King and Queen County, Virginia (history printed in 1908), Part 1

Author: Bagby, Alfred. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York : Neale Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 452


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975.501 K58b 1136052


GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02372 7891


KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA


REV. ALFRED BAGBY, D. D.


Columbian College, Washington, D. C. (now George Washington University), 1847 ; Princeton Theological Seminary, 1850-51.


FRONTISPINCE


KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA


By Rev. Alfred Bagby, A.B., D.D.


ILLUSTRATED


NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY


1908


COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY ALFRED BAGBY


1136052


To the gentle woman who for thirty-four years sat by my side, shared my joys and my sorrows, and nurtured my children; who for all these years has been an inspira- tion in mind and heart and life-


SARAH JANE (POLLARD) BAGBY- this book is affectionately dedicated by the author.


FOREWORD


The planting and growth of a group of people in a new country is always an interesting story. 3 It is re- grettable, however, that great difficulties usually em- barrass such a narrative; for a people in the process of rapid development oftener than otherwise permit the most essential facts in their history to drift into the limbo of the lost. And in addition to this common neg- lect, there has come upon the people of this county a civil war, destroying her most valuable public and pri- vate records.


But the author has made great compensation for the loss of so much original information by the diligence of his research and the faithful arrangement of his findings. His pages unfold before our eyes the pioneer settlement of this territory; its subsequent formation into the political division known as a county; the orderly development of this people under the law, customs, religion, and social life of a real English community; the names of many individuals and families who have added substance, culture, dignity, and luster to a brave and refined people; the arrest and almost overthrow of this civilization by a disastrous war; and the subse- quent resumption of communal life under radically changed social and economic conditions.


This narrative will be of grateful and affectionate interest to the sons and daughters of this noble old- county, and to Virginians everywhere; and, in after years, to those seeking information for a larger history of our race on these new shores.


A. J. MONTAGNE.


RICHMOND, APRIL 13, 1908.


PREFACE


The author has long since ceased to look for perfec- tion in any production that is merely human,-much less can he make such claim for himself. The most anyone can claim is to approximate his own ideals. Our attempt has been to tell the truth, the whole attainable truth, and nothing but the truth; but we are mindful that the truth is not always the easiest thing to find, nor, when found, is it very easy to state it in a manner at once clear and attractive.


We are not conscious of any sinister thought, cer- tainly not of any commercial thought, in the preparation of this volume. It has cost no little of time, expense, and labor, but it has been a labor of love. Himself a native of King and Queen, it has been his aim to set forth what he has seen and known of the nobility of the men and women it has sent forth as a legacy to the world. Omissions often and mistakes many will be observed, unavoidable from the inception, and for reasons but too obvious. Three times have the county records been swept away by fire, once during the Civil War. This is so disastrous that consecutive and detailed history of courts, transfers of real estate, and even county officers, is impossible. Hence much of our story is scrappy and fragmentary. I imagine that a parallel can hardly be found in the State.


The county is among the smaller ones, with no great fertility of soil; moreover, we are an isolated people with no great facilities for trading. The most that we can boast is in the character of our men and women, their culture, refinement, virtue, and devotion to reli- gious ideals.


It has been my desire and ambition to do ample jus- tice to every section of our county. I could have no mo- tive possible to my discernment to do otherwise. As my own life has been in the middle section, things there have come more readily to my mind.


8


PREFACE


From my boyhood the Baptists have been predomi- nant here. Every effort has been made to override all partiality to them. If some find their family names left out, it is surely not by design. Good men are not always responsive to appeals for family history and genealogy. An author is quite helpless in such matters. Even an honest man cannot write a history without data, nor ought he. The larger space given to the Clarks, the Civil War, etc., is not unfair, for they naturally and reasonably deserve a larger place in the public eye.


Anent the Colonial church,-the Church of England, -every possible effort has been made to get a represen- tation worthy and satisfactory for our volume, but in vain. The author is greatly indebted to Hon. H. R. Pollard, Col. A. F. Fleet, Judges J. G. Dew, T. R. B. Wright, Charles T. Bagby; Esq., B. H. Walker, M. D., John Pollard, D. D., and notably also to W. H. Whit- sitt, LL. D., for words of cheer and valued aid in various directions.


A. BAGBY.


INTRODUCTION


One of the happiest signs of the times is the awaken- ing of the historic sense among our people. Much of the material of history goes to waste in every country; but in our Southern country a larger amount of it has been lost than in some others. We have been more solicitous to make history than to record and preserve it when made. Possibly that is true of every community at cer- tain stages of its progress and development. In recent years a marked degree of interest has been aroused. The indifference of former years has passed away. That is one of the best features of the new day that has dawned upon us. Men are glad to cultivate a knowl- edge of families, municipalities, counties, States, and the whole country.


The county of King and Queen is truly ancient and honorable, and it is a concern to many people in many sections that its history should be collected and set in order. But there are certain obstacles in the way of such a consummation. The public records of the county have been destroyed by fire on more than one occasion. This is an incalculable loss. There are other sources of information, but none of these are so extensive and reliable as those once to be found in the clerk's office at the courthouse.


My honored friend, the Rev. Dr. Bagby, has devoted his attention for many years to the annals of King and Queen. He is sensible of the disadvantages under which he must labor, but he possesses a laudable ambition to preserve the things that remain, and to transmit an ac- count of them to posterity. He is a diligent and careful student, and his interest in the subject has been earnest and continued for many years. I have enjoyed an op- portunity to read over a portion of his work, and I consider it a very valuable and important contribution. I rejoice that he has decided to commit it to the press.


10


INTRODUCTION


He will thereby render an excellent public service, and besides will perpetuate his own name for generations to come, by linking it with the history and fortunes of one of the most venerable and noble communities in our country.


WILLIAM H. WHITSITT.


RICHMOND COLLEGE, September 12, 1907.


CONTENTS


PART I


THE PEOPLE: THEIR HOMES, WAYS, WORKS, WORSHIPS


CHAPTER PAGE


I: Geographical Location-Antecedents- James-


town Settlement


17


II: Progress and Expansion from Jamestown-Ori-


gin of King and Queen's County


.


21


III: Resources, Climate, etc.


26


IV: George Rogers Clark: his Nativity and his Exploits 35


V: Legislative Action Concerning the Formation, and Intended to Advance the Interest, of the County of King and Queen-Henning's " Statutes at Large " 42


VI: Church Houses and Old Homes


56


VII : Religious


Denominations


92


PART II


CIVIL WAR ANNALS


VIII: The War Starts-The Home Guard 129


IX: Rosters of King and Queen County in the Civil War 139


X: War Records, Letters, and Diaries 149


XI: From Richmond to Appomattox 192


XII: Historical Address by J. Ryland, Sr.


223


12


CONTENTS


PART III


DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL


CHAPTER PAGE


XII: Selections from the Poems of King and Queen. 241 XIII: Two Men Deserving to be Remembered, and a Boy sent on an Errand 254


XIV: Life on the Old Plantation


260


XV: Colored People of King and Queen County


.


277


PART IV


MISCELLANIES


XVI: Family and Individual Records 289


XVII: Genealogies 322


XVIII: Fragments ยท 364


ILLUSTRATIONS


REV. ALFRED BAGBY, D.D. Frontispiece


FACING PAGE 18


MAP OF KING AND QUEEN COUNTY


COL. JOHN POLLARD . 42


LOWER CHURCH OF ST. STEVENS PARISH 62


COL. J. C. COUNCILL 86


HON. J. H. C. JONES II6


SKETCH SHOWING LOCATION WHERE HOME GUARDS


OF KING AND QUEEN COUNTY ATTACKED COL.


DAHLGREN'S COMMAND I34


CAPT. EDWARD CAMPBELL FOX 140


DAHLGREN'S CORNER 150


MISS SARAH JANE POLLARD (MRS. ALFRED BAGBY) 242


MR. JOHN BAGBY 260


THOMAS ROANE DEW 300


COL. SAMUEL F. HARWOOD 316


BELL AIR


.


354


PART I THE PEOPLE: THEIR HOMES, WAYS, WORKS, WORSHIPS


CHAPTER I


GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION - ANTECEDENTS - JAMES- TOWN SETTLEMENT


King and Queen is one of the tide-water counties of Virginia, lying at its southeastern extremity, only some forty miles from Chesapeake Bay. It adjoins the coun- ties of Caroline, Essex, Middlesex, Gloucester, and King William, being separated from the latter by the Mattapony River. It lies on the northeastern shore of the York and Mattapony Rivers. No student of this portion of Virginia will fail to observe that all the east- ern portion of the State is cut up into several narrow strips-here called "necks "-by certain great rivers. The dividing rivers are these: The Blackwater (a branch of the Meherrin), James, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac. The intervening necks are four, to wit: beginning on the south, that of which Norfolk, Ports- mouth, and Suffolk are central points; (2) that of Jamestown, Yorktown, Williamsburg; (3) the neck of Gloucester, King and Queen, etc .; (4) that which is universally known as the "northern neck." To be yet more distinct : we have the neck between the Blackwater and the James; that between the James and the York; that between the York and the Rappahannock; and lastly, that between the Rappahannock and the Potomac.


Some future historian may disport himself in re- counting the glories of each of these, and find a most useful and enjoyable field.


I. Norfolk and Portsmouth will deserve superlative praise. 2. Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg speak for themselves, as being the cradle of the infant colony and the home of Pocahontas, the white man's only friend; and as furnishing, in the main, the scenes of the exploits of that remarkable man, Captain John Smith, who in the space of barely two years and five


18 KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA


months, almost by his single hand, saved the uncertain colony time and again from starvation and from the deadly tomahawk, and brought order out of chaos.


That wonderful little section of our State called " Northern Neck," is known the world over as the an- cestral home of Washington, Madison, Monroe, and last, but not least, of the Lees,-among them that peer- less citizen and soldier, Robert E. Lee.


This scant justice to our sisters of the other " necks " must suffice; our task is humbler. "Neck " No. 3, as above indicated, is subdivided longitudinally by a small stream, known near the Bay as Piankitank, while higher up it is nicknamed, with .no regard to fitness, the "Dragon." This stream rises at a point some seventy miles from the Bay and flows down, first between Essex and King and Queen, and lower down between Middle- sex and the latter county. The sluggish, fever-breeding stream might give ingress to steamers, and its banks might feed a large population if properly opened up. We thus locate the county of King and Queen as lying between the York and Mattapony on the south, and the Dragon (Piankitank) on the north.


The county, taking the Courthouse as its central point, is approximately in the same latitude, to the east- ward, with Accomac across the Bay, Gibraltar, the re- nowned fortress at the entrance of the Mediterranean, and Athens, the venerable city of Greece; and with San Francisco and Yokohama to the west. The 77th de- gree of longitude west of Greenwich, passes through Ottawa (Canada), Washington city, and central King and Queen; it then passes southward through eastern North Carolina into the ocean, and crossing the Carib- bean Sea, strikes the eastern end of the Isthmus of Panama, where is soon to be opened up the gateway between the two oceans. The county is one hundred miles south of Washington, thirty-six miles east-north- east from Richmond, forty miles northwest from James- town site, and fifty miles from the Bay.


The following names represented at Jamestown in 1608-9, are given on page 131 of Smith's History :


Smith, Behethland, Powell, Russell, Chashaw, Sickel-


COUNTY


CAROLINE


ESSEX


Shumansville


COUNTY


Bagbys


Indian


Neck \


~ Owenton


Piscataway.


Brays


1


Pauls X Roads


Miller's Tavern


St.


Minor


Howertonso


OF


Fleet Bestlando


Molly


Hill


Powecan


Dragon


Bivington


Ano


Stevensville SW


Walkerton y


Carlton's Stese


QRumford


Cuminor


Mantapike


Dragonville


KING Y


War


QUEEN


Truhart


Shanghai


SALUDA COUNTY


Shackelford/s


Glennsannatan


gint


River


Plain View


GLOUCESTER COUNTY


2.0


NEW KENT


ORK RIVER


KING AND QUEEN CO. VA.


WILLIAM


.Mattapony C.I.


Wakema


E


COUNTY


L


Plymouth


Mascot


MIDDLE SEX


SCALE 5 MILES - IINCH


o Stephen's Ch


MAP


Uffright


KING


Newtown


Sparta O


COUNTY


19


KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA


more, Worlie, Todkill, Lone, Bentley, Shortridge, Pising, Ward, Persie, West, Phetiplace, Profit, Ford, Abbott, Tankard, Yarrington, Bourne, Burton, Colonel Dods, Brinton, Peacocke, Powell, Ellis, Gipson, Prat, Acrigyl, Read, Hancock, Wotton, Brooke, Nelson, Tyn- dall, Colson, Watkins, Fitch, Poole, Markham, Crad- dock, Brown, Janoway, Clarke, Skinner, Deale, Anthony, Baggly (Sergeant), Lambert, Pising (Ser- geant), and others.


From Vol. II of the same history, at page 549, we obtain the following list of Jamestown settlers in 1620: Aston, Ashley, Archer, Anthony, Allen (4), An- drews, Abbot, Askew, Bowles, Button, Banks, Barber, Bonham, Brewster, Brooke, Bond, Beadle, Boone, Barnes, Badger, Britton, Bishop, Baron, Baker, Burley, Bromley, Barker, Bennett, Brewster, Bullock, Bayly, Butler, Burton, Baker, Beak, Bell, Blount, Cary, Cal- vert, Cecil, Corr, Chamberlaine, Cox, Cooper, Collins, Church, Camp, Cambel, Cooke, Conway, Cage, Cave, Crow, Chester, Cromwell, Drewry, Diggs, Dale, Denton, Dunn, Davis, Dobson, Dye, Drake, Dyke, Evans, Elkton, Finche, Farmer, Fox, Forrest, Far- rar, Field, Francis, Fuller, Fleet (William), Gray, Gates, Gardner, Gilbert, Grave, Greene, Gore, Har- ris, Hicks, Hart, Hanson, Hill, Hinton, Hancock, Holt, Huntley, Harwood, Howell, Henshaw, Hooker, Hicks, Jones, Johnson, Toby, Jackson, Leigh, Lay- son, Martin, Moore, Miller, Oliver, Pit, Row, Rob- inson, Roy, Robins, Rolfe, Roberts, Smith, Spencer, Shelton, Scott, Shelley, Stone, Shipley, Shepherd, Ste- vens, Tracy, Turner, Tucker, Taylor, Thornton, Watts, Watson, Wilson, West, Webb, White, Westwood, Wright, Walker, Winne, Wilmer, Wood, Wells, Wheeler, Ward, Waller, Sir George Yeardley (Gov- ernor), etc.


The following names are taken from the old land books as those of settlers at Jamestown, from 1625 to 1670: Lasy, Spencer, Gather, Matheman, Cooke, Nelson, Hill, Powell, Woodyard, Yeardley, Combes, Hitchcock, Arundell, Grimes, Lyon, Younge, David- son, Sharpless, Davies, Sands, Pierce, Hedges, Willard,


20 KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA


Moulston, Farmer, Lightfoot, Smith, Reuse, Gill, Cart- right, Austin, Bricke, Rabenet, Andrews, Alder, Evere, Negar, Pott, Townsend, Leister, Kalloway, Howlett, Dickinson, Taylor, Sutton, Maericke, Rolfe, Lawson, Fouler, Waller, Boothe, Hamor, Clement, Langley, Greene, Addums, Ratcliffe, Gibson, Fremason, Pontes, Clarke, Raynolds, Hichmore, Riddall, Goldsmith, Gaill, Howell, Ashly, Blaney, Hudson, Hartley, Shelley, Bew, Ward, Mentis, Whitemore, Chauntree, Sheppard, Saw- ier, Danfort, Loyd, Orthway, Crouch, Starkey, Perry, Chapman, Granco, Snow, Isgraw, Ascomb, Buck, Por- ter, Jackson, Barrows, Scritten, Pasmore, Jeffreys, Hibbs, Duke, Hinton, Stephens, Rayner, Price, Spilman, Cawt, Manify, Holmes, Caleker, Sherwood, West, Bar- ker, Scott, Carn, Hartl, Spalding, Hellin, Gray, Oc- bourn, Pope, Constable, Jones, Johnson, Hall, Cooksey, Kean, Fitts, Reddish, Smallwood, Gicen, Southey, Painter, Webb, Gravett, Glover, Adams, Spence, Tooke, Roberts, Harlow, Sharke, Lect, Bennett.


Conjectural numbers of Indians in 1607 within sixty miles of Jamestown, 8,000.


Jamestown census: 1607, 100 to 120; 1608, 70 to 130; 1610, 200; 1617, 400; 1622, 3800; 1628, 3000.


CHAPTER II PROGRESS AND EXPANSION FROM JAMESTOWN- ORIGIN OF KING AND QUEEN COUNTY


It is easy to see how, by and by, there came a move- ment out from Jamestown to form settlements at various points around, the Indians, of course, receding before the whites. Under the impulse of their Saxon blood, men moved out and made new homes for themselves up the James, along Hampton Roads, across the Bay, and on the various rivers emptying into the Bay. It must be remembered that locomotion in that day was much easier and safer by water than by land.


Back, northward and westward from Jamestown, lay a vast wilderness trodden only by savages and wild beasts, while not infrequently the former awaited with his tomahawk or arrow any roaming white man. Thus it came about that even to pass through this boundless waste was perilous. On the other hand, it was easy to take a boat and row down the river, and through the adjacent waters. Indeed, Captain Smith, within the short space of less than two and a half years had largely explored the waters of the James, the York, the Rap- pahannock,* and the Potomac, and Chickahominy and


* John Smith, the colonist, was born in Lincolnshire, England, 1579; captured on Chickahominy, December, 1607; president of Council, 1608; saved the colony again and again from starvation by getting food from natives. He was painfully hurt by the sting of a stingray at the mouth of the Rappahannock, and soon after seriously wounded by an explosion of powder in a boat on James River, and sailed for England in October, 1609. He had just settled West's Colony at Pow- hatan, which he bought from that chief. Died 1631. Powhatan's do- main extended from the Potomac south to the North Carolina line, and as high as the falls of rivers. This territory of Powhatan com- prehended about 8,000 square miles, 30 tribes, and 2,400 warriors. Capt. Smith tells us there were 5,000 Indians within 60 miles of Jamestown, of whom 1,500 were fighting men. At first Powhatan held to Falls of river; subdivided (p. 387). James River to Patuxent was a patri- archial confederacy, each chief having his own council and council house. Beyond Powhatan's were the Matoacans and Manakins con- federacies-all east of the Alleghenies. (Jefferson's Notes, pp. 143, 387.)


21


22 KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA


the Bay up to its northern extremity. These several waters gave welcome admittance to the new settlers, and thus the river shores were first preempted, and now be- gan to be settled.


The York River was less than ten miles north from Jamestown in a direct line, and this naturally was among the first after the banks of the James, to be settled. About the year 1628 there was an under- standing between the whites and the red men that York River was to be a dividing line between the two; the Indians holding the north bank, and the whites the south, and this line was reestablished in 1646.


About this time, that crafty, uncompromising enemy of the whites, Opecancanough, chief of the Chickahom- inies, second in succession from Powhatan, moved his headquarters across the river to a point only some five miles obliquely across from the present West Point, and stationed himself on the soil of King and Queen, at a point called Matoax, or Mascot. The arrangement thus entered into could not stand against the Saxon blood, and the whites soon overran the line. Then the north bank of the York was occupied and held.


EARLY SETTLERS


We give the following names of settlers in that region, on the soil of the present King and Queen County, drawn from the antiquated books now in the land office in Richmond, counting from the year 1625 onward:


Major William Nash, Major William Lewis, Dr. Giles Mode, Anthony Haynes, Wyatt, Hodson, Loane, Chapman, Pigge, Colonel Nathaniel Bacon (Arioceo Swamp), Lockey, Austin, Peck, Diggs, Richard Harri- son, Mozey, Birch (Hartquake Creek), Morris, Biggs, Hugh Roye, Jennings, James, Brund, Sexton, Wood- ward, Fuzey, Michel, Robert Pollard (near L. Creek), Clayborne, William Anderson (Poropotank Creek), Butler (Hartquake Swamp), Captain Thomas Byne- ton, Holmes, Williams (on Bestland, a branch of Piankitank), Robert Bagbie (1672), (joined Skipwith and Chapman), Robert Bagby (above tide, joined


KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA 23


Pigge and Hall, 1673), Henden, Key, Captain Law- rence Smith, Lieutenant-Colonel John Smith, Lightfoot, Roystin, Lewis, Hall (on Mattapony), Captain Robert Beverly, Garratt (Hartquake Creek), Mich, Robin- son, Style, Story, Jones, Robert Spencer (joined Ed. Diggs), Captain Jacob Lumpkin (1682), Leigh, Madi- son (joined to Robert Bagbie, Miles, and Chamberlaine, near "Mantapike Path "), Colonel Richard Johnson, Echols, Bowden, Thomas Todd, Eastham, Taylor, Neal, Muire, Lane, Key, McKenney, Ed. Gresham (on Exall Swamp), Story.


1664, John Fleet, 1662, William and John Clarke, 1682, Thomas Harwood, John Clarke, Williams, Rogers, and Shackelford; 1693, William Todd, Robert Bird, Captain Joshua Story, Zackery Lewis; 1695, Ed. Gutharie, Alexander Campbell, Colonel Ed. Hill, Colonel Richard Johnson, Jennings, Carlton, Fox, Bay- lor, Watkins, Ware, Didlake, Pynes, Gardaner, Dun- bar, Lyne, Thompson, Truman, William Bird, Gardner (Exall Swamp), Kemp, Temple, Roane, Crain, Cap- tain William Fleet, Rowe, Dunn, Temple, Reuben Garrett, Charles Hill, Bayler, Temple.


Campbell's "History of Virginia " gives the follow- ing estimated population of Virginia for the various years, and other information of interest relating to King and Queen County :


1609-60 (reduced by disease and casualties) .


1625-1500 (after massacre of March, 1622). These scattered over seventeen or eighteen places on James River. They had cattle, hogs, horses, and fowls now. Houses palisaded (p. 181).


When James I. died in 1625 there were only a few cabins in Richmond and nearly the whole colony was on James River and in Accomac.


1632-Williamsburg was settled, being at first the home of only one family.


1642-Berkeley came to Virginia.


1646-York River the boundary (p. 205).


1648-15,000, and 300 slaves (p. 205).


1701-40,000; (Connecticut, 30,000; Maryland,


24 KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA


25,000; Massachusetts, 70,000; New York, 30,000) (p. 362).


1619-Women imported, and husband to pay 120 pounds of tobacco; negroes also imported. Taxation by consent (p. 146).


1634-Captain Henry Fleet (pp. 185, 190).


1663-John and Theodore Bland (p. 264).


1664-Captain Dudley Diggs (p. 460).


1646-Rev. Steth, author of "Virginia History," lived at Varina, where Rolfe and Pocahontas had lived.


1664-John Robinson, Speaker and Treasurer for twenty-five years; "Of cultivated mind and polished manners." Christopher Robinson on the Rappahan- nock, his grandfather was nephew of an English Bishop. The Speaker's father, John M. Beverly (pp. 535, 547). 1733-A horse worth $50.00, cow and calf $3.60


1775-Governor Dunmore's Council-Rev. P. Nel- son, Page, Byrd, G. Corbin, Sr. and Jr. Richard Cor- bin was Deputy Receiver-General.


1782-Population, 567,614.


ORIGIN OF THE COUNTY


In the year 1634 the territory held by the Colony was divided into nine shires-James City, Charles City, Elizabeth City, York, Warwick, Henrico, Accomac, Nansemond, and Isle of Wight. In 1654 a county was formed from York, extending west to the headwaters of Mattapony and Pamunky Rivers, to be called New Kent. In 1691 another county was formed from the shire of New Kent, including what is now King William, King and Queen, and perhaps the whole of Caroline and Spottsylvania, to be called King and Queen. The ori- gin of the name is told in the following narrative :


In the beginning of the year 1688, James II., a son of the Charles who was beheaded by Cromwell and the Parliament, was reigning monarch in England. To him the Virginia Colony was loyal-it was always loyal. In November of that same year, William and Mary- the latter the King's own daughter-came over from


KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA 25


Holland to England to claim the Crown against James, who had grown selfish and despotic. On July I (o. s.), 1690, a great battle was fought beside the River Boyne, in eastern Ireland, between the forces of James and those led by his son-in-law. It resulted in a victory for the latter, and William and Mary became joint sover- eigns of the realm. The new county, being organized in the following year, was named for these illustrious personages, King and Queen.




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