USA > Virginia > City of Virginia Beach > City of Virginia Beach > Old houses in Princess Anne, Virginia > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12
60
Old Houses in Princess Anne
quests to his great-grandchildren, thus showing he lived to be very old.
Adam Keeling makes a will in 1805, naming Dudlies as the Manor Plantation. He owns Hog Pen Neck, swamp land, &c. A chancery suit is brought in 1823 for a division of the land under this will. The devisor stipulated that the land was to be divided, but he did not say how the division was to be made, except that Adam was to have the tract with the house on it. Recorded in Chancery Report Book I at Princess Anne is a plat of Dudlies, locat- ing the Manor House on the 26134 acres set aside to Adam Keeling, the remaining 108 acres was set aside for Solomon Keeling.
The house as it stands today is an exquisite example of the Flemish method of bonding brick. Notice particularly the design worked out in the gables by the use of the "blue headers." It is the only house in which we have seen this pattern. You will also notice the pitch of the roof, the height to which the chimneys rise above it. There is one chimney in each end, and both chimneys are within the walls. The black line which veers off near the top of the roof toward a tree is not a crack in the wall. It is an old blacksmith-made wrought iron lightning rod.
The house is oblong 48'6"x20'4", height from the ground to the eaves is 12'6". The four little windows in the north gable end are 16"x21" out- side measure, but the pegged wooden inside frames are 15" square. On entering at the front door there is an 8' hall with stairway on the left turning at right angles across and above the back door, caus-
61
Old Houses in Princess Anne
ing this door which faces west and the water, to be slightly lower than the front door. At right angles again the stairs proceed up to the hall and two rooms under the roof. Just as there are two rooms upstairs, one on each side of the hall, so are there two rooms down stairs similarly situated.
The most interesting room is downstairs on the north, or to the right of the front entrance. The
Keeling Home on "Ye Dudlies"
Keeling Home rear
62
Old Houses in Princess Anne
chimney end of room is panelled, the fireplace measures 5'7" in height, in a 7' chimney. The lintel of the fireplace is 11"x111/2" heart pine. This tim- ber seems to be almost untouched by time. On each side of the fireplace is a closet within which is one of the little windows. This construction gives a fine chance for study of the workmanship of those days. Many old hinges and doors are still in use in the building. The indications are that there never was a cellar. Through air vents around the foundation a glimpse may be caught of the sills. These timbers are 6"x10".
The lane leading up from the main Great Neck road is little traveled, giving one the feeling of re- moteness from the busy life of today, a satisfying approach indeed to a house from out the long ago. The setting is well nigh perfect on an afternoon when the sun has turned a portion of the Lynn- haven into liquid gold. For one is driving toward this radiance, while on the left is a magnificent skirt of pines, whose reflection in the cove making far up on that side of the yard, affords a marvelous study in contrasts. Truly one feels that here has been left a little bit of very old Virginia. On closer inspection one finds that there is much to be desired by way of restoration. The old garden is almost completely gone, a crepe myrtle or so being all that is left. There are several old cedars out on the far point. The house is in an unusually sound condition. Maybe some time soon, before it is too late, Col. Charles Consolvo, the present owner, may restore to all its former beauty the home of the Keelings on "ye Dudlies," down on
63
Old Houses in Princess Anne
Lynnhaven. Surely after weathering so many storms it is entitled to a process of rejuvenation, provided the rejuvenation be in keeping with its own style, the style of the late 1600.
On the same side of the Great Neck road as the Keeling house, near the part of the village of Lon- don Bridge touched by the Virginia Beach Boule- vard, is another gem. To reach this, one again drives up a long lane having turned in from the main road at an old wild cherry tree. This old tree has long been a landmark in the neighborhood. At the end of the lane is a fine grove of beech trees, hiding almost completely the home of Mr. Jim Smith.
Mr. Smith reminds one of the words Riley puts in the mouth of his grandfather Squeers :
"He said when he'd rounded his three score and ten, I've the hang of it now, and can do it again."
With pardonable pride Mrs. Smith will tell you about her trees. Forty-odd years ago when she moved to this home the yard trees were all cedars. It was an unusually hard winter, with heavy snows. The weight of sleet and snow, together with the freezing, caused limb after limb to split from the trees. In the spring not much loveliness was left. Mrs. Smith had the scarred old trunks dug up and set about growing new shade for her yard. Today she revels in all this beauty she has helped create.
But one begins to speculate about the location of the old house for that is what one set out to see. Immediately behind the house Mr. Smith built about twenty-five years ago, is the old one. It shows a house very similar to the Keeling. However, this
64
Old Houses in Princess Anne
is smaller; there is no hall downstairs. One enters the larger of the two rooms, this room is in the south end. There is an inside chimney in each gable. The chimney stack does not show the height one would expect for the reason that several courses of brick have fallen off.
The fireplace is 7' wide and 5' high. The room arrangement upstairs is just a little different, but
Eastwood on Great Neck Road
THE
Interior at Eastwood
65
Old Houses in Princess Anne
then in all probability when the house was built the space under the roof was not partitioned off into rooms. One room runs across the north end, then from the head of the steps on the front runs a narrow passage, a door at the end leads into the north room, a second door to the west enters the other room. This room occupies the remaining area. Upstairs there is a space all way around the house between the side wall and the eaves. This construction is also found in the Thorowgood house.
With a picture of this quaint home in mind, the question comes, who was the builder? As with many of the other old houses in these parts it is largely a matter of conjecture as to who the builder was and when he did the building. Find the answer to one and the other answer will not be so difficult to determine. The records are very interesting.
Just how long before 1777 this home was called "Eastwood" we can not say, but in the will of William Aitchison made in that year he devised to his son Walter, and in the event of son Walter's death without issue, to son William, the "planta- tion in Princess Anne called 'Eastwood' purchased from Capt. John Willoughby."
William Aitchison was a merchant of the Borough of Norfolk. So was Capt. Willoughby. Mr. Aitchison was also the son-in-law of Jacob Elle- good, Sr. Now Jacob Ellegood, Sr., in making his will leaves the home plantation (Rose Hall, of which we shall say more later) to his son Jacob, and the three plantations he bought of the heirs of Capt. James Condon he directs to be sold. He
66
Old Houses in Princess Anne
names his son-in-law William Aitchison executor. In 1754 the executor sells to Capt. Willoughby the land directed to be sold, and in the course of a few months we find Capt. Willoughby selling to Aitchi- son 316 acres, the same that were "given to be sold by the will of Jacob Ellegood, being the same plantation bought of James Condon's heirs."
Now Ellegood had bought this Condon land in two parts, or to be more exact, by two deeds. One deed was made by Dr. Robert Paterson for 126 acres which the widow Sarah Condon had for the love she bore her "dear son-in-law" given to him ; from John Mercer, et als., heirs of James Condon, a deed for 180 acres of high land and some swamp was made to Jacob Ellegood. You will see this aggregates the 316 acres sold under the will. It was not entirely a satisfactory answer as Mr. Elle- good said there were three plantations, so we de- cided to look further for the answer.
We found that Capt. James Condon (for so his appraisers, Jacob Ellegood, Lemuel Cornick and William Keeling, Sr., call him) bought three par- cels of land. One of the tracts had a house on it. This tract contained 100 acres and was bought from William Cox and Ann, his wife. The second tract was bought from Maximillian Boush and others and is the parcel containing some marsh land. The third tract Condon bought from Ellegood. This would seem to explain the use of the term "three plantations."
Of course the land on which there is mention of a house is the piece that is of most interest to us. In the deed by which William Cox and his wife
67
Old Houses in Princess Anne
convey to James Condon 100 acres with house appears this interesting connection. The deed re- cites that it is a part of the 500 acres which Cason Moore, the elder, devised by will to his son Cason Moore. The will of the elder Moore was made in 1720. In 1726 the son, Cason Moore, made a will leaving certain lands to his son John. He stipulates that son John shall not molest his mother Anne in her occupancy of the home, but that he (John) may "build where he will." Then to wife Anne, Cason, Jr., devises the rest of the plantation not before mentioned. He names wife Ann and Brother Henry Woodhouse as executors.
By putting two and two together we conclude that the widow Anne Moore married William Cox, bringing with her this house in which she was not to be molested. She joins him in making the deed to Condon. This would indicate that the wife owned the property. Cason Moore, the elder, bought 100 of his 500-acre tract from Henry Woodhouse.
Between the two families of Moore and Wood- house there was undoubtedly a close relationship. The Henry Woodhouse who made his will in 1686/7 mentions his daughter Sarah, wife of Cason Moore, and daughter Mary, wife of William Moore. The Cason Moore who made his will in 1686/7 names three children, Cason (evidently the one making a will in 1720 to which reference has been made), Henry and Sarah; a brother William, and brother- in-law Henry Woodhouse. So when Anne Wood- house married Cason Moore the third; her brother Henry Woodhouse is evidently Henry Woodhouse, son of the Henry Woodhouse whose will we have
68
Old Houses in Princess Anne
just cited. This is a complicated relationship. But it is always an interesting problem to speculate on to what degree propinquity enters into who we are.
As a conclusion we feel justified in saying that we believe that Ann Woodhouse Moore-Cox lived in the house now standing on Mr. Jim Smith's "Eastwood" plantation at a date prior to 1726 and that the house was built about the close of the 17th century. Inasmuch as her first husband, Cason Moore (the second of that name in Princess Anne) gave her the property outright, rather than for life, we believe we are safe in saying this was probably a Woodhouse home. This we can not prove further than by inference from the above facts.
Returning, we add a few items of interest that we have gleaned relative to "Rose Hall," the home plantation of Jacob Ellegood when he made his will in 1753. In 1714 we find William Ellegood patenting 214 acres on Lynnhaven, known as "Thomas Cannon's Old Landing Cove." This tract was repatented by Jacob Ellegood in 1730. Before making his will as above mentioned, more land had been bought and added to the original patent.
The son Jacob Ellegood left the Colony of Virginia and moved to the Parish of Prince Wil- liam in the County of York, Province of New Brunswick. From the Calendar of State Papers, volume VIII, Mr. Edward James in his Antiquary quotes the verbal proposition of Lord Dunmore on the exchange of certain prisoners. The exchange offered was Col. Alexander Gordon and Col. Jacob Ellegood for Col. Anthony Lawson and Col. Joseph Hutchings. Since we know Col. Lawson was an
69
Old Houses in Princess Anne
ardent patriot and member of the Princess Anne Committee of Safety, we reach the conclusion that Col. Jacob Ellegood was a Tory, thereby account- ing for his removing from Virginia and taking up a residence in what is now the Dominion of Canada.
From his home in New Brunswick in 1801, Col. Ellegood made his will in duplicate. Col. Jacob Ellegood left "Rose Hall" plantation in Virginia, consisting of 6151/2 acres, to his friend Col. Anthony Walke, his brother-in-law John Saunders, and to two of his sons Jacob (3) and John Saunders Elle- good. Col. Walke refused to act as an executor since he was also beneficiary under the will. So Jacob Ellegood (3) in 1803, as acting executor of Col. Jacob, sold the property to William Ellegood, a younger son. By a deed from William and his wife Sarah Ellegood to William Plume, Thos. Moran and Walter Herron, merchants and partners, trad- ing as William Plume & Co., of the Borough of Norfolk, the estate passed in 1804 from the Elle- good family.
The chain of title from this time briefly to the present day is : from Plume by will to other mem- bers of his firm; from John Moran to Jas. Stone; from Jas. Stone by will to son John W. Stone; John W. Stone and wife Frances to Eliza Wood- land and Elizabeth Stone; Virginia Duncan, ex- ecutrix of Woodland and Stone, to Baker; from Barnabas Baker and Louisa, his wife, Joseph Baker and Rachel, his wife, Moss W. Armistead and Rebecca, his wife, and Robert A. Graves and Emily, his wife, to Blow; from Blow to Jas. S. Gaskins; from Gaskins to Alice Anne Mallory;
70
Old Houses in Princess Anne
by Jas. A. Saunders, trustee for Alice Anne Southall in her marriage contract with William S. Mallory in 1854, to Tazewell Taylor and Jas. R. Hubard.
About this time it seemed quite the mode for wealthy young maids and widows to make mar- riage contracts. And so in 1858 we find the young widow Mary H. Brooks, mother of Swepson Brooks, conveying to W. W. Sharp, as trustee, in a mar- riage contract she was making with James Cor- nick, all her property in trust for her solely. Mrs. Mary H. Brooks Cornick lived in Norfolk. She died in 1879. Her son Swepson was her heir. In the meantime she had bought the "Rose Hall" farm of 615 acres on which her son Swepson was living. This was 1858. We also find the interesting item that she owned pew No. 17 in Christ's Church.
On "Rose Hall" one may still see several old tombs. The most interesting is that of William Aitchison, bearing his coat of arms. You will recall that William Aitcheson was son-in-law to Jacob Ellegood of 1753. During a recent visit to Mrs. Brooks, widow of Mr. Swepson Brooks, she told us of a piece of silver, now in the possession of Dr. Swepson Brooks, on which is embossed the same coat of arms as it appears on the Aitchison tomb. The silver came to them with the house.
It is too bad that only a memory of where the old house stood is all that remains to us. However, the new house, surrounded by fine trees, is fully a century old.
CHAPTER VI
T THE time when one usually says, "We'll do this, or that, on the Fourth," we decided this year to devote the whole day to a jaunt in Princess Anne in quest of further information and pictures. Friends were quite disgusted when fishing trip or swimming party failed to lure us from our plan.
It was July 4, 1930. The sun was valiantly doing his mightiest to make it a "Glorious Fourth," as our faithful old Buick carried us down a narrow lane. This narrow lane is bordered at irregular intervals by cedar trees as it leads to a tiny little old house set with a background of green. The next time you drive from Norfolk to Virgina Beach, after you pass the road on the right of the boule- vard leading to the present village of Lynnhaven, just on the curve, before reaching the Eureka Brick Plant, look back over your right shoulder and you, too, will see this tiny little old house. Surely it must have been watching the sunshine on fourth of July nearly a hundred years before July fourth became "the Glorious Fourth" to us peoples of the Republic of the United States of America.
On this particular day as we drove into the yard of the tiny little old house we were surprised in having an old colored man greet us. He apolo- gized profusely for not seeing us in time to open the gate. When we went inside the house we found what had been so engrossing the old man that
72
Old Houses in Princess Anne
he had failed (so he declared) in showing proper respect toward "white folks" coming to his house. On the table were a big bowl of coffee, a dish of gravy in which cornpone had been sopped and another dish on which were several beautifully fried "spots." On still another plate a pile of fish bone (no, not fish heads; you know to our colored friends the fish head is a "piece de resistance") told the story.
Uncle Gus Cornick, for this he told us was his name, is a darkie of 'fore the war. He was proud of his name. With a great flourish of his gnarled old hand he summed the matter up thusly to his own entire satisfaction : "Y'all knows who de Cornicks is!" Strange, isn't it, why the colored people in- variably chose distinguished names for their own when freedom came, but rarely ever took the name of his former master? Well, Uncle Gus was quite talkative, and laid himself out to entertain. He complimented the male member of us on his beauty and family "favor." Then he launched out further into his own history. Which is something like this :
Seventy-nine winters have whitened his hair, his eyes are not so clear, his mouth is as guiltless as a new-born babe's of teeth, but I tell you his back is erect and his shoulders square. His present wife is not his first wife. The "ole 'oman" died forty-two years ago. Uncle Gus claims that he was so crushed that for six months he didn't even "look at no wimmen folks." He need not have told us the present wife was of a newer generation, for all the while we had been chatting she had remained seated peeling green apples. Trying to establish
73
Old Houses in Princess Anne
more cordial relations with her by means of dis- playing a knowledge of housekeeping, the female member of us asked if she were not preparing to make apple pie. The old man piped up, "N'm, it's gwine be bile dumplins'. I allus has 'em, and fried chicken, too, on Fou'th o' July !" This food for the gods he hospitably offered us, if we could dash around that way about twelve o'clock.
Uncle Gus electrified us by saying he was the father of fifty-seven children. You may imagine our exclamations! He insisted he was right, if we counted "the three sets." In trying to unravel the snarl of the fifty-seven varieties in three sets, this was the answer. He had seven children of his own, these with their children and the childrens' chil- dren, three generations, gave the total. But he in- sisted that surely he was the father of them all, if you counted the three sets. Would this be a prob- lem in genealogy, arithmetic or biology?
Another item in his conversation was of much real interest. The old man said he had sent "all his seven head, 'scusin' one, to free school with slate and book." He had always been a farm "hand," and had never earned on an average over sixty dollars per month. Is Uncle Gus a model in thrift or ingenuity, I ask you?
This house is one of the two left in the county of the type story-and-half, brick ends, sharp roof. The bonding of the brick is Flemish, one chimney is inside, one outside. A part of the weathering on the first setoff in the south end (the outside chimney would be on the south!) has fallen away, thereby giving a chance for seeing how the mortar
Huggins House at present village of Lynnhaven
A
North end of Huggins House
.
1
Stairway in Huggins House
75
Old Houses in Princess Anne
was put into the crevasses before the bricks were laid flat as weathering. Uncle Gus was very eager to have his picture taken. In preparation he took down his clothes line, threw aside the garments which were sunning on the line, then posed him- self. Of the result you may be the judge.
The measurements of chimney, fireplace, &c., are in accord with the measures of the similar parts of houses already discussed. The outside chimney is 48" deep, 9'3" broad at the base ; height of house to eaves 9'. The fireplace in the south end is 7' wide, 55" high in a room with an 8' ceiling; the fireplace in the north end is 6' wide and about the same height as the southern. There are two rooms downstairs. At the front door one enters the larger room. Opposite is the back door, by which is a stair to the space under the roof. The stairs go up on the left with one turn, and are exposed. The old doors, hinges, banister rail, in fact all the original woodwork is there. In the north end at each side of the chimney are closets whose doors form a part of the interior panelling in that end. In each closet is one of the small nearly square windows observ- able in the picture of the north end of the house.
Now just a word about the history of the place. It is the property of young Melvin Gimbert, son of Mr. Harvey Gimbert of Lynnhaven. It was devised to Melvin by his maternal grandfather, E. E. Brooker, who came to the county from New York state about 1890.
In this house Mr. Jim Smith of London Bridge set up housekeeping before the new Cape Henry Lighthouse was built. His father, Bartholomew
76
Old Houses in Princess Anne
Smith, whose wife was Mary Frances, owned the place for some years. And from a search of the records as they relate to this title we find that Bar- tholomew Smith's father was Ezekiel Smith; his mother's name was Keziah. Ezekiel was the son of a John Smith. Mary Frances Smith had a sister, Margaret Wilkins, wife of Peter Wilkins. Mary Frances and Margaret were daughters of Sarah Burgess. In the deed which these sisters make Sarah is called the widow of Charles Burgess, she was formerly a Carraway. When Mary Frances and Margaret owned the property in 1835 Peter Land, John N. Walke and Henry Keeling were their near neighbors.
The land on which Peter Land lived he heired from his father Hillary Land. Hillary Land mar- ried the widow Gardner. She had been Elizabeth Huggins, widow of William Huggins, and as such was administering on the Huggins estate when she married Gardner. Mr. Gardner did not live long. Then she married Hillary Land. Evidently the ex- widow Huggins liked the Huggins property, because Hillary Land bought three portions of it from Elizabeth Archer Shepherd (wife of John Shep- hard), Mary Archer and Margaret Archer Fer- guson. The three Archer sisters lived in Norfolk. They were nieces of a William Huggins, from whom they heired the farm.
The tract of Huggins land in which our chief interest lies adjoined the tract that Hillary Land bought. On it was the very old house that we be- lieve was the property and home of Philip Huggins. When Robert Huggins made his will in 1753, he
77
Old Houses in Princess Anne
devised to his son Nathaniel his father Philip's plantation of 150 acres. Twenty years later Na- thaniel made a will, leaving to his wife Sarah for life his plantation. In 1808 Sarah died. Some of her furniture she bequeathed to her granddaughter Sarah Huggins Carraway.
When Charles Burgess married it was Sarah Carraway who became his wife. On the land books, when the 150 acres of the widow Sarah Huggins go off the book, the land is charged to Charles Burgess. We feel these records prove that the land which had been the Philip Huggins plantation thus came to Mary Frances Smith and Margaret Wil- kins, daughters of Sarah Burgess, widow of Charles Burgess, and by them was sold to Bartholomew Smith, whose wife was one of the sisters.
Old Philip Huggins did not make a will, but his inventory and appraisal are recorded as of 1727 with his wife Margaret administering thereon. We could not find any record of Philip Huggins as a purchaser of land. But when Nicolas Huggins died in 1691/2, after devising certain land to grand- children by the names of Jameson and Colings, he left the rest of his land to his cousin Philip Hug- gins. Thus we know that Philip Huggins was in the county of Princess Anne and owning property before 1692. And so, you see, we were justified in the start when we told you that a certain little old house near the Virginia Beach Boulevard was an old, old house, when we were a very new Re- public.
As the crow flies it is not far across the fields in a southeasterly direction from the Huggins home
78
Old Houses in Princess Anne
to a small wooden bridge over a little stream some- times called London Bridge Creek. This location, since the earliest days, has been named London Bridge. Crossing the bridge and turning sharply to the right over a second bridge, this time within a fenced field, on a hill to the left is the home of Mrs. Perkins, widow of Dr. R. C. Perkins. This house, like the one we have just left, has two brick ends, with frame front and rear. Here the simi-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.