USA > Virginia > King and Queen County > King and Queen County > King and Queen County, Virginia (history printed in 1908) > Part 5
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So this large landed estate passed from the Todds to the Fauntleroys, and some of it is still held by them.
" MONTVILLE "
On the King William side of the river is the village of Ayletts, founded by the family of that name. Philip Aylett did not build " Montville " on the river, but on the hills near the village of Ayletts. (It was not a colonial residence.) He married a daughter of Patrick Henry. His son, General William Aylett, inherited the old home, and after him, his son, Colonel W. R. Aylett.
On the hills overlooking Ayletts lived Robert (called Robin) Pollard, who for many years was clerk of King William. He was noted as a fox hunter, and for many
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years chased Reynard successfully. He wore on his hunting suit large silver buttons, which were objects of admiration to me in my early childhood.
" CHATHAM HILL."
Just below Ayletts on the King and Queen side was the residence of Joseph Temple, called "Chatham Hill," after the residence of Sir William Temple of England. His estate was a small one, but he raised a large family of children. Across on the King William side lived his brother, William Temple, in a large, com- modious house, without children.
" PRESKILE "
Near by on the King William side is Preskile (or Presquile). I am unable to learn much of this old country seat. (Since writing the above I have become satisfied that Preskile was the residence of William Tem- ple, brother of Joseph Temple of " Chatham Hill.") Early in the nineteenth century it was owned by Dr. Barrett, but I do not know that his family built the original home.
" NORTH BANK "
Opposite to this place is "North Bank," another old colonial building. The early history of this place is not known to me. Some seventy-five or one hundred years ago it was owned by Mr. Benjamin Pollard, brother of Robin Pollard of King William. He lost his wife in early life, and always after lived a widower with one daughter. He kept open house, and the sport- ing gentlemen of the surrounding country frequently resorted there for hunting, card-playing, etc. Among those who would come there for the good dinners and liquors was a man named Gatewood, who, though a member of the church, was fond of his dram. His con- science was not altogether easy on the subject, and he was accustomed to say, when taking his liquor, " What little I drink don't hurt me." Among others who fre-
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quented Mr. Pollard's house was Tom Redd, a wit and boon companion, who was too fond of his cups, but, taking the cue from Mr. Gatewood, would say, " What little I drink don't hurt me." He would repeat that in Mr. Gatewood's presence until it had become very ob- noxious to him, and he had come to dislike Tom Redd very much. Upon one occasion, when a party of gen- tlemen were at Mr. Pollard's, Mr. Gatewood rode up. Mr. Pollard invited him in. He inquired if Mr. Redd was there, and the gentleman, in fun, assured him that he was not, while in fact he was, but had hid himself in a closet near the sideboard on which the liquors were placed. Being satisfied that Tom Redd was not there, Mr. Gatewood came in, and as he raised his glass to his mouth, Tom Redd poked his head out and said, " What little I drink don't hurt me." Mr. Gatewood instantly put down his glass without drinking his toddy, and mounted his horse and rode away.
" BEUDLEY " (THE RESIDENCE OF THE LATE BISHOP LATANE)
Near by on the King and Queen side is Beudley, built, I suppose, by Captain Mariott, a Scotch gentleman. He used to say that the place was called Beudley in " grandeur." He married the widow of John Walker, who was born a Baylor and left by her first husband three children, Baylor, Susannah, and Elizabeth. By her second marriage there were no children, and as her children were all in affluent circumstances, she left a part of her landed estate, called Smithfield, consist- ing of a thousand acres, to St. Stephen's parish, the in- come from it to be applied to the education of the poor children in that parish. Since the Civil War this land has been diverted from its original purpose and sold to individual parties.
Across the river lived the Roanes, an old and influ- ential family, but they, as far as I know, had no colo- nial seat.
John Roane, Sr., represented his district in Congress for many years, and was succeeded by his son, John
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Roane, Jr. The life of the latter was a very dissolute one, and, being exposed unrelentingly by John Gwath- mey, was the cause of his defeat. I do not now remem- ber the gentleman who succeeded him. His brother, Newman Roane, married the daughter of William Gregory. When they were standing before the parson he was asked for the license. He put his hand in his vest pocket and then said, "Total neglect." Though there was no license, the fathers of the bride and groom consenting, the ceremony was performed. The mar- riage was an unhappy one, and was dissolved by the legislature (the courts not having jurisdiction over di- vorce at that time) on the ground of cruelty. One son resulted from that marriage, Colonel Junius B. Roane. Another portion of the family lived at Goshen in King and Queen. Judge Spencer Roane, at one time one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Virginia, was a member of that branch of the family.
" CANTERBURY "
Situated near Beudley is Canterbury, the home of the Gwathmeys. That family has held it in possession for perhaps one hundred and fifty years, and still owns the old home, though much of the original farm has passed into other hands. Early in the history of the place it was owned by Owen Gwathmey. Between him and William Temple, who lived at Rose Mount, there was a bitter feud, and one night, as William Temple sat by his open window, he was severely wounded in his head and shoulder from a shotgun held by a negro. The negro was arrested and confessed that he was instigated to commit the crime by Mr. Gwathmey. At that day the testimony of a slave could not be taken against a white man, nor could a slave be hung, and so he was transported.
" WHITE HALL "
The next colonial house is White Hall, the seat of the Garlick family. It passed out of their hands some seventy-five or one hundred years ago. When I first knew the place it was owned by Mr. James Govan,
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called at that time in some unaccountable way, “Giv- ings." Mr. Govan married a daughter of Samuel G. Fauntleroy, and was a man of considerable fortune and very aristocratic in his feelings. His wife went to church in her two-horse carriage, his children in a barouche, and he in his sulky with fine horse and trappings. I remember that my interest and admiration was excited by his silver saddle stirrups. This fine old place is now in the hands of foreigners, who have no regard for its history and the honored dead who lie in its cemetery.
"LOCUST GROVE" (FORMERLY "RYE FIELD ")
After this old seat comes " Rye Field," now called Locust Grove, the seat of the Walker family.
Late in the seventeenth century, Colonel Thomas Walker, the third of that name, obtained from King James II. of England a grant of land fronting for ten miles on the Mattapony. Soon after settling there they founded Walkerton, built a large stone house and gran- ary, a large flour mill, cooper shops, cotton gin and com- press, etc. Colonel Walker built his home on the sec- ond rise from the river, as in that early day there was great danger of a surprise by the Indians to those living immediately on the bank of the river. As there was constant danger of an uprising of the Indians, he built a fort or blockhouse near his residence for protection, not only for his own family, but also for the neighbors, who would flee to it when danger threatened. This house was burned and then rebuilt on the banks of the river a half-mile below the village of Walkerton.
While Colonel Walker was a member of the House of Burgesses, his daughter, Mary Peachy, was married to Dr. Gilmer of Williamsburg. He gave her a dowry of £5000 sterling, and they moved to Albemarle county. Her marriage was celebrated in St. Clemen's Church of St. Stephen's parish. This church was allowed to go to decay, and now even the brickbats have been carted away. In some unaccountable way this church after- wards became known as " Apple Tree Church."
Colonel Walker left three children, Mary Peachy,
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John, and Dr. Thomas Walker. The latter also moved to Albemarle, and married, first, Mildred, widow of Meriwether, and after her death, Elizabeth Thornton, first cousin to his first wife and sister of Mil- dred Thornton, who was the second of the five wives of Colonel Samuel Washington, brother of General George Washington. The family seat, Locust Grove, has up to the present time remained in the Walker family.
Near Locust Grove was the home of the Tunstall family. The original building has long since gone to decay. The usual style of the colonial buildings of that period was a square house with a large hall running through, two stories high, and with four chimneys. But the Tunstall house was in the shape of the letter U with the ends next the river, and a court between the wings. This place was sold by the Tunstalls to Robert Temple, son of Joseph Temple of Chatham Hill.
The Tunstalls were prominent in the county and con- nected with the Brookes of Mantapike, Baylors, Walk- ers, etc. Some of the family were clerks of the county for many years. The Mr. Tunstall who was the last of the family to be clerk of the county, moved across the county on the Dragon Swamp, and built him a home. He died about 1790, and his family moved to Norfolk, where his descendants still reside and have kept the good family name untarnished. Mr. R. Brooke Tun- stall, a prominent lawyer of Norfolk, some years ago came up to King and Queen and visited the old Tun- stall home on the Mattapony and the home of his grand- father on the Dragon. While there he met some ne- groes who told him that they worked the farm, but did not remain there at night, and when he asked them why they did not live there, replied that they were afraid to do so because many years ago some old Tunstalls lived there, and they were a frolicsome people, and still came there at night and danced in the parlor. It is a tradition that Mr. Tunstall was fond of the gayeties and dissipations that prevailed at that day, and in building his home made his parlor unusually large, so that there would be room enough for persons to sit around, while the dancers occupied the center of the room, and enjoy
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watching the cotillon and the old Virginia reel. That was before the day of the round and hugging dances.
" ENDFIELD "
I failed to mention the large farm, Endfield, oppo- site Walkerton, owned in the early history of the county by the Berkeley family. The family never lived there, but it was kept for a " quarter," as such places were then designated. Some eighty or one hundred years ago a widow Berkeley married a Mr. Cooke, an Episcopal parson. An anecdote is current in regard to him, that he was a poor man, and even the horse which he rode was a borrowed one, and during the marriage ceremony, when he had to repeat the words, " And with all my worldly goods I thee endow," some one in the company said, "There goes the parson's saddlebags."
This farm is still owned by Parson Cooke's descend- ants.
" HILLSBOROUGH "
Next to the Tunstalls came Hillsborough, built by Colonel Humphrey Hill. He was a man of large means and carried on a large mercantile business, buying his goods in England and sending back cargoes of tobacco. Up to some twenty years ago the old tobacco warehouse was still standing. The foundation of this warehouse was laid on large solid rocks, brought from England as ballast. This house was well and substantially built. It has a handsome black-walnut stairway. In this house, as well as other colonial houses, the chimneys in the basement have an arched fireplace, but there is no flue passing upward from the arch. No one has ever ex- plained to me why such places should be left in the chimney. They certainly did not strengthen the chim- ney, and very few bricks were saved by leaving the opening.
There was an arrangement on this house which I never saw on any other. Under the second-story win- dows there were earthenware martin nests in the shape of flower pots fastened to the house by wooden pegs. When visiting there, my early morning naps were often
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disturbed by the chattering of the martins. This place was sold by Mr. Charles Hill, the grandson of Colonel Humphrey Hill, to William Temple, who made a present of it to his sister, Mrs. Betsey Henley, the wife of T. M. Henley; and a member of that family still owns it.
" RICKAHOC "
The next colonial residence is Rickahoc (pronounced Rick-a-hoc, with an accent on the " hoc"). The build- ing was destroyed by fire some thirty years ago. It was the seat of the Smith family more than one hundred years ago. Francis Smith represented that district in Congress prior to the time that the Roanes did so. An old gentleman, Charles Chilton, told me when I was a boy, that when he was a boy he visited Rickahoc during Mr. Smith's life, and that it was then the most elegant country residence he ever saw. The grounds were well laid out and ornamented, and the approach to the river, though steep, was graded and well kept. The interior of the house was painted in imitation of the President's house in Washington. The Smith family left the county perhaps one hundred years ago, and the place has passed through many hands since.
The Rickahoc building was a one-storied building, with four rooms and a wide hall on the first floor. The roof was very steep, and the upper rooms were large and comfortable.
MANTUA "
Next to Rickahoc was Mantua. I cannot learn the early history of this estate. Carter Braxton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, owned it once, and his grandson, Carter M. Braxton, at a later date owned it and lived there, but before that it was owned by Charles Hill.
Attached to the Mantua estate is a large marsh. Mr. Hill conceived the idea that it could be diked and made arable. He threw up a heavy dike around it and planted corn on it. The ditching, diking, etc., cost him $5000. The man who was his manager told me that the corn
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crop was by far the heaviest that he ever saw, and Mr. Hill realized $5000 from the sale of the corn. Next year he attempted to raise another corn crop, but the ground had sunk a foot or more and the muskrats cut his dike in so many places, letting the water in, that the crop failed entirely. Then he tried rice, but did not suc- ceed in that, and so the attempt to make it arable failed; but since the marsh has returned to its natural condition, it is one of the finest grounds for sora on the Matta- pony. I have sometimes fancied that as so much shot has been used over it, it might ultimately be used as a lead mine.
" EGGLESTON "
Across the river from Mantua is Eggleston, the colo- nial home of the Chamberlain family. It passed out of their hands many years ago, and the many acres of open land are now mostly overgrown in scrub oak and briars. One of the Chamberlain family became a sailor and vessel-owner. He loaded three vessels with grain and started one evening in March down the river with all three vessels, but neither he nor his vessels were ever heard of again. What became of them has been an entire mystery.
Adjoining the farm Mantua was many years ago a large manufacturing mill, built in colonial times, from which large quantities of flour were shipped to the West Indies.
" HOCKLEY NECK "
Just below this mill is the large farm Hockley Neck, owned many years ago by Mr. William Gregory, who at the time lived across the river at Sandy Point. This farm was always kept as a " quarter " and managed by an overseer.
" SANDY POINT "
Across the river from Hockley Neck was Sandy Point, at one time the residence of William Gregory. The colonial house there was built in 1758 by George Braxton, the father of Carter Braxton, as a home for
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his son. It soon passed out of the latter's possession, and Mr. William Gregory purchased it in 1820 from Mr. William Burnett Brown. This house was burned in 1830 and rebuilt by Mr. Gregory. There is an old tradition that while the house was burning Mr. Greg- ory was very solicitous to get his barrel (?) of silver out of the burning building. For that, however, I do not vouch. This information, except that about the barrel of silver, was given me by my friend, Judge Roger Gregory. Another tradition in regard to Mr. William Gregory is that he liked to go to King Wil- liam Court, which occurred on the fourth Monday in March, and brag that he had finished planting corn. I know the fact that it was done at a very early day at his farm, Hockley Neck.
"MANTAPIKE "
Adjoining Hockley Neck is Mantapike, the home of the Brooke family for many generations. Colonel Richard Brooke, the last of the name who lived there, was a man of distinction and wealth. The building, of the usual colonial style of that day, stood on the banks of the Mattapony. Some fifty years ago it was pulled down and the timbers used in the construction of a more modern house away from the river. At this place was a large fishery, at which as many as a thousand shad were sometimes caught in a day. In the early history of the country there was a ferry and a road leading to Williamsburg. On the opposite side of the river, even now, can be seen the evidence of a wide roadbed through a long stretch of marsh or lowlands. The tra- dition is that it was a " national " road leading to Wil- liamsburg. Mantapike was at one time a place of some commercial importance, and a shipping point for to- bacco, having a large tobacco warehouse.
" NEWINGTON "
Adjoining Mantapike was Newington, established very early in the history of the county by the Lumpkin family. Very little is known of the family history. At
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the Mattapony Church there is a marble slab over the remains of Jacob Lumpkin, with the date 1708. On the same estate there still exists the foundation of a large building. The foundation walls are very thick, but nothing is known of its history.
The place came into the possession of George Brax- ton early in the eighteenth century, and he commenced many improvements on it which he never completed. Becoming involved in debt, he sold it to John Roane, who raised a family of twelve children; being a man of large wealth, he left each of the twelve a consider- able estate. Newington he devised to his son, John Roane, Jr., who was addicted to drink. He had mar- ried a Miss Frazier, a lovely girl, but socially beneath him. This fact preyed on his mind, and one day, in a drunken condition, he cut her throat and then the throat of his butler and attempted that of his underbutler, but the latter hid himself in a barrel and so saved his life. Mr. Roane was promptly arrested, tried, and con- demned to death, but the night before the day on which he was to be hung some friend supplied him with laud- anum, and he died from the effects of it.
Across the river from Newington was the colonial home of another family of Hills. Colonel John Hill was perhaps the last of the family that lived there. My father, Temple Walker, and his brother, Baylor Walker, married two of Colonel Hill's daughters. At that day much of the journeying to visit among the old families living on the river was done in rowboats. One spring, when my father was going from his home to Colonel Hill's, a large sturgeon jumped in his boat, and when he arrived he told Colonel Hill if he would send to the landing he could have sturgeon steak for break- fast. This splendid old mansion was dismantled and the timbers used to build a modern house at Frazier's Ferry for Mr. Phil. Gibson.
" MELROSE "
Melrose is the next place in King and Queen on which was situated a colonial building. I cannot ascertain the
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early history of this place. It was occupied some seventy-five years ago by the Rowe family, but I do not know that they were the original owners. This place was bought since the Civil War by Mr. Jacob Turner, and he dismantled the house and sold enough bricks from the walls to pay the purchase money for the place.
" HUNTINGDON "
Across the river in King William is Huntingdon, the seat of the Southerland family. It came into the pos- session of the Gregory family by bequest of Mrs. Fen- dal Southerland to her granddaughter, who was the granddaughter of William Gregory and wife of Mr. Thomas W. S. Gregory. Huntingdon has for many years been abandoned as a dwelling.
" PLEASANT HILL "
The next colonial residence in King and Queen is Pleasant Hill, built and for many years occupied by the Robinson family. It was burned since the Civil War. Here lived Henry Robinson, for many years Speaker of the House of Burgesses. Upon one occasion, when Colonel George Washington was addressing the House, giving in a modest and hesitating manner an account of his military operations, Mr. Robinson from the chair said to him, "Sit down, Colonel Washington; your modesty equals your courage."
" CHELSEA "
Across the river from Pleasant Hill is Chelsea, the colonial home of the Moores, a family of considerable distinction in the early days of the colony. There lived Bernard Moore, who married a daughter of Governor Spottswood, and accompanied the latter in his trans- montane expedition. Chelsea was a splendid old coun- try seat. It is now in the hands of strangers, and, I hear, marred by late additions. Up to the time of the Civil War it remained in the family, being owned by Mr. Benjamin Robinson, who married a Miss Moore.
78 KING AND QUEEN COUNTY, VIRGINIA " LANEVILLE "
The next of the colonial seats, as far as I am informed, is Laneville, the home for many generations of the Cor- bin family. I do not know at what time it was built, but it must have been very early in the history of the country. At the beginning of the Revolution it is stated that Governor Dunmore sent many of the archives of the colony over to Laneville, where they were deposited in a subterranean cellar connected with the building. I do not know this, but it is probable if it be a fact (as it is said to be) that the Corbin who was then the owner of Laneville was a royalist. I spent a night at this old place some sixty-five years ago. It was then still owned by James Park Corbin, but oc- cupied by Mr. Benjamin Robins. I was impressed with the length of the building. The middle portion was of two stories, square built, with four large rooms and a spacious hall passing through it, and flanked by two wings in which were pantries, storerooms, servants' quarters, bedrooms, etc. A tradition is that Colonel Corbin had his reception and sleeping rooms in one end of the building, while Mrs. Corbin occupied the other end, and that when he paid her a visit he ordered his coach and four and drove in formal style the length of the house to her reception room. Whether the roy- alist partisanship of the Corbin family in the days of the Revolution was a fact or not, Colonel Richard Cor- bin was a true man at the time of the War of 1812 with England, and presented the county of King and Queen with two brass cannon, which, during the Civil War, were sent to Richmond for the Confederate government. The Corbin family possessed great wealth, as wealth was counted in that day, and it was a common saying years ago, when speaking of a rich man, to say, " He was as rich as Corbin." Colonel Richard Corbin owned considerable property at King and Queen Courthouse; he or his father built the old tavern there, which was quite an imposing building at the time. It, along with every other building, both public and private, was burned by the Yankees during the Civil War.
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On the Laneville estate, near the public road, there was a church building which long ago went to decay, and the bricks and tiles which floored its aisles were carried away. Some of the tiles were used as floors in the basements of private houses. This church was the parish church of Stratton Major parish, the register of which is still in the Georgetown Episcopal School, and a copy in the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond.
Mr. James Park Corbin was the last of the name who owned Laneville. It then came into the possession of Colonel Robert Bland, and is still held by some of his descendants. The original house has long since disap- peared. I do not know whether the building at Dud- ley's Ferry, opposite West Point, was a colonial resi- dence, but think it was not.
West Point and the farm back of it deserve some no- tice. If tradition is true, the farm was owned by Captain West. It was originally a very large one, con- taining some two or three thousand acres, and extend- ing from river to river; yet it had only one house.
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