History of Norfolk County, Virginia : and representative citizens, 1637-1900, Part 48

Author: Stewart, William H. (William Henry), 1838-1912
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1054

USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > History of Norfolk County, Virginia : and representative citizens, 1637-1900 > Part 48

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We have reason to believe that the half- acre lots were readily taken up by new comers, and that the little village at the eastern end of Bermuda street was an active one, with a growing foreign commerce. We can hope that the shipwright, Nicholas Wise, lived to see his ancestral acres covered with the grow- ing settlement, and never regretted selling it for the 10.000 pounds of tobacco, but he most likely did. We are told that there was a stock- ade built to defend the place against the In- dians. If this be so, we can easily tell just where it would have been placed. It would

have followed the general line of Cove street, reaching from one creek to the other. The situation of the town was well adapted to de- fense, as it was nearly an island, leaving only this narrow space to fortify. There is quite a dearth of traditions about the Indians just in this locality. It is well known that the racial division of those who lived in this part of the country was Algonquin, and that the local tribe was called the Chesapeakes, but we do not find around here in any profusion their stone arrow-heads, spear-heads, tomahawks and pottery, as is the case around Richmond, and in other parts of the State. One would infer from this, that they were not here in great numbers, and that they did nothing to hinder the development of the place. We know, indeed, from general history, that the serious conflicts with the Indians in Virginia, excepting the earliest troubles around James- town, took place after the western extension of the settlements, and that the eastern por- tions were spared from the horrors of the border warfare which often drenched the earth with blood.

The legal status of the inhabitants under the "Act for cohabitation," etc., continued for 54 years. It was changed by the "Charter of the Borough of Norfolk," which was granted by letters patent of George II. on the 15th of September, 1736, which charter was confirmed by Act of the General Assembly, as our legis- islature has always been called, in the same vear. It is delightful to read this document. It breathes such a spirit of love and affection from the Crown of Great Britain to the dear subjects in Virginia, that we nearly doubt if it can be true that in the short space of two- score years the navy of that same crown, in the very next reign, would utterly destroy the little town which, from this paper, one would think was the one jewel it mnost dearly prized. It says: "Whereas, a healthful and pleasant place, commodious for trade and navigation, by an Act of the General Assembly of our Colony and Dominion of Virginia, hath been appointed and laid out for a town, called by

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the name of Norfolk; which place of late years, especially during the administration of our trusty and well beloved William Gooch, Esq., our Lieutenant-Governor of our said Colony, hath been very greatly increased in the number of its inhabitants and build- ings, in so much that the said town. not being capable of containing all such persons as have resorted thereto, divers of our loving subjects have seated them- selves upon the adjoining land, so far as to a place called the Town Bridge. Know ve. that we being willing to encourage all our good and faithful subjects, as well at present residing and inhabiting, as shall or may hereafter reside and inhabit within the said town of Norfolk, and the places thereunto adjoining, so far as the Town Bridge, at the instance and petition of divers of our dutiful and loyal subjects, inhabitants of the said town and places adjacent, of our royal grace, good will, certain knowledge, and mere mo- tion, with the advice of our Council of our said Colony, have constituted and erected, and by these our Letters Patent, do constitute and erect the said town of Norfolk and the said parts thereunto adjoining, so far as said bridge, a borough. by the name of the Bor- ough of Norfolk: and for us, our heirs and successors, do, by these presents, grant to the inhabitants of the said borough and the parts adjacent, that the said borough and the parts adjacent shall be a borough incorporate, con- sisting of a mayor, one person learned in the law styled and holding the office of recorder of the said borough, eight aldermen, and sixteen other persons to be common-councilmen of the said borough."

The officers were: Samuel Boush, Esq., mayor; Sir John Randolph (Knight), re- corder; and George Newton, Samuel Boush, the younger, John Hutchings, Robert Tucker. John Taylor. Samuel Smith, the younger. James Ivy and Alexander Campbell, aldermen.

This charter was signed by William Gooch. Lieutenant-Governor and Commander- in-Chief of the Colony and Dominion of Vir-

ginia, at Williamsburg, in the roth year of the reign of George II.

We hope the worthy governor blushed as he put his name to the document which de- scribed himself as the "trusty and well-be- loved" of royalty. And with what condescen- sion must the proud capital city of Williams- burg have looked down upon the newly-char- tered little borough, but the future held very different fortunes in store for the two places. The Samuel Boush, who was appointed the first mayor, was the first of three of that name. He died within two months of his appointment, and was succeedd by George Newton, Esq.

We have heard a great deal about this same "Borough" of Norfolk. The idea is quite a popular one, and is usually referred to in an affectionate, amused sort of way, as if it were a pretty good joke that this place was once a borough, and persons speak of it in an easy, off-hand manner, as if they knew everything that there was to be known about boroughs, and presume that everyone else did the same. The fact is, few of us know anything at all about them, and it is really a very difficult mat- ter to define clearly what is a borough. In Pol- lock & Maitland's great work, the "History of English Law," 54 pages are devoted to at- tempting to explain what a borough was, and it is none too clear when you have read them, as the authors themselves confess. The con- trast is between vills on the one side and cities on the other. They say: "Certain vills are more than vills: they are boroughs (burgi) ; certain boroughs are more than boroughs ; they are cities (civitates). The latter of these two distinctions has little or no meaning in law. A usage, which seems to have its roots in the remote history of Gaul, will give the name city to none but a cathedral town. * * * What is the legal conception of a borough? The answer seems to be: It is a mass of fran- chises, or again, it is a group or body of men, a community or corporation, enjoying a mass of franchises." The authors then go on to dis- cuss some of the franchises which might or

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might not belong to a borough, and consider in turn jurisdictional privileges, that is, the right to hold courts ; tenurial privileges, that is, the sort of title by which the land is to be held ; inercantile privileges ; the firma burgi, or right to farm or rent the borough from the king, for such or such a length of time, for the purpose of receiving such profits as arose in connection with tolls, the fines of courts, and such rents or taxes as were paid to the king; the election of officers and constitution of the borough ; by- laws and self-government ; self-taxing powers ; and the guild merchant. After discussing these fully, they say: "We may now recur to the question whence we set out-Could a bor- ough be defined? We much doubt it." The result of the whole discussion seems to be, that the rights of the borough were privileges granted to the men who composed the town, and did not belong to an abstraction, such as the modern conception of a municipal cor- poration, a modern city, a being in law dis- tinct from any or all of its inhabitants, but that this idea was slowly being developed. The matter, in strict law, is very involved, and we can probably as well conclude that the bor- ough was merely a rudimentary city, the legal notions in connection with which, as we are now familiar with them, not having been then fully developed.

However all that may have been, our bor- ough must have been a flourishing one, for within 25 years, that is, in 1761, the legisla- ture passed "An Act for enlarging and ascer- taining the limits of the Borough of Norfolk, and for other purposes therein mentioned." This Act recites the fact that "his late majesty King George the Second, of happy and glori- ous memory," had granted the charter above mentioned, and that: "Since the date of the said charter, divers persons, proprietors of the lands adjacent to the said borough, have laid out the sanie into lots and streets, many of which are built on and improved, and people are daily resorting thither, and it is now be- come a doubt whether the proprietors of such adjacent lots are to be considered and deemed

inhabitants of the said borough, and entitled to the rights, privileges and immunities granted by the said charter." It was, there- fore, declared that the boundaries of the town should be as follows: "Beginning at the head of a creek, called Newton's Creek, and thence, within a line to be run North 59 degrees West 72 poles to the head of Smith's Creek; thence along the said Smith's Creek, according to its various courses and meanders, to the mouth thereof in Elizabeth River; thence, bounding on the said river the different courses thereof, to the mouth of the said Newton's Creek, and thence up the said Newton's Creek to the be- ginning.'

Nothing could be clearer or more satisfac- tory than this, of course; and it must have lifted a load off the troubled minds of those in- habitants who doubted whether they were or were not blessed with the "rights, privileges and immunities granted by the said charter" to the happy ones within its fold. As it was passed to solve a doubt as to what was within the coveted area, the Act, of course, would be itself perfectly clear; so it just began at the head of Newton's Creek, and then ran across to the head of Smith's Creek, and then went down Smith's Creek to the river, etc. But, alas! the questions then arose: What is the head of Newton's Creek ? What is the head of Smith's Creek? Different answers were given. The borough, with that self-denying spirit which has ever characterized municipal corporations, claimed that the lines took in everything on earth that they could take in, and that this northern line began at the end of the longest branch of Newton's Creek, way up there at Princess Anne avenue, and ran across that road to the end of the creek between the two cemeteries. The other contention was that it began at a branch of Newton's Creek that ran up behind Wood street, in the rear of St. Vincent's Hospital, and that it crossed Church street at about the corner of Bute, and ran over to Smith's Creek at the end of one of its branches. The difference in the areas in- cluded under the two constructions was,

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roughly, the whole of the Fourth Ward, that beautiful northern portion of our city inhab- ited by so many Afro-Americans. They say that there is, or was, a stone on the east side of Church street marking the true borough linc in accordance with this last construction.

It would seem to the writer that the first contention was clearly correct under the words of the Act of 1761 ; but the question had been raised, and seems to have given considerable trouble, for we find that on January 2, 1804, the General Assembly passed : "An Act add- ing certain land of Thomas Newton to the borough of Norfolk." This Act declared that: " All the property of Thomas Newton as the same is now laid off into lots and streets, adjoining the borough of Norfolk, shall be and is hereby added to and made a part of the said borough," etc. This land lay between the two contending lines, but did not comprehend it all ; so the question came up again, and was not finally settled until January 3, 1807, when the legislature referred the matter to William White, John Hancock and Thomas Calvert, Gentlemen, who were empowered to take a surveyor and run the line according to the Act of 1761. They decided in favor of the larger arca, and this settled the question. The boundaries thus established continued to be the limits of the city until July 1, 1887, when Brambleton was added. They were again en- larged on February 22, 1890, by the Atlantic City annexation, which was larger than all the other wards of the city together, including Brambleton. May we all live to see the fine farms included in this ward built up into a splendid metropolis. The legislature has again this year ( 1902) enlarged our borders, taking in another large tract to the north of the town. including La Fayette Park.

What sort of a place was Norfolk in those early days? It was a quaint little town, with beautiful views of the water in every direction. The wealth and fashion of the borough resided on Bermuda street, the east end of Main street. Fenchurch. Holt, Chapel and other streets in that section. There are many persons living

in Norfolk who have never been down Ber- muda street. They ought to visit it. It is a peculiar-looking street. Originally it only ex- tended as far west as to Chapel, and was after- ward carried through to Church by a sort of lane. The narrowness of this street is due to the ideas which prevailed in ancient times when cities had walls around them, and as it cost much to build and maintain city walls, they could not take in unnecessarily large areas, and what was taken in was too valuable to be wasted in wide streets. It was easier to ccon- omize in the width of the streets than to build longer city walls. So this street represents a past' age. Many of its characteristic houses have disappeared, and have been replaced by the ugly, expressionless but comfortable boxes we now build, but some of the old patriarchs yet remain. That whole section was, no doubt, handsomer in its buildings formerly than now,-one large house being pulled down and several small ones built in its place. Here lived the Boushes, Cornicks, Keelings, Hunt- ers, Walkes, Thorogoods. Hancocks. Wood- houses, Moseleys. Chapmans. Hayneses, Whitehursts, Smiths, Drewreys. Newtons, Tatems, Herberts, Kempes, Butts, Tuckers, Cookes, Reileys. Calverts. Taylors. Seldens, Whiteheads. Wilsons and other prominent families.

The gravestones in St. Paul's Churchyard, which might be considered our earliest city directory, among many others, contain these names : Tyler, Sanders, Baker, Pollard, Mac- gill, Nivison, Guthrie, Hall. Lambert, Whittle, Barron, Finley. Portlock. Lamb. Couper, Armistead, Randolph. Johnston, McPherson, Slaughter, Steed, Boswell. Greenwood, Banc, Allmand, Robinson, Vickers, Holliday, Ruth- erford, Stark, Read. Reid. Waddey, Bell, Bowden, Thorburn, Simmons, Mercer, Lee, Good, Kerr. Triplett, Hayes, Adams, Mitchell, Davis, Williamson, Francis, Pugh, Thomp- son, Donaldson, Scott, King, Gray, Allan, Martin. Walker, Harris, Hodges. Bennett, Thomas, Watson, Coles and Hutchings,- names that we are more or less familiar with,

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and which are borne by many of our promi- nent citizens to-day ; and these with which we are less familiar : Begg, Hansford, Stratton, Southwick, McDowall, Abyvon, Bacon, Dale. Blaney, Bowring. Maxwell, Chandler, Dana, Duesberry, Hiort. Farmar, Cantelo, Brunet, Crommelin, Ritson, Soutter, Kighley, Patter- son, Farrer, Singleton, Eilbeck, Craik, Whyt, Fleet, Henop, Ritchie. English, Sloan, Raine, Norris, Lugg, Stearns, Bragg and Gwynn. All of these will be recognized as good old English names, with a fair sprinkling of Scotch.

The style of house called the "Dutch Roof" was common in Norfolk in early days, and many are still to be seen. The writer has heard that the peculiar form of this construc- tion, of having the roof come down over the second story, was due to a desire on the part of the owners to lighten the burden of their taxes. That there was once a law which taxed all the windows in a house below the roof, and that under these circumstances it became somewhat the fashion to minimize the number of win- dows which the tax-gatherer could so count. Most of the houses had good-sized gardens, the original subdivision having been into half- acre lots, that is, 105 feet by 210 in area, or eight times the size now common. These lots the owners usually took care to cover up as little as possible with their houses, preferring to build very close to the street line, and, if they could, put all the porch and front steps out on the sidewalk. In some cases these took up nearly the whole width of the pavement, to the great discomfort of the weary wayfarer. but as he had probably done the same thing himself, or knew he would, if he ever built a house, he did not complain.

Most unfortunately none of the original houses of Norfolk are extant ; the walls of St. Paul's Church are the only ones which sur- vived the conflagration which swept the town out of existence on January 1, 1776, when during the bombardment of the place by the British fleet under Lord Dunmore, the flourish- ing little seaport was made a smouldering heap

of ashes. We have, therefore, no house older than 125 years. The population of Norfolk at that time is stated to have been over 6,000. Its trade was considerable, and its condition exceedingly prosperous. But for this crush- ing blow there is no telling what the size and importance of this city might not have been.

The first tract of land settled was, of course, the 50 acres sold by Nicholas Wise, Jr., in 1682. This is the "down town" of Nor- folk, including all of the city south of City Hall avenue and Cove street. Its southern line was the river, which came up very nearly to Main street. We have even heard that Union street was at one time the port-warden's line. Water street certainly derived its name from the fact that it was originally a part of the river. We have no map which gives accurately the river frontage of the town, but we know enough to be able to say that the two angles in Main street were made on account of the positions of two creeks, and that this street was a road following the line of the middle of the high land. The angle near Commerce street was necessary to avoid a branch of Town Back Creek which ran in from the north, and the angle near Church street was formed to escape from a branch of the river which made up from the south. An ancient deed to property on the south side of Main street, at this point, gives us the information that this creek came up to within 363 feet of this street, which would be a point between Main and Union, Union, therefore, having been water at this point originally. Its appearance here does not particularly suggest water now. It much more suggests whiskey.

The first Court House was about the cen- ter of this tract, on Main street, at the head of old Market Square. This was used both by the county of Norfolk and the borough. The jail buildings were between it and Talbot street. Another Court House was built in 1790, on East Main street, about the corner of Nebraska ( a view of this building is shown on Page 24 of this work). In 1836 an ordi- nance was passed providing for the filling up

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of Town Back Creek, above Bank street bridge. for a public square. It was here that the present Court House was built.

The deeds to the lots for this old portion of the town, made to private persons by the county, ran from Main street down to the river on the south, and from Main street to the creeks on the north. There is at least one of these lots still held by the owners under these ancient conveyances, with a wide frontage on Main street, running back toward the north, across Plume street to City Ilall avenue, then the blue waters, or black mud, of Town Back Creck. This tract is where the Academy of Music now stands. The property immediately to the west of it was also so owned until the last two or three years, when the square be- tween Plume street and City Hall avenue was sold off.

There was no general plan of subdivision of this portion of the city into squares and lots. The streets opened through it, such as Roa- noke Square. Commerce, Atlantic and Talbot streets, were opened by private persons dedi- cating part of their lots for that purpose. Even Church street stopped at Main, and did not go through to the water until after 1802. Old Market Square. now Commercial Place, was probably an exception, and seems to have been reserved by the authorities on account of keeping open the ferry landing at the end of it. at the old "County Dock." as it was called.

Both sides of Main street were badly cut up by a number of narrow private lanes, gen- erally coming into the street at oblique angles. Many of these have been closed in recent years. as the property has become too valuable for commercial purposes to let these rights of way interfere with buildings.

We are told that Talbot street was the first street in the town that was paved, and Forrest. writing in 1853. is loud in praise of this mag- nificent thoroughfare, with its splendid houses. Think of Talbot street as paved and handsome, when Main street was in the condition of a mere country road !

Church street is our most ancient road

from the city. Its whole course, general direc- tion and angles, are controlled by the creeks which lay to the east and west of it. It began a little to the west of the first angle of Main street, and ran in a straight line in a northerly direction as far as Holt, running midway be- tween Town Back Creek on the west and New- ton's Creek on the east. There it swerved off to the west, to avoid another branch of New- ton's Creek which came across it at the inter- section of Charlotte. It would seem that it could not go far enough to the west to en- tirely get around this creek, and that the creek had to be bridged. This bridge was called "Town Bridge." a name which still clings to the locality, although the bridge. and creek have both vanished. Then Church street curved over to the east again, but just far enough to escape a third branch of Newton's Creek which came up on the north side of Wood street, opposite the corner of Bute. Then this road performed a beautiful curve to the west, so as to exactly miss the head of the fourth branch of this same creek, which came up to it, opposite to the corner of Nicholson street. Then it went off to the east again so as to avoid the tail end of Glebe Creek, which came up froin the west on the other side of the cemeteries. The road was now fairly out of town. It had succeeded in escaping from the borough creeks, but we know it did not get far before it had to settle accounts with Tanner's Creek.

The first thing which would strike you, going out this old road from town, would be the churchyard, just outside of the "Town Lands" in the country, at the corner of Cove street. with the old church in it-St. Paul's,- the official church, the church established and maintained by law, and as much a part of the general scheme of government as the courts of law or any other department. The present brick church was built in 1739. just three years after the charter of the borough, but this build- ing took the place of a much more ancient edi- fice. which antedated it considerably, how much we do not know. nor whether that one

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was the first Episcopal church building in this immediate locality, although it most probably was, as there was only a period of 57 years be- tween the deed from Wise to the date of the present church. However that may be, we know that Rev. John Wilson was the minister here in 1637. An entry in the vestry book of 1750 allows James Pasteur to have the bricks and timber of the "Old Church" with which to build a house on the school land, wherever that might be. It would seem that these timbers should have been well seasoned when Mr. Pasteur received them, as the church must have been keeping them for II years, to say noth- ing of their previous age.

The parish of which this church was the principal house of worship was called Eliza- beth River Parish. With its large graveyard it must have been one of the most striking things in or near the sttlement. It is to-day easily the most interesting historic object in the city. It stood upon land given by Samuel Boush, although this has been questioned. This must have been Mayor Boush, the first of the three of that name, but as he died in 1736, the initials "S. B." in its south wall must have been for a memorial to him; they did not refer to either of the other two, because the second Samuel Boush did not own this tract, and the ownership of the Boush tract on the part of the third arose at a later date than that of the "Old Church" above referred to. It was given to him by the will of his grandfather, the first of the name, and the property had belonged to the church for years before that time.

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History of Norfolk County, Virginia : and representative citizens, 1637-1900, Part 48

Author: Stewart, William H. (William Henry), 1838-1912 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1054

Author: Stewart, William H. (William Henry), 1838-1912
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1054