USA > Virginia > City of Suffolk > City of Suffolk > The history of Nansemond County, Virginia > Part 1
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OLD DOMINION LINE
Steamships "MONROE","PRINCESS ANNE","JAMESTOWN" "HAMILTON" and "JEFFERSON."
Sailing from Norfolk for New York daily, except Sunday, at 7 p. m. Sailing from New York for Norfolk daily, except Sunday, at 3 p. m.
NIGHT LINE FOR RICHMOND.
For Richmond, new steamers "BERKELEY" and "BRANDON" leave Company's Wharf, foot of Church Street, 7 o'clock every night.
For Old Point and Hampton, steamer "Luray."
For Old Point, East, Ware, North (Matthews and Gloucester Coun- ties) and Severn Rivers, Steamer "MOBJACK."
For Newport News and Smithfield, Steamers "HAMPTON" and "ACCOMAC."
For Nansemond River and Suffolk, Steamer "VIRGINIA DARE."
Freight received at Company's Wharf, Water Street, daily except Sunday, until 5 P. M.
Passenger Tickets sold and Staterooms reserved at Company's Office on .Wharf, or at Union Ticket Office, Main and Granby Streets, Norfolk, Va.
For further information relative to Passenger or Freight Rates, apply to
JOHN NICHOL, General Agent, NORFOLK, VA.
H. B. WALKER, Vice-Pres. and Traffic Mgr. 81 BEACH STREET, NEW YORK.
(See Daily Papers for Winter and Summer Changes in Schedule. )
ORGANIZED 1869.
THE FARMERS BANK OF NANSEMOND
Suffolk, Va,
Capital
-
Twenty Thousand Dollars.
Surplus and Profits - Five Hundred and Fifty-five Thousand Dollars.
Total Resources
-
More than Two Million Dollars.
With Long Experience, Unsurpassed Facilities and Increasing Resources, the Institution continues to offer its services to the people.
E. E. Holland, G. W. Truitt, President, Vice-President,
Wm. H. Jones, Jr., Cashier.
JAS. L. McLEMORE, President R. A. PRETLOW, Vice-President
A. WOOLFORD, Cashier C. E. HARGRAVE, Ass't. Cashier
BANK OF SUFFOLK,
SUFFOLK, VIRGINIA.
Capital and Profits,
-
$162,500.00.
RESPECTFULLY SOLICITS YOUR
BANKING BUSINESS.
·
Write for OUR Prices
THE SUFFOLK PEANUT CO.
SUFFOLK, VIRGINIA
JOHN KING,
President
J. B. PINNER,
Secy. & Treas.
The Oldest Peanut Concern in the Town of Suffolk
The Largest Peanut Town in
Virginia
Six Railroads and One Steamboat Line Give Us
Unexcelled Shipping Facilities
Write for OUR Prices
WOODWARD & ELAM
Insurance and Surety Bonds
SUFFOLK, - - VIRGINIA
FRANKLIN, VA. SMITHFIELD, VA.
Nansemond River
Brick & Tile Co.
H AVING abiding faith in the future growth and developement of Eastern Virginia, and especially of the peanut belt of Nansemond County, the above business was organized, and in 1901 incor- porated under the laws of the State of Virginia:
Located upon deep water, accessible to all tidewater markets, from a very small beginning the business has become one of some magnitude, its present annual output being twelve million building brick, in addition to other products. The Com- pany is fortunate in owning what is, probably, one of the most valuable clay deposits in Eastern Virginia, it being a peninsular, several hundred acres in extent, bounded on the east by a narrow creek, south by the Nansemond River, west by the western branch of the Nansemond, and upon the north by the public highway leading from Suffolk to Smithfield. Upon this public road the Company have a handsome brick store, well stocked with goods, and also their General Manager's residence: Lying in the world's best Peanut territory, these lands have, under the intelligent culture of their General Manager, who is a stockholder in the Company, become profitable holdings, aside from their value on account of a deep and strong "brick clay" subsoil of from ten to twelve feet in depth. With a second plant nearly equipped, having sufficient capacity for fully doubling their output, unlimited raw material, the use of the most modern machinery and methods, the remarkable in- crease in fertility of their lands, the location of some twenty- five families of employees upon this property, and the gradual but sure increase of their merchandising business, we think the Company may reasonably look to the future with hope and confidence.
Handle the Best
PEANUTS
SUPERB JUMBO BELLE OF WAKEFIELD GAMECOCKS (Fancy) DIAMOND BRAND (Extra)
All Grades of
Virginia and Spanish Shelled
Cleaned and Packed by
THE BAIN PEANUT CO., INC. WAKEFIELD, VIRGINIA
FACTORIES :
Wakefield, Va. Suffolk, Va.
Petersburg, Va. Norfolk, Va.
Another Prosperous Nansemond County Enterprise
Interstate Fire Insurance Co., Inc.
SUFFOLK, VA.
Capital 1 1
$131,000.00
Surplus to Policy Holders
- 154,185.87
Total Assets - - 163,394.07
J. E. WEST, President G. W. TRUITT, Vice-President J. T. WITHERS, Secretary-Treas.
J. Walter Hosier
REAL ESTATE,
INVESTMENTS
and General Insurance
Kilby Street,
SUFFOLK - - VA.
M
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THE
HISTORY OF
NANSEMOND COUNTY
14
VIRGINIA 363
BY JOS. B. DUNN 31
THE Virginia Exhibit Jamestown Expo. 1 0'07 .
13
The first mention of the name Nansemond is found in Smith's History of Virginia. In the summer of 1608 Capt. John Smith with twelve companions came up the river called Nansemond after a tribe of Indians of that name. Smith and his men were attacked in the neighborhood of an island now called Dumpling Island. The
Colonel Phillip's Residence on Nansemond River
main settlement of the Nansemond tribe was near the mouth of West- crn Branch, and the island opposite was used as a place for storing their corn. The Nansemond tribe numbered three hundred warriors, and their canoes filled with fighting men suddenly appeared and sur- rounded the little craft that held Smith's exploring party. At the first volley of musketry the Indians leaped overboard and swam to shore. Smith promptly captured the canoes and was in the act of
W. J. Lee's Residence on Nansemond River
destroying them when the Indians from the banks made signs of sur- render. They were glad to purchase peace at the cost of "400 bas- kets of full corne," which supply helped to relieve the hungry colon- ists at Jamestown. In 1609 when affairs were growing desperate at Jamestown and starvation threatened the destruction of the colony,
14
Capt. Smith remembered the river whose banks were oyster shells and in whose midst was the isle of plenty. He ordered Capt. John Martin with over a hundred men to proceed up the Nansemond river and found a permanent settlement upon its banks. Martin went in for heroic measures. He seized the Indian chief, captured the town of Nansemond, and took for the use of his men the corn on Dump- ling Island. Flushed with success he grew careless, and the Indians surprised him by a sudden attack, rescued their chief and carried off the thousand bushels of corn that Martin had appropriated. Martin thoroughly demoralized by the change of fortune, fled to James- town, leaving his men to make the best of the situation. Left with-
Iron Bridge,. Everet's Va.
out a leader, the men returned to Jamestown, and Smith's plan for a city on the banks of the Nansemond was abandoned. The Indian word Nansemond means "fishing-point or angle," and was the name given by the Indians to their town which was situated in the angle made by the junction of Western Branch with the main stream of the river. The tribe takes its name from their chief settlement and the river is named for the tribe. Neither Smith nor Martin seems to have gone further up the river than the point where the stream di- vides. Dumpling Island, probably receives its name very early, for in 1636 a grant to "a place known as Dumpling Island" is made to Wm. Parker. In 1612 Sir Thomas Dale with 100 men explored the
15
Nansemond River to its sources. At the time of the great massacre in 1622 Edward Waters and his wife were captured by the Nanse-
St. Paul's P. E. Church, Suffolk. Va.
inond Indians and taken to the mouth of that river, from which they seemed to have little chance of escape ; but one day an empty boat be- longing to some English ship happened to drift ashore, and in their rejoicings over it the Indians relaxed their guard, and Waters and his wife escaped in a canoe to Kiquotan. The great grandson of
16
this Waters had an only child, Sarah, who married David Meade, a distinguished citizen of Nansemond.
In 1622 in retaliation for the part the Nansemond tribe had ta- ken in the massacre of the Colonists, Sir George Geardley devastated the country of the Nansemonds with 300 men. The massacre of 1644 was again followed by invasions of the Indian country, with such success that the power of the neighboring tribes was broken. At the session of the Assembly, 1644-5, the inhabitants of the coun- try south of James River were ordered to make marches upon the Indians. In March 1646 war was again declared upon the Nanse-
Washington Square, Suffolk, Va.
mond and adjoining tribes, but within a few months the natives had been so thoroughly subdued that in October, 1646, the Assembly re- pealed the acts prohibiting trade with the Indians, for cutting down their corn and for making war upon the Nansemonds.
From this time the Nansemond tribe gradually dwindled away. The tragic history. of this people who gave their name to our county and river affords a sad commentary of the white civilization that crushed them. In 1669 they had only 45 fighting men left in their tribe, and in 1744 they were reduced to so small a number that they could no longer "subsist of themselves by hunting, which is their
17
M. E. Church, Crittenden, Va.
18
chief support," so they joined themselves to the Nottoway tribe. Their lands had dwindled also, for by a statute of 1744 they were al- lowed to sell lands consisting of 300 acres in the county of Nanse- mond. The statute providing for the sale of the Indian lands is in- teresting reading, as it furnishes testimony of the manner in which the Indians gradually lost their foothold on the soil of Virginia. "Whereas it has been represented to this General Assembly that the Indians of the two nations (Nansemond and Nottoway), are very prone to drink spirits and other strong liquors, to a very great ex- cess, thereby giving ill-disposed and dishonest people opportunities to make very great advantages of them, by first getting them in debt
Christian Church, Suffolk, Va.
and then taking their skins, money, clothes and ammunition, by which they defeat the just trader from getting paid for furnishing them with the necessaries of life; to prevent which:" Then follows a provision prohibiting the sale of liquors to these Indians for anything save ready money. But it was too late now to save the race, and in 1791 trustees are appointed to sell the last remaining lands of the tribe, and to use the money from such sale to support the survivors of the once mighty nation of the Nansemonds, who "have become so reduced in their number as not to exceed five persons, who through old age and bodily infirmities are rendered unable to support them- selves." There are few traces left of the ancient occupants of the
19
land. A few negroes boast of Indian blood in their veins and some years ago in laying the foundation for a pavilion on a mound-shaped island in the river just below Suffolk a number of Indian relics were exhumed, showing that the place had once been the burying-ground of an Indian tribe.
As early as 1635 Nansemond attracted the attention of settlers. Here as elsewhere in Virginia the settlements clung to the water- courses. In 1635 Gov. West granted to Richard Bennett 2,000 acres -
on Nansemond River for importing forty persons; and to John Slaughter 200 acres on Wright's Creek. The patents to lands in the year 1638 refer to tracts situated on the Nansemond or Matrevers River. Lord Matrevers, son of the Duke of Norfolk, had received a grant in 1633 to 30,000 acres on Nansemond River and an effort was made to call the river Matravers (Matrevers) in honor of the English lord. The name did not stick, however, and appears only as an alternate form in the land patents. By 1639 the influx of Ypopulation had become so large that this section was separated from Isle of Wight and set apart as a county under the name of Upper Norfolk County. Its first representatives in the House of Burgesses were Randall Crew, John Gookin and Tristam Norseworthy. A large land-owner and prominent citizen in the new county was Richard Bennett. He was a member of the Governor's council, but he was a Roundhead and gathered about him numbers of the same political and religious creed. In 1641 he sent his brother to New England to request that some Puritan ministers be sent to Virginia. These ministers gained their strongest foothold in this county where a flourishing church numbering 118 members was soon organized under the care of a minister named Harrison, who had formerly been Gov. Berkeley's chaplain. The rapid growth of the Independents disturbed the mind of the authorities and active measures were taken to suppress them. Religion and politics were practically synonymous in those days and Independence in religion spelled disloyalty in politics. England was in the midst of the fierce struggle between King and Parliament, and Virginia was loyalist to the core. In 1648, a few months before the execution of Charles I., pressure was brought to bear on the Nansemond Independents and their corelig- ionists in Norfolk County. William Durand of Norfolk County, who was an elder and a leader in the movement, was banished. He retired to Maryland and received a grant of 800 acres of lands for importing persons into that colony. He is frequently confused in the histories of Virginia with George Durand, who migrated from Virginia to North Carolina some years later. The Rev. Mr. Harri- son, their pastor, was next expelled from the colony; next their other
1
20
Presbyterian Church, Suffolk, Va.
21
teachers were banished, and when the congregation stubbornly held to the church of their choice some of them were imprisoned. So far the council had been unable to break their spirit, but an order to disarm all Independents having been given, the spirit of resistance was quenched. A number of these dissenters having been invited by Gov. Stone, Lord Baltimore's deputy, retired to Maryland, and are remembered as among the founders of Anne Arundel County in that State. Among those who left were Richard Bennett and William Ayres. These refugees prospered in their new abode and others induced by their example removed thither. It was not long, however, before they became dissatisfied with the proprietary govern- ment of Roman Catholic Maryland, and they were the leaders in the fierce war waged between Protestants and Catholics in Mary- land a few years later.
In 1642 the county was divided into three parishes to be known as South, East and West. In 1646 the name of the county was changed to Nansimum. In 1652 the Commonwealth of England sent a fleet to demand Virginia's submission to the new government in England. Commissioners were appointed to receive the sub- mission of the Colony. One of the commissioners was Richard Bennett, who had retired to England from Maryland. On the reorganization of the Colony Bennett was elected governor by the Assembly. Another citizen of Nansemond, Edward Major, was by the same Assembly elected Speaker of that body. At the second session of the House held in the same year Col. Thomas Dew, Burgess from Nansemond, was chosen Speaker.
There was a long dispute lasting from 1636 to 1772 concerning the boundaries between Nansemond and Isle of Wight counties. Four acts of Assembly during that period relate to changes in these boundaries. The act of 1674 is interesting as it mentions by name a citizen whose family since the earliest days of the colony have been prominent in the county. After establishing fixed lines of division it is provided: "Nevertheless that the house and cleared grounds of Capt. Thomas Godwin, who hath bin an ancient inhabi- tant of Nanzemund countie court, be, remain counted and deemed in the county of Nanzemund, anything in this act to the contrary notwithstanding."
The names of the parishes in the county as South, East and West soon gave way to other names, for in 1680 they are referred to as Upper, Lower and Chicokatuck (Chuckatuck). In 1653 Roger Green and others living on Nansemond River received a large grant of land on condition of their settling on Roanoke River and on the south side of Chowan. In the same year Col. Thomas
22
M. E. Church, Suffolk, Va.
23
Dew of Nansemond and others were authorized to explore the coun- try between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear.
The Society of Friends or Quakers was founded in 1648 by George Fox. They increased very rapidly. As early as 1656 some of this sect arrived in Boston, but were sent back to England. In 1657 laws were passed in Massachusetts to prevent the intro- duction of Quakers into that Colony, but they flocked thither nevertheless. Virginia also strove to keep them out of her bounda- ries. In the wild enthusiasm of the first years of their existence many of the Quakers were fanatics courting martyrdom. They mocked the institutions and rulers of the Colony, interrupted public worship and refused obedience to the law of the land. These fanatics gave to the Society a bad name; and beginning with the year 1660 stringent laws against them were passed by the Assembly. Captains of vessels were fined for bringing them into the Colony. All of them were to be apprehended and committed until they should give security that they would leave the Colony. If they returned they should be punished, and returning the third time should be proceeded against as felons. It was provided, however, that if the convicted Quakers should give security not to meet in unlawful assemblies, "that then and from thenceforth such persons shall be discharged from all penalties."
The Colony did not interfere with the individual's religious freedom, unless he with others combined against the laws of the land. Even when a member of the House of Burgesses was accused of being a Quaker, he was not expelled till he had refused to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
Notwithstanding the efforts of the Assembly, the Quakers in- creased and continued to hold gatherings. In 1672 George Fox, the founder of the Society, visited Virginia. In Nansemond, which nad welcomed the Puritan preachers and which from 1636 had held a goodly number of dissenters, Fox found a fruitful field of labor. He had meetings "at Nansemond River, where Col. Dew of the Council and several officers and magistrates attended, and at Som- erton, also at Widow Wright's in Nansemond where many magis- trates, officers and high people came." The effects of Fox's labors were very marked, and a large element of the present citizens of Nansemond number Quakers among their ancestors. Two brothers of the name of Jordan became leaders in the Society of Friends and labored in England as well as in America. The Journal of one of these brothers has been published, and he speaks of a visit to his kinsfolk in Nansemond. Even the great man of the county, Richard Bennett, fell under the spell of Fox, for George Edmonson, the com-
24
Baptist Church, Suffolk, Va.
25
panion of Fox, wrote of Bennett: "He was a solid, wise man, received the truth and died in the same, leaving two Friends his executors. Bennett's will dated in 1674 describing himself of Nan- semond River was proved in court April 1675. He gives to the county where he lives and has long lived 300 acres of land, the rents to be received yearly by the church-wardens of the parish and disposed of towards the relief of four aged or impotent persons."
Bennett's career was a conspicuous one. He was Burgess in 1629 and in 1631; Member of the Governor's Council from 1642 to 1648. He organized the dissenters in Nansemond in 1641. Many of these dissenters were probably persons whose passage to Virginia Bennett had himself paid. In 1648 he shared the exile of his fellow-religionists in Maryland. He was the first governor of Vir- ginia under the Commonwealth 1652-1655. He was Agent for Virginia in England in 1656. In 1658 he was again a member of the Governor's Council and continued a member of that body till his death. In 1660 he was one of the three major generals of militia. Bennett was an ancestor of General Robert E. Lee. Two other distinguished men of the county were doubtless in sympathy with Bennett's dissenting views; Edward Major and Thomas Dew, who represented the county in the Assembly. Each of them in turn occupied the Speaker's chair while Bennett was Governor. Dew seems also to have followed Bennett's lead in sympathizing with the Quakers in his later life, for we have record of his attendance upon the meetings of Fox.
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