USA > Virginia > City of Virginia Beach > City of Virginia Beach > Old houses in Princess Anne, Virginia > Part 8
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From near the front door the steps go up, flight after flight, to the two little rooms under the roof, passing on the way two bedrooms and hall on the second floor. The porch is still preserved, the picket fence around the small yard, the dairy just back of the dwelling, seemingly no changes, other than the addition of the ell, have been made since Endymion Cornick built his home some one hun- dred and thirty-five or forty years ago.
So many people have asked if we found much of the original furniture in these old homes. Here we did, for the home has never gone out of the family. Mr. Julius Cornick has much of the original mahogany furniture in his little home down the road. There one finds the dining table with its two oval ends, six beautifully carved chairs, the side-
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board; the tester bed and wardrobe are in the old house; in the little house is the bureau (the oldest style), the sewing table, brass candle stick (even the candle is in the holder as his mother arranged it), the family Bible (1838). And he loves them all.
The pictures tell you the rest of the archi- tectural story of the home of this branch of the Cornick family.
Home of Capt. John Shepherd
Smokehouse at Shepherd House
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Just a word about one other house in which a Cornick lived. She was Elizabeth Cornick, daugh- ter of Horatio Cornick, and the wife of Capt. John Shepherd. She was dead by 1815 at the age of thirty-five.
Capt. John died in 1822. He was then fifty. He had married a second time. This wife's name was Jennet. His children were John C., to whom he devised his plantation; Lemuel Cornick Shep- herd, to whom he devised a house and lot on Marriner Street in Norfolk; a daughter Elizabeth Frances ; his son-in-law was a John James.
There is not much to tell you of this modest, but substantial home, other than what the pictures tell. The smoke house, with its whipsawed boards, is interesting. There is a fine spring about mid- way between the house and the road. The water is crystal clear and delightfully cool. This supplies the drinking water for the Whitehurst family now making their home where Capt. John and Eliza- beth Cornick Shepherd lived.
CHAPTER X
CEAN storms with consequent tidal dis- turbances causing the shifting of sands have played queer tricks with the shore line of Princess Anne. Many, many years ago there used to be a Brinson's Inlet. This inlet was near Dam Neck. Today, to all intents and purposes as a water route, it is no more than a myth or legend. Mr. A. F. M. Burroughs, whose father, E. E. Burroughs, was so long a time county surveyor, tells us that he feels sure he could trace from the Fresh Ponds the course of what was Brinson's Inlet as it wound its way to the sea. Mr. Burroughs says so often as a boy he would paddle all around these waters in a boat, accom- panying his father on a surveying expedition which covered the high land and marshes adjacent to the ponds. He has very definite recollections at even so recent a time, of certain depressions, indicative of an inlet hereabouts.
This inlet was evidently named for Thomas Brinson, the first of the name in these parts, who, making a will in 1675, names two sons, Matthew and John. In 1689 Matthew Brinson patented 388 acres in John James' line and near the land of Ed. Moore. Now we know that Ed. Moore was bounded on the east by Basnett's land. Basnett's patent was for a large tract described as being "on the Sea- board Side, at the head of the Great Ponds."
Matthew Brinson must have been delayed in
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having his certificate for land acted upon, for his deed of gift to his brother John Brinson for 100 acres with a house in Dam Neck on the Fresh Pond is dated 1688. A gift of land is again recorded in the first deed book in Princess Anne in 1691. For this duplication there may be assigned two reasons : first, when the original deed was admitted to record in Lower Norfolk County, Matthew's grant was not then consummated; second, when Princess Anne was cut off from Lower Norfolk County it was a wise precaution (shall we say it was thrifty?) to have the deed a matter of record in the new county. From John, who made his will in 1737/8 to 1766 we do not find a conveyance of this tract. Therefore, when Hillary Brinson in that year makes a deed to John Morrisette for a tract of land with house on the Ponds in Dam Neck, we are sure it is the same place.
Under this John Morrisette's will (1793) the place was sold, but in a few years (1827) a John Morrisette again comes into possession by pur- chase. This John Morrisette was the grandfather of Mr. Kader Morrisette, who now makes his home on the adjoining farm with Mr. Peter Dyer. Mr. Morrisette says his father was born on the place in 1830. This is borne out by the inscription on the tomb. Mr. Morrisette further told us that it was a very, very old house when his grandfather bought it prior to the birth of his (Kader's) father. All of this the deed books show.
The house on the interior is in a style all its own, so far as architecture in Princess Anne goes. Before reading further look at the picture. In the
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brick end the Flemish bond stands out sharply. It is easily seen that originally the pitch of the gambrel was more acute. There was once a small porch on the front. The house faces what used to be called Fresh Pond (or Salt Pond), now Lake Tecumseh.
Since from the date of the earliest grants in this neighborhood down to the latest deed, the one by which A. H. Grimstead became the owner in 1920, the Fresh Pond is a distinguishing landmark, it seems too bad to change it to Tecumseh. This name is too modern, nor does it belong to this locality, but rather to Ohio, where the Shawnee Indians lived. You recall that old Chief Tecumseh was born, we are told, in 1768, dying during the War of 1812. After Harrison suppressed the Indian up- rising in Ohio, Tecumseh was put in command by the English of their Indian allies and given the title of brigadier-general. He was killed while fighting in Canada in 1813. Because with a new title the old chief of the Shawnees was fighting against the new Republic of the United States of
Brinson Home on Fresh (Salt) Pond
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America is no reason why our Fresh Pond should change its name to do him honor.
There must have been at one time some garden, for you will see that five old box bushes are left standing in a row, running toward the pond. Four are evenly spaced, then there is a gap large enough to accommodate two other bushes equally distant each from the other, then there is the fifth bush.
As we said, there is no other similar interior in the county with which we may make comparison. The front door stands in the center with a window on each side. Entering here, there is one room nearly square. On the right of entrance a short, narrow, flight of steps goes up to a door, which gives entrance to a narrow platform on which the steps turn and continue to the room above. The platform is on a level with the window sill.
In the right end is the unusually broad chim- ney; that end is panelled. There are cunning little doors, one on each side, giving entrance to closets by the chimney. In each closet is a little window 15"x15".
The lintel in the chimney is a roughly hewn timber 18"x18" and 15' long. The ceiling of the room is guiltless of lath or plaster. The hewn beams have seen many, many coats of whitewash, as spring after spring brought the necessity for freshening up a bit after the use during the winter months of the old fireplace. Across these beams is laid the floor of the room above. Very wide floor boards, they are.
The exposed beams and the one room are the unique features.
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Henry Brock Home
We are told by Mr. W. C. Brinson of Norfolk that the family came from Scotland. Surely there is no waste in material or in space in this Scotch- man's house, built, we believe, in 1688 by Matthew Brinson and made a gift by him and his wife Margaret to his brother John "for the love and affection he bore him." For thus the first deed reads, but by looking a little farther we found John gave Matthew some acres also. After all then, this is really a true Scotch love story.
At not a great distance to the westward of the Ponds is the home known to this generation as Mr. Sandy Brock's. Two hundred years ago there was an Elizabeth Brock, who gave to her brother Henry Brinson 100 acres in Dam Neck-for the love and affection she bore him.
The story we shall tell you of this home of the Brocks came to us largely from Mrs. Claude Nimmo of Oceana. Mrs. Nimmo was Ella White- hurst, her mother was Elizabeth Brock, one of two sisters whom her father in turn married.
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The plantation came to the Brock family through marriage with the Shepherds. In 1720 Samuel Boush was escheator for Princess Anne. One hundred acres, formerly granted to Joseph Deserne, had escheated, and was now to be granted to Smith Shepherd. This, we believe, is the Smith Shepherd who married Frances, daughter of Lemuel Cornick and his wife who was Frances Attwood. Be this as it may, Mrs. Nimmo has the old grant, all yellow with age. It is dated at Williamsburg on March 12, 1739. William Gooch, Lieutenant Gov- ernor of Virginia, signed as witness.
Elizabeth Shepherd, granddaughter, we take it, of this Smith Shepherd, married Henry Brock in 1793, bringing with her these acres. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Anthony Walke. It is most probable that this year marks the date of the build- ing of the oldest part of the house and the slave quarters. Mrs. Nimmo says she has always been told that the quarters belonged to the original house. The worn place under the closed door in-
Slave Quarters on Henry Brock Plantation
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dicates the passing of many footsteps during the years.
Henry Brock and his wife Elizabeth had a son Henry who married Eliza Spratley in 1837. For this bride the house was remodeled, the new part (the front) being added. The children of the union were Lysander (Mr. Sandy), Thos. H., Charles S. (married Ella, daughter of William Nimmo), Elizabeth F., Eleanor F., Henrietta A. Elizabeth and Eleanor were the wives of Mr. Whitehurst.
Here we find another home which remained the family plantation for generations.
Turning from this home of the Brock's into the main road from Oceana to Nimmo Church, thence into the road to the present Court House, one passes the home of William Nimmo, whose wife Anne gave the land on which the church stands. This church acre is part of a larger tract which was devised to Anne by the will of Sarah James.
The Nimmo house was built about 1790. There was a William, son of William and Anne Nimmo,
William Nimmo Home
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"Peter's House" near Princess Anne Court House
who was the father of Claude Nimmo and Ella Nimmo Brock. In this house, originally a gambrel, remodeled some fifty years ago to its present style, lived this branch of the Nimmo family of Princess Anne, until most recently. The yard trees are very lovely and make a satisfying setting for the house, which, though remodeled, has not lost in the process its comfortable and hospitable air. These were un- doubtedly characteristics of our old Virginia homes.
Traveling on toward Princess Anne Court House one finds an old house built on land that once was a part of the Thomas Lovett estate, we believe. The house was probably built by a Lan- caster Lovett a year or two before 1800. In 1303 it was his home. In 1840 it became the home of John Peters, whose son is the Rev. J. Sidney Peters of the Virginia Methodist Conference. This house was once the parsonage of Nimmo Church. For many years it was the home of Judge John J. Woodhouse. Now it is the property of George W. Bratten of Princess Anne.
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The house has been added to at least twice. The oldest part is the corner nearest in the picture. Each addition has been done in a thoughtful way, in simplicity and good taste, making the composite seemingly a whole. Those of us who knew this as the Woodhouse home miss the rose garden of Mrs. Woodhouse. From no other garden have we ever seen a greater variety or more perfect specimens of each variety than she grew here.
There are two other homes at Princess Anne that must be told of together. One is now the home of Frank Kellam. It is the oldest of all the buildings hereabouts.
In 1790 Thomas Lovett had made a will. The plantation and manor house were devised to his son Thomas, the remaining acres to be divided between sons Randolph and Reuben. Reuben's are described as being near the swamp. This will was proved by Joshua and Daniel Whitehurst and John Lovett.
Reuben Lovett Home at Princess Anne Court House
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This Reuben (1765-1819), added to his acres and built a house. He had a son Reuben (1801- 1818), and a son Wilson H. C., whose wife was Jane. There was a daughter Amy who married Capt. William Whitehurst.
Now Captain William had a brother, James Murden Whitehurst, both were sons of Daniel. Here near the Court House is the home of Daniel Whitehurst, his acres joining Reuben Lovett's. From the Captain William Whitehurst line comes the late Judge Frank Whitehurst; from the James Murden line comes the late Mrs. John T. Wood- house, whose daughter, Mrs. William Loftin Prince (Grace Woodhouse) now owns the homestead of the Whitehursts.
Francis Whitehurst was the father of Daniel. To him he devised the plantation and 150 acres in March, 1793. This year is coincident with the date etched on the chimney. However, this will was not proved until January 1, 1794. It may well be that Francis did the building. The other children of
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James Murden Whitehurst Home, 1793
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Francis were Batson, Tulley, and daughters Anne Land, Peggy, Betsy and Keziah Whitehurst.
The two houses are very similar in construction. Each has been added to, not once, but several times, during the passing years. In neither interior has there been much change.
The inclination here is to tarry and tell you more of these families. We must continually remind ourselves that this history is of houses. In a later chapter, where it is pertinent, we shall tell you more of the earlier members of the Lovett family and their family connections.
CHAPTER XI
OU will recall that in a previous chapter we told you how an Anthony Fentress was paid by the vestry of Lynnhaven Parish in 1779, 20€ for the care of the chapel at Pungo. Rev. Robt. Dickson was the rector, the vestrymen were Capt. James Kempe, Col. Edward Hack Moseley, Sr., John Whitehurst, Capt. William Woodhouse, Sr., Thomas Old, Gent., Capt. Dennis Dawley, Thomas Reynolds Walker, Gent., Major Anthony Walke, Anthony Walke, Gent., John Ackiss, Gent., Col. Edward Hack Moseley, Jr., in 1772, who declared the parochial chapel called Pungo Chapel, was in a ruinous state, the foundations being dangerous, thus making it im- possible that the building be used for the assemb- ling of a congregation for worship. Accordingly this august assemblage of titled members, constituting a vestry of the said parish of Lynnhaven, purchased from Anthony Fentress and his wife Anne one acre of ground, the price being 5£. The acre was a part of a tract Mr. Fentress had purchased in 1758 from Charles Cason.
We suppose Anthony Fentress built his house, there being no evidence to the contrary. Surely he was living on the place and in this house in 1772. It is now the property and home of Mr. W. G. Eaton. At one time a member of the Capps family made his home here.
The first mention we have found of Pungo is in a
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grant to George Fowler in 1675 for 670 acres called "Meechepongo," lying easterly from the North River. In the will of Capt. Adam Keeling, 1683, he devises "unto my daughter Elizabeth Keeling a prcell. of land about three or foure hundred acres by mee entered wth. Rights toward ye Southward neere Matchepongo, and doe desire ye Same bee surveyed and pattented in my said daughter Elizabeths name." We find this patent was granted, as Capt. Adam desired, in the name of Elizabeth Keeling in 1685, containing 350 acres "in the woods towards the North Branch of Currituck at the land of Henry Woodhouse." In 1688 John Richardson patented 819 acres, "lying in the woods toward matchepongo, Beginning by the Eastern Pocoson, thence near to the land of Col. Mason, thence to his land . .. &c." So you see somebody did live in and near Pungo at a very early time.
In a deed made in 1871 the sixty acres with the house built we believe by Anthony Fentress prior to 1772, now the home of Mr. Eaton, is described as lying adjacent to Capp's Shop and Pungo Chapel, bounded by the main road and the lands of J. W. Lane. Out in a field near Mr. Eaton's, not many years ago, the foundation of the old chapel could still be seen. It seems that the spot should certainly be marked before it is too late. The chapel acre was taken into a tract of land very many years ago, and record made.
This old house has one brick end of Flemish bond. By the front door one enters a hall, there are two rooms on the left. The house has been added to, the interior greatly changed. From the
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Anthony Fentress Home, across the road from site of Pungo Chapel
road one would suppose it were a very modern home. There is a windowless cellar under one end. The yard is large. Its firmness shows it has long been used only as a yard. The picture gives a view from the side looking toward the Pungo Ridge Road.
The land in Princess Anne runs in ridges, with oftentimes swamps between. These ridges were named Poplar, Black Walnut, Chincapin, Long Ridge, Templemans, Possum, Beech, Brushby, Bullock's, Eastern Ridges, Cow Quarter, Porters, Rattlesnake and Pungo. These are names we find in the earliest records. For the most part these ridges are exceedingly fertile. Particularly is this true of Pungo Ridge.
Today Mr. John Anthony Fentress, one of the county's oldest citizens, lives on a farm that many people say is the creme de la creme as goes farms. For many years it was known as the Land Farm. This is the reason.
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In 1789 Hillary Land married Amey Henley. In 1793 Ree Land and Mary Anne, his wife, gave to their son Hillary, for the love and affection they bore him, 149 acres, described as being the re- mainder of a tract Ree Land Sr., purchased of his brother Jeremiah. We judge that Hillary built his house soon after the gift was made.
Amey was dead before 1808 and in this year Hillary married Elizabeth Gardner; she who had been the widow Huggins. This story we have told you. In 1822 Hillary Land made his will. To his son Andrew he devised the plantation in Pungo, given Hillary by his father, except that portion on the west of the road. Also he devised to Andrew a 30-acre tract Hillary had purchased called "Grif- fin's Pasture" adjoining. He bequeathes to Andrew all the furnishings in the Pungo plantation that he had left there. Evidently Amey was Andrew's mother. The plantation he bought at London Bridge, after marrying the widow, he devised to
J. A. Fentress Home on Pungo Ridge
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his son Peter Land. You see now why Mr. Fentress' farm was called the Land farm.
This house was once the home of Dennis Capps, father of Vann and Enoch Capps. It was the home of Capt. Solomon Caffee during the War of Seces- sion. Beside Captain Caffee (1814-1867) is buried in the family burying ground in the yard, John W. Caffee (1837-1861). Here also lived and are here buried Caleb C. Chaplin (1801-1859) and his wife Sarah A. (1806-1857), mother and father of Wilson and Caleb Chaplin.
There are nearly as many "Necks" in Princess Anne as there are "Ridges." From Pungo Ridge let us return to the Little Neck road that led down to the Glebe. After turning from the Virginia Beach Boulevard into the Little Neck road, if one be observant, may be seen on the right, well back from the road, a house most probably built prior to 1773. In that year Robert Williamson sold to James Moore his plantation of 276 acres.
In 1799 James Moore devises to his son Kader a half of the acres, the residue to his son Joshua. In 1830 Kader Moore, whose wife was Frances Fentress, daughter of John Fentress, devises to his daughter Fanny, wife of James F. Henderson, his home place. In five years the Hendersons sell to Mr. Norris.
George Norris was the son of Thomas Norris. The other sons and daughters were William, Molly Buskey, Sowell and Peggy Burgess.
During his lifetime George Norris acquired quite an estate as well as quite a family. At the time of the death of George Norris, Sr., his wife was
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Elizabeth, the children were Margaret, whose husband was William Braithwaite (there were three Braithwaite grandchildren), George, Joseph, and Martha Ann, wife of Amos Ives. Bartholomew Smith, a near neighbor, is the witness to the will.
Here it would seem that the widow Elizabeth Norris lived with the Ives, or vice versa, for in 1848 Mrs. Norris made a will, probated in 1861, in which she devised all her estate to her daughter Martha Ann Ives. For eight years more the Ives family continued to live here, finally in 1869 selling to James H. Burgess. Because Mr. Burgess con- tinued to remain on the farm during forty years at a time when property was changing hands so rapidly (the changes due no doubt to the Re- construction Days and all the havoc
they wrought) accounts for the calling of this home by the name of the Burgesses. However today there are several prominent mem- bers of the Ives family who look back to this place as the home of their grand- and great - grandfath-
North End of Julian Powell Home
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ers. Mr. Julien Powell now owns the farm, making his home on it.
So much for the history of the ownership! Let us now say something of the house and its manner of building.
There is one brick end of Flemish bond, with one chimney. This is in the north end of the house. The old bricks are almost entirely covered with a mass of ivy. The front door gives entrance to a hall, running back along the south side to a back door opposite the front. On the southside also is the stairway which turns on a platform over the back door, a few more steps and the second floor is reached. On the left of the front entrance are two rooms. The chimney is of triangular form, thus furnishing sufficient space in each room for a fireplace. The pic- ture will help vis- ualize this form of construction. The mantelpiece is in the front room. The rooms are not large, nor are the fireplaces large. There is a very nice chairboard around the rooms and in the hall.
Mantelpiece in Julia Powell's Home in Little Neck
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There are many interesting stories of war days recounted by this generation of the Ives. It has not been our good fortune to hear them from a member of the family. Mrs. Powell keeps the yard a mass of bloom. It must be a gratification to those who feel so near the place, on account of associa- tions of other days, to have the home loved and continually beautified.
In the genealogical notes just given you we mentioned William Braithwaite, who married Margaret Norris. Near Eastern Shore Chapel is the home of a branch of the Braithwaite family, which home has been in this family a long time.
In 1795 James Braithwaite bought from Wil- liam Brock, Sr., and his wife Frances, administra- tors on the estate of William Brock, Jr., 73 acres, it being the land young William Brock had bought from George Reynolds Walker, part of a larger tract George Walker got from his father, Thomas Reynolds Walker. Before 1826 Mr. Braithwaite had bought the remainder of the Walker land,
Braithwaite Home
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bringing his total to 2571/2 acres. In this last named year the plantation with 121/2 acres of Lamont's pasture were transferred on the land books from James to his son William Braithwaite. The house has been added to and thereby almost doubled. The end on the right of the front door is the new part.
Nearly a hundred years after James Braith- waite built his house his son William devised the same plantation to his son James Braithwaite and his daughter, Mrs. M. T. Ives. In the mean- time Mr. William Braithwaite had bought and made his home farther down on the Great Neck road and on the Eastern Branch of Lynnhaven River.
Of all the homes that must have been built on Little Creek, only one is left. That has been added to on the front during the years since it was the home of Joseph Powers before 1800. Mr. Powers had a daughter Priscilla who in selling her girlhood home to Abel Kellam in 1815, reserved the family burying place. In this graveyard today there are only two stones, each one marks the grave of a wife of this Abel Kellam. The first wife was Frances, daughter of James Jones; the second was Eliza- beth, daughter of Erasmus Hayes.
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