USA > Virginia > Manors of Virginia in colonial times > Part 4
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robbed in its entirety and the irreplaceable con- tents scattered far and wide.
One of these portraits hangs now in the Con- gressional Library.
From the central hall, which measures seventy by thirty feet, two narrower hallways branch, and from these the stairways ascend to the upper floor. All told, there are twenty-four rooms in the mansion, and though most of the old furni- ture was included in the fifteen wagon-loads that lost their identity on the Federal gunboats, there are still choice bits scattered about, to remind one of the former splendor of the great rooms, with their store of priceless mahogany and walnut.
Fortunately, the library begun by Robert Beverley, the Immigrant, remains in part, and though the years have not increased its size to any extent, the five hundred volumes, which were gathered with care, render it, so we are told, one of the finest private collections in the South.
The grounds surrounding the venerable man- sion contain five acres, but the old trees are giving place to those of later growth. Stately sycamores rear their heads in loving guardian- ship over the house walls, while firs and cedars lend their fresh greenery throughout the year. The fair old garden has never revived from the
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storms of '64, but roses still bloom in abundance, and snowball trees canopy boxwood borders, while the wild flowers of nature link spring to summer. Gold-centred narcissuses and delicate snowdrops linger long in the fresh, green grass, and yellow jonquils mingle their faint scent with lilies of the valley. But when these early blooms have lost their color, the lawn is sheeted with brilliant buttercups to the very edges of the meadow lands.
Though the first of the Beverleys are not buried there, the old graveyard, that knew its sad beginning in the eighteenth century, guards many generations of Blandfield's dead within its vine-clad walls.
Not content with his other public offices, Wil- liam Beverley wrote to England in March, 1742, applying for the Secretaryship of the Colony, and telling his correspondent that though the present Secretary, John Carter, was still living, he was ill and would probably die before the letter arrived at its destination. Evidently believing that time should be taken by the forelock, he directed that the office be bought for him, agree- ing to pay £200 and more to secure the commis- sion for which Secretary Carter had paid 1500 guineas. But Secretary Carter lived a bit longer
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than was anticipated, and the well-laid plans of Colonel Beverley seem to have come to naught.
When William Beverley died, in or about 1766, Blandfield reverted to his eldest son Robert, the third of the name, who married Maria, daughter of Colonel Landon Carter of Sabine Hall. The next owner of the estate was Robert, son of the latter, who married Jane, daughter of Colonel John Tayloe of Mount Airy. James Bradshaw Beverley, who married Jane Peter of Georgetown, then inherited the old homestead, which passed to Robert, who married Jane Carter of Prince William County, and from them the plantation came into the possession of Robert Beverley, the sixth of the name, who married Richardetta Carter of Fauquier County. Thus it is that the present owner is the great-great- great-great-grandson of Robert Beverley, the Immigrant.
Some one has written: " The great proprie- tors of Virginia resemble the Polish Palatines. They have the same proud spirit of independence, and yet exact the greatest subordination from the people on their estates, and exercise the greatest hospitality." All this may be said of the owners of Blandfield, and though there is evidence of war-swept years about the rare old place, the
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superenlightened twentieth century visitor who chances upon the restful spot will appreciate as keenly the words of the writer quoted as he who lived when a Beverley was the prime favorite of the King's executive.
A romantic film envelops every fresh flower blooming where the old garden was; a benignly tempered influence " seems to pass through the open doors to and fro like a tranquil blessing; it is beyond joy and pain, because time has distilled it from both of these; it is the assembled essence of kinship and blood unity, enriched by each suc- ceeding brood that is born, is married, is fruitful in its turn, and dies remembered."
STRATFORD HALL
O-DAY the tourist who travels up and down the picturesque Po- tomac may wonder and ask what is the great building resting stolidly upon the river's brow. He is told that it is Stratford Hall, the gift of a queen, scene of history and homestead of the renowned Lee family of Virginia.
The Lees of Coton, from whom the Virginia branch is descended, date back to 1150, and played an important part in the history of Eng- land. In 1395 Sir Thomas Lee is spoken of. Humphrey Lee was made a baronet in 1620, and Sir Richard Lee was prominent in 1639.
In the reign of Charles I. a Richard Lee came from Shropshire and settled in York County, where, August 10, 1642, he patented 1000 acres of land. In 1663 Sir William Berkeley granted him 4000 acres in Westmoreland County, which was the beginning of the Stratford Hall estate.
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Colonel Richard Lee was said to have been the first white man in the Northern Neck, where he bought land from the Indians, gaining their friendship through numerous small presents. The surname of his wife Anna is enveloped in obscurity, though there is a current belief that it was Hancock, and he is known to have been married in 1642. One glance at the superb por- trait credited to Sir Peter Lely leaves the vivid impression of a remarkably handsome man, whose patrician features readily prove that he came of a gentle, knightly family of high posi- tion long before the ancestors of half the English peerage emerged from complete obscurity.
Colonel Richard Lee, Secretary of the Colony of Virginia, a member of the King's Council and of the House of Burgesses, died about 1664, leav- ing eight children, the eldest of whom, John, born about 1645, inherited the Westmoreland prop- erty; but as he died without heirs, this estate, which seems to have been about 16,000 acres, passed to his brother Richard. Richard Lee, the second of the name in Virginia, was born in 1647, and, like John, was educated at Oxford. Though it is impossible to obtain a complete record of his offices, he is known to have held many important positions. About the year 1674 he married
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incuutus
LEE
COLONEL RICHARD LEE The Immigrant From the painting by Sir Peter Lely
THOMAS LEE President of Virginia Colony
STRATFORD HALL
Lætitia, daughter of Henry and Alice Eltonhead Corbin. The epitaph on his tomb states that " He quietly resigned his soul to God, whom he always devoutly worshipped, on the 12th day of March, in the year 1714, in the 68th year of his age."
By far the most noted of the sons of Richard Lee was Thomas, born in 1690, of whom his own son writes: " Thomas, the fourth son, though with none but a common Virginia Education, yet having strong natural parts, long after he was a man he learned the Languages without any as- sistance but his own genius, and became a toler- able adept in Greek and Latin. This Thomas, by his Industry and Parts, acquired a consider- able fortune; for being a younger brother, with many children, his Paternal Estate was very small. He was also appointed of the Council, and though he had very few acquaintances in England, he was so well known by reputation that upon his receiving a loss by fire, the late Queen Caroline sent him over a bountiful present out of her own Privy Purse. Upon the late Sir William Gooch's being recalled, who had been Governor of Virginia, he became President and Commander in Chief over the Colony, in which station he continued for some time, 'til the King
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thought proper to appoint him Governor of the Colony; but he dyed in 1750, before his commis- sion got over to him."
On February 4, 1729, the Maryland Gazette published the following account of the fire al- luded to above: "Last Wednesday night Col. Thomas Lee's fine House in Virginia was burnt, his office house and out-houses, his plate, cash (to the sum of £10,000), papers, and everything entirely lost. His lady and child were forced to be thrown out of a window, and he himself hardly escaped the flames, being much scorched. A white girl about twelve years old (a servant) per- ished in the fire. It is said Col. Lee's loss is not less than £50,000."
It is not probable that this fire occurred at Stratford, but the " bountiful present " referred to by Colonel Lee's son was the money with which the present manor-house is said to have been built, about 1725 or 1730. This mansion, which contains at least twenty rooms, presents archi- tecturally the shape of an H, a twenty-five by thirty foot hall connecting the wings, each thirty by sixty feet. The lower portion of the unusual edifice is built of heavier brick than the upper, the walls being of great thickness, while the most pronounced exterior features are the quaint chim-
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STRATFORD HALL The birthplace of Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee and Robert E. Lee
STRATFORD HALL
neys, of two groups of four each, placed at either end of the roof.
The double-fronted hallway is approached by a series of inconspicuous steps on both fronts. Its vaulted ceiling is particularly high, and into the oak-panelled walls are set book-shelves, prov- ing its use always to have been as a library or living-room. On the sides, between the book- shelves, are doors leading into the wing rooms, in the right of which Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Robert E. Lee are said to have been born.
Placed equally distant from the four corners of the mansion are small buildings that served as office, store-rooms, and kitchen, the latter having an enormous fireplace measuring in length twelve feet, in height six, and in depth five; all old chroniclers tell us that it was " capable of roast- ing a fair-sized ox."
The parts of the original stable still standing show it to have been very large, and the garden enclosed in a crumbling brick wall still offers its quota of fruits and flowers.
In 1790 a grandson of Governor Lee visited the homestead, sending this delightful descrip- tion of the place to his father: "Stratford, the seat of my forefathers, is a place of which too
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much cannot be said, whether you consider the venerable magnificence of its buildings, the happy disposition of its grounds, or the extent and variety of its prospect. Stratford, whose delightful shades formed the comfort and retire- ment of my wise and philosophical grandfather, with what a mixture of awe and pious gratifica- tion did I explore and admire your beauties !! What a delightful occupation did it afford me, sitting on one of the sofas of the great hall, to trace the family resemblance in the portraits of all my dear Mother's forefathers, her father and mother, her grandfather and grandmother, and so on upwards of four generations. Their pic- tures, drawn by the most eminent artists of Eng- land, and in large gilt frames, adorn one of the most spacious and beautiful halls I have ever seen. There is something truly noble in my grandfather's picture. He is dressed in a large wig flowing over his shoulders (probably his offi- cial wig as President of the Council), and in a loose gown of crimson sattin, richly ornamented. I mention the dress, as it may serve to convey to you some idea of the stile of the picture. But it is his physiognomy that strikes you with emo- tion: a blend of goodness and greatness, a sweet yet penetrating eye, a finely marked set of
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features, and a heavenly countenance. Such I have almost never seen. Do not think me ex- travagant; my feelings were certainly so when I dwelt with rapture on the portraits of Strat- ford, and felt so strong an inclination to kneel to that of my grandfather. It was with difficulty that my Uncles, who accompanied me, could persuade me to leave the hall to look at the gardens, vineyards, orangeries, and lawns which surround the house."
On the 17th of May, 1722, Thomas Lee was married to Hannah Ludwell, of James City County, daughter of Colonel Philip Ludwell. The marriage bond in Governor Lee's own writ- ing still exists, a curious document reading: " Know all men by these presents that Thomas Lee of Westmoreland County in Virginia, Gentleman, and Francis Lightfoot of Charles City County, Gentleman, doe owe and stand indebted to Philip Ludwell of Greenspring in James City County in Virginia, Esq., in the sum of twelve hundred pounds of Lawfull money of England, to the payment whereof well and truly to be made to the said Philip, and his Execut's, Administrators, or certain Attorney at Green- spring, upon demand, we bind Ourselves and either of us, our and either of our heirs, Execut's,
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and Administrators, by these presents sealed with our Seals and dated this twenty third day of May, Anno Domini one thousand Seven hundred and Twenty two.
" The condition of this obligation is such that whereas a marriage is intended to be had and Solemnized betwixt the Above bound Thomas Lee and Hannah, the daughter of the above said Philip, with whome the said Thomas is to have and receive in marriage six hundred pounds sterling money of England, which was given to her by Philip Ludwell and Benjamin Harrison, Esqrs., her grandfathers: now if the said mar- riage shall be had and Solemnized, and the said six hundred pounds sterling shall be paid to the said Thomas, and he shall depart this life leaving the said Hannah Surviving; then in that case, if the heirs, Execut's, or Administrators of the said Thomas or one of them shall pay and deliver to the said Hannah upon demand the Sum of 600 lbs. of good and Lawfull money of England, or Such part of the Estate of the said Thomas as the law appoints for widows' dowers, which she the said Hannah shall Choose, which Choice shall be made within one Month after such decease if thereunto required and not sooner, then this obli- gation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force."
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Perhaps no marriage in American history ever resulted in so many distinguished sons. The heir at law being Philip Ludwell Lee, he succeeded his father in the homestead, having been born February 24, 1726. His wife was Elizabeth Steptoe, of Westmoreland, who, on his death, in 1775, married Philip Richard Fendall, and con- tinued to live at Stratford, which went to her daughter, Matilda Lee. This eldest daughter of Colonel Philip Ludwell Lee, known as the " divine Matilda," was the first wife of General Henry Lee, her cousin, the "Light Horse Harry " of the Revolution and the son of Henry and Lucy Grymes Lee. It was during his Con- gressional career that General Lee made the famous eulogy of Washington, coining the im- mortal phrase, " First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen." General Lee was also Governor of Virginia, and after the death of his first wife married Anne, daughter of Charles Carter of Shirley, who was the mother of Robert E. Lee.
Stratford was inherited by Major Henry Lee, born in 1798, the son of Matilda and Major- General Henry Lee. In 1817 he married Anne, daughter of Daniel McCarty of Westmoreland, and when he died in 1837 was succeeded in the
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estate by his son, Charles Carter Lee, who, born about 1808, was the last of the famous family to own the old homestead, noted as the birthplace of history and the headquarters of the nobility and genius of the Virginia Commonwealth.
From Charles Carter Lee Stratford Hall went to Mrs. Starke, who, born a Miss McCarty, was the sister-in-law of Major Henry Lee, and who lived there for some years after the Civil War. On her death she left the manor-house and 1000 acres to her nephew, Dr. Richard Stewart, who is the present owner. It should be gratifying to the country at large to know that an option on the historic estate has lately been secured by the Lee Memorial Birthplace Committee appointed by the Virginia State Camp, Patriotic Sons of America. The purpose of this committee is that once the property becomes theirs, it will be pre- sented to Virginia in trust for the people of America.
Stratford Hall is truly a history in itself, and a beautiful illustration of the customs and life of its period. Since its erection the glorious history of America has been made, and a number of those prominent in the making were born under its very roof. A new nation has been given to the world, a nation second to none. The hero-creating
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Revolution, with a later and deadlier war, has come and gone, and all this has the old homestead lived through.
To-day there may be an apparent want of things about the beautiful estate, once the most important stopping-place along the King's Highway, but now well-nigh inaccessible owing to inadequate transportation facilities. Strat- ford might irreverently be called by some far behind the times, yet even the uninitiated will admit its soothing atmosphere and the stealing over his senses of an exquisite, rare content born of the restful feeling that belongs to the peaceful country scene.
The old cemetery, once under a brick house, consisted originally of a deep vault with separate alcoves for different branches of the family. Some years ago, the brick walls being in a crumbling state, the owner of Stratford had them pulled down, making in their stead a large mound, upon the top of which he placed the tombstone of Governor Lee, inscribed, “In memory of the Hon. Thomas Lee, whose body was buried at Pope's Creek Church, five miles above his country-seat, Stratford Hall, in 1756."
That this manor-house has long outlived its generation is shown by the words of Bishop
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Meade, who says truly that " Some mournful thoughts will force themselves upon us when con- sidering the ruins of churches, of mansions, and of cemeteries in Westmoreland. By reason of the worth, talents, and patriotism which once adorned it, it was called the Athens of Virginia. But how few of the descendants of those who once were its ornaments are now to be found in it! Chantilly, Mount Pleasant, Wakefield, are now no more. Stratford alone remains."
It is very easy in the midst of these surround- ings, as romantic as they are historic, for the imagination to run rampant; for here one finds a delightful spot that has fortunately escaped nine- teenth and twentieth century reconstruction, its possessors having wisely believed that the man- sion and estate which harbored so many of the nation's greatest men need not the touch of those who have come after, to lend them usefulness, dignity, or charm.
What a story of revelry, of sacrifice, of tragedy, and of joy could the old Hall tell! But, brooding sadly over its wonderful past, the man- sion is sombre now. Civilization has left to itself the spot which once civilized such a great part of the country, but there are tangled rose-vines still clinging about it, and the ivy's embrace keeps off
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the chill, while the wide-spreading branches of venerable trees yet lend their shadows as they lov- ingly did of yore. The grass-grown walks look old and lonely, and there are aged and cobwebby boxwood hedges; all of which may be unused, but can never be forgotten, for Stratford Hall has sheltered in the past too many of the noblest Virginians ever known.
GUNSTON HALL
FTER the last battle of that bloody English conflict was lost by Charles II. in 1651, many of the royal ad- herents fled, taking ref- uge in the new Colony beyond the Atlantic. Among the old Virginia families who trace their beginning in America to this Cavalier immi- gration are the Masons, who claim descent from George Mason, a member of the Long Parlia- ment, dissolved by Cromwell after the death of Charles I. Family tradition holds that Colonel Mason was born in Staffordshire, though belong- ing to the family in Stratford-upon-Avon, War- wickshire.
In the vault of the Masons in the old church in Stratford-upon-Avon are many monuments and tablets, the earliest bearing the name and date of Daniel Mason, 1689.
In 1625 a William Mason was a member of
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Parliament, while in 1628 a Robert Mason repre- sented Winchester in the same assemblage.
Still earlier, in 1607, a Captain Mason is found in the list of those composing the London Com- pany, and in 1620 the name of George Mason appears, he being undoubtedly the "Captain Mason " referred to earlier. The Christian name George, which has descended from father to son down to the present time in Virginia, seems to point convincingly to the supposition that the Cavalier Immigrant was the son of the Mason of the London Company.
In the year 1655 George Mason patented 900 acres of land in what was then Westmoreland County, the land having been given him for bringing eighteen persons into the Colony- " head rights," as they were called. Whether his marriage was celebrated in America or England is very uncertain, nor is the surname of his wife, whom he spoke of as " Mary," known.
In 1674 George Mason was made County Lieutenant, the highest office in Stafford, which county, carved from Westmoreland, was sup- posedly named by Mason for his native shire. This office, known in the early records as that of " Commander of Plantations," was in England held only by knights. When he died, in 1686, his
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estates as well as his offices were inherited by his son of the same name, who married first Mary Fowke, of an old family in Staffordshire which is still represented among the landed gentry of England. His second wife was Elizabeth Waugh, the third being Sarah Brent (?). The lands, which he had greatly increased by pur- chase, went to his children when he died in 1716; among whom George, the third of the name in Virginia, was the most prominent.
George Mason 3rd, grandson of the Immi- grant, was born in 1690, and married Anne Thomson, daughter of Stevens Thomson, Attor- ney-General of the Old Dominion in the reign of Queen Anne. He was prominent in public life, and was one of Spotswood's "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," though perhaps his most important rôle was played as the father of the eminent statesman, George Mason of Gunston Hall.
Born in 1725, the latter, on attaining his ma- jority, left his mother's plantation and went to live on his hereditary estate in Dogue Neck. In 1750 he married Anne Eilbeck, a celebrated beauty and the daughter of Colonel William Eil- beck of Maryland, whose wife was a Miss Edgar. One tradition names Anne Eilbeck as the " low-
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GEORGE MASON From the portrait by Hesselius
GUNSTON HALL
land beauty " of Washington's early romance. At the time of his marriage George Mason was described as "young, wealthy, handsome, and talented; he must have been at this time a dis- tinguished figure among the jeunesse dorée of the Northern Neck."
The first entry in the family Bible is made in Mason's own writing, and reads: "George Mason, of Stafford County, Virginia, aged about twenty-five years, and Anne Eilbeck, the daugh- ter of William Eilbeck, of Charles County, Maryland, merchant, aged about sixteen years, were married on Wednesday, the fourth day of April, in the year 1750, by the Rev. Mr. John Moncure, Rector of Overwharton parish, Staf- ford County, Virginia."
It was about this date that the famous por- traits of Mr. and Mrs. Mason were painted by Hesselius. In the former the regular features are dominated by the deep, expressive brown eyes. He wears the short wig of the period, and his dress, though far from that of a fop, is elegant in the extreme. The portrait of his girl-wife shows a youthful beauty of the most exquisite and extraordinary type. The eyes are black, in wonderful contrast to the shell-pink complexion, above which gleam masses of auburn hair.
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Soon after this marriage, which proved to be the happiest of unions, Gunston Hall was begun, the original structure now being one of the few Colonial dwellings standing intact upon the shores of the broad Potomac.
The brick mansion, with cut stone quoins, gambrel roof, and four great chimneys, is built on no particular lines, Colonel Mason having been his own architect, as is evidenced by the curi- ously interesting pentagonal porch that adorns the river front. Carved red and white columns connected by lattice-work uphold the pretty portico, which in June is smothered under rose- vines that climb and twine about it in an affec- tionate effort to hide the scars of time.
The main entrance from the land side, over mossy and uneven stone steps, leads up to a large porch, from which the wide hall, typical of the finest Southern mansions of the day, is entered. The stairway, ascending from one side of the rear, is relieved on the first landing by superbly carved panels which reach from floor to cornice on either side, forming two graceful arches which meet in the centre of the ceiling, where a carved wooden pineapple depends.
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