USA > Virginia > City of Virginia Beach > City of Virginia Beach > Old houses in Princess Anne, Virginia > Part 7
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There are two rooms downstairs, one on each
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side of a small hall. The hall ran all way through to the back door.
The unusual feature in this building is the chimney. It is built without the wall. The breast barely exceeds the height of the fireplace on the first floor. The setoff is very severe, causing a slender stack to rise from this point to the usual number of feet above the roof.
Zachariah Sykes, 1777
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Original mantel and paneling in brick end of Sykes House, 1777
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Two handsome water oaks, the old well and well gum are still in the yard. However, the well has long since been discarded as a source of supply for drinking water. F. E. Kellam of Princess Anne is the present owner.
Only one house is left standing in Blackwater of what were the homes of the Olds, Corprews, Greshams, Tooleys and Wickings. Mr. Amos Ives, son of the late Jesse Ives, makes his home in the house that was James Wickings'. At that it has been the home of the Ives for nearly a century. In all the title from 1772 to the present, there is only one deed.
In a will made by Jesse Ives in 1887 he devised in the eighth paragraph his home place to his son Amos. Since 1834, when he purchased the John Wickings property, Mr. Jesse Ives had made his home here, in the meantime rearing beside his son Amos, the following sons : Jesse, Ed Bright, M. T., W. L., Preston W., together with three daughters, Martha (Mrs. Oscar Smith), Eleanor (Mrs. Y. B. Miller), Mary (Mrs. J. N. Woods ) .
The generations of the Wickings were John, who, making a will in 1772 devised to his son John the plantation whereon he (the father) was then living, the run between the two houses (one house father John lived in, the other house son John occupied) to be the dividing line. Son William was to have the house and land whereon son John now lived, son John was to take up his abode in the house wherein father John had been living.
There is a date, 1772, or 1792, and the initials J. W. on the gable. In 1783 this son John devised
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Wickings House in Blackwater
to his son James his plantation; in 1821 James devised to his son John the plantation. Beyond a doubt John or James Wickings built the house in 1772, or 1792. The third figure is not clear on the brick. We rather feel that 1772 is the correct figure.
In order to reach this home of the Ives in Black- water one drives over a very rough road through the Pocaty Swamp. The discomfort of the drive is swallowed up in enthusiasm over the beauty of the swamp, if it be late spring or early summer. Thick with trees and smaller growth, standing in dark pools of water, pierced here by a gold bar of sunlight, splashed there by lilies and lilies varying from palest shades of lavender and lilac, to mauve, and even royal purple, stems and foliage of tender green-truly it is marvelously beautiful. Some- times, we think, we travel far to see gardens, fault- lessly, perhaps, designed as to form and color by man, when near at hand may be some rare spot of nature, equally as ravishing.
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In Mr. Ives' yard are several unusually large and symmetrical trees. The house is set with the dark background of the swamp, a very, very lovely location. The two brick gables of the house are of Flemish bond. The house is without hall ; the mantel shelf is very high. Little has been done to change the original style of either interior or exterior.
The Wickings were in Blackwater and around Pocaty by 1746, for in that year John Wickings patented 61 acres in Blackwater in his own line. The Ives were in Lower Norfolk County by 1675, for then Timothy Ives, Jr., patented 270 acres on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River.
Leaving Blackwater and Pocaty, let us return to one of the very old roads in the county. Almost at the intersection of this road, leading from Kempsville to Great Bridge, with a continuation of the Indian River road from Norfolk County, at a corner now known as Mear's Store, there is tumb- ling down what was once quite a pretentious home. Before the War Between the States this plantation was called "Ashland." It was then the home of Edmond F. Dozier and so remained for twenty- five years. For nearly ten years more his son, James W. Dozier, lived here.
Besides this father and son, no other owners have seemed to make it a home for any length of time after John Parsons devised it to his son Samuel in 1795. The father John had purchased the land, so far as we can find, about ten years prior to his death. When he built the house there were evidently two gables of Flemish bond brick. The southwestern end has long ago fallen away; the space is covered
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Ashland
now with tin. Here again we find the familiar two rooms on the first floor, this time sepa- rated by a hall in which is a par- ticularly pleasing stairway. The quaint little front porch is only a pile of old lumber today, but it was interesting to no- tice the painstak- ing workmanship exhibited in the mortises and ten- ons, whereby the timbers had been held together.
The dining room of Ashland
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In the remaining gable, on one side of the fireplace is a deeply recessed window, on the other side is a huge door, leading, no doubt, to an out- side kitchen. The panels in this end are much wider than in any of the houses about which we have yet told. The chair board, old doors, stairway, floorboards, panels, are all of pine.
Mr. Claude Carver now owns the house. It would take much money and careful workmanship to restore the whole, And yet, it does seem too bad to see it pass.
Farther on down this old Kempsville to Great Bridge road is the home of the Nathaniel Nicholas family, better known now as "Pritchards." Here Lemuel J. Pritchard made his home from 1869 until his death in 1893. This plantation is now the property of the Etheridge heirs.
Here is a house that is splendidly preserved. As to construction it is similar to the brick gable gambrels of which we have been relating, with the difference that the room on the right of the hall as
Nathaniel Nicholas Home
Courtesy Mrs. Berry
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one enters, is much larger than the room across the hall on the left.
Nathaniel Nicholas purchased land in this neighborhood from the Fentresses as early as 1752. In 1792 this Nathaniel Nicholas was dead and a Nathaniel Nicholas (we presume a son) was pur- chasing from certain heirs their title in the home plantation. This latter Nathaniel was dead in 1824, devising to his son, Joshua H. M. Nicholas, the home place. There was another son, James W. L. Nicholas. As early as 1655 there was an Andrew Nicholas in Lower Norfolk County. This family and the Hunter family intermarried on at least two occasions. It was from Joshua H. M. that the home passed by purchase to Mr. Pritchard.
There is another family in Princess Anne that counts its generations here since the very early days. It is the Gornto family. We first find them recorded in 1684 when William Grinto (later Gornto) pat- ented 550 acres in Bear Quarter, Lynnhaven Parish.
There are two houses near Nimmo Church, on roads more or less forgotten since they were not included in a roadbuilding program, homes of the Gorntos, Reuben and his son, Reuben Gornto. In the home that we believe most probably was the home of the father, and by him was devised in 1809 to his son Thomas, today lives Mr. Ernest Shipp, a son of the late Andrew W. Shipp.
The exterior of this house does not show the lines of an old house. On closer inspection of the brick gables it is easy to trace the new bricks used in converting this from a gambrel roof to a full two story house. Here the interior house plan shows
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At present home of Ernest Shipp
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Interior of south room in Shipp Home
no variation from what must have been a standard for such houses. The panelling in the room to the left, it must have been the parlor, is extremely wide, and in a fine state of preservation. By this we mean that the panels have not warped, shrunk or cracked. The pictures of this work tell the story much better than we can.
The second of these houses that were the homes
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of the Gorntos was bought by Reuben, son of Reuben, in 1788 from Jesse Hill. In this deed Jesse Hill says that it was his father Thomas's. When the father Reuben died he devised this property to his son Reuben, in spite of the fact that the place was bought by the son. For this reason we believe the father must have furnished the money for it, else why should he devise it?
At present home of Luke Ballance
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Interior of parlor in Luke Ballance Home
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This house is almost a replica of the "Sykes" home built in 1777. The queer chimney, we told you of, is the type here found in each gable. The narrow panelling is found here also, with the dif- ference that the line across the mantel is straight instead of the curve, as in the "Sykes" house.
Son Reuben devised this plantation to his son James in 1819; James gave it to his son George R., who likewise for the better advancement in this world of his son James, gave him his plantation of 263 acres. Mr. Luke Ballance now makes his home here. Unlike the place on which Mr. Shipp lives, Mr. Ballance has some fine trees in the yard.
And so we have two homes of the Gorntos, each built, we believe, prior to 1788. The father's home he, or his father John, probably built; the son's home was certainly owned by the Hills before 1788. How it came to the Hills, unless by marriage, we can not say, there being no record in Princess Anne that would give us an answer.
But Princess Anne had towns also, one of which was New Town. We'll tell you about what is left.
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CHAPTER IX
O great haste was made in sending to Princess Anne to fetch Mr. Moseley to lead the dance with the Lady Dunmore." This brings to mind the oft told story of the anxiety of the people of Norfolk Borough to find a partner whose elegance and grace were a match for those of the Royal Governor's wife. The result was that old Princess Anne came to the rescue of Norfolk, saving the day by producing a beau par excellence. This beau was Edward Hack Moseley.
On a hot dusty afternoon this summer we were driving over this same road, certainly we had the same destination in view. And as vehicles cover distance in this day and time, our progress was slow. The road was very rough, deep holes cut during the spring thaw still gaped treacherously at one's tires. We were on a hunt for New Town, once the civic and social center of the county. And what did we find? Here and there the twisted trunk and fallen limb of an old cedar, which probably in bygone days had touched with its pungent branches the family carriage as it rolled on its way to or from some function. Here and there seedlings were spreading new and vigorous growth over the re- mains of what had once been stately trees. Here and there a rut was filled with bricks, crumbling
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to dust. This dust perhaps had once been a foun- dation in the manor house of a Moseley. And so, on we rode.
Several miles after leaving the boulevard and pursuing this almost forgotten way, to the left, in the midst of a plowed field, we spied an overgrown, disintegrating wall of brick. With the help of a good stout blade the vines and brush were cut away, disclosing a graveyard. All that could be deciphered on the marble was the inscription on one stone, seemingly put there in more recent years. It bore this legend: Martha Bloggett, Edward Hack, Edwin Daingerfield, Ann Taliaferro, Henry Power, Burwell Bassett and Alexander, children of Samuel and Hannah D. Moseley.
Pursuing the road to its end, we came to a yard, sloping gently down to a branch of Broad Creek. In this yard is a quarter kitchen, built maybe just prior to the War Between the States. The bricks in the two ends seem to be old. There is a large fire- place, outside chimney, in each end. The interior
Quarter kitchen at New Town
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is divided into two rooms, now used for storage, a blind stairway leads to the space under the roof.
Turning to the right at the yard gate, and driv- ing down a farm road, we came to the edge of Mill Creek. As it winds its way on, the old Greenwich plantation is divided from Rolleston, the first home of the Moseleys in Virginia, more recently owned and recalled as the residence of Henry A. Wise, Governor of Virginia during the "late unpleasant- ness," as some of our old-time friends refer to the struggle of the eighteen-sixties. Here, as you see for yourself, on that very hot afternoon, still remained the stones of the old mill race. The tide was com- ing in rather swiftly, so the picture does not show as great a depth of the stones as one would like.
Crossing on a most insecure and clumsy foot bridge we followed a path, overgrown with vines, honeysuckle, Virginia creeper, until in order to go further, a huge branch of mock orange had to be pushed aside. Mock orange! Who knows but what at one time this was the garden of the mistress of
Mill race between Rolleston and Greenwich
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Rolleston? At any rate mock orange brought to one's mind the hackneyed, but ever expressive, "Sic transit gloria mundi."
William Moseley the emigrant came, with Susannah his wife, to this country certainly by 1649, for on the thirtieth day of November of that year we find him attending the Lower Norfolk County Court. And there were two sons in this family. William and Arthur were the names. At a court held March 26, 1650, a certificate was granted to William Moseley showing that 550 acres of land were due him, the pay at 50 acres per person on eleven head rights as follows: himself, wife Susannah, two sons Arthur and William, Susan Robinson, alias Corker, Eliz. West, Ann Lambert, Edw. Foreman, Hen. Lambert, Jost Williams, and Tho. Warrington, transported into the colony of Virginia by William Moseley. However, the first grant we find in the name of William Moseley is recorded as patented on February 17, 1652, for 540 acres, in Lynnhaven Parish, beginning at a point by the river side. This was probably Rolleston. In a court record of 1652 Mr. Moseley styles himself as William Moseley, late of Rotterdam in Holland a merchant and now resident in the Eastern Branch of Elizabeth River, in the county of Lower Norfolk in Virginia.
Mr. Lancaster in his Virginia Homes says that William built Rolleston about 1650-the land escheated during the Commonwealth, but was restored to his grandson, Col. Edward Moseley, in the time of Charles II, and was continuously oc- cupied by a lineal descendant until 1865. There are
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two grants to Edward Moseley that we found, one for 1,130 acres in 1682, and one for 490 acres in 1688. There are also grants in the names of other members of the family. Today no trace of the Manor House on Rolleston remains.
William Moseley (2) married Mary, daughter of John Gookin and Sarah Offley. Sarah was the widow of Adam (1) Thorowgood. As the widow of William Moseley, Mary Gookin Moseley married Anthony . Lawson. Edward, son of Mary Gookin and William (2) Moseley, was a member of the court which tried Grace Sherwood, the witch of Princess Anne. He was also a Knight of the Golden Horseshoe. Hillary Moseley, son of Edward, mar- ried Hannah Hack, and one of their children was Col. Edward Hack Moseley, Sr., who, by the way, was a friend of Benedict Arnold. To Mr. James' Antiquary we are indebted for the following note. He gives credit to the courtesy of Edward Higgins, Esq.
"Brigadier General Arnold presents his Compliments to Colonel Edward Moseley Senior requests the favor of his and Mrs. Moseleys Company to dinner and pass the Evening on Wednesday next.
"Portsmouth 22 Feby. 1781."
E. H. Moseley, Sr., was a magistrate of the county, a vestryman and church warden, and an officer of the customs in the Lower District of James River. Beside all this he was the father of our "Beau Brummel." But in spite of being known as a dandy, E. H. Moseley, Jr., is better known to Princess Anne people as the clerk of the court for forty-three years, 1771-1814,
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Today, except for the written record, no one would suspect that once a prosperous town flourished on the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River. No trace is left of home, store, court house, jail, warehouse. Judge White tells us that some years ago when he was living nearby, there were foundations to be seen in the fields. Now only an occasional red stain in the fields marks the passing of New Town.
At New Town also lived the Hancocks. In the earliest records this name is spelled "Handcocke." Simond Handcock was in Lower Norfolk County by 1650. As early as 1654 we find Sarah (probably his widow) receiving 300 acres, situated at the head of Mr. Moseley's land, on Faran Creek. Finally in March, 1662, William Hancock (her son, we think) patents the same land (200 acres near Mr. Moseley, 100 acres bought of Thomas Holt) all formerly patented by Sarah Hancock, so says the record.
In 1687 this William made his will. He devised to his eldest son Simon the plantation whereon he (William) was living, "being Bounded with a small C' ye mouth of weh runs in a little below the Chap- pell and runneth up nigh my dwelling house & bounded Fly with an old trench on ye Nw on a Cr form'ly Cald. hoskins Cr. and n'y on a branch cald. deepe branch." To son William he devised all the land on the "S" Side of the above sd small Cr. being where ye chapel now stands." Son Samuel's land was bounded by William Cockruft, Edward Moseley and Lt. Col. Anthony Lawson ... "over ye Swamp along to white pine Swamp & ye path that leads from my house to Linhaven Church."
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There were other sons, John, Edward and George. The daughters were Mary and Frances ; his mother was Sarah Piggott. William Moseley was a kins- man.
We quote this will so much in detail on account of the reference to chapel and church, as well as for the family relationships.
Nearly a hundred years later, in 1782, another William Hancock is making a will. The exact devise each of his sons shall receive is contingent upon what William's brother John (both sons of William-1759) does with his property.
For ten years Uncle John, or John Sr., after the death of his brother, seemingly gives no intimation what disposition he intends to make of his lots at New Town. In the meantime John Jr., eldest son of William (1782) sold the home place (Level Green, of which we have told you) of his father. Now John was not to have this plantation, should he fall heir, or should his uncle devise to him, his (the uncle's) land, so father William says in his will.
In 1792 Uncle John made a deed to John, Jr., for the New Town lots. What adjustments were made in order to fulfill the devises of William's will we do not pretend to say. The father William had a tract he called "Denn," this he devised to his son William. The father says should he (the son) "for any causes set forth fall heir to my Manor, then" he devises the "Denn" to his son Simon.
There is a farm at New Town Cross Roads called "Lion's Den." In 1824 Simon Hancock made a will of which his son Peter Singleton Hancock
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was sole executor. By this will twelve years must elapse after Simon's death before the plantation on which he was living could be sold. Then the sale became compulsory. In 1836 the terms of the will were fulfilled.
Simon Hancock had married first Susannah Singleton. After her death about 1816, and by 1822 he married Jacomine ? This wife survived him and became Jacomine Joyce, who owned the Thorowgood land around Lake Joyce. Remains of her home and garden, together with the family burying ground are interesting. The location is beautiful.
The house that we believe Simon, or maybe his brother William, Hancock built on "Denn" or "Lion's Den" at New Town Cross Roads just before 1800, is full two stories with small attic and cellar. The two gables are brick of Flemish bond, one outside chimney in each gable. There is no setoff in the chimney until after the second story fireplace is passed. This makes a short stack.
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"The Denn" at New Town Cross Roads
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B. A. Troyer, one of the large colony of thrifty Mennonite farmers in this section of the county, lives here.
About the same time that Mr. Hancock made his will, an Edward James, living near the present Nimmo Church, made his will. By this will he devised to his son Joshua the house and certain acres of his manor plantation, the remaining acres he devised to his son John. During the course of the next fifteen years, or in 1798, John built his home. This home he sold to Smallwood Thomson in 1834.
Ten years later Smallwood Thomson exchanged plantations with Elizabeth Anne Woodhouse and her husband John. The name of the Woodhouse plantation on Lynnhaven was "The Hermitage." It was one of the Thorowgood tracts, and adjoins the acres on which the Thorowgood House now stands. At present it is the home of Mr. Wiley Halstead, a descendant of Richard Holstead, son of Jacomine N. C. and Richard Holstead.
The James House, 1798
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John Woodhouse and Elizabeth Anne were the parents of Maj. John T. Woodhouse, whose son Paul today makes his home in the house John James built in 1798. During the eighty-odd years this has been the home of the Woodhouses there have been additions by way of wings on each side of the original brick end house, Also a room has been added in the rear. On account of so many old time shrubs, plants, and trees, it was quite impossible to get an unobstructed view of the house.
Like the "Lion's Den" this house is full two stories and a half. The outstanding feature is the exquisitely proportioned stairway. The hall is quite wide, therefore the gallery on which the stair turns is long. The designer made the gallery wide in pro- portion, with the several steps easy and gentle in their upward flight.
Maj. Woodhouse was a familiar figure on the court house hill for many years. He was a Con- federate officer in Mahone's brigade. He was com- mander of the Veterans and a leading member of the Masonic Lodge at the Court House when the Confederate monument was erected in the early years of the present century. Maj. Woodhouse married a Miss Whitehurst, daughter of James Murden Whitehurst. Of the Whitehurst home we shall tell you in another chapter.
By grants, by purchase, by marriage, the Cor- nicks continued to add to their lands in Princess Anne. One of their homes, built, we believe, before 1800, is in the rear of the home of Mrs. Fannie Colonna. Mrs. Colonna's mother, Mrs. Fentress, is a daughter of the late Henry T. Cornick (1814- 1892).
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Home of late Henry T. Cornick
Mantel in Henry T. Cornick Home
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George Fentress Home
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Not so far away is the Fentress home. Here lived George Fentress, son of Lancaster, son of John, son of Moses. From the record in the land books at Princess Anne it would appear that this home was built before 1800 by William Henley, father of Charles Henley and Francis, who married Lemuel Simmons. The house is odd in that the roof has the long slope on the rear, like the Henley house near Pungo. The brick end is built partially within the weather boards.
Across the road from Mrs. Colonna and a little nearer Eastern Shore Chapel and Salisbury Plains lives Mr. Julius Cornick, a son of Henry T. Cor- nick. From Mr. Cornick we have gotten much of the family history. He says that even in his day there stood in the yard, a little removed from either of the present dwellings, the oldest house. This was the home of Endymion before he built the new house. This Endymion Cornick is probably the grandson of the "Endomion" mentioned in the will of Joel Cornick of Salisbury Plains in 1727. The father of Endymion (1765-1812) was Henry, and to his son he devised his plantation in 1772. Sad to relate the oldest house was torn down.
Endymion married Frances Henley. Their son was Henry. This Henry Cornick married twice; first, Mary Old. There were two sons, Endymion D. and Henry T. The wife of Henry T. Cornick was named Mary. These generations rest in the family burying ground close by.
Maybe when the Henry, whose wife was Mary Old, was holding some festivity with blithe com- panions, the following was cut on a window pane in the parlor :
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John Fortescue Evelyn Byrd Chamberlyne, February 1807.
In this parlor is a very handsome mantel, with accompanying woodwork in perfect taste. All the house is finished in the same style. It appears that every part of the building has been left without jarring attempt to modernize. On the rear was added, in the early nineteenth century, an ell. This was the kitchen and above was a bedroom, both reached only from the outside. In this bedroom the carving is lovelier than in any of the other mantels in the house. We believe that Endymion D. was a bachelor. Maybe this was his particular domain. We know that his father gave him the manor plantation, which in a few years he gave to his brother Henry T. Cornick.
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