IN AND AROUND FREDERICKSBURG
The origin of the names of the estates in the Northern Neck can
easily be traced. A few were Indian: "Quantico," "Occoquan,"
"Monacan," "Chappawamsic," "Chotank." Many were English:
"Stratford," "Wakefield," "Marlboro," "Chatham," "Gunston Hall,"
"Mount Vernon," "Ravensworth," "Blenheim," "Marmion,"--the latter,
of course, not named for Scott's fictitious hero (seeing that Sir
Walter had not yet been born), but, doubtless, by some emigrant of
Lincolnshire descent, in honor of Sir Robert de Marmion, who "came
over with the Conqueror," and was granted a manor in Lincolnshire.
"Chantilly" was thus named by Richard Henry Lee, after the beautiful
chateau and grounds of the Prince Condé, near Paris.
Mount Vernon was not too distant to be in Mary Washington's
neighborhood. She had but to cross the neck of land to the Potomac,
and a pleasant sail would bring her to the little wharf at Mount
Vernon--just where we, patriotic pilgrims, so often now land to
render our pious homage to the sacred homestead.
Within visiting distance of Mount Vernon was the "Chippawamsic"
plantation, at which lived another widow, rich, young, and
beautiful,--Ann Mason, the mother of George Mason, the patriot and
statesman, author of the Virginia Bill of Rights (the first complete
formula of the civil and political rights of man ever promulgated)
and author of the Virginia constitution of 1776, the first written
constitution of government ever adopted by a free people.
No one who studies the peculiar characteristics of Virginians of
this period can doubt that both these young widows were sought by
many suitors. The zeal with which men made haste to fill the places
of departed wives was something marvellous! Samuel Washington was
married five times, and one instance is recorded of a colonial
dame in the best society who had six husbands! The early marriage
of widows was the more desirable because of the outlying estates
which required management. Martha Custis gave this as excuse for
her prompt acceptance of Colonel Washington. But Ann Mason and Mary
Washington never married again. Each possessed great executive
ability, as well as unusual personal and intellectual gifts. Each
elected to devote those gifts to her children. Each was the mother
of a great patriot. And it is altogether probable that each one was
the devoted friend of the other, and that the close friendship
between the two Georges was inherited from their parents. Another
Ann Mason left letters and records which give us a hint of the
belongings of a Virginia housewife of her day. She enumerates
among her daughter's expenses prices paid for shoes with wooden
heels, hoop petticoats, and linen. George Mason of "Gunston Hall,"
the greatest, perhaps, of all the statesmen in an age of great
statesmen, remembered the furniture of his mother's bedroom. In it
was a large chest of drawers--a veritable high-boy![6] Three long
drawers at the bottom contained children's garments, in which the
children might rummage. Above these and the whole length of the
case were the gown-drawer, the cap-drawer, the shirt-drawer, the
jacket-drawer; above these a series of drawers always kept locked,
containing gauzes, laces, and jewels of value--ten or twelve
drawers in all! Then there were two large, deep closets, one on
each side of the recess afforded by a spacious stack of chimneys,
one for household linen, the other "the mistress's closet," which
last contained a well-remembered article, a small green horsewhip,
so often successfully applied to unruly children that they dubbed
it "the green Doctor." George Mason remembered other things in
connection with this splendid woman. She gathered her children
around her knees morning and evening to "say their prayers." She
was a lovely woman, true to her friends, pious to her Maker, humane,
prudent, tender, charming:--
"Free from her sex's smallest faults,
And fair as womankind can be."
[6] "Life of George Mason," by Kate Mason Rowland.
Both these Ann Masons--the wife of the statesman and her
mother-in-law--lived and died near Mary Washington's home before
1773. Both were brilliant women, with personal charm and amiable
dispositions.
Near the Masons, at "Marlboro," lived John Mercer, a lawyer of
fine talents and attainments, and owner of one of the best private
libraries in the colony. Virginia bibliophiles still boast in their
collections some of his books containing his heraldic book-plate.
There was a George in his family, one year younger than George
Washington. Their homes were just sixteen miles apart--a mere
nothing of distance, as neighborhoods were reckoned in those
days--and both in Overwharton parish. The Mercers were lifelong
friends of Mary Washington. General Mercer died in her grandson's
arms. Judge James Mercer wrote her will.
Then, not far from John Mercer's, lived one of the largest landed
proprietors in Stafford, a prominent burgess and planter of his day,
Raleigh Travers--of Sir Walter Raleigh's family--and married to
Mary Washington's half-sister, Hannah Ball. They were founders of
one of Virginia's great families, "distinguished in later years for
breeding, learning, and eloquence." Two miles from "Marlboro" lived
one of their daughters, Sarah, married to Colonel Peter Daniel, of
the "Crow's Nest."
Then came "Boscobel," the residence of Thomas Fitzhugh, the
father of a family of interesting young people. Susannah Fitzhugh
still smiles to us from these pages in her rich robe over a pearl
embroidered skirt and bodice of white satin, with a necklace of
pearls festooned over her fair bodice.
She was just three years younger than her beautiful cousin
Elizabeth, who lived at "Belle-Air" (her mother was Alice Thornton),
and whose portrait, painted by Hesselius, presents the fashionable
dress of her day. The gown is of fawn color, square corsage, elbow
sleeves with lace ruffles (like Susannah's), the hair carried
smoothly back from her brows, piled high over a cushion, and dressed
with strings of pearls.
The Fitzhughs did not quite "own the earth" in their region,--Lord
Fairfax did that,--but they owned a goodly portion of it: "Eagle's
Nest" in Stafford County, "Somerset" in King George, "Boscobel,"
"Belle-Air," and "Chatham" in Stafford, "Ravensworth" in Fairfax.
At the latter General Custis Lee, an honored descendant of this
honored race, sits to-day under the trees his fathers planted. In
the Fitzhugh pedigree the Thorntons crop up again and again. One
may sink a mine in any Virginia genealogy and he will encounter the
names of all these neighbors of Mary Washington.
At "Salvington" lived the Seldens, to whom Mary Washington was bound
by ties of close kindred. Mary Ball, daughter of Major James Ball
of "Bewdley," in whose arms Mary Washington had hastened to place
her son George when one month old, had married John Selden. For his
second wife he chose her first cousin, Sarah Ball, whose tombstone
may be seen to-day in the woods a mile from Lancaster court-house.
Later, a Samuel Selden married Mary Thompson Mason (she of the
wooden-heeled shoes and hoop petticoat), famous for her beauty, as
was her mother before her. The second wife of Samuel Selden was
Ann Mercer. Many of the descendants of these women inherited great
beauty. Even a little drop of their blood suffices to endow many a
Virginia woman of to-day.
At "Cleve," on the Rappahannock, lived Charles Carter, and thither
"Light-horse Harry" Lee went for his sweet wife Anne. Charles
Carter's father, Robert, the mighty man of Lancaster,--"King"
Carter,--died in the year George Washington was born. He had built
Christ Church, where Mary Washington was possibly baptized, for her
father lived near the church. King Carter owned 300,000 acres of
land, 1000 slaves, £10,000 in money. The cattle on a thousand hills
were his. He left many children, all of whom he was able to enrich,
and many of whom distinguished themselves in things better than
riches.
[Illustration: "Light-horse Harry" Lee.]
"Cleve," with its octagon front, is still in good preservation, and
is a fine example of the early Georgian manor-house, having been
built early in the eighteenth century. An excellent portrait of its
builder, Charles Carter, looks down to-day upon his descendants who
still own and live in the mansion.
[Illustration: Governor Spotswood.]
Four miles below Mary Washington's home was "Newpost," the ancestral
home of John Spotswood, a son of Governor Spotswood. His two sons,
Alexander and John, were destined to serve in the Revolutionary War,
one as a general, the other a captain, and to mingle the Spotswood
with the Washington blood by marriage with one of Mary Washington's
granddaughters. They came honestly by their dash and spirit through
the Spotswoods.
It appears that the _Virginia Gazette_ of 1737 lent its columns to
an article against Governor Spotswood, written by a Colonel Edwin
Conway, upbraiding the governor for delaying to turn over the arms
intended for Brunswick County. The article was entitled, "A Hint to
discover a few of Colonel Spotswood's Proceedings." A few days after
its appearance the _Gazette_ printed the following:--
"AN HINT FOR A HINT
"MR. PARKS,
"I have learnt in my Book, so far as to be able to read plain
English, when printed in your Papers, and finding in one of them
my Papa's name often mentioned by a scolding man called Edwin
Conway, I asked my Papa whether he did not design to answer him.
But he replied: 'No child, this is a better Contest for you that
are a school Boy, for it will not become me to answer every
Fool in his Folly, as the lesson you learned the other day of
the Lion and the Ass may teach you.' This Hint being given me,
I copied out the said Lesson and now send you the same for my
answer to Mr. Conway's Hint from
"Sir, your Humble Servant
"John Spotswood."
* * * * *
"FEB. 10.
A LION AND AN ASS
"An Ass was so hardy once as to fall a mopping and Braying at a
Lion. The Lion began at first to show his Teeth, and to stomach
the Affront. But upon second Thoughts, Well, says he, Jeer on
and be an Ass still, take notice only by the way that it is the
Baseness of your Character that has saved your Carcass."
There was a famous beauty in the family of Spotswood who shared, as
we shall see hereafter, in the spirit of her race. This was Kate!
She wore, on her high days and holidays, fawn-colored satin, looped
over a blue satin petticoat, square bodice and elbow sleeves and
ruffles; and her feet, which were extremely small and beautifully
formed, were shod in blue satin shoes, with silver buckles. Age did
not wither this haughty beauty. Her granddaughter remembered her
as she combed a wealth of silver hair, a servant the while holding
before her a mirror.
Not far from "Pine Grove" was "Traveller's Rest," the most beautiful
and significant of all the ambitious names of stately mansions on
the Rappahannock. "It should be called," said Byrd Willis, "Saint's
Rest--for only _they_ ever go there!" "Traveller's Rest" was part
of the "200 acres of land on ye freshes of Rappahannock River"
bequeathed to Mary Ball by her father, Joseph Ball. The family
of Gray long lived at "Traveller's Rest," and thither in after
years, Atcheson Gray brought his child-wife Catherine Willis, the
great-granddaughter of Mary Washington.
These are only a few of the country gentry among whom Mary
Washington lived, and to whom she was related. Time would fail to
describe them all--Colonel Thomas Ludwell Lee of "Berry Hill";
"Bellevue" and its occupants; the Brent family at Richland, in
Stafford County; "Belle Plaine," the residence of the Waugh family.
All these places were in a space of eight or ten square miles, and
from generation to generation the sons looked upon the daughters of
their neighbor cousins, and found them fair, until the families were
knit together in every conceivable degree of kinship.
In the town of Fredericksburg Mary Washington had near relatives
and friends. Roger Gregory, the merry-hearted, had married a
woman as merry-hearted as himself,--Mildred Washington, George
Washington's aunt and godmother. Foremost at the races, and first
on all occasions of mirth, was Roger Gregory. It has been said that
Augustine Washington was optimistic in his temperament, and, like
his sister Mildred, conspicuous for cheerfulness--also that from
him Betty Washington and her brothers inherited their love for gay,
social life--that Mary Washington was always serious, and in her
later years almost tragic. She surely had enough, poor lady, to make
her so.
Roger Gregory had died just before George Washington was
born, and his widow married Henry Willis of "Willis's Hill,"
Fredericksburg, afterwards "Marye's Heights," where the fierce
battle of the Civil War was fought. Mildred's three charming Gregory
girls were prominent figures as they trod the streets of old
Fredericksburg--the streets named after the Royal Princes--clad in
their long cloaks and gypsy bonnets tied under their chins. They
were soon absorbed by a trio of Thorntons, and their mother Mildred
left alone with her one son, Lewis Willis. "Old Henry Willis," his
father, had married three times, boasting that he "had courted
his wives as maids and married them as widows." He was a rich old
fellow with a long pedigree and gorgeous coat of arms on his coach
panels. Mildred Gregory had wept so bitterly when the death of his
first wife was announced to her, that a friend expressed surprise.
"Mildred Willis," she explained, "was my namesake and cousin,
and I grieve to lose her. But that is not the worst of it! I am
perfectly sure old Henry Willis will soon be coming down to see
me--and I don't know what in the world I can do with him!" Would it
be sinister to suggest that the lady was already won? It appears
she knew her man. Had he not been her suitor in her girlhood? His
grandson says, "In one little month he sat himself at her door and
commenced a regular siege: and in less than two months after his
wife's death he married her."
If the shade of this wife was permitted to be a troubled witness of
her recent husband's marriage, she could not complain. She had been
herself the widow, Brown, only for one month before she had married
Henry Willis.
This Colonel Henry Willis was known as "The Founder of
Fredericksburg." Colonel William Byrd visited him immediately after
his marriage with Mildred Gregory, and spoke of him as "the top man
of the place." Mildred Washington (Widow Gregory) had one son by her
marriage with Henry Willis. She named him for her first husband--her
first love--Lewis. He was two years younger than his cousin, George
Washington. The boys attended the same school, and were companions
and playmates. Lewis Willis often spoke of George Washington's
industry and assiduity at school as very remarkable. While his
brother Samuel, Lewis Willis, and "the other boys at playtime were
at bandy or other games, George was behind a door cyphering. But
one day he astonished the school by romping with one of the large
girls--a thing so unusual that it excited no little comment among
the other lads."
Through the Willis family Mary Washington's descendants became
allied to the Bonapartes. The second child of Byrd C. Willis (son of
Lewis Willis) was Catherine. Her mother was the daughter of George
Lewis, Betty Washington's son. Thus Mary Washington was ancestress
of Catherine Willis, who at thirteen years of age married, and at
fourteen was a widow, having lost also her child. She accompanied
her parents to Pensacola, where she married Achille Murat,
ex-prince of Naples and nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was very
beautiful--this child--twice married and a mother before she was
fifteen.
The Murat and Bonaparte families at first opposed the marriage,
but all opposition vanished when they learned that she was nearly
related to General Washington.
[Illustration: Prince Murat.]
It is said that she was well received abroad: "In London she stood
up for her country and fought its battles in all companies." She was
once accompanied by John Randolph of Roanoke and other distinguished
personages on a visit to the London art galleries. In one of these
the portraits of Washington and Napoleon hung side by side, and
Randolph (who was always dramatic), pointing to the pictures,
said, "Before us we have Napoleon and Washington, one the founder
of a mighty Empire, the other of a great Republic." Then turning
to Catherine with extended hand, "Behold!" he exclaimed, "in the
Princess Murat the niece of both--a distinction which she alone can
claim."
As the century neared its highest noon Fredericksburg became the
home of one and another of the men destined to earn immortal fame
in the Revolution. James Monroe lived there, whose hand, long since
mingled with the dust, has yet the power to stay the advance of
nations. Men of wealth secured the pleasant society all around by a
residence in the town. As many as ten coaches were wont to drive out
in company when the summer exodus to the springs set in.
There was a famous tailor in Fredericksburg who made the
lace-trimmed garments for these gentry,--William Paul, a Scotchman.
Hanging in his shop, was a handsome portrait of "my sailor
brother John" as he explained to his customers. Anon the tailor
died, and John came over to administer upon his estate. He found
friends--Colonel Willy Jones and Doctor Brooke--who aided him
materially in the first years of his life in Fredericksburg. In
gratitude to the former he assumed the name of "Jones," and the
latter he made surgeon of the _Bon Homme Richard_--for this was
John Paul Jones the great, the brilliant naval officer of our
Revolution. Congress gave him a commission and a ship, _The
Alfred_, and on board that ship he hoisted before uelphia, with his
own hands, the flag of freedom--the first time it was displayed.
He claimed and received the first salute the flag of the infant
Republic received from a foreign power. He served through the war,
and at his death was the senior officer of the United States navy.