751.

The Northern Neck relatives assembled for the christening. Nelly's

cousins, Judith and Elizabeth Catlett, acted as godmothers, and Mary

Catlett's husband, Jonathan Gibson, was godfather. The infant was named

for his father, James Madison.

The Catletts and Conways and Madisons must have rejoiced at the birth of

Nelly's first baby, but they had no reason to think that the birth of

little "Jemmy" Madison would some day be a matter of national

importance. And little did Nelly dream when she made the long journey

home that by so doing the Northern Neck would fall heir to another

famous son.

"Little Jemmy" grew up to be one of the foremost figures in the creation

of the American nation. He became the fourth President of the United

States, and he is remembered as "the Father of the Constitution."

James Madison's birthsite in King George County later became known as

Port Conway.

_MISS BETSY_

In the spring of 1752 George Washington was riding down to Naylor's

Hole, in Richmond County. He had his mind set on a certain young lady

who lived there, but up to this time she had been uncooperative. George

had written to her father, Colonel William Fauntleroy:

"I purpose ... to wait on Miss Betsy, in hopes of a revocation of the

former cruel sentence and see if I can meet with any alteration in my

favor."

Betsy was just sixteen and she was probably having a good time at her

home on the Rappahannock. It was lively there on the River, for the

Rappahannock was the main highway for the tobacco trade and her father

was interested in ships and trade, and he operated a ferry. When she

tired of the River she could always go visiting in her father's imported

riding chair, drawn by "two horses abreast." It was a smart "turn-out";

even the whip had her father's name on it.

As George rode through the blossoming forest, which Betsy's ancestor had

bought from the Indians a century before, he must have had mingled

emotions. There was the pleasure of the expectation of seeing Betsy

again, mixed with the uncertainty of the outcome of his suit. Then too,

he must have wondered if she would notice the scars on his face. While

he had been in the Barbadoes, where he had accompanied his brother

Lawrence in his fruitless search for health, George had contracted the

smallpox which had left permanent scars on his face.

Tradition says that Betsy did notice the scars. Whatever the reason may

have been--George's mission was unsuccessful.

For years historians have tried without success to settle the

question--was Betsy Fauntleroy the "Lowland Beauty" to whom Washington

made references in his correspondence, or did he have in mind another

Northern Neck beauty named Lucy Grymes?

_THE PROPRIETOR OF THE NORTHERN NECK_

It was an autumn day in the year 1753. A group of men lounged in the

sunshine before a rudely constructed log tavern in a Virginia wilderness

clearing. Their rough attire of buckskin and homespun and their knives

and rifles proclaimed them to be hunters, trappers and settlers.

Suddenly they were aroused by a noise in the forest. The drooping tree

boughs came to life and the tall grasses were pushed aside as an amazing

spectacle for this frontier setting emerged. With a great rattling of

wheels, creaking of leather and clumping of hooves, four shiny horses

came forth drawing behind them an English chariot that would very well

have graced the streets of London.

The liveried driver drew up before the hitching rack and the footmen

descended from behind and opened the door of the chariot. Out stepped a

middle-aged man, so tall and so gigantic in frame, that he had

difficulty in getting through the opening. He was richly clad in a coat

of brown cloth decorated with embroidery and a waistcoat of yellow silk,

ornamented with silver thread and flowers. His peruke was carefully

powdered and his shirt ruffles were snow-white.

As he issued from the chariot he drew about him the folds of a red

velvet cloak, and then bowing his head slightly to the admiring crowd,

he entered the tavern.

This man was no stranger to these frontiersmen. Most of them had hunted

with him, or eaten at his "broad board," or transacted business with him

in his little stone office. But it was rarely that they saw him thus, in

the trappings of an English gentleman. They had seen him stab his

hunting-knife into a deer's throat, and hold up the brush of a fox at

the end of the chase, but then his garments had been weather-beaten and

on his head he had worn an otter-skin cap with a buck's tail stuck in

it.

But this strange gentleman had no hunting trip in mind to-day. He soon

came out of the tavern and the chariot was rumbling away down the forest

road, for he was due to preside over a session of the justices' court at

the frontier town of Winchester. And although the Shawnee Indians were

still not too far distant, this gentleman evidently believed in carrying

into the wilds of the New World something of the English idea of the

propriety of full dress on occasions of ceremony.

And who was this man who could change so easily from back-woodsman to

gentleman? None other than Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and

sole proprietor of that vast tract of land known as the Northern Neck.

This, his inheritance, embraced all lands lying between the headwaters

of the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers to the Chesapeake Bay, comprising

more than five million acres.

Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax had inherited, in 1719, the Northern Neck of

Virginia, through his mother, Catherine, daughter of Thomas, Lord

Culpeper, and wife of Lord Fairfax. It was through this marriage that

the grant became known as the Fairfax Proprietary.

In 1673, Thomas, Lord Culpeper had bought out the other grantees and had

become the sole proprietor of the original grant. He had cunningly had

the terms of the patent changed to the "first heads of springs" of the

two rivers, instead of "within the heads" of the two rivers, as

originally stated in 1649. The change in these few words changed the

size of the tract from one million to more than five million acres. This

change in description apparently was not noticed in the colony at the

time.

It was in this way that Culpeper's grandson, Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax,

through inheritance became sole proprietor of the Northern Neck.

Lord Fairfax was born in Leeds Castle, England, in 1693. He was educated

at Oxford University and developed such a fondness for literature that

he wrote a number of papers for the _Spectator_. But he was unlucky in

affairs of the heart--he was jilted at the altar.

After a time the embittered Fairfax decided to take a voyage to Virginia

to examine his inheritance. So well pleased was he with his domain that

he decided to make it his home. Perhaps the free way of life and new

hunting grounds appealed to him. He returned to England, arranged his

affairs and voyaged back to his wild new home, in 1748.

Fairfax built a home in the Shenandoah Valley, called Greenway Court,

and went there to live in 1751. Tradition says that he planted a white

post--one mile distant--as a guide to his dwelling, and thus the town of

White Post was later so named.

Lord Fairfax cultivated a large farm at Greenway Court. He had probably

one hundred and fifty negro slaves, who lived in huts scattered about in

the woods. There was very little cultivated ground around his house

because he preferred to leave the land as a natural park. The grounds

were encircled by a rude fence, which served also as a hitching rack.

Locust trees shaded the mansion. It was a long stone building with a

slender chimney on each end and two belfries between on top of the roof.

These bells were probably used to call the servants or as an alarm when

Indians were near. There were four dormer-windows and a portico across

the front. This building was used by the steward, it was said, while

Fairfax lived and died in a single clapboard story-and-a-half house.

Nearby the main house stood a small limestone structure, where

quit-rents were given and titles drawn of his lordship's domains. He

lived almost wholly from his rents. We can imagine him there, with a

court of deer-hounds at his feet. On the table lies a rudely drawn map

of the frontier, some folded letters, an inkstand and an eagle's quill

pen. Here he delivered the title deeds of nearly all of that portion of

Virginia over which he had dominion.

Perhaps, too, it was here that he conversed with his young friend,

George Washington, who surveyed part of the immense tract among the

valleys of the Alleghany mountains for him. These were divided into lots

to enable Fairfax to claim quit-rents and give titles.

In spite of the difference in their ages, Fairfax and Washington had

another interest in common--they were both passionately fond of hunting.

Tradition says that sometimes they passed weeks together in the

pleasures of the chase.

When fox-hunting Lord Fairfax made it a rule that "he who got the fox,

cut off his tail, and held it up, should share in the jollification

which was to follow, free of expense." An early historian says that "as

soon as a fox was started, the young men of the company usually dashed

after him with great impetuosity, while Fairfax leisurely waited behind

with a favorite servant who was familiar with the water-courses, and of

a quick ear, to discover the course of the fox. Following his

directions, his lordship would start after the game, and, in most

instances, secure the prize, and stick the tail of the fox in his hat in

triumph."

It is probable that some of these "jollifications" that followed the

hunt were held in a tavern in Winchester, for tradition says that he

occasionally held "levees" there. (This building was later used as a

stable.)

Sometimes Fairfax entertained in the great room at Greenway Court. This

room, according to tradition, was a combination of crudity and

refinement. Rough oak furniture, carven mahogany, silver plate, cheap

crockery, leather-bound books, fishing nets, portraits, antlers and

blunderbuses, all intermingled. But Fairfax was a generous host and the

board groaned with ham, beef, fowl, game as well as mellow Jamaica rum.

But Fairfax did not drink, and women were never invited to his parties.

When in the humor Fairfax sometimes gave away whole farms to his

tenants, simply demanding for rent some trifle like a turkey for his

Christmas dinner.

Fairfax lived the life of a bachelor and adopted the rough customs of

his new land, but his life was not altogether happy in the New World.

Quit-rents were not willingly paid and he was constantly occupied with

lawsuits over boundaries. The Indian hostilities retarded the settlement

of his domain and therefore lessened his revenue. He was considered

eccentric and "a hoarder up of English gold."

In spite of his friendship with George Washington, Fairfax was a Tory to

the end. When he heard that Cornwallis had surrendered he told his body

servant, "Take me to bed, John, it is time for me to die." He died

shortly after, on December 9, 1781.

He was buried at Winchester, under the old Episcopal church, which was

on the public square. When this structure was later taken down the bones

of Fairfax were removed to a tomb in the crypt of Christ Church in

Winchester. At the time of his disinterment, it is said that a large

mass of silver was found, which was the mounting of his coffin.

Around 1840 some excavating was done about the grounds at Greenway Court

and a large quantity of joes and half-joes were found. These were what

was termed cob-coin, of a square form, and dated about 1730. They were

supposed to have been secreted there by Lord Fairfax.

Fairfax never married, therefore he left no child to inherit his vast

estate. He devised a large portion of his property to a nephew in

England. Later the estate passed through several hands and was finally

sold.

A few years after the war of the Revolution an attempt was made by the

colonists to confiscate the estate. At last a compromise took place

between those who had bought it and the Virginia state government.

During and after the Revolution no quit-rents were paid, and in 1785 an

act was passed by the Virginia Legislature which abolished the

proprietary system in the Northern Neck. The people there were finally

free of landlords, after one hundred and twenty-five years.

_THE MARSHALLS_

John Marshall "of the forest" owned two hundred acres of land in

Westmoreland County. "Of the forest" was a term used in the Northern

Neck in referring to those whose homes were some distance from the

water.

John "of the forest" acquired this land by deed, for five shillings,

from William Marshall of King and Queen County. It is probable that this

William was the elder brother of John "of the forest" and that they were

both sons of Thomas "the carpenter," of Westmoreland. The latter's will

was probated in the same county in 1704. (In this will there was

mentioned "a heifer ... called White-Belly.")

This land of John "of the forest" was located on Appomattox Creek. It

was low marshy land of such inferior quality that the former owners had

not bothered with it. Originally it had been a part of twelve hundred

acres which had been granted to "Jno. Washington & Thos. Pope, gents.--&

by them lost for want of seating."

John "of the forest" married Elizabeth Markham, daughter of the Sheriff

of Westmoreland County. To John and Elizabeth were born ten children.

They lived simply on their farm until John died in 1752.

Among the items left to Elizabeth by John was "one Gray mair named

beauty and side saddle." He also left her the use of his land "during

her widowhood and afterwards to fall to my son Thomas Marshall and his

heirs forever."

Thomas was twenty-two years old at the time of his father's death. One

year later his mother deeded half of the two hundred acres to him.

Thomas Marshall was fortunate in that he was powerful of stature and

intelligent. He was of a serious but adventurous nature. He and his

neighbor, George Washington, seem to have been friends from boyhood. For

about three years Thomas had been Washington's companion when he helped

him to survey the western part of the Fairfax domain.

Thomas Marshall left Westmoreland County not long after his father's

death to seek his fortune in the frontier country toward the Blue Ridge.

In 1754 Thomas married a well born and well educated girl named Mary

Randolph Keith. To this union were born fifteen children, the best known

being John, who became the fourth Chief Justice of the United States

Supreme Court.

_THE LEEDSTOWN RESOLUTIONS_

The town of Leeds on the banks of the Rappahannock River was a thriving

center of trade and shipping in colonial days. Here the big ships lay at

anchor while their holds were filled with tobacco for the London market.

Here the returning ships unloaded the English luxuries that were so dear

to the hearts of the Northern Neck planter-families.

Leeds had been incorporated in 1742. When ten or twelve years later the

English visitor, George Fisher, spent a night at "Leids Town" he was

well pleased with the fine furnishings he found in the ordinary. There

were other ordinaries in the village, comfortable homes with gardens and

Leeds Church.

George Washington often visited Leedstown. With his wife he dined there

in 1759. He spent the night there in 1763. Many times he crossed the

nearby ferry as he traveled between Mount Vernon and Williamsburg.

On a winter's day in 1766 there was unusual activity at Leeds. The

excitement came about because Thomas Ludwell Lee had written to his

brother Richard Henry Lee as follows: "We propose to be in Leedstown in

the afternoon of the 27th inst., Feb. 1766, where we expect to meet

those who will come from your way. This would be a fine opportunity to

effect the scheme of an association, and I should be glad if you would

think of a plan."

It is easy to visualize the arrival of the planters in their coaches and

on horseback--to hear the rattle of wheels, the thud of hoofs, the

creaking of saddle-leather and the excited voices speaking with a London

accent.

The "plan" that Richard Henry Lee had thought of and prepared in

manuscript form and had brought to Leedstown that day could probably

have hanged him, and the one hundred and fourteen others who signed it,

if it had fallen into the wrong hands. But the Northern Neck was a

remote fortress and its inhabitants were bold when their freedom was

threatened.

Among those who signed Lee's document were six Lees, five Washingtons,

and Spence Monroe, father of President James Monroe. The text of The

Leedstown Resolutions follows:

"Rouzed by Danger and alarmed at Attempts foreign & domestic to

reduce the People of this Country to a State of abject and

detestable slavery by destroying that free and happy

constitution of Government under which they have hitherto

lived,--We who subscribe this Paper, have Associated, & do bind

ourselves to each other, to God, and to our Country, by the

Firmest Tyes that Religion & Virtue can frame, most sacredly

and punctually to stand by, and with our Lives & Fortunes to

support, maintain and defend each other, in the Observation and

Execution of these following Articles.

"First, we declare all due Allegiance and Obedience to our

lawful Sovereign George the Third King of Great Britain. And we

determine to the utmost of our Power to preserve the Laws, the

Peace and good Order of this Colony as far as is consistent

with the Preservation of our Constitutional Rights and Liberty.

"2.dly As we know it to be the Birthright Privilege of every

British Subject (and of the People of Virginia as being such)

founded on Reason, Law and Compact, That he cannot be legally

tryed but by his Peers, and that he cannot be taxed but by

Consent of a Parliament in which he is represented by Persons

chosen by the People and who themselves pay a part of the Tax

they impose on others--If therefore any Person or Persons shall

attempt by any Action or Proceeding to deprive this Colony of

those fundamental Rights we will immediately regard him or them

as the most dangerous Enemy of the Community and we will go to

any Extremity not only to prevent the Success of such Attempts

but to Stigmatize and punish the Offender.

"3.dly As the Stamp Act does absolutely direct the Property of

the People to be taken from them without their Consent

express'd by their Representatives, and as in many cases it

deprives the British American Subject of his Right to Trial by

Jury; we do determine at every hazard and paying no Regard to

Danger or to Death; we will exert every Faculty to prevent the

Execution of the said Stamp Act in any instance whatsoever

within this Colony--And every abandoned Wretch who shall be so

lost to Virtue and publick Good, as wickedly to contribute to

the introduction or fixture of the Stamp Act in this Colony, by

using Stampt Paper, or by any other Means; we will with the

utmost Expedition convince all such Profligates, that immediate

danger and disgrace shall attend their prostitute Purpose.

"4.thly That the last Article may most surely and effectually

be execut'd, we engage to each other, that whenever it shall be

known to any of this Association that any Person is so

conducting himself as to favor the Introduction of the Stamp

Act, that immediate Notice shall be given to as many of the

Association as possible, and that every Individual so inform'd

shall with expedition repair to a place of meeting to be

appointed as near the Scene of Action as may be.

"5.thly Each Associator shall do his true endeavor to obtain as

many Signers to this Association as he possibly can.

"6.thly If any attempt shall be made upon the Liberty or

Property of any Associator for any Action or Thing to be done

in Consequence of this Agreement, we do most solemnly bind

ourselves by the sacred Engagements above enter'd into, at the

utmost risk of our Lives and Fortunes to restore such Associate

to his Liberty, and to protect him in the enjoyment of his

Property.

"In Testimony of the good Faith with which we resolve to

execute this Association, we have this 27 day of February 1766

in Virginia put our hands & Seals hereto

Richard Henry Lee

Will Robinson

Lewis Willis

Thomas Lud. Lee

Samuel Washington

Charles Washington

Moore Fauntleroy

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Thomas Jones

Rodham Kenner

Spencer Mottsom Ball

Richard Mitchell

Joseph Murdock

Rich'd Parker

Spence Monroe

John Watts

Robert Lovell

John Blagge

Charles Weeks

William Booth

Geo: Tuberville

Alvin Moxley

Wm. Flood

John Ballantine Jun.

William Lee

Thomas Chilton

Richard Buckner

Will Chilton

Joseph Peirce

John Williams

Jn. Blackwell

Winder S. Kenner

Wm. Bronaugh

Will Peirce

John Berryman

Jn. Dickson

John Browne

Edward Sanford

Charles Chilton

Lau. Washington

W. Roane Jr.

William Sydnor

John Monroe

William Cocke

William Grayson

Wm. Brockenbrough

Sam Selden

Daniel McCarty

Jer Rush

Edwd. Ransdell

Townshend Dade

Laur. Washington

John Ashton

W. Brent

Francis Foushee

John Smith Jr.

Will Balle

Thomas Barnes

Jos. Blackwell

Reuben Meriwether

Edw. Mountjoy

Thomas Mountjoy

William Mountjoy

John Mountjoy

Gilbt. Campbell

Jos. Lane

Richard Lee

Daniel Tebbs

Fran. Thornton Jun.

Peter Rust Jun.

John Lee Jun.

Fran Waring

John Upshaw

Merriwether Smith

Thomas Roane

James Edmondson

James Webb

John Edmondson

James Banks

Smith Young

Thomas Logan

Jo. Milliken

Rich Hodges

James Upshaw

James Booker

A. Montague

Richard Jeffries

John Suggett

Jn. L. Woodcock

Robert Wormeley Carter

John Beale Jun.

John Newton

Will B--le Jun.

Chs. Mortimer

John Edmondson

Charles Beale

Peter Grant

Thomson Mason

Jon. Beckwith

James Samford

John Belfield

W. Smith

John Aug. Washington

Thomas Belfield

Edgecomb Suggett

Henry Francks

John Bland Jun.

Jas. Emerson

John Richards

Thos. Jett

Thomas Douglas

Max. Robinson

John Orr

Ebenezer Fisher

Hancock Eustace."

Text and names have been copied from a photostatic copy of the

original manuscript by Florienette Matter Knight, Organizing

Regent, Leedstown Resolutions Chapter, N.S.D.A.R. The original

manuscript, handwritten by Richard Henry Lee, is in the

archives of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va.

_FITHIAN_

On an October day in the year 1773 a man on horseback rode down through

Westmoreland County until he came to the entrance of a plantation known

as Nomini Hall. The avenue leading to the great house was bordered with

poplar trees, through which the white stuccoed house appeared "romantic"

and "truly elegant."

Philip Vickers Fithian, lately graduated from Princeton, had been seven

days on the road since he had left New Jersey. He had ridden two

hundred and sixty miles and crossed a number of ferries.

Fithian was not sure that he was doing the right thing in coming to

Virginia. His friends had tried to persuade him not to go to that

"wicked colony" where he would be sure to fall in with evil companions

and become a drunkard or a gambler. If his parents had lived Fithian

would probably have stayed in the North, but they had recently passed

away, and the salary as a plantation tutor was good. With a last prayer

to the Lord that he would be strong enough to stick to his upright way

of life, Fithian set off on his journey to the Northern Neck of

Virginia.

Nomini Hall was the seat of one of King Carter's grandsons, Robert

Carter, III. His holdings, amounting to seventy thousand acres, were

scattered over a number of counties. He owned more than five hundred

slaves and employed numerous white overseers, clerks, stewards,

craftsmen and artisans. Tobacco was still the main crop of the

plantation, but its profits were now waning and Councillor Carter sought

other money crops to supplement this chief product. Carter also

manufactured supplies for the use of his plantations and for his

neighbors' needs. He operated grain mills, textile factories, salt works

and bakeries.

Nomini Hall was laid off in the usual formal English style, with four

dependencies--one equally distant from each corner of the manor. These

were the large dependencies--there were many others, probably as many as

thirty. In the square thus formed by the four buildings there was a

bowling green, and gardens interspersed with oyster-shell walks.

In one of the large dependencies, Fithian was established. Here he and

the Carter boys slept upstairs over the schoolroom. The five Carter

girls who were to be his pupils--"all dressed in white"--slept in the

great house. Fithian liked his room in the schoolhouse--"a neat chamber,

a large Fire, Books, & Candle & my Liberty to stay in this room or to

sit at the great house." In the household he held a delicate

position--equi-distant between the master and his eldest son.

There was never a dull moment at Nomini Hall. There was the music

teacher--and the traveling dancing teacher who followed a plan of

rotation between the plantations. He spent about a week at each place,

which ended with a small informal dance. The big balls were splendid

affairs, lasting for days and nights. There was a continual procession

of chariots, drawn by four or six horses, with coachman, and

postillions, and attended by horseback riders, moving back and forth

between Nomini Hall and its neighboring plantations. The Carters often

dined and danced with the Lees at Stratford and Chantilly, the

Washingtons at Bushfield, the Tubervilles at Hickory Hill, and with the

Tayloes at Mount Airy, about twelve miles distant. Christenings,

birthdays, house-warmings--anything served as an excuse for a

celebration among these Northern Neckers! In no part of Virginia were

there more great planters than in the Northern Neck.

Fithian observed everything and wrote it all down in his Journal. One of

the first things that he noticed were the ladies with the white

handkerchiefs: "Almost every Lady wears a red Cloak; and when they ride

out they tye a white handkerchief over their Head and face, so that when

I first came into Virginia, I was distress'd whenever I saw a Lady, for

I thought she had the Tooth-Ache!"

Fithian walked often in the evenings in the garden with Mrs. Carter when

she was giving a last look at the poultry or the growing things. He had

a great admiration for the beauty and elegance of Mrs. Carter. With

Councillor Carter he attended the county courts and the horse-races in

Richmond County. Around the stables he watched the cock-fights. There

was skating on the "Mill-pond," and when warm weather came, the

"fish-feasts" and barbecues. The latter, he wrote, were just like the

"fish-feasts" except that they had roast pig instead of fish.

Fithian did not approve of Sunday in Virginia--"A Sunday in Virginia

don't seem to wear the same Dress as our Sundays to the Northward. By

five o'clock on Saturday every face looks festive and cheerful.... It is

a general custom on Sundays here, with Gentlemen to invite one another

home to dine, after Church; and to consult about, determine their common

business, either before or after Service.... It is not the custom for

Gentlemen to go into Church til Service is beginning, when they enter in

a Body, in the same manner as they came out; I have known the Clerk to

come out and call them into prayers.... They stay also after the Service

is over, usually as long, or longer, than the Parson, was preaching."

Nomini Church stood on the banks of the River Nomini about six miles

from the manor. The Carter family attended this church, traveling by

both land and water. Councillor Carter had a boat built for the purpose

"of carrying the young Ladies and others of the Family to Nominy Church.

It is a light neat Battoe elegantly painted & is rowed with four Oars."

On the way to church by boat, Fithian saw the river alive with people,

in boats and canoes, fishing.

Whenever it was possible Fithian excused himself from the social

gatherings and stayed in his room, writing in his Journal and working on

his sermons, for he was to become a Presbyterian minister. He was

happiest there alone because he could not fit in with these strange

Northern Neckers. He felt a little sorry for himself because he was a

somber "meagre" figure in his dark clothes among these gay people. His

greatest handicap was that he had never learned to dance and--"blow

high, blow low, Virginians will dance or die!" He wrote to a friend in

the North: "Here we either strain on Horseback, from home to Church, or

from house to house if we go out at all--or we walk alone into a dark

meadow, or tall wood. But I love solitude, and these lonely recesses

suit exactly the feeling of my mind."

In spite of his disapproval Fithian grew fond of the Northern Neck and

its people. When he returned from a visit home he wrote: "I am much more

pleased with the Face of the Country since my return than I have ever

been before--It is indeed delightsome! How natural, how agreeable, how

majestic the place seems! Supp'd on Crabs & an elegant dish of

Strawberries & Cream!"

On Christmas morning Fithian was awakened by the guns being fired around

the house. Then the boy who made the fire came in with a "Christmas

Box," for a tip, and the other servants followed with their "Boxes."

Mrs. Carter sent him over some spermaceti candles--"large clear & very

elegant." The holidays were a round of balls and parties, which Fithian

excused himself from as much as possible. He was glad when they were

over--"We had a large Pye cut to-day to signify the conclusion of the

Holidays."

It was so cold in January that "a cart and three pair of oxen which

every day bring in four loads of wood, Sundays excepted." In the manor

and other houses there were twenty-eight "steady fires & most of them

are very large." It grew so cold that the cart went for wood on Sunday

also.

Mail was gotten infrequently from the post-office at Hobb's Hole, which

was the name of present-day Tappahannock. Newspapers from the North and

_The Virginia Gazette_ brought accounts of the Tea Party in Boston, and

other rumblings in the colonies. These "Golden Days" in Virginia were

not to last much longer--war was in the making.

Fithian left Nomini Hall late in 1774. He could no longer stay away from

his Northern "dream-girl," the "fair Laura" of his Journal. He was

married to her in October, 1775. He enlisted in the Revolutionary forces

in 1776 as a chaplain, but his "meagre" body could not stand the life of

the army. He died shortly after the battle of White Plains.

But Fithian had not lived in vain--his Journal was a legacy to

posterity.

_THE SCHOOL IN THE WILDWOOD_

In colonial days a small school was conducted in the forest of

Westmoreland County by a Scotch minister. His own sons were his pupils,

and a few children who lived close enough to walk to school through the

woodland lane which was cut for several straight miles through the woods

and was known as the Parson's Road.

In 1755 the "Parson" had petitioned the Court of Westmoreland County to

have a road from the "new Glebe opened to Round Hill Church." The

petition was granted, for the Reverend Archibald Campbell was an

influential man in the region.

Mr. Campbell came to Virginia from Scotland in October, 1741. The "new

Glebe" was purchased, tradition says, from Thomas Marshall, "the

surveyor," about 1753. The "Parson" moved to the "new Glebe" and lived

there until his death in 1775. It was there that he conducted his

school.

The "new Glebe" was situated on Mattox Creek, originally called

Appamatox Creek after the Indians who had once lived there. This Glebe

was located not far from the present village of Oak Grove.

The Reverend Archibald Campbell came from a distinguished and learned

Scottish family--his nephew, Thomas Campbell, became one of Britain's

greatest poets. The "Parson" himself was well equipped with "all the

learning which the Scottish universities could give."

At the school in the forest it was all work and little play, for the

"Parson" was a hard taskmaster. His pupils were said to have been

"especially well grounded in mathematics and Latin ... and in their

various subsequent careers they were noted for solidity of character."

At least two of his pupils became historic figures.

_JAMES AND JOHN_

On winter mornings it was still dark when the Monroe family breakfasted,

but the "large living room" was cozy with its glowing hearth where pots

and kettles bubbled and steamed on their cranes and trivets.

Around the breakfast table were seated Spence and Elizabeth Monroe and

their children who, according to age, were--Elizabeth, James, Spence,

Andrew and Joseph Jones.

Breakfast at the Monroe home was not as formal as breakfast at the homes

of their neighbors at Stratford and Nomini Hall. Spence Monroe was not a

wealthy planter, although he was a gentleman and a small landowner. His

home in Westmoreland County was situated between Monroe Bay and Mattox

Creek, not far from present-day Colonial Beach. The Monroes had been

living in the Northern Neck since about 1650.

The Monroes lived in a plain frame two-storied house "within a stone's

throw of ... a virgin forest." The Potomac flowed not far away.

After breakfast James would start for school with his books under one

arm and his gun slung over his shoulder. The Monroe table never lacked

for game while James was around.

James was tall for his fifteen years, and built like an athlete. He well

knew the forest and river.

Somewhere along the woodland road James was joined by another tall

well-built youth, who was dressed in a pale-blue hunting-shirt and

trousers, fringed with white, and a black hat decorated with a buck's

tail. He also had a gun and books. There was the look of the mountains

about this lad. John Marshall's home was in Fauquier County and he was

only visiting in the Northern Neck. He had learned his classics from his

father in their frontier cabin, but now Thomas Marshall had sent his son

back to his people in Westmoreland for more schooling.

John was three years older than James. He was dark--skin, eyes and

hair--with rosy cheeks and a round face. His eyes twinkled, for he was

as merry and fun-loving as James was solemn and serious. The two tall

boys must have made a fine-looking pair as they walked down the Parson's

Road, with gun and books, on a bright winter's morning in the year 1773.

As they come within sight of the Glebe we will leave them--in the firm

hands of the Reverend Archibald Campbell.

Little did these boys dream of the adventures that lay ahead for them.

For these two backwoods boys were destined to become makers of history:

John Marshall, the great Chief Justice, who "found a Constitution on

paper and made it power"; and James Monroe who became the fifth

President of the United States and who formulated and declared the

Monroe Doctrine.

_CAPTAIN DOBBY_

Captains of the ships constantly lying at anchor in the rivers were

often guests at Nomini Hall and the other Northern Neck plantations.

Captain Dobby was a general favorite. Fithian described him in his

Journal as "a Man of much Spirit and Humour: A great Mimick."

In the summer of 1774 Captain Dobby invited the Carters of Nomini and

Fithian, the tutor, "on Board his Ship next Tuesday to Dine with him &

wish them a pleasant Passage as the Ship is to Sail the day following."

Fithian must have especially liked the Captain for he commented in his

Journal: "If the Weather is not too burning hot I shall go, provided the

Others go likewise."

On the appointed day, in August, Fithian and Ben Carter set out for the

River. They had intended to breakfast at Colonel Tayloe's, twelve miles

distant, "but the Servant who went with us was so slow in preparing that

we breakfasted before we set out. We arrived at Colonel Tayloe's however

half after nine."

Colonel John Tayloe was one of the wealthiest men in the Northern Neck.

His manor house, Mount Airy, in Richmond County, was situated on an

elevation, and overlooked the Rappahannock River, several miles distant.

An interesting feature of the plantation was the deer park, located in a

grove of oaks and cedars.

Fithian described Mount Airy as "an elegant Seat!--The House is about

the Size of Mr. Carter's, built with stone, & finished curiously, &

ornamented with various paintings, & rich Pictures. This Gentleman owns

Yorick, who won the prize of 500 pounds last November, from Dr. Flood's

Horse, Gift--In the Dining-Room, besides many other fine Pieces, are

twenty four of the most celebrated among the English Race-Horses, Drawn

masterly, & set in elegant gilt Frames. He has near the great House, two

fine two Story stone Houses, the one is used as a Kitchen, & the other,

for a nursery, & Lodging Rooms--He has also a large well-formed,

beautiful Garden, as fine in every Respect as any I have seen in

Virginia. In it stand four large beautiful Marble Statues."

Mount Airy was built after the style of an Italian villa. The main

entrance was guarded by bronze dogs.

When Fithian and Ben arrived at Mount Airy they found "the young Ladies

in the Hall playing the Harpsichord."

Joined by the Tayloes the party set out for the River. The "Colonel and

his Lady" and daughters traveled in "their Great Coach," while Fithian

and Ben and the servants were on horseback.

The land from Mount Airy to the ferry, opposite Hobb's Hole

(Tappahannock), was level and the road lay between fields of corn and

flax. As they neared the River the fields changed to marshes "covered

with thick high Reed."

The Rappahannock River was about two miles wide here and they could see

ships lying at anchor on the other side near the town. They counted six

ships "riding in the Harbour, and a number of Schooners & smaller

Vessels."

The party waited for half an hour in the burning sun. At last they saw

the long-boat coming, covered with an awning and rowed by four oarsmen.

It was past noon when they reached the ship, where they were warmly

welcomed by Captain Dobby.

The _Beaufort_ was a "Stately Ship." For the comfort of his guests the

Captain had arranged an awning from the "Stern ... to the Mizen-Mast,"

which kept off the sun but was open on the sides.

By three o'clock the guests had arrived, forty-five ladies and sixty

gentlemen, and besides them the ship's crew, waiters and servants.

Dinner was served and "we were not throng'd at all, & dined all at

twice."

The guests were then entertained by a boat race--"A Boat was anchored

down the River at a Mile Distance--Captain Dobby and Captain Benson

steer'd the Boats in the Race--Captain Benson had 5 Oarsmen; Captain

Dobby had 6--It was Ebb-Tide--The Betts were small--& chiefly given to

the Negroes who rowed--Captain Benson won the first Race--Captain

Purchace offered to bett ten Dollars that with the same Boat & same

Hands, only having Liberty to put a small Weight in the Stern, he would

beat Captain Benson--He was taken, & came out best only half the Boat's

Length--About Sunset we left the Ship, & went all to Hobb's Hole, where

a Ball was agreed on."

After the ball was over the guests spent the remainder of the night at

Hobb's Hole. At half-past eight the next morning they were called to

breakfast--"we all look'd dull, pale & haggard!"

After breakfast the party was entertained by the young ladies on the

harpsichord. At eleven o'clock they all went down to the River, where

the long-boat was waiting to take them back home to the Northern Neck.

_PEDLARS_

Probably the first pedlars in the Northern Neck were the Indians of

Cascarawaske, a merchant tribe that manufactured their products and sold

them up and down the Potomac--Patowmeke--meaning "traveling traders," or

pedlars.

During colonial days the itinerant pedlar traveled from plantation to

plantation. He was welcome everywhere because he brought news and gossip

as well as merchandise. Children were always watching out for the pedlar

at certain seasons when he usually arrived.

He was not hard to identify for he bore on his back, by means of a

harness of strong hempen webbing, two oblong trunks of thin metal,

probably tin. He carried a stout staff to help him to walk with his

burden and also for a weapon to ward off dogs and wild animals. He was

usually called the "trunk pedlar."

His pack contained everything from dress materials and jewelry to

"plumpers." The latter were thin, round, light balls used to put in the

mouth and fill up hollow cheeks!

The "indigo-pedlars" had a specialized trade. Blue, in all shades, was

the favorite color in colonial days, and indigo was used to dye this

color. It was especially in demand for dyeing wool. Pedlars traveled all

over the country selling indigo.

Pedlars continued to travel through the Northern Neck until the early

part of the twentieth century.

_SEVEN SATIN PETTICOATS_

Settlers in the Northern Neck sometimes received boxes containing

luxuries from relatives in England. These boxes were received even until

a late date.

In one family there were seven sisters. In probably the last box they

received from "home," as England was called for many years, there were

seven satin petticoats, some pink and some blue. They were made of heavy

satin and trimmed with lace.

Needless to say, these petticoats were treasured and passed on for

several generations. When nothing was left of them except faded shreds,

the tradition of the "seven satin petticoats" was then handed down from

mother to daughter.

_PHI BETA KAPPA_

In Williamsburg, Virginia, on December 5, 1776, was founded the first

scholastic Greek letter fraternity--Phi Beta Kappa. That a native of the

Northern Neck had a part in this is shown by the minutes of that first

meeting:

"On Thursday, the 5th of December in the year of our Lord God

one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six and the first of the

Commonwealth, a happy spirit and resolution of attaining the

important ends of Society entering the minds of John Heath,

Thomas Smith, Richard Booker, Armistead Smith, and John Jones,

and afterwards seconded by others, prevailed, and was

accordingly ratified."

".... Officers were elected--John Heath as President, Richard

Booker as Treasurer, and Thomas Smith as Clerk, the society

esteeming them as necessary persons for the functions of their

several duties accordingly selected them."

These young gentlemen were students of William and Mary College. The

Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern is believed to be the birthplace of

the distinguished Phi Beta Kappa Society.

John Heath was a native of Northumberland County. Heathsville, the

county seat, was named for his family.

John Heath owned an estate called Black Point, on the outskirts of

Heathsville. Black Point was later known as Springfield.

_LIGHT-HORSE HARRY_

He rode into battle fast--with his sabre drawn and his three hundred

screaming troopers following close behind. Under him was his own horse

which he had ridden north from Virginia, one of those "fleet steeds" for

which his home country was noted. From his tall leather helmet the

horse-hair plumes streamed out behind and his jacket was a blur of

green.

His white lambskin breeches and knee-high boots were perfection. His

troopers were brilliant and shining--that was because Henry Lee would

have his Virginians no other way. His detachment of cavalry stood out

like a torch amid the ragged forces of Washington's army.

Henry Lee, lately graduated from Princeton, had been nominated by

Patrick Henry in 1776, to command a cavalry company raised in Virginia

for service in the Continental Army, under the command of Colonel Bland.

In 1777, Lee's Corps was placed under Washington's immediate control. It

was the "flower of Washington's troop."

In Harry Lee's "flying detachment" there was one who was a neighbor of

his back in Northern Virginia, John Marshall.

Light-Horse Harry Lee received his nickname because his outfit traveled

light. He never had more than three hundred men and they were as lightly

equipped as possible. Speed was necessary if they were to survive, for

to them fell the hard and dangerous assignments.

It fell to them to spy on the enemy's movements, to harass them, to

destroy them and capture their supplies. They hunted for food for

Washington's hungry army. Their jobs were the lonesome ones, carried out

in the still of the night, while Death stalked them--waiting for them to

make just one sound, one slip, one mistake. But Light-Horse Harry and

his men were like foxes, and Luck traveled with them.

General Washington was fond of Harry; he remembered him as a blond child

who had come with his father and mother on neighborly visits to Mt.

Vernon. He invited Harry to become one of his aides.

It was a tempting offer. Washington had been Harry's hero since

childhood days and this was an opportunity to be near him. After a

struggle with this great temptation, Harry won and sent his answer to

General Washington: "I am wedded to my sword."

In 1779, Light-Horse Harry decided to do the impossible. He and his men

would capture Paulus (Powles) Hook, a fort occupied by the British on a

point of land on the west side of the Hudson, opposite the town of New

York. The enemy had made the Hook an island by digging a deep ditch

through which the river flowed. It was strongly guarded on all sides by

British ships, troops or natural defenses.

For three weeks Harry's scouting expedition had been watching the enemy,

moving among the ravines, hills and marshes, always in close touch with

the British. In this detachment of Lee's was Captain John Marshall.

Lee laid his plans before General Washington, who approved, and made

sure that there were lines of retreat.

On a hot day in August Light-Horse Harry and his men started on the

adventure. It was rough going--a long march through marsh land that was

doubtless swarming with mosquitoes. They had to make bridges in some

places and at other places they waded or swam. They sank deep into the

marshes.

On the night of August the eighteenth they crept among the hills and

passed the main body of the British army, who were sleeping. At three

o'clock in the morning they crossed the ditch. From then on it was a

fast movement resulting in the capture of one hundred and fifty-nine

prisoners, which was all except a few men in the blockhouse.

After the enemy's stores and supplies had been destroyed Light-Horse

Harry and his men returned to Headquarters with their captives.

For this daring feat Lee received compliments from both Washington and

Lafayette. But his glory was not to last long. Some of the older

officers preferred charges against him for his conduct of the campaign.

He was court-martialed, but exonerated from the charges, and Congress

soon gave him a gold medal.

But the happiness of it all had fled from the heart of Henry Lee. He had

fought four years with Washington in the North. Now he went South and

joined General Greene for the remainder of the war. His fame continued

to increase. Tradition says that he planned the final strategy at

Yorktown.

At the surrender Light-Horse Harry stood in the line of officers as the

British army marched out and Cornwallis surrendered his sword to General

Washington. Lee was dressed in his usual brilliant perfection with his

hair powdered and queued in the back, but in his heart he felt old and

sad. At twenty-six he felt so old that he wanted to withdraw from the

world and sink into obscurity.

After the war was over Light-Horse Harry turned his horse toward home.

That was where he wanted to go--home to Leesylvania on the Potomac.

_A BAND OF BROTHERS_

King Carter once wrote: "Pray God send in the next generation ... a set

of better-polished patriots."

An example of the kind of "polished patriots" that King Carter probably

had in mind were the Lee brothers of Stratford: Thomas Ludwell, Richard

Henry, Francis Lightfoot, William and Arthur. They were the sons of

Thomas and Hannah Lee, and they were all born in the same southeast

bedroom at Stratford.

Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot were signers of the Declaration of

Independence. All five brothers worked in various ways to win freedom

from Great Britain for the colonies in America and to shape a government

that would stand.

President John Adams described the Lee sons of Stratford as "that band

of brothers, intrepid and unchangeable, who, like the Greeks at

Thermopylae, stood in the gap, in defense of their country, from the

first glimmering of the Revolution in the horizon, through all its

rising light, to its perfect day."

_THE DIVINE MATILDA_

Light-horse Harry Lee soon tired of his isolation and decided one day to

ride down to Stratford and call on the family of his cousin. It was a

long ride, but Virginians of that day thought nothing of traveling long

distances on horseback.

Thomas Lee had left Stratford to his oldest son, Philip Ludwell, who had

lived there in great style. In his stables were a score or more of

blooded horses, including the imported stallion Dotterel, which was said

to be the "swiftest horse in all England (Eclipse excepted)." His

imported coaches were the finest that could be had.

Philip had kept an open house, as Harry Lee well remembered, and he had

entertained on a lavish scale. A whole ox could be roasted for guests in

the kitchen fireplace. He had kept a band of musicians to whose airs his

daughters, Matilda and Flora, with their companions danced in the Great

Hall. But Philip Ludwell was now dead, Harry had heard, and Stratford

had passed on to his oldest child, Matilda.

As Harry came up the oak and poplar lined road to Stratford, Matilda and

Flora recognized him "as he rode past the grove of maples" and they

"welcomed him with joy."

Flora was described by a contemporary as being haughty in manner, "very

genteel and wears monstrous bustles." In describing Matilda the only

word used by her contemporaries was "divine."

Harry was not prepared for this new Matilda. When he had last seen her

she was at the awkward age of thirteen. Now she was nineteen and his

first sight of her took his breath away.

There was tea-drinking in the garden with laughter and talk of the good

old times before the war. Perhaps Matilda and Harry walked in the garden

and "sat under a butiful shade tree" or climbed to one of the

summer-houses on the roof from which they could see "Potomac's sea-like

billows."

In less than a month Matilda was married to her cousin, Light-Horse

Harry Lee. And what was Matilda like? There are no portraits or

miniatures to tell us how she looked, no letters to unlock her

personality. Only the word "divine" bequeathed by her contempories.

Matilda was expensive. Inventories tell us that her side-saddle cost

1,200 pounds of tobacco, and music lessons on the harpsichord cost 3,043

pounds of tobacco. "1 pc. fine Chintz in Pocket Money for Mis Matilda,"

whatever that meant, was 1,500 pounds, and another ninety pounds of

tobacco went for dental care. Listed among her belongings were a cap, a

pair of silk shoes and stays for her slender waist.

Matilda could afford to have expensive tastes. She had inherited

Stratford and its six thousand acres of rich tobacco soil, with enough

slaves to tend it, and other lands scattered all over northern Virginia.

Harry took Matilda to New York where for three years he represented

Virginia in Congress. They were gay and happy years, but it was over all

too soon.

When Matilda died, Harry wrote: "Something always happens to mar my

happiness."

At the foot of the garden at Stratford, Harry built a vault for Thomas

Lee's granddaughter, Matilda, who was called "divine."

Matilda was twenty-six years old when she died. She left three children,

Philip Ludwell, Lucy Grymes and Henry.

_MADAM WASHINGTON_

Augustine Washington had left his wife, Mary: "the current crops on

three plantations and the right of working Bridges Creek Quarter for

five years, during which time she could establish a quarter on Deep

Run."

Mary stayed on at Ferry Farm for twenty-nine years after her husband's

death. It is possible that she spent part of this time on some of her

adjoining property. Meanwhile her children had married--Betty Washington

Lewis was living in Fredericksburg, and George was established at Mount

Vernon, which he had inherited after Lawrence's death.

By 1772 George had persuaded his mother to move to a house which he

owned in Fredericksburg where she would be close to Betty, at Kenmore.

When Mary Ball Washington moved to Fredericksburg, her property in the

Northern Neck included: "43 Hoggs, Shoats and Pigs, 16 sheep, 24 head of

cattle, 2 horses; and at the Quarters (her dower land of 400 acres, some

miles down the river), 4 horses, 6 oxen, 8 cows and calves, 39 hogs." On

the two farms there were ten slaves. The "Quarters" was bringing her an

income of 30 pounds per year.

After Mary was installed in Fredericksburg, she had her coachman,

Stephen, drive her almost every day to Ferry Farm. Mary's favorite

carriage in her old age was a light open phaeton. She was respectfully

greeted by everyone she passed on the streets of Fredericksburg.

In her later years Mary is said to have worn a mobcap and kerchief. A

mobcap was a frilly white cap introduced from France. In summer she

probably waved a fan made from the bronze feathers of wild turkeys.

During these years George Washington frequently visited his mother, and

other relatives in the Northern Neck. In August, 1768, he "hauled the

Sein for sheepsheads" off Hollis Marsh in Westmoreland County. In 1771,

he dined at the Glebe in Cople Parish, and "returned to my brother's in

the evening." George enjoyed the social life in Fredericksburg. He liked

to play cards, and he liked to dance--the minuet and cotillions and

country-dances. It was said that he liked beautiful women, punch, horses

and hunting, and that he could be gay or dignified, whenever the

occasion demanded. During Revolutionary days Washington and the Northern

Neck patriots often gathered at the Rising Sun Tavern in Fredericksburg.

In 1784, while visiting Mount Vernon, Marquis de Lafayette rode to

Fredericksburg to pay a visit to Madam Washington before he returned to

France. When he returned to Mount Vernon after calling upon Mary Ball

Washington he made this comment about her: "I have seen the only Roman

Matron living at this day."

George Washington traveled to Fredericksburg in March, 1789, to tell his

mother good-bye before leaving Mount Vernon to go to New York for his

first inauguration. She did not live to see him again.

Mary Washington was buried in Fredericksburg, near Meditation Rock, a

spot near her home where she often went to read her Bible, pray and

meditate. It was her request that she be buried there. Many years later

a monument to her was erected there.

The modest house where she spent her last years became a national shrine

in 1890. A college in Fredericksburg was later named for Mary

Washington.

"All that I am I owe to my honored Mother," is the tribute that the

great George Washington paid to Mary Ball Washington.

_AFTER THE REVOLUTION_

The Northern Neck, like the rest of Tidewater Virginia, changed after

the Revolution. War had taken its toll of manpower and money.

The tobacco lands had become exhausted, therefore the culture of tobacco

had been almost abandoned. Wheat and corn were now the main crops.

The once thriving tobacco river ports fell into decay. Foreign ships no

longer tied up at the plantation landings. The tobacco rolling-roads

were no longer needed for their original use.

After the war the English clergy was withdrawn and the churches were

unused and deserted for years. Some fell into ruins or were used for

other purposes. The glebes became "bones of contention" between the

Episcopal Church and the "people." In 1802 the General Assembly passed

an act by which the glebes were sold for the benefit of the public.

After the Revolution other religious denominations gained a foothold in

the Northern Neck.

People now turned away from anything British, even in architecture and

dress. Before the Revolution boys and girls dressed precisely like their

parents in miniature. After the war they wore a special dress of their

own.

In 1789, there were still few conveniences of life in the Neck, or

elsewhere in the country. All cloth was woven by hand. Most of the farm

implements were made of wood. Wheat was cut with a scythe, raked with a

wooden rake and beaten out with sticks or "trodden out" by oxen.

There were as yet no matches with which to make a fire. Flint and tinder

box were used instead and live coals were kept as a basis for the next

day's fire. Wood was the chief fuel and candles were used for light.

Bananas and oranges were rarely seen in the Northern Neck then, for

sailboats were too slow to bring these fruits any distance in good

condition. Communication was slow. By 1790 there were fifteen

post-offices in Virginia. The postal service was crude. Mails were

carried by post-riders and stages.

People of the Northern Neck lived comfortably but the great prosperity

was gone, and although eventually it was recovered in part, the pattern

of living was never on such a grand scale again as it was before the

Revolution. The large estates were broken up by division or sale. New

families took the places of the old. Many of the old names passed into

oblivion. The old order of social aristocracy declined, but the people

still clung to their old customs, traditions and family life.

_MANTUA_

"Chicacony" was selected as a townsite by the Burgesses some time after

John Mottrom and his friends had settled there. Mottrom had built a

wharf and a warehouse at Coan and he had plans for a "Brew-House." If he

had lived, the town might have matured. But Colonel Mottrom died and the

plans for a town seem to have been abandoned. Plantation life did not

encourage the growth of towns.

The Coan Hall property passed on to the descendants of John Mottrom.

Coan Hall and the other early homes in the vicinity either burned or

fell into ruins. Toward the close of the eighteenth century, when the

Coan Hall property went out of the Mottrom family, there appears to have

been few traces left of the once thriving settlement at Coan.

James Smith, a wealthy Baltimore merchant and shipowner, purchased a

portion of the Coan Hall estate from a Mottrom heir and erected a brick

mansion on a slope there, about 1785. He called his new home Mantua.

Mantua was built along the traditional lines of a Virginia house--a

central hall, two rooms on each side and large end chimneys. From the

outside it appeared to have three stories but there were really six

floor levels. Later, identical wings were added on each side by Smith's

sons. Still later, Smith's grandson added an imposing front portico.

Before this addition coaches were driven, tradition says, right up to

the front steps and ladies could step from coach to marble steps without

soiling their dainty slippers. The conveyance could then continue around

to the stables on the west side, or follow the driveway on to Coan Stage

Road, which ran back of the plantation.

The marble steps, marble window-sills and paneled inside blinds were

handsome details of Mantua which may have been the outcome of Smith's

residence in Baltimore. Originally he was a native of County Derry,

Ireland.

In the rear of the house there were five terraces, planted with flowers

and, perhaps, vegetables and herbs. Brick slave quarters were ranged in

a semi-circle beyond the terraces.

The second story front windows of Mantua overlooked both the Coan and

the Potomac. Before government lighthouses and buoys marked the

waterman's course in this section, he had only the stars, landmarks and

a lighted window here and there to guide him. Mantua was a help to the

watermen for they could always be sure of a lighted window there, a lamp

purposely placed by members of the Smith family, and by day the towering

poplar trees were familiar landmarks.