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Mr. Kellam devised the acres south of the road with the buildings thereon to his nephew, James Drayton ; the acres north of the road he devised to his granddaughter, Sarah Frances Taylor, daugh- ter of Burton Taylor and Nancy Kellam.
In 1865 the part of the plantation on which the house stands was bought by Reuben Gornto.
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House on Gornto Farm, Little Creek
More recently it has been the home of the Harry Gornto branch of the family.
There are many home sites in and around Little Creek, but with this exception, the houses have all disappeared. To the west of this plantation were the Talbot lands; also in the neighborhood and nearer the creek was the William Holmes estate. The graveyard of this family still has many interesting tombs. A pine thicket has grown up all around this spot. Elizabeth Holmes married Joshua Fentress. There was a James Warren who lived at Little Creek when these other families did in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Mr. Warren's wife was Mary Boush.
And so one could continue, both forward and backward as to date, telling of people who had made their home on Little Creek and along the main road which led from Little Creek Bridges to Tanners Creek Cross Roads.
CHAPTER XII
N THE map division of the Library of Congress at Washington there are sev- eral very old and very interesting maps of Virginia. On these maps may be traced the progress made in discovery and development of this territory beginning with 1580 when Florida is designated with a vast unnamed area to the north. The next map is dated as of 1585. On this sheet record is made of Virginia as it was believed to be at the time Sir Walter Raleigh undertook colonization in the New World at Roanoke Island. Next we see the John Smith map of 1612, showing that very little was known of this section of Vir- ginia. The only names mentioned in these parts are Morton's Bay and Chesapioc Bay. The word Morton is written about where one would look for Lynnhaven River, Chesapioc at about the place one would expect to see Little Creek. In 1630 a map designates two Kings houses, Apasus, near the mouth of Lynnhaven, as we know it, and farther up on a deep bend in the river is Chesapioc. These then are the two Indian villages of which we may be certain as existing within the boundaries of Princess Anne County.
At the clerk's office in Princess Anne is found the authority for the following facts concerning the laying out of a town by Argall Thorowgood in the year 1695. The town was located on the south side of the mouth of Lynnhaven River. (This would
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probably be in the neighborhood of what is now Lake Joyce.) The town site covered sixty acres, these acres being a part of the patent of 5,350 acres granted to Argall's grandfather, Adam (1) Thorow- good, on September 19, 1637, and by the last will and testament of his (Argall's) father, Col. Adam (2) Thorowgood, devised to the said Argall Thor- owgood.
The sixty acres was laid out in lots a little over two acres each. The deed reserves streets, market place, and other conveniences. The names of the streets were King, Queen, and Princess. The fol- lowing is a list of the names of the purchasers of the lots: Robert Thorowgood, John Moncrief, Adam Thorowgood, Eben Ezer Taylor, Jno. Richerson, William Moseley, George Poole, Peter Malbone, Adam Hayes, Adam Keeling, William Capps, Jacob Johnson, Francis Bond, William Cornick, James Lamont, Thomas Benson, John Mackie, Jno. Moseley, Francis Morse, William Haslett, Robert Adams, Edward Attwood.
While scanning the further title of the lots as they passed to new owners, we never came across any reference to buildings having been erected thereon. In a few years the lots were owned by some one, or two, persons. Before 1771 James Tenant owned a number of them, for in his will made in that year, he says, "All my land at the Bayside called Lynnhaven Town" shall be rented until William Thorowgood, orphan of Argall, comes of age.
It may well be that in the earliest days the colonists were more or less centered near Lynn-
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haven, making somewhat of a village. Certainly here in 1655, "upon the land or plantation of William Johnson, being Mers Yardleys land scituate on Linhaven River to be the place both for Church & Markett for Linhaven parish two myles in length Northward & Southward and noe further," the commissioners appointed by the court made this designation.
During the years wherein much development was taking place on the Eastern Branch, when Norfolk Town had been laid out with Maj. Anthony Lawson and Capt. William Robinson as feoffees for the sale of lots, when the court house for the new made county of Princess Anne was ordered to be built at John Keeling's plantation at London Bridge (this was rescinded), we say, it may be that Argall laid out his town hoping to stem the tide which seemed to be sweeping inland away from the more exposed waters towards a more protected roadstead.
Of this town today there is no ruin by which the spot may be more definitely located.
In a previous chapter we have told of New Town, the next town in chronological order to rise, flourish for a time, then cease to be. And so we come to Kempsville, which followed New Town as the urban center of the county.
Before the incorporation of Kempsville the place was known as Kemp's Landing. There was a deep water landing here with a drawbridge; tobacco warehouses flourished on the banks of the canal. The drawbridge and warehouses were in use within the memory of persons now living. Beside the
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family of George Kempe, we find Anthony Walke on his splendid plantation "Fairfield," George Logan, the Tory, keeping a drygoods and wet goods store, William White, Jacob and Edward Valentine, James Kempe, Dr. Thomas Kempe, Peter Single- ton, William Carraway, Frederick Boush, Mitchel Thorowgood, Capt. Samuel Tenant, John Michael Kenline, and others. Of the families just named, there is only one that would appear today on the roster of the citizens of the village. That name is Carraway. However, there are several extremely interesting buildings remaining through all these years.
We know that Kempsville was the scene of a skirmish during the Revolution. Recently the Old Donation Chapter D. A. R. has erected a granite marker, recording the date, etc. During that time the citizenry was divided in its allegiance. Several prominent men were called up and closely ques- tioned by the Committee of Safety concerning their activities, and more especially concerning a visit to Benedict Arnold when Arnold was in the city of Portsmouth.
George Logan, a Scotchman, left the country for all time. There is a record at the court house of his inquisition. His wife, Isabell Campbell, remained in the community and made an effort to regain some of his forfeited estate.
It was not at Kempsville, however, that the first blood was shed in Princess Anne in the attempt of Englishmen to establish for themselves in the New World a country whose principle of government was to become a government of the people, by
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the people, for the people. When, from the Sarah Constant, the Goodspeed and the Discovery, that band of adventurers came ashore to reconnoitre near Cape Henry, when strawberries were ripe in April, when also they learned from the feasting Indians of that succulent bivalve, now the far- famed Lynnhaven oyster, a skirmish took place between this band and the native redskins. Blood was shed, but loss of life is not recorded.
Recently there has passed away in Kempsville one of its oldest citizens, Mr. John I. Herrick. Fortunately for this record just shortly before his passing, it was our delight to sit with him by the side of the stove in his country store at Kempsville and hear him tell of his recollections of notable personages who had called the village home. He told us of young Peter Singleton, of his wealth, his extravagance in dressing, his recklessness at cards. Of course young Mr. Singleton was not living during Mr. Herrick's lifetime, but he knew people who had seen Peter Singleton decked out in velvet suit with lace at the sleeve and buttons of solid gold.
Mr. Herrick also told us of "Fairfield," the almost baronial establishment of the Anthony Walkes, of the hugeness of the parlor, of the coat- of-arms over the handcarved mantelpiece in the dining room, and then of that day-that windy day in March, maybe in 1865, certainly years ago- when a spark from out the chimney snuggled down in the shingles of the roof, seeking surcease from that buffeting, billowing March wind, became the spark that caused the manor house of the Anthony Walkes of Virginia, in the ancient country of Prin-
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cess Anne, to become a mass of crumbling bricks, dusted over with ashes from the very mantelpiece and its companions, so recently the decorations of the spacious rooms of Fairfield.
Mr. Herrick faltered; said he, "I've been in all the rooms. I was at the funeral of David Walke. You should have seen the crowds that came from all the county, from Norfolk !- But I don't like to talk about it-The wind's not blowing today, is it? -That's David Walke's tombstone you see stand- ing so tall up there in the graveyard." ... And so we went out into the glorious sunshine of a well nigh perfect day, just such a day as we like to picture in thinking of the first landing at Cape Henry.
Tradition has it that the "Victory Ball" was danced at the house on the corner, lately occupied by Mr. Herrick. Tradition also says that the very imposing brick house, set back in a grove of trees on the left of the present boulevard, was the home of George Logan. It is said that here Logan entertained Lord Dunmore after the firing of Norfolk. This entertainment would be the last time a royal governor of Virginia, as such, was enter- tained here or elsewhere. The county records of land transfers do not bear out the fact that this house was Logan's home. On the contrary the chain of title proves other ownerships. True it is that Logan lived in the village, that he kept a wet and dry goods store, that he owned a tenement and lots, but these were to the northwest of this location, his house being probably nearer the water. And true it may be that in Kempsville final hospitality was
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extended to Virginia's last royal governor, but the scene was not laid in the particular house errone- ously called Logan's home.
In 1750 Anthony Walke sold a certain lot to one Samuel Tenant, a mariner. Later Capt. Tenant purchased other lots from Mr. Walke. They were a part of Fairfield. The lots were subject to the making of two streets in the proposed town of Kempsville. Before the actual incorporation, whereby in 1783 Kempe's Landing acquired the more dignified title of Kempsville, these lots again changed hands, Probably the disturbing and dis- tressing years of Revolution delayed the incorporat- ing. Be this as it may, Capt. Tenant's heirs sold the lots to Peter Singleton for 67 pounds and a few shillings in March, 1777.
Now above the basement window on the right, near the front door, in a brick, is "April 19, 1779." Maybe that window marked the progress Mr. Singleton had made in his building. By will in 1790 Mr. Singleton left the mansion, for such it was and is, to his son Isaac. Isaac married Sukey Thorow- good. Their son, Peter Singleton, inherited quite a nice estate from his Thorowgood kin as well as from his father, but lost it nearly all about the time of building the large house on the Bayville farm, now owned by Mr. Burruss. This was in 1828.
From the time Isaac Singleton sold the house at Kempsville it changed hands often. In the early part of the nineteenth century it was the home of Mrs. Anne Walke, wife of Anthony (3) Walke, the Episcopal clergyman. At one time it was the home of Dr. Oscar Baxter; later a member of the wealthy
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Garrison family owned the place; for a number of years it was the home of the Miles Selden family ; for the past quarter of a century Dr. R. E. White- head, member of one of Princess Anne's oldest families, has made it his home.
In the title chain we can not find that Logan ever held title. It is true that in a description of the property in one of the deeds we find the Logan lot, or lots, as a boundary. From the price Mr. Peter Singleton paid therefor in comparison with the later selling price, we feel justified in believing that Mr. Singleton was the builder of "Pleasant Hall" -such is the name according to the deeds.
"Pleasant Hall" is Georgian architecture of the second period. The bonding is Flemish. The interior is one of the handsomest, if not the hand- somest, left in the county. At one time we are told there were wings on each side. There is substantiat- ing evidence to this on the right outside wall. In fact an old resident remembers the wings. It is
Peter Singleton Home at Kempsville, "Pleasant Hall"
-
Hall
Stairway
Parlor
at "Pleasant Hall"
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said that as a former owner (whose name has not appeared in this text) had need for ready cash, bricks from the wings or from the fence, would be torn out and sold.
On entering the front door, there are two rooms on the right, the front one presenting handsome wainscoting. On the left is an exhibition of even more elaborate woodwork by way of cupboard, panels, and pilasters topped with Corinthian capi- tals. Midway the hall, which runs all way through from front to back door, is a very graceful arch, hiding from view the stairway on the left. The stair is easy of ascent and comports entirely with the stateliness of the whole. Just in the rear of the stair is a doorway, leading into a tiny bedchamber, known as the governess room. Dr. Whitehead says he has been told that it was through this room entrance was had to one wing. That wing housed the school rooms. Opposite the stairway is a door entering the rear room previously referred to as being one of two rooms on the right. In the fire- place in this room is a very old pair of fire dogs. Dr. Whitehead says they came from Rolleston, the home of the Moseleys. Practically all of the interior has remained unchanged and has been well cared for. Of course there is a new roof. That is to be expected, but in the attic one has a rare treat in viewing the supporting timbers. The pictures we offer are recent and give an accurate idea of the whole place.
While "Pleasant Hall" was and is a show place, just up the country road a short distance to the right and beyond the Kempsville High School is a
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little gem of a house. It is of that early story-and- a-half, sharp roof type. The old hand molded bricks are laid by the Flemish method, now, however, not noticeable because the bricks have been white- washed. This little house stands in the shade of an old elm tree that is sixteen feet in circumference. The sturdy old elm and the sturdy little house are all that is left to us of the home of Anthony Walke's plantation "Fairfield." Just across the ravine out- side the fence on a high spot are the rapidly dis- integrating tombstones of several generations of the Walke family. It would not take a very vivid imagi- nation to see, as in days gone by, a stream of water running through this ravine converting it into a tributary of the Eastern Branch.
When we first visited the little whitewashed house we were told that it was the quarter kitchen of "Fairfield"-all that was left of the buildings as they were in the days when that plantation vied with Lawson Hall, Greenwich and Rolleston as dispenser of hospitality in that part of the county. After looking at the picture carefully, and after hearing about the interior of the house, see if you believe it was built for a quarter kitchen.
In the first place the roof is very steep. Notice that windows have been let into the roof on one side. The other side, we take it, is as it was orig- inally. On the interior there is the usual 8' hall with one room on each side. The stairway goes up from the hall. There are two rooms upstairs under the roof. The two chimneys are in the east and west ends of the house. The fireplace in the east room downstairs measures 34" in width and 321/2"
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Little House and Elm tree on Fairfield
Front View of Little House on Fairfield
in height. This is the larger one. Now just a word about the history of the place.
Thomas Walke, the emigrant, came to the Virginia Colony from the Barbadoes in 1662. In 1689 he married Mary Lawson, the daughter of Lt. Col. Anthony Lawson. The children of this union were Anthony, Thomas and Mary. It would seem that the early colonists were not long lived,
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therefore both men and women often married more than once. With the proclivity there was toward the wedded state, it is surprising that Mr. Walke remained so long a time in the colony before becoming a benedict.
After about four years of wedded bliss we find in 1693/4 his will probated. The home plantation was devised to his son Thomas, to son Anthony was devised "Possum Neck" adjoining Thomas Dixon's with the proviso, however, that this planta- tion should be sold and with the proceeds some suitable plantation be bought for son Anthony. Accordingly in 1697 Lt. Col Anthony Lawson and Mr. Edward Moseley, Sr., executors of Thomas Walke's will, purchased from "Francis Tully Em- peror, formerly known as Francis, the land bought of John Porter, Sr., August 2, 1691, together with houses, orchards, gardens, fences, pasture, cleare ground and woodland." The purchase price was 150 pounds sterling.
The deed by which Francis Tully Emperor acquired this land is in itself of interest for two reasons. In the first place the deed recites that Emperor was late of the Barbadoes, but was now residing on the "Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River, Linhaven Pish." Fairfield was made up from a part of two patents, one patent taken up by Col. John Sidney in 1647 and subsequently sold by him to John Porter, Sr., and Jr. The second patent was taken up by the Brother John Porter, Sr., in 1663. The second interesting fact, then, is that we run across two brothers by the same name, John Porter. They are differentiated by the use of senior
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and junior. There are other instances recorded wherein a similar thing occurred in other families.
John Porter, Sr., in 1691, made a deed to Em- peror for the major part of the 300-acre patent and for a part of the 350-acre patent, with "wood land, clear ground, timber, houses, orchards, gardens, fences, waters," &c. It is our belief that this little house was on the property when John Porter sold to Emperor, or that Francis Tully built the house when he bought the place in 1691. And further we believe that most probably this little house was used as an office, lodge, or coachman's house after the building of the manor house on Fairfield. It does not seem reasonable to think that an estate of the elegance, wealth and importance of Fairfield could, or would, content itself with a fireplace 34"x321/2" for cooking purposes. And now what do you think, after hearing all the facts that we have been able to assemble?
So much has been written of the Walke family it is a twice-told tale to recount more of its history in this volume. With your indulgence, however, we will briefly rehearse a few facts that serve to connect Fairfield and Pleasant Hall. Anthony Walke, the first, was dead in 1768, at the age of seventy-six. These facts we found from the in- scription on his tomb, although the greater part of the inscription could not be read. The stone slab is broken in three pieces and the supporting columns have fallen apart. This Anthony married Anna Lee Armistead, daughter of William Armistead. Their son was Anthony (2) who was twice married, first to Jane Randolph, whose mother was a Bolling.
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Their son Anthony (3) was the Episcopal clergy- man. And his wife Anne owned and lived at "Pleasant Hall." In 1757 Anthony (2) married Mary Moseley, daughter of Ed. Hack and Mary Bassett Moseley. Their children were William, Edward Hack, John Bassett, Mary, Francis, and Anna. For some reason Col. Anthony (2) was buried at "Greenwich," a family home of the Moseleys.
From the Antiquary, volume 2, page 17, we quote the Lynnhaven Parish Register for the record of the recommendation, induction, and resignation of Anthony (3) as minister of the parish.
PRINCESS ANNE COUNTY LYNHAVEN PARISH
At a Vestry held the 29th of March 1788
Present
John Hancock Church Wardens Peter Singleton
Joel Cornick Thomas Walke
John Cornick Edw. H. Moseley ( Vestrymen
and Dennis Dawley
Ordered that Anthony Walke, Gentleman, who wishes to obtain letters of Ordination, be recommended to the Right Revd. Bishop White, in the following words
Commonwealth of Virginia
At a Vestry held for the Parish of Lynhaven in the County of Princess Anne the 29th day of March 1788
We the subscribers Vestrymen of the said Parish beg leave to recommend to the Right Revd. Bishop White, Anthony Walke, Gent. as a person of probity and good demeanor, who wishes to obtain Letters of Ordination and hereby Certify that on the sixth day of May next there will
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be a vacancy in the said Parish for a minister of the Episcopal Church and we are willing to induct the said Anthony Walke into the same when ordained. (Here follow the names of the vestrymen.)
PRINCESS ANNE COUNTY LYNHAVEN PARISH At a Vestry held the 3d. of July 1788 Present
John Hancock Church Wardens Peter Singleton
Joel Cornick
John Cornick
Cason Moore
Vestrymen
Edwd. Hack Moseley
Dennis Dawley
The Revd. Mr. Anthony Walke being present, and desir- ing to be inducted into the Parish, aforesaid did subscribe the following writing
I do hereby agree to be conformable to the Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and do stipulate that I hold the appointment of Incumbent in the said Parish, subject to removal, upon the determina- tion of the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this State
Anthony Walke
The Revd. Mr. Anthony Walke having produced his Episcopal Letters of Ordination from the Right Revd. Bishop White of the State of Pennsylvania, is accordingly inducted Minister of the Episcopal Church in this Parish.
In Vestry Octr. 10th 1800 Present John Hancock, Edward H. Moseley, Lemuel Cor- nick, Dennis Dawley, Thomas Lawson, James Robinson, & Erasmus Haynes Esqs.
Anthony Walke, Incumbent of the Parish of Lynhaven came into the Vestry Room & resigned his office as minister of the same.
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It is interesting to know that these Letters of Ordination came from the Right Revd. Bishop White of the State of Pennsylvania, because at the time of Mr. Walke's ordination, Bishop White was the only bishop of the Church of England residing in the new Republic.
Returning to the house of the "Victory Ball" -this is the site of Frederick Boush's lot in Kempsville. In his will he devised this lot he bought of Keys to his granddaughter, Elizabeth Walke Boush. Frederick Boush and Peter Singleton were next door neighbors, their gardens joining.
Before 1699 Maximillian Boush (the first of the family in this section) the elder, was in the county. His plantation was on Bennetts Creek. This, in 1728, he devised to his son Samuel Boush. To his son Maximillian, he devised his plantation called "Harnets."
There was a Sarah Boush who made a will in 1733 devising thereby her manor plantation
"Victory Ball" House on Frederick Boush lot
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whereon she lived, with swamp land adjoining the land of her deceased brother Horatio Woodhouse, to her son Samuel; to her son Maximillian, her plantations called Creedles and Courtneys. In each devise she reserved to her husband his life estate.
Maximillian Boush II married Elizabeth Wil- son, as his widow she married Thomas Thelaball. Maximillian II was the father of Frederick Boush ; he was also the father of Elizabeth who married Gershom Nimmo. As the widow of Nimmo in 1766 she married Jacob Hunter.
Maximillian Boush (1) was Queen's Attorney of the county courts of Norfolk, Princess Anne and Nansemond. There is a record of the gentlemen justices of Princess Anne sitting "ye 17th gbr 1708" for laying of the county levy. One item reads :
Princess Anne County is Debtor To Mr Maxm" Boush for being Queens Attyry agt Sherrwood (Tobacco) 500
This was, of course, when Grace was tried as a witch.
From the appearance of the house (Fred. Boush) today, we feel sure that so much has been rebuilt that the picture gives no conception of how it appeared when the famous ball was danced. Even the chimneys are covered with stucco, so one may not say authoritatively of the brick work.
Just back of the Singleton's and Boush's was a street, running from the road (Bayside Road, passing Donation) in a westerly direction to a second street, running north and south from the
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